Simple Tax or Mark of the Beast?

I have not been writing much, in fact lazy might be a better word.  This morning though on the news there was an article under discussion concerning fuel taxes and supporting the government and state infrastructures.  The more I listened the more I was appalled.
Our king obama wants to tax drivers by placing a GPS tracking device on every vehicle.  In this way, they can keep track of how many miles you drive and you will pay a tax on that.  One state, Minnesota, is testing this already and several states are discussing implementation
  http://www.startribune.com/business/yourmoney/120195829.html
 There are so many things wrong with this, I find it bizarre. Well, bizarre to me and a lot of people, but maybe not so much this government.
  Just to remove the money part from this equation, pretend for a moment that everyone had enough money to pay for an extra tax.  Let us assume that no one would feel the pinch of giving more money for government.  I know it is a stretch, but just for now, try it.  Every thing is peachy, I can get gas whenever I need it and fuel becomes a nonissue.  Cool. 
What the news did not mention is this. This is not a fantasy.  If they put gps on all vehicles.
  Homeland Security, who has already deemed most Americans as possible terrorists decides they can "protect" more people if they had a way to monitor.  Oh yea, the little gps thing added to my vehicle to monitor my miles.  Rest assured that if they can monitor each mile you drive the car, they can also monitor any place you go.  They can monitor and store anything you do.
 You might not remember where you went when you were cruising last year, but they will know.  If there was a murder or terrorist attack in a neighborhood you drove through, they would have that record and you would be an immediate suspect.  You might not remember being in that area, but don't worry, there will be a record.  You have the right of innocent until proven guilty, but you know how our legal system is.  You will still need to prove that you are not guilty.
People will become very afraid to leave their house except when they absolutely have to. Government protests will pretty much disappear.  The government will be able to tell exactly who was there.  If you want a drink some evening, there will be proof that you stopped at a nightclub. 
Anywhere you go will be in a database somewhere.  Most times, you can tell what a person is doing, just by knowing where they are.
They will know if you are at church, work, home, school, a bar, a strip club, house of ill repute, or sneaking around on the spouse at another persons home or motel.  If you are parked at a gunshop or gun show, they will know it.  If you do or write anything that is sooner or later considered dangerous or questionable, there will be a rcord of that tied exactly to you.All this information on everyone can be shared with all the different "security" organizations like the FBI, CIA, DHS, ATF, IRS, NSA, .....
  This information alone would also be worth billions of dollars and you know how well private information is protected.
I believe this to not only be wrong, I believe it to be against the Constitution and against any freedom loving person.
At this point, I would not be able to cooperate in this slavery of America.  I just won't.  They would problably have a prison penalty for refusing, but I draw the line there.
I know on the surface that this is a reach and really paranoid sounding.  The problem is though, we have the technology for this and it would be easy to do.  Also, our government has no qualms about anything like this, some of them want it. So paranoid might not be the right description.
Right now, all cattle that are sold have to be marked.  All milk by law has to be pasteurized.  The government is even fining people for selling vegetables and fruit that they have grown.  Not all the time, but it seems like they are testing out this action.
Handy for pet owners or people that worry about their children in this day and age, we now use RFID and VERICHIPs.  These are implanated under the skin of your pet, possibly your child in order to make sure they do not get lost or stolen.  The last few years, the government has been pushing hard to make it law that any animal you are tryiing to sell, must have an implanted chip.  You will not have to worry about it being stolen.  But then again, the government knows exactly what you are doing.  If you butcher the creature, they will know.  If you sell it, they will know.  This leads to more taxes and more control.
Kinda like the mark of the beast isn't it?
  The more I write, the more it seems like a science fiction conspiracy theory.   For many of us that believe in freedom and our way of life and have expressed opinions, it is too late.  You know there is a database that tracks all that.
  When Orwell wrote"1984", did he have any idea? A good book, nice fiction, but we are way past "1984".

14th Amendment to the Constitution

   Recently, obama threatened to invoke the 14th amendment.  My firt thought was what the hell!?  In my mind, the amendment was already law, because it was a part of the Constitution.  He did not have to "invoke" anything.  All he had to do was follow the law.  Oh, my mistake, most of them do not, unless they are pushed into a corner for some reason.
  Anyway, there are several sections to the 14th amendment He is hoping to use the one concerning the debt crisis.  He wants to use that to bypass congress to get a new debt ceiling.  That is where he is going with this.  I am not going to discuss the whole thing, just the ones that are curious to me at the moment.  I am no Constitutional scholar, but I can read.
  The 14th amendment is an interesting one.  Approved on July9, 1868, it has five sections, all covering completely different subjects.  The one that obama is interested in is the fourth.
What I find really interesting is the 3rd and the 4th sections.  In the 4th section, it states basically, that the debt of the United States cannot be questioned, EXCEPT, any state or the country cannot incure or pay for a debt in support of an insurrection or rebelliion against the United States.  Immediately I think of all the aid and money that our government gives to organizations like la raza and cair.  It would seem that this is illegal.
  Section three is really interesting.  That ones states, and I simplify, that any official that takes an oath of office, MUST comply with that oath or be removed from office.  It appears to me that most of our congressional leaders and the president are completely guilty here.
  So if obama is going to invoke the 14th amendment, does that mean it does not count unless the president wants it to?  Nope, an amendment is law, he has to conform to the whole thing.  Not just pick and choose.
  To me, this is authorization to take away ANY support monies to organizations that are against the United States and our way of life.
Also, obama and his cronies and most of congress can be fired.
 Below, are the different sections to this amendment. Read them yourself and think about them for a moment.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

Homeowner Suffers Horrific Injustice at the Hands of JPMorgan Chase

Homeowner Suffers Horrific Injustice at the Hands of JPMorgan Chase
Posted by: "Kathy" gobucks@mrtc.com
Sun Mar 6, 2011 10:15 am (PST)

Homeowner Suffers Horrific Injustice at the Hands of JPMorgan Chase

http://mandelman. ml-implode. com/2011/ 03/homeowner- suffers-horrific -injustice- at-the-hands- of-jpmorgan- chase/

For over two years I've had a front row seat for the foreclosure crisis, the by-product of our government's complete mishandling of the worst economic downturn in seventy years.

During that time I've been exposed to some pretty horrific things. people living in their cars with a child sleeping in the trunk. the eviction of an 89 year-old couple. I've gotten to know what that fear sounds like and feels like. the fear of losing one's home while the country talks about you as being nothing more than an "irresponsible borrower," someone who never should have bought your home in the first place, even though you may have lived in it for 30 years.



What I saw this past week, however, was something new for me. I'd heard of things like this happening before, written about them, even. But, I had never seen anything like it, up close and personal.



As a warning. this story is not for the squeamish. If you're pregnant, or have heart disease, or just want to go on pretending that your country is still a place of which you're proud. it's better that you click off now. because this one isn't going to make you laugh.



An Anaheim couple with an eight year-old daughter has lost their home. that would be one way of phrasing it. Another way to describe what happened would be to say that JPMorgan Chase, an outfit that I now see clearly is significantly worse than any crime family. has thus far been permitted by the courts and the laws in California to STEAL an Anaheim couple's home.



Why do I say that Chase stole it? Well, there are lots of reasons, but I think the one that tops my list would have to be, because they never missed or were late on a payment. in every single month that JPMorgan Chase told the couple to make a payment. they paid the exact amount they were told to pay. on time and as agreed. never missed even one. never were late, not even once.



"We trusted the bank," the Mom says, "like idiots."



The husband in this family worked for the City of Placentia in Southern California for some 27 years. The wife and mother has her own small business. Their adorable eight year-old daughter, whose life is about to be inalterably changed at the hand of JPMorgan Chase, goes to school near by and loves her home. Her parents haven't told her anything about this yet, and I pray to God they never have to. that JPMorgan Chase comes forward and stops this egregious wrong that they have let happen. that they have created.



I can barely tell this story. I can't imagine it ever happening to me. I can't imagine it ever happening to anyone in this country. a place I used to proudly think of as my country. Not so much anymore though.



The husband in this family became ill a few years ago. advanced diabetes. his kidneys have failed, he's on dialysis. heart disease. he's spent time on a respirator while hospitalized.



Yet, they've made it through everything, this family, through all of that and more. stayed together. raised a daughter. found ways to laugh and play together. they must love each other very much.



They had bought their 2-bedroom home in August of 2006. as it turns out. terrible timing. but who knew that the bankers, who had leveraged themselves 40-100 to one, were about to blame homeowners for their defrauding of the investment community, bankrupting the global financial system, and destroying the credit markets? Bernanke didn't know. Paulson didn't know. personally, I think that lets this couple off the hook about the whole should-have- known thing.



So, for three years they made their payments without fail. And maybe if it would have just been the economy or just the medical bills, they would have made it through this. but both was too much, and they received a Notice of Default in July of 2009.They applied to JPMorgan Chase for a loan modification, and Chase granted them a trial modification in February of 2010. Chase told them to pay $869 for three months, and entered them into another program in May, telling them to make monthly payments of $1358.



They paid every month, on time every time. by cashier's check, as required by Chase. The trial modification paperwork said something to the effect of:



"If all payments are payments are made as agreed, we will reevaluate you to determine if we can offer you a permanent modification. "



"We trusted the bank," the Mom says, "like idiots."



In August, they received a Notice of Sale. They called Chase. and imagine their relief when they were told not to worry one bit about that notice. Apparently, it was just the fault of Chase's stupid computer system that just spits things like that out without anyone telling it to do so. False alarm, what a relief.



So, they paid their September payment. and paid their October payment. and it was around October 10th when they received another Notice of Sale. Again, they called Chase, perhaps a little less nervous than the last time the same thing had happened. and wouldn't you know it. another false alarm. it was that darn computer system again. Nothing to worry about, Chase told them. just keep those payments coming.



Oh, but while we've got you on the phone, we need you to send in some current paycheck stubs and other miscellaneous pieces of information, which they did. and then did again. you know the standard operating procedures for servicers by now I'm sure.



I know, it's not Chase's fault. they've reportedly been having trouble hiring minimum wage people for the last three years. Or was it the investor's who won't let them modify? I can never remember which lie was Chase's favorite. Bank of America was having the phone problems. Wells couldn't stop their employees from losing stuff over and over. Yep, Chase was the can't-hire-anyone- and-investors- won't-modify, I'm almost positive.



Right around the third week of October, they come home to find a notice of sale pinned to their front door. Oh my God. they called Chase again. "Oh, just ignore it once again," Chase lied. "You don't have to worry about that, silly, you're under consideration for a loan modification, why would we sell your house?"A few more days and another notice on the door. Chase back on the phone. but this time everything was different. Chase said they were selling their home in ONE HOUR. To stop the sale, they would need to get down to the courthouse with about twenty-five grand. in 55 minutes, 50. 45. 40.



I suppose we needed another vacant home in Anaheim in a hurry, because predictably, the home went back to Fannie Mae at the Trustee Sale. Gone, in the blink of an eye. sold October 21, 2010. just 21 days after they had made their October payment. Chase had told them not to worry. it was just the computer system. no one would sell their home.



And now it was gone.



"We trusted the bank," the Mom says, "like idiots."



The father has a hospital bed in the living room, he requires special care. their daughter. in school close by. eight years old. is that second or third grade?



The couple pleaded with Chase that day on the phone, I can only imagine what that felt like for them on that day. Here's what the mom said to me:



We're not people who simply decided to skip out on our mortgage. We did everything as upright and by the book as we were instructed to do by Chase yet we still lost our home. On the day they took back the property, I called Chase pleading for an alternative to this. Their reply to me was "I suggest you find a new place to live."



The Unlawful Detainer or UD hearing was the next indignity the couple would suffer. and I haven't been able to stop thinking about this next part all week.



With the medical bills they were receiving, and the uncertainty about the future, they didn't feel they could afford a lawyer for the Unlawful Detainer trial. As the date for the UD neared, the husband was still in the hospital; he would be released roughly 48 hours before he would have to be in court.



They found an attorney who would help them and she called the opposing counsel, a lawyer from one of those scum-of-the- earth foreclosure mills that have no doubt been making untold millions intimidating homeowners, already scared to death and almost always without counsel, McCarthy & Holthus. They look like rich young men who don't care at all about what the banks are doing to their neighbors. well, maybe not their neighbors. they probably live in some zillion-dollar beach pad.



(Hey fellas. looking forward to seeing you on Google! If you've been spending money on SEO trying to rank up at the top, I've got outstanding news. I'm going to put you right up there. May not be exactly what you had in mind, but then I don't give a rat's ass what's in your under-developed minds.)



The couple's lawyer asked the McCarthy & Holthus lawyer if there could be a continuance as the husband would be only a day or two out of the hospital.. they said they'd check with Fannie Mae. then said that Fannie said no. I guess Fannie Mae, a bankrupt and tax-payer owned mortgage company really wanted another empty condo in Anaheim.



The lawyer asked, what if the couple comes in and asks the judge for a continuance, would McCarthy & Holthus object? No, she was told, they would not object "vigorously. " So, the couple went to the UD expecting to ask the judge for a continuance, she pushing him in his wheelchair.



As soon as they walked in, another McCarthy & Malthus lawyer, Kevin Mello was walking towards them. As he approached, the couple overheard Kevin say to another, "I'm so sick of all these sob stories."



Oh, no he didn't. Oh, yes he did.



(And boy oh boy, is Kevin going to regret saying that. LOL. Yoohoo, Kevy, baby. you hang in the courthouse right near my house. do you know how lucky you're aren't? I'm actually making a documentary about the foreclosure crisis, and hadn't yet cast the shithead. How lucky is that?)



Mello asked the couple when they could be out of their home. They said that they would need six weeks. Mello made a call and said they could have 30 days. The husband asked to talk to the judge, but our guy Kevin said, "Why, the judge has no authority. he'll tell you to be out in 4 days. the bank has all the authority."



Does it now, Kevin? The bank? Fannie Mae? The scandal-ridden, morally and financially bankrupt, already absorbed into the federal government, Fannie Mae?



Kevin had some papers he said that the couple needed to sign. They said no, they didn't want to sign anything. Kevin said they had no choice. either sign or be out in four days. He put the documents in front of them. they couldn't move his hospital bed in 4 days. they signed. Stipulated to a judgment and waved future claims.When they appeared before the judge, he said that they should be GRATEFUL that the bank gave them 30 days.



When the couple tried to relay the story of the loan modification con job and Chase lying and then the stealing of the home. well, they didn't use those terms, I did, but someone has to, right? Because that's what happened, and I don't give a damn what other factors are involved, that's what happened, sure as shootin'.



And, even though I've been covering the inconceivable tragedy that is the foreclosure crisis, after learning of what happened to this this couple, I couldn't help but wonder how or why this could possibly happen. and no one cared. in this country. and no one cared. Because I know I've been hard on the servicers, and deservedly so, but is it really possible that they are actually inherently evil. are they literally lying to everyone and intentionally try to sabotage the nation? How could that be true? It couldn't, right?



And something occurred to me, something that I had not previously considered. And maybe it's important to consider.



Prior to the last three to four years tops, foreclosures were a very different animal than what we have going on today, but I'm starting to think that maybe a lot of people don't know that. You see, prior to this crisis, foreclosures were exceedingly rare. When someone got into financial trouble they either sold their home, or borrowed against it to get through the storm. But this housing market was pushed off a cliff, the credit markets froze almost overnight, prices fell through the floor and fast. People losing homes today bear no resemblance to the foreclosures of the last 50 years. no resemblance whatsoever.



So, maybe our entire system, including the inadequate and fraudulent documentation, and the incredibly uncaring and incompetent treatment of the homeowners involved. maybe it's happening because we haven't stopped to realize that although today we have foreclosures and years ago we had foreclosures. they really shouldn't be called the same thing because they're not the same thing. In fact, they're so different they shouldn't share the same moniker.



Maybe we should call today's foreclosures, fraudclosures. I mean, like all the time. like as in someone call Webster's. Maybe if our society understood the substantive nature of the distinction, things would improve. no? I think maybe yes. Like, do the bankers think that today we're just having more of the same foreclosures we had years ago. same thing. just more of them? Because that's not the case.



Because in the days before this crisis, you'd never modify a loan. the person who went into foreclosure wasn't a person that anyone would ever consider modifying a loan for, because by the time they went into foreclosure there was no hope for anything but repossession and after that, of course, liquidation was a certainty. That's not a description of today's situation.



Look, what happened to this couple. is it not the kind of thing that you might expect to happen in some totalitarian regime?



So, why is that okay with even one single American? We treat criminals better than this. But today's homeowners aren't losing homes for the same reasons as before, they're not deadbeats, they're victims. And something has to be done to change this, because as sure as I'm sitting here, what's happening is going to end badly and I fear, violently. People are going to get hurt. I don't know how, when or where. but no way does this just keep going and everyone's okay.



Chase's conduct was so offensive that a highly experienced trial attorney agreed to take their case.



A complaint will be filed on Tuesday in Orange County Superior court seeking compensatory and punitive damages.



The couple's lawyer would later ask a McCarthy Holthus lawyer about the apparent preference for coercion and intimidation, and she basically replied by saying, "Hey, look. I'm not their lawyer, I'm the bank's lawyer. If they wanted a lawyer they should have had their own." My words, not hers. but that's what she was saying.



No, I'm sorry McCarthy Holthus. on that point you're entirely wrong. I mean, everyone know you don't need to pay a lawyer when you're applying for a loan modification. just ask the California State Bar, the Attorney General's office. President Obama. come on. everyone knows that.



Mandelman out.



P.S. Hey bloggers. Facebookers. please help me get the word out on this. post, repost, tweet, re-tweet. I'm hoping Chase sees this and stops the eviction. otherwise this couple could be fighting this from a homeless shelter. We can't save everybody, so let's save one at a time.

obama and his sidekick calderon

  I admit up front that I do not like calderon and I have a tendency to not bother capitalizing the names of people that I do not like.  Petty, yeah, but so what.  I do not like calderon, but obama, I curse the ground he touches, the air he breathes.....
  Today on the news I heard him say was that since we caused the problems on the southern border, then we will cure them.  We will inspect any trucks going to Mexico.  He did not say anything about inspecting them coming north though.  Not one damn word.
 Just before that, the moron in chief the same as said we will basically be in a war with libya.
That is what I heard this morning.

Islam and Traitors, both Stupid and Purposeful

  The following article is very good, concise and thoughtful.  A warning to citizens of the direction we are going.  The following article I took from Matt Barber at  http://www.rightsidenews.com/
  There is only one thing that Mr. Barber and I disagree upon.  He believes that this is about radical islam and the goals of those that are considered radical.  Myself, I believe that it encompasses the whole of islam, not just so-called radicals.  The "moderate" muslims, while not outright dangerous , support the radical faction by not openly and loudly fighting against others.  Their acceptance of the "radicals" brands them the same.

Mainstreaming Radical Islam .

Thursday, 24 February 2011 19:39 J. Matt Barber. 
  The term “useful idiot” is believed to have been coined by Vladimir Lenin. It originally described liberal Communist sympathizers in Western nations who, as the Soviet leader explained, would “sell us (Soviet Russia) the rope with which we will hang them (the West).”
Today’s useful idiots are a swath from that same politically correct cloth. They comprise: secular “progressives” (to include the liberal media); pinko anarchists and other Berkeley-types; President Obama and his motley stable of cracked czars and policy advisors; and the majority of Democrats in Congress.
Only the role of “international-villain-bent-on-world-domination” has changed. We’ve gone from the Soviet hammer and sickle to the Islamic crescent moon and star. 
Abraham Lincoln once said: “America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
I submit that our own useful idiots on the American left represent every bit the threat to both this great Republic and her unalienable freedoms as do the Muslim extremists with whom they play footsy. Liberals are the naïve, codependent enablers of a global Islamofascist movement bent on taking-down the “Great Satan” and his “Zionist” ally, Israel.
Although their long-term goals differ significantly, militant “progressives” and radical Islamists have a common mid-range vision: The left seeks to “repeal and replace,” if you will, our Constitutional Republic with a Euro-style secular-socialist utopia. Hard-line Islamists seek to destroy us outright and supplant our government with a global Islamic State.
Exhibit A, of course, is the “Muslim Brotherhood” – a worldwide Islamofascist organization heartily embraced in recent weeks by the mainstream media and the larger “progressive” movement. The Brotherhood, in its own words, seeks to “destroy” our “Western civilization from within…so that it is eliminated and God’s religion (Islam) is made victorious over all other religions.”
Frank Gaffney’s Center for Security Policy explains the group’s objective concisely: “The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928. Its express purpose was two-fold: (1) to implement Shariah worldwide, and (2) to re-establish the global Islamic State (caliphate).”
Although the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations certainly represent a sizeable menace, I think there remains a more subtle, yet equally ominous threat to our way of life.
I recently received an email from the National Muslim Law Students Association promoting an upcoming conference at Penn Law on February 26. As I began to read, my jaw dropped.
The conference is titled: “Constructive Roles for Islamic Law in Western Society.”
“Constructive roles?” I thought. “For Shariah law?” I read further. As it turns out, Asifa Quraishi, a University of Wisconsin law professor and founding member of the National Association of Muslim Lawyers, is to speak.
Among other things, Quraishi has advocated incorporating Shariah law, through “local Muslim tribunals,” into the US judiciary.
In a paper headlined: “No Altars: A Survey of Islamic Family Law in the United States,” she wrote: “The attitude of the US courts to the rise of these tribunals is yet unknown, but there is indication that some judges would welcome the existence of reliable arbiters of Islamic family law issues, and may even be undertaking their own consultation from Muslim authorities in the interim.”
This begs the question: Which parts of Shariah do we incorporate? The provision that renders women chattel to be beaten or killed with impunity? Or how about the death penalty for homosexuals? What about the part offering the choice between conversion to Islam, enslavement or death?
Keep in mind, Quraishi is no fly-by-night radical. She was actually tapped by the Obama administration to accompany Hillary Clinton at last year’s U.N. Commission on the Status of Women.
This is frog in the pot kind of stuff. Whereas violent Islamic terrorists might prefer to take-out toady with a suicide bomber, more “moderate” Islamists appear to favor bringing down Western civilization from within by turning up the heat ever-so-slowly. And they’re using liberal academia and our own constitutional freedoms to do it.
This mainstreaming of radical Islam, to include Shariah law, has prompted lawmakers in Oklahoma to pass – and 13 other states to introduce – laws blocking consideration of Shariah by judges on the bench. Not a bad idea when you consider that five of nine US Supreme Court Justices have admitted weighing international law while ruling on cases.
Yes, the useful idiots will, no doubt, call me an intolerant “Islamophobe” for questioning the irrefutable desire, shared by Muslims of many stripes, to impose global caliphate upon the international “infidel” collective.
That’s because they’re idiots.
Indeed, if the American left has its way, we may just “tolerate” ourselves right out of existence.
Matt Barber (jmattbarber@comcast.net) is an attorney concentrating in constitutional law. He serves as Vice President of Liberty Counsel Action. Facebook/jmattbarber / Twitter/@jmattbarber 

Remember The Alamo, and America

   I am a Texian born in Missouri.  A Texan by choice and values.  Here I have gotten old and here I will die.  I believe in the old truths, ideals, and opinions of Texas and Texans. 
During the Alamo, Travis wrote a letter.  Here is a portion of it below.

Commandancy of the Alamo—
Bejar, Fby. 24th 1836—

To the People of Texas & all Americans in the world—

Fellow citizens & compatriots—
I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna—I have sustained
a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man—The enemy
has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if
the fort is taken—I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves
proudly from the walls—I shall never surrender or retreat Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & every thing dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch—The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier
who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country
Victory or Death

William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. comdt

 

  Texans used to stand for something.  Davy Crockett once told congress “you go to hell, I’m going to Texas.”  Has Texas been subjugated by liberals, left wingers, anti Americans, and others who do not believe is our way of life?  We do not fight back.  We lay down here and take what we are given.  We are ruled by people in Washington D.C. that think only of themselves and their purpose, a purpose that means no good to this country and is of no use.  Texas used to be a Republic.  It became a state with the understanding that if need be, we would secede from that union.  I do not know if that is still possible.  Texas has been inundated with enemies of Texas and the country.  Our capital, Austin, is considered a liberal city.  How does that happen?  It happens because fools from other states, bring ideas and plans that did not work on the west coast or in the northeast, but for some reason think they will work here.   How stupid is that?  We are surrounded with stupid  and selfish people, they breed, and they vote.

During elections, the polsters claim that how one state or another votes, there goes the country.  Here is my prediction.  Whatever happens to Texas foreshadows the life of America.

P.S.  If this offends you too bad.  I refuse to be politically correct to anyone.

Michelle Obama, Useless but Very Expensive

Below is a list of Michele Obama's personal staff:  No, you did not vote for any of these people and no, you have no say-so in what they do or what they are paid.  You will just pay.
  This list may have changed since I got it, but you will get an idea of what this is even if the names are outdated.  I may have missed some also, but here is a start.

  Did you vote for this bimbo? Me neither, and I can think of nothing nice to say about her.

1. $172,200 - Sher, Susan (Chief Of Staff)
In 2002, Michelle Obama became the Executive Director for Community Affairs at UCMC. Interestingly, Susan Sher, who hired Michelle for the UCMC gig, currently serves as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff at the White House. Shortly after Barack Obama was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, Michelle received a promotion to become the Vice President for Community and External Affairs. Also serving on the board during this time was Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to the Obama administration.
In this new position, one of Michelle’s top priorities was to solve a problem of too many poor patients or those on Medicare and Medicaid clogging the emergency room at UCMC. To deal with this problem, Michelle helped create the Southside Health Collaborative. This project served to provide a way to shuttle away patients to other medical clinics to receive care. This was blatant patient dumping.
As the program grew, Southside Health Collaborative eventually changed its name to the Urban Health Initiative. After hiring David Axelrod’s public relations firm, the name was changed again.

2. $140,000 - Frye, Jocelyn C. (Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy And Projects For The First Lady)

3. $113,000 - Rogers, Desiree G. (Special Assistant to the President and White
House Social Secretary for Mrs. Obama)

4. $102,000 - Johnston, Camille Y. (Special Assistant to the President==== and
Director of Communications for the> First Lady)

5. $100,000 - Winter, Melissa E. (Special Assistant to the President and Deputy
Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

6. $90,000 - Medina , David S. (Deputy Chief Of Staff to the First Lady)

7. $84,000 - Lelyveld, Catherine M. (Director and Press Secretary to the First
Lady)

8. $75,000 - Starkey, Frances M. (Director of Scheduling and Advance for the
First Lady)

9. $70,000 - Sanders, Trooper (Deputy Director of Policy and Projects for the
First Lady)

10. $65,000 - Burnough, Erinn J. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)

11. $64,000 - Reinstein, Joseph B. (Deputy Director and Deputy Social Secretary)

12. $62,000 - Goodman, Jennifer R. (Deputy Director of Scheduling and Events
Coordinator For The First Lady)

13. $60,000 - Fitts, Alan O. (Deputy Director of Advance and Trip Director for
the First Lady)

14. $57,500 - Lewis, Dana M. (Special Assistant and Personal Aide to the First
Lady)

15. $52,500 - Mustaphi, Semonti M. (Associate Director and Deputy Press
Secretary To The First Lady)

16. $50,000 - Jarvis, Kristen E. (Special Assistant for Scheduling and Traveling
Aide To The First Lady)

17. $45,000 - Lechtenberg, Tyler A. (Associate Director of Correspondence For
The First Lady)

18. $43,000 - Tubman, Samantha (Deputy Associate Director, Social Office)

19. $40,000 - Boswell, Joseph J. (Executive Assistant to the Chief Of Staff to
the First Lady)

20. $36,000 - Armbruster, Sally M. (Staff Assistant to the Social Secretary)

21. $35,000 - Bookey, Natalie (Staff Assistant)

22. $35,000 - Jackson, Deilia A. (Deputy Associate Director of Correspondence
For the First Lady)

And we must not forget makeup artist Ingrid Grimes-Miles, 49, and "First
Hairstylist" Johnny Wright, 31, both of whom traveled aboard Air Force One to
Europe .

Call of the Tyrant or History is Written by the Winners, Not the Losers

  The following article I took from http://a4cgr.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/01-574/
I have often had the same idea, although I never had any idea it might go back so far.  This article has a ring of truth to it that I find disturbing.  It is not something I want to believe.  I am researching this for myself.  Much of it, I had no idea.

The Call of the Tyrant


by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

Clyde Wilson makes an important distinction between nationalism and patriotism: A patriot is someone who loves his country and its people. A nationalist, on the other hand, loves government and all its powers. He worships "national glory," "national greatness," and myriad other governmental schemes and crimes. All nationalists who assume political office are tyrants to some degree, since they aspire to use the coercive powers of the state to regulate, control, direct, punish, brainwash, conscript, or kill the citizens whom they rule. There is a scale of tyranny, ranging from the mere welfare/warfare statist who taxes half of his citizens' income to keep himself and his friends in power with the help of the poverty and war industries, respectively, to the mass-murdering tyrants like Stalin, Hitler (the National Socialist), Mao, and Pol Pot.


One thing that all tyrants have in common is that they all claim that what they are doing, no matter how heinous, is all done in the name of "national unity." Of course, they get to define what goals the entire nation is supposed to be "unified" over, whether it be communism, fascism, or democracy in Iraq.

Of course, "national unity" is a myth, for it implies unanimity. No modern society could ever be unanimously in favor of anything. "National unity" is merely a propaganda tool that has long been successfully used to dupe the public into acquiescing in tyranny for the benefit of the political class. Its purpose is to convince a gullible public that what is in the self-interest of only a small political cabal is really in the best interest of the entire nation.

Tremendous resources have been devoted to creating and spreading this myth through the government-run schools, the media, churches, and elsewhere in many countries around the world. America began as a "league of friendship" among the thirteen original states who formed a loose confederacy for their mutual benefit. The purpose of the confederacy was indeed to be unified but for only a very few purposes. The delegated powers of the Constitution that are in Article I, Section 8 are mostly for foreign policy purposes, for example; the Tenth Amendment left all other powers in the hands of the people or the states.



The system of federalism that was enshrined in the original Constitution did not call for "national unity" for anything but a few very carefully defined and very limited functions. This was all but abolished in 1865 when federalism or "states rights" was swept away. Without the rights of secession and nullification, and with the federal government, through the Supreme Court, becoming the sole decision maker regarding what the limits of governmental powers were to be, government in America became monopolistic and essentially unlimited. Indeed, the Republican Party held a virtual monopoly of political power at the federal level for almost all of the period from 1861 to 1913.



The myth of "national unity" had to be invented in order to disguise this monopoly of power and its tyrannical implications. Furthermore, this myth had to become part of America's new "civil religion" along with the legend of Abraham Lincoln and various other tall tales that would be taught to generations of school children. The very first effort with regard to the creation of the myth of national unity was to write the Official History of America in the 1860s in a way that suggested there was national unity in the Northern states when they waged total war on their fellow citizens in the Southern states, killing some 350,000 of them, including 50,000 civilians according to James McPherson. After 150 years this myth had become so ingrained in the American mind that when the Washington Post reviewed the Martin Scorsese movie "Gangs of New York," which included a scene about the New York City draft riots of 1863, the reviewer expressed astonishment to learn that this was actually a real event. "We were all taught in school that there was national unity during the civil war," he said in amazement.



Well, yes we all were. But it doesn't take much digging to destroy the myth. As a start, I would recommend the book Desertion During the Civil War by Ella Lonn, first published in 1928 and re-published in 1998 by Bison Books. In the 1998 introduction the author, William Blair, writes that "public memory considers the war largely a popular one, with a united public supporting its loyal fighting men who sacrificed all for the cause." But Professor Lonn, who taught at Goucher College in Baltimore, proves that this "public memory" is all a lie by documenting that some 200,000 Northern men, one out of seven in the entire U.S. Army, deserted. Her "perfect source," says Blair, was the U.S. government publication, The War of the Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies.



Professor Lonn caused quite a stink in her day, as one would expect. Not only did she document massive desertion in the Union army, but she also portrayed "the Southern cause as attempting to win independence from an oppressive, centralized government," writes William Blair. Nevertheless, her book was still very well received. Totalitarian political correctness had not yet infected all of American society as it does today.



How and why tens of thousands of Northern men said "no" to Lincoln's military invasion of his own country in the name of "national unity" is told in chapter and verse. Some men "deliberately enlisted in the Union forces in order to be carried South on to Confederate soil in order more easily to cross the lines and join the Confederates." In the border states about half of the men in the U.S. Army deserted. Many took advantage of sick leave and furloughs to leave the army for good. An entire Pennsylvania regiment simply refused to go to West Virginia when ordered. After being coerced onto a train, over 100 of them jumped off. Many Northern men refused to cross their state lines, seeing it as a violation of their enlistment agreements, and eventually deserted.



There were thousands of "bounty jumpers" who, because of "the large and numerous bounties given to volunteers," were induced "to desert for the purpose of reenlisting, or to enlist when the recruit knew that he had no intention of remaining in the field." Many of the bounty jumpers were from "the large Eastern cities" where many of the men in the Union Army were "raked in" by the Lincoln regime despite the fact that they were "criminals, bullies, pickpockets, and vagrants." A great many of them "enlisted under fictitious names, such as Abe Lincoln, Johnny Boker, or Jim Crow."



There were also secret organizations in the Northern states that discouraged enlistment (Lincoln's abolition of free speech in the North required secrecy of all dissenters to the war). "The existence of disloyal organizations through the North is notorious," wrote Professor Lonn. The massive desertions by Union solders were "disgusting to the rebels themselves," wrote one Union soldier.



Although General McClellan had 180,000 men on his official roster prior to the Battle of Antietam (a.k.a., Sharpsburg), he had no more than 90,000 during the battle itself, Professor Lonn remarks. General Sherman reported 70,000 men missing during the Battle of Shiloh.



In June of 1862 General Buell reported from Tennessee that 14,000 officers and soldiers were "absent" from his command. When General Hooker took command of the Army of the Potomac in January of 1863, "desertions were occurring at the rate of several hundred a day." About 25 percent of his army was "absent" according to the Official Records. There was still massive desertion taking place as late as the spring of 1865.



"Tender-hearted" Lincoln oversaw a government in which "executions [of deserters] were taking place almost daily in the Army of the Potomac." General Halleck complained to Lincoln that "hundreds of officers were almost continually absent from their commands" and that about 200 more were absent without leave every month.



According to the Official Records there were 100,000 deserters from the Union Army in 1862 alone. When General Hooker took control of the army he found that 2,923 commissioned officers were missing along with 82,188 non-commissioned officers and privates. General Halleck computed that one-third of the entire army was "absent." The largest numbers of deserters were from New York, followed by Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey.



Among the methods used by Union soldiers to desert were: taking advantage of the confusion of battle; purposeful capture by the Confederates; escaping while on the march; jumping from trains; riding off on their cavalry horses; deserting the picket line; hiding in suttler's wagons; pretending to be teamsters; and posing as telegraph repairmen.



Once the conscription law was passed and enforced in 1863, draftees were "held like veritable prisoners . . . so as to prevent their untimely departure." They were enslaved, in other words. The kind, gentle, tender-hearted, and long-suffering Lincoln ruled over a government "that had no compunctions about shooting or hanging deserters" who "resisted arrest." After a cabinet meeting on February 3, 1863 at which desertion was discussed, General Hooker temporarily "repressed desertion" with mass executions of deserters in front of the troops. "Why did they not begin this process long ago?" questioned General Meade.



The mass murder of deserters apparently achieved Nazi-like efficiency. "A gallows and shooting-ground were provided in each corps and scarcely a Friday passed during the winter of 1863—64 that some wretched deserter did not suffer the death penalty in the Army of the Potomac." Moreover, "the death penalty was so unsparingly used that executions were almost daily occurrences in most of the armies."



Soldiers were forced to watch these daily executions of their friends and comrades in the form of an official ceremony. "The condemned men marched out between the two ranks of the regiment, preceded by the musicians, playing a funeral march. The provost guard, as an escort, carried the coffin. The victim was conducted to the edge of the grave, which had already been dug. After the sentence was read, he was seated, blindfolded, and placed upon a board at the foot of the open coffin, into which he fell backwards when the firing squad had discharged its sad duty." The "method of execution" was "generally shooting [but] hanging seems to have been used occasionally."



Even Professor Lonn herself was apparently deceived during her education by the myth of national unity. "It is hard for us today to realize," she wrote, "how much disunion and division of sentiment there was in the North during the war."

Sputnik? What?

The president, visiting North Carolina's Research Triangle Monday, called on businesses and lawmakers to help America achieve the next "Sputnik moment"  "That was a wake-up call," Obama said. "Once we put our minds to it, once we got focused, once we got unified, not only did we surpass the Soviets -- we developed new American technologies, industries and jobs."  
  "WE"?  What do you mean by we barry?  Why are you referencing old russian advances?  Why do you not reference so much that has been done by the United States?  Who walked on the moon? how many shuttle flights have there been?   Oh, I get it.  If there had been a muslim on the moon landing you would have been sure to bring that up.  Since it was "ordinary" Americans that have most of the advances over the last 200 years you cannot stand mentioning it.

Foreign Aid to our Enemies

OK, now we have hezbollah in charge of the lebanese government. This groupis considered an iranian terrorist group by the U.S.  They took our money, slap us in the face and accept hezbollah and sharia law. We have sent millions  of dollars to this country each year.  So I can assume that the foreign aid to this country is now cut off?
Are we going to continue sending aid, only now it will go to an enemy of America and freeminded individual?
I have a sick suspicion that our money will continue to go there.

How we are paying China back

  I got the following from another website.  I really cannot vouch for accuracy.  I do not know who the 2nd amendment committee is.  There are three kinds of accuracy.  Accuracy of content, intent, and what accually occurs.
  This sort of thing was going on for most of the past Executive Administrations, not just obama.  It has just gotten worse now though.

"THE BROOKS REPORT"


SO THIS IS WHAT OBAMA AND THE CHINESE WHERE UP TO, SEND THIS TO EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST, WRITE LETTERS TO THE EDITOR AND GET THE WORD OUT...VIRGINIA
THANKS
TO:
From: Second Amendment Committee
To: Second Amendment Committee
Sent: Sunday, January 23, 2011 3:24 PM
Subject: URGENT! URGENT! READ IMMEDIATELY! URGENT!

This is an urgent message! Read this and spread the word! Subject: Foreign Trade Zones. This is unbelievable at first, but you will soon realize that there are several motives for the global communists to physically weave our United States territory together with communist China. Read On! Here's what is going on!  Each and every one of our state governors has approved and allocated a certain amount of acres of their U.S. state land to be inhabited by Chinese communists --communists straight from China! They are to set up little towns and live here, supposedly for the purpose of producing Chinese products for sale in the U.S.A. The land the states are giving them for their little towns will be considered "foreign territory"!! ! We are told that the laws of the state (in which these Chinese communists dwell) will apply to the communist Foreign Trade Zone (FTZ). Comment: If so, why are they allowed in here!??! Isn't the whole set up unlawful??? There are 257 of these little communist towns to be built all over the United States. Go to this website and see the list of the states, and how many FTZ's are to be erected in each and every state! Our nation is being peppered all over with these communist closed towns called "zones"! This insane brainstorm by Washington, D.C. officials was just recently discovered by alert citizens in the State of Idaho, where an FTZ is being built there, just south of Boise, Idaho, possibly 30,000 acres of Idaho is going to be used for that FTZ. Check this site quickly before it is removed:  http://ia.ita/. doc.gov/ftzpage/ letters/ftzlist- map.html.  When you get to this website, be prepared by having enough paper to print 40 pages, listing all the FTZ's to be built over the whole United States! 257 of these FTZ's! It is absolute insanity!! How gullible are we??? The excuse given for creating communist towns all over our nation is that these Chinese people will produce products for sale in the United States, and the FTZ will eliminate overseas shipping costs of the products they create! A bizarre excuse!!! Can't we manufacture our own products anymore with American workers? How foolish are we to allow this??? Remember the hard-learned lesson taught to gullible people back in ancient times, when the Trojan Horse was built and they pulled it past their protective gates??? Do we Americans look THAT STUPID to the Chinese and to our Washington,D. C. leaders???
It will not mean jobs for Americans. All the help will be Chinese! Besides, it is to be classed as "foreign territory", remember! You won't know what is really going on inside the enclave. Is there any danger for Americans to allow this? What do you think?!!! It is a known fact that China has been preparing for war against the United States! Many guns are pointed at us. Why should these FTZ's be allowed??? What is the real reason?? Is it that Washington, D.C. needs foreign help to disarm American citizens (who have
privately-owned firearms) so that the federal administration can comply with Public Law 87-297, signed into law by J.F. Kennedy for "general and complete disarmament of the United States"? It is a law continually financed by Washington, D.C. That's the law that calls for us to have no more army, no more navy, and no more air force, all of which is to be transferred over on a permanent basis to the communist-dominated United Nations! That law also prohibits all firearms from being owned by American citizens!
Without firearms, there will be no more liberty, freedom, or justice in government. Guns are the main core of the check and balance system. Our nation's founders realized that firearms in the possession of the people are the indispensible safeguard upon which all of the other rights in the "Bill of Rights" depend! That's why the Second Amendment was meant to be honored, treasured, and preserved!
Some people are wondering if the American land in these FTZ's is being given as collateral for the huge debt we owe to China? Some people are asking: "Does China own us and is our land collateral in case we don't pay the debt?" China is allowing American businesses to get established in China as FTZ's. Americans must build the structures in China, and they must employ all Chinese people to do the work in what is built there. After a short amount of years, the Americans must vacate, leave the buildings and let the Chinese keep the technology and the active operation as on-going. What this amounts to is transferring American technology and management to communist China.
FTZ's are also known as SEZ's (Special Economic Zones)
Please relay this information to all your friends. Someone has to answer for this on state and federal levels! What a set-up for sabotage, espionage, and a study on how to take over the whole United States in a war! Because the newspapers and other media are controlled, they will not be reporting on this unless there is a great public outcry. Remember when being a communist was a punishable crime in the U.S.A. My, how we have changed! Complete reversal. Best to take this information to local public officials as well as all your contacts. Please do not delay spreading this information. Check with Idaho Eagle Forum also for updates
 http://www.eagleforum.org/

China slaps America by obama's invitation

  Or he has no idea.  During the recent White House State Dinner, a chinese pianist was allowed to play a very insulting antiAmerican piece.  It was from the Korean war era and in it Americans are called jackals.
  This happens because the White House protocol office is run by a moronic obama kisser, not someone that knows what they are doing.

Constitutionalist

  While watching Glenn Beck this afternoon he said something that kind of caught me off guard.  He classed me in the same group as the Oklahoma City bomber.  He said this guy was a Constitutionalist.
  Glenn, you are on the wrong medications again.  This guy was a nut case. I consider myself a Constitutionalist.  I believe that anyone that does not support the complete document is a traitor.  How about that Beck?

CENSORSHIP

   I just found myself censoring what I had written.  That action, by itself, is a pitiful thing to be doing. 
I was quoting a couple of blogs about the shootings in Arizona and other people arrested around the country for making vocal threats.  I censored it in order to insure that no one got the impression that I was threatening anyone.
  ok, lets take it all a couple of steps farther. 
If you belong to the NRA or other like minded organizations, then you should be arrested.  Membership is an implied threat to anyone.
If you have ever refused the advances of a homosexual, you should be arrested for hate crimes.  How dare you.
If you have ever been against islam then you should be arrested for hates crimes and fomenting violence.
If you have ever served in the armed forces, you should immediately be jailed as that is an admission of guilt to be willing to commit violence.
If you are against liberals, left wingers, or democrats you are a biased individual.  Probably guilty of hate crimes.
If you ever thought about killing anyone for any reason, you are guilty if a hate crime.
  If you are guilty of a hate crime, you are guilty of being human.

Useless Congressional Leaders

   A few years ago, I was blogging about how bad Bush was.  I have actually not been happy with any of our presidents except for President Reagan.  In my mind they have all been bad or really bad.  I learned at a young age that most of them were crooked liars.  When I was in VietNam we were told that Sealand Corporation belonged to ladybird johnson, the presidents wife.   And it just so happened that all the civilian trucking was done with Sealand tractor trailers there.  It seemed like it to us anyway.  So we took exception to that.  So we had Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Clinton......pretty much the worse people  on the planet.  No wonder I became a conservative.
  There is a difference this time though.  Before, most people lined up and supported the president anyway once he was elected.  Not this time.  I cannot support anyone like obama.  The lefties and libs will yell and say I am a racist but that really has nothing to do with it.  They have to accuse anyone that disagrees with them.  That is the way they are. 
  I don't like or trust him.  All his records are locked away from our view.  Don't even know if he really graduated from college or not.  His records are sealed.  He could remove all the arguments and make the birthers look like comjplkete idiots if he would just release all his records.  It seems simple to me.  Everything is sealed up though, so many of us wonder what he is hiding.
  There is that and a little matter about his religion. 

Enough about my year and playing nice nice

Ok, I covered my year in the previous few entries. I did not start this blog to talk about me. This blog concerns freedom, America, our rights, threats to our freedom, our enemies….and since it is my blog, it also covers my opinion.


To clarify my viewpoint and insure that I am not misunderstood, know that I am a right wing conservative American. I believe in my country and do not much care about others. I also am completely against the “one world” idea. The united nations is a black hole our money goes into, and just as useful as the majority of our own politicians. This country was formed and based on the Christian religion by conservatives. That is a fact that many forget.

I am not tolerant of stupid people or traitors, nor am I apologetic for it either. You have a right to your own opinion, as do I. However, subverting the Constitution or Bill of Rights places you in the camp of an enemy of this country.

Life

  I found out a long time ago that Life is what happens when you are trying to make plans.
Every once in a while though I get reminded and it surprises me every time.
  So yesterday I had a doctors appointment to get my pacemaker checked.  Yeah....and all of a sudden the guys asks me "Has it been beeping?"  What kind of a question is that?
  Turns out that the battery in it was almost dead.  The doctor said I can do it today, change it out.  It takes 20 minutes and you will be home tonight.  Ok, I am already there and I did not want to but it seemed the easy way. lol  After while he comes back and says one of the leads is also fractured and they will have to replace it also.  Oh yeah, now we are spending the night.
  So I had it done, it took two hours under the knife.  It went ok, for a surgery.  Today before they let me come home, a nurse ripped the hell out of my skin on my shoulder and chest removing tape.  I finally got away from them though.
  Thank you Lord.

A Reason to Leave Afghanistan

  I got up for work on 2 November and was feeling really wierd.  I cannot even describe it.  I was feeling so bad that I got some friends to take me to the hosptial clinic. The only thing I remember is we got there and some officer kept arguing with me.  He wanted to know if I was retired military or not.  That is all I remember.
  I woke up on the 14th, in a hospital in Houston.  That is really all I know for sure.
  It seems that I was operated on in Afghanistan, sent to Landshtul, germany, then to Houston.  After the surgery, they put me in a medically induced coma to heal.  That is what they tell me anyway.  I know nothing about that.  All I do remember is the worst PTSD attack I have ever had, and I think it went on until I woke up.  They had me strapped down because I was violent.  I have written out what happened during that period, maybe I will post it, maybe not. It is crazy. 
  Anyway, I am healing and recovering from the surgery and everything.  It seems I had a blockage in my femoral artery that blew up.  It is very lucky for me that they seemed to know what they were doing.  Somehow they brought me back and very quickly fixed me up.  In another month or so I will need to find a job or try to go back overseas.  We will see how that goes.  So now I am in the states with a lot of free time on my hands. 

August 2010 - Traveling Some More

  I finally left Kandahar.  But then I immediately found myself on a flight to Mazar E Sharif.  That is located in the far north of Afghanistan, across the mountains.  I thought it might be cooler there, was I ever mistaken.  It is across the mountains, not in the mountains, and much hotter.
  The purpose for me going was to meet the military there, make contacts, and start preparations for setting up a regional support center.  I took a new employee with me.  She was supposed to stay up there.  It is a nice place and seems pretty quiet.  There are German, American, and Norwegian troops there.  They say you can actually get a beer at the german mess hall.  I did not get a chance to check it out though.
  After getting there, we got a ride with the Seabees tp Camp Span.  It is about an hour from Mazar E Sharif.  We then took a convoy in a Cougar. That is a style of MRAP that is very well armored.  We got there without any problems.
  The next day, the sergeant major took us to the building sites in his humvee.  I did not realize that it was outside the gates.  It was too late to change anything so I just crossed my fingers.  The company does not let us outside the gates without prior approval and arms.  All I had was my pocket knife.  It was uneventful and we saw what we needed to.
  After a couple of days wandering around we went back to Bagram.  I got a lot of pictures of the local people there and their markets.  I normally do not get to see the towns.

Kandahar

   I have not added anything to this blog in a few months.  The next few posts will mostly be about the past year, and not much in the way of politics.  This last year pretty much kicked my rear end.  I spent the first six months working my normal job in Afghanistan.  The only problem was dodging periodic rocket attacks, which were not really a problem.
  In July, I had to go to kandahar for a month.  Kandahar is a hotter place than Bagram.  It is so crowded with NATO troops that sleeping arrangements are lousy.  Food is great though.  The British mess hall there cannot be beat.  It is extremely clean and the food is great!  So a lot of times, for lunch, we would go over there.  There was also a dutch restaurant called Echos. The first time I saw it I was amazed. It is an indoor sit down restaurant.  A real nice place although pricey.  Of course, most of us were willing to pay.
Kandahar is also a lot dustier. There are a lot of dust devils there.  There are a couple of places where they would form in the exact same place everyday.  Some of them were small and some were very large. Weird looking things.  They are just tornadoes of brown dust.
Kandahar has many more rocket attacks than Bagram.  It seemed like we had one every day, sometimes twice.  After a while, you get so used to them that you notice them, but you keep on doing what you were before hand.  We rarely went into the bunkers.  I always figured that if I was hearing the sirens, then they already missed me.