It’s the eve of the 4th of July. It’s an interesting holiday for me. I have a pretty fierce patriotic streak so the real importance is obvious. As for the way the day is celebrated, it can’t get over fast enough for me. Any time it is the purpose of a “holiday” to mix alcohol and explosives there is legitimate reason for concern. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I am just like everyone else in that my impulses often are not ready for prime time but some of the acts of incredible stupidity performed in the search of an “OOOO, AHHHH” after an explosion boggle even this simple mind. Based on that ‘worldview’ I tend to lay low and pray for a passing of the holiday with no emergency room visits.

The real reason for thankfulness on this day of remembrance and celebration is the one that we often get uncomfortable with. It’s the fact that good men and women have fought and died for our freedom. That’s just a fact. We live in a world where there are very bad people who want to do harm to us. We have to defend ourselves. At times we need to be the aggressor.

Political views aside though today we all need to celebrate our freedom and remember those who gave their all for it. Not one of them has died in vain in my opinion. They died for their country out of duty and honor regardless of ideology. They served and followed orders. They cared enough to do what our leaders thought was right no matter how right or wrong history will see the decisions.

Our troops are true heroes. I love them and respect them. If I meet someone who is serving or who has served I make sure I thank them. It’s the absolute least I could do. To think that we have treated veterans as inhumanely as we have in the past is a true disgrace. If you ever get angry at a soldier you are placing your anger in the wrong place. They are heroes because they follow orders and keep the common good in the forefront. They put themselves last regardless of their political views.

Imagine a country or a world where self promotion and love of self were replaced by an attitude of sacrifice and love of another. Can’t imagine that can you? Unfortunately neither can I. I can, however, give a measure of respect to those whose job is to protect the rights of those they either agree or disagree with. That’s a true hero. Jesus himself said that “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Of course, Jesus then called us all his friend with His sacrifice.

So today, take a brief moment to pray or simply think of those who are right at this moment doing a duty that they volunteered for. If you meet someone who has served to protect (don’t forget police and firefighters on this front either), shake their hand, look them in the eye and sincerely thank them.

Happy 4th of July. If you are one of those who has served please leave a note here. Regardless of your ideology or anything else, I am deeply grateful and indebted to your model of sacrifice. As it said in the letter to my grandmother from President Roosevelt about my grandfathers death in World War II I feel that your sacrifice indeed “humbles the undertakings of most men.” Thank you and may the Lord protect you and your family.

Back in October of 2008 Google reached a settlement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers that has drawn attention from monopoly theorists and general anti-business forces since its inception. As I have stated before I am not a Google apologist but if it wasn’t for them there wouldn’t be a lot of the only business that is still working during this time of tax and spend.

To learn about the whole process and hear more ramblings of a free market advocate visit my post over at Marketing Pilgrim. Love me or hate me you’ll cetianly never doubt where I stand on these things.

There are a ton of opinions and angles to this and they can be found over at Marketing Pilgrim in one of my posts for today.

Now the federal government thinks that it needs to monitor the tracking practices of companies. While there are certainly privacy issues that are critical for everyone the online advertising industry is attempting to police itself before the fed gets it’s greedy little hands on the industry for more control. Get the details over at Marketing Pilgrim.

Here’s my quick take. I think that Microsoft should do a quick re-branding effort and instead of Bing they should rename their decision engine Bong because you would have to be high to think that Microsoft is going to impact Google’s dominant market position with its offering.

I take a look at this in more detail over at Marketing Pilgrim today.

There are some implications for all involved and they are explored in some detail today over at Marketing Pilgrim with my post “Google Street View Changes Image in Germany”.

On the surface it looks like a winner for a lot folks. I have written about it over at Marketing Pilgrim with the post “Staples Uses Facebook to Help School Kids”