To Love and To Hate Wal-Mart…which is it today?

Today, I’m going to go with hating Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart just isn’t as fun as it use to be when I lived back in Georgia. Wal-Mart had a totally different meaning. You could go to Wal-Mart 24 hours a day, buy groceries, it was the perfect 1 stop shop.

Then I move to California…24 hr Wal-Mart? What is that? And if you ask a lot of Southern Californians, they don’t even know what a Super Wal-Mart is.

I’ve ventured off track a little but getting back to what I was saying. Wal-Mart is still the place to go if you want to buy some things cheaper, say toilet paper or the Slim Fast Shakes I like to drink in the morning before I indulge myself in tons of Soda and Chocolate. (Slim Fast is merely convenience).

Today, I hate Wal-Mart. I go to the one near my apartment and it is crowded. But Wal-Mart has it’s own general population. Like in probably every other area of the world, it is full of the lower income, extreme breeders. Ask me where I’m going with this, and I won’t say for sure so no one can accuse me of saying anything prejudice, but there were tons of kids, with single moms. You know, you see the 2 year old, the mom pushes the stroller and a 9month about to pop belly.

It sucks having to fight your way out of that….today, I hate it.

Previously posted at http://www.rant-it-up.com

It’s been awhile..

But I’m back! My year in California has had its ups and downs and I’m going to fill you in as soon as I get time.

A Year of Wednesday Heroes

Kathi at Mail Call did the beautiful montage above to commemorate the one year anniversary of Wednesday Heroes.

The idea for Wednesday Heroes started with Indian Chris at Right-wing and Right minded. He says that Greta of Hooah Wife! was a driving force behind it. Greta is a driving force to be reckoned with, so Indian Chris started the Wednesday Hero blogroll! It started out with just a few participants but has grown to quite a large group who post weekly tributes to our heroes, all written by Indian Chris.

You can find more information about the blogroll and how to join yourself at Right-wing and Right Minded.

Wednesday Hero – Hatak Yuka Keyu Martin Yearby

Lance Cpl. Hatak Yuka Keyu M. Yearby
21 years old from Overbrook, Oklahoma
3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force
May 14, 2006


Hatak Yuka Keyu Martin Yearby was remembered in funeral services as a small town boy who balanced his Choctaw tribal heritage and his military life.

He did traditional American Indian dances with grace, compassion, discipline and free spirit — “the way he lived his life,” the Rev. Timm Emmons said Monday.

“He had a desire to be in the military since he was a young boy. And he believed in what he was doing. He was a warrior, and he was a hero and he finished the course.”

Yearby was killed by a roadside bomb, along with fellow Lance Cpl. Jose S. Marin Dominguez Jr., in the Al Anbar province of Iraq, two months after he arrived in that country.

Friends and family, fellow American Indians, teachers and classmates filed past his open casket for an hour after the funeral while a U.S. Marine Corps honor guard stood at attention.

About 1,000 people attended a funeral service meant to celebrate the life of the 21-year-old newlywed from Overbrook in southern Oklahoma’s Love County.

Those who spoke in the packed Marietta High School auditorium talked of how he loved to hunt, but never came back with anything. He played tricks, won dancing awards at powwows and appeared on a recruiting magazine for Upward Bound because of a headdress he made from a T-shirt.

Nine of his friends stood on stage to remember Yearby. Jake Barber spoke for them, pausing several times to regain his composure.

“Many great words describe Hatak. The only real word you need to say is ‘brother’. He will always be known to us as the ace of spades, the most important card in the deck. He touched us so dearly that words cannot explain”.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died,
We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.

Wednesday Hero – Memorial Day 2007

A special thanks to Greta and Silke of Hooah Wifee for their help.

To every man and woman who has served and is serving in the United States military, thank you for everything that you do and have done. And every man and woman who’s given their life for the cause of freedom will never be forgotten.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesday Hero, you can go here.

Doll Face

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hattip: Blue Star Chronicles

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are Breaking Up or Getting Married

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie are either breaking up or getting married. One or the other.

Rumors started making the rounds that they were breaking up when Angelia showed up single for her latest adoption. Apparently, this was necessary to finalize her adoption of 3-year-old Pax in Vietnam. They don’t allow unwed couples to adopt a child.

But since the adoption, she has filed papers to have Pax’s last name changed to Jolie-Pitt so that all the children have the same last name. So now there are rumors of marriage …. again.

Apparently, all is well in the Jolie-Pitt household (households). Tune in tomorrow for the next rumor.

Los Angeles (E! Online) – So much for the splitsville stories.

Further cementing her happily coupled status,
Angelina Jolie has filed a petition to officially change her newly adopted son’s last name to Jolie-Pitt, giving him the same surname as Maddox, Zahara and Shiloh.

Jolie filed the papers Apr. 16 in Santa Monica Superior Court. (View the court documents.)

When all is signed and stamped, the three-year-old’s name will be Pax Thien Jolie-Pitt. Jolie welcomed him to the fold last month, signing up as a single mom because the child’s native Vietnam does not allow unwedded couples to adopt.

But while she presented herself as a singleton for legal purposes, the move also fueled rumors of possible trouble in Brangelina land.

Then again, what move of theirs doesn’t? They’re either breaking up or getting married.

Instead,
Brad Pitt is expected to take action to adopt Pax, and he obviously has no qualms about sharing his name. Maddox and Zahara became Jolie-Pitts in January 2006 and Shiloh has been one since her birth May 27.

Jolie said in the months following Shiloh’s arrival that, while more biological additions remained a possibility for her and Pitt, they would be more likely to adopt before going the pregnancy route again. In March, she denied tabloid reports that had her and Pitt tying the knot in the Dominican Republic over the Easter holiday weekend.

The philanthropic couple have been splitting their time among Los Angeles, a new home in New Orleans, film sets and, of course, various goodwill destinations. Before traveling to Vietnam, Jolie visited Chad to meet with Sudanese refugees and subsequently ended up cutting a $100,000 check to build a new medical clinic in the war-torn nation.

Then, despite saying she wanted to take a few months off to be a stay-at-home mom to Pax and the rest of her brood, the Oscar winner signed up to star in the big-screen adaptation of Mark Millar’s graphic novel Wanted. Filming was set to begin late this month.

Next up, the fruit of Pitt and Jolie’s recent creative labors, the Daniel Pearl biopic A Mighty Heart, which Jolie starred in and Pitt produced, will have its premiere May 16 at the
Cannes Film Festival, where it will screen out of competition.

Wednesday Hero – Col Cyril Richard ‘Rick’ Rescorla

This Weeks Soldier Was Suggested By Sunny Kay

Col. Cyril Richard “Rick” Rescorla
68 years old from New York City, New York
16th Air Assault Brigade, Parachute Regiment (England)
Platoon Leader of 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) (U.S.)
September 11, 2001

Col. Rick Rescorla is a multiple time hero. In 1957 he enlisted in the British Army and began training as a paratrooper with The Parachute Regiment of the 16th Air Assault Brigade. He went on to serve with an intelligence unit in Cyprus, a paramilitary police inspector in the Northern Rhodesia Police (now the Zambia Police Service). When his military career ended in England he joined the Metropolitan Police Service in London. But he found the paperwork too boring and quite at the behest of a friend who encouraged him to join the United State Army. Which he did.

In 1963, Rescorla enlisted, with his friend, in the United States Army. After he completed basic training he attended officer training school and was assigned as a platoon leader in the 2nd Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile).

He was shipped to Vietnam and participated in the Battle of la Drang. While in Vietnam, he was given the nickname “Hard Core” by his men for his bravery in battle.

In 1968, Resorla became a U.S. citizen and continued his service in the Army Reserves until 1990 when he retired. In 1985 he joined a financial services firm, located in the World Trade Center, as security director.

In 1993, when the WTC was bombed, Rescorla was instrumental in evacuating people from the building. Afterwards, he enacted a policy in which all employees of the firm practiced evacuation drills every three months.

September 11, 2001. Rick Rescorla was supposed to be on vacation getting ready for his daughters wedding. Instead he was at work covering a shift for one of his deputies so that he could go on vacation. When American Airlines Flight 11 hit Tower 1, Rescorla ignored officials advice to stay put and opted instead to put his evacuation drills to use. While evacuating the 3,800 employees of his firm in Towers 2 and 5 he kept reminding them “be proud to be an American …everyone will be talking about you tomorrow” and sang God Bless America over his bullhorn. When Flight 175 struck Tower 2, Rescorla had already evacuated most of the employees from his firm as well as many others from other floors. He then went back in, despite being told he needed to evacuate himself. The last known words anyone heard him say were, “As soon as I make sure everyone else is out”. Tower 2 collapsed with Rick Rescorla last seen heading to the 10th floor looking for more people to help.

As a result of his actions that day, all but six employees of his firm made it out alive. One of those being him and three others being his deputies who followed him into Tower 2, Wesley Mercer, Jorge Velazquez, and Godwin Forde.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. If you would like to participate in honoring the brave men and women who serve this great country, you can find out how by going here.

Celebrities with Bad Plastic Surgery

This falls under ‘WHAT were they thinking!!’

Remember ruggedly handsome Mickey Rourke? For some reason he didn’t seem like the type to be so vain that he’d have himself mummified in unsuccessful attempts to maintain his looks. Too bad. I would have thought his looks would have aged well. Instead, he looks like he belongs in a wax museum. Does his skin look raw to you or is it just me?

And what about Kate Jackson? Charlie’s Angel Kate Jackson? Somehow her eyes have gotten slanted and her face is out of kilter.

Of course, there no ‘celebrity bad plastic surgery’ post without including Michael Jackson, Kind of Pop and Bad Plastic Surgery. His forays into plastic surgery have been chronicled throughout his life. He has gone from cute kid to monster-esque adult.

Photos from She Knows who has more photos/examples and more information.

hat tip to Dr. DiSaia Truth in Cosmetic Surgery Blog who explains what usually is behind ‘bad plastic surgery’.

Exerting Strength

“There are two ways of exerting one’s strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up.” Booker T. Washington