Lone Pony, Little Miss Chatterbox & Lost

Well Becky (Lone Pony) and I had lunch today!! It was the first time for both of us to meet a fellow blogger. We both live in the KC area so we thought it would be fun. We were both nervous having never met someone we knew on the internet first. She wrote a post about it also and was way too kind saying that I was smart and beautiful but I would have to say the same about her.

We have similar personalities and views on issues so there was no lack of things to discuss :-). I am happy to tell you that we solved quite a few of the world's problems in our 2 1/2 hour lunch :-). We talked about how blogging gives you a place to vent, discuss issues and meet other likeminded people. For me it has been an awesome creative outlet and also a fun social outlet as well.

She is my new hero in many ways. She has overcome a lot of difficult things and has stood up and been strong. She is a great role model for so many women & men and the awesome potential we all have to overcome the struggles in our past and start a new life. I am very proud of her and proud to know her. Take the time to visit her great blog.

As I was driving to meet Becky for lunch today I thought of how we all can make new starts and change our lives if we want to. One of my favorite lines from "The Bodyguard" is when a lady is saying to Costner that she thinks her life is pathetic. His response to her was then why don't you change it? As many of us know its not always that easy. But life is meant to be embraced and lived to the fullest. I mentioned in my 100 post that in some ways I don't feel like I really started living until after dealing w/my anxieties and fears.


All of these thoughts made me think of my newest addiction, the Tv series "Lost". A friend talked me into watching it and I'm liking it much more than I expected. It has quickly become one of my favorite shows surpassing many others. You love almost all the characters warts and all. It is done by JJ Abrams who also did Alias so I'm not shocked that I like it so much. No spoilers in the comments please because I'm not even done with season 1 yet.


The way this relates to my thoughts about changing your life is that everyone on the island in "Lost" gets a fresh start. This is their chance to start over, what are they going to do with it? A man who has regained the use of his legs confronts several of the characters on what they are going to do with their new chance.

We don't have to go to an island to have our fresh start. We can start right here and now by leaving the difficult things and/or people from our past behind us. We can embrace life and live it to the fullest by facing our fears, taking risks, doing that thing we were never brave enough to do, traveling to the place we've always wanted to go to, etc...

Since facing my fears and anxieties this is part of what I've tried to do. And God has also given me dreams to pursue. I just pray that he gives me the courage to really chase after those dreams.


Like I said I love all the characters on the show but these two are probably my favorite. Jack (Matthew Fox) plays the good guy who is the Doctor and savior on the show and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) plays the bad boy who has a tender heart under the tough guy image.


One more pic of Sawyer :-).

Who Would I Be???

AbFreedom did a post on which sitcom character he would be when he grew up. I loved the whole concept and was going to do a post on it even without being tagged but then Rebekah tagged me before I got a chance to post it. So it's now official :-)!!

Ofcourse most of you know how much I love Alias and Sydney Bristow. I even talked about wanting to be a cross between Wonder Woman and Sydney so it's no shocker that my first pick would be Sydney Bristow. She is caring, compassionate, smart, great looking and she kicks some serious evil tail!! If she had been in charge of finding Zarqawi we would've been rejoicing long before this week :-)!!


You all know what a TV buff I am so I couldn't just pick one. My 2nd choice would be Elaine from Seinfeld. I even had a friend's husband tell me once I reminded him of her and I took that as a compliment. Now I have another friend who doesn't even like Elaine because she says she's too selfish. Now I will admit that at times she is. What I love about Elaine is her ability to say what she's thinking without holding back. She always says what I would love to say if I was brave enough. On the other hand there are some things that probably shouldn't be said but its always fun to imagine what it would be like if you did say them. Did you get that :-)?? It made sense to me.

Probably my favorite thing about Elaine is when someone would say something that would shock or excite her she would say, "Get Out!!" and she would affecionately shove the person (usually Jerry). That was one of her trademarks and I loved it.


My 3rd pick would be Jackie from That 70's Show. Again she probably needs a disclaimer because she could be selfish and a little money hungry but you had to love her. She was genuine and honest about what she wanted :-)!!

I usually don't tag people when I do these things but since it's only 3, I might as well!!

I'll tag: Kelli, Wyatt and Outlaw!!!

I Love and Support Our Troops!!

I am beyond tired of all the negative news about our troops. We have freedom because of their sacrifices. I resent anti-war activists using their political agendas to trash our troops. Cindy Sheehan isn't doing what she's doing for her son (because he didn't agree w/her and he would never have endorsed this) but she's doing it to further her extremist political agenda and to bathe in the spotlight. She's degrading the very things that Casey stood for and it is despicable.

Toon Credit: Scott Stantis

Patrick posted a letter written by Anthony Ippoliti, a Marine Infantryman currently serving in Fallujah. Ippoliti wrote the letter to his local paper, The Ridgefield Press. Please take the time to read this letter, it is worth your time:

Jun 2, 2006
COMMENT: Letter from Iraq: They're not supporting the troops
By Anthony Ippoliti


I am fortunate enough to receive The Ridgefield Press every few weeks and enjoy keeping abreast of the local issues currently pressing in our small town. I am a U.S. Marine Infantryman currently serving in Fallujah, Iraq, and my mother usually includes The Press in the many care packages she sends me.
Since we have very limited access to telephones, The Ridgefield Press is the primary means by which I receive local news.
Almost every week, I open The Press and find an article or letter to the editors denouncing the coalition effort in Iraq. Invariably, the individuals behind these anti-war letters and rallies mask their political agendas by asserting that they “support the troops but not the war.” People like Vince Giordano, Paul Sutherland and Anne Stubbs are pictured in the April 13 edition of The Press carrying a yellow-ribboned coffin and signs that say “Bring Them Home Now.” They read off the names of the dead and claim to “show support for our troops” while urging lawmakers to “bring them home.” They believe that the U.S.-led coalition should never have entered Iraq and that the current effort is a never-ending quagmire that has made no progress. They believe that things are progressively getting worse and think that our forces should just pick up and leave.
They do all this under the pretense that they are supporting the troops. However, what they are really doing is using our lives and the issue of our safety and well-being as a means to achieve a political end.

• • •

My primary concern is the assertion that these individuals support the troops in Iraq but not our mission. It boggles my mind that this logic is actually utilized on a large scale.
Supporting the troops but not the war is like saying that you support filmmakers but not making films. One cannot claim to support an individual in a given profession but not support what the said profession entails. This is essentially a slap in the face to those in the service.
How protesting the job we are doing in Iraq while demanding our withdrawal constitutes supporting us is beyond me.
Furthermore, I am particularly interested in how these people support us, specifically. I have never once received a letter from an individual who claims to “support the troops, not the war.” Not a single Marine I know has received anything that could be considered remotely supportive from any of these people or the groups they represent. We have received phone cards, hygiene supplies, food, etc. from members of state and local government, radio stations, schools, private individuals and organizations, but never once from any group claiming to “support the troops, but not the war.”
I ask again: How can these groups claim to support our troops while telling us that what we are participating in is wrong?
How can they support us if they are essentially saying that our blood and sacrifices have all been given in vain?
How can they support us if they say that our comrades and brothers who have been wounded or killed in action have done so for a hopeless and morally questionable cause?

• • •

I reply to the questions I pose with a simple answer: They can’t. As a matter of fact, I assert with a considerable degree of confidence that their efforts make our already difficult job even more difficult. I’ll go so far as to say that their rallies and protests cost more and more servicemen their lives and limbs every day.I support my assertion with evidence gathered first hand. I see the Iraqi people every day. The protesters do not. I speak with the Iraqi people every day. The protesters do not. I don’t sit behind a desk and do paperwork or resupply efforts in the military. I am an Infantry Marine and I walk the sewage-filled streets of this city every single day.
In Fallujah, the people watch Al Jazeerah. However, they also watch CNN. A lot of them fear that the United States will soon cut and run. The people of Iraq see when our country is divided. When they see rallies to “Bring The Troops Home,” they see that as a sign that we will end our efforts prematurely.
Furthermore, they know that the insurgents will not end their efforts early. That leads them to the conclusion that when we leave, the insurgents will still be there. Therefore, if they help us, their lives and the lives of their loved ones will be in great jeopardy the minute we leave — if we don’t finish the job.
Much that they see on American television leads them to believe that we intend to abandon our efforts before the new Iraqi government is capable of defending itself and its citizens.

• • •

The actions of these aforementioned organizations and the heavy media coverage their rallies often generate serves as fuel for the insurgency. Insurgents believe they can drive us out through the idea of “death by a thousand cuts.” The longer they persist in their efforts, the more the American public becomes disenchanted with the coalition effort.
The insurgency sees this as a result. These criminals will continue to kill Iraqi civilians, Iraqi Police, Iraqi Army and coalition forces so long as they see that their efforts are alienating the American public from its military.
And for those of you that aren’t up to speed with the situation in Iraq, the insurgents attack and kill established public services (such as Iraqi police and Iraqi army) more often than they attack coalition forces. As a matter of fact, an explosive-laden insurgent blew himself up last week outside the Iraqi police station that is attached to our compound.
The insurgents aren’t fighting simply to drive America out of Iraq. They are fighting to destroy any semblance of the Iraqi government so that they can impose their will on its people.
Publicly protesting our efforts in Iraq fuels the insurgency. Doing it under the pretext of “supporting our troops” is disgraceful.

• • •

Let me now emphasize that I respect an American citizen’s right to voice his or her opinion in a public forum. Such a right is granted in the U.S. Constitution.
However, voicing one’s opinion in such an irresponsible way is something I do not support. Additionally, using deployed service members as a mask to serve your purely political purpose is downright shameful. If your desire is to protest the war, then protest the war, but don’t use me or any reference to our troops as a tool to bolster your purpose.
I’ll summarize by saying this: Organizations such as The Ridgefield Coalition to Stop the War do not support our troops. No matter what they say or what is printed on the signs they carry, they effectively do the opposite of support us. They downright hurt us.
Such organizations damage the morale of the men and women in the armed forces and progressively cause them to believe less and less in the mission at hand. The conditions here are difficult as it is. Opening a month-old edition of The Ridgefield Press and reading an article about an anti-war demonstration that uses our troops in an effort to mask its true cause doesn’t help.
Please do not feign support while effectively telling us that we are fighting for an unworthy cause. I think I speak for an overwhelming majority of our troops when I ask organizations like The Ridgefield Coalition to Stop the War to discontinue using Marines, soldiers, airmen and sailors as a means to serve a political end.
You are neither supporting us nor honoring us. You are doing the exact opposite.

I think our troops are heroes!! I sleep better at night knowing that men like Anthony Ippoliti are out defending our freedoms. God Bless Anthony Ippoliti and all our soldiers. We love you!!!!

LMC's Smorgasboard

Black Hawk Down is a movie that is a must see. (Although I must caution you if you are squeamish by war violence. In my opinion this is more graphic than "Saving Private Ryan".) I re-watched it this week when I was doing my piles of laundry.



The Battle of Mogadishu was a significant event that happened on Clinton's watch. I think we were right to go in but made a huge blunder when we cut and ran. The Rangers and Delta Force soldiers were true heroes and fought bravely. It was inspiring to see them enforce their montra about not leaving any men behind. It was inspiring to see them stand up against an enemy that significantly outnumbered them. But it was so heartbreaking to see so many of the injured vow that they wanted to be a part of the team that would go back in and finish this job. It was not to be because Clinton cared more about polls than what was best for Somalia and the U.S. and the safety of the world in general. It is a well-known fact that Osama Bin Laden was emboldened by the fact that the U.S. cut and ran after only 18 soldiers deaths. When you look at this you can see why Clinton was afraid to fight the war on terror. He didn't want to deal with what Bush is dealing with now at the peril of our safety. This is another reason I am so thankful that Bush was brave enough to fight the war on terror and not kick the can down the road for the next president.


This all ties into how upset I have been this week over Murtha and the MSM's attack on our brave soldiers. All men and women deserve to presumed innocent until proven guilty. And in my opinion that should extend double to our men and women in the military. They sacrifice so much only to have a politically correct society constantly looking over their shoulders in the hopes that they might catch them in some wrongdoing. If the soldiers did kill people in cold blood they should face the consequences but until we have all the facts they should be presumed innocent. Ben Shapiro wrote an excellent article on this subject. Here is an excerpt:

"This is what the press has done for decades. Since the advent of television, media outlets have been engaged in a systematic attempt to tear down the credibility of the United States government in order to bolster their own authority. "You can't trust the government," the media says, "but you can trust us."

The Vietnam War became more about journalists (Dan Rather, Walter Cronkite) than about a war for the survival of liberal democracy in Southeast Asia. The welfare of the troops took a back seat to the press' sense of its own importance. It is a happy accident of history that this ongoing ego trip began after the rise of Hitler, or Nazism might well remain the dominant ideology on the European continent. Just imagine what the modern press would have done with Dresden, Hiroshima, Nagasaki. As it is, Communism lasted far longer and took far more lives than it should have, largely due to the arrogant self-aggrandizement of the American press; Walter Duranty had little on mainstream media's feting of Gorbachev, degradation of Reagan and purposeful opposition to the rollback of global Communism.

Until the press realizes its authority is far less important than the lives of American soldiers -- the same soldiers who fight to protect the rights of the American press -- American soldiers will continue to face heightened hatred brought on by superfluous and counterproductive media attention. The press wishes to both undermine the mission of American soldiers and simultaneously decorate soldiers' graves with flowered copies of the daily newspaper. This is perversion. The press' sick delight in its own glorification continues to increase the number of "passionless mounds" in Arlington National."

I will freely admit that I don't know anything about Racing or NASCAR. But I read this Parade Magazine article about Danica Patrick last week and I was impressed. I enjoy seeing women succeed and she seems to be doing really well in the Racing World. She is 11th in overall standings right now after coming in 8th at the Indy this past sunday. Pretty cool!! I read up a little on her but for any of you who are very knowledgable on her I would love to know more.

Little Orange Fox is the hero of the week. I cut and pasted my template for her to work with and she worked miracles. She figured out the expanding blogrolls that I now have for the Compatriot and Blogging Chicks' blogrolls. And she did some other nice, cosmetic changes. Yah!!!!!!!!

And last and probably least :-) my amusing quote of the week. I was watching a little of "That 70's Show" tonight. This is something hilarious that Ashton Kutcher (Kelso) said to his girlfriend that is trying to break up with him:

"I'm like Ketchup, I go good on everything."

My New Hero--Sgt. Peter Damon

"Fahrenheit 9/11 is a twisted, dishonest, paranoid, and hateful fantasy.

To manipulate with frauds and propaganda is to attack democracy itself."

--David Kopel from the Independence Institute, life-long democrat who voted for Nader in 2000.

Hats off to Iraq Veteran, Sgt. Peter Damon who is suing Michael Moore for $85 million for mis-portraying him in his sorry excuse for a documentary, "Fahrenheit 911". Damon lost both of his arms in a Black Hawk tire explosion. He was videotaped talking about his injuries for an NBC special and Moore snagged a clip and twisted it to make him appear anti-war.

Damon himself states that he, "agrees with and supports the President and the United States' war effort, and he was not left behind." His lawyer has said, "It's upsetting to him because he's lived his life supportive of his government, he's been a patriot, he's been a soldier, and he's now being portrayed in a movie that is the antithesis of all of that."

The distortion of Damon's comments only scratches the surface of exposing all the lies and manipulative illusions that are in this ridiculous movie. David Kopel has done his homework and has written "59 Deceits in Fahrenheit 911". Check it out, it makes you shake your head at how much fraud was in this movie. How it can win awards for being a documentary is a joke. Since David Kopel is a democrat there are things I disagree with him on but he's done a great job of exposing Michael Moore.


Others blogging on this:
Blue Star Chronicles, My Republican Blog , Chickenhawk Express