The Crater Lake shooting and more scary cop stuff

In a cap she looked much older
And the bag across her shoulder
Made her look a little like a military man

------Lovely Rita (Lennon/McCartney)

I respect the response of DD, a formerly armed U.S. Park Ranger, concerning the recent shooting to death of an unruly camper at Crater Lake N.P., as possibly being warranted under the circumstances.

Upon further reflection I began to reconsider whether firing shots from a powerful hand gun, in a densely filled campground, was such a good idea in the first place.? Why were there no tasers available? And I ask again, would a wild and wooly bear have been shot as quickly, without "the work team" at least contemplating other options? Why are only high caliber hand guns the principal weapons available for the relatively peaceful clientele the rangers would normally host in their campground?

When NPS rangers are required to qualify or re-certify for their law enforcement "commissions" they shoot at a silhouette of a man and aim for his heart, not the shoulder or leg. You won't pass the test if you're only hitting those. These are COPS not rangers. It seems that COPS are now everywhere, getting in our faces, hands on their over-sized weapons as they inch their way towards my car window looking for any provocation to search the entire vehicle or maybe ending up having to shoot me.

The, supposedly, undercover "drug task force" has been operating in the resort town I work in, for the past few weeks. They've been pulling everyone over and then acting overbearing and arrogant. Their haul so far? A poor penniless hippie caught with a pot pipe and a small piece of paper with traces of cocaine on it. Thanks be to God you've saved us from this scourge Big Brutha! Meantime the driver of the car the hippie was arrested in had no vehicle registration or insurance but was not cited! Who is the bigger threat to society: the hippie with a pipe and some paper with coca powder on it or an unregistered, uninspected, un-insured truck recklessly barreling down the road with a brain dead idiot behind the wheel? The COPS, it seems, aren't even doing their real job protecting the community, but are using traffic laws to open the door for finding illegal drugs and contraband. This is their "higher calling" on our behalf. The sheeple of the village mostly went along with this bullying as something that would be unwise to oppose out loud.

Did you know that illegal drug users are the new Jews in Herr Bush's Amerika?

More about that and the police state that is the U.S.A. in my next blog.

What will you do if we let you go home,
And the plastics all melted,
And so is the chrome?
WHO ARE THE BRAIN POLICE?

-------Who Are The Brain Police? (FZ & The Mothers)

We're Living in the O.K. Corral

National Park rangers shot and killed a camper involved a domestic dispute at Crater Lake, Oregon on Weds. night. Read the account and decide for yourself if they really needed to shoot him to death at nearly point blank range. They could've run.

http://www.gazettetimes.com/articles/2005/07/29/news/oregon/fri06.txt

Switching to the Big Apple-----a tour bus was raided by police in riot gear on Sunday because a group of passengers were reported to be brown skinned with bulging backpacks. The resulting incident left all involved terrified and in shock at what police power is doing to our country.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/akers/akers10.html

The occupation has begun and they'll be taking no prisoners, so ya'll had better get used to it, whether you reside in Fallujah or Cedar City.

The shootout is about to git started boys. Are yer guns loaded?

The Death of Sgt. Wood

My letter to the local newspaper concerning the death of Utah National Guardsman Ronald Wood of Cedar City (adapted from my last blog post) was received, and I wish to share their reply:

Thank you for sending your opinion to The Spectrum. While it is valid to point out that people here wanted this war and are now having to pay a terrible price for it, the way in which you make it is so inflammatory that I think people will not address the issue because they will be too incensed for other reasons. If you would like to rewrite it we can consider running it. I would suggest taking out the references to Mormonism. Also we are not going to print that Sgt. Wood "is dead for nothing." You have good points to make that should be heard, but there are better ways to make them.

My response:

I agree with many of your points about my letter and have re-written it. I was pretty upset about this guardsman's death and adapted the first letter from a post I wrote on my blogsite. In the re-write I have not taken out the references to Mormonism because I believe that they are valid and relevant to the point at hand.

Here is the re-written letter, I hope you will find it less full of bile and anger at what I perceive to be the blindly loyal support given to the U.S. government from folks who have suffered greatly at its hands in the past.

"Dear Spectrum,

The first national guardsman from here in southern Utah was killed last Saturday in Kirkuk, Iraq, when a bomb struck the Humvee he was riding in. Folks around here are reciting the same patriotic platitudes about how this poor young man died protecting our freedom.

What I'd really like to ask these same people is this: what do you think would have happened to your precious freedom if the U.S. government had refrained from invading Iraq? Do you really believe that the occupation of this Arab country, by the U.S. military, is in your best long-term interests and is something that is tangibly preserving your liberty? Is the tragic death of an honorable young man in the Utah home guard something you are proud to hold up as a meaningful sacrifice to the enduring battle for what is morally right?

In this Mormon-dominated community I am shocked at the un-questioning support shown to a government that openly participated in the persecution of their church in the 19th century and then in the 1950's and 60's, knowingly rained down the vilest forms of radioactive fallout from 126 above ground nuclear tests on the entire population of the church's home region of Utah. I’ve read that the federal government often delayed these nuclear tests when the prevailing winds were blowing towards California and would simply wait for them to start steering again towards Utah before detonation, with the net result that the state's southernmost counties of Iron and Washington possess some of the highest rates of birth defects, rare cancers and mental retardation in the entire country. One would hope that the people of Utah might find some empathy in their hearts for others in the world that now suffer under the same tyrannous aggression that was inflicted upon them by the exact same government in the past.

I feel that they really should know better but am beginning to see what several generations of government schooling has done to the entire country. Here, in the once proud Beehive State, it has nurtured to fruition a brand of fear based, government dependent, march-in-lock-step thinking that has debased a once strong and vigorous sub-culture based on piety and self-determination.

As for the Son of Man, whom the Church of "Jesus Christ" of Latter Day Saints is named, I would like to briefly quote His views on armed conflict: "You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also." Matthew 5:38

"You have heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy'. But I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?" Matthew 5:43-48

Meanwhile I am truly sad that a young man in my valley is dead for nothing more than the vain and unholy ambitions of imperial world empire."

Spectrum please let me know what you what you think. This letter springs from the deepest parts of my intellectual and spiritual convictions.

Thanks for your editorial feedback. It was valid and on the mark, but I won't compromise my stance to spare the feelings of people who should know better.

I'm grateful for your frank and helpful response.

Cedar Valley has first Iraq war casualty

The first national guardsman from here in Cedar Valley was killed Saturday in Kirkuk, Iraq, when a bomb struck the Humvee he was riding in. Folks 'round here are saying the usual inanities about how this poor young hireling died protecting our freedom. It is actually getting me close to the boiling point, what with the heat wave and all, to keep hearing this idiotic propaganda spouted by a populace that hasn't a clue about the real truth of the matter.

I'd really like to ask these same people what they think would have happened to their precious freedom if the U.S. government had refrained from invading Iraq? Do they really believe that the destruction of Mesopotamia is in their best long term interests and is what is preserving their liberty? Is the senseless death of a young man in the Utah home guard something they are proud to bear up as a meaningful sacrifice to the enduring battle for what is morally right? How stupid and blind can these sheep be?

In this Mormon dominated community I am shocked at the un-questioning support shown to a government that openly participated in the persecution of their church in the 19th century and then later, in the 1950's and 60's, knowingly rained down the vilest forms of radioactive fallout from 126 above ground nuclear tests on the entire population of the church's home region of Utah. These nuclear tests were often delayed by the federal government when the prevailing winds were blowing towards California. The military would simply wait for them to start blowing towards Utah before detonation; with the net result that the state's southernmost counties of Iron and Washington possess some of the highest rates of birth defects, rare cancers and mental retardation in the entire country. For this sordid legacy a local boy has needlessly died in the torrid sands of Iraq, to preserve the imperial power of a U.S. government that has commited many harmful acts of tyranny against people of Mormon faith in the past.

I feel that they really should know better, but am beginning to see what several generations of government schooling has done to the entire country. Here, in the once proud Beehive State, it has nurtured to fruition a breed of scared, dependent, march-in-lock-step dummies molded out of a once strong and vigorous sub-culture based on piety and self-determination.

As for the Son of Man, whom the Church of "Jesus Christ" of Latter Day Saints is named, I would like to quote His views on armed conflict: "You have heard it said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist him who is evil, but whoever slaps you on the right cheek turn to him the other also." Matthew 5:38

"You have heard it said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy'. But I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you , what reward have you? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others?" Matthew 5:43-48

Meanwhile I am truly sad that a young man in my valley is dead for nothing.

http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050719/NEWS01/507190310/1002

China calls the bully's bluff

The enclosed link, from today's world headlines, is China's joyful take down of a global bully, the U.S. government. The Chinese military has now publicly placed the prospect of nuclear war on the table over interference in the matter of Taiwan.

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/28cfe55a-f4a7-11d9-9dd1-00000e2511c8.html

I think this is a positive announcement aimed at preserving peace. The U.S., in effect, is finished as a military power in the Far East and good riddance indeed! Our presence has meant nothing more than a legacy of death, destruction and dislocation to the people of East Asia ever since we sailed into Manila Harbor and began building bases in the Philippine archipelago in the early 20th century. It was called, even way back then, gun boat diplomacy.

The following rogues gallery of disasters this policy proceeded to inflict on the region includes: two urban nuclear bombings over Japan (after massive civilian targeted firebombing which incinerated nearly a half-million innocent people); the Korean War; the Vietnam War; plus U.S. inspired political fiascos resulting in massive bloodletting in the Philippines, Indonesia and Cambodia to name but a few.

This new message from China is a clear concise warning: "Yankee go home!", and I hope he does.

Gun boat diplomacy has finally run it's course in Asia. Hip-hip-hooray!

It's only a matter of time before we are tossed from Southwestern Asia too. Tra-rah-rah-boom-dee-ay!

Secession!

Blogger ag in Prague responded to my views concerning secession with much disdain for the potential territorial ambitions of a place like the Republic of Texas. She harbored a lingering suspicion that they might attack their neighbors to gain power. I can understand her views, to a certain extent, what with the Bushes and Lyndon Johnson being some of the biggest warmongers of the last 50 years.

The truth is I seriously doubt Texas would be interested in invading any nearby states. I don't think any Oklahoman or Louisianan would stand for it one itty-bitty second. I can hear it now on the news "a suicide cell from Baton Rouge has just blown themselves up in a tony Dallas hotel lobby filled with the wives of rich cattlemen meeting for their annual conference. " The suicide bomb vest designed by the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka will truly change how things are to be decided concerning the ambitions of Empire for a long time into the future.

From state secession we can go to regional break-ups. West Texas is more akin to New Mexico and Chihuahua, while East Texas is akin to Louisiana and Arkansas. I say let the regions evolve and adapt to what works best socially and economically for each individual entity. Physical geography and the attendant culture regions they create should dictate the boundaries of human organization just as it does for all the other animals.

San Francisco could be a principality like Monaco, while New York City evolves into a grand and marvelous city-state like Singapore. The coastal strip of Oregon, Washington and British Columbia are already talking about forming the free and independent nation Cascadia, gourmet marijuana exporter to the world.

Los Angeles is, in geographic fact, the major regional metropolis of northwestern Mexico (more specifically the area of California known as the Southland). Why shouldn't it become more fully integrated with the actual function it serves as an urban core to a real hinterland? An international boudary is meaningless in the face of actual geographic imperatives. The fact that the border line was created by stealing territory through war makes it even more compelling to abolish the scar that it truly represents between our peoples. LA could eventually become an independent territory of Mexico or maybe the capitol of a new state carved from Sonora, Baja, Arizona and California. Or maybe it becomes an independent city-suburb all it’s own.

Africa should have a big conference and abolish the ridiculous colonial boundaries of past invading empires and re-write the map of their continent based on actual geography and the natural affinities of culture and commerce. Switzerland is an excellent example of this process done to perfection.

The day of the super state is over and it is time we start thinking about how we want to re-order this mess. A new day is dawning and Empire is being soundly defeated everywhere it ventures to control. We are going to need a new paradigm or a multiplicity of paradigm(s).

Suicide bombers were never mentioned in Orwell's "1984". A good thing too, because it would've ended the book on page ten. Good-bye Big Brother hello local tribesmen.

The Logic of Suicide Terrorism

Enclosed is a fascinating link to an interview with a University of Chicago associate professor who has collected a complete database on every suicide bombing in the world from 1980-2004. His research has produced a very different set of conclusions about the nature of this threat than what Big Media and the gov-mint is currently handing out to the public. It conclusively shows that it is non-Islamic in nature and simply derives from foreign occupation by an invader. The U.S.A. is now experiencing suicide attacks for the first time because their federal government began stationing troops on the Arabian peninsula, then Afghanistan and eventually all of Mesopotamia. Simple as dat! Same goes for the U.K. The research shows that attacks decrease as soon as the invaders go home and mind their own business-----which is why Switzerland has never had a terrorist attack. There is an interesting dialogue about the IRA and why their attacks are down to nothing. They got what they wanted.

This is a vitally important piece of scholarship we can all use to counter the claims made by the U.S. government. We then need to point out that it is specifically their actions alone that are the sole cause of these bombers on our shores.

The exercise of aggresive empire, in fact, is the only thing that can produce a suicide terrorist----read on.

http://amconmag.com/2005_07_18/article.html

Land of the Dead

It has been 20 years since Pittsburgh based film maker George Romero has added a new installment to his ongoing series of "Dead" films. The very first was the cult classic "Night of the Living Dead" (1968), followed by "Dawn of the Dead" (1978); "Day of the Dead" (1985) and now "Land of the Dead". All four films pack a powerful punch, not only in terms of the excellent special effects rendered in depicting the gore and violence that these flesh eating zombies can inflict on tame flabby middle-class Americans, but also the keen and savage underlying social commentary that these films can refract to the attentive viewer. I highly recommend this latest effort and think it is as good or better than the previous three.

If you're a long time aficionado of these flicks, you'll get all of the inside jokes, references to past films and the recycling of familiar plot constructions. This particular film has a lot to say about the current state of affairs in our society and most especially about a militaristic outlook in a world where the Empire is outnumbered and out maneuvered. Even weapons of mass destruction cannot protect them from the eventual collapse of an evil & corrupt system. In this case the system is literally devoured.

The main difference from the first three movies is that it takes place mostly out in the world where the zombies exist rather than fortified away from the monsters in, first, a farm house, then a shopping mall and in the third film an underground government complex located in a former salt mine. There is also a central villain of the plot, who is played splendidly by Dennis Hopper. The ending is especially gratifying as swarms of well-heeled yuppies are grotesquely slaughtered by the ever hungry zombies who break into their exclusive galleria type mall. One of my favorite munching scenes is of a zombie plucking out a teenage girls silver belly button piercing with his teeth, leaving a nice bloody hole in her navel from which he could tear her open from. The scenes of yuppie carnage got the best that special effects could offer to graphically portray them being eaten messily for my viewing pleasure. A great flick if you wanna avoid the cliches of Hollywood and the blather of Big Media and take in a couple hours of great images, metaphors, horrific gore and well written dialogue.

I'm glad George Romero had one more epic left in him. As most of you know I despise Hollywood and this feature is most definitely not from there. It is honest good intelligent fun from the streets of Pittsburgh. As my grandmother would say "enjoy it in good health".