Sincere –

Tonight marks the end of the American combat mission in Iraq.

As a candidate for this office, I pledged to end this war responsibly. And, as President, that is what I am doing.

Since I became Commander-in-Chief, we’ve brought home nearly 100,000 U.S. troops. We’ve closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of our bases.

As Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, our commitment to a sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq continues. Under Operation New Dawn, a transitional force of U.S. troops will remain to advise and assist Iraqi forces, protect our civilians on the ground, and pursue targeted counterterrorism efforts.

By the end of next year, consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, these men and women, too, will come home.

Ending this war is not only in Iraq’s interest — it is in our own. Our nation has paid a huge price to put Iraq’s future in the hands of its people. We have sent our men and women in uniform to make enormous sacrifices. We have spent vast resources abroad in the face of several years of recession at home.

We have met our responsibility through the courage and resolve of our women and men in uniform.

In seven years, they confronted a mission as challenging and as complex as any our military has ever been asked to face.

Nearly 1.5 million Americans put their lives on the line. Many returned for multiple tours of duty, far from their loved ones who bore a heroic burden of their own. And most painfully, more than 4,400 Americans have given their lives, fighting for people they never knew, for values that have defined our people for more than two centuries.

What their country asked of them was not small. And what they sacrificed was not easy.

For that, each and every American owes them our heartfelt thanks.

Our promise to them — to each woman or man who has donned our colors — is that our country will serve them as faithfully as they have served us. We have already made the largest increase in funding for veterans in decades. So long as I am President, I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that sacred trust.

Tonight, we mark a milestone in our nation’s history. Even at a time of great uncertainty for so many Americans, this day and our brave troops remind us that our future is in our own hands and that our best days lie ahead.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

So Boogie started Pre K on last Friday the 27th of August and he is absolutely loving it! I was a little, take that back a lot of, nervous about him going because I wasn’t sure of how he would react. Psssh I don’t even know why I was because as soon as he got in there and saw those other kids he was good.  He wanted to go to school and did not look back. He finally gets a chance to be around other kids his age.

Apparently people don’t teach their kids at home or something because his teacher was amazed that he is already reading at age 4. I thought that was normal. I guess not. I guess some parents expect the teacher to teach their child everything. Not in this household.  while I will rely on his teachers to teach him some things, whatever it is that I can teach him I will.  Now on to his curriculum, since he’s ahead of the others at reading and pretty much everything else, then his teachers will focus on his math skills.  That was one area that I tried but couldn’t teach him. I have him counting and basic addition and subtraction so hopefully they will expand upon that.

According to some online tests he is supposedly reading at a 4th grade level. Yeah right! While I don’t doubt his ability to read and read well I highly doubt that it is at a 4th grade level. My mom is sending me a test that she used to use on her students when she taught elementary school so we’ll see what it really is.

I am so proud of him and how well he is doing in school thus far. I’m so glad that we started preparing him for school early and it is paying off already. I’m not trying to brag or anything I’m just a proud parent that is gushing on my child like a proud parent should.

Oh yeah, those Your Baby can read activities actually works! Of course, you need to actually read to them and put in some additional work but it is a great tool to assist you. We started him with it after we were already working with him and he could recognize letters and numbers. It helped him with sounding out words and forming sentences. I recommend it for anyone trying to teach their child or someone else’s child how to read.

Supervising others is not a job for everyone. Some people are not leaders. I feel that leaders should be able to lead and motivate. There should not be any doubt as to who is in charge.

Leaders should lead.

After 7 1/2 years of this Iraqi war it will finally come to an end.  Can you believe it? Yes this ill-advised war will finally be over! The question I have is what’s next?  As an American and a veteran I know that this is a huge deal and I’m glad that they are coming home.  I think this is long overdue. You just don’t understand and I can’t put into words how overjoyed I am to hear this. I have friends and even family that are over there and to know that they are coming home makes me ecstatic!!  Even though we have lost some of our troops I can take comfort in knowing that no others have to lose their lives in this long 7 1/2 year war. Hopefully they will all be able to peacefully exit and return home.

My question still remains, what’s or who’s next? With Kim Jung Il over in North Korea making threats and such.  Is North Korea next on the Military’s “to do list”?

Don’t Come Home Without It (Trailer 1) from Julian Walker on Vimeo.

The actor playing the lead role is my good friend and former high school classmate Gregory White. He’s doing his thing! He also has a pilot coming out called Jordan’s River. checkout the fan page on Facebook.

I will always do what I can to support those that I believe in and those that believe in me.

Sincere

I just watched the new Star Trek and I’m a little upset that I was so late on this one. I really loved this movie and even though I’m not the biggest Star Trek fan I would love if they did a sequel to this.  If you don’t know much about the original Star Trek then you’ll more than likely be a little confused by it but by the end of the movie it’ll all make a little more sense.

I think it’s worth watching even if you aren’t really into Star Trek or Sci fi stuff. It has a lot of action and the storyline is pretty good and easy to follow. Sort of.  Anyway if you’re bored one weekend and need a good movie to watch I suggest you go pick this up at your local Red box, Blockbuster or video store. You won’t be disappointed.

I’m Just Sayin’

Sincere

I love this song and video!! It has such a powerful meaning behind it. Eminem has never disappointed me when it comes to the concepts of his videos and once again he has done an awesome job of translating what I envisioned in my head as I listen to this song to what I see on the screen. This is such an emotionally charged song to start with so the video had to be on point, and it is.

Eminem has always been one of my favorite lyricists. His wordplay is ridiculous.  I don’t think there are too many people that can touch him. He’s definitely in my top 5.  There are great rappers then there are lyricists. There is a difference people.

I’m just sayin’

Sincere

Sometimes the closest people to us and the ones that we consider family are not our blood. Just because someone is related to you doesn’t mean that you have to automatically get along with them or put up with whatever issues that they may have. To me, family is people that have my best interest at heart and will look out for my well being. Whether they are blood related or not, if they fit that description then I consider them family.

I’m not one of those people that believes that just because we’re related then we must automatically get along no matter what. Nope. Sorry I don’t operate that way. If that’s how you get down then fine but that’s not in me. I can’t see myself dealing with people that don’t respect me or consistently treat me a certain way just because we share the same DNA. That’s foolish to me. I’m too old to be dealing with foolishness.

I’m just sayin’
Sincere

North Korea has said that it will “legitimately counter with powerful nuclear deterrence the largest ever nuclear war exercises to be staged by the U.S. and the South Korean Puppet Forces.”  North Korea is still upset that they are blamed for the sinking of a North Korean War ship a few months back and they aren’t big fans of the United States so even the notion of the United States and South Korea doing anything together can be seen as some type of hostile act in the eyes of North Korea.

While this is only a threat for now, I do believe that North Korea is very capable of carrying out this threat.  They have already vowed to have a physical response to the drills that the U.S. and North Korea plan on starting Sunday (7/25/10).  I don’t think that this is just some idle threat that should be taken lightly even though that’s probably how some of the people in power feel.  We are not invulnerable and we can be touched. Never underestimate a crazy man, especially one with a large army and nuclear weapons.

The U.S. military doesn’t seem to take this threat seriously because there was ‘no sign of significant troop movement’ but how significant of a movement do you expect.  If they are planning a nuclear attack or response then there is not a need for a significant amount of troop movement.  This may be something that they said just to throw us off and downplay the situation though.  who knows.

North Korea is a major foe with major nuclear power at its disposal.  Threats like these should not be taken lightly and some type of resolution should try to be reached before this gets ugly. Or is it too late for that?

Andrew Breitbart. This Guy is a perfect example of how bloggers that think they are journalists can ruin not only the credibility of other bloggers but people’s lives.  So he says that he wasn’t aiming at Shirley Sherrod but at the NAACP and their racist views. Whatever.

He totally cut and pasted her speech in a way that paints her as a racist and now that he’s been caught refuses to back down. His credibility is shot so he might as well give it up right?   Wrong!  Think again.

I think that he was wrong and that the USDA, the secretary of Agriculture and even someone at the white house was wrong and jumped the gun on asking for her resignation. I think that they should have viewed the speech in its entirety as well as looked at her track record before making such a major decision like that. I cannot believe that they would ask for her to resign without even looking at the entire speech. Nothing against bloggers put there that report accurate information but I double check major accredited news sources so why didn’t anyone Check this Guy’s credibility?  I’m confused. This is not the first time that he’s done this either.

This just shows that bloggers have a voice and when that voice is not used correctly then it can be damaging.