A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day 08-13-02

Billie

[Billie]

A Few of FR's Finest.....
......Every Day

FR is a Treasure Trove of talented, compassionate, patriotic, wonderful people who gather every day to discuss the latest news and issues;  salute
and support our military and our leaders;  tell a few jokes;  learn a new
word;  write poetry;  pray for those in need;  and congratulate those who
are deserving. Thank you, Jim Robinson, for giving us the vehicle in which
we can express ourselves.

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.  I
can remember lurking when there were only a few regulars who posted, and now there are over 60,000 who have registered for posting privileges. The forum is read daily by tens of thousands
of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest November 11, 2001

So many people have written me since my original Veteran's Day Tribute, asking how they, or a loved one, could be included in that tribute. Since I can no longer add the photos to the body of the thread, I've been including them in additional posts as I received enough to make another collage.

Still that doesn't seem to be enough. I think there's never been a better nor more appropriate time to keep the faces of our own Veterans and Active Military in front of FReepers--every day! That's why I wanted to do yet another Daily Thread .....ABOUT FReepers .....and FOR FReepers. But not only about our Military FReepers; for all FReepers! Wouldn't it be nice to get to know a few of the other FReepers as well? That's why, in addition to seeing FR's Finest Military Personnel every day, I thought it might be fun to feature a different FReeper (or FReepers) each day. If you would like to be pictured, or know someone who would, please FReepmail me and we'll turn the spotlight - on YOU - for the day!

And do let me know if you'd like your picture added to the groups of Veterans/Active Military below. I will keep this page updated, and continue to add them to the comment section of the original Veteran's Day thread as well.

TOP:  g'nad, AgThorn's son Justin, SLB, AgThorn's son Brett

MIDDLE:  fish70, razorback-bert, CheneyChick,Leroy S Mort, Mark17

BOTTOM:  Terry's Take, Taxman, DinkyDau

TOP:  ValerieUSA's son Grant, SK1Thurman, kd5cts, RangerVetNam,

dansangel and .45man's son-in-law Tony

BOTTOM:  rangerX, Old China Hand, Trish, Howlin's dad, Mustang

TOP: ohioWfan's son, MamaBear's father-in-law, MamaBear's dad, ladtx

MIDDLE:  The Mayor's niece, M.Kehoe, Beach_Babe's son-in-law

BOTTOM:  deadhead's dad, HiJinx, Severa's hubby, viligantcitizen's granddad.

TOP: Q6-God, Scan59, Mama Bear and JKPhoto's son, ofMagog

MIDDLE:  Big'ol_freeper, JustAmy's great uncle, Prodigal Son

BOTTOM:  JustAmy's husband, JustAmy's brother-in-law, JustAmy's brother.

                     

~~HOME~~
Of Two Of The Last Three Presidents
~~and~~

MeeknMing
FReeper since 06-02-01

Although Meek, a Dallas County resident, spends much of his time online posing articles from the Dallas Morning News, thus keeping a host of Texas issues before us, he still manages to drop in every day on two of his favorite daily threads:   this one and the USO Canteen.

Like many of us, he gets a lot of pings to other articles, but tries to answer and read as many as he can. With Meek's first post each day on FR's Finest, he always brings with him at least one excerpt from another thread that he recommends reading, as well as the link to that thread. He may or may not have been the one who posted it; he just likes to give us a heads-up on some of FR's most interesting threads for the day.

However, that may be where he leaves 'serious stuff' behind him, as he begins his friendly greetings and banter with the others on the thread. Most of his posts will have "Mr. Winky" or "Mr. Smiley" added at the end. Lately, he's added a new one as well....do you know what it is?  I do. :)

Mr. Winky    Mr. Smiley    Mr. NewOne 

Meek's father is retired U.S. Air Force, who worked "Crash Control" on the flight line (a Firefighter), and so growing up, he said their family lived in a lot of different places. You'll see Meek's dad's photo on tomorrow's thread as we post the latest group of FR's Finest Military.

Yesterday Meek asked if I would like to include a photo of Ming, the other half of his FR screenname. Silly question! Of course I wanted to! And here she is....here they BOTH are! Isn't she pretty? I want to thank you, Ming, for sharing him with us! He is such an asset to FR, and know you must be very proud of him, too. :)

Meek and Ming



Have a Super day, Meekie! You are
~~One of FR's (AND Texas') Finest!~~

THIS WEEK'S THREADS

08-12-02 backhoe

[Pippin]

Hi, McLynnan!

have you been to Crawford yet?

[ValerieUSA]

This is my son Grant at the Alamo a couple of years ago

[ValerieUSA]

I drove the boys out to Crawford on Sunday evening, but the stores were all closed by the time we got there, so I couldn't check on the souvenir merchandise for the Dose.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Congratulations Meek! Your posts brighten up the threads. A "Meek" picture truly is worth a thousand words...and even DU lurkers can understand them.(^:

---

Driving in TexasAn El Paso policeman pulled a car over and told the driver he had just won $50 dollars in a city-wide competition. "What are you going to do with the money?" asked the policeman.
"Well, I guess I'm going to get a driver's license," he answered.
"Oh, don't listen to him," yelled a woman in the passenger seat. "He's a smart aleck when he's drunk."
This woke up the guy in the back-seat, who took one look at the cop and moaned, "I knew we wouldn't get far in a stolen car."
At that moment, there was a knock from the trunk and a voice said, in Spanish, "Are we over the border yet?"

[COB1]

Texas fact:

During the retreat of Sam Houston through Central and East Texas, in what came to be known as the "Runaway Scrape", he managed to gather 1400 ill equipped and ill trained volunteers to supplement the Texas Army.
When the Army was showing signs of disintegrating because of a lack of action, Houston turned them around to face the enemy.

In the meantime, Santa Anna had continued on his mission to eliminate the American threat to Texas.
Burning the town of Harrisburg to the ground, he swung back to the San Jacinto River to meet Sam Houston.
Houston deliberately allowed himself to be trapped between the San Jacinto River and Buffalo Bayou, and burned all the bridges which might allow the Mexican forces to escape or his to retreat.
The Mexican Army, reinforced with troops from General Cos, numbered around 1200 men; Houston had only 918 men left by the time he pitched camp at San Jacinto.

On the afternoon of April 21st, while the Mexican Army was dozing in the heat and with the afternoon sun at it's back, the Texas Army walked almost a mile across open grasslands single file and charged the Mexican lines of bayonets and cannon.
The Mexican forces, with no sentries and no pickets, were taken completely by surprise.
The battle lasted only a few minutes.
The slaughter took much longer.
Houston could not control his men; they killed everyone that moved. When some of the Mexican forces attempted to swim away in the San Jacinto River, they were picked off by the expert riflemen.
At the end of the massacre, six hundred thirty Mexican soldiers lay dead and two hundred were wounded.
The diablos Tejanos, Devil Texans, lost TWO killed in action that day, and seven more would die later from wounds.
Texas had won it's independence.

"Lone Star" - T.R. Fehrenbach [para]

If anyone has a chance while in Houston, please go to see the San Jacinto Monument.
You can almost hear the sounds of battle and the crys from hundreds of throats, "REMEMBER THE ALAMO!", "REMEMBER GOLIAD!"

[ValerieUSA]

Here's a photo of the suspension bridge - I played with it a little bit.

[daisyscarlett]

Your post, I think #143, is very special and so informative with the state bird, state flower etc. Thank you so much....

[daisyscarlett]

Good job changing BILs screensaver to W. You are a caution....

[ValerieUSA]

Oops, I played with this one, too, gilded it. I can't find a straight shot of the bridge *L*

[daisyscarlett]

Thanks Mama Bear. She does look like Scarlett when she looked into the sunset and said "As God is my witness, me or none of my kin will ever go hungry again." I will save it to my url....

[lodwick]

Glad to hear that even with a gimp chomper you guys have enjoyed your day in the headlights. Props to you. JL

[lodwick]

Good job with the bridge pic - nice to see ya here this evening.

[ru4liberty]

Check to see if you have any unclaimed property here

[ValerieUSA]

Here we go - the anti-arial view of the suspension bridge.

[daisyscarlett]

Hi Meek...What a fun day this is and I am enjoying all the graphics that your fellow Texans and others have posted. Lots of information here....I am playing ketchup but it is easy thanks to your ketchup bottle...lol....Hope you are having fun on your day in the spotlight....

[lodwick]

;-) Great! Thanks.

Are we over the border yet? Classic.

[lodwick]

Santa Ana's take on his defeat: You snooze, you lose.

Thanks for getting out our history.

[daisyscarlett]

You are no slouch in the Texas graphic posting department today either. You Texans are indeed a proud bunch.....I am a bit bummed right now, can't get into my server. I wanna post some graphics, too....

[ValerieUSA]

Love those wide-angle shots loddy - I'm going to have try some of that.

[McLynnan]

have you been to Crawford yet?

Do you mean this week? I plan to, but life keeps getting in the way. I want to check the t-shirt stock for everybody, lol.