A Day in the Life of President Bush (photos): 9.30.05

Today the President attended an Armed Forces farewell tribute in honor of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Richard B. Myers and Armed Forces Hail in honor of Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace at Fort Myer in Va. General Richard B. Myers retired today after 40 years of service to our Nation. After the ceremony the President and First Lady headed for Camp David for the weekend. The President is expected to announce his choice to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on Monday or Tuesday

Mike .. I sure hope you're feeling better.

Oh yes ... he has such a deeply felt compassion, respect, love and appreciation for them... he shows it, and they know it. I think most of them would walk through the fires of hell for him.

I got the strongest impression that Gen. Pace strongly inferred, without saying the actual words: "Thank you so much and thank God for your support and respect, and that you don't treat us like that trash CIC Clinton did." Bubba and his cohorts severely abused the military, and they'll never forget it.

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More comments from the ceremony

"........ President Bush said he will look to Pace to build on the work started by Myers, who leaves the military saying he will spend more time with his family.

"General Pace has shown himself to be a brilliant thinker, and an inspiring leader. His life is a story of the American dream," said Bush.

Pace choked up as he talked about those who have died serving their country.

"I promise each of you that as I strive to give my best military advice to the president and the secretary of defense and the National Security Council, that I will remember not only the mission but the impact it will have on the lance corporals and the airmen and lieutenant junior grades and the captains," he said.

Adm. Timothy Keating, head of the U.S. Northern Command which coordinated the military's response to the hurricanes, said Pace "is his own man" who will "provide candid counsel to the president."

In the audience, among the country's top leaders, were several Marines who knew Pace at the start of his military career, in the rice paddies near Danang. And they could attest to his commitment to the lance corporals under his command.

Pace was a platoon leader, and Barney Barnes was one of his squad leaders in 1968, when they came under fire in An Hoa. As they set up a machine gun to return fire, one of the sniper's rounds ricocheted off the gun and struck Lance Cpl. Guido Farinaro in the heart.

"I know that General Pace's first inclination was to call in the artillery and bomb the heck out of that village," recalled Barnes. "But he knew better than that."

Instead, he said, under Pace's guidance they were able to "maintain some emotional stability" and search the village, ultimately in vain, for the sniper. Then they loaded Farinaro's body onto a helicopter, and said their goodbyes to their fallen comrade. Even now, Pace keeps a picture of Farinaro — the first Marine he lost in combat — on his desk.

"It's one thing to command, but it's an entirely different thing to lead, and Peter Pace is a leader," said Barnes.

Pace was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in Teaneck, N.J. After his Vietnam tour he served in South Korea and later held a wide array of command positions, including president of the Marine Corps University, deputy commander of joint forces in Somalia, and head of the U.S. Southern Command."

Pace Takes Over as Top Military Leader

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May God richly bless and protect our great leader and President and his family and our brave troops. I can't even think about 2009 and the reality that he and Laura will be gone from our midst ... it will be too sad and depressing.

I will take heart in the goodness of God and the young, smiling confident faces of the brave warriors behind Pres. Bush .. they and those decent Americans like them hold my hope and faith for the future.

I most decidedly don't like Doctors.

I just discovered that a medicine they gave me while I was in the Hospital exactly a year ago, is what put me on crutches!

Just as I was getting stronger from having a tired heart due to 24-hrs of atrial fibrillation, they put me on a medicine for Bp that causes "extreme muscle weakness".

I've been complaining about having to use a crutch or two, to walk, to do anything!

It was when another drug was added 2 weeks ago, and I was made so weak, I was basically bedridden, that I went online, looked up these drugs, and for both, "severe muscle weakness" and "fatigue" are listed as severe side effects.

I am so mad - and disapponted in a Doctor I really, really trusted.

Unfortunately, I have to keep taking this drug, until I find a Doc where I now live, but I'm looking forward to being put on a drug that does what the original one was supposed to do - get my blood pressure under control, without putting me on crutches at the same time!

And yes, I AM guilty of not reading those inserts they give you with medicines - as I was given the original drug in the Hospital where they don't exactly give you those little sheets to read. Stupid me - trusted Doctors, especially Cardiologists who don't know anything about rheumatology, and *I* should have known better.

</rant off>

So sorry to hear that about the drugs you were given. Are you still on the original ones?

Dad had a similar experience this week when he went to his GP. You may remember when he was in hospital they took him off the tablets that lowered his cholesterol and the ones for his prostate cancer.

The reason being tests had shown liver problems. He had blood tests recently showing the liver is now OK. He has been given alternative medication for the prostate cancer but not for the cholesterol.

He went to the doctors to discuss this last week and basically the doctor said it was up to him if he went back on the cholesterol medication (Lipitor). Dad has therefore demanded a cholesterol check to ascertain what his actual cholesterol is although the doctor did not see the point and wanted him to make the decision without this information.

I like you cannot now trust any medical person and feel that before one takes anything or has any medical procedure one needs to check it out independently of the doctor suggesting it. I will say suggesting because the days of recommending seem over. It all seems to be that you have to make the choice and no doctor seems to want to take responsibility for anything.

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