Dirty Laundry

On June 21, 2007, the CIA released hundreds of documents pertaining to the agency's Violation of Charter for 25 years. It includes the wire tapping of journalists and dissidents, covert mail opening, assassination of Fidel Castro and Congo Leader Patrice Lumumba. The movie "Conspiracy Theory" with Mel Gibson and Julia Roberts is really true. They have admitted to giving experimental drugs to individuals without their consent. There was also a lot of spying on anti-war activists in the late 60's and early 70's.

I have read through some 380 pages of these documents. Here is my opinion:
It seems to me that the CIA spends a good 70% of their time trying to cover up their own secrets. They spend endless time, money and memos planning and contigency planning. If a secret is found out by the public...... what are they going to do? Denial is the best and most powerful word that can be used. This latest release of files, names everyone who was involved in the Watergate Investigation - Howard Hunt, John Mitchell, James McCord, Richard Helms, William Colby. It seems to me that now that all of these men involved in Watergate have spent time in prison, these papers have been released. Some of these documents are trivial.

Lyndon Johnson made a speech about Cambodia. He wanted to reply personally to all letters sent to the White House about his speech. The letters were identified pro and con. The Justice Dept. took all of the con letters. The White House and CIA took all of the pro letters. This amounts to about 200,000 letters that would have been sent out from the White House. The expenditure for CIA was about $30,000. The problem here is how were they going to get reimbursed the $30,000 for White House stationary, envelope stuffing, postage, etc. from the White House? They were trying to dodge the radar of the GAO (General Accounting Office). This also was not a part of the CIA Charter. Who cares, the president ordered it............and so it shall be done!

I guess everyone remembers the case of Valerie Plume and the subsequent conviction of VP Cheney's assistant, Louis Libby? Howard Hunt retired in April of 1970; although, he had done contracted work for the CIA after that.

MORl DoclD: l45l843 23 January 1973:Executive Director noted that the terminal secrecy agreement which Howard Hunt signed said that he will be acknowledged as an agency employee. His assertion that he is not bound by the agreement because we did in fact acknowledge his employment here is therefore ill-advised.

I guess Howard Hunt decided that he was not bound by their agreement because he did contract work after retirement as a CIA Operative, and they gave away his identity after Watergate. They violated thier own agreement.

The Castro assassination plot was to poison him. Jack Anderson had found out about this plot and published it in the Washington Post in May of 1971. The CIA had recruited a mobster named Johnny Roselli. He had ties to several Cubans close to Castro. So the plan was made, he would recriut someone to poison Castro with these lethal capsules provided by the CIA. Well....the plot fell through, why, nobody knows. But the most interesting part of this whole story is the poison capsules were returned to the CIA. For what?.........to be used at a later date? As evidence that we tried, but really did not do it? I don't get it! Maybe Castro found out about the plot and sent the capsules back with listening devices......lol!!!.........I can see the CIA now, after 40 years, scrambling to go get those capsules to check..........hahaha!!

The Family Jewels Documents is a very interesting read for those who are interested. Some have said that this has not been a really good time to release these documents. The CIA accused recently of foreign prisons, kidnapping in Italy, wiretapping, torture at GITMO, the list goes on. Then last year we found out that their was spying on Iraq, anti-war organizations, one of which my niece works for.

I have one thing to say before I end this story, just so you know, in case you did not know.

IT IS AGAINST THE LAW FOR OUR GOVERNMENT TO SPY ON UNITED STATES CITIZENS.

We are Americans, protected by our Constitution. This is a government for the people, and of the people. I'm sure that my 4th Great Grandfathers , Mathew Wallis, and James Rice, both Revolutionary War veterans will attest to the blood that was shed over this constitution.

Have A Good Week

Daniel

Mathew Wallis was a Fifer

I wanted to make a short note tonight about my 4th Great Grandfather Mathew Wallis. This week has been a terrible lose for US troops. Lets all please remember them.

Mathew Wallis was in the Revolutionary War, he was not a soldier, he was a fifer. Which I think is pretty cool. I have seen those old movies where the fifers lead the soldiers into battle, drums and flutes. This was to inspire the troops, motivate them into battle. As talent would have it, this was the mission of young Wallis. He is remembered on this blog tonight, fought as a Patriot for our freedom, so many years ago.

Our ancestry to Mathew Wallis, as follows:
Ira Belle Word - Grandmother
Nancy Caroline Gaddy - Great Grandmother
Violet Susan Roberts - 2nd Great Grandmother
Sarah Susan Wallis - 3rd Great Grandmother
Mathew Wallis who married Sarah Sneed 4th Great Grandfather/Grandmother

Mathew Wallis was born Jan 8, 1756, and died 26 Sept, 1821. He married Sarah Sneed, 5 Jan, 1787 in Wake County, NC.

Source: FAMILY BIBLE OF MATTHEW AND SARAH
Matthew F. Wallis, who was a Fifer in the war of the Revolution. That said Matthew Wallis entered the Service of the United States Army as a Fifer on the 1st of March One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty One from Amelia County, Virginia Under Captain Overstreet and was immediately marched on to Fuilford County, North Carolina and he was present at the Battle of Guilford under General Green. Soon after which he was transfered into the first Regiment of North Carolina State Troops under Captain Dunahoe and Col. Dixon and continued under said officers as Fifer until the 1st of August 1782. That soon after said Wallis entered said Service the Regiment to which he belonged was marched on from Orange County, North Carolina to join General Green near Camden, South Carolina. That from there they were marched to the Siege of ______six and then to the high hills of ____________ and remained there until the Battle of the Eutaw Springs in September, 1781. That they were marched back to the high hills of __________and then to a place called "Four Holes" or Orangeberg and Dorchester where they remained.

Source: Facts about this person:
Fact 1 September 26, 1821
VERIFIED BY REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION
Source: World Family Tree Vol. 1, Ed. 1 Author: Brderbund Software, Inc.Pub. Facts: Release date: November 29, 1995
Medium: Family Archive CD
Comments: Customer pedigree.
Pages(s): Tree #1585
Date of Import: Sep 7, 1997
Sarah SMEED was born 11 Feb 1759 in Amelia Co, VA. She died 13 Jul 1847 in Greene Co, MO.

Song of the Week

Thought I would play some Military/War songs.

From the Civil War soundtrack "Ashokan Farewell"

US Military Band "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"

US Marine Corp Band "Taps"

Have A Good Week

Daniel

THE REIGN OF THE REGULATORS

After the Civil War, there was alot of lawlessness. Afterall, if you had a horse stolen, it could take up to a week for the Sheriff to make it to the scene of the crime. People had to fiend for themselves, and stick together as nieghbors, to protect one another.

It should be noted that the Rice School sat on the NE corner of the Rice property. On this old map of the Jackson Township, the Rice's are located on the left side of page above the 2nd railroad tracks. northeast of Walnut Grove. If you enlarge this picture you will see that the Rice School is noted.



Tonights story concerns the Township of Jackson, in Polk County Missouri. "The Reign of the Regulators" was published by R. I. Holcombe, Editing Historian, History of Greene County, Missouri, 1883. It is probably by no coincidence that the Rice School is mentioned here as a meeting place in Walnut Grove. No doubt my Great Grandfather, Boone Rice, and his brothers, were present for these endeavers.

During the spring and summer of this year there was much excitement throughout the country occasioned by the doings of the "Regulators." For some time there had been a great deal of lawlessness in this county and in Southwest Missouri generally. Robberies and horse stealings were so common as to be every day occurrences, and even murders were not rare. It seemed that there was an organized band responsible for these depredations, since there was something of method and system about their perpetration, indicating deliberation and much wise planning. Few of the rogues were caught; fewer still were punished. Courts of justice seemed powerless to afford relief; the legal officers were unable to give protection.

At this crisis there was organized in this county, with headquarters at and about Walnut Grove, a band of men called the "Regulators," or "Honest Men's League," whose avowed object was the repression and punishment of crime of all sorts, and by any means. This organization was composed of men of both political parties and of all of the reputable classes. It may have contained some bad men, but it had many good men in it. Ex-Federal and ex-Confederate soldiers were numbered among its members, and, indeed, among its victims. Some of the best citizens of Boone, Cass, Robberson and Walnut Grove townships were "Regulators," and it was publicly and openly announced that the object of their organization was to rid the country of thieves and robbers, through the forms of law if possible, but if necessary to execute justice on the guilty in its own way, on the grounds of necessity and in self-defense.

About the last of May the "Regulators" began to move in earnest, taking the law in their own hands. Their first victim was Capt. Green B. Phillips, of Cass township. Capt. Phillips had been a prominent citizen of Greene, and had been in the Federal service during the war in this county. He was a captain in the 74th E. M. M., and did valiant and valuable service at the defense of Springfield as is noted on other pages of this volume. But he incurred the suspicion and fell under the ban of the "Regulators," as a sympathizer with and an aider and abettor of crime and criminals, and was taken from his family and made to yield up his life as a penalty.

Capt. Phillips lived about two miles northeast of Cave Springs. Early one morning about the 23d of May, in this year (1866) he was at his corn-crib getting corn to feed his stock. A night or two before, the "Regulators" had met in secret conclave, passed sentence of death upon him and detailed three men to carry it out. These three men had come to the captain's premises about daylight and secreted themselves near the stable, where they knew he would come early to attend to his "chores." The particulars here given have been obtained from a man, a resident of Cass township, and who says he knows they are true!

About sunrise Capt. Phillips appeared, and, entering his crib, began husking corn. He was unarmed, and the first intimation he received of danger was when, on looking up, he saw three formidable looking revolvers covering him through the cracks between the logs of the crib. Two of the "destroying angels" kept him covered, while the third went to the crib door and ordered him out. He obeyed and was placed between two of the men, each of whom held him by an arm, while the other followed in the rear. They had proceeded only about twenty feet toward the gate leading to the timber, whither they were carrying him, when Capt. Phillips, who was a man of great strength, jerked loose from his captors and started to run. He ran about thirty feet and stumbled and fell over a hog that chanced to lie in his way. As he rose to his feet he was shot by two of the "Regulators," one of the bullets passing through his body, making three, distinct bullet holes. As a stable stood between the crib and the house, none of the captain's family could see and identify the assassins.

There have always been those who asserted that Capt. Phillips was put to death without just cause or provocation; that through friendship he had befriended certain men accused of crime, but that he hid never committed himself or induced others to commit a crime of which he ever shared the profits. This may be true—it may be true.

But the "Regulators" were not yet satisfied. Other victims were demanded, and so a few days later, or on the 26th of May, they visited Walnut Grove, and made prisoners of two men named John Rush and Charlie Gorsuch, who, it was said, were among the thieves and robbers that had so long terrorized the country. The two accused were taken out and in less than an hour their dead bodies swung and swayed in the soft May breezes, and there were but few who cared to honor their memory or express regret either at the fact or the manner of their taking off.

From members of the "Regulators" willing to give information for the purposes of history, it has been learned that Rush and Gorsuch were ex-members of the Federal militia. Gorsuch had married, Rush's daughter. A day or two after the killing of Capt. Phillips, they went to Walnut Grove and in denouncing the murder made threats against two of the "Regulators," who, they asserted, were the assassins.

It chanced that a meeting of the "Regulators" was being held on that day at the Rice school house northeast of Walnut Grove. Some parties bore word to the meeting of the presence of the two men in Walnut Grove, and their threats were repeated. The "Regulators" immediately went into executive session, passed a sentence of death on Rush and Gorsuch, and straightway proceeded to Walnut Grove to carry it out. They entered the village from four different directions, found their victims in a store, made them prisoners, carried them about a mile southwest of town, and hung them to a red-bud tree.

Other work of the "Regulators" was the assisting of Deputy Sheriff Isaac Jones in the arrest of some parties near Walnut Grove, who were charged with stealing. Seven of those arrested were confined in jail. The names of all arrested were Joseph Mullinax, Jackson Smith, Samuel Richards, Jasper Fly, James Davis, John Perryman, Donnell Cochran, and Marion Fortune. These men were arrested about the 6th of June. Some of them were afterwards bailed out, whereupon the "Regulators" published the following card, being determined that the accused should be brought to trial, without any nonsense about change of venue, continuances, and other devices incident to the " law's delay." As published, the card read:

Headquarters Regulators, Walnut Grove, June 16, 1866To the Citizens of Southwest Missouri:We, the Regulators, organized to assist in the enforcement of the civil law, and to put down an extensive thieving organization, known to exist in our midst, having succeeded in arresting and commuting to jail a number of persons charged with grand larceny, robbing and general lawlessness, whom we believe to be bad men; and finding several of them have been bailed out, thereby extending to them all opportunity of again putting into execution their diabolical purposes of robbing, plundering and murdering their neighbors: Therefore, we hereby give notice, that all persons bailing such parties out of jail will be regarded as in sympathy if not in full cooperation with such, and will be held strictly responsible for the conduct and personal appearance at court for trial, of all persons thus bailed out of jail.Emphatically by the Regulators.

After the banning of Rush and Gorsuch the "Regulators" concluded to make a display of their force and an open defense of their action. About the 1st of June 280 of them rode into Springfield, formed in a hollow square, in front of the court-house, on the public square, and organized a meeting. Speeches were made by Rev. Mr. Brown, a Presbyterian minister; Major Downing, Col. James H. Baker, and Senator J. A. Mack, sympathizing with the purposes and justifying the action of the "Honest Men's League" or "Regulators," although deploring the necessity for such an organization. On the other hand Hon. John M. Richardson and Col. John S. Phelps spoke discountenancing the "League," and condemning its action. They asserted that the civil law was all-powerful for the prevention and punishment of whatever of lawlessness there was in the country, and that all that was needed was its vigorous enforcement. They added that if the laws were not enforced by those whose duty it was to enforce them, the remedy lay in electing men who would do their duty, and not in taking upon themselves the province of court, jury, and executioner.

The meeting adjourned, but the organization existed for some time, and it is claimed did far more good than harm, though in principle it may have been far wrong. Indeed, there are those who have since expressed a wish for the re-organization of the "Regulators."


Song of the Week
After reading this story, one song comes to mind. It is a old favorite from the Eagles, recorded back in the 70's. "Outlaw Man"

Have a Good Week, and a Great Fathers Day!
Daniel

On The Edge

I guess you could say I lived on the edge during my stay as a Marine.

I ran recon missions into Vietnam, 1970. We had this crazy Captain, who had spent 3 years in Vietnam. He taught us self defense, he was a black belt 8th degree. It took every night for three months, but we were all trained when it was over. He had this theory, we should be able to kill a man in 5 seconds, with our bare hands. An ear, an eye, it did not matter, if you were fast enough, you graduated. Everyday I thought I was going to die. We learn to walk at night, with the ball of our feet, so we would not make any noise. We were silent and deadly. We would travel to our missions in three man teams. We would map and document everything we did and had seen in our missions. We would sleep during the day and travel at night. You just did not have to be physically fit to do this, but you had to be mentally strong.

I then guarded nuclear bombs after leaving Vietnam . First on ship, then we also ran them cross country. Where there is one bomb, there is also one Marine. Do not come within 50ft. of his perimeter. After warning a 2nd Lt. not to enter my perimeter one day, I broke his chops! He was later court martialed. This is a very lonely job!

I worked in the brigg for awhile, and ran hard labor prisoners. We ran the Brigg on ship for awhile, and then we ran hard labor prisoners in the Phillipines. I had a prisoner who had shot his own Company Commander in Vietnam. He turned on me one day. I now, where a scare above my right eye. I like to killed him with my nightstick when I was done with him. I guess you could say I never trusted anyone after that.

I guarded Nixon in San Clemente. I guarded an Admiral, and then a General, called orderly duty in the Marines. Presidential Guard is not fun work. The equation for this is...........you die before he does! I drank alot back then. I had made it through Vietnam, and then assigned this duty.......and again......Everyday I thought I was going to die.

I later went AWOL, working in the oil fields in west Texas, losing all my rank and spent 45 days at Treasure Island brigg in San Francisco. I actually had fun for once in my life. Working the oil rigs. You show up at 3 am in the morning with your sack lunch. If they like you, they pick you to work all day. After 10 or 12 hours you made $150 cash. That was alot of money back in 1972. Spending time in the brigg was easy work compared to everything else, it was like a holiday. We played basketball, watch TV. We would line 50 guys on one side, and 50 guys on the other, and play football, full contact, in a gravel parking lot. We were all bleeding when we finished the game. I still have scares from those games. When I left Treasure Island, they paid me 2 months pay....Cash! WE went to the Playboy Club, and had Steak and Ale.

I was later assigned to a Battalion of Vietnam Veterans at Camp Pendleton, CA. After about 4 months there, I was recruited into the "top squad in the Marine Corp" in 1972. That is the top 13 men out of 220,000 Marines. This was a squad competition among all Marines. I made back all my rank meritoriously, all of the ranks were presented by the Commanding General, 1st Marine Division. The training for this competition took 10 months. We would start our day with a brisk 20 mile run starting at 4 am. Anyway, we won this competition. I was given a gold medal for this.........but I don't know where it is!

Every person should have a chance to redeem themselves......don’t you agree? I went from this highly intriguing and thrilling lifestyle to become a nightman at a convenience store. The adjustment was hard and I was bored to death. I still am!

Next time you meet a War Veteran, you better hug him with all your might. You may not know what hell he has been through. But.....one thing is to be sure......he did it all for you!

I am so proud of my niece, Amber, who is serving at the Pentagon. We love you!

For many years I have struggled with my War experience. I think it is time to share with you some of my thoughts and feelings of that experience. For most of my life, I have lived day to day, never knowing what would happen, or how I would feel. I have come to grips with, and resolved alot of the way I feel. But.....the War will never be over for me. I will now share with you a poem I wrote some 15 years ago, this was also 20 years after Vietnam.

Old Joe

Choppered a long flight, I was dropped down at night
Scurried two clicks that night, didn't move during daylight
When morning came, wet and quiet, time to sleep the day
Three day mission 1st day routine, but I was gonna pay

Almost asleep, I heard a pop, it was far away
Boots on a branch, rustle of jungle, knew I couldn't stay
Gathered my thoughts, not to get caught, I ran...ran...ran
I'd been spotted, gun in my hand, but I was told not to stand

Twenty two miles, I ran that day, he followed me all the way
Thoughts of killing him, was on my mind, it weighed
He could run farther than me, ahead in my mind, I was not kind
Came to a clearing, I'd had enough, I let the chamber slide

Locked and loaded I sat ready, hoping his hands not steady
Dawned on me, the noise I'd make, fix bayounet, now I was ready
Intended swift and deadly, didn't know my mortal enemy
Hope he came hard and fast, time to kill, I was more savvy

I lurked out, blade in his belly, a tear in his face, I could see
My rifle butt to his face, not a word spoken, to the ground he lay be
Checked his pulse, this courageous man, dead...at peace he may be
I stayed for hours, sorting my mind, why this happened to me.

The search found pictures, wife and kids, smiling for daddy
His legs scarred and scabbed, from fighting in rice paddys
Rice and water, was all he had, this was hell
Tougher than nails, I cried, his sorrow, I didn't feel well

I killed a man, face to face, it hurt me way down inside
Leaving me like a small child, with no place to hide
I think about that man, his family and life, more today than back then
His courage and honor, I took away, left me wondering what he would have been

The blood, the sorrow, the pain, I felt then
Still hurts my mind, left hanging, like leaves on a limb
Somehow I know, and my pain shows, either he or I had to go
But time will not forget, this man I spend my life with, he's called Joe

Song of the Week

This has been one of my favorites for a long time, from the movie "Platoon", and "Adagio for Strings".

Have a Good Week

Daniel

Brother Ali

This week, NPR radio interviewed "Brother Ali". Brother Ali is a Hip Hop Rap artist, he recently released a new album "The Undisputed Truth". This story is not about his music. Although his music and words, are synonomous with other Black Hip Hop artist. The real story here is Brother Ali is a white man, not just any white man, he is Albino. Although he enjoyed "white privelege" while growing up, he does not identify with being white. "I was taken in, early on, by black folks," he says. "Those are the people who taught me the things that I needed to know to survive being who and what I am."

I found this interview quite interesting. I remember when I was in High School, we had an Albino in our classes. He was such a loner, I never saw him talk much to others. I think some, thought of him as some freak. Then later when I was in the Marines, we had a Albino in our detachement. He shun the white Marines and ran around with the Black Marines. I guess Racism and Disrimination comes in many forms. His story I found so odd!...I wish him success with his new album.

The following is a speech from Robert Kennedy, 1966. He was so brilliant, he had such perception and vision of the days that have past, and what the future must hold for all of us. This short speech highlighting rascism, slavery, war, and how we must all live together as "ONE".


Robert F. Kennedy
From the Address of Senator Robert F. Kennedy: Day of AffirmationUniversity of Capetown, South Africa, June 6, 1966
I come here this evening because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century, then taken over by the British, and at last independent; a land in which the native inhabitants were at first subdued, but relations with whom remain a problem to this day; a land which defined itself on a hostile frontier; a land which has tamed rich natural resources through the energetic application of modern technology; a land which was once the importer of slaves, and now must struggle to wipe out the last traces of that former bondage. I refer, of course, to the United States of America.
In a few hours, the plane that brought me to this country crossed over oceans and countries which have been a crucible of human history. In minutes we traced migrations of men over thousands of years; seconds, the briefest glimpse, and we passed battlefields on which millions of men once struggled and died. We could see no national boundaries, no vast gulfs or high walls dividing people from people; only nature and the works of man -- homes and factories and farms -- everywhere reflecting man's common effort to enrich his life. Everywhere, new technology and communications brings men and nations closer together, the concerns of one inevitably become the concerns of all. And our new closeness is stripping away the false masks, the illusion of differences, which is at the root of injustice and hate and war. Only earthbound man still clings to the dark and poisoning superstition that his world is bounded by the nearest hill, his universe ends at river's shore, his common humanity is enclosed in the tight circle of those who share his town or his views and the color of his skin.
It is your job, the task of the young people in this world to strip the last remnants of that ancient, cruel belief from the civilization of man.
Of those who say that hopes and beliefs must bend before immediate necessities. Of course if we must act effectively we must deal with the world as it is. We must get things done. But if there was one thing that President Kennedy stood for that touched the most profound feeling of young people across the world, it was the belief that idealism, high aspiration and deep convictions are not incompatible with the most practical and efficient of programs -- that there is no basic inconsistency between ideals and realistic possibilities -- no separation between the deepest desires of heart and of mind and the rational application of human effort to human problems. It is not realistic or hard-headed to solve problems and take action unguided by ultimate moral aims and values, although we all know some who claim that it is so. In my judgement, it is thoughtless folly. For it ignores the realities of human faith and of passion and of belief; forces ultimately more powerful than all the calculations of our economists or of our generals. Of course to adhere to standards, to idealism, to vision in the face of immediate dangers takes great courage and takes self-confidence. But we also know that only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.
It is this new idealism which is also, I believe, the common heritage of a generation which has learned that while efficiency can lead to the camps at Auschwitz, or the streets of Budapest, only the ideals of humanity and love can climb the hills of the Acropolis.

Song of the Week

Speaking of "ONE". VH1 has rated this song in the top 10 of softsensational songs of all time. Darryl Hall and John Oates - "One on One".

Have a Good Week

Daniel