Unlike certain liberals and other lower-than-whale-scum “life” forms, I will continue to remember why we have the freedoms we have, and I will continue to show my support for them as long as I breathe.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

How about two? No charge for the extra one.

First – Saturday afternoon, after I got my cab, I headed for my usual stakeout spot, the Village Inn at I-17 and Northern. It is located at the confluence of four “zones” and away from where most of the cabbies hang out at Metro Center, so while I am in a hot zone, I have faster access to not only three nearby zones but about eight other zones up and down the freeway. My first call, after sitting no more than five minutes, was to pickup a passenger at the Residence Inn, just north of where I was on the frontage road. With 27th Avenue right next door, I used that to backtrack up the southbound frontage road and picked up the fare. It turned out to be two young ladies who were in town from Chicago visiting one of the girls’ family. Nice family, too – she had her own house, and that’s where they were headed. The house is at Warner and Higley in Gilbert – which, as it turns out, is a $78 meter. Not bad for a first run. On the way out there, the girls were chatting back and forth about the things that young Chicago girls chat back and forth about, and then one of them broke out a digital camera. They started critiquing the pictures they had taken of each other the previous evening. I thought maybe they were comparing shopping pictures, but it turned out they had taken pictures of each other wearing their new tans – and smiles. They thrust the camera into my face at one point, asking for my opinion, but I told them I was married, didn’t need to see them naked, and sure didn’t need that kind of distraction for the next twelve hours of my shift…

A few runs later, and I was dispatched to a house in Tempe. When I pulled up, the fare was working his way towards the curb with his walker. I jumped out and opened the door for him, took his walker and stowed it in the trunk, and jumped back into the driver’s seat. “Where to, sir?”

He gave me an address about five blocks away, and mentioned he was going to his son’s house for the evening. I asked him, politely, why his son hadn’t come to get him, and I was told in no uncertain terms that he was quite capable of getting around on his own, thank you very much.

Recognizing the attitude, I asked him which branch he had served in. He looked at me, and asked, “Marine?” I said yes sir, 80-84.

His eyes drifted out to about a thousand yards, and said “Third Marines, Second World War.”

“Iwo Jima?” I asked.

“Eventually,” he said.

When we pulled up at the address, I turned off the meter, retrieved his walker, and waited as he climbed out.

“How much do I owe you, son?”

“Nothing,” I said. “Any time a member of the Greatest Generation rides with me, the fare was already paid long before I was born.”

“Thank you, son. God bless you.”

“Thank YOU, sir.”

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Prayers to you all for a safe and joyous Fourth of July celebration.

A big THANK YOU to all my blog buddies who have served or are currently serving in order to make this celebration possible.

Drive safely – the life you save may be your friendly cab driver’s!

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I missed posting this on June 6, 2009, due to cab driving. Please forgive my laziness.

Note two things – while the President knew what was going on, the Media did not publish it because of the need for secrecy. And second, this is not a muslim prayer – it is the prayer of a Christian leader of a Christian Nation to the Christian GOD. So much for “not a Christian nation.”

Lifted in it’s entirety from The History Place:

“This is the prayer originally entitled “Let Our Hearts Be Stout” written by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Allied troops were invading German-occupied Europe during World War II. The prayer was read to the nation on radio on the evening of D-Day, June 6, 1944, while American, British and Canadian troops were fighting to establish beach heads on the coast of Normandy in France.

“The previous night, June 5, the President had also been on the radio to announce that Allied troops had entered Rome. The spectacular news that Rome had been liberated was quickly surpassed by news of the gigantic D-Day invasion which began at 6:30 a.m. on June 6. By midnight about 57,000 American and 75,000 British and Canadian soldiers had gotten ashore. Allied losses on D-Day included 2,500 killed and 8,500 wounded.”

My Fellow Americans:

Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest — until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them — help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment — let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace — a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.

Franklin D. Roosevelt – June 6, 1944

The dispatch indicated the name was Mrs. H. (and since I don’t have her permission to use her name, I’ll stick with that). I pulled up to a modest, well-kept and neatly maintained bungalow in an older section of Phoenix. There was an American flag on a pole in the front yard.

Mrs. H. appeared to be in her mid to late sixties, but I wasn’t about to ask – momma didn’t raise no fools.

The address she gave me was pretty far out, on Cave Creek Road, and I couldn’t quite picture where the destination was. I asked her if it was near the National Memorial Cemetery, and she said it was the Cemetery. Now, I have been out there many times, mostly on Patriot Guard Rider missions, but never really knew the street address.

On the drive up, we chatted. She was on her way to visit her brother (Viet Nam vet), her husband (also Viet Nam) and her son (Iraq). I asked what branches they had served in; all three were Marines. Her brother and her husband had served together, and both had given their lives to that war – her brother while in country in 1965, and her husband to the cancer brought about by Agent Orange in 2003. Her son had been killed in Iraq in 2006. She usually drove herself, she said, but lately she didn’t feel safe driving and this was the first time she had only been able to get up to the Cemetery on Memorial Day.

It was late in the afternoon, and the day’s heat had had time to build up and settle in; it was around 104 when we arrived. I helped her out of the car, and started escorting her to the sites.

“Oh, young man, I’m OK. I don’t need your help, and besides, I can’t afford to pay your wait time.”

“Ma’am, you’re going to need a ride home. Don’t worry about the wait time. It would be my honor to accompany you on your walk.”

With that, we turned and headed down the path towards an older section of the Park. The first stop was at her brother’s site, and as she stepped close to talk to him, I held back and assumed a position of “at ease.” We moved on to her husband’s grave, and, finally, her son’s grave in the same manner – her taking a moment to speak to them, me allowing her privacy.

As I offered her my arm for the walk back to the cab, she again mentioned that I was being overly kind to an old bother like herself. I told her she wasn’t a bother, and that the honor was mine – after all that her family had given to this country, it was the least I could do.

The ride back to her home was pretty much silent.

When we pulled up, I hustled out and opened her door for her, helping her out once again.

“How much is the meter, Cary?”

“Seems to be broken, Mrs. H. You don’t owe anything.”

“Thank you, Cary. That is much too kind.”

“No, thank YOU for allowing your family to help keep this country as great as it is.”

I gave her my number, and told her that any time she wanted to go up and visit, I would drive her up in my own vehicle – so there wouldn’t be any issues about the meter. She looked up at me, and muttered something about stubborn Marines.

As I pulled away, I could see her waving to me, with a bigger smile on her face than when I picked her up.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!