Two Interesting Photos and my intrigue begins again

Here are two photos I found from a 2013 article in Buisness Insider.
They are of the CIA annex in Bengazi, Libya and the Diplomatic mission in the same city.
The wreckage of the Northern African war-torn nation in its second largest city and the American presence there in multiple missions.

Both photos were brought into evidence during the first Bengazi hearings. The article is one I had not read and asserts several scenarios I had not heard. Hmmm. I'm reading the Mitchell Zuckoff book "13 Hours"...hence the interest in the causes, events and implications of the attack on the 10th anniversary of the 9-11 attacks in the United States.

-katykarter

Killed in Action: Diesel

Photo of French Commando dog, Diesel reportedly killed in an hourslong firefight with Islamic State terrorists as his commando team attempted to breach the SAINT-DENIS, France apartment on Tuesday night. There are many victims of war, but warriors, not victims continue to fight, some with a very heavy heart.

Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential aspirations are
 teetering on collapse. This latest series of bombshell
 revelations have led some to say she cannot recover.
 Its already over.

Recently it has been exposed that Clinton conducted
 official State Department business over a private
 email server, not the secure, U.S. Government server
 required by law. The law is based on security and
 transparency. Now with a second firestorm raining
 on the former first lady, Senator from New York
, Secretary of State to the Obama Administration and 
two-time presidential candidate- has to do with
 potentially damning emails. Anyone think the emails
 might accidentally get erased? Lost? 

Clinton's political immolation is fine with me,
 I think its a mistake to confine our image to
 one or two political dynasties. I don't think its
 the right time for another Bush either.

First, The Fence

 I think Jeb Bush is too soft on immigration.
 I'm from the "build the fence, stop the leaks
first" school of thought. Repair the damage once
 that is done. To let the leaking continue is
misguided and will never solve the problem. 

The Democrat party as a general rule doesn't
support the building of a fence as a first step.
 They have put legislation forward which has
called for steps toward building the fence to
happen only to pull the funds or strip those
 provisions away in their time in control of the
 houses of congress. The Republicans, like
Charlie Brown, are continually blinded by this
 double dealing thinking, if she'll (Lucy) just
hold it, I'll knock it through! Poor stupid Republicans!

Part of the reason the consensus wont form to
 build it is the strong lobbying in congress on
 behalf of the herd of Latino and Central
 American special interest groups. Everyone
is stuffing their pockets. Special interests are
 the basis and medium of corruption in our
 government. I am not opposed to only these
special interest groups, I'm opposed to all
 special interests' power in our government!
 Its not fair to those who don't have these interests
. Maybe libs think we should have these interests...

Follow the Money

In an article in National Journal online,
 Ron Fournier describes the real threat and
serious problem for Clinton, is not the
secretive email pattern, but the Clinton
Global Initiative. The foundation and
charity Bill, Hillary and Chelsea manage
 takes in millions of dollars, and some of
it's biggest donors are the beneficiaries of
lucrative contracts and favors in return.

Even the Chicago Political Regime in the
 White House asked her not to accept
donations while she was Secretary of State.
They knew it looked corrupt, and was a
 liability fraught with legal "conflicts of interest".

As Fournier concludes:

It never stopped taking money from
 favored corporations, and recently it 
entered into partnerships with "at least 
six banks that were under investigation, 
involved in litigation, or had been fined
 by government agencies and regulators," 
according to a CNN investigation.

What did these companies and countries 
expect in return for their cash? Did the
 Clintons promise any favors? Those are 
fair questions—not partisan questions and 
not media "gotcha" questions. The Clintons
 are responsible for the management of 
their foundation. Hillary Clinton is
 responsible for stashing her emails in a 
secret server. She is running for president.
 The rest of us should follow the money.

To read the article http://www.nationaljournal.com/
twenty-sixteen/emails-may-be-a-key-to-addressing-
pay-to-play-whispers-at-clinton-foundation-20150308

Images from top:

from GlennBeck, the infamous "what difference
does it make?" Even in context its incredible. 

from ap photo with Arab delegation, from state
 photo with Abbas.

Naval War in South China Sea

War is being waged in the South China Sea, as Communist China has made aggressive moves in recent months to grab the disputed Paracel and Spratley Islands. In fact, China has laid claim to the entire South China Sea, stepping on the toes of all it's neighbors. China released an edict in November of 2013 stating that a new East China Sea Air and Sea Identification Zone was being enacted and required any aircraft flying through previously international airspace over international waters to presubmit flight plans to the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs and abide by other new restrictions. As is their policy, China steamrolled it's neighbors.

Paracel Islands

In 1974, as Vietnam was being taken over by communist North Vietnam, China sent a flotilla from their South Seas Fleet to sieze the Paracel Islands. A Vietnamese frigate was sunk and another was damaged. Several Vietnamese sailors were killed. Again in 1988, Chinese Naval forces met and sunk a Vietnamese warship and damaging a second ship.

On May 1 of this year, Vietnamese protests spilled into the streets of the capital Hanoi amid reports that China had moved a state-run drilling rig into the Paracel area. Outraged, Vietnamese loyalists burned and looted local Chinese factories and businesses, forcing Chinese nationals to flee for their lives.

Pictured at left: Chinese Coast guard. Above: Vietnamese fishermen are run off of water they've fished for generations.






Spratly Island Chain

The Spratly Island group is another example of Chinese aggression, where this disputed chain is claimed by Phillipines. They've lodged a complaint as has Vietnam with regards to China's aggressive actions. Pictured below, Chinese and Vietnamese fishing boats wage battles at sea, occasionally ending up with a Vietnamese boat being damaged (a Vietnamese fisherman makes repairs from a collision with a Chinese fishing boat).




Last year the Chinese propaganda outlet Global Times published an unprecedented report that revealed a nuclear strike on the western United States with JL-2 missiles launched from ballistic missile submarines could kill 12 million Americans. In a previous report by the National Air and Space Intelligence, analysts said the new Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile, JL-2 "will, for the first time, allow Chinese SSBN (nuclear missile submarines), to target portions of the US from operating areas located near the Chinese coast".

The unsettling reports keep coming: The congressional US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated in a report several years ago, that China is planning to deploy an anti-satellite missile on its SSBN fleet. Anti satellite missiles are key elements of China's anti-access, area denial capabilities designed to drive the US Navy out of Asia. China has been working on anti-satellite technology for decades. The lastest of which is reportedly onboard their Jin-class submarines. There was even a successful test on an aging satellite years ago. For now, though, China will continue to utilize a vast infrastructure of underground facilities, covered roads and bridges, weapons facilities, missile handling barns and other means to conduct secret testing of ballistic missiles and other armaments. Their anti-information control is as tight as it has ever been.

In this picture(top) released to a weapons enthusiast website, China shows off its newest strategic capability: Three nuclear powered missile submarines, or boomers.
Nuclear warheads are reportedly still housed in a central facility. It's not known if Chinese boomers carry live nuclear tipped missiles, though they certainly have the capability.

The US has a permanent attack sub base at its Guam base in the Phillipines. These state of the art boomers are on station to monitor China's rise in naval prominence, and its aggressive expansion in the South China Sea.

In my humble opinion, China will continue to act as an aggressor as long as the US allows it. In recent years, China has become emboldened while the US has shrunk it's influence in the world. China's robust growth and economy have allowed it to buy US debt, and is now our largest credit-holder. China has the upper-hand in economic strategic positioning at this time, and is producing worrysom accomplishments to add to it, such as a monster deal with Russia to import LNG for their fast-growing domestic consumption.

But as the "Bridge to Nowhere" theory progresses, China will reach the end of their economic boom, and their fragile economy will collapse in on itself, bringing the need to liquidate those strategic economic holdings. Our debt will be sold back to us for substantially less.

If China is allowed to expand unchecked though, they would secure enough territory, and with it power in their region to force it's widening position whether the US, Japan, Vietnam and Phillipines like it or not. Once again, the world is a safer place when the US is the strongest force on the planet. China is challenging us for that title.

-katykarter

Snooping isn't only an American pastime

I'm reading from a DRUDGE linked article at the Guardian, a UK news organization, an article about Britain's equal to the US' NSA, called GCHQ. Britain's spooks are as busy rounding up as much bulk information as the NSA, with the same innocent public individuals being spied on in the governments' attempts to track criminals, terrorists, or anything they might wish.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/27/gchq-nsa-webcam-images-internet-yahoo

This time it's Yahoo's users who are getting surveilled, through their own webcams!

 I've had a piece of black tape on my laptops' camera lens for years now. Sad but true. Watch out for the tracking software in your smartphones too, don't be naïve enough to believe you're all alone. Ever.

It's almost election day in Houston, Tx and several races are getting high profile media coverage. These races and battles have garnered the attention of national conservative talk radio because they are hotly contested on the Republican side. These primary elections are so we can choose who'll run against an incumbent for a legislature seat that is up for grabs. As you all should know, it's very difficult to defeat an incumbent. In the modern political cycle, re-election strategy begins the day after one is elected.

We have a decision to make here in the Republican party: are we going to continue to go along with the "establishment" lawmakers, read the old school, or are we going to take up political 'arms' with the TEA party and enact sweeping changes by electing constitutional-conservatives to these legislatures.

The whole country should take notice of Texas, we are burning a path towards the goal of smaller, less intrusive, less regulating, less taxing federal government.

-katykarter

The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group is the official name for America's most elite warriors, commonly known as the Navy Seals.

These are the best of the best, America's finest, most highly trained, well equipped and most solidly supported soldiers. They are an ultra effective combat asset capable of infiltrating and nuetralizing a threat of almost any description, recently used to kill Osama bin Laden in his villa in Islamabad, Pakistan. The Seals are used in many ways by the military, but now it seems that these prized warriors have been sold out, betrayed and murdered- albeit not directly murdered- all by their own government.

On May 3 2011, celebrating the successful raid that killed OBL, Vice President Joe Biden publicly revealed the identity of the special operations unit responsible for the raid. This reckless release of classified information by the 2^nd in command of this nation was akin to putting a bullseye on the backs of the members of SEAL Team 6. This breach of protocol regarding secrets and sensitive activities is unforgivable from our leaders. Within hours, Team members were phoning home to advise their families to delete online information. Their fear was that jihadists now had more information then ever before regarding this clandestine unit's existence.

They and their families were at risk of repraisal attacks because of a political speech by a sitting American Vice President. No one had ever heard the term “SEAL Team 6” until Biden gushed it.

 

 

 

August 6, 2011, Tangeen Valley, Afghanistan. The mission, termed Extortion 17 began as a call for help from an elite unit of Army Rangers. The flight from the FOB to get on station was less than 5 minutes. The Rangers were on a seek and destroy mission for terrorists and a specific target who was known to be in the area. They had breached a building nestled in a tight valley, and suspects were escaping out of the back of the building, known to military as “squirters”. While the Rangers were still engaging strong numbers of enemy, they couldn't pursue the squirters and called in for backup.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the sky above, Apache gunships swirled, AC 130 gunships were circling and a Predator drone was onstation following the squirters. A hasty order was given to activate the assets at that forward base, and 17 members of Seal Team 6 and 21 other people flew towards a battle that had been originally begun 3 hours earlier. The preferred aircraft for this type of 'hot' insertion ,an MH-47 or MH-60 Blackhawk were unavailable,. Instead they piled aboard an 1960's era twin rotor behemoth CH-47 and went towards the battle.

 

 

 

 

 

Inexplicably, seconds before liftoff seven members of the Afghan soldiers aboard were pulled off the chopper and their places were taken by seven different Afghans, an action expressly forbidden in all forms of Air transportation: Whatever or whomever is on the manifest is who will fly. The manifest was not changed and the Chinook took off.

 

 

 

An investigation done by the US Military revealed these highly irregular and questionable facts:

• the black box from the aircraft has never been recovered, even though the area was swarmed with US forces immediately following the crash. A reported flash flood swept the box away.
• The elite Navy SEAL team was used as a reactionary force for a highly questionable reason (to chase down Taliban fighters fleeing a battle)
• 7 members of the manifest switched at takeoff, a blatant breach of protocol.
• No Apache escorts
• No Suppressive fire at the LZ
• The bodies of the slain servicemen were desecrated by an islamic imam who “damned their souls to hell” as “infidels”. The US Government  supplied videos of this atrocity to the soldier's families.
• The slain warriors were cremated before returning to the US, against their expressed wishes
• Rules of engagement stated at the time, that if fire is taken, a soldier must verify the combatant has a weapon before returning fire. As the squirters left the back of the building, the Apaches overhead and the Predator drone had the additional task of verifying these men actually had weapons on them before engaging them.

An operations officer was quoted off the record as saying,

“In this case, the CH-47 was used in a completely inappropriate manner given it's design and the result was the deaths of everyone aboard. Tier 1 personnel must be employed with careful planning. The cost and time to train them means that using them is such a haphazard manner as a reaction force in this context place critical personnel at too great a risk, especially in this concentration on such a noncritical mission”

 

 

Team members and their families think they were set up to be killed, by someone leaking information to an Afghan Government perforated by Taliban sympathizers. The Afghan National Army, National Police and Security Ministry all have operational planning and specs on all missions against Taliban targets-even the secret application of Seal Teams.  The unspoken theme seeming to be that individuals inside the Afghanistan Government were on the side of the Taliban and frequently passed on information to Taliban war planners, including the presence of an elite unit and a large number of Taliban fighters with minutes' notice the Seals were inbound.

 

 

 

 

What the hell was this high number of elite team-members doing on the same flight, anyway?

Given this information, several lawsuits are pending for the release of information, and a formal Congressional investigation, led by Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz are in progress.

 

 

As Griff says, “I cant believe Chaffetz is still alive”.

 

 

 

Some have said and I believe they're right: Forget NSA, forget Fast and Furious, forget the IRS targeting political groups, forget the worst this administration has committed, ommitted and sinned by buffoonish decision: this has reached a new low.

This has gone too far.

 

 

 

Our finest warriors; brothers and sons were treated so recklessly the unthinkable happened. And there has been no acknowledgment. And lets not kid ourselves: there will be no full disclosure on this or on the facts surrounding another egregious episode of the Obama administration's horrible handling of a fluid wartime situation: Benghazi, Lybia, 9-11-12, where among others, an American Ambassador, Chris Stevens was slain.

 

 

 

 

Post Script

Please visit Extortion17.com and contribute whatever you can

 

 

 

-katykarter

 

 

SEAL Team 6 and Homeland Surveillance

SEAL Team 6

The US Navy's elite counter-terrorism unit are the Sea, Air and Land teams or  SEALS. This unit trains the hardest and it's induction process is notoriously brutal. But it turns out the finest warriors known to the world, assets during combat with no equal. Their most high-profile operation happened last year when a team of the SEAL's best dropped in on Osama Bin Laden, killing him and siezing valuable intelligence on computer and in operational planning.

Breach of Security

The fact that it was revealed who was involved in this infamous raid is a breach in the security of this elite group. The acknowledgement by our civilian leadership of the existence of this group puts them in danger additional to the natural by-product of their job and it's dangerous commission. To further put them at risk ran counter to the overall success of this incredible wartime asset's chances of survival.

It is impossible to know if these admissions by the current administrations media mouthpiece led to advanced warning or possibly a set-up of the SEALS mere weeks later in Afghanistan when the chopper they were riding in was hit by rocket propelled grenade fire, downing the chopper and killing over thirty servicemembers onboard which included 20 of the elite unit SEAL Team 6 although US sources said no part of the bin Laden raid team was onboard. Among the dead were  17 SEALS, 5 Navy Special Ops who support the SEALS, 3 Air Force troops, a 5-member Army air crew and a Military dog.




Marine General John Allen, in a press conference declined to answer questions about the decision to have so many elite troops aboard a single aircraft, and why SEALs were sent to help Rangers. These are pertinent questions, as an extremely valuable asset was lost in a costly, avoidable action.

Lucky Shot or Specifically Placed Shooter?

The close proximity to steep hillsides gave the slow taking-off Chinook helicopter an extreme disadvantage during the raid. The team flew in and assisted the Ranger contingent, but when they flew out, the large twin-rotor helicopter is exerting it's maximum power and exhaust, an unmissable target for a heat seeking surface to air missile, or  a barrage of RPG fire. The Russians found this extremely costly when engaging the mujahedeen in the steep valleys and tight canyons during their war in the 80's.




It was reported the senior Taliban operative who fired the RPG that brought down the chopper was killed several days later in the same area as the chopper crash.











This tit for tat is no coincidence. When a valuable target is taken out, the person responsible for the mission itself is suddenly sought out and targeted by the opposition partially for propaganda purposes. I know it offered the Taliban a moral victory when this team of elite warriors were killed in one motion, specifically because they were part of the unit which had just killed bin Laden.

At a minimum, the commanders that night were acting strangely by assisting a prime combat unit like the Rangers. If a distress call came out, it was the duty to answer it. Perhaps the situation at times of war is hard to call at that moment, but to load that chopper and offer it to a thankful Taliban leaves me sick inside and burning with desire for an explanation and indepth investigation. My gut instinct is it was no coincidence that chopper was brought down. Intelligence is anything but robust in that region and we are being decimated because of it and other counter-productive situations such as local Taliban-friendly governments and limited rules-of-engagement policies.







Prove me wrong...go ahead...make my day.

 

"You take a mortal man, and put him in control"

Homeland Surveillance

Thanks to an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer's searches, it was revealed through documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act that a device known as StingRay is routinely used to 'scoop' data from cellphones and other wireless devices to track criminal suspects. Moreover, it is disclosed that the probes didn't utilize a judges' signature in every case. This is because the target of the probe is sought by combing through a "dragnet" of electronic information. This puts people who are nearby, neighbors and passersby within the range of the Cell Site Simulator, or StingRay.

"Cell Site Simulators" simulates a cellphone tower and enables agents to collect the serial numbers of individual cellphones and then locate them. The main issues with this practice according to the judges and activists who've sounded the alarm about the use of a system so invasive, are two-fold: Whether federal agents are informing courts when seeking permission to monitor suspects and whether they are providing enough evidence to justify the use of this tool. The device sweeps data not only from a suspects' wireless device, (sometimes through the walls of the suspect's home), but also from those of bystanders in the vacinity.

 

"Watch him become a God, watch people's heads roll"



This past year, in an article dated September 2012, a FOIA search showed the use of these and other phone tapping procedures have dramatically increased in the last two years.

The use of procedures and methods of surveillance such as pen register and trap and trace devices, which the ACLU acknowledges are "powerfully invasive surveillance tools" is being ramped up by the American government and the rampant use of these spy programs targeting more and more US citizens on American soil has increased to an exponential level: In 2000 there were just over 5,000 requests for surveillance orders signed by courts. In 2011 there were 37, 616 requests.


“It is important to Americans' privacy and their ability to feel secure when availing themselves of new communications technologies that they understand the degree to which these technologies are subject to government surveillance.” ACLU

FISA is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which enables US intelligence services to act quickly to gather intelligence on foreigners acting as combatants against the United States. When I say 'act quickly' its code speech for circumvent the usual rules of surveillance of a suspect according to US law, (You need a court order, or a judge to sign off on this proposed surveillance). Of course by extension the US spies will act against any enemy of our allies as well. But remember, this law was put into effect to fight the “War On Terrorism” after the 9-11 attacks which brought us to the forefront of the battle against radicalized Islamic Jihadists bent on destroying the West. It was never intended to spy on American citizens on American soil.

-katykarter

"Just like the pied piper, who led rats through the streets
We dance like marionettes, swaying to the symphony of destruction"  -mustaine

(web credits: washingtonpost.com, russiatoday.com, foxnews.com, latimes.com, wikipedia, ilovedogs.com, dave mustaine[symphony of destruction lyrics])

Romancing the Drones

Predator Drones are reportedly patrolling in civilian skies more and more and Americans had better educate themselves about the use of these machines in law enforcement and the potential for their use to shatter our conceptions of freedom and what is private.





Suppose you are walking down a street. You've just left a bar and it's nighttime, late. The streets are deserted but just then a police cruiser pulls up in a driveway blocking your way, and another pulls up quickly from behind. With guns drawn, they demand you drop your weapon and get on the ground. You just came from a bar and no one saw or knew you had the small pistol in your boot. You're working out of town and feel more comfortable with the backup of the .380 should you need it. How did they know you had a gun?  You didn't know it, but you're in a jurisdiction that outlaws the posession of firearms. They knew your name, and not only you had a gun, but where you're hiding it...right now! Impossible? Of course since you don't carry a gun or work out of town! But this scenario is actually happening with the technological aid of the UAV high above the scene. It is far from impossible.

New UAV's are being produced, at the behest of the Department of Homeland Security, that possess the capability to, among other things, detect a weapon on a person on the ground, and through high-res video can match an identity through facial recognition software. These new features include being able to detect, home in and track a cell phone user, as well as monitor the conversation.

The use of this technology on civilians on United States soil is disconcerting. Those of us who pay attention to this see it for what it is: a further ability of the Government to strip away our privacy. We have another common belief...that you can't trust the Government. This type of technology on their hands will most assuredly be used against us...as needed. So it's time to aquiant ourselves first with the military's UAV's, then with the civilian versions of the original eye in the sky, the Predator Drone.

The Predator is 27' long and has a wingspan of 49'. It was built by General Atomics from San Diego, Ca, whose Tier II platform first flew in '94, first entered production in 97, although early versions were put into service immediately during the Bosnian War in the mid-90's.

The RQ-1 was a long endurance, medium altitude UAV providing surveillance imagery from synthetic aperture radar, video cameras and forward looking infrared or FLIR. Data can be distributed in real time to both the front line soldier and the operations command or worldwide in real time via satellite. New Updates and Upgrades are MQ-1 and  MQ-9 Reaper UAV which has seen action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The system operates at an altitude of 25,000 ft and at a range of 400nm. Cruising speed is over 70kt. The vehicle is equipped with uhf and vhf radio relay links, a C-band line-of-sight data link which has a range of 150nm and uhf and Ku-band satellite data links.

On the Civilian Version, surveillance and reconnaissance payload capacity is 450 lbs. including electro-optical and infrared cameras, and synthetic aperture radar. DLTV television is equipped with a variable zoom and 955mm spotter. High resolution FLIR has six fields of view, from 19mm to 560mm.

Senator Rand Paul has stood up for us and our rights, including that of due process and privacy by staging a filibuster to block the nomination of the new head of the CIA, John Brennan. As Sen. Paul says, Mr. Brennan appears to be a man who has no problem with the use of predator drones on civilians...and thats a problem!

We should send a letter to our local and state representatives and explain our opposition to being spied upon and having our privacy shrunk even further from complete privacy- which we haven't had , sadly, for a very long time.

-katykarter

Clash of Civilizations- Arab Civilizations

With the recent Arab protests over an anti-Islam film, I’m weighing the critical aspects of this. The protests were bloody at times, and fed an assault by Islamic fighters on the American consulate  in Benghazi, Libya last week that killed four americans including the first ambassador killed in service since 1979, another time of severe unrest and Arab uprising. In a familiar message, insulting the prophet must be met with public outcry, and that translates into, "lets kill americans".

Slain Ambassador Christopher Stevens and a photo of the burning consulate buildings during the battle-ap photo

 

In an article in the Denver post, ap writer Brian Murphy  quotes an Imam in Qatar, Egyptian-born cleric Youssef al-Qaradawi, who calls for ‘sense and reason ‘ in their protests. But he’s up against a powerful popular force that feels passionately that denigration of the prophet is punishable by death.

"Yes, we understand the First Amendment and all of this stuff," wrote Khalid Amayreh, a prominent Islamist commentator and blogger in Hebron on the West Bank. "But you must also understand that the Prophet (for us) is a million times more sacred than the American Constitution."

Read more: Muslim protests have political, social, economic origins - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/nationworld/ci_21558392/muslim-protests-have-political-social-economic-origins?source=pkg#ixzz26jG8wzHe
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

 

I have never thought of our constitution as a secular document. It is written with the spirit of God, and written by men dedicated to God and to passing His word on to their countrymen.  Our forefathers’ ambition was to create a country where one’s religion was not attacked, no matter what religion it was, though they hoped all would have some kind of strong religious convictions. Yes, even then it was a balancing act to not let organized religion overpower the people’s government in its decisions and such.

In its essence, the Constitution they created says that all men, being equal, must account for their individual actions as well, and be responsible for propelling our country into a prosperous nation.  The doctrine of Islam, as interpreted by extremists, is a much different assessment of human character and it’s need for guidance.

I feel uncomfortable, and at times mental anguish when subjects, such as Jesus Christ are portrayed in a denigrating way. I oppose those who slander or seek to diminish Christ and his teachings, but nowhere in the bible does it say to “humiliate and punish those who do not succumb to and voluntarily accept” His religion. Therefore, like most Americans, I walk away when someone does this, I shun them, not silence them. This is the essence of free speech. To sacrifice this basic right, would be to invite obvious further incursions into the state of liberty Americans so cherish.

 

-katykarter

More lost notes

“The Virtuous North and the Sinner South”

The Eurozone is a bit of a mystery to me.

All those countries, with countless years of history, binding themselves together…

I think it’s a lot like the United States. We just came along at a later date. In simplicity in extreme, Europe took our idea of the good of all states through a central government with the same currency.

Europe though, has been inhabited for thousands of years. Each country passed on for generations upon generations, each country, or state, sovereign unto itself. Some rich some poor, all with traditions and culture. The European Union, or Eurozone was created recently, where the rich states (Germany, Netherlands,  Sweden, etc) and the not so rich states (France, Belgium, Spain, Greece, etc) became equals. Their money was now the same. What made it unworkable was that their debt was now the same too. When one country accounted for a percentage of the debt payment, another country accounted for much less. While one country produced and invested, another encurred more and more debt through spending.

Now in 2012, The EU is embroiled in a feud over “austerity measures”. These are painful cutbacks in spending. Austerity is being plain with no sauce. You get what you need but that’s it - until these measures are lifted by the shrinking debt.

 Germany and the Virtuous North are demanding that the failing economies of EU member states such as Greece, Ireland and now Spain (whose credit rating was recently downgraded 2 notches!), must take on these harsh cutbacks. This is looked upon with contempt from the Sinner South, who resent being told what  to do by Germany. In the linked article, France is close to electing  Francois Hollande, an opponent of the EU agreement and of Nicolas Sarkozy, whom he’ll replace as France's new President.

But what do I know, I’m just a hick from the sticks.

-katykarter 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/9234926/Hollandes-Growth-Bloc-spells-end-of-German-hegemony-in-Europe.html

Who's to blame for the death of Trayvon?

(Note: This is the challenge. It will take about ten minutes to read the following. See if you can answer the question at the end. Honestly.)

The Fiber of America is the set of values we were taught and which we incorporate into our lives willingly. Our forefathers were wise enough to recognize the importance of Godly values in a society. Hamilton, Franklin and Washington were emphatic: A person who didn't go to church or didn't have God in their life wasn 't suitable for citizenship in the new nation. Even Jefferson couldn't argue the fact that these values, although rooted in religeous observance and practice, were universal in a just society where the rule of law treated all of the citizens equally.

And it's these values that have gotten diluted in recent generations: the greatest generation was raised with high moral standards as the turn-of-the-century family was a strong unit in the US. During their lives, the Baby Boomers were raised in a prospering nation, and the war years drew the citizens closer for their mutual survival. But subsequent generations weren't raised with as strict demonstrated adherence to these values. The 60's 'free love' movement was destructive to the morality of the nation, and this moral decline continues with significantly less religeosity in the general public.

Right now, a cultural blemish is on our nation. An indifference to suffering and violence, and a kind of paranoid-response mechanism towards adversity. Whenever anyone is offended or disappointed in any way, there seems to be a feeling of reciprocation instead of critical thinking. In other words, you've offended me: how can I get even?

It was clear ten years ago that kids no longer considered it possible to fight without the mortal decision being "a given". Guns were so prevelant and kids were too quick to shoot each other. This is not to be confused with gang violence. True gang violence in mostly commercial: there's money and territory involved. With teens and wanna-be gangstas there's a glorifying of the gangster lifestyle, but there's no real teeth in their actions. These teens want to appear tough to their peers, as teens have always felt the need, but with the ease in aquiring guns, there are many mistakes made. Fatal mistakes.

But guns aren't the cause of the deaths at the hands of a gunman, it's the person holding the gun. It's the choice to use deadly force. Its the path that person has taken to get to this point: How did it come to this?

In the Trayvon Martin case, he was walking, after dark through a residential neighborhood which had been enduring burglaries and vandalism in recent months. So much so, the community association put together a watch program. While on watch, volunteer George Zimmerman shot Trayvon after an altercation which was witnessed by several different people from several different vantage points.

There are many points to be made out of how this story was presented by the media, how it was percieved and how it took off across the nation. Now there are daily protests in the streets of not only the town where the killing took place but across the country. These protests are peaceful, and call for the resignation of the percieved guilty parties, but they foment bad feelings, and it's especially trajic when the facts of the case are bearing out the fact that Trayvon was the aggressor.

The most important point to be made has to do with personal responsiblity and its the crux of the crisis our country's morality is going through. Why would anyone ignore the truth to persue a path they know in their heart is false? They are blinded by pride!

Pride ignores the personal responsibility and seeks out like offenders to deflect blame. Pride seeks elsewhere for the cause of the problem when in the heart, we know we are to blame. Pride refuses to acknowledge the mistakes and bad choices made in the past, and makes us look for someone or something to blame for the trajedies that befall us.

Pride is a powerful force in self-deception so the question is clear: "Can we be honest with ourselves?" , and if so, lets admit our guilt and set a course to repair the problem. Ultimately, we need living examples to fortify our will and resolve. Kids need role models, true, but I think we all need role models.

Won't you please become a role model for your brothers and sisters around you? If you become a leader, your neighbors will look to you for reinforcement in this new, exiting way of personal responsibility. this new way of working and striving with obvious joy will effect the children.

Hope and change will emerge, as will a new day for all of us.

-katykarter

Man Harrassed for anti-Obama message

"Reject Pipeline Jobs and US Energy...then off to Disneyland?"

A Harris County, Tx man was harrassed in his driveway today for this message he'd spray painted onto the rear windshield of his suv.
John G. was coming out of his house this morning and a deputy sheriff's cruiser was idling at the foot of his driveway. As John approached, the deputy driving it rolled his window down and told John to remove the message.
John had no intention of removing it and invited the deputy to take a hike. Soon after a second unit arrived and a verbal exchange ensued.

John G., as you may know, is a strong supporter of individal liberties as well as law enforcement. He is also a CIVCOMP co-creator, my good friend and a believer in justice: the sooner the better!

Since the Obama administration denied the approval of the Keystone Pipeline, and thereby denied thousands of jobs in many states, it is made clear the priorities of this administration in regards to jobs and prosperity against environmental lobbyists and added regulation, increasing the government's influence.

This well known penchant for deciding in favor of lobbyists and additional government spending drags us as a nation and an economy away from our recovery and future prosperity!

And to make matters worse the Obamas have gone on another vacation, this time to Disneyland!

This is a very highly charged election season, and President Obama is trying to secure another 4-year term in office. With the recent downturn in our economy, the reduction in our nation's credit rating and shifty (to put it mildly) dealings in the financial sector- specifically the Federal Reserve Bank and the results of it's recent unprecedented audit, the American people are being stretched further and further from having the means to survive and economic collapse.

Wild spending during this president's term so far has been excessive and unabashed. It's time to put someone with the nation's best interests TRULY first in his or her priority.

And as to whether it's proper for public servants to intimidate a citizen in regards to political free speech, we'll soon see what the official reply is from The Harris County Sheriff's Office. Contact them for comment at 281-492-3500 or Sheriff.garcia@hctx.net

-Katykarter

Our National Anthem deserves special treatment

After this year's Superbowl singing of the National Anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key, the subject of the song, and it's story gets bandied about and it's great for discovering something new about it.



The song began as a poem, "Defense of Fort McHenry",written in 1814 by Key, a lawyer in Boston, then fitted to the melody of a popular drinking song, it became a popular patriotic song of it's time. It wasn't until 1931 the it was adopted as the national anthem.


As the lyrics describe, there is a fierce battle, which stretches, unrelenting throughout the night until, as first light breaks o'er the smoky scene, the 15 stripes, and 15 stars "yet did wave".

The British battleships hadn't completely extinguished the military garrison there across the Chesapeake from Boston, at Fort McHenry. Key, a young lawyer, was being held captive for the evening; he had overheard British war plans to attack Baltimore, and was being held aboard the HMS Minden when the night-long rocket and artillery barrage took place.


The song is well known now, it's a song I learned at a young age, and like so many things, would probably forget, except it was a song we heard all the time. It was at sports events, at musical and theatre events. It was the last thing you heard when television signed off at about 2:01 a.m.


I know the lyrics, by heart, of the the first stanza, and below are all stanzai!



Also is a link to YouTube to see and hear and appreciate again Whitney Houston's stirring performance along with full symphony accompaniment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wupsPg5H6aE





"The Star Spangled Banner" by Francis Scott Key, 1862



O say can you see by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,

O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?




On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,

Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,

In full Glory reflected now shines in the stream:

'Tis the star-spangled banner, O long may it wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.



And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,

A home and a country should leave us no more!

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave.

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.




O thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation!

Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land

Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust"

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!









-Katykarter