If You’re in Trouble Find a Policeman

I’m sixty five years old and recognize the blessing in being able to call my mother on the phone; makes her claim of being 37 going on 38 much harder to believe, just sayin’.  The other day she expressed her gratitude that I’d served as a police officer; but at the same time was relieved I’d retired as each passing day brought headlines of police officers being ambushed and murdered.

If you’ve been keeping up with the news it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to say there’s a War on Cops. 

Remember when children were taught to find a policeman if they got lost or were in trouble?  “Policemen are your friends” and we all nodded as the lessons were presented in 1^st Grade. 

I’ll never forget the first time I met a policeman face to face.  It was the middle of winter and my brother and I had been hiding behind a short row of hedges, giving us cover to throw snowballs at passing cars.  We’d pop up, let ‘em fly and watch as drivers skidded on the slick pavement when the snowballs slammed into them.  It was great fun.

Getting back to my first face to face meeting with a policeman…  We were hunched down listening to the tires crunching snow and waiting for the vehicle to arrive at precisely the right location in relationship to our planned attack.  We popped up, let ‘em fly and at that same moment realized that our intended target was a police car. 

The blood in our legs froze solid as we stood silently, unable to move let alone run.  The policeman stopped, opened the door and quietly walked over to us with a wry smile on his face; we, on the other hand were having trouble breathing.

He placed us in the police car and drove us home, just a couple of blocks.  Most of this part was a blur; but I remember my mother opening the door and talking briefly with the policeman prior to letting my brother and me enter the house.  She did thank him for being understanding and assured him it wouldn’t happen again.  

Hard to believe that one day I’d join the police department and serve for twenty years.  

I remember one night driving up on a bunch of kids who were ‘toilet papering’ a house during football season.  A couple of them ran off into the darkness as soon as they recognized the police car; but others froze in place, much as I had so many years ago.

Interestingly, the house these kids were ‘toilet papering’ belonged to one of their friends; it was something of an honor to have your trees, bushes and house covered with long streams of toilet paper following a big win. 

I explained that it might be a good idea to clean up the mess they’d made, never getting out of the car.  They hadn’t really considered their actions as criminal mischief, at least not until a policeman pointed it out; never mind the healthy grin on my face.

Reading about policemen being ambushed and murdered turns my stomach; officers shot while sitting in their patrol cars or walking up to quell a disturbance as assassins hid behind bushes.  The officers in Dallas were protecting protesters, protesters protesting police when snipers hidden in a multilevel parking garage opened fire.

“Dallas massacre of police: FBI investigating anti-police group that attended Dallas mosque
JULY 8, 2016 10:26 AM BY ROBERT SPENCER
The Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other Islamic supremacist groups have assiduously courted Black Lives Matter, and linked their propaganda efforts against “Islamophobia” to the Black Lives Matter stand against perceived racism. In Dallas last night, we see where this is tending: as Kyle Shideler notes in the March article below, “At the event, MAS leader Khalilah Sabra openly discussed the importance of Muslim support for Black Lives Matter, and urged ‘revolution.’ Comparing the situation in the United States to the Muslim Brotherhood-led Arab Spring revolutions, she asked, ‘We are the community that staged a revolution across the world; if we can do that, why can’t we have that revolution in America?’” And with the mass murder of police in Dallas last night, we’re getting there.” (emphasis added)

These are cold blooded murders, planned in advance using tactical strategy as if it were a military operation; that makes it a War on Cops by an enemy with a long term agenda.

Perhaps one day our children will once again be taught, “If you ever find yourself lost or in trouble, go find a policeman”.  Our country is in trouble as each attack on a police officer is an attack on all of America. 

Pray for our country; more specifically that all police officers make it home after their shift ends.

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

When does Media Spin become a Lie?

There was another ambush of police officers, this time 3 officers were murdered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  Many of the media outlets were quick to point out the ‘alleged’ shooter was an ex-Marine who’d served a tour in Afghanistan. 

This was from Yahoo News; but the headline matched most other media outlets.

“BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – A former Marine dressed in black and carrying extra ammunition ambushed police in Baton Rouge, shooting and killing three law enforcement officers less than two weeks after a black man was fatally shot by police there in a confrontation that sparked nightly protests that reverberated nationwide.”  

There would appear to be no argument the shooter had been a Marine; and as we’ve been warned over and over by the Obama administration, returning military members are considered potential domestic terrorists.

Obama’s Homeland Security isn’t alone in their assessment of returning veterans being threats, unfit to own firearms. 

“Sen Dianne Feinstein (D. Cal.) has long been a fanatic gun control advocate.  Yesterday, she upped the ante by declarating that all military vets, merely because they are vets, are mentally ill. On that ground alone she insists that vets should be denied any exemption to her extremist gun control bill.”

The media must have considered the Baton Rouge shooter’s having been a Marine much more important than his having been linked to Nation of Islam.  Most outlets never even mention it, and if they did it was buried far into the article.

The ‘alleged shooter’, according to the Daily Caller, Gavin Eugene Long, was a ‘former’ member Nation of Islam. 

“Videos on Long’s account show that he was a former Nation of Islam member. He also ranted against “crackers” and made references to Alton Sterling, the black man killed by police in Baton Rouge on July 5.”

You might recall Louis Farrakhan, founder of Nation of Islam, calling for 10,000 volunteers to “Stalk them and kill them”, referring to any White person.  I guess Gavin Eugene Long took Farrakhan up on the offer.  Does that make Farrakhan an accessory to murder?    

Which is more of a threat to society, being a former Marine or being associated with radical Islam?  

Obama refuses to use the term Islamic Terrorist and the lapdog media continues to minimize any link to radical Islam when reporting their version of ‘news’. 

At what point does media spin become a lie? 

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.

I can’t sing the National Anthem

Well, that’s not quite true; I can’t sing the National Anthem without tears dripping down my cheeks and a large knot forming in my throat.  You see, I know some of the story about how this tune came about.

This morning as we closed our church service the closing hymn was The Star Spangled Banner.  I wonder if other denominations have that in their hymn book; I would hope so.

The congregation arose as the choir master stood to lead us, the first notes played by the organist sent a shiver down my spine.  I really did try to sing out, honest; but emotions got the better of me so I let everyone else pay tribute to our nation while I mouthed the words, tears welling up in the corner of my eyes.

I’ve been battling a chest cold and these emotions got my sinuses going full blast.  I didn’t need this; damn it all, now I’m congested again.

As we stood through all three verses my mind imagined the night Francis Scott Key stood watching as Ft. Henry was to be shelled into oblivion by the British Navy.  You see, the British were still miffed for having lost the Revolutionary War and decided to give it another ‘go’ a few years later; historians called it the War of 1812.

The British had given the occupants of Ft. Henry a way out; simply lower your flag and become subjects of British rule.  Their situation was impossible as hundreds of British war ships pounded this insignificant fort all through the night…and yet the flag remained, lighted as it were by the bombs bursting in air.

The British commander was perplexed and couldn’t fathom why they didn’t surrender; there was no way they could win.

Francis Scott Key said he remembered what George Washington had said. He said, “The thing that sets the American Christian apart from all other people in the world is he will die on his feet before he'll live on his knees.”

In the morning, by the dawn’s early light, the flag could still be seen from the deck of the British war ship, tattered and leaning at a peculiar angle it remained standing to everyone’s amazement. 

Apparently each time the flag had been knocked down a brave man would stand it up in spite of the horrendous shelling.  Many died keeping that flag upright and standing and as far as I know their names we never recorded.

I guess some of our youth haven’t been properly taught the importance of our flag and some of what goes into being a citizen of this great nation.

Years ago during a baseball game someone recorded what has been called “the greatest play in baseball”.  It happened on April 25, 1976 when a couple of malcontents jumped onto the ball field in the middle of a game and tried to light an American Flag on fire.  Rick Monday, an outfielder for the Dodgers ran over, grabbed the Flag and saved it to the delight of most everyone watching.

Far too many folks go about disrespecting our country through their hostility when destroying or demeaning the Flag.  Some stomp on it, like home grown terrorist Bill Ayers, good friend and supporter of Barrack Obama.  Others use it like toilet paper while displaying obscenities at the camera.  Heaven help them should I happen by while they disrespect the Flag in my presence. 

I wish I knew the name of even one person who died at Ft. Henry while holding up that Flag, a symbol of never giving up in the face of insurmountable odds.  Perhaps they’ll forgive my not being a better historian; certainly they’ll understand my not being able to sing out this morning.

But I know the words to that familiar tune; yes I know them all too well as my chest swells with pride and my eyes fill with tears.

The Star-Spangled Banner

1. Oh say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,

O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,

Gave proof thru the night that our flag was still there.

Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

2. On the shore, dimly seen thru the mists of the deep,

Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,

What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,

As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,

In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;

’Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh, long may it wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

3. Oh, thus be it ever, when free men shall stand

Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!

Blest with vict’ry and peace, may the heav’n-rescued land

Praise the Pow’r that hath made and preserved us a nation!

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,

And this be our motto: “In God is our trust!”

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

This article has been cross posted to The Moral Liberal, a publication whose banner reads, “Defending The Judeo-Christian Ethic, Limited Government, & The American Constitution”.