Latin Wisdom Phrases

"Veritas vos Liberabit," which translates, "the Truth will set you Free." The origin is John 8:31-32, where Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

"Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus, et Fidelis," which translates, "Always Vigilant, Brave, Prepared and Faithful."

Mission trip to Ecuador

Just returned from a week near Quito, Ecuador with 16 young people from our church and about 60-80 from other places. These young people and several adults spread out over the area doing a multitude of service projects, interacting with children and adults through sports, Bible school type activities, work projects, and just casual contacts to demonstrate Christ's love through action and caring. It is remarkable to watch young people give of themselves to people of another culture, often with extreme language barriers, and at the same time seeing them become changed. We were part of an organization called World Changers under the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Our group worked on projects planned by a local missionary couple in Quito with the support of the groups named. We stayed at a Nazarene Seminary which had the facilities necessary for our lodging and group activities and fanned out over surrounding areas for the projects being worked on. We met some remarkable local people who were so obviously appreciative of the work we were doing. My small group cleaned up and painted a community center and cleaned up an adjacent park. Another group and some local youth painted murals on the building. Some city workers came and removed some accumulated rock and building debris and finished a concrete playground that had been neglected for quite a while only because of the work we were doing and the urging of some neighborhood leaders. The week of work, worship, and travel was tiring, but quite rewarding and inspiring. This is my second trip to Ecuador, and my only regret is that I still haven't been able to get to a place where I can eat guinea pig!

Crazy Editorial & My Reply Re: McDonald vs. City of Chicago

Below is an editorial in the Louisville Courier-Journal, June 30, 2010 regarding the Supreme Court decision announced Monday, June 28, 2010 on the Second Amendment case of McDonald vs. City of Chicago in which the court again upheld the Right to Keep and Bear Arms was an individual right which had to be respected by the states. It is incredible to see the outrageous attempts to try to distort historical reality to which these elitists will use to further their attempts to destroy our freedoms. Emphasis below are supplied by myself.

Editorial | Crazy about guns
June 30, 2010

The phantom right of individual gun ownership got another boost Monday from an activist U.S. Supreme Court majority that seems intent on making law out of conservative orthodoxy.

Writing for the majority in a 5-4 ruling that split along familiar philosophical lines, Justice Samuel Alito took a bad ruling of two years ago and gave it even broader impact.
The 2008 case, District of Columbia v. Heller , resulted in another 5-4 ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess guns in the District of Columbia, crippling a tough local gun-control ordinance in a city that is largely under federal jurisdiction. In the current case, McDonald v. Chicago , the Court said that the Second Amendment's supposed guarantee of an individual's right to bear arms is binding on state and local governments.
The good news for anyone who seeks a saner American approach to guns is that the Court didn't seem to know exactly what it hoped to accomplish. Indeed, it didn't even strike down the gun-control measures in Chicago and Oak Park, Ill., that were at issue in the case. It sent the matter back to lower courts to determine whether those cities' strict ordinances, which basically ban possession of handguns, are allowed under the Second Amendment.
Moreover, Justice Alito again made clear that gun ownership is not an absolute right, though it is unclear what gun limits the Court majority will accept. At a minimum, one hopes that bans on military assault rifles; tougher regulations regarding gun shows, licensing of dealers and background checks, and restrictions on guns in schools, bars, government buildings and other public places remain possible.
The disturbing part of the ruling is that the Court relied on a selective reading of American history and constitutional development to hand the gun lobby a ruling it will use across the nation to challenge even the tamest local gun measures.
It brushed aside that the single sentence of the Second Amendment ties the "right to bear arms" with the need for state militias and the "the security of a free state," while making no mention of individuals (or, for that matter, guns).
It focused on two cherry-picked historical situations -- the young nation's vulnerability after it revolted successfully against British rule and the Civil War and its violent aftermath in the South -- to identify an enduring individual right that may neuter contemporary communities' abilities to respond effectively to epidemic levels of gun violence.
The reality today, as noted in dissent by Justice Stephen Breyer, is that guns cause 60,000 deaths and serious injuries in the United States each year.
Does anyone believe that's what the Founding Fathers or the Civil War's victors had in mind?

MY RESPONSE
Editor:
It is hard to comprehend how supposedly educated and (?) intelligent people can cram so many falsehoods and misrepresentations in a few paragraphs as you managed with your “Crazy about guns” editorial of June 30, 2010. The very first sentence calls our individual Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms a “phantom right”, in spite of the very simple and straightforward wording, used in several locations in the Constitution, defining that right clearly as “the right of the people.” What you call “conservative orthodoxy” is the accurate application of the clear and unequivocal intention of the writers and adopters of the Bill of Rights. You say the court “brushed aside” a sentence which you (inaccurately) claim ties the Right to Bear Arms to “state militias” and (unintentionally on your part) to “the security of a free state.” The clear and obvious intention of the writers of the Second Amendment was to provide for free citizens to have the means to preserve a “free state;” free from the despotic and tyrannical intrusions of an overreaching government supported and encouraged by elitists such as your editorial board, making that Right an essential factor in assuring that we would indeed always have the means to be truly “free.” People who have the Right to Bear Arms denied them are not free citizens, they are subjects.
In addition, you apparently totally deny the reality which has been clearly documented through actual legitimate scientifically designed studies as well as the experience of most of the nation where some reasonable level of access to weapons by honest citizens is preserved, that the presence of guns in the hands of honest citizens is an undeniable factor in a lowering of the incidence of violent crime. Jurisdictions with the most restrictive gun laws, essentially disarming the honest citizens, have, without exception, far higher levels of violent crime, including gun related crime, providing obvious proof that restrictive gun laws, rather than increasing safety and security, have exactly the opposite effect. It is equally obvious that such laws have nothing to do with “communities’ abilities to respond …to gun violence.” Legitimate response to “gun violence” is to prosecute criminals, not demonize an object. Guns do not “cause 60,000 deaths and serious injuries” (a grossly inflated figure, and mostly gang and drug related) annually in the United States. Criminals (and to a trivial extent, carelessness) “cause” those events. Guns are used over 2.5 million times annually to deter or stop criminal threats.
Your description of this decision (McDonald vs. City of Chicago) as coming from an “activist” Court majority is ludicrous. The majority ruled in a way that is absolutely and totally consistent with the language of the Constitution and the well documented intent of the framers of that document. This view of the Second Amendment was so well accepted that no one even thought to challenge it throughout most of the history of our nation. Far from being “activist,” this court ruled very narrowly and entirely consistently with the Constitution as written and understood from its creation. It has only been in the last several decades that the distorted view of the Right to Bear Arms only being related to a militia was even brought forward. The “militia” at the time of the writing consisted of the entire body of “the people.” This ruling (unfortunately) allows local and state jurisdictions to continue to tamper with our rights until further challenges are ruled on. The saddest part of this latest reaffirmation of our Second Amendment Right to Bear Arms is that there are four justices on the Supreme Court who place their personal opinions above the clear language of the Constitution and the obvious and well documented intent of those who wrote, debated, and approved that document. That is a frightening reminder of how fragile our freedoms really are and how crucial it is that we elect persons who take their oath to protect and defend the Constitution seriously enough to only consider candidates for the bench who are equally committed to that oath, placing it above any personal opinion or political pressure.


Sincerely,
Ronald D. Weddle, MD
4004 Mary Jo Blvd.
Bardstown, KY 40004
502-348-0515 (Home)
502-275-6090 (Cell)

Liberal Psychopathology

Excellent essay describing the Narcissistic Personality Disorder so prevalent among those with a leftist or statist ideology. Published long before Barack Obama was a national figure. (Which due to his total lack of qualifications for any significant post, was not very long ago.)

Pathology of the Left
By Mark Alexander · Friday, February 25, 2005

Recently, the American Psychological Association published a study by a few "academicians" from Cal-Berkeley and the University of Maryland. The study, entitled "Political Conservatism as Motivated Social Cognition," purported to have identified some determinants that are common to those holding a "conservative" worldview.

As one reads the report, it becomes readily apparent that their "norm" -- that is, their control group -- was somewhere to the left of Barack Hussein Obama1, Nancy Pelosi and her Ya Ya sisters, Babs Boxer and Di Feinstein -- but then, what are we to expect from Cal-Berkeley and UM, or just about any of our nation's "leading academic institutions"?

The authors received more than 1.2 million of your hard-earned tax dollars from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation in order to, by their own account, "consider evidence for and against the hypotheses that political conservatism is significantly associated with (1) mental rigidity and closed-mindedness; (2) lowered self-esteem; (3) fear, anger, and aggression; (4) pessimism, disgust, and contempt; (5) loss prevention; (6) fear of death; (7) threat arising from social and economic deprivation; and (8) threat to the stability of the social system."

In other words, if you (1) have an opinion; and are (2) humble; (3) assertive; (4) a realist; (5) a conservationist; (6) not suicidal; (7) from modest means; and (8) a constitutional constructionist, or worse, a Christian, then you're probably a wacky conservative.

Actually, what taxpayers got was re-warmed 1950-vintage rhetoric on what the authors call "authoritarianism and the fascist potential in personality.'' They assert that "one is justified in referring to Hitler, Mussolini, Reagan, and Limbaugh as right-wing conservatives..." (Is it just us, or is that a rather tendentious juxtaposition of murderous tyrants and conservative icons?) All in all, this research stands as a sterling example of academic twaddle, providing "an integrative, meta-analytic review of research on epistemic, existential, and ideological bases of conservatism." The authors' ultimate finding -- for what it's worth -- is that conservatives tend to "arrive at premature conclusions and impose simplistic cliche's and stereotypes," which, ironically, is precisely what the authors have done.

I waited for conservative behaviorist academicians to respond to this farcical pseudo-scholarly diatribe with a brief essay outlining the pathology of liberalism (contemporary, not classical). However, most conservative behaviorist left the academy a long time ago. That being the case, what follows is a rebuttal to this Leftist invective, in the most general terms -- sans the $1.2 million in confiscated wages and a forest of pulp for reprinting in "scholarly journals."

Now then, what, in the broadest terms, constitutes a contemporary liberal -- and why?

Liberals are uniformly defined by their hypocrisy and dissociation from reality. For example, the wealthiest U.S. senators -- Democrats -- fancy themselves as defenders of the poor and advocate the redistribution of wealth, but they hoard enormous wealth for themselves and have never missed a meal. They have always been far more dedicated to their country clubs than our country.

Liberals speak of unity, but they seed foment, appealing to the worst in human nature by dividing Americans into dependent constituencies. What constitutes these liberal constituencies? They support freedom of thought, unless your thoughts don't comport with theirs. They feign tolerance while practicing intolerance. They resist open discussion and debate of their views, yet seek to silence dissenters. They insist that they care more about protecting habitat than those who hunt and fish, and protest for the preservation of natural order while advocating homosexuality. They denounce capital punishment for the most heinous of criminals, while ardently supporting the killing of the most innocent among us -- children prior to birth. They loathe individual responsibility, and advocate for statism. They eschew private initiative and enterprise while promoting all manner of government control and regulation.

Liberals constantly assert their First Amendment rights, except, of course, when it comes to religion or speech that does not agree with their own. Here, they firmly impose the doctrines of secular atheism on everyone else. They hate the idea of self reliance, and Second Amendment rights cause them much consternation. They believe that second-hand smoke is more dangerous than marijuana and crack smoke. They believe that one nut accused of bombing an abortion clinic deserves far more law-enforcement attention than Jihadi cells planning the 9/11 attacks. They call 9/11 victims "Hitlerian" while calling their murderers "oppressed." They hate SUVs, unless imported and driven by their soccer mom constituents. They advocate mass transit but commute on private jets. They are earth-worshippers and see themselves as the ultimate arbiters of ["climate change" |http://PatriotPost.US/alexander/edition.asp?id=520]. They believe trial lawyers save lives and doctors kill people. They believe the solution to racism is to treat people differently on the basis of the color of their skin rather than the content of their character. They deride moral clarity because they can't survive its scrutiny. They promote peace but foment division and hate.

Ad infinitum...

Why do liberals believe what they believe -- and act the way they act? Psychopathology dictates, or frames, worldview, and worldview manifests in such things as political affiliation. Liberal pathology is very transparent and, thus, well defined.

Generally, liberals tend to be mentally rigid and closed-minded because they are insecure, the result of low self-esteem and arrested emotional development associated, predominantly, with fatherless households or critically dysfunctional families in which they were not adequately affirmed. They exhibit fear, anger, and aggression -- the behavioral consequences of arrested emotional development associated with childhood trauma (primarily rejection by a significant family member of origin as noted above). They display pessimism, disgust, and contempt for those who are self sufficient for much the same reason. They believe that conforming to a code of non-conformity is a sign of individualism, when it is nothing more than an extreme form of conformism for those who are truly insecure.

Liberals fear loss because most have suffered significant loss. Liberal personality disorders are the result of broken families. They fear death because they have little or no meaningful connection with their Heavenly Father -- often the result of the disconnect with their earthly fathers2. They often come from socially and/or economically deprived homes, the result of fatherless homes, but those who are inheritance-welfare trust-babies3 (see Kennedy, et al.) manifest similar insecurities about being helpless without external sustenance. Liberals reject individual responsibility and social stability because these were not modeled for them as children -- the generational implications of pathology.

Sound familiar? And I suspect the profs at Cal-Berkeley and Maryland attributed their own pathological traits to their opposition. It's called projection -- or, yes indeed, hypocrisy.

While the aforementioned environmental and behavioral factors are not universally causal in the emergence of a liberal worldview, they certainly are predominant. Close examination of the early childhood of most liberals will reveal they were "victims" of many of these circumstances, which is, in part, the basis for their "victim mentality."

Medically speaking, there is a diagnosis for Leftist over-achievers like Bill Clinton, Albert Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama, et al. They are pathological case studies of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, as outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- the standard reference used for psychiatric evaluation.

The diagnostic criteria for NPD includes a "pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts," which manifests as "a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements);" "a preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love; and a belief that he or she is 'special' and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)," and the subject "lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others...shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes."

Dr. Henry Miller, a 20-year veteran of the National Institutes of Health, notes, "People who suffer from Narcissistic Personality Disorder are tough to be around. They make terrible bosses, unbearable in-laws and insufferable neighbors. That's why I don't want Al Gore to be president -- or to live next door to me."

Of course, there are many conservatives who were raised by a single parent or in critically dysfunctional and/or impoverished homes. However, somewhere along the way, they were lifted out of their misery by the grace of God -- often in the form of a significant mentor who modeled individual responsibility and character. As a result, they have the courage to internalize their locus of responsibility, unlike liberals, who externalize responsibility for problems and solutions, holding others (read "conservatives") to blame for their ills, and bestowing upon the state the duty for arbitrating proper conduct -- even proper thought.

And a footnote: It's no coincidence that conservative political bases tend to be suburban or rural, while liberal political bases tend to be urban (see http://FederalistPatriot.US/map.asp). The social, cultural and economic blight in many urban settings are the catalysts for producing generations of liberals. Many urbanites no longer have a connection with "the land" (self-sufficiency) and, thus, tend to be largely dependent on the state for all manner of their welfare, protection and sustenance -- "It Takes a Village" after all.
Links

1. http://patriotpost.us/papers/#anchor31
2. http://patriotpost.us/alexander/edition.asp?id=537
3. http://patriotpost.us/alexander/edition.asp?id=275

How to Get Blood Out of a Burka

Another too good not to pass on:

Guns & Patriots
How to Get Blood out of a Burka
by Susan Dale
05/18/2010

The hits from this White House just keep coming:
“Fulfilling his commitment made last year in Cairo to help deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world, President Obama today kicked off a two-day Entrepreneurship Summit in Washington, DC. ‘We will bring business and social entrepreneurs from Muslim-majority countries to the United States and send their American counterparts to learn from your countries. Women in technology fields will have the opportunity to come to the United States for internships and professional development. And since innovation is central to entrepreneurship, we’re creating new exchanges for science teachers.’
This is at the same time that the American business intern program has been abolished by the Obama Administration.
This is at the same time that Israeli nuclear scientists are denied entry into the United States.
This is at the same time that our soldiers in the two fronts of the war on terror are being shot at by Iranian and Syrian supported Islamist terrorists.
And the United States of America is paying to send our children to Islamic countries TO LEARN?
To learn what? Effective subjugation of women? Proper method of beheading? Religious or philosophical reasons to be a suicide bomber? How to get blood out of a burka?
On second thought, maybe we could learn a little something from the myriad women in technology fields in Libya and Palestine.
How often are we to be insulted by the morons in this Administration until we have had enough? How many more indignities is this President allowed to inflict on us and the country we love before he is stopped? Where is it found in the Constitution that this tragically elected holder of the Office of the Presidency is permitted to continually deride us, insult us, ridicule us, weaken us, minimize us, while bankrupting us?
It’s as if we’ve been occupied.
Does Barack Hussein Obama even hear what he is saying when he comes out with things as preposterous as this ‘initiative?’ Does he think that anyone believes him? No one on earth wants to visit, much less live in, especially not ‘learn’ from one of those Muslim flea pits that Obama so reveres.
Yet he is spending Americans’ tax dollars, and certainly quite a lot of them, to send our children TO LEARN from societies that still live in the 12th century, that keep their women covered, uneducated and housebound, that perpetuate poverty for the majority of their population, that live the most extreme tenets of the most intolerant religion in the world, and that export their children throughout the world to kill themselves and as many infidels as they can take with them.
In contrast, the United States of America, the nation for which Obama has total contempt, has consistently led the world in industrial production and growth, in innovation, in the creation and invention of technology and products that improve not only American lives, but lives worldwide. The United States, despite the Herculean efforts on the part of the American left, “remains the world's largest, richest, and most productive economy.” With less than 5 percent of the world's population, the U.S. produces approximately a quarter of the world's total output of goods and services, and the American standard of living exceeds that of any other industrialized country. The U.S. is not deindustrializing, nor is it losing its overall competitive edge, again despite the hard work by Obama and his fellow leftists.
That is, we were and we did, until you brought hope and change to America, Mr. President.
The policies our current executive is implementing are actually meant to destroy ‘business’ entrepreneurship in America, while the public sector increases dramatically at the expense of the shrinking private sector. Although I’m not quite sure what a ‘social entrepreneur’ is, I would imagine that the creation of a program of such things would cost the American taxpayer yet another vast amount of money that we don’t have and that we wouldn’t want to spend even if we did have it..
At the same time that Barack Hussein Obama destroys our economy, neuters our automobile industry, commits an outright theft of our student loan industry, annihilates our entire health industry, bankrupts our insurance industry, destroys our financial services industry, makes ridiculous the office of the Presidency, continually humiliates our nation on the world stage, alienates every single one of our allies while bowing to our enemies, nullifies American power, throws away American sovereignty, and decimates our military, he is ably and gleefully assisted by the mainstream media that is quite skilled in lulling the American public into the myth that this all really isn’t happening.
It is happening. We are being destroyed as a nation, and at warp speed.
What’s next? Does Obama intend, with insane things like this ‘initiative,’ to have our daughters wrapped in cloths as Muslim men insist upon, and our sons to be bearded and robed, as decreed by Muslim law? Does our current President intend, once we ‘learn’ from the Muslim countries he so admires, the United States of America to accept the rule of Sharia law?
Do you have any idea how close we are to this? Understanding this ‘initiative’ and what it portends reveals a great deal of what this man and this Administration are doing to our nation. Again, due to the mainstream media, a large part of what they are trying to do is under the radar screen, but they if they succeed it will nonetheless be as thorough as if it were an out and out coup d’état.
America remains a great country, for many reasons, and one of them is that we still welcome people of all walks of life to our shores. More than 220 years after our founding, we welcome those who seek opportunity and freedom to the United States, and we revel as they discover, in effect, learn, the glory that it is to become an American.
America changes people, Mr. Obama. America does not need to be changed.

Corruption, Malfeasance, and Tyranny

Another day of evidence of corruption and malfeasance by the administration and attempts by the left to demonize threats to their power. The previously known attempt of the Obama administration to bribe a congressman (Sestak) to keep him out of the PA Senate race against the favored Benedict Arlen Specter is back in the news. The continued attempt to demagogue the Gulf oil incident while doing nothing about it goes on. The left attempts to portray Rand Paul as a racist because he has the courage to challenge the illegitimate, unconstitutional portions of the Civil Rights Act. And nobody raises a peep about this administration actively participating in UN efforts to "regulate" free speech (what an oxymoron!) and supporting UN treaties which (if adopted by the UN) do not require Senate action and that would ban gun ownership by private individuals in America in spite of the Second Amendment under the guise of regulating "small arms trade" around the world. (Which, by the way, would primarily protect tyrants around the world from any grassroots opposition.) We must hope and pray that real "change" comes in November.

Wisdom from a Founder

"The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust." --James Madison

Term Limits

My thinking on term limits has evolved. I used to be against term limits because I really did think that bad elected officials could and should be turned out by the electorate and I did not want to lose those whom I regarded as good. Finally, I realized that over the history of our republic, legislators have created structural barriers which enhance their ability to remain in office. My frustration over these inappropriate structural barriers to electoral defeat has made me willing to sacrifice those officials whom I like and respect in exchange for eliminating any chance of anyone becoming a career officeholder. These structural changes run the gamut from playing games with how the districts are drawn (gerrymandering - named after an early congressman who managed to get a district created for him that resembled a salamander, but which appears tame compared to many modern districts which may follow a highway for miles to link two areas of concentration of the "right" voters), corruption of how the population is counted (using "estimates" or "sampling" and employing criminal organizations such as ACORN) instead of just COUNTING people, the so-called Campaign Finance Reform law (more appropriately known as the Incumbent Protection Act), "ear-marks" (outright bribery of their constituents and financial supporters), the ability to dominate news because of their incumbency, the ability to dominate campaign funding (again because of their incumbency), and enhanced name recognition due to incumbency (usually for far too long.) In addition, it has become far too obvious that even those who enter congress with modest personal means all seem to leave quite wealthy (obviously without having any evidence of having provided any significant product or service to the economy.) On top of all that, they have created a retirement plan that rewards them with a lifetime income easily in the top 5-10% of Americans after as little as two terms in congress.
In my opinion, no one should be allowed to occupy any office for more than two terms. He may run for some other office if he wishes, but upon leaving office, he should receive NO benefit (pension, health insurance, etc.) greater than would be earned in a similar time of service in the private sector with a similar salary or income. He also should be prohibited from being appointed to any government position or be permitted to function as a lobbyist after leaving office. In other words, elected officials must be forced to return to private life after their terms end.
Making such changes would result in the election of citizens who would know upon embarking on public life that they would also be returning to private life. Such elected officials would be more likely motivated to perform their duties in accordance with the Constitution and with less intent on the accumulation of wealth and/or power. This may also result in more people with real life experience and intelligence in office rather than the boobs (such as Pelosi, "f**kin big deal" Biden, "Guam may tip over" Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, "the system worked" Janet Napolitano, "57 states" Obama, etc) who are such embarrassingly stupid and/or uninformed officeholders. These changes would probably also significantly diminish the undeserved and unearned arrogance and elitism of those who do get elected.

? Wisest or most Prescient of our Founders

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe ,
we shall become as corrupt as Europe .
Thomas Jefferson 


The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those 
who are willing to work and give to those who would not. 
Thomas Jefferson 


It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. 
A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. 
Thomas Jefferson 


I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government 
from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. 
Thomas Jefferson   


My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government. 
Thomas Jefferson 
No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. 
Thomas
Jefferson 


The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms 
is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government. 
Thomas Jefferson 


The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of 
patriots and tyrants. 
Thomas Jefferson 


To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he 
disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical. 
Thomas Jefferson 


Thomas  Jefferson said in 1802:
'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. 
If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their 
currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will 
grow up around the banks will deprive the
people of all property - until their children 
wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

Which Side of the Fence

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn’t buy one. If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat. If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life. If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation. A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels. Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church. A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it. A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

Concerns with Islam

Another too good not to post:


A newspaper stated that some Muslim doctor is saying we are profiling him because he has been checked three times while getting on an airplane.

The following is a letter from a pilot. This well spoken man, who is a pilot with American Airlines, says what is in his heart, beautifully....

'YOU WORRY ME!' By American Airlines Pilot - Captain John Maniscalco
I've been trying to say this since 911, but you worry me. I wish you didn't. I wish when I walked down the streets of this country that I love, that your color and culture still blended with the beautiful human landscape we enjoy in this country. But you don't blend in anymore. I notice you, and it worries me.

I notice you because I can't help it anymore. People from your homelands, professing to be Muslims, have been attacking and killing my fellow citizens and our friends for more than 20 years now. I don't fully understand their grievances and hate, but I know that nothing can justify the inhumanity of their attacks.

On September 11, ARAB-MUSLIMS hijacked four jetliners in my country. They cut the throats of women in front of children and brutally stabbed to death others. They took control of those planes and crashed them into buildings killing thousands of proud fathers, loving sons, wise grandparents, elegant daughters, best friends, favorite coaches, fearless public servants, and children's mothers. The Palestinians celebrated, the Iraqis were overjoyed as was most of the Arab world. So, I notice you now. I don't want to be worried. I don't want to be consumed by the same rage and hate and prejudice that has destroyed the soul of these terrorists But I need your help. As a rational American, trying to protect my country and family in an irrational and unsafe world, I must know how to tell the difference between you, and the Arab/Muslim terrorist.

How do I differentiate between the true Arab/Muslim Americans and the Arab/Muslim terrorists in our communities who are attending our schools, enjoying our parks, and living in OUR communities under the protection of OUR constitution, while they plot the next attack that will slaughter these same good neighbors and children?

The events of September 11th changed the answer. It is not my responsibility to determine which of you embraces our great country, with ALL of its religions, with ALL of its different citizens, with all of its faults. It is time for every Arab/Muslim in this country to determine it for me. I want to know, I demand to know, and I have a right to know, whether or not you love America. Do you pledge allegiance to its flag? Do you proudly display it in front of your house, or on your car? Do you pray in your many daily prayers that Allah will bless this nation, that He will protect and prosper it? Or do you pray that Allah with destroy it in one of your Jihad's? Are you thankful for the freedom that only this nation affords? A freedom that was paid for by the blood of hundreds of thousands of patriots who gave their lives for this country? Are you willing to preserve this freedom by also paying the ultimate sacrifice? Do you love America ? If this is your commitment, then I need YOU to start letting ME know about it.

Your Muslim leaders in this nation should be flooding the media at this time with hard facts on your faith, and what hard actions you are taking as a community and as a religion to protect the United States of America. Please, no more benign overtures of regret for the death of the innocent because I worry about who you regard as innocent. No more benign overtures of condemnation for the unprovoked attacks because I worry about what is unprovoked to you. I am not interested in any more sympathy. I am only interested in action. What will you do for America - our great country - at this time of crisis, at this time of war?

I want to see Arab-Muslims waving the AMERICAN flag in the streets. I want to hear you chanting 'Allah Bless America ' I want to see young Arab/Muslim men enlisting in the military. I want to see a commitment of money, time, and emotion to the victims of this butchering and to this nation as a whole.

The FBI has a list of over 400 people they want to talk to regarding the attack. Many of these people live and socialize right now in Muslim communities. You know them. You know where they are. Hand them over to us, now! But I have seen little even approaching this sort of action. Instead I have seen an already closed and secretive community close even tighter. You have disappeared from the streets. You have posted armed security guards at your facilities. You have threatened lawsuits. You have screamed for protection from reprisals.

The very few Arab/Muslim representatives that HAVE appeared in the media were defensive and equivocating. They seemed more concerned with making sure that the United States proves who was responsible before taking action. They seemed more concerned with protecting their fellow Muslims from violence directed towards them in the United States and abroad than they did with supporting our country and denouncing 'leaders' like Khadafy, Hussein, Farrakhan, and Arafat.

If the true teachings of Islam proclaim tolerance and peace and love for all people, then I want chapter and verse from the Koran and statements from popular Muslim leaders to back it up. What good is it if the teachings in the Koran are good, and pure, and true, when your 'leaders' are teaching fanatical interpretations, terrorism, and intolerance? It matters little how good Islam SHOULD BE if huge numbers of the world's Muslims interpret the teachings of Mohammed incorrectly and adhere to a degenerative form of the religion. A form that has been demonstrated to us over and over again. A form whose structure is built upon a foundation of violence, death, and suicide. A form whose members are recruited from the prisons around the world. A form whose members (some as young as five years old) are seen day after day, week in and week out, year after year, marching in the streets around the world, burning effigies of our presidents, burning the American flag, shooting weapons into the air. A form whose members convert from a peaceful religion, only to take up arms against the great United States of America, the country of their birth. A form whose rules are so twisted, that their traveling members refuse to show their faces at airport security checkpoints, in the name of Islam.

We will NEVER allow the attacks of September 11, or any others for that matter, to take away that which is so precious to us: Our rights under the greatest constitution in the world. I want to know where every Arab Muslim in this country stands and I think it is my right and the right of every true citizen of this country to demand it. A right paid for by the blood of thousands of my brothers and sisters who died protecting the very constitution that is protecting you and your family. I am pleading with you to let me know. I want you here as my brother, my neighbor, my friend, as a fellow American. But there can be no gray areas or ambivalence regarding your allegiance, and it is up to YOU, to show ME, where YOU stand. Until then, 'YOU WORRY ME!'

Immigration thoughts

This was just too good to not re-post. This letter displays the attitude any immigrant or immigrant wanna-be should have.

From: "David LaBonte"
My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the O(range) C(ounty) Register which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to "print" it myself by sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined. Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange County Register:

Dear Editor:
So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States, people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.

Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.

When we liberated France, no one in those villages were looking for the French-American or the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.

And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte

In other words, we WELCOME immigrants who want to come and BECOME AMERICANS and contribute to the continuing greatness of America. You can remember and respect your heritage, but don't try to impose that heritage or culture here. If you want to maintain that culture instead of becoming AMERICAN, stay home.

Thoughts on God by my son and myself

Thoughts from my son (of whom I am so proud of his creativity and intellect) on God, followed by comments by myself to him:

Dear God: it’s me, Scotticus. First off, I want to thank you for so many things -– springtime, basketball, The Sopranos, John Cusack movies -– so as not to seem overly critical. As for Earth, I love what you’ve done with the place. Your sense for drama is absolutely Scorsese-esque, especially that bit with Saddam Hussein coming out of the spider-hole with his Lyle Lovett hair and Jim Belushi demeanor:

"I wish to negotiate." Classic.

Having said that, I’ve got some pretty serious clergy-stumpers that I’d feel much better having answers to. For instance, I saw Mel Gibson’s new movie about your kid, and it got me to thinking: that was your kid. Yeah, yeah, "part God" and all, but if I have my theology right, when Deus Jr. was on the cross –- bleeding, bruised, broken -– he was flesh, blood, scooped-him-up-when-he-fell-off-his-bike human. So from there I began to wonder, was that really justice?

The way I learned it in Vacation Bible School, Jesus had to die in my place because he was perfect. For me to die wouldn’t have paid even the interest on my debt, having once lied to my mom about drawing on the furniture with permanent markers, so you called in a Holy Ringer. That’s where the logic gets muddy to me. Why am I absolved through the breaking and destruction of the only perfect human you ever made? In which part of your wonderful universe is that just?

If I saw a man murder my family, I wouldn’t sigh the great sigh of closure by seeing his sweet, elderly, Wal-Mart-greeter aunt writhe in the electric chair in his place. People point to your fourth-quarter Messiah substitution as proof positive of just how much you love us, but that doesn’t feel like justice at all; in fact it kind of makes my stomach churn.

I want to be on your team. Believe me, I love Max Lucado books as much as the next guy, and Mike Breaux can flat-out preach. Your theme songs are always catchy, and your pleasant promises of paradise take the acid-reflux out of life, but I’m not the first who needed to put his finger in the wounds to believe -– and Thomas used to fish with the guy.

I see your chosen people getting sand kicked in their face by everyone from Pharaoh to Hitler to Arafat, and that leaves me almost as dumbfounded as the fact that you have a "chosen people" to begin with.

But all digression aside, my overall point is so disturbing that I cannot be content to fully claim it without begging, pleading, even praying to be shown the light which so many insist is there; so here goes:

I think maybe you’re wrong.

Now hear me out. I know the Bible says you are infallible, but to be fair it was your book. Richard Clarke practically claims he foresaw terrorist attacks in tea leaves in his book. If I wrote one, I’d be the coolest character in it too. I’d see the future, possess a perfect sense of justice, love everyone, and be able to pull off that trick where Superman could see Lois Lane’s undies through her nightgown.

It’s not that I don’t think you are who you say you are. Evidence and instinct screams that there is a creative, even artistic force behind the universe, and I believe that force is most certainly you. But I was created with a mind capable of astounding feats of reason (in fact it is my gift just as bears have claws and puppies have cuddliness) and there are moments among your record where you and I seem to simply disagree. Remember that time when you and Moses commanded the Israelites to pike the heads of the Midianites, scolded the army for leaving the women alive, then ordered them to take the virgins -– most likely preteens -– for themselves (Numbers 31:3-18)? I wasn’t on board for that. And earlier, when you put Pharaoh up as a patsy to show off your best tricks, one of which was killing firstborn children (Exodus 10:1-2), well you left me with a little head-scratching then too. But the real rub is the crucifixion. What parent expresses love to his naughty children by nailing the one who behaves to a tree?

In the end, it’s your world. Even if you are wrong, you wrote the rules and you pick the winners. But you created this brain in my head, and if the ultimate gesture of humanity as you created it is to deny the very rationality and morality that sets me apart from the gerbils in favor of blindly following you, then I’m afraid I cannot suit up this time. Give my regards to Walter Matthou, and if I’m wrong, then I truly pray you help me piece it together before the final horn blows.

PS – Thanks again for the springtime.

Comment:
I know that I can not match your wit or intellect, but I hope my faith can somehow encourage you to reach that point for yourself. From the failure of Adam to accept a single rule, the ability to choose that God gave us all invariably leads us to make wrong decisions occasionally. As much as God loves us, his holiness demands repentance and some type of sacrifice before we can have a relationship with Him again. From the time of Adam until Christ that was done with the blood sacrifice of animals. But throughout the accounts of the Old Testament, there is a coherent plan revealed for a better way. Through over 300 prophecies, all of which were fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, God gave us the gift of salvation by simply believing and accepting the sacrifice of the perfect Lamb. That was not a punishment of a perfect, sinless being, but the gift of the Trinity, sending a part of that Trinity to bring God directly to us as a living human being for about 33 years. That being experienced an undeserved (but planned and predicted) death, but then arose, appeared to over 500 people, then returned to His place with God and sent another part of that Trinity, the Holy Spirit, to live in those who accept His reality and the sacrificial gift He gave to us. That death was not about justice, but grace, an undeserved gift. Knowing that we could never deserve, on our merits, to be in the presence of a holy God, He provided the perfect Sacrifice and asks us only to accept that gift and allow the Holy Spirit to help us to live in a way more pleasing to Him, manifested in the simple rules of loving God and loving our fellow man. Even those seemingly simple rules cannot be perfectly followed by us as humans, but the Holy Spirit gives us the help we need to continue to try. And that is all He asks of us.
I hope this helps. Read "The Shack" when you get a chance. It may help with the issue of bad things happening to innocents. Not sure about how to "Comment" other than "Anonymous", but this is from Dad with love.

The Patriot Declaration

With full credit to Mark Alexander of the Patriot Post (http://www.patriotpost.us)
Preamble to the Patriot Declaration

We are American Patriots, defenders of First Principles and Essential Liberty.

We are Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and public servants standing in harm's way at home and around the world, who are loyal, first and foremost, to our revered oath to support and defend our Constitution.

We are grassroots leaders and local, state and national officeholders who, likewise, honor our sacred oath.

We are mothers, fathers and other family members nurturing the next generation of young Patriots.

We are farmers, craftsmen, tradesmen and industrial producers. We are small business owners, service providers and professionals in medicine and law. We are employees and employers. We are in ministry at home and missionaries abroad. We are students and professors at colleges and universities, often standing alone for what is good and right.

We are consumers and taxpayers.

We are voters.

We are not defined by race, creed, ethnicity, religion, wealth, education or political affiliation, but by our devotion to our Creator, and the liberty He has entrusted to us, one and all.

We are Patriot sons and daughters from all walks of life, heirs to the blessings of Liberty bequeathed to us by our Patriot Forebears, confirmed in the opinion that it is our duty to God and Country to extend that blessing to our posterity, and avowed upon our sacred honor to that end. We are vigilant, strong, prepared and faithful.

Patriot Declaration

We the People, blessed with the inheritance of Liberty paid for with the lives and fortunes of Patriots before us, hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, that to secure these Rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it.

WHEREAS, our nation is at a critical historic juncture, where we must choose between Rule of Law and rule of men; and

WHEREAS, our nation is confronting significant political threats to Liberty from within our borders and from enemies abroad; and

WHEREAS, our national Constitution is the singular guidance for Rule of Law and the defense of liberty; and

WHEREAS, our Constitution's Article VI Section 1 stipulates, "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution…" but the majority of those aforementioned have forsaken their oath to support and defend our Constitution, placing the future of American Liberty at great peril;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, We the People of these United States, in order to restore a more perfect Union, re-establish Justice, re-insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, pledge to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, as established at great cost in lives and treasure by our Founders and defended by generations since, and we demand that those in the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of our national government likewise honor their oaths, and commit to undertake the following actions to restore constitutional integrity and Rule of Law:

FIRST, that constitutional authority be established for any national legislation entered before Congress, by way of an Enumerated Powers Amendment, requiring specific authority enumerated in our Constitution empowering Congress to enact such legislation, thus ensuring that such legislation does not amend the plain language of our Constitution, which prescribes its own method for amendment in Article V;

SECOND, that said Amendment require that all legislation explicitly cite its compliance with the Tenth Amendment to our Bill of Rights, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," thus prohibiting the central government from usurping the powers reserved to the States or the People;

THIRD, that said Amendment require all legislation and regulation imposed upon the nation apply equally to all members of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government;

FOURTH, that fiscal responsibility be enumerated in our Constitution by way of a Balanced Budget Amendment, including zero base-line accounting principles, to be put before the states and the people;

FIFTH, that said Amendment contain a provision requiring a three-fifths majority of votes by members of Congress to raise direct or indirect taxes, and acknowledgment that the legislature has no authority to raise taxes for purposes that are not expressly authorized by the Constitution;

SIXTH, that said Amendment contain a provision that direct taxes be levied at an equal ratio to all Americans, ensuring that the cost-burden of government is shared equally by all, and consistent with Article I, Section 9, which provides "No Bill of Attainder or ex post facto Law shall be passed" which would unduly single out individuals or minority groups for undue punishment;

SEVENTH, that said Amendment contain a provision that the withholding of taxes by an employer is the option of the taxpayer;

EIGHTH, that said Amendment acknowledge the interdependence of economic freedom and political freedom by provision that any bill before Congress must enumerate its implications against the exercise of free enterprise;

NINTH, that a Legislature Accountability Amendment to establish term limits for all members of Congress, similar to that of the 22nd Amendment, Section 1, limiting terms for the Executive, be put before the states and the people; and,

TENTH, because Rule of Law, established through the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, entitles the People to unalienable Rights including Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, and severely limits the government from any infringement upon those rights, then any member of the Executive, Legislative or Judicial branch in violation of the Rule of Law established through our Constitution is subject to impeachment and criminal prosecution.

THUS, be it known that for the support of this Declaration in defense of the Rule of Law established by our Constitution, it is, with firm reliance upon the protection of divine Providence, that we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Sign The Patriot Declaration

Fellow Patriots, throughout history the burden of ensuring that the flame of liberty burns bright has fallen upon the shoulders of a few patriotic men and women. But as Founding Patriot Samuel Adams noted, "It does not take a majority to prevail ... but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men."

Through this Declaration, we, the tireless minority, publicly deliver hope and inspiration to our countrymen and, indeed, the world, and we send a message to those who have forsaken their oaths to support and defend our Constitution, who have abandoned Rule of Law for selfish pursuits: Don't Tread on Us, or you will surely suffer the consequences.

Why I Carry a Gun

Why I Carry a Gun.....

My old grandpa said to me, "Son, there comes a time in every
man's life when he stops bustin' knuckles and starts bustin' caps
and usually it's when he becomes too old to take an ass whoopin'."

I don't carry a gun to kill people.
I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I don't carry a gun to scare people.
I carry a gun because sometimes this world can be a scary place..

I don't carry a gun because I'm paranoid.
I carry a gun because there are real threats in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I'm evil.
I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the world.

I don't carry a gun because I hate the government.
I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don't carry a gun because I'm angry.
I carry a gun so that I don't have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don't carry a gun because I want to shoot someone.
I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don't carry a gun because I'm a cowboy.
I carry a gun because, when I die and go to Heaven, I want to be a cowboy.

I don't carry a gun to make me feel like a man.
I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.

I don't carry a gun because I feel inadequate.
I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.

Personally, I carry a gun because I'm too young to die and too old to take an ass whoopin'.

...author unknown (but obviously brilliant)


Remember the average response time to a 911 call is over 4 minutes.

The average response time of a 357 magnum is 1400 feet per second.

2010 Spring Turkey Season

2010 Spring Turkey Season


Opening Day – April 17, 2010

After taking off the first 4 days of the 2010 Spring Turkey Season, my plans for an intense few days of hunting the wild turkey got partially derailed. Our church has an annual Youth Auction fundraising event which is the major fundraiser for our children and youth summer camps. I have always enjoyed supporting those activities with both donations for the auction, and sometimes even buying items of interest as well. This year the Auction fell on the evening of the opening day of Spring Turkey Season. I knew that I would have to break up my hunting in order to continue to support the Auction, and made up my mind to do so.
Having a place to hunt near home is always a challenge. This year several weeks before the season, a friend at church who farms not too far from our home mentioned seeing a lot of turkeys on his farm. I immediately asked if he would consider letting me hunt there. He responded that his farm was leased to a couple of deer hunters, but they never hunt turkeys, so he saw no reason that I could not turkey hunt there. A few days before the hunt, I visited his farm and he showed me around. As an added bonus, I got quite a history lesson as the farm had been in his family since Nelson County was settled in the late 18th century. The spot looked promising, so I filed that away as a place I could go.
Then, two days before opening day, a good friend, Danny Raisor, who has a nice farm on which he manages for trophy deer, but also has a nice turkey population, asked me if I would like to come hunt with him opening morning. Having hunted there before, and knowing the prospects with more certainty than the previous offer, I accepted. I met Danny and another friend, Scott Turner, at about 5:45 AM at the farm. After a few moments of pleasantries, Danny searching for his camo shirt, and revealing that he did not have any turkey loads for his shotgun, my providing a couple of extra shells I had with me, we decided where everyone was going for the morning hunt and got on our way.
Even though we arrived at the farm in plenty of time, by the time all the above took place and I was on my way, it was already light enough to see well. I was sure I was at least 15 minutes too late getting to my assigned spot, in addition to having to walk through an open field, set up my decoys and get myself situated in a blind. Then soon after getting set up, I began to hear gobbling. All of the gobbles I heard seemed to be at a great distance and off the property I was hunting. Then, not long after hearing a few toms, I began to hear shooting. Not a lot, but three or four shots, most distant, but one sounding very close. By this time, I am thinking every gobbler in my vicinity is on the run and on high alert.
I was eager to try out two new calls, a loud tube call for locating gobblers, and a wingbone call I had made myself from the wing bones of a turkey I had killed last year. Before leaving the cabin that morning some of my calling enthusiasm was dampened by a comment from Danny telling us to definitely not do a lot of loud calling as he did not want the birds to become too educated and call shy early in the season. That ruled out my new tube call! Over the next hour and a half, I did try my wingbone call, a slate, and a mouth diaphragm, but limited my calling to purrs and clucks. None of my calls seemed to elicit any direct response.
About 8:00 AM, I heard some nearby clucks, then saw two heads in front of my blind. Soon after their appearance, I detected short stubby beards of about 2-3 inches on each. These two jakes (one year old males) hung around for several minutes. While the jakes were near my blind, nature began to call producing a tremendous need to void and have a bowel movement. With the jakes there, I did not want to move and alert them or anything else in the vicinity to my presence. As my discomfort mounted, I saw two toms out in the field about 150 yards away. Using my wingbone call, I got their attention and they began to come my way. As they approached, they went out of sight in a depression in the field, so I lost track of their movements. Soon, I did see a fan and then some heads above the grass to my left and could tell they were approaching my decoys. I eventually saw three gobblers, all with adult beards, and with occasional spreading of their fans.
The gobblers would come in and out of my sight as they moved around beyond the tall grass. I thought everything was falling into place as they approached, but suddenly they turned toward the woods behind me. I could tell they had clearly altered their path and rather than continuing to approach my decoys in front of my blind, they seemed to be leaving. I quickly found one head and neck above the grass and fired. To my amazement, FIVE other gobblers flew off at the shot. It reminded me of a covey of quail flushing! In addition, about 100 yards in front of my blind and out of sight until I stood up, another gobbler which I had seen fly across the lower portion of the field was still in the field and apparently very unsure of what was going on up my way. The bird I had shot lay still where I had shot him 26 yards from my blind. Once I was certain that he was no longer moving, nature's call became overwhelming and would not be denied! Thank goodness I carry wet wipes with me when hunting!
None of the gobblers that had approached had gobbled. Some had briefly and intermittently displayed their fans, but none truly strutted. Did they come to my calls, my decoys, or were they just on a stroll through the neighborhood? I would like to think that my calling at least got them into the neighborhood, even if it did not bring them directly in front of me. The hunt still ended successfully with a dead gobbler. My bird was probably a three year old with spurs of 1 1/8 in. and a beard of 11 ¼ in. All this transpired before 8:40 AM and my opening day hunt had ended quite successfully. I had plenty of time to remove the turkey's breast, wing bones, beard and spurs, clean up, relax and prepare to get to the Youth Auction. The pressure is off for the Spring Turkey season of 2010. One bird is down and several days available over the next three weeks to get my second turkey!