Berlin Brigade

I get into here about the modern day versions of the Knights Templar. Under Ronald Reagan this group would have been the old Cold War Berlin Brigade unit of 6th Battalion 40th Armor and the job they had on the Iron Curtain. You could really consider this JFK's as well.

So let me assure you there is no plan to put pro Richard Nixon Republicans back in power in California. That would be just paranoid.

Intent

So I had an iteresting conversation the other day about my case. It brought up a few issues I had not thought of.

"Chris, forget that they admit in the depositions to home invasion and substance use to induce a sexual act."

"Okay" I replied.

"They brought a tape recorder to a meeting with your mother in law and used it to defame you, your wife and your mother who had nothing to do with this case."

"Yes but I was told in Arizona you can use a tape recorded conversations in court."

"Yes if a law enforcement agency has a warrant or it is a random taped converstion. But the lawyer coached them what to ask and used it is a way to attack you without giving you the ability to cross examine or object. The intent was to submit as testimony without giving you your legal rights. But let's put that aside for a bit."

"Okay"I replied.

"What is the maxium amount of an arbitration settlement in Arizona...it is $50,000 and yours was $54,000 plus correct?"

"Yes."

"It means that the attorney overseaing the laws for the case who was there on the behalf of Maricopa County was incompetent. He did not know the law so the County negligent. The attorney that represented you never contested the amount and even though he tried to severe at your divorce he was still obligated to inform the county the amount was illegal. Udall Shumway did not represent you correctly."

"Okay"

"The date rape attorney you will never see a dime from, they always hide the money in family name. He made no effort to change the dollar amount so he was guilty as well. Your job is to get these three disbarred and get restitution."

So that is where I stand.

Masonic Involvement

With the Catholic Church the process will be much simpler because the individual Diocese are more connected to the Knights of Columbus. This is not the case with the Freemasons but they can still be helpful at a different levels.

The Regular Army has made attempts to eliminate private fraternal orders over the years and that may be fine but in the 200,000 man plus Army Reserve it will be paramount in order that rouge law firms do not attempt to loot the reservist for doing his duty. It will also be paramount that unions do not use these people to perform pilot studies to determine if laws can be altered on case basis.

We have a lot of work ahead of us.

What Should Happen

So everyone thinks this is tough talk but it is not. The issue arises that if I get money so what, how does that fix or prevent this from ever happening again. The answer is fairly simple and that will require a couple of explanations.

When the incident in my case occurred and the two chaplains tried to recruit me for their church rather than enlist the help of, in this case protestant, the freemasons and that was a fundemental flaw. It told me first that they did not know how to establish that paramount relationship in our society. Second it told me the me generation could not get beyond talking about their favorite topic...themselves.

When the police tried to do the tough talk, common for males who have never been in combat or think they have when in fact they have not, this should have sent alarm bells off. The notion local law enforcement and government are exempt from suspicion is ridiculous. When I was at Twentynine it was the mayor's wife dealing meth not street people.

The Army Reserve serves a very different role than it did in its inception. It provides logistal support to a field army but it also is designed to take over civil functions at the federal level as per Ronald Reagan's design.

So there will have to me more civic involvement in the process.

Montecristo

I bought some Montecristos the othe day and they were not bad. They were a little more stong than I thought they would be. I know it sounds silly but the lighter the wrapper the milder I think it will be and in all reality there is no connection between the two.

Not a bad smoke.

11th ACR

I know several guys I was in the Marine Corps with that now support the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment as civilian technicians. We had a battalion master gunner that wore that patch at the Desert Dragons.

I know they have actually deployed this war as opposed to being just a training cadre.

San Francisco

I lived in California for three years and Arizona for another almost three and never made it to San Francisco. At some point dealing with all the nonsense of certain men acting like women in the Army Reserve I will have to deal with that City.

The City I am excited for but government nonsense I am not.

I am told it is the most like Boston inside the United States but I will have to see for myself.

Theodore Newbury

Theodore Newbury of Massachusetts died in France on August 30th, 1944 as a member of Company A 40th Tank Battalion. He was canoneer and not a tanker but this interests me enough I will look into him a bit if I can find anything.

40 Tank Battalion was an element of the 40th Armor Regiment during World War Two.

Professional Responsibility

I am listening to John Tuchi's podcast of Arizona Law's Professional Responsibility. He is a good speaker but it is odd you can hear him access his voice mail at one point.

As an aside someone made a comment to me yesterday about why I put this on the web and if it was so you had an audience so someone could not kill you? I am not that dramatic and am aware that since my interogation in 2006 I know I am on a watch list anyways so no it would not really be needed.

To Mr Cotee it was a pleasure to meet you as well.

Lincoln's Cavalrymen

I am not going to turn this into Mounted Valor but I do want to cover it was four years ago I read Lincoln's Cavalrymen by Edward Longacre. Great book that packs the whole thing into itself but it can be dry unless you are into the subject. I burned through it in about three days while in Tampa.

This books tells you how the process worked as well as the campaigns so you know how they got and maintained the horses.

If you slip into wicked history nerd phase this is a good one.

Grateful Dead

So I am listening to the Grateful Dead and I am enjoying it. Most people think that it is a Democrat thing and nothing could be further from the truth. In fact the son of a man that ran for Governor of Maine that I know enjoys their music as well and they are as GOP as they get.

The notion is ridiculous anyways because LBJ, the architect of the Vietnam War and the race riots of poverty, was a Democrat. The protests ended when Nixon ceased the Draft. So in reality, Nixon a Quaker, was far more of a Dead Head.

Just food for thought.

Celtic Cross

A friend of mine had this painting on her blog today. I like Tammy Ricker's work so I thought I would highlight it today.

Gary Seven

Perhaps my favorite from the original Star Trek is the charcter of Gary Seven. Great concept for a show but it was obvious it was designed to spin off as its own show.

Pima Air and Space Museum

I got a chance to go to the Pima Air and Space Museum yesterday. Walking around it reminded me of the tank park at Fort Huachuca but it was fun.

The space stuff and the the SR 71 was good and everything there was interesting including the Army helicopter that used to shuttle the President before Marine One took that job under Kennedy.

All in all it was a great time.

The Edge

I woke up the other night and caught The Edge on televison with Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins from 1997. I forgot how good a movie that was and how well it was filmed.

Issues On My Mind...

So there are two issue I have to get my head around. One being Stare Decisis and the other being Jurisprudence Constante. Both deal with precedents but one is criminal only for the most part.

So my journey begins.

Camacho Triple Maduro

So another great cigar is the Comacho Triple Maduro. What I like about it is that is ends exactly the way it begins and if you smoke cigars you know how hard that is to achieve.

The price is not bad for the quality and it is bit on the heavier side. All in all a great smoke.

The Below Post

I was a regular at that place but was not there that night I was across the street at my place. When I went into the QT, a gas station market type place, there were two men in their twenties with short haircuts. I asked them if they had been in the service and they told me they had both been Marines and in Iraq and were working there trying get jobs with the county.

"Do you feel that?" I asked.

"You can cut it with a knife someone is going to get killed tonight" one of them replied.

A couple hours later I went back in and they told me what had happened. That was a weird night.

A Night I Remember Well

10/19/2007 12:01:00 AM
Man shot, killed at Barnacles
Police: No charges to be filed in incident

By Ryan Crawford
Staff Writer

NORCROSS - A regular patron at the Barnacles restaurant in Norcross was shot and killed early Thursday morning.

The homicide is the 41st in Gwinnett this year - the most the county has ever seen, said Ted Bailey, the chief forensic investigator at the Gwinnett Medical Examiner's office.

"And we've still got 2 1/2 months to go," Bailey said Thursday.

The old record was 40 homicides in 2006.

Detective Jason Carter of the Norcross Police Department said he doesn't expect any charges to be filed in Thursday's shooting death of Juan Ojeda, a 54-year-old Spanish man who regularly goes to Barnacles to play pool.

Ojeda appeared to have been drinking when he entered the restaurant just after midnight and he went to the patio where he asked to join a group of four people who he did not know. The group agreed, but Ojeda soon got on their nerves, Carter said.

When one member of the group said something to Ojeda, he became angry and hit one person and bit another in the neck. Restaurant workers separated the group and Ojeda left and went to his car. Ojeda returned 30 to 40 minutes later with a pistol in hand, Carter said.

People on the deck scattered and one of the patrons had a gun of his own, which he fired as he tried to get away. Carter said it was not an "aimed" shot, but it struck Ojeda in the head, killing him.

The shooter had a concealed weapons permit, and Carter said everything appeared to be in order with that gun.

The general manager of the Norcross Barnacles said he was very surprised by the incident - one his restaurant has never experienced before.

Brain Salad Surgery

My friend Phil got me into Emerson Lake and Palmer in the early 1980s and I still have a taste for it from time to time. This was really the basis for a lot of Phil's piano work in my opinion.

Happy 150th!

I just realized it was a one hundred and fifty years ago that the American Civil War started. Seems like only 145 but hey time flys. The good news is this means no one remembers anyone involved anymore the bad news is the same.

I do the support the Civil War Preservation Trust from time to time.

Smith's Olde Bar

I found my RTR Smith's Olde Bar shirt yesterday and wore it to the gym.

1st Battalion 40th Armor

The 1st Battalion 40th Armor came from the old Company A 40th Armor out of Alaska. During 1963 it was moved to there and in 1965 the unit was used in a series of nerve agent tests.  It finally left its assignment to the 171st Infantry Brigade in 1972.

It was reactivated and redesignated the 1st Battalion in 1978 and stationed at Fort Polk, Louisianna until 1987. Then the unit did a brief stint at Fort Hunter Ligget in California from 1996-1997.

So the 1st Squadron that is is in Alaska now is no stranger to the region.

Wah Ming Chang

Wah Ming Chang was the designer of the Gorn costume on the original Star Trek. He is also credited with the communicator but not the phaser as so often is incorretly attributed to him.

He did a bunch of dinosaur and nature statues after Star Trek. He was the right age for World War Two but did not go due to it looks like polio. Wah Ming is truley one of the great heros of Star Trek and most people have no idea who he was.

2nd Battalion 40th Armor

So the question arises if the chains represent communism is part of it the DMZ in Korea? The 2nd Battalion 40th Armor was stationed there in the 1950s as part of the 1st Cavalry Division.

That is the odd part about symbolism is that so many things can fit. In this case the second chain may not be Nazism at all but represents the fight of both sides of the Communist equation during the Cold War in Germany and Korea.

Just food for thought.

The 40th Crest

Okay so it has come to my attention that the 40th Armor Cavalry crest might have another meaning. The lion and the tree is the same. The grate represents West Berlin as the city and 40th Armor were completely surrounded. The chains represent the tyranny of Nazism and Communism.

This would make sense but I am not sure what year the crest was designed and if it was ammended. The shield would be from World War Two as it is used also in the 709th Tank Battalion's own unit sheild.

Solving these is a true exercise in historical knowledge and research.

The 40th Shield

The Shield of the 40th Armor/Cavalry is more symbolic of the regiment rather than a story of historical events.

The T Rex represents Armor because of its scaley hide

The Sword is Excalibur of King Arthur fame.

I think the lizard tounge of blue is a reference to the Great Seal of America and so is the light of God around the Sword. The one eye only also makes me think this another reference to the Great Seal.

Armor guards the gold at Fort Knox but this unit never held this as far as I know.



The 40th Crest

So I do get into deciphering the regimental stuff I have had. The 40th Armor/Cavalry Regiments Crest is a story of the unit in World War Two.

The lion represents the 40th Tank Battalion and Troop E 87th Cavalry as they were both part of the 7th Armored Division and that unit was part of the British Army twice during the Second World War.

The tree represents the 709th Tank Battalion and its action in the Hurtgen Forest. This was the longest battle in U.S. Army history.

The grate in the background was a device used to trap troops at castle doors in medievil Europe. I think this represents the Siegfried Line.

I have no idea what the chains are for.

7th Battalion 40th Armor

Remember on the orginal Star Trek when they would talk to another Federation star ship it was the exact same set but the captain's chair was different. This was needed in case you were such a moron you could not figure out the different actors were not regular cast members.

Well I was in the 8th Battalion 40th Armor in Southern Arizona but there was another reserve tank battalion called the 7th Battalion 40th Armor that was out of Southern California somewhere. It was always assigned to the 63rd Infantry Division but other than that I assume it was the same thing.

I have never met anyone who was in this unit but did know they guy who owend Dominoes on Twentynine Palms had been in the 1st Battalion 40th Armor on active duty in California.

Maybe the chairs were different there.

Atlanta

I have been thinking about Atlanta lately and I am not sure why. There are several songs that make think of that city.

Kids by MGMT

Add It Up by The Violent Femmes and Gone Daddy Gone as well.

I am not really sure about the first one but the other two used to be on the juke box at the Norcross Tavern when I hung out there several years back. The crowd tended to be into that kind of music after 10 pm when you can smoke in bars.

Atlanta is like Florida with kind of a New York thing going, it is hard to explain but it is unique.

Joseph Pevney

Yes I was into Star Trek and my favorite episode was Arena directed by Joseph Pevney. He grew up in New York City and started in vaudville at 12 years old. He was jewish and considered a leftist but never was accused by Hollywood of being a communist.

This leads me to think he might have been part of the spy network trying to route out the communists. The jews were fully aware of what was happening and had happened to them in Russia so it would be no suprise but there is no evidence one way or the other.

He was a Staff Sergeant in the United States Army Signal Corps during the Second World War.

All told he directed fourteen Star Treks and that makes him alright in my book.

Coatsville

A great example of what I just talked about in the previous post is at the Coatsville VA Medical Center in Pennsylvania. There is a hidden monument to combat veterans on the campus. Once the crowd has figured out your deal they reveal to you where it is.

It is an honor actually.

Man and his Symbols

Years back when I was in my early to mid thirties I got intoduced to some good stuff from a couple of older people in Massachusetts.

One was Man and His Symbols by Carl Jung and two was The Gift of Fear by Gavin DeBecker. They were introduced to me as I entered very urban areas and they help people make sense of the constant sensory overload you get at that point of your life.

Man and his symbols gets into the interconectivity of man. This can be mistaken for other things if you don't learn what it is. Symbols and the ability to direct man to them are ancient skills we have and this is really what the beehive concept in freemasony and the fish symbol is in christianity.

When in heavy urban areas, especially very metropolitan, there are layers apon layers of groups and hidden agendas that predate modern advertising. This was designed for a variety of reasons but in the case of fraternal orders it determines if you are part of the group or you are trying commit fraud or hustle people. A great issue is many of the fraternites used to offer aid to fellow members and certain people would lie and take advantage of that.

So it not psychic behavior or anything supernatural as many will try and lead you to believe it is simply a way of double checking peoples behaviors.

The Three Phases of Led Zeppelin

Years ago Phil Lee, Ollie Hammerle and I were sitting around drinking tea after a party at his place when we got into a discussion about Led Zeppelin. Their music was on the stereo and all of us were getting into it.

"You know there are three phases to Led Zeppelin" Ollie exclaimed.

"Three phases Dude?" Phil mused.

"The first phase is when you are young and it is Robert Plant's voice that gets you. It is unique and realy just grabs you but then you get sick of that."

We shook our heads in understanding.

"The second is the lyrics and that comes a couple of years later. You have had girlfriends and problems so the blues aspect gets you" Ollie offered.

Again we looked at him as if he had the wisdom of a Chinese Shaman.

"The third is around 19 or twenty and you realize how mechanically well the actual music is composed. These guys were truely just great musicians."

All three of us shook our heads in agreement because it was settled.

The Second Korean War?

Yesterday I ran into a man that was retired from The United States Army and was a veteran of the 7th Infantry Division campaign in Korea of 1968-1969. He was not affilaited with the Desert Dragons but that got me to thinking about how I found out about this weird part of history.

Prior to my joining the 8th Battalion 40th Armor they used to wear 7th Infantry Division Patches and were to my knowledege never called up to go to Korea but still wore that patch. They switched to the 63rd Division patch sometime in the 1980s.

We had a cook that wore a 2nd Infantry Division Combat patch, worn on the opposite shoulder of your current unit, and I asked how it was possible he was old enough to have it. He went on to explain it was for the Second Korean War not the first and that it was a common question.

In 1968 the North Koreans started a series of attacks on the DMZ to add pressure to the United States already bogged down in Vietnam with the Tet Offensive at the time. In the end LBJ backed down but did call 100,000 reservists, mainly Air Force, up to bolster Asia as a whole with around 7000 going to Korea.

So the Vietnam War really was a two campaign conflict just the second did not get that much media coverage.

Wasted Statesmen part II

So who were the Wasted Statesmen? It was me and Phil Lee back in 1983. It was a fun time and he did actually add some Statesmen to the Mustic Funk stuff on some of the tapes. I think Veto The Right To Be Naked made into there as well.

A friend of mine said that before we were Dead Heads we were Star Trek Heads. I am not sure that is the right term but it works for me.

So instead of Steal Your Face it must be Steal Your Space. Sorry coudn't resist.

Here were some of our influences.

Wasted Statesmen

I still get in to the Dead every once in a while. I pay homage to this with my several tye dyed shirts I have to include this one here that is my favorite.

I just got out of the gym for this one although they caught me with my eyes closed. In Maine I have a Steal Your Face in one of the windows. My friend asked if that was so the fire department could find the aging hippies. I guess it is.

The Weekend

I spent some time at Jerry's Cigars and Anthony's both in Tucson. Did not really try anything new but did have a Oliva V and those are always good.

Still in Arizona for the fight and getting more motivated every day. I am going to bring back the music stuff here at some point as well.

I am morally obligated to see this through the finish and prepare everyday for the attack.

EL REY DEL MUNDO

I found a new mid price cigar that I like and that is the EL REY DEL MUNDO. Not a bad smoke and it comes wrapped in tissue and that is not something I had seen before. Medium but not a smooth creamy finnish (sorry Dave couldn't resist) but all around a good stick.

The Smoking Dragon

I am going to give this a try here so let's see how it works out.