Common Sense

What program travels across the country, teaching rifle marksmanship and the heritage of April 19th, 1775?

Ans: Appleseed.

What program relies on volunteer Americans to teach other volunteer Americans a traditional American skill that needs to be passed on to the next generation?

Ans: Appleseed.

What program allows women to shoot free?

Ans: Appleseed.

What program allows children up to and including age 20 (say, “20″? that’s a purt’ big kid ) to shoot free?

Ans. Appleseed.

What program allows Rev War re-enactors in period dress to shoot free?

Ans: Appleseed.

What program allows anyone with a [US ] military ID to shoot free?

Ans: Appleseed - of course!

What program is doubling every year?

Ans: Appleseed.

What program is dominated by a mission - to save a nation?

Ans: Appleseed.

What program is designed to wake up Americans to their history and heritage, and make them what they should be, and what once Americans were?

Ans: Appleseed.

What program wants you to join us, and help in this mighty endeavor?

Ans: Once again, Appleseed.

Simply go to www.appleseedinfo.org to sign up.

We’ll make a world premier rifle marksmanship instructor of ya, in short order - so that, one day, you’ll be able to tell the grandkids, “Kids, once I was part of Appleseed, way back before you were born…”

“Gee, Grandpop, I’ve heard all about Appleseed in school! Was that really you, who was part of that? Our school class made a field trip to Washington - and all the kids wanted to do was visit the new Appleseed Museum - it’s right there, on the Mall, near the Washington Monument…”

Ever wonder why the founders never went to their keyboards?

Could it be because they were too busy doing other things?

Unlike modern 21st-century Americans, who have little better to do than jump on the nearest keyboard and start pounding away at the keys, sending their opinions into cyberspace, thinking they are doing something worthwhile - or, if not worthwhile, at least enjoyable.

Where else but the internet can you be a super-hero, unafraid of anyone who walks the earth, protected by that keyboard and the internet anonymity?

You can live your fantasy life, and for most of the internet guys, it’s an exciting one - and, for some of you, the only life you have that’s worth anything.

Slow on the uptake, our internet commandoes don’t realize that anyone with a brain will not be too impressed that they were “snipers in Vietnam” - ho hum - there must have been millions, or at least 100s of thousands Vietnam snipers, to listen to ‘em.

And Delta operators? A dime a dozen.

I’m surprised “special ops” still carries enough cachet to make anyone claim training-experience-participation - surely by now, everyone knows 99% of such internet claims are like most of the other claims on the net - total fabrication. Has to be, as there’s millions of them, all out there, on the internet, letting it drop that “when I was doing ‘black’ work” - when anyone in “black work” is very unlikely to be tooting it on the ‘net.

Only these guys, for whom getting away with pretending to be something they are not is a thrill, one that gives meaning to otherwise meaningless and worthless lives - and the only place they can do it is on the blessed internet - but it’s so easy there, they can’t resist it - only these guys, these millions of half-humans with no life, choose the internet over a real life.

Yep, when our keyboard heroes get tired of their computer action games, they can sally forth, bold and unafraid, on their favorite place, the internet.

Why there’s more testosterone at the keyboard than any place on earth. And more bravery, and more courage. Wonders never cease. Only the internet can do this. Turn pale, pasty, overweight, pathetic doofuses into heroes with a few strokes on a keyboard.

What is it about the keyboard that stimulates the male hormones?

Is it freedom - freedom to say what you want, and to find an equally gullible naive person to believe it - “Wow! You were airborne-ranger-sniper-delta? Cool!”

Freedom - it can make a man of you.

Of course, you did nothing to earn that freedom. And in fact, are unknowingly pissing it all away, just by being ignorant.

And while freedom can make a man of you, freedom on the internet is not likely to do it.

The internet is like the ocean. It can drown you, or it can feed you.

There’s loads of knowledge to be learned on the internet. And great loads of porn, yak-sites, and forums to posture in.

What you get out of the ocean depends on what you bring to it.

A ceaseless search for knowledge, or the desire to parade a phony masculine image?

For too many Americans produced by our fine educational system, it’s the latter. Secure in the high esteem they’ve been cultivated to have, and confident in their ignorance, and not caring about anything but themselves, and having found that keyboard typing is one of the best things ever for lazy people, why the internet is a perfect fit.

“Opium for the masses” Marx was concerned about. He said it before TV. And he said it before the internet.

No question what “opium for the masses” is, today.

Why, if Nero had had access to the net, wanna bet it wouldn’t be fiddlin’ he’d been doing, while Rome burned?

So, all over this great land, citizens (what a misnomer!) are sitting in front of pale screens typing worthless stuff so other worthless, life-challenged people can read it, and try to equal or out-do them in reply.

All the while the Titanic is sinking.

Speaking of which, if they’d had access to the net on the Titanic, there’d have been even more room in the boats.

So the Titanic sinks, while you type drivel…

Now, there’s a concrete accomplishment, even if you don’t know it…

But maybe it shows why the Founders ditched keyboards, if they ever had any. And TV, for that matter. And I doubt they were big sports fans, either.

If they didn’t “do” sports (watching the game on the tube), and they didn’t sit all night in front of the keyboard, huffing and puffing on the internet - and they dissed computer games - then what the heck did they do?

Could it be, that they thought abut things?

Actually, used their brains?

Possibly, as a result, they never set any records on Pac Man (doubt they ever got as far as the more advanced games - they did live, as you know, in 1775 ), but they did stand up on a cold spring morning, and begin the process of creating a free country.

Let’s see, this is a tough one: computer game record high scores, or “beginning a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

That’s gotta be a tough one for us 21st-century types. (Or maybe not. )

When you forget, it’s like it never happened.

It’s not good enough that it’s written down somewhere; it has to be remembered.

That’s why the Founders would want you to come to an Appleseed.

So you can hear The Story. The one you never heard in school. What really happened. And why.

Who fired the first shots at Lexington (yes, historians don’t know, but we riflemen do - and will prove it to you).

What enabled a bunch of civilian militia to break the British companies at the North Bridge, and put them to flight, in only two minutes.

And you’ll find out where the Rev War really broke out that day (hint: it was not Lexington; it was not Concord).

Learning all this? You? Think the Founders would be delighted?

Never forget: to remember, is to honor.

Little enough for us to do, as Americans.

To know our past is to make us want to treasure that heritage. To protect it. To keep it alive. To live by it. To guide ourselves by it.

It’s an anchor that offers stability in a world increasingly spinning out of control.

Enough of us learn it, take it in, become conquered by it, and we’ll find that the Past can help the Present save the Future.

Any every person out there on Battle Road that Day, everyone fighting for liberty, will have the satisfaction that what they did that long afternoon saved the nation not once - but twice!

Appleseed: Making Americans what they should be…

PS: The Appleseed site (www.appleseedinfo.org) is certified to be 100% free of anything but hard-working Americans striving to put in place a program with the capability of saving their country. Visit the site. Find out about Appleseed. Then join with us, if you need a life with meaning, a purpose-driven life, a life worth living. Something like what the Founders had in mind…

If you are reading this, chances are good you are concerned about the heritage Americans are letting slip from their fingers.

Maybe you even want to “do something” about it. Even if you don’t wanna do much.

Here is something you can use that does not go out-of-date. Use it this year, and every year, by sending, emailing, faxing to your local newspaper. Change one word, and sign your name to it (so it will be unique to you ).

That is, if you think it gets a message across that should be gotten across…

It’s all part of the soft war - and I’ve made this one an easy blow for you to strike. Send it to your local paper about April 12th (or earlier, if your paper is weekly). But you could send it in, any time of the year. There is no better time to educate your fellow Americans, to remind them of their heritage, than now.

Lest We Forget - April 19, 1775

It’s easy in the hustle and bustle of everyday life to forget things that are important - and one day in American history - you can argue it is THE most important day - should never be forgotten.

It’s the day our fellow Americans took up arms to win liberty for all of us.

April 19, 1775. A Wednesday, back then.

It’s hard for us moderns to understand how tough it was, or to understand the magnitude of what they did.

Contrary to the common, somewhat vague image of illiterate farmers caught up in the emotions of the moment and heading out to take potshots at the redcoats, the reality of it was far different.

In 1774 by order of the English Parliament the port of Boston was closed until damages for the Boston Tea Party were paid.

Closed, can you imagine it? The busiest port in the colonies, everyone out of work, people nearly starving. The city kept alive by donations of food from the other colonies.

And yet, Americans were determined not to pay those damages. So English troops arrived, as the British took over local government to ensure compliance.

By April 1775, tensions were high, with the King and Parliament pressuring British General Gage to take action.

On the night of April 18, 1775 - a Tuesday - Gage dispatched ten companies of Light Infantry and Grenadiers on a rapid expedition to Concord to ferret out military stockpiles he suspected were there.

The ‘embattled farmers’ found out beforehand, and took action. Paul Revere rode, and he did not ride randomly. Every house at which he stopped saw another rider taking off in a different direction to sound the alarm.

By dawn, as the British redcoat column was approaching Lexington (five miles short of Concord), historians have estimated 14,000 Americans were converging on them from miles around.

Not a cell phone among them. Not one on the internet. Not even a single telephone.

Yet in a few hours, 14,000 trained men were marching through the night.

Think you, with your cell phone and email, could do it today?

Even now, it’d a remarkable accomplishment - doubtless impossible to repeat today. To get that many people turned out, on short notice, in the middle of the night.

Maybe they cared about freedom, do you think?

It almost makes you wonder: do you think we care as much about freedom, today? Enough to get out of the bed in the middle of the night, and fast-march 15, 18, or 20 miles to face British lead and steel? With a single-shot, muzzle-loading musket?

Maybe you begin to understand the magnitude of the debt we owe the Founders.

It sure looks, from the perspective of the 21st century, like a mighty accomplishment, something we couldn’t do again, today.

But they did it. They did not draw back. They did not shirk. They did not shrink from the call.

And for that, we - each of us - owe them thanks.

By now, we all know the story of Capt. John Parker and his 77 militiamen who stood waiting on Lexington Green. If he indeed said “If they mean to have a war, let them have it here!” he said inspiring words.

But the historical facts are that the British fired a sudden volley, killing 8 Americans and wounding another 8 (a twenty-percent casualty rate), whereas the few shots our boys got off in return nicked the leg of a redcoat private and grazed a horse. Considering the American marksmanship displayed later throughout the day, it suggests the British actually surprised them - and indeed some thought the Brits were firing blanks to scare them, until the first musket balls whistled by.

Oddly enough, the encounter at Lexington did not start the War.

Nor did the later encounter at the North Bridge.

The North Bridge at Concord is an example of the ‘fog of war’ - the colonists, uncertain of what happened at Lexington, retreated before the Brits as they approached Concord, eventually winding up north of the river at their militia training ground on Punkatasset Hill. This allowed the Brits to occupy and search the town, recovering items that looked ‘military’, which they piled up and set on fire. It was the sight of the column of smoke above the trees that alarmed our guys - as one said - “are we going to stand by idly, while they burn our houses?” - setting the stage for the march to the North Bridge, where they were fired upon by three British companies posted there. To the cry of “Fire, fellow soldiers, for God’s sake, fire! - fire as fast as you can!” their training and practice in marksmanship broke the British, who fled to Concord. And the militia crossed the North Bridge.

It was a remarkable moment in American history. That April morning was the first time Americans were ordered to fire on British troops. And the first time they killed the King’s soldiers.

Even now, the War did not break out. The American militia, having defended itself successfully after being fired upon, and maybe realizing what they had done by firing on the King’s troops - it must be a terrific blow to rise out of bed a citizen and have the sun set on you as a traitor - took up positions behind a nearby wall.

Time was rapidly approaching noon, and the British began a hasty retreat back toward Boston - and Lexington. Just outside Concord, as the end of the column was crossing a bridge at a place called Merriam’s Corner (where the road made a sharp turn), the British rear guard turned and fired a volley at Americans following them. At that, militia units concealed on the north side of the road opened fire on the red-clad column to protect and support their brethren. At that point, it became a shooting war, and the 18-mile road back to Boston taken by the redcoats has ever since been known as Battle Road.

Did the boys from Lexington get a second chance? You bet.

Did the British nearly get caught in a trap? You bet.

Was it a ‘close-run’ thing for General Gage’s men? You bet.

If to forget is to show disrespect, let’s not forget what they did that day.

It has truly been said that April 19, 1775 was “the Day Marksmanship met History, and Liberty was born”.

Don’t let the memory of their deeds be forgotten. Read this to your kids - or let them read it for themselves.

The founders knew the price they paid for liberty. They hoped their posterity would remember that price, and never let liberty go.

In fact, John Adams, our second president, left us a message. I paraphrase: “Posterity, you will never know the price my generation paid for your freedom…

“If you ever forget - if you ever forget - we’ll be sorry we ever made the effort.”

Have Americans forgot?

I hope not.

Go to the library. There you’ll find books devoted to that first day of the American Revolution. The first day in history where a people stood up to tyranny and won their freedom on the battlefield. You’ll read how close we came to capturing the entire British column. You’ll read how propaganda was effectively used by American liberty-lovers to advance the cause of Liberty.

You’ll read about a day of contrasts - the elation of victory, the mourning for dead and wounded comrades, the exhaustion of battle, the misery of burning homes and lost relatives, of temporary graves by the roadside, of whole towns in flight.

It all happened. It was real. It was the beginning of the liberty you inherited, which you hardly think about, the liberty you so take for granted.

Those guys who didn’t take it for granted, who fought for liberty, who turned out to the sound of midnight alarm bells - they deserve better than that.

Take a minute, and think about them this April 19.

Sunday, April 19th, the day the Founders took on the world’s mightiest army - with muzzle-loading firearms.

They did it for you.

To remember them, is the least we can do. To remember them, is to honor them. It is little enough to ask…

If you ask the question, “Who’s the biggest crybabies on the planet?” I think you’d have to give an honest answer, and say “Why, 21st-century Americans, of course.”

Always crying, whining, and complaining about something, in between pulling the lever for every “bread and circuses” politician they can find.

Even Fred is one of ‘em. Yep, just to show you that I am indeed a “man of the people”, a “modern 21st-century American”, I will publicly confess to being a crybaby.

When I think of the future of this country; when I think of the sacrifices of the Founders, forgotten; when I think of the great constitution they created, and how it’s ignored by political panderers - well, what thinking person wouldn’t sob his brains out?

It’s not a pretty picture. All the weeping and wailing, I mean.

Spoiled, over-weight lazy ignorant Americans with no standards, no goals, no knowledge of their great heritage - sometimes I feel like I must be in WW2 Britain, about ready to complain the only thing wrong about Americans is that they’re “overpaid, oversexed, and over here.”

Yep, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that maybe this county would be a better place - without all the Americans in it.

Not that, if you removed them from the country, they’d notice or care. Just make sure the plasma TV, the refrigerator, and the house and car go with them - they won’t care about anything else, I think.

Certainly, they won’t miss the constitution - or the Bill of Rights.

Nor will they miss the great heritage of April 19, 1775. You did know, didn’t you, that we’re the only nation on earth that can trace our heritage of freedom back to a single day - right?

Someone once said all human behavior comes down to one thing: everyone - everyone! - wants to be first in line to eat, last in line to die…

Amusing. And prob said by an observant American.

What he left out is interesting.

He could have added, to that “first in line to eat” and “last in line to die” - “and no where in the line ‘to care’”.

And, if he was member of a gun club (and prob any other club), “no where around when volunteers are needed to work…”

But that’s a pet peeve of Fred’s and doesn’t deserve mention here.

You’ll be happy to know that Fred, aware of the ugly spectacle of a grown man sobbing his heart out, restricts his weeping to times when no one else is around.

It does wonders for the soul.

To let it all out - all the pain, all the frustration, all the anger at people who willingly march to the slaughter - people who have the best of everything on the planet and piss on all of it. Food, sex, TV, comfort - that about covers the concerns of the average American.

He doesn’t even care much about money - except to spend it - whenever he has it, and when he doesn’t, loading up as many credit cards as he can to the max.

(Used to be a cliched male joke back in the 1950s: the little housewife so out-of-it that she thinks as long as she has checks, there must be money in the bank. Well, we’ve come so far in the intervening years that now the mister of the house believes as long as he has a plastic card in his wallet, he must have credit…)

All those individuals out there, all over this great land, add up.

What they add up to is the choice between McCain and Obama.

What they add up to is the totally incompetent politicians we have in Washtown…

The ones in charge while this country spins out of control, ever faster.

It’s a shame, really.

Boston of Boston’s Gun Bible fame once wrote (and I quote from memory): The difference between now and 1775 is that, back then, we had spirit, determination, will - but poor equipment - whereas now, we have superb equipment - but no backbone, no determination, no grit…

He’s right.

Those founders had something we no longer seem to have.

Prob there was not one in a hundred who turned out on 4/19 who had a high school ed (I’m not sure they even had high schools back then). Certainly there were some college men amongst them - Dr. Joseph Warren, he who showed up at Lexington in the early afternoon with “Gen” Wm Heath (”Gen” because he was an amateur general, even if appointed by the provincial congress); there was Dr. Samuel Prescott, who escaped when Revere was captured, and delivered the alarm to Concord.

But most of the guys who turned out prob had less than six years of education.

Yet they were all much smarter, much more aware than the college grads of today.

Why is that?

Possibly the real question should be, why aren’t we smarter? For all that education?

Why are we so incompetent, as a people?

Sure, we can do some things right, some times.

But put rifle in the hands of the average American - heck the average gun-owner - heck, the average rifle-owner, and he’s no more effective than his ancestor was in 1775 - he can’t hit any further off - the shame of it is that his rifle is good for 500 yards or more…but he can’t hit at 100…

Are we the crybabies of the universe? Prob not. There’s prob a race somewhere that sobs all the time, right in public, without embarrassment…

Capt John Parker stood out on Lexington Green in the cold early dawn light on April 19th, 1775, at the head of a small band of 77 militia - farmers, shopkeepers, teachers. He stood there, unmoved, unflinchingly watching a fast-moving column of hundreds of British redcoats approaching. Will we ever see his like again? Will we ever see their like again?

Pardon me while I go cry some more…

Yet, lest I mislead you completely, there is HOPE.

It’s called “the Appleseed Project”, and it teaches the tradition of the rifleman - teaches people the skill that was used on April 19th, 1775 to defeat the British Army and force them to retreat back to Boston - narrowly escaping complete defeat.

Appleseed is a weekend affair. Sign up at www.appleseedinfo.org (click on “Appleseed” in the top left corner, and you’ll find a schedule of dates and places - there will be 300 this year - we already have over 200 on the sched - find the one nearest you, then click on “register now” - and you’re all set - oops! better read the “how to prepare for your Appleseed” - it has some good advice.)

What I like about Appleseed is it not only learns you the traditional skills of the rifleman, but tells you the Story of April 19th, 1775. It’s a story you never heard in school (if you even heard of it at all), a fascinating story, an inspiring story, a sad story, a story of triumph against heavy odds…

An Appleseed will send you away with a new appreciation of what the founders did that day, and a determination on your part not to let what they did remain forgotten.

You’ll go back home not only looking forward to your next Appleseed, but wanting to get everyone you know to come, so we can get this country cleaned up faster.

Trust me.

And check out http://the-rifleman.blogspot.com/ along with http://appleseedshoot.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-03-31T06%3A21%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=3

We owe a debt to the Creator.

Not the one you are thinking about.

No sir, the debt we owe the Creator is that of keeping life interesting.

By concealing the future from us.

Making us work blind.

With no guarantees.

Take Appleseed, for instance.

Suppose the veil covering the future was suddenly lifted.

Suppose we knew the outcome, right now, of Appleseed, this noble - some would say “crazy” - effort to save a country.

Let’s assume it is positive, that the Titanic is bailed out, that the country is saved.

In fact, with the veil lifted, so we know the future, we even know the exact count of buckets it will take - let’s say it’s 1,000,000, exactly.

One million buckets of water, a bucket-full at a time, to save the Titanic.

Now (again, hypothetically), you’ve got your ‘wish’ - your guarantee - bail 1,000,000 buckets, and you WILL save the Titanic.

Think about it.

All the fun is gone out of it.

All the adventure, all the uncertainty, all the anticipation, all the excitement.

All the challenge…

Instead, there’s that pile of 1,000,000 buckets in front of you, waiting to be bailed.

Now that you know the future, are you happy, as you pick up the first bucket?

Seems like to me all you’ve done is succeed in making a great, exciting adventure into a Great Drudgery.

One-by-one, a bucket at a time, no excitement, just pure hard labor…

And there’s little interesting about pure, hard labor.

In contrast, look at Appleseed right now, today. A program full of energy, full of excitement.

Sure, we’re gonna save the country. Many of us believe that. But not all. Some of us are doing it for reverse psychology - so, in the future, when the country fails (which a few Appleseeders - but not Fred - believe will happen), at least WE will have a clear conscience about it. We did what we could, all we could. Even if we failed.

But far better to do that, to try and fail, than to do nothing, and endlessly bash ourselves, later, for being worthless doofuses, for doing nothing. A life-time of regret. Of shame. And all avoided, with a little effort now.

And, when that day of judgement comes, if we’re lucky and make it up to heaven, we won’t have to shamefully look away when we see one of the founders…

But let’s get back to the positive, as at least 90%, and, more likely, 99% of Appleseeders believe we are gonna save this country - and not in the indefinite future. No sir, by 2015 we’ll have a strong indication, and by 2016, I believe the “end will be in sight”. There are loafers starting college this year who will take six years to graduate from a four-year program, and who will graduate into a country that will be on the cusp of “being saved”.

Take it to the bank.

“Take it to the bank”? That’s a statement reflective of determination, not of certain reality.

Because we can’t see the future, no one can say for sure.

Because it’s not certain, there’s an element of uncertainty - has to be.

If the American people don’t respond to the Appleseed program, if the well of eager, enthusiastic Americans capable of being wakened up to the peril their country and their future is in is shallow, this program will misfire, and like a missile with insufficient energy, fall back to earth. (It won’t be a complete loss. Some remnant will remain - and every Appleseeder will have some very valuable skills indeed as a result of their participation in the program.)

And it’s that uncertainty - that veil over the future - that keeps Appleseed interesting and exciting.

Sure, we’ll have to bail a million buckets. But it won’t seem like drudgery to do it.

So, let’s all thank Heaven for the gift of making it - this great effort - endlessly interesting and entertaining.

For you sports fans, how many games would you watch, if you knew the outcome in advance?

If you were a player, how interesting would the game be, if you knew, in advance, you were gonna win - or gonna lose? Would you give it your best effort? Would you even see a reason to play?

And why would you have interest in the outcome? You already know it!

See the difference “not knowing” makes?

Keeps it interesting.

Keeps it exciting.

And you can be a part of it.

Still plenty of room, right here, on the ground floor.

See, and experience, what “saving your country” is all about…

So, you can tell your grandkids, years from now, that “you were there when it happened” - and that you were part of “making it happen”.

And when you take them to visit the Appleseed Museum newly-built on the Mall in DC, others there with you in line to get in will hear you telling the ‘kids “how it was” - and forget the line, and gather around, wanting to hear more, wanting to hear all about how you were part of “saving the country”.

And you’ll feel good…

And maybe, thinking back, you’ll even breathe a silent “thank you” to the Creator for making it all interesting, by concealing the future…

Appleseed can be a burden. It’s not all fun, not all “wine and roses”. Appleseed volunteers are real people, have real jobs, have real families, and real demands on their lives.

Appleseed really impacts people who earn most of their living on weekends…

You know, if all you guys just started buying soap, etc from me, we wouldn’t have to work the farmer’s markets and we could devote more time to Appleseed…

Now, being a serious issue for this young lady, still somewhat new to the program, and probably still adjusting to the fact that some of those profitable weekends will have to be sacrificed to Appleseed weekends, I made the following encouraging reply:

So all the big issues boil down to stripped-down, easily-understood reality, a simple choice of elemental existence: Soap, or country??

Certainly, I say the above with tongue-in-cheek, and do not expect (unlike the founders) that you sacrifice fortune to liberty. Seriously.

And, in fact, I am going to buy some soap, because you patriots need to be supported. But before I do, I want to make sure there will not be a future “Appleseed” soap of any kind - whether a special AS flavor, color, or brand (the minuteman image, standing ever-ready). As I’d hate to stock up on ‘regular’ soap, only to find out a new “Appleseed” variety has just appeared.

So let me know.

Now, I suggest the “battle plan” [a plan to promote Appleseed in her location] is there for that very reason: to allow you to accomplish your various missions in life with minimal interference amongst them.

Understanding that you have to quickly disabuse yourself of the notion that you have to do everything.

That YOU have to do everything.

That you HAVE to do everything.

That you have to DO everything.

And, finally, that you have to do EVERYTHING.

We won’t get very far, with that approach.

In fact, the opposite is your goal and mission: to get others doing everything.

You should be the catalyst, not the mule.

The brains, not the muscle.

The match, not the flame.

Appleseed is about motivating people to save their country.

We want the field to catch on fire.

But we are not the flame.

We simply strike the match, and let the fire catch and burn.

That’s much easier than doing the actual burning, right?

So, don’t pack up all the soap-making gear just yet.

‘Cause I don’t know if we have room yet in Appleseed for party animals.

Most of us will have to keep one foot - at least one toe - back in the work of everyday drudgery. That is, will have to “work for a living”.

Drat!

When if we could just toss it all aside, and Appleseed, Appleseed, Appleseed…

Believe me, it’s a common lament in the program. We have people who say they’d “Appleseed” 52 weekends a year - if it weren’t for work.

So, buck up, and fear not. Soap is still part of your future. (Drat! )

The planning for the next 90 days (in detail) and for the balance of the year (mainly, sketching out goals) will keep the two separated: this day for AS, that day for soap…

So, Uncle Fred says, you can have it all. Your cake, and eat it too.

This program is unique. You’ve seen, and experienced, its uniqueness.

But even you prob never expected it to be this unique: That you can have your cake and eat it, too.

You can even put the “soap” before the “Appleseed”. As in, once you get your Appleseed tasks done, fire up the soap kettle, and get to making soap.

Actually, I think the concern is using up weekends for Appleseed in lieu of soap sales, right?

Can you give 8 weekends this year to Appleseed? If so, I’d say we can make Appleseed take root in [state].

Can you give 9 or 10 weekends to AS this year? If so, I’d say I know we can make it take root.

Say, five maximum - or maybe six, maximum - between now and the end of June? Let’s see, that would be one a month during Feb, Mar, April, May, and June (the latter may be doubtful?), plus the 4/19 one in [XYZ] - for a total of five for sure, and maybe six.

If you can, I think we have a decent chance of “getting the program off the gound”, and up and running in [state].

Laying the groundwork for the “fall campaign”, when it gets nailed down - not that all is done in the program - but the fire will be started, and let’s figure 4 more weekends - say, Sep, Oct, Nov, and Dec - to fan the flames and direct it to fresh parts of the field.

Do that, and I’d say you can go back to soaping, in 2010, 52 weekends a year - even tho I don’t think you will want to give up your AS entirely. After all, in each of us there is not only a Beast [Fred is always after RWVA instructors to "get in touch with the Inner Beast" ] - but a little (more or less) Party Animal - and AS is fun…

Do that, and I can promise you grateful appreciation of the AS program. More so, as by doing only ten AS instead of 12, you save the program the money for that special Spouse Appreciation Program “mini-vacation” to an Appleseed somewhere else in the country. Maybe the Oregon coast. Maybe a visit to MA, where you can walk Battle Road, and put your shoes on Lexington Green…
( )

Plus, I don’t think anyone would have objection if you carried soap with you to AS, set up a table with display and maybe recoup a small part of the ‘lost weekend’ - maybe enough that instead of ‘giving up’ 10 weekends, you wind up, money-wise, only giving up 9 - or maybe even, 8…

So, trust that your concerns are appreciated this end, and no one in this program will want to cause undue interference with or harm to earning a living. And that is seriously said.

Your efforts for Appleseed are greatly appreciated, as is your willingness to give up weekends you’d otherwise be making money on - and recognition is given in full measure for the sacrifice that entails. I wish it could be done some other way, I really do.

It’s a hard choice, often faced by Patriots - liberty, or family and finances? - and only you can draw the line where the line needs to be drawn.

But if this program is successful (and we’ll know in a very few years - by 2016, at the latest), you won’t have to move to Wyoming [a goal she expressed in an earlier conversation]. You may want to, but you won’t have to. Which means, if you don’t move, you can credit the savings against the cost of those weekends ‘lost’ to Appleseed.

I don’t know what price or value you’d put on the feelings you’d have if you were part of a program, an effort, that successfully saved a country, but I’d think you’d find them very pleasurable indeed…

So, how many weekends can you give the program this year? Eight? Ten?

I’d suggest, because of this “income on weekends” business, that one goal in both your planning and goals for this year would be to quickly ramp up AS in [her state] so that others can run the show on weekends (which suggests at least one IBC ["Instructor Boot Camp"] be added to the plan - maybe even the first half of the year - say in May before the May AS, so the new instructors can cut their teeth quickly).

Then you guys retreat to “doing stuff during the week”, not on weekends. With careful planning and setting of goals, it’s possible you won’t need to be at more than two AS in the fall half of the year…and maybe even less than that, if you can stand it.

[And now, resuming the blog:] Appleseed. It’s a tough choice, for most of us.

Giving up precious weekends. And for what?

Some future “pie in the sky” crazy talk about “saving a country”?

But, should we require a guarantee - a guarantee that we WILL save the country - before embarking on a mission to do so?

“Yes”, you say?

Before you say it, ask yourself if there were any guarantees on April 19th, 1775.

And, if there were none (there were not), why we are so much better - or so much weaker - that we demand and need a guarantee…

Ask yourself.

You have always felt you wanted to do something, be someone, have some impact in what is going on in this country, right? From the time you were a kid and started seeing the bigger picture, (that is saying you have seen the bigger picture) and knew that things, your life, others’ lives, your school, your country even, could be changed and affected by you. What a powerful moment that was, when you understood that you, one person could make a difference. And seconds after that moment, for a lot of Americans, the feeling started to fade. Right from the second it was realized, and it drifted farther and farther away until that moment got away from you. It got put in the desk drawer, then moveved into the closet, and finally ended up on a shelf out in the garage, or perhaps even just chunked in the trash and hauled off one Monday or Thursday.

Well guess what? That moment is back. It has been rescued from the refuse pile, hauled back, cleaned off, polished up and is ready for your immediate consideration. Right here, right now, is the chance to do those things you always wanted to, to change the world like you always thought you could. To become a mentor to the next generation of Americans at the same time and help them to make that decision to do something, to change the way the country is run, wake others to the possibilities of “that moment” in their life.

That is where The Appleseed Project comes in to play. We can give you a hand and get you started in that new life realizing that “old/new moment” and making it come alive. Come to an Appleseed event, take the course, learn to shoot better than you ever thought you could. And while mastering that and hearing about how you have a direct relationship to and are a direct representative of “The People”, make the decesion to take that next step and fulfilll your dreams of making a difference in your world,

In 1968 there was a lot going on. Detroit was still cranking out some of the hottest muscle cars yet. AM radio still dominated the rock music. The nightly news was full, start to finish with stories about the war, protestors and the racial unrest.

In the middle of all that was the fight going on in congress for the strictest gun control since 1934, the Gun Control Act of 1968.

During that time the 90th Congress was controlled by Democrats in both the Senate and House of Representatives along with a Democrat President.

President Johnson was determined to get major gun control passed and he had plenty of help to get the job done. The number one point man was Senator Thomas Dodd from Connecticut, a gun producing state.

Years earlier Thomas Dodd, before he became a senator, was an executive counsel during the Nuremberg trials. He took an interest in the Nazi gun disarmament laws during his nearly year and half in Germany so much so that in 1968, according to a letter from the Library of Congress, Dodd had a series of those laws translated.

It was speculated that much of the 1968 GCA and bills that Sen. Dodd introduced during that time were based on those Nazi proven techniques.

There were plenty of warriors in congress on both sides. In mid year of ’68 Johnson appointed the National Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence. The majority of that group wanted it all; registration, prohibition and confiscation of all guns and ammunition.

On October 22, 1968, when Johnson signed the Gun Control Act of 1968 into law pro gun control people got most of what they wanted except for gun confiscation. As time went on there were proposed amendments to tame that law down such as Sen. Bennett’s S. 2718 repealing the ammunition record keeping. That was successful.

Up until that fateful day in October citizens in this country enjoyed a lot more gun rights. In fact, just a few months later in the spring of 1969 there is the story about the House Majority Leader at the time, Carl Albert, stopping into the Atlas Sports Store on E. Street in Washington to buy a 12 ga. shotgun and was infuriated when he had to fill out forms and have his picture taken as a result of DC’s new gun registration policy.

That gun shop is gone and so are many gun rights. Any advances in gun rights over the years pale in contrast to the impact that the 1968 GCA had on the Second Amendment.

Most of the players of that era are gone, but there’s been plenty of willing participants to take their place, in particular those who support gun control.

I say that in reference to this past election. The people in this country have set things in motion by electing a staunch anti Second Amendment president who in turn has brought together some of the worst of the worse who have the deepest contempt for the Bill of Rights.

People like Eric Holder for Attorney General will have unlimited executive power to bypass congress and he has proven his position of opposing private gun ownership with his amicus brief during the Supreme Court hearings this past summer.

The damage of this past election has been done and the federal government holds a choke chain on all the states. I hope that we can get enough Americans to wake up in their individual states and to work with any pro gun legislator trying to promote gun rights and oppose any and all state and local legislators who are set to push us back.

Indiana James

I am posting this for Junior Birdman who is on the Appleseed Trail.

“Do you Remember What Happened Tomorrow”, by Junior Birdman

Yeah, I know, you’re thinking that the Birdman got his words mixed up again. Not true though. What you read is just what I meant to say!

You’ve heard it before; that those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it, that there really is nothing new under the sun.

I subscribe to that kind of thinking, and I believe it is borne out over the centuries. If certain civilizations had only paid heed to what had happened to the civilizations which had risen and fallen before them they might still be around today.

Nearly every great civilization or culture appears out of obscurity, rises to greatness, and eventually slides back into obscurity again, buried by other civilizations or cultures. Sure, we remember the Romans, the Greeks, the Persians and such, but how many of us know not just that they rose and fell, but why? Modern schooling seems to be heavy on the names and dates, offering to teach the young what to think about these things, but not the more important how to think critically.

As a student of history I am bothered by the way things in this country have been going in the last few decades. Why? Because I know how great this country was and can be, and I know the fate of countries which ignore history and scream headlong into their own brave new world, smug in the concept that they’re so much smarter than their ancestors. Why, we could never slide into the despotic ways exhibited by rulers and regimes in times past, right?

No, those people were around long before we were even born, so how could they possibly be as smart as us? And besides, it couldn’t happen here! Not in the US of A!
Should I list all the countries that fell thinking just that? The list would be quite long.

This country rose out of desperation. A people oppressed in many ways sought to throw off the yoke of tyranny and create a country where people could live their lives without constant interference from government. Where that government derived its powers by our consent. A place where those wishing to excel could do so through their own ingenuity or hard work. And conversely, a place where those less inclined to hard work could live to a standard acceptable to them. Yet all would be able to pursue what they thought was best for them.

I like that sort of arrangement and I think it served us well for a couple of centuries, yet there are those who don’t see it that way and would like to induce upon you and me a system where THEY decide these things, oh, but you still get to pay for it and then some.

I could stand around the water cooler at work and complain about it over a cup of coffee. I could shout at the TV when politicians grab face time and promise still more idiocy. I could argue the finer points of legislation with others on some website. All seemingly good things, right? We the people, exchanging opinions in the great marketplace of ideas. Not ACCOMPLSHING anything, but venting my spleen sure feels good.

We here at Appleseed like to call that “Pointing out the icebergs”. You see we consider the country to be a ship in peril. We’ve hit an iceberg or two, and we’re taking on water.
What you do next may greatly affect the outcome of the story of the ship, our country.

You can do one of a few things: You can keep standing there at the bow with all the others, pointing out icebergs and shouting above the din.

You can go back to your berth and crawl into bed knowing that we’re so much smarter than those other ships which sank before us and that when you awake in the morning we’ll be sailing along peacefully.

Or……you could head down below, grab a bucket and start bailing.

The Appleseed project is about bailing. And there’s never enough folks down below doing the hard work that must be done. And once the bailing is done there’s still a country to put back on the right course.

We take great pride in that little green patch we wear, the one that says “Rifleman”.
We earned it you know. Lots of sweat and frustration, and even more perseverance were required to be able to sew that patch on, and it says a lot about the person wearing it.

But sometimes I think it should say “Bucketman” because it’s a lot more important what a Rifleman does off the range than what he does on it. A Rifleman persists. And not just at the range. A Rifleman knows who his congressmen and senators are, and more importantly THEY KNOW WHO HE IS!
When was the last time you wrote your Congressman or Senators? (Do you even know who they are?) Do you understand the greatest and most dangerous issues coming before our representatives right now? Are you awake, aware, and active? Or is that couch just too comfortable?

The men and women who bought and paid for your liberty and gave you the greatest country in history now look to you to see if you’re willing to work to keep it. Are you willing to help ensure that your own children’s liberty won’t be smothered under the burden some wish to place upon them? Will you be able to look your grandchildren in the eye after making their tomorrow worse than your yesterday?

Grab a bucket and join us below decks and help us bail. Wake up and be the man or woman you want to be, an American who is aware and active and doing something to change the course of the ship.

Together, we can make your kids yesterday worth looking forward to. JB

http://www.kipling.org.uk/poems_copybook.htm

Recent events in our country have set in motion a chain of events that might possibly have terrible consequences for Americans. What happened to cause this? Why did this happen? How did we get to this point? The answer might surprise you because the answer is, it doesn’t matter. It simply does not matter what kind of ice the iceburg was made of, where it holed the ship, or why the ship was even sailing in iceburg infested waters in the first place-none of it matters!

It does not matter what got us here, it only matters what we do now that we are here. How the fire started in the house is not that important while the house is burning. Much more important than anything else at the time is to stop the current fire from burning anything more. There will be plenty of time once the ashes have cooled to discern the cause of the fire. To make sure it does not happen again and to build a new house.

But right now, the house is on fire and the focus of this program should be on putting out the fire. Without the fire extinguished, what else can be considered? Do you stop and try to philosophise about possible faulty wiring or the burn rate of dry tender v.s. damp, when the blazing roof is falling around you like dripping lava? No, you do not, you grap an axe and a hose and get to chopping and spraying.

The Appleseed Project is 100% dedicated to this endeavor and we have to remain focused in order to complete this mission. We have to continue to build this current machine and run this current mission to fruition, even though we might have more fun with building a different machine and doing something different with it. Right now, the Appleseed Project needs every single man and woman and every single minute we have available to us to run this mission of putting out the fire

The fact that one person was elected over another one is not the biggest problem we face. The bills being considered for debate over firearms and the 2nd Amendment are not what we should be focusing on either, these are all of only peripheral importance . We should be focused on getting every single person we can to wake up and become involved in becoming the “We The People” the Founding Fathers wrote about. Once this has been done everything else is inconsequential because laws can be repealed, or will never come up in the first place, rights will be safeguarded because “We The People” wish them to be. Money will be spent in government as we say it should, watched over by our elected officials, or we will tar and feather them and run them out of town on a rail.

Why is this such a hard concept to follow? Each and every American citizen has this power and if we simply use it we can change this country in a fundemental way for the better just as the Founders meant us to.

Wow, how powerful is that? We have ownership of our government and they have accountability to us, not the other way around. Do you want to stop trembling in your bed at night thinking about whether you will have any rights when you wake up? About whether you will have ATF agents bursting into your home in the middle of the night and arresting you for legally owning a firearm, or if you will have IRS agents seizing all of your assets to fund your governments support of elementery school sex education and transgender acceptance classes for your six year old?

When you go after a disease, you do not target the symptoms of the disease, you go after the disease itself. You don’t go down to the school and get some signs and stand there uselessly and impotently picketing behind a cordoned off protest area while the socialist educators are parading their ideas before your children regardless of anything you can ever say or do.

Instead, you go after the people to whom the responsibility was delegated to, the people who feel the very same way you do and the people who hold the ultimate power to make a real and lasting change.