The title pretty much sums up what this blog is about.  Right now, I am going through some things that are pretty shitty to say the least.  I have been married for 8 years, and I have known for quite a while that things have not been the greatest, but I thought we could work through our problems, so I think I really just stopped working at making my wife feel special...with that said, she stopped trying also.  We are going to counseling starting Monday, but I dont know if it is too late to fix what is broken.  I feel like my world is crumbling around me, and I dont know what to do to fix it, and I think what I am trying to ask is does anyone have advice about what I should do?  I know there is going to be a bunch of stupidass comments about this, hell its ebaumsworld, not exactly a marriage help website, but hell why not ask right?

Okay, I am going to rant a little here, but hell that is what blogs are for I think.

September 11, 2001.  Thousands of people died in multiple attacks on our country, not just our country, but they targeted the financial nerve center of the world.  They attacked the Pentagon, the headquarters for arguably the strongest military on the planet, and crashed a plane in Pennsylvania.  All of these attacks were heinous, no doubt.  Innocent lives were lost, and when I say innocent, people who had no ties to those who killed them.  Some may have been closet child molesters, rapists, even murders themselves, we will never know, so we will assume for patriotisms sake that they were all upstanding citizens of the country and the world.

As far as conspiracies go, they never end.  Some say we attacked ourselves because the warmonger Bush wanted to go kill shit...I personally think that is a dumbass way to look at this, trying to make it something it is not.   The same was said about FDR when Pearl Harbor was attacked...that he knew it was going to happen and hid intel so it would draw us into a war he wanted so desperately to be apart of...yet again in my eyes completely rediculous.  There have even been people saying it was not a plane hitting the Pentagon, but an internal explosion...the fact of the matter is, regardless of who or what did these attacks, the people still died by the hands of terrorists plain and simple.  Perhaps those of you conspiracy theorists are right, and it was the government.  If that is the case, they are traitors to our nation, and should be rightfully branded terrorists and put to death for their actions.  Will we ever know?  I doubt if it really did happen from internal sources, we will never know, I mean hell we cant even get a definite answer on JFKs assassination!

Iraq, however is a completely different ball of wax.  Make no mistake, we went after Afghanistan in retaliation for hiding the terrorists behind the attacks.  Iraq was a call on the current administration to try and stem the flow of further terrorist attacks into our country.  Was it a good call?  I dont know, I am not a politician or a terrorism expert, so I dont know if we have helped out slowing terrorism, or we just moved it to another place.  Did we hit afghanistan hard enough?  I dont think so.  I do know that we are stepping back up so i can only hope we finally will catch that son of a bitch Bin Laden.  If that happens, will terrorism end? No it will not.  It is like executing a serial killer...will it end murder?  Hell no.  It is about setting shit right, and Bin Laden being held accountable for his actions must happen.

So basically what I wanted to say, but i did it in lots of words, a shit ton of people died needlessly on 9/11, thousands more in a SEPARATE war in Iraq.  That shit sucks, but there is nothing we can do to bring those back, but we can spend time today, and every night when we lay our heads down to sleep, pray for those who have lost loved ones, wherever and whenever they died, and pray that it ends in the near future, and no one will have to go through the pain that these people have had and will hold in their hearts for the rest of their life.

From the famous words of Paul Harvey

I would gain control of the most powerful nation in the world;

I would delude their minds into thinking that they had come from man's
effort, instead of God's blessings;

I would promote an attitude of loving things and using people, instead of
the other way around;

I would dupe entire states into relying on gambling for their state revenue;

I would convince people that character is not an issue when it comes to
leadership;

I would make it legal to take the life of unborn babies;

I would make it socially acceptable to take one's own life, and invent
machines to make it convenient;

I would cheapen human life as much as possible so that life of animals are
valued more than human beings;

I would take God out of the schools, where even the mention of His name was
grounds for a lawsuit;

I would come up with drugs that sedate the mind and target the young, and I
would get sports heroes to advertise them;

I would get control of the media, so that every night I could pollute the
minds of every family member for my agenda;

I would attack then family, the backbone of any nation. I would make
divorce acceptable and easy, even fashionable. If the family crumbles, so
does the nation;

I would compel people to express their most depraved fantasies on canvas and
movies screens, and I would call it art;

I would convince the world that people are born homosexuals, and that their
lifestyles should be accepted and marveled;

I would convince the people that right and wrong are determined by a few who
call themselves authorities and refer to their agendas as politically
correct;

I would persuade people that the church is irrelevant and out of date, the
Bible is for the naive:

I would dull the minds of Christians, and make them believe that prayer is
not important, and that faithfulness and obedience are optional;

I GUESS I WOULD LEAVE THINGS PRETTY MUCH THE WAY THEY ARE!

Without a doubt, reading a Medal of Honor citation can bring a cold chill over your body.  It shows the kind of steadfast dedication that some people serving our country have to their country, and to their brothers-in-arms. 

MURPHY, MICHAEL P.

Rank and Organization: Lieutenant, United States Navy
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as the leader of a special reconnaissance element with Naval Special Warfare Task Unit Afghanistan on 27 and 28 June 2005. While leading a mission to locate a high-level anti-coalition militia leader, Lieutenant Murphy demonstrated extraordinary heroism in the face of grave danger in the vicinity of Asadabad, Konar Province, Afghanistan. On 28 June 2005, operating in an extremely rugged enemy-controlled area, Lieutenant Murphy’s team was discovered by anti-coalition militia sympathizers, who revealed their position to Taliban fighters. As a result, between 30 and 40 enemy fighters besieged his four-member team. Demonstrating exceptional resolve, Lieutenant Murphy valiantly led his men in engaging the large enemy force. The ensuing fierce firefight resulted in numerous enemy casualties, as well as the wounding of all four members of the team. Ignoring his own wounds and demonstrating exceptional composure, Lieutenant Murphy continued to lead and encourage his men. When the primary communicator fell mortally wounded, Lieutenant Murphy repeatedly attempted to call for assistance for his beleaguered teammates. Realizing the impossibility of communicating in the extreme terrain, and in the face of almost certain death, he fought his way into open terrain to gain a better position to transmit a call. This deliberate, heroic act deprived him of cover, exposing him to direct enemy fire. Finally achieving contact with his Headquarters, Lieutenant Murphy maintained his exposed position while he provided his location and requested immediate support for his team. In his final act of bravery, he continued to engage the enemy until he was mortally wounded, gallantly giving his life for his country and for the cause of freedom. By his selfless leadership, courageous actions, and extraordinary devotion to duty, Lieutenant Murphy reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

So I decided to collect up a few quotes dealing with war, kind of put things into perspective from the middle-ages to present day, the view on war from some of the "big dogs" of the world....pretty neat stuff

- History teaches that war begins when governments believe the price of aggression is cheap.
Ronald Reagan

- God is not on the side of the big battalions, but on the side of those who shoot best.
Voltaire

- An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.
Mahatma Gandhi

- I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.
Albert Einstein

- It is only the dead who have seen the end of war.
Plato

- It is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.
Robert E. Lee

- No one ever goes into battle thinking God is on the other side.
Terry Goodkind

- The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.
Josef Stalin

- The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
George S. Patton, Jr.

- Their sword will become our plow, and from the tears of war the daily bread of future generations will grow.
Adolf Hitler

- War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Bertrand Russell

- What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?
Gandhi

- When war is declared, Truth is the first casualty.
Arthur Ponsonby

- You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.
Jeannette Rankin

- You can't say that civilization don't advance, however, for in every war they kill you in a new way.
Will Rogers

Some of these come from notorious warlords, others from philosophers, even some from Presidents and Prime Ministers...but the message seems quite clear, war will mess some shit up!

For all you East Carolina Pirate fans out there, the last few weeks have been awesome! First, we block a punt and win against the then ranked 17th Virginia Tech. We follow that win up with a complete all around domination of the 8th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers!  Both games our defense was all over the opposition, holding even WVU star Pat White to less than 100 yards and no TDs!  It has been almost 10 years since WVU has been held to no touchdowns in a game.  Now the AP has ECU ranked 14th in the country, the first time ranked since 1999!  Skip Holtz has turned around a team that went 1-10 in 2003 to a potential BCS at large bid team this year!  If things keep on track we have a easy 12-0 season with a big bowl game.  And critics thought that ECU would be crap this year having lost Chris Johnson to the NFL draft....Pinkney has picked up the slack and has been all but perfect in his two games.

So for all you  WVU and VT fans out there, better luck next year, but the Pirates are here to stay.  Go Pirates!!!!

AAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!!!!!

If you havent seen in the news lately, we have finally started thse handing-over process of the Al-Anbar providence of Iraq to the ISF (Iraqi Security Forces).  What does this mean to us and our ability to leave the country?  Here is what I think:

1.  Setting a for sure timetable would be a mistake.  Don't get me wrong,we need to get out, but if we set a date, things could go wrong, and then you have a huge mess, even bigger than what we had a few years ago there.  As you all know, you make a plan, and when you are unable to stick to it, people get upset.  Expectations cannot be set too high for the international stage, say we are unable to withdraw every troop by XX-XX-XX date...what will the UN say?  We could potentially put ourselves on the same level as Russia and their mess in Georgia right now, saying they are leaving, while they pump more troops in.

2.  While handing the Anbar region over is a huge step, troop levels will most likely stay  the same or close to it for quite a while.  The few media outlets that have reported this story might be saying we are leaving soon, but you have to understand, we are not leaving.  We are simply taking a proverbial "back seat" to the Iraqis.  What I mean is, they are heading up security, we are backing them up, instead of them backing us up.   Hopefully they have learned a thing or two from our men and women that have been diligently training them for this job for 4 years.

3.  We may be leaving Iraq in the next 18 months, well not all troops, but I would venture to say 90%.  Because of this drawdown, watch for a troop surge into Afghanistan.  A resurgance of the Taliban there will cause a rise in American presence there, mostly to head up counter-insergency operations, hand-in-hand with the Afghans.  The biggest problem we still face there is the drugs.  The opium exports from that country bring in somewhere around 60% of their annual income!  Cutting this supply off from them would possibly cause the countries fragile economy to fail, and we would be back at square one.  So we are in a catch 22.  We do the right thing and remove the dangerous opium exports, but destroy a country in the process?  What is the right thing to do?

4.  One final thought:  Iraq is improving, despite media reports to the contrary.  Dont get me wrong, every time i lose a brother or sister-in-arms in Iraq, it makes my heart ache, but the truth is, more people were murdered in the streets of Chicago over the summer than in 14 of the Iraqi providences combined, to include American forces killed!