From: Steve Randall (srandall64@hotmail.com)
Date: Sun Jul 04 2004 - 16:55:38 PDT
Looking for a set of good used or NOS spark plug wires for 1952
M135 with 302. Any suggestions????
I joined the Navy Seabee's at age 39 in 2003. The reason was to do
my part so my children can grow up and enjoy the same freedoms that this
country gave me. They told me when I joined, that there was a good
possibility that I'd be deployed over sea's. I was suppose to leave on
deployment next month, but it got bumbed till after the holidays. I go with
a smile knowing I can make a differance for my wife, children, family and
friends, and people I don't even know, on how there future living in the USA
will be.
Everyone can throw stones at the president, and any one else they
choose, but the fact is it's "Hindsite"...Anyone can pick apart a plan after
the fact, and blame who they want for whatever reasons, but lets focus on
the future..What can we do to improve things from here on out...
If I will gladly go over sea's and put my life on the line for
every person in this country, when I come back the last thing I'd want to
hear is "We shouldn't be there" or "This is another Vietnam"..
If your neighbor was assaulting his wife, or and you could hear it
would you close your window and ignore it, or let somebody else take care of
it? If you saw 10's of 1000's of men woman and children being slaughtered by
poisionous gas would you turn your back?
Lets talk about the positive things that have happened in Iraq that
you don't see on the news.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1, 2003
here is what has been done in Iraq in just the first 7 months up until
December 2003.
.....first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active
duty.
... over 60,000 Iraqis now provide security to their fellow citizens.
...nearly all of Iraq 400 courts are functioning.
... the Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
...on Monday, October 6, 2003 power generation hit 4,518 mega watts,
exceeding the
pre-war average.
...all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes and colleges are open, as
are
nearly all primary and secondary schools.
… by October 1, 2003 Coalition forces had rehabbed over 1,500 schools - 500
more
than their goal.
...
… teachers earn from 12 to 25 times their former salaries.
...all 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
...doctors’ salaries are at least eight times what they were under Saddam.
... pharmaceutical distribution has gone from essentially nothing to 700
tons in May 2003 to a current total of 12,000 tons in December 2003.
...the Coalition has helped administer over 22 million vaccination doses to
Iraq children.
...a Coalition program has cleared over 14,000 kilometers of Iraq's 27,000
kilometers of weed-choked canals. They now irrigate tens of thousands of
farms.
This project has created jobs for more than 100,000 Iraqi men and women.
...we have restored over three-quarters of pre-war telephone services and
over
two-thirds of the potable water production.
... there are 4,900 full-service connections. We expect 50,000 by January
2004.
...the wheels of commerce are turning. From bicycles to satellite dishes to
cars and trucks, businesses are coming to life in all major cities and
towns.
...95 percent of all pre-war bank customers have service and first-time
customers are opening accounts daily.
... Iraqi banks are making loans to finance businesses.
...the central bank is fully independent.
...Iraq has one of the worlds most growth-oriented investment and banking
laws.
... Iraq (has)a single, unified currency for the first time in 15 years.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May
1...satellite dishes are legal.
...foreign journalists aren't on 10-day visas paying mandatory and
extortionate
fees to the Ministry of Information for minders? and other government
spies.
... there is no Ministry of Information.
...there are more than 170 newspapers.
... you can buy satellite dishes on what seems like every street corner.
... foreign journalists and everyone else are free to come and go.
...a nation that had not one single element - legislative, judicial or
executive - of
a representative government, does.
...in Baghdad alone residents have selected 88 advisory councils. Baghdad
first democratic transfer of power in 35 years happened when the city
council elected its new chairman.
...today in Iraq chambers of commerce, business, school and professional
organizations are electing their leaders all over the country.
... 25 ministers, selected by the most representative governing body in Iraq
history, run the day-to-day business of government.
...the Iraqi government regularly participates in international events.
Since
July the Iraqi government has been represented in over two dozen
international meetings, including those of the UN General Assembly, the
Arab League, the World Bank and IMF and, today, the Islamic Conference
Summit. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs today announced that it is
re-opening over 30 Iraqi embassies around the world.
...Shia religious festivals that were all but banned, aren't.
...for the first time in 35 years, in Karbala thousands of Shiites celebrate
the
pilgrimage of the 12th Imam.
...the Coalition has completed over 13,000 reconstruction projects, large
and
small, as part of (a) strategic plan for the reconstruction of Iraq.
...Uday and Qusay are dead - and no longer feeding innocent Iraqis to his
zoo
lions, raping the young daughters of local leaders to force cooperation,
torturing Iraq's soccer players for losing games...murdering critics.
...children aren't imprisoned or murdered when their parents disagree with
the
government.
Since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May
1...political opponents aren't imprisoned, tortured, executed, maimed,
or are forced to watch their families die for disagreeing with Saddam.
...millions of long suffering Iraq is no longer live in perpetual terror.
...Saudis will hold municipal elections.*
... Qatar is reforming education to give more choices to parents.*
...Jordan is accelerating market economic reforms.*
... the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded for the first time to an Iranian -- a
Muslim woman who speaks out with courage for human rights, for democracy
and for peace
...he has not faltered or failed.
... Iraq is free.
Sorry to ramble on but I had to put Iraq into perspective as seen through my
eyes, with information most people don't even know about. Sometimes war
coverage can be a one way street. I've said my peace and expect a good
bashing for it, but my opinion will not be swayed..I live with many freedoms
in this country I call home, and only because of past soldiers that gave
there lives to ensure I could have these freedoms.
God Bless all the veterans out there, and most of all....."THANK
YOU"
Steve Randall
1952 GMC M135
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