A dear friend has written an article I would like to share with you. Instead of my blogg, i will give Raymond Kraft center stage. I do hope you will take a moment to read this very important piece.

SOME OF YOU MAY NOT BE OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER THAT NEARLY EVERY FAMILY IN AMERICA WAS GROSSLY AFFECTED BY WW II. MOST OF YOU MAY NOT REMEMBER THE RATIONING OF MEAT, SHOES, BUTTER, GASOLINE, AND SUGAR. NO TIRES FOR OUR AUTOMOBILES, AND A SPEED LIMIT OF 35 MILES AN HOUR ON THE ROAD, NOT TO MENTION, NO NEW AUTOMOBILES. READ THIS AND THINK ABOUT HOW WE WOULD REACT TO BEING TAKEN OVER BY FOREIGNERS IN 2008 or 2009.

Historical Significance

Sixty-three years ago, Nazi Germany had overrun almost all of Europe and hammered England to the verge of bankruptcy and defeat. The Nazis had sunk more than 400 British ships in their convoys between England and America taking food and war materials.

Then along came Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, and in outrage Congress unanimously declared war on Japan , and the following day on Germany , who had not yet attacked us. It was a dicey thing. We had few allies.

France was not an ally, as the Vichy government of France quickly aligned itself with its German occupiers. Germany was certainly not an ally, as Hitler was intent on setting up a Thousand Year Reich in Europe . Japan was not an ally, as it was well on its way to owning and controlling all of Asia .

Together, Japan and Germany had long-range plans of invading Canada and Mexico , as launching pads to get into the United States over our northern and southern borders, after they finished gaining control of Asia and Europe .

America's only allies then were England, Ireland, Scotland, Canada, Australia, and Russia . That was about it. All of Europe, from Norway to Italy (except Russia in the East) was already under the Nazi heel.

The US was certainly not prepared for war. The US had drastically downgraded most of its military forces after WW I because of the depression, so that at the outbreak of WW II, Army units were training with broomsticks because they didn't have guns, and cars with 'tank' painted on the doors because they didn't have real tanks. A huge chunk of our Navy had just been sunk or damaged at Pearl Harbor .

Britain had already gone bankrupt, saved only by the donation of $600 million in gold bullion in the Bank of England (that was actually the property of Belgium ) given by Belgium to England to carry on the war when Belgium was overrun by Hitler (a little known fact). Actually, Belgium surrendered in one day, because it was unable to oppose the German invasion, and the Germans bombed Brussels into rubble the next day just to prove they could.

Britain had already been holding out for two years in the face of staggering losses and the near decimation of its Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain, and was saved from being overrun by Germany only because Hitler made the mistake of thinking the Brits were a relatively minor threat that could be dealt with later. Hitler, first turned his attention to Russia, in the late summer of 1940 at a time when England was on the verge of collapse.

Ironically, Russia saved America's butt by putting up a desperate fight for two years, until the US got geared up to begin hammering away at Germany.

Russia lost something like 24,000,000 people in the sieges of Stalingrad and Moscow alone . . . 90% of them from cold and starvation, mostly civilians, but also more than a 1,000,000 soldiers.

Had Russia surrendered, Hitler would have been able to focus his entire war effort against the Brits, then America . If that had happened, the Nazis could possibly have won the war.

All of this has been brought out to illustrate that turning points in history are often dicey things. Now, we find ourselves at another one of those key moments in history.

There is a very dangerous minority in Islam that either has, or wants, and may soon have, the ability to deliver small nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, almost anywhere in the world.

The Jihadis, the militant Muslims, are basically Nazis in Kaffiyahs. They believe that Islam, a radically conservative form of Wahhabi Islam, should own and control the Middle East first, then Europe , then the world. To them, all who do not bow to their will of thinking should be killed, enslaved, or subjugated. They want to finish the Holocaust, destroy Israel , and purge the world of Jews. This is their mantra (goal).

There is also a civil war raging in the Middle East . For the most part not a hot war, but a war of ideas. Islam is having its Inquisition and its Reformation, but it is not yet known which side will win, the Inquisitors, or the Reformationists.

If the Inquisition wins, then the Wahhabis, the Jihadis, will control the Middle East, the OPEC oil, and the US , European and Asian economies.

The techno-industrial economies will be at the mercy of OPEC. Not an OPEC dominated by the educated, rational Saudis of today, but an OPEC dominated by the Jihadis. Do you want gas in your car? Do you want heating oil next winter? Do you want the dollar to be worth anything? You had better hope the Jihad, the Muslim Inquisition, loses, and the Islamic Reformation wins.

If the Reformation movement wins, that is, the moderate Muslims who believe that Islam can respect and tolerate other religions, live in peace with the rest of the world, and move out of the 10th century into the 21st, then the troubles in the Middle East will eventually fade away. A moderate and prosperous Middle East will emerge.

We have to help the Reformation win, and to do that we have to fight the Inquisition, i.e., the Wahhabi movement, the Jihad, Al Qaeda and the Islamic terrorist movements. We have to do it somewhere. We can't do it everywhere at once We have created a focal point for the battle at a time and place of our choosing . . . . . . in Iraq . Not in New York , not in London , or Paris or Berlin , but in Iraq , where we are doing two important things.

(1) We deposed Saddam Hussein. Whether Saddam Hussein was directly involved in the 9/11 terrorist attack or not, it is undisputed that Saddam has been actively supporting the terrorist movement for decades; Saddam was a terrorist! Saddam was a weapon of mass destruction, responsible for the deaths of probably more than a 1,000,000 Iraqis and 2,000,000 Iranians.

(2) We created a battle, a confrontation, a flash point, with Islamic terrorism in Iraq . We have focused the battle. We are killing bad people, and the ones we get there we won't have to be killed here. We also have a good shot at creating a democratic, peaceful Iraq , which will be a catalyst for democratic change in the rest of the Middle East, and an outpost for a stabilizing American military presence in the Middle East for as long as it is needed.

WW II, the war with the Japanese and German Nazis, really began with a 'whimper' in 1928. It did not begin with Pearl Harbor . It began with the Japanese invasion of China . It was a war for fourteen years before the US joined it. It officially ended in 1945, a 17-year war, and was followed by another decade of US occupation in Germany and Japan to get those countries reconstructed and running on their own again . . a 27 year war.

WW II cost the United States an amount equal to approximately a full year's GDP, adjusted for inflation, equal to about $12 trillion dollars. WW II cost America more than 400,000 soldiers killed in action and nearly 100,000 still missing in action.

The Iraq war has, so far, cost the United States about $160,000,000,000, which is roughly what the 9/11 terrorist attack cost New York. It has also cost more than 3,600 American lives, which is roughly equivalent to lives that the Jihad killed (within the United States ) in the 9/11 terrorist attack.

The cost of not fighting and winning WW II would have been unimaginably greater - a world dominated by Japanese Imperialism and German Nazism.

This is not a 60-Minutes TV show, or a 2-hour movie in which everything comes out okay. The real world is not like that. It is messy, uncertain, and sometimes bloody and ugly. It always has been, and probably always will be.

The bottom line is that we will have to deal with Islamic terrorism until we defeat it, whenever that is. It will not go away if we ignore it!

If the US can create a reasonably democratic and stable Iraq , then we have an ally, like England , in the Middle East, a platform, from which we can work to help modernize and moderate the Middle East . The history of the world is the clash between the forces of relative civility and civilization, and the barbarians clamoring at the gates to conquer the world.

The Iraq War is merely another battle in this ancient and never ending war. Now, for the first time ever, the barbarians are about to get nuclear weapons, unless some body prevents them from getting them.

We have four options:

1. We can defeat the Jihad now, before it gets nuclear weapons.

2. We can fight the Jihad later, after it gets nuclear weapons (which may be as early as next year, if Iran 's progress on nuclear weapons is what Iran claims it is).

3. We can surrender to the Jihad and accept its dominance in the Middle East now; in Europe in the next few years or decades, and ultimately in America .

OR

4. We can stand down now, and pick up the fight later when the Jihad is more widespread and better armed, perhaps after the Jihad has dominated France and Germany and possibly most of the rest of Europe . It will, of course, be more dangerous, more expensive, and much bloodier.

If you oppose this war, I hope you like the idea that your children, or grandchildren, may live in an Islamic America under the Mullahs and the Sharia, an America that resembles Iran today.

The history of the world is the history of civilization clashes, cultural clashes. All wars are about ideas, ideas about what society and civilization should be like, and the most determined always win.

Those who are willing to be the most ruthless always win the pacifists always lose, because the anti-pacifists kill them.

Remember, perspective is every thing, and America 's schools teach too little history for perspective to be clear, especially in the young American mind.

The Cold War lasted from about 1947 at least until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989; forty-two years!

Europe spent the first half of the 19th century fighting Napoleon, and from 1870 to 1945 fighting Germany !

World War II began in 1928, lasted 17 years, plus a ten year occupation, and the US still has troops in Germany and Japan . World War II resulted in the death of more than 50,000,000 people, maybe more than 100,000,000 people, depending on which estimates you accept.

The US has taken more than 3,500 killed in action in Iraq . The US took more than 4,000 killed in action on the morning of June 6, 1944, the first day of the Normandy Invasion to rid Europe of Nazi Imperialism.

In WW II the US averaged 2,000 KIA a week for four years. Most of the individual battles of WW II lost more Americans than the entire Iraq war has done so far.

The stakes are at least as high. . A world dominated by representative governments with civil rights, human rights, and personal freedoms . . . or a world dominated by a radical Islamic Wahhabi movement, by the Jihad, under the Mullahs and the Sharia (Islamic law).

It's difficult to understand why the average American does not grasp this. They favor human rights, civil rights, liberty and freedom, but evidently not for Iraqis.

'Peace Activists' always seem to demonstrate here in America , where it's safe.

Why don't we see Peace Activist demonstrating in Iran , Syria , Iraq , Sudan , North Korea , in the places that really need peace activism the most? I'll tell you why! They would be killed!

The liberal mentality is supposed to favor human rights, civil rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc., but if the Jihad wins, wherever the Jihad wins, it is the end of civil rights, human rights, democracy, multiculturalism, diversity, etc.

Americans who oppose the liberation of Iraq are coming down on the side of their own worst enemy!

After all, we are just pool players trying to find a way to get that nine ball in the hole.

I can't help but wonder sometimes about the values of our system here in America. Our president has been elected to protect us from our enemies. Who is our enemy? What if a group of people controlled how we live and did things to undermine our very existence? Would you call them terrorist? Does the president need to protect us?

Exxon turned in an 11.88 Billion Dollar profit for the first quarter of this year. We are not contributing to a company who is on hard times. We are being terrorized by the oil companies. They rule our way of life and put stress on the families of America.

We can say that the family has provided strength for this great country. Now, the oil companies have weakened the fiber of our very own nation by disrupting the family through price gouging. Yet our president does nothing.

An attack is made on Americans and he does nothing. The Arabs are not driving up cost. The oil companies are. We have become weakened as a nation and our elected politicians sit by and let it happen. When you look at the results of gas prices today and see that the oil companies are making 10 Billion dollars per quarter you realize that there is a conspiracy of the highest order.

We are being attacked at the core of our own existence here in this country and we are being attacked by the Oil Companies. They continue to affect every area of our lives.

All the Politicians scream that we must get away from our dependence on foreign oil. When you can make 11 billion dollars in the first quarter what is wrong with your dependence. The oil companies are quite happy to depend on foreign oil. The prices are never going to go down unless the oil companies are declared terrorist and our government stops them from ruling our lives.

Sad to say, I don't see that happening.

Now the talking heads will take up our sports time talking about the steroid issue. Some will push vigilante justice and urge us to boo the cheating player. Others will promote another side of the story.

You can be sure they will milk this for all the air time they can. We will be spun, spinned, conned and duped into all kinds of opinions as long as they can promote the so called story. Baseball spent thirty million dollars for a report that has no authority or power what so ever. There is no concrete evidence of anything therefore there will be no conviction. It all comes down to he said she said.

The bottom line is eighty per cent of the players were using steroids or human growth hormone therapy. So if Roger Clemens got a shot in his ass it is because he was pitching against a batter who also sat on a needle. We should just call it the Steroid Era and forget about it.

Move on. Roger won the games he pitched and Barry Bonds hit the home runs he hit. Let it be as it is.

Okay folks, "let's play ball".

I am in San Diego at my hotel watching Christian Television. There are five men in a talk show type program. All five men are very obese. I feel bad for them as they huff and puff and try to deal with their fatness. They are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ as if they really follow this Gospel. I feel bad that I can't accept teaching from someone who has an addiction. If they were drug addicts, would I wan them teaching me about the bible? Food can be an addiction and naturally these men are very addicted to food. They are well over a hundred pounds over weight. I just can't take them seriously. To bad because I may learn from them. But if they are faced with reaching out to God for help, or reaching out to ice cream, they will chose ice cream every time. Sorry, but I believe we must walk the walk if we are going to talk the talk. Salvation and the born again experience frees us from addiction as we begin to put God first. Either you do this or you do not. We are judged by the fruits of our lives. So, I guess I will change the channel and watch the liars running for president. That was even worse. Wow can they tell lies with a straight face. I will flip over to The Fox news and get indoctrinated by O'rielly. No, that is to much so I will continue to flick through the channels. Casting Nancy Grace in the role she plays is a stroke of genius. She has a gift for stirring up hatred like no other. Nothing is on tv now that the Red Sox have won the World Series. I am following the Patriots and have been a fan for most of my life. This team, along with the Red Sox truly understand that the shot at hand is all we really have. So, I turned the tv off and now I have two hours to kill before I go to bed.

Lets talk about my road trip. The road games continue on. After my trip to Chicago and San Diego I returned to San Diego to work with two Monk Masters and a large weekend class. It was a nice trip. Our plane ran into some serious turbulence as we tried to avoid the ice storms that were making their way across this country. How weird was that? Severe ice in the north east and record breaking heat in the south east while I was basking in cold weather in San Diego.

The Monk Billiard Academy in San Diego is the home training center for most Monk Masters. This fine facility has five cameras in the main training room so we can give our students the kind of feedback on their stance, stroke and grip they need. The San Diego Charger are sharing a real nice story about the San Diego Monk Billiard Academy in the program at the stadium as the place where you can bring your game to its highest level.

The Monk Masters offer eight classes at all Monk Billiard Academy centers. We have Monk Masters in several different locations. You can log on to www.themonk.com and check on where each teacher offers training in The Monk 101 program.

On Thursday a student in the Masters of Art in Pocket Billiards program flew out to San Diego from New York. He attended the workshop in Houston a few months ago and felt like he needed to spend some time with us for his up coming tournament challenges. I am taking him through a special tournament training program I designed for the masters who are playing in the Super Billiards Expo in March.

I was able to work with a two fine masters in Sinton Texas. Harry and Aaron, father and son went through a two day program. Wow was that nice. Both players are very very good. They picked up the material well and we were able to move through the entire program. I had some time left over so I drove down to Corpus Crispi Texas to visit Harrison at the Paradise Billiards. My training went well in this fine pool hall.

I am in training now. I stop by pool rooms from time to time just to work out. The training is going very well. it is pure joy to be hitting the balls again. I look forward to our match when I come to your town.

Until then, may all the rolls go your way

I came off the road from riding and took to the airs in a plane.

After a few cities I returned to my favorite place, North Carolina to do some work. I have written another book and you are welcome to it if you like. Just email me and i will send you a copy. This book features one of my Monk Masters and will be a big help to you. Let me know where you live so i can send the right book to you.

Turkey day is soon upon us. I will be with friends and family. That is my favorite holiday. A day of thanksgiving. Having a grateful heart is what causes us to prosper and of course, we all offer up a prayer of thanksgiving around the dinner table.

Hopefully I will be able to watch the Green Bay Packers beat the Lions. I suffered through thirty years with the Pack and it is nice to see them doing well. Brett Farve seems to have finally grown up and stopped throwing that heart breaker to the other team.

I am so disgusted with how commentators make fun of the Patriots. This team is the best team ever assembled in the history of the NFL and it is that way because they have a remarkable coach who is able to get them all to play as a unit. As for the camera story the media does not like to tell you it was an assistant coach who got caught and the camera was taken away. No one ever saw the footage. The Coach would not let someone take the fall so he took it himself. That is the kind of champion he is. He stands up to what ever is thrown his way and always plays hard.When the Patriots do something it is with one hundred per cent effort. We can all learn from this team. When I hear some fat lazy commentator poke fun at this championship team, I am totally disgusted.

On Friday I go to San Diego to help Danny Propp open the San Diego Monk Billiard Academy. This will be fun. TV and radio are coming to the grand opening.

Then I fly to Houston to work with Master Harry who lives down near Corpus Crispi. I am looking forward to this as another guy decided to join us. Monk Master Mike Moon is helping me.

I have been working out at this small pool hall in my area. No one there knows who I am and that is fine with me. I did have this young guy come over to play. He began by running three racks and then cooled off. I managed to win five to three.

I am hitting the balls very well these days. It pays off when your training is specific and deliberate. I am going through The Masters of Art in Pocket Billiards program.

In Chicago I had three students sign up for the Masters program. I look forward to working with them.

There are nine Masters who have signed up to compete in the Super Billiards Expo in March. I am going to book our hotel rooms in Jan. and plan our dinners, cheering action and order Monk Master shirts for everyone.

At this time I am designing a specific training program so we will be able to make a mark on the tournament this year. I can assure you that everyone will be ready. I am looking forward to this years EXPO.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. I wish your family all the best.

Peterkin flew up from Jamaca for a two day lesson. He is a member of The Masters program and wanted to make sure he had everything right. We spent two days at Q-Masters plus he attended The US Open with me and Ceri Worts. Peterkin invites all the masters to jamaca this winter for a great time on the table. He is a fine player who has two sons interested in becoming masters one day. In our match, I was able to get past him by one game.

Lee Scott came in from Georgia, Mike Davie flew in from New York and Bill Tipped was collected in Houston. We had a great time working together at Fast Eddy's and Breakers. Each of these fine gentleman are in the Masters of Art in Pocket Billiards program. They wanted to spend a couple of days with me to make sure they are on line with thier personal goals. Mike has been to three schools and told me he learned more in one day then he did in the other schools. We worked on his skills. After the session both Mike and Lee were not to nice to me. I will claim that I was distracted by Lee would have none of that. When Lee returned home to Georgia, he won a tournament without losing one game. My stop in Houston was filled with special moment. We all had dinner at the Olive Garden and spent most of the time laughing, talking and of course, thinking about pool. Mike Moon, Ceri Worts, Lee, Mike Davie, Mike's girlfriend and myself fought over the bill. I won't say who ended up with it. My next workshop is in Chicago. You can read about. Pool is the ultimate sport. It takes about ten minutes to make a lifetime friend.

Another day in Houston

They came in all sizes and shapes, tall, small, fat, skinny, old and young, very old and very young, with jump cues, masse cues, flash cues, and custom cues. Some like to rack stack and sack the nine on the break while others like to break and run. They played great shots, easy shots, jump shots, bank shots, kick shots and a few missed shots. They came wearing shorts, baggy pants, tee shirts, cut offs, hoods, dress pants, sandles, low riders, suspenders, belts, boots and one jump suit. The came to play nine ball. A few sleazy nine ball riders, a few safety players and a lot of agreesive bank out shoot em up pool players.

Over a hundred and twenty players showed up for the Houston Open held at legends billiards in houston. "I thought that bank was on" one guy said as he grabbed the rack. "you are not going to ride that nine ball". "run the damm balls" "nice shot" "can i rack my own?" "damm, I thought that bank was on". The sounds of competition filled the smoky pool room. "I will play some later" was a common statement.

Confidence was the order of the day. One shark yelled out, "I can shoot some pool. Say good bye to the nine ball" and true to his word he rode the nine ball into the corner pocket. One small problem arose as the cue ball followed it right in. All said and done it was a great tournament at the Houston Open in Legends Pool Hall.

I will be leaving here on the tenth. I arrive in Raleigh to retrieve my mortor cycle and then head to VA. First, I will work on this incredible card game me and Rick Rogers have created. Then it is back on the bike to continue my trek. HOUSTON IS HOT.

Another day

I spent the last five days in San Diego which has become my favorite city. This place is really fine. I spent sitting on the dock of the bay looking at sail boats. One day I will sail out of the San Diego harbor.

Danny Propp wants to become a Monk Master. We put in long hard days and after five days, this gentleman of the game is ready to offer first class teaching. If you want to learn The Monk 101 material, spend some time with Danny. You can email this Monk Master at danny@danielpropp.com.

We went through the eight class Monk Masters teach. We also set in motion The Monk 101 9-ball Tour that will take place in San Diego in May. This will be a first class event in a real nice venue. Over a hundred and twenty seven players will be at Jolt N Joe's in Messa CA. I am the director and I promise you a great time. See The Monk 101 link on www.monkbilliardacadem-e.com for more info.

I think the most important thing in teaching is your sincerity. You must be sensitive to your students. Never criticize. Never interrupt and always listen carefully. Have a specific subject you teach and teach it well. All Monk Masters are servants of their students. We guide you to the next level. When you need us we are there for you.

I landed in hot Houston last night. Was greeted by Monk Master Mike Moon and Ceri Worts. Now we are in for some serious training at Legends where we will shape Ceri's game for the US Open. I am also having a Monk Complete Workshop at Breakers in Websters. There are four students arriving from around the country for that one. I will be busy here in Texas.

MY bike is in Raleigh Durham NC. It will be ten more days before we are together again riding up the coast to Chesapeake VA. for the US Open.

Another Day

After a few days with my family I headed down to Raleigh North Carolina where I spent two days with Rick Rogers. He has invented a new game for pool players. We worked on the shots that would be invovled with this new game. Basically you receive a deck of cards with shots on them. When you perform these shots, you get points. If you fail, your opponent gets to clean up after you for the same amount of points. I reserched the shots and took many from my book The Lesson. The game is fun, plus it will provide you with some great material to improve your skills. I can see where this game will be very popular in this sport. I will share more of this with you as we get closer to the total development of the cards.

I am going to hold a special challange in Lancaster Ohio on the 17th & 18th of November. You can read about this on the OHIO TOUR link.

I am headed to San Diego in a few minutes to work with Monk Master Teacher Danny Propp. Now I get off the bike and settle in to a nice comfortable seat on a plane.