Don't Let Hate Win!

There are those in this country that believe that it is their right to protest the "gay" activity here by bringing their message of hate to what they call a "pep rally" which is really the funeral of another brave citizen that has given his/her life to ensure the right of these morons to spread their abhorrent beliefs.

Tomorrow I will attend a counter to the attempt to spread their hate at the funeral of a Council Bluffs soldier because we need to eliminate the hate, even though I know that their head has overwhelmed any compassion they ever had in their hearts.

This is their message of hate!

http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html

This is the call to counter these so called christians.


https://www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=114788391937092

Join the cause to eliminate the hatred by changing your Facebook picture to the attached photo on April 22nd.

Now That Was Something!

Every once in a while something from the present triggers a memory from the past. We decided to have Frito boats for dinner tonight, you know, chili, Frito's, onions & cheese....all stuff that is good for you. Well at least it tastes great.

Anyway, this got me thinking about a place that was very dear to many of us youngsters growing up in a small town. We had a pizza joint but no McD's. We had the best ice cream any of you could every want. We had an A&W (that's where we had our first Frito boats) and we had Burt's.

Burt had a 47 cent special every day; a hamburger, fries and a coke (maybe Pepsi but you get the picture). There wasn't a week that went by that I did not eat there for lunch at least once. Can you imagine getting a burger, fries and a coke for 47 cents today....and it wasn't fast food, they cooked the burger to order. He also had chili burritos, deep fried, smothered with chili.... also so very healthy.

But the best memory I have of Burt's Dari-Delight is sitting in my 68 metallic blue Road Runner with my best friend on November 10th 1968, the day I asked her to be my wife.

Kind of Expected

On January 20th I sent Congressman Steve King, Iowa a message regarding his comments to Lawrence O'Donnell. My message was:

After watching your interview on "The Last Word" I am appalled that you would be willing to sacrifice an additional 21 citizens of Iowa or any other state by not supporting a restriction that would limit the number of rounds in a magazine to ten.

Your statement that someone would just solder two magazines together was moronic. If the shooter in Tucson had soldered two together, it is likely that he would have fired 21 fewer rounds and maybe a 9 year old girl or a Federal Judge would still be alive today.

I urge you to support legislation designed to eliminate the sale of high capacity magazines.

Today I received a response from Congressman King in which he rehashed who was shot and what a "...senseless act of violence..." it was, adding that he was "...deeply shocked and saddened..."

Evidently he was neither "shocked" or "saddened" enough to see beyond the spewing of the NRA and the gun lobby, nor did he address my main point which did not infer any restrictions on the ownership of guns (although I do not believe anyone needs to possess an automatic weapon for legitimate purposes), only on the high capacity magazines which are not mentioned as a right in the First or Second Amendment to our Constitution.

The main portion of his response, below, is simply a regurgitation of the right wing agenda:

"This tragedy is the work of a deranged individual, it is not the result of political rhetoric from either side of the aisle, and it could not have been prevented by tighter gun laws. Some in the media, and even some in Congress, have sought to use this tragedy for political gain and as a rallying cry for efforts to impose new restrictions on our First and Second Amendment rights. I oppose these efforts, and I will do all that I can to ensure our liberties and constitutional freedoms are not compromised."

Signed:

Steve King
Member of Congress

He apparently places the liberty and constitutional freedom of some well above others.

People You Meet In Bars

While in Portland my brother and I visited the bar in the hotel where we were staying to have a beer before our family dinner.

We engaged in our normal anti Fox news conversation while a man (I'll call him Abe) & woman (I'll call her Marie) to our left were involved in a video conference on his Mac. As their conversation went on it became more profane with Marie telling the guy on the other end that he was fu#*ing full of s*it and did not know anything.

While we tried to carry on our own conversation it became more and more difficult to ignore Abe and Marie as the conversation became louder and more heated. The subject was "Chemtrails", those vapor trails that appear in the wake of military aircraft.

Marie is convinced that there is probable forensic evidence that the government is spraying us with chemical or biological agents, the guy on the other end was debunking her theory and Abe kept poking the stick and stiring the pot.

As we were about to finish our beer, I told my brother that I was amazed that he had not become involved in the conversation since he is one that always likes to stir the shit pot. He just kind of shrugged but when we got up to leave he walked over and told the two that he was from Santa Cruz and they knew all about Chemtrails there.

This excited Marie to the point that she put her arms around my brother and started rubbing her tits against his arm. This prompted Abe to mention that my brother was now getting a boob rub from a 16K boob job while Marie just kept asking my brother if she was right about chemtrails while Abe was kicking him in the leg trying to get him to say yes while the bartender and I were trying to control our laughter while the guy on the other end of the conversation kept insisting that anyone getting a boob rub like that would agree with anything.

Needless to say the entire family enjoyed the story during dinner.

Pinto Syndrome

Born On the 4th Of July

On May 27th, Cpl. Jacob Leicht, USMC became the 1000th American to die in Afghanistan since the conflict began in October 2001. He was just a little over 1 month away from his 25th birthday, July 4, 2010, This was his 2nd tour in Afghanistan, his first tour lasting only a few weeks when the Humvee he was in hit an explosive device and spent 2 years recovering. This time, one month into his 2nd tour he stepped on a land mine that ended his life.

As we celebrate Memorial Day on Monday we are poised to remember Jacob and those who made the ultimate sacrifice, as well as those that have survived wars past. We will also reach a milestone on June 7th as we move into the 104th month of the Afghan war, surpassing Vietnam and the lengthiest war in United States History.

As a Marine Corps Veteran of the Vietnam conflict, I would be remiss if I did not comment on this milestone. To say that there are mixed opinions on the progression of this effort is an understatement, emotions run high on both sides; end it now or press on and eliminate the "terrorist" threat to our country, much like we attempted to "win" and eliminate the communist threat in Vietnam.

What we need to remember when we consider whether or not we should attempt to attain "victory" is that we have not won a conflict or whatever you want to call it since World War Two (unless you count Ronald Regan's little invasion of Grenada in 1983).

We did not "win" anything in George Herbert Walker Bush's war in 1991, we did not win the second Bush war (ongoing) even though he declared "Mission Accomplished" and we will not "win" a war in Afghanistan.

Some argue that our sons and daughters will have died in vain if we end this conflict without "winning". To me this only means that they are willing to sacrifice other sons and daughters until the futility of the conflict is finally recognized.

As we celebrate the life and death of those that have served this country on Monday, let us consider the lives that can be saved by removing all of our brave men and women from harms way before they become just another tick on the wall of some future memorial.

Thank you Jacob, for your service and your sacrifice, your efforts were not in vain, only the prosecution of another war that cannot be "won" will end in vain.

Stop the Leak