Blue Star Chronicles

I just joined a blogroll called The Cowboy Code. I have been seeing it around on blogs for a while, been meaning to join it and finally got around to doing it.

I thought you might be interested in what the Cowboy Code is. Here it is ….

The Cowboy Code

• A cowboy always tells the truth and keeps his word.
• A cowboy is a Patriot and stands for Truth, Justice and the American way.
• A cowboy never betrays a trust or takes advantage.
• A cowboy is brave, but never careless.
• A cowboy defends the weak and helps them.
• A cowboy is kind to children, old folks, and to animals.
• A cowboy is free from racial and religious prejudice.
• A cowboy is clean about his person and in thought, word, and deed.
• A cowboy is loyal, hard working and maintains a high ethic.
• A cowboy is thankful for what God has given him.

You know the times are changing when the people of France vote into office someone who seems to understand the threat of an out-of-control, nuclear-armed radical islamic state in Iran.

This reaffirmation of the French position on the issues engulfing the Middle East comes as a result of a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and French President Nicolas Sarkozy. A spokesman for Sarkozy gave a positive assessment of the meeting.

“Israel and France share the view that the Iranian nuclear program must be implemented with the greatest transparency and for peaceful ends,” Martinon said.

“A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable for France and for Israel,” he added.

Prior to that meeting, Sarkozy gave a speech identifying Iran as the world’s most dangerous problem and the need to find a way to avoid a nuclearized Iran.

It looks like we might have to quit making fun of France so much. The warrior DNA that was lost to the French population in the Napoleonic Wars may be finally be having a resurgence.

This Week’s Hero Was Suggested By Cindy

Lt. Michael P. Murphy
29 years old from Patchogue, New York
SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team 1
June 28, 2005

On Monday, Lt. Michael P. Murphy was posthumously awarded the Medal Of Honor. His father was the one who accepted the award. Lt. Murphy will receive the award for his extraordinary, selfless heroism and steadfast courage while leading a four-man, special reconnaissance mission deep behind enemy lines east of Asadabad in the Hindu Kush of Afghanistan June 27 to 28, 2005

“We are thrilled by the President’s announcement today, especially because there is now a public recognition of what we knew all along about Michael’s loyalty, devotion and sacrifice to his friends, family, country, and especially his SEAL teammates,” the Murphy family said in a statement released earlier in the month. “The honor is not just about Michael, it is about his teammates and those who lost their lives that same day.”

Murphy was the officer-in-charge of the SEAL element, which was tasked with locating a high- level Taliban militia leader to provide intelligence for a follow-on mission to capture or destroy the local leadership and disrupt enemy activity. Taliban sympathizers discovered the SEAL unit and immediately revealed their position to Taliban fighters. The element was besieged on a mountaintop by scores of enemy fighters. The firefight that ensued pushed the element farther into enemy territory and left all four SEALs wounded. The SEALs fought with everything they had. despite being at a tactical disadvantage and outnumbered more than four to one. Understanding the gravity of the situation and his responsibility to his men, Murphy, already wounded, deliberately and unhesitatingly moved from cover into the open where he took and returned fire while transmitting a call for help for his beleaguered teammates. Shot through the back while radioing for help, Murphy completed his transmission while returning fire. The call ultimately led to the rescue of one severely wounded team member, Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Marcus Luttrell, and the recovery of the remains of Murphy and Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class (SEAL) Danny Dietz and Sonar Technician 2nd Class (SEAL) Matthew Axelson.

Eight more SEALs and eight Army “Nightstalker” special operations personnel comprising the initial reinforcement also lost their lives when their helicopter was shot down before they could engage the enemy.

Murphy was also inducted into the Hall of Heroes at the Pentagon during a ceremony yesterday. His name was engraved beside the names of some 3,400 other service members who have also been awarded the nation’s highest honor.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your blog, you can go here.

Related:

• Navy Seal Lt. Michael P. Murphy to Receive Medal of Honor

Barack Obama is once again expressing his patriotism in unique ways. Remember when he took his lapel flag pin off as a statement of patriotism? Now he ignores the National Anthem. I guess we have to assume that his reasons for that are patriotic as well - right? Then again, maybe he doesn’t know the words to it.

Texas Fred brought this to my (and others) attention and points out the difference between Obama’s words and actions. He also outlines the United States Code for conduct during the singing of the National Anthem. I would think that someone, anyone, attempting to attain the highest office in the country would at the very least try to set an example of adhering to the expected code of behavior.

But remember …. Obama wasn’t raised in the United States. He was raised in Indonesia. You have to be born in the United States to be a President, but there is nothing about whether or not you have to have ever LIVED in the United States. Unfortunately, I know immigrants who chose to come here and worked hard to get their citizenship who express and live more patriotism than Obama does.

But like I said, maybe since he’s not really lived here that much he doesn’t know the words.

More at Newsbusters.

I actually don’t mean to turn this into a weather report blog, but hey, there’s a lot going on in the weather lately!

Just when Georgia was about to flat out dry up and blow away, it started raining. Its been raining for two days now. Its raining hard, constantly and a lot. Hopefully, its filling up the lakes and rivers and getting us out of the rain deficit we have been experiencing.

It had really gotten right to the edge of dire when the rain finally started. Somebody must have done some good rain dancing. As wet as it is, I hope it rains like this till we are talking about having to build arks.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country the fires are raging. My daughter has sent me several photos and a few quick emails. She even sent me a link to a google map so I could see where she was in relation to the fires. She thought it was to reassure me. All I saw was fires all around where she is!!

When I was out in the rain a while ago I was actually wishing I could send some of it out to California - but then I remembered we need the rain.

One of the things I found particularly interesting is that environmentalists groups are objecting using controlled burns to get the fires under control. The objection of these organizations is that it threatens natural habitats. Not to worry - these UNcontrolled burns are doing a fine job of destroying natural and unnatural habitats alike! Good job, environmentalists!

This could have all been avoided if George Bush had signed the Kyoto Treaty! Then again, the environmentalists who said we would be over run with out-of-control hurricanes since Katrina hit New Orleans seem to have forgotten about the hurricanes since they made those predictions.

Not Exactly Rocket Science is covering the fires in Los Angeles.

From 123Beta

Nobel laureate Doris Lessing said the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States were “not that terrible” when compared to attacks by the IRA in Britain.

“Some Americans will think I’m crazy. Many people died, two prominent buildings fell, but it was neither as terrible nor as extraordinary as they think. They’re a very naive people, or they pretend to be,” she said in an interview published Sunday.

We were attacked, but hey, it wasn’t all that bad! Three thousand people were killed by an attack on our country. We are a very naive people for being a little upset about that? She thinks we over reacted?

Well, yeah, I think she’s crazy.

>

My daughter sent some more photos of the fires and smoke around where she lives and works. These pictures were taking on her drive home (she wasn’t driving and taking pictures at the same time - she was with a friend who was driving!).

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I watched the Republican debate last night. I really didn’t intend to, but ended up watching it anyway. There are a couple of those men that I like very much and would have absolutely no problem voting for. A couple of them give me the creeps and I don’t know what I’d have to do if they somehow managed to get the Republican nomination. Of course, RP came across as whinny and more than a little crazy. I just hope he doesn’t end up splitting the Republican vote somehow so that we end up with a democrat in office. Unfortunately, that’s how the last few democratic presidents have managed to get into office.

The few comments I’ve heard on the old news about the debate have, of course, been negative. They say no one won it, no one made any good points, etc etc.

I thought there were several excellent points made and several of them did very well. I do believe that one of them was the obvious one to stand out and that is John McCain. He was Presidential. He said several things I liked very much. One of his statements I liked was when he was asked about Russian President Putin, part of McCains reply was ‘…but I do know that when I looked into Mr. Putin’s eyes, I saw three letters: a K, a G and a B.’ He went on to discuss the danger we are facing with the current Russian regime.

Of course, his biggest moment came when he criticized Hilary Clinton for proposing to waste our tax dollars on a Woodstock cultural museum. A museum to hedonism I suppose. Interesting that she’s more interested in that than in a memorial for any real heroes. Still, McCain states that he was sure it was I’m sure it was a cultural and pharmaceutical event - but that he was tied up at the time (see video above). He got a standing ovation for that.

In speaking of his experience …

I wasn’t a mayor for a short period of time. I wasn’t a governor for a short period of time. For 20-some years, including leading the largest squadron in the United States Navy, I led. I didn’t manage for profit, I led for patriotism.

My biggest complaint with the Republican party is its ties to big business. There is a happy median between everything being controlled by government and everything being controlled by big business. Some things need to be controlled by the government so that no one is getting a personal financial interest in a particular outcome. But that’s for another post.

I went through a time of supporting McCain, then I was angry with him for a couple of his stances on issues … but I’m coming back around to his side. I don’t know. He’s making a lot of sense and shoots straight - for a politician. Plus, he respects the military and I think he’d scare the living daylights out of anyone considering threatening the United States.

He got me a patriotism.

My Mother called a little bit ago to see if I had heard from my daughter. She was concerned because my daughter lives in Southern California. Of course, I’ve talked to my daughter repeatedly today - well - I talk to her repeatedly everyday but talked to her more today.

I had called my daughter last night to check on her because I was concerned about the fires out there. She told me the fires were up in Los Angeles so she was not in any danger. Cool! Now we just had to worry about my husband’s daughter who lives in Los Angeles.

First thing this morning my daughter called me. She was driving to work and told me she was surrounded by fire. Of course I panicked, but she reassured me that she just meant she couldn’t take certain roads because of fire, that she wasn’t in any real danger.

I called her at her work today and she told me that the fire was inland from her and not to worry. She called me from her cell phone a little later. She had gone outside and said she was covered with ash. We just talked a few minutes because she was coughing. She said the air was thick with smoke and ash was falling like rain.

She sent the photo above that she took with her cell phone from the parking lot of her job. She said its usually clear and beautiful to look over the ocean, but the scene is obscured because of the smoke. She has kept me updated all day. She has a bag ready to go if she has to evacuate. The apartment building she lived in just a month ago was evacuated last night.

When my mother called to ask about her I updated her on everything I knew about it and assured her that my daughter is safe. Mother said we always worry about our children no matter how old they get. That’s true. She said, ‘Its really pretty crazy to have children’. I laughed and told her she must really be crazy because she had seven children.

My mother has said in the past that children are on your feet when they are little and on your heart when they’re grown. Boy, is that ever the truth.

Moroccan-Dutch youths are rioting in Amsterdam in much the same way North African youths rioted in Paris a couple of years ago. ‘Moroccan-Dutch’ and ‘North African’ youths are code for ‘muslim’ youths. Just in case you weren’t aware.

They are throwing rocks through windows and burning cars during the night. This all started when a career criminal and known associate of terrorists burst into a police station and stabbed two police officers. One of the police officers was able to shoot and kill her attacker.

From the age of 13 up to his death on Sunday, the police said, Bajaka had been involved in several major criminal incidents, including armed robberies and a series of violent incidents. He was allegedly part of a criminal gang.

In addition, police said he was personally acquainted with Mohammed Bouyeri, the convicted killer of the late film director Theo van Gogh, as well as with other Moroccan-Dutch terrorist suspects.

Mohammed Bouyeri and the others allegedly involved in terrorist activities also came from the Slotervaart neighbourhood.

For reasons that are beyond my understanding, the Dutch held a press conference saying they would launch a national investigation into the incident at the police station. It seems pretty cut and dried to me.

The Amsterdam police are critical of the judges for being too soft on Moroccan immigrants who commit crime.

Residents of the Slotervaart area of Amsterdam in which the rioters live complain that they are ’sick and tired’ of being stigmatized by ‘negative news reports’. Well, then, by all means, STOP RIOTING if you don’t like negative news reports. Actually, there are very few news reports about it at all. Its on the blogs but not in the old media.

h/t: A Blog for All

More at LGF, The Van Der Galiën Gazette and Pajama Media

I am sick of trying to figure out a couple of template or blogging program problems I am having. First, I have not been able to access Blogger for months now. I know that I’ve complained about that before, but it is driving me crazy. I’m thinking at this point that it might be the McAfee virus program I downloaded. I had trouble when I used McAfee years ago and switched to Norton. But then Comcast started offering McAfee as a free download, so I switched back. As far as I can tell there haven’t been any problems with it. But after thinking about it for a while, it seems that was about the time Blogger became inaccessible.

I don’t know, I’ve tried several different things, including disabling McAfee and still I can’t get onto Blogger blogs. (:`(

Maybe I need to uninstall it altogether and see if that’s it.

The other issue is that the navigation do-hicky thing is not working on my blog. I’ve uploaded several different templates and even tried the default template and its not working on any of them. So its not the template. I don’t know when that quit working. Maybe the last time I updated WordPress. I just don’t remember. I noticed it about a week ago with a couple of people complained that they couldn’t get past the first page of my blog to find older posts.

I realize this isn’t life or death - but I have a hard time letting go of something like that. Its like a big puzzle I can’t quite get the pieces put together in the right way. I’ve spent an embarrassing amount of time this weekend trying to figure out the navigation problem. That’s also why I have about a gazillion post uploading on the front page.

IRRITATING. >-(

I’ll eventually figure it out, I suppose. If anyone reading this has any pearls of wisdom or real know-how (as opposed to my pseudo know-how) - I’m open for suggestions ……

The problem is that when you spend that much time on the computer getting NOWHERE it takes all the fun out of blogging. I just want to shut the whole thing down and walk away from it. But I can’t leave a problem unsolved. Meanwhile, I’m going to grumble and moan.

/grumbling

I really got a kick out of Kathleen, Right Wing Sparkle, sharing her Shallow Political Thoughts on her first test webcast. She’s trying out her webcam and shares her thoughts on political hairstyles and Fred Thompson needing more energy and much more. Oh, and its a good thing Ariana Huffington has such a thick accent. Do we really want to understand her??

I’m looking forward to many more webcasts! Check it out and enjoy!!