Our soccer team got demolished last night. Yeah, we're just playing for fun, and we're not supposed to care if we win or lose, yadda yadda. But, its definately no fun to lose 9 or so (we lost count) to nothing. We did hold them scoreless in the first half, but our lack of subs, playing a man down, and playing sick caught up with us and it became a scoring frenzy. Hopefully we'll have everyone back next week.
Found a new link:
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/. Its a reporter who is former Army Special Forces, and is independant of any news agency. He's actually funded by readers to stay in Iraq and report. Very good, first hand reporting. He goes on missions, and in his latest report, has to pick up a rifle to help his squad out in a tough situation.
The following story is courtesy of my sister-in-law Tiffany, enjoy:
A Wake Up Call From Luke AFB, AZ
Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that it was there long before they were.
A certain lieutenant colonel at Luke AFB deserves a big pat on the back. Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall. When that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must have stung quite a bit.
The complaint: "Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base: Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 a.m., a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns early bird special? Any response would be appreciated."
The response: Regarding "A wake-up call from Luke's jets" (Letters, Thursday): On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a.m., a perfectly timed four-ship flyby of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques. Capt. Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day. At 9 a.m. on June 15, his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend. Based on the letter writer's recount of the flyby, and because of the jet noise, I'm sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son's flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured. A four-ship flyby is a display of respect the Air Force pays to those who give their lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects. The letter writer asks, "Whom do we thank for the morning air show?" The 56th Fighter Wing will call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.
Lt. Col. Scott Pleus CO 63rd Fighter Squadron Luke AFB
So two weekends ago Ashley and I were returning from Peoria and we saw a funny cloud. We then realized it was a tornado. That was confirmed when we got closer and saw it rotating. After watching it for a few minutes it very quickly dissipated and returned to look like a normal cloud, again confirming that it was a tornado. Ashley took these pics with her cell phone.
A quick note about the cartoon first. I hear Democrats, in this state anyway, say they're going to relieve the tax burden by taxing companies. But what that does is 1) drive companies out of state (or Federally, out of the country) to avoid the extra taxes, 2) slow down the economy by lowering profits (which companies use to reinvest, expand, hire new employees, etc), and 3) the taxes are still paid by individual consumers, they get passed through the company and onto the consumer in the form of higher prices on goods. Democrats also oppose tax decreases and are in favor of tax increases, even when decreasing the percentage of tax taken actually increases the dollar amount of tax collected. Why are Democrats so bad at economics, perpetually?
So the surge is now officially a month in, and a new interim report looks good. Gen. Petraeus says things are going well, with captured or dead terrorist leaders. Baquaba and Anbar all but cleaned up. Al Qaeda is becoming a stench in the nostrils of Iraqis more everyday.
