Remembering those who sacrificed for freedom

Remembering those who sacrificed for freedom

In the battle between the forces of the State and the lovers of freedom, there is a seemingly unending list of casualties on the pro-freedom side. Each week news reaches my ears of another one or two. I don't intend to let their sacrifices be forgotten, even if I do not know all their names. Even when the sheer numbers prevent an intimate knowledge of all their circumstances.

Most of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for your liberty never knew they would. They died just going about their own lives as they saw fit. People like Kathryn Johnston, Oscar Grant, Aiyana Jones, Isaac Singletary, and Sean Bell. In fact, their biggest connection to your liberty is that they were killed, murdered, by those who are the sworn enemies of liberty in all its forms. Their sacrifice is defined more by their enemy than it is by any other connection to those of us who strive for true justice and liberty for ALL.

Then there are those who have not been killed for standing up for liberty, but who have been imprisoned, or otherwise "legally" punished. They are still casualties of the war on your freedom. Some of them knew what they were getting in to, and others may have never intended to stand up for your rights, but once again, those who oppose liberty drew the line and these other people ended up on our side of it, whether that was their intention or not. People like Cory Maye, Len Savage, Ed Brown, Marc Emery, Larken Rose, Julian Heicklen, George Donnelly, John Stagliano, Wayne Fincher, and so many more that I did not mention. Their sacrifice is no less real.

My sincerest thanks to all of them, known and unknown.
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An Albuquerque neighborhood is facing groundwater contamination from jet fuel, millions of gallons of the stuff, that has leaked from pipes at Kirtland Air Force Base. And these are the same people, the Federal government, who think they have the authority to tell the rest of us how we should sacrifice in order to protect the environment? I don't think so. Damage to property calls for restitution. From the individuals who are accountable (or their survivors or replacements), to be paid from their own pockets, and not from "tax" funds.