Laugh In,
tricycle,
stop,
fall over
Sound familiar? Maybe not unless your old like me.
Sore wrist, skinned knee, just one more slow speed wreck to add to my growing list.
Blessing.....
I didn't get run over by a garbage truck, laying in the middle of Eskimo Hill Road still clipped into my pedals, because it was Sunday evening.
A crazy man, commuting by VRE train and bicycle, his escapades, wanderings, near misses and any other adventures that comes along.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Katelyn Mazie Visser
The Visser family (Amy, Steve and Samuel) latest addition."She is a beauty, born at 10AM CST Sunday. Only 6 lbs 11 oz but 21 inches long.
Her big brother Sam already loves her to pieces.", says the proud grandparents, Ed and Beth.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
A Voice Of Concern
Travis H. a friend and retired Physician from Springfield, IL share his concerns and worries about the future of his 2nd amendment rights.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We Lost The War
With major losses in congress and executive offices, including the presidency, we now have some major changes in our future. Creeping socialism finally has a secure toe in the door and we can expect our individual and collective freedoms to deteriorate and perhaps, in time, disappear altogether. There will be token choices, of course, but as a nation, we have chosen to sacrifice freedom in the hope of security - thereby insuring the loss of both freedom and security.
The "Robin Hood" style redistribution of the nation's wealth will destroy incentive as it has in other nations who've fallen victim to the false promises of socialism/communism. If we think we've seen corruption in the past, we have our head in the sand. Corruption under a socialized system of government - which is where we're headed - has free reign to proliferate like weeds in an unattended garden. We know what happened to Soviet Russia. Corrupt Communism lead to the eventual downfall of a powerful, massive people. They were not prepared since historically they had never experienced any form of democratic government - corruption was a way of life in Russia and rest of the union.
It may be too late to correct the errors that we have voted into power - especially in our pending loss of guns in the household. One of the earliest - if not the earliest - examples of gun control occurred in Japan on Aug 29, 1588, when a peasant who rose to power banned the possession of swords and firearms by anyone other than the noble class. He was Hideyoshi - later changed to the aristocratic name of Toyotomi. His edict was carried out by the samurai who went door to door and took possession of all firearms other than those belonging to the nobility. He did this under the guise of collecting metal to provide nails and bolts for a temple to house a statue of Buddha. In fact, the metal was used to build a statue of himself. His actual motives for disarming the peasantry was to insure that there would be no resistance to his plans for taxation of the peasantry. In the book, The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy, author David Kopel states, "The inferior status of the peasantry having been affirmed by civil disarmament, the samurai enjoyed kiri-sute gomen, permission to kill and depart. Any disrespectful member of the lower class could be executed by a samurai's sword."
The principle of the foregoing is clear, conform or suffer the consequences. If we give up our guns, we will be powerless to prevent the existing government(s) from exerting any form of control over our lives that they choose. Our second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, clearly states that an armed militia is - well let's use the original wording, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
What is a militia? It is not the National Guard. When the Second Amendment was ratified by the members of the United States, the war of independence was over. The purpose for the militia was to provide a military force independent of the government that would serve to protect the citizens from any oppressive form of government such as the ones that had forced those people to leave other countries, including England. We must not be mislead into thinking that the National Guard is a state-operated equivalent of a militia. On the contrary, the guard is a federally funded and controlled arm of the federal government. It is ready to do the bidding of those in control of our lives.
It is not too late. But we must understand the danger of disarmament. From disarmament to enslavement is a short step for those who "know what is best for us."
Respectfully submitted,
Travis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve, a friend of Travis' also passed his concern.
Thank you, Travis.
If I may add a quote from the president-elect himself, exactly what you have written becomes more abundantly clear. And frightening:
In a July 2nd speech in Colorado Springs;
“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded.”
Up is down and down is up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://blogs4mccain.com/2008/07/20/obamas-civilian-national-security-force/
"This was slipped into a speech addressing public service, and I’m going to have to confess that I’m dumbfounded. What in the world is he proposing? A non-military security force that is funded the same as the miltary? What are their powers and why are civilians being put in charge of national security? Why shouldn’t we rely on our military to achieve national security objective? Isn’t that’s the whole reason for having a military. This needs some serious explaining. Any new government organization comparable in size and funding to the military would need explaining, but a civilian national security force is radical and illogical."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We Lost The War
With major losses in congress and executive offices, including the presidency, we now have some major changes in our future. Creeping socialism finally has a secure toe in the door and we can expect our individual and collective freedoms to deteriorate and perhaps, in time, disappear altogether. There will be token choices, of course, but as a nation, we have chosen to sacrifice freedom in the hope of security - thereby insuring the loss of both freedom and security.
The "Robin Hood" style redistribution of the nation's wealth will destroy incentive as it has in other nations who've fallen victim to the false promises of socialism/communism. If we think we've seen corruption in the past, we have our head in the sand. Corruption under a socialized system of government - which is where we're headed - has free reign to proliferate like weeds in an unattended garden. We know what happened to Soviet Russia. Corrupt Communism lead to the eventual downfall of a powerful, massive people. They were not prepared since historically they had never experienced any form of democratic government - corruption was a way of life in Russia and rest of the union.
It may be too late to correct the errors that we have voted into power - especially in our pending loss of guns in the household. One of the earliest - if not the earliest - examples of gun control occurred in Japan on Aug 29, 1588, when a peasant who rose to power banned the possession of swords and firearms by anyone other than the noble class. He was Hideyoshi - later changed to the aristocratic name of Toyotomi. His edict was carried out by the samurai who went door to door and took possession of all firearms other than those belonging to the nobility. He did this under the guise of collecting metal to provide nails and bolts for a temple to house a statue of Buddha. In fact, the metal was used to build a statue of himself. His actual motives for disarming the peasantry was to insure that there would be no resistance to his plans for taxation of the peasantry. In the book, The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy, author David Kopel states, "The inferior status of the peasantry having been affirmed by civil disarmament, the samurai enjoyed kiri-sute gomen, permission to kill and depart. Any disrespectful member of the lower class could be executed by a samurai's sword."
The principle of the foregoing is clear, conform or suffer the consequences. If we give up our guns, we will be powerless to prevent the existing government(s) from exerting any form of control over our lives that they choose. Our second amendment to the Constitution of the United States, clearly states that an armed militia is - well let's use the original wording, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
What is a militia? It is not the National Guard. When the Second Amendment was ratified by the members of the United States, the war of independence was over. The purpose for the militia was to provide a military force independent of the government that would serve to protect the citizens from any oppressive form of government such as the ones that had forced those people to leave other countries, including England. We must not be mislead into thinking that the National Guard is a state-operated equivalent of a militia. On the contrary, the guard is a federally funded and controlled arm of the federal government. It is ready to do the bidding of those in control of our lives.
It is not too late. But we must understand the danger of disarmament. From disarmament to enslavement is a short step for those who "know what is best for us."
Respectfully submitted,
Travis
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Steve, a friend of Travis' also passed his concern.
Thank you, Travis.
If I may add a quote from the president-elect himself, exactly what you have written becomes more abundantly clear. And frightening:
In a July 2nd speech in Colorado Springs;
“We cannot continue to rely only on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set,” he said Wednesday. “We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded.”
Up is down and down is up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://blogs4mccain.com/2008/07/20/obamas-civilian-national-security-force/
"This was slipped into a speech addressing public service, and I’m going to have to confess that I’m dumbfounded. What in the world is he proposing? A non-military security force that is funded the same as the miltary? What are their powers and why are civilians being put in charge of national security? Why shouldn’t we rely on our military to achieve national security objective? Isn’t that’s the whole reason for having a military. This needs some serious explaining. Any new government organization comparable in size and funding to the military would need explaining, but a civilian national security force is radical and illogical."
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq
You sure didn't see much of this in the main stream liberal media.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada
AP - updated 6:57 p.m. ET, Sat., July. 5, 2008
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.
What's now left is the final and complicated push to clean up the remaining radioactive debris at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 12 miles south of Baghdad — using teams that include Iraqi experts recently trained in the Chernobyl fallout zone in Ukraine.
"Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq," said a senior U.S. official who outlined the nearly three-month operation to The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
While yellowcake alone is not considered potent enough for a so-called "dirty bomb" — a conventional explosive that disperses radioactive material — it could stir widespread panic if incorporated in a blast. Yellowcake also can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.
The Iraqi government sold the yellowcake to a Canadian uranium producer, Cameco Corp., in a transaction the official described as worth "tens of millions of dollars." A Cameco spokesman, Lyle Krahn, declined to discuss the price, but said the yellowcake will be processed at facilities in Ontario for use in energy-producing reactors.
"We are pleased ... that we have taken (the yellowcake) from a volatile region into a stable area to produce clean electricity," he said.
Secret mission
The deal culminated more than a year of intense diplomatic and military initiatives — kept hushed in fear of ambushes or attacks once the convoys were under way: first carrying 3,500 barrels by road to Baghdad, then on 37 military flights to the Indian Ocean atoll of Diego Garcia and finally aboard a U.S.-flagged ship for a 8,500-mile trip to Montreal.
And, in a symbolic way, the mission linked the current attempts to stabilize Iraq with some of the high-profile claims about Saddam's weapons capabilities in the buildup to the 2003 invasion.
Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the African nation of Niger — and an article by a former U.S. ambassador refuting the claims — led to a wide-ranging probe into Washington leaks that reached high into the Bush administration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/u/uraniumyellowcake.htm
On July 5, 2008, the Associated Press (AP)
released a story titled: Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq.
The opening paragraph is as follows:
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
See anything wrong with this picture? We have been hearing from the far-left for more than five years how, Bush lied. Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddam's yellowcake, used for nuclear weapon enrichment, has been discovered and shipped to Canada for its new use as nuclear energy.
It appears that American troops found the 550 metric tons of uranium in 2003 after invading Iraq. They had to sit on this information and the uranium itself, for fear of terrorists attempting to steal it. It was guarded and kept safe by our military in a 23,000-acre site with large sand beams surrounding the site.
This is vindication for the Bush administration, having been attacked mercilessly by the liberal media and the far-left pundits on the blogosphere. Now that it is proven that President Bush did not lie about Saddam's nuclear ambitions, one would think the
mainstream media would report the story. Once the AP released the story, the mainstream media should have picked it up and broadcast it worldwide.
This never happened, due in large part I believe, to the fact that the mainstream media would have to admit they were wrong about Bush's war motives all along. Thankfully, the AP got it right when it said,
The removal of 550 metric tons of yellowcake the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy.
Closing the book on Saddam's nuclear legacy. Did Saddam have a nuclear legacy after all? I thought Bush lied. As it turns out, the people who lied were Joe Wilson and his wife.
Valerie Plame engaged in a clear case of nepotism and convinced the CIA to send her husband on a fact finding mission in February 2002, seeking to determine if Saddam Hussein attempted to buy yellowcake from Niger. The CIA and British intelligence believed Saddam contacted Niger for that purpose but needed proof.
During his trip to Niger, Wilson actually interviewed the former prime minister of Niger, Ibrahim Assane Mayaki. Mayaki told Wilson that in June of 1999, an Iraqi delegation expressed interest in "expanding commercial relations" for the purposes of purchasing yellowcake.
Wilson chose to overlook Mayaki's remarks and reported to the CIA that there was no evidence of Hussein wanting to purchase yellowcake from Niger.
However, with British intelligence insisting the claim was true, President Bush used that same claim in his State of the Union address in January of 2003.
Outraged by Bush's insistence that the claim was true, Wilson wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in the summer of 2003 slamming Bush.
Wilson did this in spite of the fact that Mayaki said Saddam did try to buy the yellowcake from Niger. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence disagreed with Wilson and supported Mayaki's claim. This meant nothing to Wilson who
was opposed to the Iraq war and thus had ulterior motives in covering up the prime minister's statements.
It was a simple tactic really. If the far-left and their friends in the media could prove Bush lied about Hussein wanting to purchase
yellowcake from Niger, it would undermine President Bush's credibility and give them more cause for asking what other lies he may have told.
Yet, the real lie came from Wilson, who interpreted his own meaning from the prime minister's statements and concluded all by
himself that the claim of Saddam attempting to purchase yellowcake was "unequivocally wrong." Curiously, the CIA sat on this information and did not inform the CIA Director, who sided with Bush on the yellowcake claim. This was made public in a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report in July 2004.
Valerie Plame also engaged in her own lie campaign by spreading the notion that the Bush administration outed her as a CIA agent. Never mind that it was Richard Armitage -- no friend of the Bush administration -- who leaked Plame's identity to the press. Never mind that Plame had not been in the field as a CIA agent in some six years.
The truth is, due to their opposition to the war, Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, the mainstream media and their left-wing friends on the
blogosphere engaged in a propaganda campaign to undermine the Bush administration. Now that Saddam's uranium has been made public and is no longer a threat to the world, do you think these aforementioned parties will apologize and admit they were wrong? Don't count on it. The rest of the American people should hear the truth about Saddam's uranium. It is up to you and me to inform them every chance we get.
As far as the anti-war crowd is concerned, the next time they say that, "Bush lied," we should tell them to, "Have the yellowcake and eat it too."
Version #2:
A national defense analyst says President Bush should be commended for keeping quiet about a discovery that could have blown his critics out of the water.
Retired Major General Jerry Curry is a decorated combat veteran who served as an Army aviator, paratrooper, and Ranger during a military career that began during the Korean conflict. He recently wrote on his blog about a very under reported story by the Associated Press.
According to the report, a large stockpile of concentrated natural Uranium, known as "yellowcake," reached a Canadian port to complete a top secret U.S. Operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad, and a ship voyage crossing two oceans. The Uranium material had been housed at a former Iraqi nuclear complex 12 miles from Baghdad.
Curry says the president kept mum about the discovery in order to keep terrorists in the dark. "He made a very brave stand, a resolute stand..., in which he decided that he wasn't going to blab everything to the press," Curry commends. "...And in the meantime while he kept it quiet, he was buying time from the terrorists to get all that stuff out of the country. So that's what was done -- he just very quietly kept his mouth shut."
"The press beat him to death for the last several years," he continues, "and now it turns out that, yes, there were weapons of mass destruction...." Curry also maintains that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear program and the material could have been made into a nuclear weapon.
President Bush's actions took courage, he notes, and all Americans should be thankful to have such a brave president who puts the welfare of the American people above personal considerations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada
AP - updated 6:57 p.m. ET, Sat., July. 5, 2008
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.
What's now left is the final and complicated push to clean up the remaining radioactive debris at the former Tuwaitha nuclear complex about 12 miles south of Baghdad — using teams that include Iraqi experts recently trained in the Chernobyl fallout zone in Ukraine.
"Everyone is very happy to have this safely out of Iraq," said a senior U.S. official who outlined the nearly three-month operation to The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
While yellowcake alone is not considered potent enough for a so-called "dirty bomb" — a conventional explosive that disperses radioactive material — it could stir widespread panic if incorporated in a blast. Yellowcake also can be enriched for use in reactors and, at higher levels, nuclear weapons using sophisticated equipment.
The Iraqi government sold the yellowcake to a Canadian uranium producer, Cameco Corp., in a transaction the official described as worth "tens of millions of dollars." A Cameco spokesman, Lyle Krahn, declined to discuss the price, but said the yellowcake will be processed at facilities in Ontario for use in energy-producing reactors.
"We are pleased ... that we have taken (the yellowcake) from a volatile region into a stable area to produce clean electricity," he said.
Secret mission
The deal culminated more than a year of intense diplomatic and military initiatives — kept hushed in fear of ambushes or attacks once the convoys were under way: first carrying 3,500 barrels by road to Baghdad, then on 37 military flights to the Indian Ocean atoll of Diego Garcia and finally aboard a U.S.-flagged ship for a 8,500-mile trip to Montreal.
And, in a symbolic way, the mission linked the current attempts to stabilize Iraq with some of the high-profile claims about Saddam's weapons capabilities in the buildup to the 2003 invasion.
Accusations that Saddam had tried to purchase more yellowcake from the African nation of Niger — and an article by a former U.S. ambassador refuting the claims — led to a wide-ranging probe into Washington leaks that reached high into the Bush administration.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/u/uraniumyellowcake.htm
On July 5, 2008, the Associated Press (AP)
released a story titled: Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq.
The opening paragraph is as follows:
The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
See anything wrong with this picture? We have been hearing from the far-left for more than five years how, Bush lied. Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddam's yellowcake, used for nuclear weapon enrichment, has been discovered and shipped to Canada for its new use as nuclear energy.
It appears that American troops found the 550 metric tons of uranium in 2003 after invading Iraq. They had to sit on this information and the uranium itself, for fear of terrorists attempting to steal it. It was guarded and kept safe by our military in a 23,000-acre site with large sand beams surrounding the site.
This is vindication for the Bush administration, having been attacked mercilessly by the liberal media and the far-left pundits on the blogosphere. Now that it is proven that President Bush did not lie about Saddam's nuclear ambitions, one would think the
mainstream media would report the story. Once the AP released the story, the mainstream media should have picked it up and broadcast it worldwide.
This never happened, due in large part I believe, to the fact that the mainstream media would have to admit they were wrong about Bush's war motives all along. Thankfully, the AP got it right when it said,
The removal of 550 metric tons of yellowcake the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy.
Closing the book on Saddam's nuclear legacy. Did Saddam have a nuclear legacy after all? I thought Bush lied. As it turns out, the people who lied were Joe Wilson and his wife.
Valerie Plame engaged in a clear case of nepotism and convinced the CIA to send her husband on a fact finding mission in February 2002, seeking to determine if Saddam Hussein attempted to buy yellowcake from Niger. The CIA and British intelligence believed Saddam contacted Niger for that purpose but needed proof.
During his trip to Niger, Wilson actually interviewed the former prime minister of Niger, Ibrahim Assane Mayaki. Mayaki told Wilson that in June of 1999, an Iraqi delegation expressed interest in "expanding commercial relations" for the purposes of purchasing yellowcake.
Wilson chose to overlook Mayaki's remarks and reported to the CIA that there was no evidence of Hussein wanting to purchase yellowcake from Niger.
However, with British intelligence insisting the claim was true, President Bush used that same claim in his State of the Union address in January of 2003.
Outraged by Bush's insistence that the claim was true, Wilson wrote an op-ed in the New York Times in the summer of 2003 slamming Bush.
Wilson did this in spite of the fact that Mayaki said Saddam did try to buy the yellowcake from Niger. The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence disagreed with Wilson and supported Mayaki's claim. This meant nothing to Wilson who
was opposed to the Iraq war and thus had ulterior motives in covering up the prime minister's statements.
It was a simple tactic really. If the far-left and their friends in the media could prove Bush lied about Hussein wanting to purchase
yellowcake from Niger, it would undermine President Bush's credibility and give them more cause for asking what other lies he may have told.
Yet, the real lie came from Wilson, who interpreted his own meaning from the prime minister's statements and concluded all by
himself that the claim of Saddam attempting to purchase yellowcake was "unequivocally wrong." Curiously, the CIA sat on this information and did not inform the CIA Director, who sided with Bush on the yellowcake claim. This was made public in a bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report in July 2004.
Valerie Plame also engaged in her own lie campaign by spreading the notion that the Bush administration outed her as a CIA agent. Never mind that it was Richard Armitage -- no friend of the Bush administration -- who leaked Plame's identity to the press. Never mind that Plame had not been in the field as a CIA agent in some six years.
The truth is, due to their opposition to the war, Joe Wilson, Valerie Plame, the mainstream media and their left-wing friends on the
blogosphere engaged in a propaganda campaign to undermine the Bush administration. Now that Saddam's uranium has been made public and is no longer a threat to the world, do you think these aforementioned parties will apologize and admit they were wrong? Don't count on it. The rest of the American people should hear the truth about Saddam's uranium. It is up to you and me to inform them every chance we get.
As far as the anti-war crowd is concerned, the next time they say that, "Bush lied," we should tell them to, "Have the yellowcake and eat it too."
Version #2:
A national defense analyst says President Bush should be commended for keeping quiet about a discovery that could have blown his critics out of the water.
Retired Major General Jerry Curry is a decorated combat veteran who served as an Army aviator, paratrooper, and Ranger during a military career that began during the Korean conflict. He recently wrote on his blog about a very under reported story by the Associated Press.
According to the report, a large stockpile of concentrated natural Uranium, known as "yellowcake," reached a Canadian port to complete a top secret U.S. Operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad, and a ship voyage crossing two oceans. The Uranium material had been housed at a former Iraqi nuclear complex 12 miles from Baghdad.
Curry says the president kept mum about the discovery in order to keep terrorists in the dark. "He made a very brave stand, a resolute stand..., in which he decided that he wasn't going to blab everything to the press," Curry commends. "...And in the meantime while he kept it quiet, he was buying time from the terrorists to get all that stuff out of the country. So that's what was done -- he just very quietly kept his mouth shut."
"The press beat him to death for the last several years," he continues, "and now it turns out that, yes, there were weapons of mass destruction...." Curry also maintains that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear program and the material could have been made into a nuclear weapon.
President Bush's actions took courage, he notes, and all Americans should be thankful to have such a brave president who puts the welfare of the American people above personal considerations.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Rex Healthcare Half Marathon
We spend a great weekend in Raleigh visiting Maggi and watching her run Sunday's half marathon with 2471 of her best friends. We arrived to a wonderful Dusti made dinner Friday night and had lunch and a walk in Pullen Park on Saturday with Ron and Chris. 
(click on any image to enlarge)
It was a very early morning on Sunday seeing that the motel forgot to set the wakeup call computer's time back for day light savings and we got a call at 4:30 am. We were both out of the shower before I looked at my watch. The race started at 7 am.
It was about 47 degs. at the start
Travis, Val and I rode the bikes to mile 5 and mile 10.5 to watch Maggi run by. Mile 10.5 and still smiling
Maggi's numbers for the 13.1 mile half marathon:
650th out of 2472 total
1:54:47 for an average of 8:56 per mile
(including a 2 minute potty break at mile 4)
31st of 130 age group female 20-24
193rd of 1375 females
Maggi's numbers for the 13.1 mile half marathon:650th out of 2472 total
1:54:47 for an average of 8:56 per mile
(including a 2 minute potty break at mile 4)
31st of 130 age group female 20-24
193rd of 1375 females
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Greenbrier River, WV Rails to Trail
Sunday was the best weather and reached about 63 by mid afternoon. We travelled about an hour to ride 20 miles of the 80 mile long Greenbrier River Trail. We headed for Renick at Mile Marker 24 and peddled north.
(click on any image to enlarge)
There are campsites with water and pot-a-potties about every 7 miles. My 1995 Performance, steel framed MTB is still alive and rolling, but on pavement I am having a hard time keeping up with Valerie on her new aluminium, 2009 Trek 7.5 FX WSD fast fitness bike.
Valerie was not a happy camper when we hit the Droop Mountain tunnel. I convinced her the scenery was better on the other side. My small LED head lamp didn't do a lot to quell her Bat fears as we travelled the 400' to the other side.
A mile later she starting to talk to me again when I spotted this 80 foot high rock cliff.
The fall colors were beautiful.
Our turn around point.
The Horrock, WV whistle stop sign.
We finished in 3 hours.
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