The Free Republic Fourth Quarter FReepathon ... Thread 4

[Brad’s Gramma]

BTW! I got a call tonight from the LA Times, trying to solicite....she got as far as saying the name of the company....I LAUGHED and said NO THANK YOU! And hung up.

It felt SO GOOD!

[davidosborne]

My daughter the prayer warrior at work !!

[Brad’s Gramma]

Oh David! How WONDERFUL!!! God BLESS you for raising her his way....!!

[MinuteGal]

What a little darlin'

That picture is precious. Thanks for posting it.

Leni

[Chad Fairbanks]

Last minute BUMP!

[Mo1]

But as we have been saying for oh so long - FREEPERS ROCK!!!!!!!!!

YES THEY DO !! .. It's like one big family

Can you just imagine what thanksgiving would be like with Freepers after dinner discussing politics and watching the football games

Now that would be a hoot

[Gabz]

Just in:

$50 credited to Tennessee!!

Donor says, "I'm making this donation from my current work place location. Baghdad, Iraq."

.

God Bless you and those you work with.

[Mo1]

What a Cutie!!

[Brad’s Gramma]

SON! CALL HOME NOW!!!

[davidosborne]

That was taken at a support the troops rally that my wife put on at the capitol (Tallahassee)... A reporter from the Tallahassee Democrat snapped that picture durring the invocation, we had no idea until we saw it on the front page the next morning... the Day we invaded Iraq!!

[Gabz]

$50 just in from California with this note:

"Gratefully matching our friend from the Great State of Tennessee from the soon to be once again Great State of California. Stay safe, FReeper in Baghdad! Great work, JimRob!"

Thank you California FReeper!!

Thank you FReeper in Baghdad!!!!

[Brad’s Gramma]

WOW!!!!

[Chad Fairbanks]

YES, MOMMY!

[Gabz]

I thought it was :

My juvenile delinquent beat up your honor student.

[Brad’s Gramma]

I'm out there bombing the threads with that one...

[Gabz]

I had such a good line - but can't figure out how to do it the way you guys are doing it..........SIGH

[Chad Fairbanks]

CLose enough, LOL... I was in a hurry ;0)

[Chad Fairbanks]

LOL... there ya go. Get that Mother-inspired guilt going ;0)

[davidosborne]

Posted on Sat, Mar. 22, 2003

Hundreds rally to support troops
By James L. Rosica
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

Amid the hollers and the flag-waving Friday at a "Support Our Troops" rally in the Capitol courtyard, one Tallahassee mother clutched a photograph and quietly represented what "supporting our troops" means for her.

His name is Jeremy.

Linda Trentham's son, now 25, is a first lieutenant serving with the 101st Airborne Division, currently in Kuwait. She smiled as she talked about him bringing his PlayStation 2 overseas. He wanted something fun for him and the guys, she explained.

Jeremy, a Leon High and Florida State graduate, joined the Army when he was 18. "We didn't raise him to be a soldier, but he told me, 'Mom, this is what I was called to do. Somebody has to defend our freedom. ..."'

Trentham paused. Sometimes, proud moms cry when they speak of their sons.

"I can't even hear the national anthem without crying these days," she said.

The war in Iraq has stirred up dozens of protests across the country and abroad. The outbreak of fighting also has sparked rallies, such as Friday's, for supporters to take a stand with American soldiers.

Retired Air Force pilot Tom McGurk told the crowd of hundreds between the old and new capitols that the United Nations needed to move to Botswana or Yemen.

"... We don't need demoralized troops like we had in Vietnam," he said.

A group of small children sat beneath the lectern on the steps of the Old Capitol, holding signs that said, "God Bless our Troops" and "Proud to Be an American."

"I will not let them interfere with the rights of the rest of us who want to wear our flags and support our troops," shouted Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, a former Marine. "By God, we need to stand up. ... Those are real bullets."

But the antiwar movement, which had so riled some of the speakers and many in the crowd, didn't bother Trentham.

"I don't have any anger toward (the protesters); that's why he's fighting," she said. Speaking out "is part of being American. I don't think (Jeremy) would have any animosity either. ...

"I don't want war. I don't want my child to die. But somebody has to help oppressed people," she said.

Saddam "gasses his own people. That's what we're going there for; it's not about oil."

For that moment, it was about a photo of a young man holding a rifle, smiling as he stands in the desert sand.

---

[Brad’s Gramma]

That's what I'm trying to do!!!