October 7, 2017

Blessed

I was involved in two conversations yesterday, and both of them (at different times) were with persons of age 24-26. Both of these kids were working people, as well as college students; the distinct difference in them being that one of them was using the GI Bill from his service in the Marine Corps, and the other was having her college paid 100% (through and up to a completion of a Master's Degree!)

These two both say they enjoy talking to me, because "that old guy knows some shit!" I laughed really hard when this was repeated to me by another co-worker, because A) I am old, and B) I've got a lot of mileage that gave me some knowledge and a little more wisdom than some folks...
The conversations that these two young people and I have had cover a broad range of topics, but two particular ones struck a chord on the neck of my mental guitar.
The first was the first kid (the Marine) saying that he never heard of such a thing as a black and white TV, and couldn't imagine a TV without a DVR, let alone a remote. I gave him a friendly speech on how different times were just 30 years ago. Before I was 15, we had a black and white TV in the living room with 3-4 channels. It is extremely coincidental that my brother posted a photo of one this morning on Face-book with a comment that said "I was the remote."
When I was 16, I had a black and white TV in my bedroom for playing games on my Atari 2600. You couldn't get much more cool than that.
The second conversation was with the young woman who is going to college to obtain a Master's in Nutrition and Dietetics (again; 100% paid). She was complaining that her parents and grandparents take so much of her time...always wanting to see her, talk to her, and take her to dinner.
I commented that when I was five, my grandparents had all passed, and my Dad too. I told her that I'd have given anything to have them in my life when I was older, and to have had my Dad when times were tough in the growing up experience. I told her she was blessed to have all of these folks still in her life, and to enjoy them while she can, because they won't be around for ever.
It makes me wonder what our parents, aunt and uncles, and definitely our grandparents, must have thought when we whined about things we were blessed to have in our younger years.

Wake up...

When morality and brotherly love fails in a society, there is nothing left but the opposites, which are perversion and hate. When perversion of a decent society trumps all else, there is nothing to stop children from becoming the subjects of their nightmares. We as a society are waking up to see that very thing become reality in our own time. So when you wonder why children of today are disobedient, maybe you should look at the fact that Smart-Phones and X-Boxes are raising your children in your stead.

When a society begins to believe that an unarmed populace is unconditionally safe because the government they elected will protect them, they are doomed to the same fate as many societies that preceded them.
When a society of people believes that choosing one evil over the other is making the right decision, they are doomed to do so time after time. There is no such thing as a politician in Washington, DC being fit to be the President of the United States anymore.
Why?
Because we have accepted what I talked about in the first paragraph of this paper.
We've accepted lying, cheating, and stealing...as long as there is an apology afterwards.
We've accepted stories that are absolutely myth, regarded as truth; that will be recorded and taught as history to our grandchildren.

Wake up.

Your destiny belongs to you, and no one else.

-Jim Culp, 2017

 

 

 

10/2/2017

 

My most sincere condolences go out to the families of the victims of the Las Vegas shooting. I hope they can all deal with their losses and that their dead rest in peace always.

I keep hearing people say that “these shootings are getting more and more common,” and “they create mass hysteria.”

Yes, they are and do. But these shootings are part of a plan, and that plan is to declare a state of martial law, and disarm the public. These shootings, just like all of these bombings; are nothing but tools created to take away your freedom, and bring the United States, Mexico, and Canada under a centralized government where only police officers and soldiers will possess firearms, and only the extremely wealthy of our populace will enjoy the rights of the Constitution.

Will that happen tomorrow, or in 2050? I don’t know. But it will happen.

I’ve said all that to say this.

When it does happen, don’t come to me and say you weren’t warned, because I am warning you right now.

 -Jim Culp, 2017

 

 

 

Stand...or Don't

September 21, 2017

 "Stand...or Don't"

It's a really hot day in Northeast Kansas today. It's not quite Autumn yet; that will come tomorrow for us. For us Pagans, it will start the season of Mabon, where the year will begin to die and culminate in that cycle in late December.

But it feels like Summer; it's 89 F degrees, and 62% humidity, making it a miserable heat index of roughly 98, using my powerful third grade math.

I've read several articles this week, and listened to the President of the United States address the United Nations Assembly; a speech that sounded way too much like a campaign speech or a State of the Union address. It was powerful, nonetheless, and I am sure that Kim Jong-un is already plotting the destruction of his model airplanes, and deciding whether to nuke Guam or Japan first.

Now, you heard all of that, right? I hit on religion, weather, the POTUS, and a world leader all in one lump sum. You know how? The First Amendment...that's how. It guarantees me the right to say what I will, speak my mind, and tell you in this blog that Hillary Clinton is a liar, Mitch McConnell should have retired a long time ago, and that my taxes in Kansas are just way too damned high.

I can do all of this without fear of arrest, detainment, or prosecution as long as I do it peacefully. I can't yell these things out on my front porch, and when someone disagrees from across the street, send a bullet flying across the way intended for their shiny little head...that's illegal.

You also have those rights; the ones that the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the United States gave you, including the one to sit down or kneel when the National Anthem is being played at a football game or some other sporting event, and the one to peacefully protest the cop that was acquitted after he shot a kid with a something he thought was a gun, only to find out it wasn't.

However, I ask one thing as a Patriot. I ask you to study, learn, and ponder what you are actually exercising your First Amendment rights for. Are you shaming the memory of fallen soldiers in our nation's bloodiest wars by not standing when they are honored? Because that is what the National Anthem is played for. It is played to remind you that you are at a football game as a free citizen, and not at a food line waiting for a scrap of bread in a concentration camp. Our society has history at their fingertips...literally; every day, via smart phones. I would like just one or two of them to use it to open an encyclopedia and read about World War II or the American War for Independence. Maybe, just maybe, they'd start giving one third of a fuck what they aren't standing for.

 

Join me anytime at http//: jimculp.blogspot.com

 

 

 

September 11, 2017

 

"Patriots and Diligence"

 {This is a partial, but not exact...excerpt of my upcoming autobiography: "To Three Hells and Back" that I will try with all my earnest efforts to publish by December of this year....}

 Sixteen years ago, I was a US Government Employee, as well as a member of the US Army Reserve, in the role of a Chief Movement Control Supervisor.

I worked for the US Government at an Army Reserve equipment storage facility, and attended training and duty periods in Manhattan, Kansas at a local USAR facility.
On September 11, 2001, I was washing a big truck that is designed for one purpose, to haul the M1A1 Abrams Main Battle Tank. It has a tractor with four massive axles, and a trailer with 40 wheels across five axle lines. Needless to say, if that beast is dirty, it takes a while to wash it.
My partner came rolling up in our team pickup truck to tell me that "some planes just crashed into some buildings," and that we were supposed to go to the office and report to the supervisor. Less than a few hours later, Threat Condition Delta had been ordered across military bases all over the USA, as well as the world. That Threat Condition means that things are locked down, and armed guards are placed at any security checkpoint, and things take on a different status for an un-foretold amount of time.
I wondered what my wife was thinking, and how things would go from then on.
One year and roughly six months later, my team and I were heading to Iraq, and assist in movement control of the invasion and occupation of that vast piece of what was once ancient Mesopotamia. My team of sixteen men; officers, NCOS, and troops, would spend the next two years of our lives in Mobilization, Deployment, Occupation, Re-Deployment, and Reintegration. Our lives, or at least, my life, would never be the same.
I was a new man, and my eyes had been opened.
September 11th of 2001 was a tragic event. We must never forget the lives that were lost. I swear that as a diligent man of my word.
The events of September 11, 2001 were also grossly mis-portrayed to the citizens of the United States of America, and need to be confessed, told factually, and made public record to the same. I swear that I will attempt to make that come to pass as a Patriot of this great nation. I recall the oath I took so many years ago, in a MEPS center in El Paso, Texas, when I was the ripe old age of 18 years.

"I, James Matthew Culp, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

I took that oath very seriously then, and as a retired Senior Non-Commissioned Officer, hold to it now. I will tell the truth. The citizens of the USA deserve to know it.

 

 

September 8th, 2017

 

"Legislation and Immigrants"

 

-By Jim Culp

 

I've read recently that there is a growing debate about DACA, the reversal of DACA, and the accusations by parties on subjects surrounding DACA.

I'm not going to get into the history or the explanations of this program; that is for you, the reader and citizen, to study and understand yourself.

I've been accused of being a "fence rider," and a guy that isn't for "either side." Both are right. I don't conform to social constructs that try and label me. I am a free man that seeks the truth, and a veteran that knows full well what can happen when freedom is lost.

Instead, I'm just posting my thirteen opinions, and you can agree or disagree with them as you please.

I'm available by all these channels:

Facebook:  Just "friend request" me.

Twitter:  Jim Culp@gmjim13

My Blog:  http://jimculp.blogspot.com/

 

1.         DACA was written for people to be able to stay here in the USA and work. It wasn't a "commie plot" or an attempt to get more of "them damn foreigners" living here.

2.         The accusation that President Obama's Executive Order creating DACA was an "abuse of that power" is both ludicrous and as unfounded as it is untrue.

Presidents use Executive Orders to push agendas through. Some are good, some are bad. They ALL DO IT, and in the case of the last three presidents; profusely.

 

Bill Clinton               364

George W. Bush       291

Barack Obama          276

Donald Trump         45

 

3.         The accusation that DACA recipients commit more crimes than persons that already have citizenship is both unfounded and false.

4.         DACA is not the product of some conspiracy, it is the action of a leader that saw a specific need and acted accordingly.

5.         Adding to number 4, don't blame the people who participated in DACA, blame your Congress that can't come to a decision about anything without taking a year to do it. Elect new Congressmen.

6.         Don't blame a mother for wanting to protect her child, or a person for wanting a better life. If you are reading this, you are an immigrant unless you are a First Generation Native American.

7.         Let me be clear (if not obverse) for my last five points. I have heard all the arguments, and I respect anyone's opinion as long as it is made with clear statement and with respect for the person they are addressing.

8.         Absolutely no one should get free college, unless we all get free college.

9.         Absolutely no one should get free health care, unless we all get free health care.

10.       About having babies: You can have one, or you can have twelve. But how ever many you have, you need to have a plan of how to support them. The American taxpayer is not responsible for feeding or educating your babies.

11.       We continue to dodge the fact that our Congress that lives in a financial and social bubble has no idea what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck. Get rid of ALL of them, and start over.

12.       There are millions of people that cannot begin to understand what it is like to return to your home after a war, flood, or tornado and see a flat piece of earth where that structure once stood. It is a sad fact, and detriment to our society; that most of them never will.

13.       You can rant and rave that Trump is going to save the day. Maybe he will.

But that doesn't change that our system is broken. So I say to you, my fellow citizens; that until it is fixed, there won't be any real union as a nation.

 

September 4, 2017

"The Hand of Vigilance"

By Jim Culp

 

I was recently roped into a conversation about the subject of vigilantism, because a woman (who I won't name) had suffered the loss of her daughter through rape culminating in murder, and had, in turn, murdered the perpetrator by her own hand.

The question posed to me was, "should she be cleared of all charges, and set free?"

I didn't answer, because I directed the questioner to this article, wherein I want to explain my positions on this highly critical subject.

The world, let alone this nation, grows increasingly more and more lawless everyday. There are more brutal beatings, more savage rapes and murders, and more car and purse jackings per day than you can count.

I spent my early childhood in West Texas, and then was raised to early adulthood in Southwest New Mexico. I witnesses criminal activity many time, mostly on a low scale. When I was only 12, the conflict in Vietnam was winding to a close, and thousands of men that had just left a brutal war in a far away jungle were roaming the streets, clueless of how to rejoin society. The Black Panthers, the Ku Klux Klan, and hundreds of other hate groups were the item of the day. I used to hear the old folks say on a daily basis: "take 'em out and shoot 'em!" They were referring to persons of every age, creed, color, and sex that had committed crimes, both small and heinous, and had not been punished, or in many cases, not even arrested. The same thing goes on today, 40 years later.

Our society is slightly different, but there are still thousands of crimes committed on a daily basis, and no one is held accountable for them.
People commit crimes that are, in most our eyes, punishable by death; some are less heinous and not at that level, and we accept the lesser sentence of life imprisonment or some tally of many years as a punishment.
There are many times in my life that I have been one of these persons that watch the evening news, and sees someone acquitted of a crime that they were well known to have committed, but the evidence just isn't there. OJ Simpson comes to mind. Then there are crimes so violent that a family seeks to take out vigilante style justice, as the woman did in the story that I started this article with, and thousands of people cheer it on, and say that justice is served.
But as I have grown up; I have realized, more than ever, that the sixth amendment to the US Constitution is more important than ever, and a guardian of light that we just don't want to see disappear from our laws.
The Amendment, first proposed in 1789, was ratified in 1791 as Amendment VI.

It reads so:

"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense."

 This means that any person accused of a crime has the right to be tried. Now, it's easy for anyone to "jump that gun" and say "but we know he's guilty!!"

That always sounds great, unless you are the one that is being accused.
My grandfather WB Bristow (Birdie) was a soldier for some of his life, and a range cowboy and loving father for the rest of it. He lived in a rugged part of West Texas where "old justice" was carried out many times.
He told my mother a story of a woman that was raped in the little town of Sierra Blanca, Texas in 1928. The woman was raped, and then beaten to "insure her silence."
The rapist, a transient, was long gone hours after the rape. A drunken man in a saloon, who was annoying a group of wives at a dance, was named the rapist by a group of cowboys that didn't care for him in the first place.
He was apprehended by a "posse" with no official purpose, and after a severe beating in a barn; he was hung by the rafters until dead.
It was forgiven and forgotten, and a year later, the actual rapist confessed his crime to a priest in Van Horn, Texas. Grandpa told Mom that although no one really cared for the "old boy", he had died for a crime he never committed.
That story rings true with me today.
Do we need a quicker judicial system? Yes.
Should we sentence more people to death for heinous crimes? I say absolutely yes.
Is our system broken in many areas? Most assuredly, yes.
But I caution anyone that entertains the notion that the Sixth Amendment gets tossed out with last week's meatloaf. We are a nation of laws, and if we are not going to abide by those laws, we are no better than the posse that hung the drunken cowboy by mistake.