Hello and Im back now to doing this blog alot more now that the computer is back and in operation, still can't get Itunes to load up but if thats the biggest problem then all is well.

Well the weekend was a nice one. Friday I went to a party that my other american teacher threw and it was nice, hot dogs, hamburgers, jello shots and beer. The party ended early when the land lord complained about our noise. We broke up and went to another frinds house where I finally went home at 330 am.

Saturday was ok, Finally saw "Sympathy for Mr. Vengence" on the big screen and it was great. Went to Osan and got a few dvds and came home.

Sunday went to Seoul and hung out with a friend of mine, we had a nice quiet time.


looks like a all you can drink party for 20,000w on Friday, my drinking has sure increased since I have been back in Korea, I need to slow down on that and very soon.

Need to cal home this weekend, I havent done it in a while.

ok well the computer is back up and running, it took a whole new motherbord and I upgraded a hard drive and added better usb ports. Im staying home on Friday, just going to take it a little easy. Saturday and Sunday both look busy so Ill take Friday as a break.

Ok still my computer is fried at home and I'm sick so nothing to report, just wanted a quick update.

I will post more about the week but I saw this and I just had to publish it.

Cindy Sheehan is the California mother camped outside President Bush's ranch in Texas to protest the death of a son who was killed while serving with U.S. forces in Iraq. I have been folowing this and sad to say I am, as a vet, saddened by her protest. I understand why, tp burry your own child is the sum of all fears for a parent. It worried mine when I was in the US Army. I could go on but she keeps asking the same question.

Why did my son have to die.

http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/2005/08/message-to-cindy-sheehan.html

It states it better than I can. I hope you read the story and I hope you understand.

A message to Cindy Sheehan
I realize how tragic your loss is and I know how much pain there is crushing your heart and I know the darkness that suddenly came to wrap your life and wipe away your dreams and I do feel the heat of your tears that won't dry until you find the answers to your question; why you lost your loved one?

I have heard your story and I understand that you have the full right to ask people to stand by your side and support your cause. At the beginning I told myself, this is yet another woman who lost a piece of her heart and the questions of war, peace and why are killing her everyday. To be frank to you the first thing I thought of was like "why should I listen or care to answer when there are thousands of other women in America, Iraq and Afghanistan who lost a son or a husband or a brother…”

But today I was looking at your picture and I saw in your eyes a persistence, a great pain and a torturing question; why?

I know how you feel Cindy, I lived among the same pains for 35 years but worse than that was the fear from losing our loved ones at any moment. Even while I'm writing these words to you there are feelings of fear, stress, and sadness that interrupt our lives all the time but in spite of all that I'm sticking hard to hope which if I didn't have I would have died years ago.

Ma'am, we asked for your nation's help and we asked you to stand with us in our war and your nation's act was (and still is) an act of ultimate courage and unmatched sense of humanity.
Our request is justified, death was our daily bread and a million Iraqi mothers were expecting death to knock on their doors at any second to claim someone from their families.
Your face doesn't look strange to me at all; I see it everyday on endless numbers of Iraqi women who were struck by losses like yours.

Our fellow country men and women were buried alive, cut to pieces and thrown in acid pools and some were fed to the wild dogs while those who were lucky enough ran away to live like strangers and the Iraqi mother was left to grieve one son buried in an unfound grave and another one living far away who she might not get to see again.

We did nothing to deserve all that suffering, well except for a dream we had; a dream of living like normal people do.

We cried out of joy the day your son and his comrades freed us from the hands of the devil and we went to the streets not believing that the nightmare is over.
We practiced our freedom first by kicking and burning the statues and portraits of the hateful idol who stole 35 years from the life of a nation.
For the first time air smelled that beautiful, that was the smell of freedom.

The mothers went to break the bars of cells looking for the ones they lost 5, 12 or 20 years ago and other women went to dig the land with their bare hand searching for a few bones they can hold in their arms after they couldn't hold them when they belonged to a living person.

I recall seeing a woman on TV two years ago, she was digging through the dirt with her hands. There was no definite grave in there as the whole place was one large grave but she seemed willing to dig the whole place looking for her two brothers who disappeared from earth 24 years ago when they were dragged from their colleges to a chamber of hell.

Her tears mixed with the dirt of the grave and there were journalists asking her about what her brothers did wrong and she was screaming "I don't know, I don't know. They were only college students. They didn't murder anyone, they didn't steal, and they didn't hurt anyone in their lives. All I want to know is the place of their grave".

Why was this woman chosen to lose her dear ones? Why you? Why did a million women have to go through the same pain?

We did not choose war for the sake of war itself and we didn't sacrifice a million lives for fun! We could've accepted our jailor and kept living in our chains for the rest of our lives but it's freedom ma'am.
Freedom is not an American thing and it's not an Iraqi thing, it's what unites us as human beings. We refuse all kinds of restrictions and that's why we fought and still fighting everyday in spite of the swords in the hands of the cavemen who want us dead or slaves for their evil masters.

You are free to go and leave us alone but what am I going to tell your million sisters in Iraq? Should I ask them to leave Iraq too? Should I leave too? And what about the eight millions who walked through bombs to practice their freedom and vote? Should they leave this land too?
Is it a cursed land that no one should live in? Why is it that we were chosen to live in all this pain, why me, why my people, why you?

But I am not leaving this land because the bad guys are not going to leave us or you to live in peace. They are the same ones who flew the planes to kill your people in New York.
I ask you in the name of God or whatever you believe in; do not waste your son's blood.
We here have decided to avenge humanity, you and all the women who lost their loved ones.
Take a look at our enemy Cindy, look closely at the hooded man holding the sword and if you think he's right then I will back off and support your call.

We live in pain and grief everyday, every hour, every minute; all the horrors of the powers of darkness have been directed at us and I don't know exactly when am I going to feel safe again, maybe in a year, maybe two or even ten; I frankly don't know but I don't want to lose hope and faith.

We are in need for every hand that can offer some help. Please pray for us, I know that God listens to mothers' prayers and I call all the women on earth to pray with you for peace in this world. Your son sacrificed his life for a very noble cause…No, he sacrificed himself for the most precious value in this existence; that is freedom.

His blood didn't go in vain; your son and our brethren are drawing a great example of selflessness.
God bless his free soul and God bless the souls of his comrades who are fighting evil.
God bless the souls of Iraqis who suffered and died for the sake of freedom.
God bless all the freedom lovers on earth.

- posted by Mohammed @ 23:24







I hope this answers any more questions on why I support President Bush and why I am so upset when those who condem me for this, have not a clue where I am comming from. May God bless the woman who wrote this. Well written my friend.

Today has been a very quiet day today, im doing my report today from a pc room here in Korea due to the fact that my pc at home has a connection issue.


Todays news

Janet Jackson incident has happened in Korea. 2 member drop their pants.

Musicians accused of indecent exposure on a television music program admitted Thursday that they knew the program was airing live and that the dropping of their pants during the show was planned, going back on their initial statement. A police official from Seoul Yongdungpo Police Station said in a briefing that the two male musicians of the local punk band Couch, aged 20 and 27, admitted to most of the charges.

In their testimony, they said they knew the MBC show ``Music Camp’’ was a live telecast and their plan to expose their private parts on television was done ``for fun.’’ However, they also said it was not meant to be a protest against the broadcaster, the official added. The incident took place last Saturday during the performance of the punk band RUX, who invited the two musicians to dance on stage with them. Their genitalia were shown on TV for about four seconds.

The musicians told the police they met with Won Chong-hee, lead vocalist of RUX, a day before the airing of the show and made their plans. Prior to yesterday, the musicians had insisted that their decision was spontaneous and that they were not aware that the show was a live telecast. The police also found that the two members of Couch previously dropped their pants during their own club performances in July and August. The police will formally charge the two musicians of Couch for putting on an obscene performance and for obstructing the work of a television network. Won, who did not drop his pants, will also be charged for the obstruction.


Looks like these 2 people from the band, "Couch" have seen the film "The Full Monty".



"Show me the Money"

Looks like my favorite psycho Uncle, is at it again. Still my freinds wonder why I voted for Bush.

The latest from the 6 Country Talks..

North Korea Tries to Hold US in Check

SEOUL, BEIJING _ A late-night press conference held by Kim Kye-gwan, chief Pyongyang delegate to the six-party nuclear talks, was designed to hold his U.S. counterpart in check, a North Korea expert in Seoul said on Friday.
``Kim wanted to counter the strong voice of Christopher Hill,'' Paik Hak-soon, director of the Sejong Institute's North Korean Studies, told The Korea Times. ``He might have felt the need to let the press know the story from the viewpoint of the North.'' In a brief meeting with the press in front of the North Korean Embassy in Beijing at 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Kim bluntly told around 100 reporters that ``only one country'' is opposing Pyongyang's right to have nuclear programs for peaceful purposes.

``We favor the denuclearization (of the Korean Peninsula), but we also want to have the right to peaceful nuclear activities,'' he said. ``As you know, only one country is opposing that.'' Paik said North Korea, which has long had an image as a ``madman'' in the international community, might also have felt the need to underline its ``fair complaint'' through the counter-explanation that the U.S. is rejecting its ``justifiable'' demands. ``Does it make sense if our country, not a war loser nor a criminal country, should be denied peaceful nuclear activities?'' Kim said at the press meeting.

Regarding the six-party process, Hill tells reporters the U.S. position on a daily basis. But Kim rarely speaks to the press even though a throng of reporters always wait in front of the North's mission in the Chinese capital. Another North Korea expert in Seoul, who declined to be named, said that he thinks Pyongyang is dragging its feet to make the U.S. abandon the talks first. `North Korea is not in a position where it can be the first one to drop the ball because its godfather, China, is hosting these talks,'' he said. ``So, Kim is trying to drive Hill nuts. But such a tactic will not likely work because Hill is a veteran negotiator.''

Early in the morning on Friday, Hill once again told reporters that he is determined to see the end of the talks, which resumed after a 13-month hiatus and stretched into their 12th day on Saturday. `I didn't come here for 12 days to walk away from this thing lightly,'' Hill said. ``We would really like to see if we can have an agreement. But it's got to be an agreement that's consistent with our interests.'' Very fortunate is the fact that North Korea also wants to find a solution in the fourth round of the six-party talks because its delegates are still staying in Beijing. In the past, the Pyongyang delegation used to go home after an abrupt press meeting.

I just love it, Bush has told the Crazy Uncle from the North, you lied to us last time and this time unless you first de-nuclear and other things no cash.
The North wants to leave , but Godfather, China, is hosting the metings and can not walk away first.

The final cut

For those who know me, it is not uncommon to see me wearing a NY Yankees cap or a Yankees shirt. To me baseball is the best sport in the world and I am A huge Yankees fan. In the last 10 years I have seen alot of so called heroes who now look like they are using drugs to make themselves look bigger. With olot of doubt can we even trust baseball to clean up its own act. Myself, I fear that it will take Congress to lay down the law. Now we see a Future Hall of Famer in Rafael Palmeiro given a "Joke" 10 day suspension for, if the report is right, "Palmeiro tested positive for the powerful steroid stanozolol. That's what sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive for when he was stripped of his gold medal and world record in the 100 meters at the 1988 Olympics. It is not available in over-the-counter supplements and is known as a powerful strength-builder. It can be ingested in tablet form, leaving one's system in less than a month, or injected, lasting several weeks longer." By HOWARD FENDRICH, AP Sports Writer.

It is sad that I feel that I am watching the beginning of the death of the great game that I love.

Then I read online Ryne Sandberg's Hall of Fame speech and I feel that maybe baseball has a chance. It brought back a lot of memories of me playing baseball as a kid. Here is his full speech. Hopefully those in power listen and try and save the game I have grown to love.

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. – What a beautiful day this is. I stand here today before you humbled and a grateful baseball player. I am truly honored and in awe, honored to be in the class with my fellow inductee Wade Boggs. And as I look behind me here, wow, at the greatest players in the history of the game, I am in awe. I know that if I had ever allowed myself to think this was possible, if I had ever taken one day in pro ball for granted, I'm sure I would not be here today. This will come as a shock I know, but I am almost speechless.

The reason I am here, they tell me, is that I played the game a certain way, that I played the game the way it was supposed to be played. I don't know about that, but I do know this: I had too much respect for the game to play it any other way, and if there was there was a single reason I am here today, it is because of one word – respect. I love to play baseball. I'm a baseball player. I've always been a baseball player. I'm still a baseball player. That's who I am.

I was a baseball player when I was 10 or 12 years old pretending to be Willie Stargell or Johnny Bench or Luis Tiant, when my bat was an old fungo, my ball was a plastic golf ball, when the field was the street and my older brother Del and I would play all day. I was a baseball player at North Central High School in Spokane, Wash., even though I was all-city in basketball, even when I signed a letter-of-intent to play quarterback with Washington State. That's why Del advised me to turn down the chance to play football and sign with the Phillies out of high school. I had too much respect for the game to leave it behind or to make it my second or third sport in college.

Everything I am today, everything I have today, everything I will ever be is because of the game of baseball, not the game you see on TV or in movies – baseball, the one we all know, the one we played with whiffle ball bats pretending to be Yaz or Fisk or Rose, in dirt fields and in alleys. We all know that game. The game fit me because it was right.

It was all about doing things right. If you played the game the right way, played the game for the team, good things would happen. That's what I loved most about the game, how a ground out to second with a man on second and nobody out was a great thing. Respect.

I was taught coming up in the Phillies organization to be seen and not heard by people like Pete Rose, my hero growing up, and players like Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and Manny Trillo. I understood that.

My parents, Derwent and Elizabeth, who are no longer with us, understood that. My mom was at every single game I played as a kid, rain or shine. My dad always said, "Keep your nose clean, your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open because you might learn something." My sister Maryl and my late brother Lane knew this too, so did my first professional manager, Larry Rojas, a guy who was always in my corner as I climbed through the Phillies organization, guys like Bill Harper, the scout that signed me, Ken Eilmes, my high school coach, P.J. Carey, a Phillies coach, they taught me to respect the game above all else.

The fourth major league game I ever saw in person, I was in uniform. Yes, I was in awe. I was in awe every time I walked on to the field. That's respect. I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never ever your uniform. Make a great play? Act like you've done it before. Get a big hit? Look for the third base coach and get ready to run the bases. Hit a home run? Put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases. Because the name on the front is a lot more important than the name on the back. That's respect.

My managers like Don Zimmer and Jim Frey, they always said I made things easy on them by showing up on time, never getting into trouble, being ready to play every day, leading by example, being unselfish. I made things easy on them? These things they talk about, playing every day, that was my job. I had too much respect for them and for the game to let them down. I was afraid to let them down. I didn't want to let them down or let the fans down or my teammates or my family or myself. I had too much respect for them to let them down.

Dallas Green brought me to Chicago and without him, who knows? I couldn't let him down. I owed him too much. I had too much respect for him to let him down. People like Harry Caray and Don Zimmer used to compare me to Jackie Robinson. Can you think of a better tribute than that? But Harry, who was a huge supporter of mine, used to say how nice it is that a guy who can hit 40 homers, steal 50 bases and drive in a hundred runs is the best bunter on the team. Nice? That was my job. When did it become OK for someone to hit home runs and forget how to play the rest of the game?

When we went home every winter, they warned us not to lift heavy weights because they didn't want us to lose flexibility. They wanted us to be baseball players, not only home run hitters. I played high school football at 185 pounds and played big league baseball at 182. I'd get up to maybe 188 in the offseason because every summer I'd lose eight to 10 pounds. In my day, if a guy came to spring training 20 pounds heavier than what he left, he was considered out of shape and was probably in trouble. He'd be under a microscope and the first time he couldn't beat out a base hit or missed a fly ball, he was probably shipped out. These guys sitting up here did not pave the way for the rest of us so that players could swing for the fences every time up and forget how to move a runner over to third. It's disrespectful to them, to you and to the game of baseball that we all played growing up. Respect.

A lot of people say this honor validates my career, but I didn't work hard for validation. I didn't play the game right because I saw a reward at the end of the tunnel. I played it right because that's what you're supposed to do – play it right and with respect. If this validates anything, it's that learning how to bunt and hit and run and turning two is more important than knowing where to find the little red light on the dugout camera.

If this validates anything, it's that guys who taught me the game, coaches like Billy Williams, Chuck Cottier, John Vukovich, Jose Martinez, Billy Connors and Ruben Amaro; teammates like Larry Bowa who took me under his wing, Rick Sutcliffe who was like an older brother, Bob Dernier, the half of the daily double. They did what they were supposed to do and I did what I was supposed to do.

There was Gary Matthews, the Sarge. He wouldn't let me down. He was always in the on-deck circle when I was batting and if there was a pitch that almost hit me or knocked me down, Sarge would be halfway to the mound coming at the pitcher, "Get the ball over the plate or face the consequences." I saw a lot of fast balls down the middle because of Sarge and I had too much respect for how hard he played to give it any less than he did.

Sure, I worked hard to get the most out of my God-given ability, but that's what we all did back then. That's what every one of these guys sitting here did. There were a lot of players who worked just as hard as I did and if you didn't, you didn't stay in the big leagues.

There were guys like Bill Buckner, an incredible big league hitter, the first pure hitter I spent time with in the big leagues. I saw him come through town with the Spokane Indians in Triple A with Tommy Lasorda and a whole team full of guys who went to the World Series. They all worked hard.

There was Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace, and together we were a double play combination for 10 years. Shawon Dunston, who knew three weeks in advance if we were facing Nolan Ryan and always had a hamstring pull playing the day before. Mark Grace, who made sure Shawon knew he was supposed to get every popup from foul line to foul line on the infield. We could read each other's minds on the field and off. They worked hard. How could I let them down? By not being prepared for everything that might happen in the field, at the plate or on the bases?

Respect.

Andre Dawson, the Hawk. No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more or did it better than Andre Dawson. He's the best I've ever seen. I watched him win MVP for a last-place team in 1987 and it was the most unbelievable thing I've ever seen in baseball. He did it the right way, the natural way and he did it in the field and on the bases and in every way, and I hope he will stand up here someday. We didn't get to a World Series together but we almost got there, Hawk. That's my regret, that we didn't get to a World Series for Cub fans. I was in the postseason twice and I'm thankful for that. Twice we came close.

It reminds me of the guy walking down the beach. He finds a bottle, pops the cork and a genie comes out to grant him one wish. The guy says my wish is for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians. Here's a map of the Middle East. The genie takes the map, studies it for hours and hours. Finally gives it back to the guy and says, "Is there anything else you want to wish for? This is impossible." The guy says, "Well, I always wanted to see the Cubs in a World Series." The genie looks at him, reaches out and says, "Let me have another look at that map."

In baseball, there's always the next day. I always thought there would be another chance. It didn't happen, but I feel fortunate for the two chances we had and it's just a shame we didn't go to a World Series for Cub fans. You can't do it on your own.

And I want to say thank you to every teammate, coach, manager and, just as important, my opponents who made the game fun for me. I want to say thank you to friends like Doug Dascenzo, Yosh Kawano, Arlene Gill, Jimmy Farrell, John Fierro, my Cubs trainer for 10 years, and Marty Hare, an old high school teammate. To Jimmy Turner, Kathy Lintz and Peter Bensinger, advisors, confidants and close friends, thank you. Also, Barry Rosner, a great writer and good friend. It's fun talking baseball with you, Barry. Thank you.

To the Baseball Writers Association, I thank you for granting me this incredible honor. I think a large part of this is the fact that I was a great interview and gave you so many quotes you could wrap a story around. Seriously, I know I wasn't the best interview for many of those years, but I wasn't trying to be difficult. I had other things on my mind. Baseball wasn't easy for me. I struggled many times when maybe it didn't look like I was struggling and I had to work hard every day. I had to prepare mentally every day. I had to prepare physically every day and I didn't leave many scraps for the writers.

I hope you also understand why I would not campaign for this or help you sell this. It's the best award in all of sports and I think if I had expected anything, if I was thinking about it too much or crunching the numbers, it would have taken away from the prestige of this incredible honor.

To the great folks here at the Hall of Fame, Jane Forbes Clark, Dale Petrosky, Jeff Idelson, Kim Bennett, Brad Horn, Ted Spencer and Evan Chase, thanks for making this entire year a joy for me and my family, one we will certainly never forget.

I've been lucky enough to be welcomed into three new families since I arrived in Chicago. As great a public speaker as I am, I don't have the words to describe Cub fans who welcomed me as a rookie, were patient through my 1-for-32 start and took me into their homes and into their hearts and treated me like a member of their family. You picked me up when I was down. You lifted me to heights that I didn't know I could reach. You expected a certain level of play for from me and you made me play at that level for a long time.

I know there are a lot of Cub fans here today. I feel like every Cub fan in the world is here with me today. And by the way, for what it's worth, Ron Santo just gained one more vote from the veteran's committee.

Thank you to these men here, these Hall of Famers, the greatest players in the history of baseball who have welcomed me in and treated me as an equal. It's going to take some getting used to, but I thank you for your kindness and respect. This is the second best thing that's ever happened to me.

Lastly, I joined a new family when my wife Margaret, BR, Adriane and Steven took me, Lindsey and Justin into their family and together we have made quite a happy family. I love all of you.

You are probably wondering what was first, when I said this honor is the second best thing that's ever happened to me. My wife Margaret is the best thing that's ever happened to me. She is my best friend, she is the love of my life. She is my salvation. She's my past, my present, my future. She is my sun, my moon, my stars. She is everything that's good about life and I thank her for entering my life at a time when I needed her most. I love you.

The feeling I've had since I got the call is a feeling I suspect will never go away. I'm told it never does. It's the highest high you can imagine. I wish you all could feel what I feel standing here. This is my last big game. This is my last big at-bat. This is my last time catching the final out. I dreamed of this as a child but I had too much respect for baseball to think this was ever possible. I believe it is because I had so much respect for the game and respect for getting the most out of my ability that I stand here today. I hope others in the future will know this feeling for the same reason – respect for the game of baseball. When we all played it, it was mandatory. It's something I hope we will one day see again.

Thank you, and go Cubs.

Longtime Chicago Cub Ryne Sandberg was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on July 31, 2005.