Cocktales - Archived Blog Posts

[cocktales]

(Picture inside a C-17 transport of people injured in Iraq, being shipped to a hospital in Germany....these are the ones we must remember and those shipped home in body bags and covered with the U.S. Flag...)

There is no greater insult to the memories of our nation’s hero's than to wonder if they fought and died in vain. Their willingness to give their lives, their future, their entire existence, is the greatest act of heroism. Their dutiful adherence to the chain of command is unwavering. I salute their bravery and thank them from my heart.

For 137 years, Memorial Day has been of great significance, deserving the deepest respect from Americans.

Memorial Day was instituted in 1868 to honor the dead of the Civil War. It now commemorates all of the nation's war dead.

There are far too many of them, and the list grows longer.

Since the beginning of operations in Iraq, the Department of Defense and family members have identified about 1,700 U.S. service members and four civilians who died in the war.

We always remind ourselves that the long Memorial Day weekend wasn't originally fashioned as a holiday, but that it has turned into one isn't inappropriate.

We're a nation that always produces heroes when they are needed. We are optimistic. Sometimes unreasonably so.

It is right that we should enjoy this day while respecting those who gave us the greatest gift they could.

But at the same time, it is as important as ever that we think of our military personnel around the globe -- especially those in harm's way -- and do all we can to support them.

Regardless of your political affiliation, please, please, support what our troops around the world are doing...nothing is worse than being spit on when returning home from "war" as many like myself did during the Viet Nam thing!

 

[cocktales]

"Ford actively recruits homosexuals for employment."1 The company also advertises to gays and lesbians, hoping they'll buy its products.

Shocking, eh?

The conservative Christian group American Family Association launched a nationwide boycott of Ford Motor Company on Tuesday ...Just like they did to Kraft when they were sponsoring Gays...

It will NOT work you homophobes!

I also would like to mention that General Motors and Chrysler also support same sex couples and provide benefits for them as if they were hetero's!

I think the business world is fast seeing the writing on the wall and they are NOT excluding Gay people, because we are a powerful minority with great buying power and also we make great employees!

So what's not to like about us anyway??? lol

To read more about this subject, click here:
http://www.boycottford.com/

 

[cocktales]

(Gays and Lesbians serving proudly....regardless if it's a pink triangle or a camouflaged one, men and women want to serve openly in the U.S. military without fear and harassment.)

Congressman Marty Meehan of Massachusetts has been an outspoken advocate of equal and fair treatment for gay men and lesbians. The Military Readiness Enhancement Act of 2005 is not the Congressman's first attempt to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. In fact, the first amendment Meehan offered as a Congressman was to delete Don't Ask, Don't Tell provisions from the Fiscal Year 1994 Defense Authorization.


Essentially, this is what the new Defense Policy concerning Gays in the military will be:

The Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Homeland Security with respect to the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy, may not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation against any member of the armed forces or against any person seeking to become a member of the armed forces.

Representative Meehan, God Bless him has come up with another bill to change the way Gays are treated in the military and I for one applaud him. I served in the Air Force for 22 years and led two lives. I gave my all to my service and my country; but if they had learned of my sexuality, I would have been out on my keester, regardless of me being a fighter pilot!

This new bill "will" change forever, I hope.....should it ever pass, the way Gays are treated in the military.

Let's hope this bill will eventually come up...and get voted in as policy.

Read the Bill in it's entirety here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c109:1:./temp/~c109FdtqL5::

 

[cocktales]

The congregation of Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church in Elkins, West Virginia has voted to fire its minister after he wrote a column for the local paper, the Inter-Mountain, in support of gay rights.
“Gay and lesbian Christians are no different than the rest of us,” the Rev. Jeff Falter wrote in a Feb. 26 article.

Many members of the congregation said they were appalled, causing them to hold a vote — last Sunday, a vote of 100-72 led to representatives of the church requesting the Presbytery of West Virginia dismiss Falter effective next Wednesday.

The termination agreement allows Falter and his family to live in the manse next to the church until Dec. 31. Falter will continue to receive his full salary until the end of the year.

Finally, we have people who have the balls and gall to stand up for what's right......Gay Rights!

People just don't get it, do they? They think "they" can just summarily take a segment of society and just discriminate against them...We MUST, yes, we MUST have more and more people in the position such as the Reverend, who will stand up and be counted....

Just as in the Civil Rights Movement, this country MUST allow Gay people the right to do the same things as other people do.....

You know, it did not kill, hurt or otherwise injure anyone when we allowed people of color their due, their rights, their freedoms secured by our Constitution........and now, hardly anyone bats an eye when African Americans have rights, as they should, like any other person, regardless of color, ethnicity, religion, etc...

Give it up Homophobes, we are here, we are (yeah, I'll use your word, you use against us) we are Queer and we're not leaving anytime soon.

 

[cocktales]

A pix of Elton and David Furnish his long time companion and friend sitting and waiting for his "daddies"....

Elton and David have decided to finally get married when England makes Gay Marriages legal later on this year...they want to marry in Windsor; but no honeymoon; cause Elton is on tour at this time...

I just hope David is able to keep Elton's tantrums under control......obviously he is no stranger to them, they've been together many moons now.

We all know lots about Elton; but read a little about David by going here:
http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/~stafflag/davidfurnish.html

Good luck and Godspeed guys!

 

[cocktales]

The torture and abuse of terrorist suspects is very much in the news these days, so it's interesting to note the advice on the topic found in an Al Qaeda training manual seized some time ago in the U.K. The manual says that when captured or facing trial, "brothers must insist on proving that torture was inflicted on them by State Security." Noting the utility of the open U.S. media, the manual also calls "spreading rumors and writing statements that instigate people against the enemy" one of the top-five missions of the terrorist organization.

Gitmo is no country club! We are working with people here who supported the people who performed the infamous 9-11 fiasco.......remember??? These people are NOT alter boys folks, they are hard-core types, the people like the people who strap bombs on their body or in a car and blow themselves up....GET IT?

It has been proven, as in the Abu Ghraib prison scandal that "some" loose-cannons have taken it upon themselves to treat the inmates with less than human care. Do you think after Abu Ghraib that the U.S. Government isn't even stricter with enforcing prisoner "good" care and feeding? Come on now, give me a break.

I am really tired of so-called human rights groups, like Amnesty International, bitching about the treatment of terrorists at Gitmo.

These terrorists should be glad they are being treated as well as they are by the U.S. Keep in mind, these losers are trained to lie about how they are treated.

Al Qaeda knows that its success depends on eliminating the American public’s support of President Bush’s war on terror and inciting the Muslim world to continue the violence.

War is war. These terrorists started this war and we will finish it. These assholes are treated very well, considering they deserve no civil liberities at all.

It seems to me, Amnesty International is the gulag of international organizations. This is one messenger that has proven over the years they are not worthy of your attention.

The war against Al Qaeda has led U.S. troops and intelligence personnel to engage in some fairly despicable behavior, sometimes sanctioned, sometimes not. And this latest wave of complaints about the behavior won't be the last. Some of the behavior can be punished and stopped. But the war against terrorism is a real and necessary one, and immunization against its cruelties is necessary if the U.S. is to win.

 

[cocktales]

"Federal authorities may prosecute sick people who smoke pot on doctor's orders, the Supreme Court ruled Monday, concluding that state medical marijuana laws don't protect users from a federal ban on the drug." "The decision is a stinging defeat for marijuana advocates who had successfully pushed 10 states to allow the drug's use to treat various illnesses."

Drug laws are the real dangerous threats to public health and safety. The only way to protect the public is to guarantee the right of the sick to use marijuana. Nothing would be served by imprisoning Rush Limbaugh for his apparent legal transgressions, just as we all are poorer for the millions of people jailed in the government's misbegotten war on drugs over the years. We should treat drug use as a medical, moral, and spiritual issue -- not a criminal one."

The high court ruled 6-3 that people who smoke marijuana because their doctors recommend it to ease pain can be prosecuted for violating federal drug laws.

The ruling does not strike down medical marijuana laws in California, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont or Washington state. State and local authorities in most of those states said they have no interest in arresting people who smoke pot for medical reasons.

Now, do you think if the State's Attorney Generals DO NOT go after the sick people who smoke marijuana..will the Feds take up the banner and start raiding the homes of sick people who just want some relief from their diseases??

The line in the sand is almost drawn....Now, we wait and see if the Federal Government will spend millions, even billions on enforcing the law or use this money to better protect the whole country via Homeland Security and the War on Crime!

It remains to be seen whether the federal Drug Enforcement Administration is planning a crackdown. The Justice Department was not commenting.

 

[cocktales]

Hmmm, sometimes it takes a long, long time to teach an old dog new tricks, doesn't it?

GM and the other American auto giants, just don't seem to get it.

The world car market is passing GM and the others right beside the road way.

Wonder why the Japanese cars are in the top 10 in the world?

Look at how "behind the power curve" the auto makers in America are in getting a more efficient/fueled vehicle!

Sure gasoline has sky rocketed recently and the "large SUV" is a dinosaur; but damn, wake up already....this has been coming now for eons and eons; but NO Detroit still hangs with the old vehicles and their same mode of operation.

GM, consolidate or get rid of some of those models/styles/types, etc....

People want safe, stylish, affordable vehicles with good gas mileage...........hence, the foreign cars are way ahead!

Blame the health care costs and retirement costs on everything; but while this smoke-screen is rising, I say get your shit together Detroit and GM while you still are on the radar screen.

 

[cocktales]

The Senate confirmed Janice Rogers Brown with a vote of 56 to 43 to the very important DC Circuit Court.

Her approval has certainly been a long time coming and has caused almost a revolution in the Senate...

Her sex (female) and race (African-American) was NOT a plus for her and certainly her views did NOT cause the Democrats any less heart burn.

Basically, the confirmation process for Brown, a justice on the California Supreme Court, stretched over nearly two years and came to symbolize two fiercely opposing forces in Washington: the president's determination to curb what conservatives see as the federal judiciaries intrusion into social issues and the Democrat's determination to resist him.

Once the Bush Judicial Train gets going full-steam-ahead, the mighty Supreme Court will probably need 1, 2 or even 3 new members by the end of his second term.

I'm frightened!

 

[cocktales]

Well, are we seeing a repeat of what happened during the Democrat Primary foray?

Democrats are "distancing" themselves from their Democratic Party Chairman.

Lately he's saying the Republicans do not like other people, other than White Christians....OOPS!

The simple fact is that the current Democratic Party has no room for a Pro-life democrat, but plenty of use for mindless votes. Dean and other pro-abortionists are more than happy to exploit Pro-lifers by convincing them to join in on other issues, but it is clear that the abortion lobby has no intention of allowing anyone else a real say on the issue that matters most to them.

I must say though, Howard Dean does have some impressive "To-Do" list. This is what he said during a fund raiser in Mississippi:

"We are not going to concede the South," Dean said to a crowd of about 1,000 of the party faithful from across the state gathered here on Tuesday night. "The South will rise again, and when it does, it will have a D after its name."

Ya know, tackling the "Red States" is a good idea; but you just gotta know who you're talking to and about when you try and present your agenda to a mostly Republican "type" audience.....

 

[cocktales]

The Senate voted today to confirm the appointment of former Alabama Atty. Gen. William H. Pryor Jr. to the federal appeals court in Atlanta, handing President Bush a trifecta of controversial judicial confirmations in advance of an expected Supreme Court nomination.

Pryor, an outspoken opponent of abortion and a champion of conservative causes, was confirmed by a narrow vote of 53-45, mostly along party lines.

Pryor may be best known on the national stage for his role in the controversy over a display of the Ten Commandments in the courtroom of Alabama chief justice Roy Moore. As the state attorney general, Pryor supported Moore's right to display the monument.

But after the judge said he would defy a federal court order to remove it, Pryor enforced the order and prosecuted Moore for ethics violations, leading to his removal from the bench.

Pryor is also perhaps the most prejudice against Gays than a court judge that has come along in a long, long time. While temporarily on the Appeals Court, he was the deciding vote that supported Florida's ban against Gays adopting in that state!

His appointment will/has set back the Gay agenda and we will have to work extra hard to off-set his influences......oh boy, will we!!!

It is believed that Pryor is the most anti-gay judge "EVER" to serve on the court.

 

[cocktales]

Why am I surprised? He is the worst of the worst types of people on this earth, a true maggot, a dispicable thing.......not even a human being!!

Waits until after last meal to ask for appeal!!!

For all of his bravado about not appealing his death sentence—for all of his sick bragging about how his only regret was that he didn’t torture and slowly murder his ex-girlfriend instead of her new boyfriend—for all of his bullshit…

Why am I so surprised that Robert Lee McConnell is also a tremendous coward?

With only 34 minutes to live, condemned inmate Robert Lee McConnell filed an appeal and won an immediate stay that blocked his 9:00 PM Thursday execution at Nevada State Prison.

The Deputy Attorney General, Gerald Gardner, says it looked like McConnell was, “playing a game with the system.”

You think?

All McConnell has achieved is to prolong the inevitable. Because, make no qualms about it, this piece of shit deserves to die. And he will die.

But in the meantime, he has cost Nevada tax payers more money. He has caused his victim’s family and friends extended anguish.

Apparently, McConnell waited until after he’d had his last meal of pepperoni pizza and cookies-and-cream ice cream before asking for the appeal.

You know death seems just too easy, just to good for this type of pond scum, doesn't it? What else is there to be done to this lost cause? You know you could NOT believe in capital punishment; but when you see and hear this piece of crap, you might, no you will change your mind and make him the special exception to the rule!!!

I hope when they do finally take him on the dead man’s walk, that they remember that he’s already had his last meal. Let him die on a fucking empty stomach.

 

[cocktales]

OK, here's the story/deal.

Flagstaff, AZ became the latest community to vote on limits to "big box" stores. When Wal-mart wanted to create a larger store that offered groceries, a group of local citizens didn't like the idea. Not satisfied with exercising their individual right not to shop there, they got their city government to craft an ordinance to stop Wal-mart from expanding.

f the mother of all Big Box stores, Super Wal-Mart, comes to Flagstaff, some people believe it will mean more jobs. However, Lake Placid, New York, did a study and found that for every job that Wal-Mart brought to Lake Placid, one and a half jobs were lost elsewhere in that town. To make matters worse, a Wal-Mart workweek is a maximum of 28 hours long. That means that nearly every job Wal-Mart "creates" is part-time, and those part-time jobs can be eroding full-time work at a disturbing rate. If companies like Wal-Mart call a 28-hour workweek "full-time," then, in fairness to their "full-time" employees, these companies should provide their workers with the same health benefits other companies provide to those who work a 40-hour workweek. However, studies show that Wal-Mart and other Big Box stores offer relatively few employee benefits. In fact, Big Box stores sometimes limit employee hours and wages to such an extent that many of their employees qualify to collect welfare. The National Labor Committee, a human rights organization, estimates that half of all Wal-Mart employees are eligible for food stamps. This makes sense since the median income for a Wal-Mart employee is around $12,000 a year while the national median income is $25,000.

One reason that jobs are said to be lost to, instead of created at, Wal-Mart, is because corporate policy and practice competes directly within a town's current market, so retail customers switch from other stores to Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart wins the competition, and small business owners know this. A recent poll across several states showed that 96 percent of respondents felt a Big Box in their area would damage their business. Seventy-nine percent anticipated a "drastic reduction in sales volume;" almost a fifth believed their sales volume would be cut by more than 50 percent; and 76 percent anticipated "serious reductions in profit." Almost a quarter believed their profit would drop by more than half. Small businesses run on small margins of profit, which means that a drop in sales by half results in a business that is hung out to dry. This is reaffirmed by research that points to a 19 percent loss of retail businesses over a 20-mile radius over five years when Wal-Mart sets up shop. Several studies over time, then, seem to be saying the same thing: small businesses fail when a Big Box comes to town. People lose their jobs, and those jobs that are created depend on public welfare systems to pick up the extra cost of supporting the working poor. In this way, the so-called free-market is being sustained by unseen government subsidies that take care of costs not covered when we buy our toasters and T-shirts at the retail giant.

Currently, Super Wal-Mart cannot be a part of the mall expansion without a change in zoning. Zoning involves a decision by the city's representative council, and the council should consider the effect on Flagstaff's working poor, small businesses, and rich culture before deciding that our town can endure a mega-store from the world's largest retailer.

Have you seen the latest trend in WAL-MART expansion? They now are building the "neighborhood grocery" usually in close proximity to the larger, well established grocer who probably has been there for years and under-cutting their prices to "draw" people to their "family-friendly" grocery store.....they want WAL-MART to become your local grocery instead of the other guy!

Another neat trick of the GIANT!

 

[cocktales]

This is the end. The controversial career of Mike Tyson reached another low on Saturday night when he quit on his stool after the sixth round and lost to journeyman Kevin McBride.

"I don't have the guts to stay in the sport anymore," Tyson said after the fight, perhaps indicating he is ready to quit. "I most likely won't fight any more. I won't disrespect the sport by losing to a fighter of this calibre."

Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson's hard-knocks history of growing up in Brooklyn is well documented. He navigated a bumpy road to the top of his profession in the '80s, got knocked out by Buster Douglas in 1990, served jail time for a rape conviction and seems to have a propensity for bizarre behavior.

"When I had money, I was an animal," Tyson told the New York Times last week. "I was so belligerent. I was so cantankerous, so persistently disregardless. I wasn't that nice of a person. Just because you buy mansions and cars doesn't mean you know what money is worth.

"I lost all across the board. My life has been a total waste.

Tyson, who served three years in jail for rape in the 1990s and who bit off part of Evander Holyfield's ear during a 1997 fight, admits he has changed, though for better or worse isn't easily discernible.

"I know I was a tough, bad-ass talking fighter, but I ain't no mob figure. I did my time for the rape. I paid my money to Las Vegas. I paid my dues."

"I ain't the same person I was when I bit that guy's ear off."

No doubt, Mike has been a bad boy a long time; but it looks like he's finally given up on that persona....he did his time for rape and I guess the debtors will feast over whatever is left and now maybe he will retire, write his memoirs, receive some money from that and let his wife continue her career and he can help raise the kids.......scary thought isn't it?

Yes, I can almost feel sorry for the defeated champ! Can't you?

 

[cocktales]

Michael Jackson blows a kiss to his fans as he leaves the courthouse in Santa Maria, CA.

Fans from all over the world, came to Santa Maria to show their support of Michael...

After 7 days of deliberations in the Michael Jackson case, the jury of eight women and four men reached a verdict of Not Guilty on all counts!

Certainly in this case, the jury appear to have made the right decision, based on the evidence presented. Hopefully, Michael Jackson will take a little more care in who he makes friends with in the future and lessen his chances of becoming a target again.

Please, please Michael, you have dodged the old proverbial bullet this time. I beg you to settle down and not allow yourself to become a target again. I do hope you have learned from this awful experience and perhaps get some help. God Bless.

 

[cocktales]

(Bigger than life statue of Alexander Wood in Toronto's Gay District)

A Miss Bailey reported to Wood her rape by an unknown militiaman, noting she had scratched the genitals of her attacker. Wood demaded all males lower their pants and he checked each person out to find the rapist........for that, checking men's genitals out, he was nick-named "Molly-Wood"! lol NOTICE: Check out the standing man's ass cheeks at how shiny they are from people rubbing them for good luck!!!!! LOL LOL

A statue commemorating a hero of Toronto's gay community is raising hackles both for the actions of the man it depicts and for the somewhat graphic description of the 19th-Century sex scandal that made him famous.

But denizens of Toronto's centrally located and often irreverent gay neighborhood -- the home of the city's hugely popular annual gay pride celebrations -- say the sculpture is not offensive, and fits with the spirit of the community.

The 13-1/2 foot (4.1 meter) bronze and granite monument depicts Alexander Wood, famous for both owning the land on which the community now sits, and for being run out of town under a cloud of sexual scandal in the early 1800s.

It shows a dapper young man wearing a long coat and holding a top hat and cane.

The Alexander Wood statue is one of just a few significant gay-focused monuments in the world - and is thought to be the first monument of its kind in the world. Gay rights monuments exist in Amsterdam, Cologne and New York, but none are large-scale foundry projects in the form of traditional bronze statuary used to celebrate more 'mainstream' historical figures.

"It's nice to have the statue in the community, but I don't think it's well done," said one area resident, referring to a plaque at the statue's base that outlines the scandal.

"I think it's misleading. The sensationalistic side of homosexuality is not the norm."

Wood emigrated from Scotland in the 1790s, becoming a merchant, militiaman and a well-respected magistrate, before running into trouble in 1810.

A woman reported a rape, noting she had scratched the attacker on his genitals. Wood took matters into his own hands, lining up the suspects and demanding that they drop their pants so he could "inspect" them.

After word of the incident got around, Wood was widely branded a "molly," a derogatory term for homosexuals, and he agreed to leave town in exchange for not being prosecuted for abusing his position.

The incident is commemorated on the statue's granite base, with a bronze plaque depicting a man's rear-end with his pants around his knees, and Wood's outstretched hand in mid-examination.

I am happy the Toronto people are learning to accept our history and allowing the locals to commemorate their history with this statue.

 

[cocktales]

Fred Phelps doing what he does best....hate!

That's right. The extreme religious right is now protesting at military funerals.

A Kansas preacher and gay rights foe whose congregation is protesting military funerals around the country said he's coming to Idaho tomorrow to picket the memorial for an Idaho National Guard soldier killed in Iraq.

A flier on the Web site of Pastor Fred Phelps Westboro Baptist Church claims God killed Cpl. Carrie French with an improvised explosive device in retaliation against the United States for a bombing at Phelps church six years ago.
http://www.****************/fliers/jun2005/20050610_ied-carrie-french.pdf

Westboro Baptist either has protested or is planning protests of other public funerals of soldiers from Michigan, Alabama, Minnesota, Virginia and Colorado. A protest is planned for July 11 at Dover Air Force Base, the military base where war dead are transported before being sent on to their home states.

Phelps gained national notoriety in 1998 when he picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the gay college student beaten to death in Wyoming.

Since then, Phelps said his church has been the target of hateful words and actions, including a bomb attack six years ago.

Phelps church has picketed the funerals of AIDS victims for more than a decade.

Carrie French, 19, was a Caldwell High School graduate and varsity cheerleader. She was killed June 5 in the northern city of Kirkuk. French served as an ammunition specialist with the 116th Brigade Combat Team's 145th Support Battalion.

Phelps said the fact that French led an all-American life gives him all the more reason to picket her final public tribute.

"An all-American girl from a society of all-American heretics," he said.

"Our attitude toward what's happening with the war is the Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime," Phelps said.

Surely the religious right Republicans are NOT supporting this demagogue, this hate monger, this bastard of bastards........shall I continue?

If this SOB turns up at Carrie Fisher's burial, I think law enforcement should put him and his followers under the damn jail and throw away the key....

Better yet, why even allow him access to this Federal function? Why let these people embarrass the family who already are mourning the loss of their daughter, sister, and friend!!!

Surely there's some law that will allow authorities the right to hold these people until the burial is over....so what if it suppresses their right to free speech. There comes a time, sometime, when minority rights need to be suppressed for the majority!

 

[cocktales]

Capt. Nicole Malachowski, seen here while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom, begins Thunderbird training this fall. Hey, and you will NOT believe this....Nicole is a hometown lady....she's from Las Vegas orginally....can you believe that? She grew up watching the T-Birds and wanting to fly them!! We Love You Nicole and best wishes!

Well folks, the fictitious "glass atmospheric ceiling" has just been broken!

Malachowski, a 1996 graduate of the Air Force Academy, will fly in the No. 3 right wing position when the Thunderbirds are in their famous flying diamond formation.

The Blue Angels, the Navy's precision jet demonstration team, has never had a female pilot.

The announcement comes just weeks after a contentious debate in the House of Representatives on a proposed amendment that would have further limited the roles of women in the military. The amendment was eventually defeated.

One congresswoman was pleased about the announcement. "From my position on the House Armed Services Committee, I continue to seek ways to expand opportunities for women serving in our military, the finest fighting force in the world," said Rep. Ellen O. Tauscher, the Democrat from California. "I congratulate Capt. Malachowski on her accomplishment."

Rep. Heather Wilson, the Republican from New Mexico, herself a graduate of the Air Force Academy, told CNN, "The Thunderbirds have always represented America and the Air Force to the world. I'm glad Capt. Malachowski is joining the team. She'll be a great role model for young people who dream of a career flying and serving their country."

The process of earning a spot on the Thunderbirds takes months. Each candidate must have 1,000 hours flying in a fighter or trainer jet. Beginning in January, candidates submit letters of recommendation, a biography and a letter explaining why he or she would like to fly with the Thunderbirds.

Malachowski recently served four months in Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Las Vegas, Nevada, native flies F-15 Strike Eagle fighter jets and is assigned to an Air Force unit based in England.

As a member of the Thunderbirds, she will fly F-16 Fighting Falcons and spend more than 200 days on the road next year.

She'll begin training in the F-16 in November and will make her public debut with the Thunderbirds next March.

I am very, very pleased to see women take a more active role in the flying portion of defending America. Congress just recently "tried or/are trying" to limit the role women play in the U.S. military. I feel women can serve and do it proudly....

Just like Gays in the military, women have fought long and hard to fight along side their men counter-parts; but till now to no avail........

The presence of Captain Nicole Malachowski "will" help the cause for women......

Good luck Captain Malachowshi!!

 

[cocktales]

(This is one of the scariest things I've heard of lately and LIA is allowed to just take kids with their parent's blessings to "brain-wash them and re-train, etc)

This is what LIA says in their brochure: "Our mission is to be a Christ-centered ministry for the prevention or treatment of unhealthy and destructive behaviors, which includes same-sex attractions, facing families, adults, and adolescents. Our heart’s cry is to see families reconciled, to help people trapped in addictive and out of control behaviors find freedom in Christ, and to help struggling youth to find a place of refuge.

LIA says there is no such thing as a homosexual! There are many individuals, however, who struggle intensely with homosexual temptation and addictive behavior. Once we get the message right, then we will be effective in ministering to those caught in this kind of deceptive bondage.

LIA says the parent has the right to "parent" to send their children to LIA to ensure they are headed in the right direction and not the homosexual direction...!

There is nothing resembling love in the actions of this organization, just the bullsh*t, brainwashing and destruction of the human spirit that Love in Action forces upon its participants. The Religious Right harps on "saving the children"...if this is how they save the children, the people running these "ex-gay" ministries need to be locked up.

For adult, let alone gay kids, going into this kind of program is a living hell, and his parents should be charged with abuse. This kind of cultic mind control and brain washing needs national media attention. It is so sickening to see the extremist Evangelical zealots enforcing these kinds of programs of denial forcing denial on the young and unsuspecting.

This is not the first time children have been taken "for the good of mankind" type approach. Do you recall or read about American Indian children who were forceably taken from their families and sent to Christian schools to brainwash them to NOT follow the dictates of their ancestors.......but to learn the Christian way.......the white man's way...

That was wrong and so is this forced issue of trying to brainwash people who are Gay.

I am appalled that people are allowing Gay children to be kidnapped and sent to this school to re-indoctrinate them to be straight.....what is the world coming to anyway???

To read more about LIA and their activities read here:http://www.loveinaction.org/default.aspx

 

[cocktales]

If your father is still living, please don't let this day pass without letting your birth father, your adoptive father or foster father or whatever father know just how much his love and support means to you. You know one day "he" will not be around to say those magical words to him: "I Love You, Dad"!

Father's Day began in Spokane Washington. A woman by the name of Sonora Smart Dodd wanted her father to know how special he was for raising her after her mother had died. Sonora's father was born in June so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane Washington on the 19th of June 1910.

In 1926, a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York City. Father's Day was recognized by a Joint Resolution of Congress in 1956. In 1972, President Richard Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June. So Father's Day was born in memory and gratitude by a daughter that thought her father and all good fathers should be honored with a special day.

I know some of us have not had the greatest connections with our father. Perhaps it is time to try once again to make that peace offering, that olive branch or to bury the old proverbial hatchet???

I was blessed with having one of the best Dad's any one could ever hope to have. During the time I was growing up, he was not always there; but he let me know that he was available if I needed him. He worked so very hard to ensure our family had the best he could get for us. If that meant working another job, so be it. He loved us and always let us know, we came first.

I lost my Dad 15 May 2002 and it still hurts so bad to think I do not have a Dad to send a card, and call him on his special day to tell him again: Happy Father's Day, Dad............I still love you, forever and ever!

I miss you Dad!