CNN) -- Former "Manson Family" member Susan Atkins, who stabbed actress Sharon Tate to death more than 40 years ago and now is terminally ill, was denied parole Wednesday, prison officials said..
The panel set another hearing for Atkins in three years, said Michele Kane, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
Atkins was 21 when she and other followers of Charles Manson participated in a two-night rampage that left seven people dead and terrorized the city of Los Angeles in August 1969. She and the others -- Manson, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Charles "Tex" Watson -- were initially sentenced to death in the slayings of five people, including Tate, and two additional deaths the following night.
Their sentences were automatically commuted to life in prison when the Supreme Court struck down the nation's death penalty laws in 1972.
By her own admission, Atkins, known as Sadie Mae Glutz within the Manson family, held Tate down as she pleaded for mercy, and stabbed the actress 16 times. Tate was eight months pregnant. In a 1993 parole board hearing, Atkins said Tate "asked me to let her baby live. ... I told her I didn't have any mercy on her."
And yet we are supposed to have mercy on her and let her out of prison. It's too bad she's terminally ill. But, that's the way it goes. Life in prison means just that. When she dies she will burn in hell. Eventually she will be reunited with all of her friends.
As a teenager, this is the first true crime I read about. The attrocities these social rejects commited are almost beyond belife.
As of earlier this year, Atkins was paralyzed over 85 percent of her body and could not sit up in bed or be moved into a wheelchair, according to a Web site maintained by her husband and attorney, James Whitehouse. She has been described as a model prisoner who has accepted responsibility for her role in the slayings and now shuns Manson.
But Tate's sister, Debra Tate, told CNN in an e-mail in March that she does not think any Manson family member convicted of murder should ever be set free, saying the slayings were "so vicious, so inhumane, so depraved, that there is no turning back."
"The 'Manson Family' murderers are sociopaths, and from that, they can never be rehabilitated," Tate said. "They should all stay right where they are -- in prison -- until they die. There will never be true justice for my sister Sharon and the other victims of the 'Manson Family.' Keeping the murderers in prison is the least we, as a society who values justice, can do."
I agree Ms. Tate. These people cannot and should not ever be released from prison. She was allowed to get married while in prison, what more does she want. She has a web site that he husband maintains. It spouts all the good she has done while in prison. Does that make up for 7 murders? I don't think so.
2nd Amendment, Iowa carry laws and Veterans concerns. Also anything else we want to talk about.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
History Lesson
I received this in an email. Not sure who the author is but he speaks the truth.
What's that you say? Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results!
The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 - they've had 234 years to get it right; it is broke, and even though heavily subsidized, it can't compete with private sector FedExp and UPS services.
Social Security was established in 1935 - they've had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - they've had 71 years to get it right; it is broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; it is broke. Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years.
The War on Poverty was started in 1964 - they've had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our hard earned money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - they've had 44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.
AMTRAK was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out as it continues to run at a loss!
This year, a trillion dollars was committed in the massive political payoff called the Stimulus Bill of 2009; it shows NO sign of working; it's been used to increase the size of governments across America, and raise government salaries while the rest of us suffer from economic hardships. It has yet to create a single new private sector job. Our national debt projections (approaching $10 trillion) have increased 400% in the last six months.
"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009 - - after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies, and dealers nationwide are buried under bureaucratic paperwork demanded by a government that is not yet paying them what was promised.
So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that each and every "service" shoved down our throats by an over-reaching government turns into disaster, how could any informed American trust our government to run or even set policies for America's health care system - - 17% of our economy?
Maybe each of us has a personal responsibility to let others in on this brilliant record before 2010, and then help remove from office those who are voting to destroy capitalism and destroy our grandchildren's future.
Thanks to America First.
What's that you say? Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results!
The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775 - they've had 234 years to get it right; it is broke, and even though heavily subsidized, it can't compete with private sector FedExp and UPS services.
Social Security was established in 1935 - they've had 74 years to get it right; it is broke.
Fannie Mae was established in 1938 - they've had 71 years to get it right; it is broke. Freddie Mac was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; it is broke. Together Fannie and Freddie have now led the entire world into the worst economic collapse in 80 years.
The War on Poverty was started in 1964 - they've had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our hard earned money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor"; it hasn't worked.
Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965 - they've had 44 years to get it right; they are both broke; and now our government dares to mention them as models for all US health care.
AMTRAK was established in 1970 - they've had 39 years to get it right; last year they bailed it out as it continues to run at a loss!
This year, a trillion dollars was committed in the massive political payoff called the Stimulus Bill of 2009; it shows NO sign of working; it's been used to increase the size of governments across America, and raise government salaries while the rest of us suffer from economic hardships. It has yet to create a single new private sector job. Our national debt projections (approaching $10 trillion) have increased 400% in the last six months.
"Cash for Clunkers" was established in 2009 and went broke in 2009 - - after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies, and dealers nationwide are buried under bureaucratic paperwork demanded by a government that is not yet paying them what was promised.
So with a perfect 100% failure rate and a record that proves that each and every "service" shoved down our throats by an over-reaching government turns into disaster, how could any informed American trust our government to run or even set policies for America's health care system - - 17% of our economy?
Maybe each of us has a personal responsibility to let others in on this brilliant record before 2010, and then help remove from office those who are voting to destroy capitalism and destroy our grandchildren's future.
Thanks to America First.
Obama's 1st Six Months
Obama's First Six Months' Accomplishments
The following was received in an email.
Obama's First Six Months' Accomplishments
1. Offended the Queen of England.
2. Bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia.
3. Praised the Marxist Daniel Ortega.
4. Kissed Socialist Hugo Chavez on the cheek.
5. Endorsed the Socialist Evo Morales of Bolivia.
6. Sided with Hugo Chavez and Communist Fidel Castro against Honduras.
7. Announced we would meet with Iranians with no pre-conditions while they're building their nuclear weapons.
8. Gave away billions to AIG also without pre-conditions.
9. Expanded the bailouts.
10. Insulted everyone who has ever loved a Special Olympian.
11. Doubled our national debt.
12. Announced the termination of our new missile defense system the day after North Korea launched an ICBM.
13. Released information on U.S. intelligence gathering despite urgings of his own CIA director and the prior four CIA directors.
14. Accepted without comment that five of his cabinet members cheated on their taxes and two other nominees withdrew after they couldn't take the heat.
15. Appointed a Homeland Security Chief who identified military veterans and abortion opponents as "dangers to the nation."
16. Ordered that the word "terrorism" no longer be used and instead refers to such acts as "man made disasters."
17. Circled the globe to publicly apologize for America's world leadership.
18. Told the Mexican president that the violence in their country was because of us.
19. Politicized the census by moving it into the White House from the Department of Commerce. 20. Passed a huge energy tax in the House that will make American industry even less competitive while costing homeowners thousands per year.
21. Salutes as heroes three Navy SEALS who took down three terrorists who threatened one American life and the next day announces members of the Bush administration may stand trial for "torturing" three 9/11 terrorists by pouring water up their noses.
22. Low altitude photo shoot of Air Force One over New York City that frightened thousands of New Yorkers.
23. Sent his National Defense Advisor to Europe to assure them that the US will no longer treat Israel in a special manner and they might be on their own with the Muslims.
24. Praised Jimmy Carter's trip to Gaza where he sided with terrorist Hamas against Israel.
25. Nationalized General Motors and Chrysler while turning shareholder control over to the unions and freezing out retired investors who owned their bonds. Committed unlimited taxpayer billions in the process.
26. Announced nationalized health care "reform" that will strip seniors of their Medicare, cut pay of physicians, increase taxes yet another $1 trillion, and put everyone on rationed care with government bureaucrats deciding who gets care and who doesn't.
Bloomberg: Daschle says, "Health care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them," while former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm says seniors have "a duty to die."
If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember that the President, Senators and Congressmen have their own special gold plated health care plan which is guaranteed the remainder of their lives and they are not subject to this new law if they pass it . Please use the power of the Internet to get this message out.
Talk it up at the grassroots level. We have an election coming up in one year and four months where we can reverse the dangerous direction of the Obama administration and its allies. In the interim, we can make their lives miserable. Lets do it!
The following was received in an email.
Obama's First Six Months' Accomplishments
1. Offended the Queen of England.
2. Bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia.
3. Praised the Marxist Daniel Ortega.
4. Kissed Socialist Hugo Chavez on the cheek.
5. Endorsed the Socialist Evo Morales of Bolivia.
6. Sided with Hugo Chavez and Communist Fidel Castro against Honduras.
7. Announced we would meet with Iranians with no pre-conditions while they're building their nuclear weapons.
8. Gave away billions to AIG also without pre-conditions.
9. Expanded the bailouts.
10. Insulted everyone who has ever loved a Special Olympian.
11. Doubled our national debt.
12. Announced the termination of our new missile defense system the day after North Korea launched an ICBM.
13. Released information on U.S. intelligence gathering despite urgings of his own CIA director and the prior four CIA directors.
14. Accepted without comment that five of his cabinet members cheated on their taxes and two other nominees withdrew after they couldn't take the heat.
15. Appointed a Homeland Security Chief who identified military veterans and abortion opponents as "dangers to the nation."
16. Ordered that the word "terrorism" no longer be used and instead refers to such acts as "man made disasters."
17. Circled the globe to publicly apologize for America's world leadership.
18. Told the Mexican president that the violence in their country was because of us.
19. Politicized the census by moving it into the White House from the Department of Commerce. 20. Passed a huge energy tax in the House that will make American industry even less competitive while costing homeowners thousands per year.
21. Salutes as heroes three Navy SEALS who took down three terrorists who threatened one American life and the next day announces members of the Bush administration may stand trial for "torturing" three 9/11 terrorists by pouring water up their noses.
22. Low altitude photo shoot of Air Force One over New York City that frightened thousands of New Yorkers.
23. Sent his National Defense Advisor to Europe to assure them that the US will no longer treat Israel in a special manner and they might be on their own with the Muslims.
24. Praised Jimmy Carter's trip to Gaza where he sided with terrorist Hamas against Israel.
25. Nationalized General Motors and Chrysler while turning shareholder control over to the unions and freezing out retired investors who owned their bonds. Committed unlimited taxpayer billions in the process.
26. Announced nationalized health care "reform" that will strip seniors of their Medicare, cut pay of physicians, increase taxes yet another $1 trillion, and put everyone on rationed care with government bureaucrats deciding who gets care and who doesn't.
Bloomberg: Daschle says, "Health care reform will not be pain free. Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them," while former Colorado Governor Dick Lamm says seniors have "a duty to die."
If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember that the President, Senators and Congressmen have their own special gold plated health care plan which is guaranteed the remainder of their lives and they are not subject to this new law if they pass it . Please use the power of the Internet to get this message out.
Talk it up at the grassroots level. We have an election coming up in one year and four months where we can reverse the dangerous direction of the Obama administration and its allies. In the interim, we can make their lives miserable. Lets do it!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
So much
There's so much going on, it's hard to know where to start.
Lets start here.
http://www.mediacomtoday.com/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9AE2CC00%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1018&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCL2_UNEWS&page=1
Frantic Ga. 911 caller: 'My whole family is dead!'
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Guy Heinze Jr. arrived home from a night out to find a gruesome scene — seven people dead, a cousin with Down syndrome clinging to life and another critically injured.
"My dad's dead, my uncle's dead. There's like six. My whole family's dead!" Heinze said, struggling to describe the scene to a dispatcher after his neighbor called 911 and handed him the phone. "It looks like they've been beaten to death. I don't know what to do, man."
Several hours later, police arrested Heinze on charges of drug possession, tampering with evidence and lying to a police officer. County Police Chief Matt Doering said he isn't calling Heinze a suspect in the killings, nor is he ruling him out.
They were beaten to death, sounds like no guns were involved. Why haven't we heard any of this on the news. It's the worst murder case in his 25 years acording to the County Police Chief. Why would anyone commit a crime like this? Could it have been a drug deal gone bad? Nobody knows and they have no suspects. I'm waiting for some liberal panty wetter to start screaming about gun control. That's the only way they think we can fight crime.
Next up, What role does government play in arming Taliban?
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m9d1-What-role-does-government-play-in-arming-Taliban
September 1, 7:54 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea
It's not just corrupt Mexican officials and drug cartels benefiting from U.S. government-supplied and approved weapons exports. Michael Crowley's "Outrageous: Friends Like These" in the September issue of Readers Digest (posted online as "American Weapons in the Hands of the Taliban") shows the same thing happening on the other side of the globe.
How?
"Our allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan are using our money to pad their pockets—or worse, giving it to terrorists."
Imagine that, Lying thiving politicians. It looks like corruption is rampant there like it is here.
But what about weapons?
"A check of 30 magazines taken from the dead insurgents' rifles found that at least 17 held ammunition that bore the distinctive factory stamps of U.S. suppliers..."
No kidding. Terrorists usiing American ammo against Americans. Sounds like a bunch of politicians playing both sides. Then, whoever wins, they will be on the right side.
"[T]he Government Accountability Office found that the U.S. military was not adequately tracking weapons supplied to Afghanistan's government security forces and in fact could not account for at least 87,000 of them, including machine guns and grenade launchers. Nor did the military keep reliable records for another 135,000 weapons supplied by NATO and other allies."
So that's what happens when governments have complete oversight and control! Is this starting to sound familiar?
Sounds just like Mexico. How soon will it be before us (U.S.) gun owners will be blamed for the mess over there. Everyone knows we are being blamed for Mexico's mess. Just because corrupt officials see money in every weapon OUR OWN GOVERNMENT SELLS THEM.
But they would rather villify lawful gun owners. They just know that we are buying semi-auto AR15 so the drug cartels can convert them to full auto. Yeah, right. Our government has sent thousands of M16's to Mexico. These are already full auto, select fire weapons. Ever army deserter takes there U.S. made M16 with them when the go to the cartels. Corrupt government officials sell rocket launchers, grenade launchers and land mines to the highest bidder. AK47's and AK74's are smuggled in from middle eastern countries where they can be bought for a couple hundred bucks each. These to are select fire weapons.
Barack Obama and all of his anti-gun buddies that he has appointed, some without oversight, need to leave the honest law abiding citizens alone. Like the man said, Teddy Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns.
Lets start here.
http://www.mediacomtoday.com/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9AE2CC00%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=1018&_LT=HOME_LARSDCCL2_UNEWS&page=1
Frantic Ga. 911 caller: 'My whole family is dead!'
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — Guy Heinze Jr. arrived home from a night out to find a gruesome scene — seven people dead, a cousin with Down syndrome clinging to life and another critically injured.
"My dad's dead, my uncle's dead. There's like six. My whole family's dead!" Heinze said, struggling to describe the scene to a dispatcher after his neighbor called 911 and handed him the phone. "It looks like they've been beaten to death. I don't know what to do, man."
Several hours later, police arrested Heinze on charges of drug possession, tampering with evidence and lying to a police officer. County Police Chief Matt Doering said he isn't calling Heinze a suspect in the killings, nor is he ruling him out.
They were beaten to death, sounds like no guns were involved. Why haven't we heard any of this on the news. It's the worst murder case in his 25 years acording to the County Police Chief. Why would anyone commit a crime like this? Could it have been a drug deal gone bad? Nobody knows and they have no suspects. I'm waiting for some liberal panty wetter to start screaming about gun control. That's the only way they think we can fight crime.
Next up, What role does government play in arming Taliban?
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m9d1-What-role-does-government-play-in-arming-Taliban
September 1, 7:54 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea
It's not just corrupt Mexican officials and drug cartels benefiting from U.S. government-supplied and approved weapons exports. Michael Crowley's "Outrageous: Friends Like These" in the September issue of Readers Digest (posted online as "American Weapons in the Hands of the Taliban") shows the same thing happening on the other side of the globe.
How?
"Our allies in Pakistan and Afghanistan are using our money to pad their pockets—or worse, giving it to terrorists."
Imagine that, Lying thiving politicians. It looks like corruption is rampant there like it is here.
But what about weapons?
"A check of 30 magazines taken from the dead insurgents' rifles found that at least 17 held ammunition that bore the distinctive factory stamps of U.S. suppliers..."
No kidding. Terrorists usiing American ammo against Americans. Sounds like a bunch of politicians playing both sides. Then, whoever wins, they will be on the right side.
"[T]he Government Accountability Office found that the U.S. military was not adequately tracking weapons supplied to Afghanistan's government security forces and in fact could not account for at least 87,000 of them, including machine guns and grenade launchers. Nor did the military keep reliable records for another 135,000 weapons supplied by NATO and other allies."
So that's what happens when governments have complete oversight and control! Is this starting to sound familiar?
Sounds just like Mexico. How soon will it be before us (U.S.) gun owners will be blamed for the mess over there. Everyone knows we are being blamed for Mexico's mess. Just because corrupt officials see money in every weapon OUR OWN GOVERNMENT SELLS THEM.
But they would rather villify lawful gun owners. They just know that we are buying semi-auto AR15 so the drug cartels can convert them to full auto. Yeah, right. Our government has sent thousands of M16's to Mexico. These are already full auto, select fire weapons. Ever army deserter takes there U.S. made M16 with them when the go to the cartels. Corrupt government officials sell rocket launchers, grenade launchers and land mines to the highest bidder. AK47's and AK74's are smuggled in from middle eastern countries where they can be bought for a couple hundred bucks each. These to are select fire weapons.
Barack Obama and all of his anti-gun buddies that he has appointed, some without oversight, need to leave the honest law abiding citizens alone. Like the man said, Teddy Kennedy's car has killed more people than my guns.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Silence on Friesen case shows continued media failure on guns
Regardless of your position on guns, it would be disingenuous to argue the outcome of the Doug Friesen case is not "news." When the government is aggresively prosecuting a citizen, trying to put him away for up to 10 years and penalize him $250,000 for multiple felonies, and when they agree to dismiss charges in exchange for his agreement to surrender an item of disputed property, pay a $25 fine, and receive probation for a misdemeanor plea, curiosity should at least be piqued among the newshounds.
Especially since being a watchdog (as opposed to lapdog) of government is one of the traditional roles of a free press.
"[We] need to look at what the anointed media do with their elite status. Meaning how they slant supposedly straight news stories to fit their anti-gun agenda. And ignore other stories altogether.
Author/economist John Lott addressed this in his "The Bias Against Guns," where he demonstrates selective reporting by agenda-driven media and government, what reviewer, economist and syndicated columnist Walter Williams called "sins of commission and omission."
Combine that with an almost astounding ignorance of their subject matter."
The press just keeps ignoring stories of how the Government treats gun owners. But we heard about Micheal Jackson for over a month. Now he's been replaced by Ted Kennedy. We wouldn't want to miss out on what either one of these are doing, now that they are dead.
Especially since being a watchdog (as opposed to lapdog) of government is one of the traditional roles of a free press.
"[We] need to look at what the anointed media do with their elite status. Meaning how they slant supposedly straight news stories to fit their anti-gun agenda. And ignore other stories altogether.
Author/economist John Lott addressed this in his "The Bias Against Guns," where he demonstrates selective reporting by agenda-driven media and government, what reviewer, economist and syndicated columnist Walter Williams called "sins of commission and omission."
Combine that with an almost astounding ignorance of their subject matter."
The press just keeps ignoring stories of how the Government treats gun owners. But we heard about Micheal Jackson for over a month. Now he's been replaced by Ted Kennedy. We wouldn't want to miss out on what either one of these are doing, now that they are dead.
Battle of Athens Tennessee
As Recently As 1946, American Citizens Were
Forced To Take Up Arms As A Last Resort
Against Corrupt Government Officials.
Published in Guns & Ammo October 1995, pp. 50-51
On August 1-2, 1946, some Americans, brutalized by their county government, used armed force as a last resort to overturn it. These Americans wanted honest open elections. For years they had asked for state or federal election monitors to prevent vote fraud (forged ballots, secret ballot counts and intimidation by armed sheriff's deputies) by the local political boss. They got no help.
These Americans' absolute refusal to knuckle under had been hardened by service in World War II. Having fought to free other countries from murderous regimes, they rejected vicious abuse by their county government.
These Americans had a choice. Their state's Constitution -- Article 1, Section 26 -- recorded their right to keep and bear arms for the common defense. Few "gun control" laws had been enacted.
These Americans were residents of McMinn County, which is located between Chattanooga and Knoxville in Eastern Tennessee. The two main towns were Athens and Etowah. McMinn County residents had long been independent political thinkers. For a long time they also had: accepted bribe-taking by politicians and/or the sheriff to overlook illicit whiskey-making and gambling; financed the sheriff's department from fines-usually for speeding or public drunkenness which promoted false arrests; and put up with voting fraud by both Democrats and Republicans.
The wealthy Cantrell family, of Etowah, backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 election, hoping New Deal programs would revive the local economy and help Democrats to replace Republicans in the county government. So it proved.
Paul Cantrell was elected sheriff in the 1936,1938 and 1940 elections, but by slim margins. The sheriff was the key county official. Cantrell was elected to the state senate in 1942 and 1944; his chief deputy, Pat Mansfield, was elected sheriff. In 1946 Paul Cantrell again sought the sheriff's office.
At the end of 1945, some 3,000 battle-hardened veterans returned to McMinn County; the GIs held Cantrell politically responsible for Mansfield's doings. Early in 1946, some newly returned ex-GIs decided to challenge Cantrell politically by offering an all-ex-GI, non-partisan ticket. They promised a fraud-free election, stating in ads and speeches that there would be an honest ballot count and reform of county government.
At a rally, a GI speaker said, "The principles that we fought for in this past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county" (Daily Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946, p.1 ). At the end of July 1946, 159 McMinn County GIs petitioned the FBI to send election monitors. There was no response. The Department of Justice had not responded to McMinn County residents' complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944.
FROM BALLOTS TO BULLETS
The primary election was held on August 1. To intimidate voters, Mansfield brought in some 200 armed "deputies." GI poll-watchers were beaten almost at once. At about 3 p.m., Tom Gillespie, an African- American voter was told by a sheriff's deputy that he could not vote. Despite being beaten, Gillespie persisted. The enraged deputy shot him. The gunshot drew a crowd. Rumors spread that Gillespie had been shot in the back; he later recovered (C. Stephen Byrum, The Battle of Athens, Paidia Productions, Chattanooga, TN, 1987; pp. 155-57).
Other deputies detained ex-GI poll-watchers in a polling place, as that made the ballot counting "Public" A crowd gathered. Sheriff Mansfield told his deputies to disperse the crowd. When the two ex-GIs smashed a big window and escaped, the crowd surged forward. The deputies, with guns drawn, formed a tight half-circle around the front of the polling place. One deputy, "his gun raised high...shouted: 'If you sons of bitches cross this street I'll kill you!'" (Byrum, p.165).
Mansfield took the ballot boxes to the jail for counting. The deputies seemed to fear immediate attack by the "people who had just liberated Europe and the South Pacific from two of the most powerful war machines in human history" (Byrum, pp. 168-69).
Short of firearms and ammunition, the GIs scoured the county to find them. By borrowing keys to the National Guard and State Guard armories, they got three M-1 rifles, five .45 semi-automatic pistols and 24 British Enfield rifles. The armories were nearly empty after the war's end. By 8 p.m. a group of GIs and "local boys" headed for the jail but left the back door unguarded to give the jail's defenders an easy way out.
Three GIs alerting passersby to danger were fired on from the jail. Two GIs were wounded. Other GIs returned fire.
Firing subsided after 30 minutes; ammunition ran low and night had fallen. Thick brick walls shielded those inside the jail. Absent radios, the GIs' rifle fire was uncoordinated. "From the hillside fire rose and fell in disorganized cascades. More than anything else, people were simply shooting at the jail" (Byrum, p.189).
Several who ventured into the street in front of the jail were wounded. One man inside the jail was badly hurt; he recovered. Most sheriff's deputies wanted to hunker down and await rescue. Governor McCord mobilized the State Guard, perhaps to scare the GIs into withdrawing. The State Guard never went to Athens. McCord may have feared that Guard units filled with ex-GIs might not fire on other ex-GIs.
At about 2 a.m. on August 2, the GIs forced the issue. Men from Meigs County threw dynamite sticks and damaged the jail's porch. The panicked deputies surrendered. GIs quickly secured the building. Paul Cantrell faded into the night, having almost been shot by a GI who knew him, but whose .45 pistol had jammed. Mansfield's deputies were kept overnight in jail for their own safety. Calm soon returned. The GIs posted guards. The rifles borrowed from the armory were cleaned and returned before sunup.
THE AFTERMATH: RESTORING DEMOCRACY
In five precincts free of vote fraud, the GI candidate for sheriff, Knox Henry, won 1,168 votes to Cantrell's 789. Other GI candidates won by similar margins.
The GI's did not hate Cantrell. They only wanted honest government. On August 2, a town meeting set up a three-man governing committee. The regular police having fled, six men were chosen to police Etowah. In addition, "Individual citizens were called upon to form patrols or guard groups, often led by a GI... To their credit, however, there is not a single mention of an abuse of power on their behalf" (Byrum, p. 220).
Once the GI candidates' victory had been certified, they cleaned up county government, the jail was fixed, newly elected officials accepted a $5,000 pay limit and Mansfield supporters who resigned were replaced.
The general election on November 5 passed quietly. McMinn County residents, having restored the rule of law, returned to their daily lives. Pat Mansfield moved back to Georgia. Paul Cantrell set up an auto dealership in Etowah. "Almost everyone who knew Cantrell in the years after the Battle' agree that he was not bitter about what had happened" (Byrum pp. 232-33; see also New York Times, 9 August 1946, p. 8).
The 79th Congress adjourned on August 2, 1946, when the Battle of Athens ended. However, Representative John Jennings Jr. from Tennessee decried McMinn County's sorry situation under Cantrell and Mansfield and the Justice Department's repeated failures to help the McMinn County residents. Jennings was delighted that "...at long last, decency and honesty, liberty and law have returned to the fine county of McMinn.. " (Congressional Record, House; U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1946; Appendix, Volume 92, Part 13, p. A4870).
THE LESSONS OF ATHENS
Those who took up arms in Athens, Tennessee, wanted honest elections, a cornerstone of our constitutional order. They had repeatedly tried to get federal or state election monitors and had used armed force so as to minimize harm to the law-breakers, showing little malice to the defeated law-breakers. They restored lawful government.
The Battle of Athens clearly shows how Americans can and should lawfully use armed force and also shows why the rule of law requires unrestricted access to firearms and how civilians with military-type firearms can beat the forces of government gone bad.
Dictators believe that public order is more important than the rule of law. However, Americans reject this idea. Brutal political repression is lethal to many. An individual criminal can harm a handful of people. Governments alone can brutalize thousands, or millions.
Law-abiding McMinn County residents won the Battle of Athens because they were not hamstrung by "gun control " They showed us when citizens can and should use armed force to support the rule of law.
Forced To Take Up Arms As A Last Resort
Against Corrupt Government Officials.
Published in Guns & Ammo October 1995, pp. 50-51
On August 1-2, 1946, some Americans, brutalized by their county government, used armed force as a last resort to overturn it. These Americans wanted honest open elections. For years they had asked for state or federal election monitors to prevent vote fraud (forged ballots, secret ballot counts and intimidation by armed sheriff's deputies) by the local political boss. They got no help.
These Americans' absolute refusal to knuckle under had been hardened by service in World War II. Having fought to free other countries from murderous regimes, they rejected vicious abuse by their county government.
These Americans had a choice. Their state's Constitution -- Article 1, Section 26 -- recorded their right to keep and bear arms for the common defense. Few "gun control" laws had been enacted.
These Americans were residents of McMinn County, which is located between Chattanooga and Knoxville in Eastern Tennessee. The two main towns were Athens and Etowah. McMinn County residents had long been independent political thinkers. For a long time they also had: accepted bribe-taking by politicians and/or the sheriff to overlook illicit whiskey-making and gambling; financed the sheriff's department from fines-usually for speeding or public drunkenness which promoted false arrests; and put up with voting fraud by both Democrats and Republicans.
The wealthy Cantrell family, of Etowah, backed Franklin Delano Roosevelt in the 1932 election, hoping New Deal programs would revive the local economy and help Democrats to replace Republicans in the county government. So it proved.
Paul Cantrell was elected sheriff in the 1936,1938 and 1940 elections, but by slim margins. The sheriff was the key county official. Cantrell was elected to the state senate in 1942 and 1944; his chief deputy, Pat Mansfield, was elected sheriff. In 1946 Paul Cantrell again sought the sheriff's office.
At the end of 1945, some 3,000 battle-hardened veterans returned to McMinn County; the GIs held Cantrell politically responsible for Mansfield's doings. Early in 1946, some newly returned ex-GIs decided to challenge Cantrell politically by offering an all-ex-GI, non-partisan ticket. They promised a fraud-free election, stating in ads and speeches that there would be an honest ballot count and reform of county government.
At a rally, a GI speaker said, "The principles that we fought for in this past war do not exist in McMinn County. We fought for democracy because we believe in democracy but not the form we live under in this county" (Daily Post-Athenian, 17 June 1946, p.1 ). At the end of July 1946, 159 McMinn County GIs petitioned the FBI to send election monitors. There was no response. The Department of Justice had not responded to McMinn County residents' complaints of election fraud in 1940, 1942 and 1944.
FROM BALLOTS TO BULLETS
The primary election was held on August 1. To intimidate voters, Mansfield brought in some 200 armed "deputies." GI poll-watchers were beaten almost at once. At about 3 p.m., Tom Gillespie, an African- American voter was told by a sheriff's deputy that he could not vote. Despite being beaten, Gillespie persisted. The enraged deputy shot him. The gunshot drew a crowd. Rumors spread that Gillespie had been shot in the back; he later recovered (C. Stephen Byrum, The Battle of Athens, Paidia Productions, Chattanooga, TN, 1987; pp. 155-57).
Other deputies detained ex-GI poll-watchers in a polling place, as that made the ballot counting "Public" A crowd gathered. Sheriff Mansfield told his deputies to disperse the crowd. When the two ex-GIs smashed a big window and escaped, the crowd surged forward. The deputies, with guns drawn, formed a tight half-circle around the front of the polling place. One deputy, "his gun raised high...shouted: 'If you sons of bitches cross this street I'll kill you!'" (Byrum, p.165).
Mansfield took the ballot boxes to the jail for counting. The deputies seemed to fear immediate attack by the "people who had just liberated Europe and the South Pacific from two of the most powerful war machines in human history" (Byrum, pp. 168-69).
Short of firearms and ammunition, the GIs scoured the county to find them. By borrowing keys to the National Guard and State Guard armories, they got three M-1 rifles, five .45 semi-automatic pistols and 24 British Enfield rifles. The armories were nearly empty after the war's end. By 8 p.m. a group of GIs and "local boys" headed for the jail but left the back door unguarded to give the jail's defenders an easy way out.
Three GIs alerting passersby to danger were fired on from the jail. Two GIs were wounded. Other GIs returned fire.
Firing subsided after 30 minutes; ammunition ran low and night had fallen. Thick brick walls shielded those inside the jail. Absent radios, the GIs' rifle fire was uncoordinated. "From the hillside fire rose and fell in disorganized cascades. More than anything else, people were simply shooting at the jail" (Byrum, p.189).
Several who ventured into the street in front of the jail were wounded. One man inside the jail was badly hurt; he recovered. Most sheriff's deputies wanted to hunker down and await rescue. Governor McCord mobilized the State Guard, perhaps to scare the GIs into withdrawing. The State Guard never went to Athens. McCord may have feared that Guard units filled with ex-GIs might not fire on other ex-GIs.
At about 2 a.m. on August 2, the GIs forced the issue. Men from Meigs County threw dynamite sticks and damaged the jail's porch. The panicked deputies surrendered. GIs quickly secured the building. Paul Cantrell faded into the night, having almost been shot by a GI who knew him, but whose .45 pistol had jammed. Mansfield's deputies were kept overnight in jail for their own safety. Calm soon returned. The GIs posted guards. The rifles borrowed from the armory were cleaned and returned before sunup.
THE AFTERMATH: RESTORING DEMOCRACY
In five precincts free of vote fraud, the GI candidate for sheriff, Knox Henry, won 1,168 votes to Cantrell's 789. Other GI candidates won by similar margins.
The GI's did not hate Cantrell. They only wanted honest government. On August 2, a town meeting set up a three-man governing committee. The regular police having fled, six men were chosen to police Etowah. In addition, "Individual citizens were called upon to form patrols or guard groups, often led by a GI... To their credit, however, there is not a single mention of an abuse of power on their behalf" (Byrum, p. 220).
Once the GI candidates' victory had been certified, they cleaned up county government, the jail was fixed, newly elected officials accepted a $5,000 pay limit and Mansfield supporters who resigned were replaced.
The general election on November 5 passed quietly. McMinn County residents, having restored the rule of law, returned to their daily lives. Pat Mansfield moved back to Georgia. Paul Cantrell set up an auto dealership in Etowah. "Almost everyone who knew Cantrell in the years after the Battle' agree that he was not bitter about what had happened" (Byrum pp. 232-33; see also New York Times, 9 August 1946, p. 8).
The 79th Congress adjourned on August 2, 1946, when the Battle of Athens ended. However, Representative John Jennings Jr. from Tennessee decried McMinn County's sorry situation under Cantrell and Mansfield and the Justice Department's repeated failures to help the McMinn County residents. Jennings was delighted that "...at long last, decency and honesty, liberty and law have returned to the fine county of McMinn.. " (Congressional Record, House; U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1946; Appendix, Volume 92, Part 13, p. A4870).
THE LESSONS OF ATHENS
Those who took up arms in Athens, Tennessee, wanted honest elections, a cornerstone of our constitutional order. They had repeatedly tried to get federal or state election monitors and had used armed force so as to minimize harm to the law-breakers, showing little malice to the defeated law-breakers. They restored lawful government.
The Battle of Athens clearly shows how Americans can and should lawfully use armed force and also shows why the rule of law requires unrestricted access to firearms and how civilians with military-type firearms can beat the forces of government gone bad.
Dictators believe that public order is more important than the rule of law. However, Americans reject this idea. Brutal political repression is lethal to many. An individual criminal can harm a handful of people. Governments alone can brutalize thousands, or millions.
Law-abiding McMinn County residents won the Battle of Athens because they were not hamstrung by "gun control " They showed us when citizens can and should use armed force to support the rule of law.
At What Point
This article was written by a Cheif of Police here in Iowa. Tom is a fellow member of Iowa Carry and belives as we all do that the cary permit laws in Iowa need to be changed to bring equity in the way permits are issued. It was in a disscusion about the Iowa Constituton and the state motto.
At What Point?
By Tom Shaw
During my twenty years of service in the U.S. Navy I lived in and visited many foreign nations. I was stationed in the Philippines during the “People’s Power” revolution and participated in a historic port visit to Shanghai, China in May, 1989, during which the Chinese took to the streets to protest the communist regime (remember Tieniman Square?). In both cases, I always wondered, at what point did the people risk their lives to stand up against their tyrannical government. More specifically, at what point did the military and police decide to side with the people and rebel against the government.
Searching for an answer to this question is not just an academic exercise for me. Although I am retired from active duty, I am still obligated in my oath to support and defend the Constitution. In my current capacity as a Police Chief, I am sworn to uphold the law. So, at what point would I, and all others in my position, determine that the assault on our Constitution is so severe it would warrant us from disobeying laws and regulations that are clearly in violation of the powers granted by the United States Constitution?
The principles upon which our Nation was founded have been slowly eroding over time. Due in part to changing social values and a diffusion of personal responsibility, the words and philosophies of our Founding Fathers do not ring true to many of today’s citizens. Apathy, which has replaced the natural fear of government, and the ever increasing reliance upon government institutions have created a ripe environment for the growth of abusive power by our elected officials. The power of “We the People” has slowly been ceded to elected officials, which in turn, emboldens them to slowly usurp the Constitutional principles and move towards a socialist approach.
Smugness and arrogance seem to rule the political scene today. Just look at how the Tea Party protesters, who merely exercised their right to assemble and redress their grievances, were ridiculed. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security released an intelligence assessment which demonized veterans as potential domestic terrorists. The huge amount of federal borrowing in the effort to create an economic stimulus has just enslaved our grandchildren to the government. The Iowa Supreme Court recently created a “right”, where none such existed, when it proclaimed Iowa’s law limiting marriage to one man and one woman unconstitutional.
Although it is not recognized by most, tyranny, in the form of increasing government intrusion into the citizen’s private lives eerily marches on. One day we will wake up and say, “Where have our freedoms gone?” Freedom lost will not be regained. So again, at what point during the slow transformation from a republic to a socialist state we will say, “Enough is enough.” Abraham Lincoln had the following to say during his First Inaugural Address, March 4th 1861, “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their “constitutional” right of amending it or their “revolutionary” right to dismember or overthrow it.”
It is my greatest desire that I should never have to face the decision that our forefather’s had to make. One cannot comprehend the gut-wrenching choice that was laid before them when they had finally reached “their point.” What courage and bravery they showed when they risked life and property to stand against tyranny. With the growing fear and distrust of government at all levels, will there be an incident which sparks a nationwide rebellion? If so, at what point does the military and police side with “We the People” and determine that defending the Constitution overrides protecting the sitting government? I pray that America continues to use the peaceful political process to work out its differences and that I may never have to determine “At What Point.”
At What Point?
By Tom Shaw
During my twenty years of service in the U.S. Navy I lived in and visited many foreign nations. I was stationed in the Philippines during the “People’s Power” revolution and participated in a historic port visit to Shanghai, China in May, 1989, during which the Chinese took to the streets to protest the communist regime (remember Tieniman Square?). In both cases, I always wondered, at what point did the people risk their lives to stand up against their tyrannical government. More specifically, at what point did the military and police decide to side with the people and rebel against the government.
Searching for an answer to this question is not just an academic exercise for me. Although I am retired from active duty, I am still obligated in my oath to support and defend the Constitution. In my current capacity as a Police Chief, I am sworn to uphold the law. So, at what point would I, and all others in my position, determine that the assault on our Constitution is so severe it would warrant us from disobeying laws and regulations that are clearly in violation of the powers granted by the United States Constitution?
The principles upon which our Nation was founded have been slowly eroding over time. Due in part to changing social values and a diffusion of personal responsibility, the words and philosophies of our Founding Fathers do not ring true to many of today’s citizens. Apathy, which has replaced the natural fear of government, and the ever increasing reliance upon government institutions have created a ripe environment for the growth of abusive power by our elected officials. The power of “We the People” has slowly been ceded to elected officials, which in turn, emboldens them to slowly usurp the Constitutional principles and move towards a socialist approach.
Smugness and arrogance seem to rule the political scene today. Just look at how the Tea Party protesters, who merely exercised their right to assemble and redress their grievances, were ridiculed. Recently, the Department of Homeland Security released an intelligence assessment which demonized veterans as potential domestic terrorists. The huge amount of federal borrowing in the effort to create an economic stimulus has just enslaved our grandchildren to the government. The Iowa Supreme Court recently created a “right”, where none such existed, when it proclaimed Iowa’s law limiting marriage to one man and one woman unconstitutional.
Although it is not recognized by most, tyranny, in the form of increasing government intrusion into the citizen’s private lives eerily marches on. One day we will wake up and say, “Where have our freedoms gone?” Freedom lost will not be regained. So again, at what point during the slow transformation from a republic to a socialist state we will say, “Enough is enough.” Abraham Lincoln had the following to say during his First Inaugural Address, March 4th 1861, “This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their “constitutional” right of amending it or their “revolutionary” right to dismember or overthrow it.”
It is my greatest desire that I should never have to face the decision that our forefather’s had to make. One cannot comprehend the gut-wrenching choice that was laid before them when they had finally reached “their point.” What courage and bravery they showed when they risked life and property to stand against tyranny. With the growing fear and distrust of government at all levels, will there be an incident which sparks a nationwide rebellion? If so, at what point does the military and police side with “We the People” and determine that defending the Constitution overrides protecting the sitting government? I pray that America continues to use the peaceful political process to work out its differences and that I may never have to determine “At What Point.”
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdog
Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so
because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy
things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time,
that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution,
or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth
defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William
J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November
24, 1997
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:
"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle,
productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is
true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the
aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that
the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.
Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent
crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time
record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans,
which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is
considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since
many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number
of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation:
We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is
still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent
people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or
under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the
pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will
grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its
hard blue shell.
Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and
someday the civilization they protect will grow into something
wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the
predators.
"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves
feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out
there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep.
There is no safety in denial.
"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to
protect the flock and confront the wolf."
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive
citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy
for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath,
a wolf.
But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your
fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone
who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of
darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed
Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep,
wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what
makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the
world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why
they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits
throughout their kids' schools.
But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police
officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more
likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire,
but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial.
The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too
hard, and so they chose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the
wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference,
though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the
sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will
be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least
not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that
there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell
them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in
our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would
much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself
white, and go, "Baa." Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries
desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough
high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they
just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack,
however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers
had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This
is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at
the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded
hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt
differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel?
Remember how many times you heard the word hero?
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a
sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is
a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter,
checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and
yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a
righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but
they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the
young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep
pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day.
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most
citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes."
The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been
on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you
are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself
into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a
difference.
There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but
he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able
to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the
population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted
of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory
crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement
officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by
body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They
chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.
Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically
primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more
Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was
honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was
the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to
alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he
learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons,
Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which
authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the
terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the
passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to
sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown
number of lives on the ground.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil
of evil men. - Edmund Burke
Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of
police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep,
real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are
wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a
human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral
decision.
If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay,
but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and
your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to
protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs
are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust
or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path,
then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate,
equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment
when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well
concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt
holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form
of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer
in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such
an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the
break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The
other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he
knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that
incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and
opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he
could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun.
His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's
body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you
have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer
was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would
probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and
would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their
cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers
in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires
and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards
against them.
Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often
their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog
quietly asks himself, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live
with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had
to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically
destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is
counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror
when the wolf shows up.
Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when
you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't
train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy.
Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically
survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear, helplessness and
horror at your moment of truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11
book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms
with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it
has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new
violence is all the more unsettling."
Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in
small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on
some level. And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.
If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you
step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending
that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a
lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a
weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and
say this to yourself..."Baa."
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no
dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of
degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and
on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on
one end or the other.
Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in
America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a
few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the
warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you
move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree
to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and
psychologically at your moment of truth.
If It Weren't For The United States Military There Would Be NO United
States of America
Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so
because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy
things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time,
that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution,
or as always, even death itself. The question remains: What is worth
defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William
J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November
24, 1997
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:
"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle,
productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is
true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the
aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that
the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.
Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent
crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time
record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans,
which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is
considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since
many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number
of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation:
We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is
still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent
people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or
under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me, it is like the
pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will
grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its
hard blue shell.
Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and
someday the civilization they protect will grow into something
wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the
predators.
"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves
feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out
there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep.
There is no safety in denial.
"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to
protect the flock and confront the wolf."
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive
citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy
for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath,
a wolf.
But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your
fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone
who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of
darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed
Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep,
wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what
makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the
world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why
they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits
throughout their kids' schools.
But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police
officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more
likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire,
but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial.
The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too
hard, and so they chose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the
wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference,
though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the
sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will
be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least
not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that
there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell
them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in
our airports, in camouflage fatigues, holding an M-16. The sheep would
much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself
white, and go, "Baa." Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries
desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough
high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they
just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack,
however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers
had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This
is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at
the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded
hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt
differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel?
Remember how many times you heard the word hero?
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a
sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is
a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter,
checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and
yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a
righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but
they move to the sound of the guns when needed, right along with the
young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep
pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day.
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most
citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes."
The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been
on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you
are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself
into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a
difference.
There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but
he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able
to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the
population.
There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted
of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory
crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement
officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by
body language: Slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They
chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.
Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically
primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more
Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was
honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was
the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to
alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he
learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons,
Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which
authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the
terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the
passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to
sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown
number of lives on the ground.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil
of evil men. - Edmund Burke
Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of
police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep,
real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are
wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a
human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral
decision.
If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay,
but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and
your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to
protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs
are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust
or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path,
then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate,
equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment
when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many officers carry their weapons in church. They are well
concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt
holsters tucked into the small of their backs. Anytime you go to some form
of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer
in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such
an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the
break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The
other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he
knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that
incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and
opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he
could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun.
His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's
body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you
have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer
was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would
probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and
would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their
cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers
in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires
and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards
against them.
Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often
their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog
quietly asks himself, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live
with yourself if your loved ones were attacked and killed, and you had
to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically
destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is
counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror
when the wolf shows up.
Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when
you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't
train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy.
Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically
survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear, helplessness and
horror at your moment of truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11
book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms
with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it
has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new
violence is all the more unsettling."
Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in
small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on
some level. And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes.
If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you
step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending
that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a
lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a
weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and
say this to yourself..."Baa."
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no
dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of
degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and
on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on
one end or the other.
Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in
America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a
few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the
warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you
move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree
to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and
psychologically at your moment of truth.
If It Weren't For The United States Military There Would Be NO United
States of America
The 2nd Amendment
It is my belief that the founders meant for the second amendment means what it says. It's the 4 words in the middle that say it all. The Right Of The People. That means that everyone leagally able to do so, is allowed to own a firearm. All the politicians that say they support hunting have no clue. I have read the constitution and have never found the word hunting.
The two main purposes of the 2nd are for the common people to aid in the defense of this country. The other reason, is defense from a tyranical government. The founders had just fought against such tyranny, and realized that it could happen again.
When I took the oath to join the Marines, I swore to defend my country against all enemies forgien and domestic. Domestic enemies could possibly mean the tyranical government.
The two main purposes of the 2nd are for the common people to aid in the defense of this country. The other reason, is defense from a tyranical government. The founders had just fought against such tyranny, and realized that it could happen again.
When I took the oath to join the Marines, I swore to defend my country against all enemies forgien and domestic. Domestic enemies could possibly mean the tyranical government.
My friend Skip Coryell wrote this the day after the Virginia Tech massacre. It's still relevent today.
America's New Mentality – "Cower and Die"
I'm a stay-at-home dad and the primary caregiver for our 1-year-old son. Even now, as I type this article, there is a 40 caliber semi-automatic pistol on my right hip. I carry a pistol 24/7, 365 days a year. Sometimes it's a nuisance, but I will never kneel at the feet of a madman and whimper while he shoots me and the ones I love. Instead, I will take careful aim, and double-tap the center of exposed mass until the murderer falls to the pavement, no longer a threat to the innocent in society. When faced with a weapon-wielding madman, I don't hide beneath a desk, cowering in the hopes that he'll shoot someone else and then move on. I don't roll the dice and hope for the best. Instead, I take responsibility for my own defense, and I attack. That's what real parents do. They protect those unable to protect themselves, and they do so aggressively and without apology.
Having said all that, I, too, would have been helpless to stop the killing at Virginia Tech, or Columbine, or Pearl, and even at the University of Iowa. What do these places all have in common that render a normally competent, personal protection instructor impotent? They are all pistol-free zones. I like to call them criminal safe zones, where bad guys can feel safe and free to exact all manner of evil upon us, the unarmed public, upon our unarmed defenseless and innocent children. Our government, in its infinite folly, has disarmed us, then broadcast for all criminals to see, exactly when and where they can kill the most unarmed people. It's like a bowling pin shoot: the government lines us up, and the bad guys shoot us down. And when questioned about this insanity, the legislators and other politicians say; "we're doing this for your own good". I haven't heard that since I was a child. But I've got news for you politicians – I'm not a child any longer, and I know what's best for me. When the government starts making laws that preclude me from protecting my one-year-old son, then it's time I campaigned to replace them. Consider yourself forewarned. The people hired you, and the people will fire you.
Yesterday, a crazed, lone, gunman, executed 32 people at the Virginia Tech campus. Today, politicians (our leaders) are calling for more gun control. Call me daft, but I don't get it. Where's the logic? Isn't one definition of insanity "doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results?" We've tried gun control. It didn't work. It failed us, and it failed our children. It failed us at the University of Iowa in 1991. It failed us at Columbine High School. It failed us in Pearl, Mississippi, and now, it has failed us again in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Why is everyone on television acting so surprised? This is logic 101. If you disarm everyone except crazed murderers, then only crazed murderers will have guns. Let's face it, most people don't have the expertise or the guts to disarm a gun-wielding madman.
Forgive me for sounding harsh, but gun control is killing us. It's killing innocent children all across our country, and it's been killing them for decades. Why? Because we don't have the guts to stand up to our politically correct legislators and tell them no! Enough is enough! Stop killing our children! All across America, even in states where tens of thousands of people have been trained and licensed to carry a gun for protection, people are hiding under desks, jumping from 2nd floor windows, and cowering beneath the muzzle of a deranged killer. As a general rule, the people who cower in the face of determined evil, are the people who die in a pool of their own blood. It's time America – it's time to fight back!
But do the people of America still have the guts to stand up against elected officials? I honestly don't know. Are we Americans? Are we men and women determined to protect our families, or have we all become sheep, content to follow the shepherd over the precipice to the jagged rocks below? Columbine and Virginia Tech are not good omens. The victims there were unarmed sheep, who hid beneath desks and chairs, simply cowering before they died. They said "Baa" as they were being slaughtered.
Something basic to our society has to change. It's time to stand up and fight while we still have the means to do so. And if our politicians tell us we can't protect our children in a daycare center, or a post office, or a church, then we show them the door. We vote them out. We recall them. We take out the trash. That's the attitude that America was founded on. Somewhere along the timeline, America has lost it's way, we've lost our instinct for survival; it's no longer "fight or flight"; it's just plain "cower and die".
Where did Americans ever get the idea that they could successfully outsource personal protection? I know a guy who won't trust another man to mow his lawn, because only "he" can do it right and to his own satisfaction. But that same particular, finicky person walks around all day long trusting total strangers, who aren't even present, to protect the one thing he cannot replace – his own life.
A word of caution: don't think that the terrorists aren't watching, because they are, and they're taking notes. Once they realize that most Americans are nothing but sheep waiting to be slaughtered, then it's Katy bar the door, because every terrorist and his grandma will be over here killing as many American infidels as they can. America has ceased to be the "land of the free and the home of the brave", and instead has become a target-rich environment, the "ignorant and blissful land of cower and die".
The police cannot protect us; it was never so. The police have their place and their job, but it was never their responsibility to be the bodyguards of every man, woman and child in America. That job is a personal responsibility that most of us have forsaken. It is my job to protect my family; that's why they're called "my" family and not "your" family. I feel silly saying things so basic to life and truth, but, sadly enough, these things need to be said. Trying to outsource personal and family defense will always be a losing proposition.
Take responsibility for protecting yourself and the ones you love. Go ahead and outsource your lawn, but no one can protect your family better than you. It's your job! Do it! Don't give in to the "cower and die" mentality. Instead, crawl out from under that desk and fight for your life. It's a decision you can live with.
Skip Coryell is a Michigan native, now living in Iowa. He teaches the NRA Personal Protection in the Home Course for those wishing to obtain Concealed Pistol Licenses. Skip is the author of the Ted Nugent endorsed book "Blood in the Streets: Concealed Carry and the OK Corral" Skip's book may be purchased at www.skipcoryell.com
America's New Mentality – "Cower and Die"
I'm a stay-at-home dad and the primary caregiver for our 1-year-old son. Even now, as I type this article, there is a 40 caliber semi-automatic pistol on my right hip. I carry a pistol 24/7, 365 days a year. Sometimes it's a nuisance, but I will never kneel at the feet of a madman and whimper while he shoots me and the ones I love. Instead, I will take careful aim, and double-tap the center of exposed mass until the murderer falls to the pavement, no longer a threat to the innocent in society. When faced with a weapon-wielding madman, I don't hide beneath a desk, cowering in the hopes that he'll shoot someone else and then move on. I don't roll the dice and hope for the best. Instead, I take responsibility for my own defense, and I attack. That's what real parents do. They protect those unable to protect themselves, and they do so aggressively and without apology.
Having said all that, I, too, would have been helpless to stop the killing at Virginia Tech, or Columbine, or Pearl, and even at the University of Iowa. What do these places all have in common that render a normally competent, personal protection instructor impotent? They are all pistol-free zones. I like to call them criminal safe zones, where bad guys can feel safe and free to exact all manner of evil upon us, the unarmed public, upon our unarmed defenseless and innocent children. Our government, in its infinite folly, has disarmed us, then broadcast for all criminals to see, exactly when and where they can kill the most unarmed people. It's like a bowling pin shoot: the government lines us up, and the bad guys shoot us down. And when questioned about this insanity, the legislators and other politicians say; "we're doing this for your own good". I haven't heard that since I was a child. But I've got news for you politicians – I'm not a child any longer, and I know what's best for me. When the government starts making laws that preclude me from protecting my one-year-old son, then it's time I campaigned to replace them. Consider yourself forewarned. The people hired you, and the people will fire you.
Yesterday, a crazed, lone, gunman, executed 32 people at the Virginia Tech campus. Today, politicians (our leaders) are calling for more gun control. Call me daft, but I don't get it. Where's the logic? Isn't one definition of insanity "doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results?" We've tried gun control. It didn't work. It failed us, and it failed our children. It failed us at the University of Iowa in 1991. It failed us at Columbine High School. It failed us in Pearl, Mississippi, and now, it has failed us again in Blacksburg, Virginia.
Why is everyone on television acting so surprised? This is logic 101. If you disarm everyone except crazed murderers, then only crazed murderers will have guns. Let's face it, most people don't have the expertise or the guts to disarm a gun-wielding madman.
Forgive me for sounding harsh, but gun control is killing us. It's killing innocent children all across our country, and it's been killing them for decades. Why? Because we don't have the guts to stand up to our politically correct legislators and tell them no! Enough is enough! Stop killing our children! All across America, even in states where tens of thousands of people have been trained and licensed to carry a gun for protection, people are hiding under desks, jumping from 2nd floor windows, and cowering beneath the muzzle of a deranged killer. As a general rule, the people who cower in the face of determined evil, are the people who die in a pool of their own blood. It's time America – it's time to fight back!
But do the people of America still have the guts to stand up against elected officials? I honestly don't know. Are we Americans? Are we men and women determined to protect our families, or have we all become sheep, content to follow the shepherd over the precipice to the jagged rocks below? Columbine and Virginia Tech are not good omens. The victims there were unarmed sheep, who hid beneath desks and chairs, simply cowering before they died. They said "Baa" as they were being slaughtered.
Something basic to our society has to change. It's time to stand up and fight while we still have the means to do so. And if our politicians tell us we can't protect our children in a daycare center, or a post office, or a church, then we show them the door. We vote them out. We recall them. We take out the trash. That's the attitude that America was founded on. Somewhere along the timeline, America has lost it's way, we've lost our instinct for survival; it's no longer "fight or flight"; it's just plain "cower and die".
Where did Americans ever get the idea that they could successfully outsource personal protection? I know a guy who won't trust another man to mow his lawn, because only "he" can do it right and to his own satisfaction. But that same particular, finicky person walks around all day long trusting total strangers, who aren't even present, to protect the one thing he cannot replace – his own life.
A word of caution: don't think that the terrorists aren't watching, because they are, and they're taking notes. Once they realize that most Americans are nothing but sheep waiting to be slaughtered, then it's Katy bar the door, because every terrorist and his grandma will be over here killing as many American infidels as they can. America has ceased to be the "land of the free and the home of the brave", and instead has become a target-rich environment, the "ignorant and blissful land of cower and die".
The police cannot protect us; it was never so. The police have their place and their job, but it was never their responsibility to be the bodyguards of every man, woman and child in America. That job is a personal responsibility that most of us have forsaken. It is my job to protect my family; that's why they're called "my" family and not "your" family. I feel silly saying things so basic to life and truth, but, sadly enough, these things need to be said. Trying to outsource personal and family defense will always be a losing proposition.
Take responsibility for protecting yourself and the ones you love. Go ahead and outsource your lawn, but no one can protect your family better than you. It's your job! Do it! Don't give in to the "cower and die" mentality. Instead, crawl out from under that desk and fight for your life. It's a decision you can live with.
Skip Coryell is a Michigan native, now living in Iowa. He teaches the NRA Personal Protection in the Home Course for those wishing to obtain Concealed Pistol Licenses. Skip is the author of the Ted Nugent endorsed book "Blood in the Streets: Concealed Carry and the OK Corral" Skip's book may be purchased at www.skipcoryell.com
Spotlight on ATF perjury...again
This article is from the Modesto Bee.
http://www.modbee.com/1618/story/792541.html?storylink=omni_popular
A one-time Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy who built a criminal empire out of his Denair motorcycle shop, maintaining power through fear and violence — and with help from Hells Angels and crooked lawmen.
I feel better know that government agencies would usurp the constitution just because it makes thier case easier. We as free citizens cannot stand for this type of behavior by the agencies that "supposedly" uphold the law.
So how did the BATFU professionals handle it?
"An agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to tell the court that investigators lied in order to get permission to put a wiretap on Holloway's phones..."
When [Vince] Cefalu spoke up about the "unethical and illegal" actions, he was removed from the case...
The ATF is out of control, lying to get evidence against someone. How patheic can you get.
The story references an interesting website, CleanUpATF.org, which tells us:
Managers, Counsel, Internal Affairs and staff of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE or "ATF") have repeatedly given false testimony, concealed substantial waste, fraud and abuse, abused their lawful authority, and waged systematic campaigns of reprisal against their own employees that dare to speak out. This website is intended by members of the ATF community to promote restoration of integrity, accountability and responsibility to ATF's leadership, and regain the trust of the American taxpayer.
This is from cleanupATF.org. It seems even the people in charge are as bad if not worse.
The tip of ATF's ethics “spear” is blunt and dull. ATF’s Assistant Director of Internal Affairs, Kelvin Crenshaw, is out bad because he could not himself live up to apply the standards that holds others to; he apparently filed fraudulent government travel vouchers to serve his personal desires. Chief of the Professional Review Board, Marvin Richardson, has been publicly exposed for lying to the Office of Special Counsel. While doing, so he threw his own agents under the bus in a lame attempt to cover for his mismanagement. Chief Ethics Attorney, Eleaner Loos, has participated in numerous, well-documented unethical and unlawful acts, including fabrication of documents and other evidence for use in framing innocent agents.
These are the three people most directly and personally responsible for how ATF internally investigates, judges and disciplines agency personnel!
I love this comment from
UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden: “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation because your character is what you really are and your reputation is merely what others think you are."
Another great comment was submitted by a guy called Marine For Life.
I have come to learn that Agent Cefalu, who was attacked on the witness stand last week BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT and an ATF AGENT was a Marine for six years, was meritoriously promoted, and received three Meritorious Masts. This is virtually unheard of. Marines will serve twenty-year careers without receiving any meritorious Masts.
What many do not understand is that the word of a Marine is above all else. The lies and mischaracterizations used against this Marine/Agent will not hold up. This type of ‘back-stabbing’ conduct appears to be acceptable by our government and commonplace in ATF.
Fight On Mr. Cefalu. In addition to the truth you have a God who will protect you from the challenges to your word and Code of Honor.
Three meritorious masts. That's almost unbelivable in just 6 years. In my short term in the Marines I recived one meritorious mast. This guy got 3 in 6 years. He must have been the Marines Marine.
http://www.jpfo.org/
This is a excellent web site for the truth about the abuses of the ATF. They have a great free video on thier home page titled "No Guns For Negros" Everyone concerned about civil right should take a look at this video. See just how far our "elected officials" will go to control the people. Trying to turn citizens into "subjects".
They are also running a poll on weather the ATF should be abolished. see it here. http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/batfe-poll.htm
Maybe we need to be contacting our elected officials about the behavior of the ATF.
""No Guns for Negroes "
http://www.modbee.com/1618/story/792541.html?storylink=omni_popular
A one-time Stanislaus County sheriff's deputy who built a criminal empire out of his Denair motorcycle shop, maintaining power through fear and violence — and with help from Hells Angels and crooked lawmen.
I feel better know that government agencies would usurp the constitution just because it makes thier case easier. We as free citizens cannot stand for this type of behavior by the agencies that "supposedly" uphold the law.
So how did the BATFU professionals handle it?
"An agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to tell the court that investigators lied in order to get permission to put a wiretap on Holloway's phones..."
When [Vince] Cefalu spoke up about the "unethical and illegal" actions, he was removed from the case...
The ATF is out of control, lying to get evidence against someone. How patheic can you get.
The story references an interesting website, CleanUpATF.org, which tells us:
Managers, Counsel, Internal Affairs and staff of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE or "ATF") have repeatedly given false testimony, concealed substantial waste, fraud and abuse, abused their lawful authority, and waged systematic campaigns of reprisal against their own employees that dare to speak out. This website is intended by members of the ATF community to promote restoration of integrity, accountability and responsibility to ATF's leadership, and regain the trust of the American taxpayer.
This is from cleanupATF.org. It seems even the people in charge are as bad if not worse.
The tip of ATF's ethics “spear” is blunt and dull. ATF’s Assistant Director of Internal Affairs, Kelvin Crenshaw, is out bad because he could not himself live up to apply the standards that holds others to; he apparently filed fraudulent government travel vouchers to serve his personal desires. Chief of the Professional Review Board, Marvin Richardson, has been publicly exposed for lying to the Office of Special Counsel. While doing, so he threw his own agents under the bus in a lame attempt to cover for his mismanagement. Chief Ethics Attorney, Eleaner Loos, has participated in numerous, well-documented unethical and unlawful acts, including fabrication of documents and other evidence for use in framing innocent agents.
These are the three people most directly and personally responsible for how ATF internally investigates, judges and disciplines agency personnel!
I love this comment from
UCLA Basketball Coach John Wooden: “Be more concerned with your character than your reputation because your character is what you really are and your reputation is merely what others think you are."
Another great comment was submitted by a guy called Marine For Life.
I have come to learn that Agent Cefalu, who was attacked on the witness stand last week BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT and an ATF AGENT was a Marine for six years, was meritoriously promoted, and received three Meritorious Masts. This is virtually unheard of. Marines will serve twenty-year careers without receiving any meritorious Masts.
What many do not understand is that the word of a Marine is above all else. The lies and mischaracterizations used against this Marine/Agent will not hold up. This type of ‘back-stabbing’ conduct appears to be acceptable by our government and commonplace in ATF.
Fight On Mr. Cefalu. In addition to the truth you have a God who will protect you from the challenges to your word and Code of Honor.
Three meritorious masts. That's almost unbelivable in just 6 years. In my short term in the Marines I recived one meritorious mast. This guy got 3 in 6 years. He must have been the Marines Marine.
http://www.jpfo.org/
This is a excellent web site for the truth about the abuses of the ATF. They have a great free video on thier home page titled "No Guns For Negros" Everyone concerned about civil right should take a look at this video. See just how far our "elected officials" will go to control the people. Trying to turn citizens into "subjects".
They are also running a poll on weather the ATF should be abolished. see it here. http://www.jpfo.org/filegen-a-m/batfe-poll.htm
Maybe we need to be contacting our elected officials about the behavior of the ATF.
""No Guns for Negroes "
Obama's OSHA pick is anti-gun
Overlawyered.com reports David Michaels, Barack Obama's nominee to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, has "strong views on firearms issues."
Well, what else is new. Obama surrounds himself with left wing nut jobs and fruitcakes. He even has a domestic terrorist in his little cadre of friends.
http://overlawyered.com/2009/08/david-michaels-and-gun-control/
OSHA has authority to regulate the working conditions of various job categories associated with firearms use (security guards, hunting guides, etc.) and could in that capacity do much to bring grief to Second Amendment values.
This makes it important to call and write your Senators. Not that writing Harkin would do much good. He's as anti gun as ant other fool in DC. He still needs to hear from us, even if he is going to vote the party line. We need to get as many pro-gun folks as we can find to stop this foolishness.
Senators have put nominations on hold for less. It will be interesting to see whether they take an interest in Michaels’ views on gun restrictions and their place in OSHA’s agenda.
We'll see what they do. But you can bet that if Obama wants it, he will get it. We mad our opinion know about Holders nomination for Attorney General and he was still approved. Includinjg Grassley, enemy of gun rights. It doesn't matter what he says. His votes speak volumes.
http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/it-takes-a-tragedy/
He just keeps spouting the lefts vile lies.
Well, what else is new. Obama surrounds himself with left wing nut jobs and fruitcakes. He even has a domestic terrorist in his little cadre of friends.
http://overlawyered.com/2009/08/david-michaels-and-gun-control/
OSHA has authority to regulate the working conditions of various job categories associated with firearms use (security guards, hunting guides, etc.) and could in that capacity do much to bring grief to Second Amendment values.
This makes it important to call and write your Senators. Not that writing Harkin would do much good. He's as anti gun as ant other fool in DC. He still needs to hear from us, even if he is going to vote the party line. We need to get as many pro-gun folks as we can find to stop this foolishness.
Senators have put nominations on hold for less. It will be interesting to see whether they take an interest in Michaels’ views on gun restrictions and their place in OSHA’s agenda.
We'll see what they do. But you can bet that if Obama wants it, he will get it. We mad our opinion know about Holders nomination for Attorney General and he was still approved. Includinjg Grassley, enemy of gun rights. It doesn't matter what he says. His votes speak volumes.
http://thepumphandle.wordpress.com/2007/04/20/it-takes-a-tragedy/
He just keeps spouting the lefts vile lies.
True American Heros
In the last 2 days, I have recived e-mails from 2 different people along the same lines. I would like to share them. These men gave more for thier country than most. They are truely heros in every sense of the word.
Lets hear it for COL. BUD DAY, USAF (RET). This is what every single
/> person should read and remember. His words addressing our senior
leadership
/> were to kind to put it bluntly
/>
/> Subject: Medal of Honor recipient Bud Day Talks of Torture....
/>
/> Please pass to the clueless...
/>
/>
The prelude to the "response" below, from Colonel Bud Day, Medal of Honor
recipient - prisoner of war survivor - reads "I didn't expect to be reminded of my treatment some 36 years ago on this holiday weekend but our
politicians find it worthy to ignore what some have tried to recount to
them, who have actually been there."
/>
/>
/>
/>
/>
/>
/> ****************************************************************************
/>
/> I got shot down over N Vietnam in 1967..a sq commander.
/>
/> After I returned in 1973.. I published 2 books that dealt a lot with
/> "real torture" in Hanoi. Our make believe president is branding our
country
/> as a bunch of torturers when he has no idea what torture is.
/>
/> As for me..put thru a mock execution because I would not respond...pistol
/> whipped on the head...same event.. Couple of days later...hung by my
feet
/> all day. I escaped and got recaptured a couple of weeks later.. I got
/> shot and recaptured. Shot was OK...what happened after was not.
/>
/> They marched me to Vinh.. put me in the rope trick, trick..almost pulled
/> my arms out of the sockets. Beat me on the head with a little wooden rod
/> until my eyes were swelled shut, and my unshot, unbroken hand a pulp.
/>
/> Next day hung me by the arms...rebroke my right wrist...wiped out the
/> nerves in my arms that control the hands..rolled my fingers up into a ball.
O
/> nly left the slightest movement of my L forefinger. So I started
answering
/> with some incredible lies.
/>
/> Sent me to Hanoi strapped to a barrel of gas in the back of a truck.
/>
/> Hanoi..on my knees..rope trick again. Beaten by a big fool.
/>
/> Into leg irons on a bed in Heartbreak Hotel.
/>
/> Much kneeling--hands up at Zoo.
/>
/> Really bad beating for refusing to condemn Lyndon Johnson.
/>
/> Several more kneeling events. I could see my knee bone thru kneeling
/> holes.
/>
/> There was an escape from the annex to the Zoo. I was the Senior Officer
/> of a large building because of escape..they started a mass torture of all
/> commanders.
/>
/> I think it was July 7, 1969..they started beating me with a car fan belt.
/> In first 2 days I took over 300 strokes..then stopped counting because I
/> never thought I would live thru it.
/>
/> They continued day-nite torture to get me to confess to a non-existent
/> part in the escape. This went on for at least 3 days. On my knees..fan
/> belting.. cut open my scrotum with fan belt stroke. opened up both knee
holes
/> again. My fanny looked like hamburger..I could not lie on my back.
/>
/> They tortured me into admitting that I was in on the escape..and that my 2
/> room-mates knew about it.
/>
/> The next day I denied the lie.
/>
/> They commenced torturing me again with 3- 6- or 9 strokes of the fan belt
/> every day from about July 11 or 12rh...to 14 October 1969. I continued to
/> refuse to lie about my roommates again.
/>
/> Now, the point of this is that our make-believe president has declared to
/> the world that we (U.S..) are a bunch of torturers.. Thus it will be OK
/> to torture us next time when they catch us....because that is what the
U.S.
/> does.
/>
/> Our make-believe president is a know nothing fool who thinks that pouring
/> a little water on some one's face, or hanging a pair of womens pants over
/> an Arabs head is TORTURE. He is a meathead.
/>
/> I just talked to MOH holder Leo Thorsness who was also in my sq in jail
/> .... as was John McCain ... and we agree that McCain does not speak for the
/> POW group when he claims that Al Gharib was torture .. or that "water
/> boarding" is torture.
/>
/> Our president and those fools around him who keep bad mouthing our great
/> country are a disgrace to the United States. Please pass this info on to
/> Sean Hannity. He is free to use it to point out the stupidity of the
claims
/> that water boarding ...which has no after effect... is torture. If it got
/> the Arab to cough up the story about how he planned the attack on the twin
/> towers in NYC ... hurrah for the guy who poured the water.
/>
/> BUD DAY, MOH
/>
/> George Everett "Bud" Day (born February 24, 1925) is a retired _U.S. Air
/> Force_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Air_Force) _Colonel_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_(United_States)) and _Command Pilot_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviator) who served during the _Vietnam
War_
/> (http://en.wikipedia..org/wiki/Vietnam_War) . He is often cited as being the
most
/> decorated U.S. service member since _General_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_of_the_Army) _Douglas MacArthur_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur) , having received some
seventy decorations, a majority for
/> actions in combat. Day is a recipient of the _Medal of Honor_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor) .
/> (http://en.wikipediaorg/wiki/File:Col_George_Day_1987.jpg)
I got the above e-mail from a guy I went to school with in Michigan. The following one came from a friend in St. Louis Mo.
I am Tired"
by
Robert A. Hall
Robert Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.
This man makes so much sense that it is hard to believe he has served as a politician from Massachusetts. Never, ever have I heard anyone from that state speak with such lucid common sense and a grasp of what exactly is going on in today's world. I would echo every word he says.
"I'm Tired" by Robert A. Hall I'll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18 Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth around" to people who don't have my work ethic.
I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help But if they bought Mansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros, and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Christian people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won't multiculturalism be beautiful?
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers" ; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I believe "a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin." I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter"
in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois.
I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.
I Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox
News ? Get a clue.
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue, or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate.
My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three -bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough for me.
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs.
And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers,"
especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's
next? Calling drug dealers, Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no,
I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military...
Those are the citizens we need.
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things
happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave?
Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years-and still are?
Not even close.
So here's the deal.
I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt.
Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers-bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship.
I live in Illinois, where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet as well.
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers, and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught..
I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I' m tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to
keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter
Semper Fi.
Lets hear it for COL. BUD DAY, USAF (RET). This is what every single
/> person should read and remember. His words addressing our senior
leadership
/> were to kind to put it bluntly
/>
/> Subject: Medal of Honor recipient Bud Day Talks of Torture....
/>
/> Please pass to the clueless...
/>
/>
The prelude to the "response" below, from Colonel Bud Day, Medal of Honor
recipient - prisoner of war survivor - reads "I didn't expect to be reminded of my treatment some 36 years ago on this holiday weekend but our
politicians find it worthy to ignore what some have tried to recount to
them, who have actually been there."
/>
/>
/>
/>
/>
/>
/> ****************************************************************************
/>
/> I got shot down over N Vietnam in 1967..a sq commander.
/>
/> After I returned in 1973.. I published 2 books that dealt a lot with
/> "real torture" in Hanoi. Our make believe president is branding our
country
/> as a bunch of torturers when he has no idea what torture is.
/>
/> As for me..put thru a mock execution because I would not respond...pistol
/> whipped on the head...same event.. Couple of days later...hung by my
feet
/> all day. I escaped and got recaptured a couple of weeks later.. I got
/> shot and recaptured. Shot was OK...what happened after was not.
/>
/> They marched me to Vinh.. put me in the rope trick, trick..almost pulled
/> my arms out of the sockets. Beat me on the head with a little wooden rod
/> until my eyes were swelled shut, and my unshot, unbroken hand a pulp.
/>
/> Next day hung me by the arms...rebroke my right wrist...wiped out the
/> nerves in my arms that control the hands..rolled my fingers up into a ball.
O
/> nly left the slightest movement of my L forefinger. So I started
answering
/> with some incredible lies.
/>
/> Sent me to Hanoi strapped to a barrel of gas in the back of a truck.
/>
/> Hanoi..on my knees..rope trick again. Beaten by a big fool.
/>
/> Into leg irons on a bed in Heartbreak Hotel.
/>
/> Much kneeling--hands up at Zoo.
/>
/> Really bad beating for refusing to condemn Lyndon Johnson.
/>
/> Several more kneeling events. I could see my knee bone thru kneeling
/> holes.
/>
/> There was an escape from the annex to the Zoo. I was the Senior Officer
/> of a large building because of escape..they started a mass torture of all
/> commanders.
/>
/> I think it was July 7, 1969..they started beating me with a car fan belt.
/> In first 2 days I took over 300 strokes..then stopped counting because I
/> never thought I would live thru it.
/>
/> They continued day-nite torture to get me to confess to a non-existent
/> part in the escape. This went on for at least 3 days. On my knees..fan
/> belting.. cut open my scrotum with fan belt stroke. opened up both knee
holes
/> again. My fanny looked like hamburger..I could not lie on my back.
/>
/> They tortured me into admitting that I was in on the escape..and that my 2
/> room-mates knew about it.
/>
/> The next day I denied the lie.
/>
/> They commenced torturing me again with 3- 6- or 9 strokes of the fan belt
/> every day from about July 11 or 12rh...to 14 October 1969. I continued to
/> refuse to lie about my roommates again.
/>
/> Now, the point of this is that our make-believe president has declared to
/> the world that we (U.S..) are a bunch of torturers.. Thus it will be OK
/> to torture us next time when they catch us....because that is what the
U.S.
/> does.
/>
/> Our make-believe president is a know nothing fool who thinks that pouring
/> a little water on some one's face, or hanging a pair of womens pants over
/> an Arabs head is TORTURE. He is a meathead.
/>
/> I just talked to MOH holder Leo Thorsness who was also in my sq in jail
/> .... as was John McCain ... and we agree that McCain does not speak for the
/> POW group when he claims that Al Gharib was torture .. or that "water
/> boarding" is torture.
/>
/> Our president and those fools around him who keep bad mouthing our great
/> country are a disgrace to the United States. Please pass this info on to
/> Sean Hannity. He is free to use it to point out the stupidity of the
claims
/> that water boarding ...which has no after effect... is torture. If it got
/> the Arab to cough up the story about how he planned the attack on the twin
/> towers in NYC ... hurrah for the guy who poured the water.
/>
/> BUD DAY, MOH
/>
/> George Everett "Bud" Day (born February 24, 1925) is a retired _U.S. Air
/> Force_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Air_Force) _Colonel_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel_(United_States)) and _Command Pilot_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviator) who served during the _Vietnam
War_
/> (http://en.wikipedia..org/wiki/Vietnam_War) . He is often cited as being the
most
/> decorated U.S. service member since _General_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_of_the_Army) _Douglas MacArthur_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_MacArthur) , having received some
seventy decorations, a majority for
/> actions in combat. Day is a recipient of the _Medal of Honor_
/> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor) .
/> (http://en.wikipediaorg/wiki/File:Col_George_Day_1987.jpg)
I got the above e-mail from a guy I went to school with in Michigan. The following one came from a friend in St. Louis Mo.
I am Tired"
by
Robert A. Hall
Robert Hall is a Marine Vietnam veteran who served five terms in the Massachusetts State Senate.
This man makes so much sense that it is hard to believe he has served as a politician from Massachusetts. Never, ever have I heard anyone from that state speak with such lucid common sense and a grasp of what exactly is going on in today's world. I would echo every word he says.
"I'm Tired" by Robert A. Hall I'll be 63 soon. Except for one semester in college when jobs were scarce, and a six-month period when I was between jobs, but job-hunting every day, I've worked, hard, since I was 18 Despite some health challenges, I still put in 50-hour weeks, and haven't called in sick in seven or eight years. I make a good salary, but I didn't inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, there's no retirement in sight, and I'm tired. Very tired.
I'm tired of being told that I have to "spread the wealth around" to people who don't have my work ethic.
I'm tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy or stupid to earn it.
I'm tired of being told that I have to pay more taxes to "keep people in their homes." Sure, if they lost their jobs or got sick, I'm willing to help But if they bought Mansions at three times the price of our paid-off, $250,000 condo, on one-third of my salary, then let the left-wing Congress-critters who passed Fannie and Freddie and the Community Reinvestment Act that created the bubble help them with their own money.
I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros, and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they get their way, the United States will have the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for Christian people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won't multiculturalism be beautiful?
I'm tired of being told that Islam is a "Religion of Peace," when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family "honor"; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren't "believers" ; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for "adultery"; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur'an and Shari'a law tells them to.
I believe "a man should be judged by the content of his character, not by the color of his skin." I'm tired of being told that "race doesn't matter"
in the post-racial world of Obama, when it's all that matters in affirmative action jobs, lower college admission and graduation standards for minorities (harming them the most), government contract set-asides, tolerance for the ghetto culture of violence and fatherless children that hurts minorities more than anyone, and in the appointment of US Senators from Illinois.
I think it's very cool that we have a black president and that a black child is doing her homework at the desk where Lincoln wrote the emancipation proclamation. I just wish the black president was Condi Rice, or someone who believes more in freedom and the individual and less arrogantly of an all-knowing government.
I'm tired of a news media that thinks Bush's fundraising and inaugural expenses were obscene, but that think Obama's, at triple the cost, were wonderful. That thinks Bush exercising daily was a waste of presidential time, but Obama exercising is a great example for the public to control weight and stress, that picked over every line of Bush's military records, but never demanded that Kerry release his, that slammed Palin, with two years as governor, for being too inexperienced for VP, but touted Obama with three years as senator as potentially the best president ever.
I Wonder why people are dropping their subscriptions or switching to Fox
News ? Get a clue.
I'm tired of being told that out of "tolerance for other cultures" we must let Saudi Arabia use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in America, while no American group is allowed to fund a church, synagogue, or religious school in Saudi Arabia to teach love and tolerance.
I'm tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate.
My wife and I live in a two-bedroom apartment and carpool together five miles to our jobs. We also own a three -bedroom condo where our daughter and granddaughter live. Our carbon footprint is about 5% of Al Gore's, and if you're greener than Gore, you're green enough for me.
I'm tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses while they tried to fight it off? I don't think Gay people choose to be Gay, but I damn sure think druggies chose to take drugs.
And I'm tired of harassment from cool people treating me like a freak when I tell them I never tried marijuana.
I'm tired of illegal aliens being called "undocumented workers,"
especially the ones who aren't working, but are living on welfare or crime. What's
next? Calling drug dealers, Undocumented Pharmacists"? And, no,
I'm not against Hispanics. Most of them are Catholic, and it's been a few hundred years since Catholics wanted to kill me for my religion. I'm willing to fast track for citizenship any Hispanic person, who can speak English, doesn't have a criminal record and who is self-supporting without family on welfare, or who serves honorably for three years in our military...
Those are the citizens we need.
I'm tired of latte liberals and journalists, who would never wear the uniform of the Republic themselves, or let their entitlement-handicapped kids near a recruiting station, trashing our military. They and their kids can sit at home, never having to make split-second decisions under life and death circumstances, and bad mouth better people than themselves. Do bad things
happen in war? You bet. Do our troops sometimes misbehave?
Sure. Does this compare with the atrocities that were the policy of our enemies for the last fifty years-and still are?
Not even close.
So here's the deal.
I'll let myself be subjected to all the humiliation and abuse that was heaped on terrorists at Abu Ghraib or Gitmo, and the critics can let themselves be subject to captivity by the Muslims who tortured and beheaded Daniel Pearl in Pakistan, or the Muslims who tortured and murdered Marine Lt.
Col. William Higgins in Lebanon, or the Muslims who ran the blood-spattered Al Qaeda torture rooms our troops found in Iraq, or the Muslims who cut off the heads of schoolgirls in Indonesia, because the girls were Christian. Then we'll compare notes. British and American soldiers are the only troops in history that civilians came to for help and handouts, instead of hiding from in fear.
I'm tired of people telling me that their party has a corner on virtue and the other party has a corner on corruption. Read the papers-bums are bipartisan. And I'm tired of people telling me we need bipartisanship.
I live in Illinois, where the "Illinois Combine" of Democrats has worked to loot the public for years. Not to mention the tax cheats in Obama's cabinet as well.
I'm tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers, and politicians of both parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught..
I'm tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor.
Speaking of poor, I' m tired of hearing people with air-conditioned homes, color TVs and two cars called poor. The majority of Americans didn't have that in 1970, but we didn't know we were "poor." The poverty pimps have to
keep changing the definition of poor to keep the dollars flowing I'm real tired of people who don't take responsibility for their lives and actions. I'm tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination, or big-whatever for their problems.
Yes, I'm damn tired. But I'm also glad to be 63. Because, mostly, I'm not going to have to see the world these people are making. I'm just sorry for my granddaughter
Semper Fi.
Second Amendment March
The Second Amendment March was founded and supported by my friend Skip Coryell. In the latest newsletter I recived, he stressed that it's the common people that are making this what it is. On April 19th of next year, second amendment supporters are going to march on Washington DC and most major cities in America.
Here are some excerpts from the latest newsletter.
I'm organizing a march on Washington DC to celebrate my Second
Amendment freedom, and it's the common people like you and I who are
making it work. We don't have big sponsors - not a single one. All
those rich ammo and firearms manufacturers who are making record
profits? They haven't donated a penny to the Second Amendment March.
They're getting rich off the backs of the commoners struggling to keep
their freedom, but they refuse to ante up, even while thousands of
little people like you and I donate our measly 10 or 20 dollars to the
cause. But it's those little donations that are adding up and keeping
us alive; it's five dollars from a house wife in Nebraska, a dollar
from a pig farmer in Iowa, a ten spot from a New Jersey cab driver, and
an occasional 50-dollar bill from a doctor or a lawyer. During an
economic depression, it's always the little people that end up doing
most of the living and giving and fighting in this country. It has
always been that way. My experience has been that if you aren't
generous when you're poor, then you'll still be selfish when you're
rich.
To me, the best soldiers are the ones who fight based on
their convictions, not on their financial bottom line. In the first
American revolution, the British hired mercenaries to fight for them
and they were beaten in the end by farmers and shopkeepers and
blacksmiths who shot at them from behind rocks and trees. Many American
soldiers were ill-equipped, ill-fed, and poorly trained. But they had
something that mercenaries do not. Heart!
And that's why the
Second Amendment March will prevail. We are a grassroots effort
composed of men and women with conviction, courage and indomitable
character. Yeah, sure, it would be easier if the rich people helped us
fight for freedom, but, with or without them, it's going to happen.
Come April 19th all us little people will be on the National Mall
fighting for our right to keep and bear arms.
Color me proud.
Our Mission
The mission of the Second Amendment March is to galvanize the courage and
resolve
of Americans; to petition our elected officials against establishing anti-gun
legislation;
and to remind America that the Second Amendment is necessary to maintain our
right
to self defense.
It is the one right that protects
all others.
We will accomplish our mission by a centralized, peaceful march in Washington
DC,
the United States Capitol, supported by satellite marches to State Capitols and
other cities all across America.
How You Can Help
There are many things you can do TODAY to make a difference for future
generations:
* Join our forums
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102683178628&s=718&e=001nL1zeiVesSBQ32ebaNtHS2dZuVj02
UU8GsRGYjYfa-MuSKtMhjYfWGAQcNPqjxHvhRrz-aL_8b89Lw-7N5lG33jbme-sJXsRxbusdeT8VpzSt
rYPOltpHLnpmSzymUvH]
* spread the word
* pass out flyers
* set up a town hall meeting in your area
* write articles for the Second Amendment March website
* write to your legislators
* make a donation
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102683178628&s=718&e=001nL1zeiVesSB8GB0oThSGUzBYYOQE4
EHkk3zDNYvDiqR6cJTojTUME1cdp3dmaNCPnqCdkx-rk7RceO7kFh_JyJng9-zbwxvoGSdzybUx-rqnD
A8FCENct3FTd2sDGuPH]
* write to the media
* Set up a Second Amendment March fundraiser in your area
* Share your special skills/knowledge
* wear your Second Amendment March shirt
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102683178628&s=718&e=001nL1zeiVesSBCGcYC0sXPw0KS0tl6n
fiXtaWZ1wbLacwtxMK5xLY-UGcySqiMjjxHMFqe5FnLhgnwSlRnMLXTYACnfWleoQoqcpXiJmcLrjgkL
s5ZaSCAvHQD4h5WYV5qr43YiNhYkcLd6UNan372F2YzPvM_X6Y2SVBvn6SszWn5E-1fjJ8BLV6L7xfWj
02A0WmIxJcGvww=]
proudly
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless
minority
keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."
--Samuel Adams
To learn mor about Skip, you can go to his web site. www.skipcoryell.com
To check out the Second Amendment March www.secondamendmentmarch.com
Join us in our efforts. Unfortunatly, I will not be able to go to DC. However, I will be here at the capital that day. Every freedom loving American, wether you own a gun or not, should be there to show the government that we are tired of having our rights trampled.
Here are some excerpts from the latest newsletter.
I'm organizing a march on Washington DC to celebrate my Second
Amendment freedom, and it's the common people like you and I who are
making it work. We don't have big sponsors - not a single one. All
those rich ammo and firearms manufacturers who are making record
profits? They haven't donated a penny to the Second Amendment March.
They're getting rich off the backs of the commoners struggling to keep
their freedom, but they refuse to ante up, even while thousands of
little people like you and I donate our measly 10 or 20 dollars to the
cause. But it's those little donations that are adding up and keeping
us alive; it's five dollars from a house wife in Nebraska, a dollar
from a pig farmer in Iowa, a ten spot from a New Jersey cab driver, and
an occasional 50-dollar bill from a doctor or a lawyer. During an
economic depression, it's always the little people that end up doing
most of the living and giving and fighting in this country. It has
always been that way. My experience has been that if you aren't
generous when you're poor, then you'll still be selfish when you're
rich.
To me, the best soldiers are the ones who fight based on
their convictions, not on their financial bottom line. In the first
American revolution, the British hired mercenaries to fight for them
and they were beaten in the end by farmers and shopkeepers and
blacksmiths who shot at them from behind rocks and trees. Many American
soldiers were ill-equipped, ill-fed, and poorly trained. But they had
something that mercenaries do not. Heart!
And that's why the
Second Amendment March will prevail. We are a grassroots effort
composed of men and women with conviction, courage and indomitable
character. Yeah, sure, it would be easier if the rich people helped us
fight for freedom, but, with or without them, it's going to happen.
Come April 19th all us little people will be on the National Mall
fighting for our right to keep and bear arms.
Color me proud.
Our Mission
The mission of the Second Amendment March is to galvanize the courage and
resolve
of Americans; to petition our elected officials against establishing anti-gun
legislation;
and to remind America that the Second Amendment is necessary to maintain our
right
to self defense.
It is the one right that protects
all others.
We will accomplish our mission by a centralized, peaceful march in Washington
DC,
the United States Capitol, supported by satellite marches to State Capitols and
other cities all across America.
How You Can Help
There are many things you can do TODAY to make a difference for future
generations:
* Join our forums
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102683178628&s=718&e=001nL1zeiVesSBQ32ebaNtHS2dZuVj02
UU8GsRGYjYfa-MuSKtMhjYfWGAQcNPqjxHvhRrz-aL_8b89Lw-7N5lG33jbme-sJXsRxbusdeT8VpzSt
rYPOltpHLnpmSzymUvH]
* spread the word
* pass out flyers
* set up a town hall meeting in your area
* write articles for the Second Amendment March website
* write to your legislators
* make a donation
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102683178628&s=718&e=001nL1zeiVesSB8GB0oThSGUzBYYOQE4
EHkk3zDNYvDiqR6cJTojTUME1cdp3dmaNCPnqCdkx-rk7RceO7kFh_JyJng9-zbwxvoGSdzybUx-rqnD
A8FCENct3FTd2sDGuPH]
* write to the media
* Set up a Second Amendment March fundraiser in your area
* Share your special skills/knowledge
* wear your Second Amendment March shirt
[http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102683178628&s=718&e=001nL1zeiVesSBCGcYC0sXPw0KS0tl6n
fiXtaWZ1wbLacwtxMK5xLY-UGcySqiMjjxHMFqe5FnLhgnwSlRnMLXTYACnfWleoQoqcpXiJmcLrjgkL
s5ZaSCAvHQD4h5WYV5qr43YiNhYkcLd6UNan372F2YzPvM_X6Y2SVBvn6SszWn5E-1fjJ8BLV6L7xfWj
02A0WmIxJcGvww=]
proudly
"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless
minority
keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."
--Samuel Adams
To learn mor about Skip, you can go to his web site. www.skipcoryell.com
To check out the Second Amendment March www.secondamendmentmarch.com
Join us in our efforts. Unfortunatly, I will not be able to go to DC. However, I will be here at the capital that day. Every freedom loving American, wether you own a gun or not, should be there to show the government that we are tired of having our rights trampled.
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