Made in America

"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."

THANK YOU to all our veterans. Those who served and those who are serving now. All made a sacrifice with their service and some made the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you for your service!

 

Veterans Day Tribute to the American Soldier 2011; Many of the Men in this video have given their lives in heroic action for their country and for the people of Afghanistan and Iraq. Several of these Men were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Their Brothers in Arms deserve no less recognition for their service......

 

HT: Subsunk

No Laughing at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

The Old Guard does not tolerate disrespect at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.  This is what happens when you don't show respect at the Tomb...

Watch and find out.

 

Only under exceptional circumstances may the guard speak or alter his silent, measured tour of duty. He will issue a warning if anyone attempts to enter the restricted area around the Tomb, but first will halt and bring his rifle to port arms.

H/T Blackfive

A.F.Branco Cartoon “Food for Thought”

 

This cartoon was seen on GBTV and re-posted from CDNews on theBlaze.com

 

CD News is:

CDN offers the top news, analysis and opinion on the internet from a Conservative perspective. Based on a citizen journalist concept, many contributors offer differing styles with which to deliver quality content to you – the reader seeking the information needed to help return America to the great nation she deserves to be.

As with all sources of information, we hope you consult multiple resources and make decisions for yourselves – just start with CDN first.

October 19, 2011 Meeting Notes

Reference Notes for 10-19-11 Meeting

Union Bosses Don’t Answer to You

Every year, Ohio’s government unions pay themselves handsomely with millions of dollars taken from public workers. It’s a decent gig, considering that taxpayers (and even union members) suffer as a result of unsustainable union demands. Whenever you hear a union apologist slamming fat-cat Republicans or corporate villains, keep in mind what union bosses are paid. Here are the facts:

http://thathero.com/2011/10/10/unions-dont-answer-to-you/

NEA Attacks Ohio Union Reform

Why is NEA desperate to keep Ohioans from voting Yes on Issue 2? In addition to instituting merit pay, putting a stop to last-in-first-out firing policies, and requiring government workers to pay for a small portion of their benefits, Senate Bill 5 ends mandatory “fair share” dues taken from non-members.

Take a look at NEA pay and tell me it’s not about the money:

http://thathero.com/2011/10/12/nea-attacks-ohio-union-reform/

Who is “We Are Ohio”?

We Are Ohio is a citizen-driven, community-based, bipartisan coalition that has come together to repeal SB 5, the unfair attack on employee rights and worker safety. We Are Ohio includes public and private sector workers and employees, police officers, firefighters, teachers, nurses, pastors, small business owners, Republicans and Democrats, local elected officials and business leaders, students, Moms, Dads, family members, and your neighbors.

Don’t believe it!

http://thirdbasepolitics.blogspot.com/2011/08/who-is-we-are-ohio.html

Ohio Average Pay

The average pay of Ohio union members vs. private non-government workers.

http://thathero.com/2011/07/06/extremely-expensive-signatures/

Video Exposing Occupy Wall Street Was Organized From Day One by SEIU / ACORN Front - The Working Family Party, and How They All Tie To The Obama Administration, DNC, Democratic Socialists of America, Tides, and George Soros

From our friends at The Blaze,

 

 

Visit The Blaze are read about the breakdown of the connections between The Working Family, SEIU, ACORN, The New party, The DNC, Democratic Socialists of America, The Tides Foundation, George Soros and the Obama Administration.

"180" The Movie

Warning:  Contains some graphic scenes from the Holocaust.

 

 

http://www.heartchanger.com/index.php

Sherrod Brown and Tim Ryan Lying SB 5 at Columbus Meeting

Watch the video below that Andrew Breitbart's group captured showing Sherrod Brown and Tim Ryan lying to firefighters about SB 5:

 

 

And from Andrew Breitbart’s website Big Journalism is this about the video:

When he’s not busy encouraging Massachusetts voters to commit voter fraud to “keep these bastards out,” or condemning “tea party rhetoric” for not “rising to the president’s challenge on tone” while calling Laura Ingraham a “right-wing slut,” MSNBC’s Ed Schultz indulges his hobby of swooping into states like Wisconsin and Ohio, becoming an overnight expert on legislation he is only familiar with from having skimmed through SEIU-furnished Cliffs Notes, calling the legislation “racist” while cheerleading union rallies with applause-cuing platitudes, waving his arms in solidarity and then peacing out.

Schultz made a recent visit to Columbus, Ohio in which he had Congressman Tim Ryan (whom I had interviewed hours prior about Senate Bill 5’s alleged confiscation of safety equipment) and Senator Sherrod Brown on the show against a backdrop of union firefighters to whom, during commercial breaks, Schultz yelled that SB 5 “makes me believe Jimmy Hoffa even more that they are sons of bitches!” Throughout the broadcast Schultz and his guests parroted the manufactured mantra that the bill takes away safety equipment, perhaps almost enough times to make it true.

Here’s the link:  http://bigjournalism.com/chartsock/2011/09/28/project-mayhem-part-ii-ed-schultz-lies-and-videotape/

 

The Money Hole

John Stossel did a great report called the “Money Hole” and it addresses the very specific, very real effects in towns from excessive spending and not heeding the warnings for necessary reforms.

Public employee unions are addressed in this video making it quite relevant to the SB5 debate happening today.

Get your friends together for a drink and a bite to eat one night and watch this video – this kind of common sense approach to our fiscal crisis will be well received. Then – engage them on the issues this November to help curb the problem. Especially Issue 3!! It effects so much of our future!

It is that important, and it really hits home. Enjoy!

Note: If you don’t watch John Stossel, you are missing arguably the best show on television.

H/T: Chris Littelton

Glenn Beck 9/11 Remembrance

 

We Will NEVER Forget

 

Standing for Israel

We gathered today to watch Glenn Beck’s RESTORING COURAGE broadcast.  At the end of the program, we were so moved we recorded this short video.

We wanted to show our support and Stand for Israel.

Conquering the Storm

From Sarah Palin’s Facebook Page

by Sarah Palin on Monday, August 8, 2011 at 6:53pm

In the coming days we’ll sort through the repercussions of S&P’s downgrade of our credit rating, including concerns about the impact a potential interest rate increase would have on our ability to service our suffocating $14.5 trillion debt.

I’m surprised that so many people seem surprised by S&P’s decision. Weren’t people paying attention over the last year or so when we were getting warning after warning from various credit rating agencies that this was coming? I’ve been writing and speaking about it myself for quite some time.

Back in December 2010, I wrote: “If the European debt crisis teaches us anything, it’s that tomorrow always comes. Sooner or later, the markets will expect us to settle the bill for the enormous Obama-Pelosi-Reid spending binge. We’ve already been warned by the credit ratings agency Moody’s that unless we get serious about reducing our deficit, we may face a downgrade of our credit rating.” And again in January, in response to President Obama’s State of the Union address I wrote: “With credit ratings agency Moody’s warning us that the federal government must reverse the rapid growth of national debt or face losing our triple-A rating, keep in mind that a nation doesn’t look so ‘great’ when its credit rating is in tatters.”

One doesn’t need a Harvard Law degree to figure this out! Just look across the pond at Europe. European nations with less debt and smaller deficits than ours and with real “austerity” plans in place to deal with them have had their ratings downgraded. By what magical thinking did we figure we could run up perpetual trillion dollar deficits and still somehow avoid the unforgiving mathematics of a downgrade? Nothing is ever “too big to fail.” And there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Didn’t we all learn that in our micro and macro econ classes? I did at the University of Idaho. How could Obama skip through Columbia and Harvard without learning that?

Many commonsense Americans like myself saw this day coming. In fact, in June 2010, Rick Santelli articulated the view of independent Tea Party patriots everywhere when he shouted on CNBC, “I want the government to stop spending! Stop spending! Stop spending! Stop spending! STOP SPENDING!” So, how shamelessly cynical and dishonest must one be to blame this inevitable downgrade on the very people who have been shouting all along “stop spending”? Blaming the Tea Party for our credit downgrade is akin to Nero blaming the Christians for burning Rome. Tea Party Americans weren’t the ones “fiddling” while our country’s fiscal house was going up in smoke. In fact, we commonsense fiscal conservatives were the ones grabbing for the extinguishers while politically correct politicians and their cronies buried their heads in what soon became this bonfire.

With S&P and others now warning that we could face another downgrade if we don’t get serious about our debt problem (i.e., recklessly spending money we don't have), Washington needs to wake up before things get worse! We’re already hearing murmurs about QE3, which is just madness and will further debase our currency at a time when the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency is already being questioned. The loss of the dollar’s reserve currency status would adversely impact us in every conceivable way. Our standard of living would decline as imports become more expensive (including imports of foreign oil), government wouldn’t be able to finance deficits as cheaply, and American corporations – employers – would lose a competitive edge. It would be another crack in our status as a financial superpower.

Last May, I gave a speech at Westhills Community College in Lemoore, California, to an audience that included farmers from California’s Central Valley. I tried to paint a picture for them of where all of this was heading. The following is an excerpt from my prepared remarks:

Now we’re all getting hit with rising food prices too. Back in November of last year, I predicted this would happen when the Federal Reserve dropped a $600 billion money bomb called QE2 on us! That’s short for “quantitative easing 2.” It’s a fancy term for running the printing presses and creating money out of thin air – which drives down the value of the dollar and makes the price of everything more expensive.

As I predicted six months ago, these policies will lead us down a path where for the first time in our history our fate will be taken out of our own hands and placed in the hands of the world’s capital markets. They will force us to make the responsible decisions that our leaders are unwilling to make. Just as the destinies of the Central Valley farms have been taken out of your hands by the federal government’s overreach into your water rights, so the destiny of our nation will be taken out of our hands because our leadership has failed to get our financial house in order.

This isn’t some theoretical threat any more. It’s already happening. The world’s biggest bond investment fund PIMCO announced last month that it was dumping U.S. Treasury bonds. The head of PIMCO, Bill Gross, one of the world’s preeminent debt investors, warned that the U.S. is in serious risk of default with our trillion dollar deficits and no end in sight. And last week, credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded our credit outlook to “negative” – that’s the first time that has happened to us since the attack on Pearl Harbor. The IMF has even given us formal notice that, unless we do something to deal with our debt problem, we could tip the world economy into another recession.

It is a disgraceful and embarrassing situation when the United States finds itself justifiably chastised in the same tone normally reserved for near-bankrupt economies.

And in this, like in shutting off your water, the federal government has failed you. Their reckless spending and destruction of the dollar will make access to available credit for farmers and small business owners harder to get. And it will make transportation costs higher because it will hit everyone at the gas pump. You see, because the Obama White House won’t let us drill domestically, we’re forced to import oil that we pay for in dollars. So, when the value of the dollar drops, the price of gas goes up. And if you think $4 a gallon is bad, wait till you see what life is like at $6 or $7 a gallon.

Last November, the so-called smart people all laughed at me when I warned them of this. They told me not to make such a big deal about rising prices. Well, guess what – it became a big deal all on its own.

In fact, there was an editorial in the New York Sun that said – and I quote: “As gasoline is nearing six dollars a gallon at some pumps, the cost of groceries is skyrocketing, and the value of the dollars…has collapsed to less than a 1,500th of an ounce of gold. Unemployment is still high. Shakespeare couldn’t come up with a better plot. But how in the world did Mrs. Palin, who is supposed to be so thick, manage to figure all this out so far ahead of the New York Times and all the economists it talked to?”

Well, I’m sure the New York Times writers will remember the famous line: “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” And right now the American economy is in the howling, hot headwinds of a gathering storm. We’re printing up and buying up our own notes at an unprecedented rate, and the Fed is artificially holding interest rates down to nearly zero. Anyone with commonsense could see what was coming. Unfortunately, common sense is in short supply among our leaders. It’s like they never believe that the rules of common sense apply to them. They think somehow we'll escape from the consequences of their policies. It’s the same magical thinking that allows them to run up trillion dollar deficits and still think that we can “win the future.”

Every other generation has weathered recessions by sacrifice and belt tightening. But our leaders today decided that they could magically paper over the tough decisions by running the printing presses. A little history lesson might have showed them how well that worked out for Germany in the 1930s. The Weimar Republic inflated its currency so much that it took a wheel barrel full of paper money to buy a loaf of bread. That might be the main thing I remember from Mr. Crum’s history class at Wasilla High, but it told me all I needed to know about the inflationary dangers of a weak currency and why we must avoid it. What a shame Mr. Crum didn’t teach at Harvard.

That was just three months ago, and things have already gotten worse. We have to face this storm head on. It won’t be easy, but there are real solutions to grow our economy and reduce our debt.

First, we need to get serious about our deficit. No more accounting gimmicks. No more cuts in “out-years” that never materialize. The permanent political class in D.C. might be fooling themselves with these Enron-like accounting games, but they’re not fooling the world’s capital markets. And we don’t need any more happy talk from the White House about “investing” in solar shingles and really fast trains. The White House shouldn’t even bother floating these new spending programs. We can’t afford them. Period. We need to stop this deficit spending, balance our budget, repeal Obamacare, cancel all unused stimulus funds, and reform our entitlement programs. We have to have an adult conversation about our spending commitments; circumstances have changed, and we must adapt. I know none of this will be easy, but, “thick” or not, the average American outside the D.C. politico bubble knows that we no longer have a choice! We will have entitlement reform and a balanced budget; it’s just a matter of how. We can do it ourselves in a calm, methodical, and responsible manner, or we can wait for the world’s capital markets to ram it down on us. Let’s be responsible and do it ourselves. And let’s get serious about reducing the size of government across the board and rooting out waste. How many more reports (that today are destined to merely gather dust on the shelf) do we need about duplicative and unnecessary programs before we actually do something about government waste?

We need to get this economy moving again, and the real stimulus we’ve been waiting for is domestic energy development. We must reduce our dangerous dependence on foreign oil by responsibly developing natural resources here. This will provide good paying jobs, reduce our trade deficit, increase federal and state revenue, ensure environmental standards, and actually stimulate our economy without incurring any debt. That’s real stimulus! Affordable, plentiful, and secure energy is the foundation of every thriving economy. Let’s make it the foundation of ours. Let’s do the opposite of President Obama’s manipulation of U.S. energy supplies. Let’s drill here, build refineries, and stop kowtowing to foreign countries in asking them to ramp up energy production which makes us even more beholden to them as we rely on their foreign product. Let’s move on tapping our massive domestic natural gas reserves. Natural gas is the perfect “bridge fuel” to a future when more renewable sources are available. It’s clean, it’s green, and we’ve got a lot of it. Let’s drill. Let’s build an infrastructure for natural gas cars and power plants. Energy development can help kick start our economic engine.

In addition to energy security, I embrace a pro-growth agenda that can make American corporations far more competitive on the global stage. (I will be writing more about this in the coming days.) We need to tell the world, “America is open for business again!” And let’s welcome industry by reducing burdensome regulations. The Obama administration keeps strangling businesses in red tape. From the EPA’s rulings to that nightmare known as Obamacare, the Obama administration is hanging one regulatory albatross after another around the private sector’s neck. Let’s get government out of the way and give the private sector room to breathe, grow, and thrive. We can provide businesses confidence to expand and hire Americans in a stable environment.

Be wary of the efforts President Obama makes to “fix” the debt problem. The more he tries to “fix” things, the worse they get because his “solutions” always involve spending more, taxing more, growing government, and increasing debt. This debt problem is the greatest challenge facing our country today. Obviously, President Obama doesn’t have a plan or even a notion of how to deal with it. His press conference today was just a rehash of his old talking points and finger-pointing. That’s why he can’t be re-elected in 2012.

Our economic news is disheartening and the task before us can seem daunting, but we must not lose our sense of optimism. People look around today and may see only the negative. They see a culture and a nation in decline, but that’s not who we are! America must regain its optimistic pioneering spirit again. Our founders declared that “we were born the heirs of freedom.” We are the heirs of those who froze with Washington at Valley Forge, who held the line at Gettysburg, who freed the slaves, carved a nation out of the wilderness, and allowed reward for work ethic. We are the sons and daughters of that Greatest Generation who stormed the beaches of Normandy, raised the flag at Iwo Jima, and made America the strongest and most prosperous nation in the history of mankind. By God, we will not squander what has been given us!

Our destiny is still in our own hands if we pick ourselves up and act responsibly and quickly. We must all get involved. Concerned Americans must seek truth, work harder than ever, and be willing to sacrifice today to ensure freedom tomorrow. Please get engaged in 2012 electoral politics and support experienced, vetted, pro-free market fiscal conservatives who will dedicate all to preserving our Republic and protecting our Constitution.

- Sarah Palin

Senator Rubio: "Save the Whole House or It Will All Burn Down"

Watch this amazing speech by Senator Marco Rubio [R-FL] on the Debt Ceiling. It's 14 minutes but fantastic. John Kerry interrupts but Rubio makes him look silly.

“Compromise without solutions is a waste of time,” says Marco Rubio.

Here is the video — be sure to catch his exchange with John Kerry:

 

 

“To the Senator from Massachusetts I would say that it is impossible to negotiate someone who doesn’t have a plan”

Hattip: Redstate

MSNBC Host Mockingly Asks GOP Congressman If He Has ‘Degree In Economics’ – Turns Out He Does!

MSNBC anchorette Contessa Brewer was trying to school a congressman, Mo Brooks (R., Ala.), in economics.  She told him that, without bailouts, the country would be in a “depression.” Brooks said he disagreed. Brewer asked whether he had a degree in economics. (A little sniffy, don’t you think?) The congressman said, “Yes, ma’am, I do. Highest honors.”

Brewer graduated magna cum laude from Syracuse University's Newhouse School of Public Communications with a B.S. in Broadcast Journalism in 1996,

Congressman Brooks graduated from Duke University in three years with a double major in political science and economics, with highest honors in economics. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Alabama Law School.

Restoring Courage viewing Event

 

Please join us to watch

Glenn Beck’s

RESTORING COURAGE RALLY

Live from Jerusalem, Israel

12 o’clock Noon - August 24, 2011

Come Stand With Israel!

 

Now is the time to Stand and Restore Courage. We ask those of you who value freedom, honor and faith to join us and stand with Glenn Beck and leaders from around the world with one united voice. Glenn’s company, Mercury Radio Arts, is hosting the Restoring Courage event on August 24th at The Southern Wall Excavations in Jerusalem.

Join us as we watch this historic event live on GBTV.

· Doors open 11 AM Wednesday, August 24, 2011

· Lakeland Community College, Room T-129

· Program streamed live via the Internet on GBTV

· Large projection screen on stage

· Comfortable theatre style seating

· Regular $2 Meeting Fee charged except to Active Members with paid dues

· Visit our Meetup website to RSVP today at http://www.meetup.com/The-9-12-Project-in-Mentor-OH/events/26224041/

Wednesday’s Meeting

Kevin Coughlin of Cuyahoga Falls, represented Summit County in the Ohio Senate 2001-2011. He served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 1997-2001.

He is planning to run for US Senate in Ohio against Sherrod Brown next year.

Come and listen to Kevin outline his thoughts about current federal policies and his plans if he unseats Sherrod Brown.

Kevin was twice elected as an across-the-board conservative in a Senate district where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1.

Currently a small business owner, Coughlin’s firm Lexington Strategic offers strategic planning, public policy and management services to corporations and non-profits.

Don't miss this opportunity to talk with and question a Senate candidate!

LOCATION: This meeting will take place at Lakeland Community College in Room T-129.

Follow this link for a map of the campus showing where the T Building is located: http://files.meetup.c...

(The T building is marked in Red with parking indicted in green.  Handicap parking is permitted in the blue areas.)

Follow this link for a map of the rooms in the T Building: http://files.meetup.c...

There is a $2 Meeting Room Fee. This fee is waived for Active Members who have paid their yearly dues, college students with an ID and children 17.

STOP IT

Judge Napolitano’s Open Letter to John Boehner: A Common Sense Guide to What Needs to Be Done

Hattip:  The Blaze

In an impassioned plea to Speaker John Boehner, Judge Andrew Napolitano outlines what needs to be done to help resolve the fiscal crisis faced by America.

ERROR: Video will not embed.

You can also see it here:  http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1052777014001/an-open-letter-to-john-boehner/

Military Day of Prayer 2011

Guideposts Outreach is pleased to announce our Military Day of Prayer, May 26, 2011. Please submit your prayer request for our brave servicemen, women and their loved ones. Prayer volunteers will lift up to the Lord all prayer requests received.  Submit your requests here.

 

Ohio Healthcare Amendment Signing Locations

There are three permanent signing locations in Lake County where you can sign a petition for the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment.

They are:

Bendelewski Meats
6732 N. Ridge E.
Madison

(440) 428-6683
Call to confirm Paul is present.

The Meko Law Office LLC
2778 SOM Center Road, Suite 202
Willoughby Hills

(440) 516-1500
Mon, - Fri.,10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Please call before coming to confirm.

Timothy Allen Jewelers Inc.
8925 Mentor Avenue
Mentor

(440) 974-8885
Tue. 11-6, Wed. 11-6, Thur. 11-8, Fri.11-5, Sat 10-4
Closed Sun & Mon

Stop by soon the sign the petition.  We are closing in on the goal and we need your signature now.

For more information about the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment, visit The Ohio Project.

 

Teen Makes Digital Record of Arlington Graves

 

Ricky Gilleland, a tech-savvy 11th-grader, has created the only digitized record of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery.

April 26, 2011|By Faye Fiore, Los Angeles Times

Rosemary Brown is standing over the grave of her son at Arlington National Cemetery when someone catches her eye. It's a boy in khaki shorts and muddy shoes, juggling a clunky camera and the Motorola Xoom he got for his 17th birthday five days earlier.

"May I ask what you're doing?" Brown inquires. The boy begins to peck at the Xoom tablet, and in seconds the image that Brown has come all the way from Cartwright, Okla., to see fills the screen. It's the white marble headstone of Army Special Forces Staff Sgt. Jason L. Brown, killed by small-arms fire in Afghanistan three years ago this day. Her face brightens.

"Most of Jason's family and friends are in Oklahoma and Texas. For them to be able to see his grave…," she says, her voice breaking.

Richard "Ricky" Gilleland III — 11th-grader and Junior Future Business Leaders of America computer ace — has succeeded where the Army failed: He has created the only digitized record of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans laid to rest at Arlington. His website, preserveandhonor.com, is a reverent catalog of the fallen, and one young man's response to a scandal of Army mismanagement, mismarked graves and unmarked remains that has rocked this hallowed place for two years.

"It's a tool to help remember people. They can go on and think, 'Wow, look at all these people who gave their lives just so I can walk around,' " Ricky says.

His "project," as he calls it, won't fix Arlington's considerable problems. A commission led by former Sens. Bob Dole and Max Cleland was formed to attempt that.

But his simple website has brought a measure of order and relief to military families unnerved by reports first disclosed by Salon.com in 2009: unidentified remains in graves thought to be empty, one service member buried on top of another, an unmarked urn that turned up in a dirt landfill.

California's war dead

Thirty-six Californians buried at Arlington served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An investigation by the Army inspector general concluded in June that at least 211 graves were mislabeled. Top brass were fired. And the management of the 147-year-old American landmark, where about 300,000 fallen troops rest, suddenly seemed as chaotic as its uniform lines of unadorned white markers are orderly.

Cemetery operations were declared antiquated. Arlington still relies on paper records and index cards to maintain 200 acres where presidents, astronauts, freed slaves and heroes of every American war lie. "One fire, flood or coffee spill away" from irreplaceable loss, Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) warned.

While discussing Arlington's outdated record-keeping over dinner one night last summer, Ricky — who had just gotten an A in his Programming 1 class at school — announced, "I can fix that." His mother didn't doubt it. She still remembered her older sons complaining they were locked out of the computer again because Ricky, age 4, had changed all the passwords.

"He was the kid who figured things out," Elisabeth Van Dyk, 46, said of her youngest. "He took apart remote controls and his brothers' toys and put them back together again. You could trust he knew what he was talking about."

Ricky didn't have his driver's license yet, so he hitched a ride with his mom on her 45-minute commute from their home in Stafford, Va., to her workplace in Washington. He hopped the Metro the rest of the way to the cemetery. This was July and he wanted an early start before the heat set in.

His focus was Section 60, where about 700 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are buried, more than anywhere else in the country. He combed all 18 acres of it, row by row, and found more than just names. At one grave was a baby's sonogram; he thought about the child who would never know his dad. He saw parents who looked a lot like his own, standing, staring.

Ricky took it all in. This is a side of service he had never fully appreciated, even for a military brat — his great-great-great-grandfather fought at Gettysburg, his father is a retired Army sergeant first class, his stepfather is a retired Navy lieutenant commander and both of his brothers are Air Force senior airmen. (He intends to apply to the Naval Academy at Annapolis and wants to be an officer.)

"Sometimes I look at the birth date and they are about the same age as my brothers, or a year older than me. It puts a whole new perspective on life to think there are 18- or 19-year-old kids who give their lives," he said.

One afternoon while he was out here taking pictures, a woman asked, "What number is my son?" She wanted to know where he fell in a casualty count that is nearing 6,000 for both wars. Ricky couldn't answer her, but later he told his mom that he didn't want them to be numbers; he wanted them to be remembered as people.

"From that point forward," his mom recalled, "it seemed to turn into more than a project."

He spent afternoons in a bookstore poring over Web development manuals for the right program language to create the site. At night, in his family's study, his computer hooked up to a 40-inch flat screen and his keyboard on a snack table in front of the couch, he input hundreds of names, photos, links to obituaries and newspaper accounts; he created a space to blog tributes.

By mid-October, the site was launched.

Army Times wrote him up. The local TV station did a piece. At North Stafford High, he was a minor celebrity. Friends and families around the country could view a loved one's grave thousands of miles away with the click of a mouse. So far, the site has received nearly 116,000 hits and about 300 emails, like the one from Jean Lockey, widow of Army Col. Jon M. Lockey, killed in Iraq on July 6, 2007: "I now have a site to go to when life overwhelms me, a place where I can pretend for a moment I am right there."

And Sarah Hall, mother of 1st Lt. Benjamin John Hall, killed in Afghanistan on July 31, 2007: "Ben was … the light of my life and I miss him every second of every day. To know that his loss is felt by others and acknowledged with such love and honor as you have shown here lifts my heart.…Thank you."

About 10% of the service members killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are at Arlington; the rest are in cemeteries around the country. Ricky's next goal is to enlist the help of the American Legion and record them all on the website. He figures it could be done in a few months.

But the work at Arlington is never really finished. Sadly, there are always graves to add, and he comes out every few weeks to update the list. That's what brings him here today, with his mom and stepdad, in the back seat of the silver Honda she said he could have if he stayed on the honor roll, which he did. (If his grades drop, she has threatened to sell the car for a dollar.)

He's eager to try out the Xoom. It's a gorgeous April Sunday after a hard rain. The red tulips stand straight as soldiers at the cemetery gates, but the grounds are soaked. Ricky starts patrolling the far end of Section 60 where the new arrivals are. It's muddy and his sneakers sink three inches into what he realizes is a grave so fresh the sod hasn't gone in yet. He winces and carries on. No way can he wear those shoes to school Monday.

That's what he's doing when Rosemary Brown spots him. She comes here twice a year — with her husband on the anniversary of Jason's death and by herself on his birthday in September. ("It's a Mom thing. That's my time.") In between, Ricky's website might be the next best thing.

"Continue this, please," she tells the boy she's only just met. He's shy and a little awkward, not so different from the one she raised. "It's so important that they never, ever be forgotten. Ever."

"I will," Ricky promises. "You can bet on it."