The Professional Arena Takes Precedence Right Now

Hello all...most everyone important to me knows by now that I have tendered my resignation at my current job, effective April 13. I'm not sure what I am going to do next, but it will have to be done in a big hurry, whatever it is. I am officially back on the job hunt at warp speed, so if anyone hears of an attorney listing somewhere in the state of Tennessee, please let me know. Posting will be spotty at best until I get this figured out. I appreciate the love and prayers already sent on my behalf and those yet to come. Take care of yourselves, and in closing, as Arnold Schwarzenegger said in "The Terminator" series, "I'll be back."

The John Doe Manifesto

Penned by author and columnist Michelle Malkin, this manifesto should be the creed of every loyal, patriotic American who doesn't want to see our democracy turned into a bunch of simpering whiners, cowering at the threat of a lawsuit or violence at the hands of Islamofascists. Today's required reading is here...read the whole thing.

Note: Earlier this month, six publicity-seeking imams filed a federal lawsuit against US Airways and the Metropolitan Airports Commission in Minneapolis/St. Paul. The Muslim clerics were removed from their flight last November and questioned for several hours after their suspicious behavior alarmed both passengers and crew members. Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten reported last week that the imams, advised by the grievance-mongers at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, also plan to sue "John Does" -- innocent bystanders who alerted the authorities about their security concerns. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., has introduced legislation to protect John Does who report suspicious behavior from legal liability. The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; talk show host Michael Reagan; Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, who heads the American Islamic Forum for Democracy; and Minnesota lawyer Gerry Nolting have all stepped forward to offer free representation to the imams' targets.

"Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.

I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.

I am John Doe.

I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.

I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run.

I will act when homeland security officials ask me to "report suspicious activity."

I will embrace my local police department's admonition: "If you see something, say something."

I am John Doe.

I will protest your Jew-hating, America-bashing "scholars."

I will petition against your hate-mongering mosque leaders.

I will raise my voice against your subjugation of women and religious minorities.

I will challenge your attempts to indoctrinate my children in our schools.

I will combat your violent propaganda on the Internet.

I am John Doe.

I will support law enforcement initiatives to spy on your operatives, cut off your funding and disrupt your murderous conspiracies.

I will oppose all attempts to undermine our borders and immigration laws.

I will resist the imposition of sharia principles and sharia law in my taxi cab, my restaurant, my community pool, the halls of Congress, our national monuments, the radio and television airwaves, and all public spaces.

I will not be censored in the name of tolerance.

I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderates' clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about "profiling" or "Islamophobia."

I will put my family's safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.

I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.

I am John Doe."

Texas Joins the "No Retreat" Community

Via Yahoo News, this is very good news. In addition to Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, and Mississippi (among other states), Texas has codified into law that a person has no duty to retreat in his home or any other place he is legally privileged to be. If an assailant is attempting to commit any number of violent felonies, a citizen in Texas and these other jurisdictions is legally privileged to stand his ground and to shoot the assailant without fear of criminal or civil liability. Obviously, the facts and circumstances must support this conclusion. That said, contrary to what the anti-gun lobby of whiners would have you believe, a criminal is far LESS likely to do violence to someone if they are in a state where the citizens are not only likely to be packing heat, but where those same citizens are legally privileged to bring said heat if the goblin tries any funny business. way to go Texas, now if only we could get Tennessee on board, it would be a virtual clean sweep in the Southeast (reason #4,812 I'd never be a Yankee or otherwise permanently live in a deep blue state).

"Criminals in Texas beware: if you threaten someone in their car or office, the citizens of this state where guns are ubiquitous have the right to shoot you dead.

Governor Rick Perry's office said on Tuesday that he had signed a new law that expands Texans' existing right to use deadly force to defend themselves "without retreat" in their homes, cars and workplaces.

"The right to defend oneself from an imminent act of harm should not only be clearly defined in Texas law, but is intuitive to human nature," Perry said on his Web site.

The new law, which takes affect on September 1, extends an exception to a statute that required a person to retreat in the face of a criminal attack. The exception was in the case of an intruder unlawfully entering a person's home.

The law extends a person's right to stand their ground beyond the home to vehicles and workplaces, allowing the reasonable use of deadly force, the governor's office said.

The reasonable use of lethal force will be allowed if an intruder is:

- Committing certain violent crimes, such as murder or sexual assault, or is attempting to commit such crimes

- Unlawfully trying to enter a protected place

- Unlawfully trying to remove a person from a protected place.

The law also provides civil immunity for a person who lawfully slays an intruder or attacker in such situations."

Making Mark Foley Look Like a Piker Takes Some Doing

Sadly enough, this family of three repulsive cretins made Congressman Mark Foley sending perverted IMs to an underage male page seem almost acceptable. With the hideous details from Sister Toldjah, excerpted below, my heart is sick, my stomach turns, and my mind races with questions. When does it even start to sound like a good idea to molest a six year old boy? How could anyone with a heart or soul ignore his surely desperate and pathetic pleas to stop hurting him? This was a mother, father, and son trio that apparently raped and murdered this child...I wonder what the rapist father and masturbating mother would think or feel if someone did to their son what they did to young Christopher Barrios? Sad doesn't begin to do this case justice, and the D.A. is right to seek the death penalty against these freak shows. If there's an upside here, it's that the case will be tried in Georgia, a red state with about as much tolerance for sex offenders as Texas and which isn't afraid to impose the death penalty in the right case. These three monsters are entitled to the same due process as anyone else, but once convicted, I wouldn't want to be them in jail...and regardless, I DEFINITELY wouldn't want to be them in the afterlife trying to explain this one to God.

"Earlier this evening, I was sitting here at my computer blogging and heard some chatter close by. I looked outside my window and saw that one of my neighbors was outside working on his car (putting on a spare tire), and his son - who is probably about five or six years old - was out there with him. I gazed out the window from time to time, as I would hear the young boy laughing and talking. One minute, he’d be riding his scooter, and another minute he’d be inquiring to his dad about what he was doing. At one point, his dad started showing the little guy how to screw in (or unscrew?) a lugnut (I think that’s what they’re called) from a wheel. The dad let his son give it a try, with a little assistance, of course. I thought it was absolutely adorable. Dad and son doing ‘manly’ stuff, with the dad showing eternal patience and the son showing an inquisitiveness that is unique and special to children.

However, one family in Savannah, GA, though, won’t get to experience those same joys of watching their six-year old son ride a scooter, or change a tire, because his life was extinguished by a sexual predator who lived across the street from him - but not before the predator, and other members of his family, acted out their sick twisted ‘fantasies’ with the little boy. Bastards.

Later in the story, it mentions that Christopher Barrios disappeared after playing alone outside his house.

My prayers and thoughts go out to his parents, who are going through what NO parent should ever have to go through. Parents shouldn’t be burying their children. It’s supposed to be the other way around.

That said, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven by young kids in the neighborhood I work in walking down the street with no adult supervision, playing in their yards with no one in sight. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve sat in a restaurant and seen kids left alone in their seats while the adult goes to get napkins, or salt or whatever. When I worked at the mall in my younger years, I distinctly remember a time when a mother came into the store I worked in, with a young boy of about seven and also a young baby in a stroller. She walked around the store pushing the stroller, and she hadn’t even been in the store for five minutes before her son started running up the stairs to the second floor of the mall. And she didn’t even know it. I had to tell her. It bears repeating again and again: when they are together, whether at home or at a store, or wherever, people should never, ever let their kids out of their sight. It only takes a second for them to vanish.

Whatever state you live in, you should be able to go to your official state government website and look up sex offenders for your area, so you’ll know whether or not one is living close by. ... Know who is living around you so you can be better prepared to protect yourself and your loved ones from needlessly suffering at the hands of the ruthless."

Rules, Legalism, and Freedom

When I first became a Christian, and even before I really was one but was still reading the Bible, I read the Old Testament, especially books like Leviticus, with much confusion. I wondered what on earth not eating meat with blood in it, the type and number of animals to be sacrificed and when, or the way a man trimmed his hair and beard had to do with anything, much less a person's walk and relationship with God.

I heard a sermon recently that shed some light on this, and it makes a lot more sense now. Many analogies and references have been made to God as a father figure, and in the Old Testament, that's exactly what He had to be, because Jesus hadn't yet come. When a child is young, there are many things they don't know and can't possibly understand, so they must be given rules and regulations that are age-appropriate in order to protect them as they grow and mature. As a child grows up, the rules are gradually relaxed until they are mature enough to make decisions on their own. That's the way it was with the people in the Old Testament. Being as spiritually immature as they were, they couldn't possibly understand God's message of love, mercy and grace by faith as communicated by Jesus and others in the New Testament. The many laws that were put in place were there to teach them the right way to do things until the time when the people knew the right thing to do on their own. That doesn't mean that the laws are ever wrong or that they ever lose their value, it just means they aren't going to always be necessary, nor are they the end-all, be-all of a person's life and spiritual existence. Simply following doctrine is legalism, and not one person has ever been or will ever be saved because they are a good enough rule-follower, and that's where lots of folks miss the forest for the trees.

That got me to thinking about how many new Christians I've known (myself included) who, in their zeal to spread the Good News, probably turned off a lot of people by forcing the Bible and Scripture onto folks right on the front end. People who are broken, hurting, and in need of God don't want to hear a bunch of laws that sound like another self-help book from the neighborhood bookstore...they want someone to love them, to be there for them, etc. There's always time to talk and debate about Biblical laws and principles, about what exactly constitutes doing the right thing, etc., but we may only get one chance to show love, mercy, or understanding to someone. If we waste that time preaching to the broken about how bad they are because they didn't follow all the rules, they may be lost forever, and that's the last thing God wants.

In addition to its utility in the spiritual realm, I think the concept of starting from a more legalistic, rule-based approach to life has its merits and its place. For example, it's a good thing to start with a budget to get your finances in order or an exercise plan to get in better physical shape, especially if we've been undisciplined doing such things in the past in the absence of a clear plan. Budgets, exercise plans, etc. are great tools we can use to help parent ourselves until maturity arrives, but compliance with them is only a means to an end, not the end itself. What we're really after is the freedom to use some of our money to enjoy more of what life has to offer, or the financial flexibility to help others, or a better physical appearance to improve self-esteem, or better health to prolong our lives.

As we grow up along the way of whatever journey we're traveling, the strict rules we once held so dear can be replaced by the intrinsic value of successfully achieving goals in a way that's uniquely useful for us. That's when we have flexibility to tweak our exercise routine to fit our life because we know we won't quit working out if we miss one day at the gym; when we can go out to eat on a whim without wrecking our finances; or best of all, when we can be open and flexible enough to chart our own unique spiritual course without worrying about legalistic condemnation, boldly and confidently following where we believe God is taking our heart in a way that might not make sense to or work for anyone else.

The moral of the story is this: there's no real joy in just following the rules, even if it gets us to a good place. Worse yet, if we spend time beating ourselves up over the few times we fell short of the rules (and we all do, have, and will), we may get discouraged and quit; or even if we do achieve our goal, we might not be able to enjoy it as we should. I think as we get farther along in our respective journeys and we start to see some good results, the structure imposed by whatever rules we're following becomes much less important than it was at the beginning of the journey. The rules once served the purpose of control, guiding us toward a more generalized version of success because we had no idea where to start.

Being able to fully enjoy the big, great things in life because we trust God and our heart more every day to know the right thing do, and to be able to do so without being suffocated by a million rules (because they're now being taken care of and their purposes fulfilled in the natural course of our journey anyway) is the very definition of freedom. It is truly one of the most liberating places to be in life, and it's my sincere hope and prayer that everyone gets there.

"Somebody's Got to Say It", by Charlie Daniels

Courtesy of Beth at Yeah, Right, Whatever, Charlie Daniels mounts his soapbox and raps the hands of all the self-righteous, intolerant buffoons masquerading as the free speech police, when in fact they are the biggest threat to the very concept of free speech (well, right after Congressweasels like John McCain of course). I'm strongly against illegal immigration, most types of welfare, racial preferences, and I believe global warming is a hoax perpetrated by small men with delusions of grandeur and an insatiable greed for government grant dollars...but I'm not intolerant. I've informed myself about those issues, formed an opinion, and I am entitled to express it. Anyone who says otherwise or tries to criminalize it can just come try to shut me up. I'm waiting, but the intolerant cowards of which I speak haven't the backbone to back up their bigotry with ideas or actions, so I have nothing to fear, and screw them if they don't like it...hey, someone had to say it. :)

Somebody's Got To Say It

"I am sick, disgusted, exasperated, aggravated, ticked off, and fed up with the politically correct exaggerated and downright dumb attitude that some wiser than thou, condescending, hypocritical, la la land people in this country have.

Okay, I'll explain myself. If you say something about illegal Mexicans,
you're a bigot and hate all Hispanics and don't want anybody to come into
this country unless you have a two-generation pedigree of waspery.

If you say something about Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton or Rodney King you're a predjudiced bigot who wants to hold all African Americans down.

If you say something about Rosie O'Donnell, you're a homophobic
Redneck who wants to go around beating up gay people.

You people are disgusting.

You claim to be the protectors of Free Speech. Yet if a speaker of
dissenting opinions comes to one of your colleges you just get up and shout him or her down.

You claim to value the lives of the Iraqi babies but you won't raise one
self-righteous finger to save the millions of innocent unborn who fall
victim to the abortion assassin's knife.

You smear and try to ruin men of good character just because they don't
ascribe to the same beliefs you do.

You claim to be the champions of the poor but you always give them a fish
instead of a fishing pole.

You criticize the way that Saddam Hussein, one of the most evil men who ever walked, spent his last few minutes on earth, saying there should have been more dignity. Well the Iraqis don't believe in dignified hangings and it was their business, not yours. Live with it.

You get together over your vodka martinis and pat each other on the back and celebrate being the bigoted fools that you are. Yes I said bigoted, you
don't even want to consider somebody else's opinion.

You stoutly defend Islam, claiming it to be a peaceful religion. It never
has been and it never will be, but that doesn't make any difference to you,
the truth doesn't matter, only the perception.

You say that all religions are the same, they all lead to the mountaintop,
but I've got news for you. Nobody lives on the mountaintop except God and there's only one path to Him.

You make heroes out of people like Cindy Sheehan who obviously hates America and everything it stands for. A woman who goes around the world consorting with America's avowed enemies.

You defend nutcases like Ward Churchill who from the safety of his classroom acts as if the 9-11 attacks were a righteous execution of the guilty.

You weaken this country and embolden our enemies by your attitude because all you do is criticize. You have no answers or in many cases not even any ideas, you take no action but you are always ready to criticize those who have the initiative to do something.

And before you cherry pickers, (people who cherry pick this column and try
to twist it to make it say what you want it to) get your long johns in a
twaddle let me inform you that I am not defending any politicians.

This is not necessarily about politics but about attitudes, naive
tunnel vision, condescending attitudes.

Somebody's got to say it.

Pray for our troops

What do you think?"

God Bless America,
Charlie Daniels
March 16, 2007

New Vols Men's Hoops Team, Same as the Old Vols' Football Teams

While watching the Vols' monumental collapse in the NCAA tournament against Ohio State last night, I was already imagining the blog post I would write when they beat the No. 1 seeded Buckeyes, bouncing the last Big Ten team from the Big Dance. Obviously, I forgot I was watching a Tennessee team play. At least with the gridiron Vols, they usually wait until the fourth quarter, or at least the second half to go on cruise control, play an offense that is, at best, conservative, and at worst, paralyzed, and play a prevent defense to allow the other team back in the game. In this game, the hardwood Vols did exactly that in the FIRST HALF!

Once they got up in double digits, they seemed to forget that hustle, a suffocating defense, and turnovers got them their big lead, and they were content to toss the ball around for 20 seconds and then jack up a 28 foot three pointer with 2 seconds left on the shot clock. For all his success and turnaround of the Vols mens' basketball team, especially in light of a team that is all second-tier talent (except Chris Lofton), Bruce Pearl deserves just as much blame for allowing this team to quit on the game as the players themselves deserve for actually doing the quitting. Chalk up another "what might have been" in Tennessee sports lore, and maybe one day Volunteer players will learn to dance with what brought them to the dance and leave everything else at home...but I doubt it.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Left...Your Heroic Minutemen!

From Mike at Cold Fury (Hat Tip: Emperor Misha) comes a scathing rebuke to Michael Moore, the MSM, the radical left of the Democratic Party (but I repeat myself there), and everyone else who thinks the terrorist swine in Iraq are heroes for standing up to American occupation. Getting a car through a security checkpoint with children inside because there are children inside, then the adults get out of the car, leave the children inside, and blow it up. Note the bravery of these mighty warriors of the "Religion of Peace", not even willing to martyr themselves to Allah to kill some infidels...what is the state of jihad coming to. To anyone who defends vermin such as this, well, death is too kind for you. Pray for the souls of those murdered children, and for the eternal damnation of the cowards who slaughtered them.

"The brave, valiant Iraqi Minutemen — equals of if not superiors to the shining example of unquenchable love of human liberty set by America’s Founding Fathers, according to liberals — have now hit upon an innovative new tactic in their dauntless quest for freedom from the Amerikkkan conqueror. Rise up, ye liberals, and rally to the side of your spiritual brothers in the neverending struggle against kapitalist oppression!

Insurgents in Iraq detonated an explosives-rigged vehicle with two children in the back seat after US soldiers let it through a Baghdad checkpoint over the weekend, a senior US military official said Tuesday.

The vehicle was stopped at the checkpoint but was allowed through when soldiers saw the children in the back, said Major General Michael Barbero of the Pentagon’s Joint Staff.

“Children in the back seat lowered suspicion. We let it move through. They parked the vehicle, and the adults ran out and detonated it with the children in the back,” Barbero said.

Proud of yourselves and your unrelenting efforts to establish a timetable guaranteeing victory to these monsters, libs?

You guys very nearly got away with ducking your responsibility for the millions killed after you forced our ignominious and unwarranted retreat from Vietnam — in fact, you did pretty much get away with it, for more than thirty years, until the chickens came home to roost in our all-too-brief awakening after 9/11. But you’re not going to be able to scratch around in the litter box and cover up your mess so easily or for so long this go-round; a whole lot of us are pleased to offer you our personal guarantee of it. We’re going to go right on brushing away the sand thrown into our eyes by your MSM helpmates and calling attention to your diseased nihilism, which insists always on American defeat and humiliation — and by extension, Iraq’s abandonment to torment and mass death — just as long as there’s breath in our bodies.

Count on it.

Now go ahead, make your weak excuses for these diabolical vermin. Be sure to throw in one of your standard contemptuous excoriations of the very notion that “evil” exists in the world; then blame evil Bush for it. Be sure to skate right by the inherent contradiction on your trip back into the safe confines of the ever-contracting and well-policed boundaries of your little dream world."

Where Do I Sign Up for THIS Ambassador Job?

Courtesy of The Zero Boss and The U.K. Daily Mail comes a hysterical report of ambassadorial shenanigans by an Israeli ambassador. Apparently not to be outdone by his prior counterpart from 2000 who died of cardiac arrrest while engaged in extramarital relations with a woman who wasn't his wife, this guy takes the first prize for stupidity and depravity in acts engaged in during the course of "official duties". All emphasis below is mine, I haven't stopped laughing yet, and be sure to read the commentary of The Zero Boss (which I endorse wholeheartedly because my mind works much like his)...but if this is what ambassadors get to do for a living, I want to know where I sign up to get that job (without the idiocy of getting caught of course).

The Zero Boss

"God, how I love people. And this story does nothing but cement my lust affair with the ever-evolving concoction of crazy that is the human species. Tsuriel Raphael, the Israeli ambassador to El Salvador, had to be recalled because he engaged in “conduct unbecoming of a diplomat.” And here I thought that all ambassadors liked to get drunk, bound and gagged, and then summarily dumped on the front lawn of their official residence, surrounded by a passel of sex toys.

Apparently, “diplomatic immunity” only earns you so long a leash.

See, now I’m dying for the rest of the story. Who was he with? What went down that night? Was it all a setup? How many of the sex toys had actually been used? (I don’t envy the forensics team assigned to this one…) At what point in the evening did things go from “let’s all have a wild and crazy time together” to Raphael’s acquaintances deciding, “Now let’s really fuck up his life”? Was this terrorism - an assault against the Jewish state? Was Osama bin Laden involved?

How I only wish. I’d love for nothing better than for Islamic extremists to set aside their exploding shoes and suicide belts, and wage war against Israel using ball gags and dildos instead. As for Tsuriel Raphael: Sir, you are my kind of people. Just do yourself a favor, and choose your friends more wisely in the future."

The Daily Mail

"Israel has recalled its ambassador in El Salvador after he was found drunk, gagged and naked with sex toys lying nearby in the yard of his official residence.

A foreign ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the ambassador, Tsuriel Raphael, was recalled but offered no details. "The ministry sees his behaviour as unbecoming of a diplomat," said Zehavit Ben-Hillel.

Israeli media reported that local police found Raphael in the yard of the official residence in San Salvador. The reports said he was drunk, naked, and bound and gagged with a rubber ball in his mouth and sex toys lying near him.

The foreign ministry spokeswoman said the incident took place two weeks ago. "As soon as the episode was brought to attention of the foreign ministry it reacted and the ambassador was recalled to Israel. He is going to remain in Israel."

The embarrassing affair was one of several involving Israeli diplomats in recent years. In 2000, Israel's ambassador to France died of cardiac arrest in a Paris hotel under circumstances the Foreign Ministry refused to publicise. Reports said he was with a woman who was not his wife.

Last year, Israel replaced its ambassador to Australia, Naftali Tamir, after he said Israel and Australia were "like sisters" because both are in Asia and their peoples do not have the Asian characteristics of "yellow skin and slanted eyes".

"Why We Look the Other Way"...a Thought-Provoking Steroids Piece

Author and ESPN.com columnist Chuck Klosterman has penned an excellent piece re: steroids and their impact on sports, most especially football, that should be required reading for any pro sports fan with an opinion on the steroid debate raging throughout professional sports these days. Just like Jimi Hendrix and his cocaine-fueled guitar riffs or Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots with his heroin-inspired lyrics, the fact that pro sports players take steroids and other performance enhancing substances don't make their feats any less impressive or entertaining. Unfortunately, like the late Jimi Hendrix and Scott Weiland and his multiple stints in rehab, there are undoubtedly consequences for such choices. As long as there's a market for the impossible of people willing to pay, there will always be those willing to chemically alter themselves to do the otherwise impossible, no matter what it costs them personally.

Is this a good thing for society? Do we all bear a measure of responsibility every time we watch an NFL game or buy a Keith Urban record? Should the law step in and regulate or stop outright the production, distribution, and/or use some of these chemicals? I don't know, but all those are questions worthy of thought and debate, and this article made me think of them, so it's definitely worth a read.

Why We Look the Other Way
By Chuck Klosterman

"Shawne Merriman weighs 272 pounds.

This is six pounds less than Anthony Muñoz, probably the most dominating left tackle of all time. Shawne Merriman also runs the 40-yard dash in 4.61 seconds. When Jerry Rice attended the NFL draft combine in 1985, he reportedly ran a 4.60; Rice would go on to gain more than 23,000 all-purpose yards while scoring 207 career touchdowns.

You do not need Mel Kiper's hard drive to deduce what these numbers mean: As an outside linebacker, Shawne Merriman is almost as big as the best offensive tackle who ever played and almost as fast as the best wide receiver who ever played. He is a rhinoceros who moves like a deer. Common sense suggests this combination should not be possible. It isn't. ... Virtually everyone who follows football assumes Merriman used drugs to turn himself into the kind of hitting machine who can miss four games and still lead the league with 17 sacks. He has been caught and penalized, and the public shall forever remain incredulous of who he is and what he does. ...

I am told we live in a violent society. But even within that society, football players are singular. Another former Eagle, strong safety Andre Waters, committed suicide last November at age 44. A postmortem examination of his brain indicated he had the neurological tissue of an 85-year-old man with Alzheimer's, almost certainly the result of using his skull as a weapon for 12 seasons. Andre Waters hit people so hard, and so often, that he cut his time on earth in half. Hitting was his life. This is why the relationship between drugs and football is different from the relationship between drugs and baseball: Baseball is mostly about tangible statistics, which drugs skew and invalidate; football is more about intangible masculine warfare, which drugs quietly enhance.

Announcers casually lionize pro football players as gladiators, but that description is more accurate than most would like to admit. For the sake of entertainment, we expect these people to be the fastest, strongest, most aggressive on earth. If they are not, they make less money and eventually lose their jobs.

This being the case, it seems hypocritical to blame them for taking steroids. We might blame them more if they did not. ...

In 1982, I read a story about Herschel Walker in Sports Illustrated headlined "My Body's Like an Army." It explained how, at the time, Walker didn't even lift weights; instead, he did 100,000 sit-ups and 100,000 push-ups a year, knocking out 25 of each every time a commercial came on the television. This information made me worship Herschel; it made him seem human and superhuman at the same time. "My Body's Like an Army" simultaneously indicated that I could become Herschel Walker and that I could never become Herschel Walker. His physical perfection was self-generated and completely pure. He had made himself better than other mortals, and that made me love him.

But I was 10 years old.

There comes a point in every normal person's life when they stop looking at athletes as models for living. Any thinking adult who follows pro sports understands that some people are corrupt and the games are just games and money drives everything. It would be strange if they did not realize these things. But what's equally strange is the way so many fans (and sportswriters, myself included) revert back to their 10-year-old selves whenever an issue like steroids shatters the surface.

Most of the time, we don't care what football players do when they're not playing football. On any given Wednesday, we have only a passing interest in who they are as people or how they choose to live. But Sunday is different. On Sunday, we have wanted them to be superfast, superstrong, superentertaining and, weirdly, superethical. They are supposed to be pristine 272-pound men who run 40 yards in 4.61 seconds simply because they do sit-ups during commercial breaks for "Grey's Anatomy." Unlike everybody else in America, they cannot do whatever it takes to succeed; they have to fulfill the unrealistic expectations of 10-year-old kids who read magazines. And this is because football players have a job that doesn't matter at all, except in those moments when it matters more than absolutely everything else.

It may be time to rethink some of this stuff."

Camp Erin

MLB veteran pitcher, Jamie Moyer, age 44, has started the Moyer Foundation, through which he's helped start a project called Camp Erin. Named for a family friend who died before the age of 18, the camp is designed to help children cope with the loss of a parent. As a relatively young man, I lost both grandparents, and I was devastated. It's hard enough for adult children who lose parents, so I can't imagine the grief kids must feel when a parent dies before they are mature enough and sufficiently equipped emotionally to deal with it. The camp's website is here if you are moved to make a donation, and the link to the ESPN.com story (written by author/columnist: LZ Granderson) detailing the camp and the story behind its founding is here. It's a heartwarming story, and I really wish more athletes would do good things like this.

"The worst moment parents can ever experience is having to bury their own child. As the father of a 10-year-old boy, I have a difficult time even hearing a news report about the untimely death of a young person without getting misty-eyed. But last week I was introduced to a statistic that I found to be far more heartbreaking -- one in 20 children in this country will experience the death of a parent by the time they graduate from high school. That's 14 million children thrust into a situation most adults aren't prepared to handle.

Moyer's still an effective as a major-league starter, but he's even more effective off the field. With only 75 bereavement camps in existence, there are a lot of young people out there without adequate professional support to help them navigate through such a difficult time. But Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer and his wife Karen are working to change that. "You know when you see the pain in the kids' eyes when they arrive it just tears you up," Karen says. "But to see them smile and laugh again afterwards … that's all the motivation you need to keep working hard to help them and others." ...

And the Moyers' generosity is contagious. Tristana Leist was only 6 years old when she lost her mother, Victoria, in the summer of 2003 to cancer. The Camp Erin in her area was booked that year, but she and her brother Matthew were able to participate the following summer. Now 10, Tristana and Matthew are big Camp Erin advocates and have spoken at fundraisers about their experience.

"It has definitely changed my life and my view of things," Tristana says. "Now, I don't hate the world. I accept the world and I know my mom died for a reason. I know this because we've done a lot of volunteer work to try to help other kids who also lost a loved one. We call it giving back."

Tristana's father, Karl, says the camp helped him, as well. "I was devastated, and it was a struggle sometimes for me to get my two brokenhearted children dressed and ready for school," he said. "But after the camp the kids started laughing again and we were able to have fun again, and that really helped me deal with my own heart.

"Before, they felt like the only kids on the planet going through that kind of pain. But they met 40 other kids, and they cried together and did karaoke together and talked, and they realized God just didn't pick them out but that sometimes bad things happen to good people."

"Black Snake Moan" and a Nashville Kats' Game

I spent this weekend in Nashville for a death penalty seminar, which allowed me to get ahead on my Continuing Legal Education (CLE) credits for the year and provided me some valuable practice tips even for non-capital cases. Over the weekend, I got some free movie tickets from a friend, so we went to see "Black Snake Moan", starring Samuel L. Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake. This move is about a man (Jackson) whose wife leaves him for his brother who then finds a badly beaten Christina Ricci on the side of the road near his house. Jackson makes it his mission to cure Ricci's "wickedness" (i.e., sex, drinking, and drugs) that got her almost beaten to death. It's very graphic in terms of language and sex, and there are some definite holes in the plot and many things that make no sense whatsoever (including the ending). That said, it's a very entertaining movie, Ricci is both wild and hot (if sleazy), Jackson is great and funny as always, and Timberlake...well, he's a complete wuss of a little boy trying to play a man in his role, and he pulls it off well. It's worth going to see as a matinee, but not as an eight dollar or more prime time movie, and it wouldn't kill anyone to wait for the rental.

I also went to a Nashville Kats game this afternoon, and it was fun, although pretty different from the normal NCAA and NFL games I usually watch. For one thing, there was much more scoring, with a total of 17 touchdowns scored between the two teams (Nashville won 69-55). It's definitely a fan-friendly atmosphere (the players and cheerleaders are very accessible and there are plenty of fan contests with decent prizes to be won), and there were some wicked hits along the boards, which is what the AFL has instead of sidelines. Unfortunately, I have a pretty trained football eye, at it looked to me to be mostly a scrimmage between college level players on an indoor field half the size of a regular football field, so it didn't do that much for me. Also, the concessions are WILDLY overpriced...ten bucks for a little BBQ sandwich and a diet soda that might have been worth $3.50 on a good day is not a way to entice the fans to eat there. I'm glad I had the experience, but unless I have a date who is crazy about going to a game, I probably won't be going to another one...it just isn't that fabulous. All in all though, outside of some of the skull-numbingly boring lectures from the seminar, it was another good weekend in the life o' Chris.

Fred Thompson Stepping Away From McCain-Feingold?

Potential GOP presidential contender Fred Thompson has the charisma and the credentials to run away with the 2008 GOP nomination if he enters the field, but he isn't without his flaws. One of the most glaring was his tacit support of the McCain-Feingold "campign finance reform" bill, which actually turned out to be one of the biggest assaults on free speech in decades and actually forced more shady political money underground rather than bringing it to the light. In an interview with John Fund from the Wall Street Journal, via Captain's Quarters, he appears to be stepping away from his support of that diastorus bill, instead favoring full disclosure of everything, very few limits on political contributions, and huge penalties for non-disclosure. Not only would this remove an issue that sticks in the craw of many conservatives, it would show him to be a man who is willing to change course when a solution, especially one he helped support, isn't fixing the problem for which it was formulated. Let's hope he's serious about getting away from McCain-Feingold.

Further Debunking the Gore-Bot's Global Warming Hooey

First it was Iowahawk mercilessly mocking Al Gore and his gullible global warming hysteria crowd, and now comes Mrs. DuToit to demolish the "science" behind his inconvenient un-truths. Rush Limbaugh said long ago that man is deluding himself if he thinks that much of anything (short of a nuclear holocaust) we do will have tangible effects on this planet...he was right then and Mrs. DuToit is right now. It's a long post and I'd recommend perusing the entire post, but since not everyone is that interested in the continued destruction of Emperor Gore and his lack of clothes, I've included the high points below.

"Unless you’ve been operating under a self-imposed news boycott, I’m sure you’ve heard the line, “100% of Scientists Agree.” This has been used to support the claims of man-made Global Cooling Warming Climate Change Warming.

Let’s imagine that you have a party and you invite only the scientists who agree with you on the issue of Global [Insert Whatever They are Calling It Today]. At that party you poll the folks to ask if they agree with you. If you report that as “100% of Scientists Agree,” would that be honest? Would it be accurate?

They seem to think so because they have no morals or they’re delusional. Scientists DO NOT agree. Let’s look at this another way…

Let’s say that 30 years ago you started working on algorithms to measure the earth’s historical temperature and weather patterns. You worked on clouds, Joe worked on oceans, Sam worked on wind, and Bob worked on precipitation. Since each of you were working on different facets of it, you decided to share your algorithms with each other. Six or more people, working together, sharing the same algorithms.

If you each created a model, based on those same algorithms, would it be correct to suggest that “all the models agree”? Well, yes, it would be correct, but would it MEAN anything? Would the fact that you made the equivalent of a model photocopy, and then claimed “proof” based on them having the same results, mean that there was proof in numbers?

Of course not. It’s the same model! Having it run on Joe’s computer or Bob’s computer isn’t going to change the outcome, unless the computers were broken. If the dire predictions were unchanged by any change in the data input, say changing the levels of historical co2, and the outcome/prediction didn’t change, would that be a clue that the algorithms had been tweaked to the point of absurdity?

Magicians do that trick all the time. It goes something like this:

Pick a number between one and ten. Got it?
Multiply that number by 0.
Your number is zero.

WOO HOO! I’m psychic!

Want to try it again?

Pick a number between one and ten. Got it?
Multiply that number by 100.
Multiply the result by 10.
Divide the result by 2.
Multiply the result by 0.
Your number is Zero!

See how psychic I am?

THAT is a simplified version of how the climate models work. No matter what data you start with, the machinations of the algorithms have been tweaked to have the same result. This was done because there were so many complaints about the models not being able to accurately forecast the past. So they tweaked the algorithms so they could. But in doing so, they made the data that supports those algorithms irrelevant, just like I did in the example above.

But all of the above is only part of what I want to talk about. What I do want to talk about is the insanity in all of this. The other day I walked through the kitchen, where the TV had been left on, and heard Jane Hall babbling on Fox News Watch about the Al Gore 2004 campaign, “Yes, but Gore was right about Global Warming.” NO, he is NOT right about global warming. Saying it over and over again, or getting a line up of Truth or Consequences contestants to repeat it, does not make it true.

What concerns me about all of this is that we seemed to have reached a kind of gullibility critical mass, where enough people have been taught that hearing something twice is confirmation (regardless that the two claims were both wrong), that we can’t seem to get rid of this nonsense. Then we are treated to continuous rehashing of settled matters, such as the Kyoto Protocol (where even the countries who signed on to it aren’t in compliance with the rules), crap about “Offsets” which sell the same “savings” more than once, or attribute the combined (not shared) portion to all who buy them, and we’re told this is all progress.

There is NOTHING to see here. Even if radical temperature changes could be predicted today, there is still nothing in the data that would suggest that turning down your thermostat or closing factories would have any impact at all. It is such a classic case of smoke and mirrors it is astonishing that people who can walk and chew gum give any of this stuff the time of day.

...

What we DO know is that there used to be wine grapes grown in England, now too cold for that crop. There used to be forests in the Sinai, now desert. Would those two facts alone dispute the claims that global temperatures haven’t always been changing, in very dramatic ways, LONG before man was more than a speck on the planet? And that’s before we look at the sun’s changing output, the effect of volcanoes, or any of the other natural events that cause temperatures to change that we know about.

Look, man is NOT that important. We’re not significant enough. We’re like a single penny in a pile of a hundred trillion pennies. What we do, all that we do and have done since the industrial revolution, is not even measurable in comparison to the stuff the planet does, all by itself or what the sun does. I know that folks want to feel that we’re more than a speck or a mosquito on the back of an elephant, but we’re just not that important. We need to get our egos out of the way.

There is no science here. This is 100% political gobbledygook. And if folks can’t see that, if they don’t understand enough about science or mathematics to grasp these concepts, then they’re going to believe what these politically motivated charlatans are telling them."

"I am Tired", by a Staff Sergeant in Afghanistan

Today's required reading, courtesy of Blackfive from a soldier on the ground in Afghanistan. He recounts the B.S. he's tired of hearing and how to fix it...all he wants is to defeat the enemy and win the war so he can go home to his wife and child. Would that the politicians and the lawyers would simply step back and let the military do their job so the soldiers can come home...but until they do, read the whole thing.

"Things that I am tired of in this war:

I am tired of Democrats saying they are patriotic and then insulting my commander in chief and the way he goes about his job.

I am tired of Democrats who tell me they support me, the soldier on the ground, and then tell me the best plan to win this war is with a “phased redeployment” (liberal-speak for retreat) out of the combat zone to someplace like Okinawa.

I am tired of the Democrats whining for months on T.V., in the New York Times, and in the House and Senate that we need more troops to win the war in Iraq, and then when my Commander in Chief plans to do just that, they say that is the wrong plan, it won’t work, and we need a “new direction.”

I am tired of every Battalion Sergeant Major and Command Sergeant Major I see over here being more concerned about whether or not I am wearing my uniform in the “spot on,” most garrison-like manner; instead of asking me whether or not I am getting the equipment I need to win the fight, the support I need from my chain of command, or if the chow tastes good.

I am tired of junior and senior officers continually doubting the technical expertise of junior enlisted soldiers who are trained far better to do the jobs they are trained for than these officers believe.

I am tired of senior officers and commanders who fight this war with more of an eye on the media than on the enemy, who desperately needs killing.

I am tired of the decisions of Sergeants and Privates made in the heat of battle being scrutinized by lawyers who were not there and will never really know the state of mind of the young soldiers who were there and what is asked of them in order to survive.

I am tired of CNN claiming that they are showing “news,” with videotape sent to them by terrorists, of my comrades being shot at by snipers, but refusing to show what happens when we build a school, pave a road, hand out food and water to children, or open a water treatment plant.

I am tired of following the enemy with drones that have cameras, and then dropping bombs that sometimes kill civilians; because we could do a better job of killing the right people by sending a man with a high powered rifle instead.

I am tired of the thousands of people in the rear who claim that they are working hard to support me when I see them with their mochas and their PX Bags walking down the street, in the middle of the day, nowhere near their workspaces.

I am tired of Code Pink, Daily Kos, Al-Jazzera, CNN, Reuters, the Associated Press, ABC, NBC, CBS, the ACLU, and CAIR thinking that they somehow get to have a vote in how we blast, shoot and kill these animals who would seek to subdue us and destroy us.

I am tired of people like Meredith Vieria from NBC asking oxygen thieves like Senator Chuck Hagel questions like “Senator, at this point, do you think we are fighting and dying for nothing?” Meredith might not get it, but soldiers do know the difference between fighting and dying for something and fighting and dying for nothing.

I am tired of hearing multiple stories from both combat theaters about snipers begging to do their jobs while commanders worry about how the media might portray the possible casualties and what might happen to their career.

I am tired of hearing that the Battalion Tactical Operations Center got a new plasma screen monitor for daily briefings, but rifle scope rings for sniper rifles, extra magazines, and necessary field gear were disapproved by the unit supply system.

I am tired of out of touch general officers, senators, congressmen and defense officials who think that giving me some more heavy body armor to wear is helping me stay alive. Speed is life in combat and wearing 55 to 90 pounds of gear for 12 to 20 hours a day puts me at a great tactical disadvantage to the idiot, mindless terrorist who is wearing no armor at all and carrying an AK-47 and a pistol.

I am tired of soldiers who are stationed in places like Kuwait and who are well away from any actual combat getting Hostile Fire/Imminent Danger Pay and the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion when they live on a base that has a McDonald’s, a Pizza Hut, a Subway, a Baskin Robbins, an internet café, 2 coffee shops and street lights.

I am tired of senior officers and commanders who take it out and "measure" every time they want to have a piece of the action with their helicopters or their artillery; instead of putting their egos aside and using their equipment to support the grunt on the ground.

I am tired of senior officers and commanders who are too afraid for their careers to tell the truth about what they need to win this war to their bosses so that the soldiers can get on with kicking the ass of these animals.

I am tired of Rules of Engagement being made by JAG lawyers and not Combat Commanders. We are not playing Hopscotch over here. There is no 2nd place trophy either. I think that if the enemy knew some rough treatment and some deprivation was at hand for them, instead of prayer rugs, special diets and free Korans; this might help get their terrorist minds “right.”

I am tired of seeing Active Duty Army and Marine units being extended past their original redeployment dates, when there are National Guard Units that have yet to deploy to a combat zone in the last 40 years.

I am tired of hearing soldiers who are stationed in safe places talk about how hard their life is.

I am tired of seeing Infantry Soldiers conducting what amounts to “SWAT” raids and performing the US Army’s version of “CSI Iraq” and doing things like filling out forms for evidence when they could be better used to hunt and kill the enemy.

I am tired of senior officers and commanders who look first in their planning for how many casualties we might take, instead of how many enemy casualties we might inflict.

I am tired of begging to be turned loose so that this war can be over.

Those of us who fight this war want to win it and go home to their families. Prolonging it with attempts to do things like collect “evidence” or present whiz bang briefings on a new plasma screen TV is wasteful and ultimately, dulls the edge of our Infantry soldiers who are trained to kill people and break things, not necessarily in that order.

We are not in Iraq and Afghanistan to build nations. We are there to kill our enemies. We make the work of the State Department easier by the results we achieve.

It is only possible to defeat an enemy who kills indiscriminately by utterly destroying him. He cannot be made to yield or surrender. He will fight to the death by the hundreds to kill only one or two of us.

And so far, all of our “games” have been “away games,” and I don’t know about the ignorant, treasonous Democrats and the completely insane radical leftists and their thoughts on the matter, but I would like to keep our road game schedule.

So let’s get it done. Until the fight is won and there is no more fight left."

Fred Thompson for President...?

Former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN), who also stars in "Law and Order", said on "Meet the Press" this weekend that he's strongly considering a run for President in 2008. Unlike most of the RINOs in the Senate today who wet themselves at the thought of an unkind word from the Beltway press, Fred Thompson is an actual conservative with charisma, and the comparisons to Ronald Reagan have started already. Right now, of the candidates already in the 2008 field, the only one I really like is Representative Duncan Hunter (R-CA), also a conservative with a good record on the military, the border, taxes, etc. Given how much of a long shot his bid is though, I'd certainly be open to considering supporting Fred Thompson for the GOP presidential nod in 2008. For a little light-hearted fun to celebrate Thompson's possible entry as a presidential contender, here is a hysterical post from the always clever Frank J.

AWESOME FACTS ABOUT FRED THOMPSON

* Fred Thompson has on multiple occasions pronounced "nuclear" correctly.

* Fred Thompson has blasted more people in the face with a shotgun than even Dick Cheney.

* The masked executioner of Saddam Hussein: Fred Thompson.

* Not only does Fred Thompson cut taxes, he cuts tax collectors.

* Fred Thompson is the only person to have ever bested Miyamato Mushashi in a duel. The reason Musashi is so vague about the book of the void is because the fifth ring of combat is really Fred Thompson.

* The reason Fred Thompson didn't want to stay in the Senate for long is because all the extra scrutiny kept him from doing his favorite hobby: Prowling the streets at night killing drug dealers.

* Every night before going to sleep, Osama bin Laden checks under his bed for Fred Thompson.

* Fred Thompson took over what was Al Gore's Senate seat, thereby dramatically reducing the Senate's carbon footprint. Fred Thompson then created carbon offset offsets by wastefully burning hippies.

* The Fremen consider "Fred Thompson" a killing word.

* Fred Thompson reconsidered running for reelection after 9/11 but later decided to handle things on his own. He was soon seen entering the Middle East with a bottle of tequila in one hand an a handgun in the other. They're still counting the dead.

* Though Fred Thompson left the Senate in 2003, Harry Reid still hasn't stopped wetting his pants.

* Fred Thompson's gaze can kill small animals.

* Fred Thompson once ended a filibuster by ripping out a Senator's heart and showing it to him before he died.

* The actual cause of global warming: Fred Thompson's burning rage.

* The budget to Law & Order was dramatically increased when Fred Thompson was added to the cast because he has to be digitally inserted into the scenes since anytime he's near Hollywood liberals, he kills them.

* Only two things can kill Superman: Kryptonite and Fred Thompson.

* Fred Thompson once stood on our south border and glared at Mexico. There was no illegal immigration for a month.

* Scientists predict that when Fred Thompson dies he'll explode taking out the five nearest planets before collapsing into a black hole.

* At a campaign stop, a Belgian Hound tried to hump Fred Thompson's leg. That breed of dog no longer exists.

* Fred Thompson vows not only to win in Iraq but also to forcefully free Vietnam from Communism, thus giving America a perfect win/loss record for wars again.

* If you purchase a weather radio, it will wake you up with an alarm to warn you when Fred Thompson is pissed off.

* An abortion doctor tried to kill Fred Thompson when he was still in the womb, but he cut off the man's hand with scalpel while shouting, "Do you know who I am? I'm Fred Thompson!"

* Webster's Dictionary defines "conservatism" as "how closely one's views resemble those of Fred Thompson."

* Fred Thompson's sense of strategy is so great that he can checkmate you using only a pawn and a knight.

* Fred Thompson can know both the exact position and momentum of a particle. Furthermore, he knows Schroedinger's cat is dead because he personally strangled it.

* The most efficient airline security is to have Fred Thompson stare down everyone entering a plane.

* When terrorists get to the afterlife, they'll find that none of their seventy-two women are still virgins. Why? Because of Fred Thompson.

* Fred Thompson can open clamshell packaging without the slightest trouble.

* In a butterfly ballot, no matter where you punch it the vote goes to Fred Thompson.

* Why does Iran want nuclear weapons? Out of fear of Fred Thompson.

* Some versions of the Bible have Mathew 5:5 read, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth... unless Fred Thompson wants it."

Another Former Border Patrol Agent Railroaded to Prison for Doing His Job

In yet another sad and yet totally unsurprising case prosecuted by open-border zealot and Bush appointee (I know, I repeat myself), U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, former Border Patrol Agent Gary Brugman was railroaded into prison for 2 years for "using unreasonable force under color of law" in detaining an illegal immigrant trying to cross into the U.S. illegally. Via the Washington Times, best I can tell, he was trying to regain control of a group of illegal immigrants that a Border Patrol trainee was unable to handle. Like Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez, who is about to go to prison for shooting out the tires of a van full of illegals trying to run him over and kill him, Agent Brugman punched an illegal who tried to grab his handcuffs away from him. What is totally reasonable and acceptable behavior and part of the job of a Border Patrol agent has now become a criminal offense since the U.S. Department of Justice began serving at the behest of Mexico. Agent Brugman served time at the same prison where former B.P. Agent Ignacio Ramos is serving his sentence of over a decade for violating the "civil rights" of an illegal immigrant drug dealer...I don't know why it surprises anyone that law enforcement officers of any stripe are in serious danger from other inmates in prison once their identities are discovered. Read Agent Brugman's story...sad, just sad; my prayers are with him and his family.

Ex-agent Cites Prison Risks to Convicted Federal Lawmen
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
March 13, 2007

"A former U.S. Border Patrol agent sent to prison for 24 months for violating the civil rights of a Mexican national caught crossing illegally into the United States says three other lawmen convicted by the same federal prosecutor face "real danger" in prison when other inmates find out who they are. Gary M. Brugman, who served time at the Federal Detention Center in Yazoo City, Miss., after his 2002 conviction by U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton in San Antonio, told The Washington Times he made a vest of newspapers and duct tape and wrapped magazines around his waist everyday to protect himself from being stabbed by other inmates.

"Every morning, I would wake up and ask myself if I was really there," said Mr. Brugman, released from prison last March. "I still have a very hard time accepting what happened. It's extremely hard to find a time and place to cry when you're a grown man in prison." Mr. Brugman, a nine-year U.S. Coast Guard veteran, was housed at Yazoo City for nine months the same facility where former Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos is held. Ramos was assaulted Feb. 3 by inmates who learned his identity after watching "America's Most Wanted."

Ramos, 37, and Jose Alonso Compean, 28, were sentenced in January to 11- and 12-year prison terms, respectively, for shooting a drug-smuggling suspect in the buttocks after he abandoned 743 pounds of marijuana on the border near Fabens, Texas. Compean is housed at the Federal Correctional Institution in Elkton, Ohio. Edwards County, Texas, Deputy Sheriff Guillermo "Gilmer" Hernandez was convicted by Mr. Sutton in December for shooting at a truck loaded with illegal aliens after the driver tried to run him down. He faces sentencing Monday, when he could receive up to 10 years in prison. Prosecutors said he violated the civil rights of an illegal alien in the van when a metal fragment hit her in the lip.

"Having served the government for many years, I experienced many things that scared me. But being a federal agent in prison was sheer terror," Mr. Brugman said. "The inmates have ways of finding out who you are and knowing all of the details about your case by the time you arrive. "I know exactly what Ramos and Compean are going through and what Hernandez faces," he said. Mr. Brugman was indicted in January 2001 on charges of using unreasonable force "under the color of law" while trying to detain Miguel Angel Jimenez-Saldana, an illegal alien who sought with nine others to cross the border through a pecan orchard near Eagle Pass, Texas on the Rio Grande about 150 miles southwest of San Antonio.

Accused of pushing the man to the ground with his foot, Brugman pleaded not guilty at a jury trial in October 2002, but was convicted in a case argued by Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Baumann, the same man who prosecuted Hernandez. In prosecuting the three agents and the deputy, Mr. Sutton said law-enforcement officials must be held to the same legal standards as everyone else. But Mr. Brugman questioned why a convicted drug smuggler that he arrested in the same border location six weeks later was called as a witness in his case. Miguel Angel Rodriguez-Silva was escorted by U.S. marshals to the Texas court to testify saying Brugman broke his nose during a fight in February 2001 when the agent sought to arrest him for bringing marijuana into the United States.

Although the incident was reported by Mr. Brugman and Rodriguez-Silva never filed a complaint against the agent, the Mexican national was a key government witness. Court records show that Rodriguez-Silva was among a group of six to eight people spotted on infrared cameras at about 5 a.m. carrying bundles into the United States, all of whom scattered when they were approached by agents, including Mr. Brugman. "We had caught four when the camera operator notified me that two others were hunkered down in the brush not too far away," Mr. Brugman said. "Once they figured out that I could see them, they took off running towards the river. I gave chase and continuously yelled for them to stop.

"After chasing them though a barb-wire fence, I somehow got flipped and ended up on my back with a dope smuggler sitting on top of me. We had each other by the neck and collar, and he had my right hand pinned to the ground," he said. "I twisted my right hand free and hit him on the side of his face knocking him off of me." Mr. Brugman said when Rodriguez-Silva attempted to grab his handcuffs, "I punched him in the face three times" and then laid on top of him until help arrived. Rodriguez-Silva later pleaded guilty to four felony counts of possession of marijuana for distribution and sale and was sentenced to 57 months in prison. He was bringing 830 pounds of marijuana into the U.S. at the time of his arrest. "I have no idea what relevance Rodriguez-Silva had with what I was being charged with," Mr. Brugman said. "No allegations were ever made that I had, in any way, violated any Border Patrol policy when I apprehended him."

In the case that landed him in court, Mr. Brugman responded to a sensor alarm when he spotted and chased on foot 10 illegals running through the orchard, yelling at them in Spanish to stop. Two other agents, Marcelino Alegria and Remberto Perez, responded in the vehicles and caught the illegals at an irrigation ditch, where they were ordered to sit on the ground.

Mr. Brugman said one of the illegals Jimenez-Saldana was on one knee behind Agent Alegria, who had been on the job for four days. He said when he ordered him to sit down, Jimenez-Saldana failed to do so and he pushed the man down with his foot.
"It seemed he didn't have control of the situation," Mr. Brugman said of the trainee agent. "There were aliens in front of him, to his left and behind him two of whom were squatting on one knee, looking at his back and making lunging movements. "I didn't know if they were getting ready to run or attack the agent," he said. "I ran up to the aliens and with the bottom of my foot, pushed the first one to the ground and told him to sit down." There was no mention of the incident in a report written by the two other agents on the apprehension of the 10 illegals. Fourteen months later, Mr. Brugman said he got a "target letter" from Mr. Baumann saying a grand jury had been called to investigate the Jimenez-Saldana arrest.

"Today, I'm just trying to piece my life back together," he said. "As strange as it may sound to some, I would jump at the chance to have my job back at the Border Patrol. I was a good agent, and I am still a loyal American. No amount of lies will ever change that."

"Rambo", the Afghan Hero

Courtesy of the Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo News comes the story of an Afghan guard at an American base in Afghanistan, nicknamed "Rambo" for his bravery in stopping a suicide bomber before he could blow up an American base and the soldiers in it. His bravery won him mention in a speech by President Bush a little while back and the respect and admiration of his counterparts in the U.S. Armed Forces. When people ask if these wars are worth it, they should take a look at men like this, brave men who now live in freedom from Islamofascist oppression and who hate al-Qaeda and their allies as much as we do. Read the whole story, it's a good one.

The Afghan Guard Who Stops Suicide Bombers
by Mark Sappenfield

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - There is trouble outside Camp Phoenix. The American base on the dusty outskirts of Kabul has called for English translators. The problem is, the Americans have now hired their translator, and a crowd of Afghan job hunters at the camp gate is getting unruly.

The US soldiers are nervous. One yells obscenities and waves his gun. The crowd cowers but doesn't budge. Then, another soldier steps forward, armed only with a thick wooden staff, wrapped in peeling red tape.

The name tag on his broad chest says "Rambo," and though he wears US Army fatigues, he speaks in perfect Dari, ordering the crowd to leave. It reluctantly disperses.

This is a normal day for Rambo, an Afghan who has stood guard here for more than four years, pledging his life to the American soldiers that rid his land of the Taliban. But on Jan. 16, Rambo's gatekeeping made him a bona fide hero.

On that day, Rambo wrenched open the driver's side door of a moving car and wrestled a suicide bomber into submission before he could detonate his explosives. President Bush lauded him in a nationally televised speech several weeks ago, and before that, slightly exaggerated accounts of his feat circled through cyberspace, pleading for America to offer him citizenship or at least a medal.

Dutiful: Four Days Off in Four Years

On this gray day, amid the intermittent raindrops of a coming storm, Rambo seems somewhat weary of the story, asking a lieutenant whether he really needs to tell it again. So far as he is concerned, his only job is to protect those American soldiers at the gate. It is why he has taken only four days off in more than four years, even working Fridays, though that is the Muslim day of rest.

But the lieutenant kindly requests Rambo's patience. To Rambo, that is an order. "If you want me to do it, I will do it," he tells her with martial deference.

In fairness, his story is not just about the day he stopped a suicide bomber, when the steel of his resolve to protect American troops became so apparent to all who did not know him. To those who do, who gave him the "Rambo" nickname, the name tag, and the stick, his devotion was already evident.

At every corner of Camp Phoenix, Rambo stops to salute American officers. Soldiers heading out on patrol call out his name as if he were a fraternity brother. He is unquestionably one of them, because he is so willing to make the same sacrifice that they, too, have been called upon to make.

Yet he is also unquestionably Afghan, and never more so than when he smothered his countryman and would-be martyr at the front gate. To Rambo, whose name has been withheld for his protection, what happened that day was a matter of pride – a personal pride that burns deeper than love of country, or family, or faith.

"I made a promise to every American soldier," he says in grave tones. "Even if there is only one American soldier, I will be here to protect him."

Amid Camp Phoenix's soil-filled blast walls and bristling guard towers, designed to keep soldiers separate from the unsettled Afghanistan beyond, Rambo is a living lesson in the character of his country, where friends pledge their lives to defend you and enemies never rest until you have been destroyed.

On a clear, chilly Tuesday in mid- January, those two perceptions of the American presence here collided.

How He Spotted the Suicide Bomber

Having spoken for five loving minutes about his well-worn red stick and its many uses in crowd control, the black-bearded Rambo is at last primed to talk about his legendary feat, his dark eyes bright with enthusiasm. He sits on a cold, wooden picnic bench in the Camp Phoenix compound, immune to the freezing rain, his rough and blackened hands working frantically to depict the scene.

When the driver of an off-white sedan did not brake as he approached the gate, Rambo sensed danger. He ran to the door, flung it open, and saw two buttons by the gearshift, each with a wire running to a gas tank that filled the entire back seat.

Before the terrorist could reach the buttons, Rambo seized his hands, and a Security Forces soldier arrived to help. In an instant, it was over.

Later in the day, the car exploded when a demolition team failed to disarm it, but no one was injured.

Before and since the event, Rambo has gotten recognition for his role at Camp Phoenix. In his dark and low-ceilinged room – a nestlike clutter of boxes and badges and potato-chip bags – Rambo displays a letter from the former commander of NATO. There is a framed commendation that bears both the US and Afghan flags, as well as a jumble of military coins given for his service.

In another corner, he uncovers a pile of letters from American soldiers, their wives, and their mothers – one with a lipstick-stained kiss of gratitude. These are his treasures. The thanks he has always received for his service makes his monastic existence worthwhile. Even before Jan. 16, he stayed here from before dawn until after dusk. Now, he lives on the base full time. In fact, he has not been home for three months.

He bears the security measures joyfully. And he doesn't heed the Afghans who roll down their windows and shout obscenities at him as they pass. "I don't care what they say," he says. "I will protect my friends."

Yes, he says, the Americans are here to help hold his country together as it attempts to heal after three decades of misrule and civil war. But more than that, he loves Americans because they have treated him with respect.

"They are good and they have strong hearts," he says.

They have given him this uniform, which is frayed at the cuffs from constant use. They have created a "Rambo fund" to help him get a TV, and have helped two of his sons get jobs. On his shoulder he proudly wears the patches of every unit that has come through Camp Phoenix – each vying for the esteemed piece of real estate that is Rambo's uniform.

"When you think of Camp Phoenix, you think of Rambo," says 1st Lt. John Stephens of 1-180th Infantry Battalion, who is in the midst of his second tour here. "He's the rock of Camp Phoenix."

Taliban Rocket Killed His Wife and Child

Rambo's journey to the American side of the war is a simple one. During the days of the Taliban, his wife and one of his children were killed when a rocket crashed into their home. It was not intentional, he says, but it was indicative of the lives ruined by Taliban rule. Moreover, as a member of the Army during a former government, he felt unsafe and eventually fled to Pakistan for refuge.

The fall of the Taliban in 2001 brought him back to Kabul, where he resumed an old job as a truck driver and security guard at a transportation company. When Camp Phoenix commandeered the building used by the transportation company in 2003, Rambo stayed on as a security guard for the new installation. He has been here ever since, and he has been "Rambo" for almost as long.

His handle was the suggestion of a woman who was here during the early days of Camp Phoenix. "I liked Rambo even from before," he says, betraying no knowledge of anyone named Sylvester Stallone, as if Rambo and the actor are synonymous. "Sometimes he is in a movie where he is wild, and sometimes he has a necktie and is very respectable."

Which Rambo is he? "It depends," he says with a smile. "If a polite man comes, I will be a Rambo who is polite and gentle. But if it is Al Qaeda, I will be the wild Rambo."

Soldiers here will vouch for that, telling of instances where Rambo pulled people out of car windows. Back during Communist times, when he was a tank commander, Rambo says that he cut all the medals off the uniform of a superior officer when the officer (falsely, he insists) accused him of not fixing a tank correctly.

Today, he returns to the gate, huddling beside a fire in an old oil drum along with his American colleagues. They are his responsibility, he says, and he is determined not to forsake that trust.

"I don't want to be blamed," he says. "I promised these people a lot. Dying is better than to be blamed."

"Captivating", by John and Stasi Eldredge

I spent the better part of my weekend wrapping up "Captivating", by John and Stasi Eldredge...the bookend counterpart for women to Eldredge's 2001 book, "Wild at Heart". Just as I recommended "Wild at Heart" to any man and the women seeking to better understand them, so too do I recommend this book for any woman and the men better seeking to understand them. I don't know many guys who read books like this one in an attempt to better understand women, to see how the other half lives...I guess that just makes me unique, in a good way of course. I will admit this on the front end...while I understood all of what I read in "Captivating", probably a full 1/3 to 1/2 of the book didn't resonate with me. The parts that did so mainly impacted me because of the issues I've seen the women closest to me in my life struggle with; and the rest, well, I'm sure it resonated with the women it was meant for, just the same as I suspect some things in "Wild at Heart" will read like VCR instructions in Japanese to women. This one might run a little long, so grab a beverage and enjoy!

There's so much good stuff in the book that I couldn't possibly cover it all, so I'll just highlight a few key points and solid quotes, provide my thoughts and analysis, and leave the rest to those who want to read the book themselves.

"Do not give your pearls to pigs. (Matthew 7:6) Matthew was saying, 'Look, don't give something precious to someone who, at best, cannot recognize its beauty, or at worst, someone who will trample on it. ...A woman can test and see if a man is wiling to move in a good direction by offering a taste of what is available with her if he does. Rather than giving everything in a moment, she allures him and waits to see what he will do."

I think this is pretty self-explanatory (i.e., don't settle, have some standards, take a little time to see what kind of man he is day in and day out, etc.), but it's still a point that needs to be made because too many really amazing women give all of themselves to completely unworthy douchebags. It's both discouraging, and it makes me angry because I know they deserve better (even if it isn't with me). All I can do is counsel the women in my life along those lines where appropriate, pray for them in their decision-making, and trust the outcome to God.

"Strength is what the world longs to experience from a man, but isn't it obvious that we don't mean big muscles? Of course, a man might like to work out at the gym, but if he is only physically strong, he is a hollow man. Are we as women satisfied with that kind of man? Of course not. On the other hand, our man might prefer to read or to play an instrument. Does this in any way diminish the strength of his soul? Not at ll. The strength of a man is first a strength of soul, a strength of heart. And as he lives it out, owns it, inhabits his strength, he does become more handsome, more attractive as the fruit of an inner reality."

As I read this quote, I wanted to jump out of my seat and exclaim "Yes! This is what I have been talking about!" A brief story: on Spring Break in Florida while I was in college, a young lady mused that I must be gay because of the following things: I dressed well, I didn't embarrass myself or her on the dance floor, I liked to read, and I had a favorite musical. I really didn't get that, because I am a man, no doubt...I work out and keep myself in good shape, I watch and play sports, I am all about some competition, I won't let a woman be disrespected or mistreated if I can help it, etc. But God forbid, Heaven forfend that I should have a bit of culture, that I am intelligent, and that I appreciate things of beauty in this world outside of just the female form...and for that, I'm branded as gay or weak? WTF?! At the time, I was both angry and insulted, and let's just say that I didn't react very well.

I've since come to realize that this is a common misconception among women, especially about me. I'll grant you that far too many "nice guys" are, in fact, passive and weak, hence they are unappealing and not viewed by women as a "real man". There is, however, a distinction to be made between a good man and a nice guy...namely that the good man has everything the nice guy has PLUS strength of heart and character. Part of my job as a man is to show off all the sides of me as a man, to make sure that women do not somehow mistake things like kindness, willingness and ability to communicate about important (sometimes emotional) things, and appreciation for beauty in all its forms as weakness. The duty of a woman in this regard is to give a man a full and fair examination to be sure she is correct when deciding which category a man belongs to. Women need to understand that they can have all of the things they are after in an man, and that they shouldn't settle until they find it.

"Women are creatures of great mystery, not problems to be solved but mysteries to be enjoyed."

Wow! Chalk this one up to one of the most difficult lessons for men, present company included, to learn about women. Most men are wired to assess the problem, fix it, and move on to the next problem to be fixed until there are no more problems to be fixed. This isn't to say that women will never have issues, and heck, we men may even be able to help them with some of their issues...it's just that they themselves and our relationships with them should not be treated like a problem to be solved. Women are looking for men who love and appreciate them, who are happy to be with them, who delight in them...men who save their problem-solving skills for actual problems instead of treating them and the relationship like a problem.

Beauty flows from a heart at rest. ...A woman of beauty is not striving to become beautiful or worthy enough. ...A woman of true beauty offers others the grace to be and the room to become.

I'll definitely agree with the authors on this one. Though the cause of the beauty is different for men and women, it's true for both genders. A man is in a place of calm and restful peace when his questions re: his strength (Am I good enough? Do I have what it takes?) have been answered affirmatively from God and from within himself; a woman, on the other hand, is at calm and restful peace when her questions re: her beauty (Am I lovely? Do you delight in me?) have been answered yes from God and within herself. Note that in neither case is this sense of peace and calm dependent on the approval of others, being in a romantic relationship, the accomplishments of life, etc. This isn't to say that striving for success when passionately pursuing the desires of our heart is a bad thing; rather, it simply means that those things should not define us, that they shouldn't become an end unto themselves, and that we shouldn't attempt to substitute any of those things in the place of our spiritual journey and relationship with God.

There aren't many people who have arrived at such a place of contentment, and it certainly isn't easy to stay there...but experiencing someone at peace with themselves is an entirely different than someone who seeks peace externally, and there are few things in this world more attractive. To me, it's very alluring to be around and/or with a woman who is strong, but not closed off...loving, but not promiscuous...conscious of her value, but not snotty or aloof. The authors are right: a woman such as this arouses a man's strength and brings out the best in a man that women so often complain of not finding or having.

"The scariest thing for a man is to offer his strength in situations where he doesn't know if it will make any difference, because failure says "No." to his question, "Do I have what it takes?". ... The scariest thing for a woman is to offer her beauty in situations where she doesn't know if it will make any difference, or worse, where she might be rejected, because rejection says "No." to her question, "Am I lovely?" We do not want to offer beauty or strength unless we are guaranteed that it will be well-received, but life offers no such guarantees. We too must take risks."

I think this goes back to my comparison of patience versus waiting from a couple of posts back. I postulated that waiting is something affirmatively done, putting the adventure of life on hold waiting on who knows what to arrive and allow our life to begin...only to find that by so doing, we allow precious time to slip away, wasted and never to return. Patience, on the other hand, involves trust and waiting on God's timing, but patience can be exercised while we are living life.

We must offer ourselves, put ourselves out there on the line and in the breach, and trust God with the outcome. Failure will happen to us all, and we will never get all the things we want in the time we want them. At least by exercising patience while living life, we will get some of our heart's desires in the present with the promise of future great things to come; conversely, if we wait to start life on a guarantee of success, we will never have any desires of our heart because living a true, full life will never begin. As the old saying goes, "Nothing ventured (risked), nothing gained."

"A desolate woman can also be one whose ache for a man is what defines them, women who will do whatever it takes to get a man. She moves from lover to lover trying to fill the void within her. She's available, but only in a clingy, desperate way...groveling, manipulating, begging for attention. Their message to men is 'I need you too much. Please fill me, tell me who I am.' "

I think everyone knows many people like this of both sexes...someone who tries to fill the spiritual void within them with another person. Making one other person your entire world is both unfair and unreasonable...that request is one that no one can grant. It may work for a while, with one person being a parasite, needing, taking, demanding, and the other being the host, giving and supporting. But it won't be long before the imbalance becomes too great to ignore, and the host notices this isn't a partnership at all, begins to resent the parasite, and eventually walks away.

As the authors say and as I've said before, this defining yourself and your happiness in terms of another person is a losing battle and a fool's errand. Many of my female friends have said, "You can't respect someone who licks your ass", and they're absolutely right. Not only that, it's pathetic and desperate, and it doesn't work, because no man or woman will find the kind of partner they sake using such an approach. Worse than that, the best a clingy and desperate person can hope for is to find someone just like them. That won't work either, because going at such a sprint of a pace will burn both parties out very quickly, and the relationship will likely end badly.

In sum, the relationships that have the best chance for success are those where the man comes to offer his strength to the woman from his own reserves and the woman comes to offer her beauty to the man from her own reserves in a mutual give and take. With this approach, both parties are enriched, fulfilled, and built up to more and better than they are alone in the best of ways...good times indeed.

"However it is expressed, arousing Adam (man) comes down to this, this is what a man needs to hear from his woman more than anything else: You are an amazing man. I need you, I need your strength. I believe in you. You have what it takes."

This is another one the authors have exactly right, but this only works with a man who is at restful peace in his own heart, a man who has his strength to offer a woman because he's convinced in his own heart and soul (and from God) that he does have what it takes before being able to properly hear and accept such a wonderful profession of faith and belief from his woman. A man wants to know his woman is happy to be with him, that of all the other men she's ever known or come across that she chooses him and is happy she made that choice. When a man truly believes that, women will be utterly amazed what a man can and will do in for her in return.

"Wild at Heart", by John Eldredge

The book I am re-reading right now is called "Wild at Heart", by John Eldredge, and I want to share a few points from the book and my thoughts about them. Some of the things discussed in this book are things I have felt for quite a long time but have never been able to articulate in a clear voice until now. One of my online buddies recommended this book to every man, and while I don't refer people to books lightly, I wholeheartedly join her in recommending this one, both to men and to any woman seeking to better understand them. As is the case with many of the books I truly enjoy, this is not a seven-step, ninety day how-to list, but rather a book of themes, stories, and guideposts meant to inspire thought and to encourage putting into actions the things you come up with on your own.

The author says that within a man's heart lie three core things around which the very soul of his being revolve: a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue. It is easy to see those values in the movies that men watch (think "Gladiator", "Braveheart", etc.), the occupations they inhabit in large numbers (police, soldiers, firemen), and the women they pursue (think Juliet). The other part of the book that stuck in my mind was the author's view of the key questions within the heart of every man and woman, which ties into part three for men, a beauty to rescue. For men, it is "Am I strong enough? Do I have what it takes?"

I am not saying and do not believe that any man who doesn't like the movies or jobs I listed above is not a real man. In my own life, however, when I watch those movies, I find myself reverent of the heroism shown by the main characters, wishing I could be more like them. That has been, in part, what led me to the realization that manhood and masculine strength have little, if anything, to do with a 9 to 5 desk job, nor do I think being a nice, dutiful, whipped, timid, beaten down, cubicle slave, shell of a man that only Cosmo could love is going to fulfill any man who is honest with himself or satisfy any similarly honest woman.

At my current job, I am a public defender, an attorney who defends accused criminals, most of whom are indeed guilty. On the one hand, it appeals to me when I get the chance to defend and protect people who are truly innocent; unfortunately, the vast majority of my clients are guilty of what they are charged with and generally have committed many other crimes they just didn't get caught committing. For the sake of those innocent people, my job is a vital and necessary function in our society, but I don't get much satisfaction from it because my sense of duty and honor and my innate need as a man to protect and to serve are at odds with what I do.

I think that, if I do stay an attorney, I would be much better served as a prosecutor, someone who pursues the bad guys, puts together the case, and puts them on lockdown, protecting society at large and my loved ones in one swoop. Besides, being a prosecutor after having been a defense lawyer would give me a keener eye to assess weaknesses in evidence, flimsy cases, and/or the possibility of an innocent person being railroaded. Another possibility would be joining the JAG corps as a military lawyer. That seems like a more and more attractive option for any number of reasons, but the ones pertinent to this post are twofold. First, I have always had a great respect for our military personnel and the sacrifices they make to protect us, and to be able to bring to the table a skill they don't have, to bring to bear on their behalf knowledge that will better help them do their jobs, that would be an honor. Second, I would get a moderate level of soldier training, things like fitness, firearms, military traditions etc., albeit something more age and skill appropriate for me, thus making me able to actually participate as a soldier if necessary. That appeals to the both the "battle to fight" and "adventure to live" parts of me because I would be preparing in the event that my country and loved ones needed me to step up and fight for them.

Outside the professional realm, my occasional spiritual void from lack of battles to fight and adventures to live is largely my own fault. I haven't done as many competitive things as I used to when I was in high school and college, and I find myself missing the competition, the victory, and the male camaraderie. Also, as of late, I haven't undertaken many true adventures (i.e., going places I haven't been, doing things I haven't experienced, etc.). Fortunately, both of those things can be fixed, and it can be something as simple as joining a sports league of some kind, making time for a weekend trip to the mountains for hiking or skiing, or when the weather gets better, learning to whitewater raft or improve my waterskiing skills. At least in the heart of a man, I think those things are just as important to filling a spiritual tank as spending time with the Lord, because it plays a key role in fulfilling who He made me to be.

Every man is meant and made to get his strength from God and from within himself, but this is especially true of men, whom God created first in His image and set as leaders. My main point of contention here is that men who seek to obtain their strength from women (mothers, spouses, it doesn't matter) are fighting a losing battle in which they will never be fulfilled, even if they "win". Men can only get the answer to their burning question within from God, and in life, from other men (usually a father, and to a lesser extent, mentors and friends). Men are also tested and grow in strength from the battles and adventures of life, regardless of whether those things are chosen voluntarily or not. This journey, not a relationship with a woman, and not successfully following legalistic church doctrine, is what defines a man's voyage from childhood to manhood.

In the context of a healthy relationship with a woman, a man should go to offer his strength to a woman (meaning he already has it), not to seek out strength and validation from her, and vice versa with a woman and her beauty. Men who do try to obtain their strength from a woman completely miss the point of seeking out a beauty to rescue. You don't make a woman the point, and she shouldn't be the adventure or the endgame. Men who approach women and relationships in that fashion often find themselves unsatisfied because now that he has the beauty, there is no more adventure, and he finds himself asking, "Where do I go from here, and what happened to the thrill, our passion, etc.?" This is why so many men stray and cheat, not so much for sex or even because they don't love their girlfriend or wife as much as it is to re-live the sense of adventure inherent in the pursuit. Unaddressed, this can easily lead to a vicious cycle, a repeating pattern of disappointment and a trail of broken relationships in a man's life. Further compounding the problem, once a woman senses that the sense of adventure and the man's willingness to fight for her has waned, she will quickly become bored and dissatisfied as well.


That's also why "nice guys", those who mistakenly make the pursuit and capture of a woman the point of the relationship adventure will usually finish last with the best of women. Sadly enough, this is the type of man that Oprah, too many neutered churches, our schizophrenic society, and our uber- politically correct culture have been reasonably successful demanding us to be...and women wonder why there is a shortage of "real men" around? A woman definitely wants to know that a man thinks she is lovely (NOT accomplished by being a pervert), and that he will fight for her (NOT accomplished by punching out every dude who breathes in her direction), and she needs to be shown these things at every proper opportunity. More than that though, and even more than a "nice guy", a woman wants to be a part of the adventure with a man, a full co-participant in it, and seen by the man as strong and beautiful enough in her own right to be a part of the adventure by his side. Finally, the successful pursuit of a woman's heart should not be the final adventure they ever experience together, but rather the first of a lifetime of grand adventures, made all the sweeter because those two people are experiencing them with one another.

Why does this matter? I have been thinking more and more about the kind of woman with whom I want to spend my time, and eventually, my life, and this book really spoke to my heart on that topic. This falls under the category of more "beyond the list" stuff (see earlier posts). I definitely want a woman who I believe to be worthy of my time and pursuit, someone who I think is lovely, physically and otherwise. I need someone who understands that she (and my family) would be a huge priority to me, but that they can't be the end all, be all in my life, and that this is a good and healthy attitude to have. God and my spiritual growth definitely have to come first, and she should recognize that it's healthy for us both to have friends and interests outside the relationship/marriage. I am as responsible and loyal a man as any woman could want, but there is more to me, and there has to be more to my love and marriage life than that. I can't be with someone who expects me to be defined by a 9 to 5 desk job, fulfilled punching a time clock and coming home (and nothing else), or with whom I feel like my personal and spiritual growth might die or stagnate.

Life with me is going to be a fun adventure with some battles along the way, and I want a worthy beauty who understands that and is willing to walk that path and take that journey with me...someone who knows everything there is to know and still chooses me, us, and our adventure/life together. I am simply thankful to be serving a God who knows that to be a desire of my heart, and whom I believe to be faithful and just to keep his word and bring that woman into my life in His time. :)