Dear Corporal Tyler Rock:

The war isn’t lost but this man is:

Keep up the good fight!

Love,

badrose

Feathery hat tip to Kilo.

Suppose you knew of someone that had recently been diagnosed with an incurable, potentially fatal disease.  Even though you don’t personally know this person, being the kind-hearted, gentle soul you are, you send a note of encouragement anyway.  Then suppose your note of support was acknowledged by a request for money.  Wouldn’t you think that’s tacky?

How is this any different?

According to Islam101.com:

The vast majority of Muslim scholars and jurists, past and present, have determined the minimum requirements for Muslim women’s dress: 1) Clothing must cover the entire body, with the exception of the face and the hands. 2) The attire should not be form fitting, sheer or so eye-catching as to attract undue attention or reveal the shape of the body.

The rules are simple, even I understand them. Apparently, so did the most powerful woman in America.  While receiving the red carpet treatment in Syria, Nancy Pelosi dons her head cover (hijab):

But then later . . . From aljazeera.net, there’s this:

What part of “clothing must cover the entire body” did she not comprehend? More importantly, what skirt did she decide NOT to wear when meeting with Bashar al-Assad? The snakeskin mini-skirt with chains? Does she WANT Hezbollah to attack us?

Keeping the scarf handy, “just in case”:

Also according to aljazeera.net:

The top Democrat politician had earlier said she had “no illusions but great hope” for the talks which she said would focus on the fight against terrorism, Iraq and Lebanon.

Someone in the DemocratIC party (Josh Chernila?) needs to tell aljazeera that it’s offensive to be called a Democrat. (Remember what a slam-bang job Josh did reprimanding Lt. Gov. Bolling at the blog conference?) Sheesh - the DemocratICS really need to hire better PR people. My son had a more successful result when he changed his name to, “Chad Vader!” Chad keeps his entire body covered, by the way, EVEN his face and hands. Maybe he’ll get to go to Syria next time . . .

Resolve to be tender with the young,

Compassionate with the aged,

Sympathetic with the striving

And tolerant of the weak and the wrong.

Sometime in life you will have been all of these.

Thank you, Mason Conservative.

This came in my e-mail bag today:

LOOK OVER THE DESCRIPTIONS OF THE FOLLOWING
TWO HOUSES AND SEE IF YOU CAN TELL WHICH
BELONGS TO AN ENVIRONMENTALIST.

HOUSE # 1:

A 20-room mansion (not including 8 bathrooms) heated by natural gas. Add on a pool (and a pool house) and a separate guest house all heated by gas. In ONE MONTH ALONE this mansion consumes more energy than the average American household in an ENTIRE YEAR. The average bill for electricity and natural gas runs over $2,400.00 per month. In natural gas alone (which last time we checked was a fossil fuel), this property consumes more than 20 times the national average for an American home. This house is not in a northern or Midwestern “snow belt,” either. It’s in the South.

HOUSE # 2:

Designed by an architecture professor at a leading national university, this house incorporates every “green” feature current home construction can provide. The house contains only 4,000 square feet (4 bedrooms) and is nestled on the arid high prairie in the American southwest. A central closet in the house holds geothermal heat pumps drawing ground water through pipes sunk 300 feet into the ground. The water (usually 67 degrees F.) heats the house in winter and cools it in summer. The system uses no fossil fuels such as oil or natural gas, and it consumes 25% of the electricity required for a conventional heating/cooling system. Rainwater from the roof is collected and funneled into a 25,000 gallon underground cistern. Wastewater from showers, sinks and toilets goes into underground purifying tanks and then into the cistern. The collected water then irrigates the land surrounding the house. Flowers and shrubs native to the area blend the property into the surrounding rural landscape.

HOUSE # 1 (20 room energy guzzling mansion) is outside of Nashville,
Tennessee. It is the abode of that renowned environmentalist (and
filmmaker) Al Gore.

HOUSE # 2 (model eco-friendly house) is on a ranch near Crawford, Texas. Also known as “the Texas White House,” it is the private residence of the President of the United States, George W. Bush.

So whose house is gentler on the environment? Yet another story you WON’T hear on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC or read about in the New York Times or the Washington Post. Indeed, for Mr. Gore, it’s truly “an inconvenient truth.”

I’ve already verified this at Snopes.  It is TRUE!

In January, I posted Making the Ultimate Sacrifice to commemorate the second anniversary of our loss of four American heroes. Jon Bowling (a Martinsville police officer), Jesse Strong, Karl Linn and Chris Weaver were killed by insurgents when their convoy was ambushed in the Anbar province in Iraq. There is no doubt that these soldiers made the ultimate sacrifice but that day my heart and thoughts were with their mothers - the ones left behind to continue living out the sacrifice of a future shared with their sons. I was so incredibly humbled when I read the following comment:

You are right, mother’s make the greatest sacrifice. I fostered Karl’s interest in the technical, fed his curiosity. Malisa taught him kindness and gave him heart. What could be a greater sacrifice than giving your firstborn child, as perfect as he was?

Semper Fidelis,
Dick Linn
Karl’s dad

So humbled, in fact, that I couldn’t respond. I tried. I tried to reply in the comments and I tried to write a separate post. No matter what I wrote, I would delete it after several rewrites. My piddly words, no matter how I connected them, refused to convey how deeply grateful (see how insufficient it looks?) I am to the parents that gave life, nurtured and fostered the spirit and discipline necessary to fight on behalf of their country when called upon. Gave them, as Dick says, “heart.”

Another touching comment came from Cheryl:

I just finished watching “Ambush at the Great River of Secrets” and sat there in tears. I have a son, my only child Christopher, who is in Iraq now with the 82nd AIR Infantry Div. 2/325. This is his second tour. I finally have learned what the bible scripture “pray without ceasing” means.

My heart goes out to all the families who have sacrificed so much. And I do understand the bond between a mother and her son.

I have a memorial website that I started in 2005. I would be very honored to create a memorial for the familes of Jesse Strong, Christopher Weaver, Jonathan Bowling and Karl Linn. I do not charge families to do this and I send an 8 x 10 framed print of the memorial to each family.

I too am very proud of my son and I believe in what he is doing for his country. He also wants to be a military historian. It is always in my thoughts that one day he may need a memorial as well. My website is www.aherostribute.org.

My prayers are with each of you and I appreciate your blog.

Again - I find it so very difficult to find the right words to say “thank you” and to let the families know that regardless of what is aired or published or burned in effigy, THAT’S NOT US! Our hearts are with the troops fighting abroad and the families left to fight the battle here.

E-mails like this one:

Date: February 6, 2007 8:04:39 PM EST
To: badrose@mac.com
Subject: A Marine Dad thanks you for your blog comments

Hi,

I didn’t want to post this on your blog, but rather quietly thank you off line. My son is an Infantry Marine, just back from his second deployment to the Al Anbar province. I’ve gotten to know a lot of Marine moms and dads over the past 3+ years. The one friendship I cherish above the rest is the one I have with Jonathan’s dad, Darrell Bowling. I’ve gotten to know Darrell pretty well over the past year. When I think of Darrell, I think of Jonathan, and vice-versa. I had the opportunity to have a long conversation with Darrell on the second anniversary of his loss of Jonathan and we both agreed that CNN did a commendable job with the documentary.

Anyhow, I just wanted to thank you for writing what so many Marine Parents feel. I wrote a book last year which you can see on www.uparmor.org. I’m in the process of doing a complete re-write. Let me know if you’re interested in seeing the revised version sometime soon and I’ll shoot you off an e-copy. Thanks.

Semper Fi,

…remind me of the importance of letting our military families know every day that they are not alone, even if we don’t have the words to sufficiently express it, we’re here and we care and we want their sons home, too. But we want them home in victory.

This is weighing heavily upon me tonight because Grumpy directed me to BLACKFIVE who has a great post on the troop reaction to the Democrats:

“What’s worse, however, is the reaction of their parents. I’ve received a lot of email from parents who describe heart-breaking phone calls with their sons and daughters in Iraq. They are counseling these young Americans who are now questioning why they are fighting for a group of people that are duplicitous, spineless, and certainly not worthy of them. IMHO, if you want to talk about damaging morale, this could be the final straw.”

I hope Blackfive is wrong. The best inspiration for them that I have to offer comes from Vicki Strong, mother of Jesse, who died with Jon, Karl and Chris:

“You know, forty years from now, what will this turn out to be? Maybe Iraq will be a prosperous, free country. We’re just looking at the ‘now’ but I’m looking way ahead, years from now. I’m looking at the point when someday an Iraqi person will come up and shake my hand and say, thank you. Thank you that you gave your son. And I’ll say, “It was a privilege and I don’t regret it.”

Semper Fi.

(I offered that phrase to Scott but he didn’t think it was funny enough so I’ll take it back.)

“Since 9/11, for people who are in government, I think in general there has been an agreement that it’s more — a more dangerous time,” he said. “If you look at people in the executive branch . . . there is not that kind of protection available to people in the legislative branch. We are required to defend ourselves, and I choose to do so.” Senator Jim (Happy Birthday, Phil) Webb

Since 9/11… hmmm….. that’s interesting. Protection from what, since 9/11?? Could it be…….oh, I don’t know…… Radical Muslims??

Do you think he sees the threat, too? You mean it’s not just us gun-toting, dog-kissing, funny-smelling, uneducated poor relatives in his district? High-falutin’ fancy book writin’ people realize it too?

In case you thought I’d forgotten,

who are using Senator Webb’s recent gun kerfuffle to screech for tighter gun control laws AND for all the RightWingNuts who are jumping around like pantyless cheerleaders when the other team is fourth down with 80 yards to go, GET A GRIP! You’re missing the point completely:

EVERY member of congress should be packing (or having staff tote their pieces). Firearms should be issued to members upon entering the chambers and those opposed can take their chances.

Remember the days when important issues could be settled with duels? I say bring them back. We’ll see if Pelosi is half the man she portends to be . . .

UPDATE: Jackson’s opened the door for thoughtful discussion.  I suggest we all walk through it.