On June 22 the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution to consider a bill to permanently eliminate the Estate Tax (skillfully spun by the Republican neo-cons as "death tax").

If Congress approves this bill and it is signed into law, it will mean our treasury will realize an additional deficit of  $283,000,000,000 (that's BILLION) over the next decade, a time when our soaring national deficit can least afford this additional blow.

While we have soldiers fighting far from home this Memorial Day, it's time to honor their service and that of all servicemen and women in our armed forces who came before them.

I served two combat tours of duty in Vietnam commanding an infantry platoon in the 101st Airborne. Having received the Bronze Star with V Device for Valor, I know that lip service doesn't cut it.

Every day our young men and women in uniform make incredible sacrifices for all of us.

We owe them our allegiance and our respect.

They uphold the principles and beliefs this nation was founded on, principles we too easily forget.

And we do easily forget...

Each of us knows that we have lost almost 2,500 of our nation's finest soldiers in the Iraq war already, but that number doesn't tell us the whole story.

Over 17,000 of our troops have been wounded in action. The good news, if there is any, is many more survive today than in past wars. The bad news is they end up living with sometimes unspeakable injuries. In fact, the number of our soldiers who come home with brain injuries is staggering.

Congress is extending tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans again, but at a great cost to the rest of us.  Sure, our representatives tell us they help all Americans, but that's not true - unless you think all Americans are helped by giving workers who make under $40,000 a year a refund of LESS than $17, while those who make over $1 million a year will get about $43,000.

Why are we giving $43,000 to people who already have more money than most of us will ever earn in a lifetime?