Freedom Isn't Free

It was - and is continued to be - paid for by the sacrifices of the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

Why I'm in a Skimpy Bikini Today

I'm sitting at my computer right now, in a skimpy, wet bikini with towels protecting the chair and floor. Why? Why am I not out back in our pool, having a good time with the rest of my family and friends?

Well, I will be back out there in a few minutes and in about an hour or so we'll be eating barbequed steak, hamburgers, sipping on cold pop and munching on assorted vegetables, chips and other delights.

But I just wanted to take a few minutes today as the clock nears 3 pm - not this past Friday, Saturday or Sunday - but today, to remind myself and everyone else why I have that freedom to wear what I want, eat what I want, live where I want, worship where I want, work where I want.

My friend Becky reminded me earlier of a speech former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee gave back in 2007. Maybe some of you have heard this part of it, but it bears repeating every now and then, especially on days like today:

I have a friend who’s a schoolteacher at the Robinson High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. Her name is Martha Cothren. She’s a social studies teacher and a coach on the side.

Back in September of 2005, on the first day of school, Martha Cothren did something that I’ll never forget.

Martha, on the first day of school, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal and the building supervisor, took all of the desks out of the classroom.

The kids came into first period, they walked in, there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said, ''Ms. Cothren, where’s our desk?''

And she said, ''You can’t have a desk until you tell me how you earn them.''

They thought, ''Well, maybe it’s our grades.''

''No,'' she said.

''Maybe it’s our behavior.''

And told them, ''No, it’s not even your behavior.''

And so they came and went in the first period, still no desks in the classroom. Second period same thing. Third period.

By early afternoon television news crews had gathered in Ms. Cothren’s class to find out about this crazy teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom.

The last period of the day, Martha Cothren gathered her class. They were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the room. And she says, ''Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily.'' She said, ''Now I’m going to tell you.''

Martha Cothren went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each one carrying a school desk.

And they placed those school desks in rows, and then they stood along the wall. And by the time they had finished placing those desks, those kids for the first time I think perhaps in their lives understood how they earned those desks.

Martha said, ''You don’t have to earn those desks. These guys did it for you. They put them out there for you, but it’s up to you to sit here responsibly to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid a price for you to have that desk, and don’t ever forget it.''

My friends, I think sometimes we forget that the freedoms that we have are freedoms not because of celebrities. The freedoms are because of ordinary people who did extraordinary things, who loved this country more than life itself, and who not only earned a school desk for a kid at the Robinson High School in Little Rock, but who earned a seat for you and me to enjoy this great land we call home, this wonderful nation that we better love enough to protect and preserve with the kind of conservative, solid values and principles that made us a great nation.

Today we honor those that never came back home, that died on battlefields in Gettysburg, on the USS Maine in Havana harbor, in Las Marías, on fields in France and Belgium, on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor, in the jungles of the Philippines, on beaches in Normandy and Iwo Jima, in the cold waters of the North Atlantic, in the skies over Korea and Vietnam, while sleeping in barracks in Beriut, in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, all over the world, for a cause greater than themselves: for our freedom and those of others.

Let's never forget them.

Hillary Clinton Slams Muslim World for Its Treatment of Women

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chastised the Muslim world on yesterday for its despicable treatment of women, saying ''You can't claim to have a democracy if half the population is silenced.''

Clinton made her remarks during the first U.S.-Islamic World Forum held in the United States. Below are some excerpts.

''Today, the long Arab winter has begun to thaw. For the first time in decades, there is a real opportunity for lasting change, a real opportunity for people to have their voices heard and their priorities addressed.

''Now, this raises significant questions for us all...

''Much has been accomplished already. Uprisings across the region have exposed myths that for too long were used to justify a stagnant status quo. You know the myth that governments can hold on to power without responding to their people's aspirations or respecting their rights; the myth that the only way to produce change in the region is through violence and conflict; and, most pernicious of all, the myth that Arabs do not share universal human aspirations for freedom, dignity, and opportunity. ...

''There was a time when those of us who championed civil society or worked with marginalized minorities or on behalf of women, or were focused on young people and technology, were told that our concerns were noble but not urgent. That is another false narrative that has been washed away. Because these issues – among others – are at the heart of smart power – and they have to be at the center of any discussion attempting to answer the region's most pressing questions. ...

''Will the door to full citizenship and participation finally open to women and minorities? The first Arab Human Development Report in 2002 found that Arab women's political and economic participation was the lowest in the world. Successive reports have shown little progress. The 2005 report called women's empowerment – and I quote again – a 'prerequisite for an Arab renaissance, inseparably and causally linked to the fate of the Arab world.' ...

''In both Egypt and Tunisia, we have also seen troubling signs regarding the rights and opportunities of women. So far women have been excluded from key transitional decision-making processes. When women marched alongside men through Tahrir Square in the early days of the revolution, they were part of making the change that Egypt was seeking. When they recently walked again through the square to celebrate International Women's Day in their new democracy, they were met by harassment and abuse. You cannot have a claim to a democracy if half the population is left out.

''And we know from long experience that building a successful democracy is a never-ending task. More than 200 years after our own revolution, we are still working on it. Because real change takes time, hard work, and patience – but it is well worth the effort. As one Egyptian women's rights activist said recently, 'We will have to fight for our rights… It will be tough, and require lobbying, but that's what democracy is all about.'

''In a democracy, you have to persuade your fellow citizens, men and women alike, to go along the path that you wish to take. And we know that democracy cannot be transplanted wholesale from one country to another. People have the right and responsibility to devise their own government. But there are universal rights that apply to everyone and universal values that undergird vibrant democracies everywhere.''