Freedom Of The Press

Tinfoil hat time.

Call me what you will, but when major news organizations such as AP and FOX have their freedom of the press messed with I get concerned. Of course many of you might simply dismiss FOX because the government doesn't see them as a “real” news organization and ,being politically correct, you'd have to go with what the government says. But if your a writer of any kind I would worry if I was you. In light of all these other things that have come out lately of what the government is doing what makes you so sure that they aren't targeting you as well? What makes you so sure that they haven't tapped in to other news organizations such as CNN or ABC? The only reason we know about these two is because they were caught.

I have been writing for years on things pertaining to the constitution and the freedom of speech being attacked ,all to no avail, and now its really coming to light as just how far they are willing to go to violate that right. I have gotten into heated battles over defending the rights of people who were not PC in what they said. I defended their rights to speak and to be seen as idiots with the simple point being that if you value the freedom of speech then you must accept the rights of those whom you disagree with to speak. If you don't who is going to defend you when what you say becomes un popular?

What continues to surprise me is the lack of concern, so it would appear anyhow, from most of the media not involved in this case, and the argument that I keep hearing that you shouldn't be worried if you have nothing to hide.

The problem with that argument is that in both these major cases their was nothing to hide. In the case of the AP they told the government what they had and they complied with waiting a bit before they published it, meanwhile, even after being cooperative, they were being investigated and their phone records seized all under the radar. What was their crime? Investigating and asking questions as journalists have done for 200 years. In the case of FOX they went so far as to accuse the head of their Washington bureau of being a “co-conspirator of possible criminal activity” as justification of searching his personal records. Again, as in the case of the AP, his only “crime” was asking for information. I also saw a brief note today that perhaps CBS has been investigated as well though I have no confirmation as of yet. I understand that the government has a responsibility to investigate things that have a serious effect on national security but neither of these cases as well as some of the whistle blowers, that they have gone after, have done anything wrong.

I have read , from other news sources, that this is already having an effect on how reporters are getting their information as insiders are a bit reluctant to give information to journalists and who can blame them? This administration has made it a point to prosecute whistle blowers and to go after reporters and their sources in clear violation of the Constitution. Who's next?

I don't care if they try to shut me down, I have about 10 readers world wide so I am no threat to them but what about you? I know that a few of you who occasionally read my blog are professional writers, people who are read by thousands world wide if not millions, aren't you even a little concerned that perhaps you are going to do some research on something and find yourself in trouble for asking the wrong person the right questions? Or that you might have sources of information that will dry up because people are afraid to share info? You might think I am being melodramatic here but these are very serious questions that you have to ask yourself. If they are willing to go after the big dogs what makes you think they won't come after you as well? More importantly though, if the government is allowed to continue this practice who is ever going to be able to keep the governments feet to the fire if not the press? Granted up until recently I haven't been sure that they have even been doing their jobs but now that they are a target it's amazing to see.

In many ways its being very hypocritical on their part. While the federal government has been passing bills or using executive orders to stop free speech, such as not being able to protest anywhere near government officials that have secret service protection or having your tax exempt status threatened or questioned if your views are not politically correct, they have remained mostly silent. Now that they are being targeted they are outraged.

So I am mot going to belabor the point but here is the first amendment emphasis is mine.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

In my humble opinion this is worse then their attempts at the 2^nd amendment because this they can do under the radar and it only becomes clear when those being investigated find out.

Just my simple minded opinion.

How To Boil A Frog

Do we have a constitution or not? Do we have the bill of rights anymore, or is it some sort of worn out useless piece of paper that would be best left on the dung hill of history? What is it going to be folks because we can't have it both ways. Either we stick to the founding documents, that our fore fathers sacrificed damn near everything for, or we need to burn it and just turn ourselves into the former Soviet Union because it would appear that this is where we are headed.

For years I have been a voice for the constitution. I have spoken up for the rights of people who I disagree with, on many levels, and I have lost friends and almost some family members for doing so.

Some people have suggested that I am crazy for believing this, that our freedoms are being taken away . They will ask questions such as what freedoms have you lost? Or why should you worry if you have nothing to hide? Remember the old story of putting a frog in boiling water? If you drop it in it will jump right out but if you put it in cold water and heat it up slowly it won't jump out and you have a boiled frog. This is whats happening to us here, its not an all out attack, its little bits here and there that we get used to and assume after awhile that its always been that way. This is how it's being done.

Take free speech; you only seem to have free speech if what you say or write agrees with whatever is politically correct. If it is not you are shot down and insulted or even silenced. Depending on the subject you can even be accused of being a racist or a homophobe for no other reason than you defended someone else s right to speak. Where does it say that you have the right to not be offended? Where does it say that speech can only be that which is un-offensive? You don't even have the right to protest near any politicians who have secret service protection, if you do you can be arrested. What part of freedom of speech is that?

Gun control, how many of you are old enough to remember when you could carry a rifle in the back of your truck on a gun rack? I remember it. I also remember when you could have them at school as long as the vehicle was locked. Now you can get arrested for drawing a picture of a gun in school. I don't remember having to go through a bunch of background checks to by a gun either. You walked into the store picked out one that you liked and that was it. It wasn't until after 911 that I remember having a back ground check done.

I won't even begin to get started with all the violations, under political correctness, and supposedly for our safety and good, of the other amendments especially the 4th-6^th.

The latest attack seems to be on the freedom of religion of those in the military. They are being told, via the pentagon, who consulted with an atheist group of all things, that being able to practice their religion, under some sort of misguided notion that those in charge are forcing people to convert to their beliefs, could get them a court martial. Even going so far as to compare sharing your faith with “rape”. This is patently absurd. I have spent a sizable portion of life in the Marines and was a platoon Sgt. for a long time. I certainly invited Marines to church and I would share my faith, at that time, with anyone who asked, but I never forced anyone, nor did I know of any other leader who did. Have there been some knuckleheads that have done this ? Yes, and they were all properly punished for doing so, but you can't take away someones right to practice their faith simply because of stupidity of a few,never mind ask those same people to defend rights that they no longer have. I had a good friend in the military who was and still is an atheist, him and I used to have some very lively debates but under this even atheists and evolutionists would have to keep quiet because there is no more proof that they are right than anyone else so by definition they would be sharing their faith if they spoke about it!

Go look at the former Soviet Union, they banned anything religious and killed or enslaved millions,especially Jews and Christians,and it almost destroyed them. Is this what you really wish for?Look at China and North Korea is this what you want? A military that lacks any sort of moral values?A government that will not accept your God given rights? Men and women of all types of faiths not being allowed to follow the moral codes that they were taught?

Funny thing is that I'm not a Christian and yet I will fight to the death to allow them their God given right to practice their religion. I am not a Muslim or a Jew or Pagan, but they should be afforded the same right, and if you have no belief whats so ever then it not my place to tell you otherwise or force you to believe as I do. I haven't and I won't. But we need to quit with the silly notion that just because you don't like something, that the rest of us have to conform to your so called standards. But then again this has been the pattern amongst the liberal elite. You don't like something or are offended by something so you try and make it illegal for those of us who don't share your particular hangup.

Don't forget the boiling frog. That's how its being done. That’s why the water is so warm.

Altered Food

This is not a theological debate, so please get past the beginning part and read on.

In the Beginning God created.....or In the beginning mother earth provided.....or in the big bang evolution gave us pretty much everything that we need to sustain life, and to keep ourselves healthy. Today however, after millenniums of success with this arrangement, along came men and women, who thought that they could do it better by altering genetic codes and replacing nature with chemicals. The results have been disastrous. To quote one of my favorite lines from Jurassic Park “Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could they didn't stop to think if they should.” In the movie, the dinosaurs find a way to adapt and the doctor is found to be incredibly right. The situation is the same here the dinosaurs are coming to destroy us in the form of chemicals and genetic altering, the scientists are promoting it, and those that could stop it in the government are turning a blind eye. They are literally killing us softly, all the while claiming that they know what's best.

It's amazing to me that no one can seem to put two and two together. During the same time period that all the various diseases, including diabetes, heart disease and obesity have sky rocketed they have been genetically altering the food that we eat and there has been a marked up rise in making and the consumption of processed foods as well, which are filled with chemicals and genetically altered plants and animal products. So called science today goes out of its way to blame soda or fast food, neither of which is good for you, I agree, but they refuse to look at what has been done to alter our food as being a possible cause. Worse yet is, that instead of being honest about the problems with our food supply and the real causes for our various ailments they instead promote and push drugs on us to fix a symptom with out ever getting to the root cause.

Back in the dark ages when I got out of boot camp I weighed in at 153lb. I was 5'8 and in pretty good shape. I exercised regularly, as any good Marine would do and up until I was 25 or 30 I was in pretty good shape. Along with that my wife and I followed the recommended diet that the government said was the best way to go and all seem to go well. It was during that time though, that major Agri-Business was informed by the supreme court that they could patent food that they had genetically altered in some way. Thus paving the way for mass production of it. Monsanto was that company but it opened all sort of doors for other companies to do the same. This is also the time that I started to put on weight and started having some minor, but annoying, medical issues. Fast forward to a few years ago.

After my return from Iraq I was put on a lot of medications that literally sucked the life right out of me and I put on weight. It didn't matter how much I exercised I just kept gaining in the poundage. I thought that perhaps it was the medications so I cut myself back to almost nothing preferring to deal with life as it came instead of being medicated. But no matter what I did, no matter the diet I followed I just kept gaining weight. Then I discovered a couple of documentaries called “Food Matters” and “Food Inc”. It was mind blowing. I was utterly astonished to see and hear of how the big agriculture companies were using all sorts of growth hormones on animals making them larger faster and the conditions that they were being raised in. It was disgusting. This, however, led to more research and the discovery that most of the fruits and veggies that you buy at your local grocery stores not to mention just about everything processed was treated with various chemicals and in many cases were altered genetically as well. Needless to say we went organic but even though we cut out just about all processed food and eliminated soy and high fructose corn syrup, in any of its forms, and we went as organic as possible, it still wasn't enough to get rid of the weight or illnesses that go with the weight.

A few months ago I was informed by my doctor that I have type II diabetes. I was truly surprised. I have been eating the kind of diet recommended by the government think tanks and doctors alike and exercising like a mad man and yet the weight hasn't really been coming off and every time I had blood work done my blood sugar was elevated, as well as certain liver enzymes. To say that both my wife and I were surprised is an understatement. What have we been doing wrong? Nothing really, we just missed one.

Turns out, after more research and with the help of some friends who also are trying to live healthier, that wheat and other gluten containing products, that we have been told were good for us, are far from it. Back in the later part of the 1950's scientists and farmers were trying to figure out a way to grow more wheat per acre than they had been able to do before. They wound up with a modified grain that was shorter and because it didn't need as much nutrients from the soil they could grow more of it. Somewhere around 1980 as they were doing studies on modified foods and its effect on people they discovered that the modified wheat had a very curious property, it actually makes you hungry. Not only does it make you hungry sooner than normal but its nutritional value was almost worthless, tending to make a person more tired and run down. The other thing that they discovered, which is now known everywhere, was that the gluten that is in it makes people sick in a variety of ways to include diabetes, weight gain, heart disease,etc. But instead of warning people of this fact the scientist, who I am assuming either worked for the government or agriculture, kept it quiet. That means that just about everything that we eat as Americans, that doesn't come from organic farms, and is processed in any way is not only dangerous to us, but is also deadly.

The bottom line is that all these people, scientists, agriculture and the government, know this and they have done nothing to protect us or warn us of the dangers. Its amazing that countries all over the world are banning modified foods and their scientist are proving that this stuff is dangerous to humans and animals alike and yet here in the land of the free we are being fed a load of bull complete with harmful chemicals and side effects and the truth is being litigated away.

So my suggestion is this, first buy your produce locally at least then you know the source, buy as much as you can organic and if not organic (getting certified organic for small farms is expensive) get it at least all natural raised. Stay away from anything processed, as there is no redeeming quality in any of it and stay away from anything that is not considered to be “Ancient” grains. They are hard to find but they are by far better for you. But above all be aware of what you are putting into your body, your health depends on it.