Mitt Romney's Underwear by Bob Lonsberry

NOTE: For some reason under a new software program blogger is running, I can't separate the paragraphs. Let’s talk about Mitt Romney’s underwear. A caller to the radio mentioned them yesterday. He was a sick-sounding man, with an odd cackle, and he over and over asked, “What about Mitt Romney’s magic underwear?” He clearly felt he was making some sort of a point. And he was. That he was an idiot and a bigot. But let’s answer his question. What about Mitt Romney’s magic underwear? Mitt Romney is a Mormon. That is a Christian religion founded in 1830 in upstate New York. Some Mormons do wear a religious garment under their outer clothes. Presumably, Mitt Romney is one of those Mormons. What is a religious garment? Well, it depends on the religion. Several faiths have unique bits of clothing that mostly seem to have the same purpose – to remind believers of who they are and what they have promised to God. Thus the headwear of the Sikh, and the beads, prayer feathers, medicine pouches and shamanic robes of various Indian tribes. As well as the yarmulke of some Jewish men and the head coverings of some Jewish women, and the aprons, trailing strings and hats of yet more followers of Judaism. Or the phylacteries and other garments and devices described in particular detail in the Bible. In that regard, it’s quite possible that Jesus, following the Old Testament Law of Moses and being an observant Jew, wore religiously prescribed garments. Roman Catholic religious have worn sacred garments for 1,700 years. Similarly, religious garments – or “habits” – have been worn by Anglicans and religious of the Eastern Orthodox, Coptic and Greek Orthodox churches. Some of these garments are priestly, and just for ceremonial purposes, while others are worn constantly as a declaration of faith. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, specialized articles of religious clothing, of one type or another, have been worn for at least 4,000 years. Some of these have been visible, as a sign to the world, and some have been worn under other clothes, as a reminder to the wearer. In Islam, many women wear religiously prescribed head coverings, as they have since the religion’s founding. Some Muslim women also wear a veil. The notion of a religious head covering and even a veil is a belief also held for centuries by Christians and Jews. The Bible teaches men and women about the propriety of covering or uncovering their heads, particularly during prayer and worship. Some Christian denominations in America today, including some conservative Evangelicals and Mennonites, follow these teachings. Until a couple of generations ago, it was common for women to wear hats or scarves to mainstream American churches, to obey the biblical command to cover their heads. The “babushkas” of many Eastern European women are worn in obedience to their understanding of their Catholic faith. The point of all this is that religions around the world have various types of religious garments. If you do the math, most believers on earth belong to a religion that commands its followers or leaders to wear religiously significant clothing. Mormons are part of that majority. And Mitt Romney is a Mormon. And he lives his religion. So, yes, Mitt Romney wears a religious garment, beneath his outer clothes. He does this for the same reason almost all religious clothing is worn – to remind the believer that he is a believer, and as a token of promises the believer has made to God. Promises which, like the garment that represents them, are sacred, and should not be made fun of. At least not by decent people. Read more: http://www.wham1180.com/pages/boblonsberry.html?article=10037569 I like one the comments: Why should other people go around worried about other peoples underwear. Just follow what your Mother told you, to wear clean drawers so if you are in an accident you are okay. :)

"America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President"

You guessed it: Obama.

This is an article from David Barton's WallBuilders.com website. (PS I loved his book "Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, and Religion." He also has a book called "The Jefferson Lies: Exposing the Myths You've Always Believed About Thomas Jefferson," which tells that Jefferson never had any children with any slave, and that he didn't originally say there should be a separation of church and state; that whole affair -- both I've presented -- was entirely misconstrued. David Barton sets the record straight.

Now, for the article, "America’s Most Biblically-Hostile U. S. President," complete with footnotes.

When one observes President Obama’s unwillingness to accommodate America’s four-century long religious conscience protection through his attempts to require Catholics to go against their own doctrines and beliefs, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Catholic. But that characterization would not be correct. Although he has recently singled out Catholics, he has equally targeted traditional Protestant beliefs over the past four years. So since he has attacked Catholics and Protestants, one is tempted to say that he is anti-Christian. But that, too, would be inaccurate. He has been equally disrespectful in his appalling treatment of religious Jews in general and Israel in particular. So perhaps the most accurate description of his antipathy toward Catholics, Protestants, religious Jews, and the Jewish nation would be to characterize him as anti-Biblical. And then when his hostility toward Biblical people of faith is contrasted with his preferential treatment of Muslims and Muslim nations, it further strengthens the accuracy of the anti-Biblical descriptor. In fact, there have been numerous clearly documented times when his pro-Islam positions have been the cause of his anti-Biblical actions.

Listed below in chronological order are (1) numerous records of his attacks on Biblical persons or organizations; (2) examples of the hostility toward Biblical faith that have become evident in the past three years in the Obama-led military; (3) a listing of his open attacks on Biblical values; and finally (4) a listing of numerous incidents of his preferential deference for Islam’s activities and positions, including letting his Islamic advisors guide and influence his hostility toward people of Biblical faith.

1. Acts of hostility toward people of Biblical faith:

April 2008 – Obama speaks disrespectfully of Christians, saying they “cling to guns or religion” and have an “antipathy to people who aren't like them.” 1

February 2009 – Obama announces plans to revoke conscience protection for health workers who refuse to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, and fully implements the plan in February 2011. 2

April 2009 – When speaking at Georgetown University, Obama orders that a monogram symbolizing Jesus' name be covered when he is making his speech. 3

May 2009 – Obama declines to host services for the National Prayer Day (a day established by federal law) at the White House. 4

April 2009 – In a deliberate act of disrespect, Obama nominated three pro-abortion ambassadors to the Vatican; of course, the pro-life Vatican rejected all three. 5

October 19, 2010 – Obama begins deliberately omitting the phrase about “the Creator” when quoting the Declaration of Independence – an omission he has made on no less than seven occasions. 6

November 2010 – Obama misquotes the National Motto, saying it is “E pluribus unum” rather than “In God We Trust” as established by federal law. 7

January 2011 – After a federal law was passed to transfer a WWI Memorial in the Mojave Desert to private ownership, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that the cross in the memorial could continue to stand, but the Obama administration refused to allow the land to be transferred as required by law, and refused to allow the cross to be re-erected as ordered by the Court. 8

February 2011 – Although he filled posts in the State Department, for more than two years Obama did not fill the post of religious freedom ambassador, an official that works against religious persecution across the world; he filled it only after heavy pressure from the public and from Congress. 9

April 2011 – For the first time in American history, Obama urges passage of a non-discrimination law that does not contain hiring protections for religious groups, forcing religious organizations to hire according to federal mandates without regard to the dictates of their own faith, thus eliminating conscience protection in hiring. 10

August 2011 – The Obama administration releases its new health care rules that override religious conscience protections for medical workers in the areas of abortion and contraception. 11

November 2011 – Obama opposes inclusion of President Franklin Roosevelt’s famous D-Day Prayer in the WWII Memorial. 12

November 2011 – Unlike previous presidents, Obama studiously avoids any religious references in his Thanksgiving speech. 13

December 2011 – The Obama administration denigrates other countries' religious beliefs as an obstacle to radical homosexual rights. 14

January 2012 – The Obama administration argues that the First Amendment provides no protection for churches and synagogues in hiring their pastors and rabbis. 15

February 2012 – The Obama administration forgives student loans in exchange for public service, but announces it will no longer forgive student loans if the public service is related to religion. 16
2. Acts of hostility from the Obama-led military toward people of Biblical faith:

June 2011 – The Department of Veterans Affairs forbids references to God and Jesus during burial ceremonies at Houston National Cemetery. 17

August 2011 – The Air Force stops teaching the Just War theory to officers in California because the course is taught by chaplains and is based on a philosophy introduced by St. Augustine in the third century AD – a theory long taught by civilized nations across the world (except America). 18

September 2011 – Air Force Chief of Staff prohibits commanders from notifying airmen of programs and services available to them from chaplains. 19

September 2011 – The Army issues guidelines for Walter Reed Medical Center stipulating that “No religious items (i.e. Bibles, reading materials and/or facts) are allowed to be given away or used during a visit.” 20

November 2011 – The Air Force Academy rescinds support for Operation Christmas Child, a program to send holiday gifts to impoverished children across the world, because the program is run by a Christian charity. 21

November 2011 – The Air Force Academy pays $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship center for pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans. 22

February 2012 – The U. S. Military Academy at West Point disinvites three star Army general and decorated war hero Lieutenant General William G. (“Jerry”) Boykin (retired) from speaking at an event because he is an outspoken Christian. 23

February 2012 – The Air Force removes “God” from the patch of Rapid Capabilities Office (the word on the patch was in Latin: Dei). 24

February 2012 – The Army orders Catholic chaplains not to read a letter to parishioners that their archbishop asked them to read. 25

3. Acts of hostility toward Biblical values:

January 2009 – Obama lifts restrictions on U.S. government funding for groups that provide abortion services or counseling abroad, forcing taxpayers to fund pro-abortion groups that either promote or perform abortions in other nations. 26

January 2009 – President Obama’s nominee for deputy secretary of state asserts that American taxpayers are required to pay for abortions and that limits on abortion funding are unconstitutional. 27

March 2009 – The Obama administration shut out pro-life groups from attending a White House-sponsored health care summit. 28

March 2009 – Obama orders taxpayer funding of embryonic stem cell research. 29

March 2009 – Obama gave $50 million for the UNFPA, the UN population agency that promotes abortion and works closely with Chinese population control officials who use forced abortions and involuntary sterilizations. 30

May 2009 – The White House budget eliminates all funding for abstinence-only education and replaces it with “comprehensive” sexual education, repeatedly proven to increase teen pregnancies and abortions. 31 He continues the deletion in subsequent budgets. 32

May 2009 – Obama officials assemble a terrorism dictionary calling pro-life advocates violent and charging that they use racism in their “criminal” activities. 33

July 2009 – The Obama administration illegally extends federal benefits to same-sex partners of Foreign Service and Executive Branch employees, in direction violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 34

September 16, 2009 – The Obama administration appoints as EEOC Commissioner Chai Feldblum, who asserts that society should “not tolerate” any “private beliefs,” including religious beliefs, if they may negatively affect homosexual “equality.” 35

July 2010 – The Obama administration uses federal funds in violation of federal law to get Kenya to change its constitution to include abortion. 36

August 2010 – The Obama administration Cuts funding for 176 abstinence education programs. 37

September 2010 – The Obama administration tells researchers to ignore a judge’s decision striking down federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. 38

February 2011 – Obama directs the Justice Department to stop defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 39

March 2011 – The Obama administration refuses to investigate videos showing Planned Parenthood helping alleged sex traffickers get abortions for victimized underage girls. 40

July 2011 – Obama allows homosexuals to serve openly in the military, reversing a policy originally instituted by George Washington in March 1778. 41

September 2011 – The Pentagon directs that military chaplains may perform same-sex marriages at military facilities in violation of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. 42

October 2011 – The Obama administration eliminates federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion. 43
4. Acts of preferentialism for Islam:

May 2009 – While Obama does not host any National Day of Prayer event at the White House, he does host White House Iftar dinners in honor of Ramadan. 44

April 2010 – Christian leader Franklin Graham is disinvited from the Pentagon’s National Day of Prayer Event because of complaints from the Muslim community. 45

April 2010 – The Obama administration requires rewriting of government documents and a change in administration vocabulary to remove terms that are deemed offensive to Muslims, including jihad, jihadists, terrorists, radical Islamic, etc. 46

August 2010 – Obama speaks with great praise of Islam and condescendingly of Christianity. 47

August 2010 – Obama went to great lengths to speak out on multiple occasions on behalf of building an Islamic mosque at Ground Zero, while at the same time he was silent about a Christian church being denied permission to rebuild at that location. 48

2010 – While every White House traditionally issues hundreds of official proclamations and statements on numerous occasions, this White House avoids traditional Biblical holidays and events but regularly recognizes major Muslim holidays, as evidenced by its 2010 statements on Ramadan, Eid-ul-Fitr, Hajj, and Eid-ul-Adha. 49

October 2011 – Obama’s Muslim advisers block Middle Eastern Christians’ access to the White House. 50

February 2012 – The Obama administration makes effulgent apologies for Korans being burned by the U. S. military, 51 but when Bibles were burned by the military, numerous reasons were offered why it was the right thing to do. 52

Many of these actions are literally unprecedented – this is the first time they have happened in four centuries of American history. The hostility of President Obama toward Biblical faith and values is without equal from any previous American president.

Endnotes

1. Sarah Pulliam Baily, "Obama: ‘They cling to guns or religion’," Christianity Today, April 13, 2008. (Return)

2. Aliza Marcus, "Obama to Lift ‘Conscience’ Rule for Health Workers," Bloomberg, February 27, 2009; Sarah Pulliam Baily, "Obama Admin. Changes Bush ‘Conscience’ Rule for Health Workers," Christianity Today, February 18, 2011. (Return)

3. Jim Lovino, "Jesus Missing From Obama’s Georgetown Speech," NBC Washington, April 17, 2009. (Return)

4. Johanna Neuman, “Obama end Bush-era National Prayer Day Service at White House," Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2009. (Return)

5. Chris McGreal, “Vatican vetoes Barack Obama’s nominees for U.S. Ambassador,” The Guardian, April 14, 2009. (Return)

6. Meredith Jessup, “Obama Continues to Omit ‘Creator’ From Declaration of Independence,” The Blaze, October 19, 2010. (Return)

7. "Remarks by the President at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia," The White House, November 10, 2010. (Return)

8. LadyImpactOhio, " Feds sued by Veterans to allow stolen Mojave Desert Cross to be rebuilt," Red State, January 14, 2011. (Return)

9. Marrianne Medlin, “Amid criticism, President Obama moves to fill vacant religious ambassador post,” Catholic News Agency, February 9, 2011; Thomas F. Farr, “Undefender of the Faith,” Foreign Policy, April 5, 2012. (Return)

10. Chris Johnson, “ENDA passage effort renewed with Senate introduction,” Washington Blade, April 15, 2011. (Return)

11. Chuck Donovan, “HHS’s New Health Guidelines Trample on Conscience,” Heritage Foundation, August 2, 2011. (Return)

12. Todd Starns, “Obama Administration Opposes FDR Prayer at WWII Memorial,” Fox News, November 4, 2011. (Return)

13. Joel Siegel, “Obama Omits God From Thanksgiving Speech, Riles Critics,” ABC News, November 25, 2011. (Return)

14. Hillary Rodham Clinton, “Remarks in Recognition of International Human Rights Day,” U.S. Department of State, December 6, 2011. (Return)

15. Ted Olson, “Church Wins Firing Case at Supreme Court,” Christianity Today, January 11, 2012. (Return)

16. Audrey Hudson, “Obama administration religious service for student loan forgiveness,” Human Events, February 15, 2012. (Return)

17. “Houston Veterans Claim Censorship of Prayers, Including Ban of ‘God’ and ‘Jesus’,” Fox News, June 29, 2011. (Return)

18. Jason Ukman, “Air Force suspends ethics course that used Bible passages that train missle launch officers,” Washington Post, August 2, 2011. (Return)

19. "Maintaining Government Neutrality Regarding Religion," Department of the Air Force, September 1, 2011. (Return)

20. "Wounded, Ill, and Injured Partners in Care Guidelines," Department of the Navy (accessed on February 29, 2012). (Return)

21. "Air Force Academy Backs Away from Christmas Charity," Fox News Radio, November 4, 2011. (Return)

22. Jenny Dean, "Air Force Academy adapts to pagans, druids, witches and Wiccans," Los Angeles Times, November 26, 2011. (Return)

23. Ken Blackwell, "Gen. Boykin Blocked At West Point," cnsnews.com, February 1, 2012. (Return)

24. Geoff Herbert, " Air Force unit removes 'God' from logo; lawmakers warn of 'dangerous precedent'," syracuse.com, February 9, 2012. (Return)

25. Todd Starnes, "Army Silences Catholic Chaplains," Fox News Radio, February 6, 2012. (Return)

26. Jeff Mason and Deborah Charles, "Obama lifts restrictions on abortion funding," Reuters, January 23, 2009. (Return)

27. "Obama pick: Taxpayers must fund abortions," World Net Daily, January 27, 2009. (Return)

28. Steven Ertelt, "Pro-Life Groups Left Off Obama’s Health Care Summit List, Abortion Advocates OK," LifeNews, March 5, 2009. (Return)

29. " Obama Signs Order Lifting Restrictions on Stem Cell Research Funding," Fox News, March 9, 2009. (Return)

30. Steven Ertelt, “ Obama Administration Announces $50 Million for Pro-Forced Abortion UNFPA,” LifeNews, March 26, 2009; Steven Ertelt, "President Barack Obama’s Pro-Abortion Record: A Pro-Life Compilation," LifeNews, February 11, 2012. (Return)

31. Steven Ertelt, "Barack Obama’s Federal Budget Eliminates Funding for Abstinence-Only Education," LifeNews, May 8, 2009. (Return)

32. Steven Ertelt, "Obama Budget Funds Sex Ed Over Abstinence on 16-1 Margin," LifeNews, February 14, 2011. (Return)

33. Steven Ertelt, "Obama Admin Terrorism Dictionary Calls Pro-Life Advocates Violent, Racist," LifeNews, May 5, 2009. (Return)

34. "Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies," The White House, June 17, 2009. (Return)

35. Matt Cover, "Obama’s EEOC Nominee: Society Should ‘Not Tolerate Private Beliefs’ That ‘Adversely Affect’ Homosexuals," cnsnews.com, January 18, 2010. (Return)

36. Tess Civantos, "White House Spent $23M of Taxpayer Money to Back Kenyan Constitution That Legalizes Abortion, GOP Reps Say," Fox News, July 22, 2010. (Return)

37. Steven Ertelt, "Obama, Congress Cut Funding for 176 Abstinence Programs Despite New Study," LifeNews, August 26, 2010. (Return)

38. Steven Ertelt, "President Barack Obama’s Pro-Abortion Record: A Pro-Life Compilation," LifeNews, February 11, 2012. (Return)

39. Brian Montopoli, "Obama administration will no longer defend DOMA," CBSNews, February 23, 2011. (Return)

40. Steven Ertelt, "Obama Admin Ignores Planned Parenthood Sex Trafficking Videos," LifeNews, March 2, 2011. (Return)

41. Elisabeth Bumiller, "Obama Ends ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Policy," New York Times, July 22, 2011; George Washington, The Writings of George Washington, John C. Fitzpatrick, editor (Washington: U. S. Government Printing Office, 1934), Vol. XI, pp. 83-84, from General Orders at Valley Forge on March 14, 1778. (Return)

42. Luis Martinez, "Will Same Sex Marriages Pose a Dilemma for Military Chaplains?," ABC News, October 12, 2011. (Return)

43. Jerry Markon, "Health, abortion issues split Obama administration and Catholic groups," Washington Post, October 31, 2011. (Return)

44. Barack Obama, “ Remarks by the President at Iftar Dinner,” The White House, September 1, 2009; Kristi Keck, “ Obama tones down National Day of Prayer observance,” CNN, May 6, 2009; Dan Gilgoff, “ The White House on National Day of Prayer: A Proclamation, but No Formal Ceremony,” U.S. News, May 1, 2009. (Return)

45. "Franklin Graham Regrets Army's Decision to Rescind Invite to Pentagon Prayer Service," Fox News, April 22, 2010. (Return)

46. “Obama Bans Islam, Jihad From National Security Strategy Document,” Fox News, April 7, 2010; "Counterterror Adviser Defends Jihad as 'Legitimate Tenet of Islam'," Fox News, May 27, 2010; "'Islamic Radicalism' Nixed From Obama Document," CBSNews, April 7, 2010. (Return)

47. Chuck Norris, “ President Obama: Muslim Missionary? (Part 2),” Townhall.com, August 24, 2010; Chuck Norris, "President Obama: Muslim Missionary?," Townhall.com, August 17, 2010.(Return)

48. Barack Obama, “Remarks by the President at Iftar Dinner,” The White House, August 13, 2010; "Obama Comes Out in Favor of Allowing Mosque Near Ground Zero," Fox News, August 13, 2010; Pamela Geller, "Islamic Supremacism Trumps Christianity at Ground Zero," American Thinker, July 21, 2011. (Return)

49. "WH Fails to Release Easter Proclamation," Fox Nation, April 25, 2011; "President Obama ignores most holy Christian holiday; AFA calls act intentional," American Family Association (accessed on February 29, 2012).(Return)

50. "Report: Obama’s Muslim Advisers Block Middle Eastern Christians’ Access to the White House," Big Peace (accessed on February 29, 2012). (Return)

51. Masoud Popalzai and Nick Paton Walsh, “ Obama apologizes to Afghanistan for Quran burning,” CNN, February 23, 2012; "USA/Afghanistan-Islamophobia: Pentagon official apologizes for Quran burning," International Islamic News Agency (accessed on February 29, 2012). (Return)

52. "Military burns unsolicited Bibles sent to Afghanistan," CNN, May 22, 2009. (Return)

He is Risen!

Then-Gov Ronald Reagan compares the US to the fall of Rome

“… Rome had known a pioneer beginning not unlike our own pioneer heritage, and then entered into two centuries of greatness, reaching its pinnacle in the second of those centuries, going into the decline and collapse in the third. Yet, the sins of decay were becoming apparent in the latter years of that second century.

“It is written that there were vast increases in the number of the idle rich, and the idle poor. The latter (the idle poor) were put on a permanent dole, a welfare system not unlike our own. As this system became permanent, the recipients of public largesse (welfare) increased in number. They organized into a political block with sizable power. They were not hesitant about making their demands known. Nor was the government hesitant about agreeing to their demands … and with ever-increasing frequency. Would-be emperors catered to them. The great, solid middle class—Rome’s strength then as ours is today—was taxed more and more to support a bureaucracy that kept growing larger, and even more powerful. Surtaxes were imposed upon incomes to meet emergencies. The government engaged in deficit spending. The denarius, a silver coin similar to our half dollar, began to lose its silvery hue. It took on a copper color as the government reduced the silver content.

“Even then, Gresham’s law was at work, because the real silver coin soon disappeared. It went into hiding.

“Military service was an obligation highly honored by the Romans. Indeed, a foreigner could win Roman citizenship simply by volunteering for service in the legions of Rome. But, with increasing affluence and opulence, the young men of Rome began avoiding this service, finding excuses to remain in the soft and sordid life of the city. They took to using cosmetics and wearing feminine-like hairdo’s and garments, until it became difficult, the historians tell us, to tell the sexes apart.

“Among the teachers and scholars was a group called the Cynics whose number let their hair and beards grow, and who wore slovenly clothes, and professed indifference to worldly goods as they heaped scorn on what they called ‘middle class values.’

“The morals declined. It became unsafe to walk in the countryside or the city streets. Rioting was commonplace and sometimes whole sections of towns and cities were burned.

“And, all the time, the twin diseases of confiscatory taxation and creeping inflation were waiting to deliver the death blow.

“Then finally, all these forces overcame the energy and ambition of the middle class.

“Rome fell.

“We are now approaching the end of our second century.” (Address by Governor Ronald Reagan of California at Eisenhower College, New York, 1969.)

...as qtd in Ezra Taft Benson, "Watchmen, Warn the Wicked" Ensign, July 1973.

America's Top Seven Socio-Political Problems

The other night at a political rally I met William J. Kelly with the Kelly Truth Squad. He told me a little about his new nationally televised show (or several tapings of it) that he'll be filming soon. He said he's writing for the Washington Times. I mentioned that I have also written for the Times.

Anyway, I couldn't help but to ponder his request when he said, "What are seven things you think is wrong right now in America?" (or something to that effect).

Well, I'm almost finished with my book manuscript -- finally -- "For God, Family and Country," so this thing has been on my mind for some time.

Here's my list. A lot of the points overlap and might be summed up by saying, simply, "We need to be better, trust in God, strengthen our families, work hard, be thrifty, and embrace the Constitution. We need to make our voices heard, endorse small government, do all we can to lower our taxes, and STAY OUT OF DEBT!!"

1) The secularization of Judeo-Christian ethos in America. Tocqueville said, “The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law as well as the surest pledge of freedom.” (Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, trans. by Henry Reeve, Esq. Vol 1 (1 of 2 vol) 4th edition. NY: J.& H.G. Langley, 1841. p. 44.) This irreligious popularity is a defining reason for division and turmoil. Core values of such faith includes, but is not limited to,

2) The breakdown of traditional marriage and family, which is a cause for much of the social and political turmoil. Sadly, such a breakdown is fueled by the interpretation of our Constitution and moral laws by nihilistic judges. 

3) Legal rulings are destroying the original intent of the Constitution.  Like frogs in tepid water, the temperature is calculated to slowly rise until the water boils to the frogs' demise. Case law and powerful judges have set a dangerous trend. 

4) The voices of "We the People" are being oppressed. Our voices and our votes are silenced (e.g. Proposition 8, voted by the people, overturned as unconstitutional by an openly gay district judge, and recently sustained by the liberal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Paradoxically, the entire legal process seems unconstitutional by the fact that the people voted for Prop 8 in the first place, but judges are now saying their vote doesn't count!). So, who's voice does count then?

5) The voices of the boisterous minority are loud, supported by media who glamorizes ridiculousness and thrives on the spectacular and sensational. These groups and individuals are all too often catered to by legislators who claim "equality for all," albeit in the name of socialism, which includes, but is not limited to, government handouts, bailouts and mandated healthcare. Moreover, there is a demand for tolerance when the demand is not reciprocal to the "normal" majority, who all too often, unfortunately, is swayed into social "group think."

6) Taxes burden the backs of workers while indolence is on the rise. Who would want to work when a free government check gives them more to stay at home, buy alcohol or drugs, and buy the most expensive steak and soda pop with their welfare handouts? Why are we surprised by businesses moving factories overseas where labor is expected and money has to be earned? Why are we surprised by foreign businesses and foreign moguls buying up American properties and corporations (especially with the USD as weak as it is) while U.S.-based businesses establish headquarters in Ireland, home of the 2% tax? The division between have and have not spikes, as well as the criminal interest. 

7) The right to bear arms.  See bio. Nuff said.

The Government's at it Again--More Stupid Spending, More Programs Leading America to Bankruptcy!

According to a Time news article, last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don't qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone.

How did such a frivolous program get funded in the first place?! Who would have agreed to spend tax payer money that way? It's foolish and wasteful.

Here's a word to the Capital Hill legislators: With all the money the federal government TAKES from me, by law and force, I EXPECT these funds to be used more wisely...for the defense and security of the nation, NOT to bail out big corporations, inept on their own financial oversight, or give so-called low-income Americans foolish and unnecessary handouts!! If they can't afford a cell phone or the payments, they don't need one. Period.

Stop digging us deeper and deeper into debt. I'm sick and tired of it.

Prop 8, the Book of Mormon, and the Sanctity of Marriage: Today's Ruling

In late 2010, an openly gay U.S. district judge in San Francisco overturned California's Proposition 8, the 2008 voter-approved ban on gay marriage.

Today, Tuesday, Feb 7, 2012, the most liberal Circuit Court in the country, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, not surprisingly concurred with the aforementioned decision. In other words, a vote by the people -- by the voice of the people -- to ban same-sex marriage doesn't matter?!

Really?!

Instead, lawyers and judges who have consistently sided on the precipice of amoral rulings abide by those things set to destroy the family? Or, the voice of the people doesn't matter... The Constitution doesn't matter? Instead, it's replaced by those who are slowing, dangerously changing the original intent of our Constitution, which is based on morality, religion and "We the People"?

Vox populi means the voice of the people. When the majority of the people make rulings, voting together, good things happen in a moral and civil society.

In the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ, one society wisely did the business by the voice of the people. It is written:

"Now it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right; but it is common for the lesser part of the people to desire that which is not right; therefore this shall ye observe and make it your law—to do your business by the voice of the people" (Mosiah 29:26).

Many years later, one of the contributors of the Book of Mormon, wrote:

"And now behold, I say unto you, that the foundation of the destruction of this people is beginning to be laid by the unrighteousness of your lawyers and your judges" (Alma 10:27).

The parallels to our society today are amazing. As one modern-day prophet has written, the Book of Mormon was written for our day.

Click here to read The Family: A Proclamation to the World.

To learn more about my beliefs, check out Mormon.org.

Safeguarding the Constitution

President Obama, in an NBC Today interview with Matt Lauer, that aired today ( Feb 6, 2012), blasted the inspired balance of powers--the checks and balances wisely established by the U.S. Constitution--when he said:

“I have not been able to force Congress to implement every aspect of what I said in 2008. Well, it turns out that our founders designed a system that makes it more difficult to bring about change than I would like...but...I’m just going keep on doing is plotting away, very persistent.”

This comment, by itself, may seem innocuous, but not to me. From Obamacare to anti-American comments made to foreigners, I really don't appreciate the direction our country is headed with him at the helm. Sadly, there are many others both in the Legislative and Judicial Branches that truly ignore the inspired documents of American heritage, first and foremost being the Constitution.

Tonight I taught my children about the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and safeguarding these heavenly writings for our future and for the future of all our the posterity. I have sworn an oath, more times than one, to protect the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, part of our doctrine is to support the Constitution. Within the Doctrine and Covenants it is written, in part:

...According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;

That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him...

Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.

And for this purpose have I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and redeemed the land by the shedding of blood.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Aug 28, 1963 Speech)

Reading and listening to Dr. King's speech this morning, the day in which we celebrate as a national holiday, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, my eyes are moist with welling tears. Thank God for that inspired man. Thank God for the end of segregation and damnable racism.

Sadly, there still are prejudices and unkindness. About three weeks ago I sat with a trusted black friend of mine who told me how hurtful it was to him that a white man came up to him and said, "I've never liked your kind, but you're not so bad." My friend, nearly in tears himself, asked rhetorically, "And that was somehow supposed to be a compliment?" Fortunately, my friend had more love and diplomacy than the ignorant white fellow who either intentionally or unintentionally berated him.

May we always remember to not judge others by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.


I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination... One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

...We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only"... No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

...Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." ...

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, ...little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith... With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."...

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

"Restrain the Excess of Lawmaking"

While reading Alexander Hamilton's words in The Federalist Papers this evening (no. 73), I ran across these brilliant words: "...restrain the excess of lawmaking."

In this presidential election year, my hope is that so many things can change for the better. I would like to see term limits in both the House and the Senate. I would like to see those elected officials, as well as the POTUS, fix our $15 trillion national deficit. It's well past time to not only balance the budget but to pay off debt. We need leaders who won't apologize for doing the hard thing. If we don't seriously cut wasteful spending and abolish useless and unnecessary government programs and entities (e.g. U.S. Department of Education), there will come a time, I'm afraid, when we will lose our freedoms. We will be indebted to foreign power and to those whom we owe debt to as a nation.

I fear that unless we stop the terrible, fiscally irresponsible pathway we are on that there will be cities and counties and even states within the union that will go bankrupt. Bankruptcy and bailouts cripple the people. Indebtedness makes slaves of you and me. I dare not think of what crises will occur and what systems, laws and socio-political impacts should occur if a city or county folds to the state or if a state becomes helpless and owned by the federal government. Sadly, this political and geographical bankruptcy has begun; it started just a few short weeks ago.

We need restoration of American principles--principles upon which this government and this blessed land were founded upon. Americans should have a choice of healthcare and liberty. The government must be smaller. We must go back to our roots: The Constitution. We need less making of complex laws and more responsibility. We need a strong military. We need a less complicated tax system. We need to have Americans want to keep jobs in America, not run to, say, Ireland to establish headquarters for their multi-billion dollar companies because of the low taxes in Ireland. We need to have headquarters in lands all across the United States with no government interference. We need American's who will work and we need work here in America--not Mexico, not India, not China.

We need to drastically change the welfare program from a free dole. We need to restore America or we will, by and by, lose our freedoms and liberties that Revolutionaries fought and died to establish and preserve.

We need to give; we need to help our families and our neighbors. We will have to take lessons from the Polynesian and Asian cultures by taking care of our elderly mothers and fathers. The day will soon come when hundreds of thousands of men and women will not have any retirement...or any social security funds. We need law makers and a national Executive who will not make promises they or the American people cannot keep.

We owe it to ourselves and to our posterity.

Ronald Reagan's Speech: "The Boys of Pointe du Hoc" (6 June 1984)

TACTICAL TRAINING TIPS: KEY POINTS FOR INSTRUCTORS & SHOOTERS

My latest article published with Action Target's newsletter today.

http://www.actiontarget.com/tactical-training-tips-key-points-for-instructors-shooters/

BY JEFFREY DENNING

Editor’s Note: The views in this article are the author’s own and don’t necessarily represent those of Action Target, Inc.

Action Target hosted their 20th Law Enforcement Training Camp earlier this year. While pondering some of the unfortunate recent tragedies that have struck the law enforcement community nationwide—including a higher percentage of lethal attacks against police officers as well as the accidental shooting death of a 24-year-old corrections officer—I thought I’d offer some tactical tips to law enforcement training instructors.

GBI Investigates Probation Officer's Death: MyFoxATLANTA.com

Now, although this piece mentions officers and may be geared towards law enforcement in general, all the points can most definitely apply to the tactical shooting community as a whole. Here’s my advice:

Repetition is the law of learning. The more students accurately perform a variety of techniques, the more comfortable they will become. Tactical training drills allow officers to develop individual skill and assist in building muscle memory.

Muscle memory is a kinesthetic phenomenon whereby specific muscular patterns and movements become ingrained. When movements are repeated over and over, eventually these movements can be performed without conscious effort.

Under such extreme stress, cognitive ability is diminished and thought process is narrowed acutely. When facing the stress of lethal confrontation, officers should not have to think about basic weapons manipulation or marksmanship fundamentals; if they have to think about these basic fundamentals under stress, their chances for losing increase.

On the other hand, regular practice and difficult, realistic, and challenging drills will increase survivability. Repetitive training, therefore, is vitally important when considering survival and life-saving tactical techniques.

As with any type of improvement, officers can never increase their ability unless they fail on occasion. No person can develop unless they try something new and push themselves to the limits. Failure or imperfection on a specific technique or drill is likely to occur. The idea is to have officers meet successes. Small improvements provide satisfaction which, in turn, buoys individual esteem and maintains interest and encourages persistence.

As a training instructor, here are some of the key points to remember during every range training opportunity or any tactical firearms training period.

1) Individuals that are considered “experts” in their chosen field are extremely good at the fundamentals. Focusing on the basics is a positive thing. On occasion, give students something fun too. No one wants to be bored at the range.

2) When training, it is important to remember the end goal: preparing for lethal confrontations. In order to maximize training, (a) the individual shooter should envision that each and every shot during the tactical evolution is, in reality, a lethal force situation; and (b) trainers should mimic real world events. For instance, in my last custom tailored Patrol Rifle Course, I had police officers wear the same Active Shooter go-bag that they carry in their squad cars. I had them reload from that pouch. The feedback was positive, mostly because the training mimicked real circumstances. In short, train as you fight. Don’t say, “In reality we’d do this but we’re not going to train like that.” That’s cheating yourself and your team of valuable training! Cheating or foregoing reality will get someone hurt or killed in the long run.

3) Give students several tools to fill up their tactical toolbox, but focus on what will work best. Remember, it’s not a good tactic if it doesn’t work well (a) on the move, (b) in low-light, or (c) under stress.

4) Start out slowly. Speed will come in time. Or, perhaps once you’ve done some drills at full speed, slow down to quarter or half speed until techniques are perfected, then speed back up.

5) Weapons handling skills can increase dramatically without ever shooting a single round. Dry and/or dummy round training periods are extremely helpful and are all too often overlooked. The nice thing about that is the price is right. With the budget crunch, remember, weapons handling skills doesn’t mean you have to shoot a lot of rounds. In fact, dummy rounds work wonders.

6) Firearms are inherently dangerous. Safety briefings and safety are occasionally thought of as the same thing; we’ve said it and we’ve heard it said a thousand times. Unfortunately, it’s under that premise when accidents happen. Don’t think it will never happen here. Creating an atmosphere where everyone’s comfortable enough to say, “Watch your muzzle” or “Get your finger off the trigger,” is essential. No egos among the instructors or the students. Remember, always keep safety first.

Use these tips for a safer, and more effective, training environment and continue to hone your skills and keep adding to your tactical toolbox.

ABOUT JEFFREY DENNING

Jeffrey Denning is a former SWAT team leader, security contractor, undercover Federal Air Marshal, and Iraqi War Vet. He is the founder of Warrior SOS and writes tactical articles for Guns.com.

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Controlled Pairs, Double Taps, or 6-Shot Rhythm

This article of mine was posted on Action Target -- great guys, great products.

http://www.actiontarget.com/controlled-pairs-double-taps-or-6-shot-rhythm/

The phrase “The shot heard around the world” refers to the single gunshot that began the battle of Lexington and Concord of the American Revolutionary War. In historic times, rifles could only shoot one round at a time. As time progressed, John Moses Browning and other inspired gunsmiths drastically changed the weapons in modern gun fighting by designing firearms capable of semi- and fully-automatic shooting. Today however, most shooters and firearms trainers continue shooting only two rounds at a time.

This type of culture asks the questions: Why and how did this phenomenon occur, and secondly, why pause in the middle of a gun fight? How is it that we’ve arrived at this point? Does it matter? This two-shot-only practice has been around for decades.

We’ve programmed ourselves to let the majority of our multiple shot drills be only controlled pairs or double taps-hammers accelerated pairs. Why? Examining the history of this trend is not as important as outlining the pros and cons and what we should do to improve, right?

So here it goes.

The usual tactical axiom states, “One hit is better than ten misses.” Which means, two shots are better than one, but why not three, four, or five shots?

Many people have survived getting shot multiple times. The cliché “one shot, one kill” should be discarded from the war-fighter lexicon. This is especially the case for gun rounds, but also true with most every caliber of long gun used for close-quarters engagements.

So, how can we change our thinking and training?

Utilizing Action Target’s innovative Pepper Popper target is a great place to start. This target allows a shooter to shoot three, four, or even five shots as quickly as possible before the target falls. Adjusting the tension allows you to make the most of every shot as you train. Since most engagements are close in range, place this target within the distance Action Target recommends to ensure a realistic handgun training scenario.

For long guns training, try the new RTS Self-Healing Reactive Target . It is important to keep your shots fast, your groups tight, and have good balance with an aggressive stance as you fire three, four, or more shots at a time. Training with the RTS Self-Healing Reactive Target is a fun experience that mimics how many rounds you should take in real-world lethal encounters.

One of the most enjoyable drills for me personally is a six-shot rhythm drill with my handgun. I use paper targets on my AT Hold target stands, and attempt really tight shot groups as rapidly as I can. Usually, I practice from 5-7 yards.

When using iron sights, try to get a flash-sight picture—where the front sight isn’t in perfect alignment, but slightly bobbles around in the rear sight. If you’re close enough to the target and have a smooth trigger, you’ll hit your target. Also, when you’re doing these drills, shoot as fast as you can.

We have come a long way since the ancient wars of the past. We must remember that if we want to win—keep shooting. The briefest remedy to survive and win any gunfight is to shoot faster and more accurately than the threat(s).
Until next time, continue to hone your skills and keep adding to your tactical toolbox.

ABOUT JEFFREY DENNING

Jeffrey Denning is a former SWAT team leader, security contractor, undercover Federal Air Marshal, and Iraqi War Vet. He is the founder of Warrior SOS and writes tactical articles for Guns.com.

Just a Teacher?

Here's an old article I wrote when I blogged for the Washington Times. I stumbled across it today.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/aviation-security/2008/jul/12/just-a-teacher-going-home/

By Jeffrey Denning

It’s been just over one month since I came home from a year-long deployment to Iraq with the U.S. Army Reserves. Spending time with my wife and children is absolutely, well, celestial. But eventually work called. This time, I had to travel out of town briefly, which required a trip to the airport.

Often we, as a society at war, forget to pay tribute to the spouses and family members of those who serve our country. My wife suffered right along with me and she deserves medals, plaudits and awards for her courage and commitment to me and to America.

I wasn’t there to help her with the kids, the dog, the overflowing sewage, or the broken fridge and water heater. I wasn’t there to help with the dishes or the dirty diapers. I wasn’t there to tuck the kids into bed each night or to comfort them when their classmates said I was going to die in Iraq. I wasn’t there to comfort my wife during the three out-patient surgeries, or when she raised the children alone and took them to church by herself each week

When I left, our youngest couldn’t say ‘Daddy.’ When I returned, she could sing songs and speak in full sentences.

So, when my incredible wife called this week in a panic about my accident prone son who had gotten injured badly, I wanted to do everything I could to come home to help out. The kids need me; my wife needs me, and I need them.

In the midst of trying to get home I had one giant obstacle to overcome –– the airport.

It seems like nothing goes right at the airport when your really in a hurry to get home. After having my flight delayed and then cancelled, I was rebooked and cancelled and rebooked again. Then I was delayed and cancelled again on another air carrier. Those who’ve been there know I’m not exaggerating.

After waiting several more hours, the flight home was cancelled once again. While waiting in a meandering line full of angry passengers trying to get booked on the very last flight of the evening, one irate passenger hollered at the airline customer service rep. I thought I might write about adult temper tantrums in airports. Supermodel Naomi Campbell reportedly spit, cussed at and fought with London’s Metropolitan Police, for instance, when she got yanked off a plane by them not long ago.

While wondering what I might write about for future posts, I struck up a conversation with a woman standing in line with me. Soon, a friendly conversation began. Her name was Helen.

Well Helen told me that she needed to get on that final flight out, to take care of her mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Helen had an appointment early the next morning with several people, including representatives from the hospice, who she anticipated taking care of her mother. I silently thought to myself that if the last seat on the last flight of the day were between she and I, I’d let her take it. I could wait until morning to fly home, as I didn’t have a pressing appointment.

In casual conversation, I mentioned that I had just recently returned home from serving in Iraq. Helen’s expression went rapidly to somber and sincere. She offered her hand to me, and with the most sincere kindness and gratitude she thanked me enthusiastically. Tears began to build in her eyes as she told me thank you repeatedly.

Helen said that I was the first person she had ever met who had served in Iraq. Shaking my hand vigorously, thanking me lavishly, she said that I definitely needed to get home to my wife and children. With overwhelming kindness she practically shoved me into the line in front of her. I only accepted her offer after she wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“What do you do?” I asked her.

“Oh, I’m just a teacher,” she stated nonchalantly.

“Just a teacher? Just?” I paused for effect. “The job you have is incredible. I can’t thank you enough,” I said passionately, putting my hand over my heart. She went on to explain that she teaches first grade. I thought of my son and daughter and their elementary school classes.

Helen and I exchanged a few more brief words then departed. Fortunately, merely by coincidence, she was able to get booked on that last flight out and I was rebooked for a morning flight.

I felt so honored that a total stranger—a teacher—would offer up her seat not to me, per se, but to a mere stranger who had served in Iraq.

Nostalgically, I recalled my elementary school teacher. One in particular I remember: Mrs. Talbot. It was in her Second Grade class where I stood with my hand over my heart, staring inquisitively at Old Glory, and the beautiful stars and red and white flowing stripes, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

I’m proud to know that there are still teachers, mothers, and passengers of all kinds flying on airplanes, who would voluntarily give before taking, and whose examples of goodness and kindness is not only contagious towards me, but to the next generation.

The safety and security of any civilized and decent society rests in the bosom of those who love and give without expecting anything in return—who want freedom and would fight to defend it, as a mother would for her child.

God's beautiful creations - the beauty of pollination

About me

I'm the founder of a non-profit organization, a former Federal Air Marshal and Iraqi War Vet, and I'm a MORMON.

Marine Iraqi War Vet & Police Officer Goes Public, Admitting PTSD

The name Warrior SOS came about after I received a brief text message from my long time friend and warrior-buddy, J.P. Villont. He sent a note, an SOS. SOS is an international distress signal. In morse code it is: ... --- ...

S.O.S. is the clarion call for H-E-L-P!

Upon getting JP’s message, I immediately called him. I asked him if he had thought about suicide or had thought about killing himself. Many years ago, in FBI Crisis Negotiation school, I learned that asking someone if they’re thinking about suicide won’t put the idea in their mind; they won’t do it if you ask, in other words. I also learned that sometimes people do not equate suicide with killing themselves, and vice versa, so I began a habit to ask both questions if I sensed any distressing signals appertaining to such a total and complete despair.

Thankfully, with the help of J.P.’s loving and supportive wife, and caring counselors at the VA, he’s been able to get help and healing. Often signs of Post Traumatic Stress and other combat related emotional frustrations, come in the way of fits of anger. J.P. is no exception. Recognizing and admitting there’s a problem is the first step. There are many people willing and anxious to help.

As a personal note to J.P., I simply wish to say: I sure love you, brother. Keep the faith! Fight the good fight. You’re a good man.

Warrior SOS also wishes to thank retired Delta Force Commander, DALTON FURY (DaltonFury.com), for signing a copy of his NY Times’ best-selling book, Kill Bin Laden for J.P. Villont. (As a side note, any readers should definitely be sure to check out Dalton's new fictional Delta Force Novel, Black Site.

Once again, Warrior SOS applauds the great courage of J.P. and his wife Lisa for going public, and agreeing to be interviewed with Stars & Stripes, a military newspaper. By courageously going public to discuss difficult, personal heartaches and heartbreaks surrounding PTSD, hundreds - if not thousands - of military veterans and their family members will likewise find the courage to seek help; others in similar circumstances will be comforted by the fact that they are not alone.

A portion of the article/interview, follows:


JP Villont’s Story as Reported by Stars & Stripes

Story by Matthew M. Burke, Stars & Stripes, published Sept. 23, 2011

http://www.stripes.com/social-media-bridging-gap-between-troubled-vets-and-treatment-1.155937

Marine Cpl. J.P. Villont returned from Iraq a broken man.

The married father of four was angry, paranoid, hyper-vigilant, aggressive and withdrawn — telltale signs of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Yet, for seven years, the former Marine was reluctant to seek help.

“Obviously I had PTSD and it was undiagnosed,” Villont, 40, said recently from his Phoenix home. “It’s a huge stigma, so I didn’t want to find that out. I pretended I didn’t have it for many years.”

Then, following a couple of violent outbursts, Villont finally contacted a few veterans facilities in Arizona. He was told he would have to wait months for treatment.

With seemingly nowhere to turn, his wife, Lisa, starting posting messages on the Wounded Warrior Project’s Facebook page.
“Its been over 7 years since my husband returned home from Iraq, just last week he finally decided to seek help for what we assume will be diagnosed as PTSD,” she wrote...

Lisa Villont is convinced that [a volunteer with the Wounded Warrior Project’s] actions helped save her husband’s life.

“I can tell you, there is little doubt in my mind that if we had not encountered WWP ... I would be a widow today,” Lisa Villont said.

“He absolutely, positively, would have found a way to kill himself.”
...Finding others with similar problems was the key for J.P. Villont.

In 2003, the infantryman was attached to the 1st Tank Battalion as a machine gunner during the invasion of Iraq. His unit fought its way through Basra, all the way to Baghdad.

“We were in direct combat with the Republican Guard — their tank battalion,” the soft-spoken Villont recalled. “I was with 60 tanks so we were rocking and rolling. I saw a lot of destruction.”

In the middle of his tour, he went on leave to be with his then-pregnant wife who required an emergency surgery in a California hospital.

He rode out of Baghdad with two body bags next to him.

Villont was supposed to have 10 days of leave before heading back to war. But, word came down that his unit had accomplished their mission and that he was no longer needed in Iraq.

“That was pretty surreal,” he said. “Like the Vietnam vets, I went directly from combat back into civilian life.”
He left the Marines and returned to his job in law enforcement.

Not long after, his troubles began.

First, he assaulted a neighbor who shot bottle rockets toward his home in the middle of the night; Villont said it triggered a flashback. He was later jailed for a morning after a domestic disturbance last year. which triggered a six-month investigation. He was cleared after no charges were filed. He was then allowed back to work.

Finally, he sought help but was unsuccessful, and his wife reached out to the web community.

After reading Lisa Villont’s postings, [Jennifer] Boyce, [with the Wounded Warrior Project] referred the couple to local services and a Project Odyssey retreat with fellow vets. The retreat offered outdoor activities and the companionship of fellow combat veterans, plus counselors.

At first, Villont resisted. But after talking with other vets, he decided to give it a shot.

“I didn’t want to sit around hugging each other singing ‘Kumbaya,’” he said. “But it was me and seven other vets. We clicked immediately. It was a breath of life.”

Now, J.P. Villont exchanges texts, calls, emails and Facebook messages with the other veterans he has met.

He uses social media to monitor legislation and find other outreach organizations, and he received a scholarship from the University of Phoenix to get a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling so he can help other veterans. Villont is retiring from his job as a highway patrolman at the Arizona Department of Public Safety due to injuries from an on-duty crash in March.

Although he is not cured, J.P. Villont no longer ruins family outings because of his outbursts. He’s learned he has certain “triggers” — his wife calls it his “Spidey” senses — and needs to stop before he reacts to them, to ask why he feels threatened. Villont just got out of a 24-day inpatient PTSD clinic in Tucson and is looking forward to starting school in October, thanks to the single post his wife made a few months ago.

“It’s been a pretty amazing asset,” Villont said. “You’re able to learn about this stuff from your computer. ... Once you start opening doors there is no end to this stuff.”

Davis Brown - The Just War Tradition...Special Issue of the Journal of Military Ethics

The Just War Tradition and the Continuing Challenges to World Public Order, A Special Issue of the Journal of Military Ethics
Launching Speech Given on the Occasion of the Tenth Anniversaries of 9/11 and of JME

Davis Brown


Davis Brown at Norwegian Defense College

Davis Brown, Ph.D. (ABD), J.D., LL.M., is the founder and director of the Just War Theory Project with the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) and the author of The Sword, the Cross, and the Eagle:The American Christian Just War Tradition.

It was a Tuesday morning; warm and clear. After an unremarkable commute I stopped by the Pentagon to run some errands, then I continued to my office a quarter mile away. I was to spend the morning editing a policy brief by the Academic Council on the United Nations System on humanitarian intervention; and I had to get ready for a phone call to the Executive Director of ACUNS. We were preparing this document to present in New York in two months time, and I was going to be at that seminar in person. I had already resolved to finally have dinner at Windows On The World (the restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center), something I had long wanted to do.

Then a plane hit the North Tower, and I and my co-workers rushed to a television to see the news coverage. At first we all thought it was a freak accident. Then the room fell silent as we watched the chilling image of a second plane hitting the South Tower, and we all knew then that this was no accident.

In the meantime, life goes on, so I made my phone call on schedule. We made some small talk about the attack (as if anything about it could be regarded as “small”), then it was back to the mundane world of word-smithing and comma placement. In the middle of the call, I was jolted by a loud whoosh of a plane flying low and fast right right above us. Two seconds later, a thud, in the distance, but the explosion was big enough to shake the building.

I quickly ended my phone call and everyone went outside. A plume of black smoke rose in the direction of the Potomac River. Then someone exclaimed, “It’s the Pentagon!” and despite our disbelief at the events that were unfolding that morning, we all knew he was right. A little while later, we watched in horror as one of the Twin Towers collapsed, then the other. By then our shock had turned into the grim realization that we were probably going to war—never a pleasant thought when you’re in the military.

Two months later, I went to New York for that seminar. It was my first time back in seven years. And it wasn’t the same New York I had once lived in. The city was eerily subdued, the mood like that of a wounded lion. The site of the World Trade Center, once a place of rough-and-tumble commerce, now sacred ground. In sum, the events of ten years ago this Sunday were life-altering to the American national psyche, and I daresay to the international psyche as well.

On September 10th, the academy (of international law, at least) was still fighting the Kosovo War, which recently had exposed the tension between what uses of force are legal, and what are moral or even legitimate. But the attention span of the academy can be short, and after 9/11 nobody wanted to talk about humanitarian intervention anymore. In a way, this was understandable, since everybody thought at the time that 9/11 would change everything.

But as it turns out, 9/11 didn’t change everything. It did not pose any significant challenges to jus ad bellum or just war theory, at least not in and of itself. What 9/11 did do, was to set into motion a chain of events that a year and a half later did challenge jus ad bellum and just war theory. I speak of the doctrine of preemption, which was articulated first as a measure to prevent further catastrophic terrorist attacks, and later invoked as a justification for invading Iraq. And not only is the United States still fighting the Iraq War, but so is the academy.

Preemption is a problem for us, not necessarily because it’s the global superpower that has invoked it, but because of the dilemma for world public order that it poses. Preemptive self-defense would legitimize an attack on another state that has no immediate plans to attack it; it may have long-term plans to do so but may lack the capability or resolve to attack in the present. To allow such an exception to article 2(4) is to open Pandora’s Box. And yet, in an environment in which we struggle to keep chemical, biological, and God forbid nuclear weapons out of the wrong hands, the consequence of not allowing a preemptive attack may be to force a state to suffer a crippling first blow. Prohibiting anticipatory self-defense thus plays into the hands of the state with the original hostile animus—the state that is the real aggressor.

Meanwhile, the problem of humanitarian intervention, which everyone stopped talking about after 9/11, has not gone away. Now, it’s clear that the drafters of the Charter envisioned a world in which aggression would be de-legitimized, hopefully out of existence. But surely the drafters did not intend to provide a shield for such well-meaning public servants as Idi Amin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein. To legitimize humanitarian intervention is to invite its abuse as a cover for more nefarious motives, but vicious regimes like the ones I just mentioned cannot, must not, be allowed to remain unaccountable for their atrocities, much less remain in power.

These are the two dilemmas that continue to vex scholars and policymakers: anticipatory (or preemptive) self-defense, and humanitarian intervention. How to resolve these dilemmas has been the work of the Just War Theory Project, which is a loose network of scholars and professionals dedicated to exploring the role of military force in maintaining world public order. I and the other contributors to this Special Issue submit that the framework of the just war tradition is well suited to help us find our way out of these dilemmas.

In designing the Special Issue, we sought papers that we believed would advance our understanding of each individual just-war criterion. In the article on Proper Authority, I argue for returning to the original, state-centric understanding of the concept. For various reasons laid out in my paper, I argue against the trend of construing Proper Authority as something multilateral or judicial.

We have two articles on Just Cause, one for anticipatory self-defense and one for humanitarian intervention. Joseph Boyle takes up the anticipatory defense side, and his approach is to distinguish between defense, which he finds a permissible cause to use force, and punishment, which he does not. Henrik Friberg-Fernros takes up the humanitarian intervention side. Now the question of whether humanitarian intervention is legitimate or not has been done to death, and it seemed pointless to add yet another article on that question, when the battle lines within academia and praxis are pretty much drawn at this point. Friberg-Fernros’s article is different: Rather than trying to argue that humanitarian intervention is a just cause, Friberg-Fernros starts with the assumption that it is. His focus, then, is to discover whether humanitarian intervention is a right to act or a duty to act. In doing so, he illustrates the tension between just war theory, which is permissive, and the Responsibility to Protect, which is more or less obligatory.

We also have two articles on Right Intent. In the first one, Darrell Cole argues that Right Intent is best treated not as an inward frame of mind, but as a communal, public act that has observable manifestations. From those manifestations we can deduce the real intent of the actor. Cole then applies that approach to the Iraq War among others. In the second piece, Fernando Teson draws the distinction between intention and motive, and shows how the two are often confused, and frankly, often misused.

We tend to speak of the three just war criteria of Thomas Aquinas, but actually there is a fourth one, which is embedded in the second. Not only must the attacked state deserve to be attacked on account of some fault, but also the attacked state must deserve to be attacked on account of some fault. This is the criterion of Proportionality of Cause, and it’s probably the most difficult one to apply. In my article on Proportionality, I suggest using a tort-based approach, in which the use of force is judged as an appropriate (or inappropriate) remediation to an injury that has been caused by another state that has breached its obligations.

We also have a paper on the under-studied criterion Reasonable Prospect of Success. Frances Harbour proposes that what is to judged as “reasonable” should be the “probability” of success, and not merely the “hope” or “chance” of it. She also calls for an expanded understanding of what “success” is; she argues that there is moral value in resisting a supreme injustice, even when the unjust actor can’t be overcome. That, in her opinion, is a “success,” even if it isn’t a material one.

And finally, Walter Dorn presents his Just War Index, in which the use of force is not evaluated as either “just” or “unjust,” but rather on a sliding scale in which the use of force could be supremely just (or unjust), or moderately, or slightly. In this exercise, Dorn also illustrates the limitations of just war theory. What just war theory can’t do is to provide clear, definitive answers to the question “is this or that war just or unjust”. Why? Because at the end of the day, there is still some subjectivity to evaluating each criterion. For example, two of our contributors find the Iraq War to be largely just; I’m sure some other contributors disagree with that. One of our contributors finds the US war effort in Afghanistan to be more unjust than just. In this case, I know some others disagree. On the other hand, what just war theory can do, first, is to help us find the right questions—questions of authority, cause, intent, proportionality and so on. Second, just war theory can tell us which uses of force are comparatively more or less just than which other uses of force, and why. For example, if our contributors had to rank in order of more just to less just: Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait, the US invasion of Afghanistan, and the US invasion of Iraq, I think all of them would agree on the same ranking. In sum, our contributors believe that just war theory can provide insight into judging the legitimacy of using force, in a way that the modern, restrictive form of jus ad bellum in international law cannot do, and in a way that most approaches to international relations don’t even address.

That, in a nutshell, is our Special Issue, which should be available in print in a few days. Thank you, Henrik, for your role in bringing these papers to the light of day, and for allowing me to address this august and somewhat intimidating audience.

Neal A. Maxwell - "Effort to establish iireligion as the state religion" (1978 speech)

To read the text, go to the following link: http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6197

Why Shoot Center Mass?

I just started as an editorial writer for Guns.com. My first article:

Why Shoot Center Mass?


"Why are we trained to shoot center mass. Why not shoot someone in the arm or in the leg?" That was the question posed to me by my friend, Brian, while we were attending the police academy together. When I attended the Dallas Police Academy I had already served as a full-time police Special Reaction Team (SRT) team leader at a U.S. military installation. I had attended multiple civilian police and Department of Defense special operations tactical schools, including an Advanced SWAT course with the famed Los Angeles Police Department. So you can imagine my surprise when asked why we were being training to shoot center mass.

I've often wondered about this conversation when thinking of my friend. A few years following that conversation there in the police academy, he was gunned down in the line of duty—murdered.

Here's how the conversation went, as best as I can recall.


Read the full article here: http://www.guns.com/why-shoot-center-mass.html

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing -- I can (and have) listen to it over and over and over

I called the mother of a slain Marine today - why I did & what happened

Funeral services for my good friend and teammate, Johnny Linde - Arlington National Cemetery.

It is with some trepidation I'm posting what is essentially a very personal and private glimpse into my life today. I pray that the eyes of spiritual sensitivity be opened, and that the damning and coarse nihilist thoughts and/or comments be not allowed to anyone who sees this one blog. I do not wish to cast my pearls before swine.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a.k.a. the Mormon or LDS faith, I served a volunteer mission for two years prior to joining the military. I'm active in my faith. Most importantly, I try to be a good person, and a good citizen. I try to think of holy things throughout my day.

Just as we need food and water for nourishment, our souls need regular spiritual attention. If we fail to eat or exercise, our bodies will become weak and our muscles will atrophy. The same applies to our spiritual muscles.

Just as we need healthy minerals and sunshine, we need good role models to look up to, to emulate. Our children especially need good heroes. We need heroes and heroines who stand for something. I tend to look to the heroes of the Bible and the Book of Mormon--Another Testament of Jesus Christ.

Some of my heroes are America's Founding Fathers -- those who made a solemn oath to give their lives, fortunes and their sacred honor to preserve their freedoms (and ours)...Thomas Jefferson and those great men who crafted the United States Constitution.

I feel as did a modern day prophet and Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said this: "I am saying to you that to me the Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments. When that is my feeling, I am not going to go very far away from the Constitution, and I am going to try to keep it where the Lord started it..." (George A. Smith [CR-4/48:182])

A very good friend of mine who served as a Marine in the early 70's often reminds me of a young Marine at boot camp with him. A very large and mean Drill Instructor walked up to this scrawny recruit and screamed in a demanding, controlling and intimidating tone, "WHO'S YOUR HERO, PRIVATE?!"

Now most people under such a circumstance would tend to revert to anything that would please such a person, even resorting to instant sycophancy (e.g. in 1970's USMC third person speak, "Sir, the Private thinks his Drill Instructor is his most admirable hero, sir.")

But that didn't happen. No, the young man with faith and courage stated resolutely that his hero was "The Lord Jesus Christ."



Upon that, the giant DI slugged him as hard as he could (they could do that and get away with it back then). The boy fell back hard on the floor, all the wind gushing out of his lungs and completely, utterly unashamed, he regained his footing.

"What did you say..." The intimidating drill sergeant demanded, adding again, "Who's your hero?"

At this point, most people would think to say something else, or even remain silent on the matter. But this courageous man, valiant in his testimony and faithful and unwavering in his stance -- even and especially amid, fierce opposition -- replied again that his hero was the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, that said -- with that story in mind -- I'm going to post something that is personal and sacred to me. I hope that even if some people mock it, that others will remember that I have a testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, the First Fruits of the Resurrection. For as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

Now, here are my words, personally recorded in my journal entry this, the sixth day of May, two thousand and eleven.

I had brisk, but wonderful, deeply touching -- spiritual -- experience today. I had the thought (I didn't feel it was an impression from the Lord at the time), to contact the mother of a young Marine who was killed in Afghanistan last October. Looking back I had the distinct feeling to ask a coworker of mine who knew her son well, to get her phone number. I didn't ask him. Usually I don't hesitate, but as I mentioned, I didn't feel this was an impression. In fact, I didn't even know why I should contact her, really, or what I'd say. Fortunately, however, I did make an inquiry about the name of this family to the aforementioned coworker. (Hopefully this preface isn't too confusing.)

When I was allotted a few moments of peace, the thought to contact this military mom came again. I called 4-1-1 information and asked for their home phone number.

I stammered a little bit on what to say, as I later learned that the boy's fiancee first answered the phone (they graduated high school in 2009 and were supposed to be married in this June after his military tour). Finally, when Ms. XXXXXX picked up the other line, I gathered my thoughts and spoke. I don't remember what I said. All I remember was I wanted to say, "I love you." Doing so to a perfect stranger could be a bit socially awkward, so I didn't say that. Regardless, she felt the love I wanted to share.

Through our conversation, I felt this fine woman was indeed my sister and God's daughter. She told me, from what sounded like through tears, that she was humbly grateful for me calling her and saying what I said. From her response, I gathered that my words comforted her. Especially today. She told me that today was her son's birthday. He would have been 20 years old. She said his fiancee-widow and her were going to go out and celebrate it.



It was at that point that the Holy Ghost confirmed to me that all the previous feelings were of a spiritual nature, and not of myself. I was overcome with gratitude, love, and the realization that God knows each of us personally, and that, by and large, He works His mighty miracles through each of us -- as well as the small miracles like having a total stranger call you up and say, in so many words, "Our Father in Heaven is aware of how you're feeling today, and He wants you to know He loves you and cares for you."

Every intense feeling of my heart -- all the pure, unspeakable joys that come from heaven alone -- sank deep into my heart. And, like the rainbow cannot shine or show its full glory without the rain, I shed a tear or two, simultaneously experiencing the beautiful array of warm and bright feelings from the sunshine in my heart.

Finally, on a somewhat different, but related note, I was able to find a beautiful quote I have known about for several years, but did not have a reference to. I think it's proper and fitting to close with then-Elder Ezra Taft Benson's beautiful expression and explanation of all those who come home after this life is over. Said he, "Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us." (Ezra Taft Benson, "Jesus Christ—Gifts and Expectations," Brigham Young University Speeches on 10 December 1974.)

God is indeed our Father, and that makes us brothers and sisters. To read about another very personal and powerful experience of mine I had while in Iraq, check out my profile on Mormon.org: http://mormon.org/me/2GXB/Jeffrey

Easter Weekend, Military Warriors, Politics, and Freedom

Part of a note I wrote to some friends of mine today...

My buddy just sent me a note today. He came home from Afghanistan with the Army Special Forces. One of his teammates (John Masson) came home a few months earlier than he did after stepping on a land mine and losing both of his legs and an arm. I can't imagine his kids or my kids not being FREE.
WE MUST NOT SACRIFICE LIBERTY FOR TEMPORARY FEELINGS OF SECURITY. We must not do it.

Now, in my rambling, in between changing poopy diapers and setting the trampoline up for the kids after having it up for the winter, I could go on and on about other (things), but I won't.

May I just say this: I know God lives. One evidence of this is the wise and God-fearing men He raised up to pronounce a Declaration of Independence, to create a beloved U.S. Constitution, and establish this blessed land which we call America, for their children and ours. America's Founding Fathers were not simply men who got together at a critical and pivotal time on this continent; they were led and inspired by God to grant us freedom and liberty by law.

I've stood atop Pike's Peak in Colorado where the words for "America the beautiful" were inspired.

I've stood in the melancholy fields of Gettysburg and have wept at man's inhumanity to man.

I've walked by the dark iron gates at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and have pondered what will come of the United States.

I've walked in the garden, the beautiful garden of Gethsemane, made sacred two millennia ago. I've stood at the empty tomb and pondered the impossible. It seems right to mention such a thing today, given it's Easter weekend.



This much I know, and doubt not: Nothing is impossible with God.

We are at a great and terrible place in history. The tide of immorality wages and the land is being crushed from the inside by diabolical politicians and lovers of their own selves rather than lovers of God, to paraphrase the Apostle Paul.

We are facing a crippling debt so enormous in scale and so horrific in size that nothing seems possible to fix that ailing balloon ready to pop and turn into a second great depression. I worry for my children and for the financial interests of all Americans.

I worry about tyranny in the government as the government grows larger, seeking more control; I worry about the people's voices as well as their votes, particularly those who seek a permanent dole and who don't care about liberty, thrift or hard work.

Yet, I am optimistic in that the good and honorable men like you will help -- and have helped -- do your part in keeping America great and free.

God bless you all. I'm glad to call you my friends and brothers.

Jeffrey Denning
http://mormon.org/me/2GXB/Jeffrey

Foreign Energy Reliance - Our Broke Government - More Taxes, Ugh.

This C-span report by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX) is an interesting approach to someone's crazy idea of an energy solution!

After reviewing House Bill 909, Roadmap for America's Energy Future, which the aforementioned Congressman, and 70 others have supported, it looks positive. I found this disturbing figure on the Bill sponsor's website:

Roughly half of the U.S. trade deficit is energy related. Preventing fossils fuel development at home has made us dependent on foreign oil for 70% of our supply.

My fellow American's we cannot afford to be dependent upon foreign commodities, especially oil. If the oil magnates and regulators decide to switch to a foreign currency, going away from the ever-declining US Dollar, prices would soar. But that's not all! Prices are going to soar anyway. They have been and they will yet go heavenward...but that, my friends, would not be heaven on earth at all. The recession seems be spiraling.

I'm an optimist by nature, and I still have hope for America's future, but a depression, or at least a quasi-depression seems to be rearing its ugly head on the horizon. This is especially true given the fact that Congress and government leaders continue to spend money we don't have. Like a balloon inflated too much, if we continue on this path the explosion will make the Hindenburg disaster look like a tea party -- and I'm not talking about being Taxed Enough Already!

Speaking of taxes...my wife and I voted yesterday in a local city election. We voted "No" to another lame tax. Why did so many people vote "Yes"? Yet another burdensome tax law passed. We're already in one of the highest tax areas in the entire country! There's even talk of the state filing for bankruptcy!

I do not believe for one minute that raising taxes will help our local or state government spend less. If anyone thinks raising taxes will help us (meaning any local, state or federal government entity) get out of debt, don't believe it. If they get our money, they'll just spend more. The writing's on the wall -- government cannot manage money. That's my money, and your money. It should be sacred and used with care. More of it should be in our pockets.

There are giant US corporations now headquartered in Ireland. Why? Because Ireland has one of the lowest tax mandates in the English-speaking world, if not the lowest. There are literally billions of dollars worth or revenue going back into that country because the taxes are LOW. Why can't Congress collectively get a clue? Why must we outsource and rely on other countries for goods and consumer products? Because it's cheaper to hire foreigners in foreign lands, that's why! Yet by lowering taxes we could create more jobs for the thousands of good and wise and honest American's out of work. We could pour money into the US treasury and, especially into the American households.

My friends and fellow countrymen, it is far past time to raise a hue and a cry. We MUST become patriots for the American cause or we will one day not have or enjoy the liberties and the freedom our citizen ancestors have for the last two centuries!

Finally, I recently purchased a great book of Ronald Reagan speeches, and I found this treasure in a speech he gave in Arizona years prior to his tenure in the Whitehouse. He said,

"Here is the main battleground! We must reduce the government's supply of money and deny it the right to borrow. ...

"If your Congressman should say we must cut costs first and then reduce taxes—don't stand for it. Remind him that no government in history has ever voluntarily reduced itself in size. Governments will always find a need for the money they get." (A Time for Choosing: The Speeches of Ronald Reagan, 1961-1982 (eds. A.M. Balitzer & G.M. Bonetto; Chicago: Regnery Gateway in cooperation with Americans for the Reagan Agenda, 1983) 35, italics original, 37-38.


P.S. For a good read on politics, terrorism and the future of American economy if we continue to rely on foreign oil, see retired CIA officer Robert Baer's Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude.