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Authorities are on the lookout for a terrorist who has served as al Qaeda's spokesman for the past few years. Incredibly, this person has been living in the United States the entire time and was last seen terrorizing a small handful of women who normally just get together to gossip. Authorities say this person should be considered loud and obnoxious. If spotted, you are urged to run away or you might get hit by a Tickle Me Elmo doll.
Eli Lake, reporting in The New York Sun, tells of how tribes that had previously allowed Al Qaeda to operate in their area are now beginning to turn on the terrorist group.For those officers overseeing the new tribal diplomacy, signs are emerging that Iraq's deepest social networks — its tribes — are withdrawing their tacit acceptance of Al Qaeda and are becoming more willing to cooperate with American authorities to combat the terror network.
The plan is inspired by some successes that the Marines and the Army had with tribes in Anbar province, but it is still in the early stages. While the military and CIA have tried to reach out to Iraq's tribes since before the war, those efforts yielded mixed results. The majority of Sunni tribes cut deals with Al Qaeda for cash — between $30,000 and $40,000, according to sheiks here — to turn a blind eye to Al Qaeda's activities. That arrangement is starting to fall away.
"I see what I think is becoming a national trend, especially in areas influenced by Al Qaeda, where they have made inroads, and even in places where you see other forms of religious extremism, such as Jaish al-Mahdi, you have it from the South. It's coming, it's there," Lieutenant Colonel Richard Welch said in an interview. Colonel Welch, a public prosecutor in Ohio, spends his days meeting Iraqi tribal chiefs as he oversees tribal and religious outreach for the Multi-National Force in Baghdad.
Sheikh Hussein al-Tamimi, whose tribe has been friendly to American forces since the invasion, agrees that many of his fellow chieftains have changed their position on Al Qaeda in recent months. "I think the motivation behind the change is to protect their interests," he said in an interview. "They lose business."
Sheikh Hussein, as well as other sheikhs interviewed for this piece, said the turning point for the tribes was in September when Al Qaeda in Iraq declared the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq, a shadow state that in pockets of the country has established Islamic sharia courts and tried to provide some social services. The declaration was a direct challenge to the centuries-old tribal system that has prevailed in most of Iraq. As a result, the terrorists once seen as allies against the American invaders have also come to be seen as invaders.
The entire article is well worth the read.
Here's the latest wrapup of the Air Force's contribution to the war. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs dropped 500-pound bombs on insurgents firing on a coalition convoy near Sangin. The attack by the A-10s was confirmed a success by an on-scene joint terminal attack controller.
Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles provided shows of force to deter enemy activity around a coalition convoy near Sangin. The aircrews also provided reconnaissance information of a possible insurgent compound and watched over a second convoy in the area that had received small-arms fire.
In total, 39 close-air-support missions were flown in support of ISAF and Afghan security forces, reconstruction activities and route patrols.
n Iraq, an Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon dropped a guided bomb unit-38 on a building near Baquba from which coalition forces had been receiving small-arms fire. The bomb drop resulted in the destruction of the building and no further small-arms firing was reported.
Other F-16s provided successful shows of force supporting ground forces in Balad hit by an improvised explosive device and receiving small-arms fire. The enemy fire stopped after the F-16s flew by. The F-16s also supported Iraqi Army forces who were under small-arms attack.
Near Baghdad, F-16s provided a show of force for convoy members after a rocket-propelled grenade attack. They also watched over a suspicious compound and passed the information gathered to a JTAC.
Also near Baghdad, F-16s provided armed overwatch during two coalition raids. Insurgents were captured and detained during the raids.
Over Muqdadiyah, RAF GR-4 Tornados provided shows of force and overwatch for coalition forces receiving small-arms fire in the area. The small-arms fire stopped after the shows of force. The Tornado crews also searched for mortar positions and watched over a coalition convoy.
In total, coalition aircraft flew 46 close-air-support missions for Operation Iraqi Freedom. These missions supported coalition ground forces, protected key infrastructure, provided overwatch for reconstruction activities and helped to deter and disrupt terrorist activities.
Ann Coulter had a great piece after the Democrat presidential debate (I use the term "presidential" loosely). Thanks to Marcus for the heads-up.Someone needs to tell the Democrats to stop talking about their families. I know they're trying to demonstrate their "family values," but using actual, live human beings to illustrate the freakish ideas of the Democratic base just makes normal people uncomfortable.
When Chris Dodd was asked about gay marriage, he said he always thinks of his little daughters — aged 2 and 5 — and imagines them turning out to be lesbians, saying he would want them treated equally.
To prove his bona fides to the environmentalist nuts, Obama said: "We've also been working to install lightbulbs that last longer and save energy. And that's something that I'm trying to teach my daughters, 8-year-old Malia and 5-year-old Sasha."
So we finally have an answer to the question: What do Democrats teach their daughters? Is it:
(a) integrity
(b) character
(c) the importance of always telling the truth
No! The answer is: (d) They teach their daughters to use low-energy lightbulbs. This is so important that it apparently bears mentioning during a debate under high-intensity TV studio lights.
ANDThe not-visibly-insane Democrats all claim they'll get rough with the terrorists, but they can't even face Brit Hume.
In case you missed this profile in Democrat machismo, the Democratic presidential candidates are refusing to participate in a debate hosted by Fox News Channel because the hosts are "biased." But they'll face down Mahmoud Ahmadinejad!
At this, even Hillary Clinton was thinking, "Come on, guys — let's grow a pair."
Foxnews.com is reporting that archeologists have found what they believe is the tomb of King Herod.Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 74 B.C. The wall he built around the Old City of Jerusalem still stands, and he also ordered big construction projects in Caesaria, Jericho, the hilltop fortress of Massada and other sites.
It has long been assumed Herod was buried at Herodium, but decades of excavations had failed to turn up the site. The 1st century historian Josephus Flavius described the tomb and Herod's funeral procession.
CNSNews.com is reporting that ABC will air a debate between evangelists Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron and two atheists from a group called the "Rational Response Squad". The debate will be about the existence of God."We are excited that the network has decided to do this because we have something very relevant to present," Cameron stated in the news release. "Most people think that belief in God is simply a matter of blind faith and that His existence can't be proven.
"We will not only prove that God exists, but as an ex-atheist, I'll show that the issue keeping so many people from believing in God -- Darwinian evolution -- is completely unscientific," he added. "It's a fairy tale for grownups."
Bill Roggio does his usual job of excellent reporting from Iraq in The Roggio Report. His latest report begins with the effort to stem car bombings by placing barriers up to segment the city.These barriers stem the flow of traffic through checkpoints and prevent the infiltration of death squads through back alleys and side streets. The news of the creation of the "Adhamiya Wall" sparked protests and the temporary halting of the barrier's construction. Opportunists likened the barrier to the fence separating Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank.
But, as Omar Fadhil noted early last week, "Work to construct similar walls started weeks ago in the Amiriya and Ghazaliyah districts. The 'news' went utterly unnoticed then." Mr. Fadhil noted the barrier has had some effect in Amiriya and Ghazaliyah, and speculated that insurgents might have stirred up the local protests in an attempt to halt the building of the wall.
Dave Kilcullen, the Senior Counter-Insurgency Advisor for Multi-National Force Iraq, explained that Prime Minister Maliki restarted the project after he was briefed on the need for the barrier and how the protests had come about. "As I understand it, once the reasons for the project and the likely benefits in terms of lives saved were explained to the PM, he was happy for it to continue. I understand that the evidence of extremist manipulation was also a factor." Kilcullen likened the barrier to an "urban tourniquet," and explained that the propaganda campaign to disrupt its construction came from none other than al Qaeda in Iraq.
Roggio also tells of how Anbar, once the deadliest city in Iraq, has become much safer. Last summer, there were 50 attacks happening per day. Now, it is just down to 2 a day. Markets are reopening, children are returning to school and Iraqi and American security forces are conducting patrols throughout the most dangerous neighborhoods in the city.
Part of the success of the Anbar Salvation Council is that it provides the Sunnis in Anbar with a political voice as well as security against al Qaeda. The Anbar Salvation Council's political component is the Anbar Awakening. Seven new tribes have just joined the political party. The Awakening is now expanding beyond Anbar province, and is becoming a national movement. The Anbar Awakening is facilitating the creation of the Iraq Awakening, a national political party which would "oppose insurgents such as Al Qaeda in Iraq and reengage with Iraq's political process." The Iraq Awakening is scheduled to meet in May, and will be the first Sunni political party to openly oppose al Qaeda in Iraq.
Sensing that the Awakening movement was gaining steam in Iraq--branches are said to be forming in Salahadin and Diyala--I asked Omar Fadhil, and Iraqi blogger living in Baghdad, about the perception of the movement inside Baghdad and prospects of the Awakening expanding into the capital. Omar responded that the tribal dynamics were different, and that it was difficult to draw conclusions about Baghdad based on trends in Ramadi.
The following day, Omar noted a report in As Sabah on the creation of the Adhamiya Awakening. "Some community leaders in Adhamiya are working on forming a salvation council for their own district they will be calling The Adhamiya Awakening," reported Omar. "Sources close to the leaders said they [the leaders] have managed to win the support of some hundred people who agree with the new position. The sources asserted that the goal of the Awakening is to rid Adhamiya of the terrorists."
Read the entire post for even more reason for optimism. In the wake of Congress's passing of the foolish funding bill which would set a timetable for a hasty exit from Iraq, it is a good time to write your Congressman and Senator to let them know how upset you are with the Democrats' shameful conduct. They have no idea how idiotic they are appearing to the American public. Read this story about Senator Biden's latest exhibition of his mental prowess.
Foxnews.com is reporting that three persons who worked at a publishing house in Malatya, Turkey, that distributed Bibles were killed.Attackers killed three people Wednesday at a publishing house that had been the subject of protests for distributing Bibles in Turkey, the government-run Anatolia news agency reported.
One person who had his throat cut inside the publishing house and another who jumped from the third floor to escape were taken to local hospitals for treatment, the private Dogan news agency said. Anatolia said one of those taken to the hospital later died.
Nationalists previously had protested outside the Zirve publishing house in the city of Malatya, accusing it of proselytizing, Dogan reported.
Video footage broadcast on private NTV news channel showed one man being tackled by police outside of the building, and another in a neck brace being loaded into a stretcher.
Malatya is known as a hotbed of nationalists and is the hometown of Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turkish man who shot Pope John Paul II in 1981.
The Sun Times of Chicago echoes my last post about how the presence of evil in man is to blame for the massacre at Virginia Tech and the debate that will begin about allowing students and faculty to carry concealed weapons on campus. In 2002, according to a report on CNSNews.com, a disgruntled student at the Appalachian Law School, Peter Odighizuwa, allegedly shot and killed the school's dean, a professor, and a student on campus. He was subdued, CNSNews.comreported, only when two students reportedly ran to their cars to fetch their own guns and returned to confront the killer, who surrendered.
This led the president of the Second Amendment group at another school, George Mason University, to start looking into reforming bans on weapons on campus. That issue, already alive on campuses across the country, will grow only larger in the wake of the tragedy at Virginia Tech. It will be an important debate. We don't believe any public policy will be able to expunge from society the kind of insanity or evil that leads to the kinds of acts witnessed yesterday. But we do believe that Americans have the capacity to reason out their own choices about how to defend themselves. And to reach out in their thoughts and prayers to the families who lost loved ones on the campus of Virginia Tech.
I spent a lot of time in the car yesterday, so all of the info about the shooting that I received during the day came from the local AM news station. They played a lot of interviews of students and teachers, both from Virginia Tech and Southern Cal (the local reaction). I remember hearing one female student say that there had to be mental illness involved. Sadly, this has become the normal reaction to senseless events like this. Either there was something wrong with the perpetrator's brain or that person (or group in the case of Islamists) has been so mistreated by family, peers, society, or the United States, that it's no wonder that they did what they did. How can we blame them? I don't remember hearing one mention of the word "evil" during all of yesterday's coverage. That's because in our secular society, we've been taught that man is basically good inside. If one of us loses it and guns down dozens of people around us, it must be the fault of said gunned-down people. Let's study the shooter and figure out what kind of victim he was. To think of it in any other way means that we have to admit that the shooter was wrong in his action. Which means that there is a right and wrong. Which means that there is a standard for us. Which means we are responsible for our actions. No, that can't be right.
The worst campus shooting in U.S. history occurred today at Virginia Tech University, apparently by a lone individual. Here's the latest. How long do you think before the gun-control freaks start to use this event as more evidence of the need for ridding the population of all firearms? If anything, this incident makes a good argument for allowing teachers to carry concealed weapons. These students that died today were sitting ducks.
Just found this great article, thanks to The Evangelical Outpost. The Washington Post has an excellent story about what happened when a world class musician started playing outside a Washington DC metro station. I've ridden on the metro and heard musicians playing as I left the stations. I wonder if I would have stopped to listen and appreciated what I was hearing...
Although he's not my first choice for President, John McCain would be a much better leader than anyone the Democrats can offer. Sunday, Senator McCain wrote a great piece in the Washington Post about his recent trip to Iraq. Thanks to Marcus for the heads-up.I just returned from my fifth visit to Iraq since 2003 -- and my first since Gen. David Petraeus's new strategy has started taking effect. For the first time, our delegation was able to drive, not use helicopters, from the airport to downtown Baghdad. For the first time, we met with Sunni tribal leaders in Anbar province who are working with American and Iraqi forces to combat al-Qaeda. For the first time, we visited Iraqi and American forces deployed in a joint security station in Baghdad -- an integral part of the new strategy. We held a news conference to discuss what we saw: positive signs, underreported in the United States, that are reason for cautious optimism. . .The new political-military strategy is beginning to show results. But most Americans are not aware because much of the media are not reporting it or devote far more attention to car bombs and mortar attacks that reveal little about the strategic direction of the war. I am not saying that bad news should not be reported or that horrific terrorist attacks are not newsworthy. But news coverage should also include evidence of progress. Whether Americans choose to support or oppose our efforts in Iraq, I hope they could make their decision based on as complete a picture of the situation in Iraq as is possible to report.
McCain goes on to give some examples of the progress actually being made. It's well worth the read. We need to start writing the mainstream sources of news and begin demanding that they start doing exactly as McCain suggests: stop focusing solely on the negative incidents that are more anecdotal and begin reporting on the big picture.
Bill Roggio, of The Roggio Report, validates and expands on the progress being made in Iraq.
David Ramsey at The Gazetteof Colorado Springs has a great column this week about the drama that could unfold next season. But first, in case you haven't been following this story, here's the quick version: Air Force's basketball coach of 2 years, Jeff Bzdelik, just left Air Force to coach at Colorado University, which Air Force demolished this season. The two teams have a 2-year contract, which means that CU is supposed to come play at Clune Arena. Well, here's his column. I think he's got something...Betrayal has long served as a gripping plot device, most notably the day Judas sold his friend, a man named Jesus, for 30 pieces of silver.
Betrayal is why the Air Force Academy cannot — under any circumstance — allow the University of Colorado to wriggle out of its commitment to a basketball clash next season.
Think of it. Jeff Bzdelik will walk into Clune Arena to face the players, fans, athletic director and, most delicious of all, the Section Eight he abandoned.
His return is priceless. Air Force athletic director Hans Mueh must refuse to allow the school that stole his coach to escape its contract.
If the Buffaloes seek a release, which would cost them $50,000, Mueh should call them cowards. He should roar to the heavens about the absolute requirement that these teams meet. He should refuse to go quietly.
Colorado — the state, not the school — needs this game. This is hardly the center of the basketball universe, and games this juicy come along, oh, once every century.
Colorado athletic director Mike Bohn chuckled when asked about Colorado’s plans.
“Yes, of course we’re coming,” Bohn said. “We have an agreement with them.”
Great to hear, Mike, but I still have doubts.
There have been rumblings at the academy that the Buffaloes won’t make the trip. When the Falcons annihilated lame-duck coach Ricardo Patton’s team in November at the Coors Events Center, the Buffaloes looked helpless, clueless and lazy.
That was just in the first five minutes.
After the game, Bzdelik told academy confidants he expected the Buffaloes to refuse the return trip to Clune. Consecutive losses were too risky for Colorado, he reasoned.
Don’t let the man become a prophet.
Trust me, the next meeting will not be another comedyfilled rout. Bzdelik will bring an enraged bunch of Buffaloes to Clune. He’ll shout at them about last season’s slaughter. He’ll thirst for this win like a man who’s wandered without water in the desert for 40 days.
The Buffaloes don’t have much, but they do have Richard Roby. Sure, Roby all but took a nap during last season’s mismatch, but he’s a major talent. If he doesn’t play with a surging fire against the Falcons, Bzdelik might make him run to Cheyenne and back.
To add to the fun, Bzdelik will be joined by freshman guard Levi Knutson, who was Air Force’s top recruit last fall. Knutson decided he wasn’t interested in the rigors of a military education and instead chose Colorado. Now, in a strange twist, Bzdelik and Knutson will travel together to the arena they rejected.
Here’s one more multiplier to the drama: The Falcons will desire to crush the coach who deserted them.
On Tuesday evening, Bzdelik motored down Interstate 25 to meet with the Falcons. Don’t let him fool you. He knew he would be introduced the next morning as Colorado’s new coach, but he lacked the courage to speak clear truth to his soon-to-be former players.
He claims he told the Falcons he was “leaning heavily” toward Colorado. Air Force teammates Andrew Henke and Matt McCraw politely disagree. Both say Bzdelik said it was “50-50” between the Falcons and Buffaloes.
That night, Bzdelik called only a few of the Falcons to say he was leaving. He declined to take an extra 30 minutes to speak to each of his players man-to-man. Remember, he frequently told these same players he “loved” them. This will be their chance to deliver a harsh, and deserved, payback.
Air Force fans should remind Bzdelik of his faithlessness. They should shout and wave signs — no obscene words, please — and stomp.
The betrayer’s return will be loud. It will offer stupendous basketball theater.
It must happen.
Air Force continues to show that it should have gone to the Big Dance, this time knocking off Georgia by 31. Chip Towers from the Atlanta Journal Constitution tells about the game.Dennis Felton knew it. He just couldn't say it. Air Force was the worst of all possible draws for Georgia in the NIT. For anybody, really.
Monday night, the Falcons (25-8) were obliged to show the world why.
Playing in their packed little arena on the side of a mountain (elevation 7,100 feet), they used guile, hustle and 3-point accuracy to run the Bulldogs out of the gym, 83-52. Air Force was up 23 points in less than 13 minutes, then just did what it had to do from there to advance to the third round of NIT.
The Falcons, once considered shoo-ins for the NCAA tournament, will face DePaul. Again, it will be at Clune Arena.
The only solace for Air Force opponents is that four of its five starters are seniors and coach Jeff Bzdelik is the leading candidate at Colorado.
Against the nation's No. 2 scoring defense, the Bulldogs shot 36 percent and never really figured out the Falcons' matchup zone.
Meanwhile, Air Force put on a clinic for running the Princeton motion offense. The Falcons produced lay-ups galore and mixed in nine 3-pointers to boot. Jacob Burtschi led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds, and Dan Nwaelele added 19 as they shot 55 percent from the field and 10 players scored.
John Mark Reynolds (an evangelical Christian, by the way) has written a great piece about why Mit Romney is the man that conservatives should be supporting at this point in the race.Far from worrying about our prodigal Romney who has come home to social conservative values . . . I worry about him least on these issues.
Why? Romney has over time come to traditional points of view on culture of life and family issues. This is not surprising given his religious and social background. Romney is a man of profound faith (though it is not my own) and of deep and abiding traditional values in his personal life. As he has grown older, it is no surprise that a maturing statesman would bring his personal life into closer consistency with his political life.
Romney has the zeal of a new covert tempered by the pragmatic wisdom of one who knows the strengths and weaknesses of his old views.
Even on pragmatic grounds, the convert can be trusted more than the older member. He cannot afford to switch again without looking like a disaster and will work hard to keep his new allies.
The prodigal Romney has come back to his conservative roots having tried to eat the pig food of Harvard and the secular left.
ANDI like Rudy . . . and admire him on many levels. I would love to see him as an attorney general chasing the Mob or Terrorists. He is a liberal of the old school . . . willing to work with conservatives for the good of the nation. We need more liberals like him, but he is a liberal and the Republican party is the conservative party in America.
Rudy is a friend of the conservative movement . . . and an ally, but he should not lead that movement. The Romans were finished when they picked Germans to lead them . . . and the Republicans do not need a friendly foe to head their cause.
Foxnews.com is reporting that former Tennessee senator and current Law and Order star Fred Thompson is considering a run for the White House."I'm going to wait and see what happens," Thompson said. "I want to see my colleagues on the campaign trial, what they say, what they emphasize, whether they can carry the ball next November."
Thompson, 64, who plays district attorney Arthur Branch on NBC's drama, said he was pondering a run after former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker and other Tennessee Republicans began drumming up support for his possible Republican candidacy, citing his conservative credentials.
"I think people are somewhat disillusioned. A lot of people are cynical out there. They're looking for something different," he said.
On the issues, Thompson said he:
—Is "pro-life," and believes federal judges should reexamine the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 which established a woman's right to an abortion.
—Opposes gay marriage, but would let states decide whether to allow civil unions. "Marriage is between a man and a woman, and judges shouldn't be allowed to change that."
—Supports President George W. Bush's decision to increase troops in Iraq. "Wars are full of mistakes. You rectify them. I think we are doing that now," he said. "We've got to give it a chance to work."
—Would pardon former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice now, rather than waiting until all his appeals are exhausted. Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction in the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.
Libby is "bearing the political brunt of something that should've never come about," Thompson said, noting that "practically every witness at trial had inconsistent statements."
Thompson said he was not setting a deadline to make a decision and believes he will not be at a disadvantage if he waited until summer. "The lay of the land will be different in a couple of months than it is today, one way or another," he said in an interview on "Fox News Sunday."
I like what I see so far. Very interesting...
Robert Sanchez from the Denver Post has written a great article about the Air Force men's basketball team. Four of the starters are seniors and are now months away from being commissioned as officers in the US Air Force. Sanchez does a great job of contrasting the difference between these young men and their counterparts at "normal" universities, and then describing what they have waiting for them after graduation.They expected to play basketball somewhere, but their talents were more suited for Division II ball, or the Ivy League, where several of them had offers.
Still, in their minds, they imagined sinking the game-winning shot in front of thousands of screaming fans on national television. They imagined they could someday have their own sliver of March Madness.
But they never imagined the opportunity would come on a hillside in Colorado, where the iron gates around the campus are as much about keeping people in as they are about keeping others out.
"One of the most common sayings around is that this is a great place to be from, but not be at," says Eric Kenzik, a 22-year-old junior from Florida who wants to fly Air Force transport planes or bombers upon his graduation next year - a decision his parents support.
"It's one of those things where you can't explain it if you're in it, and you can't understand it unless you're part of it," senior center Nick Welch says. "Survive this, and then you'll know."
It's hard to call the academy a college because it is unlike any collegiate experience.
You're told when to wake up, when to eat, when to go to class, when to study and when to go to bed.
Academy life means basic training before you step inside a classroom. It means being told your zipper has been pulled too low on your military issued jacket. It means averaging 18 credit hours a semester when a five-year player at another college might take only 24 an entire year. It means calculus and aerodynamics classes even though you're an English major who has no interest in calculus or aerodynamics. It means eating with 4,000 other cadets at the same time every day while your buddy at the University of Utah grabs a Big Mac at midnight.
But for the players who took the challenge, for them, it means the opportunity to become a better person.
"Every day of my life here, I'm being challenged to be better than I was the day before," Welch says. "By going through this, I'm developing into a leader."
At most college programs, basketball is the most rigorous and scheduled part of an athlete's life. At the academy, it's just another thing to add to the pile.
"Sometimes I'll see the look on their faces that says, 'I was up until 5 a.m. studying, I've got practice and exams and someone chewed me out this morning,"' coach Jeff Bzdelik says. "I know then that I should ease my foot off the gas."
The Falcons will be hoping against hope this afternoon to see if they make it to the Big Dance. If they don't, it won't be the end of the world. Their life is just beginning.
Well, we just got back from a seminar in Camden, Maine, on how to start and run a bed & breakfast. We had a great time. We stayed at the Timbercliffe Cottage B&B, along with 4 other couples. The seminar was called Inn Your Dreams and was conducted by Don Johnson, a veteran in the Maine B&B scene, having owned and run his own inns for 12 years and now in the brokerage business. Since we're thinking of running our own B&B when we retire in seven years, we thought it would be a good idea to find out more about the whole business and see if it's what we really want to do. Inn Your Dreams was a great way to do that. Don began by giving us a quiz to see if we've got the right temperament and personalities to be innkeepers, and took us through the whole process, including finding the right B&B, buying it, shopping for supplies, pricing the rooms, and then the daily demands of running it. In the afternoons, we went on tours of the local B&Bs to get ideas to use in our own inns. Overall, Inn Your Dreams was a great investment for our future career. Don was thorough in his training and brought in a few experts in various fields, such as financing and webpage design, to enhance the experience. We'd highly suggest the seminar for anyone interested in running their own inn someday.Another facet to Inn Your Dreams that made it very rewarding was the fact that we actually stayed in a local B&B. In this case, our hosts were Karen and Dave Kallstrand at the Timbercliffe Cottage (as mentioned above). We stayed in the Chauncey Keep Chamber, the best room in the inn. The room had a beautiful view of Penobscot Bay and felt very cozy with a warm fireplace. Karen was an excellent cook, providing delicious gourmet breakfasts every morning. Dave and Karen went out of their way to provide that "home away from home" experience. And of course, Caffrey, the Kallstrand's golden retriever, offered her own hospitality by greeting everyone by the dining room. Timbercliffe's common areas offered a great place for guests to sit and visit with each other, drinking coffee or wine by the fire. Christine and I were very glad that we took this opportunity to learn more about innkeeping. It made us even more eager to start on the next stage in our lives after the Air Force.
