Great letter from a US Marine in Iraq

This letter should be required reading in schools and they should read it on every television news broadcast. Of course, these bastions of leftist thinking would never allow such truth and positive thinking to be promulgated in their domains. Here are a couple of clips.

I'm thankful that I was born and raised in the United States of America, the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. We Americans have been blessed with such a unique and special country to call home. The United States is truly an exceptional nation that has been a blessing to the entire world. When you see America's power amassed in war, like I have, it's no wonder that America's enemies should tremble at our strength and power. At the same time, there is no more generous country than the United States of America. As the Marines of the 1st Marine Division from Camp Pendleton, CA say: there is "no greater friend and no worse enemy." I wish America's greatness and "manifest destiny", as well as the values of our Judeo-Christian values system which are the foundation of Western Civilization, were still taught with pride in our public schools.

Just yesterday, one my Iraqi interpreters, who is from Baghdad, told me that most of his Iraqi friends desperately want to know about America and Americans. I told him that Dennis Prager taught me that everything that Americans value can be found on a coin: "Liberty, "In God We Trust" and E Pluribus Unum" (out of many one).

Brief history of "Yankee Doodle Dandy"

Lileks is enlightening me yet again. Referring to the song "Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Never understood that as a kid, but I accepted it. Yankee Doodle was silly, so he thought his feather was cheese-drenched pasta. Of course, it meant something different; the Macaronis were fashionable young men who’d been to Italy and picked up Continental Affectations; famous dandies given to peering with exaggerated longeur through glasses mounted on a stick, they were regarded as amusing fops by real men. So when Mr. Doodle thought a feather made him a member of the Macaroni Society, it just showed what a provincial hick he was. I loved learning that. It made the past seem so much more real in a brief and vivid way – until then, perhaps, I didn’t think they had slang.

Maybe not an authoritative source of history, but it sounds good to me.

Images - High Centered

I don't know the mating habits of turtles, but it seems like the right time of the year. Many of the turtles looked to be getting close. I'm not sure if these two were trying to neck on this log or if they were two males squaring off, but the one on the left looks like it may be high centered.

Family Photos - Mads

at the lake (taken 03/25/07)

Baseball is starting again

Tonight was Mad's first baseball practice of the spring season. He is excited because coach Jim is his coach again and he has some teamates from his previous two seasons. His throwing and catching skill were a bit rusty but he demonstrated that he remembers some of the things he is supposed to be doing out there in the field. It was good to see him giving advice to some of the new kids.

Mom went to the middle school open house, so I took all four boys with me. This was a little tricky because I had to keep Can entertained, since he can't get around very well with his broken leg. Also, I had to leave in the middle to take Sul over to the cub scout pack meeting and then I had to come back and pick up Mad.

Sul's soccer coach called tonight to let us know that his team name is the Flames. His first practice is Thurs. We're headed for a busy time. Fortunately it is fun to watch them play.

Child care and bad behavior

This NY Times article reports on the findings from a recent study of children in daycare. Not surprisingly, at least to me, they found that child care had a detrimental effect on the children's behavior.

Refering to the debate over whether sending kids to daycare is harmful:

The debate reached a high pitch in the late 1980s, during the so-called day care wars, when social scientists questioned whether it was better for mothers to work or stay home. Day care workers and their clients, mostly working parents, argued that it was the quality of the care that mattered, not the setting. But the new report affirms similar results from several smaller studies in the past decade suggesting that setting does matter.

An interesting quote:

“They knew this would be disturbing news for parents, but at some point, if that’s what you’re finding, then you have to report it.”

But will parents do anything about it?

(HT to Dennis Prager)

Images - Spring Stream

Spring Stream (taken 03/25/07)

Family Photos - Much Mulch

Our town was giving away free mulch on Saturday, so I borrowed a pickup truck and got three loads. As much effort as it was to unload the truck, I was glad that I paid the $5 to have them load the truck with a backhoe. Now we just have to put it on the hill.

Images - Turtle Pile

There were dozens of turtles at the lake by where we walked today. They would pile up on logs and on top of each other. (taken 03/25/07)

The home of the future

This article talks about what homes will be like in 2037. I'm not sure if this is only meant to project homes in Minnesota but it is actually quite humorous. Actually kind of scary, if you believe any of it. Especially the family of the future. Of course, this is probably only the tip of the iceberg if the Democrats/liberals/global warmists have their way.

(HT to Lileks)

Family Photos - All of Us

We took this while we were out on a walk today at a neighborhood park. (taken 3/25/07)