Kill An American? Written by an Australian Dentist.. Thanks!

To Kill an American

You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American. So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is.. So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)

'An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek.

An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab or Pakistani or Afghan.

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.

The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness..

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return. When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country! As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world.

But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself.

Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place.

They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom.

Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.

DeForest Kelley's Home Still Exists -- in Cyberspace!

Although the Kelley home was sold and torn down following Carolyn's passing in 2004, the realtors who sold it have kindly left the listing in existence. So if you ever wondered what kind of home the Kelleys had, you'll be surprised to discover how small it was and how un-Hollywood-like.

http://tours.tourfactory.com/tours/tour.asp?t=205550&home=www.JerryKeller.com&slink=-1&sReferer=&r=http://www.google.com/search?sourceid%3Dnavclient%26ie%3DUTF-8%26rls%3DGGLR,GGLR:2005-52,GGLR:en%26q%3D15463%2BGreenleaf%2BStreet%252c%2BSherman%2BOaks%252c%2BCalifornia

When furnished, it was the most comfortable-feeling home I ever walked into. It felt familiar and "like home" the moment you entered.

I wish it hadn't been razed to make way for a McMansion, but buyers aren't sentimental in the least, in most cases. In fact, they may not even have known whose home they were buying...

Alas...

But do enjoy the only tour you will ever have of the home!


P.S. I'm very much looking forward to finding out what Karl Urban has done with the reel McCoy this time around. I'll be seeing the movie opening weekend (next weekend) and blogging about it afterward. I expect good things, based on all I've read, seen and heard.

P.P.S My newest De Kelley book, the first edition of THE ENDURING LEGACY OF DeFOREST KELLEY: ACTOR, HEALER, FRIEND will be ready in time for the tenth anniversary of De's passing (June 11th, 2009). In fact, except for a final proofreading and deciding on its "carrier" (Payloadz or Clickbank), it's ready NOW! So get the word out, and let Trek folks and reporters know that I'm available for phone interviews about it...

Thanks!

Can You Spot the Camouflaged Mountain Lion/Cougar?

If not, it's about one inch up from the bottom of the photo.

(See the dark spot between two rocks that are lying at an angle?

The middle/belly of the cougar is lying immediately atop that dark spot on the two rocks.

Way Cool! Find Out What President Obama's Admin Has Done For Your State in Only the First 100 Days

This is a really cool interactive map. Check it out and tell your friends that the Obama Administration is on the ball and keeping things rolling in the right direction!

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/foundationforchange

Ponder These... Just for Fun!

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.
· There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.
· Life is sexually transmitted.
· Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
· The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.
· Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.
· Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?
· Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.
· In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.
· How is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?
· Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, 'I think I'll squeeze these dangly things and drink whatever comes out?'
· If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?
· Why does your OB-GYN leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?
· If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?
· If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?
· Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
· Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?
· Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?
· Do you ever wonder why you gave me your email address?

Short and Sweet...

Sure am sad to hear that Bea Arthur (from The Golden Girls, Maude, Archer Bunker, Mame, and so many other great acting venues) has passed away. Her career has given me a lot of laughs, smiles and sighs... and will continue to give them, thanks to syndication.

Casey and I rode bikes this morning. Other than that, I've just been on the Elance website bidding on projects. A self-employed person's work is never done... but I wouldn't be happy any other way. I love what I do much better than anything I have ever done before!

Obama's 100 day anniversary is coming up this Wednesday. I am so proud of all he has accomplished and so proud I campaigned for him from the very beginning and voted for him. He's helping us out of the woods and re-engaging in global diplomacy in ways we have seldom seen before. That can only bode well for America's reputation in the world.

Guess that's all for now.

Peace!

You'll Like This -- I Sure Do!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiYgpPB1kwU

Here in America, in God We Still Trust!

Thanks to April Rogers (Selena's mom) for sending me this wonderful link!

Whew! Got Around Just in Time!

Jesus loves me, this I know! (In all the walks I've had the past four months, twice a day, I haven't been rained on yet!)

It's pouring outside. I just finished my second walk of the day and the skies opened up. The clouds looked black and foreboding both times I walked, but they were always just far enough away that I thought I could get away with very quick walks. It worked! Then I played Wii sports games (tennis, bowling and golf) for an hour and a half, so I'm well exercised.

Whenever I don't have a writing project, I exercise. And this month, that has been a lot of the time. My usual client (who gives me half of each month's income usually) is slowing down for this month and next (she's having her first baby in a week or so) and I haven't landed another steady client or even a temporary client to take up the time yet, so I'm scrambling to find some quick projects. I can't afford to remain idle, even though I'm walking and exercising my tail off -- which is a very good thing. I need more work than I need walk right now, so if you know anybody who needs an exemplary copywriter for a short-term project (a day, a week, a month, two months, whatever) please send them to my page at Elance (http://kristinemsmith.elance.com). Thanks!

Prayers for Maria P....

When I lived in Southern California in North Hollywood, my mail carrier was Maria P. She was always a delight and took her job very seriously. If a piece of mail came to our very large condominium complex (250 units) addressed to the wrong unit number, she would be sure it got into the right mailbox anyway. She was always cheerful, helpful and wonderful, without fail. Her spirit drove her; everyone could see it.

I just learned from my accountant that Maria had a serious stroke on Easter Sunday. She is in a coma at Kaiser Permanente in Panorama City. I hope every prayer warrior who reads my blog will say many special prayers for her recovery. And please tell your friends to pray, too.

There are some very special people in this world and Maria is one of them...

Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover! Or a Person By Hers!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

This is the most amazing, heartwarming, wonderful thing I witnessed in many a year...

Sending You a Little Spring!

http://www.procreo.jp/labo/flower_garden.swf

Click anywhere as much or as little as you like!

Weighted Vests + Wiii Fit + Walking = Weight Loss!

Yesterday I took advantage of a huge sale at Big 5 Sporting Goods (sorry, the sale ended yesterday) and bought a ten-pound weighted vest for $20 (they're usually $50). The Danskin vest is very well designed and sturdy, unlike so many other ones I've seen (and left in the stores).

I've already walked 72 blocks wearing the new vest and what a difference it makes. I've lost ten pounds over the past month or so with the Wii Fit and walking, so didn't think that putting on an artificial ten pounds would "stretch" me much... but it's amazing how quickly the body responds to weight loss, because wearing the vest causes my heart rate to go up noticeably, and my "dogs" are again feeling the way they did when I first decided to walk the lard off: they are barking at me for carrying around so much extra weight! I look forward to walking off another ten pounds in the next couple of months.

When not writing, or looking for writing projects, I have been out in the back yard cutting the brush from the periphery of our property to the east and north. (It's only on the east and north, thank God!) Decades' worth of dense, dead, dry blackberry bushes blocked our view in both directions, and numerous downed trees on the north side weren't even visible because of them.

Now we can see in all directions and have massive amounts of downed detritus to get rid of somehow. It's illegal to burn it, so we'll either have to rent a chipper, rent a truck and haul it all to the dump, or stack it up and wait for it to turn into a compost pile over the years. There is one spot on the property where a compost pile was started by the previous owners years ago, so I could just add to it, but I took so much down that the pile might rival Mt. Rainier in height by the time I finished, so composting isn't my first choice!

You ought to see my legs. Even though I wore heavy jeans, I got stabbed hundreds of times by dead, dry thorns from the berry bushes. I also got bruised all over because I was using a big limb cutter to take down limbs and sometimes I had to use other parts of my body -- my chest, sides, legs, etc. -- to use as a "fulcrum" when exerting enough pressure to cut the limbs. So, when I'm naked, I look like I've been in a bomb blast, with shrapnel markings all over the place. I stopped the project for the long weekend on Thursday, so now my body is beginning to recover after numerous sea-salt-and-essential-oil soakings, but for a while I looked like a survivor from a war!)

Last weekend we went on a 12-mile bike ride on the Orting trail for the first time this spring. It was chilly but it didn't take very long for all of us to peel down to one layer of clothing and start drinking water.

I'm loving being active. My Wii Fit "fitness age" fluctuates between 34 and 49 years old (depending on how tired I am when I finally decide to check it out), which is pretty phenomenal since I'm 30-35 pounds overweight and 58 years old. It's in the genes and in my background -- I grew up very active and it's hard for me to sit still for long. (In fact, I feel crappy when I do forget the time and write for 4-5 hours without a break. Human bodies weren't created to sit still for hours at a time.)

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

HE IS RISEN!

I went to church this morning for the 9 a.m. Bible study and for the 10-11:30 a.m. Easter Sunday Celebration. Loved the Bible Study, loved the praise and worship segment... but had I known that the sermon was going to be such a fizzle, I would probably have driven to the Lutheran church two miles away where the rest of my family worships and was celebrating Easter.

I worship where I do (http://www.churchforallnation.sorg) because it has a marvelous Bible study and the sermons are usually more alive and challenging. Now that I'm quite knowledgable about Biblical matters and my relationship with Christ is solid, enduring and passionate, I no longer resonate to "ritualistic" worship. I require evangelical or Pentacostal underpinnings -- with their passionate worship styles -- to keep me fanning the flame. If the service doesn't get me all fired up for God, I'm prone to skipping it. Because for me, God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit is why I'm there and what it's all about. I want to interface with God in church beside fellow believers, or else what's the point? Otherwise I could just stay home and share intimate time with the Creator. I don't want to just show up, "do my duty," and leave unchanged from week to week.

My love for God is a passion and a privilege, not a duty. That's why ritualistic worship leaves me feeling robbed -- and wondering how it can do anything at all to deepen one's relationship with God.

But I know that millions of people wouldn't have worship any other way than the way they have always known it. God meets each of us wherever he finds us. If in ritual, so be it. There's nothing "wrong" with ritual. I just don't feel that I'm connecting when a church is too ritualistic. I need "space" where the divine can reach in between the notes of the music and the words being spoken and captivate me in the same the way a lover discerns the right time and the right way to embrace his beloved and carry her to the secret place where they enjoy each other totally.

God is love. He loves us, and He longs for us to love him very bit as passionately.

Pastor Braaten was saying -- in Bible study this morning -- that the reason we don't see our Christian brethren being raised from the dead, or their lameness healed, or their blindness cured, is because "we don't love them the way Christ loved us. If we did, we could do everything Jesus did while he was on earth. In fact, he told us we would do even greater things than he did. So why aren't we doing it?"

We love lamely. We love selfishly. We love "just enough" to get by. We wear love masks. We usually love too selectively to be able to call ourselves genuine image-bearers of Christ.

We don't love the way Jesus loved -- enough to lay down our lives for others. Only some parents, lots of soldiers, and a few other souls love that deeply (and many of them only love their own tribe, their own kids, their own nation that much). The rest of us don't want to get involved enough to really make miracles happen in the ways that Jesus did.

And God can't grant the ability to just anyone because some would abuse the gift and take all the glory for themselves.

I'm so glad we're forgiven. If any of us tried to get to heaven on our own merits, we'd all be staring into the open gates of hell, gasping in horror at what we, ourselves, have managed to "achieve" -- a trip no one wants to take and a destination no one wants to arrive at for all eternity!

Without a Savior, salvation is bogus.

With a Savior, all things are possible -- even miracles like those He accomplished 2000 years ago and like those He accomplishes every minute of every day... even now.

HALLELUJAH! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

I'm a Great Foul-Weather Friend, a Lousy Fair-Weather Friend

You've heard the angst about fair-weather friends -- people who are with you right up until you really need them, and then they disappear.

Well, as it turns out, I can document (and have, in a book) that I'm a foul-weather friend. I tend to disengage whenever everything is going fine for my friends. Friends find me hard to access when all is well with them.

Perhaps it's the "rescuer" in me (or the loner/shy one) that causes this strange anomaly, but I just don't ever feel truly "wanted" till I'm needed. I was that way with DeForest and Carolyn Kelley, and I'm that way with everyone else, too.

Is it insecurity? Absolutely!

And it can cause a lot of problems. People who aren't in peril like to be acknowledged, too! Every human being on earth wants to be celebrated, not tolerated. I "get" that. I guess I've just always been such a "do-it-yourself" soul that I feel most serene and grateful when everyone else is happily doing their own thing, too. I rarely feel "lonely."

That's a good thing, but it can cause hard feelings for those who ARE lonely. Not being gregarious by nature, it's stressful to me to have to "entertain" others in person or via email. I love blogging, because it's self-directed and interactive on my own terms.

I'm always busy doing something, but most of it is solitary stuff -- writing, reading, walking, working outside, studying. Perhaps I shoulda been a monk -- or a monkette :-)

Anyway, I just want all of you to know -- if you sense in me any kind of "distance"-- it's nothing personal. It's just the way I am. I don't mingle much. Never have. At conventions, or at work, it's part of my "job" to mingle... and I do it... and you'd never know I was shy... but it exhausts me... because it's way outside my comfort zone.

My sister is just the opposite -- she loves it when people surround her non-stop. I would lose my ever-lovin' mind if I was surrounded non-stop.

But hey, if you ever need serious HELP, I'll be there! My emotional distance should not, ever, be interpreted as not giving a fig about anyone or anything.

I really do care. I just need a really, really great reason to show it.

The Significance of What Jesus Did with His Burial Napkin

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His resurrection?

The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed separate from the grave clothes.

Early Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him!' Peter and the other disciple ran to the tomb to see. The other disciple outran Peter and got there first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in.

Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was folded up and lying to the side.

Was that important? Absolutely!

Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day. The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition.

When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating. The servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master were done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table.
For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, 'I'm done'.

But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the folded napkin meant, 'I'm coming back!'

He is Coming Back!

IN GOD WE TRUST

Happy Easter!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ9ZNwWehPk

Rare De Kelley Interview Footage... Enjoy!

Thanks again to Mary Doman for posting her "faves" at YouTube for others to find. These are some real finds!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaJUCuHdVg4&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkMsF_H8rws&feature=channel_page

And these few led me to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrnoGYKLwJA&feature=channel_page

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGmKPHuaHb4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMgm00A9Ghc

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/k6kHBLvFgBNNaWV1jw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5PKFV-n5Os&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj1L1mmlX4A&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlNGeA0vFEM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sj4V-0pURo

Does anyone else have other favorite Kelley/McCoy YouTube favorites? If so, please let me know!

If You Want to Be Blessed, Check out this YouTube URL

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC_qzefgElU&feature=email

Many thanks to Mary Doman for sending this link to me.

It's Friday!

Wednesday night Casey, Jamie and Wendy McNiven came over so I could help Casey with a school report and the construction of a "serval" for the class in which the serval report would be read.

For those of you who don't know, I raised a serval kitten (a knee-high African wildcat with ears like satellite dishes and long legs) from the time he was a week old until he passed away at age seventeen in 1996.

Casey is only eight so she never met Deaken (that was the serval's name), but of course she has heard a lot of stories about him, and she has a serval t-shirt which I gave her years ago even though it was waaayyy too large at the time I gave it to her.

So when the teacher asked the class to go to a library and check out several books about any animal they wanted to learn more about and do a report on, Casey chose servals.

They arrived Wednesday night with a short stack of four wildcat books and several sheets of impossibly large paper from which we were to fashion a three-dimensional serval using plastic bags for innards.

Casey had read the books before coming over, so when it came time to answer the questions (Where does your animal live? What does it eat? What kinds of other animals does it interact with, and how? What is its habitat like? What is the greatest threat to its existence? and the like) she wrote answers while Wendy and I stapled together the 3-D "stuffed" serval.

When Casey finished the written part of the report, she colored the serval on both sides. It turned out really great.

Then she had to write at least one paragraph about what make servals unique. She chose their ears because she remembered a story I had told her about Deaken's remarkable hearing. (If you've read my De book, you know what a terrible time DeForest Kelley gave me as a result of my having told HIM the same true story.) She wanted to type the story on my PC... so it took a half hour because she hasn't yet taken a typing class. I was patient and didn't go nuts as she typed... very... slowly... but made very few mistakes! The paragraph turned out great. We have a definite budding writer in the family!

Today my arm is back to normal size so I went out and mowed the lawn (the very large lawn) while Jackie dug up the weeds in the flower beds out front. I also walked twice today.

Last night Jackie and I went to the McNiven's for Wendy's awesome lasagna and while there I bowled three games of Wii Bowling -- left-handed, so I didn't mess up my newly-recovered arm. We also got involved with a few karaoke songs. Casey and I sang two songs together and then Jackie and I did a duet of "Almost heaven, West Virginia..." (what's the title of that John Denver song?). We got astronomically high scores and a "recording contract." (That means we did great.) I love karaoke. It always tells me I'm a great singer. I have a hard time believing that unless a machine tells me. I love to sing, but have an inferiority complex about it, because Jackie is the real singer in the family. She's fantastic.

What else? It was a little slow at Elance for me this week, so I have to make up for that. But my quarterly estimated taxes report will report that I made over $5K in three months. Had I been paid for work I did already, that would have been $6K... but some of the payments came in after midnight on March 31st, so they'll go into the next report.

I'm just amazed that I'm doing this well so quickly. I expected it to take a couple of years to be bringing in this much. It has really taken off the past three months and all the reviews are positive, so that fact (and my designation as a Premier Provider) is even bringing in requests for bids from buyers... I can't accept all of them, because I am committed to several "regulars," but it's great to have them coming in so I can accept the ones I have time for. In late April I will have to take on extra Elance work because one of my regulars will be going out on maternity leave for at least a month, so I'll have to find some temporary filler projects then.

I've been walking twice daily religiously as well as Wii-ing, so I'm slowly losing weight.

Sorry for this train-of-consciousness report. I usually take more time with these blogs, finessing them, but it's Friday night and I want to get off this PC and start enjoying the weekend right about now. If I've forgotten anything, I'll let you know sometime during the weekend.

Have a great one!