In fact - as should have been apparent to President Bush and Senator McCain - the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was. That's why the second goal of my new strategy will be taking the fight to al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It is unacceptable that almost seven years after nearly 3,000 Americans were killed on our soil, the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11 are still at large. Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahari are recording messages to their followers and plotting more terror. The Taliban controls parts of Afghanistan. Al Qaeda has an expanding base in Pakistan that is probably no farther from their old Afghan sanctuary than a train ride from Washington to Philadelphia. If another attack on our homeland comes, it will likely come from the same region where 9/11 was planned. And yet today, we have five times more troops in Iraq than Afghanistan.

This is a really good speech...

The common perception about the current mortgage crisis is that clueless first-time home buyers were conned by dishonest savvy lenders. An article in the LA Times reports that first time buyers make up only 10% of the borrowers involved in the mortgage melt down. The other 90% were already homeowners.

Some of these homeowners bought bigger homes and financed them with a sub-prime mortgage. However, a majority refinanced their homes to draw cash out of their equity. Who doesn’t remember getting the direct mail offers from lenders to refinance “100% or even 125% of the equity in your home” at incredibly low interest rates.

Most people saw through the hype knowing that if it sounds too good to be true it probably is. They saw it would put their wealth and their future at risk. Many who found themselves caught between the rising price of day-to-day living and lower wages saw the cash out refi as the answer to their problem of not being able to maintain a certain life style or even make ends meet. To some, it was the only way to hold on to the American Dream.

I am very fortunate to work in the motion picture industry, as it provides incredibly strong health insurance. However in the past 5 years I have seen my once stellar coverage fall into a state of contraction as the entire national health care system has been imploding. While I still have very decent coverage, I read in the newspapers and online how those who are insured are being denied coverage simply because they have become ill.

Think of all the roofs! Heck, think of all the surfaces of any kind sitting there in the sun absorbing all that heat energy.