A "Letter from the Trenches" and the Editor's reply:

A letter from the trenches:

I'm listening, and learning, and trying to communicate usefully with people who may not yet "get" what's going on around them. I just can't help hoping that if I try hard enough, I can save my grandchildren from "Big Brother." I've even resorted to sending friendly, reasonable letters to my political representatives who don't seem concerned about "that sort of thing," i.e. our concerns.

And then I wanted to upchuck, so I wrote it out to my local print media - and now, just for laughs, I'm sharing with the NObama crowd.

Here goes -

Hey, I don't get it. All these years I've been trying to take care of myself, and now I'm being declared an "Enemy of the State?"


Lou Dobbs and Co. on DHS "Right Wing Extremist" warnings


Go ahead, call me AstroTurf, fishy, one of the "angry mob!"

"Neener-Neener-Neener!"

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.
Why? Because I am protected by the United States Constitution, right?

Oh, wait, I forgot. That is so then, and this is so now. "Excuuuuuuse ME!"
It's hard for me to quit clinging to my guns and religion after all these years, and I got sort of confused back in the '60's about the "Free Speech" thing.

Okay. I concede. It's obvious that I have become irrelevant.


Regards,
C. Brooks Nielsen


Hey there, C!
Here at The Register headquarters, I've been battling the staff over the question; how DID we get to where we are now?
How did we "lose power?" How did "They" get such control over the Mainstream Media? How did we, in the midst of the greatest economic boom EVER, lose the reins?

Well, "They" are right, at least on one thing, one thing that IS our fault:

"WE BOUGHT THIER BULLSHIT! WE BOUGHT IT ... WE DID, WE DID, WE DID!"

"We" (and yes, once or twice, even me) bought the Marketing that we had to "have it all, and have it now, no matter the cost!" Charge up the cards, forget all reason!

We bought the (Waters, Dodd, Clinton, etc.) line that even "The Poor" should be given a mortgage on a huge house at insanely low interest rate without verifying that they even HAD AN INCOME! And sometimes EVEN a 25% cash bonus OVER THE HOUSE'S PRICE!

We bought the line that the "Environmentalistas" had "Our," i.e. "Everyone's" best interests in heart.
In actuality, the "Our" they were referring to actually was in reference that they are protecting the Planet for themselves, as long as it makes money and power for "Them!"

We sat at home and gobbled up every piece of stinking tripe that The Mainstream Media threw our way, no matter how sad or sordid.
We bought the idea that both husband and wife should HAVE to work, that being "just" a housewife & Mother was somehow a deficiency, a character flaw, or that if you were, you were either a TROPHY WIFE or an unsatisfied, "mentally deficient" retard.

Forget the idea that you actually could be happy growing up in a 1300 square foot home, with Mom & 3 siblings, gleaning the fields surrounding your home, eating beans & rice and gardening for a significant part of your daily food, and not be aware that you were poor, and that your life really sucked ... in the eyes of the "popular wisdom."

WE wanted to believe that "HE who dies with the most toys wins!" We became so convinced of this by TV, magazines and "Celebrities" that we consider people who ONLY have color TV, cable, microwave ovens, refrigerators, 1 car, and local vacations to be "Poor!"

In short, we listened to those who would use us for their own reasons, bought their baloney, ate it, got second jobs and joined Unions with the promise of MORE baloney, and in short, got so stinking selfish and preoccupied with, as the President says of Health Care Reform, "What's in it for them" that we just stopped questioning how long the ride would last ... and began to believe that something was going to come our way for "free," and that the Gov't (paid for) "by the People & for the People" OWED us free ANYTHING!

Yes, C, we bought it all and believed that we could go on and on and on spending everything and spending and spending and borrowing and ... Now they tell us that, having drained our bank accounts for a "mess of pottage," we must accept a future of decline and an abandonment of abundance.

We must be "happy" with the deprivation they will force upon us as punishment for buying all that was pressed upon us.

Along the way, we lost all sense of irony and all discernment. At least, it seems, most of us did.

I know that you and I are exceptions, and hope that others will join us.

If you doubt a person can be truly happy without all of the "bells & whistles" that your neighbors insist upon, lets sit down & talk. I've worked over 40 jobs, married and buried 2 wives that I loved truly and dearly, been abandoned by 2 other women, lived in a VW Bus, run a missionary bus, been homeless, laid off, screwed by 2 Unions, embezzled out of another job, worked for myself for over 20 years, studied to be a priest and left the Church because of ethical challenges ... theirs, not mine ... Have been used and dumped with little fan fair and less thanks by friends I've served and counseled for years ... *Deep breath!*
And still wake each morning at age 51 to change diapers for clients children, wipe runny noses, make lunch for "picky eaters," and teach parents how to turn their kids and even themselves into happy, well adjusted and satisfied people. I have a loyal, fine and loving woman who accepts me as I am, and doesn't let me make excuses, and I for her the same.

I even get to go out, pick up rocks and send them to persons in far away lands who even appreciate my efforts and make me feel happy ... And I thank God for my life, every day.

And I own no home, car, bank account or life savings. I hope to die penniless, with a happy heart, a smile and as many friends as I can make everywhere I go.

What we are seeing is that "Freedom" is expensive and fleeting. What we've found out is that Liberty & Freedom are NEVER cheap. We must always be willing to speak up, make our friends uncomfortable, lose a job, shed our blood, open our mouths, and be generally discomforted and discomfited to EARN FREEDOM.

FREEDOM is NEVER FREE!

And the first weapon that "They" will use against us is the notion that there is some value in caring what people who will lie about us think about us.
The Truth is, their appraisal of us means nothing, since they will simply make up things to say about us, and do anything to attempt to discredit us. They will do, strangely enough, the exact things that they accuse us of doing.

Imagine that.

From the Department of Homeland Security's assessment of earlier this year to the White House's attempt to frighten us into silence, we know that the opposition will use as "broad a brush" as possible to attempt to discredit us. No matter, we can only trot out the Truth, and present it as loudly as possible. When we do, the Hypocrites, Enviro and otherwise, scatter like rats.

And, most importantly, it is OUR Truth, and OUR appraisal of Us that means EVERYTHING.

And, with that appraisal, we must keep our hard won discernment, our sense of irony & Truth, and above all other things, our sense of humor.

Even Benjamin Franklin knew that.

Be Well, My Friend!
Kris
"Those who cite "popular wisdom" generally lack any wisdom at all." - Me
" ... and at what cost, popularity?" - Y'shua the Nazarene