CH-47 OVER AFGHANISTAN

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For a larger view, please click on the photograph.

In this official United States Army photograph, taken by Staff Sergeant Aubree Rundle on Christmas Day, Friday 25 December 2009, a CH-47F "Chinook" helicopter sling-loads a Humvee over Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.

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MONITORING POLICE RADIO CALLS

******************************** ******************************** Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space: RADIO REFERENCE is a web site where you can listen to police radio calls on your computer. First, you have to register and log in, but that's certainly no big deal, as numerous web sites have similar requirements. Then, you click on "LIVE AUDIO". You'll see a map, on which you'll select the location you wish to monitor. In my case, I choose "District of Columbia", because that's where I currently reside. Then, I selected "Washington Metropolitan Police Departments Districts 1, 2, and 3 Dispatch, and DC Fire and EMS Dispatch", after which I click on the loudspeaker icon located in the "Listen" box. That's all there is to it. Now, I can sit here in my room at the Old Soldiers' Home and use my personal computer to listen to live streaming broadcasts of emergency calls throughout the District of Columbia megalopolis. You can, too, so try it out. Thank you. John Robert Mallernee Armed Forces Retirement Home Washington, D.C.  20011-8400 ******************************** ********************************

FREIGHT AND PASSENGER

This video was posted on the YOU TUBE web site on Wednesday 09 September 2009 by "FASTRAINS 56", who recorded it on Tuesday 08 September 2009.

I've ridden this particular passenger train on numerous trips between Salt Lake City, Utah and Chicago, Illinois.

It's my favorite method of travel, especially when I can afford the extra money to go First Class, with my own private sleeping compartment and all of my meals included.

AMTRAK "CALIFORNIA ZEPHYR"

This video was posted at the YOU TUBE web site on Tuesday 29 December 2009 by "FASTRAINS 56", who recorded it on Saturday 26 December 2009 in Galesburg, Illinois.

I've ridden on this particular passenger train several times, traveling between Chicago, Illinois and Salt Lake City, Utah.

I reckon it's my FAVORITE way to travel, especially when I can afford to pay the extra money to go First Class, with a private sleeping compartment and all of my meals included.

http://www.amtrak.com/

"DESERET NEWS", SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

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DYING OGDEN VETERAN'S PLEA: QUIT SMOKING

By James Thalman
23:15 Hours MST Tuesday 29 December 2009

OGDEN, UTAH —

The last time Randy Richards felt good enough to have visitors, he grabbed the triangle-shaped handle above the hospital bed parked in his living room, pulled himself upright and let go a laugh.

As usual, that turned into a fit of coughing that shook him out like a dirty rug.

That his own hand, not an enemy's bullet or some battlefield incident, was taking him out of the picture for good "is just too funny not to laugh about."

Richards is a tough-as-nails former Navy Seal who could swim as smooth as a swamp boat and almost as fast. He dodged death in Vietnam but did not completely dodge a sniper's aim just five days before his tour was to end.

Now he is at death's door because of cancer. It's throat cancer, to be specific, most likely due to a lifetime of breathing smoke from about a million unfiltered Pall Mall cigarettes.

"It's a stupid and wasteful, but mostly stupid, habit that I picked up at 17 when I signed up for the Navy, and it's the one thing that has stuck with me," he said. "It's been a stress reliever that just adds stress in ways you don't even know until it's too late."

He knew smoking was wrong as a kid, but it was as much a part of being in the armed forces as gravy on toast, he said, euphemizing the familiar term of the once ubiquitous military fare so he wouldn't come off as "too coarse for a family newspaper."

Another vet has cancer; so what? he said, doing his best not to swear like a sailor. "They teach you how to cuss in the military, too."

But that day late last November, he was cussing himself out.

"I've kidded myself about smoking all my life," he said. "Mom called smoking 'dissipating.' That's a good way to put it. Your health just kind of goes up in smoke eventually."

Richards looked out the picture window a moment at the mountains crowding out half his view. "They've always felt so close, like they are sitting in your lap."

The end of his life is closer than that.

"I won't make it through the new year (2010)," he said. "But for those who might be smokers and planning on making a New Year's resolution to stop. Keep it. Stopping is easy. Staying stopped is the hard part."

He said he would never tell anyone what to do, but he said cigarettes can make someone's end of life "a lot shorter hike than it should have been."

With 2010 approaching, and the season for resolutions to quit bad habits or to lose weight, he advises smokers to "just stop. Get some help. There's plenty of it out there through hospitals and health departments. Don't be embarrassed to ask for help. Smoking is harder to kick than heroin, so don't give up if you can't just tough it out."

Scare tactics and information on the hazards of smoking from family members don't work, he said.

"Smokers can't be scared into quitting," he said. "They could put a skull and crossbones on the outside, and it wouldn't matter."

But they can be shown without having cancer decide for them.

Richards' quit plan isn't one he recommends. "Do it before cancer or heart problems or something else decides for you."

For information on how to quit tobacco, call the Utah Tobacco Quit Line at:

1-888-567-TRUTH

Visit Utah Quit Net at:

www.utahquitnet.com

The service is free and confidential.

E-Mail: jthalman@desnews.com

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MY OWN MOTIVATION

Greetings:

I enjoyed smoking and never would have quit.

But, I converted to The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints.

Even then, it took a couple of failed attempts before I was eventually successful.

When I was with other Latter-day Saints, I had no desire to smoke.

But, when I was with other smokers, I would relapse.

It took time, but my strength of character gradually increased, and within a few months, I permanently kicked my habit.

Because I was so mightily engaged in struggling and concentrating on not smoking, for the first time in my life, I quit biting my fingernails, and they grew back out.

Thus, purely by accident, two bad habits were overcome at once.

Other folks may have different reasons or different methods for giving up smoking.

But, as for me, my motivation was my chosen faith, and without the love, compassion, and constant association of my fellow Latter-day Saints, I doubt I ever could have done it.

God bless you, Randy Richards.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

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"THE BELLS OF SAINT MARY'S"

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For the best effect, please be sure to join in and sing along with me, as you enjoy watching my amateur homemade video recording of ME (!) performing ALL of the verses to "THE BELLS OF SAINT MARY'S" in "FULL SCREEN" mode.



"THE BELL'S OF SAINT MARY'S"

INTRO:
Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! 

VERSE # 1:
The bells of Saint Mary's,
Ah, hear they are calling
The young loves, the true loves,
Who come from the sea.
And, so, my beloved,
When red leaves are falling,
The love bells will ring out,
Ring out for you and me! 

VERSE # 2:
The bells of Saint Mary's
At sweet eventide
Will call me, Beloved,
To come to your side.
And out in the valley,
In sound of the sea,
I know you will be waiting,
Yes, waiting for me! 

VERSE # 3:
In front of Saint Mary's,
I'll wait there for you
With your soft wedding dress
And its ribbons of blue.
From within Saint Mary's,
Sweet voices will sing,
For you and me, Dearest,
The wedding bells will ring. 

VERSE # 4:
Oh, bells of Saint Mary's,
We always will love you.
With your inspiration,
We never will fail.
Your chimes will forever
Bring sweet memories of you.
So, proudly ring out
While we sing out,
Hail! Hail! Hail! 

CONCLUDE:
Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding! Dong! Ding!
Oh, won't you ring them bells? 

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"PRETTY IRISH GIRL"

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From the WALT DISNEY Movie,
"DARBY O'GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE"

VERSE # 01:
Have you ever seen the seagulls
A flying o'er the heather,
Or the crimson sails
On Galway Bay,
The fishermen unfurl?
All the Earth is filled with beauty,
And it's gathered all together
In the form and face and dainty grace
Of a pretty Irish girl.

CHORUS:
She is my dear, my darling one,
Her eyes so sparkling,
Full of fun!
No other, no other
Can match the likes of her.
She is my dear, my darling one,
My smiling and beguiling one.
I love the ground she walks upon,
My pretty Irish girl!

VERSE # 02:
Have you ever seen the morning
In Kerry or Killarney
When the dew is on the hayrick,
And every drop a pearl;
When the geese are talking Blarney,
And the thrush is singing Gaelic,
And standing in the doorway
Is a pretty Irish girl?

VERSE # 03:
When I'm parted from my Darling,
My sighs would sail a schooner,
And when I cannot reach her, sure,
My tears would turn a mill.
Since she cannot be unkind to
Any other living creature,
I think that she will marry me,
My pretty Irish girl!

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"TOM DOOLEY"

CHORUS:
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley.
Hang down your head and cry.
Hang down your head, Tom Dooley.
Poor boy, you're going to die!

VERSE # 1:
I met her on the mountain,
And there, I took her life.
I met her on the mountain,
Stabbed her with my knife.

VERSE # 2:
This time tomorrow,
I reckon where I'd be,
If it hadn't been for Grayson,
I'd a been in in Tennessee.

VERSE # 3:
This time tomorrow,
I reckon where I'll be,
Down in some lonesome valley
Swinging from a wide oak tree.

"DESERET NEWS", SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

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USE DEATH PENALTY
00:10 Hours MST Tuesday 29 December 2009

Kay Morteson of Payson was brutally murdered in the sanctity of his own home.

A convicted sex offender was arrested in the kidnap and murder of 11-year-old Sarah Foxwell in Maryland.

A Salvation Army worker in Arkansas was murdered in front of his three children on Christmas Eve.

Yet on the same day all three of these senseless murders were reported in the Deseret News, your bleeding heart liberal editors decried the death penalty as inhumane.

The thing that is "cruel and unusual" about the death penalty is not the sentence itself but the years — often decades — that go by before the execution is carried out.

While nine men may have been exonerated in 2009 of decades-old murders, with the current use of forensics and DNA it is virtually impossible that an innocent person will now be wrongfully convicted of murder.

Contrary to your editors' opinion, the primary purpose for the death penalty is not "closure" for the victims' families.

It is making sure that the predator is never allowed to walk the streets and prey on innocent victims again.

Comedian Ron White said it best about his home state of Texas:

"Not only do we have and use the death penalty, we're putting in an express lane!"

Sometimes comedians make more sense than politicians and editorial writers.

Brad Merritt
Woodland Hills
Utah County

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BLOOD ATONEMENT

Greetings:

I believe in the doctrine of blood atonement.

A murderer can only attain eventual forgiveness by having his own blood shed.

When a murderer's life is spared, we are doing him no favors, for without that blood atonement, he remains under condemnation through the eternities.

Unfortunately, our legal system has become too corrupted by political influence to ever entrust the state with imposing the death penalty.

According to the teachings of the late Dr. W. Cleon Skousen, under the laws of ancient Israel, a murderer or sex offender was immediately executed, in broad daylight and in full view of the general public, by the victim's family and the eyewitnesses to the crime.

For those who accidentally killed someone, there were cities of refuge where the mitigating circumstances of their case could receive a fair and impartial hearing.

Let's scrap our current penal code and return to doing things the way our Lord commanded so long ago.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

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I AGREE

Greetings:

My impression of the editorial staff at the DESERET NEWS is that they are quite properly "politically correct" in their language, unquestioningly enthusiastic in their support of government propaganda, and utterly terrified of anything controversial.

As for being "Liberal", I consider that term a misnomer, for I've never encountered anyone more intolerant of opposing viewpoints than a so-called "Liberal".

But, yes, I think Brad Merritt is correct in his appraisal.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

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"DESERET NEWS", SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH

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"PURVEYORS OF HATRED"
00:08 Hours MST Sunday 27 December 2009

Anger and intolerance are on the rise. I feel it all around me. I'm trying not to participate in the bad karma. President Thomas S. Monson dedicated a keynote talk to the issue of anger just a few weeks ago.

Citizens of this country have legitimate differences of opinion on how the nation should be governed. They are basic, bedrock differences that cannot and, I believe, should not be changed. Let's not give way to the lie that one partisan point of view is always correct and the other always incorrect. In the real world, both sides have merit, and both sides certainly deserve respect. But there are those who exploit these differences for their own purposes, predominantly political commentators.

They are purveyors of hatred. Their goal is to set individual against individual. They thrive on conflict and contention. They destroy respect between parties. It is what drives their ratings.

They have shown that they clearly do not care about the dreadful social fallout they are causing.

Eric W. Jensen
Preston, Idaho

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I DISAGREE
02:56 Hours MST Sunday 27 December 2009

Greetings:

Obviously, the writer is referring to talk show hosts on radio and television, programs I seldom watch or listen to.

But, there are some things which are so inherently evil that they should never be tolerated, and yes, there are some things, such as eternal principles, that justify violence.

If that were not so, our United States of America, the former Republic of Texas, the failed Confederate States of America, and the modern State of Israel would never have been created.

Nor could The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints exist, for there would have been no constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion to make it legally possible.

Today, just as our ancestors did in 1775, later in 1836, again in 1861, and as did Judah in 1948, we find ourselves poised on the brink of violent bloody armed revolt in order to restore our lost republic and our Constitution.

It is an inevitable consequence of contemporary tyranny, caused by the ongoing betrayal of the Republican Party and the Democrat Party deliberately rigging and negating the electoral process.

Thank you.

John Robert Mallernee
Armed Forces Retirement Home
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

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CAPTURED AMERICAN SOLDIER, PART ONE

CAPTURED AMERICAN SOLDIER, PART TWO

HONORING KOREAN WAR VETERANS

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For a larger view, please click on the pictures.

Program Cover

Page One

Page Two

Souvenir Bumper Sticker

Arirang Dance

The Cast

Traditional Korean Meal ************************************ Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space: Three (03) of the above photographs were taken with my Motorola W376g cell phone camera, and the rest were scanned with my Hewlett-Packard Printer/Scanner/Copier 1610. Here are several other photographs, courtesy of the official Armed Forces Retirement Home web site: At 1900 Hours on Wednesday 23 December 2009, there was a special program honoring Korean War veterans in the Douglas Hungerford Memorial Theatre at the Armed Forces Retirement Home. It was put on by the Office of the Defense Attache of the Embassy of Korea in Washington, D.C. As we entered the theatre, each of us was given a program, a souvenir bumper sticker, a bottle of water, and a gift bag of candy and cookies, including a very nice traditional gingerbread man cookie. During the opening remarks, the Korean Embassy presented a fifty-five inch plasma television to the Soldiers' Home. As the program began, they showed a couple of videos, YOU AND I, and DYNAMIC KOREA, which can be viewed at the Korean Embassy's web site. There followed some traditional Korean music and dance, plus a really impressive display of the Korean martial art, Tae Kwon Do. During her performance, one of the dancers fell down on stage, but immediately got up and continued her dance. I was surprised that one of the traditional Korean dancers was obviously a blonde Caucasian girl. Afterwards, we went into the Scott Lounge (our Home's saloon, more popularly known as the "Snake Pit"), where we were given platters of traditional Korean food. I got a bowl of rice and ate it with kim chi sauce on top. I had tried to eat kim chi in Korea, but not knowing how it was supposed to be done, I tried to eat it straight, like a side dish, and the smell was so awful, I didn't even put it in my mouth. But, years later, long after I'd left Korea, a Korean gal told me I was doing it wrong, and that kim chi was supposed to be used as seasoning for other foods, such as rice. So, tonight, I bravely dared a mouthful of rice with kim chi and - - - it was great! Yes, tonight's program brought back fond memories of when I was a young soldier in Korea, where I served in 1973 at Won Ju with the 307th Signal Battalion, and at Yong San with the 142d Military Police Company. My father served in Korea in 1952, and I wish he were alive and could have attended tonight's event. The Korean government awarded him another medal that he doesn't even know about, but it's displayed along with all of his other medals on the wall of my room. Folks, it's Christmas, and I hope we'll all remember that there's still a bunch of American soldiers currently serving in Korea, and that the war there is not actually over, as it's only a temporary cease fire. God bless us, each and every one. Thank you. John Robert Mallernee Armed Forces Retirement Home Washington, D.C.  20011-8400 ******************************** ********************************

NOVEMBER 2009 SATELLITE VIEW

For a larger view, please click on the picture.

THE WORLD'S LARGEST CHRISTMAS TREE

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For a larger view, please click on the picture, and/or click on the magnifying glass icon located on the toolbar of your Internet Explorer 8 web browser.

This Christmas tree is located in Gubbio, Italy.

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SATELLITE VIEW OF SNOWSTORM

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For a larger view, please click on the picture.

I am grateful to ELLEN BENTLEY, of Clan Henderson, who lives in Prosser, Washington, a friend at the FACEBOOK social networking web site, for bringing this to my attention.

The snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast this weekend was so big, it is even impressive from Space.

The Aqua satellite of the National Aeronautic and Space Administration took this image centered on Washington, D.C., on Sunday 20 December 2009 with its Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (i.e., "MODIS") instrument.

The blizzard shut down the federal government, stranded travelers, left hundreds of thousands without power, and crushed the hopes of many retailers hoping for big sales during the weekend before Christmas.

The image covers three hundred miles lengthwise.

The two big rivers near the center are the Susquehanna (to the north) and Potomac, which run into Chesapeake Bay.

Washington, D.C., sits alongside the Potomac River, just north of the river’s hook-shaped curve.

The inlet to the north is Delaware Bay.

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MISSING GIFTS?

********* WARNING ! ! ! ********* This dangerously illegal and immoral subversive underground resistance message is being surreptitiously monitored by the Beaming Internet Government Broadband Radio Oscillation Telecommunications Hearing Electronic Reconnaissance (i.e., B.I.G. B.R.O.T.H.E.R.) as part of a coordinated official clandestine domestic surveillance investigation, in cooperation with the National Administration of Zealous Interrogation (i.e., N.A.Z.I.) and the Commission On Message Monitoring Investigative Electronics (i.e., C.O.M.M.I.E.). Serious felony criminal charges are pending, with extreme penalties yet to be determined! **************************** Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space: Well, gosh, gee whillikers, it's almost Christmas, and so far, I've only received six hundred forty-one thousand and two hundred and ninety-three presents. Is this ALL there is? So, where's the rest of it? "I'm gettin' nothin' for Christmas. Mommy and Daddy are mad. I'm gettin' nothin' for Christmas, 'Cause I ain't been nothin' but bad!" Heh! Heh! Heh! Yuk! Yuk! Thank you. John Robert Mallernee Armed Forces Retirement Home Washington, D.C.  20011-8400

IDLE LATTER-DAY SAINT MUSINGS

******************************** ******************************** Brothers and Sisters: This message, while published on my personal blog, is intended solely for my fellow members in The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints (i.e., the "Mormon" church), as our theology is so unique, that people of other faiths may have difficulty comprehending our peculiar beliefs. Tonight, as I was watching the 1950 Walt Disney movie, TREASURE ISLAND, I was musing over what life must have been like for our ancestors. I read somewhere that, back in those days, few people could swim. Maybe that was because nobody had time to learn how to swim. From the time they could walk, every minute of every day was devoted to survival, struggling from dawn to dusk to successfully grow enough food to last through each Winter. So, kids never had a chance to play or do kid stuff, such as swimming or climbing trees. Another thought that struck me was the millions of souls who have lived and died on this Earth, with no written record that they ever existed. How will they be resurrected if they can't be identified? Okay, we've been told that during the Millennium, the Veil will be parted so that genealogical work can be expedited. Well, that's when it dawned on me. That genealogical assistance is not meant for us, for we can read and write, and we do have access to a massive accumulation of recorded documentation. Furthermore, there are plenty of temples conveniently available geographically for the majority of us to do the necessary work. No, that Millennial blessing is meant for those millions for whom there are no written records, and where there isn't even any DNA evidence of their long disappeared corpse. As for us, we are supposed to be busily engaged in doing the research and performing the ordinances for our ancestors, and if we don't do it, we may be damning ourselves, our ancestors, and our posterity, since the scriptures plainly state that the one cannot be saved without the other. Now, doesn't THAT there thought scare the liver right out of you? I don't know about you, but even though I'm a "Mormon", I'm still a very worldly GUY, and I enjoy doing "guy" stuff, such as being lazy, goofing off, and committing SIN. Here's something else I'm wondering about. We're Americans. We're independent and cherish our liberty as individuals. But, the Kingdom of Heaven is an absolute theocracy, ruled by a king, something inherently odious and contrary to the mortal American ideal, which was bred, born, and forged in the fires of violent rebellion. So, are we Americans, by our very nature, destined to ultimately be condemned to Hell? The same question, for identical reasons, could be asked about those of us with fiery Scottish, Irish, and Viking blood coursing through our veins. What happens when, while in our Heavenly home, and during the heat of some family emotion, we spontaneously shout something insulting at our king, or we balk at carrying out some Eternal assignment? Will our king take into consideration that we were born and raised American, and cut us a little slack? With the ever increasing trend towards "political correctness" within The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints, what happens to those of us who refuse to quietly accept it? Unlike the overwhelming majority of Latter-day Saints, I readily admit I'm racially prejudiced, and I'm not likely to change my opinion, since it's based on a lifetime of personal observation and experience. Also, unlike most Latter-day Saints, I do openly advocate for night riding vigilante justice and violent bloody armed revolt in order to RESTORE our lost republic, our divinely inspired CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, our inalienable rights as individual citizens, sovereignty for the several states (including their right to secede), a free enterprise capitalist economy, and preservation of traditional Christian family moral values. Isn't what happens within our Church here in mortality an indication of what we may expect in the Hereafter? No, I don't have the answers. These are just some things I was wondering about, which you might also want to give some thought to, unless, of course, you already do have all of the answers. Maybe, if you happen to have SOME of the answers, you might be so kind as to share them? Thank you. John Robert Mallernee Armed Forces Retirement Home Washington, D.C.  20011-8400 ******************************** ********************************