to the Japanese

Happy Pearl Harbor Day! It's 8PM-ish on the 6th here in DC, but it's already December 7th in East Asia.

Japan and America. Quite the love story, eh? Two cultures that spend so much time and effort kicking each other's asses (and cross-pollinating in the process) will inevitably develop some close, weird ties. Here's to you, your pink hair, your weird pop, and those wacked-out girlie go-go boots, Japan. Here's to Tom Cruise and his latest Scientology-approved opus on US-Japanese relations.

More seriously... to our Pearl Harbor vets in the US: thank you. To vets in general: thank you. We enjoy the freedom of our armchair punditry thanks to your vigilance. You will never find me in a crowd demonstrating against you. While I might have occasional gripes about the military in a vague, general sense, I don't doubt what it does for us. Not for a second. To my own Dad, who was Air Force in the 60s, then Air Force Reserve in the 80s and MD Air Nat'l Guard AeroMedical Wing in the 90s (and who did stints in Saudi and Aviano, Italy) I say: thank you, Senior Master Sargeant. And to friends who serve without a uniform in the arena of defense tech: thank you. (You know who you are.)

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