Finally riding weather. Went Charlestown, Swampscott, East Boston, Revere, Everett, Sommerville, Charlestown. 36.5 miles. To tell the truth that's a hell of a lot further than I had planed on going, but the detour through East Boston wasn't on the schedule...

I think this is the first time I have been out on the bike since my life got all crazy last fall. I knew I missed it, but how much I enjoy being on the bike was kind of lost in the distance a bit. Something about just letting the miles tick by, you see people and places and all the time you just keep the legs turning over.

So, the situation is not nearly as bad as I expected. After a winter of heavy partying, drinking, no sleep, and the plague I can still ride a bike, and feel pretty damn good doing it. Obviously can't race, or do endurance events, but hey, gotta start somewhere.


Lord, what a horrible picutres, but it proves I made it from Charlestown to the beach.

All Grown Up

Wow, must admit Avril's music has always been a bit of a guilty pleasure. Not often one for teen pop, but she has a neat hook. Lately she has been trading singing for modelling, and sk8r chic for high fashion.

Nice...

Egyptian blogger sentenced to 4 years

From fox news an Egyptian court has sentneced Kareem Nabil to 4 years in prison for insulting Islam and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The silence of the left on this and other human rights abuses by islamic governments is astonishing. Of course the violence in places like Dafur is awful, but in their zeal to distance themselves from President Bush, they are increasingly siding with groups who are a much worse threat to human rights.

Somewhere along the line people forgot the meaning of fascism. It is a nice trendy word to throw around these days, but really. Which is the bigger threat, a country where everyone is able to proclaim Bush is the reincarnation of Hitler with impunity, or a seemingly progressive muslim country where a college student can be imprisoned for 4 years because he criticises the stranglehold religion has on government and advocates democratic reform?

Amnesty International Gets One Right

Not often Amnesty International and I are on the same side of an issue, but their call for the immediate and unconditional release of egyptian student and blogger  Karim Amer is spot on.

I am often amazed how the wholesale disregard of basic human rights in Sharia justice gets whitewashed by the US media.  For more background see www.freekareem.org

Kobe Bryant to defend Michael Jackson

Kobe - Jackson

"Michael Jackson's lawyer told a court on Monday he planned to call a star-studded list of witnesses to defend the singer against child molestation charges, including basketball's Kobe Bryant..."

You know, I am not so sure that is gonna work out real well for you Michael.

Trouble with the pledge

Poway Rejects Request For Alternative Patriotic Activity

A local school board has rejected a plea from a parent to have an alternate activity for children who do not want to say the pledge.

I am glad finally see someone standing up to these yahoos.

From the parent in question:
Cornwall told the Union-Tribune that other options should be offered to children who wish not to be present during the pledge and want to avoid being singled out in front of their peers.

Here is a solution, send her to school in Cuba. You'll have no problem with God or the pledge. Might go a little hungry, and have no shoes, but you won't have to worry about that pesky God character.

3

I watched the ESPN movie "3", the biography of Dale Earnhardt. Let's get the obligatory made for TV movie stuff out of the way; Cheesy - yes, bad acting - yes, really bad fake mustache - yes, all that and then some. Still, it was worth the two hours.

The reason it was worth it is that it tells a story that more people need to hear. It tells a story those of us "in the know" (or those of us ignorant enough to have known who Dale Earnhardt and what NASCAR was before he died) have known for years. Dale was an american success story. A high school dropout, coming from a less than humble beginnings who drove to the pinnacle of his profession.

You know when you sit around and think who you would like your children to grow up to be? Dale Earnhardt for me. Would I have them make the mistakes he made? Drop out of highschool, ruin 2 marriages? Of course not. But I want them to have his determination and innate sense of self worth. Dale always believed in himself, not in a way that made him arrogant, but in way that allowed him to accept his greatness without questioning it.

This is a lesson that is often unlearned by the youths of today. Nelson Mandela once said "Our biggest fear is not that we are inadaquate, our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure". Too many people fail to realize their true potential because our politically correct society has discouraged them from excelling so as not to upset the sensibilities of those less gifted.

Earnhardt can teach us many life lessons, but the ability to overcome your present circumstances is the greatest. An illustration of this can be found in Dale's approach to restrictor plate racing. Earnhardt hated restrictor plate races. I can't count the number of times I heard Dale say "This ain't racing" when interviewed after such a race. Yet Dale Earnhardt dominated RP races; he was to restrictor plates what Wayne Gretzky was to hockey. This sums up Dale Earnhardt for me. Give me lemons and I am gonna make lemonade.

I am glad I happend in front of the television when "3" was starting. I haven't reflected on Dale for awhile and it is nice to have his memory recalled. The world needs more Dale Earnhardts.

Leading Atheist Philosopher Concludes God's Real

Leading Atheist Philosopher Concludes God's Real

I am glad he is coming around. Of course he is only now seeing things at 81 years of age that have been apparent for thousands of years to the layman.

What holiday exactly?

Michelle Malkin rummages up the latest attack on all things Christian. Please join her in the "Lump Of Coal Campaign".

Church Group Can't March In Holiday Parade

Organizers say the parade is about the holidays, not Christmas

Huh? What are the holidays without religion? In fact, what are "the holidays" anyway? "The holidays" of course is a slurring of the term "holy days" and as it is usually defined here in the US, the holiday season runs from Thanksgiving, through Christmas, to new years.

Thanksgiving; giving thanks; giving thanks to who? God. Christmas, Christ, as in Jesus Christ what is wrong with you people? If you don't agree with what the holidays are all about, don't participate, don't come to the parade. Don't try to cheapen or adultrate the deep feelings of religious people during this very special time of ear.

The celebration of Christmas and the holidays is about setting aside a small part of the year to give thanks and to remeber the sacrifice of Gods son on earth.

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School

Declaration of Independence Banned at Calif School

This is getting ridiculous. There is a vast movement out there that is hiding under the anthem of separation of church and state. They want nothing more than to remove all reference to God from out society. It has nothing to do with church and state and everything to do with the promotion of atheism. Ironically, by removing all references to God they are attempting to impose their atheist beliefs on us.

Separation of church and state precludes a state sanctioned church to prevent the abuses the forefathers saw in the Church of England. It is not a principle which they intended to be used to remove God from our culture. The term itself does not even appear in our constitution. Many people falsely believe it is part of the first ammendment which reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;...

I'll get back to the origin of "separation" in just a sec, this is important. The first ammendment ensures that congress will not establish a National Church, as well that it will make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. Handing out copies of the Declaration of Independence in a classroom does not create a government sponsored national church, and it does infringe on the free exercise of religion. Any question as to the intent of the first ammendment in this case can be answered simply by looking at the Declaration and the Consitution; the founding fathers had no problem invoking God in either of these documents. It is clear to anyone without an agenda that the intent of the consitution was to provide tolerance not a totally secular nation.

Where did the concept of separation of church and state come from? It first appears in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut. The assiciation had heard rumors the Congregationalists were to become the national religion. Fearing the types of oppression suffered under the Church of England they were alarmed. Jefferson wrote:

I contemplate with solemn reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.

The wording of "wall of separation" is clearly used in the context of confirming the first ammendment. Jefferson would be appalled by the twisting of his words to effectively remove the Declaration of Independence from our classrooms, the cross from the seals of our cities and states, and any religious monument from public lands.

More pictures from Iraq

I got a lot of feedback on the "An email from Iraq" post. One reader sent me some more photos of good things going on over there [Thanks Karen!].

Well, it's over. At least for now

Yahoo! News - Votes In -- Murphy Re-Elected

Still a lawsuit withstanding, but it looks like this mayors race is finally in the books. Mayor Murphy owes Donna Frye for his re-election. Even tough the battle is between thos two at this point, if she hadn't been in the race, illegally I might add, country supervisor Ron Roberts would have walked away with this election.

I don't envy any of them to tell the truth, the city has so many problems right now that whoever is elected sure has their hands full.

An email from Iraq

Update: More good stuff sent from another reader. "More pictures from Iraq".

Email from a friend of a friend. Good stuff going on over there that you are never hearing about.

Hello Everyone,

I hope things are going well back home. Sorry I haven't been keeping my e-mails coming your way very often. It's been busy here lately but everyone in my unit is doing fine.

I've been putting in some long days. With our ongoing missions and all the administrative duties that I have to do, there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day to do all I need to do.

Everyone is watching the news and wondering what's going to happen in Fallujah and that area. I am not directly involved with that operation so I really don't know what is going to happen. I'll watch it on the news like everybody else.

There has been a lot of enemy activity in the city. A lot happens in Baghdad as you can see on the news. We see some of it but none of the bombings or killings has affected anyone in my unit. We continue to be fortunate. There is an angel in our company that has been with us on all our patrols. I think you recruited her with your prayers. If I could get her name I would put her in for a medal.

Here are some of the latest things that aren't making the news....




The girls in this picture were a few of the students we recently visited at schools in my zone. We gave away bookbags and school supplies. The kids were very excited to receive the gifts. We gave away 1,500 book bags at 4 schools. It was a lot of fun and a huge success. Ever since that day we see the kids walking to and from school and our backpacks are everywhere. We have about 6,000 bags on the way and we will go out again in the coming weeks to hand them out. Everybody wins on those days. The kids get something they need and enjoy and we really have fun seeing the kids having a good time. It helps us keep things in perspective when we get to see the good we are doing first hand.


We continue to keep working on our Civil Affairs projects in my zones. They keep us busy and with each one we get completed we are helping improve the quality of the lives of the citizens here. We have several sewer improvement projects that we are working on. There are a few communities in my zone that need lots of help in that area and we are having some success. We are also working on building 3 health clinics and improving several others. Schools continue to be on our hit list of improvements and the students here are very appreciative of that.

We completed a water project recently that brought running water to one community. It is the first time many in that village have ever had water running in their homes. That was a big accomplishment for us. Lot's of good things continue to happen here in spite of all the bad things the insurgents are trying to do to disrupt things.

We also had a new experience here last week. Rain. It rained (sprinkled) for 3 days which is the first rain we've seen rain since April. For a few minutes I really enjoyed seeing the rain but then all the dust turned to mud. Then I realized that I like sunshine more than rain and the excitement wore off (or washed off).

It is Fall here and temperatures are in the 80s. This city gets about 6 inches of rain annually and just about all of it falls in November, December and January. We have our ponchos ready.

I'll shoot you another e-mail soon. Take care and write back.

Sincerely,

Joel


P.S. Feel free to forward this e-mail to whomever you like. You've been doing it so far and I appreciate you spreading the word throughout the U.S. and the world (literally) that we aren't wasting everyone's time here in Iraq (as some would have you believe), but we are doing lots of good things in a difficult environment.
Thanks!

CPT Joel Lynch
Commander
A/3-153 IN, 39th BCT, 1CD
Baghdad, Iraq

Michael Ledeen on Machiavelli & War

Machiavelli is commonly taken to be saying that the ends always justify the means, but he does not believe that. Quite the contrary. He simply recognizes the reality that there are times when a leader must accept dreadful responsibility in serving the common good.

We all know this to be true. Consider the story of Henry Tandey, a British infantryman in the Duke of Wellington Regiment in the First World War. On September 28, 1918, Tandey participated in an attack against enemy trenches near the small French town of Marcoing. The British carried the day, and as they advanced, Tandey Cautiously peered into a trench. He saw an enemy soldier, a corporal, lying bleeding on the ground. It would have been easy for Tandey to finish off his enemy, as he had killed many that day; Tandey had played an heroic role in the battle and later was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest wartime decoration, for his great courage. But he felt it was wrong to shoot an injured man, and he spared the corporal's life.

In 1940, during the Nazi bombardment of Coventry, when Tandey worked as a security guard at the Triumph automobile factory, he gnashed his teeth. "Had I known what that corporal was going to become! God knows how sad I am that I spared him." The corporal was Adolf Hitler. Tandey's human gesture had led to the deaths of millions of people and, in a bitter irony of military destiny, had placed his own life at the mercy of the monster whose life he could have taken.

Murder is surely evil, yet every reasonable person will agree that the cause of good would have been greatly advanced if Henry Tandey had killed Hitler in that trench. History abounds with examples of good actions furthering the cause of evil...

A tail of two cities

Yea, it's like that...

Power Line: A Marine Writes Home

This should be mandatory reading.

Power Line: A Marine Writes Home

I think there is a groundswell of support for this kid out there. There are just too many of us former military people out there that won't stand for this witchhunt.

We will continue to follow this story very closely.

Even a dog can do it

Bella the dog passed her "Canine Good Citizen" (CGC) test last last evening. CGC is an AKC program designed to promote responsbile behavior in both animal and owner.

"CGC is a certification program that is designed to reward dogs who have good manners at home and in the community. The Canine Good Citizen Program is a two-part program that stresses responsible pet ownership for owners and basic good manners for dogs"

We are quite proud of her acheivement. She is on her way to being a pleasant and productive member of society.
Now if only they could come up with something like this for Democrats. I'm kidding, come on! Seriously though, if you are a dog owner, I encourage you to do basic obedience with your pet. A well behaved dog has a much happier life.

For more info see:
Canine Good Citizen Program

Hey, how about this for a headline

Yahoo! News - Shooting in Iraq Mosque Angers Muslims

Maybe the AP could find time to run these stories:
Shooting of innocent women aid workers pisses off Marines.

Soldiers upset with continued Geneva violations committed by "insurgents".

Militant shoots at Marines from mosque, gets boot in his ass.

I won't hold my breath.

Update: Speed Of Thought has another article on this hypocrasy.

Somebody finally gets it

Power Line: Fallujans Welcome Liberation

Power Line has a post detailing the joy of Fallujans at being rescued by our Soldiers and Marines. The source appears to be the London Times. Frankly I am surprised any regular media outlet would report on the good deeds we do over there. I still can't help but notice the source wasn't a US media outlet. Maybe there is hope.

I love this take on the Marine dispatching the vermin in the mosque:

Regrettably, one of the hideous, twisted beings who had tormented Fallujah's residents survived the Marines' initial assault on a mosque day before yesterday. Fortunately, he was killed by a Marine who arrived the following day and, seeing that the terrorist was still alive, finished him off. More on this later.

Don't Question The Troops

Captain's Quarters and LGF are all over this one as well.

Update: Froggy has a no BS look at this one. Bleeding hearts probably should not go here.

Military Probes Shooting of Prisoner

The smoking paragraph:
Sites reported a Marine in the same unit had been killed just a day earlier when he tended to the booby-trapped dead body of an insurgent.

Every soldier is taught from basic training on how dangerous a wounded enemy combatant is. We are all taught the lesson of the Japanese from WWII and Viet Cong who would booby trap dead bodies, or whose injured soldiers would hold hand grenades only to detonate them to kill the american soldiers who came to their aid on the battlefield. From the report filed by Mr. Sites, we learn the terrorists in Fallujah are using the same abhorrent practice.

These types of action are illegal by the Geneva convention, but soldiers are taught from day one that none of the enemies we face will adhere to it anyway. Nations that value such things don't run afoul of the US. Also of note is we are not opposed by a regular fighting force of a nation state. The terrorists of Fallujah are not protected by the articles of the Geneva convention to begin with. In fact, they are expressly stated to not be entitled to these protections because of the manner in which they conduct themselves.

NBC reported that the Marine seen shooting the wounded Iraqi had himself been shot in the face the day before, but quickly returned to duty."

No one in the media seems to understand what is going on over there. I think it stems from the fact that probably none of them have ever been shot at. Well I have, and I can tell you it ain't any fun. Combat is stressful, and these kids are doing the best they can.

Presented with the tactics of the terrorist, the stress of already being shot, and having a commrade killed in a similar situation, I can see why this Marine pulled the trigger. I would have pulled the trigger. If it was the morally correct thing to do can be debated, the fact that it was justifiable can not.

Here is a question I would like the media to answer, how are the terrorists in Fallujah treating our boys when they are injured or captured? Anyone not know the answer to that?