7 Years ago today… Take a moment to remember those who died please.
Flying through SFO Saturday I met an Army MP Sgt named David who has lost both legs above the knee along with other injuries. We talked for a few minutes and his greatest wish is to somehow get back on duty to continue to serve. I walked away in tears after talking to him, because of his commitment to the USA. In the last 24 hours, I’ve gotten over 30 links to this video, most from my military connections, but I want to share it with all of you also.
Edit- just found that Lawdog also has this video up…
PLEASE Spread the word! There have been almost 1,000,000 views and many more are needed.
Thank you and God Bless our serving military!
I got this secondhand from one of my former crewmen, Charlie in Lampasas TX….
I believe it’s true and thought this was worth sharing.
I was at the men’s polo counter at Dillard’s yesterday in Lubbock. TX and saw a great selfless act. A man and his wife were checking out, and when he turned around to leave, he noticed a young serviceman behind him ready to check out.
The couple went out of their way to welcome the serviceman back. The serviceman told him that he was only there for a couple of days. Turns out, his grandfather had just passed away and he was home for the funeral. He confessed that he had no clothes and that was why he was at the mall. The man took the clothes from his hands and proceeded to pay for them when the soldier pleaded that he “didn’t have to do that.”
The man turned around and said, “Just like you didn’t have to defend my freedom. This is my pleasure, son.” The soldier was really grateful, and the sales associate was in tears. I just thought this story needed to be shared.
There really are truly good people in this world, and in Lubbock, Texas.
It’s up to each of you as individuals to make up your own minds come November, here is a pretty concise list of issues and both candidates stands on them. Verification locations are listed at the bottom.
Pick your poison… 🙂
JOHN McCAIN- JM
BARACK OBAMA – BO
Favors new drilling offshore US
JM-Yes BO-No
Will appoint judges who interpret the law not make it
JM-Yes BO-No
Served in the US Armed Forces
JM-Yes BO-No
Amount of time served in the US Senate
JM-22 YEARS BO-173 DAYS
Will institute a socialized national health care plan
JM-No BO-Yes
Supports abortion throughout the pregnancy
JM-No BO-Yes
Would pull troops out of Iraq immediately
JM- No BO-Yes
Supports gun ownership rights
JM-Yes BO-No
Supports homosexual marriage
JM-No BO-Yes
Proposed programs will mean a huge tax increase
JM-No BO-Yes
Voted against making English the official language
JM-No BO-Yes
Voted to give Social Security benefits to illegals
JM-No BO-Yes
Capital Gains Tax
MCCAIN
0% on home sales up to $500,000 per home (couples). McCain does not propose any change in existing home sales income tax.
OBAMA
28% on profit from ALL home sales. (How does this affect you? If you sell your home and make a profit, you will pay 28% of your gain on taxes. If you are heading toward retirement and would like to down-size your home or move into a retirement community, 28% of the money you make from your home will go to taxes. This proposal will adversely affect the elderly who are counting on the income from their homes as part of their retirement income.)
DIVIDEND TAX
MCCAIN
15% (no change)
OBAMA
39.6% – (How will this affect you? If you have any money invested in stock market, IRA, mutual funds, college funds, life insurance, retirement accounts, or anything that pays or reinvests dividends, you will now be paying nearly 40% of the money earned on taxes if Obama becomes president. The experts predict that ‘Higher tax rates on dividends and capital gains would crash the stock market, yet do absolutely nothing to cut the deficit.’)
INCOME TAX
MCCAIN
(no changes)
Single making 30K – tax $4,500
Single making 50K – tax $12,500
Single making 75K – tax $18,750
Married making 60K- tax $9,000
Married making 75K – tax $18,750
Married making 125K – tax $31,250
OBAMA (reversion to pre-Bush tax cuts)
Single making 30K – tax $8,400 (that’s $4,000.00 MORE EACH YEAR)
Single making 50K – tax $14,000
Single making 75K – tax $23,250
Married making 60K – tax $16,800
Married making 75K – tax $21,000
Married making 125K – tax $38,750
Under Obama, your taxes will almost double!!!
INHERITANCE TAX
MCCAIN
– 0% (No change, Bush repealed this tax)
OBAMA
Restore the inheritance tax
Many families have lost businesses, farms, ranches, and homes that have been in their families for generations because they could not afford the inheritance tax. Those willing their assets to loved ones will only lose them to these taxes.
NEW TAXES PROPOSED BY OBAMA
New government taxes proposed on homes that are more than 2400 square feet. New gasoline taxes (as if gas weren’t high enough already) New taxes on natural resources consumption (heating gas, water, electricity) New taxes on retirement accounts, and last but not least….New taxes to pay for socialized medicine so we can receive the same level of medical care as other third-world countries!!!
You can verify the above at the following web sites:
http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/election/2008/index..html
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/issues/issues.taxes.htmlhttp://elections.foxnews.com/?s=proposed+taxes
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/politics/articles/mccain_obama_offer_different_visions_on_taxes.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/barack_obama/
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/candidates/john_mccain/
It’s okay that Brittney Spears little sister is pregnant at age 15, not married, etc. but it is “horribile” that Palin’s 17 year old daughter is pregnant and will have the child and marry the father…
AND it was “totally inappropriate” for Sarah Palin to bring a Downs Syndrome baby into the world when they knew about it ahead of time…
But the LWL’s applaud Special Olympics and do fund raisers for disadvantaged children…
Sounds more like good old fashioned morals that most of us grew up with just don’t fit with the LWL or the MSM today. All I gotta say is I’m glad I was brought up in what they call “fly over” country…
Oh yeah, wasn’t Obama born to an underage mother, fathered by a man who was married to someone else at the time???
Waiting for the next “pronouncement”…
I wish I could make my own toys…
The video of dolphins playing with silver colored rings is not limited to aquiriums. They do also make these in the ocean for something to play with. It isn’t known how they learn this, or if it’s an inbred ability.
The dolphin does a quick flip of its head and a silver ring appears in front of its pointed beak. The ring is a solid, donut shaped bubble about 2-ft across, yet it doesn’t rise to the surface of the water, even though it’s full of air!
It stands upright in the water like a magic doorway to an unseen dimension. The dolphin then pulls a small silver donut from the larger one. Looking at the twisting ring for one last time a bite is taken from it, causing the small ring to collapse into a thousands of tiny bubbles which head upward towards the water’s surface.
After a few moments the dolphin creates another ring to play with. There also seems to be a separate mechanism for producing small rings, which a dolphin can accomplish by a quick flip of its head.
An explanation of how dolphins make these silver rings is that they are “air-core vortex rings”. Invisible, spinning vortices in the water are generated from the tip of a dolphin’s dorsal fin when it is moving rapidly and turning. When dolphins break the line, the ends are drawn together into a closed ring. The higher velocity fluid around the core of the vortex is at a lower pressure than the fluid circulating farther away.
Air is injected into the rings via bubbles released from the dolphin’s blowhole. The energy of the water vortex is enough to keep the bubbles from rising for a reasonably few seconds of play time.
Since school is restarting now, I thought this would be appropriate, since there will be kids missing their fathers again this year, who gave their lives in service to our country.
Daddy’s poem- Author unknown from Fay T.
Her hair was up in a pony tail,
Her favorite dress tied with a bow.
Today was Daddy’s Day at school,
And she couldn’t wait to go.
But her mommy tried to tell her,
That she probably should stay home.
Why the kids might not understand,
If she went to school alone.
But she was not afraid;
She knew just what to say.
What to tell her classmates
Of why he wasn’t there today.
But still her mother worried,
For her to face this day alone.
And that was why once again,
She tried to keep her daughter home.
But the little girl went to school
Eager to tell them all.
About a dad she never sees
A dad who never calls.
There were daddies along the wall in back,
For everyone to meet.
Children squirming impatiently,
Anxious in their seats.
One by one the teacher called
A student from the class.
To introduce their daddy,
As seconds slowly passed.
At last the teacher called her name,
Every child turned to stare.
Each of them was searching,
A man who wasn’t there.
“Where’s her daddy at?”
She heard a boy call out.
“She probably doesn’t have one,”
Another student dared to shout.
And from somewhere near the back,
She heard a daddy say,
“Looks like another deadbeat dad,
Too busy to waste his day.”
The words did not offend her,
As she smiled up at her Mom.
And looked back at her teacher,
Who told her to go on.
And with hands behind her back,
Slowly she began to speak.
And out from the mouth of a child,
Came words incredibly unique.
“My Daddy couldn’t be here,
Because he lives so far away.
But I know he wishes he could be,
Since this is such a special day.
And though you cannot meet him,
I wanted you to know.
All about my daddy,
And how much he loves me so.
He loved to tell me stories
He taught me to ride my bike.
He surprised me with pink roses,
And taught me to fly a kite.
We used to share fudge sundaes,
And ice cream in a cone.
And though you cannot see him.
I’m not standing here alone.
“Cause my daddy’s always with me,
Even though we are apart
I know because he told me,
He’ll forever be in my heart”
With that, her little hand reached up,
And lay across her chest.
Feeling her own heartbeat,
Beneath her favorite dress.
And from somewhere here in the crowd of dads,
Her mother stood in tears.
Proudly watching her daughter,
Who was wise beyond her years.
For she stood up for the love
Of a man not in her life.
Doing what was best for her,
Doing what was right.
And when she dropped her hand back down,
Staring straight into the crowd.
She finished with a voice so soft,
But its message clear and loud.
“I love my daddy very much,
he’s my shining star.
And if he could, he’d be here,
But heaven’s just too far.
You see he is a Marine
And died just this past year
When a roadside bomb hit his convoy
And taught Americans to fear.
But sometimes when I close my eyes
it’s like he never went away.”
And then she closed her eyes,
And saw him there that day.
And to her mothers amazement,
She witnessed with surprise.
A room full of daddies and children,
All starting to close their eyes.
Who knows what they saw before them,
Who knows what they felt inside.
Perhaps for merely a second,
They saw him at her side.
“I know you’re with me Daddy,”
To the silence she called out.
And what happened next made believers,
Of those once filled with doubt.
Not one in that room could explain it,
For each of their eyes had been closed.
But there on the desk beside her,
Was a fragrant long-stemmed pink rose.
And a child was blessed, if only for a moment,
By the love of her shining star.
And given the gift of believing,
That heaven is never too far.
Julie Gibson, like a good number of classic burlesque dancers defined their careers with one gimmick.
For her, it was the “Dance of the Bashful Bride.” Known as an East Coast dancer (with her main gig being at the Wedge in Philadelphia), Gibson would transform from a sweet and innocent blushing bridge on her wedding day to a less-than-innocent honeymoon night bump-and-grinder. Dressed in full bridal wear, she would walk down the stairs to the stage as if she were preceding down a church aisle.
Once on stage, more than just the bridal bouquet would be thrown off. Men, who usually hated to attend weddings, would clamour for front-row seats to see this woman-in-white. With her small stature (5′ 4″), curvaceous measurements (35-23-35), and innocent pout, Gibson would be just the type of girl that men in the club would dream of marrying. And as a bonus, she could look sexy and seductive while taking off a big wedding gown and all the bulky layers that went with it. It was the classic angel/devil, virgin/whore act all rolled up into one.
Gibson, like many dancers of the 1950’s, was brought before a judge to defend her act against obscenity charges. She called her act “art” and offered to do her dance in the courtroom in front of the judge. The judge declined and after that the case fizzled away. It wasn’t Perry Mason, but it worked none the less.
There’s also an interesting bit of trivia concerning Gibson and the U.S. Navy. It seems in the mid-50’s, a Navy development team for a new type of underwater listening device was located outside Philly–the main stomping grounds for Gibson.
Now this is the interesting part… I actually flew and operated this system early in my Navy career and later met some of the guys who developed it (and watched Julie dance on their lunch hour); since this is a ‘family’ blog, those stories will remain untold…
They needed a code name for the project and so they called it Project Julie.
It must have been a success (it was) because Gibson at one point was honored aboard the USS Valley Forge because of her namesake project.
H/T Charlie- data from Java’s Bachelor Pad
A REAL shooting range…
Went down to Quantico and shot on Range 4 (1000 yard range) Here’s a picture from the 600 yard line, which was the intermediate stop! We shot at 100 yards, 600 yards and 1000 yards.
Here’s what I was shooting. It is, with the exception of the action which is period correct, an M40A1 Marine Sniper rifle that was used from the 1970’s into the 1990’s.
And yes it shoots MUCH better than I do… These were the orginal sighting shots to align the scope. At 600 yards we shot a 6 inch steel plate (equating to 1 minute of angle) and at 1000 yards we were shooting at a torso sized steel plate (19″x24″) and I also shot a group on one of the targets.
At 600 yards I was on the steel 8 of 10 shots, at 1000 yards I was on the steel 16 of 20 shots and shot a 8.7″ group for 5 shots on the target.
While that might seem pretty good, I let two REAL Marine Snipers shoot the rifle at 1000 yards.
Note: Neither of them had ever shot it before…
They did the shooter/spotter teamwork, and both of them put 5 of 5 on steel, with one of them making 3 head shots at 1000 yards! Those kids are GOOD!!!! Of course I have no pictures, for obvious reasons… dammit…
Now I’ve got to clean that sucker, and the shoulder is starting to hurt. Oh well, gotta pay for the fun 🙁
On another note- heard on the radio on the way back, the dems are asking the Denver police NOT to enforce the dope smoking laws during the convention! WTFO????
I guess they’re afraid too many of the liberal delegates would end up in jail and wouldn’t be able to vote…
Friend of mine sent this to me this morning, commenting on Obama and Biden kinda says it all as far as I’m concerned…
Those two are just scary as individuals, much less as a pair… If they get in, I have no doubt they will do everything in their power to overturn the 2nd Amendment, and make sure we get our guns confiscated.
Joe (anti-gun)Biden as the VP nomination???
Obama , and those around him, whose entire campaign is trying to paint McCain as as Washington insider and Obama as the opposite picks the ultimate Washington insider? Biden has been in the Senate since 1972, consistantly gets an F rating from the NRA (matching Obama perfectly on that) and is the proverbial loose cannon (whose temper is even worse than McCains). He’s also an old fart Mid-60’s against McCain’s 71, so that argument pretty much goes out the window too…
Wasn’t it Biden who said that Barack wasn’t ready to be President during the primaries; that the position was no place for on the job training? And this whole email announcement thing…
Sloppy and amateurish at best, the hackers and others were driving the media nuts with false announcements… Signs of things to come?
One can only hope so! I think the dems convention may be worth watching, it MAY even be better than Comedy Central…
Think I’ll go to the range while I still can!