A Comedian To Lecture Our Troops

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Mike McNeff

I decided I was being a little harsh on this blog lately, so I thought I’d tone it down. I shouldn’t have watched the news. You know, politicians would be the funniest people on earth if their decisions didn’t kill so many people.

The news reported that Leon Panetta, US Secretary of Defense, was going to Afghanistan to talk the troops about how their bad conduct is hurting the war effort. Hmmm, I began to wonder. How about recent decisions by our government hurting the war effort? Let me expound.

1.  Let’s start with a no brainer.  We’ve told the enemy we’re leaving. Now that’s gotta scare the Taliban into surrendering! This is especially true since the government announces every day that the Afghan security forces are not ready to defend their country.   I can see the white flags now! Oh, wait…they’re being waved by us!

2.  We support a corrupt regime. The people of Afghanistan are the victims of Karzai and his band of criminals. The people don’t support him and his government. How does our government expect to win under these conditions? The stupidity of all this is mindboggling.

2. Massive cuts in personnel and programs for all armed services.

In terms of defending our country against one threat, we’re good. In terms of defending our country against multiple threats in multiple theaters of operation, we’re screwed. We have been for at least two decades. Don’t think this going to happen? READ YOUR HISTORY!! History is our greatest teacher. If that doesn’t work for you, read The Next One Hundred Years by George Friedman. He makes predictions based on geopolitical history. Massive cuts at this dangerous time is crazy. Oh, I firmly believe we need to cut waste in the military, but that starts at the Pentagon, not with the troops and their weapons.

Our soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen are tired. Our military has the highest operations tempo in its history. Almost triple over the past. The stress on our service personnel and their families is tremendous, unnecessary and a failure of command authority.

China is going through a massive build up of their military. Russia is on a deliberate path of regaining control over the lost soviet empire and rebuilding its military strength. Iran and North Korea are getting more dangerous every day. In fact, recently Iran touted they we’re biding time because the US was cutting its military and withdrawing from Afghanistan. There was no mention of soldiers and Marines taking pictures of dead terrorists. Do you understand that Afghanistan is neighbors or near neighbors with Russia, Iran and China? They are watching what we do there…very closely.

Obama cut the F-22 program. In case you don’t know, the F-22 is a stealth air superiority fighter with cutting edge performance. Shortly thereafter, the Chinese unveiled their stealth air superiority fighter. The Russians introduced the SU 30MK, a fighter with performance equal to the F-22. This is not looking good for us to maintain air superiority in a conflict, an essential ingredient for victory.

Russia, China and North Korea are also advancing their space programs. We’re not. Obama ended our space program. It doesn’t seem to sink in to our leaders that air superiority includes space. Satellites with lasers and manned space platforms with various high tech weapons could make us blind and deaf with ease, not to mention be launching stations for current tactical and strategic weapons.

I  think you get the picture.

3.  I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating here. You can’t fight a “nice” war and expect to win. War is about destroying the enemy. That means killing him, destroying his supply capabilities, his organizational infrastructure and utterly demoralizing his supporters. Political correctness has no place in our society, let alone on the battlefield. When we run around in circles wringing our hands over pictures taken by our troops we cease being a feared military force and simply become targets.

Yes, our politicians are comedians all right. Instead of playing their silly games in Afghanistan, we need to get out now. Obama has no stomach to fight to win. There is no way for a “strategic withdrawal” with any positive result. Our government needs to face reality, toss politics aside and do the right thing…bring our troops home. They don’t need a lecture from a comedian.

Posted in Afghanistan, China, Iran, Marines, military, Obama, Panetta, Russia, soldiers, Stories, Taliban, Terrorists | Leave a comment

Another Sterling Politician Criticizes American Soldiers

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Mike McNeff

The news today reports that Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan, is also criticizing American Soldiers over the pictures with dead terrorists. Now there’s a sterling character for you! Karzai heads a government that is corrupt from the top to the bottom…with him raking off hundreds of millions of dollars from American aid and depositing the money in personal foreign bank accounts. He also is getting paid off by the opium traffickers…that would be the Taliban.

There are a lot of reasons we are not accomplishing the mission in Afghanistan, but one of the main reasons is the people of Afghanistan know the Karzai government is riddled with corruption as they are the victims of it. They don’t support the government or trust it. Our government knows this, but doesn’t do anything about it. Isn’t that wonderful? Doesn’t that just make you want to support and trust our government?

Our government is sending our fighting men and women over there to support this corruption. The soldiers all know how corrupt the Afghan government is and they don’t like it one bit…especially when a fellow soldier loses his or her life in this conflict. Can you blame  them for being cynical and angry?

So politicians like Stephen Smith and Barack Obama criticize our troops for videos and pictures they take of dead terrorists, but they don’t dare criticize Hamid Karzai for his corruption and that of his government…corruption that is contributing to the failure of the mission in Afghanistan and costing the lives of good men and women.

Remember, the soldiers and Marines who were involved in the video and picture incidents are under investigation and face charges. We all need think real hard about how despicable, hypocritical and unjust all of this is.

Posted in Afghanistan, Counter Terrorism, Marines, Obama, soldiers, Taliban, Terrorists | Leave a comment

Politicians Who Criticize Soldiers Over Videos and Pictures With Dead Terrorists

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Mike McNeff

 

Today’s headlines read:

“Defence Minister Stephen Smith says photos showing US soldiers with the remains of suspected Taliban suicide bombers in Afghanistan are ‘terrible’ and ‘contemptible’.”

“The White House has condemned as ‘reprehensible’ photographs showing US soldiers with the mangled remains of suspected Taliban suicide bombers in Afghanistan.”

We saw the same headlines when a video of US Marines surfaced showing them urinating on Taliban terrorists the Marines had just killed in a battle…which means the Taliban terrorists were trying to kill the Marines.

Those of you who follow my blog…which isn’t that many…know I try to follow the high road and give deference to all sides of an argument. So, here’s my position on these honorable politician’s statements…

FUCK YOU AND THE WHITE HORSE YOU RODE IN ON!!!!!

Stephen Smith, I find contemptible that you don’t have the balls God gave a chipmunk and I find your support of Australian  combat troops in Afghanistan to be appalling in its lack of sincerity. You idiots sent them there! Don’t even think you have any right whatsoever to criticize the finest military on the face of earth! The US Military will go anywhere, kill anyone who need to be killed (and there are a lot of people in that category), piss on them and take their pictures if they so choose! You, Sir, unless you been involved in combat arms, which you haven’t because you’ve been nothing but a low life politician all your life, can kiss their ever lovin’ asses. About that white horse…wasn’t there something about over reacting to the “Skype Scandal?” Of course you didn’t retract anything you did in that mess, even though a good man’s reputation was unjustly sullied and he was returned to duty. You just couldn’t admit you were wrong, could you?

The White House…aka Barack Obama…damn if the same facts don’t apply to you! Let me look here…excuse me while I search the record…damn, you’ve never been in the military either! You’ve never been in a battle where a bunch of terrorists tried to kill you and you survived. You’ve never felt the exhilaration of survival, being the victor and the emotion that goes with it. Why? Because you’ve been nothing but a low life politician your whole life. As the commander in Chief of the United States Armed Forces your response to all this bullshit should be… “Investigate what???!!!” And that white horse? President Obama, I’m waiting for the day your promised “transparency in government” starts to happen in your administration. You’ve been nothing but business as usual.

We sent these men and women over there and hamstrung them at every turn for political correctness, the bane of our American society. We play the mindless political games at the expense of these young people who went into combat believing in what we told them…mostly lies. More than a few have died because of strange penchant to fight nice wars, instead of just relentlessly killing the enemy like we did to Germany, Japan and Italy.

Doesn’t it sink in to those pea brains in Washington that WWII took four years and every war since then has taken no less than ten with no clear cut victory? Why? WWII was a no holds barred war. We broke their military, their society and their will. In every war since then…all the nice wars…we’ve let our society break us. I don’t think we should’ve been involved in most of the wars since WWII, but damn it, if we’re going send our young folks to war, let’s do it right and let our military do the job unhampered by political correctness. Let them go in and ruthlessly kill the enemy.

For those who don’t know, every winter the Taliban retreats to the mountains to rest, recuperate and rearm…and we let them! We don’t follow them and make them fight in the winter. We let them have their winter break. You might think this is nice of us…but this costs the lives of American soldiers and those of our allies. It also prolongs the war.

Of course, no one gives a rat’s ass about what I think…except maybe for some Marines, soldiers and Apache pilots I know…

The above may be offensive to some…tough shit…get over it. It felt good!

 

 


Posted in Uncategorized | 10 Comments

The book Cartel and the “War On Drugs” in America

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Mike McNeff

 

 

Cartel- The Coming Invasion of Mexico’s Drug Wars by Sylvia Longmire is a important book for all Americans to read. Longmire is a former intelligence analyst for the federal government, where her focus was drug enforcement. Her book lays out the problems with the past and current US drug enforcement policy and the growing threat the Mexican drug cartels pose to America’s national security. She correctly points out the primary impediment to an effective policy are the politicians at all levels of government, but most importantly the politicians in the federal government who never have formulated a strategy the coordinates the national drug enforcement effort.

Longmire’s research is detailed and accurate where it can be. Some information in the book comes from questionable sources, such as the Mexican government. Indeed, information from the US government often doesn’t jive with what the law enforcement officers in the street see, as Longmire points out.  Longmire also makes a few assumptions I don’t necessarily agree with. For instance she says the guns of choice are semi-automatic weapons and the majority of them are smuggled into Mexico from the US. The guns of choice of the Cartels are in fact fully automatic weapons, the sale of which is tightly controlled in this country. US gun dealers are not  major suppliers of this type of weapon.

The evidence strongly suggests these automatic weapons are being smuggled into Mexico from other countries and from corrupt members of Mexico’s own military along with grenades, RPGs and other military grade weapons. For sure, many of these weapons were manufactured in the US and sold to America’s allies, but it doesn’t mean they were smuggled into Mexico from the US. Of course, we unfortunately know a supplier of thousands of semi- automatic weapons that were smuggled into Mexico was none other than the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in a botched sting operation. This fact is tragic on so many levels, it is hard to comprehend the total damage that operation has caused.

Longmire does point out the irony that Mexico prohibits its citizens from owning guns. The cartels get all the weapons they want, but the average Mexican citizen can’t own a gun for self-defense. We can only guess if things would be a little different in Mexico with an armed citizenry.

All in all, Longmire has done an admirable job of exposing the growing danger to our country posed by the Mexican cartels.

I spent eight years of my life investigating drug smugglers and dealers on both the Arizona/Mexico border and the Washington State/Canadian border. I always get a feeling of frustration when I hear about the “WAR ON DRUGS.” The politicians declared the war on drugs, but they never prosecuted the war. It was and remains political pabulum.

War is defined as a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air. Wars are won by killing the enemy until they surrender or there are no enemies left. The law in the United States prohibits law enforcement from hunting down and killing drug dealers and smugglers within the borders of our country. These people must be investigated, arrested and tried in a criminal court before any punishment can be exacted upon them and death is not on the list of punishments. So, within our borders, we can never have a war on drugs.

The law doesn’t prevent the United States from hunting down and killing drug dealers and smugglers in countries that cannot or will not effectively deal with these criminal elements. The law doesn’t prevent us from destroying stock piles of drugs waiting to be smuggled into this country. Harken, I hear howls of objection to the above statements.

Consider this. The United States unilaterally uses drones to conduct air strikes against terrorists in Pakistan and, at times, Somalia. We have killed hundreds of people in these strikes. International law prohibits us from doing so, but it certainly doesn’t prevent us from doing so. Our country sent Navy SEALs into Pakistan, without permission from the Pakistani government and the SEALs shot and killed Usama Bin Laden. International law and Pakistani law prohibits those acts, but it didn’t prevent them…and neither the Navy SEALs nor President Barack Obama, the man who ordered the raid, will be prosecuted for these crimes.

If the United States wanted to, we could use drones to conduct air strikes against the drug cartels in Mexico. I guarantee the government knows where drugs are stockpiled along the Mexico border, because we knew back in the 1980s. Now the cartels operate even more in the open, so we must know. We should go in and destroy those stockpiles, if we are indeed fighting a war on drugs. There is nothing to prevent us from doing so. We should also send Navy SEALs, Delta Force, Marine Recon, Green Berets and anyone else we can think of into Mexico, Colombia and Peru to assassinate cartel leaders when we know where they are, because…you guessed it, there is nothing to prevent us from doing so.

We should also shoot down aircraft that cross our border flying at two hundred feet with no navigation lights and no flight plan at night. They are most likely drug smugglers, but they also may be terrorists carrying a tactical nuclear device. Aircraft sneaking into this country is a serious threat to national security. Most people do not know U.S. Customs actually had a plan in the 1980s to use modified and updated F-80 jet fighters to do exactly that. There is nothing to prevent us from doing so because of the national security aspect of the border violations. It’s fascinating to me that the US has never considered using military aircraft to prevent border incursions by unknown aircraft. I guess instead of being fascinated, I should be terrified!

We don’t do any of the above, because we don’t and never have fought a war on drugs. Instead, we send courageous law enforcement officers into the streets, fields, forests and deserts every day and night to enforce a crazy and sad patchwork of ineffective laws made even more ineffective by overworked prosecutors and a court system that constantly decides cases by a margin of one vote. These law enforcement officers do their best despite being hamstrung and far too many give their last full measure acting as the thumb in the dike.

This raises the question that has gained more and more traction over recent years and that question is “Should we legalize drugs?” I don’t have a definitive answer to that question, but I do believe we need an open-minded national dialogue to figure out the answer. I personally have come the conclusion that we should seriously consider legalizing marijuana. It remains the main money maker for the cartels and if we can substantially cut into their profit, we should do so. Will it cause damage to our society? Most likely, but I don’t see it doing any more damage than alcohol. I propose we legalize marijuana nationally under a two year sunset law. This means marijuana will be legal for two years and unless the law is affirmatively continued, marijuana will be illegal again. That way we can do a two year test to see exactly what effect legalizing marijuana will have on our country.

It boils down to either we actually wage war on drugs or we start seeking more effective ways of dealing the this country’s drug habit than we do now. This will require political courage and leadership, which are traits we have not seen for decades in this country. Unfortunately, the future doesn’t indicate any political courage or leadership on the horizon any time soon.

Posted in Cops & Police Families, Counter Terrorism, Democracy, Drug Cartels & Drug Smuggling, Drug Fighting Tactics, Law Enforcement Agencies, Police | 4 Comments

Interview with Author Paul Anthony

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Mike McNeff

Paul Anthony

Paul Anthony is a prolific British writer of novels, poetry and screenplays. Many readers have enjoyed his stories such as Bushfire, The Fragile Peace, The Legacy of The Ninth and The Conchenta Conundrum. Paul is also an indefatigable promoter of fellow authors. Today I’m interviewing Paul about his writing, his books and his take on authors and publishing today.

Captain Whidbey Inn

Paul and I are sitting in the bar at the beautiful and historic Captain Whidbey Inn on Whidbey Island lying off the coast of Washington State. Stephanie and Felicia    have brought Paul a cognac and I have

Feliciahave brought Paul his cognac and I have

Stephanie

my bourbon. We are enjoying our drinks, the view of Penn Cove, which now the color of royal blue with full, white clouds floating by.  We are contemplating a game of darts. Loyd and Kathleen, the owners of the Inn stopped by and chatted. They are great supporters of the Whidbey Island writers community.

There are some interesting characters in the bar tonight. Detective Inspector Billy Boyd of Scotland Yard and some of this team are here.  Robin Marlette has joined the British contingency with his group. The drinks are flowing and the group seems to be getting a little boisterous with conversation and laughter.

“Well Paul, I think we should begin

Loyd and Kathleen

the interview before it gets too loud in here.”

“If I know coppers,  it’s probably wise.

“Why don’t us tell us about your background.

“Well, Mike, I was born in Southport, Lancashire, which is a seaside resort on the north west coast of England. My dad was  a serving soldier who ended his service at the Drill Hall TA Centre on Manchester Road, Southport. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese at the fall of Hong Kong on 25th December, 1941 and released by the Canadians when they overran the camp four years later at the end of the war. He was a Company Sergeant Major who was repatriated to this country via Australia and Canada where he was given medical care to give him back some quality of life. So my younger days were spent in an army garrisons in Yeovil, Somerset. He is a story of great courage in himself and has been an inspiration to me all my life.”

“I can see why.”

“Mum was an office worker in a local factory throughout the second world war. I was their only child. I schooled in Cumbria before joining the police cadets at the age of sixteen. I’m married to a fabulous woman who was a ‘modern matron’ at one time before

Captain Whidbey Inn Tavern

she retired from nursing recently. She specialised in orthopedics.”

“I have the highest respect for any spouse of a police officer. Very few people know the toll our past profession can cause on a family. Tell us about your children.”

“I have two sons and a daughter. My oldest son is a detective in West Cumbria and my daughter in law is a police sergeant there. My youngest son is a personal trainer who is currently in America on a fact finding tour of gyms in New York, Chicago and California before he returns to develop his career further. He’s also works in the Criminal Justice System with young offenders.  My daughter is a hairdresser married to a serving soldier stationed in Afghanistan. We are looking forward to him returning home soon. And I’ve got five gorgeous grandchildren to dote over.”

“As I mentioned before, you’re a prolific writer. Why do you write?”

“I’ve always written in some way or other. When I joined the police as a cadet I began writing poems and still haven’t stopped. I’ve got hundreds of them in note books here, there and everywhere.”

“That sounds like a good title for a song!”

“Ohhh, bad joke, Mike.”

“Sorry. I couldn’t resist. Please go on.”

 

View of Penn Cove from the Inn

My first few poems reflect my working life when the police earmarked me for development and sent me to work in a coal mine for six months – at the coal face with a pick and Davy’s lamp – or on an outward bound course for six months on Lakeland’s high ground. Another time I worked in a mental hospital treating drug addicts and alcoholics as part of my training and development.”

“That’s very interesting. The police service actually sent you to do these jobs as part of your training and development?

“Yes, that’s what happened to young cadets in those days – they were training you for a life long vocation, not a job”

“In my mature years I joined the Open University and took an Honours Degree in Social Sciences (specialising in Economics) to add to some management diplomas I had. You’ll know yourself that police are avid writers – they have to be writing reports and statements and stuff. But when I finished my degree course my wife suggested I wrote that work of fiction I always intended. So I did.

“My first published work, The Fragile Peace, was published by myself with a vanity publisher in 1996 (Kindle didn’t join us until about 2007 or thereabouts) and has

The Library at the Inn

sold over 25,000 printed copies. I was  a serving officer at the time and police regulations required me to publish under a pseudonym so I did so and I still hold to my pen name Paul Anthony. I have recently negotiated the termination of the contract for Fragile Peace  and am now able to put a revised second edition into both print and ebook/kindle format. So that happened in March. Best thing about March is that I am also published ‘Moonlight Shadows’ and ‘Scribbles with Chocolate’. So I had a ‘triple book launch last month.”

“I’m looking forward to reading ‘Moonlight Shadows’ and ‘Scribbles and Chocolate.’ As you know, I already have an autographed copy of ‘The Fragile Peace.’ What are some of the things you write about?”

“I don’t write about things I don’t know anything about. I don’t do cook books, cupcakes or gardening books, for example. And I don’t do ‘police procedural’ books because

The Library At the Inn

true police procedure changes on a regular basis as the law and relative practices and procedures evolve. I write thrillers from within my imagination based on the life I have lived. I was a uniformed police officer, a traffic motor cyclist, a motorway patrol officer, an antique specialist, a hostage negotiator, a detective inspector in charge of a highly specialised unit, a protection officer,  a surveillance officer, an undercover detective, a regional crime squad detective, an instructor, and a special branch detective.

“My working life centered on public order, serious and serial crime investigation, murders, rapes, drug dealing, armed robberies and the sharp end of the stick stuff. A lot of my time was spent investigating terrorism from Irish extremists as well as Muslim Fundamentalists and other such international groups. I am lucky, and actually quite proud, to be able to say I have worked with some of the most remarkable people you could imagine in the military, the police and the intelligence services of this country.

“I have commendations from various organisations and national bodies for work over long periods relative to criminal investigation, espionage and terrorism. I write about what I know and twist into the imagination to present my stories to fiction readers the best way I can. Writing in these genres requires plot and patience and the ability to retain a sense of proportion between what is fact and what is fiction.

“There have been occasions when I have protected our Royal family, various ‘at risk’ individuals, prime ministers and others. I once had the pleasure of protecting Princess Grace of Monaco (Grace Kelly, the former actress) when she visited a flower show in Cumbria many years ago. She stayed with her host for about a week, if I recall correctly, and although she was never ‘at risk’ I got the job of ‘protecting’ her from the media. Well, that’s probably the best job you could ever have wished for. What a beautiful woman; but what a wonderful lady she was. Pure class with a smile that remained in the mirror even after she’d left.”

“Can you tell us a little about what did you do in your small specialised squad?
“Mike, you and I have walked similar paths in life and some things are
not talked about. Let’s just say we write fiction, but know when to hold back on
fact. We choose our way and walk it with a silent pride.”

“I should’ve seen that answer coming! I would say your experiences give you plenty of ideas to write about. What is your creative process?”

“I would say that every book I have written has been crafted beside the pool on holiday discussing possible plots with my editor… oh, I mean my wife, of course. I tend to write headings of what happens in a chronological order. Then I join the headings together with sentences that grow into paragraphs and then chapters. At some time, it all comes together inside my head and I just tap it out on the old black and whites. I can never write a story from A to Z without deviating from the straight and narrow.

“Life is about human relationships so I carry sub plots and plots within plots as I write because that is true life. I can write a murder, for example, but wouldn’t you like to know what is going on in the minds of the investigators, the suspects, and the culprit? So I often introduce romance or trauma into the stories as I tap away on the keyboard.

“Life is never A to Z, there’s lots of stop off points along the way. Anyway, every 50 pages or so, my wife reads and edits my work and then, before I write another word, I go back to page one and read before I write. At page 100, my wife does the same again and when I revisit the work I start at page one and read through to page 100 before I write another word. By this ‘50 page and review’ method the work is under constant review and mistakes can be rectified at an early stage.

“Once this is done, I send the work to a friend who reads for plot, analysis, reality, truth, wisdom and general marketability. My son in law and I also write film scripts and television scripts so he gets the work next. He is part of the ‘editorial team’ too and is my ‘line by line’ editor.  Then we start again at page one and work through to the end. We make our own book covers from photographs and juggle about until we get it right. We take the process very seriously and may well ‘bed down’ the book for a week or two before revisiting it with a fresh mind. I, and my team, my associates, are my editors, book cover designers and marketers. That’s the way I prefer it because it works for me and we get a lot of fun out of what we do.”

“Well, it certainly seems to work! Tell us about the Independent Authors Network.

“If you already have your own website and multi marketing plan then you may not need this network. But that presumes you have the finances, time, and the technical ability to manage your own website. Having your own website may leave you a little isolated but it does give you the ability to ‘blog’ avidly in your own space and time without having to submit an article to a ‘clearing point’ or ‘door-keeper’ for inclusion.

“For myself, I can recommend the network wholeheartedly. The service from William Potter and his team is second to none. There is a high degree of excellence in delivering a first class website to members of the Independent Authors Network and this is reflected not just in the sharpness of imagery on individual pages, but the presentation of one’s work, and a growing membership. Personally, I showcase my books from this network and blog articles and writing material from my blogspot site.

“It’s what you want that counts and everyone has their own opinion. One of the wonderful things about the network is the ability to forge cyberspace pals across the pond and elsewhere. I swop tweets and emails with authors like William Potter, John  Betcher, Nick Rose, Morgan Nyberg, C.C.Cole, Kenneth Hoss and…. oh so many…. Check the site out. It is magnificent.  But then I will admit to being biased since I won the featured authors contest recently with over 3,500 hits in one month to my page. Funny thing is, I didn’t even know about the contest until I’d won it. I was so busy marketing my books to cyberspace that I didn’t fully familiarize myself with the website. Yep! FIVE GOLD STARS for #IAN1.

“Care to leave us with any last words of wisdom?”

“Life is just a book. You begin with a title and end with a full stop. The important thing is to enjoy the chapters in between.

“Those are wise words! Are you ready for the dart game?”

“Can I pick my team?”

“Of course, your my guest.”

“I think I’ll chose my British mates.”

“Any particular reason?”

“Why, yes. I created them!”

Learn more about Paul and his writing at

http://www.independentauthornetwork.com/paul-anthony.html

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

Don’t Box Me In

Posted on February 18, 2012 by Mike McNeff

I’m a new author with only one published book under my belt, so maybe I don’t have the credentials to make the following observations, but here it goes anyway.

It seems to me that writers, agents, publishers and everybody else in the industry are hell bent on stuffing writers into little boxes. We have genres, sub-genres, quasi-genres, brands, tracks, literary, non-literary, fiction, non-fiction all of which have a gazillion sub-categories and descriptions. It’s as if someone devised these draconian boxes just so they could have something to write about and charge money to the ever neurotic writer to learn about these boxes and how to manipulate them. Once a writer establishes themselves into one of the little boxes, Lord help them if they dare venture out it, unless they write under a pen name with their real name a carefully guarded secret. It seems we want to create a totalitarian government to control our creativity.

This system also pushes the reader into these little boxes. This is sad. One of the newest joys I’ve experienced in life is meeting new authors and being introduced to their books. New worlds have opened for me and I have the pleasure of traveling through them wrapped in wonderful stories.

Whatever happened to the notion a writer was an artist and every new book a fresh canvass? Or the idea that a writer begins his or her career writing stories and progresses toward the literary masterpiece? I know I certainly am not a literary writer at this stage of my new career, but someday I would like to write like Hemingway, Steinbeck or Conrad. The old masters whose every written word fit perfectly into a carefully crafted sentence bringing tension, conflict, color and emotion to a paragraph, which moved the theme one step closer to an ending that grabbed the reader by the gut and the heart and left a feeling of fulfillment. Yes, someday I would like to accomplish such things with my writing. I have a long, long way to go.

I do understand there are certain principles every writer must adhere to when laboring over a manuscript, which make sense.  Always show, don’t tell is one of them. Only use words and passages that move the story along is another. There are a few others, but they are all geared to the one immutable principle…the reader rules. The reader is the consumer of the writer’s thoughts and those thoughts must be communicated in a way that draws the reader into the writer’s world and captures them until the end of the book and leaves them wanting more thoughts from the writer. Anything else is nonsense, even more so in the age of digital publishing because the agent and big house publishers are no longer the gate keepers. Now, more than ever, readers make or break an author.

Readers want a good story. The question always is, “What makes a good story?” I have read thousands of books of all kinds in my lifetime. Of the ones I enjoyed, many were filled with action, but many had no action at all, just absorbing insight into the human condition. They all had the key elements of tension and conflict, but over all, they were just great stories.

So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to ignore all those little boxes and write what I feel and try to craft my stories so they attract my readers’ interest. My first novel, GOTU, is full of action, but it is also the story of a husband and wife and the family they raise, so the book is full of the love, angst and even anger of family relationships. I wanted to explore some of the problems police families face. I also believe love in all its forms is something that interests everyone. After all, my wife says I’m a hopeless romantic…certainly of a different kind, to be sure, she also says.

When I write, I want to grow and when my reader’s finish my books, I want them to feel they’ve grown also. I have found that the relationship between writer and reader is an intimate one. I will continue to listen to my readers and hone my craft based on their comments and criticism and hopefully, we will all grow together.

 

 

Posted in Cops & Police Families, Publishing, Stories, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , | 16 Comments

The GOTU squad is loose!

Posted on January 22, 2012 by Mike McNeff

The GOTU squad has been loosed upon the world. I have been humbled and gratified by the response. It has made the hard work that went into the book worth it…and has been great encouragement to complete the second in the series, which has the working title of Shadows. I’ve written over 50,000 words so far, going at a rate of 1,000 to 2,000 words a day and having a great time watching the story develop. Man, these boys can get into a lot of action!

The lessons I learned writing and working with editors on GOTU is showing in Shadows. I’m keeping the story faced-paced and multifaceted and continue to explore the human side of the character’s lives. We are transitioning from a police squad to a counterterrorism team, but the ingrained police training is still there. It makes for some interesting emotional shifts for the men and some interesting acts of courage. You’ll see growth in some of the key characters as they take on leadership roles in tough situations…just like in real life.

The geography is also changing. So far, we take on criminals and terrorists in Bangkok, Mindanao, Taiwan, Vladivostok and North Korea. We will be going other places before the book is finished. The action is rooted in historical fact, which makes it a great learning experience for me as I study the era. I have gained a great deal of knowledge in state sponsored terrorism and it doesn’t make me sleep any better at night.

After we get through a couple of edits, I plan to post previews on this site. I hope you give them a gander and if you have any ideas of what the boys should be doing or what trouble they can get into let me know by going on the contact section of the site. I read every message and respond. Actually, you can let me know of any ideas you have now! I’d love to hear from you.

Thank you for your support and comments about GOTU. They make my day.

 

 

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

New Year Saddened by 2011 LEO Deaths

Posted on January 1, 2012 by Mike McNeff

I wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year, but for 163 law enforcement officers, their families and their departments, the happiness is not there. I am talking about the 163 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2011 in this country. Shockingly, 86 of these officers were murdered.

These officers all died protecting and serving their communities. Yes, they all knew the risks of their chosen profession and they were all trained to deal with those risks. It is testimony to the how dangerous it has become to be a police officer that they were killed in spite of their knowledge and training.

Several officers were murdered in ambushes with no apparent motive other than a desire on the part of the assailant(s) to kill a police officer. Others were specifically targeted because of the investigations they were conducting. When I went through the academy, I was trained that when I put on the uniform and got into my patrol car, I was a target. I was trained to maintain constant situational awareness; consider all strange calls a possible ambush; and there was no such thing as a routine call or stop. Like every other cop, there were times my concentration on these principles lapsed. It is virtually impossible to adhere to these principles 8-12 hours a day 4,5, 6 even 7 days a week some times. I was lucky…I survived, but too many officers I personally knew, including my brother, didn’t.

So to my brothers and sisters working the mean streets every hour of every day, please remember the following:

YOUR SAFETY BEGINS BEFORE YOU GET IN YOUR CAR. MAKE SURE YOUR WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT ARE PROPERLY LOADED AND IN GOOD WORKING ORDER. CRANK YOURSELF UP TO THE LEVEL OF ALERTNESS YOU NEED TO BE IN FOR THE SHIFT. WEAR YOUR VEST!

KEEP YOURSELF PHYSICALLY FIT. HAVE A PROPER MEAL BEFORE YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE. KEEP HYDRATED.

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS AT ALL TIMES. IF SOMEBODY APPROACHES YOU OR YOU ARE GOING TO TALK TO SOMEBODY, GET OUT OF THE CAR, READY TO REACT.

BE ON ALERT AT EVERY CALL AND DON’T DROP YOUR GUARD. YOU CAN BE POLITE WITHOUT COMPROMISING YOUR SAFETY. THE INSTANT YOU PERCEIVE A THREAT, GO TO COVER OR BREAK CONTACT.

TREAT EVERY TRAFFIC OR INVESTIGATIVE STOP AS A DANGEROUS SITUATION…BECAUSE IT IS! MAKE SURE YOU CAN SEE THE HANDS AT ALL TIMES. USE APPROPRIATE AND FIRM COMMANDS TO CONTROL THE SCENE. CONDUCT THE STOP AWAY FROM VEHICLE TRAFFIC.

KNOW YOUR LEGAL AUTHORITY. MAXIMIZE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAWS OF ARREST AND SEARCH AND SEIZURE AND YOU MAXIMIZE YOUR AUTHORITY AND SAFETY IN THE STREET.

2011 was a terrible year for officer safety. In 2012, dedicate yourself to your safety and the safety of your fellow officers. You owe it to your family, friends, department and your community. Oh, yeah…you owe it to yourself to survive your tour and live to have a happy retirement.

You can view the full stats on the 2011 in the line of duy deaths at http://www.odmp.org/SEARCH/YEAR/2011

Posted in Cops & Police Families, Law Enforcement Agencies, Police, Use of Force | Leave a comment

Words

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Mike McNeff

Words.  I’ve become a wordsmith.  After all these years writing police reports, legal briefs, memorandum and other work related documents, I’ve found I’m a novice wordsmith. I have learned more about writing in the last two years than I did in over 40 years in the work world.

In my two past professions, I wrote to communicate. I had a captive audience. Everyone connected with one of my cases in the system had to read what I wrote, because they had to make decisions on the issues I presented. When I write now, I have to capture my audience with my story, my characters and the world I create with my words.  While I’m free to create facts, I’ve found it is much more difficult to maintain the tension, conflict and action throughout a novel than it ever was to report an investigation or present a legal argument.

The happy side of all this is the absolute joy of writing story about things that interest me.  When I start a story, I have an ending in mind, but I have no idea how I’m going to get there. I get to see how the story develops, literally by itself. Okay, I know it comes from my little pea brain, but I truly let the characters drive the story. It’s the fun part of writing for me.

I don’t know why, but I put challenges in my path.  For instance in the GOTU series, every story must have a historical basis. The first novel is about drug cartels and based on my experience investigating and chasing down smugglers in the Arizona desert. The sequel, in progress now, deals with state sponsored terrorism in 1990. Throughout the series, the team’s operations will be woven into actual historical events. I do a tremedous amount of research on these events and I learn a great deal about recent history in the process.

I have other stories I’m writing in different genres.  I’m writing a cold case mystery that looks into the emotional turmoil many homicide detectives go through. I’m also working on a western that explores the concept of justice. Another novel revisits the style of the 1940’s detective novel, but is place in today’s world. The fourth novel is about the little town I live in placed in the 1940’s. All my books will have law enforcement characters in them…some will be very interesting characters indeed.

I hope you will follow me on this journey. I promise I will work diligently to become a journeyman wordsmith and strive to entertain you and also provoke you to think about our world. We’ll have a good time.

Posted in Stories, Uncategorized, Writing | 4 Comments

The Failing Rule of Law

Posted on November 7, 2011 by Mike McNeff

As part of my blogging on this website, I comment from time to time on law
enforcement and the criminal justice system in general.  I came across and article titled The Feeblest Branch in the October 1st-7th edition of the Economist magazine that solidified my concern for our court system.  The information in this story is disturbing
in the implications for our county.

It seems, once again, the people who control the purse strings in our federal, state and county governments are short changing the courts.  The Economist reports the federal courts face “swelling dockets, delaying cases, and reducing access to legal systems.”  The San Francisco Superior Court almost closed down had it not been for an emergency loan.  Due to deeper budget cuts in the future, the San Francisco Superior Court and 15 to 28 California courts face a similar dilemma in the coming fiscal year.

According to the American Bar Association, in the past two years, “26 [states] have stopped filling judicial vacancies, 34 have stopped replacing clerks, 31 have frozen salaries or cut the salaries of judges or staff, 16 have furloughed clerical staff and nine have furloughed judges. 14 states have reduced their operating hours, and are closed on some work days.”

One court in Georgia has stopped hearing civil cases and others across the country
are saying they also may have to stop. Criminal cases are taking more than a year to be heard in many states.  This means more suspects are being released without being adjudicated or sitting in jail waiting for a court date…which costs money…lots of it.

During the seventies and eighties, the federal government poured money in law
enforcement agencies to increase police presence in the streets.  That is all well and good, but they forgot to address the impact on the criminal justice system from the large increase of arrests.  The government scrambled to get money to prosecution agencies and then to public defenders.  The courts started complaining, so they got what was left.  Jails and prisons got caught holding the bag.

The impact from those days is still being felt today.  Our jails and prisons are overcrowded, the courts are swamped, prosecution agencies routinely turn down cases due to lack of resources.  Cops are frustrated by the lack of satisfaction from the system for victims and themselves.  As usual, victims are not a major player in this process so they feel like nobody, except perhaps the investigating officer, really gives a damn about them.

On the civil side, if courts stop adjudicating civil lawsuits, people are going to
turn to self-help. The eventual result will be chaos…and violence.  The warning signs are already flashing.

This country has to realize spending the majority of our government budget on
individual entitlements at the expense of the systems that truly serve the
common good is leading to the destruction of our democracy and the loss of our
freedoms.  Freedom and democracy cannot survive without the rule of law.  We cannot
sit blithely by believing, “It can’t happen here.”  It is happening here and the only way to stop our decline is to rededicate ourselves to the principles on which our county was founded.  Those principles included limited government, freedom to believe what you want and seek your fortune and fostering rugged individualism.  The principles did not
include individual entitlements by the government to buy votes.

When I went to school as kid (a very long time ago), we were constantly told we live in a free country, but freedom must be exercised with responsibility. Responsibility meant following the rule of law, respecting your fellow citizens and their private property and pitching in and helping your community.  I know for a fact this kind of responsibility is not being taught in most schools today or by many parents.  It’s time to make a real “change” and instill this idea of responsibility in our coming generations.  The survival of this great nation depends on it.

Posted in Courts, Democracy, Entitlements, Freedom, Police, Responsibility, Rule of Law | 10 Comments