LEATHERNECKM31

Troika

Six months from now most of the nation won't remember that Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon are dead.

... because another well-known celebrity died yesterday and sucked all the air out of the room yesterday.

I'll always remember where I was when I learned Michael Jackson was dead... at my desk eating a sandwich; I got up and grabbed a beer.

In my charitable moments I can give the three-ring, freak show called "MJ" some compassion; his childhood was no doubt hellish what with a brutish and iron-fisted father and a very passive mother. The children's abuse is well-documented:

From a young age Jackson was physically emotionally abused by his father enduring incessant rehearsals, whippings and name-calling. Jackson's abuse as a child affected him throughout his grown life.

The Jackson boys were little more than indentured servants and if anyone ever looked at the books closely they'd find most of the money ended up in Dad's pocket.   

Michael's hatred of his father is the root cause of his near life-long effort to surgically remove from his own visage the features of a big, sexually mature black man. There was no more profound rejection of his abusive father than turning himself into a slight, white, asexual boy with a soft, falsetto voice... the absolute anathema of Joe Jackson; and to the point of disfigurement. 

An excuse for his later behavior? No... just an explanation.

Jackson, like The Grateful Dead, ruled over a very narrow slice of popular music which had no competitors; he and they were successful because no one the planet but they could perform their music.

He was an entertainer who followed Alice Copper's observation on performing: "For his 10 bucks a kid going to a concert deserves more than just some guys with guitars." 

He was Sammy Davis Jr. on steroids and probably was only happy when performing....  no past, no future, no father, only the adoration he never received from his childhood.

But at some point, the cheering always stopped.

Jackson was also intelligent and while no attorney or CPA, he kept his empire together for a very long time, until with his maturity his sexual nature, long repressed, fought it's way to the surface. Jackson was also smart enough to invent the "harmless man-child" personal that the media, his fans, perhaps even his family members, bought into and spouted as gospel.  

The "Neverland Valley Ranch", the toys, the zoo, were all covers for the rather passive pedophile which enabled him to talk disgusting mothers and fathers into turning over their children to him for his infamous "sleep overs". They pimped out their own kids so they could tell their friends they were "friends with Michael Jackson".

Each and everyone of them should have been arrested and their children taken from them.

His front page acquittal on sexual abuse charges a couple of years ago is all the news media (especially Jerry Rivers (aka Geraldo Herrera) chooses to report on his sexual lifestyle. And not much will be mentioned of the $20 million paid off to a family in exchange for their refusal to testify against him in criminal court on charges he molested their son.

Two more pimps. Twenty-million dollar pimps.

There would not be a Michael Jackson on stage, or the MJ with little boys constantly sitting on his lap if it wasn't for an immoral society that demands nothing and gives all to the most inconsequential segment of the populace... entertainers.

Other than Jackson himself, and his parents, the so called black community must bear great responsibility for allowing the singer (and O.J. Simpson) to get away with all he did.

There's an old political saying... "no enemies to my left"; we certainly see that today.

It's the same with black folk.... murderer, pedophile, insane, incompetent, criminal, liar, cheat or thug. It doesn't matter who or what or how they are.... above all, they are black and that's all that required to be tolerated or even revered.

Two words: Mike Tyson.

Think about that.... this extended even to Jackson; yet I'm blacker than he was. He was worked very hard to be intentional non-black, but blacks require nothing more than the color (or former color) of ones skin to form their philosophy. How else to you explain that upwards of 95% of black voters cast ballots for Obama... even those on military active duty.

Group think. Lemmings. Dangerous.

(This just in: the only evidence required for me above observation: four black members of the House of Representatives asked for and received a moment of silence for Jackson on the House floor.)

I digress. Michael Jackson's death a tragic loss....?  Yes--for those who made a living off him, for white businessmen, his family (I suppose), for his mindless, sycophantic worshipers?... so they will say.

As with Elvis Presley who invented the entertainer-out-of-control freak show bit, Jackson's death at 50 (eight years older than "The King") is just a blessing for a tormented soul.  

His passing means little in the end, except that his pain is over and many more children won't have bad dreams.

But then I never understood all the overwrought boo-hooing about Princess Di.

Ed McMahon -- March 6, 1923 – June 23, 2009

I wrote Ed McMahon back in the 80s and received a nice autographed 8x10 of him standing by the open gates of the NBC studies in "beautiful downtown Burbank."

It was signed, "Col. Ed McMahon, USMC-ret."

McMahon volunteered during WWII and trained as a fighter pilot, but was never overseas. In the 1950s, McMahon was recalled to duty for Korea. There, he got his hours in the F-9 Panther, and flew 85 combat missions as an artillery spotter in the Cessna OE Bird Dog.

Not an enviable job.

McMahon re-invented the "second-banana" role in show business and as Johnny Carson's side-kick, they changed the definition of late night television entertainment and it's safe to say that over their 30 years together on the Tonight Show they were "beloved" by two generations of viewers and fans.

All the rest who have followed... Leno, Letterman, O'Brien, and all the other imitators, they couldn't hold the old Tonight Show's microphone.

In his later years Ed fell on hard times and it was difficult to see him struggle... but that's only money and possessions. He'll be remember and apparently justifiably so, as a good guy.

"Hi-oh" Ed, and Good Night.

Farrah Fawcett -- February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009

If there was ever a quintessential American Girl for my generation, it had to be Farrah... hell, she was even from Texas.

It was easy to dismiss her because of the poster (still the largest-selling of all time with 12 million copies) and the fluff that was "Charlie's Angles", but in time she became a solid actress with several good roles before her career ran out and her own personal demons came to rule her life.

In the end she had a real dignity, fighting an absolutely horrible form of cancer for three years before passing on a few days ago.   

In a way beautiful women never grow old. Of course we see current photos and movies but that reality never seems to intrude on but what captured our eye in the first place.

Hell, I'm still in love with Veronica Lake who in my mind's eye remains as alluring, mysterious and smolderingly sexy as she was when I first saw The Blue Dahlia.

In fact, their careers were somewhat parallel and it always reminds me that despite great beauty and perhaps because of it, some will suffer greatly.

Still, when I see Farrah's photos from those days, for a while I feel younger and remember a simpler time when good health was a given and the party went on forever.

Sleep, princess.

Here, there and everywhere....

I finally got to mix it up with a A-rab who hates us.

Overall, it was disappointing, but then no more so than dueling with the typical U.S. leftist citizen who hates America. There's a lesson there somewhere.

Her website.....:

America - I HATE YOU -- "I hate everything you represent, everything you stand for, everything about you...EVERYTHING. I f**king hate you."

.... drew my attention and so I fired one across her bow:

June 9, 2009 at 7:05 AM, <leatherneckm31@suddenlink.net:

I don't give a damn if you like Americans or not; we're used to being condemned by ragheads who would rather live under a 14th century dictatorship than stand up and fight their oppressor. In the end we will kill as many of you as it takes until you cease being a threat to this country. Why don't you quit whining and go get fitted for a suicide vest?  Currently we're in need of more targets.

GA

 Layla Anwar laylaanwar@gmail.com June 9 3:37 pm

Thank you for your wonderful mail and making my task easier -- you keep confirming what an asshole of a people you are. Hell, you even do it better than I.

Best regards

Layla Anwar

June 9, 2009 4:57 PM, <leatherneckm31

Glad to help.

Gotta go... there are a few others like you that need to be bitch slapped this morning.
Regards,
G

June 9, 5:22 pm <laylaanwar@gmail.com> wrote:
Americans have destroyed my country... carrying their d**ks and their guns on their shoulders.

Okay then f**k off ---you sound like a real retard of a moron, like all americans...lol.

 

June 9, 2009 5:57 PM, <leatherneckm31

That's the best you got.... a gutter mouth and "retard of a moron"...?

"Carrying their d**ks and guns on their shoulders...."?

.... thanks, we do equally well with both.

Regards habibtee,

g

 

Layla June 10 2:18p

I doubt you do well with either...and that's the best you deserve you sick moron...

Just in case you don't understand what f**k off means...since you are such a dumb American, maybe you need to get that putrid ass of yours in Iraq and we will show you the exact meaning of the word

Best regards dear

Layla

 

June 10 4 pm

Would that I could, dearie; I'd pay my own way to Iraq just to blow you bottom feeders straight to hell. ... but rest assured my friends and I tried to kill as many commie wastes of skin as possible in Vietnam.

Which prompts the obvious question: You're still a relatively young pseudo-jihadists... why hide behind a keyboard when the IslamoNazi subhumans could certainly put you to good use on a one-way bomb run. 'Course you'd have to walk because they don't let your kind drive. That would be a win-win for the U.S. and the ragheads --- we'd get rid of your dreadful writing and the rags hate women which is understandable in a nation of faggots.

Lemme know when you're ready to put your dinar where your pie hole is.

In the meantime here's the link to the latest Apache 30mm gun run videos... http://gotwarporn.com/labels/30mm.html ---new and improved, and now with added Jihadi mist....

Allah Snackbar, G

Layla June 10 4:18p

You keep proving that you're not only an ignoramus Nazi, but also a dumb fuck.

What can I say --  except block your stupid red neck name...

Go get yourself a life and an  anti psychotic medication, all viet vet are deeply imbalanced.

so long sucker...

I suspect Layla the pseudo-revolutionary lives in the basement of her mom's house and goes about 240; and as you can tell, she is very angry and near incoherent.... sort of like Rosie O'Donnell. In fact, she made be Rosie O'Donnell.

Good one from Politico.com complaining about Obama's mix of "frothy mix of glamour and domesticity."

President Obama could become in the public mind something he never sought to be: the Martha Stewart of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

And political veterans say the fine line between what’s inspiring and what’s annoying can be difficult to spot in advance.

Ridiculous, didn't take me more than a few seconds... two and a half years ago.

You'll recall yesterday that I posted the U.S. Army directive that forces our soldiers to break off a firefight if the Taliban duck into houses and other structures that may be inhabited by civilians.

Humm, I wonder what the ragheads will do when engaged?

Here's audio/video proof of how many restrictions there are on our troops before they can open fire.... listen as Apache pilots ask six times for clearance before lighting up a squad of Taliban who helped enormously by bunching up like a gaggle of 1400 A.D. idiots.... wait, they are 1400 A.D. idiots. 

Don't forget to contact your members of Congress to oppose "cap and trade" legislation which is subject of a sneak vote Friday.... why Friday, you ask?

You've been asleep.

Also the Obamacare legislation looms; if we don't hack up these socialist/fascist tentacles, we're as good as economic slaves.

Here's the one-stop link to make it easy... at USA.Gov

Absurdity, thy name is Barack....

What's this?

The cool presidential code sign for "call me"?

That hip thang that The One does when he's in Hawaii hangin' with his homies to indicate that he's down with wazzup?

Who knows, who cares.

Mahalo, Dude.

While the world waits for the leader of the free world to find his testicular fortitude (psst.. look in Michelle's desk drawer) on the brutal suppression of humans rights in Iran, Barack Hussein Obama credits himself with this:

 Washington Post -- Obama’s approach to Iran, including his assertion that the unrest there represents a debate among Iranians unrelated to the United States, is an acknowledgment that a U.S. president’s words have a limited ability to alter foreign events in real time and could do more harm than good. But privately Obama advisers are crediting his Cairo speech for inspiring the protesters, especially the young ones, who are now posing the most direct challenge to the republic’s Islamic authority in its 30-year history.

In addition to having no guts, this horses' ass has no shame.

but every once in a while,
I wanna talk about me, I wanna talk about i
Wanna talk about number 1 oh my, me, my,
What I think, what I like, what I know, what I want, what I see.

Someone should start counting the number of time Obama uses the first person in his comments, it's easy to confuse him with some giddy 20-year-old starlet in her first movie.

Let us contrast the comments of  French President Nicholas Sarkozy with POTUS on the issue of forcing women to wear burlap bags.

First the country that surrender to the Nazis in a few weeks and then formed a puppet government to help the oppressors....

“In our country, we cannot accept that women be prisoners behind a screen, cut off from all social life, deprived of all identity … The burqa is not a religious sign, it’s a sign of subservience, a sign of debasement — I want to say it solemnly, it will not be welcome on the territory of the French Republic.”

Now, Obama in Cairo on June 4th, 2009:

“Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one’s religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state of our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That is why the U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it.

I'd like to seed him in the hijab; and if it's so great, order Michelle The Predator into one... about a size 22.

 

Build it and they won't come...

The following would only happen in California; the former Golden State and now verging on a movie parody in which Mad Max meets I am Legend, has had sand kicked in its face.

"After hiring a feng shui expert and spending more than $7.4 million on a special exhibit complete with golden Buddha, the Los Angeles Zoo will not be getting three rare golden monkeys (left) from China promised in 2002.  (I'm not even going to get into why three little monkeys require a palace to live in.)

"It was a decision by the Chinese government and we're disappointed," said Councilman Tom LaBonge. "But, it is not a waste. We have a beautiful facility and we will put other animals on display there."

"The agreement to bring in the golden monkeys, identifiable by their blue faces and long flowing blond hair, was developed by Hahn during his trip to China."

Apparently the LA-la Land pols deemed it important to go to China to beg for big primates and got the second place critters... and now they don't even have them.

No wonder Cali's going down the drain.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that the Chi-Coms are having a jolly ole time screwing with us. Look for the Reds to stuff Obama in a wall locker when they get the chance.

Remember when Obama rolled out the red carpet for Iranians thugs and murders to come join him for the Fourth of July celebrations here?

Well, the above pictures have not caused him to retract his invitation... besides the formerly living young people despised their government and took to the streets. Perhaps he sees his own future.

Meanwhile he'll just have some dogs and ice cream with the girls.

Lastly, the following is pop culture news that convinced me that we are now living in the Absurd Generation.

TORONTO (AP) - Police have charged the tour manager of the Black Eyed Peas with assault after he allegedly gave celebrity blogger Perez Hilton a black eye outside a Toronto nightclub.

Hilton said he got into an argument with band members Fergie and will.i.am at a nightclub early Monday morning and was punched outside by Polo Molina, the band's tour manager.

Hilton, whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, complained about the incident on his Twitter site. He tweeted at 4 a.m.: "I am bleeding. Please, I need to file a police report. No joke."

Hilton, who is openly gay, said that he called will.i.am a "faggot," a gay slur, inside the club after the musician told the blogger not to write about his band on his Web site.

"He was like 'You need to respect me.' He was in my face. He was obviously trying to intimidate me and scare me," Hilton said. "I knew (what) would be the worst thing I could possibly say to him.... I said 'You know what, I don't respect you and you're gay and stop being such a faggot.'"

Hilton, along with Lady Gaga, (right) then left the club and was punched from behind. 

......... So a fat butt pirate who stole the name of a skanky heiress and is famous only for writing a blog and condemning a pretty young woman who had the audacity to say "marriage is for one man, one woman" dissed someone named "will. i.am." who is part of a farming collective and was smacked in retaliation by the farm manager Mario Lavandeira who is not the crooner from the 1950s; oh, and all this was either "twitted" or tweeted" to the populace.... and Lady Gaga who is from Yonkers and makes her own jewelry (my own research) was there, too. 

In short, a black black-eyed pea, sucker-punched a gay tweeting faggot for calling another black black-eyed pea a faggot and was later twittered on by the same non-black, non-black-eyed pea faggot.  

....it is the last sign of the Apocalypse.

Iranians whacked, Obama snacked

The young man at the right is a patriot. He would rather die fighting than live on his knees.

His courage in the face of the IslamoNazi subhumans who rule his country has cost him dearly, but every revolution must have a Patrick Henry. 

"Nine years ago, Ahmad Betebi appeared on the cover of The Economist.This photo during the student demonstrations made Batebi famous. It also made him a target of the regime.

"Ahmad Betebi was sentenced to death by the evil regime in Iran after the student protests of 1999. He was severely tortured for years in the notorious Evin Prison in Iran. During a break from prison, Batebi fled Iran traveling through a free Iraq to Austria and finally arriving in Washington DC." (Read and view in-depth interview via Gateway Pundit.com.

Here's what the new generation of Iranian freedom fighters think of Dear Leader's cowardice in the face wholesale murder in the street of Tehran. 

"His (Obama) lack of response will not be regarded lightly. We will watch for how much his response will help the people or the regime. We will know more this week... Obama can hold talks with the regime in Iran if he wants.

Is it morally correct for Obama to support the regime? Does he actually believe the people of Iran will appreciate that? The social movement requires support. If the world really wants the advent of terrorism to disappear in the Middle East, if they want peace with the Palestinians and Israel, if they want nuclear technology to be developed for peaceful things and not nuclear weapons... They only need to support the people of Iran right now. This regime has the most dangerous of ideologies.

"They're killing the opposition."

Meanwhile, despite Iran, the NoKor weapons ship, an economy fast resembling that of the Weimer Republic, unemployment beyond 12% and a well-planned fiscal suicide.... Obama sets up a propagandist's photo op with his kids; proving the adage, that when the going gets tough, the tough buy ice cream.

As HotAir reported:

Obama Snacked, Iranians Got Whacked

Below is a graphing video of the murder of a young woman dubbed Neda ("The Voice") gunned down by Iranian security forces. Now a decade later, this Iranian uprising for freedom has its own martyr.

She went to the rally with her father and died instantly of a bullet to the base of her throat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This should be a pinnacle moment for the world's oldest true constitutional republic to stand side-by-side with those who face the guns of an oppressive government, just as we did 230 years ago.

It is in our DNA.

All people in the world striving to be free look to America.... the students in Tiananmen Square erected a State of Liberty before it and they were crushed under the treads of communist tanks.

We could once again provide hope for an oppressed people, but we won't because we have a weak and incompetent leader incapable of doing anything but stroking his own ego.

If we actively backed regime change in Iran, make and fulfill our promise of support to the opposition movement and topple the present government of, half the world's terrorist activity or more, would grind to a halt.

But that would take common sense, vision and courage... both political and moral.

Barack Hussein Obama lacks all three, unmoved by people young an old, male and female, facing down automatic weapons with sticks and rocks and guts.

He is a moral and physical coward.

Not long ago I suggested to some folks that "68 million people were responsible for this" meaning the current domestic and foreign tar babies Obama has created in only six months.

Some were actually offended when I suggested that just as words have meanings, votes have consequences.

Lastly, this is the way the current CnC proposes to ferret out the subhumans in Afghanistan and kill them in their numbers:

Shades of Vietnam? New US Rules of Engagement Says Troops Must Disengage if Taliban Enter Homes....

KABUL – The top U.S. general in Afghanistan will soon formally order U.S. and NATO forces to break away from fights with militants hiding in Afghan houses so the battles do not kill civilians, a U.S. official said Monday.

The order would be one of the strongest measures taken by a U.S. commander to protect Afghan civilians in battle. American commanders say such deaths hurt their mission because they turn average Afghans against the government and U.S. and NATO forces.

No army ever won a war by giving sanctuary of any kind to the enemy, or by placing concern for civilian casualties above its soldiers' lives. 

Now, courtesy of the cyber patriots at ApacheClips.com (via The Big Zip over at Weaselzipper.com) here's his Monday Morning War Porn which is fast gaining popularity with LM31 faithful readers.... which means soon you will all end up on a fed list of some kind; I've been on it for some time and was getting lonely. 

This would seem to indicate that the remotely-flown UAV involved here might just be better shooter than pilots and gunners on choppers and A-10s which is total logic. And these are the kids who were "wasting their lives playing video games" 15 years ago.

Hell... we're best at everything.

Allah Snackbar!

Life in the fast lane... for the older set

To brush up for the Wright-Patt AFB Airshow in Dayton next moth, yesterday I drove to the Denton Airport to shoot a small airshow.

It was near 100, but as I always say down here... "don't matter, it's the damned humidity". Texans don't understand this, having lived in a moss and mold producing environment their entire lives. They think potato chips going soft in two hours and 11 minutes is normal... just buy some more.

Hell, living in the semi-arid desert of Colorado most of my life... many times I've actually eaten foodstuffs left behind by the Donor Party as they trekked through on that ill-advised trip to California some years back.

Anyway, it was hot and I put three bottles of water in my shorts' cargo pockets, loaded my gear and began walking around.

I must say here that jets have little fascination for me... it is doesn't have a prop what good is it really? Most have no style, so most are butt-ugly.

The day started well... as so often happens, my first shot of the day was my best.........................

.... it was the venerable DC-3 which really began civilian air travel in the U.S after indispensable service in WWII.

I was annoyed however when the announcer reported that the "DC 3 was the key aircraft in WWII's China-Burma-India theater.

It was a C47 damnit!

I wandered through the static display and there were several great air frames, but there's something about air shows that annoys me to hell; they let people come and I seldom get any decent on-ground shots.

"Here's a nice Corsair with a baby stroller and a guy in plaid shorts."

Not something I show people.

Nonetheless it's a small crowd and passing by a group of F-18 demonstration pilots I'm reminded of how great it must be to be to have that job, and those wives or girlfriends that go with them.... "right into the danger zone....'

I'm not saying that some women are shallow and will date/marry any man in the world if he is rich, has exotic employment or is a pro ball player or actor............

No, wait... that's exactly what I'm saying.

This venerable P-40 was outfitted in the  livery of the American Volunteer Group who didn't wait for Pearl Harbor, the  young men left the US and started killing Japs while FDR fiddled around.

Love those guys... love the P-40.

And then the highpoint of the air show... it was one of those encounters that happen to me (thankfully) with some frequency.

I was looking down making adjustments to my cameras and she came into view just to my left.

The first thing I noticed was the "zipper". The zipper is a hard-earned badge for those who have had heart surgery... or had their "chest cracked" in the parlance of the operating theater.

It peeked out just above her tiny, white tank top, surgical tape still covering the incision and stitches.

I fought the lump in my throat.

I turned to a woman next to me.

"If you don't mind my asking, how's she doing?," gesturing at the four year-old, perhaps the most beautiful child I'd ever seen.

"Oh, she's not mine... mine are over there."

I moved on to the next nearest person... and repeated the question.

"Oh, she's doing fine, thanks... just out of the hospital."

With that the Beautiful Girl lifted her tank top to reveal, as warriors will, the scars of battle; with her left hand she pointed out a small scar to the left of the sternum midline.

"That's her drain tube scar," said her Dad. "She thinks it's the most interesting."

I would learn that she'd been under the knife three times, and the last surgery was to repair "all the plumbing around her heart". But just two weeks later, she's at an airshow with her Dad.

I didn't ask any more question. I didn't want to contemplate any possible negative outcome for this angel in 10--20--30 years. I hope she lives to be 100.

I gave Dad a card and ask him to send me an e-mail so I could send photos....

So, this is my Father's Day gift to my faithful readers: we all should be as tough as these two.

It's no doubt creepy for civilians to have a hulking guy with cameras and  business cards accost them only to begin blubbering, so I touched her lightly on the head and shake hands with Dad... I can't say what I want to... about what a good Dad he is.

March on.

I shot several planes aloft already knowing that I wouldn't be happy with my work. I've order a bigger telephoto for my Nikons and I'm forced to use my back-up Olympus.

An hour of so later I realized that I was walking around sort of aimlessly amid the vendor tents and not feeling well.

My Basic Brain reported... "heat stroke, dumbass".

Very familiar... Vietnam, and again a couple of years later when I jumped in my car at Fresno State and headed home three miles distant--in August.

Despite the A/C, when I got to the apartment I literally fell out of the car and staggered toward a cold water-filled bath tub. 

Although I'd prepared for the heat in my clothing, headgear and fluids, I'd let the heat get out in front of me and perhaps lost my situational awareness. (Piss off Don, it could happen to anybody).

I immediately sought shade and drank the rest of my water--I had consumed two and a half of my three water bottles... and yet.

In such potentially embarrassing situations, I am most focused on maintaining a witty repartee so as to not end up on YouTube.... or if it's really good, to end up on YouTube.

Yep, the knees were going and the vision was getting increasingly "tunneled" as we in the Dr. House Academy of Sarcastic Medicine call it.

I made it to a vendor's shade.

This is what I remember to the best of my sun-dried memory.

"Kind sir, I'd like to have a bit of your shade and could you call the paramedics for me?"

That seemed to be cool enough; more importantly he jumped to it. Good man.

He grabbed some of the young AF Junior ROTC kids who a alerted an Air Force/National Guard medic who took my pulse and reported "60 and thready."

I liked that.... not as good as "60 cc's of Epi, stat!!!", but it'll do.

Soon Denton Fire's great EMTs arrived and by then I couldn't get my head up having already off-loaded all the water in my stomach (I should eat breakfast more often, Don says it's the most important meal of the day).  

It was like they were talking to me from then end of a tunnel... and their questions were more of a suggestion... get up on the gurney? No, I'll just sit here in Mr. Vendor's shade

They lift, I sag.

I say good-bye and thanks to Vendor, ROT-C and Air Force.

I was able to come up with my best line at this point; as they began wheeling the chair-gurney toward the fire EMT truck, I said: "Say, isn't this when the crowd breaks out in spontaneous applause." 

That even got a chuckle from the firemen who are a damned tough audience... especially since my condition was about as interesting as watching paint dry. 

Anyone who thinks the AC in a fire truck is lacking... take it from me... not even.

Blessed cold.

Over the next hour and a half, they hooked me up to the usual instruments... I began to rally on the second liter of fluid running into a forearm vein, we joked and and I babbled weakly. From the radio traffic it was clear that others were dropping like flies outside... made be feel a little less whimpish.

 These EMTs are pros; I'm relaxed; it's like a flight nurse I dated once told me... "if you ever have a choice of being treated by a flight nurse and EMTS or a physician driving past the accident... go with the nurse."

Like I'm an idiot... we spent a great two years together but I never got to fly in the chopper.

Anyway, good luck Beautiful, and thanks, Denton Fire Department.