We all recognize that in recent decades many important achievements have helped create a cleaner healthier environment yet our national needs in environmental health are not being fully met.

Liberals in Congress have spent the past three decades pandering to environmental extremists. The policies they have put in place are in large part responsible for the energy crunch we are seeing today. We have not built a refinery in this country for 30 years.

In a few decades the relationship between the environment resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights democracy and peace.

During the decades after Brown v. Board of Education there was terrific progress. Tens of thousands of public schools were integrated racially. During that time the gap between black and white achievement narrowed.

My dad was a bartender. My mom was a cashier a maid and a stock clerk at K-Mart. They never made it big. They were never rich. And yet they were successful. Because just a few decades removed from hopelessness they made possible for us all the things that had been impossible for them.

Although the war in which you fought took place more than half-a-century ago your courage your sacrifice and your patriotism reaches through the decades and inspires us today.

Overcoming the Cold War required courage from the people of Central and Eastern Europe and what was then the German Democratic Republic but it also required the steadfastness of Western partner over many decades when many had long lost hope of integration of the two Germanys and Europe.

It was used for decades to describe talented computer enthusiasts people whose skill at using computers to solve technical problems and puzzles was - and is - respected and admired by others possessing similar technical skills.

During the past few decades modern technology with radio TV air travel and satellites has woven a network of communication which puts each part of the world in to almost instant contact with all the other parts.

I am especially grateful that I have been able to keep my own style over the decades in spite of the many changes that have taken place in the world of fashion and in its business.