Veteran’s Day always brings to mind that LIFE cover photo of the sailor kissing the nurse. I was too young at the time to be much interested in kissing girls but I sure remember all the bells ringing, horns blowing and people pouring out of their homes at the announcement of Japan’s surrender that meant the end of WWII. Edith Shain may have been that nurse as she claims, but whether or not what she is quoted as saying about the photo and that moment in time is certainly true: "As for the picture… it says so many things -- hope, love, peace and tomorrow. The end of the war was a wonderful experience, and that photo represents all those feelings."

Those years between the attack on Pearl Harbor and V-J Day were hard ones for us here on the Home Front. What with so many loved ones being killed and maimed in the war, the rationing and other hardships it had seemed a very long and never-ending saga of bad news interspersed with stories of heroism and victories. But with the announcement of Japan’s surrender most of us were of the same mind as Edith that the end of the war would bring “hope, love, peace and tomorrow.” These feelings were shattered by the growing realization of how our government had lied to us about the events of WWII, the Korean “conflict” a short time later, the Cold War, Vietnam, and a stream of unrelenting wars since with all the war profiteering going on. Looking at what America has become, I have to question what all the sacrifice of WWII and the following wars has really been about? If the dead that were sacrificed could arise, what would be their judgment in view of what America has become?

Quite candidly, our government lied to us back then during and after WWII and has never stopped lying since. As I grew older and began to study the many variations of “official” proclamations by our government concerning WWII and all the wars thereafter it became obvious the whole is filled not only with the lies but mysteries as well, a prominent one being why we got the bomb before Germany or Japan? The answer for me in light of the many obstacles working against such a thing ever happening is Israel in fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

The PBS presentation “Journey to Palomar” was a marvelous tribute to the genius and perseverance of George Ellery Hale. Few of us are not fascinated by the mysteries of the universe, but solving some of these may prove to be as intractable as some mysteries on our own planet such as those of the Sphinx, the great pyramids of Giza, JFK, RFK, and 9/11. You would at least think the mysteries on our own planet, particularly those of recent history would be easier to solve than the mysteries of the universe, but now the mystery of Barack Hussein Obama who given his shady and mysterious background, the MSM adoration without any of the hard questions being asked would seem a fairytale, something so fanciful no one in their right mind would have believed possible!

While we are told a DNA test has proved Steve Fossett was killed in that crash the mystery surrounding it remains, such as the ELT not being activated by the impact and what he was doing in that area? There are his various connections to those in power, that as with JFK, RFK, and 9/11 leave many questions unanswered; and the lack of incontrovertible answers leads naturally to conspiracy theories; but these aside few of us who lived the events of WWII only to discover how our government lied to us then and thereafter are very likely to believe “official” stories like the Warren and 9/11 Commissions. If it comes out of government, we now take it as lies to cover up the truth and protect the guilty. And who does not shudder at the pronouncement “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you.”

And now as I haul out the aluminum foil, if there had been no Hitler there would be no modern State of Israel; but what a horrific price to pay for a homeland for Jews! But when I consider the hellishness of those atomic bombs, had Hitler or Tojo gotten the bomb first there is no doubt these atomic weapons would have been used on America and there would be no Israel!

But there it is; the miracle of Israel bearing testimony to the faithfulness of God’s promise to Abraham. There are ominous portents on the horizon for America, and the fact our government lies to us to protect the wealthy and their bought politicians does not bode well for the immediate future. And without hope of anything really changing for the better who has hope for the long term welfare of our nation? I watch what role Israel is playing in current affairs; and from this I believe we can discern what the future holds for America and the world. What I don’t see in these portents is the euphoria of the “hope, love, peace and tomorrow” that picture on the cover of LIFE represented to us at the end of WWII.