Happy Birthday

Ten years ago today the Fox News Channel began airing and cable news was changed forever. There was finally a voice for those of us who don't drink the blue Kool-Aid. People on the Right finally had their say and the establishment couldn't, and still can't, take it. When FNC was started, Ted Turner was quoted as saying, "We'll squash them like a bug". Well, we're still waiting, Ted. Thanks to juggernauts like The O'Reilly Factor and Hannity & Colmes, FNC has risen to the number one spot. You can love them or you can hate them, but you can't deny their impact. Here's to ten years of excellent news service and to many more.

More Abuse At Gitmo

The torture masters at Guantanamo Bay are at it again. This time they're abusing the terrorists detainees by getting them fat.

Meals totaling a whopping 4,200 calories per day are brought to their cells, well above the 2,000 to 3,000 calories recommended for weight maintenance by U.S. government dietary guidelines. And some inmates are eating everything on the menu.

Damn them. They can't just shoot them so they're killing them with food. Diabolical.

These people get to eat better than many Americans do, and isn't that the most important thing? There are starving children in the street but these people are guaranteed their three meals a day. I love this country, but sometimes are values are really fucked up.
Story

Wednesday Hero

1st Sgt. Ernest E. Utt
38 years old from Hammond, Illinois
Battery B, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division
June 27, 2004


Before 1st Sgt. Ernest E. Utt was deployed from Texas to Iraq, he longed to first go back to his boyhood home in central Illinois to see his dad. He never got that chance. Utt was killed June 27, 2004 in a rocket attack in Baghdad.

"He was so sad he didn't have time to travel to Illinois before he left," said his wife, Denise Utt. "He told his father over the phone before he went, 'Dad, you will be the fist person I visit when I come back."

Utt grew up in Hammond, a small village about 20 miles east of Decatur, and he left there to join the military when he was about 18, his wife said. Utt's father still lives in the area.

Utt, a 21-year Army veteran, could have retired and gotten out of the service instead of going to Iraq, but he had a strong sense of duty to some 80 soldiers under his command, Denise Utt said.

"He didn't want his soldiers to go to Iraq alone," she said. "He was like a father figure to them. My husband is a hero. He was an honorable man."

She said her husband of 10 years rarely spoke about what he saw in Iraq, only to tell her that poverty in the nation was rampant. And he never spoke about whether he thought the United States was right to have invaded the country.

"He felt uncomfortable talking about it and I never really got into whether he felt what he was doing was right," she said. "Once you are there, you just do what you have to do. But he was so looking forward to coming home."

His wife said Utt graduated in 1983 from Atwood-Hammond High School in Illinois, where he played football and was on the track team.

Since 2001, Utt was based at Fort Hood, Texas, assigned to Battery B, 1st Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery, 1st Cavalry Division. He had previously served at bases in Germany, California, North Carolina and Texas.

He is survived by his wife and their five children from previous marriages.
These brave men and women have given their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Have Every Right To Dream Heroic Dreams.
Those Who Say That We're In A Time When There Are No Heroes, They Just Don't Know Where To Look

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by clicking here.

Wise Sage Of The Day

"What worries you, masters you."
Haddon W. Robinson

Democrats & Mark Foley

The next time you see Democrats grandstanding and beating their chests professing their false anger at Congressman Mark Foley and Speaker Dennis Hastert, just remember that their hero pardoned Mel Reynolds.

Pink Floyd As Used In The Real World

I graduated high school in 1997, which means that next year is my 10 year reunion. And if you've been paying attention then you know that I'm a fan of The Floyd. Anyway, I was recently listening to their song Time and it hit me just how prophetic the lyrics really are.

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
You fritter and waste the hours in an off-hand way
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way

But it's this line that grabbed my attention.

And then the one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

Being ten years since I graduated and it does seem that I've missed the starting gun. No matter what you may think when you're 17 or 18, you're not ready. Hell, I'm 27 and I'm still not ready.

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines

You really don't seem to find the time. That old adage "You're not getting any younger" really comes to life as you get older. Plans you may have had as a bright eyed high school grad don't necessarily happen. I was planning on being a writer when I grew up, but, as you can tell from this blog, that was never going to happen. I'm going to star doing this soon. Starting next year I'm going to try this. Well, soon and next year have a way of sneaking up on you. Carpe Temporis Puntum

In Case You Missed It

Squirrels are attacking people in Mountain Veiw, California. First Florida, now California. Where's Jed Clampett when you need him?

A Pennsylvania woman had her baby delivered by the same cop that had given her a ticked one year earlier. Not that cool, but interesting.

An Indiana man tried to blow up the house of the people who broke his wife's glasses. Mr. Ahmed, I mean Michielsen, faces 58 years in prison if convicted.

A man breaks into a woman's house, ordered a pizza, did some laundry then attacked the homeowner.

Animal rights activists set fire to a pet shop in Cambridge, Mass. killing more than two dozen animals. Now, that's how you make a statement.

This one's good. An Ohio doctor claims he can go back in time to treat people. I think this is it's own joke.

Rose Kennedy, matriarch of the Kennedy Clan, once wrote to Nikita Khrushchev asking for an autograph. First the mafia helped JFK win the election and now this.

An 85-year-old New Hampshire women made a stand against a burgler with a knife. Grandparents rule.

And this weeks Darwin Award winner is, Christopher Greenbird. He gets drunk, gets behind the wheel, drives by some cops and then proceeds to flip them off. He then tries to fight the officer while being arrested. Congratulations, Christopher, for showing that evolution isn't quite finished yet.