The things that make a soldier great and send him out to die, To face the flaming cannon's mouth nor ever question why, Are lilacs by a little porch, the row of tulips red, The peonies and pansies, too, the old petunia bed, The grass plot where his children play, the roses on the wall: 'Tis these that make a soldier great. He's fighting for them all.
'Tis not the pomp and pride of kings that make a soldier brave; 'Tis not allegiance to the flag that over him may wave; For soldiers never fight so well on land or on the foam As when behind the cause they see the little place called home. Endanger but that humble street whereon his children run, You make a soldier of the man who never bore a gun. What is it through the battle smoke the valiant soldier sees?
The little garden far away, the budding apple trees, The little patch of ground back there, the children at their play, Perhaps a tiny mound behind the simple church of gray. The golden thread of courage isn't linked to castle dome But to the spot, where'er it be — the humblest spot called home. And now the lilacs bud again and all is lovely there And homesick soldiers far away know spring is in the air; The tulips come to bloom again, the grass once more is green, And every man can see the spot where all his joys have been.
He sees his children smile at him, he hears the bugle call, And only death can stop him now -- he's fighting for them all.
The United States Marines represent the best young men and women our Nation has to offer. To be a Marine is to be a member of America’s warrior class—to be one of the few who steps forward with the courage and conviction to face whatever dangers await. Our Nation expects her Marines to be ready when the Nation calls; to leave family and the comforts of home behind; to march into battle under austerity; and to come home under a victory pennant.
From Al Anbar in the west of Iraq, to Helmand Province in the south of Afghanistan, our Corps of Marines can always expect to be found where the fight is the toughest. Such is our history. Today, as we write the final chapter on our victory in Iraq, we will increasingly take the fight to the enemy in Afghanistan and add new pages to our legacy in places like Delaram, Now Zad and Garmsir. One day we will return to our naval heritage and patrol the high seas with our Navy brothers. Such is our future.
As we celebrate our Corps’ 234th birthday, we first pause to reflect and pay tribute to those Marines who have given the last full measure in defense of freedom. We extend our deepest gratitude to our Marine Corps families—the unsung heroes who endure hardship and sacrifice so that we are able to go forward and accomplish any mission. We extend our appreciation to our countrymen who have answered our every need. And we celebrate the magnificent men and women who willingly and selflessly continue to go into harm’s way to protect this great Nation.
To all who have gone before, to those who wear the uniform today, and to the families that give us the strength to forge ahead—I wish you all a heartfelt 234th birthday!
Via Fox News - I love George W and Laura. I didn't like a lot of things about their politics, but as Real Americans, who love their Country and their countrymen, they cannot be beat. They are Good People, and NOTHING shows it more than their LACK of show...
I watched some of Fox and Friends this morning (I really like Steve Doocey - maybe it's because he's 'from away') - which is unusual, as I tend to either skip noise altogether when I get up, or I listen to Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN2. Today, however, the crew from Fox and Friends was aboard USS New York. Inspirational, gut- and heart-wrenching. Never Forget is the ship's motto. I heard someone being interviewed say it isn't the ship, it isn't the steel from the Twin Towers that's the most important - it's these Sailors who make it all possible...something like that, anyway. So true, so true.
Here are some reader tips in a column by Sara Noel. We've made pumpkin seed snacks for years, but I never had the directions written down...and we washed them, which I see was NOT necessary.
ADDED: Thomas Sowell's The 'Costs' of Medical Care, Part IV is here.
I am feeling low today. Overtired. Money...or lack thereof. Mostly overtired, I think. How do I tell someone who really needs my help that I am not physically capable of doing what she needs, and doing it well, along with my other duties...*sigh*
I think the Pixie and I will see if we can find something unhealthy for breakfast...like raisin toast, maybe... Might be more later, but I won't bet on it, cuz My Chief gets off work early today. Thanks for stopping by!
My Pixie's cousins are spending the day here so their mama can work the lunch shift at Applebee's. The boys are 3 1/2 and 10 months and it is a LOT of work for me. Kind of embarrassing, really, that I wear out so easily, but there ya go. Coupled with the stupid time change, I'm just tired all week this week, I think! The WEATHER is GORGEOUS, thank heaven!
There have been some wonderful -dare I say hopeful? - things happen in the world of American politics this week, and even the 'unsuccessful' bids to take back the Nation are small successes, in my opinion. There are some terrific writers listed in my sidebar, plus some columns I'll list here. Have a GREAT day! Thanks for coming by!
So, it's Election Day in a few key places around the Nation. Do us all a favor if you're voting today - vote for the good of the Country, not the party.
If you voted for the Current Occupant a year ago, I 'hope' you've come to your senses about it. As a Constitutional scholar, BarryO doesn't need to "learn" what he should and shouldn't do, he knows exactly what he's doing and is getting exactly the results he knew he would get. And even with his unConstitutional use of 'czars' to help run things, he has to have the help of the CongressWeasels in most of his schemes. There is still a system for 'change' in this country, and San Fran Nan is not the idiot we wish she was...
Thomas Sowell points out some hard truths today in his column about The Costs of Medical Care. A bit from that column:
Letting old people die would undoubtedly be cheaper than keeping them alive — but that does not mean that the costs have gone down. It just means that we refuse to pay the costs. Instead, we pay the consequences. There is no free lunch.
Providing free lunches to people who go to hospital emergency rooms is one of the reasons for the current high costs of medical care for others. Politicians mandating what insurance companies must cover is another free lunch that leads to higher premiums for medical insurance — and fewer people who can afford it.
ADDED: Mona Charon gives a personal story about the costs of the coming health care fiasco.
UPDATE: Thomas Sowell's "The 'Costs' of Medical Care, Part II" is here.
Over at Piece of Work in Progress is this post about the American flag...or rather Dahlhalla wonders what in the name of ALL that is good makes supposedly 'tolerant' Americans hate the sight of Our Flag so much. How can such a symbol be so offensive?
Good question.
It's easy to hate something - or everything - when you spend your life afraid.
Remember - they're from the Government, and they're here to HELP:
Additionally, and even more disturbing, many cases are assumed to be H1N1 without testing. Yes, the CDC advised the states to stop testing for and tracking cases of H1N1. Their rationale? There is no need to waste resources when the government has already confirmed there is an epidemic. In other words, just trust us. The debate is over. I had no idea Al Gore and the IPCC were working for the CDC. As I originally contended, the number of cases of H1N1 has been overestimated, and even CBS News reported this.
I have had twenty-two patients call me or come in to the office claiming to have had contact with patients who were diagnosed with the "Swine Flu." In each and every case I took the time to investigate the contact case to determine whether the patient had actually been tested. In every case so far, the contact case either was not tested or tested negative but was given the diagnosis just the same. ...
Evidence is mounting that, as I opined previously, "Swine Flu" is less of a threat medically and epidemiologically than was feared, but is a great mechanism for the promotion of political pork. Our founding fathers taught that it is healthy to regard government intentions with skepticism. We have failed to heed their wise advice, and we are now learning that the military tactic of deception is alive and well in the Obama Administration. While we are being threatened by H1N1, they are using the distraction to infect us with a much more deadly disease that will affect not only us, but our children and grandchildren: the disease of subjugation.
It seems the H1N1 virus is epidemic and you MUST do something NOW...and you MUST give your Government saviors MORE so they can DO MORE TO SAVE MORE...but for the troops in Afghanistan there's no big hurry.
BarryO and His Weasels prove every day to be more...weaselly. *sigh*
Victor Davis Hanson's column points to something OTHER THAN BarryOCare. BarryO and His Band Of Merry CongressWeasels have more than one trick up their sleeves, and this is almost a breath of fresh air...or at least different-smelling air.
Apparently a hesitant Obama hopes that the crisis over illegal immigration will just go away on its own -- despite his now forgotten April vow to enact "comprehensive immigration reform."
The economic slowdown, together with beefed-up security and the border wall, have cut down the number of illegal entries to the lowest number in recent years. Privately, Obama must be happy that the pool of illegal aliens is shrinking, allowing the formable forces of American assimilation to work on smaller, more integrated populations, without politically charged talk about amnesty and deportation. Publicly, he can lament to his Hispanic base that Bush, not he, was responsible for the wall and increased security.
If you look up "political expediency" in the dictionary, do you see BarryO's picture?
Feeling a bit tapped out today, and part of it is worry I may have taken on too much, come tomorrow...but we'll see how that works out when the time comes. I'm REALLY looking forward to Saturday, because I need a few hours to just do the fiddling around that HAS to be done SOON. Nothing major, life-changing, or difficult - there are simply some things I want to do that are tedious and mind-consuming... that is, TIME consuming...that I seem to require alone-time for. I lose my place easily, and when working on the computer, that can be frustrating as all get out, so...well, enough. You get the idea, you're not idiots.
That being said, I read an article by Ed Feulner you might find interesting - A Tale of Two $250's. Great analysis and information! Two exerpts:
The recession has driven prices down across the board, and the cost of living has actually declined by almost 5 percent. Because of that, and because Medicare premiums won’t increase next year, spending analyst Andrew Biggs of the American Enterprise Institute estimates that the average Social Security recipient will have about $725 more in purchasing power next year. So, reasonably, Social Security plans to skip the COLA.
But not if the Obama administration can help it. ... More than a decade ago, lawmakers passed a law that was supposed to solve that problem by capping payments to doctors. According to the law, fees paid to doctors under Medicare will be slashed by 21.5 percent this year, and by 40 percent over the next five years. Of course, no lawmaker wants to be accused of cutting payments to doctors. So every year lawmakers in both parties vote overwhelmingly to override their own law.
Tricky bastards, our Elected CongressWeasels. It didn't start with this batch, but now that we KNOW, we really outta t'row da bums out.
BarryO does not make his decisions about those who populate his administration from lack of knowledge about what they are and what they believe. He knows full well who they are and what they will do when given all the power of the federal government. I have thought this for a long time, and also thought that those who think he'll 'wake up' are the ones who are delusional. Much as I hate saying that about some people whose writing and opinions I usually admire, it's still my belief that they still don't see the snake. Thomas Sowell sees the snake.
"Just one year ago, would you have believed that an unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate but simply one of the many "czars" appointed by the President, could arbitrarily cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent?
Did you think that another "czar" would be talking about restricting talk radio? That there would be plans afloat to subsidize newspapers — that is, to create a situation where some newspapers' survival would depend on the government liking what they publish?
Did you imagine that anyone would even be talking about having a panel of so-called "experts" deciding who could and could not get life-saving medical treatments?
Scary as that is from a medical standpoint, it is also chilling from the standpoint of freedom. If you have a mother who needs a heart operation or a child with some dire medical condition, how free would you feel to speak out against an administration that has the power to make life and death decisions about your loved ones?
...
Barack Obama has not only said that he is out to "change the United States of America," the people he has been associated with for years have expressed in words and deeds their hostility to the values, the principles and the people of this country. ...
Among the people appointed as czars by President Obama have been people who have praised enemy dictators like Mao, who have seen the public schools as places to promote sexual practices contrary to the values of most Americans, to a captive audience of children. ... Those who say that the Obama administration should have investigated those people more thoroughly before appointing them are missing the point completely. Why should we assume that Barack Obama didn't know what such people were like, when he has been associating with precisely these kinds of people for decades before he reached the White House?"
It's past time to think about how to stop BarryO and Bill Ayers and Friends from taking over the administration. NOW we have to work on keeping them from taking over the rest of America.
Do you know the snake for what it is, not for what it says?
