IS THAT ANY WAY TO SERVE YOUR COUNTRY?

I've been really dissapointed in the field of presidential hopefuls, both democarat and republican. My preference, John McCain, seems to be dead in the water. Guiliani supports gun control, so the only way he'll get my vote is if he is the republican nominee and Hillary, who would never ever get my vote, is the democrat nominee.

Flip-flop Romney has flopped with me because he flipped his stance on immigration, abortion, health care, gun control and other issues. The second tier republicans are a bunch of also-rans. Obama, as you know from one of my recent blogs, has a severe case of foot-in-mouth disease. Edwards is too far left for me. Biden suffers from diarrhea-of-the-mouth. I could vote for Richardson, but he's not going to get the democrat nomination. The rest of the democrats are hardly worth considering.

Back to Mitt Romney. He has five grown sons, ages 26 to 37. Because he opposes withdrawing our troops from Iraq, he was asked why none of his sons were in the military, serving our country. His answer was absolutely astounding. He stated that his sons were serving their country by helping him campaign for the presidency. This begs the question - is that any way to serve your country?

How can one serve his country? Numero uno is to join the military, risking life and limb in defense of our country and its national interests. When I joined the army during WWII, I was paid (if my memory hasn't failed me) $36 a month and there was an expectation that I could get my ass shot off. Today, because ours is an all-volunteer military, the pay is somewhat competitive with that of the private sector. Many join our armed forces to obtain college benefits. If they have the intelligence required for college, they've got to realize that by joining the military, they may be required to wage war and to kill or be killed.

There are other ways to serve our country, but they pale by comparison to service in our military. Police officers, federal law enforcement officers and firefighters serve our country. Holding public office is a way of serving the country. Service in the Border Patrol or the National Park Service are other ways. Service in the Peace Corps and its domestic counterpart, the Americorps, in no way compares to service in our military where one may be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice.

This brings me back to that flip-flopping phony Romney again. The audacity of the man's statement that his five grown sons are serving their country by helping him campaign for the presidency is beyond comprehension. Even if Romney had never flip-flopped on any issue, that statement alone would keep me from ever voting for him, Hillary as his opponent notwithstanding. He has insulted and belittled every member of our military. The Romney boys serving their country, my ass!