Honestly, I've never really understood why military pay is taxed when we aren't overseas.

I know it's a "burden" we all "share" as members of this great society, but I always though that the burden carried by service members was heavy enough as it is. (You know, that whole deployment/maiming/dying thing.)

So I figured out a way to let military off the hook as far as taxes go.

14 million illegal immigrants: come and get your citizenship! You'll be taxed at a rate just 1% higher than the rest of us legal immigrants, which will probably cover the disparity in tax revenues from the one million or so people in uniform.

Even better, anyone who is not in the immediate family (Mother, Father, Sister, Brother, minor child)of a serving service member, or an honorably discharged veteran, also pays 1% more on their tax bill. We defend the constitution against all enemies, leaving John Q. to worry about his bank account. The veteran's preference would be a lifelong benefit, as you would have 1% lower taxes than John Q., and the boost to most service members would be an immediate 20-30% increase in pay.

How's that for a retention/enlistment incentive?

One small caveat: you can also avoid this tax burden (1% tax added) by volunteering 1/2 of your normal work hours (if you work 40 hours/week, you volunteer an additional 20) to a charity named by "America Supports You" then you too can defray the cost of taxes.

There. A very simple plan. it requires only that everyone do their part, or pay more if they don't to others who do, provides amnesty to illegals, and increases retention and enlistment pay for the military. Now how do I get this worked in to the Iraq reconstruction bill as a rider?

I have to admit, my initial thought on this guy were "What a pussy."

But I will admit, he does have the courage of conviction to do what his heart tells him is right.

Then I read his statement, and have a few questions of my own:

"Good afternoon, my name is Sergeant Matthis Chiroux and I served as an army photo journalist until being honorably discharged last summer after over four years of service in Afghanistan and Europe and the Phillipines.

As an army journalist whose job it was to college and filter service members’ stories, I heard many a stomach-churning testimony of the horrors and crimes taking place in Iraq. For fear of retaliation from the military, I failed to report these crimes. Never again will I allow fear to silence me. Never again will I fail to stand. In February, I received a letter from the Army, ordering my return to active duty, with the purpose of mobilization in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Thanks in great part to the truths of war being fearlessly spoken by my fellow IVAW members, I stand before you today with the strength and clarity and resolve to declare the military and my government and the world that this soldier will not be deploying to Iraq.

This occupation is unconstitutional and illegal, and I hereby lawfully refuse to participate as I will surely be a party to war crimes. Furthermore, deployment and support of illegal war violates all of my core values as a human being. But in keeping with those values, I choose to remain in the United States to defend myself from charges brought by the Army, if they so wish to pursue them. I refuse to participate in the Iraq occupation."

1. For the record, you never served a single day in Iraq, and have no personal, first-hand knowledge of what goes on in-country, other than what you have heard from others, in non-sworn testimony, correct?

You, as a journalist, were tasked with collaging and filtering other's stories. You claim to have heard multiple accounts of "stomach-churning testimony of the horrors and crimes taking place in Iraq."

2. As a photojournalist, not an oral historian, did you ever gather any corroborating evidence to support the stories you were told?

3. Do you, a photojournalist, have one single photo showing the horrors and crimes committed by US forces in Iraq?
3a. Do you base all of your decisions off of barracks hearsay?
3b. Did you ever hear the one about the guy, just one or two basic training cycles before yours, that tied his neck to the floor buffer cord, and threw it from the window, but didn't know it was a three-story fall and a four-story cord?

4. Did any/all of these stomach-turning stories start with "no shit, there I was, true story..."?

For fear of retaliation from the military, I failed to report these crimes. [and]...deployment and support of illegal war violates all of my core values as a human being.

5. So, by your own admission, do you place your integrity and honor, which are two core army values, beneath your personal fears?

The second-to-last last line of the Army's NCO creed states that "I will not compromise my integrity, nor my moral courage."

6. Did you sell out your values then, you did then, or are you doing so now, because of an ulterior motive to avoid deployment?

7. Do you honestly believe that if you were not safe while in the Army because of speaking out, that you would be even more safe from the black helicopters in Whisper Mode ^TM, and foreign service operatives contracted by the DoD for rendition?

This occupation is unconstitutional and illegal, and I hereby lawfully refuse to participate as I will surely be a party to war crimes.

The congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002, in October 2002 as Public Law No: 107-243, authorizing the Iraq War. The Supreme Court of the United States determined that this law was in fact, constitutional.

8. So how is this occupation unconstitutional or illegal, exactly?

The oath of enlistment you signed and swore to, explains in very clear language that your enlistment is for eight years, and delineates that a portion will initially be served on active duty, or in the active reserve or national guard. After the aforementioned duty period, you are placed in the inactive reserve, and are eligible to be recalled to active duty at any time until the eight-year enlistment is over.

9. Did you ever apply for conscientious objector status, or did you only recently object to our presence in Iraq once you were selected to deploy?


So, it appears my initial assumptions were correct. You, Matthis Chiroux, are a pussy. You are an asshat, a douchebag, and not worthy of the rank you hold. You are a coward. You should be convicted of cowardice, reduced in rank to E-1, lose all pay, allowances, and benefits, and dishonorably discharged from the military.

You either sold out your honor then, or now. Either way, you don't warrant, merit, deserve or otherwise get my respect.

--Chuck

Labels: Asshats and Douchebags, In the news, Interesting, stupid is as stupid does, Support the troops and their mission

God has the means, and ability to kill any or all of us, at his whim.

Why would he need to use any of us as his "instrument"?

Just like offerings at church, God has no need for money, or people to do his bidding when it comes to killing.

God doesn't need us. We need him.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what is wrong with a religion which demands that its members carry out "the will of god" to hurt their fellow man. It requires that someone speak for God. Again, if God wants us to know or understand something, he will make his will undeniably clear--in a way that can NOT be misconstrued by anyone to mean anything else.

--Chuck

2008 GI Film Festival

The second annual GI Film Festival will take place in Washington, DC from May 14-18. In addition to film screenings and other fun happenings, the festival will present a series of panel discussions.

The festival has added a panel on milblogging to this year's agenda.

The nation’s military blogging community (Milblogs) prides itself on providing military news and context that you won’t often find in the mainstream media. Join some of the nation’s most popular milbloggers in a spirited discussion on how GIs and military families are portrayed in the media and on film. For more information about Milblogging, see www.milblogging.com, the world’s largest index of military blogs.

Runtime: 01 hr : 30 min

Me, Carren (The Mrs.) , Matt, The Donovan and Bill Roggio will be sitting on the panel. If you're in the Washington area, get a ticket to attend.

--Chuck

Labels: Fun, Interesting, Support the troops and their mission

So, I'm spending another Friday at work--at a university with no students. My day consists of reading email, answering questions like "Why did I get a B when everyone else got an A?" (because grades are performance based, not on how well you compare to your peers, but on how well you performed based on your previous performance. The whole Army thing.) and waiting to be handed documents to sign. I think I may have reached the end of the internet a few times.

This is about as close to in-school-suspension as an adult can get, I think. If I'm lucky, I'll see maybe two people all day.

The most exciting thing today is reading emails sent from the world's dumbest smart people, academics. It's no wonder Johnny can't read, if these dolts are the ones doing the instruction.

It all started innocently enough with a mass distro email (names redacted to protect the innocent and the mildly retar--cognitively challenged.):

Labels: Fun, stupid is as stupid does

The two most widely recognized symbols of Islam are the crescent and the sword. Kind of amusing that Barack Hussein Obama’s campaign logo can be seen to feature both a crescent and a curved Islamic scimitar:







The crescent shape in Obama’s logo has the round part on top, just like a traditional crescent shaped mihrab (the Mecca direction indicator around which every mosque is built). The animation shows the two most famous mihrabs in the world: the mihrab from the Great Mosque in Cordoba, and the Prophet’s mihrab in Medina.



The lighter vertical column in the center-bottom of the logo, presumably meant to indicate reflected light, even conveys the full vertical shape of a traditional mihrab. The scimitar in the animation is from the flag of the Bosnian regiment of the Nazi SS.



If Obama himself had come up with this crescent logo, one might suspect Islamic intent, given his Islamic heritage. But the logo was not designed by Obama. It was designed by a Chicago based branding firm named Sender, which claims credit for coming up with: “a white sunrise against a blue sky, over a landscape implied by red and white stripes.”



Obama definitely deserves to be made fun of for having a fairly obvious crescent shape in his logo, given his efforts to convince the public that he is not Muslim. This is already an uphill climb, when both his grandmother and his cousin are telling documented lies about their religion, claiming to be Christian in one venue while professing themselves Muslim in another. Lying about being Christian: it’s an Obama family tradition!



Still, there is no indication that the crescent and scimitar shapes in Obama’s logo are intended to convey any Islamic meaning. A genuine coincidence apparently. At the opposite pole is the Crescent of Embrace design for the Flight 93 memorial:







Contrast 1: Architect Paul Murdoch CALLS his crescent shaped memorial a crescent

The Crescent of Embrace name proves that the Flight 93 crescent was and is intended to be seen as a crescent. Only very reluctantly did the Memorial Project change the name, and the changes they made to the design are purely cosmetic. Every particle of the original Crescent of Embrace design remains completely intact in the Bowl of Embrace redesign.



Contrast 2: The Islamic symbolism is overt

It is not plausible that an architect, designing a memorial to people murdered by Islamic terrorists, could be oblivious to the fact that his memorial design is laid out in the shape of a bare naked Islamic crescent and star flag, readily identifiable as a crescent and star flag to airliners like Flight 93 passing overhead.



The Memorial Project simply assumes that the Islamic symbol shapes CAN’T be intentional, which is about like seeing an airliner fly into the World Trade Center and assuming it CAN’T be intentional. Do these people even remember the day they are supposed to be memorializing?



Contrast 3: The Flight 93 crescent contains still further Islamic symbolism

It turns out that the giant crescent points to Mecca. A crescent that Muslims face into to face Mecca is a well known structure in the Islamic world. It is a mihrab (as seen in the above animation), which gives the direction that Muslims are to face for prayer.



Everyone at the Memorial Project is fully aware that a person facing into the giant crescent will be facing almost exactly at Mecca. This according to Flight 93 Advisory Commission member Tim Baird. Again, they all just assume that this MUST be an innocent mistake (the equivalent of seeing as SECOND airliner fly into the Trade Center, and STILL assuming it can’t POSSIBLY be intentional).



Contrast 4: Proof of intent

Paul Murdoch PROVES that the Mecca orientation is intentional by repeating it in the crescents of trees that surround the minaret like Tower of Voices. Below is an animated run-through of the repeated Mecca-orientations (2 minutes).



You can restart the animation by refreshing the page:





Animated GIF: copy and paste. You can email it! (Animation restarts each time email is opened.) Click image for larger animation, if your connection is fast enough (1MB).



Crescent of Embrace site-plan, showing both the central crescent and the Tower of Voices, here.



Contrast 5: the designer's own thematic description is clearly terrorist memorializing

The designers of Obama's logo offer a clearly innocent thematic description of their creation. You can tell just by looking at it what it is MEANT to signify: a white sun coming up into a blue sky over red and white rows of fruited plain. Even the uncanny intimation of the vertical sides of a traditional mihrab are fully explained by the “sun” reflecting off the red and white “landscape.”



In contrast, Paul Murdoch's thematic account of his design is as nakedly pro-terrorist as his crescent and star layout. Murdoch says that the crescent comes from the terrorists breaking the circle. That is, they broke our liberty-loving circle, and turn it into a giant Islamic-shaped Mecca-oriented crescent.



As Tom Burnett Sr. put it in his letter to American people, asking for help with our petition to keep the crescent design off of his murdered son's gravesite:

I don’t want to celebrate the terrorist’s circle-breaking crescent-creating feat.

And lest anyone thinks that the giant crescent is no longer present, the Park Service website makes clear that, while the redesign looks more like a circle, the circle is still broken:

The circle is broken in two places that mark the southeastern path of the plane to the crash site. The circle is broken at the entry to the memorial and at the crash site.

The breaks are in the exact same places as before and the unbroken part of the circle (the crescent) remains completely unchanged. It it still points to Mecca. It is still the world's largest mihrab by a factor of a hundred. The only difference is that now a chunk of the broken off part of the circle is included in the design, which is perfectly consistent with its original terrorist memorializing theme. The terrorists still break our liberty-loving circle and still turn it into a giant Mecca-oriented crescent.



So there you have it. Dueling crescents! Obama’s crescent logo exemplifies innocent coincidence (however guilty Obama may be of lying about his religion). In contrast, the Flight 93 crescent exemplifies proven intent. (More of architect Paul Murdoch’s endless proofs of intent here and here.)

That's almost 0.0003782574586696988% of their population!

Quick, everyone run to walmart and buy something. That's the fastest wat to send the commie some cash.

I do, however, wonder if they didn't bring this upon themselves. No, it isn't an act of god, but it may be an act of engineering. Bear with me:

First, go here to get an idea of where Sichuan is located.

Now, peep this:


See the Indo-Australian and Eurasian plates? When they rub up on each other (subduction) one of them (or both) has an orgasm, and an earthquake occurs in China. Depending on the strength, duration, and number of orgasms, a number is generated on a Richter scale, which displays Gaia's orgiastic tremors.

Great. Now that you're all twitterpated, consider this:
The Chin are building the three gorges dam,

which is going to harness the Yangtse river, and add about 100 gazillion trillion gallons of water to the terrain. Someone may want to tell them, water has mass. Stack enough mass up in any single location, and you are bound to have some effect on them there plates, right?

I'm not saying the weight of all that water somehow "tipped" the Eurasian plate, but it may have had a localized effect, causing the edge of the plate to subduct, even a tiny bit, and causing an earthquake.

I'm no geologist, but the possibility seems plausible to me that the Chinese created this disaster themselves. Of course, the REAL cause is that since all the tourists are flooding into China for the Peiping Olympic games, it is President Bush's fault because he didn't boycott the games. If the tourists weren't there, we could speed much needed relief into those poor, poor Chinese peasants--I mean comrades who share in the bounty of communist utopia.

Or, we could look at this as 50,000 fewer evil primates who are adding carbon to the atmosphere with their unregulated cooking fires, damaging the earth with their terraced steppe-farming, and oppressing the water buffalo. In honor of their sacrifice on the altar of environmental self-righteousness, I am going to go burn a quart of diesel in the back yard--and if I can find one, maybe an old tire.

Now, the loss of 50,000 people is a tragedy. I am not making light of that. But before anyone starts spouting off about foreign aid for China, let's remember, there are still 1,321,801888 of them left (give or take.) They have more than enough manpower, resources, and treasure to help themselves.

--Chuck

Now it goes to senate (next week) and then to the desk of the president, to make it law. (/civics lesson). Unfortunately, while scrolling through the voting records, I did not see the name Bill Shuster in the "yea" column. He voted against extending increased benefits, which would cover more of the rising costs of education, and which would be extended earlier, to our veterans.

So I wrote the good congressman, and asked his reasons for his no vote. I'll post a follow up if and when I get it.

Sir,

I would like to know your reasons for voting against the New GI Bill (I support the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act (S. 22 and H.R. 5740).

As a currently serving soldier and constituent, I cannot imagine any good reason to deny this new GI bill to our returning servicemembers.

Congressman, you are supposed to represent me, and the other veterans in your district, and serve in my best interests. If you can't do that, then I don't think you should continue to serve in the house, nor should you seek re-election.

You've lost my vote already, and once lost, you'll have to work very hard to get it back.

Regards,

Charles Ziegenfuss

I'll wager he'll say something about not wanting to raise taxes to pay for it, (lemme take a stab at the federal budget, I'll find the money.) I may just have to vote non-republican next time.

--Chuck

Labels: Support the troops and their mission

So, I've had to sit through another episode of the odious Idol program that Carren likes. (I watch, I comment, she rolls her eyes, claims I love it, but fun ends for me after try outs.)

They did a retrospective where the 16-year-old David Archuletta returns home to Utidaho (either Utah or Idaho, I don't remember). He goes to his high school, his local mall, and a couple other local places where people come out of the woodwork to squeal his name and get frenzied up in the best post-modern-beatle-esque prepubescent panty twisting since the British invasion.

Syesha was next, and turnout was somewhat less pre-egg dropping female, but still, plenty of folks lining the streets, police escorts, screams, cheers, and roses. of course, the obligatory high school pep-rally, which ended with her name being chanted over and over.

David Cook (the only one I think has any redeeming merit as an entertainer) is even referred to as his hometown's "favorite son" on the local news--Kansas City. There's the sobbing teens, the radio and TV interviews. To his credit, he did return to his elementary school and surprise his music teacher, and thank her. Then he threw a pitch at a royals game, had a miles-long parade, and cried from being overwhelmed.

All three were lauded by their local elected representatives and each was Proclaimed "insert entertainer's name here day" in their hometowns. They were given "heroes welcomes." Hero refers to people that, in the face of danger and adversity or from a position of weakness, display courage and the will for self-sacrifice, that is, heroism, for some greater good, originally of martial courage or excellence but extended to more general moral excellence.

Here's my point (and I do have one):

The American Public, represented by the general public in these three towns, are so hopelessly out of touch with what deserves adulation and exaltation that they choose these individuals to put up on pedestals and give heroes (or prodigal children's) welcomes. As a society, unless we can change this, we are doomed to fail.

How many of those same people show up for Veterans or Memorial Day parades? How many of these towns have their real local heroes--who wear them funny multicolored uniforms--come in to their radio and TV stations to ask them about the "ground truth" over there? How many hail these boys and girls as heroes, beyond a magnet on the car? How many have had their local mayor come and welcome them home when they return, healthy or otherwise? How many have been invited to return to their high schools for a pep rally, and had their principals and students chant their names?

This country has seriously screwed up where it places value. Name recognition takes precedence over competence. Being on TV is more desired than doing something that has global importance. Singing, singing, for mohamed's sake, is more praiseworthy than soldiering.

There was a time when actors and other entertainers were seen, as good as they may have been, as little more than scoundrels. With few exceptions, I've seen precious little to change that opinion. Why are schools letting these entertainers return, not to offer encouragement for the students to pay attention and learn as much as they can from their teachers, but to be held in esteem as people who've achieved "success" -- even though their success has little, if anything to do with what they learned in school.

Why aren't our schools having monthly hero visits from soldiers returning from theater, who can tell them how they applied what they learned in civics, social studies, history, ethics, or even the lessons on the fields of friendly strife--athletic fields--were applied in the house of an Iraqi family, or a meeting with an Afghan tribesman? Why aren't our schools holding rallies on Veterans day, where students are exposed to GENERATIONS of Veterans who can tell them about sacrificing for more than themselves. Why aren't our streets lined for miles with cheering citizens when we have a parade on Veterans day? And why are those parades full of everything BUT veterans? Car dealerships "donate" their latest-model convertibles (with the company name prominently displayed) carting around the local Ms. Elk Snout Festival amid a host of other local sycophants. What is usually curiously absent from these parades, are the veterans.
Local politicians and usually the local celebrities--newsies, radio "personalities," and maybe a generous contributor or two make up the "Grand Marshall" and Grandstand committee. Why isn't the Grand marshal the highest ranking area veteran, or perhaps the oldest surviving veteran? Why aren't their words of wisdom for the crowds gathered to see the units marching past them good enough for future generations?

We place value, as a society, where there is none. We hold in high esteem those who have achieved little, sacrificed nothing, and cast aside those who have sacrificed everything, and achieved more in 12 months than most will in their lives. We, as a society, have succeeded in passing on to our young the value of a dollar, but failed to impress on our youth what to value in life.

My indictment: the greatest generation failed to impress means for respectful disagreement on their young. This led to the Boomers being unable to impress simple courtesy and respect for others on their young These kids became the "X"ers, who, lacking the social skills necessary to behave around others, led increasingly techno-centric lives. Surrounded by televisions with 200 channels (and nothing on) an Internet where anonymity prevails and allows people to interact without any real repercussions for their actions, these "X"ers are now raising children who, seeing their parent's reliance on all things electronic, find their heroes and value systems on the giant plasma screens and world wide web.

The Brittany Spears Trainwreck is just as newsworthy to them as is Paris Hilton's twat lady business. Of course, Kobe (not the excellent beef) is even more important, as he has a shoe, a sports drink, a video game, and he plays some sport, too. Even more important is American Idol, because millions of people voted for them, and they are on TV, and they get to meet other famous people, like Ryan Seacrest (by the way, before Idol, who was this guy? Kato Kaelin's dirty pillow biter?) Xers are unfamiliar with the military, as the war that defined their parent's lives (Vietnam) was either a "you protested it" or "you fought in it but didn't talk about it" kind of war, and the military suffered heavily until The Great Reagan restored its funding and prestige.
Xers watched Desert Storm from their living rooms, 24-7 on CNN. Their kids play Army: The video game. Not a real big leap from CNN to Entertainment tonight (since both are mostly mindless drek, puff pieces, and manufactured news/entertainment) or from America's Army: the video game to Grand Theft Auto 4. This isn't real, this isn't hard, this is just a game and not important.

We are either sliding gleefully down the slippery slope, or spinning down the spiral, in a society which places entertainment value above all other values. We are disconnected from personal relationships, from each other, from anything outside our own individual spheres of influence, and are so horrified at the lives we live that we delve into entertainment as a means of escape. We try so often to escape that our lives become the pursuit of not happiness, but of fantasy. We emulate our entertainers, we call them our heroes, we keep a hawk's eye on them day and night, while those who serve a greater purpose (except by a very few, who are in their own right, heroes) go unrecognized, unappreciated, and forgotten (until gas hits $5/gallon.)

--Chuck

Labels: Asshats and Douchebags

The elderly parking lot attendant wasn't in a good mood!

Neither was Sam Bierstock. It was around 1 a.m., and Bierstock, a Delray Beach, Fla. , eye doctor, business consultant, corporate speaker and musician, was bone tired after appearing at an event.

He pulled up in his car, and the parking attendant began to speak. "I took two bullets for this country and look what I'm doing," he said bitterly.

At first, Bierstock didn't know what to say to the World War II veteran. But he rolled down his window and told the man, "Really, from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you."

Then the old soldier began to cry.

"That really got to me," Bierstock says.

Cut to today.

Bierstock, 58, and John Melnick, 54, of Pompano Beach - a member of Bierstock's band, Dr. Sam and the Managed Care Band - have written a song inspired by that old soldier in the airport parking lot. The mournful 'Before You Go' does more than salute those who fought in WWII. It encourages people to go out of their way to thank the aging warriors before they die.

"If we had lost that particular war, our whole way of life would have been shot," says Bierstock, who plays harmonica. 'The WW II soldiers are now dying at the rate of about 2,000 every day. I thought we needed to thank them."

The song is striking a chord. Within four days of Bierstock placing it on the Web, the song and accompanying photo essay have bounced around nine countries, producing tears and heartfelt thanks from veterans, their sons and daughters and grandchildren.

"It made me cry," wrote one veteran's son. Another sent an e-mail saying that only after his father consumed several glasses of wine would he discuss ' "he unspeakable horrors" he and other soldiers had witnessed in places such as Anzio, Iwo Jima, Bataan and Omaha Beach. "I can never thank them enough," the son wrote. "Thank you for thinking about them."

Bierstock and Melnick thought about shipping it off to a professional singer, maybe a Lee Greenwood type, but because time was running out for so many veterans, they decided it was best to release it quickly, for free, on the Web.

They've sent the song to Sen. John McCain and others in Washington . Already they have been invited to perform it in Houston for a Veterans Day tribute - this after just a few days on the Web. They hope every veteran in America gets a chance to hear it.

--Chuck

Labels: Support the troops and their mission

Deuteronomy 23

23:1 He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD.

So now I'm excluded from the house of the lord. Super.

(In context, I'm either forbidden from being in government, or of entering a synagogue as a member, depending on which concordance you read.)

Stupid People faster than smart people.

Labels: In the news

In summation, here is an oldie but a goodie, and it SO reminds me of this political season.

Those crazy swedes are trying all sorts of new tactics in the war on terror. Apparently, fishbelly white is the newest camo color being used to scare the enemy. May have something to do with the southpark "American Penis SO Large, Japanese penis sooo small" ideology. After all, didn't these people invent the penis pump?


Pretty safe for work, unless you work at Brigham Young.


--Chuck

Labels: Fun, Interesting

Labels: Fun

I have to admit, when the show started with Hillary about talking raising her daughter with values, (Like the definition of "is"? Like how important it is to kill people who have information you don't want released?) I sort of threw up in my mouth a little.

Okay, that's not important.

Patti is America's Favorite Mom!

Tonight was named as America's Favorite mom on the Teleflora contest. Thanks to all of you who voted like democrats (early and often) for her.

Except for the things she's contractually obligated to keep (the pendants, the trip to St. Lucia, etc.) everything else goes to Soldier's Angels. She's even going to name the rose after SA.

The best part of the night for her was getting to see he son Brett via satellite in Iraq. Any other winnings pale in comparison.

The haul:

* $250,000 (As an annuity of $12,500 per year)
* GE Café-appliances,including full kitchen range, refrigerator, microwave and dishwasher
* GE Frontload washer and dryer
* Diamond encrusted pendant inscribed "America's Favorite Mom"
* Flowers for a full year from Teleflora
* A rose named for her, compliments of Teleflora
* Gourmet gift basket compliments of Kraft Singles
* REDBOOK Love Your Life Prize Package
* Winner and a guest will be flown to NYC for a pampering experience including: airfare, deluxe accomodations (2 nights, 3 days), beauty makeover and spa treatment, and lunch with REDBOOK Editor-in-Chief Stacy Morrison. (Patti has to go, but she'll be taking a soldier's spouse with her for the trip.)

* St. Lucia Family Vacation Courtesy of Coconut Bay
All-inclusive package includes round-trip air, 2 rooms for 5 nights, a spa day for mom, and a family round of paintball. Vacation for up to 5 people in the immediate family

Plus, as a Finalist she won:

* $25,000
* GE Frontload washer and dryer
* A Diamond pendant inscribed "America's Favorite Mom."
* Flowers for a full year from Teleflora
* Gourmet gift basket compliments of Kraft Singles

Of all the contestants I saw online, Patti was the only one who had already promised any winnings to a charity. Something you all should know about Patti--she is not a woman of great financial means. $250,000 is a life changing sum of money for many of us, including her. How many of us could look upon a windfall like that, and all of the "things" in our life that we want, and turn it over to a charity?

Labels: Soldier's Angels

Somehow, I just don't think we could get the Latin Kings, Aryan Brotherhood, Bloods, Crips, PG-13, (or NC-17, or whatever they're calling themselves these days to do this, but it does have the characteristics of liberal policies for the rehabilitation of criminals.

Hurricane hits New Orleans and Louisiana.

President Bush offers help.

Government of LA (A sovereign state)refuses.

People die.

President Bush is evil.

Now replace Hurricane with Cyclone, and Louisiana with Myanmar.

Bush is still evil, apparently.

The Burmese (the people of Burma, a country we liberated from the Japanese in WWII) suffer because their government is idiotic. In a time when world food prices are skyrocketing (so we can fuel our SUVs cheaper) we offer thousands of metric tons of food, aid supplies, medicines, and every other think our vast economy is capable of providing, and ask nothing in return, and Burma tells us to pound sand.

What the hell?

Well, since one of the classic blunders is getting involved in a land war in asia, "bombing" them with care packages would just raise the ire of their gummint and put our air crew's lives in danger.

Foreign aid to Asian countries most often just lines the pockets of whoever is in charge at the time, whilst the little brown people starve.

Why bother? President Bush is the anti-christ, and nothing will change that in the eyes of those who hate him. Why waste our treasure helping people who don't want it? If we do, their gummint will propagandize our efforts as imperialism, and we're the bad guy. If we don't then the people will see us as not concerned with them, and we are still the bad guy.

The right thing to do?

Nothing. Their gummint doesn't want our help, we should respect their sovereignty.

We should drop empty care packages, and send crates of wax fruit.

--Chuck

WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT
(moreso than usual)

Not for young children!

I know, it's mother's day.

Carren is convinced that she only incubated our son, because he looks like me but not her, and our daughter looks like her sister more than her.

So it's incubator's day around casa del Ziegenfi.

For our anniversary, I got the Missus This.

For incubator's day, I went a bit different, and had to collect blood samples from all of us. I'll write more about that after the project is complete, except to say that it isn't a blood test to determine maternity.

Right now, there are only three people who know what I'm up to, and I am not telling.

In the great tradition of Mothers' day, the yard apes woke up early, completed the destruction of their bedroom, advanced the swath of destruction into the living room, began watching "honey, I shrunk the kids" for the gozillionth time (if only life could imitate art...", and then proceeded to bicker about everything. Pretty standard stuff, really.

As for The Mrs., she stayed in bed until 1000 am, and was rudely awakened when Bubba decided to take a dive off his bunk-bed ladder, bumping his tail bone and hitting his ankle in the process. (Bother were fine within three minutes, but he was screaming like he'd been set on fire.)

So now they're eating eggs and toast, The Mrs. is doing the OCD thing around the house, and I'm sitting here quietly blogging and trying to conserve energy. It's a crappy day, and I've funny feeling the kids are going to behave like a pair of meth-addled ferrets in a shoebox full of thumbtacks. Later, the Mrs. will do the maternal hunter-gatherer bit at the local walmart and treat herself to a mall trip, and I will graciously look after the ever-growing progeny.

Why is it that on mother's day, most moms want a day away from their kids?

--Chuck