My Iraq

"What are we doing here? That is a question I hear quite often from those who oppose our actions in the Middle East. What are we doing here? We are giving people the opportunity to fight for their freedom. Freedom is not a concept that is given, it is earned. It is the costliest of human aspirations and the one thing most easily squandered. I take the dhimmitude that infects the West today as my “Exhibit A”. Those who have no concept of the cost of freedom are willing to give it away all in the name of a false “peace”. But what is Peace without Freedom?

Peace without Freedom is Slavery. I will never be a slave. If I lose my life in this land, I will have died a Free Man. If those who outlive me surrender in the name of “Peace” because they are too terrified and selfish to sacrifice for the cost of Freedom, they too will die. However, they will die as slaves, or dhimmi, which is the same thing."

These are the words of a soldier deployed in Iraq.  To the "peace crowd, to the Democrats in Congress, to my own foolish Congressman... go to the Tanker Brothers to read the rest.

 http://www.birthdaycelebrations.net/birthdayquotes.htm

http://www.c-boom.com/big0_quotes.htm

http://quotations.home.worldnet.att.net/birthday.html

http://www.quotegarden.com/birthday.html

http://islandireland.com/Pages/folk/sets/toasts.html

http://www.poemsforfree.com/birthpo.html

http://www.worldofquotes.com/search.php

http://dgreetings.com/gift-ideas/birthday-gifts/birthday-toasts.html

http://dgreetings.com/gift-ideas/birthday-gifts/birthday-sayings.html

From MaryAnn at Soldiers' Angels Germany

"It is with great sadness that Soldiers' Angels announces the passing of its dearest and oldest member, Aunt Mary. Mary Irvin Roun was born on April 13, 1905 in Turnersville, NJ and died peacefully in her sleep on February 8,2007.

Mary Jo Stamper, Aunt Mary's great-nice, and the rest of the family had been working on an "Aunt Mary Movie" for her upcoming 102nd birthday party. According to Mary Jo, "we feel it is even more appropriate now to share these pictures/music with all the people that loved her. One of the most endearing characteristics of Aunt Mary was how appreciative she always was, for even the smallest thing you did for her. She loved to say..."wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!" Hence, the music in the video... "


                                              The tide recedes but leaves behind bright seashells in the sand.
The sun goes down but gentle warmth still lingers on the land.
The music stops... and yet it echoes on in sweet refrain...
For every joy that passes, something beautiful remains.

Go here to read the rest and watch the video.

As I said in my 6 weird things post, I still read the newspaper...Cleveland Plain Dealer to be precise.  I came across this yesterday morning...

CARACAS, VENEZUELA

Let them eat chicken feet

Meat cuts vanished from Venezuelan supermarkets this week, leaving only unsavory bits like chicken feet, while costly artificial sweeteners have increasingly replaced sugar, and many staples sell far above government-fixed prices. President Hugo Chavez's administration blames the food supply problems on unscrupulous speculators, but industry officials say government price controls that strangle profits are responsible. Shortages have sporadically appeared among items from milk to coffee since early 2003, when Chavez began regulating prices for 400 basic products as a way to counter inflation and protect the poor. Yet inflation has soared to an accumulated 78 percent in the last four years in an economy awash in petrodollars.

- Associated Press

...it stayed in my mind...right next to the picture of Hillary...saying this.

There is a game of tag going on.  I saw it last  night on Townhall,,, and to my surprise this morning ...I find myself tagged.  Consul at Arms tagged Tanker Brothers and Tracy tagged me...so...

Here are the "Official Rules"
"Each player of this games starts with 6 weird things about you. People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state the rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says you are tagged in their comments and tell them to read your blog."

1.  I can't go to sleep without the radio on.

2  Make what you will of it, some of you know how much I hate driving.  I avoid left turns when traffic is heavy.  Sometimes I will go around the block just to get back to a traffic signal.

3.  My Dad drummed into our heads, "clear your work area".  When in school that meant my desk.  Now sometimes I clean the whole house before starting a project.

4.  If someone reads the newspaper before me (yep, we still get the paper) I have to put the sections back in order before I can read it.

5.  This may not be weird...it may horrify some of you....I write in my books...underline...make notes in the margins.

6.  I like writing in longhand.  I often write things down before I type them...even blog posts.  (Which I wish I'd have done with this one since I deleted it once.)

Ok, I tag

SCEagle

Anna

Gawfer

Dave

Deviant Scholar

GunNutt

(Sorry guys, I love ya.  They are all wishing I'd deleted this again)

On May 9th 2004, SFC Lloyd A. Heinrichs Jr was down at the Ocean front in Virginia Beach when a ‘Swimmer in Distress’ call came in to the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Dispatch office about noon. Myself (Gary Couch, Dive 8), SFC Heinrichs and Petty Officer First Class Scott Weil of the U.S Navy, volunteered to respond the call. There were a total of 3 people in the water that were being pulled out to sea by the current. The temperature of the water was only around 65 degrees Fahrenheit with the air temperature at 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The undertow was very extreme that day with the beach already “Red Flagged” due to the strong currents and excessive waves.

Upon arrival to the scene, SFC Heinrichs and PO1 Weil identified the victims. Without hesitation and with total disregard for their own safety each grabbed a torpedo buoy and entered the water. SFC Heinrichs went for the first victim to the South of 36th Street while PO1 Weil went for the second and third victims, which were hanging on to each other to the North of 36th Street. As I observed SFC Heinrichs and PO1 Weil, once they were waist deep, the current rapidly pulled them out. SFC Heinrichs made his way to the first victim and started fighting his way back to shore. Once SFC Heinrichs reached his victim, he calmed her down, making the attempt to head back to shore. Several times SFC Heinrichs and his victim were rolled under by the enormous waves and undertow. His victim was completely exhausted from the ordeal. Once he reached shallow water, he assisted his victim to shore. The victim was an older heavy-set lady, early forties. The Virginia Beach Fire Department Paramedics placed the victim on a stretcher and the Virginia Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad took her to Virginia Beach General Hospital.

SFC Heinrichs was extremely exhausted and fatigued from the rescue. He turned to check on PO1 Weil and notice that PO1 Weil had reached the other two victims, a male in his late twenties and a female in her early forties. PO1 Weil was struggling with his two victims giving a hand and arm signal for ‘Help’. The female was almost passive from near drowning, and the male who had initially swum out to help her was becoming a victim himself. Without hesitation, SFC Heinrichs picked himself up and ran back into the water to assist PO1 Weil while PO1 Weil did what he could to keep them calm and afloat until help arrived.

Once SFC Heinrichs reached PO1 Weil and the other two victims, they were all rolled by several consecutive waves, pinning SFC Heinrichs under the two victims. A few moments later, SFC Heinrichs emerged between the victims with both lanyards of the torpedo buoys wrapped around his neck, gasping for air. As the situation went from bad to worse, PO1 Weil tried his best to help SFC Heinrichs with untangling the lanyards from his neck while trying to hold his passive victim’s head out of the water. SFC Heinrichs took a deep breath and submerged himself in the attempt to free his neck. As each wave came over the top of PO1 Weil and the victims, we kept waiting for him to resurface in bated breath not knowing that the lanyards kept tightening around SFC Heinrichs’ neck. While continuous waves were tossing PO1 Weil and the victims, SFC Heinrichs reemerged on the side of the victims. He had been under for over thirty seconds trying to get loose. We began to worry weather or not he was going to come back up. You could hear the heavy sigh of relief from all the EMS personnel on the beach once he resurfaced. He grabbed a hold of the male victim and started for shore. The victims once, on shore, were taken away for medical attention. PO1 Weil and SFC Heinrichs were taken to an ambulance and checked for possible hypothermia and released.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday.  For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

It Is Foolish And Wrong To Mourn The Men Who Died. Rather We Should Thank God That Such Men Lived.

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll.  If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by clicking here

This Weeks Hero Was Suggested By LeAnn

Today is my day over at the Tanker Brothers Rolling Victory Fast.  Here is the link that will explain it all.   Please take a minute to read it...and then come back...


My fast today, is dedicated to the D.C. Chapter of the Free Republic and to Joshua Sparling.  To learn more about Free Republic go here.

These dedicated patriots have been outside Walter Reed Medical Center every Friday evening for 94 weeks.  What began as a counter protest to code pink's twisted "support" of the troops, has evolved into a labor of love.

On the 27th of January they stood in support of the troops and the country at the Anti-Victory Peace rally on the National Mall.  You can go here to watch videos of these "promoters of peace" in action.  You can just feel the hate love through your monitor.  Especially toward Joshua, a wounded Soldier still at WRAMC and the other vets with him.

And....just so you know...some of our Tanker Sisters are FReepers too.! 

Semper Gratis,
Mary*Ann


P.S.  To those I double dog dared to join in the RVF a while back....this is it....I TRIPLE DOG DARE you.

  A toast to 3RD....                                                       



...and to all of  you Googling "Birthday Toast"....I'm sorry...but I'm toasting a friend here...if you are looking for a good website for birthday toasts....try the Quote Garden

Behold the true harbinger of spring.    The equipment truck leaves this week!!!

Here is a website that LCpl. Manoukian’s mother set up for her son after he lost his life in Ramadi.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

Is Foolish And Wrong To Mourn The Men Who Died. Rather We Should Thank God That Such Men Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by clicking here.

This Weeks Hero Was Submitted By Mark Bell

...not 1969.  I remember the 60's all too well.  The good old days...not so much.

I've had my fill of the news stories...all one sided.  The Boy just called me in to watch an MTV "report" (sheesh).  Those being interviewed....Iraq Vets against the war.  They briefly showed the FreeRepublic's counter protest...but no interview with anyone from that side...like...say.... Joshua Sparling...  Josh Sparling, who received a card while he was a patient at WRAMC basically saying "hope you die".  Josh Sparling, who was spit on by one of the peace loving  commie protesters.

(For whatever reason, I still cant link to anything...but I can copy and paste, and the links seem to work, go figure.)

More on Joshua Sparling at Michelle Malkin:

http://michellemalkin.com/archives/006779.htm

To me, a great many of these "activistst"  are just some perenially unhappy people trying to either recapture their youth...or experience something that happened before they were born.  Either way I find it sad and disheartening.  I see it as giving aid and comfort to an enemy that... should the enemy win...will have these code pink people (Barbarella included)...in black...or at best blue, burkas. 

Tom the Redhunter has a report and links from Saturday's D.C. protest. 

http://theredhunter.com/2007/01/countering_united_for_peace_and_justice_in_washington_dc.php

Follow his links to some "interesting" photos and video..especially Age of Hooper found at...

http://ageofhooper.blogspot.com/2007/01/heres-yet-another-video-requires-flash.html

This was supposed to be a "grass roots" protest.  The Redhunter did some research.  What he found was interesting...a list of some of of the groups involved in the anti war movement.  Grass roots, indeed.

"So did they succeed in putting that "milder face" on the anti-war movement? I went to their website and downloaded their national member list. Here are a few of the groups

CODEPINK: Women for Peace
Communist Party USA
Democratic Socialists of America
Greenpeace
RainbowPUSH Coalition (Jesse Jackson)
Young Communist League (YCL)"

The best comment I've heard all day...and I'm so od'd on news stories that I can't remember who or where I heard it...might have been Hugh Hewitt...."they don't know history didn't begin with Viet Nam".  'Nuff said.

By the way...spellcheck not working either...just so you know :-)

Anti war protests in D.C. and San Francisco. 

I tried writing something scathing and clever....but there are others who do a much better job of that than I can.  What came to me watching the news and reading the overtly anti American comments by the protestors....who seem to think life in America is so very oppressive....was.....again from Bill Whittle's Silent America.....http://www.ejectejecteject.com/archives/000046.html (hyperlink not working)

"We have been so safe, and so free, for so long, that it has warped our sense of history and human nature. It is, of course, a trade I am happy to make, but this isolation from the true horror and depravity that are everyday experiences in many parts of the world has embedded in it, like a particularly lethal virus, the seeds of our own destruction. And it is this threat, much more than that from fundamentalist Islam and its organs of terror, that we must look at – closely, and deeply, and often.

I believe that many of those who opposed the war did so because they simply could not -- or in many cases would not – imagine what life under real oppression is like. Remember, these are the people who say, and seem to believe, that we in the US live in a police state, under a murdering dictator, where propaganda is spoon-fed to us like willing idiots and political opposition is crushed mercilessly.

If you say such things long enough, and you spend all your time in the company of similarly tinfoil-hatted comrades, then you actually begin to believe that life in Baghdad under Saddam Hussein wasn’t that much worse than life in Berkeley under the racist, election-stealing, Wellstone-murdering, Earth-destroying Republikkkan administration.

This nation has been for many decades under direct and coordinated attack by fanatics whose failure to gain respect and attention through the force of their arguments have turned their level of rhetoric to such a shrill and hysterical pitch that years of it have seemingly driven some of them quite insane -- insane to the degree that they cannot see that acid baths, state rapists, children’s prisons and daily torture and execution are not mere rhetorical flourishes -- roughly equivalent to hanging chads and bulldozed Dixie Chicks CD’s -- but a desperate and ever-present reality. They did everything in their power to deny this reality, these Champions of Compassion, and Not In Their Name did these daily horrors come to an end. That is what six decades of freedom, security, tolerance and prosperity will do to some people: isolate them from the brutal reality of horror and torture to the degree that “evil” must be accompanied by sneer quotes and the motives of 300 million free and decent people are suspect while those of psychopathic mass murderers are not."

I think the protesters have every right to express their opinions....I just think they suffer from a lack of imagination....of what real evil is.