State of the Union

BREAKING NEWS. Full coverage and great information on the President's address at California Conservative

Alle ore 9 della Costa Est, quando in Italia sarà notte, il Presidente degli Stati Uniti George W. Bush parlerà davanti al Congresso per presentare il discorso sullo Stato dell' Unione. Un atto ben spiegato dalla Costituzione Americana come segue:

"He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."

Article II, Sec. 3, U.S. Constitution

Il Presidente Bush discuterà sulla leadership dell' America nel mondo e presenterà la sua visione per condurre l'America avanti. Per rafforzare le opportunità in casa, il Presidente evidenzierà le politiche necessarie perchè il popolpo Americano possa continuare a competere sull'economia globale. Non mancheranno riferimenti alla guerra al terrorismo e alla ricostruzione degli Stati del Golfo. Aggiungerò degli update non appena il discorso mi sarà disponibile e ne evidenzierò i passaggi chiave. Intanto, cliccando sul banner in alto verrete reindirizzati alla sezione del sito della White House dedicata interamente allo Stato dell'Unione dove troverete ogni informazione necessaria, ufficiale e aggiornata.

Intanto due eventi piuttosto importati per gli Stati Uniti avvengono oggi, Martedi 31.
Il Senato degli Stati Uniti ha votato per la conferma del giudice Sam Alito come 110mo giudice della Corte Suprema spazzando via il tentativo di ostruzionismo portato avanti dai Democratici fin dalla candidatura del Presidente dopo la fallita nomina di Harriet Miers.
Non meno importante è l'inizio ufficiale dell'era Ben Bernanke al timone della Federal Reserve dopo il regno del buon Alan Greenspan.

UPDATE:

Il Presidente ha tenuto il suo attesissmo discorso sullo Stato dell'Unione che,credetemi, è stato a dir poco emozionante. Bush non perde mai la sua forza emotiva con cui espone le sue idee sempre rivoluzionarie. Anche questa volta ha piazzato tutti. Gli Stati Uniti non smetteranno di sporcarsi le mani per abbatterè la schiavitù e la miseria nel mondo finchè lui sarà Commander in Chief. Rattristato per la scomparsa della compagna di Martin Luther King il Presidente rilancia la sfida coraggiosa del popolo Americano per la Libertà nel mondo, e chiede ancora ai suoi concittadini di continuare a mostrare il loro coraggio che dall'11 Settembre 2001 non è mai mancato sotto la sua presidenza. Ha denunciato la dipendenza dell'America dal petrolio e ha chiesto sempre più ricerca tecnologica per affrancarsi dal greggio che proviene da parti del mondo certo non stabili e ha promesso che riuscirà a formare 70000 docenti di matematica e scienze per spingere l'America nel futuro e permettere alle generazioni future di una crescita economica forte come quella attuale e di conseguenza più benessere.
Il Presidente Bush conclude avvertendo tutti gli Americani che la Storia ha consegnato nelle mani degli Stati Uniti il destino della Libertà nel mondo intero, possiamo accettare questa leadership o fare un passo indetro di fronte a una cosi grande responsabilità.
Un discorso che mi fa tornare alla memorie le parole di un solo altro Presidente: Ronald Reagan.
Di seguito lascerò gli ultimi tre paragrafi dell'intervento del Presidente, che rendono infinitamente meglio delle mie parole.
Tutte le informazioni del caso le trovate sul sito della Casa Bianca cliccando sul banner in alto,inclusa la possibilità di rivedere in webcast l'intero discorso del Presidente Bush.
God bless America.

"Fellow citizens, we've been called to leadership in a period of consequence. We've entered a great ideological conflict we did nothing to invite. We see great changes in science and commerce that will influence all our lives. Sometimes it can seem that history is turning in a wide arc, toward an unknown shore. Yet the destination of history is determined by human action, and every great movement of history comes to a point of choosing.

Lincoln could have accepted peace at the cost of disunity and continued slavery. Martin Luther King could have stopped at Birmingham or at Selma, and achieved only half a victory over segregation. The United States could have accepted the permanent division of Europe, and been complicit in the oppression of others. Today, having come far in our own historical journey, we must decide: Will we turn back, or finish well?

Before history is written down in books, it is written in courage. Like Americans before us, we will show that courage and we will finish well. We will lead freedom's advance. We will compete and excel in the global economy. We will renew the defining moral commitments of this land. And so we move forward -- optimistic about our country, faithful to its cause, and confident of the victories to come.

May God bless America." (Applause)

January 31, 2006
STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
United States Capitol
Washington, D.C.

UPDATE 2:

SONDAGGIO A CALDO. Molto positivo il giudizio per il 48% di quelli che lo hanno seguito.
Il discorso sullo Stato dell'unione pronunciato dal presidente George W. Bush è stato giudicato molto positivo dal 48% degli americani che l'hanno seguito in tv e ''piuttosto positivo'' dal 27%, mentre non e' piaciuto solo al 23%, meno di un quarto.E' quanto risulta da un sondaggio della Gallup per conto della Cnn(entrambi certo non teneri con il Presidente solitamente).
Ma Bush non era il Presidente più impopolare?Mah.

Grand Theft Auto sotto accusa a L.A.

Da AP e California Conservative scopriamo che l'ufficio del procuratore di Los Angeles ha fatto causa ai produttori del videogame “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" per aver presumibilmente nascosto materiale pornografico nel gioco,hanno riferito gli ufficiali."
La faccenda è tutta abbastanza ridicola perchè l'accusa non sta proprio in piedi. Tutta la serie di videogame GTA è palesemente di stampo violento,è una premessa del gioco fin dalla sua prima versione. I produttori della Rockstar Games Inc. sono sempre stati trasparenti e chiari, non c'è niente da scoprire semplicemente perchè tutto è sotto la luce del sole ed ogni copertina di qualunque gioco GTA riporta i contenuti "forti" e sconsiglia l'uso ai minori di 18 anni.
E come se ciò non bastasse, l'accusa non può essere presa sul serio perchè non si capisce il motivo per cui lo zelante procuratore liberal sorvola sul fatto che nel gioco è possibile uccidere civili,poliziotti, rubare auto, spacciare droga e armi per non parlare di qualunque volgarità per cui si è ricercati dalla polizia, ma è tutto ok finchè non vengano mostrati atteggiamenti espliciti di sesso.E' tutto molto ridicolo è dimostra a quale tipo di bassezze il mondo liberal sia arrivato.
Ecco la dichiarazione: “Businesses have an obligation to truthfully disclose the content of their products — whether in the food we eat or the entertainment we consume,” Delgadillo said.
In pratica si richiama il dovere a svelare veramente(non c'era nulla da svelare abbiamo detto) i contenuti dei prodotti, sia che siano nel cibo che mangiamo che negli intrattenimenti che consumiamo.

Tutto molto ridicolo e ipocritamente innocente nell'unico tentativo di limitare la libertà dei consumatori di consumare ciò che vogliono senza essere assistiti da un savonarola liberal di turno che gli dica cosa va bene e cosa no.
Giusto per la curiosità, io possiedo il gioco in questione e posso testimoniare che è possibile talvolta nel gioco "caricare" delle prostitute sulla propria auto e usufruire del "servizio", ma l'accusa di esplicita pornografia non sta in piedi perchè i produttori hanno ridotto di proposito la visuale durante l'amplesso in modo che qualunque scena esplicita non risulti visibile. Inoltre la situazione è molto divertente perchè se si preme il gas dell'auto la ragazza scappa arrabbiatissima e se qualche passante vede la scena si mette a correre e a urlare.

Tutto il polverone sollevato per questa faccenda ludica mi fa pensare solo a come il procuratore liberal abbia perso un'ottima occasione per stare zitto.Inoltre,come se non bastasse il successo nelle vendite del gioco (si parla di cifre nell'ordine di più di 12 milioni di copie vendute per oltre 600 milioni di dollari),siamo sicuri che la questione sollevata dall'anima bella di questo simpaticone risulti paradossalmente per fare una gran pubblicità per il gioco stesso.
Farò anch'io un po' di promozione e vi inviterò pertanto a cogliere l'occasione di divertirvi con un gioco straordinario con una giocabilità e longevità praticamente infinita e dal divertimento assicurato e senza pari sul mercato.
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Disponibile su qualsiasi piattaforma abbiate.
Buon divertimento.

Le Armi mancanti di Saddam

Nuove notizie circa le armi di distruzioni di massa (WMDs se leggete blog e siti in lingua inglese) di Saddam Hussein. Via Rick Moran, California Conservative e Lores Rizkala apprendiamo che il Gen. Georges Sada (il vice maresciallo dell'aviazione militare nell'esercito di Saddam) ha rilasciato dichiarazioni in cui conferma che il regime iracheno possedeva armi di distruzioni di massa fino al 2002, quando venne deciso di far traferire le armi incriminate nella vicina e sicura Siria. L'ex Generale, per la posizione che ricopriva al momento dei fatti, sembra una fonte piuttosto attendibile e a questo punto tornano di grande interesse i documenti su questo "export" di WMDs che Steve Hayes aveva riportato. La situazione va schiarendosi e il fatto che il regime di Saddam possedesse quelle armi fino a poco tempo prima dell'invasione sembra sempre di più una verità innegabile. Vi terrò informati su ulteriori sviluppi.

Jack Bauer. Perfetto Eroe Post 9/11

Stupendo pezzo di Rick Moran (il cui blog è invece qui) sulla serie TV “24” che nell’ultimo periodo(vedi il Guardian che non ha niente di meglio da fare che scrivere una pagina contro Jack Bauer) sta scatenando molte polemiche,a sinistra ovviamente, circa l’operato duro e crudo del suo magnifico protagonista: Jack Bauer, interpretato in maniera incredibile da Kiefer Sutherland. Negli Stati Uniti è appena iniziata la 5° stagione della serie, in Italia Rete4 ha trasmesso fino alla 3° stagione,terminata proprio domenica scorsa. Jack Bauer riesce a tenerti incollato alla poltrona come pochi siano mai riusciti a fare e la carica emotiva che esprime il suo personaggio ne fa davvero un eroe post 11 Settembre. Fortemente consigliata la visione di tutte le stagioni finora prodotte in DVD, io consiglio di gustarselo in madrelingua ovviamente, tutto un altro ritmo,sapore e significato. Da tenere a mente qualche sito per essere aggiornati su tutto ciò che riguarda la serie: ovviamente il sito ufficiale del produttore, ovvero la FOX, che raggiungete tramite il banner 24 che trovate sulla barra di destra del mio blog. E poi segnalo due ottimi spin offs, da cui avrete accesso al meglio che la rete ha da offrire su Jack, qui e qui.
Ma ecco a voi la riflessione di Rick su 24 e Jack Bauer.


Jack Bauer: A Perfect Post 9/11 Hero

In the weeks and months following the 9/11 attacks, it became fashionable to say that America had changed and that we’d never be the same. In the grossest sense, this idea manifests itself in the realization (by most of us) that we are at war and that this conflict is unlike any other in which America has ever been involved. And what makes this war so different from others in our history is the nature of our enemy and their fanatical desire to kill as many of us as their evil designs will allow.

Our homeland is under attack and given the destructive power of our enemies wish list of weapons, it becomes absolutely essential that they be thwarted in their plans to attack us lest their success be the ruin of us all.

The stakes just can’t get any higher. Win or perish are the stark choices facing all of us in the War on Terror. And as Samuel Johnson once said

“When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”

Those words could be emblazoned across the chest of the fictional hero Jack Bauer of Fox Television’s pulse-pounding action series 24.

Make no mistake. In more serene times Jack Bauer would be considered something of a thug. He routinely tortures suspects to get information. He has a nasty habit of shooting first and asking questions later. His respect for the constitutional niceties with regard to due process, search warrants, innocence until proven guilty, and many other perceived “rights” that criminals have come to take advantage of in our legal system is, shall we say, lacking.

In short, Jack is a civil libertarian’s nightmare whose predilection for violence and rejection of established law enforcement procedures and policies would ordinarily make him a candidate for prison coveralls rather than the cult hero he has become.

It would be an exercise in sophistry to try and make too much of Jack Bauer and his impact on American culture. He is, after all just a character in a TV show. But at the same time, it would be a mistake to underestimate the powerful hold that Jack has on our emotions as we follow his adventures week to week.

We watch spellbound as he relentlessly pursues the enemies of the United States with a frightening determination and dedication that brooks no opposition from friend or foe. His disputes with the national security bureaucracy are fought with the same tenacity and brutal win-at-all-costs mindset with which he battles the terrorists seeking to destroy us. In this respect, Bauer is a man outside the law rather than someone of the law.

Sound familiar? It should. Hollywood long has prospered making heroes of such men - although not quite in the same context. Jack can best be compared to the small town sheriff who finds himself up against the ruthless outlaw gang as Gary Cooper played in the classic western High Noon. Cooper’s portrayal of Marshall Will Kane, who must vanquish a gang of criminals bent on revenge on the day of his wedding, had many of the same points and counterpoints found in the character of Jack Bauer. Cooper is driven to confront the outlaws rather than run away due to an overriding sense of duty. He is willing to risk his marriage, his happiness, and his life because he realizes that it is he alone who can stop the thugs from taking control of the town and terrorizing the citizens.

And in order to do this, he is willing to employ violence to defeat the threat of greater violence from the outlaws.

This lone hero motif employed in many classic westerns is a large part of what makes the genre so attractive to us. It hearkens back to an earlier period in American history when our icons were the great hunter-heroes of the plains and the mountains. Daniel Boone was perhaps the first truly American hero, lionized in dime novels of the time as a great hunter and Indian fighter. In real life, Boone’s true story was certainly dramatic enough. With a single minded determination, he hacked a settlement out of the Kentucky wilderness while in the process losing a brother and two sons in skirmishes with the Indians.

But the legend of Daniel Boone played up his prowess with the rifled musket in bringing down bears and “panthers” as well as his skills as a scout and guide. His battles with the Indians – in American eyes of the time the terrorists of the 18th century – always ended in a satisfying manner with Boone victorious. Not exactly an accurate recitation of the facts, but nevertheless indicative of what the public craved at the turn of the 19th century.

Later hunter heroes like Kit Carson and Davey Crockett were also portrayed as loners fighting against both nature and hostile Indians. In Crockett’s case, his name loomed largest during the entire century as his exploits – both real and imagined – were told and retold in countless books and magazines. His career became a quintessential American story. Running away at age 11 because he didn’t want to go to school, Crockett’s life story from hardscrabble beginnings to hunter, Indian fighter, Congressman, and finally his death at the Alamo captured the imagination of 19th century America.

Crockett’s nobility has been tarnished recently thanks to some first class research on who he really was. But the 19th century version of the man calls to mind many of the traits found in Jack Bauer: a sense of mission, a will to succeed, the ability to live alone without so much as a “by your leave” from government or anyone else for that matter. And Crockett’s famous motto, “Always be sure you’re right; then go ahead,” is reminiscent of the same kind of hard headedness we find in Jack Bauer.

The fact that a psychiatrist would have a field day analyzing Bauer’s motivations for what he does should not diminish our admiration for the way Jack pursues the terrorists. Unlike most government bureaucrats, he takes personal responsibility for thwarting the terrorist’s designs. Because of this, he is the bane of his superiors who always complain about Bauer not being a “team player.” And his colleagues at CTU [Counter Terrorism Unit - a fictional agency], recognizing that bureaucratic inertia (which Jack fights with as much zest as he does the terrorists) could allow the enemy to succeed, are more than willing to assist him clandestinely in his efforts to circumvent the system when necessary.

The fierce loyalty Jack engenders among this crew is the result of Bauer’s willingness to take the heat when things go bad as well as his demonstrated capacity for helping them deal with some of their emotional problems that make up many of the sub-plots in the series. At bottom, Jack is genuinely a nice fellow. He always says “please” and “thank you” when asking for the latest satellite intel or some other information gleaned from the vast array of gee-whiz gadgets used at CTU headquarters.

This makes Jack’s transmogrification into an avenging American angel when in the field that much more of a contrast. The fact that Bauer routinely tortures suspects to get information would normally seem troubling - except that the audience recognizes that he needs the information to save thousands of lives. An example would be in last year’s first episode. Following a train wreck that was staged to steal a briefcase containing a device that could melt down every nuclear reactor in the country, a captured terrorist was being interrogated at CTU headquarters. Knowing that another terrorist attack was perhaps minutes away and with the suspect being uncooperative, Jack bursts into the interrogation room, shoots the terrorist in the knee, and starts firing questions at the wounded man. Needless to say, the terrorist became much more cooperative and gave up valuable information.

Is this a case where the ends justify the means? I daresay that Jack Bauer thinks so. What’s more, Jack seems remarkably untroubled when he acts in this way. There are no angst-ridden soliloquies about right and wrong or nightmares about the dozens of dead bodies that trail in his wake wherever he goes. For Bauer, the ends and the means are exactly the same thing. He has taken it upon himself to stop the terrorists from succeeding. In that context, he will do anything to win.

It is tremendously satisfying to witness this kind of certitude. For Bauer, there is no gray area in this war, only black and white, good guys and bad. This attitude is something that the left in America has a hard time coming to grips with. This is not surprising given modern liberalism’s need to complicate everything so as to obscure even the simplest of questions like whose side they are on.

That said, MSNBC’s Craig Crawford recently compared the tactics used by Jack Bauer with actions taken by President Bush to safeguard the homeland.

"...I haven’t seen rogue U.S. anti-terrorism agent Jack Bauer stop once for a court warrant—not even when he sawed off the head of an informant he was interrogating. Come to think of it, I haven’t heard the Constitution mentioned a single time as Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, repeatedly breaks the rules to thwart terrorist plots.

This is how the President wants us to see the real world. Indeed, George Bush is the Jack Bauer of presidential power. There are no rules in Bush’s world when it comes to the War on Terror—only wimps like the whining bureaucrats on “24” balk at torture, spying, propaganda, whatever it takes."

“Whatever it takes” indeed. While Crawford’s juvenile comparison with Bush is laughable in any context, he may have inadvertently revealed a great truth about the President and his similarity to Jack Bauer: they are able to clearly distinguish between good and evil, between who is right in this war and who is wrong.

Crawford and his ilk can’t. This makes Crawford not only someone to be laughed at but someone to be feared as well. For if we ever have a government headed by a President who sees gray where there is clearly black and white, the chances of enjoying both liberty and security in the United States will disappear as surely as Jack Bauer will end up stretching the Constitution to its breaking point this season in order to protect us from disaster.

Of course, Bauer doesn’t stretch the Constitution. He shatters it into a million pieces. But the questions raised by Bauer’s actions are legitimate. How far do we go in protecting the country? The tension between protecting civil liberties and protecting the homeland will always be with us as long as there is freedom in America. And for that, we can be thankful that there are people like Jack Bauer somewhere out there who are protecting us. They probably will not utilize his methods. But we hope they have his determination and will to win when it comes to foiling the plots of our enemies.

Torn as America is between getting the job done at all costs while upholding American ideals, Jack simply can’t help himself. He necessarily sees the world in stark relief, a place populated by some really nasty thugs who don’t even blink at the idea of murdering hundreds of thousands of people. We recoil at some of Jack’s tactics. But we recognize that Jack is the guy doing what needs to be done to keep us safe. This makes Jack Bauer the perfect hero in a post 9/11 America. He doesn’t engage in any kind of self destructive hand wringing about not being able to do anything about the threat. His doubts – if he has any – have been left on the cutting room floor. He sacrifices his personal life for the greater good.
In this respect, he is a true patriot.

In the end, it becomes enormously entertaining to watch Jack Bauer. His exploits become a safe outlet for our fears about a terrorist attack as well as perhaps the tug of war between civil liberties and national security.

To that end, I plan on never missing a single installment.

Rick Moran is a frequent contributor and is proprietor of the blog Right Wing Nuthouse. He writes about 24 after each episode, including a running body count [last year’s total for Jack Bauer was 44].

Rick Moran

I am Grouchy

Come prima resolution per il 2006 voglio fare conoscere a tutti la storia di un amico e del suo splendido lavoro che, cominciato per caso, prosegue oramai da 5 anni. E ora, via con la pubblicità. Sto parlando dei video di GrouchyMedia.com. Chi non ne ha mai sentito parlare è invitato a visitare il sito web, cliccate pure sul banner qua sopra, e capirà molto in fretta di che cosa stiamo parlando.
Tutto ha inizio quando Ryan Hickman nel dicembre del 2001 decide di scaricare la sua rabbia contro i terroristi assassini dell’11 Settembre in un modo tutto suo.
Siccome non ha la possibilità di saltare su un C-130 con un M16 e aggregarsi alle truppe in Afghanistan, “Grouchy” inizia a mostrare il suo supporto alle truppe nel modo che più gli è famigliare: editando videoclip sul suo PC. Ryan scrive programmi per una piccola compagnia a West Palm Beach in Florida e con un po di lavoro e con molta carica ha prodotto e editato dei videoclip militari mirati a sostenere ed incoraggiare le truppe degli Stati Uniti e degli alleati. Come dire, lui si che inspires the troops overseas !!

GrouchyMedia ha avuto un enorme successo in tutto il mondo e i suoi video sono stati scaricati centinaia di migliaia di volte e dal 2001 ogni mese il sito ha più o meno 2 milioni di visite. Ryan è stato intervistato dalla NBC e i suoi video sono popolarissimi tra le truppe al fronte. Chi non ha mai visto i suoi video ne avrà molti da scaricare e sul sito troverete tutti i video prodotti finora scaricabili gratuitamente in diversi formati, a seconda che vogliate visionarli solo per curiosità o, come il sottoscritto, scaricarli in formato SuperVideo per farsi dei bei dvd per il televisore. Consiglio a tutti di fare un salto sul sito e girare un po, non rimarrete delusi!
Qui sotto ho messo la storia scritta da Ryan stesso, buona lettura!
Keep it up Grouchy !!!

All about Grouchy and GrouchyMedia.com

GrouchyMedia.com is the place to find those pump-you-up-to-kill-the-bad-guys videos everyone has been talking about. This entire site is focused on providing a morale boost to our U.S. and allied troops around the world. The videos you'll find here are about them, for them, and couldn't have been made without them!

This website officially began in December 2001, after the Taliban Bodies video became a hit a few months earlier. I made Taliban Bodies in October that year after retuning from a vacation in Europe where I had to watch the September 11th attacks on CNN International to get the news. When I came back to the US at the end of September I would drive in my car to work and crank up the heavy tunes that go along with my more 'grouchy' side. Every time "Bodies" by Drowning Pool, came on the radio, I always pictured military equipment blowing things up to the beat of the song. So I opened up Adobe Premiere, found some pictures and videos using Google, and Taliban Bodies was born.

I originally posted the video to friends website and sent the link out to some newsgroups, chat rooms, and Fark.com. The video quickly became such a huge hit that my friends website was overwhelmed and I needed my own place to post the large files. So I registered GrouchyMedia.com to reflect the 'Grouchy' nickname my friends know me for and within a few months over 1 million people found the site and downloaded the video from all over the world.

The huge number of people who regularly visit GrouchyMedia for new videos required some hefty servers to handle the traffic. I've had lots of people over the years volunteer their websites and equipment to help share the load and now rely entirely on the fine folks at WebRax. Every day the videos on this site are downloaded thousands of times and that number grows with each new video.

The timing of new video releases is probably what people ask me about most. I guess it all depends on how much free time I can find since this website is just a hobby and not intended to be a business. The videos here are always free and I'll never try to make a dime on this website although many people have asked to donate money or buy shirts and DVD's. Just posting videos by other editors takes many hours of work and keeping up with emails is a part time job now, so I'll try to get a video or two posted each month.

If you've ever wondered who "Grouchy" is and why I keep running this site, then you wouldn't be surprised to know I have some military background in my family. Besides two grandfathers who fought back in the WWII days, my dad went to Annapolis and was in the Navy and reserves for many years. My sister recently became a civilian engineer for the Navy and analyzes all those parts you boys keep breaking out there in the sand. Even my mom, who isn't directly involved with the military, uses her retail business as a public location to gather huge boxes of goodies for the troops and sends regular shipments of items they request.

My day job is not as exciting as theirs since I spend my time writing computer programs and running an IT department for a small media company in West Palm Beach, Florida. Coming home to tons of email each day where people share stories about their time in Iraq or Afghanistan is why I spend so much time maintaining this site. I've heard from military members all over the world and their families back home who all appreciate it when people show their support. So whenever I have time, I'll keep posting new videos, and maybe get some new ones made myself.

With tons of new videos already this year made by many different people, it's clear that America stands behind it's soldiers and our allies. Now it's up to you to pass this website around to everyone you know as a reminder to support our Armed Forces until the last troop returns home safely!

-- Ryan Hickman --

a.k.a. "Grouchy"