FORGOTTEN WARRIOR: Twice in one Day

For my beloved "men," on Veterans' Day.  Thank you will never be enough; I will love you forever.

Confirmation of my 2005 interview with Islam apostate "Alex"

I told you so.

I'm going to say it again, in all caps.  Look away if you're easily offended.

I TOLD YOU SO.

In 2005, I wrote an article that came to life from an interview with "Alex," an Islam apostate who began writing to me earlier in the year in his frustration as to why America was always apologizing for defending itself and treating enemies like friends and friends like enemies.  At that time, he brought up the point below that I included in the article:

"Do any of you know what Mean Time Between Failure means? It is the guaranteed time that a new technology can last before it needs to be replaced. Say that a part is created for the space shuttle that has an MTBF of 2000 hours. In countries that are your enemies, they will make it only to last 1000 hours. I know this is done—I’ve seen it. Do you see how insidious this is? They are not only stealing your technology, but ‘dumbing down’ the products they send you, all in an effort to destroy you. Do you see now? Are you ever going to stop apologizing for defending yourself? Are you ever going to wake up and stop this policy of self-destruction? Why are you doing this? If America is brought down, then Islam and Communism will rule the world. I’ve seen both, which is why America must remain the predominant power in the world."

Now, keep the above excerpt in mind while reading what has been revealed today.  (My original article follows the article from today that I posting now)

Chinese Counterfeit Parts in U.S. Military’s Boeing, L3 Aircraft

By Tony Capaccio

Nov. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Dozens of suspected counterfeit parts have been installed on U.S. defense equipment from Raytheon Co., L-3 Communications Holdings Inc. and Boeing Co., including aircraft deployed to Afghanistan.

The Senate Armed Services Committee found counterfeit parts -- usually from China -- on at least seven aircraft, including the Lockheed Martin Corp. C-130J transport plane, Boeing P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol and L-3 27J Spartan transport.

“Suspect electronic parts from China were installed on military systems and subsystems that were manufactured by Raytheon Co., L-3 Communications and Boeing,” said the memo from the committee’s staff, released yesterday in advance of a hearing today.

None of the examples were connected to instances of lives lost or dramatic failures causing an aircraft crash, Michigan Senator Carl Levin, the committee chairman, said.

Still, the committee staff has “identified lots of places where, unless that correction was made, there was real fear that those kind of disastrous consequences could take place,” Levin said.

Separately, the Pentagon’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service is investigating approximately 40 cases involving various counterfeit items, Assistant Pentagon Inspector General for Investigative Operations James Ives said in an e-mail. The agency is conducting 225 investigations “involving potentially defective or substandard parts and components,” he said.

Deployed Aircraft

“The cases may involve counterfeits or improperly made parts,” Ives said.

Two new L-3 Air Force C-27J Spartans deployed to Afghanistan have displays with suspect parts, according to the committee. L3’s Integrated Systems unit notified the Air Force on Sept. 19 that 38 suspect video memory chips were installed in the display units on eight of the first 11 aircraft delivered.

The L-3 unit that made the displays learned of the suspect memory chips in November 2010, the memo said. The committee traced the chips to Hong Dark Electronic Trade in Shenzhen, China, which also delivered an earlier counterfeit part L-3 discovered in October 2009, it said.

The display units are made by L-3 Communications Display Systems and provide pilots with diagnostic data including engine status, fuel usage, location and warning messages.

The C-27J displays were among more than 500 containing suspect Chinese parts sold to the Air Force, Navy and defense contractors for installation also on C-130J and C-17 transport and Marine Corps CH-46 helicopters, the memo said.

Memory Chip Risks

“Failure of the memory chip could cause a display unit to show a degraded image, lose data or even go blank,” the memo said.

L-3 spokeswoman Jennifer Barton said the company is “reviewing the matter.”

“The fact that defective parts are in aircraft that are deployed in Afghanistan is evidence of the seriousness of the problem,” Levin said in an e-mail to Bloomberg News.

The Senate committee’s investigative staff amassed a database with 1,800 cases of counterfeiting totaling about 1 million parts. It scrutinized 100 cases and found that 70 percent of the suspect parts were traced to Chinese firms, according to the memo.

“Nearly 20 percent of the remaining cases were tracked to the United Kingdom and Canada -- known resale points for counterfeit electronic parts from China,” it said.

Legislation Considered

The panel is considering ways to tighten rules against the counterfeits, Levin told reporters, including requiring the defense contractors to pay for replacing the parts with genuine items.

“There’s a lot of possibilities here,” Levin said. “Right now, there is ambiguity in some of the contracts,” he said. “It depends on some extent as to the wording of the contract, whether it is cost-plus or fixed price,” he said.

Legislation “will force contractors to tell” their subcontractors and their subcontractor’s suppliers that they need to make sure the parts being sold are legitimate, he said.

“If you out the onus on all of our contractors they will get that message back to their suppliers as well,” he said.

--Editors: Steven Komarow, Jim Rubin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net

And my article from 2005 in its entirety:

SLEEPING GIANT STAY AWAKE, DAMMIT By: Resa LaRu Kirkland One of my favorite icons in history is Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto. I was raised with a great love for history by a dad who knew just about every damned thing to do with WWII. In fact, I had to be the only fifth grader who knew that Yamamoto planned the attack on Pearl Harbor. I didn’t stop there; I went on to tell my teacher and class that he was educated in America, warned Japan against fighting us, told them they would lose, was sent out to sea in part because his life was being threatened for daring to say the emperor could be defeated, his personal hero was Abraham Lincoln, and made the famous "Sleeping Giant" quote. It was a warning we continue to ignore. There was much about him to admire. He wasn’t just an intelligent man; he was wise and honorable. While studying at Harvard, he was awed by the American people. He could not get over what he called "their unfailing optimism." It was unimaginable to Yamamoto—they were not disciplined with the Bushido code, not part of the superior Japanese race. And yet, they had a sense of hope, a sanguinity that both baffled and inspired him. He had been taught in Japan that easy living had made Americans soft and lazy. They would never have the disposition to fight a long, hard war…at the first loss of life they would fold. Americans had a silly sentimentality attached to the individual human life. The Japanese believed in never actually dying, and that ending your mortal life in war for the emperor meant eternal exaltation. It also meant that the parents of such a son would be financially compensated. (Hmmmm…sounds familiar.) Japan had taught their people that Americans paid lip service to freedom being more precious than life, but they didn’t actually mean it. The 1930’s had proven that. America turned a blind eye to what was happening in the hope that it would all just go away; that Hitler would finally be satiated with each new nation he ravaged under the Nazi scythe. They had even ignored Japan’s aggression in Korea and China. This appeared to support the Japanese perception that Americans were just too ductile to take on the hard, disciplined nation of Japan. America had been the only realm that Japan and Germany feared could stop them. But once it became clear that they would do nothing and would actually look the other way, they became a joke to the two predator nations. Yamamoto didn’t want to align with Germany. He told his Army friends that such an alliance would be death to Japan. When it happened, the heads of Japan’s military machine asked him to plan a first, massive strike on American soil. What he told them stunned the council. "I can make an attack, and I can assure you of victory for the first 6 to 12 months of the war. But after that, I promise nothing. I also know that you think America is soft, and will not fight a sustained and costly war anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth. If we start this war, we cannot stop at Hawaii or even California…we will have to march on until we are at the steps of the White House. We must follow the Geneva convention in this attack. If we deal with America dishonorably by not first signaling our intentions to them in cutting off negotiations, they will be unmerciful with us, and we will lose." We all know what happened. In the hours after the attack, Yamamoto found out that the message had failed to reach the President before the first strike as planned. In America’s eyes, it had been an unprovoked sneak attack. While all around him were celebrating their victory at Pearl, Yamamoto sat in stony silence. Slowly the others noticed, and out of engrained respect, sat to listen to what the great warrior had to say. "The message did not reach Washington until hours after the attack began. I can think of nothing that would enrage the American people more than an unprovoked attack. I fear all that we have accomplished is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve." There it is—the first reference to America being asleep on thejob, and only awakening after being attacked. All of Yamamoto’s predictions and warnings came to pass. Six months after Pearl, they suffered their first great defeat at Midway. By the first anniversary, the tide had turned. In less than four years, the American "terrible resolve" mushroomed for the entire world to see. But there is one saying Yamamoto had that I do not agree with. When consulting with his Army friend about negotiating with America, he reminded him that "there is no final word in diplomacy." This is not true. When you have an enemy who refuses to acknowledge your right to live as you choose, you only have two word choices—capitulation or war. Again we have an enemy who believes we cannot win. Unlike Yamamoto, however, they are not men of honor, who believe in following any of the established rules for warfare, let alone human decency. They turn their women and children into combatants—just as the VC did—and then exploit flaws in the American system they so despise to gain wealth, propaganda, and a world that will submit to Islam or taste the point of their spear. They do not warn their own people that they cannot win; instead they use our own people—hippies—on our own soil—Hollywood—to spread their lies and defend their civil rights, ensuring that they can continue in their wicked work until they succeed. But we are fortunate. We still have those raised in Islam who recognize the evil and abandon it. They see the good things about America and Israel, and the two do not reckon. They choose the one that is right and good. Out of respect and a sense of safety for this land, they sound warnings to us constantly. My Muslim contact is one, but his warnings are many. "You are under attack, and they will not stop. They will fight in ways you consider horrifying, such as using civilians and children against you. They will sign treaties only to get you to let your guard down. They will never honor a treaty because the Quran teaches it is not a sin to break a promise with the infidel. In fact, it encourages such behavior as an insidious way to weaken and destroy the enemy. In Islam you are taught to be a good neighbor, to attend barbecues, baby-sit for your neighbors, and get them to like you. This will make it harder for them to believe that Muslims are really that bad, thus enabling the goal of Islam and stunting America’s ability or willingness to stop them. It will also make it so you never see it coming—they’ll be at your party one weekend, and when—not if—the call comes, they will slit your child’s throat in front of you the following weekend. "The Nordic races have been gutted to the point of fracture all over the world, but particularly in America. Your attitude and apparently mandated policy of racism against whites—the race that created and built America—is baffling. Allowing feminist ideals to put your children in the hands of the state from birth on is only ensuring that they will tow the government line and not fight back when the time comes. "One of the problems I have with the black race is their attitude. (Don’t worry, he can say that. It’s only racist if you’re white.) I have a colleague from Africa who is black, and he is the best scientist I know. But the blacks in America have this outlook of entitlement—that they don’t have to work and sacrifice like the white races have. This is something they continue to do to themselves in spite of their vast opportunities. They don’t have to overcome what my African friend did—their choice of being criminals rather than men of honor is a result of their own attitudes and America’s continued guilt-ridden PC attitude that blacks have to be ‘taken care of.’ How does this help you? It’s insulting, yet blacks endorse it! By now it should be obvious that this policy is destroying you, and yet you continue it. "Your universities are aiding and abetting the enemy by insisting that America give more visas to foreign students and overlook background checks. Why? Well, partly because they are the bastions of liberalism. But it is also because Americans don’t want to work hard in the un-glamorous and damned difficult fields of science. All of your top scientists in America are either Indian, Muslim, or Chinese. Why aren’t your children doing this? You are constantly being compromised when you have enemy nations creating technology in your land and sending it back home to use against you. They have even stolen from you, but your own press downplays it! How can you be so deliberately suicidal? "Do any of you know what Mean Time Between Failure means? It is the guaranteed time that a new technology can last before it needs to be replaced. Say that a part is created for the space shuttle that has an MTBF of 2000 hours. In countries that are your enemies, they will make it only to last 1000 hours. I know this is done—I’ve seen it. Do you see how insidious this is? They are not only stealing your technology, but ‘dumbing down’ the products they send you, all in an effort to destroy you. Do you see now? Are you ever going to stop apologizing for defending yourself? Are you ever going to wake up and stop this policy of self-destruction? Why are you doing this? If America is brought down, then Islam and Communism will rule the world. I’ve seen both, which is why America must remain the predominant power in the world." There’s that phrase again about waking up. I think it’s time that America stop sleeping so much. For a few more moments of rest we are compromising our future. Try getting any sleep then, America! Stop sleeping, giant. You’re late for school, and you can’t afford that. You’re already behind in your lessons. Keep the faith, bros, and in all things courage

I rest my case.

A picture is worth a thousand words

HT:  Sharon Hughes!

Start gleaning now!

Hey all!  If you have ever found anything of value at my website, please start gleaning from it now.  Thanks!

LDS perspective on law, right/wrong, and the Godly-inspired Constitution

Latest from Latter-day conservative:



     

Harold B. Lee
Quotes on Freedom, America, Constitution, Liberty, Etc…

"Youth must never forget that this the government of the United States was established “According to the laws and constitution of the people, which (God) has suffered to be established. . . . That every man may act in doctrine and principle . . . according to the moral agency which (God) has given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.” It was to accomplish this lofty purpose basic to all liberty that God “established the Constitution of this land by the hands of wise men whom (he) raised up unto this very purpose.” (D&C 101:77–80.) Contained within the principles of that great heaven-inspired document is the message of this Church to the world in this fateful hour. Except the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and principles contained within the Constitution of the United States are inherent in world plans now being formulated, they are but building on sand and the Lord is not in that building."

"I have faith in the future of this promised land of America and in its institutions of representative government, but more than that, I have faith in you, the youth of America, to build even more securely on the foundations laid by the faith and devotion of your pioneer fathers. That you as the youth of the Church would have an important part to play in preserving the ideals of this great country as quoted by one who was very close to him. I quote the words of Eliza R. Snow: “I heard the Prophet Joseph Smith say ‘that the time would come when this nation would so far depart from its original purity, its glory, and its love of freedom and the protection of civil and religious rights, that the Constitution of our country would hang, as it were, by a thread.’ He also said that this people, the sons of Zion, would rise up and save the Constitution and bear it off triumphantly.” (Eliza R. Snow, 1870, Women of Mormondom by Tullidge.)

"So today is no time for youth to whimper the refrain of the defeated and retire to the fancied security of the regimented state. Today is the day for youth to gird themselves with the armor of peace, having as their weapons “the shield of faith . . . and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” (Eph 6:16–17.)

"We urge members of the Church and all Americans to begin now to reflect more intently on the meaning and importance of the Constitution, and of adherence to its principles."

"Men may fail in this country, earthquakes may come, seas may heave beyond their bounds, there may be great drought, disaster, and hardship, but this nation, founded on principles laid down by men whom God raised up, will never fail. This is the cradle of humanity, where life on this earth began in the Garden of Eden. This is the place of the new Jerusalem. This is the place that the Lord said is favored above all other nations in all the world. This is the place where the Savior will come to His temple. This is the favored land in all the world. Yes, I repeat, men may fail, but this nation won’t fail. I have faith in America; you and I must have faith in America, if we understand the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are living in a day when we must pay heed to these challenges.

"I plead with you not to preach pessimism. Preach that this is the greatest country in all the world. This is the favored land. This is the land of our forefathers. It is the nation that will stand despite whatever trials or crises it may yet have to pass through."

  

Ezra Taft Benson
Quotes on Freedom, America, Constitution, Liberty, Etc…

"On what basis can we morally resist tyranny?

I say to you with all the fervor of my soul that God intended men to be free. Rebellion against tyranny is a righteous cause. It is an enormous evil for any man to be enslaved to any system contrary to his own will. For that reason men, 200 years ago, pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor.

No nation which has kept the commandments of God has ever perished, but I say to you that once freedom is lost, only blood – human blood – will win it back."

"The Founding Fathers understood the principle that “righteousness exalteth a nation” (Prov 14:34), and helped to bring about one of the greatest systems ever used to govern men. But unless we continue to seek righteousness and preserve the liberties entrusted to us, we shall lose the blessings of heaven. Thomas Jefferson said, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” The price of freedom is also to live in accordance with the commandments of God. The early Founding Fathers thanked the Lord for His intervention in their behalf. They saw His hand in their victories in battle and believed strongly that He watched over them.

"The battles are not over yet, and there will yet be times when this great nation will need the overshadowing help of Deity. Will we as a nation be worthy to call upon Him for help?"

(Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, pg. 601; from an address given at the Provo Freedom Festival, Provo, UT, 29 Jun 1986)

"If we do not accept the existence of a Supreme Being; that God is the source of moral law, what more do we have to offer than Marx?…

Freedom is an eternal, God-given principle. There is no genuine happiness without freedom, nor is there any security or peace without freedom. After traveling in practically all of the free countries of the world and several times behind the Iron Curtain, I say that Marxism is the greatest evil in this world and the greatest threat to all we hold dear.

Of all sad things in the world, the saddest is to see a people who have once known liberty and freedom and then lost it. I have seen the unquenchable yearning of the human heart for liberty on two unforgettable occasions. These experiences are indelibly etched on the memory of my soul."

( Source: Delivered to the International Freedoms Conference. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. October 26, 1979 )

(Listen up, critical-thinking impaired OWS!)

"And if the time should come when you are associated with groups that take delight in tearing down our American way of life, then they seem to enjoy pointing out the weaknesses of our free enterprise system – and it has weaknesses; it has weaknesses because it’s operated by men and women who are full of weaknesses – but when those times come, when our system is criticized, just keep in mind the fruits of the system, the great blessings that have come to us because of our American way of life. No group of people have ever attained the standard of living which is ours. And so let’s become acquainted with what has been accomplished. It’s all right to criticize; it’s all right to try and improve our American way of life; but in doing so, 1et’s not surrender, let’s not give up, let’s not jeopardize that system which has made America great."

( Source: “The LDS Church and Politics”, BYU Devotional, December 1, 1952 )

"I don’t know how you feel, my brethren and sisters, but I’d rather be dead than to lose my liberty. I have no fear we’ll ever lose it because of invasion from the outside. But I do have fear that it may slip away from us because of our own indifference, our own negligence, as citizens of this land. And so I plead with you this morning that you take an active interest in matters pertaining to the future of this country."

( Source: “The LDS Church and Politics”, BYU Devotional, December 1, 1952 )

  

David O. McKay
Quotes on Freedom, America, Constitution, Liberty, Etc…|

""We should love the stars and stripes, and accept the constitution of these United States as divine. Don’t hesitate to stand on the right side."
( Source: Stepping Stones to an Abundant Life 414 )

"Be true to the Constitution of the United States, to the Bill of Rights. Do not let any theories of immigrants or misguided politicians induce you to do anything that will deprive us of our liberties as vouchsafed by that immortal document."

( Source: Stepping Stones to an Abundant Life 112 )

"In the United States of America, the Constitution vouchsafes individual freedom, and let us pray also that the Lord will frustrate the plans of the Communists who would deprive us of freedom."  (and the Politically Castrated Islammunists!!!)

( Source: “Let Virtue Garnish Thy Thoughts” 30 )

"Next to being one in worshiping God, there is nothing in this world upon which this Church should be more united than in upholding and defending the Constitution of the United States!

"May the appeal of our Lord in His intercessory prayer for unity be realized in our homes, our wards, and stakes, and in our support of the basic principles of our Republic."

(David O. McKay, "The Enemy Within” 34 )

AMEN!

"We will go together with the Korean people in the future, too."

Toldja so.

From KCNA of October 25, 2011:

Chinese Veterans Recall Days of Entry into Korean War

Pyongyang, October 25 (KCNA) -- The Chinese friends who visited the DPRK gave their deep impressions, saying that the Sino-DPRK friendship develops with each passing day, displaying its solid ties and fellowship. Wang Hai, chief of the delegation of veterans of the Chinese People's Volunteers, said: On October 25 every year, we would recall the days when we took part in the Korean War. The Chinese and Korean armies and peoples fought together against the U.S. imperialists and humbled the arrogant U.S. who boasted of being "the strongest" in the world. We will go together with the Korean people in the future, too. Li Guoru, head of the literary art troupe of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, said: In the last Korean War the armies and peoples of the two countries stood in the same trench together, shoulder to shoulder. The Sino-DPRK friendship is solid friendship nothing can break. Xin Qi, head of a Chinese friendship visiting group, said that the Sino-DPRK friendship is a common wealth of the two peoples. This traditional friendship forged in blood is unbreakable, he stressed. Sun Zhengao, a CPV veteran who visited the DPRK as a member of the China-DPRK friendship visiting group, said the heroic merits performed by the armies and peoples of the two countries are shining brilliantly. He continued: The Sino-DPRK friendship is growing stronger day by day under the deep care of General Secretary Hu Jintao and General Secretary Kim Jong Il. The peoples of the two countries are pushing ahead with the revolution and construction while closely supporting and cooperating with each other. We hope that the Korean people would register greater successes under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Il.

FORGOTTEN WARRIOR: Twice in One Day

Please share far and wide!

ROTFL!!! The new Mascot for Occupy Wall Street, only a bit smarter....

From dear friend Thomas Lindaman!  Perfect!!!!

WARCHICK in LA with the REPUBLICAN PARTY ANIMALS!

REPUBLICAN PARTY ANIMALS TAKE LA!

As you can see from friend David Stein, NO SHIRTS REQUIRED!

Yup, it's THAT kinda party!  David you man-whore!

Please take my word for it – this one is going to reach capacity! Saturday, October 15th, for just $20 ($15 for two or more tickets) you get a night with Larry Elder, Congressman Mike Kelly, Frank Gaffney, and Ben Shapiro! Four incredible speakers, plus former Bush Administration official Julia Thornton, PLUS great food and drinks, AND (as if that'’s not enough) the best conservative rock n’' roll you'’ll hear all year!

I urge you to buy your tickets now. The venue for this one holds about 100 fewer people than the venue for our July 30th summer party. We will reach capacity by the day of the event.

Our lineup:

* Larry Elder – The one and only "“Sage from South Central!"” Larry is a bestselling author, a nationally-syndicated radio host, and the kind of guy who gives liberals nightmares. In fact, Morgan Freeman doesn’'t even believe he exists. But he most certainly does, and on October 15th, you can have the pleasure of meeting this amazingly insightful and witty man!

* Congressman Mike Kelly (R-Pa), making his first West Coast appearance! Rep. Kelly'’s House committee is in charge of the “Fast and Furious” investigation, and the upcoming Solyndra and LightSquared investigations. Congressman Kelly will be giving us a private briefing on what the American people can expect from those investigations. He will also be taking your questions!

* Frank Gaffney, the Founder and President of the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C. Under President Reagan, he served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy, the senior position in the Defense Department. Previously, he had been the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear Forces and Arms Control Policy. Mr. Gaffney is the author of "Shariah: The Threat to America,"” and "“War Footing"” (Naval Institute Press, 2005). He was the executive producer of the banned PBS documentary “"Islam vs. Islamists,"” and he hosts the nationally-syndicated radio show “Secure Freedom Radio.” He'’s also a weekly columnist for The Washington Times, TownHall, and Newsmax, and a contributor to BigPeace (a site that was created specifically for him by Andrew Breitbart), WorldNetDaily, and FrontPageMagazine.

* Ben Shapiro – syndicated columnist and the bestselling author of “"Primetime Propaganda,"” which blew the lid off of liberal bias in Hollywood, and "“Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth.”"

To introduce Congressman Kelly, we have Julia Thornton – Special Assistant, Department of Health and Human Services, White House Liaison, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Communications Director, Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives during the Bush Administration.

Live music provided by our beloved RPA bands - G3: The Gary Graham Garage Band (fronted by noted actor and Big Hollywood writer Gary Graham), and Glorious Disaster (led by Eric Porvaznik of Radio Free Threedonia and Modern Conservative).

The event will be held at The Spanish Kitchen, a restaurant on North La Cienega, between Melrose and Santa Monica Blvd. (826 N. La Cienega, 90069). Doors open at 6pm, and the entertainment begins at 7 (approximately). Happy hour food and drink specials all night; $7 valet parking.

Single tickets are $20; two or more tickets are $15 each.

We offer our preferred way to pay – Brown Paper Tickets:

And Paypal as well: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESSION=s_-0VU6emLx1y35CZFSvard8UuoIvHDN63YP9WDg-IAAZv7hKGHZF16_cK8&dispatch=5885d80a13c0db1f8e263663d3faee8db2b24f7b84f1819390b7e2d9283d70f1

This will be a night to remember! Please join us on the 15th. We look forward to seeing you there.

Well, if NoKo says innocent...

From the Oct. 12, 2011, edition of the KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY:

Israeli Army Arrests 6 Palestinians in West Bank

Pyongyang, October 12 (KCNA) -- The Israeli army arrested six innocent Palestinians early Sunday in different cities of the West Bank. The Israeli army keeps arresting Palestinians despite the protest and denunciation of the international community. All together now....BWAH HAH HAH HAH!!!

My documentary interview on local Copts: ARAB STING - Coptics in the Crosshairs

Sentimental and worth the re-post

***Given the recent passing of my mom, I thought I'd repost the piece I wrote on the 1 year anniversary of my dad's funeral.***

WHAT A DAUGHTER LEARNED, What a Father Taught

By: Resa LaRu Kirkland

***From January 25, 2006 edition of Etherzone.com****

As I sit here, January 22, 2006 is fading into history. It is doing so in the normal manner; light begins to dwindle, cool air replaces warm, the sun slips behind a mountain cuing stars to twinkle and the moon to take over. A night like so many others.

Yet it is one I have dreaded to see come and now dolefully bid farewell. It isn’t the day itself that has caused such emotional duality, but what it represents.

It is the one year anniversary of the day we buried my dad, the last of those first anniversary dates that all mourners mark the year after losing a loved one. After tonight, I will no longer lament "A year ago at this time…" Instead I will fall into the verbiage of those long gone: "Back when dad was alive…"

The pain of such a loss has been at times unbearable. This is nothing unique. All of the "If only we’d gotten him to a doctor sooner" or "If only they’d found the problem sooner" that torture the soul of those left behind rip open wounds barely healed over, racking a broken heart with guilt and burdening a spirit with desperate thoughts of turning back the hands of time, if only for a moment.

But my dad deserved better than that. He would be in pain at the thought of my pain, because that is the kind of man he was. I don’t think I ever asked him for help in anything that he didn’t try his best to give, or wish he could if he was incapable of doing anything. His voice was usually tinged with compassion and apology for what he couldn’t do. That always touched me so.

So as this final anniversary ticks away toward finality, I will end it with a more fitting tribute to a man whose life mattered, at least to a daughter who watched, listened, and learned.

Dad was a southern boy, through and through. Raised the redneck way, he loved guns and hunting, swimming holes and alligators, pulling pranks and playing war. Born during the depression and raised during WWII, he first fell in love with the Navy at Jacksonville Beach. The large ships never left him, nor he them. They bred in him a desire for a Navy career, which he attained briefly as a young man.

He was raised by a family who had a strong lineage in southern history. Being raised as a Yankee by him and my mother in the northwest, it was hard for me to fully grasp the fervent southern loyalty of his family. They puzzled me; often hard to understand in speech, even more confusing in their friendly admonition that the south had won the war. Dad had a love/hate thing going on with his heritage. He loved the reunions, the barn dances, the word usage that only another good ol’ boy could possibly understand, boiled peanuts, sugar cane and maple syrup, and fresh watermelon from his grandfather’s farm—but only the heart. The rest went to the hogs. He had a wonderful sense of humor, something I’ve noticed seems far more prevalent among Southerners than Northerners. So full of southern pride, his first words to my mother were, "I hear they teach ya’all up here that the North won the war." Everyone in the south knew "the war" had nothing to do with the one America was currently fighting. So long as a drop of southern blood flows, "the war" will mean what it means even in the middle of Armageddon. It makes me smile every time.

But there were sides of the south that left Dad cold. While he was raised in a family who had owned slaves, fought for the Confederacy, and who raised him to fear "coloreds," parents, cousins, and extended family who said "nigger" with the same ease they said "boy howdy!", he did not like the use of the word, and rarely used it himself unless he was quoting or telling a joke. His family wasn’t necessarily using the word with malice; it was a word used for generations like so many other words, and in the beginning, had validity. In fact, if I listened closely, his families’ rendition of the word sounds far more like "niggra." This makes sense if you know anything of the history of the word.

I once listened to a lecture on the roots of this modern day pariah. There are many who claim its origins are the Latin adjective niger, which means black, but this speaker said it had its roots in something far less formal. Given the normalcy of illiteracy among so many at the genesis of America, it should be no surprise that "niggra" was merely the southern dialect way of pronouncing Nigre, which according to this speaker, was the name of the river where most of the slave ships would pick up their "valuables." When the advertisements for slave sales were posted, it wasn’t unusual for them to note something along the lines of "Fresh from the River Nigre." Hence the southern drawl would speak of these "Niggras" because that is how they thought the word Nigre was pronounced. It doesn’t justify this most hated of all words, it simply tells a curious people how such a thing came about, as with most eventual perversions, in an innocent manner. I don’t know how much of this is true, because the spelling and pronunciation of some of these words have changed since the time she was speaking of, but it certainly sounds plausible.

Regardless of its beginnings, it became a word that meant far more than a ship’s landing point or a race of people. This was a side of southern life that left Dad cold. He remembered the white lines down the middle of the bus, the colored bathrooms and drinking fountains, the whites only restaurants. One story he told me always stood out in my mind. One day at the local five and dime, he was browsing through the toys and candies, fondling a quarter and trying to decide what to buy. The shopkeep waited on a woman, because in the South, etiquette dictated that women are waited on first, then men, and children last. That was just polite, and had been engrained into my dad since birth. Respect for elders was never up for debate.

On this day there were four people waiting their turn: the white woman, a white man, my dad, and a sweet black lady that everyone knew and liked. Of course my dad obediently waited while the adults went before him, but was stunned when after serving the man, the clerk turned to him and said, "Are you ready?"

My dad froze. He turned to look at the black woman he knew. She was his elder and a woman; why wasn’t she being waited on first? He pointed at her, his mouth unable to make the "Ladies first" rule he knew by rote. But the clerk took the small toy from his hand, completely oblivious to the childish, ignorant faux pas. My dad had never seen a child waited on before an adult, and he continued to look at the woman. She must have felt his confusion and seen the red hot shame that was creeping up his neck, because with the class and decorum of a woman who knows what is wrong with the situation but cared more for the feelings of an innocent child, she quietly whispered, "Go on ahead now."

My dad didn’t remember how he got out on the sidewalk, but he always remembered how he felt. This was wrong. The message was loud and clear: woman, then man, then child, and then colored, and something deep inside a boy not yet a double digit age churned with the dull ache of a great rudeness. In that one day he had been taught the double standard, the unspoken hypocrisy of rules for whites and rules for blacks, and he hated it. So when I would come home from school and ask him about Little Rock or Civil Rights or Civil War, he would get quiet and teach me in a way I would never forget.

That didn’t mean he supported everything blacks did. He recognized the wrongs that our society had heaped upon a people simply because they looked different, but that went both ways. Equality, he taught, means you also have the responsibility to accept criticism when it is warranted, and this was an area where blacks have too often dropped the ball. Too many want only the good stuff equality provided, but none of the responsibility for said equality. While he taught me of the evils of enslaving one’s fellow man, he also taught the wrong of the Watts riots, the Black Panthers, Luis Farrakhan, and those who think it’s alright to defile whites but blasphemy to call blacks on such duplicity. He despised bussing because it was a law of force, and as he said, "You can’t legislate love." He felt that forcing people together was more likely a recipe for contention than cohesion, and while he had friends from just about every race on the planet, he was quick to point out that it was by choice, not by force. Force, after all, had been the plan Lucifer put forth before the War in Heaven, and the plan that
God—and the rest of us—soundly rejected. He felt that too many of the hippy generation of blacks were behaving exactly the same despicable way he’d seen too many southern whites behave. Wrong was wrong in his book, and that book was written in both black and white.

Dad knew history and loved it. To get to know him and to get him to like me, I spent multiple Saturdays on our family room floor, watching VICTORY AT SEA and WORLD AT WAR with him. I knew more about WWII by the age of 12 than I did about Andy Gibb. He was constantly reading history books, red marking pen in hand, taking notes and writing in the edges, and the only books he read more than those on WWII were the scriptures. He loved our Father in Heaven with all his heart, and studied Him with a ravenous hunger. This combination of knowledge and love made him the best teacher I’ve ever known.

When I came home from 11^th grade history one day and ranted at him about my humiliation during our Civil War lesson, he wanted to know why. I pointed to the Confederate States of America badge hanging on the wall of our family room. "Kirklands owned slaves and fought for the South. I slide down in my chair in class, hoping that no one in there knows that your family did that!" It was true; I had felt shame at being not just white, but southern.

My dad looked hurt, but in classic style taught me again. "Yes, we owned slaves. Not our finest moment, but not quite the evil it’s made out to be." He showed me a will of his great-great-great grandfather. He turned past the section that divided his land and worldly goods to the pages that referenced his slaves. I read as my ancestor carefully divvied out his slaves to his children. If this was supposed to make me feel better, it had failed miserably.

"Look! Dividing up his slaves like pirate booty!" I could feel my Politically Castrated education rolling to a boil.

"Read more," he said quietly.

I did so. This man was careful with his slaves, stating that they were to be distributed equally among his children, the only conditions being that they were not to be separated from parents or children, and that they were to be treated fairly and kindly as he had always done. I looked at my dad. We’d watched Roots together only a few years earlier, and the horrible scene of Kizzy being taken from Toby had always disturbed us both.

"So he kept the families together and didn’t whip them. He still treated them like possessions."

This time he said nothing, pressing the document toward me yet again. I rolled my teenage eyes and sighed heavily as I read the paragraph before me. "In regard to my favored slave, Big Black Tom," it began.

"Dad!" I cried out. "Big Black Tom??? For crying out loud!" I couldn’t help it; I just had to smile. It was just such a stereotype. Dad had to smile too. He usually found a way to make something uncomfortable into something palatable.

"That’s how they spoke back then. It wasn’t meant to be cruel."

I knew that. I mean, my relatives even referred to me as "boy." It was just how they spoke.

I read on. Big Black Tom was to go to Grandpa’s oldest son, and was to be given a portion of his land for his own inheritance. "He has been my friend all my life, and has been faithful and true. That is why I leave him to you, son, and expect you to both treat him as he deserves and seek out his knowledge, for he will run things better than you can."

My face felt red. This man had been more than Grandpa’s slave; he’d been his friend. It didn’t justify slavery in any way, shape, or form, but it did show a side to the south that I had never, ever seen before. I turned page after page, learning that unlike other slave owners, the Kirklands did not have separate cemeteries for their slaves; they were buried together, master and slave—and apparently, friend and friend. I went to the genealogy box, pulling out papers that showed slaves taking on the Kirkland name, a name from Scotland and exclusively white until it came to America—to southern America.

This was the way my dad often taught me. On one of those documentary Saturdays while watching about John F. Kennedy, I asked my dad if he had been a good President.

"Some people thought so," he quietly replied, going back to watching and learning. While I knew that my dad was no fan of the Kennedys, he always allowed me to choose what I would believe. That meant he would teach me right from wrong, but not propagandize, so that when my moment of truth came, my choice would be just that: my choice.

He always tried to be fair, and loved a good laugh. When he was Deputy Director for Job Corps, he dealt with many troubled inner city black youth, for whom the summer spent fighting fires in Cottonwood, ID was often a last chance. Never once did he refer to them as anything other than young men. He was delighted in the 1970’s when he watched "Smilin’ George" Foreman fight. He loved to tell about the summer that George had spent in Cottonwood, still struggling with who he was and where he was going. I remember mostly how he would grin and say, "Yep, that name fit him. He had a nice smile."

Dad saw the Trinity test on July 16, 1945, as he stepped out into his morning paper route. Even from El Paso, the flash from Alamogordo lit the sky, and was later explained as an "ammunition explosion." He was thrilled when his love for history caused him to find out that he had witnessed this all important moment in history in that brief, child-time instant.

Dad loved deep fried food, hated vegetables, was an avid gun collector, always wanted to be a pilot—even after he gave up being a Navy fighter pilot for his family’s sake—gave up hunting when he had to kill a deer up close and saw big tears roll down its eyes, loved America and its warriors, despised hippies, femmies, and commies, and gladly fought in our first war against communism. He supported the need to hunt so long as you used what you shot, believed the caribou could handle us drilling oil in Alaska, cheered when the nation of Israel was restored to the earth, loved our heritage through Israel’s son Joseph, lost his best friend in Korea, suffered from terrible asthma as a child and breathing problems that dogged him until his death. He hurt me at times, but probably less than I hurt him. Neither of us deserved it, both of us knew better, and I hope we’ve both forgiven and been forgiven. I have no doubt he has.

He cried when he saw the children in Romania, raged at the horror of the Holocaust, and marveled at the birth of each grandchild. He loved the law but hated lawyers. His head was bowed in humble prayer as often as it was flung back with a hearty laugh. He loved TV and reading, spending the bulk of his time in the depths of the History Channel, the Military Channel, A & E, FOX News, the Discovery Channel, and local news. He never missed a daily paper, read every magazine that worked its way into the house, and was reading new books on WWII up until he went into the hospital. He spent his last months waiting on my mother, who was also in the hospital fighting for her life after a diabetic reaction sent her falling down the stairs, shattering her leg and putting her in the hospital from the end of August 2004 until the night before Dad’s funeral. Every day he would go to her side, sitting and reading when she was sleeping, talking and praying with her when she was awake. He did this selflessly as his own health ferociously deteriorated, placing him in the hospital with my mom for the last six weeks of his life. When he was told on January 4, 2005, that there was no hope for recovery, and that he only had a few months to live, he was at peace with it, telling me, "I can’t hold on much longer, but it’s OK; I’m not afraid."

He really wasn’t. He held on for 12 more days, saying final goodbyes to old friends and family. On the morning he died, he waited until my brother showed up to say his goodbyes. Dad waited for the final words from the last of his children to let him go, then sat up, took his oxygen mask off of his face, and quietly died. Seventy years of an extraordinary life ended with little fanfare.

And now I am down to the last hours of this final one year anniversary. It has turned out to be a night like no other. I have smiled and laughed as much as I have cried while writing this; I guess it’s kind of like life. We smile, we laugh, we love, we fight, we pray, we hope, we believe, and eventually, we die. The best we can hope for is that it wasn’t all for naught. Dad’s best will remain just that: best.

On June 29, 1934, Robert Talmage Kirkland was born. On January 16, 2005, Robert Talmage Kirkland died. On January 22, 2005, Robert Talmage Kirkland was laid to rest. And on January 22, 2006, Resa LaRu Kirkland finally let him go. In between all of those dates were the days that really mattered, the days of sharing and learning. What he taught me then I now teach to my sons, knowing someday the cycle of parent and child I experienced with Dad will befall my sons when they say goodbye to me. Teacher to student who becomes teacher to new students. What a wonderful cycle; what a wonderful teacher.

What a wonderful life.

Keep the faith, bros, and in all things courage.