Moultrie Creek Musings

Fireworks!
Originally uploaded by chuqui.

Enjoy the food, fireworks, family and friends.  Take a few minutes this Independence Day to remember the many people who created and built this great country.

Spring Creek at de Leon Springs
Originally uploaded by moultriecreek.

We spent a gorgeous day paddling the creek at De Leon Springs State Park - just north of Deland, Florida. First stop was the Old Mill restaurant at the spring's head for pancakes made from flour they grind themselves. We paddled about 7 miles roundtrip and these ranshakle boat houses from an old fish camp was the only human structures on the creek.

We enjoyed watching several hunting osprey and all kinds of herons in the marshes - and had most of the trip to ourselves. That's a luxury not frequently enjoyed at this popular park.

If you're visiting Disney and want to get away from the manufactured fantasy, drive east on I-4 about 30 minutes to Deland. There are kayaks, canoes and paddleboat rentals at the park so you can enjoy the real beauty of Florida.

Approximately 30,000 veterans and their supporters gathered early Saturday, March 17, 2007, near the memorials honoring the men and women who have protected this country throughout its history.  Concerned that war protestors would try to deface these monuments, this Gathering of Eagles came to protect the monuments and to show their support for our Soldiers and for victory. 

A Gathering of Eagles

Freedom of speech.  Freedom of worship.  Freedom from want.  Freedom from fear.

Armed defense of democratic existence is now being gallantly waged in four continents. If that defense fails, all the population and all the resources of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia will be dominated by the conquerors. Let us remember that the total of those populations and their resources in those four continents greatly exceeds the sum total of the population and the resources of the whole of the Western Hemisphere-many times over.

In times like these it is immature--and incidentally, untrue--for anybody to brag that an unprepared America, single-handed, and with one hand tied behind its back, can hold off the whole world.

No realistic American can expect from a dictator's peace international generosity, or return of true independence, or world disarmament, or freedom of expression, or freedom of religion -or even good business.

Such a peace would bring no security for us or for our neighbors. "Those, who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

As a nation, we may take pride in the fact that we are softhearted; but we cannot afford to be soft-headed.

We must always be wary of those who with sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal preach the "ism" of appeasement.

We must especially beware of that small group of selfish men who would clip the wings of the American eagle in order to feather their own nests.

Like most military personnel - past and present - I am appalled at John Kerry's latest insult.  I have spent most of my life associated with the military and have found that regardless of formal education, the American military is better "educated" than most college grads.  Our on-the-job training has included studies in geography, humanities, engineering, language skills and mathematics.  We don't just read about our world - we experience it first hand.  Thanks to the armed forces, I've visited with the pharaohs and compared Van Gogh's masterpieces with his contemporaries.  I lived in the land of Martin Luther and traveled the roads built by the Romans.  I've seen the engineering masterpiece that is the Panama Canal and the natural wonder of the European alps. 

Although people like Kerry refuse to accept it, the Vietnam War is over and the world is now a very different place.  Our military is also very different.  The men and women serving our country today are an amazing group of people and I'm honored to share a bond with them.  We are a family and each generation continues the tradition of greatness. 

Talking about Hugo Chavez's speech to the United Nations, The Anchoress says it best:

If tinpot tyrants and madmen now come to the United Nations and believe they can say anything they wish about The American President, it is because - as some of us have been warning, for some time - while all manner or irresponsible nonsense and hate has been directed at this president…the world has been watching.

And now, these tyrants and madmen sound eerily like the Democrats and the press and the left. One ideology, the world over, had completely lost its bearings, its self-control and its manners concerning one man who has never - not once - repaid them back in kind. Not in speeches. Not to the press. Not to “friendly audiences.” He came to town talking about “changing the tone,” and that’s what happened, in a perverse way. One side’s tone went rabid, the other side went nearly-silent, but this one man…kept his tone.

Hani Pahas in the London-based Arabic-language daily Al-Hayat wrote, “the pope’s comments may lead to war".

My question - where has he been for the last five years?

UPDATE:  You can send the Pope your prayers and support at benedictxvi-at-vatican.va

The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan

Matthew Currier Burden

My copy arrived yesterday.  Thanks Matt, what a wonderful reunion with old "friends" I hadn't heard from in a while.  Neil Prakash, CPT Patti, SPC Gray and the lady that started it all for me - Major Pain.  I immediately opened the book to the index to see who was there.  After reading their sections I've now settled down to start at the beginning and read the whole thing. 

The stories are very personal and give a picture this war you won't find in the press.  I've read many of the stories from their original blogs, but there are others I hadn't seen before.  Matt Burden has done a magnificent job collecting these stories into a book that's hard to put down. 

If you want to know the whole story about this war, you must read this book.  It provides a perspective the media can never give.