Sheriff Joe Arpaio

My dad sent me this information in an email and even though many might have heard about this guy because he has been around for a while, I wanted to share. I'm glad to know there are still people out there that feel this way about crime and wish others would follow the example. For more information on the Sheriff, visit http://www.mcso.org/

• He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.
  
• He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails.
  
• He took away their weights.
  
• He cut off all but "G" movies.
  
• He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.
  
• Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.
  
• He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again but only let in the Disney channel and the weather channel. When asked why the weather channel he replied, so they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs.
  
• He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value. When the inmates complained, he told them.....this is a good one......"This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."
  
• He bought Newt Gingrich' lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails. When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.

With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees just set a new record), the Associated Press reports:
About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts. On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees inside the week before. Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as sweat collected on their chests and dripped down to their pink socks.

"It feels like we are in a furnace," said James Zanzot, an inmate who has lived in the tents for 1 1/2 years. "It's inhumane."

Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes. So shut your damned mouths."

Bush VS Kerry

I sure wish these two would start talking about their policies. All I ever hear or read are attacks against each other. If I heard nothing else, I would vote for Bush, because I haven't heard Kerry say anything that he has to offer except for not being Bush. That doesn't appeal to me. Just because he says that he will do things differently, doesn't mean he will do them any better. I like what George Bush stands for when it comes to an overall picture and besides preventing 9/11 all together, I don't think any president could do much better in forcing an economy to recover or other things that have gone on in the last 3 1/2 years. Again, they may have done things different, but that doesn't mean they would have been better. 9/11 was a terrible event and I don't think any one person can override the effect that event had on our lives. Enough of my ranting, I can't wait for the debates.

When hot is cold

It is finally starting to cool down a little over here and it feels great. The last few days the highs have only been just over 100 and the lows are in the mid to high 70s. I have actually had to walk around with a coat at night because it feels so chilly. You never think that 100 would feel good, but it always amazes me to be walking around and thinking "I'm so glad it is not to hot today" and then I walk by a thermometer and it says 102 in the shade. I'm sure we will have a few more hot spells, but the worst of summer is finally looking over.

Toy Bombers

http://toybomber.org

I was surprised when I found this site because it involves our unit. Something that started as simple as giving some Iraqi kids a soccerball has inspired a much larger movement of kindness. In fact just the other day I counted 18 large boxes of toys that arrived. As we go out on missions, we drop the boxes off in small communities where children are present. The guys who started it all were moved when they saw the result on the childrens' lives. Everyday the children could be seen out in the field kicking the soccerball around. When the soldiers shared the story with their families, the idea quickly spread. It's to bad there aren't more stories like this about Iraq on the news. The truth is there are stories like this happening all over Iraq and most Iraqis show friendship and happiness towards Americans. They are easy to find, the reporters just aren't looking for them.

If you want to pass on the story of the Toy Bombers, please do a post on your own blog with a link to their site so more people can know about stories like these.

Finally Flying

I recieved all the necessary parts and modifications for my radio controlled helicopter yesterday and have finally been able to accumulate quality flight time. I am working on hovering turns and landing on smaller and smaller targets. I tried forward flight a few times and that was followed by two major crashes from about 20 feet up so I am backing off of that skill for a while since I want to actually enjoy flying my helicopter again for a while. I am very surprised at how well the helicopter has handled the crashes though. I would think a nose dive into concrete would equal broken heli. My car has been getting neglected with all the flying though :)

Landing on the Freeway

I love my job.

I hate knowing people are hurt and/or dying, but one of the advantages of my mission is that I get to land a helicopter in some really interesting places and sometimes it is a challenge. Recently I had a mission where I was responding to an accident on a freeway overpass in Baghdad. It was the first time I ever landed on a bridge before and to make it more interesting I had one of those signs that hangs over the freeway telling you how far it is to the next exit right in front of me, a 15+ ft fence on one side of the bridge and 50 ft light poles running down the center. All in all it made it a really confined space. Even though it is really exciting to me, in the end it all comes down to hopefully getting to feel satified knowing I helped save someone's life.

Star Spangled Banner

I think most people learn in school that there are more verses to the Star Spangled Banner than just the first verse, but then forget later on in life. I believe there are actually four verses (Written by Francis Scott Key), but my hymn book only contains three and I just love the pictures each verse paints in my mind when I sing them.

Oh say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.
Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Notice the first verse is actually a question that I roughly translate to mean "Is the flag still there?" and from a military stand point "Did we win the battle? Defend the fort? Stand our ground?" etc. It is somewhat disturbing to me to realize we usually only sing the first verse and it ends in such uncertainty. I can better relate to the feelings that inspired the first and second verses from my experiences last year. Here is the second verse.

On the shore, dimly seen thru the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The second verse answers the question in such a beautiful way. I remember the first days of OIF when we were constantly on the move and every time I woke up, I would wonder what had happened while I was sleeping. Of course it was always such a wonderful reassuring feeling to know that our defenses had held.

The third verse, which is the one missing from my hymn book, describes the enemies defeat.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The four verse is one of my favorites though.

Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

This nation has truly been blessed by our Heavenly Father and I hope we as a nation never forget that. Every time I sing or hear this song, especially in its entirety, I am filled with the Spirit.

Woohoo!

We got some helicopter parts today and have been hovering around inside the tent. We are still waiting for the tail motor modification so that the motors will last a lot longer. We are flying with the training landing gear off to save weight and keep the motors cool, thus lasting longer. On another note, we had an air conditioner go out for the last couple of days, but I was surprised when someone showed up today to fix it and now we are cooling off again. The air conditioners definitely make the stay in the desert much easier than last year at the beginning of the war. That was completely miserable and there was no where to try to get comfortable during the day and the night wasn't much better. I can't relate to how people can live their lives in conditions like these without air conditioners.