White Flag Democrats

Congress took a brave stand with a non-binding, non-enforcable, non-sensicle resolution.
The Peoples Cube captures the foolishness of the twits like few can:

"We don't support the terrorists
- but we support their mission!"

Such a despicable bunch .

Oh, I'm Very Supportive...

I think it's time to turn a phrase back at the
anti-victory crowd in Washington.

I support the House Democrats...
...but I don't support their mission.

I support Hillary...
...but I don't support her mission.

I support Obama...
...but I don't support his mission.

The hollow sentiment: "I support the troops,
but not their mission." is ridiculous.

Let's ridicule it.

What Does A Hero Look Like? - homeof heros.com

Or: How to tell a hero from a celebrity.

Follow the link below to the Home Of Heros, and follow the links on each page to read of some of America's famous names, and some you should meet- like Audie Murphy, Alvin York, and the man they named an airport in Chicago after.

-er,  no , not 'Midway Airport' .

 It will only take you a few minutes.

What Does A Hero Look Like?

Muscles bulging, the All-American hero takes on the bad guys.  Bullets bounce harmlessly off him, explosions are mere nuisances, and nobody but the bad guys ever get hurt.  He has x-ray vision, can hear through walls, flies through the air, and is impervious to pain.  We watch their likes in cartoons, read about them in our comic books...then dream and wonder what it would be like to be LIKE THEM.  Alas, we realize in time, such heroes are only in cartoons....or are they?

Fortunately, Hollywood has given us real, live heroes to watch and admire.  Muscles bulging, they take on the bad guys.  Bullets may hurt them, but they do no real damage.  Like the fictional Rambo, a Green Beret who has earned the Medal of Honor, these heroes whether male or female, are all tall, strong, and almost super- human.  Such heroes can stitch up their wounds with a sewing kit, battle successfully against incredible odds, and emerge almost unscathed from burning fires and horrendous explosions. 

Americans need heroes, men and women who by their incredible acts of courage can inspire us to follow in their example.   Unfortunately, when we look to the heroes of television and the big screen, we come away feeling inadequate.  In reality we quickly realize that we will always be too short, too skinny, too weak, or some other "too" to be like them.  Sadly, we have defined heroism as a quality posessed only by the strong, the powerful, the rich, or the famous.  In short, we have confused the word CELEBRITY with the word HERO.

---

Celebrity
Dennis Rodman

A talented athlete, Dennis Rodman makes millions of dollars each year doing what he loves...playing basketball.  He stays in the finest hotels, has dated some of the most beautiful women in the world, and lives his life the way he wants to live regardless of who he offends.  He is best known for his multi-million dollar contracts, outlandish hair colors, strange clothing, body piercings, and of course, playing basketball.

Hero
Terry Kawamura

 

Born in Hawaii, Corporal Kawamura was a combat engineer in Vietnam when his unit was attacked.  He saw an explosive charge stun two other soldiers, followed by a second charge that was thrown near them.  Realizing they were helplessly at the mercy of the second charge, Cpl. Kawamura threw his body on the explosive to save the lives of his two helpless comrades.  Cpl. Kawamura is buried in Hawaii.  He died at the age of 19.

---

What Does a Hero Look Like?

Click on Superman To Find out

Source: What Does A Hero Look Like - Entry Page

They're watching, Dad.

A great link came in the fathers.com weekly eMail today. Check out the video !

A song by country music performer Rodney Atkins has been number 1 for four weeks now, and it carries a powerful message for dads. Atkins, 37, wrote it after a sobering experience when his son, Elijah, repeated some behavior he’d seen in his dad. See how Atkins told the story in the video for his song, “Watching You.”

To Think About ...

What does it mean that this song has been #1 for four weeks? It’s well-crafted and has a catchy tune, but clearly it has struck a chord, so to speak, that runs deeper with those who hear it.

Who among us hasn’t been caught by surprise when one of our children repeats our behavior—the good and the bad? Sometimes we need these reminders that we are important influences on our children’s values, and those values are often caught more than they are taught. We have to be good models. We have to be intentional about demonstrating what a responsible, calm, caring, self-sacrificing, character-filled father is like.

We suggest that fathers focus on three key areas when it comes to being models for their kids: emotional maturity, respect for women, and integrity. Read more on each of these—and get more action points—in the article on our website here. Or see this week’s resource specials for more on being intentional about teaching and modeling values for your children.

Link to FATHERS.COM ~ Watching You video

Track back to Angel's open track back weekend

Groupthink :: One Man's Reuters Is Another Man's Al-Jazeera

 

Play the 'Truth by Association' game at The Peoples Cube.

Construct wisdom or it's parody thusly:

One man's ___________ is another man's __________.

ThePeoplescube.com claims that:

Additional five minutes of this exercise will give you enough experience to call radio talk shows and prevail in any debate. After ten minutes you will be ready to have your own talk show with Air America affiliates. Exercise for fifteen minutes, and you can work as a White House correspondent for the New York Times, ready to interview President of the United States.

Have fun with this one.

Here's what I posted:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One man's drudgery
is another man's delight.

One man's propaganda
is another man's 'trusted news source'.

One man's savvy punditry
is another man's annoying screed.

One man's 'slave-state Senator'
is another man's village idiot.

One man's 'News that's fit to print'
is another man's source of USA defense
secrets and strategy delivered daily to his cave.

One man's mahketing is anothah man's terrah threat.
(For non-Bostonians - One man's marketing is another man's terror threat.)

One man's minimum wage hike
is another man's pink slip.

One man's Global Warming Horror
is another man's nice day in January to wash the car.

One man's diminishing liberty
is another man's refreshing freedom from choice.

One man's insomniac rambling
is another man's reading.
One man's mediocre blog
is another man's www.thelazyhalfsranch.blogspot.com

Got to go , Air America is calling to offer me a show...
One man's <i>Vox liberali</i> is another man's bankrupt batch of twits.  ;-)

Link to Groupthink :: One Man's Reuters Is Another Man's Al-Jazeera

From Woman Honor Thyself » Can we Question their PatriotisM Yet?

"Army Staff Sgt. Hector Leija, 27, was an honor student at Raymondville High School."

His death in Iraq is now a tool to sell newspapers.

The NY Times- who wouldn't publish the infamous Muslim cartoons, or photos of victims of terrorists leaping from the World Trade Center, or print the word terrorist without wrapping it in quotation marks for fear of causing offense feels 'compelled' to publish photos and present the video of the death of SSG Leija .

Can we question their patriotism?

Is it patriotic to promote the killing of American soldiers?

Please read: Can we Question their PatriotisM Yet?

The Bird Who Would Be King...

Not sure why this caught my eye, but it is a strange story of Arctic avarice gone amok...

Eagle causes power outage - Juneau

About 10,000 Juneau residents lost power Sunday after a bald eagle lugging a deer head crashed into an Alaska Electric Light & Power transmission system in Lemon Creek.

"You have to live in Alaska to have this kind of outage scenario," said Gayle Wood, an AEL&P spokeswoman. "This is the story of the overly ambitious eagle who evidently found a deer head in the landfill."

The meal was apparently too heavy. The eagle failed to clear transmission lines as it flew from the landfill toward the Lemon Creek Operation Center, she said. When a repair crew arrived, they found the eagle carcass with the deer head nearby.

The outage started about 9:45 a.m. and affected customers in Salmon Creek, Lemon Creek, the Mendenhall Valley and Out the Road, Wood said. It was completely fixed by 10:28 a.m.

"It was a speedy recovery because a crew was already mobilized, and because a customer managed to hear the explosion," Wood said. "So we were able to narrow it in pretty quickly."

The landfill has a program in place to discourage eagles, ravens and other birds from feeding, she said. But this eagle "got a hold of a little bit more than he could handle."

"This would have been a major score," Wood said. "That eagle would have been the king eagle of the Lemon Creek group."

 

• Ken Lewis can be reached at ken.lewis@juneauempire.com.
Click here to return to story:
http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/012907/loc_20070129013.shtml

Further info- Eagles can lift about 5 lbs. When fishing they often use their wings as paddles to get to shore. Eagles have been known to drown when they try to catch a large fish.

Why don't they let go?  They can't. Their muscles freeze when they get a hold of their prey, and don't relax until they have carried it back to the nest , or wherever they feed.

Source:  Get Lost Magazine - Swimming Eagle

"Share Your Thoughts", said they.

"Share Your Thoughts", said they. So say I.
http://www.gop.com/YourIdeas
The form letter from the GOP's new leaders ;Senator Mel Martinez,
General Chairman of the Republican Party and Mike Duncan, Chairman, Republican National Committee ,asked for my ideas, saying:

"We can’t afford to wait another day. We must return to our roots as the party of freedom and reform, of lower taxes, limited government, individual responsibility, freedom here and abroad, and the power of faith.

As we begin this new chapter, share with us your ideas on how we can make our Party stronger, now and in 2008."

So I did. No original thought here, but if the GOP IS the party of freedom,lower taxes, etc. we need to stand up and boldly say so.The alternative is to lie down and be mere contrarians as the Dems and their media allies are allowed to set an agenda of defeat, taxation and government intrusion that dims the light of Liberty.

My shared thoughts were these:

"Hugh Hewitt said it best.
Win the war. Confirm the judges. Cut the taxes. Control the spending.

Add to that: SECURE THE BORDER, and we can win it back.
Don't expect to win without a succinct message.

Tell Americans how we will do these, WHY they are important, why they MUST be done, tell them again, and tell them that you told them.

You are fighting a media whose template is: "Which one of the Dems is going to retake the White House?"
Deal with it. Fight like men, don't be pushed off your main points by every wave of bad press.
That is, DON'T BACK DOWN, THINKING THAT YOU WILL MAKE FRIENDS OF THE NY TIMES AND THEIR ILK. YOU WON'T.

These issues are more than political footballs, do them. Don't think that you will win by being merely the contrarians . Republicans must have a conservative message to win. Win the war. Confirm the judges. Cut the taxes. Control the spending. SECURE THE BORDER.

PS
Dump Hagel."

Your thoughts?

Regards, Terry

Quotes From STEPHEN WRIGHT :

The World According to Steven Wright

• I used to work in a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place.
• Last week, I went to a furniture store to look for a decaffeinated coffee table. They couldn't help me.
• What's another word for "thesaurus"?
• When I get real bored, I like to drive downtown and get a great parking spot, then sit in my car and count how many people ask if I'm leaving.
• When I was a kid, we had a quicksand box in the backyard. I was an only child . . . eventually.
• I bought some batteries, but they weren't included. So I had to buy them again.
• For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier. I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.
• I have a switch in my apartment that doesn't do anything. Every once in a while I turn it on and off. One day I got a call from a guy in France who said, "Cut it out!"
• I replaced the headlights on my car with strobe lights. Now it looks like I'm the only one moving.
• I wrote a song, but I can't read music. Every time I hear a new song on the radio, I think "Hey, maybe I wrote that."
• I got my driver's license photo taken out of focus on purpose. Now when I get pulled over the cop looks at it (moving it nearer and farther, trying to see it clearly)... and says, "Here, you can go."
• I went to a general store, but they wouldn't let me buy anything specific.
• I turned my air conditioner the other way around, and it got cold out. The weatherman said, "I don't understand it. It was supposed to be 80 degrees out today." I said "Oops . . ."
• I put contact lenses in my dog's eyes. They had little pictures of cats on them. Then I took one out and he ran around in circles.
• I spilled Spot remover on my dog. Now he's gone.
• My neighbor has a circular driveway. He can't get out.
• I bought some powdered water, but I didn't know what to add.
• I put instant coffee in a microwave and almost went back in time.
• I have an answering machine in my car. It says, "I'm home now, but leave a message and I'll call when I'm out."
• I bought a house on a one-way dead-end road. I don't know how I got there.
• I have a hobby. I have the world's largest collection of sea shells. I keep it scattered on beaches all over the world. Maybe you've seen some of it.
• I Xeroxed a mirror. Now I have an extra Xerox machine.
• Last week I forgot how to ride a bicycle.
• My school colors were clear.
• I stayed in a really old hotel last night. They sent me a wakeup letter.
• I'm taking La maze classes. I'm not having a baby, I'm just having trouble breathing.
• When I was in high school, I got in trouble with my girlfriend's Dad. He said, "I want my daughter back by 8:15." I said, "The middle of August? Cool!"
• My girlfriend's weird. One day she asked me, "If you could know how and when you were going to die, would you want to know?" I said, "No." She said, "Okay, forget it."
• I went for a walk last night and she asked me how long I was going to be gone. I said, "The whole time."
• My buddy got busted for counterfeiting. He was making pennies. They caught him because he was putting the heads and tails on the wrong sides.
• He's in a minimum security prison now; he's on a whiffle-ball and chain.
• Hermits have no peer pressure.
• Whenever I think of the past, it brings back so many memories .
• There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
• How much deeper would the ocean be if sponges didn't live there?
• Did Washington just flash a quarter for his ID?
• I just got skylights put in my place. The people who live above me are furious.
• Imagine if birds were tickled by feathers.
• I remember when the candle shop burned down. Everyone stood around singing "Happy Birthday".
• I accidentally installed the deer whistles on my car backwards. Now everywhere I go, I'm chased by a herd of deer.
• I got stopped by a cop the other day. He said, "Why'd you run that stop sign?" I said, "Because I don't believe everything I read."
• It doesn't matter what temperature a room is, it's always room temperature.
• Yesterday, my eyeglass prescription ran out.
• I'm a peripheral visionary.
• I make my own water - two glasses of H, one glass of O.
• Ballerinas are always on their toes. Why don't they just get taller ballerinas?
• The other day, I went to a tourist information booth and asked, "Tell me about some of the people who were here last year."
• Why in a country of free speech, are there phone bills?

Link to Quotes From STEPHEN WRIGHT :

Brrr cold Brrr

Beneath this photo , on Drudge today is the ironic link to :

Pelosi Announces 'Global Warming' Panel

More 'global warming' like this, and polar bears will feel at home in the orange orchards.

Elliot Abrams blogged about the cold before it clobberred LA. Interesting reading.

More snow coming here, the long stretch of mild weather is a distant memory.

Link to DRUDGE REPORT 2007®

704 Houser Street: The Latest List of Vincent Van Gogh Relatives

These are really awful puns. Hope you enjoy them as much as I .

I am testing the 'blog thiis' feature of IE 7.

This is only a test....

Terry

___________________________________________________

The Latest List of Vincent Van Gogh Relatives

After much careful research it has been discovered that the artist Vincent Van Gogh had many relatives. Among them were:

His obnoxious brother, Please Gogh.
His dizzy aunt, Verti Gogh.
The brother who ate prunes, Gotta Gogh.
The brother who worked at a convenience store, Stop n' Gogh.
The grandfather from Yugoslavia, U Gogh.
The brother who bleached his clothes white, Hue Gogh.
The cousin from Illinois, Chica Gogh.
His magician uncle, Wherediddy Gogh.
His Mexican cousin, Amee Gogh.
The Mexican cousin's American half brother, Grin Gogh.
The nephew who drove a stage coach, Wellsfar Gogh.
The constipated uncle, Cant Gogh.
The ballroom dancing aunt, Tan Gogh.
The bird lover uncle, Flamin Gogh.
His nephew psychoanalyst, E Gogh.
The fruit loving cousin, Man Gogh.
An aunt who taught positive thinking, Wayto Gogh.
The little bouncy nephew, Poe Gogh.
A sister who loved disco, Go Gogh.
His Italian uncle, Day Gogh.
And his niece who travels the country in a van, Winnie Bay Gogh.

Link to 704 Houser Street: The Latest List of Vincent Van Gogh Relatives

Bush Critics Call for More Troops in Iraq

hat tip to The Bulwinkle Blog

Headline: "Bush Critics Call for More Troops in Iraq" !
Of course, that was an AP story from Thursday, June 30, 2005.

Sen. John Kerry, Bush's Democratic opponent in last year's presidential election, told NBC's "Today" show that the borders of Iraq "are porous" and said "we don't have enough troops" there.
Sen. Joseph Biden Jr., appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," disputed Bush's notion that sufficient troops are in place.
"I'm going to send him the phone numbers of the very generals and flag officers that I met on Memorial Day when I was in Iraq," the Delaware Democrat said. "There's not enough force on the ground now to mount a real counterinsurgency."
Biden argued, "The course that we are on now is not a course of success. He (Bush) has to get more folks involved. He has to stand up that army more quickly."

I heard a Pelosi quote from Meet the Press in which she called for more troops also.

What will we hear from the critics tomorrow?

We need victory in Iraq, something Bush's critics will continue to thwart.
I don't know if more troops is the answer, Mike Reagan says we out number the insurgents 20-1 now. We may just need to rework rules of engagement that prevent our troops from doing what they are trained to do.

I've seen a sign in a nearby window- "Support our troops, bring them home." Bull.
Let's support our troops, and their mission. Let's resolve to settle for nothing less than victory. It will take military and diplomatic action, and moral and political resolve to win.
We must win in Iraq. The veiled threats of withholding funding for the "Surge" by Sen."Bulge" Kennedy are trial baloons for defeat in Iraq, which would embolden terrorists.

Here's some good news : 50 terrorists killed, 20 captured in Baghdad Tuesday!

A highlight- "At one point, insurgents fired machine guns and RPGs from a mosque, prompting U.S. forces to return fire, Damon said." A good sign, if the forces (500 Iraqi, and 400 US in this battle) are willing to shoot back -even if the enemy hides in a mosque.

A lowlight- At story's end, CNN. com lists the running tally of US and UK "fatalities in Iraq".
At the risk of seeming morbid in this 'Age of Sensitivity', I'd like to know how many terrorists we are capturing or killing.

Sic Semper Tyrannis

He said, "I’m from Al-Dujaile".
”This is what peace looked like in Iraq at Saddam’s time."
Get a clue, read about the crime that Saddam paid for tonight, right here .

Read one victim's account.

Why was Saddam hanged tonight?

Was it to silence him before he embarasses Rumsfeld, Cheney, or Bush?
Was it the vengance of a kangaroo court influenced by revenge for the attempted murder of George H.W. Bush?
Was it a grave injustice to hang Saddam while " Bush, Rumsfeld, Cheney, Blair and others are free"?
Get a clue, read on...
Saddam was tried on his butchery of men, women, and children of Al-Dujaile after an assassination attempt there.
I would think that the name of the town
where 143 were executed would be more widely known,
even to someone with only a casual acquaintance with the news, like me.

President Bush - after the death sentence was given to Saddam Hussein-
"Iraq has a lot of work ahead as it builds its society that delivers equal
justice and protects all its citizens. Yet history will record today's judgment
as an important achievement on the path to a free and just and unified society.
The United States is proud to stand with the Iraqi people. We will continue
to support Iraq's unity government as it works to bring peace to its great
country."

Please point anyone who expresses any
sympathy for the devil to this article.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He said, "I’m from Al-Dujaile"
I understood what he meant.

In Saddam's time we used to whisper about Al-Dujaile, we all knew that a massacre happened there, but we didn't dare to ask about the details and I never met any one from there. Now I can know all about it from my new friend and here it is, in his own words:-"Al-Dujaile is my home town, I always looked at it as god's heaven on earth, it's about 60 kilometers to the north of Baghdad, on the bank of al Ishaki river (a branch of Tigris), inhabited by few thousands, most of whom are farmers, our village is well known by its date palms and grapes, a fascinating nature that takes your breath away, its people are related by strong tribal relations that keep them as one large family.

- Date: 7/8/1982, Saddam decides to visit the village, the Ba’ath party in the region prepared the people to make a big reception, they took us out of the schools(I was 7 years old). They made us line in a row on both sides of the road to wave for him and cheer his name. It never occurred to me that it would be my last day in the childhood world. I was forced to skip that period of my life with such cruelty that I can not explain.

-17 of the finest young men in the village had decided to put an end to the tyrant's life at that day, they had the courage to face him, we didn't know about their intention.The brave men set an ambush among the palm trees, they couldn't tell which car was his, there were dozens of cars, all identical in model and color.

-The attack starts, the brave young men open fire from their simple weapons, some of the body guards get killed, others wounded, the tyrant get panicked, imagine that (Saddam is afraid) the man who enjoyed terrorizing people lives a moment of fear with all its details, he was so close to death this time.8 of the attackers were killed, the rest fled out of the country.(Woe to the sinners) who dared to make him scared, you should fear his revenge, you should learn the lesson so that it won't happen again, you should bow more and more and fear more and more, you should be scared to death so that you don't dare even to think of harming him; the shadow of god on earth.

-The answer was fast, one hour after the escape of the tyrant, we had to face his anger, I heard the sound of helicopters over our heads wreaking their vengeance upon our small village, backed later with shovels that leveled the trees with the ground, the order was clear(the terror should be great) so that the others would learn.I ran away to my home into my mothers' lap, my younger brother and sisters gathered around me, I realized something huge has happened and anticipated the eminent evil. it didn't take long for the security to get to our house, we were taken to the unknown, me, my mother(who was 4 months pregnant), my sisters Einas(5 years), Zeina(3 years)and my brother Mohammed(1 year).

-The first station in our long journey was Al-Hakimiyah prison that belongs to the intelligence, I found hundreds of my village people, old, young, men, women and children, we were 480 there. Out of whom 80 were relatives of mine.It was enough to say the word Hakimiyah for any Iraqi to be completely paralyzed(the one who gets in is a missing-the one who gets out is reborn

-this was what we used to say about this prison, the walls of which tell thousands of horror stories that you refuse to believe.I was too young to know why we were treated like that, but I sure knew the meaning of being scared to death. The sound of foot steps that stops by the door was enough for every one to freeze, as after that the door would be opened, a name of one of the men would be announced and he would be dragged to the interrogation room to return few hours later unconscious, covered by blood, wrapped in a blanket, and would be thrown on us.

The women and children had their share, and this is what saw: extraction of nails and teeth, electric shocks, whipping with lashes, using razors to tear the skin into shreds, my aunt was left hanging from the roof after her clothes had been wrapped of her in front of her brothers to force them to talk.
Do you know how much pain we suffered?
Can you imagine?
I doubt it.
We stayed at Al-Hakimiyah for one month, the space was too small for all of us to sleep, some of us had to stay on their feet so that the others could sleep.-After that we were transferred to Abu-Ghraib prison, where we met the men for the last time, after that, the 143 men separated from us and then transferred to another place, as for the rest of us, we were kept in Abu-Ghraib prison for six months, during that time, the day for my mother to deliver her baby came, she had complications and they didn't take her to the hospital until it was too late, the baby died.
my mother never if it was a boy or a girl.
In the prison, 4 people died, my grandfather(Yousif Ya'koob), my uncles wife(Noofa Hasan), the old man(Abdul Wahab Ja'far) and his wife (Sabreya), after that we were transferred to a camp in the desert, near the Iraqi-Saudi borders, 400 kilometers south-west to Baghdad(Leeah camp).

We spent four years there.
Four years in hell, we were isolated from the world, all we could do is stay alive and pray for the men whom their destiny was unknown to us.We were released in 1986, only for another journey of pain and suffering. We had to start a new life as all our properties were confiscated and we still don’t know anything about the men.The other good people in our village helped us, offered us jobs in their lands and a place to stay in. I had to work -with my little brother and sisters- to earn our living and to continue with our study. Farming is too hard a job for children of our age, but we had already passed that stage.It’s hard to explain what life is when you're a suspect with the eyes of security agents following you, stifling your breath, making your life even harder and harder, we had to give them all the pennies we could save to get some information about the missing ones, and they always promised us good news, and that our beloved ones were alive and being treated well.
we didn't believe that, but what is life without hope!?
-Sixteen years later...October/2002. I finished medical school and started to practice my job as a doctor in Baghdad. The same year, Saddam suffers a hard time, the USA and the allies tighten the circle around him, he decides to set all prisoners free, including the political. That was what he said, the fact; he released only the murderers and the thieves.Our cries lost their way trying to find our relatives among the thousands of faces, each time they reassure us that there would be another group to be released the next day, but all our efforts were in vain, we had no one but god to pray to and seek his help to show us the way.
Date: 4/9/2003, I can’t believe it, the tyrant falls, is it a dream?Does it mean no more fear, no more terror, and no more death? We jumped into the streets wreaking our vengeance on his pictures and statues that surrounded the village he raped in a dark night.The towns and villages expelled him and expelled his name……..WE WERE SAVED.
I took a deep breath, the air had the scent of freedom, nothing can be more beautiful, it’s difficult to describe, but we were overwhelmed by happiness, with only one distress: where had our beloved ones gone?
We started to search the security departments in Baghdad,
- like thousands of Iraqis- looking for a trace,
I didn’t take a long time, we found what we were looking for.
The documents of the crime, I read with tears in my eyes;
the presidency order dated: 7 /23 /1985,
signed by the tyrant, ordering the execution of 143 men from Al-Dujaile, the youngest one (Najeeb Abd Kadim) 11 years old.
Among these, 35 were relatives of mine.
God bless your souls martyrs, may you have peace in heaven,
if it wasn’t your courage and blood we wouldn’t be proud.
This is the story behind these photos, my friend.
It’s time they have a decent funeral.
We haven’t found their remains yet, but they will always remain in our hearts”

My friend surprised me saying” we don’t regret what happened, and yesterday, when the nine remaining heroes returned to Iraq, we met them with flowers, as the heroes of all the Iraqis, and we will never blame them, as they’re the ones who kept our chins up

”This is what peace looked like in Iraq at Saddam’s time.

The battle is not over yet, the evil and cruel criminals are every where,
and they will not rest until they kidnap our dreams, but this time we’re stronger, as we are not alone.
The whole good and brave people on earth took it upon themselves to fight with us, we hate wars and all the bloodshed that comes with them, but we have no other choice.Let us all dream of a world of love and real peace.N.B.

All the copies of the documents could be found with Dr. Firas M. Yaqub firasyaqub@hotmail.com

As you prepare for 2007

Forwarded from a favorite newsletter of mine:

It is unusually delightful, challenging,
and thought provoking - usually all three.

There are 53 Mondays in 2007, 53!

Here is a reason to look forward to each one: Subscribe to The MondayMorningMemo© of Roy H. Williams, the Wizard of Ads®

Happy New Year, Terry
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How are things with you? Are you ready to begin a new year?

This is the time when millions of us pause to look back with regret and forward with hope. As you prepare for 2007, here are some thoughts I hope you'll ponder:

It's Always Okay To Begin Again
"The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul." – G.K. Chesterton

Pay Attention to the Little Things
"It is often said that before you die your life passes before your eyes. It is in fact true. It's called living." – Terry Pratchett

"No trumpets sound when the important decisions of our life are made. Destiny is made known silently." – Agnes De Mille

Know What You Want
"I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life. The problem is that I can't find anybody who can tell me what they want." – Mark Twain

Don't Think You Know It All

"The more we live by our intellect, the less we understand the meaning of life." – Leo Tolstoy

"And he goes through life, his mouth open, and his mind closed." – Oscar Wilde

Don't Be A Couch Potato
"Literacy is a very hard skill to acquire, and once acquired it brings endless heartache – for the more you read, the more you learn of life's intimidating complexity of confusion. But anyone who can learn to grunt is bright enough to watch TV… which teaches that life is simple, and happy endings come to those whose hearts are in the right place." – Spider Robinson

"If I show up at your house 10 years from now, and find nothing in your living room but Reader's Digests, nothing in your bedroom but the latest Dan Brown novel… I will chase you down to the end of your driveway and back shouting 'Where are the damn books?… Why are you living the mental equivalent of a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese life?'" - Stephen King, to the 2005 graduating class of the University of Maine

You're Going To Have Some Bad Days
"Life does not have to be perfect to be wonderful." – Annette Funicello

"Life is like a train. It's bearing down on you and guess what? It's going to hit you. So you can either start running when it's far off in the distance, or you can pull up a chair, crack open a beer, and just watch it come." – Eric Forman, on That 70s Show

"My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened." – Montaigne

Have Courage
"Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure." – Helen Keller

"Those of us who refuse to risk and grow get swallowed up by life." – Patty Hansen

Love Your Job
"Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying." – Studs Terkel

Don't Forget to Have Fun
"Do not take life too seriously – you will never get out of it alive." – Elbert Hubbard

"Life is truly a ride. We're all strapped in and no one can stop it…. I think that the most you can hope for at the end of life is that your hair's messed, you're out of breath, and you didn't throw up." – Jerry Seinfeld

"Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature." – Tom Robbins, Still Life With Woodpecker

"Don't be afraid your life will end; be afraid that it will never begin." – Grace Hansen

Remember the People Who Are Important to You
"There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved." – George Sand

"When you grow up, you have to give yourself away. Sometimes you give your life all in a moment, but mostly you have to give yourself away laboring one minute at a time." – Gaborn Val Orden

"I was fourteen years old the night my daddy died. He had holes in his shoes and a vision that he was able to convey to me even lying in an ambulance, dying, that I as a black girl could do and be anything, that race and gender are shadows, and that character, determination, attitude are the substances of life." – Marian Wright Edelman

Today Is The First Day of The Rest of Your Life
"Life is a journey, and with every step we reach a point of no return." – Gaborn Val Orden

"Many adventures await you upon the road of life. Enter these doors, and take your first step…" – from a placard above The Horn and Hound Pub

Happy New Year,

Roy H. Williams

"What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset." - Crowfoot, (1811-1890) a Native American warrior of the Blackfoot tribe.

Last Minute Christmas Gift

It probably wouldn't be as artistically done as the original art work, but you could make your own artwork with a little practice.

If Ron Popeil had thought of this there would be one at every yard sale.

Are you ready?

"Are you ready for Christmas?"

A common salutation in late December,
so, "Are you?"

We prepare for long anticipated family gatherings
with anticipation, sometimes with anxiety,
for some folks, with dread.
So much to buy, to plan, to do, to prepare.

Are you ready?

As we age we recall at Christmastime
lost family members and lost relationships .
Are you ready to deal with those memories
of Christmas past?

"Long past?"
" Your past, Ebeneezer."

Are you Ready?

Get ready for Christmas.
Step back from the busyness and consider whose birth we celebrate.

Consider the wonder of the Creator stepping from his proper place on the throne of the Universe to enter His creation. As one Author wrote, it is a much greater step down than it would be for a man to become an ant, or an amoeba; because men and women, insects and amoebas are all created .

The incarnation - literally "in the flesh", God becoming human-
is on the order of a Painter stepping into a two dimentional painting, or an Author entering His books as character- setting aside , for a time, His pen so that the two dimentional creations could know the three dimentional Creator.

(Imagine that for a moment.
It's a lot to wrap our little brains around.)

Similarly, Jesus Christ came so that finite beings could know the infinite God. Not just know of Him, but know Him. He came also to deal with the thing that separates the created from Creator - sin.
"Only an infinite God could bear the full penalty for all the sins of all the people"*

The wise men didn't scurry about buying each other gifts,
but they did bring gifts to the newborn King as an act of worship.
What can we learn from the gifts of the Magi,
the gold, frankinscense and myrrh?
Please click on this to read Peter marshall's commentary-
Get ready.

Merry Christmas,
Terry

Click over to Angel's blog
for a Holidays and Calories open track back:
http://www.womanhonorthyself.com/?p=2103

Peace in our time

You , You , You , You , You; Yeah ,You.

Congratulations.

You were picked TIME' s 'Person Of The Year'.
Feeling better than James Brown , aren't you?

Well, since you are hanging around
online reading this, you can.

For TIME wasn't talking about 'you ' the farmer, grocer, clerk, salesman, etc.
Who merely: goes to work; is active in his faith; works hard- to pay taxes, support a family, raise good kids and doesn't burn hours up doing stuff like:

" ... make a movie starring (your) pet iguana,... mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals or blog about (your) state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street?
Who has that time and that energy and that passion? "

TIME's 'Person Of The Year' does , of course.
You know, You -
%The 20 year old narcissistic girl who 'has been known to drink and blog'
* The The Washington Whistle-Blogger who exposed Mark Foley.
#The 22 year old Pakistani Photographer
%The 22 Year old 'Social Networker'
-The 35 Year old" Wordsmith at War"
* Sen. Allen's " 'accidental' assassin"
#the 'Un-Emerils' of CrashTestKitchen.com
+The 54 year old 'world's most prolific and influential book reviewer'
#The Chinese satirist
%-The Madonna Of MySpace
#The Laurel and Hardy of MySpace
#The French Cow Town Rapper
+The Wikipedia-phile
+The Korean Housewife/Matt Drudge or ,
@The 'World-weary'; 21 year old outfoxing Microsoft

*I guess TIME couldn't just throw a bone to the two guys
on this list who helped pull down the GOP in Congress,
but they found a way to honor them.

# The artistic folks are there to give the arts and croissant crowd something to chat about at the next cocktail party.

% The cute chicks are included because, well, duh.

@ The 21 year old inventor is there because he is chopping at the capitalist success story that is Microsoft.

- the Mil-Blogger's inclusion tosses a bone to "The American Soldier"-Two time winner of the honor.

+The work of chroniclers like these fortell doom for TIME Magazine.

Why buy that cow when you can milk the internet for information for nearly free?

Do they add value to the information they present? Not so much.

Does their worldview taint their reportage? Hmmmm...

Let's say , "Thanks."

Xerox is sponsoring a neat little web site with a
simple idea and big heart.
It's easy to send a message of gratidude to our troops who
stand Freedom's watch while we are enjoying or
preparing to enjoy the Holidays.

Thanks, Xerox for Lets Say Thanks .com

Great moments in Child Care - 1

-It was just another Wednesday at the
"Sir William Golding Pre-School"



From a photo on Cookie's Gab and Grub.

Well, he IS less stiff than Al Gore...

Linked From "The Conspiracy to keep you Poor And Stupid"

The 2006 midterm election is over and Democrats have swept into both houses of Congress. We’ve got a Republican in the White House and Democrats in Congress, and yet, nobody really foresees real change in Washington. The time has come to find a third way. Some argue we should draft politicians to help change Washington.

After Vietnam, the last thing America really needs is another draft.

For years we’ve been looking above ground to find our candidates,

and for years they’ve been disappointing.

The time has come to start looking beneath the surface.

The time has come to exhume Barry Goldwater for President in 2008!

This website is dedicated that cause.

... typing in syncopated rhythm.

Tap-a taaap..tapata tap ...
Tap a tap taptatata
Man! It's Christmas

Saw Jimmie Bratcher tonight at church-
Great Christmas Music- if you like blues guitar.
I do.

His band was there too -WOW!
I 'm listening to the Album:
"Man! It's Christmas" and typing in syncopated rhythm.

Check out the sound at http://www.jimmiebratcher.com/
scroll down to the Listen Live tab to hear the album
and go to the Free Stuff
tab on top to get some downloads

He had a friend, Jennifer Green
( http://www.jenngreen.com/ ) join with him on
"I'll Be Home For Christmas" - her husband is in the
Air Force and will not be home till January from Iraq.

Great voice. Great song. Poignant moment.

Prayers for all who, for duty's sake, won't be Home,
and for those who are missing them this year.

Let's win this war and bring them home.

Merry Christmas .

The Lazy Half S Ranch: Glenn Beck's "X-Mas" Tour ???#links

The Lazy Half S Ranch: Glenn Beck's "X-Mas" Tour ???#links http://www.womanhonorthyself.com/?p=2002

Glenn Beck's "X-Mas" Tour ???

My Brother ,Rick took my Dad, Brother Joel and me ( I? , whatever...) to Glenn Beck's Christmas Show last night in Omaha. Great time, funny stories, touching moments and very much "PC"-free.

Go see it if it is within driving distance of your town. Glenn spoke of the many things that Christmas is: Family, food, snow, etc, but zeroed in on what makes Christmas stand out among holidays- Redemption.

It isn't just about the birth of the baby , but the death of the Man.

It was funny to leave the Music Hall and see "X-mas" on the marquee !

~#~~~#~~~#~~~#~~~#~~~#~~~#~

12-8-06- How about that!!

Rick's picture of the marquee was selected as the picture of the day at Glenn Beck's website

Click the link and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

~#~~~#~~~#~~~#~~~#~~~#~~~#~

Open Trackback at Angel's blog

Happy Friggin Winter from the ACLU Solstice Barn

Copyright 1997-2006All Rights Reserved. WorldNetDaily.com Inc

In tongue-in-cheek deference to the American Civil Liberties Union, students at the University of Texas displayed an "ACLU Solstice Barn" on campus, featuring politically correct figures.

"We've got Gary and Joseph instead of Mary and Joseph in order to symbolize ACLU support for homosexual marriage, and of course there isn't a Jesus in the manger," said Tony McDonald, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas branch on the Austin campus.
The group, whose plans WND had reported earlier, installed the "crèche" on the West Mall of the campus for display yesterday and today. McDonald told WND today the reaction by students to the display was overwhelmingly positive.
"Even some liberals got the humor in it and conceded certain positions the ACLU takes are out of touch with the mainstream of Americans," he said.
One visitor turned out to be the ACLU's top official in Texas, who, according to McDonald, "had to admit that it was humorous."
McDonald said quite a number of students aren't even aware of the ACLU, and members of his group that manned the display throughout the day had to explain the acronym.
The three Wise Men in the display were Lenin, Marx and Stalin, McDonald told WND, because ACLU founder Roger Baldwin, while director of the organization, was a backer of Soviet-style communism.
As director of the ACLU in 1934, Baldwin wrote an article entitled "Freedom in the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R." in which he said "the Soviet Union has already created liberties far greater than exist elsewhere in the world." He later moderated his views but maintained a commitment to socialism.
The scene also featured a "terrorist shepherd" and an angel with Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi's face, using a photograph of the soon-to-be speaker of the House from San Francisco
"The ACLU and other left-wing extremist groups are working diligently to destroy Americans' rights to the free expression of religion," said the Young Conservatives' Executive Director Joseph Wyly.
Wyly pointed to the city of Chicago's decision this week to ban advertisements for "The Nativity Story" movie from a local Christmas festival, fearing they might offend non-Christians.
"It's just more evidence that there is a war on Christmas being waged by the far-left in this country," he said.