My Son Sailor of the Year !

MILLINGTON, Tenn. -- Some Sailors are destined for greatness. If you were to ask the headquarters staff of Commander, Navy Recruiting Command (CNRC) to name an example, many would point you to Interior Communications Electrician 1st Class (SW/AW) William Barker, CNRC’s Sailor of the Year.
“I’m still trying to figure out why I won this award,” said Barker. “I think a lot of it has to do with my success at such a junior level. I came to this command as a junior E5 not knowing really what to expect. I got some good mentorship and talked to everyone I could for guidance on what I need to do to succeed and put on 1st class.”
The guidance certainly helped this hard charging Sailor. Barker put on a third chevron soon after arriving at CNRC. “When I put on 1st class I was ready. It felt comfortable.”
Even before that, Barker’s ability and leadership were apparent. As an IC2, he won Junior Sailor of the Quarter (JSOQ) for CNRC and also for the entire
Command’s
Gabriel Owens, Navy Recruiting Command Public Affairs
different areas, needing their voice mail set up,” said Barker. “I manage and audit all the telecommunication calls around the command and I pay the phone bills. But the main thing is customer service.”
This hard work is just one of the reasons Barker found himself in front of SOQ and SOY boards time and time again. But it doesn’t rattle him. “I never get nervous for the boards, I get excited,” he said. “I grew up in choir and band and such, so I’m used to being in front of people. Confidence is important. Step back and listen and learn so you can better tell them what they’re looking for. Keep your packages strong, have your chain of command constantly looking at them, and stay heavily involved.”
In addition, Barker has several collateral duties both in the command and around NSA Mid-South. But to Barker, it’s not the quantity of collaterals, it’s the effort you put into them.
“It’s not about having a ton of collateral duties,” he said. “It’s what you do with the ones you have. Too many people have the idea that a key to success is being involved in every collateral duty they can get their hands on. I think oftentimes you end up not doing a whole lot with those duties other than having them as a bullet on an eval.
“You need to really work your collateral duties and make a difference in them,” said Barker. “I’m on the command training team and we’re very proactive in making sure the training gets done. I’m also a member of the American heritage diversity team for the base.”
He is equally proactive in his role as a mentor. “You can say ‘oh, I’m so and so’s mentor, but if you don’t do anything with that Sailor it’s a meaningless title. You have to get involved with that Sailor’s career and really help them build success.”
He cites the mentorship he received from around the command as helping him to achieve his goals. “I can think of several people who helped me, like Electronics Technician Senior Chief(SS) Rodney Mackey, Hospital Corpsman Chief Ginger Roganti and Ret. HMC(AW/FMF) Monica) Bairos. These people are among my ‘unofficial’ mentors.
“If I thought of everyone here who’s helped me I’d be up all night,” said Barker. “The trick is taking notes from everybody and learning. Not just from khakis but from your fellow blue shirts.”
Mentors like Mackey are quick to praise Barker. “I nicknamed him ‘Action Jackson,’ because ever since I met him, he’s been a go-getter,” said Mackey. “You ask him to do something and he gets it done, he makes it happen. I’m not surprised he’s the Sailor of
of the Year!
See SOY, pg. 17
Left: IC1(SW/AW) William Barker troubleshoots a phone line at Commander, Navy Recruiting Command (CNRC) Headquarters in Millington, Tenn. Above: Barker checks his trouble call log for action items.
12
SUFFOLK, Va. – At approximately 4:30 pm April 28, Navy Recruiting Station Suffolk in Suffolk, Va. was destroyed by a tornado. The station was in the Freedom Plaza Mall, which was also destroyed. There were no injuries reported of the three recruiters assigned to the station.
Boatswain’s Mate First Class (EXW/SW) Joe Cantu and Culinary Specialist First Class (SW) Malcolm Gardner, recruiters assigned to the station, were in the building during the tornado and sought shelter under desks as the tornado hit. Both were not injured.
After the tornado hit, Cantu, Gardner and Gunner’s Mate First Class (SW) Paul Denton, the third recruiter assigned to the station, assisted emergency officials with evacuating other victims from the wreckage in the Plaza, as well as from the Sentara Obici Hospital, which was nearby the recruiting station. All three Sailors assisted with the recovery efforts and also helped search nearby homes for other victims.
The recruiters were not aware of the tornado
before it hit.
“It rained off and on all morning, there were clouds overhead, but we didn’t know there was a tornado
Navy Sailors
the Year, or millennium, which they haven’t invented yet but I just did,” laughed Mackey.
“He’s that good. He’s an outstanding Sailor. You’d never know he has a wife and five kids with the way he works,” said Mackey. “You’d think the guy’s single. They need to excuse the requirement for service time and just go ahead and put khakis on him.”
Barker’s department head, Kevin Sullivan, feels the same way. “IC1 Barker’s total commitment to mission success and unselfish dedication to his shipmates are what sets him apart. His broad job scope and professional responsibilities far exceed that of most Sailors in his rank, yet his performance across-the-board has been consistently outstanding. He serves as a mentor to junior personnel and a trusted advisor to senior leadership.
“IC1 Barker always appeals to the ‘greater good’ of the team,” said Sullivan. “He readily subordinates his personal desires, recognitions, and accolades to that of the overall unit. There are no limits to his potential in the senior enlisted or officer ranks.”
But it isn’t just senior leadership Barker learns from. “I work together with several other junior E6s and we help each other out in our careers,” said Barker. “You learn from everybody. My ‘mentee’ is (Yeoman Third Class David) Norman, I learn from him. It’s not just a one-way mentorship.”
His unselfishness is obvious. “Now that I’ve made my mark, I’m stepping back and letting other people in my shop become more visible,” Barker said. “2008 is not about me, it’s now about bringing up the people I work with to a similar level and letting them shine. I’m not greedy. I don’t keep secrets.”
His large family keeps him busy when he’s not at work. His wife Danielle recently gave birth to their second set of twin boys in addition to another son.
“While she was pregnant, I had to step up household duties as well as balancing it with work,” he said. “It’s hectic. I wake up in the morning, get all the kids up, dressed and fed, get Ethan (the oldest son) on the bus. Then I go to work. Come home for lunch, put the twins down for a nap. Come home from work, wash, rinse, repeat.
“I contribute a lot of my success to Danielle,” said Barker. “She’s a former Sailor herself and we met in the Navy. She knows what Navy life is about, and that helps a lot. A lot of what I do I couldn’t have done without her.”
Despite all of his work and household duties, the former choir and band member still loves to be involved in the community. “I sing the national anthem for a slew of events around town. I’m also member of the Parent-Teacher Association at Ethan’s school and help kids at the school after hours with reading.”
This leaves little time for personal hobbies, but when the occasional down time presents itself, Barker loves playing video games and board games with his wife.
Overall, Barker is extremely pleased in his decision to come to CNRC after two sea tours. “I’m glad I could come here and see this side of the Navy. I hope I made everyone at HQ proud,” he said. “This is the first time in a long time HQ won SOY for CNRC. We do important work, and I think a lot of the NRDs don’t get a chance to see that. It’s not just me that won, it’s all of us.”
Perhaps CNRC’s Force Master Chief (SW/AW) Christopher Penton sums up Barker the best. “IC1 is the BEST Sailor I’ve run into in 27 years in the Navy. And I’ve been the Command Master Chief on many different platforms and many different commands, but this guy is the future of what the Navy is going to be.”
“Outstanding as an E5, outstanding as an E6,” said Penton. “If we had an assembly line where we could clone IC1, I’d happily set it up because he’s the kind of Sailor the Navy needs. He’s one of those guys who energizes me. Every once in a while in a long career, you come across someone who reminds you why you serve ... it’s working

Vets

Vets against the Actions
and Attack of Iraq...

Iraq Veterans against the War


by Viesta Morrison

When it comes to man creating wars, or young people joining the military right out of high school, I am the first to state, war has no place in the world of today, freedom is the first victim of any war or war mongering and young people who joined the service hopefully read every clause, pause and just because of the contract they made with the US Military. It states clearly, at anytime during your service with the military, you may be asked to go aboard during wartime or war mongering. In other words, when a young man or woman signs on the dotted line to join the Military of the good ole US of A, they own your ass, lock, stock and barrel. It is not a fool’s paradise, so be prepared young person, wherever and whoever you may be! ! ! ! !

The US-led war against Iraq did not begin in March 2003, as many Americans believe. In fact the US and Britain had been waging an undeclared war against Iraq for twelve years, ever since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.( Although to this day I stand by the term Gulf Slaughter!) The aim has been the destruction of Iraqi society enabling the US to gain control of Iraq's huge oil reserves.

As a result of economic sanctions against Iraq, the prevention of the delivery of much-needed medical and other supplies because of US vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, and the carcinogenic effects of depleted uranium left over from the 1991 Gulf Slaughter, over a million people (two-thirds of them children) have died (this figure is over and above the death rate which would have been expected without sanctions). This policy by the US has been in reality genocidal and no amount of hypocritical moral posturing on the part of George W. Bush can disguise this.

Within hours of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed over 3000 people, the Bush administration was blaming Osama bin Laden and his alleged Al-Qaeda network, and declaring a so-called war on terrorism Immediately the Pentagon put into effect its already-prepared plans for massive bombing raids against Afghanistan (with the purpose of furthering American plans for an oil pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan).

At that time no suggestion was made that Iraq was in any way connected with the September 11th attacks. But in September 2002 a US government and US media disinformation campaign was launched to persuade the American people that it was really Iraq which was behind these attacks.

The propaganda campaign to make people believe that Saddam Hussein was behind the September 11th attacks was so successful that in mid-2003 the believers had grown to 70%. But in September 2003 George W. Bush admitted that there was no evidence linking Saddam to 9/11 in a televised newscast. So the attack on Iraq changed names, to sway the American populace, we started calling it Freedom Iraq, showing how much we cared about the people of Iraq, forcing our so called freedoms and brave democracy down their throats. A Democracy I might add these people never enlisted in the first place, but forge ahead, we did!

In the weeks leading up to the attack on Iraq George W. Bush was to be seen almost nightly on television earnestly declaring in his brain-dead zombie-like emotionless cartoon-Western-sheriff manner that Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction" which it was sure either to use directly against the US (a ridiculous suggestion) or to give to "terrorists" to produce more September 11ths on US soil

And everyday that we become closer to seeing GW out of office, out of our hair and out of the White House, we see clearly how wrong the attack on Iraq was. We see with eyes wide open how wrong our being there has been all along. People wake up everyday to new facts, slapping their heads with the knowledge that we should have never forced ourselves in the country of Iraq, destroying a country, a people and yes, even their way of life.

I use to think I stood alone with the disgust of my country, the helplessness I felt over how wrong our being in Iraq was, the underlying threat we have become to ourselves and the world. A world of people that do not trust the USA, the government that has led us thus far and a general dislike by so many countries from around the world. At one time the US had many allies, today those same allies look on at us in dismay as we continue our occupation in Iraq. An occupation that is wrong in not just the eyes of the everyday man that lives in America, but even by the eyes of people who have been sent over there to fight a war, only to return, knowing, stating, feeling and hitting the streets in demonstrations saying our being in Iraq serves no purpose! Why are we still there? This very question is even now being asked by our own men and women who are returning to the USA from active duty in Iraq.

Each of the these young people have a story to tell, an action they saw and a military command they executed, even if they thought it wrong or right, they did so, for the honor to their country. Their country being the USA- America, a country they believe in and would lay down their lives to defend. But even as I write this, these mere words can not capture what some of our own brave young people have seen, so in writing this, I am going to ask each and every one of you reading to please click onto the site

http://ivaw.org/node/3564 Read the stories of men and women who have served in Iraq, read their own words, feel their calamity and then write to me in telling me once again how I am a trader to my country of America and how wrong I have been for 8 years. Tell these young people if you dare or if you can, that they betrayed their country by using their voice to express the truth as to what they saw while in Iraq. I mean really, who better to understand or believe than the very soldiers sent to Iraq in the first place! ! !

{The world should astonish me, but instead it just seasons me to another day of breathing, living and loving, this I know I do well & and I do it with zest} VPM

http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/16/iraq-veterans-against-the-war-winter-soldier-2008/



I am Viesta and America is running out of time and truths! ! !

Iraq Vets against the Actions and Attack of Iraq...

Iraq Veterans against the War
When it comes to man creating wars, or young people joining the military right out of high school, I am the first to state, war has no place in the world of today, freedom is the first victim of any war or war mongering and young people who joined the service hopefully read every clause, pause and just because of the contract they made with the US Military. It states clearly, at anytime during your service with the military, you may be asked to go aboard during wartime or war actions. In other words, when a young man or woman signs on the dotted line to join the Military of the good ole US of A, they own your ass, lock, stock and barrel. It is not a fool’s paradise, so be prepared young person, wherever and whoever you may be! ! ! ! !

The US-led war against Iraq did not begin in March 2003, as many Americans believe. In fact the US and Britain had been waging an undeclared war against Iraq for twelve years, ever since the end of the Gulf War in 1991.( Although to this day I stand by the term Gulf Slaughter!) The aim has been the destruction of Iraqi society enabling the US to gain control of Iraq's huge oil reserves. As a result of economic sanctions against Iraq, the prevention of the delivery of much-needed medical and other supplies because of US vetoes in the U.N. Security Council, and the carcinogenic effects of depleted uranium left over from the 1991 Gulf Slaughter, over a million people (two-thirds of them children) have died (this figure is over and above the death rate which would have been expected without sanctions). This policy by the US has been in reality genocidal and no amount of hypocritical moral posturing on the part of George W. Bush can disguise this.

Within hours of the attacks of September 11th, 2001, on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed over 3000 people, the Bush administration was blaming Osama bin Laden and his alleged Al-Qaeda network, and declaring a so-called war on terrorism Immediately the Pentagon put into effect its already-prepared plans for massive bombing raids against Afghanistan (with the purpose of furthering American plans for an oil pipeline from Turkmenistan to Pakistan).
At that time no suggestion was made that Iraq was in any way connected with the September 11th attacks. But in September 2002 a US government and US media disinformation campaign was launched to persuade the American people that it was really Iraq which was behind these attacks.
The propaganda campaign to make people believe that Saddam Hussein was behind the September 11th attacks was so successful that in mid-2003 the believers had grown to 70%. But in September 2003 George W. Bush admitted that there was no evidence linking Saddam to 9/11 in a televised newscast. So the attack on Iraq changed names, to sway the American populace, we started calling it Freedom Iraq, showing how much we cared about the people of Iraq, forcing our so called freedoms and brave democracy down their throats. A Democracy I might add these people never enlisted in the first place, but forge ahead, we did!
In the weeks leading up to the attack on Iraq George W. Bush was to be seen almost nightly on television earnestly declaring in his brain-dead zombie-like emotionless cartoon-Western-sheriff manner that Iraq possessed "weapons of mass destruction" which it was sure either to use directly against the US (a ridiculous suggestion) or to give to "terrorists" to produce more September 11ths on US soil.

And everyday that we become closer to seeing GW out of office, out of our hair and out of the White House, we see clearly how wrong the attack on Iraq was. We see with eyes wide open how wrong our being there has been all along. People wake up everyday to new facts, slapping their heads with the knowledge that we should have never forced ourselves in the country of Iraq, destroying a country, a people and yes, even their way of life.
I use to think I stood alone with the disgust of my country, the helplessness I felt over how wrong our being in Iraq was, the underlying threat we have become to ourselves and the world. A world of people that do not trust the USA, the government that has led us thus far and a general dislike by so many countries from around the world. At one time the US had many allies, today those same allies look on at us in dismay as we continue our occupation in Iraq. An occupation that is wrong in not just the eyes of the everyday man that lives in America, but even by the eyes of people who have been sent over there to fight a war, only to return, knowing, stating, feeling and hitting the streets in demonstrations saying our being in Iraq serves no purpose! Why are we still there? This very question is even now being asked by our own men and women who are returning to the USA from active duty in Iraq.
Each of the these young people have a story to tell, an action they saw and a military command they executed, even if they thought it wrong or right, they did so, for the honor to their country. Their country being the USA- America, a country they believe in and would lay down their lives to defend. But even as I write this, these mere words can not capture what some of our own brave young people have seen, so in writing this, I am going to ask each and every one of you reading to please click onto the site
http://ivaw.org/node/3564 Read the stories of men and women who have served in Iraq, read their own words, feel their calamity and then write to me in telling me once again how I am a trader to my country of America and how wrong I have been for 8 years. Tell these young people if you dare or if you can, that they betrayed their country by using their voice to express the truth as to what they saw while in Iraq. I mean really, who better to understand or believe than the very soldiers sent to Iraq in the first place! ! !
{The world should astonish me, but instead it just seasons me to another day of breathing, living and loving, this I know I do well & and I do it with zest} VPM

http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/03/16/iraq-veterans-against-the-war-winter-soldier-2008/

I am Viesta and America is running out of time and truths! ! !

Good Bye GW!

“No More Ring Around The Moronic Bush”

Good Bye Bush..... The Words Just Roll Off My Tongue, See Ya GW!!!

Will I miss you? Not in the least, not even a tiny bit, not one iota. Will I be one of the people celebrating your leaving? Oh hell yeah, with jubilee. You blurred the vision of the American people GW, here’s hoping we can regain our sight and insight to the future ahead.

As the summer months start off here in good ole Canada, I as an American have one consistent revenant thought that hangs with me like a sunny day with not a cloud in sight. That sunny thought being, Bush is out, gone, finite, done as stick a fork in it already.

After two weeks on the road, staying in a military base in Millington TN, I had the chance to see part of the country that I had never seen before. Though the country side from North Dakota to Tennessee was beautiful, I came across the same story from people I chatted with working in hospitality services along the way. People are barely getting by on the earnings they take home, some moving to other states in order to gain employment and others are not sure what the future holds for them, their families or even their old age. I spoke with one woman who was in her early seventies, our waitress at a place we had stopped to eat. She said she had to keep working just to make ends meet; they were not able to survive on their combined retirement funds. She said she had never seen North Dakota in as bad of shape as it is now. She had lived there her whole life, raised her family there and her son had to move away just to find a job to support his family. I asked her if she knew who she wanted to be voted in for this upcoming term. She nodded her head saying “She was not sure who she wanted to see in office, but felt none of them could have been as bad as GW Bush”
George W. Bush believed in the corn fed crap he fed Americans for the last eight years. Bush’s policies have never resulted in progress towards democracy in Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in the Middle East. He spoke to us in one of his speeches of how the elections under occupation in Iraq were an example of democracy. People in Iraq voted for their religious or tribal leaders. They did not have access to any information about issues or candidates. They now face Shia control and internal competition for power. The chaos continues, the deaths continue, and the insurgency is stronger than ever. (So much for GW’s idea of success.) Democratic elections were held long before George Bush came to office in both Lebanon and among the Palestinians. The Saudi election – which excluded women, was a farce. Democracy cannot be ordered by the White House. Blurring the truth creates an illusion that it can. And that truly is what Bush fed the populace of the American people for eight years, a blurred version of his truth.
GW believed that he alone could determine which nations could possess nuclear weapons, while continuing his arrogant disdain for global cooperation. Bush continued nuclear weapon development in the US, and ignored the possession of similar weapons in countries he needs for his own purposes (such as Pakistan and Israel), or those he will not challenge for fear of confrontation (such as China and North Korea). At the same time, George Bush believed he could work outside the United Nations to disarm nations he arbitrarily accuses of supporting terrorist.
Once George W. Bush is finally out of office, and a full examination is done on his presidency, what do you expect will be discovered?
Here’s hoping, the truth will come out about, the history books will not lead future generations to believing that Bush was some sort of hero, but write him down as the war monger he is and the devastation he and his administration left behind. The truth will come out, proof that the president deceived America, and all the lies of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney Ronald Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice will lay before future generations as the one of the saddest times in our history and with hope for no repeats of the same.
I have not been able to really concentrate on who I want to see as our next American Leader, I have been far too enthralled on the idea that Bush will be out soon.
At this point I don't care if it's a Democrat or Republican or some trained monkey replacing him (which would be an improvement)...I just can't wait until he's out of office.

There will never be a time in US history that will be more historic than when Bush leaves office. May the bells of freedom once again sound across this great nation? May we once again be proud to be Americans? My one wish is for the people who have caused us these troubled times come to know true freedom from Tierney and Oppression. Once again America will have risen from pain and sorrow to become strong once more. May your god, or goddess, bless you, and the American Way in which we truly live -Find Freedom in the rights of all conscious beings.

Judith, A Hero of Sorts!

Judith, A Different Kind of Hero - In a Different Kind of World we live in today!


I want to tell you about a woman I have come to know here in Canada. Her name is Jude, I will leave out her last name. Jude had a real upbeat personality, but she is larger than life when it comes to showing you how grand life is, not that she lives a too grand life, rather she just lives a easy going, outstanding life.

At the core of her existence, Jude has her family. Three boys and one daughter, and this lady could not be more proud her kids. They grew up, according to Jude just turning out to be great people, she acts as though she had very little to do with it. She has 3 sons, all doing separate things, but succeeding well on their way in life and one daughter who is away at University.

Jude goes to work everyday with her husband Scot and heads home with him every night. Let me tell you people, it is not easy for people to always work together, live together and be married all at the same time, but Jude does it and she does it well. Like I mention, she has a lot of heart and soul in her family, they are the biggest part of her life.

Oh Jude like other women has her outside hobbies! One year she was making crystal bracelets, I have to admit they were very lovely, I own several. Then Jude got into selling Mary Kay products, this woman is a damn fine salesperson, I still have samples of bath oil and facial products that I have not used, but I bought them, because Jude could sell oil back to the oil companies, she is real personality.

I admire Jude as a woman, she is politically correct when the rest of us are just running our mouth or not caring about what comes out of our verbiage. Some days when you are talking with Jude, you can tell she is thinking faster than her lips are moving, this woman is always thinking, always working on bettering herself, from some new small diet she heard about, studying a new language, or just getting a few sunrays in the summers by attending one of her son’s baseballs games! I can’t say Jude was ever crazy about attending those games or sitting in the hot Vancouver sun in the summer to watch the games, but Jude was there supporting her boys, this lady loves her kids a great deal, ,she is what you would call a devoted parent. We don’t see a lot of that these days, so it is nice to be able to point it out.

One year, not that long ago, Jude’s 3 oldest child went to Africa, to make his mark on Mother Earth, to help the people out who live in this improvised country. Jude worried every day that he was gone, but she was so proud his achievememts on taking on a trip such as this one, to help out others. Or to read the pride in Jude’s words when she talks about her oldest son, his long term relationship with his same lady since late in school. She speaks of her second oldest, he excels in academic work, or how hard it was to see her only daughter, her baby go away to college. Sure Jude is looking forward to spending some quality time with her husband Scot and their get always, no matter what Jude does in life for herself or her family, she does it with a touch of class, one that most are in awe of, but never have I felt that Jude is putting on an air of superiority , Jude just is Jude, a lady, a good citizen, a person that cares about this earth and the people the dwell in it.

Recently Jude lost her father, a well known operatic singer in Alberta Canada. Jude was there with her Mom, sister, supporting her father in his last weeks. Jude was there until the very end. What a blessing she is to her Mother. Her father lost his battle with cancer, but he leaves behind a daughter like Jude, a daughter that has made him proud to be a father, leaving a legacy in grandchildren that Jude brought into the world that are all different in personality, but very close when it comes to be a family. Jude claims she does not know how her kids turned out so well, but I can answer that for her, our kids do as we do, and what Jude did for her family, was show pride, social graces, and a eye for perfection in everyday little things, like how to articulate, speak well and above all, spell words correctly, one of her pet peeves.

Jude is a Totally Modern Millie, she reminds me in so many ways of the actress Shirley McClain. She is up on people’s rights, she believes in mankind, thinking the world is basically a good place and that no person should go without being treated equal. If you ever debate with Jude on society, you will find she makes many the fine points on how life would be improved for all and why we all should be treated equal. She works everyday, she attends social outings, dinners, time away with her husband or in the not too distant past would laugh and share how many kids were hanging out her house, watching movies. Good kids sharing fun times with a good family, Jude’s family. It seemed kids were always welcome in Jude’s home and I know that has not changed in the least.

Jude is from Canada, but she reminds me of the women in Steel Magnolias, a sort of southern woman, deeply feeling, but born and living in Canada instead!!!!! I guess if we looked really deep, we could find a bit of that southern charm in all women all over the world.

Honestly in the world we live in today, it is not always easy to find good people, but I know one that lives out in BC, one that would never take the credit for the person I have come to know her to be. Kind, helpful, caring, understanding, patient, and loving are some of the words that come to mind when asked to list the qualities of a good person. One usually knows a person is good by what they do, such as performing thoughtful deeds. Jude you know is real, cause she is never acting on being someone other than who you see!

I guess to sum it all up, Jude asked me one afternoon shortly after her Father died, did I want to see a picture of her husband and grown children. She remarked with pride “ Don’t my boys look good dressed up in suits?” And all I could think to myself was, Jude you are a super Mom, the very fact that all of your grown children took time out from their busy lives to attend your father’s funeral, speaks volumes to me, volumes about what a good family you have and girl it is time you stood up, took a bow and say, “Yeah, I guess I did have a hand in how they turned out and they tuned out just fine” Least, but last to be said, you and Scot of course did a good job, you two are a good team, good parents, a good fit! ! ! ! !

I am Viesta and I am out! ! !

Conspiracy Theory or Conspiracy Nut?
by Viesta Morrison



When I was a kid, a million years ago, I can remember sitting in my elementary catholic school class, they announced over the loud speaker that our President JFK had just been shot in downtown Dallas; we needed to bow our head in prayer. Of course, by the time I was 14, I had long stopped praying and had started looking for answers to questions that did not seem to get answered! I wondered, were the adults that spoke about rumors just gossiping, or was John Kennedy actually murdered, was he out of control with his affairs with other women, did the CIA decide enough was too much, and they were in fact on that grassy knoll that day in Dallas. No one ever proved this theory of course, so it will forever be running amuck in the rumor mill!



But there have been other questions I have asked over the years as I got older. I found it just too convenient that Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison all died within months of one another. Not wanting it to be what I was reading and hearing at the time, I once again turned to what the underground of the time was saying.

That our government, the USA had taken them out, a small group of vocal youth of the times, in fact, my heroes! Those of us who remember the late 1960s and early 1970s well know that the period was marked by more than the Vietnam War, peace protests, and the rock and drug culture (although the last phenomenon listed partially contributed to the trend I am about to discuss). For those of us who were in adolescence it was our introduction to the shock of seeing celebrities we had grown to love, emulate, or simply had grown up with suddenly topple over one by one like a gruesome row of dominoes.

My personal hero was Janis, I could not listen to her music enough. I heard her voice and I was there, standing beside her on the beaches of Padre Island Texas, wanting to escape, pack up and be free. Her voice gave me a freedom I had never felt before, I believed and felt in every word she sang. For me that summer came and began fading to autumn.

Like two shots echoing in the night Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin were no more, their music and voices stilled, leaving their brief legacy behind in short stacks of vinyl and a few reels of film.

Then 1971 came and crawled slowly along in the manner that years tend to pass for the very young. I was out with friends every night, enjoying the beach, the long days of surfing, yeah, even the drugs we did, the generation that had so much to live for and so little time to live it. The noise of graduation parties and post-graduation parties filled the air, competing with the sound of private fireworks displays. Not long after, like a disturbing flash of de ja vu, the news was reported: Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors, was found dead in a bathtub by his girlfriend -- a drug overdose victim (friends insist it was a heart attack) at the incredibly young age of 27. Morrison, originally a poet before being persuaded to join his famed rock band, was the most prolific of the three rock superstars who had died in the space of only ten months. I was in shock, I was really depressed. I did not know these people in person, yet they were with me every day in my head.

So again, a new conspiracy theory grew in my mind and one that became aware of and lived everyday, I would grow to understand, I would not put anything pass my own American Government. People asked me with stern discontent, when I asked. Was it possible the government killed Jim Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and Janis Joplin ? And if so, why? I think the government had files on them just like they had on John Lennon.

It has never been news that the Government of the US is paranoid, even as paranoid as the very people they marked as being insane. It was said that Jim, Jimi and Janis all belong to a new group that has sprung up in the late 60s, a new political power that wanted to be more open, a form a new government.

During the 1960’s and into the early 70’s there was a change sweeping the nation and indeed the world. This change was both musical and cultural. People were protesting for equal civil rights, the women’s movement was taking hold and the musicians were advocating for a more peaceful and equal world. Among the musical icons of this time were Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and Jim Morrison.

So influential and controversial was there music that their mysterious deaths all at the age of 27 are surrounded by conspiracy theories. One of these theories is that all three were killed by the CIA and FBI because of there connections and support of the New Left movement that was taking hold. So influential were these three artists that countless books have been written about them, nearly all of them making mention to the inconsistencies in their early deaths.

One book specifically outlining the theory that they were all killed by U.S. government agencies called The Covert War against Rock. The following sites explore the various conspiracies regarding these three rock and roll icons both in support of them and contradicting them.

So as rock & roll artist could have been taken out by our government, whose to say our same government could not have created 9/11, how do we know it is just not a lot of hype, propaganda? I have asked a lot of questions in the 6 plus years since it all happen. I get a lot of the same questions answered the same.

In the weeks before 9/11, the U.S. received warnings from all over the world that an event just like this was about to happen, but FBI investigations into suspected terrorists were suppressed and those warnings were deliberately disregarded.

The twin towers could not have collapsed as a result of burning jet fuel. Most of that fuel was consumed on impact. In the south tower, most of the fuel was spilled outside the building. Heat caused by burning jet fuel does not reach temperatures needed to melt steel. What does stand out as particularly suspicious and still unexplained is that fires raged out of control beneath THREE of the collapsed towers for ONE HUNDRED DAYS, clearly indicating the presence of some kind of substance utilized in the demolition of the structures. FBI Director Robert Mueller insisted officials had no idea this kind of attack could happen when in fact the FBI had been investigating the possibility of EXACTLY this kind of attack for almost TEN YEARS. Numerous previous attempts at using planes as weapons, intimate knowledge of terror plans called Project Bojinka, and knowledge of suspicious characters attending flight schools who were being monitored by the FBI make his utterance a clear lie on its face.

Consider just a few more of the other unanswered questions from among the thousands of unexplained loose ends that all point to 9/11 being an inside job.

Who benefited from the suspiciously high numbers of put options purchased prior to September 11 for shares in companies whose stock prices subsequently plummeted, on the supposition that whoever was behind the hijacking was also behind most of the purchases of these put options? And what was the role of the new executive director of the CIA, Buzzy Krongard, who handled these transactions?

Why was the debris from the collapsed Twin Towers removed from the site with no forensic examination? Why was almost all of it sold to scrap merchants and shipped abroad where it would not be available for scientific examination?

Why does the government refuse to release any transcripts of communications or any records at all relating to signals of any form transmitted by those jets?

Why did so many people, from San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown to many employees of companies in the World Trade Center who failed to come to work that day, know in advance that something bad was going to happen on Sept. 11, 2001?

Why do all the major U.S. media continue to act as if none of these questions is legitimate or relevant?

Today, millions of people around the world are protesting the criminal destruction of the nation of Iraq. But these protests won't change the number of minds necessary to stop America's criminal madmen from continuing with their genocide aim of enslaving the entire world.

What WILL stop them is spreading the realization that President George W. Bush and his billionaire accomplices in the oil industry perpetrated 9/11 as an excuse to begin the militarization of America for the purpose of world conquest. By telling the truth when the history is written, not the way they want us to believe their version of lies. To make sure that people who want to be seen as heroes, are in fact seen as the villains they are. Do not allow history to be written of how everyone wanted us taken down for they were jealous of our freedom, when in fact it was the USA that hungered for more power, more oil resources and just more.

Would I put anything pass my government in the USA? Not for a one bent second!

I am Viesta, I am out

How TO Create a Hero!

How Do We Create a Hero-much less a superhero today?
I wanted to be a superhero when I grew up!!! I look down now at the paunch I carry where my once slim stomach was and wonder, what happen to the kid in me that wanted to be a hero when I grew up. My eyes peeled like grapes when I would watch, (cough inserted) the 1950 something episodes of the Superman. I would envision myself saving all kids from having to do homework on the weekends, or from having a bedtime at anytime. My list was endless on how I would make my life and all lives of all kids everywhere better. I wanted swoop down on villains and render them paralyzed, of course when I was daydreaming about being doing in bad guys, my own Mother topped the list in my eyes. But what did I know then, I was a kid and Mom; well she was just being a Mom. I read comic books, Saturday Morning cartoons, Disney, Yeah, even Batman and Robin

All the cartoons I see on television today as per heroes, are animated Japanese art. I can’t grasp a hero of a cartoon from Japan when all I can remember was Godzilla coming at me and stomping me to smithereens, leaving nothing but total destruction in his path.
I know real heroes are not made; they are created, invented and supersized by society. Or are they? There are so many heroes in every walk of life that we never take the time to commend or identify. You know the ones I speak of, the lady at the airport who chases you down because you left your travel ticket on the counter when you made out your baggage claim. Or how about the young man that works in the produce department where you shop, as you clamour passing by, he ask if you need any help finding anything. (You may say to yourself, that is the kid’s job?) Don’t be fooled, you are lucky if you walk into any sort of store these days and a younger person offers to help you. Yes, I know in reading my grumpier manner, you can age identify me. I don’t care, I am older, but I have discovered so much about human nature along these life’s travels. There are so many heroes in life that we never give credence to. That teacher that you have long forgotten about that opened up new doors of your mind over 20 years ago. And you know to this day, that teacher was doing more than a job, that person loved teaching children. Or what about that man that took a chance on you, giving you your first job when you were a teen just starting out in the work place? When I was growing up, we had heroes; we had self made heroes, like Martin Luther King Jr., Robert F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks, Mohandas Gandhi, just to name a few. All have gone down in history, for doing their part in making a better life for mankind everywhere. I can look to those people in the past, I can see history the way it was written, the way I lived it, I can see the amazing steps we have made. I can read Maya Angelou works again and again, I see a hero. Her poetry inspires me as a woman. Pick up a few of her works sometime, read for yourself, her book, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” Then there are women like Harriet Tubman, the granddaughter of an African, was born into slavery around 1820 in Dorchester County, Md. As a child, she suffered repeated whippings. At age 12, she tried to help a slave who had attempted an escape. In retaliation, a white overseer beat her with a 2-pound lead weight, causing a serious head injury. For the rest of her life, she suffered from brief blackouts.
At age 25, she married John Tubman, a free African American. Five years later, fearing she would be "sold south," she made her escape. White "conductors" on the Underground Railroad -- a secret network of safe houses -- moved Tubman by horse and wagon, covered from head to toe in a sack, from one home to another, until she safely reached Philadelphia.
It's what she did afterward that is so astonishing. She could have remained in the North, working for the abolitionist movement. Instead, she returned to the South 19 more times, rescuing members of her family, as well as 300 other slaves, for which she earned the nickname, "Moses of her people."


Yet I can step on a turn, look out over the sea of youth today and ask, where have all the heroes gone? Are they in the Nintendos or Wiis that our kids warp their minds with? At least that is in part, how I see it. Heroes are a unique group of people. They are people that stand up to bullies when they are found to be picking on the weaker kids out on the play ground. But I look around and I can’t find any playground heroes anymore. Kids today are better off when it comes to sports, technology, and school work. The world is before them at the touch of a few swipes on a keyboard, walla, instant words gleam before them on the internet. Young people of today, come across as being bolder, more daring, yes, even less intelligent when it comes to standards, manners and morals. They have no fear of anything, but on the other than, they appear to have no need for heroes. I see no level of quality or excellence attained by kids of today. I am not down on a generation of today as a whole, I still hold dear those moments when the young person ask me if I need anything, or even chases me down to return something I mislaid, that is a earnest hero in my book. But they are so far and few between.
I can’t say our boys fighting in Iraq are real heroes, because I have never understood why they were sent there or what faction their action being there has subdued or served. I am not even sure what portions of freedom we are serving to the country of Iraq one moment to the next, so that is a lost cause for heroes, in my opinion.
I know heroes have to exist out here somewhere for the younger and much younger generation coming up, I just am not sure what moral fibre these heroes will consist of. What has gone wrong? Where are the true heroes, the ones we trusted as children? The moral-minded man who stood for his beliefs when all were against him, or the ethical woman who refused to cheat despite the considerable gain it offered her?
And as for moral heroes, well they are just gone. Today's heroes are about talent or good looks, not principles but for the sake of the mighty dollar. Look to your sports for a kid’s hero, there are none, they all have a huge price tag attached and they care very little about the kids that want to look up to them!
So just how do we create a hero, much less a superhero for kids today? Easy by bringing back imagination. Have your kids put down those game boys, turn off the boob tube, enforce a new scope for the outdoors. Go outside, breath in some real outdoor air. Play with your kids, created games that use and spark imagination in your kids. Hell, get the kids on the block to come over and get involved. Try an old game of hind-go-seek. Sit on the green grass on a summer’s evening and tell your kids stories, stories that you make up as you go along. Lay on a blanket with your kids in the backyard, looking up in the stars, take turns pointing to a star, giving that star a name and encourage your kid to tell a story about that same star. Talk to your kids in the evening, tell them what it was like when you were a kid, the things you did for fun, what it was like when you grew up. Get them to talk about what is going on in their life, their feelings, their ups, the downs. And before you know it Mom and Dad, you have helped your kids to create heroes of today, YOU, you become their first hero, the very hero they know they can rely on each step of the way; for life! ! ! ! !