Forget the nameless ass-wipe who murdered several innocent people at Umpqua Community College and instead, remember the military veteran hero who helped save countless lives. Chris Mintz was shot seven times while charging the gunman and saving others.

Originally from Randleman, North Carolina, Mintz served 10 years in the U.S. Army. After leaving the service, he moved to Oregon to find work and enroll at the community college.

His cousin reports that he’s expected to recover: “From what I’m hearing, he’s fine,” the cousin said. “But he’s going to have to learn to walk again.”

Meanwhile, I have friends, both here in the U.S. and abroad, who are tossing out meaningless statistics about International verses U.S. gun violence. These are the same people who agree with President Obama, who stated: “We are all collectively responsible for gun shootings.”

What a bunch of Social-progressive hogwash! There was only one finger on the trigger that morning and it wasn’t mine or yours.

So, thank you Chris Mintz, not only for your service, but also for showing us that freedom isn’t free and that there are still heroes in this world willing to stand-up, armed or otherwise, push back against evil when it shows its ugly head.

The details concerning the mass shooting in which a lone gunman opened fire at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon are still being pieced together. The latest count puts the number of casualties at 10, a tally that includes the shooter.

Officials have not yet disclosed the names of his victims, but numerous Facebook posts indicate that one of the people killed had Humboldt roots. Jason Johnson, 33 years old, was a Class of 2000 graduate of Fortuna High School and had recently begun taking classes at UCC.

Lacey Millsap graduated in the same high school class as Johnson and posted the following to her Facebook page: “Tonja Johnson Engel, Jason’s mother, spoke with NBC News about how proud she was of her son’s decision to return to school after a period struggling with drug problems. This was Jason’s first week of school.

From NBC News: “He started Monday and he was so proud of what he had accomplished, and rightly so,” Johnson Engel tearfully told NBC News. “The other day he looked at me and hugged me and said, ‘Mom, how long have you been waiting for one of your kids to go to college?’ And I said, ‘Oh, about 20 years.’”

My next door neighbor, like me enjoys collecting different looking knives. The other day he came over and gave me one of the more unusual knives I’d ever seen.

It’s called the “Iain Sinclair CardSharp,” and was originally designed as a lightweight surgical blade that could be used and disposed of by paramedics and aid workers around the world. It comes in either a plastic case which runs about seven dollars, like mine or in stainless steel which will set you back about 90 bucks.

Its small enough to fit in my wallet and unfolds into a usable cutting instrument in three simple moves. First though, you have to unlock the blade from its plastic frame by twisting the round tab, which is pictured in the safe position below.

Next, fold the blade backwards, making sure not to slice yourself in the process. Then, holding it against a flat surface, press the blade down and fold the smaller of the two triangles into place.

Once that triangle is folded over, fold the larger one over top of the small triangle as well as the back-end of the blade. Secure the triangles in place by pressing the interlocking holes onto the corresponding nubs.

The knife is now ready for use in an emergency or survival situation. And though I shouldn’t have to say this, the plastic body that doubles as a handle isn’t sturdy enough to be used like weapon and if done so, will lead to your being severely cut while using it as a stabbing tool.

Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

On his Myspace page, the Umpqua Community College murderer posted a photograph of himself holding a rifle, alongside images of masked IRA gunmen and an IRA terrorist video. The IRA and Palestinian terrorism have a long history.

He had jus’ two friends — one a man by the name of Mahmoud Ali Ehsani. (His page is disappeared now, though screen shots of can be found elsewhere.)

The five things we know about the murders committed at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon:

1) An anonymous Internet message warned of an attack at a Northwest U.S. Community College.
2) An attack was carried out.
3) He asked people if they were Christian or not before shooting those who said they were, in the head.
4) The shooter is 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer.
5) Its the same community college that Alek Scarlatos, one of the three U.S. men who took down the Jihadist gunman on a train in France, had plans to attend.

This is also the final time I will mention this piece of shit’s name!

There’s a new campaign patch to be worn by U.S. military personnel taking part in ‘Operation Inherent Resolve,’ and which feels like a case of political correctness to me. For now, only 3,335 member’s of  U.S. Army are authorized the patch, which is to be displayed on the sleeve of the left shoulder.

As the Army Times reports:

“The Army’s patch features crossed scimitars, a palm wreath and stars. The scimitars, short swords with curved blades, are meant to symbolize the twin goals of the U.S.-led coalition: to defeat the Islamic State, also referred to as ISIL, and to restore stability in the region, according to Army documents.

The palm wreath is symbol of honor. While the stars and the buff-and-blue colors on the patch indicate the three-star command and the land, air and sea forces involved in the fight.

Scimitars and palm wreaths have appeared on patches from previous periods of war in Iraq. Saddam Hussein also favored the look, building a grand sculpture called the Arc of Triumph to commemorate the Iraq-Iran War in the 1980s.”

It’s interesting to note that there’s no U.S. symbols on this patch and if you turn it sideways, there is a crescent and three stars, which is closely associated with the Ottoman Empire and the last Caliphate.

Chances are radio broadcasting’s done with me — so I feel free now to share my little secret: I’m ‘Cousin Elmo.’

As a young disc jockey in the latter part of the 70’s, I thought it disingenuous to learn that some of the talented people I worked with in the radio biz, used ‘fake names.’ Later I realized it was simply a hold-over from the golden days of Hollywood, where actors’ used ‘stage names.’

That’s tradition for you.

About a decade or so into my ‘so-called’ career, as it were, a program director decided I should use the moniker, ‘Tom Cook.’ However, during my first air-shift alone, I couldn’t for the life of me recall that name – so I stuck with my real name.

Looking back, that may have been a mistake as for years I used a make-believe character by the name of ‘Cousin Elmo,’ as my foil. He could say things considered politically incorrect and I, of course, would repeat them.

A strong opinion’s always been a dangerous thing in a public forum.

Today, I often use ‘Cousin Elmo’ – this fake persona — to say shit that might otherwise get me kicked off social media permanently. The amazing thing is that ‘Cousin Elmo’s’ comments are often more popular than anything I have to say under my real name.

I think I’m jealous of the guy!

While in my 20’s I had the misfortune of being involved in a U.N. Peacekeeping mission that cost several hundred lives of Marines and soldiers. Since then I’ve learned not to trust the organizations.

In fact, many U.S. Marines I know refused to wear the U.N. blue or its badge. A lot of us were threatened with severe disciplinary measures including the possibility of court-martial because of our refusal.

At least we weren’t made to wear the fiber-glass U.N. blue piss-pots when in the field. And while I still have my patch, I did try to keep the badge I was issued thinking that it would one less ‘flashing’ some other poor-assed Jarhead would be forced to wear.

And when I say ‘learned,’ I mean I studied the flow chart of the United Nations, watching it grow into a monstrous bureaucratic giant that couldn’t “wipes its ass with both hands if it had too.”

Now this — which is jus’ being reported: In June Saudi Arabia was elected as the new head of the Consultative Group of the United Nations Human Rights Council. What a crock of bull-shit.

Why?

The Asian Arab nation has been consistently criticized for its human rights record. In addition to state-sanctioned beheadings, Saudi Arabia arbitrarily arrests, tries, and convicts peaceful dissidents; permits floggings and limb amputations as punishments for many crimes; and uses anti-terror regulations to criminalize most forms of criticism of the government.

In addition to this, Saudi Arabia bans women from getting driver’s licenses; dictates that women wear loose-fitting clothing and cover their heads in public; requires women to get ‘male permission’ to work or travel; and uses capital punishment (beheading) for people who “blaspheme” Islam.

I feel it necessary to mention the ‘beheading,’ twice – because if anything screams ‘humane,’ it’s the loss of one’s head to a heavy sword in public.

In fact, Saudi Arabia has one of the “worst of the worst” in the world when it comes its to human rights records, alongside nations like North Korea, Sudan, Syria, and Somalia. And yet, that ‘Mutha of a Brother’ in the White House says nothing and it leaves me sick to think this is the sort of leadership we’ve fallen for in the U.S.

I might be spending what could be my final day of this year sitting in our backyard under the shade of our Aspen tree. The nights are growing colder and the days shorter, announcing winter is on its way.

Nostalgia always fills my heart when I know the season is about to pass. I’m not speaking of a date on the calendar, rather the turning of the leaves, the geese in their v-shaped formations winging southward and the winds which have changed their direction.

Even the dogs show the telltale approach of summer’s end and the amplified shortness of autumn’s day, as they spread out at my feet, enjoying what is left of the sunshine. It isn’t hard to notice how quickly their fur is beginning to fill-in, projection from the onslaught of heavy snows and freezing temperatures.

To soon the trees and the grass and the flowers in our garden shall find their winter’s sleep along with the wild beasts and I’ll wonder – why can’t I simply hibernate, too?

Since childhood, I have sought fame, to be known and publicly recognized for my talents. Yet as I’ve slipped beyond the midway point of my life’s expectancy, I’ve learn that I’ve had it all wrong.

I should have sought riches, which are far more than money or material things and do not fade away with time. While some cash is nice to have, it is family and all the memories incorporated with that I now find most important.

From the handshake of one’s father, to the kiss on the cheek from your mother, to the clap on the back of a brother, nothing in life sustains the inner self like those cherished memories. To seeing a baby sister for the first time to holding another baby sister for the first time, the shortness of life adds to these easily and often overlooked events.

Once shared, not even times passing can dissolve the reflection locked into one’s mind. Yes, mental defect can cause the reflective ability of the mind to fail – but it cannot erase what has already happened, only in the end of time shall that be accomplished.

Yes, I write as if I were a dead man-walking, as in the end of all, we are: dead in the body, but not in our soul or the spirit which binds the two. Those belong to the Author of our lives and time immemorial.

So, let me seek the riches and not the fame. I’m already well-known beyond this earthly plain as you are too, now let’s store up riches for heaven’s sake.