A Humble Milestone

In all of the day's convention excitement, I forgot to proffer my thanks to all of you for helping me to surpass 100,000 unique visitors today! The event occurred at 9:14 this morning; a google search referral for an image that I posted last summer. Like many of you, I've experienced a lowered traffic level this spring; however, 2008 has still been a record year for Left in Aboite.

Our first full year, 2006, we had 18,715 unique visitors. For 2007, that number climbed to 32,951. For 2008 thus far, we stand at 47,058 unique visitors. Again, I thank you for dropping by and hope that we always have something interesting for you to peruse.

97% of US death toll came after 'Mission Accomplished'

Death Toll now at 4,000.

A roadside bomb which killed four American soldiers yesterday has brought the official death toll in Iraq to 4,000. The four soldiers died when their vehicle was hit while on patrol late Sunday in southern Baghdad. Another 29,000 American soldiers have been wounded thus far in the conflict.

At least 97 percent of the deaths occurred after US President George W. Bush announced the end of "major combat" in Iraq on May 1, 2003, as the military became caught between a raging anti-American insurgency and brutal sectarian strife unleashed since the toppling of Saddam.

140 American servicemembers died before May 1, 2003, out of a total 4,000.

Despite the losses, Bush on the eve of the war's fifth anniversary defended his decision to invade Iraq, vowing no retreat as he promised American soldiers would triumph despite the "high cost in lives and treasure."

2007 was the deadliest year for the military in Iraq when it lost 901 troops on the back of the "surge", which saw an extra 30,000 soldiers pushed into the meat grinder in an effort to turn the tide of violence that has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis. This figure compares with 486 deaths in 2003, 849 in 2004, 846 in 2005 and 822 in 2006. So far this year, 96 soldiers have died.

But the hallmark of this war has been the high wounded-to-killed ratio,partly because of advances in battlefield medicine,enhanced protective gear worn by soldiers and reinforced armored vehicles. There have been about 15 soldiers wounded for every fatality in Iraq, compared with 2.6 per death in Vietnam and 2.8 in Korea.

Mile Marker

Sometime today, Left in Aboite will surpass 50,000 unique visitors. WHO will be #50,000? ? ?


UPDATE

We have a winner:

Domain Name cox.net ? (Network)
IP Address 70.169.68.2 ? (Cox Communications)
ISP Cox Communications
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Louisiana
City : Baton Rouge
Lat/Long : 30.4499, -91.0978 (Map)
Language English (U.S.)
en-us
Operating System Microsoft Win2000
Browser Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor
Resolution : 1024 x 768
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit Nov 26 2007 5:32:54 pm
Last Page View Nov 26 2007 5:32:54 pm
Visit Length 0 seconds
Page Views 1
Referring URL http://www.google.co...e modern day version
Search Engine google.com
Search Words declaration of independence modern day version
Visit Entry Page http://leftinaboite....of-independence.html
Visit Exit Page http://leftinaboite....of-independence.html
Out Click
Time Zone UTC-6:00
Visitor's Time Nov 26 2007 4:32:54 pm
Visit Number 50,000
[<<] [>>]
Visitor Path Duration (s)
Referral declaration of independence modern day version
http://www.google.com/search?sou... Independence modern day version 0
(1) http://leftinaboite.blogspot.com...declaration-of-independence.html 0

Another Year on this Planet

At exactly 9:01 AM PST on this date in 1964, I was dragged kicking and screaming into this world. I came into existence at Hemet Valley Hospital in Riverside County, California. You left-coasters likely know Hemet as a booming retirement community near Palm Springs, and as home to the Ramona Pageant.

I spent my first few years living in San Diego before my folks moved us back to Indiana in 1969. Back in those days, it was actually cheaper to live in CA than IN, if you actually could score a job. My dad was roughly the same age that I am now, and had left the Navy. Although he was a jack of all trades, from mason to school teacher, jobs were scarce and the California Dream crashed hard for our family. Sometimes you just have to go home again. . .and so we did.

Somewhat ironically, we moved to southwest Allen County where my dad's family (The Good's and Buskirk's) resided initially, but then placed our future on the strong growth trend on the southeast side, and moved to a brand new subdivision called Southwick Village in 1970. International Harvester was a HUGE local employer in the area, and most of it's employee's resided in this booming part of Fort Wayne. East Allen County Schools was considered among the top school systems in the state at that time, and I know that my parents were proud to have placed me into that system. Who could have foreseen that, just 12 years later, IH would pull out of Fort Wayne completely and shut down the growth in that part of our city?

I stayed, and watched the area slowly die over the course of twenty years before finally moving my family back to where my ancestry began here locally, Aboite Township. I still hope for the best for the area in which I grew up in; I still own my boyhood home there. And things are finally begining to improve there, thanks to the efforts of Mayor Richard and numerous others. I'll always miss my childhood home, and my history there; but I'm thankful for my ability to provide a home for my kids in a neighborhood that's more like the one that I grew up in back in the 1970's. We do what we have to do for our families, whatever our personal regrets may be.

Anyway, thanks for listening to my short history and rant about my childhood home. I will be celebrating the anniversary of my eventual demise with many close friends on Saturday; I wish you all could make it, but parking IS limited. ;)