My fifth grade project

I recall fondly being in the fifth grade, it was a great time of my youth. It was not yet the 1960 era, sports were the only thing on my mind, not having totally discovered girls yet and life was simple and family oriented.

My fifth grade teacher was one of my favorites too, wise, fatherly and loved to get his students involved in something important and interesting, a true teacher. This was on his mind one morning when he assigned each of us to write an essay on someone we admired in world news, sports or the entertainment field and write a letter to them, asking for a photo to put on our school wall-board.

All the way home I was trying to think who to write to, there were so many sports and entertainment people that I admired, I could not make up my mind.

As I was walking into my home I could hear our black and white television booming something and I could see my Father sitting in his favorite chair watching it intently. I glanced at the screen and stopped in my tracks, frozen. There in beautiful black and white was the coolest man I had ever seen!

He was partially bald, wearing a military uniform and, oh my stars, he was actually wearing an eye patch! My heart was pumping; blood racing and I could barely ask my Father who he was.

Moshe Dayan, my father replied and went on to explain that he was a military leader in Israel. My family was all Irish Catholics and I did not have that much knowledge on Israel, except what I had learned in school, but I had my hero, a military leader and oh my, he wore a real eye patch, I was blown away!

It took a bit of research, but I found where to write and I did just that. A few weeks later I received not only a great letter, but a signed photo and he was wearing that eye patch, I was in heaven.

I made a trip to the library to gather background information for my essay. The librarian happily helped me and I sat down and began going over a few magazines and other material.

The more that I read about my new found hero, the more that I discovered that he truly was just that, a hero, not only to me, but to his people and to Israel. I was so impressed by what I was reading that I lost track of all time. I had no idea how long I had been reading about him, but some time later I noticed a huge stack of magazines, newspapers and a few books laid out in front of me.

I completed my essay, retuned all of the reading material I had gathered and went home, my paper was due in the morning and I was totally lost in thought about the topic that I had chosen.

The next day I presented my essay, placed my photo on the board and went back to my seat. At lunch time we were all gathered around the board looking at the photos everyone had gathered. Quite a few of my buddies were looking at mine with envy, one of them mentioned, "wow, he is wearing an eye patch!" I answered, "Really, I didn't even notice", and went outside to play.

I really had found my personal hero and to me, he was not even wearing that patch anymore.

Could have saved a few bucks

An Associated Press story is saying that ex CIA director Tenet's book stated that the CIA warned the President of 'anarchy' in Iraq. Now, that is the first thing out of his book that I actually believe.

Any politician would have realized that was the chance taken when rolling the dice on Iraq. It does not take a few hundred billion dollars in intelligence gathering equipment to know that either, all they would have had to do was ask any vet, we would have told them free of charge.

A few of my buddies and I, each a veteran, had gathered for coffee one night while the build up for the invasion was taking place. The fact of the build up turning into a full scale assault at any moment was the topic of conversation.

The first thing we all agreed upon was the Iraqi military would blend into the population and turn to guerrilla warfare against our troops. The rest of our little arm-chair quarterback coffee session was just as successful in painting exactly what would become of an invasion of Iraq. The last comment being that our military would be tied up in this war for many years to come.

This is not intelligence gathering, heck, between us we may have been able to come up with a few thousand bucks, not the hundreds of billions the CIA spends on electronic and on the ground intelligence.

Here is a quote from the story, Just to show you how exact five veterans could be, "While the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have been widely criticized for being wrong about much of the pre-war intelligence on Iraq, the analysis Tenet describes concerning postwar scenarios seems prescient. Iraq is buffeted by brutal sectarian violence and there are suggestions that the country be partitioned into ethnic zones."

One other topic among our coffee fueled session on an invasion was all the President and his cabinet would have to do was to ask any veteran of the Viet Nam, non-declared war and we could tell them exactly what they were going to face. We all have been there, done that, even wearing the t-shirt.

My point is that this was common knowledge and not just among us old warhorses, but it was even being discussed by every reporter in every paper and magazine.

Now the former CIA Director George Tenet is whining the old, "Hey guys, it's not my fault; I tried to tell them, they would not listen!"

Maybe the next time someone in the White House wants to know the future they will ask a few of us who could actually tell them the truth, in all of its bloody outcome, maybe they could save a few billion and spend it on the returning troopers so they could have a little better life.

Slam-Dunk, well, I really meant to say..

Many American's have questioned the Bush administrations policy of invading Iraq. Some have openly stated that it was nothing more then a son's desire to finish what his father had begun. While others have stated that Saddam had to be removed by any means.

Whatever the catalyst had been at the time, one thing is for certain, originally the CIA, at the time ran by George Tenet had made a compelling case that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. In fact, Tenet's comments have now become public knowledge when he told the President that it was a slam-dunk.

What has been often repeated by the Bush administration is the story leading to the invasion. President Bush and his team, including then CIA director George Tenet were discussing the possibility of an invasion to rid the world of the WMD and Saddam's earnest desire to use them, even against Israel if required.

The story goes that the President asked George Tenet if the CIA had complete and total evidence that Iraq was creating and holding weapons of mass destruction and Tenet stated, "Mr. President, it is a slam-dunk!"

This was the same director of the CIA who had probable evidence that an attack was immanent against the United States, they just had no idea where it was going to take place and nothing was done about it.

The attack of Iraq was put into action, no WMD were ever found and George Tenet submitted his resignation, which is a Washington definition for being fired, and he went off to write his book to make a few bucks.

Now that Tenet's book has been published, he is saying his slam-dunk comment was taken out of content. Notice he is not saying that he never uttered the phrase in the first place; just that he meant it in a different perspective.

It appears that Mr. Tenet is protesting a little too late and attempting to change his place in history. Whatever the catalyst was that sent our troops into Iraq, one thing is certain, the President obtains his intelligence briefings from the CIA and in this case, it was straight from the horse's mouth.

It is humorous how everyone attempts to save their own butt once things begin to turn sour. Mr. Tenet will always be known for his slam-dunk comment, no matter how many spins he tries to put on it.

Nothing changes

I have been lost in thought since the 9 paratroopers from the famed, 82^nd Airborne Division lost their lives in a suicide bombing attack. It was a very sad day for the 82^nd and a sad day for military everywhere.

During the times the world was practicing Napoleonic warfare, basically two armies standing face to face shooting the hell out of one another, then advancing with fixed bayonets and engaging in fierce hand-to-hand combat, war was considered honorable and the field of battle even sacred, but to the men who fought, it was insane warfare and suicidal.

WWI brought about trench warfare, now there was war in is purest form of stupidity. Biological warfare, mass suicide attacks, the thought of it is enough to make someone want to stay in the trench, a little bit of cover is better than nothing.

WWII brought about new and improved ways to battle, naval guns peppering the landing zone till nothing stands, waves of transports hitting the beach and military hitting the beach running straight into machine gun emplacements and rocket attacks.

Viet Nam consisted of a number of well known military engagements, meeting an oncoming enemy in much like our brothers in WWII. It also had new forms of warfare, counterinsurgency and search and destroy, a total war of attrition.

Iraq and Afghanistan is an entirely new form of warfare, fighting an unseen enemy laying in wait with IED's or explosives strapped to their chest running into crowded areas and blowing themselves and the crowd into nothingness.

Someone once said that war is hell, they were so right too. I have seen the elephant and as many of my brothers can say it is stupidity in its purest form, no matter how it is fought, it still must have boots on the ground placing their lives on the line and some paying the ultimate price.

I am saddened over the latest loss of brave souls and sad that the future in these areas do not seem bright, in fact they look pretty dull and foreboding.

My thoughts and prayers and are with these brave men and women and I pray it will soon be over and they can return to their lives.

82nd Airborne Division mourns their loss

It is a very sad day for the 82nd Airborne Division; they have lost 9 U.S. Paratroopers as a result of a suicide truck bombing in Iraq.

Twenty paratroopers from the same division were wounded in the blast, which was also the single greatest loss of life for American ground forces since Dec. 1 2005, when a roadside bomb killed 10 Marines and wounded 11 on a foot patrol near Fallujah.

The Paratroopers were members of the 5th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Bragg. A civilian interpreter was also wounded in the attack.

Click here for the full story on this incident.

Fox News has a site titled, Fallen Heroes of Operation Iraqi Freedom listing the brave souls who have given their lives.

So many brave men and woman have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and each loss is felt dearly by all veterans, we feel it personally and we mourn just as those serving on active duty.

My thoughts and prayers are with their families.

Rosie has gone too far

After posting that last piece o bigotry and rap artists, I was reading through a few entertainment headlines and one from Rosie O'Donnell made me stop in my tracks.

Rosie was the MC at a luncheon in New York that was attended by 17 teenage girls. Rosie was in her normal, "I hate Donald Trump" mode and while addressing the underage ladies, she grabbed her crotch and hollered to the Donald, "Eat Me!".

Here is the quote from TMZ.com, ""The View's" resident flamethrower was the MC at the luncheon celebrating women in New York media, and took the opportunity to rail against the Donald again, says Page Six, at one point grabbing her crotch and shouting, "Eat me!" -- which made Babwa drop her head and cover her face on the dais."

My question is how can Rosie get away with making this obscene gesture and statement in front of 17 underage young women, while her boss is seated next to her, covering her face from embarrassment?

If the entertainment industry is truly attempting to clean up its gutter mouth, racial insults and bigotry as well as openly promoting hate, then it must start here and do something about this foul-mouthed gutter talking woman.

It is not all right to openly say things such as that in front of young teenage women, it is frowned upon in our society and it should not be allowed to continue.

The industry must put a stop to this gutter mouthed woman and it needs to do it now, instead of constantly looking the other way in hopes she will calm down.

CBS Radio Suspends 2 For Racial Prank.

This article in CBS News, Entertainment caught my attention and I wanted to briefly go into it a bit this morning.

A duo from a morning drive-time radio show made a prank call to a Chinese restaurant, using racial slurs and insults; they were subsequently suspended indefinitely without pay.

It will be apparent for some time to come that radio management will be keeping a close eye on all of their on-air personalities, insuring they do not cross the racial insult line. I do agree that it is about time something is done to insure this practice is no longer permitted on some of the radio shows.

However, the same radio groups own more than one broadcast channel dealing in other forms besides talk show format, they also own channels broadcasting various forms of music, from the 1950's oldies format to today's rap music by the hottest artists.

The rap music industry is responsible for more insults than any other venue. The artists and songwriters kick out music charged with racial insults, bigotry, insults to women everywhere as well as openly discussing killing people, including law enforcement.

This is one of the true culprits of racial insults and what is even worse, our youth idolize the artists, mimicking their music and attempting to live their lives as gangsters, even if they have never stepped into a hood other then one surrounded by picket fences, weekly trash collection and low crime rates.

The rap artist have power over the youth, they know this and use it any chance they get. The industry needs to start here; clean this portion of the industry and other will follow.

What’s next?

Al-Qaeda 'planning big British attack
is what the Times Online is reporting this morning in a disturbing article which states, "Spy chiefs warn that one operative had said he was planning an attack on "a par with Hiroshima and Nagasaki" in an attempt to "shake the Roman throne", a reference to the West."

The article makes many suppositions and quotes from sources in an attempt to back this headline up, but the underlying message that Al-Qaeda is far from through is the important thing here.

Since the 9/11 attack upon the World Trade Center many have openly stated that al-Qaeda is in the planning stages of additional massive attacks. It would certainly make perfect sense as we never did bring bin Laden to justice.

That in itself is something that has constantly amazed me, once the focus of a world wide hunt, bin laden faded into his caves, coming out of his darkness once in awhile to make his threats to the world then supposedly retreating to the safety of his cave again.

I for one do not buy into this, it was evident that America quickly turned the hunt from the most wanted man in the world into hunting for other top name terrorist and insurgents, al-Zarqawi, Saddam and other individuals popping into the news radar from time to time.

Whatever the reasoning behind this change of world wide focus, the fact remains, al-Qaeda is alive and well and waiting to make their moves.

The question remains, do they have the capabilities of attacks as large as the Times are reporting and the answer would have to be a very big yes, it could be accomplished in any number of ways, from nuclear devices to biological weapons or even dirty bombs. Each of which, if properly applied and activated could produce casualties in the numbers the article is saying.

In my opinion, our intelligence resources and special operations teams should be expanding more energy to effectively dismantle the leadership and infrastructure of al-Qaeda, from bin-Laden all the way down to the expandable suicide bomber. We should follow through on the threats President Bush first made, to punish any nation working with or harboring al-Qaida and/or the Taliban, including Pakistan, Syria and Iran, then and only then will we make any headway into reducing the threat of terror attacks upon the people of America and England.

Some analysts are saying that we have burned up and effectively damaged our military resources in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yes, this could very well be a possibility, we do not have a limitless resource of manpower in which to draw from, however our intelligence recourses and special operations teams should be put to better use to hunt these murdering psychopaths down, bringing them to justice, or justice to them.

The Six Day War

In the summer of 1967 I was stationed at a very remote out of the way country town in Germany. One of the very few perks that I was enjoying as a Sergeant was the ability to live on the economy, which I managed to accomplish the moment the opportunity arose.

The family which owned the Gasthaus next door to where I was staying had adopted me soon after we met. My German was good enough to pass as a local, my hair was a bit longer than permitted and when I was introduced to the owner and his wife we hit it off so well that I was sitting at the family table on a regular basis and being introduced as a family member from America, Life was good.

Finally my time at being a "short timer" had come and I was more than chomping at the bit to enjoy the ride. I had cleared post, turned in anything and everything that would not be going home with me and sat at the family table at the Gasthaus, enjoying the beer and conversation while waiting to return to the world.

A few days later, two Privates from the base were banging on my door long before my normal morning waking routine. I answered and was told we were on a heightened alert; I was to return with them to the base, immediately, even before a cup of morning coffee...

Normal alerts simply consisted of reporting to your unit, standing around till the Command Officer comes in, makes a little speech how if this had been real we would be fighting the red menace, then returning to your daily routine. I was not too concerned, with all of my equipment and weapons checked in and three days left in Germany, I stood there, the envy of all, waiting to return to my cozy bed.

As usual, the Army always has a different schedule then the troops and that is when everything changed. Instead of the C.O coming in for his speech, we all reported to the theater for a company wide assembly.

Once we were all seated the company commander and two other officers took the stage. The curtains directly behind them opened to reveal a map of the Middle East. I looked at that and was immediately wide awake.

The C.O. began by telling everyone that just hours ago, Israel had been attacked at multiple locations by Egypt, Jordan, and Syria and were presently engaged in a war on multiple fronts. Intelligence showed that Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Algeria were contributing troops and arms to the battle against the state of Isreal.

The theater was totally silent, each of us suspected why we were placed on alert. The C.O. continued, pointing out on the map how Israel was engaged on multiple fronts. He then explained that our unit, along with a few others were alerted to support Israel and come to their aid should the battle become hopeless.

The C.O. then announced that all personnel were involved, with any separation dates now set back fourteen more days.

I was no longer a short timer; it did not extend my active service duty, just my return to America. I spent the rest of the day running around checking out new equipment and mentally preparing for what may come. It was very evident, that unless a miracle occurred, Israel was in big trouble. They were basically engaged in heavy fighting on multiple fronts, without support, both supply oriented and physical troops, they were in danger of being overrun.

I began staying on the base and preparing for whatever role we were to play in the coming weeks ahead. Time passed quickly, we did not have rapid reaction forces back then and the concept of preparing units for departure was time consuming, what today takes hours, then took days.

Four or five days later a group of us were packed, weapons checked and sitting around the cafeteria wondering what role we were to play. We were all non-commissioned officers, Sergeants of various ranks and most of us had served together in Viet Nam, combat was not new to us, but the concept of desert fighting was something none of us had ever trained or prepared for. We were all discussing this possibility when the loudspeaker began barking out a call for all non-commissioned officers of our unit to return for briefing, our questions were about to be answered.

Once assembled, the C.O congratulated us on getting everything ready to go on such short notice. Then he made a statement that I will never forget. He explained that a cease fire was presently in effect and Israel had overcome all of the invading countries, as well as pushed them back to various points. Israel had been attacked on a holy day, unprepared and short on military personnel and in just six days, had fought a war on multiple fronts, overcoming many obstacles and was victorious.

The six day war had just been fought and it had happened so quickly that by the time our unit and a few others were totally prepared for whatever role we were to play, it was over and Israel had prevailed under circumstances that would have ruined many other countries.

Citizendium is up and running

I was surfing through Fox New this morning and came upon a pleasant surprise. The new rival to Wikipedia, Citizendium, is now online in the beta stage.

Wikipedia was and is a wonderful concept, however, in the six years it has been operational I have often been at odds with one or more topics of information. As Fox News so aptly wrote:

"The downside is that the free encyclopedia has its share of errors and juvenile vandalism, and sometimes the writing is incomprehensibly arcane."

In my opinion, nothing is more frustrating then to do a bit of research for a blog or other article and come across multiple errors, or outright lies and vandalism.

In any case, I am looking forward to this new research tool and hope it does well.

Here again is the link to Citizendium.

The Issue is Why?

I do not believe I have ever witnessed a worse example of dereliction to the safety and well being of human beings than in the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

Reuters has a piece this morning titled, Questions Remain after Worse U.S. Shooting Rampage, questioning how a gunman evaded detection between killing two people and going on to kill 30 others two hours later.

News reports last night showed that the students were not warned of any danger until more than two hours after the first attack at a dormitory- and then only in an e-mail from the university.

This entire tragedy could have been confined to the initial shooting in the dormitory had adequate precautions taken place, the student population warned and evacuated.

However, this is the time of the year for the election circus, all of the candidate searching aimlessly for a cause to garner votes, they do not see dereliction of duty, they do not see how it could have been avoided, they see magical votes dancing in front of their eyes, sent like manna from the Gods in the form of gun control.

Friends, this is not the issue, the true culpability lies directly in the Dean of Virginia Tech, the campus police and any other law enforcement that may have been involved. Their complete and total lack of notification and evacuation is one of the major issues in this tragedy. Had the proper precautions and student evacuation taken place, perhaps many more students would be safe and sound today.

I cannot comprehend the thought process that took place in the decision not to notify and evacuate the student and faculty population of the campus. How in the name of anything that is sacred can these individuals awaken this morning to the dawn of a new day with the knowledge that their lack of action was a factor in so many deaths?

Yes, I am totally enraged that 32 students were murdered and many wounded when many could have been avoided. This is not the time for debating gun control; this is the time for bringing the responsible parties to justice to face the wrath of the families who lost loved ones.

These Mothers and Fathers, Wives and Husbands had their lives destroyed yesterday, they had their futures cut down in the blink of an eye and politicians see their votes, not their sorrow, their tears. This is disgusting; this is in itself a tragedy.

The individuals who made the decision not to notify the students, not to evacuate the student population, not to protect the safety and well being of individuals in their campus, these are the culprits who should be facing accusation this morning. They should have answering the families who lost loved ones; they should be brought to justice.

Why were they not evacuated

There cannot be any logical explanation how a gunman can walk into Virginia Tech and murder two students, then return two hours later and continue his spree until 32 are dead.

The school should have been immediately evacuated at the onset of the first shooting. How the administrative staff and leadership of the school allowed this to take place should be immediately investigated and the offending individuals prosecuted for dereliction of their duty to safely protect the student population.

News reports last night indicated that the Dean felt it was a domestic issue and did not warrant any further action to protect the well being of the students and faculty. That he had no knowledge stating otherwise until two hours later when the killer returned to continue his rampage.

Was the staff's heads so far up their collective butts that they did not feel that a school shooting warrants evacuating the student and faculty?

To be honest, there should be an immediate arrest of any administrative staff on duty during the time of the shooting. Their lack of concern for the safety and well being of the general school population is disgusting and revolting to me as a human being.

The political nonsense that is sure to follow this tragedy will attempt to point the finger at gun control, when the finger should be pointed squarely at the Dean. The total lack of concern for the safety of the students and faculty cannot be overlooked.

We must have hope

I do not subscribe to the doomsday theory, the apocalypse, or predestination; I have always felt we create our own destiny in life. I have a favorite bit of advice that I pass on to the younger generation in my family and among friends. "If you are questioning if your boat will ever come in, ask yourself, when was the last time you sent one out."

However, I tend to think too much, over analyze, a subject until it makes sense to me. That has always been one of my fallacies in life, but it served me well in law enforcement. I also love to quote certain phrases when they apply to a given situation. That bore witness this morning when I began reading through the morning headlines and a dreaded feeling of foreboding came over me.

Massacre at Virginia Tech, war in Iraq and Afghanistan, tensions heating with Iran, deaths, murders, war, global warming, diseases, it was an overwhelming experience and led me to think of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse riding across the Earth.

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.

That is taken from the text of the breaking of the fourth seal and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse rides, Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. These four are traditionally referred to as the harbingers of doom for humanity.

Although I was overwhelmed with this feeling of disparity, I still feel there is hope for humanity. If we do not give hope then we are all truly doomed.

My heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the souls who lost their lives at Virginia Tech and their families who will feel the loss for many years to come.

A few million years ago

A few million years ago, the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex roamed the earth striking terror into the hearts of all in its path. This thing was one nasty, flesh eating machine.

Contrary to what the movies had us believe, try as they may, they never were able to extract dinosaur-DNA from those pesky little bugs in that pretty yellow glass and science marched on.

Now science has discovered they could map the protean from within dinosaur bones and they tore into their new task with glee. At last, they could find out exactly who or what prowls the earth today carrying the same protean as T-Rex.

So, without further fanfare, here is the closest relative to T-Rex, a CHICKEN!

Yes, you heard right, a chicken, think about that the next time you tear into that drumstick.

In an article on Yahoo News, it was reported that, “In studies reported in the journal Science, Asara and colleagues conclude that seven traces of proteins detected in purified T-rex bone most closely match those reported in chickens, followed by frogs and newts.”

Even more fitting was where they extracted the samples from was bone lining preserved inside a dinosaur drumstick.

I can hardly wait for the next big movie to come out of Hollywood about the chickens who became self aware from genes lying dormant within them, realizing they were a Tyrannosaurus rex, running through the farm striking terror to all within the pecking path.

Yes, we will see movies, books; perhaps a cartoon or two and the world will never be the same. We can also expect the beautiful people of Hollywood to become involved, saying with the recent release of information on chickens, they now consider them to be meat, not fowl, therefore, no one cat eat one again, or an egg, for that matter.

We can all fully expect that chickens will never be the same again.

Time to think

The United States Marine Corp has always been a proud, dedicated and professional band of warriors. The incident which took place in Afghanistan, where a Marine Special Operations unit is accused of excessive force to a bombing can not be allowed to change one single perspective of the legends they so rightly deserve.

I was not a Marine, but as an old warhorse I can attest to the fact they are the bravest band of warriors I have ever seen or met, there was a time I would have stormed into hell with anyone of them, they have my respect.

The Marine Special Operations unit is rather a new concept within the Corps, who traditionally refused to become a part of SOCOM, saying that every Marine was already a specialized warrior. However, times and the specialized response to a given situation has changed and the Corps has changed with it and they entered the Special Operations community.

The incident whish took place in Afghanistan was the units first test under fire. Here is the basic thrust of the incident as reported in The Marine Corps Times, "A U.S. military commander has determined that special operations Marines accused of killing civilians after a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last month used excessive force, and he has referred the case to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service for a broader inquiry, The Associated Press has learned."

This incident cannot re justified and blame will be determined by a military court. However, this should in no way demean the entire unit, of which these Marines were a part of.

SOCOM personnel must subscribe to a higher standard then the balance of the military. These specialized individuals are asked to do things that make the movies from Hollywood look like kindergarten; these are the real deal, not the Hollywood contrived.

The first thing anyone will notice with these individuals is the higher standards and caliber of professionalism to which they subscribe. This event that took place should not and cannot be allowed to blemish the image of the Corps, SOCOM, or any unit within.

There is light

I recently wrote of the hatred and bigotry in the world and have been lost in thought since then.

We are surrounded by hatred wherever we walk within this country or world. Religions brought up to hate another sect, people or country and fight to the death, racial bigotry, wars, death and destruction. However, through all of this we have rays of hope and goodness, laughter of children and the beauty of seeing our own child born.

We have beauty at every turn and as we are discovering, we have forgiveness.

Through all of this, we prevail; we beings of humanity still walk the Earth from which we came. We are instilled with wisdom of life and lessons we have learned, we will prevail, go on.

We have the beauty of our very breath, this one gift of life which our body accomplishes for us every moment of our lives. Our lungs fill with air and when released our bodies are renewed for another moment. This is the divine, the beauty, the spark from within each and every one of us. The gift of life distilled into its purest form. This gift is inhaled into our tiny lungs at the moment of birth and exhaled as our last breath of life.

We must never forget the beauty of life and the laughter of our children and we must never forget what is within each part of humanity, this spark of life.

The Imus Mess

All of the latest nonsense that has been going on over radio talk show jock, Don Imus is really starting to get to me.

Allow me to state right from the start, I hate Don Imus as a radio personality, I never have liked his style of insulting humor and I never will and as far as I am concerned, he is a raciest, a bigot and his brand of talk show is a huge bore, he should have been fired many years ago, but money talks, and he brought it in.

I am totally sick of every time anything resembling a comment or an insult towards the black community, the Rev. Al Sharpton is on scene with his army of protestors in tow. Here is a question, why is he not demanding the rap industry clean their act up? The rap music industry has been insulting and demeaning their own race and women in general since its birth, but they bring in the bucks.

Yes, he makes statements that he is busy working with various artists to do just that, but where is his outcry, where are his protests? That remains to be seen, I guess.

As far as Don Imus, he is an insulting; boring, racist and even Howard Stern has said that over the years. When Howard Stern says someone is insulting, that is really saying something.

They had a coup and no one was invited

I may not be the greatest military armchair quarterback in America, but I do know one important rule when it comes to overthrowing the king, never announce your intentions to the media long before you have put the coup into motion.

This is exactly what the Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky has told the Guardian Unlimited in an interview published this morning.

He stated that he is plotting the violent overthrow of President Putin from his base in Britain after forging close contacts with members of Russia's ruling elite.

The Guardian reported, "In comments which appear calculated to enrage the Kremlin, and which will further inflame relations between London and Moscow, the multimillionaire claimed he was already bankrolling people close to the president who are conspiring to mount a palace coup."

The Czar Ivan the Terrible would be proud of this man, much as nasty old Ivan did when he called all of the ruling elite into a meeting and had them all killed, this was one way of removing the competition. However, if history is correct, as it normally is, Ivan did not send them an invitation to a kill, as Boris is presently doing.

It does not sound as if the Kremlin is too concerned about the announcement of the coup, as the Guardian reported, "Last night the Kremlin denounced Mr Berezovsky's comments as a criminal offence which it believed should undermine his refugee status in the UK."

The one thing the world does know about Russia, if they are a bit concerned, they just poison the guy and get on with their daily routine.

This may very well be the coup that no one bothered showing up for, now that the whistle has been blown on the whole thing.

The whole thing smacks of tooting your own horn and Boris Berezovsky certainly appears to be doing that. He had better change his coup invitations to reflect the small item of the Kremlin being aware of it before he sends them out.

Code of ethics, don’t think so.

There has been a bit of discussion lately in the blogosphere about having a standard to life up to, a code of ethics, if you will, no way, where would we be without the ability to say whatever is on our mind? That is the line separating blogs from the mainstream news, we say what is on our mind, not what some producer tells us we are supposed to say.

The days of the real news anchors of the 1950 and 1970 era are gone. In the past, when one of the real, honest to God, anchors told us it would all be okay, we believed them.

Today, we have blow-dried card readers who seldom get out of the station and track their own story down. Those of us who want the truth and want to know just what the person behind the story feels, we turn to the blogs.

There we can not only read what happened, but we can find out just what people like you and me actually feel about the issue. The Iraq war, here is an excellent example what I am saying. We are told by news services how badly the war is going and how badly the troops hate what they are doing and want to get out of there. You can turn to any military blog and you will seldom find one from active duty personnel who are saying the same things.

On the contrary, they are doing a job, they are volunteers and they believe in what they are doing, case closed.

Code of ethics, I don't think so, my ethics left me long ago, now, I could care less. If I am insulting in something I write, that is my feelings, no one else's.

Bits of News

Don Imus crashes and burns

It is only Wednesday, well, actually it is Tuesday evening, but this will go up tomorrow. Still, it has been quite a busy few days in the news.

Radio personality Don Imus has always had an acerbic sense of humor, coupled with his tendency to take no prisoners as he marches through the halls of people he does not like or agree with. I have heard him take on many professions, politicians and individuals and one thing is certain. Imus is not a racist; in fact, he hates everyone equally, regardless of race, creed or color.

So, when I first heard the news report that Imus had made insulting remarks against The Rutgers women's basketball players, calling them collectively, "nappy-headed hos," I thought, well, Imus has finally did it, he has insulted people who are not public figures and open to anything thrown at them, he will pay for that insult.

Yesterday I was watching Fox news and the news person was discussing the insults with Ann Coulter. He had mentioned the racists insult made by Don Imus, to which Ann Coulter immediately stated they were not racists. The news person told her that she must live on a different planet than the rest of the world, I loved it. She can be so smug and self-righteous that it makes me sick.

All I have to say is, perhaps Imus has learned that everyone in the world is not open to insult.

For anyone who actually cares

The entire affair surrounding the death of Anna Nichole Smith played out exactly as she lived, a media circus.

The results of the DNA testing were made public yesterday and they have shown that photographer Larry Birkhead is the father of Anna Nicole Smith's infant daughter, Dannielynn.

This should have not come as a surprise to anybody who remembered why Anna Nichole moved to the Bahamas' in the first place, to try and stop the paternity tests that Birkhead was requesting.

Now that the biggest part of this media circus is over, I still question why everyone was fighting over the infant in the first place. I'll bet if she was just a new infant, not the possible heir to a fortune, no one would have cared.

Only time will tell

The powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has been a thorn in the side of a democratic Iraq since US troops first rolled into Baghdad. Most people do not realize that one of the most powerful images of the Iraq war, the statue of Saddam Hussein being pulled down was not the "feel good" scene it was thought to be.

The Iraqi's crowded around the statue, chanting and beating on the statue with shoes once it made its historic decent to the ground were not what it appeared to be. The Iraqis were not chanting things about how wonderful the United States was, nor the coalition partners. They could have cared less, they knew who the real savior was going to be and they were chanting his name, Muqtada al-Sadr.

There was a time that I questioned the thought process behind one of our special teams not being sent to track him down, making an arrest or the probable firefight which would have occurred with security forces surrounding al-Sadr. Then it struck me, they had their hands tied, arresting Muqtada al-Sadr would have led to an all out civil war and increased attacks upon US troops as we had never before experienced, killing him would have been worse.

The on-going battle between the Sunni and Shiite sects in Iraq is not uncommon, each sect has a set of beliefs guiding them and creating hatred and distrust for the other. (An excellent source of reference describing the difference between Sunni and Shiite and what it means can be found here)

Now al-Sadr has issued a statement ordering his militiamen to redouble their battle to oust American forces, and argued that Iraq's army and police should join him in defeating "your archenemy." This will create additional problems for our troops with an expected increase in attacks and firefights.

The on-going problems and hatreds between the Sunni and the Shiite sects has created more problems for US troops than the Pentagon and Washington command structure ever imagined. It has been said by many command officers from the initial invasion that the question of what to do once Baghdad was taken had not been addressed when the battle plans for Iraq were being put together.

These same officers have openly stated they quickly discovered this oversight when asking their superior officers for guidance in the post invasion problems which immediately began to surface. They were told this had not been addressed, they should remember they were not a conquering force, but a force of liberation and to conduct themselves accordingly.

I first heard these comments made by officers while watching a military channel program which followed a few of the companies of troops during the initial invasion. I recall that I was totally taken by surprise at the remark the officer made. It was only a few days after they had entered Baghdad; they were in the process of setting up a command post somewhere and had encountered problems with the ever increasing Iraqi crowds. I immediately understood why a lot of our troops had difficulty with immediately making a transition from warrior to police mode.

Today, all of that is behind us and it has become clear that the invasion of Iraq had been well executed, but the non-existent post invasion plans has led us to this point in history where we appear to be wrong at every turn. What the future holds in Iraq is anybody's guess, only time will tell.

They have proof

Why is it that daily I see reports of weapons found or used against US troops that have been traced to Iran and nothing is being brought up in the United Nations general assembly about them?

Perhaps one of the Generals needs to commandeer a few Captains and march into the UN carrying samples of each rifle, handgun, military grade explosive, IED, rocket and whatever else they have laying around, drop them down on the desk of the head honcho at the assembly and see what they have to say about it.

I think this would be an interesting media event, of course the General and his men should notify the major media services in advance, sure can't raise a stink without the media there. The entire event could play out like the circus atmosphere at Anna Nichole's now famous, "where to bury the body" trial. That would be the fun part of the whole thing; we people of the lower cast could sit back in our chairs, make a bag of popcorn and watch the spin and different takes each of the media puts on the weapons of Iran.

The New York Times would see illegal events within the Bush Presidency that all came together to force Iran to send arms to Iraq. In a nutshell, they would say they have the proof that Bush's illegal programs made it possible and if he did not have them, there would be no weapons to Iraq, no crime in the United States, food on every table and the common cold would have been cured, it's all the President's fault, they have proof.

CNN would not just limit the problem to President Bush; they would show how the entire Republican Party conspired to bring about programs which permitted Iran to send the weapons to Iraq. Of course, like a shark sensing blood in the water they would see the possibility of getting rid of the party once and for all and not limit this to the politicians, but every member of the Republican part in the United States, all the Men, Women and teenagers of voting age, it is their fault for the weapons of Iran, they have proof.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, would see the New York Times and CNN at the United Nations claiming to have proof and hear that all of these weapons were sitting at the United Nations general assembly, sensing the hostilities which may unfold when the UN members pick the weapons up, she announces a diplomatic mission she is undertaking to the United Nations, where she will meet with various leaders of the uprising and attempt to calm things down before they get out of hand.

The Central Intelligence Agency will hear from their New York agents that the United Nations is planning an uprising, even Nancy Pelosi, is going there to calm things down, when asked for proof; they receive footage of members in military uniform dumping hundreds of weapons at the general assembly.

The CIA, never one to miss out on a possible uprising, conduct a nighttime fast rope into the parking lot of the United Nations, where they meet with two janitors and a cleaning woman who tell them, after hours, they are in charge. The agents give the three twenty million dollars to fund the uprising at the United Nations. They gratefully accept the money and soon after the agents depart, they book passage for Aruba.

The New York Times hears of two janitors and a cleaning woman who were given twenty million dollars by the CIA to conduct an uprising are in Aruba recruiting, they immediately publish an article stating they uncovered a secret program of President Bush's to fund janitors and cleaning people to fight in the war on terror and they have proof.

Yes, all in all it would be an interesting few days. Be sure to make a lot of popcorn.

How Tony Blair botched it all

Slate has an article this morning titled, "How Blair botched the Iran hostage crises," The article pointed out, "Has this been a diplomatic triumph for Blair or a humiliation for Britain?" asked the Daily Mail. Many people agree that it was the latter, all the way through Wednesday, when the ever-unpredictable Iranian president produced his dazzling coup de théâtre and announced the release of the prisoners. "The Clemency of Mahmoud" was a brilliant performance, a good deal better, certainly, than Tony Blair's."

The one thing I noticed about the whole UK captive situation was the manner in which the United States maintained a low profile throughout the entire crisis.

During meetings at the White House, President Bush was asked if the five Iranians arrested by US forces in Iraq should be freed to favor a possible release of the fifteen Britons, he replied, there should be no "quid pro quos" with Iran. The next comment, from Camp David was stronger worded when President Bush denounced the claims of territorial violations by Iran and called for the immediate release of the hostages.

The harshest wording the President used was calling Iran's actions, "inexcusable behavior."Wow, I'll bet that scared the beejeebes out of Iran. Bush never even called Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a big poo-poo head, something I've always thought a president should call someone.

Even Vice President Dick Cheney, who, when not stashed away in undisclosed locations, tends to say things that tick people off, did not have much to say except, "it was unfortunate that they were ever taken in the first place." Oh man, first President Bush and now Cheney too, can they become anymore insulting?

That was about it, no banging the war drums, dragging out all the photos of the 444 American citizen's standing before cameras with blindfolds over their eyes, drawing parallels to aid Briton in calling the incident an act of war, something that Tony Blair never did get around to saying.

There is a very good reason that the Bush administration, including the President himself kept a low vocal profile during the British crisis, they knew that Tony Blair had already slammed the lid down on his fingers, was wearing four Mickey and Donald Band-Aids and popping Advil every four hours, in other words, they knew that it was all over for Blair, all that was left was the pain to come. They knew it was over the moment Blair changed the tone of his public words from terse to that of pleading.

The initial warning Blair had imbedded within his words, "that his government would have to take increasingly tough decisions," quickly toned down to asking the United Nations for help with the captive crisis and it sent a message to Ahmadinejad that Blair was not going to pursue any military resolution, instead he needed help, so he went to the United Nations to beg for it. To Ahmadinejad, this was the same as running to your Mother because the bully won't give your ice cream back. To him, it was party time, he's going to Disneyland.

In one of my original posts on this incident, I stated that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had planned this incident in an effort to regain respect from within his country, nothing more and that is exactly what he did. If Ahmadinejad had made this move before the war in Iraq, he would have faced the possibility of a combined retaliation from both Briton and the United States, however, he read the cards right and his gamble worked, when by rights, it should not have.

Seeing Ahmadinejad swagger into the sunset knowing he just made Briton say Uncle, made me run looking for the barf bags, lots of them! The very thought of this chunk of human waste walking away from this incident, with newfound respect of the Middle East Muslim world and his own people while Tony Blair, faces humiliation, perhaps even worse. We can only hope the day will come when I no longer have to discuss this idiotic, disgusting excuse for a human being. I can only hope and wait for that day to arrive.

The Middle East – What’s next?

The bumpy ride in the Middle East,

US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sure is having a lot of fun, putting words in the mouths of Israeli and Syrian leaders, contradicting one another in what Pelosi had been announcing as a major breakthrough in the Middle East, at last that is what The Jerusalem Post is reporting.

The Washington Post, never one to avoid saying what they feel, has an article, titled, Pratfall in Damascus, Nancy Pelosi's foolish shuttle diplomacy. This morning is proving to be more entertaining as it progresses. Let me get another cup of coffee and explain things a bit.

Of course, Pelosi was only trying to show the world what a wonderful tactician and Middle East diplomat she truly was, when prudence should have dictated her keeping quiet on matters. Whether one of the two, Israel or Syria had made moves towards peace is immaterial now that Pelosi, in her desire to rub her achievements in the face of President Bush, broke the first rule of diplomacy, never tell the media what is truly going on behind those closed doors.

The Cheshire cat of Iran,

Can the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad become any more of a slimy looking toad, tongue posed like a voracious snake awaiting its prey? The Sun is reporting that this disgusting excuse for a human being actually was making sick jokes with one of the UK hostages. The Sun reported the scene in an article titled, Freed 15 taunted by Captors, they reported "With a creepy smile, the president asked captive Leading Seaman Chris Coe, 31: "Have you enjoyed your mandatory vacation?"

This throw-back to the Stone Age makes me nauseous, as The Sun reported; Ahmadinejad actually bragged to the world that he ordered their release as an Easter gift to the British people.

Here is a suggestion, once all of the hostages are safely home, reunited with loved ones, debriefed and their lives back to whatever normalcy they will see in awhile, let's send a thank you gift to Iran. The United States should team with Britton and send a little something for their continuous release of hostages, both the 1979 American hostage incident and the current UK 15 captives. Let's place one of our stealth bombers in the sky, loaded with a few nicely wrapped, smart bombs and send them to drop them on top of the head of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his friends.

After all, what would the world think if we were not thankful?

Richards said he snorted his father?

Keith Richards, the absolute, uncrowned king of all things in life having to do with being wasted. Over the years, I have read so many recipes’ for “one sip knocking you on your butt” drinks, morning coffee concoctions that some have sworn he consumes daily. Among other things, each of them would normally involve eight to twelve shots of espresso.

There have also been news reports of his wasted times, hang over’s and subsequent home made cures. Last year, one news report said that Richards fell from a coconut tree, a Jet Ski or a combination of the two. I recall reading this and muttering out loud, “Huh?”

If you think of what the article said, Richards either fell of the Jet Ski or the coconut tree, or a jet ski on top of a coconut tree. In any case, we are all aware that when it comes to Richards, it could have been all three combined.

I recently read an article on the filming of the next Pirates movie. You all are aware of the one I am talking about; in this one Richards is playing Jack Sparrow’s Father. The article stated that Richards arrived on the set, sober and happy to be in the film with his friend, Johnny Depp.

The Director sent Richards off to his trailer for a few hours, thinking it would give Richards time to relax, unwind and be ready for the big moment. The problem was, no one had informed the Director that Richards is never to be left alone, not for even one minute.

When it came time to film the scene, Richards came out of his trailer so intoxicated and who knows what, that he was actually unable to hold his legs still from falling backwards. When the next movie is released, look closely when Richards is on camera. He is only filmed from his knees up; the reason was the Director was laying on the ground holding Richards legs still long enough for the shot. The man is a legend in his own time.

Suffice to say, when an article relates to something Richards supposedly did, drank, consumed, whatever, there are moments when you feel it was something the publicity machines contrived, keeping his legend growing and intact. Not this time, this is straight from the mouth of Keith Richards, not a web site, or someone we never heard of.

Straight from the site, SHOWBUZZ, is this item, quoted directly and you must read it to believe it.

(AP) Keith Richards has acknowledged consuming a raft of illegal substances in his time, but this may top them all.

In comments published Tuesday, the 63-year-old Rolling Stones guitarist said he had snorted his father's ashes mixed with cocaine.

"The strangest thing I've tried to snort? My father. I snorted my father," Richards was quoted as saying by British music magazine NME.

"He was cremated and I couldn't resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow. My dad wouldn't have cared," he said. "... It went down pretty well, and I'm still alive."

Nancy Pelosi, Foreign Policy Expert, HUH?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has come a long way since the Democrats assumed majority control in the House of Representatives and in true gladiatorial mode said, “Let the political games begin!”, as they ventured into the political world of foreign policy on a quest to show President Bush exactly who runs the show in this town.

Yes, she has come a very long way indeed, all the way to Syria. I must stop right here say something that just struck me. What credentials does Pelosi have to act within the capacity of a foreign affairs representative for the United States?

Pelosi openly defied President Bush when she met with Syrian President Bashar Assad Wednesday for talks criticized by the White House as undermining American efforts to isolate the hard-line Arab country.

CBS News reported:

“She said the delegation gave the Syrian leader a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert whose essence was that Israel was ready to hold peace talks with Syria.

She did not say more about the message, but Israel has previously made such talks conditional on Syria's cutting off its support for hardline Palestinian groups and Hezbollah.

She did not reveal how Assad responded to the delegation's message on Hamas and Hezbollah. Syria hosts the exiled leadership of Hamas, as well as other Palestinian radical groups, and is a major patron of Hezbollah.

But while the United States regards Hamas and Hezbollah as terrorist groups, Syria insists that Hamas is a legitimate resistance movement working for Palestinian freedom and Hezbollah is a regular Lebanese political party.”

Of course, this now creates an entirely new position for Nancy Pelosi, she is the new foreign affairs expert for America, why not, she traveled to a foreign country, she meddled in other nation’s affairs that she had no idea of what they were supposed to be in the first place. Besides, don’t forget, she IS Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, in today’s politically charged climate that means she can do and say whatever she feels like saying and if President Bush does not like that, well, she will make him stand in the corner, until he does. (Visions of grander must go hand in hand with the job description)

Just because she is the Speaker of the House does not give her the authority, background or credentials to do anything in other parts of the world, except to see the sights and buy kewpie dolls for her children.

So, basically she decided to go out, show the world and of course, her nemesis, President Bush that she can do whatever the hell she wants to do and there is nothing anyone is going to do to stop her. I guess hoping the whole thing backfires in her face is asking for far too much, however, I will settle for some foreign dignitary telling her to go home. If that were to happen and it made the national news, I would buy two bottles of Dom Pérignon. Rosé Champagne for my Telewifey and I, so we could celebrate in style.

Things change, or have they

I grew up in the 1950 – 1960 era, the birth of rock and roll, Elvis, The Killer - Jerry Lee and a host of other memorable singers, music and songs that have stood the test of time. Some of the greatest minds have commented that music defined that generation, those of us who grew up back then know it for a fact.

Drive in movies that we never watched, it was a place to be alone with your girl, nobody cared about the aliens attacking, we were busy with our own lines of attack and overcoming defenses. Weekends or after school would always find us sitting at the soda fountain at the neighborhood drugstore or at weekend ball games in the park.

Our entertainment consisted of baseball, boxing, a good movie, working on your car to get the most speed we could, gas was cheap and oil was cheaper.

It was a very different time back then, jobs were plentiful, the cost of living was cheap, patriotism ran deep, five dollars nearly filled my gas tank, and family's spent time together, all in all, it truly was good times.

During that time of my life our television sets picked up three channels, four if we could ever figure out those new UHF antennas. Today our televisions are digital, receiving hundreds of channels in multiple languages. No longer do we have to make the trip to the roof, turning the antenna every which was but upside down to bring in the game better. Cable television rules our lives and our wallets, giving us everything from movies to telephone and light speed internet connections and anyone who ever used a 1200 baud modem will attest to that fact.

Today, we live within the digital age of science fiction, one foot in the Twilight Zone, the other in the Outer Limits, our lives balanced on the edge of tomorrow, our mind searching for the rational thoughts of yesterday.

We are 21^st Century, carbon based, digitally addicted Joan and Johnny Mnemonic's, laptop under our arms, Wi-Fi card in our shirt pocket, Bluetooth beeping into our ear, Blackberry on the hip, Starbucks in one hand, PSP in the other. We check our digital, GPS oriented, multiple time zones, watch with a special alarm telling us when the new Windows® or Linux release is going to be and begin running as fast as we can till we reach an intersection and stop. Data bits from a USB memory stick we stuck in our ear for additional brain storage is seeping into our conscious thoughts as we stand in the middle of the street screaming at the top of our lungs, "GIVE ME MORE TECHNOLOGY!"

Patriotism has become far less important in our lives and turned into a momentary thought when we see the troops on the news. A weekend ballgame is played on the Xbox, PS3, WII or our cell phone. Doctors prescribe prosaic to make us happier people, instead of a weekend relaxing with the family, why spend time together, that is what made us upset in the first place.

You know, when I think about all the changes, advances in science and our lives, I really don't think we have accomplished much at all.

 

Never left her side

My dearest friend recently lost her precious little buddy, a mini dachshund named, Zorro. His Mom was so happy when he first became part of her life. She stood in the living room holding him in her arms; he was happy and nuzzled against her neck. The two of them loved one another at first sight.

His Mom knew that her newfound little buddy had a life span of fifteen years and though not long enough, it was still fifteen years she could spend with him. Unfortunately, at the age of seven, cancer had different ideas, robbing him of life and his Mom of him.

He was a very small puppy when he came to add sunshine and love to the lives of my friend and her children. He was quickly given his name because of a black mask around his small eyes and a penchant for peeing in the shape of a "Z" when excited and happy to see you. Yes, it was pee and it was so cute and funny and his new Mom's floors were tiled, so it was cleaned up with a smile.

Zorro did not know it at the time, he was far too content being loved and adored by his new Mom, but he was a lucky little puppy. He had just become part of a very special family, one of pure love, happiness, laughter. I truthfully do not ever recall a time he was even scolded. His Mom believes in love, sunsets, a beautiful moon and the gift that we call life. Yes, Zorro was a lucky little guy.

Years passed, Zorro liked sleeping in bed with his Mom, but he was far too little to jump up on it. Lucky for him, His Mom is a problem solver and quickly took care of her buddy's problem; she had a ramp made so the little guy could walk up to snuggle next to his Mom at bedtime. Yes, he was a happy little guy.

Sad things happen in life, even to people with as much love for life and capacity to love within her as his Mom. She had surgery on her back, experienced a painful recovery and then diagnosed with a severe, possibly terminal illness. Before surgery she would swim laps daily, now it was difficult to take a step. I watched helpless as she slipped lower into the darkness of depression, my love for her was very deep, our friendship strong, yet I could only be there for her, someone to talk about her life and cry about her possible future with.

His Mom had Zorro and he had her, their lives intersected in happiness, now as she spiraled into depression, Zorro was there for his Mom. He was constantly at her side, nuzzling her, letting her know he was there. He would only walk down his ramp to go outside, something to eat or drink and back up the ramp to his Mom. She needed him, he knew it and he was determined to help her beat this. He loved his Mom, he wanted her back and his determination drove him on.

Zorro pulled his Mom back from the darkness; the little guy was her buddy and her salvation. His Mom was back and determined to get her life back. The two of them worked together, taking walks to regain her balance, drives in the car for shopping and holding him back from the neighbor's cat. They were both back.

They did not have a long time together though, one year after he pulled her back, she noticed he was bleeding from the muzzle and it had a horrible odor. At first the veterinarian diagnosed a gum problem, but shortly changed it to cancer. Zorro and her spent four days together, he stayed on her bed, she never left his side.