Blackwater @ MindSay 
My parents were here over the weekend. We went to the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge along Maryland's eastern shore. My dad found out about this place somehow and was really excited about going. I wasn't as excited, but once we got there, and I got the camera out, my views about being there changed. The place provided some really cool (and unique) photographic opportunities. Here are some black and whites I got. Both birds are blue herons. I may post some more in color later. I got pics of bald eagles, red-winged blackbirds, geese, and a couple species of duck as well, but none turned out as well as the herons.
Also, I got some decent shots at a local state park on Monday and a couple decent shots out in the snow yesterday, so there will be more pictures on the way.
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BLACKWATER OPERATIONS A SECRET. THIS IS PROTOCOL.
Below is an article of a tragic incident that occurred in Iraq in September. Blackwater units are known to do whatever it takes to win and overcome the enemy elements in Iraq. Only the people present will ever really know why and what happened here. The testimonies from the two Iraqi police in this article I would question .. considering we have had some problems with them, like credibility. I myself will not judge this incident as to who screwed up ... Blackwater units and the public there know roadblock procedures ... so what happened?
Read the story and find out what some people say happened.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Haythem could only recognize his oldest boy from his tall and slim physique as well as what was left of his shoes. His son's head had been blown away, his body charred beyond recognition. His wife of more than 20 years was torn apart.
"Only part of her neck and jaw remained," Haythem told CNN. The rest of her was covered by a body bag.
Choking back tears, he said, "Killing them was not enough, blowing up their skulls, they burned them and disfigured them."
"Money will not compensate us for what we have lost, even if it were piles of it," Haythem said. "No one can put a price on the lives of those killed."
Haythem, 46, a doctor who specializes in blood diseases, spoke from his temporary home in an upscale Baghdad neighborhood where he is living with his mother and two remaining children -- daughter Maryam, 18, and son Haidar, 17.
While he spoke, his mother sat in a corner of the room, moaning and sobbing, rocking back and forth on a couch. She wore all black.
All Haythem and the family know about the final moments of their loved ones is what two Iraqi police officers who witnessed the shootings have told them -- that Ahmed was shot as he was driving his car in Nusoor Square and his mother clutched him tight as he was bleeding.
"Those who witnessed the incident say that my son's head was scattered and my wife held him and hugged him," Haythem said. "She was screaming, 'My son, my son! Help me! Help me!' "
The car slowly rolled forward until Blackwater guards unleashed more shots that turned the vehicle into a fireball, according to the witnesses.
"They understood the call for help. They sprayed her with bullets," he said.
I am not defending the Blackwater Guards here in this story, but if I was placed in a no-win war zone where anybody can be a suicide bomber, terrorist, people who plant IEDs, or hate my guts to begin with ... I'm likely to do some things that liberals and the world may question .... but at least my odds of staying alive is going to be a lot better. You decide for yourself ... I wasn't there.Jim's Police and Military Page
Jim Heitmeyer and Editorial Staff
Thomas Jefferson was not happy with a single American revolution. In fact, with regards to people's freedom over their own government, Jefferson said, "God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion." He was not talking about a revolution of ideas, a gradual growth of ideas, or even Mao Tse Tung's "permanent revolution." Jefferson was talking about a violent overthrow of a government by its own people every two decades. The argument was that no government should exist long enough to calcify its powers and threaten the very people it claims to represent. He wrote many times about the importance of an individuals right to protect himself, and protect his family, from his own government. This thinking is at the heart of the second amendment. It's not about having a ready militia. It's not about having a trained army. It's about the rights of the individual to protect himself from the government which overreaches its authority.
A few days ago, I heard of a private corporation called Blackwater. They have been contracted by our Department of Homeland Security, and ordered to forcibly evict anyone left in New Orleans. They have been given authority to use lethal force, and openly display M-16's. This means that, if you managed to survive the hurricane, if you managed to scrape together enough water and food to keep your family alive, if you managed to hold off looters with the threat of using your firearms against them, the US government will still require you to turn your land over to the anarchy of the street, and they will shoot you if they cannot otherwise convince you. Once again, we see the inexcusable argument that a man can be killed to prevent killings. In this situation, your right to bear arms has been removed without proclamation, without fanfare, without even a second thought.
Hey, remember when eminent domain (the government asserting control over an individual's home) was a long drawn out court process? Ah, those were the days. Now a private organization can just drive down the street , pulling people out of their homes, and shooting those that resist. Well, the government may not have mobilized in time to help with the disaster, but they sure are there for the rights abuse and crowd control.
So here we have a situation where the government has told people to get out of their homes. Some people said no, so mercenaries were deployed to remove them from their homes, and the government stated that "only law enforcment officials" will be allowed to carry guns. I can't think of a better analogy to our own revolution than this.
To continue with Jefferson, "And what country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon, and pacify them. The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."