Aces and Eights

Originally posted at Aces and Eights.

This post is dedicated to Sibel Edmonds, an American hero.


A piece of history from the Wild West:

Dear Cecil:

On a recent pilgrimage to Troy Grove, Illinois to visit the home of Wild Bill Hickok, one of our company happened to mention that according to legend Wild Bill was shot while holding "black aces and eights." This hand has come to be known as the "dead man's hand." Is the story apocryphal, and if it is true, what was the fifth card in Wild Bill's hand? --Larry N., Chicago


Dear Larry:

You've settled on one of the few bits of Western lore that has some basis in fact. Wild Bill was indeed holding black aces and eights when he was plugged by Jack McCall on the fateful day of August 2, 1876, in the charming suburb of Deadwood, deep in the Dakota Territory. Bill's fifth card was the deuce of spades, which must have made for a pretty grim-looking hand. I'm surprised he didn't commit suicide.

When playing poker in a saloon, Wild Bill Hickok always sat with his back to the corner to protect himself from a sneak attack. On the day in question, he entered Nuttal & Mann's Saloon No. 10 in Deadwood, and sat down to play poker; unfortunately, the only seat he could find left his back to the door. Jack McCall shot him in the back of the head with a .45 revolver.

What constitutes a good hand in poker depends on what kind of poker one is playing, whether there is a draw or not, whether the draw has already occurred, whether or not there are wild cards, and so on. Perhaps more than that, however, it depends on the player.


The attacks already perpetrated by narcotrafficking Khawarij terrorists not just on America but on much of the rest of the world as well, and the threat of more to come, are bad enough.

Worse than those attacks, though, is the fact that America now faces this threat with a gun to its back, held there by criminals in the business world and in government who see siding with the terrorists to be more in their interests than siding with their own country. Abusing their power, their priveleges, and even their humanity, these criminals walk the streets, taking everything in through the eyes of a psychotic hunter.

In times past, the law was based on faith, love and Judeo-Christian ethics, and it was about justice; the law was the good person's treasure, and the bad person's refuge. Increasingly, however, the law is no longer a means to an end, justice, but rather has become an end in and of itself.

Even more grotesquely, the law has been perverted into a tool of evil, oppressing the good person, while justifying the bad person; the good people are caught in the middle, with terrorists and narcotraffickers on one side, and criminals in big government and in big business on the other.

The Orwellian irony is that while America is under attack by enemies both foreign and domestic, American law is now used to silence those who would defend her.

It is the hour of the wolf.

Unlike Wild Bill Hickok, who had his back to the door when he wanted to be in the corner, American people who dare to question what our government is doing -- a questioning which is their duty in our system of government -- are being forced into a corner, defensive and persecuted, yet still clinging to the idea that they have rights. More and more, they must feel as if they are hanging on to nothing.

The time has come for decent people to finally break out of that corner, and tell the corrupt elites and their terrorist allies how things will be, which is nothing else than the way things should have been all along.

The connection among the decent people in this country and around the world goes far beyond the wires that carry the signals among computers, now used for communication to bypass the mainstream media, which long ago made itself irrelevant in this battle. The connection goes even beyond the blood of the victims of terrorism, drug-trafficking and the white-collar crime that enables and facilitates it all -- blood which cries out for justice. Decent Americans, and other decent people around the world, are connected by destiny.

Some things seem certain:

1) The terrorists and narcotraffickers are a threat to America and to everyone else;

2) A greater threat to the whole world are the criminals in America's business and government elites who side with the terrorists, because without those criminals, the terrorists and narcotraffickers would have a much weaker hand to play;

3) America is a better player than her enemies think;

and

4) The game is not over yet.

Lita Ford Aces And Eights lyrics:


We only take what we need
In black and white
The city bleeds
Love cuts you down to the bone
And walks these streets
With the eyes of a hunter
Bad blood flows from
The father to the son
How red the river runs, yeah

Love was the law
For sinners and saints
Dead man's hand holds
Aces & Eights
We're bound by wire, blood and fate
Hanging on to nothing
Aces & Eights

We let each other bleed
And watch our bones
Fall in the dust
You can hear the children howl
It's all they see
In the hour of the wolf
Bad blood flows from
The father to the son
How red the river runs, yeah

Love was the law
For sinners and saints
The dead man's hand holds
Aces & Eights
We're bound by wire, blood and fate
Hanging on to nothing

Love was the law
Sinners and saints
Dead man's hand holds
Aces & Eights
We're bound by wire, blood and fate
Hanging on to nothing
Hey, Aces & Eights

Daytime
Nighttime
Standing in line
At the border
I wanna lay down the law
I wanna tell 'em how it should be
Bad blood flows from
The father to the son
How red the river runs, yeah

Love was the law
Love was the law
For sinners and saints
The dead man's hand holds
Aces & Eights
We're bound by wire, blood and fate
Hanging on to nothing

Love was the law
For sinners and saints
The dead man's hand holds
Aces & Eights
We're bound by wire, blood and fate
Hanging on to nothing
Aces & Eights
Hey, Aces & Eights
Hey, Aces & Eights
Uw, yeah, Aces & Eights
Aces & Eights