West Point

I listened to President Bush's speech today given at West Point. There seems to be so much predictability with U.S. politicians and an almost pre-planned script so many of them appear to use. Welcome...a few jokes...heart of the matter...few more jokes in closing.

There was one line though that lept out of the Fox News broadcast (it was not on SKY, BBC, or CNN which seems interesting/strange to me). He spoke about the U.S. military as being the "greatest military ever." What a thing to say and what a thing to brag about. First of all, how can one compare institutions like these across generations? In its time, Rome, Greece, Nubia, England and who knows what other civilizations had the "greatest" armies of their times. But what does "great" really imply? Does it mean that you keep the peace or have the ability to inflict more damage to your enemies than they can on you?

What makes a great country? I think a great country is one that has learned to get along with its neighbors, takes care of its people and treats the world with respect(yes there is Global Warming my friends and yes we a populating our planet with too many of us). Their population is stable and they solve conflict through dialog and not with weapons. Just a thought on a distant Memorial Day.