Director of Operations, California technology sector business, with operations in over 30 countries. BSEE/BSM-E/MBA. Teacher. Golfer. Martial Arts instructor. Sport shooter. Endowment Member NRA. Well traveled, but more of a homesteader now. Reagan Conservative with a slight libertarian leaning on social issues. Loving and in awe of God given life and nature. Ever grateful for the service of our brave Armed Forces. I aspire to be a patriot. In the meanwhile, I am in basic training at Free Republic. Owing to the importance of my FReeper handle, I spared no expense and obtained it from a freeware pirate name generator. AVAST YE SWABS! AHHRRRR!

UPDATE August 7, 2010: Sorry to have to report that I have terminal cancer and will be signing off for good later in the year. I've thoroughly enjoyed this forum, the dialog, the personalities, the spirited exchanges, the strength, and the laughter. Fare well, all, and keep up the good fight! MTR (Tom)

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"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence o f the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

Sir Winston Churchill; (The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages 248-50 London)

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"First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me." - Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984). Nazi concentration camp survivor.