Getting your local scumbag politicians face and you get threatened with the cops or your family gets threatened with a gun...or both!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Posters Spotted Portraying Obama as 'The Joker'
Via Foxnews.com
President Obama's been called a lot of things -- but this is probably the first time any campaign has tried to peg him as flat-out creepy.
A slew of posters have been spotted throughout Los Angeles that portray Obama as "The Joker" from "The Dark Knight," with the word "socialism" printed in black above and below his face.
The posters show the president decked out in the kind of unnerving makeup Heath Ledger used in the latest Batman. Obama's face is painted white, his eyes have dark circles around them and two red scars curl up from the corner of his mouth
It's unclear who is producing and distributing the sinister posters. They come as Democrats and Republicans continue to battle over health care reform -- which some critics warn will lead to a government takeover of health care.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Maybe There Is Hope!
Buy a truck get a new AK47...
http://www.max71.com
Saw it on CNN on-line video and the anchor was pretty upset (who would of thunk it!) and the dealership manager was very articulate in his beliefs (as is the norm for conservative gun people) so the question stands...who needs a new truck?
http://www.max71.com
Saw it on CNN on-line video and the anchor was pretty upset (who would of thunk it!) and the dealership manager was very articulate in his beliefs (as is the norm for conservative gun people) so the question stands...who needs a new truck?
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
Ahhh...now I get it!
It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.
He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.
The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.
The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.
The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.
The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that in these hard times, gave her “services” on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.
At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism….
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business today.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.
He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.
The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.
The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.
The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.
The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that in these hard times, gave her “services” on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.
At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism….
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business today.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hankus sends…
I thought I would offer this up as a complete change of pace to my normal politically based content. Today's lesson: Survival. The excerpt last was taken from the book “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why” by Laurence Gonzales. ISBN’s 0393326152 and 978-0393326154 and available, of course, at Amazon.com. Hankus has not personally read this book however the excerpt is very informative and true to the spirit of survival thus it gets my thumbs up and I will be purchasing a copy immediately.
Hankus also offers a pair of Army survival school acronyms for your use, one very simple, and one not so very simple, for slowly evolving situations such as being lost in the wilderness:
S.T.O.P.
Stop
Think
Observe
Plan
It shakes out like this:
Stop what you're doing, find a dry place and actually sit down for a few minutes. Running around in circles like a headless chicken will get you nothing but tired, thirsty and possibly more lost.
Think about where you are, what resources you have with you or at your disposal, who is anyone is with you, and what you've got to do immediately to survive.
Observe where you are and what is around you. Are there any natural resources you can use? Is the area you are in safe?
Plan on how you're going to use the resources at hand to achieve your goals, the route you're going to take, how you are going to contact rescuers.
The US Army currently uses the acronym S.U.R.V.I.V.A.L. to help soldiers’ remember how to survive, and though a bit harder to remember, it is self-explanatory:
Size up the situation
Undue haste makes waste
Remember were you are
Vanquish fear and panic
Improvise
Value living
Act like the natives
Live by your wits
If you really think about it these two acronyms would help you in your daily life just as much as a they would in an dire situation. Try mentally applying them to having a flat tire in a strange neighborhood in a foreign city, suddenly losing your job or being trapped in your house for a week due to a blizzard, etc. STOP can actually be applied to almost any daily situation.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
And now, our book excerpt:
The 12 Rules of Survival
By Laurence Gonzales
As a journalist, I've been writing about accidents for more than thirty years. In the last 15 or so years, I've concentrated on accidents in outdoor recreation, in an effort to understand who lives, who dies, and why. To my surprise, I found an eerie uniformity in the way people survive seemingly impossible circumstances. Decades and sometimes centuries apart, separated by culture, geography, race, language, and tradition, the most successful survivors–those who practice what I call “deep survival”–go through the same patterns of thought and behavior, the same transformation and spiritual discovery, in the course of keeping themselves alive. Not only that but it doesn't seem to matter whether they are surviving being lost in the wilderness or battling cancer, whether they're struggling through divorce or facing a business catastrophe–the strategies remain the same.
Survival should be thought of as a journey, a vision quest of the sort that Native Americans have had as a rite of passage for thousands of years. Once you're past the precipitating event–you're cast away at sea or told you have cancer–you have been enrolled in one of the oldest schools in history. Here are a few things I've learned that can help you pass the final exam.
1. Perceive and Believe
Don't fall into the deadly trap of denial or of immobilizing fear. Admit it: You're really in trouble and you're going to have to get yourself out.
Many people who in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, died simply because they told themselves that everything was going to be all right. Others panicked. Panic doesn't necessarily mean screaming and running around. Often it means simply doing nothing. Survivors don't candy-coat the truth, but they also don't give in to hopelessness in the face of it.
Survivors see opportunity, even good, in their situation, however grim. After the ordeal is over, people may be surprised to hear them say it was the best thing that ever happened to them. Viktor Frankl, who spent three years in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, describes comforting a woman who was dying. She told him, “I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard. In m former life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously.”
The phases of the survival journey roughly parallel the five stages of death once described by Elizabeth Kubler Ross in her book On Death and Dying: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In dire circumstances, a survivor moves through those stages rapidly to acceptance of his situation, then resolves to do something to save himself. Survival depends on telling yourself, “Okay, I'm here. This is really happening. Now I'm going to do the next right thing to get myself out.” Whether you succeed or not ultimately becomes irrelevant. It is in acting well–even suffering well–that you give meaning to whatever life you have to live.
2. Stay Calm – Use Your Anger
In the initial crisis, survivors are not ruled by fear; instead, they make use of it. Their fear often feels like (and turns into) anger, which motivates them and makes them feel sharper. Aron Ralston, the hiker who had to cut off his hand to free himself from a stone that had trapped him in a slot canyon in Utah, initially panicked and began slamming himself over and over against the boulder that had caught his hand. But very quickly, he stopped himself, did some deep breathing, and began thinking about his options. He eventually spent five days progressing through the stages necessary to convince him of what decisive action he had to take to save his own life.
When Lance Armstrong, six-time winner of the Tour de France, awoke from brain surgery for his cancer, he first felt gratitude. “But then I felt a second wave, of anger... I was alive, and I was mad.” When friends asked him how he was doing, he responded, “I'm doing great... I like it like this. I like the odds stacked against me... I don’t know any other way.” That's survivor thinking.
Survivors also manage pain well. As a bike racer, Armstrong had had long training in enduring pain, even learning to love it. James Stockdale, a fighter pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and spent eight years in the Hanoi Hilton, as his prison camp was known, advised those who would learn to survive: “One should include a course of familiarization with pain. You have to practice hurting. There is no question about it.”
3. Think, Analyze, and Plan
Survivors quickly organize, set up routines, and institute discipline.
When Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer, he organized his fight against it the way he would organize his training for a race. He read everything he could about it, put himself on a training schedule, and put together a team from among friends, family, and doctors to support his efforts. Such conscious, organized effort in the face of grave danger requires a split between reason and emotion in which reason gives direction and emotion provides the power source. Survivors often report experiencing reason as an audible “voice.”
Steve Callahan, a sailor and boat designer, was rammed by a whale and sunk while on a solo voyage in 1982. Adrift in the Atlantic for 76 days in a five-and-a-half-foot raft, he experienced his survival voyage as taking place under the command of a “captain,” who gave him his orders and kept him on his water ration, even as his own mutinous (emotional) spirit complained. His captain routinely lectured “the crew.” Thus under strict control, he was able to push away thoughts that his situation was hopeless and take the necessary first steps of the survival journey: to think clearly, analyze his situation, and formulate a plan.
4. Take Correct, Decisive Action
Survivors are willing to take risks to save themselves and others. But they are simultaneously bold and cautious in what they will do. Lauren Elder was the only survivor of a light plane crash in high sierra. Stranded on a peak above 12,000 feet, one arm broken, she could see the San Joaquin Valley in California below, but a vast wilderness and sheer and icy cliffs separated her from it. Wearing a wrap-around skirt and blouse, with two-inch heeled boots and not even wearing underwear, she crawled “on all fours, doing a kind of sideways spiderwalk,” as she put it later, “balancing myself on the ice crust, punching through it with my hands and feet.”
She had 36 hours of climbing ahead of her–a seemingly impossible task. But Elder allowed herself to think only as far as the next big rock. Survivors break down large jobs into small, manageable tasks. They set attainable goals and develop short-term plans to reach them. They are meticulous about doing those tasks well. Elder tested each hold before moving forward and stopped frequently to rest. They make very few mistakes. They handle what is within their power to deal with from moment to moment, hour to hour, day to day.
5. Celebrate your success
Survivors take great joy from even their smallest successes. This helps keep motivation high and prevents a lethal plunge into hopelessness. It also provides relief from the unspeakable strain of a life-threatening situation. Elder said that once she had completed her descent of the first pitch, she looked up at the impossibly steep slope and thought, “Look what you've done...Exhilarated, I gave a whoop that echoed down the silent pass.” Even with a broken arm, joy was Elder's constant companion. A good survivor always tells herself: count your blessings–you're alive. Viktor Frankl wrote of how he felt at times in Auschwitz: “How content we were; happy in spite of everything.”
6. Be a Rescuer, Not a Victim
Survivors are always doing what they do for someone else, even if that someone is thousands of miles away. There are numerous strategies for doing this. When Antoine Saint-Exupery was stranded in the Lybian desert after his mail plane suffered an engine failure, he thought of how his wife would suffer if he gave up and didn't return. Yossi Ghinsberg, a young Israeli hiker, was lost in the Bolivian jungle for more than two weeks after becoming separated from his friends. He hallucinated a beautiful companion with whom he slept each night as he traveled. Everything he did, he did for her. People cannot survive for themselves alone; their must be a higher motive.
Viktor Frankl put it this way: “Don't aim at success–the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.” He suggests taking it as “the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.”
7. Enjoy the Survival Journey
It may seem counterintuitive, but even in the worst circumstances, survivors find something to enjoy, some way to play and laugh. Survival can be tedious, and waiting itself is an art. Elder found herself laughing out loud when she started to worry that someone might see up her skirt as she climbed. Even as Callahan's boat was sinking, he stopped to laugh at himself as he clutched a knife in his teeth like a pirate while trying to get into his life raft. And Viktor Frankl ordered some of his companions in Auschwitz who were threatening to give up hope to force themselves to think of one funny thing each day.
Survivors also use the intellect to stimulate, calm, and entertain the mind. While moving across a near-vertical cliff face in Peru, Joe Simpson developed a rhythmic pattern of placing his ax, plunging his other arm into the snow face, and then making a frightening little hop with his good leg. “I meticulously repeated the pattern,” he wrote later. “I began to feel detached from everything around me.”
Singing, playing mind games, reciting poetry, counting anything, and doing mathematical problems in your head can make waiting possible and even pleasant, even while heightening perception and quieting fear. Stockdale wrote, “The person who came into this experiment with reams of already memorized poetry was the bearer of great gifts.”
When Lance Armstrong was undergoing horrible chemotherapy, his mantra became his blood count: “Those numbers became the highlight of each day; they were my motivation... I would concentrate on that number, as if I could make the counts by mentally willing it.”
Lost in the Bolivian jungle, Yossi Ghinsberg reported, “When I found myself feeling hopeless, I whispered my mantra, ‘Man of action, man of action.’ I don't know where I had gotten the phrase... I repeated it over and over: A man of action does whatever he must, isn't afraid, and doesn't worry.”
Survivors engage their crisis almost as an athlete engages a sport. They cling to talismans. They discover the sense of flow of the expert performer, the “zone” in which emotion and thought balance each other in producing fluid action. A playful approach to a critical situation also leads to invention, and invention may lead to a new technique, strategy, or design that could save you.
8. See the Beauty
Survivors are attuned to the wonder of their world, especially in the face of mortal danger. The appreciation of beauty, the feeling of awe, opens the senses to the environment. (When you see something beautiful, your pupils actually dilate.) Debbie Kiley and four others were adrift in the Atlantic after their boat sank in a hurricane in 1982. They had no supplies, no water, and would die without rescue. Two of the crew members drank sea water and went mad. When one of them jumped overboard and was being eaten by sharks directly under their dinghy, Kiley felt as if she, too, were going mad, and told herself, “Focus on the sky, on the beauty there.”
When Saint-Exupery's plane went down in the Lybian Desert, he was certain that he was doomed, but he carried on in this spirit: “Here we are, condemned to death, and still the certainty of dying cannot compare with the pleasure I am feeling. The joy I take from this half an orange which I am holding in my hand is one of the greatest joys I have ever known.” At no time did he stop to bemoan his fate, or if he did, it was only to laugh at himself.
9. Believe That You Will Succeed
It is at this point, following what I call “the vision,” that the survivor's will to live becomes firmly fixed. Fear of dying falls away, and a new strength fills them with the power to go on. “During the final two days of my entrapment,” Ralston recalled, “I felt an increasing reserve of energy, even though I had run out of food and water.” Elder said, “I felt rested and filled with a peculiar energy.” And: “It was as if I had been granted an unlimited supply of energy.”
10. Surrender
Yes you might die. In fact, you wil die–we all do. But perhaps it doesn't have to be today. Don't let it worry you. Forget about rescue. Everything you need is inside you already. Dougal Robertson, a sailor who was cast away at sea for thirty-eight days after his boat sank, advised thinking of survival this way: “Rescue will come as a welcome interruption of... the survival voyage.” One survival psychologist calls that “resignation without giving up. It is survival by surrender.”
Simpson reported, “I would probably die out there amid those boulders. The thought didn't alarm me... the horror of dying no longer affected me.” The Tao Te Ching explains how this surrender leads to survival:
The rhinoceros has no place to jab its horn,
The tiger has no place to fasten its claws,
Weapons have no place to admit their blades.
Now,
What is the reason for this?
Because on him there are no mortal spots.
11. Do Whatever Is Necessary
Elder down-climbed vertical ice and rock faces with no experience and no equipment. In the black of night, Callahan dove into the flooded saloon of his sinking boat, at once risking and saving his life. Aron Ralston cut off his own arm to free himself. A cancer patient allows herself to be nearly killed by chemotherapy in order to live.
Survivors have a reason to live and are willing to bet everything on themselves. They have what psychologists call meta-knowledge: They know their abilities and do not over–or underestimate them. They believe that anything is possible and act accordingly.
12. Never Give Up
When Apollo 13's oxygen tank exploded, apparently dooming the crew, Commander Jim Lovell chose to keep on transmitting whatever data he could back to mission control, even as they burned up on re-entry. Simpson, Elder, Callahan, Kiley, Stockdale, Ghinsberg–were all equally determined and knew this final truth: If you're still alive, there is always one more thing that you can do.
Survivors are not easily discouraged by setbacks. They accept that the environment is constantly changing and know that they must adapt. When they fall, they pick themselves up and start the entire process over again, breaking it down into manageable bits.
Survivors always have a clear reason for going on. They keep their spirits up by developing an alternate world, created from rich memories, into which they can escape. They see opportunity in adversity. In the aftermath, survivors learn from and are grateful for the experiences that they've had. As Elder told me once, “I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. And sometimes I even miss it. I miss the clarity of knowing exactly what you have to do next.”
Those who would survive the hazards of our world, whether at play or in business or at war, through illness or financial calamity, will do so through a journey of transformation. But that transcendent state doesn't miraculously appear when it is needed. It wells up from a lifetime of experiences, attitudes, and practices form one's personality, a core from which the necessary strength is drawn. A survival experience is an incomparable gift: It will tell you who you really are.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
I thought I would offer this up as a complete change of pace to my normal politically based content. Today's lesson: Survival. The excerpt last was taken from the book “Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why” by Laurence Gonzales. ISBN’s 0393326152 and 978-0393326154 and available, of course, at Amazon.com. Hankus has not personally read this book however the excerpt is very informative and true to the spirit of survival thus it gets my thumbs up and I will be purchasing a copy immediately.
Hankus also offers a pair of Army survival school acronyms for your use, one very simple, and one not so very simple, for slowly evolving situations such as being lost in the wilderness:
S.T.O.P.
Stop
Think
Observe
Plan
It shakes out like this:
Stop what you're doing, find a dry place and actually sit down for a few minutes. Running around in circles like a headless chicken will get you nothing but tired, thirsty and possibly more lost.
Think about where you are, what resources you have with you or at your disposal, who is anyone is with you, and what you've got to do immediately to survive.
Observe where you are and what is around you. Are there any natural resources you can use? Is the area you are in safe?
Plan on how you're going to use the resources at hand to achieve your goals, the route you're going to take, how you are going to contact rescuers.
The US Army currently uses the acronym S.U.R.V.I.V.A.L. to help soldiers’ remember how to survive, and though a bit harder to remember, it is self-explanatory:
Size up the situation
Undue haste makes waste
Remember were you are
Vanquish fear and panic
Improvise
Value living
Act like the natives
Live by your wits
If you really think about it these two acronyms would help you in your daily life just as much as a they would in an dire situation. Try mentally applying them to having a flat tire in a strange neighborhood in a foreign city, suddenly losing your job or being trapped in your house for a week due to a blizzard, etc. STOP can actually be applied to almost any daily situation.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
And now, our book excerpt:
The 12 Rules of Survival
By Laurence Gonzales
As a journalist, I've been writing about accidents for more than thirty years. In the last 15 or so years, I've concentrated on accidents in outdoor recreation, in an effort to understand who lives, who dies, and why. To my surprise, I found an eerie uniformity in the way people survive seemingly impossible circumstances. Decades and sometimes centuries apart, separated by culture, geography, race, language, and tradition, the most successful survivors–those who practice what I call “deep survival”–go through the same patterns of thought and behavior, the same transformation and spiritual discovery, in the course of keeping themselves alive. Not only that but it doesn't seem to matter whether they are surviving being lost in the wilderness or battling cancer, whether they're struggling through divorce or facing a business catastrophe–the strategies remain the same.
Survival should be thought of as a journey, a vision quest of the sort that Native Americans have had as a rite of passage for thousands of years. Once you're past the precipitating event–you're cast away at sea or told you have cancer–you have been enrolled in one of the oldest schools in history. Here are a few things I've learned that can help you pass the final exam.
1. Perceive and Believe
Don't fall into the deadly trap of denial or of immobilizing fear. Admit it: You're really in trouble and you're going to have to get yourself out.
Many people who in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, died simply because they told themselves that everything was going to be all right. Others panicked. Panic doesn't necessarily mean screaming and running around. Often it means simply doing nothing. Survivors don't candy-coat the truth, but they also don't give in to hopelessness in the face of it.
Survivors see opportunity, even good, in their situation, however grim. After the ordeal is over, people may be surprised to hear them say it was the best thing that ever happened to them. Viktor Frankl, who spent three years in Auschwitz and other Nazi concentration camps, describes comforting a woman who was dying. She told him, “I am grateful that fate has hit me so hard. In m former life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments seriously.”
The phases of the survival journey roughly parallel the five stages of death once described by Elizabeth Kubler Ross in her book On Death and Dying: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. In dire circumstances, a survivor moves through those stages rapidly to acceptance of his situation, then resolves to do something to save himself. Survival depends on telling yourself, “Okay, I'm here. This is really happening. Now I'm going to do the next right thing to get myself out.” Whether you succeed or not ultimately becomes irrelevant. It is in acting well–even suffering well–that you give meaning to whatever life you have to live.
2. Stay Calm – Use Your Anger
In the initial crisis, survivors are not ruled by fear; instead, they make use of it. Their fear often feels like (and turns into) anger, which motivates them and makes them feel sharper. Aron Ralston, the hiker who had to cut off his hand to free himself from a stone that had trapped him in a slot canyon in Utah, initially panicked and began slamming himself over and over against the boulder that had caught his hand. But very quickly, he stopped himself, did some deep breathing, and began thinking about his options. He eventually spent five days progressing through the stages necessary to convince him of what decisive action he had to take to save his own life.
When Lance Armstrong, six-time winner of the Tour de France, awoke from brain surgery for his cancer, he first felt gratitude. “But then I felt a second wave, of anger... I was alive, and I was mad.” When friends asked him how he was doing, he responded, “I'm doing great... I like it like this. I like the odds stacked against me... I don’t know any other way.” That's survivor thinking.
Survivors also manage pain well. As a bike racer, Armstrong had had long training in enduring pain, even learning to love it. James Stockdale, a fighter pilot who was shot down in Vietnam and spent eight years in the Hanoi Hilton, as his prison camp was known, advised those who would learn to survive: “One should include a course of familiarization with pain. You have to practice hurting. There is no question about it.”
3. Think, Analyze, and Plan
Survivors quickly organize, set up routines, and institute discipline.
When Lance Armstrong was diagnosed with cancer, he organized his fight against it the way he would organize his training for a race. He read everything he could about it, put himself on a training schedule, and put together a team from among friends, family, and doctors to support his efforts. Such conscious, organized effort in the face of grave danger requires a split between reason and emotion in which reason gives direction and emotion provides the power source. Survivors often report experiencing reason as an audible “voice.”
Steve Callahan, a sailor and boat designer, was rammed by a whale and sunk while on a solo voyage in 1982. Adrift in the Atlantic for 76 days in a five-and-a-half-foot raft, he experienced his survival voyage as taking place under the command of a “captain,” who gave him his orders and kept him on his water ration, even as his own mutinous (emotional) spirit complained. His captain routinely lectured “the crew.” Thus under strict control, he was able to push away thoughts that his situation was hopeless and take the necessary first steps of the survival journey: to think clearly, analyze his situation, and formulate a plan.
4. Take Correct, Decisive Action
Survivors are willing to take risks to save themselves and others. But they are simultaneously bold and cautious in what they will do. Lauren Elder was the only survivor of a light plane crash in high sierra. Stranded on a peak above 12,000 feet, one arm broken, she could see the San Joaquin Valley in California below, but a vast wilderness and sheer and icy cliffs separated her from it. Wearing a wrap-around skirt and blouse, with two-inch heeled boots and not even wearing underwear, she crawled “on all fours, doing a kind of sideways spiderwalk,” as she put it later, “balancing myself on the ice crust, punching through it with my hands and feet.”
She had 36 hours of climbing ahead of her–a seemingly impossible task. But Elder allowed herself to think only as far as the next big rock. Survivors break down large jobs into small, manageable tasks. They set attainable goals and develop short-term plans to reach them. They are meticulous about doing those tasks well. Elder tested each hold before moving forward and stopped frequently to rest. They make very few mistakes. They handle what is within their power to deal with from moment to moment, hour to hour, day to day.
5. Celebrate your success
Survivors take great joy from even their smallest successes. This helps keep motivation high and prevents a lethal plunge into hopelessness. It also provides relief from the unspeakable strain of a life-threatening situation. Elder said that once she had completed her descent of the first pitch, she looked up at the impossibly steep slope and thought, “Look what you've done...Exhilarated, I gave a whoop that echoed down the silent pass.” Even with a broken arm, joy was Elder's constant companion. A good survivor always tells herself: count your blessings–you're alive. Viktor Frankl wrote of how he felt at times in Auschwitz: “How content we were; happy in spite of everything.”
6. Be a Rescuer, Not a Victim
Survivors are always doing what they do for someone else, even if that someone is thousands of miles away. There are numerous strategies for doing this. When Antoine Saint-Exupery was stranded in the Lybian desert after his mail plane suffered an engine failure, he thought of how his wife would suffer if he gave up and didn't return. Yossi Ghinsberg, a young Israeli hiker, was lost in the Bolivian jungle for more than two weeks after becoming separated from his friends. He hallucinated a beautiful companion with whom he slept each night as he traveled. Everything he did, he did for her. People cannot survive for themselves alone; their must be a higher motive.
Viktor Frankl put it this way: “Don't aim at success–the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it.” He suggests taking it as “the unintended side-effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one's surrender to a person other than oneself.”
7. Enjoy the Survival Journey
It may seem counterintuitive, but even in the worst circumstances, survivors find something to enjoy, some way to play and laugh. Survival can be tedious, and waiting itself is an art. Elder found herself laughing out loud when she started to worry that someone might see up her skirt as she climbed. Even as Callahan's boat was sinking, he stopped to laugh at himself as he clutched a knife in his teeth like a pirate while trying to get into his life raft. And Viktor Frankl ordered some of his companions in Auschwitz who were threatening to give up hope to force themselves to think of one funny thing each day.
Survivors also use the intellect to stimulate, calm, and entertain the mind. While moving across a near-vertical cliff face in Peru, Joe Simpson developed a rhythmic pattern of placing his ax, plunging his other arm into the snow face, and then making a frightening little hop with his good leg. “I meticulously repeated the pattern,” he wrote later. “I began to feel detached from everything around me.”
Singing, playing mind games, reciting poetry, counting anything, and doing mathematical problems in your head can make waiting possible and even pleasant, even while heightening perception and quieting fear. Stockdale wrote, “The person who came into this experiment with reams of already memorized poetry was the bearer of great gifts.”
When Lance Armstrong was undergoing horrible chemotherapy, his mantra became his blood count: “Those numbers became the highlight of each day; they were my motivation... I would concentrate on that number, as if I could make the counts by mentally willing it.”
Lost in the Bolivian jungle, Yossi Ghinsberg reported, “When I found myself feeling hopeless, I whispered my mantra, ‘Man of action, man of action.’ I don't know where I had gotten the phrase... I repeated it over and over: A man of action does whatever he must, isn't afraid, and doesn't worry.”
Survivors engage their crisis almost as an athlete engages a sport. They cling to talismans. They discover the sense of flow of the expert performer, the “zone” in which emotion and thought balance each other in producing fluid action. A playful approach to a critical situation also leads to invention, and invention may lead to a new technique, strategy, or design that could save you.
8. See the Beauty
Survivors are attuned to the wonder of their world, especially in the face of mortal danger. The appreciation of beauty, the feeling of awe, opens the senses to the environment. (When you see something beautiful, your pupils actually dilate.) Debbie Kiley and four others were adrift in the Atlantic after their boat sank in a hurricane in 1982. They had no supplies, no water, and would die without rescue. Two of the crew members drank sea water and went mad. When one of them jumped overboard and was being eaten by sharks directly under their dinghy, Kiley felt as if she, too, were going mad, and told herself, “Focus on the sky, on the beauty there.”
When Saint-Exupery's plane went down in the Lybian Desert, he was certain that he was doomed, but he carried on in this spirit: “Here we are, condemned to death, and still the certainty of dying cannot compare with the pleasure I am feeling. The joy I take from this half an orange which I am holding in my hand is one of the greatest joys I have ever known.” At no time did he stop to bemoan his fate, or if he did, it was only to laugh at himself.
9. Believe That You Will Succeed
It is at this point, following what I call “the vision,” that the survivor's will to live becomes firmly fixed. Fear of dying falls away, and a new strength fills them with the power to go on. “During the final two days of my entrapment,” Ralston recalled, “I felt an increasing reserve of energy, even though I had run out of food and water.” Elder said, “I felt rested and filled with a peculiar energy.” And: “It was as if I had been granted an unlimited supply of energy.”
10. Surrender
Yes you might die. In fact, you wil die–we all do. But perhaps it doesn't have to be today. Don't let it worry you. Forget about rescue. Everything you need is inside you already. Dougal Robertson, a sailor who was cast away at sea for thirty-eight days after his boat sank, advised thinking of survival this way: “Rescue will come as a welcome interruption of... the survival voyage.” One survival psychologist calls that “resignation without giving up. It is survival by surrender.”
Simpson reported, “I would probably die out there amid those boulders. The thought didn't alarm me... the horror of dying no longer affected me.” The Tao Te Ching explains how this surrender leads to survival:
The rhinoceros has no place to jab its horn,
The tiger has no place to fasten its claws,
Weapons have no place to admit their blades.
Now,
What is the reason for this?
Because on him there are no mortal spots.
11. Do Whatever Is Necessary
Elder down-climbed vertical ice and rock faces with no experience and no equipment. In the black of night, Callahan dove into the flooded saloon of his sinking boat, at once risking and saving his life. Aron Ralston cut off his own arm to free himself. A cancer patient allows herself to be nearly killed by chemotherapy in order to live.
Survivors have a reason to live and are willing to bet everything on themselves. They have what psychologists call meta-knowledge: They know their abilities and do not over–or underestimate them. They believe that anything is possible and act accordingly.
12. Never Give Up
When Apollo 13's oxygen tank exploded, apparently dooming the crew, Commander Jim Lovell chose to keep on transmitting whatever data he could back to mission control, even as they burned up on re-entry. Simpson, Elder, Callahan, Kiley, Stockdale, Ghinsberg–were all equally determined and knew this final truth: If you're still alive, there is always one more thing that you can do.
Survivors are not easily discouraged by setbacks. They accept that the environment is constantly changing and know that they must adapt. When they fall, they pick themselves up and start the entire process over again, breaking it down into manageable bits.
Survivors always have a clear reason for going on. They keep their spirits up by developing an alternate world, created from rich memories, into which they can escape. They see opportunity in adversity. In the aftermath, survivors learn from and are grateful for the experiences that they've had. As Elder told me once, “I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. And sometimes I even miss it. I miss the clarity of knowing exactly what you have to do next.”
Those who would survive the hazards of our world, whether at play or in business or at war, through illness or financial calamity, will do so through a journey of transformation. But that transcendent state doesn't miraculously appear when it is needed. It wells up from a lifetime of experiences, attitudes, and practices form one's personality, a core from which the necessary strength is drawn. A survival experience is an incomparable gift: It will tell you who you really are.
x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Some Colleges Bar Even Talking About Right to Bear Arms
Some Colleges Bar Even Talking About Right to Bear Arms, Gun Advocates Say
Thursday , June 04, 2009
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
WASHINGTON —
The First Amendment guarantees Americans the right to free speech. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to possess firearms. Now the first two clauses in the Bill of Rights have come together in an ongoing debate over the right of college students to advocate that they be allowed to carry guns on campus.
The bloody massacres at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School, as well as smaller campus shootings across the country in the last decade, have fomented a lively debate over whether citizens should be allowed to carry concealed weapons to defend themselves on campus.
But that debate has hit a wall of resistance from school officials in some places, bringing into focus the dual issues of gun rights and free speech.
Many gun-rights advocates are arguing that college campuses, which are supposed to be open to diversity of thought, provocative dialogue, politics and protest, are hardly bastions of free speech when it comes to discussing firearms.
"The fact is, the topic is so explosive," said Robert Shibley, spokesman for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which tracks discriminatory practices against students involved in conservative issues on campus. They've been dealing with "more and more" complaints about efforts to "squelch gun speech," he said.
The rest here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525110,00.html
Thursday , June 04, 2009
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
WASHINGTON —
The First Amendment guarantees Americans the right to free speech. The Second Amendment guarantees the right to possess firearms. Now the first two clauses in the Bill of Rights have come together in an ongoing debate over the right of college students to advocate that they be allowed to carry guns on campus.
The bloody massacres at Virginia Tech and Columbine High School, as well as smaller campus shootings across the country in the last decade, have fomented a lively debate over whether citizens should be allowed to carry concealed weapons to defend themselves on campus.
But that debate has hit a wall of resistance from school officials in some places, bringing into focus the dual issues of gun rights and free speech.
Many gun-rights advocates are arguing that college campuses, which are supposed to be open to diversity of thought, provocative dialogue, politics and protest, are hardly bastions of free speech when it comes to discussing firearms.
"The fact is, the topic is so explosive," said Robert Shibley, spokesman for the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), which tracks discriminatory practices against students involved in conservative issues on campus. They've been dealing with "more and more" complaints about efforts to "squelch gun speech," he said.
The rest here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525110,00.html
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Vet's Patriotic Stickers Under Fire
FUCK HOA's!!!!
Vet's Patriotic Stickers Under Fire
Published : Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 10:45 PM CDT
James Rose
DALLAS - Frank Larison is a disabled veteran with more than 14 years of service, including more than a year of combat duty in Vietnam.
The 58-year-old former Marine now finds himself under attack by his Dallas homeowners association for displaying seven decals on his vehicle supporting the Marine Corps.
"To me, it's being patriotic, and it shows that I served," the veteran told FOX 4.
The board says the decals are advertisements that violate HOA rules, and must be covered or removed.
Otherwise, the homeowners association for The Woodlands II on The Creek --- where Larimore has lived for eight years --- says in a letter it will tow the car at Larimore's expense. The board also threatens to fine him $50 for any future incident.
Larimore says the decals, ranging from the Marine emblem to Semper Fi slogans, aren't advertisements for anything. "You can't buy freedom," he reasoned.
Some neighbors are outraged.
"That is his identity," said neighbor Mary Castagna. "He goes to a lot of the veteran meetings, and it means a lot to him. Everyone else agrees with it; it doesn't bother anybody."
"He's in the Marines, and he's proud of it, and I don't blame him," said neighbor Paul Hardy. "If I'd gone through what he's gone through, I'd be kind of proud of it myself."
The letter from the board states you can't have any form of advertisement anywhere on your car on your property. FOX 4 cameras spotted bumper stickers for political parties, health causes, and other non-commercial interests on the property as well.
One board member said he was unaware the HOA presidents sent the letter and did not know of any issue with Larimore's vehicle.
"I will be looking into it," said board member Art Bradford. "I didn't know anything about this. I haven't seen this."
The board president was out of town and unavailable. The condo management company did not want to comment.
Vet's Patriotic Stickers Under Fire
Published : Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 10:45 PM CDT
James Rose
DALLAS - Frank Larison is a disabled veteran with more than 14 years of service, including more than a year of combat duty in Vietnam.
The 58-year-old former Marine now finds himself under attack by his Dallas homeowners association for displaying seven decals on his vehicle supporting the Marine Corps.
"To me, it's being patriotic, and it shows that I served," the veteran told FOX 4.
The board says the decals are advertisements that violate HOA rules, and must be covered or removed.
Otherwise, the homeowners association for The Woodlands II on The Creek --- where Larimore has lived for eight years --- says in a letter it will tow the car at Larimore's expense. The board also threatens to fine him $50 for any future incident.
Larimore says the decals, ranging from the Marine emblem to Semper Fi slogans, aren't advertisements for anything. "You can't buy freedom," he reasoned.
Some neighbors are outraged.
"That is his identity," said neighbor Mary Castagna. "He goes to a lot of the veteran meetings, and it means a lot to him. Everyone else agrees with it; it doesn't bother anybody."
"He's in the Marines, and he's proud of it, and I don't blame him," said neighbor Paul Hardy. "If I'd gone through what he's gone through, I'd be kind of proud of it myself."
The letter from the board states you can't have any form of advertisement anywhere on your car on your property. FOX 4 cameras spotted bumper stickers for political parties, health causes, and other non-commercial interests on the property as well.
One board member said he was unaware the HOA presidents sent the letter and did not know of any issue with Larimore's vehicle.
"I will be looking into it," said board member Art Bradford. "I didn't know anything about this. I haven't seen this."
The board president was out of town and unavailable. The condo management company did not want to comment.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
FBI Keeps Tabs on TEA Parties
Newsmax.com
FBI Keeps Tabs on TEA Parties
Thursday, May 21, 2009 2:25 PM
By: James H. Walsh
"The 'TEA Party' movement is an unhealthy mutation from public dissatisfaction with the Obama administration’s economic policies."
— David Axelrod, Senior White House Adviser, April 2009
Since when is free speech, as personified by the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party grass-roots citizens movement, “unhealthy”? Since the leftward tilt of federal agencies accelerated during the first 100 days of the Barack Obama presidency.
Consider, for instance, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has moved far to the left on the political spectrum in record time under Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Consider also the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The once fabled and incorruptible FBI is showing signs of becoming a mere “yes man” for the Obama administration.
Evidence for the yes-man charge is found in a recent report by the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis Assessment (I&A), entitled, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." The report names law-abiding U.S. citizens, who choose not to support the liberal agenda of the Obama administration, as prime subjects for FBI surveillance.
This Obama enemies list is a lengthy one, encompassing all “single-issue” advocates, including those who are pro-life, those who are gun owners, those who oppose illegal immigration, those who oppose “same -sex marriages” (such as Miss California), those who support third-party candidates, those who criticize free trade agreements, and, believe it or not, those military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and those veterans still around.
A citizen-taxpayer who falls into several of these categories is even more likely to be targeted. The FBI appears to be following, in lockstep, the DHS agenda, in complete disregard for the constitutional rights of the citizenry. Lest the DHS, A&I, DOJ, and FBI forget, the U.S. Constitution protects the right to bear arms, the right to peaceful assembly, and free speech.
A similar DHS report, also prepared by the I&A, was withdrawn within hours of its release. Dated March 26, 2009, and entitled, “Domestic Extremism Lexicon,” it was a dictionary of political incorrectness. Its senior author was transferred to the DHS Office of the Director of National Intelligence, perhaps to prepare more and more anti-citizen reports.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III has chosen to stand with those who would denigrate U.S. citizens by failing to denounce the DHS "Rightwing Extremism" report. Instead he actively supports the goals of this controversial DHS report as well as those of the withdrawn DHS "Lexicon." The question arises, Who is left on the left to watch those foreign nationals who have sworn to destroy the United States?
No congressional investigation is underway regarding the origins of the DHS report or the withdrawn DHS "Lexicon." Apparently the DHS guidelines for these reports were White House approved.
The worst aspect of this sad state of affairs is that the FBI historically has been a strong, disciplined, and effective bureau that lived up to its motto of “Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity.” For a century, countless books, articles, news accounts, movies, radio, and television shows have documented the Bureau as one of the world’s leading investigatory agencies. Now in 100 days, its proud history of crime fighting, spy-catching, civil-rights protecting, and domestic intelligence-gathering has been downgraded to political pandering and bureaucratic one-upmanship.
Extremists on the far left and on the far right have long found fault with the FBI for alleged privacy intrusions, especially when agents investigated wrong-doing by groups such as the U.S. Communist Party and the Ku Klux Klan. Ask any federal prosecutor, FBI agents were renowned for the quality of their background work in obtaining criminal convictions. But covering taxpayer protests? Come on.
The DHS "Rightwing Extremism" report admits that the I&A has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists (a term used in the report despite Napolitano’s new-think definition of terrorism as “man-caused disasters”) currently plan acts of violence. The report only suggests that “the election of the first African-American president presents unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.”
Armed with this baseless and biased assessment, the FBI under Mueller swung into action to place the Tax Day TEA Parties of April 15, 2009, under federal surveillance.
Mueller alerted FBI field offices throughout the United States to verify the date, time, location, and organizers of each TEA Party within their jurisdiction and to supply that information to seat of government, that is, FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. This request was issued two weeks before the DHS report was leaked to the California talk show.
Subsequently on April 6, 2009, FBI Headquarters advised its field offices to conduct cover surveillance and data collection of the protestors attending each TEA Party. The director’s advisory suggested that the surveillances were to be discreet and outside the purview of local law enforcement.
At the same time, the official FBI Web site carried the National Terror Suspect Watchlist, including the Most Wanted Terrorists, 24 of whom are foreign nationals, ranging from Osama bin Laden through Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser. Each person on the Most Wanted List is under indictment by federal grand juries in the United States. Not one of them was a right-wing extremist, and not one of them would waste their time attending a TEA Party.
The FBI Web site also posts the Ten Most Wanted Domestic Terrorists, again all of them under indictment by federal grand juries. At the top of the list is Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) wanted for killing a police officer and may be traveling in Africa. The other Top Ten include two more BLA members, several Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF) members, a member of the May 19th Communist Organization, and several other domestic terrorists, among them Puerto Rican nationalists. All of them are to be considered armed and dangerous.
Note that the Ten Most Wanted domestic terrorists all lean left of center, with not a rightwing terrorist or TEA Party taxpayer among them.
The FBI, by carrying out the DHS directives regarding surveillance of each TEA Party held in March and April, 2009, diverted valuable resources, and more will be needed to cover each TEA Party being planned for the Fourth of July. The FBI owes U.S. taxpayers a detailed accounting of the human resources and monetary expenses required by TEA Party surveillances. President Obama has pledged transparency.
It is time to reassign FBI resources from TEA Party surveillances to updating the National Terror Suspect Watchlist. Mueller and his agency continue, however, to show signs of political correctness. Has the Obama administration so intimidated federal career officials that agencies, such as the FBI, have lost all sense of direction?
Federal resources needed to combat Islamist terrorists are being wasted spying on law-obeying, taxpaying citizens. Enemy list surveillances are the building stones of a dictatorship. U.S. citizens, awake! Do not let future historians say that this all happened while we slept.
James H. Walsh is a former federal prosecutor and former Associate General Counsel of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice.
FBI Keeps Tabs on TEA Parties
Thursday, May 21, 2009 2:25 PM
By: James H. Walsh
"The 'TEA Party' movement is an unhealthy mutation from public dissatisfaction with the Obama administration’s economic policies."
— David Axelrod, Senior White House Adviser, April 2009
Since when is free speech, as personified by the TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party grass-roots citizens movement, “unhealthy”? Since the leftward tilt of federal agencies accelerated during the first 100 days of the Barack Obama presidency.
Consider, for instance, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which has moved far to the left on the political spectrum in record time under Secretary Janet Napolitano.
Consider also the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). The once fabled and incorruptible FBI is showing signs of becoming a mere “yes man” for the Obama administration.
Evidence for the yes-man charge is found in a recent report by the DHS Office of Intelligence and Analysis Assessment (I&A), entitled, "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment." The report names law-abiding U.S. citizens, who choose not to support the liberal agenda of the Obama administration, as prime subjects for FBI surveillance.
This Obama enemies list is a lengthy one, encompassing all “single-issue” advocates, including those who are pro-life, those who are gun owners, those who oppose illegal immigration, those who oppose “same -sex marriages” (such as Miss California), those who support third-party candidates, those who criticize free trade agreements, and, believe it or not, those military returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and those veterans still around.
A citizen-taxpayer who falls into several of these categories is even more likely to be targeted. The FBI appears to be following, in lockstep, the DHS agenda, in complete disregard for the constitutional rights of the citizenry. Lest the DHS, A&I, DOJ, and FBI forget, the U.S. Constitution protects the right to bear arms, the right to peaceful assembly, and free speech.
A similar DHS report, also prepared by the I&A, was withdrawn within hours of its release. Dated March 26, 2009, and entitled, “Domestic Extremism Lexicon,” it was a dictionary of political incorrectness. Its senior author was transferred to the DHS Office of the Director of National Intelligence, perhaps to prepare more and more anti-citizen reports.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III has chosen to stand with those who would denigrate U.S. citizens by failing to denounce the DHS "Rightwing Extremism" report. Instead he actively supports the goals of this controversial DHS report as well as those of the withdrawn DHS "Lexicon." The question arises, Who is left on the left to watch those foreign nationals who have sworn to destroy the United States?
No congressional investigation is underway regarding the origins of the DHS report or the withdrawn DHS "Lexicon." Apparently the DHS guidelines for these reports were White House approved.
The worst aspect of this sad state of affairs is that the FBI historically has been a strong, disciplined, and effective bureau that lived up to its motto of “Fidelity, Bravery, and Integrity.” For a century, countless books, articles, news accounts, movies, radio, and television shows have documented the Bureau as one of the world’s leading investigatory agencies. Now in 100 days, its proud history of crime fighting, spy-catching, civil-rights protecting, and domestic intelligence-gathering has been downgraded to political pandering and bureaucratic one-upmanship.
Extremists on the far left and on the far right have long found fault with the FBI for alleged privacy intrusions, especially when agents investigated wrong-doing by groups such as the U.S. Communist Party and the Ku Klux Klan. Ask any federal prosecutor, FBI agents were renowned for the quality of their background work in obtaining criminal convictions. But covering taxpayer protests? Come on.
The DHS "Rightwing Extremism" report admits that the I&A has no specific information that domestic rightwing terrorists (a term used in the report despite Napolitano’s new-think definition of terrorism as “man-caused disasters”) currently plan acts of violence. The report only suggests that “the election of the first African-American president presents unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.”
Armed with this baseless and biased assessment, the FBI under Mueller swung into action to place the Tax Day TEA Parties of April 15, 2009, under federal surveillance.
Mueller alerted FBI field offices throughout the United States to verify the date, time, location, and organizers of each TEA Party within their jurisdiction and to supply that information to seat of government, that is, FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. This request was issued two weeks before the DHS report was leaked to the California talk show.
Subsequently on April 6, 2009, FBI Headquarters advised its field offices to conduct cover surveillance and data collection of the protestors attending each TEA Party. The director’s advisory suggested that the surveillances were to be discreet and outside the purview of local law enforcement.
At the same time, the official FBI Web site carried the National Terror Suspect Watchlist, including the Most Wanted Terrorists, 24 of whom are foreign nationals, ranging from Osama bin Laden through Abdelkarim Hussein Mohamed Al-Nasser. Each person on the Most Wanted List is under indictment by federal grand juries in the United States. Not one of them was a right-wing extremist, and not one of them would waste their time attending a TEA Party.
The FBI Web site also posts the Ten Most Wanted Domestic Terrorists, again all of them under indictment by federal grand juries. At the top of the list is Ronald Stanley Bridgeforth, a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) wanted for killing a police officer and may be traveling in Africa. The other Top Ten include two more BLA members, several Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and Earth Liberation Front (ELF) members, a member of the May 19th Communist Organization, and several other domestic terrorists, among them Puerto Rican nationalists. All of them are to be considered armed and dangerous.
Note that the Ten Most Wanted domestic terrorists all lean left of center, with not a rightwing terrorist or TEA Party taxpayer among them.
The FBI, by carrying out the DHS directives regarding surveillance of each TEA Party held in March and April, 2009, diverted valuable resources, and more will be needed to cover each TEA Party being planned for the Fourth of July. The FBI owes U.S. taxpayers a detailed accounting of the human resources and monetary expenses required by TEA Party surveillances. President Obama has pledged transparency.
It is time to reassign FBI resources from TEA Party surveillances to updating the National Terror Suspect Watchlist. Mueller and his agency continue, however, to show signs of political correctness. Has the Obama administration so intimidated federal career officials that agencies, such as the FBI, have lost all sense of direction?
Federal resources needed to combat Islamist terrorists are being wasted spying on law-obeying, taxpaying citizens. Enemy list surveillances are the building stones of a dictatorship. U.S. citizens, awake! Do not let future historians say that this all happened while we slept.
James H. Walsh is a former federal prosecutor and former Associate General Counsel of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, U.S. Department of Justice.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tea Parties In Danger?
I am starting to have some very serious concerns; perhaps fears’ a better choice of word, regarding the Tea Parties and the shadows that I see slowly emerging from behind them. Up for grabs are an estimated 500,000 to 1,000,000+ voters nationwide crying out for leadership and guidance. This is a heart stopping number to operatives and their associated political organizations. This voting bloc is rapidly becoming completely disenfranchised from the system with a total disdain for politicians and political candidates across all party lines. Political organizations with fancy 4-color letterheads and matching corporate offices as well as your usual shadowy political operatives can hardly resist the pull of said vacuum formed by this chasm and are, I fear, rushing in to ride heard on this group of disgruntled citizens.
My specific concern lies with the sudden influx of ‘nonpartisan organizations’ that want to ‘help organize’ the Tea Parties in many parts of the country. I belong to numerous online nationwide Tea Party groups and am hearing talk of ‘sponsorships’, of shadowy organizers, some with not-so-subtle political agendas, the very things that, in Illinois, seem to lead to corruption and the typical political shenanigans we’ve seen time and time again. I believe that we need to keep the focus of the Tea Parties on the people as individuals and to avoid turning these events into an organized political group.
Allow me to focus, for a moment, on the concept of what a sponsor means and why it’s a bad idea for the Tea Party. I am an auto-racing enthusiast. For me it's normal to see racing vehicles plastered over in sponsorship stickers. In exchange for funding, parts and supplies, the owner of the vehicle has agreed to place small advertisements on the vehicle for the public to view. The driver, wrapped in similar cloth patches all over his fire suit will, in media interviews, typically be obligated to mention, in glowing terms, said sponsors name and product. Thus the public sees and buys the sponsors product.
In auto-racing I believe this to be an acceptable and much-needed practice, as a racing vehicle owner usually cannot afford to support their vehicle without outside assistance. Imagine now, if you will, a Tea Party with a sponsor. Who selected this sponsor? What does this sponsor receive in return for their cooperation or donation? Perhaps your organizing entity chose some sponsor that you don't like or one whose views you do not share. What then? And what next?
Aside from city issued rally permits and a public address system I'm not sure I even comprehend why we need an organizing entity or sponsor. I don't know about you but all I need is a simple cardboard sign on a stick or possibly a flag of some sort and the determination to make it to a given location at a given time, to talk to my fellow citizens, to interact with the media, if they'll refrain long enough from interrupting some of us during interviews, of which I can call and notify of the event all by myself, perhaps some flyers to hand out to passersby. What else is really needed?
A committee of citizens, as opposed to professional organizers, could be formed to obtain the minimum legal and logistical support necessary to stage an event. Expenses can be compensated for the committee members by taking up donations at the events. We are, as a group and by our very nature, generous. With enough notice requesting donations to compensate for expenses and costs I doubt very much the committee members would be left with even minimal incurred debt.
I don't know about you but I don't need, nor wish to represent, an organization whose motives I am unsure of, that’s not been clearly explained to me, who might want to advocate limits or themes to a particular event. The worst-case scenario as I see it would be with these organizers eventually 'suggesting' to us what we could display on our signs and what types of flags we could fly in an effort to "maintain an image of continuity and unity". By the very nature of the Tea Party we are not a congruent, even tempered group, we are all individuals, each with our own individual grievances, dreams and political beliefs. I worry about the 2nd Amendment, many worry about the economy, pretty much everyone agrees on taxes and the excessive size of government while others choose to focus on abortion related issues. All of the preceding are valid points of view and all deserving of strong protest and outcry as well as our group’s undivided support. That is the very essence of what makes the Tea Party event such a unique and truly American experience.
And that is what scares those in power, the thought that I pray keeps them up at night: Their lack of governance over us.
If you do not believe that there was behind scenes nonsense at more than a few Tea Parties around the country allow me to tell of what I know happened at the local April 15 tax Day Tea Party at Federal Plaza in Chicago. There were several issues involving who was going to speak at the event. In fact, at one point, the list was changing so often that it stopped being published on the Facebook event page. As an example a West Suburban individual who has very recently registered every conceivable combination of their name combined with the words ‘for governor.com, .net, .us. etc.,’ wanted very much to speak at the April 15 Chicago event however word leaked out and the general public consensus, right or wrong, was that this individual was going to announce their candidacy, or least the formation of a campaign exploratory group, for state governor during that speech. Rumor has it that the only reason they were removed from the speakers list was because of the subsequent public outcry regarding the potential or implied partisanship. What if these rumors had never surfaced thus preventing any public outcry, would the organizers still have allowed this person to proceed knowing of their intentions? The media would have had a field day!
Then there was the rancor of a pair of radio station talk-show hosts who were outraged because they were not allowed to speak at the event. I still don't have an answer as to why they were not allowed to speak while another competing radio talk show host was. Did you know that a hard-core conservative Republican publicly endorsed the April 15 Chicago event…I just found out on May 11th about that…
We, as citizens and voters, have been burned so many times in the past by those that we have elected with their false promises, hidden agendas, endless greed and ongoing corruption. I believe we need exercise extreme caution when requesting assistance or guidance from organized entities with regards to Tea Parties due to the consequences of overt or covert agendas that these relationships might entail.
In closing I suggest that any organization wishing to organize or ‘sponsor’ a Tea Party in the future be prepared for an unprecedented showing of transparency to, and ensuing due diligence by, the citizen attendees of these great Tea Parties. Only then can we keep the Tea Parties truly unique and nonpartisan. I know I'll be asking questions of and about these organizing entities and their ‘sponsors’.
Will you?
Readers of this post are strongly encouraged to post their comments and thoughts or you may contact the author directly via e-mail at illinoispatriot @ Hotmail.com.
Respectfully submitted,
H. K.
My specific concern lies with the sudden influx of ‘nonpartisan organizations’ that want to ‘help organize’ the Tea Parties in many parts of the country. I belong to numerous online nationwide Tea Party groups and am hearing talk of ‘sponsorships’, of shadowy organizers, some with not-so-subtle political agendas, the very things that, in Illinois, seem to lead to corruption and the typical political shenanigans we’ve seen time and time again. I believe that we need to keep the focus of the Tea Parties on the people as individuals and to avoid turning these events into an organized political group.
Allow me to focus, for a moment, on the concept of what a sponsor means and why it’s a bad idea for the Tea Party. I am an auto-racing enthusiast. For me it's normal to see racing vehicles plastered over in sponsorship stickers. In exchange for funding, parts and supplies, the owner of the vehicle has agreed to place small advertisements on the vehicle for the public to view. The driver, wrapped in similar cloth patches all over his fire suit will, in media interviews, typically be obligated to mention, in glowing terms, said sponsors name and product. Thus the public sees and buys the sponsors product.
In auto-racing I believe this to be an acceptable and much-needed practice, as a racing vehicle owner usually cannot afford to support their vehicle without outside assistance. Imagine now, if you will, a Tea Party with a sponsor. Who selected this sponsor? What does this sponsor receive in return for their cooperation or donation? Perhaps your organizing entity chose some sponsor that you don't like or one whose views you do not share. What then? And what next?
Aside from city issued rally permits and a public address system I'm not sure I even comprehend why we need an organizing entity or sponsor. I don't know about you but all I need is a simple cardboard sign on a stick or possibly a flag of some sort and the determination to make it to a given location at a given time, to talk to my fellow citizens, to interact with the media, if they'll refrain long enough from interrupting some of us during interviews, of which I can call and notify of the event all by myself, perhaps some flyers to hand out to passersby. What else is really needed?
A committee of citizens, as opposed to professional organizers, could be formed to obtain the minimum legal and logistical support necessary to stage an event. Expenses can be compensated for the committee members by taking up donations at the events. We are, as a group and by our very nature, generous. With enough notice requesting donations to compensate for expenses and costs I doubt very much the committee members would be left with even minimal incurred debt.
I don't know about you but I don't need, nor wish to represent, an organization whose motives I am unsure of, that’s not been clearly explained to me, who might want to advocate limits or themes to a particular event. The worst-case scenario as I see it would be with these organizers eventually 'suggesting' to us what we could display on our signs and what types of flags we could fly in an effort to "maintain an image of continuity and unity". By the very nature of the Tea Party we are not a congruent, even tempered group, we are all individuals, each with our own individual grievances, dreams and political beliefs. I worry about the 2nd Amendment, many worry about the economy, pretty much everyone agrees on taxes and the excessive size of government while others choose to focus on abortion related issues. All of the preceding are valid points of view and all deserving of strong protest and outcry as well as our group’s undivided support. That is the very essence of what makes the Tea Party event such a unique and truly American experience.
And that is what scares those in power, the thought that I pray keeps them up at night: Their lack of governance over us.
If you do not believe that there was behind scenes nonsense at more than a few Tea Parties around the country allow me to tell of what I know happened at the local April 15 tax Day Tea Party at Federal Plaza in Chicago. There were several issues involving who was going to speak at the event. In fact, at one point, the list was changing so often that it stopped being published on the Facebook event page. As an example a West Suburban individual who has very recently registered every conceivable combination of their name combined with the words ‘for governor.com, .net, .us. etc.,’ wanted very much to speak at the April 15 Chicago event however word leaked out and the general public consensus, right or wrong, was that this individual was going to announce their candidacy, or least the formation of a campaign exploratory group, for state governor during that speech. Rumor has it that the only reason they were removed from the speakers list was because of the subsequent public outcry regarding the potential or implied partisanship. What if these rumors had never surfaced thus preventing any public outcry, would the organizers still have allowed this person to proceed knowing of their intentions? The media would have had a field day!
Then there was the rancor of a pair of radio station talk-show hosts who were outraged because they were not allowed to speak at the event. I still don't have an answer as to why they were not allowed to speak while another competing radio talk show host was. Did you know that a hard-core conservative Republican publicly endorsed the April 15 Chicago event…I just found out on May 11th about that…
We, as citizens and voters, have been burned so many times in the past by those that we have elected with their false promises, hidden agendas, endless greed and ongoing corruption. I believe we need exercise extreme caution when requesting assistance or guidance from organized entities with regards to Tea Parties due to the consequences of overt or covert agendas that these relationships might entail.
In closing I suggest that any organization wishing to organize or ‘sponsor’ a Tea Party in the future be prepared for an unprecedented showing of transparency to, and ensuing due diligence by, the citizen attendees of these great Tea Parties. Only then can we keep the Tea Parties truly unique and nonpartisan. I know I'll be asking questions of and about these organizing entities and their ‘sponsors’.
Will you?
Readers of this post are strongly encouraged to post their comments and thoughts or you may contact the author directly via e-mail at illinoispatriot @ Hotmail.com.
Respectfully submitted,
H. K.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Post Turtle
(Swiped from PatriotPost.us)
A doctor struck up a conversation with a hard-working 75 year old rancher while suturing a mean cut on the old man's leathery hand. Eventually the topic got around to Obama.
The old rancher said, "Well, you know, Obama is a 'post turtle.'"
Unfamiliar with the term, the doctor asked him what he meant.
The old rancher replied, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle.'"
The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued: "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of complete moron put him up there to begin with."
A doctor struck up a conversation with a hard-working 75 year old rancher while suturing a mean cut on the old man's leathery hand. Eventually the topic got around to Obama.
The old rancher said, "Well, you know, Obama is a 'post turtle.'"
Unfamiliar with the term, the doctor asked him what he meant.
The old rancher replied, "When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle.'"
The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued: "You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of complete moron put him up there to begin with."
Oh My God! Supermax Prison Is (GASP!) Harsh! Say it Ain’t So!
At the Chicago Trib: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0513edit1may13,0,3337700.story
My comments:
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are simply anti-American socio-marxist orgs that want to hold us to ideals created by the UN and Europe. America does not beholden itself to you, to anyone and specifically to your socialist belief structures. Stay out of our business!
Here is a simple two-step plan for us all to follow:
1. Don't commit crimes and you won't end up in prison.
2. Don't commit crimes in prison and you won't end up in Tamms.
Want some verified background on Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch?
Amnesty International: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6185
Human Rights Watch: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6258
My comments:
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are simply anti-American socio-marxist orgs that want to hold us to ideals created by the UN and Europe. America does not beholden itself to you, to anyone and specifically to your socialist belief structures. Stay out of our business!
Here is a simple two-step plan for us all to follow:
1. Don't commit crimes and you won't end up in prison.
2. Don't commit crimes in prison and you won't end up in Tamms.
Want some verified background on Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch?
Amnesty International: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6185
Human Rights Watch: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6258
Friday, May 8, 2009
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tea Party T-Shirts!
In an effort to earn the almighty dollar opened a Café press T-shirt store. You can visit it at the following link: http://www.cafepress.com/illinoispatriot
if you aren't on board with the tea party concept that you can visit the following sites for more information:
http://www.taxpayerteaparty.com/
http://www.officialchicagoteaparty.com/
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=70771461904
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Those Dangerous Tea Bags...
Sounds like a sceen from Monty Python.
Link: http://www.nowhampshire.com/2009/04/02/shea-porter-staff-seeks-refuge-from-tea-bag/
Shea-Porter Staff Seeks “Refuge” from Tea Bag
April 2, 2009 by Staff Reporter
Taxpayer tea parties have rattled some politicians in Washington, as thousands have gathered in cities across America to object to President Obama’s spending policies. But no politician was rattled as severely as the staff of Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) was yesterday.
After opening an envelope containing a teabag and marked “Tea Protest” in the Congresswoman’s Manchester office, Shea-Porter’s staff called Capitol Police and city police and firefighters.
The authorities instructed Shea-Porter’s staff to seek “refuge” as they performed field tests on the substance contained in the tea bag. It turned out to be green tea.
The culprit was a Pelham, NH man named Michael Yannetti, who objects to $3.6 trillion in new federal spending. Charges will not be filed against him, police say.
There was no indication that the whole affair was an April Fool’s joke. UPDATE: A reader observes that it is unclear from news reports whether the tea was in a bag or loose in the envelope.
Wow! What a bunch of wimps.
After doing a bit of digging it seems she's a real bitch:
However, after this next video I declare her a FUCKING BITCH and TRAITOR! But then I would expect nothing less from a democrat...
Link: http://www.nowhampshire.com/2009/04/02/shea-porter-staff-seeks-refuge-from-tea-bag/
Shea-Porter Staff Seeks “Refuge” from Tea Bag
April 2, 2009 by Staff Reporter
Taxpayer tea parties have rattled some politicians in Washington, as thousands have gathered in cities across America to object to President Obama’s spending policies. But no politician was rattled as severely as the staff of Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) was yesterday.
After opening an envelope containing a teabag and marked “Tea Protest” in the Congresswoman’s Manchester office, Shea-Porter’s staff called Capitol Police and city police and firefighters.
The authorities instructed Shea-Porter’s staff to seek “refuge” as they performed field tests on the substance contained in the tea bag. It turned out to be green tea.
The culprit was a Pelham, NH man named Michael Yannetti, who objects to $3.6 trillion in new federal spending. Charges will not be filed against him, police say.
There was no indication that the whole affair was an April Fool’s joke. UPDATE: A reader observes that it is unclear from news reports whether the tea was in a bag or loose in the envelope.
Wow! What a bunch of wimps.
After doing a bit of digging it seems she's a real bitch:
However, after this next video I declare her a FUCKING BITCH and TRAITOR! But then I would expect nothing less from a democrat...
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
LIES! LIES! LIES!
Item #1:
If you missed any here they are:
1. Make Government Open and Transparent
2. Make it "Impossible" for Congressmen to slip in Pork Barrel Projects
3. Meetings where laws are written will be more open to the public (republicans shut out)
4. No more secrecy
5. Public will have 5 days to look at a Bill
6. You'll know what's in it (Republican Senators didnt know)
7. We will put every pork barrel project online
LIES! LIES! LIES! What is next???
Item #2:
http://www.taxdayteaparty.com/index.html
A great idea!
Item #3:
http://theglennbeck912project.com/
Another great idea!
Friday, January 30, 2009
FINALLY!!!! SOMEONE GETS AN IDEA!
And gasp...it's a Democrat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt90KUwCCoE
And gasp...it's a Democrat!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt90KUwCCoE
Monday, January 26, 2009
Great Videos!
About our government:
http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/
And now a word from Fred:
http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/12.08/goodnewa.html
http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/
And now a word from Fred:
http://www.silverbearcafe.com/private/12.08/goodnewa.html
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
And so It Starts...
So the man got inaugurated today. Let's see what happens. I give him, oh, about 100 days and the shine is going to wear off. Still don't like the guy, still don't think he's qualified, but I sure don't envy him either. I read somewhere on the Internet that there was a rumor that the Republicans actually put Sarah Palen on the ticket with McCain just so the Republicans would lose, thus giving this almost untenable national situation to the Democrats to flounder in. In a way it's an intriguing idea. And, if found to be true, it would be the shrewdest political move ever made.
It was kind of amusing how they botched up the oath of office during the swearing-in. Watch the conspiracy freaks take this to court claiming he was never officially sworn in and does not present in the United States.
Speaking of conspiracies anyone know whatever happened to the lawsuits over Obama's birth certificate? Strange how it just quietly went away with no real resolution that I'm aware of.
There was one point in the inauguration, however, that really pissed me off:
"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen'..."
- Rev. Joseph Lowery
Where the fuck does the good Rev. got off? Funny thing, it was the white man who built this country up from the state of wilderness that it was discovered in. Funny how it was the white man that created the system of government and institutions that this country was founded upon. I guess the white man just wasn't right in what he did. Oh well, Obama will fix everything. By the way where is my government cheese? And where is my job? I distinctly remember the promises of jobs during the campaign. Should I hold my breath? Yeah, didn't think so...
On a side note I have created a little business selling my old books on Amazon.com and my miscellaneous junk on eBay. So far so good and kind of interesting too. I figured this qualifies me to organize the Democrats financial plans since my business is solvent and making a profit.
It was kind of amusing how they botched up the oath of office during the swearing-in. Watch the conspiracy freaks take this to court claiming he was never officially sworn in and does not present in the United States.
Speaking of conspiracies anyone know whatever happened to the lawsuits over Obama's birth certificate? Strange how it just quietly went away with no real resolution that I'm aware of.
There was one point in the inauguration, however, that really pissed me off:
"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back, when brown can stick around... when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right. That all those who do justice and love mercy say Amen. Say Amen'..."
- Rev. Joseph Lowery
Where the fuck does the good Rev. got off? Funny thing, it was the white man who built this country up from the state of wilderness that it was discovered in. Funny how it was the white man that created the system of government and institutions that this country was founded upon. I guess the white man just wasn't right in what he did. Oh well, Obama will fix everything. By the way where is my government cheese? And where is my job? I distinctly remember the promises of jobs during the campaign. Should I hold my breath? Yeah, didn't think so...
On a side note I have created a little business selling my old books on Amazon.com and my miscellaneous junk on eBay. So far so good and kind of interesting too. I figured this qualifies me to organize the Democrats financial plans since my business is solvent and making a profit.
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