Reports From the Bridge

The U.S. S. Constitution (Old Ironsides),

as a combat vessel, carried 48,600 gallons of  fresh water

 for her crew of 475 officers and men.

This was sufficient to last 
six months of sustained operations at sea.

She carried no evaporators

(i.e. fresh water distillers). 

However, let it be noted

that according to her ship’s log,

“On July 27, 1798, the U.S.S. Constitution sailed from Boston

with a full complement of 475 officers and men,

48,600 gallons of fresh water,

7,400 cannon shot,

11,600 pounds of black powder and 

79,400 gallons of rum.” 

Her mission:

“To destroy and harass English shipping.”

Making Jamaica on 6 October,

she took on 826 pounds of flour and 

68,300 gallons of rum. 

Then she headed for the Azores ,

arriving there 12 November.

She provisioned with 550 pounds of beef and 

64,300 gallons of Portuguese wine. 

On 18 November, she set sail for England .

In the ensuing days

she defeated five British men-of-war and

captured and scuttled 12 English merchant ships, 

salvaging only the rum 

aboard each. 

By 26 January,

her powder and shot were exhausted.

Nevertheless, although unarmed she made a night raid 
up the Firth of Clyde in Scotland .

Her landing party captured a 
whisky distillery and transferred 

40,000 gallons of single malt Scotch 

aboard by dawn.

Then she headed home. 

The U. S. S. Constitution

arrived in Boston on 20 February 1799,

with no cannon shot, no food, no powder, 

no rum, 

no wine, 

no whisky, 
and 

38,600 gallons of water. 

This isn’t current Captain Freeman passed away in 2008. He was a true hero
and deserves our remembrance and respect.

In this time of great uncertainty we could use more men like him.

Pray for our country and it’s people.

Courage.

You’re a 19 year old kid.

You’re critically wounded and dying in
the jungle somewhere in the Central Highlands of Viet Nam.

It’s November 11, 1967.

LZ (landing zone) X-ray.

Your
unit is outnumbered 8-1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 yards
away, that your CO (commanding officer) has ordered the MedEvac helicopters to
stop coming in.

You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you’re not getting out.

Your family is half way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again.

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

You look up to see a Huey coming in. But … It doesn’t seem real because no MedEvac markings are on it.

Captain Ed Freeman is coming in for you.

He’s not MedEvac so it’s not his job, but he heard the radio call and decided he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire anyway.

Even after the MedEvacs were ordered
not to come. He’s coming anyway.

And he drops it in and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 3 of you
at a time on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the doctors and nurses
and safety.

And, he kept coming back!! 13 more times!!
Until all the wounded were out. No one knew until the mission was over that the Captain had been hit 4 times in the legs
and left arm.

He took 29 of you and your buddies out that day. Some would not have made it without the Captain and his Huey.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Captain Ed Freeman, United States Air Force,
died last Wednesday at the age of 70, in Boise, Idaho .

May God Bless and Rest His Soul.

I bet you didn’t hear about this
hero’s passing, but we’ve sure seen
a whole bunch about Michael
Jackson and Tiger Woods.

Medal of Honor
Winner Captain Ed Freeman

Shame on the American media !!!

Something I thought you might like to read.

This is little-known story from the Pentagon on 09/11/2001.

“During a visit with a fellow chaplain, who happened to be assigned to
the Pentagon, I had a chance to hear a first-hand account of an incident
that happened right after Flight 77 hit the Pentagon. The chaplain told me
what happened at a Day-care Center near where the impact occurred.

This day care had many children, including infants who were in heavy
cribs.. The Day-care Supervisor, looking at all the children they needed
to evacuate, was in a panic over what they could do. There were many
children, mostly toddlers, as well as the infants that would need to be
taken out with the cribs. There was no time to try to bundle them into
carriers and strollers..

Just then a young Marine came running into the center and asked what
they needed. After hearing what the Center Director was trying to do, he ran
back out into the hallway and disappeared.

The Director thought, ‘well, here we are - on our own.’ But in about 2
minutes the Marine returned with 40 other Marines in tow. Each of them
grabbed a crib with a child, and the rest started gathering up toddlers.

The Director and her staff then helped them take all the children out of
the center and down toward a park on the Potomac near the Pentagon. Once
they got about 3/4 of a mile outside the building, the Marines stopped
in the park, and then did a fabulous thing - they formed a circle with the
cribs, which were quite sturdy and heavy, like the covered wagons in the
Old West.

Inside this circle of cribs, they put the toddlers, to keep them from
wandering off. Outside this circle were the 40 Marines, forming a
perimeter around the children and waiting for instructions. There they
remained until the parents could be notified and come get their
children.”

A controversy has erupted in the sport fishing community over a new federal management plan for oceans and Great Lakes waters. Recent opinion pieces circulating on the internet and reported on numerous radio stations have stoked the flames through revelations that the policy, if implemented, would prohibit recreational fishing within vast areas of public water.

It has also been reported that many organizations with a history of being against fishing access played large roles in its formation and that the plan could be finalized by the end of March with President Obama able to implement it through Executive Order. 

Despite the firestorm, it should be pointed out that the plan is not currently finalized and, according to a Department of the Interior fact sheet, the Administration denies any intent to restrict fishing access.  However, there remain causes for concern.

The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance (USSA) reported on the draft plan in October, 2009.  At the time a combination of factors raised concern with the USSA and other pro-fishing organizations that plan could result in restrictions on sport anglers.

First, there was a lack of any reference in the report to the positive impact recreational anglers have on aquatic conservation.  In turn, this raised an alarm as to what the framework for zoning in these waters will be when the final report is issued. 

Other factors included a history of anti-fishing interests that have been pushing the creation of “Marine Protected Areas” where angling would be prevented.  Several of these areas already exist off theCalifornia and Florida coasts. 

Additionally, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce that guides the use and protection of ocean and coastal resources, has also imposed restrictions on sport anglers in Alaska, the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic.  Finally, there is a general concern related to some of the key anti-hunting regulatory appointees made by the Obama Administration such as Cass Sunstein.

When looked at comprehensively, these factors made it necessary that the USSA and other groups ensure that the voice of recreational anglers be heard by the Administration during the formation of its policy.  According to several leading recreational fishing groups, this has not happened and those groups have urged supporters to make their concerns known to their members of Congress. 

For example, the American Sportfishing Association has stated  “It is important that the administration recognizes and promotes the economic and conservation contributions of outdoor recreation, including recreational fishing and boating.”

Jim Donofrio, the Executive Director of the Recreational Fishing Alliance (RFA) said in a recent press release that “I don’t think this president would consider banning recreational fishing outright, but it’s clear to us that the Obama Administration would like to severely restrict recreational fishing.”

Additionally, the U.S. House of Representatives Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus leadership, with the support of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation, has also sent a letter to President Obama stating that recreational fishing deserves “full consideration and incorporation” in the proposed plan.

The USSA joins these pro-fishing organizations, legislators and others in urging sportsmen to contact their U.S. Representatives and Senators about this proposed policy. It is essential that the Obama Administration appreciates the importance of recreational fishing to conservation and local economies. 

“Recreational anglers provide the bulk of the funding for fisheries and aquatic conservation,” said Bud Pidgeon, USSA president and CEO.  “Their voice should be heard before any policy is enacted limiting access and causing a decline in resources for conservation, not to mention job losses in areas supported by fishing.”

Take Action! Sportsmen are urged to contact their U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators and urge them to include recreational fishing protections in any federal management plan for the oceans and Great Lakes.

To find your members of Congress, visit the Legislative Action Center at www.ussportsmen.org/lac.
 Print this page Share: 
  
  
            

The following letter read on Glenn Beck’s show, is rapidly circulating around the country. Americans everywhere identify with this 53-year-old woman. She has given us a voice. Once you read this, you will want to forward it to all of your friends.
 

 
A woman in Arizona wrote an open letter to our nation’s leadership:
“I am a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me.   Instead, we are burdened with Congressional Dukes and Duchesses who think they know better than the citizens they are supposed to represent.
There must be someone.. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you’re willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written.
Please stand up now.
You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut-job am I? Well, these briefly are the views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration…. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S.., I’m not a racist. This is not to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the STIMULUS bill. I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you NO, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three, Czars. I want the circumvention of our constitutional checks and balancesstopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on and ignoring our Constitution, and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There are many conflicting opinions and it is too soon for this radical legislation. Quit throwing our nation into politically-correct quicksand.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision that will burden me, my children, and grandchildren. Don’t you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night without even reading it. Slow down!  Fix only what is broken — we have the best health care system in the world — and test any new program in one or two states first.

Six, growing government control. I want states’ rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. More is not better! Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real (Constitutional)obligations. Why don’t you start there?

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes — how did they pull that one off?  Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census with our taxpayer money. I don’t trust them with any of our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, helloooo. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people.. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs — and that is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person! Why do you want me to hate my employers? And what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Every company must sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we’ll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful…. (Have you ever ripped off a
Band-Aid?) We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let’s have it. Let’s say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please stop trying to manipulate and appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends…. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.
Take a breath. Listen to the people. Slow down and get some input from nonpoliticians and experts on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed-reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I’m busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in thechecks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not.
It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is needless urgency and recklessness in all of your recent spending of our tax dollars…

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making.. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on bringing our concerns to Washington . Our president often knows all the right buzzwords like unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don’t want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we’re morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done.. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we’re so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work, pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone . . . and we are now looking at you.
You have awakened sleeping bear, the patriotic freedom spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come.. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office.
We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn’t ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off.. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us who will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don’t care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and ourConstitution, and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more.. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you.
 
If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be, one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.”
 
 
 ”The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain
 the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the
 government, lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”
 
 Patrick Henry
 1736-1799
 

O K I HAD THE GUTS TO PUBLISH THIS WILL YOU PASS IT ON  ?

By Rush Limbaugh:

I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die serving our country in Uniform are profound. No one is really talking about it either, because you just don’t criticize anything having to do with September 11. Well, I can’t let the numbers pass by
because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of
this country. If you lost a family member in the September 11 attack, you’re
going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of
$250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million..
If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action,
the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.

Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get
$833 a month until you remarry. And there’s a payment of $211 per month for each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a
screeching halt.

Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining
that it’s not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers.. (Actually, soldiers are put in harms way by politicians and commanding
officers.)

We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have
started an organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families
are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the
embassies are now asking for compensation as well.

You see where this is going, don’t you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It’s just really sad. Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to
nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing.  Make sense?

However, our own US Congress voted themselves a raise. Many of you don’t know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month. And most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn’t have to pay into the system. If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an
E-7, they may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who
placed them in harm’s way receives a pension of $15,000 per month.

I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.

“When do we finally do something about this?” If this doesn’t seem fair to you, it is time to forward this to as many people as you can.

NOW IT’S UP TO YOU!!!!!!!!!

OK I’M BACK ON MY SOAP BOX 

 AFTER THE MIDNIGH VOTE THIS LAST SUNDAY  I THOUGHT A LITTLE HISTORY LESSON WAS NEEDED 

You can also check out the Snopes site at: 
http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=1166666>

                                IF THIS TEACHER HAS THE GUTS  TO SEND THIS,
WE SHOULD HAVE THE NERVE TO FORWARD  IT.  SHE WILL PROBABLY LOSE HER JOB.
DO  WE AMERICANS HAVE THE NERVE TO STAND BEHIND  HER?  IF WE AGREE, OR DO WE
JUST LET HER AND  OTHERS LIKE HER CARRY OUR LOAD?  INTERESTING  QUESTION.
                                Wow  Again…
                                This  4th grade teacher has said it all, and
she was brave  enough to attach her name to it.
                                April 17,  2009

                                The White House
                                1600 Pennsylvania  Avenue NW
                                Washington ,  DC     20500

                                Mr. Obama:
                                I have had  it with you and your
administration, sir. Your  conduct on your recent trip overseas has
                                convinced me that you are not an adequate
representative of the United States of America  collectively
                                or of me personally.

                                You are  so obsessed with appeasing the
Europeans and the  Muslim world that you have abdicated the
responsibilities of the President of the United  States of America . You are
responsible to the  citizens of the United States .. You are not
responsible to the peoples of any other country on  earth.

                                I personally resent that you go around  the
world apologizing for the United States telling  Europeans that we are
arrogant and do not care about  their status in the world. Sir, what do you
think  the First World War and the Second World War were  all about if not
the consideration of the peoples of  Europe ? Are you brain dead? What do
you think the  Marshall Plan was all about?  Do you not  understand or know
the history of the 20th  century?

                                Where do you get off telling a  Muslim
country that the United States does not  consider itself a Christian
country?  Have you  not read the Declaration of Independence or the
Constitution of the United States ?  This  country was founded on
Judeo-Christian ethics and  the principles governing this country, at least
until you came along, come directly from this  heritage.  Do you not
understand  this?

                                Your bowing to the king of Saudi Arabia  is
an affront to all Americans. Our President does  not bow down to anyone, let
alone the king of Saudi  Arabia . You didn’t show Great Britain , our best
and one of our oldest allies, the respect they  deserve yet you bow down to
the king of Saudi Arabia  .  How dare you, sir! How dare you!

                                You  can’t find the time to visit the graves
of our  greatest generation because you don’t want to offend  the Germans
but make time to visit a mosque in  Turkey … You offend our dead and every
veteran  when you give the Germans more respect than the  people who saved
the German people from themselves.  What’s the matter with you?  I am
convinced  that you and the members of your administration have  the
historical and intellectual depth of a mud  puddle and should be ashamed of
yourselves, all of  you..

                                You are so self-righteously offended by  the
big bankers and the American automobile  manufacturers yet do nothing about
the real thieves  in this situation, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Frank, Franklin  Raines,
Jamie Gorelic, the Fannie Mae bonuses, and  the Freddie Mac bonuses. What do
you intend to do  about them?  Anything?  I seriously doubt  it.

                                What about the U.S. House members  passing
out $9.1 million in bonuses to their staff  members on top of the $2.5
million in automatic pay  raises that lawmakers gave themselves?  I
understand the average House aide got a 17%  bonus.  I took a 5% cut in my
pay to save jobs  with my employer. You haven’t said anything about  that.
Who authorized that? I surely  didn’t!

                                Executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie  Mac
will be receiving $210 million in bonuses over  an eighteen-month period,
that’s $45 million more  than the AIG bonuses. In fact, Fannie and Freddie
executives have already been awarded $51 million not  a bad take. Who
authorized that and why haven’t you  expressed your outrage at this group
who are largely  responsible for the economic mess we have right  now?

                                I resent that you take me and my fellow
citizens as brain-dead and not caring about what you  idiots do. We are
watching what you are doing and we  are getting increasingly fed up with all
of you.

                                I also want you to know that I personally
find just about everything you do and say to be  offensive to every one of
my sensibilities.  I  promise you that I will work tirelessly to see that
you do not get a chance to spend two terms  destroying my beautiful country.
                                Sincerely,
                                Every real American

                                P.S. I rarely ask that emails be ‘passed
around’…………..PLEASE SEND THIS TO YOUR EMAIL  LIST……it’s past time
for all Americans to wake  up!

                                Ms Kathleen Lyday
                                Fourth Grade  Teacher
                                Grandview Elementary School
                                11470 Hwy  . C
                                Hillsboro , MO 63050
                                (636) 944-3291  Phone
                                (636) 944-3870 Fax