Who Are You? What Do You Want? Where Are You Going? Whom Do You Serve – And Whom Do You Trust?!
Because the State Legislature is FREAKIN’ AWESOME!
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LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO
Fifty-eighth Legislature First Regular Session – 2005
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 29
BY WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION STATING LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS AND COMMENDING JARED AND JERUSHA HESS AND THE CITY OF PRESTON FOR THE PRODUCTION OF THE MOVIE “NAPOLEON DYNAMITE.”
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Here’s one I haven’t heard about before and I like what they’re about:
While my wife was in Iraq, I started Operation: A Bit of Home. My wife called me and told me she had to put on 80 lbs. of battle gear, pick up her rifle, and walk 2 miles in 140 degree heat to buy soap and tampons and toothpaste. She told me that the government does not supply any sanitary or entertainment items to our troops. I decided that I would not have my wife doing that. I started shipping boxes to her unit in Iraq, in large quantities.
One day I got a phone call from a place in Baghdad called Freedom Rest. They stated they were the only R&R facility in Iraq for our troops. They get soldiers that have been in combat, on convoys, or high stress dangerous situations and give them 3 days and nights of R&R, good food, a pool, games, a soft bed and goodies. They process hundreds of soldiers in-and-out each day. By supplying hygiene, snack and entertainment items to Freedom Rest, we have directly affected the lives of over 23,000 soldiers.
They told me the government provides basic foods, linens etc., but all hygiene, snack and entertainment items come from donations, and asked if I could help. I am one of the few groups that actually have been asked to send supplies.
I know there are a lot of charities for the troops out there, but these facts set us apart from the rest:
1. We supply a facility for stressed troops, not individuals. We have eliminated the problem of NCOs and officers hording the boxes. We do not send things to the same troops over and over,
2. Our website tells people how to send their own boxes, how to fill out the US Postal forms, gives packing tips and lists of needed items, and most importantly, we give out the address to send it to. We do not post names of individual soldiers, a very dangerous thing to do. If Al Qaeda knows where a National Guard unit is from, and has names, they could potentially find and endanger soldier’s families just by using a phone book!
3. Although the website does accept donations from folks who want us to do all the work, we encourage people to do it themselves, give them the tools, and hope to encourage a sense of civic pride. We do civic presentations and assist groups in completing their “Public Service” obligations.
4. We don’t sell a bunch of overpriced “Boxes” like others do.
We are working with several organizations to help them develop their own programs.
I could go on forever, but if you visit our website, or Google Us, you will find we are legitimate.
A short mention on people’s blogs could do more for us than months of our pounding the streets and working the phones. A link on your mail list or your homepage would work wonders also.
Please visit our website, google us, and tell your friends about us. Every dime of donations goes to shipping and buying needed items. No one is paid, we have no overhead, and we care about the troops. We continue to send even when donations are thin using our personal Credit Cards.
Thank you and please visit www.OperationaBitofHome.com
Supporting the troops means more than placing a yellow ribbon on your car.
Thanks for your support
Ken Meyer
Founder
Operation: A Bit of Home
During Desert Storm we had the wonderful support of “Any Service Member” mail and I don’t think we had to buy a can of shaving creme, a bottle of shampoo, toothpaste, or a stick of deordorant unless we really wanted to, which was good because the AAFES tent or baby BX often was out of…just about everything. For operational and security reasons, “Any Service Member” mail is pretty much gone. These folks seem to have found a way to fill that void. And if you don’t think that a real shower with real soap and some anti-perspirant makes any difference, you have never been the kind of dirty that a week in the desert can get you. You can’t stand the smell of yourself and every part of your body is covered in powdered grit.
that I really care about football. I’m the product of a mixed marriage, Dad was a Bears fan, Mom was born and raised in Wisconsin making her a Packers fan down to her very core.
Usually I cheer for both teams when I can watch them play. Except for today. Today it’s different. Today I have to apologize to my Mom and grin up at heavan to my Dad and simply say with no irony:
May the spirit of George Halas be with every one of you.
Stormy Kromer, put a legend on your head.
A friend of mine has one of these silly looking hats and he swears it keeps his head and ears toasty all winter long. I’m at that age when I kind of enjoy being silly and not caring what the neighbors think. And since I’ve started shaving my head, keeping my noggin toasty has become a priority as the weather changes. It’s not always easy.
I was going to wait until it showed up in the mail to write a review about it, but after the email I received confirming my order, I had to share it with you all.
Just thought we would let you know that in just a few minutes, your order
will be carefully removed from our Stormy Kromer shelves, placed into some
sort of container, and sent on its way to you. And if it’s cold where you
are, then you are correct in feeling pretty darn good about that. If it’s
warm where you are, keep it to yourself… no point in rubbing it in.Prior to its departure, a semi-qualified team of almost 50 inspectors
(actually, it’ll be just one person, but she’s really good) will check
your order to make sure it passes muster. Our “packing specialist” will
then ask for a collective moment of silence, and a reverent calm will fall
over the entire factory as we all watch her place your order into some
sort of shipping thingamajig.Of course, all of this excitement gave rise to a big party afterwards,
resulting in the whole factory taking the remainder of the day off to walk
your package to the local post office, where most of our town will show up
and join in to wish it a cheerful Bon Voyage!I hope you enjoyed shopping with us. As you can tell, we sure do. In fact,
we are considering nominating you for Customer of the Year! We’ll see.
You’ve simply got to love a company that has a sense of humor about itself. I’ll let you know how the hat actually works out after it gets here.
Oh, what color did I get? Red plaid of course.
“Silly is a state of grace.” — Mike Meyers
Sergeant Major William J. Gainey is the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a newly created position established to advise the Chairman on matters of professional development of enlisted personnel for a joint environment. Sergeant Major Gainey is the first person selected to serve in this position beginning October 1, 2005.
The rest of his bio is here.
Ya know we’ve been talking about that position since 1986. It only took 19 years for it to come to pass. I got to hear him talk to a gathering of enlisted folks today and I have to tell ya, I feel pretty good about the fact that man has the Chairman’s ear. If he shows up at your base or post and you get the chance, give him a listen. I’m usually not impressed with someone who’s made it to a lofty position because I simply figure they played politics better than most. I didn’t get that from SGM. I got the feeling he’s there to make damn sure the Chairman has an enlisted voice in his ear when he’s making hard calls. That’s got to be a good thing.
Update: I don’t know how this part dropped off and I just noticed it, sorry.
His point of view? “We’re not losing in Iraq. I’ve been there and I’ve fought there and I can tell you we’re not losing.” His charge to all of us? Tell our story in Iraq and Afghanistan because the press isn’t doing it and he’s not happy with the way the politicians are politicizing it.
So…our faithful ol’ Panasonic that we got on sale at the BX is dying. Through 3 PCS moves and various attacks by startled cats, through being used as various pieces parts of a young boy’s playworld, the speakers have begun to sputter and stop speaking. The remote has…simply disappeared. We don’t know how, we don’t know where, we just know it’s gone. The “surround-sound” is simply sound most of the time. Even the bigger bass units are all beat up. I could rewire one more time, I even started to…Beautiful Punk-Rock Wife (her hair is VERY short these days and CHERRY red, it’s so cool) put her hands on mine and said, “Honey, it’s time to let it go.” It’s sad really. It was a good little system. AM/FM and DVD and CD have all passed through it. It doesn’t play MP3 disks though. Yeah, it’s that old.
So we’re in the market for a new home theater this Christmas. That’s the family christmas present. Our friends down the hill have a Bose Lifestyle 35 and we’re looking seriously at that since we LOVE watching movies at their house. The true beauty of it is that Beautiful Punk-Rock Wife was the one who suggested it.
And you may not understand what this means for me. I’ve loved Bose audio equipment since music class in high school. Mr. Music had a pair of 901s in his classroom. This is how I learned of Bach and Beethoven and the great grandaddy of punk rock, Wolfgang A. Mozart. It was the clarity. It was the first time I felt music as a physical force outside of a concert arena. It’s also the memory of how Mr. Music explained to us how to set up audio equipment not based on how it looks, but how it sounds and why it works better over here than over there. “You want to cover the room, not have the sound all bunched up in one spot with dead spots everywhere else.” He explained why it was called “volume.” He took that kind of time. He cared about music and knew we did too and he explained to us how best to play it in our home on the equipment we had. He also played rock and roll sometimes to show how one principal or another still carried on. He’d let the album play out when he did that and he didn’t have to. He knew the best some of us could afford was a pair of Realistics from Radio Shack. Bose is all tied up in that.
So, I’m sure you audiophiles have your own opinions on this. Have at it. Fire away. Tell me why I’m wrong and should get THAT system instead. Provide linkage please. I could be convinced otherwise. Not easily, but it could happen. Remember, I’m kinda cheap.
Don’t you love this time of year when everyone comes to you with their hand out? Ah, the spirit of giving.
This one doesn’t hurt much. It’s 10 dollar Tuesday over at Radio Paradise. If you use them and keep meaning to send them money, now’s a good time. If you don’t use them, give them a shot. They’re like mixing your weird uncle’s iPod with yours and putting it on shuffle…and they’re commerical free.
Spirit of America has launched a fundraising campaign that began last week and will run through the end of this year. Bloggers have joined together in the past to get the word out and this time we’re joined by Gen Tommy Franks and Senator John McCain.
Spirit of America’s mission is to extend the goodwill of the American people to assist those advancing freedom, democracy and peace abroad. We provide support to those on the front lines: American military and civilian personnel and people who call to Americans for help in their struggle for freedom and democracy.
Spirit of America is a 501c3 nonprofit supported solely through private-sector contributions. We do not receive funding from the government or military. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible.
Please check out the videos and and the website and see if you can’t help our folks in Iraq and Afghanistan show the people there the true spirit of the American people. You generosity can make a world of difference.
I woke up way too early coughing my lungs out. I have to at least stop in at work today. My sinuses are packed solid. My head is throbbing.
Laughing seems to clear things up for me.
So…what’s your favorite joke right now? Funny story? Amuzing anecdote?
If you watched Grey’s Anatomy tonight, that should make you laugh uncontrolably for at least a full minute.
God I hate laughing when I’ve got a cold…but my ears popped.
“What’s up?” Stop, you’re killing me.
Uncle Jimbo over at Blackfive has a very good piece called Iraq Endgame – Let’s Win the Narrative.
Recommended reading…unless of course you’re one of them long-haired hippy type pinko fags with a commie flag in your garage…then it’s just going to piss you off.
The United States Postal Service has apparently done away with the Madonna and Child postage stamps for this year. Unless my memory has gone all whacky, not unheard of, we’ve had some sort of Jesus and Mary stamp since I can remember. Any Stamp Collectors out there?
This year’s Christmas Holiday stamps include Holiday Cookies and Holiday Ornaments. There is no Kwanza this year. There is no Hanukkah. There are cookies and ornaments.
You know, I’m not even religious. In my house be believe in God but we don’t acknowledge any particular religion other than we kind of have to admit we’re Christians by the simple fate of our environment. I KNOW that mythology. But to me it’s just another mythology, another attempt to explain things. I think Taoism does a better job but that has more to do with the physical world than the spiritual. But I do acknowledge that there’s got to be something else going on in the world other than what Newton and Einstein figured out, I just don’t think any of the current churches have it figured out either and most have stopped trying and just set up shop with what they’ve got. Does it sell? Yes. Good enough.
But going back to my High School U.S. History teacher I have to put down my foot and stare at the silliness of those who would try to take Christmas out of the holidays. It’s Christmas if you’re a Christian, it’s Hannakuh if you’re Jewish, it’s Kwanza if you’re…whatever that is, I claim complete ignorance other than I assume it’s something spiritual in nature. And don’t get all “Hah!” with me, I’ve never claimed to be anything more than a very white boy. I like Earth Wind and Fire, my heart goes pittity pat over Alicia Keys’ voice, but my black friends really wish I wouldn’t dance to them…ever. And for the Pagans, let’s not forget the pagans, they made most of our mythology up to begin with, like it or not, it’s the Winter Solstice.
Where was I? Oh yes, High School U.S. History. Mr. Bryer. “Where in the U.S. Constitution does it say ‘Freedom from religion?’ Anyone? Buellor? Ah yes, Mr Timmer, care to enlighten us with your shining intellect?” “Yes sir, it’s in the First Amendment.” “And once again Mr Timmer crashes into flames on the poorly waxed floor beneath our feet.”
Nowhere ladies and gentlement, nowhere are we guaranteed freedom FROM religion just freedom OF religion. You want your own holiday stamp, get you religion together and make enough noise to get the USPS to issue one. Do us all a favor though and make it in December or January. Jump on the bandwagon. Let’s cram all the religious high festive holidays into one time of year. Let’s make it a bigger party. Really piss of the folks who are offended by any sort of spiritual acknowledgement. That would make the Baby Jesus smile.
Hat tip to Ann Althouse. Whom I’ve just discovered because of the OSM/PJM ee-I-ee-I-oh kerfuffle. Yeah, I know Reynolds links to her all the time but half the time Reynolds’ page won’t load so seriously…I had no idea.
Wizbang’s is up.
So is OTB’s.
Random Numbers has got one going on.
TIM MOLLOY
LOS ANGELES – Actor Pat Morita, whose portrayal of the wise and dry-witted Mr. Miyagi in “The Karate Kid” earned him an Oscar nomination, has died. He was 73.
Morita died Thursday at his home in Las Vegas of natural causes, said his wife of 12 years, Evelyn. She said in a statement that her husband, who first rose to fame with a role on “Happy Days,” had “dedicated his entire life to acting and comedy.”
In 1984, he appeared in the role that would define his career and spawn countless affectionate imitations. As Kesuke Miyagi, the mentor to Ralph Macchio’s “Daniel-san,” he taught karate while trying to catch flies with chopsticks and offering such advice as “wax on, wax off” to guide Daniel through chores to improve his skills.
In the Rock Operea Tommy, what’s Tommy’s last name?
Not stealing your gig Kevin, just have a few that I like to pull on people.
THAT didn’t take long. Good one Doc.
Okay, one more ‘cuz that was too quick:
In what movie did the song, My Kind of Town (Chicago is), make its debut?
And there ya go Kevin. One of my favorite movies, Robin and the Seven Hoods.
Thanks to all you folks stationed overseas this holiday season. That goes for your families too because isn’t it fun trying to pull a traditional meal together with nothing but the Commisary at your disposal? After our first year in Germany, Beautiful Wife started shopping for Thanksgiving at the end of September and put stuff in a freezer. For you guys who actually went to the Commissary yesterday trying to find something you knew was going to be sold out? Serious hero points! I personally believe that’s Achievement Medal worthy.
You folks in Iraq and Afghanistan? Don’t let the assholes on either side get you down. And for you folks who just don’t wanna go have turkey in the chow hall? Yeah, been there too. Sometimes your headphones and your music player are just watcha need to get through it. Let your friends know you’re okay and then do what you need to do. I recommend something jazzy this time of year. That’s just me.
God bless.
Just one more note as I turn in:
Today is NOT FOR SHOPPING! Some of the HUMUNGOUS stores are going to be open today and they want us to get an early start and avoid the crowds and do our Holiday Shopping before the official start of the shopping season, which is and shall remain tomorrow. If you start your Christmas Shopping today, you’ll make the Baby Jesus cry.
Today is for getting together with friends and/or family, eating until you can’t eat anymore, napping while pretending to watch football, then waiting an appropriate amount of time before eating yourself silly again. Belching and farting should be done in the vicinity of small children for maximum giggles. Yes, I’m a “Pull my finger.” kind of uncle. Tell me you’re suprised with a straight face.
Happy Thanksgiving all. Please list what you had/will have for your feast in the comments.
Our Menu
Hours d’ouvres:
Celery with cheese and/or peanut butter
Devilled Eggs
Cheetos (Boyo)
Dinner:
Turkey
Stuffing
Real Mashed Taters
Gravy from Scratch
Cranberry Chutney
Poppin Fresh Dinner Rolls
Green Beans w/Bacon.
Desert: (How could I forget desert?)
Two kinds of punkin’ pie.
Pecan Pie.
And as with all holidays in our house, it’s casual. That means shower, put on your most comfortable clothes, chill out. Stress is not allowed in our home during the holidays. We’ve already had our maximum annual amount of our dogma running over our karma. It’s time to hum ommmmmmmmmm and just chill.
1.) Are you done with the name changes yet?
2.) Why shouldn’t we believe Dennis the Peasant?
And if you’re involved or think you’re involved with Pajamas Media, you may want to read his entire site. I have no idea if he’s just a looney (Monty Python Lives!) or not, but ya gotta ask yourself who are you going into business with?
I posted the second question on Baldilock’s site too since she’s now the HMFIC of Blogger Relations.
Hat Tip to Stryker.
Update: I guess I should have looked on Roger Simon’s Blog for his repsonse first. Silly me, I’ve been trying to find something at Pajamas Media, OSM, Pajama’s Media. I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know I wouldn’t play cards with these guys. I don’t like the way they treat their friends.
Spirit of America is launching a fundraising campaign that begins now and will run through the end of this year. Bloggers have joined together in the past to get the word out and this time we’re joined by Gen Tommy Franks and Senator John McCain.
Hey Mom, check it out, a General and a Senator…and you said my friends wouldn’t go anywhere.
Spirit of America’s mission is to extend the goodwill of the American people to assist those advancing freedom, democracy and peace abroad. We provide support to those on the front lines: American military and civilian personnel and people who call to Americans for help in their struggle for freedom and democracy.
Spirit of America is a 501c3 nonprofit supported solely through private-sector contributions. We do not receive funding from the government or military. Your donation is 100% tax-deductible.
Please check out the videos and and the website and see if you can’t help our folks in Iraq and Afghanistan show the people there the true Spirit of the American people. You generosity can make a world of difference.
With all the political thunder and blunder the past few days, I just wanted to make something extremely clear:
The United States of America should NEVER cut and run again. In case some of you missed the past 20 or 30 years, cutting and running did absolutely NOTHING good. IMO, we’re fighting this war on terror specifically BECAUSE we’ve cut and run in the past.
Maybe the moonbats are right; maybe we do deserve what we get. I mean look at our history since the end of hostilities in Korea. We bailed out of Viet Nam. We lose some Marines in Beirut and we leave Lebanon to the animals. We fail one rescue mission in the desert and then we negotiate with Iran for hostages. Desert Storm…we didn’t finish it back then. Somalia. We refuse to shut down the heroin coming out of Afghanistan. We go into Iraq and don’t secure the place after two, almost three years. We know Saudi Arabia has been breeding terrorists for decades and we still smile and shake their hands and hold hands with them as if they were our best buddies because we have to suck on their oil tit.
There are times when I’m glad my Dad and his brothers, all WWII Vets, are dead so they don’t have to watch this crap play out. Combat vets who ought to know better because of what they’ve gone through calling for withdrawal and putting in a skeletal force? How can a man with that background think that way? It’s beyond imagination.
And you on the right don’t get all smug either. When my Dad and Uncles were in uniform we knew how to occupy and secure a country…hell, a country on one side of a planet and then an entire continent on the other. Back then the folks at home sacrificed more than just us in uniform and some of their tax dollars. They knew that securing Europe from the Nazis and then from the Soviets was going to cost and they REALLY sacrificed.
We’ve become so much less somehow and the enemy knows it. And no, I don’t know what the answer is myself, but it’s NOT pulling out every time things seem hard. Every time we do that we look weaker and we’re the strongest damn nation on the planet and I think we ought to start acting like it.
I just spent some time surfing around some of the “left of center” weblogs and came away shaking my head. I know better. They just give me a headache. So do many “right of center” blogs, only they don’t seem so keen on insulting the military by telling us that they support us so much they want us to turn tail and run the hell out of Iraq and abandon those folks to the Islamic Fascists who keep blowing up people. They support us by continuing to send us into Iraq until we can catch all of those murdering bastards who are blowing up people. I wish they’d send more of us at once, but I’ve always been one for overwhelming force so the bad guys have to just smile, put up their hands and say, “Oh, okay, you win…my bad.” Then again, I don’t think the threat of nuking Mecca ought to be off the table either so I KNOW I shouldn’t be in charge. That doesn’t make me a Republican, that makes me the definition of a Chicago Democrat, just watch Sean Connery in The Untouchables again.
Okay, you want to believe that the Republicans were the only ones who thought there was WMD on the ground when we went into Iraq, completely ignoring your own party’s leaders throughout the 1990s? Fine. Run with it.
You want to believe that all war is evil and if we’d simply try to negotiate with the folks who want to either convert or kill you things would get all rosy and we’d get everyone together for a big ol’ rousing chorus of Kumbaya? Have at it. Do your best. I’ll even do one chorus of “Michael rowed his boat ashore…” for practice.
But for the love of whatever it is you call holy, quit telling me how much you support me while giving our enemy more and more Public Relations and Psy-Ops fodder for their media to inhale and vomit to their masses. Just quit. I don’t want you “looking out for me” by telling me we can’t win. I don’t want you supporting me by trying to give the bad guys a time-line on when we’ll be leaving so they can time more things blowing up to make it look like they ran us out of there. Quit going on TV shaking your head woe-fully at the number of our dead, making us look like a bunch of whiny-assed pathetic losers. If that’s support, please-please-please, go back to throwing stuff at me and spitting on me at the airport, at least it’s honest.
And you’ll find the entire interview here.
I’m not 100% sure that we’re doing all the right things over there. If we’re just getting around to securing the Syrian Border and we still haven’t secured our own…we got issues. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got a niece on the ground over there and I think it’s simply ridiculous that more of the good things that have happened simply do not make the news so it fits the entire doom and gloom scenario that the Dems are trying to sell us for upcoming elections.
No, things ain’t all rosy either, but from what I hear from people that have actually been there, it’s not as bad as the news makes it out to be.
We picked up this recipe from our friend, Father Pat.
Cranberry Chutney
Ingredients:
40 Fresh Whole Cranberries
1 Cup Seedless Raisins
1 2/3 Cup Sugar (Or Splenda)
1 Tablespoon Ground Clove
1 Teaspoon Fresh Ginger (2 if dry)
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup (1 Med) chopped onion
1/2 Cup thinly sliced celery (small stalks)
1/2 Cup (1 Med) apple, peeled, chopped
Cook:
Combine cranberries, raisins, sugar, apples and water in large pot and bring to a boil. Stir frequently. This is a good time to chop the onion, celery and apple. When cranberries start to pop stir in the onion, apple and celery and bring back to a boil then lower to a simmer for 15 minutes.
If put in sterilized jars and properly sealed may be stored on the pantry shelf for about six months, otherwise refrigerate.
Use as you would cranberry sauce on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Can also be used as you would jelly. Goes well with any meat, not just turkey. Spoon some into your hot cereal. Pour about 6 ounces over a brick of Philly and surround with Ritz Crackers.
I know the holidays are upon us when Beautiful Wife begins to make and can jars of this for our friends.
Sense
Common Sense and a Sense of Humor are the same thing simply moving at different speeds.
A Sense of Humor is simply Common Sense dancing.
~Unknown~
