Who says, "War is hell?" In Colorado Springs it's a carnival! The F-16 Thunderbirds, the F-18 Hornet Demo Aerobatics Team, the F-15 Eagle Demo Team, and numerous other airborne "entertainers" will regale the public for hours. "Sound and fury signifying nothing"? Not quite. It's a circus to sell the wonderful game of war to children. Balloons, loud screeches and booms. Sitting in a cockpit. Looking at cool consoles.  Music, uniforms everywhere. Just like the ones it is hoped the young will wear soon if they are not already in some unit of "Young Marines" or "Junior ROTC".

That adults engage in celebrations such as this is one thing, but to teach children that war and war machines are just fun and games is disingenuous and cynical. . The Pentagon gets to go all out with the benefit of tax dollars to host a war extravaganza. What a boost for the lagging recruitment campaigns of the U.S. military!!

If parents bring their children on "field trips" such as this, surely they must present the other side of the issue. Perhaps a visit to a VA rehab hospital to meet the limbless, traumatized surviving victims of war. Or sitting down and watching a documentary on the Iraq victims in the current war with emphasis on the dead and dying children.

And just how will we tell them that Uncle Sam, with General Lord as his agent, is now taking all this war machinery into the heavens, the place of the stars and planets so we can spread this horror to the far flung reaches of our galaxy?