Just another day?
Memorial Day began on May 30, 1868 and was observed throughout the United States to commemorate the members of the armed forces who gave their lives during the various wars in which this nation had been engaged. Since World War I this date has been used to commemorate the dead of all our wars. The ceremonies are now sponsered by various Veterans Organizations.
On this Memorial Day we have so many thing to be thankful for, not the least of which is our freedom to choose how we observe this day. To many, it is just another holiday making a long weekend to eat, drink and be merry. To others, like myself , it will be a day spent quietly contemplating what our world would be like today but for those brave young men and women who gave their lives so that we might have that choice. Being a veteran myself still doesn't give me any special insights into why our world seems to be collapsing in upon itself.
While we commemorate this day as a holiday and honor (hopefully) those who died, if not for us, at least to keep our basic rights intact, the news from all across our great nation is bad and appears to be getting worse. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, bad to begin with, is now
threatening to destroy forever the livelihood of thousands of families living along the coast. If it takes another two months to bring it under control we will all be affected by it. Pray that it don't take that long. Then there is the illegal immigration problems, not only in Arizona but all across our southern border. People in Washington say the Arizona Law is unconstitutional but even if it is, it wouldn't be necessary if the Federal Government enforced the constitution. Read it for yourself.
Article 4, Section 4 of our constitution states that: "The United States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and on application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against Domestic Violence." How much clearer would you ask it to be?? The Governor of Arizona has ask for help from Washington several times but has been ignored. What was left for them to do but to attempt to protect themselves??
I am now and always have been against illegal immigration. We have laws to deal with such matters and everyone should obey the laws of this country if they want to live here even though I will have to admit that one of my ancestors may have been associated with a group of people which inadverently came into this country without proper documentation. If not for that hardy group of pioneers the settlement called Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia may have been lost forever but on the other hand, I pray that it is not because my blood has cooled and my passion for freedom diminished that my Cherokee heritage no longer yearns to see the white man's blood spilled on the field of battle and it has been years now since I've felt the urge to take a scalp. Have a great Memorial Day. Thanks, stay tuned William
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Sometimes We Just Don't Know
Saturday May 15, 2010 late
As I sit here all alone I've been thinking / about a way of life that I can't understand / it's so hard to stand up for what I believe in / but if I don't can I call myself a man?
It has not been what you could call an unusually eventful day unless you want to count the realization that our freezer (deep freeze) had quit on us and it was more than two thirds full of rapidly thawing blueberries, apples, peaches and various kinds of vegetables. We immediately began the task of finding someone who wanted to give some of them a new home. By 6:00 pm we had the most of them that were still salvagable moved out. At this time it appears that we have not only lost a freezer but up to a hundred dollars worth of food but it is springtime and we can replace the frozen food. First though we will probably need to replace the freezer because it is getting too old to spend money on to repair it.
Almost two weeks ago a tornado came within a mile of our house, doing extensive damage and knocking out power for about 37 hours. I don't really think that had anything to do with our deep freeze problem but we Just don't know.
To some people, especially on TV, it doesn't seem to matter whether or not they know what they are talking about. It seems that everyone has an opinion and to many people their opinion is the only one that matters. Case in point - our United States Attorney General said, on TV, that the Arizona Immigration Law was unconstitutional and racial profiling but when questioned he admitted that he had neither read nor had been briefed on the bill. What kind of opinion is that??
Whe the democrat's health care plan first came out I wrote dozens of e-mails to, so called, newscasters and senators trying to convince someone (anyone) that the bill was badly flawed with the most glaring flaw being the cutting out waste and fraud in Medicare and cutting payments to doctors and hospitals in order to shore up Medicare then taking that same, so called, savings and applying it to some other lame brained government program. No one even bothered to answer my e-mails but most of them acted surprised when others started talking about that flaw much later.
One of our semi-local newspapers used to have a column which was titled "Pet Peeves". Maybe we should bring it back. I think I could write a book on mine. Until Later, William
As I sit here all alone I've been thinking / about a way of life that I can't understand / it's so hard to stand up for what I believe in / but if I don't can I call myself a man?
It has not been what you could call an unusually eventful day unless you want to count the realization that our freezer (deep freeze) had quit on us and it was more than two thirds full of rapidly thawing blueberries, apples, peaches and various kinds of vegetables. We immediately began the task of finding someone who wanted to give some of them a new home. By 6:00 pm we had the most of them that were still salvagable moved out. At this time it appears that we have not only lost a freezer but up to a hundred dollars worth of food but it is springtime and we can replace the frozen food. First though we will probably need to replace the freezer because it is getting too old to spend money on to repair it.
Almost two weeks ago a tornado came within a mile of our house, doing extensive damage and knocking out power for about 37 hours. I don't really think that had anything to do with our deep freeze problem but we Just don't know.
To some people, especially on TV, it doesn't seem to matter whether or not they know what they are talking about. It seems that everyone has an opinion and to many people their opinion is the only one that matters. Case in point - our United States Attorney General said, on TV, that the Arizona Immigration Law was unconstitutional and racial profiling but when questioned he admitted that he had neither read nor had been briefed on the bill. What kind of opinion is that??
Whe the democrat's health care plan first came out I wrote dozens of e-mails to, so called, newscasters and senators trying to convince someone (anyone) that the bill was badly flawed with the most glaring flaw being the cutting out waste and fraud in Medicare and cutting payments to doctors and hospitals in order to shore up Medicare then taking that same, so called, savings and applying it to some other lame brained government program. No one even bothered to answer my e-mails but most of them acted surprised when others started talking about that flaw much later.
One of our semi-local newspapers used to have a column which was titled "Pet Peeves". Maybe we should bring it back. I think I could write a book on mine. Until Later, William
What is this world coming to
Will History Repeat Itself?
On September 11, 2001 terrorist, later identified as being Moslems (Islamic) and members of Al Qaeda , sky-jacked four airplanes. Two of those planes were flown into the Twin Towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the fourth crashed, after a heroic struggle by passengers, into a field in Pennsylvania. Over three thousand people died in those senseless acts of terrorism. What had we done to warrent such an attack? Are our memories so short that we have already forgotten those images flashed on our televisions for days afterwards and if so, how long will it be before history repeats itself?
There are many who now say that we should not be fighting in Iraq, that we should never have started that war, that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with Iraq, but before it began there was almost universal agreement that Saddam Hussain had to be taken out. Now we know that hindsight is almost always 20/20 and again it has been proven that politics make strange bedfellows.
I don't believe that this war on terrorism (Al Qaeda) will ever be over, at least not in most of our lifetimes. It may become dormant and remain that way for years but just like a cancer in remission, it is still there and can erupt at any time. We must recognize it for what it is, an attempt to destroy our way of living and to rule the world or we will be leaving ourselves open to that possibility. Think about it please.
According to my copy of the book "Outline of History" published in 1929 by Funk and Wagnalls, part of the series "Pocket Library of the World's Essential Knowledge", the Islamic religion was founded in 611 A.D. by Mohammed. Quoting from that book: "In Medina a vision came from God to Mohammed, at a convenient hour, informing him that if his countrymen will not be persuaded by fair words then the sword must be the instrument of their salvation. Then began the era of bloody evangelism -- Soon after Mohammed's death the Moslems began their holy war against the pagans and more particularly against the infidels, meaning the Hebrews and Christians". Convert by the sword or die by the sword. Does that sound familiar? Isn't history repeating itself today?
On September 11, 2001 terrorist, later identified as being Moslems (Islamic) and members of Al Qaeda , sky-jacked four airplanes. Two of those planes were flown into the Twin Towers in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. and the fourth crashed, after a heroic struggle by passengers, into a field in Pennsylvania. Over three thousand people died in those senseless acts of terrorism. What had we done to warrent such an attack? Are our memories so short that we have already forgotten those images flashed on our televisions for days afterwards and if so, how long will it be before history repeats itself?
There are many who now say that we should not be fighting in Iraq, that we should never have started that war, that Al Qaeda had nothing to do with Iraq, but before it began there was almost universal agreement that Saddam Hussain had to be taken out. Now we know that hindsight is almost always 20/20 and again it has been proven that politics make strange bedfellows.
I don't believe that this war on terrorism (Al Qaeda) will ever be over, at least not in most of our lifetimes. It may become dormant and remain that way for years but just like a cancer in remission, it is still there and can erupt at any time. We must recognize it for what it is, an attempt to destroy our way of living and to rule the world or we will be leaving ourselves open to that possibility. Think about it please.
According to my copy of the book "Outline of History" published in 1929 by Funk and Wagnalls, part of the series "Pocket Library of the World's Essential Knowledge", the Islamic religion was founded in 611 A.D. by Mohammed. Quoting from that book: "In Medina a vision came from God to Mohammed, at a convenient hour, informing him that if his countrymen will not be persuaded by fair words then the sword must be the instrument of their salvation. Then began the era of bloody evangelism -- Soon after Mohammed's death the Moslems began their holy war against the pagans and more particularly against the infidels, meaning the Hebrews and Christians". Convert by the sword or die by the sword. Does that sound familiar? Isn't history repeating itself today?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)