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As I sat on the bus watching the end of the train platform I noticed a couple of things. One…Lloyd was there with Angel in his arms(as always)…many multicolored balloons attached to her body (it was Angel’s Birthday…one of many throughout the year). …and he was standing on the end of the platform alone. All of the other people had fled to the other end….somewhat frightened by Lloyd…his face twisted into a perpetual scowl with all of the burn and scar tissue (and a result of the medication to prevent the seizures)…forever holding in his arms…. a toy 2 foot...

"Taps" Composed By Major General Daniel Butterfield Army of the Potomac, Civil War "Fading light dims the sight, And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright. From afar drawing nigh -- Falls the night. "Day is done, gone the sun, From the lake, from the hills, from the sky. All is well, safely rest, God is nigh. "Then good night, peaceful night, Till the light of the dawn shineth bright, God is near, do not fear -- Friend, good night." ============================ "TAPS" is the most beautiful bugle call. Played slowly and softly, it has a smooth, tender and touching character....

"Freedom Is Not Free"---MEMORIAL DAY--Special Thread It's a small town. Just like a million other small towns all across this Nation. It has a main street which runs thru the middle of town...both ends decorated by gas stations and mini-marts. And in the center of town was it's 'City Park' with a baseball diamond taking up half of it. Picnic tables were everywhere...(and the much needed restroom was on one end of the park). ....and on the other end of the park was something at once totally strange...and all at once totally normal. A Monument (almost an altar if you...

"Taps" Composed By Major General Daniel Butterfield Army of the Potomac, Civil War "Fading light dims the sight, And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright. From afar drawing nigh -- Falls the night. "Day is done, gone the sun, From the lake, from the hills, from the sky. All is well, safely rest, God is nigh. "Then good night, peaceful night, Till the light of the dawn shineth bright, God is near, do not fear -- Friend, good night." ============================ "TAPS" is the most beautiful bugle call. Played slowly and softly, it has a smooth, tender and touching character....

You put on the uniform.....and you do so of your own Free will. You put on the uniform ...be it that of the Army...or Navy...or Air Force...or Marine...or Coast Guard. And you do so with the understanding of some very simple promises. YOU promise to uphold the Constitution.... YOU promise to help defend your Nation ...your family...in every which way that you are asked. YOU promise to put up with doing duty in the coldest places...and the hottest. YOU promise to put up with bad food sometimes. YOU promise to follow orders (as long as they are lawful)..even tho those...

Her little face was scrunched up...as only a six year old can be when attempting to be a 'big girl' and not cry. Her normal reaction to the news that her daddy was finally home would be to run and jump into his arms and hug his neck with all the power her little arms could muster. She would smell the familiar 'Daddy Smell'....and bury her little tiny face into her daddy's neck...happy to be just holding her daddy once again. But this time...it was different. This time there would be no hugs... This time there would be no joy...

I had done everything I could to save his life. We had gotten into a fire-fight with some N.V.A. unit somewhere near the border with Laos. (hell...let's be real...we were caught by surprise). Co.'s A and C, along with some attached South Vietnamese troops, had been ambushed along a border trail that we patrolled...and we were getting the stuffing knocked out of us. I had 22 patients in the first 1/2 hour...and they seemed to be coming in regularly. ( I served as a Medic). Most were minor wounds...but then they brought in Ricky. ************************************************************************************************* I first met Ricky when...

As I sat on the bus watching the end of the train platform I noticed a couple of things. One…Lloyd was there with Angel in his arms(as always)…many multicolored balloons attached to her body (it was Angel’s Birthday…one of many throughout the year). …and he was standing on the end of the platform alone. All of the other people had fled to the other end….somewhat frightened by Lloyd…his face twisted into a perpetual scowl with all of the burn and scar tissue (and a result of the medication to prevent the seizures)…forever holding in his arms…. a toy 2 foot...

You put on the uniform.....and you do so of your own Free will. You put on the uniform ...be it that of the Army...or Navy...or Air Force...or Marine...or Coast Guard. And you do so with the understanding of some very simple promises. YOU promise to uphold the Constitution.... YOU promise to help defend your Nation ...your family...in every which way that you are asked. YOU promise to put up with doing duty in the coldest places...and the hottest. YOU promise to put up with bad food sometimes. YOU promise to follow orders (as long as they are lawful)..even tho those...

From the Oxford Dictionary and other sources..... 1)A tough young man from a working-class background who is much involved with cars or motorcycles........ 2)A Native Mexican....or Mexican -American...... ******************************************************************** I don't know which one Carlos applied to himself...maybe one...maybe both. Don't know...don't care. But I've included both descriptions of the word 'Greaser'...to help out all those sanctimonious idiots who will read the one word...(and as the story will tell...how he described himself)...and fail to read the words ABOUT a person who deserves our respect. An American Hero. ******************************************************************** When my father was hurt....and put into a wheelchair....and eventually the V.A....

It was a somewhat typical New England spring day. Ripe with the promise of summer....and of a change...a very profound change. The men hugged their wives and children...some for the last time...and, as they had promised..(at a time when honour actually MEANT something), gathered at the village green. Armed with various weapons....and with various degrees of purpose...they stood in line facing the finest light infantry in the world. Looking back thru history......you have to ask yourself a question. What do we (as the inheritors of their resolve..indeed of their dream).....owe them?????? ****************************************** Around 75 years later....a battle line of Union...

"Once Upon a Time.......a Polack,an American and a German were going to be shot by a firing squad. When the American was about to be shot he shouted out "Tornado!". So the whole firing squad ran...and the American escaped. The next day the German was about to be shot when he yelled "Tidal Wave" and the whole firing squad ran....and the German escaped. The next day the Polack was going to be shot. The firing squad was all lined up and just as they were aiming....he yelled out "Fire"." I have never met anyone as happy as Stan. The guy...

When I was a child (growing up in Southern California)...there lived an old lady down the street...just like in every neighborhood in the country. Just like in every neighborhood....her house was a little ratty looking. Overgrown with weeds...grass...bushes...and in need of a painting. Just like in every neighborhood.....us kids were convinced that it was because she was a witch (or something like it)......none of us wise enough (or smart enough) to realize it was because she was a little old lady...and lived alone...that the house looked like that. One day ,as kids (especially dumb ones) will do, we called her...

The bus seemed to be stopped forever....or at least quite a while. I was taking the bus to visit some friends. We had pulled over downtown to pick up some passengers...and it seemed that we were at that one stop for a while. I had noticed that the driver had lowered the ramp to let on a person...wheelchair or other I didn't know. I heard someone from the back speak softly...."I see why were taking forever.....just another drunk Indian." I looked up to see ....and in the doorway (moving ever so s-l-o-w-l-y...and I mean s-l-o-w-l-y) was a American Indian (or...

Paul Edward Speaks........Michael Wayne Ramsey........Alejandro Diaz........John Raymond Jackson.......Frank March Jr.......Anthony Dwight Hatcher........Joseph Verbert Czajkowski........Thomas Carmine De Palma. The names come at you like a spring run-off. 216 of them. All of them with one crucial distinction that would separate them from the norm. All of them died today....on the 22nd of May. All of them died...doing what their Nation asked. All of them died...wearing the uniform. Be it Army...Marines...Navy...Air Force. All of them died...in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Vietnam. Cambodia. All of them died....doing what they were asked....in a far off land...away from their families....putting their dreams on hold...

The Constitution does not constitute us as ‘Platonic Guardians’ nor does it vest in this Court the authority to strike down laws because they do not meet our standards of desirable social policy, ‘wisdom,’ or ‘common sense.’ ... We trespass on the assigned function of the political branches under our structure of limited and separated powers when we assume a policymaking role. — Chief Justice Warren Burger If there is one area of law that should be universally understood as being largely outside the purview of the Supreme Court’s social engineering reach, it is immigration. Article I, Section 8, of...

" He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay." Matt 28:6 It's a Simple Story...yet one filled with the wonder of life...and the wonder of the triumph of Life OVER Death.It's a Simple Story...of how a Child was born into this world over 2,000 years ago. Of how that Child taught us...and how the powers of the world were made afraid by those teachings. Because the teachings taught us that each of us was a Child of God...that each of us had worth. The teachings gave us a better...

As we watch (and pray) the drama that has unfolded.....the brain-damaged young woman...the husband wanting that young woman dead so that he can add some status to his live in lover.....the parents wanting the young woman to live...hoping against all hope that some miracle will happen and their daughter will be made whole. And at the bottom of the whole mess is a very simple problem , a very simple question, that each of us must face....and that the Nation as a whole must look at and , finally...please finally, deal with. Do we value life????Is life important to our...

Barring any major miracles...this will be Hal's last winter. The cancer has moved into his bones..and at his age there is not much that can be done. The doctors have given him pain medication...but the cancer is advanced enough to send spasms of pain thru his body every so often. You can see it in his face.....and watch it in his eyes. And when he is 'passed on'....(or in real terms...dead)...a few people will mourn his passing.....a few people will miss him and the impact that he has made on their lives. And another piece of American History will have...

It's really a simple story.......a Child was Born. True...on that great and fateful day....not many really understood the importance of that Birth. True.... for the next 2,000 years plus....we have argued over and over the meaning of that Birth. Men have attempted to change the meaning of that Birth to fit their own ideas of what life is and isn't...attempting to divide all of us who follow the One born on that day. Men have attempted to take the most momentous single event in the history of the world....and turn it into a sideshow to the buying of more goods...