Again.

Returning home from work, again the flags ring the funeral home down the street. Would it be that every day we remember the country is at war, and the prices being paid by somebody else's kin:

Sometime this afternoon between 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Sgt. Joshua Brennan will return to the Madison area with a heroes welcome. Sgt. Brennan was recently killed in action while serving in Afghanistan. Josh's Dad Mike is a Madison police officer, and Josh's dream was to become a Madison police officer after completing his tour of duty. Josh's obituary can be found in this morning's Wisconsin State Journal. The family would like the public to see how a hero is honored. The Madison police honor guard, and a contigent of other officers will help escort Sgt. Brennan's body from Chicago to the Gunderson Funeral Home

He died fighting:

A highly decorated soldier, Brennan did not die immediately in the ambush. He was shot in the chest, but was still alive when Taliban fighters tried to drag him away, Brennan said. A medic who stood up to throw hand grenades at the Taliban and prevent them from taking Brennan was also killed.
...
Josh Brennan expected to finish his military service Sept. 23, his father said, but his term was extended another year under the government 's stop-loss policy to retain troops.

Brennan was at first upset at the continuation of his duties, his father said. He offered to write letters on behalf of his son to politicians to battle the order and contacted Sen. Herb Kohl 's office. But Josh Brennan told his father he 'd rather fight another year than watch from abroad while his friends and fellow soldiers faced injury and death.

Meanwhile, back in Israel:

RIMONIM PRISON, Israel (Reuters) - Twelve years to the day he assassinated Yitzhak Rabin, the late Israeli prime minister's killer held a ritual circumcision for his new son on Sunday as supporters and protesters scuffled outside his prison.

Yigal Amir, who shot Rabin at a peace rally in Tel Aviv on November 4, 1995, became a father last Sunday.
...
Several dozen protesters scuffled with right-wing supporters of Amir outside Rimonim Prison in central Israel before his wife, Larissa, arrived with the couple's baby and relatives. Amir's younger brother waved the victory sign.

Amir has said he shot Rabin to stop him from handing parts of the biblical "Land of Israel," to the Palestinians in peace negotiations.

Tens of thousands of Israelis attended an annual memorial for Rabin on Saturday in the square where he was killed. His daughter, Dalia Rabin, said the court's decision to allow the circumcision to go ahead behind prison walls was "disgusting."

Amir, a polarizing symbol for hard-line nationalist supporters and for liberals who revile him, was allowed to marry three years ago and permitted conjugal visits after winning a series of court battles. His wife is a Russian immigrant who has four children from a previous marriage.

Talk about being tough on crime. Conjugal visits for an assassin?? And almost a quarter of extremist Israelis think this man should get out in 20 years? The "G-d gave it to us" argument?

Until America mans up and addresses the Israeli-Palestinian problem, I think little will come of our efforts to invade Iraq and perhaps bomb Iran to make the world safe for Israel. Why should she be allowed nuclear weapons, yet her enemies not? Smells like an artificial imbalance to me...

God Bless those serving, and those killed in action. God help those who won't help themselves by taking the efforts necessary to put down their extremists and compromise sooner rather than later. Security comes from within, and one day, there won't be enough men like Sgt. Brennan to do the dirty work for others.

Rabin understood that. Peres does too. These younger generations? Not so much... They're still drunk on military might, thinking technology overcomes all. That you can kill your way to victory. Only when the Israelis and Palestinians are exhausted of all the needless bloodshed will any compromising be done. I think the Pali's are there; the Israelis? Not so much...