A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....11-25-02

Billie and daisyscarlett

[daisyscarlett]

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: Logos, SwedeGirl's hubby, Neil E Wright, FallGuy, 1John, Sneakypete
MIDDLE:  T'wit, COB1, LadyX, Dick Bachert, 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub
BOTTOM:  YankeeinSC, Delta21, JoeSixPack1

TOP:  Bosniajmc, AFVetGal, Archy, A Navy Vet
MIDDLE:  4TheFlag, Aeronaut, 68Grunt, Xinga
BOTTOM:  Codger, AAABest, Clinton's A Liar, Duke809, dcwusmc

TOP:  mc5cents, Norb2569, LBGA's son, VanJenerette
MIDDLE:  Jim Robinson, KJenerette, davidosborne, KG9Kid
BOTTOM:  gwmoore, Equality7-2521, SAMWolf

TOP:  porgygirl, Phil V., MudPuppy, NorCoGOP
MIDDLE:  RaceBannon, OneidaM, rdb3, jwTexian
BOTTOM:  USMC Vet, TheMayor, Vineyard, rhododogma

We now have eleven groups of veterans/active military; we will post each group of three or four twice a week, with thumbnail/links of the remaining seven or eight groups on each thread. Click on any of the thumbnails below to see the group full-size.

         

GROUP 5A: TOP:  spectr17, RightOnline, SERE_Doc, Tet68. MIDDLE:  FutureSnakeEater, RightOnline's wife, CIApilot, Clamper1797. BOTTOM:  usmcobra, onedoug, DiverDave, Joe6-pack.

GROUP 6A: 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.

GROUP 7A: 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.

GROUP 8A: 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.

      

GROUP 9A: 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.

GROUP 10A: TOP: dakine's wife, MeeknMing's dad, Auntbee's nephew, MilitiaMan7, AlasBabylon. BOTTOM:  Joe Brower, Temple Owl, Temple Owl's wife, dutchess' dad, Aomagrat.

GROUP 11A: TOP: ladtx #2 son; DiverDave's twin Don; petuniasevan and husband poorman; Mustard; ladtx #1 son. BOTTOM: AlamoGirl's brother Floyd; AG's dad; AG's brother Jim (inset); WVNan's husband; ladtx' Aunt Eva.

                     

The Guild

Disclaimor: Today we are presenting a profile of The Guild. It is difficult for us to be objective in this Profile as both Billie and myself hold this thread very dear to our hearts. She was one of the early members though I was in lurk mode for the early days ...much too intimidated by these witty, charming, informed, accomplished, brillant, gracious (told you it is hard to be objective, lol...) FReepers to post. Eventually, I did come out of lurk mode and became a frequent poster to The Guild for many months. ~ daisyscarlett

The running thread known today as The Guild began life in February of 2001. It had its genesis in the aftermath of the Clinton scandals. On 2/02/01, a thread was posted about   Hillary's fur coats.   Yep, it was reported that Denise Rich had given Hillary not one, not two, not three but FOUR fur coats. Many outraged Freepers were attracted to this thread and began reporting on other gifts the Clintons had received and/or appropriated. It was decided to do a group research endeavor and lots of new facts were discovered and reported. (Think Chihulay vase, think saxophones, think White House china and furniture). The results of this investigation are included in this thread by LBGA:

Guild Gift Summary

At first the thread was called the "Ladies Guild" and this evolved into the "Ladies Investigative Guild". FReeRepublic's Registered designed the Guild's logos.

It is now known as The Guild. Hillary's Lovely Legs posts and maintains The Guild threads. She gets help from BigWaveBetty and mountaineer when she is not available.

Early mottos of the thread were "Hey Wait a Minute"...WH Usher Gary Walters, and "People who try to pretend they're superior make it so much harder for those of us who really are."... Hyacinth Bucket

The following is a link from the "early days" which contains links to many other threads. These threads are informative, interesting and often hilarious.

The Guild 3-07-01

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Pearls, Deviled Egg Dishes, "Bless Her Heart"

Membership in the Ladies Investigative Guild had only two requirements-that one own pearls and a deviled egg serving dish. However, if one did not own either or both of these items, and still desired membership in the Ladies Investigative Guild, another member always stepped forward and donated required items so that essentially everyone who wanted to be involved, could be. It was also considered good form to follow a criticism or negative comment of a public figure with the words "Bless Her/His Heart".

Following the completion of the Investigation into the theft of property by the Clintons, the Guild continued to thrive, reporting on other misdeeds of the Clintons and their friends and exalting in President Bush and his family. All sorts of news and events were discussed on the Guild. Some of the original posters left, new ones arrived. Eventually a major new project was undertaken. A

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The Daffodil Project

This project was inspired by   "The Daffodil Prnciple"   and involved "planting one seed at a time" to make this a better Country. A tracking chart was implemented, and Guilders began writing letters to newspaper editors, media management, politicians etc. hoping to plant seeds of Conservative ideas wherever possible.

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Guild Care Packages

The Daffodil project had barely gotten off the ground when 9-11 happened. Guild members came together to comfort each other and share stories of families and loved ones touched by that day. When the War on Terror began, the Guild decided to send some Care Packages to our troops in Afghanistan. They began collecting and purchasing items and sending them off to Hillary's Lovely Legs who was going to forward them to the "Any Soldier" program. A stumbling block occurred, though, when the Department of Defense announced that the 'Any Soldier" program was cancelled due to the terrorism threat. This created a dilemma. But, under the leadership of Hillary's Lovely Legs, this was solved and soon many packages were on their merry way to our service men and women aboard the U.S.S. Roosevelt.

Many Guild members sent contributions, and Hillary's Lovely Legs purchased items in bulk for the Care Packages. Others mailed things they had personally collected, or purchased, or that they had made themselves. Included in these Care Packages were items ranging from books and candy, to handmade scarves for the flight crews to wear around their necks, to drawings by school children, to original drawings and art work by Billie on which she wrote individual notes, to cosmetics for the females, hot sauce to spice up the food, and lip balm for windchapped lips.

Once the packages were off, the Guild waited anxiously for an acknowledgement of receipt of the Care Packages. It was a long time coming but finally a letter from a crew member of the USS Roosevelt was received. This letter was soon followed by a thank you letter and signed photo from Rear Admiral Mark Fitzgerald to the Guild.

Letter from the USS Roosevelt

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Hosting of Live Threads.

In the past one and a half plus years, the Guild has hosted numerous live threads of such events as the Miss America Pageant, Miss Universe Pageant, Miss World Pageant and, of course, the Oscar and Emmy telecasts. Like most everything the Guild does, this has been hugely successful. Freepers seem to love these live threads and really look forward to them. For instance, this year's Oscar telecast had 2351 comments - an incredible number of posts for a one day event!

Oscar telecast Live Thread

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Holiday Recipes

The Guild has had three outstanding Recipe Threads. These threads not only contain great recipes, they also have feedback from those who have tried the recipes and helpful hints of all kinds in preparing and presenting food for special events and holidays. The most popular single recipes are Hillary's Lovely Legs' Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Hillary's Lovely Legs' Chocolate Chip Cookies. To die for...this I promise you!

Thanksgiving Recipes

Summer Barbeque Recipes

Christmas Cookie Recipe

Three exciting things happened to The Guild this spring and early summer. First off, they were removed from the "Cheesehole". Secondly they received a "Button" on the Home Page of Free Republic. And thirdly, they received Daily Thread status. These things were accomplished with the help and support of Lodwick, one of the loyal posters at the Guild. The Guild is very easy to find now. Drop in and say hi! Currently, the Guild has a Thanksgiving Recipe Thread for 2002 running and they have already started shipping out Care Packages to our troops for this holiday season and will continue to "support our troops who sacrifice so that we may enjoy our freedom."

>

THIS WEEKEND'S THREAD

11-23,24-02 Week in Review

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

     1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
     2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
     3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
     4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
     5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me an FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

[BigWaveBetty]

with Billie and everyone else's help, The Guild managed to raise $610 last year with our sale of hats, book bags and shirts on CafePress, and all of that was contributed to the Salvation Army 9-11 Fund.

YEA!!

I'll bet those boxes of candy seemed like a breeze after the pickles, salsa and olive oil! :-)

[mountaineer]

There never will be a shortage of material at the Guild as long as those two social butterflies, Chels & Ian, are fluttering around England, x42 is making speeches to the gullible and Hillary keeps trying to gauge what her "constituency" wants her to say.

Yes, Mr. M and I met up with Timeout and her friend for lunch in Paris, after which we all visited Notre Dame and snapped photos.

[daisyscarlett]

Thanks for sharing more about the Care Packages. And thanks for mentioning the Cafe Express proceeds. Billie was a bit modest, me thinks, and did not show graphics of the 9-11 drawings she did which were transferred to tee shirts and tote bags and hats. Billie, please post those Lady Liberty weeps graphics and the other one too...Thanks..

[jwfiv]

Y'all are lookin' just a wee bit foxy and cute this morning...'thank Heaven for little girls'.

The stick figure noodling around to say Hello is very cool, daisy!

In all my years at FR, I voraciously consumed the news, but am embarassed that I never checked out the other neighborhoods in Freeperville, haven't been to the Guild. Thanks for today's Profile...you prompt me to expand my horizons.

Finally beginning to wake up on a reluctant Monday, wishing you all a gooood day.

[daisyscarlett]

I think there is an anniversary today so please let us know as soon as the site is up so we can congratulate the anniverary-ee....And good morning to you...and how nice that Mom is cooking you a great dinner this year.

[daisyscarlett]

You guys look like you are trying out for a synchronized swim team in the pool photo #69. As you can see, you need more practice to achieve synchronization...hee hee

[BigWaveBetty]

You missed your calling. You should have been a photographer! I never looked so good. But what's up with that hair color? Blech! I'm glad I told my hairdresser to tone it down. Now I'm more a brown sugar. *batting eyes*

[Mixer]

I do not host the calendar on my own server so I have no idea when it we be back up. I hope soon though and I am contacting tech support for that server.

Yes, my mother is one in a lillion to have put up with me all of these years and still want to have me down for Thanksgiving. She is truly blessed and I thank God, for her, every day.

[daisyscarlett]

Thank you kayak. Love that egg dish....

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Thanks for your help in the Care packages also. I always loved to wait for your boxes to see what Clinique and Estee Lauder goodies that the lady troops would be receiving.

And in true Guild form, this year we are sending cases of Eclipse Fresh Breath Strips. The soldiers can stick them in their pockets and have fresh breath when there is no time to brush.

[habs4ever]

You ought to be a swimsuit model! Wow, BWB will have her own live thread one day, with webcam shots from her living room.... nice suit ;-)lol

[BigWaveBetty]

As you can see, you need more practice to achieve synchronization...hee hee

HEY! I thought we were doing pretty well, considering...

We did have lots of fun, so much in fact some of the kids at the pool were looking at us like what's up with those two old ladies?

LBGA is one of the nicest people I've ever met and as the pics show a very fun gal!

[LBGA]

Actually, that was a doctored pic. I don't think anyone actually got a pic of us doing that. ;-)

BWB was right. We did get in the pool after the thunderstorm which caused us to remain at the bar sipping margaritas, so she could sober up enough to drive home. The handstands and shenanigans weren't completely successful, so we posted on FR for a couple of hours before BWB was safe enough to drive. ;-)

[daisyscarlett]

Nice to see you here. I am so embarassed that I did not know who Paul Atreides was! I did an internet search and discovered he is just about the most famous character ever in sci fi. You can bet I am up to snuff now on him and Dune etc.

Thank you again for that wonderful photo of Daschle and Rush. We posted it on the Finest last week when we ran JohnHuang2 column. It was a big hit.

The Guild has long had its eye on little TommyD. I remember they had a photo of him - a real photo- standing on a step stool behind a podium-it was a back view and so hilarious. They often show photos of him sitting at a Conference table and wonder how many phone books he is sitting on today....

[BigWaveBetty]

No fair! We want bathing beauty shots! But you two look great and with all the lovely scenery in back. Sigh, beats the heck out of fake rock at the Disney pool. :-)

LBGA, don't you have one of yourself to post?

[LBGA]

The Guild is one of the most informative and friendly places on FR, and I am sorry that I haven't had time to post much the past few months. I miss y'all, but I am finally getting to the point where I will have more time to join in.

I have to get back to work now but will check in later.

Thanks for a great thread, daisy.

[BigWaveBetty]

Don't you start with me! ;-)

[Billie]

Good morning, all. As daisy said in the "Disclaimer", she and I are a bit partial to this daily thread, being a very active part of it for so long!

We had more fun putting this one together - daisy's forte is the investigating and writing, and mine is the layout/presentation. I love working with her, and some of 'our' (hers and mine) best threads are the ones we've done together - hey, it's sorta like bill and hill - you get two for one when we 'do' a thread together! LOL!

Seeing some new names here and want to extend a welcome to you for coming, and thank you for the kudos on this thread as well as all the others!

For those who 'are' here for the first time, we started our thread in June, and in the early months, Mama_Bear and daisyscarlett each researched as well as presented one profile every week; we had a guest writer occasionally who would do the writeup and send to one of us to put together and 'make it pretty'.

After a few months, dansangel came on board as a regular weekly hostess - and a few weeks ago we were pleased to announce that JohnHuang2 would debut one of his essays each week on our thread. He sends them to me, and one of us illusrates it and posts it for him. Oh, yeah - we also have a very efficient way that we decide who's doing what when. :)

[LBGA]

LBGA, don't you have one of yourself to post?

No way! LOL.

See y'all later. :-)

[daisyscarlett]

Thanks for sharing those photos of your trip to Europe. I am going to post the one of Normandy and your caption...it touched me and know it will touch others here also...

Pointe du hoc (Normandy) American soldiers scaled these steep cliffs on rope ladders, under heavy German fire