This needs to go "viral"

This is a concise, accurate and powerful statement of the direction America is currently taking under the direction of President Obama and his cronies. It is delivered in a quiet and rational manner by Lt.Gen. (Ret.) W.G. Boykin.

Please don't be put off by the video's title. Those of you who have not yet fully considered the effect that recent legislation (e.g. healthcare, "Food Safety", "net Neutrality", and energy regulation ) has upon our freedom to control our own health, food supply, energy supply and - as we are doing right here - our ability to communicate with each other in an open, uncensored fashion should consider that these are indeed all things that the Marxists have taken control of in countries where Marxism has been tried. Russia, China, Cuba, and elsewhere.

This is short. Please watch it. After that, feel free to either think me a fool, or (once you grasp the truth in it) make sure your friends and family watch it too. Post it in your own blogs or email, mention it in comments at blogs or sites that you visit, and let us see if perhaps we can get it to go viral, as it needs to go. Folks, if we do not wake up to what is being attempted here at this time in our nation's history, our nation - as we have known it - will be history.

How citizens can win against the government: FIJA.org

The time has come to either take back control of the government from those who think they have the right to rule us, un-civil servants who believe they are our masters, from a Congress and an Executive who ignore the will of the people even when it is made plain, or submit as slaves.

For many years now, I despaired of there being any way to work within the system and still win this fight. I feared that we would need to resort to armed resistance in order to overturn the damage done to our Constitutional Republic over the years since Lincoln denied Americans the right of habeas corpus to FDR, who set us firmly on the road to socialism to Obama, who seeks to make us subservient to his vision of a diminished "america", where everyone (except the elite) is as poor as everyone else.

A reminder of the power that the citizens of America possess that they seldom use, but which could give them complete control of their own destiny once again, appeared online. It happened in the very state where I am currently living, Montana. Fifty miles north of me, in the small city of Missoula, jurors - no, potential jurors - refused to even sit for a case where the prosecutor was trying to convict for the possession of one-sixteenth of an ounce of marijuana. http://missoulian.com/news/local/article_464bdc0a-0b36-11e0-a594-001cc4c03286.html

Now, before you accuse me of being in favor of legalizing marijuana, understand that I have never been a part of any attempt or movement to do so. [ I will admit I think that it shouldn't be criminalized as it is, but if we must control it ("For the children!" ;-), it could be treated like the consumption of alcohol, including DUI - Driving Under the Influence.] But the thought of the cost of a trial, especially a trial by jury, to convict even a low-life, frequent-offender criminal for possession of such a tiny amount is ridiculous. If you can't get him for something significant, its time for catch-and-release. Throw him back and catch him next time.

The power I am talking about is one that many citizens haven't heard of, that the schools and especially the courts don't want you to know about. A power that every judge is taught to lie about, if they aren't simply ignorant of it. That power, that right of the people, that duty of the people is to try not only the facts of the case, but to try the law itself. That is right - it is their duty to decide if the law is fair and if the defendant should even be punished for violating that law. That power is known as Jury Nullification.

There is a reason that it has always been called "trial by jury". That is because it is the jury who is supposed to try the defendant, not the judge. The judge was meant to be a legal "referee", to make sure that procedure was followed, and that neither the defense nor the prosecution had unfair advantage over the other, that both sides adhered to the rules. Now, a citizen can waive his right to a jury trial, if he thinks he will do better being tried by a judge. But it is every citizens right to be tried by jury.

There is an organization called the Fully Informed Jury Association, FIJA. You can read all about them at FIJA.org. There you can read about the long history of jury nullification. You can read about the Peter Zenger trial in colonial days, just prior to the American Revolution. This web site will inform you, will teach you how to use this tremendous power you have that you were not even aware you owned. Please, please visit this web site before those who would control the Internet via the FCC take it, and other freedom-loving web sites offline. Download the information they have there, make copies on your computer that you can distribute to family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers. If you really catch fire with this new knowledge, you could even become active enough to pass out pamphlets at - or near, if your local government tries to stop you from doing so on county, state, or federal property - your local court house, or the state or federal courthouse.

Those of us who love liberty have often heard that there are three boxes for fighting for liberty: the soapbox, the ballot box, and the cartridge box. There is actually a fourth: the jury box. And it is quite possible that the most powerful is the jury box. No matter how draconian the law, no matter how powerful the agency, if a jury refuses to convict - if one juror refuses to convict, the defendant goes free. Yes, the prosecutor may attempt to try that defendant again, but if one juror in the next sitting jury refuses to convict, the prosecution will cut its losses and the defendant will be free.

I'm sure you are wondering why this doesn't normally happen. How could a man (Google: Brian Aitken) in New Jersey be arrested, convicted, and imprisoned for legally transporting firearms locked in the trunk of his vehicle? How could a man (Google: David Olofson) be convicted and sent to prison for loaning another man a rifle that malfunctioned? It is because judges enjoy too much autonomy in the courtroom, allowing information to be suppressed which might lead the jury to believe the defendant should be acquitted, not convicted. And especially because every judge tells the jury that they are there only to try the facts in the case, and the the judge will try the law. In doing so, the judge is either misinforming the jury through his own ignorance, or is actually, knowingly, lying to them. Judges are aware of the process of jury nullification, but do not want a jury "usurping" their power.

Can you imagine how much freer we would be if juries routinely acquitted in the face of laws that should not even exist? Or when a defendant has broken a law that he was unaware of, or when there were extenuating circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to find him innocent of any intent to do wrong? Then, the power of government to rule us, to make us bend to their will, would be removed,short of a total police state, where there no longer is the Rule of Law. (We are close to that now.)

Many of us are hoping that the new Congress will repeal, overturn, some of the damage done to us by the current Congress. Or, if they are unable to get enough votes to repeal Obamacare or the "Food Safety Act", that they will "defund" them so that they cannot be implemented. Well, if they do neither, we can still stop them in their tracks by refusing to convict anyone tried for violating any provisions of any law passed by Congress. More importantly, we can refuse to convict anyone found guilty of violating one of the millions of regulations that our government agencies are hammering us with that aren't even law, merely regulations written by bureaucrats without the force of legislation - but powerful enough to still get you time in prison.

Think about it, folks. This is power. Real power. One of the few tools we have left short of armed resistance to turn the tide of socialism and rule by regulation. However, it will only work if enough people are made aware of its existence. Go to FIJA.org and start your journey.

“It is not only his [the juror's] right, but his duty – to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.” John Adams

Accurate Arms Data 2200 Load Data

While doing an inventory of my reloading components, I discovered I have a fair quantity of an older smokeless powder sold by Accurate Arms some years ago. One source I read said it is possible that this powder was made under contract to Russia for the 7.62X39 at about the time they were transitioning to the 5.45X39. Supposedly they reneged on their order and the manufacturer was left with a very large quantity of powder.

Whatever the truth, this powder was marketed by Accurate Arms, and sold at a steep discount some years ago. At one time (when I bought mine :-) it was available for $48 per 8 lb. jug. It was supposed to be excellent in reloading 7.62X39 and also 5.56X45 (basically the same as .223, and what is used in the AR-15 line of rifles, although military 5.56 cases are reputed to be thicker in the web area, and pressures will be slightly higher if you load them using data for the .223.) One source I read indicated it was a good bench rest powder for Camp Perry competition. I can't speak to that, but I have used it in my Marlin 1895 GG in 45-70, and got good results with it. I am thinking about loading some 5.56 with the Sierra 69 grain HPBT MatchKing bullets to see what kind of accuracy I can get out of my AR.

When I discovered I still had this powder, I looked for my loading data, and couldn't find it. Western Powder no longer lists any data for this powder on their web site (they own the Accurate Arms line of powders now, along with RamShot.) However, a search via the Wayback Machine got me a copy of AA's data sheet that they produced back when they were selling it. If you need it, or are just curious, here it is:

http://replay.waybackmachine.org/20060628194504/http://www.accuratepowder.com/data/surplus/A%20DP%202200%20new%20format%20all%20calibers.pdf

Hope this a few of you reloaders out there.

Even paranoid schizophrenics have enemies

Many of us in the liberty movement have heard "conspiracy theories" about FEMA detention camps scattered across the country, facilities that look like prisons, although they are currently unoccupied. Stories about military installations that are being set up to hold large numbers of dissenting Americans, us "wing nuts" who believe the Constitution is being deliberately subverted by those in power, that George Soros is spending billions of his own money to move America into socialism. As Nancy Pelosi said (when asked if the Obamacare bill was Constitutional), "Are you serious?"

Pretty amusing, isn't it. These bible-toting, Ron Paul supporting, red-necked gun lovers who hear black helicopters in the night and think John McCain might have been the subject of a little Communist brain-washing during his stay as an involuntary guest of North Vietnam. (Not that the North Vietnamese would have had any interest in trying to subvert a lowly naval officer who was the son of a well-placed admiral in the United States Navy.)

No, old John McCain comes from firmer, tougher antecedents than that. He would never come back and play the John Kerry game, calling his fellow servicemen "baby killers" or criminals who killed Vietnamese for the thrill of it all. He would never enter politics and then ally himself with "moderate progressives", excuse me, independent liberals like Joe Liebermann to sponsor legislation like:

S. 3081:

Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010

Legislation that gives our government the ability to detain and imprison any citizen for an indefinite period of time, without a lawyer, without a trial, without informing anyone of said detention, including family, friends, or even any other agency of the government. Think "rendition" - of anyone, merely because Homeland Security, or the President or one of the President's men (a czar?) decided to label you an "Enemy of the State". Habeus corpus out the window. No recourse for the poor SOB that was arrested with or without cause.

Oops. Actually, he did. This man whom a number of Republicans and conservatives (there is a difference, you know) were trying to elect as our President. Of course, the Narcissist-in-Chief that was elected is probably doing this anyway, without the bill having been passed. After all, he has justified assassinating American citizens in foreign countries without even a military tribunal as a war criminal. Death By Drone.

I have spoken of McCain as a "Manchurian Candidate", wondering aloud about the possibility that his world view, his love for our Constitutional Republic, might have suffered a little tweaking while in North Vietnam as a POW. To many people, that is a cruel, paranoid and baseless thought. It demeans a man who suffered as a POW having been captured by the enemy while fighting for the South Vietnamese with our military. After all, he was captured, imprisoned, held without a lawyer or a trial for an indefinite period of time, without informing anyone of said detention, including family, friends, or even any other agency of our government. Gosh, who would want to have to suffer that? I'm sure John McCain would never want that kind of cruel situation to befall another human being.

Oops. Actually he does. That is why he sponsored

S. 3081:

Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010

So. Obviously my paranoia knows no bounds. Nonetheless, McCain just as obviously learned nothing in that POW prison. Or he simply doesn't think the common man, a citizen, deserves to be treated in a gentler fashion than he was when a guest of the North Vietnamese.

Driving through Southern Nevada, north of Las Vegas, my wife and I observed two facilities on the west side of the highway. One was a brand-new, apparently unoccupied facility that looked like a large prison. It held quite a few large buildings that looked to be residential cell blocks. There were guard towers and a large quantity of concertina wire surrounding the place. We drove past too fast to read the name, but I think I saw something stating "Correctional Facility" (Southern Nevada? Can't recall.) It looked big enough to house a substantial portion of Las Vegas. Or maybe most of Carson City. There were only about three or four vehicles in the parking lot, and although the facility appeared to be complete, not still in construction, it did not seem to have any activity ongoing at that time.

Not very many miles north of that we saw what appeared to be another correctional facility, this time more the size of a large county jail, although bigger than the one I used to book prisoners into in San Diego. Now, my old eyes aren't what they used to be, but this one didn't seem to be in operation either, although it looked like construction had been completed here as well.

Next, we came across a military base - Air Force, I think - on the east side of the highway. In the northwest corner of the immediate area enclosed by wire, we saw a lot of earth-moving equipment clearing about twenty acres that someone had started to stake out for construction. Having worked a bit of residential construction in my time (including a large condo development on the banks of the Willamette River in Selwood, Oregon, a suburb of Portland) it seemed that the work might have been set up for a number of large buildings, regular in shape, looking more residential than commercial, more like barracks than hangars.

OK. This is where I tell you about the squadron of black, unmarked helicopters that swooped down and forced us off of the road. Or the alien mother ship that scooped us up and subjected my old English bulldog Beasely to an anal probe. Actually, we continued on and spent the night in Reno. But the thought did cross my mind (although my sweet bride actually brought it up first) that perhaps there was something to the stories of FEMA detention centers. I know the folks who evacuated New Orleans after Katrina probably needed, deserved to be surrounded by concertina wire when they were rescued from a fate wetter than death, but I still got shivers thinking of being "behind the wire", as our Northern Irish friends might say. Then I came across: Text of H.R. 645: National Emergency Centers Establishment Act (http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-645) This bill sounds like it wants to set up a bunch of FEMA centers. Not for detention, oh, no. Just to help out folks having a bit of difficulty due to natural disasters, or maybe civil unrest.

Besides, the FDA is definitely going to need a place to incarcerate all of us with private gardens on our private property who violate: FDA Food Safety Modernization Act S.510

Where you won't even be able to give away the fruit of your labor, let alone sell it on the roadside or at your local food co-op. Like I used to do with my fertile, free-range brown eggs from my 37 Rhode Island Red chickens. Monsanto has already driven many farmers out of business over the genetically modified seed they sell that it is against the law to save, after you have grown it. They have restricted competition and commerce in the agricultural industry. Along with Tyson and a number of other giant food corporations, the FDA wants to be able to control our food supply. This bill is so loosely written that it does indeed allow the FDA to control what you do with the produce from your own garden. There have already been quite a few SWAT-style raids on small raw milk producers and other small farmers (Google "raw milk raids", if you don't believe me), although you don't hear about the same happening to the large corporations when their chicken has salmonella or their hamburger has E-coli. Oh, they get caught, and some of the tainted food is disposed of (most going into your pet's food), but they aren't raided and arrested like you or I would be. And have been.

It's about control. They already control whether or not you can use public transportation to get anywhere. Sure, you can get irradiated and sexually groped and still get on an airplane (if your name - or one just like it - hasn't been mistakenly placed on the No-Fly list.) When the government controls the food, your ability to see a doctor or use a hospital, if they control your energy and how much water you use (to flush, for now, but to drink, later or use to water that garden they don't want you to have), you might as well give up. Or fight back. At that point, all of us bible-toting, red-necked, Ron Paul-supporting gun lovers might start to look a little more reasonable to you. You might even want to get to know a few of us. You might even want to borrow a gun.

Folks, I'm trying to make a point here. There are laws written by Congress, and regulations from the Alphabet agencies, and executive orders from our Presidents that control our lives and rob us of our liberty that seem too outrageous to believe, but you had best believe it. A little research and a few minutes spent connecting the dots, and you may begin to see a picture. A picture you might not want to see, but one you had better see before it is too late. If it isn't already.

[Postscript: The Southern Nevada Detention Center is supposedly simply undergoing "renovations" now, and can only hold about 1100 inmates. So, Caesar's Palace in Vegas could probably fill it all by itself. But 1100 bible-toting, gun-loving, Ron Paul supporters wouldn't be hard to come by. And there looked to be room for an awful lot of tents, if it came to that. Room for all you raw-mlk Yuppies, too ;-) Check out the photo of this facility up above. ]

PC and the race card

Socialists are not very bright, or they wouldn't continue to try to force the rest of us to live by a social and economic scheme that as failed everywhere it has ever been tried. Never doubt for a moment, however, that they aren't clever. Deception, half-truths, and lies are their weapons, but the premier tools of success for them are "political correctness" and the use of the "race card".

When ideas, concepts are being discussed between individuals or groups, it is sometimes possible to come to an agreement about what is true, or what is useful, about what is right or moral. Differences in how we see the world, in what we believe is right and proper, will often make it very difficult to come to an understanding of not only how the other person came to the conclusions they have reached, but also of what is actually acceptable in a moral sense. But understanding can take place, and once in a while they can even reach an agreement. However, debate must be open and fair, must not be turned into an attack upon the debater.

When socialists, who are calling themselves "progressives" these days, want to get you to accept their conclusions, their beliefs, as being right and proper, they simply forbid discussion. They do this by determining ahead of time what can be discussed and what cannot. By establishing their own rules of what is acceptable to speak about or believe. So they have foisted the concept of "political correctness" upon us, and have manipulated the debate to the point where many people have bought into their game.

It isn't politically correct to discuss Islam as a violent ideology, or muslims as the premier purveyors of terrorism across the globe, even though a dispassionate look at the facts will prove to the most ill-informed that both notions are true. It isn't politically correct for your child to wear an American flag on the frame of the bicycle he rides to school, or upon his jacket, or a notebook, but it is acceptable for the child of illegal aliens to run a Mexican flag up the flagpole at the same school. It isn't acceptable for a bank - on private property - to display a Christian manger scene, but it is acceptable to build a mosque mere feet from the scene of the greatest muslim terrorist act, its greatest triumph against Western civilization since Islam last conquered Europe.

If you attempt to argue with them, you are labeled an Islamaphobe, a "nativist", or - the nuclear option - a racist. Now, no one likes to be called a racist. When the race card is used in this fashion, it is very much like the question, "Are you still beating your wife?" There is no way to answer it without seeming on the defensive, without the impression that somehow there is substance to the accusation. Now the debate has shifted from discussing the real issues to wasting time defending yourself against an empty accusation. The Progressives love this. Now they no longer have to try to justify the unjustifiable.

I know that I am "singing to the choir" for some of you who might read this. However, I'm hoping to shed a little light on the process for those of you who haven't really given this notion much thought. PC has been so damaging to the conservative's ability to engage in meaningful debate with both independents and progressives, in the presentation of his or her beliefs, that for all intents and purposes such debate has ended. The progressives treat all debate that runs counter to their socialist agenda as an ad hominem attack, upon themselves or upon the minority groups they pretend to be concerned about (some are ignorant enough to actually think what they are doing will benefit those minorities, when more often it is damaging to them, but many of the more elite progressives who are consciously promoting socialism - like George Soros - know it is damaging and don't care. Think about how the welfare system separates minority children from their fathers.)

An otherwise bright young man I spoke with the other day listened while I explained my experience in law enforcement and the use of profiling to catch bad guys. That it made no sense to detain and pat down a 72-year old woman when the suspect who robbed the Stop&Shop was a 6'5" 350 lb male with facial tattoos and a leather motorcycle jacket. Knowing that all, or almost all, aviation terrorism has been committed (so far) by muslim males, what earthly sense does it make to pat down grandma, an elderly Roman Catholic nun, or your three-year old daughter? When I told him that profiling was simply turned into a dirty word by progressives, and that we needed to target muslims, particularly males (although that is obviously going to change, now that the terrorists know TSA won't grope under a burka), he said to me, "But isn't that racist?"

The media, his young friends (there are no species on Earth more gullible on social issues than the college student, reinforced by the garbage spouted by their socialist professors), and perhaps even his parents have taught him that any attempt to single out a particular group for any purpose whatsoever is "racist" (unless you are a Pigford recipient of tax payer largess. Google "Pigford".) Again, progressives want to shut down debate without the nasty mess of having to deal with facts, so they play the race card, when logic and reason scream that profiling, using rational criteria to identify your subject, is what works. Ask any cop (real cops, not your political police chief with his nose up the Federal butt, looking for those Federal dollars.)

Until conservatives force the issue, until they call BS on every attempt to shut down debate with the PC or race card, and make progressive answer to facts, not feelings, there will be no debate. We must refuse to even respond to their attempts to make any disagreement into an ad hominem attack, and force them to respond to the facts. So long as we play their game, we will lose, and so will America. Saul Alinsky, the President's philosophical god-father, wrote the rules that the progressives play by, and it is high time we stopped playing by his rules.

Islam: not much fun for women, either

It's Christmas Day, and I'm staring at the snow-covered mountains to the west of Hamilton, MT as I type this. Merry Christmas (and to hell with any liberals/progressives who don't like it) to all, and hopes for a happier New Year to come.

Probably the greatest threat to Western civilization at this time is Islam, as practiced by the majority of muslims the world round. This "religion of peace" has ushered in the day celebrated as the birth of Christ by killing more people in Pakistan, as a burka-clad terrorist killed forty people (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101225/wl_nm/us_pakistan_violence),

and in Nigeria, where those oh, so tolerant muslims killed at least 38 Christians minding their own business (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101225/wl_nm/us_nigeria_violence).

I realize there are a lot of otherwise intelligent and loving people who would like to believe that most muslims are against the violence perpetrated by those "few extremists", but the facts prove otherwise. The non-violent, anti-jihad muslims do NOT follow the true Islam. The Quran and Hadith demand that muslims destroy non-believers - including the muslims who do not accept the "necessity" of both violent and demographic (by birth rate) jihad as practiced in Europe and elsewhere.

These are the folks who want to share their religion of peace with us via a mosque they will build next to the World Trade Center site, on land where part of the landing gear of one of the two aircraft fell. Built with funds provided in part (or wholly?) by muslim groups who are actually listed by our government as terrorist organizations. But our Terrorist-Sympathizer-in-Chief doesn't believe in terrorism - just "man-made destructive events", or whatever the hell euphemism he uses to describe the activities of those muslim groups he so admires. From what I can determine in the news and facts that can be sifted from the tripe published by the mainstream media and what can be found on the Internet, it would appear that the majority of mosques across both Europe _and_ the U.S. teach jihad to their members, support and insist upon the kind of violence and attempt to subjugate that the media calls "radical" or "extremist", but is actually the norm.

It is a shame that most people don't realize that Islam is a made-up religion with about as much validity as Scientology/Dianetics. That it is based on the edicts of a known child molester who admonished his followers to kill anyone not adhering to Islam - including versions of Islam not completely identical to his version. That Islam claims holy sites in Israel, in Jerusalem, that had no more connection to Islam before Mohammed's verbal claims than a crater on the moon. That it treats women as sub-human, entirely owned by its males, permitting their death by stoning for the mere error of bring "shame" upon the family's honor - such shame being anything the male family members decide to define it as. That around the world (mostly in third world countries, but elsewhere as well) many female muslim infants die from trauma and infection secondary to clitoral mutilation. [SEE PHOTO ABOVE] Mutilation demanded by Islam so that these females don't suffer the sin of experiencing pleasure from sex. That is only permitted to muslim males. Time Magazine is usually a worthless piece of tripe, but recently they did publish an issue featuring a muslim woman whose nose and ears were cut off by male relatives, and here is another mutilation, reported in the girl's own words:

http://www.wluml.org/node/4624.

According to a 1999 report from the World Health Organization, 97 percent of Egyptian women and girls have undergone the barbaric practice of genital mutilation. A 2005 report by the Cairo-based Association for Legal Rights of Women submitted to the UN explained that Egyptian women are constitutionally deprived of their basic rights including their rights to control their bodies and property. Males who murder their female relatives are often unpunished. When they are tried and convicted for premeditated murder, their sentences average from 2 to 4 years in prison.

There are a lot of sources for real information about Islam, not the lies, distortions and pap fostered by the Mainstream Media and other apologists for this "religion of peace". One of the best, by a very knowledgeable and fair scholar of Islam is "Jihad Watch", by Robert Spencer. He has a section on his web site named Islam 101, that gives solid information on why Islam is not a peaceful religion. It is the process of abrogation, demanded by Mohammed himself. Abrogation means that any "message" he received from Allah replaces any earlier one dealing with the same topic. So, the messages of peaceful co-existence with other religions that Mohammed "received" from Allah earlier in his life were replaced by those demanding the death of non-believers that he "received" later in his life. As Spencer says at one point,

The Quran's commandments to Muslims to wage war in the name of Allah against non-Muslims are unmistakable. They are, furthermore, absolutely authoritative as they were revealed late in the Prophet's career and so cancel and replace earlier instructions to act peaceably. Without knowledge of the principle of abrogation, Westerners will continue to misread the Quran and misdiagnose Islam as a "religion of peace."

The Gates of Vienna blog (http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/ ) is another good one. There are many others. Here is an article that gives a quick precis of Islam in the course of mentioning how the "Palestinians" foster myths to incite their people:

"Shocking Revelations About Jesus Christ

December 25, 2010: Just in time for Christmas,

Palestinian Authority TV comes out with shows extolling

the fact (at least among Palestinians) that Jesus was a

Palestinian and the first Palestinian martyr. Christians

believe that the Romans executed Jesus to placate a

faction of the Jewish clergy who opposed the message

Jesus was putting out. Jesus was known as a popular

rabbi, and was accused by the Romans of claiming to be

"king of the Jews." Some Jews (who later became

Christians) accepted Jesus as the long awaited messiah.

But most Jews, and all Moslems, do not. Moslems

believe Jesus was a prophet sent by God to the Semitic

Jewish tribes of what is now Palestine. This is an

important point, as Palestinian propaganda considers

Jews who don't look Semitic (Arab) to be polluted by

alien blood and thus not welcome. The Semitic Jews of

Israel (the descendents of those expelled from Arab

countries in the late 1940s) are also considered

unwelcome, largely because they consorted with the

invading Western Jews. These Jews look just like Arabs,

and often join the intelligence services, since they make

excellent undercover agents.

Palestinian propaganda, meant mainly for internal

consumption, depicts all of Israel as "occupied Palestine"

and holds that Jews (who have lived in the area

continuously for over 3,000 years) have no right to be

there. Arab Christians in the neighborhood, some of

them descendants of those who were followers of Jesus,

keep their heads down amidst all this, as the Palestinian

propaganda also declares that Jesus was preaching

Islam, over five centuries before Mohammed arrived on

the scene. Religion can get you killed in this part of the

world, but that doesn't seem to discourage radical

interpretations of historical events.

Religious intolerance, as well as religious diversity, are

both characteristic of the region. Islam arrived five

centuries after Christianity and, like earlier new

religions, attracted adherents. What was different about

Islam was that it was aggressively seeking to persuade

all conquered people to become Moslems. This did not

work, as there were always stubborn minorities. In the

area that is now Israel and the Palestinian territories,

there are several religions that survived, in one way or another, the Islamic conversion

effort. The two most obvious groups were Christians (several different sects) and Jews

(ditto). But there were others, most of whom pretended to become Moslems, but do so on their own terms. Thus we have the Druze, several flavors of Shia, and others. These

Moslem sects are considered heretics by many mainstream Sunni Moslems (especially

hard core groups like the Wahhabi and al Qaeda).

For Palestinian propaganda purposes, it's possible to find enough hooks in the complex

religious and ethnic history of the region to get many Moslems to believe that Jesus was

not a Jew, but rather the first Palestinian martyr. The Arabs tend to keep stuff like this

to themselves, thus you will only find these messages in the Arab language media. But it

is always there, especially during the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus."

Islam fosters hate and resentment amongst the muslims, most often by outright lies and distortions. Myths such as this one are promulgated to keep their more ignorant followers believing they have the one true path to righteousness. Remember that our President loves Islam, and thinks the muslim call to prayer “one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.”

Identity Theft

No, we're not talking about someone stealing your credit or pretending to be you. We are talking about the fact that Americans used to have pride, and a pretty good idea of what it meant to be American. The progressives/socialists/collectivists who would like to see us become a clone of Europe have been working ceaselessly to destroy that identity, to attempt to make us all ashamed of being American. Indeed, we are now being lead by a President who feels he must apologize to the world for America, married to a woman who has said in her 1985 senior thesis at Princeton that "America was a nation founded on crime and hatred." ("Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community", Michelle LaVaughn Robinson - now Michelle Obama.) We are being led by a President who has so little respect or love for America that he refuses to place his hand over his heart when everyone else is pledging allegiance to our flag. Amongst those of us who still possess a patriotic love for our country, this has become known as the "Obama Crotch Salute".

Obama is not the origin, not the source, of this loss of patriotism and pride in being American. He is, however, the first President elected that openly displays his disdain for the country that elevated him to the position he now holds. While I was never a real fan of either Bush, our current President's obvious distaste for what America has traditionally stood for is more than embarrassing, it is incredibly hypocritical.

There is a real and significant difference between disapproving of some of the things our government has done in the past, and may still be doing, and disavowing your love and allegiance for the country of your birth. If Obama was indeed born in Hawaii, as his Certificate of Live Birth is said to prove, then becoming President of the country he disdains was the height of hypocrisy.

America is not the government. America is not diversity. America is the union of many disparate, diverse individuals and groups of people who strive together to improve their lot in life, as well as their children's, their neighbor's, and even that of those on foreign shores. I don't believe anyone ever emigrated to America because they felt a burning desire to come and "fix" what they thought was wrong about America. They came because America was so much better than the place they left. Because it held the opportunity for them to improve their life, to provide for their children, to be free of the repression or persecution from which they were fleeing.

It used to be that foreigners were proud to become Americans, and the process of becoming a citizen built upon that pride. While the Irish, Italians, French Canadians, Germans, Asians and others often chose to live in communities of their own nationality, ethnicity, this was for comfort and support. Unfortunately, preceding immigrants were often unwilling to accept the newcomers, and made life difficult for them, blocked them out from their own neighborhoods and society. Nonetheless, those that came wanted to be Americans. When America went to war, these same immigrants were often the first to volunteer to fight, for the country they had come to love.

Government, along with the ruling elite, wishes to control, to manipulate, and will often interfere in the function of other countries, their government, economy, society. It will prosecute wars that may have the stated intention of helping the people of a particular country, when the real motivation is control. But the citizens of America have always chosen to go to war to try to help. To help Britain, Europe and Russia against Germany, China against Japan. Right or wrong, our soldiers have fought in foreign lands not to force our way of life upon other cultures, but because of a perceived need to help those less fortunate. And to protect our citizens from those who would harm them. And for those who like to claim that America is an imperialist nation, I call BS. Tell me what part of Europe we annexed, what part of Japan we own own and control? Where is all the land that we kept after liberating Europe, after defeating Japan? Explain to me why we forgave the billions of dollars of loans to Russia, Britain, and France, the billions we spent helping to rebuild Germany and Japan.

Here is a story, told by a man who commanded our forces in Iraq. It illustrates what America is all about, and how true Americans (two of them, at least) live and die. When you have finished this story, pause for a moment to picture a President who honors these men by placing his hands over his crotch, instead of over his heart.

On Nov 13, 2010, Lt General John Kelly, USMC gave a speech to the Semper

Fi Society of St. Louis , MO. This was 4 days after his son, Lt Robert Kelly,

USMC was killed by an IED while on his 3rd Combat tour. During his

speech, General Kelly spoke about the dedication and valor of our young men and

women who step forward each and every day to protect us.

During the speech, he never mentioned the loss of his own son. He closed
the speech with the moving account of the last 6 seconds in the lives of 2
young Marines who died with rifles blazing to protect their brother
Marines.

"I will leave you with a story about the kind of people they are about the
quality of the steel in their backs about the kind of dedication they
bring to our country while they serve in uniform and forever after as veterans.
Two years ago when I was the Commander of all U.S. and Iraqi forces, in
fact, the 22nd of April 2008, two Marine infantry battalions, 1/9 "The
Walking Dead," and 2/8 were switching out in Ramadi. One battalion in the
closing days of their deployment going home very soon, the other just
starting its seven-month combat tour. Two Marines, Corporal Jonathan Yale
and Lance Corporal Jordan Haerter, 22 and 20 years old respectively, one
from each battalion, were assuming the watch together at the entrance gate
of an outpost that contained a makeshift barracks housing 50 Marines. The
same broken down ramshackle building was also home to 100 Iraqi police,
also my men and our allies in the fight against the terrorists in Ramadi, a
city until recently the most dangerous city on earth and owned by Al Qaeda.
Yale was a dirt poor mixed-race kid from Virginia with a wife and daughter, and
a mother and sister who lived with him and he supported as well. He did
this on a yearly salary of less than $23,000. Haerter, on the other hand, was
a middle class white kid from Long Island . They were from two completely
different worlds. Had they not joined the Marines they would never have
met each other, or understood that multiple America 's exist simultaneously
depending on one's race, education level, economic status, and where you
might have been born. But they were Marines, combat Marines, forged in
the same crucible of Marine training, and because of this bond they were
brothers as close, or closer, than if they were born of the same woman.

The mission orders they received from the sergeant squad leader I am sure
went something like: "Okay you two clowns, stand this post and let no
unauthorized personnel or vehicles pass." "You clear?" I am also sure
Yale and Haerter then rolled their eyes and said in unison something like: "Yes
Sergeant," with just enough attitude that made the point without saying
the words, "No kidding sweetheart, we know what we're doing." They then
relieved two other Marines on watch and took up their post at the entry
control point of Joint Security Station Nasser, in the Sophia section of
Ramadi, Al Anbar, Iraq .

A few minutes later a large blue truck turned down the alley way-perhaps
60-70 yards in length-and sped its way through the serpentine of concrete
jersey walls. The truck stopped just short of where the two were posted
and detonated, killing them both catastrophically. Twenty-four brick masonry
houses were damaged or destroyed. A mosque 100 yards away collapsed. The
truck's engine came to rest two hundred yards away knocking most of a
house down before it stopped. Our explosive experts reckoned the blast was made
of 2,000 pounds of explosives. Two died, and because these two young
infantrymen didn't have it in their DNA to run from danger, they saved 150
of their Iraqi and American brothers-in-arms.

When I read the situation report about the incident a few hours after it
happened I called the regimental commander for details as something about
this struck me as different. Marines dying or being seriously wounded is
commonplace in combat. We expect Marines regardless of rank or MOS to
stand their ground and do their duty, and even die in the process, if that is
what the mission takes. But this just seemed different. The regimental
commander had just returned from the site and he agreed, but reported that
there were no American witnesses to the event-just Iraqi police. I
figured if there was any chance of finding out what actually happened and then to
decorate the two Marines to acknowledge their bravery, I'd have to do it
as a combat award that requires two eye-witnesses and we figured the
bureaucrats back in Washington would never buy Iraqi statements. If it
had any chance at all, it had to come under the signature of a general
officer.

I traveled to Ramadi the next day and spoke individually to a half-dozen
Iraqi police all of whom told the same story. The blue truck turned down
into the alley and immediately sped up as it made its way through the
serpentine. They all said, "We knew immediately what was going on as soon
as the two Marines began firing." The Iraqi police then related that some
of them also fired, and then to a man, ran for safety just prior to the
explosion. All survived. Many were injuredsome seriously. One of the
Iraqis elaborated andd with tears welling up said, "They'd run like any
normal man would to save his life." "What he didn't know until then," he
said, "and what he learned that very instant, was that Marines are not
normal." Choking past the emotion he said, "Sir, in the name of God no
sane man would have stood there and done what they did." "No sane man." "They
saved us all."

What we didn't know at the time, and only learned a couple of days later
after I wrote a summary and submitted both Yale and Haerter for posthumous
Navy Crosses, was that one of our security cameras, damaged initially in
the blast, recorded some of the suicide attack. It happened exactly as the
Iraqis had described it. It took exactly six seconds from when the truck
entered the alley until it detonated.

You can watch the last six seconds of their young lives. Putting myself
in their heads I supposed it took about a second for the two Marines to
separately come to the same conclusion about what was going on once the
truck came into their view at the far end of the alley. Exactly no time
to talk it over, or call the sergeant to ask what they should do. Only
enough time to take half an instant and think about what the sergeant told them
to do only a few minutes before: "let noo unauthorized personnel or vehicles
pass." The two Marines had about five seconds left to live.

It took maybe another two seconds for them to present their weapons, take
aim, and open up. By this time the truck was half-way through the
barriers and gaining speed the whole time. Here, the recording shows a number of
Iraqi police, some of whom had fired their AKs, now scattering like the
normal and rational men they were-some running right past the Marines.
They had three seconds left to live.

For about two seconds more, the recording shows the Marines' weapons
firing non-stopthe truck's windshield exploding intoo shards of glass as their
rounds take it apart and tore in to the body of the son-of-a-bitch who is
trying to get past them to kill their brothers-American and Iraqi-bedded
down in the barracks totally unaware of the fact that their lives at that
moment depended entirely on two Marines standing their ground. If they
had been aware, they would have known they were safe because two Marines stood
between them and a crazed suicide bomber. The recording shows the truck
careening to a stop immediately in front of the two Marines. In all of
the instantaneous violence Yale and Haerter never hesitated. By all reports
and by the recording, they never stepped back. They never even started to
step aside. They never even shifted their weight. With their feet spread
shoulder width apart, they leaned into the danger, firing as fast as they
could work their weapons. They had only one second left to live.

The truck explodes. The camera goes blank. Two young men go to their
God. Six seconds. Not enough time to think about their families, their
country, their flag, or about their lives or their deaths, but more than enough
time for two very brave young men to do their duty.into eternity. That is the
kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight-for you.

We Marines believe that God gave America the greatest gift he could bestow
to man while he lived on this earth-freedom. We also believe he gave us
another gift nearly as precious-our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Coast
Guardsmen, and Marines-to safeguard that gift and guarantee no force on
this earth can every steal it away. It has been my distinct honor to have been
with you here today. Rest assured our America , this experiment in
democracy started over two centuries ago, will forever remain the "land of the free
and home of the brave" so long as we never run out of tough young
Americans who are willing to look beyond their own self-interest and comfortable
lives, and go into the darkest and most dangerous places on earth to hunt
down, and kill, those who would do us harm.

God Bless America , and SEMPER FIDELIS!"