News Flash: American Flags Fear Hillary!

You have to see this video. It's a must! If you don't you will regret it forver!

The blurb below the video reads:

Kind of a bizarre moment in Waterloo, IA. After a very presidential-looking news conference with reporters, Clinton stood in front of a dark blue curtain with four flags standing behind her. After answering questions - a Clinton staffer opened the curtains to escort the Senator away. One flag fell and the rest followed. Chaos ensued while Clinton, her chief of staff and advance members attempted to grab all of the flags that were falling.

Eery, yes, but hilarious as hell! A must see!

On Being Offended: A Rant

choose [chooz] : verb, chose; cho·sen or (Obsolete) chose; choos·ing. -verb (used with object)
1. To select from a number of possibilities; pick by preference: She chose Sunday for her departure.
2. To prefer or decide (to do something): He chose to run for election.
3. To want; desire.

We make many choices in life. Most we do not even think about, but make as a matter of course, habit, or instinct. Some, such as our choices in cuisine are based on personal preference. I enjoy spinach but find Brussels Sprouts abhorrent; I enjoy Rum Raisin or Coffee Ice Cream, but Vanilla leaves me yawning with boredom. Choices are what we do in our lives.

Most of us have made choices that we regret. All of our choices have led us to this point in our lives, where we no longer have the freedom of range we once had. But that’s what happens when we choose one course over another; one direction rather than another. The things we choose to do make us what are. Who we are.

When we are offended we have made a choice. For most of us some things are absolutely offensive in a deep-in-the-belly way. Abuse of animals offends most civilized people, despite the continuing popularity of Dog Fighting, Cock Fighting, and so on, in some parts of this country.

Sexual abuse of children may well top the list of those things offensive to our hearts and souls. Unthinkable to most of us. And yet that offense is a choice we make. It doesn’t matter if we feel disgust instinctively, rather than as a well thought-out stance. Either way it’s a choice. And we make it.

When enough people make the same choice, to wit: we are offended by action/activity “X”, we often pass a law to ban, restrict, or regulate such actions/activities.

But all of this is a choice. No matter how right or wrong we may be we are making a choice to be offended.

For far too many years those who wish to silence the majority have announced in aggrieved tones how they are offended. Offended by speech, offended by images, offended by music, offended by anything and everything. And the weak-willed who pretend to govern us - a fiction since they have no authority to “govern” us but instead to administer our public affairs - have fallen all over themselves in their attempts to stamp out the cited offense.

In Europe today, should you happen to oppose the actions of Muslim immigrants as they create their own encapsulated neighborhoods, and make it dangerous for a non-Muslim to intrude, you run the very real risk of being arrested. Someone will take offense, be it a Muslim ‘leader’ or a committed Leftist. And you will be arrested for merely reciting the facts. Or sued into insolvency and ruined. Recitation of facts regarding Islam and its followers is considered "Incitement to Racial or Religious Hatred". Virulent speeches demanding the deaths of Jews and Christians in these same countries garners only a shrug from the authorities.

It’s as if the Socialist/Leftist governments of these nations look upon the angry, violent Muslims within their border as merely unruly children, and those who report on their activities as dangerous Child Abusers. And they treat them in just such a fashion.

And yet, when you come right down to it, it’s a matter of choice. The Muslims ‘choose’ to be offended and their response is riot, rape, and vicious murder. The Leftist governments ‘choose’ to ignore the realities of Islamic Culture and ‘choose’ to harass their own citizens to prevent them from raising the Red Flags of warning.

And why not? To acknowledge that there is a very real and dangerous problem means one must act. Act to prevent or act to stop. That also means you must stir yourself from your comfy seat and do. And the Left prefers to maintain its power, not by actions that work for the betterment of their citizens and the nation at large, but through coercion, legal fictions, manipulation of the MSM, and very real threats to its own people, rather than deal with a problem they cannot understand.

And they ‘choose’ not to understand. To understand would mean the Left would have to agree that faithful Christians and Jews have a worthwhile opinion, and that simply cannot be. That would mean that the Left has to grasp Faith as something other than a mild delusion. And that cannot be. The Left cannot accept Religion or Faith as anything other than an illness, otherwise the tenets of the Left fall to pieces. The Left ‘chooses’ to not believe. The Left ‘chooses’ to see both Radical Islam and active Christianity and active Judaism as the same mentally unhinged philosophies.

If we ‘choose’ to remain quiet and quiescent while the Muslims agitate for more protection under the Law, at the cost of a weakened Constitution, if we ‘choose’ to shrug as the Muslims demand their own special apartheid of Shari’a Laws apart from the Law of the Land, then we ‘choose’ to be subjugated by an inferior culture. We ‘choose’ to be threatened by a radical, violent religion. And we ‘choose’ to leave to our offspring, not the land of opportunity our fathers left us, but a bloody tyranny that will extract from them any semblance of good and prosperity, and leave them Slaves to an alien god.

Offended? Who cares? That’s your choice, not mine. Maybe it’s time to stand up, be an adult, and see what it is that I’m writing about. If not, then buzz off! I’m offended by you! And I so choose!

Epiphany In Tarpon Springs: January 6

My Folks live in Tarpon Springs, Florida, about 24 miles north of me here in Largo. They have learned quite a bit about the culture of the little town on the coast, and enjoy much of it. Church-goers, they are not a part of the Greek Orthodox Christianity that is the majority religion of the town. But they heard about the celebrations of that church and the festivals, and each year see the decorations and whatnot that accompany each. And they told me all about them. I visit them as often as I can - though I tend to laze about at home rather than fight the ugly traffic that tends to crawl along (this is, after all, a very old driving population, hereabouts. They tend to drive very slowly!) - and have enjoyed the sights and sounds of Tarpon Springs. Though I'd probably enjoy the Epiphany Celebrations I never go. You see, the small town of Tarpon Springs, home to the largest Greek-American population in the United States, swells to three times the normal population, when Epiphany rolls around. Greek-Americans from around the nation come to Tarpon Springs for Epiphany each year.

Local Legacies says:

In Tarpon Springs, Epiphany on January 6 is truly a celebration of life in this unique community on the Gulf of Mexico. Schools close so that students can join family, friends, and as many as 25,000 visitors at an array of events. This day-long Greek Orthodox celebration includes a morning service at St. Nicholas Cathedral, the release of a white dove of peace, the ritual dive in Spring Bayou for a cross, followed by Greek foods, music, and dancing.

What is Epiphany, that it draws so many people to Tarpon Springs? Well, Wiki describes it thus:

Epiphany, meaning 'appearance' or 'manifestation', is a Christian feast intended to celebrate the "shining forth" or revelation of God to mankind in human form, in the person of Jesus. Some Christians commemorate the visitation of the Magi to the child Jesus on this day, while others use the day to commemorate the baptism of Jesus as an adult. It is also called Theophany, especially by those commemorating Christ's baptism.

Though Christmas is a big deal for the town, Epiphany is the larger festival, celebration, feast of the season. It's a very big deal. Last year - 2006 - marked the Centennial of the Tarpon Springs Epiphany celebration. Such is the fame within the Greek Orthodoxy of this town's celebration that the head of the Greek Orthodox Church - - came to the town to join in the festival. Wiki remarks:
Epiphany in Tarpon Springs in 1921.

On January 6th, 2006, for the 100th anniversary celebration of the Epiphany services in Tarpon Springs, his all-holiness Bartholomew I, the Patriarch of Constantinople, who is considered "first among equals" of all hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, visited Tarpon Springs to preside over the Epiphany services. Bartholomew's visit to Tarpon Springs was one of the few visits to America by an Ecumenical Patriarch thus far in history.

That's a pretty big deal!


A St. Petersburg Time photo of the boys diving for the Cross.


The big public part of this festival is The Dive For The Cross. This is what tourists gather to see, along with the Greek community. Local Legacies describes it nicely:

Greek-American male youths have braved the chilly January waters of Spring Bayou since 1920 in hopes of capturing the coveted Epiphany Cross. Although there are similar events in Greece, Epiphany observances in Tarpon Springs have exceeded the fame of all others. One reason is the fortuitous location of the church near Spring Bayou. Epiphany commemorates the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan, when the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the form of a dove. The day begins with a Divine Liturgy, then a liturgy procession makes its way to the bayou. After the archbishop blesses the waters, praying for calm seas and the safety of sailors, he casts a white cross into the waters, and a young woman releases a dove.

Boats are anchored in a semi-circle facing the dock. The boys swim out to the boats, climb in, and wait for the Cross to be thrown.

The dive for the cross is the highlight of the Epiphany events. Locals believe that retrieving the cross will ensure a year of good luck and blessing. About fifty boys, between ages 16 and 18, dive. Each Epiphany cross is made from a single piece of wood. Local teacher Bill Paskalaks has made the crosses for decades. When a young man finds the cross, he is greeted with wild cheers of delight and the procession carries him back to the church, where a short service is held to bless the diver. A celebration is then held in the park nearby.

The waters are extremely cold, but the young lads brave it to find that cross. Considering some of the weather around this time, in recent years, it's amazing the boys haven't succumbed to hypothermia. We're talking coooold water!




Swimming out to the boats.



Sometimes boats overturn. All part of the Dive.



And in they go, diving for the Cross!



This is the winner from a few years ago.

It usually doesn't take long for one boy to find the cross on the floor of the Bayou. They practice diving, you see. It's that important to them and to the Greek community. Many of the previous images are borrowed from the Webshots album of gcoop. They are part of the Epiphany 2004 album and you can find it here. Many, many more images to enjoy!

As I said, I don't attend, as I don't care for huge crowds nor the long, slow drive north. But if you are ever in the area at the beginning of the year I suggest you head for Tarpon Springs for the Dive For The Cross. Then feel free to explore the Docks and all that Tarpon Springs has to offer. Yes, they have touristy places along the docks, but so what? Imagine seeing the Sponge Ships and the Greek Bakeries (Ohhh, man! The aromas! Wow!), visit the restaurants and museums, see the turn-of-the-century homes along the bayous. It's beautiful. Just remember to wear comfy shoes and bring a sweater!

I've Had Enough!

No, I ain't a-quittin'. That's the title of a Paul McCartney tune - with Wings - that kept running through my head while I read the Primary news. And it seemed to me that it might fit nicely with what I've been mumbling about this endless election-cycle for some time. So I cobbled together some images and slapped on the song, and here you are!

Have a listen. I think Patrick might even enjoy this old-fashioned-sounding Rock tune. Hope so!

I call the video "The Primary Blues".



The Primary Blues

Add to My Profile | More Videos

I've Had Enough
Paul McCartney & Wings

You're Talking To Me
From The Back Of My Car
And I Can't Get Nothing Right
And Then You Wonder
Why Stand At The Bar
Day And Night

Chorus
I've Had Enough
I Can't Put Up With Any More
No No No No No No No
I've Had Enough
I Can't Put Up With Any More
No No No No No No No

You Stand Behind Me
With A Watch In Your Hand
And I Can't Get Nothing Done
Well, People Tell Me You're Punctual Man
But Come On
Come on!

Chorus

I Earn The Money
And You Take It Away
When I Don't Know Where You're From
I Should Be Worried
But They Say It'll Pay For A Bomb

Chorus
I've Had Enough Baby
You Know Sometimes
You Get A Little Weary
But If It Ever Happens Honey
You Just Come Along To Me
Because You Know

I've Had Enough
I Can't Put Up With Any More
No No No No No No No
I've Had Enough
I Can't Put Up With Any More
No No No No No No No


I've had enough!

You can also catch the video here.

Iowa Over! *whew!*

By now you all know that Barack Obama and Mick Huckabee are the big winners in the Iowa Caucuses. Huckabee's win is not a surprise; Obama's is more so, at least as far as his totals. The late night Republican returns showed Mike Huckabee at 34%, Mitt Romney nine points behind at 25% and Fred Thompson tied for third with John McCain at 13%. Obama beat Hillary Clinton 37% to 29%. Edwards was second with 30%.


From Red State comes this nice round-up of the results. Pejman Yousefzadeh writes:

Winners For The Republicans
1. Clearly Mike Huckabee. I think that he is the worst major candidate to throw into the general election, but give the man his due; with very little money and very little organization, he won in a state where money and organization matter a great deal indeed. And he won by taking Huey Long populism, rebranding it with a Republican label and selling it as the coalition of the future.
[...]
2. Fred Thompson. I know that he didn't campaign as hard as some thought he should have in Iowa. And I know that he doesn't have much money. Despite all of that, he snagged third place. He can get stronger as candidates drop out or as those who looked to Mitt Romney perhaps look again (whether Thompson will get stronger is the question). Thompson will probably look for a third place finish in New Hampshire and then look to South Carolina as well for a state in which he can do well. One thing is for sure: He's not going anywhere. He's remaining in the race.
3. John McCain. Thanks to Romney being wounded, McCain looks to New Hampshire with a lot of hope and promise. The only question, however, is whether his campaign might falter in its quest for New Hampshire independents thanks to Barack Obama's strong win in Iowa this evening.
Loser For The Republicans
1. Mitt Romney. All that money just went down the drain, didn't it? Apparently "I can look at spreadsheets with the best of them" and "I can calibrate my positions to make anyone happy" just don't go down well with the electorate, do they?

I'm not sure about the McCain analysis, but perhaps he's right. As for Romney ... who knows? He did spend a lot of money on this tiny caucus and has nothing to really show for it. But he still has a bundle of money and his campaign will continue.

Pejman Yousefzadeh continues:

Winner For The Democrats
1. Barack Obama. The only winner the Democrats had. A very impressive turnout led to a convincing victory, which led to a powerful speech. The man has loads and loads and loads of political talent and even if you disagree with his worldview (as I do), you can't deny that he is one of the most engaging and charismatic politicians out there. He goes into New Hampshire with huge momentum.

Losers For The Democrats
1. Hillary Clinton. A no-talent campaigner with no message other than "wouldn't it be cool if a former First Lady got elected as the first female President?". She can mention "change" until the cows come home--it won't alter the fact that she is the ultimate status quo candidate. [...]

2. John Edwards. How is that Huey Long Message Of Populist Anger working out? [...] It is all rage, all class warfare, all the politics of resentment. And it failed tonight. Couldn't happen to a more deserving candidate.

I think Yousefzadeh hit it pretty well, don't you? And what of the other candidates? Does anybody really care? Biden and Dodd are out of the campaign, but were they ever really in?

Erick, another writer at Red State, opines:

[...]
Another story tonight should be that Fred Thompson gets a second chance. According to the entrance polling, late deciders broke for Huckabee and Thompson. Voters who wanted to vote for someone they trusted broke for Huckabee and Thompson. Huckabee isn't going to play well across the board. Thompson, getting late breakers with his game face on, has a second chance in South Carolina.

Big loser on the GOP side: Rudy. Sure he didn't play. But damn.

On the Democratic side: Edwards and Hillary battle it out for second place. Obama sweeps it. Hillary is actually vulnerable. Good for Obama. Ironically, this pushes the Democrats to the left with their guy. Hillary actually does have more experience than Obama.

This is really phenomenal though. Not since the early eighties have the Clintons received such a drubbing by the voters. And Bill went out of his way to campaign for her. This is a repudiation of the Clinton legacy. According to entrance polling, Obama won massively against Clinton in the 65 and under crowd.

And you know what? Women backed Obama over Clinton. So how's the identity politics working for you tonight Hillary?

Lastly, goodnight pretty boy! John Edwards, who has campaigned for the job since November 8, 2004, is out.

Well, he's not really out, but man is he down! And that's a good thing.

Jed Babbin remarks:

Clinton, whose huge campaign war-chest isn’t much diminished (nor is her national machine) by the Iowa result, won’t end her bid. But now she’s an underdog, the second or third choice. She has a tough road ahead to come back. And Hillary is no Bill: the “Comeback Kid” succeeded on selling his charm. Hillary is the snake, not the charmer.

Yep. Then he continues thus:

The entrance polls -- used instead of exit polls because of the fluidity of the Democrat caucuses -- showed two important points.

First, among Republicans (most of whom identified themselves as conservatives and a great many of whom were Evangelical Christians) illegal immigration was the biggest issue. For Democrats, issues were as fuzzy as their late decision-making. Fox reported that about 51% of the Dems were most concerned with “change.”

Second, the lack of early commitment among Democrats -- not paralleled among Republicans -- shows Obama’s win to be a soft one. At about 8:15 pm last night, CNN was reporting that about 25% of Iowa caucus attendees hadn’t made up their minds before arriving at their caucus sites. A hard win -- either more than 50% of the vote, or at least a vote by committed voters -- would have meant a lot more.

Babbin also had this to say about Fred Thompson:

Thompson’s third-place finish was good but not great. After disappointing many conservatives with his slow September start, Thompson’s fast-break in the last weeks paid off. Thompson’s December 30 speech, aired on his blog and viewed by large numbers in the days since, hit solid notes that other Republicans hadn’t. Iowans apparently took Thompson more seriously than the media did, and it paid off. But the fact that Thompson tied with McCain -- whose campaign in Iowa was almost nonexistent -- doesn’t mean the Iowa result catapults Thompson into real contention in New Hampshire.

Alright, it's time for Fred Thompson to swing into full campaign mode. Hear me, Fred? Laid back is all well and good, but the voters need to know that you are, in fact, interested in winning. So get moving! We called you to run, we want you to win, but you actually have to work to get the voters to vote for you. You're not just in Tennessee anymore.

Note:The totals as of 7:15 AM this morning:

President - Democrat Caucus

1781 of 1781 Precincts Reporting - 100%


Obama, Barack Dem 940 38%
Edwards, John Dem 744 30%
Clinton, Hillary Dem 737 29%
Richardson, Bill Dem 53 2%
Biden, Joe Dem 23 1%
Uncommitted Dem 3 0%
Dodd, Chris Dem 1 0%
Gravel, Mike Dem 0 0%
Kucinich, Dennis Dem 0 0%
Other Dem 0 0%

President - GOP Caucus

1702 of 1781 Precincts Reporting - 96%


Huckabee, Mike GOP 39,814 34%
Romney, Mitt GOP 29,405 25%
Thompson, Fred GOP 15,521 13%
McCain, John GOP 15,248 13%
Paul, Ron GOP 11,598 10%
Giuliani, Rudy GOP 4,013 3%
Hunter, Duncan GOP 515 0%
Tancredo, Tom GOP 5 0%

A Wasted Documentary

"Andrew Jackson was a patriot and a traitor. He was the greatest of generals, and wholly ignorant of the art of war. He was the most candid of men, and capable of the profoundest dissimulation. He was a democratic autocrat, an urbane savage, an atrocious saint." ~ James Parton, Jackson's first biographer, 1859

Our local PBS station has been advertising the latest documentary for a few weeks now, and it was scheduled to air last evening. I like documentaries. One of the best I ever watched was about the Johnstown flood (narrated by David McCullough) and made me want to know more and see the next documentary the network offered. Last evening's offering, "Andrew Jackson: Good, Evil and the Presidency", was not worth the two-hour screening time. In fact it was a complete waste of time.

The first indication that this documentary would be a waste was hearing a familiar voice begin the narration. Why would anyone choose Martin Sheen (C - CA) to narrate a serious film about an important person in American History? It isn't simply that Sheen is a radical Leftist Loon - which he is - or an anti-American - which he is whenever he opens his mouth in public - but that Sheen's narration was continually overwrought, breathless, and devoid of any flavor of seriousness that a documentary about our seventh President should have. He sounds as though he's speaking to small children. Indeed, aside from the fact that the documentary claimed, over and over, that Andrew Jackson founded the Democratic Party (not quite, but he certainly took it over and changed it forever), his Militarism and bigotry, paranoia and inability to see any opposition as less than an utter betrayal seems an odd choice for Sheen to agree to laud.

*I suppose that Sheen saw 'Democrat' as Jackson's party affiliation and just couldn't help himself.*

Two hours of this production were two hours too much for me. By the 20 minute mark I had had enough and found myself wandering my apartment seeking something to distract me. At the one hour mark I turned off the TV, switched off the lights, and went to sleep. It was that bad.

Granted, I could have gotten past the breathless quality of Sheen's narration - the director may have thought it was necessary to 'punch up' the production - if the information had been new, or shocking, or in any way interesting. The fact is that though the film used some nice film recreations of incidents during Jackson's life, the film was cotton-candy when I had hoped for something more meaty. PBS says about the documentary:

"This presidential biography contains penetrating insights from a distinguished and diverse group of historians and scholars such as lead advisor Dan Feller, professor of history and editor/director of The Papers of Andrew Jackson , University of Tennessee; Richard Blackett, director of graduate studies at Vanderbilt University; Kathryn Braund, professor at Auburn University; Dale Cockrell, professor of musicology at Vanderbilt University; Daniel Walker Howe, professor emeritus at UCLA Department of History; John Larson, professor of history at Purdue University; Bobby L. Lovett, professor of history and dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Tennessee State University; Robert Remini, historian, U.S. House of Representatives; Ann Toplovich from Tennessee Historical Society; Harry Watson, professor and director for the Center of the Study of the American South at UNC at Chapel Hill; Sean Wilentz, professor of history, Princeton University; Benny Smith, oral historian, Cherokee Nation; Catherine Allgor, professor of history, UC Riverside; Jon Meacham, Newsweek editor and Jackson biographer; Kirsten Wood, associate professor of history at Florida International University; Marsha Mullin, chief curator and director of museum services at The Hermitage; and Mary Young, professor emeritus of history at University of Rochester."

All these may be very good scholars and biographers. But once they got before a camera they shrank into 'Gosh, gee-willickers' students, showing off their little nuggets of information, making sweeping assertions without referring to the source of those assertions, and generally sounding like starry-eyed Film School Students making their first foray into entertainment. Along the way they managed to make Jackson sound insane - which he might have been, granted - childish, petulant, and evil.

Among the claims to Fame that Andrew Jackson holds is his victory over the British at New Orleans in the War of 1812. Despite the fact that the war had already ended, by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, the combatants did not know and fought as if everything depended on the outcome. And in some ways it did. Had the Brits won at New Orleans they may have decided to stay right there, as they did in the Old Northwest after the American Revolution, despite their treaty obligations (British forces remained in place until the War of 1812 ended, and caused no end of trouble stirring up the Indians along the frontier). The Battle of New Orleans was a masterful use of terrain and forces by Jackson, and destroyed the British forces at little cost to the American Army (over 2,000 British losses as compared to 100 American casualties). And the documentary allowed about two minutes to this pivotal moment in Jackson's career.

In fact his life seemed to jump from his childhood, and the events that created his life-long hatred of the British, almost directly to his adulthood as a lawyer in Nashville, to the War of 1812. (I exaggerate, but it was covered pretty lightly, and pretty fast) Then on to the campaign for the Presidency! Whee!

Jackson's relationship and marriage to Rachel Donelson was given a bit more coverage than I expected, and yet remained less than filling. This was the single-most important relationship in Jackson's life. And the producers made it seem a bit tawdry (it was considered scandalous by the elite of the time) but just a bit whacky, too. What it was to Jackson was the single human grounding point in his life. His attempts to protect his beloved wife from the accusations hurled against her, and them, led to duels that left Jackson wounded and at least one man dead. The scandal of his marriage followed Jackson for the rest of his life. For all the bloody actions of his military career, the paranoia and distrust he held for nearly everyone, Rachel was the one person who could calm him, relate to him, and provide a place in the world where ugliness could not enter. That story could have filled the two hours of the production all by itself. And would have been a better use of time.

Unfortunately it was a minor mention in the documentary. Rachel died two weeks after Jackson's 1828 election victory; she had just bought her inaugural gown. Jackson blamed John Quincy Adams for her death - the scandal over their marriage had reared its ugly head during the campaign - and never forgave Adams. Jackson seems to have never forgiven anyone for anything. He was uncompromising.

The "Corrupt Bargain" that handed John Quincy Adams the 1824 election was treated so lightly that viewers had to wonder what the fuss was all about. And I wondered if it was mentioned merely to assuage Democrat sensibilities regarding the "stolen election" of GWB in 2000. The intricacies of the Presidential elections, where the States had vastly different way of choosing electors, was reduced to an "Us" against "Them" simplicity that did not exist. The story of the 1824 election is more exciting than the producers let on, but they wanted to move on, so it was over quickly. Such was the case with so much in this "documentary".

It was about this point that I finally gave up. Compared to the PBS American Experience production of "Ulysses S. Grant", this biography of Andrew Jackson was garbage. See it if you must, enjoy the production values, but don't depend on it for much information.

Wiki says:

Jackson remained influential in both national and state politics after retiring to The Hermitage in 1837. Though a slave-holder, Jackson was a firm advocate of the federal union of the states, and declined to give any support to talk of secession.

Jackson was a lean figure standing at 6 feet, 1 inch (1.85 m) tall, and weighing between 130 and 140 pounds (64 kg) on average. Jackson also had an unruly shock of red hair, which had completely grayed by the time he became president at age 61. He had penetrating deep blue eyes. Jackson was one of the more sickly presidents, suffering from chronic headaches, abdominal pains, and a hacking cough, caused by a musket ball in his lung which was never removed, that often brought up blood and sometimes even made his whole body shake. After retiring to Nashville, he enjoyed eight years of retirement and died at The Hermitage on June 8, 1845 at the age of 78, of chronic tuberculosis, "dropsy" and heart failure.

It's 2008! The Year Begins!

Happy New Year! It’s now 2008, and we have a lot of things ahead of us. We have fights to win, principles to defend, a Nation to cherish and protect.

The elections will come near the end of the year - in November, if you’ve forgotten - and the stakes are high. Yes, we usually think that the stakes are high, but we will need to elect serious people to handle serious problems. If we elect silly people, insincere people, phony people, we are tempting the Fates and may live to regret it. Visitors to this blog know that I support Fred Thompson for the Republican nomination for President, and will support his candidacy for President in the General Election in November. Of all the men and women seeking the highest elective off ice in the country, only Fred Thompson has the principles and gravitas (remember that word, Democrats? Hehehee!), the grounding in Constitutional Principles and Common Sense, to be a fit President in this era.

Expect the Loons of the Left to come out spitting, Folks. You know they will do whatever it takes to destroy whomever is the Republican choice for President. They will lie, distort, fear-monger, cheat to defeat a Conservative candidate. Nothing will be byond the Pale for them. Count on it and be ready. Don’t accept what you read in the Main Stream Media, or hear on Radio and see on Television, as Gospel. Check it out. Do the research. It’s important! More important than this week’s episode of Crappy TV. More important than one more evening at the local Club. More important than anything you can think of.

Because we are not electing a President and a Congress to lead us through a Fantasy Land but a Battlefield. We are beset with Terrorists, Traitors, the dim-witted and the easily-led. The weak-kneed among us will simply go wherever the wind blows, paying no heed to what may be coming. But you, my friends, must be prepared to speak out, with power, on the issues and the personages of the day.

Be prepared to be shouted down, threatened, villified. Be prepared to lose friends, be shunned by family members, be treated as a Neo-Nazi. This is what the Left has wrought in our Nation. Speech is threatened. Our very Liberty is at stake. Nearly every program or issue that the MSM pushes and supports is part of the agenda that seeks to destroy this Nation as it is constituted, and replace it with a Socialist Nanny State. And that Nanny State will not stand up against the Islamofascists, Communists, and all the others who have their hands out for a piece of everybody’s pie.

So enjoy the celebrations of the New Year, the possibilities of greatness and success ahead. And then get to work! We have a whole year ahead of us!

Happy New Year!

Death Of A Browser

Sort of sad Internet News from InfoWeek:

AOL on Friday stopped development of the Netscape browser, saying the respected brand that launched the commercial Internet in 1994 had little chance of ever regaining market share against its archrival Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

The Web portal, which took over Netscape Navigator in the $4.2 billion acquisition of Netscape Communications in 1999, said development on the browser had recently devolved into a "handful of engineers tasked with creating a skinned version of Firefox with a few extensions." Firefox is the open source browser developed by the Mozilla Foundation.

[...]

While once commanding 90% of the browser market, Netscape Navigator now accounts for less than 1%, and AOL had no interest in spending what it would take to revive the brand. Instead, the company, which was once a subscriber-supported portal, preferred to spend its resources on its transition into an ad-supported Web business. The change left "little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be," Drapeau said.

Instead, AOL said it would leave it to the Mozilla Foundation to do battle against IE. When AOL acquired Netscape, the latter company was working on converting its browser into open source software that was later called Mozilla and became the foundation of Firefox.

[...]

I never cared for the Netscape Browser. Once I began making web pages - not long after first going online! - I found it a tad unwieldy. I learned how to "do" HTML by studying the source codes for web pages. Internet Explorer's View/Source opened a text file that I could use to copy parts of the code and see what they did. I never got that kind of usefulness from the Netscape. It was just too much: too much buttons, too much tools, too much ... everything!

Once I found IE too slow for some of the things I wanted to do, I tried out a few other browsers (Netscape got another look, too) and finally settled on Opera. I bought a User license for it, so highly did I think of it, and used it steadily for quite awhile. A few years back I discovered the Avant Browser and now that's my steady browser. And I sent money to its developer, as I had with Opera, to show my appreciation and to keep the free updates coming (Avant remains free, and the creator constantly updates it.) all the while.

So Netscape dying is not going to affect me at all, except to show that you have to keep current, and keep up with the competition. Internet Explorer was small potatoes when it first appeared. But it kept getting better until it overwhelmed Netscape. Yes, MS had a huge power advantage, too, but Netscape developers never quite grasped that the IE browser was more user-friendly, more acceptable to the "Newbies" who were finding the Internet every day. Firefox, Avant, Opera, and others are niche browsers. Nothing more. But they understand where they are in the Big Web Scheme of Things.

Goodbye, Netscape. You were one of the earliest and best. But you outlived your usefulness. Sleep well!

Note: Avant Browser runs on top of the computer's Internet Explorer engine. It is not independent as Firefox and Opera are. Still, I prefer it to IE for blogging, surfing, etc. I recommend it to you!

Science Fiction Character? Hmmm ...

From The Educated Shoprat comes this Quiz:

Aragorn

Putting your appointed path ahead of any inner conflicts, you make your own rules for the benefit of all.

If my life or death I can protect you, I will.

Aragorn is a character in the Middle-Earth universe. There is a description of him at TheOneRing.net.

And who are you?

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated?

I just read about this at Black Five. I don't know what to make of it. Guess we'll have to wait until matters shake out a little more. Islamofascists on the move once more.

Try Google News for lots of links to this event.

Will Smith: Learning PC The Hard Way

Will Smith, actor and rapper, has been raked over the coals for comments he made recently in the Scottish newspaper The Daily Record. Among the hysterical cries of indignation the original context and actual words of Mr. Smith were lost and he was lambasted for saying that Adolf Hitler was basically a “good person". He’s been forced to come out and deny any such thought and defend himself against all manner of silly, reckless charges.

Hey, Will! Welcome to the Real World! The world where Political Correctness takes precedence over all else. Now, perhaps you have some idea of just what political candidates, and any Conservative, goes through every time they open their mouths. I hope you paid close attention.

So what did Will Smith have the temerity to say to a reporter for the Daily Record?

[...]Smart, friendly and funny, you have to wonder if anything ever upsets Will Smith's good nature.

"Well, if I understand the problem then I don't get annoyed," he explained. "People driving past in the car and giving me the finger annoys my wife but it's because they think you did something to them.

"They think you're driving too slow and keeping them from getting to their daughter's birthday party, or you cut them off and didn't see."

Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good.

"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today'," said Will. "I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good'. Stuff like that just needs reprogramming.

"I wake up every day full of hope, positive that every day is going to be better than yesterday. And I'm looking to infect people with my positivity. I think I can start an epidemic."[...]

In proper context the words are innocuous if anything. They’re certainly not grounds to condemn him or demand his films be pulled from the theaters.

Since the end of World War II we have demonized Hitler to the point where we cannot see him as anything more than a beast, or less than Evil Incarnate. Which begs the question, “How did he get so far, so fast, without human attributes?”

In fact Hitler must be looked at with a bit of intelligence - and a certain amount of loathing for the results of his life - to see who he was. Not who we wish he was.

Was Hitler anti-Semitic? Oh, yes! Very much so! And in the German States of his era - the time including his birth and upbringing, as well as his adult life - and this includes Austria, the Jews were a favored target for use as scapegoats. And hatred of Jews was most certainly endemic in the Germanic States, as well as most of Europe. All Hitler did was absorb that loathing of the Jews as easily as he breathed or ate. Following his failures in the world of Art in Austria, ever the Leftist, Hitler could not blame himself for his lack of more than pedestrian artistic talent. No, he could blame the Jews for refusing to buy his artworks. He blamed them for his utter failure to become the renowned Painter he hoped to become. Normal behavior if you are raised and surrounded by anti-Semitism, I should think.

Decorated for his actions during World War I, like probably most of the German people, Hitler found the Treaty of Versailles to be a traitorous act, giving away German territory and money to the French, British, and others. A sell-out, as they saw it, to - you guessed it - the Jewish Cabal. Of course we know no such Cabal exists or existed. But then few of us are raised in such suffocating ignorant anti-Semitism. But Hitler, and most German people were. So the Treaty ending World War I was not honorable, or an acceptance of the obvious impossibility of continuing the War. No, it had to be something more insidious. And the Jews were the obvious culprits.

Do we see a pattern here? Are we finally recognizing that Hitler was a product of his place and times? Granted, had his home life been a loving one he might have turned out to be pleasant person.

Like a good Leftist Adolf Hitler did whatever he could and had to do to attain power. That is Red Gospel, and Hitler believed in it. He also carried along with him the utter conviction that Jews were at the very root of all things dark and evil. He was already twisted by the anti-Semitic culture of Germany and Austria; now he was also inoculated with the venom and insanity of Leftism - the Socialist virus.

Yes, Hitler committed unspeakable, horrible, acts upon the world and specifically upon the Jews of Europe. He would have been hung had he been captured by the Allies and brought to trial. Yet much of what he actually did was protected by the “color of law”, not wantonly as a thief. And when he wanted to do something forbidden by Law he eventually had the total power needed to change the law. So we can add total power to his twisted psyche and mind. Since the Jews were an evil race, and not really human, then genocide did not really apply, did it? Eradication of the Jews of Europe, and eventually the world, was simple disease control for Adolf Hitler. It made perfect sense. And a people raised under the same ugly culture of anti-Semitism supported him.

What I’m saying is simple. In his own mind, Adolf Hitler was “good” and “just” and “reasonable”. As Will Smith said,

"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today'," said Will. "I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good'.

Does Will Smith understand what the Nazis stood for, or did? Probably, on a minimalist level. Not being a Jew I rather doubt that Smith has the visceral emotions about Hitler that Jews have. He was just speaking off the cuff about being ‘positive’ and not paying attention to the weight his words might have. He sure gave no thought to their being twisted out of proportion. Smith may think that good intentions will bring forth good results. For Europe and the world, Hitler’s ‘good intentions’ had less than salutary results.


The results, as we well know, were anything but good; they were in fact horrific! Millions of deaths on the battlefields and in the Concentration Camps. The utter destruction of Cities and enslavement of lesser Nations. All to bring forth an Aryan Paradise. All because Adolf Hitler believed in his heart and mind that it was a good thing.

Can you say, "Ahmadinejad?"

Merry Christmas 2007!

Have a Merry Christmas! May GOD bless you with a happy, healthy, and very successful New Year!



Thanks you to All of you who have visited the Writing Pad. Stay safe!