Friday, June 29, 2007

Cuba and Terrorism

My friend Carlo, an Italian blogger at I Diavoli Neri, has painstakingly translated the following post from Italian to English and has asked that I cross post it here. Carlo focuses on terrorism and his European perspective would be beneficial to Americans. Patriotic Italians are watching their beloved country disappear... it should be a cautionary tale for all of us here in the United States.... Visit Carlo often.

My apologies to Carlo for not getting this posted sooner. He and his colleagues put a lot of research into this piece. If you are interested I can forward several links and books that were used to write this post.

“The people and the governments of Iran and Cuba can put the United States of America on their knees.”

International terrorism is an evil that attacks without making distinctions. It is a tie that joins those that use death and destruction as instruments to seed terror among the people whom they want to subdue. The targets are usually innocent victims used in order to leave tangible proof of their ability to bring damage. Contemporary terrorism is an effort aimed to tear apart and destroy the established democratic order. Its power is based on the degree of coldness with which it brings to term the crime. We are not speaking about isolated groups of disconnected actions, but of a solidly structured international net in which various keys of reading the phenomenon can be found. Masked by ideologies or religions, they share deep nexuses with the most ominous of the feelings: hatred.

“Above all we must maintain our hatred alive and feed it until the paroxysm”, these are the words of the guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara shortly before his death. His message of goodbye indicated the use of hatred as an instrument to fight with. “Intransigents hatred towards the enemy takes the human being beyond his limits and makes him a cold and selective machine in order to kill”.

This macabre message became the official creed of every Cuban sent to fight in international wars and the philosophy of every contemporary group of guerrillas.

During the last 40 years, international terrorism has had an ominous godfather in the figure of Fidel Castro.

The president of the United States, George W.Bush, as answer to the terrorist attacks of 11th Septembers 2001 has perceived that the guilty will not escape and not even those who host or protect them. Just look in the direction 90 miles south of Florida and you’ll find a paradise for terrorists and fugitives that live under the protection of the Cuban regimen.
At the evidence of the recent facts, as the arrest of Ana Belèn Montes, civil employee of the Department of the defence (the Pentagon) of the United States, accused of being a spy of Cuba and arrested ten days after the 11 attacks of September, rises series questions.

Which role plays Fidel Castro in the sale of information to the terrorist countries? The arrests and the sentences of five spies (in reality they are 11 but there hasn’t been any mention of them *) of the call Avispa Net and the admissions of guilt from part of the remaining seven members have cleared that more than to spy on exiled Cuban the priorities for Cuba was possession of information on the American military bases and the introduction of weapons through the islands of Florida.

The island of Cuba for its privileged vicinity to the United States continues to be a springboard for the contraband.

A day before the attacks against the Twin Towers and the Pentagon has been published the news of the arrest of four Chinese citizens responsible of traffic of human beings, who, for the cost of 60.000 dollars per person introduced clandestine in American territory making them pass through Cuba and other islands of the Caribbean’s. An other fact worthy of attention: three Afghanistan citizens were arrested on the Cayman Islands have been accused of being entered illegally in American territory, coming from Cuba. Even more worrisome is the testimony of an Afghan deserter who was trained in one of the camps of Osama Bin Laden in mountains of Kunar. He has testified of the presence of Sudanese, Libyan and Cuban chemical weapons.
How not to believe that Fidel Castro is still a key person in the logistic aid to the international terrorism?
It’s very probable that the disinformation supplied by the spy Belen Montes has changed the general perception making to believe that Castro does not represent a threat for the United States. Instead his arrest right after the 11th of September evidence that the perception has changed.
The annual report of the American Department of State that designs the profiles of the protagonists of the world-wide terrorism includes Cuba in the list of the states connected with the terrorism. The American secretary of state, Donald Rumsfeld, has spoken to the television net CBS last year in order to evidence the connection: “we know which states figure in the list of the terrorist countries, the Irak is one of these, like Syria, North Korea, Cuba and also the Libya. We know that these states have supplied protection and attendance to terrorist organizations in order to carry to term terrorist action in other countries”.
Secretary Rumsfeld has emphasized that these countries are very active in programs of chemical and bacteriological war.
Osama Bin Laden is considered the main one in charge of the crime that has cost the life of more than 6000 civil citizens on the 11th September. But facts as these are the result of the actions of extremists who have found formation, training, and economic and professional support in a wide international terrorist net.

For more than 40 years Cuba has been one key factor in such net of the terror.
The recent arrest of the “ambassador” of the Irish army Niall Connolly, sent to collaborate with the Columbian guerrilla, has rendered public the fact that the Irish terrorist Sien Fein lives and operates in Cuba for the last five years and has contacted the Columbian guerrilla with the aid of the Cuban intelligence agencies. The foreign minister of Spain, without worrying of the interests of the Spanish investors on the island, has accused the Havana of giving asylum and logistic support to the Basque terrorists of the ETA. Ieng Sary, one of the heads of the Khmer Rossi, in charge of the murder of more than two million Cambodians, has bought a small farm at Cuba to escape from the justice and “to live in peace”. FBI has denounced that Cuba accommodates at least 77 persons wanted by the American justice. The visit of Fidel Castro on May of 2001 in the Arabic countries and his provocative declarations against the government of America, gives the prove of the role that still today Cuba plays as epicentre of the international terrorism.

According to the newspaper Ettelaat, Fidel Castro has been received by hundred of students of the Tarbiate-Modarres University of Tehran, who shouted: “guerrilla! Guerrilla!” The answer of the godfather of the narcoterrorism has been, according to the Kayhan newspaper: “There’s only one remaining Sha in the world, and that Sha is the American imperialism ........ close to my native land. It’s a profiteer Sha, and therefore as the one of the Iran has been taken down, also this Sha will fall”.

The Cuban connection with the international terrorism was born in the beginning of sixties. Under the cover of doctors and teachers thousands of Cubans were sent in Algeria.

Only two years later there was the Marxist military coup in that region.

The new leader of Zanzibar took control of the African island in 1964 after he had passed three years training himself and his men at Cuba.
John Okello triggered a slaughter comparable to the one of Fidel Castro when he took the power in 1959. Using terror Cuba created a solid operating base in the continent Africa where they trained guerrillas of low price to be exported, as courtesy of Fidel Castro.
In Guinea the Cuban councilmen were “genizaros” who accompanied Francisco Macias Nguema until the term of his reign of the terror, in charge of the death of 50 thousand of the 350 thousand citizens of the former Spanish colony.
In the summer of the 1968 the range of action was increased.
The Soviet Union, which thanks to the generous economic subsidies removed Cuba its self-determination, asked Fidel Castro to deliver the command of his politics to the Kremlin and to put his intelligence agencies at disposal of the K.g.b. Just during that summer, the Arabic Communists gathered at Moscow, received the order to infiltrate spies in the Palestinian armed movement. The Soviet master gave the orders and Cuba executed them, rendering its territory land of training of terrorists of several tendencies and nationalities.
The bases for these subversive operations were created in January of 1966.
At the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, to which assisted 513 delegated representatives of 83 groups of the third world: the base was the conviction to undertake the Armed Struggle against imperialism; Fidel Castro opened the doors of Cuba to the terrorism with its unconditioned support to all the revolutionary movements of the world.
From that moment the new front was an organization, with it’s headquarters in Cuba, of solidarity with the African, Asiatic and Latin American countries, known to us with the name OSPAAL. Its first general secretary was the famous murderer Osmany Cienfuegos. His cruelty in locking up more than 100 prisoners in a watertightly closed truck and the consequence of the deathf for asphyxia of many of these, conferred him all the titles for this new assignment.
The radical left of Africa, Europe, Asia, North and South America, has remained united to bless Fidel Castro in his disheartening language of the violence.
Disorders were created in France, Germany, in the Universities of the United States and in Turkey. The noise of the weapons jolt also Japan with the lead of the extremist Zengakuren. The violence burst in the Basque territories and in North Ireland.

In every single hotbed has been found the Cuban presence.

The doctrine of the red book of Mao Tse Tung and the logorrhoea rhetorical of Fidel Castro contaminated the minds of the young people and in the meantime at Beirut, George Habash inaugurated a new style of terrorism sending a command to divert an airplane of El Al at Rome, where another protect of Fidel Castro, the outlandish billionaire Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, made public appeal to the guerrilla war.
At Rio de Janeiro, Carlos Maringhella published the mini manual of the guerrilla, and the Havana took charge of its distribution. Fidel Castro received thousand of Soviet technicians who imposed the voluntary of Kremlin.
One of the most important was Victor Simenov which was put at the head of the General Direction office of Cuban counter intelligence (DGI).
All international terrorist movements of the time had a debit with the Havana. All received training at Cuba and economic and logistic aids in the Cuban embassies all over the world.
A colonel of the K.g.b., certain Vadim Kotchergine was the person in charge to make sure that Fidel Castro wouldn’t carry out his apocalyptic plans of destruction.
The demand of Castro to Nikita Khrushchev to launch missiles towards the United States during the Crisis of October was a warning for the Soviets not to leave the liberty of decisions to the “crazy Caribbean”.
In the beginning of the seventies, a deserter of the DGI, Orlando Castro Hidalgo, testified in front of the American Senate. Castro Hidalgo illustrated the complex net of support that Cuba offered through its embassies to the terrorist movements.
Money, airplane tickets, lodging, passports and visas were only some of the facilities that Cuba dispensed generously, while its population was victim of poverty, made official by the rationing ticket.
Later his superior commander and head of the Cuban mission in France, Armando Lopez Orta, a general of the DGI who operated with the coded name of “Archimedes”, was expelled from France in order to have given logistic support to Carlos Ilich Ramirez, the famous Venezuelan terrorist (remember the nationality and make the pair with Chavez) called “the jackal”. The Cuban embassies all over the world fed one complex net of terrorists and began also to put into effect recruitment on wide scale.

An other official of the DGI, Adalberto Quintana, became important for the development of a complex net that expanded quickly all over the world. The “Brigadas Venceremos” were created with the scope to destabilize the “enemy of the north”. Thousand of American students were trained to the art of creating chaos in large-scale, encourage riots and violent action. There are documents of the lessons given in the training fields of Cuba: the ingenuous Americans were deceived of facts as in lack of weapons a piece of wood with a nail can be as effective as a gun.

Later the Sandinistas and the Palestinian were those who enjoyed the greater attention regarding the training. The soldiers who carried the terror in Nicaragua in the Sandinista age were all trained in Cuba.
Then arrived Yasser Arafat together with George Habash in Havana in order to create the bases for the beginning of a long one and continues Cuban cooperation with the Palestinian movements and the terrorist regimes in medium orient that are still today in power. The complex net of support offered from the Cuban embassies to Syria and the Libya serves as cover for the terrorist groups of the Middle East.
In the United States at time the Cuban ambassador to the UN, Ricardo Alarcon, supported the Palestinian openly. The Cuban embassy at Cyprus supplied weapons to the OLP.
In 1978 as documented by the Lebanese press, the first “Cuban councilmen” arrived in the OLP training fields. In the same year Reuter’s agency confirmed that thousands of adept’s of the OLP received training in Cuba.
This was the result of the agreement signed by Castro and Arafat for the military cooperation and the supply of weapons to the Palestinian territories.
Fidel Castro didn’t miss to manifest for the umpteenth time his anti-imperialism denouncing the agreements of Camp David as “betrayal” (and the push of the world-wide left made them shipwreck when it seemed that the peace was on hand, writers note).
An year later the English newspaper The Economist revealed unquestionable proof of the cooperation between Cuba and OLP in order to offer training to the guerrillas.
This time the scene would have been the Central America. Once again the plague of the armed conflicts that threatened the western hemisphere had its origins in Havana.
In the south Yemen an other front of cooperation with Cuba had been created. The guerrilla training from Cuban instructors was received from Germans of de Baader Meinhof to the Japanese, Turks, Iranians, Armenians, curdi, Italians and French.
In Algeria similar conditions for the training of the Polisario front was created with the aid of Cuban staff masked as doctors and teachers.
In 1980 when Muammar Gheddafi took under his protection the Basque terrorists 150 Cuban instructors were in charge of training the Basques who still today seed terror in Spain.
The cooperation of Cuba with Syria and Lebanon proved important in the destitution of the Sha of Persia in Iran.
The activities reached the point that, according to the Swiss newspaper Journal de Geneva, Sam missiles were transported together with a contingent by Soviet ships that disembarked in the Arabic country with fake passports, working permissions and optimal acquaintance of the dialects and the habits of the various countries of the zone.
Courtesy of Cuba, many of them had been perfectly trained on the art of the city guerrilla, the fight in the desert, demolition operations and sabotage to oil installations etc.
These tactics, later, would have been taught to the Columbian guerrillas of the FARC (Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias colombianas) and to the ELN Army of national liberation that still today have active bases in Cuba.
In that period in all Cuba rises camps that have been used for the training of various Latin American groups like the Montoneros Argentine, the Tupamaros Uruguayan and Luminous Sendero in Perù. In less than 3 months an inexpert young person acquired the authority in the use of explosives, sabotage and city guerrilla.
Once again Cuba was in charge of the spilling of blood in the American continent. And in eighties the export of the terror took a militarist fold when the Cuban troops reached Africa and the Arabic countries.
NATO sources in Brussels informed that among the corpses recovered in the North Yemen there were Cubans.
Later the conflict in Angola left a wake of death and devastation with the aid of Cuban troops. Fidel Castro, as Osama Bin Laden is a harmful element that feeds himself of hatred in order to prevail his terrible doctrines.
Both expect to dominate the free societies through the terror. Both have passed the frontiers of theirs feuds in order to diffuse the terror in the humanity.
In the last Latin American apex at Panama, the president of the Salvador, Francisco Flores had the courage to face the Cuban dictator and remember him his responsibility in having scattered much blood in the Salvador while many other coward presidents remained mute.
The president George W. Bush has said that this war against terrorism will persecute and punish the guilty and their accomplices.

There is a phrase that upsets particularly the Cuban dictator: “either they are with us or they are with the terrorists” (the Italian government has made its choice).
The enormous file of Fidel Castro indicates that to the commander remains few friends.

Ninoska Perez Castellon
Miami, Florida
Settembre 2001

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Deerfield Township Lights Up the Fourth of July

Kyle asked that I pass this along so if you are in the Cincinnati area on July 4---- stop by!!


Deerfield Township Lights Up the Fourth of July

Deerfield Honors Veterans Committee Holds Flag Raising at Veterans Park


June 27, 2007 – Raising the flag on the Fourth of July is always a poignant event, but this year it is particularly significant for the Deerfield Honors Veterans Committee. The group will hold a flag raising ceremony at 10 a.m. on July 4, 2007, to mark progress made to the Deerfield Honors Veterans Memorial Park. Keith Maupin, father of soldier Matt Maupin, will attend, as well as members of the Yellow Ribbon Foundation and the national group Let Us Never Forget.

The Deerfield Honors Veterans Committee was recently able to add lights to the flagpole, which will allow the flag to fly continuously, and in a few weeks the concrete slab around the flagpole will be in place. Committee members are also working to add a monument with paver stones for tri-state fallen heroes of the Iraqi and Afghanistan war. The next phase of construction at the Veterans Park will include a bell tower.

Deerfield Honors Veterans Committee still needs donations and encourages everyone to be a part of this lasting tribute to our heroes. Please mail a check, payable to Deerfield Honors Veterans, Inc., to 7818 Woodside Court; Maineville, Ohio 45039. See the plan for the park and purchase pavers online at www.deerfieldhonorsveterans.org.

For more information contact Director of Public Relations Fran M. Klatte at 513.701.6958 ext. 1102.

Deerfield Honors Veterans

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Sunday Song, Men In Black


Science Fiction Escape

Sunny - Hi 113 Lo 87 for Baghdad, Iraq
Mostly Sunny - Hi 105 Lo 77 for Qandahar, Afghanistan
Scattered Thunderstorms (I hope) - Hi 90 Lo 71 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: Men In Black,
Will Smith

Ramble:

I am still not up to writing or dealing with anything of a personal persuasion and I am certainly not up to facing the realities of our current government. When did the Republicans Jump the Shark?? Have I stepped into some sort of Twilight Zone episode where black is white, right is wrong, and 2 + 2 = 5?

So Rod Serling speaks...

"You walk into this room at your own risk, because it leads to the future, not a future that will be but, one that might be. This is not a new world, it is simply an extension of what began in the old one. It has patterned itself after every dictator who has ever planted the ripping imprint of a boot on the pages of history since the beginning of time. It has refinements, technological advancements, and a more sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom. But like every one of the superstates that preceded it, it has one iron rule: logic is an enemy and truth is a menace..."

-The Obsolete Man, Season 2 from The Twilight Zone

-- If you are a Twilight Zone fan, that came from the introduction to an episode starring Burgess Meredith as a librarian. GREAT EPISODE!

Where was I? OH yes-- I am not facing reality. Instead, I am going to take a look at some of my favorite movies that allow me to escape into another time, another place be it a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away or into some demented twisted dark vision of the future. I'm going to escape into a world of science fiction... Please join me.

sci'ence-fic'tion (sī'əns-fĭk'shən) n. A literary or cinematic genre in which fantasy, typically based on speculative scientific discoveries or developments, environmental changes, space travel, or life on other planets, forms part of the plot or background. - American Heritage Dictionary

If you watch the trailers, be sure to turn off the Sunday Song.

In no particular order:

The Empire Strikes Back, 1980 - This is my favorite of the three six movies. By far it is the darkest of them all. No need to explore it any further, if you haven't seen it, you aren't interested. Right?



Lord of the Rings - the entire trilogy
Fellowship of the Ring, 2001
The Two Towers, 2002
The Return of the King, 2003
- Peter Jackson hit the mark on every count.





Star Wars, 1977 - This movie captivated all of us. It was a new world that George Lucas created. It wasn't just about the special effects, which were amazing. It was about all of us walking into a theater and experiencing a world none of us had ever seen. It was about good overcoming evil. It was about heroes. It was about the imperfections found in heroes. It was about all of us cheering at the end when the Death Star was blown to bits. We bought into all of it and we loved it.




Brazil, 1985 -Terry Gilliam, best known for his animation for Monty Python created this world that is set in the future but somehow is so very familiar. This is a look at bureaucracy when a simple typographical error is made. If you have never seen this before, it's fun, it's dark. Robert DeNiro is great as Harry Tuttle. Great score.




Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 1977 - Writer/Director Steven Spielberg nailed it. John Williams created the perfect score which in this case was also an integral character - again. WE ARE NOT ALONE.



Young Frankenstein, 1974 - Gene Wilder wrote it, Mel Brooks directed it and scary mad scientist was never more hysterical. One of my all time favorite movies.




Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, 1954 - Back when I was a kid when there were only 3 channels, 4 if you counted UHF (and could get it), there was a Sunday show called Creature Feature on Channel 19 WXIX tv. It was great. I have only seen the original Japanese version once (and Raymond Burr isn't in that version). Terrific fun.




Japanese trailer

Blade Runner, 1982 - I did not realize that Ridley Scott directed this movie. It is one of my favorites and I typically don't like his work... Crap, what if I'm a replicant?




Metropolis, 1927 - I haven't seen this movie in a very long time (I have never replaced my VHS tape). Visually, it is stunning and a great example of German Expressionism. If you are unclear on what communism is, check out this movie.




The Terminator, 1984 - Before The Titanic, James Cameron wrote and directed this little movie. I have to wonder if he wrote in Arnold's accent. Can you change the future by changing the past? "Arr yu Sa-rah Conna?"




Alien, 1979 - Another one directed by Ridley Scott. Maybe I don't dislike him as much as I thought.



Soylent Green, 1973 - One summer while at my grandparents I stayed up and watched the late late show and this was the movie. Oh My Gawd! I decided I would never live in New York City because of this movie. "Soylent Green is made from ____!!!!"



Logan's Run, 1976 - This movie scared the crap out of me when I first saw it. I think by today's standards it will appear dated and hokey. I don't care. I still love it.




King Kong, 1933 - A classic.



The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951 - Cold War inspired.




The Blob, 1958 - OK this was another Creature Feature movie... BUT besides the Blob, this starred the forever cool Steve McQueen. It doesn't get any better than that.


There are others-- E.T. The Extraterrestrial, Men In Black I and II, The Abyss, Sleeper, Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Omega Man, and Planet of the Apes.

And I do realize I do not have Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey listed. Just not crazy about it... Did I miss any of your favorites?

Have a great week everyone!

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Sunday Song, I Want You To Be My Love

A Quiet Sunday

Sunny - Hi 114 Lo 86 for Baghdad, Iraq
Morning Rain - Hi 103 Lo 71 for Qandahar, Afghanistan
Partly Cloudy - Hi 95 Lo 72 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: I Want You To Be My Love, Over the Rhine

I am smitten with this duo, Over the Rhine. Not because they formed in my hometown of Cincinnati or even because they named themselves after a historic (and sadly run down) part of the city, but because they are talented. This song is sweet and melodic and comforting. The indie video I found goes hand in hand. I hope you enjoy it.

Ramble:

I don't have the heart to write this week... enjoy your Sunday, have some coffee and listen to my music selection.

...and to all the wonderful fathers out there... Happy Father's Day.

Blogs and Links to Check Out This Week:

I try to visit LindaSog at Something and Half of Something a few times of week. She loves Marines almost as much as me...

Anyway, she put up a link that held me captivated for a good solid hour the other night. It is a tribute to Army Corporal Chris Mason. Chris' father sent an email....

I miss Chris today, more then ever; I was riding my bike and found tears running
down my face. I love my son, but he loved freedom more then he loved life it's
self.

Here is a link to Chris' MySpace that has been lovingly cared for by his father. I encourage you to watch all the videos... It is a reminder that on this day- we have sons and fathers in harms way... and we have sons and fathers waiting for loved ones in harms way to come home safe. Please, go, go now.

Lastly, in the next few days I'll be posting an intense piece written by my Italian buddy, Carlo at I Diavoli Neri. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the words.

Happy Father's Day and Have a great week everyone!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Why Kyle Is One of My Most Favorite People

I have written about Kyle a number of times on this little blog. Why? Because he is one helluv an American. He is also quite creative in calling out the bad guys.... Michael and I first met him because we saw a sign he was carrying at a Pro America rally (hosted by Glenn Beck) up in Cleveland back in 2003. The sign?



Well, Kyle is at it again...

MT. CARMEL - Kyle is taking a different approach to fighting crime by shaming the thief, or thieves, who stole an American flag with a sign outside of Smyth Automotive...

The auto parts store's marquee sign that usually advertises store specials now reads: "Bring Back Our Flag You Faceless Coward."

Read the rest here.



Kyle- You make me proud to know you!

Semper Fi!!

Saturday, June 09, 2007

I Know It Is Not Really Getting Better

Sunny - Hi 107 Lo 81 for Baghdad, Iraq
Sunny - Hi 108 Lo 78 for Qandahar, Afghanistan
Sunny - Hi 82 Lo 59 for Northern KY, USA

Song of the week: Let Go,
Frou Frou

I have been remiss for not including Afghanistan in my weekly weather report.

Ramble:

I am very fortunate to be 42 years old and still have my grandparents. My father's parents have been and are still a vital part of my life. When my mother was working 18 hour days my brother and I would go off to my grandparents for the summer. My grandmother taught me how to set a table, polish silverware and play make believe, how to embroider, play solitaire, Chinese checkers, and jacks. My grandfather taught me the difference between a buckeye and a walnut tree. He taught me how to look at cloud formations and tell whether or not a storm was headed our way. He taught me how to put a worm on a fishing hook and how to go crawdad (craw-fish)hunting down in the crick (creek). I would call my grandmother every single day all the way through high school to tell her about my day. My grandfather was always working... whether it was at the job or in the yard or in his workshop (where to this day in one of the rafters is the Playboy photo of Marilyn Monroe)... I remember running out to be with him and he would be standing there using a rake or a shovel to lean against while he swigged down a bottle of Coca-Cola and staring at the sky. I would ask him what he was looking at and he would always respond by telling me about "that hawk is getting ready to get himself some dinner" or "that squirrel is getting ready for a bad winter". All of my idiosyncrasies come from my mother and my grandparents. Words in my vocabulary do not begin to express how important they are to me.

I must have been about 30 years old when it occurred to me that they had become... old... I don't remember what specifically triggered this realization... it just happened... My grandparents were old... that they weren't going to be around forever. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it simply had never occurred to me and that understanding hit me like a ton of bricks.

These are the folks that taught me respect and self discipline. They taught me to find appreciation in simple things - nature, music, a good book, imagination, falling asleep in a hammock under the stars, The Tonight Show...they taught me that love of country was important-- to always stand with my hand on my heart during The Star Spangled Banner... that freedom and liberty were things worth dying for...

The dichotomy was they also taught me through their example to be afraid of everything... to be suspicious and not trust others... I know now this is a direct result of how they were raised especially my grandmother. No doubt it was also a direct result of losing their daughter at the tender age of five to leukemia. Because of this, Terry and I were always "protected" from ourselves. My grandmother was/is an amazing cook and she never taught me. She was convinced I would get hurt in the kitchen... with a knife or on the stove...

In any event, I hate that they are old- I don't want them to die. But what is worse and this was my epiphany on Saturday... is that they hate it more. My grandfather just can't get around like he used to- he has no energy, he can't breathe. My grandmother is feeble- this was a woman of strong German stock and she used to tower over me... she is now so much tinier than me and bent over with osteoporosis. My grandfather forgets that he is limited and will continuously overdue it and that will cause him to be sick for days. They both suffer from depression-- My grandmother because her mind is still sharp as a tack and she is such a stickler about keeping things just so-so but no longer has the ability. My grandfather because he is slowly forgetting things and knows it. Today as my grandfather and I were running his errands he was still insistent on opening doors for me... At one point he said, "Cass, I just can't do this anymore... I'm puny, I'm feeble."

My grandparents... I love them. They would do anything... anything... anything for my brother and me. I pray that they put their faith in God. They are tired of living but too afraid to die. I just don't know how to make them feel better except to be there for them...

Blogs and Links to Check Out This Week:

Stop in and say hello to DragonLady. She and her family have suffered a loss.

Let Go

Drink up baby down
Are you in or are you out?
Leave your things behind
'Cause it's all going off without you
Excuse me too busy you're writing your tragedy
These mishaps
You bubble-wrap
When you've no idea what you're like

So, let go, let go
Jump in
Oh well, what you waiting for?
It's all right
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown
So, let go, l-let go
Just get in
Oh, it's so amazing here
It's all right
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

It gains the more it gives
And then it rises with the fall
So hand me that remote
Can't you see that all that stuffs a sideshow?
Such boundless pleasure
We've no time for later
Now you can't await
Your own arrival
You've twenty seconds to comply

So, let go, so let go
Jump in
Oh well, what you waiting for?
It's alright
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown
So, let go, yeah let go
Just get in
Oh, it's so amazing here
It's all right
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

So, let go, so let go
Jump in
Oh well, what you waiting for?
It's alright
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown
So, let go, yeah let go
Just get in
Oh, it's so amazing here
It's all right
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

In the breakdown
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown
The breakdown

So amazing here
'Cause there's beauty in the breakdown

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

2 Years

Today marks the anniversary of this blog, so the bar is open... yeah... It's early... I can throw some tomato juice in the glass and make you a Bloody Mary if you like. If it's too early for alcohol, I make a great cup of coffee... Sunday... Monday... Tuesday... whenever... In the meantime, a couple of things you may want to know (or not):


  • A good day will bring 50 visitors... a bad day 15.... average is 20-30... so... no real changes over the past 2 years.

  • I haven't missed a Sunday post.

  • I have not yet written 300 entries... I should have 300 posts by July-ish...

  • For the most part, I still enjoy blogging.

  • I don't believe I ramble as much as I used to... but I still like my "...'s"

  • My most popular posts are my angriest posts.

  • The 2 posts most Googled are the terrorist timeline and my 2996 tribute to Marion Britton.

  • The posts that have made the biggest impact on me are my family related entries and the posts saluting our military.

  • I haven't moved away from Blogger yet... and the domain I bought is about ready to expire... what should I do?

  • I wish more visitors would leave comments... but I shouldn't complain.. I do more lurking than commenting when I visit other blogs... except for a select few.


  • For those of you that stop by, THANK YOU!

    Sunday, June 03, 2007

    Sunday Song, South Central Rain

    Rain

    Sunny - Hi 108 Lo 80 for Baghdad, Iraq
    Thunderstorms - Hi 80 Lo 63 for Northern KY, USA

    Song of the week: South Central Rain,
    R.E.M.

    Ramble:

    We are desperate for rain... we need a good long steady rain... even the weeds are dying... One of my favorite things is to wake up to the sound of steady rain on the roof with the sound of rolling thunder off in the distance... It's particularly nice on a Sunday morning when we don't have to get up and rush off to work... you know what I'm talking about... when you don't have to psych yourself up by chanting Spongebob Squarepants mantra... "I'm ready" I'm ready! I'm ready!" It's nice to just lay in bed and breathe in and breathe out and listen... listen to the silence... listen to your house and it's familiar sounds...listen to the beat of your own heart... listen to the rain... Time can stop when it rains on a Sunday morning... There is nothing more soothing or comforting than the sound of rain... I hope it rains.............

    Anyway, not much for writing today. Last weekend, Jedi Master Rob suggested I post a few of my photographs so now is as good a time as any.


    Jedi Master Rob's back yard... this young boy is stunned because he is being pelted by grapes...

    Crate and Barrel in Chicago Flowers for sale on a New York City street


    Links:


    My Italian friend, Carlo sent me a link to a wonderful video on You Tube--- I want to eat steak, watch a great western movie and keep thanking our wonderful servicemen!! Thanks Carlo! Make sure to stop the other video before playing this one.


    I also had someone leave a link on an old post. It is a remembrance for Sgt. Steven Packer. He was killed on May 17. Go watch it now. Memorize this face of a fallen hero- listen to his voice, then watch this one and then say a prayer and thank God for men like him.


    South Central Rain, REM


    Did you never call? I waited for your call
    These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
    The trees will bend, the cities wash away
    The city on the river there is a girl without a dream
    I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry

    Eastern to Mountain, third party call, the lines are down
    The wise man built his words upon the rocks
    But I'm not bound to follow suit
    The trees will bend, the conversation's dimmed
    Go build yourself another home, this choice isn't mine
    I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry

    Did you never call? I waited for your call
    These rivers of suggestion are driving me away
    The ocean sang, the conversation's dimmed
    Go build yourself another dream, this choice isn't mine
    I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry

    Have a great week everyone!