I reckon I know this man.

     His name is Edgar Govan.   I went to school with Edgar at Manteo Elementary, Junior High, and High School.  We played football on the same team.  He is accused of killing a man named Steven Stewart, Jr., whom I do not think I ever knew.

     Back then Manteo was a quiet, little town--the kind (like Wanchese, its' closest neighbor, where I spent a good portion of my youth) where everyone knew everyone else.  Which is the long was of saying that I reckon if I had to say anything about him, it would be this: if he is anything like the boy I knew, the man he killed was shot in the back.

I hope this wasn't some kind of wannabe "Fight Club."

     The first thing you learn about knife fighting is that knife fights end up one of three ways:

     1. You kill the other person.
     2. the other person kills you.
     3. You both kill each other.

     The last one is apparently what happened at North Topsail Beach this week.  Maybe if these guys had known the rules, they would still be here.

And you thought video games were bad.

     I have seen trouble caused by soccer before, but this takes the cake!  Please, everyone, if you know someone who is playing soccer, or thinking about playing it, or if you see one of those soccer moms with the magnetic sticker shaped like the ball on the back of her minivan, intervene now and help stamp out this imported menace before it can infect any more of our people.  Keep your children indoors, as any kind of physical activity can be a gateway to soccer.   Ideally you should have your whole family seated in front of a game console 24 hours a day--playing Call of Duty or one of the Skyrims...or even...yes, if you must...even Dance Dance Revolution--whatever games it will take to keep your loved ones inside and thus safely away from the perils of athletic activity.  Otherwise, they might end up drawn and quartered, too.

A little more in regard to my last post.

     Last post I talked about the deliberate betrayal of our nation's security and those that defend it.   I would like to put exactly what those that defend our nation are sworn to do.  This is the oath that all active duty and reserve U. S. military personnel willingly swear in order to serve and defend our nation:

     I, (NAME), do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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.

     Anyone reading this blog should know that once you make this vow, you are never released from it.  Please think about that a bit.  (The vow differs slightly for military officers and the National Guard--if you are interested, the specifics are here.)  Once a citizen has served in the military, they can never be a civilian again; they are forever after a veteran, and, as such, still obligated to keep the vow they made.

     In the interests of fairness and pointing out stupidity everywhere I can find it, I would like to show another betrayal.  This editorial in the Washington Times does it quite succinctly.  I recommend everyone read it to see exactly what the White House did to Seal Team 6 by making the covert action team that took down Osama bin Laden international celebrities (and thus easily acquirable targets).  It doesn't matter if it was done with good intentions, some kind of overabundance of enthusiasm, stupidity, or malice aforethought.  Just like Edward Snowden and Bradley Manning, the current administration has betrayed We, The People (and royally screwed Team 6--I feel for those guys and their families, bigtime). 

     I personally think that their intrusions into my privacy by recording all of my (and everyone else's on the planet) communications, whether they be by phone/email/text/instant message/whatever, to be a little overkill, but if it catches terrorists or prevents even one more attack on our soil, I guess some good will have come of it.  I can see that it will remain a permanent part of our intelligence gathering assets, whether We, The People, like it or not--it is too cool in that "new toy" way that guarantees it will never be discarded.  And, because it is managed by mere mortals, it will be abused.  Your privacy shrinks day by day.  Everywhere you go you end up in front of some kind of camera.  This often helps solve crimes, which is good, but wouldn't you all rather live in a society that didn't need all this self-surveillance in the first place?  You would think it would be enough to make even the most avid voyeur lose their taste for it.  They (and by this I mean our and every other government on this planet) never will, though.   We spy on everyone else while every other nation does the same.  Why this ridiculous 'round robin' game is necessary is obvious--once the players get in the game they are all afraid to quit.

     And yes, I will state the obvious.  Just like you, I can't help but wonder: where will it escalate to from here?

This one's about the latest leak in our intelligence sieve. Sort of.

     Okay, the NSA is all over the news because they have been listening to people's phone calls.  Actually, they have been doing alot more than that, ever since the agency was founded (in 1952, if memory serves).  The NSA is tasked with providing security for the United States by listening to every piece of communications there is on the planet.  They are not chartered to operate domestically, which is what a good part of the media panic is all about...but the handshake deal they have with all of the major communications providers has been going on for a long time.  Most of them cuddled up to the NSA as soon as they were asked--decades ago--without any kind of court order.  Please note that the NSA does not have a fleet of silent black helicopters or a highly trained cadre of assassins at their beck and call.  They are eavesdroppers taken to the highest degree.  Typically they just have a bank of supercomputers monitoring all the chatter, looking for certain buzzwords like jihad or bomb.  Some of these get brought to human eyes for further examination.  Most get discarded.  A rare few save lives.

     Now, I don't like the idea of any of my phone calls or texts or emails being read by anyone but the person or persons I intended them for any more than the next person.  The harsh truth of the matter is that, unless your browsing with Tor and using Hushmail with the settings tooled all the way up, your communications are not private.  Your phone company keeps this data, as does your email provider.  They data mine every scrap of information they can get and sell it for a huge profit.

     (* I'm pinning this asterisk here because privacy is something I would like to devote an entire post to later.)

     To my readers, please not that I have not written this post in order to condemn or condone the NSA, any other intelligence gathering agency or tool, the White House, the current or any past administration, or the government in general.  I would just like to point out a few things.

     First, if you are reading this, it is very unlikely that anyone in a position like Edward Snowden (the source of the recent leak of what I heretofore thought was common knowledge regarding the NSA) is going to be listening to any of your phone calls or reading your texts unless you are some kind of terrorist.  Second, the United Staes is not the only government that does this--every government on the planet does, or tries to--ours is just one of the best at it.  Third, Mr. Snowden has taken refuge in China.  I would dearly love to know what he is telling the Chinese in exchange for that amnesty, and what his bank balances are--though to be perfectly honest most of the traitors in the espionage history of our nation committed their crimes through some kind of misplaced idealism, rather than for money--though they usually took money as well.  What Mr. Snowden did was no different that what PFC Bradley Manning did.  They both broke oaths that they took to defend you and me and our friends and families--and our Constitution--from our enemies, and then helped those same enemies with their actions.

     Reasons, moralization, or civic outrage notwithstanding, these men are criminals.

     To be more specific: traitors.

I hope they have cheese in prison.

     After hearing what this cheese loving lady did I just had to make a short post about it.  I mean, I like cheese, but I'm not willing to kill for it.  She apparently is, although I'm not sure her choice of poisons would have proved lethal to her family members.  I also don't think her new cellmate will be any more willing to share their cheese, either.

     I just want to add that I am going to the Blade Show next week.  It is the world's largest knife show, held annually in Atlanta.  I just learned how to properly insert a link with this post.  I will make the effort to learn how to post pictures for the one about Blade.  Also, we have a holiday coming up.  I might do a Memorial Day post.  I might not.

     I expect that it will be determined by how much Jack Danial's I have had (or not had) to drink that day.

This one is about Caylee's Law.

     I read in the news this morning that "Caylee's Law" is headed to our Governor's desk.  I am certain that Mr. McCrory will approve it.  It passed with a unanimous vote in the state house yesterday (Tuesday, 7MAY2013).  I'd like to talk for a second about the law.

     "Caylee's Law" is named for the slain daughter of an Orlando, Florida resident named Casey Anthony.  If none of my readers are familiar with this topic, go Google it real quick, I will wait right here.  Up to speed now?   Great, back to the law.  It makes not reporting your child missing after they have been gone 24 hours a crime.  It also makes not reporting a child in danger a crime, though that is only a misdemeanor offense (and not a felony) apparently.  The law increases the penalty for people who knowingly make false reports about such crimes, too.  Lastly, it makes it illegal to not report the death of a child.

     No wonder it passed unanimously, right?

     I'm sure everyone who is reading this, particularly those who were media-bombed daily (regarding this tragedy and Casey Anthony's train wreck of a life) during her trial, are glad to hear these tidings.  In  fact, I'm sure just about everyone is thrilled that this law was finally passed.  It says we are a just nation with our hearts and minds focused on our children.  Our politicians can rest well tonight knowing that they did a great job, creating some much-needed legislation.  At least, everyone I have spoken to thinks that.

     Well, I don't.

     I think what it really says about us as a nation isn't fit to be spoken out loud, much less written down.  What kind of nation have we become, what does it say about us as a people, when we have to make laws that twist our own arms in order to get crimes against our children--particularly abductions and murders--reported?

     This is not the America of my youth.  I know and accept that.  Everything changes over time.  This change, however, I do most emphatically not accept.  It is so terrible and tragic a failure that I will not deride it with my usual sarcasm or ranting.  Instead, I will just put it into words today's desensitized and media-addicted internet culture can understand:

     Epic fail.

     On all of us.