Okay Then

The Reichstag Act Revisited.

2005-12-08T20:18:00.000-08:00

Friday, December 9, 2005 at 08:05 JST
WASHINGTON — Congressional negotiators onThursday reached a deal on renewing the USA Patriot Act, a bundle of laws passed in the weeks after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks to enhance domestic security.

But leading Democrats condemned the renewal bill, and said the Congress should rewrite the controversial anti-terrorism laws to better protect civil liberties.

Republican House and Senate leaders Thursday reconciled differing versions of the bill, which was set to expire on Dec 31 without congressional action.

The White House lauded the bill as an important step in safeguarding Americans against future acts of terror.

"This bill reauthorizes every single provision of the Patriot Act and makes 14 of the 16 provisions permanent," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Read Full Story HERE

And then read the rest of the story below and tell me if you see any parallels.

The night of February 27, 1933 loomed dark and gray over the city of Berlin. The Reichstag, seat of parliamentary government in Germany [cut]had been in recess since December of the preceding year. New elections were scheduled for March 5th. The great building was quiet and except for a watchman, empty. At 9:05 that evening, through the windows of the first floor, a student passing by saw a man carrying a burning torch, but did not report it. Ten minutes later smoke was observed coming from the building and the first fire alarm was received by the Berlin Fire station. In less than ten minutes the firemen were on the scene, but already flames were breaking out all over the building. At 9:30 there was a tremendous explosion and the great central chamber was totally enveloped in flames. The fire quickly raced out of control despite the efforts of the fire fighters and soon only the walls of the gutted building were still standing. Within minutes police arrested a half naked and seemingly dazed Dutchman, Marinus van der Lubbe, who was discovered at the scene.

It wasn't long before Chancellor Hitler and Prussian Minister Göring arrived amid a flurry of reporters and photographers. Although he had just stepped out of his car, Göring at once accused the communists of setting the fire. The debate over who set the fire continues and may never be solved to everyone's satisfaction. Despite attempts to support the case against van der Lubbe, who was tried and executed for the crime, a great deal of evidence collected and analyzed by Walther Hofer of Bern points in the direction of a SA/SS Sondergruppe headed by Reinhard Heydrich and an official of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior, Kurt Dalüge.

Less important than the cause of the fire, however, was the result. Before the sun had risen on the morning of the 28th, over 4,000 communists and a miscellany of intellectuals and professional men who had incurred the wrath of the Nazi Party were arrested. A shaken President Hindenburg, 86 years old, was easily convinced that the nation was on the verge of a communist revolution. Hitler easily induced him to sign a decree suspending the basic rights of the citizens for the duration of the emergency. This decree also authorized the Reich government to assume full powers in any federal state whose government proved unable to restore public order, ordered death or imprisonment for a number of crimes including some newly invented, such as resistance to the decree itself. The decree did not include any provision guaranteeing an arrested person a quick hearing, access to legal counsel, or redress for false arrest. Those arrested often found their detention extended indefinitely without legal proceedings of any kind.

On March 2, Hitler was asked by a corespondent of the Daily Express whether the suspension of liberties was permanent. He answered in the negative saying that full rights would be restored as soon as the Communist danger was over. The reality was that the decree of February 28th established what would become the normal order of things under National Socialism - arrest on suspicion, imprisonment without trial, the horrors of the concentration camps. This condition would persist until the end of the Third Reich.

The decree was immediately turned against the real and fancied enemies of the Nazi Party. In the last weeks of the election campaign the Marxist press was silenced. The Social Democrats found it impossible to campaign effectively and even respected Center party politicians like former Reich Chancellor Heinrich Bruning had their meetings broken up by brownshirted SA thugs. Despite this the Nazi Party fell far short of the two thirds majority needed to change the constitution. Hitler then began turning the decree of February 28th against those states where significant opposition still existed. Using the argument that local authorities were unable to maintain order, which was in the main, being disrupted by drunken brownshirts and SS members, the government replaced the legally constituted governments of Wurttemburg, Baden, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubeck, Saxony, Hessen and Bavaria.

Soon, with the support of the Center, Catholic and Bavarian Peoples Parties, the Nazis gained the passage of the Enabling Act, and Adolf Hitler on the afternoon of March 23rd, 1933 became the supreme dictator of Germany, free from any restraint from his cabinet or the aged President Hindenburg and free to mold Germany into the nightmare state it was to become.

It is easy to look back on history and realize what a tyrant Hitler was. But at the time, Hitler did not appear so to the German people. With the help of the media he was portrayed as the protector and saviour of Germany. He was even TIME Magazine's Man Of The Year in 1938!

The German people assumed they were safe from a tyrant. After all, they lived in a Republic, with strict laws regarding what the government could and more importantly could not do. Their leader was a devoutly religious man, and had even sung with the boy's choir of a monastery in his youth.

While it is certainly true that Hitler was a world class tyrant, the reality is that he actually did very little in the way of committing atrocities. From the death camps to WW2 all of the evils committed, were done by German citizens who were afraid to question if what they were told by their government was the truth or not. Because they did not want to admit to themselves that they were afraid to question the government they refused to see the truth behind the Reichstag Fire and they blindly followed Hitler into national disaster.

The German people of the late 1930s wanted to see themselves as the heroic Germans depicted by the Wagnerian Operas. They were, after all, the descendants of the fierce Germanic warriors who had hunted wild boar with nothing but spears and who had defeated three of Rome's mightiest legions in the Tuetenberg Forest.

But in truth, by the 1930s, the German people had become civilized and tamed, culturally obsessed with fine details in both science and society. Their self-image of bravery was both salve and slavery. Germans were required to behave as if they were brave, even when they were not.

But the German people didn't wish to lose their self-image of courage. So, when confronted with a situation demanding individual courage, in the form of a government gone wrong, the German people simply pretended that the situation did not exist. And in that simple self-deception lay the ruin of an entire nation and the coming of the second World War.

When the Reichstag burned down, most Germans simply refused to believe suggestions that the fire had been staged by Hitler himself.

When Hitler requested temporary extraordinary powers, powers specifically banned under German law, but powers Hitler claimed he needed to have in order to ensure the safety of the people from terrorism, the German people happily agreed. The temporary powers were conferred, and once conferred lasted until Germany itself was destroyed.

When Hitler staged a phony invasion from Poland, the vast majority of the German people did not question why Poland would have done something so foolish as to attack a country with vastly superior military might.

Hitler knew the mentality and self-image of the people he ruled, he was, after all, not a stupid man. He knew he had to spend the money to make the new war something the people could fight and win. More importantly he had to make the people believe in the threat and the necessity of the war. He decorated his troops with regalia to make them proud of themselves, further their self-image as the mighty warriors of old. Hitler copied the parade regalia of ancient Rome, to remind the Germans of the defeat of the legions at the Tuetenberg Forest. Talismans were added from orthodox religions and the occult to fill the soldiers with delusions of mystical strengths and an afterlife if they fell in battle. He spent vast sums of money on new wonder weapons, airplanes, submarines, ultra-long range artillery, the world's first cruise missile and the world's first guided missile, so that the people would feel invincible in their military superiority.

The American people want to see themselves as the heroic Americans depicted by Western Movies, the descendants of fierce patriot warriors who tamed the wild frontiers and defeated the might of the British Empire.

But in truth, the American people have become civilized and tamed, culturally obsessed with fine details in both science and society. Their self-image of bravery is both salve and slavery. Americans are required to behave as if they are brave, even when they are not.

The American people assume they are safe. After all, they live in a Republic, with strict laws regarding what the government can and more importantly cannot do. Their leader is a devoutly religious man.

But Americans don't wish to lose their self-image of courage. So, when confronted with a situation demanding courage, in the form of a government gone wrong, the American people simply pretend that the situation does not exist.

When the World Trade Towers collapsed, most Americans simply refused to believe suggestions that the attacks had been staged by parties working for (or at least the tacit approval of) the US Government itself. Americans refused to believe, even as news reports surfaced proving that the US Government had announced plans for the invasion of Afghanistan earlier that year.

The vast majority of Americans never question why Afghanistan would have done something so foolish as to attack the United States which has a vastly superior military might.

The vast majority of Americans never question why these attacks (which angered the American people into support of the already-planned war) seemed to fit entirely too conveniently.

The vast majority of Americans never question where our trillion dollar air-force was on the day not one, but four commercial airliners deviated wildly from their courses and crashed into our nation's financial and military command centers killing thousands. In the case of the latter, in a conveniently unoccupied portion of the building.

The vast majority of Americans never question how our air defense command which is supposed to safeguard us from attack just seemed to not notice these four aircraft.

The vast majority of Americans never question why 5 trillion dollars of nuclear weapons built to deter attacks upon this nation seem to do nothing to deter attacks upon this nation.

After the 9/11 tragedy the US Government requested temporary extraordinary powers, powers specifically banned under Constitutional law, but powers the government is claiming they need to have in order to deal with terrorism. The American people, happily agreed. The temporary powers conferred will be no more temporary in America than they were in Germany.

The US Government knows the mentality and self-image of the people they rule, after all, they are not stupid. The United States government has spent vast sums of money on wonder weapons, airplanes, submarines, ultra-long range artillery, cruise missiles, and guided missiles, weapons that kill at a distance, so that the people feel invincible in their military superiority.

As I mentioned above, Hitler was TIME Magazine's Man Of The Year in 1938. Stalin was TIME Magazine's Man Of The Year for 1939 and for 1942. Both of these men, and many others also celebrated by the media, were unimaginable monsters. The lesson from these facts is that it isn't easy to spot a genocidal tyrant when you live with one, especially one whom the press supports and promotes.

Tyrants become obvious only when looking back, after what they have done becomes known. The German people did not stand up to Hitler because their media betrayed them, just as the American media is betraying the American people by willingly, voluntarily, even proudly, abandoning its traditional role as watchdog against government abuse.

It is the very nature of power that it attracts the sort of people who should not have it. The United States, as the world's last real superpower, is a prize that attracts men and women willing to do absolutely anything to win that power, and hence are also willing to do absolutely anything to keep that power once they have it. If one thinks about it long enough, one will realize that all tyrants, past and most especially present, MUST use deception on their population to initiate a war.

No sane citizen of a modern industrialized nation would willingly send their children off to die in a war simply to grab another nation's resources and assets, yet resources and assets are what most wars are fought over. The nation that wishes to initiate a war of conquest must create the illusion of an attack or a threat to start a war, and must always give the people an excuse never to question that carefully crafted illusion.

It is naive to assume that tyrants appear only in other nations and that somehow America is immune simply because we are Americans. America has escaped the clutches of a dictatorship thus far only through the efforts of those citizens who had the moral courage to stand up and point out where the government is lying to the people.

Note: I originally posted this quite some time back. A prediction come true?

Things Are Fine

2005-12-07T20:02:00.000-08:00

A person would have to be extraordinarily blind, or just plain naive, to not be able to see where this is all going.

VeriChip Corporation and Austco Communication Systems Introduce the Hugs(R) Infant Protection System in the United Kingdom

DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 19, 2005--VeriChip Corporation, a subsidiary of Applied Digital (NASDAQ:ADSX), announced today that it has shipped its first Hugs(R) infant protection system for use in the United Kingdom. The sale and installation of the Hugs system is being coordinated by VeriChip's international distributor, Australia-based Austco Communication Systems Pty, Ltd.

VeriChip's Hugs infant protection system is designed to prevent mismatching and deter abduction of newborn infants from hospitals, and is part of VeriChip's portfolio of RFID healthcare security products.

"The entry of the Hugs system into the U.K. is another example of our commitment to develop the international healthcare security market," remarked Kevin McLaughlin, Chief Executive Officer of VeriChip Corporation.

Most people refuse to admit that "things are not fine."

Most people cannot even see that "things are not fine."

This pattern has repeated itself throughout history. People meander along through their happy little make-believe, media-generated, fantasy worlds and never even consider "what if?"

But what if all is not fine?

What if one day you woke up and the world as you knew it, had ceased to exist?

AH-HA! I caught you! The very first thought that passed through your mind (no matter how fleeting) was. . ."that will never happen to me."

But, for many thousands, it has happened time and again. Four major hurricanes have devastated many areas in the US and surrounding areas in recent months. Hundreds of thousands of displaced people with literally nothing to return to.

War erupts and suddenly the home that your family has occupied for generations is no more. The things you have accumulated gone in an instant.

This happens all of the time.

Here in the United States Of America we have been blessed.

Since the War Of Northern Aggression, no major, overt military conflicts have been fought on American soil.

It would be foolish to even try and take America that way.

I do not care who or what you are; liberal, conservative, radical, or just plain nut-case; if it came right down to it, you have already taken that same oath which so many others have given their lives for:

"I,(name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

This is the oath of enlistment that people take when enlisting in the armed services of our country.
The oath of enlistment makes three vows:

1. The first is to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies.
2. The second is a vow of fealty to that Constitution
3. . The third is an affirmation to abide by the rules and structure of the service the new recruit is about to enter.

Curiously, the oath of office for President of the United States has a clause in it similar to the first clause of the soldier's oath: "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

"I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;"

"I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

"all enemies, foreign and domestic;"

Just what, exactly, is a domestic enemy? Who defines this thing?

Definitions, like history, are written by the hand of the winner.

If you are on the side which stands to benefit greatly, in terms of personal power and wealth, then it would be defined as one thing, whereas, if you stand on the other it is something entirely different.

It is subjective.

Fortunately, we have an objective guideline to follow.

"I,(name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;"

Nothing is said about allegiance to a flag. Nothing is said about allegiance to a man, a party, or anything else other than the Constitution!

"and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

No allegiance mentioned there! Obey yes. . .but not obey blindly! Nothing about superior officers either, just "appointed over me."

In the military, if you obey an unlawful order by an officer, you are just as culpable as that officer. It is actually against the law to obey an unlawful order.

Whether you like it or not; you took an oath to not follow unlawful orders. You swore allegiance to the constitution.

You swore obedience to the President and officers appointed over you.

What happens if the two conflict?

It is simple, The first part supercedes the rest. Allegiance to the CONSTITUTION, obedience to the rest...as long as they follow the rules.

If the government orders you to do something illegal, then logically, it is not a legal government.

What does all this have to do with the Veri-Chip?

CAUGHT YOU AGAIN! You had already lost the original thread of this story, hadn't you?

The constitution guarantees us the right to remain secure in our "persons and effects." It guarantees us the right against unlawful searches and seizures.

The Veri-Chip will effectively remove that right.

The argument will be; "but if you are not doing anything wrong, then you have nothing to hide!"

That argument is very weak and it is for the weak-minded. It is for the very same type people, who when a few brave men decided it was enough, stayed with what was secure, what was safe...what was known...they stayed with England. They decided that taxation without representation was okay, as long as they continued in the lifestyle they had grown accustomed to.

This constitution was written by our forefathers. Written for them, for their children, and so on down to us. We pass it on to our children.

What shape will it be in when they inherit it from us? How can we even pass the dream of what it used to be, on to them?

How can we even continue the farce, when one their most basic rights guaranteed by this document, was removed from them at birth.

All enemies foreign and domestic.

Repeat those words to yourself my fellow Americans. Keep them close to your heart. Bind them to your soul and spirit. Your ancestors and mine dies for those very words. Your sons and daughters are dying right at this very moment for those very same words.

All enemies foreign and domestic.

Never forget those simple, yet, O so meaningful words.

Then think on this:

What do you think would happen if even one state in this "union" were to exercise its "rights" and secede from this union?

Theoretically, each state and every citizen of these United States has that right.

But what would really happen?

It was tried once, with devastating consequences. In the war of Northern Aggression. The nation was torn apart.

History books teach our children that it was the fight for freedom, the fight against slavery, a fight for truth, justice, and the American way.

LIES!

History books also teach our children that Columbus "discovered" a land where people had lived for tens of thousands of years. They glorify him as a hero, all the while not mentioning the fact that he and his men plundered, enslaved, and murdered countless thousands all "in the name of god and country." Oh. . .and gold.

It is a well known fact that people will sacrifice personal freedom for what they perceive as security. Most would gladly live as a slave rather than lose that security. Most will continue to even deny that they have given up anything.

Thus are tyrannies built. Thus are empires made.

Life In A Small Town

2005-12-05T20:05:00.000-08:00

I live in a very small town.

Our biggest industries are wheat, the railroad, and ...well, wheat and the railroad.

Well, anyways...here I was sitting in the truck waitin’ on the train to get done a doin’ whatever it was doin’ (they sort of put trains together and such here so the wait can be a while).

Now this bein’ a small town everybody gets out and visits up and down the line of cars if they know it is gonna be a while.

I am no different.

I mean after all...we ain’t goin’ nowheres for a while.

The fellers run around and visit. Kids are wrasslin’ in the yards by the side of the road and such.

I am hollering at the fellers to quit eatin’ the dead squirrel out of the road when I spot my Partner ‘bout five or six vehicles in front of me. He has this whole group of folks gathered around him and they are looking up into this big ol’ maple tree.

I wandered on down there to see what the commotion was about and there was this little ol’ scraggly cat way the hell on up there in this tree.

Folks was talkin’ bout callin’ the fire department to get this cat down when partner looks at me and grins.

I just shrugged to let him know that it was fine with me whatever he came up with.

He told the folks that the fire department wasn’t necessary and (pointing to me) said that I could just climb right on up there and get this cat out.

Then it got fun because people started bettin’ I couldn’t do it. I was grinning by this time cuz I knew what he was up to.

Well...he let the pot build up to a hundred dollars and then we went to work.

He just walked over to his truck where I keep my climbing gear and got it all out. I put it on and by this time people knew they had been had.

I gaffed on up that tree with a burlap sack stuck in my belt, grabbed the cat, stuck it in the sack, gaffed back down, and handed it over.

Time elapsed? About two minutes.

Waiting on a train in a small town can be fun sometimes. A couple of minute work and we each made fifty bucks, rescued a cat (which someone took) and just had a damn good time in the process.

It don’t get much better than that.

Hell yeah....

Twist Of Fate

2005-12-03T15:09:00.000-08:00

In a strange twist of fate I have decided to return here for my blogging. My arch nemesis Adonai followed many modbloggers to their new homes.

Of course he immediately began targeting me for his childish attacks.

I decided it to best for the community that I leave them.

It will be more pleasant for them without me causing arguments and such with the animosity which exists between he and I.

Oh well...such is life.

About Cops And Thanksgiving Day

2005-11-24T07:07:00.000-08:00

It was Thanksgiving day, 2001.

I had just gotten back together with my Ex-wife after a series of things. (That is a long story)

We were actually having a pretty good day.

She asked me to go to the store to get some things, with a bottle of tequila and some limes being one of those things.

I said YEEHAW and off I went (even though I did not want to) because tequila had the odd effect of making her clothes fall off. I knew I was gonna get laid that day, BABY!

I accomplished the mission and headed on home.

I had no sooner pulled into the driveway (I wonder why they call it that? All you do is park there!) when out of nowhere cops appeared. I swear. . . it was like magic or something. All of a sudden, before I had a chance to even turn the car off, six humongous fellers with guns, night-sticks, and tasers, had jerked me out of my car.

I was tasered, kicked, hit with those night-sticks and hog-tied. I was there on the ground with those size 17 jack-boots on the back of my neck and a gun dug into the back of my head and a good ol' southern boy a tellin' me if I moved "it would make him real happy."

While I was gone, my ex had called the cops, told them I had raped her, gone to the store to get some tequila, and was coming back to kill her.

The state I was living in had some funny laws that way. All a woman had to do, was tell the law-dogs that she was afraid, and the man went to jail. The guy could be bleeding and have a knife sticking out of his right shoulder (that she had stuck there. . . that's another story) and no marks at all on the woman. . . and they would say "what did you do to her?" take your ass right on to jail!

Well. . . anyways. . . I sat in jail for eleven fuckin' months. I never got arraigned. I didn't know I was supposed to. Hell... they even killed my dog while I was in there.

I finally started asking questions about what the hell was going on?

I was told that I would be arraigned and bail would be set, then I could be on my way.

I asked when that would happen?

They said within 72 hours of my arrest.

I said "Okay then" (I always say that), kind of funny but I have been here 11 months already. . . ya reckon I could have one of those arraignments any time soon?

They said "WHAT?"

I said "yep. . . 11 months."

I was out of jail within the hour.

That is why I hate cops. . . AND thanksgiving.

About My Theory And Chicken

2005-11-23T08:10:00.000-08:00

They say you are what you eat.

If that is the case, then my theory about why the kids seem to developing at earlier ages these days, is correct.

I will use chicken as the example because it is the most striking case. But it can be found in all of the major meat producing industries.

It used to be that it took four to six months to raise a chicken up to eating size.

Now it takes four to six weeks.

In the major chicken raising industries they have large "chicken houses" which hold up to a hundred thousand chickens. Their food and water is delivered to them by an automated system.

Since they are in this confined space it is easy for disease to literally wipe out an entire flock in a matter of days. They mix vitamins, minerals and various antibiotics into the chickens food and water to control diseases, and keep them healthy. The lights are also kept on twenty-four hours a day (to keep them awake and eating) so they mix a small amount of stimulant into to food as well.

But they also mix growth hormones in this food as well. The FDA will tell you that these hormones have left the chickens by the time it is processed and it reaches your table.

If that is the case; Then why can they pick up traces of drugs in your urine for thirty or more days after you quit using them?

Something smells FOWL here!

I have seen girls as young as second grade, already showing obvious signs of developing breasts.

It has to be the chicken!

The Birds And The Bees

2005-11-21T17:22:00.000-08:00

Once again, just like in Honduras, all the neighborhood kids seem to gravitate towards my house.

Just like there, I put their little asses to work.

They seem to love it (‘o course I make it fun).

Sometimes the shit just gets shocked right out of me though.

This is an excerpt of a conversation between me and (name deleted). She is a little girl ten years old. She comes here to visit her daddy on the weekends. She is very smart, VERY well developed for her age ( I got a theory on that) and just an all around sweetheart.

Her: "Tio, I think I am in love with you and want to have sex with you."

Me: *Jaw on ground* "Uhhhhh. . . OOOOOKAY then!" *Wanders off and starts puttering around because I have been left totally speechless by this revelation*

Her: "Are you mad at me?"

Me: "No Babes. . . but we gotta talk about this thing."

Then followed a long discussion on boys, crushes, love, biological functions, school, and life in general.

To her credit, she took it all in, understood, and was very mature about the whole thing.

I have also given that talk to both of my nieces and I gotta tell ya. . . It don't get any easier.

Promises, Promises!

2005-11-21T11:37:00.000-08:00

Well, my partner and I are fixin to go up to Junction City and take down another dangerous tree.

When I looked at this one all I had to say was. . . scary!

I figure it will take me about two hours to rig it and twenty minutes to drop it.

If I do not get killed doing it, that is.

The good thing is that we do not have to haul the wood off.

The homeowner says they will keep it for their fireplace.

An easy day, except my back is killing me and I really do not want to climb today.

But we promised.

That means we have to do it.

Feels Like Home To Me

2005-11-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

I have noticed something as I rapidly approach the exact middle of my forties.

I still like to look at nekkid pictures of pretty girls. . .but I just do not want to jump their bones like I used to.

You know what?

I do not even really care anymore.

I can still work a twenty year old guy until his dick is dragging in the dirt. I just cannot out-fuck him.

I used to worry about losing my sex drive. . . but not anymore.

Now I am concerned more with comfort.

Somebody to share things with and just sit and share a beautiful sunrise has become more important to me than the raw passion of sex.

I like to sit on the couch in front of my wood stove and snuggle under a blanket. The feel of a woman breathing in the night. The gentle comfortable silences that can be shared and enjoyed when you know you are loved by someone.

Not loved because you get their rocks off. . . loved for who and what you are.

It is not about the sex anymore. That just got in the way of what is really important.

You see. . . the important thing is the sense of belonging. That feeling that says. . .This is home to me.

Armbands And Idiots

2005-11-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

I swear. . .the next time somebody shows or tries to sell me one of those little rubber bracelets that supposedly support some worthy cause. . .I am going to kill that person.

What a crock of shit these things are.

What a money maker these things are.

The sad part is that the slack-jawed, inbred, mother-fucking, useless pieces of shit that buy and flaunt these things, actually try and tell me (and actually believe) that they are for a worthy cause.

Yep. . .and the owners of these worthy causes are laughing all the way to the bank.

Two cents of rubber, a penny to the cause (maybe) and ninety-seven cents in the pockets of the rich assholes who figured this scam out.

My useless fucking sister-in-law has literally wasted thousands of dollars on these things.

Stupid, useless fucking whore.

About Bee Trees And Good Friends

2005-11-19T05:05:00.000-08:00

Today me and my partner was cutting down what we in the tree business call a danger tree.

A danger tree is exactly that. It is a tree that is in need of immediate attention, or somebody or something is going to get hurt, killed, or damaged.

I gaffed up it, taking limbs and re-rigging lines as I went. My partner was watching the top and giving me a play by play on each of my moves so I did not wind up dead, or worse.

When I got to the top and rigged our pulling line so that we could control the fall I heard a buzzing sound.

I told my partner I thought we had bees in this tree and to toss me another line so I could disconnect from the main trunk, and have something to swing free out of the tree on, just in case an angry bunch of bees decided to jump my ass.

I started cutting large chunks off of this tree and gaffed on down without incident.

Back on the ground, my partner started giving me a hard time about how I must be old and imagining things.

My partner took our big saw and started in cutting the big wood while his wife and I took the small saws to handle the brush and limbs.

A little while later my partner dropped the saw and took off running, hollering BEES, BEES, BEES!

His wife looked over at me and asked why was he hollering please?

I said he wasn't. . .he was hollering BEES!

She said "oh...okay" and we kept cutting.

He said we was cold hearted assholes for not even stopping to see if he was okay.

She said it was part of the job.

I just laughed.

He went back to the truck to get the stingers out of his face.

After a while his wife and I decided we wanted some of that honeycomb so we ambled on over to the portion of the trunk that had the bees.

We built a little fire out of leaves and whatever other stuff we could find that would make a lot of smoke. I took the big saw and commenced cutting my way into that bee log while she fanned smoke on me and the log.

It wasn't long before we had the honeycomb exposed and we were like two kids in a candy store. We were pulling chunks out and eating that fresh wild honey like crazy. Partner came back in a little while and joined in. A few neighborhood kids saw us and asked what we was doing, so we told them and offered them some of it. They acted disgusted, and said "real" honey came from jars in the supermarket. This kind of made us sad.

We put the rest of the comb in our cooler and after we got home we cut it up and put it into some gallon jars partner's wife had stored in her basement. All told we got three and a half gallons of some of the best tasting honey you have ever had. It ain't none of that tasteless stuff you get down at the local supermarket. This is the real thing. It makes you shiver at how sweet it is.

I always feel a bit sad about cutting a bee tree down. It kills a vibrant, living organism in the form of a bee colony. Yet, at the same time I am happy, because every so often you come across a treasure in the form of more than three gallons of liquid sunshine.

It don't get much better than that.

The Reichstag Act Revisited.

2005-11-16T23:12:00.000-08:00

I preached for almost a year on my other Blog before it seemed to go offline permanently.

I got a lot of responses. . .mostly by people who said it would never happen.

I got called crazy.

I got called anti-American.

The hell with em all.

I know what the fuck I am talking about.

Read it and weep for our country.

Congress Nears Deal to Renew Antiterror Law

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 - Congressional negotiators neared a final agreement Wednesday night on legislation that will extend and keep largely intact the sweeping antiterrorism powers granted to the federal government after the Sept. 11 attacks under the law known as the USA Patriot Act.

After months of vitriolic debate, the tentative agreement represents a significant and somewhat surprising victory for the Bush administration in maintaining the government's expanded powers to investigate, monitor and track terror suspects.

Negotiators met into the night Wednesday, with last-minute wrangling over several narrow points, and were expected to reach a final agreement by Thursday. Once negotiators sign the deal, it will require the final approval of the full House and Senate, which is likely to come this week.

But civil rights advocates and Democrats were already in full attack mode late Wednesday, calling the expected deal an "unacceptable" retreat from promised restrictions on the government's sweeping antiterrorism powers.

The agreement ensures the extension of all 16 provisions of the law that were set to expire in six weeks. Fourteen will be extended permanently, and the remaining two - dealing with the government's demands for business and library records and its use of roving wiretaps - will be extended for seven years.

The agreement also includes a seven-year extension of a separate provision on investigating "lone wolf" terrorists.

That represents a compromise between the versions of the bill passed earlier this year by the House and the Senate. The House had voted to extend the provisions by 10 years, but the Senate moved to extend the powers by four years.

The deal reached by negotiators does include some new restrictions on the government's powers, including greater public reporting and oversight of how often the government is demanding records and using various investigative tools.

Critics at the American Civil Liberties Union and elsewhere called the changes "window dressing" and said that the legislation left out what they considered more meaningful reform in preventing civil rights abuses in terror investigations.

"This is a bad bill," Representative Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat who sits on the Judiciary Committee, said in an interview. "These are cosmetic changes that do little to change the Patriot Act from the way it was passed four years ago."

The antiterrorism law has become a lightning rod, and the debate over its future - including dozens of hearings and votes by nearly 400 communities urging further restrictions - amounted to a national referendum on the balance between fighting terrorism and protecting civil liberties.

Negotiators were still working late Wednesday to allay the concerns of some lawmakers over provisions related to sentencing in terrorism cases and other matters. Senator Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvania Republican who leads the Judiciary Committee, canceled a news conference that had been scheduled for Wednesday evening, leading to some speculation that the agreement might be in jeopardy. But negotiators said they were confident about working out last-minute wrinkles.

The Senate version of the bill, favored by many House members and by a coalition of civil rights advocates and conservative libertarians, appeared to have gained momentum in recent weeks as negotiations intensified on how to merge the two bills. It generally contained greater restrictions on the government's power than the House bill - requiring, for instance, a higher standard of proof in demanding records.

But the tide appeared to swing in recent days, and Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the Wisconsin Republican who leads the House Judiciary Committee, beat back efforts to place further restrictions in some counterterrorism areas, negotiators said.

The Bush administration has made renewal of the antiterrorism law a priority. Administration officials said Wednesday that while they were still waiting to review the final agreement of more than 200 pages, they were pleased that it appeared to retain virtually all of the government's current powers.

One controversial Republican proposal, which would have expanded the F.B.I.'s ability to demand records through administrative subpoenas, was left out of the agreement. Mr. Sensenbrenner also agreed to delete several death-penalty measures that were in the House version of the bill, including one that would have allowed prosecutors a second chance at imposing the death penalty in the event of a deadlocked jury.

Despite such concessions, civil rights advocates said the agreement did little to allay their concerns about potential abuses of power.

Representative John Conyers Jr., the Michigan Democrat who has been a leading voice on civil rights matters, called the expected deal "a huge step back for civil liberties."

And Lisa Graves, a senior counsel with the A.C.L.U., said the agreement "does not address the fundamental flaws" in the original act approved weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks. Ms. Graves said Congress was "poised to repeat the same mistakes it made in 2001" in rushing to approve a complex bill that few members had the time to read through.

One area of concern to some members of Congress was the F.B.I.'s growing use of what are called national security letters to demand records in terror investigations without a warrant. The letters have proven a favorite tool, with tens of thousands issued since the 2001 attacks.

The tentative agreement reached by Congressional negotiators clarifies that anyone receiving such a secret letter is allowed to consult with a lawyer, and it requires the Justice Department to disclose publicly the number of times it uses such powers. It also requires the Justice Department inspector general to audit the Federal Bureau of Investigation's use of the records demands.

NOTE: They are terrorists...what do they care about laws?