Blue to black

Somewhere out in front of us is a grey horizon. And as our eyes open to take in the vastness of the world, we eventually look up – into the perfection of a cerulean sky.

Beneath our feet lay the earth and stones of generations. From the microscopic dust blowing along the surface, to dark strata below guarding treasures and entombing lost civilizations, it’s all down there. If we took the time to dig, we might pass the ages when giants hunted in steaming forests and we may not even notice the moment when the first vertebrate dragged itself from water to land. If we had the time and energy, education and resources, we may even dig to the hallowed kernel of ground where the world, itself, began.

But we live in the here and now. We live in a time of crooked politicians and their dirty companions, attempting to foist legislation upon a public they see as too stupid to care, or too complacent to stand in their way. We live in a time where people might not kill you for the change in your pocket, but would love to kill you, everyone you ever met and ever loved, for some ridiculous warped idea of religion. In this time in which we live, it is possible for someone to hate you without ever having met you – and it is possible for them to hate you enough to commit mass-murder.

We live in a time when the rapists, molesters and murderers walk free with minor sentences, while regular citizens face the continued loss of liberties and threat of a very real police state, while our alleged representatives in government, extend every right available, to terrorists - whom we should be vigorously interrogating to prevent the death of more innocent people.

Our president delivers speeches written and massaged by PR artists, while he himself remains little more than a television actor, mouthing lines with the air of authority and truth. His gloss of belief is delivered in tones designed to lull the populace into some kind of hypnotic slumber. Around that president, a failing construct of unpopular policy creaks and moans under its’ own uncompleted weight. The plans and programs now being tracked by an increasingly angry and impatient public are deemed unpopular, unsustainable and possibly un-American. That same public is educating itself in order to guard against the erosion of freedom under the guise and promise of some kind of utopian vision.

Still the same words are repeated, the same tone maintained. We stand on the same patch of ground, neither elevated nor enlightened. Economy and jobs are allegedly the focus, but the goals of such speeches are never outlined by the words, which are spoken. Instead, these flaccid monologues are meant to shore up support in leaking political levees. The “would-be” leadership is drowning, and they’re casting about for something to help them stay afloat. The growing numbers of faces at the rails stare downward, unsympathetic.

Defeat comes in many forms, textures and flavors. But it always seems bitter to the one who fails, and bright and flavorful to the victor. Recently, the administration suffered a blow, which negatively affected their cohesiveness and set fire to their plans. Their choices seem self-evident. In order to pay for the expenses they have already incurred, they must cut other areas dramatically. Their shrill screams for progress have devolved into the moaning and gnashing of the thwarted. Now they just want to hurt someone.

May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy delivered a transcendent speech in which he committed to landing a man on the moon by the end of that decade. The project captured imaginations and fueled the dreams of future scientists and businessmen and writers and artists who were just children then, huddled on the floor of their parents’ homes. In living rooms across the world, those black and white pictures were transmitted to small television screens. But those of us who remember that time, realized in those moments, like Kennedy had years earlier, we were also something else.

We are explorers. We are adventurers. We need the unknown horizon. It defines us.

What dreams will be had when this presidency finally finishes stealing our children’s and grandchildren’s future? What moonrise will we point to when we are old, a tiny hand, held softly in our own – a tiny mind shining brightly beside us, behind bright eyes, looking up at a much dimmer silver surface, now too far away, even for imagination.

Because, the plans to return to the moon and press onward to Mars are now likely dead, killed by politicians without the foresight or bravery of Kennedy – politicians who are very much attached to wallowing in the dirt, and lack the spine even to be physically able to look upward.

Instead, they will take the money they would have spent on those efforts, and throw it away on climate research – itself proven a failure – rife with corrupted data and hidden funding for trumped up results. And whatever is left over they will fritter away on money schemes and dark political support organizations. In the end neither elevated, nor enlightened we will stand here bereft of everything that once made us great.

Our wealth spent, our children’s wealth spent, and their children’s wealth spent, we will live in a society in decay. And even our hope will have been traded away in our sleep.

Above us, beyond the blue, the air is thin and pure where it gives way to perfect vacuum and finally a black horizon. And there, shining brightly in the night is all the rest of God’s creation; endless shores in an endless sea, flickering and calling us to embrace our true nature and become explorers again.

If we dare to dream.

New custom project has just been started

I just have to share this, because it is very cool - albeit shameless marketing . As most of you know, I make custom knives. But every now and then I do a custom handbag. Above you can see two of these. The next one is going to be impressive.

Just begun is a project like none I have yet done - a custom, designer handbag with the classy look of those pictured above, but fitted with internal titanium and kevlar armor, a spring-loaded extruding knife mechanism with hidden internal weapons mounts, a survival kit and totally convertible from a classy shoulder carry to a backpack. It is a new concept "BAG AS SHIELD and BAG AS WEAPON."

I'm telling you - the NRA hasn't even seen anything like this. It is true D&S Adventure Gear hardware - and as always, it will be one-of-a-kind.

Want to see more of my custom work - go here ....

dsadventuregear.blogspot.com

Teleprompters and potatoes

by the

I am sitting here in my fluffy pink bathrobe, and my partner in crime tells me that Obama has made a speech to 6^th graders. I thought, “Oh great, isn’t that a great thing for kids. Then I look at the pictures."

I have had a flurry of emotions. First all I could do was cry.

Dan Quayle couldn’t spell “potato,” when he was in front of Trenton 6^th Graders. January 19, Barack Obama couldn’t speak in front of another group of the same school-age kids in Falls Church, Virginia, without his presidential podium – and WITHOUT HIS DAMNED TELEPROMPTER!

Dan Quayle couldn’t spell Potato, but I can’t spell “dufus” – and I really need to right now! This dufus (is that spelled right?) needs a teleprompter to talk to little frakking kids! So I have to pull my bathrobe up over my eyes, to wipe the tears. I think then - "OK I will look at all the pics. Maybe they are fake."

Nope wrong again. More tears and hysterical laughter as I see they are not fake. Not only does this dufus (is that repetitious?) have a Teleprompter - he has a podium with the official seal for the Office of the President. Does he think he is talking to future voters here?

As I wipe the tears away, I fondly remember my President GW sitting on the floor laughing with kids. Reading them stories, playing softball and many other things. All done without a teleprompter or speech-writers. At the White House April 15, 2008, President Bush remarked to Pope Bennedict after a sermon, “Thank you your Holiness, that was an awesome speech.” There’s so many more good ones, but at least they were all done from the heart and not read off a screen.

Who is this current idiot that he cannot talk to kids?

I don’t know. But I have to blow my nose, because the snot and tears are now unstoppable. My pink fluffy bathrobe is a sticky snot rag. I need a beer summit. I can solve all our problems from my pink bathrobe. He can pet the stupid Bulldog. The Bulldog can bark at the teleprompter.

No wonder they are trying to kill us with underpants.

My computer just froze. He killed my computer.

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need to see to believe....look at the left of the photo....

Obama, his teleprompter and podium with Sixth Graders.

Red for Resolve

I respect the office of President of the United States. I always have and always will. It’s part of my make-up. It’s just the way things are.

However, as a private citizen these days, I decided a few months ago to take my observations onto the internet through the Jolly Rogers blog. Subsequently, I aimed to provide an objective viewpoint for various issues, but I have found over time that the activities of our country’s leadership became so questionable that I couldn’t necessarily claim “middle-ground” status.

It may be impossible to cover these issues and report both sides. This is because there are so many lies out there, and they will not get a platform here.

Following Scott Brown’s win in his run for the U.S. Senate, I was saddened – but not surprised – to read the President’s remarks as delivered today. I realize there are folks out there who believe that President Obama cannot possibly do any wrong. I respect your opinion and applaud your ability to keep your opinion freely, and always speak your mind.

I must now speak mine.

Addressing the contents of the Jan 22^nd speech to the press, I would have to list the following points, which directly conflict with the statements the President made today:

First, I do not believe the Recovery Act had anything to do with economic recovery in any form. Job saves and job creation are impossible benchmarks to measure. And I can't see any recovery in those areas. If we have recovered, it would be due to the work of the regular people finding a way around idiot government restrictions – some way to stay in business and keep as many of their people as possible, paid and against all odds, employed.

Second, the statement that the prior economy was creating wealth for the elite, but no one else, is false on its’ face. What happened to all the 401Ks across the nation in the last year? I didn’t agree with the economics of the previous administration, but the 10 percent of folks who lost their jobs recently, probably are not feeling like things are at all improved.

Third, clinging to “clean energy” and all things “green” is a losing position. That ship is sinking rapidly, with all the lying, conspiring environmental scientists chained to the deck. Obama may feel free to stay at the helm, but he’ll go down with that ship.

Four – the number of Americans without health insurance continues to change dramatically. It is bigger when the administration is desperate, and smaller when they think some minor concessions might actually move the HCR mess forward. The names used for HCR are also very plastic. When it suits the spin, the name morphs into something new – but it remains the same old junk.

Reform, however, is probably necessary in some form. Anyone who has ever got a medical bill and paid $20 for an aspirin and $40 for a blanket – or has been a doctor ruined by lawyers – probably has a clear picture where we might start. Crush the lawyers through tort reform – it’s a shovel-ready project.

Five – Clarity is the last term the average person would use to identify Obama or his administration. His folks are nowhere near transparent. They are not even opaque. They are hiding behind locked doors in the most highly secured facilities in the world. They exclude opposing viewpoints. Their “open-door-policies” only apply to those who share their point of view. When they speak – it is by reading PR-massaged texts, which have been scrubbed clean of any specific terminology or actual truth. They do not even feel obligated to answer direct questions put to them by the press.

But the most important aspect of Obama’s recent speech is that it shows the direction the President wants to go. Brown’s win – which I have argued in this blog, is a referendum on arrogance – has not changed the words scrolling on those tele-prompters.

So, when Obama says “let me be clear: This isn’t about me,” we can be sure that the whole mess and the resulting activity in the administration, is in fact all about Barack Obama, who allegedly reads letters and listens to sad stories at town hall meetings all day long. In his speech, he relates another indistinct story or two and continues with the same drivel, which has led to the anger, which turned a blue Massachusetts red.

Red for anger, perhaps - but certainly, red for Republican, and possibly red for resolve.

On the basis of these comments and the disorganized, collapsing house of cards which has long been Washington, and now seems destined to be Obama’s legacy, I believe the man and the people he’s surrounded himself with, are delusional.

I hope they can snap out of it soon.

What would Harry do?

What would Harry do?

I see our efforts in Haiti and I can’t help but think of Somalia – and with thoughts of Somalia, invariably come thoughts of folk singer, Harry Chapin. Harry died in 1981 and amongst his accomplishments as a singer, he really did his best for a single cause – ending world hunger.

Harry was a writer of unusual skill. He had the ability to take snapshots of everyday people’s lives and translate those into perfect, simple songs that touched people from all walks of life. He wrote about soldiers and lovers, the lost and the found. He painted pictures in music of dreamers and those who have forgotten how to dream. But amidst it all – just as his career was finally taking off, and people were finally just beginning to listen – he died in a highway accident on the way to a benefit concert.

I believe if he were alive today, Harry would be all over the disaster in Haiti. He would probably be one of the first people on the ground there – and he would have gone if he had to row a boat there, himself. Perhaps there are those who would dispute the man based on his politics, but he would have been there handing out food or comforting the wounded and dying. Every year at least half his concerts were free, either for charity or benefit.

Where are the people like Harry today?

There are some out there. There’s Kelsey Grammer who has set up a matching grant for Haiti relief for children and Sandra Bullock, who donated $1 million toward earthquake relief. There’s Madonna who gave $250,000. A George Clooney and Brad Pitt organization “Not on Our Watch,” also donated $1 million. Pitt and Angelina Jolie pledged $1 million and actress Alyssa Milano gave $50,000. Lance Armstrong’s foundation has also put in $250,000.

In fact, $567.67 million, has so far been pledged to help in Haiti, by individuals, countries, companies and international organizations. But please set that number in contrast to what has been used here in the U.S. recently, to grease certain lawmakers – simple greed alone in our own government, has trumped the combined efforts of all these various efforts by contributors to the humanitarian effort in Haiti.

In addition to money donations, Suriname has sent military and police personnel as well as blankets and rice. Bolivia has sent blood for transfusions and food for the people. Even Venezuela, Bangladesh and the Philippines have responded.

But the regular people of America would likely make Chapin the proudest, were he alive today. Several hundred thousand people have made personal donations through the Red Cross. A massive military response to aid survivors was launched by the U.S. Our country has sent in a powerful combination of forces to fight the immense challenges in Haiti. Navy ships, helicopters, transport planes, Marine Expeditionary Forces, USAF Special Forces and many others have been sent in. Just today, 2,000 Marines were diverted from their deployment in the Middle East, to Haiti.

Is it enough? I don’t know.

Harry Chapin had a favorite saying. He exhorted people to simply “do something.” And I believe there are plenty who are. I recently printed a response I received from the White House, to the only thing I really had to offer – my own person. As a former veteran of Operation Restore Hope, Somalia, I would be happy to sit in a closet in a basement somewhere, and answer phones, if it would free up just one active-duty troop to go over and do their thing. I would be happy to help man the lines loading aircraft or unloading aircraft. I would be happy to assist in any regard – digging for survivors, burying the dead, handing out water and food, caring for the injured. I don’t care what it takes.

Maybe it’s just me, but I bet there are a lot of folks out there who would gladly answer a call by Uncle Sam to go back to Active Duty and meet the crisis head-on. Couldn't there be a network set up for U.S. military disabled or discharged volunteers? How many of us in these ranks could still “do something?”

Because politics don’t mean squat when people’s lives are at stake. What matters is not some broad notion involving saving the world, but rather providing simple decency and reaching out to people just like you - separated by geography and circumstance alone. These things are done one person at a time, one day at a time. And they are done by people who care.

Let’s do something.

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Here is the link to Kelsey Grammer's site. He is providing a great relief program for children of Haiti ... http://kelsey.todhdsocial.com/landing.php

Here is an obituary which ran in the Washington Post, July 17, 1981, on Harry and his life.

Harry's family website can be viewed here.

Below is some data I received from a government source I have – ways you can help right now.

State Department provided the following info regarding support. In addition you can direct folks to the White House / State Dept sites:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/HaitiEarthquake and http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/pa/pa_haiti_info_number.html

Donate

• Financial Donations

o Donate $10 to the American Red Cross – charged to your cell phone bill – by texting "HAITI" to "90999."

o Contribute online to the Red Cross http://american.redcross.org/supporthaiti

• Find more ways to help through the Center for International Disaster Information http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/ .

Private Offers of Assistance for Haiti Relief Efforts

U.S. citizens who wish to contribute to the relief effort for Haiti after the earthquake, either online or by text message, can visit the White House web site http://www.whitehouse.gov/ . Additionally, persons who wish to provide assistance or expertise in Haiti are asked to contact the Center for International Disaster Information. The Center, operated under a grant from the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, has established a dedicated page to coordinate Haiti support http://www.cidi.org/incident/haiti-10a/ .

Read the warning from the FBI on Haitian Earthquake Relief Fraud and Scams http://www.fbi.gov/cyberinvest/escams.htm

A referendum on arrogance

In case you missed it, one man from Massachusetts may have just prevented an internal national disaster of unprecedented proportions by winning a place in the U.S. Senate and proclaiming loudly, “This is the people’s seat!”

How did it happen?

I’m sure there’s a lot of the country’s leadership, who are asking themselves this question. I have heard some amazing one-liners spoken on air today – my favorite being, “Where was the turning point?” I’m going to take this opportunity to direct those who missed a couple small things to look a little closer – did they really miss the more than one-million people protesting at the Capitol Mall? Here’s a hint…that was your turning point. If you didn’t look at your television that day, or you didn’t look out your windows in Washington that day, please see the photos on this blog, dated Sept. 12, 2009. The numbers of people at that event were confirmed by satellite. How do you miss a million people? The numbers exceeded those at Obama’s inauguration.

That was the moment to do something to stay in office. That day, where one simple hand-written sign read “silence is consent – can you hear us now?” resonated across the nation. That was the day when things could have been turned around, and it could have been done by a simple impromptu speech – ideally delivered by the President of the United States.

Instead, the leadership of our country has chosen to ignore the response by the U.S. citizenship, calling them various names including using a disgusting sexual reference “teabagger.” Odd how despite the government’s use of derogatory terminology and depictions, even on National Public Radio, Massachusetts has lost their traditional Democrat Senate seat. And isn’t it interesting that because of the disgraceful Christmas Eve vote on Health Care Reform and all the hidden dealings behind closed doors, paired with the treatment of regular Americans at Town Hall meetings, we are here at this point. With all the buy-offs and thievery and dirty dealings, our leadership should now be coming to the clear realization that the people are in fact, their bosses, and not the other way around. I wonder if they will.

Because here’s another number for you: 123,263 votes. That’s how many votes Brown won by. It’s enough to be considered a real “landslide”

And here’s what it all boils down to:

This election of Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate is not a referendum on Barack Obama or his often, idiotic policies. This is a referendum on arrogance. People are tired of the elitist arrogance of our nation’s administration.

And now that this election has happened, that leadership had best get Brown seated quickly and efficiently, trot their health care package out in front of the new 41^st Republican and take their lumps. If they do not do this, the entire situation will change dramatically. Why? Because the regular people needed this win. This is the long-awaited flashpoint – and against all odds and the weight of history, it is thankfully a positive one. History doesn’t record many positive flashpoints, so our leaders can now get out in front of this and press forward, go back to the drawing board and start working together – or they can reap the whirlwind.

Mark these words. If they keep playing the blame game and keep pressing this unpopular legislation forward, they will lose everything. If they attempt to buy another congressman to sneak the HCR package through, anger will build to impossible proportions – only it will be anger now backed by the knowledge that “the people really can win.” After all, “you can’t stop the truck.” This is the kind of momentum you either get behind, or the weight of the thing will simply roll right over you.

It is pure hope. Real hope – and not the cardboard cut-out “change” which so many Tea Party participants have suggested Obama can feel free to keep.

Tonight, Scott Brown could run for President, and he would win.

Brown WINS!

We have won the day.
The Jolly Rogers will have a special article on Brown's win and what it means, tomorrow.

We have won more than a special election. Now we're going to have to hold the President's and the democrats' feet in Congress, to the fire. Kill health care reform - send it back and do it right.

Learn your lessons and understand you have over-reached.

Why we cry

I once stood in Red Square and even walked the streets of Moscow alone at night, while the Soviet Union was still strong.

The streets were clean, the iron fist of the government visible everywhere. I have regrets in my life – as everyone does – but that time I spent in Moscow was nowhere near a regret. The insights it provided were powerful ones, which I have never forgotten.

All cold warriors lived in a time when Mutually Assured Destruction was the best strategy we had, to deal with the potential destruction of the entire world. Under that premise, our nuclear capabilities were balanced against the Soviet Union’s nuclear, biological and chemical capabilities. Leadership in both countries knew that a war with each other would mean the end of everything. That war was within a single phone-call of happening, and we were all on mere minutes from the end of human life on this planet several times. School children had been taught since the early 50s, to climb under their desks if necessary, for protection from falling debris, in the event of a Nuclear War.

By 1986, the truth of the power of these weapons was widely known. No desk was going to protect you. Nothing would. It was during this time, I went to Moscow.

The visit was a powerful one. I was a young man and to be in our respected adversary’s back-yard was quite an experience. Every military exercise I had been involved in as part of the 501^st Tactical Missile Wing in the United Kingdom, had ended with a massive Soviet strike – in theory, killing us all.

Standing in front of Lenin’s tomb, I remember pondering that. Everywhere I went it seemed the hammer and sickle were present. KGB followed the members of our group everywhere. Even on my evening excursions, I had my shadows. In our hotel, they were ever present, walking up or down the stairwells, standing in the lobby, ten or twelve feet away inside the Kremlin. Everywhere.

I bought some lacquer pins one day – folk art – from a vendor on Arbot. It was the tourist thing to do. I paid him with American dollars, which were worth far more than rubles, but I had to wait until the government oversight was not so present to quickly hand the artist the money. He could have been arrested for it – I suppose we both could have.

But that brings me to the point of this article. Because, you see, we may not have ever got to the last moment before armeggedon – the moment you know everything is about to drastically end in a flash, a fleeting sense of pressure and heat – then nothing. We might never have reached the moment when people around us simply begin dying inexplicably – unable to breathe, then choking, falling, skin burning. We might not have experienced the end of everything in quite the way a cold warrior was trained to envision it – or respond.

But it is possible we’re seeing it all around us, today.

Certainly we are at war with terrorists, and we are killing them in large numbers, as they are killing us. But it’s the unseen things, which are being destroyed that concern me the most.

Consider that our children have been brought up with the Hollywood fiction that someone will survive a planet-ending event like a nuclear exchange. Consider that these same children have been taught the language of blind acceptance and mediocrity in our public school system. They have been indoctrinated in the rules and regulations of the collective. They have become good little drones.

And we who have grown older in this environment have given away small pieces of ourselves. From the time when I walked free and barefoot, fishing rod in-hand, our land has been given over to those who would withhold water from farmers, take property which does not belong to them, steal in the name of the government, place surveillance cameras on every corner, and install draconian rules into the structure of our day-to-day lives. They say how - they say where and they say when. We out here are just "little people."

It began with the Patriot Act, but it will not end there. Now after getting control over most of the press, and stealing unlimited money from the people, the U.S. government is on the verge of passing legislation, which will give them unlimited control over every individual’s health and welfare. The health care bill will allow them to determine whether you or your family ultimately live or die. It is not a question of “if” anymore. They are doing it.

I know it, because I once experienced an environment like the one being created around us now. The feeling is the same. It is dark and oppressive. When I see news clips of a reporter being thrown to the ground by a Martha Coakley campaign operative, I am reminded of a man who was abducted by secret police right in front of us one day in Moscow, just outside the University gates. That man was selling hats – and I would have bought one from him. It was bitterly cold. Instead he felt the hammer of Soviet rule.

Our government is out of control – hell, they long ago forgot what it meant to be responsible to the people. Their press conferences reveal leadership which looks down on the average people from such lofty perches, that they don’t even feel a need to answer simple questions – let alone, answer for their actions.

Make no mistake. We are still living under the threat of destruction. We may face more terrorism, but that’s not the greatest danger. We are lost – and if we do not stop our march toward a big-brother system resembling Soviet rule, we may not be able to find our way back to those barefoot lands, which now seem so distant.

I remember coming home from Moscow. I remember seeing the American flag for the first time in what seemed like forever.

I felt a tear on my cheek and wondered why it was there.

Now I know.

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Folks get out and vote for Scott Brown today in Massachusetts. We can get back to our "barefoot" place, but we have to slow the government down. Electing Brown will be a good first step - maybe our last chance.

Light bearers

The fire of heroism has been reduced to a spark in the depths and grainy textures of a long winter night in our world today. Listen to the sad tales of those lost on the hidden paths, but also hear the gleeful laughter of the mad and twisted, their toxic words and venom blistering in its’ intensity.

Their cackling nearly glows with a dark light of its’ own. Their politician teeth flash menacing in the ink black of an age which seems to threaten eternity. But they are the only creatures, which can see in these dim environs, and they are only interested in the pain of others. The rest of us may feel simply lost in the dark, wishing or praying with voices thin and raw, that we will live long enough to see daybreak.

But there are light-bearers.

Sometimes those who bring the light and preserve our freedom are seen as giants. They stride amongst us as great and revered and we all know their names. Those who don’t know these names are missing such great stories and understanding, that they can’t possibly form opinions that make any sense in their lives. If we were to name some of these beacons to our shared history, we might cite Jefferson or Adams or Washington. If we’re a little more steeped in history, we may claim Jones or Barry – and so many others.

But the plain truth actually often comes in plain clothes. The light isn’t held only in the hands of the mighty, but often nurtured and protected and carried by regular people, unknowingly, until its' dim ember is given new life. Most of these regular people stumble through life, just trying to stay breathing from one moment to the next. Their threadbare clothes are the last thing they will ever wear, and the ground beneath the shifting fog around their feet, will be the cold place where they will finally find peace - just a moment and a bullet away.

Revolution must start somewhere. The fire of real hope is born from simple people like Francis Marion, who led a group of “irregulars” which was a living nightmare to their opponent’s the British. Marion was the “Swamp Fox,” arguably the greatest guerilla fighter in the American Revolution. He terrorized the British and ran hit-and-run operations, killing and disappearing like a ghost. To pursue Marion was considered to flirt with certain death. At one point, from an austere island fort he held off fifty warships, crippled the enemy fleet and saved the city of Charleston, achieving the first victory of the war for independence.

His men received nothing – no pay, food or ammunition from the Continental Army, but he fought on. And when victory was declared, Marion and his men were not asked to join the celebration their clothes were far to ragged and they weren't considered presentable. But plain truth, even wrapped in tattered clothes, is so very bright, indeed.

Or there’s the perfect light of Deborah Samson, who disguised herself as a man for three years in order to fight during the American Revolution. She fought hand-to-hand and was wounded twice, once by a sword-stroke to the side of her head . When she recovered, she was asked to deliver a letter to General George Washington, and she knew the letter's contents meant her secret had been discovered and her days as a soldier were over. Shaking and nervous, she was called in to see Washington - but In order to spare her embarrassment, the General said nothing, instead he quietly handed her a discharge, a note and enough money to get her home. After the war, Washington invited her to visit. During her stay she was the subject of a special bill in Congress, granting her a pension, land and acknowledgement as a Revolutionary Soldier. She shined so brightly.

Then there is a lonely statue on the Boston Common. Probably unnoticed and uncommented in the same glowing language of the great Founders of our nation, there is Crispus Attucks, an African former slave and dock worker, who fought no famous battles, but instead, was simply one of the biggest men in an angry crowd on a Monday evening in March 1770. After a British soldier injured a young boy, Attucks stepped forward to defend the child, and was one of eleven civilians shot. He fell in the snow in front of the Custom House on King Street, one of five who died in the Boston Massacre, the event which possibly touched off the inescapable – revolution. Attucks was called “the first to defy – and the first to die.” But his light shone so bright, the ideas of independence blasted outward from that moment, changing things yet again - even by the shine of his pooled blood on that snow-covered street.

And Attucks was far from the last – he was joined by nearly 26,000 other people – patriots all, and many never remembered and never known, though they each carried a spark of light which together lit a fire in the night like no other.

That fire has led so many others to the shores of our nation. And those flames would be fed by more sacrifice – at least 1,315,329 fellow Americans in as many as 29 wars and conflicts throughout our history since the Revolutionary War. But the spark hasn’t been carried by the military alone. We have seen great civilian sacrifice – even within our lifetime, and we can all contribute our own spark in endless ways and in an unending march into history, as long as we care enough and as long as we want to see our children live in beauty, strength and dignity.

There are light bearers – and they eternally carry the fire of determination for so many others. The source of that light is all of us.

It is the same fire held aloft by a famous sculpture, portraying a woman escaping the chains of tyranny, which lie at her feet. That sculpture has been given the very name the flames she holds, represents…Liberty.

And we, who live here beyond her light, live in the greatest country in the world. We are, like Marion and Samson and Attucks, all Americans – and our country is the United States.

And we are united by Freedom.

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Want to know how to fight right now? Want to bring about another American Revolution? Get behind Scott Brown, who is running for the Senate in Massachusetts, for a start. Brown is fighting for a chance to turn back the tide of darkness - a government which no longer listens to the people. Brown's election can change everything. See the articles on Brown on this blog to understand why, or visit his website here.

If Brown wins

What happens if Scott Brown wins the Massachusetts senate seat on Tuesday?

Because there are a lot of folks holding their breath on this one. In fact, despite Obama’s recent speech on behalf of Coakley, I suspect there is a very real shockwave going through the Democrat leadership in Washington right now.

They will be frantic over this. After all, if Brown wins and isn’t held-up procedurally, he will vote against the health care bill. And that leaves a very big problem for the Reid, Pelosi gang: Who can they buy next?

Purchasing votes is in vogue – in case you haven’t heard. It’s apparently over the line to purchase a Senate seat – hence the trouble which caused Rob Blagojevich to be removed from office. However, it is not against the rules to purchase votes from the Senators who are already in office, otherwise we would not be so familiar with the name Mary Landrieu or Ben Nelson.

So, my bet is that, being the fine people they believe themselves to be, our cuddly lawmakers will be scrambling to come up with a viable contingency plan should that which has been blue, turns out to be Brown.

What would some of those likely plans be?

Well, here at the Jolly Rogers, we decided to set one of our research teams on the problem. These guys are the unflinching, stone-faced ones which have had their sense of humor surgically replaced by chips of obsidian. You know, rock apes.

“You want us to research what?” they asked, while tearing a sheet of titanium into small, evenly-sized pieces with their bare fingers.

Not to be intimidated by rock apes, but realizing it might require small, short sentences to get the point across, I said, “I want you to. Find out. What the Congress plans. To do if. Scott Brown. Is elected.”

“Why would we do that?” they asked while feeding pieces of what could be lawyers, but is probably chicken - to the alligators out back.

“Because I need to know – because enquiring minds want to know,” I said, gritting my teeth.

“What’s an enquiring mind?” replied the one on the right. At this, I shrugged.

“Anyone who isn’t Nancy Pelosi,” I said. The rock apes stare at each other blankly. The alligators stare up at them, imploringly.

“What’s a Nancypelosi?” asks the one on the left as he bench-presses a Toyota.

Anyway, you get the picture, dear reader? Here at the Jolly Rogers, research takes time. But it always pays off. Here for the first time in print, are the plans Congress has made if Scott Brown gets his new job:

First: Use the Massachusetts political infrastructure to prevent or delay certification of Brown by the Massachusetts Secretary of State. He said he’s got 10 days before he has to do anything, and the “health care gang” are going to try to get the bill out from behind closed doors before then. If they can’t, the Jolly Rogers team has discovered that the following secret plans have been put into play…

1) Go to CongressMart and buy a brand new, shiny Republican to jump ship and become a Democrat and vote for health care reform. It will only cost a little more than any normal American will make in their lifetime, and it will negate Brown’s vote against the legislation.

2) If CongressMart is closed, they will immediately proceed to plan B, which has already been set up – ie. delaying the swearing-in and seating of Brown.

3) If this screws up as badly as Coakley has screwed up in the past week, they will change the lock codes to the front door, and claim no one remembers them. It will take time for a SWAT team to burn their way in.

4) Meanwhile, Harry Reid and friends will quickly trot out whatever tuna-head plan they have put together and get a quick vote in which every Republican will say “Nay,” but it won’t matter, because there will be enough Democrat votes to pass it.

5) Then, because the front door is still being worked on by SWAT, Reid and Pelosi will rush up to the roof. Harry will "Karate-chop" them past security, and they will slip over to a protected spot, where Reid will pull back a tarp and Pelosi will strap into a hidden Russian Black-Sail ultra-light. (I know it seems improbable, but our sources say she’s really quite nimble despite all the Botox.)

6) The silent motor will propel her into the Washington night, clutching the heavy satchel containing the mysterious health care bill.

7) She’ll land on the rooftop of the White House where a special team of SEIU operatives will secure the document and carry it down to the President’s desk.

8) Obama will whip out the special pen he received as a gift from the British (you know - the one which was a really thoughtful gift – unlike the i-pod and speeches he gave to the Queen of England) – and with a Presidential flourish, sign the odious bill into law.

9) Robert Gibbs Blob will then gloat in a disgusting manner in front of the press corps, and the call will be made to set up the new “Death Panels.”

So that’s it.

Now that their secret plans have been outed in the final hours before Brown’s election, I suspect they won’t have time to come up with any new ones. Brown’s journey to the Senate should be safe and uneventful.

All Massachusetts voters have to do is get him there.

Do it. And all kidding aside - let’s take our country back.

Note I received from White House regarding Haiti

Following is a response to one of the notes I sent (this one to the White House), volunteering to help in any way with the humanitarian relief of Haiti. Anyone who knows me, understands I can be a bit critical of the administration, but I have always believed that when disaster strikes, you respond and do the right thing - regardless of politics. Politicians will not save people in Haiti - only good people will do that. I have offered and will continue to offer to help whenever such need arises. As I said in my last post ... "what will you do?"

Dear Friend:

Thank you for writing. The reports and images from Haiti of collapsed hospitals, crumbled homes, and men and women carrying their injured neighbors through the streets are truly heart-wrenching. As we learn more about the extent of the devastation, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Haiti and Haitian Americans who do not yet know the fate of their families and loved ones.

I have directed my Administration to respond with a swift, coordinated, and aggressive effort to save lives. The people of Haiti will have the full support of the United States Government in the urgent effort to rescue those trapped beneath the rubble and to deliver the humanitarian relief--the food, water, and medicine--that Haitians will need in the coming days.

This is also a time when we are reminded of the common humanity we all share, and Americans have always responded to these situations with generosity of spirit. If you would like to support the urgent humanitarian effort in Haiti, I encourage you to visit our website where you can learn more about how to contribute:

http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/HaitiEarthquake

Americans trying to locate family members in Haiti are encouraged to contact the State Department at (888) 407-4747.

We will continue to stand with the people of Haiti and keep them in our thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama

Saving Haiti - do it now.

Help Haiti.

So many folks don't understand what this means - they can't see beyond their nose. They don't understand how bad things are - or how bad they are going to get.

I do. You have to see a place collapsed. 7,000 bodies have just been buried in a mass grave. Believe me, there will be many, many more. I have very little to offer other than myself, but I have contacted those whom I could, to volunteer to help. I even sent a note to the White House. I don't expect any calls back - there's so many fine folks in our military and relief organizations today, and they have little need of some former lower-enlisted guy, but in a way, that's not the point.

I'm a disabled vet from Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, and I have volunteered to go back.

What will you do?

Saving Haiti

What’s necessary?

For Haiti currently we need a massive relief effort on the order of magnitude only possible through the might and determination of our military.

This is from someone who has taken part in a U.S. military humanitarian relief effort – and regardless of the difficulties involved, that is what I believe is required here. Those people need assistance now. That assistance needs to be total and complete to prevent the range of disasters, which will continue to heap on the population.

The 23^rd Tactical Brigade has landed today at the airport, and 2,000 Marines are allegedly on their way – and perhaps that’s a start. But destroyed infrastructure, collapsed neighborhoods, no communications and a barely functioning airport is just the edges of the problem. Soon security issues and disease will set in. At that point, the scope of death will be measured in the hundreds of thousands or millions.

How much should we do to help Haiti?

Everything we damned well can! I don’t care how much money or how much effort we have provided in the past and I don’t care what it takes. We must assist and we must assist in a very direct and total manner.

We are spread thin in military commitments, but I for one, as a former military person many years ago, and a veteran of Operation Restore Hope in Somalia, would gladly volunteer for any kind of recall to assist in any way the military or the government would have me. I would gladly go right now.

Those are people out there in the dark, trapped under the rubble, and those are people standing amidst the shattered concrete, digging furiously by hand, themselves being cut to ribbons in the debris, trying to get to friends and family, who may be alive now, but are buried in a place that will likely become their grave.

Those are children out there in the street at night, lost and crying – unable to find any member of their family. Others are walking injured, hungry, thirsty, trying to find their wives, their husbands – their children.

Those are the lost, the scared, the tired and the hungry. Those people are you and I, just removed by circumstance, and their tenuous hold on any semblance of life has been dealt a blow they may not be able to recover from on their own.

We have to help them. It is within our ability to do so, and we have got to do everything we can.

Just beyond midnight

We have travelled fathomless depths. We have navigated the dark waters of lies and deception and we have traversed the ocean of despair.

No one listens when you’re alone in a small boat in unknown waters. God may look down upon you and he may hear your prayers, but the sea is unforgiving and if no one is even looking for you, your chances of rescue are much less than your chance of disappearing without a trace.

We are still afloat. Religion, privacy, free-speech, the right to own firearms – the expectation that you will have a voice in the government. It’s all in question now, because the expanding government really is the dark waters beneath us - and its’ boundaries stretch into the unknown depths and unexplored distances beyond.

We can’t be sure of anything we are told, due to hidden motivations, secrets locked in the soundless depths and dark slimy political fish swirling in hungry, gaping, soul-less schools, unseen, beneath us.

We face a future adrift until one by one, we succumb, and slip over the side to join the eternal.

Or we can choose to chart a course by the stars hanging above us. Themselves, almost within reach, their silver light reflect off the surface of the darkness just past the gunwales. We can choose a path blazed by our great ancestors on cold unforgiving waters of ancient times. We can be John Paul Jones, on a burning, sinking vessel, lit by the unending cannon blasts of the 44-gun Serapis. We can refuse surrender, even as he did, and instead make the ocean echo again with the challenge “I have not yet begun to fight!”

We can be John Barry making the fastest traverse of the 18^th century, on his ship the Black Prince and later delivering the news in April 1776 to the Marine Committee of Congress, that he engaged the British ship, Edward and “shattered her in a terrible manner as you will see.” The victory marked the first capture of a British warship by an American cruiser. We can choose to be the same Barry who attacked a British fleet in rowboats and captured three ships. We can be the Barry who, though seriously wounded on his 36-gun Alliance, being raked and destroyed by two British ships, refused to strike the colors, instead saying, “No sir, the thunder! If this ship cannot be fought without me, I will be brought on deck! To your duty, sir!” His opponents instead, struck their colors and were captured by the shredded, smoking Alliance.

We can even be the man whom Barry served as courier for in 1777. We can speak the same words with the authority of a giant, “…but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.”

We can all be Washington. We can keep tight to us the night’s password “Victory or Death.” We can take our small craft across the strange waters as a vanguard. In the dark and the cold we can strike for the strip of land now visible in the half-light. Weather will not turn us, pain will not dissuade us, hardship will give us only strength and purpose. And our spirits will soar, because like that long ago Christmas Day of 1776, we will be turning back the bleak unfriendly tide of history by our will alone.

We can be these men because they stand behind us – just there, out of easy sight. Their words and actions are in our blood. They call to us across the void between this world and the next. “Stand,” they shout. “Do not shrink. Do not surrender. See there, victory is within reach!”

And it is.

Out there, beyond the uncertain depths of our country’s enemies within, is the firm footing of solid ground, where we can face the mad creatures which would take our lives, the lives of our families friends and communities, and still cackle and dance in the merry light of the burning ruins.

We can face them with strength and determination long ago born in the hearts of the Jones, the Barrys and the Washingtons. These empty husks masquerading as politicians, will be cut down with the force of our overwhelming numbers and unflagging beliefs. The dark waters will recede and drain away, leaving them gasping, beached and beaten. We will feel the familiar texture of history flow around us and the beauty of truth will make right the world. We can reclaim our honor and our liberty and our lives.

We can get there. It’s just a little bit further.

All there waiting on that rocky shore, just beyond midnight.

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Want to know how to fight right now? Get behind Scott Brown for a start. See the articles on Brown on this blog to understand why, or visit his website here.