Lance Cpl. Steven Chavez 20 years old from Hondo, New Mexico 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force March 14, 2007 Tears ran down cheeks and strong men choked back emotion as the city of Hondo, NM payed tribute to fallen Marine, Steven Chavez. LCpl. Chavez lost his life on March 14, 2007 in a non-combat incident in which he was accidentally shot. Chavez enlisted in the Marine Cops. right after he graduated in 2005. "You pray and you pray that the day never comes, and then it does," said Novelda Chavez, Chavez's mother. "Your emotions are mixed — it’s not true, it’s a bad dream, a bad dream you never wake up from." In a letter Chavez wrote before he was sent to Iraq, he wrote: "First of all I would like to thank everyone for your support. When I'm home on leave and when I'm away. That is so important to me. Thank you for your kind, supporting words in your letters and for the packages I've received. Those are awesome. I've been through some pretty hard times, in the short time I've been in the Marine Corp. None harder then what I'm about to face. Yes I'm scared; nothing is scarier than the uncertainty of what your future holds for you. I'm prepared to face whatever lies ahead. I put my life in the hands of the Lord. And pray that He guides my fellow soldiers and I down a safe path, that He will calm our fears, and give us the strength to do the job we have been trained to do, and to do that job well. There are many lonely nights, when you're lying in your bunk thinking of family and friends, wondering what they are doing at that very moment. Wondering what mom is cooking for supper. I can almost taste the tortillas on the griddle. I want to say to all of you tonight, I wouldn't change one thing about my life. I've never been more proud of the choices I made in my life than the day I graduated from basic drill instructor placed that Anchor, Globe and Eagle Pin in my hand I knew then I was a UNITED STATES MARINE! I'm Proud to protect and serve My Country I'm Proud to protect and serve My Community I'm Proud to protect and serve you Thank you so much for your Support. Keep those letters coming. Mail is a precious commodity when you're so far from Home. YOUR U.S. MARINE LANCE CORPORAL STEVE CHAVEZ"

GOOD LOOKING MAN ALERT!

Doc helped me do some blog research this morning.  I could do without her assistance.  While Rumsfeld was at the poo spa, Piggy surfaced.  Evidently Rums has a bullying effect on the felines.  At the risk of sounding completely superficial and juvenile, a little while ago I was thumbing through my copy of Entertainment Weekly. It is the only way I keep up with the basics of pop culture.  I was so out of touch, I force myself to leaf through the blather each week.  Well, out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of (sigh) a very good looking man.  I immediately thought to myself, “That’s the best looking man I’ve seen in ages.”  Then went back to the other side of the magazine.  When I finally turned the page – Naturally – (sigh).  Tom Selleck looks better now than he did when he was Magnum, and that’s saying a heck of a lot, especially considering Magnum PI is one of the few series I have on DVD.  (FYI the others are Northern Exposure, Arrested Development, Reno 911, and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.)  I digress, the man is still incredible looking, but then he always has been.  (sigh)

My Ron Paul rant was going to be longer, but I ran out of time today.  On the other hand, you can finally see ALL of my kitchen counters (they are white); all the book-shelves have been stacked; and I hauled out another half dozen bags full of just plain junk today.  I am finally putting a dent in things.

A LITTLE NEWS

Short but fascinating video of a solar explosion.   

Perri Nelson has a wonderful snarky post about Windows Vista and the “sales”.  Yep, sales are interesting.  I’ve switched to a Mac.  Magnificent machine!  He is also running a link-fest, and I have promised him a very good Thursday Thirteen.  

So there is a logical explanation for someone like me who is a total klutz.  For those who don’t believe it – early October 2005, trip over crack in sidewalk – break elbow.  October 2006, trip over threshold in door at home, break bones in left foot.  I rest my case.

I am not an environmentalist, but I think these blessed border barriers could be catastrophic for wildlife.

What’s a nice Jewish Democrat doing in a meeting like this? If you want my humble opinion, Joe Lieberman is a heck of a lot more conservative and patriotic than Ron Paul will ever be.  He’s also a heck of a lot better republican.

OFF THE CUFF THOUGHTS

FROM LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE

Ron Paul is so Henry Gibson and not ready for prime time.

Tancredo isn’t ready for prime time (that just crushes me!).

Duncan Hunter isn’t bad at all.  If he weren’t so staunchly anti-immigration I could support him.  He wears well. 

Giuliani looks Presidential.

I keep going back to the idea that McCain is far too important to us as a statesman in the Senate than POTUS.  We need men like him in the Senate. 

So Governor Huckabee is responsible for all the traffic tie-ups and snarl ups when traveling through Arkansas! Ever driven from one side of Arkansas to another – oye – the traffic. 

Romney is smarmy, almost a non-entity.

Duncan Hunter’s comment about the border fence is foolish.  Yes, crime moved away from San Diego and headed farther east.  So, it was good for his neighborhood.

Ron Paul is a fool. 

Rudy Giuliani looks Presidential.  I’m glad I am voting for him.  His comment to Ron Paul was a TKO.

The Confederate Flag question was a low-blow to McCain.  I liked his answer, “Let’s move on.”

Senator Brownback completely blew it when Wendell Goeller asked about rape, abortion, and a woman’s right to an abortion.  In other words, the victim of rape is of less value to him than the life of the child that comes from rape.  I don’t like abortion, but , having molested as a child, if I had been older, and had become pregnant, I don’t think I could have survived carrying a child to term.  I think the self-righteous panderings of a man (who isn’t going to be forced to carry that child to term) who thinks life is important – well, what about the life of a young girl who is raped?

Fox did a great job last night.  I thought the questions were fair and balanced.

MY MINI RANT FOR THE DAY

So “Conservatives” are Just Now Discovering Ron Paul?

Ron Paul is basically a libertarian.  For a smorgasbord of his views, check out his archive from Lew Rockwell.  Please do not make the mistake of thinking Paul is a lone nut-case.  He is not.  He and his Libertarian followers are very, very well organized. name=News&file=article&sid=3130  Try the American Free Press. They are exuberant about Paul’s victory last night.   His supporters see him as the overwhelming victor last night.

“…But when a sizable cross section of Americans finally did hear Paul, a medical doctor and columnist, articulate this theme, many reacted with enthusiasm, according to several indicators. “Congressman Ron Paul,” stated a press release from Paul’s Virginia campaign headquarters, “finished first in the MSNBC poll following the GOP primary debate. . . . Dr. Paul received 43 percent, beating the second-place finisher [former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney] by five points and crushing the rest of the field.” Paul, loved by Americans from all 50 states who make up the nation’s embattled but resilient “constitutional minority,” is not so well known by the average mass media-reared American. But as Paul’s campaign chairman, Kent Snyder, noted: “Last night (May 3) Americans met Ron Paul and loved what they heard. Dr. Paul’s message of freedom and limited government resonates with Republicans hungry for a return to their party’s core values. Ron Paul is the only true conservative in the GOP race. Americans saw that last night. The campaign looks forward to further debates and opportunities so even more Americans will discover Dr. Paul’s message of freedom, peace and prosperity.”…”

Trust me, these are the ultra conservative nut-cases who cost us the House and the Senate in November.

Who are they?

Liberty Amendment  

Deception Dollars (and all the nutcase 9/11 libertarian links you could wish for)

Please do not be “shocked” and Paul’s 9/11 craziness.  He is part of a growing Libertarian group of extreme conservatives who are promoting just those theories. He even has his own “Rosie” theories about why the WTC fell.  There are nut sites all over the place, most of the marginal and fringe, like this one, but still, Paul has a great number of supporters, many of them extreme anti-immigration, and very well organized. They are the ones pushing the whole anti-immigration movement.  We are talking about marginalized, psychologically unsophisticated people who see conspiracies everywhere.  

Dean Barnett has a column in Townhall about Ron Paul.

Flopping Aces

Little Green Footballs  

Hot Air

Flap

Malkin

Ron Paul’s people are very well organized.  Don’t ever think they are not.

They are spamming Little Green Footballs.

A THIRD PARTY RUN?

Listening to John Fund on Michael Reagan (while I was picking Rumsfeld up from the poodle spa), I was a little surprised, but then not really, when Fund mentioned that if Giuliani is the nominee we’re going to be stuck with a third party candidate.  And so, sore-headed conservatives will literally hand the Presidency to Hillary on a silver platter. Eye on 08

Unfortunately, I am seriously afraid spoiled conservative brats are seriously trying to start a third party.

The question is why can’t people be reasonable like Harold Hutchison of Called As Seen?

THURSDAY THIRTEEN  

Thirteen Timely Headlines (stolen) From The People’s Cube

1.  Schumer demands Karl Rove be indicted on 1976 parking ticket

2.  Democrats call for troop withdrawal from Jersey
3.  New study shows Earth's 'fever' contagious; Mars asks planets to kick 'Greenhouse Mary' out of solar system
4.  Harry Reid: "Troop presence in New Jersey creating more terrorists"

5.  Al Qaeda reacts to Schumer attack: "Thank Allah we're not Republicans!"
6.  Gore: "the higher the snow, the greater the Global Warming effect!"

7.  Gun owners converting to Islam in droves to ward off profiling

8.  Fitzgerald to prosecute Ann Coulter for disclosing identity of presidential candidate John Edwards

9.  Dems: Khalid Sheik Mohamed just watched too many episodes of 24 and made all that stuff in his confession up

10. Democrat leaders don't support terrorists but they support their mission

11. Evoking Lincoln, Obama announces candidacy, plans to invade and burn the South if elected

12. Al Gore unveils new term "hot snow"

13. Al Gore and John Kerry agree: people who live in greenhouses should not expel noxious gases