THANKSGIVING WEEK MESS HALL MENU

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Here is this week's menu for our mess hall here at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Mississippi.

For a larger view that's easier to read, please click on the menu, which is in three (03) parts.

 

This is the magnetic bumper sticker
on the tailgate of my pickup truck.

When they are the guests of a resident, visitors who eat in the mess hall are charged seven dollars ($7.00) per meal.

Breakfast is from 0630 Hours until 0830 Hours.

Dinner is from 1130 Hours until 1300 Hours.

Supper is from 1630 Hours until 1800 Hours.

Visitors are not allowed to enter the mess hall during the first thirty minutes of meal times, in order to better accommodate residents who are physically incapacitated.

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HAS ANYBODY NOTICED - - - ?

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This is the magnetic bumper sticker
on the tailgate of my pickup truck.

This coming THANKSGIVING DAY, which is Thursday 22 November 2012, is also the anniversary of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Does anyone else know, or care?

JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY 
Thirty-Fifth President of the United States of America

Since I'm now an old man, I  reckon the majority of the population probably wasn't even born when that happened, and therefore has no memory of it, and can't relate to it.

But, I remember it vividly, just as clearly as the shock I also felt on Tuesday 11 September 2001.

One lesson that I learned from the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy is to always be careful of your own personal conduct in all things.

That's because almost everybody who remembers that event can readily tell exactly where they were, who they were with, and what they were doing when they learned of the assassination of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

But, I can never do that.

For, on that particular day, Friday 22 November 1963, at that historic moment, I am embarrassed to admit that I was in a very bad place with some very bad people, and I cannot freely discuss the details of my unfortunate circumstances with strangers.

So, I urge all of you youngsters, if you please, to learn a lesson from my experience, and always conduct yourselves with a morally circumspect manner. 

You just don't know when YOU might be an eyewitness to a truly momentous historic event, one which you'll want to be able to share for many years to come. 

However, one memory I will always cherish is of the time when I was a soldier in the old Republic of Viet Nam going to Australia on a Rest and Recuperation leave in November of 1971, and learning that Thanksgiving was a uniquely AMERICAN holiday, not observed anywhere else.

My Latter-day Saint Australian hosts,
the Browns, of Manly, New South Wales

My Australian hosts, fellow members of The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints, arranged for me to have my traditional Thanksgiving Day turkey dinner at the home of an American family living in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

My Thanksgiving Dinner in Australia!

That sure made me further appreciate being a citizen of these United States of America.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!

To view a larger version,
please click on this famous NORMAN ROCKWELL picture,
"FREEDOM FROM WANT".

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HURRICANE HUNTERS

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For the best effect, please be sure and watch my homemade amateur video recording in "FULL SCREEN" mode.



This was a presentation on "HURRICANE HUNTERS" given by Lieutenant Colonel Roy Deatherage, United States Air Force, from Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi, in the Community Center room at the Armed Forces Retirement Home in Gulfport, Mississippi at 1000 Hours on Tuesday 20 November 2012.

This video was recorded with my Kodak "Easy Share" Z710 zoom lens digital camera, in video mode, having a resolution of 7.1 megapixels, mounted on my MX2000 tripod.

For more detailed information, please visit the "HURRICANE HUNTERS" official web site.

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BATTLE OF COMBAT OUTPOST KEATING

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This is an ABC NEWS television REPORT which I saw at the YAHOO! web site.

For the best effect, please be sure and watch this REPORT in "FULL SCREEN" mode.



The book, "THE OUTPOST: AN UNTOLD STORY OF AMERICAN VALOR", by JAKE TAPPER, can be purchased at the AMAZON web site.

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SUICIDE NOTES?

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This was originally posted at this web site on Tuesday 11 October 2005.

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***** 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!

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Greetings to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space:

I write this message in hopes that it might be read, either this very hour, or hundreds of years from now, by some poor wretched tortured soul, facing what may seem an insurmountable moment of personal crisis, with no way out.

Last night, I watched a television interview of a heinous serial murderer, a human monster who seemed normal, but lived a secret life of perverted violent sexual fantasy, in which he delighted in stalking, torturing, terrorizing, and slowly murdering his victims, making them suffer over and over.

It reminded me of a famous story about John Wesley, who founded the Methodist church.

Seeing the misery of an alcoholic passing by on a public street, John Wesley reputedly said, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

I know the feeling, for I am the weakest of saints and the least of these, my brethren, so I've "been there, done that", and Jesus Christ has "been there, done that".

Some years ago, while I was performing with the Cowboy Poets of Idaho, another performer, who knew a little about the personal horror I endured during my youth, and how it still affects my mind, mentioned that he was surprised I hadn't yet committed suicide.

Hmmm - - - was that his way of suggesting that he thought I should commit suicide?

But, that's why I'm writing this, praying I can save a life of someone I don't even know.

Yes, I still suffer, sometimes unbearably so, as I sit all alone in my room, screaming and cursing (yes, that's right - - - I'm a "Mormon", but when in the throes of mental anguish, I do resort to very loud bursts of profanity).

Years ago, I even put a loaded revolver to my head, and then considered myself a coward for not pulling the trigger.

That was then.

This is now.

How do you commit suicide when life is eternal?

You don't die.

You pass from this life to the next one, still burdened by the same unresolved problems which drove you to the most desperate of measures.

Only now, you have even bigger problems to go along with the ones you thought you were escaping.

How do you explain yourself to God?

How do you justify cold blooded murder in the first degree, premeditated and with malice aforethought?

After all, suicide is basically self-inflicted murder of an innocent human being - - - yourself, - - - and you are a child of God.

How do you think that makes God, our Heavenly Father, feel?

What about the people you leave behind?

Do you think your selfish act of murder will leave them unaffected and unscarred?

Remember, you still haven't solved the problems you were trying to run away from.

Even though you put a shotgun in your mouth and splatter your head all over the room, you aren't dead, and those personal problems still exist.

To your sorrowful amazement, you'll find you are still alive, and you still must face those problems, except now, you no longer have the advantage of having your physical body necessary to overcome those difficulties.

In The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints (i.e., the so-called "Mormon" church), we are taught that God gives men weakness, so that we may learn humility.

Well, just how humble does Heavenly Father think I need to be?

It seems as though Heavenly Father has given me every sinful weakness known to man, plus adding a few extras we never even thought of.

So, I live with the knowledge of my guilt, embarrassed and ashamed, for I am a hypocrite, and fail to measure up to the ideals I so ardently espouse.

Even worse, my loathsome conduct brought painful disappointment to others, folks who relied upon me and loved me.

On the other hand, Heavenly Father has been exceptionally generous in pouring out so many blessings on me, that I can't even list them all, and none of these gifts were deserved.

But, there's one thing I've learned.

Weaknesses in character and temptations of the flesh are the same as having a physical birth defect, being incapacitated by disease, or being maimed by an accident or combat wound.

We do not give in to these obstacles, but instead, with the help of God and our fellow man, we manfully struggle to resist and overcome our weaknesses, for that is how we grow.

We are the children of God, and we cannot become like our Heavenly Father unless we are refined with the fires of adversity.

When I was living in Saint Anthony, Idaho, I attended a "KNOW YOUR RELIGION" seminar, taught by a visiting professor of religion from Brigham Young University, which really impressed me, and has stayed with me all these years.

He talked about the importance of Jesus Christ's experience in the Garden of Gethsemane.

There, Jesus Christ, our elder brother, a perfect man who had never known sin, had to take upon himself the sins of the world.

Satan was waiting inside those garden walls.

The initial shock was so great that Jesus Christ yelled out, "Abba"!

"Abba" is an Aramaic word, and it means the same thing today as it did when Jesus Christ yelled it.

In agony, Jesus Christ, the only begotten son of God, had literally yelled out, "DADDY!"

You and I are also children of God, but we are his spiritual children, while Jesus Christ was actually the physical son of God.

Jesus Christ knelt in prayer, and the pain was so great that he sweated blood.

For the first time, Jesus Christ knew what you and I know.

He actually felt our heartache, our fear, our rejection, our guilt, our embarrassment, our shame, and our utter loneliness.

The visiting professor even gave the graphic example that now, for the very first time, Jesus Christ knew what it felt like to be the child on the school playground who is the last one picked when the kids are choosing teams for their games.

But, Jesus Christ was not left completely abandoned, for angels stood by, ministering to him during his hours of grief.

The professor speculated (and it makes perfect sense, doesn't it?) that one of the angels ministering to Jesus Christ was most likely Adam, for it was the fall of Adam which Jesus Christ was sent to redeem.

Yes, Jesus Christ indeed has "been there, done that."

The resurrection of Jesus Christ guarantees that our flesh will also be resurrected, and be reunited with our spirits.

By the way, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is too well documented to have been merely a simple recovery from a coma, as some pseudo-intellectuals so erroneously pontificate.

The suffering and death of Jesus Christ constituted his atoning sacrifice for our sins, which makes it possible for us to once again return to our Heavenly Father, for no unclean thing can be in the presence of God.

That's why Jesus Christ said, "In my Father's house are MANY mansions", for his atonement is conditional on the varying degrees of our obedience or sin, so even though it's guaranteed that we'll all be resurrected, it's not guaranteed that we'll all get the same reward or the same punishment.

There's another thing that visiting professor pointed out, which really cheers me up to think about it.

When we are resurrected, all the temptations and deceptions of Satan will no longer be around, and the physical weaknesses of our bodies will also be healed.

So, in the final analysis, it is what is in our hearts that really matters, and if our hearts are true, then we will continue to grow, learn, and progress through the eternities.

After all, we are children of God.

Do you realize what that means?

We have always lived, and we always will live.

We are not human beings merely having a "spiritual experience".

We are eternal spirits, who once lived with our Heavenly Father, but have been sent to Earth to have a "mortal experience".

The BYU professor cited the example of children born to the same parents, raised the same way in the same environment, but exhibiting completely different personalities.

He said that's because we bring our "personal baggage" with us when we enter mortality, problems we developed when we were still merely spirits, before coming to Earth.

Yes, I could very easily have become a sociopathic serial criminal, for all the ingredients were there, and I definitely fit the textbook profile.

Again, as John Wesley said, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

But, we are children of God, and we are free to choose whether we will help people or hurt them.

In fact, that's precisely why we're here on Earth, surrounded by pain and tragedy, to learn to choose good over evil, so we can return to our Heavenly Father with honor, and then go on to the next step in our eternal progression.

No, we don't remember our former life, living as spirits with God, nor do we have certain knowledge of what awaits us when we leave mortality.

We're being tested, remember?

We've got to show what we're made of, and whether we'll make wise choices at the moments when it really counts.

Oh, I've made some terrible choices, which is why my own life is such a mess, and why I spend so much time alone and screaming.

But, when I was a young soldier in the United States Army, I was told over and over, "If you aren't making any mistakes, then you aren't trying hard enough!"

As I was composing this message, I was struck by a sudden realization.

Maybe it's all that emotional turmoil compressed within me, the accumulation of years of extremes in terror, sorrow, and joy which have so enhanced my creative gifts.

People who've observed me singing say I assume a totally different personality when I'm pouring out my heart in song.

Surely, God or somebody is guiding me when I compose my songs, for I ain't smart enough to think up that stuff all on my own, and the most recent song I composed came to me when I was sleeping, and as I slept, I dreamed I was sleeping, and so the song, both words and music, literally came "from a dream within a dream", a sure sign that some sort of spiritual communication is being attempted.

Like I said, I ain't that smart, so who's putting the words and the melody in my head?

But I wrote this message, hoping my thoughts and observations might be of assistance to someone who needs a bit of reassurance at a critical moment.

As I am indeed the weakest of saints and the least of these, my brethren, then if our Heavenly Father has been so generous to me, won't He also be there for you?

God bless you, whoever you are.

Don't give up hope.

Don't quit.

Let us be our brother's keeper.

Thank you. 

John Robert Mallernee, KB3KWS 
Official Bard of Clan Henderson 
Armed Forces Retirement Home 
Washington, D.C. 20011-8400

" - - - the blood is strong, the heart is Highland, and we in dreams behold the Hebrides." 

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COME TO BEAUVOIR !

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This was cited at the FREE NORTH CAROLINA web site, which motivated me to investigate further for additional details of two (02) major events.

For a larger view that's easier to read,

please click on each of the illustrations.

CONFEDERATE HERITAGE RALLY 2013

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FIRST ANNUAL CHRISTMAS AT BEAUVOIR ! ! !

BEGINNING: Friday 09 November 2012

ENDING: Saturday 06 January 2013

From 1700 Hours until 2100 Hours

Thursday through Sunday

Aaaah, just imagine, if you will, strolling during the holiday season among hundred year old oak trees, alive with warm, white lights, while your wee ones squeal with delight as they gleefully ride a magical choo choo train through the historic grounds of  JEFFERSON DAVIS' last home.

During this first year of CHRISTMAS AT BEAUVOIR, they will have:

Carollers, crafts, illuminated pathways, gingerbread cookies, hot chocolate, live reindeer, guided tours of BEAUVOIR, mischievous elves, and an authentic SANTA CLAUS, dressed as he would have been in the Nineteenth Century, wearing a long, beautiful FATHER CHRISTMAS robe.

ADMISSION:

Adults - $20.00

Military and Seasoned Citizens - $12.00

Ages 5 through 18 - $12.00

Under 5 years old - FREE

So, y'all be sure to come on down here to BILOXI, MISSISSIPPI, and join in on all the festivities, history, and good ol' Southern hospitality at BEAUVOIR ! ! !

BEAUVOIR

2244 Beach Drive

Biloxi, Mississippi  39531

TELEPHONE:  (228) 388-4400

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LIFE IMITATING ART?

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It appears that life is now imitating art, specifically the current situation within our United States of America, as depicted in the lyrics of the song, "SILENT RUNNING", made famous by the band, MIKE AND THE MECHANICS.

As stated in the lyrics of that song, it's up to us older folks, if we can, to quietly teach the younger generations about what life in the old republic of our United States of America used to be like, a long time ago, when we were young and free.

When speaking of these things with the young folks, we need to point out WHY racial segregation and "Jim Crow" laws existed - - - , i.e., not to persecute Negroes, but to protect everybody else from the Negro, and in fact, how much safer and cleaner our communities were because of that.

Compare THAT with what we're plagued with today!

If anyone will listen, we must tell them about those idyllic bygone days of yore, when there was no "Political Correctness", "Hate Speech", "Hate Crimes", "U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act", Department of Homeland Security, and/or the wanton sexually predaceous Transportation Safety Administration.

Oh, for the freedom to say and/or write anything we wanted to!

Oh, for the freedom to go anywhere we wanted to, unrestricted and unmolested!

Oh, for that long lost freedom of openly wearing a holstered pistol and/or carrying a loaded rifle in public without any interference or disapproval!

(Hard to believe, isn't it, that after months of working on a major forest fire, I rode the bus from Sandpoint, Idaho to Portland, Oregon wearing my revolver and Bowie knife, while carrying my lever action Winchester Model 94 rifle, and after arriving in Portland, I walked into a bank to cash my United States Forest Service government check?

Ah, but those days WERE different - - - , REALLY different!)

Oh, for the freedom to display our Confederate banners, anywhere and everywhere!

Oh, for that time when unwed pregnancy, abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, homosexuality, paedephilia, and/or bestiality were felonies, looked upon with horror and shameful public disgrace!

Oh, for the days when JESUS, the CHRIST, was universally acknowledged and worshipped publicly, without apology!

Oh, for that bygone era when White folk did not submit to social peer pressure and apologize or confess guilt for their heritage and ancestry!

Indeed, as I look around me today, I often wonder, who REALLY won the Cold War?

In fact, because of the quotas and preferences due solely to race, I even wonder if the Third Reich didn't actually win the Second World War?

After all, if WE won that war, then WHY are we emulating the Nazis? 

Or is it the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that we've been modelling ourselves after? 

And now, what is it we're facing as a nation and as a people?

Destitution?

Defeat?

Disgrace?

Enslavement?

Extinction?

As plainly prophesied in the BOOK OF MORMON, which, along with the HOLY BIBLE, testifies of the divinity of the resurrected JESUS CHRIST, our United States of America would be blessed above all other nations with liberty and prosperity - - - , but only IF we worship and obey the God of this land, who is JESUS, the CHRIST.

But, the prophesy continues, when the day comes that we no longer worship JESUS, the CHRIST, and we no longer keep His commandments, then we will forfeit our blessings, and someone else, a people who are more worthy, shall inherit this sacred "Promised Land".

And thus, we now stand condemned.

Oh, mine own Israel, let us now mourn and repent, with sackcloth and ashes, and with weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth! 

For the best effect, please be sure to enjoy watching my homemade amateur video recording of ME (!) performing the song, "SILENT RUNNING", in "FULL SCREEN" mode.
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"SILENT RUNNING"

Composed by:
B.A. ROBERTSON and MICHAEL RUTHERFORD

Recorded by:
MIKE AND THE MECHANICS

VERSE # 01:
Take the children and yourself,
And hide out in the cellar.
By now, the fighting
Will be close at hand.
Don't believe the Church and State
And everything they tell you.
Believe in me.
I'm with the High Command.

CHORUS:
Can you hear me?
Can you hear me running?
Can you hear me running?
Can you see me calling you?

VERSE # 02:
There's a gun and ammunition
Just inside the doorway.
Use it only in emergency.
Better you should pray to God,
The Father, Son, and Spirit
To guide you
And protect you all for me.

VERSE # 03:
Swear allegiance to the flag,
Whatever flag they offer,
But conceal
What you really feel.
Teach the children quietly,
For someday, sons and daughters
Will rise up
And fight where we stood still.

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VIDEO: DOG CROSSING CATTLE GUARD

******************************** ******************************** Greetings and Salutations to All my Kith and Kin and All the Ships in Outer Space:  You'll probably want to share this amusing video with your friends, relatives, and neighbors, especially if any of them live out in the country, or are ranchers or farmers. It's a very short video (only a few seconds long) of a dog trying to figure out the safest way to walk across a cattle guard. For the best effect, please be sure and enjoy watching this video, "DOG CROSSES CATTLE GUARD", in "FULL SCREEN" mode. I don't know where or when this video was recorded, nor who it was that recorded it. Mox nix. Anyway, I know you and yours will enjoy watching this video as much as I did. Thank you. John Robert Mallernee  Armed Forces Retirement Home 1800 Beach Drive, Unit 311 Gulfport, Mississippi  39507 ******************************** ********************************