Did you ever wish you were somebody else?

I’ve been in the hospital since 12/24 and today I finally received some some good news – my lung is all better. I’ve been off the pump for 3 days andmy lung has remained inflated, so today (New Year’s Eve Day, at noon) they took the lung tube out! It feels so much better to have that out of my life.

Most of you know on Christmas Eve I slipped on some black ice on my mother’s driveway, I took a very hard fall and broke 4 ribs but what I didn’t know was that I had collapsed my left lung.  It was painful and hard to breath and sleep. But I prayed everyday that the saints will send me a guardian angel to help me sleep and I’ve been singing “Silent Night” to myself - its such a soothing song.

It’s been a scare but I feel so much better now. Thanks for ALL THE PRAYERS and well wishes.

Thanks to Ladysheepdog’s post about my accident and thanks for all the visits and phone calls. I hope to be home soon.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR, ESPECIALLY TO ALL OUR BRAVE TROOPS AND THEIR FAMILIES!!

The Christmas spirit filled the air at Saturday’s Victory rally.  Merry Christmas signs, Santa hats, scarves and winter weather added to the feastive mood.  Thanks to all for coming and sending your message of support and appreciation to our troops.

Group Shot, 12/20/2008

Several highlights included us singing ”Silent Night” at the end.  There was also some amiable exchanges of Christmas greetings between members of both sides.  

One lowlight occured when one of the CCPM members left early in his red mini-Cooper and gave us the finger as he drove by us, I guess he just can’t control himself, even at Christmas.

Once again the weak Chester County Commissioners have allowed a group of atheists to mock Christmas at the County Courthouse in West Chester, Pa.

The commissioners allow it to be just a few feet from the Nativity. They allow the atheists to put 10 spotlights around it, drawing all the attention at night (from 5PM till next morning).  Taxpayers pay the electric bill. Also, special interest groups should not be allowed to advertise their website on public property like they did via the white banners hanging down on the display.

The atheist display towers over the modest Nativity creche.  Shame on Carol Aichele, Terence Farrel, and Kathi Cozzone -they showed pathetic judgement.  According to the Daily Local newspaper, they refuse to answer questions regarding this display.  Maybe they don’t care about it because they don’t live near the courthouse and don’t have to see it lit up for 14 hours every day?  Maybe they should all be replaced next election?

Christmas is a National Holiday and like any national holiday; ie: Martin Luther King Day, it is perfectly appropriate to display posters, pictures, statues, etc. of Dr King to help celebrate and remember the reason for the holiday.  Same with Dec 25th, the Nativity scene is an appropriate display to remember why we celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ. 

It’s a shame the atheists feel compelled to make this type of public mean-spirited attack against Christmas. It’s a bigger disgrace that Aichele, Farrell, and Cozzone did not fight to keep Christmas from being publicly mocked.  It’s a slap in the face against people of all faiths that recognize and enjoy the Christmas season.  We need commissioners that are strong, not irresponsive and careless, if someone is going to sue the county over Christmas, it’s a fight they should take. 

Long live Christmas!  Shame on those who mock it and those who allow it to be mocked.

Army Specialist Brian Piaseki came home ater 14 months in Iraq to a Hero’s Welcome at the Rose Tree FireHouse in Media, PA. He was met by his wife and family and friends. He was given a motorcycle escort by the Warriors Watch Riders and met at the fire house by members of A Hero’s Welcome and American Sheepdogs.  Read his homecoming ARTICLE HERE from the Delco Daily Times and see a VIDEO HERE.

Brian’s sister and a reporter from the Daily Times.

About a hundred people turned out for this great Welcome Home, very nicely hosted by the Rose Tree Fire Dept.

I was honored to meet and talk with Brian – he told me that right after 9/11, he wanted to be right where the action is.  He wanted to make a difference.

Brian chats with his brother (left).

Brian’s wife Jessica takes some pictures of family while Brian gets interviewed by a Daily Times reporter.

A table full of memorabilia from Iraq, put together by his wife Jessica.

Paul from the Daily Times takes notes and wrote an outstanding article HERE.

Brian served with Army’s elite 2/327 Infantry, 101st Airborne Division.

It’s great to have you back Brian!  Thanks for all you did for your country.  You and your Army buddies are our greatest patriots.

About six classic cars and a dozen members of the Delco Cruisers joined our Pro-Troop Victory rally on a bright Saturday in West Chester as we let the Troops know we are thinking of them at Christmas time.

Members of American Sheepdogs, Warriors Watch Riders, and A Hero’s Welcome gathered on Sunday Dec 7th, to celebrate the return of Army Medic Sgt Jon Kromer.

A few months ago Jon finished a 15-month tour in Afghanistan with the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Soon he will be transferring for a tour at Walter Reed Hospital.

Welcome home Jon and thanks for all you do to take care of your fellow troops on and off the battlefields and to keep America strong and free!

In the photo, Sheepdogs and friends took the opportunity to put together about 15 boxes of goodies, books, DVD’s, holy cards and prayer books to send to troops that we know around the world.

If God wanted to mold the ultimate warrior, the ultimate hero, he would have made 1st Lt Travis L Manion.    

Travis was bigger than life.  He had the heart of a Spartan, an inner fire inside him to go where no one elso would go.  To prevail in a fight, no matter what.  He took “ownership of his responsibility” to his Marines to a higher level.  He will be forever remembered as one of our greatest patriots.

On Dec 5, 2008 in a outdoor ceremony at the Doylestown, PA Courthouse.  Travis was posthumously awarded America’s 3rd highest medal, the Silver Star, and a Bronze Star “V”. His parents Janet and Tom received the medals at a moving ceremony.  About 2000 people came to hear those who knew Travis best and hear the reading of the citations about how Travis went above and beyond to lead and protect his men in battle.

A Marine Rifle Team marched in precision, presented arms in perfect unison and rendered a 21-gun salute.  This team stood at attention throughout the 60-minute ceremony, despite the cold – they stood motionless to honor one of their own.  After the 21-gun salute, a female Marine played Taps.

Major Joel Poudrier, USMC served with Travis in Iraq and was moved to tears as he told antedotes about his young fellow Marine officer.  His voiced cracked with emotion as he stated how his own children will forever remember the name of Travis Manion.

After the ceremony, friends old and new, came to embrace Travis’s family, who will be forever proud of the heroic and selfless way that Travis served his country.

Tom Travis, a Marine himself and a symbol of a father’s quiet strength, thanks people for attending his son’s ceremony. 

Janet Manion, the hero’s mother, personifies grace and dignity as 2000 people came to pay their respects and honor her amazing son.

Captain Chad Rounds, USMC (right) spoke to the crowd about the time he spent with Travis in Iraq.  He described how beloved Travis was by all the Marines and also by the Iraqis he had been assigned to train.  Travis was one of only 2 Marines to ever have an Iraqi Combat Outpost named after him.  This is because they truly loved the way he trained them and fought for their freedom.

Major Joel Poudrier, USMC (right) told stories about how hard Travis fought.  It seems like Travis literally put the responsibiliity to prevail in Iraq, directly upon his shoulders.  “Leaders, Marines like him are truly one-in-a-million”, he said.

The Marine bus that brought the Honor Guard, Rifle Team, and fellow Marines to Doylestown.  Travis Manion earned his medals, he represented the very best of the United States of America and the US Marine Corps.

Read more about Travis’ awards and ceremony HERE.

National talk-show host Dennis Prager explains why the muslim terrorists went out of their way to kill and brutally torture a young Rabbi and his 6-months pregnant wife that ran a tiny Jewish center in Mumbai. Here is an excerpt from his national syndicated article. 

It was obvious to observers around the world that one of the designated targets of the Pakistani Islamist terrorists was the Mumbai Chabad House, the one Jewish center in Mumbai. The 10 Islamic terrorists who came from Pakistan to India chose their targets with great care.

If one assumes that the terrorists primary goals were to destabilize India, the (Jewish) target seemed to make little sense. In fact, until the attack was over people were uncertain whether the terrorists attack on the Jewish (Chabad House) was part of the original plan or chosen spontaneously. Only when the lone terrorist who was captured told his interrogators that the Chabad House was planned a year earlier was it indisputable that killing the Rabbi, his wife, their children and any other Jews present was part of the plan.

If anyone has a better explanation for why Pakistani terrorists, preoccupied with destabilizing India, would expend so much effort at finding the one Jewish center in a country that is essentially devoid of Jews, I would like to hear it.

With all the Pakistani Islamists hatred of Hindus, they did not attack one Hindu temple in Indias major city.

The question is why?

Why would a terrorist group of Islamists from Pakistan whose primary goal is to have Pakistan gain control of the third of Kashmir that belongs to India and therefore aimed to destabilize Indias major city devote so much of its efforts — 20 percent of its force of 10 gunmen whose stated goal was to kill 5,000 — to killing a rabbi and any Jews with him?

Two final points:

One is that it is exquisitely fitting that the same week the murders in Mumbai were taking place, the United Nations General Assembly passed six more anti-Israel resolutions. As it has for decades, the U.N. has again sanctioned hatred for a good and decent country as small on the map of the world as the Chabad House is on the map of Mumbai.

Two: Statements from Chabad in reaction to the torture-murders of a 28-year-old Chabad rabbi and his wife called on humanity to react to this evil with random acts of kindness. Evil hates goodness. Thats why the terrorists targeted a Chabad Rabbi and his wife.

Read the entire article (and national comments) HERE: