"In the name of American Indians, I protest the use of the Central American Indian Aztec logo for San Diego State. (My consistency is based soley on irony and sarcasm, of course.)"
Thursday, December 23, 2010
I Protest In The Name Of American Indians.........
"In the name of American Indians, I protest the use of the Central American Indian Aztec logo for San Diego State. (My consistency is based soley on irony and sarcasm, of course.)"
War On Christmas – Israeli style
West Bank: Christian farmers lost their olive groves when Israelis built a fence around a settlement.
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"So all you so called Zionist Christians, you John Hagees and Michelle Bachmann’s, you Dispensationalists and others who traveled on Israeli junkets, met with Netanyahu and excused Israeli treatment of Christians in the past, what do you say now and treatment of your Christian brothers by banning a symbol of Christmas?"
A Galactic First
Hon. James David Manning, PhD speaks about preachers going to jail for preaching the Bible. Recorded on 23 December 2010.
Archaeologists Locate Wreck Of Confederate Gunboat
An artillery shell from the Brooke (Source: University of South Carolina)
Underwater archaeologist Christopher Amer (left) and archaeological assistant Joe Beatty carry an artillery shell from a Confederate Brooke rifled cannon recovered from the Pee Dee River (Source: University of South Carolina)
Painting of the gunboat C.S.S. Chattahoochee from Port Columbus (Ga.) The C.S.S. Peedee would have looked much like this Confederate gunboat (Source: University of South Carolina)
End of the right trunnion of the 9in Dahlgren with the initial “JMB” incised into the metal. The initials are of John M. Berrien who was the duty ordinance officer in Pittsburgh when the gun was cast (sometime between 1862 and 1864) (Source: USC)
The magnetic signatures of what remains of the wreck of CSS Peedee superimposed over the sonar images of the bottom of the Pee Dee River. The two sources of data suggest that the wreck is broken up and dispersed and is now completely buried by the sand.
COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A University of South Carolina archaeologist has found the wreck of C.S.S. Peedee, a Confederate gunboat that was destroyed by Confederate forces so it would not be captured by Union forces, in the Pee Dee River.
The discovery comes 18 months after underwater archaeologist Chris Amer confirmed the presence of two of three cannon from the gunboat in the river: a Confederate Brooke rifled cannon and a Union Dahlgren smooth-bore, 9-inch shell cannon near the Confederate Mars Bluff Navy Yard.
"This isn't a boat resting neatly on the river bottom," Amer said. "The remains are as messy as the history that put it there. Together, the wreck and cannon tell a story about the little known but very important role that inland Confederate naval yards played in the Civil War. Hidden along interior rivers, the naval yards let Confederate forces build and protect gunboats and support vessels."
Amer said that after an unsuccessful three-week search in July to determine whether the elusive third cannon was hidden under the Dahlgren or under a handful of artillery shells on the river's bottom, he returned in September to follow up on clues about the Peedee's location.
The clues included some data from downstream that he gathered in 2009 and a personal account by a man who claimed that he witnessed a salvage operation of the Peedee in 1954.
"Michael Hartley, an archaeologist in North Carolina, said he was 12 years old when he watched a group of men salvage a boiler and parts of C.S.S Peedee at Mars Bluff," said Amer. "He said the water was low and that he made a detailed map of its location."
Hartley, once on staff at USC's South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA), gave Amer a file that he had created on C.S.S. Peedee.
"I was able to go right to the spot," said Amer. "Hartley's account matched up with magnetic readings that I took of a 25,000-square-foot area."
In November, Amer used sonar to search for the debris and found evidence of the wreck: ripples on the sand where sediment had built up over debris, magnetic "hits" in straight lines depicting the iron bolts along bedding timbers and a tree stuck on something substantial on the river's bottom, possibly ship timbers.
"It's in pieces and buried, although I'm not sure just how deep," Amer said.
The condition of the wreck doesn't surprise him. After all, he said, the Confederate commanders set the 170-foot gunboat ablaze and blew it up in 1865 so it wouldn't fall into the hands of Gen. William T. Sherman's northward advancing Union troops.
He said in the early 1900s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers further damaged the wreck while clearing the river channel for boat traffic.
Disruptions to the wreck occurred in 1925, Amer said, when propellers were salvaged, and again in 1954, when Hartley witnessed the salvaging of two engines, a boiler, propeller shafts and a 30-foot section of the stern.
With the mystery of the wreck solved, Amer will resume efforts to locate the third cannon.
Amer said he will ask local loggers in the spring to move the logs holding the Brooke in preparation for raising the two cannon. He said he also wants to determine whether a field of logs carpeting the river bed close to where the other two cannon were found, is covering the missing cannon.
The logs are a remnant of the Mars Bluff Navy Yard, one of seven inland Confederate naval yards and the one where C.S.S. Peedee was built and later used for logging activities.
While Amer has worked to locate the cannon and gunboat, his colleague, Dr. Jon Leader, a SCIAA research associate professor, is searching for the naval yard.
Like the third cannon, the land portion of the Mars Bluff Navy Yard remains elusive.
Leader's initial search, using ground-penetrating radar and remote-sensing technologies with students from USC and East Carolina University's Program in Maritime Studies field school, uncovered early occupations by Native Americans, but no evidence of the naval yard. He said he believes it may be on adjacent property along the river, which he will investigate this spring.
The entire SCIAA project is funded in part by a $200,000 grant from the Drs. Bruce and Lee Foundation in Florence. Once the cannon are raised, plans call for them to be preserved at a conservation laboratory at Francis Marion University under Leader's supervision.
SCIAA, part of the College of Arts and Sciences, was established in 1963 as a University of South Carolina research institute and a cultural resource management agency for the state of South Carolina. For more information, visit the website www.cas.sc.edu/sciaa/.
When To Shoot The Colonels
I posted this last January, but enjoyed it again.
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By *Tom Baugh, plus A West Pointer's ad seriatim **commentary upon Baugh's essay and a ***Reprise.
*"No one in a position of command or power is going to surrender that power for something as irrelevant as your rights."
**"If you treat a man like an enemy, if you presume him to be so, he will oblige you by being your enemy. To do otherwise would be foolish on his part."
***"I am willing to bet that 50% or more will act unconstitutionally against their fellow citizens come the Crunch."
U.S. Real Home Prices Reverting To The Long Term Mean?
Speaking of stating the obvious, the "analysis" sounds like a joke. Home prices have been around 170,000, so 5 percent is $8,500. Coincidentally enough, the 2009 federal tax credit was $8,000. Imagine that. Anyhow, consider yourself warned, as housing prices should be heading down next year and the decline probably won't be as modest as the Fed would prefer.
1951-1962 Mercedes-Benz 300
I used to have a pet raccoon and they make great, house broken pets as long as you don't awake them by shaking them with your hand!
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17 photos
Civil War's (Sic) Start Merits Celebration
"Why Black America should celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War:
During the Civil War, there were black people fighting on both the Union and Confederate sides. Thousands of black slaves fought and died along with their slave masters. But there were black slave owners who were free men who also fought and died on the side of the Confederacy.
On the Union Army side, thousands of black soldiers also fought and died.
Those men who fought and died in the Civil War of 1861-1865 did so because they felt that they were doing the right thing"
Via Jamey, SDYCMichael Behenna: Clemency Denied
To the thousands of Michael Supporters,God bless each of you. We have been in this fight together for the past two years and your encouragement and support has been the driving force behind all we have been able to accomplish. Last year, the Clemency Board gave Michael a reduction of 5 years off his 20 year sentence. On December 2nd we again pleaded Michael's case before the Army Clemency Board. We pointed out to them that Michael's sentence was 50% larger than the highest sentence given to any soldier convicted of unpremeditated murder in a combat zone. We also addressed Michael's unblemished record in prison for the past two years, his many accomplishments while incarcerated, and his unblemished civilian record. We stressed that he was not a threat to anyone and offered many letters of reference including those from the Governor of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Attorney General, Law Enforcement Agency Heads, and all of the supporters who took the time to write letters of support for Michael. In addition, the entire Oklahoma Congressional Delegation offered their support for Michael’s clemency. We also had three letters of immediate employment for Michael upon his release. After our arguments to the Clemency Board, the Board had no additional uncompleted factors for Michael, and the Chairman of the Clemency Board stated that Michael had “turned the corner.” Unfortunately, on December 22nd, Michael was notified that all of our efforts fell on deaf ears and he was denied even ONE day of clemency by the Clemency Board and the Secretary of the Army John McHugh. We have no idea why they denied Michael’s clemency request and can only surmise that the Secretary of the Army desires Michael to spend a substantial amount of time in prison.
Michael's Appeal Hearing before the Army Appeal Court took place on December 9th in Washington, DC and was well attended by Michael's family and a courtroom full of supporters who drove many hours to attend the hearing. In the Appeal’s Hearing the Army seemed to be taking a new position on the facts of the case. During Michael's trial in February 2009 the crux of the entire case revolved around whether Ali Mansur was sitting and executed or standing and reaching for Michael’s gun. The Army prosecutor’s theory was that Michael executed Mansur while Mansur sat on a rock in a culvert. Michael's testimony was that he was questioning Mansur in the culvert when Mansur stood up and lunged for his weapon. The Army prosecutors claimed Michael's testimony was "impossible" and "self-serving" despite all the forensic evidence supporting Michael's version (including their own expert witness who they sent home rather than have testify.) During the appeal’s hearing the Army seemed to back away from its original theory stating that even if Mansur was standing and reaching for Michael’s weapon Michael would still be guilty of murder because he lost his right to defend himself by pointing a loaded gun at Mansur. Telling a soldier that they lost their right to defend themselves in a war zone….against a known terrorist… is just plain crazy talk by people who have never been in harm’s way. It reinforces the point made by a newly elected Congressman who said that soldiers have to watch their back against JAG officers even more than an enemy that is trying to kill them. But the most disappointing thing we learned at the hearing was that a decision on Michael’s appeal could take as long as 15 months.
I promise you as we have promised Michael: we will never cease fighting for Michael’s freedom no matter how high or how hard the climb. When we spoke to Michael this week he wanted us to wish each of you a blessed Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year; and to let you know his spirit is as strong as ever because of all YOUR support - for that, we Thank You!
We appreciate the many letters to Michael inspiring him to fight through this ordeal. We encourage you to continue to write to him with your kind words of support (his prison address can be found on the website defendmichael.com.) Also please continue to write to your Congressmen and Senators to ensure that they are aware of your feelings about our government treating its enemies better than we treat our bravest heroes.
Here are some articles by two writers who attended the Appellate Hearing:
http://www.dianawest.net/Home/
Peace to you and your families,
Scott & Vicki Behenna
Via DeborahBombardment Of Their Cities
"I therefore conclude that it is only left to the Commanding General to watch and await their action, which, if it shall be to arm their people against the United States, he is to adopt the most prompt and efficient means to counteract, even, if necessary, to the bombardment of their cities and, in the extremest necessity, the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus."
Via Jamey, SDYC
GOA: Clerk Of The House Will Read The Constitution At Start Of Congress
"We are firmly convinced, and we act on that conviction, that with nations as with individuals our interests soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral duties, and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation is trusted on its word when recourse is had to armaments and wars to bridle others."
--Thomas Jefferson, Second Inaugural Address, 1805
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House Speaker Designate John Boehner announced that the clerk of the House of Representatives will read the Constitution aloud at the start of the new Congress.
"This is a great victory for all Americans who care about limited government, individual liberty and the Constitution," said John Velleco, GOA's Director of Federal Affairs. "Maybe Congress is finally getting the message that the oath they take to support and defend our most important founding document is still relevant in the 21st century. Reading it is a good first step, but now we must get Congress to abide by the real contract with America."
At about 4,400 words, it is one of the shortest written Constitutions in the world and will only take about an hour to read. In contrast, the ObamaCare bill weighs in at around 180,000 words and was never read at all by those voting for its passage.
The overwhelming reponse to GOA's petition, found at www.readtheusconstitution.org, shows that Americans want Congress to follow the Constitution.
"We will enjoy watching Nancy Pelosi's face when the clerk reads the Constitution, since it may be the first time she's ever heard it read. And hopefully the clerk will read it nice and slowly to let the words sink in," said Velleco.
There is no word yet from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid if the Senate will follow the House's lead, so GOA is still urging people to visit the website and sign the petition.
The current oath that all members of Congress take reads:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
Please help keep the pressure on Congress to read -- and abide by -- the Constitution. If you've already signed the petition, thank you, and please urge all of your pro-gun family and friends to visit www.readtheusconstitution.org.
Still Time to Give a GOA Gift Membership
Our heartfelt thanks go to all of you who have given your family and friends a gift membership in GOA this holiday season. With just a couple of days left until Christmas, you can finish up your shopping online at: http://gunowners.org/giftmembership.htm
You will not only be finishing up your Christmas shopping list... you'll be increasing the voice of the most active grassroots gun lobby that is constantly on the front lines defending your rights.
You have already added your voice to our grassroots network... and we thank you. But now we need you to help increase our voice, so that when Congress reconvenes in January -- and we gin up grassroots activists -- they're going to feel the heat like never before.
Please click here to sign up your friends and family today!
--Thomas Jefferson, Second Inaugural Address, 1805
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Victory In The House
-- Congress to read the Constitution!
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org
-- Congress to read the Constitution!
Gun Owners of America E-Mail Alert
8001 Forbes Place, Suite 102, Springfield, VA 22151
Phone: 703-321-8585 / FAX: 703-321-8408
http://gunowners.org
Thursday, December 23, 2010
You did it!
Gun Owners of America asked you to get behind our effort to push Congress to read the Constitution on the floor of the House and Senate.
You did it!
Gun Owners of America asked you to get behind our effort to push Congress to read the Constitution on the floor of the House and Senate.
House Speaker Designate John Boehner announced that the clerk of the House of Representatives will read the Constitution aloud at the start of the new Congress.
"This is a great victory for all Americans who care about limited government, individual liberty and the Constitution," said John Velleco, GOA's Director of Federal Affairs. "Maybe Congress is finally getting the message that the oath they take to support and defend our most important founding document is still relevant in the 21st century. Reading it is a good first step, but now we must get Congress to abide by the real contract with America."
At about 4,400 words, it is one of the shortest written Constitutions in the world and will only take about an hour to read. In contrast, the ObamaCare bill weighs in at around 180,000 words and was never read at all by those voting for its passage.
The overwhelming reponse to GOA's petition, found at www.readtheusconstitution.org, shows that Americans want Congress to follow the Constitution.
"We will enjoy watching Nancy Pelosi's face when the clerk reads the Constitution, since it may be the first time she's ever heard it read. And hopefully the clerk will read it nice and slowly to let the words sink in," said Velleco.
There is no word yet from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid if the Senate will follow the House's lead, so GOA is still urging people to visit the website and sign the petition.
The current oath that all members of Congress take reads:
"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."
Please help keep the pressure on Congress to read -- and abide by -- the Constitution. If you've already signed the petition, thank you, and please urge all of your pro-gun family and friends to visit www.readtheusconstitution.org.
Our heartfelt thanks go to all of you who have given your family and friends a gift membership in GOA this holiday season. With just a couple of days left until Christmas, you can finish up your shopping online at: http://gunowners.org/
You will not only be finishing up your Christmas shopping list... you'll be increasing the voice of the most active grassroots gun lobby that is constantly on the front lines defending your rights.
You have already added your voice to our grassroots network... and we thank you. But now we need you to help increase our voice, so that when Congress reconvenes in January -- and we gin up grassroots activists -- they're going to feel the heat like never before.
Please click here to sign up your friends and family today!
Bob Hope Show, Long Binh 1967
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I remember this show vividly. As I walked there, Westmoreland drove by and we exchanged salutes. I went to a dinner in his honor in the early 1980's? in Orange County, CA.
Michelle's Separate Departure To Hawaii Cost Extra $ 63,000
"But Mrs. Obama's determination to get her full two weeks of Hawaiian rest and relaxation probably cost a good deal more. By leaving early, she forced a large logistical support operation – including a retinue of Secret Service agents – to get itself up and running.
This is in addition to the support that will be needed to bring President Obama to Hawaii via Air Force One. Since the cost of moving the entire family together on Air Force One would not likely have been much different than that of taking just the president, the first lady's trip is an add-on.
What's more, Mrs. Obama has decided to make a Sasquatch-sized carbon footprint by commandeering her own jet to take her to Hawaii."