Our Amazing World

When I was a little boy all we had were 78 rpm records (monaural and one song per side). I remember when the 45s came out and we were amazed.

Now I have 2000 songs (the 26 minute long Beethoven's 6th being one of them) stored on a microchip in my cell phone with room for more than twice that. They are on a memory card the size of my little finger nail - INCREDIBLE!!!!!

 

 The memory card is the small one.

It needs an adaptor to fit in most devices

(or to keep from getting lost)

In Harm's Way

An oft used phrase and the title of a great John Wayne Movie about the Navy in World War II. The original comes from a famous naval hero of the American Revolution.

I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.... John Paul Jones

Guy Clark - Texas Songwriter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNmnzwGT4Ic

Guy Clark songs touch my soul like few others. He hits either a nostalgic nerve or one that rings of true philosophy. "Texas 1947", "L.A. Freeway", "A Nickel for the Fiddler", "Virginia's Reel", and "Stuff That Works" are just a few examples.

Some of his songs have wonderful lines.

"This living on the edge of the waters of the world,
Demands the dignity of whooping cranes and the likes of Gilbert Roland.".... South Coast of Texas

Colman's mama said, "Somebody's gotta do it!"
"There wouldn't be no Kentucky if you didn't stick to it." ....New Cut Road

Below are the lyrics of one of his newest. The word hearken back to an earlier time in my life.

SOUTH TEXAS GIRL

Written by Guy Clark
Performed by Lyle Lovett

We're three in the front seat and they sat on each side.
That green-and-white '58 Fairlane would glide,
Down farm roads past open fields, seeming like no big deal,
As it was happening. I never felt a thing.

But now looking back, it seems like it was everything.
Singing with mom just so we could hear ourselves sing.
Stealing a drink from the cold can in daddy's lap,
Protected by only a small thin brown paper sack.

And the wind blew the echoes of long-faded voices,
And they'd sing me a song that the old cowboys sang.
And I didn't know what the words meant or anything.
I was just singing because I was supposed to.

Saint Mother Maria, watch over us please,
As we wonder around in this dangerous world.
Thank Mother Maria, there's nothing so sweet,
As the undying love of a South Texas girl.

And with the windows wide open, it felt hot to us anyway.
Three bound together on a day just like any day.
They told me and taught me, and showed me and bought me,
Whatever I wanted from the corner U-tote-M.

They said the name Corpus Christi means the body of Jesus.
Pronounce it Ref-fury-oh 'cause city folks they don't know.
It looks like Palacios but sounds like Pah-lashus.
Just listen the next time you're watchin' Sid Lasher.

And the wind blew the echoes of long-faded voices,
And they would sing me a song that the old cowboys sang.
And I didn't know what the words meant or anything.
I was just singing.

Saint Mother Maria, watch over us please,
As we wonder around in this dangerous world.
Thank Mother Maria, there's nothing so sweet,
As the undying love of a South Texas girl.

And I didn't know what the words meant or anything.
I was just singing.

And these days with car seats and open container laws,
Social correctness leaves no room for Santa Claus.
Sitting right next to me, she looks like that "used to be"
Song that they sang for me.

And with the windows wide open it feels hot to us anyway,
Two bound together on a day just like any day.

And the wind blows the echoes of long-faded voices,
And they sing us a song that the old cowboys sang.
And now that I know what the words mean and everything,
I am still singing.

Saint Mother Maria, watch over us please,
As we wonder around in this dangerous world.
Thank Mother Maria, there's nothing so sweet,
As the undying love of a South Texas girl.

Saint Mother Maria, watch over us please,
As we stumble around in this dangerous world.
Thank Mother Maria, there's nothing so sweet,
As the undying love of a South Texas girl.

As the undying love of a South Texas girl.

Jellybeans in a Jar

I have not done it personally and I do not know anybody who has.  But when I was a young man, and just recently married, an older gentleman in the place where I worked told me about the "Jellybeans in a Jar Observation".  He asked if I had ever heard of it.  Respectfully, I said no.

He told me I was probably too late to verify it for sure but this was how one sets it up.

1. Obtain a nice sized jar with a sealable lid.

2. Buy a bag of jelly beans.


Now this is where it could get a little tough because you have be diligent in following through.

3. During the first year of your marriage, put a jellybean in the jar every time you share marital relations.

4. From then on, for each time you have marital relations, take out one jellybean from the jar.

The observation states that you will die long before the jar is empty.  I don't know, but it makes sense to me.

Orde Charles Wingate

The British sent Orde Charles Wingate to Judea to organize a fighting force should the Axis be successful in pushing into the Middle East oil fields. When the threat slackened, no less than Moshe Dayan went to him and complained that the training had not let up accordingly. "You don't understand," Wingate replied. "I am training the Army of Israel". Apparently he did a super job.

How I love my boy!

You question if you did enough. Then your son writes something like this.
And then you wonder, was it you who made him like this, or did he just bring these fine qualities with him when he came to earth?
And you still question if you did enough.


By Nathan Travis Boyce

The Jewish heritage is passed on through the mother. If your mother is Jewish, then you are Jewish. This is smart, as no one can deny that the baby was not born of that person.

Paternity has been questioned since the beginning of man. Women are lucky like that. However, when a man accepts a child into his life, whether he was there when the child was born or he is introduced to the child later, the man chooses how much of a role he will play in the child’s life.

It can be simply the realization when the child is born that the man is now a father, or it might be a more active choice later. There can be an instant attachment or an attachment that grows deeper over time, but when a man makes that choice he is now a dad. The world has a different meaning and the man has a different approach in life.

To be a dad means watching the baseball you just threw plow into your child’s face. The first time the ball hits him, you run over and comfort him. Maybe for that day the game of catch is over. The next time that ball hits him you still go over to them and comfort him, but catch that day does not end. Rub some dirt on it and keep at it, this maybe the most important lesson a man can pass on. It applies to all things in life.

The third time it happens you tell him to shake it off and catch goes on like it never happened. It means running behind your child, no matter how out of shape you are, when you take the training wheels off for the first time. in slow motion you watch him crash as you desperately try to reach him.

This happens a lot in life, and not just on bikes.

You stay awake at night wondering whether the punishment you meted out was too harsh for the offense, but you don’t take it back. You know the world does not wonder whether it is being too harsh for a poor decision that the child might some day make.

In your child’s eyes you are the biggest, meanest, nastiest thing that ever strode across the earth. You have to be, so that they will think twice before making mistakes they know are wrong when you are not around. The words “Just wait until your father gets home” ring loudly in most peoples ears. They have seen your wrath directed at them, and more importantly, directed at those that would harm them.

The best part about being the biggest, meanest and nastiest thing on the planet is those strong arms give amazing hugs. Those same arms that blistered a bottom red a few hours ago, will lift them up and carry them to their bed because they fell asleep in the car, or pretended to. There is never a fear of being dropped because dad is carrying them.

The benefit of being and doing all these things is that when that child you chose to raise goes out to face the world, you get to keep on worrying. No matter how well you taught your child, you know the world is now meaner, stronger and nastier than you ever were. You hope your child will rub some dirt on it and keep at it. In the end being a dad means no matter what evidence can be proved to the contrary, skin color, court decrees, DNA testing, no one can ever tell you that child is not yours.

There is no Such Place as Palestine-

I have seen a lot of comments lately regarding posters and tee-shirts proclaiming "There is no Such Place as Palestine".

I really don't know how this all started, possibly from a pulpit someplace.

Actually there is a place called Palestine, and there always has been. When the British occupied the area, they called it Palestine. If one looks for Biblical maps of the area published before 1950 he will find the area is named Palestine. Cities like Palestine, Illinois (pronounced Pales-TYNE) and Palestine, Texas (pronounced Pales-TEEN) are named for the place.

It is the ancient Philistia and it roughly encompasses the area also known as Canaan. That is also the area also known as Israel.

An unusual sidelight to this has to do with the area now known as the Gaza strip. This was on land reserved for the tribe of Dan, the most warlike of all the tribes of Israel, and it was never subdued by the Israelites, even in the height of their empire under King David. The primary cities were Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza, which exist even to this day.

Alec Baldwin's Finest Movie Moment - The Shadow

Living Green

My ancestors practiced sustainability in harvesting rain water in West Texas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. 

Rainwater from the roof was collected in a tank they optimistically called a cistern. They would screen the water with cheesecloth to filter out bugs and larvae and boil it for drinking. Baths were reserved for Saturday night either before a social engagement or later to be ready for church services on Sunday. This water was not thrown out. It was saved for doing the wash on Monday. The last items to be washed were the whites, and bluing was added to the now much recycled water for that. 

Different times, and times to which I believe the "environmentalists" want us to return.

My grand aunt Ruby. The house had city water and indoor plumbing by then, but the now unused cistern can still be seen.

Continuous Deception

There have been a lot of posts recently regarding demonstrations at state capitals across the country by disgruntled "workers". Do not be fooled by the word crafting of these posts and the articles that are shared within them. This is a concerted effort by government employees who are paid excellently and further receive perks that those of us in the private sector can only dream about.

This practice has caused huge deficits in most states' budgets. Now, when they are told they must live like the rest of us, they cry that they are treated unfairly. It is only through their deceptive practices now that they can hope to garner support from the rest of us who are not nearly at their level.

A pox upon all their houses.

Can anyone answer this?

A recent post has made me wonder about Indians in the movies. I'm sorry, I meant to say, "Native Americans in the movies". The good Indians are always the Sioux or the Cheyenne. The bad ones are almost always the Crow. Why is that when the Crow never fought us and always allied themselves with us? This was a result of their chief, Plenty Coups (the name says a lot about the man). He had a dream that the white man would come and sweep over the land. He even saw a locomotive in his dream. A disproportionate number of Medals of Honor were given to Crow scouts. I am sure there are politics involved here, but I can't quite place my finger on it.

Ronaldus Magnus

Ronald Reagan spoke so clearly that his words could not be denied. And the left hated him for it. The mainstream media made jokes about him and disdainfully laughed him to shame (or so they thought - it is what they do to people on the right). When he passed away they all sat in a horrified stupor., questioning each other on how this could be. They could not come close to comprehending the number of people who spontaneously turned out across the nation, remember?.

Now they will have to "organize" the same kind of turn out when one of theirs goes.

Real voodoo economics.

"Failure to increase the debt limit would precipitate a default by the United States." ~ Timothy Geitner.



What fools they think we are, to have us believe that they are victims, forced into this action through no fault of their own! It is they who have precipitated this crisis and they have been doing it for decades. It can only mean one of two things. 1. They have a stronger belief in the doctrine of an expanding economy than even we do, and it had better expand quicker than they can outspend it, or 2. They have their heads well up and locked!

Innominatus

Breathes there the man with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
  'This is my own, my native land!'
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd
As home his footsteps he hath turn'd,
From wandering on a foreign strand?

If such there breathe, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell;
High though his titles, proud his name,
Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; 
Despite those titles, power, and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self,
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly dying, shall go down,
To the vile dust from whence he sprung,
Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.

Sir Walter Scott. 1771–1832

The Slaughter Rule

Senate and House procedure rules that blatantly contradict the intent of the Constitution such as the "Slaughter Rule" should be outlawed immediately. A simple majority can pass a bill? No vote at all can pass a bill? How have we allowed this to happen? Because we were ignorant. We were kept in the dark by elitist who deem themselves so much wiser than the American people. And the representatives we voted for and took office are just as bad as our adversaries on this issue. Did they think in the name of expediting legislation this would never come back to bite them? That might have been the plan all along. Hang them all as traitors who did not uphold the Constitution - No, they trampled on it!

Why would Captains of Industry lean toward socialism? The answer is simple - Government sponsored Monopoly!

So our liberal faction of the government, supposedly anti-big business, has granted Monsanto a near food production monopoly over the independent farmer and private individual. As I understand it, this extends on into the confiscation of produce grown outside of Monsanto's reach but influenced by Monsanto's products either directly (purposefully) or indirectly (accidentally). Hmmmm... CitiBank, Golman Sachs, AIG, Bank of America, and now Monsanto - apparently some corporate animals are more equal than others. Some just must not fail, while others are dispatched out of hand. Is it any wonder why George Soros and Warren Buffet see socialism as a cash cow that has the power to eliminate all competition (ie, opposition, enemies)?

Stephen Deane - 1620

Stephen Deane set sail on the Speedwell along with Separatists living in Holland, where the ship was purchased. They boarded it at Delfshaven and sailed to Southampton, England to meet up with the Mayflower, which had been chartered by the merchant investors.

The Speedwell was built in 1577, under the name Swiftsure, as part of English preparations for war against Spain. She participated in the fight against the Spanish Armada. During Essex's 1596 Azores expedition she served as the ship of his second in command, Sir Gilly Merick. In 1603 she traveled to the New World as the flagship of the first expedition of Martin Pring. She was decommissioned in 1605, rebuilt, and renamed the Speedwell.

The two ships began the voyage on August 5, 1620, but the Speedwell was leaky and returned to Dartmouth to be refitted at great expense and time. On the second attempt, Mayflower and Speedwell sailed about 100 leagues beyond Land's End in Cornwall, but the Speedwell was again found to be leaky. Both vessels returned to Plymouth where the Speedwell was sold.

It would later be revealed that there was in fact nothing wrong with the ship. The crew had sabotaged it in order to escape the year long commitment of their contract.

Twenty people volunteered to stay behind rather than overcrowd the Mayflower. One of these was Stephen Deane. Eleven people from the Speedwell boarded the Mayflower leaving a combined company of 102 to  continue the voyage. For a third time, the Mayflower headed for the New World. She left Plymouth on September 6, 1620 and entered Cape Cod Harbor on November 11, 1620.

Stephen Deane and the others left behind eventually followed, arriving on the good ship Fortune at Plymouth Colony exactly one year later on November 10, 1621.

Passengers on the Fortune


Master of the Fortune : Thomas Barton Adams,

JohnBassett, ElizabethBassett, WilliamBeale, WilliamBompass, EdwardBrewster, JonathanBriggs, ClementCannon, JohnConner, WilliamCushman, RobertCushman, Thomas Deane, StephenFavell, ThomasFord, JohnFord, MarthaFord, [Mr.]Ford, WilliamHicks, RobertHilton, WilliamDelano, PhillipMorgan, BenedictMorton, ThomasNicolas, Austin Palmer, WilliamPalmer, William JuniorPitt, WilliamPrence, ThomasStacey, HughSteward, JamesSimonson, MosesTench, WilliamWinslow, JohnWright, Priscilla Wright

Stephen DEANE is my 11th great grandfather through both my father's (BOYCE) and mother's (BUTTS-WILLIAMS) families. He was there at the first thanksgiving feast, but his selfless act disqualified me as a Mayflower descendant. I don't care. This makes him even more special to me.

Where the American help came from in the Chilean Mining Disaster.

American help in the Chilean mining disaster came from American companies on their own initiative doing work in the region. Obama and the administration did nothing, apparently not even by sending an inquiry. The Chilean president, in his speech after the last miner was out, Thanked God for His help and the people for their prayers. He thanked all the offers of help from governments around the world, first, from all the nations of South America, then the NAFTA partners of Canada, Mexico, and even mentioning Great Britain, and Israel by name. There was one glaring omission - the United States. Maybe Obama was offended when previously Chile graciously said thanks but we can take care of the earthquake relief ourselves. One less opportunity for a photo-op showing his magnanimity. He did praise the Chileans as part of a speech on another matter.

The Great Global Warming Hoax

There have been a lot of posts and copies of posts regarding the scientist who resigned from the University of California at Santa Barbara.  Included in his letter of resignation was the declaration that global warming was a giant hoax perpetrated on the world.     

Usually I respond with a short blurb and many times, when many of my face book friends have copied each other and posted the same event, I will copy my post and paste it as a comment in each of theirs. this time, however, I'm entering a single note on my wall.    

Not being a scientist, I have been saying that for years.  And I use the scientific method.  My proof has to do with the sea wall in Corpus Christi, Texas.  It is one of the great sea walls in the world and I have known it all my life.  I remember where the water level was some 60 years ago and after hearing all the reports of rising sea levels and disaster in coastal towns I made it a point to visit Corpus Christi from time to time.  I did this just to check the water level on the sea wall. In 60 years, allowing for tides, the water level has not changed.  That is my humble proof.

Observations from two Facebook friends on the October 2 One Nation rally at the Lincoln Memorial.

From Richard Lewis ~

I was at the 8-28 rally and I noticed one thing missing at this Rally; where's the children? The Beck Rally had almost as many children as adults attending; mine were there.

I see the crowd is able to walk around. The Beck Rally was packed s...o tight from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument; you could not move, yet everyone made it a point to get women and strollers to where they wanted to go by lifting and carrying the strollers over the crowd.

One thing the 8-28 rally did not have were signs; there wasn't a sign in the crowd of 500,000 plus attendees. The left does not realize it, but this rally only helped the Tea Party Movement. It showed the undecided voters who the real Americans are.

We are going to win back the House and the Senate. They don't even see it coming. It may not stop Mr. Obama but it will slow him down to a crawl until he serves out his single term as President.

Respectfully, A Reagan Conservative who supports the Tea Party Movement

Thinking of Jessie Boyce

When I was younger I was always glad I was male and not female. Childbirth was one of the reasons. I am still happy that I am a man, but when I think of what a woman experiences beyond the discomfort, pain, and travail, I wonder. She feels the movement of the little one inside her. Ultimately she sees the creation that she protected and nurtured within her for so long. Motherhood is indeed a station to be praised and revered by all men. Any who cannot see it are either blind or extremely calloused.

God bless you, Jessie. May your new baby bring great joy throughout your life!

From a correspondence to Burgess Shirley.

August 18, 2010

The 14th amendment was pushed through by a Congress much like this one,only Republicans instead of Democrats, who held all power and knew time was short to get their programs passed. One success was this amendment that says anyone born in the US is an American citizen. Of course, it was intended to legitimize the citizenship of ex-slaves. But that is really all it says. Since then, until recently, it was taken at its word. Now, a new term has arisen for children of illegals born on US soil. Since they ARE citizens according to the 14th amendment, they anchor their parents to this side of the border since they need them for their nurturing and support. New interpretations of the 14th amendment would rescind their citizenship, but this is dangerous ground. If we rationalize and re-interpret this part of the constitution, who is to say someone won't do the same to the rest (which they are already doing)? We must support the Constitution as it is written. As Thomas More said in "A Man for all Seasons", I will give the Devil benefit of the law for my own safety's sake!"

"America for Me" by Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933)

"AMERICA FOR ME"

'T'is fine to see the Old World, and travel up and down,
Among the famous palaces, and cities of renown,
To admire the crumbly castles, and the statues of the kings,
But now I think I've had enough of antiquated things.

So it's home again, and home again, America for me!
My heart is turning home again, and there I long to be,
In the land of youth and freedom, beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars!

Oh, London is a man's town, there's power in the air;
And Paris is a woman's town, with flowers in her hair;
And it's sweet to dream in Venice, and it's great to study Rome;
But when it comes to living, there is no place like home.

I like the German fir-woods, in green battalions drilled;
I like the gardens of Versailles with flashing fountains filled;
But, oh, to take your hand, my dear, and ramble for a day
In the friendly western woodland where Nature has her way!

I know that Europe's wonderful, yet something seems to lack:
The Past is too much with her, and the people looking back.
But the glory of the Present is to make the Future free,—
We love our land for what she is and what she is to be.

Oh, it's home again, and home again, America for me!
I want a ship that's westward bound to plow the rolling sea,
To the blessed Land of Room Enough beyond the ocean bars,
Where the air is full of sunlight and the flag is full of stars

The truth about Snopes~

Insightful and good to know.

For the past few years (http://www.snopesco/ m/ has positioned itself, or others have
labeled it, as the 'tell-all final word' on any comment, claim
and email. But for several years people tried to find out
who exactly was behind snopes.com . Only recently did Wikipedia get to the bottom of it - kinda
makes you wonder what they were hiding. Well, finally we
know. It is run by a husband and wife team - that's right, no big
office of investigators and researchers, no team of lawyers. It's
just a mom-and-pop operation that began as a hobby. David and Barbara
Mikkelson in the San Fernando Valley of California started the
website about 13 years ago and they have no formal background
or experience in investigative research. After a few years it
Gained popularity believing it to be unbiased and neutral, but
over the past couple of years people started asking questions
who was behind it and did they have a selfish motivation?

The reason for the questions - or skepticisms - is a
result of snopes.com claiming to have the bottom line facts to certain questions
or issue when in fact they have been proven wrong. Also,
there were criticisms the Mikkelsons were not really investigating
and getting to the 'true' bottom of various issues.

A few months ago, when my State Farm agent Bud Gregg
in Mandeville hoisted a political sign referencing Barack Obama
and made a big splash across the Internet, 'supposedly' the
Mikkelson's claim to have researched this issue before posting
their findings on snopes.com . In their statement they claimed the corporate office
of State Farm pressured Gregg into taking down the sign, when in
fact nothing of the sort 'ever' took place. I personally contacted
David Mikkelson (and he replied back to me) thinking he would want
to get to the bottom of this and I gave him Bud Gregg'scontact
phone numbers - and Bud was going to give him phone numbers to
the big exec's at State Farm in Illinois who would have been
willing to speak with him about it. He never called Bud.
In fact, I learned from Bud Gregg that no one from snopes.com
ever contacted anyone with State Farm.

Yet, snopes.com issued a statement as the 'final factual word' on the issue
as if they did all their homework and got to the bottom of things - not!

Then it has been learned the Mikkelson's are very
Democratic (party) and extremely liberal. As we all now
know from this presidential election, liberals have a purpose
agenda to discredit anything that appears to be conservative.
There has been much criticism lately over the Internet with
people pointing out the Mikkelson's liberalism revealing itself
in their website findings. Gee, what a shock?

So, I say this now to everyone who goes to snopes.com to get
what they think to be the bottom line fact 'proceed with caution.
' Take what it says at face value and nothing more.

Use it only to lead you to their references where you can link
to and read the sources for yourself. Plus, you can always
Google a subject and do the research yourself. It now seems
apparent that's all the Mikkelson's do. After all, I can
personally vouch from my own experience for their 'not' fully
looking into things.

Http://www.wikipedi/ a.org/ or
Http://www.snopes/. com/

I have found this to be true also! Many videos
of Obama I tried to verify on Snopes and they said they were
False. Then they gave their liberal slant! I have suspected
some problems with snopes for some time now, but I have
only caught them in half-truths. If there is any subjectivity
they do an immediate full left rudder.

Truth or Fiction, is a better source for verification,
in my opinion.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/

I have recently discovered that Snopes.com is owned by a flaming liberal and this man is in the tank
for Obama. There are many things they have listed on their site
as a hoax and yet you can go to You tube yourself and find the
video of Obama actually saying these things. So you see,
you cannot and should not trust Snopes.com , ever for anything that remotely resembles truth! I don't
even trust them to tell me if email chains are hoaxes anymore.

A few conservative speakers on Myspace told me about Snopes.com .
A fewmonths ago and I took it upon myself to do a little research
to find out if it was true. Well, I found out for myself that it is true. Anyway just FYI please don't use Snopes.com anymore for fact checking and make your friends aware of their political leanings as well. Many people still think Snopes.com is neutral and they can be trusted as factual.

We need to make sure everyone is aware that that is a hoax in itself.

Thank you,
Alan Strong

Alan Strong CEO/Chairman
Commercial Programming Systems, Inc.
4400 Coldwater Canyon Ave. Suite
200 Studio City , CA. 91604-503

• This came to me via an email. The writer has no problem putting his signature on the document nor leaving references. Snopes is probably still good for many things, but remember that they have an agenda!

The media reporting tar balls on Texas beaches is like Marvin reporting "Texas has a whorehouse in it"

I am 66 years old now and there have seen tar balls on Texas beaches since I was five at least. Tar balls have been on Texas beaches off and on since the first Spanish explorers noticed them and made note of it. It is believed to be from natural seepage. It is also the reason oil experts in the first years after the Spindletop and Kilgore oilfields were discovered thought that Texas sat on an ocean of oil and the tar balls were further evidence of this. Saying that the tar balls on Galveston were from Deepwater Horizon is very likely adding 2 and 2 and getting 5. My take is local reporters originally from somewhere else with very little knowledge of our area have made a supposition and have asked local "officials" of equal knowledge their opinion using leading questions. Now Fox News reports it as fact. Is there any venue where I can go to get actual news? I thought it was Fox.

Memorial Day

Remember the fallen and those who suffered the remainder of their lives in the defense of this country and to keep us free. I am mindful today especially of my fifth great grand uncles, Edward and Zachariah Butt, who served in the Maryland second regiment. Zachariah fell with Baron DeKalb in the rear guard at Camden, SC. Edward died fighting in the battle of Guilford Courthouse. I also remember my grandfather, Roy Jay Boyce, who suffered all the days of his life from having been gassed in France in World War I. God bless all men and women who serve and have our country in its armed forces!

Remember the holocaust of WWII.

When General Dwight Eisenhower saw the victims of the death camps, he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.

He did this because he said in words to this effect:

"Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses -because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened."

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This post is made in memory of the 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beat, experimented on and humiliated' while the German people refused to accept it or simply looked the other way!

Now Iran , among others, claims the Holocaust to be 'a myth'. It is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.

List of Scenes from my video "Legacy2"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apY7QrqnZxg

1. The Boston Massacre – 5 March 1770
2. The Boston Tea Party – 16 December 1773
3. Paul Revere’s Ride – 18 April 1775
4. Lexington Green – 19 April 1775
5. Concord Bridge – 19 April 1775
6. Bunker Hill – 17 June 1775
7. The fall of Fort Ticonderoga – 11 May 1775
8. Hauling Ticonderoga’s guns to Boston – 1775
9. Washington with Ticonderoga’s cannon at Boston – April, May 1776
10. The execution of Nathan Hale – 22 September 1776
11. The battle of Long Island - 22 August 1776
12. The battle of Brooklyn Heights - 22 August 1776
13. The battle of Harlem Heights – 16 September 1776
14. Betsy Ross displays her flag
15. The taking of the Chew House, Germantown – 4 October 1777
16. The battle of Brandywine – 11 October 1777
17. The battle of Saratoga – 7 October 1777
18 Benjamin Franklin
19. Bifocal eyeglasses invented by Franklin
20. Enclosed iron stove invented by Franklin
21. Franklin confirms lighting is electricity
22. Washington reviews the troops at Valley Forge – Winter of 1777
23. Washington praying at Valley Forge – Winter of 1777
24. Washington alone at Valley Forge – Winter of 1777
25. Crossing the Delaware – Christmas, 1777
26. The battle of Trenton – 26 December 1777
27. The battle of Princeton – 3 January 1778
28. Von Steuben trains the troops at Valley Forge - 1778
29. Washington rallies his army at the battle of Monmouth – 28 June 1778
30. Molly Pitcher replaces her fallen husband as the cannon ramrod at Monmouth
31. John Paul Jones captures the HMS Serapis in English waters 25 September 1779
32. Captain John Paul Jones
33. Poor Richard’s Almanac, the namesake of John Paul Jones' USS Bonhomme Richard.
34. Major Daniel Morgan
35. The battle of Charleston – 12 May 1780
36. Major Francis Marion welcomes a British courier into his camp – 1780
37. The battle of Camden – 16 Aug 1780
38. General Horatio Gates
39. Nancy Hart 1780
40. The battle of King’s Mountain – 7 Oct 1780
41. The battle of the Cowpens – 17 Jan 1781
42. The battle of the Cowpens (2) – 17 Jan 1781
43. The battle of Guilford Courthouse – 15 March 1781
44. General Nathanael Greene
45. The battle of Eutaw Springs – 8 September 1781
46. The battle of the Capes – 5 September 1781
47. Hamilton takes the redoubt at Yorktown – 14 Oct 1781
48. Captain Alexander Hamilton
49. Surrender at Yorktown – 20 Oct 1781
50. The Washingtons at home – mid 1780s
51. The Constitutional Convention – 1787
52. Eli Whitney and his cotton gin – 1793
53. America moves into TransAppalachia
54. President Thomas Jefferson - 1800
55. American territories – 1801
56. Jefferson’s home – Montecello
57. The Louisiana Purchase – 1803
58. Sacagawea guides the Lewis and Clark Expedition – 1804
59. Stephen Decatur burns the captured USS Philadelphia in Tripoli harbor – 16 Feb 1804
60. Fighting the Barbary pirates – 1805
61. Fighting the Barbary pirates – 1807
62. The USS Constitution heads for the Mediterranean – 1807
63. The USS United States heads for the Mediterranean – 1807
64. The Plan of Washington DC
65. Fulton’s steamboat “Clermont” 1807
66. The USS Constitution sinks HMS Guerriere 1812
66. The USS Constitution alone outruns an English squadron – 1812
67. Admiral Perry transfers his flag on Lake Erie – 1813
68. The battle of Lake Erie – 1813
69. The Red Stick (Creek Indian) War – 1814
70. President James Madison – 1814
71. First Lady Dolley Madison – 1814
72. The battle of Lake Champlain – 1814
73. Andrew Jackson and Jean LaFitte – 1815
74. The battle of New Orleans – Feb 1815
75. The Erie Canal – 1819
76. Joseph Smith – 1820
77. The Monroe Doctrine – 1823
78. Keelboating – 1825
79. President Andrew Jackson – 1828
80. Stephen F. Austin, Father of Texas – 1830
81. Cyrus McCormick’s Reaper – 1831
82. The DeWitt Clinton Steam Locomotive - 1831
83. Congressman David Crockett – 1834
84. The fall of the Alamo – 6 March 1836
85. Kirtland, Ohio – 1836
86. The battle of San Jacinto – 21 April 1836
87. Texas President Sam Houston – 1837
88. Cherokee Trail of Tears – 1838
89. The Great Triumvirate – Webster, Clay, and Calhoun – 1840
90. Texans drawing the black bean at Mier – 1842
91. Samuel Colt’s revolver – 1842
92. Nauvoo, Illinois - 1843
93. The Annexation of Texas – 1845
94. The battle of Resaca de la Palma opens the Mexican War – 1845
95. The battle of Monterrey – 1846
96. The battle of Chapultepec – 1847
97. Wagons West – 1848
98. The California Gold Rush – 1849
99. Clipper Ships round the Horn – 1850s
100. Uncle Tom’s Cabin – 1852
101. Dred Scott – 1855
102. The Lincoln Douglas Debates – 1859
103. The telegraph replaces the Pony Express – 1859
104. Oil discovered in Pennsylvania – 1859
105. President Abraham Lincoln – 1860
106. General Robert E. Lee – 1961
107. Fort Sumter – April, 1861
108. CSA President Jefferson Davis – 1861
109. Stonewall Jackson returns – 1862
110. General McClelland – 1862
111. The battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas – March 1862
112. General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson – 1862
113. Hampton Roads – The Monitor and the Virginia – 1862
114. Harriet Tubman of the Underground Railroad – 1862
115. Confederate Battery – 1862
116. General Ambrose Burnside – 1863
117. The battle of Fredericksburg – 1863
118. The Cornfield at Antietam – 1863
119. Vicksburg – 1863
120. General Ulysses S. Grant – 1863
121. The battle of Gettyburg = General Hood argues against Pickett’s Charge – 1863
122. The battle of Chattanooga – 1864
123. Frederick Douglass
124 General Nathan Bedford Forrest – 1864
125. The New York 69th – 1864
126. General John Bell Hood – 1864
127. The CSS Hunley – 1864
128. General William T. Sherman – 1864
129. Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross – 1864
130. The Crater at Petersburg – 30 July 1864
131. The fall of Georgia – 1864
132. General Beauregard – 1865
133. Appomattox – 1865
134. Promontory Point, Utah (The Golden Spike) – 1869
135. Southern Representatives in Reconstruction – 1868
136. Southern Representatives in Reconstruction (another view) – 1868
137. The Natchez races the Robert E. Lee to New Orleans – 1870
138. The Chicago Fire – 1871
139. Cattle Drives in full swing – 1872
140. The United States opens trade with the Orient – 1874
141. Chief Quanah Parker of the Comanche – 1874
142. Buffalo Soldiers – 1875
143. Fit up of the Statue of Liberty in Paris – 1875
147. The battle of the Little Big Horn – 1876
145. Chief Sitting Bull of the Sioux – 1876
146. Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates his telephone – 1877
147. Thomas Edison and the phonograph – 1878
148. Electric light – 1878
149. The Robber Barons by Thomas Nast – 1878
150. The Johnstown flood – 1889
151. The Black Maria, the first motion picture studio – 1893
152. The USS Maine explodes in Havana – 1898
153. The battle of Manila Bay – 1898
154. The charge up San Juan Hill – Santiago, Cuba – 1898
155. The Great Galveston Hurricane – 1900
156. Booker T. Washington, Founder of the Tuskegee Institute – 1901
157. President McKinley is Assassinated – 1901
158. Spindletop – 1901
159. The Great Train Robbery - first commercial motion picture – 1903
160. The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina – Dec 1903
161. President Theodore Roosevelt – 1904
162. Socialist Eugene V. Debs – 1904
163. The San Francisco Earthquake – 1906
164. Barney Oldfield – 1908
165. Oldfield races Glenn Curtiss – 1909
166. The Triangle Factory Fire – 1911
167. The Model T Ford, product of mass production – 1912
168. Construction of the Panama Canal – 1912
169. The Titanic – April, 1914
170. The Stutz Bearcat – 1914
171. George Washington Carver in his laboratory – 1914
172. D. W. Griffith’s "Birth of a Nation" – 1915
173. The Lusitania – 1915
174. General John J. Pershing – 1916
175. Doughboys in New York Harbor – 1917
176. Doughboys in the trenches – 1917
177. Frank Luke’s SPAD – 1918
179. Over the top – 1918
180. Eddie Rickenbacker’s SPAD – 1918
181. Prohibition – 1919
182. Charlie Chaplin – 1920
183. Toilet paper introduced by Kimberly Clark – 1920
184. Women’s Suffrage – 1920
185. Mechanical Refrigeration becomes practical – 1922
186. Red Grange, the Galloping Ghost – 1925
187. Babe Ruth, the Bambino – 1926
188. Lindbergh crosses the Atlantic 1927
189. Al Capone – 1929
190. Black Tuesday – Oct. 1929
191. Dr. Goddard’s rockets – 1930
192. Knut Rockne – 1930
193. Depression – 1931
194. Dust Storm on the plains – 1932
195. Louis Armstrong (Satchmo) – 1932
196. Soup Line 1932
197. King Kong – 1933
198. Roosevelt and Hoover – 1934
199. Jimmy Doolittle’s GeeBee – 1933
200. The Douglas DC-3 – 1934
201. Roscoe Turner and Gilmore – 1934
202. Jobless Men – 1935
203. The Marx Brothers – 1935
204. The Nantucket Lightship – 1935
205. The Twentieth Century Limited - Streamliner Locomotive – 1935
206. Will Rogers – 1935
207. Fred and Ginger – 1936
208. Laurel and Hardy – 1937
209. The New Boston School Explosion – 1937
210. The Hindenburg – 1937
211. The Dust Bowl – 1938
212. Gone with the Wind – 1938
213. The Wizard of Oz – 1938
214. Joe Louis and Max Baer – 1938
215. Pan American's China Clipper- 1939
216. Pearl Harbor – 7 Dec 1941
217. A lone B-25 sets out to attack the Japanese fleet in the Philippines– 1942
218. The Bataan Death March – 1942
219. Doolittle Raider – 1942
220. Guadalcanal – 1942
221. Casablanca – 1942
222. Three Amigos – 1943
223. Pacific B-17s – 1943
224. General Omar Bradley – 1943
225. The Dead at Buna – 1943
226. North Africa – 1943
227. The Mighty Eighth, Airwar in Europe – 1944
228. Ike and the 101st Airborne, D-Day – 5 June 1944
229. D-Day – 6 June 1944
230. Bastogne (the Battle of the Bulge) – 1944
231. General George S. Patton – 1944
232. MacArthur Returns to the Philippines – 1945
233. Red Tailed Devils (Tuskegee Airmen) – 1945
234. Iwo Jima – Feb 1945
235. Target of Opportunity – 1945
236. The kamikaze battered USS Franklin – Okinawa – 1945
237. Hiroshima – 1945
238. V-J Day – Times Square – Aug 1945
239. It’s a Wonderful Life- 1947
240. Glamorous Glennis (Yeager breaks the sound barrier) – 1947
241. The Berlin Airlift – 1948
242. The fabulous fifties – 1852
243. Sabre and MiG – 1952
244. The Day the Earth Stood Still – 1952
245. I Love Lucy – 1952
246. Bell Laboratories’ transistor – 1952
247. Going supersonic, F-100 Super Sabers – 1954
248. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – 1954
249. Television comes of age
250. Elvis – 1955
251. Duck and Cover – 1955
252. The pawn, Ike vs. Faubus - Little Rock – 1955
253. Oklahoma – 1955
254. Rosa Parks – 1955
255. Sputnik – 1957
256. Curb Service – 1958
257. The Chicago Schoolhouse Fire – 1958
258. Suburbia – 1958
259. The Lockheed U-2 – 1958
260. Our Mercury Astronauts – 1959
261. Fidel seizes Cuba – 1960
262. DNA – 1960
263. Drive-in Theater – 1960
264. The trial of Major Gary Powers – 1960
265. Prisoners of the Bay of Pigs – 1961
266. The Kennedy Brothers – 1961
267. The Cuban Missile Crisis – Oct. 1962
268. Vince Lombardi – 1963
269. MLK at the Lincoln Memorial – 1963
270. LBJ Signs the Equal Rights Ammendment – 1964
271. Ed White’s first space walk – 1964
272. My Fair Lady – 1964
273. The Beach Boys – 1964
274. Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee (RIP) – 1965
275. The Sound of Music – 1965
276. The LeMans Ford GT-40 – 1965
277. Jefferson Airplane – 1965
278. Malcolm X – 1965
279. The Lovin’ Spoonful – 1966
280. Ralph David Abernathy Votes – 1667
281. The Mamas and the Papas – 1967
282. Make Love, Not War – 1967
283. Protest – 1967
284. Riots – Summer of 1968
285. Roy Wilkins – 1968
286. Vietnam – 1968
287. Execution in Saigon – 1968
288. Charles Manson – 1968
289. Medivac – 1968
290. Midnight Cowboy – 1969
291. Woodstock – 1969
292. Man on the Moon – 20 July 1969
293. The SR-71 Blackbird – 1970
294. Sesame Street – 1970
395. Nixon in China – 1972
396. Watergate – 1972
397. Napalm in Vietnam – 1972
398. Gas lines – 1973
299. Secretariat – 1973
300. Apollo-Soyuz – 1975
301. The fall of Vietnam – 1975
302. The Camp David Peace Accord – 1977
303. Star Wars – 1977
304. Superman – 1978
305. The Iranian Hostages – 1979
306. Three Mile Island – 1979
307. The integrated circuit – 1980
308. The space shuttle Enterprise - 1980
309. Mount Saint Helens – 1980
310. President Ronald Reagan – 1981
311. The space shuttle Challenger explodes – 1986
312. Reagan at the Brandenburg Gate – 1987
313. Celebration at the Berlin Wall – 1989
314. The USS Forrestal – 1990
315. President George H. W, Bush – 1991
316. The F-111 Nighthawk stealth fighter/bomber – 1991
317. Mobilization in Kuwait – 1991
318. Aftermath in Kuwait – 1991
319. A grieving father
320. The oil fires of Kuwait – 1991
321. President Clinton – 1992
322. Bosnia – 1993
323. Waco – 1993
324. Madonna, the Material Girl -1995
325. The O. J. Simpson Trial – 1995
326. The Murrah Building, Oklahoma City – 1995
327. Bill and Monica – 1995
328.The US Embassy in Africa – 1998
329. The Y2K Scare – 1999
330. Massacre at Columbine High School – 1999
331. The USS Cole comes home from Yemen – 2000
332. The International Space Station – 2000
333. The demise of Montgomery Wards – 2000
334. The Galileo Spacecraft at Jupiter – 2001
325. 911 (a) – 2001
326. 911 (b) – 2001
327. President George W. Bush – 2001
328. The invasion of Iraq – 2002
329. Shock and Awe (a) – 2002
330. Shock and Awe (b) – 2002
331. The space shuttle Columbia disintegrates – 2002
332. The Sadam Statue – 2003
333. The Mars Rover – 2004
334. Ronald Reagan's Funeral – 2004
335. Spaceship 1 – 2004
336. Minnesota Bridge – 2007
337. The Messenger to Mercury – 2008
338. The DNC Convention – 2009
339. Gateway Arch – 2010
340. Autumn in New England – 2010
341. Where’s My Bailout – 2010
342. Board Room – 2010
343. Harvester – 2010
344. Diner Breakfast – 2010
345. American Family – 2010
346. Firefighter – 2010
347. Geese and Goslings – 2010
348. Grandfather and Grandson – 2010
349. Houston (a) – 2010
350. Houston (b) – 2010
351. Independence Hall (a) – 2010
352. Independence Hall (b) – 2010
353. American Couple – 2010
354. New York City – 2010
355. Offshore Rig – 2010
356. Helicopter Rescue Drill – 2010
357. Mount Rushmore – 2010
358. San Francisco – 2010
359. Independence Hall (b) – 2010
360. Savannah Fountain – 2010
361. Statue of Liberty – 2010

Even more from Clarinda's memoirs - my great-great-great grandmother

Grandpa was a very busy man so he didn't take time for us children. We were taught to not be a bother. Hello and goodbye was about all was said. He was a tall man very straight and set a horse well. Speaking of horses he loved them and raised find ones but he gave them all away to the Army when the war started. Papa's folks (Jacob Pevehouse family) came to Texas a few years before the war. We loved Uncle Preston and Uncle... (Missing)

Papa had made the little box for me the year I was 10. It had a butterfly on the lid and he said it was to keep my treasures in. My treasures were the two glass buttons keepsakes from grandma's dress and a scrap of blue ribbon and a pressed flower. What do you think about that for treasures? When we were packing to leave Mama wouldn't let me take the little box said it was not necessary. She was cross with me and my feelings were terrible touched because she had made room for the violin and all our study books. I didn't think they were necessary. Besides all that she scolded me in front of Grandpa which hurt me so bad. I went off to cry. But I knew later that she was very distressed and didn't mean to hurt my feelings. To be unkind was not her way but it sure hurt that morning.

More from Clarinda's memoirs - my great-great-great grandmother

We prepared for our journey to the Sabine River that being the boundary. The slaves drove our cattle into the bottoms (bottomlands) hoping the Mexicans would not find them. They moved the wash pot and ashes beneath it then dug a hole to bury our food and then replaced the ashes and the pot. Papa, Grandpa, and my uncles told the slaves they could go with us or stay behind it would be dangerous either way. Papa thought they would be safe at home if they did not kick up a fuss when the Mexicans came. They all went except grandpa's old Sam who was too crippled with rheumatism. We would have taken care of him if he had wanted to go but he didn't. My heart nearly broke when we saw Papa ride off to the Army. I can only think of Mr. Travis and Mr. Bonham. There were so many Mexican soldiers and so few Texans to stop their march towards us.

Memoirs of Clarinda Pevehouse Kegans, pages 2 and 3.

(William Barret Travis and James Bonham had stayed at Hodges Bend many times during their travels back and forth).

Clarinda Pevehouse Kegans

Grandpa (Alexander Hodge) was a judge in Arkansas so when we got to Texas he was the official in our district. He was everything judge, sheriff (sic). People would leave messages with him and folks would come by to pick them up.... The Mexican name for him was alcalde. Many settlers stopped at his plantation and our family gatherings were always held their.

Mr. Stafford built his gin and that made it easier to sell our cotton and we had some money. Before that, settlers just mostly traded goods. Once in a while Papa would go all the way to Anahuac where there were things to buy.

Everybody worked awful hard and was good and honest. For a long time we did not even have a jail. Didn't think much about it then but I do now when there is one at nearly every crossroads.

The memoirs of my great-great-great grandmother - Clarinda Pevehouse Kegans

"I will never forget the day we heard about the Alamo -- our friends dead. it was sad, sad. Papa joined the Army and I was so scared for him to go. But about two weeks later he came home in the middle of the night to wake us up and tell us that Colonel Fannin and his men at Goliad had been shot. He said we would have to leave that very day for Louisiana. Words fail me when I try to explain my fear for all of us but especially Papa. I loved him so much."

Thoughts after a reply to a friend's post on Facebook

That four trillion dollars of imaginary money that is now our deficit (written in early 2010) didn't just disappear into the ether. It is lining and will be lining somebody's pockets, just not yours and mine. Our pockets, and those of our children when we are gone, are where the money will be coming from. At that time it will cease to be imaginary.

Our legislators know this, and so they are now attacking the recipients of their gift, like Goldman Sachs, so we will blame them instead of the government. These corporate giants are complicit, to be sure, but the white house and the legislators are the real perpetrators of the greatest con game and outright theft ever played in the history of the world.

Execution at Goliad~

On Palm Sunday, March 27, Generals Urrea and Filisola carry out the order received late in the week from Santa Ana. Their request for clemency has been denied and they are now faced with with a most reprehensible task, but being the soldiers they are they will obey the order. The Texans are marched out of the presidio under the pretense that they are headed for the bay to board waiting ships for home. Some distance from the presidio the firing begins. Only a few Texans escape as they all make a desperate break for cover. Back in the makeshift hospital, Texans who had been treated for their wounds for a week are shot in their beds.

There are, however, other survivors. One of Urrea's officers tells his wife, Francita Alavez, what was about to happen. She is horrified and appeals to her husband and several other officers to do something. This small band hides who they can without attracting suspicion and these also escape execution. Senora Alavez will become legendary as the Angel of Goliad.

Daffodils - 1804

I wandere’d lonely as a cloud,
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch’d in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay.
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they,
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee.
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company.
I gazed — and gazed — but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie,
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye,
Which is the bliss of solitude.
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).

Thank You Michael Connelly, Retired Constitutional Attorney

Well, I have done it! I have read the entire text of proposed House Bill 3200: The Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009. I studied it with particular emphasis from my area of expertise, constitutional law. I was frankly concerned that parts of the proposed law that were being discussed might be unconstitutional. What I found was far worse than what I had heard or expected.

To begin with, much of what has been said about the law and its implications is in fact true, despite what the Democrats and the media are saying. The law does provide for rationing of health care, particularly where senior citizens and other classes of citizens are involved, free health care for illegal immigrants, free abortion services, and probably forced participation in abortions by members of the medical profession.

The Bill will also eventually force private insurance companies out of business, and put everyone into a government run system. All decisions about personal health care will ultimately be made by federal bureaucrats, and most of them will not be health care professionals. Hospital admissions, payments to physicians, and allocations of necessary medical devices will be strictly controlled by the government.

However, as scary as all of that is, it just scratches the surface. In fact, I have concluded that this legislation really has no intention of providing affordable health care choices. Instead it is a convenient cover for the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that has ever occurred, or even been contemplated If this law or a similar one is adopted, major portions of the Constitution of the United States will effectively have been destroyed.

The first thing to go will be the masterfully crafted balance of power between the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches of the U.S. Government. The Congress will be transferring to the Obama Administration authority in a number of different areas over the lives of the American people, and the businesses they own.

The irony is that the Congress doesn't have any authority to legislate in most of those areas to begin with! I defy anyone to read the text of the U.S. Constitution and find any authority granted to the members of Congress to regulate health care.

This legislation also provides for access, by the appointees of the Obama administration, of all of your personal healthcare direct violation of the specific provisions of the 4th Amendment to the Constitution information, your personal financial information, and the information of your employer, physician, and hospital. All of this is a protecting against unreasonable searches and seizures. You can also forget about the right to privacy. That will have been legislated into oblivion regardless of what the 3rd and 4th Amendments may provide.

If you decide not to have healthcare insurance, or if you have private insurance that is not deemed acceptable to the Health Choices Administrator appointed by Obama, there will be a tax imposed on you. It is called a tax instead of a fine because of the intent to avoid application of the due process clause of the 5th Amendment. However, that doesn't work because since there is nothing in the law that allows you to contest or appeal the imposition of the tax, it is definitely depriving someone of property without the due process of law.

So, there are three of those pesky amendments that the far left hate so much, out the original ten in the Bill of Rights, that are effectively nullified by this law It doesn't stop there though.

The 9th Amendment that provides : The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people;

The 10th Amendment states : The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are preserved to the States respectively, or to the people. Under the provisions of this piece of Congressional handiwork neither the people nor the states are going to have any rights or powers at all in many areas that once were theirs to control.

I could write many more pages about this legislation, but I think you get the idea. This is not about health care; it is about seizing power and limiting rights. Article 6 of the Constitution requires the members of both houses of Congress to "be bound by oath or affirmation to support the Constitution." If I was a member of Congress I would not be able to vote for this legislation or anything like it, without feeling I was violating that sacred oath or affirmation. If I voted for it anyway, I would hope the American people would hold me accountable.

For those who might doubt the nature of this threat, I suggest they consult the source, the US Constitution, and Bill of Rights. There you can see exactly what we are about to have taken from us.

Michael Connelly
Retired attorney,
Constitutional Law Instructor
Carrollton , Texas

The Texas Revolution - Early April 1836

Sam Houston's fine cadre of scouts, many Spanish speaking and led by Deaf Smith, successfuly continue to report the movements of the separate elements of the Mexican Army. As Santa Ana's force nears San Felipe, Houston orders the town burned and moves up the Brazos River to Groce's crossing.

Here the existing ferry and the newly arrived steamboat "Yellowstone" moves Houston's army across the river. The Yellowstone originally operated on the Missouri River but is here to carry cotton to American markets. It will later encounter forward elements of the Mexican army in its journey down the Brazos who will fire at it from the banks. The cotton bales on its deck make excellent shields and there are no casualties.

Houston leaves Mosely Baker and a sizeable force, over one hundred men, on the east bank at Groce's Crossing to impede Mexican attempts at crossing there. When Santa Ana arrives, Baker's men are totally successful in keeping him on the west bank. Santa Ana turns south and will attempt to cross at Fort Bend.

Houston is now moving toward Harrisburg along a route that roughly parallels highway 290. Santa Ana follows what will become known as the Old Richmond Road. Houston knows where Santa Ana is but Santa Ana has no idea of the location of Houston's army. In a short while he will be out in front of Houston. The pursuer has become the pursued!

A Warning from Thomas Sowell

This article really warrants your close attention.

A Point of No Return?
By Thomas Sowell
March 23, 2010

With the passage of the legislation allowing the federal government to take control of the medical care system of the United States , a major turning point has been reached in the dismantling of the values and institutions of America .


Even the massive transfer of crucial decisions from millions of doctors and patients to Washington bureaucrats and advisory panels-- as momentous as that is-- does not measure the full impact of this largely unread and certainly unscrutinized legislation.

If the current legislation does not entail the transmission of all our individual medical records to Washington , it will take only an administrative regulation or, at most, an Executive Order of the President, that.to do


With politicians now having not only access to our most confidential records, and having the power of granting or withholding medical care needed to sustain ourselves or our loved ones, how many people will be bold enough to criticize our public servants, who will in fact have become our public masters?


Despite whatever "firewalls" or "lockboxes" there may be to shield our medical records from prying political eyes, nothing is as inevitable as leaks in Washington . Does anyone still remember the hundreds of confidential FBI files that were "accidentally" delivered to the White House during Bill Clinton's administration?


Even before that, J. Edgar Hoover's extensive confidential FBI files on numerous Washington power holders made him someone who could not be fired by any President of the United States, much less by any Attorney General, who was nominally his boss.

The corrupt manner in which this massive legislation was rammed through Congress, without any of the committee hearings or extended debates that most landmark legislation has had, has provided a roadmap for pushing through more such sweeping legislation in utter defiance of what the public wants.


Too many critics of the Obama administration have assumed that its arrogant disregard of the voting public will spell political suicide for Congressional Democrats and for the President himself. But that is far from certain.


True, President Obama's approval numbers in the polls have fallen below 50 percent, and that of Congress is down around 10 percent. But nobody votes for Congress as a whole, and the President will not be on the ballot until 2012.


They say that, in politics, overnight is a lifetime. Just last month, it was said that the election of Scott Brown to the Senate from Massachusetts doomed the health care bill. Now some of the same people are saying that passing the health care bill will doom the administration and the Democrats' control of Congress. As an old song said, "It ain't necessarily so."


The voters will have had no experience with the actual, concrete effect of the government takeover of medical care at the time of either the 2010 Congressional elections or the 2012 Presidential elections. All they will have will be conflicting rhetoric-- and you can depend on the mainstream media to go along with the rhetoric of those who passed this medical care bill.


The ruthless and corrupt way this bill was forced through Congress on a party-line vote, and in defiance of public opinion, provides a road map for how other "historic" changes can be imposed by Obama, Pelosi and Reid.


What will it matter if Obama's current approval rating is below 50 percent among the current voting public, if he can ram through new legislation to create millions of new voters by granting citizenship to illegal immigrants? That can be enough to make him a two-term President, who can appoint enough Supreme Court justices to rubber-stamp further extensions of his power.


When all these newly minted citizens are rounded up on election night by ethnic organization activists and labor union supporters of the administration, that may be enough to salvage the Democrats' control of Congress as well.


The last opportunity that current American citizens may have to determine who will control Congress may well be the election in November of this year. Off-year elections don't usually bring out as many voters as Presidential election years. But the 2010 election may be the last chance to halt the dismantling of America . It can be the point of no return.

---

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University , Stanford , CA 94305 . His Web site is www.tsowell.com.
His book "The Vision of the Anointed" is one of the greatest commentaries I have ever read.
Oh, did I mention he is a black man?

Computer Issues!

Dear Tech Support,

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and I noticed a distinct slowdown in the overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelery applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.

In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as: Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NEWS 5.0, MONEY 3.0 and CRICKET 4.1.

Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system.

Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail.
What can I do?

Signed,




Reply

DEAR Madam,

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an operating system.

Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update.
If that application works as designed, Husband1.0should then automatically run the applications Jewelery 2..0 and Flowers 3.5..

However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Silence 2.5 or Beer 6.1.
Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do, DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly.
You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance.
We recommend: Cooking 3.0 and Good Looks 7.7.

Good Luck Madam!

2010 Census - Utah Attachment

This is like "King of the Hill" for Texans - you have to know the Mormon culture to catch all the humor!   Utah Census 2010 Form  Below is the Census 2010 form for the state of Utah, its 29 counties, each incorporated city or town. A full 57-page profile will be available and each profile will also be broken into smaller profiles by type of data. Profiles statistics from Census 2010 for population data, household and family data and housing data will be compiled at the completion of the census and will be available no later than 2020.  Please read all the information carefully and fill out the form with a fine point black BIC pen. Pencil and crayon marks are not acceptable.  

1. _____________________ (Given name) 
2. _____________________ (SURNAME) 
3. Descendant of: A. Brigham Young _____ B. Heber C. Kimball _____ C. Laman and Lemuel _____ D. Cain _____  4. Tribe of Israel : _____________________ 
5. Number of occupants residing in home in each category: (Listed in chronological order) A. Nursery _____ B. Junior Primary _____ C. Senior Primary _____ D. Young Women's _____ E. Young Men's _____ F. Relief Society _____ G. Elder _____ H. Dearly Departed _____ I. High Priest _____ 
6. Occupation [Please select all that apply.]: A. Amway dealer _____ B. Shaklee dealer _____ C. Nonie juice dealer _____ D. NuSkin dealer _____ E. Melaleuca dealer _____ 
7. Automobile: A. Station Wagon _____ B. Van _____ C. Suburban _____ D. School Bus _____ E. Double Decker _____ F. BMW (Big Mormon Wagon) ________ 
8. Favorite place to eat the night before Fast Sunday: A. Chuck-A-Rama _____ B. Hometown Buffet _____ C. Sumo Sam's All You Can Eat Feeding Trough _____ 
9. Favorite Hero: A. Nephi _____ B. Abinadi _____ C. Samuel the Lamanite_____ D. Steve Young _____ E. Johnny Lingo _____  
10. Which of the following do you bring to church [check all that apply.]: A. Scriptures _____ B. Franklin Planner/ Daytimer _____ C. Pen/Pencil _____ D. Lifesavers/ Cheerios _____ E. Tic Tacs _____ F. Game Boy _____ G. Big Gulp _____ H. Cooler _____ I. Sony Walkman _____ J. TV Watch _____ K. All of the above _____ 
11. Do you prepare your church lessons: A. A month in advance _____ B. A week in advance _____ C. While in the bathtub _____ D. While on the toilet _____ E. During Sacrament Meeting _____ F. During the closing prayer of Sacrament Meeting _____ G. During the opening prayer of the class you're teaching ___ H. Just wing it [according to the promptings of the Spirit] 
12. Do you think pews should be permanently equipped with Big Gulp holders?: yes___ no ___  
13. How many years has your family sat in the same place for Sacrament Meeting:  A. 10-20 years _____ B. 20-30 years _____ C. 30-40 years _____ D. Over 3 generations _____ 
14. How much time does it take for you to fall asleep during a high council talk: A. 1/100,000,000th of a second _____ B. 1/999,999,999th of a second _____ C. 1/999,999,998th of a second _____ 
15. Which day of the month do you go home/visiting teaching: A. 31st ______ B. 31st ______ C. 31st ______ D. 31st ______ 
16. How many church basketball fights were you in last year: A. 1-10 _____ B. 10-20 _____ C. 20-30 _____ D. You'll have to ask my lawyer _____ 
17. Which of the following has been your most effective Family Home Evening: A. Arguing about getting along B. Having an opening and closing prayer with dinner C. Gathering around the television to watch, "Dancing with the Stars?" 
18. How many times a year do you make: A. Green Jell-O salad _____ B. Funeral potatoes _____ C. Cabbage and Top Ramen salad _____ D. Turkey , cashews and grape-stuffed croissants_____ 
19. How many water-filled two-liter bottles do you own: A. 1-2 thousand _____ B. 2-3 thousand _____ C. 3-4 thousand _____ D. Enough to fill the Great Salt Lake _____ 
20. Which of the following do you feel is the most secure facility in the nation: A. Alcatraz B. Fort Knox C. Ward Libraries 
21. How many structural engineers do you hire annually to insure you'll win the pinewood derby: _________  22. Keeping the Word of Wisdom in mind, how much of the following do you consume: A. Chocolate: ___ pounds daily X 365 days annually= ____ B. Cola: ____gallons daily X 365 days annually = ____ 
23. If you had to choose between witnessing the Second Coming or attending a BYU/UofU football game, which would you choose? A. Second Coming _____ B. Football game _____  AMEN ________________________________

TheTexas Revolution - Mid March 1836

Sam Houston sends Deaf Smith to San Antonio to gather news of the Alamo. On the way, he meets Joe, Susanna Dickinson, and her little daughter, who tell him about the battle. Sam Houston burns the town of Gonzales and gathers his army at the "Sam Houston Oaks". He receives word that Mrs. Milsaps and her family have been overlooked. She is blind and her husband was one of the Gonzales volunteers who gave his life in the Alamo. He sends Deaf Smith to recover them. Then the army begins to move east on a route that roughly follows US 90 as far as San Felipe. This stirs a general panic and refugees flood the roads fleeing toward Louisiana in what has come to be known as the "Runaway Scrape".

Farther south, General Urrea, Mexico's ablest general by far, systematically mops up pockets of Texan resistance at Agua Dulce, Lipantitlan, and San Patricio. Near Refugio Mexican Lancers defeat a small force commanded by Lt. Col. William Ward and Amos King.

The Miracle of the Obama Presidency

HOW DID THIS MAN GET ELECTED? His delivery must be out of this world, because his words aren't worth caca!

Pastor Warren: At what point is a baby entitled to human rights?
Mr. McCain: At the moment of conception.
Pastor Warren: At what point does a baby get human rights?
Mr. Obama: Well, you know I, I, I think that whether you're looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, uh answering that question with specificity, uh, you know is, is is uh above my pay grade. Uh but but but but let me let me just speak more generally about the issue of abortion because this is something I, uh, obviously the country wrestles with. One thing that I'm absolutely convinced of is that there is a moral and ethical aspect to this issue and so I think anybody who tries to deny the moral difficulties and gravity of the abortion issue I think is not paying attention. So so so so that would be point number one. ...

March 6. 1936 - REMEMBER THE ALAMO

At 4 o'clock on the morning of March 6, 1836, Santa Ana positioned his men within 200 yards of the Alamo's walls. His first attack was driven back, as was the second. The Mexican soldiers suffered staggering losses. Their officers supposed there were many more men on the walls than there actually were. The soldiers fought as courageously and disciplined as any English grenadier. On the third attempt, several Mexican columns merged and finally secured the north wall.

Out of 800 men in the Toluca Battalion only 130 survived. Inside the fighting was hand to hand with knives, pistols, clubbed rifles, knees and fists. Blood was spilled in the convent, the barracks and in the church interior itself. The battle lasted 90 minutes, and then it was over.

All the Texas defenders died. By mayor Ruiz's account, the Mexican army lost 1,544 men and more than 500 were wounded, of which most would eventually succumb. He numbered the defenders at 182. Santa Ana ordered all the bodies of the Texans to be stacked in three heaps, mixed with fuel, wood and dry branches from the neighboring forest, and set on fire. Gregorio Esparza was the only defender allowed a Christian burial, Santa Ana acceding to his brother's request, who fought on the Mexican side.

One year later, a detail under Captain Juan Seguin returned to recover the ashes and bury them. Afterward a procession and mass were held to honor the defenders.

My Ancestors - The Anglo-Celts

The Scotch-Irish were once the Scot borderers in the British Isles... They fought the English for generations... The pilgrims who fled to Plymouth Rock maintained a similar world view... but with one difference. The Scots were still a rural, and for some centuries, a warrior race. ...these Anglo-Celts abandoned a world in Europe they at heart hated. They were Israelites leaving Egypt. ...children must first sever their umbilical cords before they can stand alone. Those who would rather remain in Egypt tend to make poor pioneers. ~T. R. Fehrenbach - Lone Star

March 2 1836

Forty-one delegates from all over Texas arrived in Washington-on-the-Brazos on February 28, 1836. The weather being unusually cold, accommodations were extremely uncomfortable. The convention convened on March 1 in an unpainted frame building with no glass for the windows, Richard Ellis presiding.

George Childress was assigned to lead a committee of five to draft a Declaration of Independence. Childress, the nephew of empresario Sterling C. Robertson, had been elected to the Convention just three weeks after his arrival in Texas. The committee submitted its draft within a mere 24 hours, leading historians to speculate that Childress had written much of it before his arrival at the Convention.

The declaration was approved on March 2 with no debate. Based primarily on the writings of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, the declaration proclaimed that the Mexican government "ceased to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived" and complained about "arbitrary acts of oppression and tyranny".

The declaration officially established the Republic of Texas.

Sheepdogs

"There are two types of people. The sheep and the sheepdogs. The sheep hate the sheepdogs because they are violent, aggressive and intimidating. The sheep feel that there is no need for such creatures because their nature is too dangerous to have around. But when the wolves creep into the sheeps environment and threaten their lives the sheep scream for the sheepdogs to come in and fight the wolves. And even after being treated poorly by the sheep, the sheepdogs selflessly come in and put their lives on the line to protect the sheep. When the wolves are pushed back to the forest the sheep are thankful....for a while. But sheep have a short memory and when they feel safe all they see is the sheepdogs at the woodline growling aggressively at a threat that cant be seen. Once again the sheep begin to fear and hate the sheepdog....until the next time the wolves come to call."