"A man must know his destiny… if he does not recognize it, then he is lost. By this I mean, once, twice, or at the very most, three times, fate will reach out and tap a man on the shoulder… if he has the imagination, he will turn around and fate will point out to him what fork in the road he should take, if he has the guts, he will take it." - General George S. Patton, Jr.

Veterans' Day will come and go
Quicker than the blink of an eye
But memories of heroes present and past
Will never, ever die.
The youth of today, do you understand?
The price brave men did pay
To preserve the freedom we enjoy
Each and every day.

They were called to duty, and so they went
Not knowing what was to be
Many came home, some never did
They sacrificed so we could be free.

How lonely some must have felt
How scared some had to be
They paid the bill with their own blood
What a great cost to be free.

The heroes of our country
Are the ones who paved the way
For freedom and the many rights
That we enjoy today.

Next time, young folks, you pass someone
Who may be old and gray
Remember — thanks to him or her
You have your freedom today.

by Holly Rulli

November 11 is also General Patton's Birthday, but we never seem to remember that. Below is the famous "Patton Prayer" sent to the men of the Third Army December 8, 1944:

"Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen."

Amen.

Thank you for protecting this great Country of ours, and for protecting my personal freedom. I am forever grateful.

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

What is Project Valour IT? Well, first you get the background... the story behind Valour-IT:

Project Valour-IT began when Captain Charles "Chuck" Ziegenfuss was wounded by an IED while serving as commander of a tank company in Iraq in June 2005.

During his deployment he kept a blog. Captivating writing, insightful stories of his experiences, and his self-deprecating humor won him many loyal readers. After he was wounded, his wife continued his blog, keeping his readers informed of his condition.

As he began to recover, CPT Ziegenfuss wanted to return to writing his blog, but serious hand injuries hampered his typing. When a loyal and generous reader gave him a copy of the Dragon Naturally Speaking Preferred software, other readers began to realize how important such software could be to CPT Ziegenfuss' fellow wounded soldiers and started cast about for a way to get it to them.

A fellow who writes under the pseudonym FbL contacted Captain Ziegenfuss and the two realized they shared a vision of creating libraries of laptops with voice-controlled software that could be brought to the bedsides of wounded soldiers whose injuries prevented them from operating a standard computer. FbL contacted Soldiers' Angels, who offered to help develop the project, and Project Valour-IT was born.

When I made this post in July of 2005, my goal was to cheer up Chuck as he recovered from wounds he received while defending our freedom in Iraq. Yes, it's the same Chuck, and many of you sent cards and letters to him during his stay at Walter Reed. I thank you for that. But, our work is not done yet. Now I'm asking you to help Valour-IT.

Project Valour-IT accepts donations of any amount to supply the "libraries" of laptops at major medical centers and gifts to individuals, but has also added the option of an individual or organization directly sponsoring a wounded soldier by completely funding the cost of a laptop and continuing to provide him or her with personal support and encouragement throughout recovery. Thanks to the efforts of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Valour-IT is also able to reach patients in VA hospitals who would benefit from a Valour-IT laptop.

Every cent raised for Project Valour-IT goes directly to the purchase and shipment of voice-activated laptops for wounded servicemembers.

Project Valour-IT is a simple idea with profound impact. It's grateful Americans, providing laptops with voice-activated software for severely wounded troops. Project Valour-IT offers a way for us to tell them we have not forgotten their sacrifices, and that is truly priceless. In many, many ways what we are trying to do is reconnect them to the world; remind them that they are not alone. That they still have something to contribute, that they are still a vital part of this nation, and that even though they may have lost parts of themselves that they can never recover, though they may temporarily be feeling hopeless, helpless, even alone, they aren't.

Someone remembers. Someone still cares. And when they get out of the hospital, America will find a way for them to rejoin the community and be useful again. For a wounded vet facing traumatic and painful injuries, that knowledge alone is beyond price.

Please dig deep. You cannot know the value of the hope your small contributions can bring to those who have already given so much on our behalf.

If you wish to donate, you can use the button below or this link, or send a check (with MARINES in all caps on it!) to:

Soldiers' Angels
Project Valour-IT Fund
1792 E. Washington Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91104

Soldiers' Angels has been designated a 501(c)(3) non-profit charity by the IRS. Donations are tax-deductible and may be eligible for matching funds from donors' employers (ask your employer). Be sure to consult your tax advisor for further information.

Tell your friends, family and neighbors about Valour-IT, challenge your co-workers or employer to match donations, consider involving clubs, churches, or charitable organizations. If you have any contacts in the media, local or national newspapers, radio, TV, whatever, whoever, however, spread the word!

I know I can count on your support for this, just hit the button so the Marine Corps Team gets credit! and... Thank you!

Yes, there's a good bit of good-natured interservice rivalry fun in the interests of raising some money for a good cause, but at the end of the day what really matters is not which team you support, but that you find it in your hearts to support a worthwhile cause. Because our wounded vets have given more in the service of our country than most of us will ever be able to repay.

If you were wondering why I choose the Marine Corps Fundraising Team every year, well, I love tanks, and I love fighter jets, and I love those great big ships and subs, but in the end, I joined the Marines Fundraising Team because of the Marine you see right there, down on one knee...

He served in Korea, as Infantry, in the Military Police and he was a proud member of the Marines' Drum and Bugle Corps.

And he just happens to be my Dad! Handsome, isn't he? Of course he is, that's why they let him be a Marine! and I bet you thought it was a coincidence that Marines are always so darn good looking!

I'm proud of my Dad, and I'm proud of each of every one of our troops serving in the United States Military, whether it's the Army, Navy, Air Force or the Marines. These brave men and women deserve our support, and Project Valour-IT is a great way to say Thank You!

Finally, if you're a blogger, join a team, any team will do. However, if you join the Marine Team, there are privileges... you get a link here, that's right, a link right here along with these other fine Marine Team Members:

The Few... The Loud.. THE MARINES!

Two SC GOP-ers: DeMint 'Is Watching Our Nation's Pennies' -- Just Like A Wealthy Jew

Two Republican party chairmen from South Carolina, in trying to defend Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-SC) practice of not using earmarks, said DeMint "is watching our nation's pennies," just like "the Jews who are wealthy."

Edwin O. Merwin and James S. Ulmer, chairs of the Bamberg County Republican Party and the Orangeburg County Republican Party, respectively, wrote an op-ed in the Times and Democrat this Sunday.

"There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves," they wrote. "By not using earmarks to fund projects for South Carolina and instead using actual bills, DeMint is watching our nation's pennies and trying to preserve our country's wealth and our economy's viability to give all an opportunity to succeed."

Lovely.

One has to wonder why and how two supposedly intelligent men would and could put their heads together and manage to come up with such a ridiculous and inflammatory way of expressing themselves. It's hard to believe that they are so ignorant of this Country's roots and traditions to be completely unaware that what are they speaking of is an old American proverb based on an even older English proverb "Look after the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves."

No, I suppose it's easier to fall back on a stereotype, after all, everyone knows how them Jews pinch pennies. It's a stereotype everyone can understand and relate to, or at least, one must assume that's what they expected when they wrote those words, and all the apologies in the world are not going to change that.

TMP Livewire wrote the perfect headline. Oooo lookie at those evil republicans, hating on them Jews. Yeah. Right. It's not quite a hymietown moment though, is it? And it is rather mild when you consider the remarks attributed to Hillary Clinton, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, and of course, Cynthia McKinney, who praised Hitler.

Still, the remarks are useful to the democrats and their agenda, and sadly they will keep some Jews voting democrat despite the left's well known prejudice against Jews and all things Jewish, including Israel. So these two republican bozos manage to give the democrats a few more talking points about ignorant Jew hating southern republicans, just when democrats need them the most.

Reality is, no matter what propaganda J Street is putting out, Jews are falling off the democrat bandwagon and the last thing we need right now are these two nitwits out of SC running their mouths without putting their brain into gear. So I called them up and told them so, and I used my maiden name. I can just hear their southern accents trying to duplicate that!

Today, when I received an email from a friend with a link to this stupid article by TMP with the question, "Are you going vote with the republicans again this year Linda?" I fired back two words and a picture. The two words were "Jimmy Carter" and the picture:

Okay, so there are republicans who adhere to stereotypes, when did I ever say republicans were perfect? Oh, and, not to split hairs or anything, but I'm a conservative, and you know what, we're not perfect either, so yes, I've got friends in low places.

As for me, well, I find it difficult to get all worked up about the penny-pinching Jew stereotype, I always have, and always will. I seem to run into it a lot, probably because my last name is so not Jewish, and people tend to drop that stereotype on me more often then they might if I were a Goldstein rather than a Gonzalez.

I'll have fun with you if drop that on me and you happen to be... say... Irish, because then I get to comment something along the lines of how fortunate I am to come from a people that are known for making money and taking over the world while you come from a people who are known for being a bunch of drunks. Not to pick on the Irish, that's just an example to show you that stereotypes can be fun, if you're lucky enough to be born with the right one, and when you think about it, we Jews really have the best one.

Stereotypes are a fact of life. Like cliches, we have them for a reason, and we might as well acknowledge them, accept them, and learn to live with them. In ourselves, and in others.

I'll leave you with a quote, see if you can guess who said it. You'll have to click to find the answer...

"I hate to admit it, but I have reached a stage in my life that if I am walking down a dark street late at night and I see that the person behind me is white, I subconsciously feel relieved."

Really, consider this: Christopher Columbus had no idea where he was going, when he got there, he had no idea where he was, so he went home not knowing where he had been. And he did it all on government money!

Later, he was credited for doing what he did not do for Columbus was not the first to discover America, nor was he the first European to land at America. In fact, Columbus never even saw North America.

However, Columbus was the first to exploit, enslave and slaughter the Arawak Indians of Haiti, and syphilis was introduced into Europe by his crew.

So. Celebrate as you see fit.

Yuppper

ha!! but wait... there's more! Don't miss comment #12 and #20.

Yannow, I really just can't decide if it's a goof or if they're serious. You know how troofers are, fire don't melt steel and all that.

I will say this, I laughed myself silly, so much so that my bird was laughing too, and hearing him, well, I just laughed some more. The plane! The sound effects! The narrator's voice, OMG!! I watched it a few times, and still, I can't decide if it they meant it or not.

The demolition of the second snow tower was very well done, they obviously went to some trouble to do it and all in all, it would appear that a good time was had doing it. I bet the guy who did that demonstration leap was laughing all the way, never mind the back flip guy.

and you know what? My bird is still laughing!

It is a long way to the "Umschlag". The Deportation Point, from which the cars leave, is situated on the very edge of the ghetto, on Stawki Street. The tall walls surrounding it and closely guarded by gendarmes are broken at only one narrow place. Through this entrance the groups of helpless, powerless people are brought in. Everyone holds some papers, working certificates, identification cards. The gendarme at the entrance looks them over briefly. "Rechts"--means life, "links"--means death. Although everyone knows in advance the futility of all arguments, he still tries to show his particular helpfulness to German industry, to his German master, and hopes for the magic little order, "rechts". The gendarme does not even listen. Sometimes he orders the passing people to show him their hands--he chooses all small ones: "rechts"; sometimes he separates blondes: "links"; in the morning he favours short people; in the evening he takes a liking to tall ones. "Links", "links", "links".

The human torrent grows, deepens, floods the square, floods three large three-storey buildings, former schools. More people are assembled here than are necessary to fill the next four days' quota, they are just being brought in as "reserves". People wait four or five days before they are loaded into the railroad cars. People fill every inch of free space, crowd the buildings, bivouac in empty rooms, hallways, on the stairs. Dirty, slimy mud floods the floors. One's foot sinks in human excrement at every step. The odour of sweat and urine sticks in one's throat. There are no panes in the windows, and the nights are cold. Some are dressed only in night-shirts or house-coats.

On the second day hunger begins to twist the stomach in painful spasms, cracked lips long for a drop of water. The times when people were given three loaves of bread are long since gone. Sweating, feverish children lie helplessly in their mothers'arms. People seem to shrink, become smaller, greyer.

All eyes have a wild, crazy, fearful look. People look pale, helpless, desperate. There is a sudden flash of revelation that soon the worst, the incredible, the thing one would not believe to the very last moment is bound to happen. Here, in this crowded square, all the continually nursed illusions collapse, all the brittle hopes that "maybe I may save myself and my dearest ones from total destruction"... collapse. A nightmare settles on one's chest, grips one's throat, shoves one's eyes out of their sockets, opens one's mouth to a soundless cry. An old man imploringly and feverishly hangs on to strangers around him. A helplessly suffering mother presses three children to her heart. One wants to yell, but there is nobody to yell to; to implore, to argue--there is nobody to argue with; one is alone, completely alone in this multitudinous crowd. One can almost feel the ten--nay, hundred, thousand--rifles aimed at one's heart. The figures of the Ukrainians grow to gigantic proportions. And then one does not know of anything any more, does not think about anything, one sits down dully in a corner, right in the mud and dung of the wet floor. The air becomes more and more stuffy, the place becomes more and more crowded, not because of the thousands of bodies and the odour of the rooms, but because of the sudden understanding that all is lost, that nothing can be done, that one must perish.

We parrot "Never again," but for the most part, we have forgotten what that means. This year, the United States of America took a mighty step backwards and now teeters on the abyss of hell. The man we call President counts himself amongst the tyrants and evil dictators of the United Nations who close their eyes to the reign of arab terror perpetuated against Israeli citizens in complete mockery of the UN human rights charter as they declined the complete and total rejection of the Goldstone report. Instead, they choose to support and embrace terrorism and the efforts of those who vow to destroy the State of Israel and murder the six million Jews who live there.

What does "never again" mean? It becomes ever more obvious every day that the meaning of those words has been forgotten and how close the world is to coming full circle once again to closing its eyes to the murder of yet another six million Jews. The plan has been announced, the ways and means are being prepared, and nothing, nothing is being done to prevent it.

In April of 2009, Marek Edelman said “Don’t forget that evil can grow bigger."

I fear that warning has come too late, and no one is listening.

Oh. If I may... one final thought, on the recent exchange of freedom of terrorists for a videotape of a smiling Gilad Shalit praising his treatment and pleading for negotiated freedom from hands of the terrorists of hamas. Bravo Bibi, for cowering and negotiating and kowtowing to terrorists, and giving the terrorists of hamas an opportunity to use Gilad to broadcast their propaganda to the world.

What was it you said Bibi, to the UN?

"Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium," he said. "A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies the murder of six million Jews while promising to wipe out the State of Israel, the State of the Jews. What a disgrace. What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations."

You said these words Bibi, you, who has sat down with, and negotiated with, and shaken the hand of Abu Mazen, who not only denied the Holocaust, but claimed that the milllion or so Jews he grudgingly admitted might have died were really killed by Jewish Zionists. Forgive me for saying so, but, the last time I looked, you still speak of him as your partner in peace while he still promises his people that they will succeed in destroying Israel.

Once you had an opportunity to view that film and confirm that Gilad was in fact alive, you should never have released even a single solitary terrorist from Israeli prison. That was a despicable act of appeasement and accomplished nothing.

Israel has released thousands of terrorists and received nothing but dead bodies in return. And the thousands Israels has released have caused the deaths of hundreds of other innocent Israelis who would likely be alive today but for the foolish and futile actions of the Israeli government.

In 2007, The Almagor Terrorist Victims Association published a report on the results of Israel's release of imprisoned terrorists in prisoner exchanges. At least 30 recent terror attacks were perpetrated by terrorists who were released from Israeli jails. Those 30 attacks perpetrated by those terrorists freed in those prisoner exchanges killed no fewer than 177 innocent citizens, mostly Israeli Jews. These are their faces:

Look at them, each and every one of the people pictured were brutally murdered by palestinian terrorists after those terrorists were released by the Israeli government from Israeli prisons and for what? For stupid, ineffective and meaningless gestures of goodwill or one-sided negotiations with terrorists who want only to kill Jews.

The terrorists will continue to kill Jews no matter what we do and this exchange will surely encourage more kidnappings of more Israeli soldiers. But then, it's true that there would likely be more kidnappings anyway.

I look at those faces, and I want to cry. I watched Gilad on that video, and I want to cry.

But the bottom line, the final fact, the final truth of the matter, this release of the prisoners got Israel only the tape and not the man. Hamas will never, ever release Gilad Shalit and even now they are planning and plotting and dreaming and hoping for the next kidnapping of the next Israeli soldier. That is what each and every prisoner release has gotten for Israel, the promise of more kidnappings, more videos and more threats to Gilad's health and well being.

I've said it before and I will say it again, and again, and again.

There can only be one solution.

First, Israel must immediate institute the death penalty for terrorist acts, and they must make it retroactive to all those who have been convicted of terrorism. Then, they must schedule executions to commence, taking the list of prisoners the palestinians want released the most, and put them at the top of the execution list.

Then, offer as a goodwill gesture for peace to hold executions in abeyance, provided Gilad Shalit is immediately released, alive and well, as he was in the video. If Hamas is not agreeable, or, if something should happen to Gilad along the way, well, then Israel will have no choice but to commence immediate implementation of the death penalty, until Gilad is returned alive and well, or Israel runs out of prisoners.

That way, the end result is a good one, either way.

What is the worst that could happen? Will Israel be condemned by the international community for executing murdering terrorists? Oh. Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt...

From the arrest affidavit:

A man was pumping gas into the vehicle, and a drug-sniffing dog smelled narcotics in the vehicle and the area where the man, identified as Warren Leonard Wiley, stood. A search of Wiley turned up a crumpled dollar bill with cocaine in it.

"Wiley was then escorted to the men's room for a more detailed search," the affidavit states. "While being escorted, Wiley dropped his shorts in the middle of the store stating, 'I don't have nothing.' "

Wiley's backside appeared "clenched tight" as if he was hiding something. While walking, his backside relaxed and a clear bag with about 22 grams of cocaine in it "shot out" onto the store's floor.

"Wiley then kicked back with his foot trying to kick the bag back stating again, 'I don't have nothing,' " the affidavit states.

Investigators said they found a .38 caliber revolver loaded with five cartridges in his car's engine compartment that was reported stolen in November 2007.

Sheriff's investigators arrested Wiley, listed as an unemployed Palm Coast resident, on charges including possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of cocaine with intent to sell, possession of cocaine, carrying a concealed firearm, escape, criminal mischief, resisting arrest without violence, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of stolen firearm.

The comments are hilarious, as can be expected from sun-sentinel readers. Cracky-man. Oh my!

Thanks Shawn. That was teh funny!

bravo! I found it at the oh-so-wonderful Elder of Zion!

September 1st was my five year blogiversary.

This silly littlle blog has been here five years. Of course, it seems like much longer, sometimes it feels like I've been doing it forever. That's probably because I put my first web page up on the internet way back in 2002 and it eventually evolved into the blog in 2004. But since that first page went up, there have been millions of visitors here at lindasog.com. So many of you found me somehow, and you keep coming back. I don't know who you are, but I am grateful to every one of you.

When I started out, I never dreamed I would do it for so long, or that I would ever win an award for it like the JIB award in the sidebar there. I am very proud of that JIB, and if I shut this place down today, I would still feel that I had been a success at blogging, that I had made a little difference somewhere. I believe I have had a few successes, as they are counted in the world of blogging. Hundreds of bloggers have linked hundreds of pages, I've been ridiculed and lauded. DU hates me, I've had a photoshop featured in one of Michelle Malkin's videos, I've been linked on the Corner, I've had several links on the pages of the New York Times. I've had an opinion piece on the Israeli Insider. I've never had an instalanche, but I'm a member of the Cotillion and nothing beats wearing a tiara.

Those are my public successes and I'm proud of them, but I'm more proud of my private successes. The amazing people that I have met through blogging, who have become my friends and a part of my life. I won't mention anyone, because I can't mention everyone, but you all know who you are and how very much I treasure having you in my life.

For the most part, I've kept my private life off these pages, with the one notable exception of the reoccurance of my brain tumor last year. It's been a hard year, but you've stuck with me and I'm forever grateful.

My most popular page still remains A History of Terrorism in Israel, it was part of the original website and was here long before the blog, it has been viewed over a million times on its own, and it's linked all over the internet. Portions of it have been published, with my permission, in a book about Israel. Funny thing that was, when I gave my permission, I thought it would be a few excerpts, and it turned out that my writings ended up to be fully half of the content of the book. I should have gotten authorship credit, and a cut of the proceeds (not that it was a bestseller), but well, live and learn.

In the beginning of the blog, like most new bloggers, I was obsessed with my blog stats. I checked them every day, sometimes several times a day, to see who was looking, who was linking, where people were coming from and where they were going when they left. After five years, it no longer seems so important, and I rarely look anymore.

But, I decided to take a peek at my stats, and I saw a very strange hit, from a teacherweb.com site, and I thought, teacherweb? A teacher is linking to my website? How strange, I wonder what the link is. I thought it might be one of my military pages, maybe my Ernie Pyle page or Dr. Suess MRE page or something like that, but no. It was my Terrorism In Israel page. So I went and I looked at this teacher's website and I was amazed. This high school teacher, Mr. Tim Latham, from Kansas, had one of the most patriotic websites I had ever seen, and he was linking to my Terrorism in Israel page, along with other anti-Islamic terror pages, like The Religion of Peace.com. I was impressed! What a brave man!

So, I decided I would write him a little note, and thank him, and let him know how I felt. I saw he had a guest book, and I clicked on it, thinking, if it was all students, I wouldn't intrude. But wow, there were over 600 comments in that guestbook, not bad for a high school teacher in Kansas. So I go right to the bottom to see what the latest is and what do I see? Comments that say: "glad you were reinstated" and "saw you on fox news" and I thought WTF???

So off to Bing I went. And what do I find? Turns out Mr. Latham was targeted for dismissal by the liberal school board because his website was too patriotic, and some of his links were too controversial. Fox News covered the story, as one of his students lied about him comparing 0bama to Hitler and later recanted. It was really all about the fact that he was a conservative and all about his website. Never mind that the school principal leading the attack was a drunk picked up for DUI, he was a conservative with a patriotic website. Links that were considered contoversial, links to Arlington and yes, one of those controversial links happened to be the link to my website, my webpage, History of Terrorism in Israel.

Of course, I couldn't be sure of that right away, for all I knew, Mr. Latham could have added the link to my site after the controversy, after the fight to keep his job had been won. But Mr. Latham was kind enough to answer my email and he told me that the link to my site was one that he was forced to remove last year because it was too "biased," along with many more links, because his webpage was "too patriotic," but now that he has won his position back (at least for now) it is back up, along with many others. He told me he is still rebuilding his webpage and that it is about 80-85% of what it was before. He also told me he has referenced my page in his classes many times.

When I first put that page up on the internet, I never expected such a thing would happen, that it would be involved in a controversy like that, and that I would never know until it was over and done with. I wish someone would have thought to call the author of that "biased" webpage. I would have been more than happy to give them an earful about why children need to learn about the facts and information on my webpage. Oh well.

I can tell you that keeping that webpage current and updated is a heartbreaking undertaking. I hear from families and friends of victims, and I get inquiries often, asking me for additional information regarding victims. A grandmother wrote me once, because many years ago she had been told a kinder, gentler story about the death of her grandchild and found the truth on my page. I felt terribly guilty about that although she seemed to handle the truth with dignity and grace and without malice toward those who tried to spare her the added grief.

This fifth year has been the hardest year blogging, and the hardest year for me on the internet. I used to make it a point to get something up here each and every day, but this year, I've fallen far short of that goal. There were many things I wanted to post about, talk about, write about, but my head hurt, or my vision was blurry, or I found that I was writing things that were missing words a little too much and the doctors can't seem to fix that yet. Between the headaches from the tumor and these personal challenges, there were many times when I came very close to just shutting the blog down.

There are so many good people who have given it up, and I miss them so much. Sir Banagor most especially, Clarity & Resolve for sure, and of course, the wonderful Kim DuToit (although rumor has it that Kim will be doing blog talk radio starting this weekend).

I'm not sure what I'll do going into the future but for now, the blog will stay up, the pages will stay up. They'll stay up for Mr. Latham's students, and for those of you who are reading these words right now. They'll stay up for those people reading any of the other pages on my site that have been there for however many years they have been there. They'll stay up for whoever stumbles on these words next week, next month, next year. They'll stay up because they seem to make a difference, in ways I never thought they would, or could.

I'll try to post more, to be here more, and to not be so concerned with whether I miss a word here or there.

Thank you, everyone, for supporting my efforts here, for reading my words and my thoughts, for commenting, arguing with me, agreeing with me, for coming back either way, for linking to me, writing me, for your kind support through my personal troubles this past year, for being there, for being you! I've met some truly amazing people, made true friends, and learned so much from so many.

Thank you for the last five years. I could not have done it without you.

He's right. It's already begun.