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With the holidays approaching, your dog or cat will inevitably be begging to partake in the big turkey dinner. When polled, 56 percent of petMD readers admitted to sharing Thanksgiving table scraps with their pets. While this can be a wonderful way to add lean protein and fresh veggies to your pet’s diet, there are also hidden dangers in holiday fare. This year, before preparing a heaping plateful for your pet, consult a vet and consider these 10 tips to keep Thanksgiving a safe, healthful holiday for your dog or cat... More at: Top Ten Tips for Feeding Pets Thanksgiving...

CONCORD HYMN ("Hymn: Sung at the Completion of the Concord Monument, April 19, 1836") ~Ralph Waldo Emerson By the rude bridge that arched the flood, Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled farmers stood And fired the shot heard round the world. The foe long since in silence slept; Alike the conqueror silent sleeps; And Time the ruined bridge has swept Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. On this green bank, by this soft stream, We set today a votive stone; That memory may their deed redeem, When, like our sires, our sons are gone....

Clive Staples Lewis November 29, 1898 – November 22, 1963

Phil Lepre of Lower Southampton came to terms with death 20 years ago Thursday. Oct. 3, 1993. Mogadishu, Somalia. Lepre, a 24-year-old demolition specialist in the U.S. Army, was moments away from bloodshed and death. Bullets ricocheted off his tank and explosions rocked in the background as he and others moved into downtown Mogadishu to rescue Rangers pinned in the city after a routine mission turned messy when Somalis shot down two Black Hawk helicopters. Lepre took off his helmet and pulled out a photo he kept there of his 1½-year-old daughter Brittany. He said a prayer and kissed the...

Twenty years ago tonight, I sat down on the couch in my little apartment in Ogden, KS, and flipped on the TV to watch the debut of a new show. The promotion blitz for the show had been dark and mysterious, and apart from some vague references to UFOs and the FBI, gave little idea as to what the show was actually going to be about. It had piqued my interest, as it was no doubt intended to do, and I figured with much of my life still ahead of me, I could spare an hour to check it...

Last week I brought you the heart wrenching story of Military Working Dog Bak’s Memorial Service at Fort Stewart Georgia. MWD Bak was killed this past March in Afghanistan. As a tribute to MWD Bak on Memorial Day, here is his story. There was nothing better than seeing those Afghan mountain peaks slowly turning from brown to white. It seemed that, as the snow melted away, US Army Sergeant Marel Molina and his Military Working Dog Bak’s time remaining in Afghanistan withered away day by day. But Sergeant Molina couldn’t think about going home today, even though he was a...

Post 'em if ya' got 'em!

The U.S. Coast Guard says an explosion took place on a platfrom near West Cote Blanche around 9 a.m. today. Four people were put on medivac transport and taken out of the area, and are now hospitalized. Two people remain missing. Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Lally, a spokesman for the Coast Guard, did not immediately have information on the conditions of those taken to hospitals. Lally says two helicopters, an airplane and small boats were sent to the area. The Coast Guard has now confirmed that the fire is out on the platform. The production platform is owned by...

Quick question for my fellow military history buffs. I've always been fascinated by timelines and the overlapping of human lives, much like the recent thread regarding the TV appearance of the elderly gentleman who, as a child, witnessed the assassination of Lincoln, lived into the TV age. As a student of the civil war, I've marveled at the fact that the last surviving individual to hold a general's rank during the conflict, Adelbert Ames, died a year after my father was born. Somehow that simple fact provides a linkage in the fabric of time that makes me realize how closely...

Heroes - A tribute to the SAR dogs of 9/11Riley - The real 9/11 K9 Hero

The way things have been going lately, I decided it was time to reach back into the nation's history and dig deep for a little inspiration. Shortly after the Roberts/Obamacare decision, I gave thought to flying the Gadsden Flag, but that just wasn't a strong enough message...the Bedford Flag was more expressive about how I feel, but where to find one? You can buy some cheap nylon ones online, but they look trashy and are probably made in China. I decided to make my own, and today, just about wrapped it up...I took photos along the way, some with my...

A WOMAN’S life was saved by a dog when she slipped into a coma while home alone. Blind diabetic Suzanne West, 42, would have died when she fell into a six-hour-long diabetic coma if her partner’s guide dog Herbie hadn’t licked and cuddled her to keep her alive. Miss West came round covered in dog hair and saliva on her bed at home in Creekmoor, Poole, at around 11.30pm on Wednesday with the faithful pooch by her side. Woozy, she managed to crawl over to pull her life line and call for help. And when paramedics arrived, Herbie, a seven-year-old...

Full Title: Why man's best friend is also his worst photobomber: Hilarious pictures of the pets who just couldn't keep out of the picture As these pictures show, no animal can photobomb a picture like man's best friend. With no regard for time, place or ceremony, these dogs make a great holiday or family snap memorable for all the wrong reasons as these pictures show. Mostly it seems from these pictures that the call of nature is undeniably strong for our canine friends...

In an off line conversation with my FReeper lady friend, floralamiss, she mentioned to me that Joe Dimaggio had been her father's PT instructor during WWII. I indicated that my dad had served with Lt. George Steinbrenner at Lockbourne AFB in the 50's. When I was an ROTC Cadet, I did my advanced camp at Ft. Bragg, and then went on CTLT in Germany with Shawn Mullins. Just curious how many other FReepers got to meet/know/serve with folks that later achieved some degree of fame (or notoriety) while in the military. Thought it might be a fun conversation topic for...

Moral liberalism and the decadence of culture. What began to concern me more and more were the clear signs of rot and decadence germinating within American society-a rot and decadence that was no longer the consequence of liberalism but was the actual agenda of contemporary liberalism. . . . Sector after sector of American life has been ruthlessly corrupted by the liberal ethos. It is an ethos that aims simultaneously at political and social collectivism on the one hand, and moral anarchy on the other. -Irving Kristol, "My Cold War" Equivocation has never been Irving Kristol's long suit. About the...

Verona, PA – Friday evening, during an appearance on Fox News Channel's "On the Record" with Greta Van Susteren, Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum challenged former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to a “Lincoln-Douglas” style debate in Iowa. The debate challenge was issued after former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney refused to debate Gingrich in a Human Events/RedState debate in Washington, DC. Senator Santorum said: “Newt’s been campaigning on doing Lincoln-Douglas style debates and I think it’s a great idea - Count me in. The voters deserve more than 60 second sound bites, they deserve substance and real solutions to the problems...

I just came home from work to a phone call from my folks who informed me of the passing of my aunt Anne, otherwise known as Colonel Anne C. Jablunovsky, US Army (Ret). As an Army Nurse, she had served in both Korea and Vietnam, retiring after 26 years of active duty. Here's a photo of her from the Pacific Stars & Stripes with General Matt Ridgeway Over Memorial Day in 2007, our hometown newspaper did a front page article on our family's military service, In this family, service to country runs deep, which captured some of her reflections and...

A dear friend's only daughter was taken into the hospital for an emergency C-section this morning. The child's heart had stopped beating and the baby wasn't breathing. The child was put on life support and was last listed in critical and unstable condition. She has since been life flighted to Tulane, and my friend is currently making the drive to New Orleans to be with her grand daughter. PLEASE pray for this little child!

While in Pennsylvania for the Holidays, I came into possession of what was described to me as a "Russian Soldier's Cross." It appears to be made of brass and has writing on it in Cyrillic, in either Russian or possibly Old Church Slavonic. While I can guess at some of the inscriptions on the front, I have no idea what the writing on the back is. I found a very similar object here, although it's apparent the inscription on the obverse is somewhat different. The cross is rather small, and the photos below were taken on 1/4" ruled graph paper...