Over the last five years, more than 4,000 brave young Americans have given their lives in the service of this country. Thousands more have been wounded, some maimed for life. More and more of their countrymen seem persuaded that they shouldn’t have been ordered into Iraq, but surely no one can deny that our troops have marched into the jaws of death believing they’re truly defending all of us, our mutual home, and its well-being.

It’s tragic, of course, and we lament the deaths, the suffering, the disproportionate sacrifices our military families have made. And along with the physical costs, a tremendous lot has been made of the financial cost to American taxpayers, which involves all of us. This, too, seems especially regrettable.

Don’t mess with a Marine. Definitely not with my favorite Marine, Jim Martin. Jim is president of The 60 Plus Association, a dynamic and politically influential seniors organization, based in our nation’s capitol.

So, the Pope came to town.

There are so many important things to write about, today and every day. But I don’t want to let this time pass without sharing my personal memories of a magnificent man — my friend Charlton Heston.

I remembered it only vaguely, so I pulled out my Encyclopedia Americana and read the following about the Pied Piper of Hamelin: "According to a German legend he was a magician who promised to rid the town of Hamelin from rats for a stipulated sum of money.