The New Tea Party - The March on D.C.

I'll hold judgement on crowd size - but MASSIVE seems to be the gist of it, anyway. I am SO proud of this bunch of My Fellow Americans. Driven by the principles of the Constitution of the United States, they are exercising their God-given Rights and demonstrating the BRILLIANCE of the Founders.

Read all about it!

Is it physically painful for these jerks to tell the truth now and then? What the HELL does this show them to be? From the article at FoxNews...The White House on Friday claimed it was unaware of the planned rally. What a pathetic bunch of weasels this is! Did they stop maturing in middle school???

Paco, maybe your last wish could be for grown-ups who believe in the principles of the Constitution of the United States to hold the positions of authority in the country?

The 912 Project

I bet you've heard about the Tea Parties and the 912 Project. Here's some coverage - by FoxNewsChannel, no surprise - of the march on Washington today. I would love to have been there, and at some time in the future I may get to join one of these, but the time was not now for me. I walk with them in spirit, though I know how little that helps.

The 912 Project marches on Washington -- "Turn this thing around."

PATRIOT DAY -- NEVER FORGET

"Where were you when the world stopped turning, that September morn?" ~Alan Jackson

When the radio alarm went off that morning, we knew immediately something was wrong, because Rick Hamada was shook up. Marine Corps Base Kaneohe at Kailua, Hawai'i is several hours behind Ground Zero's time zone, so the planes had already struck but the Towers had not yet collapsed. Husband went to work at his squadron, daughter went to school. Around noon, Hawai'i time I went to pick up daughter and a couple friends. It took 3 1/2 hours to get back on base because every car was stopped at the gate. We didn't leave again for 3 days. Every business on base was closed and armed squads patrolled the streets.

The first guess-timates of the number of casualties were wrong.

Two thousand nine hundred ninety-six WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN.

NOTE: This Tribute was posted a week or two ago (linked so you can read comments if you wish)...I have since been assigned a second name to honour, and will post that Tribute separately.

PROJECT 2,996

Remembering: James D. Cleere

I found a reprint / repost of a Washington Post list of House Document No. 107-285, Commemorative Joint Meeting of the Congress of the United States In Remembrance of the Victims and Heroes of September 11, 2001. It gave me my idea of how to write this Tribute. You see, I volunteered to write and post a Tribute after finding my way to a site called Project 2,996. The name I was assigned belongs to a man who was...well...a man who was in one of the Towers of the World Trade Center that day.

It's a very plain-looking list, as are most of the other reprints of that long long list - no frills or fanfares, no candles or flowers or flags waving in the breeze. Most of us live lives that don't come with public fanfare or frills or parades or widely posted Tributes. The Americans killed that horrible day were mostly just like you and me...going about their business in the ways they knew best. Though they worked in a talked-about building - or compound, as there were more than 2 "towers" - their everyday lives involved the same kinds of things we all do - taking out the trash, answering the phone, losing a cell while crossing a bridge, talking to the kids, the grocer, the neighbor, folding a load of laundry, picking up a prescription, grabbing a quick bite. Ordinary...yet so very extraordinary, and now never to be forgotten.

James D. Cleere was living his life. He was 55. He was from Newton, Iowa.

He was sentenced to Death by the murderers that day because of where he was and who he was. They did not know him personally, or care about him or his family or his friends. They didn't know how he got from Iowa to New York City, where he'd gone to school, or what he had for breakfast every day. They only cared that he die that day because he was in that building.

I didn't know him, either. But I will never forget him.

James D. Cleere was on the 49th floor of the South Tower, in the offices of Seabury and Smith Insurance, when the hijacked Flight 175 out of Boston slammed into the building at 9:03am on September 11, 2001.

James D. Cleere - you are not forgotten.


This Tribute was posted earlier in this week - here's a link so you can read the comment(s).

Remembering: Brian Bilcher

Unlike Mr. Cleere, Brian Bilcher was an easy name to research. Being a member of Squad 1, FDNY means he was well-known and well-loved and remembered by so many people. Details are not difficult to come by. Many have memorialized him, and done so better than my paltry research and writing skills will do. There's a letter from his mother that made this crusty ol broad tear up some... Brian Bilcher's name graces the tribute pages and lists of every firefighting unit in the country that has posted a remembrance, I think.

Firefighter Brian Bilcher, you will never be forgotten. May God continue to bless your friends and family and your beautiful son Grant.

You dedicated your life to helping others and saving lives. You gave your life so that others may live. Thank you, your Brothers and Sisters and Friends and Co-workers... from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

And, on this anniversary of the attacks on our country, to everyone who's been on the front lines - or the rear echelon - of the Global War On Terror, fighting to protect our way of life - and our very lives - THANK YOU, too. Thanks go to your families and friends and anyone else who loves you and supports you in your efforts, whether serving on Active Duty or keeping a candle in the window to light your way home...Thank You.

Read more Tributes here.

Project 2,996: Brian Bilcher

Unlike Mr. Cleere, Brian Bilcher was an easy name to research. Being a member of Squad 1, FDNY means he was well-known and well-loved and remembered by so many people. Details are not difficult to come by. Many have memorialized him, and done so better than my paltry research and writing skills will do. There's a letter from his mother that made this crusty ol broad tear up some... Brian Bilcher's name graces the tribute pages and lists of every firefighting unit in the country that has posted a remembrance, I think.

Firefighter Brian Bilcher, you will never be forgotten. May God continue to bless your friends and family and your beautiful son Grant.

You dedicated your life to helping others and saving lives. You gave your life so that others may live. Thank you, your Brothers and Sisters and Friends and Co-workers... from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

Project 2,996: James D. Cleere

NOTE: This Tribute was posted a week or two ago (linked so you can read comments if you wish)...I have since been assigned a second name to honour, and will post that Tribute separately.

I found a reprint / repost of a Washington Post list of House Document No. 107-285, Commemorative Joint Meeting of the Congress of the United States In Remembrance of the Victims and Heroes of September 11, 2001. It gave me my idea of how to write this Tribute. You see, I volunteered to write and post a Tribute after finding my way to a site called Project 2,996. The name I was assigned belongs to a man who was...well...a man who was in one of the Towers of the World Trade Center that day.

It's a very plain-looking list, as are most of the other reprints of that long long list - no frills or fanfares, no candles or flowers or flags waving in the breeze. Most of us live lives that don't come with public fanfare or frills or parades or widely posted Tributes. The Americans killed that horrible day were mostly just like you and me...going about their business in the ways they knew best. Though they worked in a talked-about building - or compound, as there were more than 2 "towers" - their everyday lives involved the same kinds of things we all do - taking out the trash, answering the phone, losing a cell while crossing a bridge, talking to the kids, the grocer, the neighbor, folding a load of laundry, picking up a prescription, grabbing a quick bite. Ordinary...yet so very extraordinary, and now never to be forgotten.

James D. Cleere was living his life. He was 55. He was from Newton, Iowa.

He was sentenced to Death by the murderers that day because of where he was and who he was. They did not know him personally, or care about him or his family or his friends. They didn't know how he got from Iowa to New York City, where he'd gone to school, or what he had for breakfast every day. They only cared that he die that day because he was in that building.

I didn't know him, either. But I will never forget him.

James D. Cleere was on the 49th floor of the South Tower, in the offices of Seabury and Smith Insurance, when the hijacked Flight 175 out of Boston slammed into the building at 9:03am on September 11, 2001.

James D. Cleere - you are not forgotten.

"...we females want to talk all the time about everything. Conflict is just another excuse to gab."

Betsy Hart at JewishWorldReview.com:

One of my own best women friends recently sent to me a piece that her husband (without comment, it turns out!) had e-mailed to her: "How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It" by Barbara Graham from O, the Oprah Magazine. Its subtitle says it all: "Forget everything you've heard about frankness, sharing your feelings, getting him to express his. Research into the functions of the male mind makes it clear that discussion may be the fastest way to shut down communication. (Oh, you noticed that, have you?)"

Graham sat down with psychotherapists Patricia Love and Steven Stosny. They teach extensively on gender differences, and last year co-wrote "How to Improve Your Marriage Without Talking About It."

Stosny explains that "talking about feelings, which is soothing to women, makes men physically uncomfortable. There's literally more blood flow to the muscles. They get fidgety and women think they're not listening."

"Durh!" Any woman worth her salt knows men are different than women and should NEVER be required to replace the women who are close to her in her life, just as any man worth his salt will not expect his woman to be his 'buddy.'

Now, if we could convince the super-intellectuals that there are deeply ingrained differences in the genders, that each of us is part of the Whole, not The Same, we'd be MUCH better off as a Society...not to mention that we'd have MUCH happier marriages AND children.

Chick fil A Giveaway!

Wear your favorite team logo to Chick-fil-A on Monday from 10:30am to closing time, get a FREE Original Chicken Sandwich...that would be the one buttered...with a pickle. The BEST!

Sounds good, I'll have to find my Hawai'i shirt again...or Navy...or borrow a Gator shirt from Handsome Son-in-law! Don't have one for the Northern Lights, which is MY alma mater...*sigh*

Well, I'm outta here for now, we're going for an overnight stay-cation in the camper...in the front yard. Needed to move it and open it and clean it, don't feel like fighting crowds, traffic, and drunk drivers, so here we are. Gotta love it!

Y'all stay safe. Thanks for stopping by.

UPDATE: What a yummy lunch with hubby! TONS of Gator gear and Jaguar jerseys, with a smattering of Georgia and Florida State University. Saw one Clemson, a Navy Hockey, and one Florida State College at Jacksonville (formerly Florida Community College - Jacksonville). I had the only Hawai'i shirt and My Chief was wearing the only Padres shirt I saw.