Via Looking in the Mirror
The former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) unit tracking terror leader Osama bin Laden, Michael Scheuer (left), endorsed Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas for President in 2012, days before the Iowa caucus. He argued, among other points, that the top-tier GOP hopeful is the best candidate to protect America from violent Islamic extremism. In a column entitled "Iowa’s Choice: Dr. Paul or U.S. bankruptcy, more wars, and many more dead soldiers and Marines" published on his website over the weekend, Scheuer said voting for any candidate other than Paul would help inflict further damage on an already-wounded America. It would also contribute toward the continuation of a foreign policy that will ensure total national bankruptcy, noted the 22-year intelligence-community veteran, who now serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Peace and Security Studies.
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Why the English Language is So Hard to Master
This is good. I waded through it and so shall Dixie tomorrow for homeschool.:) Good luck!
The Poke
Verbatim Post
The Poke
Verbatim Post
If you can pronounce correctly every word in this poem, you will be speaking English better than 90% of the native English speakers in the world.
After trying the verses, a Frenchman said he’d prefer six months of hard labour to reading six lines aloud.
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation’s OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Fe0ffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation (think of Psyche!)
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won’t it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It’s a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough,
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!
English Pronunciation by G. Nolst Trenité
NC Patriots of ’61: Private J.T. Prickett, Granville Stars
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial Commission"
J.T. Prickett enlisted as private in the “Granville Stars” at age 21, on 17 June 1861. He and his local compatriots mustered in at Oak Hill for 12 months, and additional recruits were sworn in at Garysburg in Northampton County. The Granville Stars initially became part of the 13th Regiment, North Carolina Troops, and later Company I, 23rd North Carolina Troops. Private Prickett’s unit was sent by rail to Manassas for the July 21 battle in Virginia, but was not engaged due to train delays. Placed under Colonel Jubal Early’s command, they were brigaded with the 5th and 21st Regiments, North Carolina Troops and the 24th Virginia.
Camp illness struck down many of the soldiers in these units and kept them idle. Private Prickett and his 13th was moved to Fairfax Station in early August – then to Union Mills in September for picket duty. It was here in mid-November that the unit designation was officially changed to the 23rd Regiment, North Carolina Troops.
Private J.T. Prickett died on 14 December 1861, exact cause of death was not reported but probably as a result of the many camp diseases – he was one of over 20,600 North Carolinians who would perish from disease during this war for independence.
(Source: Confederate Images, C.E. Avery, Confederate Veteran Magazine, July/August 2003, page 14)
www.ncwbts150.com
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial Commission"
J.T. Prickett enlisted as private in the “Granville Stars” at age 21, on 17 June 1861. He and his local compatriots mustered in at Oak Hill for 12 months, and additional recruits were sworn in at Garysburg in Northampton County. The Granville Stars initially became part of the 13th Regiment, North Carolina Troops, and later Company I, 23rd North Carolina Troops. Private Prickett’s unit was sent by rail to Manassas for the July 21 battle in Virginia, but was not engaged due to train delays. Placed under Colonel Jubal Early’s command, they were brigaded with the 5th and 21st Regiments, North Carolina Troops and the 24th Virginia.
Camp illness struck down many of the soldiers in these units and kept them idle. Private Prickett and his 13th was moved to Fairfax Station in early August – then to Union Mills in September for picket duty. It was here in mid-November that the unit designation was officially changed to the 23rd Regiment, North Carolina Troops.
Private J.T. Prickett died on 14 December 1861, exact cause of death was not reported but probably as a result of the many camp diseases – he was one of over 20,600 North Carolinians who would perish from disease during this war for independence.
(Source: Confederate Images, C.E. Avery, Confederate Veteran Magazine, July/August 2003, page 14)
NC Patriots of ’61: Private J.T. Prickett, Granville Stars
Citizen Attacks Cop On Youtube Video
What's interesting is this man comes out of nowhere.
Once again, citizens are getting fed up with the CopDom crap LEO's are doing against them.
A video posted on Youtube shows a pair of Baltimore police officers struggling with a suspect before another man walks up and punches one of the officers in the face, prompting the two officers to turn their attention to him, apparently allowing the first man to go free.
One of is the officers is on his back with the second suspect on top of him when a third cop runs up and kicks him in the face, which allows them to eventually handcuff and detain him.
There is not much more information on the incident, according to The Baltimore Sun, which still hasn’t determined when the incident took place. The video was uploaded to Youtube early this morning.
One of is the officers is on his back with the second suspect on top of him when a third cop runs up and kicks him in the face, which allows them to eventually handcuff and detain him.
There is not much more information on the incident, according to The Baltimore Sun, which still hasn’t determined when the incident took place. The video was uploaded to Youtube early this morning.
Military surplus modular sleep system $99.98
2 sleeping bags: Patrol and Intermediate Cold Weather. Compression Stuff Sack and a Gore-tex Bivy Cover. You can use either bag inside the Gore-tex cover alone, or use the ICW bag inside the Patrol bag for waterproof warmth down to -40° F Entire system fits inside compression sack to cinch down to a tiny roll.
Fallbrook, CA 2001
Facebook is helpful at times as Sandy just posted this picture of Dixie in the middle that I had never seen before.
Iran’s Propaganda Exposed by Experts as False
Verbatim Post
Iran’s actions of the last several days poured more fuel into the rabid war hysteria of the war-mongers in the United States. Several things happened: Iran declared that they were closing the Ormuz Straits in response to the threat of sanctions; then the Iranian Navy declared that three missiles were launched and hit their targets successfully; and finally, a technological breakthrough in the area of nuclear fuels, a uranium rod of industrial grade produced from Iran’s own uranium deposits. Iran’s claims and threats for the last several years have been many, and they are usually met by another round of irrational war propaganda here in the US, which refuses to hear the opinions of the intelligence and foreign policy experts, both in the US and in Israel.
No one really believes that Iran will carry out their threat of closing the straits, and European leaders – usually very timid when it comes to sanctions – defied Iran’s threats and agreed to oil sanctions. A White House press secretary said in a press conference that Iran’s position is a position of weakness, and pointed to the fact that the Iranian currency dropped 20% and the Iranian people are frantically buying gold. Experts on foreign policy at The Wall Street Journal comment that Iran won’t proceed with closing the straits, first, because of the shakiness of its own economy, and second, because it will only move the US to strike at its nuclear program., and the Iranian leadership is afraid of that.
As far as the Iranian missile tests are concerned, Michael Singh, an expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says that there are clear signs that the clips and the pictures the Iranian military published online are photoshopped to look impressive. In addition to it, the bragging of Iran’s official propaganda that the “can hit any target, any time, if necessary,” is baloney: the missiles were tactical missiles with maximum range of 125 miles, which in naval engagement is considered tactical, not strategic range. The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain is now about 150 miles from Iran. There is no information if the missiles really hit the targets; experts like Singh describe Iran’s muscle-flexing as “posturing” and “gamesmanship.”
Neither is there any information whether the nuclear fuel rod was really developed by Iranian scientists. The information suspiciously comes at a time when the regime in Tehran needs some propaganda line to feed to its own population which is scared by the prospect for international sanctions. In itself, the information means nothing and it doesn’t necessarily lead to the conclusion that Iran has the capability to produce nuclear weapon. A fact that is often unknown to the general public – and concealed by our war-mongering politicians – is that industrial-grade uranium fuel can not be used as a weapon, and is not even close to be used as a weapon. The industrial-grade concentration of U-235 (the radioactive isotope of uranium, the true nuclear fuel) in U-238 (the natural, low-radioactive isotope) is supposed to be about 3-4%, maximum 9%. The technology to get to 9% from the natural concentration of 0.7% is fairly widespread. But weapon-grade uranium requires concentrations of U-235 of over 85%, preferably 90-95%, if a critical mass of U-235 is to be reached within a reasonably small warhead that can be carried by a missile. The technology to achieving such high concentration from the natural concentration of 0.7% is very expensive, and there is still no data that Iran has achieved it. And even if Iran has a nuclear weapon, all the foreign policy and intelligence experts – American and Israeli – agree that the threat of their cities being incinerated by an Israeli nuclear attack will force the Iranian leaders to act rationally.
None of this, of course, will change the war-mongering among the majority of the American politicians. If politicians ever learn something from history, it is that scare tactics can dumb populations down enough to make them willfully surrender their liberties. Hitler’s propaganda was based on the lie that the Jews were out to destroy Germany; the Communist propaganda was based on the lie that the West is out to destroy the Soviet Union; and the American liberal and neoconservative propaganda is based on the lie that the Iranian leadership is out to destroy the United States, when intelligence data clearly shows that the Iranian regime has only one concern: its own survival. A population paralyzed by fear is an easy tool in the hands of the establishment. The experts will be ignored as long as the fear tactics works here in the US.
Flagging Lexington
Via PoP
Friday, January 13th, the Virginia Flaggers will be observing the official Lee-Jackson holiday by Flagging Lexington. We ask all Flaggers to take to the streets and sidewalks of Lexington in protest of the Flag Ban passed by Lexington City Council on September 1st, 2011. We have a suggested route to follow, slightly altered from the original proposed parade route, which now covers 2.5 miles, and passes by the homes and businesses of many of those who dishonored Lee, Jackson, and our ancestors with their prejudicial ban. We hope that many of you will follow the route in small groups, at your leisure, and as you are able on the morning/afternoon of January 13th.
Info:
suzn68@comcast.net
Friday, January 13th, the Virginia Flaggers will be observing the official Lee-Jackson holiday by Flagging Lexington. We ask all Flaggers to take to the streets and sidewalks of Lexington in protest of the Flag Ban passed by Lexington City Council on September 1st, 2011. We have a suggested route to follow, slightly altered from the original proposed parade route, which now covers 2.5 miles, and passes by the homes and businesses of many of those who dishonored Lee, Jackson, and our ancestors with their prejudicial ban. We hope that many of you will follow the route in small groups, at your leisure, and as you are able on the morning/afternoon of January 13th.
Info:
suzn68@comcast.net
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