Happy Memorial Day — Rah, Rah

May 27, 2013

By: Paul Seymour, Director of Client Services

Happy Memorial Day up there in the formerly great America.   Last week I mentioned that I came from an old military family, very honestly not remembering that Memorial Day was just a week later.  I guess that’s part of my current live-day-to-day mentality – which has evolved over the past decade – while transitioning out of the industrialized world, to a large degree.  I was reminded during the week when I heard that the Indy 500, and Monaco Grand Prix were coming up.

On this day, I truly enjoy remembering those people, who risked both theirs, and their family’s lives to take up arms against the then most powerful nation on earth, in order to obtain freedom from tyranny.  At the risk of boring you to death, I’m going to take this moment to make use of my extensive historical research.  A good example being my 8 times great grandfather, Capt. Matthew Seymour, who founded Ridgefield, Ct in 1708 before being called back to Norwalk (founded by my 9 times great grandfather Robert Seymour) to be a Select Man.  Then there is my 6 times great grandfather, Samuel Seymour, who was elected to the Committee of Safety of Greenwich Ct around 1775, and which led the Army during the Revolutionary War, reporting directly to the Continental Congress.  He and his oldest son both had their properties burned to the ground by the British, which I’m assuming wasn’t very comfortable for Grandma Sarah (Betts), putting the lives of their families at stake too. 

All three of his sons, including my 5 times great grandfather, William Seymour, fought as corporals and privates in the war.  His youngest son, Samuel, was KIA.  One of Samuel’s hundreds of cousins who fought, and otherwise participated in the war, was Maj. Thomas Youngs Seymour (1757-1811), Revolutionary War dragoon, and son of the first mayor of Hartford.  

After the surrender of British General Burgoyne, he was selected by Gen. Gates to escort the captive general to Boston, and therefore is included in Turnbull’s painting of Burgoyne’s surrender, which hangs today in the rotunda of the Capitol building.  I’ve recently considered trying to get a petition started to have it removed, as I don’t want his memory disgraced by hanging over a body that currently represents the antithesis of what he, and so many others sacrificed so much to create.

Later was my great-great grandfather, Alvin Cuyle, who fought in the 144^th infantry regiment in the civil war.  The unit arrived back home 3 years later with 50% casualties.  A cousin, General Truman Seymour, was one of the only guys who was at both the initial, and final battles of the war, and was ironically the Governor of Florida based in my long-time home of Jacksonville, Florida, which he conquered.  At this same time, a couple more cousins, Horatio and Thomas Seymour were the respective governors of both New York and Connecticut.  They were both staunch Jeffersonians, and ex-soldiers, with Thomas having had led battles in the Mexican War.  Both fiercely opposed the civil war, as they believed in strong states’ rights, and weak central government.  Too bad nobody listened, and here we are now trying to deal with the statists.

Trust me, I could go on and on, and on, but will spare you, and stop with my grandfather, William Paul Greene – jarhead name, Willy P. Greene.  (Those guys have a sense of humor, don’t they?  I’m not sure if his nickname should be followed by a question mark, or if it’s a statement.)  He was a grunt in the first waves of the invasions of both Peleliu   (http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batalla_de_Peleliu  The National Museum of the Marine Corps called it “the bitterest battle of the war for the Marines”) and Okinawa, walking away without any physical wounds, although he did say that he had a troop carrier shot out from under him.  I’ve tried to imagine that, but it’s impossible.  A sudden sucking whoosh, loud boom, and suddenly you’re gobbling sea water with bullets spraying around you, and probably trying to get your head back together after the adrenaline rush of a lifetime, and feeling around with your hands hoping to find your ass, among other crucial parts, in order to make sure they’re still intact.  Although he was lucky, and walked away without any physical wounds, what he saw during those days certainly did some psychological harm.

Therefore, nowadays whenever any holiday comes along, it makes me sick to my patriotic stomach to see the worship of the MIC, and the perpetual, unnecessary wars they create and prolong through their financial control of career politicians in Congress.  I usually have to change the channel.  I certainly don’t blame the soldiers for carrying out their orders, but I have loads of blame for those who are setting policy in order to benefit a small minority financially, and boost their sociopathic egos with a sense of power, as they sit in their bunkers in Washington, safe and sound. I mean, when did Thanksgiving, for example, become all about military worship?  It wasn’t that way when I was a kid. 

Now you see why I had to tell you up front about my pride in my military family.  It shuts up the morons who want to try and call me unpatriotic for not mindlessly falling in goose-step along with the brain-washed sheeple.  Even the two mercenaries who I mention last week openly admitted that Afghanistan is lost, and that the US can’t logically justify the US’ continued presence there.  Those guys’ opinions, I trust.

Switching Gears

Let me change the subject a bit.  Yesterday, I continued a long family tradition of watching the Indianapolis 500, considered by most as one of the greatest, and most traditional races on Earth.  As a result, I’d like to give a huge call to my fellow countryman Carlos Muñoz, of right here in Bogotá.  At the ripe old age of 21, he set a record at the 97 year old “American” classic by being the youngest driver to qualify on the front row.  Keep in mind he was also a rookie.  I don’t mean that it was only his first Indy 500, but it was his first Indy car race ever.  Damn. Then he ran a flawless race, and finished second.  The announcers even admitted that if the race hadn’t been stopped 2 laps early by a caution, he was the guy most likely to win.  In the after race interview, he apologized to his countryman for not winning, and having to settle for second.  Unbelievable.  Not bad for a kid from a country that only has 2 race tracks that I know of.

His future is scary bright.  He looks poised to outperform another countryman, Juan Pablo Montoya, who walked away with the 2000 Indy 500 by the widest margin in modern history, and on his first and only attempt.  He also won the Indy car series championship (CART), and the 24 hours of Daytona, both also on his first attempt, as well as the Monaco Grand Prix, and was walking away with the NASCAR Indy race before an official robbed him of it.   That, people, puts him in the same category as Mario Andretti, and A. J. Foyt, although I’ll bet you’ve possibly never heard of him, while Mario and AJ are household names.  Is that evidence of biased reporting in the US?

Eddie Cheever, a former US driver, whose son was one of the few American winners of the Indy 500 in the past 15 years, was announcing the event.  He was trying hard to get a patriotic sensation going, by pointing out that an American hadn’t won for a long time, and that maybe this year would be the year a United Statian pulls it off.  I looked it up, and in the past 15 years, only 2 US citizens have won.  During that same period three Brazilians and a Colombian have won the race, along with guys from several other countries.  Is it coincidence that this turn around has occurred during the same time that the US has been quickly going fascist in its politics?  A period when former American innovation and creativity has been getting squelched by statist policies?  The masses manipulated into believing that their patriotic duty is to shut up and pay taxes?  Scare tactics like indefinite detention, Presidential assassination of citizens without trial, and confiscation of assets of citizens without due process?

It’s not just racing.  Look at golf, tennis, even US domination of basketball is getting challenged.  Maybe it’s just coincidence, the timing, but I don’t think so.  I think when Americans gave up their control of their government, they went into a downward spiral that it may not pull out of.  The future, it appears, lies in countries in which the people had previously learned the benefits of the now-dead American-style personal freedoms, like many countries in Latin America, home of current and future Indy 500 champions.  

Therefore, Happy MIC Worship Day to the Sheeple, and I hope you wake up soon.

Thanks for giving me a read, and best of luck on this day of remembrance to our now 30,000+ daily readers, the vast majority of which, I realize, don’t fall under my definition of sheeple.

P.S. – That reminds me, as I’m wound up and feeling inspired, I’ll go ahead and prepare lesson #3 of ORC to help de-program those who’ve been bombarded with this governmental misinformation for so long.  We’ll be taking a look at FATCA, and Rand Paul’s heroic stand to actually uphold his oath to protect the Constitution against insurmountable odds thanks to the majority of Congressmen who blatantly despise the Constitution they’ve taken a meaningless oath to protect.