June 26th, 2015: R.I.P., the America I knew

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) by a near 5/4 margin, ordered all states to recognize same sex marriages.

Another ruling determined that the 10th Amendment might as well be abandoned.

If you don't know what the 10th Amendment is all about. Or the 1st. Or the 2nd. Or the 14th. YOU are what is wrong with America. YOU did this, to the greatest country the earth has known since mankind banded together against the elements and animals.  You did it, and you are to blame. 

YOU were gushing about Jenner and the Kardashians and Miley Cyrus, or whoever, and said nothing when bureaucrats at the EPA took away your RIGHT to waters. That's right, water. Don't believe me? Look it up, you morons!

YOU were following what's trending on Twitter or Facebook or the latest YouTube video break out, or the newest acts on America's Got Talent/The Voice/Whatever, instead of the new trade pact. Haven't heard about that? Look it up, moron!

YOU were reading about skinny jeans, small plates, artisinal foods, latest gadget/electronic toys, instead of understanding the risk presented by the huge hacks into governmental databases.  Look that up too, while you're at it.

YOU were following media driven entertainment sound bites, instead of applying your own common sense to Common Core...where the government will follow YOUR children from birth, collecting data about every facet of your child's life-emotional, physical, and *not* just educational.  They've filled out reams of paper about your child and you are CLUELESS about it. And while they're at it, they are going to foist upon your child's mind, their *own* personal views: Ex. Requiring a teenager to state that Captain Cook (famed explorer) was a racist. Required, mind you! Not contained in the report=Failing grade.

YOU have allowed the media to frame all debates about any subject of note in this country, because you DO NOT insist on factual reporting. YOU gave them the power to shape and change and divide this country like no other generation. Yes, YOU did it.

In your fear and ignorance of our Constitutional freedoms, YOU allowed yourself to be muzzled by public opinion, in order not to "offend". Shame on you, that you have spit upon the tens of thousands of graves of the brave men and women who died so you could freely speak your mind.


You did not bother to vote...too hard, it doesn't matter anyway, who cares, it's a pain in the ass, my vote doesn't count, I had to work, I couldn't find parking, I got caught in traffic, I had no ID, and so on.....I've read every pathetic excuse for not voting a person could imagine, and some I could not.

In your ignorance, in your apathy, in your shallow self absorption...YOU did to yourself.

Enough. I am silent no more.

The ADD nation

Today, whilst most folks are distracted with the Supreme Court rulings on the Hobby Lobby case and the others.....something wicked this way comes:


http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-06-29/isis-declares-caliphate-crucifies-9-syrian-rebels-being-too-moderate?fb_action_ids=704920846222502&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%22704920846222502%22%3A767948176561524}&action_type_map={%22704920846222502%22%3A%22og.likes%22}&action_ref_map=[]



I realize the topic is distasteful and the images revolting and nauseating, but you should be paying attention.

ISIS will now demand that ALL muslims submit to the new Caliphate.  Don't forget to check out the five year expansion plan they have on the link above too. And, while you're at it, recall that the Golan Heights have already fallen to ISIS.

Do not be deceived, this is coming to America. There are despicable, horrific acts being performed in the name of Allah, today. Including the crucifixion of the nine people described above.

Crucifixion.  Coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

A few voices, a few lights

and a few brave souls are sounding the alarm. 

There are a few on FOXNews, mostly military types, and a couple notable public figures such as Allen West and Mike Savage, and it is mentioned elsewhere-you just have to hunt for the comments. They show up on my Facebook newsfeed, commentary, memes, jokes, partisan rants and so forth.

A few days ago, this showed up on my newsfeed:

Yes, I realize it's an older tweet, but the man moved to delete it (reportedly) and in response, the astute Allen West had this to say about it:

http://allenbwest.com/2014/06/top-homeland-security-adviser-says-america-islamic-country/#a8vgV5gsgXy9hlyB.01


In  his comments, Mr. West ably describes how what is normally seen as inflammatory rhetoric, or an outrageous fabrication, gets floated to the public, then repeated and eventually becomes accepted fact.  This is a very dangerous thing, particularly when it comes to policy positions. (See any of the White House lies about any of their many scandals-how their "talking points" became quoted as factual by the complicit media, and subsequently assumed to be so by the American public)

In exercising my first Amendment right, I will state right here and now, that you will see a stronger push towards acceptance of radical Islam, across all state and federal bureaus, and that it will be sold to you as tolerance, diversity, and multiculturalism. That you must be more open to other religions, yet say nothing offensive in response. That islam will be pushed as a "religion of peace" by our leaders, and quickly the religious leaders will join in the chorus. This is how terrorists get labeled "insurgents" or "resistance fighters" and then "freedom fighters" and eventually "factions" and it's no wonder no one can keep American foreign policy straight...it's a corkscrew of misconstrued facts, outright lies, and fumbling policy blunders.

It will be mass brainwashing at its finest.  It's already happened, did you know? In the biggest, in your face manner: When the Ft Hood massacre, by a jihadist *in our own uniform* (!!!) was called "work place violence".  The White House, the spokeperson, the main stream media reporters, all calling it work place violence. Since when is a lunatic murdering people, shouting Allahu Akbar, not qualify as terrorism?  Or, if that doesn't suit, how about the Boston bombing pair? On the watch list, supposedly under surveillance by DHS and assorted other agencies. And yet, and yet, they could not be tracked nor found, with all the might of the metadata collected by electronic spying by our own government. Nope, they had to lock down the city, put LE and military on the street-and the good people of Boston rolled right over and complied.  The Boston Marathon Bombing was quickly enough replaced by other scandals plaguing this administration....there is always another one, isn't there?

Anyone do their homework?

No?

I can think of several attacks that made the news. The World Trade Center-twice. Remember, back in 1989, the bombing? I bet you forgot. And of course, the date forever etched in our collective conscious. And there's the Ft Hood "work place violence". And the Boston bombing. And I bet that's about all you can bring to mind, isn't it?

I found a page with summaries of such attacks on American soil, and it will leave you stupefied and wondering why you never heard about most of them.

A two second search via Google returns this result:

 http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/americanattacks.htm

There's even a Wiki page dedicated to the subject, but I also found this:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001454.html

There are many pages dedicated to tracking this across the web. If you expand your search to worldwide, the numbers jump into the thousands. Many thousands. And many hundreds of people are attempting......with very poor results, mind you...to sound the alarm about Islam and jihad.  Writers, bloggers, even reporters, and so on.

Unfortunately, none of them have political clout, or media gravitas, or a wide, Christian audience. For all the hundreds of Christians killed, tortured, churches burned and sacked-which is happening now, today across the world, there is only silence from our Christians leaders, Catholics, Jews.

Where are the pastors and the priests and the rabbis?  Where are the learned of every religion? Where is the voice raised in protest? Have we traded away our good, for the dangerous ideal of "tolerance"? Because make no mistake about it, this fight has been going on about as long as we have had a history, and America is just another territory to seize.

Of particular concern, is the rapid rise and expansion of ISIS. Do not be fooled by the acronym, the reality of their violence and brutality I will not try to describe on this page-because it sickens, it terrifies me. And their interpretation of Sharia should leave every single woman shaken and fearful. And we don't need to list all the kidnappings and beheadings, do we? I could post video links showing these actual events-sure to turn the stomach of all. Or I could post graphics (attributed to ISIS by reputable sources) showing their planned expansion...and expand it will. When even the hard line Islamists wail (privately) about the atrocities of ISIS, you *know* it's worse than feared, never mind thought.

Think of ISIS as the super extreme arm of Islamic might. Not publicly condoned, but not publicly censured either.  And that is a very important distinction to make.

Will the leaders of the Western world stand up to the coming tide?

Alas, no.

Jihad in America?

I've pretty much let this blog lapse lately, haven't I?

I would like to say it's because I've been put on the dreaded watch list. Or I'm too busy to share my thoughts. Or I'm too overwhelmed with life events to comment on them. Or any number of seemingly reasonable excuses.

The truth is, it's none of those.

It boils down to fear.

Fear of being on that watch list, for one. Yes, legitimate concern, considering the scope of the people in the NSA juggernaut of metadata collection. Folks that know me on FB, are well aware of my conservative leanings, just based on what I share. I haven't been quiet about my take on the current administration, either. (Hi guys! Hope you enjoy this blog too!)

Fear of the coming days is always on my shoulders. Too many things to remember, too many to list, but as it has been for quite a while: I fear most the coming Caliphate.  Yes, our system is about to crash (and hard, but we'll get through it-our ancestors did, remember?) and yes, we have attacks to face and recover from (we're not a nation of peace, our very beginnings prove this) and so on. Even the personal challenges will become history soon enough and hopefully I'll learn from those and move forward in a manner that prevents their recurrence. It's been one heckuva year, that's for sure, but we're almost past the hard part and I'm optimistic about the immediate future again for my family.

But further down the road?  America is about to become just another battleground of jihad.

And no, I am not joking, I am not suffering from tin foil that is too tight, or delusional from any number of conspiracy theories (which replicate and expand like a never ending creep show of irrational thought gone wild)  or privy to some news that has not been dissected, reviewed, edited, sanitized or trivialized by other media. Nope, not joking one bit.  The truth is everywhere, and available to anyone who reads this online. You can find the information and make the connections just as easily as I have done, but I'll give you a few hints and clues to get started.  If you care. If you don't, your children and grandchildren surely will.

For well over 2000 years, Christianity has been at war with Islam. And in fact, think about this little tidbit from history......the Middle East used to be Christian. Rome to Constantinople to Jerusalem and beyond to Egypt-Christian. As kingdoms rose and then fell to the sword, the region became what we modern folks call "Islamic", and all subjects dhimmi (and much much worse) and even going as far back as the fall of the Roman empire, it was jihad. Not Germanic tribes as we have been taught, but the followers of Allah, of Muhammad. From Turkey to the Iberian peninsula, many bloody battles were fought and in the end, Christianity lost.  For millennia, the followers of Muhammad have expanded their jihad against us: the Kafirs. Every century, every decade, more conflict, more blood letting, more jihad.

(For an educational video on this, please feel free to look up Dr Bill Warner on YouTube, specifically this one:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_Qpy0mXg8Y#t=223)  There are many others available online, all you need to do is look for them.

So now you're thinking, what the heck is she smoking here, right? And what's that got to do with America anyhow?

Put on your thinking caps: How many attacks have taken place on American soil, perpetrated by the followers of Muhammad?

Politics

So earlier this morning, I read a comment thread regarding the Alaska GOP, on a conservative Facebook page.  I am sure there are quite likely dozens of such pages, just for Alaska, but this one happened to show up in my newsfeed, and I read it with some curiosity.

I may be getting old, but I have a pretty good memory when it comes to the recent machinations of the Alaska GOP. Heck, I even remember Sarah Palin and Randy Ruedrich going rounds on the Alaska Oil and Gas Commission, way back when. For those that don't know, RR was chair of the party since...well, since forever. He's the kingmaker, the architect of the party here, and those that presume otherwise are quickly enough outright disgraced, hog tied, and run out on a rail.  Or tarred and feathered. Or left campaigning with an army of operatives working against you, whichever.

From a distance, I watched the debacle that was the Miller/Murkowski race for senate. I watched the AKGOP fragment a growing, passionate faction of the conservative movement. Better a candidate that will give away Alaska's future, than risk losing power, is the result. In short, the powerful clique that runs Republican (not to be confused with conservative, mind you) politics in Alaska, exerted that power in new and extensive ways-even as legitimate, legal actions were taken to rein them in.

And you can't win here, unless you pledge allegiance to them, and their henchmen. Period end. They'll subvert their constituents elected representatives, muddy the waters over district boundaries, vacate duly elected officers, drum out dissenters, and treat everyone who does not buy their brand of "moderate Republicanism" as dirt...and rub their noses in it to make sure the lesson sticks. Any change of the officials must be sanctioned, vetted, and approved-or you're out.

So what is the casual Alaskan Republican minded voter to take away from the above?

Why, it's obvious. To run for public office here, you must sign on to their tactics, their platform, their way of doing business. After all, you need their money and influence, their expertise and their base, to mount a successful campaign against the likes of Mark Begich. So while the candidates are carefully chosen, the Party itself plays fast and loose with their own laws and the laws of the state, and does whatever is necessary to see that approved (by the party elite) person get into office. That's how it is, and how it's always been.

I don't like it.  Not only are candidates offered very weak constitutionally, so is the entire state party. They'll compromise anything to stay "in power" and to stay relevant, and to preserve their own status quo. The fact that they permanently alienated thousands of independents, and republicans such as myself, do not matter to them. 

So I have a party that does not represent my best interests, and is at heart a corrupt organization. A person has no recourse through the party ranks. And to make matters worse, those elected into office, do not feel any obligation to their constituents. And why should they? The AKGOP makes it happen for them, not the voter ranks, not really. We're just the peons who trudge to the polls when needed, counted upon to be there for them, and otherwise ignored. And ignored we are, all of us.

Now, if I had a large, fancy home in Turnagain, and a hefty checkbook balance, I might be able to move into the periphery of importance within the Party. Attend enough meetings, get my face seen, carefully make contact with the movers and shakers, start hosting fundraisers and generally get used (and abused) and they might take my views seriously. Well, maybe not my views, but definitely my checkbook.

Truthfully, they are no different than Washington, DC.

It's still too cold :(

With temperatures staying at or well below zero for over a week, it's forced many of us to curtail our routines to the basics.  This is true for me too, as it's dark when I attend barn chores in the mornings, and dark when I get home.  In the mornings I drive up with the hottest tap water to make up the mash for the old stallion. He gets a hello, and couple scritches and a pat, and a large feed pan of mush, plus some of that imported hay to keep him busy. So far, the composition of the diet is perfect-he's round over his back but not tubby.  Of course, the colder it gets, the more he hangs out in the stall, so I'd say his activity level is about nil, haha  I'd get him a toy of some sort but truthfully there is nothing he can't tear up, rip apart, or destroy if he chose.  This is probably my last winter with him, as his leaky heart valve continues to worsen.

Next door to the horse is the turkey stall and run. Gosh I just love my turkeys, they provide a chorus of squeaks and pops and soft calls every time they see me.  They're getting some size to them now, and in about a month or so, I should start finding eggs from the hens. These are heritage birds that will breed true and I have found them to be incredibly tough. We erected a small shed roof out from the barn for them, and put some boards up for roosts. They do not require heat, or additional lighting, just unfrozen water and feed and that's it-very easy compared to chickens.

Next to that is the chicken pen, with stall and hen house. The house is insulated and yes, I provide heat and additional lighting. The stall is covered, but open on three sides, with the feed and water, and we're using the deep litter method in it like we did last year-it's working very well. In the hen house, deep straw on the floor and six laying boxes to handle the 14 or so hens. Also in with the chickens are six more turkeys, a couple months younger than the others-too small to be added to the other group. I think they think they're chickens, because I sometimes find the younger hens staying inside the warm coop, up on the roost with the layers. The mix included Buff Orpingtons, Giant Cochin crosses, Golden Sex links, and Red Rangers. The rangers were the four smallest pullets that we did not send to freezer camp this past fall. And, I have a rooster. A very colorful one, but I can't decide if he's Ranger, or Sex Link. Well, it doesn't matter because whatever he fertilizes, they will all be meat chicks this coming year.  There for a while I was getting nearly a dozen eggs a day, every single day. I manage to keep friends and family in eggs, and still have plenty for our own use. Today's chore that cannot be put off: More grit.

So to keep myself occupied, I have been surfing away online, looking for specific seeds. I have a hunch that hobby gardeners are going to be terribly shocked when they see the prices this year. Not only are the seed counts down in the packets, but the prices are higher. I have a few specific things I am going to try this year that are new to me, but a couple of items had crop failures, so I have been looking for replacements that will perform here.  This year, I hope to put melons inside my covered raised bed, just to try it out. I have never tried a melon outdoors before so it will be fun to see what kind of results I get. And, due to the height of the hoop, it will be pretty much impossible to get in there and trellis anything-so, I found a short season, bushy type that I am hopeful will work.

A few tomatoes are proving hard to locate, and the ever elusive broccoli that everyone wants, the same. It's rather like a long, drawn out treasure hunt, but I need to have these orders completed fairly soon, since it's nearly January. Which means-onions, celery, and hot peppers by the end of the month. Eeeks!