Just a thought, but maybe if we pulled our troops out of the 177 countries they are currently deployed in, we could cut down on the $100B it takes to support some 800 overseas bases. Military leaders are constantly complaining how tired our troops are. Well, no kidding.

Here's a short list of where we have our military. We need to be asking why, and demanding answers. Ask yourself how many of these countries listed we actually are at war with: Norway, Hungary, Kosovo, Romania, Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Pakistan, UAE, Qatar, Singapore, British Indian Ocean Territory Australia, Guam, Japan, S. Korea, Poland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, England, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Somalia, Uganda, Greenland, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Honduras, Columbia, Brazil, Peru, El Salvador, Mexico, Canada. Just a partial list, mind you.

Meanwhile: home infrastructure is crumbling; mental health care is lacking, health care for all is lacking, about seven states and Puerto Rico need serious long-term aid to re-build themselves from fires and hurricanes and floods. Nope, I have zero idea why we are in these countries. Afghanistan has zero end in sight, btw. Zero End. Think about it.

In response to NFL anthem/flag protests around our country Sunday Sept 24, 2017.

The failure of American public schools was evident across the length and breadth of our beloved country this weekend. Countless sheep decided to dis-respect our nation's symbol, thus enabling our enemies like no spin out of Washington D.C. could. They know now, that we are weak, deeply divided, and non-patriotic and won't care who comes in to do whatever.

Not everyone, of course.

The spin this morning is that such dis-respectful actions have nothing to do with love of flag and country, but everything to do with mis-treatment of some folks, or whatever.

Wrong.

Those of us, and we are in the vast, vast majority, who stand to respect our flag and anthem, are fully aware of our failings as a country, a mixed culture found nowhere else on Earth. We are also aware of our accomplishments, of the Five Thousand Year Leap, of the advances humans have and can make when given the freedom and the laws to do so, un-hindered by restrictive one-person rules and dictates. One fellow has been quoted as saying America is only known for baseball, Constitution, and Jazz music. I dis-agree.

Name another country where people are willing to die, to risk their lives, to reach. People: stow away, float, swim, hijack, tunnel, falsify papers to come to America. Our freedoms are like nowhere else on Earth. Folks are taking them for granted.

Standing for our flag acknowledges that we are Americans, all of us immigrants or descended from. Many cultures, languages, backgrounds, customs, habits, beliefs religious and otherwise. E Pluribus Unum. Out of Many, One.

We all know America is not perfect. Our failings, however, are out there for all to see, unlike govts. past and present around the globe today. We are aware of what needs fixing, and we are working on it. It will not get fixed, whatever it is, overnight.

To me it is hypocritical to stand in an arena and boo those who don't show this respect, then sit down and watch them perform for us anyway, as if we can't live without their athleticism. Horse hockey.

What will happen to us as a nation, unique to all others, when we stop coming together as one people, under one flag, no longer believing in the ideals and philosophies and guidelines laid out for us 228 years ago, when our Constitution was produced in 1789? We have to, we must believe in something. Otherwise, we believe in nothing, and that shall be the end of us.

Two generations, minimum, of Americans have been raised primarily in day care by strangers. Think about that. I believe it has had serious impact on national social mores, the way we greet, meet, and treat each other. Which is to say, shabbily to poor to violently. 

Says a lot about us as a nation, when we walk and drive around, with our heads down staring at our pacifiers. No human qualities on display much, anymore. Letting a car in front of you in a traffic line, or in or out of a parking lot or side street; no holding doors for others by looking behind us as we enter or exit; no returning shopping carts to pick-up points so they don't block others; littering everywhere; road rage; shootings for no reason. Our family values and moral fiber are weak to non-existant. Our natural propensity for acting out emotionally, irrationally, violently, sometimes deadly, is so much more so in evidence the past 30 years or so. Really sad to observe.

In response to a Charleston, SC Post and Courier newspaper article Sat Sept 2 2017 about on-line physical education being available and popular, the following is offered in response/opposition. Good grief.

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No kidding.

The nation-wide emphasis on varsity and junior varsity competition, down to 7th grade, has existed for decades to serve only a tiny minority of enrolled students everywhere. The talented few compete, the rest are expected to enthusiastically support them, whether they want to or not. Makes no difference the sport.

Meanwhile, out on the grassy fields of multiple sports, CTE continues to take lives/damage brains, eventually, through repeated knocks to the developing brains and skulls of the young and sometimes gifted. Parents continue to look the other way. Why, I have no idea.

On-line physical education classes are nothing more than logging what you may or may not have done over time. Seriously? Intramural sports, on the other hand, guarantees: actual physical activity, increased heartrate, aerobic gain, sweat, effort, learning about competition, digging down inside one's self to try harder, never give up, to win and lose with grace. You know, sportsmanship, win or lose. Are these key-tappers receiving these types of benefits sitting in the bleachers? Ehh, probably not. Definitely not. The same group of young people afraid to shower with their peers, has zero problem walking in public with their pants hanging below their buttocks and their chests exposed. Weak excuse.

Parents, and taxpayers without children in the school systems, constantly complain about costs.
Well, here's an area to dramatically trim costs. Eliminate high school varsity sports entirely. If your child wants to play enroll him/her in an off-campus program at your expense, not ours.

Implement intramural sports program across the curriculum starting in 7th grade. Every student including special needs, must enroll in one sport, preferably two, every year. Flag football, volleyball, basketball, badminton, softball, wrestling, field hockey, soccer, you name it. EVERYONE participates. We can dial down this letter jacket/bmoc thing. Teachers and students have their favorite sports team player's name and number all over the hallways and classrooms, while National Honor Society and IB students and the musically and artistically gifted routinely get ignored. No pep rallies for them, have you noticed?

No Friday night light bill. No stadium maintenance. No security. Far less insurance. Far less equipment needed. Flag football requires plastic belts and flags, tennis shoes, and a grass field. No traveling budget. No traveling on the nation's apparently oldest school busses. No students bouncing along on C averages, being released from desperately needed classroom time early, to go knock themselves senseless somewhere. Concussions will happen during intramurals too, but in far less numbers and should occur at less impact speed.

School spirit, often cited by principals as key to an entire school's self-worth, won't suffer. Indeed, the number of students feeling better and more self-confident about themselves should actually rise. The inclusion of ALL students in physical fitness training and competition is better for our society as a whole. Isn't this the point of public education, to educate and improve ALL students? Take a look around next time you're out running errands, etc. We are a woefully out of shape nation. Our education system's failings in this crucial area of student development is a prime reason, but not the only one.

Anyone swallowing this bilge water about on-line physical education needs to have their head examined.