
Psalm 37:8-9
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.9 For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil.9 For those who are evil will be destroyed, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
Here is one that I remember. When I went to Pearl Harbor, I had a similar feeling when I was at Dachau. The souls of the dead seemed to be there looking at you, hoping you will remember.
How quickly we forget. Here is the story of the last survivor. I met some of them when I was there. None will have that chance again
The end of an Era: Ed Hall, The last known Pearl Harbor survivor in Nevada died in his sleep this week at the age of 99.
Hall was in the U.S. Army Air Corps and only 18 years old when Japan launched a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor that left 2,403 Americans dead.
Hall’s longtime friend Mannarino visited him on Tuesday, the night before he passed.
‘He passed away peacefully in his sleep,’ Mannarino confirmed. ‘He joked with the nurses last night. Before I left he said “I love you.” He seemed still full of life.
The doctor told me that “When we went to check on him, he was unresponsive.” I just fell over completely. He was the greatest guy, from the greatest generation. Those men were cut from a different cloth.’
Hall had told the Review-Journal in an August 2020 interview that he was saddened to hear that he was believed to be the last living Pearl Harbor survivor in the state of Nevada.
In the interview, he also said that December 7, 1941 was a day he would never forget.
‘It’ll be forgotten, just like the Civil War, or the Spanish American War,’ Hall said. ‘This country better wake up or it’s going to happen again, that nobody will pay attention to the warning signs, like that day of December 7, 1941.’
On that fateful day, the former Army private was on kitchen duty and cleaning a frying pan, he has said, when he heard what he thought was a malfunctioning air compressor.
But when he walked outside the mess hall at Hickam Field (now Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam), he was met with the sights and sounds of a full-blown attack.
‘What the hell’s going on?’ he remembered yelling as fighter planes roared above him. A fellow serviceman pulled him down and shouted, ‘Do you want to die?’
‘There was shooting going on like you wouldn’t believe,’ Hall told the paper decades later. ‘I’m still amazed I didn’t get hurt.’
While they took cover, Hall said he remembers seeing an explosion that he later learned was the USS Arizona being struck, killing 1,177 sailors and Marines.
Lest we Forget!
I remember how I was not PC at IBM when I posted that Muslims were the Terrorists in most cases around the world Junaidah Dahlan from our Malaysian office tried to say that she was offended. Well, history has proved my point and most terrorists are muslim. The facts are what they are.
I’m going to piss some people off here, sorry but not sorry. I’ll go back to humor and sarcasm soon enough.
The USA has egg on it’s face over Afghanistan. We now look weak. No one is afraid of the strongest world power who should protect the world. We can’t protect anything now, and global tyrants now can start their plunder.
WHAT IS WAR
First, it’s not pretty. War is about killing people and blowing up things to stop the evil goals of power and control. If you don’t believe me, look what the Taliban are doing right now (they include raping though). There is too much history to ignore it. You win by unconditional surrender, or you waste time and money, accomplishing nothing.
You either fight to win (WWII) or chase your tail. Vietnam was won until we pulled out. Never forget Saigon. The Tet offensive was a success and the Viet Cong were all but defeated, yet we pulled out and an untold number of South Vietnamese were slaughtered. Guess what is going to happen to the Afghan’s soon, especially women?
The hostages in Iran could have only been held for 4 hours or 4 days, not 444 days if we had any guts.
Wars are won by those on the ground (figuratively and actually) who see the situation, take action and be decisive.
CONGRESS, THE CULPRIT
Congress took control because they are power hungry, or afraid of not gaining more and passed useless regulations hamstringing the troops from being able to execute.
The dumbest thing I every heard was them saying we need to win/secure the outcome. Who the hell knows what the outcome of a fight is until it is fought?
It is the get principle. Get in, get it (victory) and get out. You win or you don’t.
They each blame the other side (R’s and D’s) so they can put into place restrictions on being able to win a war (taking control out of the hands of the soldiers). Pilots have the enemy in sight, but have to call in whether they can take the shot. The assholes in Washington don’t want to look bad with any collateral damage to their re-election, or upsetting a Mullah who wants to kill us anyway. Those bastards don’t hesitate and rape, murder, cut off heads and will wait for centuries to win when they know the opposition is weak. Ever hear of death to America or that we are the great Satan?
If congress would have given the power to win back to the military, this didn’t have to happen. They used Abu Ghraib to take power and we got Benghazi and now Afghanistan as a result.
The other reason congress wants an unwinnable war is to divide the nation and create an endless bank for them to spend.
They have reduced fighting to win to wheel spinning and appearances.
Recently, ISIS was all but eliminated when we were allowed to actually fight to win. There is an example of how it works.
Congress never understood the tribalism or the reality in Afghanistan. It cost the USSR and now the US(S)A trillions, for nothing gained. The Taliban now has control. They hate the Western world and it’s a base for the next wave of terrorism. Where do you think 9/11 was hatched?
MORE INTERESTED IN BEING WOKE
China must be laughing at us now, with General Mark Milley as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff more concerned with CRT, the alphabet soup of LGBTWXYZ (I can’t keep up with the changes to this) and anything other than actually putting a fighting force together that can win.
We’ve shown (ask the soldiers) that there is no color problem, especially when you are being shot at. You want to have the best soldier beside you and be able to trust his ass that he’ll save yours.
Guess who is going to suffer the most? Afghan women. Where is Megan Rapinoe standing up for women now? Instead, she’s demanding more money for playing a kids game.
Or this loser
WHO’S NEXT
Look out Taiwan, you are next. Xi isn’t afraid of us doing anything now that he has bought off congress and know we won’t act. Putin has Hunter Biden’s laptop as blackmail to stop Biden from doing anything (ok, my speculation but think about it).
Don’t believe me? Look at Hong Kong being steamrolled into oblivion. They are being assimilated by the Borg that is China.
Are we doing anything about the island building in the South China Sea? No, it’s a military expansion while we twiddle our thumbs.
Japan is next. They have been pacifists since WWII and depend on the USA to protect them (like Taiwan). I hope they take a lesson from this and start arming themselves.
NO END IN SIGHT.
Congressmen and Senators have one main goal, to get re-elected. They don’t care about the country anymore and will sellout anyone for this goal. That’s you and me, the military, Taiwan, Japan, Europe and anyone who gets in their way.
Have they ever given up power once they voted it to themselves? Look at history to find the answer is no.
CAN WE GET OUT OF THIS
Where we stand today, the answer is no. The commander in chief is Congress, not the president. We need a leader, something I’m not sure we’ve had in a while. The last time we won on the world stage was when Reagan defeated the Soviet Union, without a shot fired.
The world was afraid of what Trump was going to do because he was unpredictable. That didn’t make him a great C-I-C, but there was a deal negotiated to not abandon all our equipment to terrorists. They now have the best US technology to use against us. I don’t know that I agree with either Trump or Biden about leaving. Neither wanted to win, but that doesn’t matter now.
Take power away from Congress and give it back to the military. Give us real leaders and soldiers. Quit worrying if we look the right way to some minuscule section of the population that dominates social media and develop a fighting force that doesn’t have to worry which bathroom to use.
I’ve heard it said that governments based on a republic have an average life span of about 200 years throughout history. That means America is in overtime.
Other nations have been unable to unseat the USA as the de-facto world leader by force, so they are using the 5th column instead. Here is the definition of the 5th column -> Link to 5th column.
I have chosen to not be political, rather than observe patterns and history on this one.
I will continue to update this during the day as I run across relevant posts
The Patriot Post – Memorial Day
Lost Memories of The Black American Soldier
Memorial Day – Connecting The Past With the Present – American Thinker
America At the Crossroad on Memorial Day 2020
Happy Memorial Day 2020 – Freedom Isn’t Free – The Gateway Pundit
Normandy Speech – 40th Anniversary of D-Day – Proof Positive
The Fallen Soldier – Moonbattery
How Soldiers Die in Battle – The Art of Manliness
Memorial Day – Sacrifice, Legal Insurrection
Video’s for Memorial Day by the US Military
“We must always remember that America is a great nation today not because of what government did for people but because of what people did for themselves and for one another.” Richard Nixon
Sure, things didn’t work out so well for him at the end, but he’s not wrong about America or government.
Update: On April 5th, the Surgeon General compared the Corona Virus to Pearl Harbor.
There are events in history that cause a divided nation to come together.
Some have been pandemics and others have been wars, but there are times defined by history that people put their selfishness aside and gather to do what is best.
As an example, I could pick the Spanish Flu, SARS, MERS, H1N1, Y2K, the Swine Flu, the Space Race to the Moon or any number of events, but I’m going to use Pearl Harbor.
I wasn’t there, but our nation was divided as to whether we should enter another World War or isolate ourselves and hope the problem would go away or others would solve it. This all changed on December 7, 1941 when our country was forced into the events of the world.
We could have cowered to the attack and ask them not to do it again. Neville Chamberlin tried to appease Hitler this way and it didn’t work out so well.
THE MIGHT OF THE USA
Admiral Yamamoto, the architect of Pearl Harbor knew that a surprise attack to take out our Navy was the only real chance for Japan to stop the USA so they they could expand their reach in the Pacific Rim. After all, he had studied and lived in the USA and knew that our forces were depleted after WWI. He also knew that he couldn’t attack us on our own soil.
What also turned out to be true was that if the attack didn’t work, that he would awaken the might of the greatest industrialized nation in the world and unite our country to defeat evil.
On December 8th 1941, men young and old were lined up to enlist to fight for our survival. They knew that they would be leaving loved ones behind and there was a distinct possibility that they wouldn’t return alive. They put their fears aside and were willing to fight for our survival and the future that we enjoy today.
Not long after, women went to work in the factories. We had to ration rubber and metal for war supplies, but everyone did their part.
Companies changed their direction. Auto makers went from making cars to building bombers. Scientists invented new weapons to win, not to just survive and suffer. Our nation came together as one because we had a cause to fight for.
After the war, the greatest achievements in technology, medicine and space exploration happened at a speed heretofore never accomplished.
WE’VE BEEN COMPLACENT AND DIVIDED
All of that progress created wealth, comfort and abundance and we lost our focus. It’s no secret that we’ve been a divided country. I’m not here to point fingers because there is enough of that going on through the tradional news and social media. All of it has a bias one way or the other and it has been pulling us apart.
We haven’t had a common enemy to rally against since the downfall of the Soviet Union. Instead, we’ve been feeding on ourselves instead of pulling together. There is a strain of hatred for what we have been that defies the achievements that built our country. I have read celebtards and sports figures that say we have never been great. This just proves that they have no appreciation for the sacrifice and achievements that gave them the fame and fortune to preach from their soapboxes. It also denies our ability to do it again.
We as humans need a cause to believe in and to fight for, whether we are handed or invent it ourselves. Conversely, politicians have been poisoning us with their desire for power and control. They have been playing a game of capture the flag on their own islands and haven’t put the good of the country and the people first. They have been building their power base by taking away our freedom through regulation.
Our government was set up with a system of checks and balances to ensure that no one had the power like the monarchy who we defeated to become what we are. We now potentially suffer from what the history of the world has suffered from since the beginning of time. That is the selfishness, greed and desire for power that has aflicted man since the expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
There also has been a faction for globalization that has tried to deplete our greatness by moving manufacturing offshore to the point that we could be held hostage for medical supplies. Our spirit of nationalization has been tested by the border fight and ideology fueled by hate of the President. It has ratcheted up these last few years in a power struggle because there was no enemy other than from within.
We have been eating ourselves instead of fighting together.
THE CORONA/COVID-19/CHINA/WUHAN/WHATEVER VIRUS
We now have a new Pearl Harbor. We have been attacked by a new enemy who ambushed us again. It is time for us to realize that we have a fight on our hands Opportunity for success or failure knocks at the door of the fate of our country.
To do that, we need to go back to the spirit of 1941. It was the people who came together in both the public and private sector, not the control of the Government that helped us save ourselves.
We can go back to being the humans that have struggle to fight against, rally together and overcome (both the virus and the overbearance of the governement regulations).
THE SILVER LINING
There is a great opportunity if we do the same as our forefathers. Manufacturing in America again can help us right ourselves to help reunite our country and help other countries as we’ve done before.
We are beginning to see the automakers making ventilators, factories starting to make facemasks and other birth pains of our possible re-emergance to self-sustainment. It can be done.
Before you manufacture in the USA instead of cheap labor offshore, there needs to be a construction boom to prepare production facilities. After that, the job creation of made in in America is limitless, profitable and will help us help ourselves and others if they want it.
We already have become energy independent by producing enough oil so as to not be dependent on countries who hate us.
Our pharmacuticals are all made offshore by countries that have threatened to cut us off. We need to do the same in the drug industry to continue our trend of independence and strength. Through this can we help the rest of the world and save our nation from being held hostage for needed medical supplies and energy.
Most of all, we need fix our goverment and make them serve us instead of us serving them. Companies and individuals need to be let loose to invent, design and create to defeat this latest Pearl Harbor instead of being told when and what we can or can’t do. It’s time to limit their power and continue the greatness that history proves is inside of us.
It is the celebration of the birth of our nation. People died for our freedom to start a new country that would arguably become the greatest ever.
My mom was born on the 4th of July. Captain America, the comic book hero fittingly was also born on the 4th, in 1918.
Nothing is more patriotic to me than the Star Spangled Banner and the Stars and Stripe forever, so here they are.
God bless the USA
In these days of divisiveness, there are some facts based on economics that are hard to refute, even if you don’t want to admit it. I enjoy discussion by people of high IQ and of great wisdom, something the world of Political Correctness is sadly overlooking.
It is interesting to think of what he observed in the mid 1800’s vs. the country we have in 2014. Here are his comments based on a visit:
Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that stuck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things.
In France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of Freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.
Religion in America…must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom; it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point -of -view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief.
I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion—for who can search the human heart? But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion is not peculiar to a class of cities or a party, but it belongs to the whole nation and to every rank of society.
The sects that exist in the United States are innumerable. They all differ in respect to the worship which is due to the Creator; but they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to man.
Each sect adores the Deity in its own peculiar manner, but all sects preach the same moral law in the name of God.
Moreover, all sects of the United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity and Christian morality is everywhere the same.
In the United States the sovereign authority is religions…there is no country in the world where the Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America, and there can be no greater proof of its utility and its conformity to human nature than that its influence is powerfully felt over the most enlightened and free nation of the earth.
In the United States, if a political character attacks a sect [denomination], this may not prevent even the partisans of that very sect, from supporting him; but if he attacks all the sects together [Christianity], everyone abandons him and remains alone.
I do not question that the great austerity of manners that is observable in the United States arises, in the first instance, from religious faith…its influence over the mind of woman is supreme, and women are the protectors of morals. There is certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America or where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated.
In the United States, the influence of religion is not confined to the manners, but it extends to the intelligence of the people…
Christianity, therefore, reigns without obstacle, by universal consent; the consequence is, as I have before observed, that every principle of the moral world is fixed and determinate…
I sought for the key of greatness and genius of America in her harbors…; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and the institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution.
Not until I went into the chutes of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.
America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.
The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law as well as the surest pledge of freedom.
The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately in their minds that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the other.
Christianity is the companion of liberty in all of its conflicts–the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims.
They brought with them…a form of Christianity, which I cannot better describe than by styling it in a democratic and republican religion…From the earliest settlement of the emigrants, politics and religion contracted an alliance which has never been dissolved.
The Christian nations of our age seem to me to present a most alarming spectacle; the impulse which is bearing them along is so strong that it cannot be stopped, but is not yet so rapid that it cannot be guided; their fate is in their hands; yet a little while and it may be no longer.
Read the rest of this PolitiChicks.tv article here: http://politichicks.tv/column/2014-alexis-de-tocqueville-esque-year-restoration/#5ulfUJKsDb9hcb3G.99
My mom was born and died on the 4th, so it is a day that gives me mixed emotions.
One thing not in question is that we should be patriotic. I don’t believe that artists should play it any other way than how it was written. It reminds me of winning the Gold medal and how proud I am to hear it over and over again.
On that note, enjoy…
Listening to this makes one proud of their country. There is a great history lesson by the conductor at the beginning. It is short, but gives relatively unknown information about the march for most.
We remember those who served for our country, sometimes fighting for the freedom of other countries. Most of all, we honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Never forget, Freedom is not Free.
Memorial Day is a day of remembrance of those who have died serving our country.
Memorial Day was a response to the unprecedented carnage of the Civil War, in which some 620,000 soldiers on both sides died.
From the practice of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, the holiday was long known as Decoration Day. The name Memorial Day goes back to 1882, but the older name didn’t disappear until after World War II. Federal law declared “Memorial Day” the official name in 1967.
4. The playing of ‘Taps’
The 24-note bugle call, is played at all military funerals and memorial services.
It is customary on Memorial Day to fly the flag at half staff until noon, and then raise it to the top of the staff until sunset.
These are the two most popular items people use to remember soldiers.
Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May.
America’s Top 10 Deadliest Wars.
From Blackfive: The Gates of Heaven
What is Memorial Day really about? While we are busy gearing up for the weekend, I thought I should post this annual reminder about the holiday. It may surprise some of you.
If you are relatively new to Blackfive, you should read this story about a Memorial Day eleven years ago – Mathew Schram’s Memorial Day. And, unfortunately, we’ve posted many memorials to our Fallen Americans.
The words to “Taps” are:
Day Is Done,
Gone the Sun,
From the Earth,
From the Hill,
From the Sky,
All Is Well,
Safely Rest,
God Is NighWhen Taps is played at dusk, it has a completely different meaning than when Taps is played during the day. No soldier really wants to hear it played during daylight. For when the bugle plays Taps in the daylight…that means a soldier has fallen…There is a belief among some that Taps is the clarion call to open the gates of heaven for the fallen warrior and letting them know to “Safely Rest”…
Of course, Memorial Day is about remembering the sacrifices that our military men and women have made over the last 237 years. We are still a young nation, but one that has made many sacrifices to remain free. We should also take time to remember the families who have lost loved ones.
We have focused on just a few of the fallen over the last few years. I’ve lost good friends during the War on Terror. And I write about the others to ensure that we don’t forget their sacrifices – I do that for me as much as for anybody.
Click on the link to read the entire blog post.
AOMDA Honors War Vets Buried Overseas
There will be many Memorial Day observances here in the U.S. this weekend, but loved ones of service members buried abroad can rest assured their veterans will not be forgotten.
The American Overseas Memorial Day Association (AOMDA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring the memory of those who gave their lives in World Wars I and II, whose final resting places are in American military cemeteries or separate graves all over Europe and even Africa…….
Memorial Day, the day to honor those who gave their lives for the freedom we all enjoy. We must protect our country so they did not die in vain.
While he was not an American, he was a great leader that sums it up…
You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. —Winston Churchill
Remembering that Freedom is never Free.
Thank You Memorial Day Hero’s!
May we be worthy of their sacrifice.
“If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.
Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.
And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind.”
Major Michael Davis O’Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
Have A Good Memorial Day Infidels
When I’m Gone – TOP THREAD
The Last Full Measure – Wilmington Cemetary
And I Won’t Forget The Men Who Died
In Honor of Memorial Day: War and Battle, the Great Quotations
Memorial Day 2013: Honor the Fallen
Memorial Day, an Honest Man vs. a Liar
Two disturbing articles came my way. I watch the economy and look for trends. I found two that are similar because of political policies, yet would be so easy to fix if the respective governments would stop spending, handing out money to those who don’t deserve it, stop handing to themselves and stop the regulations.
We are headed into a depression and it appears that is what the governments want. History shows they can control a distressed population more easily than a productive, self-reliant successful one…so the preponderance of evidence shows it is intentional.
You’ve been warned, get out of debt, get a strong cash position, stock up on supplies (they are much cheaper now before inflation) and do everything you can to be self reliant rather than convenient. This is against all the pundits who want you to buy into this is just a phase, just like right about 1926.
Here they are.
THE USA
Link to the full article here:
#1 According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001. That number dropped to 21.6 percent in 2011. That is not just a decline – that is a freefall. Just check out the chart in this article.
#2 According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born into back in 1988. Today, the United States is only tied for 16th place.
#3 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.
#4 According to the Wall Street Journal, of the 40 biggest publicly traded corporate spenders, half of them plan to reduce capital expenditures in coming months.
#5 More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States in 2005 as will be sold in 2012.
#6 America once had the greatest manufacturing cities on the face of the earth. Now many of our formerly great manufacturing cities have degenerated into festering hellholes. For example, the city of Detroit is on the verge of financial collapse, and one state lawmaker is now saying that “dissolving Detroit” should be looked at as an option.
#7 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 age bracket was about 6.5 percent. Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.
#8 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs. Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.
#9 If you can believe it, approximately one out of every four American workers makes 10 dollars an hour or less.
#10 Sadly, 60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percent of the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.
#11 Median household income in America has fallen for four consecutive years. Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.
#12 The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was 28 times larger than it was back in 1990.
#13 Incredibly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been shut down since 2001. During 2010, manufacturing facilities were shutting down at the rate of 23 per day. How can anyone say that “things are getting better” when our economic infrastructure is being absolutely gutted?
#14 Back in early 2005, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was less than 2 dollars a gallon. During 2012, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has been $3.63.
#15 In 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance. Today, only 55.1 percent are covered by employment-based health insurance.
#16 As I have written about previously, 61 percent of all Americans were “middle income” back in 1971 according to the Pew Research Center. Today, only 51 percent of all Americans are “middle income”.
#17 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
#18 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children living in the United States is about 22 percent.
#19 Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned. By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.
#20 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.
#21 Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.
#22 The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by more than 96 percent since the Federal Reserve was first created.
#23 According to one survey, 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.
#24 Back in 1950, 78 percent of all households in the United States contained a married couple. Today, that number has declined to 48 percent.
#25 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government. Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
#26 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income. Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.
#27 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps. Today, 47.1 million Americans are on food stamps.
#28 Right now, one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
#29 As I wrote about the other day, according to one calculation the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”
#30 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse. It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#31 In 2001, the U.S. national debt was less than 6 trillion dollars. Today, it is over 16 trillion dollars and it is increasing by more than 100 million dollars every single hour.
#32 The U.S. national debt is now more than 23 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
#33 According to a PBS report from earlier this year, U.S. households that make $13,000 or less per year spend 9 percent of their incomes on lottery tickets. Could that possibly be accurate? Are people really that foolish?
#34 As the U.S. economy has declined, the American people have been downing more antidepressants and other prescription drugs than ever before. In fact, the American people spent 60 billion dollars more on prescription drugs in 2010 than they did in 2005.
THE EUROPEAN UNION
Link to the full article here:
The following are 11 facts that show that Europe is heading into an economic depression…
1. The economies of 17 out of the 27 countries in the EU have contracted for at least two consecutive quarters.
2. Unemployment in the eurozone has hit a brand new all-time record high of 11.7 percent.
3. The unemployment rate in Portugal is now up to 16.3 percent. A year ago it was just 13.7 percent.
4. The unemployment rate in Greece is now up to 25.4 percent. A year ago it was just 18.4 percent.
5. The unemployment rate in Spain has hit a brand new all-time record high of 26.2 percent. How much higher can it possibly go? This is already higher than the unemployment rate in the United States ever reached during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
6. Youth unemployment levels in both Greece and Spain are rapidly approaching the 60 percent level.
7. Earlier this month, Moody’s stripped France of its AAA credit rating, and wealthy individuals are leaving France in droves as the socialists implement plans to raise taxes to very high levels on the rich.
8. Industrial production is collapsing all over Europe. Just check out these numbers…
You don’t have to be an economic genius to understand that the perpetual uncertainty over the Eurozone’s future has led to a widespread freeze on industrial investment and development. Industrial production is collapsing at an accelerating rate, falling 7% year-on-year in Spain and Greece, 4.8% in Italy, and 2.1% in France.
9. There are even trouble signs in the “stable” economies in Europe. In Germany, factory orders in September were down 3.3 percent from the month before, and retail sales in October declined 2.8 percent from the previous month.
10. The debt of the Greek government is now projected to hit 189 percent of GDP by the end of this year.
11. The Greek economy has shrunk by more than 7 percent this year, and it is being projected that the Greek economy will contract by another 4.5 percent in 2013.
But sometimes you can’t really get a feel for how bad things really are over there just from the raw economic numbers.
Many people that are living through these depression-like conditions are totally giving in to despair. Just check out the following example from an RT article from earlier this year…
A 61-year-old Greek pensioner has hung himself from a tree in a public park after succumbing to the pressure of crushing debt. A note in his pocket indicates he is merely the latest in a rash of economic crisis-induced suicides.
The pensioner’s lifeless body was found dangling by an attendant in a public park not far from his home in the suburb of Nikaia, Athens. The attendant also found a suicide note in the man’s pocket, The Athens news reports.
The man, identifying himself as Alexandros, said he was a man of few vices who “worked all day.” However, he blamed himself from committing one “horrendous crime”: becoming a professional at the age of 40 and plunging himself into debt. He referred to himself as a 61-year-old idiot who had to pay, hoping his grandchildren would not be born in Greece, as the country’s prospects were so bleak.
First of all if you read the dates on the gravestone, Happy Birthday Mom.
So it’s Independence Day, declared in 1776 from the rest of the World. The USA has in its short life (compared with other countries) given more to others in benevolence, freed and saved more people, helped former enemies to recover, sacrificed more than others and established a new way of running a country other than a Monarchy. Unlike the Monarchy’s around the world, the land wasn’t taken from others in a border dispute war or outright takeover like those we declared freedom from….. and has contributed more development, medicine and technology than most other countries combined. So why are our leaders trying to run it in a way that has failed?
Ronald Reagan said, “The American dream is not that every man must be level with every other man. The American dream is that every man must be free to become whatever God intends he should become.”
Most of this is a blessing from our Creator, mentioned in all the documents of the Founding Fathers, yet the government of today is trying to leave that model and get back to the type of behavior we declared independence from. Why?
First, let’s start off with the Star Spangled Banner.
Here is a round-up of the best posts for today.
Michelle Malkin – Happy 236th Birthday
John Ransom – Washington’s First Fourth
America joining the One World Crappola from the Daily Kos instead of celebrating why we are different (see our Judeo-Christian history) I tried finding something patriotic just for fairness, but it’s just a different world view I guess
America Haters from the Usual sources, Hollywierd
The other America Haters – The Media
Paul Greenberg – The American Idea
Rasmussen poll – Liberty and Justice for all
Speaker Boehner’s Independence Day Tribute: “Here’s to the Spirit of ‘76”
Joshpundit – America’s Birthday Edition (lots of links here)
Robert Samuelson – Love of Country 2012
Fleming: What Life Was Like in 1776
For levity, The Hot Dog eating contest where an American is the favorite
Finally, here is the Declaration of Independence, from tyranny and taxes. Have we come full circle?
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long-established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
Trying not to cooperate, the terrorists accomplished their jobs. What is ironic is that in 2008, they already pleaded guilty so they could die as martyrs. If the trial had not been stopped so Attorney General Holder could put them on display, this would have been over.
To provide balanced coverage, I picked a site that is the opposite in ideology from yesterday’s source. I will let the readers make a decision on who covers it fairly. I only care about justice.
The other defendants — Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid bin Attash, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali and Mustafa al Hawsawi – joined Mohammed in refusing to answer questions from Army Col. James Pohl, the judge presiding over the proceedings.
At one point, two defendants got up and prayed alongside their defense tables under the watchful eyes of troops arrayed along the sides of the high-security courtroom.
Bin Attash was put in a restraint chair for unspecified reasons, then removed from it after he agreed to behave.
Lawyers for all defendants complained that the prisoners were prevented from wearing the civilian clothes of their choice, in a proceeding equally slowed by technical legal questions about defense complaints about the court’s authority and access to evidence and translators.
Brigadier General Mark Martins, the chief prosecutor of the Pentagon’s Office of U.S. Military Commissions told Fox News that he “understands the skepticism” about access to evidence, but some still remains classified.
Mohammed’s civilian lawyer, David Nevin, said his client was not responding because he believes the tribunal is unfair. He also suggested Mohammed was not wearing the earphones because it reminded him of being tortured.
All 5 men occasionally looked through what looks like the Koran, magazines, and other reading materials.