A Hero Lives On...

I saw this on Yahoo News and I took the time to read it. -Very Interesting Story...I did not know that guys were doing this before they went off to war...I did not know it was even a possibility. I am not sure how I feel about it really, I think it`s a great story in this case and I think it is awesome that someone who gave his life for our freedoms has a son that is living on in his name...In his case the military makes it possible to take care of your spouse if you are married monetarily even after you have died. You can set it up to where you spouse will receive a portion of your benefits for the rest of her life...So this family will not struggle financially if the mom is good with her money...For the boy though...He is going to grow up without a Father in His life....NOT GOOD! She has no intention of looking for someone else in her life and that`s fine and even totally understandable...BUT! The memory of this Boys father is not enough to make a man out him...He can make it and I hope he does...Maybe even pursue a career in the military like his father. That would be a great end of story. What do you think about it?


Two years after US soldier's death, widow has his son

by Virginie Montet and Stephane Delfour-Given
Fri Oct 19, 2:40 AM ET

Fifteen-month-old Benton is the spitting image of his father, a US soldier who died in Iraq two years before his son was born.

"He looks so much like his father, it's kind of scary," his mother Kathleen Smith told AFP, as she talked about her unusual decision to have her soldier-husband's baby posthumously, using semen frozen before he was deployed.

"Benton is the child Brian and I could have had. I have part of what Brian and I could have had -- part of my dream was possible even after he died," Smith, 42, said.

"My husband and I had talked about the probability of needing to do in vitro fertilization because I already had a fertility issue. That's why he went to a sperm bank before he went to Iraq," she said.

Smith is not the only US soldier to have semen frozen and held at a sperm bank before deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.

Many have done so not because they fear they will be killed but because of the risk they would be injured or exposed to chemicals during deployment which could affect their fertility.

"There was a slight increase in military storage in 2003," said Tanya Peebles, spokeswoman for Cryobank, one of the biggest sperm banks in California.

Storage of sperm usually costs 365 dollars a year.

But Cryobank ran a special offer that year, with "semen collection and storage services at a substantially reduced cost, with the first year storage provided free of charge" to military personnel who were about to be deployed to Iraq.

The aim of the promotional offer was "to help ensure the future of their families," according to the advertisement.

However, the widows of soldiers who choose to make the same decision as Kathleen Smith can be counted on the fingers of one hand, the US department of Veterans' Affairs said.

Spokesman Jim Benson said the department knew of only four such cases.

A medical professor at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences in Washington, who asked not to be named, agreed women who seek to have their late husband's baby are a rarity, and expressed doubt as to whether it was a good idea.

"It's very uncommon. And I don't think it's a good thing, or that it will become more common," he said.

"The problem is regret -- regret is high for those women," he said. "What happens when she meets someone else?"

"The other question is ethical: the guy hadn't planned to die so he didn't say you could use his sperm," the doctor said.

Smith has no regrets, and Benton has also managed to bring round his grandparents, who were initially against their slain son's widow having his baby after his death.

"His mom was against it. But she's wonderful now. She loves her little boy, her grandson," said Smith.

"Brian and I never discussed whether I would have a child if he died," she added.

"When he died, I was 40 and it's not like I had time to look for another person to be with and to have a child. If I was 10 years younger, it would have been a different situation."

She looks on her son as a blessing and "something good that came out of the war," which she stopped supporting when her husband was killed.

"My opinion about this war has changed, with regard to Brian's death," Smith said. "In the beginning, I was supportive of the war, but at this point I want our guys home."

Mobile 10 Commandments.

Ha Ha! I saw this and wanted to post it right away. You might have seen it already but we are all guilty at some point of breaking one of these rules. I am attached to my cellphone like it`s a magnet.- I have not had my phone since Sunday and I feel helpless. LOL It goes to show how dependant we become on technology in our society.

Let me share a HUGE mobile pet peeve...I CAN NOT stand when someone leaves their bluetooth earpiece in at all times like its some sort of fashion accessory. In my opinion if you are that important you would have someone taking your calls for you so relax and put that thing away LOL! Do you have any pet peeves about cellphones? What "rule" are you guilty of breaking?

1. Thou shalt not subject defenseless others to cell phone conversations. When people cannot escape the banality of your conversation, such as on the bus, in a cab, on a grounded airplane, or at the dinner table, you should spare them. People around you should have the option of not listening. If they don't, you shouldn't be babbling.

2. Thou shalt not set thy ringer to play La Cucaracha every time thy phone rings. Or Beethoven's Fifth, or the Bee Gees, or any other annoying melody. Is it not enough that phones go off every other second? Now we have to listen to synthesized nonsense?

3. Thou shalt turn thy cell phone off during public performances. I'm not even sure this one needs to be said, but given the repeated violations of this heretofore unwritten law, I felt compelled to include it.

4. Thou shalt not wear more than two wireless devices on thy belt. This hasn't become a big problem yet. But with plenty of techno-jockeys sporting pagers and phones, Batman-esque utility belts are sure to follow. Let's nip this one in the bud. -(Ha Ha or the buy that clips it to his belt and walks like his hip popped out!)

5. Thou shalt not dial while driving. In all seriousness, this madness has to stop. There are enough people in the world who have problems mastering vehicles and phones individually. Put them together and we have a serious health hazard on our hands. (I am guilty of bumping into the car in front of me while being in a heated text convo. LOL)

6. Thou shalt not wear thy earpiece when thou art not on thy phone. This is not unlike being on the phone and carrying on another conversation with someone who is physically in your presence. No one knows if you are here or there. Very disturbing.

7. Thou shalt not speak louder on thy cell phone than thou would on any other phone. These things have incredibly sensitive microphones, and it's gotten to the point where I can tell if someone is calling me from a cell because of the way they are talking, not how it sounds. If your signal cuts out, speaking louder won't help, unless the person is actually within earshot.(Ha ha ha there is always that one guy that is screaming like it`s a megaphone and not a cellphone.)

8. Thou shalt not grow too attached to thy cell phone. For obvious reasons, a dependency on constant communication is not healthy. At work, go nuts. At home, give it a rest.

9. Thou shalt not attempt to impress with thy cell phone. Not only is using a cell phone no longer impressive in any way (unless it's one of those really cool new phones with the space age design), when it is used for that reason, said user can be immediately identified as a neophyte and a poseur.

10. Thou shalt not slam thy cell phone down on a restaurant table just in case it rings. This is not the Old West, and you are not a gunslinger sitting down to a game of poker in the saloon. Could you please be a little less conspicuous? If it rings, you'll hear it just as well if it's in your coat pocket or clipped on your belt.

I am Pro Life

This Video is graphic so just know that before you press play.(If you press play)

It`s sad but it`s real. It is part of a Presidential Campaign( Mitt Romney ) for Pro Life.
This was not posted to endorse Mitt Romney. I posted it for awareness and because I am Pro Life.

The Song is Called: Happy Birthday by - Flipsyde ft. Tatu (I`ll put the lyrics under the video)

Happy Birthday...so make a wish

Verse 1:
Please accept my apologies, wonder what would have been
Would you've been a little angel or an angel of sin?
Tom-boy running around, hanging with all the guys.
Or a little tough boy with beautiful brown eyes?
I payed for the murder before they determined the sex
Choosing our life over your life meant your death
And you never got'a chance to even open your eyes
Sometimes I wonder as a fetus if you faught for your life?
Would you have been a little genius in love with math?
Would you have played in your school clothes and made me mad?
Would you have been a little rapper like your papa da Piper?
Would you have made me quit smokin' by finding one of my lighters?
I wonder about your skintone and shape of your nose?
And the way you would have laughed and talked fast or slow?
Think about it every year, so I picked up a pen
Happy birthday, love you whoever you woulda been
Happy birthday...

Chorus:
what I thought was a dream (make a wish)
Was as real as it seemed (happy birthday)
What I thought was a dream (make a wish)
Was as real as it seemed

I made a mistake!

Verse 2:
I've got a millon excuses to why you died
Bet the people got their own reasons for homicide
Who's to say it woulda worked, and who's to say it wouldn't have?
I was young and strugglin' but old enough to be your dad
The fear of being my father has never disappeared
Pondering frequently while I'm sippin' on my beer
My vision of a family was artificial and fake
So when it came time to create I made a mistake
Now you've got a little brother maybe he's really you?
Maybe you really forgave us knowin' we was confused?
Maybe everytime that he smiles it's you proudly knowin' that your father's doin' the right thing now?
I never tell a woman what to do with her body
But if she don't love children then we can't party
Think about it every year, so I picked up a pen
Happy birthday, love you whoever you woulda been
Happy birthday...

Chorus:
What I thought was a dream (make a wish)
Was as real as it seemed (happy birthday)
What I thought was a dream (yeah, make a wish)
Was as real as it seemed

I made a mistake!

And from the heavens to the womb to the heavens again
From the endin' to the endin', never got to begin
Maybe one day we could meet face to face?
In a place without time and space
Happy birthday...

From the heavens to the womb to the heavens again
From the endin' to the endin', never got to begin
Maybe one day we could meet face to face?
In a place without time and space

Happy birthday...

Chorus:
What I thought was a dream (make a wish)
Was as real as it seemed (happy birthday)
What I thought was a dream (make a wish)
Was as real as it seemed

I made a mistake...!

----------------
Now playing: Flipsyde - Happy Birthday
via FoxyTunes

Super Bowl Sunday - The making of the IFL

I think this is totally ridiculous. It`s The NFL not the IFL keep in the USA! Superbowl Sunday is something that unites our nation on a cold Sunday for a few hours to watch a game and cheer for your favorite team and even more than that...The team represents a State in the US. I realize that most everybody will watch the super bowl on TV so it does not really seem like a big deal where it`s held but...I just don't agree. Let the other countries watch on TV or have them fly in and buy tickets. - This whole thing comes down to money, Then you wonder why the players and Franchises are so corrupt. If they MUST play a few games outside the states then by all means lets share our passion for the sport with other countries...But for the Best Game of year I say keep it home. Just a quick rant...

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- A future Super Bowl champion may someday be crowned overseas in a game witnessed predominantly by a foreign audience, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said.

"There's a great deal of interest in holding a Super Bowl in London," Goodell told reporters Monday. "So we'll be looking at that." The commissioner said London's new Wembley Stadium would make a great candidate for pro football's biggest matchup, given the enthusiasm overseas for the game.

The NFL has been expanding its overseas presence for years by televising games around the world. It's held preseason games in numerous countries in Europe, Asia, Mexico and Canada, and in 2005, the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers played the first regular-season match outside the United States.

The game at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City drew the league's largest crowd to date, 103,467.

On Oct. 28, Wembley will host the first regular-season NFL game outside North America. It took just 90 minutes to sell the first 40,000 tickets for the game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants. Goodell said event organizers have sold 95,000 tickets in all.

Goodell spoke about the possibility of a British Super Bowl after a luncheon Monday in Scottsdale sponsored by the host committee for the 2008 Super Bowl in Arizona.

www.juliomedina.com

Time and Life

Just a quick thought I had today....

The world moves so quickly. Time is on our side for certain things but looking back sometimes it just seems to fade away so quickly. Have you ever thought that maybe because we rush and run and hustle to keep up with the everyday pace of living that in turn it slows down other life events or the correct way to the path we are headed down? Just a thought that I wanted to type it...Maybe it makes sense to you maybe it does`nt.


* Disclaimer: This is my blog. You don`t have to understand and you don't have to like it. If you don't I totally understand. Just hit the alt and f4 key. www.juliomedina.com