Why I Don't "Owe" My Veterans

I am about to rattle a few cages here, especially if you are a disabled veteran, and most especially if you are a veteran receiving public benefits. I understand that you have done your duty, and may whatever power you hold most sacred bless you to the utmost for that.

But I would like you to rethink some things if you think you are "owed" your benefits for what you have done, and I will illustrate the reasons why with the story of my own great-grandfather, Ted.

Ted's parents were German immigrants to the United States of America during the height of the industrial boom, which was the late 1800s to early 1900s. They had a good life, and a little store, and all was fairly alright.

Enter World War One.

Their son was enlisted in the US forces and went overseas to fight. Ted fought his father's ex-countrymen. And he fought well. That didn't stop a bombshell from blowing his foot off while he was in action.

Ted came back to the States, minus a foot. He was directed to a workshop for other WWI veterans that had become "disabled" like him. The workshop taught him how to make paper flowers to sell to the public on the corner so that he could still have an income. Essentially, teaching veterans how to live of the public pity dollars. No different than getting the public assistance pity dollars that most disabled vets live off of today. (Spade a spade, like it or don't.)

You know what he said to that?

SCREW THIS! It was my FOOT that got blown off, not my HEAD!

Ted did not get public assistance (didn't exist yet) or public charity or public pity. He used the gray matter between his ears to make his living after that. He moved westward and got into film. Hollywood was a burgeoning industry at the time, and silent films were the cinematic artform of the day. He directed movies, worked with Harold Lloyd, met his beautiful Irish wife and had a gorgeous daughter to whom he gave a middle name in honor of his best friend, George Herman Ruth, Jr. (otherwise known as Babe Ruth), who became her godfather. My dad (Ted's grandson) still has the silver baseball from his mother's christening engraved with the man's autograph.

Ted helped shape the budding Hollywood, and was at the first Oscars with his wife. I have seen the copy of the picture of it, which my dad has, and he pointed out my great-grandparents to me, smiling brilliantly.

Not once did Ted consider himself "disabled" or think that the citizens of this country "owed" him for his service. He fought and served because it was his DUTY, not a DEBT to be incurred by the people that he was protecting. Such a thing is no better than hiring and compensating a paid bodyguard, really.

He used his wits to keep on going, keep living, and make his mark on the world, without the public dole - or what would have equated to the public dole at the time. Without a foot, mind you.

Please think of the course that my great-grandfather took, before you say or think that you are "owed" something for a DUTY that you damn well knew the ramifications of before you even took up arms.

And if you're wondering where the fortune of my great-grandfather went, and why his great-granddaughter has had to make due and thrive in such a hard life as she has, then allow me to illustrate succinctly what happened for you.

Have you ever seen Rocky V?

Very close to that.

And this was before his daughter was married to my grandfather, by the way. She married a war vet, too, like her mom did. He didn't get anything blown off though, thank heavens.

This post is not meant to disparage our honored war veterans, but to ENCOURAGE and INSPIRE them by putting things in perspective.

In order to restore the constitution that you swore an oath to uphold, protect, and defend, we have to actually adhere to it. As explained in Davy Crockett vs Welfare, there is no Constitutional authority, to use public funds for charity of any kind. http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/ellis1.html

Thank you for your bravery.

Sneaky Bastards Usurping My Vigilance

With all the hub-bub surrounding the nation-wide petitions of the people to the White House to allow the individual states to peacefully secede from the Union, should they officially choose to do so, I thought I ought to address a plausible eventuality if the answer is “no.”

History has shown that the “elite” and “owners of the world” - the financiers who control everything behind the scenes, indirectly, through the many businesses, corporations, conglomerates, and shell corporations within further shell corporations that they own – have always funded both sides of a war. The European banksters did it to the nations of Europe for time immemorial, and did so again by funding both sides of the American civil war as well through the proper, discreet channels. No matter who won, there would still be a nation (or two, had the Confederacy succeeded) in debt to them. Had the Confederacy succeeded in wresting their independence from the Union, these financiers would have a whole new nation to sink their hooks into, invest in, and indebt. They would have done it the same way as they have already done with the fully preserved United States, discreetly, counting on the “small people” to be too preoccupied with the trivialities of their daily lives to pay attention, or wrap their heads around things that are right in front of their eyes.

Unless, the Confederate citizens kept the traits that lead them to try to secede in the first place: seeing what's going on in their country and not letting it stand.

The price of Liberty is ETERNAL VIGILANCE.

Should any of these states go forward in this new secession movement, begun by the people, then the people MUST follow all events that happen as they move forward. “Always follow the money,” as Jesse Ventura has said. KNOW who is funding whom. DO NOT accept the patronage of these same invasive parasites that have brought the United States to shame, for their own gain and profit. Follow the trail of money, funds, and other possible goods, services, or deals all the way to the top – through business after business, supplier after supplier, shell after shell (corporations), and if it leads you back to one of these duplicitous infectors of nations, SEVER TIES, burn those proverbial bridges and don't look back. DO NOT LET THEM quietly take you over and take you down.

ETERNAL VIGILANCE, people. Without it, no nation, new or old, can ever be free.

News Sources:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/secission-petitions-filed-20-states-190210006.html

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/white-house-may-respond-texas-secession-petition-212328772--election.html

http://www.naturalnews.com/037963_Texas_secede_independence.html

PROPHECY CAN BE FOUND IN THE STRANGEST OF PLACES

  The following post was not composed by me, nor did I receive it's contents in any e-mail addressed to me. I saw this out in the blogoshpere and thought it worthwhile in re-posting.

 

Greetings Patriots,

Apologies for sending this as a multiple recipient email, however time is of the essence and I was too tired to send these one at a time. I consider myself to be on decent terms with all of you.

Even though some of you are in active conflict at the moment. The issue at hand supersedes any of that. I am reaching out to each of you and requesting the use of your special skills for the Liberty Movement. I know that like myself all of you
have families, jobs and real life issues that demand your attention. However
this is a task that I cannot complete on my own.

Many of us in the Militia have noticed a faltering in the Patriot/Liberty Movement this week. The scent of fear and a lack of resolve seems to be spreading. Many formerly
stalwart Patriots seem to lack focus and we are hearing disturbing rumors
(even from our allies in the Active Services). So, we felt it was necessary to
speak up. To accomplish that I was tasked with reaching out to you.

I have never requested any favors from any of you, nor have I asked you to publish
anything that could put you at risk. This is different. Attached is an open
letter, affirmed by the Commanders of Militias in fourteen of the States.
The letter is supported by many more who were unwilling to go public at this
moment. Some of them have been visited in the last week by DHS and FBI teams of
investigators.

By accepting my request, you may be placing yourself at further risk of harassment by Federal authorities. I would be lacking in honor to not give you this fair warning.

My request is simple and will not require great effort on your part. However the results may be beneficial to the Movement as a whole( Libertarian/ Patriot/ Militia)

I am asking each of you to Publish the attached letter verbatim on your blogs/sites THIS WEEKEND, with or without commentary. The letter is exactly what it appears to be and contains no hidden messages or go-codes. It is a simple message from us (The
Militia) to them (Patriots of ALL stripes) and you. If you are the men of action
that I believe you all to be this message will spread across the web this
weekend and bring some small comfort to the Liberty Movement. If you choose to
stand down I will understand and relay your reply to my contacts in the Militias. This is serious business we are about gentlemen and I do not make this request lightly. If you choose to participate the Militia and Liberty Movements will owe you a debt of gratitude.

In Solidarity,

Redacted
Commanding Officer
Redacted / Minutemen

Here is the letter:
PROPHECY CAN BE FOUND IN THE STRANGEST OF PLACES.

The United States Militias are with you. Do not despair, do not relent. We welcome the
removal of masks and the hardness of truth. You are not alone. We were here when it all started.

We have paid in blood and tears for thirty years, as many of you now realize you will have to pay. Do not let fear drive you. Do not give up five minutes before the miracle occurs. You are not beaten until you are in the cold hard ground. Do not hide. Do not give up one inch. Go boldly into the fray with faith in your heart and a song on your lips. You, the Patriots of this age are our Sinn Fein, we need you to stand. And in standing, become the stone that can not be moved.

Find the Militia in your State, you will find a brotherhood that the Marxists and the Corrupt can not match. You will be welcomed, you will be educated, you will be trained to be an effective freedom fighter.

“We are what our forefathers envisioned, strong-willed,and self-reliant. We are the legacy they bought to build. We are not anti-government, We are anti-corruption. We are not anti-immigrant, We are pro-citizenship. We are not separatists, We are Constitutionalists. We know our history and revere it, We love our country and fear for it. We are your mechanics, and your insurance agents. Your police and your firefighters. We are your neighbors. We are Citizens and We are the Militia.”

“HARD RAIN”
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
Heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman whose body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded with hatred
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall
STAND AND RESIST

Approved by the Commanders of the following Militia Units:

Ohio Valley Minutemen- Citizen’s Volunteer Militia- (OH&WV)
Tomball Militia – (Tomball TX)
South East Michigan Volunteer Militia- (MI)
Western Kansas Militia, A Co.- (KS)
Texas Lightfighters 3/5- (TX)
Northwest Washington Recon- (WA)
Georgia Militia- (GA)
South East Constitutional Militias- Charter Oaks Group- (FL)
Southern Ohio Volunteers- (OH)
Indiana Sentinels- (IN)
Illinois Sons of Liberty- (IL)
42nd Field Force, 63rd Bn Eastern Washington Light Foot Militia- (WA)
Northern California State Militia- (CA)
Miami Valley Militia- (OH)
Illinois Militia- (IL)
3rd Kentucky Volunteer Infantry-A Co.- (KY)
17th CERT/17TH SOG- (KY)
Tennessee Defense Force- (TN)
Colorado 1st Patriots Defense Force- (CO)
Allegheny Rangers Militia- (PA)
Copies sent to an additional 46 Militia Units Nationwide.

Cost-Effective Feminine Necessities that Work in a SHTF World

My Fellow American Women

We have needs. Particular needs of a physiological nature that - no matter how many femi-nazis will say “we're all equal” - make us DIFFERENT from the rest of humanity (men), the most obvious of which happens in the restroom. How do we address those needs in a cost-effective, sustainable manner that will also be viable in a SHTF scenario? *cough*Sandy*cough, cough*

Let's start with toilet paper. Apparently we need it more than guys do, but toilet paper is a finite resource that will rapidly become scarce and worth more than gold. How do we conserve toilet paper, then?

Solution: wet rags.

This is the part where you go, “Hawkweed, wtf are you talking about? What's a 'wet rag' and why the hell would I want to use that?” Well, I'll tell you.

Assuming that you didn't just go number 2, in which case the need for toilet paper is non-negotiable, a wet rag is a regular wash rag, designated solely for the use of cleaning yourself up when you use the loo.

1. Take the rag, wet it and rinse it at the bathroom sink
2. Go do your business
3. Clean up with the wet rag
4. Take the rag back with you to the sink and rinse it thoroughly before hanging it up it the spot you have for it
5. Wash your hands and carry on with your day

If the power is out and the water is not running, a pre-collected bowl of rinse water will do, provided you're able to change it every several uses or so.

Now this is the part where I tell you the other benefits aside from saving toilet paper that all this has.

One benefit is that no “little white fuzzies” will be left behind by the wet rag. Another is that you will actually be left cleaner and fresher with the water from the wet rag than you would if you used the dry paper - like taking a shower (albeit without soap) versus trying to take a shower without even turning on the water or getting wet.

This is also a great solution for staying clean when you're on your period, and makes a huge cut down on mess.

Speaking of when you're on your period, ever consider a set of cloth menstrual pads? Cotton seems a lot more comfortable and less odorous than recycled paper and plastic, don'tchya think?

Consider this as a good starting place for shopping cloth pads: http://www.naturallycozy.com/naturally-cozy.html

Stocked with a good set, it should last you your whole period, be easily taken care of with a rinse and then a run through the laundry, and then put away until next month, all very cost-effective.

Your toilet paper and money are all saved for other important uses, while your highly important feminine needs are addressed in a sustainable way.

Unless you're a tampons kind of gal, in which case you are braver than me, but at the same time I do not envy you one bit.

Freaky stuff that Happened on Election Day

Just a few freaky things that happened yesterday. 

Get to tha choppa! - A chain of black-hawk helicopters flew in a follow-the-leader line across the airspace of our backyard in the morning. Chopper chain, how lovely.

Spooky calls - We got a call from (I kid you not) 000-000-0000, and the answering machine picked up for us but they left no message. This was the actual number on the caller ID, and no, this does not mean that it was a blocked call, because if it was, the ID readout would have said "blocked call," instead, as it always does.

Number acrobatics - Prop 37 with 70% FOR it suddenly back-flipping to 60% against (or so I hear). WTF?

The Orange Hawkweed

Thought I would do a post on my blog-namesake, for something less thought-heavy.

The Orange Hawkweed (Pilosella aurantiaca or Hieracium aurantiacum, sources are divided) is a gorgeous flame-orange colored wildflower that has a fuzzy stem, grows from a basal rosette of fuzzy leaves, and commonly has one to multiple blooms on the end of its one central stalk.  It has a distinct fragrance that is a soft, subtle, and delicate kind of sweetness that is very unoffensive. You have to actually stick your nose up to the blaze-colored bloom to catch a whiff of it, though. 

The plant is native to Europe, but found its way to North America and Australia, most likely by people migrating.
In Europe, it is grown as an ornamental and a protected species in some areas.
In America, it's all over my yard, and mowed over by neighbors without a thought or a care, because it's just another unsightly invasive weed - regardless of it's glowingly lovely color and scent. 

I haven't found a use for this beautiful fire-like flower yet, edible, medicinal, or otherwise, but it is a delight to have around. I appreciate a fistful of these in my husband's hand more than a bouquet of red roses (which are cliché and too heady-smelling).

Orange Hawkweed is also on the Idaho "noxious weeds" list. http://www.oneplan.org/Crop/noxWeeds/nxWeed18.asp  Epic razz to that, says I.

“Go Green” and “Life is Hard”

Disclaimer: This is not to the III%, who are worth their salt.

I hate these two phrases more than anything else uttered on the face of the Earth in any language, and no, it's not even for the usual righteously indignant, “can't stand the fluffy-bunnies” reasons, either.

I hate them because every time I hear them or read them, the person saying or writing them never – and I do mean invariably NEVER – has any real idea of what they're even talking about.

I would know.

Let's start with the latter phrase, “life is hard,” shall we?

This is almost always spoken by somebody on food stamps, or some other public assistance, and/or spends roughly $400 a month or more on their groceries, at least. They also still have enough money for gas, buying a few DVDs here and there, or some music off iTunes, new shoes, new clothes, and can go out every so often with friends, maybe even somewhere out of town for vacation. They indulge in things like chocolate, and cream and sugar with their coffee.

My monthly stipend for food is $40 a month. It has been for the past handful of years now, and it's not going to change. My husband, the family cook, plans out meals for the whole month, so that we don't run out. $40 is a good as it gets.

No movies, no music, no new books, no new swag. No new anything that we don't absolutely need.

“Life is hard,” is NOTHING that I want to hear from some other woman in a cute top, blinking at me with mascara on her lashes, with her over-fed brood in nikes and winter coats, stuffing their shopping carts with cheese and chips and cereal, going home in their gassed-up mini-van, to their air-conditioned/centrally heated home where they will watch TV, gripe over something someone said on facebook, and go to bed snug as a bug (and that's only ONE example of the variety of folks with no idea).

DO NOT EVER TELL ME YOUR LIFE IS HARD.

I KNOW what hard life is.

I live and thrive on $40 a month. Chances are, you can't do what I do. If you would like to, I'll see you in Idaho. Otherwise, stop seeking sympathy or pity, I have none to spare in this arena, and it should be very evident as to why.

… And I hate having to pull out the “hard-life” ruler, it's tacky and time-consuming, really. It never makes me feel any better, either.

Next phrase, “Go Green.” The social engineering slogan that is all talk, no walk, targets the WRONG people for environmental culpability, and is at best a flat out joke.

Do people actually think that the true culprits of pollution, the big mega-corporations, are going to be swayed from their profiteering practices by a few bleeding hearts in green t-shirts? If so, please keep them far away from me.

The Greenwashed masses always talk about getting back to nature, saving energy, helping the Earth... but what do they actually DO about it, really?

Getting back to nature typically doesn't happen. People are scared to death of Nature. You mention foraging or hunting and fishing to these folks and you're looked at as though you're some kind of backwards savage. Why do all that stuff, when you can just go buy organic from big natural food brands at big natural foods' stores that are actually owned by even bigger companies that push the artificial-crap-posing-as-food brands that they own right alongside their “good stuff”? Heaven forbid, you might get dirty! Or miss American Idol! Cooking from scratch takes too much time! And skinning and gutting is ICKYYYYYYY!

They continue to drink fluoridated water and put aspartame in their drinks, too, it's so quaint.

Really, though, foraging and hunting = it DOESN'T GET any more “organic” and “all-natural” than this!

But no, it is as I quote from one of my neighbors as he said of some plants in our yard, “Why would you want save them? Those are weeds!” So genuinely flabbergasted was he, that we would spare a bunch of unsightly weeds (the awful horror). My husband then educated him on the fact that it was burdock. Burdock root is also known as “gobo.”

As I recall, he didn't have much to say beyond a few grumbles about that. But back he went to his perfectly manicured, big empty lawn, with it's few ornamentals here and there and not a single “weed” in sight, edible or otherwise. It continues to remain to this day the very envy of golf-course-esque backyard lawns everywhere.

Recycling is good. But those fluorescent bulbs that are supposedly so great are actually manufactured with mercury, and are highly toxic to the earth, not to mention the spectrum they emit has been proven for years now to weaken people who are directly exposed to it for prolonged periods of time, making them lethargic and unfocused. Makes you wonder why they make it mandatory and “code” to have it schools and office buildings, doesn't it? Not only that, if one breaks, it literally requires a haz-mat team to clean up, I exaggerate not, look it up.

Natural light from a window by day, incandescent fixture by night for me, please and thank you, until we can find something that actually IS better.

Ever notice that the go-greeners often tend to spend a lot, as well? Buying expensive organic food, expensive imported “natural fiber” clothes, expensive “hybrid” vehicles, expensive “natural” personal hygiene products (which may or may not actually be as the label-marketing touts), mineral makeup, and on and on.

But here's me, with my all-natural food that I got first-hand with my husband, no processing beyond water and a knife-blade. My face bears no makeup, doesn't need it, except maybe a little lip color for out in public. I sit basking in the view of the autumn sky, bright even with illuminated cloud cover, and I'm in comfortable clothes that I've managed to make last for nearly five years. No money spent, there, no resources wasted, and no pollution.

I don't need to “go green.” I already live as green as it gets, without even trying. So all the folks wailing with their anti-humanity pro-cuddly-animals-and-flowers crap can go re-evaluate themselves and the way that THEY choose to live, thank you.

Of Pioneers and Pariahs

Ever notice how all the true innovation, new theory, new thought, even new renaissances are ALL made by pioneers? Really. People who are willing to push or outright ignore boundaries and blaze new trails and cover new ground into unexplored territory.

Ever notice how they are always branded as weird, kooks, heretics and blasphemers, nuts, ridiculed, discouraged, or sometimes even exiled or ostracized until they come back with the fruits of their hard work and accomplished glory?

All these trail-blazers are always told at the outset that “this is this and that is that because of what we know.” Really? Well how do we know this? Oddly enough, the work of the great pioneers who blazed the field of whatever the subject matter being touched on up to this point in time is cited. Well, what was there BEFORE those pioneers dared to go against the flow?

Nothing.

Nothing, really?

That's right, nothing. They were being told, just as you are now, to stick to the already covered ground, the safe territory, the known territory, and being told that THEY were crazy nuts for wanting to push beyond that. They ignored these admonishments, of course.

Has anyone ever stopped to notice this pattern?

Only AFTER a pioneer has blazed the trail - be it discovering new lands, or new science, or new philosophy - and knocked down those “threatened” folks who rise up to challenge them for what they're doing, do ANY of the masses follow.

Now it's safe, now the way is clear, now it's made doctrine, and the pattern begins all over again.

Calvin was initially branded a heretic for starting the Reformation movement, and now we have Protestants.

Einstein never had a degree, and yet he's cited as one of the greatest scientific minds to have ever lived.

Benjamin Franklin was chided for his “blasphemy” when he invented the lightning rod.

And had the American Revolution not succeeded, every last man in the Continental Congress that founded the country now known as the United States of America would have been hanged as traitors to their king.

Being a pioneer is lonely and dangerous. Yet nothing in this world moves or progresses without them. 

You'd think we'd all learn by now to trust in that, instead of repeating history like the machine-cogs in a music box, playing the same tune over and over again.

Hello, Szía, Guten Tag, Oy!

I am an American woman, and although I am NOT new to Patriot affairs, sustainable living, history and folklore, Shakespeare, married and family life, the miracle of synchronicity, or singing an aria, I AM new to blogging, but it is my hope that all you intelligent people may get something interesting or insightful out of future thoughts and posts, and that we can connect here.

Unintelligent people can kindly look at the pretty wildflowers and keep their atrocious lolcat grammar to themselves, thank you.