07-28-2003: Today's salute! goes to one of the truly great entertainers of our time. He gave decades of his life to making millions of us smile, and always did his best to support our men and women overseas serving in the military.

Today's salute! goes to Bob Hope. Mr. Hope passed away last night, July 27th, 2003. He was 100 years old, and he passed while surrounded by his family.

As a friend said today, "Sleep well, Leslie."

salute!

07-17-2003: This is the only way things will ever improve - people have to help people.

Today's salute! goes to a rather unexpected person - a car thief. Israeli Guishra Schwartz had a flat tire, and was all alone. Her fear turned to terror as an unknown Palestinian man emerged from the shadows.

He explained that he had just stolen a car in a southern Israeli city, but then started changing her tire for her. He explained it was his duty to help her as part of the Palestinian-Israeli truce, according to the article in The Star.

salute! to that Palestinian! May others, both Israelis and Palestinians, follow in his example of peace.

07-14-2003: Today, I have a cool twist of fate to report - Harvard has revoked its admission offer for Blair Hornstine.

Normally, I would think it's sad to see a young person, who has undeniably worked her ass off, refused admission to a prestigious school that had originally accepted her. That is, if she hadn't been such an asshat about things.

So, in light of her lawsuit against her school and her skipping her graduation ceremony after she won the case to be sole valedictorian, she deserves what she got. And of course, the one that got her admission to Harvard gonged - the allegations of plagiarism. Let's not forget her still-pending $2.7 million dollar lawsuit against the school for damages.

Guess you shouldn't have reached for that lawyer quite so fast, eh Blair? Karma does exist.

salute! to the Harvard officials that made that decision.

07-04-2003: Today's salute! goes to all of the men and women that, to borrow a phrase from the movie A Few Good Men, are "standing on the wall."

salute! to the men and women serving in the armed forces, stationed both here and abroad, especially our troops in combat. To the peacekeepers, and the protectors, and the ones hunting evil.

salute! to the men and women that are commanding and guiding them, giving and analyzing intelligence, and those that support them.

salute! to the men and women who wait for the call for help, both at home and abroad. To the police officers, to the paramedics, to the firefighters, to the rescue workers.

salute! to the professionals who actually receive the calls for help, calm us down, and dispatch help to us. To the 911 operators and call center people.

salute! to the veterans of our armed forces, both living and resting. To the heroes that know what it's like to be shot or shot at. To the heroes that gave their lives to protect our freedom, or perhaps another country's freedom. To those heroes that never came home, and instead rest in foreign soil.

To these people we owe our lives and way of life. Without these men and women, this would be just another country. Without these heroes, the ones that "stand on the wall," we would not be America. salute!

Happy 4th of July, America.

07-01-2003: Today, I'm opening up the salute! column. I figured that since I had an Asshat Of The Day (AOTD), it would also be nice to recognize some of the people out there who take care to not be total asshats or jerks to others. Lord knows there are a lot more schmucks out there, so don't count on this column being a daily like the AOTD. Not to mention, I'm lazy.

So, today's salute! award goes to a gentleman by the name of Dinesh D'Souza. D'Souza is an immigrant from India. And D'Souza has written a personal top ten list that explains the things he loves about America and our culture. Thanks go to contributing editor Mr. M for finding this.

There's an awful lot of America-bashing going on nowadays, so it's nice to see such a well-written piece reminding us of what's good about America. Thank you, Mr. D'Souza.