It’s hard for me to focus on the world outside of me when my inner world is in such distress. I haven’t read or listened to any news since Christmas, and have no idea what is going on in the world, except that something bad happened in Haiti. I’ve closed down for the time being, and don’t know when I will come back.

I got one of my prizes from the SurvivalBlog contest.

I also got rid of my firearms. My children meant more to me than my “2nd Amendment Rights” and favorite hobby, and it was , sadly, the right thing to do so I wouldn’t be faced with more spurious charges. (I was accused of things and treated like a criminal because I own firearms. Not because of any misuse, brandishing or threats. It was a frightening thing and something I never want to go through again.)

I don’t know when, where, how, or in what capacity I will be back, but I’ll stay in touch.

Thanks for listening!

I was a fan of Rex Rammell earlier this year.  He seemed like a clean-cut guy, I suspected he was LDS, and he was running for Governor of the State of Idaho. Best of all, Rammell had an interesting story. I felt he deserved to win. I mailed my $8 to him to get his DVD. I read some of the documents on his website.

He had a handful of opinions that sat well with me. We shared the same views on the Constitution, on gun control, and on government in general. There were also a few that didn’t sit well with me. I felt it was contrary to my understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to “deport all illegal immigrants”. I don’t want more nuclear power plants. I don’t think that it is appropriate to make an “Official Language”. Even when his reasoning for some of these things was sound (when you really dug for it!), Rammell’s bluntness didn’t seem right for the top office in our state.  This leaves me trying to find the balance between substance and presentation.

I was reviewing my bank account earlier tonight to see why the balance had dropped unexpectedly, and I found a strange thing that prompted a lengthy call to the bank (because of their inefficiency in transferring me to the correct department for the right state, etc) and some amateur detective work on my part.

Because I still feel violated and don’t want others to suffer this feeling, I am going to post all the details of this company online for all to see, along with my conclusion and some of the tools I used to reach that conclusion.

In remembrance of Pearl Harbor and  – a terrible attack against America that took place on December 7th, 1941 (sixty-eight years ago today), I’m going to re-post a REAL letter that has been making the rounds on the internet.

The HAROLD B. ESTES “OBAMA LETTER”

Written by WW2 Naval Veteran Harold B. Estes, the letter is a blunt (at least by old-fashioned standards) call to President Obama to answer for his offensive and anti-American actions and remarks.  Estes lives in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor, and is a well-known and respected man locally and in the Navy. Before you read it, keep in mind this guy has 60+ years on most of us – we have witnessed less than one third the U.S. and world history this guy has seen. He has fought for not only our freedoms (including freedom of speech, right to assemble, and other freedoms enjoyed by people who openly attack our nation!), but for the freedoms of most European countries and (can’t really say “freedoms”) China.

Obama, on the other hand, has never put his life on the line to preserve anyone’s freedoms. He’s never served in the armed forces, he has never stood his ground against a foreign enemy hostile to democracy and our nation (like Chavez, for example!). I can’t say much more any better than this 95-year old American hero, so here’s the famous letter:

“Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert.
I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate. Now I live in a "rest home" located on the western end of Pearl Harbor allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.
One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man.
So here goes.
I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.
I can’t figure out what country you are the president of. You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:
" We’re no longer a Christian nation"
"America is arrogant" – (Your wife even announced to the world, "America is mean-spirited." Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)
I’d say shame on the both of you but I don’t think you like America nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.
After 9/11 you said, " America hasn’t lived up to her ideals."
Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British ? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War ? I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally, died for in WWII because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around because we stand for freedom.
I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.
Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man. Shape up and start acting like an American. If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue . You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.
And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts who was putting up a fight? You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.
One more thing… I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out.
The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.
You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president. You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That’s not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,
Harold B. Estes“

 

Sources:

• http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=10892&letter_id=4287614061
• http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/haroldestes.asp
• http://www.forenaftmagazine.com/2009_shipmates_bmc.pdf

 

Photos:

• www.honolulunavyleague.org
• http://media.photobucket.com/image/Harold%20Estes%20Obama/ewest934/OldSalty.jpg

Contributed Post with additional commentary

After the widespread acceptance of the Al Gore hit film “An Inconvenient Truth”, It is surprising that most of the usually scandal-happy news outlets have overlooked one of the biggest stories in the past decade: Climate-Change data that is the very foundation of the Global Warming craze was manipulated to promote the theory. To put it another way, the scientists who advocate the Global Warming theory didn’t use science to arrive at their conclusion. It’s interesting news, and great timing – it just snowed in a New Mexico desert.

Global Warming has become a multi-billion dollar industry, and its evangelists, like Gore, are quickly becoming the Rockefellers and JP Morgans of the 21st century with this new industry. If the news of the unsound “scientific” foundation of Global Warming gets out, however, this new industry may go the way of asbestos insulation, radium watches and lead paint.

The following is intended for those who are not aware of the emerging scandal that was quickly dubbed “Climate-gate”, and should work as a quick overview of the scandal as of today, complete with links and searchable keywords.

It’s late & I just got back from a long trip, but I need to get something off my chest.

Earlier tonight, a friend posted a facebook poll called “Acceptance of a Child”. It asks the question,

“If your child came to you and told you they were gay, would you accept and support them?”

After last night’s inappropriate, godless and predictable performances on the American Music Awards, I figured its time I shift gears for a bit and complain about pseudo-religion. Our nation, our society – even much of the world – is increasing its pace to destruction foretold by prophets on all continents.

As I was browsing the day’s headlines, I found an interesting example of the kind of corruption that unfortunately has some modern Christians – though well-intentioned- promoting works of the devil. It is a sad reminder of the things some turn to while stumbling around in darkness. 

It’s a little annoying that nearly every media outlet is commenting on Obama bowing to the Japanese emperor, but it makes sense. I don’t think it’s about the bow itself as much as its about the body language and his history of using the same kind of body language in other situations.

When you watch him standing in line for photo ops with other world leaders, he looks like a scared puppy. I think the dog similarity is good to make this point: If world leaders were a pack of wild dogs, by cowering before them, apologizing for America, and otherwise being a weak and timid voice representing our country, he would NOT be the “alpha dog”. By dog-training standards, him doing that begs for another dog to step up and take charge.

At this time in our history do we want to have another world leader take charge? A lot of countries have been meeting to back away from the US dollar as a monetary standard, a lot of countries blame us for the economic crisis, and despite backing out of the war in Iraq, we are still the “leader” in that fight.

More than any other time in recent history, it is dangerous for a US president to be weak. At least “locally” I think Chavez is the leader that will step up, and that is a frightening thing.

Michelle Malkin had a good bit on Obama’s bowing complete with a pictorial showing other leaders who did not bow:

http://michellemalkin.com/2009/11/14/president-o-bow-ma/

see also:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2009/11/obama-emperor-akihito-japan.html

 

I got a letter in the mail the other day from an energy company that wants to build a nuclear power plant a couple miles from my house.

The letter was pretty much some pre-emptive propaganda to prepare the community to accept a big corporation’s* nuclear facility that had supposedly (according to what they told us last year) pulled out because they couldn’t find a suitable area. It included un-pro phrases like “that’s just media hype” to describe opposing viewpoints. They made several claims and promises, so I want to add my comments to those claims:

     I’ve been using a checklist of criteria for all new purchases to ensure anything we spend money on will give us the “best bang for the buck”. It’s not terribly interesting, but it does what it is supposed to do, and in the least it keeps supplies from ending up in the trash.

The basic points of the list are as follows:

• DURABILITY
• UTILITY over fashion
• MULTIPLE-USE
• PORTABILITY
• SALVAGEABILITY (it can be repaired if it breaks)
• TRADEABILITY
• ENERGY consumption/method
• REDUNDANCY

I submitted a write-up on it to survivalblog.com, and you can view the full text (including examples and a lot of hot air)  here: http://www.survivalblog.com/2009/10/the_dumpster_list_by_inforodeo.html

By following the DUMPSTER list, you’ll save money in the long-term and greatly enhance your self-sufficiency abilities.