A Father Grieving

What happens when your own father undermines all that you've worked and died for to accomplish? What are your buddies to think when they hear that after you're dead your own father is belittling their efforts and sacrifices? That is where Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez Del Solar would be asking if he were with us today. Jesus Suarez died on March 27, 2003 in combat in Iraq.

His father, Fernando Suarez del Solar has done just that. Mr. Suarez is a major role in the anti-war community in San Diego; he speaks at all major peace events, and has even been to Iraq to report on all of the "wrong doings" of the US. But yet, I understand why he does this, though wrong.

Fernando is mourning the loss of his son and this is the only way he knows how too. He is mad that war took his son and needs someone to blame, and that someone is our President. Mr. Suarez, I give you my deepest condolences and sorrow for your lost, but I don't think you are being fair in how you are handling your grieving. Your son wanted to fight; fight for a country that he isn't even a citizen of. I think that is the noblest thing anyone can do. He saw the risk, here and abroad, and knew that he was going to war and that he may even die. Your son is a Hero, and I will never forget him and the many others who died for our freedoms. But you continue to protest what he was fighting for, don’t you see a little incongruence there Mr. Suarez? Saddam Hussein had and used WMD's in the past, on the Kurds. It is irrefutable that they exist, so that means that we were not wrong in going to Iraq to look for them. What, did they up and disappear, vanish? I doubt that. So we didn’t find them in Iraq yet, that doesn't meant they don’t exist, they are out there, someone has them. That scares me, a lot. Your son died so that our nation can look for those WMD's and make this world safer and a better place for the Iraqi people. I know what you reported when you went there, how they told you that they never asked to be liberated, but I feel that it is an obligation that America has to free the oppressed. It is in the Bible (Psalm 82:3-4), a book that our nation was founded on, it is what America is about, Freedom! The fact that Saddam has hid them where we can't find them means that we need to continue looking. But when you protest the efforts what good are you doing? You're not helping what your son died for, but just belittle it. But yet I understand so I give you pity. I truly am sorry for your lost, and the lost of all those who have had to burry a warrior. But please Mr. Suarez, rethink what you are doing; what would your son say today about your actions, would he approve of this? As a U.S. Marines I would have to say No!

Your son served this country, and I thank you, he will go down in history as a person who helped liberate Iraq. But Mr. Suarez, keep this in mind: the freedom you use to protest this war is the same freedom your son died for.


Links:
Jesus Suarez Del Solar

Dan’s Thought Of The Day

The United States landed a man on the Moon July 20, 1969. 1,600 years after the fall of the Roman Empire. This was a momentous point in human history and a pinnacle of space exploration. But think how long it has taken us, why didn’t any other society in the past achieve it? Why was it now, at this moment in time?

At the time of the Roman Empire's fall they were about as technologically advanced as we were when our nation began. They had sewage and water systems, a republic(though corrupted) form of government, and many other inventions to set them more advanced from others of their time. So with this, couldn't it be possible that if they were to have lasted possibly two hundred years longer, could they have set a man on the moon? Created the computer? Do heart transplants? Think about it, if they landed a man on the moon a thousand years earlier, where would we be today? That is some question!

So that begs to ask what lead to us to develop what we have; why were we so successful? Why us?! We went to the Moon because there was a space race against the USSR. But what developed the technology? I believe it was our free-enterprise system. Because of this free enterprise, we drive to develop bigger and better things. Better computers, better vehicles, better technology, all for the consumer, which means money. But due to the corruption of the Roman government and the exemption of free enterprise, they were stuck where they were, and eventually fell.

I have no point to this, I just thought how interesting it is to think where we could have been today if the Roman Empire was not so corrupted. Where will we be if our own corruption continues? This is something to think about.

Mr. Jones Goes To The Hospital

Mr. Jones, an elderly man got very sick one night and had to be rushed to the hospital. Once he got there they gave him a room immediately and summoned the Doctor. The Doctor analyzed Mr. Jones’s symptoms and ran some tests. He comes back and says, "Mr. Jones, you have the influenza, but the way your antibodies are fighting it you might be better in a few days, due to your age we want keep you here for a while to watch you and make sure it doesn’t get worse."

Mr. Jones replied, "Lord God, I ask for your healing touch, that you’ll cure me of this and make me better again! Give the doctors the knowledge and skills they need to do your will. Thank you and Praise you oh God, Jesus of Nazareth!"

The doctor gives him a weird look with his prayer thinking that it is he, the doctor who is helping Mr. Jones, but he disregards it and continues with his other patients.

The next morning he comes in to check on Mr. Jones and finds that he has recovered 100% from the flu, the Doctor is stunned. "Wow, I have never seen anyone at your age with your symptoms recover to the fullest this fast!"

"I praise the Lord on high for this, Christ has cured me of my illness, it is all of Him that I am better."

The doctor can’t take this anymore, "Mr. Jones, I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe that there is a God who cures just you and not the other sick people out there, how can He let all this suffering go on?"

Mr. Jones responds: "God is real, He is a loving God; if you ask, so shall you receive."

"Then why is there all this evil in the world, shouldn’t He stop it if He exists? Where is your God?" Mr. Jones looks at him and ponders it for a while.

"I don’t believe in Doctors!" Mr. Jones says.

"What!? What do you mean, I’m a doctor, I practice medicine, I make sick people better."

"But there are so many sick people out there so that means that Doctors don’t exist."

"There are sick people out there because they don’t or can’t go to a doctor."

"Exactly! That's the point! God does exist. What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him when they can. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in the world."

"But how can He watch us destroy ourselves like this with the hate and evil, its sadistic."

"It is Man who has brought evil and hatred into this world through OUR own sin. You have to understand that we are all sinners, but it is God who has allowed us to thrive through his perfect love; we all should be dead due to our own sin, it destroys us all. Have you ever asked yourself how we have made it to this point, with all the evil in this world: killings, plagues, disasters, wars. Isn’t a being so destructive, according to evolution, supposed to kill themselves off through natural selection? Doesn’t this suggest that there is an outside force controlling and guiding what happens here?"

"But why are innocent infants in third world countries dieing of diseases, they did nothing to sin, why is God allowing for them to die?"

"No one said life was going to be fair, bad things happen to good people, even innocent infants. But God allows for bad things to happen for a reason. Bad things happen because of sin, but God takes that sin and turns it into good. He took the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and turned it into salvation of all mankind."

"Jesus, he was just a man, a philosopher of His time, I find it hard to believe that He’s God."

Why, why is it so hard to believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sin’s, and to be saved all you have to do is believe in Him with all your heart, and you will be found righteous in the eyes of God."

"He was just a man who did good things, there is no evidence supporting the theory of Him being God, or a God at all."

"But there is a lot of evidence supporting Jesus as the Messiah, God. The Bible, in the Old Testament, there is exactly 306 specific prophecies about Christ's first coming to earth. Each one of them came true - literally - exactly as predicted! This verse, tell me what you think it means, "My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my jaws; And Thou dost lay me in the dust of death. 16 For dogs have surrounded me; a band of evildoers has encompassed me; they pierced my hands and my feet. 17 I can count all my bones. They look, they stare at me; 18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." What does that sound like to you? Or what does it remind you of if anything?"

"Something similar to a crucifixion maybe?"

"Yes you are correct. That was from Psalm 22. That Psalm was written about 1000 years before Christ was born. In fact, that Psalm begins with the verse "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" which is what Jesus quoted on the cross. My point is this; the Bible contains prophecy, detailed prophecy about Christ that has come true. No other book has this."

"How do you know that it was written 1000 years before Christ, do you have any proof?"

"The Old Testament was completed around 400 B.C. this is a historic fact and there is nobody anywhere of any educational level who's studied it that disagrees with this. In the 1940s a shepherd boy in the Israel area accidentally discovered a pot full of ancient manuscripts. Some of them were dated around 100 years before Christ."

"As an educated man myself, I have to be skeptical, anyone could have altered them, changed it to their liking."

"The Old Testament can be verified to have been written before Christ was born. Therefore the Psalm was written long before Jesus was ever born. There is enough archaeological evidence to substantiate the validity and accuracy of the Old Testament, it is just a matter of you accepting the evidence at hand."

Sorry, I don’t think that there is enough evidence to say that Jesus is God, and as I stated, that there is a God at all."

"Ok, let me ask you another question, humor me please, what does a criminal Prosecutor do?"

They prosecute criminals who have been arrested for a crime."

"Ok, what basis do they have to suspect that the person is guilty?"

They go on evidence at hand, I see where this is going but it’s not the same."

"But isn’t it? The Prosecutor is basing their case on evidence collected by the police: testimony, a dead body, or any evidence of foul play. The Prosecutor wasn’t there to see the crime being committed, nor were they there to obtain testimony, that’s usually done by the police, so what are they basing their case on? With your standards then we could not prosecute anyone, because there is not enough evidence."

"What evidence is there to prove that there is a God? I don’t know any."

Lets take the miss-understood theory of the ‘Big Bang’ Do you buy into the theory of the Big Bang?"

"Yeah, I do, until I hear compelling evidence to the contrary."

"All right, well, as it is taught, it states the theory is that the Universe began with all matter and energy concentrated to very high density and temperature some 15 billion years ago. The present universe expanded from that epoch and is still expanding. Am I correct?"

"Yes, from what I know, go on."

"But my question is that, where did that matter come from? Scientists have not yet to answer that."

"They don’t know, I don’t know."

Could it be that God created this ‘Big Bang’? I imagine that if God were to create the universe He wouldn’t just have it come into existence with no theatrics, there would be something magnificent to it. Wouldn’t you say?"

"Eh, well, yeah, but where did God come from?"

"God is perfect, perfection cannot have a beginning or an end, it would contradict itself. That’s why God said he is the Alpha and Omega, meaning that he has no beginning or end."

"That’s hard to buy."

"I know it is, but think of it this way, how do you explain to a blind person who has been blind his whole life the color yellow? You really can’t, they’ve never seen it nor had the receptors to comprehend it, no eyes."

"Ok"

Same goes for Man, we only have our five senses, but there is more out there that we can’t see or begin to comprehend. We don’t have the receptors to understand God’s greatness and power; we can just witness His divine intervention through what He does."

"Ok, I’ll give you that. But I still can’t help to be skeptical. It’s just real hard for me to accept right now for the existence of a god, and especially Jesus as being that God."

"I understand the reason you feel this, it is due to our freewill and our choice to not follow God."

The Doctor looks at his watch, "I really have to get back to my profession that you don’t believe in" the Doctor says with a chuckle and a smile.

"I believe in doctors, just as much as you believe in the healing powers of your practice, I just pray that someday you’ll realize that it’s not so much your skills as it is God’s power doing the healing through your skill."

This arrogant statement again took the Doctor by surprise, but with the conversation just had he understood why Mr. Jones said it.

"Be it God’s power’s or my Harvard degree, someone is healing, and needs to be healed."

"That is true, thank you Doctor, you do a lot and you should get credit for your abilities, I praise God for you and what you do."

The Doctor smiles and returned the gesture, "Thanks, I hope your health stays with you, your God I must say works miracles as it appears."

"That he does."

"If you feel ill again come back so we can check on you."

"That I will."

The Doctor leaves the room with his thoughts and Mr. Jones follows too.

---

Jesus is real, he is God, and He does exist. He died on Calvary Hill and was resurected three days later to save the world from our own sins. It is up to you to accept the evidence at hand and accept Christ as God. If you want to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior REPENT and talk to the Lord in prayer in your own words right now. Don't put off making a decision for Jesus, tomorrow may be too late. Some people don't know how to pray. Praying is just talking to the Lord. If you want to be saved, repent and pray--you can say something like, "Dear Jesus, I know that I am a sinner and I want to be saved. I repent of my sins, every one. I don't want to do evil anymore; I want to do righteousness through the blood of Jesus. I'm asking you to please forgive me of my sins against you. I want a new life in the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be everything that You created me to be. I believe that Jesus shed His blood and died for me so that I could be saved from my sins. I believe that He rose from the dead on the third day. I want to be your child. Thank you for being merciful to me, a sinner. Thank you Lord Jesus for saving my soul from sin. Please fill me with your precious, Holy Spirit so that I can live a righteous, self-denying life for you. I'm giving you myself. Please show me what you want me to do. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen." Once you are Saved, the Holy Spirit literally, not metaphorically, but literally enters you and transforms you, you are born again. It is great, God is great and I hope you will understand this too. Accept Christ into your life.

Targeting Youth

How dare they! Yes, they have a right to their opinion, but they don't have a right to stand outside a high school with such impressionable kids and pass out anti-war and anti-military propoganda.

Some people from the San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice (AKA: Anti-war protestors) went down to Point Loma high school (San Diego) this morning to pass out anti-war, anti-military, and basically anti-American flyers with the message of: this war is wrong, our President lied, and don’t join the service, they lie too.

Getting word of this far in advance I talked to my fellow Protest Warrior’s and we decided to counter their propaganda. We went there (Scott and I) at 7 in the morning to pass out yellow bracelets that say, "Support Our Troops" and a flyer that Scott made personally about his military service. This is what it said:



_{Photo courtesy of The Indepundit}
The photo above was taken in Umm Qasr, Iraq in June 2003. That's me on the left. I'm a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

I spent most of 2003 in Kuwait and Iraq. I'm not a baby killer; I didn't destroy any mosques; I never abused or tortured anyone; and although I was never far from my weapon, I never had occasion to use it.

I didn't join the military because I was poor, or because I wanted to kill people and break things. And I wasn't a pawn in someone else's game. I support our mission in Iraq.

I volunteered to serve because I appreciate the rights that we all enjoy as Americans, and I realize that someone has to be prepared to defend those freedoms.

I find it ironic that some choose to exercise those same freedoms by denigrating the efforts of those who risk their lives to defend them. But I respect their right to do so.

I'm not a politician. I'm not going to ask you to support a particular cause or party. It's up to you to figure out where you stand.

I'm not a recruiter. I'm not here today to ask you to join the military; that is a very serious life decision that you will have to make on your own. It's not for everyone.

All I ask for is respect – for my fellow veterans, for our volunteer military, and for their families. They deserve your support.

Thank you.

It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag.

- Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC

www.SDPW.org


His message was not saying join the military, nor to think our way, but he wanted for the kids to think for themselves and realize the sacrifices that our Soldiers give each day for our Freedom's, and to be thankful. I was surprised with the reception we got from the students; one girl came up to us and thanked us for doing what we were, she said, "We need you guys out here more." She was getting tired of the anti-war people handing out their propaganda pamphlets at her school, and so were we. She got into a conversation with Scott saying how a friend of hers was killed in Iraq and yet she understood the sacrifice and the good that they are doing. I feel for that girl’s lost, but I am also proud of her for having the courage and intelligence to understand that that's what a soldier does, he or she fights for their country, and even dies for it. She got it, but not the ant-war people.

Finally an anti-war person got intrigued and asked what we were passing out, I said, "Support our troops bracelets". She didn’t get it, she just said, "I support the troops too, that’s why I want them to come home". I didn’t respond, I just nodded and smiled, that's all you can do with these people. I didn't want to get into a debate with her, especially near a school. But they thought we were there on their side, it wasn't until several minutes later that they asked for the flyer we were handing out. We graciously and happily gave them one, wanting to see the look on their face. That's what made the day, watching their happy "I’m doing my anti-war duty" smile to a disgusted, "oh no, they’re here" frown. Though they didn't say a word to us, we knew what they were thinking. Scott and I looked at each other with a look of triumph, we knew we were getting to them, and they knew we were getting to the students. It was Awesome!

All in all, it went great. Except for getting yelled at by the janitor for being two feet on school property, and him complaining that he's the one who has to clean up the trash when the kids throw them on the ground, nothing bad happened. In fact you could say it was Protest Warrior: 1, anti-war peeps: 0. I left feeling like I actually made a difference; I helped change the thinking of this flawed society by sending out a message to the youth. A message that is different from what is told to them on TV, and by the anti-war groups. Wherever liars may be, Protest Warrior will be there too to tell the true!

Operation: Thank You

The San Diego Protest Warrior's, every Thursday afternoon's stand outside in rain or shine MCAS Mira Mar to thank the Marines and Sailors exiting. We hold signs of appreciation to the passing cars to let them know we care. We thank them for their hard work and sacrifice of defending Freedom here and abroad.


Photo by Da Goddess
We have been receipted with such greath warmth and appreciation, that we were even given a few items by the Marines. At the first rally a Marine threw a bag out of him car window. When we inspected it there was a boonie hat and a card with a message inside. The card read:

Thank you for spending a small moment of your freedom showing us that you appreciate us as much as we appreciate you, the loyal patriotic civilian community. Your thanks makes it all worth while.
-Cpl Belrends Behrends

Photo by Da Goddess

That message made it all worthwhile, that touched all of us. I am not in the service, I don’t know if I ever will be, but as an American, I feel it is my duty to defend her; and right now the best way I can think of is by supporting those who do the real fighting, and denouncing those who are against them. Thank you to all of the brave Men and Women of the U.S. Armed Services, Thank You!

We will be out there from 4:00-5:30 every Thursday, rain or shine. We are coming upon our third week of this. I am asking anyone who wants to help support our troops to come out. Even if it's for an hour, they will notice, and they will be appreciative. For more information, go to: www.sdpw.org. Hope to see you out there.

"Fascist Watch"

So I got an email from the San Diego Progressive Movement's "Fascist Watch" regarding their efforts to stop Protest Warrior from inhibiting their freedom of speech. If you have not read the email, you can find it here, but I just had to laugh when I read it. What I found the most comical was their belief that we present a possible threat to non-colored people and non-Christians. Quote: While they have not demonstrated any openly racist behavior yet, their ultra-nationalism carries within it a potential threat to people of color and non-christians, especially Arabs and Muslims. Now my question is, how have we, (Protest Warrior), demonstrated in any form a potential threat to certain groups of people of color or religion? I don't think we have. My only conclusion is that they are trying to feed propaganda to their minions. No! They would never do that; say false truths to get their way! But alas, they have. It is my belief that they are trying to scare us into submissive silence; the exact same thing we are accused of. They don't like competition; they think they represent the entire world in their message. This is how they feel good and are able to sleep at night. But we all know the truth, these people were the same kids who, in elementary school, if didn't get the ball would run crying to the teacher.
My conclusion: I say, to these malcontented babies, that you do not scare us; you are the ones who are threatening people by crying that we cannot practice our rights to freedom of speech. Do not be afraid to practice in a peaceful respectful manner your freedom of speech by means of protest, but also don't inhibit the rights of those who oppose you.



*I have copied their message verbatim with no grammatical or spelling corrections.