History of Ol' Glory

As seen in:
The June 12th, 2006 Record Herald:
The June 15th, 2006 News Journal:


Everyone assumes that Betsy Ross designed and created the first U.S. Flag; however, it is most likely to have been congressman Francis Hopkins who designed it and Betsy Ross, the Philadelphia seamstress, who actually made the first flag. Like much of America's history, it is not a hundred percent certain but widely accepted.

The Look of the Flag:
The Continental Congress passed the first Flag Act on June 14, 1777, which stated: "Resolved, That the flag of the United States be made of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." This is why June 14 of each year is set aside for Flag Day.

Act of April 4, 1818 - provided for 13 stripes and one star for each state, to be added to the flag on the 4th of July following the admission of each new state, signed by President Monroe.

June 24, 1912-an Executive Order was signed by President Taft, directing how the stars and stripes would be arranged on our nation's flag. Until then, it was left to the discretion of the flag maker.

August 21, 1959-another Executive Order, signed by President Eisenhower, provided for the arrangement of the stars in nine rows of stars staggered horizontally and eleven rows of stars staggered vertically.

Old Glory:
Around 1830, Captain William Driver of Salem, Massachusetts, was presented a flag as a birthday gift, bearing twenty four stars, (the number of states at the time) just before one of his voyages. When the flag was raised, he cried, "Old Glory!" and the nick name stuck, and has remained for almost two hundred years.

The Pledge:
The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy but was not officially recognized as the official national pledge until June 22, 1942, and not until it was modified somewhat from its original form.

April 22, 1951-the Knights of Columbus added the words "Under God" to the pledge and it spread like wildfire to all of the Knights of Columbus organizations nationwide. Many who were not members of the Knights began adding "Under God" to the pledge even though the Knights failed on convince congress to officially add the words to the pledge.

It wasn't until Flag Day, 1954, that Congress passed legislation to add "Under God" due in no small part to President Eisenhower.

Before WWII, one started the Pledge with the right hand over their heart as they said, "I pledge allegiance," then extended their arm toward the flag, palm up as if to raise the flag, and continued the pledge with the arm extended. Since this gesture was very similar to the Nazi salute, it was changed so that the hand remained over the heart for the entire pledge.

We take the pledge for granted because it is pounded into our heads from an early age. Think of each of the words. It is quite meaningful. We should take pride when we say it. We owe it to all who have fought to defend her, our Flag, Old Glory.

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Millions have died defending our flag and all that it stands for. This Flag Day, please be sure to show respect for our flag. It was there in the beginning, and I hope it will never see an end.

No Right to Demand Rights

As seen in:
May 8th, 2006 Record Herald



An economic shutdown of America. That's what the protesters wanted. They wanted to take a day off of work to show how much they're needed, but that wasn't enough. They had to march in the streets to successfully shut down the cities. That way those who wanted to work, couldn't.

Nothing like not going to work to show how much you want to work in America.

Let's not forget who these protesters are. These are the same people who, in March, were protesting, waving Mexican flags, flying America's upside down, if at all, and chanting "Viva la Mexico!" These are the same folks who told reporters that this land is Mexico, stolen from them, and they are just taking back what is rightfully theirs. (I'm not even going to mention that many modern Mexicans are descendents of Spaniards, from Spain, on the other side of the world.)

History lesson time:

The United States of America purchased baron, undeveloped land from Mexico (Yep, we bought it, fare and square, no matter what you hear, it was paid for.) When the land that is now California, Arizona, Nevada, exc., Mexico didn't want it. Now illegal aliens say it belongs to them.

Let me ask you this: If we could take L.A., San Francisco, Sacramento, Las Vegas and all other cities with us and leave the land, would they still want to reclaim the area? No, they want the property, not the land. They want American cities, that American's built, made great, and keep great. If Mexico still had the land, they wouldn't want it. It would be just as poverty stricken as the rest of Mexico. They would say that we stole whatever we had, and want it instead.

Why? Because the economy sucks in Mexico, that's why they want to live here, but in Mexico they don't have the freedom that American's do to protest. Problem is, they are not Americans. They break into our country and demand our rights, given to us by our Constitution. They have no right to demand rights.

I don't understand how these illegals can proclaim that they are not criminals. The first thing they did was break the law, but that's all. "I just broke one, now let me live here." What if we all got a pass on our first offence?

What if I go rob a bank then say hey, I'm no criminal! I just broke this one law, but it's okay, because it's not fair for you to have all this money in the vault and not let me have it, even though I did nothing to contribute to it, maintain it, insure it. I sold you the empty vault two hundred years ago, I'm entitled to the money you've put into it! You must have stolen the vault from me! If I still had the vault, it would be filled with my money instead, I'm sure. I'm no criminal, I just broke this one law, but I won't do it again. Just let me keep the money and we'll be fine.

Should you encounter one of these illegal supporters, ask them if they have locks on their doors. Ask them why they lock their doors when they go shopping, or go to work. What's that? Oh, you don't want anyone unknown to you going into your house? Me neither. If you want open boarders, you should leave your doors open. Same thing in my book. Why should illegals have every right to demand our constitutional rights, even though they came in illegally? It's sounds socialist to say that they do, because it's the same as a burglar saying he has the right to be in your home.

If you knock at my door, introduce yourself, and I deem you as a respectable person, I'll let you in, but don't break in the back door when I'm not looking.

Maybe you saw me driving around Washington Court House and Wilmington on May-Day, the "The day without Immigrants". I was in my Jeep, with the top down, American flags strapped to it, and blaring the National Anthem. In English. This is America. This is my house, my home. I'm proud of it, proud to be an American, and I'll defend this great land.

Global What-ing?

As seen in:
March 31st, 2006 Record Herald



If we humans manage to survive the bird flu, another disaster awaits us, of course-- global warming. Something which is irreversible, I'm told via the news. The next cover of Time Magazine which has a "Special Report: Global Warming," features a polar bear floating on a piece of ice with the words, "Be Worried. Be VERY Worried." Well, if it's irreversible, why are we worrying about it?

The ice at the polar caps is melting, I heard that, too. I even saw the picture that shows the evidence that the caps are retreating. These experts left out the fact that the satellite showing this evidence couldn't differentiate between land, rock and ice. Interesting. Now, I'm a skeptic, (I'm sure you've figured that part out by now) so I don't trust surveys, polls, statistics or scientists because they are like a string bikini. It's more important what they conceal than what they reveal.

If these photos prove true, that the ice is melting, becoming liquid again and filling the oceans, I really don't think we're responsible for it. I read on NASA and Space.com that they believe Mars is undergoing global warming. Did we cause that too?

It's pounded into our heads that global warming is heating the earth, even though in the past few years we have had record breaking cold spells (remember all those who died in Russia?) and snow falls, those get mentioned once, then overtaken with global warming. Now there are public service announcements warning us of global warming, with children making ticking sounds like a clock, saying that we are running out of time. Once again, I thought it was irreversible.

It wasn't long ago, 1972, in fact, that we were told, "We simply cannot afford to gamble. We cannot risk inaction. The scientists who disagree are acting irresponsibly. The indications that our climate can soon change for the worse are too strong to be reasonably ignored." Global warming? Nope. Global cooling. I put this in the same category as "eggs are bad for you" and a year later "eat more eggs, they're good for you!" The experts in 1972 wanted the governments of the world to cover the ice caps with black soot to absorb heat to help melt the growing glaciers.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we were told that we would have the Great White Death (snow) the day after the first day of spring. Anywhere from four to eight inches, depending on what channel you had it on. I don't know about you, but I had about an inch at my house. The weather is a very, very difficult thing to predict. Meteorologists are the butt of many jokes, but really, they do a decent job. They happen to be wrong a lot of times. What is a meteorologist if not a scientist? If they can't tell for sure if we are going to have snow, rain, clouds or fog four days out, how can they tell us they know for a fact that the ice caps are melting and Florida will be under water in a hundred years when they can't even make up their mind if we are getting hotter or colder in the past forty years? Oh, while I'm on Florida; record low temperature in Palm Beach on March 26 of this year. Record low. Global warming. Gotcha.

Lately, I've noticed the term "Global Climate Change." This is probably leaving the door open so the "experts" can back up and say the world is getting colder, like they did only thirty four years ago.

Now that I've vented, I'll say that global warming may just be happening. I don't think we are responsible. I don't think we could be. I think people who believe humans are causing it are conceited. Do you think we could destroy the world, really? Humans don't make the impact we'd like to think we do. Our largest cities still cannot be seen from orbit. If you look down, all you see is forest, deserts and oceans. No sign of humans, even though we're told we are running out of forests, building too big, too much sprawl and so on.

How long has Earth been here? And we're going to destroy life on it in less than one hundred years? The Earth was here before us, and it will be here after us. Nature adapts, but for some reason there are people out there who think that humans are the only ones capable of adaptation. Take a walk down any street, road or even a sidewalk. There you will see what I take as proof that we cannot stop nature. Grass. It comes through the streets. It makes cracks in sidewalks in order to live. We walk on it, pull it up, pave over top of it yet it keeps coming.

If we can't even keep grass out of the sidewalks, how are we going to destroy the world?

It's Bad, & It's Getting Worse

As seen in:
March 14th, 2006 Record Herald
&
March 16th, 2006 News Journal



How many times have you been told that you're going to die this week? It's more than you think.

Avian Influenza (AI) or Bird Flu is the latest example of scaring the American people. I'm not trying to downplay the threat of bird flu. . . oh, wait. . . yes I am. To be honest, I don't think it is going to be a "pandemic" "epidemic" or any other catch word the media uses to scare us into watching the next broadcast.

I'm already sick from the bird flu. I'm sick of it. In China, the 10 th person has died from AI. Current population of China is 1.3 billion (with a 'B'). Ten deaths out of a billion. That would be one out of one hundred million. Is that really a pandemic? And why are they reporting it now? The earliest I can find of a human being infected was in 1997. That was almost 10 years ago. Why now? It has been a problem since then.

The "experts" are saying that the threat is if the virus mutates and is carried and transferred from human to human. Are these the same experts that kept us scared of mosquitoes due to West Nile Virus? The same experts that had people walking around in surgical masks during the Severe Acute Upper Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) scare?

West Nile is still here in America, but it's not getting the same media attention it once had. There's a new bad guy in town. SARS has not gone away in Asia, either.

I seem to remember a few years ago, everyone was going crazy over e-coli. Make sure you cook that chicken! Well, duh. Can I get a show of hands on who remembers Hoof and Mouth disease? Ah, hah! Forgot about that one until now, didn't you? How about Mad Cow? Do you see where I'm going with this? It's always something.

Anytime I turn on the news or read the news on big name websites, it's always the same story: "It's bad, and it's getting worse." What an awful way to live.

I recently read a news article that said all of us should have at least one week's worth of food in our house. That way, in case of an outbreak of AI, we could hole ourselves up in our home. The story was written in a way that sounded like if I didn't do it, I would die. (of AI)

The dictionary describes a terrorist as; 'the systematic use of terror especially as a means of coercion'. Doesn't it seem like the big media is always trying to keep us scared of something? When we stop caring about West Nile, we get SARS. When we're tired of hearing about SARS, we get AI. What's next?

If you could turn your TV back several years, you'd think we were being invaded by killer bees from South America. Go further and the Bot Fly is going to bore into our flesh and eat our bones while we sleep.

These things are real, but they are not pandemics. They are not nearly as bad as they are made out to be.

My glass is half full. I'm always looking forward to the other half filling up, not waiting for someone to come along and take what I've got. Since my glass is half full, pass the cookies and let me enjoy it!

What makes America Great

As seen in:
February 10th, 2006 Record Herald.
&
February 25th, 2006 Times Gazette.
&
March 2nd, 2006 News Journal



As Americans, we must face the fact that we are a hated nation. Muslim extremists want each and every one of us dead along with all those who support us. This is clear in so many respects. The most recent one is the protest against a cartoonist. I repeat, a cartoonist.

I've seen protesters holding up signs that read: "Freedom go to hell; Apology is not enough-we expect action; Europe, take some lessons from 9/11" and then there is: "Stop your crimes against our religion and our prophet," Stop our crimes? What about the hundreds who have died in car bombs, bus explosions and building torching, most of which those committing or planning these attacks say, "In the name of Allah." What about the 3,000 we lost on 9/11 in the name of Allah?

I've heard it said that only 10% of Muslims are "hostile towards Americans." If only 10% of Muslims are extremist and there are 1.2 billion Muslims, that's still 120 million people that won't stop until we're gone.

Let's see some examples here, shall we?

· October 12, 2000. USS Cole was attacked. 17 killed, 39 injured.

· September 11, 2001. Two planes hit the World Trade Center, one the Pentagon, one went down in a field after passengers overtook the hijackers. 2,986 killed, thousands injured.

· October 12, 2002. Three bombs went off on the island of Bali. 202 killed, 209 injured.

· March 11, 2004. Ten bombs exploded on four trains in Madrid, Spain. 119 killed, more than 1,800 injured.

July 7, 2005. Seven train bombs and one bus bomb went off in London. 56 killed, over 700 injured. On July 21, five more bomb attacks were attempted, but failed.

These are only a handful of the most recent attacks that have been claimed by one Muslim extremist organization or another. There have been so many reports of car, bus, roadside, backpack bombs that we don't even notice them on the news anymore, and most of them are by Muslim extremists.

A prominent Muslim, just after 9/11, said, "As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other humans as an appreciable act.". A few years later, the same person publicly acknowledged his involvement and planning in the attacks on the U.S. and admitted his direct link to the attacks. He said that the attacks were carried out because "we are a free people who do not accept injustice."

Anyone remember who said that? Osama bin Laden. So he told a lie while saying that he tries to avoid telling a lie. He said the killing of innocents is not an appreciable act, then he took credit for it in the name of Allah, and we are expected to stop the crimes against their religion? When are they going to stop committing crimes against ours?

We are hated for, in their eyes, influencing the UK to hate Muslims so much that (gasp) the UK will mock their Mohamed in a cartoon, but it's okay for them to kill tens of thousands of us in the name of their God?

We go after those who kill people. They go after those who draw comics. Explain to me how we're the evil ones. In Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, it is illegal to own a copy of the Holy Bible, yet we are intolerant of their religion?

I have nothing against peaceful Muslims or peaceful Jews or peaceful Christians or peaceful anyone. But, as soon as you try to kill me in the name of your religion, I take issue.

The First Amendment reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
This protects me legally and allows me to write what I want. This newspaper is kind enough to print it so that it can be read by others. Just as much as it is my right to type out what I want, it is every bit your right not to read it. That is what makes America so great.

Freedom. Something missing in many Muslim cultures.

Wage Wars

As seen in the January 24, 2006 Record Herald

NOTE:
The article to which I am refering to in this column can be found
Here



In the Friday, January 20, paper, syndicated columnist Holly Sklar wrote, "We need wage ethics today." She wrote of the "need" to raise the minimum wage in America.

Brace yourself for my opinion, most of you won't agree with it; but please stay with me and let me explain. My opinion is that we should not have a minimum wage. If you want to work for $1.00 an hour, that's up to you.

Let's say that, today, there is no minimum wage. Can you live on $1.00 an hour? That's grossing $40.00 a week, after taxes, about $29.00 a week. I spend more than that on gas. I know I won't work for $1.00 an hour, so I won't take the job. If you won't take it either (and perhaps no one will) guess what? Whoever is hiring at $1.00 an hour is going to have to up their rate. The employer will have to raise their rate and perhaps their prices to compensate, but eventually they will be paying an acceptable wage and selling at acceptable prices. That's how the economy works. Costs go up, prices go up.I used to work for minimum wage. I did that for about 1 month, then I received a (small) raise.

I continued to work there about 4 months total. That wasn't cutting it so I got a new job. It was second shift and a farther drive, but the pay was worth it so I made the switch. Will I ever work for minimum wage again? No. I can't pay the bills on it, so I won't do it. I'm betting you wouldn't take a job that didn't pay you enough to pay your bills either.

Sklar does not mention that most people don't work for minimum wage for long, either.

Now let me tackle her math.

She states; "A low minimum wage is a green light for greed. Between 1968 and 2004, domestic corporate profits rose 85% while the minimum wage fell 41% and the average hourly wage fell 4%, adjusted for inflation. In the retail sector, which employs large numbers of workers at or near minimum wage, profits skyrocketed 159%."

The only way for profits to be up is for people to be spending money. Minimum wage may have stayed low or dropped compared to inflation; however, wages must have gone up somewhere or no one would have had the money to spend which increased profits. Low minimum wage is not a "green light for greed," it is a speed limit. If you want to work for $1.00 an hour, that's great for the company that hired you! They are going to do well because you are willing to work for $1.00 an hour.

Sklar does not mention that most of those working for minimum wage are teens who don't need the money, but want it. If the minimum wage is forced up, the cost of business goes up, which raises cost for consumers. You then make more, but you spend more, so not a lot has happened by raising the minimum wage.

Separation of Church & State

As seen in:
January 12th, 2006 Record Herald
&
February 25th, 2006 News Journal
&
March 8th, 2006 Times Gazette


We hear it all the time; Separation of Church & State. Does it say this in the United States Constitution, or, more specifically, the Bill of Rights?

The answer is no.

The First Amendment in the Bill of Rights reads: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Nowhere does it state that government shall rule to keep religion out of state matters either. My question is this: Who was the first person to say 'Separation of Church & State'? Or whoever said it was the government's job to keep the theory of intelligent design out of school? If the state can allow the teaching of evolution, then why not intelligent design? It can easily be argued that the study of evolution is a religion. (I'll give those who don't agree with me a moment to calm down.) Think about that for a moment, unless of course you've turned the newspaper into a crumpled mess on the floor for the cat to play with at this point.

Intelligent design says that something was smart enough to make everything work together. He/She put the earth just the right distance from the sun, made the conditions just right, set the ball rolling with animals and made humans dominate, then sat back to watch what would happen.

Evolution says that something happened, all of the makings of life suddenly existed, and life was made where no life was before. Different species developed over millions of years out of slime in a pond, only one got smart, and there you have life as we know it.

I don't see the problem with throwing both of them out there and letting our kids draw from their parents' teachings and their own brains (oh, I forgot, we don't want them to use those while in school, just to do what they're told). Hmm, maybe if presented with both, kids would lean towards intelligent design.

Why doesn't anyone ever bring up the part in the First Amendment that states; 'or prohibiting the free exercise thereof'? This sounds like prohibiting to me!

Now don't get me started on the Ten Commandments!