I’m going to start trying to do this on a regular basis. In my ramblings while searching for the end of the net I often run across new concepts philosophies and what not that I’ve never heard about before. So I will post these links on a regular basis so all can see.
And I stole this idea from another site but I like the idea, so kudos’ jobsanger!
In tribute to those fallen in the defense of freedom.
Few things make me emotional, this did.
More information located at:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/military/wreaths.asp
Arlington at Christmas
I had no idea this was done. I thought you might want to see it.
Rest easy, sleep well my brothers .
Know the line has held, your job is done. Rest easy, sleep well.
Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held.
Peace, peace, and farewell…
Readers may be interested to know that these wreaths — some 5,000 — are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. of Harrington, Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He’s done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.
Yesterday I spent most of the day cruising lib web sites, and saw much lambasting of the recent vote in the House of Reps. recognizing Christmas. What I did’nt know, was that the same had been done for the Muslim holiday of Ramadan and the Hindu holiday of Diwali. I received the following e-mail from David Barton and Wallbuilders yesterday. I think it worth passing on. The vote for the Muslim and Hindu holiday was unananimous. But 9 Democraps vote against Christmas.
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As Christmas approaches, there are three items I would like to call to your attention.
1. The U. S. House just passed a resolution introduced by Rep. Steve King (IA) recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith (H. Res 847). It is a wonderfully written and powerfully worded recognition not only of the birth of Christ but also of the impact of Christianity in the world and especially in the history of the United States. Click here to read this superb resolution.
2. The above House resolution honoring Christmas passed by a sizeable margin, but the House resolution honoring the Muslim of Ramadan (H. Res. 635) as well as the House resolution honoring the Hindu holiday of Diwali (H. Res. 747) both passed by a larger margin than did the resolution honoring Christmas. In fact, nine Democrats who voted for Congress to join in celebrating Ramadan and Diwali voted against honoring Christmas. The sponsor of the Christmas resolution — Rep. Steve King — had a strongly worded response to those members that also described the positive influence of Christianity in America. Click here to watch his powerful comments (90 seconds).
3. At WallBuilders, we recently obtained an 1844 Christmas sermon that provides great insight into the history of Christmas celebrations, including in early America. Click here to view this sermon.Thanks for your support of WallBuilders, and Merry Christmas!
David Barton
Often solutions to problems can be very simple as shown in the below video. Bill Bennet this morning was discussing the NEA. This teachers union has done more damage to our youth that probably anthing else imaginable. A look at the political historyof the NEA shows a continual slide into the current policies of extreme liberal thought. Thought and monetary support often way out of line with the thinking of many of it’s members. American children and their schools receive more money than students of any other country in the world, yet as a whole rank far below other 1st world countries and many 2nd world countries.
These are some of the things benefitting from NEA funding, according to the most recent filings, include Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, Amnesty International and AIDS Walk Washington
We know of two so called “teachers” at PTS, Spacedark and Lequino that cause me to shudder as I read their posts and imagine what they may be saying to their students.
IMHO there is no profession more important to a nation than that of a teacher. If I had my way they would be among the best paid people in the Nation. And if I had my way teach is what they would do. What we witness today is very little teaching and a whole bunch of social engineering. Social engineering in and of itself is not so bad. If the subject is good citizenry. But what we see more often is liberal garbarge, and as our ranking in the world in science and engineering show very little education.
This cartoon shows a very simple solution to the worst problem facing the worst problem in schools, dicipline.
http://s116.photobucket.com/albums/o6/celtictexan54/?action=view¤t=ADHDCure.flv
This is another one of those e-mails that go around. I’ve not checked it all out but just from experience I can believe it. One thing I really like about this is many things called permits or fee’s are correctly named, i.e. Tax.
The next time you hear a politician use the word “billion” in a casual manner, think about
whether you want the “politicians” spending YOUR tax money.
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.
A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.
While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let’s take a look at New Orleans It’s amazing what you can learn with some simple division . .
Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans . Interesting number, what does it mean?
A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528.
B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans , your home gets $1,329,787.
C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012.
Washington , D.C .. HELLO!!! … Are all your calculators broken??
Tax his land,
Tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule.
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirts,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his booze,
Tax his beers,
If he cries,
Tax his tears.
Tax his bills,
Tax his gas,
Tax his notes,
Tax his cash.
Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.
If he hollers,
Tax him more,
Tax him until he’s good and sore.
Tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,
“Taxes drove me to my doom!”
And when he’s gone,
We won’t relax,
We’ll still be after the inheritance TAX!!
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL License Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax),
IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax),
Liquor Tax,
Luxury Tax,
Marriage License Tax,
Medicare Tax,
Property Tax,
Real Estate Tax,
Service charge taxes,
Social Security Tax,
Road Usage Tax (Truckers),
Sales Taxes,
Recreational Vehicle Tax,
School Tax,
State Income Tax,
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA),
Telephone Federal Excise Tax,
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fe e Tax,
Telephone Federal, State and Local Su rcharge Tax,
Telephone Minimum Usage Su rcharge Tax,
Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax,
Telephone State and Local Tax,
Telephone Usage Charge Tax,
Utility Tax,
Vehicle License Registration Tax,
Vehicle Sales Tax,
Watercraft Registration Tax,
Well Permit Tax,
Workers Compensation Tax.
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago,
and our nation was the most prosperous in the world.
We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom stayed home to raise the kids.
What happened? Can you spell ‘politicians!’
And I still have to “press 1″ for English.
It was a dark and stormy night…………
It was a terrible nightmare, the most horrible one you could imagine. In the nightmare I found myself nude in bed, and I was looking at a mirror on the ceiling, and I discovered that I am a negro and that I’m circumcised!
Quickly I jumped up, found my pants and looked in the pockets for my drivers license photo-and it was the same. I’m Black. No, No, God No, it can’t be!!
I felt myself feeling very depressed, downcast sitting in a chair. But it’s a wheelchair!! That means of course besides being Black and Jewish I’m also disabled!!! I said to myself, aloud “This is impossible. It’s impossible that I should be Black, Jewish and disabled.”
“It’s the pure and holy truth,” someone whispers from behind me. I turn around and it’s my boyfriend. Just what I needed!!! I’m a homosexual whore and on top of that with a Mexican boyfriend. Sonofabitch!!!! Black, Jewish, disabled, gay, a drug addict with a Mexican boyfriend and HIV positive.
Desperate, I begin to shout, cry, pull my hair, and OH No!! I’m Bald!!
The telephone rings. It’s my brother, he’s saying “since Mom and Dad died the only thing you do is hang out, take drugs, and laze around all day, doing nothing. Get a job you worthless piece of crap any job. ” Mom…..?? Dad…….?? Noooooooooooo!!!! Now I’m also and unemployed orphan!!
I try to explain to my brother how hard it is to find a job when your a Black, Jewish, diabled gay, with a mexican boyfriend, are a drug addict, HIV-positive, bald, and an orphan. But he doesn’t get it. Frustrated I hang up. It’s then I realize I only have one hand!!
With tears in my eyes I go to the window to look out. I see I live in a shanty town full of cardboard and tin houses. There is trash everywhere.
Suddenly I feel a sharp pain near my pacemaker…..Pacemaker? Besides being black, Jewish, disabled, a fairy with a mexican boyfriend, a drug addict, Hiv-positive, bald, orphaned, unemployed invalid with one hand, and having a bad heart, I live in a crappy neighborhood.
At that very moment my boyfriend approaches and says to me, “Sweetiepie, my little black heart throb, Have you decided who your going to vote for in the primary?”
“Is it going to be Hillary or Barack?”
Sonofabitch!!! Say it isn’t so!!!!! I can handle being a black, disabled one armed, drug addicted, jewish queer, who is on a pacemaker HIV positive, bald, orphaned, unemployed, lives in a slum, and has a Mexican boyfriend, but nooooo…….
Please don’t tell me I’m a Democrat!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw this today in a news report. It made me think about this story I had read awhile back.
Now we already know that Islam all but hates its women. It is wide known that Homosexual behavior is fairly common among Muslim men. Our perspective #2 enemy is China. Thay have for many years now practiced a one child policy. The result has been selective abortion where most couples kill the girl and continue till they have a boy. As in prison and the priesthood when there are no women men seem often turn to each other in unnatural ways.
Perhaps these two stories should be reopened by our defense department. Seems like it could potentially be the perfect weapon. While the enemy troops are busy doing their own impersonation of the tent scene in bareback mountain, our troops could be calmly walking around shooting the loving couples.
You got to admit it is funny.
|
Well As often happens with me, I begin one project and end up with something else. I was researching Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. and found this. The internet is truely a maze. Anyway this is good stuff and can be found here. By Andrew Klaven By now, dozens of critics have weighed in on the massive box office success of 300, but not one I’ve read has figured out the reason for it. I have: it’s a terrific picture, one of the best in years. When I compare it to the movies that were nominated for Best Picture Oscars last year, it makes them seem to be exactly what they were: watered-down warm milk for liberal baby boomers who want to close the curtains on World War III, and snuggle down under their tie-dyed covers for a long winter’s nap full of tangerine dreams. They are a weary failure of a generation. Like the British Edwardians before them, they could not live up to the achievements of their elders. So they invented a new set of rules, rules that sounded daring and dangerous and radical, but are in fact puerile, safe and anesthetic. Does western civilization require defense and sacrifice? Well, then ho, ho, ho, western civ has got to go. Does political freedom require responsibility and self-discipline? Well, then we’ll redefine freedom as individual licentiousness. Do other, lesser cultures want to destroy us? Well, then, we’ll join them in blaming America and avoid any unpleasantness. In short, the baby boomers’ leftist philosophy amounts to nothing more than an elaborate rationalization of their own cowardice and a way to dull the pain of the resultant self-disgust. Now here’s 300, the mythologized story of the battle of Thermopylae, delivering the message of Thermopylae: if you want to be free, men have to be willing to fight and die to stay that way, just as the Spartans did 480 years before Christ. And watch the liberal critics throw their aprons over their faces and run, screaming, “Racist! Fascist!” and the deepest insult of the supposedly gay-friendly left, “Homo-erotic!” The film is none of these things. If white men kill darker men in this story, it’s not because of their color, it’s to stave off their slavish culture, just as we must do today. And what’s fascist about a film that defends freedom? As for homo-erotic – I suspect in this day and age that a celebration of martial virility makes some men so uncomfortable with themselves, they think it must somehow be gay. Nonsense. 300 is directed in the style of the Frank Miller comic that inspired it, but it also borrows heavily from video games like God of War. Among elites, to say a movie is like a video game is supposed to be an insult. It’s not – it’s a compliment. Elite art is a bunch of splotches on a canvas. Video game art creates fresh worlds that both echo and haunt the imagination. Elite films offer us male heroes who look like women and can only be masculine with quotation marks. Video games give us men who act like men. Elite stories preach to us not to glorify war. Video games understand that stories are made to glorify glory, which is sometimes found in war. Give me a film like a video game any day over the sort of films elite critics praise. But there is one persistent criticism of 300 even among critics who liked it: the film contains no complex ideas. Maybe so. But since when are great movies made of ideas? 300 contains as many ideas as Casablanca does and at least, like Casablanca, the ideas it does contain are actually true – as opposed to, say, the balderdash in Babel or the suppposedly nuanced but, in fact, shallow notions in Flags of our Fathers. Flags and its sister film Letters from Iwo Jima – though directed by the indubitably great Clint Eastwood – tell us nothing more than that our Japanese enemies in World War II were human beings fighting for their country just like us. Yes, I suppose they were. But the films never once take into account that the countries they fought for stood for different things and that some of those things, like freedom, are good and some, like genocidal tyrrany – well, not so much. What’s more, Flags tells us that “there are no such things as heroes,” and portrays our celebration of heroism as something ultimately misguided and even destructive. 300 rejects this view and rightly so. The film understands that we celebrate heroes because we dine on the fruits of their sacrifice. The greatest of these fruits is liberty, more precious than life itself. And when we glorify the heroes who defend our liberty with their lives, it reminds us too that we must live in responsibility to them, not only in our actions but in our philosophies as well. Every day that we preserve and cherish our freedom is a monument to them, a sign that they are not forgotten. They are never forgotten. Go tell the Spartans. |
One of the things I love about the Huckabee campaign is that the Governor still doesn’t have the kind of big bucks necessary to hire expensive consultants, so he relies heavily on his grass roots supporters to provide creativity.
The following two videos recently posted at mikehuckabee.com are as clever as anything I’ve seen in the nearly 50 years I’ve been following politics. They also epitomize the enthusiasm that’s known as the Huckabee Surge (Sorry, I still haven’t figured out how to embed videos):
If Huckabee can succeed in rewriting the play book on presidential politics by making it all about ideas and not influence and money, he’ll earn the eternal gratitude of a nation that’s sick and tired of overly scripted politicians that only represent the interests of the elites.
If he can succeed in rewriting the tax code so that productivity is rewarded and not punished, and everyone who consumes will pay taxes regardless of how they got their money (legally or illegally), he’ll make April 15th “just another pretty spring day” instead of the doomsday that that so many people loathe.
But to do these things, Huckabee will have to overcome the power and influence of lawyers, accountants, pundits, lobbyists and special interest groups that will stop at nothing (including distorting and outright lying about his record) to make sure it won’t happen.
I just saw the 2005 movie The Cinderella Man last night for the first time. One scene that affected me greatly was when Mae Braddock, wife of the boxer James J. Braddock, walks into her local church night of the big fight to find the church packed and a radio tuned to the fight coverage near the altar. The priest tells her, “They all think Jim’s fighting for them.”
Mike Huckabee is the James J. Braddock of the 2008 presidential race.
When I read the news today that long-time radio talk show host and self-styled progressive Bernie Ward was indicted on child pornography charges, I was transported back about 15 years when I used to listen to him on KGO in San Francisco (I was living in Monterey, California at the time).
Ward had a Sunday morning show called “Godtalk” that I listened to while getting ready to go to church. One of the more amusing features on the show was the “Church of the Holy Donut,” of which Bernie was the high priest. People would call the show and tell him they wanted to join his church. He would tell them to splash some coffee on their foreheads (in mock baptism by sprinkling) and he would add their names to the church rolls.
At one point in the history of the show, one of his church members broke away and started his own “Church of the Cruller,” taking some of Ward’s faithful with him. The whole thing was all in good fun and was in no way sacreligious as far as I was concerned.
Ward also discussed more serious theological issues. His background as a former Catholic priest would seem to give him credibility, but I found his bias as a “recovering Catholic” a little hard to take at times. One thing he said that I tended to agree with was that most people’s religious education was frozen at the elementary school level.
Occasionally, Bernie would substitute for some of the regular evening talk show hosts. I actually called in once when he was discussing evolution. I started asking him to comment on the difference between “horizontal evolution” (adaptation within species) and “vertical evolution” (the development of higher life forms from primordial soup). Before I even got a chance to explain what I meant by the two terms, he cut me off and changed the subject. That was my first lesson in how a talk show host can control the debate.
After I left California in 1992, Ward went on to get his own evening show on KGO and even had national shows (first on ABC in 1995 and later on Air America). Always left-leaning politically, he apparently took an even sharper turn to the port side in recent years.
I’m not going to comment on his guilt or innocence regarding the charges against him; I simply have no way of knowing. But when I heard the name Bernie Ward, it took me back to a time when talk radio and I were both a lot younger.