"A Closer Look at The News"
By Capt. Fred Davis
Published: Friday, April 5, 2013

Why does everyone want to drive their own car — no matter what the cost? No matter how much traffic they must deal with? Is it thought that riding with someone else is degrading in some way?

Sit down with the same people who must drive their own car at a gathering for coffee or in the evening for dinner, they will all complain about the price of gas. It does not take a Rhodes scholar to conclude if we each want to drive our own car; each of us must purchase fuel. If all of us are willing to pay the price and burn the fuel, the cost will continue to rise. If we continue to meet the demands of the fuel companies by burning all they can produce, that fact is inevitable. If we use less fuel, the price would become competitive and likely drop.

The hand gun topic still tops the list of news items. Every day shootings are reported. Road rage is prevalent due to heavy traffic and many carrying guns so shootings obviously occur. People with guns get mad at their spouse or neighbor and grab their gun to vent. I’m not saying this as an anti-gun statement — it’s what is heard on the news daily. It is now a fact of life — too many people are carrying hand guns.

Yes, it is our right to do so, but why? They are heavy, bulky and often invite problems. Many shootings are done in self defense. If a person didn’t have a gun, they might not be challenged by another gun carrier.

As I see it, we all better save our guns and ammo, we may need them soon. We boldly claim to be a world power and are inviting all to debate our supremacy. Last week we sent a written message to North Korea stating, “If they attack anyone, we will retaliate.” When asked why we are waiting, the answer is the same as one used when we discuss Iran: “We don’t think they have the power to attack.” Both countries have sent up missiles and test rockets and when they fall short we say, “See they can’t reach us.” How can we be certain that was the best they had?

It seems clear both countries, allied together, keep trying and they announce they will succeed in reaching us. We keep responding that they can’t build bigger armaments. What are we doing to stop them?

Although little is known of North Korea, what we do see in news reports is videos of rocket launches or displays of thousands of troops marching by. Of course our military leaders announce: “A war cannot be won by boots on the ground.” Do they really believe other countries don’t know that fact? Is there anyone in our defense department who doesn’t realize other countries leaders are bold enough to attack us? Do they forget Pearl Harbor? Don’t they remember how we unknowingly trained 911 attackers by teaching them to fly our airplanes?

We can’t think we are impressing North Korea or Iran with talk, notes and fly-overs. One day one of their test rockets will reach our shores just so they can prove they can. We need to be aware our interceptor rockets are not 100 percent accurate either.

Perhaps the boots on the ground parades displayed by North Korea are just a cover to delude us into believing they are not capable of more.




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