the veterans day lie

so i don't know if anyone's noticed, but today is 'veterans day'. (or at least it is in the united states. other countries have their own terms). while i appreciate the day off work, it aggravates me to see how the government (in concert with a few deluded people) has twisted history in order to beguile the general populace. in order to expose the lie(s), let's take a little trip through history and i point out a few areas of contention.

the term 'veterans day' comes from an act of congress in 1954. before then, it was known as armistice day. on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 in compiègne france, an armistice was signed between germany and the western allies. for the west, it marked the end of what was then known as the great war and is now known as world war 1. never before had warfare been on such a grand scale.

if the holiday was still known as armistice day and celebrated the end of hostilities, i would take no issue. after all, war is a terrible thing. but even during the great war, there were mistakes. mistakes that had dire consequences.

before the US involvement in world war 1, the opposing forces had more or less fought themselves to a stale mate in the west. this balance of power was broken when woodrow wilson (who we have to 'thank' for wilsonianism and its legacy) decided it would be a great idea if the US had a seat at the negotiating table in what became the treaty of versailles. the combination of the US tipping the scales, and the restitutive nature of contemporary government's ideas on end-of-war treaties created the conditions that would lead to the next greatest conflict the world had ever known: world war 2. in fact, world war 2 could be considered blow-back from 'our' actions during world war 1.

it's becoming increasingly apparent to me that the majority of the world's wars have been mistakes. it seems as though the wrong people are always benefiting from them: the tyrants, the authoritarians, the big businessmen, the war mongers. the more i look into history and wars, the more i see this disturbing trend.

war is the health of the state. it automatically sets in motion throughout society those irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals which lack the larger herd sense.
-randolph bourne, the state, 1918

it's interesting to me that this was known as far back as world war 1. the founders of the united states were highly critical of government, and penned the abuses the british government imposed on them in the declaration of independence. in fact, the abuses of power go back as far as the existence of mankind, and is where the phrase 'power corrupts' originates.

so how does the government amass increasing power? it creates fear in the populace; it starts wars; it raises up heroes, many from the ashes of war. and all the while, it erodes the freedoms and liberties of 'its' populace. we can see this in the latest war: the war on terror.

since this latest war began government can now: spy on the general populace with impunity (the PATRIOT act); threaten the involuntary government agents (banks, internet service providers, google), and tell them they cannot inform their customers that government is spying on them (another provision of the PATRIOT act); confiscate firearms from peaceful 'citizens' (hurricane katrina), as well as the plethora of other rights violations during that fiasco; prop up businesses that are deemed 'too big to fail' (TARP); create 'money' out of nothing thus effectively stealing from everyone that holds federal reserve notes (the federal reserve); unduly molest people excising their right to travel in spite of the constitutional ban on unwarranted searches and seizures (TSA); imprison anyone it pleases and hold them indefinitely on terrorist charges (guantanimo bay); assassinate whoever they deem to be a terrorist (osama bin laden, anwar al awlaki) as well as whoever happens to be in their general vicinity at the time of the assassination. this is not a complete list, nor is this power aggregation limited to the post-2001 era.

i'm told i went to afghanistan to 'fight for freedom'. who's freedom? the US is quickly becoming a police state. what i did in afghanistan did nothing to arrest this trend. in fact, this tyranny has been enabled by the warfare apparatus i am a part of. thank a veteran? NO, DON'T THANK ME!!! the notion that veterans are some kind of heroes is a lie! we are not heroes; we are cogs in the machine of big government.

veterans day...what a bunch crap. this is a holiday where government wants 'its people' to worship those it deems heroes. because if people worship government's heroes, that's just one step away from worshiping government itself. that is what government really wants: it wants your worship, your obedience, your undying reverence. so long as people continue to blindly follow government dictates, wealth and power can continue to be usurped from the individuals to which it rightly belongs. this is why today's celebrations are so insidious.

a hero of war
is that what they see
just metals and scars
so damn proud of me
but i'll carry that flag
to the grave if i must
cause it's a flag that i love
it's the only flag i trust
-rise against, hero of war

porcfest

so i just got back from new hampshire a couple days ago, and it was amazing. spending a week around that many liberty activists has a way of changing one's perspective.

tyrannical laws (you know, the victimless ones) were being broken constantly. people were putting whatever they wanted into their bodies. people were selling whatever they wished without begging the government for permission (licenses). even when there were problems (there were a couple incidents), interference from the authorities was unnecessary. a combination of arbitration and/or ostracism were enough motivation to elicit restitution.

the one time a cop did show up, he had a swarm of followers; many of them with video recording devices in hand. if he'd tried anything, i'm sure their station's phones would have been flooded, and there would have been a huge crowd of protestors outside barraging anyone in a police uniform with questions. and if you're one of those types that love cops, i'd encourage you to run over to copblock for a list of police abuses. the vast majority of which result in no punishment for the offending privileged class (cops, lawyers, judges, politicians, anyone that is given leeway where a 'common citizen' would not).

i was also able to do a good deal of bartering (with the silver i brought). the only vendors that wouldn't take my silver dimes were the metal dealers (gold, silver, copper) because they re-stock via federal reserve notes, and one of the food vendors that needed to run into town to buy supplies. neither of these instances would have been the case if the federal reserve in tandem with the government hadn't indoctrinated and/or coerced the general populace into accepting paper and cupronickel as something of value for decades.

i also got to meet a lot of activists. they ranged from bloggers, radio talk show hosts, entrepreneurs, professors, some liberty minded politicians, and even one with his own tv show. not a single one of them was stuck-up. all that was necessary to meet them was to walk up, shake their hand, and introduce yourself. many of them even came to me and introduced themselves. this was completely unexpected.

what had the biggest impact on me, though, was the veterans for ron paul meeting i attended. being around all those veterans each with their own story of how they came to believe the current united states government is evil was the last thing i needed to fully open my eyes. all these years of 'serving' i'd thought i was doing something noble; i'd thought i was protecting 'my country' from terrorists. now i realize the biggest terrorist of all is the united states government. i have helped spread tyranny across the globe. i am part of the reason so many people hate americans. i look back on it, and i am ashamed.

i've accepted the government's blood money for 14 years, and i've finally broken though the propaganda. i'm stuck in the system for 2 more years. when my current enlistment is up, i'll be leaving the service of uncle sam. i'm having issues with my conscience right now, and i can't imagine perpetuating my current situation longer than i've enslaved (contracted) myself to. i don't know what i'll do, but at least i will have peace knowing my money will not be acquired by the threat of violence.

government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action.
-george washington

so let mercy come
and wash away
what i've done
i face myself
to cross out what i've become
erase myself
and let go of what i've done
-lincin park what i've done

arab spring not just for arabs

i've heard several media reports referring to the 'arab spring' lately. while there's no doubt things are pretty intense in the middle east and north africa, the people that talk about an 'arab spring' have their vision narrowed a little too much. the cry for freedom from oppression is global.

in debt laden greece, thousands crowd into public squares to protest austerity measures. in spain, tent cities reminiscent of hoovervilles are springing up filled with young unemployed people protesting all parties of their political establishment. in france, pretty much the entire country was locked down by military and police personnel in an attempt to quell the rampant g8 protests (actually, every g8/g20 meeting since '08 has been met with protests and police crack-downs). in switzerland, independent journalists harassed police outside the bilderberg meeting. in china, they've stopped reporting the number of protests because there have been so many. in australia and new zealand, people have continued planking despite government crack-downs.

here in the united states, a judge decreed it was just fine for police to arrest people dancing at public memorials (specifically the jefferson memorial in the district of columbia). a small group of protestors went and danced at tj's in protest and were arrested. the videos went viral, and a week later hundreds of people showed up to dance around the statue of thomas jefferson. but they weren't dancing alone. all across the world, there were dances on the same day in support.

the world is in revolt. every day, more and more people are waking up to realize just how much their inalienable, natural rights are being trampled. as their eyes are opened, increasing numbers are taking up the mantle of political activism by getting into politics (tea party), or outright civil disobedience.

ever wonder why ron paul has such insane support? the people are awakening. in '08 he raised more money from active duty military members than any other candidate. even with miniscule name recognition he managed to run a relatively successful campaign for president in the face of clear attempts by the media to block him out. this time he's too popular for the media to ignore. a number of the republican presidential hopefuls have even begun to sound like him. but they don't have the decades long record of voting for liberty.

next week, i'll be in new hampshire for porcfest (the porcupine freedom festival). for those that are unaware, it's a week long celebration of freedom. this year, expected attendance is over 1000 people from all over the country. i'm sure quite a few liberty minded politicians will be there too.

on résiste à l'invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l'invasion des idées.
-victor hugo

translation: One resists the invasion of armies; one does not resist the invasion of ideas.

or a variant...

one cannot resist an idea who's time has come.
-ron paul

bradley manning

i'm a little behind the power curve on this, but i came across an awesome interview about bradley manning today. for those of you who don't know that name, he's the one the government is convicting of being responsible for some of the items wikileaks has released. the audio is of a private conference call given for the benefit of a the media. it's been tacked onto the back end of an episode of free talk live. to get it, just go to their archive page, and download the podcast for 25 may. if you don't want to listen to the whole show, skip ahead to around 2:18 (2 hours 18 minutes). you'll know you're in the right place if you hear them talking about a cruise as that's right before they tacked on the call.

i think what's said throughout the call makes it quite clear just how corrupt the united states government (of which the military is a part) has become. i got to experience some of this corruption when i was in afghanistan. fortunately, i didn't observe any war crimes. however, the minor instances i did see were responsible for most of the stress i had while i was there. it seemed like every day i was either in an argument or trying to decide if it was worth starting one.

the one thing i did learn was that it's a rare person who can remain impervious to the siren call of power. i even managed to catch myself abusing my position sometimes...and i was near the bottom of the chain.

a couple nights ago i watched the documentary 'fair game' (the 2010 film...there are several with that name). it's about a CIA agent and an ambassador who end up on the wrong side of the bush administration during the second invasion of iraq. add that to the evidence of power corrupting government.

it's rather ironic that the US government is becoming more and more like the brittish government our forefathers fought against 200 years ago. if there's one thing government needs it's a healthy dose of transparency. it's people like bradley manning, daniel ellsberg, julian assange, etc that bring it. instead of being prosecuted, they should be praised for their courage to stand up to the powers that be, and bring the truth to the ignorant masses.

the internal military mechanisms do not work to bring justice or accountability.
-julian assange

police state rising

do you think the united states government is your friend? do you think the cops are there to help the little people? think again. this post is about exposing just how destructive the monopolies known as governments can be.

we'll begin with a ruling by the united states supreme court: kentucky vs king. full details can be found at the link, but i'll summarize. the cops were chasing someone for a drug violation. he ran into a building, and by the time the cops got to the hallway, there were 2 doors (separate apartments) the guy could have run into. believing they smelled burning marijuana, the cops picked a door, knocked, and allegedly heard noises consistent with destruction of evidence. it turns out they cops had the wrong apartment; the guy they were chasing had run into the other one. however, the first apartment did have cannabis. bonus for the cops, they get two incidents for the price of one.

the defendants correctly asserted the confiscated drugs could not be used as evidence as it was obtained by violating the fourth amendment. you know, the one that says a person's house can't be entered without a warrant. the us supreme court, however, doesn't seem to believe in the constitution. they claim destruction of evidence (or the suspicion there of) is good enough to break into a residence. so don't be flushing any toilets when there are cops at your door, because they'll use that as an excuse to break into your house and start a detailed search.

the next case is barnes vs indiana. a couple were arguing so their snitch neighbors called the cops. the defendant argued with a cop in the parking lot before entering his residence. the cop attempted to follow him. the guy told the cop his presence was unnecessary, and asked him to leave. the cop refused so the guy attempted to shut the door on the cop. the cop forced his way inside where the guy threw the cop against a wall, and a fight started.

whether the cops were justified in forcing their way into the house is debatable, but what's really shocking is the indiana supreme court's ruling. they basically said it's unlawful to resist illegal entry into one's house by the cops. there are several problems here. 1) a person should have the ability to resist the unlawful presence of any intruder. 2) how are people supposed to know if the intruders are cops? any clown can dress up in a cop uniform and claim to be the police.

then there's the story about the marine veteran who was executed by a swat team in ariozona. being a veteran and responsible gun owner, the victim was naturally inclined to grab his ar-15 and investigate the situation. as he was entering the hallway the swat team broke down the door and fired 71 rounds. the marine's weapon still had the safety engaged. paramedics were on sight within 2 minutes (which is actually rather impressive). the cops prevented the emergency responders from entering the house claiming it was dangerous. the only other people in the house were the guy's wife and 4 year old kid. an hour later, (yes, i said an hour) the cops dismissed the emergency medical technicians because the victim had died. talk about adding insult to injury.

the lesson? americans are not safe in their homes. the castle doctrine appears to now be legally dead. it's been de facto dead for quite some time now. one more cop story....

adam kokesh covered a story in washington dc (it's in the second 1/2 of the show). there's video depicting cops assaulting a guy in a wheelchair. the official story? -- a guy was drunk. the cops attempted to issue a citation. the guy refused to comply with the citation's issuance. the cops attempted to arrest the individual. the guy resisted arrest, and assaulted the cops. -- watching the video clearly shows the cops are the aggressors and are only concerned with being violent. the saddest part of the whole story is that without the video evidence, the cops in question would have gotten away with it. they still might, but at least now there's a chance they'll be disciplined.

i want to have faith in the united states. i want to believe i was in afghanistan defending freedom. however, as more time goes by, i become increasingly aware of the truth. the greatest enemies of the united states constitution are not to be found in some distant land, but right here in the united states. american citizens are more likely to be killed by a cop than a terrorist. the incarceration rates in the united states are the highest in the world. free country? clearly not.

i fear the day may come when i'm faced with a difficult choice. to follow the constitution that i swore an oath to defend, or follow the illegal orders just handed down to me. it's not too hard to imagine this country embroiled in civil unrest. it's just as easy to imagine the government response would be to quell the rebellion by whatever means are necessary (even if those protesting are not violent). this cannot be allowed to stand. the ultimate question is: if such a day comes, how many of my fellow patriots will stand with me in keeping true faith an allegiance to the constitution?

osama bin laden? really?

ok, so this is something that would probably have been better posted yesterday, but i was busy. it's not like anyone reads this blog any more anyway so...mute point i guess. i do feel the urge to record my thoughts somewhere quasi-permanent though; call it therapy.

i've been quite disturbed at the reaction to the latest news to come out of our government propaganda machine. the death of bin laden is all over the media, and the general public seems to be drunk with euphoria. i guess it's an indictment on the intelligence level of the general populace. i guess i need to explain myself now. here we go....

a threat? really? bin laden's been in hiding since september '01. i know he wasn't directing any of the insurgent activity i had the pleasure of dealing with in afghanistan. that was all being done by a bunch of unsophisticated splinter cells.

it doesn't take much to fight a gorilla style war with improvised explosive devices. in fact, this is exactly what he trained the afghans to do when they were fighting the soviets in the 80s. this time, they don't have our stinger missiles and the invading force is a little nicer, but those are the only substantive differences. hell, many of the villagers think we're the russians. now i'm getting sidetracked though.

and funding? we cracked down on bin laden's sources of capital. while cutting it all off would be impossible, he at least would have had a hard time moving money around. what little money and supplies the insurgents got was not from bin laden. it comes from people that hate having americans running around in their back yard.

contrary to popular belief, bin laden hasn't had any tactical value to terrorism for years. at best, his remaining alive was a great public relations boost for the haters of america.

so that makes killing him good for us, right? i'm not so convinced. it seems his death may actually galvanize the people our government has declared war on. has anyone checked the latest travel advisories? i know the tsa is a great reason to not go to airports, but anyone that does end up at one will notice even more 'security'. it appears letting him live would have been the better option.

but that's me being logical; let's look at people that are clearly not logical: the american populace. sunday night there was a huge party outside the white house. people were drinking, chanting, doing drugs.... adam kokesh went out there with a camera crew to ask a few questions. if anyone's curious to see just how stupid he discovered them to be, i've got a nice little link to the show where he covered it. americans truly are retards.

and that's probably the reaction obama was going for. let's see, what would we have been talking about if it wasn't for this huge upstaging event? there's a debt ceiling limit that's going to get voted on pretty soon. gary johnson and ron paul's campaigns are just starting. the dollar's been tanking pretty hard, and inflation's been flying pretty high. oh yeah, and there's a united nations gun control treaty that's up for the senate's ratification. seems like a good time for a distraction doesn't it?

seriously america. quit being a bunch of sheeple, and use your brains for a change. stop accepting everything the government feeds you on blind faith. hold your representative's feet to the fire, and let them know you're watching. wake up!!!

death of a blog

so i haven't blogged in a while. i totally can't write about myself, and my life; there just isn't anything happening. i'm sure i could blog about current events and my opinion on them, but i don't think that's the purpose of this site.

so i've been toying with doing an opinion blog. it would no doubt have a lot of politics and econimics as that's what's attracted my attention as of late. does this interest anyone? does anyone really care what i think? is anyone still reading this to answer me? i'll give it a few weeks.

i guess i can throw in a little about my life. i just got back from arkansas where i had a 2 week class. it was...well...boring (no surprise there).

i tried to throw together an outdoor football (not american, real football) team. i discovered i don't have enough friends to fill a roster; that'll do wonders for self esteem. so i'm going to hit up the captain's meeting and try to see if i can get the few friends i did manage to scrounge up onto other existing teams. i expect i'll be able to get everyone onto a team and able to play so net positive if that works out.

fastest blog post ever. well...of the ones that weren't rushed anyway. laterz........

on the radio

so...in my constant pursuit of trying to make a buck (or in this case preserve my purchasing power), i had what i thought was a great idea. i'd heard some banks were offering loans, and would take gold as collateral. i figured i could use such a loan to buy even more gold. as long as the price of gold (in dollars) went up more than the interest rate on the loan, i'd come out ahead (or lose less money than simply holding dollars). the whole idea is rather complicated though so i figured i'd get some advice from a professional.

i believe i've mentioned the peter schiff show in my blogs before. if i haven't, i'd encourage people to check it out here. anyway, i called the hotline and managed to get on the air! how crazy is that? if you hit up the webpage today or tomorrow, you can download the show (9 feb) for free. if you can't make that timeframe and are interested, shoot me an email and i can find a way to get a copy to you. i come on around minute 34-35 if you don't feel like listening to the full hour 20. he has a good show though, so i certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from taking some time to listen to the full thing. i listen on a regular basis and find it to be an excellent source for investment advice.

speaking of gold, i've been doing research how people can invest in the shiny metal. i've discovered the good deals are often out of reach for common folk. many of the local dealers will charge over 10% above spot for an ounce coin, and don't even get me started on the big companies that throw their adds all over tv. i happen to buy my gold in large enough quantities and from the right dealer to get a decent rate. if any of you out there are looking to preserve your purchasing power by investing in gold bullion, give me ring or shoot me an email and we'll work something out. i'm not a business so i don't have to turn a profit; as long as i break even, i'm happy.

anyway, i've gotta run. laterz.

budapest (part 2)

*note: this is a continuation of part 1. click here to read it.

the effects of the socialist state are evident to this day. public places are strangely quiet. it took a bit to realize this was because people weren't talking (or at least not very loud). the older section of the populace almost never talks in public. the middle aged will talk a bit, but very quietly...so no one can eavesdrop on them. it's only in the young ones (the ones born after the end of the socialist era) that the locals act in a way that westerners consider normal. this results in their youth having more in common with the rest of the world than their own older countrymen. americans think there's an age gap here? they haven't seen anything.

their views on religion seem to be equally disparate. christianity's roots are in europe. the people have had centuries to watch the rise and fall christendom. in their eyes, the remaining few (very few) that still cling to their faith are an anachronism; the last vestiges of dark historical times. or at least the old ones think this. the youth are inquisitive and open. if religious fervor is to return to hungary, it will be at the hands of the young.

most of the populace is familiar with church, and biblical history. i didn't get a chance to verify this, but i suspect it's part of their schooling. many of the concepts that take some explaining to americans outside the church system are already understood by hungarians. all the knowledge is there; they just haven't had many examples to demonstrate the walk. after decades of oppression, this is not surprising, but it does demonstrate their need to be exposed to true believers.

on the flight between budapest and frankfurt (on the way home), i had a long conversation with hungarian man. he was very curious to know what i thought of his country. we talked for almost 2 hours about things like: socialism vs. capitalism, what form of government the unites states truly is (hint, it's not the republic it was created to be), government policies and their effect on the economy and religion, welfare vs. charity, challenges to missionaries in developed countries, etc. it was amazing! i wish i had the opportunity to share with more people in that way.

the whole trip was a positive, learning experience. there's a lot of potential in this [now] little country. i imagine most of the eastern european countries have similar stories. tales of a dark, almost unspeakable past with the potential for a bright, amazing future.

quick update

so i know i owe everyone the second 1/2 of the budapest post, but things have gotten rather hectic since returning to work and everything else that's been going on. i'll get the rest of it finished; i promise.

in the meantime, i'll toss in a word or two about my laser eye surgery. simply put, it's awesome! my vision has always sucked pretty hard...like not seeing the big E on the chart. so it's pretty amazing that i can now see just about everything without the old spectacles.

the surgery also kept me away from the computer for a while too...which contributed to the long delay between blog posts. anyway, i need to get going....

budapest (part 1)

budapest is the result of two (or three) cities merging: the city of buda on the west bank of the danube, and the city of pest on the east end of the river. a good portion of the city also rests on top of natural caves and aquifers. in the couple weeks i spent there, i bounced around and got to see a few cool sites.

on the buda side, there is what we referred to as castle hill on which buda castle rests. we didn't tour the inside of the castle, but the outside is impressive enough. there are statues scattered around the grounds and courtyard that are quite interesting. from a historical perspective, adolf hitler was in the area, and i passed under an archway he was pictured walking through. on a more recent note, contemporary music fans might be interested to know that katy perry fimed her 'firework' music video in buda castle's courtyard.

while we were at castle hill, we went to a rather unique world war two museum: the cave hospital. buda hill is one of the places in the city with natural caves under it. during the war, the hungarians and nazis modified the natural caves to function as a hospital. it serves its purpose particularly well as it's protected from bombing. it can also function as a retreat for a nuclear, biological, or chemical attack. the whole facility can be shut off from the rest of the world, and uses air filtration systems, stand-alone generators, and water storage tanks to help ride out the first few days after an incident. in addition to all that, they also have a good deal of world war two era medical equipment. and perhaps the most impressive thing of all is every piece of their decades old equipment still functions just as well as when it was brand new. i could fill a good deal more space with this but i really need to move this post along....

also on castle hill, we checked out a cathedral that's name escapes me. it was utilized by the royal family. the interior walls are covered with artwork, family seals, and decorative architecture. old hungarian and turkish (from when the ottoman empire ruled hungary) styles and themes can be clearly seen throughout. they've also added a few descriptive plaques for tourists. it was pretty cool to be wandering through this historical gold mine...to stand where kings of the mighty austrian empire had been crowned.

on the pest side, we visited what i'll refer to as the synagogue in budapest (because it's name is long, and i'm feeling lazy). it's physically the largest synagogue in the world, and is the second largest in terms of seating. the design is an interesting mix of traditional jewish and european themes. the jews in budapest integrated, and felt at home in hungary so they made it look like a european cathedral without sacrificing any jewish symbolism. for example: in the front center there is a free-standing structure that is the holy of holies; it doesn't touch any of the rest of the church, but is a far cry from what we typically think of as a veiled off section.

housed on the synagogue grounds is also a museum. it consists of various memorials outside and a large collection of jewish artifacts inside an adjacent building. the memorials mostly center around the world war two era when, as one of the signs says, people lost their humanity. the synagogue was on the corner of the jewish gheto in budapest, and provided shelter for thousands of jews when the nazis and arrow cross (hungarian nazis) were trying to deport or otherwise exterminate them. over 23,000 jews died behind the synagogue's barricade. i hate to imagine how many more would have if it hadn't held out against forces of evil literally on their doorsteps.

the last museum stop we made was to the 'terror house'. the entire building is dedicated to the atrocities of world war two and the lingering socialist state that prevailed all the way through the 1980s. anyone that thinks socialism is a good idea needs to visit this place. during the socialist reign of terror 1 in 3 families had someone that was hauled off for crimes against the state. the socialists held as an example of true patriotism a boy who informed on his own father. religion was also a popular target for the socialists; though they had to be careful and come up with charges other than being religious to convict people. they recognized that socialism and many religions preach diametrically opposed messages. socialism is all about the state taking care of the masses; while many religions emphasize the individual's responsibilities to aid the down trodden.

*continue reading about my trip to hungary in part 2. clicky, clicky the linky...here.

wien

or as westerners know it: vienna. the capital of austria is quite nice. it's pretty obvious they serve a lot of tourists (even in the winter when we went). large sections of town are set up exclusively for tourists. for the non-german speakers, this is where you'd spend most of your time...although a large portion of the non-tourist catering population also speak passable english.

i felt almost completely at home there. most of this is attributable to my ability to conduct basic communication (greetings, ordering/buying things, etc.) in german. as it is a major tourist attraction as well, most things (like public transit) also have directions in the common european languages so if you happened to get lost just get the translation.

while we were there, i got to visit the christmas markt (christmas market...funny how they used the english word for christmas). as with any european style market, i enjoyed running around sampling the food. there were trinkets available as well, but i'm not much for trinket shopping. so i got to enjoy the food and practicing my german.

we also visited the schonbrunnschloss (schonbrunn palace...roughly). this was the summer residence of the habsburg dynasty. it was quite impressive, and an excellent demonstration of the power and influence of the austro-hungarian empire. the entire palace is huge! the building currently houses the museums of schonbrunn and sisi as well as provides housing for quite a number of people (or at least i assume that huge wing is housing as it would be rather large for a museum). in it's glory days when it was still functioning as a true palace, the royal court included over 1,000 attendants that were also housed in the building.

all in all, i loved the short trip. this is rather funny as my hosts (the long family) were not at all impressed, and prefer the 'comforts' of budapest. i suppose this is a good thing as they are missionaries to hungary; not austria. i hope they'll forgive me for not sharing their sentiments though. the next blog will include my experience(s) on their home turf.

travel (part 1)

well...i'm in hungary now so i thought i'd share my experience about the trip here (more about the rest of it will be posted later).

so first i had to get past the fascists at the airport (aka the transportation security administration). to my surprise, i discovered the indianapolis airport wasn't taking everyone through their new 'screening' methods (aka porn or grope). they seemed to be either rolling with a random or profiling system. i would have stopped to ask them about it, but i didn't want to be profiled/selected to be groped so i quietly moved along...this was, of course, after removing everything from my pockets, taking off my belt and shoes, and going through a metal detector. the metal detector's fine, but my shoes...really?

anyway...the little hopper (plane) going between indy and chicago was running late as they had to contend with snow and ice at both ends of their trip. you'd think they would account for cold weather as it was (after all) winter, but they didn't. this caused me to miss my connection in chicago and get re-routed to a later flight. that part was, surprisingly, easier than i expected: just run over to customer service and presto...easy (and no charge)! the only thing i had to do was shoot off a quick email to the receiving party over here (in hungary) informing them of my new itinerary. this is when i discovered just how convenient it is to have a smart-phone.

fast forward to duseldorf (in germany). i had to go through their screening process as well...i think i unnecessarily left their 'secure' area...i guess i'll find out on the way back through. anyway, their process is so much easier than ours. they simply had me remove everything metal from my person and walk through a metal detector; no removing of shoes or any of that nonsense. clearly, the TSA have lost all sense of reality, and are implementing unnecessary procedures. conspiracy theorists would claim it's a power grab to prepare us for the new fascist state, while i simply think what we're seeing is the result of government being too large and full of incompetent people (especially around the top).

after a bit of a wait, i hit the plane to budapest. apparently, they don't get a lot of air traffic here as the airport is tiny: it consists of the baggage claim section (2 small carousels), and a non-secure area that's only twice the size of the baggage claim section. the small size made it easy for me to recognize my bag did not arrive with me. the lost baggage claim process was fairly simple; i just had to wander between lufthansa, customs, and the airport's claim desk. other than the back and forth though...easy.

my bag finally did arrive about 30 hours after i did. the airline was kind enough to deliver it to the house (score)! i opened it up and possibly discovered why it was so late: my laptop had been disassembled and poorly re-assembled. i suspect this was done by none other than the no longer so friendly TSA; it would make sense as they're incompetent in everything else they do so why would laptop re-assembly be an exception? i find it rather disconcerting that dis-assembly was necessary to see there weren't any explosives in there as well as we have machines that could have determined it was clean. i guess they're fans of the more intrusive method; again, hardly a surprise from the TSA.

fortunately for me, my job insures i have no trouble fixing sloppy re-assembly of laptops. i get the feeling most people would have a little more trouble with it though. so if you don't want your electronics to be opened up and have who knows what done to them, don't put them in your checked baggage. that would be lesson #1.

lesson #2: lufthansa (a german airline) is far nicer than any american counterpart. they afford you more leg room (at least in economy class), their flight attendants are more friendly, and they're all multi-lingual. not that language is a problem when it comes to the more common ones like english, german, spanish, even greek...but i quickly discovered i've had zero exposure to hungarian. i've managed to learn 2-3 words since i've been here, but starting from a clean slate is quite frustrating.

which leads nicely into point #3: next time i travel to a foreign country, i'm going to at least learn some basic phrases. not being able to greet someone in another country in their own language is unacceptable (at least for me). this time, i did the typical american thing and hurled myself into a completely foreign country with no method of fending for myself. if i didn't have friends here, i'd be screwed.

well...i've gone on enough for now. more will follow about the rest of the trip later.

wikileaks

so i don't know how many of you have been following the wikileaks news. i'll give a brief synopsis up to this point. as i'm sure all of you know, wikileaks is at the heart of an international drama of epic proportions because of their unfailing commitment to publishing material world governments strive maintain sole possession of.

so which government has the most secrets? the united states of america! that's right, our own government has more secrets than any other. i have no proof of this (of course) because proving it would require someone have access to every government secret across the globe. i'm quite certain, though, we the are the proprietors of the world's most secretive government. this is rather ironic as we started off as the world's most transparent.

as a result, the world's (arguably) sole superpower we are the best positioned and most concerned with an organization that's publishing secrets. it's become quite clear in this case, we are leveraging this position to it's fullest. to see this, we merely need to check out what's happening with wikileaks' spokesperson, and editor and chief; julian assange.

a few months ago, mr. assange was in sweden for a conference. during his stay, he had sex with a couple women. apparently, they weren't too pleased as they attempted to file charges against him. the swedish courts, however, would have none of it and dismissed the case. this was, of course, before wikileaks started publishing extremely embarrassing, and possibly destabilizing material.

fast forward to today and we see sweden has issued an arrest warrant for julain assange. this has to do with the same case their courts dispensed with a few months ago. but that's not all. the swedes have also failed to present any evidence against mr. assange; nor have they even presented charges. they're demanding his extradition (from britain) to sweden. so chances are good there's still no case against him.

there's speculation the united states is behind this as sweden has been used in the past to dispose of terrorists we'd rather not hold here. though there are more obvious cases of our government applying pressure to wikileaks. amazon stopped hosting wikileaks, and paypal froze mr. assange's account. there's no evidence here either, but i'm convinced these attacks were also the result of government pressure.

so there are several interrelated questions that come out of all this: 'is this action warranted', 'is wikileaks a terrorist organization'.

as a soldier who's been charged with keeping government secrets, one would think my answers to these questions would be yes. after all, that's the stance our government is taking. they've called wikileaks and all the journalists associated with it information terrorists, and are utilizing most of the 'weapons' in their arsenal to negate the 'threat'.

at first, i have to admit i agreed with this assessment. i was in a war zone surrounded by fellow members of the military, and my access to news was severely limited by both logistics and time. the brainwashing factors were high. fortunately, i've returned to civilization, and re-gained access to the free media. (this is opposed to the mainstream media that often become cheerleaders for our government.)

now i've heard 'wikileaks' side' of the argument. i've heard how they've redacted their leaks to protect the 'little guys' it would have otherwise condemned to death. (did you know, for example, the government used their own unabridged copies of the material on wikileaks when they cited how many people were in jeopardy.) the only things threatened by the wikileaks' postings are our government and its officials.

i'm of a mind this is a good thing as the world's biggest terrorist organization is now our own government. we terrorize the people we imprison and torture it guantanamo bay (innocent until proven guilty? please, we won't even try them in a civilized court). we terrorize the iraqi and afghan people (i've seen the collateral damage; it's not something i'd want anywhere). we even terrorize our own citizens (hello transportation security administration in our airports).

government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have....the course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.
- gerald ford

part of our government's growth and influence includes its ability to hold secrets that should not be kept. don't get me wrong here; there are secrets that absolutely need to be kept. what wikileaks has posted, however, do not fall into the category of necessary secrets.

i truly hope julian assange is released; as i hope the onslaught of wikileaks will end. however, reality tells me mr. assange will probably end up in some secret prison to be held without trial. and wikileaks? i imagine mr. assange is merely the first of many reporters to be repressed.

i don't wanna be afraid
i don't wanna run away
i don't want to be here fading
it's more that I can take
i'm never gonna be the same
i threw it all away
i don't want to be here fading
just let go! (look what you do to me)
let go! (look what you do to me)
- red 'let go'

we the sheep

well, today was the supposed demonstration day where people were going to opt out of the new porn scanners the TSA has installed in our airports. i was pretty excited to see how it would turn out; i expected huge delays at airports across the country...i was sorely disappointed. on this, one of the busiest travel days of the year, a grand total of 10 people opted out of being scanned at indianapolis international airport during the morning hours. statistics for this afternoon are not out, but i'm not very hopeful that the numbers will be better. similar reports of sporadic demonstrators, but nothing major are coming from other airports as well.

i'm sure, by now, you're all asking why i'm making such a big deal out of this. it's because the TSA is a sham. they do not make planes safer. terrorists were already ahead of this technology before it even got to our airports. they were putting bombs on freight planes, or putting their explosives in their rectums. neither of these are preventable with the shiny new scanners or groping at effect at our passenger terminals. additionally, the terrorists that are targeting us have been coming from airports outside the united states; where these methods are not used.

but the fact that the TSA doesn't make us any safer is not the most alarming thing about this. what is alarming is the people's apathy to their right to be secure in their person being violated. if a private citizen (or company) attempted to do what the TSA is doing now, they would be arrested and sent to jail for sexual assault. this is the case whether you have the pornographic scan taken or the grope (or as they call it, enhanced pat down). we didn't even subject the afghani people to anything this invasive, and a good number of them actually are terrorists. this is because we know if we tried this in afghanistan, there would be even more attacks on our installations. it seems the afghanis have a better understanding of their basic human rights than we do.

the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
- united states constitution, fourth amendment

above is the constitutional amendment that's supposed to protect us from the TSA's new screening procedures. in order for anyone to search an american citizen the way TSA does at our airports, the person (or entity) performing the search must have a warrant. warrants are to be issued by judges. in order for a judge to issue a warrant, there must be probable cause. attempting to board an airplane is not probable cause. the constitution is supposed to be the supreme law of the land. any law that violates the constitution is null and void. in order for the TSA to legally search us as they do, the constitution would have to be amended.

but would that be a lawful amendment?

we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- declaration of independence [of the united states]

according to the declaration of independence, there are certain unalienable rights. unalienable rights cannot be repudiated. the right to liberty would certainly include the right to be secure in one's person. therefore, it was our founder's belief that one cannot surrender his right to be free of unwarranted searches.

but if that wasn't enough to convince, here's a quote that states in no uncertain terms how the framers of our constitution felt about this.

they who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- benjamin franklin

there's a chilling thought.

it's time the american people stopped putting up with our government which is clearly unable to keep us safe. why is it every time something happens, the government cracks down on it's citizens instead of empowering us to defend ourselves? instead of imposing more onerous and ineffective security screenings, the government should have been giving every firearm licensee the right to carry airplane safe ammunition. how many planes would get hijacked if half the people flying had the means to stop hijackers? instead of one flight marshal per plane, how about 50? and they wouldn't even have to be payed!

but we keep trudging along. you want to take a naked picture of me...ok. you want to touch my genitals...ok. all is forgiven as long as i'm safe.... if the constitution was to be re-written today, it wouldn't start off saying we the people. it would (if accurate) begin 'we the sheep....'

armistice day

happy armistice day; or more commonly known in the united states: veterans day. today western europe celebrates the end of what was then known as the great war. americans altered the meaning a bit to remember military veterans.

regardless of what or who's being remembered, the day reminds us that freedom is not free. on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the world thought they would never again see the terrors they were laying to rest. yet 21 short years later, the world witnessed a still greater horror: the second world war. while nothing has come along to match that cataclysm since, the curse of war has been a persistent presence: korea, vietnam, iraq, afghanistan.

but the world has too many demons in need of vanquishing; we simply cannot fight everyone. especially when there are such insidious forces rotting away our home. the scourge we now face involves money.

our founding fathers recognized the threat from the beginning.

banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. if the american people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.
- thomas jefferson

if only we had heeded their warning.... we're now paying the price for our ignorance. but there is hope.

while i was away peter schiff managed to expand his weekly broadcast to 5 nights a week. his economic commentary can be found at his radio website.

the political watchdog and constitutional defender judge andrew nepolitano has managed to get his show on fox. his show is also making the move from a weekly broadcast to every weekday. old episodes can be accessed via a website as well.

america is finally starting to learn. on this armistice day, perhaps we should all vow to get ourselves a true education; not the pitiful excuse for one our government is peddling.

then the true fight for freedom can begin...with property rights, and sound money. how many wars of the past century can be traced back to monetary issues? we lead the world down this keynesian rabbit hole. it's time to lead the world back out of it.

guy fawkes

remember, remember
the fifth of november
the gunpowder treason and plot
i know of no reason
why the gunpowder treason
should ever be forgot

today marks the 405th anniversary of what is popularly known as the gunpowder treason plot; a failed attempt to assassinate the king of england along with most of the british parliament. the authorities discovered guy fawkes guarding a bunch of gunpowder barrels that would have leveled the parliament building. the day (or night) has been celebrated in briton and it's colonies ever since; generally with fireworks and burning effigies of unpopular figures (traditionally guy fawkes). it's popularity has been waning in recent years, but i suspect it might re-emerge as things become more tumultuous.

it's proximity to election day (in the united states) makes me still more inclined to believe the holiday's due for a comeback. perhaps in a couple years we'll be burning effigies of the monetary terrorists in office.

a few days ago, the american people sent a clear, small government message to capital hill. and what was the response? the federal reserve announced they'd buy another $600 billion of government bonds. this is exactly the opposite of small government: it enables the federal government to go further into debt, and it tosses another dose of inflation at us. but i guess the fed wouldn't care as they're not elected. the only thing keeping the fed in existence is the public's ignorance (hello government controlled schools).

it is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, i believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.
-henry ford

it's going to take a lot of education about government and monetary policy, and vigilance at the polls to redeem the country. the depression is upon us already; what we do today merely determines the degree. all the while, our government continues to run as quickly as possible in the wrong direction.

will the neophytes be able to make a difference in time? i certainly hope so. time is quickly running out. if this clock expires, there will certainly be blood in the streets.

election day

well, the poll seems to not be getting very far. perhaps people's RSS feeds won't update unless i post something else? if that's what's holding things up, this should help. and if you haven't read my previous post (that was initially blank), go ahead and try that.

so today is mid-term election day. i expect turn-out will be larger this year than in previous mid-term years. my address is still listed as the one i was at before the whole deployment thing started so my polling center was in downtown indy. it was quite a bit emptier than 2 years ago during the 'big' election. i'm going to guess that has something to do with indianapolis being a primarily democratic zone. it was also rather telling that someone handed me a list of democrat candidates on my way in. i guess they think people are too brain dead to read what party the candidate is a part of? it's written directly under their name....

well, they'll be disappointed as i voted libertarian wherever there was one on the ballot. i realize this might cause some annoy some of my readers as well, but such is life. indiana's a primarily republican state, and i feel the republican candidates stand a pretty good chance of getting elected regardless of my puny vote. as such, it's far better spent raising awareness for the libertarian party. i realize there are some republicans and democrats that are more libertarian than their party, but none of those types were on my ballot so....

regardless of your political leanings, i would like to encourage anyone that's reading this to please go vote. i'm relatively certain my readers are educated enough to have a valid opinion so go make it heard.

the revolution continues today. let's hope it gets resolved before things get bloody.

the tree of liberty needs to be watered from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
- thomas jefferson

they will not force us
they will stop degrading us
they will not control us
we will be victorious
- muse the uprising

home

for those of you that noticed the blank post, that was my attempt to post something via my new droidx (one of verizon's android phones). it didn't work out so well.

anyway, i'm home, and have a lot of free time ahead of me. i was thinking about running around and visiting all the nice people that sent me care packages...or anyone else i haven't seen in a while. i'm leaning toward hitting up jon in budapest in early december, but it looks like all of november is more or less free (absent the very beginning when i'll be voting).

my car's in the shop right now getting all fixed up so if you'd like me to come visit you, just shoot me an email: porcupous at yahoo.

there's also the matter of this blog's future i'd like to ask for some feedback on. i'm still of the mind that the vast majority of people live boring lives, and blogs are an attempt to get people to notice them when they'd be much better off if they just went out and found some friends. it's this attitude that kept me from having a blog for a long time. when i deployed though, it proved much easier to blog than email 50 people individually.

but now i'm back; back to the boring life of one of the 300 millionish people in america. this makes it hard for me to justify keeping this. however, someone did mention that they would like me to keep posting. so...i'm going to leave it up to my readers. pick your favorite option on the poll. this is a simple, majority wins thing. since there aren't many people that read this, it won't take much to make this poll go either way.

anyway, get to voting...and emailing me if you want me to drop by.

the end

my journey home will begin soon. as such, i probably won't be checking this as it's rather difficult while in transit. the hotline number for flight information is 1-800-237-2850 extension 4019. they probably won't have any information there for a few more days as getting us back is rather logistically complicated.

they claim there will be a 'welcome home' ceremony on stout field immediately following our plane landing. i think they're a little nuts as i'm sure i'll be too tired then to want to see anyone. if people want to show up, that's fine; just don't be surprised if my responses are little more than grunts of acknowledgment.

anyway, i've gotta go. laterz