Also a good point, but we MUST look to historical experience regarding foreign involvement in Afghanistan from Alexander the Great to the present. All met with failure and heavy cost. Times have not changed nor are they likely to. We are overextended in foreign affairs and it is threatening our national security. We need to regroup and get on with restoring the strength and vitality of the U.S. or we will no longer be able to confront real threats as they materialize....as they surely will. We have become a Don Quixote chasing windmills!

This is another example of the risks inherent when we get ourselves mired in other countries affairs because we, perhaps unwittingly, come across as hypocrites and unreliable allies. We need to place increased priority on our domestic affairs if we are to sustain ourselves.

Our involvement in the Middle East and elsewhere does not come without consequences and risks. We should always be mindful of this basic fact...and take more heed to George Washington's advice in this area. Further, we better take better care of our domestic affairs if we aim to legitimately help others toward freedom and more civilized behavior.

Sadly, the military is being socially engineered by those who do not really know the military and/or who have put political correctness above all else believing that this new policy reflects the majority of American public opinion. It is also sad to see that the Pentagon leaders are clearly not united on this issue. Hopefully, the military will put in place regulations and standards of behavior that will guard against jeopardizing lives and military discipline.

The Pentagon, during war time, should worry and concern themselves less about social engineering in the military and much more about developing plans and strategies that truly affect our national security interests, and properly address misguided foreign adventures and entanglements that undermine that effort.

This administration seems to have a tin ear when it comes to matters of national security.

Sadly, the Pentagon is more interested in pursuing social engineering policy during wartime than in crafting and pursuing the right military strategies that truly secure our national security and, hence, our individual liberties. No doubt the courts will bend to the progressive agenda, but this should not sway the Pentagon from doing its rightful job first and foremost. The future of this country is being put at risk by well intentioned but misguided government policies and programs at just about every level, including this one.

Our country is in a free fall where time tested values have been trashed. It's all pretty simple. We don't need self serving politicians telling us what is good for us; we need to tell them! As the old adage points out, "the people get the government they deserve". Wise up America!

Re: EU and the Euro: What may make sense in political-economic theory, oftentimes results in the opposite in practice! When you have "disconnected" government, you are bound to have unintended consequences, as in this case. Whatever commonality exists among European nations cannot erase their respective political and economic differences and peculiarities. There is no doubt that Europe must rethink the EU and the Euro.

The Fed's actions of late are testimony to the fact that the stimulus has not worked as intended and the only thing left is for the Fed to induce inflationary forces to bail out the economy and cover the massive government and personal debt loads. The fact of the matter is that our government has let our nation slip out of control through unwise economic and trade policies over many years to where our economic foundation has been seriously eroded. We need investment in America first and foremost. Without quality jobs and a growing, rather than contracting, middle class, we are surely going to head downward as a nation. We desperately need political and business leaders to put this country first in terms of doing the things that grow it...