Welcome To The Modern World

On 7:01 pm Hawaii Standard Time on 12/31/09, watching two women kiss on national TV as the ball was dropping to welcome in the new year and decade, I thought about this year and who we have to look up to. I see Ben Bernanke, Chairman of the Federal Reserve under both Bush and Obama, receiving Time's person of the year award. I look to Tiger Woods voted as the 2009 athlete of the year and Serena Williams as female athlete of the year. These are the icons of our day.

As a new year begins, I continue to be reminded of why this country is the way it is and who is responsible. I remind myself that Obama and any other president will never bring our troops home. The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) has agreed to these "four consequences" for America.

• we need to increase defense spending significantly if we are to carry out our global responsibilities today and modernize our armed forces for the future;
• we need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values;
• we need to promote the cause of political and economic freedom abroad; [and]
• we need to accept responsibility for America's unique role in preserving and extending an international order friendly to our security, our prosperity, and our principles.

PNAC ended in 2006 only to reemerge as the Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) in 2009 who, according to their website is a non-partisan group promoting the following:

• Continued U.S. engagement--diplomatic, economic, and military—in the world and rejection of policies that would lead us down the path to isolationism;
• Robust support for America’s democratic allies and opposition to rogue regimes that threaten American interests;
• The human rights of those oppressed by their governments, and U.S. leadership in working to spread political and economic freedom;
• A strong military with the defense budget needed to ensure that America is ready to confront the threats of the 21st century;
• International economic engagement as a key element of U.S. foreign policy in this time of great economic dislocation.
• Working with all who share these objectives, irrespective of political party, so that the United States successfully confronts its challenges and make progress toward a freer and more secure future.

Continue US engagement...

God, please bless America, although I know we don't deserve.