Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Christians to the back of the bus

Larry, posting on Vox Popoli, referred to a column by Robert Novak

Mr. Novak writes "Before Congress left town Friday for its Fourth of July recess, Rep. Bill Thomas of California pulled off one of his patented legislative assassinations. Washington's most cunning parliamentarian, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Thomas eradicated the Freedom of Speech in Churches Act without openly opposing it."

This Act would have restored the ability of 501(c)3 churches to speak on politics. Left leaning 'churches' often speak on politics and no one says anything about it but if a conservative church speaks politics, watch out! The proper answer is to simply un-incorporate your church. But until the Church wakes up and starts doing that this act needs to go through.

Novak also write " Walter Jones (Rep, N.C.), not intimidated by Thomas, told me: "Discretionary enforcement, primarily against conservative churches, of an unenforceable law is wrong and should not stand." That is a battle cry for the coming Republican civil war.

Republicans arent the only game in town. Check out the Libertarian or Constitution Parties.

Bleg

I am needing a cartoon picture of a friendly smoking gun. Thinking we need a new anti-terrorism campaign along the lines of Smokey the Bear.

"Only YOU can prevent terrorism"

Hand Us Your Rights

Ashcroft is calling for an even tougher USA PATRIOT ACT. Apparently we didnt hand over enough Rights with the first one. As is we already lost the Right to speak with a lawyer in privacy, and the 4th amendment to be secure in house/affects is also gone with their new powers to go in and search your house w/o telling you for 6 months, even longer with a judge approved extension.

Ashcroft did urge us all to be vigilant. He musta been refering to my blog :)

Saturday, June 26, 2004

Being Vigilant

With my previous post, and then going and visiting Ian's blog I decided to post a bit on being alert and knowing the circumstances you are in.

This isnt going to be a discussion on what type of weapon to carry, a knife wielded with confidence can be as detering to a thug as a gun. Rather I want to talk about state of mind. Fortunately the military has already come up with an acronym, if you can believe that. OODA Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. This was specifically made for their fighter pilots where being the one acting, not reacting, is the difference between coming home alive and, well, not coming home alive. OODA applies perfectly to everyone.

Observe.
Know your surroundings. This means being familiar with the area, or making a conscious effort to learn the area you are in. Know escape routes, know alternate routes, back doors, safe areas of the building. Safe areas include being around people like Nate or myself :) If you can see a gun on a holster, then that is a good person to be around as criminals dont open carry nor do they utilize holsters.

Orient.
Where are YOU in relation to THEM, Them being 'potential' threats. Rembember that all that is required is a potential, not a demonstrated, threat. Where is the safest place, where can you move. Is there a barricade you can place between you? (car, gas pump) Create space between you and the threat whenever possible.

Decide.
This primarily takes place before any encounter. Knowing what it is you will do beforehand takes all the guesswork out of a stressful situation. If you plan on using a weapon (blade, gun, mace) know how to use it, and know how you are going to deploy that weapon. A quick decision is of extreme importance so think about it beforehand.

Act.
Having made these first three steps, without acting they are all wasted. Get to the Act before they do. Make them respond to you, not you to them. If they are responding to you then you are in control of the situation. Be in control at all costs, you will come out okay if you are.

In future posts I will go over this some more, but no matter the scenario OODA is the key. If you are interested in learning more, one of the best references available is the writings of Massad Ayoob, such as his Ayoob Files or some of his writings available online at Back Woods Home

Homeland Security

An article on JWR by Toby Klein Greenwald tells of a grandmother who, being alert, prevented a terror attack in Israel.

The moral of the story, says Shlomit, is, "Be vigilant. If you notice something unusual on the road or anywhere else, don't hesitate to point it out to a soldier, policeman or security person."

Life or death can be only a heartbeat away.

How does she feel, knowing she probably saved lives that day?

"I didn't do anything," says Shlomit. "It was all the hand of G-d."


This is the way it is supposed to work. Individuals working together to thwart our enemies.

Friday, June 25, 2004

Ladies, sometimes hair can be too long! Tran Van Hay, 67, from Chau Thanh district in the southern Kien Giang province of Vietnam, his hair is over 6.2 meters (20.34 feet)

Politically Correct Bullets

From a Rueters news item soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan arent allowed to use bullets manufactured in Israel. Ya see, those evil Jewish bullets kill Muslims more dead than the American bullets do.

At the end of the article is a hint of future action by the US Military. Maj. Gen. Buford Blount, now the Army's assistant deputy chief of staff, is quoted as saying the Army's need for ammunition will grow to about 1.5-1.7 billion rounds a year, currently they are producing around 1.2 billion (hence the contract for bullets from Israel Military Industries)

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Patriotism

Feeling like I put my foot in my mouth on a previous post.
Because, in fact, I AM (bold, underline, italic) proud to be an American. I am proud (cue patriotic music, superimpose an image of a waving flag) of the unique heritage that we have. I am proud to have ancestors who fought valiantly for freedom even if some of them lost (Choctaw Nation) For who else on this earth can claim a Christian legacy? A foundation based upon a truly solid rock? Men who staked their lives fortunes and honor to purchase liberty?

I daresay there isnt another nation that was given the advantages this nation was given. We lead the way in science, technology and manufacturing more often than not. We have sent missionaries across the globe, financed great works both religious and secular. Pressed human rights worldwide. We have, and continue to, feed and clothe the world.

From the foundation of this country we chose to change the world through superiority of our ideas, not through our superior force. We spoke through our charity, and ingenuity, and a philosophy of personal responsibility. Knowing intrinsically that doing what we do best and attempting to provide for our individual needs we would provide for the whole in the most efficient manner.

Perhaps because of the lofty heights we have attained in the past, perhaps because we can do so much better than we do, I am saddened all the more at the current state of the Union.

Bush holding Law and Treaties to no affect?

According to documents released tuesday, President Bush claimed the right to waive anti-torture laws and treaties covering prisoners of war after the invasion of Afghanistan, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld authorized guards to strip detainees and threaten them with dogs
...
The Justice Department disavowed a memo written in 2002 that appeared to justify the use of torture in the war on terror. The memo also argued that the president's wartime powers superseded anti-torture laws and treaties.


Great, we arent even at war and the Prez has wartime powers, and this without a formal Declaration of War. Law already means so little to this government and they keep throwing it aside anytime our 'servant' gov deems it an annoyance.

Raising the standard

I got my flag all gussied up and upon my wall. Not the standard you were expecting perhaps, but an important one none the less.

Monday, June 21, 2004

From the pen of the Mogambo

In response to an article that stated that oil, when adjusted for inflation, is not expensive, Mogambo Guru has this to say...

Therefore, the price of oil strictly adjusted for inflation may not be, as she says, expensive in the big, two-dimensional macro picture, but for those of us whose incomes, mine for instance, have NOT increased in lockstep with inflation because we are mentally unstable and are already getting paid far more than we are worth, gasoline IS very expensive, and I am certainly not in the mood to listen to any crap about how I ought to compare my current situation with some distant time in ancient history when health insurance was affordable and property taxes were much lower and the sheer suffocating size and cost of a grasping, cancerously large system of governments was not eating out my substance, which is a phrase I picked up from guys who were writing during the American Revolution, the one where we, the people, stood up and grabbed our rocket-propelled grenade launchers, loaded up our armored personnel carriers and went to war against the nasty British, who were abusing us by taxing us at the horrific rate of less than 1 lousy percent. 1%! We fought to the death because of a 1% tax! Nowadays, total economy-wide taxation is greater than 50% of total income!


Non-hedonically adjusted inflation is 7.1 percent last I checked. The COLA I will be getting shortly will be 15/100 of 1%

What can I say? Proud to be an American!

Another poem for your enjoyment

I want you all to know that this one was requested by my friend Nikki. So if you wonder why this is up here, you can blame her!

Ode to a Coke

Oh beautiful Can
All red and sweaty
You stand straight as a Man
Yet you are cold like 'ol Betty
Your thin metal Shell hides
the sweetest of Nectar
and with you my Love abides
an undying Specter

~~ Me

Your Papers Please

Another expansion of the police state occurred with the recent decision by the Black Robed Priests (BRP) at the Supreme Court. Upholding laws in 21 different states that allow for the arrest of Citizen if said Citizen refuses to give his name, even if no other offense is suspected.

Justice John Paul Steven, giving a dissenting opinion, writes "It has "long been settled that the [Fifth Amendment's] protection encompasses compelled statements that lead to discovery of incriminating evidence even though the statements themselves are not incriminating and are not introduced into evidence."" United States v. Hubbel, (2000) Also dissenting were Justices Breyer, Souter and Ginsburg.

Why are we in a basket and where are we going?

Make Way For Liberty

Believe it or not, I actually found this poem in a
school book. Albeit one I am afraid to hold all the
way open lest it fall apart in its old age.
The battle takes place July 9, 1386 in the pass of
Sempach. The Austrian cavalry was unable to be used
to advantage in the narrow pass so they dismounted and
formed a wall of spears. After repeated unsuccesful
attempts to break the line a knight, Arnold von
Winkelried, threw himself upon the spears to make a
way thru. This was the battle that won Switzerland its
freedom from the Austrians


Make way for Liberty

"Make way for Liberty!" he cried;
Made way for Liberty , and died!

In arms the Austrian phalanx stood,
A living wall, a human wood!
A wall, where every conscious stone
Seemed to its kindred thousands grown;
A rampart all assaults to bear,
Till time to dust their frames shall wear;
A wood like that enchanted grove,
In which, with fiends, Rinaldo strove,
Where every silent tree possessed
A spirit prisoned in its breast,
Which the first stroke of coming strife
Would startle into hideous life:
So dense, so still, the Austrians stood,
A living wall, a human wood!

Impregnable their front appears,
All horent with projected spears,
whose polished points before them shine,
From flank to flank, one brilliant line,
Bright as the breakers' splendor run
Along the billows to the sun.

Opposed to these, a hovering band
Contended for their native land;
Peasants, whose new-found strength had broke
From manly necks the ignoble yoke,
And forged their fetters into swords,
On equal terms to fight their lords;
And what insurgent rage had gained,
In many a mortal fray maintained:
Marshaled once more at Freedom's call
They come to conquer or to fall,
Where he who conquered, he who fell,
Was deemed a dead, or living, Tell!

And now the work of life and death
Hung on the passing of a breath;
The fire of conflict burned within;
The battle trembled to begin;
Yet, while the Austrians held their ground,
Point for attack was nowhere found;
Where'er the impatient Switzers gazed,
The unbroken line of lanced blazed;
That line 't were suicide to meet,
And perish at their tyrant's feet;
How could they rest within their graves,
And leave their homes the homes of slaves?
Would they not feel their children tread
With clanking chains above their head?

It must not be: this day, this hour,
Annihilates the oppressor's power;
All Switzerland is in the field,
She will not fly, she cannot yield,
She must not fall; her better fate
Here gives her an immortal date.
Few were the numbers she could boast,
But every freeman was a host,
And felt as though himself were he
On whose sole arms hung victory.

It did depend on one, indeed:
Behold him! Arnold Winkelried!
There sounds not to the trump of fame
The echo of a nobler name.
Unmarked he stood amid the throng,
In rumination deep and long,
Till you might see, with sudden grace,
The very thought come o'er his face;
And by the motion of his form,
Anticipate the bursting storm;
And by the uplifting of his brow,
Tell where the bolt would strike, and how.
But 't was no sooner thought than done;
The field was in a moment won.

"Make way for Liberty!" he cried:
Then ran, with arms extended wide,
As if his dearest friend to clasp;
Ten spears he swept within his grasp:
"Make way for Liberty!" he cried.
Their keen points met from side to side;
He bowed among them like a tree,
And thus was made way for liberty.

Swift to the breach his comrades fly;
"Make way for Liberty!" they cry,
And through the Austrian phalanx dart,
As rushed spears through Arnold's heart;
While instantaneous as his fall,
Rout, ruin, panic scattered all.
An earthquake could not overthrow
A city with a surer blow.
Thus Switzerland again was free,
Thus death made way for liberty.

~James Montgomery

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Palestinian Intifada is Over?

Charles Krauthammer, writing for JewishWorldReview.com, tells us of the recent events over in the Holy Land. Krauthammer writes: "While no one was looking, something historic happened in the Middle East. The Palestinian intifada is over, and the Palestinians have lost."

For Israel, the victory is bitter. The past four years of terrorism have killed almost 1,000 Israelis and maimed thousands of others. But Israel has won strategically. The intent of the intifada was to demoralize Israel, destroy its economy, bring it to its knees, and thus force it to withdraw and surrender to Palestinian demands, just as Israel withdrew in defeat from southern Lebanon in May 2000.

That did not happen. Israel's economy was certainly wounded, but it is growing again. Tourism had dwindled to almost nothing at the height of the intifada, but tourists are returning. And the Israelis were never demoralized. They kept living their lives, the young people in particular returning to cafes and discos and buses just hours after a horrific bombing. Israelis turned out to be a lot tougher and braver than the Palestinians had imagined.

The end of the intifada does not mean the end of terrorism. There was terrorism before the intifada and there will be terrorism to come. What has happened, however, is an end to systematic, regular, debilitating, unstoppable terror — terror as a reliable weapon. At the height of the intifada, there were nine suicide attacks in Israel killing 85 Israelis in just one month (March 2002). In the past three months there have been none.


Overall violence has been reduced by 70% since pursuing their, much maligned, targeted assasinations of terrorist leaders. It is clear that the Israelis are determined to protect their citizens from a self declared enemy and world opinion isnt going to stop them. How are they able to do this? By an incredible focus on intelligence and having determined who their enemy is.

We would do good follow Sharon's lead, to publicly name our enemy(ies) and then focusing our Intel upon those groups.

A Half Hour in the Slammer

Or, "Get to Know Your Customer."

Two tornadoes touched down near the supermarket where I work today. As a precaution the local Fire Department/Sheriff made us all go into the coolers to ride out the storm. I work in the dairy department so I was still able to get some work done, and most of the people who were 'assigned' to my cooler didn't stay in it very long. They all (somehow) thought it too cold.

Saturday, June 19, 2004

German 'Samurai' on the Loose in Woods Near Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters) - A camouflage-clad German man wielding a samurai sword attacked at least seven hikers in forests west of Berlin, performing sword tricks before ordering them to leave the woods, police said Friday.

Can you say "hello" to my leetle friend? That IS why I own and carry, but I load for bear and mountain lion when out in nature. Things like this are why you should always be on your toes. Woods, work or Walmart sociopaths abound.

Friday, June 18, 2004

Income Tax Documents Missing From National Archives

I have been following the "Tax Honesty" movement for a little longer than 2 and a half years now. In fact, I became a part of this movement at that time. In that time we have petitioned the gov, we are the first to have ever done so, and seen some wins and some losses.

Currently We The People is researching a class action lawsuit to be brought at the Supreme Court level on the 1st amendment right to Petition. In other words, do we have the 'right' to hold signs and make some noise or do we have the Right to cause the gov to respond to our Petition. The latest setback comes from the National Archives. Apparently they are missing the documents pertaining to this issue. Seems like someone is trying to hide something

The fight continues.

Thursday, June 17, 2004

Digital Blasphemy

Digital Blasphemy
Sounds bad. It isnt.
Actually it is some of the best computer generated wallpaper out there. Lots available to cheapo's like me too, so I am quite partial to the site. One of my current favs is Tropical Moon of Thetis Beautiful to look at but I imagine the lifespan on such a planet would not be terribly long.
From Ian's Confusticated World via Pink-Kitty



take the "what's your dark secret?" quiz
| courtesy of mewing.net. where darkness and secrecy abound.


it is scary how accurate these tests can be...

Berkeley says businesses have no rights

The Berkeley City Council, known for its far-out ideas, has unanimously passed a resolution calling for constitutional amendments to deny constitutional rights to corporations.

As ridiculous as that sounds, they are somewhat correct. A Corporation 'incorporates' under the laws of the land they incoporate in, and are accorded the protections and priveleges provided by that law. The corporation becomes a 'second class citizen' in effect. But that 2nd class citizen has been given the protections Berkeley is fighting over.

What is a bigger worry is, what if they win? Most of our churches are (erroneously) 501(c)3 corporations and only have the protections given under the law. A church by it's very nature has rights under Natural Law (includint tax exemption) and should not be submitting itself to such burdensome regulation. But since it does submit what will become of them?
PK Writes
sometimes a bill would be introduced and the sponsor knew it would be shot down.

This is actually the case for this resolution. The author knew it was more than a longshot to pass, but put it out there so it could be discussed and make some waves. According to the article others may take up the challenge.

A man here in Colorado, Douglas Bruce, does this same thing. For those of you who don't know, Bruce is the man who authored TABOR, or TAxpayers Bill Of Rights which limits the ability of the state gov to raise taxes and spend surpluses. As you can imagine he is a much hated man even tho he is perhaps single-handedly responsible for this state not being in debt like most other states. Bruce puts out his petitions in two years. The first time to get it to, and passed, the 'legal challenge' stage, the sencond to get it passed.

Unfortunately this isnt just a tactic of freedom lovers. We see this happening all the time from most all sectors. A little exposure to Gay marriage now, a lot more later. Or consider the new military draft. Rumors of a re-instated draft started just after 9/11, officially denied of course. The Selective Service Boards across the country were being re-staffed. In 2002 a bill was put forward to requie all males to have basic military training. Jan 03 a bill was put forward by Sen Fritz Hollings D-S.C. to re-instate the draft. April of 04 Sen, Chuck Hagel R-Neb. called for a re-instated draft. and in May of this year we find out the SS is trying to extend the draft to age 34 and women.

Can't just boil a frog, ya gotta keep turning up the heat.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Southern Baptist miss a great opportunity

Saying the church must not usurp parents' authority in the home, the Southern Baptist Convention today voted down a resolution that urged members to pull their children out of government schools.

This would be a wonderful way of waking up the Bride and calling her to perfom her sacred duties. This time it was missed, but there is hope it will pass in the future as well as states possibly adopting the resolution individually.

First Post

I figure I waste a lot of time here on Blogspot, might as well join up and, to quote, there arent enough opinions on the internet.