Thought For Today 11-30-2010

"To listen well is as powerful a means of communication and influence as to talk well."

It's Ed's Call...

If you've commented here with things like, "you suck" "you kiss ass," Rita and I are letting Ed to decide whether or not to publish them. His blog, his call. We haven't deleted them, they're just waiting for moderation.
While you can write those things and in some cases may even be warranted, we suggest including your full name along with an email address, and your phone number. This way Ed can confirm you said this, so your future grand children can google you one day and find out that you thought so-and-so was an ass-kisser.

Thought For Today 11-29-2010

"Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about."

DAILY MOTIVATOR 11-24-2010

The instinct to protect ourselves is inherent, we are wired that way. There was a time when the ability to protect one's self, was a matter of life and death. In the wild, it's killed or be killed, but you don't live in a jungle, so there will be no need to sharpen your spear.

Some of the greatest benefits of this world can only be experienced by allowing yourself to be vulnerable. You cannot love if you are always on guard. You cannot be loved if you're in fight or flight mode. True love is offered through sincerity and received through and open heart.

The holiday season is upon us. It's a time of reflection, gratitude, and recognition. Drop your defenses and give yourself permission to be a vessel from which love can freely flow.

Take your gloves off and embark on this journey with a generous spirit, a loving resolve, and a positive attitude.

THOUGHT FOR TODAY 11-24-2010

"Human diversity makes tolerance more than a virtue; it makes it a requirement for survival."

Thought For Today 11-23-2010

"What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life."

David Craddock Sr. Rest in Peace

David Craddock Sr. 02.06.60 - 11.21.10

















Former Los Angeles Times Electro-Tech David Craddock passed away Sunday from a massive heart attack at the age of fifty.

David is survived by his loving wife Tania and three sons.

Funeral services are currently pending, with a possible service date of Saturday December 4th.

Thought For Today 11-22-2010

Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything, but you can't help smiling when you see one tumble down the stairs. Tee hee hee!

THOUGHT FOR TODAY 11-19-2010

"Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living; the other helps you make a life."

Thought For Today 11-18-2010

We never really grow up...we only learn how to act in public. Well, SOME of us anyway!

SSG Salvatore Giunta Receives The Medal Of Honor: Photos

More Photos of SSG Salvatore Giunta receiving the Medal Of Honor today.

"Although this is positive, I would give this back in a second to have my friends back with me right now." -SSG Salvatore Giunta after receiving the honor.

Thought For Today 11-16-2010

”Common sense grows out of dealing with the consequences of our actions.”

Don’t deny that opportunity to your children–even if it hurts to watch.

SSG Sal Giunta, Medal Of Honor Recipient

The Sal Giunta Story from Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington on Vimeo.

When I first head about the possibility of SSG Sal Giunta being awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions at Rock Avalanche in the Korengal Valley, I was with filmmaker Tim Hetherington and MSG La Monta Caldwell. We were excited over the prospect, and wondered if it would be true. The gravity of the circumstances under which he earned it was never lost on us. After all, the events at Rock Avalanche unfold before the viewers of the film Restrepo. Tim was there. Months have passed, and on Tuesday, November 16, SSG Sal Giunta will be the first living Medal of Honor recipient since the Vietnam war. President Obama will present it to him at The White House. His mates from the 2/503 will be there with him. So will the reporters who were with the platoon.

What strikes everyone is his reluctance to see himself as extraordinary. As Giunta says,

"It sounds really awesome in theory, but it’s not…what’s it worth, Brennan, Mendoza? It’s worth a lot, I don’t want to downplay it, it is the Medal of Honor, the highest award in the country, but … I didn’t do shit, I did what I did because in the scheme of this whole painting the picture of the ambush, that was my brush stroke. It wasn’t the most important brush stroke, I just completed the picture."

It's with a lot of mixed feelings that he accepts this award. A person doesn't become a hero alone, but as the result of circumstance and with the foundation made with the help of others. He is accepting this in honor of the men who were there with him, including SGT Josh Brennan and Medic SPC Hugo Mendoza who died that day. This is reason enough to accept the nation's highest honor.
Join me in wishing the men of the 2/503 Battle Company peace and good will.

PTSD: A different way of seeing the present

"The description that resonated best with me comes from a study done by Bessel van der Kolk, M.D. and Alexander McFarlane as traumatic memories, which induce emotional and physical manifestations of stress. Rather than being filed under a bad memory, they are replayed over and over again, and these intrusive thoughts become the reality a person builds their life around."

Read the rest at: The Kitchen Dispatch

Thursday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

LA Times Pressmen Tim Lankford and Rick Ostojic

• Tribune Excludes Five From Bonuses - Bull Fax
• Creditors Pitch Rival Tribune Reorganization Plans - BUN
• Jersey Journal Staffers Protest Pay Freeze - MediaBistro
• 2010 layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers - Paper Cuts
• LA Times to Spruce Up Its Insert Pubs - Matthew Fleischer
• Honolulu Advertiser Employees Get Severance - MediaBistro
• Times employees who sued Zell win a round - Kevin Roderick
• Sacramento Press Eyes Expansion - Newspaper Death Watch
• Tribune executives may have to give up past bonuses - Radio Twit
• Bankruptcy judge approves $40 million in Tribune Co. bonuses - Tribune

Ken Olson Rest in Peace

Emmett Jaime received a telephone call from Ken Olson's son Marty that Ken had passed away Tuesday November 2nd at home. Ken and his wife Gayle have been living in Central Point, Oregon for almost a year after living 3 years in Nevada north of Las Vegas.

They will have his services on Thursday November 11th in Central Point and Gayle has requested that if anyone wants to send something that send it to their home.

Gayle's address is:

555 Freeman Rd #167,
Central Point , OR 97502.

Veterans Day

Veterans Day: Rememberance Of The Brotherhood

Each November they come, marching on streets from Fullerton to New York City. Some are grizzled and grey, their rows not as straight, and many march arm in arm. To see a veterans day parade is to bear witness to a time line of war and peace: Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, The Pacific, and Europe. And if you were to imagine, preceding them would be soldiers from Belleau Wood, San Juan Hill, Antietam, Gettysburg, and Valley Forge. If we look around us, we might even imagine all the loved ones they left behind, standing alongside watching the procession go by.

The passing years are gently worn by some of the WWII vets. While there are those still able to make the march, others sit at the staging area. They wear caps emblazoned where and with whom they served. Many have medals pinned to their jackets. Their vision is not as keen, sharp sounds are softer now. Yet, here they are, craning their necks, listening for the familiar sound of boots on the ground. They are waiting for their brothers who are marching for them.

Veterans gather every November 11 not just for the fanfare, hoopla, or flag waving. They come together to feel the bonds of service. For this was a time in their life when brotherhood was never a question and trust meant the difference between life and death. Unlike the camaraderie displayed among actors on a screen, or by athletes on a team, what separates them is the oath they took to protect and serve our country. Often this meant saving the life of their brothers, even if it could cost them their own. What distinguishes them is each has walked the warrior path, embodying a code of ethics and honor. In combat, they put aside their own needs. They would die for each other, they would die for you, they have died for us.

We know this day stirs old memories of those they have lost. Battle buddies who sat with them in a trench, a hooch, on the deck of a carrier, on a stretch of beach but didn’t make it through. The sounds and smells of war come back, not only today, but late at night when everyone in the house is asleep. For it’s not just the physical harm they risked, what they put on the line was their soul, sacrificing their own sense of peace. What many have worked so hard to get back is the same certainty they had during the war –a cause or person who makes them feel that life matters as much now as it did back then. Hand to hand; face to face; eye to eye; brother to brother; soul to soul.

Some have weathered the toll of war better than others. The men and women who trudged through fields, jungles and urban decay have to regain their balance in fog of war. Today, when the word veteran is greatly shortchanged by stereotypes, when they themselves are politicized, finding their inner peace hasn’t been easy. Some have failed, others struggle. But many, who have reclaimed it, work tirelessly to help those who are still on the march, trying to catch their breath. They are, and always will be –warriors.

This is why we gather on Veterans Day: to see and honor the brotherhood between those who have served and continue to do so. All we have to say to them when we walk by are five simple words: “Thank you for your service.”

Thought For Today 11-10-10

"People might not get all they work for in this world, but they must certainly work for all they get."

Daily Motivator 11-9-2010

Genuine humility
+++++++++++++++++++

When you can get free from the demands of your ego, you also free yourself from most of your self-imposed limitations. In practicing genuine humility, you will find enormous power.

Get beyond the desire to control others, and you vastly improve your ability to control your own actions. Let go of the need to be right, and you open yourself to experience new truth.

Get free of the need to blame, and your own sense of responsibility grows stronger. Stop seeking to place judgments on others, and you're free to powerfully improve your own actions.

Give up the thought that you're better than everyone else, and a whole new world of opportunity opens up to you. Stop seeking unfair advantage, and you're free to develop an unstoppable effectiveness.

Quit demanding the most and start expecting the best. You'll experience a level of true abundance that you never before could have imagined.

Live each moment with humility, love, respect and gratitude for the whole of life that surrounds you. And you will find a treasure that has no end.

Ralph Marston