FROM THE EDITOR

March 20, 2006

Making Citizens: The Case for Patriotic Assimilation

Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has the right to concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.
George Washington
By the very nature of the principles upon which it is established, the United States—more than any other nation in history—beckons to its shores the downtrodden, the persecuted, and all those 'yearning to breathe free.' With only a very few exceptions, America has always welcomed immigrants who come to this country honestly, with their work ethic and appreciation of liberty, seeking the promises and opportunities of the American Dream.
At the same time, there is also the legitimate concern that large numbers and concentrations of foreigners, and the ideas and influences they bring with them to this nation, exacerbate the risk of factional and sectional conflict and potentially undermine the civic culture, republican institutions, and national identity vital for free government in the United States.
http://www.heritage.org/Research/PoliticalPhilosophy/fp3.cfm?renderforprint=1

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure."
Albert Einstein

PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES, EDITORIALS AND OPINIONS

Iran Threatens U.S. With 'Harm and Pain'

From our friends at the Terrorism Research Center (http://www.terrorism.com)

Iran threatened the United States with "harm and pain" Wednesday for its role in hauling Tehran before the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program. But the United States and its European allies said Iran's nuclear intransigence left the world no choice but to ask for Security Council action. The council could impose economic and political sanctions on Iran. The statements were delivered to the 35-member board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is meeting to focus on Tehran's refusal to freeze uranium enrichment.
http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=WarReports&file=index&v iew=1047

Air Security's Latest "F"

By Robert W. Poole, Jr.
The latest bin Laden tape was a grim reminder that terrorists are still probing for our weaknesses. So last month's 9/11 Commission report giving airline passenger-screening an "F" is a kick to the gut.
Why do our airports remain vulnerable? It's not lack of resources: The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) earned that "F" despite spending nearly its entire $5.5 billion budget last year on passenger and baggage screening.
Nor is screening the only problem area. Access to planes and the tarmac, either through the airport fence or by thousands of on-airport workers, remains a weak point. We still don't check most carry-on luggage for explosives. And the security measures we've added — baggage-inspection machines, more checkpoints — make for more crowds, a likely suicide-bombing target.
http://www.reason.org/commentaries/poole_20060131.shtml

Drowning Investigations

By GARY HAUPT
On a lake in Missouri, investigators made a grisly discovery. They found a white male floating with a heavy boat anchor attached to him with a rope. The subsequent autopsy revealed that someone killed him and dumped his body into the water. Eventually, authorities arrested a suspect who later was convicted of murder.
Another case involved a man who was accidentally ejected from a boat traveling at a high rate of speed on a Missouri lake. Apparently, he hit his head, became unconscious, and drowned, disappearing below the surface of the water. The incident occurred in the main channel of the lake, which measured over .5 mile wide and varied from 70 to 110 feet deep. A witness could not closely identify the location of the accident, hampering investigators’ attempts to locate the victim. To further complicate matters, the area had a substantial amount of underwater timber that remained from before the formation of the lake. Authorities made numerous attempts to recover the man’s body by dragging, scuba diving, and using canines—all of these methods proved unsuccessful. Five years later, the remains of a decomposed foot wearing a sock and a tennis shoe surfaced and began floating in the approximate area of the lake where the man’s body disappeared. Authorities identified the sneaker as the one worn by the victim before the accident. Decay was well advanced, and the joint at the ankle had completely rotted away, allowing the foot to float free from the body. Although most corpses come to the surface during the decomposition process, this case probably represented one of the rare instances in which a body remains entangled in some type of underwater obstruction, such as timber or brush
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2006/feb2006/feb2006leb.htm#page14

BREAKING NEWS FOR THE PROFESSIONAL

Somali pirates deny U.S. navy vessells attack

Somali militiamen who skirmished with U.S. Navy vessels claimed today they did not fire the first shot and that they had been patrolling Somali waters to stop illegal fishing vessels.
On Saturday, two U.S. Navy ships exchanged gunfire with suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, killing one suspect and wounding five others.
It said that the incident took place on international waters and the Navy had taken 12 suspects, including the wounded, into custody after the gunbattle.
http://www.andnetwork.com/app?service=direct/0/Home/$StorySummary$0.$DirectLink$1&sp=l25036

Senate panel unlikely to recommend taking FEMA out of DHS

The Senate committee investigating the response to Hurricane Katrina is not expected to recommend pulling the Federal Emergency Management Agency out of the Homeland Security Department, despite calls from some lawmakers to do so.
“The problem is a failure of leadership. Those who want FEMA out miss the point that we still would have inadequate leadership and a lack of resources,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=1598146

Saved by 'sand' poured into the wounds

DETECTIVE Danny Johnson was on patrol outside Tampa, Florida, when a report came through of a possible shooting in a junkyard three blocks away. Arriving on the scene, he found an elderly man sitting on a tractor, with a large hole in his leg that was bleeding profusely.
Realising it would be some time before the ambulance arrived, Johnson opened a packet of sand-like material and poured it into the wound. Within seconds the bleeding had practically stopped, and the man survived. "The medic told me that had I not put the substance in there, the guy would probably have bled out and died," he says.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18925435.800-saved-by-sand-poured-into-the-wounds.html

French Police Subdue Riots Over Jobs Law

Police loosed water cannons and tear gas on rioting students and activists rampaged through a McDonald's and attacked store fronts in the capital Saturday as demonstrations against a plan to relax job protections spread in a widening arc across France.
The protests, which drew 500,000 people in some 160 cities across the country, were the biggest show yet of escalating anger that is testing the strength of the conservative government before elections next year.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060319/D8GEISGO0.html

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Saudi official says al-Qaida not yet defeated

Saudi Arabia’s interior minister said on Sunday the kingdom’s war against al-Qaida was not over, even after the death of top leaders of the group’s Saudi wing.
“The battle with them is not finished,” Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz told state-run television. “You never know, some new leaders might emerge,” he added.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10596707/

On Scene: How Operation Swarmer Fizzled

Not a shot was fired, or a leader nabbed, in a major offensive that failed to live up to its advance billing
Four Black Hawk helicopters landed in a wheat field and dropped off a television crew, three photographers, three print reporters and three Iraqi government officials right into the middle of Operation Swarmer. Iraqi soldiers in newly painted humvees, green and red Iraqi flags stenciled on the tailgates, had just finished searching the farm populated by a half-dozen skinny cows and a woman kneading freshly risen dough and slapping it to the walls of a mud oven.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1174448,00.html

Roadside Bomb Kills Seven in Pakistan

Suspected Islamic militants set off three bombs Sunday, one of which exploded near a police van and killed seven people in northwestern Pakistan, officials said.
The two other bombs damaged walls of a police station and a government building.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060319/D8GEOL680.html

Declassified notes offer glimpse into al-Qaida

Recruits at Osama bin Laden’s terrorist training camps in Afghanistan were clamoring for suicide missions against the United States more than a year before the Sept. 11 attacks, according to al-Qaida documents declassified by the U.S. Defense Department.
One document published on the Pentagon Web site this week contained rare criticism of bin Laden from an al-Qaida operative, who accused the terrorist leader of monopolizing decision-making and ignoring advice.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11881112/

FRANKS REVIEW

Service Equipment Review:

Baker Batshield: Portable Cover

While I was at SHOT Show I met the good folks from Baker Batshield. Now, I have to tell you up front: a "Batshield" was just a little too movie-television-comic book sounding for me to take seriously... at least at first. After spending some time in the booth with them talking about the background, construction, transport, deployment, etc., I started to think that maybe there was a real practical use for this Batshield thing. But, being the cynic that I am, I also recognized that I was in their booth at SHOT Show and the sales hype was coming on strong. So, before I committed to writing anything, I followed up with them after the fact... and invited them to do a demonstration at my range. I invited representatives out from several agencies and watched for their reactions to the presentation as well. After all was done and said, I'm a believer.

The Baker Batshield was developed by a veteran NYPD officer who identified some of the restrictions and challenges present when using only hard ballistic shields. Additionally, he wanted to create a portable armor system that would be advantageous for the patrol cops as well: not just SWAT (or ESU for NY) or other special units. What he ended up inventing is a folding, relatively light-weight, transportable, multi-use soft armor system that I believe is ideal for patrol officer use - as well as Immediate Response deployment use for specialized units, plain clothes units, etc.

The rest of the story: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/evals/other/bakerbatshield.htm

Recreational Equipment Review:

Fixed & Folding Knives For The Field

So, once or twice each year I tend to inventory my gear so that I can be sure of maintenance, availability, etc. when I start planning day and weekend outings. This year, as spring is almost upon us, and camping trips with the kids are being planned, I was performing my inventory. While doing this, my oldest son asked me several questions about knives, their use in the field, desirable features, etc. After reminding him that I'm far from being an edged weapons expert, we discussed the different strengths and weaknesses of fixed blade knives versus locking folders. The end result was that we came up with a selection of knives - currently "in inventory" that we would be comfortable taking into the field with us, recognizing that the knives had better be able to perform as required or we may suffer in the long run.

Being in that frame of mind already, I thought this might be a good time to have a brief discussion about those desirable features of each type (fixed and folding), and to examine some of the knives that have proven themselves worthy of our trust.

The rest of the story: http://www.borelliconsulting.com/recevals/toolknife/fieldknives.htm

CHAPLAINS CORNER

FAITH...
is the assurance of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see
and the conviction of their reality -- faith perceiving as real fact that which is not [yet]
revealed to the senses. (Hebrews 11:1 Amplified Bible)

Most of us embarked upon the career of Peace Keeping with the certainty inside
us that we could do this job. There was as yet no proof that we could do it... there
was no sense perceptible evidence. Others around us did not believe that we
could or should make the effort to become a Peace Keeper. Ahhhh... but we knew!
... and no one could dissuade us from the effort to bring our dream to reality. In my
case not even physical obstacles nor professional opinions were able to deter me.

Peace Keepers are a very different type of people from the rest of the herd of
humanity. There are some things that we just know but that we cannot yet prove to
anyone else. I knew before the first oath of office that I could do the job and do it
extremely well. I knew that I would be one of the best... I knew that was where I was
designed to fit... but initially I could not prove it to anyone. Now almost 44 years later
the proof of the past is there to read. Success has been attained. Thousands of
violators have been processed through the court system for minor and major
infractions. Thousands of deaths have been handled in the course of my duties, first
as an investigator... then as a chaplain.... and millions have been kept safe on our
resort strip as the rest of the chaplains and I worked with the law enforcement
officers on walking beat patrol.

http://blackwaterusa.com/btw2006/articles/032006chaplain.html

Be Blessed(a condition to be envied by the world).
Be Successful. Be SAFE.
VSP ALUMNI 757-431-2190
Chaplain D.R.Staton, VBPD (Don, C1)
chpln1@verizon.net

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