Irish Prayer

May there always be work for your hands to do;

May your purse always hold a coin or two;

May the sun always shine on your windowpane;

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend always be near you;

May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

WW III Began In 1979...

WW III Began In 1979...


I ALMOST deleted this. I'm glad that I did not. Please decide to delete it, only after you have read it.



US Navy Captain Ouimette is the Executive Officer at Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Florida. Here is a copy of the speech he gave last month. Once read, you will need to ask yourself how anyone can take the position that all we have to do is bring our troops home from Iraq, sit back, reset the snooze alarm, go back to sleep, and no one will ever bother us again.

In case you missed it, World War III began in November 1979 ... That alarm has been ringing for years.

AMERICA NEEDS TO WAKE UP! That's what we think we heard on the 11th of September 2001 (When more than 3,000 Americans were killed -AD) and maybe it was, but I think it should have been "Get Out of Bed!" In fact, I think the alarm clock has been buzzing since 1979 and we have continued to hit the snooze button and roll over for a few more minutes of peaceful sleep since then.

It was a cool fall day in November 1979 in a country going through a religious and political upheaval when a group of Iranian students attacked and seized the American Embassy in Tehran. This seizure was an outright attack on American soil; it was an attack that held the world's most powerful country hostage and paralyzed a Presidency. The attack on this sovereign U. S. Embassy set the stage for events to follow for the next 25 years.

America was still reeling from the aftermath of the Vietnam experience and had a serious threat from the Soviet Union when then, President Carter, had to do something. He chose to conduct a clandestine raid in the desert. The ill-fated mission ended in ruin, but stood as a symbol of America's inability to deal with terrorism.

America's military had been decimated and down sized/right sized since the end of the Vietnam War. A poorly trained, poorly equipped and poorly organized military was called on to execute a complex mission that was doomed from the start.

Shortly after the Tehran experience, Americans began to be kidnapped and killed throughout the Middle East. America could do little to protect her citizens living and working abroad. The attacks against US soil continued!

In April of 1983 a large vehicle packed with high explosives was driven into the US Embassy compound in Beirut When it explodes, it killed 63 people. The alarm went off again and America hit the Snooze Button once more.

Just six short months later in 1983 a large truck heavily laden with over 2500 pounds of TNT smashed through the main gate of the US Marine Corps headquarters in Beirut and 241 US servicemen were killed. America mourned her dead and hit the Snooze Button once more.

Two months later in December 1983, another truck loaded with explosives was driven into the US Embassy in Kuwait, and America continues her slumber.

The following year, in September 1984, another van was driven into the gate of the US Embassy in Beirut and America slept.

Soon the terrorism spreads to Europe. In April 1985 a bomb explodes in a restaurant frequented by US soldiers in Madrid.

In August 1985 a Volkswagen loaded with explosives is driven into the main gate of the US Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, 22 are killed and the snooze alarm is buzzing louder and louder as US interests are continually attacked.

Fifty-nine days later in 1985 a cruise ship, the Achille Lauro is hijacked and we watched as an American in a wheelchair is singled out of the passenger list and executed.

The terrorists then shift their tactics to bombing civilian airliners when they bomb TWA Flight 840 in April of 1986 that killed 4 and the most tragic bombing, Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, killing 259.

Clinton treated these terrorist acts as crimes; in fact we are still trying to bring these people to trial. These are acts of war. The wake up alarm is getting louder and louder.

The terrorists decide to bring the fight to America. In January 1993, two CIA agents are shot and killed as they enter CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The following month, February 1993, a group of terrorists are arrested after a rented van packed with explosives is driven into the underground parking garage of the World Trade Center in New York. Six people are killed and over 1000 are injured. Still this is a crime and not an act of war? The Snooze alarm is depressed again.

In November 1995 a car bomb explodes at a US military complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia killing seven service men and women.

A few months later in June of 1996, another truck bomb explodes only 35 yards from the US military compound in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. It destroys the Khobar Towers, a US Air Force barracks, killing 19 and injuring over 500. The terrorists are getting braver and smarter as they see that America does not respond decisively.

They move to coordinate their attacks in a simultaneous attack on two US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. These attacks were planned with precision. They kill 224. America responds with cruise missile attacks and goes back to sleep.

The USS Cole was docked in the port of Aden, Yemen for refueling on 12 October 2000, when a small craft pulled along side the ship and exploded killing 17 US Navy Sailors. Attacking a US War Ship is an act of war, but we sent the FBI to investigate the crime and went back to sleep.

And of course you know the events of 11 September 2001. Most Americans think this was the first attack against US soil or in America. How wrong they are. America has been under a constant attack since 1979 and we chose to hit the snooze alarm and roll over and go back to sleep!!!

Now, in the news lately we have seen lots of finger pointing from every high official in government over what they knew and what they didn't know. But if you've read the papers and paid a little attention I think you can see exactly what they knew. You don't have to be in the FBI or CIA or on the National Security Council to see the pattern that has been developing since 1979.

I think we have been in a war for the past 25 years and it will continue until we as a people decide enough is enough! America needs to "Get out of Bed" and act decisively now. America has been changed forever. We have to be ready to pay the price and make the sacrifice to ensure our way of life continues. We cannot afford to keep hitting the snooze button again and again and roll over and go back to sleep.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto said "... It seems all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant." This is the message we need to disseminate to terrorists around the world. This is not a political thing to be hashed over in an election year this is an AMERICAN thing. This is about our Freedom and the Freedom of our children in years to come.

Remember, Freedom is not free. There was a price to obtain it and a bigger price to maintain it. The enemy will not negotiate. The ENEMY will NOT sleep. The enemy is bent on killing every American they can - all of us if possible. The enemy is seeking world domination. The enemy will behead you (think about it - they care nothing of even beheading their own). They want to behead your family, your wife, your children, your neighbors, your pets. You mean less than insects to them. You cannot "negotiate" or compromise with something that is bent on your destruction.

If you understand and believe we are at a crucial point in our history please forward this to as many people as you can-- especially to the young people and all those who dozed off in history class and who seem so quick to protest such a necessary military action. If you don't believe it, just delete it and go back to sleep and learn to pray!

Costume Party (not House Cooling party anymore)

Since the house Warming party was canceled we decided to have a replacement party...so we are having a Costume Party. It will be September 16, at 18:00 (6:00pm) - 23:00 or whenever. We are excited and really hoping that you make it. We decided on the 16th because it was close enough to Faire that some the out of town people coming in for faire might be able to make it, yet far enough from faire that it does not interfere with getting ready for faire. We did have about 20 people still show up for the house warming party and they loved the potluck idea. We had a great selection of foods and drinks...and a lot of beer. NO GIFTS, just food and drinks! sooo....

...We are going to have it be a Potluck Dinner (bring food...your choice of whatever kind of food you like) & bring some kind of alcoholic beverage if you plan to drink. (We have sodas, milk, juice, and water...Kelly stop laughing.) If you are coming (please do) you can post on here what you would like to bring or put "I'll surprise you". Thank you all for reading this and hopefully for coming. And this time Kelly WILL BE there too. I love you beautiful ladies and guys...and I really do miss you all.

Oh yeah... bring chairs for sitting...especially for outside.


Costume Party on September 16 at 18:00 (6:00 pm) until 23:00 or later! Bring food, alcoholic drink, and chair...we will supply the house. Please come!
(Costume is optional...but please play along.)

Gator...Lake Conroe, Conroe, TX

Gator...Lake Conroe, Conroe, TX
This picture was taken by a KTBS helicopter flying over Lake Conroe!
(For those of you who are not local, Lake Conroe is in Conroe, TX.)
That has to be a HUGE gator to have a whole deer in its mouth! Are you ready to go skiing on Lake Conroe?! If you ski at the west end of the lake -- try not to fall. This alligator was found between Athens and Palestine, Texas near a house. How would you like to meet this fella in the dark? Never let it be said that we don't grow them big in Texas. Game wardens were forced to shoot the alligator- guess he wouldn't cooperate... Anita and Charlie Rogers could hear the bellowing in the night. Their neighbors had been telling them that they had seen a mammoth alligator in the waterway that runs behind their house, but they dismissed the stories as exaggerations. "I didn't believe it," Charles Rogers said. Friday they realized the stories were, if anything, understated. Texas Parks and Wildlife game wardens had to shoot the beast Joe Goff, 6'5" tall, a game warden with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, walks past a 23-foot, 1-inch alligator that he shot and killed in their back yard.

interesting music video

WE WILL ROCK YOU (Beyonce, Britney, Pink)

Video Code provided by VideoCodeZone.Com

Eating healthier fast food...seriously

7 Tips for Fast Food Survival
Bonus! Guide to Eating Out in Fast Food Chains
By Joe Wilkes
No, we haven't lost our minds here at Beachbody. We don't actually want you to eat fast food. It's terrible for you. It makes you fat. It destabilizes economies and nations. It kills the environment. Read Fast Food Nation. See Super Size Me. If you're really serious about getting or staying in shape, fast food restaurants are not on your path to success.

However, sometimes fast food is the only option other than starvation. Long road trips, coworker lunches, the only place your child or childish companion will eat—these are all situations where you may be forced to enter one of these fluorescent dens of gluttony and decide which of their evilly delicious menu items you'll be naming your newly enlarged buttocks after.

While the fast food companies have generally shown an appalling disregard for their customers' health, they have lately been shamed by our nation's obesity epidemic into offering some menu items that have some nutritional value. They still can't resist adding a little unneeded fat or extra high-fructose corn syrup just to spice things up, so it's wise to take a buyer-beware approach when ordering your meal. Here are some tips to make healthier choices and some suggestions about the healthiest (relatively speaking) things to order at some of the major fast food chains.

Get less for your money. This may seem counterintuitive, but the so-called value meals really only offer you extra calories, saturated fat, sugar, and other diet killers. While it may seem like an unbelievable deal that you can get twice as many fries for only 19 more cents, it's a bit of a false economy, unless you're saving up for a bypass operation. If you really want to save money, pack a lunch.
One of the biggest problems with fast food is that the food is incredibly dense in calories, fat, sodium, and bad carbohydrates. They pack a lot of unhealthiness into a small package. So you think you're just having a quick bite, but you're really getting most of your day's requirement of fat, sodium, and calories. This is where we get the term "gut bomb." Paying extra to ruin your health makes no sense. Ordering the small size may not be as cheap per pound of food, but it will save a fortune when working off pounds of fat later.

Discover your inner child. The best place to find a reasonably sized portion for an adult is sadly, the children's menu. Bowing to the horrible publicity created by childhood obesity, fast food companies have made the most improvements to the kids' menu. In fact, at some restaurants, the kids' meal is the only way you can get healthy sides like fruit or carrots. It's great the kids are getting healthier options. After all, the children are our future . . . organ donors. We need to keep them healthy. But if you eat the healthy stuff on their menu yourself, you might be able to hang on to your own organs a little while longer. You don't need to impress the teenage cashier with your ability to eat the maximum fries and triple patties. Don't be ashamed to order the junior hamburger or even the kids' meal. And you might get a free toy in the bargain!


Stick to salads. A big problem with fast food is that many innocent-looking nuggets and patties are loaded with added fats, flavorful chemicals, and high-fructose corn syrup which wreak havoc on your blood sugar levels. Salads are a good way to eat ingredients where you can easily observe whether they've been adulterated with bad-for-you additives. Not to be deterred, the fast food companies will try to get you with the dressings. Ask for oil and vinegar, if possible. If not, check the ingredients and calorie counts of the dressings offered carefully. You're better off with a vinaigrette or vinegar-based dressing like Italian. Also, true to form, most places give you enough dressing to dress several salads. Either use only half the packet of dressing or ask for a side cup you can squirt it into, and then dip your fork in the dressing before you get a bite of salad. Another way to avoid the dressing trap is to forego it completely, and scam some fresh lemons from the condiment or beverage counter and squeeze them over your salad.


Beware of "theme" salads. It's called a salad. It looks like a salad. It has lettuce. It must be a salad, right? Like the restaurant I went to that had a "cheesesteak salad" on their menu (I kid you not). Don't be fooled by clever naming tricks. A taco salad at most places is just all the unhealthy ingredients you're trying to avoid dumped on a plate of lettuce. In some cases, you're better off calorie-wise eating the taco in its original construction. Use common sense when selecting a salad, making sure all the ingredients are vegetables, fruits, and lean proteins you can recognize. Don't let restaurants mislead you into eating crap disguised as food.


Have it your way. Remember the old Burger King jingle, "Hold the pickle, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us." Take them at their word. Only don't hold the pickle and the lettuce, hold the mayo and high-corn-syrup ketchup. Ask if you can substitute the grilled chicken breast for the breaded chicken breast. Wheat buns for white buns. Lettuce cups for buns. Ask for extra veggies. And hold the cheez, especially if it's spelled with a "z." Tell them you'd rather salt the fries yourself. When you order the "healthy" grilled-chicken or fish sandwiches, make sure they're not loaded with mayo or special sauces. Ask for salsa or mustard instead. After all, one advantage of a fast food joint over a fine restaurant: when they're annoyed with your special requests, they can't spit in your food, because you'll see them do it.


Watch what you drink. The most profitable menu items for restaurants are soft drinks. Costing almost nothing to make, they want you to get as big a size as possible and pay for it. What you'll get is tons of sugar and chemicals. And maybe eventually, diabetes! Read Steve Edwards' Nutrition 911, Part VI, The Worst Food on the Planet if you need to know why soda (and diet soda) will ruin your figure and your health. Try and stick with iced tea or water. And to play the broken record again, if you must get soda, get the small.


And a milkshake is not a drink. It will often be suggested that you wash down your burgers and fries with a frosty milkshake. Sounds good, right? You can tell yourself you're getting your calcium, fighting osteoporosis! You're also getting over 1,000 calories if you get a large at some restaurants. Even the kid sizes come in at 300+ calories. Your drink probably shouldn't have more calories than your meal. Also, if it's called a shake, instead of a milkshake, there's a good chance it doesn't even contain any dairy. Maybe some whipped lard instead! Mmmmm, whipped lard . . . I guess Frosty Whipped Lard Shakes didn't make it out of the marketing meeting.


Quick-Look Fast Food Guide
All hope isn't lost, though. You can almost find something healthy to eat anywhere. Here are the best bets at some of the most popular fast-food chains. (Unless specified, salad calorie counts do not include dressing.)

McDonald's

Small hamburger (260 calories)
Asian Salad with Grilled Chicken (290 calories)
Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken (220 calories)
Newman's Own Balsamic Vinaigrette (40 calories)
Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait (160 calories)
Most misleading item: Chicken Selects Premium Breast Strips. Premium chicken breast sounds good on the surface, certainly better than the mysterious McNuggets, but the 10-piece version will run you 1,270 calories, and that's before you dip it in the sauce! You could eat two Big Macs and get fewer calories.

Burger King

Chicken Tenders – 5 pieces (210 calories)
Tendergrill Chicken Caesar Salad (220 calories)
Tendergrill Chicken Garden Salad (230 calories) Note: both these salads are without dressing, where the "light" Italian will add 120 calories, and the garlic parmesan toast another 70.
Whopper Jr. (without mayo) (290 calories)
BK Veggie Burger (420 calories)
Most misleading item: Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich. At 780 calories, half of which are from fat, don't think you're cutting calories with this batter-fried, mayo-slathered doozy. It has 110 more calories than the grown-up Whopper!

Wendy's

Mandarin Chicken Salad (348 calories)
Caesar Chicken Salad (282 calories)
Mandarin Orange Cup (80 calories)
Low Fat Strawberry Yogurt (140 calories)
Small Chili (220 calories)
Plain Baked Potato (270 calories)
Ultimate Chicken Grill Sandwich (360 calories)
Most misleading item: Homestyle Chicken Fillet Sandwich. Apparently, "Homestyle" is code for "mayonnaise." At 540 calories (only 40 calories better than the Big Bacon Classic) you're better off with the more decadent-sounding, but healthier, Ultimate Chicken Grill.

Taco Bell

Crunchy Taco "Fresco Style" (150 calories)
Crunchy Taco (170 calories)
Ranchero Chicken Soft Taco "Fresco Style" (170 calories)
Taco Supreme (220 calories)
Gordita (chicken or steak) "Fresco Style" (230 calories)
Most misleading item: Fiesta Taco Salad. At 860 calories, this may be the most highly caloric item on Taco Bell's menu. You can shave off over 300 calories by not eating the deep-fried tostada shell it's served in, but still, a pretty hefty calorie count for a "salad."

Subway

6-inch Veggie Delite sandwich (230 calories)
6-inch Turkey Breast sandwich (280 calories)
6-inch Roast Beef sandwich (290 calories)
6-inch Ham sandwich (290 calories)
6-inch Subway Club sandwich (320 calories)
Most misleading item: Meatball Marinara. What's in these meatballs? A six-inch sub is 560 calories; a 12-inch sub has 1,120 calories, and if you double the meat, you can get a single 12-inch sandwich with 1,920 calories and 84 grams of fat. On the bright side, I believe the defibrillation is complimentary.

If you'd like to ask a question or comment on a newsletter article, just email us at mailbag@beachbody.com. Check Steve Edwards' Mailbag for his responses to reader comments.

For Steve's views on fitness, nutrition, and outdoor sports, read his blog, The Straight Dope.

Nutritional information obtained 07/2006 from www.mcdonalds.com, www.burgerking.com, www.tacobell.com, www.wendys.com, www.subway.com.