Friday Radio Talk with Silvio Canto Jr. of Dallas

My Friday radio chat with Silvio Canto Jr. of Dallas on domestic and international topics of the week, including unemployment, GDP, UN Agenda 21, Chick-Fil-A, and other happenings in the news.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cantotalk/2012/08/03/our-friday-chat-with-dr-ileana-johnson-paugh.mp3

Rare Earth Elements

Rare Earth Elements attracted my curiosity because environmentalists constantly complain about the scarcity of raw materials and elements on the planet due to over-exploitation by greedy capitalists.

I am in agreement with Milton Freedman on the issue of greed: “Is there some society you know that doesn’t run on greed? You think Russia doesn’t run on greed? You think China doesn’t run on greed? What is greed? Of course none of us are greedy. It’s only the other fellow who is greedy. The world runs on individuals pursuing their separate interests.”

How rare are these rare earth elements? It turns out, the 15 elements called lanthanides are not so rare after all, some more abundant than copper, lead, gold, and platinum. They are just difficult to extract and release radioactive byproducts during mining that must be carefully disposed of and stored. The rare earth oxides and metals are used in catalysts, glass, polishing, metal alloys, magnets, phosphors, ceramics, medicine, batteries, engines, and defense.

The 15 lanthanides are: lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, ytterbium, lutetium, yttrium, and scandium. These elements are divided into light rare earths which are more abundant (lanthanum through europium with atomic number 57-63) and heavy rare earths which are less abundant (gadolinium through lutetium with atomic numbers 64-71 and yttrium).

According to Dr. Klaus Kaiser, “Up until the mid-19th century, rare earths were just a chemical curiosity without much practical use. Then in 1885, the Austrian chemist Carl Auer von Welsbach (1858-1929) invented the cerium-containing "Glühstrumpf" (gas mantle) for kerosene-burning lanterns and, in 1903, the cerium-based flint. Both are still widely used today, the flint in such things as cigarette lighters, and the gas mantle in Coleman-type lanterns for camping.”  (http://EzineArticles.com/5732661)

March Humphreys, a specialist in energy policy, writes in the CRS Report for Congress of June 8, 2012, about some specific uses of lanthanides:

Lanthanum – hybrid engines, metal alloys

Cerium – auto catalyst, petroleum refining, metal alloys
Neodymium – catalysts in cars, refining of petroleum, hard drives in laptops, headphones, hybrid               engines
Praseodymium, samarium, and gadolinium – magnets
Europium – red color for television and computer screens
Terbium – phosphors, permanent magnets
Dysprosium – permanent magnets, hybrid engines
Erbium – phosphors
Yttrium – red color, fluorescent lamps, ceramics, metal alloy agent
Holmium – glass coloring, lasers
Thulium – medical x-ray units
Lutetium – catalysts in petroleum refining
Ytterbium – lasers, steel alloys
(Rare Earth Elements: The Global Supply Chain, Marc Humphries, p. 3 using as source the DOI, U.S. Geological Survey, Circular 930-N)

Fluorescent lamps, new generation generators for wind turbines, satellite and communication systems, and defense such as fighter jet engines, missile guidance systems, and anti-missile defense also use rare earth elements (REEs).

The supply of REEs is vulnerable since China holds a monopoly with 97 percent of rare earth elements output and 75 percent of permanent magnet production.

China’s production of REEs started in late 1950s in the Chinese area of Inner Mongolia, the Baiyun Obo iron ore deposit discovered in 1927. The mine covers 48 square kilometers and is estimated to contain 36 million tons of rare earth oxide. (Wayne M. Morrison and Rachel Tang, China’s Rare Earth Industry and Export Regime: Economic and Trade Implications for the United States, April 30, 2012)

The Chinese has a monopoly because the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping made the exploitation of rare earth elements a top priority, likening its strategic significance to the importance of the Middle East’s oil.

China has used rare earths as a political bargaining chip. The New York Times reported on September 22, 2010 the incident between two Japanese and Chinese fishing vessels that collided in disputed waters. This collision resulted in the arrest of the Chinese captain by the Japanese and the subsequent temporary halting of exports of rare earth elements to Japan which China denied. (CRS Report for Congress, p. 31)

China denies using rare earth elements as a political weapon although it stated that it aims to control the rare earths for the world’s sustainable development.  “We are pursuing a sustainable development for the rare earth industry.” Where did I hear that before? It is now the platform of every agency of the U.S., state, and local governments that have adopted the UN Agenda 21 platform of sustainable development and green growth/smart growth - a way to control the global economy and ultimately our daily lives, private property, and bodies.

The second reason for a Chinese monopoly is the shutdown of the Mountain Pass mine (owned by Molycorp) in the United States in 2002. Two of the largest rare earth mines are the Mountain Pass mine in the U.S. and Mount Weld in Australia.

Rare earth deposits contain radioactive elements which must be separated and disposed of properly as toxic pollutants and hazardous waste materials. The Mountain Pass mine, operating at full capacity in the 1990s produced 850 gallons of salty wastewater per minute, containing radioactive thorium and uranium. This salty water was delivered 11 miles away where it was evaporated. The radioactive materials leeched into the desert sand when the pipes had to be cleaned and burst occasionally. The owner of the mine, Molycorp, a subsidiary of Unocal, was ordered by the state of California to clean up the waste. Molycorp ran out of space by 2002 to store the waste and failed to secure a permit to build a new storage facility. (CRS Report for Congress, April 30, 2012, Wayne M. Morrison, Rachel Tang, p. 3)

Chevron bought Unocal and thus Molycorp with its Mountain Pass mine in 2005 after the China National Offshore Corp., a state owned company, failed to buy Unocal due to political outcry that U.S. oil reserves should not be transferred to a corporation owned and controlled by the communist Chinese government. No mention was made at the time of Molycorp and the Mountain Pass mine. (CRS Report for Congress, April 30, 2012, p. 21)

Molycorp started processing stockpiled bastnasite concentrate and mining fresh bastnasite in 2011 to be processed into magnetic materials. However, since Molycorp acquired Neo Material Technologies, listed in Toronto, but with plants in China and Thailand, serving markets in China and Japan, it is doubtful that the acquisition would help United States interests. Instead, the deal would reinforce China’s dominance in rare earth elements production.

“China is the only country that can supply right now a significant amount of light and heavy rare earths, and is likely to remain the major supplier in the future.” Consequently, the price of Chinese rare earths imports has sky rocketed from $3,111 per metric ton in 2002 to $76,239 in 2011, a 2,432 percent increase. (CRS Report for Congress, p. 5)

Global production of REEs is 133,600 tons annually while demand has been estimated at 136,100 tons in 2010. (U.S. Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 2011)

Foreign demand for rare earths from China has dropped, easing prices. Foreign demand decreased because many foreign manufacturers have moved to China, reduced their rare earth inventories, switched to alternative materials, or just cut production in order to avoid paying the extreme high prices. The Chinese took countermeasures by imposing new production regulations, exportation quotas, and exportation taxes on foreign manufacturers operating in China.

We love our cell phones, portable DVDs, laptops, electronic gadgets, rechargeable batteries for hybrid and electric cars, and medical devices. Once self-reliant in domestically produced REEs, in the last 15 years we have become 100 percent dependent on Chinese imports because of their lower cost operations and lack of stringent regulations. Now that they control production, the sky is the limit.

Analysts, who recognize how critical rare earths are to hundreds of high tech applications, know that, “without rare earth elements, much of the world’s modern technology which defines our modern way of life, would be vastly different, and many applications would not be possible.”

Butler on Business Radio Segment WAFS 1190 Atlanta

http://www.cyberears.com/cybrss/16576.mp3

Today's topic: Rare Earth Elements
You will see why I chose this topic for my weekly 9-10 minute radio segment on WAFS 1190 Atltanta's Premier FM station. My segment airs live every Wednesday at 10:49 a.m. EST. Please join us if you can. Podcasts are available at the Butler on Business Podcasts archive.
Ileana Johnson Paugh

The Power of Positive Protest

Today I decided to put my money where my mouth is – literally. I went to Chick-fil-A for lunch in my neighborhood. I try not to eat fast food too often but this is a good cause – supporting the owners of a franchise that has come under attack for its Christian principles. Last time I had a Chick-fil-A, my kids were in college.

It was hot and muggy, and, as we approached the restaurant, the traffic became congested on all six lanes, coming and going. The line of cars to the drive through was winding around two blocks. The adjacent strip mall parking lot, which is normally empty, was filled to capacity; people were walking towards the restaurant from all directions, converging like bees on a hive. The line of people was winding outside, spilling into the parking lot and the access road.

Last time I stood in such a long line, I was in communist Romania in the late seventies, waiting for food to be delivered or parceled out. People were unhappy, holding onto their rationing coupons, and shoving each other in order to gain a better position closer to the front door of the store before whatever they stood in line for ran out.

The line at Chick-fil-A was composed of happy faces, polite and friendly, eager to be there, many taking photographs of the crowd just like I was, wondering where the MSM was. Why were they not there covering the mass of humanity that came out at one restaurant alone to show their positive support of our Judeo-Christian principles that America was founded upon. After all, we are a stone’s throw from Washington, D.C., practically in the back yard of the main stream media.

The crowd was a prime example of a mixture of, as we say in the south, spontaneous and deliberate “pandelirum.” I scanned the mass of people of all races, young and old, with babies and toddlers. The help was working overtime, with sweat on their brows, waiting on thousands more than they usually wait on during regular days, yet everything went smoothly. The air conditioning was working full blast, cooling all patrons, meals were served quickly and expediently, and the restaurant was spotless in spite of the huge crowd.

“As an American citizen I strongly object to the unlawful efforts of elected officials who are calling for censorship and government blockades to keep Chick-Fil-A from doing business in their respective cities. Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy's comments are protected under the authority of our Constitution, and as such must be respected - not threatened, and censored by government officials.” (The Liberty News Report)

My husband and I had just visited a large chain store nearby – people were sweltering inside because their air conditioning  had been cut off remotely from New Jersey in order to save electricity and money – a prime example of the madness of Smart Meters and UN Agenda 21. I was glad Chick-fil-A did not have Smart Meters and the A/C was running full blast.

I was thinking of the 650 million Indians who are without power at the moment because their government bought into the green environmentalist agenda that coal is bad and had reduced so much their coal production that they are unable to produce and store enough electricity for the increased demand.

As I left the restaurant, I was satisfied that, from my vantage point, the Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day was a great success. I stood up for freedom of speech in America and ate a delicious chicken sandwich with waffle fries with thousands of other people in my neighborhood that came out to support free speech and their fellow Americans.

Bad Economy, Bad Policy, More Poverty and Welfare Dependency

Poverty is a relative term. Some people understand poverty as cash poor, not having the latest electronic gadget, a huge house, or not taking an expensive vacation. Others think of themselves as poor because they fall behind a certain standard of living that they deem desirable. A third group of Americans may think they are poor because they fall behind the average income in the country. People confuse and interchange wealth, income, and cash constantly.
 

The figures listed below are the 2012 federal government’s poverty guidelines. However, they are not the figures that the Census Bureau uses to calculate the number of poor persons. The Census Bureau uses poverty threshold data based on gender, size of family, number of children, farm, and non-farm.  (http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/index.html)

 

2012 Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States and the District of Columbia
Persons in family/household	Poverty guideline
1	$11,170
2	15,130
3	19,090
4	23,050
5	27,010
6	30,970
7	34,930
8	38,890
For families/households with more than 8 persons, add $3,960 for each additional person.

                                        (http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/12poverty.shtml/)

According to Michael Tanner, “The poverty rate has risen to 15.1 percent of Americans, the highest level in nearly a decade…Welfare spending increased significantly under President George W. Bush and has exploded under President Barack Obama.”  Since Obama took office, federal expenditures on welfare have increased by 41 percent, more than $193 billion per year. (Cato Institute, The American Welfare State, April 11, 2012)

Forty-six million Americans live in poverty, even though the government spent more than $15 trillion on welfare since President Lyndon Johnson enacted the war on poverty in 1964. We lost all battles because the federal government was not serious about winning this war, it did not concentrate on fixing the problems by adding jobs to the economy that created prosperity. We outsourced jobs, we “saved or created’ shovel-ready jobs for bureaucrats, and we made poverty comfortable and dependable for an increasing sector of the population.

If we compare these 46 million poor Americans to other nations, their poverty is considered comfortable in most places around the world and well-off in many other countries.

That is not to say that there are no Americans who do not genuinely need help. The lengthy recession born by the bursting of the housing bubble, the subsequent TARP, the failed stimulus, auto bailouts, the mismanaged economy, the crony capitalism, created real victims who lost their homes, their jobs, their insurance, and their livelihood. They did not deliberately “purchase” a home that they knew they could not possibly afford to repay, nor engaged in complicated derivatives trading with other people’s retirement money and savings.

Yet some Americans who truly needed help were reluctant to accept welfare or, if they did, the benefits were inadequate or ran out. There are always Americans in temporary or permanent need who fall through the cracks of welfare. It is people who know how to milk the system who benefit the most from the welfare largesse.

Being on welfare is not just the result of lack of a good education, bad choices in life, unwillingness to work, of a culture of entitlement (it is free and the government owes it to us), it is also a function of bad luck, personal injury, illness, and hard times during cyclical economic downturns.

The federal government uses personal income tax receipts to provide two-thirds of welfare funds, while state and local governments provide one-third from state tax receipts. Economically speaking, welfare is categorized as transfer payments.

 
The largest transfer of payments (welfare) goes to Medicaid, food stamps (SNAP), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), housing vouchers, State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).

Medicaid spent the most on health care in 2011 - $228 billion for 49 million Americans. Food stamps or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was the second largest expenditure in 2011 with $72 billion for 41 million Americans. This year, 43 million Americans are on food stamps thanks to our tanking economy under the leadership and guidance of the current administration. According to Michael Tanner, Director of Health and Welfare Studies at the Cato Institute, federal spending on welfare rose 375 percent since 1965. Total federal welfare spending rose from 2.19 to 6 percent of GDP.

Since the inception of the War on Poverty, the federal government created 126 anti-poverty programs. There are some with overlapping missions:

-        33 housing programs administered by 4 different cabinet departments

-        21 food assistance programs administered by 3 different departments and one agency

-        8 health care programs run by 5 different agencies at HHS

-        27 cash/general assistance programs run by 6 cabinet departments and 5 agencies

“All together, seven different cabinet agencies and six independent agencies administer at least one anti-poverty program.” (Cato Institute, The American Welfare State, p. 3)

Keynesian economists suggested that a better way to tackle poverty was to give income to the poor without destroying their incentives to work via the earned income tax credit (EITC). As earnings of a family rose to a certain level, the federal government gave them a supplemental “grant,” proportional to earned wages. EITC began in 1975 but became increasingly more generous since 1993, giving income-support to over 22 million families. (Baumol and Blinder, Economics, 2007, p. 458)

We do know how well EITC works since illegal aliens, using an IRS issued number to encourage them to file income taxes, have taken advantage of this IRS loophole, raking in $6.3 billion a year in tax refunds, claiming children who are not even residents or citizens of this country.

Cato’s Michael Tanner suggests that making people more comfortable in poverty and government dependence is a bad idea - more food, better housing, more health care, free day care, etc. The solutions to get out and stay out of poverty:

1.     Finish school

2.     Do not get pregnant outside marriage

3.     Get a job, any job, and stick with it.

 The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a very successful program from the Clinton era, was recently changed by a directive from President Obama to the HHS, from a cash safety net for families in need via a welfare-to-work program that promoted employment, into a funding source for idleness and stay-at-home permanent welfare voters.

“The broad purposes of TANF specified in the law:

-        providing assistance to needy families so that children could be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives;

-        ending needy families’ dependence on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;

-        preventing and reducing the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and

-        encouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.”

(Kay E. Brown, Director of GAO, Testimony before the Senate Finance Committee, June 5, 2012)

 
Jonathan Alter, a left-wing writer, described in his book, The Promise, a short exchange that happened during President Obama’s first year in office:

“A congressman approached the first lady at a White House reception after the [stimulus] bill’s passage and told her the stimulus was the best anti-poverty bill in a generation. Her reaction was ‘Shhh!’ The White House did not want the public thinking that Obama had achieved long-sought public policy objectives under the guise of merely stimulating the economy, even though that’s exactly what happened.”  (As quoted by Paul Mirengoff in Powerline, July 30, 2012)

While we are $16 trillion in debt, with more Americans applying for disability than applying for jobs, the USDA’s “Reaching Low-Income Hispanics with Nutrition Assistance webpage states:

“USDA and the government of Mexico have entered into a partnership to help educate eligible Mexican nationals living in the United States about available nutrition assistance. Mexico will help disseminate this information through its embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices.”

The USDA-Mexico partnership was signed in 2004, under President George W. Bush, by former USDA Secretary Ann M. Venemen and Mexican Secretary of Foreign Affairs Luis Ernesto Derbez Bautista. This begs the obvious questions, why does Mexico need 50 consular offices in the U.S. when all other countries have only one consulate, and why are we responsible to feed Mexican nationals, including illegal aliens with their anchor babies?

Eradicating poverty should be more than just streamlining welfare – it should be about fighting the real causes of welfare dependency: the breakdown of families, rejection of faith, truancy, dropping out of school, having babies outside of marriage, drug use, crime, and lack of personal pride, responsibility, and accountability for one’s actions. Spreading the wealth, the socialist goal, is a dystopia that will further enslave people into perennial poverty.

Representatives Jim Jordan and Steve Southerland II suggested, “Congress should block-grant the [welfare] funds to states and let them innovate. Grass-roots organizations and state and local leaders know better than Congress what works in their communities.” Follow the model of Habitat for Humanity that requires families to put in “hundreds of hours of sweat equity before getting a new home.”

Taking care of the truly needy and disabled is the right thing to do in our civilized society. Taking advantage of a system that has gone beyond generosity and making welfare a life-style choice and career opportunity is honor-less.

Impeachment Referendum for Old or New Communism

Tomorrow, July 29, 2012, Romanians are going to the polls to vote for or against impeachment of their President, Traian Basescu. It is not something Romanians are happy about since their choices are either the old communist guard represented by President Traian Basescu or the new communism represented by the Prime Minister, Victor Ponta, and his ruling parliamentary coalition government.

It was unprecedented that a German Chancellor attacked another European Prime Minister so publicly. Angela Merkel gave Victor Ponta a dressing down for his attempted coup and unconstitutional removal of the President in a democracy.

Never before did the President of the European Union raise his voice to a Prime Minister of a member country in the manner in which the socialist Martin Schulz expressed his displeasure to the humiliated socialist Victor Ponta.

Victor Ponta and his USL (social liberal union) dominated coalition are eager and desperate to remove President Basescu by any means necessary. In order to remove the president, USL must win the referendum which must be valid, meaning that 9 million Romanians must show up to vote, according to the decision of the Constitutional Court.

Sadly for Prime Minister Ponta, he and the USL do not have popular support. If they did, Romanians would show up en masse to vote and President Basescu would be impeached. The problem is that Romanians are sick of all parties and their endemic corruption. There is a reason why representatives spend millions to get elected – they stand to make billions once they win a coveted parliamentary post.

Prime Minister Ponta was reminded that Romania is beholden to the powers that rule the EU and the monetary policy of the euro, the European Central Bank, the IMF, and indirectly Germany and United States. Romania’s budget is partially covered by its economy and the tax base from the existing private firms. The rest of the national income is derived from EU loans, backed by various banks.

When Romania finally said no to communism in December 1989, the former communist apparatchiks took advantage of the temporary power vacuum created and dismantled as much of the industry as possible, selling national assets for personal gain, piece by piece, without any accountability, to foreign investors who had no idea that those assets belonged to “the people.” Honest citizens remained poor – they did not steal anything, and refused million dollar loans from the west that they knew they could not possibly pay back.

Ponta’s government has a 70 percent majority in Parliament and there should be no reason why it cannot begin to govern and implement the anti-crisis plans they had promised the voters during the electoral campaign. Unfortunately, Romanians know well that the coalition’s sole interest is the interest of most politicians - corruption and bribery. Since President Basescu started doing his job and arrested some of the more blatant corruption culprits, the USL dominated coalition would have to play by the rules of law, an inconvenience that could be eliminated by impeaching the President.

Prime Minister Victor Ponta wrote an article titled “Romanian Reality,” in Foreign Policy Magazine on July 26, 2012, defending his government takeover attempt.

“Impeachment proceedings have been carried out in strict accordance with the law, as confirmed by the Constitutional Court. The proceedings themselves are a response to Basescu’s repeated abuses of power, again confirmed by the Constitutional Court. The vote for impeachment passed Parliament by a two-thirds majority, and 70 percent of voters now oppose Basescu, according to opinion polls. The final word now rests with the Romanian people, who will vote in a free and fair referendum on Sunday, July 29…Basescu’s call for a boycott is an anti-democratic step designed to avoid impeachment at any cost.”

Ponta forgot to mention in his article how he stripped the Court of its right to overrule the Parliament when the Constitutional Court made the decision based on precedent that the President should attend the European summit not the Prime Minister. He also failed to mention how he replaced some members including the Ombudsman, with his political allies. Ponta did not mention the fact that “he seized the official bulletin in which laws were published in an attempt to control legislation, delay the Court, and prohibit the release of new rules by President Basescu.” (Andrew MacDowall, Christian Science Monitor, July 12, 2012)

Prime Minister Ponta sugar-coated the truth with his version of events. Any other objective witness would have called his coup an attempt to bypass democratic rule of law, with the final outcome to remove the democratically-elected President. Traian Basescu may not have been the best and effective president but the Romanian people should decide his fate at the voting booth.

Romanians are ambivalent as to which brand of communism they will have to follow because they know corruption and lawlessness will rule the day. Will it be the winds of the old guard communism or the new brand of European socialism/communism? Either way, voters will be stuck between the rock and the hard place of economic austerity measures proposed by the European Union.

Farewell to the Unsung Heroes

Liquid sunshine is caressing this morning thousands of marble headstones at Arlington National Cemetery. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is visible on top of the hill as we drive to Ft. Myer. I am reminded of the altruistic sacrifice of thousands and thousands of soldiers who came before my husband, some who have made the ultimate sacrifice and some who still serve our country. They are the quiet heroes who made possible the freedoms many Americans take for granted every day. I appreciate everything because I have lived through tyranny.

We are silent. My inner melancholy reflects on my husband’s usually stoic face. He proudly served in the Armed Forces of the United States of America for 27 years. Today, he will be honored with 33 other soldiers whose collective service represents 796 years of faithful duty. The Commanding General of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, D.C. will review the officers and non-commissioned officers who have honorably served and retired.

The pomp and circumstance will be highlighted by the 3^rd United States Infantry Regiment (The Old Guard) and the United States Army Band (Pershing’s Own). The Eagle Squadron, the Sabre and Spurs, and the National Spirit will dazzle the audience with a pre-ceremony concert.

I am glad that the usual outdoor ceremony is moved inside, not so much for everyone’s comfort, although temperatures were predicted to reach a scorching 100 degrees today. Not far from our celebration, sailors dressed in white are honoring a fallen hero from the U.S. Navy.

As a military wife and American patriot, the playing of the National Anthem and the presentation of our Flag is not just a customary salute of respect. The rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is deeply felt. It is a tearful mixture of pride, joy, and blessings for the luck and privilege to live in the United States, the best place on earth.

Thirty-four men and women wore their uniforms today for the last time in an official capacity. No civilians can understand or appreciate the places these soldiers have traveled to, the hardships they’ve endured away from their families, the sacrifices they’ve made, the number of nights they’ve slept under the stars, in the sand, in their Humvees, in tents, in tanks, and all the special moments in the lives of loved ones they have missed. They were exposed to the elements, thirsty and hungry at times, dirty, eaten by bugs, injured, alone sometimes, unprotected, under fire, yet seldom complained.

Soldiers volunteer to serve our country because it is the right thing to do – it is about duty, honor, courage, valor, and sacrifice in the defense of our republic. Thousands of faceless and nameless heroes came before my husband, a monolith of men of unparalleled courage and devotion to a common cause that few civilians understand. We owe them a debt of gratitude for what they do for the rest of us. However, few Americans acknowledge, understand, or respect a soldier’s duty and role in our country until their peace is threatened. As one wise soldier once said, “You reside under the yoke of freedom which I provide. Have a nice day!”

“The Americans are coming” has been uttered across of the world, sometimes in fear, sometimes in relief, and every time, it was a nameless, faceless soldier, someone’s husband, son, or brother who rose to the occasion of freeing a nation or punishing evil around the world.

Many American soldiers rest in cemeteries around the world, their sacrifice forgotten, save for the headstone and the occasional wreath. Vandals sometimes deface their tombs.

My husband and I carried home his retirement certificate, encased in an embossed green holder, a letter of appreciation from the Commander in Chief, and a carefully folded American flag which I held like a priceless possession.

I know how much soldiers give up to save people they don’t even know who often don’t appreciate nor are grateful for their help. Soldiers do not ask questions, they are duty and honor bound to do what they are told. For their valor, courage, and fortitude, God bless the American soldiers who make the peaceful existence of the United States of America possible every day!