Where I’ve been!

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I’m sorry that it’s been so long since I have posted. March was a “lost” month for me.

You see, on the evening of February 28th, I was at the lodge cooking a meal for my brothers, prior to a degree. The main course was pork steaks. Well, a bite of it got stuck in my throat. It turns out that I have GERD, which is an erosion of my esophagus. It got stuck so good, that nothing could get by. So, strong headed me (I’m a Taurus, born in the year of the Ox) drove myself to the nearest hospital.

Once in the ER, they sedated me and proceeded to intubate me so I could breathe while they performed an endoscopy to remove the food stuck in my throat.

It turns out that I had two erosions, one below the brachia (where the food was stuck) and one above. It took several attempts before they got it right, but in the process my esophagus swelled up from the multiple attempts.

So, I went under sedation on Thursday night, and woke up Sunday afternoon, when they were able to remove the breathing tubes. I was in the ICU for 5 days, and a regular room for a week. I just got the bill, the hospital charged my just shy of $125,000 for 12 days in the hospital.

I also now have “Sciatic Neuropathy,” which means that my right leg is in pain from my hip to my knee, and I am numb and partially paralyzed from my knee down. I walked into the hospital under my own power, and I now hobble around with a cane. I am told that it will eventually get better, but I may end up with this cane for the rest of my life.

So, the first 12 days of March I spent in the hospital, and I spent the rest of the month chasing down things and seeing doctors about my leg. I was very lucky, my supervisor put me on short term disability as of the 1st of March, and I managed to get paid until the end of the month. I started back to work as of the 1st of April, and I am working from home full time until this leg gets better.

A Treatise on the Second Amendment

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An acquaintance of mine, who presently works at an agency I used to work for, posted something on Facebook the other day, one that was so blatant in its inaccuracy that I felt compelled to respond. Later that day, he posted this, an Open Letter to the NRA and said, “HOW ‘BOUT THIS ONE?”

So, here is my response.

A Treatise on the Second Amendment

I will ask a question requiring critical thought at the end regarding this. Be prepared.

Before we begin, let us ask ourselves, “Why is there a Second Amendment in the first place? What and why is it there?”

In order to answer that, we must go and take a look at history. Just about any American child knows that on July 4th, 1776, the American Continental Congress drafted a Declaration of Independence , to declare the American Colonies separate from British rule. Please follow the link to it and refresh yourself of it. Go ahead, I’ll be here when you’re done.

Read it? Good. Now, just because the Colonies said “We’re through with you, Britain!” doesn’t mean that George III gave up right there. No, what ensued was 1,933 days of fighting before Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown and ended the struggle. A new nation was born.

And we all know that George Washington was elected President at this time, and everyone was happy, right? Nope. We had another constitution before our present Constitution, known as the Articles of Confederation. That was created in 1777, ratified in 1781 and replaced by our present Constitution in 1789. The Bill of Rights was proposed as Amendments to the Constitution in 1789 and added in 1791.

Now that we know the book learning, why did our Founding Fathers put those there? Look at what they had been through. They had been oppressed for years by George III, and had fought a War of Independence. These men were determined that their children, and their children’s children should never have to experience what they were forced to undergo.

Now, Just so you know, only one-third of the population actually took up arms against British Rule. One-third was neutral, and the last third were still loyal to the Crown and were known as “Tories.”

There were two basic types of rebels. You had the Regular Army, who were trained, disciplined and were usually paid for their efforts. The other type was the Minutemen, or militia. They were called Minutemen because they could be “ready to fight in a minute.” They kept their musket, powder horn and bag of musket balls hanging from their mantle, ready to fight whatever or whoever threatened the household.

Now, the militia were generally private armies, usually financed by well-to-do individuals. It was also legal, and not unknown in those times, to have private ownership of cannon, otherwise known as artillery. Try buying a 105mm Howitzer today and see how far you get.

The militia were as well armed as the regular soldiers they fought beside and against. The citizen had the current state of the art military equipment.

So, when the Constitution and Bill of Rights were drafted, the Founding Fathers realized that the power and authority of the government came from the consent of the governed. They also realized that governments, without appropriate checks and balances, would become oppressive towards the People, if the People did not have the ability to actively resist the oppression. They wanted to make sure that the Citizens have the ability to band together and fight an oppressive government.

The Second Amendment, therefore, is not about “Sporting,” or “Hunting.” It is about having the ability to tell the government, “No.” Here are the twenty-seven words of the Second Amendment: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”

Let’s take a look at that Amendment, and break it down so we can put it together in the way the Founding Fathers intended.

“A well regulated militia” – When the Founding Fathers wrote the term “well regulated,” they meant was “disciplined.” As in being able to use their arms effectively. What does the term “militia” mean? George Mason said this: “I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials.”

“…being necessary to the security of a free state…” Our Founding Fathers set us on a path unheard of in their time. A path where the concept was that the government was subservient to the People, not the other way around. The SA stands as a bulwark against the state becoming oppressive towards the people.

“…the right of the people to keep and bear arms…” The term “the people” appears in the First, Second, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Amendments. In each of these, the Founding Fathers meant the individual free person. For those who push for gun control, they try to twist the meaning in the SA to mean the National Guard. Too bad the NG was started over a hundred years after the Constitution.

“…shall not be infringed.” I think this is pretty clear. It means any law that curtails this Right is unconstitutional on its face. Granted, there can be “reasonable” restrictions. Currently, if you have a Felony conviction, or if you have been committed against your will to a mental institution, you are prohibited from owning a firearm. The current laws are not stopping criminals from possessing firearms, so why would more laws, unenforced as the current ones are, change their minds? Laws affect only those who intend on following them. Criminals disobey laws, that’s why they’re criminals!

A lot of opponents to the SA front the argument, “Our Founding Fathers could not conceive of semi-automatic weapons with 30 round magazines.” I only have to point to the First Amendment, when state-of-the-art printing technology was the printing press which was already 300+ years old by that time. The Founding Fathers had no conception of the computer, or the Internet, yet we extend the First Amendment to these things. So, perceptions evolve as technology advances. Remember, the citizen should be as well armed as an individual infantry soldier.

A strawman argument is “firearms are designed to kill.” That is incorrect. Firearms are designed to forcibly eject a projectile at high speed from the muzzle of the barrel in a consistent manner, so the projectile follows a predictable ballistic path. What the person wielding the firearm decides to do with the projectile is up to the person.

In America alone, 4 Billion rounds of ammunition are fired by civilians annually. 99.999%+ of those are used to punch holes in paper targets, bust clays or harvest animals. 0.000125% of those rounds are involved in the death of another human being, if you assume that it takes 10 rounds to kill one person. Over 300 Million firearms are in private hands, and 99.975% of those are used for lawful purposes.

Granted, guns were used in 8,875 homicides in the U.S. in 2010. Gun control advocates like to “enhance” this number by throwing suicides and accidental shootings into that total. I want to say for the record that people who are intent on killing themselves, they will find a way, even if firearms are outlawed. Accidental shootings comprise less than 2% of that total number of homicides, suicides and accidental deaths.

What gun control advocates don’t talk about are the DGU’s, or Defensive Gun Uses. Depending on what study you use, the number varies, but it shows an average of about 1 million DGUs a year. That’s about 112 times a firearm saves a life or prevents a crime for every homicide. In 90%+ of those DGU’s, all the prospective victim had to do was show the firearm. So, are you willing to endure a corresponding 112x rise in crime ? Because a criminal who wants to be armed, will be armed. Bruce Lee couldn’t stand up to five guys armed with 2×4′s, what makes you think you can, unless you have a firearm?

As far as banning certain type of firearms, remember it was the intent of the Founding Fathers that the citizen be as well equipped as the soldier. On this side, you have 15 law enforcement officers, all armed with semi-automatic weapons loaded with 30 round magazines. Over here, you have one citizen defending himself from those 15 armed LEOs with a single shot muzzle loading musket. Not a very equal fight, right? But let the citizen be as well armed as the law enforcement, and things became a little more equal.

Final thought. Critical thinking time. The big test question. Let’s just say, as a mental exercise, the President, Congress and three-fourths of the states pass an Amendment that gets rid of the Second Amendment. Gone. Kaput. Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in. Private ownership of any kind of firearms is outlawed. The American populace is disarmed. Now what?

What stops the government at that point from outlawing free speech? From getting rid of the Fourth Amendment? Or just getting rid of the Constitution entirely, replacing it with a dictatorship? What are you going to do about that? Spit at them? You assemble with your fellow citizens to protest and are gunned down by the government. Slaughtered to a person. Don’t think it can’t happen here. It has happened too many times in history for it not to happen again.

So the next time you want to surrender a right, think about how you might need it in the future. It is so much better to have and not need, than to need and not have. You never think about the oxygen in the air you breathe until it is gone.

 

Read and Heed

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Stanislav Mishin on his blog Mat Rodina came up with this excellent piece of history about Russia and the Soviet Union. It is also a warning to all Americans who are idly watching President Obama trying to strip Americans of the RKBA by Executive fiat Order.

Here is the money quote:

Moscow fell, for example, not from a lack of weapons to defend it, but from the lieing guile of the Reds. Ten thousand Reds took Moscow and were opposed only by some few hundreds of officer cadets and their instructors. Even then the battle was fierce and losses high. However, in the city alone, at that time, lived over 30,000 military officers (both active and retired), all with their own issued weapons and ammunition, plus tens of thousands of other citizens who were armed. The Soviets promised to leave them all alone if they did not intervene. They did not and for that were asked afterwards to come register themselves and their weapons: where they were promptly shot. (Emphasis mine)

Here is the lesson:

No it is about power and a total power over the people. There is a lot of desire to bad mouth the Tsar, particularly by the Communists, who claim he was a tyrant, and yet under him we were armed and under the progressives disarmed. Do not be fooled by a belief that progressives, leftists hate guns. Oh, no, they do not. What they hate is guns in the hands of those who are not marching in lock step of their ideology. They hate guns in the hands of those who think for themselves and do not obey without question. They hate guns in those whom they have slated for a barrel to the back of the ear.

Read it. And open your eyes.

A GREAT Mashup

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I listen to Drake & Zeke while going to work in the morning. They played a mashup this morning. Entitled “Whole Lotta Helter Skelter,” this YouTube video has successfully combined Led Zeppelin’s “Whole Lotta Love” and The Beatles “Helter Skelter.” Go and check it out!

One of millions…

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…Not one in a million.

What do I mean? I found this article and this scenario plays out a lot more than a tragedy like Newtown. I am a Life member of the National Rifle Association. I have been since I purchased my first firearm. The one steady part of every issue of the American Rifleman is the page that has 12-15 news article summaries where it made the news that someone successfully used a firearm in self-defense.

I have been a Life member for about 22 years, so that is about 3,168 articles that I have seen. And I guarantee you, for every article that made American Rifleman, there is 1,000 articles that didn’t make the cut. And for each of those, there is another 1,000 “events” that no one knows about, except for the people involved in that.

Millions of times each year, an armed citizen successfully defends themselves and/or innocents from evil people. And Newtown is literally one in a million occurrence. There are hundreds of thousands of schools in this country and tragedies like this occur so infrequently that when they do happen, they splash across the news like a 400 pound man doing a cannonball into a swimming pool.

What you never see in the news is a bad person coming to up to a law-abiding citizen and says “give me your money.” The law-abiding, legally armed citizen pulls their licensed firearm, points it at the bad person and says, “I don’t think so.” At this point, the bad person generally runs away, no shots fired. It doesn’t make the news because really nothing happened.

You should never expect the police to come to your aid in time. Events like this are measured in seconds. It takes minutes for the police to arrive on the scene, and that is after someone calls 911. When your life, or the lives of your family are in danger, what would you rather have, a gun in your hand or the police on the phone? The police are under no legal obligation to protect citizens.

The job of the police is to investigate crimes and make arrests. The police are paid and obligated to enforce all of the laws of the land, not just the ones they like. They will arrest you for some “petty” crime just as fast as they will arrest someone else for assault or murder. The police are not your friends. If you have their attention, they can arrest you for anything they want. I’ll tell you right now, it is impossible to walk down the street, minding your own business and not violate some law or ordinance.

The RKBA is not about hunting. It’s about self-defense from evil people, especially from the government. The Second Amendment protects the other freedoms we enjoy. If the government can take away the Second, what makes you think they won’t take the rest of them away from you?

Found on the Internet

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Found this and I thought I would share.

With the Holidays upon us I would like to share a personal experience with my friends about drinking and driving.

As you may know some of us have been known to have brushes with the authorities from time to time on the way home after a “social session” out with friends. Well two days ago I was out for an evening with friends and had several cocktails followed by some rather nice red wine. Feeling jolly I still had the sense to know that I may be slightly over the limit. That’s when I did something that I’ve never done before – I took a cab home. Sure enough on the way home there was a police road block but since it was a cab they waved it past. I arrived home safely without incident. This was a real surprise as I had never driven a cab before, I don’t know where I got it and now that it’s in my garage I don’t know what to do with it.

Merry Christmas to all

Yet another tragedy

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I have waited until now to comment on the tragedy in Connecticut for several reasons. First, I wanted some facts to come out. The “facts” that came out Friday and Saturday were all wrong. With the 24 hour news cycle, and the up-to-the-second breathless news reporting the media feels they have to provide makes sure of that.

Second, I wanted to see who would stoop to the knee-jerk reaction of “let’s ban the guns,” a modified Godwin’s Law.

What happened is a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. Make no mistake about that. It should never have happened. It should have been stopped long before the first bullet was fired. But, how do we do that?

Take a step back with me and look at this objectively. A young man, who as of this moment has some sort of a mental illness. Was he adequately treated for his illness? Was he monitored by professionals? That information may or may not come out in the future. We may never know.

It is a fact that someone like this does not wake up one day and go on such a rampage. There was a long train of events that preceded this and it was a sequential progression. There was a reason and purpose behind his actions. I promise you, no matter how hard you try, you will never fully “make sense” of his reasons. Unless you have personally experienced a mental illness, you will never comprehend it. I can try to explain, but it will still not make sense. In my dark past, I used to have “psychotic breaks” where I would lose at least some touch with reality. That’s what the shrinks say. Experiencing it, the best way I can describe is was that everything came into perfect clarity. You could see connections between things that no one else saw. Everything made perfect sense. And you knew you had to act on it. That’s what I remember from my psychotic breaks.

And he acted on it. With the tools he had on hand. And tragedy ensued.

Before you get all uptight about him using using firearms, There are two instances that I can recall where a man with mental health problems attacked a class of Kindergarteners… with a knife. One was in Japan, where there are virtually no private firearms. So, you use the tools that you have on hand. Banning guns only leads to knife and other hand weapons being used.

Next, the mental health system is currently focused on solving any immediate crisis, rather than the prevention and maintenance that would forestall the crisis situations. But maintenance and control of symptoms, and the effort to control and move beyond the effects of the illness loses out every time to the urgency of the crisis situations.

The adage of unintended consequences is also contributes to situations like this. All these mass shootings have one common denominator: Columbine, Virginia Tech, Newtown, Nickel Mines, PA., and so on. They are all “gun free zones.” Large groups of people, who have been intentionally disarmed, all in the name of “safety.” Perfect targets, because they can’t fight back.

And in just about all of the mass shootings I can think of, the shooter generally took their own lives, once armed opposition appeared on scene.

So, what are the solutions? More guns, less guns, lock up the mentally ill, or something else?

I think the most important factor is mental health services. If a person exhibits mental health symptoms, treating that before it becomes a crisis might stop at least some of these before they get to the point of violence. The shooter of Gabbie Giffords had a long history of uncontrolled mental illness, and his family begged time and again to get help for him. It never came until he ended in prison.

Abolishment of the “gun free zone” would be of great help. Eliminate the killing fields. Enable law-abiding citizens to protect themselves. The police can’t be everywhere, nor do they have an obligation to protect the citizenry. Don’t believe me? Check out South v Maryland (US Supreme Court, 1856) and go from there.

And before you start talking about the abolishment of the Second Amendment, the RKBA is not about hunting. It’s about the citizenry having the ability to overthrow an oppressive government. Citizens are armed. Subjects are disarmed.

The bottom line: You can’t prevent everything. There is only so much you can do to thwart evil people. You can only be prepared to adequately deal with such a situation when it does happen.

I don’t know what to do

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I am disappointed. With Obama’s win last night, he now is totally unaccountable to the American People. He was raised by 60′s radicals, taught politics The Chicago Way, and has been doing his best to enact that radical agenda. His deficits have spent more than all of the prior Presidents combined. His anti-domestic energy policies have just about ruined coal in this country. Our airports are miniature police states, staffed with capricious bullies.

I was going to put down for the record where we were 4 years ago, and again today, but it really doesn’t matter. He can’t run for office again, so like I said, there is no holding him to account for just exactly how he will ruin this country.

America rests on three boxes. The Soap Box, the Ballot Box and the Cartridge Box. The first two failed yesterday. I only hope we don’t have to open the third before Obama is out of office. Our country was founded on armed revolution. I sincerely hope and pray that we do not experience a time where the People are compelled en masse to rise up and restart our government.

It seems that the Liberal ploy of “Bread and Circuses” has hypnotized the American People.

Please, pray with me that the United States does not lose her status as that shining city on the hill, where all who follow the rules are welcomed, and all have the same chance to succeed.

5 Days to go

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Like the title says, 5 days to go before Election Day.

The question is, do we re-elect a 60′s radical Socialist who is incompetent, or do we toss him out and elect someone who espouses conservative principles?

The fact remains, I want you to vote. While I do care who you vote for, I want you to make your voice heard. The job of a citizen is to keep his mouth open, and this is the day you get to do it.

Please vote.

Honor the Fallen, Part II

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I hate that it has been from Memorial Day to Patriots day that I have made a post. Every hour of my life has been full with something. And there are still things left to do.

Today we honor those who were killed this day by radical Islam. Buildings fell on this day, eleven years ago. Today, a new building is being built. A ship sails the seas today, with the steel from the WTC in its keel.

The bad news is, today we are very close to that precipice of becoming a police state. All in the name of “security.” The TSA is expanding its reach, training the public to obey without question. They engage in actions that do not increase “security,” and being vindictive bullies when the People rightfully say “NO!”

I fear for my country, especially if the current administration is re-elected for another four years.

Honor the fallen

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Today is not about grilling, car sales or just a day off.

Todays rest from your labors is to give you time to reflect on the freedoms you have, and to remember and honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice to let you do just that.

Many times, America has sent its best and brightest young men and women into harms way. Many have returned in flag draped coffins. Others have been laid to rest in foreign countries, near to where they fell.

Words like Bastogne, Ypres, Chosin, Hue City, Fallujah, Torra Bora, should never pass from our vocabulary, nor the sacrifices from those who were there should fade from our memories.

Take a moment today, to remember and thank those who never made it home. Visit a veterans cemetery today, and thank them in person. Tread lightly, for heroes lie sleeping there.

And always remember those Sailors who died at sea, for they have no grave marker, other than the rolling waves of the ocean.

It’s a struggle, everyday

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Before I start, I want to reiterate that if you are on ANY prescribed medications, no matter the reason, consult with the prescribing doctor before changing or stopping any of them on your own.

I have started the titration on my last medication. I normally take one in the morning, and one at night. This week, I am not taking three morning doses, on purpose. That will cut me down to 11 doses this week. Next week I will cut out two of the morning doses, and the week after that, I will go to doses only at bedtime.

I am being very careful to not make any other lifestyle changes during this process. I and my support network want to make sure that I don’t try to do too much at once.

I have been under some elevated stress the past couple of days, because I am dancing very close to the edge, and it is having an effect on me.

You see, these medications that I have been on for the past 10 years, never totally eliminated my symptoms. The meds allowed me to use my coping skills to keep these symptoms in check.

The #1 symptom that I have, is the mental image and urge to blow my brains out. Please, don’t get worried. I do not hear voices telling me to do it, nor do I want to do it. They are thoughts, “bad thoughts” as I call them, but they are nothing more. I recognize them for what they are and I do not let them overwhelm me. The coping skills that I have developed control them.

But because I have been under some apprehension over the last couple of days about this final titration, those “bad thoughts” have been a lot more prevalent and intense. I have had to turn inward several times a day, usually for about a half hour. It was especially rough yesterday, one of my coping skills is playing music, and I forgot my headphones. :(

I am also being extremely careful in “measuring” my thoughts. I do not wish to suffer another psychotic break, that would probably lead to a hospitalization. So I am being careful to bounce any new thoughts against my support network before acting on any of them.

I am holding on, and as long as I can do that, I am making progress. Those of us who have a mental illness, everyday is a struggle. Sometimes it’s worse than others. If you have a friend or family member who has a mental illness, please support them, not do for them what they can do for themselves.

Book Review

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I don’t get to read books that often. I have a bunch on my iPad, but they are more or less reference works.

This book, however, was recommended by a Masonic Brother. He said he couldn’t explain the book, I would have to read it myself and draw my own conclusions.

The book, The Harbinger, draws some chilling parallels between ancient Israel and today’s United States.

The story itself is probably fictional, but what they talk about in the pages of the book are the exact opposite. The facts are clear, verifiable, and speak loudly to how we got to where we at this moment, and where we are likely to head if we as a nation don’t change our ways.

Up until September 11th, we had a divine hedge of protection protecting our country from those who would do us harm. That protection is there no more, as a warning for us to turn not to our own devices, but to turn back to God.

I don’t want to give up too much of the book, but the major events of the past few years have occurred in such a timing that it can’t be an accident. There are too many coincidences for it to be a coincidence, do you understand?

What really hit me between the eyes like a hammer was the fact that September 11th’s Ground Zero is the exact same ground Ground Zero where our country was initially dedicated to God, and when that hedge of protection came to be around us. Cryptic? Not really, not to anyone who has studied history.

This book will drive you to your knees. Not in any physical sense, but after reading it, you will feel the urge to get straight with God. Not only for yourself and family, but for our country as a whole. Things have to change substantially for us to get back onto the path God wants us to be on. It will take a maximum effort from all of us to turn this Ship of State. I don’t know if it’s too late for anything, if we can stave off Judgement for the short term, or we can avert it totally.

The signs are there, loud and clear, if you know what to look for. After reading this book, you will know what to look for.

Status Update

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I have been continuing my program to titrate myself off my psych medications. I am down to just an anti-depressant. Both myself and my support network have been keeping an eye on me for any personality changes.

So far, the only change I have noticed is I am getting less sleep. I didn’t go to sleep until almost 1am Sunday night/Monday morning, and I was up until almost as late last night, and both mornings I was up at 5:30.

I’m not hyper to the point where I am spinning my wheels and unable to accomplish anything, in fact outside of the reduced sleep, I don’t see any change in my energy level. I’m happy, but not overly happy, you know what I mean? I am happy because I am grateful for what I have.

I will keep you abreast of any changes. I would appreciate y’all keeping me in your thoughts and prayers, so I don’t end up inpatient.

Thanks.