The Warrior and Economics

"Survival of the Fittest"

"If I don't go — I don't get"

In the South is an old man with a rowboat who ferries passengers across a mile-wide river for ten cents.

Asked, "How many times a day do you do this?" he said, "As many times as I can because the more I go, the more I get." And if I don't go, I don't get."

That's all you need to know – all there is to know – about business, economics, prosperity – and self respect.

"When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it"

French Economist, Frederic Bastiat (1801 – 1850)

If orientation to reality is the criterion for wisdom, such highly intelligent personally engaging, widely respected liberals are fools.

Corrected translation (Rom. 1:21 – 22)

Truth is not in them. With an untrue frame of reference, they cannot comprehend basic principles of common sense and economic truths are out of the question. Such people who claim to put so much stock in reason cannot be reasoned with. They are dead to clear thinking.

They talk of change but do not understand essence is what remains stable in change. Therefore, without essence, a thing would not be what it actually is. They want to ignore the essence of our country. Our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, our Bill of Rights our culture of freedom, free enterprise which drives our economy. Instead they enslave the people of our nation in tyranny and socialism with freedom upended and incentive taken away.

In these tough economic times it is hard to think of other things so I'm going to share some simple secrets of economics so you can understand economics and the consequences of what we all see happening before our eyes. Economics is simple in its essence and that is what I will attempt to give you. The simple essence of economics is, "common sense."

The Pot of National Wealth

We will begin with a big pot which represents the wealth of the nation. For us it will represent the wealth of a free nation. The amount of wealth in the pot measures the standard of living for all in a free nation. Therefore the greater the wealth in the pot the greater the standard of living and the lesser the wealth in the pot the lower the standard of living as a whole.

The level of wealth in the pot which determines our standard of living as a whole is affected by three factors.

FACTOR I - What fills the pot?

The pot is filled and grows in wealth by free enterprise in the private sector. People and industry producing and creating things and services in demand by consumers put wealth into the pot.

For example a person or company drills an oil well developing one of our nations' many natural resources. The oil creates jobs by hiring people to drill and transport the oil to a refinery, which creates more jobs, and then the oil is turned into products like gasoline where it is trucked to service stations creating more jobs. Then the gasoline is purchased for vehicles which create more jobs enabling people to get back and forth to work, move products back and forth to stores creating more jobs and opportunities along the way and so forth. I could go on and fill a novel on how many jobs are created by drilling for oil, but I think you can see that for yourself. All those jobs came from drilling a hole and utilizing one of our many national resources. Imagine what happens when we buy our oil from foreign countries because we restrict and prohibit developing using our own. Common sense tells you that we have taken away the source of paying for all those jobs created by the oil transferring that wealth from our pot to another nation's pot.

There is a principle here that I would like to point out. I am not suggesting that foreign trade is bad because it is good when performed for the correct reasons to acquire things that we do not have or can be produced cheaper then we can, but in the case of oil there is no reason for us to import in fact we have enough oil that we could provide for our nation and export which would help balance trade with other nations, not to mention it will bankrupt our enemies.

The key to filling the pot is through developing our natural resources, productivity and incentive. That is what creates profit which equals wealth. The principle here is "You can't make something out of nothing".

FACTOR II and III are two categories of government spending.

Government controls the pot through facilitating the growth of the pot (the wealth of a nation) or it can empty the pot which decreases the wealth of our nation causing the standard of living to go up or down depending on whether they're spending is necessary or unnecessary.

FACTOR II - Necessities

Necessities are legitimate functions government provides to facilitate the growth of the pot. They are things like law enforcement, fire department, judicial, roads, bridges, military all things that are absolutely necessary to keep the peace and freedom to create the most productive environment.

For example: In our First War on terror, Thomas Jefferson sent the Navy and Marines to stop the Barbary (muslims) pirates raiding merchant vessels and enslaving and ransoming the crews. It's funny when you think of the pirates in Somalia today and what they are doing. Some things never change. Will they be paid off making them stronger or will they be dealt with by force and end their pirating? Sorry I couldn't resist. Maybe a better example is as our nation grew we needed bigger and better roads and bridges to get people and goods flowing faster creating better productivity which fills the pot (the wealth of the nation). We will say necessities have a neutral affect on the wealth of the pot, although these expenditures come from the pot they make up for it by creating better efficiency and productivity canceling out the debit to the pot. The trick here is our politicians are quick to deceive us convincing everyone that unnecessary spending is necessary spending.

FACTOR III Unnecessary spending

This is where government exceeds its legitimate functions by creating unnecessary jobs, entitlements, subsidies, programs, bailouts all wasting and spending money out of the pot (the wealth of the nation). This lowers the standard of living of the nation as a whole.

As you can easily see government produces nothing to add to the pot it only takes away from the pot. Wealth is created by the private sector in many ways under free enterprise which fills the wealth of the pot and raises the standard of living of our nation. Government can help fill the pot through providing necessities or it can take from the pot which decreases the wealth of the nation by unnecessary spending and waste.

What I have outlined may sound too simple but this is the essence of economics "common sense". Just follow the money in and out of the pot of wealth and you can see what is right and what is wrong.

The founding Fathers knew a government can't control the economy without controlling its people. They also knew when a government sets out to do that; it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. This is unfortunately what is precisely happening right now in our country the current leadership is not interested in fixing the economy they are exploiting the current recession to gain more power by building more dependency on the government. The result of this is a power struggle between government, executive management (industry), and labor (labor unions) with government and its allies winning control. This is a loss for freedom and the wealth of our nation.

To be controlled in our economic pursuits means to be controlled in everything

- Friedrich August Hayek

When you apply and work through all the crazy attempts the government makes to fix the economy using the pot representing the wealth of the nation. The conclusions you arrive at will usually, or if you have calculated properly always correspond with those of unsophisticated common sense. Yes, in the end economics in its essence is plain old common sense, the same kind we use in our daily lives to consider the short term and long term effects of our decisions.

The solution to economical problems always lies in the problem. For example if you are coming up short of money to pay bills each month the problem is obvious you do not have enough money. So to solve the problem with common sense, the first thing you do is see where there is waste and what you can do without. Simple common sense. But our politicians defy all common sense by adding more unnecessary spending, printing money, borrowing money, and raising taxes, etc. The simple common sense of the solution to the problem is never even considered.

Our nation and its leaders are drunk in their arrogance which has put our freedom and prosperity in grave jeopardy.

What is called "orthodox" economics is in most countries barred from the universities and is virtually unknown to the leading statesmen, politicians, and writers. The blame for the unsatisfactory state of economic affairs can certainly not be placed upon a science which both rulers and masses despise and ignore.

– Ludwig von Mises.

Arrogant people are more comfortable when life is complicated: There is more room for self-importance when things are nebulous and obscure, especially when cleverly or beautifully obscure. People can think they are smarter or more creative than they really are when the overall picture is out of focus. Therefore, they decry simplicity as superficiality and make us think that the same common sense rules we use in our own lives and families do not apply.

They think themselves smarter then us and with a self righteous arrogance they tell us what to do as they spend our future away. They only think of themselves and maintaining power as they deceive the selfish and ignorant people of our nation. They are corrupt with no principles, no honor and no integrity serving themselves not the people and they think the rules do not apply to themselves the arrogant never do.

We all hear how smart our new leadership is. All the politicians patronizing one another and congratulating themselves on a job well done as the people of this country suffer as they take more and more in their greed and lust for power.

Now getting back to the Pot (wealth of the nation). I want to point out some simple truths of economics we will start with a true definition of economics.

"The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the long term effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups."

Nine-tenths of the economic fallacies being forced upon us today ignore two critical elements in the definition above. They ignore the long term effects and consequences and they ignore looking at the effect on the whole and are quick to site the benefit to a few. Although the reverse can be true it is not as common a mistake, because they rarely make policy based on the long term and the effect on the whole.

Our politicians are clever in their arrogance to satisfy the greed and lust for power by concentrating on the short-term effects of policies on special groups and to ignore or belittle the long-term effects where they stand to gain the most support. It is easy for them to sell because they deal in half truths. They never tell you the long term effects and how it affects the whole. They do not want us to know the whole truth which shows what little respect they have for government by the people and for the people.

I bet you thought the art of economics was complex and vast, it is not. At least that was the way I was brainwashed in college, but you should know different, common sense is the essence of economics.

Now having defined the art of economics here are some simple truths.

I. Destruction – the liberals will tell you there is good in destruction.

I will give this example and you can apply it to all situations from natural disasters to war most anything. This is to say war is not good for the economy a false lie that is always pushed around by the ignorant. Example a baker has worked hard every day for a year baking, preparing and laying his bread and pastries out in his store front window. Johnny one day throws a brick through his window destroying the window and pastries all his hard work. The liberal thinks like this. Well its not so bad look at the jobs it created. The glass company gets work, the supplies sells more flour and sugar. But they conveniently leave out that Ralph the baker had been saving for a year to buy a new suit. Now he can't buy the new suit. The suit company loses the sale and his suppliers lose the sale of cloth and thread and so on down the line. Johnny's act has created a debit to the wealth of the Pot. The principle here is destruction takes out of the Pot by creating unnecessary spending that would have otherwise been spent on progress adding to the wealth of the pot.

II. Government Spending

All government expenditures must eventually be paid out of the proceeds of taxation. Unnecessary taxes take out of the Pot. I think most can figure this one out but the trick here is our politicians always make you think someone else is going to pay the taxes but if you go back to the rule of the Pot you will see that even if you are not paying the taxes directly when the Pot is debited it lowers the wealth of the nation and effects the standard of living as a whole. "Money doesn't grow on trees" it must come from the private sectors hard work. Our government has been pushing the Keynesian theory, a false concept of economy which most are brainwashed into. A theory named after John Maynard Keynes, an English economist 1883—1946. We'll not go into a detailed debate here, but I will apply some common sense. Keynes or Keynesians express the only way out of a recession is through government spending when business is weak. Government must replace the role of business. This simple truth defies Keynesians, when you're in financial trouble you cannot get out of trouble by borrowing money and spending on unnecessary things, although you might find it stimulating until the holiday ends and reality sets in. that you now have to pay for your folly. Is not the same true for our government? Keynesians and the liberal socialists would have you believe otherwise.

III. Government - creating jobs.

I am here concerned with unnecessary jobs and public works programs considered as a means of "providing employment" or of adding wealth to the community that it would not otherwise have had. If you turn on the news all you hear is the government creating unnecessary jobs placing more burdens on the private sector the only ones that produce the nation's wealth.

For example: A bridge is built. If it is built to meet an insistent public demand, if it solves a traffic problem or a transportation problem otherwise insoluble, if, in short, it is even more necessary than the things for which the taxpayers would have spent their money if it had not been taxed away from them, there can be no objection.

But a bridge built primarily "to provide employment" is a different kind of bridge (a bridge to nowhere). When providing employment becomes the end, need becomes subordinate consideration. "Projects" have to be invented. Instead of thinking only where bridges must be built, the government spenders begin to ask themselves where bridges can be built. Can they think of plausible reasons why an additional bridge should connect Easton and Weston? It soon becomes absolutely essential. Those who doubt the necessity are dismissed as obstructionists and reactionaries.

The first argument is that it will provide employment. It will provide, say, 500 jobs for a year. The implication is that these are jobs that would not otherwise have come into existence. This is what is immediately seen.

For every dollar that is spent on the bridge a dollar will be taken away from taxpayers. If the bridge costs a billion the taxpayers will lose one billion. They will have that much taken away from them which they would other wise have spent on the things they needed most.

Therefore for every public job created by the bridge project a private job has been destroyed somewhere else.

But then we come to the second argument. The bridge exists. Here again the government spenders have the better of the argument with all those who cannot see beyond the immediate range of their physical eyes. They can see the bridge. But they cannot see the unbuilt homes, the unmade cars and radios, the unmade dresses and coats, perhaps the unsold and ungrown foodstuffs. To see these uncreated things requires imagination that not many people have. What has happened is merely that one thing has been created instead of others. When the government creates unnecessary jobs it decreases the wealth of the pot and those unnecessary jobs are paid for by increasing the tax burden.

IV. Government Loans and in the banking business.

The proposal is frequently made that the government ought to assume the risks that are "too great for private industry." This means that bureaucrats should be permitted to take risks with the taxpayers' money that no one is willing to take with his own. This is what we are seeing today.

Such a policy leads to evils of many different kinds. It leads to favoritism like making of loans to friends, or in return for bribes. It inevitably leads to scandals. It leads to recriminations whenever the taxpayers' money was thrown away on enterprises that failed. It increases the demand for socialism: for, if properly asked, if the government is going to bear the risks, why should it not also get the profits? What Justification could there possibly be, in fact, for asking the taxpayers to take the risks while permitting private capitalists to keep the profits?

People want to invest their own capital. But they are cautious. They want to get it back with interest. Most lenders, therefore, investigate any proposal carefully before they risk their own money in it. In the case of the government they are lending other peoples money that has been taken from them, regardless of their personal wish, in taxes. The private money will be invested only where repayment with interest or profit is definitely expected. This is a sign that the persons to whom the money has been lent will be expected to produce things for the market that people actually want.

The government money, on the other hand, is likely to be lent for some vague general purpose like creating or saving jobs and the more inefficient the work—that is, the greater the volume of employment it requires in relation to the value of what's produced—the more highly thought of the investment is likely to be.

The private lenders, moreover, are selected by a cruel market test. If they make bad mistakes they lose their money and have no more money to lend, survival of the fittest. When the government bails out our banks like they are today they are rewarding greed and incompetence opening up a Pandora's Box of problems by interfering with the natural safeguards of free enterprise which rewards good decisions and punishes bad decisions keeping us all responsible. The government lender, on the other hand, are either those who have passed civil service examinations, and know how to answer hypothetical questions hypothetically or they are those who can give the most plausible reasons for making loans and the most plausible explanations of why it wasn't their fault that the loans failed. This is exemplified in our current leadership today.

But the net result remains: private loans will utilize existing resources and capital far better than government loans. Government loans will waste far more capital and resources than private loans. Government loans, in short, as compared with private loans, will reduce production, not increase it.

It is one more illustration of the fallacy of seeing only a special interest in the short run and forgetting the general interest in the long run the art of economics.

When government makes loans, subsidies or bailouts to business, what it does is to tax successful private business in order to support unsuccessful private business. This decreases the wealth of the pot.

V. Technological advances in machines and automation

This is a reality of the world we live in called progress. This can be a deep subject so I will just say that I live near a port and the port installed new cranes to become more efficient and cut labor costs to be competitive with other ports. The labor union went on strike of course to block progress to save their jobs. So the Pot is debited because of non-competition and waste spending on unnecessary jobs. Again we all pay for it.

It is true that jobs are lost in one place but they are gained in another place due to progress and it is hard on the individuals affected by this but to hold progress back and decrease the Pot we all suffer.

VI. The Goal of Economics is to create profit and wealth through productivity and efficiency.

The economic goal of any nation, as of any individual, is to get the greatest results with the least effort. The whole economic progress of mankind has consisted in getting more production with the same labor. It is for this reason that men began putting burdens on the backs of mules instead of on their own; that they went on to invent the wheel and the wagon, the railroad, the trucks, planes, and container ships, etc.. It is for this reason that men used their ingenuity to develop a hundred thousand labor-saving inventions. Profit is achieved only through productivity and adds to the wealth of the pot.

If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand. – Milton Friedman

VII. Do it yourself.

It is the maxim of every prudent master of a family, never to attempt to make at home what it will cost him more to make than to buy. The tailor does not attempt to make his own shoes, but buys them from the shoemaker. The shoemaker does not attempt to make his own clothes, but employs a tailor. The farmer attempts to make neither one nor the other, but instead employs different skilled craftsman. All of them find it to their best interest to employ their industry in a way in which they have some advantage over their neighbors, and to purchase with a part of what it produces. When we buy products and services cheaper than we can do it for ourselves this adds to the wealth of the pot because our time can be spent more productively towards other needs.

VIII. What Works For the Family Works For the Country.

But what ever led people to suppose that what was prudence in the conduct of every private family could be folly in that of a great nation? It was a whole network of fallacies, out of which our politicians have been delivering to us. The thing to understand here is our politicians do not want the people to use common sense otherwise they would be held accountable and lose the power they endlessly lust for. Common sense is the essence of economics and when applied it increases the wealth of the pot.

VIV. Pricing.

Prices should be determined through the relationship of supply and demand. When demand is high, industry and government should work together to satisfy the demand to keep prices affordable. This is the principle that should always be used to control prices. The best example is our dependence on foreign oil. We should be drilling like crazy and producing to satisfy our own demands and expanding to keep prices affordable and to keep our money here to grow the wealth of the Pot when the above mentioned principle is applied it increases the wealth of the pot. Instead our government and environmentalists have blocked production in this country one of the major causes contributing to our current financial crisis that is ignored.

X. Government Prints Money

When the government prints money we all pay. It dilutes the value of the dollar so it is like a hidden tax. It causes inflation making your hard earned savings and retirement accounts worth less. Printing money contradicts the simple quote. "Money doesn't grow on trees." Printing money decreases the wealth of the pot.

XI. Government Borrowing.

Anything the government borrows must be paid back with interest by the tax payers and makes money scarcer for the private sector where it is used for productive purposes. It also has a double negative not only does it cause inflation but it also increases interest rates in the long run. Government borrowing decreases the wealth of the pot.

The common man is the sovereign consumer whose buying or abstention from buying ultimately determines what should be produced and in what quantity and quality.

- Ludwig von Mises

XII. What should be produced?

Everything, in short is produced at the expense of something else.

It follows that it is just as essential for the health of a dynamic economy that dying industries should be allowed to die as that growing industries should be allowed to grow. For the dying industries absorb labor and capital that should be released for the growing industries. It is only the much vilified price system that solves the enormously complicated problem of deciding precisely how much of tens of thousands of different commodities and services should be produced in relation to each other These otherwise bewildering equations are solved quasiautomatically by the system of prices, profits and costs. They are solved by this system incomparably better than any group of bureaucrats could solve them.

For they are solved by a system under which each consumer makes his own demand and casts a fresh vote or a dozen fresh votes, every day; whereas bureaucrats would try to solve it by having made for the consumers, not what the consumers themselves wanted, but what the bureaucrats decided was good for them. When the government interferes with the free market it decreases the wealth of the pot because it causes waste and loss of productivity through unnecessary regulation and prohibition. One example of this is what we are witnessing in the automotive industry today. I for one miss the muscle cars of the 60's. I detest the idea of driving around some futuristic golf cart looking thing around.

For as Alexander Hamilton pointed out in the Federalist papers a century and a half ago, "A power over man's subsistence amounts to a power over his will."

Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Papers.

XIII Savings

Savings in reality is really another form of spending, although our politicians do not want you to know this. When money is saved or invested you receive hopefully a return on your money, but at the same time you are saving, that money is being loaned out by a bank to business, etc. where it is used to create more jobs and wealth. The loan is paid back with interest to the bank and in return the bank pays you interest. As you can see by saving your money not only did you increase your own wealth but you increased the wealth of the bank, the business that used the money and the wealth in the pot of the nation. There are also other benefits to savings when emergencies arrive or times are rough you have reserve money to carry you through the situations without burdening anyone or decreasing the wealth of the pot.

Savings is a good thing not a bad thing.

The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition is so powerful that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations. -- Adam Smith

XIV Productivity and Efficiency

We cannot distribute more wealth than is created. We cannot in the long run pay labor as a whole more than it produces. The best way to raise wages, therefore, is to raise labor productivity. The more the individual worker produces, the more he increases the wealth of the whole community. Real wages come out of production, not out of government decrees. Labor unions should be on board with this "never bite the hand that feeds you." When labor costs are not based on productivity this decreases the competitive ability of the nation and wealth of the pot.

XV Incentive

Incentive and reward is what motivates people to be more efficient and productive. The socialist liberals would have you believe this to be false but anyone who thinks otherwise is lying to himself. When we all want something we will work harder to get it. But the liberals prefer to steal through redistribution of wealth and confiscation instead of earning it. Without free enterprise, incentive and reward the United States would have never out produced the world to become the greatest industrial empire the world has ever known. Unfortunately socialism has crept in to our country from Europe and is destroying free enterprise, productivity and reward; it has already taken away our ability to compete in the world markets causing the wealth of the pot to decrease because we produce almost nothing compared to the past, because of government interference by over regulation and prohibition.

If you apply the wealth of the pot system of thinking with the essence of economics "common sense" using the art of economics consider the short term and long term effects of a policy on a specific group and the group as a whole along with the simple economic truths I have touched on you will not be fooled by the deceptions and false tongues of our politicians and socialists.

We have new leadership in our country and they are selling fear to drive the quest for more power. All we hear is if we don't do this or that, things will get worse, but at the same time they tell us it will take a long time for recovery. This is a power grab pure and simple and they are hoping the problem will fix itself in the long run so they can stay in power. The new economic policies being pushed on us today are driven by fear. A principle we should never forget is policy based on fear is weak and will end in disaster. This I learned in the military and it is always true in anything. Policy must come from strength not weakness and fear.

"When the chips are down, what is the difference between cowardice and courage? The brave man thinks under pressure whereas the coward does not. One of the greatest virtues in life is the ability to think clearly in a crisis. That is the stuff of aristocracy! Being afraid is normal, clearly succumbing to fear and failing to control fear is absolutely unnecessary."

L.TC R.B.Thieme, USAF, Retired.

The only nations throughout all history that have prospered the people as a whole had Free Enterprise. Human history is littered with casualties from liberal socialistic ideologies, do gooders, and environmentalists. Rome is perhaps the best example for we parallel Rome's mistakes in so many ways that if you substituted names and times you would think you are reading about the United States.

The Economy of a nation must be based on free enterprise – capitalism and business unhindered by government. This is the foundation for prosperity and there is no other except in the illusions of arrogant people. The prosperity in this country as well as many other countries West Germany, Northern Italy, Southern France, South Korea, Japan and many others in recent history is mostly a result of American free enterprise. Free Enterprise existed from 1870's until around 1910. 1913 marked the beginning of the end of our good economy based on free enterprise when a history professor from Princeton, Woodrow Wilson became president and instituted one of the most intrusive and controlling taxes of our time the income tax which has crept up and up along with regulations so complicated not even the IRS can give you a straight answer and as we most recently witnessed the newly appointed head of our treasury along with our appointees do not feel they have to pay all their taxes. Our politicians have used income tax to take away incentive, for social engineering, class warfare and invasion of privacy. Just the mention of the IRS brings fear in most peoples lives.

The backbone of our national prosperity has always been free enterprise. With out free enterprise there would have never been a United States as we know it and the world would be a much different place. Yes, we became a great nation through free enterprise.

As we are all very much aware the United States is in big trouble. Freedom, prosperity and what is left of industry are under the greatest of attacks. Industry suffers from various conspiracies designed to destroy or take over industry and many dupes or ignorant people are going along with destroying businesses. Socialism is regimenting industry out of business. Environmentalists have put a choke hold on developing our natural resources and industry in every way imaginable Prohibitive restrictions, regulations and laws along with interference and exorbitant taxation.

Government taxation of industry is totally out of proportion. Hidden taxes alone are unbelievable. Industry is being taxed to death, it is being bribed and coerced through bureaucracy which is mediocrity and mediocrity is throttling our nations industry.

When it becomes impossible to make a profit, they have won because there is no incentive for hard-work, productivity and risk taking. If a person is smart enough to build an industry he should reap the benefits and who better to run it then the one who risked everything to build it or a bureaucrat?

Socialism is expensive and someone has to pay for it and our industries have been picking up the tab. Ultimately socialism destroys industry and freedom the source of our prosperity.

Industry is what keeps us going but people today are so arrogant and ignorant that all they want to do is kill the goose that lays the golden egg. The most thankless task in the world is management. Labor unions and labor are just as out of line as our government. Government was never designed to regulate industry; it was designed to provide and maintain the privacy, freedom, and rights of industry as well as individuals. A person who wants to work should have that right regardless if he has a union card or not. That's the American way! They should also have the right to work for a lower wage if the desire to get a job.

Industry is supporting the population of this country. Every organization is somehow related to industry. If you wipe out big business it will also wipe out small businesses. The reason we are in this situation today is industry has shrunk down to nothing and we produce next to nothing. If government interference and regulations with its choke hold on industry today is not lifted we will never become that great nation we once were in the past.

This e-mail although amusingly demonstrates how unproductive we have become.

Joe Smith started the day early, having set his alarm clock (made in Japan) for 6:00 AM.

While his coffee pot (made in China) was perking, he shaved with his electric razor (made in Hong Kong).

He put on a dress shirt (made in Sri Lanka), designer jeans (made in Singapore), and tennis shoes (made in Korea).

After cooking his breakfast in his new electric skillet (made in India), he sat down with his calculator (made in Mexico), to see how much he could spend today.

After setting his watch (made in Taiwan), to the radio (made in India), he got in his car (made in Germany) and continued his search for a good-paying American job.

At the end of yet another discouraging and fruitless day, Joe decided to relax for a while.

He put on his sandals (made in Brazil), poured himself a glass of wine (made in France), and turned on his TV (made in Indonesia), then wondered why he can't find a good-paying job in AMERICA.

I think this e-mail says a lot we have become a nation that produces next to nothing being choked into socialism through ridiculous over regulation, prohibitions and absorbent taxes.

If you are interested in learning more about economics and common sense I highly recommend this free book you can download online. It is easy to read and understand and common sense based.

Economics in One Lesson (PDF)

Hooah

Dave

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THANK YOU DAVE, THANK YOU!

DENNIS

Dave, this is a great article, as a reservist I deal with a senior NCO that is abusive and shall read this in the hopes that he learns something and undrstands the true meaning of power and leadership. It will leave it in his in box just incase he fails to understand it meaning.

SJ

Better than college!

Rick

I have enjoyed all of your articles to date - I only ran across this site 6 months ago and have been going back to get caught up. Although I do consider myself a liberal, I believe in gun ownership, the readiness of the common person to take up arms if need be, the need for a well trained and funded military and the need to take the fight to the enemy so we don't have to do it here. I am ex-military, my father fought in 2 wars, I appreciate all the men and women of the armed forces for the jobs they do. Thanks for the message of the creed-we need to cherish our freedom, understand that there is a price for freedom and never take it for granted.

Dave in PA

Dave you should write a book plain and simple. Maybe you have and i just don't know about it but i am enthralled with your messages as i took the time to sit down and read them. I won't lie, i used to delete them the first few times but after just taking a peek at one newsletter email i have been reading ever since. Intelligent, intuitive and rightly opinionated is what i think of you and these excellent newsletter. I'm a former 1st lieu. (USMC) who served with 1st recon from 97-01. Keep up the great work!

Vince Rawlins

Dave,

As usual, you've written an intelligent and heartfelt treatise on freedom. I can't argue against the truth you've put forth other than to point out one element you may have passed over too quickly. As you correctly state; "People with no character can be easily persuaded using false promises appealing to selfish desires and ignorant people are easily deceived." Accordingly, I fear we may have already reached a tipping point where the "selfish desires of the ignorant" now outnumber the educated citizens who cherish self determination. The implications of this may be dire regarding the continuation of the core values and principals our freedoms have depended upon

The foundation and historic basis of America's freedom required an educated and involved citizenry. Freedom itself was the strongest common inspiration of most early Americans and they both relished and earnestly defended its gift. But with the successes that Freedom fostered, the responsibilities of freedom's gifts were increasingly neglected by following generations. Freedom was considered automatic and immutable by most. On top of this, increasing numbers of immigrants came solely for financial benefits without any deep appreciation or even understanding of the responsibilities required to maintain the gifts of freedom which produced the abundance they sought.

There have been numerous signs of our society's dramatic change over the years.

When questions regarding the definition of "character" couldn't be clearly defined by Presidential candidates four years ago and the question was dismissed altogether by the general Press, it was a clear sign.

When the eventual winning candidate in the most recent Presidential election campaign was unable to clearly answer a simple question as to whether there was such a thing as "Evil" in the world, it was another sign. That his inability to clearly answer such a question wasn't even considered to be an issue worthy of further attention was yet an even larger sign. Discussions of character and morality were generally considered irrelevant to most voters when compared to their larger core issues regarding the "responsibilities of the government to provide them with material wealth" .

America has changed both internally and governmentally. Almost every one of our former "inalienable rights" have slowly over the last decade been reduced to Executive or Legislative privileges based solely upon a blind trust in the continued good will of the government with none of the 'checks and balances' inherent in foundations set by our founding fathers. Further, there's currently ongoing discussion among political leaders, including our President, of abrogating the Constitution in place of a new one.

As such, I don't believe the America we grew up in exists any longer. It's already morphed into something that some foreign and domestic analysts' have already predicted to be "one or two disasters away from complete collapse" . The possibility of waking up one day under an all powerful government unregulated by the citizens unfortunately has undeniably now become a statistical (albeit distant) chance unimaginable only a few years ago.

As such, the defense of Liberty demands our serious attention now more than ever and your selfless efforts within the "The Special Forces Newsletter" continues to serve as a valuable venue for important discussion.

Keep up the good fight Brother.

BrooklynBen

Dave, you never cease to offer such thoughtful essays. I wish I could copy them and put them out to all the people. You need to be heard!

George Worthy

Not good..... DAMN GOOD, stay on the wall we need you more than ever.

W David Chandler

The information in the article in Tactical Tips (They picked the wrong guy to try to rob) is in-incorrect the man in the image is a Brazilian Civil Police office who was in the Bank Caixa Economica Federal (sign can be seen clearly in the back ground also plates confirm) when the attempted robbery took place on 09/16/2008 if you would like more information or photos I have the full report in my e-mail.

Director BlackWater Brasil

WISDOM - FROM THE MILITARY MANUAL

"If the enemy is in range, so are you."

- Infantry Journal

"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed."

- U.S. Air Force Manual

"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons."

- General MacArthur

"You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me."

- U.S. Marine corps Gunnery Sgt.

"Tracers work both ways."

- U.S. Army Ordnance

"Five second fuses only last three seconds."

- Infantry Journal

"Any ship can be a minesweeper.. Once."

"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do."

- Unknown Marine Recruit

"If you see a bomb technician running, keep up with him."

- USAF Ammo Troop

"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death , I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing."

"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3."

- Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)

"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."

"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter - and therefore, unsafe."

"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."

"Even with ammunition, the USAF is just another expensive flying club."

"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, ... The pilot dies."

"Never trade luck for skill."

The three most common expressions (or famous last words), in aviation are:

"Why is it doing that?"
"Where are we?"
And
"Oh *dear!" *(Or a suitable synonym!)

"Airspeed, altitude and brains.
Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight."

"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation;
We never left one up there!"

"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."

"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you."

- Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)

"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime."

Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970

"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."

"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal."

As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives; the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks,

"What happened?"

The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!"

- Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)

Skin Diseases Among Military Personnel Who Were Evacuated From Combat Zones

ScienceDaily — Dermatitis, benign moles, hives and cancerous skin lesions are among the most common diagnoses among military personnel who were evacuated from combat zones for ill-defined dermatologic diseases, according to a new report.

"Throughout the history of warfare, dermatologic diseases have been responsible for troop morbidity, poor morale and combat ineffectiveness," the authors write as background information in the article. In tropical and subtropical climates, skin diseases have accounted for more than half of the days lost by frontline units. Skin diseases during wartime are exacerbated by sun exposure, temperature and humidity extremes, native diseases, insects, crowded living conditions, difficulty maintaining personal hygiene and chafing and sweating caused by body armor, helmets and other protective gear.

Read More >>

The Word of Truth

Prosperity of a Nation

By Rev G.J. Rako
LTC (Ret)
IN USAR

The secrets of life, love, and happiness are all revealed in the treasures found in scripture, including personal and national prosperity. Unlocking these secrets and realizing personal and national prosperity requires a hunger to know the truth. Freedom is a part of prosperity.

John 8:32 "and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

MT 6:25-33 "For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? "Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? "And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? "And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. "But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! "Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?' or ‘What will we drink?' or ‘What will we wear for clothing?' "For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

The principle is the same today as it was when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke these words. Seek ye first the kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you.

You are required to do something, to seek God and His righteousness.

Prosperity, happiness, and contentment begin and end with God. If you seek God, He will reveal Himself to you. If you continue on this path, "all these things will be added to you." All what things, you ask? God will provide food, shelter, clothing, and all the material blessings that God designed for you in eternity past including happiness, freedom, and contentment of soul.

Psalms 50:10 "For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills.

It is God who owns the earth and everything in it. He alone is the answer to prosperity. Job was a very wealthy man.

JOB 1:1-3 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless, upright, fearing God and turning away from evil. Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. His possessions also were 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and very many servants; and that man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

JOB 1:8-10 The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil." Then Satan answered the Lord, "Does Job fear God for nothing? "Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land."

Notice, who made Job a wealthy man, "You (God) have blessed the work of his hands, and have caused his possessions to increase." The adversities of Job are not the focus of this study. Rather the source of his prosperity.

JOB 42:10-12 The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold. Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

Considering the economic condition of our country at this time in history we must question how we got here and how we can emerge prosperous. The blessings of a client nation are tied to the number and to the spiritual advance of believers residing in that nation. If all believers are apostate and follow heretical teaching, expect discipline from the Lord.

Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest [nation]. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

If, on the other hand, there are a large number of believers who are advancing spiritually, you can expect great blessings from the Lord.

2 Chron 7:14 "and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.

R.B. Thieme III delivered a New Years Eve message at Berachah Church concerning our current economic status. Below is an excerpt from that message.

December 31, 2008

Leviticus 26:18, "If after those things you do not obey me, then I God will punish you seven more times for your sins."

Lev. 26:19, "And I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron, and your earth like bronze:"

"Your sky like iron" is the picture of no clouds, and no rain for crops. And the "earth like bronze" is soil that is arid and parched, which means of course, devastation of the agrarian economy of the nation of Israel in the time in which this was written. Then Lev. 26:20 goes on to say, "your strength shall be spent uselessly: for your land shall not yield its produce, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit." This of course is the principle of economic depression, and it is part of the cycles of discipline on a client nation. There are five cycles of discipline found in the 26th chapter of Leviticus each progressively worse until the client is then destroyed. Of course, a client nation (if you're not sure what that term means) is a national entity in which a certain number of believers form a pivot. And, the pivot is the accumulation of mature believers whose spiritual advance establishes the status of client nation and the pivot guarantees the perpetuation of that client nation into the next generation. It's through this pivot of mature believers in the client nation that Jesus Christ controls history (not that he does not control history for His purposes anyway). He doesn't need anything to control history but this is the way He has designated that He would do so. But you see, without a pivot the client nation becomes cowardly, powerless, and disintegrates. That week nation no longer has the privilege and the blessing of furthering God's plan for mankind. That privilege then goes somewhere else. But, definitely; through the pivot and the client nation God furthers His plan for mankind, and the client nation is the vehicle for doing that. Matt 5:13-16, is a perfect example of that. It's the "salt of the earth" passage, which is analogous to the preservation of a client nation by mature believers. God's plan for mankind includes four great purposes for a client nation. A client nation is the center for believers to fulfill the divine mandate of evangelism, for cust

odianship and communication of Bible doctrine. To provide a haven for the Jews from anti-Semitic persecution, they of course are still the people of the "covenant" who have a future in the plan of God. Finally, the client nation sends Biblically orthodox missionaries to none client nations. Every individual member of the pivot has a part in the purposes that I have just named for you. Using His own volition, He perpetuates or terminates client nation status. The collective decisions of all these believers in a client nation determine the status and effectiveness of that client nation. The cycles of discipline, which we find in Leviticus 26, are initiated because of the neglect or rejection of Bible doctrine by the pivot whom are believers failing to advance spiritually. And, there is very little execution of the plan of God either individually or corporately in the Church.

The principle here is that no client nation is ever destroyed and enslaved by an outside power, (which is the fifth cycle of discipline found in Lev. 26:27-38) before it is first destroyed from within. Therefore, it is internal failure of the pivot that destroys the client nation and its prosperity. Therefore an adequate number of individual members of the pivot must continue with positive volition and spiritual growth. As goes the individual believer in the pivot so goes the client nation either up or down. Of course, I know this is a review for many of you, you are well aware of the concept of the pivot and the client nation (you being the pivot). Lev. 26:18 is the second cycle of discipline meted out to a client nation who is failing. In the case, it refers specifically to Israel and it is certain destruction from within. You see the second cycle brings economic misery and disaster. That is the tool God uses to gain the pivot's attention, to gain your attention. You see at the present time the United States of America is a Gentile client nation and we have been so for most of our 200 years. Now we are a client nation on the decline. Christians in this nation have departed from growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. They have collectively chosen for social and political activism, which are substitutes for Bible doctrine. For Church programs, instead of solid Biblical teaching, and of course there are many other diversions from the great purpose of God's plan for a client nation. Consequently, client nation United States of America finds itself in the midst of economic hard times.

Thank you R.B. Thieme III, there is contentment and great stability of soul knowing that Berachah Church still stands and Bible Doctrine is still being taught from it's pulpit.

Stop blaming the various political parties, or the greedy Wall Street types for the economic problems of the country. Look in the mirror, you and I are to blame.

2 Timothy 4:3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,

The solution is always a spiritual solution. If you are an unbeliever the solution begins with faith alone in Christ alone.

Acts 16:31 Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.

Acts 4:12 "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved."

John 20:31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ then you must make the Word of God a priority in your life.

Romans 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

Ephesians 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;

Philippians 3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

We do not have to be a nation on the decline. Nor, do we need to be personally devastated by what goes on around us. The Word of God is alive and powerful. It is the answer to our problems individually and collectively.

Click here to contact Reverend Rako >>

Have a question about the Bible? Ask Reverend Rako by Clicking Here

Click Here to let Dave know what you think about this month's Word of Truth!

WARNING OF TERRORISM IN THE U.S.A.

This week FBI director Robert Muller warned that a Mumbai Style attack in our country is possible. Muller said that the terrorist attacks that killed more than 170 and wounded more than 300 others in Mumbai three months ago "reminds us that terrorists with large agendas and little money can use rudimentary weapons to maximize their impact" and that "the simplest of weapons can be deadly when combined with capability and intent."

Mueller also warned that while the United States continues to face threats from Al Qaeda, we must also focus on lesser-known terrorist groups particularly extremists from ‘visa-waiver countries,' who are "merely an e-ticket away from the United States."

We have witnessed many international terrorist attacks around the world and experts agree that a large-scale attack or siege will occur in this country in the near future. So is your agency responding to the warnings that the FBI and so many experts have been giving us? What have you and your agency done to prepare for such an event? What will you as an individual do if a group of al Qaeda has assaulted an elementary school in your patrol area and are killing children?

The Blue Warrior will calm his emotions and assemble teams of officers and then move into the threshold as a cohesive unit with a greater combat effectiveness and dominate with an overwhelming amount of dominating force.

The Mumbai attack and the Beslan siege where training events for what is to occur in the United States. They have already warned us of the attack and they have been gathering intelligence every time they attack somebody.

When they do attack they will choose a soft target like a school or a mall and they will kill woman and children so they can maximize the effect of the attack.

This is will be a tactical challenge for police and SWAT teams. Most likely you will face a team of well trained, heavily armed terrorists who will have been conditioned to not only kill as many innocents as possible, but as many cops as they can as well. They will intend to die inside the building, and will keep killing innocents until police kill them.

The terrorists will negotiate until all of their goals have been met, which won't include a peaceful surrender. The negotiations will end when the fortifications have been completed. SWAT and Uniformed Police should anticipate a large number of explosives fortifying the building, in addition to heavy firepower. They may wire bombs to hostages, and even to place young children wearing suicide belts or vests, in among the hostages.

Most patrol officers work in units alone. Several incidents have occurred where an officer was shot and killed and when back up arrived they also were killed as they responded in our traditional one-at-a-time arrival configuration. If large police agencies are attacked from ten trained terrorists like those sent into Mumbai and they respond in the typical one at a time response then they will certainly face death at their hands of their adversaries.

As the first arriving officers to a terrorist attack, your actions will dictate the course that the terrorist takes. If you police officers decide to deal with the problem immediately then it's less likely your adversary's will have time to further murder innocent victims and less time to fortify their stronghold. Quickly gather your intelligence, assemble your team, get inside and neutralize the threat. The Blue Warrior must prepare himself and his agency to defend our children, our women and our freedom.

Sgt. Glenn French

Detroit Special Operations Group

www.DetroitSOG.com

This section has been dedicated to the new "call for change" and we say there's nothing new about change.

1776 to 1976 — What Has Really Changed?

Date: 1965

What's Washington got, that you haven't got?

Governments want you to think they have magic words, special abilities, genius you can't match or understand – they can do big things for you.

With what? Government makes no money, produces nothing, has not a dime it doesn't take from you, out of your profits or your income.

And governments are just people – people like you and me – and some of them not as good.

But you have hired them to spend the money you give them. See that they spend it for the greatest good of the nation – your good, not theirs.

It's your money. Never forget it.

Date: 1967

Robbing St. Petersburg to pay Paul

Why should I expect you to pay my bills? Yet that is what "Federal" funds mean.

It may be all very well for Florida, for example, in its generosity to give St. Paul a new Auditorium or some shiny transit system. But don't call it Federal money because it isn't – there is no Federal money. It all comes from Florida and New York and California – and St. Paul which sends its taxes to Washington where 2 million Federal employees must take out their "handling charges", and send back what's left, cluttered and hamstrung with Federal restrictions.

If St. Paul (and every city and state) would meet its own needs by paying its own bills under its own management, those bill would be far lower, and the money would be better spent.

"There was a dirty job to be done and it took a roughneck to do it... If it were up to Madison Avenue, I still don't think I'd be on the networks... It was grass-roots support that brought me where I am. It's also ironic that the Kennedys, with whom I was not in agreement on so many things, had only their daddy [Joesph P.Kennedy... ] to blame."

- The late, great, conservative to the core radio voice with a national radio audience for nearly 60 years, Paul Harvey. Sept. 4, 1918 - February 28th 2009 RIP
Watch YouTube Video

"Laura and I are saddened by the death of Paul Harvey. Paul was a friendly and familiar voice in the lives of millions of Americans. His commentary entertained, enlightened, and informed. Laura and I are pleased to have known this fine man, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family."

- Statement by Former President George W. Bush on the Death of Paul Harvey, February 28th 2009

"We live in the shadows of great men and deeds and if we forget where we've been, we'll lose sight of where we're going... Before the dust had settled from the World Trade Center and the Pentagon there were Night Stalkers deployed in harms way. We need to remember our accomplishments, both good and bad, capitalize off our achievements and learn from our mistakes in order to be successful in future operations."

~ Night Stalker 1st Sgt. Paul Hutchings, January 29, 2009 on his re-visit to the carrier USS Kitty Hawk which deployed night stalkers to Afghanistan in late 2001

"There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about that day. I thank God that he prevented more people from getting killed or hurt. I hope I did the right thing, and I'm happy all those guys made it out alive."

~ Staff Sgt. Jeffrey D. Moe, 2nd Bn., 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) on his exceptionally valorous conduct in saving a ODA Sniper elementthe face enemy on the June 3, 2007 in Diwaniyah, Iraq.

"The Radical may resort to the sword but when he does he is not filled with hatred against those individuals whom he attacks. He hates these individuals not as persons but as symbols representing ideas or interests which he believes to be inimical to the welfare of the people."

~ Saul Alinsky, the disgraceful radical anti free american, enemy scholar and mentor to every modern day U.S. radical-anti-freedom-loving-american –including yes, your current Commander in Chief and his U.S. Secretary of State.

"[Barrack] Obama has in his first 6 weeks spent more in federal spending than all federal spending since the [founding fathers] and the founding of our country. If I don't believe President Obama wants us to succeed, why should I hope President Obama to fail... I want people to have the jobs the best jobs and a economy that grows!"

~ Rush Limbaugh on his program March 2nd 2009

"Wallowing in sorrows doesn't do anybody any good... I'm not out of the fight. This is just a different kind of fight."

~ Wounded Senior Airman Alex Eudy a special operations weatherman of the AFSOC 10th Combat Weather Squadron at Hurlburt Field, FL who on the mend and in good spirits after extensive surgery to his lower legs after and IED destroyed the vehicle he and five other U.S. military members were traveling in on Jan. 23rd 2009 in Afghanistan.

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Wear over the shoulder, as a backpack or handle carry. All straps stow away when not in use. The flight Bag is constructed of ripstop nylon, the same material used to build skydiving rigs. The lining is foam-backed taffeta to hold the bag's shape, insulate and protect the items inside.

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Magazines

On tough to seat mags, download at least 1 round, to save the spring

Rotate with fresh magazines monthly.Leave loaded only when a necessity. This will increase the life of your magazines.

Treat them like a newborn infant -- baby them -- as gently as you can within the realms of realistic training.

Use OEM mags as a general rule. Original manufacturer mags tend to be the best choice across the board. ( Exception: 1911 manufacturers as a general rule supply a cheap low bid magazine with their pistols as they realize most serious shooters will buy higher quality aftermarket magazines.)

Leave loaded only when necessary and rotate with fresh magazines monthly. This will increase the longevity of your magazines.

Attempt to keep them clean particularly in sandy and salt water environments. Do not oil the magazine internals as this tends to attract debris.

Semi-Automatic Rifle Ban Would Reduce Jobs, Not Crime

Rich Johnson credits actor John Wayne with launching his career path and his wife, Becky, with keeping him there.

Johnson was a missionary overseas in the late 1960s when Wayne's Vietnam War movie, The Green Berets, was released. Something about the theme song ("Put silver wings on my son's chest") touched Johnson. He joined the U.S. Army Special Forces when he returned to the United States. An essential part of his training was the ability to parachute from an airplane anytime, anywhere and survive with what he had with him.

"It was tough," said Johnson of Sequim, Wash., author of the recently published, "Rich Johnson's Guide to Wilderness Survival." "It took everything I had until they put the beret on my head. I've never been able to say I quit, and 24/7, they're trying to get you to quit."

Read More >>

Founder, CEO of Blackwater Steps Aside, 'Worn Out'

By AUGUST COLE

Erik Prince, who founded security contractor Blackwater Worldwide and remained defiant after the company became embroiled in controversy following a deadly 2007 shooting incident in Baghdad, is stepping down as chief executive of the parent company.

The 39-year-old Mr. Prince will retain his post as chairman but move away from daily oversight of the company he started 11 years ago. The closely held venture earned more than $600 million in revenue last year, with about a third of that coming from a major U.S. State Department contract to protect diplomats in war zones.

"I'm a little worn out by the whole thing, the politics of it all," Mr. Prince said during an interview at the company's headquarters in McLean, Va. "Me not being part of the equation reduces the 'X' on the thing."

Read More >>

Polish FM vows to hunt down Taliban killers of hostage

WARSAW (AFP) – Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Monday denounced the execution of a Polish hostage by the Pakistani Taliban and vowed to hunt down his killers.

Pakistan's umbrella Taliban group released a video of the execution of hostage Piotr Stanczak on Sunday.

"The cassette of the execution, this bestial execution, is authentic and unfortunately it confirms the worst," Sikorski told reporters.

"Now we can no longer save our compatriot, we are going to try to punish his killers," he added.

"After consultation with the justice minister, we are issuing arrest warrants to arrest the men suspected of having committed this crime."

Read More >>

Schoolteacher Suspended for Facebook Gun Photo

BEAVER DAM, Wis. — A Beaver Dam Middle School teacher is on administrative leave after school officials discovered a photo of her with a gun on Facebook.

In the photo, Betsy Ramsdale was training a rifle at the camera.

In an e-mail to WKOW-TV in Madison, Ramsdale said she removed the photo immediately and that she is not "interested in any controversy."

Schools superintendent Donald Childs says a concerned staff member brought the photo to the district's attention.

Childs says the use of the photo "appears to be poor judgment" and is unaware of any sinister intent.

Ramsdale's biography on the district Web site states she is in her first year at the school. Department of Public Instruction records show Ramsdale has been licensed to teach since 1996.

Read More >>

Gun Law Update

by Alan Korwin, Author

Read it and weep, folks ... Your "friends" voted him in...

Now we're all going to be peanlized.

That prediction of "What have we done" has

only taken three weeks. What will it be in six months?

Hope you are ready—I'm certainly not. What was it that "Mosses" said?

"I simply cannot stand by and watch a right guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States come under attack from those who either can't understand it, don't like the sound of it, or find themselves too philosophically squeamish to see why it remains the first among equals: Because it is the right we turn to when all else fails. That's why the Second Amendment is America's first freedom. ..."

"Gun Laws of America Jan. 5, 2008"

Gun-ban list proposed!!!

Slipping below the radar (or under the short-term memory cap), the Democrats have already leaked a gun-ban list, even under the Bush administration when they knew full well it had no chance of passage (HR 1022, 110th Congress).. It serves as a framework for the new list the Brady's plan to introduce shortly.

I have an outline of the Brady's current plans and targets of opportunity. It's horrific. They're going after the courts, regulatory agencies, firearms dealers and statutes in an all out effort to restrict we the people. They've made little mention of criminals.

Now more than ever, attention to the entire Bill of Rights is critical. Gun bans will impact our freedoms under search and seizure, due process, confiscated property, states' rights, free speech, right to assemble and more, in addition to the Second Amendment.

The Democrats current gun-ban-list proposal (final list will be worse):

Rifles (or copies or duplicates):

M1 Carbine, Sturm Ruger Mini-14, AR-15, Bushmaster XM15, Armalite M15, AR-10, Thompson 1927, Thompson M1; AK, AKM, AKS, AK-47, AK-74, ARM, MAK90, NHM 90, NHM 91, SA 85, SA 93, VEPR; Olympic Arms PCR; AR70, Calico Liberty, Dragunov SVD Sniper Rifle or Dragunov SVU, Fabrique National FN/FAL, FN/LAR, or FNC, Hi-Point Carbine, HK-91, HK-93, HK-94, HK-PSG-1, Thompson 1927 Commando, Kel-Tec Sub Rifle; Saiga, SAR-8, SAR-4800, SKS with detachable magazine, SLG 95, SLR 95 or 96, Steyr AU, Tavor, Uzi, Galil and Uzi Sporter, Galil Sporter, or Galil Sniper Rifle ( Galatz ).

Pistols (or copies or duplicates):

Calico M-110, MAC-10, MAC-11, or MPA3, Olympic Arms OA, TEC-9, TEC-DC9, TEC-22 Scorpion, or AB-10, Uzi.

Shotguns (or copies or duplicates):

Armscor 30 BG, SPAS 12 or LAW 12, Striker 12, Streetsweeper.

Catch-all category (for anything missed or new designs):

A semiautomatic rifle that accepts a detachable magazine and has (i) a folding or telescoping stock, (ii) a threaded barrel, (iii) a pistol grip (which includes ANYTHING that can serve as a grip, see below), (iv) a forward grip; or a barrel shroud. Any semiautomatic rifle with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds (except tubular magazine .22 rimfire rifles).

A semiautomatic pistol that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine,and has (i) a second pistol grip, (ii) a threaded barrel, (iii) a barrel shroud or (iv) can accept a detachable magazine outside of the pistol grip, and (v) a semiautomatic pistol with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds.

A semiautomatic shotgun with (i) a folding or telescoping stock, (ii) a pistol grip (see definition below), (iii) the ability to accept a=2 0detachable magazine or a fixed magazine capacity of more than 5 rounds, and (iv) a shotgun with a revolving cylinder. Frames or receivers for the above are included, along with conversion kits.

Attorney General gets carte blanche to ban guns at will--Under the proposal, the U.S. Attorney General can add any "semiautomatic rifle or shotgun origi nally designed for military or law enforcement use, or a firearm based on the design of such a firearm, that is not particularly suitable for sporting purposes, as determined by the Attorney General."

Note that Obama's pick for this office (Eric Holder's confirmation hearing set for Jan. 15) wrote a brief in the Heller case supporting the position that you have NO right to have a working firearm in your own home.

In making this determination, the bill says, "there shall be a rebuttable presumption that a firearm procured for use by the United States military orany federal law enforcement agency is not particularly suitable for sportingpurposes, and a firearm shall not be determined to be particularly suitable for sporting purposes solely because the firearm is suitable for use in a sporting event."

In plain English this means that ANY firearm ever obtained by federal officers or the military is not suitable for the public.

The last part is particularly clever, stating that a firearm doesn't have a sporting purpose just because it can be used for sporting purpose -- is that devious or what? And of course, "sporting purpose" is a rights infringement with no constitutional or historical support whatsoever, invented by domestic enemies of the right to keep and bear arms to further their cause of disarming the innocent.

Respectfully submitted,
Alan Korwin, Author

Gun Laws of America

Newest US troops in dangerous region near Kabul

By JASON STRAZIUSO, Associated Press Writer

LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Close to 3,000 American soldiers who recently arrived in Afghanistan to secure two violent provinces near Kabul have begun operations in the field and already are seeing combat, the unit's spokesman said Monday.

The new troops are the first wave of an expected surge of reinforcements this year. The process began to take shape under President George Bush but has been given impetus by President Barack Obama's call for an increased focus on Afghanistan.

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Blackwater Sheds Name, Shifts Focus

By Dana Hedgpeth

Washington Post Staff Writer

Blackwater Worldwide, a private security company whose work in Iraq was plagued by trouble, said yesterday that it is changing its name to Xe as it shifts its business focus.

The company, based in Moyock, N.C., has more than a dozen business units that are owned by Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL and heir to an industrial fortune. Prince grew the company over the past decade from a small firm that offered training for law enforcement and small military units to landing part of a lucrative State Department contract to provide security in Afghanistan and Iraq.

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Students to use firing range at Blackwater site

OTAY MESA — Southwestern College will send its police academy students to the Blackwater Lodge and Training Center in Otay Mesa for weapons training under an agreement approved by the college's governing board last week.

The college's own instructors will oversee the training. Southwestern will not pay Blackwater Worldwide except to reimburse it for custodians or any other costs of having the facility open so trainees can use the firing range. The college must also make campus conference rooms available to Blackwater.

Blackwater wanted to open a facility in the East County community of Potrero but withdrew its plans last year amid opposition from residents. The issue drew national attention because of Blackwater's role as a contractor in Iraq war.

Blackwater has since opened a facility in Otay Mesa near a Southwestern satellite campus.

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Gun dealers experiencing shortages of bullets

Selling bullets may be the most secure job in Florida as long as supplies last.

After months of heavy buying, gun dealers across the state are experiencing shortages.

Some say it began with the election of President Barack Obama. Others say it's about the economic downturn or fear of crime. Whatever the reasons, ammunition has been selling like plywood and bottled water in the days before a hurricane.

"The survivalist in all of us comes out," said John Ritz, manager of East Orange Shooting Sports in Winter Park. "It's more about protecting what you have."

Demand for bullets is so strong that suppliers are restricting deliveries.

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GAO calls for DoD to examine contractor use

By Elise Castelli - Staff writer

The Defense Department has failed to examine its use of contractors, military members and civilian employees to ensure it isn't outsourcing inherently governmental work, the head of the Government Accountability Office told lawmakers Wednesday.

Such a study has been a standing recommendation of GAO since 2006, but has never been carried out, Acting Comptroller General Gene Dodaro said.

Defense spending on services contractors — such as acquisition support contractors, intelligence analysts, interpreters and security guards — has doubled over the last six years as the department struggles to meet growing demands with insufficient staff.

But those contracting decisions, rather than being strategically planned, "resulted from thousands of individual decisions to use contractors to provide specific capabilities," Dodaro told the House Appropriations subcommittee on Defense.

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Mexico applauds U.S. vow to enforce long-ignored weapons ban

Traci Carl, The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY – President Felipe Calderón said that his police and soldiers are dangerously outgunned because U.S. authorities are failing to stop the smuggling of high-powered weapons into Mexico. His attorney general called for more aggressive prosecutions of gun smugglers, saying that the U.S. constitutional right to bear arms doesn't protect them.

"The Second Amendment was not put there to arm foreign criminal groups," Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said.

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SOCom chief seeks situation awareness tools

By John T. Bennett - Staff writer

Adm. Eric Olson, Special Operations Command chief, said Tuesday his troops need new kinds of tools designed to help them locate, learn about and distribute data about various battlefield targets.

Special operators need "situational awareness" tools to help them establish "an unblinking eye … to find, analyze and communicate about people and things of interests" in a number of complex environments, Olson said during the 20th Annual SO/LIC Symposium & Exhibition, sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association in Washington.

The command needs such platforms that can operate from the ground, air or sea, Olson said.

But what is needed is more than just platforms. A key part of improving the command's situational awareness portfolio will be developing special operators who can analyze information and "see things through other peoples' eyes."

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The British Want Their Guns Back!

Camp Obama is refusing to comment that this protest (the largest in UK history) even happened, and you will not see this reporter's story anywhere in the US media.

The only way to share this story with others is to have it distributed by Americans LIKE YOU. The US media will not air it!

Read More >>

All Not Quiet on the Southwestern Front

A glance at Mexico's ongoing narco war reveals a low-intensity civil conflict that rises, subsides and then rears up again in various geographic locations. For example, the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo was torn by intense violence from 2003 to 2006 but is relatively quiet today in comparison with other places.

In 2009, one of the hottest zones is what might be termed the Southwestern Front covering the states of Michoacan and Guerrero, especially the Tierra Caliente and Costa Grande regions. Currently, three or four cartels are fighting for control of areas that encompass opium poppy production, cocaine shipment corridors, methamphetamine maquiladoras, and increasingly important local, retail drug markets. Almost daily, murders, kidnappings and shoot-outs disturb the peace of numerous towns.

On Saturday, February 28, the body of an official working for the municipal government of La Union, Guerrero, was found stuffed in the back of a stolen taxi. So-called "narco-messages" were spray-painted on the exterior of the vehicle and left inside the car.

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The end of a long & wonderful ride

By Don Cobb

I had promised to follow up my column about The Miracle, and I will. First, however, I must address this: Generational welfare is a reality here in America now. Generation after generation, welfare recipients have taught their own children how to milk the system like they do, how to live irresponsibly and still survive like they do, how to avoid personal responsibility at all costs like they do, as well as how to embrace what is evil and reject what is good, like they do. Government housing projects have been set up all over America which now serve largely as breeding grounds for the lazy and the ignorant and for criminals, and it's working just as the government would have it. Dependent upon the government in order to survive (welfare, food stamps, free legal aid, free county medical insurance, housing assistance, etc.), these multi-generational welfare families will, of course, always vote for the party which puts free food on the table and which facilitates doing and selling drugs for a living. A common scenario is this: Mom has kids and applies for government assistance, while Dad pretends he doesn't live there but really does live there, and he sells drugs out of the house. It goes on in virtually every city in America now. There is no longer any shame in being on welfare to those for whom it's become a way of life, it seems. The Socialists love that.

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Marines mark 3rd anniversary of special ops

The Associated Press

CAMP LEJEUNE N.C. — The Marine Corps is celebrating the third anniversary of its Special Operations Command with a ceremony in North Carolina.

The command was created at Camp Lejeune to add to the military's ranks of troops trained in special warfare. The command said that in the past year its Marines have deployed 28 times to 13 countries. The command also created its first individual training course.

The ceremony will be held Monday.

There are 2,125 members of the command, including civilians, which is about 84 percent of its expected size of 2,500 members.

In 2007, a company of special ops Marines was pulled out of Afghanistan and investigated. A court of inquiry found the Marines acted appropriately when they opened fire after their convoy was hit by a car bomb and gunfire.

Read More >>

Tactical air control party: not the party you're used to

By Staff Sgt. Mareshah Haynes

1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs

2/26/2009 - HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- There are some career fields in the Air Force that are meant for people who are technology minded; those who manipulate algorithms and calculate formulas used to launch missiles and create programs to crush any enemy who feebly attempts to defeat the U.S. military in cyberspace.

Then there are those career fields in the Air Force that are meant for people who like to get their hands dirty, breathe the scent of gun powder, hear rounds whistling past their Kevlar helmets and go to sleep and wake up to muzzle flashes as they crush any enemy who attempts to defeat us on the battlefield.

Read More >>

Wounded Special ops weatherman keeps eyes forward for new battle

by Chief Master Sgt. Ty Foster

Air Force Special Operations Command

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- In an instant, Senior Airman Alex Eudy went from battling the enemies of Afghanistan to battling for his life.

It was just after 1 a.m. Jan. 24. He was only two months into his first deployment after graduating from Advanced Skills Training at Hurlburt Field, Fla., in September 2008. The special operations weather team journeyman and the Marines he served with were on patrol about 30 miles from their firebase in the western province of Farah.

Behind the wheel of the fourth of four up-armored humvees, Airman Eudy and the five others in his vehicle kept their eyes peeled for variations in the road surface, exposed wires, freshly dug soil - "scab left" or "scab right" they called out. The driver adjusted his path of travel accordingly to mitigate the threat to the special operations patrol.

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10th SFG(A) linguist receives Bronze Star with Valor

By Staff Sgt. Michael R. Noggle

10th SFG(A) Public Affairs

FORT CARSON, Colo. (USASOC News Service Feb. 25, 2009) – In front of Soldiers from his unit, Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Moe spoke briefly about the night of June 3, 2007.

"I just thank God we made it out of there alive," said the 2nd Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) linguist.

More than 17 months later, Moe received the Bronze Star with Valor Device from Col. William H. Shaw III, 10th SFG(A) deputy commanding officer, at the McMahon Theater on Feb. 20.

Moe served as an assistant team sergeant supporting a Special Forces Operational Detachment–Alpha and members from the 8th Iraqi Army. Their mission was to capture or kill a targeted individual in Diwaniyah, Iraq.

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Night Stalkers re-visit USS Kitty Hawk

By Kimberly Tiscione

160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Public Affairs

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Just over seven years ago, Soldiers from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne) boarded the USS Kitty Hawk underway to launch Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan.

The USS Kittyhawk underway in support of Operation Enduring Freedom-Afghanistan in 2001. 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment helicopters are visible on the vessel's flight deck. (Courtesy photo by 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment Public Affairs)

Read More >>

Holland native and Blackwater founder Erik Prince steps down as CEO of security company

By The Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Holland native Erik Prince, the founder of the beleaguered Blackwater security company, announced today he has stepped aside as the company's chief executive officer.

Prince said he has appointed a new president and a new CEO. The management shake up, he said, was part of the company's "continued reorganization and self-improvement."

Prince founded Blackwater in 1997 and last month the company changed its name to Xe, pronounced like the letter "z," in an effort to repair its severely tarnished name and reputation.

Read More >>

Guarding suspected pirates new for Marines

Captives on best behavior — at least for now

By Philip Ewing - Staff writer

For the handful of Marines manning the military's new — and only — pirate brig, the atypical job has fallen into a routine since the capture of 16 suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden in early February.

That's probably because when the suspected pirates arrive at the makeshift jail aboard the Military Sealift Command supply ship Lewis and Clark, all they want to do is sleep. And when they're awake, they mind their manners — at least, they have so far.

"Their behavior has been very good," said the Marine officer in charge of the ship's 20-guard detachment from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit.

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Film review: ‘Brothers at War’

Two brothers went to fight; another wanted to know why

By Jason Watkins - Staff writer

Jake Rademacher was the one who was supposed to be in Iraq. He spent his high school years preparing for West Point and seemed destined to find his way into battle.

"Not only did I want to be a soldier, I drove everything in my life toward it because I always wanted to go to war," Rademacher says in his new documentary. "I always wanted to see it."

Rademacher did not make it into West Point, but his younger brother, Isaac, did. Their youngest brother, Joe, became a soldier too, graduating at the top of his class in Ranger and sniper schools.

The oldest of five brothers from Decatur, Ill., Jake Rademacher gave up his dream to wear a uniform, but he didn't give up on seeing battle. He made two trips to Iraq during the height of the insurgency to embed with his brother's unit and document the war as a civilian. His hours of footage eventually became "Brothers at War," a new documentary released by Samuel Goldwyn films and opening in limited release this month.

The film follows Rademacher on his journey in Iraq and as his family copes with the effects of war back home. Rademacher says he made the film to better understand his brothers and why they chose to fight.

"I want to know what's going on in Iraq because I have two brothers serving there," he says. "These guys are putting their lives on the line. Why are they doing it? I need to know."

He also made the film to share with an American public far removed from the battle.

"They deserve to see what our soldiers do, what the war is for and what it's about for us as soldiers," says Capt. Isaac Rademacher. "I've never seen anything that bears so much truth, and then just steps away."

The film chronicles Jake's two civilian deployments and four embeds with combat units around Iraq, including a weeklong stint with a reconnaissance unit monitoring the Syrian border, and with a group of Iraqi army soldiers as they are trained by U.S. Marines. Rademacher's goal, he says, was to show the real war, without political bent or judgment — the daily grind, the heat and filth, the danger and, above all, the brotherhood.

"I think the film is really a film about brotherhood set against a backdrop of the war in Iraq," Jake says. "I learn about what my brothers do through their brothers in arms."

Jake attempted to close a growing gap between himself and Joe, who is serving as an instructor at sniper school. Joe doubted that embedding for a few weeks as a filmmaker would give his oldest brother a real perspective of what it means to put on a uniform.

"I don't know what Joe needs," Jake says. "Joe needs me to go out and kill some people. Get some confirmed kills. Then maybe I can sit next to him at the dinner table.

"I'll never be hard enough for Joe, which is fine with me."

The filmmakers, including producer Gary Sinise, gathered Feb. 20 at a private screening in Washington, D.C., to talk about the film.

"It's such a positive, positive portrait of our military families, the dedication of our troops have, what they're doing over there, the love that a brother has for his two brothers," Sinise says. "When they asked if I would actually get involved with the film, I was humbled and I was honored."

A group of wounded warriors from Walter Reed Army Medical Center were also in attendance at the screening.

"This is probably the most accurate portrayal, besides the movie ‘Black Hawk Down,' " says Spc. Hien Tran of the 222nd Infantry, Fort Drum, N.Y. After being injured in Iraq, Tran says he avoids most war movies, but this one captures the realism of service better than most.

"I really thought the film was awesome," says Pfc. Geraldo Badell, from the 230th Infantry in Fort Polk, La. "Since he missed his family so much, he wanted to go over there and see what his brothers were doing."

"Brothers at War" begins with the emotional deployment of Isaac and ends with a similar departure by Joe. For the filmmaker, the space between attempts to answer the question: Why did my brothers go to war?

"I don't know if I've earned a seat at the table with Joe," he says as Joe boards a plane for Iraq in the film's final frames. "But I do know that having walked a mile in my brothers' shoes, I understand each of them better now."

"Brothers at War" is rated R for strong language. It opened in limited release March 13 in select cities near major military installations and will open in wider release March 27. To arrange for a screening at a theater near you, or for showtimes and schedules, visit www.brothersatwarmovie.com.

Finding Osama bin Laden: An Application of Biogeographic Theories and Satellite Imagery

By Thomas W. Gillespie et al.

Biographic theories can be put to use to find al-Qaeda's founder.

View PDF (2.2 MB)

CSAR 130 Shift Draws Criticism

By Michael Fabey

Editor's Note: These articles are part of an exclusive series on combat, search and rescue (CSAR) that originally ran in Aerospace Daily & Defense Report in late January 2009.

A recent decision by Pentagon acquisition chief John Young to cut out the HC-130Js the U.S. Air Force wanted to buy for combat, search and rescue (CSAR) missions has drawn the ire of military leaders – including combatant commanders who say they need the aircraft and its capabilities.

Young instead shifted nearly all the Air Force resources programmed for the HC-130J to a similar aircraft, the MC-130J, destined for Special Operations Command (SOCOM), citing a lack of need for the rescue variant, according to a draft acquisition memorandum.

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Retired soldier, 61, reports back to duty

By Brian Albrecht - The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer

BEREA, Ohio — Austin Asher kept a Cuban cigar from his 2003 military tour in Iraq, and every time he walked into Whitey's Army & Navy Store, he swore he'd smoke it the day they let him back in the Army.

A few weeks ago, the 61-year-old strolled into Whitey's and fired that stogie up.

More than a year of push-ups, crunches, jogging and exercising his right to appeal to every military official he could think of — up to and including the commander-in-chief — had finally paid off.

To the amazement of some, and the confidence of others, Asher is wearing sergeant stripes again.

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Court: Va. man owns 1776 copy of Declaration

By MICHAEL FELBERBAUM, Associated Press Writer – Fri Feb 27, 6:12 pm ET

AP – In this undated file photo and provided by the Archives of the State of Maine shows a copy of the Declaration …

RICHMOND, Va. – A rare 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence belongs to a Virginia technology entrepreneur, not the state of Maine, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday. Richard Adams Jr. of Fairfax County purchased the document from a London book dealer in 2001 for $475,000. But the state of Maine claimed it belongs to the town of Wiscasset, where it was kept by the town clerk in 1776.

Virginia's high court said that a lower court did not err in its ruling in Adams' favor because Maine didn't prove the document was ever an official town record and that Adams had superior title to the print.

Adams' attorney, Robert K. Richardson, has argued that Wiscasset's town clerk copied the text of the Declaration of Independence into the town's record books on Nov. 10, 1776. It's that transcription, not the document upon which it was based, that is the official town record, Richardson said.

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Know Thine Enemy

By Kirby Ferris

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. © JPFO 2009

JPFO, not all that long after its founding, presented an essay by Gus Cotey in a popular magazine of the time. I read this article and shook my head in disbelief. Cotey had NAILED it! I did something I'd never done: I tracked down the author's phone number and called him and congratulated him on what was a terrific breakthrough in understanding. It was a breakthrough that all gun owners could use as "high impact" intellectual ammunition.

What Cotey had done, with marvelous perception, was identify the seven personality types that make up the victim disarmament crowd. Cotey saw through the emotionalized preaching and posturing and pandering and put the true motivations of these dangerous buffoons under a microscope.

And today, you name ‘em: Dianne Feinstein, cackling Carolyn McCarthy, Smirky Chuckie Schumer, our new Attorney General Eric Holder, duplicitous movie stars like Daniel "Defiance" Craig, vile manipulators like Michael Moore, sob sister Sarah Brady … the entire list of gun grabbers.

The next time some politician, celebrity, journalist or jabbering spokesperson speaks out for the disarmament of the American people, you can file that popinjay's name in one (or more) of seven boxes. We must understand these liars before we can defeat them.

Without further ado, I proudly present ...

THE SEVEN VARIETIES OF GUN CONTROL ADVOCATE

by
Gus Cotey, Jr.

Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. © JPFO 2009

The right of decent private citizens to personally possess, transport, and responsibly use arms without government interference is the ultimate freedom and the main pillar supporting all other liberties. Few cultures have allowed their general population access to weapons, the tools of power, to the same degree as the United States. Instead, most societies have restricted the keeping and bearing of arms to a select few power brokers and their agents, often resulting in oppression on a grand scale.

Despite a massive amount of historical evidence to the contrary, there is a substantial body of Americans, many occupying positions of influence, who contend that the abrogation of the Second Amendment is the quickest path to domestic tranquility. Since this is as absurd as advocating blood-letting as a cure for anemia, it would seem advisable to question the motives and mentalities of the gun control advocates themselves.

In my observation, weapon prohibitionists can be broken down into seven major categories. Even though their motives may vary they all pose a mortal threat to liberty.

ELITISTS

Many of those in favor of oppressive firearms legislation are best classed as elitists. Elitists frequently identify with a peer group based on wealth, power, rank, social status, occupation, education, ethnic group, etc. and perceive themselves and their peers as inherently superior to and more responsible than the "common people", thus more deserving of certain rights. Since elitists practically consider those outside their class or caste as members of another species, that most anti-elitist list of laws, the Bill of Rights is viewed by them as anathema. Naturally, the Second Amendment is their first target as it serves as the supporting structure for other nine amendments.

AUTHORITARIANS

Another type of individual who favors the restriction of private gun ownership is the authoritarian. Authoritarian personalities are characterized by their belief in unquestioning obedience to an authority figure or group and a disdain for individual freedom of action, expression, and judgment. Those with authoritarian personalities function well in symbiosis with elitists occupying positions of power. Because authoritarians repress their desires for autonomy they harbor a deep resentment toward free and independent thinkers. Of course authoritarians do not want firearms in the hands of the general population as this constitutes a major obstacle to fulfilling their pathological and obsessive desire to control people.

CRIMINALS

It goes without saying that career criminals would like to see the public disarmed for obvious reasons. A well-armed population makes crimes such as assault, robbery, and burglary hazardous for the perpetrator and this is bad for "business." Also, it would seem that even non-violent or "white collar" criminals live in constant fear of retribution from the public that they financially bleed and would therefore prefer that the public be disarmed. Evidence supporting this hypothesis can be gathered by studying the Second Amendment voting records of those legislators who have been convicted of willful misconduct.

THE FEARFUL

Cowards by definition are easily or excessively frightened by things and situations that are recognized as dangerous, difficult, or painful. It therefore stands to reason that the mere thought of guns and the circumstances in which they are employed causes them abnormal amounts of stress. Rather than admit their weakness to themselves or others, some fearful types jump on the anti-gun bandwagon and purport moral superiority to those "barbaric"enough to employ lethal force against armed assailants by claiming various humanitarian and pragmatic motives for allowing evil to remain unchecked. In reality, many of these individuals harbor an envy induced resentment toward anyone with the means, skill, and will to successfully stand up to criminal aggression.

The desire to assert oneself exists in nearly everyone, wimps included, so cowards seek out tame enemies against whom they can ply their pitiful brand of machismo. Instead of the sociopaths who commit acts of wanton aggression with guns, guns themselves and responsible gun owners are the main targets of their attacks. After all, real criminals are dangerous, so cowards prefer doing battle with inanimate objects that do not have a will of their own and decent law-abiding people whose high level of integrity and self discipline prevent them from physically lashing out against mere verbal assailants, however obnoxious they may be.

IDEOLOGICAL CHAMELEONS

Ideological chameleons follow the simple social strategy of avoiding controversy and confrontation by espousing the beliefs of the people in their immediate vicinity or advocating the philosophy of those who scream the loudest in a debate. Quite a few supposedly pro Second Amendment public officials have shown themselves to be ideological chameleons when they supported restrictions on the private possession of military style semiautomatic rifles following recent atrocities in which such firearms were employed. Like their reptilian namesake, people who merely blend in with the ambient philosophical foliage seem to have little insight into the moral and social ramifications of their actions. Political and/or economic gain along with avoidance of confrontation are their only goals.

SECURITY MONOPOLISTS

Security monopolists are those members and representatives of public and private security providing concerns who want the means of self protection out of private hands so that they can command high fees for protecting the citizenry against the rising tide of crime. These profiteers stand to loose a great deal of capital if citizens can efficiently defend themselves. To the security monopolist, each criminal who enters and exits the revolving door of justice is a renewable source of revenue providing jobs for police, social workers, victim counsellors, judges, prison employees, security guards, burglar alarm installers, locksmiths, and others employed by the security monopolies or their satellite organizations. No wonder it is so common for an honest citizen to be more ruthlessly hounded by the authorities when he shoots a criminal in self defense than a criminal who shoots honest citizens.

THE DYSFUNCTIONALLY UNWORLDLY

Just as a limb will weaken and atrophy if not used, so will aspects of the mind fail to develop if nothing in one's environment exists to challenge them. People who have led excessively sheltered lives tend to have a difficult time understanding certain cause and effect relationships and an even harder time appreciating just how cruel the world can be. These dysfunctionally unworldly types are truly perplexed at the very notion of firearms ownership with regard to defense. To them, tyranny and crime are things that happen in other places far removed from their "civilized" universe. Also, they do not understand the value of private property and why some people would fight for theirs since they never had to work hard to acquire what they possess. While those suffering from dysfunctional unworldliness are most often people who have been born into considerable wealth, this condition is also common in members of the clergy, academicians, practioners of the arts, and others who have spent much of their lives cloistered in a safe and pampering environment. While many of these people may be quite talented and intelligent in some ways, their extreme naivety makes them easy prey for the tyrants who use them for the financial support and favorable advertisement of their regimes. Needless to say, the anti-gun movement is well represented and financed by the dysfunctionally unworldly.

The price of liberty is eternal vigilance, and it behooves all vigilant lovers of liberty to know and be able to recognize the various types of arms prohibitionists and understand their differing but equally dangerous motives. Acquiring knowledge of one's foes is the first step toward defeating them. We must never forget that a threat to private firearms ownership is a threat to all freedoms.

The inalienable and fundamental right to keep and bear arms which is enumerated by (but actually predates) the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is not about hunting, gun collecting, or target shooting. Its purpose is to insure that every responsible American personally possesses the means to defend the Republic from all forms of tyranny, within and without. It is what permits the other nine Amendments in the Bill of Rights to be more than mere hollow phrases on a piece of paper. Its free exercise is the antithesis of serfdom and the only meaningful form of holocaust insurance known to man.

We must never insult and degrade the spirits of our Founding Fathers by permitting the Second Amendment, the pillar of freedom, to be destroyed by the cold flame of legislative ink.

Stimulus Payment

"This year, taxpayers will receive an Economic Stimulus Payment. This is a very exciting new program that was explained by the Department of Treasury using the Q and A format:

Q. What is an Economic Stimulus Payment?

A. It is money that the federal government will send to taxpayers.

Q. Where will the government get this money?

A. From taxpayers.

Q. So the government is giving me back my own money?

A. Only a smidgen.

Q. What is the purpose of this payment?

A. The plan is that you will use the money to purchase a high-definition TV set, thus stimulating the economy.

Q. But isn't that stimulating the economy of China ?

A. Shut up.

Department of Treasury:

Below is some helpful advice on how to best help the US economy by spending your stimulus check wisely:

If you spend that money at Wal-Mart, all the money will go to China.

If you spend it on gasoline it will go to the Arabs.

If you purchase a computer it will go to India.

If you purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala (unless you buy organic).

If you buy a car it will go to Japan.

If you purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan.

And none of it will help the American economy.

We need to keep that money here in America. You can keep the money in America by spending it at yard sales, going to a baseball game, or spend it on prostitutes, beer and wine (domestic ONLY), or tattoos, since those are the only businesses still in the US.

Hi, I'd like to request you send out an e-mail or post some kind of awareness for a petition we are trying to get through congress. It is so that if we send a care package to our military serving overseas, we don't have to pay for postage, just like they don't. This will cut down on costs and make it so that you can afford even better things to put in there. Learn more at the link below.

Taylor Stack

http://www.rallycongress.com/drillflorida/1454/packages-soldiers/

Patrick McGoohan

Broadcasting pioneer Paul Harvey dies at age of 90

By RUPA SHENOY, Associated Press Writer

CHICAGO – Paul Harvey, the news commentator and talk-radio pioneer whose staccato style made him one of the nation's most familiar voices, died Saturday in Arizona, according to ABC Radio Networks. He was 90.

Harvey died surrounded by family at a hospital in Phoenix, where he had a winter home, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for ABC Radio Networks, where Harvey worked for more than 50 years. No cause of death was immediately available.

Harvey had been forced off the air for several months in 2001 because of a virus that weakened a vocal cord. But he returned to work in Chicago and was still active as he passed his 90th birthday. His death comes less than a year after that of his wife and longtime producer, Lynne.

"My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news," Paul Harvey Jr. said in a statement. "So in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents and today millions have lost a friend."

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Robert G. Ferry dies at 85; helicopter test pilot flew record nonstop solo flight

By Dennis McLellan

Robert G. Ferry, a top helicopter test pilot who flew a record nonstop solo flight from California to Florida in 1966, has died. He was 85.

Ferry, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who later became chief test pilot for Hughes Helicopters, died of natural causes Jan. 15 at his home in Lake San Marcos, Calif., said his wife Marti.

"I'd say he was one of the most outstanding helicopter test pilots the Air Force has ever had, and he went on to become an outstanding test pilot for Hughes," said Fitz Fulton, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and former test pilot at Edwards Air Force Base.

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Jack Cover dies at 88; scientist invented the Taser stun gun

By Elaine Woo

Cover, who spent most of his career working in the aerospace and defense industries, originally developed the idea for the Taser in the 1960s. But it didn't really take off until the 1990s.

Jack Cover, an aerospace scientist who invented the Taser stun gun -- a device used by thousands of law enforcement agencies to subdue unruly offenders with electrical shocks -- has died. He was 88.

Cover had Alzheimer's disease and died of pneumonia Saturday at the Golden West Retirement Home in Mission Viejo, said his wife, Ginny.

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Wesley L. McDonald dies at 84; 4-star Navy admiral led 1983 U.S. invasion of Grenada

By Patricia Sullivan

McDonald was commander in chief of all NATO and U.S. forces during the invasion. As a pilot, he led the first airstrike against North Vietnam in 1964 after the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Reporting from Washington -- Wesley L. McDonald, a four-star Navy admiral who commanded the 1983 invasion of Grenada for the U.S. military and who as a pilot led the first airstrike against North Vietnam in 1964 after the Gulf of Tonkin incident, died Feb. 8 at his home in Arlington, Va. He was 84.

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Sergeant First Class John H. Broda, Sr., United States Army Reserves, Retired

Born on November 8, 1921 in Swoyersville, he was the son of the late Valentine and Pauline (Kopotko) Broda. He attended Swoyersville schools.

A proud United States Army veteran, John served his country honorably for 38 years. A World War II veteran, John served as a technician fourth grade in North Africa and Italy as a surgical support technician. During World War II, John was decorated with a Bronze Star Medal, a Good Conduct Medal and the European-African Middle East Service Medal with Six Bronze Stars. After the war, John enlisted with the United States Army Reserves and upon his honorable discharge from the Armed Forces on November 8, 1981, John had attained the rank of Sergeant First Class.

In addition to being in the Army Reserves, John had been employed for 35 years by the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Wilkes-Barre, retiring on July 26, 1983.

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AFSOC Airman dies in Afghanistan

by Capt. Laura Ropelis

AFSOC Public Affairs

HURLBURT FIELD, Fla. -- An Air Force Special Operations Command combat control journeyman died Feb. 20 while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Timothy P. Davis, 28, of Aberdeen, Wash., died near Bagram, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla.

An open viewing at 11:30 a.m. and memorial service at 1 p.m. will be held Saturday in Montesano, Wash., at the Montesano High School. gymnasium followed by burial services at Wynoochee Cemetery.

"Staff Sgt. Davis, or 'DT' as we know him here at the squadron, will be sorely missed," said Maj. Travis Woodworth, acting commander of the 23rd Special Tactics Squadron.

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