And O there are days in this life, worth life and worth death.  ~Charles Dickens

There are two topics that put me in shock and awe, and just plain old tick me off, the prisoner marine in Mexico and the release of a known army deserter at the cost of putting the entire world in mortal danger.  I believe these are topics that warrens unrest.

Let’s start with the marine.  I’ve been watching the news daily for a few months now, not days, but months regarding the marine held captive in a Mexican prison for taking a wrong turn.  Granted, I know he had three guns in the trunk of his car, but he wasn’t hiding or sneaking anything!  Sincerely, I was going to write about this story upon his release, but it appears that won’t happen anytime soon.

Marine Sergeant Andrew Tahmooressi, who has served his country well and actually was in combat while serving in Afghanistan, was home seeking treatment for PTSD.  Everyone has heard the crux of the story, he accidentally crossed the Mexican border with three guns in the trunk of his car, which are legal and registered in the United States, but not in Mexico.

How did this happen?  It was dark and he got twisted around and made a wrong turn.  Who hasn’t?  Directionally Challenged  He missed the sign that directed him into the heart of his present day demise, Mexico.  I’m sure if he was aware, he would not have gone south of the border.

Once he realized he entered the country, along with his firearms, he called 911.  What did they tell him?  They couldn’t help him because he was on foreign soil.  Really?  I guess so.  He still tried to do right thing and admitted to his mistake, to only be taken away, beaten and tortured in a Mexican prison.

I watched the interview with him and Greta Van Susteren from On the Record with Greta, on Fox News.  This is sad.  A true innocent mistake that anyone and probably many have made.  I know me personally, that sounds exactly like something that would happen, guns and all.

On a side note, during the phone call, he didn’t badmouth anyone or call for a pity party.  Nope, he sounded brave and tried to be strong so his family and fellow marines wouldn’t worry.

It’s such a shame, Mr. Tahmooressi was trying to do the right thing, not hurt anyone, no attempt to hurt anyone, no intent on hurting anyone and yet he is treated horribly like a harden criminal!  He made a wrong turn!  Let him out!

It makes you wonder, that after speaking with 911 who obviously was no help, that he should have tried to sneak back over the border with his guns.  Perhaps he would have made it back safe and sound and been sleeping peacefully in the comforts of his own bed that night.  If not, then he would have ended up in the same situation, hauled off to jail.

I get it, those guns were not registered in Mexico, but they were not meant to arrive in Mexico either.  It was a true sincere mistake.   Then to beat the man?  Was that necessary?  Sounds like there is some political hostility demonstrated and taken out on the marine.

Bill O’Reilly from the O’Reilly Factor has also been discussing this situation daily and putting the pressure on to get this guy out.  The United States has handed over more than 100,000 signatures to the Mexican government, his fellow marines have contested to his character, and yet nothing!

Now my next question, what is our very own president doing about this?  Seemingly NOTHING!  He is too busy going around Congress, to release FIVE HIGH RANKING Taliban officers from our own prison in exchange for a deserter.  I agree totally with Charles Krauthammer, when he remarked that it is important to get our troops back, everyone of our troops is important.  Agreed!  Then, once we have our soldier in question, have him tried in court, either as a deserter or a traitor or whatever the charge.  I totally agree!  He is owed a fair trial even though we lost very respectable dedicated service men, who went out looking for this disgraced soldier.  But really, the math doesn’t seem to add up.  This is a five to one ratio, with the five holding more power and threat to the world than one coward.  Someone needs to teach Obama how to negotiate, or to do math.

Why was Obama in such a hurry to get Bowe Robert Bergdahl, (a.k.a. the alleged traitor since he hasn’t been tried yet) out of his captivity from the Taliban, being there for years, and not Mr. Tahmooressi who did NOTHING wrong, except make a wrong turn?

Something doesn’t add up.  What is going on here?  It seems like our government is trying to put away the patriotic leaving him to rot, while those who side with the Taliban free to roam.  Granted, I know I am only referring to two specific instances, but two very important and high profile ones.  Sometimes it’s these moments that you truly see inside someone’s soul and find their true intent.  So what is the true intent of our president?

Then, Hillary Clinton is not speaking out in defense of the marine (at least I haven’t heart it) but I did hear her defending Obama’s illegal decision to release Bergdahl, and send the Taliban prisoners back to start their terror again.

Her reasoning?  Those HIGH RANKING Taliban officials with proven blood on their hands, “Are not a threat to the United States but only to the Afghan people.”  Seriously?  First of all we don’t hold people in prison who are known Taliban and have been a threat to the U.S. prior to their imprisonment for no reason.  Secondly, we are not a country who only looks out for ourselves.  I do believe if we can help others, than we try.  At the very least don’t put others, whether they are foreign allies or not, in harms way with FIVE known terrorists!  It’s like we just pointed a loaded gun at ourselves with one in the chamber and the hammer pulled back and handed it to a brutal murderer. 

I did hear that the released terrorist leaders promised not to do anything for a year.  Are you kidding?  Sure that makes sense since it probably takes that long to outline plans for massive attacks resulting in piles of innocent victims.  What happens after the year is up?  So the freedom of FIVE HIGH RANKING TERRORISTS is equal to one year of peace?  What about years of peace with the imprisonment of the proven five guilty prisoners?

Come on Hillary, you need to get your ratings up!  Think!  What will do it, and it’s not your smooth talk because no one is buying it anymore?  Let’s see some action done for the good, for those who are honorable, deserving of assistance.  Learn from the past.

Remember in 2009, when a reporter and Lisa Ling’s sister were caught crossing into North Korea and were jailed?  Almost immediately, at the time President Bill Clinton touched down in the country unannounced.  That’s one way to get someone’s attention and show he meant business!

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the reporter and Lisa Ling’s sister respectively, were sneaking around and probably put their noses to close to the fire and got burned.  Nothing like the accident of  Mr. Tahmooressi.  Hillary should get her husband to stop playing twister with office workers and set that marine free!  Former President Clinton did a great job in the North Korean instance, at least it seems so.  I mean, he went in, freed the United States citizens and everyone left safely without world war III breaking out.  Successful mission in my opinion, and I feel he could do it again in Mexico.  Or is this a political issue, whereas he doesn’t want to step on Obama, our lame duck’s toes?

Enough already, let’s stop the political gain and need for power, just for a single moment and let’s all put on our thinking caps.  Help those who are deserving, and those that post a threat to our national security, keep them behind bars!  Kind of common sense.

This thought it really out there and very much my own homemade conspiracy theory regarding the release of those Taliban prisoners.

What if Obama too has somehow sided with the Taliban and he has ulterior motives?

Or what if this is a game to play out in the next few years that Clinton and Obama devised in advance?  Hillary, thinking she’ll get into office, while all along we released those prisoners and have trackers embedded into their spinal cords so they can be located at a moments notice and taken out on her watch, for her personal political gain?  Is it so far fetched or is it one big political game?

As for our imprisoned Marine, it seems like no one of high U.S. political power is giving two figs for this soldier.   Well, I am here to say, there are people who care and pray for his safety and speedy release.  I would love to meet him and introduce him to Kyle to show my little man what a true hero is, and sincerely thank the soldier for all his service!  #MarineHeldInMexico

Building another Christmas full of memories, one Lego building block at a time.  ~Aunt Heather Piper

First time Kyle visited Santa… mom bought the outfit! 5 months old 12/12/01

Well, it’s happened again.  This Christmas turned out to be another Piper Lego Fest for Kyle.  By default, everyone was expected to participate and gaze upon the Lego creations, starting from a large pile of tiny Lego building blocks, all the way to the final Lego creation.  Not to mention stopping in to examine and re-ensuring Kyle of his progress throughout the development.  In Kyle’s mind, Legos make everyday better!

Kyle knows I only buy him unconventional gifts.  This year’s theme was books.  The selected novels included the Lord of the Rings book set, Diary of a Wimpy Kid -The Third Wheel and Lincoln’s Last Days by Bill O’Reilly.  He seemed pretty thrilled to start Lord of the Rings, ever since he quickly wrapped up The Hunger Games series announcing,  “Finally, another book series I can start!”  Although he was also excited about the last Wimpy Kid book, keeping up with that series since its conception.  However, Kyle didn’t seem so thrilled with Lincoln’s Last Days, saying, “I just don’t really like history.”  To not torture my young Kyle and yet introduce him to anther genre of books, I ensured Kyle that I will read those pages to him.  Being pretty satisfied with my comment, Kyle instantly agreed knowing that was the best deal he was going to get.  He likes to read on his own, especially exciting books, but he does save a place for me to read to him.  It’s our together time and we both really enjoy it, plus I like to keep tabs on what he’s reading.  I always want to stay involved so I can answer any of his questions or guide his curious mind in the right direction.

Having nothing against Lego’s, they are great to satisfy Kyle’s need to build and shape his engineering mind, I also know he gets plenty of Lego’s to last him a lifetime or at least to get him through the holidays.  This year was nothing short of his dream Lego sets.  Since seeing The Hobbit with me in the movie theater, Kyle now wants to collect all The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings Lego sets.  I remember the days of the Indiana Jones Lego sets and the Star Wars Lego sets.  There was a time when that’s all he wanted, now it’s onto sometime new.

Kyle’s Christmas list did include something out of the ordinary.  Kyle requested Lego Mobile Devastator Exo-Force.  Apparently, this Lego has been discontinued and according to Kyle was “Rare”.  What did that mean to Kyle?  Nothing.  It meant that he would ask his Aunt Nikki for it, giving it five stars on his Christmas list, and she would deliver.  In fact, there was never a time when Kyle didn’t think he was going to get his requested Legos.   You know what?   He was right!  Nicole did pull through and find him his outlined items.

Before Nicole arrived home, she asked Kyle if she was expected to wrap the gifts.  He reassured her that all gifts needed to be wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree.  He wanted to be surprised and he “Didn’t want to be tortured seeding the box!”  Yes, I am being serious, that’s our little man.  He wants to be surprised but wants to be in control of what he wants.

Kyle with Santa, 4 years old… he loved those Bob the Builder Boots courtesy of his Aunt Heather 12/2005

About a week ago, Kyle was complaining about his socks again.  Mom snapped and said, “I’m going to buy a a dozen bushels of socks for you for Christmas!”  Later, Kyle questioned me about mom’s statement saying, “Would Gigi really buy me a dozen bushels of socks for Christmas?”  I confirmed the words spoken by saying, “O yes, don’t put it past Gigi, she’ll do it!  She’s done it before.  I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t get you a load of underwear too.”  A little stressed out Kyle said, “Ya but she’s also going to get me Lego’s too, right?”  I laughed and ensured him he will not be at a shortage of Legos for Christmas.

By the time I got to mom and dad’s house on Friday night, Kyle had already inspected all the boxes, sized them up, looked up the Legos he wanted and review the dimensions of the boxes on the Lego website.  This way he was doing an accurate comparison with the prizes under the Christmas tree and the outlined Christmas list items.  What?  Yep!  That’s how Kyle works.  He wants all gifts wrapped, so he can be surprised, but he wants to ensure his victory even up to the last minute!  He not only did that mom and dad’s gifts, but he really examined the gifts hauled into the house by his Aunt Nikki.  Naturally, he never felt a need to closely examine the gifts supplied by me.  Note to self, I should throw him off his game and purchase a Lego set for Easter.  He would be truly mind-blown!

Me, Nicole & Ryan Christmas c. 1980

Christmas went off without a hitch, keeping to our tradition of attending mass on Christmas Eve, where Kyle served.  He loves serving mass and helping father out, well maybe not with the incense, but being apart of the blessing of the manger and especially the assistance with the Eucharist.  Kyle is at that age where he is getting older now, but is still just a kid who likes to play with his Legos.  And he does!  Once the Lego sets are build, he sets up his battles and literally plays with the figures and the scenes.  This year it looked like the Mobile Devastator joined in on The Hobbit- Battle of Helms Deep, another five star favorite.  Upon closer inspection I saw some Star Wars Lego’s were also included on the epic battle in the living-room.  Legos, fun for hours and hours!

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you built your Christmas memories, as Kyle has done for us!

I’ll post some pictures of Kyle’s Lego sets when he takes the pictures.