Our Unsung Heroes and Heroines |
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11/5/09 After World Series win, Joe Girardi stops to help crashed motorist Guiding his team to its 27th World Series championship tells us little about the character of manager Joe Girardi.Especially when the feat is compared to what Girardi did after the party at Yankee Stadium ended.Police say Girardi stopped in the wee hours Thursday to help a motorist who crashed her car into a wall after losing control on the Cross Country Parkway in suburban Westchester County..the rest of the story at the link. 7/28/09 Malalai Joya: The woman who will not be silenced Enraged by Taliban oppression Malalai Joya became a women’s rights activist, and after the US-led invasion, took on the new regime as an MP. But speaking out has come at a cost. She tells Johann Hari why death threats won’t stop her exposing ugly truths about Afghanistan.I am not sure how many more days I will be alive," Malalai Joya says quietly. But she says: "Dust has been thrown into the eyes of the world by your governments. You have not been told the truth. The situation now is as catastrophic as it was under the Taliban for women. Your governments have replaced the fundamentalist rule of the Taliban with another fundamentalist regime of warlords. [That is] what your soldiers are dying for." Instead of being liberated, she is on the brink of being killed. 6/25/09 Father Emil Kapaun This is the story of Father Emil Kapaun, who was the most highly decorated military chaplain in United States history. He started life on the family farm in Pilsen, Kansas. Most of his neighbors were immigrants who came to America from Bohemia. He grew up working on the farm, enjoyed life on the plains, and was a devout Catholic. He volunteered to be an Army chaplain, and soon after his training he was assigned to Burma and India. He went wherever he was needed, traveling thousands of miles per month, serving Mass in mess tents, native villages, or even on the hood of a jeep. He was discharged along with most of the military in 1946 at the end of the war, but he felt he was needed in the military and shortly after returned to military duty. He ended up in the war with Korea, in a camp and his minstry to the soldiers is inspiring, touching and a tribute to the incredible spirit of one man. 6/16/09 Boy, 8, saves sister and drunk adults from fire WARSAW, Poland – Police in Poland say an 8-year-old boy saved his sister and three drunk adults from a fire by calling police and fighting the flames before help arrived. The fire started outside the door of the boy's apartment in the western town of Miedzyrzecz late Monday.
6/10/09
Stories That Made Us Smile Photo Gallery 4/27/09 Quick-thinking neighbor holds suspect at gunpoint until police arrive A Spokane man is being credited with stopping a burglary at his neighbor's house after making an effort to check on a situation he found suspicious. 4/5/09  My
Friend The
making of Bellingrath Gardens, ca. 1933. As
the economic depression [of the 1930's] worsened,
friends quietly kept Mrs. Bellingrath aware of
families in need. She would appear, checkbook
in hand, begging for an azalea, camellia or whatever bloom
she saw in the family yard. She would convince the
stunned homeowner that Bellingrath Gardens had been unable
to locate one and then offer hundreds of dollars in an era
when $25 a week was a comfortable income. She told
a flowershop owner that her crocheted afghans were the most
handsome she'd seen and offered her $100 each for a dozen,
knowing the money would put the woman's niece in college,
which it did. After her sudden death in 1943, the
Catholic Bishop called Mr. Bellingrath and asked permission
for a group of nuns to say a prayer as a way of thanks for
all she had done for them. As the couple was Presbyterian,
this surprised Mr. Bellingrath, who asked, "How?" Without
his knowledge, she had been sending flowers to the Catholic
Providence infirmary every week. The staff was instructed
to place flowers in anyone's room who did not have
flowers sent by family or friends.Her tombstone bears the inscription: "I shall always think of you wandering through a lovely garden, like that which you fashioned with your own hands, where flowers never fade and no cold wind of sorrow blights our hopes and plans....And on your face, the peace of one whose whole life through, walked with God. -- Your Devoted Husband" 3/13/09 Town comedian hailed as hero in Alabama killings Many around Samson knew Bruce Maloy as their town's comedian, a goodhearted, wiry little jokester who was always boasting about hitting it big someday. On Friday, witnesses and authorities said Maloy, the 10th and final victim of Tuesday's shooting rampage by Michael McLendon, single-handedly tried to end the violence with his beat-up old pickup truck. With gunshots still echoing through downtown Samson and the killer headed toward a bigger city 12 miles away, Maloy chased McLendon's dark red Mitsubishi out of town, ramming the vehicle at least once. Maloy slowed down the killer briefly, and he may have given police and state troopers time to catch up to McLendon, said Geneva County Chief Deputy Tony Helms. But it cost him his life
block on a fire engine
Fireman Bob said, 'Look, we can do better than that. If you'll have your son ready at seven o'clock Wednesday morning, we'll make him an honorary Fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! And if you'll give us his sizes, we'll get a real fire uniform for him, with a real fire hat, not a toy- one with the emblem of the Phoenix Fire Department on it, a yellow slicker like we wear
and rubber boots.'
'They're all manufactured right here in Phoenix , so we can get them fast.'  Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Billy, dressed him in his uniform and escorted him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck.
Billy got to sit on the back of the truck and help steer it back to the fire station. He was in heaven. There were three fire calls in Phoenix that day and Billy got to go out on all three calls. He rode in the different fire engines, the Paramedics van, and even the fire chiefs car. He was also videotaped for the local news program. Having his dream come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished upon him, so deeply touched Billy, that he lived three months longer
than any doctor thought possible.
One night all of his vital signs began to drop dramatically and the head nurse, who believed in the hospice concept - that no one should die alone, began to call the family members to the hospital.
Then she remembered the day Billy had spent as a Fireman, so she called the Fire Chief and asked if it would
be
possible to send a fireman in uniform to
the hospital to be with Billy as he made his transition.
The chief replied, 'We can do better than that. We'll be there in five minutes.. Will you please do me a favor? When you hear the sirens screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that there is not a fire?' 'It's the department coming t o see one of its finest members one more time. And will you open the window to his room?'
About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital and extended its ladder up to Billy's
third floor
open window---16 fire-fighters climbed up the ladder into Billy's
room
With his mother's permission, they hugged him and held him and told him how much they LOVED him.
With his dying breath, Billy looked up at the fire chief and said, 'Chief, am I really a fireman now?' 'Billy, you are, and the Head Chief, Jesus, is holding your hand,' the chief said. With those words, Billy smiled and said, 'I know, He's been holding my hand all day, and The angels have been Singing...’ He closed his eyes one last time. My instructions were to send this to at least four People
that I
Wanted God to bless and I picked you. Please pass this to at least four people you want to be blessed. This story is powerful and there is nothing attached, PLEASE Do not break this pattern; Uplifting stories are one of the best Gifts we receive. There is no cost, but a lot of rewards, let's Continue to uplift one another~
Amy Goodman And Colleagues Arrested And Released Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been released from police custody in St. Paul following their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on Monday afternoon.All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers.Democracy Now! is a nationally-syndicated public TV and radio program that airs on over 700 radio and TV stations across the US and the globe. 4/27/08 LOCAL HEROES: SEATTLE TEACHER SUSPENDED FOR 2/4/08 U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper Judge: Navy
not exempt from sonar ruling .
Friendly Fire - Raising questions about 9/11 gets an Army sergeant demoted for 'disloyalty' These days, Donald Buswell’s job is not as exciting or dangerous as it once was. For the past few months, his working hours have been spent taking care of some 40-plus wounded soldiers at San Antonio’s Fort Sam Houston medical center. The work is sometimes menial, even janitorial, but he doesn’t mind. After all, Buswell has been where these men are — three years ago, he too was recovering from wounds received in a battle zone in Iraq. His crime? He dares to ask real and hard questions about what and who caused 9-11. Bravo Donald!!!!
Remembering Audrey Hepburn: a woman with the beauty and grace of a Gazelle, an actress who thank you Audrey! Audrey Hepburn: A Tribute to her Humanitarian Work
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Luke
Cole dies at 46; leading practitioner of environmental
law
Mary's
Meals: feeding the world from a garden shed
