New name, same snarky goodness.

I apologize that it's taken so long to get back on here and update y'all on what's been going on. Long story short, I have been contemplating a change in nom de plume for quite a while. It got tedious always explaining what "Reverse Vampyr" meant, which indicated to me it just didn't fit well.

I wanted something that spoke to my love of America and liberty as well as my penchant for hard rock. And after much deliberation, I came up with "Full Metal Patriot." To me, it's got a balls-out attitude that offers a new spin on our Founding Father's passion for independence and their "no B.S." disposition. And with everything that's happening to our beloved country being watered down and undermined by those who want to change it into a Marxist "utopia," it seemed the right time to make this name switch.

Going forward, you can find me on my new Full Metal Patriot blog as well as my new Twitter profile.

In the coming weeks, I'll be getting back to normal on posting. And I've got an exciting new project to announce in the next few months, too...

The blog formerly known as Reverse_Vampyr...

I'm currently in the process of switching my online persona, will be announcing a new blog address soon (I'm importing all my posts, so hopefully things will continue fairly seamlessly). More to come soon.

In the meantime, Happy Independence Day!

Conservatives to "Go Galt" on July 30

Back in February, I participated in the Tea Party protests here in Dallas & Ft. Worth. And I plan to attend the big July 4th Tea Party at Southfork in Dallas this Saturday.

Although I've seen a lot of placards saying "Atlas will shrug" and have heard a lot about Conservatives wanting to "Go Galt" in protest to our government's runaway spending and irresponsibility, this is the first protest I've seen intended to send a financial message to our elected representatives.

On July 30th, Conservatives are “Going Galt”.

On that date, we are asking Conservatives all across the nation to “Call in Conservative”. On July 30th, Conservatives will not work, we will not buy. Instead, we will spend time with our families and friends. We will show President Obama and Congress who REALLY drives this economy. For more information on “A Day Without Conservatives, contact Judson Phillips at judson@teapartynation.com.

Although I wince at the fact that Conservatives are following the example set by the "Day Without A Mexican" protests which 'progressives' held in favor of amnesty for illegal immigrants, this kind of economic boycott could send a strong message if enough Conservatives have the stones to go through with it. I never did see any kind of follow-up to the DWAM protests so I don't know if there was any impact whatsoever. We'll have to see how many people have the courage of their convictions.

Count me in. Or, rather, count me out on July 30. I'll be staying home and re-reading Atlas Shrugged. Check out the Tea Party Nation site for more details.

I'm not quite dead...

Those of you who've been reading this blog for any length of time know that I used to post pretty much daily. Sometimes even several posts a day.

But that was back when I had a full-time job and had the time to blog before work and during lunch. Since being laid off back in January, I spend a lot more time either looking for work or working multiple freelance jobs in order to make ends meet. Add to that the fact that I'm in the early planning stages of creating my own business (which will be announced on here shortly) and my time has been more than scarce.

Unfortunately, that's meant that blogging has taken a back seat to practicality. My posts have dwindled to once or twice a week. Rest assured, I'm not going away. In fact, this blog will be getting a new name/title and makeover soon. Thanks to those of you who keep checking back and leaving comments. Things will be picking up again.

Does government-run healthcare prove we're undeserving of liberty?

This week, ABC (the All Barack Channel) is teaming up with President Obama to blanket Wednesday's broadcast day with hours of propaganda for his communist health care proposal. And the more I think about a government-run health care system, the more I want to vomit. I cannot for the life of me understand how so many of my fellow Americans have gleefully resigned their independence en masse to a nanny-state government who is more than willing to step in and seize control of every aspect of our lives in exchange for liberty.

Is Medicare so wonderful and efficient that everyone now wants to get in line for it? Is our V.A. system a shining example of how health care should be handled? If these government programs are already rife with waste and inadequate care (and they are), why would anybody be so stupid as to believe a NEW government department will handle things any differently? Constitutionality aside, allowing the government - which is allowed to operate with deficits - to compete with private industry which must operate by the rules simply guarantees that many companies will be put out of business by the federal juggernaut. Our health care choices will decrease, our care will be rationed and decisions regarding care will be made by unelected and unaccountable government bureaucrats. Not to mention the fact that an enormous new Cabinet-level department of the United States government will ensure an ever-increasing tax debt for future generations.

While doing a little reading about the subject of liberty, I came upon an interesting quote from 17th century British poet, historian and Whig politician Thomas Macaulay:

"Many politicians are in the habit of laying it down as a self-evident proposition that no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom. The maxim is worthy of the fool in the old story who resolved not to go into the water 'til he had learned to swim."

By Macaulay's reckoning, 52% of America is loaded with people who don't know how to swim, refuse to learn, and demand that our government provide them with $1 trillion dollar water wings and a massive new bureaucracy to keep them inflated.

Sen. Barbara Boxer imitates Dr. Evil

Barbara Boxer (D) would have to work REALLY hard to beclown herself more than she did this week when she chided Brigadier Gen. for calling her "Ma'am."

Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was testifying on the Louisiana coastal restoration process in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He began to answer one of Boxer's questions with "ma'am" when Boxer immediately cut him off.

"You know, do me a favor," an irritated Boxer said. "Could say 'senator' instead of 'ma'am?'"

"Yes, ma'am," Walsh interjected.

"It's just a thing, I worked so hard to get that title, so I'd appreciate it, yes, thank you," she said.

"Yes, senator," he responded.

However, Walsh surely meant no disrespect, as military protocol advises that officers may use "sir" or "ma'am" when addressing anybody higher than them on the chain of command.

Maybe he should've just addressed her more accurately as "pretentious bitch."

Coming this fall from Government Motors...

The 2012 Pelosi GTxi SS/RT Sport Edition!

"The Letter" to our government

I've been so busy over the past week, either freelancing or getting ready for my daughter's wedding this weekend, that I just haven't had time to blog. However, this was simply too good not to pass along. It's a letter that was sent in to Glenn Beck, and it pretty much sums up how I feel about the direction our government has taken over the past few years and is currently heading under President Obama and his Democrat-led Congress.

GLENN: I got a letter from a woman in Arizona. She writes an open letter to our nation's leadership: I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?
Well, these are briefly my views and issues for which I seek representation:

One, illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. P.S., I'm not a racist. This isn't to be confused with legal immigration.

Two, the TARP bill, I want it repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you no, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal.

Three: Czars, I want the circumvention of our checks and balances stopped immediately. Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution and honor it.

Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There is more to say.

Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision. Don't you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night and then go on break. Slow down!

Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored. I want less government in my life, not more. Shrink it down. Mind your own business. You have enough to take care of with your real obligations. Why don't you start there.

Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes. Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census over with our taxpayer money. I don't trust them with our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them. If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate.

Eight, redistribution of wealth. No, no, no. I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs. That is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person. Why do you want me to hate my employers? Why ‑‑ what do you have against shareholders making a profit?

Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources. Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.

Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we'll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. Have you ever ripped off a Band‑Aid? We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us.

Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it? Let's have it. Let's say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk. Please try ‑‑ please stop manipulating and trying to appease me with clever wording. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me.

Twelve, unprecedented quick spending. Stop it now.

Take a breath. Listen to the people. Let's just slow down and get some input from some nonpoliticians on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed reading our bills into law. I am not an activist. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent. I work. I'm busy. I'm busy. I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave.

I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not. It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face. I am not laughing at your arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is such urgency and recklessness in all of the recent spending.

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on you to bring our concerns to Washington. Our president often knows all the right buzzword is unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don't want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we're morons.

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented. You think we're so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work , pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone and we are now looking up at you. You have awakened us, the patriotic spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office. We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn't ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us when hewill rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution.

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this. We don't care. Political parties are meaningless to us. Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution and that is all that matters to us now. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.

If you're like me and this letter speaks for you, check out Glenn Beck's website to show your support (and you can find out more about the letter's author, Janet Contreras).