As a former legislator, and current Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry, I have had the honor to serve our state in both good times and bad. As state officials, we have a fundamental duty to govern. We are charged with the health, safety, education and protection of our citizens as well as the orderly facilitation of commerce.

Throughout the debate, compelling arguments have been made for budget stabilization, for and against use of one time monies, use of the rainy day fund, use of fund balances, etc. Each of us, from legislators to state wide officials represent distinct constituencies and have differing challenges and needs.

The people do not send us here to blindly agree, but rather to vigorously debate and challenge the issues and to find the most feasible solution agreed upon by the majority, without harming, ignoring, or violating the rights of the minority.

Once passed, the measure becomes the collective consciousness of the body until it is revisited in a later session.

The House and Senate are designed to be a reflection of the citizen populace, and are specifically charged with putting into place the parameters by which the executive and judicial branches are to govern.

Bills and resolutions set the long-term course of the state whereas the budget is implemented to express the people’s will in the immediate future.

As statewide officials, we are charged with management of our respective agencies within the boundaries of the constitution as ratified by the people and the parameters of law as passed by the legislature.

Each statewide official is further charged with specific duties and responsibilities to be carried out according to state and federal law. When viewed from the Capitol, the swinging of the pendulum of the balance of power often seems to be personal, emotional, and sometimes erratic in nature.

A democracy, necessary for the protection of a free republic, is imperfect in nature, but remains the best system of government mankind has ever known. We must respect each public servant’s opinion, challenge each initiative, and accept the resolved will of the body until such time as we convene again. We must further lead by example and exemplify the highest degree of personal ethics and integrity. We cannot expect society to rise above the fray if we do not set the standard.

It is incumbent on us to bring honor to the institution of government, to encourage others to engage, to stand resolute in our beliefs, and to serve our country until we are relieved of this responsibility by the next generation. Anything less is unacceptable.

Thank you for the honor and privilege of being allowed to serve the people of Louisiana. I have faith in our system and truly believe we are moving in the right direction.

Mike Strain D.V.M.
Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry

But in case it hasn’t hit home exactly what’s going on with this guy, two of those “enemies” appeared on Glenn Beck’s show to discuss their stories.

First, Patrick Frey, who blogs as Patterico, to tell us about having the police show up at your house on suspicion that you’ve killed your wife thanks to a prank phone call from a Kimberlin associate.

And then Aaron Walker, who blogs at Allergic2Bull, who lost his job amid a legal entanglement with Kimberlin…

It’s really mind-boggling that something like this could continue. But what you have to understand is that Brett Kimberlin has been protected by the Left because it was Brett Kimberlin who, from his prison cell, made the accusation in 1988 that he had sold marijuana to Dan Quayle. Ever since that time Brett Kimberlin has been a hero to the Left; that’s why he was given a stake of cash by rich Democrats to enter the non-profit game when he got out of prison and that’s why those same rich Democrats have made him relatively wealthy as he’s done his dirty work.

Ace Of Spades offers a very good plan of action in handling a situation such as this, though what’s needed is not legislation but law enforcement. Harrassing someone in response to their exercising their 4th Amendment rights, when it involves the kind of reckless endangerment Frey endured that night in Los Angeles or when it involves wholesale perjury in pursuit of someone’s personal ruin, as in Walker’s case, has to be illegal. And to enlist confederates across state lines to aid in such activity should constitute at least elements of a RICO case.

But given that we have a Justice Department more interested in covering up Fast and Furious and promoting voter fraud, maybe what’s needed is legislation – as Ace suggests…

So what can you do?

If you are interested in seeing justice and Free Speech prevail, please write or call your Congressman (or a nearby Congressman, or a Congressman known to be responsive to abuses by the left, if you think your own Congressman won’t act).

Write to him and ask him or her for the following tangible steps, or any other steps he might think prudent:

In addition to reading his record into the Congressional Record, to finally end this absurd contention that it is now apparently illegal to mention the facts laid out in US federal court records, there is tangible legislative action that can be requested:

* That a 501(c) “charity” must certify its principals and employees are not engaging in harassment, intimidation, or attempts to punish free speech, on pain of perjury if this is false.

Will Brett Kimberlin’s business partners and co-principals sign such a certification?

* That a 501(c) principal conducts his legal affairs through a licensed lawyer and not pro se (on his own behalf) unless he can demonstrate that he is indigent.

See, 99% of lawyers would not put their license at risk for frivolous crap like this. Kimberlin can because he has no law license to lose. He represents himself, as as is his right as a citizen… but then, he has no right to run a 501(c). I think a 501(c)’s principals can be slightly burdened to have their suits signed off by a real lawyer, who can face sanctions for false or vexatious litigation against Free Speech.

* That they urge the FBI and DoJ and IRS investigate this matter, as well as possibly-related crimes of intimidation of Free Speech, such as Patterico’s and Mike Stack’s SWATting.

Are those related? We don’t know. It would be nice to know, however.

* That the Government Oversight Committee (or whichever committee is proper) hold hearings on the possible abuse of 501(c) charities for uses against the public interest.

* That Congress stiffen penalties (or add them) such a punitive damages and possibly inductive relief against anyone attempting to use harassment and intimidation to suppress Free Speech. And that they add a law which permits a judge to rule that a litigant bringing vexatious lawsuits with the purpose of chilling free speech be henceforth required to post a large bond before suing, and to have his lawsuits signed off by a lawyer or judge before filing.

I am no expert in this area. Quite frankly, I don’t know what, specifically, can be done. These steps seem reasonable to me, and accomplishable; but perhaps they are unworkable.

Our Congressmen are, however, experts in these things (or have staffers who are experts).

We can at least ask them to put their expertise to use, searching for some resolution to this.

We should all remember that this is supposed to be a participatory democratic republic.

We have the right to petition our representatives with our concerns and our grievances.

We should exercise that right.

Our Congressmen, as we keep insisting, work for us. When their are outrages, abuses, and injustices, we should ask them to take an interest.

This is how laws are passed — by concerned citizens writing to their Congressmen and asking them for their aid.

Quality is at the core of BAEO’s mission. We don’t simply want more options for low-income and working-class Black families, we want better options—high-performing schools that offer our children a real shot at the American dream. And we’re not seduced by labels. “Private” or “parochial” is not a guarantee of excellence. While many private and parochial schools outperform their public counterparts, some do not. A savvy educational consumer can discern the difference.

We look for quality through clear and measurable indicators, asking such questions as the following:

• Do the school’s students meet or exceed the performance of their peers locally, nationally, and internationally?
• Are the school’s graduates prepared for college or for the 21st-century world of work?
• Is the teaching and learning process at the school responsive to the needs of each student?
• Does the school have the human, administrative, and financial resources to fulfill its mission?
• Does the school offer an inclusive, engaging, and reflective environment where interactions among all are respectful and supportive?

Earlier this week, the state education department announced the list of private and parochial schools approved to participate in the newly expanded voucher program. Parents have until June 29 to submit completed applications to the private school they would like their child to attend. BAEO will be working intensively to equip them with the tools they need to evaluate their options and make the best choice for their children.

The statewide expansion of the voucher program has opened a lot of doors for Louisiana families – at last. Like the old game show, however, choosing the right one can make all the difference. BAEO stands ready to eliminate the guesswork and ensure that our children get the quality education they deserve.

Eric Lewis is Louisiana State Director for the Black Alliance for Educational Options, an organization formed to increase access to high-quality educational options for Black children by actively supporting parental choice policies and programs that empower low-income and working-class Black families. Find out more at louisiana.baeo.org.

Why would “a well-regulated militia” be so necessary to the security of a free State the right of the PEOPLE to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed?

The Second Amendment was drafted and adopted because the citizenry was once oppressed by a government removed from them. The government believed the people should be placed secondary to the incumbent monarch’s needs and wishes. In addition to the philosophical distance between the ruler and the ruled, there was a physical distance delaying the protest to legislators.

This was challenged by the PEOPLE rising up in concert and removing themselves from the shackles applied to them regularly by that self-serving government. The Revolutionary War was fought to free the PEOPLE from the oppression of an unfeeling, uncaring and indifferent government believing itself omniscient and omnipotent and above those they claimed to rule over; not with.

Are we speaking about the Revolutionary War or are we speaking about today’s American government displacing itself from the direction of the PEOPLE through Executive Order, Presidential Diktat and Congressional greed for unlimited power over the PEOPLE?

You decide.

The Ostrich Rule states: the PEOPLE spending the most time with their heads stuck in the sand (rather than dealing with the erosion of their rights) will find themselves easily “picked off” by predators operating in the open to bring about the people’s subservience to a tyrannical government.

Representative Terry Landry (D-New Iberia) said (in a copyrighted story in The Advocate on 5-25-2012): “If I genuinely thought this bill would improve the quality of life or help protect our citizens, I’d vote for it. I believe this is about an NRA agenda” … “I’m not going to let any special interest group affect what I believe.”

Sir; I’ve admired your performance as a law enforcer and as an administrator. Why aren’t you acting in the “special” and specific interests of your group/constituency to assure they’re safe when law enforcers are distant and removed from the danger? Has your incumbency fallen to the level of accepting political sufficiency in place of the excellence in performance I know you once pursued while an enforcer?

We’re living in a society thinking itself removed from the realities of violence and personal assault. It’s believed it only happens to the “other guy”. People think they’re represented by legislators knowing what we, the PEOPLE, want and need pertaining to self-preservation.

Evidently that’s not true.

Governments, both state and federal, here and abroad have removed people from the right to protect themselves. The “Gun Grab” is the first volley fired so to speak. The government says it alone can get the job done, that people should hunker down behind barricades and wait for the cavalry to arrive. During this time they may witness their women and children being abused and molested. They may witness their goods and property removed from them by eminent domain and the machinations of corrupt people using corruptible governmental entities to accomplish their disreputable goals.

You’re a member of an elitist group that can by governmental edict, execute a power grab in the future. Our government can become uncaring of its citizenry just like any third world tyrant killing in the name of his god or for the greater glory of his ideology.

America and Louisiana watch daily the slow erosion of personal liberties by legislative, congressional and executive edicts leveled against the PEOPLE by those usurping power under the guise of representative government. Those making the laws, best benefit from those laws. Police try saving us from predators. Who protects us from predators inhabiting high public office?

That’s why we need tougher laws ensuring the rights of the common man to keep and bear arms.

Remember: “When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”   - Thomas Jefferson

Thanks for listening.

In case our readers aren’t aware of who this guy is, he’s extremely bad news. Kimberlin, a marijuana dealer, was convicted of planting eight bombs in six days in Speedway, Indiana, in 1978 and served 17 years in federal prison for that. Among the effects of the bombs (from Kimberlin v. White, 7 F.3d 527 (6^th Cir. 1993))…

In the worst incident, Kimberlin placed one of his bombs in a gym bag, and left it in a parking lot outside Speedway High School. CarlDeLong was leaving the high school football game with his wife when he attempted to pick up the bag and it exploded. The blast tore off his lower right leg and two fingers, and embedded bomb fragments in his wife’s leg. He was hospitalized for six weeks, during which he was forced to undergo nine operations to complete the amputation of his leg, reattach two fingers, repair damage to his inner ear, and remove bomb fragments from his stomach, chest, and arm. In February 1983, he committed suicide.

But Kimberlin has been out of jail for quite a while at this point. Not that he’s improved his behavior a whole lot, mind you. The Blaze details what he’s currently up to…

• Drug dealer, alleged child molester, and convicted perjurer, forger and Indiana Speedway Bomber (who is also believed to have played a role in the assassination of a grandmother), Brett Kimberlin spent 17 years in prison before his ultimate re-absorption into American society
• He started a non-profit dubbed “Justice Through Music (JTM)” that has, since at least 2005, been funded by George Soros’ Tides Foundation and Barbara Streisand among other leftists
• Along with his associate, Kimberlin also started an organization called “Velvet Revolution” that supports the Occupy movement 
• JTM’s goal is to use music to foster “social justice” and fight Republican “voter fraud” (like the kind George Bush allegedly used to “steal” the Florida election)
• Any blogger — conservative and liberal alike — who has written the truth about Kimberlin has come under vicious attack by either Kimberlin or his minions, suffering death threats (veiled and unveiled), multiple lawsuits, loss of jobs and worse
• He has filed over 100 frivolous lawsuits against anything that isn’t nailed down and somehow is being allowed to continue unchecked 
• This story has never been reported on in the mainstream media

Two of Kimberlin’s victims in particular have stories to tell, and both of them have blogged at Patterico.com, a Los Angeles-based conservative site we visit daily.

Patterico’s proprietor is Patrick Frey, an assistant district attorney in Los Angeles. Here’s his tale of dealing with Kimberlin…

At 12:35 a.m. on July 1, 2011, sheriff’s deputies pounded on my front door and rang my doorbell. They shouted for me to open the door and come out with my hands up.

When I opened the door, deputies pointed guns at me and ordered me to put my hands in the air. I had a cell phone in my hand. Fortunately, they did not mistake it for a gun.

They ordered me to turn around and put my hands behind my back. They handcuffed me. They shouted questions at me: IS THERE ANYONE ELSE IN THE HOUSE? and WHERE ARE THEY? and ARE THEY ALIVE?

I told them: Yes, my wife and my children are in the house. They’re upstairs in their bedrooms, sleeping. Of course they’re alive.

Deputies led me down the street to a patrol car parked about 2-3 houses away. At least one neighbor was watching out of her window as I was placed, handcuffed, in the back of the patrol car. I saw numerous patrol cars on my quiet street. There was a police helicopter flying overhead, shining a spotlight down on us as I walked towards the patrol car. Several neighbors later told us the helicopter woke them up. I saw a fire engine and an ambulance. A neighbor later told me they had a HazMat vehicle out on the street as well.

Meanwhile, police rushed into my home. They woke up my wife, led her downstairs and to the front porch, frisked her, and asked her where the children were. Then police ordered her to stand on the front porch with her hands against the wall while they entered my children’s bedrooms to make sure they were alive.

The call that sent deputies to my home was a hoax. Someone had pretended to be me. They called the police to say I had shot my wife. The sheriff’s deputies who arrived at my front door believed they were about to confront an armed man who had just shot his wife. I don’t blame the police for any of their actions. But I blame the person who made the call.

Because I could have been killed.

The weirdest part of the whole thing was that I halfway expected this might happen. Because I was not the first one it had happened to.

I think it’s about time you heard the call that sent police to my home.

Frey is convinced Kimberlin is responsible. Here’s why…

I met personally with the nationwide experts on swatting in December 2011: the FBI office in Dallas, Texas. They told me that swatting is an extreme form of harassment — and that swatters typically combine swatting with other forms of harassment, including: complaining to the victim’s workplace, defaming the victim online, “Googlebombing” the victim, publishing the victim’s address online, filing phony reports of criminal activity by the victim, and so forth.

All of these things have happened to me and other critics of Brett Kimberlin since July 2011. The harassment has been relentless and has occurred almost every day. It would literally take a book to catalogue it all. What you read in this post, incredibly, is only part of it.

Why target me? Well, I first wrote about Brett Kimberlin in October 2010, after getting a call from Andrew Breitbart. Andrew told me that his site was going to publish a post about a domestic terrorist named Brett Kimberlin. The story sounded interesting, and I published a post about Kimberlin shortly after the Breitbart post (penned by Mandy Nagy aka Liberty Chick) was published.

The next day, Kimberlin threatened to sue me. He said: “I have filed over a hundred lawsuits and another one will be no sweat for me. On the other hand, it will cost you a lot of time and money and for what.” I asked him to identify any specific falsehoods in my post and he did not. I published subsequent posts about topics like Kimberlin’s alleged murderous plots to escape from prison and exact revenge on his enemies and an examination of his non-profits’ tax returns. In February 2011, I talked about stalkerish intimidation tactics used by Kimberlin and his business partner, Brad Friedman of the “Brad Blog.”

It’s fair to say I have been one of Brett Kimberlin’s least favorite people in the world for a good long time now.

THE RELENTLESS AND VICIOUS HARASSMENT OF CRITICS OF BRETT KIMBERLIN, BY KIMBERLIN AND HIS SUPPORTERS

Beginning about the time I was swatted in July 2011, the harassment I had already experienced from Kimberlin was stepped up several notches — and other Kimberlin critics were also targeted. Several anonymous accounts identifying themselves as supporters of Kimberlin’s have participated in the harassment. These anonymous harassers go by names like @OccupyRebellion, @BreitbartUnmask, Gaped Crusader, and “Just Call Me Lefty.”

But much of the harassment Kimberlin critics have experienced has occurred at the hands of three named individuals: Ron Brynaert, Neal Rauhauser, and Brett Kimberlin.

And here’s Frey’s experience with the threesome…

Meet Ron Brynaert

Ron Brynaert is a so-called “journalist” who last August threatened me and my wife in the most despicable manner possible:

References to my wife come completely out of left field. She is a Democrat and cancels out my vote in every election. The only reason anyone would bring her up online is to intimidate and harass my family.

Brynaert explicitly connected his desire to do violence to me to his defense of Brett Kimberlin. The night he threatened me and my wife, Brynaert defended Kimberlin in a long series of tweets pointing out alleged holes in the case against Kimberlin. Brynaert said I was slandering Kimberlin:

One of Brynaert’s arguments was that certain of the witnesses against Kimberlin had been hypnotized. Apparently, it greatly upset Brynaert that I wasn’t responding to this argument, and he threatened violence as a result:

Behind Door #2…

Meet Neal Rauhauser

Neal Rauhauser is a creepy far-left activist. There is evidence that, using the handle “Iowa Boy,” Rauhauser has engaged in violent rhetoric, including calling for the public hanging of Republicans and the shooting of Dick Cheney. Rauhauser speaks regularly of the hacking group Anonymous and frequently suggests that his enemies are opening themselves up to Internet harassment.

Above: Writing at Daily Kos, Rauhauser suggests I should be harassed online.Three days after I was swatted, Rauhauser wrote a post titled “Patterico’s Penalization” that made bizarre accusations about me, and accused me of working with a “cyberstalker” named Seth Allen — a blogger who had criticized Brett Kimberlin so tenaciously that Kimberlin (frivolously) sued Allen for defamation. In that post, Rauhauser publicized a State Bar complaint that Kimberlin had filed against me, and asked readers to get a picture of my wife. Rauhauser also suggested that a private detective stake out Seth Allen’s apartment:

Here is Rauhauser further publicizing Brett Kimberlin’s State Bar complaint against me, and stating his belief that if enough such complaints accumulate, I will be fired:

And here is Rauhauser talking about how he wants to see me fired, prosecuted, and bankrupted — all for purely political reasons:

Rauhauser is a fan of abusive litigation for purposes of political harassment:

Patterico managed to get an audio clip of Brynaert to compare with that fake 9/11 call that led the police into his house “heavy” in the middle of the night…

You’d think arrests would be made, but of course nothing has happened despite Frey’s status as a prosecutor. The FBI, he says, simply won’t move on the case.

But Frey isn’t the only Patterico contributor who has felt the wrath of Kimberlin. Aaron Walker, who posted at the site under the pseudonym Aaron Worthing, found himself enmeshed in potentially an even worse situation – he and his wife both lost their jobs as a result of Kimberlin’s harrassment.

Walker, a Virginia lawyer, helped out a blogger named Seth Allen who was being sued by Kimberlin in Maryland with some legal advice. Kimberlin then went after Walker, filing motions to get his name and address into the public domain so that his associates could do to him what they did to Frey.

The story goes on from there – Kimberlin managed to get Walker into a courtroom, and as they were walking out of court he used an iPad to take Walker’s picture, upon which Walker took the iPad away from him. That’s when Kimberlin pressed charges against Walker for assault, claimed he’d been “decked” and lost sight in one eye, and a host of other patent falsehoods.

The case is still grinding through the judicial system.

Frey and Walker aren’t alone. Robert Stacy McCain, another prominent conservative blogger, has been the subject of similar harrassment for having written about the Kimberlin story – to such an extent that he and his family have now vacated their home and he’s gone underground.

We don’t think Lamar White, who has engaged in a politically-motivated spate of libel against us, is a threat rising to the level of a Brett Kimberlin. White doesn’t, to our knowledge, have a violent or criminal past.

But the internet is a wild frontier in which truly scary individuals can run amok and cause a great deal of damage. And we’ve had run-ins already with undesirables on the Left – the Iron Rail Book Collective mob made some feeble attempts at Kimberlin-style harrassment here, though they’re not quite as talented as he is.

As such, it’s important for folks in our position to make sure it’s known we’ll defend ourselves. If White isn’t a Kimberlin or an Iron Rail nut, good. He seems to share some of the same philosophy, though, so we’ll be watching him and we won’t tolerate much of his misbehavior toward us before taking steps to stop it.

Because it’s clear there is a movement afoot on the Left to silence those they disagree with online. And White’s attempts to paint The Hayride as a haven for bigotry, incompetent and ineffective though they may be, dovetail with that movement. We won’t be silenced, as Frey, Walker and McCain won’t be silenced.

Today is Blog About Brett Kimberlin Day, and if you can make it to that link on Lee Stranahan’s clogged site you’ll be able to see more about what’s going on in the blogosphere. The idea is for so many bloggers to tell Kimberlin’s story that he’s unable to harrass all of them.

For more, a few links to peruse…

• Ace Of Spades
• RedState
• American Thinker
• Matthew Vadum at Front Page Magazine
• Breitbart
• Michelle Malkin
• WizBang
• Dan Riehl

In a functional country with a functional government, the FBI and the Justice Department would be working to stop the kind of harrassment people like Kimberlin make a practice of (with the financial assistance of left-wing donors like George Soros and Barbara Streisand). But that’s not happening, so we’ve got to protect ourselves.

And we will.

I like to tell this one for Memorial Day and I think after you read it you’ll understand why.

It was 1994 and I was sitting in a waiting room at the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center in Shreveport —waiting.

I have spent many hours in hospital waiting rooms since, but at the time the experience was still a novelty.

Not an enjoyable one or an interesting one in any way—just new. After all, I had been a healthy person most of my life.

That was before the war, however, and before I was told that I was too sick to be in the Louisiana Army National Guard anymore.

I had enlisted in the Guard just out of high school and Saddam Hussein was thoughtful enough to wait until the day I graduated from basic training in Fort Sill, Oklahoma to invade Kuwait.

A few short months after learning to drive army trucks in Fort Dix, New Jersey, I deployed with the 1087th Transportation Company, then of Vidalia, to fight a war in a part of the world that a boy from Louisiana just can’t find much reason to fight over.

I mean, they’ve got crude oil and camels in the Middle East, but not a lot of good fishing holes.

This picture of one of our tents shows it’s a lot easier to take Louisiana boys out of Dixie than it is to take Dixie out of those boys.

I laugh when I look at this now and if it offends you, too damn bad.

Not long after returning from the war, I was diagnosed with insulin-dependent diabetes.

I later discovered that the anthrax the government had injected into soldiers to build up our immunity—in case Saddam was nasty enough to put it the Scuds he was lobbing at us–didn’t sit right with me.

Who would have thought pumping poison into our veins would be such a bother?

I was let go from the Guard and started visiting the VA hospital, which I learned meant getting stuck with more needles and getting asked questions about my feeling on things like the Kennedy assassination to make sure I wasn’t crazy.

In the early 90′s, post-war psychological exams hadn’t been updated to quiz soldiers born after the moon-landing.

At any rate, there wasn’t another man sitting in the hospital waiting room my age.

The closest were a scattering of Vietnam and Korean War veterans —several years my seniors. The rest were old enough to be my grandfather and, I discovered, even older.

Looking for a way to pass the time, I struck up a conversation with the old fellow sitting to my left.

He asked me if I had served in Vietnam. Since that was ended before I started kindergarten, I assured him it wasn’t possible.

“So, you served in World War II?,” I asked him, making an educated guess based on his advanced years.

“No, I was in the first one,” he replied, matter-of-factly.

At first, I thought I heard him wrong or, perhaps, he was slightly off whatever prescriptions he needed refilling. I pressed him further.

“What do you mean?,” I asked.

“I fought in the First Great War.”

“You mean World War I?,” I asked.

He did and the conversation became more interesting than I had expected.

As it turned out, he was 100 years-old, had fought on the Western Front and was at the VA hospital to replace a hearing aid.

Two veterans — one who had come of age during the fall of the Russian tzar and one who had come of age during the fall of the Berlin Wall — spent an afternoon in Shreveport swapping war stories.

I wish my memory was good enough to recount the war tales told by a man who was crawling on his belly through Belleau Wood before my grandmother was born. Sadly, it isn’t and they are gone to me forever.

That old vet is gone  now too, of course, but few are lucky enough to live as long.

Thinking back, I can’t help but consider how many years would have been lost to him had he been cut down by German bullets in the War to End All War—which wasn’t.

There will always be another war and it’s right to take time on Memorial Day to remember the many who have fallen.

The greatest homage we can give is to safe-guard the liberties here at home they have sanctified with blood they have shed and continue to shed.

Whether on not we are lucky enough to live to be 100, like the vet I unexpectedly met in a VA hospital waiting room, never let them fade from our memory.

Have fun grillin’ y’all and take a little time to remember what it’s all about.