King George Rethink Your 21st Century Sugar Act

Most of you know that the Revenue Act of 1764 or Sugar Act was the last time Parliament tried to impose an act relating to sugar on the American Colonies. The 1733 Molasses Act was the first and was protested by the Colonies immediately. The Sugar Act actually lowered the price of sugar in the Colonies but added other ways of taxing the people. I'm sure it is not necessary to remind the Congress or the American people what happened the last time government went past the line in the sand.

Thirty-three states already have sales taxes that apply to sugar. The reason for these taxes are mostly small fund raisers for the states and have nothing to do with health. Many specialists believe the states will enact taxes on sugar or it's products before the federal government slaps a national excise tax on sweetened products. According to a study in October 2009 by The Center for Science in the Public Interest  a seven cent tax on a twelve ounce can would generate 10 billion dollars for the states.

The Center for Public Integrity has stated, "This is no time for Congress to be adding taxes on the simple pleasures we all enjoy, like juice drinks, chocolate milk and soda......we all want to improve health care, but taxes never made anyone healthy." There are literally thousands of organizations and lobbists in America that oppose any form of high-fructose corn syrup tax on products. This tax would be included in almost every product that low-income families use.

The following top ten organizations are against this tax as you should be. The American Beverage Association, the Grocery Manufacturers Association, the National Association for Convenient Stores, the National Restaurant Association, the International Dairy Foods Association, the National Retail Federation, Kraft Foods Global Inc., Yum! Brands, Coca Cola and PepisiCo. Some other groups that oppose this tax are Burger King, Domino's Pizza, The National Corn Growers Association, Snapple, Americans Against Food Taxes, the National Hispanic Medical Association and the US Chamber of Commerce to name a few. The Chamber is asking all citizens of low-income to write Congress.

Oppose this tax before it takes on a life of it's own and hurts those who believe a few cents can make a difference. But you can also choose to stand by while those in Washington stick it to you again. When is enough, enough? When are, "We The People" going to tell Congress and the national federal government boot jacks and lackies, "What part of no more don't you understand? What's it going to take? Here's my whole pay check, I'll be happy with non-sugared cake? This has almost nothing to do with offsetting health care costs and everthing to do with controlling American lives and taxing the poor.

Today, Yesterday & Last Week With Uncle Sam

There used to be a time when this country had a draft. It served a useful purpose and avoided problems of today. The draft was not popular during Vietnam and is just about unthinkable today. It would avoid many  of the ills we see in the military today. Families are being torn apart by three and four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. Suicide is on the increase, soliders refusing to deploy, veterans are walking the streets like predators looking for bleeding trophies and need we talk about Fort Hood, Texas?

Talking to them downtown I hear things like, "we should go downtown and kill a few pedophiles or perverts. Hey back at the apartment I have two 9mm's under my pillow, three rifles and enough ammo to make war on Detroit." They spend most of their nights protecting a perimeter full of civilians that are their own family and friends. A car backfires three times and a major engagement could start in any city, any small town in America. I love my veteran brothers, but unlike Vietnam they have been sold the whole can of whop ass and they are ready to use it.

Americans have a major problem we have let those in Washington fool us into again. Much of what is happening can be directly attribuited to greed and old men who care nothing for our country. Big business is making billions while millions of veterans and their families suffer. There won't be a stocking hanging over the fireplace for many families this year boys and girls. While those in Washington make up a story you'll buy about Fort Hood while more of our hero's die.

How's Your Telepathy and Colorado Springs Restaurants?

It seems to me that baby boomers mess with people that are young just to see if they have all their marbles in the same bag. There is that possibility that its the other way around. But its interesting to ask young people a question that forty years ago a younth would have known. This way in my own mind I am checking to see if there are enought people to run the country in twenty years.

This past week took me over to one of the three Carmike Cinemas here in Colorado Springs. If you were told most of the other cinemas are twice the price and crowded that could border on politics and I'm trying to stay away from politics. However their tickets, popcorn and drinks are really about half the price of other cinemas. They also have this plastic cow bucket that is good for a year and every time you go to the cimema they refill it for fifty cents. Thats a deal and there isn't even a Wall Mart sign out front!

So your likely asking where does the telepathy come in? Well when you go to the cinema during the week many times there is no ticket-taker. So on at least one occassion I had six tickets in my coat pocket. Last week I only had four and put two in each pocket. The ticket taker looked sharp like he always does and I stick my hands in both pockets.

I say to him, "hows your telepathy?" His response was "10-20." No hesitation "10-20." Now I'm on the hook since I don't know what 10-20 means except a police call, how good my eyesight is or something to do with My Space. Well I pass that one by and ask him, "which pocket do I have my tickets in? Without a hint of hesitation he said, "your right pocket." That's pretty good since I'm standing 180 degrees opposite him and some youth don't know their right from their left.

Then I pull out the other tickets in my left pocket and ask him, "what about these?" Again without hesitation he takes the tickets, tears them in half, asks if I want the stubs and points out the cinemas to the right behind him. Which would be my left? Right? We talk awhile and he explains that sometimes during the week there are no ticket takers because of staff cuts. This young man has it on the ball and I'm happy to say one step ahead of the old man.

[One additional comment about Veteran's Day. Many of the large food restaurants in Colorado Springs let veterans eat free on Veteran's Day [open to close or 6pm untill eleven]. I would like to thank them for giving to those who have given so much.]

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes and Sang by Loreena McKennitt

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiijr4mdoLE

One of my favorite poems or ballads The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes above [1906]. If your a romantic this song and poem is for those who could be the Highwayman or "Bess, the landlord's daughter." Clicking on the URL is the song The Highwayman sang live by Loreena McKenuitt pictured above. Poem below. Enjoy!

The Highwayman by Alfred Noyes 1880-1958 and sang by Loreena McKennitt

The wind was a torrent of darkness upon the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight looping the purple moor,
And the highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman came riding up to the old inn door.


He'd a French cocked hat on his forehead, and a bunch of lace at his chin;
He'd a coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of fine doe-skin.
They fitted with never a wrinkle; his boots were up to his thigh!
And he rode with a jeweled twinkle--
His rapier hilt a-twinkle--
His pistol butts a-twinkle, under the jeweled sky.


Over the cobbles he clattered and clashed in the dark inn-yard,
He tapped with his whip on the shutters, but all was locked and barred,
He whistled a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlords's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.


Dark in the dark old inn-yard a stable-wicket creaked
Where Tim, the ostler listened--his face was white and peaked--
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he loved the landlord's daughter--
The landlord's black-eyed daughter;
Dumb as a dog he listened, and he heard the robber say;


"One kiss, my bonny sweetheart; I'm after a prize tonight,
But I shall be back with the yellow gold before the morning light.
Yet if they press me sharply, and harry me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, through hell should bar the way."


He stood upright in the stirrups; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she loosened her hair in the casement! His face burnt like a brand
As the the sweet black waves of perfume came tumbling o'er his breast,
Then he kissed its waves in the moonlight
(O sweet black waves in the moonlight!)
And he tugged at his reins in the moonlight, and galloped away to the west.


He did not come in the dawning; he did not come at noon.
And out of the tawny sunset, before the rise of the moon,
When the road was a gupsy's ribbon over the purple moor,
The redcoat troops came marching--
Marching--marching--
King George's men came marching, up to the old inn door.


They said no word to the landlord; they drank his ale instead,
But they gagged his daughter and bound her to the foot of her narrow bed.
Two of them knelt at her casement, with muskets by their side;
There was Death at every window,
And Hell at one dark window,
For Bess could see, through her casement, the road that he would ride.


They had bound her up at attention, with many a sniggering jest!
They had tied a rifle beside her, with the barrel beneath her breast!
"Now keep good watch!" and they kissed her. She heard the dead man say,
"Look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though Hell should bar the way."


She twisted her hands behind her, but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They streached and stained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, on the stroke of midnight,
Cold on the stroke of midnight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!


The tip of one finger touched it, she stove no more for the rest;
Up, she stood up at attention, with the barrel beneath her breast.
She would not risk their hearing, she would not strive again,
For the road lay bare in the moonlight,
Blank and bare in the moonlight,
And the blood in her veins, in the moonlight, trobbed to her love's refrain.


Tiot tiot, tiot tiot! Had they heard it? The horse-hooves, ringing clear;
Tiot tiot, tiot tiot, in the distance! Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came riding--
Riding--riding--
The redcoats looked to their priming! She stood straight and still.


Tiot tiot, in the frosty silence! Tiot tiot, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment, she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight--
Her musket shattered the moonlight--
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him--with her death.


He turned, he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o-er the casement, drenched in her own red blood!
Not till the dawn did he hear it, and his face grew grey to hear
How Bess, the landlord's daughter,
The landlord's black-eyed daughter,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.


Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind and his rapier brandished high!
Blood-red were his spurs in the golden noon, wine-red was his velvet coat
When they shot him down in the highway,
Down like a dog in the highway,
And he lay in his blood in the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat.


And still on a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a gypsy's ribbon looping the purple moor,
The highwayman comes riding-Riding--
Riding--riding--
The highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door.


Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard,
He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred,
He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there
But the landlord's black-eyed daughter--
Bess, the landlord's daughter--
Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Veteran's Day- A Time Of Remembrance

This Veteran's Day is a day of somber remembrance for just about every family in America. Our veterans at times may seem to disappoint us but they are our last line of defense against the sad evils of this world. Every soldier that stands guard here or around the world deserves our support. After two hundred plus years we still have freedoms that others only dream of. There are no words to show my support and admiration for what they do each day. Believe me when I say it is an ugly job. War does things to soldiers that most of us will never understand. If you see a veteran today make the effort to stop him on the street or at a table in a restaurant and thank him or her. After all we may appear different on the outside we are all of the same blood. America blood. Veterans you are my hero's and I sulate you this remembrance day.

[Photo by former Green Beret Michael Yon from his book Moment Of Truth In Iraq.]

Thank You World Countries For Having Blogs & Coming To Ours

The THERMOPYLAEHILLBILLY would like to thank all the countries and people that come and make comments and visit my blog. My blog is just a small frog in a big pond. Nor do I have thousands and millions of people visit like other blogs. But like the string keeper I keep lists. Technology today allows people way out in the back of the wilderness to track all the blogs and get information. Most are in cites but I wonder and am amazed at the folks who visit me from way out in the middle of nowhere. No towns, cities, roads, even land or airports. Most of us can say the governments that are trying to restrict their citizens from knowing the truth are loosing. World blogs can prove that very easily. So thanks for stopping by and it's understanable why many of you do not make comments. But regarless of what country, or what blog, we're all happy to have you visit. It ends up being an exchange of information and ideas from those who count the most, the little guys.


75% United States; 6% Canada; 5% United Kingdom; 1% Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Mongolia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Spain & Sweden.


Less than 1%; Afghanistan, Algeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, China, Columbia, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Georgia, Grenada, Guyna, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordon, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Omar, Russia, Somilia, South Korea, Syria, Tanzania, Trinidad, Turkmenistan, United Emirates, Venezuela, Vietnam & Yemon.

Tracy Byrd's New Single The First Step & Duluth Trading Company's New Fire Hose Work Pants

There is nothing to convince you your not nineteen anymore than to fall five feet off a ladder flat on your back. So rather than have you try it, I will include some foggy observations on the whole mundane affair. The first noticeable effect? My subconscious kicked in when my feet left the ladder. No it didn't say, "Hey stupid!" It said, "Hey stupid that feeling in your feet? Its not Doctor Scholles. I'm gonna close your eyes. You really don't need to see two hundred-twenty horizontal pounds per square inch of what's getting ready to happen." It is also true thats the fall is not what gets you, its the sudden stop. Lying there in broad daylight every star in the sky lit up. So the only heavenly thing you see during the day is not the moon. The next non-moving violation while I assessed my death was screaming nearby. At the time I believed the neighbor was chocking his rooster to death.

But with those rocks in my head banging together it may have been a train west of town. Or Jimi Hendrix in the afterlife tuning up his guitar. My frontal lobe eventually told me "your alive, but lay there awhile and I'll figure out what part." At an undetermined point your eyes open as the buzzer sounds and you find this has not been your last rodeo. Your neighbor is still choking his rooster so you lay there awhile longer.  By the angry tension in the rooster's vocal cords he's loosing. You think your cell phone is ringing and its Repert Murdock wanting to do a story on stampeding buffalo or Republicans to the polls. Now you know your alive because that just ain't gonna happen. Lastly you get up pulling rocks out of your bloody skin, dust off your spanking brand new Duluth Trading Company fire hose work pants and wave to your loyal fans. The rodeo clown has gone to sleep and the Chinese on the other side of the Earth? Need help picking people up off the ground!


Is there a lessson to be learned here? Yes. If you buy a pair of Duluth Trading Company Fire House Work Pants you will look better at your funeral if you get stupid. "WE DARE YOU (To Wear'em Out) GUARANTEED. Should a pair of Duluth Trading Fire Hose Work Pants ever let you down, frey, tear, rip, or give out, send them back to us. No questions asked, we'll send you a spankin' new pair free, and the shipping's on us." Now tell me when have you heard a guarantee like that lately?   http://www.duluthtrading.com/


[Please note Tracy Byrd nor Duluth Trading Company endorse this blog.]

Nedra by George Barr McCutcheon 1905 [2009 paperback]

Any of you chili dog lovers out there that came today for your dose of, "blood and guts on your teeth" should likely move on. Today I'm gonna tell you about two love stories and throw in a bonus. Back when I was 16 I found a book in a box at what they now call yard sales. The book was 63 years old when I purchased it [25 cents] and have carried it around the world for likely 46 years in my collection. It's old, worn, some water damage but I wouldn't part with it for love nore money. I thought it was a beautifully written and I have never read it again.

The book is called Nedra by George Barr McCutcheon and was first printed in 1905. Believe it or not they came out with the same book [paperback] August 18, 2009. Amazon.com has it and as I write they have 13 copies starting at $2.18 plus three dollars for shipping. I purchased one for a female friend [volunteer] last year whom is in her 80's and she loved it. I am not selling books here, but this is a keeper and I'm sure you will not find it at your community library. But I'm sure they will locate you a copy and have it forwared. My daughter does this and gets to keep the book for about a week free. If it were a reference book it's required to stay at the library.

So what am I pluging here? I'm plugging a love story that will eat at your heart. I'm plugging a sad, I will warn you love story. Thats the only reason I have never read it again. If your politally correct this book is not for you, move on. If you carry your heart on your sleeve, your missing something if you don't read Nedra. The main charactors are Hugh Ridgeway, Grace Vernon, Henry Veath and Lady Tennyson Huntington. I will warn you in advance the book gets going in the middle and is not named after a woman, it is an uncharted island. So thats pretty much all I'm going to say about it, except a paragraph below. Read the book and tell me what you think.

"A tall young man sped swiftly up the wide stone steps leading to the doorway of a mansion in one of Chicago's most fashionable avenues. After pushing the button sharply he jerked out his watch and guessed at the time by the dull red light from the panel in the door. Then he hastily brushed from the sleeve of his coat the telltale billiard chalk, whose presence reminded him that a general survey might be a wise precaution. He was rubbing a white streak from his trousers' leg when the door flew open and the butler admitted him to the hallway. This personage relieved him of his hat, coat and stick and announced: 'Miss Vernon is w'itin for you sir.'"

So now you have two love stories. Me reading a book about love and falling in love with the book. 1+1=2 regardless of how sad you find it. But remember this is not about cheap sex. You can watch that on television. Which by the way I haven't had turned on in about four months and the knobs are gathering dust. You want to watch trash you can get it on any station. You want to learn something that requires brain useage listen to talk radio or read a book.

So where's the bonus? Well its another love story set in the Yukon Territory around the turn of the 20th Century. It's another book I have in my collection. The book is called, "The Lady of North Star and was written in 1922 by Ottwell Binns. Many of his books were printed in Europe and I believe he is English. Not English in the sense of what the Amish Americans call all of us [US], but the country of England. The price varies at Alibris.com from $3.75-$26.50+ postage [11 copies] to $500 for a signed copy with many lines of handwriting by the author. This book has love, suspense, murder, mushing along the Yukon Trail and will keep you on the edge of your reading chair, in bed or camping on PIkes Peak.

"There was a smell of burning spruse in the sharp air, and Corporal Bracknell, of the North-west Mounted Police, threw back his head and sniffed it greatfully. His team of dogs had been consicous of it for some time, and now, quickening the pace, they broke into joyous yelps as they turned inward toward the Saskatoon bushes on the left bank of the frozen river. The corporal smiled to himself. 'They're wise dogs,' he muttered, 'but not wise enough to know the trail's end. I wonder if I shall find the man here.'"

"Our Lives Begin To End The Day We Become Silent About Things That Matter." Martin Luther King

A few weeks ago a family friend Nicole ask me what I wanted for Christmas. To me it seened to be just a tad early to start the ninty day drum beat. But you have to understand she makes homemade things. She has this fabulous talent for burning CD's. So I told her a CD would be nice and she ask for a list of songs. Well the list turned out to be thirty songs going back to 1969. They can all be found on youtube except one and its likely somewhere in the Matrix. Letting you have a peak I felt might kindle some old memories for you. Possible tell you something about the Dante from the hills of West Virginia who calls himself rainywalker.

First on the list is Galveston by Glen Campbell sort of a Vietnam protest song. In 1969 it was playing in the jungle's of Vietnam along with County Joe and the Fish. County Joe was the best even when he sang, "Be the first one on your block to have your son come home in a box." Nineteen-sixty-nine was also the year we sang, I Want To Go Home and some of us did, many of my brothers were not so lucky. Janis Joplin was down on Haight Ashbury singing Me & Bobby McGee and drinking with an old friend of mine, Jack Daniels. When she got on stage the blues poured like water. I kissed the runway tarmac in San Francisco and life was never the same again. Part of me never caught the Freedom Bird home.

In 1971 Don McClain did an excellent rendition with The Day The Music Died. When my home was near Saint Louis I used to drive my old Chevy to the levy. But the river never sounded like Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper or Richie Valens. In 1973 Elton John came out with a paradoxial song called Daniel. At the time my job had taken me toThailand. Daniel was on the jukebox where we ate and you got three songs for a quarter. Daniel was heading for Spain and I came home to the US.

Bob Dylan came out with his protest song Hurricane in 1976. Two hundred years before we had a revolution to protect Rubin Hurricane Carter, but somehow he wasn't included. No doubt, "he could have been the champion of the world." Then in 1977 it was time to Go Your Own Way and many of us did with Fleetwood Mac. Stevie Nicks had far better looking eyes than the drummer Mick Fleetwood. The Winner Takes It All by ABBA came out in 1980. At that time Dulles International Airport had six gates, the beltway four lanes and you could lie on the grass out front.

Van Halen was on tour in 1981 singing what I still consider a protest song, Right Now. Even if we were traveling at 65,000 miles per hour through the Universe. We could have solved a few problems back then. We left them for someone else.  T.G. Sheppard came along  the same year and told us I Loved'em All. Not even with the little blue pill T.G. But it sounded good and no doubt there were beautiful ladies from sea to shining sea. One I fell in love with was Lacy J Dalton. When she sang 16th Avenue that cracking voice sent shivers down my spine.

Merle Haggart in 1985 had this song we can all relate to. I Wear My Own Kind Of Hat. Another way of putting it was, "I'm not bad, and the bad don't mess." Have you ever just sat out on some ridge looking at the moon, wondering where she's at? Highway 101 in 1987 may have been doing just that when they wrote Somewhere Tonight. Bruce Springsteen was talking about an entirely different subject in 1993 when he wrote the Streets of Philadelphia. Abuse, a sad saga about how far we hadn't came.

In 1995 Alison Krauss came out with, When You Say Nothing at All. Ever done that by candle light across a table? Two people eyes sharing a thought that only they will ever know. I'm here to tell you a woman's eyes and smile? The best part of any woman God ever made. Billy Ray Cyrus's 1997 hit, It Could Have Been Me pretty well tells the story. Love is a double edged sword. Don't let the ship sail without you because you'll later look for her in crowds.

Some of us men out there in 1998 could say we've had the Scarlet Feaver by Kenny Rogers. Perhaps Humphrey Bogart got the scarlet fever when Sam sang As Time Goes By. My all time favorite movie and yes, I could be accused of liking Chick Flicks. Allentown also came out in 1998 and is a sad echo of what Billy Joel saw and we once were. In 1964 my father bought me a checkered red and black wool shirt that I still have. It's full of rips and tears but I just can't part with it. So you'll likly understand why Mary Chapin Carpenter's 1999 song This Shirt brings back memories.

You can dress a woman up in a beautiful gown anytime, but one in jeans like a diamond, lasts forever. Conway Twitty's Tight Fittin Jeans song debut in 2000 and we all didn't die with the computers. Perhaps in 2012 we can make up for that. A side note here Conway had no stage name till he was traveling through Conway, Texas. His manager said, "We can call you Conway."  But Conway said, "What about a last name?" Well Conway, Texas at that time had a lot of topless bars and his manager said, "We can't call you T----, so how about Twitty? My next pick came out in 2002. Don't Ask Her On A Straight Tequila Night by John Anderson. I never did think tequila was all that hot. At least not as hot as a woman who knows how to kiss.

Well Mov'in on to Vince Gill's 2003 single, We had It All. Your not going to find this one on youtube but it's out there. Listen to the words. It's all about the words. Have you ever spent a day in Bakersfield, California in the summer? I never knew it got that hot on the planet Earth. Anyway in 2004  Buck Owens and his heir to the thrown Dwight Yoakam came out with a hot hit, The Streets of Bakersfield. The next song I believe was written in 2004 for a sister, Big & Rich with Holy Water. The stovepipe hat a gift from a Vietnam veteran who survived the 1965 battle against 1200 Viet Cong. Breaking up with someone and then trying to write them a letter? Tim McGraw pretty well named it and claimed it in 2007 with his hit Blank Sheet of Paper.

Toby Keith put out his song As Good As I Once Was and it put a 2008 smile on many of our faces. Hey were're getting old, not dead. Then in 2008 came Daughtry, Diamong Rio and Cold Play with their hits What About Now, I Believe and Viva La Vida. Songs about helping your fellow man, believing in Angels and victory or death. The Alpha and Omega, what a combination. My last song for the CD's was written by Mans Taylor in 2009, United For Neda. A song about Iranian Neda Agha-Soltan who was killed in cold blood and young people who will one day overthrow their oppressors and have freedom.

I must have goofed the song count is only twenty-nine. I was going to add the 2003 Songs About Rain by Gary Allen but there are 775 other rain related songs out there. Rainywalker or not, any woman who tells you I slow danced with them, along some dirt road in the rain is mistaken. Oh well, "Play it once Sam for old time sake, play it Sam, play As Time Goes By."

"Oh, That a Man Might Know the End of This Days Business Ere it Come......."

What is honor when a soldier gives his opponent less advantage, that he might gain the upper hand and live another day. Does this make him a creature of the night that hides in dark places. Or had he the advantage of surprize and he used his training well. Standing over a dying man can make many emotions surface. Some good, some bad depending on the previous five minutes. For the man dying on the ground his need for revenge is pretty well gone. His future and the future of his family has been conpressed, his worries are short and may come with pain or coughing. But perhaps a stillness overcomes him and the pain subsides. For the soldier standing over him may have questions. Questions that have no answer or ones few wish to hear. So he pushes it into his subconscious and it rests there. Forgotten almost, causing pain and festering as time goes by. A sore that will not heal, a guilt that follows him always. He has no way of knowing then, history and a 5.56mm bullet has taken everything the man on the ground ever had or will have. But someday memories will come back to haunt him, weapon in hand and silently he will whisper what about me.

What Are You Doing "Right Now" To Protect Our Species?

Click on image

The Roman Coliseum In the 21st Century

Everyone out there knows about ancient history and the Roman Coliseum. Where the gladiators fought each other and the wild beasts. Where Nero fed the Christians to the lions. Where a thumbs up or down and a roar from the crowd meant the difference between life, death, the wooden sword and freedom. A place where the poor, middle class and the rich could find entertainment and a few hours away from the problems of the day.
The starving, the spread of disease and always the government corruption and injustice. But have you ever considered what other sociological reason the emperors and Senate encouraged the games? It wasn't just to pass out free white bread to the poor. It relieved the pent up frustrations of the empire and avoided much of the nasty rioting in the streets. It wasn't just entertainment, it was a social problem solver. It was a cure all for the government.

So your likely asking what does that have to do with the 21st century? If you haven't been to the cinema lately I encourage you to attend. Not to see the sex, horror or violence but what a good movie does for tension and allowing you to see injustices being corrected by law abiding citizens. You. The guy or gal on the screen isn't just a hero, he or she for many are their alter ego, themselves. They do for you what you wont do for yourself at the ballot box.
The justice system in America has broken down, the police are suspended for doing their jobs and the state and federal government turns their heads. While the politicians fill their pockets with the last of your tax dollars. Is the Rainy asking you to go out in the streets and reenact what you see? No, I to believe in real justice. Not letting the bad guys get away with murdering and raping innocent individuals. However the Rainy is getting tired like many others with a slap on the hand or a suspended sentence.
But folks I'm here to tell you the only place I really get to see justice is on the big screen. When government is dead wrong, moral questions no longer apply for some. So Hollywood is doing the government a service by eliminating many of our pent up frustrations? What we see as a blot on the fabric of society and keeping the people out of the streets? The Romans had that concept down quite well 2000 years ago and it's worked for governments every since.
So I'm saying go see Law Abiding Citizen on the big screen. You wont be disappointed and you wont be rooting for an evil villain, you'll be rooting for yourself. You'll watch yourself take on a corrupt government and what they do to stop you. Get yourself a popcorn and cold drink and set back and watch some of your frustrations vanish. Don't tell me I already know the popcorn costs a fortune.
When you leave the theatre you will know that somewhere lady justice has taken off her blindfold crying and walked away, if only for a short time. Have the scales she holds been righted once more and the government safe from, We The People? Was it justice or a tragedy? You decide.

"A Rose By Any Other Name Would Smell As Sweet"

Rainywalker has been busy working on a project that he feels is far more important right now than doing blogs. It will be done one day and the Dante from the hills will be back. He is missing you all and believe me nobody is being left out. He misses each and every one of you. The Television doesn't count, since it hasn't been on for over two months. Does he miss it? Perhaps House or NCIS. But that has nothing to do with what he is about to discuss.

Have you ever wondered what you name means or why it was given to you? Its not like you had a choice when you were born. Did you ever ask your parents why they named you what they did? My name I use the most is likely the first one. It was my fathers first name or so I was told. But when I checked the historical records I found out he called himself a name different than the one he was given.

My middle name was given to me by my mother and it was the name of a close friend of my parents. They called him, "bumps Brown" which was his nickname because he had bumps on his head. But his real name was Wayne Browning. So that's what I got. But only for my middle name. Now the Surname or last we really don't have much to say about that. Unless we want to proceed to court and have it changed.

But what about the people out there that give their children names that stick out and sometimes are not so funny. Before I went to Vietnam I worked with a military friend whose name was Alexander Makenzie Turnipseed. Now that's a mouthful and we just called him, "Seed" for short. While working with old census records I have found many William W Williams. Back in the 19th century [1800's] there were many unusual names like Saddie, Ola, Verbie, Waleed, and Eff.

But I suspect that by now your wondering where this sad tale is going. It's so boring that even Rainy is about to cry. So let me give you something to ponder. Go ahead and pull that cover up around your nose on some cold winter night and think about this blog. There was a girl around 1907 that was names SUCH A. Her parents at the time were 37 and 29. Which may or may not bare on this tale. They lived in Nicholas County, West Virginia and that's as close as you get. I will say that back then my grandmother came from a family across the mountain by the same last name.

S-U-C-H A. First name and middle initial. What a name! Now we know it likely didn't have anything to do with the baby, so why would you use such a name? Perhaps it had something to do with a moment in time or over a period of time. Now stay with me I'm getting to the end. Suchlike was a word common in the 1800's, but SUCH A? Are we talking about an adjective like, "being previously characterized? How about a synonym like aforementioned, aforesaid, like, akin, analogous, comparable, corresponding, equivalent, parallel, similar or suchlike?

But its likely that we will never know the truth. We weren't there, we don't know. But perhaps the last name will give us a vision of Love unbridled. A Love that you could look in this girls eyes in be wonderment and smile. Setting in that rocking chair at 80 and remembering. Lying in your bed thinking about SUCH A. But remembering your last name to. K-N-I-G-H-T.

Where & What Has Rainywalker Been Up To?

There must be at least one person out there who has said I wonder where Rainy's at. Its been quite awhile since I've wrote a blog. Or by chance there may be someone out there who is glad I stopped blabbering on! But I'm not dead yet. So you people at the VA keep sending the checks.
I guess I could tell you I've been driving around Colorado Springs looking for a Carl Juniors that still has the two chili dogs for $3.00. You buy a drink with that, get two strays and you have a cheap date. Or I could tell you I've been in Independence, MO picking up 350 boxes of books [18,000] for a used book store. My noisy neighbor thinks they are boxes of cocaine [don't I wish] and one ask if I was going to read them. Is everyone on the dole and have no business of their own? So they want some of mine? Right?
Your trying to sleep and people are calling and if they can't get you on the telephone they start knocking. But the knocking goes on all times of the night. When I was younger the girls would knock all night long trying to get out, not in. The neighbor next door got one of those electric PETA collars for his dog and she has stopped barking. Oh I forgot to mention she's been barking nonstop for over a year. Not once in awhile but like the trains on schedule. About every 7 seconds. The police, the home owners association. Good luck. All they do is count the turds in your yard and the grass height with a ruler. The police say its not their problem. In West Virginia it wouldn't be a problem. Nes pa? But he still needs to get that muffler fixed, we can all hear it coming at 3 am about a mile away.
Then I go over to the bank and I'm going to tell you I make every effort to be nice and show respect for other peoples vehicles. I have a new car of my own. So I get to the car door and I think I hear this voice saying, "you scratched my car." Well I can't hear to well and I know its not God. So I look around and there is this old lady [not old, petrified] next to me with her electric window down in this fire engine red Shelby Cobra convertable. So I say, Ma' mm in my best hillbilly accent, "are you talking to me?" See I don't hear that well. All the bombs, mortors and bullets whizzing by my head in Vietnam. "You scratched my car." Now I have my door open and there is a scratch on her door. But my car door where it would match up with the scratch is about two feet apart. So I say, "come on out here and show me where I scratched your car, weed monkey." Then she repeats it about five more times like a robot, "you scratched my car" and I continue to say, "come out here and show me the spot, weed monkey." So finally she runs up her window and leaves talking. I could see her lips moving to the beat of, "you scratched my car." While I'm yelling at her exhause, "I know your a West Virginia, weed monkey!"
Then there is the group of Vietnam veterans I meet with every other Friday. There are only about two of us that don't want to off ourselves. The last time I went three were ready to stick the 9mm up their ass and end it all. So I'm starting to think maybe some of the glue that holding everyone back is me. So why not let me bring in my 9mm and we can all do a 12 gun salute and spend the rest of eternity in Hell. I mean after all this is a living Hell for most veterans who still feel the warm bodies.
But a couple more things before I get off my menopausal rant. You've heard me plug Wal Mart
a few times in my blogs and in forty years I have never had a complaint. But the new guy they hired at the Eighth Street store who is in charge of the pharmacy just got here from a 1960's USSR Gulag. He was the guy in charge of torturing all the prisoners. I don't know how the Jewish counter person can smile and stand him. If your wondering how I know he's Jewish? He wears the little hat.
But thank God for the little out lady who greets me at the door of Wal Mart with a good morning and a smile. When I see her everything just seems to get better and my day goes fine.

Twenty Items or Less Line

We Americans are a structured species. We pull up at the drive through and don't even think about it. We stand behind the red line at WalMart and wait for our turn. But what does it feel like to violate one of these unwritten rules? We have been led so long we don't really know what joy is. While other people violate the rules we stand there or set there in line and think this guy or gal in front of us is a jerk.

Well this week I talked to another Vietnam veteran that has decided like me to see what it feels like. He's been going to WalMart for 40 years and has been putting the carts up or taking them back to the store. But he sees carts all over the lot setting where someone has left them. So he's telling me how glorious it felt when he just looked around and left one setting. He had to try it one time.

Well this past week while at the grocery store my 35 items went through the 20 items or less line. Every other person does it and in my entire life I have always obeyed the rule. But this one time I just wanted to know what it was like to violate the rules. How it would feel. Just once. So I place them all up on the counter and the cashier looks discussed or that is her natural look. I pay for the groceries and walk out.

To be quite honest it didn't feel embarrassing or bother me. The guy behind me thought it was funny. No flashing lights went off or police officers arrived with drawn weapons. Perhaps a large portion of my species spends more time watching than doing.

Blood Continues To Flow In the Streets of Iran

While we set in our warm homes, comfortable clothing, have food and water the people of Iran continue to see blood in the streets. The lists of those killed, arrested and imprisoned continue to grow each day. While we breath the air of freedom the night protests go on. The Iranian people are not protesting over a president. They are protesting to feel the chains of tyrants come off their backs and breath in of their own free will. Not be dictated to and told what they can think and do. The Iranian people are the true people of the 21st century to take back what has always been theirs. Their country and freedom.

Amir Javadifar, student, tortured to death.

Concord, Lexington, Cambridge and Don't Shoot Till You See the Whites of Their Eyes or the Shot Heard Round the World

Wouldn't it be nice if you could just roll down our car window, stick out our arm, straighten out our fingers and twist our wrist ninety degrees to say I'm sorry? Well in South Korea that is exactly what you do. When you hear someone near you beep their horn it means one of two things. You have did something wrong or I'm getting ready to do something. So you look around and if no other car has made an authorized or unauthorized traffic move you stick your arm out the window and wave. Meaning I've likely did something stupid and I'm sorry.


So lets relate this to the professor in Cambridge and the local police officer. The professor gets in the officers face yelling and even says, "Your momma [Could your momma mean bull shit in the context it was used?]." The professor doesn't stick his hand up and say I've did something stupid. The officer blows his horn saying I'm getting ready to do something related to the law and the professor ignores him. Now this makes no difference with race or culture the same procedure would be used. In this case the professor who was black chose to get in the officers face screaming and the officer who was white handcuffed him and took him to jail. That's called "resisting arrest and not keeping your mouth shut."


So practically every black person in the country gets upset because the officer was following procedure. Now if the professor was any other race besides black the dial on the arrest meter would never have moved. It likely would never even been on the state run media. The president would never have got involved and like Richard Nixon [Charles Manson] should have kept his mouth shut too. No president has the right to get involved in a local law enforcement question. His or her job is to run the country, not get involved with what is going on in Cambridge.


When my children were young they were taught to respect a police officer if they were stopped and to keep their mouth shut unless ask a question. If taken to jail call me and I would be there shortly. They were not taught if he was a black officer to ask any differently than any other race. It worked out for them very well and myself. My children and myself have never got in an officers face and therefore never been cuffed and taken to jail. Is anyone out there starting to get the point?


It doesn't matter where you are in the United States or around the world. If you get in a police officers face, give him a hard time, your likely going to jail. It doesn't matter if your a professor, a street person, a redneck, an illegal, white, black or green and just dropped in from Mars. You put us all in the same barrel and we all spin the same. So if the black professor had any kind of respect for other races I wouldn't even be writing this now. This has nothing to do with race, racism or anything other than obeying the law. If you want to vent put your fist through the sheet rock after the police leave. Don't get in the officers face!


It's apparent I'm on the wrong side of history here and what is politically correct. But I'm sure someone out there will try and set my values back and call me a racist. But that's okay I spent 23 years working for the U.S. government and have been called just about everything including a "baby killer." So don't be bashful, we both may learn something here.

The Tenth Amendment and Sovereignty

ALASKA-- "Gov. Sarah Palin has signed a joint resolution declaring Alaska's sovereignty under the tenth amendment to the Constitution--and now 26 other states have introduced similar resolutions as part of a growing resistance to the federal government.

[powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, or to the People."]

If you can find something wrong with what the governor is doing give it your best shot.

By worldnetdaily--Chelsa Schilling--July 20, 2009

The Liberator [A Political Allegory]

The Liberator

In the high trees--many doleful winds:
The ocean waters-- lashed the waves.
If the sharp sword be not in your hand,
How can you hope your friends will remain many?
Do you not see that sparrow on the fence?
Seeing the hawk it casts itself into the snare.
The fowler to catch the sparrow is delighted:
The Young Man to see the sparrow is grieved.
He takes his sword and cuts through the netting:
The yellow sparrow flies away, away.
Away, away, up to the blue sky
And down again to thank the Young Man.

By Wu-ti, Emperor of the Liang dynasty [A.D. 464-549]

Colorado Springs Vet Center Holds Open House

On 17 July the Colorado Springs Vet Center held an open house for veterans and the public to showoff their new facilities, answer questions and highlight their new Mobile Vet Center [MVC]. The Vet Center is "celebrating over twenty years of service to Colorado Springs and surrounding area veterans." A large number of people attended and there was food and refreshments for all. The new Vet Center is located at the corner of south Nevada and Costilla Street one block north of Cimarron.

"The Vet Center Program was established by Congress in 1979 out of the recognition that a significant number of Vietnam era vets were still experiencing readjustment problems. Vet Centers are community based and a part of the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. The goal of the Vet Center program is to provide a broad range of counseling, outreach, and referral services to eligible veterans in order to help them make a satisfying post war readjustment to civilian life.

The Mobile Vet Center provides confidential counseling space in rural areas and locations where such space is not readily available." The unit is a state of the art mobile center with two rooms to service veterans, a chair lift and satellite hookup. The U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has purchased 50 of these units to service veterans in rural areas of the country and provide mutual use for veteran events.

[A note from this blog and rainywalker. The Vet Center is unable by law to ask for donations however you can donate sodas, bottled water and packaged crackers or cookies on your own. These snacks are provided to veterans who stop in or have appointments.]