End Of Watch: Officer William J. Sprague, Texarkana Police Department, June 15, 2013

I am proud to honor fallen officer William Sprague in my Blog.  Officer Sprague lost his life in the line of duty while responding to a large disturbance in a Texarkana park.  There were believed to be at least one hundred people at the location.  When Officer Sprague arrived, he learned that the person in an SUV parked nearby was possibly involved in, or had caused, the disturbance.  As the officer approached the vehicle, the driver suddenly accelerated away, striking and mortally injuring the officer.

Officer William Sprague died the following day of the critical injuries he received when the suspect ran over him.  The same day, police arrested the suspect, charging him with Officer Sprague's murder.  Officer Sprague served two years with the Texarkana Police, but had been an officer in Arkansas for several years.  He was thirty years old, and is survived by his wife and his young son.

May God comfort this family.  Officer Sprague has joined the Thin Blue Line in heaven.  I am proud to honor him in this blog, and I pray for the safety of our officers as they work to protect us every day.

Just Another Saturday, or Fate Shifts On A Dime

I left work at 12:00 AM.  It was now Sunday morning.  I would go back to work at 4:00 PM.  At least that was my plan.  But plans change.  We make plans, then we change our minds, or we make plans…and God, Fate, Karma, whatever…changes our plans for us.  And those changes are really life-changing, and sometimes eternally permanent.

It was around 10:00 PM this past Saturday when a mature lady and a young girl of about ten or eleven years burst into the Emergency Room where I work.  Both of them were in tears and hysterical.  Fate or Karma, or God, had touched their lives in a tragic way.  The lady’s grandson, the girl’s uncle, had been killed in a traffic accident.  The poor lady knew no other information, and really was not sure that her grandson was indeed dead.  I left my station and walked into the waiting room.  I helped the lady and the young girl to some chairs.  I told the lady that maybe the news was not as bad as she had first been told, after all.  She calmed a little but told me she was nearly certain that her grandson must be dead.  But then she said that her great-grand children had survived the accident and she thought they were being brought to the Midland hospital.

Apparently no one had witnessed the wreck, but the occupants of a passing vehicle saw two small children walking around near the roadway, and no adult was in sight.  The children thought their father must be walking somewhere, as they told the strangers who had stopped to help them.  Unfortunately the father was not walking somewhere.  In fact, he was found several hundred feet from a wrecked vehicle that had obviously ran off the road and rolled over, throwing the driver out.  Somehow the children had been spared, almost unscathed.  I made a couple phone calls and found out that the man had been killed, but the children were in fact on an ambulance and en route to the hospital.  The lady was still shaken and of course grief-stricken, but seemed to be calmed immensely just knowing now for certain that her grandson was dead.

I stayed with this poor lady until the children arrived.  A minister went with her to check on the children, and I returned to my abandoned duty station.  It ran through my mind once again that life is so uncertain, and everything can change in a heartbeat.  We always say to ourselves, and to others as well, that we could die at any time.  But I, for myself anyway, have often thought “yes, I could die any time, but since it is already later on in the day, I will probably be spared at least until tomorrow.”  Once again, Fate changed on a dime, and a man who had spent most of the day with his two children did not live to see the stroke of midnight.

After I clocked out for the night, I had to walk back through the emergency waiting room to exit the hospital.  The lady who had just lost her grandson was again seated in the emergency room, talking with relatives who had by now started to gather at the hospital.  As I walked by, she gave me a hug and told me she was thankful for the kindness I had shown her, and that I had been a source of comfort even while she was facing such a tragic loss.  Though this was a tragedy, I was glad to have been a small part of this woman’s life, exactly when I was needed. 

As I drove away, it occurred to me that there was a chance I might not finish the short drive to my residence.  After all, anything could happen at any time.  Almost as if Fate were confirming my feelings, a car ran the red light at the intersection I was approaching.  If that dear lady had not delayed me a few seconds with her show of affection, I might well have been the next fatality of the night.  When I parked my car, I got out and just looked at the bright full moon and the stars of heaven.  As I drank all that wonder into my soul, I reminded myself to enjoy life, and to let all my loved ones and friends know that I love and care for them.  For FATE truly can change…even before the sun rises on a new day.

 

 

 

Public Outrage Is Like A Breath Of Fresh Air

I have blogged about things like government abuses under USA PATRIOT since 2010.   I am sure there are some who read my blogs and other sources and thought that I was paranoid.  Now, with whistleblower Edward Snowden's revelations of the actual extent of the National Security Agency's (and who knows who else's) domestic spying program, people are finally beginning to understand that we are indeed watched by Big Brother, and and to a greater degree than many first imagined.  While some people are still using the old platitude "I don't care if they spy on me, I have nothing to hide," many people are very angry about being unwittingly spied upon by the Government, and rightly so.

I am pleased to see that not only are the "common people" becoming more and more upset about domestic spy programs, but they are beginning to demand action in curtailing these abuses.  And the mainstream media is being forced to cover NSA activities right on the front page of their newspapers and as lead stories on their televised newscasts.  On the Internet, there are blogs and articles indicating that not only are the "paranoid" concerned about domestic spying, but "regular" people are, as well.  It all reminds me of one of the most asinine statements I have ever seen published in a scholarly work:

The person who believes he is being followed is paranoid, unless of course, he REALLY IS being followed.

This little gem, the creation of some brilliant psychologist, though asinine to the point of laughter, is true, nonetheless.  I, and others who called our Government over-reaching and abusive, have been called paranoid and "conspiracy theorists" for many years.  Now, surprise, it turns out the Government REALLY  IS watching each and every one of us, albeit electronically...I think(?).  The NSA, CIA, FBI, DIA, and whatever other alphabetical agencies are out there, have been and are yet watching you and me.  And we have a whistleblower to prove it.  Ironically, the whistleblower may face federal charges for revealing the true nature and extent of the nation-wide domestic spying program.  The real criminals are calling Mr. Snowden a dangerous person, even a traitor, for what he has done.  Indeed, some are already calling for him to be arrested and tried for treason.  That for his exposure of the Government's TREASONOUS ACTIVITIES.

Since the passage of USA PATRIOT and the other equally odious measures, various government officials and private "privacy experts" have assured us that only "potential terrorists" were being targeted by the various unconstitutional "anti-terrorist:" programs initiated since 9-1-1.  But this latest revelation proves that all Americans who use credit cards, cell-phones and the Internet have been "profiled" and "cataloged" by the NSA and whatever other agencies are mining all this data.  Since the Government has told us they are only interested in monitoring "potential terrorists," it must follow that all the MILLIONS of innocent American citizens being monitored are considered "potential terrorists."

Did you know that one of the things the NSA spy program does is make a "normal profile"of a given person?  That is indeed what happens.  The "profile" consists of all of a particular person's collected data including routine cell phone usage, routine Internet surfing patterns, online purchase data, and credit card usage data.  Cell phone data collected includes the numbers called and the frequency that certain numbers are called.  And, CHANGES in the cell phone usage patterns are recorded as well. Internet surfing patterns are collected, including what sites are visited and how frequently a given site is visited.  Again, changes in a person's Internet usage are of interest, and are automatically flagged by the spying computer program.  A person's fuel purchases are monitored, as well as their travel destinations, as indicated by airline or cruise ship ticket purchases.  These are just a couple of examples.  I am sure we, the public, have no idea of the total extent to which we are monitored.  Any changes in any of the above mentioned categories automatically triggers further investigation into our activities.

Is this what America truly stands for?  Are we truly a nation of people "with nothing to hide so we don't care if we are being spied upon?"  I do not believe so.  I believe the outrage will spread even more when the true extent of US Government snooping comes to light.  And we are not helpless, though we are at a disadvantage.  But we can all take action to curtail this outrageous, illegal, and unconstitutional government activity.  It will be a slow process, for certain, but we can regain our freedom and our privacy.  The most basic thing we can do is keep putting pressure on our representatives to repeal all of the unconstitutional "War On Terror" measures that have been enacted since September, 2001.  We can refuse to vote for any candidate, including the presidential candidates, who will not publicly promise to make it his or her mission to repeal those laws.  In the meantime, I am so proud of the American people as they are finally demonstrating the willingness to stand up and say "We will stand for this NO LONGER!" It is truly a breath of fresh air to me.

Why I DO Care About PRISM

The revelation of the existence of Operation PRISM has caused quite a stir across the nation today, at least with a few people.  PRISM is a program of cooperation between all the Internet giants and the United States government, as represented by a veritable alphabet soup of federal agencies, which pretty much gives these agencies a free rein in mining through private citizens' doings on the Internet.  This information mining will, by the law of averages, eventually yield information and plots posted by terrorists.  In the meantime, it would yield vast amounts of information on you and me as well.  Granted, most of us only post innocuous and trivial information; but is this really the point?

For me, the point is that by law, the United States Constitution specifically, we are to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, and we are to be free to enjoy life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness.  Does the government's total usurpation of the Constitution somehow multiply my enjoyment of life, more liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?  No, nor does the same somehow increase my safety from "terrorists."

There is one more point that I would like to make.  In just the few hours since the PRISM revelations were made, I have seen articles and blogs on the Internet, such as the one below:

http://gizmodo.com/why-i-just-dont-give-a-shit-about-prism-or-any-other-511941519  

Pardon the profanity in the title, it is not my title nor my article.  I posted this article because I am afraid that many people share the sentiments of the writer of this article.  They declare in chorus, like a thousand bleating sheep, "I have done nothing wrong.  I don't care if the government spies on me.  They are protecting me." 

I corresponded briefly with a gentlemen on Facebook who expressed the same sentiment. He has done nothing wrong, he is not a criminal, and therefore, he has no reason to be concerned that the government is "reading my email."  I am not particularly concerned that someone may be reading my email, either, to the extent that I am not writing illegal information or writing about illegal criminal plots.  What I AM concerned about is the Government's candid admission that federal agencies are indeed mining citizens' activities on the Internet for "national security reasons."  Operation PRISM is not just about reading emails, but about collecting all forms of information a person might upload, including pictures, documents, files, search history, and ANYTHING we have placed on the Internet.  Do you realize that the acknowledged cost of PRISM is $20,000,000.  If, as many of the sheeple have pointed out, they are only posting harmless and trivial information, how is this government expense justified?  And it has gone on now for at least seven years.  Surely by now the Government knows who amongst us are dangerous.  If that is the case, than the expense for PRISM should be dropping every year, as the PRISM operatives should by now KNOW on whom to focus.  Yet they are spying on ALL OF US.

Yesterday we celebrated the bravery and the memory of those Americans who took part in the Invasion of Europe in 1946.  These brave soldiers were not on the beach for their health.  No, they were fighting for our liberty, and paying for freedom with their blood.  That is why I am so appalled and disgusted at the numbers of people (sheeple) who are willing to lay down and let this heavy and oppressive government continue forcing us down the road to dictatorship.  They are willing to give up freedom for security.  But they do not have the right to speak for me or for others that love freedom.  These sheeple do not have the right to GIVE our rights away, when our men and women, from the Revolution to the Second Iraq War, have laid down their lives for our freedom.  I propose that people who want to be totally protected by the government pick a dictatorship somewhere, perhaps Iran or North Korea, and legally immigrate to one of those nations.  But if you stay in America, remember you cannot give away what is not  yours.  Rights were granted by the Creator to all of us.  If having rights is too much of a responsibility, please leave these United States and proceed directly to the nearest dictatorship.  Just don't try to give away my rights - they are INALIENABLE!!