Friday, July 31, 2009

Illusions of Our Fathers

Illusions of Our Fathers

by John Galt

July 31, 2009

If you refuse to think outside the box, you may soon find yourself buried in one.

-John Galt, July 31, 2009

In the year 2006, an excellent movie titled “Flags of my Fathers” was released and really hit home with the remainder of the World War II generation and many families who’s parents were raised during this time period. In that movie some myths about the great success of the war effort were dispelled and the reality of just how tenous our position in the war was displayed for all to see. Sadly, now it is time to destroy another series of misnomers, the myths and illusions of our parents and the baby boomer generation which have given us the greatest period of economic growth and freedom mankind has ever seen but sadly, also has created the foundation for the next tyranny of man.

The false prophets that the Western world was warned about by a lone son many centuries ago are now in charge of almost everything. They continue to promote ideals and realities that are not true yet the majority would rather live this lie than accept the changes which sweep through civilizations every few hundred years or so throughout history. The era known as “Pax Americana” is coming to a close and our society has elected to bankrupt itself, morally, politically and economically. The acquisition of things has surpassed the creation of freedom and independence of the mind. People are more willing to divorce themselves from their wives to maintain ownership of that BMW sports utility vehicle than to realign their moral compass and preserve the family unit, the building block of our nation. The lip service paid to this issue by our leaders, on the pulpit or in the halls of political power, illustrates the fallacy of the system they wish to replace with the new enlightened era of their ideal system. Yet more people would rather blindly accept this new paradigm than fight for maintaining the integrity of their commitments, a sad statement as to the dilution of morality in our nation.

The people who have awakened and realized that you can accept that our Constitution is dead may indeed survive the coming season of change. If you have accepted the new paradigm and prepared for the worst that the character of man can create, you should be able to evade the scythe wielded by the angel of death. Glenn Beck referred vaguely to this new paradigm yesterday on his radio program but could or would not elaborate as to the impact on his life and the threats against his family. Welcome to the new order Glenn, same as the old one, but now so drunk with power no opposition has a prayer against their new kingdom at this time. I realize that there are groups who will scream “but the tea parties helped” or “write to your politicians” will be the action to conform within the system and stop this historical evolutionary process. Alas it is no better than putting a small box fan on your front porch to try to deflect the powerful winds of a F5 tornado. Accept this principle and preserve yourself and you may live to see another day.

On September 18, 2008, America’s Bohemian corporal cried wolf and openly declared the new political reality of this nation for all to see. Yet as the ashes from America’s Reichstag cooled and fell to earth, few understood that the fiat rule by crisis was no more than a shift of power from the people to the selected, not elected few. A new system which operated in the shadows where a combination of corporatism and statism emerged for all to see yet the Nancy Pelosi circus on display was nothing more than an obedient serf nodding her head like a bobble head in the back window of a 74 Impala on a pot holed road in New Orleans. The largest corporate and financial cartel in history merged is power base within the system of government it had agreed to maintain, only to assure the survival of the fractional reserve banking design which guarantees the three hundred a profit on the backs of its citizens no matter their lot in life.

The stunning efficiency of this coup can only be illustrated by what Mr. Beck said on his radio program yesterday which indicates he is still slightly behind the curve of the new elite. The error is that he believes the new administration is still building something monstrous; sadly the infrastructure was laid in place by the two predecessors to President Obama right in front of our eyes, yet we the people elected to focus more on the gossip of the day and abandon the duties of God and country. History has a cruel way of exposing these failures of man, and the illusions of our fathers, who thought our system was perfect and infallible and are about to be shattered along with the American way of life.

The indoctrination and training for this new system began while I attended college in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s yet I failed to see this evolutionary program until recently and probably contributed to its expansion as an unwilling dupe during those formative years of my life. The training began within the education system and expanded to low level government employees, the military, and participants of and overseers of selected religious institutions. The primary concept being promoted in the background was that of the destruction of nationalism, in favor of a system of expanded enlightenment or international supremacy where the idea was sold and spread that Americans could not survive without the rest of the world and vice-versa. Try preaching that to a beggar on the streets of Kolkata, India who’s limited aspirations are to eat two meals today instead of one. That soul could care less but his begging is the system forced on to our nation by those who wish to profit on misery instead of allowing true profit, that of freedom and capitalism, to rule the day. Our leaders wish only to have a nation of beggars that could be managed rather than gamble on the wisdom and desires of the free man.

The months ahead will be full of trials and tribulations. You have heard and maybe even seen the hints of what is to come. Be it the Tolerance Camp in Bradenton, diversity and bias training for Law Enforcement Officers, or training trash collectors to become amateur deputy sheriffs to spy on you , the running theme you will hear from all of those true news stories and the word from the top of our society downwards is that it is “good for society” which means the collective enforcement of new ideal is superior to the liberties given to us by God and codified within our Constitution. The 4th, 5th and 10th Amendments are somewhat irrelevant now and the willingness to usurp those individual freedoms was nothing more than the gateway to destroying the remainder. In the months to come you and I will witness what an Empire in free fall looks like and how dismantling our freedoms to insure the survival of the new Eurosocialist state will reign supreme over the individual. The “world” will be declared more important than yourself and those resources needed for this society will be rationed to each according to his ability to each according to his need.

The assignment of profit is the new motive, not the attainment of profit using capitalist methods. The winners will be selected by political not economic ability, granted from above rather than earned from below using hard work, innovation, and creation. This parallel system of reward will be applied also to the arena of morality where churches will reward souls for the ideals and works that promote the new society rather than a loyalty, love or devotion to the deity of their choice. The singular Judeo-Christian God will be abandoned as too divisive and biased against the “will of man” and “freedoms of society” thus impugning the very system of religion which inspired man to found our nation. This system of reward rather than hard work will enslave a generation and the idea mailing a tea bag or two to stop it is both laughable if not pathetic. The course of action is clear, but few will walk this path of individualism.

Prepare and pray my friends. The great awakening many perceive is nothing more than a political reaction soon to be dashed by another down turn in our economic and political system. This great reversal will seem to many as a sudden shock but it will be designed for one purpose only and it will succeed. The Agenda, a program designed to complete the transformation of our system from a democratic Republic to a corporatist-Marxist internationalist state must be completed to prevent a disorganized anarchistic dissolution of the union. The coming series of events will appear to be random but in reality it will be used to exploit the one weakness of mankind:

Desperation.

Remember, if all you have is hope, then you are already dead. Have a plan. Be prepared. Do not yield to the temptations about to be presented to you and your family. Once you surrender, the opportunities to turn back will be limited if available at all. The decisions you and your family make in the months ahead will have consequences that impact your family and our society for decades to come. Pray on each and every one of them.

_____________________


Pickdog comment: This about made me cry. Sadly, this guy nails it. Our system and Country has been co-opted and will be destroyed. May the Great Creator guide us. We are going to need it!There is soon to come a lot of pain and suffering.

Pickdog
III

Take not counsel of your fears.

Take not counsel of your fears.

"Just because black helicopters exist doesn't mean they are out to get you." -- Mike Vanderboegh, 1995.

(NOTE: I wrote this early last evening after some long talks over the past few days with current-serving military personnel -- my son wasn't one of them, although I believe he would wholeheartedly concur. I waited until morning to re-read it in the cold light of day and having done so, I have changed very little. I will admit I was asked to write this piece, but as it happens I believe every word. If I have been a bit non-specific about exactly who I am talking about, it is for the same reason that the Baptist preacher while denouncing sin does not point out individual sinners in the congregation. If you are convicted in your heart, fine. Go forth and sin no more. If you're not guilty, what are you worried about? Don't you have some reloading to do?-- MBV)

Take not counsel of your fears.


"In planning any operation, it is vital to remember and constantly repeat to oneself two things: 'In war, nothing is impossible provided you use audacity,' and 'Do not take counsel of your fears.'" -- General George S. Patton Jr., Letter of Instruction, March 6, 1944.


Folks,

Soldiers are in most ways no different than the population they spring from. They are men and women, the same as the rest of us. They pull their pants (or their panties) on one leg at a time just as we all do. There are craven soldiers who would steal from their buddies. There are cowards, misfits, drug addicts and go-along-get-alongs who haven't even heard of the U.S. Constitution. Statistics say there are fewer of those in the military than in the general population, but they certainly exist.

I do not worship soldiers as a class, because it is, to paraphrase Martin Luther King, the content of their individual characters and not the color of their uniforms that define them as men or women, and I judge people individually not collectively.. And so it is with the armed citizenry and those who support us -- the 3% and the 10% that define the fighting and working portion of what many call "Patriots." (The enemies of the Constitution call themselves "patriots" but that's for another day and another essay.) We too run the gamut of human behavior, experience and potential and we resent it when the enemies of the Founders' Republic lump us into one mass for political purposes. Why, then, some of us are judging our own military men and women collectively is beyond me.

I am distrurbed (as are many soldiers who are paying attention) by the fact that some on our side are assuming in advance their collective defection in the cause we all hold dear. So hold onto your pews, parishioners, here comes the fire and brimstone.

I'm going to say some harsh things right now, but they need to be said. It is time for some of you to do a gut check, a common sense review, or take a Dale Carnegie course on how to win friends and influence people and some of you need all three.

I am sick and tired of all this "woe is us!" pity party crap about Homeland Security training exercises and military involvement in same, and I am especially sick and tired of folks blaming ordinary soldiers for it and assuming that one day soon, they are going to violate their oaths to the Constitution. "They," with a capital T, some say, are going to order "them," small t -- meaning men and women in uniform, to do whatever it is we fear that day -- pick up our guns, force vaccinations upon us, as if they are mindless automatons who input data and slavishly obey all commands.

What most of us who DON'T listen to short wave figured out a long time ago is that if we act like these honorable military men and women who DO value their oaths are going to be our enemies BEFORE they act like it, well, then, they will be.

Haven't any of you read the Homeland Secuity report on "Right Wing Extremists"? If we act like paranoid conspiracy nutters, we make our enemies' problem much easier. We in fact play right into their narrative, which is to say, right into their hands. There are two strategic uncertainties the collectivists in power face, and they are critical to their operational planning:

First, what will we, the armed citizenry, do if they ever push us too far?

Second, when that happens through intention or idiocy, will the military carry out their orders to suppress us?

The fact is that most of the teeth of the armed forces, the combat arms' tigers, ARE US. They are OUR sons who take the ground, and yes, even our daughters who fly the choppers over it. So, when we take counsel of our fears, we are saying that we don't trust OURSELVES to obey the oaths WE took. To the extent that we doubt our own, they have cause to doubt us AND to believe the lying administration that seeks to divide us and use them against us.

We also, by the way, cause our enemies to sneer at us and despise our ability to reason and sort through real facts from fevered rumors, which of course encourages them to be more aggressive. Talk about self-fulfilling prophecy.

Like it or not (and I assure you I don't), the Congress has encroached on Posse Comitatus for decades, using first the drug war then the WMD threat. Most of us have protested this in various ways and yet both political parties have shoved it down our throats. Most of us have also prepared in mind, body and logistics for what happens if, as and when this trend becomes tyranny. But if you want to blame somebody for allowing this to happen, look in the mirror, don't blame a soldier.

And yet, these ARE real threats. The Islamo-fascists may one day get the bomb, or a virus, or a delivery method for VX in this country. Only the military has the ability to respond to that. What began with NEST teams and is now expanding to encompass flu pandemics are, or at least can be, legitimate military CIVIL operations in support of over-stressed, yet legitimate state and local governments.

I hesitate to offer you a novel to support my line of reasoning instead of hard factual footnotes, but if you want to read what the best of our military would do in a time of disaster -- man-made or otherwise -- I suggest that you read The Last Centurion by John Ringo. As foul-mouthed as it is, it captures the ethos of the American fighting man in a time of great danger to his country and the world. The military is non-political. It is SUPPOSED to be non-political. The Founders, ever suspicious of a standing army, insisted upon it. Would you want it any other way? Why then are you blaming them for the drift of our politics into tyranny? That's not their fault, it is ours.

The military has always been used and abused by craven politicians. With the exception of certain of the corporation generals of the West Point Protective Association, they have always resented it it and resisted it. But NEVER have they faced Stauffenberg's Choice before. (See Sipsey Street, 21 July, http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2009/07/stauffenbergs-choice-es-lebe-unser.html)

They may have to one day soon.

So don't make it hard for them. Don't make the Constitution's enemies' job any easier, either.

There's going to be an exercise in your area? Great. Study it. Learn from it. Where it seems aligned with genuine concerns to protect the country's people and is consistent with the Constitution, support it. If it strays into what Oath Keepers calls the Ten Orders We Refuse to Obey, then trust the soldiers, sailors and airmen to keep their oaths when push comes to shove.

And if you're concerned that more needs to be done to make that happen, then join and promote Oath Keepers. Don't just wring your hands at the latest breathless email from people who wouldn't know disinformation if it bit them in the ass, and worse, who make money by passing along each and every discrediting rumor.

If worse comes to worst, after a certain point, everyone will have to choose a side. But if you assume that our military are going to be our enemies before they are, you will make it harder for them to choose the right side. You may in fact make them your enemies without wishing to do so. And you will have only your own inability to control your fear to blame.

The men and women who serve in our military, especially the combat arms folks, are well aware of the excremental end of the stick that they are often handed. But do you know what they DON'T do? They don't take counsel of their fears, they don't pass around hyperventilated disinformation, they don't invent boogeymen, they don't blame their buddies and they don't feel sorry for themselves. They await events, react only to realities, then they get off their dead-tired asses, drink water and drive on.

Most importantly, they don't jump at shadows and they don't call their family members names.

Now if everything I've said just chaps your ass, then I suggest you fill out this Department of the Army form and file it where it seems most appropriate:

http://www.blackfive.net/files/hurt-feelings-report-da_form_imt_wf1.pdf

Keep your powder dry, your fears in check and your rifle clean. And don't piss off your natural allies. Don't borrow trouble. It will seek you out soon enough.

Thus endeth the sermon.

Mike Vanderboegh
III

The Death of Liberty: The Final Scene Unfolds

The Death of Liberty: The Final Scene Unfolds
By Greg Evensen

When police investigators begin amassing evidence at a crime scene, the bits and pieces of the puzzle begin to take shape. Usually, with several trained men and women working together to come up with an answer, the intent and actions of the perpetrator are almost always revealed.

Since my core training and experience over many years was as a state level enforcement officer, I have worked crime scenes that were large, complex and conflicting. With enough time, effort and resolve, we too, were able to bring the bad guys to account.

You certainly do not have to be a trained state trooper—or any other level police agent—to use common sense, logic and knowledge, to assess the crime scene that has become the socialist states of amerika.

I continue to be at a loss to explain how it is that so many tens of millions of amerikans simply do not see the utter destruction of their former republic by socialists, one worlders, deviates, liars and thieves. The men in black have been roving the country flashing their memory erasers around the clock. Let’s take a check on how things are really going.

Our nation’s police forces prior to the criminal thug Richard Nixon were centered on community policing. MOST of their time was spent on looking for, identifying, and monitoring criminals, and responding to unusual or dangerous events that were beyond the control of ordinary folks. We appreciated those officers and were proud to say, “he is OUR Cop!” We knew that we could talk to him, kid him, see him play adult softball, and sit across from him in church. We watched him shed tears when one of our kids didn’t make it home after a night of drinking and driving. We remembered him at Christmas, because he didn’t make much you know.

I said “him” because back then, there were no women in the ranks.

As government began its sickening expansion, policing became a meaner and nastier job. It was made that way by badge wearing thugs who didn’t hesitate to do whatever they were told by the S.A.C. (Special Agent in Charge) of the FBI, BATF(E), US Marshal’s Office right down to armed poultry inspectors—yes they have them and they are really tough on criminal chickens. The “us against them” mentality, and the “mission essential” attitude justified SWAT teams, “dynamic entries,” and later use of MACE, TASERS, FLASHBANG GRENADES and “routine” use of SUBMACHINE guns. All in the name of “taking down” the accused—no matter the charge. I abhor such police tactics and was an officer that served my own warrants, rarely with one other officer at the back door.

Now we have become eaves-dropping, roadblock setting, door crashing, face grinding, arm breaking, pursuit driven bastards that have sold their asses to the government masters hell bent on establishing the TRUE reincarnation of the dreaded SS. That is NO overstatement. Note: There are significant numbers of officers at all levels that simply detest the forced training at FEMA centers, the requirements to stop Patriots and others simply because they “look” dangerous, and are exercising free speech statements on their vehicles. By whose ultimate authority does this take place? By whose ultimate judgment is it that it is necessary to harass INNOCENT drivers and families? The public sees this Gestapo mentality as far more of a danger than any stickers they put on their vehicles? Where are all these “faithful” enforcers of the law when it comes to confronting the unlawful, unconstitutional, unjustifiable, and unmerciful rotten bunch of usurpers, communists, atheists, deviated, immoral scungebuckets that are walking the halls of Congress, the White House, and the Federal Courts? How is it that the “get ‘em at any cost” morons at Homeland Security have created an environment in amerika that is an unwarranted intrusion of power in 186 other nations?
And all of this is done in the name of safety and security. I guess that a majority of ignorant buffoons really do believe that Barack Sotero is the Messiah and he does hold the keys to socialist paradise in his hands.

So, once again, I implore those officers of the law who are in grave doubt about the legitimate authenticity of their superiors in any agency, to simply read the constitution, re-read their oath of office, seek out retired officers for guidance, and remember this very carefully—to brutalize citizens in the pursuit of order, is a guaranteed recipe for resistance. PLEASE do not pit yourselves (all 650,000 officers at all levels in the US) against a seething and angry populace who outnumber you 5000 to 1. Believe me; you want all of us working with you, not against you.

Have you been made aware of the massive roadblock plans to stop all travelers for a vaccine bracelet (stainless steel band with a micro-chip on board) that will force you to take the shot? Refuse it? You will be placed on a prison bus and taken to a quarantine camp. What will you do when your children are NOT allowed into school without the shot? What will you do when you are not allowed into the workplace without the vaccine paperwork? Buy groceries? Go to the bank? Shop anywhere?? Get on a plane, bus or train? Use the toilet in the mall? Nope. Police officers will become loathed, feared, despised and remembered for their “official” duties.

This nation is racing at interceptor speed toward a day of reckoning that has never been dreamed of. The lack of common sense, unusual brutality, and unintended consequences of the days of fall and winter will turn our overweight, undereducated, unchurched, and unprepared society into a wasteland of the abused and uncared for leftovers.

The recent training session in Crystal Falls gave people from all over the Midwest, an opportunity to taste independence, teamwork and hope. The singleness of purpose and deep caring for others who an half hour before were unknowns, proved to us all that freedom, honesty, personal skills based on common sense and preparation REALLY DO WORK!! We will never forget that time together. The caring folks who have asked me to come and speak to them about these same issues are precious examples of Americans who are willing to make the effort to have someone—ANYONE—help them see some daylight. We are beginning to make a difference, thanks to them.

The reason hundreds of others have sent for the DVD seminar, is because they could not get to a live seminar. They have seen the need, are sharing the information and are 100 to 1 grateful for it. One guy calling himself the “anti-rights American” told me precisely what he thought of me and others like me (implied). I cannot state it here. One other said it was useless to him since he was a Viet Nam veteran involved with MAC-SOG training and forward combat experience. I replied to him that many of the folks who were thrilled and let us know that, were not in his league. You decide, and no matter how I would like to be one of hundreds providing this service, I am one of a VERY few. I am told that no one else is willing to commit to a live audience or DVD, the things that I say.

That was certainly true of the issues covered at the in-field session held last week. It is time to lay down some plans that will get you through the galactic storm that is almost upon us. Do all you can. Do what you must. If you hesitate, you will become a quarantine camp victim or a casualty.

I have hundreds of police officers at all levels and military men placing their careers on the line with information that confirms every shred of the worst case scenario. You have been warned thousands of times, and yet you dismiss me and many others out of hand as nut-jobs, because we went out to the twig part of the branch to bring you information that freedom loving true remnant patriots must have.

I do not know entirely where amerika is in these perilous times in regard to the Holy Scriptures, but I will tell you this. We have welcomed the evil that has gripped this land and deserve whatever is retribution from God. I do cling to the hope that we will make some difference to others, if we will just not give in to the sweet assurances offered by the deceiver in charge of the nation and his winged monkeys on Capital Hill. The federal courts are basically the living room of hell for wrongfully accused citizens who have no other choice but to submit to the mouth of the lion.

“Look up, for your redemption draweth nigh,” is sufficient for the Believer. For the smug, anti-Christian militants, gay rights activists, brutality minded judges and others. Look straight ahead, for your moment of accountability before fed-up Americans is closer than you care to think.

To dear friend Alan Stang’s family, you are in Liz and my fervent prayers. A giant oak has fallen. We will deeply miss his strength and the comfort of his intellect, love of country, and courage very rarely equaled. Good-by friend, see you later! Please see to it that his family does not want for a thing.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

WHO Recommends Mandatory Injections to Almost Two Hundred Countries

NaturalNews.com printable article
Originally published July 29 2009

It is Official: WHO Recommends Mandatory Injections to Almost Two Hundred Countries


(NaturalNews) Executives from Baxter, Novartis, Glaxo-Smith Kline, and Sanofi Pasteur have seats at the advisory group that on July 13th recommended mandatory H1N1 vaccination of everyone in all 194 countries that belong to the World Health Organization (WHO), according to a report just issued by journalist Jane Burgermeister. WHO spokesperson Alphaluck Bhatiasevi confirmed that Dr. Margaret Chan did not give the press briefing at WHO headquarters in Geneva as anticipated. At short notice, Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny stepped in to announce that "vaccines will be needed in all countries."

According to WHO documents, vaccines "such as those that are formulated with oil-in-water adjuvants and live attenuated influenza vaccines are important." Health workers, pregnant women, healthy young adults of 15 to 49 years, and healthy children will be the targeted groups of the world wide vaccine effort.

"All countries should immunize their health-care workers as a first priority to protect the essential health infrastructure. As vaccines available initially will not be sufficient, a step-wise approach to vaccinate particular groups may be considered," according to Paule-Kieny. The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunisation established by the Director-General of the WHO in 1999, suggested the following groups for consideration, noting that countries need to determine their order of priority based on country-specific conditions: pregnant women; children over the age of 6 months with one of several chronic medical conditions; healthy young adults of 15 to 49 years of age; healthy children; healthy adults of 50 to 64 years of age; and healthy adults of 65 years of age and above.

In view of the anticipated limited vaccine availability at global levels and the potential need to protect against "drifted" strains of virus, SAGE recommended that promoting production and use of vaccines such as those that are formulated with oil-in water adjuvants and live attenuated influenza vaccines was important.

WHO Director-General Dr. Margaret Chan endorsed the above recommendations on July 11, 2009, acknowledging that they were well adapted to the current pandemic situation. She also noted that the recommendations will need to be changed if and when new evidence becomes available.

Three-stage vaccinations may create perfect cytokine storm

The vaccine is to be given by a series of three injections. Speaking on the Republic Broadcasting Network with Dr. Rebecca Carley as host on July 11th, meta-analyst and vaccine researcher Patrick Jordan reported belief that the first injection will be for the purpose of turning off the victim's immune system. The second injection will be for the purpose of loading people with deadly organisms. And the third injection will be to turn the immune system back on for the purpose of creating a cytokine storm that will deal a lethal blow to the body.

In his chronicle of the connection between vaccines and death, Jordan pointed out that in 1915 the pertussis vaccine became available and was widely given. This bacterial poison from whopping cough, called pertussis coxon, so depresses the immune system that it is used in laboratories today to turn off nutrafils and reduce white blood cell counts. Then, in 1918, soldiers who had received the pertussis vaccine were deployed to Europe, where they were given another unknown vaccine. They were then exposed to a Lucite gas, which is an arsenic compound, and phosgenegas, a chlorine compound. As a result, their immune systems kicked in with a cytokine storm that killed many of the otherwise healthy young men. This is the 1,2,3 punch Jordan is warning will come again with the "swine flu" vaccinations.

We have been conditioned to think of external microbes as our enemy during a time of influenza. But our own immune systems are potentially more lethal. When the body detects foreign microorganisms indicating an infection, it can respond by overprotecting the site of that infection. In its hurry to get antibodies to the infection site, the body may dispatch so many that the level of cytokines becomes highly elevated, creating a cytokine storm that can be fatal. For example, during a lung infection, a cytokine storm can potentially block airways and result in suffocation. (What is a Cytokine Storm, www.wisegeek.com)

Jordan continued by painting a picture outlined in the WHO Memorandum Number 1 with a study that found virus infections make antibody and antigen complexes. These complexes can clog blood vessels or implant tissue, making the body eventually attack itself. The main focus of this study was kidney disease. Animals with induced immune system deficiency were infected with lethal virus until every single cell in their bodies reflected the disease. But for a time these animals ran around like there was nothing wrong with them because their immune system was so depressed that it was making no effort to fight the disease, and there was no immune response. The WHO experimenters then took their lab animals and stimulated the cell-mediated immune response, and the animals died immediately from their bodies attacking themselves in the kind of cytokine storm associated with the 1918 Spanish flu.

Even if this described scenario does not develop, Jordan points out that the current "swine flu" vaccine is made with an adjuvant that may contain a material poison, salmonella, or typhoid fever toxin, along with squalene. Although not known with certainty, the second round of injections given to the soldiers in 1918 is believed to have contained typhus. Squalene produces auto-immunity and eventually death in everyone who takes it.

Squalene contributed to the cascade reactions known as Gulf War Syndrome that left GIs with arthritis, fibromyalgia, lymphadenopathy, photosensitive rashes, chronic fatigue, chronic headaches, ulcers, dizziness, weakness, memory loss, seizures, mood changes, neuro-psychiatric problems, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and other diseases.

For more information:

http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swin...
http://www.naturalnews.com/026613_s...
http://birdflu666.wordpress.com/

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Changes to Texas Booster Seat Law

Effective September 1, 2009, a new law in the State of Texas will require even more children to be strapped into a booster seat when inside a motor vehicle. The new regulation will require children to use a booster seat until they are 8 years old or have reached a height of at least 4 feet 9 inches tall. This is a significant change from the current law which mandates booster seats for children until they are 5 years old or are at least 3 feet tall.

Violators of this new law will be fined $25 for the first offense and as much as $250 for additional offenses of this new law. These fines will take effect in June of 2010.

You can read additional information here:

http://www.statesman.com/news/safetyseats.html

Be aware. Be informed. Be prepared.

Riverwalker

Oh great - more acclimation :(

Military planning for possible H1N1 outbreak

Military wants to establish regional teams to help civilian authorities respond

Proposal awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates

Military could provide support such as air transport, large-scale testing

From Barbara Starr

CNN Pentagon Correspondent

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The U.S. military wants to establish regional teams of military personnel to assist civilian authorities in the event of a significant outbreak of the H1N1 virus this fall, according to Defense Department officials.

The proposal is awaiting final approval from Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The officials would not be identified because the proposal from U.S. Northern Command's Gen. Victor Renuart has not been approved by the secretary.

The plan calls for military task forces to work in conjunction with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. There is no final decision on how the military effort would be manned, but one source said it would likely include personnel from all branches of the military.

It has yet to be determined how many troops would be needed and whether they would come from the active duty or the National Guard and Reserve forces.

Civilian authorities would lead any relief efforts in the event of a major outbreak, the official said. The military, as they would for a natural disaster or other significant emergency situation, could provide support and fulfill any tasks that civilian authorities could not, such as air transport or testing of large numbers of viral samples from infected patients.

As a first step, Gates is being asked to sign a so-called "execution order" that would authorize the military to begin to conduct the detailed planning to execute the proposed plan.

Orders to deploy actual forces would be reviewed later, depending on how much of a health threat the flu poses this fall, the officials said.



Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/28/military.swine.flu/index.html


__________

Pickdog comment: And what pray tell are they going to be doing? WTF????

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Castle Doctrine Dies In Texas

Castle Doctrine Dies In Texas

Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
July 27, 2009

So much for English common law and Sir Edward Coke’s dictum that a man’s home is his refuge and castle. “For a man’s house is his castle, et domus sua cuique est tutissimum refugium [and each man's home is his safest refuge],” Coke wrote in 1628.


So much for the Bill of Rights and centuries of English common law — police in Texas can now demand you evacuate your castle at gunpoint.

William Blackstone, in his Commentaries on the Laws of England, said “no doors can in general be broken open to execute any civil process,” except in the case of criminal causes.

In the United States, the Castle Doctrine, arising from English common law, designates one’s place of residence as a refuge not only against violent attacks, but unwarranted trespassing by the state.

In Texas, the authorities have put an end to this idea, which ultimately found its way into Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights guarding against unreasonable searches and seizures. Property rights are integral to the Constitution.

“Police can arrest people who don’t leave town under mandatory evacuation orders under a new state law that goes into effect in the heart of Texas’ hurricane season,” reports the Associated Press. “As it stands, officials cannot compel people to evacuate, only warn that those who stay behind won’t have any emergency services at their disposal.” The new law gives county judges and mayors the power to authorize use of “reasonable force” to remove people from the area.

The state now has the authority to smash down your door and arrest you for failure to follow orders.

The Supreme Court has ruled “the Fourth Amendment protects other interests in addition to privacy interests, such as possessory interests.” In other words, the court ruled that the state cannot evict without cause.

Jonathan Jorissen, writing for the Ave Maria Law Review in 2007, noted that “forcible removal of victims of natural disasters [in this instance, Katrina] seemingly constitutes seizures. Applying the requisite standard of reasonableness, it must be asked whether the actions were, in fact, reasonable. Given the nature of the situation, it is evident that they were not. The affected citizens were not guilty of any crime. Additionally, their property was in no way necessary for the government to carry out its duties. Instead, these hurricane victims were further victimized by their government, which removed them from their homes based on the suspicion that they might contract some disease. Without a more compelling interest, the government’s actions were unreasonable.”

As Supreme Court Justice William Patterson observed, property rights are the foundation of any social compact. “Men have a sense of property: Property is necessary to their subsistence, and correspondent to their natural wants and desires; its security was one of the objects, that induced them to unite in society.”

In Texas, the state has destroyed that compact and the very concept of natural law.

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Pickdog comment:

This is a very bad breach of freedom.

Monday, July 27, 2009

VENISON VERSUS BEEF :)

VENISON VERSUS BEEF
THE TASTE CONTROVERSY ENDS
FROM THE UNITED STATES VENISON COUNCIL

Controversy has long raged about the relative quality and taste of venison and beef as gourmet foods. Some people say that venison is tough, with a strong "wild" taste.

Others insist that venison's flavor is delicate. An independent food research group was retained by the Venison Council to conduct a taste test to determine the truth of these

conflicting assertions once and for all.

First a Grade A Choice Holstein steer was chased into a swamp a mile and a half from a road and shot several times. After some of the entrails were removed, the carcass was

dragged back over rocks and logs, and through mud and dust to the road. It was then

thrown into the back of a pickup truck and driven through rain and snow for 100 miles before being hung out in the sun for 10 days.

After that it was lugged into a garage, where it was skinned and rolled around on the floor for a while. Strict sanitary precautions were observed throughout the test, within the limitations of the butchering environment. For instance, dogs and cats were allowed to sniff and lick the steer carcass, but were chased away when they attempted to bite chunks out of it.

Next a sheet of plywood left from last year's butchering was set up in the basement on two saw horses. The pieces of dried blood, hair and fat left from last year were scraped off with a wire brush last used to clean out the grass stuck under the lawn mower.

The skinned carcass was then dragged down the steps into the basement where a half dozen inexperienced but enthusiastic and intoxicated men worked on it with meat saws, cleavers and dull knives. The result was 375 pounds of soup bones, four bushel baskets of meat scraps, and a couple of steaks that were an eighth of an inch thick on one edge and an inch and a half thick on the other.

The steaks were seared on a glowing red hot cast iron skillet to lock in the flavor. When the smoke cleared, rancid bacon grease was added along with three pounds of onions, and the whole conglomeration was fried for two hours.

The meat was gently teased from the frying pan and served to three blindfolded taste panel volunteers. Every one of the members of the panel thought it was venison. One of the volunteers even said it tasted exactly like the venison he had eaten in hunting camps for the past 27 years. The results of this scientific test show conclusively that there is no difference between the taste of beef and venison.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Up to 64 Bank Closings

Lender Failures Reach 64 as Georgia Shuts Security Bank’s Units
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By Ari Levy and Margaret Chadbourn

July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Security Bank Corp.’s six Georgia subsidiaries and Waterford Village Bank in New York were seized by regulators, pushing this year’s toll of failed U.S. lenders to 64, the most since 1992.

The six units of Macon-based Security Bank, with total assets of $2.8 billion and deposits of $2.4 billion, were closed by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was named receiver, the FDIC said yesterday in a statement. State Bank and Trust Co. of Pinehurst, Georgia, assumed the deposits and agreed to share losses with the FDIC on most of the assets.

“The loss-sharing arrangement is projected to maximize returns on the assets covered by keeping them in the private sector,” the FDIC said. “The agreement also is expected to minimize disruptions for loan customers.”

Bank failures this year have cost the U.S. deposit insurance fund more than $13.5 billion, including $812.6 million from yesterday’s seizures, straining the FDIC reserves amid the steepest recession since the Great Depression. The FDIC has imposed an emergency fee aimed at raising $5.6 billion to replenish the fund, which fell to $13 billion, the lowest since 1993, at the end of the first quarter.

Security Bank, which lost more than $200 million in the past five quarters, mostly on loans to Atlanta builders and developers, said in November that it was seeking to tap the Treasury’s bailout fund. In April, with most of its units operating under a cease-and-desist order, the company withdrew the application.

Capital Infusion

The six banks’ 20 combined offices will open as branches of State Bank. To assume the deposits and assets of the failed bank, State Bank received a $300 million capital infusion from a group of 26 investors, led by Joseph Evans, former chief executive officer of Flag Financial Corp. Evans, who was joined by former Flag executives Dan Speight and Kim Childers, will be CEO of State Bank, the company said in a statement.

Waterford Village Bank of Clarence, New York, with $61.4 million in assets and $58 million in deposits, was closed by the state’s Banking Department, and the FDIC was named receiver. Evans Bank of Angola, New York, assumed Waterford’s deposits, and will share losses with the FDIC on $56 million of assets, the agency said. Waterford’s single office will open July 27 as an Evans branch, the FDIC said.

Waterford Village Bank had inadequate capital and management was unable to correct deficiencies bank regulators identified, Richard Neiman, New York bank superintendent, said in a statement on the agency’s Web site. The bank had become “critically undercapitalized,” Neiman said in the statement.

Banks including Pittsburgh-based PNC Financial Services Group Inc. and Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based BB&T Corp. said paying the higher assessment cut into per-share earnings. PNC said the fee trimmed profit 19 cents, and BB&T said the fee reduced earnings by 7 cents.

The FDIC insures deposits at 8,246 institutions with $13.5 trillion in assets. The agency reimburses customers for deposits of as much as $250,000 when a bank fails.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ari Levy in San Francisco at alevy5@bloomberg.net; Margaret Chadbourn in Washington at mchadbourn@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: July 25, 2009 00:00 EDT

____________________________

In our local rag, they are saying Guaranty Financial Group Inc. is about to be taken over by the FDIC.

Texas Gov to invoke 10th amendment?

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1504240.html

Perry raises possibility of states' rights showdown with White House over healthcare



By DAVE MONTGOMERY
dmontgomery@star-telegram.com
AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry, raising the specter of a showdown with the Obama administration, suggested Thursday that he would consider invoking states’ rights protections under the 10th Amendment to resist the president’s healthcare plan, which he said would be "disastrous" for Texas.
Interviewed by conservative talk show host Mark Davis of Dallas’ WBAP/820 AM, Perry said his first hope is that Congress will defeat the plan, which both Perry and Davis described as "Obama Care." But should it pass, Perry predicted that Texas and a "number" of states might resist the federal health mandate.

"I think you’ll hear states and governors standing up and saying 'no’ to this type of encroachment on the states with their healthcare," Perry said. "So my hope is that we never have to have that stand-up. But I’m certainly willing and ready for the fight if this administration continues to try to force their very expansive government philosophy down our collective throats."

Perry, the state’s longest-serving governor, has made defiance of Washington a hallmark of his state administration as well as his emerging re-election campaign against U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the 2010 Republican primary. Earlier this year, Perry refused $555 million in federal unemployment stimulus money, saying it would subject Texas to long-term costs after the federal dollars ended.

Interviewed after returning from a trip to Iraq and Afghanistan, Perry spoke out against President Barack Obama’s healthcare package less than 24 hours after the president used a prime-time news conference Wednesday night to try to sell the massive legislative package to Congress and the public.

'Not the solution’

"It really is a state issue, and if there was ever an argument for the 10th Amendment and for letting the states find a solution to their problems, this may be at the top of the class," Perry said. "A government-run healthcare system is financially unstable. It’s not the solution."

Perry heartily backed an unsuccessful resolution in this year’s legislative session that would have affirmed the belief that Texas has sovereignty under the 10th Amendment over all powers not otherwise granted to the federal government.

In expressing "unwavering support" for the 10th Amendment resolution by state Rep. Brandon Creighton, R-Conroe, Perry said "federal government has become oppressive in its size, its intrusion into the lives of our citizens and its interference with the affairs of our state."

Returning to the "letter and spirit" of the 10th Amendment, he said in April, "will free our state from undue regulations and ultimately strengthen our union."

Perry, in his on-air interview Thursday with Davis, did not specify how he might use the 10th Amendment in opposing the Obama health plan. His spokeswoman, Allison Castle, said that the governor’s first goal is to defeat the plan in Congress and that any discussion of options beyond that would be "hypothetical."

"I don’t think it’s surprising that the governor is taking a stand against it," said Anne Dunkelberg, associate director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities, an Austin-based research organization that supports the House version of Obama’s plan. "Unfortunately, the national dialogue on health reform has been extraordinarily partisan and polarized."

The White House Media Affairs Office, asked to comment on Perry’s statements, did not have an immediate response. In his remarks to the nation Wednesday, Obama restated his midsummer deadline for passage of the bill in Congress, saying it is urgently needed to help families "that are being clobbered by healthcare costs."

High stakes in Texas

Texas has a higher percentage of uninsured people than any other state, with 1 in 4 Texans lacking health coverage. Dunkelberg, whose organization supports policies to help low- and modest-income Texans, said the House version would create a "predictable and comprehensive benefits package" for thousands of struggling middle-income Texans.

Former Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth of Burleson, a senior fellow for healthcare at the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, echoed Perry’s assertion that the Obama plan is the wrong approach and could have disastrous financial consequences for Texas.

Under the Senate version of the bill, she said, an expansion of the joint federal-state Medicaid program for the poor could cost Texas $4 billion a year.

"There are good solutions" to the country’s healthcare problems, Wohlgemuth said. "This isn’t it."

Perry said the plan is another example of the Obama administration’s "massive takeover of the private-sector economy."

"I hope our leaders will look for solutions that don’t dig our country further into debt," he said.

Perry called on Texans in the House and Senate to oppose the plan. "I can’t imagine that anyone from Texas who cares about this state would vote for Obama Care. I don’t care whether you’re Democrat or Republican," he said.

Of those Texans who might consider supporting the plan, he said: "This may sound a little bit harsh, but they might ought to consider representing some other state because they’re sure not representing Texas."

____________________________________________________

Pickdog comment - I know that Perry has been invited to Bilderberger meetings but gotta love this.

Yeah, right, not Hate Crime cause why?











Police: Brick thrown through window not hate crime

Incident is linked to an undercurrent of racism that city leaders have yet to address in East Austin, NAACP leader says.

By Juana Summers
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, July 25, 2009

Early Friday morning, Barbara Frische said she woke up to the sound of glass breaking inside her East Austin home.

She called police but didn't learn what had shattered the double-paned window in her 4-year-old son's room until after police arrived. Officers showed her a brick with a note attached: "Keep Eastside Black. Keep Eastside Strong."

"It's the first time anything like this has ever happened to me," said Frische, who is white. She has lived in her house on 13th Street for about 10 years.

The incident doesn't fall under the hate crime category, which is a classification of a charge but not a charge itself, said Austin police Sgt. Richard Stresing. He said the charge probably would be criminal mischief and deadly conduct, both misdemeanors.

Crimes based on race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability or gender are flagged as hate crimes, Stresing said, so they can be referred to the Department of Justice. The note attached to the brick didn't include hate speech, he said.

Frische was featured in a Statesman Watch article in May in which she lobbied for action to be taken on a charred house that neighbors said had been a gathering place for drug dealers, prostitutes and squatters.

Frische said she received no negative feedback from area residents after the article ran and said she does not think this incident is connected to the article.

Nelson Linder, president of the Austin chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said incidents such as the one that happened to Frische are rare.

"Throwing a brick into somebody's home, that's a crime," Linder said. "It's a criminal act, and that's how it should be addressed."

Linder said this incident is linked to an undercurrent of racism that city leaders have yet to address in East Austin.

African American and Latino residents had been in the majority since the 1920s and '30s — a trend that is starting to change. Now, some of their descendants are selling their properties to a new wave of affluent investors and would-be residents. Property taxes have doubled, tripled or more since 2000, according to Travis Central Appraisal District records.

"I think it's a very sensitive time for a lot of people," Linder said. "Certainly as African Americans we're under a lot of pressure, but that's not an excuse."

Austin police reported five hate crime incidents in 2007, down from 13 in 2006, according to the FBI's Uniform Crime Report. Two were based on race, two were based on ethnicity, and one was based on sexual orientation.

The state reported a total of 242 hate crime incidents in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics were available.

jsummers@statesman.com; 445-3851

Buzz up!Vote for this story!








Find this article at:
http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/07/25/0725brick.html

Friday, July 24, 2009

The Window War

The Window War

by Mike Vanderboegh


Author's Note: The events related in this story are true. It is set in the real town of Hobbs, New Mexico, although some names have been changed to protect the guilty. It begins early in the morning, the day after tomorrow.

"And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd's bag which he had...and his sling was in his hand; and he drew near to the Philistines."-- 1 Samuel 17:40.

"We Americans have set dangerous precedents. We can rest assured that those pushing for gun control have no intention of stopping short of total gun confiscation. At some point, we who cherish liberty must summon the courage of our forefathers and tell America's tyrants, 'Give me liberty, or give me death!' The longer we wait, the greater the ultimate bloodshed." -- Walter E. Williams, Professor of Economics, George Mason University.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bob Stone stared at the ceiling in the darkness, the popcorn surface barely discernible in the soft glow of the porch light filtering through the bedroom curtains. He had come home angry-- just about as angry as he'd ever been-- and he knew that sleep would not come with his mind still clicking along at about ninety miles an hour. Better to try to walk it off, he thought, since I can't shoot anybody over it. At least not yet.

As he gently rose from the bed, his wife stirred. He froze, and soon her breathing resumed its regular pattern. No need to disturb her anymore than he already had tonight. The meeting had been stormy and had run on into the late evening. Afterwards, he and his friends had refought the arguments for almost an hour. And yet, when he got home, his wife was waiting up (the kids had long ago been put to bed for it was a school night). Amy was anxious to hear what had happened with the Congressman. Bob told her in clipped, furious sentences and her anger rose to meet his with the re-telling. A half-hour later they had turned in, but Bob was too tired and angry to sleep. As Bob collected his pants and shirt from the chair, the clock clicked over to 1:47.

Ten minutes later, he was walking toward downtown in the New Mexico spring night. It was chilly, as it usually is when the sun goes down in the desert, and he was wearing his work jacket. Like most folks in Hobbs, Bob made his money working in the "oil patch". Times had been pretty thin for a while, but now that the price of oil was up thanks to OPEC, things were picking up in the oil and gas business all over the Southwest. It wasn't anyone messing with his money that made Bob Stone mad this night. It was someone messing with his God-given liberty.

They were being sold out. That was the long and short of it. Oh, the Congressman put on a long face, and swore it wasn't any of HIS doing, but they were being sold out, no doubt about it. The Republicans had come up with their own gun control bill, trying to protect their left flank against Clinton-Gore in the upcoming Presidential race. From now on (and for the first time in American history), law-abiding private citizens were going to have to ask the federal government's permission to sell a firearm to another law-abiding private citizen. Not even King George the Third had been so grasping. In addition, there would be no more "high-capacity" rifle or pistol magazines imported. ("High-capacity" meant greater than ten rounds.) Domestic production had already been forbidden in the so-called "assault weapons ban." George "Dubya", the Congressman said, insisted upon it, and the Republican majority leaders in Congress were going to go along. The latest shooting of children by other children (read: "gang members") at the national Zoo in Washington, D.C. hadn't helped.

"But don't they realize that D.C. has the strictest gun control laws in the country?" someone behind Bob had shouted. "How will passing one more law help that?" It wasn't about reality, the Congressman sighed, it was about perceptions. And he didn't have to add that the antigun liberal media had the corner on perception-making.

Bob had listened quietly for over two hours. He'd had enough and now rose to his feet. "But WE put you Republican jerks in power!" he half-shouted. "WE made you a majority party in '94 because you told us you'd try to roll back the Clinton gun-control agenda. Even Clinton blamed the Brady and so-called "Assault Weapons Ban" laws for the Democrat's loss in '94. It was gunowners who put you in power, and kept you in power these past six years, and now you're selling us out! Why don't you look up how much money Lea County gunowners gave you and your Republican brothers over the past six years?"

The Congressman opened his mouth to reply, but Bob cut him off in a low, determined tone: "But I'll tell you one thing, Mr. Republican Congressman, you'll never get another stinking dime out of me or my friends! We won't pay you for the privilege of pissing on our backs and telling us it's raining!" The room erupted into loud clapping and cheers.

Almost drowned out in the din, the Congressman cried: "But it's not MY fault!".

"Whose is it then?" three or four people shot back at him, almost in unison.

The Congressman had the look of a deer in the headlights of an oncoming truck. He had come here prepared to talk about Social Security, but nearly every question had been about gun control. Reaching for an answer that wouldn't be a mistake in front of this hostile crowd, he came up with: "The Columbine killers. Everything changed after Columbine." Wrong answer.

The room erupted. Someone threw an empty coffee cup that landed well short of the Congressman. Bob was back up on his feet, shouting full-throat this time: "That's a load of crap and you know it! When your Republican bosses in the House came to you with this treason, did you tell them that passing it would violate your oath to uphold the Constitution and that you would be forced to resign from their party if they went ahead with it?!? Well, did you?!?"

The shouted question cut through the air and the crowd quieted, wanting to hear the answer. The Congressman was silent, looking down at the empty coffee cup on the floor.

Bob repeated the challenge: "Well, did you?"

The Congressman stirred from his appreciation of the trash on the floor to ask, "Did I what?"

"I think you heard me the first time, Congressman, but I'll repeat it so we can get an answer: When the House Republican leadership told you they intended to pass this treasonable bill, did you tell them that it would violate your oath to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States' and that you would be forced to resign from their party if they went ahead with it?"

The Congressman hesitated, then answered: "Well, uh, no. Look, if I resigned my seat every time a vote didn't go my way..."

Bob cut him off: "I didn't say 'resign your seat', Congressman. I said, 'resign the party'. The people of this district sent you up there. You took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Your party is about to assist in the destruction of one important part of that Constitution. If you resign out of principle and become an Independent, I feel sure that the people of this district will return to your office when it comes time for re-election. So let me re-phrase the question: When you go back to Washington, will you seek out the House leadership and tell them that if they pass this bill, you intend to resign their party and become an independent because you refuse to be a party to treason?"

The Congressman's aide crossed over and, shielding the microphone, whispered something in the Congressman's ear. The Congressman nodded. The aide returned to the sidelines as Hobbs police officers began to filter into the room from the side and rear doors. The aide had summoned them on his portable phone the moment the coffee cup was thrown.

The Congressman leaned into the microphone, "Well, I'll have to think about it."

Bob wouldn't let it go. "What's to think about?" he shot back. "Either you have principles or you don't. If you don't, have the guts to say so now."

The Congressman shook his head. "I said I'll have to think about it. What you're asking is pretty extreme..."

"Extreme?!?" Bob countered. "Extreme?!?. Congressman, you ain't even close to seein' 'extreme' yet. Don't you realize that if you don't find the guts to stop these treasonable SOBs in Congress, and that if the judiciary doesn't have the guts to stop them in the courts, that someday soon gun-owners like the ones in this room are going to have to stop them in the streets with rifles in our hands? Congressman, you'd better pray you never see 'extreme', for if you do it'll take more than all the cops in Hobbs to protect you from the widows and orphans of the men who will die fighting to preserve the God-given liberty you didn't have the guts to risk your precious political career for!"

The room erupted once again, the cops moved to the front, and the Congressman departed out a side door, almost as fast as it takes to tell. And now, four hours later, Bob was still furious.

They don't roll up the sidewalks at sundown in Hobbs, but the streets were fairly deserted this time of night, or morning actually. Even the cops who usually patrolled every twenty minutes or so in the business district Bob was walking through were busy on drunk and disorderly patrol over on Del Paso or out on Bender Street (no pun intended). The bars close in New Mexico at 2:00 A.M. by state law, so between 2 and 3 is often the night shift patrolman's busiest time. As it turned out, that was a good thing for Bob.

To be truthful about it, Bob was still so mad he wasn't paying a whole lot of attention where he was walking. Later, he would attribute his arrival at the scene of the crime to either his subconscious mind or the hand of God. But all of sudden, without knowing why, he stopped and looked up from his thoughts. And there, smack in front of him, was 509 East Broadway. Now as it happens, 509 East Broadway, Hobbs, New Mexico, is a modest, well-kept building with sort-of old-fashioned windows flanking the entrance. It also happens to be the headquarters of the Lea County Republican Party.

Now Bob Stone was a church-going, law-abiding fellow. Oh, he'd done his share of tearing around violating traffic laws when he was young and stupid, but never anything serious. A Lea County boy born and bred, the only time he'd seen the inside of the local jail was when he'd bailed out Manny, his buddy from the gas plant, when Manny had been busted for driving drunk on Bender Street at 2:10 in the morning. But as Bob Stone looked up at the sign proclaiming 509 East Broadway as the Heaquarters of the Republican Party of Lea County, New Mexico, a snatch of conversation from earlier in the evening (yesterday?) came back to him like divine inspiration.

Bill Dodd, a hunting buddy of Bob's, was a bit of a history buff. They had been standing around after the meeting, trying to answer the question: "What do we do now?"

"Well, ah don't know about y'all," (Bill was originally from Alabama) "but when the Sons of Liberty wanted to make a point back durin' the Revolution they'd get a bunch o' folks together and go pay the local Tories a call. Usually they'd just bust their windows (Bill pronounced it 'winders') with rocks and tell 'em the next time it'd go harder with 'em. The Tories usually got the message and moved away or shut up about likin' the King. Glass bein' so expensive back then and Tories bein' mostly rich folk, it seemed the natch-rel thing for the Sons to do. An' it worked. Maybe we ought-ter do the same thing to these gun-control puke-politicians."

They all had laughed, and the conversation moved on, but Bill Dodd's words now came back to Bob loud and clear. He looked at the windows, he looked at the sign, and he looked up and down the street. Nobody. Nothing but the street lights going through their paces for traffic that wasn't there. But what to use for a rock?

The streets of Hobbs, New Mexico, are pretty well kept. On any other night, the plan that was forming in Bob Stone's angry mind would have failed for lack of ammunition. But as it so happened (and later Bob ascribed it to none other than divine intervention) there at the curbside was a piece of broken concrete which had dropped off the back of a demolition company's truck about ten o'clock the previous morning. Somebody, Bob decided, wants me to do this.

Bob Stone picked up the chunk of concrete. Smooth on one side, it had been part of the parking lot of an old greasy spoon south of town that had been demolished to make way for a new BP super-station. He hefted the chunk. Yep, he decided, just about right.

Even so, Bob hesitated. He wasn't a vandal by training or inclination, and if a car had come by just then, even as angry as he was, he'd have given the whole thing up. But in hesitating, another thought came to him: How would anyone know WHY he had thrown the stone through the Republicans' window? If he intended to make a political statement, the rock would have to be accompanied by a message lest the act be dismissed as ordinary juvenile hi-jinks. His hands went to his jacket pockets, finding (and instantly rejecting) his note pad. First of all, it had his company logo on each sheet (now wouldn't that be bright?), and secondly, he had no way of attaching it to the chunk of concrete. Tape and rubber bands were not items he routinely carried. But when his right hand found the felt-tip marker he always carried in his left breast pocket, he knew that the missile would be the message.

Moving a few steps to take advantage of the street light, Bob rotated the chunk so its flat side was up, and wrote across the top of the flat, "Second Amend." (he ran out of room). So he wrote underneath the first line in smaller letters: "Shall Not Be Infringed." He re-capped the marker, and placed the pen back in his jacket pocket.

His resolve had returned. He was going to do it now, even if a car came by. Even if a cop came by. He was going to send the Republicans an old-fashioned Sons-of-Liberty message. He didn't even check again to see if the street was clear, though it was. He positioned himself at what he judged was the proper distance and heaved the concrete telegram as hard as he could. With what seemed to him to be an atomic crash, the chunk sailed through the window easily. No alarm went off. Hobbs wasn't that kind of town. But Bob Stone began to run away.

He ran west down East Broadway, passing the Martin Boot Company, then crossing over to the other side of the street. He kept on running-- laughing, scared, and immensely proud of himself. He ran until he was winded, past where East Broadway turns into West Broadway. A thought occurred to him then that it was probably a stupid thing to be running down the streets of Hobbs at just past two in the morning. If anybody did drive by they'd rightfully conclude he'd been up to no good. And he didn't have the right shoes on to be able to convince a curious cop he'd been out jogging.

So when he caught his breath, he began to walk west on West Broadway at a normal pace. He passed Desert Guns, his favorite local gunstore, owned by one Mark Stone (no relation, unfortunately, for Bob wouldn't have minded a family discount). He wanted to put as much distance between 509 East Broadway and himself before he made the wide turn that would take him back east to home. So he continued a block or so past the Western Motor Company, when he realized with a start that his night's work was not yet done. For there in front of him was 604 West Broadway: The Democratic Party Headquarters of Lea County, New Mexico.

It was true that the Republicans had taken his money, his time, and his support only to sell him out. Bob supposed that that was why he was so angered at the Republican betrayal-- he expected more of them. You didn't expect your so-called friends to stab you in the back. But the Republicans in truth were only half the problem. It was the Clintonista Democrats who had brought the country to this state. And while it was true that Democrats could no more be blamed for stealing the rights, liberties and tax money of their fellow citizens than rattlesnakes could be blamed for biting (it was, after all, their declared mission in life), their windows deserved breaking nonetheless. Indeed, Bob reflected with a silent laugh that although he had killed many a rattlesnake in the desert around Hobbs he had not as yet killed a Democrat, although Democrats were an infinitely a greater threat to peace and the Republic. Well, there's a time and place for everything, Bob decided. Tonight, he would merely break their windows.

And as he stood contemplating the windows at 604 West Broadway, he noted to his satisfaction that they were nice big, expensive plate glass windows. It would cost the Democrats much more to replace these than it would the Republicans to fix their modest, old-fashioned window panes. This, Bob Stone thought, was more than fitting. But the breaking need a bit more preparation. Bigger rocks, perhaps. No, not bigger rocks, just more preparation. Bob fingered the automatic center punch in his work jacket pocket. Yeah, he decided, just the right instrument of destruction for these tempered-glass targets.

He went to the alley behind the building foraging for ammunition and found two new bricks pre-positioned there by what Bob Stone was now convinced was the hand of the Almighty. It could not have been by accident, of that he was certain. Bob pulled out his marker and wrote, lazy-dazy, winding the letters around the holes in the brick: "Second Amendment-- Shall Not Be Infringed."

Somewhat stealthier now, he checked the street before sidling up to the windows. To each he gave several preparatory hits with the automatic center punch. Spiderwebs of fractured glass appeared on each window. Then, checking the empty street one last time, he backed away from the windows and heaved the bricks one after the other with all the speed his overage pitching arm could muster. If the Republican window had sounded like an atomic bomb, these sounded like two hydrogen bombs, and Bob gave into his fear just long enough to run across the street. As the last shards of the windows were still falling, giving way to gravity and dropping with lesser explosions, Bob began to control his fear and slowed to a walk.

And so it was that he walked casually all the way home. As he passed one of the cross streets he noticed blue lights down toward East Broadway. He smiled, and walked just a bit faster. His wife stirred slightly when he eased himself back into bed, but Bob Stone had cured his angry insomnia and, happy now to be a criminal, he fell instantly asleep. Sleeping, he would later say to himself, the sleep of the just.

It all might have ended there had it not been for an editor at the local paper, the Hobbs News-Sun, who along with his college education had acquired a virulent liberal bias about things such as gun-control. Determined to show-case the "lawlessness" of gunowners, he assigned himself as the reporter on the story and also wrote the first of several (he thought stinging) editorials. The story was picked up by the state Associated Press, and eventually made its way to USA Today and the New York Times.

As if to prove that the Law of Unintended Consequences was alive and well, it was when the story went national that strange things began to happen. In Marion County, Ohio, somebody who read the USA Today story decided that breaking the windows of Democrats and Republicans was a pretty good idea. So did all his buddies at the Whirlpool plant.

As a matter of fact, it was about a baker's-dozen Buckeyes who first decoyed the cops, then smashed every window in both party headquarters the next night. Some were broken with nicely inscribed smooth stones that, like little David, they had fished out of a stream. On each was written the entire text of the Second Amendment to the Constitution. "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." Windows too high, small or inconvenient to reach with stones were finished off with ball bearings fired from slingshots or baseball bats.

In lightning raids two nights later, the same crew smashed the windows of both party's' headquarters in three neighboring counties. It was bipartisan vandalism, and more news stories were generated. Fearing that the rock-throwers would come to his house, the chairman of the Marion County Republican Party resigned. When his Democrat counterpart did not, someone broke the windows in his house, too. One of the more thoughtful vandals taped the business card of a local glass company to his front door.

With "The Marion Incident", window-breaking on behalf of the Constitution began to spread. In about four weeks, 194 local headquarters of both parties were "ventilated" with rocks, bricks, concrete blocks, shotputs, lead weights, tire irons, antique civil war cannon balls and in the case of one Democratic party headquarters in Michigan, a twenty-pound brass jackass of unknown origin. Attached to, or written upon, each was the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

Similar missiles found glass targets at the homes of no fewer than 56 politicians of both parties who had been prominent supporters of gun-control.

Rewards were offered-- none was collected. Only in a few cases were the perpetrators caught, and most of those were teenage sons of well-known gun owners. In one case in Texas, the windows were broken publicly by a citizen who sought arrest for his civil disobedience. In a jury trial, he was quickly acquitted.

"The Window War" became nightly fodder for the television talking heads. And with more publicity came more broken windows. Commentators on the left condemned "vigilante justice" and "lawlessness" and called for political window-breaking to be classified as a "hate crime." Commentators on the right spoke against lawlessness more softly, pointing out that it was the Clintonistas who had made a business of flouting the rule of law (most recently in the case of Elian Gonzalez), and that destroying windows was probably a lesser crime than destroying the Constitution. And everyone agreed with MSNBC's "Hardball" Chris Matthews, a life-long Democrat, when he observed: "These are all gun-owners breaking the law. I suppose we should be grateful they're using rocks."

The polls sent the politicians mixed signals about how the public felt about The Window War. Initially overwhelmingly disapproving of such vandalism, the numbers began to shift as the "War" went on, the issues that had prompted the window-breaking became better known and nothing but windows were being harmed. There was a natural sympathy streak in many Americans for those who fought city hall.

Exactly one month after Bob Stone broke his first window at 509 East Broadway, copy-cat incidents were happening ten or twenty times a night with no end in sight. After two buckets, one containing rocks and the other containing a mixture of tar and feathers, were delivered to the Mississippi home of Senator Trent Lott, the Majority Leader decided, (with the concurrence of "Dubya"), that the political price of Republican gun-control had grown too high. It wasn't the implied threat that got to Lott so much as the fact that the card which accompanied the buckets was signed by some of his campaign contributors, one of whom was a distant relative. With the help of several relieved Democrats, Lott killed the bill.

With the Window War threatening to muddy up his campaign for President, Candidate "Dubya" called Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America (it was widely recognized that the "rockers" were not listening to the National Rifle Association, which they regarded as a sell-out organization) and quietly promised that if he was elected he would sign a bill that rolled back all of the Clinton-era gun control laws if Pratt could just guarantee that no more windows would be broken. Since the window-breakers weren't under his control either, Pratt said he couldn't promise anything, but he would try.

Three days after Senator Lott killed the bill, the last "shot" was fired in the Window War by twenty members of a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in New York who snuck up on the home of the Empire State's virulently anti-gun Attorney General while he was away and peppered it with Revolutionary War musket balls fired from Gamo "Wrist-Rocket" slingshots. Police responding to the alarm found a big folding sign-board blocking the driveway. It read: "Sue this!"

Across the country, the volunteer soldiers of The Window War read the papers, talked among themselves, and decided to await further developments with a truce. The only Americans who were sad to see the rocks stop flying were the owners of the nation's glass companies.

The howling of Clinton, Gore, Schumer, Feinstein and Company sounded like a banshee chorus but it could not resurrect the bill. Nor could they make it an effective campaign issue against Bush--he had condemned the vandalism in the strongest terms. After George "Dubya" Bush was elected President, and the Republicans retained control of the Congress, the tide of gun control receded. It wasn't that Dubya and his GOP colleagues had "discovered" any principles, they were simply smart enough to recognize that that particular political skunk was best left in the bucket. The reminder that political decisions sometimes have personal consequences acted like a tonic on Republicans and Democrats alike.

The Window War was won, and to the astonishment of many gun owners, no one had been killed. It had long been thought that bloodshed would be required to make the liberals understand that God-given rights are not compromisable. All it had taken was a few hundred rocks and other missiles and one brass jackass.

Many men and women would later claim to have been window-breakers, ten times as many as there probably were. But back in Hobbs, no one ever knew who broke the first window in the gun-control war, and that was just fine with Bob Stone. The only person he ever told was his wife, Amy. Together, they decided to keep Bob's foray into petty crime just between themselves. Neither of them was sure just how they could explain their Daddy's night of window-breaking to the kids.

Author's Postscript: The story above is one possible future for this country. There are others far worse. As J.R. Nyquist recently wrote of the Elian Gonzalez federal kidnapping:

"Specific events, regardless of their actual importance to history, sometimes capture the human imagination. In doing this, they become rallying points for masses of people. They become pivotal to political careers. Such events can bring about the collapse of governments or determine the outcome of elections....Except for clueless and apathetic persons, America has been split into two hostile ideological camps. One is the anti-communist or anti-statist camp, which looks to traditional moral values, the Constitution, a strong family unit and the free market. The other camp is socialist or "progressive" in its outlook, globalist and environmentalist in its policies."

There is no reconciling the two futures these camps represent. One or the other will win in the end. The war up to now has been waged in the political and social arena. The time is fast approaching when this political and social "war" will spill over into armed conflict-- real civil war. If it does, it will happen mostly because everyone thinks it impossible. For sixty years, the liberals have used our respect for the law against us. Each time they moved the line of law to further their agenda, breaking off a bit of the Constitution, we, as law-abiding citizens have backed up grumbling but complying. And why should they stop pushing us back from our God-given liberties? We've never pushed back to stop them. We have been TOO law-abiding.

Remember one thing: Adolf Hitler was elected, and the Nazis passed laws justifying every horrible act they later committed. In such a country, law-breaking is not a crime but a virtue. Before we get too far down that road, perhaps a little window-breaking is in order. Waiting too late to oppose tyranny has always led to bloodshed. Let us avoid that if we can. But history holds such windows of opportunity open only so long, and ours is rapidly closing. Perhaps by breaking the window now, we can escape the horrible alternative. And if in the unlikely event my modest story should become fact, somewhere The Sons of Liberty will be smiling.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Out of work, out of benefits, out of luck - one of the reasons to prep

Out of work, out of benefits, out of luck

By August, 65% of all filers for unemployment insurance will have run out of their standard 26 weeks. And that's just the beginning.

By Julianne Pepitone, CNNMoney.com contributing writer

Last Updated: July 17, 2009: 9:53 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The next bubble in the recession is about to burst.

More than 650,000 Americans will have used up all of their unemployment benefits by September, in what experts say could be the start of a looming crisis.

In the early days of the downturn, the government extended unemployment benefits beyond the standard 26 weeks to as many as 79 weeks in hopes of giving the jobless a longer lifeline. Officials predicted the economy worsening and businesses further contracting, resulting in fewer jobs for the newly unemployed to find.

With the recession now 18 months deep and the national unemployment rate standing at 9.5%, it appears that the effort wasn't robust enough for those in the crisis' first wave of layoffs.

"We need to get the issue attention now, because people are running out of benefits and there's just nothing for them," said Andrew Stettner, deputy director of the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group that has calculated the number of people who will exhaust their unemployment benefits.

In fact, Stettner and the Labor Department are expecting the problem to accelerate. In the next few weeks, the victims of the mass layoffs that happened six months ago -- when the pace of layoffs was at its zenith -- will start running out of their basic benefits. A total of 4.4 million people are expected to face this fate -- or 65% of the entire filing population.

And while they may have up to another year of unemployment insurance benefits -- thanks to the confusing patchwork of extensions that were enacted last summer -- they will be soon be unaccounted for in government unemployment reports.

The Labor Department doesn't track anyone who has moved beyond 26 weeks of unemployment in its weekly data on continuing claims (the number of people who request benefits after their first week). And, said Stella Cromartie, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, said the agency does not currently have plans to begin tracking this population.

As a result, by late summer the government may begin reporting significant declines in continuing filers.But it won't be cause for celebration. Instead of of indicating that the economy is on the rebound, it could mean that more people are falling off the radar.

"We will see a decline in continuing filers," said the NELP's Stettner. "People are falling out of these numbers, and the pace of more recent layoffs replacing them is not as steep."

"They're not included in these unemployment numbers we hear about every week," said the NELP's Stettner. "They're desperate, asking, 'What's going to happen to me?'"

That's the question facing Jay Ridinger, 54, of Baxter, Tenn. The self-proclaimed "road warrior" once worked for a contract management company, happily bouncing from city to city to complete federal projects.

Ridinger was accustomed to the stop-start schedule of a contractor, so he wasn't worried when his last stint ended in August. But he soon realized this stretch of unemployment was different: "I thought it was the status quo, and instead here I am, applying for food stamps. I just sat in the office and cried and cried."

When he was first laid off, Ridinger received the maximum $250 unemployment check per week -- at the time, Tennessee's standard benefits lasted 13 weeks. Revisions of laws allowed him to get additional weeks of benefits.

"Every time you run out of benefits, you think, 'What the heck am I gonna do?'" Ridinger said. "And then a month later, maybe a check will be in your mailbox -- maybe not. Even if you get one, it's like, 'Ain't that nice, after all that emotion?'"

In most states, the unemployed receive a maximum 26 weeks of state-funded benefits. Two extension programs may also be available for an extra 53 weeks of benefits. (Click here for further detail on unemployment benefits programs.)

The availability and duration of the programs depends on the state's unemployment rates and whether it agreed to participate in part or all of the federal programs. (View the map to see how many weeks of benefits your state offers.)

These extension programs are "difficult to understand, unprecedented and tough to administer," noted Heidi Shierholz, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank. "It surprised me how difficult it is to get data on this. I study labor markets all the time, and even I didn't know just how much of a behemoth it is."

But just because filers may not be counted in the weekly jobless claims data, it does not mean they don't impact the national unemployment rate. The Labor Department doesn't rely on unemployment-benefit claims to calculate the unemployment rate; instead the agency conducts interviews through a population survey and simply asks people if they have looked for work in the past four weeks. If they have, they're included in the rate.

So, if you have run through all of your benefits and say, "yes," you would still impact the unemployment rate. If you are unemployed and looking for work but aren't claiming benefits, you would be included as well.

Still, the weekly jobless claims number is a good indicator of the health and direction of the economy. And Edward Stuart, an employment economics expert from Northeastern Illinois University, believes the NELP's data may even be "conservative."

"The unemployment rate is going up, and the time spent unemployed is also going up," Stuart said. "Jobs are disappearing, and we aren't replacing them."

In the meantime, Ridinger waits -- checking about 80 Web sites daily and has applied for jobs all over the country in a variety of fields. After almost a year, he's had only one interview.

"This experience has hit me with every possible emotion," he said. "It's humiliating, degrading. I've changed my complete attitude toward the system. I just never expected to be a part of it."

Have you run through your unemployment benefits? E-mail your story to realstories@cnnmoney.com and you could be a part of an upcoming story.

First Published: July 17, 2009: 7:08 AM ET







Find this article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/07/17/news/economy/unemployment_benefits/index.htm

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Read what you want into this

July 18, 2009

Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle

By BRAD STONE

In George Orwell’s “1984,” government censors erase all traces of news articles embarrassing to Big Brother by sending them down an incineration chute called the “memory hole.”

On Friday, it was “1984” and another Orwell book, “Animal Farm,” that were dropped down the memory hole — by Amazon.com.

In a move that angered customers and generated waves of online pique, Amazon remotely deleted some digital editions of the books from the Kindle devices of readers who had bought them.

An Amazon spokesman, Drew Herdener, said in an e-mail message that the books were added to the Kindle store by a company that did not have rights to them, using a self-service function. “When we were notified of this by the rights holder, we removed the illegal copies from our systems and from customers’ devices, and refunded customers,” he said.

Amazon effectively acknowledged that the deletions were a bad idea. “We are changing our systems so that in the future we will not remove books from customers’ devices in these circumstances,” Mr. Herdener said.

Customers whose books were deleted indicated that MobileReference, a digital publisher, had sold them. An e-mail message to SoundTells, the company that owns MobileReference, was not immediately returned.

Digital books bought for the Kindle are sent to it over a wireless network. Amazon can also use that network to synchronize electronic books between devices — and apparently to make them vanish.

An authorized digital edition of “1984” from its American publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, was still available on the Kindle store Friday night, but there was no such version of “Animal Farm.”

People who bought the rescinded editions of the books reacted with indignation, while acknowledging the literary ironies involved. “Of all the books to recall,” said Charles Slater, an executive with a sheet-music retailer in Philadelphia, who bought the digital edition of “1984” for 99 cents last month. “I never imagined that Amazon actually had the right, the authority or even the ability to delete something that I had already purchased.”

Antoine Bruguier, an engineer in Silicon Valley, said he had noticed that his digital copy of “1984” appeared to be a scan of a paper edition of the book. “If this Kindle breaks, I won’t buy a new one, that’s for sure,” he said.

Amazon appears to have deleted other purchased e-books from Kindles recently. Customers commenting on Web forums reported the disappearance of digital editions of the Harry Potter books and the novels of Ayn Rand over similar issues.

Amazon’s published terms of service agreement for the Kindle does not appear to give the company the right to delete purchases after they have been made. It says Amazon grants customers the right to keep a “permanent copy of the applicable digital content.”

Retailers of physical goods cannot, of course, force their way into a customer’s home to take back a purchase, no matter how bootlegged it turns out to be. Yet Amazon appears to maintain a unique tether to the digital content it sells for the Kindle.

“It illustrates how few rights you have when you buy an e-book from Amazon,” said Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer for British Telecom and an expert on computer security and commerce. “As a Kindle owner, I’m frustrated. I can’t lend people books and I can’t sell books that I’ve already read, and now it turns out that I can’t even count on still having my books tomorrow.”

Justin Gawronski, a 17-year-old from the Detroit area, was reading “1984” on his Kindle for a summer assignment and lost all his notes and annotations when the file vanished. “They didn’t just take a book back, they stole my work,” he said.

On the Internet, of course, there is no such thing as a memory hole. While the copyright on “1984” will not expire until 2044 in the United States, it has already expired in other countries, including Canada, Australia and Russia. Web sites in those countries offer digital copies of the book free to all comers.

Austin Gun Show

I went to the show today.

Assessment:

There were some reloading supplies but the price was excessive. Large Rifle Primers were $55.00/1000;

.45A ACP and .308 ammo were available but pricey. .45 was $25-27 for 50 230 g FMJ;

.223 was very plentiful. Price were higher.

Did see Black Talon .308 tactical ammo that I'd not seen in a few years ($65 for 20).

Did not see any .380;

A decent assortment of scary black rifles were avaiable;

If you were looking for an M1 Garand, they were plentiful;

AKs were somewhat limited and were running between $550 and 650;

AR Mags were plentiful and about $12-15 for used GI;

Not one M1A1 was seen :( .

All in all, I was surprised at the prices of reloading supplies. Though last time I went, there almost nothing. Also, wished I was in the market for another battle rifle - there were a few that intrigued me.

Pickdog
III

Friday, July 17, 2009

The War on Guns: ATF to Tennessee: We're above your law#links#links

The War on Guns: ATF to Tennessee: We're above your law#links#links

Friday Funny

An email from a buddy....

Now this is funny, I don't care who you are:

If you don't laugh hysterically at this,....CHECK YOUR PULSE...this is funny....and true. This was sent by a retired dentist.

We have the standard 6 ft. fence in the backyard, and a few months ago, I heard about burglaries were increasing dramatically over the entire city. To make sure this never happened to me, I got an electric fence and ran a single wire along the top of the fence. I got the biggest cattle charger Tractor Supply had, made for 26 miles of fence. I then used an 8 ft. long ground rod, and drove it 7.5 feet into the ground. The ground rod is the key, with the more you have in the ground, the better the fence works.

One day I'm mowing the back yard with my cheapo Wal-Mart 6 hp big wheel push mower. The hot wire is broken and laying out in the yard... I knew for a fact that I unplugged the charger so I pushed the mower around the wire, reached down and grabbed it to throw it out of the way. Come to find out I hadn't remembered to unplug it after all.

Now I'm standing there, I've got the running lawnmower in my right hand, and the 1.7 giga-volt fence wire in the other hand. Keep in mind the charger is about the size of a marine battery and has a picture of an upside down cow on fire on the cover.

Time stood still.....

The first thing I notice is my pecker's trying to climb up the inside of my body, my ears curled downwards, and I could feel the lawnmower ignition firing in the backside of my brain. Every time that Briggs & Stratton rolled over, I could feel the spark in my head. I was literally at one with the engine.

It seems as though the fence charger and the piece of shit lawnmower were fighting over who would control my electrical impulses.

Science says you cannot crap, pee, and vomit at the same time. I beg to differ. Not only did I do all three at once, but my bowels emptied 3 different times in less than half of a second. It was a Matrix kind of bowel movement, where time is creeping along and you're all leaned back and BAM BAM BAM you just crap your pants 3 times. It seemed like there were minutes in between, but in reality it was so close together it was like exhaust pulses from a big block =2.0 Chevy turning 8 grand.

At this point I'm about 30 minutes (maybe 2 seconds) into holding onto the fence wire. My hand is wrapped around the wire palm down so I can't let go. I grew up on a farm so I know all about electric fences.....but dad always had those pieces of shit chargers made by International or whoever, that were like 9 volts and just kinda tickled.

This one I could not let go of. The 8 foot long ground rod is now accepting signals from me through the permadamp Ark-La-Tex river bottom soil.

At this point I'm thinking I'm going to have to just man up and take it, until the lawnmower runs out of gas.

'Da MN!,' I think, as I remember I just filled the tank!

Now the lawnmower is starting to run rough. It has settled into a loping

run pattern as if it had some kind of big lawnmower race cam in it. Covered in

poop, pee, and with my vomit on my chest I think 'Oh God please let it die...

Pleeeeaze let it die'. But nooooo, it settles into the rough lumpy cam idle and remains there, like a big bore roller cam EFI motor waiting for the go command from its owner's right foot.

So here I am in the middle of July, 104 degrees, 80% humidity, standing in

my own backyard, begging God to kill me. God did not take me that day.....he left me there covered in my own fluids to writhe in the misery that my own stupidity had created.

I honestly don't know how I got loose from the wire....I woke up laying on the ground hours later. The lawnmower was beside me, out of gas. It was later on in the day and I was sunburned.

There were two large dead grass spots where I had been standing, and another long skinny dead spot where the wire had laid while I was on the ground still holding on to it. I assume I finally had a seizure and in the resulting thrashing had somehow let go of the wire.

Upon waking from my electrically induced sleep I realized a few things:

1- Three of my teeth seem to have melted.

2- I now have cramps in the bottoms of my feet, and in my right butt cheek

(not the left, just the right).

3- Poop, pee, and vomit when all mixed together, (I don't smell as bad as you might think.)

4- My left eye won't open.

5- My right eye won't close.

6- The lawnmower runs like a sumb!tch now. Seriously! I think our little session

cleared out some carbon fouling or something, because it was better than new after that.

7- My nuts are still smaller than average, yet they are almost a foot long.

8- I can turn on the TV in the game room by farting while thinking of the number 4 (I still don't understand that!!!!)

That day changed my life. I now have a newfound respect for things. I appreciate the little things more, and now I always triple check to make sure the fence is unplugged before I mow.

The good news, is that if a burglar ever does try to come over the fence, I can clearly visualize what my security system will do to him, and THAT gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling all over, which also reminds me to triple check before I mow!!!