Dave Easterly’s Bravo Sierra Blog

The ‘War On Terror’ Is Bullshit.

Yeah, you heard me right. It’s complete and utter bravo-sierra. Now, I’ll explain WHY.

Terrorism is a horrible, awful thing. Thousands of people have died needlessly because of it. It needs to be stopped but it will take a long time before that happens. But why is it that the government doesn’t do anything to stop it?

“But… The war… Afghanistan… Iraq… ” some people will say. And _THERE_ is where the bullshit comes in. You see, what the Military Industrial Complex powered war does is create MORE terrorists, fuels MORE radical religious extremism, and gives those who preach and promote anti-American political propoganda disguised as religion even MORE followers. So by fueling these fires, Halliburton, Raytheon, and the rest of the M.I.C. are ensuring _years_ of more war and ever greater profits. This war isn’t against terrorism, it’s against ending the flood of our tax dollars upwards to the well-connected and the powerful.

Do you remember when America was “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave?” It seems now that we becoming more and more the “Land of the Tasered and Home of the Perpetually Terrified.” Are we, the American people, so TRULY so ignorant that most of us don’t see how our freedom – freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, protection from unlawful search and seizure, every man being equal under the law and entitled to due process, habeas corpus, etc. – is being stripped away layer by layer? Are we so afraid of terrorists that rather than do the SMART thing and secure our borders and have a strong DEFENSE here at home, we would rather put young men and women at unnecessary risk by sending them to be EASIER targets for those who would seek to harm Americans? That, to me, is the very definition of cowardice. If you are SO scared that you’d rather “fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here” but you would rather send someone else to do the fighting then I have only one way I can fairly describe you. You are chickenshit.

I say bring every one of our soldiers HOME. Let them be with their families and raise their children. Let them defend and secure our borders. And if someone attacks us on our own soil, you better believe I’ll be heading down to Red’s for as many boxes of ammo as I can afford to fight right besides those valiant men and women in uniform. And I’ll do it as a private citizen who is NOT afraid of terrorists. If you are afraid, then the terrorists have already won your heart and your mind. You are a lost cause. I know this argument will not convert anyone who is already swayed by the fear-mongering of our government to fund the Blackwaters and Carlyle Groups and other war profiteers under the guise of phony patriotism and the “War on Terror” and I don’t care. I have no use for people so easily deceived and cowering in fear. But if you are sick of the fear-mongering, are tired of you tax dollars going to billionaires in return for their campaign contributions, are disgusted at the constant erosion of your liberty to “keep you safe,” and _REALLY_ support our troops then stand up WITHOUT FEAR and join me in declaring the “War on Terror” what it truly is. Bullshit. Bullshit to further the the neocons’ agenda of an authoritarian state with perpetual war and perpetual profits. And IT… MUST… END!

Patriotism is not blindly supporting the government, people. It is telling the truth even if it is unpopular or hard to hear. But the goal of terrorism is to cause terror, and I refuse to give in and be afraid. If this war were truly about ending terrorism we’d have 100,000 troops scouring every cave and spider hole looking for Osama bin Laden rather than policing the streets of Baghdad and Tikrit. If the Bush administration truly “supports our troops” then why are private security mercenaries being paid TEN TIMES more than our soldiers? If the terrorists hate us because of our freedom and prosperity why does the government pursue a path of making us less and less free while bankrupting not only us but future generations? Why do we have a hypocritical government that condones and uses torture and secret prisons while overthrowing “brutal dictatorships” elsewhere in the world?

I am an American Patriot and I defy anyone to question the sincerity of my patriotism. But I am also an ANGRY American because the America we have today is far removed from the America in which I grew up. I love my country, I love freedom and liberty, and I still think there is hope for America to pull itself out of this horrific slide into tyranny. But we have to stop being afraid – afraid of terrorism and afraid of our own government. I reject these fears. They are both tricks to enslave our minds and sap our will and I refuse to be deceived by the greedy and the power hungry forces currently in control of the government.

Are you with me or are you chickenshit?

I wish I could be HALF as smart about history as this guy….

Read this.

Or just continue here….
Continue reading I wish I could be HALF as smart about history as this guy…….

Congressman Mike Simpson! I’m calling you out!

Congressman Simpson has gone and done it yet again – voting on even more legislation to trample the very Constitution he took an oath to uphold and protect. This time it’s HR1955 – a bill so chillingly Orwellian that it offends the senses. Information about this bill can be found at GovTrack. The general sense of this bill is that they want to form a “commission” that searches out “radical” ideologies that “may” eventually in some way advocate violence to “to advance political, religious, or social change.” So if this had been the law in 1776, our Founding Fathers would have been “thought criminals” right out of Orwell’s “1984″ and “homegrown terrorists.” Well, now this unholy piece of legislative excrement is on its way to the Senate since it passed the House. If you give half a damn about freedom and especially freedom of expression on the Internet, then you MUST contact Senators Crapo and WideStance and let them know that S1959 MUST NOT BE PASSED!!! Just so you don’t get tell Crapo and WideStance to vote “No” on the wrong bill, remember that the HOUSE version was HR1955, but the Senate version is S1959. It’s too late for the HR bill, but we can and MUST stop the Senate from passing this unconstitutional abomination.
Write or call Crapo’s office at 202 Falls Avenue, Suite 2, Twin Falls, ID 83301. The Twin Falls phone number is (208) 734-2515. To reach his Washington D.C. office, write to 239 Dirksen Senate Building, Washington, DC 20510 or call (202) 224-6142. Senator WideStance’s office can be reached by writing his local restroom stall…errr, I mean office… at 560 Filer Avenue, Suite A, Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 or calling (208)734-6780. If you want to reach his Washington, D.C. office, you can send mail to US Senator Larry Craig, United States Senate, Washington, DC 20510-1203 or dial (202)224-2752.

I said I was calling out Simpson, so here goes: If you want any chance of EVER redeeming yourself and your place in history you need to be a man about your past misjudgments and admit that voting for The USA Patriot Act, The Military Commissions Act, The Protecting America Act, REAL ID, and all the other bills that have eroded our precious Liberty was WRONG. Next, co-sponsor HR3835. This bill will undo _most_ but not all of your past crimes against Liberty and The Constitution. Can you step up to the plate, Mike Simpson? Or do we need to find a NEW Congressman in 2008 that will vote AGAINST invasive, Big Brother government?

RedState proves its ignorance and irrelevance in reality

I’ve pretty much considered myself a conservative, libertarian (with a small l) Republican my entire adult life. I don’t like what the current incarnation of the Republican party has become because it is neither conservative nor republican. In the blogging world (I detest the word “blogoshpere”) the neocon Republican outlet comparable to the socialist DailyKOS has been Red State. Well, Red State just shot themselves in the political and financial foot by censoring newcomers who learned about RS and joined to support Ron Paul. Ron Paul is the only true conservative in the whole pack or candidates and a supposedly-conservative website has banned discussion of him from newcomers. It is the addition of new members and fresh blood that keeps any site active and alive so the resulting drop in revenue and participants for RS should eventually take its toll on them but they’ll be too busy lobbying for totalitarianism-disguised-as-conservatism to notice. Their loss. I intend to never allow them another ad impression or click ever again. Fortunately not everyone is as closed-minded and neocon-koolaid-brainwashed as the nobodies from RS. Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish, for example:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/10/the-ron-paul-wa.html.

Ron Paul Websites Blocked By So-Called “Smartfilter” Censorware

As most people who are occasional readers of this humble little blog of mine know, I work for a certain computer company who shall remain nameless. Well, their IT department uses censorware that goes by the name of “SmartFilter” to police employees’ internet use. This is something they have every right to do since it is THEIR equipment, their bandwidth, etc.. Yet “SmartFilter” is being used to censor free speech and political expression. In particular, they’re blocking certain Ron Paul websites. Among the victims of “SmartFilter” stupidity:

http://www.dailypaul.com

http://www.ronpaulnation.com

http://www.ronpaullibrary.org

Not blocked are sites like “ElectRomneyIn2008.com,” “RudyRoots.org,” “GrassRootsObama.com” and many others. If this so-called “SmartFilter” is going to block grassroots campaign sites then it needs to categorize them ALL or the same way or stop blocking ANY of them.

After a call to Secure Computing I spoke to a very nice lady named Sandra. She gave me the number to tech support. After a lot of runaround, Craig in Tech Support answered and was also very helpful and professional. He did say that some sites do get incorrectly categorized and that they have a team of folks to help with that. There is a category for politics, a category that most employers probably wouldn’t block. However these sites were all categorized as “Spam Email URLs,” a category I cannot IMAGINE an employer _not_ blocking. I have emailed the list of sites that I have thusfar found that are miscategorized to their people. I have no reason to believe this was malicious censorship yet, and we will see what happens once I get a reply back from the people at Secure Computing.

Why do the media try to marginalize Ron Paul?

Here’s a little 16th century wisdom for you:

It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more
doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage, than the creation of
a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit
by the preservation of the old institutions and merely lukewarm defenders
in those who would gain by the new ones.
– Niccolo Machiavelli, 1513

The more things change, the more they stay the same…

I just learned how to do a real Press Release…

Of course writing it at 1:00 AM was probably not the best idea since I missed an “an” spelled as “in” but hey… it’s my first. Please be gentle…

http://www.free-press-release.com/news/200710/1191223324.html (For release on 10/1/07)

http://www.prleap.com/pr/96330/ (For release on 10/3/07)

Here’s the copy:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Twin Falls Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group

http://ronpaul.meetup.com/927/

Dave Easterly, Organizer
Address: 633 Buchanan Street
Twin Falls, ID 83301
Phone: (208) 320-1211
Email: dave@davideasterly.com

Magic Valley Group Rallies to Raise Awareness of Presidential Candidate Ron Paul

Twin Falls, Idaho – October 1, 2007
Magic Valley residents will be working to raise awareness of Ron Paul, the veteran Republican Congressman from Texas who is seeking the GOP nomination for the 2008 Presidential race. These local Ron Paul supporters, all volunteers who coordinate and organize their activities through the Internet, intend to have a rally to raise name recognition and general awareness for the candidate they feel should represent the GOP in the 2008 election. The group’s organizer, Dave Easterly, who describes himself as a lifelong Republican who is disillusioned with the current direction of politics in America said “Ron Paul supporters are made up of some of the most widely diverse groups of people you’ll ever meet – across all ages and backgrounds. We even see long time Democrats leaving their old party to join us in supporting Dr. Paul’s message of true traditionally conservative values, strong national defense, secure borders, respect for the Constitution, individual liberty, and fiscally responsible government. I don’t see defections from the Democratic party to support Thompson, Romney, or Giuliani. Neither they nor any of the Democratic candidates have the strong and direct message of liberty and responsibility that Dr. Paul has.”

The rally will be held by the Twin Falls Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group on Friday, October 5th, 2007. The group will be meeting at the intersection of Pole Line Road and Blue Lakes Boulevard in Twin Falls, ID at 4:00 PM to hold signs, wave at motorists, and hand out campaign literature to those who are interested in learning more about the Ron Paul campaign. The supporters say that they will be there rain or shine and hope that people will become curious enough about Ron Paul to do their own research and make an informed decision at the polls.

According to the Ron Paul campaign’s official website at http://www.ronpaul2008.com, the campaign raised $1,204,525.74 in just one week in an online fund raising drive — more than double the original goal of raising $500,000.00 by the end of the quarter that ended at midnight Eastern time on September 30, 2007. Ron Paul also attended a campaign rally and fundraisers in Salt Lake City, Utah last month that drew over 1000 specators and supporters including many of the members of the Twin Falls Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group. For additional information interested parties may contact the Twin Falls Ron Paul 2008 Meetup Group through the Internet at http://ronpaul.meetup.com/927/, call the group’s organizer Dave Easterly at (208) 320-1211, or visit the Ron Paul campaign’s official website at http://www.ronpaul2008.com.
# # #