I was working on this yesterday, but didn’t finish it up until this morning. God bless them all. And God bless the families of our men and women serving in uniform, and for all they go through - when there are big interruptions in communications with their loved ones, when they fear the worst because of the horrible things that are put in print and on TV News, for listening to the constant drumbeat of failure, and for what families go through when they see and hear the democrats’ cut and run attitude and disrespect for those who serve.

I am reprinting this with permission from an email that Debbie Lee, Marc’s mother, sent to me on August 2, 2008.

Are you leaving your mark?

Aug 2, 2006 is a day that changed my life forever. Many of you have those days that you remember that were life changing. For most of us we remember our graduations, the day we married the love of our life, and the birth of our children. These events will always bring a smile to our face and joy to our hearts. Our lives were greatly impacted and the overall impact has been a blessing. Not that our jobs don’t bring frustrations and headaches at times, our spouses at times cause us to question our sanity, and our teenage children sometimes cause us to yearn for the empty nest, but overall we reflect and remember the good times especially on the birthdays or anniversaries.

The anniversary that I remember today isn’t one that your first response is that of blessings and laughter, trust me I’ve already shed many tears today. Today I remember 2 years ago when I recieved a visit from a Navy Chaplain bringing me the most dreadful news I have ever recieved. When you have children serving in the military you know that a visit from a Chaplain only means one thing, death. The loss of child’s life according to the experts is the hardest death to deal with. I have lost a Father, a husband, and a son and I will agree dealing with the death of my son has been the hardest by far.

I have spent the morning looking back at pictures from Marc’s arrival home in his flag draped coffin, his funeral at Fort Rose Crans, his memorial service in Hood River, his pictures in Iraq, and his pictures growing up. While I mourn those two years without his smiling face, his bear hugs, his contagious life and playful antics, I am thankful and remember the 28 years that his life engraved on my heart and left his mark. How many of us can say we left our mark on this world? My Marc left his mark on every life that he met. :O)

As I looked through the pictures this morning I was reminded of all of the people who have touched my life during the past 2 years since Marc’s death. God has been soooooooooooooo faithful to me and used so many of you to touch my life in such a special way. I am so grateful for everyone of you whether your impact has been great or small. Whether you are the President, a General or a new born child. I’m not even going to try to list all of you or how you have impacted my life as this letter would go on forever. Some of you have been their daily and others may have been a one time encounter. Many of you have prayed faithfully! I know that the way you have touched my life has helped me get through another day, week, month or year. I am so very thankful!

As we reflect on Marc today lets remember what he gave. Marc gave his laughter, his love, his smile, his faith, his determination, his love for this country, his humor, his love of life, his support, and Marc gave his life.

I know most of you have probably read Marc’s last letter home, but I feel it is fitting to include it again today as we reflect on the two year anniversary of his death. There are also several memorial videos on you tube just type in Marc Alan Lee. If any of you have special memories of Marc I would love it if you would email those to me so that I can remember them forever.

We are a blessed nation to have men and women just like Marc who are willing to give it all for you, for me, for this nation. Those are the heroes of our nation that need to be honored. As I remember Marc today I also remember all of those who have served in our military, and those who gave it all. God Bless those mighty warriors, my heroes!

Counting my blessings,
Debbie Lee

PS:Thank you Marc for giving it all! Your are home son, and I will see you when I get there!

Marc’s last letter home

Glory is something that some men chase and others find themselves stumbling upon, not expecting it to find them. Either way it is a noble gesture that one finds bestowed upon them. My question is, when does glory fade away and become a wrongful crusade, or an unjustified means which consumes one completely?

I have seen war.

I have seen death, the sorrow that encompasses your entire being as a man breathes his last. I can only pray and hope that none of you will ever have to experience some of these things I have seen and felt here.

I have felt fear and have felt adrenaline pump through my veins making me seem invincible. I will be honest and say that some of the things I have seen here are unjustified and uncalled for. However for the most part we are helping this country. It will take more years than most expect, but we will get Iraq to stand on its own feet.

Most of what I have seen here I will never really mention or speak of, only due to the nature of those involved. I have seen a man give his food to a hungry child and family. Today I saw a hospital that most of us would refuse to receive treatment from. The filth and smell would allow most of us to not be able to stand to enter, let alone get medicine from.

However, you will be relieved to know that coalition forces have started to provide security for and supply medicine and equipment to help aid in the cause. I have seen amazing things happen here; however I have seen the sad part of war, too. I have seen the morals of a man who cares nothing of human life. . . .

I have seen hate towards a nation’s people who has never committed a wrong, except being born of a third world, ill-educated and ignorant to western civilization. It is not everybody who feels this way, only a select few, but it brings questions to mind.

Is it ok for one to consider themselves superior to another race?

Surprisingly, we are not a stranger to this sort of attitude. Meaning that in our own country, we discriminate against someone for what nationality they are, their education level, their social status. We distinguish our role models as multi-million-dollar sports heroes or talented actors and actresses who complain about not getting millions of dollars more then they are currently getting paid.

Our country is a great country, don’t get me wrong on this, otherwise none of us would be living there. My point of this is how can we come over here and help a less than fortunate country without holding contempt or hate towards them, if we can’t do it in our country. I try to do my part over here, but the truth is over there, in the United States, I do nothing but take.

Ask yourself, when was the last time you donated clothes that you hadn’t worn out. When was the last time you paid for a random stranger’s cup of coffee, meal or maybe even a tank of gas? When was the last time you helped a person with the groceries into or out of their car?

Think to yourself and wonder what it would feel like if when the bill for the meal came and you were told it was already paid for. More random acts of kindness like this would change our country and our reputation as a country. It is not unknown to most of us that the rest of the world looks at us with doubt towards our humanity and morals.

I am not here to preach or to say ‘look at me,’ because I am just as at fault as the next person. I find that being here makes me realize the great country we have and the obligation we have to keep it that way.

The 4th has just come and gone and I received many e-mails thanking me for helping keep America great and free. I take no credit for the career path I have chosen; I can only give it to those of you who are reading this, because each one of you has contributed to me and who I am.

However, what I do over here is only a small percent of what keeps our country great. I think the truth to our greatness is each other. Purity, morals and kindness, passed down to each generation through example.

So to all my family and friends, do me a favor and pass on the kindness, the love, the precious gift of human life to each other so that when your children come into contact with a great conflict like that we are now faced with here in Iraq, that they are people of humanity, of pure motives, of compassion.

This is our real part to keep America free!

HAPPY 4th! Love Ya,

Marc Lee

P.S. Half-way through the deployment — can’t wait to see all of your faces.

Trackposted to Perri Nelson’s Website, Rosemary’s Thoughts, 123beta, Maggie’s Notebook, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth, Shadowscope, The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Nuke’s, Allie is Wired, Political Byline, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, McCain Blogs, DragonLady’s World, The World According to Carl, , Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, , CORSARI D’ITALIA, and Dumb Ox Daily News, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

I watched this video today and then found out that Professor Pausch has passed after a short battle with pancreatic cancer.

I finally watched it because I remembered Michelle Malkin’s post about having read his book and bawling her eyes out on a plane.

What was inspiring to me –where I am in my life right now…was “fun” - how everything must be fun…what you do must be fun…and how he inspired the virtual reality students; something I’ve always been searching for a way to do (blend art with science and take on a big challenge).

Very bright, funny, witty, brilliant.

I’ve always thought that helping others to achieve their dreams are what adult people do, rather than spend their time tearing people apart because they’re afraid or threatened. Hopefully I’ve played a part in helping people to do that in their lives; during a time when I could lent a hand, say a kind word, given encouragement, etc.

His message deserves hearing over and over again; there is so much in there that we’re bound to pick up different points at different times in our lives.

May God bless his wife and children and everyone else who loved him and whose lives he touched.

I’ll have to figure out how to make the thumbnails go to larger images when you click on them!

I took the afternoon off and took some pictures. Sometimes I like to go off on adventures by myself. I used to go off on adventures to the dog park with my dog…until some idiot tried to break up a dog fight and got over 200 stitches in his arm from a pit bull that took it personally. The idiot went after the Forest Preserves with a lawsuit, and they shut down the dog park for all those wonderful people - trainers and AKC trials for tracking, etc. When all he should have realized was…duh!!! Don’t be stupid and break up a dog fight with a couple of pit bulls in it!

So that eliminated my solitary jaunts to the woods with my big sheltie boy to meet up with other dog owners and introduce Kirby to new friends.

One thing I have to say is…

These things are BUTT UGLY at this stage!!! They are only cute one time in their whole lives - and that’s when they’re small enough to have yellow down. After that, things go rapidly downhill until they’re replicas of their giant parents, who can weigh up to 35 pounds. That is a pretty good-sized bird; as a matter of fact, that’s a Thanksgiving sized turkey! They serve a Christmas goose on Christmas in Britain, I’d like to know why we can’t cull the flocks a little bit and serve them to the homeless. There aren’t a lot of natural predators, although we have a limping gosling or two because I think they tangled with the resident muskrat. Hopefully I’ll get a picture of that thing if I can catch him busying himself on the grass one day.

Look at the size of the drumsticks on this thing. And it’s not even full-grown. My husband calls these Canadian Geese flying rats. When we were on the Spirit of Chicago, there were Canadian Geese swimming in Lake Michigan. I looked over at him and expressed my surprise, and he shrugged. “Flying rats!” he said. They’re worse than rats; they take up more room, and they eat a lot of grass, -not quite as much as sheep do, but they still take it down far enough that if left in one place too long to graze, they’ll kill the grass.

Since people feed them, they don’t migrate south anymore; they have no reason to. So we have year-round problems with their tremendous deficating and they’ll even poop on you when they’re flying overhead.

When we first moved here, I thought the sound of honking geese as they came flying in was romantic. They looked lovely in the winter when they were swimming in the cold half-frozen water. But it turns out the water doesn’t freeze because the bacteria level is so high because of their poop.

Ugh.

Anyway, I might as well take pictures of them so i can bitch about them now and then….

I’d rather have swans. At least they don’t gather in gangs and attack children and pets like these things do.

You know what else gets me about how the numbers of these things have exploded out here? They’re a protected species. All I think about come Christmas time is how many geese are out there polluting our waterways that could be sitting on some unfortunate person’s dinner table who wasn’t able to provide a holiday dinner for their family.

I’m going to have to find a way to get a close-up of our resident egrets and herons. When I start to approach them, even if I’m pretending I’m interested in something else, they fly away before I’m able to get a clear shot. I will keep trying, though, because they’re magnificent on a closeup.

I paid a little visit to this lady today to check on the wounds she’s been inflicting on herself. I saw a program the other day about pet psychics, and this buffalo could use the help of one. She has a nervous habit of licking her fetlocks raw. The blood attracts the flies, the flies irritate the area, and then she licks it some more. She’s now starting to do it to her other legs. You have to wonder what it is that’s bothering her, and why she is doing this to herself. The veterinarian is aware of it, so hopefully the vet will arrive at some sort of a solution that will help her out.She has some buddies hanging out with her, and they seemed fly-free in comparison to how many bugs she was battling. All of the animals were having quite a time of it, and it wasn’t even that hot outside. The pigs in particular were having a problem with flies; but flies are attracted to their stench and they stink to high heaven. The sheep also smell, and they were staying in the shade, as were the elk and white tailed deer. The cows were also having a problem with flies, and I was wondering…can’t they spray for bugs around here, or is that against environmental regulations? The pigs were the most aggravated. But they seem to have aggravated temperments and aren’t as chilled out as the other animals seem to be.

I tried to get some pictures of the pigs, but they were ornery. They saw that I didn’t have any food for them, so they just threw themselves on the ground and were trying to go to sleep. With all the flies that were biting them, though, they were doing a lot of twitching.

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Here is a bubble share album with about 70 or so pictures in it. I took almost 300 today.

I think I overloaded it because it’s crying “uncle” now, so I’ll have to try to upload more later.

This is a prime example of my wandering off alone to satisfy my need to recharge. In essence, I was just playing…being outside, looking at things that were of interest to me, and not being rushed or told what to do by anyone.

I need to do this more often to recharge my batteries.

For more on the ‘loner’ type that needs to recharge by getting alone or reading a book, read “The Introvert Advantage”.

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

More photos. One more album to go.

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Here it is, now I’m going to bed.

Hope someone enjoys them as much as I enjoyed taking them.

My husband and I celebrate birthdays that are relatively close to each other. This year, we decided to do something out-of-the-ordinary and took a dinner/fireworks cruise on Lake Michigan last night on the big Spirit of Chicago.

It was an incredible experience.

There was a particularly hot couple on the dance floor, and I’ll try to put up the video of that exclusively….but there were many hot couples. One couple was in from San Francisco and said they take these cruises in California and love them; but thought they’d try one in Chicago. The guy was dancing the electric slide and asked me…”I’m the only guy out her with a bunch of girls. Do you think this is strange?” His partner was sitting at the table smiling. Another couple was celebrating their first wedding anniversary.

That cruise is definitely a cruise to take with someone you love.

One couple had been dating for seven months, the young man is in the Navy and is at Great Lakes Naval Academy right now. He proposed to his girlfriend on bended knee and she accepted.

I danced the two step, but didn’t get any video of it….that’s why the R. Kelly song here. Quite a few of the people who work on the boat came out to dance on that one.

Happy birthday, babe.

I heard an interview with this guy on Johnny B the other day.

He got into contact with General petraeus and they’ve managed to coordinate an amazing thing; they’re getting some infamous deep dish Lou Malnati’s pizzas to the troops for their 4th of July bash in Iraq and Afghanistan.

DHL is donating their services for free. The idea has mushroomed. No. It’s EXPLODED from the idea of sending over 300 pizzas, to sending over 3,000.

Anyone interested in contributing to the “Pizzas 4 Patriots” project can write Mark Evans at sgtevans@sbcglobal.net…or just send some money to that email address through paypal.

See video here.

Check out some articles on it.

Soldiers will get a taste of Chicago
Elk Grove Village man sending pizzas to troops

In addition to the care packages for our troops from Move America Forward and yesterday’s “From the Frontlines” broadcast, I think we’ve got some great things cookin’ for our men and women serving in uniform to let them know that we REALLY DO LOVE THEM and SUPPORT THEM.

Update: Pizzas 4 Patriots - they have a website set up now. 6/28/2008 09:16 CST

Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson’s Website, The Virtuous Republic, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Right Truth, Shadowscope, Stuck On Stupid, , The Amboy Times, Democrat=Socialist, third world county, DragonLady’s World, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Dumb Ox Daily News, , Stageleft, Right Voices, The Random Yak, Adam’s Blog, Phastidio.net, Conservative Cat, Allie is Wired, Nuke Gingrich, Faultline USA, McCain Blogs, Walls of the City, The World According to Carl, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Nuke’s News, CORSARI D’ITALIA, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

There is this wonderful thing called Project Compassion where the family of a fallen soldier, airman or marine, can request to have a portrait of their loved one done. If I’m not mistaken, Kaziah is involved in that project, although the video doesn’t mention it.

Larry Sinclair is having a bakeoff, and two of the tickets will be stellar winners of some pretty nifty prizes. I think it’s a worthy cause, I just bought some tickets myself.

Go look.

For $10.00 you can get a loaf of his spectacular one-of-a-kind home made banana bread and the chance to win something spectacular (a 32″ VIZIO LCD HDTV or a A PHILLIPS 1000 WATT HOME THEATRE SURROUND SOUND SYSTEM). This money will be going directly to his legal fund to pay for the legal filings, etc…and never even touches his hands.

In the event you don’t know about Larry, he is the fellow who has been trying to get a response from the Obama campaign about crack cocaine use in the back of a limo in 1999 after he’d said he stopped using drugs when he was younger. At this time, both Sinclair and Obama were 38 years old. This is a David and Goliath story, and Obama’s minions have done their best to obfuscate and lie about the facts, in addition to terrorize the guy with phone calls and accusations of being a mental patient and a load of other hogwash.

If you just want to go straight from here, use this link that goes to the Larry Sinclair Legal Fund at paypal.

A baby girl, from what I gather - Kender just spoke with him. Go here to wish them well in comments and congratulate Jay, although I think we should also mention that mom was in labor on mother’s day….and deserves some kudos for doing all the work.

And to all you other moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day!

And wishing Jay and his growing family all the best, as his wife is in the early stages of labor.

“Nessun dorma! Nessun dorma! Tu pure, o Principessa, nella tua fredda stanza, guardi le stelle che tremano d’amore, e di speranza!”

(English translation: “None shall sleep! None shall sleep! Even you, o Princess, in your cold bedroom, watch the stars that tremble with love and with hope”)

“Ma il mio mistero è chiuso in me; il nome mio nessun saprà! No, No! Sulla tua bocca lo dirò quando la luce splenderà!”

(English translation: “But my secret is hidden within me; none will know my name! No, no! On your mouth I will say it when the light shines!”)

“Ed il mio bacio scioglierà il silenzio che ti fa mia!”

(English translation: “And my kiss will dissolve the silence that makes you mine!”)

Just before the climactic end of the aria, a chorus of women is heard singing in the distance:

“Il nome suo nessun saprà… E noi dovrem, ahimè, morir, morir!”

(English translation: “No one will know his name… and we will have to, alas, die, die!”)

Calaf, now certain of victory, sings:

“Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! Tramontate, stelle! All’alba vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!”

(English translation: “Vanish, o night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At daybreak I shall win! I shall win! I shall win!”)

F-18 pilot returns home to canine friend from Iraqi war zone

Pretty cool story. The dog and his owner found each other again this past Saturday at Camp Pendleton. Dennis was afraid nubs forgot him. I wonder why, when you consider the following:

Dennis met Nubs in the Al Anbar Province where the dog ran wild at an Iraqi Border Fort. When Nubs was a puppy, an Iraqi sliced off most of his ears in an attempt to make the dog tough and more alert.

Another time, Nubs was stabbed with a screwdriver, and Dennis nursed him back to health.

When Dennis’ unit, the Border Transition Team, moved camp 70 miles away, Nubs somehow tracked them to their new location two days later.

It was against the rules to keep the dog in camp, and friends jumped in to bring Nubs to San Diego.

“Once he found us there, it seemed like this was supposed to have happened,” Dennis said Saturday. “After he walked all that distance, it seemed like he was supposed to end up in San Diego.”

The whole story, here.

Bomb factory discovered at Columbia University Professor’s home.

Clatts is a medical anthropologist with a specialty in epidemiol.ogy - the spread of disease among large populations.

Which by itself is creepy, but-he also has admitted responsibility for a number of anti-jewish vandalism incidents from last fall.

For some reason, considering the fact that Ivy league schools are willing to not only have ‘free Palestine’ types teaching about the history of Israel from a suicide bomber’s perspective, or like Yale, invite the Taliban to go to school there - my opinion of Ivy League schools is not all that high.

Hope you’re able to spend time with loved ones and make it memorable…even if you go to bed at 8:00.

LOL, which is MY bedtime.

And…remembering Mr. Padgitt…

The picture, taken on Dec 2, is of a cirrus cloud, which takes shape at about 30,000ft.
The Daily Telegraph

This was forwarded to me by my dad, I don’t know who the writer is, but if I find out, I’ll certainly give credit. Love you, mom and dad.

The other day a young person asked me how I felt about being old. I was taken aback, for I do not think of myself as old. Upon seeing my reaction, she was immediately embarrassed, but I explained that it was an interesting question, and I would ponder it, and let her know.

Old Age, I decided, is a gift.

I am now, probably for the first time in my life, the person I have always wanted to be. Oh, not my body! I sometime despair over my body, the wrinkles, the baggy eyes, and the sagging butt. And often I am taken aback by that old person that lives in my mirror (who looks like my mother!), but I don’t agonize over those things for long.

I would never trade my amazing friends, my wonderful life, my loving family for less gray hair or a flatter belly. As I’ve aged, I’ve become more kind to myself, and less critical of myself. I’ve become my own friend.

I don’t chide myself for eating that extra cookie, or for not making my bed, or for buying that silly cement gecko that I didn’t need, but looks so avante garde on my patio. I am entitled to a treat, to be messy, to be extravagant.

I have seen too many dear friends leave this world too soon; before they understood the great freedom that comes with aging.

Whose business is it if I choose to read or play on the computer until 4 AM and sleep until noon?

I will dance with myself to those wonderful tunes of the 60&70’s, and if I, at the same time, wish to weep over a lost love … I will.

I will walk the beach in a swim suit that is stretched over a bulging body, and will dive into the waves with abandon if I choose to, despite the pitying glances from the jet set.

They, too, will get old.

I know I am sometimes forgetful. But there again, some of life is just as well forgotten. And I eventually remember the important things.

Sure, over the years my heart has been broken. How can your heart not break when you lose a loved one, or when a child suffers, or even when somebody’s beloved pet gets hit by a car? But broken hearts are what give us strength and understanding and compassion. A heart never broken is pristine and sterile and will never know the joy of being imperfect.

I am so blessed to have lived long enough to have my hair turning gray, and to have my youthful laughs be forever etched into deep grooves on my face. So many have never laughed, and so many have died before their hair could turn silver.

As you get older, it is easier to be positive. You care less about what other people think. I don’t question myself anymore. I’ve even earned the right to be wrong.

So, to answer the question, I like being old. It has set me free. I like the person I have become. I am not going to live forever, but while I am still here, I will not waste time lamenting what could have been, or worrying about what will be. And I shall eat dessert every single day. (If I feel like it!)

Confessions of an Ex Truther - brought to my attention by William Teach at Pirate’s Cove

I was a true believer of all this controlled demolition nonsense for a time. I never cared about the physics or the claims of pseudo-”experts.” What always did it for me was the fact that there was never a decent response to any of these questions by the government. Even the hit pieces you’d see on 9/11 were always personal attacks. The mainstream never contested the actual “facts” movies like Loose Change presented.

Or so it seemed. After watching Screw Loose Change, I delved into the world of 9/11 Truth debunking. Among my favorites are the Screw Loose Change Blog and 9/11 Myths Finally, someone was answered all these pertinent questions with something that was a bit foreign to me… facts agreed upon by the experts.

There are no facts in the 9/11 Truth Movement.

Read the rest and leave him some love and encouragement.

Also posted at Hot Air by Bryan.

Thanks to Leaning Straight Up, OTA Weekend, AZAMATTEROFACT, The Bullwinkle Blog’s Moosetracks, Pirate’s Cove, Third World County, Outside the Beltway’s on Limbaugh’s “Phony Soldiers”, Big Dog’s Weblog, Adam’s Blog, CommonSenseAmerica, The Pink Flamingo, Church and State, Nuke’s News and Views, Webloggin, Perri Nelson’s Website, Blue Star Chronicles, Stop the ACLU, Stix Blog, 123 Beta, Right Voices, Stuck On Stupid showing Rush’s exposing Media Matters lie on the “Phony Soldiers” quote, Adeline and Hazel, Leaning Straight Up, Big Dog’s Weblog, The Yankee Sailor, Gone Hollywood, Allie Is Wired, Leaning Straight Up, The World According to Carl, The World According to Carl (again), MacBros’ Reviews, The Pink Flamingo (again), Rosemary’s Thoughts, MoreWhat.com and a special thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.