Save the Date: Wedding of the Year!

It's the wedding of OUR year! And likely the last one until grandchildren come of age and take their place in the great scheme of history. They've been engaged a few months and now the date is firm, the dress is found, the count down is on!




Lucky fiance? Our last remaining bachelor son, Nicolas Arguello.

Cutest bride-to-be? His true love, Lani Kahn.



Colors? Indigo, pale chartreuse (apple) and a clean pure gray (if I've remembered the color names correctly!)



Biggest obstacle so far? Nick's biceps. Do they make sleeveless tuxedos? ;-)



We're just all in love. :-)


Aren't these images great? The photographer is Leah Muse, Austin, Texas. She did a nice assortment for the engagement pictures, and will photograph the wedding as well.


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The Long Gray Line Has Never Failed Us: General MacArthur Speaks on Armed Forces Day

"On May 12, 1962, Five Star General Douglas MacArthur [delivered] a remarkable speech to the corps of cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York...

"MacArthur was 82 years old when he gave the speech.

"He spoke without notes for 34 minutes from the "poop deck" in front of the 2,100+ cadets."

To hear General MacArthur's own delivery of this speech in a taped recording, go here:
http://www.hughcox.com/macarthur.htm

Following is only a small portion from the midpoint of the speech. To read it in its entirety go to Keytlaw.com:

"...Yours is the profession of arms, the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory, that if you lose, the Nation will be destroyed, that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty, Honor, Country.

"Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide men's minds. But serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the Nation's war guardians, as its lifeguards from the raging tides of international conflict, as its gladiators in the arena of battle. For a century and a half you have defended, guarded and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.

"Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government. Whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing indulged in too long, by federal paternalism grown too mighty, by power groups grown too arrogant, by politics grown too corrupt, by crime grown
too rampant, by morals grown too low, by taxes grown too high, by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as firm and complete as they should be.

"These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution. Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night: Duty, Honor, Country.

"You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense. From your ranks come the great captains who hold the Nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds.

"The long gray line has never failed us. Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses, thundering those magic words: Duty, Honor, Country.

"This does not mean that you are warmongers. On the contrary, the soldier above all other people prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war. But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers: "Only the dead have seen the end of war." .....
~ General Douglas MacArthur



"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag."

~Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC


Pictured: Top: Graduating Platoon 1005, Parris Island, January, 2004, Marine Ethan Duncan Arguello, Midland, Tx, Meritorious PFC. Bottom: 3rd LAR, Delta Company, 2nd Platoon, including Lance Cpl Ethan D Arguello, pays its respects to fallen comrades Kenyon, Galvez, and Newman, killed in action in Iraq, August 2006. Photo by Staff Sgt Jim Goodwin.

Teaching & Modeling that "All Men Are Created Equal": Arizona HB 2281

UPDATE 05/112/10: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed into law the Arizona law HB 2281 forbidding public schools from teaching students to " resent or hate other races or classes of people. " Thanks to JammieWearingFool for word of the final approval.

I think Dr. Martin Luther King would be proud of Arizona's willingness to see the truth that on the road to brotherhood "Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. "

The Bill specifically states that it shall NOT prohibit "discussion of controversial aspects of history", "instruction of the Holocaust, any other act of genocide or the historical oppression of a particular group of people based on ethnicity, race, or class."

ORIGiNAL POST May 1, 2010, 7:30 pm (including link to the full and final bill):

"I have always found that MERCY bears richer fruits than strict justice."
~ Abraham Lincoln

"The way for a young man to rise is to improve himself in every way he can, never suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder him."
~ Abraham Lincoln


"Arizona HB 2281 prohibits a school district or charter school from including courses or classes that either promote the overthrow of the United States government or promote resentment toward a race or class of people."

"States that the Legislature finds and declares that public school pupils should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races or classes of people.

Prohibits ... any courses or classes that:

Ø Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
Ø Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
Ø Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
Ø Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.

States that this act cannot be construed to restrict or prohibit:

Ø Courses or classes for Native American pupils that are required to comply with federal law.
Ø The grouping of pupils according to academic performance, including capability in the English language, that may result in a disparate impact by ethnicity.
Ø Courses or classes that include the history of any ethnic group and that are open to all students, unless the course or class violates this act.

"Prohibits rules pertaining to the discipline, suspension, and expulsion of pupils from being based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or ancestry. "

The Full Text of Arizona HB2281 can be found here.

UPDATE May 12 2010: Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed this worthy bill into law. The final version of HB 2281 can be found here. (The link opens a PDF file).

"The assertion that "all men are created equal" was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use."
~ Abraham Lincoln

Illegal Aliens From Middle Eastern Countries Entering US at US/Mexican Border

Pat, at And So it Goes in Shreveport, has an important post about the activities of Middle Eastern Islamic terrorism groups using Mexico as an entry point to the United States.

She links to a video of Reporter Justin Farmer of Atlanta, GA, and a United States Congressional Report from 2006:

" The report also reveals the route taken by the Middle Easterners from Europe to the tri-border region in South America. Then they learn Spanish, trek to Mexico, blend in with other illegals and come on in.

" Farmer reports on several terrorists seen in the U.S., in the Atlanta area, who likely came in from the southwest border, it is believed."

The situation of illegal immigration is not what it once was, and you will have a better understanding of some issues after reading it all.

Before clicking on the link to the Congressional report ""A Line in the Sand: Confronting the Threat at the Southwest Border" in Pat's post, please be aware that it contains photos and details of brutality which are wholly unsuitable for teenagers, young mothers, anyone under stress or sensitive.

Very recent incidents of similar horror continue to be reported frequently by Mexican media and news agencies in the border areas.

This report is from 2006 - the year Congress passed the Secure Fence Act. As you watch and read, remember that Janet Napolitano has cancelled the Fence project. How she got the authority to just "cancel" an Act of Congress I do not know.

Our Government Leaders also ceased enforcing any of our immigration laws in April 2009, when an "infuriated" Napolitano "blasted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and ordered a swift investigation into the [arrest of 28 illegal aliens working in a Bellingham, Washington Engine factory] because it violated Barack Obama’s promise to the influential “La Raza” movement—that undocumented workers won’t be arrested."

There are many new (as in "invented along with Too Big To Fail in the past 10 years) issues surrounding immigration today that may change your mind if you have been. like I was, still feeling more compassion than concern. As a starting point to learn more, with lots of links to reliable information, my previous posts about illegal immigration are [ here ]and [ here ].

Mom in High Heels: Reims France-The War Rooms

One of my favorite bloggers often posts about historical tours and field trips her family, stationed in Europe, takes. Today's post,
Mom in High Heels: Reims France-The War Rooms
is a great recap of their recent visit to the scene of Germany's official unconditional surrender on May 7, 1945 to the Allied Command. Now known in the USA as V.E. Day (Victory in Europe), this event ended the European hostilities of World War 2 (it would be 3 more months before the Empire of Japan surrendered, and longer before many in the Japanese military ceased making war).

Mrs HH has some fascinating photos, both recent and contemporary, and interesting comment on the part military protocol played in the signing event at Reims. Do check it out. For more sightseeing, you might also want to visit her homeschooling blog "Bent Grass Prep", as well.

Ordinary Heroes : The Once and Future Greatest Generation

Being true to ourselves is part and parcel with being true to our conscience. The brave are those who act instinctively on their conscience.

Consistently, heroes say they just did what needed doing. Whatever act of bravery they performed was just part of the job, just what they think anyone else would have done, just a natural response.

Consistently, heroes say danger to themselves wasn't as great a factor as the danger to others, that either they weren't afraid, or that they HAD to act despite fear, that they had no choice but to do what they did.

Heroes are just doing what they always do, when the daily task is small and mundane, when the job is ordinary and unnoticed.

You can be a hero without ever being called to risk your life. But you cannot be a hero without ever risking hurt, embarrassment or ridicule, without following your conscience in daily living.

There are a lot of heroes in our world. Most ordinary people are heroes of the mundane. As individuals, they are shunned by the press and the powerful; as a class, ridiculed; and it makes no more difference to the ordinary hero than the dark side of the moon. They live their lives, and do the job they find at hand, and when, in the course of that life and work, courage is required, they do what needs doing.

In today's military and today's wars, care in the mundane is as essential as in civilian life. The ordinary heroes of our Armed Forces face the same shunning and ridicule by the media and the posturing elitists as the ordinary hero of the workaday world but multiplied a hundred times. It makes no more difference to the military hero than the age of the world. They do their duty, and do the job they are given, and when in the daily course of events, courage is required, they do what needs doing.

I have three sons, heroes all, each in his own way.

Nicolas has owned his own home since he was 24 - with a conventional mortgage he can afford, and growing equity. He is engaged to marry Lani in the Fall - he waited until he found his perfect match. He made sure his pets, full sized dogs, understand that "all humans are Alpha". He appreciates history and loves his family deeply. When he visits, he takes care of "honey do" tasks, and he gladly does any projects I ask him for. Nick is a good neighbor, a loyal friend, a caring son and a responsible man: an ordinary hero who is not so ordinary after all.

When Devin fell in love with Sandy, they had an early wedding to set a good example for her three children and his son. He did his part to fit the household comfortably together without drama. He remodeled our bathroom this winter. When I asked him to come install a new countertop, he decided we needed a full set of new cabinets, and he's building those now. Devin proudly adopted Sandy's daughter B., giving her the assurance of unconditional love by a father who chose her: an ordinary hero with an open heart.

Ethan came of age with September 11th, and enlisted two years later, turning 21 as a recruit. I was nervous about it but it turned out he was born for the Corps. He earned a Meritorious PFC rank during boot camp, and told me the day he graduated: "This is what I want to do. I want to come back here and be a drill instructor." After completing his MOS, he was stationed at 29 Palms, then deployed the first time to Iraq in August 2004 with the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Wolfpack.

And so a Marine went to war: an ordinary hero, who did his job and looked after those beside him, for two tours of Iraq, came home, and re-enlisted when the time came.

Now, DI Sgt Ethan D. Arguello turns recruits into Marines.

He never fails to seek out older veterans for the privilege of shaking their hand.

And he never fails to remember the heroes of D Company, Third LAR Wolfpack who gave their lives but never gave up:

Sgt. Christian B. Williams, a 27-year-old from Winterhaven, Fla.

Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus, a 28-year-old from Wolf Creek, Mont.

Cpl. Adam A. Galvez, a 21-year-old from Salt Lake City.

Lance Cpl. Anthony E. Butterfield, a 19-year-old from Clovis, Calif.

Lance Cpl. Jason Hanson, a 21-year-old from Forks, Wash.

Lance Cpl. Randy L. Newman, a 21-year-old from Bend, Ore.

Lance Cpl. Shane P. Harris, a 23-year-old from Las Vegas, N.M.

Seaman Chadwick T. Kenyon, a 20-year-old from Tucson, Ariz.

The heroism is in the willingness. It's in the doing. All those who lay their own lives on the line and pick up the torch from these who have fallen are also heroes. And they are there. Look around:

They keep enlisting and serving with gratitude, despite years of concerted media campaigns intended to disparage and demoralize our fighting forces.

They keep enlisting and serving with courage, despite trumped-up charges against their own, inexplicable leniency toward the enemy, and overblown reactions to freak occurances so rare as to be statistically invisible.

They keep enlisting and serving with pride, despite the violent apartheid of the elite barring them from "prestigious" college campuses.

They keep enlisting and serving with honor, despite politicians who abandon our allies, cast aspersions on innocent patriotic citizens, and refuse to call the enemy by name or describe his brutality honestly.

They keep enlisting and serving with compassion, despite the deaths of friends and comrades, despite seeing those they love maimed, despite knowing they may come home forever changed.

Why? Because they love us, and they love the United States of America, her Flag, her Constitution.

This is what heroes do.

Don't be deceived by the nattering of cowards, the counsel of the unwise, the taunts of bullies: The United States of America is not declining, and it shall not perish from the earth.

As The Greatest Generation goes homeward to that bright land to meet their Father and Savior, we mourn their absence from our lives - but we do not mourn for our Country.

If these men and women taught us one thing it is this: America's Greatest Generations are still ahead. Wave after wave for a thousand generations, each as courageous as the best of their ancestors and God and their own consciences can make them.

These young men and women today are our Greatest Generation.

Their sons and daughters will be our Greatest Generation.

The sons of their sons and daughters of their daughters will be our Greatest Generation.






. Marine Ethan Duncan Arguello Midland Texas

A WWII Veteran's Perspective on Winning Hopeless Wars: Victory in Europe Day (VE DAY)

On May 8th, 1945, the armies of the Third Reich in Germany surrendered to the Allied Command, marking the beginning of the end of World War II. Japan would not surrender until August 14.

Other European, Middle Eastern, and African countries who had joined forces with the 3 main Axis Powers (Germany, Japan, Italy) had by this time either already surrendered to the Allies or had been taken over by Germany.

Audie Murphy and Edward N. Klein were two of those who made that war end on the side of the Good. I'm working on a post about Murphy, but for now, here's what Mr. Klein had to say about him, and about World War II, and about remembering our veterans:



Audie Murphy Did A Lot More Than 'Win A Bunch Of Medals'
By Edward N. Klein

"As a member of the Third Infantry Division on its campaigns from North Africa through Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, Southern France, and into Germany, I served for three years with Audie Murphy in helping to win the war.

"I never won any medals like Murphy -- nor do I consider myself a hero. I was just another soldier doing what I could to carry out my assignments and [come] back home in one piece. We all lived with death around us at all times. Home seemed a far distant and almost impossible dream. Few today realize that in 1942 the Germans had conquered most of Europe, Africa and the Mid-East with the help of their Italian Allies, and that the Japanese had taken control of the Pacific. Democracy seemed doomed.

"The thought of victory was only a dream. Hitler and Mussolini today in old newsreels look like comic characters, not the killers of millions of innocent people.

"Their armies were professionals, well trained and supplied, and ours was made up of civilians hastily gathered together with minor training and sent off to win a war.

"As we sailed across the ocean, the enormity of our mission engulfed many of us with a hopelessness that we would never be able to go home again. It was inconceivable that a bunch of amateurs could take on the best armies in the world and actually win.

"As we moved slowly and dangerously through Sicily and Italy, the courageous exploits of one of our own Third Division soldiers spread through the ranks of how Audie Murphy had helped turned the tide through his personal bravery. He gave little thought to his own life, and time after time was able to inspire others to fight in situations that appeared hopeless.

"His heroics brought him something he didn't really want: a battlefield promotion to Lieutenant, where he proved that in addition to personal heroism, he was capable of leading others in battle. Seeing him standing in a jeep as we trudged into battle, and hearing his rallying cry when we were ready to run, gave us the stamina we needed to continue.

"Young people today should relate to the fact that when Murphy won a grand total of 32 awards he was only 19 years old, with what many called a baby face. Today's youth will probably not be asked to make the sacrifices that Murphy did, but they should realize that without the young hero's willingness to make the supreme sacrifice, they might not be living in a free country today.

"Having witnessed the deaths of many young men in the prime of their lives in winning an almost hopeless war, I am sometimes dismayed today to see that their sacrifices go mostly unappreciated.

"On Veteran's Day last month there was little fanfare showing appreciation for those from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf. In fact, the newest veterans from the Persian Gulf conflict are still fighting their own government to prove their injuries and illnesses were related to the conflict. "

It is of note that Audie Murphy acknowledged that he suffered from Battle Fatigue, as Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome was then called, and lobbied Congress to provide better treatments for veterans.

There's a lot more on Audie Murphy, American Hero, at davidstuff.com's page. Please go visit, and pay your respects.

http://www.davidstuff.com/usa/murphy.htm