16ga.com ~ View topic

Here in Boston, Ma., tomorrow is the 231st anniversary of the Battle of Breed's Hill, better known as Bunker Hill. This is a holiday for Bostonians, but pretty much forgotten over the rest of our nation. But I tend not to forget no matter where I might find myself on this date.

Perhaps no more heroic stand was ever made by just plain citizens in the face of overwhelming odds and the tyranny that red coated regiment marching up the hill towards them represented. These Americans stood their ground and gave the promised three volleys and more before they were routed and butchered by what amounted to nothing more than a bigger force of highly skilled, better armed, prettier dressed, hired thugs.

Every year I ask myself, what in God's name would make a man armed with a fowling piece or a pitchfork stand against the massed fire and bayonet charge of a solid wall of well trained killers. The answer is obvious. Just to the Bostonians' backs were their homes, their loved ones, and their way of life. They were not fighting for an ideal. They were fighting for life itself.

I'm almost certain more than one stood and died, because he knew in his heart that seeing what might happen to his family if he lost the battle was far worse than death itself. It eludes me today how we can tolerate the abuses heaped on us by our own government in the name of domestic peace and world democracy. I see our way of life eroding away before my eyes, And I wonder what is going to become of my childern and their childern.

I have watched my fellow citizens bear the burdon of longer working hours for a much devalued dollar, weakened by the debts owed to the military-industrail complex that runs this country now. I see my taxes and theirs hiked up every year to pay for less and less services and more and more debt.

I see the American family life erode as the hours lost at home to the hours spent at labor by both parents to pay for both too high taxes and a living take a toll on the children and how they behave. I see the dull sullen, too old too soon look in their eyes where once was a carefree happy glint of a well cared for, secure youngster.

I see open land closed to hunting and fishing where I spent many happy hours in my youth. I also see the devastation of over developement as folks scramble to build and sell overpriced houses in order to amass enough money to escape the enclosure they are creating for others.

Lastly, I see and hear the lies, misdirection, and misdeeds of my political representatives as they advance their own power and influence at the cost of the way of life they have solemnly sworn to uphold and protect. I see the war we are once again involved in and I see the economy take hit after hit as the bills to pay for it pile up unpaid--waiting to suck the very life out of those dull eyed children who will spend the rest of their lives paying for our latest military adventure in the name of freedom.

What freedom? Certainly not the average American citizen's. He, his wife, and their children have already been conscripted for servitude to that terrible political god we have created, world democracy, American hegemony, call it what you will.

I have stood upon Breed's hill and looked down at the city of Boston where it all started. I realize that this is where American Democracy began, and now, given the attitude of the Mass legislature and our Federal representatives, this is probalbly where it will die too. All those young lives lost in that battle. All the hopes and dreams of a better way of life, washing away--forgotten by so many of us as we face another work day in the service of our pharoah.

Take a deep breath 16gg. I agree with you. But we as citizens must bear some of the blame. We put up with these so called leaders and elect them back to office. The moral fiber and willingness to fight and work hard for a better life is gone. Our own media word rather declair a marine guilty than a terrorist at gitmo(where is the citizen standing inline to protect that marine). We have the choice to an abortion but must wear our seat belts (where is the citizen saying hell no). We are a country of self centerd sheep being lead along by our left wing politically correct sensitive leaders. You can't pray to god in public but you can pray to mecca(what the hell country is this). Our heads are in our asses. We let the country degrade to this point with welfare and handouts and no one willing to offend anyone by calling a spade a spade. Everytime they pass some stupid law there should be a public outcry but the masses are silent. If we can find our brother commonsense again we might have a chance. I join you in remembering those brave men thanks for reminding us of their sacrifice. I ask everyone a question. If your to busy to get involved and don't have time to vote and call your congressman. I say you can't afford not to. Stand up and be counted pass the word and don't worry if you offend someone along the way. Trust me they will get over it.

Pudel pointer, I posted the following below on another thread on lead poisoning this morning just before composing Breed's Hill. We are of one mind.

My point remains. That sham is just one of many "we the people" have been subjected to in the last half of the 20th century and into this new one. The reason is obvious. Its because we have allowed the process to happen. This nation was founded on a simple principle of representational government. We elect our government. We allow them to govern. We are responsible for what they do regardless of blame. If we allow these shams and bull shit to continue, then we are giving them our blessings by not taking steps to stop the wrongdoing.

We are not nearly as helpless as we pretend to be. It just takes courage, effort, and hard work to make our representatives behave. Collectively, we just are not doing our part, and it shows. We are losing our freedoms and our way of life, because we are letting them be taken without a fight. That is the hardest truth of all to face. Unfortunately, it is our children and our childrens' children who will suffer the consequences of our failures to right these governmental wrongs.

Fin, it does not matter what party is in power--left wing--right wing-- middle of the damned aisle. They all abuse the trust we put in them to serve. However, we are all responsible because we let them do as they wish without much protest or reaction. They expect us to lay down for them and we do. Who the hell is going to respect a bunch of whining whoosies who don't have the courage to really confront these lying bunch of self-serving thieves and joksters. I sure as hell wouldn't.

They may call themselves republicans but onlya few are.Any one who wants to give social security to the illegal immigrants and have the debate on same sex marrige is not a conservative. I never heard a law maker stand up and say this is not what we were sent here to do and throw the bill the hell out. Smaller government with less handouts and one that will not interfear with my life is the one I want.The dems and repulicans are not getting it done but everytime a 3rd party arises we don't support the movement.Give me back my money and leave me the hell alone Iknow how to take care of myself and my family. It dosen't take a freaking village !!! Slimy bastards.

I may disagree with Pudelpointer about his politics (I consider myself a progressive) but he's right when he says most of this bunch currently in power are Republican in name only. Conservatives believe in less government; we've seen the greatest expansion of beauracracy in 30 years under these guys. Conservatives believe in fiscal responsibility; this bunch has given us soaring deficits our children and grandchildren will have to shoulder. Conservatives (at least libertarian conservatives) believe in civil liberties; under GWB we've seen the greatest threats to our civil rights since the Sedition Act. Conservatives believe small businesses are the backbone of our economy; these guys are trying to systematically dismantle the Small Business Administration.

I prefer not to call these guys and gals Republicans, but Corporatists. They are bought and paid for by massive corporations. To see how it's happened, you guys might want to check out David Sirota's new book, Hostile Takeover. BTW, I'll freely admit the Dem's are bought and paid for too -- but since at this point they're powerless, I'll save my ire for George Bush and his gang.

Sorry fella's I get a little agitated talking about politics.Its frustrating that the answers are plain as day and nobody can see them. The media and polititians complicate everything. I embrace conservative ideology and find liberal idea's idiotic. That being said I still don't like or trust any of them in washington no matter the party affiliation. I'm sick of choosing the lesser of 2 evils. Our founding fathers wanted a representative government not career politicians. Term limits and alot lower pay with no benifits would clear out the worms and leave people who really want to help and serve this country. I was in the Air Force for a term and I didn't do it to get rich. All the boy's serving now aren't getting rich. There is nothing wrong with getting rich in the private sector but there is something wrong with spending tax dollars for the betterment of individuals. Tax's are for improving and defending our country not paying for social and special intrests.

Member Joined: 27 Nov 2005 Posts: 258 Location: Nordern MN

Here's an idea. Stop having kids. If you don't have kids, keep it that way.

Two Books, one author:
Ishamael
Story of B
by Daniel Quinn

NR

In light of my point of view, I'm constantly being told I' m either a fool or an "idealist." I keep hearing that the military-industrial complex provides work for our work force and money in our system. I'm also being told that taking the troops out of Iraq will underminre their moral and their faith in their leadership. Then I'm told we will lose face for not following through with our plan of action. To all this, I say "HUH!!!"

1. Any slave system will provide work for its subjects and will feed and house them too. However, it will only do this for those slaves that continue to be productive. Also, the amount of care the slaves amnd theri children get depends on their value as workers and servants. The kids are enslaved at birth and must work off the slave debt left by their parents.

Slaves are hindered or prevented from becoming too independant and self- sufficient through their own labor or efforts by the system itself. Any wealth they might manage to generate is quickly appropriated in part or in whole. this keeps them dependant.

The old and the infirm slaves are dumped onto the slave population to care for. Either that or they are warehoused and ignored until they die. Very few slave systems actually exterminated the weak and the sick. They simply let nature take its course. Anything of value left by the dead slave becomes the property of the system. This is exactly how our nursing home system works. The parents are admitted and their estate gets signed over.

The only way out of the slave system is by amassing and maintaining enough wealth to buy your freedom. Working for a living just keeps you in the system.

Does this sound familiar? Our social system is becoming more and more like a slavery system with every passing year. Ask any independant small businessman or any tradesman that works for a living. Between profesional licences and permits, zoning laws, taxation, insurance, etc, it is a long hard pull that never ends. The only way out is with wealth. You can buy out if you can get the money. you can stay free as long as the funds last.

2. Which is worse, undermining the troops' moral a bit in the short run to save them for the times we really will need them, or wasting them on an unworkable plan with no end in sight. Sooner or later, the futility of our efforts to establish a Western Democracy in Iraq will become plain to every American, Soldier and citizen alike.

It's Vietnam all over again. It is being fought ( or actually, not fought) in exactly the same way. In both wars, our troops are/were faced with an invisible enemy and a population that could/can not grasp the concept of freedom of choice and were/are, for the most part, apathetic to our efforts on our behalf. They just wanted/want us gone.

In this situation, the Troops have to fort up. Then, they get picked off a bit at a time until their patience is gone, their frustration of being treated like bait has peaked, and their moral is shot. The the retaliations and acts of frustration begin. Remember Meilai? its happening again in Iraq.

Does this sound familiar? It damned sure should. Its idiotic, and a farce. Get them out as fast as possible. The Iraqi government is established. However, regardless of how long we stay, it will fail. Now is the time to declare a victory and march the hell out of there. NOW!!!, while they are standing.

As far as losing face? So what else is new. We have done all the positive good we can at this point. Hussein is gone. the Taliban was diminished to the point of ineffectiveness. Al Queda was forced into hiding in the mountains of Pakistan. They are safe there because we already turned our backs on the Pakistani when we stopped military aid to them during the Pakistan- India conflict. Now, they get their weapons and munitions from China. They are not our friends and will not help us. Who can blame them.

By dragging out this lunacy in Iraq, we have split our forces, wasted our resources, and allowed our enemies to grow stronger. We already look like idiots to the rest of the world. We are already the laughing stock. Why continue to follow this doomed course of action. Itws time to smarten up.

Our military- industrial complex that is running this show could care less about the average American. We are just another expendable resourse to them. Our "Pharoah' is a short sighted, self serving, oil gulping, idiotic lunatic, with but one answer to every problem. WAR!!!

Its time to take back our liberty from this monster. It will not be easy. It will require sacrifice, effort, and probably a large dose of suffering. But its either face the truth, or die in slavery to a master that really does not care except what we can do for it, and given enough time, will wreck the world it wishes to dominate.

Idealist? No. Realist! I can face our reality. Can you?

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

Who gives a damn about a Wsetern democracy in Iraq? We all know it's about oil; we need it, they have it, we can't or won't do without it, and that's basically it in a nutshell. I don't care what their politics/issues are, really; they've been fighting over there for the last 2,000 years, and they haven't done a thing for humanity to justify their existence, let alone cost us American lives.....I'm just tired of hearing about army and marine 30 yr. old Texans, or Ohioans, or Kentuckians with a wife and two or three kids, coming home in boxes !!

And I don't mean pull out---I mean whip their raghead asses well and truly, with whatever sophisticated or unsophisticated weaponry we have at our disposal, confiscate their oil and be done with it !! If a few (or a few thousand !) civilians get dinged, that's war. Like they'd really sweat about how many of us they might kill if this were happening over here----yeah, right !. And I'm not interested in any political science lectures either; heard all that meaningless crap a million times. let's just get it done and be out of there.

Member Joined: 01 Feb 2006 Posts: 450 Location: Indiana

Well fellows I agree with all of you completely
I do not have a very high sheepskin just Highschool. But I will say if you apply your self one can go and do many things. I have been in the medical device industry for almost 40 yrs. I have worked for several large corporations that employ several thousands each. I have traveled over the better part of the globe on consulting and training.
I know several ceo's of many medical device industries personaly. An I can tell you this. They are not in the industry to make you feel better or look better or to give youl a better quality of life. They are in it for one damn thing and that is money. They don't give a shit how you feel when their product is sold to some group that is going to implant that device into you. They just hope it is better than the next guys who is trying to push the same type of Product.
I'm talking about CEO'S That are knocking down 5 to 30 mil a year. I know these guys personally and their is no son-of-a-bitch that is worth that much
when their main job for the corporation is to throw parties. These bastards also have every rotton political rep in their back pockets.
I once told one CEO about ten years ago when I was working for him that him and his partners have lost complete control of what is going on around the word with all of their subsidiaries. I also said if it weren't for his money most of those son's a bitches would not be around. They would look for some new blood to suck on an stay their till things got thick agiain and move on.
As I see it about the whole judicial system is in the same situtation. The whole educational system is in the same situtation. Every body is trying to get into someone's back pocket. The only thing is the rich now how to get into the poor mans back pocket because the poor man has no way to make the changes only to lash out. When that happens the media gets ahold and has a heyday so the reporter can show her ass on tv and everyone's chin drops.

I could go on and on but it would not make any difference. I have lost jobs for saying things when I did not see people being treated right. The same people have tried to stick it to me to get over the top of me just because I did not have a degree higher than theirs. They also shit when they found out I only had a GED. Hell when I see these Idots out here today out of some so called college and don't know what the hell they are going to do, if I would have only had half the chance for a better education I would have jumped at it.

I could say my wife and I hav't done to bad. I'm 59 she is 58. We both could retire today if it weren't for the insurance. (Medical that is)

With all of this said on this form reminds me of what this Countries greatest hero said when he was asked what he thought about the King of England imposing taxes in the Americans. His Answer was,why should the king have his hands in my pocket. George Washington.

My answer today is why should the government have their hands in my pocket.

Old 16. Its frustrating. It's like talking to a wall. Most people with any intelligence today realize the truth but just can't face it. So they either deny what is happening or just shrug and say, so what can I do about it. They don't see any way individuals can turn things around and finding decent leaders looks futile too. However, never stop speaking truth. Even if only 5% of the people keep speaking truth, eventually the truth will out.

Nobody in America wanted to fight England in 1774--not even George Washington. However, when it became vey plain that the Americans were dealing with a government dominated by wealthy aristocrats and greedy businessmen, and led by a Hanoverian King who was stupid, egocentric, and without a clue or a care about English traditional rights, They decided they had no good alternative. The americans chose representatives, took a vote, and declared their government invalid by opting for independence.

We ordinary Americans can do the same thing. We can vote. We can vote out every self serving SOB that is running to keep his seat and vote his opposition in. That means all of them rifght across the board. It would put an end to career elected officials. We can do this repeatedly, every two years and bring this self serving bunch of blood suckers to their knees. The government would be reduced to a shambles because we could wreck it. Then we dictate terms through a Constitutional Convention to shore up that battered, ignored center piece of our government. It would take maybe a decade, but it can be done with little to no bloodshed.

The worst thing the government could do is declare martial law. This would be suspending our rights, because we are using them. If this happened, I really doubt American Troops would back the government in this case. They would mutiny. The Federal government would be helpless to stop such a grass roots movement, because we would be exercising the one right they have not completely undermined yet--the right to vote.

Wolfchief, we have no right to that oil. Taking it by force would be the absolutely dumbest thing we could do. It would start WWIII. This would be Armageddon. That Biblical prediction is there as a warning- not an inevitability. Most professy is. However, if we were stupid enough to do this, oil shortage would be one of your last worries, nuclear winter would be very much on your agenda.

Better to tell these middle Easterns to keep their oil. We can do without much of it by changing our own habits. We can give up the SUV gas guzzlers, turn the thermostat down a few degrees in the winter and sweat a bit more in the summer. We can turn out the lights we don't need, and we can find better alternatives to fossil fuels. We have to do this anyway, or we will finally wreck our environment to the point of it being too toxic, and too atmospherically volitile. Its happening as we speak from smog and global warming. It is real, it is here now.

Time to learn a better way. We can start by telling the Iraqis, the Iranians, and the Saudis, thanks, but no thanks. Their funds would dry up in a short time and the political jihad horse shit would come to a screeching halt. They would be at each other's throats in no time and we could just ignore the whole damned mess they create for themselves. They would be way too busy fighting for scraps among themselves to screw with us. If they did, then quickly pound the shit out of them and again withdraw back to our side of the globe to mind our own business making life better here--the right way. Its a no win situation for them. Its a win win situation for us.

Member Joined: 01 Feb 2006 Posts: 450 Location: Indiana

16gg
I agree with you hole heartedly. The one thing we have that the rest of the world don't is the spirt and the no how to make change.
What we need to do is tell them sand hoppers to eat that shit and keep your damn oil. We in this country have enough of our own oil to run the machinery to feed our own people and much of the rest of the world if they want to pay the price. Grain and beef taste a hell of a lot better than their oil and sand I'm sure. Problem is the chicken shit political bastards are afraid that someone will cut off their funds that is feeding their own pockets.
This must stop.
I know this country was going down hill fast in a handbag when the people elected a inmoral Clinton for a second term. The people voted with their billfolds instead of their morals and common sense.
Thier Saudi's are taking our money and furnishing their young people with the finest schools and medical instutions at no expense to their people.
You can walk in to a hospital and have heart surgery and will not cost you a dime. Thier wealthy Gov. pays for it. Education cost you nothing if you do not have the means. Its free, no payback. Of course we pay for that through the price of oil. Why in the hell can't these stupid ass americans see what is really going on. And they continue wanting to give away our wealth to immigrants (Illeagel} That would be just anothers way to siphon off more money from the pot to line more pockets.
I'm very sure something must give soon or the way of life of freedom will be gone soon if the people don't realize soon.

I saw a local tv news story last night that puts everything in perspective. There was a group of motorcycle riders raising money for the Va hospital they couldn't provide soap,shampoo,tooth brushes,toothpaste,socks and other items. I got to thinking we provide all that plus cable tv to our murders and rapists. We provide social security for illegals and welfare for our lazy. But we can't provide for the men that provided us with freedom. I've lost respect for my country and my fellow americans. Sit on your ass and remain silent it doesn't affect you.

PP, most Americans assume too much. They are also strapped for time in most cases, and just don't actually know what is going on. Plus, they have very short memories.

My dad was a DAV. I could tell you stories about the VA system that would make you puke. However, such neglect has been going on for decades. All we have to do is remember the WWI veterans' Bonus March on Washington. It was Dugout Doug who ordered the troops blocking the way of the veterans to open fire. Many veterans were gunned down. McArthur should have been put against a wall and summarily executed on the spot for that atrocity.

If these young folks serving in Iraq think they will be treated any different, they are open for a very sharp lesson. Look how shabbily the disabled and poisoned vets from Desert Storm were treated. I won't even begin on the plight of the Vietnam War vets. I don't have to. We all know about it. Like I 've said before, I love my country; I dispise my government.