A few days ago, Fox News dared to imply the new Muppet movie is another example of pedantic liberal dogma. “Follow the Money” host Eric Boiling said, “liberal Hollywood depicting a successful businessman as evil? That’s not new,” to which Dan Gainor of the Media Research Center responded, “It’s amazing how far the left will go just to manipulate your kids, to convince them, give the anti-corporate message.” Despite these allegations being unequivocally true, the left mocked Fox and ran headlines such as “The Muppets Are Communist, Fox Business Network Says” and “Fox News Unearths Communist Muppet Conspiracy.”
Nobody said the movie was “communist.” That’s a lazy trick the left uses to make their opponents sound like a drunken Archie Bunker trapped in the Cold War. They said it had a liberal agenda. How can anyone deny that? The villain is a Texas oilman named “Tex Richman,” for cry-eye. Tex is determined to shut down the Muppet Theater because there’s oil underneath it. The Muppets almost manage to pay him off, but he keeps thwarting them by sabotaging donors and even blocking calls by knocking down telephone poles.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Commie Muppets From Hollywood Or It’s an efficient way to get around in cartoon land.
Update & end of story on the NG Stand-Down
I just left both people involved with the incident that took place in the last few days. The soldiers do not want to pursue this matter any further, in any way shape or form. I was advised that the situation is being dealt with inhouse and there will be internal investigations into the conduct of certain ‘officers’ who started the poll and ordered certain persons held. The person allegedly being held was only there for a couple of hours.
No punishment will be handed down to any of the soldiers involved. I cannot give any further information as to names dates reasons units or places. This is in respect to my friends here. If this upsets anyone I am sorry but this is the way the soldiers want it. You have my deepest apology and I truly wish I had never spoken about any of this with my friends here on or FB. I will be posting no more information of this type due to the repercussions which could come from this.
Paul Lowe
North Carolina’s Patriots of ’61
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial Commission"
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North Carolina’s Patriots of ’61:
“Capt. Peter M. Mull, the son of Jacob and Mary Mull, was born July 11, 1832. He came from good old Dutch stock, the Mulls from Holland being the first settlers of Catawba County. His early life was spent on his Father’s farm, where he worked and attended the county schools; and in 1855 he was a student at Catawba College.
When the war broke out, he volunteered and went for six months in Capt. Wm. Hoke’s Company, of Lincolnton and was in the first battle fought at Bethel Church; and when his time of enlistment expired, he came home and the following spring, made up a company and was elected Captain April 19, 1862, and returned to the Confederate army, where he served until a few days before the surrender, being furloughed home on account of physical disabilities caused by a wound.
On Sept. 6, 1862, when in command of two hundred picked men at Washington, N.C., he was twice wounded, in the head, and shot through the left lung, the latter wound almost causing his death. A few months after the war was over, Capt. Mull went to South Carolina and hauled supplies for the R.R. Co., the road then rebuilt from Columbia to Winnsboro. He also run a stage coach. After staying in South Carolina for eighteen months, he returned to Catawba County and bought a farm, and improved the old Mull mill, and engaged in farming and milling.
In August, 1888, he married Miss Alice Yount, and in 1895 moved to Newton where he now resides. He has always been charitable and warmhearted, and a devoted Christian, and is known for his great love of truth, honesty and sincerity.”
(The Catawba Soldier of the Civil War, George W. Hahn, Clay Printing Company, 1911, pp. 312)
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North Carolina’s Patriots of ’61
Fireworks as Issa compares Holder to Nixon's AG
Issa responded by comparing Holder to John Mitchell -- a reference to one of President Nixon's Attorneys General, who was implicated in the Watergate scandal.Holder fired back by invoking the McCarthy-era line, "Have you no shame?"
To which Issa retorted, "Have YOU no shame?"
Federal Agents Demand Customer Lists From Mormon Food Storage Facility
Oath Keepers has learned that federal agents recently visited a Later Day Saints (Mormon) Church food storage cannery in Tennessee, demanding customer lists, wanting to know the identity of Americans who are purchasing food storage from the Mormons.This incident was confirmed by Oath Keepers Tennessee Chapter President, Rand Cardwell. Here is Rand’s report:
“A fellow veteran contacted me concerning a new and disturbing development. He had been utilizing a Mormon cannery near his home to purchase bulk food supplies. The man that manages the facility related to him that federal agents had visited the facility and demanded a list of individuals that had been purchasing bulk food. The manager informed the agents that the facility kept no such records and that all transactions were conducted on a cash-and-carry basis. The agents pressed for any record of personal checks, credit card transactions, etc., but the manager could provide no such record. The agents appeared to become very agitated and after several minutes of questioning finally left with no information. I contacted the manager and personally confirmed this information.
This event points to a new level of federal government encroachment on the basic freedoms of the American people. Likewise, it points to a confused policy within federal agencies. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends that citizens store emergency supplies, including bulk food, in the event of a natural disaster or man-made event (the new politically correct term applied to a terrorist attack). The FEMA guidance is spot-on as it allows individuals and families to be self-sufficient during an emergency situation.
And here in Tennessee, we just learned that Nashville Metro Public Health and the Tennessee Department of Health are conducting “door-to-door assessment of disaster preparedness … using a tool designed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to go door to door and check to see how disaster ready you are. .. in 30 neighborhoods in Davidson County [TN] that have been randomly selected to be the target of a door to door assessment.” I have confirmed that that is a state run effort.
So on the one hand, government agencies both state and federal are urging you to be prepared and even checking up on you to see how prepared you are, and on the other hand, we now have federal agencies that are attempting to gather information on individuals that are following FEMA suggestions. What is the reasoning behind gathering this information? Are American citizens now being “listed” by DHS if they are simply following FEMA guidance and purchasing bulk food and emergency supplies for their families? It appears as so.
This should be a red flag to all Americans. Not unlike the “trip wires” identified in the Oath Keepers list of orders that will not be obeyed, this incident should be considered as further evidence that our federal government is out of control. What business is it of the government if any of us purchase and store bulk food? Answer: It is none of their damn business! Maybe during the next Katrina-type event federal agents will storm your home to take your food stores along with your firearms. We can only theorize as to the motives of the government for this type of “list” being developed, but it goes against the very fabric of what a free people should allow by our government.” – Rand Cardwell.
Additional comments by Stewart Rhodes, Founder of Oath Keepers:
Holder's resignation "for the good of the administration"?
Verbatim Post
My laptop's ability to interface with the wifi crashed and I couldn't get on during the hearing. I am using the computers at GOA at the moment. Probably end up having to get something more modern for a laptop if I'm going to keep doing this. Will try to get on later this evening for a report. Much to say.
More fun and games tomorrow, too.
Wouldn't be surprised, now that Issa dropped the tactical nuke of more emails "turned over last evening" n(meaning that somebody else has rolled -- either Breuer or Weinstein -- that Holder's resignation "for the good of the administration to avoid further distraction will be announced late tomorrow.
There was a lot that they didn't cover, but Holder has guaranteed that we will have another Oversight Committee hearing in January.
The game is by no means ended. If anything, it is just the end of the beginning.
Run, Gunwalker Man, run.
Me?
I'm going out to eat Afghan to celebrate.
Sometimes I have to pinch myself. I just can't believe Mrs. Vanderboegh's wayward son finds himself in the middle of all this.
Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
"Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subject to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher.
For good or for ill, it teaches the whole people by its example. Crime is contagious. if the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law, it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy. To declare that in the administration of the criminal law the ends justify the means would bring terrible retribution."
Failed, failed, failed........
Failed, failed, failed. And then... burned Atlanta, killed half a million people
and ripped the US Constitution to shreds.
Outraged father shames U.S. Army to Congress for not deeming his son's killer a terrorist
Key members of Congress are intervening in a dispute over awarding the Purple Heart to soldiers attacked at a military recruiting office in Arkansas who were denied the honor because the shooter was charged with a criminal instead of a terrorist act.
The pledge from Republican and Democrat House and Senate lawmakers was made at a joint Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday in response to testimony from the father of Army Pvt. William Andrew Long, who was killed in the 2009 attack.
“I don’t understand why the Army has not offered the Purple Heart, at the very least,” said Rep. Chip Cravaack (R.-Minn.). “I am very disappointed in the secretary of the Army for not recognizing your son.”
Long was shot and killed in front of his mother outside the Little Rock recruiting office, and Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula was also wounded in the attack. Carlos Bledsoe, a Memphis native who converted to Islam and changed his name to Abdulhakim Muhammad, confessed to the murder and is serving a life sentence.
“Given the circumstances, I believe they are deserving of the same recognition as their colleagues in a combat zone,” said Sen. Mark Pryor (D.-Ark.).
Daris Long’s stark and compelling testimony to the panel described his frustration at President Obama and the administration’s handling of the war against radical islamists. By treating his son’s death as a “drive-by shooing,” and the Fort Hood attack as “workplace violence,” Long said the wrong message is being sent to the military community. Long also said he was insulted that attacks on the military are treated as crimes, while the Obama administration treated the shooting of abortion doctor George Tiller as a terrorist attack.
“I am convinced the government’s position is to deny Little Rock was a terrorist attack,” Long said. “To this administration’s shame, two soldiers have been abandoned on a battlefield in the advancement of a political agenda.”
“If you kill in this country under the banner of jihad, we’re told it isn’t terrorism,” Long said.
I don't carry a gun........
My old grandpa said to me 'Son, there comes a time in every man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps and usually it's when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin.'
I don't carry a gun to kill people. I carry a gun to keep from being killed.
I don't carry a gun to scare people. I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place.
I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid. I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I'm evil. I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.
I don't carry a gun because I hate the government. I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.
I don't carry a gun because I'm angry. I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.
I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.
I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy. I carry a gun because, when I die and go to heaven, I want to be a cowboy.
I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man. I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.
I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate. I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.
I don't carry a gun because I love it. I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.
Police protection is an oxymoron. Free citizens must protect themselves.
Police do not protect you from crime, they usually just investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.
Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass whoopin'.
Sheriff stands tall: Warns DOJ of possible arrest
The U.S. Justice Department has withdrawn its subpoena of Indiana raw dairy farmer Richard Hochstetler to appear before a federal grand jury.
He was scheduled to testify tomorrow in Detroit, in connection with an outbreak of illnesses linked by public health officials, including the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, to the milk of his Forest Grove Dairy. But yesterday he received a certified letter saying that his subpoena was being withdrawn.
Ross Goldstein, a U.S. Justice Department trial attorney, noted in the letter that Hochstetler had previously stated to him that Hochstetler wouldn't answer questions or produce documents based on his Fifth Amendment constitutional rights. "Based on your representation that Forest Grove Dairy is a sole proprietorship and that you refuse to produce any responsive documents based on the assertion of rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution against self incrimination, I write to advise you that you are released from the subpoena until further notice." He was advised to retain all documents in the case.
Sheriff Brad Rogers of Elkhart County, IndianaWhile it's not clear exactly what kind of maneuvering led to the federal pullback, one factor working for Hochstetler may have been the efforts of his county sheriff, Brad Rogers of Elkhart County. He wrote two letters to the Justice Department warning it not to conduct inspections of Hochstetler's farm without a warrant from a local judge. In the process, he got into a debate over the limits of federal power and the U.S. Constitution with the Justice Department's Goldstein.
Earlier this month, Rogers emailed Goldstein that there had been "a number of inspections and attempted inspections on (Hochstetler's) farm..." He warned that "any further attempts to inspect this farm without a warrant signed by a local judge, based on probable cause, will result in Federal inspectors' removal or arrest for trespassing by my officers or I."
Obama’s kid’s school serves Japanese/Asian food on the 70th Anniversary of Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor
Yet another reason why liberals are the scum of the Earth. Anyone think this is just a coincidence? Of course not! Libturds, being libturds, hate our country. “A representative for Sidwell Friends told the Washington Post that the timing of the Asian-themed menu was “completely coincidental.”
Yeah right, a-hole. A friend of mine on Facebook mentioned this, so I went to the website for the school, Sidwell Friends, and sure enough, it served an all Asian menu for lunch on 12-7…
Asian Mushroom Soup
Oriental Noodle Salad
Classic Spinach Salad
Teriyaki Marinated Chicken Strips
Szechuan Tofu & Veggies
Garlic Roasted Edamame
Vegetable Fried Rice
Fortune Cookies
Unelectable redefined
Verbatim Post
Many people are under the impression that "unelectable" means "insufficiently popular with the electorate. That clearly isn't true:
[I]n that campaign discussion on Twitter, one candidate has fared better than anyone else. Congressman Ron Paul has enjoyed the most favorable tone on Twitter of all candidates examined. From May through November, fully 55% of the assertions about the Texas Republican on Twitter have been positive-the highest of any candidate-while 15% have been negative-the lowest percentage of any candidate. That is a differential for Paul of 40 points on the positive side.What "unelectable" actually means is "insufficiently popular with the mainstream media". Or more precisely, "insufficiently subservient to the banking industry".
Paul is also the most favorably discussed candidate in blogs. While he trails significantly in the polls, and has received less coverage than every Republican candidate except Rick Santorum from news outlets, Paul seems to have struck a chord with some cohort in social media.
This treatment of Paul stands in contrast to that of most of the GOP field, for whom Twitter has been a tough neighborhood. Five of Paul's seven GOP rivals have had negative opinions on Twitter outstrip positive ones by roughly 2-1 or more.
On Buying Gold & Silver for Survival Preparedness
Verbatim Post
I am very sorry because i have to destroy some popular opinions on some things, but i just have to do that. When i said and keep saying “no rules” i mean that. You can not have something like ideal preparations, you can only try to have it (and then hungry man down the road still shoots you with his antique hunting rifle for a bit of flour).
So again on bartering and gold and silver:
No, gold and silver was not like second money, or second value during SHTF, it was not even worth like in normal times, and in most of the cases it was dangerous to have it a lot (actually it was too dangerous to have anything in great amounts and let other people to know that) If you had for example 1000 gold coins, and let s say that one coin worth 150 USD in normal times, you could think that you are rich in shtf.
But in reality it was hard to find someone to give him one coin for some food or battery or whatever useful. Gold coin was not useful for 90 percent of people, what they could use it for? Eat it? start fire with that?
Only people which could use that gold were people who had connection to outside world, so they could use it for buying things trough their connections. In most cases they just used situation to acquire great amounts of gold for the future and in exchange for some simple things, like food, or fuel or…
But thing is it was hard to make trade with people like that, because bad kind of people had connections or were gathering gold, so they can just gonna take that gold for you and give you nothing, or bullet in your head.
So yes gold was useful and not useful, it dependeds what kind of people or group you belonged.
If we have worldwide crisis and you can not get food anywhere the first currency of choice will be food, not gold or silver. If you want gold to keep some kind of value make sure you are prepped for long, long time crisis before that.
It is better to have some useful stuff in your prepping, then to waste money on gold or silver. And of course if you still want to have a lot of gold as a part of your preparations, i suggest you buy lot od simple gold rings, or simple cheaper gold necklace, it makes more sense than to have gold coins.
In hurry it is gonna make more sense to offer “your wifes gold ring” someone for cans or something else then to offer someone some “strange” gold coin for food, it can raise some questions, and you do not need raising questions in situation like that. Stay low key. Be the guy with the last family jewels not the guy with gold coins.
I would say that in SHTF it is gonna be easier and cheaper to get gold then in normal times. Bartering was not a thing of some regular prices or regular places, even “expensive”things changed. Meet the guy with terrible toothache and you are only person who can do an ok tooth surgery. He will give you some gold for that if he can or a lot of other valuable things to simply get out of this situation.
As i remember coffee and cigarettes was hard to find and expensive through all of the time, everything else changed, sometimes was expensive and hard to find, sometimes not.
But important to remember is to make it easier to you, so obliviously, it is much easier to carry and trade candles and batteries than 20 liters of fuel. There is no sense of letting everybody know that you are “man for trade” and that you have a lot fuel for example, because at the end you finished robbed and probably dead.
If you can be, be a traveling trader and do not trade too often with same people if you can avoid that. People also got shot after trading with one person a few times before. Other person might just run out of things to trade and call on you to come to trade and all he has is bullet for you in exchange for what he needs (and he knows you come with what he needs).
In some hardest period cigarettes was sold at one piece, i mean you could buy one cigarette for something, it was so expensive. Same was with coffee, even some substitutes for coffee were expensive. Now you need to know that traditionally here people drink coffee a lot, so maybe some other thing is so “important” in your area, like tea, beer or something else.
But do not expect that people will loose their addictions because times are hard.
One of my older relative smoked cigarettes while he had it, after that he smoked tobacco (pipe), after that he bought from some folks pieces of dry tobacco roots or tree, used knife to cut small pieces of that and smoked that, and after that he used some dry leafs from tree and smoke that. He never quit smoking.
So in short instead of getting gold and silver to preserve your wealth you might consider getting useful stuff and if you like gold get it from unprepared people in exchange for useful stuff if you think you need this for times after. If things don’t get better you do not want to be stuck with gold and having to do risky trades.
Do not think that other people do not see when someone is desperate and take advantage of it.
Jim Rogers Gives Dire Warning: ‘That Will Lead to the End of the World as We Know It’
“Jim, economic collapse with the euro: will that lead to a recession?” asks Glenn Beck.
“That will lead to the end of the world as we know it,” answers Jim Rogers, founder of Rogers International Commodities Index. “That will certainly lead to the end of the world as Washington D.C. knows it. There’s no question about that.”
How Blago got whacked (and Obama got away)
If you didn’t know it was the Blagojevich saga, you might think it was a script for a “Goodfellas” sequel:An ambitious young man marries the daughter of a powerful Chicago political boss. The boss “makes” the man and gives him his start in the “business.”
Now a full-fledged “wiseguy,” he is schooled first hand in the norms, etiquette, and social mores of the “The Chicago Way.” He learns about bribes, kickbacks and pay-to-play schemes from the best in the biz. The man becomes a congressman and a governor.
Man, now he’s golden.
Unfortunately, as the years pass, the man gets cocky. He betrays the father-in-law. Doesn’t he remember who brought him to the dance? All hell breaks loose. Threats are made and carried out. The man’s political boss/ father-in-law rats him out to the media. A federal investigation is launched. The Feds tap the man’s phones.
Resentful and desperate, he messes with the wrong people: the President of the United States; his evil chief of staff; a civil rights leader; the civil rights leader's son, the womanizing congressman. Each of them is well-versed in the "Chicago Way," each insulated from harm, ridicule, and innuendo.
Years later, the man will be sitting on a witness stand in federal court, pleading for his life. He’ll recount his own life’s adversities – his failure at Little League, flunking out of law school, his dashed hopes for an NBA career (he’s 5’8”) – hoping it will be enough to turn the jury’s hearts his way. It won’t.
The conviction comes in: guilty on 17 counts. It’s off to the Big House - not the White House – for fourteen years.
Grassley: Justice Dept.’s Breuer needs to go
The ranking Republican on the SenateJudiciary Committee on Wednesday called for the resignation of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer, who heads the Justice Department's Criminal Division, saying accountability in the botched Fast and Furious investigation was overdue.
“It is past time for accountability at the senior levels of the Justice Department,” Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, said during an impassioned speech on the Senate floor. “That accountability needs to start with the head of the Criminal Division, Lanny Breuer. I believe it is time for him to go.”
Update: Tip on NG Unit Stand-Down, Refusing to Answer Questionnaire Asking if They Would Use Lethal Force Against the America
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Message on Oath Keepers Facebook Page:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/163945586998396
· Paul Lowe
I hope you enjoy this great news as I did when I was told.
Paul LoweOUTSTANDING!! I just left my neighbors house. Devon is with the National Guard for this area. He just got home from a EDRE (emergency deployment readiness exercise) at the armory. He said that during the exercise 3 companies of infantry were polled by questionare about the drill and it's purpose. One of the questions was, will you as a member of the Nat. Guard use lethal force against the American public if ordered to do so? One of the men stepped forward and refused to take the poll and explained that it was a moral judgement on his part and that he could not do so. He then placed his weapon on the ground and fell in behind the formation. Devon said it was like a waterfall, Every member layed their weapons on the deck and fell in beside the one lone specialist. This included ALL NCO's, STAFF NCO's and SENIOR NCO's. The only people left in front of the original formation was 3 Capt's. 2 Lt's and the BN Commander who was so upset he started having chest pains from yelling and screaming about court martials and disbandment of the unit into other units. Devon is a Mstr.Sgt and he went with his troops and told them that he could not be prouder of any of them. He was floating while he was telling me this. Maybe we have more than just hope on our side. SEMPER FI. my thanks for the honor of being here Robert
Paul Lowe
I just heard from Devon. He was TX'd by his Plt LDR and advised that the Specialist Who first layed down his weapon is being held in county jail by the Bn CMDR, awaiting a hearing under the UCMJ. Devon couldn't get any more info than that. I don't want to post the mans name until we have more information. I am so upset by this that I am having chest pains. How can they do this to one soldier and not them all. I will let you know how things go. Think I might go lay down for a bit. SEMPER FI.
Gary Greene That is great, sort of, to hear. That the officers wont stand by THEIR oath is troubling. Where is this?
NOTE FROM STEWART RHODES:
Again, this is unconfirmed, and we are working on confirming it. Please keep that in mind. But this is certainly the kind of mass, whole-unit stand-down that may well become necessary, especially in light of the treason of the US Senate, which voted 93-7 to authorize military detention and trial of U.S. citizens -- claiming the power to apply the laws of war to the American people in the same way as they are used on a conquered, enemy population, like Iraq or Afghanistan. While National Guard units can, and have been used for riot control without violating their oath, we suspect that this survey was asking them about whether they would do something far worse than just keep the peace during riots. We will do our best to get to the bottom of this, and provide all details once confirmed.
If accurate, this is reminiscent of the stand-down during Katrina by SSGT Joshua May's Utah National Guard Unit, where the whole unit let their commander know, in a peremptory refusal, that they would not participate in any gun confiscation: Watch Video
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HEH! Mugger Left Bloodied After Attempt on MMA Fighter
A convicted felon decided to mug an MMA fighter on the Southwest Side, and ended up paying a steep price.
Police did not release the victim's name but said he was able to ward off Anthony Miranda, 24, who ended up with two black eyes and a gunshot wound to the ankle after a tussle.
The victim was sitting in his parked car near 55th St. and Kenneth when Anthony Miranda, 24, walked up to the car asking for a lighter, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
When the victim did not have one, Miranda pulled out a handgun and demanded money, police officials said. He then demanded the victim get out of the car.
At some point, the victim was able to grab control of the gun while Miranda's attention was diverted. The two men wrestled on the ground and during the fight, Miranda accidentally discharged his gun, shooting himself in the ankle, police said.
We Send Them to Die But They Can’t Defend Themselves?
Verbatim Post
Try to enter a military base here in the US. Any American citizen who is wandering aimlessly in a military base and can’t explain why he is there, would be in trouble. If he says he is a repairman, he will be expected at least to have some tools; if he is a contractor, he will have to have some papers, or at least a person in a uniform to accompany him. Otherwise his presence there would be suspicious and may lead to actions against him. If he tries to attack the soldier who is questioning him, he’ll be in even greater trouble, and may be even shot. The soldier who does that will be considered to have done his duty, and even if there is some investigation, it is very unlikely that there would be court-martial or any verdict. And here in the US we are not even at war, and no one normally expects groups of terrorists to attack a military base here.
These rules of common sense for the protection of a military base obviously change when we are talking about military bases in war areas, like Afghanistan. Our soldiers there are not allowed to defend themselves or their bases or their comrades. If a civilian is on the base, without tools, without papers, and without any explanation as to why he is there, and if that civilian tries to take the soldier’s rifle, the soldier is not allowed to shoot him. You don’t believe it? Think again.
Sgt. Derrick Miller has been sentenced by a military court to life in prison for the premeditated murder of an Afghani civilian who was roaming aimlessly on the territory of Miller’s base. Miller questioned the man with the help of a translator. The man gave insufficient explanation for the reason he was there; later he was identified as a truck driver for terrorists. In the course of questioning the man tried to grab Sgt. Miller’s weapon. In the struggle that followed, Sgt. Miller prevailed and shot the man. The testimony of the translator confirmed Sgt. Miller’s story. Miller believed that the man was there on reconnaissance for an insurgent group. A later attack against the base confirmed his assessment.
It is strange, with such a story, why the court would sentence Sgt. Miller to life in prison. After all, aren’t our soldiers supposed to protect their own life and the life of their comrades when attacked by the enemy?
From a re-make of the story in the Guardian we have some explanation: The court based its decision on the sole testimony of another soldier, who claims to have heard Sgt. Miller say words that allegedly incriminate him. One witness. And nothing about the rest of the story. So now Sgt. Miller is facing a life in prison.
Now, Sgt. Miller may be guilty; or may be not. He may need to be prosecuted; or may be not. But one witness? For killing an intruder on the territory of a military base? And no other information was examined? Not even the name of the victim was mentioned in court? We send our soldiers to fight for our freedom but we won’t even allow them to defend themselves in enemy’s territory?
It’s even worse than that. Our soldiers are placed in an awkward situation: they are not on a battlefield anymore, and they are not required to fight. They are charged with policing a whole nation, and in fact, with nation-building. Our politicians placed them in that awkward situation, and then judge them by standards that can’t even apply to that situation. Even if we accept that taking out a dictator was a worthy goal to pursue, what can justify ten years of remaining on foreign soil, policing civilian population? Is this what we have a military for?
It is the establishment in Washington DC that must be brought to court and sentenced. That same establishment that looks at our military men as dumb animals that can be sacrificed for any political goal the establishment finds expedient. Sgt. Miller must be freed, and a fair trial given him. If we keep sending our soldiers to die for no cause, and then even forbid them to defend themselves, very soon we will have no one to defend our liberties.