THE U.S. CONFERENCE OF MAYORS.

Mayors! Mayors! Mayors! Don't you appreciate what the men and women in uniform are doing for you, in particular, and the country in general?

They are fighting to defend and protect those of us who live in towns, cities and hamlets that you are mayors over; otherwise, your communities, your neighbors, your business people, your laborers; plus your economic upkeep and lifestyles that you enjoy day in and day out, will all be in danger.

There are terrorists and other angry persons or groups, who are waiting to destroy the American way of life. They find the freedom that makes the nation unique repugnant; and they will go to any extent to remove the characteristics of such freedom from the traditions that the people continue to enjoy.

The culture of scientific liberty present in a society that has put, not one man, but a number of men on the moon makes them feel powerless and inadequate. The light bulb, the computer, the Internet; such technological achievements and innovations are envied throughout the world.

While you and your populations, large and small, are enjoying life as much as you like, they are out there and away from their families, doing all they can for the safety and common good of the country. The National Security of the whole of the United States is their responsibility.

Because of their efforts to bring peace to those of us at home, who were thinking about material things, like boats and cars, diamond engagement rings and priests to officiate at our weddings, they would be considering how they would survive on a day to day basis, to live and fight another day in strange environments, solely to protect their countrymen.

The men and women forming the military forces, and being the first line of the nation's defense have become targets of choice for most politicians; and so you Mayors did not have any difficulty in picking on the wars that they were, and are still fighting in, and made their mission part of your agenda. They and their circumstance of pushing and holding America's enemies back, have become easy prey for many of you Mayors.

Some of you could not find a way to bad-mouth them, and so, you became really negative, and decided to turn the subject around, and to go on a rampage, by referring to the casualties that they have suffered, and criticising how they were handled or treated by the "Authorities", of which you were part; with the numerous problems they faced, when they returned home. You were expressing sympathy for them, and they themselves would appreciate it very much.

However, somehow, you could not hide behind that delusive facade of showing sympathy. It was one that was not real, because people saw through you and discovered how ungrateful you felt inside of yourselves, to see all the money being spent by the government, which went into their maintenance and other military budgets, instead of it being redirected into Mayoral coffers.

"Let's talk about that to attract more social interest; the newspapers will have a field day"; you might have said in private, before you moved to pass an already thought out resolution to impress upon people that the United States Conference of Mayors was up to something good for their cities and towns; and for the nation as a whole.

Yet, the most important part of that equation was its human interest, which put the men and women in uniform in a category to be considered as being special; and that they have to be sufficiently cared for wherever they might be, due to their work. That quality of human interest and kindness was left out; and so you Mayors completely missed the chance to thank them earnestly.

The praises you later showered on them were just formalities; to make people feel that you were abreast with the times; you were very much aware of what was going on in the world, and that you grasped or understood the arduous tasks the militia men and women were performing for their country.

You had that idea at the back of your minds; nevertheless, your main objective was to be critical of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and so, you approached the situation at hand from a different angle, by beginning to swing the sympathy that people felt for them on to yourselves.

"mayors pushed ahead, saying there are economic problems in the United States with a more pressing priority than the massive spending on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq,". (The English grammar not mine).

Whom were you kidding; and how deceitful could you be, after ratcheting up, in your speeches, all kinds of reasons and excuses against the spending on what the military did, which deserved more credence from you instead?

Their efforts and sacrifices became secondary and placed one step behind your very own problems; particularly, those spending cuts that you were facing in your respective cities and townships.
Then, almost at the same time, you went back and forth, trying to drum up support for them.
You were, in practice, putting two opposing factors on the same platter, so to speak?

The main action on your agenda was, "Calling on Congress to redirect military spending to domestic priorities,"; as well as the several "Whereas" clauses, each of which came with its own specific demand, made the whole meeting of the Mayors more deceptive, if not defective, since the focus was on you, rather than on anyone else. The attributes displayed in many of your statements were sham; and so they made the skin crawl.

Mayors must talk about what was happening in their own cities and hometowns that should be put right, such as making transportation easy to navigate and more affordable; more doctors and hospital personnel, who were available to take good care of their citizens, and to make sure that crowded ERs were not an everyday occurrence in local and main hospitals; clean water entering homes; getting the youth to be more productive by providing training programs and facilities that would create opportunities for them, and to help them in their education; as well as environmental conditions being suitable for healthy living in all communities for all and sundry.

All that were practically missing in the Mayors' endeavors; and so, they inadvertently ended their resolution with a plea to the U.S. Government, by saying,

" Be it further resolved, that the U.S. Conference of Mayors calls on the president and the U.S. Congress to end these wars as soon as strategically possible and to bring these war dollars home to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy.".

It seemed they did not know what they were actually referring to; except that they were just repeating what has been on the forefront of information in the country; and as far as media news dissemination was concerned, their pronouncements were "old news".

In fact, from start to the conclusion, the Resolution was common knowledge. The general public knew what the Mayors would do and say. They would critique and blame their budget issues on the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, why should it be so? Have they not got something better to do with their time? Many people would ask those questions.

At this point, one is forced to give advise to the Mayors; thus, "Get to do something new and realistic for your taxpayers, Mayors. The soldiers fighting those two wars need your full and wholehearted support. They are the ones making it possible for you to function. Remember New York City and Washington D.C. on September 11, 2001?". That will be a wake up call for them.