And One To Make You Cry...

This one came from a regular contributor here--Thanks Dean!

Daddy's Poem

Her hair was in a pony tail,
Her favorite dress tied with a bow.
Today was Daddy's Day at school,
And she couldn't wait to go.

But her mommy tried to tell her,
She should probably stay home.
Why the kids might not understand,
If she went to school alone.

But she was not afraid;
She knew just what to say.
What to tell her classmates
Of why he wasn't there today.

But still her mother worried,
For her to face this day alone.
And that was why once again,
She tried to keep her daughter home.

But the little girl went to school
Eager to tell them all.
About a dad she never sees
A dad who never calls.

There were daddies along the wall in back,
For everyone to meet.
Children squirming impatiently,
Anxious in their seats

One by one the teacher called
A student from the class.
To introduce their daddy,
As seconds slowly passed.

At last the teacher called her name,
Every child turned to stare.
Each of them was searching,
For a man who wasn't there.

"Where's her daddy at?"
She heard a boy call out
"She probably doesn't have one,"
Another student dared to shout.

And from somewhere near the back,
She heard a daddy say,
"Looks like another deadbeat dad,
Too busy to waste his day."

The words did not offend her,
As she smiled up at her Mom.
And looked back at her teacher,
Who told her to go on

And with hands behind her back,
Slowly she began to speak.
And out of the mouth of a child,
Came words incredibly unique.

"My Daddy couldn't be here,
Because he lives so far away.
But I know he wishes he could be,
Since this is such a special day.

And though you cannot meet him,
I wanted you to know.
All about my daddy,
And how much he loves me so

He loved to tell me stories
He taught me to ride my bike.
He surprised me with pink roses,
And taught me to fly a kite.

We used to share fudge sundaes,
And ice cream in a cone.
And though you cannot see him.
I'm not standing here alone.

"'Cause my daddy's always with me,
Even though we are apart
I know because he told me,
He'll forever be in my heart"

With that, her little hand reached up,
And lay across her chest.
Feeling her own heartbeat,


And from somewhere here in the crowd of dads,
Her mother stood in tears.
Proudly watching her daughter,
Who was wise beyond her years.

For she stood up for the love
Of a man not in her life.
Doing what was best for her,
Doing what was right.

And when she dropped her hand back down,
Staring straight into the crowd.
She finished with a voice so soft,
But its message clear and loud.

"I love my daddy very much,
He's my shining star.
And if he could, he'd be here,
But heaven's just too far.

You see he is a Marine
And died just this past year
When a roadside bomb hit his convoy
And taught Americans to fear.

But sometimes when I close my eyes,
It 's like he never went away."
And then she closed her eyes,
And saw him there that day.

And to her mothers amazement,
She witnessed with surprise.
A room full of daddies and children,
All starting to close their eyes.

Who knows what they saw before them,
Who knows what they felt inside.
Perhaps for merely a second,
They saw him at her side.

"I know you're with me Daddy,"
To the silence she called out.
And what happened next made believers,
Of those once filled with doubt.

Not one in that room could explain it,
For each of their eyes had been closed.
But there on the desk beside her,
Was a fragrant long-stemmed pink rose.

And a child was blessed, if only for a moment,
By the love of her shining star.
And given the gift of believing,
That heaven is never too far.

Also posted at Real Clear Politics here and Grizzly Groundswell here.

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Marines and the ACLU

Another gem from my friend Bonnie:


What's wrong with this picture?

If you look closely at the picture above, you will note that all the Marines pictured are bowing their heads. That's because they're praying.

This incident took place at a recent ceremony honoring the birthday of the corps and it has the ACLU up in arms. 'These are federal employees,' says Lucius Traveler, a spokesman for the ACLU, “on federal property and on federal time. For them to pray is clearly an establishment of religion and we must nip this in the bud immediately.”

When asked about the ACLU's charges, Colonel Jack Fessender, speaking for the Commandant of the Corps said (cleaned up a bit), “Screw the ACLU. GOD Bless Our Warriors, Send the ACLU to France.”

Everyone needs to know how stupid the ACLU is getting in trying to remove GOD from every thing and every place in America. MAY GOD BLESS AMERICA , ONE NATION UNDER GOD!

What's wrong with the picture? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

Join the Christians Against Leftist Heresy blogroll sponsored by Faultline USA

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One Marine's Thoughts

This is a copy of a letter from a former Marine who served and was wounded in Vietnam. It was written shortly after September 11, 2001 and sent to me. Some of the language may seem harsh or foul, so this is fair warning-- be prepared.

I share this with you respectfully and out of honor to this man. He may still be out there somewhere and I wonder what he is thinking today. The letter is relevant even now. Some of the points brought up in his letter may be useful in our cause. At least the ideas may be another base for formulating or including in an attack plan. This letter has been floated around the internet and sent via e-mail since 9-11 so you may have seen it.

When asked about the the terrorists who hijacked planes for suicide missions and so many calling them cowards, here is his response.

Cowards....? Nope.

'Jacking a jet and driving it into a high-rise at 300 knots...no, not cowards. I wouldn't do it. They don't have an air force so they used our training and our planes, and with great execution...

Far better than our fiasco in the desert to save the hostages in Iran.

Although glued to the TV for the last 48 hours, I haven't heard any talking heads speak with anger and outrage. They act like it's "Columbine" and we have to cope with this "tragedy" with counseling before resuming our lives...

My guess is you don't hear that talk from blonde air heads on Israeli TV...'course they have Uzis in their briefcases...they are a nation with some cajones.

This is the picture of America after more than a decade of 'sensitivity' classes; of "hate speech"; of training males and females together in the Army, Air Force, and Navy (and thank God NOT in the Marine Corps); of Shannon Faulkner; of a Navy sub captain crying his eyes out on national TV after his boat took out a fishing vessel; of the last US President having to be taught by aides how to salute because; as a draft dodger, he never learned; of our TV and motion picture "heroes" vowing to leave the country because an election didn't go their way...then not leaving; of having no draft; of modifying escape and evasion training at the Air Force Academy because some female threatened to file a lawsuit (after accepting a $750,000 education courtesy of the US taxpayers) because she felt "sexually harassed"; of a female Army Blackhawk pilot who refused to fly because it was her kids "constitutional right" to breast feed...AND her Army Blackhawk pilot husband helping her bring the lawsuit against the Army; of the meandering definition of what "is" is; of career military officers getting Master's degrees at taxpayer's expense...yet have no idea how to "fix bayonets", let alone lead the charge; of Hillary Clinton as a role model; of the Air Force disallowing the painting of pin-up nose art on the aircraft of men who might just be required to fly said aircraft to their deaths...all because some lesbian from the National Organization of Gals (NAG) threatened a branch of the United States Military; of Bobbie has two daddies" and "Lisa has two mommies"; of a 15 year old needing parental permission for a tattoo but not for an abortion; of our tax money being used to pay an "artist" to immerse a crucifix in a jar of urine; of American citizens complaining about the noise military jets make when flying over their house...and going to court to get their target runs changed...and succeeding; of a citizenry that can't distinguish between an admiral and a chief petty officer...or between a pilot and a clerk for that matter.

We don't have John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart...we have Jason Priestly and Yanni.

We don't have Ernie Pyle and Walter Cronkite...we have Peter Jennings.

In short...we have been feminized...not in the Maggie Thatcher/Golda Meir kick-your-ass way...but in the whining, ACLU get-in-touch-with-your-feelings-men-are-enemies kind of way and, therefore, we cannot, repeat, MUST NOT deploy troops on a large scale to some place like Afghanistan...our military (except for a few elite units) does not have "the fire in the belly" it requires...Our enemies have not taken any sensitivity classes.

And, thanks to Bill Clinton and his ilk, we have an eviscerated combat force that is top heavy of fat ass, butt boy flag officers and short on NCO's willing, capable and prepared to skewer Osama bin Laden with a bayonet.

We will now "pay the piper" for electing Bill Clinton twice...

It will be clear when we mount whatever military response we eventually choose...Smart bombs, cruise missiles will only make us look more impotent and less committed...

And yet Bill Clinton will still have his defenders despite the fact that because of him we cannot defend ourselves in the manner required of the world’s ONLY superpower.

And NOW the same people that voted for this moral and physical coward, want our servicemen and women to go in harms way...pay the price with one arm tied behind their backs.

It's been over three decades since I fired a shot in anger in a war we weren't firmly committed to...and yet we were in a far better mind-set to do what has to be done today than the poor kids we're going to send to do it.

Thank God curbside check-in has been abolished...I'll sleep better tonight

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One Marine's Eloquence

My friend "AF" sent me this picture and the story behind the picture.

The official caption to the picture is this:

Jeff Bundy / Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald Gunnery Sgt. Michael Burghardt signals his defiance after being struck by an improvised explosive device on Sept. 19 near Ramadi, Iraq. The Marine refused to be carried away on a stretcher and walked under his own power to a waiting medevac. Among those attending to the Marine are Spc. John Adams (far left in front) and Pfc. Darin Nelson. The caption and picture come from Stars and Stripes here.

This is the story:

Leading the fight is Gunnery Sgt. Michael Burghardt, known as "Iron Mike" or just "Gunny". He is on his third tour in Iraq. He had become a legend in the bomb disposal world after winning the Bronze Star for disabling 64 IEDs and destroying 1,548 pieces of ordnance during his second tour. Then, on September 19, he got blown up. He had arrived at a chaotic scene after a bomb had killed four US soldiers. He chose not to wear the bulky bomb protection suit. "You can't react to any sniper fire and you get tunnel-vision," he explains. So, protected by just a helmet and standard-issue flak jacket, he began what bomb disposal officers term "the longest walk", stepping gingerly into a 5ft deep and 8ft wide crater. The earth shifted slightly and he saw a Senao base station with a wire leading from it. He cut the wire and used his 7in. knife to probe the ground. "I found a piece of red detonating cord between my legs," he says. "That's when I knew I was screwed."

Realizing he had been sucked into a trap, Sgt. Burghardt, 35, yelled at everyone to stay back. At that moment, an insurgent, probably watching through binoculars, pressed a button on his mobile phone to detonate the secondary device below the sergeant's feet. "A chill went up the back of my neck and then the bomb exploded," he recalls. "As I was in the air I remember thinking, 'I don't believe they got me.' I was just ticked off they were able to do it. Then I was lying on the road, not able to feel anything from the waist down." His colleagues cut off his trousers to see how badly he was hurt. None could believe his legs were still there. "My dad's a Vietnam vet who's paralyzed from the waist down," says Sgt. Burghardt. "I was lying there thinking I didn't want to be in a wheelchair next to my dad and for him to see me like that. They started to cut away my pants and I felt a real sharp pain and blood trickling down. Then I wiggled my toes and I thought, 'Good, I'm in business.' " As a stretcher was brought over, adrenaline and anger kicked in. "I decided to walk to the helicopter. I wasn't going to let my team-mates see me being carried away on a stretcher." He stood and gave the insurgents who had blown him up a one-fingered salute. "I flipped them one. It was like, 'OK, I lost that round but I'll be back next week'."

Copies of a photograph depicting his defiance, taken by Jeff Bundy for the Omaha World-Herald, adorn the walls of homes across America and that of Col John Gronski, the brigade commander in Ramadi, who has hailed the image as an exemplar of the warrior spirit. Sgt Burghardt's injuries - burns and wounds to his legs and buttocks - kept him off duty for nearly a month and could have earned him a ticket home. But, like his father - who was awarded a Bronze Star and three Purple Hearts for being wounded in action in Vietnam - he stayed in Ramadi to engage in the battle against insurgents who are forever coming up with more ingenious ways of killing Americans.


Are you proud enough to send this on? I hereby give anyone who wishes permission to swipe this article!

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Tampons in Iraq (Don't Worry, It's Clean and Good)

This came to me in my email from my friend Maria. At first, I thought it was just another joke (Maria is FAMOUS for her groaners). But it's not a joke and I just had to share. Enjoy.

********************

Don't worry, it's a good story - and worth reading - it's even humorous in parts. It's from the mother of a Marine in Iraq.

She writes

"My son told me how wonderful the care packages we had sent them were
and wanted me to tell everyone thank you.

He  said one guy (we'll call Marine X), got a girl care package and everyone
was giving him a hard time. My son said, 'Marine X got some really nice
smelling lotion and everyone really likes it, so every time he goes to sleep
they steal it from him.'

I told my son I was really sorry about the mistake, and if he wanted I
would send Marine X another package.

He told me not to worry about Marine X because every time I send
something to him, Marine X thinks it's for him too.

He said when my husband and I sent the last care package, Marine X
came over to his cot picked up the box, started fishing through it,
and said, 'What'd we get this time?' "

"My son said they had the most fun with Marine X's package.
He said he wasn't sure who we were sending the pack to, but the
panties were size 20, and he said one of the guys got on top of
the Humvee and jumped off with the panties over his head and yelled,
'Look at me, I'm an Airborne Ranger!!!' One of the guys attached
the panties to an antenna and it blew in the wind like a windsock. 
He said it entertained them for quite awhile.

Then of course, they had the tampons."

"When he brought this up my imagination just went running, but he
continued: My son said they had to go on a mission and Marine X wanted
the Chapstick and lotion for the trip. He grabbed a  bunch of the items from
his care package and got in the Humvee. As luck would have it he grabbed
the tampons too, and my son said everyone was teasing him about,
'not forgetting his feminine hygiene products.'

"He said things went well for a while, then the convoy was ambushed and
a Marine was shot. He said the wound was pretty clean, but it was deep.
He said they were administering first aid but couldn't get the bleeding to slow
down, and someone said, 'Hey use Marine X's tampons.' My son said they put
 the tampon in the wound. At this point my son profoundly told me,
'Mom did you know that tampons expand?' "

"Well, yeah!"

"They successfully slowed the bleeding until the guy got better medical attention.
When they went to check on him later the surgeon told them, 'You guys saved his
life. If you hadn't stopped that bleeding he would have bled to death.' My son said,
'Mom, the tampons sent by the Marine Moms by mistake saved a Marine's life.' "

"At this point I asked him, 'Well what did you do with the rest of the tampons?'

He said, 'Oh, we divided them up and we all have them in our
flak jackets, and I kept two for our first aid kit.' "

"I am absolutely amazed by the ingenuity of our Marines, and can't believe that
something that started out as a mistake, then turned into a joke, ended up
saving someone's life.

My sister said she doesn't believe in mistakes. She believes God had a plan all
along. She believes that female care package was sent to Marine X to save our
Marine."

"Either way, our efforts have boosted the morale of many Marines, provided much
needed items for our troops, AND saved the life of a Marine!

God bless every one of you for your efforts and hard work, and

God bless our Marines, Army, Navy, Air Force, and everyone."

GOD BLESS AMERICA AND KEEP IT SAFE!

********************

See? I told you it was clean and good!

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Message to harry reid from the TROOPS

Hat tip to Gazing At The Flag (http://gazingattheflag.blogspot.com/) ; Snooper (http://takeourcountryback.townhall.com/) and Gull (http://perishthethought.blogdrive.com/)

THANK YOU TROOPS FOR SENDING A CLEAR MESSAGE TO THIS JACKASS!




Here's the link to the video: http://www.nmatv.com/view_video.php?

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