Police State Tactics in Tennessee?

As we all know from Hollywood, the only things in Tennessee are country music and bare foot hillbillies running moonshine.
Evidently there things which have brought the attention of federal authorities. A few years ago the feds invested $400,000 to raid a Cock fighting arena in East Tennessee, they utilized FBI SWAT teams, including posting snipers in the woods, a large number of state troopers, and two UH-1Y model helicopters. No, I did not mistake the nomenclature. UH-1Y. Reference www.army-technology.com for the info on this new version of the venerable UH-1H. The raid can be found in an article titled Cocke County Confidential at www.knoxnews.com, the photo of the two UH-1Y's are at the bottom of the article.
Last month the Dept of Homeland Security conducted a three state operation called Operation Sudden Impact. This can be found at www.colfaxrecord.com or www.commercialappeal.com The operation involved the coast guard boarding and searching boats on the river, homeland security raiding businesses for computers to track "acts of terror that had not happened yet", numerous traffic stops and road blocks.
So, why all the attention in Tennessee?
Numerous reasons: 1. I40, I24, I75, I81, I65 all pass through TN, a tactical strike in Memphis, Nashville, or Knoxville could shut down transportation for a huge section of the eastern U.S.
2. There a large number of railroad services and many miles of track in Tennessee, also crucial to American transportation.
3. Oak Ridge National Laboratory. You know, the places and complexes used to build nuclear weapons.
4. The TVA systems of hydroelectric dams control flooding and provide power to the east.
And I could go on.
Also, the volunteer state is known for being the home of incredibly patriotic and stubborn Americans. These raids serve dual purposes, they allow the government to practice tactics and they intimidate and condition the population to respond obediently to authority, even when authority is wrong. As pointed out Tennessee is critical to the 'normal' life of the entire eastern U.S., so the government cannot allow any one to jeopardize its 'normalcy'.

Scotland's Gun Ban Doesn't Work

This is from the NRA website. There are many excellent articles and links that I highly recommend.

Scotland's Gun Ban Doesn't Work

Scotland has had a gun ban in place for a decade now. Guess what? According to a Scottish newspaper, "Cases of attempted murder involving firearms [are] almost three times that of a decade ago." That's right. Ten years after a gun ban was put in place, crimes involving firearms have increased, not decreased.

Add Scotland to the list of places that have implemented gun bans, only to see things get worse. It's the same story in England, where news reports last month say gun-related crime continued to climb in 2007. In fact, the shadow home secretary says violent crime has doubled during the time Labour's been in power.

Remember these figures the next time someone says that a gun ban would make us all safer. It doesn't matter if you're talking about cities like Chicago, federal districts like Washington, D.C., or entire countries like England or Scotland. Gun bans don't reduce crime. They only empower the criminals.

An Obama One Liner.

Apparently many people still think Obama is Moslem, he responds: “I promise that I’m not…cross my suicide vest and swear to Allah.”

Recent Book Reading

I just finished a very frightening book. Not the Stephan King, chills up your spine kind of frightening. The kind of frightening that you are walking across a railroad trestle to the far side of a river and you feel the telltale vibration of a train on the tracks. You start to run to the nearest side, but see the train and realize you will be run over or you will have to jump into the rocky riverbed below.
The title is The Day the Dollar Dies by Willard Cantelon. The book was published in 1973, but could read like headline news today. I’m not calling Cantelon a prophet, but an extremely astute historian, economist, and theologian. For all of us whose only study of economics was the required high school course, the title sounds boring. For those who have a more advanced study, it is probably fascinating. The latter is more accurate. I highly recommend this book, if you can find it. It is very well written, and a compelling read. It has been said that truth is stranger than fiction, what you will read in this book will (with supportive historic documentation) cause any Hollywood espionage thriller to be put to shame. It is on a scale of National Treasure in historic research and suspense. If it were presented as a work of fiction, it would have been a best seller. I can’t emphasize the importance of this book enough.
Find it, buy it, read it.

Al Sharpton a Blind Squirrel?

I hate to agree with Al Sharpton on anything, but as the old saying goes: “Sometimes even a blind squirrel finds a nut.” Sometimes even Al Sharpton can find a truth. This is the case. Sean Bell was a 23 year old American. He was celebrating with friends the night before his wedding when he and his friends were accosted by unidentified men with guns. Sean and his friends, drunk from their celebrating, jumped into their car and attempted to leave when a van drove in quickly to try to cut them off. The closest man with a gun was pointing it at them. What would you do? He attempted to run down his attacker and was killed by 50 bullets striking his body. Sean and his friends were unarmed, and there were no guns in the car. The men were NYPD undercover detectives. The van was an unmarked NYPD vehicle. The three standard sidearms for the NYPD all have a maximum capacity of 15 rounds, so if all three officers emptied their magazines, someone would have had to reload and fire 5 more rounds, just in Sean. That is not counting his two friends. Just a little overkill. We have one innocent man dead and two others wounded at the hands of government officials who are supposed to “protect and serve”. In what would appear to be an open and shut case, the unthinkable happened, the officers were acquitted. Now Al Sharpton is leading a protest in NY and I wish him luck and God speed. There have been too many cases of police abuse in the U.S. and they have been increasing in frequency over the past few years, as the federal government strikes down restrictions on government power which were put in place to protect the citizens from an aggressive government. And as The Patriot Act shreds the Constitution in a very un-patriotic way, we the people have to stand up for ourselves and each other. We have to come together as Americans and understand that whatever our differences are, we are Americans first. We also have to remember George Washington’s words that government is like fire, a dangerous servant and a fearful master. We must return the fire to the servant position.

Melloncamp

Rain On The Scarecrow
John Cougar Mellencamp

Scarecrow on a wooden cross Blackbird in the barn
Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm
I grew up like my daddy did My grandpa cleared this land
When I was five I walked the fence while grandpa held my hand
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry there's no legacy for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
The crops we grew last summer weren't enough to pay the loans
Couldn't buy the seed to plant this spring and the Farmers Bank foreclosed
Called my old friend Schepman up to auction off the land
He said John it's just my job and I hope you understand
Hey calling it your job ol' hoss sure don't make it right
But if you want me to I'll say a prayer for your soul tonight
And grandma's on the front porch swing with a Bible in her hand
Sometimes I hear her singing "Take me to the Promised Land"
When you take away a man's dignity he can't work his fields and cows
There'll be blood on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Blood on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Well there's ninety-seven crosses planted in the courthouse yard
Ninety-seven families who lost ninety-seven farms
I think about my grandpa and my neighbors and my name
And some nights I feel like dyin' Like that scarecrow in the rain
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry they're just memories for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
This land fed a nation This land made me proud
And Son I'm just sorry they're just memories for you now
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow
Rain on the scarecrow Blood on the plow

Melloncamp is not your typical hollywierdo, empty talking head like Sean Penn or Jane Fonda. Melloncamp actually lived and worked in the real world. He grew up in the farm country around Bloomington, Ind., and worked construction while writing songs on his own time. When a record label offered him a contract it was with the understanding that his performance name would be John Cougar. He resisted but had to go along. As he became successful he self hyphenated to Cougar-Melloncamp and was able to strike out with only his family name as success continued. John Melloncamp earned his position the hard, honest way. I don't often agree with his choice of candidates, but I agree with much of his down to earth, American patriotism. "Scarecrow" came about as a result of the farm crises of the 1980's. When corporate agriculture, (ADM, Conagra, Monsanto, and others)manipulated the government to entice family farms to overextend themselves for the big Russian wheat deal and then watched as corporate's only competition, family farms, collapsed. If the farmers are bitter,it is understandable. Dairy farmers are paid the same for milk they produce now as for the milk they produced in 1980. You paid $2.16 for a gallon of milk in 1980 and you are paying $5.00 a gallon today. And the price difference goes where? We the people are going to have to wake up and take charge of our destiny or we will not have a destiny worth living.