Two more chilling stories of thwarted teenage school massacre plots have stunned Americans once again. Police, in April, uncovered a plan by five Riverton, Kansas teenage boys just hours before the attack. Several days later, police arrested six North Pole, Alaska seventh-graders planning to kill students and teachers.

France has been experiencing civil unrest that threatens the future of its political leaders. Germany recently faced labor strikes involving over 30,000 workers. Italy has just concluded a very rocky and divisive national election.

Avian flu, in the form of the A(H5N1) virus, is winging its way across the globe with alarming speed. Experts still disagree about its ultimate ability to inflict a worldwide epidemic on the human family

Natural resources often play powerful roles in global conflicts. In modern times, the most highly populated nations have often had the weakest economies, and thus have never been able to consume vast amounts of natural resources.

As we remembered 1776 and celebrated the anniversary of the birth of the United States of America, countless Americans were reminded, if only for a day, of the heroic beginnings of this great nation.

Many years have passed since that sweltering summer in Philadelphia when the Declaration of Independence was signed, but they are only a short time in the flow of history. Extraordinary men laid it all on the line as the colonies broke away from the motherland and started a new, sovereign nation.