Oct2006 - page 4 of 6

Page 5 MANLEY NOTES REACH OUT AND FEEL THE PRIDE A Billion Here, A Billion There When the Silver Throated Socrates spoke his voice was music to the American ear. Senator Everett Dirkson was shamelessly sentimen-tal and although member of the minority party for nearly all of his thirty-five years on Capitol Hill, he nevertheless commanded the atten-tion of his colleagues, the White House, and the American public. One of many of his famous remarks came during a Senate budget hear-ing: “A billion dollars here and a billion dollars there. Pretty soon we will be talking about a lot of money.” As the billions are spent, the Ameri-can tax-payer seems only to shrug and nod in silence. A billion is a difficult number to compre-hend. The next time you hear a poli-tician use the word “billion” in a cas-ual manner, give some thought whether you want the “politicians” spending your tax money. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate our government spends it. Let me think this over. Muslims And The USA The world population of Muslims is estimated to be slightly more than 1 billion with about 5,220,000 in the United States. There are essen-tially three categories of Muslims in this country: 1) immigrants; 2) American converts/reverts to Islam; and 3) those born into Muslim households. The largest population of US Mus-lims is found in the African-American ethnic group: 42%, fol-lowed by South Asians at 24.5%, and Arabs at 12.5%. Africans, Ira-nians, Turks, Southeast Asians, American Whites, and Eastern Europeans make up the remaining 21%. Twenty percent of the US Muslim population resides in California; 16% in New York; 8.5% in Illinois; 4% in New Jersey; 3.6% call Indi-ana home; 3.5% are based in Michigan; 3% in Virginia; 2.8% in Texas; 2.6% in Ohio, and 1.4% in Maryland. There are 843 mosques located within the borders of the USA; 165 Islamic schools, and 426 Associa-tions, all exempt from federal in-come taxes, property taxes, and most other taxes just as other churches, schools, and many non-profit associations. Among every four humans in the world, one of them is a Muslim. Islam is the second religious group in France, Great Britain and the United States. France, Germany, and Great Britain represent nearly 9.5 million Muslims. There are more Muslims in India than in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Fourteen percent of the population of Israel is Muslim. In the last fifty years, the Muslim population has grown at the rate of 235%; Christians at 47%, Updated Reunion News With only 200 days left until the opening ceremonies at the Home-coming Reunion in Norfolk, the numbers are reaching all-time highs. Your reunion planner recently struck an agreement with the Norfolk Airport Hilton hotel to make additional rooms available to late-comers. But the number is limited and will not be available forever. If you have not yet made your room reservations, you are urged to make it happen by calling the hotel direct at 1-800-422-7474 between 9 and 3, Monday - Friday and ask for Shawn. If you have made reservations with the hotel but have not yet mailed your reunion registration form, you are strongly urged to do so without delay. Only reunion registration guarantees you a spot at the reunion. Those planning to attend the reun-ion who have elected to stay with family or friends residing in the Tidewater area are forewarned that tour and other event schedules will require precise adherence. Local traffic in the Tidewater area can be very heavy at times, particularly during the rush hours, and will be even more congested during this very high tourist time (Azalea Festi-val). Getting to and from may prove quite frustrating, even causing one to miss out on planned activities. A program will be mailed to all attendees in early 2007 and will include most information on the reunion, including a map, driving directions, emergency telephone numbers, and more. Those flying into Norfolk should provide the planner with flight number, airline, and ETA. Continuous shuttle trans-portation will be available.

REACH OUT AND FEEL THE PRIDE

If You Ever Plan To Attend A Reunion Make It

THE HOMECOMING REUNION

Register Today!

Next time you come home for the

night and go to put your keys away,

think of this: it’s a security alarm

system that you already have and

requires no installation and is free.

Start keeping your car keys next to

your bed on the night stand when

you retire for the night.

If you think someone is trying to get

into your house, or if you hear a

noise outside your home, just press

the panic button on your car key

chain. Test it! It will go off from

most everywhere inside your house

and will keeping blaring until your

battery runs down or until you reset

it on the key fob chain. It works if

you park in the driveway or garage.

If your alarm goes off when some-

one is trying to break in your home,

odds are the intruder won’t stick

around and after a few seconds, all

the neighbors will be looking out

Try it to make sure it works before

you rely on it. And remember two

things: carry your keys while walk-

ing to your car in the parking lot and

don’t use this trick on your husband

when he comes in late.

Remember When? Bob Costa, Bruce Bradway, Charlie Cooper

Word has been received on the pass-

ing of the following shipmates:

John David Cooper - May 17, 2006

RM2 Frederick Rahn - June 28, 2003

RM3 Christian Schwaiger - 1999

William White - August 29, 2006

NEW VA ID CARDS

The VA has announced that VA health

care facilities are beginning an ag-

gressive campaign to assure that

enrolled veterans with old versions of

its ID cards are issued the new Veter-

ans Identification Card. VA decided

to initiate the mass replacement to

reduce veteran vulnerability to iden-

tify theft and to demonstrate VA’s

commitment to securing the confi-

dential personal information of all

enrolled veterans. For more informa-

tion about the new ID card, contact

your Medical Center’s Eligibility &

Enrollment Officer or visit

http://www.va.gov/healtheligibility.

Beautiful replica of the Stanley Blefeld

masterpiece, The Lone Sailor stands 15”

high, hand cast in the USA of bonded

bronze. Each statue is hand-finished in a

aged bronze patina and comes mounted

on solid wood base. This statue will be

raffled during the Homecoming Reunion.