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Weekly Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Opinion

Friday, October 6, 2006

Smokey Briggs

Sage Views

By Smokey Briggs

The only school security
worth a damn

Yelling at television sets is something I am pretty good at. Lately I have had plenty of practice.

In the past few weeks there have been several (and one is too many) reports of an armed man walking into a school house and killing students.

As a parent, I can think of few things more horrifying.

Just as horrifying is our seemingly absolute inability to do one rational thing about it.

If I hear one more simpering idiot whine, “How can we prevent this?” or “Campus security has to be improved,” the television set may not live to see the next morning.

Then, we get special reports on the local news about how many unlocked doors there are, or are not, at such-and-such school, and how this school district issues badges for visitors.

Like any of this would actually prevent some deranged idiot, armed with anything from an axe to a Buick to a pistol, from getting into a schoolhouse.

So, lets get a few things straight.

First, you cannot prevent this type of insanity. No number of fences, security procedures, cops, or restrictions on personal freedom in the form of weapons control can prevent this.

The only rational response is to be ready to react when it does happen - and this is the one concept we refuse to even contemplate.

We lock more doors, install security cameras, add metal detectors, require badges for mom’s volunteering to teach kids how to build birdhouses with popsicle sticks - and none of these things will stop someone intent on harming the children inside.

None of them.

What can be done?

We can start thinking like rational human beings rather than silly twits.

We can accept the fact that the world is not, and cannot be made to be, some cartoon-like fantasy world filled with nothing but nice people.

And, we can prepare to deal with the murderer and the lunatic when they rear their ugly heads.

Think about it, what is a school?

It is a guaranteed easy target. We have built buildings, filled them with our most precious possessions, and then guaranteed that not one decent person in the building is armed in anyway.

We spend far more time and effort, and are far more realistic in our planning, making sure our money is safe.

The only way to protect the children inside schools is to make sure that the people inside can protect themselves.

We require teachers to jump through all kinds of hoops to become “certified.”

(A bureaucratically enforced waste of time - what teachers need is a good education in their subjects, not a bunch of touchy-feely junk about “how to teach.”)

The one certification we ought to require is certification with a decent combat pistol - a Glock 19 would be perfect.

Every teacher and administrator inside the schoolhouse should be armed, and trained.

“Oh horrors,” the handwringers will whine. “That’s just too dangerous.”

Really. Think about it. How much more dangerous can the situation get?

I’ll take armed teachers on a daily basis - many of whom seem to the sort who truly love the children they teach - over the possibility of one lunatic with an axe that shows up once too often in a lifetime.

Becoming competent with a pistol is far easier than learning how to safely drive and maintain a motor vehicle.

If you are smart enough to teach long division, you can learn how to safely carry and deploy a semi-automatic pistol. Schools full of armed teachers would hardly be the sadly easy target they are today. Lunatics with even a bit of sense would look for easier targets.

And, if one decided that a school was the place to kill, the death toll would be far less compared to what we have witnessed in the past.

Folks, protecting yourself is your job. The police cannot do it. They cannot be everywhere, all the time.

The only person who can protect you or your children is the person who is there when the attack begins.

In schools, that means teachers.

Your View

Reader compliments publisher’s column

Dear Editor:

Smokey, first let me compliment you on your ability to simplify a very complex subject and put its essence into words understandable by the average Joe. I am referring to your editorial exposing the shenanigans of fractional reserve banking. This is a topic that was intentionally made complex by its perpetrators for the purpose of deceiving its victims-the productive class. My only criticism is that you were much too kind to the crooks who perpetrate this, the mother of all Ponzi schemes.

In addition to manipulation of interest rates (the portion of the scam that you covered so well), the Federal Reserve (Fed) has two other “tools” through which they fleece their victims with this insidious tax. (Yes, inflation is a tax and the most insidious of them all because it deceptively sneaks in through the backdoor.)

The first of these additional “tools” is known as the “reserve requirement” or the percentage of the member bank’s deposits that must be kept on deposit with the Fed. The short version of how it works is that, when the Fed decides to increase the “money” supply, it simply lowers the reserve requirement thereby leaving more “money” in the hands of the commercial banks through which the fractional reserve scheme operates to increase the “money” supply (inflate). In reality, however, the Fed does not use this particular tool to any great extent-likely because it is too cumbersome to implement.

So now, dear Smokey, it is time you sat down, took a few deep breaths and relaxed. For, if fractional reserve banking makes you mad, then what I am about to describe could very well give you a heart attack.

The third tool of Fed thievery has the greatest impact on the general public and, not coincidentally, is the least understood. It goes by the name of “open market activities.” I will attempt to unravel and expose its secrets in a systematic and understandable way.

If you have any of that “funny money” in your wallet, take it out and look at it closely. If you can find the word “money” on it anywhere, I will match it. You won’t find that word because it isn’t money and those that print it know that. They also know that it would be unconstitutional to call it money because the constitution clearly says that the only money will be “gold, silver or certificates redeemable therein.”

What you will find, however, are the words “Federal Reserve Note.” Now, where I come from (which happens to be Monahans), a note is a debt instrument and is usually accompanied by collateral. So, where is the “collateral” for these Fed Notes?

Oh, its there alright-in the form of the “assets” of the Fed. “So, what kind of ‘assets’ does the Fed have,” you ask? Well, mostly “securities.” What kind of “securities?” Well, mostly government bonds.

Very roughly, here is how it works. Let’s say the occupants of Washington, District of Criminals decide that they need to pay off one of their favored groups. Note that party affiliation makes no difference. It might be a liberal bed wetter who wants to provide the inter-city crack queens with “a living wage” welfare program or it could be for the conduct an unjust (and unjustifiable) war that some neo-con has lied the country into.

Either way, it makes no difference. Both of them know how unpopular any suggestion of levying an additional tax would be. Why pay the political price when all they have to do is quietly float a bond issue? They can surely find a market for these bonds because they are, after all, backed by the “full faith and confidence in the united States government.”

So, the bonds are issued and the country is now operating at a “deficit” (spending exceeds revenue) which instantly becomes a part of the infamous “national debt”-both terms we are all very familiar with.

So who is going to buy all those bonds? You guessed it. The Fed, through its “open market activities” goes into the open (yeah, right!) market and buys huge chunks of these bonds. Let’s say, for example $100 mil worth. Where do they get the “money?” Easy. They create it out of thin air-a simple bookkeeping entry whereby the US government’s checking account (a “liability” to the Fed) is increased by $100 mil and the Fed’s “asset” account (government bonds) is increased by an equal amount. (Note that if guys like us tried that, they would call it counterfeiting and securities fraud.)

So, now the government spends the $100 mil at which time those who receive the largess deposit it into the commercial banking system where the “miracle” of fractional reserve banking goes to work. By the time the $100 mil makes its way through the system, it will have resulted in an increase in the money supply of, say, $600 mil. Meantime, Joe Sixpack is scratching his head and wondering why ends no longer meet and why Jane, his wife, had to go to work and turn the raising of Jack and Jill, the kids, over to the state (via the “public school” system-the only function of which is to insure another generation of sheep to shear.)

Now we are about ready to close the loop (noose might be a better term). Let’s see where we are. We now have “money” that is not money at all but “debt” (a note). The “collateral” for that note is “more debt.” The collateral for that more debt is “the full faith and confidence in the united States Government.”

But, where is the REAL collateral? Smoke, you’ll need a few more deep breaths before facing the bottom line. It is every ounce of our entrepreneurship, every drop of our sweat, and every square foot of our land-and we are in hoc to our eyeballs. So, if these criminals were to be completely honest, the inscription on those bonds would read, “Backed by the full faith and confidence in the US government’s ability to muster whatever firepower necessary to collect whatever tax it decides to collect.”

No, these perpetrators of the greatest criminal conspiracy ever to be foisted on humanity in all of its history will never be honest. But, if there is such a thing as a frying pan hell, we can take satisfaction in knowing that they will burn there into eternity.

Yours for freedom in our lifetimes,
Dr Jimmy T (Gunny) LaBaume
Dr. LaBaume teaches business and economics at the university level

Family thanks coaches, players

To The Pecos High School Varsity Coaches and Football Players:

We, the family of Pablo Navarette would like to take this time to thank the varsity coaches and players for their love and encouragement during this trying time. You have, in no doubt, touched our hearts tremendously. The love and support you showed to my son Christopher and his dad is phenomenal. During the Homecoming game Friday night when the players ran up to the stands to shake our hands, was admirable, and the hugs were heart-felt. This has made a tremendous impact on Pablo, to know how many and how much people care. He appreciates it so much.

To the coaches; you have made a difference in our players. These boys are respectful and thoughtful and have really come together not only as a team, but as a big family as well. When something affects one player, it affects them all, and they have showed that to us. Now we know that our boys understand what TEAMWORK really is. You have done a great Job, and we are so honored that our son Christopher is a part of your team.

To all the families, teachers, players and coaches of Pecos who have stood by us, we are very grateful. Thank you so much for all the love, support and especially the prayers. God is on our side. We have a long road ahead of us, but with all of you by our side, we WILL get through it. Thank you! Pablo & Lorna Navarette and family

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