I AM AN ORPHAN

Just when I need their wisdom, I find that my parents have both abandoned me.  Where does a grown man go when he needs fatherly advice.  My in-laws have left too!  My step-mother never had children of her own and I wouldn't dare burden her with my problems when she has so many of her own. And my surviving elderly relations are in ill health and I wouldn't want to bother them either. My siblings?  Well, my siblings.... have enough troubles of their own too!  I am not a church going man, so I have no priest, minister or rabi to confide in. My old bartender from my drinking days is dead. The wife and I just can't agree on an answer.


So where DOES a grown man go for advise when he has serious concerns about one of his grown children?

I tell you folks, life is not easy for a 55 year old orphan. 

Pearl Harbor Day

December 7th has always had special meaning to me. I never forget it and always say a prayer to those men and women who lost their lives at Pearl. Not because I lost any relatives during the attack on Pearl Harbor, but because my Dad was in the Navy.

I grew up with his tales of the service and a great respect for anyone in the military. Also when I was a kid there were lots of war movies on TV. Military stories have been a major part of my reading both fiction and non-fiction and I am a serious war buff, collecting war memorabilia, movies, books, and models.

I probably know, more about the ship my Dad was on than he does. He served on CA -130 the USS Bremerton, a heavey Cruiser, at the end of WWII. He was at the nuclear bomb testing at the Bikini Atolls and in the celebration of the Philipene Independance. He also was part of the 7th fleet Occupational Forces in and around Japan.

So today is my day for remembering all of those sailors who fought during WWII, and paying my respects for those who gave their lives for our country.

And to remember my Dad's service to his country.

My Turn To Rant

This morning I received 2 e-mails that disturbed me quite a bit. I don't get too political usually because I realize the futility in trying to explain the corruption of our elected officials and the complacency of our citizens. However, the quote at the end of one of the e-mails really hit a nerve! The subject matter of the email is also one that I happen to agree with, but that is not as important as the message it conveys. Here is the email:





Subject: I do not know how true this is, but it could happen.



You're sound asleep when you hear a thump outside your bedroom door. Half-awake, and nearly paralyzed with fear, you hear muffled whispers. At least two people have broken into your house and are moving your way. With your heart pumping, you reach down beside your bed and pick up your shotgun. You rack a shell into the chamber, then inch toward the door and open it. In the darkness, you make out two shadows.One holds something that looks like a crowbar. When the intruder brandishes it as if to strike, you raise the shotgun and fire. The blast knocks both thugs to the floor. One writhes and screams while the second man crawls to the front door and lurches outside. As you pick up the telephone to call police, you know you're in trouble.





In your country, most guns were outlawed years before, and the few that are privately owned are so stringently regulated as to make them useless. Yours was never registered. Police arrive and inform you that the second burglar has died. They arrest you for First Degree Murder and Illegal Possession of a Firearm.





When you talk to your attorney, he tells you not to worry: authorities will probably plea the case down to manslaughter."What kind of sentence will I get?" you ask."Only ten-to-twelve years," he replies, as if that's nothing. "Behave yourself, and you'll be out in seven.





"The next day, the shooting is the lead story in the local newspaper. Somehow, you're portrayed as an eccentric vigilante while the two men you shot are represented as choirboys. Their friends and relatives can't find an unkind word to say about them. Buried deep down in the article, authorities acknowledge that both "victims" have been arrested numerous times.





But the next day's headline says it all: "Lovable Rogue Son Didn't Deserve to Die." The thieves have been transformed from career criminals into Robin Hood-type pranksters. As the days wear on, the story takes wings. The national media picks it up, then the international media. The surviving burglar has become a folk hero.Your attorney says the thief is preparing to sue you, and he'll probably win.





The media publishes reports that your home has been burglarized several times in the past and that you've been critical of local police for their lack of effort in apprehending the suspects. After the last break-in, you told your neighbor that you would be prepared next time. The District Attorney uses this to allege that you were lying in wait for the burglars.





A few months later, you go to trial. The charges haven't been reduced, as your lawyer had so confidently predicted. When you take the stand, your anger at the injustice of it all works against you. Prosecutors paint a picture of you as a mean, vengeful man. It doesn't take long for the jury to convict you of all charges.The judge sentences you to life in prison.





This case really happened.On August 22, 1999, Tony Martin of Emneth, Norfolk , England , killed one burglar and wounded a second. In April, 2000, he was convicted and is now serving a life term.





How did it become a crime to defend one's own life in the once great British Empire ?It started with the Pistols Act of 1903. This seemingly reasonable law forbade selling pistols to minors or felons and established that handgun sales were to be made only to those who had a license. The Firearms Act of 1920 expanded licensing to include not only handguns but all firearms except shotguns.





Later laws passed in 1953 and 1967 outlawed the carrying of any weapon by private citizens and mandated the registration of all shotguns.Momentum for total handgun confiscation began in earnest after the Hungerford mass shooting in 1987. Michael Ryan, a mentally disturbed Man with a Kalashnikov rifle (AK-47), walked down the streets shooting everyone he saw. When the smoke cleared, 17 people were dead.





The British public, already de-sensitized by eighty years of "gun control", demanded even tougher restrictions. (The seizure of all privately owned handguns was the objective even though Ryan used a rifle.)Nine years later, at Dunblane , Scotland , Thomas Hamilton used a semi-automatic weapon to murder 16 children and a teacher at a public school.





For many years, the media had portrayed all gun owners as mentally unstable, or worse, criminals. Now the press had a real kook with which to beat up law-abiding gun owners. Day after day, week after week, the media gave up all pretense of objectivity and demanded a total ban on all handguns. The Dunblane Inquiry, a few months later, sealed the fate of the few sidearms still owned by private citizens.During the years in which the British government incrementally took away most gun rights, the notion that a citizen had the right to armed self-defense came to be seen as vigilantism.





Authorities refused to grant gun licenses to people who were threatened, claiming that self-defense was no longer considered a reason to own a gun. Citizens who shot burglars or robbers or rapists were charged while the real criminals were released.Indeed, after the Martin shooting, a police spokesman was quoted as saying, "We cannot have people take the law into their own hands."All of Martin's neighbors had been robbed numerous times, and several elderly people were severely injured in beatings by young thugs who had no fear of the consequences. Martin himself, a collector of antiques, had seen most of his collection trashed or stolen by burglars.





When the Dunblane Inquiry ended, citizens who owned handguns were given three months to turn them over to local authorities. Being good British subjects, most people obeyed the law. The few who didn't were visited by police and threatened with ten-year prison sentences if they didn't comply. Police later bragged that they'd taken nearly 200,000 handguns from private citizens.





How did the authorities know who had handguns? The guns had been registered and licensed. Kinda like cars.





Sound familiar?





WAKE UP AMERICA , THIS IS WHY OUR FOUNDING FATHERS PUT THE SECOND AMENDMENT IN OUR CONSTITUTION.





"..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.."--Samuel Adams





If you think this is important, please forward to everyone you know.





The second e-mail has to do with the new postage stamp coming out for the Christmas Season.



How ironic is this ??
They don't even believe in Christ and they're getting their own Christmas stamp, but don't dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property? USPS New Stamp





This one is impossible to believe. If there is only one thing you forward today.....let it be this! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of Pan Am Flight 103! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the Marine Barracks in Lebanon ! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the military Barracks in Saudi Arabia ! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the American Embassies in Africa ! REMEMBER the MUSLIM bombing of the USS COLE! REMEMBER the MUSLIM attack on 9/11/2001 ! REMEMBER all the AMERICAN lives that were lost in those vicious MUSLIM attacks! Now the United States Postal Service REMEMBERS and HONORS the EID MUSLIM holiday season with a commemorative first class Holiday postage stamp. REMEMBER to adamantly and vocally BOYCOTT this stamp When purchasing your stamps at the post office. To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors. REMEMBER to pass this along to every Christian and/or Patriotic AMERICAN that
you know !!!



Now this one is just plain stupidity on our Postal Services part.
While I hold no ill will against any persons religion, I do feel it is in EXTREME POOR TASTE
to do honor to the Muslim religion during a Christian Holiday and while we are at war in the Middle East.
Now I am as patriotic as the next guy, and I had a super nephew killed in Iraq, who I miss daily.
But I am not going to boycott this stamp for the reasons listed in the e-mail.
I AM going to boycott it because of the reason of poor taste. After the holidays I will use the stamp, the same as any other stamp.