MLM - Network Marketing Blog

Thriller Makes a Comeback

Happy Halloween, Kids.

Memorial Day

Google Offers Free Broadband Wireless

I heard rumblings about this over the last few weeks. I think it was codenamed, hook, line and sinker:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 1, 2007 - Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today announced the launch of Google TiSP (BETA)™, a free in-home wireless broadband service that delivers online connectivity via users' plumbing systems. The Toilet Internet Service Provider (TiSP) project is a self-installed, ad-supported online service that will be offered entirely free to any consumer with a WiFi-capable PC and a toilet connected to a local municipal sewage system.

"We've got that whole organizing-the-world's-information thing more or less under control," said Google Co-founder and President Larry Page, a longtime supporter of so-called "dark porcelain" research and development. "What's interesting, though, is how many different modalities there are for actually getting that information to you - not to mention from you."

For years, data carriers have confronted the "last hundred yards" problem for delivering data from local networks into individual homes. Now Google has successfully devised a "last hundred smelly yards" solution that takes advantage of preexisting plumbing and sewage systems and their related hydraulic data-transmission capabilities. "There's actually a thriving little underground community that's been studying this exact solution for a long time," says Page. "And today our Toilet ISP team is pleased to be leading the way through the sewers, up out of your toilet and - splat - right onto your PC."

New! Get FREE breakthrough broadband with Google TiSP (BETA).

Seattle's Blake Lewis - The Next American Idol?

As I do some research for MLM Blog Video, I ran across Blake Lewis from Seattle. Is anyone better than this guy on American Idol?

Vote for my Seattle Boy!

Beat Box Flute Player

This is pretty cool...

Barack Obama Sounds Like The Rock

I have to say that I wasn't the first person that noticed this, but I can't remember where I read it. After doing a little digging on YouTube, I found these two videos. Listen to WWE's "The Rock" and then listen to "Ba-rack".

I'd vote for him if he would start ending his speeches with...."If ya smell what BA-Rock is coookin'."

Hillary Clinton Has Got To Be Scared

I watched the majority of Barack Obama's speech yesterday that launched his presidential campaign.

Impressive.

This will be an interesting election.

I don't write much about politics on this site, but politics certainly affect the climate of small business in America and while I have never voted for a democratic presidential candidate, I think I will be following the Obama campaign closely.

Border Patrol Agents Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean

I don't get too political on this blog, but this caught my eye. Have a look at these videos and then sign the petition (or not) at www.grassfire.org

Hey Kids, Watch Santa using Google Earth

Check this out: The Santa Tracker

Santa and the Land of Wii

I got a phone call yesterday from someone that sounded like a gnome, but could've easily been an elf. I get the voices confused.

The little fellow said, "this is Tango-India-November-Kilo-Echo-Romeo calling from Santa's Workshop, Wii Department, we have a problem with your Wii."

I replied, "Bravo, what"?

He said, "You can call me Tinker. Tinker Monkey-Buns, at your service."

I gathered myself a little and asked, "You have a problem with my Wii? I mean, I don't have a Wii, well I have a wee, but I usually don't talk about it, especially with people named Tinker. It's not that I'm ashamed of my wee, it's nice and all..."

Tinker cut me off. "Listen, your son sent a letter asking Santa for a Nintendo Wii and well, Santa and Yukon Cornelius were, shall we say "quality testing" the Wii for your son when Yukon got excited and tossed the nunchuck up in the air. The nunchuck came down hard on top of the console, then Yukon picked up the nunchuck, licked it and said, "nuthin". Bottom line, your son's Wii is broken."

Tinker continued, "You are going to have to help Santa out this year."

I am always willing to help Santa, remembering the time the jolly one called about the puppy.

"What do I need to do?" I asked.

"Take $450 in cash out of your bank and wait for a phone call". Then Tinker said, Merry Christmas and quickly hung up.

I don't know about you, but when someone affiliated with Santa gives instructions, I follow them. Shortly after I got home with the money, I got a call.

"Mr. Tribble?"

"Yes?", I replied.

"I have your Wii and it will cost you $450.", the high pitched voice on the other line said.

"Are you an elf?" I asked.

"No, my name's Scott and I'm 13 years old, I stood in line at the Fred Meyer for 5 hours and bought this Wii for $250." Scott said.

"Boy, you are quite the entrepreneur, aren't ya?" I asked, rhetorically.  "Hey, this doesn't have anything to do with those TMX Elmo's I bought at Costco for $35 and resold on eBay for $100 does it?"

Scott fell silent.

I piped up. "Never mind, Scott. I have your money, where can we meet?"

The Time Magazine Person of the Year

I think you will enjoy my friend, Shawn Cannon's acceptance speech:

Happy Thanksgiving

The First Thanksgiving:

The English colonists we call Pilgrims celebrated days of thanksgiving as part of their religion. But these were days of prayer, not days of feasting.

Our national holiday really stems from the feast                     held in the autumn of 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag                     to celebrate the colony's first successful harvest.

And here I thought it was all about eating too much, watching (playing?) football, taking a nap and a fat cat filled with helium.

 

I'm House Flippin' Nuts

I will be blogging the details of a house investment that closes on October 20th, so if you are into the whole "Flip This House" TV show or if you are interested in investing in Real Estate, you might want to watch for the new feature at my Work At Home Dad site.

We will be taking a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1970's decor house and making it into a 4 bedroom 1 3/4 bath with 2006 -2007 decor.

The picture is a before shot of the kitchen.

Utah - King of the Supplement Business

More than 100 supplement companies dot the terrain alongside I-15 snaking through Salt Lake City, Utah, generating $4 billion in annual sales--four times the revenue of the state's more famous ski trade. The herbal health business is so prevalent in this area that it has been nicknamed Cellulose Valley, after the primary component of green plants.

Why Utah? For one thing, the dry air is ideal for storing precious powders. For another, politicians like Senator Orrin Hatch have helped create a fertile regulatory climate. Then there's the long-standing environment of support for the products. Many Utah supplement companies are owned or operated by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). In the 1800s, LDS founder Joseph Smith blamed traditional medicine for his brother's death and his own traumatic leg surgery. Early Mormon writings praised the "plants and roots, which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases." In the 1940s, Mormon herbalist John Christopher preached about natural healing. A few decades later, three Utah companies--Nature's Herbs, Nature's Way and Nature's Sunshine--began selling his formulas.

TIME.com: State of Reliefs -- Oct. 9, 2006 -- Page 1

More Money, Less Stress or More Sex?

Take the poll.

85% of Women Owned Businesses Are Run By Mothers

Half of U.S. businesses are based in homes, and more than half of those are women-owned, according to new figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. Operators of many of those home businesses work less than 20 hours a week.

Of an estimated 10.4 million privately held women-owned firms in the United States, according to industry experts, 85 percent are traditional or home-based businesses run by mothers.

The numbers are growing, agreed Jennifer Fraone, a marketing associate with the Boston College Center for Work & Family.

- toledoblade.com -

Top Secret Tickle Me Elmo TMX

Oh my goodness...are you ready for a belly laugh?

If you are in the market for a Tickle Me Elmo TMX, I have one listed on eBay.

It's 9PM on Monday Night...

...and I just realized that I really like sitting in shorts and blogging while overlooking Lake Chelan in eastern Washington.  The temperature is 81 degrees with a nice breeze and my son is sitting on the deck with me "working" on his Nintendo DS.

Technology flat out rocks. I can sit on my laptop with wireless Internet in full view of the pool where my kids love to swim and hang out.

I spent about an hour on the phone and laptop this morning before taking off for the day to tour wineries and play in the lake and swimming pool. I am heading back to Seattle on Thursday and then I fly out to Las Vegas the following Wednesday for Univera's annual convention.

With the cover of 'Your Business at Home' magazine, the remaining months of 2006 promise to be exciting.

I would like to spend 2 weeks here next summer so I have some unfinished business I need to take care of, but for the next 3 days, I am focused on fun and family. See if you can catch me on the resort webcam.

Rockstar Supernova: Americal Idol for Adults

Way off topic...

Rockstar Supernova and the previous Rockstar INXS are like American Idol for adults.

The bands are looking for a lead singer and 20 up and coming artists compete for the singer slot with the band.

If you, (like me), hated the latest winner of American Idol, Taylor Hicks, you owe it to yourself to have a look at Rockstar.

Holy Crap! Mentos and Diet Coke

       

Mom, Happy Mother's Day

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie. 

~Tenneva Jordan

My Friend Kim gets Seth Godin'ed

I need to get more remarkable.

My friend, Kim Klaver just got linked on Seth Godin's blog. I have something up my sleeve related to Seth's Squidoo company that I think might do the trick.

We'll see.

Herbal Viagra

An example of really odd marketing.

The following is a portion of the writing above an ad for herbal viagra in a spam email I received today:

...' 'Say no more! ' interrupted the visitor and pushed the armchair to one side. Stepa's eyes bulged. There on a little table was a tray, laid with slices of white bread and butter, pressed caviare in a glass bowl, pickled mushrooms on a saucer, something in a little saucepan and finally vodka...

I wonder if we are less likely to report spam if it is accompanied by slightly amusing gibberish writing.

Have you seen Laura Mackenzie?

LAURA W. MACKENZIE
5’4", Blue Eyes, Brown Hair. A senior at Goffstown Area High School, NH.

She drives a 1995 black, 4-door Volkswagen Golf. NH License Plate Number: 211 0126.

If you have any information, please call the Goffstown, NH Police Dept.
603-497-4858 or send an email to:
find-laura@hotmail.com

www.findlaura.org

I don't know Laura, but she is the cousin of a friend's friend.

One Click.

Just One Click.

It's really not that bad

Even if you are involved with WWDB, it's not as bad as it could be...

Ice Storm in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

The Banner's Back and So Am I

I am happy to report that the banner is back up and functioning properly.

I am also back from a short trip, but sadly, my kids and I are not functioning properly. We are all sick. I am trying to get a little bit of work done, but my focus is not that great at the moment. I have much to tell you but it will have to wait until Tuesday (I hope).

The Benefits of Working at Home

Snow is pretty rare in Seattle, but when it happens, all hell breaks loose on the streets. Seattle drivers can't even drive in the rain, let alone the snow.

I am happily working from home today where I took this picture with my Motorola Cell Phone.

Veterans Day

VFW.org via MLM Business Opportunities:

Today we honor all of the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coastguardsmen who have served our country for the noble cause of preserving the freedoms that every American enjoys.

Right now, there are thousands of men and women in our military, once again taking up arms against the enemies of freedom. Like generations of patriots who came before them, these few shoulder the burden for the many. They serve because they know it is necessary for the greater good.

So far, more than 2,000 of America’s sons and daughters have been killed and thousands more injured in the war on terrorism. Although we cannot bring back those who lost their lives in battle, we can thank them for all they have done and continue to do for our nation.

Please join the 1.8 million members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in honoring our military men and women, past and present, on this Veterans Day. Thank them and let them know that a grateful nation appreciates their contributions in creating a future world free from fear despite the personal cost to them.

God bless America!
James R. Mueller
Commander-in-Chief
Veterans of Foreign Wars

Two Days To Star Wars

We interupt the regularly scheduled Network Marketing post for this:

For the past 3 weeks, my son has raced out of his room in the morning to hunt me down and tell me that their are "X" number of days before Star Wars.

We are going to see the movie at 11:30AM on Friday. He may explode before that.

Declaration of Human Rights - Article 2

Article 2.

Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

What can you do? Learn about The One Campaign.

In April, Brad Pitt and ONE returned to Africa to check on progress made since our last visit in November, 2004. In Ethiopia, we visited hospitals that six months ago did not have lifesaving AIDS drugs but now do thanks to the President's Emergency AIDS plan and other efforts. There is an encouraging sense throughout Ethiopia that efforts to combat AIDS are beginning to work. American help is supporting African efforts to fight back against AIDS and extreme poverty.

Elementary School Tsunami Quarter Drive

My wife and I have been helping out with my daughter's school Tsunami Quarter Drive. So far, (in three days), they have raised over $1200. Today, the local newspaper sent out a reporter and photographer to do a story about the children's efforts to raise money.

As the reporter was asking the school principal some questions, a first grader brought in her classroom jar with the days quarters. The school principal asked the 6 year old student to talk about the quarters she donated. A semi-toothless smile came across the girls face as she got up her courage to tell her story to the reporter and the others gathered. 

You see, she had lost her tooth the night before and the tooth fairy left her four quarters. She decided that morning to donate the tooth fairy quarters to the Tsunami Quarter Drive.

Update From India

I mentioned earlier that I have a friend in Madras, India and thankfully I received an email from him today.

Dear Ty,

Thank you for your email and concern and everything is okay 
with me and my family here and there was earthquake tremors 
on the 26th early morning but there was no damage and we all 
ran down our apartment. But there was a lot of damage due 
to the Tidal wave in the Coastal area of the City and this
has not affected the part of our city where we work and live. 
We and all our employees are doing fine and our business has
not been affected. I do have a friend of mine who went 
to a beach  resort close to the city and his wife and two 
kids had been washed away they recover her body some 15 
kilometers away but he still have not been able to locate 
his two kids and he survived as had stayed back in the 
resort room. I am hearing many sad and similarstories but
most of the affected people were the poor fisherman and 
their families that live close to the sea.

Best regards,
Rohit

There is an organization headquarted in my area called World Vision.

World Vision International is a Christian relief and development organization working for the well being of all people, especially children. Through emergency relief, education, health care, economic development and promotion of justice, World Vision helps communities help themselves.

Click here to learn how you can help.

News from Israel

This letter is part 2 of a series of letters I recieved from a friend that is spending the Christmas season in Israel.

Good morning!

I received a couple emails wondering what I meant when I spoke of the Wall being “porous” enough to get through in some areas. That doesn’t mean Israel is using a different material along certain stretches that might make it easier to penetrate. It only means that the Wall isn’t yet complete, and the shorter temporary barriers still make it possible for people to enter and leave Abu Dis and Bethlehem without passing through checkpoints. For the Palestinian people who don’t have one of those coveted blue cards that give them the right to work or to engage in business in Israel proper, checkpoints aren’t an option. These temporary barriers offer them the only opportunity to earn any kind of income outside their walled ghettos. In many Palestinian territories, the unemployment rate (even in the Israeli Arab city of Nazareth!) has risen above 90%. Consider the panic we get in the United States over a 6% unemployment rate. Without a blue card Palestinians can’t enter the central corridor of Israel; they are restricted to the occupied territories, where there aren’t sufficient trade opportunities to warrant having any significant level of industry. So the Palestinians farm the small plots of dirt behind their homes or on their rooftops and drop their produce over the parts of the Wall that are still possible to cross so that they can sell it in the public street markets in Jerusalem. There every face is anonymous, and no one asks about blue cards.

“When in Rome ….” I think about that saying a lot while I’m over here. When in Palestine, do what the Palestinians do. Clearly, I had to pass through the Wall the way they do so that I could sense their pressure, the fear of getting caught doing what they should have every right to do. So I found a hole and sneaked through it. My agenda for the day was to ascertain just how wide an area Israel had given the Palestinians of their old community. So I walked from the “hole” in the Wall in East Jerusalem through Bethany and to the Wall on the other side of the hill in Abu Dis. It took me twenty-eight minutes. Now I admit that I have a pretty quick gate, but there isn’t a road in this region that is straight or flat. Flat? I felt like a mountain goat most of the time! Twenty-four minutes is all it took me to traverse this enclosed section of Palestine from wall to wall—pretty much the extent of what Israel is willing to give up of “Greater Jerusalem.” It is a long finger or ridge down the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives. Israel has claimed all the rest for itself. I can tell you that it would take me hours to traverse Israel’s portion of “Greater Jerusalem” from boundary to boundary. It looks to me as if it will soon annex the entire eastern slope downward to Jericho. All the Arabs within that territory will be given two options: either they can leave the region and move to one of the walled ghettos we will call Palestine or they can petition for Israeli citizenship. Most will probably opt for Israeli citizenship. The major downside, besides giving up their perceived national identity, is that Israeli Arabs are not permitted to serve in the military. Why’s that a bad thing? Israeli policy permits employers to deny employment to anyone who has not served in the military. That means Israeli Arabs will always be second class citizens, at least as it pertains to the job market. That’s why the major Israeli Arab city of Nazareth has 91% unemployment. It is an Arab city, so none of its inhabitants have served in the military and the vast majority of them have been denied employment on that basis.

Okay, it hasn’t all been fun and games for me here. I have done some serious work too. I have maintained a relationship with the Sisters of Charity (Mother Theresa’s mission) in the Old City. So, when they heard that I was back in town, they hunted me down to play their Santa Claus. Those of you who know me well know that this kind of display stretches my comfort zone a bit. It didn’t turn out to be all that bad for me. The children loved it, and I fell in love with them; so all is well with the world. I have often said that I aspire to come back as Santa in my next life any way. “It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas” read the words of a popular Christmas tune. The threat of snow in the forecast and the delight on these children’s’ faces push aside the constant reminders of the Palestinians’ plight for a few glorious minutes.

Peace to you all in this Christmas season,

Thoughts and Prayers

As the death toll rises from the devestating earthquake and tsunami, my thoughts and prayers go out to the people that have been affected. I am waiting to hear from friends in Madras, India and I hope and pray for the best.

Greetings from Jerusalem!

I have a series of letters from a friend of mine that has spent the Christmas season in Israel-Palestine. The series is off topic, having nothing to do with MLM but I feel like it is worth reading.  Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Enjoy!

Greetings from the Middle East!

Some of you might be surprised to hear that I’m back in these parts, but the opportunity arose for me to spend the Christmas season in Israel-Palestine, so I felt the need to grab it. I will celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem for the first time! Of course, the season is bitter-sweet around here.

I continue my work with the Palestinian Christians, whose numbers have hit a critical point from which I fear there is no recovery. There is more and more talk among them about being amusement-park novelties like they have in Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, where the locals wear period dress from the late-17th century for the tourists. The Palestinian Christians are beginning to feel like tourist novelties. There are just enough of them still in the region to maintain the claim that the church has had a continuous presence here from the time of Christ to the present. But those who remain aren’t all that cheerful right about now. None of them can afford to put up any sort of exterior decorations, because that would invite vandalism against their homes and personal harassment against their family members. Even in the Christian Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City you would never know it was the Christmas season.

I have already been up to Abu Dis (ancient Bethany) twice since my arrival a couple days ago. Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I’ve been up there to inspect the progress of the Wall around Abu Dis twice. I have located a couple places at which the Wall is porous enough for me to get inside the village, but I want to pursue other means of entering the village before I resort to shadow dancing. There are personal reasons that compel me to enter the village one way or another. Israeli bulldozers destroyed the homes of two families I interviewed a few months back. I want to find those families and reassure them that people outside Palestine still care what happens to them.

You can see from the picture to the left that the cleverly engineered Wall can snake pretty much anywhere the government wants it to go. Only the top section of the Wall was completed here when I saw it last time. I watched this section of the Wall with interest, since it illustrates so vividly one of Israel’s more recent policies for land confiscation: leave the larger buildings, but take the land. Here’s the root of the policy. About eighteen months ago President Bush pressed Israel not to destroy so many large structures during construction of its Wall. In response, Israel proved the great flexibility of the Wall’s tongue-in-groove design for grabbing the land, dipping in and out of the small corridors between buildings, while leaving the buildings intact. It really is a marvel to behold!

This photograph shows another policy at work: punitive Wall placement. When a family in Abu Dis had the nerve to contact outside agencies to protest the Wall and how it shuts out all the sunlight to their property from the south (top) and west (right), Israel punished the family by placing a completely non-functional wall to the north as well. The short extension of the wall, which appears to go nowhere then stops in the lower right-hand part of this picture, is the punitive Wall. With it, the family can be guaranteed never to see direct sunlight from their property. The functional Wall actually extends west (to the right) in order to enclose a small apartment building, only partially visible in this photograph, before the Wall juts diagonally northeastward to grab more land inside the village (bottom of the photo).

In Mas’ha, a family was separated from the rest of the village by a stretch of concrete wall that runs about 150 meters in length so as to ensure the family couldn’t see the village any more. More than 28 feet high, this Wall cuts out the entire horizon, not merely the village. (I regret that I didn’t stand far enough back for you to see both ends of this short Wall.) The Wall has no function here other than to punish the family for contacting Amnesty International after Israel confiscated their olive grove a couple years ago. The rest of the fence for at least two miles in either direction along this rural stretch is a combination of chain link and razor wire fences, through which this family would have been able to see its neighbors in the village. But the concrete Wall wasn’t a severe enough punishment for this family. In addition to the concrete Wall, Israel fully enclosed this family’s small yard with a chain-link and razor wire security fence on the other three sides, essentially imprisoning the family on their property. At one time, there was a gate through which the family could enter the village, but Israeli soldiers locked it one day and never unlocked it. No one knows exactly what the family’s status will be if Palestine ever has a chance to become a state. Is this family in Palestine or in Israel? Right now they are in neither.

I have heard literally dozens of stories like this one. It is important to me that you hear some of them as well.

I will write again later.

Peace,

Happy Independence Day!

Test your U.S. IQ.

Ronald Reagan

Two of my favorite quotes come from Ronald Reagan:

"America is too great for small dreams."

"Let us renew our determination, our courage, and our strength. And let us renew our faith and our hope. We have every right to dream heroic dreams."

Ronald Reagan
1911-2004

Here are some other quotes from President Reagan that you might enjoy:

"Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his."

"I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born."

"Above all we must realize that no arsenal or no weapon in the arsenals of the world is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women."

I was only 11 when he was sworn into office but I remember the moral of the country taking a swing toward optimism. President Reagan was a man that loved his wife and family as well as his country. I like that.

Memorial Day Letter from Washington Gov. Gary Locke

A Memorial Day Message:

Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation's service. It is a day set aside to offer our prayers, our thoughts, and our gratitude to the fallen, to those who gave the last full measure of devotion.

The men and women in our armed services have always answered the call. World War I. World War II. Korea. Vietnam. The Persian Gulf. Afghanistan. Iraq.

They left home knowing they might not return. And many did not return. Just a few days ago, I participated in a memorial service for Sergeant Jeffrey R. Shaver, a soldier from the Washington National Guard's 81st Armored Brigade who died in Iraq. Just a few months before, Sergeant Shaver was among the men and women we saluted at a deployment departure ceremony held in the Tacoma Dome for the soldiers and their families.

Over the years, there have been many names for these brave men and women who gave everything. They were "GI," "Yank," "Flyboy," "Leatherneck," "Swabby," "WACs," "WAVES" and just plain "Joe."

But here at home, we have known them by other names. Son, Daughter, Brother, Sister, Husband, Wife, Dad, Mom, Sweetheart, Friend.

At the World War II memorial on the Capitol campus near my office, there are bricks lining the walkways. On those bricks are etched the names of those who died or served. One of those bricks reads: "William C. Westlake. USMC. K I A. Age 15. Iwo Jima."

A boy who should have been studying geometry, or learning to drive. His sacrifice is steeped in the cruelty of war. And it shames those who take our freedom for granted.

Let us never forget the many we have lost. They were from all ethnic backgrounds and religions. Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Pacific-Americans, and Native Americans; Christians, Jews, Buddhists and Muslims. People who have faced discrimination at home but have answered the call of duty to protect our freedom.

They went because they believed in the goodness and destiny of our nation. Many died for that belief.

My own father, Jimmy Locke, was a staff sergeant in World War II. He was among the many who went ashore on the beaches of Normandy. Growing up, I was taught that freedom sometimes comes at a high price. I am thankful for those lessons.

On Memorial Day, we will honor those who paid the ultimate price. With love of country in their hearts and courage in their souls, they entered the valley of death. For all of us. Let us never forget their sacrifice.

Sincerely,

Gary Locke
Governor

A Real Hero - Pat Tillman

Why would a man give up a professional football contract worth over $3 Million to join the Army and to "chase Osama bin Laden around Afganistan"?

According to Doug Tammaro, a friend of Pat Tillman for years:

"Because he wanted to. It's that simple. Because you couldn't (join the Army) at age 40. If it had to be done it had to be done now; 9-11, I think, was part of it, but by no means was that just it."

Tillman was killed in Afghanistan after walking away from a multimillion-dollar NFL contract to join the Army Rangers, U.S. officials said Friday. He not only walked away, he did so without comment. No press conference and no fanfare.

He just did what he felt like he had to do.

I thought this columnist put it best:

(He was) An American hero not for where and when he died, but how and why he lived.

Happy New Year!

I wanted to take a moment to wish you all a Happy New Year.

"Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front, and take no interest in the things that were and are past."

-Henry Ward Beecher