The morning was still and overcast. A front had moved in overnight and a light autumn rain left a cover of fresh water over everything. As the sun was beginning to break the horizon I was hiking through the forest toward my destination. After a three mile walk I reached my tree and began climbing the ten foot ladder. Once on my wooden platform I nocked an arrow and gently put my bow and the hook I drilled into the tree. I nestled into my seat and raised my binoculars to scan the area. Nothing was moving yet, but I knew the eight point buck I had been tracking for the past month would be through here eventually. I leaned back and started the long wait.
I should have been focused on the hunt. After all, the true thrill of hunting is putting in the time of preparing, tuning, stalking, taking the shot, tracking the blood trail and finally finding your kill and thanking the Gods of the Wild for another successful hunt. After that it's eating time, baby. But this morning I was completely unable to focus. Something was rattling around in my brain like a rock in an empty tin can. Something I couldn't shake or get my mind of off. It was something that grinded the very proverbial gears in my head to a shuttering, steaming halt. "What a fucking idiot," is all I could whisper in disgust.
You see, a few hours earlier (like around 3am) I had gotten up and ate breakfast before I headed out. After enjoying eggs, toast, bacon and coffee I was sitting on the can reading an issue of Rolling Stone that had been lying in our little magazine cubby for a few months. Personally, I couldn't give two shits about the Stone's politics (as they claim to be balanced with a tongue in cheek smile), but we have a subscription because my wife likes to read the music articles. In this particular issue was an interview with Al Franken as at the time he was promoting his new book we've all heard about so I'm not going to bother typing out the long obnoxious name. We all know Franken is a certified Nutbar™ with extra idoitarian coating so he doesn't melt under cases of extreme realism, but one thing this guy said sent my cerebral gyros off kilter.
My wife was house cleaning while I was out hunting and the magazine was thrown away with a crap-filled diaper on top (fitting, I think) so I don't have the exact quote but I can paraphrase it fairly easily. Franken was asked by his hand puppet of an interviewer the difference between how the left sees America and how the right sees it. Franken responded by saying that liberals love America like a friend who they love and care for and yet are willing to criticize it when it's wrong. Conservatives, on the other hand, see America as a loving parent who can do no wrong and is totally perfect.
I know.
Idiot.
This level of simplemindedness makes you wonder how Franken is able to put one foot in front of the other. Team Franken should have been a specialized surgical squad capable of getting Franken's two brain cells to rub and perhaps produce a cognitive thought. But they didn't, and now we have this drivel.
There is something that needs to be explained to the American-hating left. Righties like me get sneered at for waving my flag and for "foolishly" proclaiming that I love this country. I'm called "naive", "ignorant", or otherwise the old mantra of being "fucking retarded." Some of this is just obvious hatred for those who don't think like they do, but a good portion of that has to do with a massive misconception of what I mean when I say that I love the United States of America and what runs through my heart, mind, and soul when I look at Ol' Glory waving in the wind.
So, please, allow me to educate.
A long time ago a young farmer's son stood in ankle deep snow with tattered rags tied around his feet. He had no shoes, no socks, and only that small wrap of cloth to protect his feet from the frozen ground. The subzero wind howled, whipping the snow that was falling into a whirlwind. He pulled his wool coat, torn from wear, tighter around his body to try and stay warm as his whole body shook with a chill that went down to the bone. He wiped his running snot onto his ragged glove, allowing it to harden on solidified snot from the past few weeks. Another man came by and handed him a small rock hard biscuit, molded on the edges, and a steaming cup of coffee made from corn meal. He broke the biscuit up into the coffee and then skimmed the tiny mites off the surface that had been released from the biscuit. Then he thanked God for the hot coffee and tried to drink without spilling as he shook in the cold wind. Only a few more months and it would be warm again.
At any time he could have left that horrible place. He could have thrown his arms up and said the hell with it and gone home to his family's farm to sit by the fireplace and eat hot stew and fresh bread.
But he didn't. He stayed.
Why?
Because he believed in something greater than himself. Because he wanted his land to be something better. All it was was an ideal; one simple ideology. Freedom.
That was the winter of 1776. Since then the tree of freedom has been watered by the blood of patriots who love freedom and something beyond themselves. Hundreds of thousands of patriots, many of whom were left lying face down in the mud, their names forgotten, their bodies gone. Over 1,200,000 men have died to keep this country safe, free and prosperous. Think about that next time you're watching TV at night and you don't here machine gun fire or the sound of explosives.
The men who died, the heroes who sacrificed, are on the flag. The blue field that serves as the background for the stars is the somber field where our boys have been laid to rest. The color reminds us of the heartbreak families at home felt when they were notified their son, daughter, father, mother, brother, or sister had fallen. It is somber, but it holds the Union of stars together with unflinching resolve as the flag whips in the wind day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. It makes me feel proud of my past fellow countrymen.
America was founded by rebels; men who had had enough of the bullshit and went off to forge their own destiny. The cut back the timber, built their homes from the very same wood, and bet their lives on grain. This happened from the time the first settlers arrived in Jamestown up until last week when a family arrived at a port from a foreign land for a new start here. Our government was founded by rebels who faced the truth and found it necessary to flip off the most powerful king in the world, beat his armies, and then build a new beacon of hope on the horizon.
America is full of rebels. We are rebels. We defy all the rules, think outside the box and do the impossible and move along without giving a shit what other people think about it. American ingenuity, sprung forth from the banner of rebellion, is so ingrained in the American spirit that dissent will always be apart of our society, and I'm very grateful for that. It's a natural fail-safe built into our system that will keep a tyrant from office.
That rebellious spirit is on the flag as well. The deep red and thick stripes that run from end to end signify that part of every Americans soul. It, too, stands defiantly out at any who gaze upon it.
Intertwined within our natural rebellious spirit is our ever present level of optimism; a belief if a brighter future, the great and beautiful future that is unknown. We Americans also hold in our heart a belief in ourselves and in our country and our work ethic to make tomorrow a better day than the one before. We are always looking for ways to innovate, to make things better, and then better than that. We work our fingers to the bone to get it just right.
Yet no matter how good we make something, we always know it can be better and so we hit the drawing board again.
We Americans always see the future with promise and with high regard. Like a sun rising on the horizon.
This level of optimism is ingrained in the American spirit and it is shown on our flag by the bright white stripes that run between the rebel streaks as the two are always connected within our souls.
Then there are the fifty stars, each one representing a state in this great Union called America. They show that we are different people from different regions with different lifestyles and cultures. Yet, despite this independence, we are unified into one solid American government, one solid American spirit, one solid American people. These stars will never grow apart or solidify into one star because we are a Union, and a most perfect one at that.
The last part of the flag is one everyone knows about and is aware of, despite the fact that it isn't given as much attention as it deserves. This is the small, tough, yet flexible part that runs along the edge of the flag upon which it is attached to a pole, otherwise known as the hoist side. This piece represents our Constitution. This is because it is small and simplistic as it holds the flag together and allows it to flap in the wind. It gives the required versatility for the flag to wave free yet it is sturdy enough to grip the flag with a hold that will last through the ages. It holds us together, allows us to be free, but will not allow us to sail off into the winds of time toward destruction.
This is something I believe that those who so strongly criticize America just do not get. I don't have a problem with people taking pot shots at America because that is a freedom we all have. But just so you know, I WILL use my right to free speech to counter whatever you say. Is America perfect? No. Has it ever been? No. Has it been bad in the past? Yes. But that white stripe runs solid through me and I know we are off to a better and better place each and every day.
You see, to men like Mr. Franken, they fail to see all of this. They sat in their college history classes and had shit crammed down their throats. They see America as a racist, war-mongering, money-grubbing little cesspool of narrow-minded little people who say they love their country unflinchingly only because they're too dumb to know any better. They look at the flag and they don't see beauty, they see something that disgusts them. This is sad and it does in injustice to every man and woman who ever called this land home.
I don't love America as a parent, or a friend.
I love America as an ideal.
The ideal that all men are created equal. The ideal that we are all free to our own lives. I don't dwell on past wrongs; instead I focus on future rights. I know that it was the American flag that flew over the slave ships. I know the American flag was the one carried by the mounted cavalry on their quest to slaughter Indians who interfered with the building of railroads.
But I also know that it was the American flag that stood defiantly on the ridge overlooking Yorktown. The American flag was the one that was raised over the Jewish concentration camps after we'd pushed the Germans back and began to give medical attention and funerals to the slaughtered. And in case you forgot, it was also the American flag that was stitched to each soldiers arm as they took Baghdad.
When you truly love someone and something, you must love it fully, embracing all its faults and flaws and work to become better. This is why I love America and would willing die to protect her. She is me and I am her and I would give a big middle finger to anyone who had a problem with that.
Whenever I see an American flag waving I think about all the symbolism I mentioned before. The Union of regions, the rebellious spirit, the impenetrable optimism, the form of government that does the impossible by allowing us to be free while holding us together, and the men who died to keep all this the way they love it.
As we flap in the winds of time into the future, we must not allow the red to lighten, the white to darken, the stars to fade, or the blue to be no longer remembered. Our hoist side must not become tattered or to stiff. We are a nation of freemen and it is our duty to keep things that way or others ahead of may not get the opportunity.
"All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years...If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." - Abraham Lincoln (1838)Posted by Jaymz at 07:28 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Have you seen what The Evil Glenn Reynolds had for Thanksgiving dinner?
Does the slaughter never end?
Because otherwise Susie will beat me silly.
Which may or may not be a bad thing.
Heh heh.
Psyche's Knot's Black & Decker
This happend yesterday:
Woman Knocked Unconscious By Wal-Mart Shoppers
Witnesses: Shoppers Stepped Over Woman Having Seizure
On the 14th I said this after getting back from Florida:
The second night I was down there(Florida), the wife friend and I had to go to Wal-Mart. Let me tell you, after what I say I'm pretty sure that had the Confederacy used shopping carts instead of muskets we probably would have lost that war. Sheesh!
Now you know I wasn't lying. They're even eating up their own down there.
For some odd reason I've been getting Democratic (*snicker*) Party campaign updates in my e-mail. Why? I don't know. But I haven't asked them to stop because I find them so amusing.
I got two this week I had to flip out here onto the page. These people are so funny when they think only lefties are paying attention.
HELP US REACH OUR GOAL!
We must have an additional $500,000 in the door by December 15 from our activists to reach our 2003 financial goal.
Five hundred thousand dollars! Good LORD that's a lot of money! I tell you what, how about I give you a nickel and you get a fucking clue?
If we do not make this goal, we will move into 2004 already behind.
Especially since they have to redistribute that money over eight candidates. Will they redistribute it evenly per Marx's orders? Or will Dean and Clark get a little extra?
We can't let this happen.
Delaying the inevitable.
Last week President Bush broke the $100 million mark in fundraising for his campaign. This breaks all presidential fundraising records in history. No candidate has ever had this much cash in the bank this early -- or ever -- in an election.And Bush is running unopposed in the GOP primary. Worse yet -- it's not even 2004.
Logical people would take this to mean that your whole party is out of touch with reality and most people couldn't give two left testicles about your "programs". But then again, we are talking about a cluster-fuck of Dems here.
What does this mean for America?
No Demmy Whore in '04!
Bush will use his unlimited funds for the sole purpose of distorting his own failed record to the American people while unleashing a vicious attack on our eventual Democratic nominee.
Whoa whoa whoa! Wait a minute! Aren't you the party that has this mega-rich dude ready to poor in a couple ba-gillion dollars just to oust Bush? Bush doesn't need a vicious attack (the pot calling the kettle black, if I ever heard it), all he needs to do is present fact, although you guys would probably throw a fit and say he's "distorting" things.
Bush will spare no expense trying to convince Americans that he is a "compassionate conservative" while behind the scenes he and his Republican allies will fervently work to cut and gut the programs that support working families. Why? To pay for more tax cuts for big corporations and the superwealthy.(Emphasis mine-JF)
Meanwhile we will use the fact that you have no sense of modern economics and appeal to your sense of hating the rich. Works every time!
The rest of this one is just drivel about needing money.
I didn't send any.
Now the next one.
GOP REVS UP ATTACK MACHINE
This time, they have gone too far.
Who? The terrorists? Oh, you mean the Republicans. You had me confused for a second. Then again, the terrorists never go too far in your book.
The RNC has released an advertisement that questions our Democratic candidates' commitment to keeping America secure. And they're going to keep doing it -- unless you help stop them.
Seems like a valid question to me. You guys did oppose a whole war to keep us safe and have a fit every time the word "patriotism" is mentioned even if it isn't sent your way.
Democrats and the American people are demanding honest answers from Bush on Iraq, on his State of the Union lies, and on why the White House leaked the identity of a CIA operative.
*rolls eyes*
The "American people" aren't stupid and know the truth. You guys, on the other hand, just suck on so many levels its laughable.
*ahem* Here we go, Iraq has been documented on WMDs, ect, ect by the US, the UK, the UN and everyone else with an intelligence agency and YOU guys are the only ones who dismiss all of it as hearsay; when Bush says the UK intelligence says Iraq tried to buy uranium and the UK still backs that up then it's not as lie; last time I checked the investigation on the CIA operative was still ongoing and no one has been accused so it's hardly a time to accuse yourself.
But instead of leveling with the American people, Republicans are using a cheap political ploy to try and change the subject, accusing Democrats of "attacking the President for attacking the terrorists."
Got a problem with dissent from what you think? I'm an everyday American and I want to know why you are attacking the president for attacking terrorists.
Bush and the Republicans dream about a country with no debate and no dissent, where they are free to push their extremist agenda with no one standing up to stop them.
This guy's got a point here. I mean, I've been terrified ever since Tim Robbins and Natalie Maines got their doors kicked in by the CIA and carried of to an undisclosed- Oh wait, that never happened. My bad.
Over the next year, they will question your patriotism again and again and again. If you don't support President Bush, they'll say, you're not supporting our troops and you don't want to keep America safe.
Nobody's questioning my patriotism, bub. Nobody questioned yours either. We just all questioned your judgment as to whether all those drugs in your body were a good thing come political strategy time.
The rest of this one is more bullshit about needing money.
Once again, I didn't send anything.
By the way, Dems, I have something I've wanted to say for a long time and I just have to get it off my chest:
FUCK YOU!!
Democrats Insist Republicans Pull Bush Ad
And I insist the Democrats pull their whole party, but I doubt they're listening.
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle...
*rolls eyes*
...is demanding that Republicans stop showing their first television ad of the 2004 presidential race, which he called "repulsive and outrageous."
Well, yeah. To a dim-witted terrorist appeaser like you I can see how it would look.
The 30-second ad, which aired in Iowa over the weekend, features clips of Bush during his State of the Union address last January. It portrays Bush as a fighter of terrorism and says his opponents "are now attacking the president for attacking the terrorists."
Sounds like someone in Dubya's campaign DOES have balls. I like the no-glove approach. They don't use 'em, so let's stop being nice.
"It's wrong. It's erroneous, and I think that they ought to pull the ad," Daschle told NBC's "Meet the Press" program on Sunday.
Ah crap. Hey everybody, Daschle?s saddened again. Same remedy as last time? Okay, I'll get the rubber gloves.
"We all want to defeat terrorism," the South Dakota senator said. But "to chastise and to question the patriotism of those who are in opposition to some of the president's plans I think is wrong."
Jesus H Christ, here we go with the patriotism shit again. Explain to me again where the ad said anything about patriotism. A retarded ape with an orange football helmet on can still be patriotic, he's just...well, retarded.
The Republican National Committee (news - web sites) has no plans to honor Daschle's wishes.
Other Democrats on the Sunday talk shows joined Daschle in his criticism.
Plain speak: The idiotarian cluster fuck was out in full force.
Presidential candidate Wesley Clark (news - web sites) said the ad is wrong and ought to be pulled. It violates "the pledge the president made to not exploit 9-11 for political purposes," Clark said on CBS' "Face the Nation."
Of course, such measures are not prohibited by the DNC though. Regardless, I didn't see or here anything about the ad mentioning 9/11 or the WTC. He would have broken his pledge (and been more accurate, mind you) if the ad showed the twin towers burning with a picture of Bill Clintoon with the word "Thanks" at the bottom.
Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy called it an "attempt to stifle dissent." On ABC's "This Week," Kennedy said "dissent is a basic part of what our whole society is about."
WHAT THE FUCK??!!
First off, Mr. Vehicular Homicide, dissent is apart of a healthy democracy, but dissent is not all a society should be. Besides, explain to me exactly how this ad is stifling anything other than your Copper-Headed Know-Nothing attitude? Did the add say, "Shut up, fucknozzels! You don't know shit!"
Speaking on CNN's "Late Edition," presidential candidate and Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (news - web sites) said the ad was misleading, nothing more than an attempt "to get the public's mind off the joblessness in America, the bad prescription Medicare drug bill ... the energy bill, which sells out to lobbyists."
Plain speak: Hey, I'm still in the race, you know!
I'm pretty sure the defense of the American people is a little more pressing than a Medicare bill, Joey.
These people are like a car accident: They're horrible to look at, but you can't take your eyes away.
At the liberal posting board I frequent I found a discussion on Toby Keith. Here what was written:
To quote myself from earlier today, actually, Toby Keith exemplifies what is wrong with America today. Seriously. The fact that that ignorant hick echoes the voice of such a huge portion of our country is just sad.
And
Toby Keith is an actual person. He's an uber-redneck who had been toiling in the country music scene in complete obscurity until September 11th, when he wrote the "ignorant Americans unite!" anthem "Courtesy of the Red, White, & Blue (The Angry American)", a song to rally around when beating up the Taliban. What filth.
My response (bad spelling left in):
In total wholehearted agreement!I feel like a changed man, folks. I just finished reading Al Franekn's book and that, along with the thoughts I've read, have caused me to switch sides. I guess after all these years of being brain washed by that fat ass Ditto-monger and Faux News and that Hannity jackass kept me from realizing a few basic truths.
The racist warmongering hegemonic bully that is America has really set herself down the wrong path and it will take decades to repair the ill will alcholic Dubya has caused. I cry at the thought. Maybe we will be lucky and Dean will be able talk to France and Germany and they can understand that America's actions in the past years have been the result of one man after gas and not the will of the American people. Hopefully they will be understanding, which they always seem to be.
Moreover, I hope Dean will be able to get the UN to take over Iraq so they can deliver food and aid at a pace that would make Speedy Gonzalez's head spin. Maybe they can just take over America too, since we are obviously unable to control our own strength. The sooner we got on with a single and solidified world government the better off we will all be.
As for this Toby "Hick Porn" Keith guy, what an ignorant jackass!! I don't mind him touring in America so all the people still crying over Dale Earnhardt (get over it, assholes!) can worship him, but I hope he doens't gone on tour out of the country. That would just be to embarassing for people elsewhere to see what goes on in our trailer parks.
I mean, a guy actually having disdain toward the Taliban? What a fuck. His one horse school system obviosuly failed to teach him cause and effect because anyone with two brain cells to rub on each other could have seen them planes coming a mile away.
Idiot.
On a lighter note, my apologies to anyone I;ve offended and/or pissed of here in the past. The Right Wing Media Machine? had my head and I've been indoctored for years. The coke I got from the government run drug house freed my mind.
Best,
liberal james
HOW COULD YOU DO IT?
I?m a night owl.
I love being up late at night and I despise early mornings (unless I?m going hunting, of course). I don?t know if this comes from my many years of working the night shift at a bunch of different jobs or if it is just naturally in my blood. Either way I?m always up at night after the wife and son hit the hay (I?ve probably talked to some of you during those late night hours if you?ve ever been to the Loyal Citizen AIM).
There?s not much on late night TV. I can usually find Hannity & Comes, Cavuto, and if I?m lucky, an episode of Reno 911!. Otherwise I flip to my DVD collection and find something to keep me stimulated between cig breaks. I?ve become somewhat of a documentary nut because I love watching different historical documentaries like Ken Burn?s Civil War series or my WWII collection. There are also great pieces to be found on Discover or the History Channel. There?s something about watching real images of real events. Historical interpretations can vary from person to person. But in a real documentary that displays facts with real footage of real events no one can deny that the things being discussed happened. It?s pure undisputable evidence.
Documentaries have a way of speaking to the viewer on a level that is very different from books or movies. A true documentary shows truth and fact; not fluffed or staged scenes in movies such as Bowling for Columbine.
But these late nights have almost brought on an intimate relationship with the wicked of the world. I?ve stayed up late at night watching the black and white images of slaves who were posed to have their pictures taken. Many stood without shirts to show the endless crisscross of scares from whipping. Others stared into the camera with a far away look through a cracked face accented by decades of toil and no reward.
Chills have gone up my spine watching the silent film reels of men and women with gaunt faces and sunken eye sockets who barely have the energy to stand on their thin legs. They stand in striped prison outfits with the Star of David sewed on. Next to them in the smoldering pit of ashes are the remains of millions of fellow human beings, all senselessly slaughtered.
My fists have clenched in anger as the grainy image came through the satellite showing a dead American soldier stripped of his uniform and dragged through the street by an enthusiastic mob.
A tear of shock and despair has rolled down my check as the film of two smoldering beacons of American prosperity burned in the clear morning air along with over 2,500 of my fellow countrymen.
I?ve found myself alone, in the middle of the night, with only the glow of the television on my face and these images mirrored on my eyes. More than once I?ve silently whispered to myself, ?what the fuck??
What the fuck? What the fuck drives these people? What the fuck motivates such acts of cruelty? What the fuck can cause someone to do this? What the fuck were these people thinking?
WHAT THE FUCK!?
The answer is simple and is as straightforward as you can get.
What the fuck is it?
Evil.
Pure, unrestrained and unbridled evil.
SHADES OF GRAY
I spend a lot of time debating and arguing politics at many online forums. Some are interesting, some just degenerate into an invective fest. But I distinctly remember one I had with a fellow shortly before we invaded Iraq. I had been documenting the cruelty of Saddam Hussein and listing his mile long list of massive abuses against innocent people. The response I got was typically liberal as it showed no sign of actual argument and it was a humongous failure at trying in any way to argue against my evidence.
?Jesus Christ! What the fuck is it like to see everything is black and white, you simple minded neanderthal? Please, fuckin? tell me so I know what it must be like to be so damned simpleminded!! Asshole!?
And the left calls us heartless.
The world is not a scale of pure black and white. It never has been nor will it ever be. We see shades of gray everywhere we go and in everything we do. But just because there are several shades of gray does not mean the pure black does not exist. Black does exist. It is a deep ribbon of dark cloth crawling with the worst demons to ever bestow misery on humankind. The black is evil and it is twisted beyond all rational and any sort of logical cognitive thought.
We all know black. We have all seen black at work. Ghangis Khan. Ivan the Terrible. Joseph Stalin. Adolph Hitler. Mao. Pol Pot. Milosevic. Rwanda. Osama bin Laden. Saddam Hussein. The list is interminable. Black is not refined to anyone race or culture. Black is something that resides in the souls of some humans that makes such an organ obsolete.
Black cannot be bartered with, it cannot be negotiated with, it will not subside, and it will not stop until it is forced.
The only way to deal with black is to use a remedy of hot lead and cold steel administered by the uniformed doctors who love freedom.
DON?T LOOK THE OTHER WAY
In high school football was life. In the small framing community I grew up in the world seemed to revolve around the Friday night games during football season. Try to think of it like the movie Varsity Blues, only without all the negativity surrounding it. We loved football, we loved to play it, and our town loved to show up on those cool autumn nights and cheer us on until no one had a voice any longer.
My school had been plagued with years of losing seasons. The Winnebago Indians were looked upon with laughter and jeers in the 2A class state-line area. But things were different in my days. Our sophomore year my fresh-soph team won the conference. My junior year we made the state playoffs and lost in the first round to one of the toughest teams in Illinois. But my senior was to be the year.
We hit training camp with a vengeance after a summer of pumping weights. We drilled, drilled, drilled, drilled some more, drilled after that, took a water break and then drilled again.
We ran ourselves ragged, burned ourselves into the ground, fell down on the practice field exhausted, and then got up for a drink of water and then went for some more punishment.
In the process we became the most bad-ass group of men this side of the Mississippi. The coach handed out our new uniforms before our first game: solid black with white and orange lettering and our names on the back.
The first game we stormed the field with AC/DC?s ?Back in Black? blaring over the speakers and the crowd going nuts. We beat the shit out of those fellas and walked off with a 42-6 victory.
The same pattern continued for the rest of the season as we became ranked 2nd in state with the top defense and the fourth offense in all IHSA schools.
We. Fucking. Rocked. Dude.
Come playoff time we got seeded to play a team with a 5-4 record who had made the playoffs only because they won all their conference games (otherwise you have to have a 7-2 record). But the fluke of it was that we had to play them at their field. Our coach called the IHSA and threw a fit since we were ranked higher they should be coming up here. The IHSA stuck with their decision.
The whole weak our coach bitched about how pathetic they were, about how they shouldn?t even be in the playoffs, about they shouldn?t even be on the same field as us, about how we just needed to roll over them and get on to the next round.
So on a cold Saturday morning we boarded the charter buss the community had gotten for us for the five hour trip. Halfway we stopped and had lunch that had been packed by our local Subway. Then we got down there with a yawn and suited up. We took the field for an easy game.
The next morning it was painful to read the score in the newspaper:
Gilman-Iroquois West 32
Winnebago 3
We got rocked. My ass still hurts five years later.
We lost because of our psychology going into the game. Plain and simple. Gilman turned around and got their asses handed to them the next round by a team we could have floored. But our coach put us in the mind frame that it would be a simple fly by game and we could get into the semi-finals without a passing thought. We believed him. Next thing we knew the field stunk like the shit we were in by halftime.
U.S. SEASON RECORD
The United States is the shit, dude. No lyin?. We?ve got our blemishes and our foolish play calling in the past but otherwise we?re solid. We?ve stamped out those who wished our demise and became the greatest, most tolerant land of opportunity this earth has ever seen. We are strong.
But we are not invincible.
We are now in World War IV, folks. War has changed. The enemy no longer stands up in neat formation of attack or defense and not all wars are waged on an open field of battle. World War III, known more commonly as The Cold War, was fought on an economic level and we had to adapt to keep our freedoms. World War IV is being fought against an elusive enemy who no longer accepts surrender over obvious annihilation. We are now fighting fanatics who dwell in black and can only be stopped by such remedies as I?ve spoken of above. We must adapt or die trying.
I firmly believe that most Americans don?t realize that black exists. Yes, most of us believe in evil and evil people, but very few can look out at the world and see the truth; that there is evil in the world beyond our comprehension. The innocent Rwandans saw it. Those who fell into the muddy graves at the hands of Milosevic saw it. The Shiites who were gassed to death have seen it. And the Jews have wrestled with the very grip of evil first during the Holocaust and now as homicide bombers wage war on innocent Jewish civilians. Even we Americans got a small glimpse of the darkest of hearts of September the 11.
My, have we forgotten so quickly.
As I?ve said before, evil does not reside in any particular race or culture. Going through history you can see this disease transcend upon every civilization ever to exist. Evil exists. It is potent and it is motivated. It captures the hearts and minds of some men and motivates them to do the unthinkable. It can happen on small scales (Columbine) and sometimes on much larger ones were it can be read about in the encyclopedia under ?Genocide?.
I can?t begin to express how incredibly simplistic this is. In many cases people look for causes for such actions and analyze the situation to death without ever realizing how easy the answer truly is. Some men are just truly evil down to their very bones and tigers don?t change their stripes until they rot off.
Evil is always changing and evolving like the great beast in a horror movie that keeps coming back and just won?t die. Only this isn?t a movie. This is life and people die when the beast is ignored. There will always be evil. It started back when a single caveman or his horde got the notion to kill everyone they ran into. It evolved through tribal leaders in Egypt, to Ghangis Khan?s hordes, to the men who enslaved African and cut off the toes of Indians to keep them from fleeing. When slavery was destroyed it grew into Stalinism and Hitlerism and the actions of Pol Pot. When they were dead and their regimes decimated it became men like Milosevic and the slaughterers in Rwanda. Now we deal with Fanatical Islam. The evil has twisted religious men with the same notions as their predecessors. When it is dead evil will shift and become another form for us to contend with for the fate of the world.
But we can?t look ahead to next week?s game before this one is seen through to the end of the fourth quarter. We can?t write off any game as an easy number and naturally assume the enemy is dead in the water. That way we?ll just end up a day late and a dollar short. The stakes are too high for that.
PLAYING NICE
I understand what some on the left are doing. They want to do right thing by respecting others territory and livelihood, the want to be nice and not offend. I agree wholeheartedly with the basic sentiment. But the scenario does not permit this. Some on the left opposed the war in Iraq because of humanitarian reasons. Basically, they were worried, afraid and angered and what could happen to the innocent Iraqis caught in the crossfire in a war between the US and Saddam Hussein. Because conservatives supported the war so much that can only mean that we are heartless people who could care less about a few thousand dead foreigners. And since we are heartless, we can?t possibly be fighting the war to liberate the Iraqis, we have to have other motives. Taunts of ?imperialism? and ?no blood for oil? became chants.
In terms of being worried for the Iraqi citizens, I understood completely where they were coming from. I vividly remember being awake late into the morning in a hospital room watching the live coverage of the bombing raids holding by son who was less than a day old. My wife rested her exhausted body and my son slept soundly as I watched the tanks roll into hostile territory. With all the images of buildings exploding and fires I hoped that as many as the Iraqi citizens as possible were safe from the destruction.
I, like the vast majority who supported the war, was not heartless. How can you be cold and dead inside when you?re rocking to sleep your own flesh and blood and wanting to be a better man for him?
When the images came in of the children being released from prison, of the families cheering in the streets as the tanks rolled by, at the crowds celebrating as the statue fell it became blatantly clear why we fought.
Since then we?ve uncovered mass graves, torture chambers and more and more evidence of Saddam?s cruelty. He was of the pure black and I can?t wait until the bastard is dead.
THE ETERNAL PLAYOFFS
Every time we encounter evil it?s all or nothing for us. Every game is a playoff game and an absolute must win situation. The mind cannot even begin to contemplate what the world would be like had we lost the previous big games to Hitler or Stalin. This one is no different. What will happen to our beautiful country and the fate of the world should we fail? It?s ugly, but dwell on that thought for a few moments and you?ll realize the severity of the situation.
It is granted that the United States will never be conquered by groups such as Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or al-Qeada, but it is entirely possible that through their actions and our inaction that we become a former shell of ourselves with our children left to inherit a country that cowers in fear to the whims of terrorists and terrorist countries. We will become slaves to evil and will were its shackles on our wrists and legs.
Many bloggers, me included, have said it many a time: WE ARE AT WAR. There seems to be confusion over this since it?s not the way we typical think of war, the same was true for the Cold War. But it is a war. It is an armed conflict. And it is good versus evil.
The sooner we recognize that evil, real tangible evil, exists in the world and that it can only be dealt with through destruction the better off we will be.
We stand at a crossroads in our history. Do we wish to pass this confrontation with evil off to our children or should we stand up the way America has always done and meet our foe head on and put it down in the ground until the next time evil knocks on our door?
We can defeat terrorism. We can defeat anything that may be thrown at use from abroad. Solidarity among the American people is the most potent force the world has ever seen. We can only loss to this enemy through our own indecision and inaction. And believe me, we can lose.
Let?s not take any enemy, any incarnation of evil, lightly. It must stamped out through any means at our disposal. When we hit the field, which we already have, we must be out for blood and total victory without exception until all is clear. I will not stand to be a slave of terror. I will not stand to have my country degraded because we failed to fulfill our duty. Many have stood up to evil in past and have hence delivered us here to a land of opportunity and freedom. Now we are asked to do the same for our future ancestors.
What will it be?
?There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! ?Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! ?Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!? Patrick Henry ? 1775
I couldn't help it. I snapped this picture of my son with a digital camera while he sat on my lap. I absolutely had to post it.
Give him a call...if you dare.
Toby Keith's new album, Shock'N Y'All, is out. Man o man. If you liked The Angry American, then you'll love The Taliban Song on his new one. Even if you don't like country I highly recommend picking this one up.
Just to get y'all laughing, here's the lyrics to it:
I'm just a middle-aged middle-eastern camel-herdin' man
I got a little two-bedroom cave here in North Afghanistan
Things used to be real nice and they got out of hand
Since they moved in
They call themselves the Taliban
Oooh, oooh the Taliban, baby
Now I ain't seen my wife's face since they came here
They make her wear a scarf over head
That covers her from ear to ear
She loves the desert and the hot white sand
But man she's just like me
No she can't stand the Taliban
Oooh, oooh the Taliban, baby
But you know someday soon we're both gonna saddle up
And it'll be ride camel ride
My old lady she'll be here with me
Just smilin' by my side
We should do just fine out around Palestine
Or maybe Turkmenistan
We'll bid a fair adieu and flip a big finger to
The Taliban
Now they attacked New York City
'Cause they thought they would win
Said they would stand and fight until the very bloody end
Mr. Bush got on the phone with Iraq and Iran and said
Now you sons-of-bitches you better not be doing any buisness
with the Taliban
So we prayed to Allah with all our might
Until those big U.S. jets came flying in one night
And they dropped little bombs all over their holy land
Man you should have seen them run like little rabbits they ran
The Taliban
But you know someday soon we're both gonna saddle up
And it'll be ride camel ride
My old lady she'll be here with me
Just smilin' by my side
We should do just fine out around Palestine
Or maybe Turkmenistan
We'll bid a fair adieu and flip a couple fingers to
The Taliban
And we'll bid a fair adieu and give big boner to
The Taliban
I know I was gone for a week, but I'm starting to hear little hints about the draft possibly starting up again soon.
Is this true or am I on crack?
If anyone knows, please tell me. If they're going to be starting the draft again soon I won't sign up for classes next semester.
Fill me in, people.
Well, my plane just landed back here in the good 'Ol Midwest from Florida about two hours ago. I liked being down there, but I'm happy to be home.
The second night I was down there, the wife friend and I had to go to Wal-Mart. Let me tell you, after what I say I'm pretty sure that had the Confederacy used shopping carts instead of muskets we probably would have lost that war. Sheesh!
Anyway, sorry for not blogging while I was away, I think I felt pretty burnt out there for awhile and needed time to recharge the batteries. Feel good to go now and I have another essay almost complete. I'll have it up soon for all twelve of you to read.
I appreciate the comments I get on the essays, so please, keep 'em coming!
The VRWC, INC CENTCOM is relocating to Daytona Beach for the next week so I will be reporting from the field, so to speak. I had hoped to get another essay up before I left but it's not turning out just right. Oh well, myabe the beach will breath new life into it.
So I guess I'm off to the land of sunshine, the elderly, retarded voters, and high humidty. Sounds like fun.
More soon.
Matt Margolis and his team have created the Blogs for Bush blog to help keep the powerful ball rolling to steamroll those filthy leftist bastards. The place will be a troll fest in no time so get there and comment.
I just finished reading The Last Days by Joel C. Rosenberg, which was the sequal to his 2002 hit The Last Jihad.
If you're into today's politics, you will love these two books and I cannot recommend them high enough.
Try and imagine the war on terror going nuclear, a member of the cabinet actively working for a terrorist cell, Russian ultranationalists and jihadist Muslims in bed together, someone trying to crash a plane loaded with C4 into the presidential motorcade, Yasser Arafat taken out by a Pail suicide bomber (how ironic) while shaking hands with the US Secretary of State and all of Palestine falling into civil war to fill the power vacuum, someone trying to get Israel to invade Gaza in the hopes it will enflame the Arab street, the largest oil reserve in the world found off the coast of Israel and Palestine, a major Arab city under a mushroom cloud, suicide bombers working their way into D.C., and the "four horsemen of the apocalypse" (four deadly Iraqi terrorist) attacking the home of the head of Israeli intelligence while dining with a Pali oil CEO and two American stock traders.
Add in some Army Ranger and Delta Squad action with top secret CIA bunkers in Gaza, F-14s engaging enemy MIGs, espionage, SEAL teams, and numerous gun battles and you've got two great novels here.
Read 'em. That's an order!
What the hell am I?
I have Scottish blood.
I'm also part German, Irish, Welsh, and Polish.
All right. So, what is my son then?
My wife also has Swedish blood but it is mixed with German and Scandinavian.
Is Alexander James a German, Welsh, Polish, Irish, Scottish, Swedish, Scandinavian-American?
Say that three times fast.
What if he grew up and married a woman who was a mix of African blood and Chinese? What would his children be called?
Talk about confusing.
Ignorance is bliss.
My best friend in the whole wide world during my childhood was a boy a year older than me named Frederick. He was a big boy and black as black can be. We were neighbors and we met when I was four and he was five. We played together every single day during our years before school and then we played every day after school and spent our summers doing more of the same. We had GI Joes, Kung-Fu grip ninjas, and a wide arsenal of toy guns.
We spent endless days racing our bicycles around the school parking lot and talking to the firemen who worked at the station on our block. Occasionally we?d scrounge some change up and buy soda from the machine behind the church a few blocks away. Of course it was quickly realized that riding a bike while trying to carry an opened pop can isn?t that easy.
I remember one day we filled the plastic pool up with hose water and got into a wrestling match. We were like six and seven and I was in over my head, no pun intended. I got my ass kicked but I got a popsicle from his mom for it. Not a bad deal.
Race isn?t an issue to innocent kids. I never thought a thing of him being black because he was the only other kid my age I knew for the first couple years we were friends and we grew up together. One day when I was five I asked my mother if that stuff washed off him. My mother laughed and said no, that that was just his skin. I said ?okay? and never thought of it again.
The bliss ended eventually.
It ended when we got a little older and Frederick moved. I cried forever when his family packed up and moved away from Illinois and our neighborhood. He left at the beginning of the summer when I was nine. I spent the next couple of weeks sitting on my porch with some of my GI Joes and a few Trans-Formers he left behind in my sandbox. It was depressing and perhaps my first real experience with heart break.
That was the end of our long summer days throwing water balloons and playing one-on-one tackle football.
The bliss itself ended when I got older and become educated on the ways of the world. Apparently the color of one?s skin matters to some. Why? I couldn?t even begin to tell. But my childish perception of race (which was no perception at all) was shattered when I learned about things like the Ku Klux Klan, the Black Panthers, and slavery.
Human civilizations began many eons ago after a few dirt sniffing apes got together to have a walk-on-two-legs party. Before long tools were being made, hunting parties grew and became efficient and tribes were formed. Men and boys became warriors; some to protect their own tribe while others warred for conquest. Cities grew, cultures grew, and countries were formed.
This happened slowly and covered the many different regions of the face of this planet.
Now, all of these cultures and cities advanced differently. With the wide area that distanced the growing cultures the different peoples were isolated to outside influence and grew in response to their own climate and answers to religious questions.
As the millenniums slowly rolled along the Earth found itself inhabited by many different cultures and races that were spread across the gaps. It was only a matter of time before these radically different people started running into each other. Each new meeting was like a child playing with a new chemistry set; anything could happen. Two cultures could find each other and find a mutual advantage to a peaceful existence, while other could quickly explode into all out war and bloodshed. A bookie would never have placed odds on the meetings because they were too unpredictable.
Phobia is a human instinct. As a psychological and a physical defensive measure we, as individuals and as a people, automatically fear what we do not know. If you were hunting in the woods and you came across a six foot purple alien with scales and some weird ass technology the first thing you?d do is level your gun and wait to see what happens. If the alien pulled out a laser looking thingy, pointed it at you and then gave you the evil eye while speaking in his alien tongue? Then there?s no doubt you?d fire first to protect yourself. Am I right?
But what if the alien was just looking for some average everyday garbage to throw into his nuclear powered trash-burning super-fusion engine because he?s running on E? He saw you, pulled out his mega-translator and squinted his eyes in concentration because he never was good at those damn things?
Simple misunderstanding, but you were just protecting yourself from what easily could have been conceived as a hostile act.
That?s human nature.
When peoples of different race and culture bumped into each other such was the case. They spoke different languages, had different gods, dressed differently, and acted differently. Today we can look at other cultures and admire them because we know we are all human and we all are genetically 99.9% identical and our differences are what make us unique. But people didn?t know this back then and they acted in defense of themselves and their own people. Some people fought in defense. Others fought to conquer foreigners they considered to be less than human because they were different. Once this happened, slavery and subjugation became a part of human civilization all across the world.
Slavery in America holds a unique place in our history. When the numbers of indentured servants dwindled to nothing America became involved with the African Slave Trade as slave raiders of every European stripe captured Africans as well as bought them from various African tribes who were more than willing to get a handsome return for their war exploits. The agricultural economy of the English colonies and the early American States was largely built upon the backs of slave labor.
The Age of Enlightenment of the eighteenth century killed off the excepted morality of slavery in Europe and the northern States of America soon followed. The American South, however, had an economy that was wholly depended on the ?peculiar institution.? After much regional friction, a war with more than 600,000 dead, and a few amendments to the Constitution, slavery in America was dead. Americans of every color were left to try and figure out what to do next.
In the meantime, millions of immigrants from every country on earth began to flock to America in the hope of something better. Whole communities of Irish, German, Italian, Polish, Lithuanian, Scottish and Russian blood sprouted across the land. The immigrants worked the fields, toiled in the factories and built this country.
When someone says that America is a country of immigrants, most don?t fully recognize how incredibly true it is. This land was once vacant. Then the first people to live here came across the Bering Strait followed by even more several thousand years later. After 1492 Europeans arrived and the British established colonies that brought over Africans who were then followed by every other nationality to call the planet Earth home. We are all here. What do we do?
Our Founding Fathers were brilliant men. Fallible, yes, but as near perfect as men can be. They established a system of government on this land that runs off of a document that is roughly ? the size of the user?s manual in that new jelly bean on wheels you drive. Not to mention the fact that it?s successful, very successful.
Many will point out that when Thomas Jefferson wrote that ?all men are created equal? he only meant white Protestant Anglo-Saxon landowners. That?s true; I won?t argue it. But what must be remembered is that the Founding Fathers didn?t write an amendment banning all people of a different race or heritage from certain rights. They didn?t sound very inclusive, but they also weren?t exclusive. They were great men because they knew they had faults and that if they were to install a system of government it must be strong, but also flexible to change over time. They made the Constitution the way it is because of what they knew, but also because of what they didn?t know. That is the mark of genius.
The true story of American history runs off that phrase ?all men are created equal.? Originally it meant a small select sort of person. But the heroism of our country is the widening of that scope to make the phrase literal. Today, all men are truly created equal and no one except a brain-dead skinhead with a hood to hide his face would argue. Despite what the critics of America say, I strongly believe that we are the most tolerant country on the planet to ever exist.
Have we always been fair to each other? No. An emphatic ?Hell no!? But what is our goal? To linger on the past and things men now dead did to others now dead? Or should we look ahead and get the show on the road? I?m for the latter. It just makes sense, IMHO. But more on this in a sec.
?What is possible for me is possible for you.? Frederick Douglas
Technically I?m a Scottish-American. I have all the different bloods in this body that I listed above but the majority of blood is from Scottish origin. I hate haggis and I think soccer is boring. Cabbage and potatoes are not on my favorite?s list and I don?t wear a kilt. I also highly doubt that all of Scotland likes the Chicago Cubs, Taco Bell, the American Civil War, country music, and has a fetish for Swedish women.
So, why should I call myself a Scottish-American? I mean, if I was born there and then came here I could understand, but I was born here, so were my parents, and so were their parents.
So why do we refer to some as African-American? The people of Africa don?t enjoy Soul Food and Hip-Hop. I also can?t remember that last time I saw a naked African painted red with a spear tracking a gazelle through the Windy City. I?m not racist, and if I come off that way I?m sorry. This stuff just needs to be discussed.
The thing is that I just don?t understand why there is a place on my college application that asks my race. What?s the point? I don?t get Affirmative Action or Hate Crime laws either. Aren?t we supposed to be striving for a color blind society? If so, shouldn?t all that crap have been gone a long time ago?
And Reparations is another thing that just doesn?t tick. Last week I was in a car accident. Someone ran a stop sign and totaled my car and left me quite bruised for couple days. Now if that car goes off and gets fixed and is then sold to another driver who later sells it to someone else and on down the line, should my son be able to sue the then owner of the vehicle after I?m dead for money to compensate for what that car did to his ?people??
Give me a break.
I said I don?t refer to myself as a Scottish-American, but anyone who knows English history knows what the British did to the Scots. So should I be able to sue 10 Downing Street for money do me for pain and aguish?
Not a chance in fucking hell, bud.
So why should I, whose ancestors didn?t even come here until after slavery was over, have to give my tax dollars to someone whose upset about something that happened over a hundred and fifty years ago? If that isn?t a cry for free bucks I don?t know what is.
You live in America, pal, where it is almost impossible not to be a success. If anyone is a failure here it?s their own damn fault. I came from very humble beginnings and can remember days of hiding in the kitchen of my apartment from bill collectors at the door. There gone now because I worked my American tail to the bone to take care of my responsibility. It was my problem and I handled it and I didn't ask for any of your money to do it.
Millions of Americans do it ever day.
Any day of the week I can walk down the street and see people of all races and religions. Is there hostility? No, certainly not.
Yesterday I stood outside work having a smoke with a Jewish man, a black man, an Indian native, a Hispanic, and another whitey. We told dirty jokes and laughed about the movie Dumb and Dumber (screenwriting at it?s best, mind you). There was no hate, no paranoia, and no mistrust or a feeling of elitism from any of us. In fact, I didn?t even realize what a mix of people we were until the next day when I was thinking of material for this essay.
There were no races, no lines of separation, no animosity and especially no notice of any such things among any of us. We didn?t have any boxes to checkmark or separate cultures that clashed and we were all friends.
That is being colorblind.
Earlier I asked what the hell I was. I know, and I?ve known all along. I am an American with red, white and blue blood. I married an American woman and had an American son. I know my past and I?ve studied my heritage, but that doesn?t make me any closer to Scotland and nor would I want it to.
?There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else.? Theodore Roosevelt - 1915
America.
Land of the Free, Home of the Brave.