The Man I Might Have Killed

Posted on 2012-11-27 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

The dedication page of my new book reads: To the man I had to shoot to save my life.

Yes, you read it right. I’ve already had to shoot a man in self defense. Here’s the story.

In 1982 I was living alone at the edge of a small desert town in Southern California. It wasn’t the best of neighborhoods and I was moving the very next day to a better area. Sometimes your luck just runs out.

I woke up about midnight, hearing angry voices outside at the back of the house. There was no fence and people often wandered around at night, but their argument seemed to be escalating and getting closer so I got up and put on a robe. My little dog was barking up a storm.

Looking out the front window, I saw a man standing by the front door of my car on the street, obviously trying to get into it and well illuminated by the full moon.

I got the shotgun and opened the door a crack, then shouted at the man to get away from my car and go away. He just looked at me and went on trying to get into the car.

Then I made a big mistake.

I walked out onto the sidewalk, closing the door behind me to keep the little dog from getting out.

At that point the man started to walk toward me, in a few words telling me just how he would hurt me. I raised the shotgun, but he just sneered and said confidently, “you won’t shoot me” and kept coming.

He was still too close to my car, so I aimed the .410 shotgun just over his head and pulled the trigger.

I saw the shocked look, just before I saw the blood on his face and chest where the tiny #6 birdshot had hit him. He turned and ran away, destroying a low ornamental fence in the process, but never even slowing to untangle it from his legs.

Elapsed time? Probably not more than half a minute from the time I walked out the door until he fled. The time between his sneering comment and pulling the trigger? Probably a few seconds. The car was no more than 20 – 25 feet from the door.

Emergencies happen fast. I basically had a choice between shooting at him or being killed, with not much time to make up my mind. I was lucky to have the gun, to have taken it to the door with me, and lucky to know something about firing it. Some miracle had made me keep it loaded the two years since I’d left the farm where it had been used on squirrels and other varmints.

Shaking and almost sick to my stomach, I went back into the house and locked the door… made sure every window was locked and took a long hot shower. I had no phone, so could call nobody. Since the sheriff’s office was 32 miles distant, calling them would have been a joke anyway. Everyone in that town just had to live with that fact. I never did report it, not being at all sure what their reaction would be. He obviously didn’t die, and didn’t report it either.

Eventually I went back to bed and tried hard not to think about any of it. As with most things we don’t want to face, I mostly succeeded.

It was almost 25 years, and a few self defense classes later when I realized all of the mistakes I’d made and how close I came to death or terrible injury that night. I was very, very lucky things turned out as they did. And he was very lucky I hadn‘t aimed that gun straight at him.

What were my mistakes?

1. I went from a relatively secure position in the house to a seriously exposed position on the front walk. I basically cut off my only avenue of retreat when I shut the door.

Since there had been others arguing with him only minutes before, there was every reason to suspect he was not alone and that others could have attacked me from behind. It just never crossed my mind… Actually, I was sure he would run away as soon as I shouted, or at least as soon as he saw the gun.

Once I was under attack, understanding my peril and scared to death, I suffered from “tunnel vision.” I was completely unable to see or hear anything but the threat in front of me. I probably no longer even heard the dog barking furiously in the house. This is very common under such stress and can only be overcome with serious training and practice.

2. My gun held only one shell at a time, and I had no others with me. If he had continued to attack after I’d foolishly shot over his head, he would probably have killed me. It is highly unlikely I’d have had time to reload anyway.

3. My major mistake was in confronting him, without knowing what to do and especially without an adequate weapon.

So, should we all just cower in the house or allow ourselves to be attacked and robbed? Only you can answer that for yourself. I did what I thought I had to do at the time, and I would again. If there is a next time, however, I won’t make the same mistakes.

In the course of my training I’ve given this all a great deal of thought. I was amazed and unhappy to discover that many of the handgun and self defense classes seem to ignore or gloss over one of the most important parts of helping people prepare for just such an encounter: practice on your own.

Skills take time to develop and a class or two for a few hours can begin the process, but can’t provide the ongoing practice required to cement those skills into the reflexes and muscle memory needed for fast, effective action under stress. If you understand how the mind and body works under this kind of stress, you’ll understand why you must be prepared to react instead of trying to remember what it is you’re supposed to be doing or agonizing over a decision when you may have only seconds to live if you don’t ACT immediately.

This book of practical exercises grew out of that perceived lack. These are the exercises I do myself on a regular basis, and teach to all of my classes. I believe that these exercises could make the difference between a successful defense and death or serious injury. It’s too important not to at least consider.

A man (or anyone) who attacked me today would face a calm, confident, prepared and VERY well armed woman – any time of the day or night. I would hope that he was able to perceive his disadvantage and just go away.

Some would, and some would not.

His choice.

I’ve already made mine.

[The book, “I Am NOT A Victim” is no longer available.]

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-50B: Culture wars and more

Posted on 2012-11-27 by TPOL Nathan

A medley of news this morning!

Nazgul-in-chief? – Culture wars|Justice Ginsburg: We Need An All-Female Supreme Court
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan et al: Stupid!  My younger son agrees with her; he says that is great, so that the country can tear itself apart even faster.  (He points out that one reason females tend to end up in the lower parts of society is because they act so stupid when in authority!)  Debby points out we need a fair and honest court, and that isn’t going to happen, whatever sex they pretend to be.  Do Nazgul have sexes?  Ah, for self-governing instead of having these blackrobes and all their ilk.

Mama’s Note: Tell younger son that it is the exercise of power over other people that generates stupidity, regardless of gender. Nobody should have that power, of course.

Congress in action – Theft by government
Read Sen. Levin’s Lips: Republicans Must Break Their Tax Pledge
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: As do several other GOP types: they are more greedy for power and wealth than for honor and ethical behavior.  They seem to think that people are even more stupid than we are.

Culture wars: No Xmas – Europe’s Fall
Sweden’s Dreaming of a Gender-Neutral Christmas
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Must be friends with that idiot of an governor of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.  He ticked everyone off last year by renaming a Christmas Tree a “Holiday Tree” (supposedly to be “inclusive in honor of Rhode Island’s traditions” but THIS year, he just gave up on the tree-lighting ceremony entirely.  Now, I recall from elementary school that Sweden’s big contribution to Euro-American Christmas traditions was Santa Lucia – who just happens to be one of the relatively few female characters involved with Northern European Christmas.  (Of course, I have always understood that the entire idea about Christmas was that a virgin FEMALE gave birth to a Son – so what is there that needs to be made “gender neutral?”  This is another example of the Tranzi mindset: majoring in minors and minoring in majors.

Mama’s Note: Seems to me that the people of the world have one or two problems that do not involve the gender of their holiday figures, but far too many people are thus easily distracted.

Stupid government – First Citizen’s minions
Republican Critics of Susan Rice Ease Opposition to Naming Her Secretary of State
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Ah so – I think the GOP is trying to see just how many different ways they can wimp out:  it appears that the GOP is going to finally and officially roll over and do anything the White House and their “opponents” want – instead of just sneaking around and doing it.

Mama’s Note: Well, I’m sure that will be a big relief to all of those politicians who just hate sneaking around…  Oh, wait!

Nah… I doubt there will be any real reduction in sneaking, just perhaps some new sneaky agendas.

Theft by government -Government-ruined, Theft-funded schools
One Third of Schools Receiving Stimulus-Funded ‘Student Improvement Grants’ Showed Declines
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Duh!  You get more of what you subsidize.  You subsidize school failures and guess what!  You get MORE school failures.  For too many teachers, not just the union goons, it is all about the money.  How do you maximize the money you get to control (not just your salary and benefits)?  By FAILING so that the politicians (backed by a stupid electorate) throw MORE money at you.

East Asian Front – Stupid government
S. Korean Defense Minister on N. Korea: ‘Confront Them with a Club and Defeat Them’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Do I hear a wee bit of frustration in this?  Imagine if it were North and South Dakota divided by a DMZ with families split on both sides: family members in the North starving to death or nearly, and freezing in the winter because the elite take all the wood and coal, while in the South we are comfortable and prospering: the night lights up only on the south side of the border.  The temptation to end the suffering in the North would be very great.

Meanwhile, the Chinese Communist Party did not understand that The Onion is a satirical publication and was making fun when they declared Kim Jong Un the “sexiest man alive” and put out a special 50-page photo spread of the poor geek (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2239121/China-newspaper-The-Peoples-Daily-accidentally-declares-Kim-Jong-Un-sexiest-man-alive.html) What fun!  Communist apparatchiks have NO sense of humor.

Mama’s Note: Oh, this is hysterical. I’ll bet, however, that some Chinese editor somewhere is seriously contemplating the afterlife. These folks don’t seem to have much of a sense of humor.

Home Front
Gun Violence Rising in Media not in Reality
(Political Outcast) An increase in reportings by the media of gun-related violence does not mean that there has been an actual increase in incidents. In fact, violent crime in the U.S. (murder, rape, robbery and assault) actually went down four percent in 2011 compared with the previous year. It’s been going down for the past six years, and last year was the lowest it had been since 2006. It’s dropped twelve  percent since then. Naturally, since the Left will never concede intellectually on the gun control debate, the one thing they can do is just report more incidents to give the impression that more guns equals more crime.

The other side of the coin is that gun ownership is up. Forbes pointed out that call-ins to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) have steadily increased over the past decade:  ”Over the last 10 years (from 2002 to 2011) there has been a 54.1 percent rise in the number of NICS checks and the increase hasn’t all taken place since 2008. In 2005 there were 8,952,945 NICS checks. In 2006 the number topped 10 million. In 2007 NICS checks pushed passed 11 million. In 2008 NICS checks passed 12 million, and then hit the 14 million mark in 2009. They increased slightly (4 percent) through 2011.” We’ve all seen these familiar statistics that have shown consistently that as gun sales rise, crime rates drop. These are no surprise to us since we understand that an armed society is a polite society.

Nathan: Amen!  Assuming this is really the case, and that the reason for the official numbers going down is not either (a) people have given up even reporting or (b) the cops are lying even to themselves, this is obvious to libertarians and even conservatives.  But people are really willing to be blind to the obvious: GUNS SAVE LIVES.  GUNS STOP CRIME – IF IN THE HANDS OF PRIVATE CITIZENS.

Medical
Study: Smoking tobacco “rots” the brain
(The Raw Story)  “In a study published Sunday in the scientific journal Age and Aging, researchers discovered that regular exposure to tobacco smoke caused significant declines in cognitive performance among older people who had elevated cardiovascular risk factors like high blood pressure. Researchers asked 8,800 people over age 50 to take a series of memory tests, which were repeated four years later, and again eight years later. They found that any risk factor which elevates the chance of stroke or heart attack causes mental degradation.” (11/26/12)

Nathan: Personal opinion?  The rot starts a LONG time before “old age” – and there is a certain degree of “mental degradation” that gets someone to do more than light up that first cancer stick, too.  I have seen the declines in a fair number of people who continue to smoke as they get older.  However, tobacco is one of the many substances that man abuses, ignoring the many good purposes that tobacco and its ingredients can be used for.  Government, of course, will use this as an excuse to hammer something that they have decided is evil.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-50A: This and That

Posted on 2012-11-26 by TPOL Nathan

As I type this in one window, I’m skimming down the list of headlines and blurbs on Freedom’s Phoenix.com on a quiet Sunday evening, when I should be working on the books or projects or taking a nap so I can be rested up to go to bed in a few hours.

Here are some of the headlines (no links), which are, to say the least, alarming.  Some are also “duh, I knew that.”

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity:  Well, duh.  I knew that when I was IN school, and when my parents taught school, mummbly-mummbly years ago.  One reason I kept my two very creative (dangerously so) sons out of the public schools as much as we could afford to.  And it’s the reason they aren’t taking any “organized” college curriculum courses right now.

Marijuana’s top lobbyist tells us where there will be several viable legalization bills next year:  Of course, who defines “viable?”  Now that two states have legalized it, as well as several cities and counties, and now that the supposedly-drug-liberal White House’s minions have all but flat-out stated that they will continue to kick down doors and rip out car linings to find every last cannabis seed, will this be enough to get any more passed?  Or just one more excuse to cut off the privates of state and local governments?  While I don’t think MJ legalization will be enough to get people to rebel against the Feds, it may be part of the mix, unless it is just one more example of standing docilely in line as the executioners move down the line with their pistols. (Another story reports that bills for legalizing “recreational marijuana” will be introduced in Rhode Island and Maine.  I suspect that the people doing and promoting this are the kind that believe if they say the right magic words, laws and more will magically get right.)

Outdoor survival: Your better half: a force multiplier: Duh, why do you think I married her?  Why does both nature and the revealed Word indicate that matrimony, a pair, husband and wife, makes the most sense for humans, whether in a survival situation or not?

These next generation drones will do even more with no human input: Yeah, I guess this is scary.  But!  We are, after all, talking human technology and innovation: what did we expect?  But how many people are working on ways to hack and crash these things?  Or better yet, to disappear and “repurpose” (one of the current buzz words so popular today) to use the UAV against those who would make it a tool of tyranny?

Both Benghazi and the Petraeus Scandal suggest US Media is way too cozy with the State: Gee, whatEVER gave them THAT idea.  This is another Duh: we’ve seen that in this administration more than ever, but it has been the case all the way back to the first Progressive Era in T. Roosevelt’s time.  BUT the mainstream media is dying, and will continue to wither unless someone can take control of this porn-filled media you are on right now.  Did you know that one of the excuses for press censorship in the first century after Gutenberg invented printing was to prevent widespread distribution of porn?  Those statist excuses work well, time and time again.

Finally, a politician admits that winning the Drug War is “impossible.” President Calderon is hardly the first politician to admit that, but I agree that he is probably the highest ranking one to do it.  And how many dead Mexicans did it take him to admit that?  Will it take that many (relatively) for a US president to admit it?  I suspect that it will take a death toll far more than 5 times that of Mexico’s to get ANY politician with ANY significant chance of making it into the White House (legitimately or not) to agree with Calderon.

GE is so stoked about 3D printing, they’re using it to make parts for jet engines: Well, so am I – not that I’m making jet engines with it yet.  But seeing a new 3-D printer for the incredibly low price of $1,299 (and free shipping!) and reading about what everyone is producing using these is a big boost to my hopes that we can survive the coming collapse of Western Civilization.  That $1300 beastie probably cost $100,000 a year ago, and didn’t even exist two years ago.  And no, I don’t want it to make cute little Android figurines to sell to tourists or give as gifts, or even to make protective cases for my smartphone.  Weapons, surgical tools, crowns for teeth, dental implants, bone implants, replacement parts for pre-1985 vehicles (IE, pre-computer/fuel-injection) and thousands of other uses come to mind.

Top Republican senator ditching Norquist anti-tax pledge: And sure, and it didn’t come sooner: the man (and the other GOP scum) is a politician – betrayal of principle is right up there along with “greed” and “power” and “get laid” as major motivations.  “Stab in the back” is a product feature, not a defect in our political system.

4 young people in Africa design generator that runs on urine: More human ingenuity at work.  We better learn how to do that here, too. (Actually, the FP links are all broken and the story is almost 3 weeks old: you can find it here.  Four Nigerian teen girls have put together an simple system to break down urea to free and capture (and purify) hydrogen as a gas to run a genset.  One liter produces one hour of electricity: voltage and wattage unknown (the pictures show what could be a pretty standard 500-watt genset, so that would mean 1/2 a KWhr – about 15 cents worth of power in normal times but invaluable in times of crisis).  But you can also buy (on-line, where else!) at least two different versions of pots that you can either sit on a fire or burn virtually anything in, that will produce 5 watts of power for as long as you have stuff to burn to charge your cellphone or your pacemaker or any other USB-powered/charged device.  That with solar and wind and a few other gadgets helps even BEFORE the collapse.

That is my “this and that” for this weekend.  There is a lot more out there, and we are going to find that the closer we get to collapse, the more volume of news will be there to distract us and often, to terrorize us.

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Guest Commentary: We can all starve together.

Posted on 2012-11-26 by TPOL Nathan

This was published both in the Rapid City Journal and Dusty’s own Fall River Reader of Hot Springs, Fall River County, Paha Sapa. She’s graciously given our esteemed publisher and me permission to republish it.  I’ve added my other thoughts at the end.

We can all starve together.
by Dusty Pence

I wish that in the cold light of a new day I could tell you that I am hopeful for our country in spite of last week’s election, but that would be a lie. I know that many of you think this transition to a bigger, more powerful federal government is a good path. You think that through government, society will somehow care for the least of us, that the poor will be fed and the greedy punished.

History says that this simply isn’t true, that the approach for which you voted does not work. It never has. It never will. Government is not compassionate. Only people are compassionate and compassion cannot be legislated. Take every dime from every wealthy person on earth—you will not have enough to fund the nation you envision, and once you have confiscated that wealth, no one will have an incentive to create new wealth. Food will be rationed, along with every other vital good, along with our very lives.

Success doesn’t happen by government dictate; it happens when people have the drive and desire to make it happen. Money can’t be endlessly printed—it must be earned, or its value is diminished. A wheelbarrow full of paper dollars might buy you a mouthful of food, but perhaps you think this will make you happy—after all, no one else will have enough to fill their stomachs, either.

We can all starve together. Won’t that be lovely?

I fear for our nation, for myself and most of all for the children in my life. What sort of world will they face? Will they lose every semblance of freedom? Will they be forced to fight to regain their freedom? Will they live in poverty with no hope for escape? Will they have to scrounge and battle for every morsel of food?

Today, we drive our cars and go to work, shop and play, as if nothing has changed. But everything has changed.

Our nation has voted to progress toward a society made up of weak, dependent victims. I do not see a path that will allow us to turn the tide, unless that path is one of revolution.

Dusty Pence is a writer, editor and the editor of the Fall River Forum. She is a native South Dakotan and fourteen-year resident of Fall River County. Pence edited local author Mary Ellen Goulet’s Cascade of Flames and A (not so) Simple Life.

Here my own thoughts on first reading Dusty’s editorial:
Dusty, thanks for speaking boldly in this editorial. And not sugar-coating the truth.

We can avoid the “starving together” only if we are prepared to not do so, and make some sacrifices now. But too many of us, as you point out, don’t want to see that things have changed. Which is one reason that those who do see and are willing to take action and prepare for what is coming must deal not just with the usual gaggle of parasites but to defend themselves, their families, and their community against those who refused to prepare until it was too late.

None of us should want to initiate any violence, but must be prepared to protect ourselves against force used immorally against us: that may indeed be “revolution,” in part because what we have seen the last two elections are fresh victories from the counterrevolutionary forces we have let sweep away so much of our liberty.

To that, let me add:  “Freedom” and “Liberty” which we inherit is worth exactly what we paid for it: that is, nothing.  We each have to work and fight for liberty for ourselves, our family, and our neighbors, daily.  And that doesn’t mean going off to some foreign country, even if there is a legitimate argument that we are helping free others from tyranny.  It has to be at home.  “Use it or lose it.”  When we stop exercising, whether it is running or weight-lifting or riding a bike, after a while, we just can’t do it.  Same thing with throwing lead down range: skills are easily (and too quickly) lost.  So it is with liberty: we can let it slip away, and before we know it, there is NO way to get it back that does not involve paying a large price: in convenience, security, treasure… and blood.  We are well past that point.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-49E: Thanksgiving & Lost Liberty

Posted on 2012-11-24 by TPOL Nathan

Thanksgiving is a time to remember what we are thankful for, and there are many things for which I am thankful, even though those tend to get crowded out by the week’s and day’s worries and frustrations.  But here is a brief listing:

(1)  My physical family: wife and sons

(2)  My godly family: brothers and sisters in Christ across the world and nation

(3)  My political family: allies who are lovers of liberty – even those who sometimes do not seem to love it as much as I wish they would, or see their own blindness

(4)  Those who have fought and died for liberty – from Hebrews to Scots to AmerInd to Confederates to Americans (even if so often misguided) to rebels and all those who value liberty and willing to pledge it and life and property and honor

(5)  For modern technology, which lets me stay in contact with those I love and helps me make a living and fight against tyranny

(6)  For my family and teachers ad professors and officers and NCOs and employees and employers who taught me values and skills and a love for liberty and freedom and God

(7)  For safe journeys and what freedoms we do have left to be able to work and live and enjoy this wonderful land of the West

I suppose I could go on to a “Baker’s Dozen” but seven is a perfect number, so I leave this with you all: I am thankful to God and to all those who have given me so much over the years.  May we continue to remember and count our blessings and share them with others.

Jack-booted thugs
Piedmont officer is fired over public urination ticket
(Freedom’s Phoenix)
Piedmont city officials have fired a police officer who wrote a public urination citation to the mother of a 3-year-old who dropped his pants in the family’s front yard.

Well, that is ONE gone – and how many million more?  Of course, he’ll go on the gypsy circuit and find a job somewhere else soon enough.  Maybe in YOUR county.

Home front – Stupid government
Just When You Thought the New York City Food Nazis Couldn’t Get Any Worse
(Lew Rockwell blog c/o Freedom’s Phoenix)
A blogger reveals that not only is it now illegal for “Nazi York City” cigar stores that have smoking areas for their customers to serve coffee to their customers, but that using names of food for tobacco blends is ALSO illegal (Wild Cherry pipe tobacco now must be called “Jubilee.”)

This kind of petty tyranny escapes a lot of public scrutiny, in part because the Mainstream Media SUPPORTS such bans and because there are so many, it is impossible to keep track of them.  Everyone of these stupid little incidents is like a grain of sand blasting against your windshield: sooner or later it is pitted beyond use.  So to with what tatters are left of our freedoms.

Home front – TSA Thuggery
TSA reportedly exposed breasts of Rep. Ralph Hall’s teen grandniece, called it ‘accidental’
11-21-2012  •  http://twitchy.com, by Twitchy Staff
TSA reportedly exposed breasts of Rep. Ralph Hall’s teen grandniece, called it ‘accidental’; Update: TSA internal report released, blames girl’s ‘loose fitting’ dress…

Debby: It is “Puppet Masters” – no one can wear a dress on an aircraft without being molested by the TSA, we might as well go naked!

Nathan:  One of Oleg Volk’s more recent posters, showing an 1880s Sheriff or Marshall with a pistol and noose, makes the solution obvious.

Congress in action – Abominable Act
Bi-Partisan Bill Adds Religion Exemption to PPACA
(Vision to America) A bipartisan bill in the House would expand the religious exemption to the insurance mandate in Obamacare, allowing those with a religious objection to absolve themselves of the mandate’s health insurance requirement with an affidavit. Introduced by Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), the bill has drawn co-sponsors from both sides of the political aisle, including Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Todd Akin (R-Mo.) Ron Paul (R-Texas), and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.).The bill would allow anyone to be exempt from the individual mandate so long as they filed an affidavit along with their tax returns that “sincerely held religious beliefs” would cause them “to object to the medical health care that would be covered under such coverage.”

Lipstick on a pig.  Even with the list of co-sponsors (Lee?  Frank?), they might be sincere about thinking this will help.  They are WRONG.  This smells to high Heaven.  The government (Congress) would give us PERMISSION to claim our First Amendment Rights?  This looks like the medical version of Concealed Carry Permits and Gun Licenses.  What is next?  Safeguarding OTHER parts of our religious freedom by setting up a system where we can submit applications to worship together on Sundays?  This may be seen by some as a stop-gap measure to plug a hole in the dike: I see it as just another expansion of government tyranny.

Mama’s Note: And why, pray tell, only “religious” objections? If this thing is so wonderful for the people, why would anyone be “allowed” to exempt themselves? I don’t have any “religion,” and won’t pretend that I do, but I have no intention of participating in this fraud anyway.

And then, a pretty nasty idea came to me. We’ve said for a long time that the “licenses” for guns and carrying were de facto registration – and we all know where that leads. Why wouldn’t the parasites in government think it was a great idea to have a “registration” of religious people (and others) who object to their slave status?

Home front – Our lost rights
Privacy Lost
(personalliberty.com) Last week, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) proposed a bill that would have removed the 4thAmendment’s life support and sent it off to the hereafter, like most of the rest of the Constitution. It would have allowed more than 22 government entities to access Americans’ email, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts and Twitter messages without a search warrant. It would also have given the FBI and Department of Homeland Security more authority to gain full access to Internet accounts without informing the owner or a judge. … After CNET News published an article Tuesday exposing the bill, the outcry became so great that Leahy announced that night on Twitter that he was dropping support of warrantless access.

Nathan: Well, that is great.  BUT it doesn’t mean that the Feebs and everyone else will not have that power given to them by Imperial Decree (excuse me, Executive Order).  Nor does it not mean that this scumbag Leahy won’t sneak it into this year’s National Defense Appropriations Act (like he and his fellow District of Criminals inmates did with so much last year) or won’t reintroduce it as an amendment to a bill designating the second week in January as “National Love Your Aunts and Uncles Week.”  Bill Livingston points out in the full article, that he considers the Fourth Amendment on life support since the passage of the USA PATRIOT ACT in 2001:  I rather think of it more like a zombie, arms and legs cut off, rotting somewhere while people pretend that it is still alive.  Along with the rest of the 4,400 words of the US Constitution.

Mama’s Note: I always shudder when people amend their objections to this insanity with something like, “except with a search warrant” or “the permission of a judge.” Why would anyone allow their privacy to be violated on those terms? The “search warrant” has no more validity than any of this legislation, and most “judges” are not fit to chair a PTA meeting, let alone have this kind of power over the lives of other people. The SAME people who propose and support such invasion of privacy are the very ones who appoint and elect these “judges.”

If you truly want privacy, stay away from things like facebook or twitter. Encrypt your email and don’t post anything on the web that you wouldn’t want the goons to read. Yes, that will seriously limit your ability to interact with others via the computer, but it is the only choice remaining if you value privacy.

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“Public Schools,” the GOP, and other dangers to Liberty

Posted on 2012-11-24 by TPOL Nathan

Bob Livingston recently published a piece concerning one issue (not germane to this article) and as is often the case, the comments got way off track.  One of the commenters took umbrage with Mr. Livingston’s attacks on public schools (an attitude I share), which I reproduce with all its grammar and other errors:

Mr. Livingston,

I, like you have no love for the “Patriot Act.” I was appalled that President Bush was able to use 9/11 to push this monstrosity through and furious when President Obama supported it’s continuation (ultra Liberal my A$$). I do, however take umbrage with your incessant attacks on our education system. I realize that the right has as one it’s goals to end Federal involvement or privatize anything and everything, but I disagree with the assumption that education would improve simply by getting it out of government hands.

I have worked with my children’s teachers for many years. I have graded and sorted papers, assisted children who were having trouble in a subject and provided a male presence when needed to keep some children in line. What I found was not a lack of ability or dedication on the teacher’s part. They work long hours for little money, the class rooms are underfunded to the point that teachers often have to buy supplies out of pocket, and the materials are often outdated. No, the problem lies with the students and their parents. Disrespectful children and parents who won’t even take the time to help their children learn their ABCs create a class room where a small group requires extra attention and extra resources. This is not often an issue in private schools where they have the option of kicking students out for their failures. Privatize all schools and they inherit this problem. End federal involvement and you eliminate the general guidelines, but the parents remain the same.

Respect for k-12 teachers has been on a steady decline, often prompted by the “Right Wing Talking Heads” and individuals like your self. Claims that they are all empty headed liberals is nons ense and the idea that their union demands are the source of our educational system’s troubles are clearly more a part of the attack on unions in general then a thoughtful discussion of how to fix our schools. It’s time for a thoughtful discussion on restoring respect in the classroom and how our schools are administered.220

The above is all too often the knee-jerk reaction of people who claim to be both smarter and more educated than all us libbertorian types.  There were a few responses to “Kenetic”:

DaveH says:

How do you explain the “Honest” Abe Hoax, Kinetic? Did the kids just learn that at recess? To imagine that Government wouldn’t tout Big Government to the children in the Government-Controlled schools is just that — pure imagination.

Our “primitive” (at least according to the Progressive Propaganda) ancestors knew over 300 years ago the potential for indoctrination that existed when Government was allowed to control the schools. How have so many decent people come to believe otherwise?

Someone had to jerk Dave H’s chain, of course, and really stuck his foot in his mouth, showing (again) another example of exactly the point: government-run, tax-supported schools mean government propaganda.  Government must promote the myths of Lincoln and the Roosevelts and secession and education run by the government.

eddie47d says:

In Dave H’s mind it always has to be Progressive propaganda or blame the Liberal and so forth. Lincoln was a Republican and most Republicans were and still are Conservative. If there is a history being sold on Abraham Lincoln it was brought to us courtesy of Republicans. Time for Dave to get a reality check for that history was written long before Progressive was a common word.

True, “eddie47d,” or before “socialist” or “communist” or even “libertarian” were common.  Even Lincoln advocates will never claim that “Honest Abe” was a conservative.  Hamiltonian, maybe, but not conservative. Fortunately, some other people provided at least a somewhat educated response.

CJ says:

Lincoln’s ‘Republican’ party is NOTHING like that of today. They are similar in name only. The activities of the 19th centruy party have more in common to the 21st century Democrats. I use the example of Lincoln forcing Tennessee to rejoin the union by only allowing citizens of the state who voted for him in his election, or would swear loyalty to him, to vote on rejoining. As mentioned, the education ‘system’ in the U.S. has biased the understanding of history in its favor, which is far from the facts.

Of course, anyone who REALLY sees the modern GOP for what it is: the party of Romney and McCain and Dole and Boehner and T. Roosevelt and A. Lincoln and R. Nixon, realized that the Republican Party hasn’t changed that much.  And this little example of Tennessee is a footnote to the real history.  As the next guy points out:

Sam Boes says:

There is an ironic reason the GOP color today is “red” on the maps. Lincoln, Fremont and the rest of the founders of the GOP before the War between the States were progressives and many of their number were Socialists who fled from the failed Socialist Revolutions in Europe in 1848: they came to America to get a new start – in promoting their ideals.

They did it in a way that gave the appearance of following traditional American politics, but THEY are the ones that turned many of the states which remained LOYAL to the Union into military dictatorships (Maryland, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio), THEY are the ones that precipitated the crisis and set up the temptation to hotheads in South Carolina to fire the first shots, THEY are the ones that set up the Indian Reservation system, THEY are the ones whose military occupation of the South poisoned black-white relations, THEY are the ones who created the first American empire of the Philippines and all the other conquests from Spain, and if not originating then tacitly supporting and not repealing the policies of Wilson, FDR, and Johnson. So don’t think that the real leadership – the elite – of the GOP today is anything remotely resembling “conservative” or even “American.”

Another mother had to support public schools – and again cites the propaganda about public schools that is so heavily pushed today (and for that matter, for the last fifty years):

CaroleAnn says:

I agree with you on the subject of education, public schools educated the majority of us during our country’s greatest times. I also disagree with privatizing everything, that only makes services out of reach to most people.

But the Patriot Act is too important to shove aside.

Sam Boes also had to respond to her and “Kenetic 1” both:

Sam Boes says:

Dear Kinetic 1:

Believe me, the “public schools” (government-run, tax-funded) are key parts of the transnational liberal agenda. My parents were both public school teachers and got out of the system when they could no longer teach the truth (and my mother was a MUSIC and ART teacher!, my father a social studies/history teacher) and when discipline and standards were destroyed. I myself taught as a substitute teacher while going to college (I was an Army Cadet and now am an Army officer): I’ve seen the deterioration for decades: my sons spent some time in public schools mostly to let them see the evil in it; they were schooled at home and in private schools so that they could LEARN. The school system we have today was imported from Prussia specifically to “make good citizens” which could be controlled by government and industry, but as Americans tend to do, we “improved it” to make it into a hideous system which both makes the student malleable and subject to control by their “betters” and effectively dumbs them down to the lowest possible common denominator. Teachers who stay in and support the system with its sickening (and intentional) flaws and results deserve no respect: either they are hypocrites or they are themselves products of the brainwashing they are now giving students and incapable of human reasoning. This especially goes for the teachers who claim to be religious.

Readers may not be so interested in this exchange as I was, but it shows that more and more people are rejecting the propaganda that has supported institutions that have destroyed this once-great nation.  Institutions like the “Grand Old Party,” and “public schools” have infiltrated and wrecked homes, churches, communities, and towns and cities.  Their work was always “an alternative” to the agendas of the Democratic and other “left” leaning parties and organizations, and the supposed dangers of ill-educated and nihilist mobs: but in reality, they were supporting just those kinds of things.

It is reported that new Texas curriculum standards encourage students at various ages to consider the Boston Tea Party (the original one in 1774, not the current libertarian Boston Tea Party or the GOP-oriented “conservative” Tea Party movement) to be an example of terrorism, and for American patriots seeking to regain and keep the “liberties of Englishmen” as terrorists.  This is not the only deadly thing to come out of Texas schoolbook depositories (other than L. Harvey Oswald’s bullets): Texan educators and educrats are nearly as notorious as California’s for propagandizing and dumbing down the curriculum.  But the truth is, virtually EVERY state does this, and the idea that Federal standards are the only reason to reject public schools and promote the separation of school and state is a dangerous weakness in the movement.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-49D: Comments on Commentaries and other news

Posted on 2012-11-22 by TPOL Nathan

Commentary on commentary:  Unions – Home front

A Thanksgiving message in solidarity with Wal-Mart strikers
(Center for a Stateless Society, by Kevin Carson) “A wave of strikes by workers with no ties to any recognized union is a fundamental departure from the conventional model of unionism. But it’s also a return to an older model of organizing — updated for the network age. … This model of activism is just another example of the way agile networks run circles around twentieth century-style bureaucratic, hierarchical institutions like giant corporations and government agencies. Workers don’t need bureaucratic dinosaurs like the NLRB or AFL-CIO to protect them against big business. It’s big business that needs the state for protection.” (11/20/12)

Nathan: While I agree with much of what Kevin writes, it is obvious that Big Union has their fingers in this pie up to the elbows:  their hatred of Wal-Mart is visceral and they have definitely spent millions to support this “grassroots activism.”  Kevin is right: workers don’t need the AFL-CIO, but if this succeeds, you can bet that they will have the AFL-CIO whether they want it or not.

Commentary on commentary: War on some drugs, Government-run, tax-funded schools

We need to end the drug war!
(Liberty For All, by Mary J. Ruwart) “To save our children, we need to get drugs out of our schools. The only way to do that is to take the profit out through re-legalization. You don’t see pushers selling tobacco and alcohol in the schools because there isn’t the profit margin that prohibition brings. If we’re serious about saving our kids, we have to stop the pushers byslashing their profits.” (11/20/12)

Nathan: Mary is right, regarding drugs in schools, and re-legalization certainly will help with that (as much as ANYthing will help government-run, tax-funded schools that does not include separation of school and state).  Of course, getting the “legal” drugs (like Ritalin and all its sisters) out of the schools won’t hurt.

BUT Mary is overstating her case, and that is bad.

YOU DO see “pushers” selling both tobacco and alcohol in the schools, middle schools AND high schools, and sometimes even elementary schools.  We don’t call them that, but they are there, in large part because (1) they have a captive market, (2) schools are cesspools, and (3) there is prohibition and an underground economy as a result.

Drinking IS a problem for schools, as is smoking.  And I would suspect in most rural Western and Southern American high schools, on buses heading to and from school and events, you will STILL find a bunch of “not-empty” soda cans with tobacco juice in them, just as you did in the ’60s and ’70s.  These things you will always have with us, in part because we still have a partial alcohol and tobacco prohibition, one that is age-based. And in part because we have parents that refuse to accept responsibility, or allow/encourage their children to behave irresponsibly.

No, I am not advocating selling alcohol in schools  or even offering beer on the lunch menu.  And I am not advocating smoking in schools.  But unless we recognize ALL the factors, we can’t deal with the problems.  Government, and government-run, tax supported schools, are NOT the answer.  And JUST getting drugs out of schools won’t “save our children” unless a lot of other things are done.  Mary knows this, but she comes across a bit off message.

ON TO SOME OTHER NEWS:

Islamic wars: South Asian Front – War on religion
Pakistan: Blasphemy case against girl to be dropped
(Christian Science Monitor) “In what is being termed a historic verdict by the higher courts in Pakistan, charges against a Christian girl accused of blasphemy were dropped on Tuesday, in response to an appeal filed by her council of lawyers. ‘The police have withdrawn the charges and quashed the case against her’ confirmed Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, one of her lawyers, saying that the 14-year-old Rimsha Masih was quite relieved and happy about the court’s decision. Human rights activists in Pakistan say this is a positive development and will set a precedent in the future for the judiciary and law enforcement agencies to act responsibly in cases of blasphemy.” (11/20/12)

Nathan: This is, of course, good news that they are not going to execute a 14-year-old girl and make her a martyr for the faith.  But she is actually in very great danger of being attacked and killed by those who will take the court decision as a personal affront and challenge, and if they DO succeed in killing her, you can be sure that either they will not be prosecuted or will have their hands slapped.  This has happened time and again in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Iran.  As for it setting a precedent?  Don’t hold your breath.

War on some drugs
Pat Robertson Advocates Making Marijuana Legal on 700 Club
(Daily Paul) Pat Robertson Advocates Making Marijuana Legal on 700 Club 2.5 million, 62% of prisoners in federal prisons are there for drug crimes. The highest rate of incarceration on earth.  Even more are there for crimes which “need to be punished” but are NOT threats to the peace and security of the community.  Billions are spent to lock up “people we are mad at.”  Justice should be about restitution and not revenge.

Nathan:  Robertson’s 9-minute video shows (as I’ve pointed out elsewhere) that “conservatives” are seeing the war on some drugs for what it is; a war on people and a war for control. I am no fan of Pat Robertson or The 700 Club, but he is talking a lot of sense.

Debby: He has had some sort of epiphany, clearly.

Mama’s Note: Interesting indeed… the TRUTH has never changed an iota, but suddenly we have all kinds of people jumping on the bandwagon (or hanging off the back). My impression of Robertson has always been that he’s happy to tell people what they really want to hear, one way or another. I doubt highly he has any honest convictions of his own.

Stupid People Tricks
PETA: Turkeys are a mistreated minority
(Political Outcast) They’re at it again, and this time the culprit is President Obama. The occasion is Thanksgiving and specifically the tradition of the president’s “pardoning” of a Thanksgiving turkey. … By pardoning the turkey, Obama will be sparing the bird’s life. So, what is PETA’s beef? They wrote a letter to the President urging him not to participate in this “outdated and humiliating ritual.” Humiliating to the turkey that is. They compared these “gentle, intelligent” birds to blacks, “gays,” women and other mistreated groups who PETA say are ridiculed and mocked. The letter stated:

”You understand so well that African-Americans, women, and members of the LGBT community have been poorly served throughout history, and now I am asking you to consider other living beings who are ridiculed, belittled, and treated as if their sentience, feelings, and very natures count for nothing.”

The letter went on to explain that birds can’t even be pardoned in the first place. They said that the only thing these turkeys were guilty of was “being born into a world of prejudice.”

They urged the White House to serve delicious “tofurky” instead of murdering the innocent but tasty bird.

Nathan:  Oh, my.  First, according to statistics, counting their wild ken, turkeys are NOT a minority:  there is about 1 turkey produced (hatched and grown and hunted or harvested and EATEN) per person per year:  we average 16 pounds per person per year eating it – and that of course does not include the MILLIONS of loyal PETA members and other vegetarians.  PETA claims that their “very natures count for nothing,” and I MUST disagree: their nature is to be TASTY, and that counts for a lot.  Fortunately, Thanksgiving comes after election day or the “messiah” might have been tempted to end the horrid ritual to get a few more PETA votes.  As usual, PETA is a source of almost endless amusement.

Mama’s Note: “Tofurky?” That even sounds nasty.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News #12-49C

Posted on 2012-11-22 by TPOL Nathan

News Briefs and Thoughts (from various sources: not all have links)

An Oklahoma City federal judge has determined that Hobby Lobby CAN be forced to violate their practice of religion by doing anything that the federal bureaucrats want them to do regarding health care, abortion, contraceptives and all the rest of ObummerCare. They will appeal, of course, DC forbid that people organized as businesses or owning businesses can have their liberty.

Churches in New York State, claiming to represent “the working poor” demanded that NY legislators raise the minimum wage AND replenish food banks stripped bare by victims of Sandy.  The legislators plan to raise their own salaries. The “advocates” don’t care what gets stolen from people, as long as their clientèle get a piece of the pie.  And they refuse to understand basic economics:  minimum wages HARM poor people.

Paul Krugman, the 2008 Nobel Laureate Economist and professor at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (such a set of credentials tells us what side HE is on) says we need to return to the “good old days” of high tax rates, and that the wealthy should pay more taxes.  He likes the idea of paying twice what they do today. So, according to him (and too many who claim to be “conservative”) it is okay for the government to steal about anything it wants to.  Actually, at the levels HE is talking about: 70 to 90%, the better word than “theft” is “SLAVERY.”

The current Episcopalian Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson (an open homosexual), has spoken out firmly against school vouchers, charter schools, and religious schools, saying “‘I am a believer in public education and I believe every dollar diverted from public education either by religious schools or by charter schools is a tragedy,’ said Robinson. [A voucher] takes away from this great mission that is so embedded in the life of this country. . . . I just favor full and un-diverted support for those public schools.’”  Mr. Robinson certainly mixes politics, religion, and sexuality in a distinctive way:  he supports education of, by, and for the government because that way morality is left out.  Yet none of the usual Tranzi watchdogs protecting us from an unholy alliance of church and state seem to be screaming.

Cows with guns?
Cows Flee California Seeking a Better Economic Climate
It’s not just millionaires and billionaires who are fleeing the economic madness in California. Even cows are starting to depart for greener pastures. That’s right, 400 bovine refugees shuffled off to Kansas just this month, with more expected to follow as over 100 dairy farms in California close their doors. Why are cows voting with their hooves?

Mama’s Note: But the farmers are not in any way seeking a free market, of course.
Nathan: Too funny!  Have you ever seen the video “cows with guns” on line?   I really like this line: truth: “The main task of these programs is to make sure that market forces will never be allowed to balance supply and demand.” (The story continued from the above with: “It’s hard to find a government program as insane as the complex web of price supports, market orders, direct payments, diversion programs, herd reductions, import barriers, export subsidies, and stacked-to-the-rafters cheese warehouses that characterize Uncle Sam’s efforts to “rationally manage” the dairy market.”)  This is a case study in stupid government and loss not just of liberty but of money, all in wholesale lots (literally).  And they didn’t even talk about school milk programs!

War on Some Drugs
UN Tells US to Crack Down on State Drug Law Liberalization
(American Vision) Residents  of Washington and Colorado, expressing a winsome and entirely unjustified faith in voting as a means of reining in the state, approved measures decriminalizing recreational use of marijuana. In response, Raymond Yans, head of the UN’s International Narcotics Control Board, has called for Attorney General Eric Holder to ignore the law and continue cracking down on marijuana use and possession. Decriminalizing marijuana use, Yans insists, sends the “wrong message to the rest of the nation and it sends a wrong message abroad.”

Nathan:  A good sign in recent weeks – even since the election – is that a few conservatives and especially the quasi-libertarians that make up much of the most faithful religious community in the United States are starting to understand that the War on Drugs is really a war on people and freedom.  This story from American Vision, just such a religious organization, is an example.  This article also talks about more history of the War on Drugs and related matters, which if true, sheds a new light on HOW we got into this mess, but no way out.  Looking at this issue in detail is likely the subject of a separate commentary.

Tyranny – Stupid Cop Tricks
Arizona: Federal Checkpoints Enforce Litter Laws
(Info Wars via Political Outcasts) What was touted as an effort to make sure gun enthusiasts at an Arizona public shooting site pick up their shells after they finished shooting actually turned into a federal checkpoint where people’s cars were searched to substantiate arrests. Drivers were stopped and told before they entered that they could shoot as long as they picked up their empty bullet casings. Upon their departure, about 250 cars were stopped, and the drivers had to provide evidence that they picked up their empty shells.

But these Forest and National Park Rangers also used these stops as opportunities to search people’s cars and potentially issue citations and make arrests on unrelated charges.

Infowars.com reports: ”The officials also searched vehicles for other illegal items, including marijuana, alcohol and in one case an illegally killed deer. Four people were arrested on outstanding warrants and officers issued 11 citations, including one for underage drinking.”

Nathan: Assuming this is correct (Infowars.com isn’t always accurate), this is nothing but a sting operation and a clear violation of constitutional protections.  Yes, I know that too many people are too stupid to refuse a uniformed ape “permission” to search without a warrant, but the point is, these thugs are nothing more than a gang of shakedown artists.

Freedom of Speech – Congress in action
New Senate Bill Would Let Federal Agencies Read Your E-mail Without Warrant
(American Vision) This week we learned how far the FBI was reaching into emails even without warrants. Today we learn that the Senate is trying to give the same vast power to 22 federal agencies. CNET reports, A Senate proposal touted as protecting Americans’ e-mail privacy has been quietly rewritten, giving government agencies more surveillance power than they possess under current law, CNET has learned.  Patrick Leahy, the influential Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has dramatically reshaped his legislation in response to law enforcement concerns, according to three individuals who have been negotiating with Leahy’s staff over the changes. A vote on his bill, which now authorizes warrantless access to Americans’ e-mail, is scheduled for next week.  Leahy’s rewritten bill would allow more than 22 agencies — including the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Communications Commission — to access Americans’ e-mail, Google Docs files, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter direct messages without a search warrant. It also would give the FBI and Homeland Security more authority, in some circumstances, to gain full access to Internet accounts without notifying either the owner or a judge. . .

Nathan: No more freedom of speech: now they can read it, and if you say something someone doesn’t like, or which “offends” some one, or which causes some paranoid cop hacker to think you MIGHT cause some trouble: bingo.  They have you.  IF this bill passes.

Mama’s Note: So, if you are not comfortable with these spoiled rotten crybabies reading what you write… learn to use encryption. It’s easy, and it’s about as secure as anything on line can be.

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2012 Case Study in California Again Demonstrates Evils of Democracy

Posted on 2012-11-22 by TPOL Nathan

WHAT IS WRONG WITH “DEMOCRACY” – 2012 CALIFORNIA CASE STUDY

I gathered this information from various sources, regarding the voting results on various things in the People’s Democracy of California in this month’s elections.  My comments follow each.

  1. Voters approved Proposition 30 “temporarily” increasing the state sales tax and income tax on individuals making over $250,000.

The classic wolf and sheep voting on lunch was repeated here.  This is as temporary as the phone tax to pay off the Spanish-American War or the ban on owning gold (which lasted some 40 years, as I recall).  The democratic way is to allow the majority of voters to steal what they want from the minority.

  1. Voters defeated Proposition 31 that would have allowed the governor to cut the budget in fiscal emergencies.

Their heads are so deep in the sand that they could (and should) be buried that way.  Once up on a time, the idea behind republics (and constitutional monarchies) was that the legislature didn’t let the king (or executive) have everything he wanted to cause trouble and live lavishly.  California’s Democratic People’s Democracy has (along with others, I admit) reversed this: it is now the elected governor that suffering taxpayers and lenders have as a thin reed of hope against the greed and spendthrift legislature: but no more!

  1. Voters defeated Proposition 32 which would have prevented unions from stealing members’ dues to make campaign donations.

If you thought that the power of union (bosses) was waning, this should be a wake-up alarm.  Union members, unlike the rest of us, are enslaved not just by the government, but by their unions – in cahoots with government, of course.  And the donations are generally used to “persuade” legislators to raise spending and taxes, so the vicious circle continues.

  1. Democrats picked up two more votes in the state legislature giving them a supermajority, capable of passing any tax hikes they want.

Perhaps the best way to counter this is L. Neil Smith’s hyperdemocracy: UNANIMOUS CONSENT by the voters and in the legislature: throw their “democracy” back in their faces.  Ain’t gonna happen, of course: the way it is going to happen is that more and more people will leave California for any place with more liberty. (The big problem with that is, except for a few notable exceptions like our esteemed publisher, they bring the socialism and democracy and all the rest with them, and make life miserable for their new neighbors.)

Supposedly the Democratic Party leadership in the State Assembly says that they will not use this supermajority to raise taxes (be sure and visit their website for listings and photos of all the bridges that they are selling: London, Brooklyn, Bay, and Golden Gate).  Even if they leave taxes out, expect them to pass more and more California-style socialist and humanist edicts taking away the liberty of Californians, families, businesses and voluntary institutions.

Summary:  California will continue its downhill slide for the next two years: it will continue to endorse all the evils of spending, taxing, forced cultural conformity, over-regulation, murderous thug government at all levels, and democracy in general.  As a case study, I think we can accurately say that California is a failed state, just doing everything it can to speed up the inevitable collapse into chaos.

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Thanksgiving, 2012

Posted on 2012-11-22 by MamaLiberty

I’ve had a very hard time hearing and seeing the cheery “Happy Thanksgiving” greetings and messages this year, and am finding it almost impossible to say those words myself. That’s not because I don’t think we have anything to be thankful for, of course. I count my blessings every day, and am more grateful than ever for all of them, but I can’t put on a cheery face and forget all of the things going on right now that make this anything but a time for joyful celebration.

How can we “celebrate” when our government, in our name and with our money, continues to murder and torture people around the world, especially in the Mid East and right here at home? How can we bask in a holiday mood when that same government is plotting even more bloodshed and destruction, both abroad and here at home? How can we go on with “business as usual” with economic collapse hanging over our head like an avalanche?

I can’t.

Looking at the news, all of the war torn areas of the world, I think about the sick and elderly with no food or water, no shelter, clothing, medicine or light of any kind. I think about the women mourning the terrible and unjust loss of their children and husbands, not to mention their homes and entire way of life. I think about the children who have suffered the loss of their parents along with anything that resembles a sane world. I picture my own grandchildren in the photographs of the rubble and death.

My prayers continue for all of them, with fear and trembling for my part in allowing this to happen. How can we hope to avoid being held responsible for all of this, by God if not by the rest of the world? When will some “coalition of the willing” decide to invade and “liberate” US from the insane government that gleefully directs the murder of its own people, as well as so many others? Do we really want to ignite a third world war, and with nuclear bombs? Such insanity!!

My prayers and thoughts were also with all of the young men and women in the military all over the world. I pray for all of the mothers and sisters and relatives of those in the fighting, especially those who have lost their sons and daughters, husbands and fathers. My prayers are even more intense for those soldiers and Marines who have cast aside their own humanity and indulged in torture and murder. The pain and shame their parents and loved ones must endure is beyond my comprehension.

So, please pardon me for not wishing you a “Happy Thanksgiving.” I hope everyone will spend at least a little time this week contemplating their blessings in the light of what is happening in Israel/Gaza and elsewhere. It might not be a bad idea to start thinking about the very possible economic and political disasters about to descend on us here at home. It might be a good time to start thinking about survival. And, for those who profess to believe in God, there has never been a better time to get serious about prayer and repentance.

Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Always has been, and always will be.

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