Dream on Dream Act...

… from my friend, retired school teacher, principal, and administrator….

"As you listen to the news about the student protests over illegal immigration, there are some things that you should be aware of:I am in charge of the English-as-a-second-language department at a large southern California high school which is designated a Title 1 school, meaning that its students average lower socioeconomic and income levels.Most of the schools you are hearing about, South Gate High, Bell Gardens , Huntington Park , etc.. where these students are protesting, are also Title 1 schools. Title 1 schools are on the free breakfast and free lunch program. When I say free breakfast, I'm not talking a glass of milk and roll -- but a full breakfast and cereal bar with fruits and juices that would make a Marriott proud. The waste of this food is monumental, with trays and trays of it being dumped in the trash uneaten.(OUR TAX DOLLARS ATWORK)I estimate that well over 50% of these students are obese or at least moderately overweight. About 75% or more DO havecell phones. The school also provides day care centers for theunwed teenage pregnant girls (some as young as 13) so they can attend class without the inconvenience of having to arrange for babysitters or having family watch their kids.(OUR TAX DOLLARS ATWORK)I was ordered to spend $700,000 on my department or risk losing funding for the upcoming year even though there was little need for anything; my budget was already substantial. I ended up buying new computers for the computer learning center, half of which, one month later, have been carved with graffiti by the appreciative students who obviously feel humbled and grateful to have a free education in America .(OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK)I have had to intervene several times for young and substitute teachers whose classes consist of many illegal immigrant students here in the country less than 3 months who raised so much hell with the female teachers, calling them "Putas"(whores)and throwing things, that the teachers were in tears. Free medical, free education, free food, day care, etc, etc, etc. Is it any wonder they feel entitled not only to be in this country but to demand rights, privileges and entitlements?To those who want to point out how much these illegal immigrants contribute to our society because they LIKE their gardener and housekeeper and they like to pay less for tomatoes: spend some time in the real world of illegal immigration and see the TRUE costs.Higher insurance, medical facilities closing, higher medical costs, more crime, lower standards of education in our schools, overcrowding, new diseases etc., etc, etc. For me, I'll pay more for tomatoes. Americans, We need to wake up. The guest worker program will be a disaster because we won't have the guts to enforce it. Does anyone in their right mind really think they will voluntarily leave and return? It does, however, have everything to do with culture: A third-world culture that does not value education, that accepts children getting pregnant and dropping out of school by 15 and that refuses to assimilate, and anAmerican culture that has become so weak and worried about"political correctness " that we don't have the will to do anything about it.If this makes your blood boil, as it did mine, forward this to everyone you know including your Congressmen and Senators. CHEAP LABOR? Isn't that what the whole immigration issue is about?Business doesn't want to pay a decent wage.Consumers don't want expensive produce. Government will tell you Americans don't want the jobs.But the bottom line is cheap labor The phrase "cheap labor" is a myth, a farce, and a lie. There is no such thing as "cheap labor." Take, for example, an illegal alien with a wife and five children. He takes a job for $5.00 or 6.00/hour. At that wage, with six dependents, he pays no income tax, yet at the end of the year, if he files an Income Tax Return, he gets an "earned income credit" of up to $3,200 free. He qualifies for Section 8 housing and subsidized rent.He qualifies for food stamps..He qualifies for free (no deductible), no co-pay) health care.His children get free breakfasts and lunches at school.He requires bilingual teachers and books.He qualifies for relief from high energy bills.If they are or become, aged, blind or disabled, they qualify for SSI.Once qualified for SSI they can qualify for Medicare. All of this is at (our) taxpayer's expense. He doesn't worry about car insurance, life insurance, or homeowners insurance.Taxpayers provide Spanish language signs, bulletins and printed material.He and his family receive the equivalent of $20.00 to $30.00/hour in benefits.Working Americans are lucky to have $5.00 or $6.00/hour left after paying their bills AND his. The American taxpayers also pay for increased crime, graffiti and trash clean-up. Cheap labor? YEAH RIGHT! Wake up people!

Best Regards,

Mike Johnson

'Gator Bait

There is an old saying that "when you're up to your ass in alligators, it's difficult to remember that your main objective was to drain the swamp". And it is here that I think we find ourselves politically.

I must qualify before going any farther that I am not politicised. I actually know very little about politics, foreign policy, economics and the myriad of other subjects one needs to be proficient at in order to be a politician....gee, did I just make a satirical funny? Because as little as I know about the preceding, it doesn't appear that those we chose to lead us know much more.

But I gotta tell ya, as much as I'm pissed about the abhorrent way that our leaders are not (leading), as well as the direction those on the looney left are taking us, I'm a bit more disgusted with the way those factions on the right are carrying on against each other.

I've said before in posts that up until 9/11 I couldn't have cared less who was in the White House. By the time whatever they decided to do trickled down to where I lived, it was so watered down one way or another that the change to me personally was minimal. Made little difference whether a republican or democrat was at the wheel. I'm quite sure that that stance is a matter more of my lack of interest than in the importance of who reigned. All I can say is the day to day of surviving was more important than politics. And that didn't change until 9/11.

I think it was a matter of unlucky coincidence that the planes flew into the towers on Bushes tour. He had only been in office a few months so really hadn't had a chance to do much of anything to cause what happened from our end. I've since then heard all the rhetoric about how the preceding 20-30 years gave cause for the terrorists to feel justified in what they did. It doesn't wash with me much, a terrorist is a terrorist and why they do what they do is no where near as important as the fact that they did it and they need to be stopped before doing it again. Or, in the case of the suicide type, destroy the nest they came from. Which is what I think George had in mind. Regardless of what the arm chair pundants say now, I was there and I saw what I saw. Had I been in his shoes I'd have done more towards laying waste to as much of the area as possible, but that's just me. Statesmen obviously have other considerations.

So anyway, we did what we did and that pissed a lot of people off. So when it comes time to chose another POTUS, a war weary populace (especially the liberal side) decides that George is the full cause, not the terrorists, not the backlash of a war on them, and the effect it had on our world vision, and the worlds view of us. And given that George was a Republican, the country felt we needed to do a 180. The social liberals capitalized on that sentiment and shoehorned in the abomination that we have sitting in the Oval Office now. Again, I'm no politician but I could have told you the first time I heard him speak he was bad news. And nothing he has said one single time in almost four years has swayed me from that initial assessment.

But here's my point in going where I've gone.

The liberal left really doesn't have a choice as to whom they are going to vote for. I guess it's all kinds of unacceptable to try and bring another democrat in during an incumbents election cycle. Why, I haven't the slightest idea. I simply cannot see how any sane person can view what this abomination has done and want another four years of it. But be that as it may, I have no expectation that the liberals will do anything but vote for him.

I have a completely different set of expectations for those that oppose him. That being the case and point of this post. I'm flabbergasted by the division on the right.

I classify myself as a republican because that's what my folks were. That's the way I was raised, more on the conservative side, but I really couldn't have made any comparison of a "right/left" perspective because if you've never engaged in something it's impossible to comment on it. Or so it should be.

I studied civics in high school and we learned the basics of our governmental system as well as elements of our two party political system. When I went to school not much was revealed about an independent middle ground. Certainly nothing as defined as the Tea Party. My folks said they were republicans so that's what I was. I voted a couple of times when I was a young man but it was always strictly on that party basis, with little or no knowledge of who I was voting for. I didn't even vote for Bush the first time around. But after 9/11, and watching how he took charge of the situation, I certainly voted for him the second time. I like George. I like what he did. And if anybody got handed a rotten deal it was him. We have some problems today because of where he had to go, and what he had to do, but we are still standing. I shudder to think of what would have happened had a 9/11 occurred of Barry's watch. Talk about FUBAR.

I wasn't all that much of a McCain fan during the '08 campaign. But after watching it dwindle down to what the left threw at us with Obama, I couldn't really vote for anyone else. I know when I did vote, I saw more faces in the school where we ballot than had been there in decades. I'm not racist, but the turn-out where we live was an incredible sea of black faces. I spoke with a few. Every single black person I spoke to told me they were voting Obama because he was a black man. They couldn't have told me anything more about him than I could have told them. I know I didn't vote against him because he was black, but rather because I thought he was a pompous asshole. And I still do.

I have to admit that several months ago I couldn't have told you diddly squat about Romney. I didn't focus on him, so I couldn't have told you a lot about him. I was really hoping and praying that Palin would pick back up where she left off as the VP selection, and carry that on for a run at POTUS. I'd have voted for her in a heartbeat. She was the one thing that McCain did that impressed the hell out of me. Here again, I speak more from the heart than from a knowledge of politics. I'm a man, and she's a woman, and there is a certain attraction we guys get from strong women, but she just impressed me. I liked the way she spoke, spoke up, and what she spoke about. She's my idea of what a strong willed woman can accomplish if they try. I would have had no problem whatsoever following anywhere she chose to lead this nation. I still think the same way.

Having said that, there are other Independents that carry some of the same values she does. I'm a constitutionalists. I believe in the moral, and religious foundation that our founding fathers established. There are many candidates that ran during the preliminary campaign that carried more of the core values that I believe in than Romney. But the people spoke. I didn't initially believe in the selection, but once it was made, there was little point in spending time and energy fighting it. So I began to focus on the positive aspects of his campaign. The more I listened, the more I became convinced that he was a workable alternative to the really horrible situation we have with Obama.

I would have voted for anybody the right, as a majority, selected over Obama. The only one I would have been really happy with would have been Palin. Aside from that, its the same thing flip flopped from '08. Anybody on the right has got to be better than what the left coughed up....again.

I think Romney will work for America, instead of against it, like Obama has for the last four years. And in the process it's just possible that an independent conservative right might gain the strength, support, and momentum it needs to effect some serious reform to this nation.

I say all of the above to say this...why in the wild world of sports would anybody with the common sense God gave a gopher, who had recognized that Obama was the single worst decision American ever made, ever consider voting in such a fashion as to give any advantage to him? If you don't agree with Romney, fine. I suppose there are times when we don't agree with our boss, but we don't quit. I don't agree all the time with my wife, but I'm certainly not going to divorce her over it. Why is it so difficult to understand, that unless we face a total landslide situation, the race between these two will be so tight that any voter distraction is likely to see another horrific four years as a result.

I heard it said by another in a recent social post. If you vote for anyone other than Romney, and by chance he does not win, and Obama does, you will be as culpable, and responsible for that loss of American Freedom as the worst liberally social leftist out there. You can look in the mirror and just consider yourself to be as guilty as any knuckle headed, koolaide drunk, self entitled, tit clinger there is. And in my book a traitor, because you had the chance, knew better, but instead chose your own pridefull wants over the needs of the country.

This is going to be an ugly race. Obama has pulled out all the obvious stops, as well as some not so obvious ones. What are the chances he's not sitting around at night cackling about the divisness he's injected into the rights rhetoric?

So I think that it's high time that we all knuckle down and get on the same page. No one out there has a snow ball in hells chance of defeating Obama other than Romney. And that only if we consolidate our efforts, put aside our differences, and focus on draining the swamp. If you vote for anybody but Romney, consider yourself a traitor in my book.

The first Yelp!

I think that in the coming days you will find the ire and resolve of working, tax paying Americans has been raised to a fever pitch. Yes, WE have been complacent. WE have had our collective heads in the sand for generations. Allowing a representative bunch to speak for us while we lived our lives. The fruit of that complacency now stares us in the face. However, with the implementation of Barry's Ofarce, and the realization that SCROTUS does not have our backs, the Independant heart of America will rise up, in forceful yet peaceful protest, and take back this still great nation. They just kicked the biggest frickin dog on the planet...The God loving, blue collar, tax paying, gun toting backbone of America and the free world. Resolve is a powerful weapon in the hands of a righteous man...

The Lady from Montana has the floor...

Patty, I don't know who you are or what your story is, but as I couldnt have put it better, you have the floor...

Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming , Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation, as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats.

Here's a response in a letter from PATTY MYERS in Montana ... I think she is a little ticked off! She also tells it like it is!

"Hey Alan, let's get a few things straight!

1. As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS.

2. I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).

3. My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give
OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud

4. Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65
to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission is proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.

5. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills. And you've spent more than any administration in history.
6. I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent b------s spent our money so
profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.

To add insult to injury, you label us "greedy" for calling "bullshit" on your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.

1. How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?

2. At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?

3. How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?

4. What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?

It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators called Congress who are the "greedy" ones. It is you and your fellow nutcases who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes! That's right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.

And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son -----

Contemptable Behavior

So today Eric Holder was held "in contempt of Congress". If this were in court that might mean something. Contempt of Court at least means there is a fine levied that must be paid in leau of 10-30 days in jail. Here? It means virtually nothing, other than expressing the contempt that the United States Congress has for the DOJ's top law dog.

And now that B. Hussein Obama, King of America, has weighed in with his Executive Privilege, and that before the vote, it looks as though all of America (at least the civilized portion thereof) holds this administration in contempt as well.

But what of it? From what I understand there is no real penalty for being held in contempt of congress. Just the ramification that the legislative branch of the government thinks you're a heal. And given that this has got to have been thought out way before this, to wit the stonewalling, the contempt charge, and lastly the rope thrown by El Hefe', it's really a spit ball in the face of America by Obama's socialist agenda.

I mean, really. What's gonna happen now? Holder has straight faced lied, omitted, or otherwise bullshitted us all the way through this Fast and Furious drama. They knew up front what they were doing, knew it might, could and probably would, in some sense or another, blow up in their face, and yet here we are. The deal went down, over a year of hearings, demands for documents, justice and just plain answers, and we know nothing. With El Hefe's imperial seal now firmly affixed to the safe holding all those documents, we will probably never know exactly what happened. And you know something? I think that this is all part of the plan.

These guys are playing tug of war with a rotten rope and knowing all along that there is a greater than not chance that it will break. They are prepared for the obvious results. Unfortunately, no one else is. Leaving Brian Terry and the two hundred Mexican souls dead and the rest of America sitting here on our asses bawling "foul!"

So here we sit. Congress has Holder in contempt but we already know that carries no heat. Obama has taken on the mantle of Holders Hero, and saved his bacon at the eleventh hour, but that doesn't necessarily implicate him in any wrong doing, legally that is. I think it will definitely play a big role in his popularity show from here on out, but I don't know that he really cares what the common Americans perspective of him is.

Here's what I'm thinking. I've said this before and I'll say it again. One of two scenarios is being played out here. This is devil be damned, "bang it till it bleeds" crap, with these guys just pushing everything to the limit with the whole gangsta-in-yo-face-what-ya-gonna-do-bout-it attitude and daring the American people to do something, and hoping with all their bluster it will work. Or, they have such a rotten plan up their sleeve they just don't care what people think of this in comparison to what is next.

I'm personally leaning toward the later. There is just no way that my mind can wrap itself around this being just a lame assed presidents antics. I mean, we've had bad presidents before. Some who pulled some pretty crazy crap on the American people. But I don't recall any who could compare to Barry. This is street thug antics here. Do whatever you want regardless of how repulsive, uncivilized or outrageous it is. I think most Americans opposed to him are standing there slack jawed thinking "there is just no way he did that!" But its true, he did.

Those that do favor him are just as surprised, but in a morbid sort of fashion. Like the looky loo's standing on the street below yelling "jump" to the man on the ledge. Filled with morbid curiosity to see what he's gonna do next. I don't think they really support what he's doing so much as they are just thrilled to see someone do something so outrageous. I also don't think they are thinking far enough ahead to see what damage to this country he can inflict, if they even care. Which is really the central theme of the liberal left. As long as I get mine, who gives a damn what happens to anyone else.

I don't have any respect for this president, and I certainly don't have any respect for those who are too self centered, egotistical, or full of pride to turn off the support for him even after witnessing what they know to be immoral, if not illegal behavior. He is running this country into the ground and, like I said, its for either one of two reasons. To use and abuse it while he's in the drivers seat, or he's just the chauffeur, and someone even worse is sitting in the back seat driving it into the ground. One far more evil, intelligent and insidious than Barry. In any case, O has to go. And the sooner the better.

Put Me In Charge

---

"IF YOU CAN'T FIX IT WITH A HAMMER,

YOU'VE GOT AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM"

This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco , TX , Nov 18, 2011 PUT ME IN CHARGE . . . Put me in charge of food stamps. I'd get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho's, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job. Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I'd do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal legations. Then, we'll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, or smoke, then get a job. Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks? You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your home" will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place. In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a "government" job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the "common good.." Before you write that I've violated someone's rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules. Before you say that this would be "demeaning" and ruin their "self esteem," consider that it wasn't that long ago that taking someone else's money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem. If we are expected to pay for other people's mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices. AND While you are on Gov't subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes, that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov't welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.

Mitigating Circumstances

I'd like to comment in length on a post I recently read reference proposed law changes in Indiana about the "legality of firing on a law enforcement officer". Trying to express a complicated perspective in 140 characters or less was too challenging. I think in my effort, I may have been misunderstood and lost a few follows in the process. But such is life. The true seeker of knowledge and understanding will ask the hard question. Those just along for the ride will always abstain from confrontation.

So I want to qualify on a couple of points before I get to the confrontational portion of my expose' here.

I am a citizen of a currently free America. One that depends on the enforcement of laws established to keep it free, and peaceful. I want it known up front that I uphold the role of the law enforcement officer, and support the often horrific job they have to do.

Secondly I'd have to say that there is no greater calling than that of the protector. Whether that's LEO, military or citizen soldier. These are jobs that often times extract the very most that a human can offer, to wit their very life. They do it with substandard pay, and mostly under the woeful eye of those that want, and need, the protection they offer, but seldom want the restrictions that can come with security.

Thirdly, while I respect the badge of office, and authority, I also respect human nature for the flaws it can harbor. Which is where we are now going to tread.

As a young and rambunctious man, like many, I tended to push some envelopes of legality. It was never an intentional matter of seeking to break the law, but it was a somewhat self serving desire to do whatever I wanted to do, and whenever. I drove too fast, drank one too many beers, shot some game and did some fishing where, and when I shouldn't and without the proper credentials needed. I never hurt anyone, but as always, the potential is there. I got caught a few times, skated a few times, and slipped away without anyone being the wiser more times than I can count. But I never hurt anyone. No justification, just stating a fact.

All of that changed when I had kids. Because like so many others, we never really seem to understand the reasons behind restriction until we have someone we care about more than ourselves. When the kids came, life got serious. On to my point.

Several times in my life I've bumped up against that portion of human nature I mentioned before...the flawed side. The side that lacks that character trait that makes a person like you or me hesitate, and more often than not, refrain from progressing in a manner that is either illegal or carries the potential to hurt someone else. This is what is called Common Grace within the realms of the religious. That small piece of God's love given to every man as a gift that makes most people "good" even if they don't share a relationship with Him. This post isn't about religion so I won't expand here and now on that.

I think it is safe to say that while the majority of those that profess to be protectors carry enough of this Grace in their spiritual pocket to be righteous in the endeavor, there are certainly those that slip through that don't. These are the ones who wear the badge, or carry the weapon, because it renders them more powerful in their own mind. They are the dangerous ones. They present a problem in the military, and I've seen them on the streets of America. A few examples.

When I separated from active duty with the Marine Corps, my first choice for civilian employment was with a municipal police department. My first stop was the Maricopa County Sheriff's department, that at the time was listing some openings on it's deputy program. I wasn't successful at getting in, much to my displeasure, because it was only open to a minority selection. Not my point here either, but it points my direction.

Instead, I got a job with the Maricopa County Sheriffs Office in the jail system working on a project called Arizona Boys Ranch. They were part of the juvenile detention system of the county jail. We took boys between the ages of 15-18 into a work release half way house type program up into the mountains of Arizona where we worked for the Fish and Game, Forestry Department, and Parks and Recreation systems. For me it was a lateral attempt to get into the Sheriffs Department. For the people running the program it was a way to make money off of kickbacks, graft and shell games. Money supposedly spent on the welfare of the kids was making its way into private pockets, and when I figured it all out and spoke up about it in an employee meeting, I got the proverbial boot. That's the shady side of LEO administration that hurts the tax payers pocket, but doesn't really represent a victim. Here's a couple examples of the nasty street scenarios that do, did and could have potentially gotten someone killed.

In 2002 I was the director of security for my local church. Ah...I saw the flicker of the eyebrow, and the flash of eye that comes whenever I mention being "director of security" for a church. But I live in an ethnically diverse part of Charlotte, NC, and the church was across the street from one of the most crime challenged high schools in the city. The area is also rated as one of the worst in Charlotte and two years ago was rated as 8th from the top of the 40 worst neighborhoods reference crime in the nation. So yes, we have a security program, and I carry a firearm. I am licensed to carry that firearm concealed, and I am proficiently trained in its use.

So early one morning back in 2002, around 3:30 or 4a.m. I'm wakened by a loud bang. I only heard it once, and my sleeping mind told me as I was waking up that it resembled a gunshot, and close. I looked out the window and saw nothing. My bedroom faces the back yard, and that's where the noise seem to come from so I picked up my .45 that sits in the bedside drawer and walked out into the back yard. I had stood on the porch for a couple of minutes when I heard the noise again. This time, being awake, I knew it wasn't a gunshot, sounded metallic, but too squishy if that were to make any sense. It actually sounded like someone kicking a metal bucket, and it was coming from the front.

So I walked through the house with the pistol in my hand, wearing only camouflage pajama bottoms. Yea laugh, the kids bought'em for me for Christmas that year. I walked out on my front porch but couldn't see anything for the hedges around the front yard. I had my cellphone in one hand and the pistol in the other when I poked my head out from between the hedge path at the front walk. As I did, I heard the noise again to my right. So pushing the pistol into the waist band of my drawers I started down the sidewalk in the direction of the bangs. Two or three houses up the block I saw the culprit. A local drunk walking down the street with an aluminum baseball bat smacking mailboxes. I looked back at mine and sure enough, crushed. That was the bang that woke me up. I dialed 911 and started back down the walk towards my house talking to the dispatch on the way. I recounted what I had heard, what I had seen, and what I had done, and what I was doing.

I had just stepped into my yard when I was surprised to see the first squad car pull up. Much too quickly for them to have alerted to my call. One car, obviously seeing me, pulled to the street in front of my house, a second pulling up behind him. I approached the first car and immediately recognized the officer. He and I had made contact on several occasions within the community watch program I belonged to. I briefly explained to him that I had my pistol in the back of my pajamas (which I had to hold up because the pistol outweighed the elastic capacity of the waistband). I showed him the cell phone in my left hand and he could see my right hand holding up my pj's. I think he may have smirked a bit as I approached. I was explaining about the noise and the bonehead with the baseball bat when a third patrol car came zipping down the street from the same direction, passed the two parked in front of my house and went to the next block intersection. He flipped a screaming u-turn and barreled back down on us. As he approached, he slid to a stop, kicked his door open and while we all watched proceeded to draw his service weapon out, point it at me and scream, "Put your hands in the air where I can see them!!" I looked at the officer sitting in the car for direction, he looked at the other officer, seeing the drawn weapon, and stated I'd better do as told. I told him that if I let go of my britches everything was going to head south. He said he knew, and that he'd cover for me. Meanwhile the screaming officer was still screaming for me to raise my hands. I let go of my pj's and grabbed some sky...my britches fell, the pistol landed in the grass besides my feet and the officer I was speaking with got out of his car, all at about the same time. Skippy came running up slapped cuffs on me as my buddy was assisting with my exposure and retrieving my weapon.

I sat in the back seat of the police car for the better part of an hour while the officers tried to sort out what had occurred. My buddy told me that they had received several 911 calls about someone with a metal pipe destroying mailboxes. My call was the last and they were already in progress when it came in. They barrelled past the culprit and saw me in the glow of a street light. The officer explained that when he saw me in pajama's he recognized me and the circumstances of my call, so when he approached he had no great concern over his safety reference me. The second officer behind concurred. The third officer was an idiot and was bound and determined to arrest someone, even if it was the wrong person. He didn't arrest me, but he did cite me for a CCW violation because I didn't have my permit on my person and confiscated my pistol.

So even though I was responding to a situation which I considered a potential threat to my family and myself (until I figured out what was happening), and even though I was standing on my own property when skippy came barreling into the situation, and even though three other officers tried to talk reason about the situation into him, he persisted with the citation. Keep in mind that he also pointed a gun at my face without probable cause as well.

When I went to court over the ordeal, I didn't even have to speak on my own behalf. The officer testified first and was perhaps five minutes into his spiel when the judge stopped him and asked a couple of questions. Reading from the 911 transcripts of all the calls, he asked the officer what lead him to identify me, standing barefoot and in pajama bottoms only, as the subject. Secondly, how did he know I was armed as he approached, and if he saw the weapon, how could that constitute a concealed weapons violation. And last, what was the address of the arrest, and where was I standing. All issues I, and the other officers, had brought up back the night of.

The fact is, I could have been standing on my property outfitted like Rambo on a tantrum and there wouldn't have been anything they could have done. They tossed the ticket and six months later I eventually got my weapon back. But not before I spent $500 in attorney fees.

Second situation. If you've read any of my former posts you'll remember that I was a bondsman for several years licensed by the Dept. of Insurance in NC. My job was writing bonds for accused criminals, posting those bonds, maintaining contact with the accused until they appeared in court, and chasing them down if they ran.

I also worked doing fugitive recovery for other agents working for the same insurance company as I did. If I had a bond skip that I required assistance on, I sought their help, and I reciprocated when they needed help.

In February of 2006, we made a routine run down to Spartanburg, SC about 90 miles south of Charlotte. We were after a bond skip for drug charges that was written for $20,000. Information on the location was offered by a girlfriend who was a responsible party on the bond and looked to forfeit the collateral on that sum if he wasn't caught. We responded to a location with the assistance of a local Dept of Public Safety Officer who was called off at the last minute, but returned when that call was aborted about 15 minutes later. Four of us approached a housing project unit in a rough suburb of Spartanburg. The lead identified himself at the front door, showing badges and documents reference the reason for being there and requesting to search. Typically a resident (who is listed in primary bond documents) can't refuse a search as its part of the contract. But when a third party is involved, they have the option. The counter option is then presented as "either let us search, no fault no foul, we don't find the mark, we leave. Or, if you refuse, we call the Sheriff's department who can get a warrant and search. Anything found is evidence of a crime. They usually opt for the first. In this case they did. Three and a half minutes later, we were finishing up when the DPS officer showed back up, cleared the operations, and we all left. Two took information gotten from the girl friend and located the skip some five miles away at a car wash and the deal was done.

We had come into nominal "contact" with a third party individual while there. He had the same first name, but a different physical description as our skip and as a "guest" as well, was told to let us proceed and stay out of the way.

Six weeks later I was contacted by the lead agent about the circumstances of the operation. He indicated that this "third party individual" had filed a simple assault charge against him for allegedly "coming in contact with him while passing in a stairwell". There was no grounds for the charge so I told him I wasn't concerned.

Six months later he contacted me again and indicated he had been contacted by SLED agents (South Carolina Law Enforcement Division) about the circumstances of the operation. They wanted to talk to everybody concerned. I told him to give them my phone number and hung up. Several months later, in February, a year almost to the day, I got a call from a SLED agent. He asked me to describe what had happened, which I did, and he indicated it was consistent with the other accounts. Done deal.

Not hardly. August of that same year, 2007, I was in Arizona dealing with my dads first bout with leukemia. Things were looking pretty bleak for him and I had all but shut the doors to my NC business. I received a call from one of the other agents who proceeded to tell me that serious charges had been levied against us by this "third party individual". The simple assault he first claimed had been escalated to felony assault by pointing a gun, aggravated assault by unlawful containment, crossing state line without license, illegal entry, search and seizure. (Remember at this point that I told you we had been cleared by a DPS officer before leaving the scene) The total of which would have put the four of us behind bars for between 25 and 30 years each.

He told me they had all turned themselves in on the charges so they could get it cleared up as soon as possible. I told him where I was at, (Arizona) and what I was doing, he told me the smart thing, as it was all bogus, was to stay where I was until they could get through the worst of the bullshit. If they wanted me bad enough, and could find me, they could come and get me. I concurred but told him I'd do that anyway because my dad's situation was grave, and I wasn't going anywhere.

Several days later I got a call from my oldest son. He informed me that an armed SWAT team was at that point working their way through my house searching for me. They claimed to have a warrant, and information from an informant that I had been seen in the neighborhood that day. They apparently were not represented by NC LEO. A call was placed to my wife at work, she was instructed to come home. When she did, they took her into custody and tried to force her to tell of my where abouts. She told them the truth, Arizona. My son put an officer on the phone wherein I explained that I was in fact in Arizona. I had had no formal indication of charges bound over against me and had in fact checked NCIS on various occasions just to insure I didn't have a warrant on me. Being a recovery agent myself, I certainly wasn't interested in being a fugitive. SLED agents threatened to take my wife into custody, send my two minor children to DPS and ransack my house if I didn't come out of the woodwork. Because I was talking to them on a cell phone, they simply wouldn't believe that I was in Arizona.

I had to go to a Phoenix local police station and ask an officer to place a call on a land line before they would believe I wasn't hiding in the bushes somewhere in my neighborhood. The officer from AZ asked if there was any reason he should take me into custody on the warrant. The SLED agent said no. Now ponder this. If SC LEO are in NC, and they don't have a warrant posted on NCIS, and they don't have local LEO with them, why are they in my house with an armed SWAT team looking for me on charges I had yet to be presented with?

As it all turns out, this was all about that "third party individual" thinking that, because there was an insurance company involved, he could bamboozle some big money out of us with bullshit charges. The SLED agents were working for the State Attorney General who saw some big headlines over the case. What actually ended up happening was, two years later, June of 2009, the case finally went in front of a Superior Court Judge and a jury. The other agents were still working for the insurance company, so it payed their attorney fees. I wasn't, so it didn't. I didn't have the 15 grand he wanted so I defended myself. Sometimes having a fool for your attorney works to your advantage.

Because I wasn't schooled in law, but still had the right to defend myself, I made some mistakes in court that were overlooked. I asked unorthodox questions, and spoke to the jury in a format that was far from ordinary. I made a plea to their common sense.

The prosecution presented five witnesses that told five different versions of a really poor story. The jury, made up primarily in June of school teachers who had been passed over during the year, saw through the absurdity of not only the five stories, but the states case as well. We were acquitted of all charges and the state got slapped with a hefty bill.

Now, I have just explained in great detail, some of which I will more than likely have cut out by the time you get this far, some situations where I have been unjustly accused, and suffered the consequences. It was only my own intelligence, and not the mercy of any of the states advocates, in either situation that got me free. In both instances either myself, or members of my family, were in danger by the almost gangster tactics of roug officers. Even so, I bear no hostility towards LEO in general. But I can tell you this. As a citizen of these United States, I have not only the right, but the responsibility to protect those members of my family, as well as those other citizens within my area of influence.

My life, and those of my family, are no less precious that the lives of the officers working the streets of America. I'd give my life in defence of the righteous actions of any one of them. But I'll be damned if I'd not shoot one if I felt they were going to take my life or anothers without justifiable and righteous cause. There is no instinct more inherently ingrained in us than survival. And sometimes, bad guys wear badges.