Saturday, April 30, 2005

Floridans can fight back...Legally!

Well, Florida has finally allowed its residents to legally “fight back”. The new law says a Floridian: “has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably feels it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm”.

Oh, boy! The “anti-gun crowd” is going to go ballistic over this one! You see, Florida already has a “concealed carry” law. I can hear the arguments they’ll
use …with extreme examples, like “shoot-outs in the streets of Florida”, or any number of fear fanning extreme scenarios they can come up with to try to convince Floridians, and others, that it is wrong to fight back…. it is wrong to protect yourself, or your family, or you property.

Hopefully, the General Assembly of North Carolina is paying attention to the Florida State Legislature's move on this. A few years back the NC General Assembly passed a law, similar to a law in many states which requires that when one is attacked, one must seek to retreat, or flee, or, as we southerners would say: “haul a— outta there!”. The NC State Legislature had to back track on that law, because juries in North Carolina refused to find anyone guilty of breaking that law. Juries all over the state sent notes to judges stating that they felt that law was unconstitutional and, illegal, and therefore, they refused to prosecute, or find guilty those brought to court and charged with having broken that absolutely terrible law. As a result the State Legislature had to officially drop it, or resend it. In any event, it is gone.

Now, don’t get me wrong! Run if you must! But don’t tell a Southerner he, or she, must run when attacked. Oh, no! Such a law leaves a bitter, extremely sour, taste in a Southerner’s mouth. It goes against that Southern “Code of Honor”… a very real code of behavior in the South.

What the Florida Legislature did was to return the God-given right of self-defense. That’s a good thing.

At least one southern state allows the carrying of hand guns… without a permit, so long as the weapon is displayed openly, such as in a holster on your belt. But, the instant you put your coat on, over that weapon, you must have a “concealed carry” permit. (By the way, some 38 states now have “Concealed Carry” laws.)

Very few folks avail themselves of the “Open carry” right, but some do, and I have never heard of an adverse incident as a result of the privilege this particular state grants it’s citizens.

Look, if a person is bent on doing you bodily harm, and is forbidden the gun as a means to inflict that harm, he will find a way. He will find a weapon… a stick, a stone, a knife, whatever. Remember, Cain did not kill Abel with a gun!

So we salute the State Legislature of Florida for allowing it’s citizens to exercise the right of self-defense. They simply recognized the reality of the situation. That is, that most folks would rather stand, and fight, that run away like cowards.

The gun control crowd has been unusually quiet about this Florida legislation. I continue to wait for the weeping and wailing from the little darkened corner where they huddle in fear while the rest of us go about our daily lives in what we consider reasonable risk.

Florida is the first state to pass a law similar to this. There will be others. It is only a matter of time.

Way to go, Florida!

Your Obedient servant,

“Longstreet”

Friday, April 29, 2005

How does Killing the Enemy Land You in Court on Murder Charges?

How does killing the enemy land you in court on Murder charges?


For doing what he was trained to do, 2nd Lt. ILario Pantano is about to be tried for killing the enemy!

How can this be?

An officer of the US Marines, in active combat with the enemy, shoots two of them and he is being tried for it? Come on! Somebody is pulling my leg… right? Not hardly!

Look, all of us who have had military training know that from the moment you set foot in the “basic training area” you are taught two things, One, to kill, and the other, to survive. Sometimes you must do number one in order to secure number two!

In a combat zone, there is a free fire zone. Anything that moves in that zone is a potential target and can be killed. That is as it should be. But, when a soldier is afraid to pull the trigger on an enemy combatant, he will hesitate. That hesitation may be the single second his enemy needs to drop him. That second’s hesitation is too much to ask of any soldier whether a Marine, or a “grunt” in the Army.

The Marines are wrong on this one. Lt. Pantano was doing his job. Don’t try him for it! Give him a medal! Heck, give him two medals!

This action against Lt. Pantano sounds entirely too much like a “barracks lawyer” got involved at some level and has blown the event completely out of proportion.

He only killed two Iraqi Insurgents. Forgive me, but isn’t that why we are over there… to clean the insurgents out of that place? Huh? Well, he was doing it, right? “More power to him”… as we say down South.

The US Military had better get it’s act together. When recruitment is down as it is, and potential recruits see that they are likely to wind up in a Court Martial for doing what the military trained them to do, does the Military really expect recruits to be lining up at the recruit depots? Hardly! Frankly, I can’t blame them.

We here at “Insight” wish Lt. Pantano the best in this Kabuki dance of military lawyers. We hope he is exonerated of all charges…. and given a medal! Then he can resign his commission and come home, to North Carolina, as a hero.

We have another expression down South: When tempted to hesitate, “it is better to have 12 men try you, than have six men carry you”. For the sake of our men still in harm’s way, we trust they will not hesitate.

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Thursday, April 28, 2005

Who... but the US?

Who... but the US?

I cannot for the life of me, understand those Americans who would like the US to no longer be a super power and a world leader. What kind of warped mental capacity does that take, exactly? These are folks of the so-called Elite Intelligentsia. Why, even some in the former Clinton Administration, at the Ambassador level, espoused this belief. It is astounding.

What is so wrong with the US that we can’t lead the world? What is so wrong with the US that some Americans think France is better? Or Germany, or… oh well, you get the picture.


These people need serious help! If they espoused such beliefs in the now defunct old Soviet Union, they’d be snatched out of their beds, in the middle of the night, and whisked away to a state run Mental Institution until they were "better" and “re-educated”.

Look, the US has its problems. There is no denying that. And, we don’t. But, we don’t sweep them under the rug. We deal with them, right out in the open, for the world to see.

Let me ask this: Which country, exactly, would those who apparently do not care for their country’s world leadership, want to see leading the world? France, Germany, Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, India, Japan, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, (No… skip Canada, they are completely devoid of leadership qualities) South Africa, Italy, Greece, Spain, or some of the lesser known tiny principalities? See what I mean? We’re it… by default!!!

The envy from countries like France is palpable. They are bent on becoming the leader of what some Europeans hope will become the United States oif Europe. But our suggestion to France is… don’t hold your breath.

The vast numbers of the countries mentioned above are socialist countries, welfare states. Their economies are one step from bankruptcy at all times. They have no capable militaries to defend them and are at the mercy of predator states… except for the protection rendered by the US. We are the world’s policeman, again…by default.

We have the only country capable of providing for ourselves and for most of the world as well. We made the hard decisions and we stuck by them. We allowed our democracy to grow and prosper and we protected it thought the years when it was weak and tottering. We rushed to help our neighbors on this planet when they are threatened. We respond to world disasters all the time. It is to the US that all eyes turn for leadership…especially when they are in trouble.

So, like it or not, we’re it! and we’re likely to be IT for a very long time! Thanks be to God!

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

Whatever Happened to Privacy in this Country?

Whatever happened to Privacy in this Country?


Whatever happened to privacy? You remember, the condition human beings used to crave just to be let alone, not prejudged, to take care of their own business without the interference of others or, the intrusions of others.

The simply fact is… we gave it away. In the name of security, we gave it away. One of the most precious possessions we had, privacy, we gave away. We gave it to the government. We gave it away to the retailers, Insurance companies, the Internal Revenue Service, the Census Bureau, and even the gas station. (Next time you fill-up look overhead. Chances are you will see a mini-camera pointed in your direction. Smile, you’re on Candid Camera!)

I’m from the old school. I believe that what is mine… is mine… and that includes my business. If I want you in I will invite you. Else wise, stay the hell out!

It really bugs me, no end, to have my picture taken without my knowledge or permission. I have left a number of stores with merchandise still in the checkout lane or on the checkout counter, because they were going to take my photograph as I wrote them a check, or used my credit card. I consider that an insult of the highest order. It pre-supposes that I am a criminal bent on stealing something, or writing them a bad check (which is the same thing.). It is demeaning, and belittling, and I think, frankly, (as the kids say): “It sucks!”

Not long ago, I stood in a parking lot of the local “Big Box Super Store” and counted 22 cameras aimed at the parking lot. No movement in that parking lot would go unnoticed, or unrecorded. I have no idea how many cameras there are in the store. They take some pain in concealing them, but they are in there by the dozens. I can only wonder how many are in the restrooms!

Now, to really make it worse, to twist the knife, so to speak, are the stores which have the sign on the front door telling you that the store uses “cameras for your protection”. You’ve seen them, I’m sure. Look, they have just lied to you before you even enter the store … and you still want to go in there and give them your hard earned money??? Are you sick?

Don’t even get me started on Red Light Cameras! Well, now that you have, I’ll go ahead and vent. I hate ‘em! Used to, we had to contend with cops sitting behind billboards and ambushing speedsters. That was about as dishonorable as it gets here in the Southland. Even the cops hated it. So they came out from behind those billboards and the city’s revenue dropped. The answer? Install cameras at intersections to snap pictures of unsuspecting motorists as they breeze through red lights. The take is split with the municipality. The owners of the cameras get the largest portion.

Anyway you slice it red light cameras are a dishonorable way to earn money for municipality. It is an electronic ambush. The honorable solution … put traffic cops back on the beat.

You know, the South fought a war, in this country, because we wanted to be “let alone”!


You can tell we lost.

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

World's Largest Deposits of Shale Oil In US!

World’s largest deposits of “Shale Oil” in the US!

Bought gas lately? OHWEE! That hurt!

Gasoline prices are soaring at the pump and tempers are flaring as consumers become even more hesitant to drive that extra trip to the mall, or the grocery store, or the Big Box Shopping Center. The price on everything, on all the shelves, in all the stores, of any kind, is going up, and up, and the transportation and delivery service passes their increased “costs of doing business” on to their customers, the stores from which you and I buy. Ultimately, the consumer, that’s you and me, pay the full price of the increased cost on goods we purchase in this country simply because the stores pass that increase on to us.

There is no end in sight. Yet.

The US has known for sometime that this country holds the world’s largest deposits of Shale oil. (Oil, which is a part of the shale rock.) It has been, until now, too expensive to squeeze out and process. Back when oil was selling on the international market for $22.50 a barrel with the occasional spike to $25.00 a barrel, the cost of “squeezing” oil from Shale was at, approximately, $35.00 a barrel. It was just too expensive. Now that oil, on the international market has risen to $55.00 a barrel plus the strong possibility that it will increase even more, shale oil production is looking very good… and much cheaper than oil from OPEC!

I don’t think there is any question the US is being gouged by the international oil bosses. Maybe it’s payback for Afghanistan and Iraq. No matter. It is still something this country struggles with every day.

The sooner the Congress gets off their duffs and clears the way for the wells in the Anwr, in Alaska, and off shore drilling along the entire coast(s) of the US, and clearing the way for Shale oil production, the sooner we can invite the oil merchants in the Middle East, and elsewhere, to drink they own oil.

The American consumer will pay the higher pump price with less grousing if he knows the money is staying here, in the States, and will continue to circulate in our vast economy. American consumers will not like the increase in “at the pump prices” but we will, over time, accept it, and move on. However, if Opec and the other oil merchants continue their gouging, the American consumer is going to turn surly. It has, in fact already begun. A surly American populace is not, believe me, what the oil merchants need… or want. The "Surly American" is even worse than the "Ugly American", and I’d remind those same merchants, the "Surly American" will soon begin to throw his considerable weight around. It could get a bit dicey!

Sooner, or later the US will have an alternative fuel. But not yet, and not for a few more years. But, that time IS coming. When it does, we won’t need their oil, nor, for that matter, their so-called friendship. What goes around… comes around.

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Monday, April 25, 2005

Senate Republicans: Act like Winners and Leaders

Senate Republicans: Act like Winners and Leaders


Is it just me, or, are the Republicans still playing the part of the underdog in the Senate? Do they not understand that the Republicans won the election? Don’t they realize they must now act like winners and stop kowtowing to the Democrats? Yes, the press is going to crucify the GOP. Heck, they crucify us daily. As the propaganda arm of the Democratic Party, that’s their job.

Senatorial Republicans must stop worrying about how they will look in the Main Stream Media and get the job done.

Republicans, out here in the hinterlands, are fed up with the mealy mouthed, bowing and scraping the GOP is doing in Washington. Have they been so long in the wilderness thy have forgotten how to be a winner, how to act like winners, and how to lead?

We “K-mart Republicans” and “Wal-Mart Republicans” have been waiting for the election to pay off. So far, the Democrats are STILL running the Senate! We were certain we had thrown them out of power! Not so, it would seem. Our “leaders” in the Senate can’t seem to summon enough testosterone to put the Democrats in their place and RUN THE DARNED PLACE! What do we have to do? (We voters, I mean!)

Republican candidates for the Senate asked us to support them and we did. We hand delivered control of that legislative body to the GOP. And what have we gotten for that…. NOTHING!

I would remind Senate Republicans; there is an election coming next year. If you really want to remain in control of the Senate, then you had better start delivering on your promises and take charge. I am serious about this! We “red-staters” are angry. We have had our fill of the Republicans who bend over backwards to accommodate the Democrats. Enough, already!

The embarrassing lack of “chutzpah” is creating a growing doubt whether we sent the right people to the Senate, or not. If Senate Republicans are not going to use the power we gave them, then for heaven’s sake, stand aside and allow someone to run for your seat who will!

In the meantime, we, here on the home front, are looking for your successors, even now! We have had it!

You may still have time to salvage your Senatorial career. But, you had better hurry. We want the President’s nominee to be Ambassador to the UN confirmed. We want the President’s judicial appointments confirmed. It is within your power to get this done. Don’t even think about carrying the judicial appointments over to the next term. That’s a non-starter.

Our patience has worn thin. It is almost gone. We are not going to let up. The solution is simple. Do the job we sent you there to do and do it quickly!

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Friday, April 22, 2005

An Open Letter to Congressional Republicans



An Open letter to Congressional Republicans:

OK, here’s the deal…we Republicans want our party back! It has been taken over by some lightweight, hot air types, who do not have the testosterone to do what we sent them to Washington to do. Where these guys came from, we’re unsure, but it appears they were disguised as Conservatives before, and through, the election.

Well, there is another Congressional election next year and if the Republicans want to remain in power in Washington, they’d better “harken unto their rank and file”. As it stands right now, we will stay away form the poles in droves and allow the Congress to fall back into the hands of the Left Wing Democrats. At least we KNEW what they were about! Indeed that was why we sent you GOP Representatives and Senators to DC… to shut the Democrats down. And you are not doing it!

If you do not do the job we hired you to do, we WILL FIRE YOU!

As a Conservative Republican I am fed up. The limp wristed, testosterone challenged, group of "so-called" legislators bearing our standard in the Congress are imposters. They do not represent the true Republican Party. If you wish to find the True Party, you have to look far to the right of those puny standard bearers in DC.

Let me give you an example. We want the Presidents judicial appointments approved by the Senate. We can do it, we know how to do it, but the Senate Majority leader and other Republicans are AFRAID that if they enforce the so-called nuclear option and get the Presidents appointments approved the Democrats will refuse to take part in any policy making… period, and effectively shut down the Senate. Well! Hoop dee doo! What a wonderful result. That is something most right wing conservatives, like me, dream about, shutting down the government, even if it is only one part of the Legislative branch. The only time I feel truly safe, in the USA, is when Congress is in adjournment or…. shut down. So, Senator Frist, enforce the Nuclear Option and let the Democrats shut the Senate down. I, and my compatriots on the right side of the Party, will celebrate and you will insure your reelection to the Senate and a possible run for the Presidency in ’08. But refuse to do this, or allow the Democrats to beat you down, and you, sir, with all respect, are finished! No need to even enter the race next time around. You will have effectively ended your career.

Now, we Conservatives are serious about this. Take us lightly at your political peril. We have had it. It is way past time to fish or cut bait!

To those so-called Maverick Republicans, beloved of the Main Stream Media, and despised by the rank and file Republicans, we implore you… leave. We do not want you in the GOP. Go over and join the Democrats you love so much. We do not need, nor do we want, your presence in the GOP. You know who you are. You are the so-called Moderates. You have no passion. You have your actions dictated by fear of the press, and fear of democratic rage. You have no place in a bold, forward-looking, passionate, political party. Please leave. Leave quickly.

In the meantime, we Conservatives expect those Republicans remaining to get it in gear and get the President’s policies passed into law, to stop spending like drunken sailors, and get the Supreme Court and the Federal Court system, safely in the hands of Conservatives. It can be done... and we expect you to do it, or… do not ask for our vote next election.

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Thursday, April 21, 2005

Like Children, the "American Left" is in Time-Out!

Like children, the “American Left” is in “Time-Out”.

John Bolton, or someone very like him, is exactly the person the US needs as ambassador to the UN.

Until such time as the US leaves the membership of that now useless body, we need someone, as an ambassador, who will not bite his tongue, who will read them the riot act, and hold them accountable for their dereliction of duty towards the world. The UN is a massive failure and we continue to pour money down that “hole in the ground” in an attempt to revive it.

I don’t think we should revive it. Let it go. It has proven useless. It is anti-US, anti-Israel, and anti-democracy.

The Democrats, along with a couple of Republicans, are holding up the vote on Bolton’s appointment as the US Ambassador to the UN. They KNOW he is exactly what is needed to pierce the thick armor the UN has surrounded itself with in the past few years. If Bolton’s acid tongue will cut through the rhetoric at the UN and bring a bit of reality to that body, then his shortcomings may well be “overlookable”. The UN needs to know that we mean business. They have become so accustomed to the Democrats’ “Go along to get along” appeasement policy that when confronted with real leadership, they feel threatened. Here the old expression: “lead, follow, or get out of the way”, applies!

The US can no longer continue to finance the UN. We realize no return on that money. It is an investment we can no longer afford to make.

The “Blame America First” lot, in the US, is blood brothers to the UN. They do not wish to see any changes at, or in, the UN. Any person who may threaten to push the UN into making the changes that will again make it a useful organization to the world for peace, are seen, and rightly so, as a threat to them. In this case John Bolton is that threat.

But, it makes little, if any, difference whose name is put forward as a potential nominee for the Ambassador’s job, if he, or she, threatens the status quo at the UN, then he, or she, will be publicly humiliated and painted, with broad-brush strokes, as an extremist. Again, John Bolton is the target of the Leftists and “Hate America” crowd.

Those who wish to maintain the UN, at it’s present level of incompetence, know full well the damage they are doing to the US and the world. But, they simply do not care. If they must destroy the world to defeat the current president of the US, George Bush, they are fully prepared to do just that. They are the most single-minded group in the US government. This is a power game to them and they will do whatever they feel they must to re-acquire power. Their hate of this President is deep, bitter and blind. They preach tolerance yet, at every opportunity, their public demonstration of hate and intolerance is without equal. Their hypocrisy is monumental! The damage they are doing to America is unforgivable. It will be remembered for a very long time.

In the meantime, Americans can never allow “those people” to actually gain positions of real power in the US again. They must be forever relegated to the backbenches, the fringes, of power but never to wield it, in any meaningful way, ever again.

The incident with John Bolton, and the judicial nominees of President Bush, are making an impression on the American people. They will remember. If the Left ever hopes to regain a position of power in the US government they must stop their untiring efforts to destroy it. Like children, they are stamping their feet and proclaiming:”If we can’t run it, we’ll ruin it!” and they are trying very hard to do just that.

Only one entity stands in their way… the American people. The American voter is taking note of the Left’s child-like behavior and, as with a child, the voters tolerate them, but will never allow them to wield power. That is exactly where the American Left stands with the American electorate… in an extended “time-out”.

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Wednesday, April 20, 2005

China is Angry At Japan, But Not For The Reason You Might Think.

Now China is angry at Japan… again, but not for the reason you might think.

China is furious… at Japan. It seems that China is always furious at somebody or other. This week it’s the Japanese.

Publicly, the explanation is that Japan will not publicly face up to their atrocities in China in the early stages of what became the Second World War. Unofficially, the real reason China is upset with Japan is the fact that Japan announced they will side with the US in defense of Taiwan should China decide to invade and take back their long lost colony.

Taiwan is making noises again about independence from China, an independence that they, in actuality, have now, but somehow, not officially. China will not give up her claim to the capitalist Island with its booming economy and democratic government.

Chinese troops continue to flex their military muscles along the Coast of China just across the straits from Taiwan. A lightening quick strike across the straits could easily put a landing force on the beaches of Taiwan.

The problem is, the US has a treaty with Taiwan, to come to their aid should this happen.

The Chinese have purchased a number of submarines from Russia to use in the straits ostensibly against the warships of the US. The old Russian subs are about as noisy as a steel ball bearing rolling around in a number three washtub, so they will be easily found and destroyed. But, there is always the off chance that one will get lucky and take out a US ship or two. It will be dicey. China will have home field advantage. But then US forces are used to that disadvantage.

The problem military planners have wrestled with is the over extension of our forces. Now with the public announcement that Japan intends to enter the fray with one of the largest, most modern, and well-trained navies in the world, the picture has changed for China’s war planners. In fact, it set them back on their heels. This, then, is the source of their current fury.

This is a conflict certain to break lose at an unexpected time. But it is coming.

The ground forces of the US Military have had recruitment problems while the Navy and Air Force have been doing well. Their forces are well back from the hot zones of the current war(s) and potential enlistees know that. However, when the “Taiwan Incident” commences, the Navy will be at the forefront of the battle.

The US Navy is not to be trifled with. The most modern electronics can identify most threats at a distance well enough away form the warships that that threat can be neutralized before any damage can be done. Our Subs are super quiet and the best trained in the world. Any Chinese vessel afloat, surface or undersea, will be sitting ducks for these silent warriors of the US. The surprises the Iraqi Army got from the Ground and Air Forces of The US, in Gulf War One, will be equaled, or bested, by the by the US Navy.

China would do well to cool her heels awhile and rethink any plans she has for invading Taiwan. For once committed, and once shamed by the combined forces of the US and Japan, she will lose face to a degree never before dreamed of in the entire history of the Chinese Empire.

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Monday, April 18, 2005

The NC Legislature And Their Strange Malady!

The North Carolina Legislature and their strange malady:

The North Carolina Legislature has a problem. They have been afflicted with some sort of dementia, apparently. It would appear that a goodly number of them are suffering its ill effects. It has distorted their reasoning ability… drastically. Why, just this week, they have suggested a piece of legislation which would allow the children of illegal immigrants, residing in the state, to attend state colleges at “In State” tuition rates!

See what I mean? You can tell this is a serious affliction, a malady which does strange things to the mind. It makes the sufferer forget what he is doing… and for whom.

It is certainly a good thing those of us in the hinterlands in North Carolina are far enough away so as not to be afflicted. Out here we are thinking clearly. Clearly enough to flood their e-mail accounts and letter boxes with some suggestions about what they can do to seek a cure.

The solution is very simple, really. Either kill this bill before it sees the light of day… outside a committee room, or as many have pointed out to the legislators, the disease could become terminal for their political careers.

Now, we know the Honorables in Raleigh did not intend to cause such a ruckus. But they sure stepped in it this time! We have been complaining for some time of their “disconnectedness” with their constituents. Boy, does this ever prove it!

This move by the legislators is not only dumb… it is stupid! Now, we know our legislators are not dumb and stupid, so the MUST be sick, right? Right!

Maybe they ought to come home for a spell… and rest, and meditate, and above all else, talk to the people who sent them up there in the first place.

North Carolina is overrun with illegal immigrants. Heck, you’d think our southern neighbor was Mexico and not South Carolina. We have one of the highest populations of Mexican illegals in the US. If the US won’t seal our southern border with Mexico, maybe each state should consider sealing it’s own borders, huh? Now, that would get Washington’s attention, post haste.

Now, the kind of stupid proposals coming out of the NC Legislature, demonstrates one thing, and one thing only. NC has given up. NC has adopted the position that we can do nothing to stem the flood of illegal immigrants and the state government has decided to embrace them.

Look, start locking them up!!! Don’t give them driver’s licenses as DOT does now, (if they can pass the test). They get a license even if they cannot read English. Go figure! The terrorists who flew the planes into the World Trade Center had NC driver’s licenses!

The good ole boys, and gals, in the NC legislature had better come home and talk to these folks back here. It won’t take ten minutes to find out we are angry! I mean boiling mad!

Its all NC families can do, now, to get their own children through college. If the State legislature is bent on helping someone with tuition…they’d better start here… with the LEGAL CITIZENS of this state.

After all, they pay the bills!

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Sunday, April 17, 2005

US out of the UN

Dear Reader:

This is the last post on Rebel Yell. Tomorrow, Monday, April 18th, 2005, this Site will be known as "Insight". We felt that Rebel Yell was suitable as a "start-up" title, it was falling short on being reprsentative of the actual content of this blog site. So, the change.

We will continue to have the same insightful commentary, the same biting remarks, and the same zeal as always. So, tomorrow, join us for "Insight" right here at the same web address.

We'd like to express pour deep gratitude to those who have been constant readers and those who drop in, now and again, to test the "acidity" of the remarks. Your visits are gratifying to all of us, here at this site, and we thank you. Please continue your visits. Even those who do not agree with us are welcome. Thanks for the comments you, our readers, have left. It is you who have made us the success we have become.

So, until tomorrow, and "Insight",

I remain,

Your Obedient Servant,

"Longstreet"
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Get the US Out Of The UN!

It is long since time for the United States to exticate inself from the clutches of the UN. The latest disaster in Asia, as a result of the tsunami, has only exposed the depth of loathing both have for the other.

President Bush chose, wisely, to create a seperate group of nations to handle the enomous job of evaluating the degree of the diaster so as to plan accordingly for the recovery, the renewal, and the reconstruction of that part of the world. It has been a huge success.

It is a shame the United Nations has proven itself untrustworthy with the world's money. President Bush found it necessary to simply by-pass the body which, supposedly, represents the world but has come to represent only those nations with an anti-American bias.

President Bush took a tremendous amount of heat, in the press, for not racing to the nearest camera, and microphone, to exclaim his deep sorrow and the degree to which he "feels the pain" of the Asian people . The press is overlooking the President's strength and that is, simply, that he is a "doer" rather than a "talker". While others ran to the cameras and mikes, he was working behind the scenes to iniate a plan of action with a minimum of wasted time and effort. That is the "American Way". That is precisely why the US is so effective at tasks it takes on.

The U.N. has become a millstone around the neck of the American Giant. Just the way America's enemies have planned it. It is past time to invite the United Nations to leave the United States, lock, stock, and headquarters. Maybe Paris would be a better choice for them. After all, the French deserve them.

Let's get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US!

"Longstreet "

Saturday, April 16, 2005

Daylight SavingTime...A Hoax perpetrated on Americans


Dear Reader: Beginning Monday, April 18th, the title of this Blog will change from “Rebel Yell” to “Insight”.

The new name will more accurately reflect what we do here. Although We will continue to touch on Southern Heritage issues, and Southern Culture issues, we will be commenting on a wide ranging variety of subjects from the “Current Events” of the day.

Thank you for the many visits you have made to this site and we ask, humbly, that you continue to visit “Insight” often.


“Longstreet”

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Daylight Saving time… A hoax perpetrated on Americans!

I hate daylight saving time. Not so much because of the time change, itself, as because it makes absolutely no sense to me. None.

Look there are 24 hours in a day, here on earth, where most people, not in Washington, live. You can take 12 hours, or half of that day, and move it anywhere you want within that 24-hour cycle, and you still have exactly what you started with….24 hours, period. The sun has no idea you are trying to save it’s light! It is going to come up at sunrise, and go down at sunset, no matter what time is showing on the face of the clock.

I smell a rat! What kind of joke is being pulled on us anyway. Somewhere, someone is making money from the Daylight Saving Time Hoax.

To begin with the Federal Law blamed for establishing Daylight Saving Time, actually, does no such thing! It simply says that if the US should decide to practice Daylight Saving time, it must be uniform. Heck, there are even holes in that. Parts of some states do no observe DST at all. Hawaii doesn’t switch to Daylight Saving Time. A portion of Indiana doesn’t either.

The latest rendition of the DST law was brought to us under the guise of “saving energy” because there was an oil shortage. Well, the oil shortage turned out to be a hoax when several ships were sited just over the horizon, off the NC coast , their gunnels awash, sitting dead in the water, waiting for prices to escalate before they would bring the oil into the terminal.

The oil prices are skyrocketing again and the so-called shortage was here before, and after, the imposition of DST. So, where’s the culprit this time? There is one, I assure you.


Look, if Daylight Saving Time is so good for us, and our economy, why do we have it for a only few months each year. Why not institute it as Standard Time for the US and be done with it...huh?

How can we actually play out this joke, every year, with a straight face? How? ‘Cause, folks, the joke is on us... and at our expense!

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Friday, April 15, 2005

Well, The UN Has "Stepped In It" Again!

Dear Reader: Beginning Monday, April 18th, the title of this Blog will change form “Rebel Yell” to “Insight”.

The new name will more accurately reflect what we do here. Although We will continue to touch on Southern Heritage issues, and Southern Culture issues, we will be commenting on a wide ranging variety of subjects from the “Current Events” of the day.

Thank you for the many visits you have made to this site and we ask, humbly, that you continue to visit “Insight” often.

“Longstreet”
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Well, the UN has “stepped in it” again!

About the time I begin to think that clueless crowd at the Un can’t screw-up any worse than they already have, they go and make my day with some inane pronouncement, or other, which only serves to underscore the sentiment of UN detractors like myself.

Now the “World Class Appeasers” at the UN are publicly stating that the US’s War on Terror is a defamation of the Islamic religion. They claim it is a defamation campaign against Muslims! How is that possible? I mean, how could the US possible defame the Religion of Islam? If there is any defamation going on it is most certainly being applied by the practioners of hate, and death, deep inside the so-called religion of peace.

But, the UN, ever ready to undermine the only nation keeping them afloat monetarily, rushes in to accuse the US of smearing Muslims and their religion. How utterly ridiculous! How very like the UN!

The UN, as we have said often in this column, is hopelessly broken. It cannot be repaired no matter what John Bolton, the soon to be US Ambassador, will, or can, do. The UN is finished. I, for one, bid the UN “goodbye and good riddance”. I would happily stand on the docks of New York Harbor and wave, gleefully, as the ship bearing the entire UN entourage slips eastward over the horizon. What a wonderful thought.

In the meantime, the US must continue to to the UN’s job as they are completely incapable of taking care of themselves let alone policing the world’s trouble spots.

Many Americans are growing extremely tired of financing that nest of ne’er do wells and we’d like to see it fold up and go away. Each remark, similar to the one mentioned above, to come out of that socialist warren, only underscores our position and hastens the day the US will pull out of the UN and soon thereafter the much anticipated demise of that sad, arrogant, impotent, and disappointing organization.

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Take Out Iran's Growing Nuclear Capability...NOW!

Dear Reader: Beginning Monday, April 18th, the title of this Blog will change form “Rebel Yell” to “Insight”.

The new name will more accurately reflect what we do here. Although We will continue to touch on Southern Heritage issues, and Southern Culture issues, we will be commenting on a wide ranging variety of subjects from the “Current Events” of the day.

Thank you for the many visits you have made to this site and we ask, humbly, that you continue to visit “Insight” often.

“Longstreet”

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Take out Iran’s growing nuclear capability…now!

Iran is going as straight to the manufacture of an Atomic bomb as a “Martin to a gourd”.

According to press reports, Prime Minister Sharon of Israel, has told the US government that Iran is only one step away. We know they are bound, and determined, to create the “Islamic bomb”.

And they will use it.

We have to stop them. The US, with, or without allies, must stop Iran from acquiring the bomb. If we don’t a holocaust will occur in the Middle East. Israel will use Atomic Weapons, because it is their weapon of last resort, the only weapon they have, which could give them victory over Iran or, all the Islamic states lined up against them.

As we learned in Iraq, talk does not work with those wackos. Only force, overwhelming force, gets their attention. We have the troops in place, we have the accoutrements of war in place, the plan, I’m sure, has been drawn up, so how long do we wait? Until they announce they have produced the first Atomic bomb, or until the desert glows with their first Atomic test? No, we do with Iran as we did with Iraq. Attack first. Take them down. Now!

Today’s world, like that of the 1930’s and 1940’s is not for sissies. To exist, a country must have the courage to protect its citizens and go to any length to do that. Those who yearn for their “utopian society” appear, to those of us who live-in the real world, as dreamers, high on self-assurance, and personal esteem, and absolutely vacuous! They’re empty of any substance. They are totally dependent on the remainder American society to make, and keep, them free. Free, unfortunately to continue to attack the very hands, which protect them. The US Congress is filled with such personages.

Now is the time. We must not delay. We should begin bombing runs as soon as possible on known nuclear projects in Iran. If we don’t get the bomb in the first few weeks, we can certainly slow down their work until we can get a definite location on it, and then…take it out!

Unlike Iraq, the Iranian people will be our allies in chucking the “mad mullahs”.

We call upon the US Government to act and act quickly!

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Shouldn't We Try Him Before We Hang Him???

Dear Reader: Beginning Monday, April 18th, the title of this Blog will change from “Rebel Yell” to “Insight”.

The new name will more accurately reflect what we do here. Although We will continue to touch on Southern Heritage issues, and Southern Culture issues, we will be commenting on a wide ranging variety of subjects from the “Current Events” of the day.

Thank you for the many visits you have made to this site and we ask, humbly, that you continue to visit “Insight” often.

“Longstreet”

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Shouldn’t we try him before we hang him?

The MSM (Main Stream Media) is yammering at the heels of the Congressman from Texas, Tom Delay. The leftist journals are taking pot shots at, arguably, the most effective Republican in the entire Congress, both Houses. If they can bag him, it will indeed be a coup.

The charges are that he has taken too many “free” trips at the expense of Big Business.

No kidding???

Take a look at the (literally) hundreds of “like” trips taken by the Democrats in Congress. All paid for by Big Business. Oftimes, the SAME Big Businesses. This charge is pure hogwash!

As to having one’s family on the government’s dole, or financially feeding from the government trough, well, it is common practice throughout the hallowed halls in Washington, DC.

Come on “lefties”, if you’re going after the man, find something he’s done wrong, or illegal, or unethical. But this “stuff” is pure finger pointing of the juvenile type.

Now… having said all the above, if Mr. Delay has broken the law, or the rules of the Congress, he should be disciplined. But, first, find out what he’s done, if anything. The media lynch mob is beneath even the yellowiest of left wing rags.

And another thing… where are his Republican defenders??? Once again, I am given an opportunity to be ashamed of my Party, as it’s leaders head for the tall grass. Their cowardice in the face of “bad press” is disheartening, to say the least. It will be remembered.

Look, those of us who toiled on the frontlines for forty years, in the political wilderness, knew what we were fighting for then, and we have not forgotten. We won a Congress, and a Presidency, just to get those things done. We sent the sorry lot of Republicans to DC to change some things… some specific things, and the folks we sent have serious back problems. Spinelessness! It is shameful!

So, suck it up Republicans! Forge ahead! Get the job done. Or, come home!

Your Obedient Servant,


“Longstreet”

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

No "Gays" in the US Military.

Dear Reader: Beginning Monday, April 18th, the title of this Blog will change form “Rebel Yell” to “Insight”.

The new name will more accurately reflect what we do here. Although we will continue to touch on Southern Heritage issues, and Southern Culture issues, we will be commenting on a wide ranging variety of subjects from the “Current Events” of the day.

Thank you for the many visits you have made to this site and we ask, humbly, that you continue to visit “Insight” often.

“Longstreet”

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No “Gays” in the US Military.

A sergeant in the US Army, on active duty overseas, has now admitted to being “gay. The question floating among the MSM is whether this sergeant must be allowed to return to his unit in Iraq.

The answer is no!

For better or worse we have the “do not ask, do not tell “policy in the US Military and he has broken the regulations by volunteering that he is gay. That alone is enough to drum him out of the service.

As a veteran, I do not like the “Do not tell, do not ask”, policy… at all. I want to know who is in the line of battle beside, and behind, me at all times.

The US military is the best in the world. To keep it that way, we need to rid the services of homosexual soldiers now in the ranks.

The first thing the MSM begins to scream is that other countries have “gay” soldiers in their ranks. Well, that is true. But, tell me, how do the militaries of those countries, with gays in their ranks, stack up against the military of the US. They’re pathetic, aren’t they?

I rest my case.

If you want to have the US military involved in a great sociological experiment, then you will want to pull them off the front lines. They US military is trained to fight, and win wars. They kill people and break things. That is their role in the society of the US. There is no room for a moderating influence of societal experimentation in today’s ranks. I don’t expect there ever will be.

The Military has been having some problems recently recruiting. If they think they have problems now, just let them return the gay sergeant to duty in Iraq. As a parent, I certainly would not encourage my son, or daughter, to join an Army with known homosexuals already in it.

We suggest the military cleanse itself of all “gay” personnel at once.

Your Obedient servant,

“Longstreet”

Monday, April 11, 2005

Guarding Our Southern Border.



(Dear Reader: Beginning Monday April 18th, The name of this blogsite will change from "Rebel Yell" to "Insight". The new name will more accurately reflect what we do here. I will continue to touch on things Southern , especially Southern Heritage and Southern Culture, but for the most part, I will be commenting, with my opinion, of course, on anything, and everything, that interests me in the current events of the day. Please watch for the change and continue to visit often...Thanks, "Longstreet")
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Guarding our Southern Border.

If the US can use troops to guard the Border of Iraq with Iran, Iraq with Syria, the borders of the Balkans, the South Korean Border with North Korea, and for forty years, the border between West Germany and East Germany (and the Soviet Union), and other borders around the world,....why, oh why, can we not protect our own border with Mexico???

"Longstreet"

Wednesday, April 6, 2005

The New Minute Men. Patriotic Guardians of the Southern Border.

Three cheers for the “Minute Men” stationed along the US Border in Arizona. Those patriotic American are doing the job the US Government should be doing but is not!

While our economy is taking a soaking from welfare payments to non-citizens and the millions of dollars sent back home to Mexico each year by those “illegals”, the US Governments sits on it’s hands and does nothing.

If the Government will not do it’s job, then US Citizens will. This is our home and those folks are burglarizing it by “breaking and entering” and we are sick of it. We have had a belly full

Our National Security is at stake. Our very identity, as North Americans, is at risk. As it is, we don’ really know WHO, exactly, is coming across that border. We do know that Islamic Terrorists are coming across. We do know drug smugglers are coming across, and we do know thousands of Latin Americans are swamping this country as they simply walk across the un-protected border. There is even speculation that portable WMD’s have been smuggled across that border and are now positioned at several locations in the States.

Here in North Carolina, we are saturated with Spanish speaking illegal immigrants, and they keep coming! Why, they don’t even have to speak English to obtain a NC driver’s license. If they can pass the exam, they get a license. Pray tell, how do they read traffic signs, which are in English? How do they respond to traffic officer’s instructions? What in the world are the folks at the NCDOT thinking? A number of the terrorists, who flew those planes into the World Trade Center, had NC Driver’s licenses! NC must stop pandering to these criminals and refuse them a driver’s license without irrefutable proof they are a citizen of this country, and state, and… can read the English language. NC is not alone in this horribly shortsighted view of supporting illegal immigration. Other states are making the same mistake. It must stop.

Where is the Federal Government? Where are the tough laws that will put the brakes on this flood of illegals flocking to the southern border of the States?

The US Border Patrol is doing the best it can, with the limited manpower, equipment, and money Congress allows it.

Enter the Minute Men. We applaud their efforts at pointing up the total laxity of the Federal Government in carrying out its primary duty of security for its citizens. I repeat, the number one duty of the Federal Government is to protect it’s citizens! They’re not doing it!

Maybe it is time for the US to re-establish the “Home Guard” as we had during the Second World War. We’d have armed US Citizens, deputized, with arrest powers, stationed along our border. Yes, I did say ARMED! Drug smugglers come across armed and they are not above taking a shot at a US Citizen attempting to forbid them entrance into their marketplace.

Secondly, stop sending the illegals back home. When we send them back, they just turn around and come back across at a point on the border less secure than the crossing point where they are caught. Establish huge federal prison camps in the deserts of Texas, Arizona, and southern California and hold the captured illegals for an indefinite period of time, not to exceed 20 years, and no less than ten years. Put them to work cleaning our roadsides and maintaining public parks and commons.

If this sounds excessive, tough.

If you live in a neighborhood, which is constantly harassed by bad guys, and your home is repeatedly broken into, and you get little, or no, response from the police, you tend to take matters into your own hands. That’s what is happening in Arizona right now. Americans are fed-up with the laxity of the government and are taking action themselves.

We hope this is a growing trend and that more Americans will respond and the ranks of the Minute Men will grow until they become sufficient in numbers to effectively seal the southern border of the US. The illegals are breaking into our home. The actions of the Minute Men are plain, and simple, self defense!

God Speed, Minute Men!

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Tuesday, April 5, 2005

The Easy Way, or the Hard Way...by Conscription !

The Easy Way, or the Hard Way. Volunteer, or be conscripted

It is beginning to look as if the draft will be brought back in spite of everything the military can do to prevent it. The enlistment age for Reservist has been upped to 39 years of age. The Army has missed it’s recruitment goals for the past couple of three months.

The Military does not want a draft. The last thing this country needs is soldiers in the field, more especially, in combat zones, who do not want to be there. That comes with a built in morale problem. Plus the education levels of draftees tend not to be as high as that of volunteers. With today’s modern computerized Army, a high level of education is a must.

The increased in enlistment age is bothersome as well. A 39 year old will be more cautious and take less chances that, say, a nineteen year old full of vim, vigor, and the belief that there is no bullet with his name on it. Where the 39 year old will not stick his head above the barricade to determine the location of a sniper shooting at their position, because experience tells him chances are pretty good that the snipe will hit him the instant his head pops up, the nineteen year old, having little, if any, fear of being wounded WILL stick his head up and likely locate the sniper and take him out or cause him to be taken out.

There seems not to be the level of indebtedness to the country by young people today as there was in the generation just before mine and in my generation as well. I am lodged between the “Greatest Generation” and the “Baby Boomers”. Our parents and mentors and teachers were form the Greatest Generation” and they passed that love of country on to us. They also passed along the clear understanding that we owed something to this country if for no other reason than… it was/is our home. We understood than one day we might be called upon to “man the barricades” to defend her, and it was accepted, this obligation to our fellow Americans. There seems to be a very serious lack of a feeling of obligation to one’s country there was in my generation. It seems to have ended right there.

It was understood, in my family, that when country called you would answer in the affirmative. Nearly all the male members of my family served in the armed forces of the US. It was the right thing to do and it was the honorable thing to do. This was our country and we owed a fealty to her and, we owed a debt to her that we were obligated to pay, even if it required our blood be spilt. Often it did.

There seems to be a distinct lack of that in today’s young people. When you hear a soldier say they had no idea they would have to go to war when they signed up… something is seriously wrong. Armies go to war. That is what Armies are for.

One thing is certain: Either volunteers supply our armed forces with manpower, or they will be conscripted. I feel I can guarantee that those who scoot across the border, to avoid the draft, will not get a pardon, or amnesty, from the current President, nor the next. They will be gone from their homeland forever, or, return only to reside in Federal Prison for a good portion of the remainder of their lives and will carry the stigma of “coward” the rest of their natural lives. That’s as it should be.

Often when, as a police officer, I would tell an arrestee, “we can do this the easy way, or the hard way, but, in the end, you will be going with me.” My language was abit more colorful at the time. The point is, the same applies with recruitment for our Armed Forces. We can do it the easy way by volunteering, or we can do it the hard way… through conscription.

Young Americans, I ask you: Which will it be?

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”

Monday, April 4, 2005

God is not Pleased !

I’ve been troubled by the malarkey in the Main Stream Media to the effect that Evangelical Christians were pushing the family of Terri Schiavo to replace the feeding tube due to their staunch belief in the “sanctity of life”. Well, Dear Reader, it ain’t so!

As an Evangelical Christian, and a bed rock member of the political right, in the US, I can tell you Evangelical Christians, by a vast majority, wanted Mrs. Schiavo to be allowed to slip away, into eternity, away from the pain that was her existence.

So often, our opponents, especially in the MSM, define us as straight-laced, stiff collared, prejudiced, high falooting, bombastic, holy rollers. No more of the “Right to Lifers” are like that than the “Pro Choice” people. We have “nuts” on both sides of the argument. And, of course, the MSM flocks to them. Stick a camera, or a mike, in their faces and like Pavlov’s dog, they’ll start performing. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Each feeds off the other. The MSM feeds off the Nuts, and the Nuts feed off the MSM. It’s a never-ending cycle. Somewhere in all the mishmash the truth gets lost. Pretty soon, it doesn’t matter, because the truth is no longer the story, or even important to the real story. You might say there is no longer a “Real Story”. It’s a shame. Truth is the casualty when this happens as it does so very often these days.

Yes, we “Right to Lifers” believe in the Sanctity of Life. But… with reservations… with a caveat, or two. For Pete’s sake, we understand that often there are mitigating circumstances… and we allow for them. For instance my own anti-abortion belief is tempered by the fact that I would allow abortion for incest, rape, or to save the life of the mother. Now, how bad is that. Most “Right to Lifers” hold the same belief that I do.

Those folks in Florida made me ashamed… both for the “Right to Lifers” and the “Pro –Choice” people. It was a circus of clowns. Every group there had it’s own personal agenda. It was humiliating for the human race. The addiction to the Microphone and the Camera are overwhelming to those people. They will rush to a mike and a camera, and salivate their hatred, and self-righteousness, all over it in hopes of raising a buck or two to finance their agendas. It is disgraceful behavior.

I have to believe that God takes note of such behavior and He is not pleased.

Your Obedient Servant,


“Longstreet”

Sunday, April 3, 2005

Pope John Paul 2nd slips away... into Eternity.

Pope John Paul II slips away... into Eternity.

Pope John Paul the Second is gone. His time on this earth having been spent in the service if his God. What greater testimony to a man’s life can be given?

May God receive his servant into His eternal kingdom for the rest he so richly deserves.

Today, John Paul, “slipped the surly bonds of Earth, and touched the face of God.”

“Longstreet”

Saturday, April 2, 2005

They Keep Us free!

They keep us free!

For a very long time it has bothered me that the Reserve forces and the National Guard in this country, the USA, have been called “Weekend Warriors”. This term is an insult. It always has been and … it was intended to be so.

Those weekend warriors make up approximately 50% of the fighting forces, on the ground, in combat, in the Middle Eastern theatre. They are fighting right alongside their brothers and sisters in the uniform of the Regular forces. They are taking casualties right along side the regular forces. They are indispensable to our military. This seems to be understood by everyone but the US Government.

You are aware they do not get the full benefits of the Regular forces… aren’t you? Well, they don’t. Surprised?

It is past time for the Reserve Forces and the National Guard, in the USA, to get full military benefits from the US Government.

The reserve warriors leave their homes, and jobs, to put their lives on the line to defend this country. They are being shot at, and wounded, as they share the same danger as the Regular troops. They are, like the regular forces, volunteers.

The Reserve and National Guard troops train on inferior equipment, Oftimes left overs from past conflicts, which work, sometimes, if they are lucky.. Basically, it is junk. After months, and years, of training to proficiency on this outdated equipment, they are thrust into a war zone, new equipment put in their hands, with a familiarization course, or two, lasting a few hours, then they are sent into the field.

But they go. They go and they fight. Heroically.

Many come home with broken bodies just as the regular troops do.


They deserve to be treated with the same high accolades as the regular forces. They, too, have paid the price of our freedom. We cannot honor the men and women of the Reserve forces and the National Guard of the United States enough. They have defended this country as citizen soldiers since it’s founding. Without them, we would not exist as a country today.

So why then are they derided as “Weekend Warriors”? Let me tell you something about these Weekend Warriors:


These Weekend Warriors have defeated world Super Powers. They fought one of the largest armies in the world to a bloody stand still in Korea. Many units were virtually wiped-out during the early months of the Second World War as communities watched the cream of their young men march away to war… and never return. They have been there for this country from before Lexington, right up to, and including, Iraq. They’ll be there when the next threat to the freedom of the US raises it’s ugly head, and they will smash that head quickly and efficiently.

They are our sons and daughters, our fathers, brothers, wives, husbands, cousins, etc. They are us, just as the Regular Forces are us. So why treat them differently? Why?

Eventually the war in Iraq will end and they’ll come home. They go back to their jobs, if they are lucky, and then once every other weekend, or so, they will slip into the door of the National Guard armories, or the Reserve Centers, all across the nation, and they will drill. Then, come summer, they will leave their jobs, and families, for a couple of weeks, and report to a nearby military facility for two weeks of intensive training. Oftimes these two-week “summer drills” are taken on the vacation time of the Guardsman or Reservists. Then at some time in the future, the call will come, and they will drop everything, put on their uniform, grab their rifle from the “rifle rack” at the “Armory” or “Center”, and board a very big airplane and be at war again.

Dear Reader, these men, and women, are soldiers in the Grand American Tradition of the “citizen soldier”. They are to be applauded. They are to be honored. They keep us free!

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”