Below are a few more nuggets from the upcoming book I told you about in an earlier post - "America - United We Stand."

Andy Bullock, with VirtuServe, has asked me to let you all know that you are welcome to submit items for consideration. You can email to: america@virtuserve.org


William Young, Federal Judge
On January 30, 2003, U.S. District Court Judge William Young made the following statements during his sentencing "shoe bomber" Richard Reid to prison.

"This is the sentence that is provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.

Let me explain this to you-- We are not afraid of any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before.

You are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We don’t sign treaties with them. We hunt them down one by one and bring them to justice.

What I have as honestly as I know how tried to grapple with is why you did something so horrific. What was it that led you here to this courtroom today? We have all listened respectfully to what you had to say, and I ask you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hatred led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty of doing.

I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy you, but as I search this entire record it comes as close to an understanding as I know. It seems to me you hate the one thing that is most precious in all the world. You hate our freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or not believe as we individually choose.

Here, in this society, the very winds carry freedom. They carry it everywhere from sea to shining sea. It is because we prize individual freedom so much that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see, truly see, that justice is administered fairly, individually, and discretely.

It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so vigorously on your behalf and have filed appeals, and will go on in their representation of you before other judges. We are about it because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no mistake though-- It is yet true that we will bear any burden; pay any price, to preserve our freedoms.

Look around this courtroom, Mr. Reid, and mark it well. The world is not going to long remember what you or I say here. Day after tomorrow it will be forgotten. But this, however, will long endure. Here in this courtroom and courtrooms all across America, the American people will gather to see that justice, individual justice-- not war-- justice is, in fact, being done.

See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the United States of America. That flag will fly there long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands for freedom. You know it always will.”


John Glenn, United States Senator
Note: Some people still don't understand why military personnel do what they do for a living. This exchange, on the Floor of the United States Senate, between Sen. John Glenn and a fellow senator is worth reading. Not only is it an impressive impromptu speech, but it is also a good example of one man's explanation of why men and women in the Armed Services do what they do for a living. The opposing senator in question made the mistake of challenging Senator Glenn as follows—

"How can you run for the Senate when you've never held a "real job?"To which Senator Glenn replied—

"I served 23 years in the United States Marine Corps, serving through two wars. I flew 149 missions. My plane was hit by antiaircraft fire on 12 different occasions. I was in the Space Program. It wasn't my checkbook; it was my Life that was on the line. It was not a nine-to-five job, where I took time off to take daily cash receipts to the bank.

I ask you to go with me as I went the other day... to a Veterans Hospital and look those men-- with their mangled bodies-- in the eye, and tell them they didn't hold a job. Come with me to NASA and visit, as I have visited, with the widows and orphans of Ed White, Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee... and look those wives and kids in the eye and tell them that their husbands and dads didn't hold “real” jobs.

Come with me on Memorial Day and stand in Arlington National Cemetery, where I have more friends buried than I'd like to remember, and watch those waving flags. Stand there, and think about this nation, and tell me that those people didn't have a job…

I will tell you that you should be on your knees every day of your life thanking God that there were some men-- SOME men-- who held REAL jobs. And they required a dedication to a purpose, and a love of country and a dedication to duty that was more important to them than life itself. And their self-sacrifice is what made this country possible.

I HAVE held a “real” job, my friend--What about you?"

Please remember that all of the excerpts posted here are the property of VirtuServe, and should not be republished or reposted without their consent.