Ofc. Emily Jewett Morgenroth #322

12 years ago, tonight...

Emily J. Morgenroth
Date of Birth: December 5, 1970
Date Appointed: January 20, 1996
End of Watch: October 17, 1997

12 years ago tonight, Sacramento Police Officer Emily J. Morgenroth was killed in the line of duty.  She was 26 years old.

Emily and I were best friends in the academy.   She was a phenomenal person and a great cop. She didn't get nearly enough time on this Earth to do the great things that she would have done, but she made a pretty big impact during her short stay here.

Her death had a profound impact on me.

I remember that night like it was yesterday.  My good friend Mike called me to give me the news and I immediately went to the hospital, but she was already gone.  I got to spend a few minutes with her, which I'm very thankful for.

It's been 12 years and I still miss her beyond words.

Reverberating Loss of a Promising Cop
by Diana Griego Erwin

Day in and day out, it is easy to forget that police work is so fraught with danger. All over the city, patrol officers and their sergeants go about the business of keeping the rest of us safe, and much of what they get in return amounts to lip and attitude.

With the proliferation of guns on the streets and the continuing breakdown of civil accord, it's amazing police officers aren't hurt more often. And yet there's still a painful, disbelieving shock when an officer in your own town is killed in the line of duty. It is worse yet that Officer Emily Morgenroth was so young.

I have met many of our town's finest, but I did not know Morgenroth, who died in an alcohol-related collision Friday at age 26. And yet there is a profound respect in the air when those who knew her speak her name. Respect begets respect.

"She loved people. She knew how to treat them," said a homeless man who claimed to run into her frequently.

Morgenroth's friends and colleagues at the William J. Kinney police substation in North Sacramento were too broken up to share their thoughts Monday, but Lt. Tom Sweeney said the city has lost a gem.

"She cared about other people and gave them her concern and time even when it might have seemed inconvenient to someone else," he said.

Recently, for example, she shooed a colleague home when an arrest at the end of his shift meant he'd do overtime handling the booking. She did it for him.

In fact, she was always encouraging others to spend more time with friends and family, Sweeney said. "She knew what was important."

Her gift of "connecting" with others made her a superior officer. "People talked to her; they trusted her because she really listened to them. She didn't trivialize their problems," Sweeney said. "The citizens of Sacramento have truly lost an officer who was there for them."

Sacramento Police Chief Arturo Venegas Jr. said her father told him Morgenroth died doing what she really loved.

"They felt really at peace that she was fulfilling her dreams," Venegas said. "You know, sometimes people say, 'Oh, this wouldn't have happened if she hadn't been an officer,' but that is not the case here. She hadn't achieved all her dreams, but she was doing what she loved."

In many ways, Morgenroth represented the modern officer Venegas has often described as the future of police departments: professionals who bring a diversity of life experiences and skills to a career that, these days, calls for more brains than brawn.

She joined the Sacramento police force with her sights set on a FBI career, but some think she decided that maybe local policing suited her best. She spoke Japanese and German, held a political science degree from UCLA and taught English in Japan for two years before returning home to Northern California. Two years ago, she graduated from the police academy; she's worked the 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. graveyard shift in North Sacramento since January. Her boyfriend was a fellow officer.

Morgenroth was northbound on Marysville Boulevard on Friday night when her police cruiser broadsided a truck making a left turn into a liquor store parking lot. The driver of the pickup, whose blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, has been charged with drunken driving; vehicular manslaughter charges could be added. The California Highway Patrol is investigating.

Meanwhile, flowers commemorating the fallen officer have appeared at the base of the flag pole outside the police substation and at the crash site.

The collision occurred near Bill's Liquor at the corner of Marysville and Del Paso boulevards where a steady stream of passersby paused Monday to look at colorful bouquets left on a telephone pole heavily splintered in the crash.

A woman stopped with two small children to explain, in Spanish, the tragedy that had occurred there. While not absolutely sure, she said she believed Morgenroth was the officer who once helped calm the family when her nephew was hit by a car.

Ten minutes later, a man with torn pants and a shirt stained with grease bowed his head as if praying.

Indeed, he was.

"I just think we don't appreciate how the police risk their lives and how dangerous it is, 'tis all," said Edward Tooley, an unemployed mechanic. "From what I've read, the officer was very young. My prayers to her family."

Emily's ODMP Memorial Page

The Monument

I never dreamed it would be me
My name for all eternity
Recorded here at this hallowed place
Alas, my name, no more my face

"In the line of duty" I hear them say
My family now the price will pay
My folded flag stained with their tears
We only had those few short years

The badge no longer on my chest
I sleep now in eternal rest
My sword I pass to those behind
And pray they keep this thought in mind

I never dreamed it would be me
And with heavy heart and bended knee
I ask for here and all the past
Dear God, let my name be the last

Det. George Hanh
LAPD (Ret.)

I miss you Em...
.

I heard this song on the radio the other day. Since the first time I heard it, it always makes me think of you...

The Won

What a complete and utter JOKE!

Here are the Second Place runner-ups:

Chinese Human Rights Activist Hu Jia - imprisoned for campaigning for human rights in the PRC, not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.

Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China's communist system. -- not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama. (Not to mention the symbolic value of awarding a Chinese dissident on the 20th Anniversary of the Tianenmen Square Massacre.)

Greg Mortenson, founder of the Central Asia Institute has built nearly 80 schools, especially for girls, in remote areas of northern Pakistan and Afghanistan over the past 15 years - not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.

Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad, a philosophy professor in Jordan who risks his life by advocating interfaith dialogue between Jews and Muslims, also not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.

Afghan human rights activist Sima Samar. She currently leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and serves as the U.N. special envoy to Darfur and also is apparently not as worthy as Barack Hussein Obama.

H/T: Ace

Hope and Change

Continues to amaze!

H/T: Innocent Bystanders via Don Surber

Where do we get such men?

Blackfive has a link to a story about SGT Josh Brennan (173rd ABN), from Tanker Babe.

Josh was KIA in Afghanistan two years ago.  Josh's cousin, Joseph, is also in the Army and just graduated from Airborne School. Joseph was pinned with Josh's Jump Wings and he'll be going to Josh's old unit.

This is what Josh's Commander said during his speech to the graduates and their friends and families:

"Distinguished guests, family, friends, and graduates of Airborne Class 43-09 – I am honored and humbled to be asked to speak to this class. I graduated on this field nearly 26 years ago; little has changed – and that’s a good thing.

Prior to beginning these short remarks, I’d ask all veterans in the audience to stand. I’d like to THANK YOU for your service and for not only doing your part for FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY but for also inspiring another OR others to do their part. Shortly, Airborne School will ask previous PARATROOPERs to pin their protégé’s wings – in front of the formation, which is truly inspiring.

I was privileged to begin my career as an enlisted Airborne Ranger, which means I was trained by the best; in my latter years I was privileged to command PARATROOPERs in combat, which means I led the best our services and nation have to offer. PARATROOPERs of any service and any specialty are perfectly suited to be incredible trainers and incredible combat warriors. Our most elite – Army Rangers, Special Forces, Delta Operators, Navy SEALs, Air Force Para-Rescue and Combat Control Teams, and Marine Force Recon and Special Operators are Airborne qualified – PARATROOPERs first and foremost. The attention to detail required to exit an aircraft, with combat equipment, at night, into an ambiguous situation is instructive to say the least. It takes moxy.

Our Nation’s elite are expected to move quickly, with limited information, and accomplish the intent – always. Many times this means LGOPs – or little groups of PARATROOPERs – are figuring “it” out as they go along. They may not have everything they need and won’t have everything they want but they’ll do their very best and make our nation and allies more secure – always.

Since World War II our military history is replete with tens of thousands of stories of PARATROOPERS in action – heroically and selflessly bringing the fight to the enemy, to the enemies’ homeland and backyard, and living their lives for their fellow PARATROOPERs. I led such an organization that selflessly fought for a population that had never benefited from a central government and had historically aligned with the tyrant that did them the least harm.

The PARATROOPERS I led in Afghanistan consistently amazed friendly forces and enemy forces alike as they tenaciously conducted 9500 missions for the population and fought 1100 contacts with the enemy earning over 300 valor awards to include 3 Medal of Honor nominations a Distinguished Service Cross, 26 Silver Stars, and 90 Bronze Stars for Valor.

One young leader had earned a Bronze Star on a previous Afghanistan tour; as a Sergeant Team Leader on his second Afghan tour he was shot through the calf in a close fight on the Abas Ghar Mountain in the Korengal Valley – this team leader refused MEDEVAC and led his team off of an 8,400 foot mountain through the valley floor, back to his base camp at 5,000 feet. On the night of 25 October 2007, just six weeks later, this team leader was the point man leading his platoon through the mountains and back to his combat outpost after a very intense five day operation that in effect transformed the Korengal Valley. The platoon was ambushed by numerous enemy arrayed in a close ambush – some within meters of the lead squad. The lead team leader was shot six times – the squad leader was knocked to the ground – three others were wounded, and the platoon medic was killed moving to treat his wounded comrades. The trail team leader moved through the ambush to secure his squad leader only to see his peer team leader being carried off by two Taliban. The trail team leader attempted to suppress the enemy with grenades and rifle fire as he fearlessly moved through the fire, killed one of the Taliban carrying off his peer and wounded the other then he secured his wounded peer and brought him to safety. The trail team leader was nominated for the Medal of Honor – the lead team leader was evacuated and died hours later.

The trail Team Leader in this vignette is SGT Sal Giunta – he still serves in BATTLE Company, 2-503, 173rd ABCT in Vicenza, Italy. The lead team leader was SGT Josh Brennan a handsome, fit, proficient, heroic PARATROOPER. His dad, Mike, Uncle Joe, Aunt Lori, Uncle Terry, and Cousin Michael are present today. PVT Joe Brennan is one of the 365 graduating members of the class; I jumped with him Monday, and “cousin Joe” is enroute to BATTLE Company– to join SGT Brennan’s former unit, to include SGT Giunta and many other outstanding Paratroopers.

I tell this story to our new PARATROOPERs – and more importantly to the Parents and Loved ones of our newest PARATROOPERs – as your PARATROOPER selflessly and courageously joined an elite fraternity. With this graduation they expand their family – and join men like SGT Giunta and SGT Brennan. Regardless of unit, service, or duration of service, they will leave this field a better service member and citizen. Like the thousands of PARATROOPERS that are currently deployed, they will be asked and tasked to do serious business for our nation – to do more with less – to figure it out in rugged, austere, contested terrain, in the dead of night, and they will do it with like minded warriors. Your PARATROOPER will need your continued support as you are also part of this new and expanded family. Whether they accept their service as a career or return to school or the family business, you can expect more from them and they can expect more from themselves – as they have faced the OPEN DOOR where one of three things can happen upon exit – they can get killed, they can get hurt, or they can land OK… These same three things go through our head when we roll outside the wire, move out on patrol, maneuver on the enemy, or face any other unknown hazard or challenge – which is why PARATROOPERS are well suited for the challenges of combat and the challenges of life.

Parents, mentors, and inspirational others – you did good. Your investment is on the field to your front – and I’d venture your return is much higher than you could have ever hoped.

To the PARATROOPERS of Class 43-09 – I’m proud to stand amongst you – congratulations – see you on the DROP ZONE!

Thank you for your time – make Good Luck – Rangers Lead the Way!"

Go read the whole thing, there's some great pics there.

I'll bet they're REALLY scared....

U.N. Ambassador: U.S. Considering Sanctions Against Iran

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says Washington and other veto-holding members in the U.N. Security Council are studying sanction options if Iran does not prove its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.

The U.S. official, Susan Rice, also says the so-called P-5 + 1 is in a period of "intense negotiations" with Tehran but that Iran had a "finite period" to completely open its nuclear program to international inspections. She refused to set a deadline.

Rice said the United States had three options: to push sanctions through the U.N., to work with European allies to punish Iran, or to take unilateral action in conjunction with the other possible courses of action.

Rice spoke Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

The IOC is obviously RAAAAAACIST!!!!

Congratulations Rio!

Once again,Barry shows how terrifically awesome he is!

33 years ago today...

My father took his own life.  He was 29.  I was 10.

I've missed him ever since and I constantly wonder how different things might've been.


Mom, me and Dad (circa 1978 1968)



Dad and I

Seriously?

Barry isn't interested in victory.



Actually, Barry, the problem is that we elected an anti-American Marxist as President.

Just words...

Appeasement

Truly disgusting.

The UN loves Barack Obama because he is weak

By Nile Gardiner
Published: 8:34AM BST 23 Sep 2009

Barack Obama’s Gallup approval rating of 52 percent may well be lower at this stage of his presidency than any US leader in recent times with the exception of Bill Clinton. But he is still worshipped with messiah-like adoration at the United Nations, and is considerably more popular with many of the 192 members of the UN than he is with the American people.

The latest Pew Global Attitudes Survey of international confidence in Obama’s leadership on foreign affairs shows strikingly high approval levels for the president in many parts of the world – 94 percent in Kenya, 93 percent in Germany, 88 percent in Canada and Nigeria, 77 percent in India, 76 percent in Brazil, 71 percent in Indonesia, and 62 percent in China for example. The Pew survey of 21 countries reveals an average level of 71 percent support for President Obama, compared to just 17 percent for George W. Bush in 2008.

As the figures indicate, Barack Obama is highly likely to receive a warm reception when he addresses the United Nations General Assembly today, whereas his predecessor in the White House was greeted with undisguised contempt and stony silence.

It is not hard to see why a standing ovation awaits the president at Turtle Bay. Obama’s popularity at the UN boils down essentially to his willingness to downplay American global power. He is the first American president who has made an art form out of apologizing for the United States, which he has done on numerous occasions on foreign soil, from Strasbourg to Cairo. The Obama mantra appears to be – ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do to atone for your country. This is a message that goes down very well in a world that is still seething with anti-Americanism.

It is natural that much of the UN will embrace an American president who declines to offer strong American leadership. A president who engages dictators like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez will naturally gain respect from the leaders of the more than 100 members of the United Nations who are currently designated as “partly free” or “not free” by respected watchdog Freedom House.

The UN is not a club of democracies - who still remain a minority within its membership – it is a vast melting pot of free societies, socialist regimes and outright tyrannies. Obama’s clear lack of interest in human rights issues is a big seller at the UN, where at least half its members have poor human rights records.

The president scores highly at the UN for refusing to project American values and military might on the world stage, with rare exceptions like the war against the Taliban. His appeasement of Iran, his bullying of Israel, his surrender to Moscow, his call for a nuclear free world, his siding with Marxists in Honduras, his talk of a climate change deal, have all won him plaudits in the large number of UN member states where US foreign policy has traditionally been viewed with contempt.

Simply put, Barack Obama is loved at the UN because he largely fails to advance real American leadership. This is a dangerous strategy of decline that will weaken US power and make her far more vulnerable to attack.

As we saw last week with his shameful surrender to Moscow over missile defence, the president is perfectly happy to undermine America’s allies and gut its strategic defences while currying favour with enemies and strategic competitors. The missile defence debacle is rightly viewed as a betrayal by the Poles and the Czechs, and Washington has clearly give the impression that it cares little about those who have bravely stood shoulder to shoulder with their US allies in Iraq, Afghanistan and the wider war on terror.

The Obama administration is now overseeing and implementing the biggest decline in American global power since Jimmy Carter. Unfortunately it may well take another generation for the United States to recover.

Nile Gardiner is the Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation.

Coppers grounded.

I kind of smile when I read stories like this.

Props to these guys for their sheer ballsiness (if that's even a word).

I believe they'll ultimately get caught because of the helo. I doubt whomever rented it, did so without a trace. I'd bet the helo will be their downfall. Not to mention someone not being able to keep their mouth shut, which is what trips up most crims.

Swedish police criticized after helicopter heist

By KARL RITTER, Associated (with Terrorists) Press

STOCKHOLM – Swedish police faced stinging criticism Thursday for failing to stop helicopter-borne gunmen from pulling off a Hollywood-style heist against a cash depot while blocking an air pursuit with a fake bomb.

Investigators had made no arrests as of Thursday afternoon, a day after the pre-dawn raid on the G4S cash facility, where millions are stored and processed before being transferred to banks and ATMs in the Stockholm area.

Two men detained for questioning Wednesday were no longer suspects in the robbery, police spokesman Ulf Goranzon said.

Swedish media mixed awe of the robbers' military precision with anger against the police for not mounting a more effective response. The bandits prevented an air pursuit simply by placing a fake bomb at a poorly guarded helipad outside the capital.

"It's just embarrassing that criminals can knock out the police with tricks from a book for boys," columnist Lena Mellin wrote in tabloid Aftonbladet.

In an editorial, Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet said police have to become better at protecting themselves and their property "or they won't be able to protect society and citizens."

With cinematic flourish, the masked bandits broke into the building through the roof early Wednesday and set off explosions to get to the millions inside. They escaped by hoisting themselves and their haul back up on rope lines.

Meanwhile, police units on the scene were ordered to remain outside the building and wait for a commando unit to arrive.

"The first police that arrived at the scene weren't equipped to intervene against heavily armed robbers," Goranzon said. "When the right forces arrived the helicopter took off."

Police later found the stolen helicopter near a lake north of Stockholm, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from the cash depot. It wasn't immediately clear how much money was stolen.

The company that owns the high-security facility, G4S PLC, offered a "large reward" for information leading to the bandits' arrest and the return of the loot.

Company spokesman Alexander Westrell dismissed concerns that cash machines across Stockholm would run out of money, saying the cash depot resumed operations late Wednesday.

"The night shift went on last night as usual and managed to provide 99 percent of all the ATMs with money," Westrell told The Associated Press.

Investigators believed at least 10 people were involved. Police across the Scandinavian nation was placed on high alert to find the suspects and boosted monitoring at border checks.

Sweden has had its share of high-profile heists against cash storage facilities, post offices and armored cars in recent years, but police said the commando-style robbery was the first to use a helicopter. Also in previous heists, police have been delayed by spikes or sabotage against their vehicles and helicopters.

Swedish police must "be able to use the equipment that has been acquired for large amounts," the Dagens Nyheter daily wrote in an opinion piece. "Helicopters, cars, boats and other equipment must be kept in a way so that criminals cannot sabotage them."

Britain-based G4S PLC is one of the world's largest security companies. The Vastberga facility stores cash that is transported to banks and other businesses in Sweden. G4s declined to say how much money was in the cash depot when it was attacked.

This guy makes Clinton and Carter look like pikers!

He's doing exactly what he promised.

In O'Bama's world it's okay for our enemies to have nukes, but not us.

He says doesn't take money from lobbyists, but takes it from ACORN.

He talks to our enemies, but slaps our friends in the face.

Today is still dangerous for our enemies, but for our friends it's downright lethal.



This guys is more dangerous to America than any foreign enemy in the last 30+ years.

No middle class tax hikes!

Yeah right!

I don't know 'nuthin 'bout 'nuthin!

STEPHANOPOULOS: But have your — have some of your allies made it easier for — handed your opponents some ammunition, like ACORN, for example…

OBAMA: Well, look, the — you know, I think that — are there folks in the Democratic camp or on the left who haven’t — haven’t always operated in ways that I’d appreciate? Absolutely.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Congress said they should cut off all funding for ACORN.

OBAMA: Is — is — is…

STEPHANOPOULOS: … all funding for ACORN. Are you for that?

OBAMA: Is that true on the other side, as well? Of course that’s true.

STEPHANOPOULOS: How about the funding for ACORN?

OBAMA: You know, it’s — frankly, it’s not really something I’ve followed closely. I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Both the Senate and the House have voted to cut it off.

OBAMA: You know, what I know is, is that what I saw on that video was certainly inappropriate and deserves to be investigated.

STEPHANOPOULOS: So you’re not committing to — to cut off the federal funding?

OBAMA: George, this is not the biggest issue facing the country. It’s not something I’m paying a lot of attention to.

H/T: Michelle Malkin

Keepin' it steady...

Here's a great video from my buddy Rick's just completed deployment to A-stan. His brother Nate was there too.

He's with the 129th Rescue Squadron from Moffett Field. They racked up some pretty impressive flying stats (1,500 combat hours) and a very high number of combat saves (397).

This is a really well done video, with great cinematography and a good song.

Check it.



Thanks to Rick and Nate for doing what they do...that others may live.

Unfinished business

Darrell Ray Griffin Jr

SSgt

U.S. Army. Iraqi Freedom

Mar 13 1971 - Mar 21 2007

BSM w V PH KIA
advertisement

Beloved husband son and brother


That's what the headstone of an American Hero reads.

After son's death in Iraq, father embeds with unit to tell his story

(CNN) -- When the news came, Darrell Griffin hurled the phone.

Then he got in his car and navigated the madness of Los Angeles highways, thankful only for the time it gave him to think about what he would say to his family. Later, consumed with the grief of losing a son, Griffin drew the drapes in his bedroom and made his world mimic the darkness in his heart.

After he buried Darrell "Skip" Griffin Jr. and after the sympathy calls faded, the elder Griffin, like every American who has ever lost a beloved soldier, struggled to resume life's normal rhythms.

But this is where Griffin's journey veered from others and took a twist so unique that it made the U.S. Army bend its rock-hard rules. The 55-year-old accounting consultant, who opposed Vietnam and had never served in combat, traveled to the epicenter of the Iraq war. There, he would trace his son's last days.

The result, "Last Journey: A Father and Son in Wartime," is a common story about a father-son relationship, told in an uncommon way. Video Listen to Darrell Griffin read excerpts from his son's journal »

The education of a warrior

Griffin's eldest son joined the Army for all the reasons listed on recruitment posters. He wanted to serve his nation and straighten himself out in the process.

He became a soldier's soldier: never disobeyed an order and went beyond the call of duty. He served two tours in Iraq and was awarded a Bronze Star with Valor for dragging a fellow soldier to safety through a hail of enemy gunfire.

The father who had avoided the draft during Vietnam by joining the National Guard understood that the Army was his son's way of helping others.

He had been a rebellious child and often spent long hours in detention, where he read voraciously: Nietzsche, Descartes, Herodotus, Plato. In Iraq, he would rely on intellectual writings to ponder lofty concepts like what constitutes a just war.

Both Griffin men had misgivings about Iraq and whether it was the right place to battle radical Islam.

Skip began a conversation with his father.

What would it feel like to kill?

"The whole thing about philosophy is that it leads to more questions," Griffin recalled. So it was OK for his son, the tough staff sergeant who had the words "Malleus Dei" ("God's hammer") stenciled on his equipment, to question the war.

At his father's urging, Skip began to record his experience. He started a blog.

He snapped a photo of the first man he shot: 12:33 p.m. April 21, 2006, according to the time stamp on his camera. The man wore a blue sweater and a white jacket that turned crimson.

Skip spoke to his father, often in e-mails, about that kill, about every subsequent one and about all the ugliness he witnessed in a faraway land.

December 9, 2006: "This is no way for a human being to live; living with violence and intrigue on every street corner, where you can't even trust your own neighbors for fear that they might be someone on the opposing side. Once again I had to push this heartbreaking thought deep into my heart because I was a Squad Leader leading nine heavily armed young men and trying to bring them home alive."

Several weeks later, Skip's unit was in the thick of battle in the Shiite heartlands of Najaf and Karbala. He wrote home about "apocalyptic" battles in which he saw "hundreds of blown apart bodies."

January 30, 2007: "Dad, I have seen what hell must be like when we assaulted this compound. ... There were fathers bringing up their dead babies to me and shoving them into my arms for help."

When Skip came home on leave, father and son talked over a bottle of Merlot. Griffin noticed what so many other parents do about their war-weary children. Skip was as loving as ever, but the killing had changed him.

"He seemed to have a need to constantly play certain scenes over again in our conversations," Griffin would later write. "As we dissected these scenes into smaller and smaller pieces, his feelings of guilt began to percolate to the surface. Still, he always ended every talk with: 'Dad, I love you.' "

Skip wanted to pen a book of his musings on war. But his work was left unfinished when he was felled by a sniper's bullet March 21, 2007.

Embedding with his son's unit

After the funeral, Griffin knew that he had to finish the book as a final gift to his son. He also knew that it would have to be radically different than the philosophical essays Skip had envisioned. It would have to focus on Skip's death.

From the military, Griffin had received skimpy incident reports and the results of an autopsy. The only way he could fully tell his son's story would be to travel to Iraq and spend time with Skip's unit.

"I had to do it," Griffin said. "My life was incomplete. My son's life was incomplete."

Griffin wrote to everyone he could think of to enlist help, including Gen. David Petraeus, then the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq. Petraeus told Griffin that he was asking for the near-impossible, especially since military operations in Iraq were in high gear.

Amazingly, a few weeks later, Griffin found himself on a C-130 transport plane from Kuwait to Baghdad. He would join Skip's unit in the 2-3 Stryker Brigade, at a base near the Baghdad airport.

"I was very impressed by Mr. Griffin's determination and commitment to finish what his son had begun and to spend time with his son's former unit to do it," Petraeus told CNN. "In my view, his situation was truly unique, and thus it was one in which we decided to make an exception to normal practice."

Griffin landed in Baghdad with a fear that transcended roadside bombs and mortar rounds. How would his son's unit treat him? What would he say? What would he ask?

He took care to refer to his son as "Griff." That's how his Army buddies knew him. He slept on a cot in a metal containerized housing unit just as his son had. He heard the gravel crunch under his boots as he walked through the base, following his son's footsteps.

Despite the awkwardness, the soldiers opened up. Griffin could tell they were hurting, too. "It was bound up in them," Griffin said. "They wanted to talk about it and get it out." Sometimes, they shut the video camera off and just cried together.

Griffin's commitment to the book helped shield him from the painful details he was about to learn, the story of his son's last day.

Skip was standing in the hatch of a Stryker armored vehicle, just 15 minutes outside the gates of the base. The familiar rat-a-tat of small arms fire filled the air. Confusion reigned. Sgt. Christopher Pacheco noticed that Skip's legs were limp.

The soldiers pulled his body back into the vehicle and desperately wrapped his head with gauze to stop the blood. Skip's breathing was labored, erratic.

He was transported to a combat hospital but died before he could be airlifted to Balad Air Base, where a specialist in head trauma waited.

"Last Journey: A Father and Son in Wartime" has received warm reviews. In the seventh year of the war, myriad books on Iraq have sprouted on store shelves. But this has been lauded for its unique voice.

These days, Griffin attends events celebrating his work and regularly visits Skip's grave at Los Angeles National Cemetery, where a headstone reads:

"Darrell Ray Griffin Jr

SSgt

U.S. Army. Iraqi Freedom

Mar 13 1971 - Mar 21 2007

BSM w V PH KIA

Beloved husband son and brother"

The elder Griffin is glad he fulfilled his promise and was able to tell his son's story beyond the facts spelled out on a cold grave. He looks to the heavens and knows his son is smiling down at him, saying "Dad, we did it."

Blogger sucks!

I love how Blogger totally messed up my template, especially since I haven't messed with it!

Blogger sucks.

Google hates America.

Go to Cassy Fiano's site to see why.

Disgusting.

Fitting...

Dow Jones Industrial Average
Friday, September 11, 2009

Closing Price: 9,605.41


Dow Jones Industrial Average
Tuesday, September 11, 2001

Closing Price: 9,605.51



I'd say that's quite a coincidental/unintentional tribute to 9/11.


From Drudge

What's your answer?

I say "Absolutely NOT!"

Betraying our dead

By RALPH PETERS

Last Updated: 10:39 AM, September 11, 2009

Posted: 1:13 AM, September 11, 2009

Eight years ago today, our homeland was attacked by fanatical Muslims inspired by Saudi Arabian bigotry. Three thousand American citizens and residents died.

We resolved that we, the People, would never forget. Then we forgot.

We've learned nothing.

Instead of cracking down on Islamist extremism, we've excused it.

Instead of killing terrorists, we free them.

Instead of relentlessly hunting Islamist madmen, we seek to appease them.

Instead of acknowledging that radical Islam is the problem, we elected a president who blames America, whose idea of freedom is the right for women to suffer in silence behind a veil -- and who counts among his mentors and friends those who damn our country or believe that our own government staged the tragedy of September 11, 2001.

Instead of insisting that freedom will not be infringed by terrorist threats, we censor works that might offend mass murderers. Radical Muslims around the world can indulge in viral lies about us, but we dare not even publish cartoons mocking them.

Instead of protecting law-abiding Americans, we reject profiling to avoid offending terrorists. So we confiscate granny's shampoo at the airport because the half-empty container could hold 3.5 ounces of liquid.

Instead of insisting that Islamist hatred and religious apartheid have no place in our country, we permit the Saudis to continue funding mosques and madrassahs where hating Jews and Christians is preached as essential to Islam.

Instead of confronting Saudi hate-mongers, our president bows down to the Saudi king.

Instead of recognizing the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabi cult as the core of the problem, our president blames Israel.

Instead of asking why Middle Eastern civilization has failed so abjectly, our president suggests that we're the failures.

Instead of taking every effective measure to cull information from terrorists, the current administration threatens CIA agents with prosecution for keeping us safe.

Instead of proudly and promptly rebuilding on the site of the Twin Towers, we've committed ourselves to the hopeless, useless task of rebuilding Afghanistan. (Perhaps we should have built a mosque at Ground Zero -- the Saudis would've funded it.)

Instead of taking a firm stand against Islamist fanaticism, we've made a cult of negotiations -- as our enemies pursue nuclear weapons; sponsor terrorism; torture, imprison, rape and murder their own citizens -- and laugh at us.

Instead of insisting that Islam must become a religion of responsibility, our leaders in both parties continue to bleat that "Islam's a religion of peace," ignoring the curious absence of Baptist suicide bombers.

Instead of requiring new immigrants to integrate into our society and conform to its public values, we encourage and subsidize anti-American, woman-hating, freedom-denying bigotry in the name of toleration.

Instead of pursuing our enemies to the ends of the earth, we help them sue us.

We've dishonored our dead and whitewashed our enemies. A distinctly unholy alliance between fanatical Islamists abroad and a politically correct "elite" in the US has reduced 9/11 to the status of a non-event, a day for politicians to preen about how little they've done.

We've forgotten the shock and the patriotic fury Americans felt on that bright September morning eight years ago. We've forgotten our identification with fellow citizens leaping from doomed skyscrapers. We've forgotten the courage of airline passengers who would not surrender to terror.

We've forgotten the men and women who burned to death or suffocated in the Pentagon. We've forgotten our promises, our vows, our commitments.

We've forgotten what we owe our dead and what we owe our children. We've even forgotten who attacked us.

We have betrayed the memory of our dead. In doing so, we betrayed ourselves and our country. Our troops continue to fight -- when they're allowed to do so -- but our politicians have surrendered.

Are we willing to let the terrorists win?