SOLDIER'S CHRISTMAS

Yes ACLU, i used "Christmas" in my title. So sue me!

I don't know who wrote this, but it touched me. I know it's going all around the web, but I wanted to put it in my blog. Along with a hearfelt prayer and thank you to all who serve. YOU ARE REMEMERED HERE AND THOUGHT OF AND PRAYED FOR!!

GASP I said Christmas and Prayer. Together. In the same sentence. In a format that may viewed by the public. OMG i may turn little childern everywhere into Neo Christian robots. Causing them run around wildly attempting to be good people! Doing things like, not stealing, loving thy neighbor or... or... OH NOOOO respecting other people

Oh The Horror. Oh The Inhumanity!

I truly hope they come knocking at my door. I just might have a little something for them. ;-)

Different Christmas Poem

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light, I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest, My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white, Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe, Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep, Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem, So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near, But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know, Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear, And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night, A lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old, Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled, Standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.

"What are you doing?" I asked without fear, "Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve, You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment I saw his eyes shift, Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts. To the window that danced with a warm fire's light Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night." "It's my duty to stand at the front of the line, That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me, I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me. My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while, But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag, The red, white, and blue... An American flag.
I can live through the cold and the being alone, Away from my family, my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet, I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another, Or lay down my life with my sister and brother.
" Who stand at the front against any and all, To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least, "Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?
It seems all too little for all that you've done, For being away from your wife and your son."

Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret, "Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone, To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead, To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust, That we mattered to you as you mattered to us."

THE VOTES ARE IN

YES! NO MORE COMMERCIALS!

well finally the votes are in. and wonder of wonders the sun still rose. despite all the dire warnings of 'if the dems win' or 'if the reps win'. it remains to be seen where our country will head now, but we still will continue to make great strides and then fall back a couple of steps. all the people willl still continue to do the best we can. some of us will work and some not. some laugh and some cry. our representatives are people not gods. we are not old rome, we are a ccountry in it's young adult hood compared to other "great" so mistakes are expected and accepted in theory if not forgiven. i still like to think our country is the best there is despite all of it's faults.

it's late but here are a couple of pics from my birthday. mom got me a beautiful flower cake. after two weeks it started wilting so i took it outside and karma took advantage of the rest. ;-)

DAMN SPAMMERS

i'm going back to word verification thanks to the jerk**#$% that find it necessary to send their evil crap my way!!

it seems there is no safe place anywhere.

Hezbollah vs PETA

I didn't write the words below, but oh how I wish to be that articulate!!

This could very well be bulls$$t just being passed around on the web. I don't know. But don't ya hope it is true word for word.

After reading this it crossed my mind. At some point there are sure to be some bleeding hearts, probably the ACLU will start weeping and wailing. OK I thought if Hezbollah or Taliban can declare war with a state or a another organization, what is to stop other organizations?

Kind of like that show I've heard about with celebrities boxing.

Let's get it together people pitch the ACLU and the NRA into the ring together to duke it out.

How about PETA vs NSSF?

Well just a thought.

ENJOY READING BELOW


Sentence of Reid
Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and tried to light it?
Did you know his trial is over?
Did you know he was sentenced?
Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio?
Didn't think so.


Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.
Ruling by Judge William Young, US District Court.
Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the defendant if he had anything to say.

His response: After admitting his guilt to the court for the record, Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah," defiantly stating, "I think I will not apologize for my actions," and told the court "I am at war with your country."


Judge Young then delivered the statement quoted below:January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.

Judge Young: "Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes upon you.

On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life inprison in the custody of the United States Attorney General.

On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on each count to run consecutively.
(That's 80 years.)
On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 y ears just imposed.

TheCourt imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that's an aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the government's recommendation with respect to restitution and orders restitution in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to American Airlines.The Court imposes upon you an $800 special assessment.The Court imposes upon you five years supervised release simply because the law requires it. But the life sentences are real life sentences so I need go no further.
This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes.
It is a fair and just sentence.
It is a righteous sentence.


Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans.We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to every-one with the utmost respect. Here in this court, we deal with individuals as individuals and care for individuals as individuals. As human beings, we reach out for justice.You are not an enemy combatant. You are a terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature. Whether the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or
if you think you are a soldier. You are not----- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet with terrorists. We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice. So war talk is way out of line in this court.

You are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're no warrior. I've known warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders.

In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: "You're no big deal."
You are no big deal.
What your able counsel and what the equally able United States attorneys have grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with, is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today? I have listened respectfully to what you have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate that led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing?


And, I have an answer for you.

It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record, it comes as close to understanding as I know. It seems to me you hate the one thing that to us is most precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose. Here, in this society, the very wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from sea to shining sea.It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely. It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.
We Americans are all about freedom. Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties.

Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will bare any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. The day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but this, however, will long endure. Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America, theAmerican people will gather to see that justice, individual justice, justice, not war, individual justice is in fact being done. The veryPresident of the United States through his officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay out evidence on which specific matters can be judged and juries of citizens will gather to sit and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America . That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten.That flag stands for freedom. And it always will.

Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.

So, how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV sets?

We need more judges like Judge Young, but that's another subject.

Powerful words that strike home.

God bless America

An Eye Opener

One Marine's View: From the Marines, to the Marines

How can we keep blindly trusting the media!!

We shouldn't belive any one blog either. Do some research people and find out what's going on!

Shopping Hell

I loathe shopping with a capital L. It"s an evil necessity though. I had to stop at Fred's the other day. From the back of the store I could hear a child screeching and whining and the mother screeching back. When I came around the corner of an aisle she grabbed the little girl, about three years old, by the arm roughly and jerked her up into her arms cursing VERY loudly. "Dicchu mother f%^&$ng here what I telled you?" Then they were heading out the door, there were quarter machines that caught the child's eye and she started a loud whining again "I want!!!" To which she responding promptly screaming "I'm going to kick your a$$ now shut your mf'n mouth!!"
My boys were just a whiney as any other child but I NEVER cursed at them and could not imagine jerking them around. After a few trips to the restroom and swats on the behind they learned whining or making a scene did not get them what they wanted.
If there was ever a kid that deserved a public flogging it was me, I lived for irritating the people I love. Still do as a matter of fact :-) One time at a drug store I was giving my mother fits, just playfully agitating....She swatted at me so dropped to my knees and started pleading in a VERY loud voice "MOTHER DON'T PLEASE DON'T BEAT ME AGAIN! PLLLEASE! NO MOTHER!" Bless her heart she let me live and didn't cuss me!! Can you imagine. And that was just last week, not really i guess i was about 9 or 10.
When my oldest son and my stepdaughter punched holes through the package of chicken feet to "feel them" and then thought that was cool and had poked holes in about eight packages before I caught them, they were not cussed or hit. They did though have to stand there while waiting for the Meat Manager to come out and apologize to him and then some very serious house cleaning when we got home. It's not that I didn't want to beat them, I did very much want to, but there is such a thing as self control. Seems a lot of people do not have a sense of this I guess.

For those of you that are thinking 'what do you expect at a Fred's'. Sorry folks I've seen this behavior at EVERY store at one time or another.

Got Guilt?

Only went in to the office for a little while today. Fibromyalgia is whispering in my ear today, hopefully resting for a while will keep it from screaming.
I was feeling a little guilty for it. We own the company so there's no one to make me feel that way but it's still there. A little guilt can be a good thing, too much can cripple. There is plenty out there to help everybody along too. Read the newspaper, watch the news, read up on the"latest research".

Guilt for attending a particular church or not attending any.

Guilt for being a working mother or a stay at home mom.

Guilt for spanking your child for:(insert whatever) or not spanking for:(insert whatever)

Guilt for eating that extra slice of bacon or GASP: your steak was the size of a saucer instead of a deck of cards.

for being pro-life or pro-choice

pro-war or con-war

proconWHATEVER!!

Guilt does serve some purpose in small doses, but God (my own personal belief, no offense meant) doesn't want us to be dragging this weight around anymore than overwhelming worry.
I've decided I'm going to do better in this area, I refuse to feel really guilty about things anymore. A little guilty but NOT "really" guilty.

How about you, Got Guilt?

I've added a link. YAHOO!! I think I just may have this figured out.

it's stop the aclu. I've thought for years they are becoming more and more of a detriment to our society than a help.
now I know my joining a blog is not going to rock their world, but, it's a start for me to begin in some way making some changes, if for no other reason than my own education and a darn good reason to rant.
so be warned you worms, I'm arming myself with an educated opinion!!

God Bless to all!!
if that offends you well to dang bad.

randomness

allo everybody!!!! (worm's voice from labyrinth). HA! nobody remembers that.

if somebody had told me a year ago i would enjoy blogging or surf other blogs i would have thought they JUST DID NOT KNOW ME. recently though i've done a lot of blog surfing. it began as reading military blogs, having a very deep desire to understand how things are there, the stuff that doesn't make the news, or if it does it's pretty one sided. then it went into following links on everything.

the variety of content out there is amazing. in just one hour you can go to laughing so hard you cry, to truly crying crying. but more importantly they've made me more aware of the world around me, war, government, my state, my family, just everything. i've not considered myself too self-centered, what i mean by that is not being an egotistic type self centered but an isolationist type. lately i have to question this.

well that's as clear as i'm able to make it with my feeble attempt at putting into words what is in my head.

some random thoughts of today....
i'm going to write a book. HA! yeah right. really would like to but not going to happen.

we can't afford to have insurance we can't afford not.

i'm going to have one son in L.A. and one in Fla. AHHHHHHH!!!!

i'm ready for another trip to new york.

he is SO lucky mr. c won't let me fire folks! or fire at them!

i hate my job.

i love my job.

i;m still waiting on my own personal flying machine or better my own time machine.

hate that i missed the nikleback (sp?) concert but i guess i'm just too old for those now.

i'm getting old ::gasp!

the word blog is not on spellcheck on blogger