Interesting facts for July 13 th in history: 1789: Bastille Day-citizens of Paris storm Bastille prison, 1850: 1st public demonstration of ice made by refrigeration, 1857: Maytag invented washing machine, 1910: William Hanna born, animator (Hanna-Barbera), 1927:1st commercial airplane flight in Hawaii, 1958 King Faisal II PM of Iraq, assassinated in Baghdad, 1965: US Mariner IV, 1st Mars probe, passes at 6,100 miles (9,800 km), 1976: Jimmy Carter wins Democratic pres nomination in NY, 1987:Lt Col Oliver North concludes 6 days of Congressional testimony, 1987:Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law, 1990: " Howard Stern's Summer Show" premiers on WWOR-TV, 2006:U.S. Stocks Tank with news of Middle East Violence, Oil Prices at record high.

Have you seen what is happening in the Middle East currently? I know this is a little off subject in regards to community events... but this does concern all of us. Recent events have sparked an Israeli response that has the potential to set the Middle East ablaze. The reason I say this concerns us all is because if this goes full scale, who do you think will back Israel? That's right the U.S. And we will back Israel with the lives of our soldiers, at a cost that will be devastating.

Israel started a military offensive to pressure Palestinian Militants to release a captured Israeli soldier a few weeks ago. This had me nervous. Now Hezbollahguerillas havecaptured two more Israeli soldiers. This has me VERY nervous. There are a ton of strings controlling the puppets of this incident. An additional Israeli offensive is shelling Lebanon with artillery and the Lebanese government has come out saying "our hands are tied". The Lebanese government has no control over the Hezbollah, they are funded and controlled by Iran who would love to see the democracy in Lebanon crushed.

The fact Lebanon has no control over the Hezbollah does not make any difference to the Israelis. Still, the airport in Beirut was crushed by (American made) Israeli Helicopter Gunships and Jets. The Israelis were nice enough to drop thousands of leaflets over Lebanon warning the citizens to stay away from any Hezbollah controlled areas. This of coarse caused a massive wave of panic resulting in a mass exodus of Beirut and many other large cities.

I back our government in whatever decision they make, this I must make clear. All throughout history we have paid for freedom with the blood of our military. I don't want to see this escalate to the point we are involved and our troops are at risk. Our military is spread thin currently and we see reports of more U.S. deaths everyday on the news.

I pray for a peaceful resolution to this, although the history of that region makes peace seem impossible.

Thanks for reading and God Bless you all, our troops, and this country.

- Timothy J Miller