My father is a great man.  He is my hero.  He fought in WW2, was injured, and came back to a country that never recognized the injuries sustained from a Kamakazi attack to his ship.  He was a Gunner's Mate.  When the Japanese attack and suicide plane zeroed in on his ship, he ran for cover down a bulkhead as bullets struck his ship prior to impact.  When the suicide bomber hit his ship, the impact made him loose his grip and fall two floors down onto his knee and a metal floor.  With the injury to his knee, he took his station to help put out the fire.  

     We, his 7 children, always remember him telling us he could not play ball with us due to his injury.  It is my father's wishes that we always remember and recognize the great men and women that serve this country in the armed forces, and I will always honor his wishes for they are mine too.  

     That said, I must also state that the war with Iraq was wrong.  There were no weapons of mass destruction found and that was the impetus for war.  It was a deception used by a leader taking us down the wrong road for his own personal reasons.  I will always believe this, and history will be our judge.  

     We are now in the stages of selecting a new Presidential leader.  When I was a child, I remember my mom and dad using my dad's meager earnings as a car mechanic to buy us an encyclopedia set.  Yes, that was my internet and portal to the world in the 1960's.  I remember reading and going over it and how things were structured.  When I got to the P's, I got to Presidents, and there were pictures of nothing but all white-men.  I saw no women, African-American, and needless to say, no Chicano.  It remains an unbroken standard in this country. 

     Today, we have people running for president that can change that, but most important of all, change the course of this country.  U.S. of America is disliked by many countries in our world.  Our governmental leadership has spent a lot of money on the Iraq war, and greed, arrogance and stupidity, has played into it all too well.  

      The next president should not ride the helm based on their legacy. The current president did, he is the son of a previous president which enjoyed only 1 term in office and did not listen to his own calling, "It's the economy stupid."  The current woman candidate for president from the Democratic Pary, Hillary Clinton, husband was president for 2 terms.  And yes, Bill did get blow-jobs while in office, and Hillary's forgiven him, but there's got to be more than just this dynamic duo, or another shrub, in office.  
     Strategically, Hillary Clinton went to New York after Bill's turn in office with the objective of becoming senator of that state to get her turn at the presidency.  It has nothing to do with experience, she had gotten Bill in, and now it was her turn.  So we are now seeing a new picture emerge in this diary of presidents for this country, where family members want the baton passed on to them, making the institution of becoming President of the United States of America a monarchy instead of a democracy.  

     Barack Obama speaks a dialectic that unites, I have heard it, and on this great day celabrating Martin Luther King, I believe it will bring peace and diversity to this land.  It will bring a face that doesn't come from the same family, and that for me is important for that is "true" change!

Good luck Mr. Obama.