MPFreeman
Member.
Thought some people might find my conversation with a guy last week to be interesting.
I was on a job site, when a fellow Engineer comes up to me. I've never met this guy, and we talked shop for a while. Then we go to his on-site office, and we talk about his nation of origin. Vietnam. I didn't even say a word for the next thirty minutes. His blood pressure goes up and he rips into his former nation.
When he was 15yo in the mid to late 80's, a draft was coming down to fight in some war with some famous commie in Cambodia. His mom told him to leave as he was old enough to hold an AK47 and therefore old enough to be drafted into the people's army. For the next 2 months he saves up enough money to buy 10 gallons of gas, a little bribe money, and a ticket on a 20' boat outta dodge. The night he leaves country he, and about 30 others pack onto the boat in the dead of night, with no food, and no water, and a 15HP pull-start boat motor and head off into the Pacific Ocean. All the younger kids had to stay up all night using buckets to empty the water out of the boat.
During the day, the captain would pull into some small island a dump everyone off and then leave to hide the boat. On the island they would scavange for food and H2O. They traveled like this for about 2.5 weeks.
As they got close to Thailand, a military boat approached them. He said he was nervous until he saw the black rifles the men were carrying. It was a Thai naval ship. He was taken to a refugee camp in Thailand and then got papers to the USA after about a 1 year stay in the camp. He gets to the USA & learns English, becomes a citizen, goes to College and becomes and Engineer.
He also told me about how the Vietnamese .gov oppresses everyone. It was amazing. If you cause the .gov any grief, or upset a .gov lacky, the .gov will pay some child to hide a pistol on or close to your property and have you arrested and executed as an enemy of the state.
To keep people from being wealthy, one technique is to announce in the morning that a new currency is now in effect and the old currency must be exchanged today. But only a maximum of $100.00 will be exchanged per individual. So if you have $200 and want to exchange it, you'll only get $100 max. And any of the old money is just paper and worthless as of the moment the new currency is announced. He said the smart people buy gold and diamonds.
In elementary school, his class would be brought into the yard to throw stones and rocks at older people you owned land. The police would tell the kids that the old people were capitalists and rich, and therefore these evil capitalists were the ones keeping them poor and taking there money.
During mass, the priests couldn't say anything the government officials would consider subversive. Otherwise the priest would be deported. He said the diocese <sp?> had just a couple of priests and that one of them was almost 100yo.
If you wanted to send a friend or grandchild a gift, such as a box of candy. The police would first open the mail and determine on the spot how much should be "taxed" Most times he said if it was something nice like candy, the police would just take it.
The police would often arrive at his house and search the house. If they found too much rice or whatever, they would take it for the state, and often accuse the parents of hoarding and subverting the state.
His Uncle's land was taken from him. The state took almost all his land. Actually the state said that the land still belonged to his Uncle, but the state was managing it. Yet another government approved family would farm it. The state would get 70% of the yield for managing it, and the government approved family got the rest. His uncle got to live.
He told many more stories as well. One after another. I sat in 'shock and awe' while he spoke. I asked him if he read the constitution to become a citizen. He said yes. I asked him his take on the second amendment. He explained what he knew. I told him that one purpose of the second amendment is about arming the individual people so they could have a chance of killing oppressive governments and police. At this point, he became stone silent. A look of deep contemplation and thought was on his face. Then he looks at me in dire seriousness and said, "You know, who ever put this second amendment into this Constitution, he was a very wise and smart person, with great foresight."
Yup.
I was on a job site, when a fellow Engineer comes up to me. I've never met this guy, and we talked shop for a while. Then we go to his on-site office, and we talk about his nation of origin. Vietnam. I didn't even say a word for the next thirty minutes. His blood pressure goes up and he rips into his former nation.
When he was 15yo in the mid to late 80's, a draft was coming down to fight in some war with some famous commie in Cambodia. His mom told him to leave as he was old enough to hold an AK47 and therefore old enough to be drafted into the people's army. For the next 2 months he saves up enough money to buy 10 gallons of gas, a little bribe money, and a ticket on a 20' boat outta dodge. The night he leaves country he, and about 30 others pack onto the boat in the dead of night, with no food, and no water, and a 15HP pull-start boat motor and head off into the Pacific Ocean. All the younger kids had to stay up all night using buckets to empty the water out of the boat.
During the day, the captain would pull into some small island a dump everyone off and then leave to hide the boat. On the island they would scavange for food and H2O. They traveled like this for about 2.5 weeks.
As they got close to Thailand, a military boat approached them. He said he was nervous until he saw the black rifles the men were carrying. It was a Thai naval ship. He was taken to a refugee camp in Thailand and then got papers to the USA after about a 1 year stay in the camp. He gets to the USA & learns English, becomes a citizen, goes to College and becomes and Engineer.
He also told me about how the Vietnamese .gov oppresses everyone. It was amazing. If you cause the .gov any grief, or upset a .gov lacky, the .gov will pay some child to hide a pistol on or close to your property and have you arrested and executed as an enemy of the state.
To keep people from being wealthy, one technique is to announce in the morning that a new currency is now in effect and the old currency must be exchanged today. But only a maximum of $100.00 will be exchanged per individual. So if you have $200 and want to exchange it, you'll only get $100 max. And any of the old money is just paper and worthless as of the moment the new currency is announced. He said the smart people buy gold and diamonds.
In elementary school, his class would be brought into the yard to throw stones and rocks at older people you owned land. The police would tell the kids that the old people were capitalists and rich, and therefore these evil capitalists were the ones keeping them poor and taking there money.
During mass, the priests couldn't say anything the government officials would consider subversive. Otherwise the priest would be deported. He said the diocese <sp?> had just a couple of priests and that one of them was almost 100yo.
If you wanted to send a friend or grandchild a gift, such as a box of candy. The police would first open the mail and determine on the spot how much should be "taxed" Most times he said if it was something nice like candy, the police would just take it.
The police would often arrive at his house and search the house. If they found too much rice or whatever, they would take it for the state, and often accuse the parents of hoarding and subverting the state.
His Uncle's land was taken from him. The state took almost all his land. Actually the state said that the land still belonged to his Uncle, but the state was managing it. Yet another government approved family would farm it. The state would get 70% of the yield for managing it, and the government approved family got the rest. His uncle got to live.
He told many more stories as well. One after another. I sat in 'shock and awe' while he spoke. I asked him if he read the constitution to become a citizen. He said yes. I asked him his take on the second amendment. He explained what he knew. I told him that one purpose of the second amendment is about arming the individual people so they could have a chance of killing oppressive governments and police. At this point, he became stone silent. A look of deep contemplation and thought was on his face. Then he looks at me in dire seriousness and said, "You know, who ever put this second amendment into this Constitution, he was a very wise and smart person, with great foresight."
Yup.
