A Late "Thank You" To Our Veterans and a Remembrance Of Those Patriots Who Gave Their Lives

Veteran's Day has come and gone...but our Fighters continue their service to this nation.  As this past weekend stretched into the "Monday Holiday" the sacrifices of our brave men and women were always in my thoughts.  Sometimes obvious, sometimes thoughts just out of focus, but I remembered their sacrifices.  Not personally, of course, because I have never been present at any combat engagement, but still I thought about what it must have been like, the horrors of war, the camaraderie built and shared by those brave men and women, and terrible losses they shared when their friends were killed or maimed, or even when they themselves were wounded.

Unfortunately war has been a necessary evil in this human world of ours.  For instance, our great, though lately floundering, nation was borne out of the blood shed by our ancestors who sought freedom from Great Britain.  For all the negative things that could have been said about the United States that arose out of the ashes of the War For Independence, it was the new America, and the sacrifices of American veterans, that made victory possible in both World War I and World War II.  Americans have fought and died for their nation since 1776.  Today we find our nation involved in a different kind of war, one in which the foe is nameless and faceless, yet the sacrifices made by the men and women of our armed forces are just as great, and just as sacred.  Whether or not we agree with the politics of this new warfare, we cannot help but be proud of our soldiers, to support them, to cry for them and with them, and to thank them for their service to this nation.

One of the first times in my life that I can recall being cognizant of the great sacrifice made by our veterans was the time I read the following poem.  I believe this poem was assigned reading in one of my high school English classes.  I can recall to this very day how at first I did not want to read this short poem, how boring I thought the assignment was.  But I have to say that in the more than thirty years since I first read this poem, its words are just as haunting, just as poignant now as in those three decades past.

Here is the poem:

In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army


In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

RIP all you brave men.

This very short poem says so much in just a few lines.  Colonel McCrae wrote this poem after having served over a year in Flanders fields.  Unfortunately, the spark of inspiration that caused him to pen these now most famous words was the death of his fellow soldier and former student, Alexis Helmer.  The Germans at this time unleashed a terrible weapon on the Allied soldiers at Flanders, a chemical called mustard gas.  Thousands of soldiers, including Helmer, were killed or severely injured by this and other chemical weapons employed by the Germans.  Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, as you can see from his biographical information above, did himself not survive World War I.  Colonel McCrae succumbed to asthma and pneumonia while still in the fields of battle, his illness no doubt brought on by his fatigue and weariness at seeing all the death and destruction wrought by "the War to End All Wars."

At the time that McCrae wrote this poem, there were few Americans, if any, serving in Europe, because the United States had not officially entered the war.  But British and French forces were made up, not only of those nations' fighting men, but of men from throughout the British and French Empires.  The haunting yet beautiful part, aside from the poem itself, is that poppies bloom every year among the thousands of crosses that mark the final resting place of these brave soldiers.  It is almost as if the very ground where these men died is seeking to comfort them and look over their rest.

Veterans Day of course is meant to honor our soldiers who fought and survived the several wars our nation has seen since the American Revolution, yet it is almost impossible to remember and to honor our living veterans without thinking of those who fought and died.  But I nonetheless am proud to honor our veterans in my blog, to thank them, and to remember that because of these people, and all who served in our armed forces over the years, Americans are a free people.  I am proud to says that I owe my life and my freedom to these, our veterans, for without these people and their service to our nation, I would not have the freedom that I share with all Americans today.  Without the sacrifice and service of our veterans, I would not be free to write these simple and inadequate words of thanks on a forum that potentially can be seen nation-wide. 

God Bless America, and God Bless our Veterans.   Thank you, Veterans, for your unselfish service to our great nation. 







 

The last few weeks have been quite interesting as we have observed an ever-growing course of (gasp!) Democrats joining in the masses of those crying out in anger and outrage as more and more negative and disastrous aspects of Obamacare are realized.  Many people who first fawned over Mr. Obama and who could not re-elect him fast enough, who were gung ho in their support for this President NO MATTER HOW ILLEGAL AND OUTRAGEOUS were his policies, have now found themselves facing huge premium increases and insurance deductibles, while losing many benefits afforded by their "pre-Obamacare"  insurance, and have now raised their voices in protest and dismay.  Indeed, in all the clamor one can no longer differentiate become Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, Communist, or any other label, as one loud clamor spreads across the nation.  Many of the most dogmatic Obamistas are now faced with the truth: Obamacare is a disaster, and for many people, "affordable" insurance has been plucked right out of their hands by the very man they put in that most high office to bring his brand of "Hope and Change" to this nation.

Obamacare was not the brain-child of Obama, but was in fact instigated years earlier by his Congressional predecessors, including Newt Gingrich.  Obama's minions later inserted their own ideas, presumably with the overall idea of creating "affordable" health care, and trying to use "the Government" to solve the "problem" of "the uninsured."  As we all (should) have learned by now, a solution primarily offered by "the Government" usually worsens the "problem."  Even good-intentioned programs have normally proved to produce the opposite effect of that envisioned by "the Government."  Examples, you ask?  Sure...

First, Social Security.  A GREAT idea, but UNSUSTAINABLE.  People have to provide for themselves, and not ALL people are smart enough to do so.  It is much more effective to have a personal retirement program than to depend on Social Security.  An obvious concept, but no amount of legislation can get stupid people to provide for themselves.  So, "the Government" then stepped in (unconstitutionally, in my opinion) and FORCED people to contribute to Social Security, thus denying this amount of money that a person could have used in his own pension program.  This confiscated money (remember, a GOVERNMENT HAS NO MONEY, but CAN TAKE ITS CITIZENS' MONEY) was then redistributed by the government to "those less fortunate."  I do not have time to debate whether people who do not work should be "provided for" in this short blog.  My point is that Social Security was doomed from the start, because as time went on, there proved to be more money going out to retired persons than was coming in from those paying taxes.  AND, of course, Congress had exempted itself from paying Social Security.  Hmmm....maybe they knew from the start that the system would eventually by unsustainable.

Second, the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act.  Some may say this "Act" was thrust upon us with "good intention."  Again, I do not have time to debate that issue in this blog.  Regardless, this most sinister law, which was supposed to "unite and strengthen" America by providing "law enforcement" the necessary tools with which to fight or prevent terrorism in the United States, has proven, like Social Security, to do the exact opposite.  This tyrannical law has neither UNITED this nation nor STRENGTHENED it against terrorism.  Since its passage in 2001, USA PATRIOT has divided the nation, causing otherwise honest and law-abiding citizens to be wary, not of terrorists, but of the terror of falling victim to over-zealous "law enforcement" agencies that are now authorized to act contrary to the United States Constitution by uttering those three words "related to terrorism."   At the same name, most American feel no safer than they did prior to 9/11, but feel a great deal more inconvenience and frustration when trying to use the airlines and other means of public mass transportation.  And, most outrageous, "the Government's" own records show that USA PATRIOT has been used by law enforcement, in most cases, on non-terrorist, "routine" criminals and on persons who are members of such terrorist groups as religious organizations, government dissension, and anyone who publicly stands in support of the United States Constitution. 

Now we see that many members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, are calling for the "revamping and reformation of the entire American espionage system."  I have to warn you, my friends, that when the likes of Senator Harry Reid or Dianne Feinstein call for "the review of the entire National Security Agency (NSA) spy program, you should not expect less espionage, both foreign and domestic.  Instead you should feel the noose tightening, as civil liberties, already well-eroded by USA PATRIOT, take another BIG HIT by any anti-spying bill authored or supported by Senator Feinstein.  If the NSA is using clandestine and illegal means to carry out its operations, why would a visit from Feinstein or anyone else force the NSA to change its methods?  In truth, if the likes of Reid or Feinstein are demanding that "national spy laws" be reformed, I think we should understand that to mean that the current laws are not STRONG ENOUGH!  Any "reform" that does not weaken the current pervasive and illegal domestic spy network nor call for the various illegal and unconstitutional laws to be rescinded will in fact only further strengthen those laws.  Yes, I am sure that any reformation of USA PATRIOT or the National Defense Authorization Act will in the end result in more government oppression.   

 






 

End of Watch: Chief Steven Fleming, Gainesville PD, and TSA Screening Officer Gerardo Hernandez, LAX

About a week ago Chief Steven Fleming fell off a ladder while working in the evidence room at the Gainesville Police Department. The Chief fought for his life for several days, but eventually lost the battle on November 1st.  While his death did not occur in a way commonly associated with peace officer deaths, he died in the performance of his duties, nonetheless.  I join hundreds of other Texans in offering my condolences to his family and to the officers serving under him.  Chief Fleming leaves behind a wife and daughter.  May the Good Shepherd comfort them as only he can.

In something I have never done before, I honor the memory of Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Screening Officer Gerardo Hernandez.  My own feelings about this agency's mission aside, I join millions of other Americans who are shocked and saddened that an unarmed officer (and indeed most people know that TSA Screening Officers are not armed) was so coldly targeted by the murderer, then shot again several times as he lay wounded at his post.  The gunman is seen on video about to leave the fallen officer's vicinity, but upon seeing that the officer was still moving, turns around and calmly fires more rounds into the officer's body.  Officer Hernandez is the only TSA screening officer to be killed in the line of duty in the entire history of the agency's existence.  The shooter clearly came to LAX with sole intention of killing TSA screening officers, and it was only by chance that one TSA officer died, as several others were hit before the shooter himself was shot by police officers.  I send my deepest sympathy to Mrs. Hernandez and her children, and to Officer Hernandez's fellow workers.

Life "Post-Scare," or, The Purposeful Procrastinator

This may come as a shock to many of my readers (maybe not to ONE or TWO of them) but I am somewhat of a procrastinator:

Hi, my name is Jim Silver, and I am a procrastinator....

It is true, my friends, I do occasionally put aside for next week what could have been done LAST week.  In this spirit, I have to admit that I procrastinated in writing what could have been my last blog until I had run out of the time and the technology to do so.  But, as it happened, I passed my medical tests and will live at least long enough to get another one finished.

Procrastination is a congenital disorder that defies the strongest medications known to medical science.  It has the ability to "out doctor" Dr. Phil, Joyce Brothers, Napoleon Hill, and even Mr. Rogers, all combined and giving it their best effort.  I myself have been a helpless victim of this disease for....well, for....okay, I will calculate how long as soon as I get the chance.

Anyway, I am happy that I completed the stress test yesterday.  The results of the stress test told the good Dr. Miller two things.  One, there was nothing medically wrong with my heart.  Two, I am a year older and further out of shape than I was last year.  You see, I just kept putting off starting an exercise program. Nay, let me tell the truth here.  What I meant was I just kept putting off the SECOND DAY of each of my physical fitness programs that I started this year.  Sorry, Lori!

I have learned a couple of things.  First, don't procrastinate in writing your last blog until you get to the hospital.  Second, don't depend on the hospital's "free Wi-Fi" in a pinch!  Procrastination not withstanding, I am happy to be here this 17th day of October, in the year of Our Lord 2013, to write another blog.  I am also happy to be here this 17th day of October, etc., for the simple reason that the alternative is NOT to be here at all!

Having been given at least a little longer to dwell on this earthly plane (although none of us really know how long we have!) I have given myself certain challenges, then supplied deadlines with the challenges.  I want to meet these goals by the deadlines I have set.  Procrastination is indeed a difficult birth defect to overcome, but this is what I have set out to do.  Yes, I know I just said that none of us really know how much time we have left.  In my case, I hope to reach my goals, but if my time should run out first, I hope to be fully in the process of attaining those goals at my final curtain call.

I had obtained several "motivational" books many months ago, but (of course) I never found time to read these books.  My life is so busy, you know.  But I did open one of the books, the shortest one I think.  Scanning the book I came across a chapter about "purposeful procrastination."  I could not believe it!  A whole chapter written to ME!  Purposeful procrastination was right up my alley, I thought.  Not really.  I mean, it was for me, but it was not the easy button I thought I had found.

Purposeful procrastination means to procrastinate alright, but to procrastinate on doing those thing that a person DOES NOT NEED TO DO.  This would be watching TV beyond moderation, playing too many games of golf each week, standing by the water cooler instead of occupying your office, etc.  These are things that people LIKE TO DO, but they do not NEED TO DO, at least not when more important things need to be done.

What a challenge!  I can think of a hundred things I would like to do, while staring at five or ten things I NEED TO DO.  Guess which ones usually get done first.  But with purposeful procrastination, I can fulfill my brain's need for procrastination while completing what needs to be done, or working toward goals that I really want to accomplish.

So far all I have is a list of a few things that I want to accomplish, and a working timetable to do so.  Having boasted about all this in my blog, the test will be to see how far along I am on my way by this time next year.  But that is not the only gauge.  I will test myself to see how far along I am next month, next week, and yes, even tomorrow.  I know a certain person must have fainted at this point.  Still the test is not in what I write, but what I DO.  So here goes..............


















 

A Federal Agent and A Bull: A (Mostly) True Story My Uncle Told Me

I love going "back home" to visit with the old folks.  You just never know when you will hear a bit of unknown local history, or sometimes just a good laugh.  For example, just the other day I heard this from my uncle. It could be a true story, and I think it is, or a least part of it.  After all, why would Uncle Rodger make up something like this?

An old farmer was hard at work one morning when he noticed a man trespassing on his property.  The farmer went to the man and told him to leave, because he had not given the stranger permission to enter his farm.

The stranger, full of bluster and arrogance, sneered at the farmer and pulled out an official looking ID card.  "This badge," the man said, GIVES me the right to go anywhere I want.  You can't stop me."

The old farmer examined the ID card, then grudgingly conceded that he could not stop the stranger, who worked for the USDA. On the back of the ID card were these ominous words:  Whoever shall interfere with the holder of this card while in the performance of his duties will be guilty of a felony.

The federal agent then told the farmer, "You just stay out of my way while I inspect your farm.  This is official Government business."

The agent then walked away.  Instead of inspecting the barns and shed nearby, the agent opened a gate and walked into a beautiful pasture.  There were a few head of cattle grazing in the distance, and the agent began walking toward them.  About this time, the old farmer remembered that his mean bull had just been turned out into the same pasture just the day before.  He started to warn the arrogant agent, but then thought it would be a waste of time.  If the bull was anywhere nearby, the agent would find out soon enough.

Sure enough, just as the federal agent got about halfway about across the field, a large Bramer (Texanese for Brahman) bull appeared, stamped the ground a couple of times, then proceeded to attack the hapless agent.  The farmer, already a little miffed at the agent, could not help but enjoy this pleasant turn of events.

As the man ran across the field, dodging and twisting this way and that to avoid the bull, hollering for help all the while, the old farmer could not resist.  "Hey Stranger," the farmer shouted.  "The bull thinks you are a trespasser.  Just show him your card!"

"What?!" The agent shouted back as he ran around a small mesquite tree.

"Just show him your government ID Card and tell him you have the right to be here.  Maybe he will let you be!"

After offering this helpful advice, the old farmer chuckled and went back to his chores.


This was an entertaining story and I tend to believe it is mostly true.  I mean, Uncle Rodger has told me (mostly) the truth all my life.  And that ain't no bull!

A Fallen Officer: Deputy Billy Kennedy, Upton County Sheriff's Office

A peace officer's job carries the same risks whether that officer works in a big city or a rural county.  This was proven once again on Friday, October 2, 2013 in the small town of McCamey here in West Texas.

On that particular night Deputy Billy Kennedy, Upton County Sheriff's Office (Rankin, TX), responded to a disturbance at a convenience store in McCamey.  At some point the suspect produced a weapon and began firing.  The officer returned fire.  As many as eleven shots were fired by both men.  The officer was hit first but returned fire and wounded the suspect.  A short time later Deputy Kennedy died of his wounds.  The suspect survived and is hospitalized as of this writing.

Deputy Kennedy was a 14-year veteran.  He left behind his widow and two sons.  I have heard many people over the years talk about the safety of "policing" in a small town, where everyone is friendly, everyone knows you, etc.  But officers, of whatever size jurisdiction, know this sentiment is not borne out by reality.  Often, criminals are emboldened in small towns and on lonely country roads because they know that the peace officer they confront may be miles away from the nearest aid.  Criminals that are "passing through" a small town may believe that if only one officer stands between them and freedom, they have nothing to lose by killing that one officer and making good their escape.

Recently, in another small town not far from Midland, a young deputy, a lifelong resident of his hometown, was shot and killed by another longtime resident of the same town.  That particular resident was also a lifelong crook, and finally decided to take the ultimate step.  So a police officer faces life or death in the performance of his duties, no matter the size or location of his jurisdiction.

I offer my praise to Deputy Kennedy and my thanks for his service, to which he paid the highest loyalty - his own life, in exchange for the safety of the people in his county.  For his family, I pray the comfort that only the Good Shepherd can offer them, both in the form of friends and relatives, and in the form of that mysterious loving care that surrounds those who have lost loved ones and offers solace when no one else can help.

And I pray for the safety of the officers that must go on with their duties even in the shadow of the death of their fallen colleague.

Rest in Peace, Deputy Kennedy...your watch is over now.

One Of Midland's Heroes

It is my pleasure to honor a local fireman in my blog today.  This firefighter's action, along with help from two truck drivers, saved a man's life, and probably prevented a multi-fatality accident as well.

Captain Bryan Chatwell, Midland Fire Department, received the Medal of Valor earlier this month at that fire department's employee banquet.  The Medal of Valor is the fire department's second highest honor, and is presented to a firefighter who risks his life to protect or save another.

In July, Captain Chatwell, while off-duty, was driving on a highway in the Midland area when he noticed that the pickup travelling in front of him was being driven erratically, sometimes straddling the lane markers.  Captain Chatwell carefully passed the vehicle but was still concerned about it.  As he watched the pickup in his rear view mirror, Captain Chatwell saw the vehicle drive into the oncoming traffic lanes then stop.  Captain Chatwell drove back to where the vehicle was stopped.

As Captain Chatwell walked over to the driver's window, he recognized the driver.  Chatwell had treated the man for diabetic complications on a previous occasion.  The pickup's engine was still running but the doors were locked.  The man drove slowly away at this time, with Captain Chatwell running along side trying to get the man to stop. 

At this point, two tractor-trailer rigs were approaching the pickup, which was driving on the wrong side of the highway.  The operators of the big rigs took in the situation immediately.  They positioned their trucks so that the pickup had to stop.  Captain Chatwell obtained a hammer from one of the drivers and knocked out the driver's window of the pickup.  He was able to turn off the pickup's engine.  The firefighter then provided first aid to the man until an ambulance arrived.  Not only was the pickup driver saved, but in all probability a major accident was avoided as well.

So I salute Captain Bryan Chatwell for his bravery and quick-thinking that saved at least one life.  Also a big thank you to the two anonymous (to me anyway) truck drivers who stepped up when they were needed, and assisted Captain Chatwell.