For the families, friends, and comrades in arms who have lost loved ones in our nation's wars, Memorial Day is never just an excuse for a three-day vacation or a camping excursion. It's a time of pain and loss, and remembrance of those who paid the supreme sacrifice in service to their country. Our ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are depersonalized and far removed from most of our lives; the life-and-death reality of those theaters of operation is only brought home to us periodically by the headlines about a local boy whose life was ended by an IED explosion, a sniper attack, or a convoy ambush.

The China Daily US Edition reported on September 7 that "China will 'vigorously' expand its imports of key products as the nation strives to cut its trade surplus amid growing protectionism against the world's largest exporter."

“Dmitry Medvedev and Barack Obama will try to jump-start economic links this week as Russia’s president travels to Silicon Valley and Washington, building on improved political ties after the U.S. ‘reset’ relations,” Bloomberg Businessweek reported on June 21.

"President Barack Obama wasted little time after his election in promoting abortion abroad by overturning the Mexico City Policy and forcing Americans to pay for abortions and abortion promotion in other nations," notes LifeNews.com editor Steven Ertelt in an April 7 online report. "Now the Obama administration is attempting to get Kenya to legalize abortion," reports Ertelt.

As reported in yesterday's posting, the Islamist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir al Islami (The Islamic Liberation Party, hereafter designated by the abbreviation HT), held a recruiting conference in Chicago on Sunday July 19. The title and theme of the conference was "The Fall of Capitalism, the Rise of Islam."

On April 30, Captain Richard Phillips, the heroic skipper of the pirated Maersk Alabama, told U.S. senators that “hardening” commercial shipping vessels, arming senior crew members of commercial ships, and employing armed military or private security details should be among the top policy options considered to combat the increasing wave of piracy in the troubled Horn of Africa region, and elsewhere on the high seas.

“Senate Should Move Quickly to Join Convention on Law of the Sea,” says the heading of a May 4 press release from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). As noted here in April, it was to be expected that the usual lobbyists for world government would exploit the recent increase in Somali pirate activity to push for Senate ratification of the UN Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST). And, as we pointed out here and here in February, the campaign to provide the United Nations with vast new legislative, judicial, and executive powers — including the power to tax all earthlings, Americans not excepted — is being led by the CFR, which has been in the forefront of this and other “global governance” power grabs.

President Barack Obama scored major political points for the successful rescue of Captain Richard Phillips from his Somali pirate captors. Media headlines hailed his “decisive leadership” in his baptism under fire. However, scuttlebutt from the Navy community claims that the rescue succeeded in spite of Obama’s indecisiveness and interference, not because of his leadership.  A harsh critique of the standoff by an anonymous Navy veteran that is circulating widely claims that Team Obama attempted to micromanage the situation, overruling the on-scene commander (OSC) and imposing ridiculous Rules Of Engagement (ROE) that repeatedly prevented the Navy SEAL shooters from taking out the pirates.

Is there another alternative to paying tribute to Somali pirates, other than sending a huge naval expedition force to route the pirates out of their lairs? Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) believes the Constitution’s long-neglected “marque and reprisal” provision may offer a viable option. Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution states: “The Congress shall have power … To define and punish piracies and felonies committed on the high seas,… To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water.”