Soon To Be Gone, The Greatest Generation

> Written by a doctor, and very profound! This should be required reading in every school and college in our country. This Captain, an army doctor, deserves a medal himself for putting this email together. If you choose not to pass it on, fine, but I think you will want to, after you read it.

> Soon To Be Gone - From A Military Doctor -

> I am a doctor specializing in the Emergency Departments of the only two military Level One-Trauma Centers, both in San Antonio, TX and they care for civilian Emergencies as well as military personnel. San Antonio has the largest military retiree population in the world living here. As a military doctor, I work long hours and the pay is less than glamorous. One tends to become jaded by the long hours, lack of sleep, food, family contact and the endless parade of human suffering passing before you. The arrival of another ambulance does not mean more pay, only more work. Most often, it is a victim from a motor vehicle crash. Often it is a person of dubious character who has been shot or stabbed. With our large military retiree population, it is often a nursing home patient. Even with my enlisted service and minimal combat experience in Panama, I have caught myself groaning when the ambulance brought in yet another sick, elderly person from one of the local retirement centers that cater to military retirees. I had not stopped to think of what citizens of this age group represented. I saw "Saving Private Ryan." I was touched deeply. Not so much by the carnage, but by the sacrifices of so many. I was touched most by the scene of the elderly survivor at the graveside, asking his wife if he'd been a good man. I realized that I had seen these same men and women coming through my Emergency Dept. and had not realized what magnificent sacrifices they had made. The things they did for me and everyone else that has lived on this planet since the end of that conflict are priceless.
>

> Situation permitting, I now try to ask my patients about their experiences. They would never bring up the subject without the inquiry. I have been privileged to an amazing array of experiences, recounted in the brief minutes allowed in an Emergency Dept. encounter. These experiences have revealed the incredible individuals I have had the honor of serving in a medical capacity, many on their last admission to the hospital. There was a frail, elderly woman who reassured my young enlisted medic, trying to start an IV line in her arm. She remained calm and poised, despite her illness and the multiple needle-sticks into her fragile veins. She was what we call a "hard stick." As the medic made another attempt, I noticed a number tattooed across her forearm. I touched it with one finger and looked into her eyes. She simply said, "Auschwitz. Many of later generations would have loudly and openly berated the young medic in his many attempts. How different was the response from this person who'd seen unspeakable suffering. Also, there was this long retired Colonel, who as a young officer had parachuted from his burning plane over a Pacific Island held by the Japanese. Now an octogenarian, he had a minor cut on his head from a fall at his home where he lived alone. His CT scan and suturing had been delayed until after midnight by the usual parade of high priority ambulance patients. Still spry for his age, he asked to use the phone to call a taxi, to take him home, then he realized his ambulance had brought him without his wallet. He asked if he could use the phone to make a long distance call to his daughter who lived 7 miles away. With great pride we told him that he could not, as he'd done enough for his country and the least we could do was get him a taxi home, even if we had to pay for it ourselves. My only regret was that my shift wouldn't end for several hours, and I couldn't drive him myself. I was there the night MSgt. Roy Benavidez came through the Emergency Dept for the last time. He was very sick. I was not the doctor taking care of him, but I walked to his bedside and took his hand. I said nothing. He was so sick, he didn't know I was there. I'd read his Congressional Medal of Honor citation and wanted to shake his hand. He died a few days later. The gentleman who served with Merrill's Marauders, the survivor of the Bataan Death March, the survivor of Omaha Beach the 101 year old World War I veteran the former POW held in frozen North Korea, the former Special Forces medic - now with non-operable liver cancer the former Viet Nam Corps Commander. I remember these citizens I may still groan when yet another ambulance comes in, but now I am much more aware of what an honor it is to serve these particular men and women. I have seen a Congress who would turn their back on these individuals who've sacrificed so much to protect our liberty. I see later generations that seem to be totally engrossed in abusing these same liberties, won with such sacrifice. It has become my personal endeavor to make the nurses and young enlisted medics aware of these amazing individuals when I encounter them in our Emergency Dept. Their response to these particular citizens has made me think that perhaps all is not lost in the next generation. My experiences have solidified my belief that we are losing an incredible generation, and this nation knows not what it is losing. Our uncaring government and ungrateful civilian populace should all take note.

We should all remember that we must "Earn this."

Written By CPT. Stephen R. Ellison, M.D. US Army
>

US Military loses, no truth in the media.

This was e-mailed to me, it is self explanatory.

Military losses, 1980 through 2006

Surprise, Surprise (not really)

These are some rather eye-opening facts.

Since the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the sacrifice has been enormous. In the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 through today, we have lost over 3,000 military personnel to enemy action and accidents.

As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics: The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006:

1980 ......... 2,392
1981 ......... 2,380
1984 .......... 1,999
1988 .......... 1,819
1989 .......... 1,636
1990 ......... 1,508
1991 .......... 1,787
1992 .......... 1,293
1993 .......... 1,213
1994 .......... 1,075
1995 .............2,465
1996 ......... 2,318 Clinton years @14,000 deaths
1997 ......... 817
1998 ........ 2,252
1999 ......... 1,984
2000 .......... 1,983
2001 ........ 890
2002 ......... 1,007
2003 ....... 1,410
2004 ......... 1,887
2005 ...... 919
2006.......... 920 Bush years (2001-2006): 7,033 deaths

If you are confused when you look at these figures, so was I.

Do these figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Mr. Clinton's presidency when America wasn't even involved in a war? And, I was even more confused; when I read that in 1980, during the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities!

These figures indicate that many members of our Media and our Politicians will pick and choose. They present only those "facts" which support their agenda-driven reporting. Why do so many of them march in lock-step to twist the truth? Where do so many of them get their marching-orders for their agenda?

Our Mainstream Print and TV media, and many Politicians like to slant that these brave men and women, who are losing their lives in Iraq, are mostly minorities! Wrong AGAIN just one more media lie!

The latest census, of Americans, shows the following distribution of American citizens, by Race:
European descent (White) ...... 69.12%
Hispanic ....................................... 12.5%
Black.......................................... 12.3%
Asian ............................................... 3.7%
Native American .......................... . ..1.0%
Other ................... ....................... ... 2.6%

Now... here are the fatalities by Race; over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom:

European descent (white) ...... 74.31%
Hispanic .................................. 10.74%
Black ........................................ 9.67%
Asian ........................................... 1.81%
Native American ......................... 1.09%
Other ........................................... . 0.33%

You do the Math! These figures don't lie, but Media-liars figure and they sway public opinion !

(These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and they may be confirmed by anyone at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf )

Now ask yourself two questions:

"Why does the mainstream Print and TV Media never print statistics like these?" and

"Why do the mainstream media hate the (world wide) web as much as they do?"

Waving goodbye to America as I knew it. Pt. 1

I sit here today a stranger in a strange land. This is a difficult situation for anyone, anywhere, made worse I think, by the fact that I am in my house, in my country. Still it is true. I look around each day and wonder who are those people in D.C. (the capitol), where did the professors at our universities come from, why is 90% of all entertainment,(t.v. , movies and music) purely and simply garbage? Not just trash, much of it seems to be designed to undermine, ridicule, or erase everything that made this country great in the first place. At the universities the young people are fed a steady dose of anti-American propaganda that would make Joseph Stalin, Osama bin laden, Mao Zedong, and Mahmoud Ahmadinegad proud. If you don't know who those people are you are an example of our pitiful education system, or simply too busy living out the I've gotta have it now American shopper mentality.
That leads me to another observation, everyone is in debt. It didn't used to be this way. In today's America the average family debt includes; mortgage on home, loans on 1 sometimes 2 autos, various credit cards with cumulative balances around 9,000 dollars, and many families have loans on things like RVs or other recreational toys. Contrast that with our grandparents generation, the people that survived the depression, fought and won, world war 2. They did not like debt, They saved money and made a down payment on their home. If they had 2 cars one was a paid off used car. If they used credit cards at all they usually paid them off monthly. I almost forgot, get this, they had money in the bank!

Gun Control

Listen to this statement and ask yourself who made it: "This year will go down in history. For the first time a civilized nation has full gun registration. The street will be safer, the police more efficient and the world will follow our lead into the future." That was spoken by Adolf Hitler, on April 15, 1935.
The Turkish Ottoman Empire established gun control in 1911. It then proceeded to exterminate 1 and a half million Armenians from 1914 to 1917.
The Soviet Union established gun control in 1929. Subsequently, from 1928 to 1953, 60 million dissidents were imprisoned and then exterminated.
China enacted gun control laws in 1935. After the communist takeover, from 1948 to 1952, 20 million Chinese, unable to defend themselves, were murdered.
Nazi Germany fully established gun control in 1938. That helped the government to round up 13 million defenseless Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, mentally ill and impaired human beings. Many were imprisoned in concentration camps, then destroyed.
Guatemala passed gun control laws in 1964. Then, from 1964 to 1981, 100,000 defenseless Mayan Indians were exterminated.
Uganda established gun control measures in 1970. Predictably, from 1971 to 1979, 300,000 defenseless Christians met a similar fate.
Cambodia established gun control measures in 1956. Subsequently, from 1957 to 1977, 1 million Cambodians met their deaths.
Our Founding Fathers had good reason to include in the Constitution "the right for each citizen to bear arms." They came to this country with vivid memories of what an all-powerful government could do to its defenseless citizens.

Posted by j b maccabee at 11:16 AM 0 comments

Waving goodbye to America as I Knew it. pt.1

Coming soon, a series of observations and memories.

The new CONtract on America

By John Galt

December 7, 2007

And with thunderous applause, Kudlow is having a Cramergasm, and the banksters all rubbing their hands like Mr. Potter from “It’s a Wonderful Life”, Bush announced the most obvious, stupid and mindless nonsense since Carter threatened the Soviet Union for invading Afghanistan. The original “Contract With America” was a noble idea but as usual the political class had no clue and the American people have been in revolt and disgust ever since the politicians betrayed their trust. So now, a new “CONtract on America” has been developed where those who play by the rules will once again donate their hard earned future earnings to cover for those who have no self-responsibility and no shame. While this blanket statement probably should not apply to all of the subprime “victims” we see paraded on the news every stinking night now, the majority fit this rule. And we are being conned again by the political and financial elites.

The idea that people who can not afford their mortgages when their variable rate mortgages increase can be bailed out because the government urged the banksters to “freeze” the adjustable rate increases is so preposterous, so ignorant, and so Hooverian (my word, better give me credit for using it) that the American people who needed hope will soon find out that they have been given more of the same. Banksterism 101 teaches you that the local banker is no longer your primary contact for doing business when it comes to your sub-prime mortgage issues, that the government will eventually bail you out, and that those pesky eviction and auction notices on your door are just legal fluffernuttery to be ignored until Momma and Papa government come to save you. A funny thing happened though on the road to recovery, salvation and keeping your dog Fluffy playing in the backyard; someone forgot that dirty word “qualifications” in the mainstream financial media and the proclamation that 250,000 homeowners might save their homes is such wonderful news, the fact that another 2.5 million might lose theirs has been lost in the Fast Money ticker of joy and happiness. You see, reality is the one thing people refuse to confront and wow, this plan does everything to avoid confronting reality and guaranteeing that the banksters get those Christmas bonuses and a chance to pump and dump their holdings before the house of cards collapses.

Today’s announcement claimed once again, falsely, that the “mortgage crisis” is nothing but a subprime issue. The reality is that the majority of the problems are now growing in the heart of the middle class where Alt-A, traditional jumbo, Option-ARM’s and just regular good old prime mortgages are in trouble. Toss in a dose of home equity defaults, credit card defaults and auto loan delinquencies and you have the formula for a complete meltdown of the entire financial system. While the mainstream media has kept their focus on the residential housing dilemma, the commercial real estate market is following suit. The word is that “gasp” there really is an economic slowdown and a lot of commercial real estate is going unsold, unfinished and unpaid for. This is creating an entirely new aspect for the government to bail folks out. And that’s where the problem in the solution lies. The issue that most people are willing and sadly somewhat eager to overlook is that a mortgage is a binding contract between two private parties, be they an individual and a bank or a business and financier. History is replete with people and companies who lost fortunes or found misfortune because they failed to read or failed to hire someone to read and interpret a contract. Yet the people who did not plan, the banksters who approved obviously falsified application information (like all those SSN’s of 000-00-0000), and those voters who insisted they could make the payments for two or three years even though their Cadillac Escalade monthly payments were equal to or in excess of their housing payments are all now screaming to breach the basic tenets of contract law. That’s reassuring as hell for a capitalist economy now, isn’t it?

Sadly, there is a precedent for the actions taken today and a reason why the banksters were so willing to accommodate, at least in a photo-op sort of way, the wishes of the political class to sooth the ruffled feathers and prevent the photo ops of single moms having their Christmas trees dragged to the curb on the 24th of this month with six crying kids from their $700,000 home which she got on a subprime ARM with a real income of $40,000 per year (not including government assistance). They bought time, and that’s all for now. But the banksters knew they had no options as on January 8, 1934 the United States Supreme Court voted 5-4 in the case of Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell which upheld a patently anti-capitalist law which the state of Minnesota passed in 1933 called the “Minnesota Mortgage Moratorium Law” which was an attempt to provide protection to farmers and homeowners “during the continuance of the emergency and in no event beyond 1 May 1935.” Needless to say the banksters of the time were furious about this and found their test case but much to their shock and surprise the court shot them down and thus initiated the ideal that government supersedes contract law at will or for the alleged national economic good. The decision included this stunning commentary from Chief Justice Hughes:

“[T]he question is no longer merely that of one party to a contract as against another, but of the use of reasonable means to safeguard the economic structure upon which the good of all depends.”

Despite my reading of the U.S. Constitution over and over again, I never saw anywhere in the Bill of Rights a right guaranteeing that “Failure is Not an Option” and that the U.S. Government can just void any contract it wants between private parties because it wants to safeguard Cadillac ownership. There are legitimate national security issues and yes, I know, numerous cases where private agreements are abrogated for the national benefit and under the guise of the commerce clause, but this case when it was decided in 1934 caused the exact opposite desired effect: Banks failed left and right in Minnesota creating a liquidity and cash crisis which devastated not just the farmers and homeowners it was meant to protect, but the very state and local governments who wanted this law enacted in the first place. The bank failures, farm collapse and industrial base imploding left the local and state governments starved for funding and as a result in worse shape than had the foreclosure process been allowed to cleanse the system.

Needless to say, there is a larger issue, at least in this writer’s mind which is staring everyone in the face and the consequences of nonsense like this and the other various bizarre ideas flowing through state houses to “solve” this “problem” are about to create the very nightmare they thought was cured in the 1930’s. As usual this first step into government meddling is nothing more than the Oprahization of the financial markets to make everyone cry and feel good. But the first consequence will be an almost immediate stifling of new paper coming to the bond markets. Why would anyone write a mortgage contract of almost any sort if they thought the government might over ride the agreement to get Senator Flubbus re-elected? Add in the consequence of the investors wanting to shed the paper now at almost any price, and you’re looking at spreads getting ready to soar into the stratosphere which is where I think the TanManMozillo flies to in his G4 to get that deep dark tan. Now that we’ve shaken the confidence of underwriters, banksters and investors, that should pretty much put another nail in the existing home sales and new home sales starting in the first quarter of 2008 once everyone figures out that their return on investment is based on a roulette wheel formula controlled by Benron Bernanke and his group of Goldman flunkies. To add to the misery, find any one with the guts to put up the capital for large scale commercial condominium projects, as even the Donald has cancelled his project in the Tampa area due to the lack of presales despite his name and the Apprentice winner managing part of the project.

The numerous flaws in the plan without even reading it are so hilarious, it’s not even worth posting the details in this rant, just go to the Wall Street Journal in the morning and enjoy the show. The obvious problem that anyone with two functioning brain cells can see is that even though the banksters have turned thirty year paper into thirty five year paper to guarantee their survival with government backing, this does not cure the myriad of other debts that are incurred when one purchases a home. The idiocy of this program does not address an ARM written on a 125% LTV where the debtor is current in their payments and they used the 25% bonus they received on closing for new cars, vacations, or worse, investments in hedge funds that specialized in MBS paper. This means that those foolish loans could easily be protected and even some of the flippers will find a way to deceive the program as they figured that out originally while the good times were rolling. So now I guess we can start the new bail out programs that I propose to finish saving the real estate industry and our economy:

The Escalade refinancing program. All payments are to be frozen at $50.00 per month for 720 months or until the vehicle breaks down. Only people who have subprime home loans where the payments are current and they voted for Barney Frank, even if they lived in Texas will qualify.
The Property Tax dismissal program. In lieu of the inability of people to pay absurd taxes on bogus assessments which the real estate industry promoted to pump up their balance sheets, the Federal Government will pay all property taxes past due on people who had subprime mortgages where the payments are current and they own at least one ecofriendly minivan. To insure this program is fair, people who actually have savings accounts will be required to forfeit at least 50% of their savings because they must be right wing whacko freaks for actually trying to save money.
The Credit Card Forgiveness Act of 2008: Everyone who has a subprime mortgage where they are current and not in default will have their credit card debt paid by a neighbor who doesn’t use credit cards because they are anti-American scum obviously. To insure that people suddenly do not rush out to get credit cards to evade this program, the banksters have assured us that the ABCP market will seize up thanks the Mortgage rescue plan and there will be no desire for short, intermediate or long term paper to be issued to cover any new credit applications.
While I might be speaking tongue in cheek above, the issues are deadly serious. The Fed has no choice, none at all now, but to flood the markets with cheap credit as quickly as possible to insure the commercial credit markets continue to function. Cheap money must become available for the general public also, as the need for the maximization of consumer debt to keep the balance sheets looking good is now national priority number one (Osama Bin-who?). The phrase “inflate or die” will now become the election year mantra as any sustained period with negative economic reports will guarantee a victory by the other party. The Republicans will once again not only sacrifice principles as usual, but long term economic viability in a desperate attempt to retain power which will multiply the problems by larger and larger factors. This attempt to re-leverage a deflating asset class will be akin to burning money in the streets and in the process burning investors worldwide who will eventually bail out in a more open and rapid fashion. The currency, our beloved dollar, will soon be useless as inflation on goods and services skyrocket while the assets the government is attempting to save sink in value, thus initiating the great flight that is already under way yet under the radar. The lack of a manufacturing base will finally come home to roost and this inability to McDonaldize a recovery from the dwindling expansion will finally wake people up and create a withdrawal of funds from investments nationwide by more and more average Americans. The late comers, as usual, will fly to the safety of gold, silver, and other hard assets to weather the storm, just like their parents did in the 1930’s. Meanwhile the Subprime Generation will be wondering where their next magnetic strip will come from, leaving them bewildered when they are laid off from the shopping mall and unable to seek further government aid to sustain their debtor’s lifestyle. The ultimate ending to this story has not been written yet. But the prospects of a deflationary depression starting in late 2008 are quite possibly staring us in the face, as the ability to honor contracts, be they residential mortgages or MBS, CDO’s or CLO’s, will eventually implode our system and the maybe even the government debt creation machine built upon it. The consequences of our excesses for forty years shall now come home to roost. The time to prepare was yesterday, the time to pray for a miracle is now.



For more information on the case and the information quoted above: Home Building & Loan Association v. Blaisdell

http://johngaltfla.com/

George Washington's Thanksgiving Day Proclamation

October 3, 1789,
George Washington

By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor-- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks--for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war--for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted--for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually--to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord--To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and us--and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

George Washington




George Washington's October 3, 1789, Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, 10/03/1789
Old Military and Civil Records LICON, Textual Archives Services Division (NWCTB), National Archives
ARC Identifier: 299956