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At the FReeper Canteen!
C'mon and take a break ! Walk on over to the water cooler and lets chat. Post your thoughts, opinions, news of the day, rantings, ravings, pontificates, hypothesis, hyperboles, your soap box cause, your mantra, your baggage, your garbage, your blogging, your secrets, whatever you feel would make talk around the water cooler real interesting!
Please remember that The Canteen is here to support
and entertain our troops and veterans and their families,
and is family friendly.
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God said: "Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles."
St. FRANCIS: It's the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers 'weeds' and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass? But, it's so boring. It's not colorful. It doesn't attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It's sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it-sometimes twice a week.
GOD: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
ST. FRANCIS: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.
GOD: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
ST. FRANCIS: No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
GOD: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
ST. FRANCIS: Yes, Sir.
GOD: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
ST. FRANCIS: You aren't going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
GOD: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It's a natural cycle of life.
ST. FRANCIS: You better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
GOD: No!? What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?
ST. FRANCIS: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch. They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
GOD: And where do they get this mulch?
ST. FRANCIS: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
GOD: Enough! I don't want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you're in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?
ST. CATHERINE: 'Dumb and Dumber', Lord. It's a story about....
GOD: Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.
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*'Weird Al' Yankovic Takes on Gaga in Full 'Perform This Way' Video*
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Ballistic Underwear Make Their Way to Marines in Afghanistan
Photo by Cpl. Marco Mancha CAMP LEATHERNECK, Helmand province, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – A Marine models a pair of tier 1 ballistic underwear. Made of lightweight silk, the black pair of underwear that resembles bicycle shorts is in high demand throughout Afghanistan. The ultimate goal for the underwear is to better protect Marines from improvised explosive devices, the number one cause of American troop casualties since the start of the war.
CAMP LEATHERNECK, Helmand province, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan – Once you get past the humor of “ballistic underwear,” the threat it helps mitigate is real and the protection is necessary.
The new ballistic underwear to better protect against life-altering injuries is here and has already become a standard in proper protective equipment for almost every unit when they go outside any forward operating base in Afghanistan.
The rest of the story....
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Anniversary of the Pledge of Allegiance 6/22/1942
The pledge began as an intensive communing with...our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspirations of the people...
--Francis Bellamy, author of the original Pledge of Allegiance
In 1892, Francis Bellamy wrote and published the first Pledge of Allegiance in his magazine, Youth’s Companion. It was publicly recited for the first time at the first Columbus Day celebration, held that year. Bellamy’s first pledge read: “I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic for which its stands; one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” The pledge soon became popular and was adopted by schools across the nation.
By the time of the Second World War, many states had made the daily recitation of the pledge mandatory for teachers and students. This led to a controversy about the pledge. In 1940, with the threat of war hanging over the nation, a case went to the U.S. Supreme Court challenging the mandatory pledge law in West Virginia. There, several students refused to recite the pledge on religious grounds. Their parents claimed the law violated the Constitution. The court upheld the law, finding that the state’s goal to instill national unity and patriotism should not be overruled by the judiciary unless it significantly affected religious rights.
Three years later, the disputed West Virginia flag salute law came again before the court. This time the court held that no person should be compelled to state beliefs which violated personal conscience or conviction and that while the state could require the pledge, a pupil could not be punished for refusing to say it.
In the 1950s with America embroiled in the Cold War with the Soviet Union, a change was made to the pledge. Wishing to emphasize the philosophical differences between the United States and the communist world, Congress passed a law in 1954, inserting the words “under God” into the pledge. It then read: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
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On This Day....
1883 - The New York Giants baseball team admitted all ladies free to the ballpark on this, the first Ladies Day.
Lead Story
Teflon Don sentenced to life, 1992
American Revolution
Commodore Parker prepares for a naval strike on Charleston, 1776
Automotive
"Mercedes" registered as a brand name, 1902
Civil War
Lee confers with his generals before the Seven Days' Battles, 1862
Cold War
Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Aleksei Kosygin, 1967
Crime
Even without the corpse, a murderer is uncovered, 1934
Disaster
Tornadoes hit West Virginia and Pennsylvania, 1944
General Interest
Nasser elected president, 1956
Klaus Fuchs released, 1959
Hollywood
Batman released, 1989
Literary
Michael Shaara, author of The Killer Angels, is born, 1929
Music
Tiffany visits the mall on her way to stardom, 1987
Old West
Frontiersman Martin Sweeny is murdered, 1878
Presidential
Newspaper reveals Coolidge will be adopted into Sioux tribe, 1927
Nixon signs Higher Education Act, 1972
Haldeman encourages Nixon to ward off FBI, 1973
Sports
Title IX enacted, 1972
Vietnam War
Johnson announces new ambassador to South Vietnam, 1964
North Vietnamese encircle Ben Het, 1969
World War I
First Battle of the Isonzo, 1915
World War II
Hitler takes a tour of Paris, 1940
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Lamh Foistenach Abu! 
