Memorial

"No rows of white crosses mark the graves of those who died for victory at sea..."

"If I only had a brain..."

For those of you who went to the conference talent show on Friday night, think back to the moment when the announcer (who was pretty cool) asked the crowd if he should sing.

Some of the Crowd: Yes!
The Rest of the Crowd: No!
Announcer: What should I sing?
Man near front row: "If I Only Had a Brain"! (which was played earlier in the show)

For those of you who heard that, I want to lie to you and say that I don't know who that guy was. I cannot. All I can say is that he is a close relative.


Anyways, it was almost (dare I say it) sad to be at the graduation ceremony. In three hundred and something days I will be up there along with several other friends. We'll eventually go our own ways, doing what we are all called to do in many places across this world. I just hope that our friendships will stay together for the rest of our life here on earth (Christian Worldview Institute for Seniors!). That brings me to another totally random thought.

Isn't it cool that we don't have to worry about never seeing each other again?

It's awesome.



The final, blood pressure-raising thought of the day revolves around Memorial Day. I am currently taking a college algebra class this summer at the community college (no matter what your placement scores are you have to take college algebra before doing pre-cal). I have class tomorrow, and so do the regular public schools. For MLK Day, nobody had school. You all know that I'm not racist or anything, but Memorial Day is more important than MLK Day anytime. Memorial Day is about remembering those who have fought for our country and basic freedoms for all people, all over the world. Every single one of them.



Hooyah!

Come on down...down to Meanstreet...

It is routine for my dad and I to cruise around town on Friday night after getting a shake. I was driving and we went to another side of town to get to these really fun two-lane roads outside of town. This part of town didn't look so bad. In fact, it almost looked better than the area close to where my sister lives. Anyways, I came around a corner at 40 mph. and this dude is standing next to a car on my side of the road. At first it looks like they are having car trouble or something. This is a regular two-lane road by the way, complete with a stripe down the middle and just enough room for two cars. As I slow down to move around the guy I see money and a baggie exchange hands. In the street, on a two-lane road, in a not-so-deserted part of town (there was a car behind the stopped one). The dude was dealing in the middle of the street! The more I think about it, the more I want to go back and wring his neck.

The pimps, pushers, pornographers, punks, etc., do not make me happy. These lovely people wouldn't make me mad, though, if they didn't have customers. If they have customers, they will sell. The local porno store has a cheap fence in the parking lot so that the cars belonging to the customers won't be seen by others. Now why are we worried about that, huh? It makes me so mad whenever I pass the place because lives are being ruined every time somebody purchases the stuff.

At night I walk this stinkin' street

Past the crazies on my block

And I see the same old faces

And I hear that same old talk

Have you ever doodled on the back of your place mat at a restaurant?

To be "random"...

My dad and I sometimes have the most random yet "interesting" discussions. One day, we were waiting for the cold-air intake filter to dry. On the Neon, the intake is so big that you have to take it off at the throttle body. To prevent junk from getting into the system, we just put a dirty sock over the throttle body.

Me: So if we turned on the engine now, it (pointing to the butterfly-valve) would just open up and suck in air, right?
Dad: Actually, it would suck in the sock.
Me: I forgot that was there.
Dad: Yep. You'd have a burned sock come out of the tailpipe.
Both of us laughed.
Me: (After pausing to think about the implications of a sock actually getting into the combustion chamber without leaving a valve open, which isn't good for the crankshaft, and the lack of air in the combustion chamber if the sock could actually even make its way up the intake manifold in the first place, I concluded that our mental image of black pieces of cotton flying out of the tailpipe was not correct.)

Another time while we were eating sloppy Joes, my dad wondered why there isn't such a thing as a female version of the name.
Me: Like a "sloppy Jane"?
Dad: Or it could be a "sloppy Jean".
Me: What about a...

We eventually concluded that we could not come up with a politically correct female name for a sloppy Joe, which, when you think about it, is stupid. It's like trying to call a Burger King a Burger Queen (or something like that).

In the Navy...

I am worried...about something stupid. About a week ago I had finished riding my bike and was putting it in the garage. There are two pegs that hang from rafters in the ceiling and these go inside the rims of the bike. In this way, the bike hangs upside down and doesn't take up space on the floor. The only reason for this is because the Camaro takes up 95% of the floor space. When lifting the bike, I have to be extremely careful because the car is right there. Anyways, I lifted the bike wrong and now my lower back has been hurting for a week. This Saturday, after the SAT, the Naval reserve center is having this little family fun day thing with activities. Sore back = no physical activity what so ever. It's fun to participate because everyone thinks I'm in the reserves. At the Army/Navy picnic I was able to participate because...well...no one asked if I was a civi. After the convocation, I was sitting in one of the rooms and this guy pops his head in and says, "Have you seen Seaman so-and-so?" Uh..... (It's kind of weird. I'll say "No, sir" and they are some E3 that isn't usually called "sir".) Yes, go ahead and laugh.

A quote I found yesterday:

"I like shooting, and I love hunting. But I never did enjoy killing anybody. It's my job. If I don't get those [blah], then they're gonna kill a lot of these kids we got dressed up like Marines. That's just the way I see it." - Long Tra'ng du'Kich

An interesting quote from an interesting person.

Veto

Good evening.
Twelve weeks ago I asked the Congress to pass an emergency war spending bill that would provide our brave young men and women in uniform with the funds and flexibility they need.
Instead, members of the House and the Senate passed a bill that substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgment of our military commanders. So a few minutes ago, I vetoed the bill.
Tonight, I will explain the reasons for this veto and my desire to work with Congress to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.
We can begin tomorrow with a bipartisan meeting with the congressional leaders here at the White House.
Here's why the bill Congress passed is unacceptable.
First, the bill would mandate a rigid and artificial deadline for American troops to begin withdrawing from Iraq. That withdrawal could start as early as July 1, and it would have to start no later than Oct. 1, regardless of the situation on the ground.
It makes no sense to tell the enemy when you plan to start withdrawing. All the terrorists would have to do is mark their calendars and gather their strength and begin plotting how to overthrow the government and take control of the country of Iraq.
I believe setting a deadline for withdrawal would demoralize the Iraqi people, would encourage killers across the broader Middle East, and send a signal that America will not keep its commitments.
Setting a deadline for withdrawal is setting a date for failure, and that would be irresponsible.
Second, the bill would impose impossible conditions on our commanders in combat. After forcing most of our troops to withdraw, the bill would dictate the terms on which the remaining commanders and troops could engage the enemy. That means America's commanders in the middle of a combat zone would have to take fighting directions from politicians 6,000 miles away in Washington, D.C.
This is a prescription for chaos and confusion, and we must not impose it on our troops.
Third, the bill is loaded with billions of dollars in non-emergency spending that has nothing to do with fighting the war on terror. Congress should debate these spending measures on their own merits, and not as a part of an emergency funding bill for our troops.
The Democratic leaders know that many in Congress disagree with their approach and that there are not enough votes to override the veto. I recognize that many Democrats saw this bill as an opportunity to make a political statement about their opposition to the war. They've sent their message, and now it is time to put politics behind us and support our troops with the funds they need.
Our troops are carrying out a new strategy with a new commander, Gen. David Petraeus. The goal of this new strategy is to help the Iraqis secure their capital so they can make progress toward reconciliation and build a free nation that respects the rights of its people, upholds the rule of law, and fights extremists and radicals and killers alongside the United States in this war on terror.
In January, Gen. Petraeus was confirmed by a unanimous vote in the United States Senate. In February, we began sending the first of the reinforcements he requested.
Not all these reinforcements have arrived in Baghdad. And as Gen. Petraeus has said, it will be the end of the summer before we can assess the impact of this operation.
Congress ought to give Gen. Petraeus's plan a chance to work. In the month since our military has been implementing this plan, we've begun to see some important results.
For example, Iraqi and coalition forces have closed down an al-Qaida car bomb network. They've captured a Shia militia leader implicated in the kidnapping and killing of American soldiers.
They've broken up a death squad that had terrorized hundreds of residents in a Baghdad neighborhood.
Last week, Gen. Petraeus was in Washington to brief me, and he briefed members of Congress on how the operation is unfolding.
He noted that one of the most important indicators of progress is the level of sectarian violence in Baghdad. And he reported that since January, the number of sectarian murders has dropped substantially.
Even as sectarian attacks have declined, we continue to see spectacular suicide attacks that have caused great suffering. These attacks are largely the work of al-Qaida, the enemy that everyone agrees we should be fighting.
The objective of these al-Qaida attacks is to subvert our efforts by reigniting the sectarian violence in Baghdad and breaking support for the war here at home.
In Washington last week, Gen. Petraeus explained it this way: Iraq is, in fact, the central front of all al-Qaida's global campaign.
Al-Qaida's role makes the conflict in Iraq far more complex than a simple fight between Iraqis. It's true that not everyone taking innocent life in Iraq wants to attack America here at home. But many do.
Many also belong to the same terrorist network that attacked us on September the 11th, 2001, and wants to attack us here at home again.
We saw the death and destruction al-Qaida inflicted on our people when they were permitted a safe haven in Afghanistan. For the security of the American people, we must not allow al-Qaida to establish a new safe haven in Iraq.
We need to give our troops all the equipment and the training and protection they need to prevail. That means that Congress needs to pass an emergency war-spending bill quickly.
I've invited leaders of both parties to come to the White House tomorrow and to discuss how we can get these vital funds to our troops. I'm confident that with good will on both sides we can agree on a bill that gets our troops the money and flexibility they need, as soon as possible.
The need to act is urgent. Without a war-funding bill, the military has to take money from some other account or training program so the troops in combat have what they need.
Without a war-funding bill, the armed forces will have to consider cutting back on buying new equipment or repairing existing equipment.
Without a war-funding bill, we add to the uncertainty felt by our military families. Our troops and their families deserve better, and their elected leaders can do better.
Here in Washington, we have our differences on the way forward in Iraq, and we will debate them openly. Yet, whatever our differences, surely we can agree that our troops are worthy of this funding and that we have a responsibility to get it to them without further delay.
Thank you for listening.
May God bless our troops.