My humble and sincere thanks to all veterans who have served to keep my country and my liberties safe. My heart goes out to all of you, especially to those who have made serious sacrifices. While I go about my daily business and snuggle down safe and sound in my bed, many of you are guarding a wall, battling with the enemy, or rescuing people off rooftops during a natural disaster. Some of you are tipping your last-call glasses of beer down in the halls of the American Legion or the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Your time of service has passed, yet a part of you lives always in the men and women who now serve. Some of you are praying, alone or in groups, that all sons and daughters, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters, and parents are home by the next Veterans Day. You know He can grant your prayers, but it's unlikely given the evil in the world.
Many of you will march in parades -- some of you will be escorted in your wheelchairs -- and be either encouraged by the numbers of people who gather and wave flags along the parade route or disappointed by the numbers, which seem to dwindle more each year. But you should know that the intensity of pride and sincerity of gratitude from just a few who gather are much richer, fuller, and sweeter than all the speeches, blog posts,and five-minute clips on the late news hours.
Some of you are homeless. We can argue about whether you are crazy or on drugs or a victim of the recession or whatever it is that makes you chronically without shelter, but I am at a loss as to how this could happen in my country. With the billions of dollars we borrowed from the Chinese to give to banks and companies who turned around and thumbed their noses at us while they got massages and played golf at an exotic resort, we couldn't spare a couple or three to shelter people who, conscientiously or not, went and stood in the way of bullets when others did not? I apologize to you, for both looking the other way and not being sincere enough to promise you I will not do it again. But I know that you sacrifice to this day for what you did for your country and I live in the grace of your sacrifice.
Some of you are recuperating in a hospital, trying to recover physically, mentally, or spiritually. Some of you are being taken care of by people who care about you, and some of you were forced to endure deplorable conditions at a military hospital, where people were supposed to care for you and try to make you whole as possible, in the name of the American people whom you served. I cannot understand this breach of faith and I'm angered by it, as I believe other Americans were, but like other government-run horror shows it appears to have been easy to sweep under the rug.
I am one of those people who get a lump in their throat when they see an American flag backlit by the sun's rays. A sucker for icons, I get it when anyone plays the national anthem, even though I love "America the Beautiful" a thousand times better, or a color guard comes out onto a baseball field, or some jets fly over a memorial. The arresting sight of a string of motorcycle guards heading to a funeral to protect a grieving family from a bunch of evil nutcase protesters from a Topeka church makes me want to pull in line and follow them to their destination.
But I get downright weepy when I walk through the tombstones of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, whether they mark the graves of Civil War soldiers, entire crews of planes shot down in World War II, or soldiers from other conflicts. And, even though some of the graves are for World War II and Vietnam vets from my own family, the the saddest to me are the newer graves of people who have died in recent wars.
I mourn those men and women who kept the wolf at bay.
And thank those who today still keep it from my door.
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Northeast Intelligence Network
By Douglas J. Hagmann, Director
9 November 2009: According to an intelligence source speaking to the Northeast Intelligence Network, forensic analysis of Nidal Malik HASAN’s computer and other media determined that HASAN had routinely visited al Qaeda and Islamic terrorist web sites in months and weeks leading to last week’s massacre at Fort Hood. According to this investigative source, HASAN also downloaded material from the web site operated by former Dar al Hijrah mosque leader and terrorist facilitator Anwar Nasser al Awlaki. As reported here, al Awlaki was an imam at the Dar al Hijrah mosque in Fall Church, Virginia in 2001, where he advised and facilitated two of the 9/11 terrorists in the months prior to the attacks. Al Awlaki also counseled HASAN during that same period.
The information obtained from HASAN’s digital files reportedly shows a “pattern of deliberate and willful planning to conduct some type of attack against the U.S. military prior to his deployment” [to Afghanistan], stated this source who requested anonymity as he is not authorized to speak publicly. “The motive behind the massacre appears to be rooted in his ideology, an ideology which was emboldened by online activity,” added this source.
As indicated by a ABC News Online article, intelligence sources reportedly had a level of knowledge that HASAN was in communication with al Qaeda assets abroad. The source speaking to this author confirmed that report but went further, stating that this and information similar but not directly related to such communications became a “political issue” between government agencies and officials “at the policy making levels” of the administration.
According to this source, the now infamous pre-9/11 walls erected within government agencies have returned, “but this time they are higher and stronger.” “There is an unwillingness to address ‘delicate’ intelligence and security matters by sharing information outside of the beltway, and that directive comes right from the top. That’s all I’m going to say right now,” stated this source.
Based on the information provided
during this interview, it would appear that intelligence officials were
well aware of not only HASAN’s prior associations with known Muslim
terrorists, but his current sympathy with anti-American, pro-jihad, al
Qaeda ideology and his views about the U.S. military engaging the enemy
on Muslim soil.
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Two things happened this past week the left me kind of sad. First, my oldest son, who is seventeen, swam in his last swim meet. He made the regionals which were held in Tallahassee and we were holding out hope that he would make state, but even though his times were good, they just weren't good enough to move on.
My wife and I have known that it was going to be a sad day ever since the swim season first started. We've been going to his meets for the past three years and we have made some pretty good friends with the kids and their parents, not to mention the coaches as well. Donna took tons of pictures and we cut out every article that was in the paper, but when the last meet was finally over it left us feeling empty knowing that it was all done.
Now, he is playing soccer. Again, we are going into it with excitement, but with trepidation too, knowing that it is his senior year. I'm just not ready for another one of my kids to graduate high school.
The second thing that happened was more on a personal level for me. The regional swim meet was on Friday, so the team went to Tallalhassee on Thursday to spend the night. My wife got the day off and went with the team (I couldn't get the day off, but managed to leave work around 2:00 and get there for the finals). This left me and my youngest son, who is thirteen, at home by ourselves on Thursday night.
Every time in the past when my wife had to go somewhere overnight my son would be all excited because he could sleep with me. To be honest, I like it too. I know he is growing up and to have him ask to sleep with me somehow makes me feel like he is still little.
Anyway, when bedtime came around he didn't make mention of sleeping with me. It sounds selfish, but a part of me was crushed over that. In an instant I suddenly realized that my youngest child was no longer... well, a child. When I went to bed that night I went with a heavy heart.
My kids are growing up and I can't do a thing to stop it.
Pastor Andy Deane will teach attendees 10 different Bible study methods during this one day seminar. Come and learn how to study the Bible personally with such a variety of methods that keep you excited about studying the Scriptures. Avoid the rut that routine can sometimes bring by learning new ways to study the Bible.
WHEN: Saturday, December 5th from 9am to 2:30pm.
Session 1 - 9:00am -10:30am
15 minute break
Session 2 - 10:45am - 12:15pm
Lunch - 12:15pm - 1:00pm
Session 3 - 1:00pm - 2:30pm
WHERE:
Calvary Chapel Montclair
46 Park Street
Montclair, NJ 07042
REGISTER:
Please call (973) 783-6001 or email office@calvarymontclair.org to pre-register. Arrive at 8:45am to register in person. Visit http://www.calvarymontclair.org for directions to the church.
COST: Free
ABOUT PASTOR ANDY:
Pastor Andy is an associate pastor at Calvary Chapel Old Bridge and recently authored a new book titled LEARN TO STUDY THE BIBLE that teaches readers 40 different Bible study methods. Visit http://www.LearnToStudyTheBible.com to learn more.
VIEW THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170374481767#/event.php?eid=170374481767&ref=mf
Yeah I am lucky enough that my car is not going to be totaled. It will take 5-7 days to repair, once they finally have the parts. So hopefully I will get it back by the end of next week.
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
The Gators knocked off the Bulldogs and South Carolina lost to Tennessee, so Florida has clenched the SEC East and it looks like they are on a collision course with Alabama to play for the SEC Conference title again. Now, if they can win out the rest of the season.
I am certainly not an expert on the BCS, but if Forida and Alabama both go into the SEC conference game as 1 and 2 on the BCS standings, is it possible that no matter who wins that game they could play each other again for the BCS title?
When it rains it pours, literally and figuratively
Literally: we have been getting heavy rain the last few days and it is taking its toll. we had water back up in the gutters and actually go under the eaves into the outside wall of the back room and then it leaked into the room.
Figuratively: today on the way to the vet we had a car accident that probably has totaled my car. as we were starting to use the bridge to go over the highway someone else decided to go ahead and start making a left hand turn directly in our path, headed for the highway on-ramp. I slammed on my brakes but it was pretty much a lost cause, we were already that close. We had our seat belts on so we were not seriously injured or anything, we are bruised from them and my right hand is sore from how it jammed into the steering wheel. Both vehicles were no longer drivable so they towed them away.
I can not afford to replace my car so I can only pray that the other persons insurance will cover fixing it, if they total it I am sunk. even if they actually paid off my loan, which I know they wont because the balance on my loan is more than my car is worth, I still can not get a loan for a replacement car because I am still not working.
I don't mind admitting that I have a very dry sense of humor. I find things amusing that other people just do not. So, when we rented the movie "The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy" a few years ago, it wasn't surprising to my wife that I found it hilarious. While my daughter and I (who also shares my sense of humor) were rolling on the floor laughing, my wife was rolling her eyes wondering what we were finding to laugh at.
On a whim I did a search on quotes from "The Hitchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy". I found myself smiling and sometimes laughing out loud to some of the things I read. Realizing that not everyone will find this funny, I want to share one of the quotes that I found quite amusing:
It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination. --The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
