Helpful -- GMail

More invitations are available. Comment here if you'd like one.

Interesting -- What's Kuz up to?

I figured it was about time to give a general update, blog-style.
Had a good holiday. This year, we sold the car, so it was all trains and bummed rides. Amtrak got us into Detroit three hours late, (about 4:30 AM,) but besides that, it was really fun. Cindy and I and our folks had a good time eating, eating, and chatting. We even played a little Cranium.

Work at Kaplan has been going fine. I am still exploring work in politics, while broadening my teaching skills at Kaplan -- I'm figuring that no matter what I end up doing, if I can teach GMAT to potential business school students, I can always find work. Landing a gig in politics and public service seems to require lots of donating money, networking, and working for free, but hey, I guess it wouldn't be called elitist if it were easy to do.

Meanwhile, all thoughts are focused on the anniversary trip to Costa Rica. There'll be snow on the ground when we leave Chicago next week, but for 10 days, we'll be leaving it behind and hanging out in the rain forest. Que bueno.

Helpful -- Buy stuff

You know, I gotta be helpful to Mom, too.

Helpful -- Can't join the club

Ha ha ha -- I find a great, Chicago-based progressive website, and I'm the only one on the blogroll who can join! Way to go Martin Luther!

Interesting and Invisible

This game is extra fun if you use a laptop.

Helpful -- Drink more

I'm booked the next few Wednesdays, so I'll have to drink liberally on my own. Bummer.

Helpful -- Blogrolling?

Anyone tried this out yet?

BlogRolling - The best link manager for your weblog and more!

Interesting -- Really freakin fast

Cheer up, Josh. How depressed can you be, when somewhere out there guys are making a plane that goes 6,000 miles per hour?

Interesting -- Fantastic agility

The turnaround time between Republicans demonizing "Hollywood liberals" and then fellating Hollywood movie executives is quite impressive.

Music sharing will become illegal too, but I never really wanted an IPod, anyway :(

Interesting -- Mad scientists

Wired News: Science Braces for Second Term

Helpful -- More dining discounts

Go to Restaurant.com and buy some dining certificates. Enter Promo code 66980 to get 60% off your bill. That means a $25 certificate costs only $4. Offer ends Friday.

Update from the LtCol.

I had this passed to me on Sunday.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Smith LtCol Mark A"
Sent: Sunday, November 14, 2004
Subject: Update 14 November 2004

It is with the heaviest of hearts and a tormented soul that I must report to you the deaths of the following two Heroes:

Corporal Peter J. Giannopoulos, Weapons Co, 2nd Bn, 24th Marines, USMC

Corporal Brian R. Prening, Co F, 2nd Bn, 24th Marines, USMC

Both of these Marines were killed in action while engaged in a direct fire battle with enemy forces, Cpl Giannopoulos, vicinity of Lutayfiyah, Iraq; and Cpl Prening, Yusufiyah, Iraq. In both cases, these Marines made the conscious decision to expose themselves to enemy fire in an attempt to cover their fellow Marines and ensure their survival, giving their lives in the process. In both engagements, the units of 2/24 UTTERLY destroyed the enemy forces, and the bravery and ferocity of these two heroes was inspirational and pivotal to the ultimate success.

-->>click "Read and comment" to continue<<--

 I ask all to reflect on what kind of a man it takes to expose themselves to hostile fire? For the average man, when steel is flying through the air, every ounce of your being calls for you to duck and cover. These Marines, and their brothers, run to the fire, not from it. And, when sensing it is necessary, they willingly leave the cover of armored vehicles and concrete buildings to assist their fellow Marines by ensuring a high volume of accurate fire against the enemy forces. The answer to what kind of man does that is men like Cpl Giannopoulos and Cpl Prening. These two Marines selflessly gave their lives that their fellow Marines would live. I, and every Marine in this Battalion stands in awe of these Warriors!

This has been a tough week for the Marines of 2/24. We have said goodbye and wished God's grace on six of our brothers. All of them died heroically in the stoic accomplishment of their assigned task. THEY WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN! Every subsequent battle has them forefront on our minds. We seek justice, not vengenance, but we will continue to unleash righteous fury on the EVIL and COWARDLY enemy that we face. To demonstrate the cowardice of the enemy we face, let me relay one event from the battle that occurred on Friday, 12 November. During the enemy attack of one of our units, engaged elements of the unit observed several of the enemy run into a building in an attempt to take cover from the deadly Marine fire. An adjust fire mission of artillery was called and cleared and after the first round fell, adjustments were called in. Immediately prior to the subsequent mission, which would have ensured the destruction of the enemy personnel, an immediate CHECK FIRE was called by the Unit Cmdr, which ensures the mission is not fired. I immediately asked for the reason of the check fire, and was advised that a woman and child ran into the building. Now, we have seen enough of this enemy to know that THEY SUMMONED THE WOMAN AND CHILD INTO THE BUILDING UNDER THREAT OF DEATH, KNOWING THAT WE WOULD NO LONGER FIRE. That may seem frustrating, and it is. But, it is right and proper, and demonstrates the level of professionalism and compassion of these amazing Marines! And, it shows the cowardly and evil nature of the enemy. They run to Mosques, hospitals and houses every time the engagement begins to get away from them, as it always does when they challenge the ferocity of the Mad Ghosts.

Another one of their favorite techniques is to set up road blocks on rural roads, and attempt to identify anyone that works for the government. If they find them, they kidnap them, torture them, and often kill them. That's right, get killed for being a census worker, or a water plant worker. Pretty solid soldiering, huh? NOT. This is EVIL, pure and simple. It is contrasted by the unbelievable and unshakeable humanity and decency of your Marines. No matter how angry, no matter how frustrated, they take the fight to the enemy, and the enemy only. They are amazing in their tactical skill, and in their compassion.

I pray that we have seen the last of our fallen heroes, and that all my weekly udpates from here forward will be on Thursdays as planned, and that I will always have positive news. But, we are fighting an insurgency, and like all insurgencies, the principle characteristics that will bear victory are patience and persistence. And, a few good men!

I give thanks to the Lord for having known Cpl Giannopoulos and Cpl Prening. The world is a darker place for their absence, but heaven shines a little brighter as two of her most favored sons have come home. That they stand in the presence of God and be always pleased with their brothers in this Battalion is our hope. That their families will bear the grief and find the Lord's peace is our prayer.

GOOD NIGHT SWEET WARRIORS. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED.

Yours in profound sadness and on behalf of all the Marines of 2/24

LtCol Mark A. Smith

Helpful -- Any Soldier

To send a package to other soldiers who aren't the "mail king" like Phil, please visit AnySoldier.com

Helpful -- Iraq pic

Phil's fiancee writes:

I attached another [photo] of Phil and some of the Marines, including Cpl. Giannopoulos. I'm not sure who the Marine in the middle is. Otherwise they are: Gio, Banks, Hilty, ?, Alphabet (I think his name is actually Gutierrez but I've never heard anyone call him that), Vasquez, and of course Phil.

The Marine here is not identified.

I + H -- Note from Phil

This got passed on to me over the weekend. I will post later today with pictures from Iraq and another update from the Lt. Colonel, who had to send out yet another letter of condolence.

Hi all,

Two months down and five more to go! This last month has been significantly more challenging than the last. I have lost a good friend from my platoon in Weapons Company, MST 1 (my team right now) lost a good Marine, and Golf Company lost three Marines, two of which I knew pretty well. In fact, many of you saw the video that one of them put together of our training in Camp Horno.

The insurgents are getting bolder or there are just more of them around here after they were kicked out of Fallujah. I have been ambushed the last two days. Each of those firefights was worse than the ones before. I thank God that no one else was hurt. I will have a nice picture of where a bullet hit the shield of my turret. Our equipment does work.

The weather is also being uncooperative. It has started to rain and many of the roads we travel are narrow and unpaved. It is scary when your vehicle starts sliding into a canal and you can't do anything about it! The days are still warm but nights are getting a lot cooler. I have often wondered why it can't be just "nice" for a change :)

Despite all the challenges my spirits are kept up by all the letters, gifts, and prayers you all are sending. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH. Your support makes this place and what I am doing bearable. I am honored to have friends and family like you. I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and don't forget that each one of us has something to truly be thankful for,

Phil

Do I contradict myself?

Then I contradict myself. I just checked the traffic stats, and it looks like someone out there has searched every engine out there for "Oh Kaplan! My Kaplan! author," and my site keeps coming up because that phrase is on my sidebar. However, the poor person who is searching is probably searching for O Captain! My Captain! which is a poem by Walt Whitman. I would provide a link to it, but obviously, the guy knows how to use Google...

Interesting and Respectful

Respect the fallen in Iraq. Please bookmark this.

Interesting -- Ski trip

I wasn't kidding about Garv and skiing in Idaho. I'm not clear about his connection, but my hunch is that next time I go skiing, it'll probably be here. Maybe March?

Interesting and Puzzling

Sharp has one of those fancy internet puzzle contests that seems interesting, but that I don't have time to do. Any Games Magazine subscribers out there who want to give it a shot, go for it.

Helpful for me

For future reference, when my post is too long, I am supposed to do this:

Post Modifications
The final piece that we need is a little bit of code in your actual post. Each post that you want to use this feature on will need this code:
[span class="fullpost"][/span]

You'll enter the summary text outside the span tags and the remainder inside, like so:
Here is the beginning of my post. [span class="fullpost"]And here is the rest of it.[/span]

Interesting -- What gives, Tribune?

Why you illin'? Or something like that.

Interesting -- oh yeah!

I thought I had heard of Alberto Gonzales before!

Helpful -- What liberal Christians can do next

I think this is the right idea:

"One of the things a few of us are talking about is a reassessment of how the Democrats deal with an issue like abortion -- could there be a more moderate ground, where even if they retained their pro-choice stance, they talked about uniting pro-choice people together to actually do something about the abortion rate?' said Jim Wallis, editor of the liberal evangelical journal Sojourners.

If the Democratic Party were to 'welcome pro-life Democrats, Catholics and evangelicals and have a serious conversation with them' about ways to reduce teenage pregnancy, facilitate adoptions and improve conditions for low-income women, it would 'work wonders' among centrist evangelicals and Catholics, Wallis said."

Helpful -- The next run

Who's with me?

I + H -- Update and Sympathy

Received this yesterday. Because of how some Marine units are being moved around, it's not clear whether Phil's weapons company is actually in Fallujah. Will update as soon as I hear anything new.

From: "Smith LtCol Mark A"
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2004 12:45 PM
Subject: Weekly Update and _Expression of Battalion Sympathy

It is my most unfortunate duty to report to you the deaths of:

Corporal Nathaniel T. Hammond, USMC
Corporal Robert P. Warns II, USMC
LCpl Branden P. Ramey, USMC
LCpl Shane K. O'Donnell, USMC

-->>click "continue reading" below<<--



These magnificent Marines, one and all, passed from this earthly existence into the hands of the Lord on Monday, 08 November 2004. Without a doubt, the darkest day in the history of this Battalion since World War II.

Cpl Hammond was struck by a command detonated improvised explosive device, while establishing security for the remainder of his Mobile Strike Team during patrolling operations in the vicinity of Yusufiyah, Iraq.

Cpl Warns, LCpl Ramey and LCpl O'Donnell were struck by a buried improvised explosive device while conducting a motorized patrol during patrolling operations in the vicinity of Lutafiyah, Iraq.

ALL Marines were killed instantly, suffered no pain and were recovered by their fellow Marines.

I cannot even begin to express the depth of sorrow and pain I feel for these losses. All of these Marines were exceptional Marines and outstanding human beings, for without whom the world will be a darker place. The most painful and difficult event in the loss of our Marines is knowing it has occurred, and then imagining the reaction of the families who love them dearly upon notification. I take some solace in knowing that as Marines we take care of our own, and the notification will be as professionally done as is humanly possible under the circumstances, but it is truly of little comfort knowing the gut-wrenching pain and soul shattering feeling of hearing the
words, "I regret to inform you...killed in action."

But, it is the "killed in action" where the dim light of lost life can be overcome by the bright shining light of sacrifice and love. These Marines, the living and the perished, live an existence that almost defies description, and I am far to incapable of truly putting it into words. But if you picture the most physically demanding day you ever had in your life, multiply it by (2), and then imagine doing it every single day for TWENTY to TWENTY TWO HOURS a day, you would almost capture what these Marines do. Then, you have to add in the reality of violent death being around every corner, the reality of being ready to destroy and do extreme violence in less time than it takes to blink an eye, do it all while being ever mindful of not harming innocents or non-combatants, accounting for the 50lbs of armor and gear you are carrying, and trying to not let thoughts of home and loved ones distract you from the duty at hand...and you would have about a 50% visualization of what these UNBELIEVABLE AMERICANS we call Marines do every SINGLE day.

You then ask "why? You ask why because you are not here. I ask why because I am. And, by being here, I ask why because I cannot believe that there are such men! Men that will bear any burden, overcome any challenge, tackle any foe, face any fear, that others might live in freedom and peace.

There are no William Shakespeare's in this Battalion and no Albert Einsteins. Quite frankly, many of these Marines you would shutter to present in mixed company, myself included. But you see, at their core of existence, beneath the veneer we all put on for the rest of the world to see, these Marines are pure of heart and soul! They are the Angels that we all long to see in the flesh.

For all the bluster and machismo, all they want to do is make a difference in a world gone mad! They want to destroy EVIL that GOOD shall abound, and abound aplenty. They want children to be bounced on their father's knee, without the fear of masked men kidnapping and beheading "daddy" in the middle of the night. They want to be part of bringing about an existence where even if they vehemently disagree with another's belief in a God, or in no god, that it is that, a disagreement among men, not an entitlement to torture, maim or slaughter those with whom you disagree. Inside the core of these Marines is love! Love of everything that is decent and proper.

Love of their fellow man. Love of their home and country. Love of their family. Love of their Corps and fellow Marines. And, this love keeps them always moving forward.

It is this love that will lead us to shed a thousand tears as we memorialize our fallen Angels on Friday. It is this love that will lead us to continue our mission of hunting the terrorists and ERADICATING them from the face of the earth. It is this love that will forever have the families of our fallen angels in our thoughts and prayers. It is this love that will have the names of our fallen brethren forever etched in our minds.

I for one know that I will never again hear the National Anthem or the Marine's Hymn without tears in my eyes, a pain in my soul, and the names and faces of ALL 2/24 fallen HEROES on my mind.

IT HAS BEEN MY DISTINCT PLEASURE TO KNOW AND SERVE WITH: CPL NATHANIEL T. HAMMOND, CPL ROBERT P. WARNS II, LCPL BRANDEN P. RAMEY, AND LCPL SHANE K. O'DONNELL.

It will forever be my responsibility that I could not bring them home living. But in knowing them in life and in death, I have known Jesus. Because I saw in them the "carrying of the Cross" for love of a friend!

It is my deepest prayer that immediately after being welcomed to heaven by the Savior, they were reunited with passed family and friends, and then met by LCpl Daniel Wyatt, issued their orders, and took their post "guarding the streets of heaven."

And, I also pray that the families know our Marines and their precious loved one never dies alone, they die among their friends, their BROTHERS!

God Bless You, You Magnificent Warriors in your final journey home and may you rest among the Angels where you rightly belong!

In profound sadness,

Mark A. Smith

LtCol, USMCR

Commanding Officer, 2nd Bn, 24th Marines

PS: SSgt Simon, Co G and LCpl Kruchten Co G, were seriously injured in the detonation that took the lives of Cpl Warns, LCpl Ramey and LCpl O'Donnell. Please pray for them and their families, and please reach out to them in their time of challenge and need.

"I am the Lord, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you."

Isaiah 41:13

Helpful -- Eat for cheap

Restaurant.com has a 50% off sale through Friday. Click here and enter code 10417. Enjoy!

Interesting -- Moral values

Re: employment and management strategies in the red states.

I + H -- The minds of terrorists

Daily Kos :: Terrorist Strategy 101: a quiz

Must read.

Helpful -- Beverages for the Holidays

Drink up!

I +H -- Operation Phantom Fury

Just received:

If anyone was wondering, yes, Phil is in Fallujah. Please say some extra prayers for him and the rest of the troops.


Subject: "Letter from MGen Natonski to the Families of 1st Marine Division"
A letter to the families of the 1st Marine Division from the Commanding General, November 8, 2004

Recently elements of the 1st Marine Division commenced combat operations against insurgents in Fallujah. We are conducting Operation Phantom Fury in order to provide the Iraqi people hope and a chance for a brighter future. Our mission is at the request of the Iraqi government. We are not alone. Iraqi security and armed forces will participate in numbers exceeding that of any operation conducted to date. This operation is critical and will deny the insurgents a safe haven to conduct attacks against coalition forces and the ability to continue with the murder and intimidation of the Iraqi people.

Your loved one has received all the resources required to ensure victory. Our Marines, Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen go into harm's way with the best equipment, the best training, and the best leadership available to our great nation. The planning and preparation for this operation has been detailed. We have worked very hard to mitigate the dangers to our forces. I am very proud of the fighting spirit and morale of the Division.

Our actions today will be recorded on the pages of our nation's history. Our mission requires courage, faith, honor, and commitment from the men and women of the Division. We humbly ask you for the same. You will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers and your support sustains us. May God's blessing be with the 1st Marine Division and it's families.

Helpful -- Google Search

The Blogger Navbar at the top of the page still doesn't work exactly right. The search function is still on the fritz. So, I added a Google search bar at the bottom of each page, in case you want to search the archives for important political data.

Helpful -- Camera phones are great!

Got the new cell phone (LG6000) and I love it. Just look at how happy I am.

Helpful -- Let the healing begin

No politics today, just religion.

Helpful -- Career advice for Bill

We've found you the perfect job, Bubba!

Helpful -- Redistricting

This might not be such a bad idea.

Do I dare? Do I dare?

It's 1:30 in the afternoon. I just got up and got something to eat. I will need a lot of fresh air today. I was manning the election from 5:00 AM - 8:15 PM, and stayed up until 2:00 to watch results, so I am just wasted today. I feel, in so many ways, "marginal."

Our pastor just sent out a conciliatory e-mail to everyone, knowing that most of us are pretty depressed today. He included Psalm 46, which is quite appropriate, I think.

But being in a "marginal" mood, I had a passage from another poem in mind this morning.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?"
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair—
[They will say: "How his hair is growing thin!"]
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin—
[They will say: "But how his arms and legs are thin!"]
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

Feel free to take 5 minutes and go back and read the whole poem. In fact, you may find me reading poetry and history a lot these next few weeks. Because history has seen worse times than these, and because poets talked about it a hell of a lot better than we do. Peace and love to you all.

I + H + Scary as Hell -- Update from Iraq

Forwarded message:
 

Hello everyone,
I hope this letter finds all of our families and friends in good health and spirits. We continue to conduct operations in the Mayhem Area of Operations with resounding success. The Marines are in harms way on a daily basis. They are doing a superb job finding the enemy prior to him finding us. Their success is causing the enemy to react hastily which makes them less effective.

With everything going on, most Marines don't like sitting back here and want to get out and hunt the enemy. Just the other day, one of our teams detained an Iraqi emplacing an IED. That was the first detainee of this sorts for the Battalion. The first question everyone asked is "why didn't you shoot him?" With all the machismo aside, the MST did everything exactly right by not harming the detainee and turning him over to the proper authorities who can gain more information from him. With that said, the Marines are staying busy and they don't have a whole lot of time to phone or email home. If you don't hear from them for a week or two it is because they are out disturbing our enemies sleep and operational patterns. We are living up to the name of Mad Ghosts.

If you want to get a Christmas package to your Marine, please mail it by November 15 in order to ensure it gets here in time. I think 2/24 is keeping the US Postal system in the black by the amount of letters, cards, and packages coming for our Marines. When the mail truck rolls up with our mail, there is never an issue of finding Marines for the working party. They look like children on Christmas morning. I appreciate all the support of the families and friends have provided to the Marines. Your efforts have enabled these great men to concentrate on the business at hand and not have to worry about what is going on at home.
Maj Porter

PS - Donna reports: "FYI: Thanks to all of you, some of the Marines have started calling Phil the "mail king.'"

Keep it up, y'all.

Helpful -- No fear

We're gonna win.

1 day to go

I can see why a lot of people don't follow politics or sports -- it's so much work to pick a side and root for it. It sucks to lose. You put some of your personal views on display for everyone to see, which opens you up for ridicule.

I love it.

I am a fan, a supporter, a volunteer, a worker, a researcher, and a true believer. I have searched my own values, as well as the logical arguments and evidence, and I have no doubt that John Kerry would a better president for everyone, not just the people who agree with him.

When I am finished judging the election at our precinct tomorrow night, I will headed over to Mike and Rebekah's to watch the results, which, I truly believe, will be a Kerry landslide. Amen.