I'm just sayin...: Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor...

Know Your Medal of Honor Recipients:

Commander Lawson Paterson Ramage (US Navy) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on July 31, 1944, in the Pacific. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as commanding officer of the U.S.S. Parche in a predawn attack on a Japanese convoy, 31 July 1944. Boldly penetrating the screen of a heavily escorted convoy, Comdr. Ramage launched a perilous surface attack by delivering a crippling stern shot into a freighter and quickly following up with a series of bow and stern torpedoes to sink the leading tanker and damage the second one. Exposed by the light of bursting flares and bravely defiant of terrific shellfire passing close overhead, he struck again, sinking a transport by two forward reloads. In the mounting fury of fire from the damaged and sinking tanker, he calmly ordered his men below, remaining on the bridge to fight it out with an enemy now disorganized and confused. Swift to act as a fast transport closed in to ram, Comdr. Ramage daringly swung the stern of the speeding Parche as she crossed the bow of the onrushing ship, clearing by less than 50 feet but placing his submarine in a deadly crossfire from escorts on all sides and with the transport dead ahead. Undaunted, he sent 3 smashing "down the throat" bow shots to stop the target, then scored a killing hit as a climax to 46 minutes of violent action with the Parche and her valiant fighting company retiring victorious and unscathed.

Second Lieutenant George H. Ramer (US Marine Corps) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on September 12, 1951, in Korea. His citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as leader of the 3d Platoon in Company I, in action against enemy aggressor forces. Ordered to attack and seize hostile positions atop a hall, vigorously defended by well-entrenched enemy forces delivering massed small-arms mortar, and machine gun fire, 2d Lt. Ramer fearlessly led his men up the steep slopes and although he and the majority of his unit were wounded during the ascent, boldly continued to spearhead the assault. With the terrain becoming more precipitous near the summit and the climb more perilous as the hostile forces added grenades to the devastating hail of fire, he staunchly carried the attack to the top, personally annihilated 1 enemy bunker with grenade and carbine fire and captured the objective with his remaining 8 men. Unable to hold the position against an immediate, overwhelming hostile counterattack, he ordered his group to withdraw and single-handedly fought the enemy to furnish cover for his men and for the evacuation of 3 fatally wounded marines. Severely wounded a second time, 2d Lt. Ramer refused aid when his men returned to help him and, after ordering them to seek shelter, courageously manned his post until the hostile troops overran his position and he fell mortally wounded. His indomitable fighting spirit, inspiring leadership and unselfish concern for others in the face of death, reflect the highest credit upon 2d Lt. Ramer and the U.S. Naval Service. He gallantly gave his life for his country.

Private Charles F. Rand (US Army) received his Medal of Honor for his actions on July 18, 1861, at Blackburns Ford, Virginia. His citation reads:

Remained in action when a part of his regiment broke in disorder, joined another company, and fought with it through the remainder of the engagement.

Good luck to our boys in Brazil as they face the Germans today in the World Cup. That’s right… for a few weeks every four years I like soccer (or, futbol, as the funny speaking people call it). We hope they get the win and leave no doubt about advancing to the next round.

Congrats to my good friend and brother Jason Farr on his performance last Saturday night. As you will remember, The Wife and I went on a double-date with Jeremy to see the MRSOE! Show that Farr was part of (MRSOE = Most Races Show On Earth). Rebecca did not attend because she thinks only white people can be funny (to be fair, that’s just a theory of mine). There were a lot of old white people there, which didn’t really seem to be the demographic that this show was geared towards. My guess was that they thought they were going to see the Most Racist Show On Earth. Overall, I thought it was a great show. A lot of laughs. I felt like Farr was the best of all of them… partly because he was the only one who had a clean act. All of the others had at least something in their set that was vulgar. I don’t mind cuss words, but I could do without the vulgar stuff.

The Wife has a new business… Path Finders. Make sure you go on the Facebook and “like” them. She will be doing the same thing she’s been doing for the last ten years… just now she will be on her own… with some of the same people she worked with at Pattison’s (but now she’ll have more control). Anyway, she is great at what she does so I know Path Finders will be very successful and will help a lot of special needs kids and families for years to come. I’m sure I will talk about this some more over the next few weeks.

Longtime I’m just sayin… fan (and my good friend and brother) Jeremy told me about a new podcast that some guys we know from college are doing called Bad Christian… but I never remembered to check it out. He told me about it again this past Saturday, and this time I remembered to give it a listen. All week I’ve had a Bad Christian marathon going as I try to catch up to the current episode. So far, I’ve got to say I’m glad Jeremy reminded me about this thing. I have found it great… very entertaining and some of the things they say really make me think. And sometimes, believe it or not, I like to think. They will talk about any and everything… a lot of stuff you don’t hear talked about in church. Some of their topics might make you uncomfortable, but I have found all of them interesting. I’m sure this podcast isn’t for everyone… but I like it. They remind me that being Christian does not mean being perfect. Feel free to “like” their Facebook page, too.

I emailed Jeremy to tell him that we needed to start a podcast (but that he would need to do about 90% of the “real work” on it). He hasn’t gotten back to me yet. I’m assuming he wants to get everything set up before he brings me in…

Speaking of Jeremy... A young man in my office (who I trained) told me yesterday that he met my old college roommate. It went something like this...

Young Man: "I met your old college roommate on the elevator the other day".

Me: "He's a liar".

My boss (to Young Man): "Jeremy?"

Young Man: "Yeah... He said not to believe anything Greg tells me".

Me: "He was probably drunk... Jeremy drinks all of the time".

How ‘bout the Winthrop President? That’s messed up…

Daniel punched Mary Ruth in the face Sunday night. Right on the nose… A right cross that Rocky would have been proud of. I doubt I would have believed it if I hadn’t walked into the room a split second before the threw the punch. That was bad luck for him…

I think Susie was born to be a soccer player. Why do I say this? Because she “flops” when she gets in a fight with Daniel or Mary Ruth. If one of them touches her just a little bit, Susie will fall to the ground and cry like she just got shot… but once you scold the offending party, she will get up and laugh like nothing is wrong. She’s only four, but she’s already working on her PhD in Mind Games. I’ll be honest, she scares me. I mean, The Force is strong with this one.

I went to a funeral yesterday. I one point, I found myself thinking... What I would like is for a friend to hire a very (very) good looking woman (or three or four) to come to my funeral and just cry uncontrollably. I mean, cry to the point that people look at her/them and think... "How did she/they know him?" I feel like that could be a nice little joke...

Picture Thursday

We could call this "Suck it... Picture Thursday".... :)

Me with Aunt Yvonne... Suck it, Susan

Me with Mom... Suck it, Sonny

Another one of me and Aunt Yvonne... Suck on it some more, Susan

Me and Uncle Keith... Why this angle? Because we were at a funeral (not the one I talked about above). Friends, all of my favorite funeral memories involve Uncle Keith.