Neva

Funny, funny Amazon review

2009-06-24T13:30:00.001-04:00

Ari's Review

The Secret saved my life!

Please allow me to share with you how "The Secret" changed my life and in a very real and substantive way allowed me to overcome a severe crisis in my personal life. It is well known that the premise of "The Secret" is the science of attracting the things in life that you desire and need and in removing from your life those things that you don't want. Before finding this book, I knew nothing of these principles, the process of positive visualization, and had actually engaged in reckless behaviors to the point of endangering my own life and wellbeing.
At age 36, I found myself in a medium security prison serving 3-5 years for destruction of government property and public intoxication. This was stiff punishment for drunkenly defecating in a mailbox but as the judge pointed out, this was my third conviction for the exact same crime. I obviously had an alcohol problem and a deep and intense disrespect for the postal system, but even more importantly I was ignoring the very fabric of our metaphysical reality and inviting destructive influences into my life.
My fourth day in prison was the first day that I was allowed in general population and while in the recreation yard I was approached by a prisoner named Marcus who calmly informed me that as a new prisoner I had been purchased by him for three packs of Winston cigarettes and 8 ounces of Pruno (prison wine). Marcus elaborated further that I could expect to be raped by him on a daily basis and that I had pretty eyes.
Needless to say, I was deeply shocked that my life had sunk to this level. Although I've never been homophobic I was discovering that I was very rape phobic and dismayed by my overall personal street value of roughly $15. I returned to my cell and sat very quietly, searching myself for answers on how I could improve my life and distance myself from harmful outside influences. At that point, in what I consider to be a miraculous moment, my cell mate Jim Norton informed me that he knew about the Marcus situation and that he had something that could solve my problems. He handed me a copy of "The Secret". Normally I wouldn't have turned to a self help book to resolve such a severe and immediate threat but I literally didn't have any other available alternatives. I immediately opened the book and began to read.
The first few chapters deal with the essence of something called the "Law of Attraction" in which a primal universal force is available to us and can be harnessed for the betterment of our lives. The theoretical nature of the first few chapters wasn't exactly putting me at peace. In fact, I had never meditated and had great difficulty with closing out the chaotic noises of the prison and visualizing the positive changes that I so dearly needed. It was when I reached Chapter 6 "The Secret to Relationships" that I realized how this book could help me distance myself from Marcus and his negative intentions. Starting with chapter six there was a cavity carved into the book and in that cavity was a prison shiv. This particular shiv was a toothbrush with a handle that had been repeatedly melted and ground into a razor sharp point.
The next day in the exercise yard I carried "The Secret" with me and when Marcus approached me I opened the book and stabbed him in the neck. The next eight weeks in solitary confinement provided ample time to practice positive visualization and the 16 hours per day of absolute darkness made visualization about the only thing that I actually could do. I'm not sure that everybody's life will be changed in such a dramatic way by this book but I'm very thankful to have found it and will continue to recommend it heartily.

Lou Pritchett

2009-06-10T19:54:00.005-04:00

This is a letter written to President Obama by a recently retired chief officer of Proctor and Gamble. He sent it to the New York Times to be printed and they refused. In fact, they never acknowledged it.

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don't understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and 'class', always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the 'blame America' crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer 'wind mills' to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use 'extortion' tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O'Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

Lou Pritchett's site.

C'mon, Mia, Don't stop now....

2009-05-10T18:43:00.002-04:00

It's not that I don't get that celebs, with all their money and power, should help folks - it's just that overall, this woman is a completely useless flak.

Perez Hilton is a Bigot - and so are the people that allow this to happen on national TV

2009-04-24T10:30:00.003-04:00

Perez Hilton: The Foul Face of ‘Gay’ ActivismFriday, April 24, 2009
By J. Matt Barber, Commentator

Warning: This article contains graphic but accurate material that may be offensive to some readers.

You may have heard. During Sunday’s Miss USA pageant openly “gay” activist and pageant judge Perez Hilton – the self-styled “Queen of Media” – ambushed Carrie Prejean – the openly Christian Miss California – with a politically loaded question on so-called “same-sex marriage.” Prejean’s candid answer – as both Hilton and Miss USA organizer Donald Trump later admitted – likely cost her the crown. From the moment she opened her mouth, Prejean has given liberals a clinic in class. Hilton, on the other hand (a.k.a. Mario Armando Lavandeira), has provided the world a sneak peek into the soul of homosexual activism.

This is one for the up-is-down-black-is-white hall of fame. The media’s fabricated flap over Prejean’s answer – a public defense of legitimate marriage – has a reasonable America scratching its collective noggin in stunned disbelief. Not because of the answer she gave Perez – which was both well received by the pageant audience and overwhelmingly shared by about 70 percent of Americans – but, rather, because of Hilton’s hate-filled, misogynistic response to her answer and the disgraceful, knee-jerk defense of that response by liberals in Hollywood, the media and organized homosexuality. After Hilton asked the lovely and talented Miss California whether “every state” should legalize “same-sex marriage,” Prejean responded: “In my country, in my family … I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised and that's how I think it should be – between a man and a woman.” Oh the humanity!

Evidently this was not the rooty-tooty-fresh-n’-fruity answer Hilton – the creepy valley girl wannabe with a five o’clock shadow – had hoped for. He promptly marked Prejean’s score card with a zero, plopped down in front of the television cameras and began blubbering away like a fussy little snot with a dirty diaper. Having already publicly called Prejean a “dumb b----,” he then yammered to a sympathetic Norah O’Donnell on MSNBC that, not only was he refusing to apologize, he was actually “thinking the C-word.” This, of course, one of the vilest things anyone can call a woman. Yet, rather than taking Hilton to task for the boy lover’s girl-hating poison, O’Donnell joined in on the bash-fest, criticizing Prejean for her traditional view.

But Hilton wasn’t done yet. Ramping up his vicious attack on the Christian California bombshell, our lispy-wispy lil’ cupcake dove headlong into the annals of dirt-baggery lore. He defaced a photo of Prejean on his weblog scribbling, below her chin, a crude depiction of a male phallus ejaculating in her mouth. How did Prejean react? While talking to Matt Lauer on NBC’s Today Show she said, “I knew at that moment after I answered the question, I knew, I was not going to win because of my answer, because I had spoken from my heart, from my beliefs and for my God. … I wouldn't have answered it differently. The way I answered may have been offensive. With that question specifically, it's not about being politically correct. For me it was being biblically correct.”

On the Fox News Channel’s Hannity program, Prejean shared, “You know, I forgive him. I know that he's angry for whatever reason. I know there must be a bigger issue going on in his life.” Like I said – Class. Still, Perez Hilton – Hollywood’s frothy-potty-mouthed little drama queen – isn’t alone in his hatred for Prejean or the three-fourths of Americans who share her opposition to the novel and incongruous concept of “gay marriage.”

For example, Wayne Besen, a prominent leader in the homosexual activist community, unbelievably went on Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor to defend Hilton. He picked up Hilton’s anti-Christian torch, incredibly charging that it was Prejean, not Hilton, whose millennia old recognition of biblical marriage “was divisive.” Besen then added insult to injury and revealed his true rainbow colors by tagging the 70 percent of Americans who oppose “gay marriage” as “bigots.”

This whole hateful affair provides the perfect metaphor for the current divide between defenders of traditional sexual morality and the extremist “queer” activist movement. As Congress debates the constructive repeal of both the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee of “equal protection under the law” and the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and freedom of religion through passage of discriminatory and wholly unnecessary “hate crimes” legislation, this little episode once again reminds us that the self-described champions of “tolerance” and “diversity” are the most intolerant and hateful among us.

How soon we forget. Just hearken back a few months to the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which restored the definition of natural marriage to the Golden State. There we all played witness to “gay” activist calls for church burnings, Mormon Temple vandalism, death threats against Prop 8 supporters and quasi-riotous assaults against peaceful Christian marriage supporters. So, insofar as liberals continue to dig their own hole by defending Hilton and piling on Prejean, I submit they’re doing the other 70 percent of us a favor. In their biting anger, they’ve cast aside the sublime mask of “tolerance,” revealing an ugly, desperate and most intolerant countenance below.

For that, I say thank you. For your treatment of Carrie Prejean, I say shame on you.

2009-04-12T21:26:00.001-04:00

Mexican Envoy Defends Claim That Most Guns in Mexico Come From U.S.
Mexican Envoy Auturo Sarukhan defended his claim Sunday that 90 percent of the weapons intercepted in Mexico come from the U.S.

FOXNews.com

Sunday, April 12, 2009

Auturo Sarukhan, the Mexican ambassador to the United States, repeated and defended his claim that 90 percent of the weapons intercepted in Mexico come from the U.S.

During an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation" Sunday, Sarukhan said on the Arizona and Texas borders with Mexico alone, roughly 7,000 licenses for federal firearms had been granted.

"And a lot of the weapons that are being bought by the drug syndicates, either directly or through proxy purchases, are coming from those gun shops," he said.

Sarukhan isn't the only one to cite this myth. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, California Sen. Diane Feinstein and Willliam Hoover, assistant director for field operations at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have all said that 90 percent of weapons used to commit crimes in Mexico come from the U.S.

But in fact, only 17 percent of guns found at Mexican crime scenes have been traced to the U.S.

An ATF spokeswoman told FOXNews.com earlier this month in a clarification of the statistic used by her own agency's assistant director "that over 90 percent of the traced firearms originate from the U.S."

But a large percentage of the guns recovered in Mexico do not get sent back to the U.S. for tracing because it is obvious from their markings that they do not come from the U.S.

"Not every weapon seized in Mexico has a serial number on it that would make it traceable, and the U.S. effort to trace weapons really only extends to weapons that have been in the U.S. market," Matt Allen, special agent of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), told FOX News earlier this month.

Sarukhan has claimed that Mexico seizes 2,000 guns a day from the United States, or 730,000 a year. But the official statistic from the Mexico attorney general's office says Mexico seized 29,000 weapons in all of 2007 and 2008.

On "Face the Nation," host Bob Schieffer asked Sarukhan for evidence to support his claim that most of the weapons seized are coming from the United States.

"The data we have is the one that we've been sharing with our counterparts in the U.S. government, ATF and the Justice Department, and other agencies that have been working with us to determine where those guns are coming from," Sarukhan replied.

For example, Sarukhan cited the Mexican border town of Reynosa where he said more than 250 assault weapons and half a million rounds of ammo were seized in November.

"These had just crossed over the border from the United States in Mexico," he said. "By tracing these weapons, by looking at the types of weapons, we're determining that most of these weapons are coming from the United States."

Sick as a dog...

2009-04-12T21:25:00.002-04:00

I honestly do not know many dogs who have gotten this sick, but I do know I am sick of being sick.

From the President who thinks an iPod is an appropriate gift for the Queen of England...

2009-04-05T13:53:00.003-04:00

... and bowed to a foreign King.

Amusing, embarrassing, amusing, embarrassing... I try to keep my sense of humor.

Barack Obama, the World's Greatest Orator (™all news organisations), didn't exactly cover himself in glory when the BBC's political editor Nick Robinson asked him a question about who was to blame for the financial crisis. Normally word perfect, Obama ummed, ahed and waffled for the best part of two and a half minutes. Here, John Crace decodes what he was really thinking ...

Nick Robinson: "A question for you both, if I may. The prime minister has repeatedly blamed the United States of America for causing this crisis. France and Germany both blame Britain and America for causing this crisis. Who is right? And isn't the debate about that at the heart of the debate about what to do now?" Brown immediately swivels to leave Obama in pole position. There is a four-second delay before Obama starts speaking [THANKS FOR NOTHING, GORDY BABY. REMIND ME TO HANG YOU OUT TO DRY ONE DAY.] Barack Obama: "I, I, would say that, er ... pause [I HAVEN'T A CLUE] ... if you look at ... pause [WHO IS THIS NICK ROBINSON JERK?] ... the, the sources of this crisis ... pause [JUST KEEP GOING, BUDDY] ... the United States certainly has some accounting to do with respect to . . . pause [I'M IN WAY TOO DEEP HERE] ... a regulatory system that was inadequate to the massive changes that have taken place in the global financial system ... pause, close eyes [THIS IS GOING TO GO DOWN LIKE A CROCK OF SHIT BACK HOME. HELP]. I think what is also true is that ... pause [I WANT NICK ROBINSON TO DISAPPEAR] ... here in Great Britain ... pause [SHIT, GORDY'S THE HOST, DON'T LAND HIM IN IT] ... here in continental Europe ... pause [DAMN IT, BLAME EVERYONE.] ... around the world. We were seeing the same mismatch between the regulatory regimes that were in place and er ... pause [I'VE LOST MY TRAIN OF THOUGHT AGAIN] ... the highly integrated, er, global capital markets that have emerged ... pause [I'M REALLY WINGING IT NOW]. So at this point, I'm less interested in ... pause [YOU] ... identifying blame than fixing the problem. I think we've taken some very aggressive steps in the United States to do so, not just responding to the immediate crisis, ensuring banks are adequately capitalised, er, dealing with the enormous, er ... pause [WHY DIDN'T I QUIT WHILE I WAS AHEAD?] ... drop-off in demand and contraction that has taken place. More importantly, for the long term, making sure that we've got a set of, er, er, regulations that are up to the task, er, and that includes, er, a number that will be discussed at this summit. I think there's a lot of convergence between all the parties involved about the need, for example, to focus not on the legal form that a particular financial product takes or the institution it emerges from, but rather what's the risk involved, what's the function of this product and how do we regulate that adequately, much more effective coordination, er, between countries so we can, er, anticipate the risks that are involved there. Dealing with the, er, problem of derivatives markets, making sure we have set up systems, er, that can reduce some of the risks there. So, I actually think ... pause [FANTASTIC. I'VE LOST EVERYONE, INCLUDING MYSELF] ... there's enormous consensus that has emerged in terms of what we need to do now and, er ... pause [I'M OUTTA HERE. TIME FOR THE USUAL CLOSING BOLLOCKS] ... I'm a great believer in looking forwards than looking backwards.

Angie Harmon

2009-03-30T23:39:00.002-04:00

She's a whole lot younger and prettier than I, but we do rather agree here.

Angie Harmon is not afraid to come out and say she doesn’t like how President Obama is handling the job — but she’s sick of having to defend herself from being deemed a racist.

"Here's my problem with this, I'm just going to come out and say it. If I have anything to say against Obama it's not because I'm a racist, it's because I don't like what he's doing as President and anybody should be able to feel that way, but what I find now is that if you say anything against him you're called a racist," Harmon told Tarts at Thursday’s Los Angeles launch of the new eyelash-growing formula, Latisse. "But it has nothing to do with it, I don’t care what color he is. I’m just not crazy about what he's doing and I heard all about this, and he’s gonna do that and change and change, so okay … I'm still dressing for a recession over here buddy and we've got unemployment at an all-time high and that was his number one thing and that's the thing I really don't appreciate. If I'm going to disagree with my President, that doesn't make me a racist. If I was to disagree with W, that doesn't make me racist. It has nothing to do with it, it is ridiculous."

Speaking of dislikes, the starlet has also had enough of the double-standards in the media.

"I do think McCain would have done a better job, only because I think he has more experience. I also think if W or John McCain or Reagan would have gone and done a talk show, the backlash would have been so huge and in his face, and ‘What is our president doing? How unclassy!’ But Obama does it and no one says anything," Harmon said.

And in spite of the scornful opinions most of her Tinseltown counterparts have shared on Gov. Sarah Palin, Harmon remains a true fan.

"I admire any kind of woman like her. My whole motto is to know what I stand for and know what I don't stand for and have the courage to live my life accordingly and she does exactly that. The fact that this woman has made the decisions she's made and literally lived her life according to that and takes heat for it is absolutely disgusting to me," she added. "People cannot look at this woman. I really think they're afraid of her and her morals, ethics and values and the fact that she hangs on them. Is she the most experienced person in the world? But she was running to be the Vice President, so we then put the most inexperienced person as the President. That didn't make any sense to me."

However Harmon is definitely in the Hollywood minority when it comes to her criticism of Obama as other lasses at the Latisse party were quick to advocate their unequivocal support.

That's not funny, that's sick....

2009-03-29T10:42:00.003-04:00

Idiot.

DETROIT, March 28 (UPI) -- A lawyer notified a Michigan judge this week that former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick can pay only $6 monthly restitution, not $6,000.

The lawyer, Michael Alan Schwartz, who just joined the ex-mayor's legal team, told the Detroit Free Press he may also try to have Judge David Groner taken off the case. He said Groner has a conflict because his brother-in-law is chief assistant to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

Kilpatrick was allowed to move to Texas after his release from jail and is working there as a salesman for a subsidiary of a Michigan company, Compuware.

In his court filing, Schwartz said Compuware pays Kilpatrick $10,000 a month. He detailed monthly expenses of $9,994, including $2,700 in rent and $900 for lease of a Cadillac Escalade.

"I don't think he was ordered to live a more modest lifestyle," Schwartz said. "Is it better Mr. Kilpatrick drives a beat-up Yugo?"

When he pleaded guilty to perjury, Kilpatrick agreed to pay the city $1 million in restitution. He admitted lying in a deposition about his romantic relationship with his chief of staff and their role in the firing of top police officers.

Sixth Sense

2009-03-10T21:28:00.002-04:00

Watch this.

Sixth Sense Technology

I mean it. Watch it right now.

Asshattery

2009-03-06T23:30:00.003-05:00

Barney Frank has gotten very full of himself. So full, in fact, that his memory isn’t working as well as it probably should. From the WSJ today (with some paraphrasing):

House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) is pressing state and federal authorities to seek criminal and civil penalties on financial actors that helped cause the current crisis.
”Rules don’t work if people have no fear of them,” Frank said at a press conference Thursday.
He announced a hearing March 20 with Attorney General Eric Holder, bank regulators and the Securities and Exchange Commission as witnesses to discover what their plans are to prosecute irresponsible and in some cases criminal behaviors.

How about we start with this jackass:

A September report from the Business & Media Institute suggests one possible target for investigation: a senior member of the House Banking Committee. This congressman is a recipient of more than $40,000 in campaign donations from Fannie since 1989” and “was once romantically involved with a Fannie Mae executive.” The same congressman “was and remains a stalwart defender of Fannie Mae.”

In case you’ve missed it, that "senior member"; mentioned is House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

Asshat.

I'm passing it along...

2009-03-06T13:31:00.002-05:00

Via Neal Boortz:

LETTER FROM A LAW STUDENT

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters,

We've stuck together since the late 1950s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know that we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and just will not ever agree on what's right. So let's just end it right now while we can do it on friendly terms. We can smile, shake hands, chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and each go our own way.

So here's a model separation agreement.

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by land mass, each taking a portion. That's going to be the difficult part, but I'm sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy. Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate taste. We don't like redistributive taxes so you can have those. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. And since you hate guns and you hate war, we'll take the firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. But you are going to be responsible for finding a biodiesel vehicle big enough to haul them around.

We'll keep the capitalism, the greedy corporations, the pharmaceutical companies; we will keep Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have the homeless, the homeboys, the hippies and illegal aliens. We will keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, the greedy CEOS and all of the rednecks. We'll keep the Bibles and we'll let you have NBC and Hollywood.

You can be nice to Iran and Palestine and we'll retain the right to invade and hammer anybody that threatens us. You can have the peaceniks and the war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we will provide them with security. You won't have to worry about it. We will keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley Maclaine. You can also have the UN, but we will no longer pay the bill.

We will keep the SUVs, the pickup trucks and the oversize luxury cars. You can have the compacts, the subcompacts and every Subaru station wagon you can find. You can give everybody healthcare, if you can find any practicing doctors. We will continue to believe that healthcare is a privilege and not a right. We will keep "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" and the national anthem, and I am sure you will be happy to substitute in their place "Imagine." I'd like to teach the world to sing "Kumbaya" or "We are the world." We will practice trickle-down economics and you can give trickle-up poverty your best shot. And since it so offends you, we will keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along other like-minded liberal and conservative patriots. And if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the friendly spirit of parting, I'll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in about 15 years.

Sincerely,

John J Wall

Law student and an American

P.S. You can also have Barbara Streisand and Jane Fonda

Norman Mattoon Thomas

2009-02-22T11:04:00.003-05:00

Norman Mattoon Thomas (1884-1968), leader of the Socialist movement in the United States for more than 4 decades, was six times the Socialist candidate for president, as well as an author and lecturer. He was one of the most respected critics of American capitalist society.

Needless to say, I am not his supporter. However, he said a very true thing.

And it was:

The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism," they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened." He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform."

Val Kilmer - Boring and ignorant.

2009-02-14T11:01:00.002-05:00

I just read an old article that fully explains to me why Val Kilmer is a non-entity in the real world.

Interviewer: You mean you think you literally had the same experience as Doc Holliday?
Kilmer: Oh, sure. It's not like I believed that I shot somebody, but I absolutely know what it feels like to pull the trigger and take someone's life.
Interviewer: You understand how it feels to shoot someone as much as a person who has actually committed a murder?
Kilmer: I understand it more. It's an actor's job. A guy who's lived through the horror of Vietnam has not spent his life preparing his mind for it. He's some punk. Most guys were borderline criminal or poor, and that's why they got sent to Vietnam. It was all the poor, wretched kids who got beat up by their dads, guys who didn't get on the football team, couldn't finagle a scholarship. They didn't have the emotional equipment to handle that experience. But this is what an actor trains to do. I can more effectively represent that kid in Vietnam than a guy who was there.

Anyone who still believes the old canard that the only men who served in Vietnam were poor, disadvantaged, and stupid should read Stolen Valor by B.G. Burkett and Glenna Whitley.

Kilmer, and those who think like him - pfffft.

What Rush Limbaugh Really Said....

2009-02-02T10:56:00.002-05:00

Here’s what Limbaugh actually said on his Jan. 16 radio program:

If I wanted Obama to succeed, I'd be happy the Republicans have laid down. And I would be encouraging Republicans to lay down and support him. Look, what he's talking about is the absorption of as much of the private sector by the U.S. government as possible, from the banking business, to the mortgage industry, the automobile business, to health care. I do not want the government in charge of all of these things. I don't want this to work. So I'm thinking of replying to the guy, "Okay, I'll send you a response, but I don't need 400 words, I need four: I hope he fails.

Moment later, Limbaugh on that same Jan. 16 radio program, Limbaugh told his listeners that Obama’s “ideas and policies are what count for me, not his skin color, not his past, not whatever ties he doesn't have to being down with the struggle, all of that's irrelevant to me.”

The Main Stream Media is, collectively and singularly, idiotic.

Buca diBeppo's gets Bought Out and Sells Out.

2009-02-01T20:33:00.003-05:00

My husband and I went to Buca's in Birmingham, MI tonight for my birthday and I have never been so disappointed in my life.

My husband and I have been going to this same Buca's for nearly a decade - through a beginning friendship, then courtship, to every birthday, anniversary, any celebration including our wedding reception where we hosted 25 people to share in our joy six years ago. We've gone there for every Valentine's Day, many of my children's and grandchildren's birthdays. I was never disappointed in the food or the service.

Tonight, all of that changed.

First, we were seated in the bar, which I did not ask for and really would not have preferred, but apparently our waiter didn't want to miss the Super Bowl.

Next, in the midst of eating our apple gorgonzola salad, I found a nice curly, black hair in my plate. The waiter, when I could get his attention, came and took the salad away. Yes, he took it off our bill, but amazingly enough, he didn't offer replacement appetizer of any kind or clean silver. I had to go, myself, to another table to get fresh utensils.

Next, I ran out of diet Pepsi - and when I tried to get the waiter's attention, it was virtually impossible because he was so entranced in watching the Super Bowl on the bar's tv. I finally just hollered across the room. Nice. Classy.

We tried to order, but as we went through the dishes we would have liked to have, our waiter told us, for instance, that the brushcetta sauce wasn't really any good any more. It used to be nice and thick, he told us, but now it's just like some chopped up tomatoes. Then we asked about various other dishes and were told that Buca's no longer used much garlic in anything, that fresh garlic was no longer used, that the sauces were all different than we were used to, but that, thank heaven, the chicken Marsala had the same sauce. He informed us that everything had changed since Buca's has been bought out by Planet Hollywood and I can see that this is true.

So we did intend to order a variety appetizer, but we settled for a small garlic bread, and we also intended to have frutti di mare (we usually get the large and take some home) but we settled for a side of fettucini alfredo and spaghetti with marinara sauce (which was downright mushy) and then ordered a large dish of chicken Marsala. We got the sides but we ended up receiving a small order of the chicken and when we asked him to correct that, he seemed quite confused.

At no time did he come and refresh our drinks without being asked or offer dessert. I had to flat out ask for it to be brought to us.

When I asked for the manager part-way through our meal, I had to go explain myself and still, he never sent the manager to our table! The manager did happen to come by - he was visiting all of the tables - but I truly do not think I need to explain myself to a waiter before I can speak to a manager.

In any case, the manager basically listened to me as I explained the various problems, but still never spoke to the waiter so we could get service instead of watching him watch the Super Bowl as he leaned on the bar. He did take my garlic bread off the bill, but as I explained, I didn't want money off, we wanted decent food and decent service, neither of which we got.

As we left our table and walked to the elevator, someone started screaming, literally screaming, "Hey!, Hey!" We tried to get on the elevator and go upstairs to leave, but the screams continued and finally, despite being in the elevator, I stopped it and hit the open door button. The waitress came running up to our door, still screaming, and then stopped as she saw that we were apparently not the person she was looking for. She told me that she thought we were her manager, a tallish black man. I am short, chubby white woman and my husband is an equally short Chinese man. Hard to mistake. What on earth she thought she was doing screaming like some kind of lunatic as she ran down this hallway behind us, I will never know.

The waiter's explanation of Buca's being bought out, of course, appears to explain everything and is the reason why I know we will, sadly enough, not be going back. We were used to excellent service, exemplary food, and good surroundings.

Instead, with the new owners, we got plunked down in the bar, got service I wouldn't accept at the local bar and grill, and food that was totally unsatisfactory and in fact, unsanitary.

We had intended to take my two lovely granddaughters with us, but they had a bit of car trouble and didn't end up joining us. I'm not thankful for the car trouble, but I am certainly glad they didn't have to sit through that mess.

I'll miss Buca's - as I said, we courted there, had our wedding reception there, have celebrated many good times there over the last decade, but I'm not interested in paying close to $100.00 for dinner for two and be as disappointed as we were this evening.

Well, that was quick - thankfully.

2009-01-29T19:47:00.003-05:00

Blagojevich is out.

Blagojevich kicked out as governor, banned from holding any public Illinois office

By CHRISTOPHER WILLS
Associated Press

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Gov. Rod Blagojevich was unanimously convicted at his impeachment trial and thrown out of office today, ending a nearly two-month crisis that erupted with his arrest on charges he tried to sell Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat.

Blagojevich becomes the first U.S. governor in more than 20 years to be removed by impeachment.

After a four-day trial, the Illinois Senate voted 59-0 to convict him of abuse of power, automatically removing the second-term Democrat. Democratic Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, one of his critics, immediately became governor.

In a second 59-0 vote, the Senate further barred Blagojevich from ever holding public office in Illinois again.

“We have this thing called impeachment and it’s bleeping golden and we’ve used it the right way,” Democratic state Sen. James Meeks of Chicago said during the debate, mocking Blagojevich’s expletive-laden words as captured by the FBI on a wiretap.

Blagojevich’s ordeal is far from over. Federal prosecutors are expected to bring a corruption indictment against him by April, after which a trial date will be set.

Blagojevich, 52, had boycotted the first three days of the impeachment trial, calling the proceedings a kangaroo court. But today, he went before the Senate to beg for his job, delivering a 47-minute plea that was, by turns, defiant, humble and sentimental.

He argued, again, that he did nothing wrong, and warned that his impeachment would set a “dangerous and chilling precedent.”

“You haven’t proved a crime, and you can’t because it didn’t happen,” Blagojevich (pronounced blah-GOY-uh-vich) told the lawmakers. “How can you throw a governor out of office with insufficient and incomplete evidence?”

The verdict brought to an end what one lawmaker branded “the freak show” in Illinois. Over the past few weeks, Blagojevich found himself isolated, with almost the entire political establishment lined up against him. The furor paralyzed state government and made Blagojevich and his helmet of lush, dark hair a punchline from coast to coast.

One lawmaker after another rose somberly on the Senate floor to accuse Blagojevich of abusing his office and embarrassing the state. They denounced him as a hypocrite, saying he cynically tried to enrich himself and then posed as the brave protector of the poor and “wrapped himself in the constitution” by decrying the impeachment process as unfair.

They sprinkled in historical references, from Pearl Harbor’s “day of infamy” to “the whole world is watching” chant from the riots that broke out during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. They cited Abraham Lincoln, the Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesus as they called for the governor’s removal.

Not a single legislator rose in Blagojevich’s defense.

Blagojevich did not stick around to hear the vote. He took a state plane back to Chicago. Returning to his North Side home, he told reporters he planned to go jogging. But he had not left the house when the vote came down.

The verdict capped a head-spinning string of developments that began less than two months ago. It was widely known that federal prosecutors had been investigating Blagojevich’s administration for years — some of his closest cronies have already been convicted — but his Dec. 9 arrest by the FBI caught nearly everyone off guard.

U.S. Attorney Patrict Fitzgerald said prosecutors had no choice but to step in and stop a political corruption “crime spree” — one that was gaining speed before a tough new campaign finance law took effect Jan. 1.

The most spectacular allegation was that Blagojevich had been caught on wiretaps scheming to sell an appointment to Obama’s Senate seat for campaign cash or a plum job for himself or his wife.

“I’ve got this thing and it’s (expletive) golden, and I’m just not giving it up for (expletive) nothing. I’m not gonna do it,” he was quoted as saying on a government wiretap.

Prosecutors also said he illegally pressured people to make campaign contributions and tried to get editorial writers fired from the Chicago Tribune for badmouthing him in print.

Obama himself, fresh from his historic election victory, was forced to look into the matter and issued a report concluding that no one in his inner circle had done anything wrong.

In the brash and often theatrical style that has infuriated fellow politicians for years, Blagojevich repeatedly refused to resign, reciting the poetry of Kipling and Tennyson and declaring at one point last month: “I will fight. I will fight. I will fight until I take my last breath. I have done nothing wrong.”

Even as lawmakers were deciding whether to launch an impeachment, Blagojevich defied the political establishment and stunned everyone by appointing a former Illinois attorney general, Roland Burris, to the very Senate seat he had been accused of trying to sell. Top Democrats on Capitol Hill eventually backed down and seated Burris.

As his trial got under way, Blagojevich launched a media blitz, rushing from one TV studio to another in New York to proclaim his innocence. He likened himself to the hero of a Frank Capra movie and to a cowboy in the hands of a Wild West lynch mob.

The impeachment case included not only the criminal charges against Blagojevich, but allegations he broke the law when it came to hiring state workers, expanded a health care program without legislative approval and spent $2.6 million on flu vaccine that went to waste. The 118-member House twice voted to impeach him, both times with only one “no” vote.

By making a speech in the Senate chamber instead of testifying, Blagojevich did not have to take an oath or answer any questions.

In his plea, Blagojevich portrayed himself as a victim of retaliation from the Legislature for his efforts to help the poor.

He acknowledged the truth about his conduct is “maybe not flattering in some cases,” referring to the secretly recorded conversations. But he said the tapes captured something that “all of us in politics do in order to run campaigns and win elections.”

Seven other U.S. governors have been removed by impeachment, the most recent being Arizona’s Evan Mecham, who was driven from office in 1988 for trying to thwart an investigation into a death threat allegedly made by an aide. Illinois never before impeached a governor, despite its long and rich history of graft.

Blagojevich grew up in a working-class Chicago neighborhood, the son of a Serbian immigrant steelworker. He graduated from Northwestern University and earned a law degree from Pepperdine University in California.

Schooled in the bare-knuckle, backroom politics of the infamous Chicago Machine, he got elected to the Illinois House in 1992 and Congress in 1996.

In 2002, he was elected governor on a promise to clean up state government after former GOP Gov. George Ryan, who is serving six years in prison for graft. But he soon wound up in open battles with lawmakers from his own party, leading to gridlock. And scandal followed as well.

Antoin “Tony” Rezko, a former top fundraiser for Blagojevich, was convicted of shaking down businesses seeking state contracts for campaign contributions. Witnesses testified that Blagojevich was aware of some of the strong-arm tactics. Rezko is said to be cooperating with prosecutors.

Quinn, the new governor, is a 60-year-old former state treasurer who has a reputation as a political gadfly and once led a successful effort to cut the size of the Illinois House.

•Dec. 9, 2008: Federal agents arrest Blagojevich on corruption charges that include an alleged effort to sell or trade President Barack Obama’s vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder.

•Dec. 17, 2008: Illinois Supreme Court rejects state attorney general’s effort to remove Blagojevich from office. She had argued the governor’s legal and political troubles amounted to a disability.

•Dec. 19, 2008: Blagojevich proclaims his innocence, says he will not resign.

•Dec. 30, 2008: Blagojevich names former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to replace Obama in the Senate. Senators at first suggest they will block him, but he is later sworn in.

•Jan. 9, 2009: Illinois House votes 114-1 to impeach Blagojevich, first Illinois governor in history to be impeached.

•Jan. 26, 2009: Illinois Senate opens impeachment trial. Blagojevich, claiming trial is unfair, goes on media blitz in New York to proclaim his innocence.

•Jan. 29, 2009: Illinois Senate votes unanimously to remove Blagojevich from office and bar him from holding office in the future. Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn sworn in as governor.

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2009-01-27T19:49:00.002-05:00

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Liar, liar, pants on fire...

2009-01-24T10:04:00.003-05:00

"They have not funded my campaign, they will not run my White House..."

That'd be funny if it weren't such unmitigated BS.

I'm delighted that the members of the Main Stream Media that forced the part-time Senator from Illinois down everyone's throat are so quickly shown how foolish they have been. I'm sure it won't be the last time he makes it clear that he doesn't give a damn about ethics.

Poor little Campbell Brown - she's been betrayed by her President.

CNN reports:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama, who campaigned on lessening lobbyist influence in government, has chosen a defense expert who is currently a vice president and lobbyist for one of the country's biggest defense contractors to be his deputy secretary of defense.

Remember - the part-time Senator from Illinois claimed that "no political appointees in an Obama-Biden administration will be permitted to work on regulations or contracts directly and substantially related to their prior employer for two years."

But then the nominee for Deputy Secretary of Defense, William Lynn, has been a lobbyist for the defense contractor Raytheon, and his nominee for Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, William V. Corr, lobbied for stricter tobacco regulations as an official with the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.

Further information:

Wonder how long this reporter will last.

Lynn "won't be forced to step back from decisions related to his former employer."

Lynn is Raytheon's senior vice president for government operations and strategy.

According to the Associated Press, in the first three months of 2008, Lynn and his lobbying team spent $1.15 million [on behalf of Raytheon] in an effort to influence buying decisions on missiles, sensors, radars and other technology and intelligence programs.

The White House said Friday its tough new ethics rules won't apply to its nominee for deputy defense secretary, William Lynn.

Well, of course they won't - not in any case where the part-time Senator from Illinois wants what he wants when he wants it.

Don't get me wrong - I believe Lynn would make a good choice for the job, but that doesn't change for one minute that the POTUS is a big, fat Fibber.

And childish, to boot. For those of you who have not read about this bit of foolishness, in a meeting supposedly designed to promote bipartisanship in the economic stimulus plan, and in response to being challenged by one Republican senator over the contents of the package, the part-time Senator from Illinois replied: “I won.”

One thing you can count on with Democrats - the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Oh, and BTW....

2009-01-16T13:13:00.002-05:00

President Bush saved ten million lives...

And that's even without the countless lives saved in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places in the world where we have brought freedom and democracy.

By Bill Frist
Special to CNN
Editor's note: Bill Frist, a physician, is former Republican majority leader of the U.S. Senate and a professor of medicine and business at Vanderbilt University.
(CNN) -- A legacy of President George W. Bush will be that he saved 10 million lives around the world.
His critics ignore it, but name another president about whom one can say that with such certainty. It is what historians will say a decade from now looking back. Not bad for a president who leaves office with the lowest approval rating in recent memory.
The bottom line is: George Bush is a healer.
First, a surprise proclamation came on January 29, 2003.
I was in the first row in the House chamber when three quarters through his State of the Union address, the president boldly said: "I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years ... to turn the tide against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean" and "lead the world in sparing innocent people from a plague of nature."
And lead the world we did. No president in history had made such a commitment against a single disease. Those words and the action that followed meant that instead of another 30 million people dying from HIV infections, maybe just another 20 million will.
Later that night in an interview for CNN in my Capitol office, I predicted that five years later, this commitment to fight HIV would be the single most significant thing the president said that night. It was.
But even I -- who as physician in Africa had witnessed how this virus was hollowing out societies -- did not predict the huge global impact this Bush commitment would have on generations to come.
In my annual medical mission trips to Africa during the Bush administration, I saw the cost of treatment for HIV with life-saving antiretrovirals (ARVs) drop from $4,000 a year to $125. The number of Africans on ARVs jumped from 50,000 to 2.1 million.
And the multiplier effect of Bush making this a presidential global priority was reflected thereafter in every meeting I had as Senate majority leader with the world leaders, including those from Russia, China and India. If you were dealing with the United States, you'd better have made HIV a national priority, because we had.
And it was more than HIV. Six months ago, Tom Daschle, Mike Huckabee, John Podesta, Cindy McCain and I (yes, we five of different persuasions do work together!) went to Rwanda on a fact-finding trip.
Our visits with villagers all over the country opened our eyes to how Bush's five-year, $1.2 billion effort to combat malaria has provided 4 million insecticide-treated bed nets and 7 million life-saving drug therapies to vulnerable people. Yes, George Bush the healer.
Future historians will also note what today's pundits ignore: total US government development aid to Africa quadrupled from $1.3 billion in 2001 to more than $5 billion in 2008. What's more, the Bush administration doubled foreign aid worldwide over the past eight years. You have to go back to the Truman years to match that.
And the president revolutionized the way we give aid with the creation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, now active in 35 countries. This $6.7 billion public-private partnership for the first time ties aid to accountability based on a country's governing well, fighting corruption and commitment to economic freedoms.
Secondly, Bush healed abroad, but he also healed right here at home.
Before Bush acted, the nation's 43 million seniors did not have affordable access to prescription drugs (the most powerful tool a doctor has to prevent and treat disease) through the Medicare program. Today, because of George Bush, they do.
Initially, conservatives howled because the prescription drug initiative "cost too much." Liberals hated it because it involved the markets and competition. But today, 23 million seniors live healthier lives, Medicare drug spending has been 20 percent to 30 percent less than predicted for each of the past two years and seniors overwhelmingly give the program enthusiastic reviews.
And, in addition, the program is highly redistributive -- giving advantages the poorest, introducing preventive care to Medicare, encouraging electronic prescribing and introducing chronic disease management. Who says Republicans can't lead on heath reform?
Thirdly, a lot of people forget that the health of a nation's people is more dependent on behavior and education than on health services -- the doctors, hospitals and insurance companies. Infant mortality is three times higher for a woman who did not graduate from high school when compared with one who has a college degree.
And the president focused laser-like on improving K-12 education by demanding transparency and accountability, and raising expectations.
The U.S. ranks a miserable 21st in the world in science and 25th in math among 15 year-olds. President Bush made the education of our children a moral issue.
To maintain our now slipping global competitiveness, we have no choice but to radically transform the K-12 education system over the next decade. And historians will say it all began with the groundbreaking No Child Left Behind legislation of President Bush.
I've had the privilege of knowing George W. Bush personally and as president. I have seen his passions. Naturally, he will be judged in the short term for his role in waging the war on terror, keeping America safe since 9/11 and acting on his belief in promoting liberty aboard.
Over time, however, it is the foundations he laid for healing. for the most part ignored by mainstream media, that I am confident will be his enduring legacy.

Thank you, Dr. Frist, for so eloquently saying what needed to be said.

Really - I wonder when the next attack will come...

2009-01-16T12:40:00.003-05:00

I expect it to be quite soon, actually - and I also believe the previous death toll of 9/11 will be nothing compared to the destruction that will be brought down upon us by a weak and foolish Commander in Chief.

In any case, at this rate, by the time the Part-Time Senator from Illinois has taken his oath of office, there won't be one single promise left to fulfill. Perhaps that's what was planned all along - get the denials over with now so he won't face them when he's in office. It would be almost funny to watch the painful wretchings some of his supporters are going through now what with the Anointed One flip-flopping on nearly every issue that he was elected in support of, but it's far too painful watching what I believe will be massive destruction of our Country, its economy, its way of life and its national pride.

Obama says WE WILL KILL OSAMA!

President-elect Barack Obama wants to renew the U.S. commitment to finding al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, according to his national security advisers.

The Obama team believes the Bush administration has downplayed the importance of catching the FBI's most-wanted terrorist because it has not been able to find him.

"We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority," Obama said during the presidential debate on October 7.

Obama says IT'S OK, WE DON'T REALLY HAVE TO KILL HIM

Barack Obama suggested last night that removing Osama bin Laden from the battlefield was no longer essential and that America's security goals could be achieved merely by keeping al-Qaeda "on the run".

"My preference obviously would be to capture or kill him," he said. "But if we have so tightened the noose that he's in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives then we will meet our goal of protecting America."

His comments, in a CBS interview, represent a significant watering down of the "dead or alive" policy pursued by President Bush since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. They also appear to contradict Mr Obama's own statements made in the election campaign.

As recently as October 7, in a presidential debate, Mr Obama said: "We will kill bin Laden. We will crush al-Qaeda. That has to be our biggest national security priority."

Yesterday, the President-elect adopted far less aggressive language, saying his "No 1 priority" was to protect America from further attack.

Osama says WE WILL KILL ALL OF YOU, OBAMA INCLUDED

It was the threats to Barack Obama however — who has in the past vowed to kill bin Laden — that will remind the US and its allies that bin Laden has eluded them ever since the September 11 attacks. He promised the President-elect that the terror network would open new fronts against the US. “If he withdraws from the war, it is a military defeat. If he continues, he drowns in economic crisis,” bin Laden said of Mr Obama, whom he did not mention by name.

One of the finest speeches ever....

2009-01-15T20:44:00.002-05:00

Below is the full text of President Bush's departure speech - a fine speech from a fine man.

"Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your President. The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence – a time set apart. Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey we have traveled together and the future of our Nation.

Five days from now, the world will witness the vitality of American democracy. In a tradition dating back to our founding, the presidency will pass to a successor chosen by you, the American people. Standing on the steps of the Capitol will be a man whose story reflects the enduring promise of our land. This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole Nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to President-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls.

Tonight I am filled with gratitude – to Vice President Cheney and members of the Administration; to Laura, who brought joy to this house and love to my life; to our wonderful daughters, Barbara and Jenna; to my parents, whose examples have provided strength for a lifetime. And above all, I thank the American people for the trust you have given me. I thank you for ....

...the prayers that have lifted my spirits. And I thank you for the countless acts of courage, generosity, and grace that I have witnessed these past eight years.

This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house – September 11, 2001. That morning, terrorists took nearly 3,000 lives in the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor. I remember standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center three days later, surrounded by rescuers who had been working around the clock.

I remember talking to brave souls who charged through smoke-filled corridors at the Pentagon and to husbands and wives whose loved ones became heroes aboard Flight 93. I remember Arlene Howard, who gave me her fallen son’s police shield as a reminder of all that was lost. And I still carry his badge.

As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before Nine-Eleven. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our Nation. And I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.

Over the past seven years, a new Department of Homeland Security has been created. The military, the intelligence community, and the FBI have been transformed. Our Nation is equipped with new tools to monitor the terrorists’ movements, freeze their finances, and break up their plots. And with strong allies at our side, we have taken the fight to the terrorists and those who support them.

Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school. Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States.

There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil. This is a tribute to those who toil day and night to keep us safe – law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

Our Nation is blessed to have citizens who volunteer to defend us in this time of danger. I have cherished meeting these selfless patriots and their families. America owes you a debt of gratitude. And to all our men and women in uniform listening tonight: There has been no higher honor than serving as your Commander in Chief.

The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God and that liberty and justice light the path to peace.

This is the belief that gave birth to our Nation. And in the long run, advancing this belief is the only practical way to protect our citizens. When people live in freedom, they do not willingly choose leaders who pursue campaigns of terror. When people have hope in the future, they will not cede their lives to violence and extremism.

So around the world, America is promoting human liberty, human rights, and human dignity. We are standing with dissidents and young democracies, providing AIDS medicine to bring dying patients back to life, and sparing mothers and babies from malaria. And this great republic born alone in liberty is leading the world toward a new age when freedom belongs to all nations.

For eight years, we have also strived to expand opportunity and hope here at home. Across our country, students are rising to meet higher standards in public schools. A new Medicare prescription drug benefit is bringing peace of mind to seniors and the disabled. Every taxpayer pays lower income taxes.

The addicted and suffering are finding new hope through faith-based programs. Vulnerable human life is better protected. Funding for our veterans has nearly doubled. America’s air, water, and lands are measurably cleaner. And the Federal bench includes wise new members like Justice Sam Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts.

When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them. Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy. These are very tough times for hardworking families, but the toll would be far worse if we had not acted. All Americans are in this together. And together, with determination and hard work, we will restore our economy to the path of growth. We will show the world once again the resilience of America’s free enterprise system.

Like all who have held this office before me, I have experienced setbacks. There are things I would do differently if given the chance. Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions.

The decades ahead will bring more hard choices for our country, and there are some guiding principles that should shape our course.

While our Nation is safer than it was seven years ago, the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack. Our enemies are patient and determined to strike again. America did nothing to seek or deserve this conflict. But we have been given solemn responsibilities, and we must meet them. We must resist complacency. We must keep our resolve. And we must never let down our guard.

At the same time, we must continue to engage the world with confidence and clear purpose. In the face of threats from abroad, it can be tempting to seek comfort by turning inward. But we must reject isolationism and its companion, protectionism. Retreating behind our borders would only invite danger. In the 21st century, security and prosperity at home depend on the expansion of liberty abroad. If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led.

As we address these challenges – and others we cannot foresee tonight – America must maintain our moral clarity. I have often spoken to you about good and evil. This has made some uncomfortable. But good and evil are present in this world, and between the two there can be no compromise. Murdering the innocent to advance an ideology is wrong every time, everywhere.

Freeing people from oppression and despair is eternally right. This Nation must continue to speak out for justice and truth. We must always be willing to act in their defense and to advance the cause of peace.

President Thomas Jefferson once wrote, “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past.” As I leave the house he occupied two centuries ago, I share that optimism. America is a young country, full of vitality, constantly growing and renewing itself. And even in the toughest times, we lift our eyes to the broad horizon ahead.

I have confidence in the promise of America because I know the character of our people. This is a Nation that inspires immigrants to risk everything for the dream of freedom. This is a Nation where citizens show calm in times of danger and compassion in the face of suffering. We see examples of America’s character all around us. And Laura and I have invited some of them to join us in the White House this evening.

We see America’s character in Dr. Tony Recasner, a principal who opened a new charter school from the ruins of Hurricane Katrina. We see it in Julio Medina, a former inmate who leads a faith-based program to help prisoners returning to society. We see it in Staff Sergeant Aubrey McDade, who charged into an ambush in Iraq and rescued three of his fellow Marines.

We see America’s character in Bill Krissoff, a surgeon from California. His son Nathan, a Marine, gave his life in Iraq. When I met Dr. Krissoff and his family, he delivered some surprising news: He told me he wanted to join the Navy Medical Corps in honor of his son. This good man was 60 years old – 18 years above the age limit.

But his petition for a waiver was granted, and for the past year he has trained in battlefield medicine. Lieutenant Commander Krissoff could not be here tonight, because he will soon deploy to Iraq, where he will help save America’s wounded warriors and uphold the legacy of his fallen son.

In citizens like these, we see the best of our country – resilient and hopeful, caring and strong. These virtues give me an unshakable faith in America. We have faced danger and trial, and there is more ahead. But with the courage of our people and confidence in our ideals, this great Nation will never tire … never falter … and never fail.

It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your President. There have been good days and tough days. But every day I have been inspired by the greatness of our country and uplifted by the goodness of our people. I have been blessed to represent this Nation we love. And I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other: citizen of the United States of America.

And so, my fellow Americans, for the final time: Good night. May God bless this house and our next President. And may God bless you and our wonderful country."

1.37 MILLION abortions per year in the US

2009-01-15T08:46:00.006-05:00

First, let me share some information:

The Main Reasons Women Choose Abortion (U.S.)

Wants to postpone childbearing: 25.5%
Wants no (more) children: 7.9%
Cannot afford a baby: 21.3%
Having a child will disrupt education or job: 10.8%
Has relationship problem or partner does not want pregnancy: 14.1%
Too young; parent(s) or other(s) object to pregnancy: 12.2%
Risk to maternal health: 2.8%
Risk to fetal health: 3.3%
Other: 2.1%

Source:Bankole, Akinrinola; Singh, Susheela; Haas, Taylor. Reasons Why Women Have Induced Abortions: Evidence from 27 Countries. International Family Planning Perspectives, 1998, 24(3):117–127 & 152 As reported by:The Alan Guttmacher Institute Online

So, maybe 6% have a health reason behind them - the rest are simply an inconvenience - take a pill, use an IUD, have something slipped under your skin, but stop ending life because it's inconvenient - please. When statistics - from the CDC, not some group that might make pro-abortion fans crazy - tell us that 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion - what does that say? That these slobs are using the death of a child as a birth control method - and that's just plain sick.

You won't find me quoting a full article very often but this one counts. A lot. For well over one million infant lives per year.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=30258

Obama's First Act as President

by Chuck Norris

01/13/2009

Barack Obama emphatically promised more than a year ago, "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." Will he keep his word?

The Freedom of Choice Act is a sweeping bill that would abolish all pro-life regulations across the nation, from parental notification laws to bans on federal funding of abortions. The Office of the General Counsel for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops identified 13 categories of pro-life laws that would be stampeded and nullified by FOCA. As far-reaching as the decision of Roe v. Wade is into the states' jurisdictions and our lives, even it, for example, showed certain respect for state laws and limits on infringing regulations in the medical field. FOCA shows no such restraints; it nails shut the coffin on pro-life choices and safeguards.

And why has Obama pledged his allegiance to pass FOCA? Not only because he has the most passionately liberal pro-choice record of nearly any politician but also because, as he told a meeting of Planned Parenthood during his campaign, "it is time to turn the page" to a new day, when pro-life views and laws and debate on abortion are passé. And if he and the Democratic majority have their way, America will have that new day, one in which hundreds of thousands more abortions will be performed annually. (I still think it is utterly hypocritical that a president and a political party who pride themselves on providing and protecting minorities don't include the unborn among those minorities.)

The fight to pass FOCA is being waged despite a new nationwide survey revealing that about 4 in 5 U.S. adults would limit abortion's legality. About 1 in 3 would limit abortion to rape, incest or saving a mother's life. One-third also would limit abortion to either the first three months of pregnancy or the first six months. Only 9 percent said abortion should be legal for any reason at any time during pregnancy. These statistics are in stark contrast to the goals and objectives of FOCA, which would close the culture debate on abortion in an unprecedented way for any piece of legislation.

America doesn't need to "turn the page" on culture battles, such as abortion; it needs to reopen the pages of its history to our Founders' heightened views about the rights of all human beings in the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. And we need to revive and re-instill that value of humanity back into society, our children and our children's children.

Under our Constitution, the federal government should protect that right to life. But besides affirming that foundational human right, the details and debates of the laws governing abortion should be left to the states. Despite the Supreme Court's unconstitutional striking down of abortion laws nationwide in 1973 and instituting a completely unconstitutional federal right to abortion, there is still much we can do at the state level to protect human life by promoting pro-life legislation and education. That is, unless FOCA is enacted into law.

After 35 years of ceaseless controversy since the Supreme Court's ruling in Roe v. Wade, some people think that abortion is an "old" issue better dropped. But as my friend and prolific author Randy Alcorn wrote in his small book "Why Pro-Life? Caring for the Unborn and Their Mothers": "Abortion has set us on a dangerous course. We may come to our senses and back away from the slippery slope. Or we may follow it to its inescapable conclusion -- a society in which the powerful, for their self-interest, determine which human beings will live and which will die."

Abortion is not about a woman's "right to choose"; it is about a more fundamental "right to life," which is one of three specifically identified unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence (and the Constitution, through Article VII and the Bill of Rights). And it is a violation of government's primary purpose: to protect innocent life.

Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1809, "The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government." He was not, of course, writing about the America of today, with state-sanctioned and even subsidized abortion and a movement to promote the killing of the elderly through euthanasia. But he could have been. And his belief in what should be "the first and only legitimate object of government" still should stand, and that includes for the president of the United States of America. But if he and his administration won't protect the rights of the living (even in the womb), then who will? Pelosi? Reid? A left-leaning Congress?

All of our elected officials should uphold that pre-eminent objective of government and strive to get us back to the view of humanity that emphasizes the immortal worth of every human being. Without that, we never can believe that all people (including those in the womb) are created equal, that they have inherent, unalienable rights and that the protection of those rights is "the first and only legitimate object of good government."

And if our politicians won't protect unborn human life, then we must. With Sanctity of Life Sunday on Jan. 18, Obama's inauguration Jan. 20, the annual March for Life pro-life rally in Washington, D.C., Jan. 22 (the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision), and FOCA looming on the legislative precipice of Congress and the White House, now is the time to march and take action again to defend the unborn. (That's why I devoted an entire chapter to "Reclaim the value of human life" in my new cultural manifesto, "Black Belt Patriotism," and why my wife, Gena, passionately entreated for the unborn in our most recent interview, which you can watch online on GodTube.)

Please, before FOCA flies onto the congressional floor in the upcoming days, sign the online petition to fight FOCA (www.fightfoca.com), and then contact your representatives and senators to tell them how you expect them to vote on the bill. You can write to them online by simply going to http://www.capwiz.com/nrlc/issues/bills/?bill=9668701.

My note - capwiz doesn't appear to have the Bill up on it today, although I am sure that will be corrected, but go to Fight FOCA and sign the petition - don't give up on this important issue.

A Great Cause....

2009-01-03T18:40:00.002-05:00

From Benefit4Kids:

We are once again busy planning our next fundraiser coming up January 31st 2009. This will be the 5th year for this event and they only keep getting better and better, and I promise this year will be no different! If you have been to one of our banquets before you won't want to miss this one. Tickets are still just $20.00 for adults and $10.00 for Kids (15 and under) and this includes your drinks.

This years event is once again being held at Perch Point Conservation Club in South East MI. Doors open at 4:00pm.

One of the new things at this years event will be Randy's Hunting Center www.randyshuntingcenter.com out of Bad Axe Michigan providing all the guns. If you have ever been to a banquet where Randy's was at.....you know he puts on a great display of new guns for everyone to have a chance at winning!

MANY GREAT items are already coming in also such as

An Ontario Bear Hunt

Numerous Pheasant Hunts

Couple Salmon Fishing Trips

Guided Turkey Hunt

South Dakota Goose Hunt

Plus much more to be added soon - updates can be found often here.

Contact us today to get your tickets as this event will once again sell out this year at only $20.00 a ticket! There will be NO ticket sales at the door, so get your spot today.

http://www.b4k.org/2009%20Flyer.pdf

Another great way to help us out is to sponsor a "Wish Kid Table" for only $50.00 (this does not include dinner ticket). Each table is named after a kid we have worked with in the past or are currently working with and for only $50.00 each, these tables can be sponsored to show your support to Benefit4Kids! Tables can be sponsored by:

Individuals and/or groups of friends

Groups, clubs, organizations

Businesses and corporations

Consider this option and click here to learn more: http://www.b4k.org/2009pigroasttablesponsor.htm

All the details can be found on our website at www.b4k.org.

What the heck?

2009-01-01T16:35:00.003-05:00

David Knowles is an idiot - no doubt about it.

In so many ways.

Let me review just the ways he demonstrated to us on December 30th with the article posted at the link above.

First, he posts it under "Republicans" - which is ok, really, because that clarifies, right up front, what his little rant is about: his dislike of all things Republican - and anything he can possibly hope to portray as negative and label Republican. Dolt.

Next, he writes:

"Cha-ching! People magazine is said to be paying the unwed high school drop-out duo Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston a cool $300,000 for pics of their new baby boy, Tripp."

Which is also ok, because it shows us that he's an idiot or a liar or both, since neither one of the two young parents is a high school dropout.

Levi Johnson, aged 18, did as many young people in the United States today might considering doing - without retribution from the Left unless they are somehow remotely related to a Republican political figure - he enrolled in an apprenticeship program that promises a good career that will allow him to support his family without relying on a social welfare system. He is apparently also enrolled in correspondence course for high school completion, a common enough practice in Alaska, especially among those who are engaged in working to assist in supporting their families.

Two fine examples of such programs offered are through the University of Oklahoma and the University of Missouri.

Bristol Palin is no doubt taking a few weeks off - as any mother would following a birth - but she is reportedly enrolled in a regular high school and has taken some correspondence courses. What the Leftists rarely add to any news on the correspondence courses issue is that this is very common in Alaska - and that distance learning via computers - something that Michigan students are required by law to do at least once in their high school careers - is a "correspondence course."

And allow me to ask - so what? How's it any of your business, Mr. Knowles? Why do these two young people have to put up with your continued, pointless and vindictive scrutiny?

"Congratulations to the proud parents."

You don't mean that, you mean-spirited little hypocrite - and everyone knows it. Your fans applaud it - they welcome your attempts to hurt a pair of young people who made a mistake but are stepping up to the plate and acting responsibly. You're not kidding anyone, though, just so we're clear. We all know there isn't a congratulatory bone in your body for these young parents or their innocent son.

"Though, like Andrew Sullivan, I have to wonder about the mixed message of selling baby pictures to a supermarket mag while keeping quiet to the likes of the AP:"

"The governor's office said it would not release information because it considers the baby's birth a private, family matter."

Now that's just plain funny, to be honest - these young parents, who could obviously use the financial boost to finish their educations and begin their young lives together with their newborn son don't have anything to do with the governor's office and the governor's office was absolutely justified in refusing to answer questions about private family business.

The parents of young Tripp are both 18 years of age - able to make a contract, earn money and keep it, care for their child as they see best, and can do so without input from either the governor's office - even if one considers the governor is Tripp's grandmother - and even more so, without input from bitter little Left-wingers like David Knowles.

And I had a wonderful day...

2008-12-21T23:37:00.002-05:00

Everyone should have one just like this every once in a while.

Gary Sinise

2008-12-21T23:32:00.003-05:00

On the topic of men and women in the Armed Forces:

'As tired as I might get sometimes, and I do, it is nothing compared to what they go through day-after-day with the price they are so readily willing to pay.'

Read more.

SNOW DAY!

2008-12-19T10:03:00.001-05:00

Woo-hoo - seventeen days of no work bliss!

Detroit is so screwed....

2008-12-16T11:00:00.004-05:00

Man, oh, man....

In short, we have a mayor removed from office and stuffed in jail, an auto industry in the crapper, a pro football team that can't pull out even one game in the season, our two newspapers are talking about cutting home delivery back to three days a week and Detroit Public Schools faces takeover by the state as it fires its Superintendent of Schools and Detroit's murder rate - 47.3 per 100,000 in 2006 - flip-flops as being the highest in the nation from year to year. Detroit has also been ranked as the most miserable city in the United States.

Impressive, eh?

Hulu?

2008-12-06T20:00:00.003-05:00

What the heck is Hulu?

You seriously need to check this out - tons of videos, tv shows, all kinds of videophile stuff.

I'm watching Alfred Hitchcock episodes right now - it was my favorite show when I was much, much younger - and it still holds up today.

Very clean streaming, no stutter, etc. It's free, of course, or I wouldn't be babbling on about it. There are brief ads - and none I've run across were near as loud and obnoxious as tv. Great fun - try it.

Detroiters Truly Do Create Their Own Problems...

2008-12-06T11:36:00.003-05:00

Which one are the voters of Detroit most proud of (after KK, of course)?

The guy who (allegedly) can't keep his hands off his employees or this woman, Wayne County Commission Chairwoman Jewel Ware, who has hired seven convicted felons:

Kwasi Akwamu, who earned as much as $82,900 as director of commission affairs. He pleaded guilty to assault with intent to murder and weapons charges in 1988. He quit when his record came to light.
Terrance Dortch, who made $35,828 as a legislative staff assistant. He was convicted of second-degree murder and a felony firearm charge in 1992. He took another job before the controversy.
Sherri Johnson, a legislative aide who made $10 an hour. She was convicted of larceny in 1990. She quit when her record came to light.
Eltha McClendon, who made $34,000 as a legislative staff assistant, was convicted of larceny in 1991. Her aka is Patricia McClendon. She is on administrative leave.
Demetrius Jones, whose aka is Vincent Tubbs, has convictions including armed robbery in 1992 and kidnapping in 1983. He was a legislative aide who earned $10 an hour.
Tino Jarod Odum, a community outreach specialist for Ware, earns $10 an hour. He was convicted of armed robbery and a felony firearm charge in 1992. His contract was not renewed in early 2004.
Edward James, a legislative aide who earned $16.50 an hour, convicted of home invasion, armed robbery and firearm charges in 1992.
Source: Wayne County records

Wayne County Commission Chairwoman Jewel Ware, in the last few weeks before the county's auditor general is set to release a report on her hiring practices, said Terrance Dortch and Kwasi Akwamu - two who spent time in jail with her husband - are being singled out for unfair treatment (poor babies).

"It is very unfortunate and unfair about what has happened to Terrance and Kwasi," Ware said recently.

"Their past criminal background should not prevent their employment with the county." Now mind you, they didn't actually work for the County - they were allegedly no-show employees, which is just the problem here. Ware hired them, they did no work for the County, although they did, of course, turn in time sheets and get paid. For what, one wonders?

The auditor general is investigating claims that Dortch and Akwamu were no-show employees who collected county salaries to work for Ware's husband and their former prison-mate, Jesse Long-Bey, at his resort in Idlewild in northern Michigan. The investigation - which will scrutinize payroll records of the commission's 72 staffers - emerged after an anonymous letter was widely circulated that included the claims.

Ware denies wrongdoing, saying some workers pitched in at the resort, Morton's Motel, on their own time. Sure, sure, sure - makes perfect sense to me - how about you?

Most of the felons hired by Ware apparently did not cause problems, but as a for instance, one staffer's contract was not renewed after allegations arose of missing checks from the commissioner.

Are there really not enough people, decent, honest, law-abiding citizens, in Detroit that Ware feels she needs to hire murders and armed robbers? Perhaps not, since her choice in spousal material, currently known as Jesse Long-Bey, aged 59, and born Jesse Beverly Long, was convicted at least a half-dozen times from 1970-87 on charges ranging from manslaughter to forgery, from burglary to carrying a concealed weapon. He used aliases of Bobby Earl Gaines, Rufus Gaines, Rufus Dudley and Clarence Dudley, according to police records. His last conviciton, for manslaughter, in 1987, saw him serve ten years. He is currently out on bail, awaiting trial for check-kiting. If convicted (again!) he faces a possible 14 years in the penitentiary.

Since leaving prison, Long-Bey has worked as a city editor for the Michigan Citizen. The Web site for J&J Associates, the consulting firm owned by Long-Bey, says he left that job, worked for the city and has been hired as a consultant during campaigns for the former mayor turned felon and currently incarcerated, Kwame Kilpatrick, Gov. Jennifer Granholm and for various statewide ballot initiatives. The site lists its only other employees as Akwamu (the alleged no-show employee and felon who did time with Ware's husband) - supposedly a writer, photographer and graphic designer -- and Tim Johnson, who makes $85,000 a year as the commission's spokesman, as a "marketing communications and community relations specialist."

Long-Bey also lobbied on behalf of Synagro Technologies Inc. - the sludge-hauling giant - for a city contract that is now being probed by the FBI. Agents are investigating whether city officials accepted cash to approve the deal last year. Ware's husband, convicted felon a half-dosen or more times over, testified twice before the City Council on that deal and was quoted in the Detroit News as saying he was "disappointed" he didn't receive work for his efforts.

Ware's chief political rival, Commissioner Burton Leland, who has been speaking out against Ware's practices, is apparently having issues of his own. One of Ware's newest hires, a former cop, accused him of assault. Leland acknowledged touching the officer, but called it "male bonding" and nothing more.

Wake up, Detroiters - look around. Your city is exactly what the majority of voters fashioned it into.

Citizens Outscore the Folks We "Trust" to Run the Government...

2008-11-23T14:31:00.005-05:00

But don't worry - neither group even got a 50% on the test.

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).

"It is disturbing enough that the general public failed ISI's civic literacy test, but when you consider the even more dismal scores of elected officials, you have to be concerned," said Josiah Bunting, chairman of the National Civic Literacy Board at ISI.

"How can political leaders make informed decisions if they don't understand the American experience?" he added.

The exam questions covered American history, the workings of the US government and economics.

Among the questions asked of some 2,500 people who were randomly selected to take the test, including "self-identified elected officials," was one which asked respondents to "name two countries that were our enemies during World War II."

Sixty-nine percent of respondents correctly identified Germany and Japan. Among the incorrect answers were Britain, China, Russia, Canada, Mexico and Spain.

Forty percent of respondents, meanwhile, incorrectly believed that the US president has the power to declare war, while 54 percent correctly answered that that power rests with Congress.

Asked about the electoral college, 20 percent of elected officials incorrectly said it was established to "supervise the first televised presidential debates."

In fact, the system of choosing the US president via an indirect electoral college vote dates back some 220 years, to the US Constitution.

The question that received the fewest correct responses, just 16 percent, tested respondents' basic understanding of economic principles, asking why "free markets typically secure more economic prosperity than government's centralized planning?"

Activities that dull Americans' civic knowledge include talking on the phone and watching movies or television -- even news shows and documentaries, ISI said.

Meanwhile, civic knowledge is enhanced by discussing public affairs, taking part in civic activities and reading about current events and history, the group said.

What they don't know will hurt us.

CNN Explains the Left's Stupidity on the Snub That Wasn't....

2008-11-22T10:56:00.003-05:00

Have I ever mentioned that I think a whole bunch of folks on TV are just plain dolts? Jon Stewart is at the head of the Dolt-Line, BTW.

Watch this one - and for heaven's sake, quit buying into MainStream Media BS (hereafter known as MSMBS).

Sadly, most “younger voters” get their news from Jon Stewart, and truly think The Daily Show is actually a news program. Once this crud is over - four years from now - I'd like to see a movement to force registered voters to test out -maybe something like the citizenship test that our potential citizens are forced to take before they are allowed to become citizens (and vote!).

Even given that I see many Obama supporters as totally acting on emotion rather than as having really looked at the part-time Senator from Illinois' stance on the issues, I was still pretty stunned by this video and its associated poll:

How Obama Got Elected.

BTW - none of the candidates ever said that - it was actually Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live.

Kevin Craft...

2008-11-22T09:52:00.002-05:00

I've talked about him before - this guy is great. Subscribe - he's funny, on point and smart as a whip.

Kevin Craft discusses the recent election.

And this at least partially explains my distaste for the part-time senator from Illinois.

2008-11-14T09:31:00.003-05:00

From the Bulletin.

11/14/2008
What To Expect From An Obama Administration
By Herb Denenberg, The Bulletin

I find one of the more amusing although important questions is how will President-elect Barack Obama govern? As a moderate and centrist, or as an extremist, radical and liberal?

I can answer such questions with another question: When your whole career and resume shows you are a leftist, an extremist, a radical, a liberal, and a 96 percent pure party line Democrat, are you are likely to be just that no matter what you say in the campaign?

Mr. Obama ran far-left to win the primaries and then veered quickly to the center to win the general election. And now the heavy odds are that he will revert to form, to his basic record, positions and values. He is adept at separating his rhetoric from his action and his speeches from his agenda.

I could answer the first question with another question. When you spend your whole career associating with radicals, bigots, racists, terrorists, subversives and crooks will you suddenly be transformed into the great centrist, moderate, uniter and non-partisan?

If those questions aren't enough to convince you and point you to the answer, let me try to provide some answers, clear and certain and not needing any further connecting of the dots.

Mr. Obama's designated chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said Mr. Obama "will push a comprehensive program of social and economic reform beyond an immediate stimulus package." (Financial Times, U.S. edition, Nov. 10) That's a double-barreled answer, as it suggests that not only will Mr. Obama trot out the full liberal agenda but also that he'll do it right away. Expect no gradualism and no moderation. If you're looking for the rule appropriate for a center-right nation, you're in for a rough ride on the wrong side of the street.

Mr. Emanuel made it clear that the new administration is not concerned about taking on too much too soon. According to Mr. Emanuel, Mr. Obama will seize on "the financial meltdown as an historic opportunity to deliver the large scale investments that Democrats had promised for years."

He said there would be no delay in moving for far-reaching education and health-care reforms. He is not going to heed the advice of Karl Rove, President Bush's political architect, who thinks any president should focus on a few items and avoid a total program that can often spell total failure.

Mr. Obama's own comments make it clear that he will push not only for a short-term stimulus package but also for long-term investments in infrastructure. In addition, the stimulus package will include the often-promised middle class tax cuts.

However, neither Mr. Obama nor Mr. Emanuel made any attempt to explain how all these goodies and welfare checks and new, expensive programs will be paid for, the coming deficit already estimated to be doubling to $1 trillion or more like $1.5 trillion. Yes, that's trillion with a "t." Mr. Obama better be the Messiah, as he is unlikely to carry out all his promises, and in a hurry at that, barring some miracle and a lot of divine intervention. Incidentally, that's not even to mention the $10 trillion national debt.

The head of Mr. Obama's transition team, John Podesta, also chimed in on why the new administration will go all out right away in pushing Mr. Obama's comprehensive leftist agenda. He argues that the support Mr. Obama received in Republican states and in some conservative counties gives the new president-elect, what he called a "transformational figure," a mandate to pursue his agenda aggressively. Again, when you hear the word "mandate" fasten your seat belt and guard your wallet.

Mr. Podesta also noted that without even waiting for Congress, Mr. Obama, as president, will be able to use his executive authority to get some things done on day one, without waiting for Congress to act. That would probably include executive orders ending drilling for domestic oil and opening up money and support for abortion, in any form and anywhere. As the record has demonstrated, Mr. Obama is the most radical abortion advocate in the Senate, and is on record as favoring the end of all restrictions on abortion and even the green light for infanticide, as per his vote in the Illinois State Senate. The pro-abortion groups are already beginning to turn on their campaign for legislation to eliminate all state restrictions on abortions, legislation which Mr. Obama has enthusiastically endorsed.

If nothing else, everyone agrees Mr. Obama ran a tight, disciplined campaign. So when all his top people are out on national television programs saying the things I've quoted above, you can be sure that they are stating Mr. Obama's clear intention, and, what's more, they are the opening wave of an attempt to sell his comprehensive, radical agenda to the American people. In addition, the nature of their pitch, suggests Mr. Obama's lieutenants are not only trying to sell his program, but trying to pressure for certain actions by the outgoing administration, even before Mr. Obama gets the key to the White House. The Obama people, for example, are pressing for bailing out the auto industry immediately, as they really want to bail out their benefactor, the United Auto Workers.

The Obama people also made their thinking clear when it was revealed they were studying FDR's first 100 days, in which the Great Depression was used to lever all kinds of legislation.

At the same time, the mainstream media is working hand-in-hand with the Obama transition team to sell his program. That media segment was a key cheerleader in getting him elected, and now they are cheerleading for his administration in transition. Consequently, the mainstream media is now painting a picture of total crisis and an atmosphere of the sky falling to lay the groundwork for immediate, comprehensive, radical reform. Rush Limbaugh pointed out that the Obama people and the mainstream media are now joined at the hip, both pushing the same liberal, radical agenda. And he adds that the mainstream media has so much invested in Mr. Obama, it is not likely to turn on him at any time soon no matter how he performs.

Perhaps the best example of that is the now infamous Associated Press dispatch comparing the environment Mr. Obama now confronts to that encountered by Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt. When you set the scene as a combination of the Civil War and the Great Depression, you have pronounced "Open Sesame" for the most radical and immediate answers imaginable.

At the same time, the liberal pundits are also calling for aggressive and comprehensive moves immediately. E.J. Dionne Jr., writing in Investor's Business Daily (Nov. 11), calls for the kind of bold action taken by President Reagan after his election: "His first moves were bold, and Obama should not fear following his example ... In fact, timidity is a far greater danger than overreaching."

What this adds up to is that you can expect a full court press to get the radical liberal agenda enacted into law. The pressure from the Obama administration, from the heavily Democratic Congress, and from all the Democratic special interest groups is going to be turned loose without any restraint. Such groups as the ACLU and MoveOn.org are already circling the wagons with their radical agendas. So Republicans, conservatives and others better be prepared to do battle against this agenda. Here are just a few of the pieces of that agenda that are about to become flying onto center stage:

Health Care
This top priority of the Obama administration is especially dangerous as it has so many reverberations throughout the economy and the health-care system. In addition, unlike tax increases that can be repealed, the damage to the health-care system inflicted by Mr. Obama's proposal will be much more difficult to fix and more lasting.

It will create a bankrupting cost, as we're talking about bringing about 47 million more people into the system, without increasing the supply of health-care providers. That is likely to lead to rationing, chaos and probably worse. Everyone will fare worse, but senior citizens will be hurt the most as they usually are last in line in a rationing system involving health care. In addition, it will create additional cost at a time of unprecedented deficits, national debts and spending.

We're still trying to figure out how to pay for Medicare and control Medicare costs. This will take a monstrous problem and compound it by a large multiple.

In addition, the health-care reform will wreck the health care delivery system. Finally, as documented by Dick Morris, whose works appears in The Bulletin, in his book Fleeced, it will grant coverage to about 10 million illegal aliens. And once enacted, it will be wrecking health delivery for a long time. Ronald Reagan knew that when he said, "The nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth is a government program."

Card Check For Union Elections
Cutting through all the technicalities, a card check union election is a way to eliminate the presently required secret ballot and a way to open to the way to getting unions authorized by coercion, intimidation and harassment into signing cards that if obtained in majority numbers result in union authorization. You don't need a secret ballot. You only need a majority of workers signing a card, in the presence of union organizers. I don't have to paint that picture for you of the possibilities for coercion and intimidation.

The Democratic Party and Mr. Obama are on record of abolishing the secret ballot in union elections, and they are pressured in this direction by one of their major special interest groups, the unions. This is a top union priority, as they are in the process of moving toward extinction. The card check authorization of unions may breath new life into the union movement.

The card check issue should enlighten observers as it shows that the Democrats are long on power and short on principle, and are quite willing to abandon something as important as the secret ballot in their quest for power and in their willingness to pay back special interest groups like unions that support them. The unions, by this legislation, would be able to grow again and organize on a massive scale. The Democrats would strengthen one of their key supporters that provide financing and manpower during election cycles.

Mandatory Arbitration
This proposal is usually coupled with the card check. It requires that if the newly authorized union and management can't agree to a contract within 120 days, then an outside arbitrator can decide on the terms of the contract. Steve Forbes (Forbes Magazine, Nov. 24) writes, "Naturally these arbitrators know on which side their bread is buttered - they won't get the job unless they've been approved by the unions."

The card check plus mandatory arbitration mean that any business, no matter how it treats its employees, will be subjected to unionization and a decreed labor contract, setting the stage for crippling work rules and bankrupting pension, health-care and other compensation packages. Observe what happened to America's auto industry, with work rules and compensation packages that made them unable to compete and now have brought them to the brink of bankruptcy.

Other Changes In Labor Laws
Mr. Obama has made all kinds of promises that would impose higher costs on business, especially damaging to business at a time of an economic downturn. For example, he would require all employers offer seven days of sick leave and raise the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by 2009. The Democrats are not likely to say no to the unions. And along with his spread the wealth tax policies, such labor law changes are sure to contribute to further economic downturns and less job creation. The Democrats love these mandates, which along with their tax increases are still another way to spread the wealth around.

Fairness Doctrine
This is another favorite Democratic Party proposal that also shows it is willing to sacrifice any democratic principle to achieve and retain political power. The Fairness Doctrine, abolished by Reagan, would make it impossible for talk radio to operate. It would call for balancing every point of view, something that is often impractical economically, and too complicated and expensive administratively to comply with. Talk radio came into its own only after the Fairness Doctrine was abolished.

But it has become the one sector of all the media that is not dominated by the liberal left. But the leftists are not satisfied to control newspapers, television, magazines, and radio. They want total media control, so Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Cal., is leading the charge to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine, and silence the one media voice of dissent to the liberal/radical agenda about to be imposed on America by the Democratic Party.

Spending
When asked what programs will be cut, Mr. Obama has never been able to give one specific example of any consequences although he was asked to do so on more than one occasion during the presidential debates. In fact, in one of the answers, while avoiding programs to cut, he talked about programs that need more funds. He has already proposed about $1 trillion in additional spending, and the Democratic Congress is warming up in the legislative bullpen to add all of their favorite projects.

Despite campaign rhetoric to the contrary, you can expect the White House and the Congress to go on the usual Democratic path of tax and spend and regulate and centralize. Mr. Reagan put it perfectly when he said, "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." He added that the taxpayer is someone who works for the government but doesn't have to take the Civil Service exam. 

Abortion
Mr. Obama is on record during the campaign as saying the first bill he will sign, as president is the Freedom of Choice Act, which would nullify any federal, state or local restriction on abortion. This should surprise no one as Mr. Obama is well-known as the most radical advocate of abortions in the Senate, perhaps best exemplified by his vote in the Illinois legislature to legalize infanticide (when an infant is born alive during a botched abortion). He has never voted in favor of a restriction on abortion. Of course, even before legislation, Mr. Obama can advance his abortion agenda through executive orders, which he might sign as early as Jan. 20.

Defense Spending
Mr. Obama has already made all kinds of pronouncements on cutting back on defense spending, and his liberal, extremists in Congress are already calling for cutbacks. That anti-defense spending crowd is led by Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who has already called for a 25 percent cutback in defense spending. Ironically, Mr. Obama can't seem to see defense as a priority, but he has made proposals to end world poverty, by a multi-billion annual contribution to the U.N., a corrupt, anti-American body, which has already demonstrated how it would administer such funds with the famous food-for-oil Iraq scandal. He would reverse the famous cry directed against the Barbary Pirates, "Millions for defense; not one cent for tribute," to "Millions for tribute; not one more cent for defense."

Patriot Act And Related Matters
"Barack Obama would water-down the Patriot Act dangerously, leaving Americans far more vulnerable to terrorism." That's the view of Mr. Morris and is documented in detail in his book, Fleeced. Here's an example that will give you the kind of changes Mr. Obama is likely to impose. Under the Patriot Act, the government can conduct a secret investigation of a terror suspect and need not give the suspect notice of that investigation for 180 days. Mr. Obama wants to change the period allowed for the secret investigation to seven days. This would be so early in the investigation, the suspect would have ample time to cover up, issue warnings, and escape if necessary. Mr. Obama views the U.S. Constitution as a suicide pact which makes it impossible to wage an effective war on terrorists and impossible to stop them before them repeat 9/11 or some like catastrophe.

Taxes
This is one issue that was discussed to death. Mr. Obama promises tax cuts for 95 percent of Americans but heavy increases on the 5 percent of the wealthiest, which includes the small business that are the engine of job creation and prosperity. So even if he can deliver on this tax cut, despite his ever spiraling spending plans, those that got the tax cut might find that their jobs are disappearing as is economic activity.

I could go on, but the above is enough to destroy the economy, weaken national defense and make us vulnerable to terrorism and our enemies. So we can only hope public opinion can be mobilized so effectively it can stop all or major portions of the Democratic agenda. We can also pray that the Republican Party gets its acts and programs together so it can effectively play the role of the loyal opposition.

Herb Denenberg is a former Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commissioner, and professor at the Wharton School. He is a longtime Philadelphia journalist and consumer advocate. He is also a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of the Sciences. His column appears daily in The Bulletin. You can reach him at advocate@ thebulletin.us.

11-11

2008-11-11T13:41:00.009-05:00

For twenty-four years veterans, historians, students and other citizens came together for Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 10 a.m. in Historic Elmwood Cemetery in Detroit, to honor the memory of members of the 102nd U.S. Colored Infantry. I’ve written about my visits before.

The Detroit Historical Society’s Black Historic Sites Committee, led by Beulah Ware Hamilton, conducts the ceremony. The memorial is held in Section S of the cemetery, where 18 members of the 102nd Colored Infantry are buried.

The idea for the ceremony was inspired by visits Beulah Hamilton made to her husband’s gravesite shortly after his death. Her husband, Karl Walker Hamilton, was an internationally noted historian and had guided numerous visits to the graves of these Civil War veterans. In fact, during her visits, Mrs. Hamilton noted that there was never even an American flag flying over this historic gravesite. “To honor their legacy and the legacy of my husband, I decided to hold a Veteran’s Day ceremony there every year,” Mrs. Hamilton said. Featured here third from left, she is a beautiful woman with style, grace, and dedication to our nation’s veterans.

The 102nd U.S Colored Infantry Regiment was formed in the summer of 1863 as the volunteer First Michigan Colored Infantry. Renamed the 102nd after mustering into the Union Army in 1864, members served with distinction in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Participating in the ceremony are units of the JROTC from many Detroit area high schools, including the one at which I teach; members of the W.A.C. Veterans Association, Wolverine Chapter 67; the Detroit Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen; the U.S. Marine Corps Montford Point and the U.S. Marine Corps Detachment #158; the Tom Phillips Post # 184; the James Europe Post #3080; the Colin L. Powell American Veterans Post # 910; and my personal adult favorite, the Detroit Civil War Re-enactment Group; the Buffalo Soldiers 9th & 10th Cavalry accompanied by Frederick Douglas; the Historic Daughters of the Union Veterans of the Civil War, Tent #3; the 1279th U.S. Combat Engineers Alumni Association; the Historic Triple Nickels; the Michigan National Guard; the 761st U.S. Tank Battalion; the Detroit Veterans of Desert Storm; the Coleman A. Young Post #202; the Gold Star Wives of America, Inc.; the Native American Association; and veterans of several wars.

It is an extraordinary and moving experience.

Honor a veteran today, young or old. Thank one or two or a dozen for their contribution toward making this the great nation it has the potential to be.

Happy Veteran’s Day, Paul. I still miss you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

William H. Carter

He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, about 1841. He lived in Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan On the 15th of November, 1863 at the age of 18, Carter volunteered for 3 years of service. He was mustered in Detroit as a Private on November 30, 1863 and promoted to First Sergeant of Company F, 102nd U.S. Colored Infantry, on February 2, 1864, as a substitute for Delos Davis, who had deserted. He was appointed Sergeant Major of the 102nd on August 18, 1865 and was transferred to a noncommissioned staff.

A letter written by his commanding officer requesting Carter be granted leave time praised him for being an exemplary and dedicated soldier. He was mustered out at Charleston, South Carolina on September 30, 1865.

There is a William H. Carter listed as a colored barber in the Detroit City Directories from 1868 to 1876, living variously at 68 and 91 Crogan Street; 230 High Street; and 253 Grand River.

He was 5' 8' tall; dark hair and eyes; light complexion. Marital status is unknown. He died in Detroit, October 16, 1876, of "phthisis" (more often known as tuberculosis) at the age of 35.

And he is also our history.

Thomas Jefferson

2008-11-10T07:00:00.002-05:00

"The republican is the only form of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with the rights of mankind." —Thomas Jefferson, Letter to William Hunter, March 11, 1790

YouTube, the Supreme Court and a necessary birth certificate.

2008-11-09T13:02:00.003-05:00

There's this issue.

And Part II.

News report on lifelong Democrat Philip Berg's lawsuit

And the Supreme Court refuses to stay the election but orders the original birth certificate produced.

No. 08-570

Title:

Philip J. Berg, Petitioner

Barack Obama, et al.

Docketed:

October 31, 2008

Lower Ct:

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

Case Nos.:	(08-4340)
	Rule 11

~~~Date~~~	~~~~~~~Proceedings and Orders~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oct 30 2008	Petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment filed. (Response due December 1, 2008)
Oct 31 2008	Application (08A391) for an injunction pending disposition of the petition for a writ of certiorari, submitted to Justice Souter.
Nov 3 2008	Supplemental brief of applicant Philip J. Berg filed.
Nov 3 2008	Application (08A391) denied by Justice Souter.

~~Name~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~	~~~~~~~Address~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~	~~Phone~~~
Attorneys for Petitioner:
Philip J. Berg	555 Andorra Glen Court, Suite 12	(610) 825-3134
	Lafayette Hill, PA 09867
Party name: Philip J. Berg
Attorneys for Respondents:
Gregory G. Garre	Solicitor General	(202) 514-2217
	United States Department of Justice
	950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
	Washington, DC 20530-0001
Party name: Federal Election Commission, et al.

And then there's his economic team advisors...

2008-11-09T12:04:00.003-05:00

This one made my sister down in Florida curse out loud, repeatedly, even using the F-bomb - something that in nearly sixty-one years of life I have heard her use perhaps five times - and most of those as a teenager, of course.

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, whose tax and spend policies have only worsened her state's economic plight - and who heads up one of the most depressed, jobless and angry states in the union - is his girl for the transition at least.

Truthfully, most of us here in MI are torn. We're not sure whether we want her to stay here and continue to drive us right straight into the ground or send her to Washington where she'll be able to screw the entire United States right into the ground.

And on taxes....

2008-11-09T11:50:00.004-05:00

I wonder... since I am now "rich" and should be required to support the "poor" what happens if I divorce my husband, retire and voila, without changing my long-term plans much at all, we become "poor."

Maybe then I, too, can suck the economy dry while sitting on my ass whining about those bad old Conservatives.

Got to be honest here - I'm sick of welfare rats. If this offends you because you are one, tough noogies. If you're not one, then you ought to be considering how long before you are taxed out of existence by the crap being floated on the toiled bowl of the part-time Senator from Illinois' agenda.

And please - if one more person that gets tax rebates, tax credit and ends up getting back more taxes than they ever paid tells me, "I pay taxes, too" I promise to puke on their $150 tennis shoes.

Spread the wealth indeed. Karl Marx would have been so proud.

So what other things do you suppose he's lied about?

2008-11-09T11:39:00.003-05:00

Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign slogan, "the audacity of hope," should have instead been "the audacity of deceit." After months of telling the American people that he supports the Second Amendment, and only hours after being declared the president-elect, the Obama transition team website announced an agenda taken straight from the anti-gun lobby--four initiatives designed to ban guns and drive law-abiding firearm manufacturers and dealers out of business:

(Since the NRA pointed to this page, it has been taken down - but if ANYONE thinks his agenda has done anything more than go into hiding for a bit, they couldn't be more wrong.)

"Making the expired federal assault weapons ban permanent." Perhaps no other firearm issue has been more dishonestly portrayed by gun prohibitionists. Notwithstanding their predictions that the ban's expiration in 2004 would bring about the end of civilization, for the last four years the nation's murder rate has been lower than anytime since the mid-1960s. Studies for Congress, the Congressional Research Service, the National Institute of Justice, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have found no evidence that gun prohibition or gun control reduces crime. Guns that were affected by the ban are used in only a tiny fraction of violent crime-about 35 times as many people are murdered without any sort of firearm (knives, bare hands, etc.), as with "assault weapons." Obama says that "assault weapons" are machine guns that "belong on foreign battlefields," but that is a lie; the guns are only semi-automatic, and they are not used by a military force anywhere on the planet.

"Repeal the Tiahrt Amendment." The amendment--endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police--prohibits the release of federal firearm tracing information to anyone other than a law enforcement agency conducting a bona fide criminal investigation. Anti-gun activists oppose the restriction, because it prevents them from obtaining tracing information and using it in frivolous lawsuits against law-abiding firearm manufacturers. Their lawsuits seek to obtain huge financial judgments against firearm manufacturers when a criminal uses a gun to inflict harm, even though the manufacturers have complied with all applicable laws.

"Closing the gun show loophole." There is no "loophole." Under federal law, a firearm dealer must conduct a background check on anyone to whom he sells a gun, regardless of where the sale takes place. A person who is not a dealer may sell a gun from his personal collection without conducting a check. Gun prohibitionists claim that many criminals obtain guns from gun shows, though the most recent federal survey of convicted felons put the figure at only 0.7 percent. They also claim that non-dealers should be required to conduct checks when selling guns at shows, but the legislation they support goes far beyond imposing that lone requirement. In fact, anti-gun members of Congress voted against that limited measure, holding out for a broader bill intended to drive shows out of business.

"Making guns in this country childproof." "Childproof" is a codeword for a variety of schemes designed to prevent the sale of firearms by imposing impossible or highly expensive design requirements, such as biometric shooter-identification systems. While no one opposes keeping children safe, the fact is that accidental firearm-related deaths among children have decreased 86 percent since 1975, even as the numbers of children and guns have risen dramatically. Today, the chances of a child being killed in a firearm accident are less than one in a million.

I'm definitely feeling this guy...

2008-11-09T11:29:00.003-05:00

Message To Conservatives: You Are Racists And Should Be Silenced

For a while I thought it was just me. But in the final days leading up to the national election, I began to notice it on both local and national talk shows around the country.

And now that we are a few days past Mr. Obama’s election night victory, it seems quite clear: things have gotten more intense, not less.

I’m writing here about the attacks that are being telephoned-in to conservative talk radio hosts around the country. I’ve noticed a consistent increase of people that I’ll call “Obama enthusiasts” popping-up as callers on conservative talk shows, and no matter what the topic on the show may be, the assertions from the callers follow a predictable pattern.

The precise choice of words that the caller uses in their line of attack may vary, but the pattern essentially goes like this: A) The caller asserts to the host that “all you ever do is attack Barack Obama;” B) The caller then comes around to asserting to the host that “you are obviously a “racist” (or “you are a bigot,” or “you think Black people are inferior to White people,” or something of that sort); and then the caller concludes with C) “you should be removed from the ‘public airwaves’” (or some variation of the general sentiment that “you should just be silenced” or “you should shut-up”).

Read more - unless you think the blatant, hateful racism being promoted by the Left is A-Ok - as long as it's just those Bad Conservatives - because it's not just radio talk show hosts that it is happening to, not by far.

Oh, yeah....

2008-11-08T22:12:00.003-05:00

Found this in a bunch of motivation type quotes on my 'puter from old - Ronald Reagan.

"Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem."
"Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them."
"Nations crumble from within when the citizenry asks of government those things which the citizenry might better provide for itself."
"Are you entitled to the fruits of your own labor or does government have some presumptive right to spend and spend and spend?"
"The federal government has taken too much tax money from the people, too much authority from the states, and too much liberty with the Constitution."
"The best view of big government is in the rearview mirror as you're driving away from it."
"We were poor when I was young, but the difference then was that the government didn't come around telling you you were poor."
"To those who cite the First Amendment as reason for excluding God from more and more of our institutions every day, I say: The First Amendment of the Constitution was not written to protect the people of this country from religious values; it was written to protect religious values from government tyranny."

Let's get it out of the way....

2008-11-08T08:52:00.003-05:00

I despise the part time Senator from Illinois.

In fact, I pretty much think he's a big jackass.

I despise his Socialist agenda and no matter what anyone ever tries to claim, it sure as hell has nothing to do with the color of his skin. I despise Nancy Pelosi as well. What's my reason there? I'd say her face, but hell, I'm a homely old white broad, too.

Joe Biden - pinhead extraordinaire and he's just an old, useless white dude. Don't even ask me what I think of John Kerry and his wife's money putting incompetents in office - you know, like that of Secretary of State?

Or our own governor, Jennifer Granholm - heading up one of the most depressed states in the Nation - yeah, she's the one we need taking care of financial issues. Who next, Kwame Kilpatrick as head of the Ethics Committee?

Specifically since November 4th, I have found even more reasons to despise BHO, most recently for referring to himself as a "mutt" when he knows full well that in a moment people will be using that term to refer to children of mixed race everywhere, including his own - and that anyone who doesn't agree with his politics and used the term would be vilified unto death, if possible.

How do I tell my students, as I have every day for years, not to call themselves the despicable N-word, when BHO does the same darned thing.

I despise, in fact, his turning a deaf ear to the evil, vocal anti-white sentiment that has sprung up. There's no way in the world he hasn't heard and seen it and no doubt in my mind that he's not speaking to it because it's perfectly acceptable to him.

Isn't this the man who told people race didn't matter and we could all work together (as he hid any white relatives from view and claimed only the five minute father as relevant to his life)? Does anybody else out there think maybe it's time for him to remind his African-American supporters that 13% didn't elect him on their own any more than even less than 13% (at the time) forced the passage of Civil Rights laws that changed our nation - thankfully - for all time.

What a wake-up call for the folks who thought if they voted for him, all of their ancestral sins would be forgiven and their black brothers and sisters would now join hands and sing their praises.

I like best a quote from a friend of mine, Nii-Adzei, who "reminds people that being Black gives one no more creditability than being White does."

Judge the part-time Senator, who has lied to his constituents in order to get elected to the US Senate and shows no sign of giving up the habit so far.

And oh, by the way, I'm not about to quit criticizing our racist President-elect just because white folks should never dare speak badly of black folks. I'm hardly a racist - but I'm not the kind of person that's going to read off my "credentials" on why I should not be considered one.

You may not like my politics, I may not like yours, but let's keep it honest here, please.

I love my brother and his wife so much...

2008-08-24T00:59:00.007-04:00

I cried several times throughout this day, I have to admit. Especially, when one old fellow stood up and commanded the attention of those around him and asked them, "Were you hungry yesterday? Will you go to bed hungry tonight? Do you know why you will not? It's this man right here."

My brother, in Cleveland (no Garden Paradise) has gone out every Tuesday for the past seventeen years and fed the homeless. I do not mean small scale, sammich and two cookies type thing for a dozen folks. This was how I always thought of it because, in two decades, I had never gotten off my ass and went out to see how it worked, but a few weeks ago, I did just that.

He gets up at 6:00 AM, goes to various places, including the food bank, and picks up food and supplies - his vehicle - his labor - his gasoline. He then goes back to a church that allows him to use the kitchen facilities and starts cooking. He has troops - little old ladies, beautiful little old ladies - who assist by peeling, cutting and chopping.

One of the ladies has end stage breast cancer, but she wouldn't miss a day for the world. She has, when she was very ill from the chemo, but she doesn't now, despite her time being measured in months, perhaps weeks or even days. She misses her husband and is not afraid of the time when she will join him, she told me.

I pray for that kind of loving grace should I face the same situation.

He stands over the stove and cooks real food all day long and about 6:00 PM, there's a changeover and the little old ladies go home and the younger group comes in. They all load up and drive downtown in the van that my brother bought for the church and maintains, despite it even catching on fire one of the evenings.

They drive up behind the one of two shelters where they provide meals and he does his little special honk and the homeless come from everywhere - maybe 20% of them from the shelter itself (which does not offer meals) - and the rest from the woodwork or something. It was crazy to watch. They line up, platefuls of food get handed out, smiles and greetings are exchanged, blessings shared, the folks eat and mostly clean up and midway somewhere my brother talks to them about how God has touched his life.

Then they all load up and move on to the next shelter, closing up shop there on the downtown streets around 9:30-10:00 and heading back to the church where my brother, his wife, another woman and a mentally challenged young man (Ray-Ray - so nice they had to name him twice) clean up and lock the doors around 11:00 PM.

The stories I heard about my brother throughout that day made me so proud, I just cannot tell you.

Dinner was chicken breast Parma-John (he's John, Parma's a local city), veggies in cheese sauce (carrots, potatoes, peas and green beans), chili with crackers, bread and butter, salad with lettuce, cukes, olives, tomatoes, fresh cheese, chicken and garbanzo beans, dessert, coffee and juice or chocolate milk.

Don't ask me how he does it on the $75.00 a week he budgets, but he does it and yeah, he hustles to make it happen. And it happens, every single week for seventeen years.

Dinner (not including the big bowl of chili):

Dessert:

Some of the folks who did not go to bed hungry that night:

And "the night shift" of folks who make it happen:

Some of the volunteers have either been junkies or homeless or drunks or even all of the above, but there they are, giving back what once they begged for.

I'm crying now, even as I write this.

I am so blessed. How about you?

If you wish to help - and as you can see, even small amounts of money can make a huge difference - about 350 (it ranges between 300 and 500 people fed every single week!) were fed on that $75.00 that day - you can send a check or money order (for even $5 or $10) to:

John LaRue/Rescue the Perishing Ministry
Cooley Avenue Church of God
12401 Cooley Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44111

Heart Attack - 3/23/08

2008-03-30T11:29:00.001-04:00

I'm doing incredibly well one week after my heart attack. It was a major one - a STEMI - the worst of their kind and, I am told, an immediate killer ~50% of the time. My cardiologist tells me that the remaining 50% of the time it is very often a permanent crippler. There was a 100% blockage in the Left Anterior Descending Artery - one of three major heart arteries.

My cardiologist tells us it was a little interesting because the blockage was just after a Y in the system and the catheter wanted to go the easy route. But that went ok, the stent was installed and my life was given back to me. I have come through with negligible heart damage, most certainly due to my awareness of what was happening, our quick trip to the hospital, the incredible care and the speed at which it was given through Beaumont Hospital, a “cardiac center of excellence.”

I will be off work three weeks (minimum, but I do not expect any delay in my return to work) and that’s fine because I do tire easily and I would like the chance to ease back into a full schedule. Some things will have to change, of course – I kept a horrendous schedule pre-heart attack, attending virtually every function that I was asked to. I’m eating well, and not feeling particularly deprived, although Chili’s chicken chipotle is still calling to me. Many of my old bad habits stemmed from being alone this past fifteen months since my husband has been working out of state. Bad on me for giving in to that negativity.

My sister, with a little bit of fear in her (5 years older than I) voice, asked, “How did it feel?” It felt, in a word, awful! I felt as though I had a safe on my chest from the edges of my shoulders and then from mid-chest and up to my upper jaw. I felt fine (as fine as I had felt for perhaps 8-10 months) one moment and then I did not. The pressure went from just barely registering to damn, that hurts, in a moment. And it did not get any better until the wonderful medical team at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak made it so.

In the past three years two of my sisters and one of my first cousins suffered this type of heart attack and immediately died – each was 61 or younger and one of them lived a pretty healthy life. The other two did not – and neither have I. My mother, at my age, suffered the same type of heart attack and was disabled, on oxygen, and with a very limited lifestyle from then on. I’m determined that I will not.

My change in diet began immediately, of course, and that is going very well. My biggest adjustment is the sodium intake (ack! no more potato chips?), but I will be fine with that. More fruits and vegetables, more chicken and fish, less garbage in general. On Friday I began walking – I made it all the way down to the corner and back – yay! I will extend that by as much as I can as often as I can, without pushing it so hard I end up in trouble. I intend to cooperate with being enrolled in cardiac rehab, which is, as I understand it, not a program for the weak and wimpy. Whatever it is, I’m all for it because the alternative just plain doesn’t work for me.

I had been walking with a cane – my left knee had been targeted for replacement, in fact, but somehow there has been a change in it – maybe increased circulation – I have no idea but I am going to address this with my cardiologist. In any case, I am walking cane-free and having very little pain. I tire easily, but I am doing so well it simply amazes me.

My husband is going back to Texas this evening – it is sad for me. We’re best friends, and we have each other’s backs in everything. He is the smartest, funniest man I know and I love him deeply. Five years together hasn’t been nearly enough and I am going to work to make it a minimum of 25.

One thing - heart attacks kill more women every year than does breast cancer (and I am a 17 year survivor of that!) and there are lots of reasons for that. Please take a moment to read this and then spread the word - to your mothers, sisters, wives, girlfriends and if you're a woman, "take it to heart" yourself. There is lots of good information here as well.

Support and encourage those you know who have suffered a heart attack and they will feel as I do - very gratified to have wonderful family and friends - and that will add to their desire to do their best to move forward and live and live and live.

Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

2008-03-29T09:39:00.001-04:00

Resign. You should be ashamed of yourself for the attempts at misdirection - it's personal (bah!) - it happened over five years ago - (double bah!). Your crimes have seen the light of day - resign and leave our city with the chance to move forward rather than remaining the sinking laughingstock that it is.

Detroit 1968 and now.... a very personal point of view.

2008-03-01T23:47:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I was downtown to speak at a conference at GM and afterwards, with the snow and all and a few hours to spare, I meandered around for a bit and snapped a few photographs here and there. One the way back towards home, I was driving along a service road for the Lodge and suddenly, there was the school - I thought it was the same school anyway. Back in the sixties, I went to that school. Maybe. I thought. Not sure, though. I got my ass kicked a couple of times in the few months I attended Jefferson Junior High School. I was one of eleven or twelve white students there and only three of us were girls. I transferred into the school a few months after the beginning of the school year.

My mother had gotten custody from my father after many years and we now lived on Putnam Street - 1535 - just off Trumbull. Not a great neighborhood, not a terrible neighborhood. Not what I was used to but I really loved all of the old buidlings in the neighborhood.

The morning after the last day I attended this school, I got on the city bus and rode to school, reading an Isaac Asimov book. The ride was maybe ten minutes but could be boring without a book so I never missed having one with me. I was so young.

I got off the bus that morning at Selden. Went east for half a dozen blocks till I got to Miracles Blvd. The walk was slushy and wet with a winter snow that was on its way to melt.

Ahead of me, I could hear noise - bunch of teenaged boys on the overpass. I slowed down, hoping they'd take off before I got there. I was within about half a block, watching warily and wondering if I had the guts to cross that bridge. Whatever was going on wasn't good. Then, as I watched, a bunch of the boys in the group picked up another boy and heaved him over the side of the overpass onto the freeway below.

I must have lost my book then because I didn't have it with me when I got home. I turned around and walked back the way I came. I didn't catch a bus when I got to Trumbull. I didn't come out of my room for three or four days - I don't really remember for sure exactly how many. I refused to go back to the school. Up till then, I'd been a pretty easy-going kid but nothing my mother could say or do was going to make me go back over that overpass again.

Half a mile or so after I first spotted the building yesterday, I turned around and wound my way back and checked and sure enough, Jefferson Junior High. I parked. Sat and thought. Wondered, as I have over and over again over the years, how something like that could have happened. I was never able to clearly picture any of the kids on that overpass that day - wasn't even sure they were all boys, but the majority of them were. The sounds of their anger - that I remember a lot more clearly than anything else. I took a couple of pictures. Thought about going inside but couldn't really think of a good reason to do so. Not even sure I could have gotten out of the car.

After a bit, two young girls walked past - one of them hollered at me, "Hey, lady, whatcha doing?" I hollered back, "Waiting for you to smile!" She did, I did, I snapped a photograph, put the car in drive and went home.

Update....

2007-03-03T12:54:00.000-05:00

I received the following email from Mr. Nugent's camp in response to my communication:

Make sure you are clear that Ted Nugent never agreed with Zumbo but rather brought his hideous destructive mindset to the forefront while educating him on his insanity as well as others who thought like him as well. Our own fellow gun owners!

No one does more to educate beyond on the chior about 2A rights! Please understand exactly what too place here before you pass judgement.

Sincerely,
Sasha Nugent

Can someone actually translate what that says? I'm pretty sure I understand what happened, although a point of view from Michigan Sportsmen has added some possible enlightenment. Some claim that Ted is ticked off because this could curtail his getting free guns at an upcoming AR Shoot in Indiana.

Someone from my own website said:

I have supported Ted in every decision previous to this one.

I dont think that I will have a response to SN.

Sasha apparently asked him, "How can you not support Ted & all he does EVERY DAY to help protect our 2A rights?"

Apparently, the thinking is, don't disagree with his actions, no matter how much they might harm us - and if you do disagree, you're anethema.

Ted Nugent eats himself....

2007-03-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

For some reason, Mr. Nugent has decided to personally support someone who advocates against our Second Amendment rights. In my opinion, this severely compromises him being an advocate for our freedoms.

His call to his fans (he has a web forum wherein folks mostly say "we love you, Ted, we'll do whatever you say):

My BloodBrothers, I have never asked for personal assistencde on my own behalf, howevere, DPMS Panther Arms claim they are getting hammered by the antigunners amongst us (lunatic fringe for sure) to abandon any relationship with me or my TV show for my stand to upgrade Jim Zumbo into a pro-DPMS rifle guy. HUH!!! Unbelievable for sure, but the cannibals amongst us are beyond xplanation. I respectfully request any of you who care, to write a brief, POLITE note to DPMS boss Randy Luth via Sasha at NugentUSA@cs.com, with your take on my standing up to educate upgrade & recruit JZ & his Nugely discovered 2nd Amendment absolutism. Ya with me? ASAP plz!! Brief & POLITE! HITIT! Happy shootemup weekend!
Now, normally, despite his being a long way from someone I'd hang out with, I do support Mr. Nugent and his message - we've stood on the same platform in the past and we share many of the same views on Second Amendment issues. In this instance, I believe he is letting his personal feelings for Mr. Zumbo get in the way of advocating for our rights.

My feelings on the issue and my response to Mr. Nugent:

That will never happen on my part. Mr. Zumbo did us more harm in one posting than 50 Million Mommers could do with a year's hard work. His half-assed apologies do not cut it and seem, in essence to blame anyone and everyone but the guy who said, "I see no place for these weapons among our hunting fraternity. I'll go so far as to call them "terrorist" rifles." and "We don't need to be lumped into the group of people who terrorize the world with them, which is an obvious concern." as well as, "I say game departments should ban them from the praries (sic) and woods."

I am far from a terrorist, and I resent being called one by Mr. Zumbo. He is the one who lumped me in with terrorists and that couldn't be more wrong for someone who claims to be a Second Amendment advocate.

I resent a so-called Second Amendment advocate calling for any kind of gun ban anywhere. I am a middle-aged grandmother, public school teacher and Second Amendment advocate and to have the work I do undermined by these people is extremely frustrating, to say the least.

I resent seeing Mr. Zumbo's work against our efforts posted on the Brady web sites. I resent having a so-called pro-gun individual used against me in my fight for full Second Amendment rights restoration.

Your presumption in calling those of us who will not support someone such as Mr. Zumbo in his furtherance of limiting our Second Amendment rights anti-gunner, lunatic fringe, etc. is simply inexplicable.

He does not, and will never, have my support, and in fact, I fully intend to write Mr. Luth at DPMS and remind him that his support of our Second Amendment rights and our support of his firearms company pretty much precludes supporting anyone who makes statements such as those above.

Sincerely,
Neva Li

Jeff Says....

2007-02-27T20:35:00.000-05:00

Sarah Brady is sending supporters a link to an on-line survey asking them (as a faithful friends) to answer the questions and help guide the Brady Campaign in their dealings with Congress and state legislatures.

Being a democratic guy, I feel compelled to share this with others concerned about the gun control issue so the Brady's get a very clear picture of just what the public really thinks about their issues. Just like the surveys often sent out by pro-gun groups this survey is more about fundraising than actually seeking anyones opinion. Please answer the survey and consider following through on their fundraising appeal by writing a check to your favorite gun rights group. We at the Firearms Coalition would be very proud to receive donations in honor of Sarah Brady.

Follow this link and answer Sarah Brady's Survey.

The "Name", "Address", and "Email" request at the top can be left blank. If you enter an e-mail address, they might put you on their mailing list so you can keep tabs on their activities.

Please pass this on and post it wherever you can.

I'm not sure Sarah's servers can handle the traffic we can generate! Yours for the Second Amendment Jeff Knox Director of Operations The Firearms Coalition On-line contributions to the Firearms Coalition can be made at http://www.firearmscoalition.org/ or mailed to:
The Firearms Coalition
Box 3313
Manassas, VA 20108

Or, if you're willing to help out a great Michigan group, you can donate via their web site or mail donations to:
SAFR
PO Box 205
Hillsdale, Michigan 49242

Comcast Cable

2007-02-01T00:18:00.000-05:00

Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Comcast? Doesn't matter if it's in Michigan or Tennessee, I simply despise the people at Comcast. From the lowliest to the highest, the people that work there are semi-literate, completely lack common sense and can't bumble their way through the simplest situation without making complete fools out of themselves and the multi-million dollar corporation they work for.

For Shirley....

2006-08-22T10:03:00.000-04:00

Who has brought a smile to my face on more than one occasion - and a reminder to all of you, and to me, to treasure what we have and take care of ourselves. Cancer can be so devestating but is so curable with early detection.

Heavenly Father, please give Herb your healing light and strength, your munificent assistance and the capacity to hope and hold strong throughout this challenge. Comfort his family and give them the strength to be all that Herb needs throughout this time. Please give special strength and undarkening hope to Herb, his sons and his mother, that they may find a path through this and to the other side of a loving survival. Help them never to forget to love, laugh, and cherish all that has been given them and show them a path that they can follow wrapped in each other's love and hope.

Amen

Shooters' Alliance for Firearms Rights Reaching out to Others

2006-07-30T12:08:00.000-04:00

There are many ways to support our troups - and I think that prayers, good thoughts, and the support of family and friends at home is vital, but there are other ways to support our troups and their families at home.

Here's a great example. The Shooters' Alliance for Firearms Rights' SAFR Jackson Chapter has done a wonderful fundraiser and is donating the funds to the Michigan National Guard Family Program, which provides assistance to military members as needed. This can be during times of deployments or when the soldier/airman is unable to provide necessary information to the family.

Other ways to support our men and women working for our freedom throughout the world:

Donate a calling card to help keep service members in touch with their families at Operation Uplink at http://www.operationuplink.org/

Send a greeting via e-mail through Operation Dear Abby at:
http://anyservicemember.navy.mil/ or http://www.OperationDearAbby.net/

Sign a virtual thank you card at the Defend America: Web site at
http://www.defendamerica.mil/nmam.html

Make a donation to one of the military relief societies:

Army Emergency Relief at http://www.aerhq.org/

Navy/Marine Relief Society at http://www.nmcrs.org/

Air Force Aid Society at http://www.afas.org/

Coast Guard Mutual Assistance at http://www.cgmahq.org/

The Michigan National Guard The Michigan National Guard Family Fund

Donate to "Operation USO Care Package" at http://www.usometrodc.org/care.html

Support the American Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency Services at http://www.redcross.org/services/afes

Volunteer at a VA Hospital: to honor veterans who bore the lamp of freedom in past conflicts. http://www.va.gov/vetsday/

Reach out to military families in your community, especially those with a loved one overseas. Kudoes to SAFR and all of those involved for their continued support of those who give so much for us at home. Working together, people who care can accomplish anything!

Castle Doctrine Passed Senate

2006-06-07T19:34:00.000-04:00

Passed by the Michigan House back in April, the Senate has now signed on to support Castle Doctrine.

HB 5142 - PASSED; GIVEN IMMEDIATE EFFECT ROLL CALL # 463 YEAS 27 NAYS 10
HB 5548 - PASSED; GIVEN IMMEDIATE EFFECT ROLL CALL # 467 YEAS 28 NAYS 10
HB 5153 - PASSED; GIVEN IMMEDIATE EFFECT ROLL CALL # 464 YEAS 28 NAYS 10
HB 5143 PASSED; GIVEN IMMEDIATE EFFECT ROLL CALL # 461 YEAS 28 NAYS 10

However - in what I see as a pretty odd thing to do, they have tie-barred the already successfully passed Bills to two new basically duplicate Bills.

One of them is a fairly obvious ploy by a formerly Conservative Senator to try to appear as though he is responsible for Castle Doctrine becoming law in Michigan. Fortunately for us, this Senator is losing the respect of the voters, the business community and no doubt, his colleagues. Unfortunately for us, his floundering about has slowed down the right of Michigan citizens to legally protect ourselves in dangerous situations.

Shame on him.

Lessons from the past....

2006-06-03T19:34:00.000-04:00

A woman posted a sort of sweet “forward” type thing on an email list I belong to today. I've thought of my dad a couple of times today – talking about lessons he’d taught me as I was growing up and her sending this kind of added to my thinking about him.

Old Geezers remember the Depression, World War II, Dieppe, Vimy Ridge, the White Cliffs of Dover and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age, the Korean War 1950-53-55, The Cold War, the many Peacekeeping Missions from 1945 to 2005, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing.

Born in 1904, the child of French immigrants, he was a proud, hard-working man. My father was an “old geezer” from the day I was born. At forty-nine, when I was born, he was already old for the care and feeding of a little girl. I was the second to last of his children and he spoiled me rotten, perhaps because his last child died very young, perhaps because he could, after having managed to feed and clothe a large number (by today’s standards) of my siblings before me. By the time I was a teenager, all of the others were gone from home but he still earned very good money and I never wanted for anything.

He lived through two depressions and raised children through them as well. He hated it, and often went without eating himself to ensure that his young ones had what they needed. He did every job one could think of and never once collected a single bit of "dole" as he called it. He got home at 5:50 every weeknight that I remember as I grew up. He didn't finish fifth grade, but I learned to read over his shoulder in "Daddy's Chair" as he read the newspaper nightly, waiting for dinner to be set on the table at 6:00 PM. Meat, potatoes, two slices of bread and coffee.

He was a predictable man. Not much chatter out of him, but plenty of lessons. Work hard and don’t expect anyone to take care of you. Do your job the way you'd expect someone else to do it. Clean up after yourself. Protect folks who need protecting. Never let your children go hungry. Pay your bills. Don't expect anything free. Say please and thank you and never call your elders by their first names (it's disrespectful).

He taught me to cook and after my mom was gone, I took over the task of having that dinner on the table for him at 6:00, and I eventually learned to make liver and onions that he'd have two servings of and take for lunch the next day - unheard of with anything else we ever had for dinner and in the days before microwaves.

Monday nights we went for dinner at Kay's Kitchen on Gratiot. He often had spaghetti – something we did not cook at home as I was growing up. I almost always had steak – something else we did not cook at home as I was growing up. I learned how to make a terrific spaghetti sauce (before spaghetti became pasta) and he loved coming over for dinner and having a big plate before I eventually moved out of state.

He loved apple pie with ice cream – I learned to make that as well. So much of what I learned to do as I was growing up was because I wanted my dad to think well of me. That feeling of wanting my dad to think well of me has never really gone away.

He always made clear that he felt I could do anything that I decided I wanted to do. He thought I was the smartest little girl on the planet. He was proud of me - always, even when I was "just a mom," staying home, raising my babies. The only time I ever felt that he was ashamed of me was when I got pregnant at fifteen years old. Later, he told me that he wasn’t ashamed of me as much as he was afraid that I would give up and not make something out of my life.

He loved my kids, but never got the chance to know my youngest. He thought my daughter was “the picture of her Momma” and told me she was likely to grow up as stubborn as I. My oldest has my father’s blue eyes and his crooked baby fingers and sometimes, when he stands just right, I can see my father’s posture and attitude in him. My youngest is named for him and I know my father would be proud of him as well.

My father’s work ethic was pretty amazing – I like to think he passed that down to me as well. The first college degree I earned I thought of him a thousand times the day I collected my diploma. He wasn’t there; he’d passed away from lung cancer a few months before. Receiving my Bachelor’s degree from U of M, I prayed to him and knew he was watching. When I was awarded my Master’s Degree, I kept wishing he could have known – and then remembered that of course he does.

I teach for a living. Some folks look down on that and a few even manage to imply that my teaching where I teach is something that I should somehow be ashamed of. An old fellow with a lot of bitterness going on in his life, in a moment of pique, said, “Neva can't seem to get hired outside of the ghetto...” as though I am somehow lacking because I choose to work in the inner city and devote my life to working with the children who need good teachers the most.

I’m guessing somehow his father didn’t teach him the same kind of lessons my father taught me.

Memorial Day 2006

2006-05-21T22:58:00.000-04:00

I'm still hurting - I still miss Doc so much. I didn't really think it would still be this painful. It has been especially painful of late because suddenly, it has become clear to me that some he really thought cared for him did not.

I wish them ill. I would never do anything actively, but I wish them ill. No good can ever come of not fulfilling someone's wishes when they are gone from this earth. There is no financial gain large enough to justify not honoring those who have left us. Shame on those who do so.

I will visit Doc again a week from now. I expect to find his grave just as I left it, sadly enough. I will clean it up, plant some flowers, talk to him, listen to the wind, wish I could hear his voice again.

A reminder to those who would forget why May 30th should be important to all of us.

HEADQUARTERS GRAND ARMY OF THE REPUBLICGeneral Orders No.11, WASHINGTON, D.C., May 5, 1868

The 30th day of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village, and hamlet church-yard in the land. In this observance no form of ceremony is prescribed, but posts and comrades will in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.

We are organized, comrades, as our regulations tell us, for the purpose among other things, "of preserving and strengthening those kind and fraternal feelings which have bound together the soldiers, sailors, and marines who united to suppress the late rebellion." What can aid more to assure this result than cherishing tenderly the memory of our heroic dead, who made their breasts a barricade between our country and its foes? Their soldier lives were the reveille of freedom to a race in chains, and their deaths the tattoo of rebellious tyranny in arms. We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance.

All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.

If other eyes grow dull, other hands slack, and other hearts cold in the solemn trust, ours shall keep it well as long as the light and warmth of life remain to us.

Let us, then, at the time appointed gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of spring-time; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from his honor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us a sacred charge upon a nation's gratitude, the soldier's and sailor's widow and orphan.

It is the purpose of the Commander-in-Chief to inaugurate this observance with the hope that it will be kept up from year to year, while a survivor of the war remains to honor the memory of his departed comrades. He earnestly desires the public press to lend its friendly aid in bringing to the notice of comrades in all parts of the country in time for simultaneous compliance therewith.

Department commanders will use efforts to make this order effective.

By order of
JOHN A. LOGAN,Commander-in-Chief
N.P. CHIPMAN,Adjutant General
Official:WM. T. COLLINS, A.A.G.

Life's moments....

2006-05-14T17:36:00.000-04:00

Someone sent me this link today - it being Mother's Day and all. Watching it, I thought back over raising my boys.

I raised two - they're 25 and 37 now.

When the youngest was about ten, the two of them were wrestling around in the family room and the elder knocked the other's (already loose) tooth out - the younger promptly swallowed it, choking half to death as it apparently got stuck on his uvula or something part way down and then, ticked off because his big brother was laughing at him, just as promptly kicked his brother in the face, giving him a bloody nose.

I came around the corner to find them both covered in blood and my older son, in his early twenties, on the floor cradling his bloody face, with my younger son standing over him, blood pouring down his chin and shirt, screaming, "I want my f***ing tooth back."

The tableau froze.

I was.... well, let's just say, less than amused at the time, but even now it makes me laugh.....

Proverbs Chapter 31

2006-05-14T16:58:00.000-04:00

My mother has been gone a long time - perhaps always - but I know this about a good woman - her price is far above rubies - and I wish all good women a Happy Mother's Day.

31:10 Who can find a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies.
31:11 The heart of her husband trusts in her. He shall have no lack of gain.
31:12 She does him good, and not harm, All the days of her life.
31:13 She seeks wool and flax, And works eagerly with her hands.
31:14 She is like the merchant ships. She brings her bread from afar.
31:15 She rises also while it is yet night, Gives food to her household, And portions for her servant girls.
31:16 She considers a field, and buys it. With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.
31:17 She girds her loins with strength, And makes her arms strong.
31:18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp doesn't go out by night.
31:19 She lays her hands to the distaff, And her hands hold the spindle.
31:20 She opens her arms to the poor; Yes, she extends her hands to the needy.
31:21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household; For all her household are clothed with scarlet.
31:22 She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.
31:23 Her husband is respected in the gates, When he sits among the elders of the land.
31:24 She makes linen garments and sells them, And delivers sashes to the merchant.
31:25 Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come.
31:26 She opens her mouth with wisdom. Faithful instruction is on her tongue.
31:27 She looks well to the ways of her household, And doesn't eat the bread of idleness.
31:28 Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:
31:29 "Many women do noble things, But you excel them all."
31:30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; But a woman who fears Yahweh, she shall be praised.
31:31 Give her of the fruit of her hands! Let her works praise her in the gates!

Spider-Man? I have vertigo, for heaven's sake!

2006-05-14T16:22:00.000-04:00

Your results:
You are Spider-Man - You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Superhero Personality Test

Geocaching

2006-05-07T15:27:00.000-04:00

I decided that I need to do something new - seeing as I am an Earth Science geek as well as a computer geek, this seemed like it might be an amusing idea.

Amusing isn't the half of it. First, I sort of vaguely snuck out because heaven forbid I should announce I was going off to try this and come back empty-handed, not having been able to find my way to the corner, let alone someone's artfully hidden cache.

For thos of you who don't have a clue what geocaching (geo-cashing, like cashing a check) is, it's definitely a sport and it can be done alone, with a friend, or in a group. I suspect I will do much of mine on my own as I tend to have a fairly random schedule.

What is it and where'd it come from?

Prior to May 2, 2000, Global Positioning Systems had a built-in error known as selective availability which intentionally degraded the GPS signal that private citizens were able to receive. On that day, however, the White House changed policy. Twenty-four satellites around the globe processed their new orders, and instantly the accuracy of GPS technology improved tenfold. Tens of thousands of GPS receivers around the world suddenly saw an upgraded, and very precise signal change.

By the following day, of course, a computer geek named Dave Ulmer apparently thought, "Whoo-hoo - now I can really use this multi-billion dollar satellite system for something worthwhile!"

He decided to test the accuracy of GPS by hiding a small container, a little black bucket in fact, out in the woods and noting the coordinates with a GPS unit. He called the idea the "Great American GPS Stash Hunt" and posted it in an internet GPS users' group. The idea was, someone else would then have to locate the container with only the use of his or her GPS receiver. The rules for the finder were simple: "Take some stuff, leave some stuff."

On May 3rd he placed his own container, a black bucket, in the woods near Beaver Creek, Oregon, close to Portland. Along with a logbook and pencil, he left various items including videos, books, software, and a slingshot. He the posted the waypoint of his "stash" with the online community on sci.geo.satellite-nav:

N 45 17.460 W 122 24.800

The stash took three days to find, and the "winner" was Mike Teague. From there, geocaching took off and now there are well over a quarter million caches world-wide.

The rules are very simple:

1. Take something from the cache (not strictly required).

2. Leave something in the cache (not strictly required).

3. Write about it in the logbook - and very often, online as well (pretty much required).

I took a sheet of Tigger stickers - whoo-hoo! I left two campaign buttons from Michigan's 2004 election cycle and an oyster shell I found on the beach on Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. I then proceeded to write the wrong darned date in the logbook! But I had a great time and felt decidedly victorious.

When I decided to give this a shot, I simply went to Google and googled up geocaching + Michigan and went from there. You should, too. Good day, out in the fresh air and sun - and what a rush when I actually found the cache! Life is an adventure - if you wish it to be.

I'm so cheap and Staples is so Great...

2006-04-29T19:42:00.000-04:00

I shop at Staples all the time - yes, I know it's an office supply place and who really enjoys shopping at an office supply place but still....

I get a Teacher's Rewards discount that lets me get free shipping, no matter how small the order, and then gives me two percent of what I spend back every quarter.

So today I went shopping for some of this and some of that and had a coupon for 12% off in store, and my rewards check for $20 (they rounded up from $19.60) and then, in addition, another rewards check for $30.

So how'd I get two rewards checks? Well, I had misplaced my previous quarter's check and called the Rewards Center and explained my loss and they sent me a replacement for it without any problem at all.

Excellent service, excellent products, next day delivery whether my order is $2.00 or $200 and a percentage of every purchase goes right back into my pocket.

Oh, yeah, and $60.99 worth of stuff for sixty-eight cents. What more can you ask for?

Castle Doctrine - NRA-ILA supports activism

2006-04-14T18:23:00.000-04:00

Several days ago my blog called for the support of HB 5143 in Michigan - a Bill that has come to be known as "Castle Doctrine." I gave reasons for my support and called for communication with members of the Committee that will be hearing the Legislation on April 18th at 10:30 AM.

One Michigan group met with Representative Rick Jones on Wednesday, April 12, 2006 and asked how they could help get this Bill through committee. He advised that letters needed to be written and those of us who are committed to moving pro-gun legislation set to work. We wrote letters, made phone calls, posted to various message boards and blogs and generally spread the word.

On Friday, April 14, 2006, another Michigan group sent out and email alert to its members saying, among other things, "While others continue to blindly bang the drum for calls and letters to Legislators..." and more or less advised us that they'd take care of everything.

Sadly, it would seem that whoever is responsible for emails such as this simply does not understand the way the political system works.

With hundreds of emails and letters generated by the Brady Bunch and their anti-gun political machine, how could any responsible, and supposedly pro-gun, group ask its members to sit idly by and do nothing to attempt to counteract this tide of anti-gun pressure on our Legislators? This deeply mistaken approach could cost us the protection under the law that we so desperately need.

Thankfully, a few hours after this incredibly ill-thought out email was sent, the The NRA-ILA responded with this urgent email alert:

The Michigan House Judiciary Committee will be hearing important self-defense legislation on Tuesday, April 18 at 10:30 a.m. It is important that law-abiding citizens contact Chairman William VanRegenmorter and fellow committee members and ask him or her to pass HB 5143 and companion bills that are part of the Castle Doctrine package.

The "Castle Doctrine" legislation that has already passed in Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Mississippi, and South Dakota will also help the citizens of Michigan by clarifying the rights and duties of self-defense and the defense of others within ones' home and/or occupied vehicle.

Please contact the House Judiciary Committee as soon as possible!

Your voice needs to be heard by this committee!

Contact information for the House Judiciary Committee members can be found below:

William VanRegenmorter (R-74), Committee Chair: (517) 373-8900;
Email: wmvanreg@house.mi.gov
Tonya Schuitmaker (R-80), Majority Vice-Chair: (517) 373-0839;
Email: tonyaschuitmaker@house.mi.gov
Alexander Lipsey (D-60), Minority Vice-Chair: (517) 373-1785;
Email: alexanderlipsey@house.mi.gov
Stephen Adamini (D-109): (517) 373-0498;
Email: stephenadamini@house.mi.gov
Steve Bieda (D-25): (517) 373-1772;
Email: stevebieda@house.mi.gov
Paul Condino (D-35): (517) 373-1788;
Email: paulcondino@house.mi.gov
Kevin Elsenheimer (R-105): (517) 373-0829;
Email: kevinelsenheimer@house.mi.gov
Rick Jones (R-71): (517) 373-0853;
Email: rickjones@house.mi.gov
David Law (R-39): (517) 373-1799;
Email: davidlaw@house.mi.gov
Bill McConico (D-5): (517) 373-0144;
Email: repbillmcconico@house.mi.gov
Gary Newell (R-87): (517) 373-0842;
Email: repgarynewell@house.mi.gov
Mike Nofs (R-62): (517) 373-0555;
Email: mikenofs@house.mi.gov
Tory Rocca (R-30): (517) 373-7768;
Email: toryrocca@house.mi.gov
Virgil Smith (D-7): (517) 373-0589;
Email: virgilsmith@house.mi.gov
John Stakoe (R-44): (517) 373-2616;
Email: johnstakoe@house.mi.gov

Castle Doctrine in Michigan....

2006-04-12T19:35:00.000-04:00

A Man’s Home is His Castle – or so the Courts in Michigan have said thus far – but the Courts’ views change with the political tide and even the cases that have reinforced Castle Doctrine in Michigan have severely limited the scope and definition of what man’s castle entails.

Michigan residents have no “duty to retreat” in their own home, and the Courts tell us, anything attached to that home – any attached curtilage. However, anything not attached is no longer considered “home,” despite other Court rulings that would appear to support the concept, for instance, of a motor vehicle in which one is traveling, or an unattached garage adjacent to the home, as being part of one’s home (curtilage). Other Courts have ruled, in Fourth Amendment cases, for instance, that both of the above instances do constitute “home” for the purposes of the Court. Thus, the Court is at odds as to what is and is not home, and it is this circumstance that HB 5143 would correct. Codification is the only sure method to guarantee the right to defend one’s self against arrest if one must use an armed defense in a car jacking, for instance.

Similarly, at this point in our history, someone who does defend him or herself in any of the circumstances above, even if held to be completely justified in the use of deadly force, and within the boundaries of his or her own home, can still face ruination in the form of lawsuits from the individual who caused the situation, or from his or her family.

House Bill 5143 would end all of that and protect each and every law abiding citizen of our great State, who is justified in the use of deadly force when he or she reasonably believes that deadly force is necessitated to prevent the commission of a forcible felony. No one should have to retreat if he or she is in a place where he or she has a right to be – in her own car, in her own garage, on her own porch. No reasonable individual would ever “look for trouble,” but when trouble comes to find us, as law abiding citizens, in places like our homes, cars, garages or back yards, we should not have to leave it to the vagaries of the Court system to decide if we ran far enough, fast enough, or tried hard enough, to escape a situation.

House Bill 5143 would also afford financial protection to those who have been found to justifiably use deadly force to protect self or loved ones as defined in the law. HB 5143 would protect law abiding citizens from being prosecuted under criminal law and from any civil action for the use of force as defined under the law. Effectively, what the law would do is forbid the ruination of an individual who has had to use force against a felon in the commission of a crime and has sought only to employ what is that most basic human right – self defense.

I cannot urge you strongly enough to support Castle Doctrine in Michigan and lend your strength and commitment to law abiding citizens and their right to be safe in both home and travel.

SAFR says:

Dear SAFR Member:

Michigan House Bill 5143 goes before committee Tuesday or Wednesday of next week and is expected to be voted by the following week.

The Brady Campaign has sent over 400 letters to legislators telling them this bill is bad for Michigan. They need to hear from you that this is good legislation. It has broad, bi-partisan support and can be sitting on the Governor’s desk if we let them know how important it is.

Please WRITE LETTERS. Phone calls are not that helpful because they can’t be carried to committee hearings. Emails will work, but the best thing is to hand write a letter. These cannot be deleted like email can. Either mail the letters or fax them, but get them out NOW so they reach in time. Write to both your Representative and Senator.

To write to the House:

Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Find your Representative!

To write to the Senate:
Box 30036
Lansing, MI 48909-7536

Find your Senator!

Please forward this information on to as many people as you can, as we need to get a much more powerful response than the Brady Campaign did.

Do it now - SAFR can help protect your rights - but only your voice can really make a difference.

Good and Bad Training...

2006-04-10T11:01:00.000-04:00

I'm a teacher. I've got three formal degrees, several training certificates that apply to teaching in the schools and seven more that apply to teaching firearms safety. By now, I have probably spent the calendar equivalent of 23 years in some kind of schooling or another. Believe me, I have seen good training, bad training, indifferent training and every stripe in between.

This past weekend, I saw some of the best training I have ever been privileged to experience by a team of instructors who know what quality training means.

Thursday through Sunday, I attended Training Counselor classes offered by the National Rifle Association's training department and an excellent team of Master and Senior Training Counselors. A "train the trainer" type session that lasted four days and was as well done as anything I've ever gone through for training.

I think my proudest moment was hearing that these instructors would feel confident sending family or friends to me to take a class. I will always do my best to live up to that trust.

Kudos to the NRA, to Roy Mullens of Ohio, and to the rest of the team joining us in Ohio to ensure quality training. My thanks to the NRA, its 4 million-plus members and the proud commitment to freedom, safety and education that is a driving force for all we do.

America's 1st Freedom. It's not just a magazine, folks - it's a way of life.

Twain - and the Governator

2006-04-10T09:59:00.000-04:00

I've talked about my enjoyment of Twain's writings before - his obvious love of his wife was touching and his political, romantic and satirical writings precisely on target. He had a brevity of wit that I cannot help but admire and I wish I had the ability to produce pithy one-liners at anywhere near the same level as he.

For instance....

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

So true. There are many who will step up to the plate when it comes to the possibility of taking a knock in the head but when it comes to standing for what one believes in, we are sadly lacking. Moral courage is difficult for so many. I teach high school, and I find the lack of moral courage to be prevalent even in the smallest matters. Some of my children would rather face almost any punishment than face doing what is right.

Unfortunately, it doesn't get better with age. There are so many examples of lack of moral courage that I cannot really begin to address them. Here is a for instance, though.

Governor Schwarzenegger knows how he came to this country - legally, following the law, working his way through the system, doing the right thing and eventually, becoming a citizen of this great country. He has even risen to public office in California, the most populous state in the Union, where Hispanics make up one-third of the population.

Now, I understand responding to your constituents - certainly, he should do that. However, to pander to them is another story altogether, and to simply not stand for what is morally right is something I really didn't expect from the Governor.

Today, in the Wall Street Journal, the Governor says, "Before 9/11, we gambled that everyone entering our country had good intentions." Now this is a very true statement - and the sentiments that follow are also true - that we can no longer afford to do so, that it effects our safety to do so, that we need stronger borders and that this will mean more agents, etc.

However.

He rejects punishing law breakers. He rejects the idea that those who are in our country illegally should be deported. He rejects this and he rejects that. He believes we should develop a temporary worker program to allow American businesses to hire foreign workers for jobs "American workers will not do" - never mind that it's been shown over and over again that American workers will do the jobs, but that some unethical employers prefer undocumented workers since they do not require taxes be paid, matching social security payments, or even basic safety compliance in hiring. He believes we should be sending money to other countries to bolster their economies so that people in those countries will want to stay home rather than come here.

I'm going to indulge in a colloquialism. "Duh...." It hasn't worked in the last century - why would we expect to think it would work now? And what about the rather stark evidence to the contrary as exhibited in the attacks on our own soil by those we have fed and clothed in the past?

Here's another Twain quote which I have found to be terribly true:

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man.

I have no wish to see our country bitten again - the past has shown us what a mauling illegal immigrants can inflict upon our country, its citizens and their safety and our economy. It is time to do the right thing and enforce the law - and strengthen it if that's what it takes to make our country strong.

It is most certainly not time to pander to 12 million illegal immigrants who think the law should not apply to them.

Time for the Governator to adhere to another Twain truism.

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."

Irony is hard at work in Colorado...

2006-04-01T09:42:00.000-05:00

Skyline High School Principal Tom Stumpf has announced that displaying the American flag is banned at the Longmont, Colorado high school. He says students displaying the flag were engaging in racism and "misguided patriotism."

Students were suspended Friday for protesting the school's ban. One student, Dustin Carlson, told Denver station KCNC-TV that he was suspended for two days. He is quoted as saying, "If this country means freedom, then why can't we fly our own flag? It's ridiculous."

High school students protested immigration laws passed by the House and somewhat watered down in the Senate. Some waved Mexican flags and carried signs saying "We are not criminals." They were allowed to do so.

I am ready to accept that for most of them, the statement, "We are not criminals," is correct. However, if any of the students among them is here as an illegal alien, then, frankly, their statement is a lie. For any of the students here as illegal aliens, their parents and/or guardians have put them in a position wherein they can, and should be, arrested and deported. It's an unfortunate truth that parents sometimes do not do the right thing for their children and anyone who has brought their child, illegally, into a foreign country and forces them to break the law daily, ought to be ashamed.

Apache Junction High School in Apache Junction, AZ, also briefly outlawed the flying of flags. You see, on Thursday, a group of students identified as Hispanic took down the American flag from the school's flag pole and raised a Mexican flag in its place. The Mexican flag was promptly taken down by other students, identified as "white" by the local press, and then burned.

I have to admit that I am mystified by the difference in identifying the students. One group is identified by the ethnic origins - Hispanic - the other by the color of their skin, rather than Country of citizenship - American. Clearly, to members of the media, and to Mr. Wyman, these students being young Americans who are offended by a group tearing down their Country's flag and replacing it with that of a foreign nation are "racist."

By the end of the school day Friday, Superintendent Greg Wyman had created a new policy banning all flags of any kind, whether on clothing, jewelry or otherwise, could be worn or brought on campus. A few hours later, after meeting with school and district officials, and facing community and parental pressure, Wyman reversed his decision.

Lest any reader make the assumption that I do not support immigration to the United States, I can only say, "You couldn't be more wrong." I am, in fact, acting as a sponsor to a legal immigrant, going through the process to become a citizen of the United States . I would stress the word "legal." With my sponsorship, I guarantee that she will never become part of an already overburdened welfare system, and she is fulfilling the painstaking process of following U.S. immigration law in order to become a law-abiding citizen of the United States. I'm very proud of her and her efforts and I look forward to the day when the process is complete.

I do not, however, support anyone who has entered this Country illegally or attempts to stay here illegally.

As an aside, I often hear the argument that illegal aliens are simply here doing the work that Americans will not do. In fact, I believe that what is actually happening is that due to the non-payment of taxes, social security, the costs of worker safety and more, Americans are being underbid for jobs they would most certainly do if a living wage were offered. The result is an economy slowly slipping into depresssion due to eleven million illegal aliens usually working for cash or with false identification, which brings zero economic support beyond dollars spent and sales tax collected. All government services normally supported by income taxes are free to those eleven million people and welfare abuse is rampant.

Why would I claim that welfare abuse is rampant? Because you have a huge group of workers who are being paid cash or with false identification, and who can now claim, to government agencies, that they have no income, thereby being granted welfare payments, medical care and food stamps. For more, please read Minimum Wage and Fairness by the Mackinac Policy Center author, Michael LaFaive.

In what I see as a final stroke of irony, Skyline High School has a Flag team. Wonder what they'll wave at the next event now that American flags are outlawed.

The Supreme Court Does It Right....

2006-03-23T09:52:00.000-05:00

I'm pleased, if a bit behind the times here, to see that the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Military recruiters being treated the same as any other employer on campus. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals found in favor of the schools last November, saying that "the Solomon Amendment violates the First Amendment by impeding the law schools' rights of expressive association and by compelling them to assist in the expressive act of recruiting."

Needless to say, I disagree, and believe that on-campus recruiting is more or less the same as any other recruiting effort and should be treated thusly. The various law schools' incredibly ignorant and arrogant approach of denying recruiters the use of office machines, for heaven's sake, was something that needed slapping down in the worst way.

"The Department of Defense's main argument against the law schools was that in wartime, the government must be able to recruit the best and brightest." Indeed - and why would any school seek to block its students from any employer? Not because it has its students' best interests at heart, but because some Liberal Leftist professor, who long ago lost touch with the real world, is offended by those brave and committed individuals who protect our freedoms - including the First Amendment that these professors exercise - and often to the detriment of the very students they claim to be "protecting" from being recruited to work for an honorable employer.

Chief Justice Roberts rightly points out that the schools are free to turn down federal funding if they really believe that their First Amendment rights are being abrogated by refusing to treat all recruiters equally.

No one, after all, is trying to force them to take taxpayer dollars to fund their Ivory Towers.

Associating with known felons....

2006-03-02T11:54:00.000-05:00

Charles R. Perricone - remember him? He served as a Representative in Michigan for two years and rented the position of Speaker of the House for one year before going home and sinking into near anonymity, except for his connection to various Court cases.

A review of some of the Court issues:

He has fought, and continues to fight, for more than two years to keep the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO) financial records concealed, despite being ordered by the Court - repeatedly - to turn over those records, despite four Contempt of Court hearings and a blanket rejection by the Court of Appeals of his plea to keep things hidden from the members.

He attempted to disarm me and have my firearms taken from me on a completely fabricated Personal Protection Order request that was later summarily thrown out of Court.

He apparently nudged his wife into filing an attorney grievance complaint against the attorney representing us which was also summarily thrown out as completely baseless. I want to feel sorry for her because I can't imagine being married to someone as oily as he, but somehow, if she is buying into some of the stupid stories he tells (as in his claim that I am infatuated with him - ick) then she may be getting everything she deserves.

And now - well, his connection to Walter Mabry is astonishing, even to me.

Walter Mabry is a Union boss in the Detroit area - he heads up the Michigan Regional Carpenters Council. This may be an unfamiliar name because they used to be part of another group, but apparently that group was too tame for them. When it comes to the Carpenters Union, in the words of Doug Buckler, the President of MCRGO and a local hotshot for the MRCC, "don't screw with this brotherhood."

As an aside, Doug Buckler is also a client of Mr. Perricone's and is one of the MRCC officers that Mr. Perricone maneuvered onto the Board of Directors, even going so far as to manipulate the elections for the Board in 2003 and violate numerous Bylaws over and over again. He has now maneuvered him into position as the President of the organization. MRCC funds continue to flow into MCRGO coffers in the form of "advertising" space in the occasional newsletter Mr. Perricone publishes, but exact amounts are unknown as Mr. Perricone and the treasurer refuse, despite Court Orders and the affirmation of those orders by the Michigan Court of Appeals, to release the information to members.

Could this association with MRCC and Mr. Perricone's exorbitant contractual salary have anything to do with why the organization has had to plead poverty and beg payment arrangements with the Court for its recent Contempt of Court judgment?

MRCC, just in case you have lost track of them in their splits and name changes, used to be known as the folks who took care of Jimmy Hoffa - however he was taken care of. I wonder if the name change has made any difference at all in their method of dealing with problems, but that's for another day.

Walter Mabry is the man that Charles Perricone has pushed, for several years, to have placed on the board of Directors of MCRGO. He is also Mr. Perricone's client in Mr. Perricone's "consulting" business. On at least one occasion, Mr. Perricone consulted MRCC's way into a law change that benefits the Union financially and hurts small businesses state wide in a deal with "Conservative" Republican Legislator Alan Cropsey.

He is also the man who has been forbidden by the Dept. of Labor, for some years, to have anything to do with his own Union's pension fund due to some slights of hand with the funds of the Union members. Apparently, he was part of a group of Union bosses that had to pay back more than $590,000 due to a suit filed August 23, 2000. The suit alleged the defendants violated ERISA by paying unreasonable compensation and fees, failing to prudently invest the plan's cash assets, paying excessive fees relating to the collection of employer contributions owed to the plans, and making mortgage loans to participants which did not comply with the terms of the pension plan document.

He is also the man making loans with Union member dollars to casinos and other individuals and groups that have been found, over and over again, to be illegal. A quote from the article on a Washington State casino under consideration referenced above:

A state Gaming Commission investigation into Arlington Gaming's funding source, a Detroit carpenter union pension fund that made illegal mortgage loans in the 1990s has delayed approval of the casino application.

He is also the man who was convicted of several felonies in the conspiracy to solicit prohibited payments and solicitation of a prohibited payment and is now facing five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Yet Mr. Perricone refers to this man as "an angel" that we need to have on our Board of Directors.

Lest you think I am criticizing the entire Union and its members, I am not. The vast majority of the members would get rid of the man if they could. Some have even testified in Congressional hearings about the abuse of power since he took office. I am stating only that there are corrupt individuals in charge at MRCC and Charles R. Perricone wants to put some of those same individuals in charge of MCRGO.

My question is clear - why?

Geez, oh, pete...

2005-12-21T17:11:00.000-05:00

I came home yesterday to find a notice of a certified letter waiting for me. It seems that the office of Joni Fixel has decided to violate the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct by contacting me directly, rather than communicating with my legal representative.

Rule 4.2 Communication with Person Represented by CounselIn representing a client, a lawyer shall not communicate about the subject of the representation with a party whom the lawyer knows to be represented in the matter by another lawyer, unless the lawyer has the consent of the other lawyer or is authorized by law to do so.

Of course, Joni knows that my attorney is the respected Kevin Winters of Foster, Zack and Lowe as she has communicated with him on many occasions and appeared in Court across the aisle from him when MCRGO's Executive Director, Anti-Gunner, Charles R. Perricone (you remember - he used to be the Speaker of the House, an office the Michigan Daily newspaper says was sort of expensive for him to buy his way into) tried to get away with claiming I was "infatuated and obsessed" with him due to his being part of a two-year long lawsuit (and now, an additional lawsuit for defamation and slander) in which I have been found to be on the right side of the law every step of the way.

Oddly enough, it appears Joni is unaware that there is a Court Order in place that addresses this matter. You see, they "terminated" my membership once before but finally offered it back to me (I suspect they knew that was a losing battle) and an order was entered in July of this year that contains language that says:

IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the only remaining issues in this case, that being the termination of the membership of Neva Li from MCRGO, is resolved by virtue of MCRGO reinstating Neva Li as member of MCRGO subject to all terms and conditions of membership. MCRGO will not terminate Neva Li's membership in a manner inconsistent with both Michigan Law and MCRGO Bylaws.

Michigan Law. Wouldn't that be an idea for the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, its Executive Director and its attorneys? Just follow the law.

Now, why would they want to try yet again to remove me as a member? The recent election results explain that pretty clearly. Seven hundred sixty seven votes for me as a Director. Almost fifty percent of the ballots that were returned contained a vote for me. Two spots open up in my region next year and I intend to run again.

And in the case of MCRGO's attorneys, my suggestion is, follow the Michigan Rules of Professional Conduct. I understand that the MCRGO Board of Directors and its Executive Director are bound by no such rules of ethics, but Ms. Fixel certainly is.

One last suggestion, for now: Ms. Fixel and Mr. Naumcheff need to read the Court records surrounding this case, they really do. I've posted a lot of the relevant orders and records in this directory, but they really need to review everything that has gone on up to this date and try to get their client, who appears to be Mr. Perricone primarily, to be a little more forthcoming in the real truths behind all of this.

And one final comment. Mr. Naumcheff didn't quite tell the membership the truth the other day at one of the meetings. He told us that any document "not signed was not public." Untrue, of course. Many of the documents filed with the Court are not signed. They're still public. Of course, I also have the right to make things like my own deposition public. I know it, you know it, the Judge has reinforced the concept repeatedly. It's only MCRGO and its continuously changing teams of attorneys that don't seem to get it.

Trust me - it isn't infatuation, no matter what he tells his wife...

2005-12-20T17:50:00.000-05:00

Mr. Charles R. Perricone - you remember him, perhaps because, some years ago, he paid good money to be the Speaker of the House for a short time - according to the Michigan Daily at the time, he won by "contributing $4,500 to each" Republican lawmaker - claims I am infatuated with him.

This is the Executive Director of MCRGO that disarmed me with a spurious PPO a month or so ago - see this file for details.

Of interest in the continuing saga of his fabrications and manipulations is this transcript of the PPO hearing.

I cannot imagine how his wife believes some of the tripe he feeds her. Just a little bit of applied logic would seem necessary here at some point in time.

As I told some friends of mine earlier today when we pondered him actually saying out loud that I am supposedly infatuated with him:

... he has to tell his wife something about all of this so telling her that I am infatuated with him worked, I guess, for someone not intuitive enough to ask the next question(s). "So, what's your obsession with her? Why are you always writing about her in the On Target and in emails? Why do you keep trying to get other groups to trash her? Why do you have people spying on her? Why don't you just comply with the law and the Judge's orders and do what you should be doing?"

If my husband had spent two years in Court constantly being told by the Judge that the organization he was responsible for directing was not following the law, and whose actions helped place the organization in that position, we'd have more to discuss than the woman who filed the suit.

But that would never happen because I am married to an ethical man.

Director of MCRGO, Kerry Miller

2005-12-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

Kerry Miller wrote to me and asked me to post this:

Please post this is what they want me to sign this, so I would have to lie to
protect Chuck. I will stand up for MCRGO because the members have only listened
to Chucks lie's and we should not pay this guy 75% of the money we take in.

The following two letters were attached:

http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/MCRGOconflictletter.pdf
http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/MCRGOWAIVER.pdf

Seven Days

2005-12-17T09:51:00.000-05:00

This order was signed by the Judge in this case yesterday, December 16, 2005:

THIS MATTER coming before the Court on Ms. Neva Li’s (“Ms. Li”) request for costs and fees pursuant to this Court’s Orders of September 1, 2005, and October 26, 2005, the Court having reviewed the Bill of Costs and Supporting Affidavit, and being fully advised in the premises, Now Therefore:
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that attorneys’ fees and costs in the total amount of $13,822.92 are awarded and are to be made payable to Ms. Li and sent to Foster Zack & Lowe, P.C. within seven days of the date of this Order.

Friday, December 23, 2005. Pay up or we're back in Court for the third or fourth time on Contempt. Next comes a Show Cause hearing on failure to provided all documents as ordered (despite two trips to the office to copy) and a myriad of other issues, which I will detail here in the next few days.

Meanwhile, our responses to their appeals can be found here:

1. Amendment to Appeals Brief - mine
2. Brief in Support of my Motion to Affirm the Judgement
3. Motion to affirm - a sort of request for permission type document.

And then, there is the following letter to their new attorneys in response to their "response" to my defamation/slander lawsuit. Interestingly enough, their response includes a countersuit on Mr. Perricone's behalf, which apparently the members are supposed to pay the attorney's fees for.

Dear Joni and Brett:

I have reviewed the above document in preparation of an Answer. I thought it would be better and more of a professional courtesy to send you this letter before I move for an immediate Motion for Summary Disposition. My Motion for Summary Disposition at this point would be based on the defects in the pleading that relate to the defamation Count I - Business Defamation of MCRGO and Count II [sic] – Personal Defamation as to Defendant/Counter Plaintiff Perricone. Pleadings that allege defamation must be specific. In other words, the pleading is defective if it does not contain the defamatory words specifically - verbatim. The elements of defamation must be specifically plead including the allegations of the defamatory words and the connections between the parties (Pierson v Ahern, 2005 WL 1685103) (Mich App, Jul 19, 2005) (NL. 260661) Hightower and Hightower, Inc. v Community Living Services 2004 WL 2452008( Mich App, Nov 02, 2004) (NO 248882) Rouch v Enquirer and News of Battle Creek Michigan 440 Mich 238, 487 NW 2d 205, 20 Media L.Rep. 2265 (Mich Jul 15, 1992) (NL. 89799). The defamatory statement must be specifically verbatim without exception. My notes indicate that I have somewhere around the 28th of December to provide an Answer. As a Christmas present I would like to give you the opportunity to correct the defects in your pleading. Provide me an amended pleading with the specific verbatim allegations no later than December 20, 2005. If you do not wish to amend your pleading, I will move for Summary Disposition on those 2 counts for lack of specificity and include a Motion for Summary Disposition on tortuous interference before my Answer.

The second issue in this letter concerns the private affirmative claim for Mr. Perricone, individually. Mr. Perricone cannot bring his own private claims that are paid for by MCRGO. The question is whether the Board of Directors is paying for an affirmative action that only Mr. Perricone stands to benefit from. If this is the case, it is well beyond the authorization of the Articles of Incorporation and well beyond the indemnification as set out in the Bylaws. Please provide us a copy of the Board resolution passed, adopted and approved consistent with the Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws of MCRGO (not the Ops Committee) where the Board authorized the payment of attorney fees advance, (which is not indemnification) of individual Board members and where they authorized payment of attorney fees for an independent, individual affirmative action on behalf of Mr. Perricone. If you wish, I can send a discovery request Monday morning and get the documents.

Finally, as to the first Li v MCRGO litigation, we are in the process of finishing the inventory of the documents that we copied at MCRGO. I will be sending that to you in a couple of days with an Affidavit as to what we received as well as a request for MCRGO to provide what is still lacking consistent with all the Orders. At that point we can see what we can do to get the rest of the information in the next week or two.

Thank you for your attention to these matters. Looking forward to hearing from you.

I look forward to hearing from them as well.

Now, I am off to the meeting where they will "announce" the new Board members. Considering the endless character assassination that the Chairman of the Board and Mr. Perricone have engaged in for the last two years, and the fact that they control the vote count process, I hardly expect to be successful in my bid but I will be attending the meeting.

Charles R. Perricone, Who was ONCE Speaker of the MI House

2005-11-21T13:32:00.000-05:00

He signs his name "Honorable" but I reserve that title for those who are.

Not those who pretend to be "Pro-Gun" while disarming woman and engineer the law so that it creates zones where law-abiding citizens must go unarmed and unprotected.

I read a quote today that fit him so perfectly - fit what he has done to MCRGO so neatly, that I felt I must share it with all of you.

"A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. As enemy at the gates is lessformidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly. But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself." ---Marcus Tullius Cicero

This is the man who refuses to bring the Secretary's Book out of the safe at A&E Printers of Lansing, Michigan, where he put it two years ago after illegally removing it from the office. This is the man who refuses to provide legitimate documents to Board members when they request them of him. This is the man who keeps the membership database locked away at A&E Printers in Lansing, Michigan, rather than in the principal office as required by State Law. I wonder if any Board member has ever gotten around to ordering him to return them, as required by Law, or if they are just going to continue to allow him to flaunt the Law and the organization's Bylaws.

And this is the man who tells us over and over again that he is a former lawmaker. Former, as in done, over, not one any longer and, in my opinion, never should have been one in the first place.

But this is also the man who deems himself above the law and will come back to face a Judge and explain to him exactly why he attempted to interfere with the Court's Orders with his obviously spurious attempt to place a Personal Protection Order against me for a year.

Read the Judge's discussion of the Order in the transcript where he says, "I’ll tell you, this would appear to have all the earmarks of an intent -- an effort to interfere with and disrupt this Court’s jurisdiction and power to enforce its orders."

Maybe this time he won't be able to hide behind his claim that it is all the Board of Directors' fault.

I know he won't be able to when it comes to the slander and defamation suit because the evidence is going to clearly show exactly who he is and what he has done.

And I, for one, look forward to my Day in Court.

The Rights of the People...

2005-11-15T18:49:00.000-05:00

The Second Amendment states:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

You may have heard it said that the Second Amendment protects the First:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
------ (Emphasis mine.)

On October 21, 2005, both of those rights were slammed into abeyance for me.

Charles R. Perricone, one-time transitory Speaker of the House (who purchased the job with well-placed gifts and contributions), retaliated for our continued success in Court. Our efforts to force the Board and its Executive Director, Mr. Perricone to comply with the law, the Bylaws and numerous Court orders did not go unnoticed by Mr. Perricone, despite his failure to actually acknowledge any of them.

His response to them, however, was not quite what the Judge (or we) in this case hoped for. His path was to fabricate a tale of woe and attempt to have me stripped of both my First and Second Amendment rights.

A moment's pause here. Please take a few moments to read through these records and our motion.

I'd been asked for details on why my Concealed Pistols License was suspended but because Mr. Perricone apparently did not want his statement to come into the public eye (and how does that work anyway, when a document is filed in a public matter?) perhaps because it so obviously reveals his anti-gun stance, or perhaps because he admits that he does not have a Concealed Pistols License himself - while serving as the Executive Director of a pro-firearms rights organization and claiming to be the reason we have Shall Issue in Michigan today.

In any case, until we won our dismissal today, I was not allowed to speak on this matter, although I did speak openly about my loss of CPL - or as openly as I was allowed to.

Just a quick reminder on the idea of Mr. Perricone's claims that he is the reason we have Shall Issue in Michigan today. He is the reason we have Criminal Empowerment Zones, certainly, and must continue to fight for our rights under both the United States and Michigan Constitutions.

But his fabrications and fantasies hit bottom today and were soundly rejected. We will continue our fight to clean up MCRGO unabated and I will enjoy the same rights and responsibilites as every other law-abiding Michigan citizen, despite the efforts of the Once and Thank Heaven Never in the Future Former Speaker of the House.

And now a short public service announcement. If you are ever looking for an attorney who will be a pit bull for your rights, I want to recommend Mr. J. Kevin Winters of the Okemos firm of Foster, Zack and Lowe. He is incredible and he not only fights for me, he seems to believe in me. He's smart and he's dedicated and he has been incredibly patient and hard-working in this matter.

I'd like to also add my thanks to Jim Simmons, pro-gun attorney extraordinaire, for his invaluable assistance in walking this through the system on this side of the state while Kevin, another pro-gun attorney extraordinaire, was finishing up handing Mr. Perricone his hat and sending him home empty-handed on the other side of the state.

Kudoes to the Oakland County Gun Board for their immediate - within moments - reinstatement of my Concealed Pistols License.

Today, the system worked.

Friday...

2005-11-07T23:50:00.000-05:00

Veteran's Day.

Plan something good for the veteran you know or one you don't.

Send a card, send some popcorn and a movie, contribute to a veteran's group or even stop by a veteran's hospital.

If nothing else, pause in your day and say a prayer of thanks.

You owe your daily freedom to each and every one of them.

Miss you, Doc, I really do....

Explain this to me - and your constituents...

2005-11-06T09:24:00.000-05:00

All of the following are good Bills, but not going anywhere. Why? Stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is chaired by supposedly Pro-Gun Senator, Alan Cropsey.

Could it be because MCRGO didn't develop them and no Pro-Gun Bill that they didn't develop isn't going to be allowed to move? Could it be that because the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is more concerned with making MCRGO look good, while he uses his office to slander me and interfere with my Civil Rights, than he does about good, solid, pro-gun legislation?

HB 4186 of 2005 House Bill Weapons; concealed; renewal date of concealed pistol permit; establish as same day as expiration of permit when renewed prior to expiration date. Amends sec. 5l of 1927 PA 372 (MCL 28.425l).

HB 4186

3/24/2005 REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY - STALLED

HB 4643 of 2005 House Bill Weapons; licensing; issuance of concealed pistol license renewal; require within certain period of time. Amends sec. 5l of 1927 PA 372 (MCL 28.425l).

HB 4643

8/31/2005 REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY -STALLED

HB 4642 of 2005 House Bill Weapons; other; licensed spouse to carry or transport another licensed spouse's inspected pistol; allow. Amends sec. 12 of 1927 PA 372 (MCL 28.432).

HB 4642

9/14/2005 REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY - STALLED

None of them were "developed" by MCRGO and none of them are moving. Why? Whose Committee is not moving them?

If the only pro-gun bills that are allowed to move are those originating from MCRGO, then the folks blocking them are not pro-gun, they're only pro-MCRGO and that's not good enough.

Someone commented to me this morning, "My Dad is now 82 years old. I was so proud to help him get his CPL."

I've helped hundreds get their CPLs and I've been very proud of that as well. I've worked with hundreds of children via the Eddie Eagle program as well, but Mr. Perricone, the Fugacious Former Speaker of the House (an office which he is widely known to have purchased, by the way), blocked that program from becoming a part of every child's life in one Michigan County. Why? Because I would have done the training and he couldn't have that once he became irritated with me. He has worked, it would seem non-stop, to block every effort I made since October of 2003 to work on any firearms rights issue.

What happened in October of 2003? I found out that he wanted to put Ralph Mabry on our Board of Directors, and then went on to find out that Mr. Perricone had lied to me on many, many occasions. Character assassination is his stock-in-trade, I am afraid.
Who is Ralph Mabry? That's for another day, but for a start, Google up the words Ralph Mabry fraud department justice and see what you get. The man isn't even allowed to get anywhere near the pension fund of the Union he is President of and Mr. Perricone wants him on our Board? He heads up a Union that has endorsed Anti-Gun candidates to the tune of millions of dollars worth of donations over the years and Mr. Perricone wants him on our Board?

One word. "WHY?"

And as I said to the poster on my site’s forum, “Proud of your dad getting his CPL? My family was proud of me, too.”

What kind of man disarms a woman because she wins a court case against him? What kind of so-called Conservative, albeit transitory, Legislator puts so much work into silencing one woman?

Well, to quote another poster of my site, "That would be an inadequate "girly-man."

Ten Days...

2005-11-05T10:58:00.000-05:00

Ten days until the First and Second Amendments of our Constitution are reinstated for me.

I can't wait.

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How Could She Sue a Pro-Gun Senator?

2005-10-31T23:08:00.000-05:00

I've watched slam after slam (mostly from the self-serving Charles R. Perricone, once-upon-a-time Speaker of the House) on how I am such a terrible person because I have included in my suit a supposedly pro-gun Senator, Alan Cropsey.

Short answer is, I believe in the law and Senator Cropsey isn't following it. He's one of the people who sat back and watched the law be broken and was fully aware of it.

But there's a longer answer as well.

Despite Mr Kliemann, also on MCRGO's Board of Directors, and his demand that I stop emailing any member of the Board that was also a sitting Legislator, I know who I sent emails, letters, etc. to. Senator Cropsey made the same decision to violate the laws and Bylaws that various other members of the Board did. If anything, frankly, I would think that his ethics, as a sitting Legislator, would demand that he follow the law, which he knew was legitimate, and the Bylaws of the organization he professes to love so well, not to mention those Court Orders that keep coming down the pipe.

Years ago, I explained to him that our Bylaws didn't allow for him to be the Legislative Chair. I pointed out the Bylaw, quoted the Bylaw - but no, the good Senator decided to heck with any of that. He'd do as he pleased and as Mr. Perricone pleased and on with the show.

Of late, he has even used his office to personally attack me to tens of thousands of Michigan citizens in an attempt to make them believe that I am wrong for expecting our organization, his and mine, to follow the law, the Bylaws and standing Court orders.

That would seem like enough, wouldn't it? Well, frankly, it is.

But let's take a look at that "Pro-Gun Senator" idea.

For the last seven months a very good Bill has been stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee, of which the Senator is Chair. For those of you who know how committees work, you know that if the Chair wants it to move, it will move.

H.B. 4186 would give everyone the full 5 years they are paying for when they apply for the Concealed Pistols License and was passed by the House 109-0 on March 23rd.

109-0.

As it stands now, if someone has a CPL and then has to apply for a renewal, and they apply early to avoid letting their CPL run out before their renewal comes through, it is entirely possible to lose a month or two or even, as I did, four or more months. Introduced by Representative Tory Rocca in the first few days of February, 2005, the Bill would establish that when a person renews an expiring CPL, the starting date of the renewed license will be the expiration date of the old one, even if the person renews the license before it has expired.

Good Bill, seems sensible, no big deal, really. However, it was developed and offered by a Pro-Gun group that Senator Cropsey and Mr. Perricone, who served briefly as Speaker of the House and was then sent home, have decided are their "competition." How that works, I have no idea, but it's past time Senator Cropsey abandon that ill-founded idea and do more than give lip-service to the idea of being Pro-Gun.

Certainly, Mr. Perricone has been demonstrating for years that he was an Anti-Gunner, from working to establish Criminal Empowerment Zones to his recent interference with my Right to Keep and Bear Arms as a law abiding citizen.

But with Senator Cropsey heralding the Castle Doctrine Bill (also a good Bill) and shouting from the rooftops how Pro-Gun he is, I'm asking for some proof and so are a lot of other Pro-Gun activists.

H.B. 4186 is an excellent common sense Bill. It's been sitting waiting for a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee since March 24th. Two-hundred-twenty-two days.

Move it, Senator Cropsey - the ball is in your Court, so to speak. Make it happen; you know you can. Put aside your feelings about the so-called competition and guide this Bill though to the success it deserves. Give CPL holders their money's worth.

Heaven knows gun owners are the reason you're in office. How about a little loyalty to your constituents?

But They Still Don't Get It...

2005-10-31T12:49:00.000-05:00

Here is a perfect example of why this case has dragged on as long as it has....

Compare the Court Order of April 13, 2005 and the information contained in the following with what has been offered by MCRGO as a plan for compliance.

The addendum at the bottom of the page that refers to the "Ex-Parte Motion to Recall Warrant" was soundly rejected by the Judge, as earlier referenced.

The warrant remains outstanding and our attorney will be filing an objection to this "plan" today.

Such a foolish waste of time, energy and money.

Do the Right Thing - Part 2

2005-10-31T07:54:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been five days since the Judge issued an arrest warrant for Dale Shantz President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners.

He has neither acknowledged the warrant, nor, as far as anyone knows, responded to it. He continues to ignore the Court's orders and has certainly not turned himself in, as any responsible, upright and law-abiding citizen would. Perhaps he is being told not to worry, that the warrant is no big deal, that Mr. Perricone will "take care of it" as he was told so often over the last three years.

Let's review that last three years. No, Mr. Shantz was not the organization's Chairman for all of that time, but he certainly sat on the Board of Directors and he has certainly defended the actions of an overpaid former Speaker of the House (please don't ever forget Mr. Perricone once briefly held office - he'd be quite upset if you did) and others who have blatantly violated the law and the Bylaws.

The organization went from over 12,000 members to its current 5,900. That is the number being given, but a recent discussion with a PAC member revealed it was more like 4,000. Either way, it is more than a fifty percent loss in three years. How long before it ends up just the hundred or so Life Members are left at this rate of attrition?

The organization has spent almost two years in Court fighting doing what is both legal and right. The cost has been tremendous. Their behavior cost them thousands of members and supporters and the cost of dragging this through the Courts in terms of dollars has been incredible. Certainly, the Cost to MCRGO members must now be approaching $100,000, especially because the Board continues to be in contempt and the fines and costs continue to mount. There is the contempt fine of $100 per day for every day they ignore the orders, and there is also the costs of any attorney fees, not only on their side, but to our attorney as he continues to try to get them to comply.

We will be back in Court today with yet another Show Cause motion, sadly enough.

When will this end? When the Board fully complies and the second Slander/Defamation suit is settled. That could also be years from now, but is not a case where the individual members of the Board will be able to hide behind MCRGO's corporate veil.

I don't know about you, but I think it's time Dale Shantz resigned. From the Chairmanship and from the Board. If he is not willing to set aside personal animosity and do the right thing for the organization, then he needs to relinquish the reins.

Before he does any further damage.

Anonymous Asked...

2005-10-30T12:28:00.000-05:00

How is it that you are unarmed now? What have you done to lose your license? Details, need details.
--
Posted by Anonymous to Neva at 10/30/2005 12:24:12 PM

My answer:

Nothing - absolutely nothing. Read the rest of the blog, especially this post. I was notified that I had to appear in front of the Gun Board and that my license was immediately suspended. No details, no charges, no reasoning given.

I have done nothing other than continue to fight this case in Court. I have not been arrested or charged, and I have taken no action that would warrant such an egregious violation of my rights. When I know more, everyone will know more. I have never hidden anything and I will continue to bring all of this into the light.

"Sunlight is the best disinfectant." I love that quote - Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was right on target, I believe.

Read - you'll see. Look at the public documents available here. In fact, check back on Monday and look at the latest transcripts. You'll read of the MCRGO's attorney's objections to public documents being posted. They want to avoid the members being informed of the realities of what has happened.

I believe the membership has the right to know. I believe that Michigan State law must be complied with. I believe that the Bylaws, flawed as some of them are, must also be complied with. I believe in ethics and putting aside personal feelings to make sure that our organization is following the right and legal path.

That's what this two year long fight has been about and that is what this fight will continue to be about.

The fight will end when the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners Board of Directors makes the decisions, and follows through on them, to correct its violations and get back to the business of the fight for firearms rights.

Some Thoughts...

2005-10-30T11:01:00.000-05:00

I wonder if the attorney for MCRGO, who should be reporting to the Board and explaining their legal rights and responsibilities to them, is doing so.

I wonder if he is doing what he is supposed to be doing for the organization or just reporting to, listening to, and taking orders from Mr. Perricone.

I wonder if he's told Dale Shantz, "Don't worry about the warrant; Chuck and I are taking care of it."

I wonder if some of the members of the Board of Directors might be considering getting their own attorneys since this has now gotten to the point where individuals are going to jail.

I wonder how soon we will see Dale Shantz resign as Chairman, President and Director on the Board.

I wonder if it's already happened.

I wonder if the rest of the Board is now ready to see Mr. Kliemann step up to the plate as Acting Chair.

I wonder when the Board will start complying with the Law, the Bylaws and the Court's orders.

But Why Would They Defy the Law?

2005-10-29T12:15:00.000-04:00

People have asked me what Mr. Perricone and the Board of Directors are hiding that they would go to the lengths they have to avoid compliance with the law and Court orders. Some ask if it's financial wrong dealings, some ask me if it's something to do with Campaign Finance, one even asked, "Could there be something he is hiding that if found out could get him killed by one of his mob buddies?" I don't know what kind of "buddies" Mr. Perricone has, if any, but I do know he is expending a huge amount of energy to stomp on one lone schoolteacher from SE Michigan.

Sometimes I think that it's nothing major, just Mr. Perricone's escalating reaction to being thwarted at something he wanted.

He wanted the Board hand-picked so they would rubber stamp everything he wanted to do. He got that, except for Barbara Stockford (now President of SAFR), Rich Dillard, Gary Bengtson, and Ian Kinder. From Day One, he treated Barb and Ian totally without respect. If they wanted anything, he set out to block it. His emails to both of them were disrespectful and clearly, he wanted them gone. Dillard was more tolerable to him because he thought that Rich had political aspirations and that he could manipulate him through that. Bengtson he thought he could work because "any attorney will go for the money."

As time went by, he harassed Ian, even using both me and Carol Bamberry to push, threaten, etc. until finally, Ian saw his whole livelihood threatened and he resigned from the Board.

Then Dillard resigned, citing personal reasons.

Then we got emails from Bengtson complaining that the other members of the Board - Kliemann specifically - but others as well, were calling and trying to force him to resign, but he wasn't going to do it.

Then the next day, after who knows what happened during the night, he resigned.

Then Barb went, but that wasn't good enough - they advised the Board to have her removed as a member.

Then there was me. I'd watched him, looked at things, found evidence of tampering with the election, with him using our organization for both political and financial gain, not for our organzation, which was his job, but for himself and for this other organization, the Michigan Regional Carpenters Council, long associated with such activities as illegal Union issues, multi-million dollars "loans" to casino people (later barred for organized crime connections) and headed by a man Mr. Perricone openly admitted he wanted on our Board of Directors - a man barred by the Federal Government from having anything to do with his own Union's pension fund due to illegal loans. This same client supposedly endorsed a pro-gun candiate for Governor, MCRGO's choice for governor, but through my explorations (and with the help of some others) I found that they had given a vast amount of money to anti-gun candidates and an extremely small amount to our choice for Governor. The implications of this are obvious.

The more I looked, the more I found. The more I asked questions, the more my efforts to serve on the Board were blocked. From the moment that I challenged the idea of Mr. Perricone's refusal to assist Barbara, while she was still on the Board, to get the records and answers she was looking for, he never had another civil word to say to me and I became "The Enemy," despite my only trying to do what any reasonable individual would - my fiduciary duty as a Board member.

Follow the law, follow the Bylaws and do the ethical thing in representing our members, which is where my loyalty lies. To the membership, not to Mr. Perricone, not to the Board. The people of this organization, the ones that current practices have driven away and the members removed (often for no other reason than opposing the way the organization was/is being run) are the ones to whom I owe my loyalty and my efforts to bring this organization back to what it once was.

Mr. Perricone, and the Board, seem to be doing several things:

1. They'll do anything to try to make the membership believe that they are right and I am wrong, despite the Court's decisions and the obvious facts. This has been an ongoing smear campaign that has resulted in a second lawsuit, against the Board members personally, that will go on and will result in a jury trial with me as Plaintiff and all of them as Defendants, along with the organization itself.

2. They take one step further, and further and further to try to force me to give up on the suit. They have tried to force my attorney to quit, denying me representation just because we have positively affirmed every point in Court. They have enlisted TNUSA, and even slandered Sam Washington and MUCC (and I am not a member of MUCC and have never met Sam Washington). They have gone so far as to enlist legislators and the Speaker of the House (Mrs. Perricone's employer) to call MUCC in an effort to pressure our attorney to quit this case.

3. Simply not recognizing that the Court has the right, and the responsibility, to make the decisions that have been made in accordance with the law and in the best interests of the membership. Sunlight is the best disinfectant,” a quote from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, refers to the benefits of openness and transparency. As Judge Giddings told the MCRGO attorney the other day, "We don't do things in the dark around here."

Macomb County Attorney Jim Simmons has volunteered to appear in front of the Gun Board with me and that will ease some of the burden on Mr. Winters, which I greatly appreciate. Jim knows gun boards, knows the issues and has been in front of the Oakland County Board before. I am sure that with the incredible amount of proof we have to offer on Mr. Perricone's motives for this "one step further" in his pattern of slander and defamation, we will have my CPL restored, but this is completely undeserved and as previously stated, will have the opposite effect from what he hoped for.

I will not give up this fight. It would be wrong and I am not going to do anything less - I owe that to the membership and I pay my debts.

I appreciate the support I am getting from so many people, and from our attorney, who is not only an excellent attorney but extremely supportive - he'd make a great cheerleader, God love him - he called me this AM with nothing more than a "How are you holding up?"

And in the end, I'm going to hold up just fine.

Underhanded Dealings Don't Always Work...

2005-10-28T19:25:00.000-04:00

Sometimes they do for a little while, though.

I've been stripped of my concealed pistols license temporarily. Of course, I will challenge it. There's absolutely nothing to support this action and it is, without a doubt, at the instigation of Mr. Charles R. Perricone - the man who purports to support concealed carry for all law abiding citizens.

Today, the attorney for MCRGO went to the Judge ex parte and tried to have the warrant for Mr. Shantz' arrest vacated. He claimed that we had everything and we were ok with it and that there were no remaining issues.

Except.

We had the hearing Wednesday and the warrant for Dale Shantz arrest was issued. Since that time we have received no further information nor was a corrected copy of the database was sent or delivered to us, but still Mr. Robert G. Fleming (P44610) went to the Judge and claimed that we had everything. Mr. Fleming, if we didn't have it two days ago and you haven't give us anything since then, sir, it appears to me that you just told a great big whopper.

The Judge immediately called our attorney via speaker phone (not Former Speaker of the House phone but still...) and went through the issues fairly quickly and then explained to the attorney for MCRGO the facts of life on things such as this. One of his main objections, it seems, is that I am posting public records documents on the internet, which the Judge promptly informed him was my Constitutional right.

Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, eh? And their idea of Pro-Gun is to go after my concealed pistols license and work to abrogate my Second Amendment rights as well as my rights under the Michigan Constitution.

Nice work, boys. Truly the honorable thing to do. Lose in Court - make sure a woman is unable to protect herself.

That'll teach me, won't it?

Legal Paper Links as Promised.

2005-10-27T22:47:00.000-04:00

These orders and the bench warrant, etc. are the result of yesterday's Court Hearing. I referenced them earlier and promised to share them as soon as I received them.

Like any Court Document in this issue, I am making no attempt to hide or conceal them and as they become available I will continue to share them. Watch this spot - there is definitely more to come.

http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/order-bench-warrant-shantz-10-26.pdf
http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/contempt-order-10-26.pdf
http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/bench-warrant-order-shantz.pdf
http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/memo-bench-warrant-shantz.pdf

Now Mr. Shantz Needs to Do The Right Thing...

2005-10-26T20:09:00.000-04:00

A warrant for the arrest of Dale Shantz, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO), was issued today. He is subject to arrest by any law enforcement officer in the State of Michigan.

Do the right thing, Mr. Shantz, and turn yourself in. It may save you being arrested in an embarrassing situation - in front of your wife, friends, co-workers.

Remember, you have until Friday to get the Board of Directors to develop, vote on and pass a resolution that outlines how you will get the remaining materials to us.

And before you try again to claim that I am "crowing," what you need to admit, to the membership and to yourself perhaps, is that you know I never wanted this. I begged you to follow the law and our Bylaws, but you were the one who felt that our organization didn't need to do so. You and your fellow members of the Board of Directors were the ones who attacked me for wanting to do my job, then blocked me from doing my job, then decided to ignore a Court order and contravene the law.

What are you, the Board and the Executive Director working so hard to hide? Please don't claim that it's the database because anyone can read the inventory offered as evidence by MCRGO that says quite clearly in several areas that the organization intends to ignore the Court's order and not provide required information.

The motion for a Summary Disposition that was requested by the attorney for MCRGO in the slander/defamation and Civil Rights violation lawsuit was denied as well. Next step, sworn depositions from Mr. Perricone and the other members of the Board, including the State Senator who recently attacked me via email to more than 10,000 people. He lied to them; I wonder if he will lie under oath as well.

Young Marine Reservist Does the Right Thing...

2005-10-23T16:39:00.000-04:00

I have to admit I got a kick out of this story.

The realization that he might have had to shoot Hall was unnerving, he said. Having been to Iraq, Thailand, Korea, and Okinawa, Doncaster has faced some hairy situations, but coming face to face with an armed civilian still rattled the Marine - after the fact.

But even being hit with capsaicin (pepper) spray didn't stop him from persuing and detaining Steven Mark Hall, and armed attacker who had, moments before, attempted to abduct a grandmother and the two year old child with her. He was carrying three pairs of handcuffs, a collapsible baton, a knife, a Taser, brass knuckles and pepper spray, which he used on several customers and employees of the Wal-Mart where the incident occurred - including the Marine who refused to give in and allow this animal to go his way.

Corporal Kevin Doncaster is licensed to carry a concealed weapon and was that day - a Glock .357 SIG. He doesn't like to leave it in the car where it might get stolen and he is armed and ready to defend himself and others. He did a fine job and he is a credit to his nation, to his family, to his community and to himself.

I'm not surprised, though, because our men and women in the Armed Forces keep us safe on so many fronts and we owe them everything for doing so.

For those who would have us go about as sheep, unarmed and unable to protect ourselves, shame on you. I am reminded of a definition for gun control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.

Great job, Corporal - and thank you for helping the women who might have been his future victims.

Kathleen Parker, et al.

2005-10-19T16:00:00.000-04:00

Kathleen Parker, a columnist at townhall.com makes a valid point today in discussing the wonderful news from Iraq.

Ms. Parker tells us:

Here are the headlines you may have missed: "Iraqi democracy takes bow to standing ovation, global applause" Or "Iraqi voter turnout another blow to al-Qaida."

Where are those headlines? Ten million Iraqis, voting in favor of their new
Constitution, changing the face of their Country and the future of their
children, with our help. Where are the proud, supportive, cheering headlines?

They are far too rare.

Ms. Parker further shares with us:

The Port Huron (Mich.) Times Herald, for instance, greeted readers with: "Iraq takes first step into future," while the Bucks County Courier Times in Levittown, Pa., led with: "Iraq's new era." I'll have what they're having.

You know what is one of the oddest ideas for me? Their voter turnout was roughly the same as ours in our last Presidential election.

Not one of us faces death for going to the polls, or even possible dismemberment, but do we get out and take care of business on the same level and with the same commitment?

No, we do not. Generations of men and women have fought for our freedoms and brought freedom around the globe to so many and yet when it comes to recognizing that or even doing our part to ensure that those freedoms never disappear....

It makes me sigh.

Veteran's Day is coming up as are Thanksgiving and Christmas. Take a moment to praise a vet, to offer thanks for what they have done and for what our Armed Forces are doing today. Remember those who gave you your freedom and celebrate the freedom that we, as a Country, have helped bring to so many.

MCRGO refuses to follow Court Orders

2005-10-19T13:07:00.000-04:00

Given my encounters with the Court System lately, my respect for the foundations upon which this Country was built has only been strengthened.

Without the law we are nothing. It is unfortunate, of course, that we have so many laws that have no meaning, are redundant, or simply non-functional and/or unenforceable, but we have this wonderful foundation and if only we could get back to some very basic principles, so many other problems would be non-issues.

"We may be tossed upon an ocean where we can see no land---nor,perhaps, the sun or stars. But there is a chart and a compassfor us to study, to consult, and to obey. That chart is the Constitution." - Daniel Webster

http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/Order-of-Contempt-10-18-05.pdf

The first document is the order of contempt that may send the Chairman of the Board of MCRGO to jail. He has made some spectacularly bad choices and the Board, as a whole, has allowed a rogue employee to endanger the very existence of the organization.

http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/Fleming-Letter-10-18-05.pdf http://www.cpltrainer.com/mcrgo/Fleming-Letter-10-18-05-2.pdf

The two documents above are letters sent the day following our Court appearance. Sadly, the choice was made to send out an email via MCRGO that added further to the slander and also violated Judge Giddings' very specific instructions.

There will no doubt be further developments today. Poor choices have been, and continue to be, made.

Some main points...

2005-10-17T21:44:00.000-04:00

I know that there are folks who read this blog for information on the ongoing lawsuit. It was a very long day and since we had an hour and a half drive and stopped for dinner as well, we are quite late tonight and thus, this will be an abbreviated version of what will come later.

The Court found in our favor on virtually all points and the following points will be incorporated into two separate orders to be entered and signed tomorrow.

Membership list must be on Mr. Winters desk by noon Wednesday, October 19, 2005 or Mr. Shantz must report to the Court by 1:30 PM on Wednesday with his toothbrush because he is going to jail.
They must comply in full with the order from September 1, 2005, which means that all data given must be up to that date, the database included.
Require all members of the Board of Directors to come up with a specific plan for bringing the organization into compliance with this Court's order.
It must be in writing, adopted by the Board and served on Mr. Winters on or before Friday, October 28, 2005 at 4:00 PM.
All records must be "up to date" to September 1, 2005.
All out of pocket expenses to Mr. Winters.
All attorney fees on this matter of contempt are to be paid on or before November 14, 2005.
Fines are continued at $100 per day and must be paid in full along with attorney fees and costs by 4:00 PM on November 14, 2005.
Some neutral party must be found to accompany me (and them) into the office to say whether the stuff they are giving me is "everything."
Defendants, MCRGO and Dale Shantz were found in "continuous and contemptuous lack of compliance with the Court's order."

There is one additional point I wish to address right here, right now.

Mr. Fleming, the MCRGO attorney, threatened to call my job and tell them that I was not sick today. Since my subpoena is already on file with our office and using a sick day is simply a matter of what we call a day I am forced to take off, I don't have anything to worry about.

On the other hand, should Mr. Fleming be so stupid as to make that call, I will see him up in front of the State Bar Association so fast his head will spin. Further consequences I will leave to our attorney, Mr. Kevin Winters, and whatever tort suit he chooses to file on my behalf.

I don't take to threats well, especially not from attorneys who cannot even manage to keep his own clients from being threatened with jail time, who has obviously not followed legal procedure and had his clients' appeal dismissed for failure to even file a timely brief, and who makes childish mistakes and then tries to blame them on others.

Here is an example.

Mr. Fleming made a point to complain to the Court that I had posted documents on my web site that revealed his clients' telephone numbers to anyone viewing those documents.

In fact, the documents I first saw did not have the phone numbers on them. However, when we retrieved the documents from the Court clerk, the documents that Mr. Fleming filed with the Court himself, those documents did have the phone numbers on them.

Mr. Fleming apparently wanted the Court, and his audience to believe that when I post court documents, which are a matter of public record, it would be acceptable for me to alter those documents. No doubt if I had, Mr. Fleming would then claim I had not posted a true copy.

You cannot have it both ways, now can you?

Mr. Fleming also complained to the Court that I was asking for documents from MCRGO that I should have been responsible for as the Secretary of MCRGO. In other words, since I was the Secretary and I was responsible for documents that MCRGO would not allow me to access and thus, I was forced to file suit to gain access, I was now supposed to be seen as unreasonable for not being able to produce the documents that....

If that sounds silly, it is.

As to the claim that I did not do my job, or somehow did not provide Mr. Berg, who did not take over the Secretary job from me as Mr. Fleming claimed in open Court, but rather, from Brad Foster (yet another Director who resigned), with documents necessary to do his job, well, that too, is bunk.

Example:

If Mr. Berg doesn't have that document, surely blaming me is the wrong path. But then it has been wrong and foolish all along to blame me for wanting our organization and its Directors and Executive Director to follow the law.

Time to do the right thing, members of the Board. Time to be the responsible Board of Directors that the Michigan Colation for Responsible Gun Owners membership deserves.

Past time, in fact. Two years past time.

Our President and the work we do as a Country

2005-10-16T09:06:00.000-04:00

Main Stream Media over the past few days has chosen to focus on the non-story of the President "rehearsing" a "conversation with U.S. troops."

Oh, my God, he rehearsed a speech before he gave it. Why, that's un-American or unconstitutional or something.

The article ends with a quote from an "advocacy" group claiming to speak for veterans and then appears to somehow disparage the opinions of the officers involved in Iraq.

Paul Rieckhoff, director of the New York-based Operation Truth, an advocacy group for U.S. veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, denounced the event as a "carefully scripted publicity stunt." Five of the 10 U.S. troops involved were officers, he said.

"If he wants the real opinions of the troops, he can't do it in a nationally televised teleconference," Rieckhoff said. "He needs to be talking to the boots on the ground and that's not a bunch of captains."

Someone wants to know what the soldier on the ground thinks, they should ask some of the volunteers over there rather than shove their own bleeding heart politics at us. That's not reporting, that's editorializing, and it's a hell of a lot more dishonest than the supposed horror of rehearsing a speech. Ask a soldier about the job he's doing and see what he thinks.

I did.

Objectively, when I think about it, this is historical stuff... turning points in human history stuff. We aren't talking nickel and dime adjustments in the course of history, but rather major tectonic plate-shift stuff.

And I'm a small part of it.

Tomorrow (today) will be a historic day for Iraqis, and for America because of the Iraqis. Too bad the MSM won't report it as such. Imagine having the opportunity to comment on history in the making, but refusing to see the forest for the trees.

He has much to be proud of, and because of the job he, and so many others like him, elected to do, a Country and its people have freedom and we may well have an ally in our war against animals like the ones who piloted our planes into our own buildings in their declaration of war against us.

When this Constitution passes, and it certainly appears that it has, Iraqis will go to the polls again in two months to elect a new, four-year parliament in a step that "Washington says will mark its full emergence as a sovereign democracy and new Western ally."

Job well done. Extremely good form.

Two more....

2005-10-14T19:49:00.000-04:00

MCRGO's attorney will have to amend his complaint once more.

Two more members, upon being subpoenaed to appear in court this coming Monday and apparently discovering they were being sued, have withdrawn their affidavits.

I wonder if any of those members were aware that their affidavits were going to be used to sue them.

Somehow I rather doubt it.

What a shame. Even more of a shame is that no one making these kinds of decisions at MCRGO appears to be ashamed.

A very wise man would have said...

2005-10-13T23:21:00.000-04:00

"Good form."

Today, two of the affiants in the so-called "interpleader" case withdrew their affidavits and demanded that their names be taken off the suit filed by the attorney for MCRGO.

Lee Zeidler and Sandra Brooke-Brown appear to have been taken aback by the filing of a lawsuit against them by the organization they had previously worked to support. If I understand correctly, a fellow MCRGO member and attorney notified our attorney, Mr. Kevin Winters, that they were not going to be a party to this matter any longer.

I must say, I understand the feeling of betrayal they may have felt.

I have to say, just when I think that the current management can't spring any further surprises, this lawsuit against its own members was a big one.

Shame is, they have a lawyer that doesn't even know that their name is the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners and filled out the Summons and Complain in the wrong name.

Monday. 2:00 PM. Ingham County Courthouse. Maybe then the work to bring this organization back on track can really begin.

One additional point...

2005-10-12T20:44:00.000-04:00

The Lee Zeidler I thought I knew is a pretty good guy. He seemed dedicated and did some good work for firearms rights. I want to believe that he got duped by people he hoped he could trust, but there is one serious problem with a portion of his email that I cannot let go by without comment.

He said, "Now, to continue, you have a fudiciary duty to the Board that you were elected to, if you dont wish to continue that, then leave, and stop acting like an anti-gunner!"

Our fiduciary duty as elected members of a non-profit organization's Board of Directors is to the members, not to the Board. It would be a good thing if we could work together and move the organization forward but we have obligations and responsibilities and they are not to our fellow Board members.

We must follow the law.
We must work for the members' best interests.
We must fulfill the trust of the membership.

I have worked very hard and sacrificed much to fulfill my fiduciary responsibility to the membership that had enough faith in me to elect me to the Board and I have filed to run for the Board for yet another term. I hope I will be re-elected and I hope that I will be joined by Directors who will follow the tenets listed above.

At this point, the organization has some very serious problems. Correcting those problems will take Directors willing to follow the law and commit to a complete review of the corporation's past and present operations. Bylaws violations continue daily as do violations of State Law, according to the Secretary's sworn testimony at the last Court hearing. No less than $30,000 has been wasted avoiding compliance with the law. Fines and costs due to me because of the Contempt of Court have climbed over $10,000. Our own members are being sued. Even when we resolve this Court Case, the management of MCRGO still faces a defamation/slander suit that may also be very expensive to defend. Every Board member that has supported the flaunting of the Court orders in place should, in my opinion as a member, step down. The actions and decisions by Board members that have led us to this place in time have not been ones that men and women of conscience can look to with pride.

Our members are not being served by a Board making the choices that are being made.

And by the way, equating wanting to follow the law and encouraging others to do so with supposedly being anti-gun is just plain bunk!

He said, then he said, then I thought...

2005-10-11T22:07:00.000-04:00

Here we go 'round in circles....

----- Original Message -----
From: Krm65229@XXX.com
To: (A very long list of recipients - edited by me for their privacy)
Sent: Saturday, October 08, 2005 10:29 PM
Subject: [MINRAINSTRUCTORS] Mcrgo

Please post I Kerry Miller Have not and will not comply with chuck's orders to deny Neva lee's right to have the info she has won in this law suit. In turn I will not
lie for any board member. I have witnessed board members lie on the witness
stand. I have was told that no mater what that chuck as it under control, he
controls the house and the senate they are puppet's under his control, chucks
wife is the House leader's secretary and he will control everything. I have
never done anything to hurt MCRGO or Neva. I have only told the truth and the
board of MCRGO has been told by Chuck not to talk to me nor email me because I
am the person that can brings them down or the enemy as he put it in his email.

Kerry Miller
(address and telephone number information edited as well for privacy purposes)
http://www.membershipsforthenra.com/
NRA Life Member #33643899 GLSSA Member #125
Glssa Washtenaw, Monroe, and Wayne County Chair
SAFR Member #163
MCRGO Member #80299
MCRGO Board of Directors
NRA Training Counselor #33643899
NRA Recruiter #XP016947
Michigan Hunter Safety Instructor #2480
DNR Range Instructor
Huron Valley Gun Collectors Life Member#159
MUCC Member
MUDH Member

And apparently, one of the recipients took umbrage and wrote back a letter that doesn't really speak to his properly understanding the circumstances or present status of the lawsuit - update to follow.

From: Employment Professionals, LLC
To: (A
very long list of recipients - edited by me for their privacy)
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 11:27 AM
Subject:
Re: [MINRAINSTRUCTORS] Mcrgo

Dear Mr. Miller,
I dont know you, and you dont know me, but somehow, through the MINRAINSTRUCTORS
Group you have blasted me an unsolicited email about your problems. First off, I
belive I delisted from the group when Neva sued MCRGO.

You need to grow up, and get a life! I am for one tired of hearing all
the crap out there about all the gun groups! You should be ashamed of yourself
for acting so childish as to email to hundreds of people your personal views of
another individual, and your feelings on the lawsuit, especially when your a BOD
member, and the lawsuit is active. You should be removed from the board!

To quote you, "I Kerry Miller Have not and will not comply with chuck's orders to deny Neva lee's right to have the info she has won in this law suit". If you have ever been to court, it is up to the court, judge and system to award Neva, not, you, Chuck or anyone else. From the news I have been hearing, MCRGO is not in non-compliance with the court order, or someone
would be in jail. And its not your decision to interpret it, leave it to the lawyers, not you.

Now, to continue, you have a fudiciary duty to the Board that you were elected to, if you dont wish to continue that, then leave, and stop acting like an anti-gunner! When you spew
your vitriol all over the net (like the others) about a group that is doing good
things in the legislature, and for the Gun Owners, then you are in a sense,
anti-gun. I see you belong to lots of groups in your signature line, that only
means you paid your dues, nothing more. Many of us have belonged to some of
these groups our entire life, and I have never posted, or emailed crap like you
did because you disagree or dont like someone. You are either with us, or
against us. And if you are against us, then get off the Board and let someone
else do it, who will do positive things, not negative things. You are not a good
representative of an NRA Training Counselor or Instructor, again you should be
ashamed of your behavior here.

There comes a time in your life when you must look and say, am I making an impact, or getting in the way? Nobody stays on Boards forever, so get off and quit your bitching and
whinning. If you are so negative and dont like what happens, then why stay, just
resign, and go about your life.

Also, just in case this is the first time you have ever seen anything in court, nobody will win
this, only the lawyers win. Court cases can be ugly, and people lie (I am not
saying anyone in MCRGO or the other side did or did not), its just the way the
legal system is, after all, its lawyers controlling it all (sorry to the legal
types out there).

As to the reference to you being the person to bring us down in the email you talked about from Chuck.......well Mr Miller, if you are doing what your doing, and including CARE4Mi, Neva, Rod
Collins, and others on the side we are against in the lawsuit, then you could possibly bring us down.

I dont know Chuck well, I have met him on several occasions, and talked on the phone, and he seems to be a nice enough guy, and a politician (sorry to all the political types out there).
I dont agree with everything he does or says, but then again, I dont know of
anyone who agrees with me on everything either. So if you have a disagreement
with someone, why not go directly to them, why put all these other people in the
mix? I am replying to all of them, so at least someone sticks up for the
organization, and they see it. Chuck does talk like a politician, but christ, he
is one, what would you expect! Your not even man enough to confront him face to
face, instead you blast this crazy message off to hundreds of people to get
attention, get a life. Its ok to disagree in a BOD environment, and even argue
about something, but in the end, everyone has to come together, thats why there
is the number there is on a Board, so the majority vote wins, (its the
democratic and american way). Besides Chuck doesnt ever vote. So its your board
that is responsible. You represent the anti side as far as I am concerned, I
dont know you, but that email lost all respect for you if I ever meet you. The
anti gun people just love this I am sure! Its time this organization gets past
this crap, and works together to support our common goal. I and several others
are working hard on the upcoming election year, to support the candidates who
are on our side. When was the last time you did something positive for us? When
was the last time you sponsered a fundraiser, or did something to benefit the
organization. Last year I recruited over 50 members, and I did not ask for one
cent in Commission or recruiter fees, and dont want them. Do you do this just
for the money, or is it because you believe in the freedoms of the 2nd Amendment
and Constitution? Ask youself Mr. Miller, why are you on this board, and what
can you do to help the cause, not hurt it. There are alot of volunteers out
there putting out a positive image, and working very hard behind the scenes, not
what you portray. So leave yourself out of the petty BS, and do something
constructive with your time and life. You cant have it both ways, with joining
and supporting boths sides of the argument here. If you join the organizations
that are out to get us, and are supposedly on our BOD, and supporting them, then
you are just here to cause trouble, plain and simple, nothing more. IF you dont
like it, then be man enough to say you are quitting, and stick with them.

Lee Zeidler
NRA Life Member
MCRGO Member
MCRGOPAC Committee
Member
NRA Instructor and Recruiter

But....

Just finished scanning a few documents....

To recap some - on September 2, 2005, MCRGO began being held responsible for:

Contempt of court fines and costs:

$3,500 in legal fees, now paid.
$2,590.50 in legal fees, unpaid.
$4,000 accumulated contempt fines, unpaid as of today and accumulating at $100 per day, ongoing.

And according to the MCRGO news and announcements, MCRGOPAC paid for a trip to Mackinac Island September 23, 24, 25 that included Mr. Perricone, PAC Committee Chairman David Aviles, Committee Member Lee Zeidler, and Kent County Chair Larry Bellgraph.

On September 27, Committee Member Lee Zeidler, and Kent County Chair Larry Bellgraph sent a total of four FAXes from two phone numbers, covering four out of the six affidavits found here:

Affidavits

On September 28, MCRGO filed suit against me and the six people who had just provided them with affidavits.

Time to get an attorney, Defendants.

And on September 28 (same day) we went to Court and Doug Berg, secretary for MCRGO, sat on the stand and said they'd given us everything but the database (only the inventory says otherwise) and swore he'd never seen the order - or may have seen one page of it around the office somewhere but not really read it or anything. Hmmmm... that part we may see more of down the road... maybe even on the 17th at 2:00 PM.

Show Cause Order

And somewhere along the way, the attorney representing MCRGO was offended because I wrote that I wondered if he was incompetent - well, you've already read it - he was fined $250 for not filing a timely brief.

Today, the Appeal was dismissed for failure to file a brief at all.

Court of Appeals dismissal

And then there was the email exchange between one Board member and one of the people being sued above (Lee Zeidler) who, until an hour or so after he wrote the email defending Mr. Perricone's actions and the actions of MCRGO's Board ("MCRGO is not in non-compliance with the court order, or someone would be in jail." - from your lips to God's ear, Lee.) was unaware that MCRGO had filed suit against him.

Yes, indeed, this has been interesting to watch unfold.

Monday will be even more interesting, I suspect.

And on October 26, 2005, we go back to Court because MCRGO has asked for a summary judgement on my defamation suit, claiming, among other things, that they never published any statements about me to any third parties.

I could have sworn.........

Stay tuned, folks. It's not over yet.

I think we damaged his calm...

2005-10-08T00:29:00.000-04:00

Or perhaps more on target, she did.

About three years ago, I watched a marriage come apart. It was not the least bit entertaining. Off and on since then, some things have been.

Went to the movies tonight with a great friend and a goodly woman (all in one body, how cool is that?) and saw Serenity.

Well, first we went to dinner but that's a whole 'nother post altogether. But let me just say that I would love to know if the manager was accurate in his assessment of, "There's gonna be trouble..."

The movie was really good - lots of fun and probably all the more so for the company. I won't dwell on it. If you like action and guns and adrenaline and witty repartee, you'll love this movie.

We're on our way out, scurrying for the "Ladies Room" because, after all, this was a two hour action packed flick and neither of us got up and went to the loo, fercripesake, but as we exit, with her rounding the corner to the left because she's younger and faster (we won't even address better looking because that has zero to do with speed) and I look to the right and there's her ex.

And I say, "Hey..." and kind of flip my hand up in a half-ass sort of wave because he's still my husband's pal and all that and.......

His eyes roll right over me like I'm not even there and focus a little bit past me and then he gets this deer in the headlights look and.......

Flees.

One of those truly abstract moments in life.

Go check out Bug Eyed Earl - it's been a while.

I mean to say.

Next Step....

2005-10-03T19:16:00.000-04:00

Signed today by Judge Giddings:

IT IS ORDERED that the Defendant and Mr. Charles Perricone, MCRGO Executive Director, Mr. Dan* Berg, MCRGO Secretary, Mr. Dale Shantz, MCRGO Chair and President and Mr. James Kliemann, MCRGO Vice Chair and Treasurer will appear before this Court on October 17, 2005 at 2:00 PM to show cause why this court should not enter an Order:

1. Finding the Defendant in deliberate willful contempt;
2. Assessing maximum fines allowed by law;
3. Assessing maximum sanctions allowed by law;
4. Imprisoning Mr. Charles Perricone, Mr. Dan Berg, Mr. Dale Shantz, and Mr. James Kliemann until they fully comply with the April 13, 2005 Order;
5. Award Ms. Li her out-of-pocket costs including any lost wages;
6. Payment of Ms. Li’s attorney fees associated with this matter;
7. All costs, expenses, fines, penalties and sanctions assessed MCRGO must be paid only from MCRGO revenue without payment by others and/or by Charles Perricone and the individual Members of the Board of Directors of MCRGO individually with no reimbursement; and Require that MCRGO fully comply with the September 1, 2005 Order.

*Dan is actually Doug. Either way, he faces possible imprisonment.

The defendant's attorney was also fined $250 on Friday by the Michigan Appellate Court. Not sure whether it's for being incompetent or if we need to consider whether this so-called Appeal is nothing more than a delaying tactic.

Sanctions Order.

Patton Won't Be There For Ya, Buddy

2005-10-02T21:35:00.000-04:00

For those who read this blog or my home page, I've discussed the issues facing me in trying to deal with the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO). I had filed suit to try to get the Executive Director and the Board to follow the law and our own Bylaws. It's a complex issue and much of the legal papers can be found in this directory.

As the case developed, I won point after legal point and it became clear to even the folks who believed they could get away with anything - well - that they would not be getting away with anything. I suppose they became desperate and they began to flail about for any way to try to get me to give up. I don't know what kind of people they are used to dealing with but trying to ruin my life was not the approach that would get them the results they were after. Amazingly enough, they told such obvious lies, so easily proven to be lies that to most thinking folks, they just end up looking foolish, I suspect.

I spoke with my attorney and we filed a slander and defamation lawsuit, in addition to the original lawsuit and got a restraining order that we later got turned into an injunction. Not much seems to stop some of these folks, though, because they continue to lie and atttempt to interfere with my right to run for the Board of Directors, make a living, and do meaningful volunteer work. All in an effort to put so much pressure on me that I will give up in this fight. It is foolish because, in the end, it is not going to work and it's going to be a costly process as well.

It has moments that almost approach low comedy, though.

Recently, one Director of the MCRGO, Kerry Miller, after being served with the slander/defamation suit papers, then finally seeing the last legal papers asking that the entire board of Directors be jailed (and I will discuss our change in tactics on that in another week or so - we need to get out next Court appearance out of the way first) approached the rest of the Board and, including me and several others in an email said (paraphrasing here), in very frank language, that he did not intend to go to jail and that they needed to comply with the original order and then offered some possible negotiating points for settlement of the slander/defamation suit.

The response was a deafening silence, of course. But then an email came from David Aviles, who has, perhaps, been watching too much TV. I say TV because if he'd actually read the history behind what he said, he might have noticed some very key differences.

What was his response, you ask? One word, "Nuts."

History buffs might recognize the response of General McAuliffe to the demand from the Germans at Bastogne that he and his troops surrender.

Details here.

Now, McAuliffe was later vindicated in his response. He was victorious in the end and awarded a Distinguished Service Cross. As a very dear friend would say, "Good form. Good form, indeed."

However.

He had General Patton and the Third Army to back him up and knew that they were on their way to do so. I would suggest that Mr. Aviles does not have anyone approaching that caliber and his troops faltered long ago.

I also suspect that Judge Giddings will not be awarding him a Distinguished Service Cross.

But that's just my not all that humble opinion.

A little bit about Doc...

2005-09-29T21:08:00.000-04:00

I've never talked much about the man who changed my life - transformed it, really. I don't know why, except it's hard to explain him to anyone. Always was and it probably won't get any easier now that he is gone.

He died last week - motorcycle accident at 58. I want people to know about him, understand what he did, for me, probably for many others, but for me...

Perhaps this will end up being far too disjointed, but over time, perhaps it will also let you get to know one of the most amazing human beings I could ever hope to know.

He has - no, had ( I am trying hard to remember he is gone but he is still so with me...) another name but every so often I called him Doc and even more often, he called me MLM.

"Doctor Frankenstein" and "My Little Monster." Who I once was and am no more is because of him and that is a very fine thing. He was proud of me. That alone was a very fine gift.

Doc collected elephants. When we first met, he told me this but warned me, "Don't ever buy me one."

He offered no explanation for why I should never buy him one but he was quite firm and so for a long time, I did not. Later, I decided, "Ah the heck with your bossy butt, I'll buy one if I want to."

I saw this one...

... and loved it. It was/is made from polished agate from Michigan and it is very small but finely carved and its trunk rears up in what seems an almost victorious trumpeting. I bought it, but then, chickened out on giving it to him for about 3-4 months until finally, in a burst of brave, the next time I saw it, I tucked it in a pocket and then hanging out, I reached in my pocket and held it out in the palm of my hand. He was delighted.

He told me he hated to have people buy him elephants because they bought stupid ones, plaster of Paris or little cast iron ones or and the elephant never looked, or felt, proud. He told me I could buy him a damned elephant any time I chose. His eyes were damp and his voice caught for a moment, then he cleared his throat and we went on as though it had never happened.

Only it had.

And there it sits on his shelf.