Rally for America" A Smashing Success
Former Tampa and current Philadelphia Clear Channel radio personality Glenn Beck's "Rally for America", held Saturday April 5, 2003 at Coachman Park in Clearwater, was a rousing success drawing between 15, 000 to 20,000 supporters and a handful of protestors.

The Rally, held for supporting American troops in Iraq was the largest of its type held that day. For more information on the Rally, please link to the Sunday April 6th edition of the Tampa Tribune at: http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGA0QTML6ED.html

What On the Homefront Can I do to Support Our Troops?
At a minimum fly your American flag at every appropriate opportunity that you can. Just imagine what an uplifting of spirit our troops overseas could get by looking at TV or newspaper images of home upon home in America flying their flags as a show of support! If you personally know troops over there, send them letters and news clippings letting them know the latest developments from home that might be of interest to them. And remember why they're fighting-- whether you agree or not with our President or this War, they are fighting in the hope of ensuring our freedom and security in the future from what a mad man like Saddam Hussein can and would yield to Americans and his neighbors- they are fighting to liberate a people who have been plundered and squashed beneath the feet of a despot who has no problem with taking political opponents and while still alive, feeding them feet first into wood chippers, or gouging out their eyes with spoons. This type of diseased leadership can not be allowed to spread or even continue. Please, support our troops. Think of the recently rescued nineteen year old troop Jessica Lynch (only NINETEEN-- still in a sense a CHILD!) who suffered not only the loss of her fellow soldiers but received broken bones and gunshot wounds at the hands of the enemy-- OUR enemy. She is a true heroine, who put her life and limb on the line for US! Thank God she survived! Our troops need our support and thanks, do your part and don't delay!

Don't Forget the Birds of Prey
On a much less serious note, don't forget to click on to the "Save the Birds of Prey" web site, or through the banner at left, and find out how you might be able to support the hopeful resurrection of this wonderful, but cancelled, WB action series.

Get Fuzzy
Few who read this column may know this, but in addition to the comic strip "Blondie", which I infrequently assisted in inking from 1983 to 2001, one of my more recent favorite strips is called "Get Fuzzy" which appears Monday through Saturday in the Tampa Tribune.

First published in 1999 by Massachusetts artist Darby Conley, "Get Fuzzy" is a hilarious look at the daily lives of advertising account writer Rob Wilco and his animal companions Bucky, a neurotic, scheming and wise-cracking talking Siamese cat, and Satchel, a lovable if not naive and somewhat dim-witted Lab-Sharpei talking dog. Beautifully drawn and well-scripted, "Get Fuzzy" is the finest comic-strip introduction for this new millennium, and several "Get Fuzzy" books are already available. The newest, "Are You Bucksperienced?--The Get Fuzzy Experience" masterfully portrays the strip's threesome dressed in circa 60's hippie clothing with Bucky centered in the middle of the cover a la Jimi Hendrix from the 1967 "Are You Experienced" album cover of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. A superb strip worth reading and buying (I have my own collection of books and a coffee mug-- my first such type purchases since the good old 1980's strips "The Far Side", "Bloom County" and "Calvin and Hobbes".

Link on to "Get Fuzzy" at http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/getfuzzy/ Enjoy!

Favorite TV Shows Update
They've been running repeats of my favorites, "Smallville", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and the "Twilight Zone" for several weeks now. Fortunately, new and hilarious versions of "Good Morning Miami" have been aired recently filling this current rerun void.

Now the war with Iraq hits even closer to home.
It was disclosed Tuesday that Andy Aviles, who graduated Tampa's T.R. Robinson High School last year, was the third casualty from Tampa to die within the past week in fighting in Iraq. Aviles, who was nicknamed "Mr. Everything", was killed when his 4th Marine Assault Amphibian Battalion was struck while crossing a bridge. In two weeks Aviles would turn 19. Aviles planned on going to Florida State University to major in business, but instead decided to join the Marines. Our prayers go out to Aviles's family, friends and fellow classmates at this difficult time. His ultimate sacrifice to preserve our Nation's freedom and liberate the Iraqi people from a brutal and maniacal dictator will always be honored and never forgotten. For more on this story, please link to the Wednesday April 8, 2003 edition of the Tampa Tribune at http://news.tbo.com/news/MGAY09IUAED.html