A Phone Call Home From A Marine Recruit

Yesterday (Sunday) morning, our phone rang and my wife answered it.

A female voice on the other end asked who she was speaking to, and then proceeded to ask her if she had a daughter at boot camp at Parris Island.

When my wife told her yes to these questions, the woman said “Your daughter wants to speak with you.”

I’m hearing all of this, and a thousand thoughts raced through my mind.

I figured this could not be good news because, a few weeks after she shipped, I happened to ask a recruiter if she would be allowed to have a phone card in case she found time to give us a call.
His response was that she would not have access to a phone while she was at boot, unless there was some sort of emergency.

By this time, my mind still going a mile a minute, I’m thinking that the past week was weapons qualification.

I must admit that the thought that she might have been injured didn’t enter my mind, rather I was afraid she had some bad news regarding qualifying, as in an earlier letter she has expressed serious doubts about being able to do well on the rifle range.

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Charlie Rangel Is An Amateur

Tax dodging.

Hiding income.

Ethics violations.

And the list goes on and on.

And Charlie may very well get away with a slap on the wrist.

What do I base that conclusion on?

Well, Charlie can’t hold a candle to Pennsylvania Congressman Paul Kanjorski.

In spite of the following story being all over the news, Kanjorski won re-election in 2008 and is running again in 2010.

If the voters wouldn’t hold accountable a man who funnels 10 million dollars to his own family, what the hell makes you think the House Ethics Committee is going to do anything to Charlie?

Read it for yourself:

TidbitsThursday, June 21, 2007 By: Leslie K. PaigeWastewatcher, June 2007
Congressman Kanjorski (D-Pa.) joins a mushrooming list of members of Congress whose earmarking habits are getting a lot of media attention.

Over an eight-year period, Rep. Kanjorski steered $10 million in earmarked federal funding (from the Energy and Defense Departments, as well as the Economic Development Administration) to Cornerstone Technologies, LLC, which employed his four nephews and his daughter as either owners or board members.

The ostensible purpose of the grants was to do research on using high-pressure jets of water to pulverize anthracite into microscopic particles for subsequent use in vehicle parts.

Cornerstone has now declared bankruptcy, but while contracts were flowing, the company was paying hefty salaries to at least two of Kanjorski’s nephews.

Not only was Cornerstone funded with federal contracts, one of its affiliates, Pennsylvania Micronics, run by other Kanjorski relatives, also benefited from subcontracts.

A former head of Penn State’s Energy Institute is quoted in a June 3, 2007 Scranton Times-Tribune as saying “It was like the Three Stooges meet anthracite.”

On The 8th Day God Created The Marine Corps

In the beginning was the word, and the word was God.
In the beginning was God, and all else was darkness and void,and without form.
So God created the heavens and the Earth.
He created the sun, and the moon, and the stars, so that light might pierce the darkness.
The Earth, God divided between the land and the sea,and these he filled with many assorted creatures.

And the dark, salty, slimey creatures that inhabited the murkey depths of the oceans, God called sailors.
And he dressed them accordingly.
They had little trousers that looked like bells at the bottom.
And their shirts had cute little flaps on them to hide the hickeys on their necks.
He also gave them long sideburns and shabby looking beards.
God nicknamed them “squids” and banished them to a lifetime at sea, so that normal folks would not have to associate with them.
To further identify these unloved creatures, he called them “petty” and “commodore”
instead of titles worthy of red-blooded men.

And the flakey creatures of the land, God called soldiers.
And with a twinkle in his eye, and a sense of humor that only he could have, God made their trousers too short and their covers too large.
He also made their pockets oversized,so that they may warm their hands.
And to adorn their uniforms, God gave them badges in quantities that only a dime store owner could appreciate.

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Our Troops Will Be Stuck In Iraq Forever

Or at least until we have a new administration in Washington.

The White House had announced in July that by August 1st National Guard troops would be stationed on the Arizona border, the main entrance point for illegal immigrants.

On August 11th, Department of Homeland Security chief Janet Napalitano said it would still be weeks before the troops, which were supposed to have been in place 10 days earlier, would begin to arrive.

The White House is blaming the delay on the difficulties involved in the logistics of the deployment.

So let me see if I understand this.

The same administration that is promising to begin bringing home thousands of U.S. troops from Iraq can’t figure out how to move 1,200 National Guard troops from one part of America to another part of America.

Don’t stop sending our troops the care packages just yet.

And Napolitano?
She’s doing what she usually does.

What’s Been Said About The United States Marine Corps

This is one of what is an ongoing series of posts
My daughter is currently at boot camp at MCRD Parris Island South Carolina
To see more of my writings for and about the United States Marine Corps, pay a visit to     Right Wing Wiz Kid

A Ship without Marines is like a garment without buttons.
Adm. David Dixon Porter, USN in a letter to
Colonel Commandant John Harris, USMC, 1863

Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman.
All other conditions are secondary.
Gen. A. M. Gray, USMC

The American Marines have it [pride], and benefit from it.
They are tough, cocky, sure of themselves and their buddies.
They can fight and they know it.
General Mark Clark, U.S. Army

The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and his rifle.
Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing, U.S. Army
Commander of American Forces in World War I

You cannot exaggerate about the Marines.
They are convinced, to the point of arrogance, that they are the most ferocious fighters on earth.
And the amusing thing about it is that they are.
Father Kevin Keaney
1st Marine Division Chaplain
Korean War

Marines I see as two breeds, Rottweilers or Dobermans, because Marines come in two varieties, big and mean, or skinny and mean.
They’re aggressive on the attack and tenacious on defense.
They’ve got really short hair and they always go for the throat.
RAdm. “Jay” R. Stark, USN; 10 November 1995

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Hope And Change Becomes Fear And Rage

Barack Obama rode a wave of deceit into the White House in 2008.

Many members of Congress will be riding that same wave of deceit out of town this November.

What the President and the members of his party still fail to grasp is that first, people are getting tired of hearing the blame for all of America’s ills laid at the doorstep of George Bush, and second, they don’t care!

They just want the problems fixed.

Two years into Obama’s term. and all we are hearing is that “if we hadn’t taken the steps we took, we would be even worse off.”

That is the biggest load of BS I have ever heard!

Even if it were the truth, it doesn’t matter!

The economy is still in the toilet.
We are still fighting two wars.
Congress continues to spend money we don’t have.
The threat of another horrific terrorsit attack is still looming.

And some of these numbskulls can’t figure out why the voters are so angry?

Please.

Health Care Amnesty For Illegal Aliens?

( I originally published the following during Hazleton Pennsylvania mayor Lou Barletta’s 2008 Congressional race.)

Today one of us was speaking to a woman who works in a physician’s office here in Hazleton.
She told us that because they treat Hispanic patients and get reimbursed through a federal program, the government has made a requirement that the office has to hire a translator.
According to this woman, the amount that the office is reimbursed would not make hiring a translator cost-effective.
She also made mention of the fact that Hazleton has many residents that have emigrated here from Eastern Europe, but that there is no requirement for a translator for these people because they have at least made an effort to learn to speak English!
What’s next, a translator riding on an ambulance?
Imagine an EMT or Paramedic responding to a call in Hazleton.

Chances are, the call they will be responding to will involve a person who doesn’t speak or understand English. The patient can’t tell the first-responder what’s wrong, and the EMT or Paramedic can’t make the patient understand what treatment they are trying to perform.
But you could be sure that if the person that was being treated didn’t feel that they received the highest level of care, the ACLU would be right there ready to file a lawsuit for negligence.

Anyway.

We didn’t want to put this lady on the spot.
We didn’t ask if she thought that any of the people being treated were illegals.
But we were left wondering what has happened to our country when a first-responder could possibly be sued for not speaking a foreign language, and how someone who claims not to speak or understand English still knows enough to receive free medical care.

Watch For The Comeback

As someone once said, rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

However.

The Freedom Medium has been silent for awhile because during the last 60 days I have (in no particular order):

Made a personal career change.

Gone through a near-death experience.

And watched my daughter leave for Parris Island.

Things are finally starting to return to what resembles normal, so stay tuned, our news and observations will be back soon.

Barack Obama Has A Memory Problem

Actually, his memory is fine.

However, just as most liberals choose to due, they tend to “forget” things that are not helpful when it comes to promoting their agenda.

President Obama’s nomination of Elena Kagan to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is a case in point.

Listen to Obama’s statements during this podcast on the nomination of Harriet Myers, then let’s see what happens if those “Party of NO” Republicans dare to attempt to subject Kagan to the sort of scrutiny that the President recommended.

There IS Still Hope For America

I will admit that from time to time I suffer from a feeling of despair when it comes to the future of this country.

Although one part my mind tells me that this is still the greatest country on earth, the other realizes that we a facing threats the likes of which are unprecedented in our history, many of  them coming from within.

The forces of liberalism, led by the Messiah, President Obama, continue to unleash daily attacks on all of the principles that America was founded upon.

I don’t need to spell out the details of the matters to which I am reffering, we all have our own feelings on the subject.

I’m here to tell you that all is not lost, and my faith in our ability to overcome Obama and his liberal cronies has been renewed.

This past Sunday, my daughter, who leaves for Marine Corps boot camp in a little over a week, graduated from college.

Among the family members joining my wife, son and I at the ceremonies was a young lady, a friend of my daughter’s, who is currently serving in the USMC.

She wore her dress blues uniform, and the reaction of many of the people in attendance is what has brought back my belief in the future of our country.

I lost track of the number of people who approached this young woman and expressed their gratitude for her service.

This outpouring of sentiment continued when the five of us went to dinner, people would approach our table, apologize for the intrusion, and tell her “Thank you for all that you do.”

More proof that despite the best efforts of those on the left, Lady Liberty’s torch is still burning brightly.

Semper Fi

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