leonidas50's Blog

Hi everyone, it's been awhile since i was last on here. I was curious since im not back in texas at the moment, as im stuck out in california for 3 years training new marines at the school of infantry, but how is the drug problem back in dfw area? any information would be greatly appreciated, meth, cocaine and ecstasy are the main three i was curious about. Thanks for your help everyone.

What do ya'll think about this guy?

Has anyone ever heard of this? The supposed merging of Canada, Mexico, and America...

   It’s quite funny how subtly we change over time, and we do not realize that a change is even occurring. Then one day out of nowhere, we look at ourselves in a mirror and we realize with a sudden and overwhelming moment of clarity, that we have changed dramatically since we last remembered ourselves. Once timid, yet sure of what we believed in. Now brazen, and our beliefs hang on by a mere thread. No longer clutching those beliefs for the comfort they once provided, but questioning them and dissecting them at every turn. No longer the blind follower… having lived life and experienced its trials and tribulations. Seeing your friends disappear, the life ebb out of their eyes. Seeing men you once looked too, strived to emulate, seeing those men who so desired and deserved to continue living fall to the efforts of evil and lesser men… Having experienced those losses and the ensuing vengeance, we are no longer the innocent idealist we so wish we could be again. We are bloodied and battle worn by the world that we wish was in a much better condition. We are human; we are not infallible, nor bulletproof, no longer young and pure of heart, but skeptical and aged far more than natural. We will never get the moment we were so hoping for, that moment of good versus pure evil, that battle between light and dark, for the world has lost all its color and there is grey in everything we behold. It’s funny how we change…
    I used to believe. I used to believe in god. I used to believe in my government. I used to not ask questions about those things, for I believed them to be constants. Like, the laws of physics, however, they were only the laws of a child’s mind. At 21 harvests of age, I sit here tonight on my bed in a forward operating base near the city of Fallujah, Iraq. A city that holds a heavy history in its indigenous culture, and now in mine, soaked in the blood of warriors fighting for their beliefs. It is a history I do wish I could have been a part of. A history that now holds the names of 14 of my good friends. Tonight I contemplate their sacrifices and the sacrifices of millions of others from my country. I find myself asking questions that before I never would have considered, only accepted as being in some way already answered satisfactorily. Now I do not take things for granted so easily. Millions have died for the flag that flutters with a strange but perceptible strength and grace above a land that our ancestors all but stole from those less…acceptable to society than themselves. I did not look at the stewards of our young nation with disgust and anger before. Now I find it hard not to.  However I still love the idea of my nation. It is with a sinking heart and a slow and painful acceptance that I realize that the idea of America and its reality are two very dissimilar and far-off concepts.
    I see a nation that is overwhelmingly spoiled, self absorbed and selfish to an extent that is decimating to the ideals she once stood for. I see a government that works to distract and ensnare its people with fear and hopelessness. I used to lash out at those who spoke of such things. I viewed them as crackpots, and ignorant individuals who just needed something to distract themselves from their own lives. Now I have become that person, that crackpot. The man who needs that distraction because his life is flailing for something to make it worthwhile, however, I am not that man. I have a beautiful wife that must have been drugged when she agreed to marry one of my decidedly unworldly composition, and a fledgling marriage that despite its growing pains has overcome insurmountable odds and is thriving as we refuse to let anything rend us from each other. I am that man who has sought to put everything on the line for his country in order for its continuation and success. Now I look at the things going on, I see my brethren maimed and in pain, and they are not cared for by the people who said their commitment to those who secured our nations interests would be met with the same fervor that those warriors pursued their nation’s enemies with. I can’t help but feel betrayed by the very people who profess to represent me. When did our government transition from “For the People” to the ever more blatant “For the Dollar”?
  I pondered that question and I was continuously confounded and stymied in my pursuit of an answer. After an inordinate amount of deliberation and reflection, I realized that like the concept of Communism, however good our government looks on paper and in theory… much like the concept of America, it is inherently flawed not by some aspect of the theory itself. The human aspect of the equation is where the defect lies. No matter what expectations we hold onto for our elected officials, they seem to continuously, as of late, let us down in some way or another. False promises that they handed out and rode the wave of appreciation to victory in elections, which seem to be decided by the dollar more than the values of the individual themselves…
   Our forefathers said that when our government should fail us, then it was time to make a new one. One can surmise that they were insinuating the people should rise and seek change through a revolution, especially when one considers the time they lived in. I don’t think it’s in the spirit of the American people to put themselves out there in such a manner anymore. Not in this day and age anyhow. The American spirit we see today…is a ghost of its former self, mundane, lame, and extremely repressed. It seems to my young, yet weathered eye that the American Spirit is just that, a spirit of a drive, a determination, a zeal for life that once existed in the hearts of men. As time has passed, that drive, determination, and zeal has passed, no longer the abstracts that drove men to unrivaled acts of courage and the defense of long forgotten ideals…but merely a spirit.   
   

Well it's that time everyone. I'll try to keep you updated as much as I can while I'm gone however it will be difficult considering the place I'm going. Pray for my Marines. Semper Fidelis.

 

                                                    
             For Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness,

                                                    
                                  Boston, Joshua

                                                    
                                  Corporal, USMC

Normally, I start these things out by saying "My fellow Americans..."




Not doing it this time. If the polls are any indication, I don't know who more than half of you are anymore. I do know something terrible has happened, and that you're really not fellow Americans any longer.




I''ll cut right to the chase here: I quit. Now before anyone gets all in a lather about me quitting to avoid impeachment, or to avoid prosecution or something, let me assure you: there's been no breaking of laws or impeachable offenses in this office. The reason I'm quitting is simple. I'm fed up with you people.




I'm fed up because you have no understanding of what's really going on in the world. Or of what's going on in this once-great nation of ours. And the majority of you are too damned lazy to do your homework and figure it out.




Let's start local. You've been sold a bill of goods by politicians and the news media. Polls show that the majority of you think the economy is in the tank, and that's despite record numbers of homeowners including record numbers of MINORITY homeowners. While we're mentioning minorities, I'll point out that minority business ownership is at an all-time high. Our unemployment rate is as low as it ever was during the Clinton Administration. I've mentioned all those things before, but it doesn't seem to have sunk in.




Despite the shock to our economy of 9/11, the stock market has rebounded to record levels and more Americans than ever are participating in these markets. Meanwhile, all you can do is whine about gas prices, and most of you are too damn stupid to realize that gas prices are high because there's increased demand in other parts of the world, and because a small handful of noisy idiots are more worried about polar bears and beach front property than your economic security.



We face real threats in the world. Don't give me this "blood for oil" thing. If I was trading blood for oil, I would've already seized Iraq 's oil fields and let the rest of the country go to hell, and don't give me this "Bush Lied, People Died' crap either. If I was the liar you morons take me for, I could've easily had chemical weapons planted in Iraq so they could be 'discovered'. Instead, I owned up to the fact that the intelligence was faulty. Let me remind you that the rest of the world thought Saddam had the goods, same as me. Let me also remind you, regime change in Iraq was official US policy before I came into office. Some guy named 'Clinton ' established that policy. Bet you didn't know that, did you?

You idiots need to understand that we face a unique enemy. Back during the cold war, there were two major competing political and economic models squaring off. We won that war, but we did so because fundamentally, the Communists wanted to survive, just as we do. We were simply able to outspend and out-tech them.




That's not the case this time. The soldiers of our new enemy don't care if they survive. In fact, they want to die. That would be fine, as long as they weren't also committed to taking as many of you with them as they can. However, they are committed to killing others through their own deaths. They want to kill YOU, and the bastards are all over the globe.




You should be grateful that they haven't gotten any more of us here in the United States since September 11, but you're not. That's because you've got no idea how hard a small number of intelligence, military, law enforcement and homeland security people have worked to make sure of that. When this whole mess started, I warned you that this would be a long and difficult fight. I'm disappointed how many of you people think a long and difficult fight amounts to a single season of Survivor.


Instead, you've grown impatient. You're incapable of seeing things through the long lens of history, the way our enemies do. You think that wars should last a few months, a few years, tops.



Making matters worse, you actively support those who help the enemy. Every time you buy the New York Times, every time you send a donation to a cut-and-run Democrat's political campaign, well, damn it, you might just as well FedEx a grenade launcher to a Jihadist. It amounts to the same thing.




In this day and age, it's easy enough to find the truth. It's all over the Internet. It just isn't on the pages of the New York Times or on NBC News. Even if it were, I doubt you'd be any smarter. Most of you would rather watch American Idol.

I could say more about your expectations that the government will always be there to bail you out, but; you're too stupid to leave a city that's below sea level and has a hurricane approaching. I could say more about your insane belief that government, not your own wallet, is where the money comes from, but; I've come to the conclusion that were I to do so, it would sail right over your heads.




So I quit. I'm going back to Crawford.

I've got an energy-efficient house down there (Al Gore could only dream) and the capability to be fully self-sufficient. No one ever heard of Crawford before I was elected, and as soon as I'm done here, pretty much no one will ever hear of it again. Maybe I'll be lucky enough to die of old age before the last pillars of America fall.




Oh, and by the way, Cheney's quitting too. That means Pelosi is your new President. You asked for it. Watch what she does carefully, because I still have a glimmer of hope that there are just enough of you remaining who are smart enough to turn this thing around in 2008.




So that's it. God bless what's left of America. Some of you know what I mean.


The rest of you???

Read something about this man's speach and I hunted it down for everyone.

How To Destroy America
by Dick Lamm

(Editor's note: A 2004 speech on the dangers of multiculturalism in the United Stated titled "I Have a Plan to Destroy America", became famous after being frequently forwarded as an email. With the immigration debate again heating up, it is time to revisit the speech. Reprinted with permission.)

We know Dick Lamm as the former Governor of Colorado. In that context his thoughts are particularly poignant. Recently there was an immigration overpopulation conference in Washington, DC, filled to capacity by many of American's finest minds and leaders. A brilliant college professor by the name of Victor Davis Hansen talked about his latest book, Mexifornia, explaining how immigration - both legal and illegal was destroying the entire state of California. He said it would march across the country until it destroyed all vestiges of The American Dream.

Moments later, former Colorado Governor Richard D. Lamm stood up and gave a stunning speech on how to destroy America. The audience sat spellbound as he described eight methods for the destruction of the United States. He said, "If you believe that America is too smug, too self-satisfied, too rich, then let's destroy America. It is not that hard to do. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time. Arnold Toynbee observed that all great civilizations rise and fall and that 'An autopsy of history would show that all great nations commit suicide.'"

"Here is how they do it," Lamm said:

"First, to destroy America, turn America into a bilingual or multi-lingual and bicultural country." History shows that no nation can survive the tension, conflict, and antagonism of two or more competing languages and cultures. It is a blessing for an individual to be bilingual; however, it is a curse for a society to be bilingual. The historical scholar, Seymour Lipset, put it this way: 'The histories of bilingual and bi-cultural societies that do not assimilate are histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy.' Canada, Belgium, Malaysia, and Lebanon all face crises of national existence in which minorities press for autonomy, if not independence. Pakistan and Cyprus have divided. Nigeria suppressed an ethnic rebellion. France faces difficulties with Basques, Bretons, and Corsicans."

Lamm went on: Second, to destroy America, "Invent 'multiculturalism' and encourage immigrants to maintain their culture. I would make it an article of belief that all cultures are equal. That there are no cultural differences. I would make it an article of faith that the Black and Hispanic dropout rates are due solely to prejudice and discrimination by the majority. Every other explanation is out of bounds.

Third, "We could make the United States an 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity. As Benjamin Schwarz said in the Atlantic Monthly recently: 'The apparent success of our own multiethnic and multicultural experiment might have been achieved not by tolerance but by hegemony. Without the dominance that once dictated ethnocentricity and what it meant to be an American, we are left with only tolerance and pluralism to hold us together.' Lamm said, "I would encourage all immigrants to keep their own language and culture. I would replace the melting pot metaphor with the salad bowl metaphor. It is important to ensure that we have various cultural subgroups living in America enforcing their differences rather than as Americans, emphasizing their similarities."

"Fourth, I would make our fastest growing demographic group the least educated. I would add a second underclass, unassimilated, undereducated, and antagonistic to our population. I would have this second underclass have a 50% dropout rate from high. school."

"My fifth point for destroying America would be to get big foundations and business to give these efforts lots of money. I would invest in ethnic identity, and I would establish the cult of 'Victimology.' I would get all minorities to think that their lack of success was the fault of the majority. I would start a grievance industry blaming all minority failure on the majority population."

"My sixth plan for America's downfall would include dual citizenship, and promote divided loyalties. I would celebrate diversity over unity. I would stress differences rather than similarities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A diverse, peaceful, or stable society is against most historical precedent. People undervalue the unity it takes to keep a nation together. Look at the ancient Greeks. The Greeks believed that they belonged to the same race; they possessed a common language and literature; and they worshipped the same gods. All Greece took part in the Olympic games. A common enemy, Persia, threatened their liberty. Yet all these bonds were not strong enough to overcome two factors: local patriotism and geographical conditions that nurtured political divisions. Greece fell. E. Pluribus Unum -- From many, one. In that historical reality, if we put the emphasis on the 'pluribus'. Instead of the 'Unum,' we will balkanize America as surely as Kosovo."

"Next to last, I would place all subjects off limits; make it taboo to talk about anything against the cult of 'diversity.' I would find a word similar to 'heretic' in the 16th century - that stopped discussion and paralyzed thinking. Words like 'racist' or 'xenophobe' halt discussion and debate. Having made America a bilingual/bicultural country, having established multi-culturism, having the large foundations fund the doctrine of 'Victimology,' I would next make it impossible to enforce our immigration laws. I would develop a mantra: That because immigration has been good for America, it must always be good. I would make every individual immigrant symmetric and ignore the cumulative impact of millions of them."

In the last minute of his speech, Governor Lamm wiped his brow. Profound silence followed. Finally he said, "Lastly, I would censor Victor Davis Hanson's book, Mexifornia. His book is dangerous. It exposes the plan to destroy America. If you feel America deserves to be destroyed, don't read that book."

There was no applause. A chilling fear quietly rose like an ominous cloud above every attendee at the conference. Every American in that room knew that everything Lamm enumerated was proceeding methodically, quietly, darkly, yet pervasively across the United States today. Discussion is being suppressed. Over 100 languages are ripping the foundation of our educational system and national cohesiveness. Even barbaric cultures that practice female genital mutilation are growing as we celebrate 'diversity.' American jobs are vanishing into the Third World as corporations create a Third World in America - take note of California and other states - to date, ten million illegal aliens and growing fast. It is reminiscent of George Orwell's book, 1984. In that story, three slogans are engraved in the Ministry of Truth building: "War is peace," "Freedom is slavery," and "Ignorance is strength."

Governor Lamm walked back to his seat. It dawned on everyone at the conference that the future of our great nation is deeply in trouble and worsening fast. If we don't get this immigration monster stopped quickly, it will rage like a California wildfire and destroy everything in its path, especially The American Dream.

 

Richard D. Lamm

By John Hughes, Wed Jun 20, 4:00 AM ET

Provo, Utah - In 2005 Al Qaeda's No. 2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri, wrote a letter to the then top insurgent leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. "[M]ore than half of this battle," he wrote, "is taking place in the battlefield of the media.... [W]e are in a media battle, in a race for the hearts and minds of our umma [people]."

As the struggle in Iraq between the insurgents on the one hand and US military and Iraqi security forces on the other reaches a climactic phase, it is clear that the insurgents, far from being a band of crude guerilla fighters, have taken the Al Qaeda leader's injunction to heart and have coupled the tactics of terror with a sophisticated knowledge and use of modern media.

Their command of the Internet, their use of television, their release and timing of material calculated to be picked up and used by Arab and Western TV outlets and news agencies, indicates a high degree of planning and professionalism.

When US forces stormed into Iraq bent on toppling Saddam Hussein, the Pentagon adopted a new and enlightened policy toward press coverage. US reporters were embedded into combat units and, with the aid of modern communications techniques, sent dramatic real-time coverage of a brilliant military campaign to millions of spellbound Americans back home. Journalists-turned-military-reporters shared the same hardships and dangers of the troops, some losing their lives in the process of reporting the story. Censorship was minimal, designed to keep sensitive information about troop movements from giving any help to the enemy. By contrast, the propaganda efforts of Mr. Hussein's information ministry were laughable, with "Baghdad Bob" continuing to proclaim victory even as US tanks were entering the Iraqi capital.

In the aftermath of the war, fewer US correspondents were embedded with US military units, and the story took a different direction. The focus was on attempts to build a democratic political system and repair an infrastructure both neglected by Hussein and then damaged even more during the fighting. Then came more negative stories of US mistakes and the Pentagon's unpreparedness for the enormity of problems in the postwar occupation. Finally, Iraq lapsed into violence, with car bombings and assassinations and hostage-taking providing a daily litany of horror. The occupying US soldiers began to take ever more casualties as did US and other foreign civilian workers and journalists, whose fatalities soon numbered more than in any other war.

They included brave Iraqi journalists and cameramen working for the Americans at great peril.

Critics in the Bush administration charged that images of chaos and violence were overshadowing stories of a more positive nature: of schools that were being opened, hospitals that were being rebuilt, and Iraqis who were coming forward to be policemen.

Now some US military officers, too, charge that a clever enemy media campaign is gaining traction and that the US is losing the war in information about battlefield operations.

A Marine officer whose credibility I trust cites an operation of success in the Fallujah region earlier this month that was reported as a disaster by US and British media companies. His unit had established a new precinct headquarters for Iraqi police, Army troops, and US Marines to patrol and protect a dedicated area. It was well received by the local populace and almost 200 Iraqis volunteered for police recruitment. Insurgents sought to disrupt it but were routed.

Meanwhile, in a separate firefight at a makeshift suicide vehicle factory, three separate suicide bombers were killed, two suicide trucks were discovered and blown up, and foreign and other fighters were killed or captured. On the defending side, one civilian and one policeman were wounded, with no US or other casualties. "The enemy was killed in his tracks; his best weapon was discovered before it could cause any harm," says the officer, "but Western media reported no enemy killed in these operations, 28 civilians killed, and 50 civilians wounded. We are getting demolished," the Marine officer says, "by nefarious enemy media outlets … 'reporters' or 'sources' for Arab and other news agencies either on insurgent payrolls or who have known sympathies with insurgent operations, and by collective Western media that are often being manipulated by enemy elements. What incredible economy of effort the enemy is afforded when US media is their megaphone. Why spend precious resources on developing your own propaganda machine when you can make your opponent's own news outlets scream your message louder than you could ever have hoped to do independently?"

Clearly the insurgents have taken to heart the message that their war is a war of words as well as arms.

• John Hughes, a former editor of the Monitor, is a professor of communications at Brigham Young University.

  As I grow in my profession, I look around and I realize that things are becoming clearer to me everyday. I read news stories about the things happening in the world, the things people say... and I have come to this conclusion.

 

    No matter how much you want to use diplomacy and avoid aggression, agression will occur.  Not only is this true for the Nation-state, it also holds true for the individual. In accordance with that revelation it seems imperative, at least to me, that one should maintain a certain level of preparedness for that event.

    For the individual, that means maintaining one self in a manner that will allow him/her to ward off such aggression.  For the nation-state, that means maintaining a warrior class and allowing them...nay, enabling them to carry on their business of preparing to best engage any enemy that may or may not present itself.

I am sick and tired of mothers trying to run the military.

I am sick and tired of armchair generals thinking they can do it better.

I am sick and tired of Congress showing weakness to the world.

I am sick and tired of protesters making us question what we are fighting for.

I am sick and tired of civilians thinking they are the only ones that pay taxes.

I am sick and tired of parents who think their kid should walk across the stage even though they didn't graduate.

I am sick and tired of people blaming one man instead of the 77 who agreed.

I am sick and tired of you.

I am sick and tired of fighting for a nation that no longer deserves the rich history it's forefathers have bestowed upon it.

I am sick and tired.

How do you support us when you do not support our mission? I've got fellow service members missing limbs in Walter Reed who look out their window and see "God Bless IED" signs. I've got 18 and 19 year old kids that I have to take to Iraq soon and they look at the country and wonder if I'm the only one who's looking out for them. I've got a congress that will not hesitate to take credit for the fact that we caught Saddam Hussien, however 8 months down the road they're saying it's all President Bush's fault that we're embroiled in this war.
  I've got an enemy that is foaming at the mouth because they know that our country is so divided and the government can't even come to a simple agreement to keep funding us so we can't have the things we need to get the job done. I've got a congress that is not afraid to lose our battles on a strategic level that my Marines and fellow service members have spilled so much blood to win on the tactical level. I've got a country more concerned about turning the Military into a social experiment than allowing it to deal with it's matters internally and maintain itself as the War Machine it needs to be for your own good.
  Those are the things I have going against me.
   Do you know what I got going for me?
  I've got the hope that you will let us finish what we started and not retreat so that the Fathers and Sons and Mothers and Daughters of America are not lost to the pages of history. That's it. A hope. I have no Nation behind me. I have a Nation distancing itself from what we are doing and therefore distancing itself from my Marines and fellow servicemembers. That's what I have.

Houston lawmakers calling for formal apology for slavery Last Edited: Saturday, 24 Mar 2007, 2:57 PM CDT Created: Saturday, 24 Mar 2007, 2:48 PM CDT or just enabling jstl so that we can just write ${bean.property} and jsp takes care of the new lines. -->AUSTIN  --  Two Houston lawmakers want Texas to formally apologize for slavery and better recognize contributions made by black Americans.

 

State Sen. Rodney Ellis and Rep. Senfronia Thompson want Texas to join legislatures from seven states considering similar measures. Last month the Virginia state legislature unanimously passed a resolution expressing "profound regret" for the state's role in slavery and subsequent segregation of black Americans.

A Tennessee Democrat has introduced in Congress a resolution for a national apology.

"It's interesting to see this spread," said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. "If the apology for slavery could pass in Virginia, it could pass anywhere."

Ellis and Thompson, both Democrats, said they want to get bipartisan support for a formal apology. It is not an attempt to seek monetary reparations, they said.

Gov. Rick Perry said Friday that the issue is up to legislators.

"You know I'm a big fan of the preparations for the future, not focusing on reparations for the past," he said.

 

Maybe it's just me... but should we already be past this now... just seems a little devisive to be bringing up slavery in ... what year are we in.. oh yeah 2007!!!  Well hell I want an apology from native americans for killin my ancestors damn it.....

 

I'm so sick and tired of Democrats calling Republicans the reason for the world's problems! I'm so sick and tired of Republicans calling Democrats the reason for the world's problems.

    You wonder why the country is screwed up?! Look in the mirror! None of you can swallow your pride long enough to look in the mirror and say okay maybe they have some things right and we have some things wrong. Hey here's an idea quit rupturing the country through your quest for your factions domination of the country and start working for the country!

   The rest of the world doesn't care if your a democrat or a republican! All they see is an AMERICAN. A bunch of Americans bickering with each other because they want the world to see either the donkey or the elephant. Get over yourselves already.  There's more important things than which damn party took the freakin senate or won the white house. George Washington would slap every last one of you people.

 

I'm aware of www.ogrish.com. What is it you find on there that shocks you about war?

An excerpt from Steven Pressfield's GATES OF FIRE. I whole heartedly agree with this statement.

   "Mankind as it is constituted is a boil and a canker. Observe the specimens in any nation. Man is weak, greedy, craven, lustful, prey to every species of vice and depravity. He will lie, steal, cheat, murder, delt down the very statues of the gods and coim their gold as money for whores. This is man. This is his nature, as all the poets attest....

"Fortunately God in his mercy has provided a conterpoise to our species' inate depravity. That gift my young friend is war.

  " War, not peace, produces virtue. War, not peace, purges vice. War, and prepartation for war, call forth all that is noble and honorable in a man. It unites him with his brothers and binds them in a selfless love, eradicating in the crucible of necessity all which is base and ignoble. There in the holy mill of murder the meanest of men may seek and find that part of himself, concealed beneath the corrupt, which shines forth brilliant and cirtuous, worthy of honor before the gods. Do not despise war, my young friend, nore delude yourself that mercy and compassion are virtues superior to andreia, to manly valor. "