Too good not to post:  I have to quote Jeffrey Reinberg from his posted comment regarding Milton Friedman's hosing of Phil Donahue 30 years ago.
These are the simple facts of human nature. If people don't have free rides to lives of sedentary consumption, they have to earn their livings. To earn a living you need to produce value to others that creates a surplus for you to supply your own means to survival. You produce with your labor and/or with your brain. To the degree that you produce more than similar others (now your Global friends and neighbors) your rewards grow at a greater rate. Some people are bigger and stronger than others, so if society values and rewards those skills above others these people have an advantage. Good or bad, it is simply a fact. Since not everyone can be bigger and stronger, the mind is the equalizer. If you educate your mind continuously you will learn other skills or invent things of value. Working smarter and harder is a good combination for you to create more than enough to sustain yourself and allows you to help and/or employ others so they can produce more than they consume. This is only possible in a democratic, free-enterprise society. History shows that socialist or communist societies are created and can only exist by taking the surplus developed through free enterprise, but since such societies under produce for what they consume, they fail. Such is the case when the Federal Government of a Free Enterprise Society takes increasingly more from it's peoples' productivity and spends it without reasonable controls. Federal Governments produce no surplus for its people, in fact it does not produce anything but expense. That is what we are living through in our own Country. Somewhere along the line, the government lost site of its role, spent more money than its people could produce, then blamed the problem on its people. 

ta-da!

So, My latest efforts that give me pause and drive my thoughts....
I am one of the founding members of the CHS (Claremont High School) Alumni Society and chairman of the Veterans Committee.  The Society was formed this year in honor of the 100th year anniversary of the High School, yep that's The Centennial of CHS. I have undertaken the efforts to gain recognition for all CHS alumni who have answered this nation's call in time of war and time of peace. I have searched at length and can tell you that there is no record of CHS classmates who either joined the Military right out of high school or later after college or after time has passed.  However, the transition to serve the country, the records just don't show. 

So I have started communicating with as many classmates and others on the alumni society to gain, through their personal interactions and their social networking of choice, access to as many CHS alumni veterans as possible.  What a project, I've written to local newspaper columnists, spoken with school officials, joined the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), joined the local American Legion and broadcasted my search wherever I could.

To date, I have garnered information on over 220 alumni veterans; names, CHS class, Branch of service and in many cases theater of participation in times of war. Looking at the demographics and breadth of class participation in these results I believe that I have probably around half of the actual number and I have participation from the classes of the 50' and 60's much more than the other classes.  Followed by the 70's and then 80's.

I am seriously lacking any intelligence on veterans from the classes before 1950 and after 1995; observation- the more recent classes are still young enough to be constantly looking forward and can't be bothered with things like 'records' and 'annals'.  The classes before the 50's are probably very lean in number of survivors to 'tell the story'.

If you can help...please do. I hope to present this record to the school and to the local American Legion on 11/11/11, Veterans Day 2011 at a ceremony in Memorial Park-for effect.  I am in conjunction with this effort working with CHS to gain a memorial spot on campus to place a permanent marker to thank those CHS alumni who have answered the call.