Afghanistan Story of B1 Bomber

THIS SHOULD WARM EVERY JET JOCKEY'S HEART.
A story from a U.S. Soldier somewhere in Afghanistan:

"So we are up in the mountains at about 0100 hrs looking for a bad guy that we thought was in the area. There are ten of us, pitch black, crystal clear night, about 25 degrees. We know there are bad guys in the area; a few shots have been fired but no big deal. We decide that we need air cover and the only thing in the area is a solo B-1 bomber. He flies around at about 20,000 feet and tells us there is nothing in the area. He then asks if we would like a low level show of
force.

Stupid question. Of course we tell him yes. The controller who is attached to the team then is heard talking to the pilot. Pilot asks if we want it subsonic or supersonic.

Very stupid question. Pilot advises he is twenty miles out and stand by. The controller gets us all sitting down in a line and points out the proper location. You have to picture this. Pitch black, ten killers sitting down, dead quiet and overlooking this about 30 mile long valley. All of a sudden, way out (below our level) you see a set of four 200' white flames coming at us.
The controller says, "Ah-- guys-- you might want to plug your ears".
Faster than you can think a B-1, supersonic, 1000' over our heads, blasts the sound barrier and it feels like God just hit you in the head with a hammer". He then stands it straight up with 4 white trails of flame coming out and disappears."
Cost of gas for that.............. Probably $50,000.
Hearing damage.................. For certain.
Bunch of Taliban thinking twice about shooting at
us..................... Priceless
Have a nice day!

Pledge to the flag petition

This is a LAZY democracy. Everybody wants to think adding their name to an email petition list will do some good. Sorry. Most of these email lists are designed primarily to scoop up as many email addresses as possible to confirm addresses for future spam mail. My suggestion: If you care about REinstatinghte Pledge to the flag in public schools (I DO!) Write an individual letter to your congressman and senators. Write a letter to the editor and send a copy when printed to your congressman. The lazy way ... goes nowhere in my opinion.

WHY is it sensible to have the pledge to the flag?
.......From day one, America has been a nation of immigrants. Even the native Americans were assimilated into the national purpose and culture of America. Even though cultural diversity is a good thing - SO is National Identity and the specific culture of tolerance that goes with our specific national identity. One of the few national identifiers left is the Pledge. Thus - from its short message - ingrained in our thoughts, we understand we can rise above personal differences to be a part of something bigger - something that has a high ideal whether it is always perfectly achieved or not. The pledge is a glue that celebrates our "oneness" while also
appreciating our individuality. Not many nations have been able to achieve this bond among its people unless they are totally homogeonous. The USA IS NOT homogeonous. We need the reminder that we are indeed "one nation", "indivisible" and that we are also endowed with many individual personal "liberties".
.............................................
TO REINSTATE PLEDGE TO THE FLAG IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Agree or Delete: Instructions to sign are at the bottom.
PETITION FOR PRES. BUSH
PETITION TO REINSTATE PLEDGE TO THE FLAG IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS:
1. Frankie Dorsett
2. Marilyn Hampton
3
and me.. at about 1850...
If you don't forward the petition and just stop it, we will lose all these names. If you do not want to sign it, please forward it to everyone you know. Thank you!!! To add your name, click on "forward". You will be able to add your name at the bottom of the list and then forward it to your friends. THE 2,000TH PERSON SEND IT ON TO THE FOLLOWING E-MAIL ADDRESS: President@WhiteHouse.gov

The Battle of The Java Sea

Val Poss - the President of the USS Houston Association asked me to respond to the letters of Johan VanLeer - who wants to get the Battle of The Java Sea (Feb 28, 1942) recognized with a TV special of some kind. His latest rebuff came from Michael Weiss who does Ollie North's War Stories. He's also been put off by The History Channel and A&E. I could have told him because I went through this a few years ago. Here is my response to Mr. VanLeer after reading his letters and rejections: I have read the letters... fox and etc. Ollie North had the same problem ...

All these PAMPERED broadcast types (sorry, Ollie has become one too) will NOT work without pristine footage from pristine cameras to do a story. Thus, the Alamo will never be covered by any WAR story TV makers because of no available footage (Seen any Alamo documentaries lately with contemporary footage?). Same with Java Sea .. Hey - You get your fleet sunk and lose all the original footage and nobody is going to remember you ... Why didn't you think to save the film from Winslow's 16mm film camera before you abandoned ship and went on to build the Bridge on The River Kwai? I have asked Otto Schwarz - (then a 17 year old sailor) who is now blind and in a VA nursing home ... "WHAT were you THINKING?" I talked to Windy Winslow - He had great footage of the battles up to Java Sea. Windy could shoot film because he had no battle station except to fly as a scout. The planes were destroyed when the concussion of the ship's 8" guns ripped the fabric off the wings as they hurried into action - unable to slow down to launch the airplane. He had the film in his stateroom safe ready to be developed, but unfortunately the Japanese had other plans and the film went down with the ship! Good grief! Ollie, A&E and The History Channel - There must have been plenty of opportunities to save that film and Otto (leaving the magazine of burning turret 2) and Windy, dodging a hail of bullets on the deck, never even TRIED!

A&E and History Channel gave me the same unblinking - unseeing response some years ago to Java Sea and The Houston Story... But, an added problem of this battle is that it was a multi-national force. The major story lines however -- always seem to cover "a ship" or "the US Fleet" or "the Dutch fleet" ... The magnitude of the total fleet loss - TOTAL fleet confrontation - is lost on people who are historical skimmers. EXCEPT.... me ... there is ME...
I believe in the media of EVERYMAN .. the WEB. SCREW Cable and the Networks...

I will be placing Java Sea and Houston films on DVD soon. (I admit to one big mistake - the original edits were never done to fit TV time constraints - and that has held them back somewhat). I will provide a copy to J Valerius/ Johan VanLeer if he'll make every effort to get these onto PUBLIC ACCESS TV (not same as Public TV... they have more flexibility but smaller market share per station .. usually only a city or a county where a cable service is employed .. and ... they accept DVD). Some of these PUBLIC Access stations also are able to move video over a network to something like a "user group" of Public Access / Educational Access stations..
One more thing...
I will also place the films on www.video.google.com for easy download to any computer. Then it is a matter of getting the word out. There will be a small fee to download this way, but google has the muscle to make the space for long format movies in this way. It looks like www.hungryflix.com is doing much the same thing and I will explore that too.
Those are my plans for early 2006 (sorry I said this in 2004 and 2005 too but I think I really mean it now). SCREW the networks. Hero's don't need actual film footage to be recognized.
Vic
www.me3tv.com www.usshouston.org www.ussocallahan.org
re: ca30ng@aol.com and jvalerius@verizon.net

Gingrich on Scandal

This LINK is a report on Gingrich's speech on the current Lobbyist Scandal in Congress. It is worth reading. There is no question the scandal stinks. The question is ... how will both parties respond to the situation and will they do so in a way to protect their usual cash cows?
The link came to me by the way of John Platt.

1905 Back Then

From an Email on 1905 I found this link to save you sending the email itself.
TURN BACK THE CLOCK. The email ... oddly for a piece about 1905, has a great picture of an automobile that is about 20 years later than 1905. I think it is a Model A Ford. Be that as it may, the information seems also rehashed from 2000, 01,02,03 and 04. But, inflation was pretty low then and I doubt the numbers change a lot from one year to another back then. Might want to check out www.snopes.com and www.urbanlegends.com to see if they have any commentary on this particular email. Still, it is fun to read. I remember getting this about 4 or 5 years ago and the car was animated with the snow falling and the paint job glistening. Same picture though. An analysis of this email is here at RELIABLE NEWS.

Concentration Test for Men over 18

Men, do you have trouble concentrating sometimes, use this simple test to check your concentration level....just click the link ! This one is a bit RISQUE. WARNING!!
My cousin sent this. He is a Baptist - (or maybe he is a Methodist). That would make more sense. But he is over the age of 18 - (way over) so there.

THANKS for the EMAILS

My heartfelt appreciation goes out to all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me "forwards" over the past 12 months. I want to wish each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas and a very prosperous New Year. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy.

Extra thanks to whoever sent me the one about rat shit in the glue on envelopes, because I now have to go get a wet towel every time I need to seal an envelope. Also, I scrub the top of every can I open for the same reason. Because of your concern:
I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains and may eat my guts out as well.
I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these products are made by atheists bastards who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.
I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave, because it causes cancer. I no longer check the coin return on pay phones, because I could be pricked with a needle infected with AIDS.
I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants, even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.
I no longer go to shopping malls, because someone might drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.
I no longer receive packages from, nor send packages by UPS or FedEx since they are actually, Al Qaeda in disguise.
I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.
I no longer eat KFC, because their "chickens" are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.
I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my free replacement pair from Nike.
I no longer have to buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.
I no longer worry about my soul, because at last count, I have 363,214 angels looking out for me in addition to all of you dear friends. Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an e-mail to seven hundred of my friends and make a wish within five seconds.
I no longer have any savings, because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time)..
I no longer have any money at all - but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program. Yes, I want to thank you so much for looking out for me that I will
now return the favor!
If you don't send this damn e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 7 minutes, a large flock of pigeons with a wicked case of diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM (EDT) this afternoon and shit all over you. I know this will occur, because it actually happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second husband's third cousin's beautician.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

From Seaborn in Bonifay, Florida.

Don Albert - A self procaimed genius ... and, by the way, homeless. One of the oddest characters ever interviewed by ME3TV. He roamed the world living off generosity and his disability payments (I think of a mental nature) . For a time, we kept an early form of a blog on his reports from around the country and the world. His observations on physics and biology and more are documented in a VHS video that will soon be a DVD. For now - his website preserves some of the information about him and this video gives you and idea of his far out thinking. We called him "The Homeless Genius". Check HERE to find out the latest about him. In the photo to the right, Don is explaining something about the "missing number" which he theorizes is the number "blank".

History Sussex County NJ

This history of NW New Jersey was produced by Debra Natyzak of Johnsonburg only few years ago. It is now available on DVD. You can buy it online here at Customflix. It is also available at wholesale prices in bulk from Buzz Creek (for retail or for fund raisers). This is an informative preview. You might learn something. Enjoy! And, please - pass this link along to newcomers and others who might appreciate knowing more about the history of this area! Thanks.

Lighthouse Mission - KY 2005

The First Presbyterian Church of Sparta undertook a mission to Pineville, KY to help the Lighthouse Mission in its effort there. Pineville is one of those small American towns where the last 50 years of progress has forced large changes in opportunities and career options - usually not for the better. The coal mining industry made it a boom town at one time. Pineville is a thriving community today - but only for a fraction of the area population. A large portion of BellCounty's economy has yet to adapt to, or find a replacement for the old coal economy. Some coal mining still exists, but it is not a profitable as the "big" operations out West. The church added to its mission a task to refurbish an old house to be used for a "halfway-house". Things are improving for Pineville. Retiree's are moving back to where they grew up. They bring their own needs and boost the economy in ways far different from the old days. Sparta and Pineville Participants will get an extended DVD of this mission trip. The week long mission was a valuable experience for those who participated. (The rough draft of this video is HERE on this blog).

Life Magazine February 1, 1954 From RG

Korea prisoners released from prison :French teach Vietnamese soldiers to fightearly memories and the start of interest Life Magazine February 1, 1954 : Color Cover - Canvas pants in tropical wardrobe. Korea prisoners released from prison by Joe Scherschel and Jun Miki. Full page color Old Forester ad - art by Nulsen. French teach Vietnamese soldiers to fight.
I was 7 and half years old in the middle of the second grade Feb. 1954.
I watch some of soldier-guys on TV coming back ,but that could of been Spring /Summer before in 1953 on TV when I was still six before starting the Second Grade or just ending the First Grade. I remember asking my Dad ," why were the guys from WW2 just coming back now " ,because I knew my dad was in WW2 and he came back and got married,so it had been 7 years. He told me that there had been another War in Korea since then and that it was over and I had two Uncles who were in it ( years later I learned that that was Uncle Nap of Iwo fame who had decided to join Army this time and whose assignment of all possible duties was in supporting the Korean Marines and Uncle Omer who stayed in the Army after fighting in the Philippines in WW2 and was a paratrooper in Korean Conflict) .
I remember soon after asking my Mother , "Who were we fighting in that War " and she said "The Reds"; so, I then asked "Redskins?". "No" she reply "The Communist" .Then I remember asking, "Are the Communist Yellow like the Japs or White like the Germans?.She then said "They come in all colors". I then said "that would make it hard to figure out who the bad guys
are" and she quickly followed up with " that is right". So this started my not so well grounded history of the Korean War. Since my Mother just had her 4th child reporting in for duty in May
1952 and with me the oldest with a birth date of Sept. 1946 ; maybe she was just a little distracted at the time!?!
Rob Gagnon
March 1, 1954 LIFE MAGAZINE
must be Paris Island Problem Drownings?Rob Gagnon

BUMPER STICKERS from RG

I Refuse To Have A Battle Of Wits With An Unarmed Person.
BUMPER STICKERS

"IF YOU CAN'T FEED EM, DON'T BREED EM!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Constipated People Don't Give A Crap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If You Can Read This, I've Lost My Trailer.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Horn Broken... Watch For Finger.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Earth Is Full - Go Home.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Have The Body Of A God - Buddha.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So Many Pedestrians - So Little Time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If We Quit Voting, Will They All Go Away?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eat Right, Exercise, Die Anyway.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Illiterate? Write For Help.
~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Honk If Anything Falls Off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cover Me, I'm Changing Lanes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He Who Hesitates Not Only Is Lost,
But is Miles From The Next Exit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
I Refuse To Have A Battle Of Wits With An Unarmed
Person.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You! Out Of The Gene Pool - Now!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Do Whatever My Rice Krispies Tell Me To.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fight Crime: Shoot Back!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
(Seen Upside Down On A Jeep)
If You Can Read This, Please Flip Me Back Over...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stop Lights Timed For 35 mph
Also Are Timed For 70 mph
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guys: No Shirt, No Service
Gals: No Shirt, No Charge
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ax Me About Ebonics.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Body By Nautilus; Brain By Mattel
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Boldly Going Nowhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caution - Driver Legally Blonde.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heart Attacks: God's Revenge
For Eating His Animal Friends
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How Many Roads Must A Man Travel Down Before He
Admits He is Lost?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GROW YOUR OWN DOPE -- PLANT A MAN.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All Men Are Animals; Some Just Make Better Pets.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And Lastly:
"POLITICIANS & DIAPERS BOTH NEED TO BE CHANGED, AND FOR THE SAME REASON

Today's Video 4th ed. - by Utz

Video Expert Website
Dr. Utz has his new book out. This site has a lot of great links and
information for video producers.

Zapruder Film

This came from Ifilm.com. It is a place where independent filmakers can post films and earn money from viewings. This particular film is a "Stabilized" version of the Zapruder original. Nothing new - it just has the 'shake' of the camera removed somewhat.

Animated Plants - Happy New Year

I found this video on video.google. I am impressed with the videography, but the combination with animation makes these flora and fauna pictures very interesting. PLANT TECHNO. Enjoy.

Family Christmas Card

We offer our very best wishes for you and yours this holiday season. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. Our famly "Christmas Letter" will be posted at the CHUMUCKLA Blog, should you wish to read it.
Alex is 14 now and enjoys playing LaCrosse. Karen enjoys her challenging work with ISI and Vic has a number of media projects underway. This "video blog" is one of them. Our families in Hurricane Alley are relatively dried out and in reasonable repair now (Ivan and Dennis). We wish there was more time to visit our families "down home" as parents and other family face the the affects of age. Look out! Here comes 2006!

First Snow - Video Poetry

M.J. Trenkler is a poet who enjoys putting words to pretty pictures. In the Snowetry series, she offers her voice to the poems that are illustrated by video from ME3TV and Buzz Creek. We formed a joint venture and put these SNOWETRY videos on the web at LULU. These are higher resolution WMV files you can download and use over and over. You can see A WINTER WONDERLAND HERE. You can send these videos to anyone by email using the envelope for this blog below ... or to send it without the blog, use THIS LINK. Buzz Creek markets an entire hour of DVD scenery like this for the "relaxation market". see a preview HERE.

Joy or Whatever

Merry Chri.......oh wait.......Happy Holi......... durn it can't say that either........

I WANTED TO SEND YOU A CHRISTMAS CARD BUT MY
ATTORNEY ADVISED ME TO SEND THE FOLLOWING...

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral, celebration of some sort of holiday on or about the winter solstice, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all, and a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "America" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or sexual orientation of the wishee.

If you choose, please spread the joy, or other emotion of your choice.
Uncle Vic

Farmers Opry - Woman Enough

Two very dear little girls with great big talent are featured with a guest Marine at the Farmer's Opry in this rendition of "You Are Not Woman Enough To Take My Man". The Marine was in flight training at Pensacola NAS. Many years ago, my dad was a Jet Mechanic there and worked with VT-4, the same hangar with the Blue Angels. I used to go to work with my dad sometimes and I once had my shoes shined by the man who shined the shoes for the Blue Angels. I can't imagine a greater honor. Maybe meet a real Blue Angel sometime? Nah. That'd be impossible. Dad used to be one of the Opry's biggest fans. Our farm is right in front of it. He's gone now, but his photo is on the wall at the opry ... and he is still grinning at the great performances they have there. The Marine (he is from Kentucky) told me most of the flight students and sailors at NAS are not 'tuned into' good country music and are missing something special when they miss the "Opry". I miss it a lot too. I am in NJ. Catch some more Farmers Opry videos at DAILYMOTION.

EMAIL Wars - the FOG

Below is a series of links from an old Marine who does a lot of research on various topics on the web. It appears he finally got a belly full of rampant political emails and decided to check them out on Snopes.com . Snopes and UrbanLegends are great places to check out the email you get before you pass it along. The internet is a notorious battleground for ideology, but seldom is ideology argued. It is much easier to simply create interesting and damaging stories about the people who represent the wrong ideology.

Check those stories you get in your email ... try to avoid getting suckered. Sometimes they are true, but rarely. Base your political decisions more on ideology than on email spam. Plus.. for good measure, vote how I do. It will save a lot of problems with me trying to explain all the reasons. Trust me. I am seldom wrong. So .. without further comment .. I offer this collection of searches, many provided by Rob Gagnon.
FOSTER . ATTA . PRESIDENTIAL IQ . BASIC TRAINING STRESS CARDS . VIEQUES ISLAND. IWO JIMA MEMORIAL . RUSH LIMBAUGH DRAFT STATUS . MARINES SALUTE PRESIDENT . CLINTON STORIES - MANY . CLINTON-LANDLORD to SecretService .
BILL AND HILLARY . NEW ORLEANS . PHANTOM POLICE FORCE
. Enjoy! And search for more topics as they come in to your email box!
Vic ME3TV .
BATTLE OF THE BULGE CHRISTMAS MEMORIES DVD .
Snowfall Serenade - Relaxation DVD .
More video features from Vic on "Dailymotion" By the WAY! Scam email that is PHISHING for your credit card or other sensitive data is on the rise especially this season. DO NOT RESPOND to emails with ANY suspicious offers -- like "Get your $500 HOME DEPOT shopping card - just waiting for your response to this email". Home Depot, Sears, Target, Walmart, Ebay, Pay Pal and all major businesses are being used by scam artists to PHISH out your information. Usually, but not always, the easy tell-tale sign is the link does not go back to the said company.

Val is Upset with Media Bias

Read the "COMMENT" link below this post to see what Val wrote and sent to the various media today. She is normally a very mild mannered lady. She runs the USS Houston Survivors Organization and the 131st Field Artilary BN associations. The men themselves are just too old now. The photo is Alex, with Max and Val - in Otto's living room. The latest on Otto is that he will be going into the VA hospital for the duration. (See story below).

The President at Gettysburg

Gettysburg and the President
Originally uploaded by me3tv

Dr. Brad Gottfried, a college president, is a scholar of the Battle of Gettysburg. He has also written several books on the subject. Here, the new online college newspaper presents this little known aspect of the president. "The College Hll" will have this video linked directly inside its pages. (ERRATA: Note the word "scholarly" mispelled will be corrected prior to publication). New Media, such as online newspapers, and digital video media are converging in cyberspace. Newspapers are becoming TV channels and TV programs are becoming outlets for extended information from online newspapers. Each approach to information offers something unique in how we percieve the great mass of information we receive on a daily basis.

The Imperfect Holiday Song

The Imperfect Holiday Song
Originally uploaded by me3tv

Our nieces take somewhat control of an old holiday favorite. Watch out for the special endingby Naomi. L-R: MaryBeth, Anna and Naomi.They were visiting us in NJ over the holidays in 2004. Ivan was over. The flood after Ivan created some wet roads and Naomi was in a serious car accident - slammed by a car from the side - which nearly tore her heart out. Heart surgury and 6 weeks later, here she is with a classic ending to an old holiday favorite! I have some more impromptu songs from this family trio. I hope to add them soon. Did you get to see Pastor Phil and his NYC Taxi feature video? Look Here!

Online Student makes Mission Trip

HFLO "Mission Of Hope" 2005
Originally uploaded by hopeforlife

A presentation of "Hope For Life Outreach" sharing the experience of the Gulf Coast Relief trip (Hurricane Katrina) "Mission Of Hope". Nov. 16th-28th, 2005. EMAIL
Hope Lynch was one of my online students in a journalism course at SCCC earlier this year. She and her family made this trip to my home area of the GulfCoast to lend a hand in the repairs from the hurricane. They met a group from Enterprise, Alabama and then travelled on down to D'Iberville, MS, where they put their talents to work. I am impressed!

USS Houston Legend

Alex and I dropped in on Trudy and Otto Schwarz at the end of November.
I told Otto " You look like you been rode hard and put away wet!"
.............It's been rugged. The illness, old age and being blind. He knows he is in a world of hurt. There is not much denying it.
Yet he keeps a very powerful presence regardless. He is a joy to visit with. Always something to share in news or happenings.
His son, John, made up a nice presentation box with his photo, medals and a photo of USS Houston. It is awesome. I had him go over what each one was for after I described it to him. It was a nice little history lesson for Alex. I expressed amazement and pride in the "good conduct" medal that Otto won. Otto was, from his own admission, quite a difficult ... or at least ... sassy kind of a kid in a sailor suit.
Alex was off from school today because he had a stomach ache (heard that before?) from some Chinese food he ate last night. He was OK by the time we dropped grandma off at the airport in Newark and was really up for the visit with Otto and Trudy.
Well, it was a great visit as usual. Such amazing folks (both of them). Otto is rightfully quite proud of what the Next Generation is doing. The news from the "Blue Bonnet" is always interesting, though the toll of time brings more sad notes with every issue. I was most impressed to read that Capt. Carter Conlin is now National CDR for The Naval Order of the United States! That is very good news! Not only is he a good guy, he is a great photographer! I think I can now make some points with my NYC NOUS Commandry (Hey guys! I know the National Commander!). I make the meetings nearly every month in NYC since another local fellow out here in the wilds of NJ became involved (Don Schuld is the Recorder/Secretary for the NYC Commandry). Recently we attended the Samuel Eliot Morison Award Dinner with our wives and had a great time. The award this year went to Michael G. Walling for "The Bloodstained Sea". A great story: Battle of the Atlantic. I was impressed that he talked about the "FBI" (Forgotton Bastards of Iceland). My Dad was a member, having flown with a PBY squadron (VP-84) out of Reykjavik in 1942 . Wallings book centers on the Coast Guard's roll in this battle. I can hardly wait for Hornfischer's next book about the Houston! Otto showed me Hornfischer's original manuscript today. What can I say? If you've read "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" you know what a great job he is doing with the USS Houston story.
I told Otto, "I still have a plan to get the "DEATH BECOMES THE GHOST" video into DVD soon". Once that is done, it will be much easier to distribute to many Educational and Public Access Stations. The better ones can even share programs online now .. by broadband internet. It is impressive how films are distributed now. (SEE COMMENT LINK BELOW FOR MORE NOTES ON OTTO)
www.me3tv.com www.ussocallahan.org www.usshouston.org www.chumuckla.blogspot.com