! What a power packed news day !

…well, over the next few days I hope to get specifically to the issue of “…what is our goal as Americans and are we leaders or followers?” One method of discerning this subject is to evaluate our actions and how we (as a country –i.e. our leaders) respond to geopolitical events.

In today’s blog I have posted two articles (see below) that represent points of view from the administration and from the group that is criticized by the administration.

In the meantime, lets examine some of the day's news –beginning with yesterdays (and this mornings) ‘fireworks’ by N. Korea. It seems that during our celebration of Independence from the British Crown, N. Korea had a ‘fireworks’ display of their own in the form of test-firing at least seven missiles. This was done despite a test-ban on this activity for the last 7 years. Among the missiles that were fired, was the Taepodong-2 that is reported to have a capability of reaching the western-most US coast and Alaska. It seems that the missile was somewhat of a dud, collapsing into the Sea of Japan less than a minute into flight.

The US Military was able to quickly determine that there was no real threat. Ironically, their missile was able to get off of the ground –which is more than I can say for the last two attempts of our multi-billion dollar missile "defense" system.

In other news:
CONGRATULATIONS to NASA and the astronauts for a successful (first) July 4th space shuttle launch! http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060705/ap_on_sc/space_shuttle_133

Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay ("Kenny Boy" if you’re George W. Bush) -who was convicted of helping perpetuate one of the most incredible frauds in U.S. history has died at age 64.
http://news.yahoo.com/fc/business/enron

In Iraq News:
1,595 bodies have arrived in Baghdad's central morgue in the last month, up 16 percent from May. Surely "Freedom Is On The March" now that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is dead!

Quote Of The Day:
"This is not what I fought for, what I almost died for. This is not what I was supposed to come home to," Herold Noel, Iraq veteran one of 200,000 U.S. veterans without a home