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vendredi 9 août 2019

Caught in the Middle: How the Internet Can Improve and Destroy Lives

Our access to information has never been as convenient. In ancient times, only young men were allowed to go to school and learn about philosophers and literature. When the ultra-conservative Middle Ages came along, knowledge was left in the hands of the religious, and wouldn't see a renewal until the Renaissance. As the centuries passed, people were granted greater access to information, until our modern day scholars decided to make things easier for everyone.

From libraries stocking books in order, we moved to databases that stored information in a way that it could be stored, searched through, and retrieved. These databases and the way they were managed were brought online, where they came to the Information Superhighway. The Internet has since revolutionized the way that knowledge is accessed, and has given people from all over the world a chance to learn more and do more.

People are also now, more than ever, eager to share their expertise on specialized subjects, and help out those in need through the ease of online communication. What are some of the advantages offered by the Internet?

• Some sites offer knowledge and information for free or a minimal fee. The online free encyclopedia Wikipedia, for instance, has allowed users to post their knowledge on certain topics, and has given users the chance to access this knowledge as they would a real encyclopedia. There are also many other sites that offer information for free, such as science sites offering modules that science teachers can use when performing experiments, or clothing sites offering online courses in fashion design.

• Not all libraries carry the books that we need, so online merchants such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble sell books, allowing more people all over the world to buy them. With the advent of the electronic book, or e-book, people can now read books on their computers without having to pick a real heavy book up.

• Knowledge is offered in different media, depending on the learning abilities of those who need information. If a person is more visual, he or she can choose to watch a video or read an online book or pamphlet on the information he or she needs. If a person learns better through listening, however, he or she can choose to listen to audio files. This flexibility and versatility of the Internet has allowed more people to learn in the format that they want and are most comfortable with.

The beneficiaries of this technology are undoubtedly our children. They will have an easier time doing their research for school, since information is easy to retrieve online. They can buy the books they need if their local libraries don't have them. They can learn through all means possible.

These benefits, however, come with their own risks, and we as parents are caught in the middle of a war between free speech and censorship. While there are thousands of students who benefit from the knowledge offered by the Internet, there are also thousands more who become victims of predators, such as credit card thieves or worse, pedophiles. While there are thousands of students in developing countries who find their minds opened constantly by their exposure to new mindsets and cultures, there are thousands more who find themselves duped by once trustworthy people online.

If you have a child who uses the Internet constantly, then you may want to take note of these disadvantages to better monitor your child’s Internet use.

• While information is easier to retrieve online, it can also encourage your child to simply cut and paste information, with little or no effort devoted to analysis. This can make your child lazy, and may even lead to your child being accused of plagiarism by perceptive teachers.

• Not all information online is true, and not all information online is edited. This has led to many schools banning the use of online sources and Wikipedia as references in important reports and assignments.

• Many online help forums are actually a venue for child predators to stalk new victims. Because children and teenagers often seek affirmation and help from people outside their family circle, they are more susceptible to such attacks.

• Pornography is rife online, and some multimedia sites may actually contain pornographic or disturbing images or footage. While your child learns from useful multimedia files, he or she may also be traumatized or wrongly indoctrinated if he or she accesses the wrong ones.

The Internet has its advantages and disadvantages, and we as parents have the right to be alarmed and vigilant. The wealth of information online has also allowed wrongdoing to proliferate, and we can often find ourselves caught in the middle. All that we can do is protect our children, and make sure that they have access to real books and research materials, so that they don't have to rely completely on online sources for their work.

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Free Firewalls and Children Protection Programs

History of Computer Viruses since 1989-1999

Actual Case Studies of Kids on the Internet

As people are quickly becoming more and more dependent on technology for their everyday needs and desires, particularly the use of computers, business developers in the software industry have constantly tried to look for ways to take advantage of the trend, for their own profits and for the growth of the information technology industry as a whole. Some of these include sites and software that are geared towards the younger generations, like public chat rooms and social networking sites. With the number of hits these receive daily, it is no question that these are things that children and adolescents of the present look for.

While social networking sites and chat rooms promote socializing with one another (even if it is mostly text), there are dangers that are associated with such. Some of these include exploitation, extortion, pornography, sexual advances, etc., just to name a few. Perpetrators are aware most of the time that they are dealing with children and young adults, which is why they have more confidence to do the things they do – children are far easier to trick than adults.

Actual cases of these have happened, many of them in the United States. Just recently, a female teenager in Texas sued the site MySpace, a social networking site wherein a person can meet anyone from anywhere in the world. A MySpace page can be filled with pictures, videos, and other multimedia. A fake profile of a person can be made up easily, thanks to the power of computers and technology.

The lawsuit stemmed from the fact that this female teenager was sexually assaulted by an older teenager whom she met on MySpace. This man apparently put up a fake profile in MySpace, complete with fake pictures and fake data. Through this MySpace profile, they met through the Internet; he got a hold of her phone number, met each other personally and from there, the assault took place.

Incidentally, the girl’s lawsuit didn't win. In order to prevent such incidents from occurring, one should exercise extreme caution, especially in chat rooms and social networking sites such as MySpace. The case study proves that the danger on the Internet is ever present. However, that shouldn't deter children and adults from using the Internet freely – it is just important to exercise caution when doing so, something that this young girl apparently failed to do.

In addition, the girl herself lied about her age as well, claiming that she was an 18 year old when at that time, she was actually just 13. MySpace provides the privilege of using their site only for those 14 and above. Clearly, these actions show that the young girl didn't exercise caution and was exposing herself to danger by lying about her age and flirting with other male members older than her.

Other cases also involved instant messaging chat rooms and social networking sites, such as those when perpetrators tried to steal passwords and other valuable account information from MySpace users by sending them a fake HTML code (MySpace users can insert their own HTML code into their own profiles, for the matter of customization). However, since some users are children, they are unknowingly exposing their accounts which could possibly expose their location, phone numbers, and other valuable information that should be kept private. Most of the children don’t understand HTML code and they don’t know if the effect can be positive or negative.

There are many more cases in wherein children are taken advantage of through the Internet via chat rooms or social sites. As parents, it is your duty to protect and preserve your privacy from strangers, who could use your children to get what they want. Protecting them can sometimes mean restricting their Internet time, no matter how unpopular or how unconventional that seems nowadays.

With the case of the young girl, it can be seen that parents didn't exercise much caution as well because of the fact that she was able to get by pretending to be someone she was not. The chances of the act happening the way it did could have been lessened had the parents been more careful, as well as the girl herself.

Free Firewalls and Children Protection Programs

The internet is an established part of our world, and modern education has included it in the education of our children. Unlike past generations, where the internet was as much a source of games and amusement as a tool for adults, these days our children are immersed in it. Given that it is a part of their daily lives at school, it naturally follows that we can't keep them from their computers at home so they can do research and homework on it. With that in mind, we have to keep a close watch on the things our kids do online so that they don't unwittingly become security risks in this day and age of computer-related crimes.

There are two types of programs that will help our home security over the internet immensely; the first is firewalls, which keep out viruses and spyware that our kids may accidentally touch on in the course of conducting their research. The second is child safety software, which are programs especially geared towards helping parents monitor and control their children's online time. Here are the top three free picks for firewalls and child safety programs you can download.

Firewalls

1) Comodo Firewall - one of the top picks among both free and purchaseable firewalls, comodo scans all incoming internet traffic before actually allowing it to touch any other part of your PC. It's main feature is a program behavior analyzer that detects if programs have any unusual activity that may signal a virus or worm in the program. For inert viruses it also has a trojan protocol detector that is constantly updated online.

2) Kiero Personal Firewall - this is a software that has been reported by users to offer them minimal headache in operation and use. While it's protections aren't as sturdy as some other firewall programs, it offers reasonable defense nontheless. It's main strength is it's ease of use, so that you can teach your children to operate it, giving them the benefits of learning internet security early in life.

3) Zone Alarm - this is rated as a cross between comodo and kiero. It offers more security options than Kiero and is easier to use than comodo. The most balanced choice between ease of use and security. Depending on your preferences, it can also be taught to your children, but it's advanced settings may actually cause them to mess up your firewall, so it might be a good idea to keep the operation of this software to yourself.

Child Security

1) EZ off - this program is essentially a time management software for your computer. It will automatically turn the PC on and off at scheduled intervals, allowing you to control how much time your children spend on the net. This is best used to keep your kids from playing video games past their bedtime. The timer also features a calendar and scheduler, so that you can even keep the PC running for set intervals when you're not at home.

2) Windows Supervisor - this is an office program that can also be used at home. It's main purpose is to monitor all logs made on the computer, so that you will be able to tell not only WHEN your children access the internet, you'll be able to tell what activity was running when they were there, including what sites they visited, files they up or downloaded, programs executed, and even keyboard typing done.

3) StopGame - for those who want to let their children enjoy the internet from time to time, a less-strict version of EZ off is similar to a firewall in that it lets certain, specified programs and web sites be accessed at certain times of day by the computer. If your kids are, for example, doing homework from 6pm to 8pm and you let them have game time from 8pm to 10pm, you can set this program to allow them access to certain games (that you specify) from the 8 to 10 slot. Also, taking a cue from Windows Supervisor, it will be able to monitor past activity as far as the allowed game programs listed are concerned, as well as attempts made by your kids to access other sites.

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Caught in the Middle: How the Internet Can Improve and Destroy Lives

Firewalls and Firewalls and Proxies

All About Online Abduction

The fact that the Internet is rapidly expanding backs the notion that more people are regularly using the online medium. Thus, everyday, there are tons of reports over cyber-crimes committed by online predators worldwide.

Because the Internet is an open medium for people from all walks of life, you can't always prevent your kids from getting there. When logged on the Internet, your child can be exposed to a lot of dangers. There are many predators out there that are ready to feed on innocent children within the Internet.

The Internet is a place to meet people and expand a person's social circle. However, be reminded, and also remind your kids, that not all people you may meet online are 'friend material'. Like in actual life applications, you should never easily provide trust to anybody.

Online abduction is among the most popular cyber-crimes committed by scrupulous individuals over the Internet. It isn't surprising that there have already been reports of kids getting kidnapped by people they meet over the Internet. Abductors can't abduct your child online, but there are tactics that could help them do the dirty intentions.

Because kids are just starting out in life, they have to learn things and lessons in life the hard way. It is during the childhood and puberty years of kids that you should be able to extend your protection and guidance to your kids.

Some worst case scenarios of online abduction

To learn more about how online abductions are widely committed, it would be helpful if you would be informed about how the predators do their thing. Take note that online abduction strategies are alike in many ways, so by learning the usual worst case scenarios, you can understand the process better and prepare to prevent them from occurring.

Worst case scenario 1

Your child is logged online. Because almost all his friends are raving about friendster.com, MySpace.com and several other social networking sites, it is natural that he keeps his own account. Through the site, your child can interact with his friends through the in-site interactive features like private chats, emails, bulletins and posts.

Because social networking sites are social function systems, there are features that allow people to surf the entire system to meet new people. This is where the danger sets in. There might be individuals who would befriend your child. The individual may disguise themselves as another kid the same age as your child.

The process doesn't happen over night. Cyber criminals are so patient that they are willing to spend days, weeks, months or even years establishing the friendship with your child. When your child is at ease with the person, that is when the cyber criminal attacks.

The cyber criminal can ask your kid for an eyeball, wherein they would be meeting each other personally. Most online abduction cases ever reported are committed this way. When the kid is out to take an eyeball with his friend, it turns out the meeting is a set up and the disguising friend will then abduct the kid.

Worst case scenario 2

In chat rooms and interactive channels, your kid might meet people who are out there to socialize so they could victimize innocent people. The cyber criminals might lure your kid into doing something that could compromise his safety, as well as your safety and the safety of all on your household.

The cyber criminal can ask your kid about addresses, credit card numbers and personal identification numbers on bank accounts. Since your kid is unsuspecting and is treating his online friend with so much trust, he would be willing to disclose the information asked by his friend.

When your kid divulges your address, the cyber criminal then will be able to track and monitor your kid and abduct him when there is a chance. The abductor might kidnap your kid when nobody's home except your child, or during the middle of the night when everybody is asleep.

What to do when your kid is abducted

The best thing to do when your child has been victimized by online abduction is to report the matter to the authorities. The police will extend their help in helping you find your missing child. Also retrieve the information on the Internet about your child's friends, who can be suspected of committing the cyber crime.

Keep your cool and do not panic. Experts are advising you not to give in to the demands of the abductor. If you do, you might be contributing to the continuity of such crimes. If you don't, give your full cooperation to the authorities.

Online abduction can be prevented if you educate your child about the dangers of meeting strangers on line. Do your thing now.

Monetary Finances between the Poor and the Rich

Money, money, money…

This is the cause of all that is material but the reason why man struggles so hard. The value of money is so unstoppable now. It is so important though people always try to claim that it is not that so much important. The fact is so clear that money matters… a lot.

Around the world, money determines the status of a country in the international scene. The rich ones are of course- powerful. Those which are poor are usually the subject of oppression and discrimination. Even within a country, there is a big deal between rich families and the masses. Sad to say, the gap is so big. We could claim that equality exists but there are so many obvious reasons telling us that it does not. How come many stay on the street begging for alms when many just spend to waste their financial resources?

Money is the cause of imbalance. The world has in it a promise of equality but it seems strange. Third world countries have difficult times to finance all their affairs especially education and health aspects are neglected. For other rich countries, people live with comfort and the value of their piece of coin is as much as the value of the third world’s 12 hours.

This uneven distribution of wealth and finances greatly affect all. Some countries could finance big and expensive events for a night. It may include welcoming so many guests and showing off the riches of a place. For the poorest, their government could barely prioritize their basic needs over military equipment. According to statistics, there are an overwhelming number of hungry people most especially children. This is not overwhelming but a kick on our hearts.

Countries are creating a community of amity. They share what they have while others seek the help they needed. Why some countries’ finance not suffices their people’s mere existence? This is the saddest question to answer. Why? It is because the answer is still unknown.

On the other hand, poor countries do not seem to find means to escape the pity of big countries. They just live with donations. Low financial capacity is often coupled with blaming the society for all the misfortune. The point we want to stress out is, let us not let personal inadequacies to vanish into thin air. Does a poor country strive for its personal wealth? Let us say not necessarily finances.

There is a lot of wealth around us. They come in beautiful forms but we just think money conquers all.

Improving how to spend your money

Money may not be with you all throughout the year. There are downs and ups when we talk about the financial resources and income of an individual or family. In dealing with financial difficulties, there is a need to have budgeting techniques as early as possible. There is a need for us on how to master the art of stretching the capacity of our available money.

It is but normal to commit errors especially when you are not yet used to doing things your job calls for you to. But, do not make those mistakes that you would surely regret in the long run. As soon as you could, you have to develop a great way of managing to budget your money. There are some tips you could remind yourself of. These would be points you could use in making or establishing good means to improve the way you budget your money.

Make a list of your unwanted budgeting habits. This includes all those you think of being not useful or helpful for you and your financial needs and financial security.
You plan on what to do in order to tae the first steps in changing your old habits or acts in which they made your budget method a failure.
Manage your income and the amount of money you spend by preparing a sort of tally sheet of such information.
Prepare your spend plan. This must include your foreseen expenditures.
Collect receipts and note bigger amount spent
Limit spending by looking for some alternatives to it
As much as possible do not uses much credit card or checks.

Those above-mentioned points are really a great reminder for you. If followed, you would clearly see the improvement in your budget techniques. It would surely result to better financial management capacities for you.

When this is achieved, you would definitely live a more satisfactory life. The right way of how you budget what you need as a winning one in the field of financing one’s self.

EVILS of MONEY

It is always believed that money is the root of all evils. Yes, it could be but it is not all-true. We need money for our needs. If used well, it is the greatest material asset you could have. But, if you let yourself get carried away with the things and the services money could afford without proper use would result to negative outcomes.

Money could be an angel and save you from worries and give you a life of comfort and of convenience.

On the other hand, it could lead to a worse situation.

Money could be the source of the guts to be into gambling and other forms of vicious activities. This would further result to even worse outcomes.
With money, materialism is also growing. Too much of it would be very negative in effect.
People gets too reliant on money and laziness or tardiness are triggered. This of course plunges down the dignity of work.
Money is the cause of selfishness and greed for most modern-day people. With the wrong perception that money would make one feel happy and secured, people do all means to covet it.
Relationships are broken due to the disagreement in money matters. Feuds blow up when money is at stake.
Money in form of prizes, people tend to rely on their luck by joining games of luck and become too impatient of working hard.
Fraud in the government like corruption rooted from the influence of money.

As we see it, it is not money that is evil. How people see and consider money is what matters most. Through time, money has become the wrong core of lives people have. Due to such, misery wraps the world and it all falls back to the fact that majority of people around the globe has the thinking that money buys all and money influences all.

In a shallow look, these are true but beneath the materialistic worldly eyes, there are things that money could buy and the things that are of huge essence are not necessarily things.

mercredi 7 août 2019

Child Citizen Protection Act

Various laws are made to safe guard rights of children. Child citizen protection act is one such act to safeguard their nationality. Child citizen protection act amends the nationality and immigration act. It modifies the provisions made by the previous act. Now the child citizenship act has defined some provisions for children who are born outside United States and want to acquire citizenship.

The United States of America now uses child citizen protection act to give citizenship to children that are born outside United States. A child who is born outside United States will become a member of United States if the mother or the father has citizenship of United States. In order to get a citizenship the child should be less than 18 years old.

The child should also be ready to reside in United States of America in the legal custody of the parent. The citizen parent should also have permanent residence in United States of America. In case the parent does not have any permanent residence then the parent should have a permission to make a permanent residence.

If the child satisfies all the above conditions then only he or she is fit for American citizenship. The child automatically becomes eligible for citizenship if he or she satisfies the above requirements. If the child fails to satisfy any one the above criteria then American citizenship is denied to that child.

All the above laws are applicable to children that are adopted by parents who have American citizenship. To get the citizenship the child should be legally adopted according to the rules and regulations of United States of America.

The child citizen protection act is also amended certain rules to get certificate of citizenship. Children who are born in United States but due to some reasons are staying outside United States can get certificate of citizenship if the parent i.e. father or mother apply for naturalization for the child who is born outside United States and who have not previously applied for a citizenship under child citizen protection act.

The Attorney general will then give the certificate of citizenship if the father or mother of the child has an American citizenship. The parent should also be present in United States of America for at least 5 years. The parent should also have a permanent residence in United States of America. The child intending to acquire the certificate of citizenship should be less than 18 years old.

The child should also be residing outside United States of America in the legal custody of the parent and has temporarily come to United States. The child should also have a lawful status in United States of America. If all the above conditions are met successfully by the applicant then the attorney general immediately issues the certificate of citizenship.

When the application is approved the child is supposed to an oath of allegiance before a government official of United States of America. The oath of allegiance has been made mandatory by the child citizen protection act.

Arizona Child Protection Attorney Search

Today children are becoming victim of many vicious forms of mental and physical abuse. Child abuse is a form of cruelty that is in most cases intentionally done to harm the child. Children who are victims of child abuse loose their confidence. Small accomplishments become a difficult task for such children.

It is our duty to protect a child from any kind of child abuse. Child abuse that may be sexual, emotional or physical is regarded as a crime. There are many organizations that are taking steps to control child abuse.

Various child protection laws such as child protection act, child internet protection and child protection legislation offence are passed to protect children from any kind of assaults. United States has many agencies that provide child protection services. In Arizona, a state in United States provides its own child protection services.

Arizona child protection attorney search plays a significant role in controlling child abuse. Their mission is to protect the child from any form of exploitation. It has taken initiative in enforcing child protection laws.

It provides legal representation to Economic security department on behalf of the abused child. It also gives all the necessary legal help to child protection services that make efforts in protecting the child and preserving their families.

The Arizona child protection attorney search if done properly can help you take necessary actions to protect children from any kind of harmful environment. Generally such information is found on the internet. The Arizona child protection attorney search can be done in order to visit some schools of Arizona frequently. In these schools the attorney staff organizes seminars for teachers, parents and students. Internet safe is the main topic of discussion.

They also give detail information about the internet predators during online chatting. They give useful tips when sending personal information to someone. They also give knowledge about internet crimes and the laws that are enforced to stop internet crimes. To protect children from internet predators is the top priority of the attorney staff. It also investigates cases of child abuse especially the internet crimes that are done against children.

The attorney staff provides you the necessary internet safety while browsing the internet. Frequent internet safety school tours are organized by Arizona child protection attorney search for the benefit of children. These tours have proved to be very useful for the kids.

When parents send their children to school, they are worried about their safety. There have been cases where children have been abducted from school. There are situations where students face harassment. Bulling of students is also sometimes found in schools. Parents have apprehensions about their children’s safety.

The Arizona child protection attorney search can also be done with the help of private sector has provided a hot line number. If you feel that your child is being harassed by teachers or bullied by seniors then you can always report this matter on this number.

If you feel that your child is a victim of hate crimes or you notice any suspicious activity in the school campus then the attorney staff will take strict action if such matters are reported to them.

mardi 6 août 2019

A Second Career at Craft Shows

Baby boomers are a very creative people. But so often the demands of career and raising a family leaves little time for creativity in your middle age years. But as more baby boomers complete their years of service in their careers and move toward retirement, they have plenty of energy and creativity left for a new passion in life, one that expresses all that creativity of their youth.

This is one reason we have seen such an explosion of craft fairs in the country which provide an outlet for all of that creative talent baby boomers are expressing through their arts and craft. The great thing about crafts shows is you can start wherever you are in your creative arts and continue to grow and become more skilled each passing year. To get started, you should take on this new hobby and small business with the same enthusiasm and passion you did when you were employed in your former career. That is the great thing about baby boomers having this kind of free time in the retirement years. There is so much talent and energy available that to not make it available to the public would be a crime.

It is going to take some preparation to get ready for your first craft fair. The preparation will be on three fronts. One is making contacts with the organizers of upcoming fairs and getting on the schedule to be able to display a booth there. The easiest way to find out how to do that is attend the new craft fair that comes up in the area. They are often associated with special events such as Oktoberfest or a food or music festival. By attending several as you are in your preparation period, you can accomplish several good things…

. You can look at booths of many different vendors to get ideas for your booth when you are ready to take the plunge.

. You can talk to vendors who are selling there and learn about how to go about getting on the program for this fair and to learn about upcoming events you can participate in. Don’t worry about you seeming to pose a threat as a future competition for sales. There is a camaraderie among crafters and you will enjoy the social aspect of mixing with other creative people.

. You can talk to the people who organize the show and get a feel for how you will fit in to their next event.

Another line of preparation is booth creation. It’s good if you are starting early because it will take some time and a bit of expense to get the materials together and for you to build the skills to put the booth up, take it down, move it and store it between shows. Again, your contacts with experienced craft show veterans will be invaluable for this.

Finally, but this is the most important part of your preparations is your talent and craft that you will be preparing to sell at the craft shows. You can purchase some examples of similar crafts you see doing well at the fairs you scout out. These can be templates for what you want to do. But you will impose your own creative vision on the craft so what you offer when you finally get to the craft faire will be uniquely yours and speak of your vision.

Along with these preparations, think about how you will customize your booth to draw customers in. From craft fairs you have attended in the past and the ones you scout, you will witness that there are certain booths that draw crowds and others that just don’t seem to get the customers. So you want to make your booth inviting to customers so you will reap a good return on your effort in the form of sales.

There are a variety of ways to draw customers. From candles, to contests, to videos playing, to using music or live talent to making your craft as people watch, there are many ways you can experiment around with to draw customers. You will get a unique thrill from the sales you make each day. But more importantly, you will be expressing that creative side of you and getting that fulfillment that you had to wait to this phase of life to express. And that’s a wonderful benefit of learning to sell your crafts at craft fairs.

An Aversion to War

If there ever was a baby boomer “issue” that has become engrained into the heart and psyche of a generation, it is an aversion to war due to the horrific experience if Vietnam. While a relatively small percentage of surviving baby boomers actually went to and fought in Vietnam, the scar on the national psyche was so deep that it has influenced the way baby boomers have thought about war and how they selected their government representatives for over 30 years.

This is in stark contrast to the way the parents of the Baby Boom generation viewed warfare and the use of the country’s military might. Because World War II was such a necessary conflict and winning it would be the difference between a world of freedom or domination by a cruel dictator, that fight had a nobility and a clear cut purpose to it. So when we, as Americans, banded together to defeat Nazi Germany and her allies, it was an act of world changing sacrifice and nobility that shaped that generation. To the parents of baby boomers, warfare in a noble cause was the highest calling of a nation and part of our national pride.

Everything about Vietnam was contrary to that vision. The mission was unclear and the military was not empowered to win decisively as they were in World War II. Some saw Vietnam as a puppet war in several respects. In one way it was a puppet war because the real enemy in Vietnam was not the North Vietnamese but China and Russia were using that conflict, and the Vietcong as puppets to lure the American military into a no win situation and deplete our resources and our will to fight.

Others viewed Vietnam as a puppet conflict to benefit the American military and business interests who were profiting from the conflict. While this is a cynical and harsh way to view a conflict, the distrust of the “military/industrial complex” was prevalent in the minds of a youthful baby boomer generation who saw their brothers and cousins go off to a brutal war which, in their minds, was being conducted to benefit business. Small wonder that many came out of this era bitter and resentful of big business interests. That distrust has surfaced many times over the years and it dominates discussions of modern conflicts America is involved with.

But there has been good come out of the national aversion to war that was the product of the Vietnam conflict. The anti war movement did not result in the reduction in our commitment to a strong military and the America’s military continues to be the strongest on earth. In fact, some of the ways the military has served the country in situations that were not warlike such as hurricane relief etc. has reinforced that the military as an institution is a necessary and honorable part of our society.

Moreover, the way wars since Vietnam have been conducted have shown, in many cases, that an intelligent approach to conflict will result in the wise use of our military. The current problematic conflict tends to overshadow that since Vietnam, our presidents have used the military with skill and intelligence that reflects the insistence of the baby boom generation that we don’t just be the strongest military power, we also have to be the wisest. The way small conflicts like the Balkans and the first Gulf War were conducted reflect a new strategy that avoids the tragic mistakes of Vietnam and uses our military to win decisively and quickly.

Each new conflict gives the baby boomer generation and indeed all generations before and after the chance to redefine what military superiority really means. And whatever political viewpoint we might have, it can be said that if Vietnam caused the baby boomer generation to become more reflective and call upon political leadership to show accountability and responsibility in the use of our military might, that is a good outcome of what otherwise was a very bad war.