All three wars are of course intertwined.  Many Republicans don't want more Ukraine support, exacerbating their civil war.  The conflicts in and around Israel could well bring order to Congress, which in the House will mean bipartisan cooperation. About that Middle East conflict : The numbers are in flux, with deaths rising past 1000 and hostages in the scores. Then again, there is little being said about two  Afghanistan earthquakes this weekend, killing more than 2000 . While there seems to be no immediate terroristic threat at this time to the continental USA, we are most definitely involved, and Congress will need to quickly add funding for Israel. The Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, with a task force of 5,000 personnel, has been deployed to this area.   Carrier cost $17.5 billion . The grave danger is expansion to other parts of the region.   However, this might not happen  because it is more and more appearing that the attack occurred because the Hama

  For some, there is Heaven.  Of course, Heaven means different things to people, as, for example, to Fred Astaire singing   Cheek to Cheek   in Top Hat, it's dancing with Ginger Rogers.  This version finished #15 on AFR's 100 Years of 100 Songs, and   Rotten Tomatoes  reviewers gave the movie a 100% rating.   Then there was that  promise of 72 virgins in heaven  for Muslim martyrs, but you had to be a male to take advantage of this reward.  Then again, maybe not.  However, more recently, it was determined that there was a mistranslation of the  Quran , and the truth was that it was raisins, not virgins.  Some have even pinpointed white raisins. To most, though, Heaven is an ultimate place where you live in harmony and comfort forever.  Yes, an  eternal afterlife .  Yet, maybe this is only for Christians and Muslims.  Although Buddhists can attain Nirvana and Hindus can become one with the Brahman, which sounds like a kind of heaven.  Don't have time for all  4,000 religion

Religion was not a particularly important part of my youth into adulthood, and remains so today.  My parents were Buddhists, but nothing too spiritual.  It was mostly cultural. As our home in Kakaako was only a block or so from a large park owned by a Christian church, I spent a lot time there, and sort of became a Christian. In any case, my knowledge of religion was minimal.  So when I began to write  Simple Solutions for Humanity , I had to  begin educating myself by reading books  like: B. Toropov and L. Buckles ,   The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the World’s Religions [IDIOT] , Alpha Books, New York, 1997. This could well have been my first and favorite book on religion. I was brought up a Buddhist, attended a neighborhood Christian church because it had a fun summer school program, went through a few months of Catechism in high school, joined a Nisei Methodist Church because that was socially convenient, participated in Presbyterian rituals at Stanford University, went back to Buddh