Constitution Day Too Political: Judge Overturns Andover Ohio City Fathers

The Andover, Ohio Tea Party will have a celebration of U.S. Constitution today - on Constitution Day - in the town square, after all. After the Andover Township city fathers refused to allow the rally on grounds that Constitution Day is" too political," and affiliated with one political party, a District Court Judge stopped the Township from blocking the event.

Apparently, the city fathers do not appreciate the fact that the Constitution allows all political parties a vote, and without the Constitution, we would not have a two-party system - we would have a royalty or a dictator. Did any of these city fathers make it to Middle School. Good grief! Source.

Constitution Day Too Political (video)
Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Americans Don't Know Meaning of July 4th Independence Day

Via Twitter's pinnie99 comes this amazing Mark Dice video, which shows the stupidest of all the stupidest-people videos. So, the average 20-30-40-50-somethings do not know the name of the Secretary of Defense, or the Vice President, but the Fourth of July! What are we teaching? The Fourth of You Lie?

Just my opinion here, but I think questions about our founding and the Founding Fathers should be a part of every test for a driver's license, a food handler's license, every marriage license - City Hall, State or Federal exam for a job opportunity, etc., etc. The story of how the Star Spangled Banner was written should be among the questions. This is so disgraceful.



Mark Dice - Americans Don't Know the Meaning of July 4th (video)

Independence Day 2010 Celebrated by Friends

My friends have some beautiful Independence Day posts up. Some are humorous, some are somber and question what Independence Day means these days. Social Sense speaks of the Civil War and the sacrifices Americans made to end slavery. The following are in no particular order.

Happy Independence Day 


God Bless America

Social Sense - 147 Years Ago

Talk Wisdom - God Bless the USA

The Conservative Lady - Happy Independence Day

The republican Mother - Independence Forever

Woman Honor Thyself - July 4th..Woot!

Saucy American in New Zealand - Why America Celebrates!

Right Truth - Enjoy Your Freedoms While You Have Them

Pundit and Pundette - Happy 4th

The Snooper Report - Reading the Declaration to Congress

Doug Ross - Orson Welles on Battle Hymn of Republic

Conservative Hideout - July 4, 1776

Caught Him With a Corndog - Land of the Free and the Brave

Blog@MoreWhat - Protecting the 4th of July

The Lonely Conservative - Happy Independence Day, Whatever that Means Anymore!

Always on Watch - Happy Birthday, America!

Backcountry Notes - Celebrate Independence Day

Chicago Ray - Happy 4th 

A Chicagoan's Conservative Chronicles - Happy Independence Day America

An Ol' Broad's Ramblings - Declaring Independence

Blog 4 History - Happy 4th of July Weekend

Bungalow Bill - Independence Day, Not Fourth of July

Conservative Perspective - Happy 234th Independence Day
drkatesview - Declaration of Restoration
geeeeeZ! - Sunday Faith Blot...Independence Day
Holger Awakens - The Birth of the Greatest Nation on Earth
Patriot's Corner - In Congress, July 4, 1776
Potluck - Happy 4th of July
Monkey in the Middle - 4 July: Day of Freedom
Praesidium Respublicae - Celebrating July 4th!
Mind-Numbed Robot - Fourth of July Bikini Special
Si Vis Pacem - Steven Givler: Colorist
The Camp of the Saints - July 4th Extravaganza!
Teresamerica - Changing the Tides of the Revolutionary War




My Salute to Independence Day - July 1st and 2nd, 1776 - So it Was Done, The Break was Made


The Story of the Star Spangled Banner

ACLU Travel Warning for Az: ACLU Giant Bully on Playground of Illegal Aliens

To each person who has come to my blog in the past to remind me of the many good deeds of the ACLU, don't bother on this one. Some civil liberties can be debated. This one can't. This loonier-than-ever organization has issued a travel warning for Arizona because of their new immigration law, which is identical to Federal law. Before a person or state can do something to impinge your civil rights, surely they have to do something that does impinge. The ACLU is a giant bully on the playground of illegal aliens, aimed at the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend. Source Fox News and Fox Nation.

Happy Father's Day

I'm wishing all the Dads out there a wonderful, wonderful day. We have family coming, and hubby - a generous, warm-hearted, loving and very cool Dad, wanted hot dogs - so hot dogs it will be. Here's a quirky Father's Day video, a quirky pic and a few sincere words about why we love our Dads, our Daddys and our Fathers:

A Dad is respected because he gives his children leadership.

A Dad is appreciated because he gives his children care.

A Dad is valued because he gives his children time.

A Dad is loved because he gives his children the one thing they treasure most – himself.

Father's Day (video)

Flag Day: Star Spangled Banner, Long May You Wave Over the Home of the Free and the Land of the Brave

Today is Flag Day, a day we celebrate The Star Spangled Banner - not the Anthem, but the flag, as Francis Scott Key saw it in battle and penned it in 1814 at 35 years old. The morning after the bombardment of Ft. McHenry, our flag with 15 stars and 15 stripes represented a united 16 states. This is the flag that Key saw in the dawn of his morning:

The Star-Spangled Banner the morning of September 13, 1814

 after the Ft. Henry, Maryland Bombardment

Please scroll down for current news

Some say the lyrics of the Star Spangled banner are out-dated - we need a new Anthem, they say, but the words are still as wonderfully expressive to me, as they surely were then to those who loved this country enough to risk all they had.

Perhaps we sing the song without thinking about the meaning behind the words. Think about it. Francis Scott Key looked for the flag from an anchored ship, in the breaking dawn of the battle for Fort McHenry.

...let's go back to the summer of 1813...At...Fort MHenry, the commander, Maj. George Armistead, asked for a flag so big that "the British would have no trouble seeing it from a distance." Two officers, a Commodore and a General, were sent to the Baltimore home of Mary Young Pickersgill, a "maker of colours," and commissioned the flag. Mary and her thirteen year old daughter Caroline, working in an upstairs front bedroom, used 400 yeards of best quality woold bunting. They cut 15 stars that measured two feet from point to point. Eight red and seven white stripes, each two feet wide, were cut. Laying out the material on the malthouse floor of Claggett's Brewery, a neighborhood establishment, the flag was sewn together....It measured 30 by 42 feet and cost $405.90.  

At 7 a.m. in the morning of September 13, 1814, the British bombardment began, and the flag was ready to meet the enemy. The bombardment continued for 25 hours....The Americans had sunk 22 vessels so a close approach by the British was no possible. That evening the connonading stopped, but at about 1 a.m. on the 14th, the British fleet roared to life, lighting the rainy night sky with grotesque fireworks.

Waiting in the predawn darkness, Key waited for the sight that would end his anxiety; the joyous sight of Gen. Armistead's great flag blowing in the breeze. When at last daylight came, the flag was still there!

Bombardment of Ft. McHenry

At dawn, Key anxiously peers into the distance to see if the flag still waves, proving the battle for God and country has not been lost. And indeed it was waving. Could there be more poignant words to describe our flag than "a star-spangled banner?"

He sees her broad stripes and bright stars, still waving over a perilous battle. 

At twilight, the bombs are still raining down, the glare of the bursts again show proof that the symbol of freedom, the Star Spangled Banner, is still waving over the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.

Ronald Reagan once said we should always ask: "Oh say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave, o'er the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave?"

As long as we are remembering to ask, perhaps the answer will never be "No."

You might be interested in this essay written in March 2010 by a college student whose school decided to ban the National Anthem. The decision was overturned, but the writer reminds the school of "the back story" of the Anthem and titles the essay "A History Lesson for the President of Goshen College."

In the video below, a beautiful, and unknown voice to me (maybe Jordin Sparks) sings The Star Spangled banner. The lyrics are on the screen, and if you haven't done it recently, take a moment on Flag Day to sing along and think about the men in battle, the families under seige, the enemy on our shores, and celebrate our star-spangled banner. Today, still protecting the star-spangled, is the U.S. Army, celebrating a 235th Birthday on June 14th.

The Star-Spangled Banner (video)

Others Celebrating Flag Day:
The Conservative Lady feeling patriotic. See a rousing video of Gene Simmons leading the trips of the anthems of each branch of our military. What a great video!

ChicagoRay's Conservative Chronicles - Flag Day as Army Celebrates 235the Birthday

GeeeeeZ! - What's the FLAG mean to you?

Hot Air - see a great video with Gregg Jarrett at Fox News on the history of Flag Day

Michelle Malkin - National Flag Day

via Lew Rockwell, The Onion says U.S. Flag Recalled after Causing 143 Million Deaths (it's a joke, friends)

Viewed from the Right - with some great flag photos, including of Sarah Palin

Amusing Bunni who on Flag Day, gives us a gift. She has a video of college kids, who probably voted for Obama...have seen the light, have accepted it, and now send him a message. It will make you smile.

Odie at Woodsterman has a big, waving flag, not as big as Gen. Armistead's 42' flag, yet a big, spirited and waving Old Glory.

Memorial Day 2010 - Ronald Reagan Speech at Arlington National Cemetery

Memorial Day is set aside to express our deepest gratitude to those, who for the love of our country, accepted death. The video below is narrated by Ronald Reagan.

Photo credit Destination360 Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

President Ronald Reagan at Arlington National Cemetery May 31, 1982 (partial transcript) - don't miss the last line:

The willingness of some to give their lives so that others might live never fails to evoke in us a sense of wonder and mystery. One gets that feeling here on this hallowed ground, and I have known that same poignant feeling as I looked out across the rows of white crosses and Stars of David in Europe, in the Philippines, and the military cemeteries here in our own land. Each one marks the resting place of an American hero and, in my lifetime, the heroes of World War I, the Doughboys, the GI's of World War II or Korea or Vietnam. They span several generations of young Americans, all different and yet all alike, like the markers above their resting places, all alike in a truly meaningful way.

Winston Churchill said of those he knew in World War II they seemed to be the only young men who could laugh and fight at the same time. A great general in that war called them our secret weapon, ``just the best darn kids in the world.'' Each died for a cause he considered more important than his own life. Well, they didn't volunteer to die; they volunteered to defend values for which men have always been willing to die if need be, the values which make up what we call civilization. And how they must have wished, in all the ugliness that war brings, that no other generation of young men to follow would have to undergo that same experience.

As we honor their memory today, let us pledge that their lives, their sacrifices, their valor shall be justified and remembered for as long as God gives life to this nation. And let us also pledge to do our utmost to carry out what must have been their wish: that no other generation of young men will every have to share their experiences and repeat their sacrifice.

Reagan ended the speech by reminding us to always ask the question which ends our National Anthem:

Does that flag still wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? That is what we must all ask.

Read about Arlington National Cemetery

Remembering Those Who Have Fallen (video)
Linked by The Lonely Conservative in Sometimes Words are Inadequate.

The Three Days to Resurrection Day - Christian Easter

Each year, I waste some time trying to understand...again...the three days to the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every year, I come to a different understanding, and this year is no different. Understanding the days isn't what is important about the Resurrection, nevertheless I rework it every year. My method from the prior year made sense then. When I reread it in the current year, it doesn't seem quite right. This exercise for me brings me closer to these Holy days - by virtue of thinking about what Jesus was doing at almost each and every hour of his life as he traversed though the Passover, on to the Passion, the Resurrection and the Ascension. See a video below.

Scroll down for recent posts

Calvary's Cross

Here is the story the way I have it figured out this year. I expect some will correct me, and that's okay, because I'm just surmising from what I read, and as I said, it is not essential that I get this right to know and believe that My Lord and Savior arose from the dead on the third day.

The date for Resurrection-Easter Sunday is connected to the historical Jewish Passover, which Jesus celebrated with his disciples on the Jewish day of Wednesday, beginning at 6 p.m. on what we think of as Tuesday.

The history of The Feast of Passover is well documented. The Israelites were delivered out of Egypt as well as from slavery, in about 1450 BC. As God dealt with Pharaoh in particularly harsh ways, the Israelites were “passed over.”

 At the commandment of God, the first Passover was celebrated at that specific time. It was the first Feast celebrated after the Tabernacle was completed, just prior to the first anniversary of the exodus out of Egypt.

 At the time of the events leading to Resurrection Sunday, the Jewish “day” began at sundown. The Message Bible explains creation and “days” in Genesis: “It was evening, it was morning -- Day 1.” So it was that the three days leading to The Resurrection began at sundown on Wednesday (6 p.m. on our Tuesday) and ended at 6 p.m. on Saturday, with Christ rising on Resurrection-Easter Sunday.

Before sundown, the end of the Jewish day Tuesday: In love and humility, Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, giving them the greatest commandment, to “love one another.”

The Jewish day Tuesday ended at about 5:59 p.m. Wednesday began at 6:00 p.m. Jesus celebrated the Jewish Passover known as The Last Supper and gave Christians the gift of the first communion - the sacred act of sharing his body and blood with us “in remembrance” of him.

Sometime after Passover, Christ was betrayed and arrested, still on Wednesday. By 6 a.m. on Wednesday, He was tried before Pontius Pilate and sentenced to death at 7 a.m. By 8 a.m. Jesus made His way to Calvary and is crucified on the cross at 9 a.m. on Wednesday - The Third Hour. At noon on Wednesday - the Sixth Hour - the darkness covered the land. At 2 p.m. on Wednesday, "it is finished." The darkness lifts at 3 p.m. - The Ninth Hour. Christ was buried at sundown on Wednesday, as the next day, Thursday, was 'a Sabbath high day," not the usual Saturday Sabbath.

 Then Christ rested in his tomb for three nights, as He said in scripture:

"For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

It was evening, it was morning Day 1: Wednesday 6 p.m. to Thursday 6 p.m. Christ rests in His tomb.
It was evening, it was morning Day 2: Thursday 6 p.m. to Friday 6.p.m. Christ rests in His tomb.
It was evening, it was morning Day 3: Friday 6 p.m. to Saturday 6 p.m. Christ rests in His tomb.

Three nights and three days - Christ was "in the heart of the earth." ~ Matthew 12:40)

Then began the Jewish day of Sunday, which was Resurrection Day. At 6 p.m. Saturday (Jewish Sunday morning), Christ rose from the dead. In the early morning hours of Resurrection Sunday, the Bible tells us "the women" arrived at the tomb and found it empty.

Over a period of forty days, the risen Christ appeared to believers, and then after "opening the minds of the Apostles, Christ "lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven" [Luke 24: 50-51] - leaving behind His assurance of His ultimate gift of grace. Happy Easter and Resurrection Blessings.

Thanks to Bibleine Ministries






Were You There When they Crucified My Lord (video)

Michelle Obama Stocks White House Library with Books on Socialism

Rob Port at SayAnythingBlog took a tour of the White House before attending CPAC, and visited the White House Library. A tour guide told the group that the Obama White House Library was stocked with books chosen by Michelle Obama. Rob took this pic. See an update below 2-20-10 from the L.A. Times.

 

Michelle Obama stocks White House Library

Socialism throughout the years of our long political history has been unable to bring down capitalism. Is that the message MO is sending? Nah, I don't think so either. Visit SayAnythingBlog for the original reporting, which reminds us of Chairman Mao's representation on the White House Christmas Tree this year.

 

Mao ornament on Obama's White House Christmas Tree

If the titles are not clear in your browser, they are, left to right:

Democracy and the Organization of Political Parties, Vols. I and II by M. Ostrogorski (UK politics)

U.S. Senators and Their World by Donald R. Matthews

The Populist Moment by Lawrence Goodwyn

The Populist Revolt by Donald Hicks

The Socialist Party of America, by John McBrewster, F.P. Miller and Agnes F. Vandome

The American Socialist Movement 1897-1912 by Ira Kipnis

The Social Basis of American Government by Nathan Glazer

The Invention of the American Political Parties by Roy F. Nichols

More on the White House Christmas Tree in the Time of Obama: View Obama on Mt. Rushmore, along with the Transvestite Community.

Update 2-10-10:
Big Dog's Weblog received a comment saying that the LA Times via the Washington Post reported that the books mentioned above were placed in the White House while Jackie Kennedy was First Lady, not MO, and Kennedy hired a Yale librarian, James T. Babb, to stock the Library. Kennedy's library became an instant library with 1,70 volumes placed on the shelves.

Babb said the works "represent the history and culture of the U.S....essential for an understanding of our national experience," and he knew the selections would be controversial:

Babb told The New York Times in 1963 that there was "bound to be criticism" of the choices. "There will still be people telling us what should be in this library, but we'll just have to be adamant," he said.

Linked by The Snooper Report

Others talking about the White House Library and Michelle Obama:
The Lonely Conservative
Gateway Pundit

Martin Luther King a Republican? Civil Rights In Spite of Harry Reid, Democrats

Today, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life is being celebrated across our nation. The discussion of civil rights is always with us in America, and in spite of the lies and intimations of Harry Reid and our current pumpkin patch of Democrats, Republicans played a huge role in bringing about the Civil Rights acts that were far too long in coming - but nevertheless, did come because of the tireless and emotional work of some key Republicans. Here is the story:

Originally published at GrizzlyGroundswell by Maggie M. Thornton

In the wake of yet another Harry Reid “inartful” comment, and MLK’s niece saying Reid is “sadly outrageous,” the Grand Old Partisan reminds us that Martin Luther King voted for Republican Dwight Eisenhower for president in 1956 and over the next ten years, Republicans were emotionally and politically active in bringing civil rights into being. Does it matter? And what does that have to do with Harry’s “inartful” words?

It matters. It matters because Black leaders, like Jesse Jackson say things like:

“Leadership cannot just go along to get along. Leadership must meet the moral challenge of the day.”

But there is never a discussion of the definition of “moral challenge.” One party sees it one way and the other party sees it another way, and the “other party,” Republicans, never seem to get it right in the eyes of most Black Americans.

This is a time to acknowledge the truth: Conservatives cannot say that our President speaks English well, and also speaks “Negro” well. But Harry Reid can. And when he says it, the President calls it a compliment.

One year after Eisenhower was elected, his Vice President, the much maligned Richard Nixon, presided over the Senate and was a staunch supporter of those opposing filibuster on the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

I’m quite frankly sick of Democrats claiming to be the champions of Black America. No one political party should be champion of anyone. Everyone is equal. That’s the proper argument, but the very fiber of the Democrat party and the powerful Black Caucus, think they are saviors, and a large block of Democrat voters see it the same.

Let’s look at some of the facts behind the civil rights acts. They are not what the Left would have you believe. In the discussion of civil rights history, how often do you hear the names of Republican Senator Everett Dirksen from Illinois? Not often. How often do you hear the name Democrat Senator Robert Byrd in connection to civil rights? Not often, but for very different reasons. Dirksen was a champion for civil rights. Robert Byrd was not. But you do hear the name of Senator Strom Thurmond disparaged when civil rights are on the table, but readers, he was a Democrat in those days – and most people do not know that.


An agenda can be identified by what is NOT being said. The names of Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Everett Dirksen and the many Republicans who fought for, and/or voted for the bill, are never uttered. Neither is it mentioned that Republicans voted for the civil rights bill in a greater percentage than did Democrats.

As President of the Senate, Nixon witnessed Democrat Senator Strom Thurmond (yes, he was a Democrat before he was a Republican) and his single-man filibuster to prohibit Black voting rights…a filibuster which went for 24 hours and 18 minutes straight on the Senate floor. Republicans helped end it.

In the Civil Rights Act of 1964 here’s how the vote counting went down [Source Diane Alden Newsmax]:

Remember that the Republicans were the minority party at the time. Nonetheless, H.R.7152 passed the House on Feb. 10, 1964. Of the 420 members who voted, 290 supported the civil rights bill and 130 opposed it.

Republicans favored the bill 138 to 34; Democrats supported it 152-96. Republicans supported it in higher proportions than Democrats. Even though those Democrats were Southern segregationists, without Republicans the bill would have failed. Republicans were the other much-needed leg of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Alden describes the importance of conservative Senator Everett Dirksen to civil rights:

He was the master key to victory for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Without him and the Republican vote, theAct would have been dead in the water for years to come. LBJ and Humphrey knew that without Dirksen the Civil Rights Act was going nowhere.

Dirksen became a tireless supporter, suffering bouts of ill health because of his efforts in behalf of crafting and passing the Civil Rights Act. Nonetheless, Sen. Dirksen suffered the same fate as many Republicans and conservatives do today.
Even though Dirksen had an exemplary voting record in support of bills furthering the cause of African-Americans, activist groups in Illinois did not support Dirksen for re-election to the Senate in 1962.

Believing that Dirksen could be forced into voting for the Civil Rights Act, they demonstrated and picketed and there were threats by CORE to continue demonstrations and violence against Dirksen’s offices in Illinois. James Farmer of CORE stated that “people will march en masse to the post offices there to file handwritten letters” in protest.

Dirksen blew it off in a statement typical of him: “When the day comes that picketing, distress, duress, and coercion can push me from the rock of conviction, that is the day that I shall gather up my togs and walk out of here and say that my usefulness in the Senate has come to an end.”

Dirksen began the tactical arrangements for passage of the bill. He organized Republican support by choosing floor captains for each of the bill’s seven sections.

The Republican “swing” votes were from rural states without racial problems and so were uncommitted. The floor captains and Dirksen himself created an imperative for these rural Republicans to vote in favor of cloture on filibuster and then for the Act itself.

As they worked through objections to the bill, Dirksen explained his goal as “first, to get a bill; second, to get an acceptable bill; third, to get a workable bill; and, finally, to get an equitable bill.”

In any event, there were still 52 days of filibuster and five negotiation sessions. Senators Dirksen and Humphrey, and Attorney General Robert Kennedy agreed to propose a “clean bill” as a substitute for H. R. 7152. Senators Dirksen, Mansfield, Humphrey and Kuchel would cosponsor the substitute.
This agreement did not mean the end of the filibuster, but it did provide Dirksen with a compromise measure, which was crucial to obtain the support of the “swing” Republicans.

On June 17, the Senate voted by a 76 to 18 margin to adopt the bipartisan substitute worked out by Dirksen in his office in May and to give the bill its third reading. Two days later, the Senate passed the bill by a 73 to 27 roll call vote. Six Republicans and 21 Democrats held firm and voted against passage.

In all, the 1964 civil rights debate had lasted a total of 83 days, slightly over 730 hours, and had taken up almost 3,000 pages in the Congressional Record.

On May 19, Dirksen called a press conference told the gathering about the moral need for a civil rights bill. On June 10, 1964, with all 100 senators present, Dirksen rose from his seat to address the Senate. By this time he was very ill from the killing work he had put in on getting the bill passed. In a voice reflecting his fatigue, he still spoke from the heart…[and ended with "it must not be stayed or denied."

Lest it get lost in the discussion, is this important question to Senator Dirksen and his answer:

After the civil rights bill was passed, Dirksen was asked why he had done it. What could possibly be in it for him given the fact that the African-Americans in his own state had not voted for him? Why should he champion a bill that would be in their interest? Why should he offer himself as a crusader in this cause?
Dirksen's reply speaks well for the man, for Republicans and for conservatives like him: "I am involved in mankind, and whatever the skin, we are all included in mankind."

On July 2, 1964, the legislation was signed into law by President Johnson - thanks to Republicans in great part.

President Eisenhower appointed prominent Blacks to prominent and important jobs in his administration, and other administrations followed: J. Ernest Wilkens to Assistant Secretary of Labor, Scovel Richardson as Chairman of the U.S. Board of Parole, Charles Mahoney as the first Black full delegate to the U.N. from the U.S., Clifton R. Wharton as Minister to Rumania and George M. Johnson and J. Ernest Wilkens as members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.

President Nixon put the "bite" in affirmative action with his revised "Philadelphia Plan," where it was mandated that minority workers in the construction industry be hired.

In other words, not until the Nixon administration did "affirmative action" begin to become synonymous with "civil rights."...

Nixon's civil rights enforcement budget for fiscal 1973 represented an eight-fold increase over Johnson's for fiscal 1969. Enforcement funds for fiscal 1974 doubled those of 1972 with the EEOC budget increasing from $20.8 million to $43 million and the budget for the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department increasing from $10.7 million to $17.9 million....

The Nixon administration 1)desegregated southern schools; 2) significantly increased funding for the enforcement of both group and individual civil rights; 3) achieved court approval of goals in hiring practices rather than quotas; and 4) clearly transformed the power and responsibility for civil rights to a court-enforced approach based on recommendations of permanent government affirmative agencies within the executive branch.

I find this comment especially interesting and well put, from Mountain State University:

Nixon remains the only modern president whose personality, rhetoric, and image can be used with impunity to dismiss or ignore his concrete achievements, especially in the area of expanding civil rights enforcement in particular, and domestic reform in general.

Johnson had a long history of voting with the South against civil rights, and prior to 1957, he voted 100% with the South, including voting against the Civil Rights Acts of 1957 and 1960.
After the Civil Rights Acts, the southern Dixicrats who opposed civil rights, dissolved and most returned to the Democrat party, although if you listen to Democrat rhetoric you would think all Dixicrats became Republicans. Some did, but most did not, and to name a few that did not: Richard Russel, Mendell Rivers, William Fulbright, Robert Byrd, Fritz Hollings and Al Gore, Sr., the father of former Vice President Al Gore.

William Fulbright was the left of the Left, stauch apologist for Stalin, and mentor of the first Black president, Bill Clinton. Fulbright was a Dixicrat and a life-long Democrat. This week we've learned that in 2008 when Hillary was running against Obama, Bill Clinton, fresh from Harlem, quipped to Ted Kennedy "a few years ago, this guy [Obama] would have been getting us coffee.”

It is time for America to wake up and smell the coffee. Conservatives are not the enemy of Blacks. Democrats may be.

The following is a portion of commentary from Paul Weyrich at Newsmax in 2004:

Prior to 1936, those Blacks who could vote generally supported Republican Presidential candidates. The GOP was the party of Abraham Lincoln, after all. Even Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal failed to completely break the bond between Blacks and the GOP. Ike received strong support from Black voters in 1952 and 1956. Then came the 1960 election. John F. Kennedy, no strong civil rights crusader before and even during most of his presidency, did make a special and emotional appeal to the Black community by telephoning Coretta Scott King after her husband, the Rev. Martin Luther King, had been jailed. It worked, helping him to carry a majority of black votes.

Republicans in the 87th Congress were determined to get the Black vote back in the GOP column. It was they, under the leadership of Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen (R-Il.), who drafted a very extensive Civil Rights Bill. They didn’t have the votes to pass the bill and there were some in the Republican Party, such as Sen. Karl Mundt (R-SD), who opposed it.

Still, word was out in the Black community that the Republicans were looking after them. President Kennedy, who contrary to current mythology was not a popular President, worried that the Black vote might return to the GOP. In a close re-election, which he anticipated would be the case, that would be fatal to his chances. So he quickly introduced an alternative bill that some analysts at the time said was not as potent as the Republican bill. No doubt that was an effort to win over some Democrats who were not enthusiastic about the legislation.

It is easy to forget, with the disciplined leftwing Democrat caucus in the current Senate in the 108th Congress, that not only were there Southern Democrats back then who opposed the kind of legislation that Kennedy proposed but such Northerners as Frank Lausche (D-OH.), Alan Bible (D-NV), and Mike Monroney (D-OK), were not enthusiastic about it either.

As Senator, John F. Kennedy had opportunities to vote on the Civil Rights Act of 1957, but instead voted to send it to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Instead, the vote happened and it passed with the help of Republicans, even if the bill was not all it could have been. After becoming president, JFK introduced no new civil rights proposals.

So in 2008 we have Senator Harry Reid exclaiming that Obama can speak English well and he can speak “Negro” well, and Black leaders are not at all upset. It is not just Harry Reid that is “outrageous.” The Black leadership is the embodiment of “outrageous.”

My friend and fellow-blogger, namaste, is a Black American blogging at My Voice on Wings of Change. She said this of the Reid comment:

As for saying Obama is “light-skinned” with no “negro dialect?” So what? He spoke the truth. Political correctness is for LIARS. I suppose this is a painful reminder to the world that the maority of blacks are undereducated and many, including Obama, including the highly intelligent and well-read, prefer to speak in a vernacular of street slang and broken English when they are in each other’s company.

Ah, but we just cannot tell the truth can we? Is it fair to say that some Blacks might sound differently from other Blacks? Of course it is fair, but only if a Democrat says it. Is it fair to say that some Whites might sound differently from other Whites? Of course it is fair, but who cares? The point is, a Democrat White has privileges that a Republican White does not have when it comes to race, and when it comes to pop culture – or maybe the privilege is simply that they can be rude and we cannot. But how is it rude if it is the truth?

It is not okay for a White Republican to say that our President speaks English well, and also speaks “Negro” well. That’s just a fact that cannot be denied, and it is sadly outrageous that our President tells us Harry Reid’s comment was complimentary. Had Mitch McConnell said it, it would not have been complimentary. Enough of the smurf-talk out of the Oval Office.
H/T to Grand Old Partisian and Infidel Bloggers Alliance

Read Michelle Malkin's post on MLK. Here's a teaser:
Hey, who knew Dr. King's dream was for his children to one day be dependent on government from cradle to grave for everything from their health care to college tuition to mortgage payments?

A Bethlehem Christmas Story Destroyed by Israel?

I guess I haven't been paying attention the past few years. I didn't know that Israel has destroyed life for Christians in the town of Bethlehem to the point that Christians have left in a "massive flight."

Bethlehem - Manger Square

WorldNetDaily has this story, and I found it via AmerIsrael. According to WND's Aaron Klein, Reuters, the GuardianUK and others, are in the habit of reporting, each year at this time, the terrible treatment of Christians by Jews in Bethlehem. If you do not have time to read the portions below, or time to go directly to WND to read the entire piece, read the three paragraphs in bold text below, and you will get the idea.

TEL AVIV – Like clockwork, every year at this time reporters file misleading and, in some cases, outright false reports about the state of Christmas in Bethlehem [blaming Israel for the demise of the Christian population]. 

They claim Israeli policies have wreaked havoc on the city's economy and that Israel is responsible for the massive flight of Christians from Bethlehem. Yet the news media completely ignore Muslim intimidation and get their facts wrong on documented history and the true state of affairs in this ancient town.

A widely circulated Reuters article, for example, laments "Christmas cheer hasn't spread to all of Bethlehem's residents," squarely blaming "an Israeli wall" for the town's misfortunes. Britains' Press and Journal also paints a dismal picture of Bethlehem, claiming the city is "divided by a huge wall" and that the "26ft-high security wall completes the isolation of Bethlehem and prevents it from ever expanding." The piece also wrongly states that about 2 percent of Bethlehem's population is Christian.

An opinion piece by Austen Ivereigh in the London Guardian, meanwhile, also claims Bethlehem is "shuttered and depressed" by an "Israeli separation wall."

"I don't just mean the structure itself – 30 feet high, bristling with watchtowers and formed of grey concrete slabs – but where it is built, deep into the town itself, far into the West Bank, severing Bethlehem from Jerusalem and ensuring the relentless expansion eastwards of Jewish-only settlements built on land seized from Palestinian farmers," the Guardian piece claims. Regarding the "wall" that "surrounds" Bethlehem: Israel built a fence in 2002 in the area where northern Bethlehem interfaces with Jerusalem. A tiny segment of the barrier, facing a major Israeli roadway, is a concrete wall that Israel says is meant to prevent gunmen from shooting at Israeli motorists....

Amazingly, Ivereigh's piece in the Guardian falsely claimed: "Bethlehem is shuttered and depressed not because of Koran-wielding thugs but because the wall has smashed its economy. The town has become a ghetto, severed from lands to the north and west by the wall, and to the south and east by settler-only roads and a forest of checkpoints, leaving it barely able to trade."

Simple demographic facts disprove this contention entirely. Israel built the barrier seven years ago. But Bethlehem's Christian population started to drastically decline in 1995, the very year Arafat's Palestinian Authority took over the holy Christian city in line with the U.S.-backed Oslo Accords.

Bethlehem was more than 80 percent Christian when Israel was founded in 1948. But after Arafat took control, the city's Christian population plummeted to its current 23 percent. And that statistic is considered generous since it includes the satellite towns of Beit Sahour and Beit Jala. Some estimates place Bethlehem's actual Christian population as low as 12 percent, with hundreds of Christians emigrating each year.

As soon as he took over Bethlehem, Arafat unilaterally fired the city's Christian politicians and replaced them with Muslim cronies. He appointed a Muslim governor, Muhammed Rashad A-Jabar, and deposed of Bethlehem's city council, which had nine Christians and two Muslims, reducing the number of Christians councilors to a 50-50 split.

Arafat then converted a Greek Orthodox monastery next to the Church of Nativity, the believed birthplace of Jesus, into his official Bethlehem residence.
Suddenly, after the Palestinians gained the territory, reports of Christian intimidation by Muslims began to surface.

Christian leaders and residents told this reporter they face an atmosphere of regular hostility. They said Palestinian armed groups stir tension by holding militant demonstrations and marches in the streets. They spokes of instances in which Christian shopkeepers' stores were ransacked and Christian homes attacked. 

They said in the past, Palestinian gunmen fired at Israelis from Christian hilltop communities, drawing Israeli anti-terror raids to their towns.

In 2002, dozens of terrorists holed up inside the Church of the Nativity for 39 days while fleeing a massive Israeli anti-terror operation. Israel surrounded the church area but refused to storm the structure....

Some Christian leaders said one of the most significant problems facing Christians in Bethlehem is the rampant confiscation of land by Muslim gangs.

One religious novelty store owner recently told WND that Muslim gangs regularly deface Christian property.

"We are harassed, but you wouldn't know the truth. No one says anything publicly about the Muslims. This is why Christians are running away."

 The City of the birth of Christ, the birth of King David, and the tomb of Rachel is under Palestinian governance, and has a Muslim majority population.

In 2007 the city had approximately 25,000 residents with Christians making up 20% of the citizenry. With life made difficult for Christians, and the fact that Christians propagate at a much slower rate than Muslims, the Christian presence in Bethlehem is dwindling.

Read about Christmas observances by Christians in Bethlehem here and about the Church of the Nativity and the birthplace of Christ here.

Abdul Mudallad is Nigerian NW Flt 253 Bomber: Abdul Mudallad and al-Qaeda Failed in Airline Bomb Attempt

Delta Northwest Flight 253 landed safely in Detroit today - Christmas Day, after Abdul Mudallad  tried but failed to blow up the plane on its descent. The would-be bomber appears to have several aliases: Abdul Farouk Mudallad and Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. White House officials have called the incident an "act of terrorism." See 12-27-09 update below.

Northwest Airlines Flight 253

Mudallah, 23, allegedly tried to detonate explosives strapped to his leg. The device is believed be a powder and liquid mixture. The Nigerian flew KLM Flight 588 from Nigeria to Amsterdam where he boarded Flight 253, a Northwest Airbus 330 with 278 passengers.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (Abdul Mudallad)

According to ABC News, the suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to detonate the powder.

Syed Jafry, of Holland, Michigan, told the Detroit News that he was sitting in the 16th row when he heard “a pop and saw some smoke and fire”. Mr Jafry said that people ran out of their seats to tackle the suspect.

Dawn Griffith, from Pontiac, Michigan, who was waiting to meet a passenger, told the newspaper that she saw a “young looking” man being taken from the airport handcuffed to a stretcher with his hands bandaged.

Peter Smith, a witness describes the scene aboard the flight:

The man was "subdued immediately," Elliott said. Northwest is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta.

"There was one guy, who sat on the other side, the right side of the wing because this was on the left side of the wing, and he jumped over the other people and he took care of it," said passenger Peter Smith.

The suspect told authorities that he had explosive powder taped to his leg and used a syringe of chemicals to mix with the powder that was to cause explosion. This is of concert because it is a method of mixing that is consistent with terror techniques.

There are unconfirmed reports that some passengers were injured. Mudallad is believed to have second degree burns. Naturally, the U.S. would be merciful to a man desperate to kill American infidels:

The Nigerian suspect suffered second-degree burns and was being treated at the University of Michigan Medical Centre, where authorities were questioning him. On landing, the Northwest flight was directed to an isolated part of the Detroit airport as police and firemen responded.

Mudallad or Abdulmutallab is believed to be an engineering student at University College London. He allegedly claimed he was following instructions from al-Qaeda, and indeed, he is on a US "watch-List" according to this report, but...not on a no-fly list!!! ABC News reports he was flying from Nigeria to the US for a "religious seminar," according to his entry visa which was issued in on June 16, 2008 - and get this, it was good until June 12, 2010.


Photo of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, courtesy of Reuters (an undated photo)
Photo credit of Northwest Flt. 253: J.P. Karas/AP

Update 12-27-09:

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (Abdul Matallad) was officially charged with trying to blow up the Northwest airliner on Christmas Day - placing a destructive device on Flight 253.

The video below reports that a wall of the plane was on fire.

The egregious Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano believes this attempted bombing has no connection to a wider plan of attacks on the U.S.  - displaying here long-held belief that accusations of terrorism are offensive to the worldview.

Abdulmutallab's father, Umaru Mutallab, says he reported his son to the American Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria because he feared his son had been radicalized.



 Related and Background:
 Noteworthy News on Abdulmutallab: Eric Holder's Federal not Military Court

Gloria Borger grills John Brennan (video)

John Brennan Briefed about Yemen Bombs in Briefs last October 

 Travel Blog says Terrorists Plant Explosives Up their Anus!

Michael Leiter Sidesteps Christmas Day Bomb Attempt: Dennis blair's DNI CIA Turf War

 Obama's Pre-Christmas Security Briefing: Authorities Lie About Second Man Detained

 Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attended Islamic school in Houston

 Michael Leiter NW Flt 253: CIA sent Abdulmutallab info to Leiter's Counterterrorism Center

Abdulmutallab and al-Qaeda in Saudia Arabia: Claims Christmas Day Attack

Jaspar Schuringa is Flight 253 hero: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - son of prominent Nigerian banker

Amsterdam and the al-Qaeda threat is a Homeland Security Failure

Abdul Mudallad is Nigerian NW Flt. 253 Bomber - al-Qaeda failed in airline bomb attempt


Other Airline Terrorists:
Shoe Bomber Richard Reid Wins: Terrorism and Jihad wins

Christmas Blessings: David Phelps - Mary Did You Know? (Video)

David Phelps - Mary Did You Know
Graphic courtesy of wondercliparts.com

Christmas Eve: O Holy Night by David Phelps

Christmas blessings 

to you and yours 

from the Thorntons

Please scroll down for current news posts 

Winston Churchill's Christmas Eve address, 
Washington, 1941

"Here then, for one night only, each home throughout the English-speaking world should be a brightly lighted island of happiness and peace. Let the children have their night of fun and laughter. Let the gifts of Father Christmas delight their play. Let us grown-ups share to the full in their unstinted pleasures before we turn again to the stern tasks and formidable year that lie before us. Resolved that by our sacrifice and daring these same children shall not be robbed of their inheritance or denied their right to live in a free and decent world.

David Phelps' Amazing O Holy Night

Chanukah Traditions: Jewish Religious Determination

Rabbi Wyne tells the story of Chanukah in the video below. The holiday begins tonight. As a gentile, I forget the details, so this reprint from last year is a reminder of why Chanukah is celebrated around the world.

I encourage you to also read this year's post by findalis at Monkey in the Middle, who begins Chanukah at her home tonight.

The eight day Festival of Light known as Chanukah began Monday, December 22. Listen as the Rabbi explains the meaning of the celebration.



Chanukah Traditions  For more information on celebrating Chanukah, visit Chabad.org

Sarah Palin Gridiron: Barney Frank Gridiron: Palin Addresses Death Panel

Sarah Palin and Barney Franks were the featured bi-partisian speakers at the winter Gridiron dinner with an audience of journalists - or as Palin referred to them, an "elite audience of leading intellectuals, or as I like to call it, a death panel."

Here's two more favorites from Palin:

As for the president, Palin joked that she was looking at a magazine cover of Obama and Chinese president Hu Jinato during an airplane flight. A nearby passenger stated, "Hu's the Communist," she related.

And, Palin said, "I thought he was asking a question." 

Staying with the book theme, she joked that “If the election had turned out differently, I could be the one overseeing the signing of bailout checks and Vice President Biden could be on the road selling his book, 'Going Rogaine.'

Politico couldn't really find anything funny in Franks' speech. There was one line from him - something about newspaper recovery (after a bailout, no doubt), Twitter and Claire McCaskill's lunch, which Franks is not interested in.

Lynn Sweet is talking about Sarah's "otter skin" handbag. You go Sarah! And Todd Palin's cummerbund featuring the North Star and Alaska's position on the globe.

One important thing to know is that the winter Gridiron dinner is always "off the record." In other words, the speechs are not public...BUT THIS YEAR...the Gridiron Committee broke that 100-year-old rule, and instead, before and after the speeches and the "songs" attendees were allowed to Twitter.

The evening ended with the "Gridiron Singers," performing a non-traditional 12 Days of Christmas that featured Rush Limbaugh and "two tea-bag goons:"

“On the first day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: A Marxist in a dead tree.

On the second day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Two tea-bag goons.

On the third day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Three hell-no's

On the fourth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Four bawling Becks

On the fifth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Five Sarah swoon-ins

On the sixth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Six health care death squads

On the seventh day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Seven bug-eyed birthers

On the eight day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Eight Cheney boomlets

On the ninth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Nine ACORN busters
On the tenth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Ten thundering mossbacks


On the eleventh day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Eleven loony liberals

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: twelve flaming liberals, hunted down in the wild and field dressed, medium well-done, seared on the fatty edges—“


And then Palin joined the chorus for the final line:


"Right next to the mashed potatoes," she sang.

Related and Background:

Sarah Palin to Speak at Winter Gridiron Dinner

Sarah Palin Talks with Rusty Humphries - Obama Birth Certificate "Fair Game"