Blog of the Irish

Today's Words of Wisdom

2011-10-20T23:54:00.002-04:00

"What is best in life?"

"To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women!"

Vae Victis

2011-05-08T00:46:00.002-04:00

I've been feeling this song a lot lately. A big factor being because we got him.

"The administration of justice is the firmest pillar of government."
-George Washington

The New Confederacy-Part 3-By RG Miller

2011-02-19T06:01:00.003-05:00

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Friends, Southrons, and Compatriots,

I would like to write today, at the request of a good friend of mine, on a subject that I deem important to all those who read this blog.
This issue, is the modern day Southern Nationalist movement.

First, I shall lay some background.

Southron blood runs deep in my veins, my kin have been here since the late 1600s, and there has not been a legitimate war fought to defend Southern Soil that a relative of mine has not fought in.

If Paul could say he was “a Hebrew of the Hebrews” then I can surely say that I am a ‘Southron of the Southrons, concerning zeal, bringing vengeance upon the Yankees: touching my Scots-Irish heritage, and knowledge and love of the Southern people and cause, unmatched”. I have served my time as an adamant, Southern nationalist since I was 14 years old. I was a dues paying member of the League of the South, have met many of the Southern nationalist leaders personally, and am currently an Arkansas delegate to the Southern National Congress.

Like any good, testosterone induced young Southern nationalist, my goal in life was to climb the Florida (my home state) capitol building, tear down the yankee flag, replace it with the 3rd National flag, and “make my stand” shooting federal troops with my AR-15.
I walked the walk, and talked the talk. Been there, done that, got the ammo boxes to prove it.

However, the Lord in His mercy and Grace refuse to leave me in this state, He regenerated my heart, and instilled in my heart a love for Him that made my love for the South pale in comparison. To use Paul’s word’s, I counted it as loss, and it became as dung compared to the excellency of Christ.

This is in no way to say that 99% of the people in the Southern movement are not God-fearing Christians, who love the Lord. That was not my case however, the South was my idol, and the LoS was my church.

I know that most of the people reading this are Christians, that is why I am writing this, because I desire to see Christ’s church worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Brethren, when I hear talk of the “necessity of Southern secession”, of “fighting and dying for the freedom of our people”, of “the Godly South breaking away from the godless north, and forming a Geneva-like new CSA. When I hear about “unique, distinct Southern culture, that is superior to the northern culture”, I think to my self, no offense intended, ARE THESE PEOPLE INSANE?

Fellow Southrons, I don’t care if the Declaration of Arbroath does support your claim that the Southern people are descended from Israel, I don’t care about your statistics concerning religion and voting results. The South is as ungodly, un-regerate, pagan, anti-Christian a place as the yankee godless Unitarian north. Bible belt Christianity mocks the Holy name of Christ. The majority of Southern preachers preach a false gospel, and the few that preach Christ in truth, are so doctrinally flawed that ecclesiastical collapse is in-evitable in the time of a generation or two.

All this is not even to mention the despicable way in which many Southern professing Christians talk about, and treat, their northern brothers and sisters in Christ. I would rather be with a reformed northern Christian, than a “moral” Bible Belt Southerner. I will not give some pathetic spill about how “America must stay united”, I personally couldn’t care less if America fell tomorrow. However, I will not stand idly by as people slander by brothers and sisters in Christ, because of their place of birth. Am I the only one who smells NT judaizers in this whole deal?

What the world, what “america” (and yes I hate that word as much as you do), and what the South needs is not a free and independent republic of sovereign Southern states. What we need is the gospel. We need the whole counsel of God preached from the pulpits. We need serious, reformed truths to once again take hold of our churches. And more than all this combined, we need a true, spirit induced revival, that will save souls, and bring men under the Lordship of Christ.

I am sorry, but even if the South were to secede tomorrow, and the legislatures embrace “nullification and interposition”, then there would be NO CHANGE TO SPEAK OF. What exists now, is not a godly wonderful Southern people, being persecuted by Washington D.C. and oppressed, that only needs a chance for freedom.

What we have are ungodly wicked people, who live like the devil all week, go to church on Sunday, watch the game afterwards, and base their assurance on a false prayer some well-intentioned preacher walked them through after a scheduled, emotion based “revival” and alter call.

If secession were to happen, we would be in the same place as america, once the momentum from our godly, reformed Presbyterian forbears wore off. This would take maybe one generation, and seeing how bad we are now, maybe less.
So, this all leads to an obvious question. We as servants of the one true God, are called to advance His kingdom on the earth, and “occupy until he comes”. How are we to do this?

I assure you the answer is not secede from the union. The answer is this:
PREACH THE GOSPEL. PREACH THE GOSPEL. PREACH THE GOSPEL.

We have the most beautiful, wonderful, and effective tool for cultural change, and a command by God to use it. He, at His good pleasure, blesses our efforts and uses the means of His children to draw sinners unto Himself. Friends, why do we, and how can we waste our time seeking political salvation???

This is in no way becoming of those called by the name of Christ.

Bring up your covenant children in the ways of God, seek to serve in and grow your Church, and by all means if you are a nomad that has problems with church authority, get serious about the Christian life and find a body of believers to assemble with. Bloody your knees in prayer for your children, your church, your state, your nation. Pray for revival, but not just in the South, pray that the gospel would subdue all people and nations, and cause them to serve Christ! Cry out to the Lord to sanctify you, to make us a Holy people, set apart, redeemed from our sins.

This is how God chooses to effect real change, people.

Christ did not die to liberate us from the yankee invader, he did not die to insure our state sovereignty.

Christ died for His church, emptied the cup of God’s wrath towards them, and rose again the third day and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father. He did this so that we may be free, not from Washington, but from the sins that so easily beset us. We are not commanded to “fight and die for our rights” even if that makes our skin get goose bumps, and makes us get all excited to think about it.
We are commanded to show forth the image of Christ, to worship God and enjoy Him forever, and to preach Christ crucified.

I don’t know about you, fellow Christian, but the Southern cause is DUNG compared to the excellencies of Christ. I do not have the time nor the energy to waste in devotion to something that detracts from the Gospel, rests upon false presuppositions, and will not advance Christ’s kingdom.

I love the Lord too much, and desire to see Him worshipped too much to spend my time arguing the cause for Southern secession, and trying to establish a new CSA.

Anyhow, I hope this does not cause offense, and I love y’all dearly, but I love you too much not to speak these truths. I hope this caused you to think, and re-consider your priorities and focus in life.

For the Crown Rights of King Jesus:

Deo Vindice.
Soli Deo Gloria.
In Christ’s Service,
R.G. Miller

The New Confederacy-Part 2

2011-02-18T09:04:00.004-05:00

Southern Hostiality
Yes, I just invented a new word.

Another issue I have with the Southern Nationalist Movement:
The claim that the Southern People are the last surviving remnants of some superior, old world moralistic society.
Proponents say that Southerners are THE people, something of a mix between Spartan warriors and Scots-Irish Reformers, who are probably descended from one of the lost tribes of Israel (which would make them God's chosen people too).

Everybody KNOWS about "Yankees". That's anybody from north of Kentucky and west of Arkansas. They all have a Bostonian accent, they're all Unitarians or (*gasp*) Catholics, they all love an oppressive Federal Government (which is why they all voted for Obama), and they all hate us and want to sacrifice our Southern children upon the Lincoln memorial.

The same people who so vehemently hate and mock the Northerners, would also whine about being the butt of every Foxworthy-esque redneck joke under the sun.
Is it just I who spots some contradiction?

I happen to know too many freedom loving Brothers in Christ from Kansas, Wisconsin, California, Washington and Massachusetts to agree with any moron who, geopolitically, lumps millions of individuals together as being under one banner.

In addition to this, many Southern Nationalists hold questionable Political or Theological views of their own, such as Christian Identity (a nice way of saying racial "purists") and Stonerism (proponents of legalizing weed) to name a couple, maybe Southern culture isn't as Moralistic as claimed.

The Heart of Dixie's Problem

When it comes down to it, our problem isn't hordes of invading Northerners and assorted Ethnic groups. It's not the loss of Southern patriotism and it's not even the Federal Government, the problem is we've all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Yankee and Rebel alike are going to hell unless predestined unto salvation and brought to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
Sure, statistically the South might have more churches and church go-ers, but the church has always been a huge social hub in Southern culture, so maybe we have more unsaved than we'd like to think about.

I agree with much that Southern Nationalists have to offer. States have a Constitutional right to autonomy through secession. The South is great, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
But when a group begins to claim themselves as the only people who can save the United States, or as the victims of a totalitarian plot, it's not too long before they're a legitimate cult.
And there's no such thing as a Theologically or Politically right cult.

Part 3 of this series will be a post from my buddy (and ironically, my cousin through our mutual Confederate ancestor) RG Miller.

Strength and Honor,
~Mike

The New Confederacy-Part 1

2011-02-15T13:54:00.024-05:00

I want to preface this series by stating that these posts are not an affront to any personal friends or recent events. I have had unfinished blog posts on this subject sitting around my dashboard for the past 2 years, I've just had an urge to expound upon the idea of modern Southern Succession.

I am the great-great-great-grandson of a Confederate Veteran, a casualty of the war of Northern Aggression no less. I have served as delegate(of my dear state of GA) twice at the Southern National Congress. I like to tout my heritage, to wear the Rebel flag and to sing "I'm a good ol rebel" with great pride. I preach often about the true causes of the war, slavery was an issue Lincoln used to keep foreign entities from supporting the Southern Nation, my Nation.

There are personalities with "purer" heritages I'm sure, but even the progeny of Jefferson Davis couldn't accuse me of being a Yankee.

Therefore; I believe that I have as much a right as any to expouse a few short thoughts on problems I see with the Southern Nationalist movement.

"The South must rise again."

In my experiences with Southern Nationalism, I hear many call for a new uprising. Some advocate waiting for a time of national crisis, some for armed resistance. Both want the Old South back in a big way. Both want a preservation of our Heritage.
I hate our current, corrupt government, both of the parties in our two party system suck. It can become very tempting to crave revolt and bloodshed, especially after years upon years of unjust taxation's, unjust wars, unjust arrests and murders.
I'm sure many true Conservatives would agree, there comes a time when, as Americans and as Christians, we should take up arms for the defence of our family's and the good of the fatherland.
But if we shed the blood of tyrants prematurely in a attempt to break away from the Union, not only are we guilty of unjust killing, but we open ourselves up to the possibility of new tyrants under a new Government.

As the Rev. Mather Byles once said:
"Which is better, to be ruled by one tyrant three thousand miles away, or by three thousand tyrants not a mile away?"

Nationalist leaders play upon the emotions of youth. What red blooded, Georgia boy doesn't want to scale the capitol building and replace the current colors with the flag of '56? Which of us doesn't want new guardians for the freedoms our peers are supposedly dying for in Afghanistan?
Who doesn't want to take up arms like our forebears and smite down Yankees in our hometown streets?
But alas, our fantasizing is no different than when we played soldiers as children.

The "core" if you will of the before mentioned leaders are men between the ages of 40 and 70. They lived through the Vietnam Conflict, The Civil Rights Movement, JFK, The Cold War, the great liberalization of America.
The have just cause to be angry, but they have no right to call upon today's young patriots to fight and die for their personal vendetta's against the Federal Government.
In doing so, they are no different than the old men in Washington, who call for the deaths of other Southern boys for their own political gain.

The Old South has died. As much as we hate to admit it and as unidealistic as it sounds, the Old South is dead and has been for some time. We can't go back, even the shedding of blood and tears will not resurrect her, the only way our Heritage will live on is through our children. That is how we win.

Stand by for part 2.

Strength and Honor,
~Mike

Spetsnaz Meets "Chic"

2010-12-16T23:06:00.006-05:00

Once upon a time; there was a country inhabited by some of the manliness (though politically deceived) fighting men the world has ever seen.

Nothing says "I'm gonna kick your Fascist behind" like rank upon rank of mad Bolsheviks.

Now the Motherland showcases their newest Uniform. Designed by a "guy" who would've been stoned had he lived in Mosaic Israel, the new Uniform is referred to as "Chic" and looks more like something from a Prague fashion show.

Not that I've ever watched any fashion show...

Now the Peoples Army of the former Soviet Union reaps the benefits of their "gay" new dress:
Hundreds of Russian soldiers are catching colds.
I didn't think it was possible for a Russian to get sick?

I hope Putin has the freak responsible "disappeared".

Ugh, I need to finish this post with a manly video:

A Much Needed Post

2010-12-05T00:01:00.005-05:00

What I've been up to recently:

I've been doing some hunting, this is fourth of the five deer I've shot this season.
And yes, that's my Land Rover in the back.

Watching stupid youtube videos:

I've also been working some with a local Sheriff's Office and at nearby Feed and Seed, while simultaneously trying to get on the Fire Department in Phenix City AL.

Let's just say I don't really care for the clientele (and some of my associates) at the Sheriff's Office.

Please forgive the horrible lack of posting. Facebook is my main networking tool currently, but hopefully (now) I'll be able to keep blogging with some regularity. :)

Happy Kwanzaa Ya'll,
~Mike

Freedom is never free.

2009-11-11T23:38:00.004-05:00

"In thy faint slumbers I by thee have watched, and heard thee murmur tales of iron wars."

Comedian In Chief

2009-07-23T15:29:00.015-04:00

Our glorious leader has been self-appointed to the office of Comedian In Chief.

As Comedian In Chief, his job will be to make stupid jokes, call those who enforce his laws stupid and trick our country into thinking that: "We have to spend money to keep from going bankrupt."

Don't believe me? Watch this.

So, he admits he is biased in favor of the professor, states that he doesn't know the details of the case and yet he still slams the police officer.

He never said anything like that about "Reverend" Wright, who was videotaped spewing racist filth.

I think that the situation is very reminiscent of this comedy sketch.
Caution; some questionable content follows.

But I find the president in the second video infinitely funnier.

~Mike

Happy Birthday Liv!

2009-06-13T15:10:00.007-04:00

"By the margin, willow veil'd,
Slide the heavy barges trail'd
By slow horses; and unhail'd
The shallop flitteth silken-sail'd
Skimming down to Camelot:
But who hath seen her wave her hand?
Or at the casement seen her stand?
Or is she known in all the land,
The Lady of Shalott?

Only reapers, reaping early,
In among the bearded barley
Hear a song that echoes cheerly
From the river winding clearly;
Down to tower'd Camelot;
And by the moon the reaper weary,
Piling sheaves in uplands airy,
Listening, whispers, 'Tis the fairy
Lady of Shalott.'"

I'd like to wish my sister, Olivia Taylor Powers, a Happy 16th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Sis, may the Lord bless you in the coming years and may you live to see Freedom, Order and Peace restored to our country.

~Mike

Rehoboth Farm

2009-05-25T14:47:00.004-04:00

A good view of the potato bed.

This is our second try at growing millet and it's been doing quite well.

The social outcast of the chicken flock, we like to call him the "Lone Free Ranger".

All of our previous hives have swarmed, taking too many workers with them which caused the rest of the hive to die off.
So we're very thankful that this current colony has done very well over the past three years.

We expect to have plenty of corn before too long.

A overview of the garden.

"I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries; as long as they are chiefly agricultural."
-Thomas Jefferson

Who's The Terrorist Now?

2009-05-08T01:00:00.003-04:00

We hear daily reports of lawlessness abroad, of hostages taken, of property stolen, of innocents killed. The modern day media loves to broadcast every depressing tidbit of information they come across, with one exception.

When the current Government becomes the kidnapper and the thief, the media makes excuses for them.
The Government has imprisoned a teenager without due process, please check out this post by my good friend Son3, I'm in total agreement with him.

What's the excuse for this?

Something like "Oh, if they didn't kidnap that guy, innocent Americans might die!"
Yet, waterboarding fanatic Muslim's is terrible, even though we've extracted info that may have saved thousands of lives.

Personally, I have not really decided if I'm for or against waterboarding*, I just use the previous example to defend my point, that most of the media outlets win the "Sycophant of the year award".
But to return to the subject of this post.

The Government can now do no wrong in the people's eyes.
This is because the Government is viewed as perfect by the media, (the ones who tell the people what to believe). And why shouldn't they be viewed thus? They're both Socialistic.

Today, while checking my emails, I ran across this news story, which is the cause of my rant.

The Government is using Eminent Domain to usurp the rights of property owners, so they will own the property where Flight 93 went down.
They say they want to own the land to build a memorial, but let's not forget what happened the first time they said this.

The brave Americans on Flight 93 left their own memorial, one engraved in the minds of those who remember the aftermath of the terrible day.

"Down with fascism."

If those who died then could speak to us today, I'm sure they would say something like that.
They died fighting Islamo-Fascism, but today the Government is using their own poisonous concoction "to honor them".

Maybe it's just me, but if I had died in such a manner, I would rather be quickly forgotten than have a memorial, on land tyranically snatched from it's true owners, dedicated to me.

As the wise Dr. Ron Paul said;
“When fascism comes, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.”

Let's Roll,
~Mike

*I view Waterboarding as really pushing the 8th Amendment, if not in total contridiction to said Amendment.

Texas Governor Declares Sovereignty

2009-04-14T21:54:00.013-04:00

Haroo for the Bonnie Blue Flag and the State she represents!
On Drudge Report.

Lord willing, Resolution HR280 here in Georgia will pass, but I have been unable to find the status of said Resolution.

Texas Go Bragh!!

~Mike

It Never Happend

2009-04-11T09:43:00.010-04:00

One of the hallmarks of a socialist dictatorship is the ability to deny anything.

Recently at the G-20 summit in London, glorious leader Obama bowed to the king of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah.
I find this not only offensive, but treasonous.

Well guess what? According to the White House it never happened.
That's right, glorious leader did nothing to bring shame upon the glorious democracy of the United States of America.

Why would his Snootiness stoop to a leader whose people still use sand dunes for toilets?
The picture below provides the answer.

Kudos go to my Dad for his propaganda prowess.

Like a chicken with it's head cut off...

2009-03-21T23:25:00.003-04:00

Hi y'all!

I know I have left many a comment unanswered and for that I must beg your forgiveness!

I've been insanely busy lately and it's kept me away from my computer, but Lord willing things will slow down some soon.
Who knows, I might post some pics of the things I've been working on.

~Mike

How Far Can Greatness Fall?

2009-03-14T01:00:00.003-04:00

O America, how far can greatness fall?

Our armies strength is mighty yet
Prosperity still flows
But loss of Godly character
Has struck a mortal blow.

From following lies, we must leave
And from seeking our own ways
Then turn once more to our father's God
The Author of our days.

Remember still the words of those
Who bravely came before
Who knelt as if on hallowed ground
Upon these rocky shores.

They claimed this land for Jesus
And His it still remains
But if, through sin destruction comes
It's we who hold the blame.

For our God, He is a jealous God
An All Consuming Fire
And that which He calls Holy
We must not defile.

So train your children early
And in repentance heed His law,
And though America stumble
God forbid she fall.

Kim Powers 2007.

For Want Of An Armed Sheepdog...

2009-03-12T01:30:00.005-04:00

As most of you have probably heard, earlier this week a crazed man walked into a church and started shooting.

After four shots, his pistol jammed, he pulled out a pocket knife and wounded two men who were trying to restrain him, he then stabbed himself.
The first shot was deflected by the pastor's Bible, however the next three hit and killed him.

It's sad when events like these happen, it's an awful reminder of how the American male has gone from the gun totin' He-man, to the effeminate sugar-daddy.

I'm thankful for the men who tackled the gunman, it took guts to take on a man with a .45 and a knife, but when the dust settled both of them were stabbed with one of them still in serious condition.
If just one of them had been armed, the outcome might have been very different, the pastor might not be dead and the defenders wounded.

Since this terrible act of violence, 11 people were shot in south Alabama and in Germany 16 were sent to their Maker, both were random killing sprees and both could have been stopped by an armed Christian.

What should we do?

Gear up, because when our president starts banning weapons, the means to defend yourself and those you must protect won't be available.

Deuteronomy 32:43
"Rejoice, O nations, with His people;
For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
And will render vengeance on His adversaries,
And will atone for His land and His people."

Song Of The Homeschooled

2009-03-11T01:00:00.002-04:00

I know most of y'all have probably seen this video, but I had to post it just in case!

Oh, the many idiosyncrasies that separate us from the Babylonians!

Saving Private Ryan: A Review

2009-03-09T01:00:00.001-04:00

Long have I heard "It's the greatest WWII movie ever!!" said of this film.

Truth be told?
It's ten times worse than that inaccurate piece of garbage Braveheart.

The movie starts out on Omaha beach, June 6 1944, we are introduced to Captain John Miller (played by Tom Hanks), a weak Ranger* who is not understood by his men.

After the chaos of the landing has subsided, he is given the task of finding Pvt. James Ryan (Matt Damon), C Company 101st Airborne 501st PIR , a boy from Nebraska who has lost 3 of his brothers in battle within days of each other.
Most of the movie is dedicated to the quest for Ryan.

Lots of boring emotional dialogue and very little fighting make for a weak story line.

In one of the few firefights in the movie, Capt. Miller decides to take a radar station defended by a handful of Germans.
During this battle Miller loses his Medic, who has put his life on the line several times trying to save comrades during the movie.

The Medic's death scene seems to last forever, made worse by the subsequent scene, wherein they find the German who shot him, alive and trying to escape.
Members of Miller's squad catch the German and are preparing to execute him when Corporal Upham, a technician they have brought along for his linguistic skills, begs and pleads the Capt. to free the prisoner because "he said he was sorry".

Unfortunately, the Capt. does this, telling the Nazi to walk a thousand paces and turn himself in to the next Allied patrol he meets.
The squad then continues on their merry way through France, looking for this Ryan guy and having quite a few emotional conversations.

While hiding from a Half-Track (note: I said "hiding" not "destroying"), they find Pvt. Ryan (whose insignia identifies him as part of the 506th PIR).
After informing him that his brothers have been killed, he decides to stay and help "the closest things to brothers he's got" defend a bridge in a French town that they've occupied.

Thus starts the only real battle scene in the movie, but not before some more needless dialogue.

During the ensuing firefight, Upham is made resupply man for the squad and elements of the 506th.
However, being the sensitive type he chickens out and fails his duties, which causes the slow and painful deaths of the real warriors in the film.
I bet you can't guess which Nazi kills them!

Because the town is being overrun, Capt. Miller orders the survivors to the other side of the bridge, where they hope to make a last stand.
Deciding to blow up the bridge, Miller runs to a detonator, but is stopped when he is shot by a German (POW guy again) on the other side of the river.

Suddenly, amidst Ryan's woman-like screams and Upham's sobbing, we hear the mighty roar of engines from P-51's and Sherman Tanks, who come out of nowhere and save the day.

But wait, there's still more!

We have a emotional speech between Miller and Ryan, then a flashback to the modern day where we hear Ryan's wife say, "You're a good man".

Thus ends the "epic" Saving Private Ryan.

The prevailing message of this story seems to be that warriors are really cowards, but cowards are really warriors (Upham shoots the POW near the end).
Personally I find this disgusting, maybe it's just me, but the movie comes off as an insult to WWII Vets.

This movie takes a group of individuals who fought and died that their children might be free.
But as liberals typically do, they change these courageous men by turning them into stupid, effeminate and emotional animals.
Upham was such a girly-man, yet Spielberg made him the exemplary character, the one you're supposed to want to be like.

Contrast this with the HBO mini-series Band of Brothers, which has issues of it's own, yet it truly brings honor to "The Greatest Generation".
There certainly were cowards in WWII (like this guy), but if you're going to spend $90,000,000 portraying these men, at least heap accolades upon a real warrior.

The ranting of Mike Powers is ended...

For now.

*As I live close to the "Home of the Ranger's", I can tell you, there is no such thing as a "Weak Ranger".

Churchill Has Left The Building.

2009-02-20T01:17:00.008-05:00

I was just checking the headlines on CNN, A.K.A. the Communist News Network, when I saw a brief blurb about this.

Barack Obama sends bust of Winston Churchill on its way back to Britain.

And as if this was not bad enough, guess who's most glorious head now graces the Oval Office?

"American politicians have made quoting Churchill, whose mother was American, something of an art form, but not Mr Obama, who prefers to cite the words and works of his hero Abraham Lincoln.

Indeed a bust of Mr Lincoln now sits in the Oval Office where Epstein's Churchill once ruled the roost."

My feelings are perfectly expressed in this quote by Churchill.

"Cats look down on us. Dogs look up to us. Pigs treat us as equals"

Tagging and some Changes

2009-02-17T23:00:00.006-05:00

Hey y'all.

I've been tagged by Stephen G to do a post about random things I remember doing in 2008.

A book I read: "Beyond Band of Brothers".

A moment I will always remember: Finishing my Eagle Project.

A new skill I acquired: How to fix the spacing issue in Blogger.

A movie I watched: The Dark Knight.

A lesson I learned: Always. wear. socks.

A new place I visited last year: Molena, GA.

An inspiring verse or quote: Μολών λαβέ. Ancient Greek for "Bring it on".

I tag Livvy.

The rules:

1. Fill in your memories of 2008
2. Link my blog to yours
3. Tag others and comment on their blog so they know they've been tagged.

I noticed that most of my bloggin' buddy's have been changing their blogs, so now I'm going to submit to peer pressure and start messing with mine.

Suggestions are greatly appreciated.

How To Make a Haggis

2009-01-28T00:30:00.003-05:00

To all of you Scotsmen out there, please forgive the extremely poor Scottish accent.
I know y'all probably want to give me the backs of your hands.

Back Home

2009-01-15T00:30:00.003-05:00

Hey Y'all!

We got home safe and sound Monday morning, because I had let you know I was leaving, I thought I should let you know I was back.

Dad received 1st and 3rd place in the Treatment category, for which we are extremely thankful to the Lord (you can read more here, about half-way down the page).

Hopefully, I will get back into the swing of things soon and start posting.

God Bless,
~Mike

New Years Resolution tag

2008-12-29T17:40:00.002-05:00

I've been tagged by Bria, the subject being my New Years Resolutions.

Here goes.

Everyone needs to set goals that they wish to accomplish each year. Name ten of your goals for the upcoming year. Link to the person who tagged you. Then tag seven people and link to them. Tell the people you tagged that they are tagged!

Mike's goals for this new year

To honor God in all I do and follow all of His commands

To write at least five screenplays

To make at least one of these screen plays into a movie

To finish learning French

To learn how to play the guitar

To help at least five of the guys in my Troop get Eagle Scout

To become more proficient with our pistole

To weed our garden more often (last year it got to be quite a mess)

To finish reading all of the books I've started

That everything I do bring glory to my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ

I tag Livvy, Stephen G, Son3, Emmy and Ivey, Dad.
Not quite 7, I know, but right now I'm packing for my trip to TX tomorrow, so I reckon it'll have to do. :)

Thanks Bria!

God Bless,
~Mike

A Universal Feeling

2008-12-26T21:17:00.007-05:00

I just found this video on youtube, most of y'all will probably relate to this like I do. :)

A Tribute to 777

2008-12-17T01:00:00.008-05:00

About 2 years ago I joined Boy Scout Troop 777.
Troop 777 is unique, in that all of the guys are Christians, homeschooled and generally like-minded.

Before Scouts, most of my friends were neighbors, nine times out of ten they were not the right people to be around, more than once was I been ridiculed for not going with the flow. Thus, I figured that maybe I was more of the "lone wolf" type, it might not be as fun, but hey, at least I wasn't getting into any more fights with my "friends".

However, in October of 2006, I attended a meeting of Troop 777 after being invited by a fellow Reformed homeschooler I gotten to know at a VF event.
I met 14 guys alot like me, we might not have agreed 100% on everything, we still might not, but I'd have to say at the very least I agree 90% with my Brothers in Christ.

Each trip we went on started with a prayer, each evening ended with a devotion and before we started out the subsequent day we would usually start by reading a Proverb and discussing the wisdom contained therein.

Our Scoutleader is Mr. "SGT" Bill Neal, devout Christian, Vietnam Veteran, booby-trap specialist and all-around great American.
The Troop would not be the same without Mr. Neal, who has given countless hours to make sure we had a good time and got something out of it.

In May of 2007 we had a camp-out at Mr. Neal's house, I had advanced two ranks at the same time.
Mr. Neal sat down with me and told me I now had a chance at getting the lofty rank of Eagle Scout.
My response was "Well, that would be great Mr. Neal, but that means I got a long way to go and a short time to get there."
Mr. Neal encouraged me to do my best to get Eagle, even though at the time I thought it was nigh unto impossible.

That July I attended my first Scout Summer Camp.
This was really the first time I was away from my parents and surrounded with "Babylonian" peers, I came to realize not only how much Christians are ridiculed but also destained.
Evidently, we were "that Troop", the one made up completly of those "homeschooling nuts". When I stood up to one particular guy, who did not really care to be corrected for some garbage he spewed, I found five pairs of clinched fists backing me up. I decided I liked being surrounded by homschooling nuts.

That instance is just one of many.
Quite a few people have tried to put us down, but all they do is further cement our bonds of Friendship and Brotherhood in Christ.

This past May, I received the rank of Life Scout and thus the last leg of my journey had begun. The first thing I had to do was think up an idea for a Eagle Project.

The first project I had in mind was a solar hot-water heater for a low-income church in our county seat.
This was a great project idea, but it just didn't feel right.
I wanted to do something bigger, something I knew more about, something with more meaning. I've always been interested in military history, WWII especially, but I had no idea how to incorporate that into an Eagle Project. After brainstorming with my Dad, we thought that a Memorial to all of the WWII veterans from our county would be great.

So after much coordinating with my county, paperwork and the like I brought my idea before a project board which consists of 5 Eagle Scouts, and whose lone purpose is to approve or disapprove Eagle Projects. After deliberating with the Project Board for 2 hours, they agreed to let me build the Memorial, as long as it was dedicated to all veterans from my county.

It takes about six to eight weeks to build the type of Memorial I wanted, but first I had to procure the funding. I had been talking to a Mr. Oglesby, from Keystone Memorials in Elberton GA about having them build a Memorial for me, but I only had until mid-September to get all $3300 that I needed.
If I did not have it by then I would have to go with a much simpler and quicker project.

August came and went, as did the first week of September, to make a long story not as long, I received $2000 dollars from a company that would like to remain anonymous.
Very shortly after that I ordered the Memorial.

I also needed bricks for the pathway that led up to the Memorial itself, I again began seeking donations, a local wrecking company owned by Mr. Bill Reeves, who is an Eagle Scout, donated all 256 that I needed.

That done, I planned all of my Project workdays.
When I went before the Project Board, they told me that, even though all other councils do not require this, my Project must have at least 150 man hours.
The best way to explain man hours is like this.
If three guys go out and work for an hour they just worked for three man hours.

My Troop has grown significantly since I joined, from 15 guys to 23.
I sent out an email telling about my first project workday, I received 4 responses, but when I arrived at our designated meeting place I found everybody in our Troop and quite a few Dads ready and waiting to start my Project.
This was late October, I now had less than a month and a half to finish my Project.

Mr. Oglesby, who turned out to be a homeschooling Dad and Eagle Scout, rushed my Memorial and got it to me in record time looking wonderful.
We laid it on the 29th of November.
You can see pictures of the workday and the finished Memorial here.

After this, all I had to do was finish my paperwork and get it to the proper authorities before my 18th birthday.
Thankfully, this was done in time and I was granted an Eagle Board, which is convened the 2nd Thursday of every month, it just so happened to be on my birthday.
As Mr. Neal said at the time, it was hit or miss.

To sum everything up, I met with the Board, who asked me a few questions and then told me to wait outside the room. After a little while I was asked to come back in and then was congratulated for achieving Eagle Scout.

All of this would never have come to pass without the good Lord, and the help of everybody in my Troop, many of the guys put their own Eagle Projects off for awhile so I could complete mine in time, for which I'm extremely grateful.

Whenever I think about the camaraderie in Troop 777, I'm reminded of two things, the first is Proverbs 27:17 which reads: "As Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend."

The second is the rousing speech from the Shakespearean play Henry V, which is recited quite often in our Troop.

"Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day.
Then shall our names, familiar in his mouth as household words-
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered,

We few, we happy few,
we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day."

Thanks 777!

God Bless,
~Mike

Happy Birthday My Own First Born Man-Child, My Barefoot Boy

2008-12-12T17:09:00.008-05:00

Blessings on thee, little man,
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan!
With thy turned-up pantaloons,
And thy merry whistled tunes;
With thy red lip, redder still
Kissed by strawberries on the hill;
With the sunshine on thy face,
Through thy torn brim’s jaunty grace;
From my heart I give thee joy,—
I was once a barefoot boy!

Prince thou art,—the grown-up man
Only is republican.
Let the million-dollared ride!
Barefoot, trudging at his side,
Thou hast more than he can buy
In the reach of ear and eye,—
Outward sunshine, inward joy:
Blessings on thee, barefoot boy!

Oh for boyhood’s painless play,
Sleep that wakes in laughing day,
Health that mocks the doctor’s rules,
Knowledge never learned of schools,
Of the wild bee’s morning chase,
Of the wild-flower’s time and place,
Flight of fowl and habitude
Of the tenants of the wood;
How the tortoise bears his shell,
How the woodchuck digs his cell,
And the ground-mole sinks his well;
How the robin feeds her young,
How the oriole’s nest is hung;
Where the whitest lilies blow,
Where the freshest berries grow,
Where the ground-nut trails its vine,
Where the wood-grape’s clusters shine;
Of the black wasp’s cunning way,
Mason of his walls of clay,
And the architectural plans
Of gray hornet artisans!
For, eschewing books and tasks,
Nature answers all he asks;
Hand in hand with her he walks,
Face to face with her he talks,
Part and parcel of her joy,—
Blessings on the barefoot boy!

Oh for boyhood’s time of June,
Crowding years in one brief moon,
When all things I heard or saw,
Me, their master, waited for.
I was rich in flowers and trees,
Humming-birds and honey-bees;
For my sport the squirrel played,
Plied the snouted mole his spade;
For my taste the blackberry cone
Purpled over hedge and stone;
Laughed the brook for my delight
Through the day and through the night,
Whispering at the garden wall,
Talked with me from fall to fall;
Mine the sand-rimmed pickerel pond,
Mine the walnut slopes beyond,
Mine, on bending orchard trees,
Apples of Hesperides!
Still as my horizon grew,
Larger grew my riches too;
All the world I saw or knew
Seemed a complex Chinese toy,
Fashioned for a barefoot boy!

Oh for festal dainties spread,
Like my bowl of milk and bread;
Pewter spoon and bowl of wood,
On the door-stone, gray and rude!
O’er me, like a regal tent,
Cloudy-ribbed, the sunset bent,
Purple-curtained, fringed with gold,
Looped in many a wind-swung fold;
While for music came the play
Of the pied frogs’ orchestra;
And, to light the noisy choir,
Lit the fly his lamp of fire.
I was monarch: pomp and joy
Waited on the barefoot boy!

Cheerily, then, my little man,
Live and laugh, as boyhood can!
Though the flinty slopes be hard,
Stubble-speared the new-mown sward,
Every morn shall lead thee through
Fresh baptisms of the dew;
Every evening from thy feet
Shall the cool wind kiss the heat:
All too soon these feet must hide
In the prison cells of pride,
Lose the freedom of the sod,
Like a colt’s for work be shod,
Made to tread the mills of toil,
Up and down in ceaseless moil:
Happy if their track be found
Never on forbidden ground;
Happy if they sink not in
Quick and treacherous sands of sin.
Ah! that thou couldst know thy joy,
Ere it passes, barefoot boy!

by John Greenleaf Whittier

Thank you Mike for the Honor you have brought to your Father and Mother this week. May the Lord's richest blessings be yours. My darling boy, now man. I Love You!

Not unto us O LORD...

2008-12-11T22:35:00.003-05:00

Psalm 115:1

Non nobis Domine, Domine
Non nobis Domine
Sed nomini, Sed nomini
Tu o da gloriam

Not unto us, O Lord
Not unto us, O Lord
But to Your name
But to Your name
May all the glory be.

More posts following!

O'er The Hills and Far Away...

2008-11-26T01:00:00.009-05:00

Please keep in mind while reading this post, I do not intend to offend any of my dear Christian brothers with the following.

I merely seek to explain to ya'll my reasons for why I can not support the war in Iraq, even though I completely support the troops who are being sacrificed on the country's alter, in the name of bringing "Liberty" to a country that cannot understand Liberty because they reject Christ as a culture.

A popular song among the British during their campaigns in the 1700s went:

Here's fourteen shillings on the drum
For those who'll volunteer to come
To list and fight the foe today
Over the hills and far away

O'er the hills and o'er the main
To Flanders, Portugal and Spain
King George commands and we obey
Over the hills and far away

When duty calls me I must go
To stand and face another foe
To the battle we will always stray
Over the hills and far away

O'er the hills and o'er the main
To Flanders, Portugal and Spain
King George commands and we obey
Over the hills and far away

So fall in lads behind the drum
With Colours blazing like the sun
Along the road to come-what-may
Over the hills and far away

O'er the hills and o'er the main
To Flanders, Portugal and Spain
King George commands and we obey
Over the hills and far away

If I should fall to rise no more
As many comrades did before
Ask the pipes and drums to play
Over the hills and far away

O'er the hills and o'er the main
To Flanders, Portugal and Spain
King George commands and we obey
Over the hills and far away.

This fairly sums up the the attitude that I've witnessed among many folks in relation to the situation in Iraq, Patriotic, yet sort of a Imperialistic approach to America's Foreign Policy and willing to do whatever "King George" or the RNC asks of them.
But is this what the men who founded this country had in mind when they fought our first war?

Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, AKA "The War Powers Clause" reads:

"Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;
...

To declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water;

To raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years; ...."

The founding fathers did not want another king, but a constitutional republic.

James Madison once said of the clause, "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, than in the clause which confides the question of war and peace to the legislature, and not to the executive department."
However, Congress in effect "Sold their birth right" and voted to cede this power to the President (an unconstitutional act allowed by an unconstitutional resolution, the War Powers Resolution), thus making George Bush practically a king, able to declare war on any country at his leisure.

It seems if Congress voted to do so, another violation of this same section could allow the President to levy taxes, the American people would have no representation, what was it the Patriots of the American Revolution used to say?
Something like"No taxation without representation".

So why did Bush decide to declare war on the sovereign nation of Iraq?

Ask your average "Conservative" and they'll tell you "To protect us from WMDs that Saddam would use against us" did we ever find these WMDs?

No.

I'm not saying that he did not have them, but if we invaded a country in which we would lose 4207 soldiers (and counting) you would think that the great US of A would have found at least a few.

But in his address to the American people, what did "King George" have to say about why we invaded?

"To disarm Iraq, to free its people and to defend the world from grave danger.

peace of a troubled world and the hopes of an oppressed people now depend on you. The people you liberate will witness the honorable and decent spirit of the American military.

Saddam Hussein has placed Iraqi troops and equipment in civilian areas attempting to use innocent men, women and children as shields for his own military, a final atrocity against his people.

I want Americans and all the world to know that coalition forces will make every effort to spare innocent civilians from harm.

And helping Iraqis achieve a united, stable and free country will require our sustained commitment.

We come to Iraq with respect for its citizens, for their great civilization and for the religious faiths they practice. We have no ambition in Iraq except to remove a threat and restore control of that country to its own people.

Our nation enters this conflict reluctantly, yet our purpose is sure.

The people of the United States and their friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder. We will meet that threat now with our Army, Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard and Marines so that we do not have to meet it later with armies of firefighters and police and doctors on the streets of our cities.

We will defend our freedom. We will bring freedom to others. And we will prevail.
May God bless our country and all who defend her."

It seems to me that Bush talks more about securing freedom for the Iraqi's than about protecting his own people; the people he was sworn to defend.

He accused Saddam of the "use [of] innocent men, women and children as shields for his own military", yet Bush has sent thousands of Women's Husbands and Children's Mothers to die for his dream of a one world order so that we can "bring freedom to others", I want my freedoms as an American!

That's the reason why Dr. Ron Paul was leading in the polls among the troops for such a long time, they realize that this is a war we cannot win, we are not fighting against Terrorists and Insurgents, but against Islam itself.

The Republican party has hardened its heart against our Veterans; we already know that many of them have PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder), but the Republicans want to stay in Iraq and the Democrats want to cut spending on medical assistance for our Veterans, so it seems our government is trying the "Patton therapy".

I think far to many people who call themselves Conservatives have hardened their hearts as well, they know that the Liberals are against the war because Bush, a Republican, started it.

If Gore had won in 2000 and then went on to make the exact decisions that Bush did, I'm sure that the majority of Democrats would applaud the war and the same number Republicans deride it.

It's called politics boys.

And in all of this, who is left out in the cold, being shot at by crazed fanatics who dream of Crusaders and Saracens?
The American Soldier.
Who is separated from his loved ones, forced to tolerate mandatory inoculations, wage a war for he knows not what, sit in a desert until he is shipped home in a C-130, alive and laughing or silent in a box?
The American Soldier.

Who is thrown around by power hungry politicians who view him as a number, a statistic, a bartering piece for their own "glory"?

I could go on and on and on, but instead let me say that the average American Soldier has more of the founding fathers in him than 90% of the men in D.C.

I hope what I've said has made sense, I love the laws my country was based upon, but I fear the men who lead her do not.

Columbia commands and we obey, over the hills and far away.

God Bless,
~Mike

Happy Birthday!

2008-11-15T01:00:00.000-05:00

I would like to wish our good friend Stephen Boyd a very happy birthday,

Go n-éirí an bóthar leat
Go raibh an ghaoth go brách ag do chúl
Go lonraí an ghrian go te ar d'aghaidh
Go dtite an bháisteach go mín ar do pháirceanna
Agus go mbuailimid le chéile arís,
Go gcoinní Dia i mbos A láimhe thú.

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

God Bless you buddy!
~Mike

To Our Veterans

2008-11-11T13:11:00.008-05:00

Just a poem that, for some reason, reminded me of the many men who died fighting for our freedom's, specifically in the Second War for Independence.

Requiem for the Croppies by Seamus Heaney, 1967

The pockets of our great coats full of barley
No kitchens on the run, no striking camp,
We moved quick and sudden in our own country.
The priest lay behind ditches with the tramp.

A people, hardly marching, on the hike.
We found new tactics happening each day:
We'd cut through reins and rider with the pike
And stampede cattle into infantry,
Then retreat through hedges where cavalry must be thrown.

Until, on Vinegar Hill, the fatal conclave.

Terraced thousands died, shaking scythes at cannon.
The hillside blushed, soaked in our broken wave.
They buried us without shroud or coffin,
But in August the barley grew up from the grave.

Mise Mheiriceá

2008-11-05T13:11:00.021-05:00

After hearing of the victory that Obama received this morning, I thought "well, at least we'll have 2010 and 2012" but then I thought "that means we have to put up with this dictator's wants and wishes for four more years".

We may come under physical attack from this man, he has already stated that he wants to havethe equivalent of the brown shirts policing our streets.

I reminds me of the poem The Rebel by Padraig (Patrick) Henry Pearse, one of the key men in the Irish Rebellion of 1916 who ended up giving his life for his country.

I am come of the seed of the people, the people that sorrow;

Who have no treasure but hope,
No riches laid up but a memory of an ancient glory.

My mother bore me in bondage, in bondage my mother was born,

I am of the blood of serfs;
The children with whom I have played,
The men and women with whom I have eaten,

Have had rulers over them,

Have been under the lash of tyrants, and though gentle, have served churls.

The hands that have touched mine, the dear hands whose touch is familiar to me
Have worn shameful manacles, have been bitten at the wrist by manacles,
have grown hard with the manacles and the task-work of strangers.
I am flesh of the flesh of these lowly, I am bone of their bone.

I that have never submitted;
I that have a soul greater than the souls of my people’s rulers,
I that have vision and bravery, and the gift of fiery speech,
I that have spoken with The Most High God Who rules on the top of His Holy Hill.

And because I am of the people, I understand the people,
I am sorrowful with their sorrow, I am hungry with their desire;
My heart is heavy with the grief of mothers,
My eyes have been wet with the tears of children,
I have yearned with old wistful men,
And laughed and fought with young men;

Their shame is my shame, and I have reddened for it.
Reddened for that they have gone in want, while others have been full,
Reddened for that they have walked in fear of lawyers and their jailers.
With their Writs of Summons and their handcuffs,
Men mean and cruel.

I could have borne stripes on my body
Rather than this shame of my people.

And now I speak, being full of vision:
I speak to my people, and I speak in my people’s name to
The rulers of my people:
I say to my people that they are a great people,
That they are august despite their chains.
That they are greater than those that hold them
And stronger and purer,

That they have but need of courage,
and to call on the name of their God,
God the forgiving,
The Dear God who loves his people
For whom he died naked, suffering shame.

And I say to my people’s masters:
Beware,
Beware of the thing that is coming! Beware of the risen people!
Who shall not take the chains that ye would give.

Did ye think to conquer the people, or that your will is stronger than law,
And men’s desire to be free?
We will try it out with you,
Ye that have harried and held,
Ye that have bullied and bribed.
Tyrants, hypocrites, liars!

God Bless,
~Mike

I Hath Been Tagged 2

2008-11-02T18:30:00.003-05:00

I have been tagged by my good friend Stephen Boyd to list six random things about myself.

1. I've always liked to dam up creeks, before we bought land with any running water on it I
would improvise my own creek using a shovel and a hose.
2. My boots are chronically stinky, even though I only use them going to town or church.
3. As tough as I try to be, I'm still my Grandparents baby. (I Love you Nane and Grandad!)
4. I think that Red Bone coonhounds are the best dogs known to man.
5. For better or worse my favorite actor is James Cagney.
6. More than anything I want to bring glory to King Jesus.

I tag my Dad, my sister's Olivia, Emmy and Ivey and also Tommy Walker.

The Rules:

• Link to the person who tagged you.
• Post the rules on your blog.
• Write Six Random Things about yourself.
• “Tag” six-or-so other people at the bottom of your post.
• Leave comments on their blogs, letting them know they’ve been tagged.
• Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve written the post.

Thanks Stephen!

God Bless,
~Mike

An Amazing Video

2008-10-29T19:48:00.004-04:00

This has to be the best rendition I have heard of this song,* even if it doesn't have my favorite verse which is "Put him in charge of an Exxon tanker." :).

*I have not yet heard Mr. Charlie Zahm's version.

I hath been tagged

2008-10-15T16:56:00.003-04:00

My Sister Olivia has tagged me, she also informed me that I must do a post with 6 random things about myself or else eat my own cooking for a week.

Prepare to be shocked!

1. I have been mocked for being Irish multiple times.
2. Back when I played paintball, I was #1 when it came to Juggernaut.
3. I named my first Redbone after a character from the Andy Griffith show.
4. I'm working on getting the lofty rank of Eagle Scout.
5. I never wear shoes.
6. My favorite TV show is the original Iron Chef.

I don't really feel like taging anybody, but if you want to be tagged leave a comment asking to be.

God Bless,
~Mike

Livin' the Communist Manifesto

2008-10-03T14:48:00.001-04:00

Well, it looks as if we have taken yet another step towards communism today with the passing of Washington's new Magnum Opus bail-out bill, which can read about here.

The 5th point of the Communist Manifesto is the "Centralization of credit by the creation of a national bank".

Sound familiar?

The New Monsterous Regiment of Women.

2008-09-30T16:57:00.002-04:00

I've noticed that there has been a good bit of controversy within the circle of Homeschool bloggers recently over whether to accept or reject McCain's new VP Sarah Palin. I fail to see her appeal to Evangelicals.

I think that the Conservatives need to be looking to fellow Conservatives from Alaska and seeking their opinion on Palin, someone I would recommend reading is Mr. Jerad from AK, who has done several terrific blog posts on Palin (I agree 100 percent with him), Jerad has campaigned AGAINST Palin in the past and is helping in the fight against her now.

I would also recommend this sermon (which I'm sure all of you have heard, but just in case you haven't) by Dr. Morecraft, my new favorite out of all of his great lectures.

Something else I really recommend is this video by Dr. Voddie Baucham in which he debates Margaret Feinberg.
One of the highlights in this video is when he rebukes her for "Playing fast and loose with the Text", good stuff ;).

Again, I'm sure you've read this but I have to put it out here, this is one of the most powerful articles that I've read, by Mr. Geoffrey Botkin entitled "The Miraculous Sanctification of the Republican Party".

I find it disgusting the way most male conservatives are acting about this, I've talked to grown men who would not let Palin preach at their church, yet are so ready to declare her their new Über Führer. To throw a woman onto the Front lines of what is a Spiritual War, "For we fight not against flesh and blood", this is not manliness but effeminacy.

To me, it conjures up visions of a mob chanting "Jump, Jump!" to a confused woman, perched on the edge of a precipice.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to a fellow homeschooler from scouts about politics, we started off by chatting about my meeting former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, he said "WOW I didn't know he was in town, by the way ain't it great that Palin got the VP?", this same guy used to hate McCain, but since he is now the Republican nominee he thinks that McCain can do no wrong.

So I said "No, are you kidding? Not only is she not as conservative as she is being portrayed, but she's a WOMAN" so he replied "Well maybe it's not the best thing, but it's better than Obama".

But is it better than Obama?

Republicans were soooo worried about Ron Paul splitting the ticket even though they agreed with most of what he said, so most of them went for Huckabee or Romney, Ive already done a post on Huckabee, so if you will allow me to go on a short rant....

I COULD NOT vote in any circumstance for Mitt Romney, not only because of his extremely liberal stance on a lot of things, but because he was a member of a cult that denies the Deity of CHRIST, a cult of wolves in sheep's clothing, a cult that is nothing more than an 19th century Branch Davidian.

Romney is the one who split the vote! Because of a lot of Christians who were too pessimistic, scared and weak to vote for the right person, the Biblical candidate is now out and we (supposedly) have to choose between evil and tyranny.

Maybe if Obama did become president the Christians would realize the cost of their stupidity, then we might band together in 2012 and win a victory for America, Christendom and even the World. A new revolution, a revolution without revising our government, but merely seeking to uphold the revolutionary idea that it is "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's the "change" I'm talking about.

It looks like it won't be long before the government starts exercising it's might over us, and the Christians are the ones who brought it on, by settling with the lesser of the evils, and because they did not band together with the Joshuas and Calebs who were ready to posses the land the way the LORD wanted them to.

God Bless,
~Mike

Full Auto

2008-09-12T06:00:00.000-04:00

After reading Son3's post about whether or not Fully Automatic guns should be legal, illegal or if the states decide, I did a wee bit of searching.

And I found....

THIS!!

Now I just have to get some more mula, then I can get a "Rootie-tootie aim and shootie!".

~Mike

Never Forget 9/11 or our Soldiers

2008-09-11T01:00:00.023-04:00

On this, the 7th anniversary of the cowardly Islamo-facist attacks on the WTC, I thought I would do a post in honor of those who died in the attack, and to our troops who have been forced to fight an uncostitutional war.

Oh how do you do, young Willy McBride
Do you mind if I sit here down by your graveside
And rest for a while in the warm summer sun
I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done

And I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen
When you joined the great falling in 1916
Well I hope you died quick
And I hope you died clean or Willy McBride,
was is it a slow and sad scene?

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind
In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined
And though you died back in 1916
To that loyal heart you're forever nineteen

Or are you a stranger without even a name,
Forever enshrined behind some old glass pane
In an old photograph torn, tattered, and stained
And faded to yellow in a brown leather fame

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

The sun shining down on these green fields of France
The warm wind blows gently and the red poppies dance
The trenches have vanished long under the plow
No gas, no barbed wire, no guns firing now

But here in this graveyard that's still no mans land
The countless white crosses in mute witness stand
To man's blind indifference to his fellow man
And a whole generation who were butchered like lambs

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

And I can't help but wonder oh Willy McBride
Do all those who lie here know why they died
Did you really believe them when they told you the cause
Did you really believe that this war would end wars

Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing and dying was it all done in vain?
For Willy McBride, it all happened again
And again, and again, and again, and again

Did they beat the drums slowly
Did they play the fife lowly
Did they sound the death march as they lowered you down
Did the band play the last post and chorus
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest?

Scotland's Heroes

2008-09-04T17:23:00.004-04:00

Hi Ya'll!

I'm sorry I haven't posted in awhile, we've had a very busy month.

Last Thursday we went to the Circa History Guild in Atlanta to listen to a couple of lectures by Dr. Joseph Morecraft and Mr. Bill Potter on the Military history of Scotland and the Reformation in Scotland.
We successfully got everybody into the van, then set off for Atlanta, the city where it's always rush-hour.

After reaching said city we promptly got stuck in a traffic jam, the first of three we would encounter that day. By the time we got to the Circa History Guild we were 20 minutes late, most of you who have a rather large family like us know how big a deal it is when 9 people show up simultaneously, thankfully though they had plenty of room for us.

It turns out that they had started later then they were supposed to, so we got to hear most of Mr. Potter's very interesting lecture on the Military History of Scotland, after it was over there was a brief break during which my family got to meet him (my sisters immediately recognized him as "The voice of Elsie Dinsmore"). I asked him if it was alright to film Dr. Morecraft, which he said was fine, so I set up my camera while Mom and Dad talked to some like-minded folks we had met that evening.

Dr. Morecraft's lecture was really good as well, I filmed most of it and I'm hoping to be able to fix the sound a bit before posting (I had to record with a mic attached to my camera, thus recording echos, footsteps etc.).
Afterwards I got to meet and talk to Dr. Morecraft about a few things, it was really great to meet him in person after listening to his lectures.

After that we began our journey back home which turned out to be uneventfully.
Unfortunately, our regular camera was "indisposed' and I didn't get any stills for this post, but fear not! I will upload the film that I have of the evening ASAP, but it will probably just be various parts of the message opposed to the whole thing (which was about 45 minutes long).

God Bless!
~Mike

Nazi Pelosi declares "Lichter Weg"

2008-08-01T21:58:00.009-04:00

Today, as the Republicans in Congress prepared to vote on offshore drilling Speaker of the House Pelosi decided that she was tired of the First Amendment.

So since she thinks that she is the boss because:

#1 She's a feminist and we all know that they know better than men, and

#2 because she has the POWER...all of the electrical power to Congress was cut.

Did this stop the Republicans from speaking?

No.

Though she also had the power to the microphones and cameras turned off the Republicans kept on speaking.

Here is a report of what happened (Taken from WND):

"The Democrats turned out the lights, shut down the cameras and headed home for the month, but some 50 Republicans insistent on enacting legislation to address skyrocketing oil prices remained on the House floor for more than five hours this afternoon, delivering rousing speeches met with cheers from the gallery and taking swipes at their rivals.

"This is the people's House," Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-Mich., said, according to Politico. "This is not Pelosi's politburo."

The newssite said Democratic aides were furious at the GOP members' refusal to leave and kicked out reporters from the Speaker's Lobby, the space next to the House floor where lawmakers are interviewed.
"You're not covering this, are you?" a senior Democratic aide whined, Politico reported.
Another aide called the Republicans "morons" for staying on the floor.

The GOP members are angered by Democratic house Speaker Nancy Pelosi's moves to block voting on a plan that would allow drilling offshore and in Alaska in a bid to reduce dependence on foreign sources of oil.

Republicans contend that with support from a substantial number of Democrats, they have more than enough votes.

Pretending to be a Democrat, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., stood on the other side of the chamber and listed all of the Republican bills killed by Democrats, Politico reported.
"I am a Democrat and here is my energy plan," he said, holding up a picture of an old VW Bug with a sail attached to it.
Nunes paraded the picture around the House floor to the cheers of the gallery crowd.

Employing the Internet to get the word out to voters, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., sent out a message from the floor via the Web service Twitter: "Call Speaker Pelosi at 202 225 0100. Demand vote on energy legislation."
Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, also provided updates via Twitter.

The Republicans wrapped up their protest session at 5:05 p.m. by singing "God Bless America," said National Review writer Mark Hemingway.
The lawmakers, he said, left the chamber with the crowd chanting, "USA! USA!"
Politico said Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other GOP leaders opposed the motion to adjourn the House, at 11:23 a.m., arguing Pelosi's refusal to schedule a vote allowing offshore drilling is hurting the American economy.

The newssite said that at one point, the chamber lights and microphones were turned off, but then returned while Rep. John Shadegg, R-Ariz. was speaking.

Apparently, Shadegg turned on the PA system by typing in random codes and accidentally typed the correct code, allowing brief access before it was turned off again.
"I love this," Shadegg later told reporters up in the press gallery. "Congress can be so boring.... This is a kick."

C-SPAN, which has no control over House cameras, stopped broadcasting after the official adjournment.

Politico reported Republicans tried to prevent Capitol Police from removing reporters from the press gallery above the floor. The police were held off when they saw Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., in the gallery talking to reporters, and Politico said GOP leaders tried to find other Republicans to rotate in for Blunt so reporters would not be kicked out.
Blunt's office sent out a message saying: "Although, this Democrat Majority just Adjourned for the Democrat 5-Week Vacation, House Republicans are continuing to fight on the House Floor. Although the lights, mics and C-SPAN cameras have been turned off, House Republicans are on the Floor speaking to the tax payers in the gallery who, not surprisingly, agree with Republican Energy proposals. All Republicans who are in town are encouraged to come to the House Floor."

Politico described the scene on the floor as "kind of crazy," noting members normally are not allowed to speak directly to the visitor gallery, and cheering from the gallery is not allowed.
But House members were walking up and down the floor to loud cheers, including standing ovations.

Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Ill., brought the crowd to its feet with a rousing speech that accused Democrats of stifling dissent, referencing President John Quincy Adams, who returned as a House member after his term in the White House.
The congressman left the floor to hugs from his colleagues, said Politico, noting, "You don't see that up here every day."

WND Editor Joseph Farah has organized a campaign to step up pressure on Congress to drop its moratorium on offshore drilling and reverse its decisions to ban exploration for oil in Alaska's ANWR reserves before adjournment at the end of September.
Farah's goal is to force Congress to act in the next two months – before it adjourns for the year.

Farah's plan is simple: "I want to bring Congress to its knees," he says. "I want to melt down their phones. I want to flood their e-mail boxes. I want to hold them as political hostages. The ransom demand is to unleash the free market to begin exploring and pumping domestic crude oil and getting it to market as fast as possible. We've got two months days to make our voices heard. Let's make history by bringing this recalcitrant body of elitists into compliance with the will of the people and the rule of law."

After eagerly waiting for someone else to take the lead on demanding action of Congress, Farah came to the conclusion no one else was going to do it.
Farah says it's a national emergency and needs to be treated as such.

"I hope radio talk show hosts across the country will embrace this bipartisan, non-partisan movement," he says. "There is no question in my mind this is what the American people want. Now it's just time for them to impose their will on their elected representatives who, in their chauffeured limousines and taxpayer-supported travel, are hopelessly out of touch with their constituents, with people who are finding it difficult to make ends meet."

Farah says he is convinced Congress will act only if the people steamroll members into action. He points to the way the Dubai port deal and so-called "comprehensive immigration reform" were killed by popular uprisings in recent years.

"We can make this happen, again," he says. "But this time, we won't just be stopping something bad from happening. We will be doing something that is very good for the country – something that will improve the lives of all of us, something that will improve national security, something vital for the future of the nation."

Congress is set to adjourn at the end of September and will take most of August off for recess.
"I'm going to do everything in my power to push Congress into action in the next two months days," Farah says. "I know I can't do it by myself. But I know if the American people get mobilized nothing can stop them. You have to let members of Congress know you are serious.

You have to persuade them and their staffs they are not returning to Washington next year if they fail to act in America's interest before they leave town."

Before then, you can reach members of the House and members of the U.S. Senate by calling 202-224-3121. The official House website contains web pages for all members and includes e-mail addresses for most. The official Senate website also contains web pages for all members and includes email address for some."

All of this after "The especially dark wizard", (Ya'll know who) said that if all Americans kept our tires full of air and had our cars "tuned up" (the engine, not the music), then we would not need to drill offshore because it would save as much gas as drilling.

To this I would say "Is minic a gheibhean beal oscailt diog dunta!"

God Bless,

~Mike.

The Fool Hath Said...

2008-07-19T20:56:00.006-04:00

I just read this article, it just goes to show how stupid the evolutionists are.
There are several theories set forth by evolutionists as to how humans created language, this is just another attempt at trying to shove the vast amount of evidence for Creation into the dirt.

I copied the following from a website run by an evolutionist, I did not write the following in Italics, I only insert it to show the utter stupidity embraced by people who hate "Religion" (A.K.A. Christianity).

The "ding-dong" hypothesis
This hypothesis places the origin of human language in onomatopoeia: the various imitative sounds that humans make to mimic the sounds of the world around them. For example in English, boom is the sound of thunder, oink is the sound made by a pig, and tweet is the sound made by a small bird. Of course, many languages contain their own onomatopoeic words (eg. in Basque, ai-ai, which means "ouch-ouch", refers to a knife).
There are several reasons why this hypothesis has not met with universal acceptance, as it does not adequately explain the creation of words for inanimate objects, such as rocks, much less prepositions and other grammatical particles or abstract concepts. Words marked by onomatopoeia are conspicuous and somewhat unusual in most languages. The "ding-dong" hypothesis is therefore not considered to be a complete explanation for the origin of language.

The "bow-wow" hypothesis
Similar to the "ding-dong" hypothesis, this one has humans forming their first words by imitating animal sounds.
Not only do all of the objections involving other sorts of onomatopoeia explanations apply here, it is worthy to note that the names of animal sounds are strongly culturally determined and differ remarkably from one culture to the next, as the article on oink sets forth. It seems difficult to accept that humans learned to speak to one another by talking to the animals.

The "pooh-pooh" hypothesis
According to this hypothesis, the first words developed from sighs of pleasure, moans of pain, and other semi-involuntary cries or exclamations. These vocalisms then became the names of the phenomena that made people say them.
Most of the objections to the "ding-dong" hypothesis apply here also. Such words are found in most languages; they are conspicuous by their proverbial nature and incomplete assimilation into the lexicon. Moreover, they are culturally determined, and themselves show a great deal of arbitrariness.

The "ta-ta" hypothesis
Charles Darwin lent his authority to this hypothesis. According to this, human language represents the use of oral gestures that began in imitation of hand gestures that were already in use for communication. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran's research into synesthesia and sound symbolism would seem to support this hypothesis.
The difficulty with this hypothesis, is that it begs the question: it requires that a fairly sophisticated repertoire of gestures be in place already for humans to imitate with their mouth gestures. It assumes the existence of a language of gestures without explaining how it arose (however, see Nicaraguan Sign Language). At any rate, though sign languages do have somewhat imitative (or iconic) gestures, they also contain quite arbitrary symbols and have vastly different meanings in different human cultures.
One other difficulty with this hypothesis is that hand gestures and facial expressions are useless unless they are seen. That means it must either be daylight, or firelight, and with nothing blocking one's view. For facial expressions, the communicators must also be facing each other. In addition, hand gestures are difficult if the hands are doing something else.

The "uh-oh" hypothesis
According to this hypothesis, human language begins with the use of arbitrary symbols that represent warnings to other members of the human band. It is agreed that one sort of vocal cry means that lions have been spotted in the area, and another one indicates a snake. You holler one thing at your neighbour to warn them, "Don't eat that! It'll make you sick!" and something distinguishable to warn them "Don't eat that! It's mine!"
This hypothesis seems to have the potential to explain the perceived diversity of human speech; obviously the warning cries uttered here are to some measure arbitrary. It is less certain that this hypothesis could explain how more abstract features of human language developed.

The "yo-he-ho" hypothesis
According to this hypothesis, language arose in rhythmic chants and vocalisms uttered by people engaged in communal labour.
This may have more to do with the origins of poetry than with language itself. Sea chanteys, jody calls, and similar work songs all show humans engaged in communal work improvising with their language around the rhythms of their work. It is uncertain from this hypothesis how meanings came to be associated with the vocalisms uttered by the workers.

The "watch the birdie" hypothesis
This one is associated with ethologist and linguist E. H. Sturtevant. According to this hypothesis, human language became elaborated because humans found selective advantage in being able to deceive other humans. Since exclamations and vocalisms can involuntarily reveal your true mental state, humans learned to feign them in order to deceive others for selfish advantage.

And now it seems we have the "Blub, blub, blub hypothesis" which says that humans learned to talk just by evolving from fish.
It's soooo much easier to believe than creationism like we see in the first few chapters of Genesis isn't it?
Just so any passers-by know, I am being sarcastic.

Here is one the evolutionaries have not thought of yet, we learned to talk from aliens or something-of-that-sort.

God Bless,

~Mike

Fort Benning Live Fire

2008-06-23T20:26:00.004-04:00

Hey Ya'll!

Here is some more footage of the Live Fire ya'll might not have seen.

God Bless!

~Mike

A Man of Honor Still Lives

2008-05-27T10:48:00.004-04:00

I would encourage Ya'll to go and read Mr. Frank Buckles' story, which I found quite fascinating.

Judicium Divinus

2008-05-21T15:06:00.002-04:00

Judge Roy Moore has recently written an excellent poem that is posted on one of my Dad's Blogs Judicium Divinus.
I would encourage Ya'll to read it.

~Mike

RE:Suilad Muindor

2008-05-20T17:36:00.012-04:00

I would like to apologise to both Mr. Boyd and Mr. Ferril in not being quicker to respond to your comments and posts, as I have either been on the road to Atlanta, in Atlanta, or on the road back from Atlanta. But, now that I'm home hopefully I'll be quicker to respond.

Mr. Ferrill,
I'm glad to hear from you again!

I'm sorry for using the words "Allegory" and "Magic"in a confusing way, please allow me to clear this up.
First let me explain my post where I said "I know you probably think me ignorant in this allegory" I believe this is the confusing part you are referring to.

To my shame, I do not add punctuation as much as needed, this being a prime example of a lack of quotation marks.

What I was attempting to say was "you might think me ignorant in this story (that you call an "Allegory"), I was not saying that I believe this to be an allegory of any sort and I have gone back and corrected the post, although I know what you mean in your recent post were you said "he did use many parallels from other works both fictional and historical." I agree, he did copy from other works, notably Beowulf, the Fianna cycle, King Arthur (BTW, Gandalf bears striking resembalence to the druid Finn Eces and the wizard Merlin), and other fairy-tales.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 states,
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto good works."

We must always examine all things by the light of the LORD's word, or else neither one of us will be right.

I brought up The LOTR not being an allegory because of a point you were making in Maer Gúl, Foeg Gúl, when you stated that the "magic" that Gandalf uses comes from Eru, IF, Tolkien did indeed intend Gandalf's magical power to have come from Eru then he made a major mistake,because as we have both agreed upon, All magic is evil, no matter where you come from or what language you speak, it is evil and does not come from the LORD.

Another problem I have with the LOTR is Tom Bombadil.
Tom Bombadil has this weird power over almost everything he comes in contact with that is never really explained, except to say that he was here before anything else.
When Frodo asks Goldberry (Bombadil's wife) who Bombadil is she merely answers "he is" (an obvious reference to Exodus 3:14 where the LORD told to Moses HIS NAME.), that coupled with Bombadil calling himself the "master" (which is unbiblical according to Matthew 23:10) and "the oldest" helped to turn me off of LOTR.

We can go back and forth with example after example but the real question, and one I find myself asking , "Is it wise to create an alternate universe that has a god and a devil and although the god is good he is not the Triune GOD?" I can guess Calvin's answer to that, and more importantly my conscience has already answered it.

As Luther once said "For to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. Here I stand. I can do no other...".

RE:Sabar na tovon

2008-05-15T12:15:00.009-04:00

This is a respose to this blog-post.

Mr. Ferril, I appreciate the comment and blog-post, please enjoy your stay on my blog and please forgive my poor Sindarin punctuation :).

Your post bears much resemblance to a article I read on Mr. R.C. Sproul's website written by a friend of my family Mr. Ken Griffith (which can be found here), so I am familiar with this line of thinking.

The problem with this line of thought is the same problem I come up against when explaining why Harry Potter is evil, it's the idea that there can be good magic (there is not) , the fact that this is in a alternate universe cannot justify good magic.

Magic is always, always, always, (do I make my point?) BAD, the Power of the LORD is not magic, nor should it ever be portrayed as such, wizards cannot be angelic beings and angelic beings can only do the will of the LORD anyway.

I was deeply into the Tolkien series for a looooong time (about 4 years) I read most of the books including the Silmarillion, and I understand perfectly what you are trying to say, many people have tried to make the LOTR series into some sort of allegory, especially my fellow homeschoolers, but if you're a Protestant this isn't going to work with your worldview because Tolkien was a Catholic (I'm not even sure that it would work with a Catholics worldview either).

Please don't think I'm against the fantasy genre, I myself am very interested in it and I'm currently writing a series of stories in the fantasy genre, so I don't have a problem with fantasy but with this fantasy and others like it.

I know you probably think me ignorant in this "allegory" but even Tolkien chose to call the Istari Wizards (who cast multiple spells), if he had chosen to make them wise men sent from Eru then I would not have a such a big problem with this, but still as I have said before, Angels can only do the bidding of the LORD, ones who have disobeyed have been cast out.

And the last point,Tolkien himself said that the LOTR was not an allegory, I think this pretty much nullifies any arguments to the contrary.

As I have said before, thanks for the comment and Post,I really enjoyed your blog .

God Bless,

~Mike

The Widow's Might

2008-05-09T18:16:00.006-04:00

Some of you might have recieved my recent mass e-mail in which I asked you to visit this site.

If not then here is the e-mail.

Hi Ya'll!

My good friend John from Texas is making a new movie entitled The Widows Might, Some of ya'll might have seen some of his previous films such as Bubble Trouble and Heartstrings (which is CBD's #2 most well-rated DVD, above the Kendrick brothers Flywheel and 2nd only to their epic Facing the Giants),if not I would really recommend both.

Please help in supporting John while he goes through the rigamarole of producing a High Quality Christian family film, sign up for the e-mail news list, and try to get 10 of your friends to do so as well.

One way you can also help is by purchasing a copy of Heartstrings, which you can do here.
This is great movie to watch as a family.

Attached is an email that John is sending out requesting support.

And those of you who receive this e-mail, and might have played a bad practical joke on me recently, if you get 10 people to sign up then you will no longer have to fear me getting back at you.

Here is a link to John's blog and the Widows Might Website

God Bless!

~Mike

Dear Friends,

Our latest project, 'The Widow's Might' is now in preproduction, and very soon we'll be in full swing with the filming process.

Now is the time for you to support this project!

Our last film, 'Heartstrings', was a tremendous hit...
We marvel at God's richness in provision for us in that film, and the way it is touching lives. In just a few short months, Heartstrings won the prestigious Audience Choice award at the largest Christian Film Festival in the world, and has become the second highest rated film on all of ChristianBook.com; competing against 6,200 other films.

Now, HeuMoore is gearing up for it's biggest, most powerful film yet;
The Widow's Might.

Another adventure in the lives of the Siblings cast, The Widow's Might tells an important and touching story about an elderly Widow, and several families defending her most cherished earthly treasure.
WidowsMightTheMovie.com has a short promotional teaser with some facts about the film.

The Widow's Might is too big for us to do alone; we need your help!

Stay informed! Go to WidowsMightTheMovie.com, and sign up for email updates. We need a solid email base of supporters, and we want you to be a part of the movement!

Recruit! Get 10 of your friends or family to sign up on the email list, and tell them about our success with Heartstrings. Forward this email to everyone in your inbox, and post this information on your blog!

Support! The cost of feature film productions is high, but you can support The Widow's Might by purchasing the Heartstrings DVD.
Father's Day is coming soon, and Heartstrings is not only a great film for your family, but is the perfect gift choice, with meaning and power.
Order it Here.

www.HeartstringsTheMovie.com

Be a Leader, and help your friends reach their ten; the power of word-of-mouth is astounding, and is the key to reaching the world with messages of hope found in Christian films.

It is only a small inconvenience, but does a tremendous service to us as filmmakers.

Be a part of this movement toward God honoring films.

The industry can only thrive with your support!

Thank you!

~ In Christ, John.

Hollywood Delendum Est!

Concerning Democrats...

2008-04-23T10:28:00.003-04:00

Here are a couple of pictures I've messed around with in photoshop, just thought that ya'll might like to see em'.

Bush gives Medal of Honor to Navy SEAL

2008-04-08T20:07:00.015-04:00

John 15:13 "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends".

Yet another hero dies in this needless "Republican" war.

Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile,
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile,
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile
Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.

A bhuí le Rí na bhFeart go bhfeiceam,
mura mbeam beo ina dhiaidh ach seachtain,
Gráinne Mhaol agus míle gaiscíoch,
ag fógairt fáin ar Ghallaibh.

Tá Gráinne Mhaol ag go duill ar sáile,
óglaigh armtha léi mar gharda,
Gaeil iad féin is ní Gaill ná Spáinnigh,
is cuirfidh siad ruaig ar Ghallaibh.

Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile,
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile,
Oró, sé do bheatha abhaile
Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.

Translation.

Saint Patrick's Day.

2008-03-17T21:10:00.005-04:00

Happy Saint Patrick's!
Now for a clip of Serbians singing one of my most favorite Irish songs.

Me shootin' the Barrett M107

2008-03-03T13:03:00.001-05:00

Twas quite fun, even though it had a little kick to it.

That might be why they only let the"civilians" shoot it twice.

Songs of the Sea part 2

2008-02-04T12:08:00.000-05:00

Heel ya ho boys, let her go boys, Heave her head round to the weather. heave ya ho boys, let her go boys, Sailin' homeward to Mingulay.

What care we though white the spray is,What care we for wind or weather,Let her go, boys, every inch is,Sailin' homeward to Mingulay.

Wives are waiting by the pier head, looking seaward from the heather, Pull her 'round, boys, then we'll anchor, 'Ere the sun sets on Mingulay.

Songs of the Sea part 1

2008-01-18T21:27:00.000-05:00

The Diamond is a ship, my lads, For the Davis Strait she's bound, The quay's they are all garnished with bonnie lasses 'round.

Captain Thompson gives the order, To sail the ocean wide, Where the sun it never sets me lad, nor darkness stems the tide.

And it's cheer up me lads, Let your hearts never fail, While the bonnie ship the Diamond goes a fishin for a whale.

Along the quay at Peterhead, The lasses stand aroon, Wi' their shawls all pulled a'boot them, And the sault tears runnin' doon.

Oh, don't you weep, my bonnie lass, Though you are left behind, For the rose will grow on Greenland's ice Before we change our mind.

And it's cheer up me lads, Let your hearts never fail, While the bonnie ship the Diamond goes a fishin for a whale.

Here's a health to the Resolution, Likewise the Eliza Swan, Here's a health to the Battler of Montrose, And the Diamond, ship of fame.

We wear the trousers o' the white, and the jackets o' the blue, When we return to Peterhead, We'll hae sweethearts enou'.

And it's cheer up me lads, Let your hearts never fail, While the bonnie ship the Diamond goes a fishin for a whale.

It will be bright both day and night, When the Greenland lads come hame, With a ship that's full of oil, me lads, And money to our name.

We'll make the cradles for to rock, And the blankets for to tear, And every lass in Peterhead sing"Hushabye, me dear".

And it's cheer up me lads, Let your hearts never fail, While the bonnie ship the Diamond goes a fishin for a whale.

The lesser of the Evils

2007-11-28T14:46:00.000-05:00

I think there is a problem with most of the homeschooling community, Ron Paul (even though he is running as a Republican and has promised not to switch) is viewed as a Libertarian and thus would not deal harshly enough with drug dealers, abortion etc. so they are going to vote for the lesser of all the evils, Huckabee.

Here are a few reasons not to vote for Huckabee:

David Huckabee.
The Quakers believed (I'm not saying I agree %100 with them) that a man should be judged on how well his children turned out, so lets take a look at Mike Huckabee's son David.
David was fired from his job at a Boy Scout camp after he and a friend found and tortured a stray dog. I'm not an animal rights activist but when someone hangs a stray dog, but not to death, then slits the dogs throat, then stones the dog the rest of the way, I call that SICK.
He is shown below (the one in the pink boa).

Some people bring up the fact that Huckabee was a Baptist Preacher, is this true?
Yes and no, he was a preacher, but from quotes I've heard, he is a "cheap grace" preacher in the manner of the contemporary church.

Iraq and Iran.

Huckabee plans to stay in Iraq, a move I don't support, neither does a fair percentage of the troops. He also wants a war Iran, why? I don't know, maybe he wants to bring about the rapture, in the war with Iran he said he would not be against using Nukes.

He's an oath breaker.

While Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee had numerous grocery items charged to the Governor's Mansion and tried to take furniture from the same place when he left. He raised taxes because he said the court told him to, but happened to be video taped asking the legislature for the same taxes.

Vote for him if you dare.

A short review on the A&E Horatio Hornblower series.

2007-11-15T09:34:00.000-05:00

The Horatio Hornblower series is about a Englishman who, after the death of his parents, joins the Navy and goes from being a lowly midshipman to Captain of his own ship in the final episode.

Pros.

Good lighting, Good CG, Kinda Historically Accurate, Interesting Storyline and Impressive Naval Combat.

Cons.

Well I think I can sum up the cons with a quote attributed to Churchill,

"Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, licentiousness, and the lash."

There is a lot of character growth, but not always in a good way.

Oh, and the Irish are the bad guys so this gets a D.

Microsoft backs Anti-Hunters

2007-11-13T13:03:00.000-05:00

Tis' a sorry state of affairs when a technically good company like Microsoft starts backing stupid libs like this.

http://www.buckeyefirearms.org/article4027.html

The Strenuous Life

2007-10-11T17:48:00.000-04:00

Eccl:9:10: Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

"In speaking to you, men of the greatest city of the West, men who preeminently and distinctly embody all that is most American in the American character, I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph.

A life of slothful ease, a life of that peace which springs merely from lack either of desire or of power to strive after great things, is as little worthy of a nation as of an individual. I ask only that what every self-respecting American demands from himself and from his sons shall be demanded of the American nation as a whole. Who among you would teach you boys that ease, that peace, is to be the first consideration in their eyes -- to be the ultimate goal after which they strive? You men of Chicago have made this city great, you men of Illinois have done your share, and more than your share, in making America great, because you neither preach nor practice such a doctrine. You work yourselves, and you bring up your sons to work. If you are rich and are worth your salt, you will teach your sons that though they may have leisure, it is not to be spent in idleness; for wisely used leisure merely means that those who possess it, being free from the necessity of working for their livelihood, are all the more bound to carry on some kind of non-remunerative work in science, in letters, in art, in exploration, in historical research -- work of the type we most need in this country, the successful carrying out of which reflects most honor upon the nation. We do not admire the man of timid peace. We admire the man who embodies victorious effort; the man who never wrongs his neighbor, who is prompt to help a friend, but who has those virile qualities necessary to win in the stern strife of actual life. It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed. In this life we get nothing save by effort. Freedom from effort in the present merely means that there has been stored up effort in the past. A man can be freed from the necessity of work only by the fact that he or his fathers before him have worked to good purpose. If the freedom thus purchased is used aright, and the man still does actual work, though of a different kind, whether as a writer or a general, whether in the field of politics or in the field of exploration and adventure, he shows he deserves his good fortune. But if he treats this period of freedom from the need of actual labor as a period, not of preparation, but of mere enjoyment, even though perhaps not of vicious enjoyment, he shows that he is simply a cumberer of the earth's surface, and he surely unfits himself to hold his own with his fellows if the need to do so should again arise. A mere life of ease is not in the end a very satisfactory life, and, above all, it is a life which ultimately unfits those who follow it for serious work in the world.

In the last analysis a healthy state can exist only when the men and women who make it up lead clean, vigorous, healthy lives; when the children are so trained that they shall endeavor, not to shirk difficulties, but to overcome them; not to seek ease, but to know how to wrest triumph from toil and risk. The man must be glad to do a man's work, to dare and endure and to labor; to keep himself, and to keep those dependent upon him. The woman must be the housewife, the helpmeet of the homemaker, the wise and fearless mother of many healthy children. In one of Daudet's powerful and melancholy books he speaks of "the fear of maternity, the haunting terror of the young wife of the present day." When such words can be truthfully written of a nation, that nation is rotten to the heart's core. When men fear work or fear righteous war, when women fear motherhood, they tremble on the brink of doom; and well it is that they should vanish from the earth, where they are fit subjects for the scorn of all men and women who are themselves strong and brave and high-minded.

An Excellent video

2007-10-04T09:54:00.000-04:00

9/11

2007-09-11T11:21:00.000-04:00

GOD of our fathers, known of old,

Lord of our far-flung battle line,
Beneath whose awful hand we hold

Dominion over palm and pine

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget-lest we forget!

The tumult and the shouting dies;

The Captains and the Kings depart;

Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice,

An humble and a contrite heart.

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget—lest we forget!

Far-called our navies melt away;

On dune and headland sinks the fire;

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday

Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!

Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose
Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe,
Such boastings as the Gentiles use,

Or lesser breeds without the Law

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!

For heathen heart that puts her trust

In reeking tube and iron shard

All valiant dust that builds on dust,

And guarding calls not Thee to guard.

For frantic boast and foolish word,

Thy Mercy on Thy People, Lord!

Counter Attack

2007-09-10T10:48:00.000-04:00

Well, I just read a really good book called Outside Hollywood, by Mr. Issac Botkin.

It's an very interesting book about what the mentality of Christian Filmmakers ought to be, challenging us to make sure our theological facts are straight before even thinking about making a movie.

He also shows what a bunch of narcissistic Marxist blow-hards, Hollywood actors, writers, and producers are.

Another important point he makes is not to sell to Hollywood, they might give you money for a good script, but they will tweak it for sure if it has any Christian value in it. He has a quote in the book from a well known Hollywood actor who said that in Hollywood, "They'll give you $40,000 for a kiss but only a dime for your soul."

I highly recomend this book, even if you are not interested in filmaking.

Semper Fi.

~Mike.

The little Man.

2007-08-06T21:51:00.000-04:00

I've been looking at the last couple of posts from our family's blog that my Dad writes, and kinda reminded me of the chorus from Alan Jackson's song The Little Man,

Now the court square is just a set of streets
people look around but they seldom think
about the little man that built this town
before the big money shut em' down and killed the little man.

I would encourage Y'all to look at the last three posts on the Rehoboth farm blog.

In other news, I got back from Scout Camp in pretty much one piece, and I'm on my way to Eagle scout, I'm planning on going on a 5 day (50 mile) hiking trip in the Smokey Mountains this November.

Semper Fi.

Steam explosion in NYC.

2007-07-18T22:02:00.000-04:00

The pipes were from 1830.

Is hunting and fishing a right or a Privilege?

2007-06-07T11:47:00.000-04:00

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_108407.asp

I think it's a right.
They didn't give us the 2nd ammendment just for self defense.

MacPhersons Lament.

2007-06-02T20:51:00.000-04:00

Here is my first attempt at posting a video.

Haze

2007-06-02T20:07:00.000-04:00

Take a look at this link.

It's even a bit hazy around here, but now with some rain that will change.

I have not been doing much lately, mostly fishin', swimin', and studyin' for the Jamestown 400 up in Virginia next week.
With the Lord's help we made it into the final 100 people who get to go search for a bunch of gold coins and Lord willing we'll find it.

I have to go now, but I'll try to post some more on the way up to Virginia now that I have a mobile wireless thang on the lap top.

Talk to Ya'll later,

~Mike.

Bluegrass (sort of)

2007-04-05T17:35:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FLGmRk-I3s

They are actually singing in English believe it or not.

I think their real good.

Discrimination, 19th Century Style

2007-04-03T21:59:00.000-04:00

The following was a real ad in a newspaper of the past.

No red-headed kids, please.

I'm a dacint boy, just landed from the town of Ballyfad;

I want a situation: yis, I want it mighty bad.

I saw a place advartised. It's the thing for me, says I;

But the dirty spalpeen ended with: No Irish need apply.

Whoo! says I; but that's an insult though to get the place I'll try.

So, I wint to see the blaggar with: No Irish need apply.

I started off to find the house, I got it mighty soon;

There I found the ould chap saited: he was reading the TRIBUNE.

I tould him what I came for, whin he in a rage did fly:

No! says he, you are a Paddy, and no Irish need apply!

Thin I felt my dandher rising, and I'd like to black his eye

To tell an Irish Gintleman: No Irish need apply!

I couldn't stand it longer: so, a hoult of him I took,

And I gave him such a welting as he'd get at Donnybrook.

He hollered: Millia murther! and to get away did try,

And swore he'd never write again: No Irish need apply.

He made a big apology; I bid him thin good-bye,

Saying: Whin next you want abating, add: No Irish need apply!

Sure, I've heard that in America it always is the plan

That an Irishman is just as good as any other man;

A home and hospitality they never will deny

The stranger here, or ever say: No Irish need apply.

But some black sheep are in the flock: a dirty lot, say I;

A dacint man will never write: No Irish need apply!

Sure, Paddy's heart is in his hand, as all the world does know,

His praties and his whiskey he will share with friend or foe;

His door is always open to the stranger passing by;

He never thinks of saying: None but Irish may apply.

And, in Columbia's history, his name is ranking high;

Thin, the take the knaves that write: No Irish need apply!

Ould Ireland on the battle-field a lasting fame has made;

We all have heard of Meagher's men, and Corcoran's brigade.

Though fools may flout and bigots rave, and fanatics may cry,

Yet when they want good fighting-men, the Irish may apply,

And when for freedom and the right they raise the battle-cry,

Then the Rebel ranks begin to think: No Irish need apply.

This two faced goverment of ours.

2007-03-21T13:50:00.000-04:00

Read this.
Soooo we can send in A.T.F. to attack a man, kill his wife and child, because he went to a church that the government didn't like, and sold a illegal gun (if the Constitution says there is such a thing) to an Agent (after the A.T.F. nagged him for weeks) but we can't do anything about this?

Oh yeah I forgot, the U.N. is gonna take care of this.

Has Iran forgot that AMERICA is the only country that has used the A-Bomb?
Have they also forgot that Israel is a country that is within striking range of them? that should scare most people.

But don't worry islam is a PEACEFUL religion,

Yeah right.

Troop Mobilization. March 3rd, 2007

2007-03-04T20:29:00.000-05:00

I took a couple of pictures of what me and my troop had to clean up after a tornado came through earlier this month .

Enjoy!

I am going to upload some more pictures this afternoon, including a couple of what the house above looked like on the inside, and maybe for the first time in history I'll upload a video onto my blog.

Semper Fi!

-Mike.

I have returned

2007-02-10T11:26:00.000-05:00

I am about to go squirrel hunting, so I figured I would add another patriotic speech before I go.
I will return.

I have returned.
By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil -- soil consecrated in the blood of our two peoples.
We have come, dedicated and committed, to the task of destroying every vestige of enemy control over your daily lives, and of restoring, upon a foundation of indestructible, strength, the liberties of your people.

At my side is your President, Sergio Osmena,
worthy successor of that great patriot, Manuel Quezon,
with members of his cabinet.
The seat of your government is now therefore firmly re- established on Philippine soil.
The hour of your redemption is here.
Your patriots have demonstrated an unswerving and resolute devotion to the principles of freedom that challenges the best that is written on the pages of human history.

I now call upon your supreme effort that the enemy may know from the temper of an aroused and outraged people within that he has a force there to contend with no less violent than is the force committed from without.
Rally to me.
Let the indomitable spirit of Bataan and Corregidor lead on.
As the lines of battle roll forward to bring you within the zone of operations,
rise and strike.

Strike at every favorable opportunity.
For your homes and hearths, strike!
For future generations of your sons and daughters, strike!
In the name of your sacred dead, strike!
Let no heart be faint.
Let every arm be steeled!
The guidance of divine God points the way.
Follow in His Name to the Holy Grail of righteous victory!

Douglas MacArthur

2007-02-08T22:05:00.000-05:00

I had an assignment the other day, which included writing an essay on Proverbs 6: 16-19, which is, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

I worked for about an hour on the essay but it just didn't sound right so out of desperation I wrote a poem so I could wind up my schooling for the rest of the day, but Mom liked it so much that she asked me to put it on my blog.

What I have gained by Arguing

I do not like to argue
but this much must I say
I do it on a regular basis
just about everyday

I argue about my room
About Livvy washing my clothes
But in the end all I get
Is a whap across the nose.

My twin sisters don’t like to argue
They just like to tattle tale
But when Emmy gets mad with me
My face turns awful pale

Arguing does not gain you much
If anything, the boot
And afterwards the other persons anger is acute

So I end this little poem
Full of fussing and of strife
To promise to live a less argumentative life.

Hey Ya'll!

2007-01-24T10:26:00.000-05:00

Well I had a good time, freezing to death, falling into thorn bushes, Finding a cemetery 100 yards from my campsite, Getting chased by a coyote, Okay it might not have been that bad, I did really have a good time.

Here are couple Pics from the Boy Scouts trip

Simper Fi!

(And a very late happy new year!)

It was on a dreary New Years day
when the shade of night came down,
a lorry load of volunteers approached the border town.
There were men from Dublin and from Cork,
Fermanagh and Tyrone,
But the leader was a Limerick man
Sean South of Garryowen.

And as they moved along the street
up to the barracks door ,
They scorned the danger the would meet
the fate that lay in store.
They were fighting for old Ireland
and for their very own,
And the foremost of this gallant band
was South of Garryowen.

But the Seargent spoiled their daring plans
he spied them through the door,
And with sten guns and with rifle
a hail of death did pour.
But before that awful night was past
two men lay cold as stone,
There was one from near the border
and one from Garryowen.

No more he'll hear the seagull cry
o'er the murmuring Shannon tide.
For he fell beneath a northern sky
brave O'Hanlon by his side.
They have gone to join that gallant band
of Plunkett Pearse and Tone,
Another martyr for old Ireland
Sean South of Garryowen.

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-19T13:56:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't posted lately, a stomach virus has been going through our family lately.

I'm going on a camping trip early next month so I ought to have more to post about Later on.

In other news, Cabelas has decided to put a store in Georgia, woohoo!

THE LINKS WORKETH!

2006-11-28T21:33:00.000-05:00

Sorry it took so long.

Ah well better late then never.

People Eatin' Tasty Animal's

2006-11-20T11:42:00.000-05:00

Which is what these people are not doing.

What is their problem?

They serve the creation over the creator, and if we don't do as they do they scream murder.

I have cousins in Canada, so I get a lot of very interesting info when they come down for a visit around the Holydays, once I made a remarks about how commercial fishing had gotten so far in the last couple of decades, to which my uncle said not in Canada, why? Because one of the first things PETA did was make all of the people who live way up in Nova Scotia (where all the cod is) quit killing seals (which kept the population down, which in turn produced healthy sized schools of cod and herring). So what happened when the seal population skyrocket? No fish, a bunch of people out of jobs and one of the biggest sources of income for Canada gone.

But its worth it right? I mean now we have a bunch of "cute", smelly, mean, seals!

With our nets and gear we're faring
On the wild and wasteful ocean.
Its there that we hunt and we earn our bread
As we hunt for the shoals of herring

O it was a fine and a pleasant day
Out of Yarmouth harbor I was faring
As a cabinboy on a sailing lugger
For to go and hunt the shoals of herring

O the work was hard and the hours long
And the treatment, sure it took some bearing
There was little kindness and the kicks were many
As we hunted for the shoals of herring

O we fished the Swarth and the Broken Bank
I was cook and I'd a quarter sharing
And I used to sleep standing on my feet
And I'd dream about the shoals of herring

O we left the homegrounds in the month of June
And to Canny Shiels we soon were bearing
With a hundred cran of silver darlings
That we'd taken from the shoals of herring

Now you're up on deck, you're a fisherman
So stand up and show a manly bearing
Take your turn on watch with the other fellows
While you're searching for the shoals of herring

O I earned my keep and I paid my way
And I earned the gear that I was wearing
Sailed a million miles, caught ten million fishes
We were sailing after shoals of herring.

The early bird catches the worm

2006-11-11T22:00:00.000-05:00

Or in this case the short shower paid off.

Yup, I went hunting this morning and shot my first buck.

Here I am with my friend Josh (I was actually in his old deerstand), and ol Betsy (my Mossberg 12 ga.)

Not to be outdone, Josh called a second ago and told me he had shot an 8 pointer (which just happened to have 10 inch tines), but I'm still thankful for my 6 pointer.

Double-ought Buck tends to have a fairly wide spread, so he was hit about seven times, even though I was about 34 yards from him.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

America Under Judgement...a woman will rule

2006-11-08T14:05:00.000-05:00

When apples still grow in November, when blossom remains on each tree,
When leaves are still green in December - it's then that our land will be free.
I wander her hills and her valleys and still to my sorrow I see,
A land that once knew freedom, now Only Her Rivers Run Free.

I drink to the death of her manhood, to those men who would rather have died,
Than to live in the cold chains of bondage, to bring back the rights we're denied.
Oh! Where are you now when we need you?, what burns where the flame used to be ?
Are you gone like the snow of last winter? And will Only Our Rivers Run Free?

How sweet is life but we're crying, how plentiful the water yet we're dry,
How fragrant the rose but it's dying, how gentle the wind yet it sighs.
What good is in youth when you're ageing, what joy is in eyes that can't see
That there is sorrow in sunshine and flowers
If only our Rivers run free.............

In God we're let loose from our bondage, through Him, heaven's glory we see,
Because he sent his son Jesus, Who died for you and for me,
And yet so many reject him, they think they need no mercy,
one day soon they will surely find out, Who made the rivers run free.

When apples still grow in November, when blossom remains on each tree,
When leaves are still green in December - it's then that our land will be free.
I wander her hills and her valleys and still to my sorrow I see,
A land that has never known freedom, where Only Her Rivers Run Free.

2006-11-08T09:36:00.000-05:00

Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the flowers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the flowers gone?
They've all faded every one

Where have all the young men gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the young men gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the young men gone?
Grown to soldiers every one

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one

Where have all the Marxists gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the Marxists gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the Marxists gone?
Gone to Congress, every one.
When will we ever learn?

When will we ever learn?

Raise up your child in the way he should go.

2006-10-28T14:31:00.000-04:00

Which is what this grandma should be doing, before it is to late.

What about when he turns 16? What will he be doing then?

Westward Ho!

2006-10-17T22:26:00.000-04:00

tomorrow at 4:00 We will be on our way to Texas and the SAICFF!

Due to the very long nature of the journey there and back I might not be able to blog for a couple days, but when I get back the first thing I'm going to do is fix my links, which were deleted the other day by accident.

If Ya'll want to read about the SAICFF head over to the Rebelution at www.therebelution.com.

Semper Fi!

Rites of Military Service Denied Confederate soldiers in Virginia

2006-10-09T21:32:00.000-04:00

It is with deep regret and sadness, that I must announce the decision of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, located at 1214 Wilmer Avenue in Richmond, Virginia 23227, has ruled that the rites of military honors may not be rendered at the grave site of two Confederate Soldiers who are buried in the church cemetery. The planned grave marker dedication and memorial service, which was to include a chaplain, uniformed color guard, and uniformed honor guard. The Rector of the Emmanuel Church has decided that no Confederate Flags, Confederate uniforms, or military honors by a uniformed rifle squad, will be allowed at the grave marking dedication of Pvts. George Fitzhugh Vass and Townshend Dade Vass. These soldiers were two of three brothers who served in Company H 4th Virginia Cavalry, the famous "Black Horse Troop", and were both killed in action on the same day two years apart. They were buried, one atop the other, by their surviving older brother, Pvt. James Vass.

Up to now, the Emmanuel Episcopal Church had enjoyed a rich Confederate History. During the War Between the States, the church acted as a Confederate Hospital, and provided grave plots and funeral services for the Confederate dead who were brought to the church. The Confederate section of the church cemetery has always been maintained in a loving and caring manner. The Rector of the church in those days was the Reverend Richard Hooker Wilmer, who was the only bishop to be consecrated by the Protestant Episcopal Church of the Confederate States of America.

The Rector of the present day church, Reverend John R. West Jr., is supported in his decision by the elected vestry of the church and by the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia. When asked if the policy of denial of the rites of military honors was uniform and evenly applied to soldiers of the Confederate States of America and Soldiers of the Armed Forces of the United States, Rev. West replied that he would make those decisions on a case by case basis.

To my knowledge, this will be the first time in the history of the United States that a church has denied the universal rites of military honors to be rendered at the grave of an American Soldier.

It is hoped that respectful letters of protest regarding this decision, which is supported by the Bishop of Virginia, may influence future decisions of this kind.

The addresses of the gentlemen who have made this decision are:

Rev. John Richard West Jr.Rector of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church1214 Wilmer AvenueRichmond, Virginia 23227Email: FrJohn.West@verizon.net

Rt. Rev. Peter James LeeBishop of the Diocese of Virginia110 West Franklin StreetRichmond, Virginia 23220Email: Pjlee@thediocese.net

Ironically, President Jefferson Davis, Gen. Robert E. Lee, and most of the Virginia Soldiers who came to the defense of their country during the War of Northern Aggression, were Episcopalians by faith.

Respectfully Submitted,

John Henry TaylorCommanderGen. Robert E. Lee Camp # 1589Sons of Confederate Veterans Midlothian, Virginia

I'll be bloggin' again.

2006-09-30T19:10:00.000-04:00

I've been purdy busy lately, I'll probably post again Saturday night.

Bailing Hay.

2006-09-22T19:19:00.000-04:00

Me and Dad went to help Mr. Kendrick today, He's a real good friend of ours,
anyway he had a great big ol' field to bail today, and right as we got there his hydraulic pump burst.
Needless to say he weren't to happy, the bailer (which he says will set a preacher to cussin',) is about as old as my Dad, and the only way to get the field done today before it rained was to buy a bunch of hydraulic oil and load er' up.

One small problem, the nearest place to buy the type of oil we neede was about 30 minutes away, and the rain was only two hours and a half away.
only one thang to do, Dad was gonna have to go get the oil, while I used the hay raker.
I have never been on one of them things in all my life other than riding on them, but I glad that I was able to hold out till Dad got back with the oil.

It might be awhile till I can post again, my arms are sunburned so bad, they're as red as my hair.

I took this picture of my Redbone when I was 12, figured Ya'll would like it.

Iwo reenactment.

2006-09-19T20:53:00.000-04:00

This is my other entry to win a camera in the "Capture the Educational Moment" Contest sponsored by Spunky and Academic Superstore.

Free Canon camera.

2006-09-19T20:40:00.000-04:00

This is my entry to win a camera in the "Capture the Educational Moment" Contest sponsored by Spunky and Academic Superstore.

I got this pic taken of me and my friend Samuel at the 2005 Georgia Homeschool Convention it was my first year being a teacher, but I think I was the one who learned the most.

Ya that sounded a little corny, but hey, if I win I get a $300 camera.

Beware the wrath of the Saracens.

2006-09-18T14:08:00.000-04:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060918/ap_on_re_mi_ea/muslims_pope_5

I really hate how these guys can dish it out but sure can't take it.

If only the Pope would call for another Crusade, then maybe they would hush-up.

The death of Stevo.

2006-09-04T14:52:00.001-04:00

This morning I heard of the death of Steve Irwin (Age 44).

May this remind us of how fragile life is,
that no man is invincible.

I hope that he was ready to meet his Maker.

Once a jolly swagman sat beside the billabong,
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Waltzing matilda,
waltzing matilda
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Down came a jumbuck to drink beside the billabong
Up jumped the swagman and seized him with glee
And he sang as he tucked jumbuck in his tuckerbag
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me

Waltzing matilda,
waltzing matilda
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Down came the stockman,
riding on his thoroughbred,
Down came the troopers, one, two, three.
"Where's the jolly jumbuck you've got in your tuckerbag?
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me

Waltzing matilda,
waltzing matilda
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me
And he sang as he sat and waited by the billabong
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Up jumped the swagman and plunged into the billabong,"
You'll never catch me alive," cried he
And his ghost may be heard as you ride beside the billabong,
You'll come a waltzing matilda with me.

Be Ye Men of Valour

2006-08-31T12:16:00.000-04:00

May 19, 1940, London.

"Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar."

This call and spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice was quoted by Churchill in his first broadcast as Prime Minister to the British people on the BBC .

Churchillian Speaches, Part Three.

2006-08-31T11:19:00.000-04:00

June 4, 1940
House of Commons

The position of the B. E.F had now become critical As a result of a most skillfully conducted retreat and German errors, the bulk of the British Forces reached the Dunkirk bridgehead. The peril facing the British nation was now suddenly and universally perceived. On May 26, "Operation Dynamo "--the evacuation from Dunkirk began. The seas remained absolutely calm. The Royal Air Force--bitterly maligned at the time by the Army--fought vehemently to deny the enemy the total air supremacy which would have wrecked the operation. At the outset, it was hoped that 45,000 men might be evacuated; in the event, over 338,000 Allied troops reached England, including 26,000 French soldiers. On June 4, Churchill reported to the House of Commons, seeking to check the mood of national euphoria and relief at the unexpected deliverance, and to make a clear appeal to the United States.

From the moment that the French defenses at Sedan and on the Meuse were broken at the end of the second week of May, only a rapid retreat to Amiens and the south could have saved the British and French Armies who had entered Belgium at the appeal of the Belgian King; but this strategic fact was not immediately realized. The French High Command hoped they would be able to close the gap, and the Armies of the north were under their orders. Moreover, a retirement of this kind would have involved almost certainly the destruction of the fine Belgian Army of over 20 divisions and the abandonment of the whole of Belgium. Therefore, when the force and scope of the German penetration were realized and when a new French Generalissimo, General Weygand, assumed command in place of General Gamelin, an effort was made by the French and British Armies in Belgium to keep on holding the right hand of the Belgians and to give their own right hand to a newly created French Army which was to have advanced across the Somme in great strength to grasp it.

However, the German eruption swept like a sharp scythe around the right and rear of the Armies of the north. Eight or nine armored divisions, each of about four hundred armored vehicles of different kinds, but carefully assorted to be complementary and divisible into small self-contained units, cut off all communications between us and the main French Armies. It severed our own communications for food and ammunition, which ran first to Amiens and afterwards through Abbeville, and it shore its way up the coast to Boulogne and Calais, and almost to Dunkirk. Behind this armored and mechanized onslaught came a number of German divisions in lorries, and behind them again there plodded comparatively slowly the dull brute mass of the ordinary German Army and German people, always so ready to be led to the trampling down in other lands of liberties and comforts which they have never known in their own.

I have said this armored scythe-stroke almost reached Dunkirk-almost but not quite. Boulogne and Calais were the scenes of desperate fighting. The Guards defended Boulogne for a while and were then withdrawn by orders from this country. The Rifle Brigade, the 60th Rifles, and the Queen Victoria's Rifles, with a battalion of British tanks and 1,000 Frenchmen, in all about four thousand strong, defended Calais to the last. The British Brigadier was given an hour to surrender. He spurned the offer, and four days of intense street fighting passed before silence reigned over Calais, which marked the end of a memorable resistance. Only 30 unwounded survivors were brought off by the Navy, and we do not know the fate of their comrades. Their sacrifice, however, was not in vain. At least two armored divisions, which otherwise would have been turned against the British Expeditionary Force, had to be sent to overcome them. They have added another page to the glories of the light divisions, and the time gained enabled the Graveline water lines to be flooded and to be held by the French troops.

Thus it was that the port of Dunkirk was kept open. When it was found impossible for the Armies of the north to reopen their communications to Amiens with the main French Armies, only one choice remained. It seemed, indeed, forlorn. The Belgian, British and French Armies were almost surrounded. Their sole line of retreat was to a single port and to its neighboring beaches. They were pressed on every side by heavy attacks and far outnumbered in the air.

When, a week ago today, I asked the House to fix this afternoon as the occasion for a statement, I feared it would be my hard lot to announce the greatest military disaster in our long history. I thought-and some good judges agreed with me-that perhaps 20,000 or 30,000 men might be re-embarked. But it certainly seemed that the whole of the French First Army and the whole of the British Expeditionary Force north of the Amiens-Abbeville gap would be broken up in the open field or else would have to capitulate for lack of food and ammunition. These were the hard and heavy tidings for which I called upon the House and the nation to prepare themselves a week ago. The whole root and core and brain of the British Army, on which and around which we were to build, and are to build, the great British Armies in the later years of the war, seemed about to perish upon the field or to be led into an ignominious and starving captivity.

That was the prospect a week ago. But another blow which might well have proved final was yet to fall upon us. The King of the Belgians had called upon us to come to his aid. Had not this Ruler and his Government severed themselves from the Allies, who rescued their country from extinction in the late war, and had they not sought refuge in what was proved to be a fatal neutrality, the French and British Armies might well at the outset have saved not only Belgium but perhaps even Poland. Yet at the last moment, when Belgium was already invaded, King Leopold called upon us to come to his aid, and even at the last moment we came. He and his brave, efficient Army, nearly half a million strong, guarded our left flank and thus kept open our only line of retreat to the sea. Suddenly, without prior consultation, with the least possible notice, without the advice of his Ministers and upon his own personal act, he sent a plenipotentiary to the German Command, surrendered his Army, and exposed our whole flank and means of retreat.

I asked the House a week ago to suspend its judgment because the facts were not clear, but I do not feel that any reason now exists why we should not form our own opinions upon this pitiful episode. The surrender of the Belgian Army compelled the British at the shortest notice to cover a flank to the sea more than 30 miles in length. Otherwise all would have been cut off, and all would have shared the fate to which King Leopold had condemned the finest Army his country had ever formed. So in doing this and in exposing this flank, as anyone who followed the operations on the map will see, contact was lost between the British and two out of the three corps forming the First French Army, who were still farther from the coast than we were, and it seemed impossible that any large number of Allied troops could reach the coast.

The enemy attacked on all sides with great strength and fierceness, and their main power, the power of their far more numerous Air Force, was thrown into the battle or else concentrated upon Dunkirk and the beaches. Pressing in upon the narrow exit, both from the east and from the west, the enemy began to fire with cannon upon the beaches by which alone the shipping could approach or depart. They sowed magnetic mines in the channels and seas; they sent repeated waves of hostile aircraft, sometimes more than a hundred strong in one formation, to cast their bombs upon the single pier that remained, and upon the sand dunes upon which the troops had their eyes for shelter. Their U-boats, one of which was sunk, and their motor launches took their toll of the vast traffic which now began. For four or five days an intense struggle reigned. All their armored divisions-or what Was left of them-together with great masses of infantry and artillery, hurled themselves in vain upon the ever-narrowing, ever-contracting appendix within which the British and French Armies fought.

Meanwhile, the Royal Navy, with the willing help of countless merchant seamen, strained every nerve to embark the British and Allied troops; 220 light warships and 650 other vessels were engaged. They had to operate upon the difficult coast, often in adverse weather, under an almost ceaseless hail of bombs and an increasing concentration of artillery fire. Nor were the seas, as I have said, themselves free from mines and torpedoes. It was in conditions such as these that our men carried on, with little or no rest, for days and nights on end, making trip after trip across the dangerous waters, bringing with them always men whom they had rescued. The numbers they have brought back are the measure of their devotion and their courage. The hospital ships, which brought off many thousands of British and French wounded, being so plainly marked were a special target for Nazi bombs; but the men and women on board them never faltered in their duty.

Meanwhile, the Royal Air Force, which had already been intervening in the battle, so far as its range would allow, from home bases, now used part of its main metropolitan fighter strength, and struck at the German bombers and at the fighters which in large numbers protected them. This struggle was protracted and fierce. Suddenly the scene has cleared, the crash and thunder has for the moment-but only for the moment-died away. A miracle of deliverance, achieved by valor, by perseverance, by perfect discipline, by faultless service, by resource, by skill, by unconquerable fidelity, is manifest to us all. The enemy was hurled back by the retreating British and French troops. He was so roughly handled that he did not hurry their departure seriously. The Royal Air Force engaged the main strength of the German Air Force, and inflicted upon them losses of at least four to one; and the Navy, using nearly 1,000 ships of all kinds, carried over 335,000 men, French and British, out of the jaws of death and shame, to their native land and to the tasks which lie immediately ahead. We must be very careful not to assign to this deliverance the attributes of a victory. Wars are not won by evacuations. But there was a victory inside this deliverance, which should be noted. It was gained by the Air Force. Many of our soldiers coming back have not seen the Air Force at work; they saw only the bombers which escaped its protective attack. They underrate its achievements. I have heard much talk of this; that is why I go out of my way to say this. I will tell you about it.

This was a great trial of strength between the British and German Air Forces. Can you conceive a greater objective for the Germans in the air than to make evacuation from these beaches impossible, and to sink all these ships which were displayed, almost to the extent of thousands? Could there have been an objective of greater military importance and significance for the whole purpose of the war than this? They tried hard, and they were beaten back; they were frustrated in their task. We got the Army away; and they have paid fourfold for any losses which they have inflicted. Very large formations of German aeroplanes-and we know that they are a very brave race-have turned on several occasions from the attack of one-quarter of their number of the Royal Air Force, and have dispersed in different directions. Twelve aeroplanes have been hunted by two. One aeroplane was driven into the water and cast away by the mere charge of a British aeroplane, which had no more ammunition. All of our types-the Hurricane, the Spitfire and the new Defiant-and all our pilots have been vindicated as superior to what they have at present to face.

When we consider how much greater would be our advantage in defending the air above this Island against an overseas attack, I must say that I find in these facts a sure basis upon which practical and reassuring thoughts may rest. I will pay my tribute to these young airmen. The great French Army was very largely, for the time being, cast back and disturbed by the onrush of a few thousands of armored vehicles. May it not also be that the cause of civilization itself will be defended by the skill and devotion of a few thousand airmen? There never has been, I suppose, in all the world, in all the history of war, such an opportunity for youth. The Knights of the Round Table, the Crusaders, all fall back into the past-not only distant but prosaic; these young men, going forth every morn to guard their native land and all that we stand for, holding in their hands these instruments of colossal and shattering power, of whom it may be said that

Every morn brought forth a noble chance And every chance brought forth a noble knight,

deserve our gratitude, as do all the brave men who, in so many ways and on so many occasions, are ready, and continue ready to give life and all for their native land.

I return to the Army. In the long series of very fierce battles, now on this front, now on that, fighting on three fronts at once, battles fought by two or three divisions against an equal or somewhat larger number of the enemy, and fought fiercely on some of the old grounds that so many of us knew so well-in these battles our losses in men have exceeded 30,000 killed, wounded and missing. I take occasion to express the sympathy of the House to all who have suffered bereavement or who are still anxious. The President of the Board of Trade [Sir Andrew Duncan] is not here today. His son has been killed, and many in the House have felt the pangs of affliction in the sharpest form. But I will say this about the missing: We have had a large number of wounded come home safely to this country, but I would say about the missing that there may be very many reported missing who will come back home, some day, in one way or another. In the confusion of this fight it is inevitable that many have been left in positions where honor required no further resistance from them.

Against this loss of over 30,000 men, we can set a far heavier loss certainly inflicted upon the enemy. But our losses in material are enormous. We have perhaps lost one-third of the men we lost in the opening days of the battle of 21st March, 1918, but we have lost nearly as many guns -- nearly one thousand-and all our transport, all the armored vehicles that were with the Army in the north. This loss will impose a further delay on the expansion of our military strength. That expansion had not been proceeding as far as we had hoped. The best of all we had to give had gone to the British Expeditionary Force, and although they had not the numbers of tanks and some articles of equipment which were desirable, they were a very well and finely equipped Army. They had the first-fruits of all that our industry had to give, and that is gone. And now here is this further delay. How long it will be, how long it will last, depends upon the exertions which we make in this Island. An effort the like of which has never been seen in our records is now being made. Work is proceeding everywhere, night and day, Sundays and week days. Capital and Labor have cast aside their interests, rights, and customs and put them into the common stock. Already the flow of munitions has leaped forward. There is no reason why we should not in a few months overtake the sudden and serious loss that has come upon us, without retarding the development of our general program.

Nevertheless, our thankfulness at the escape of our Army and so many men, whose loved ones have passed through an agonizing week, must not blind us to the fact that what has happened in France and Belgium is a colossal military disaster. The French Army has been weakened, the Belgian Army has been lost, a large part of those fortified lines upon which so much faith had been reposed is gone, many valuable mining districts and factories have passed into the enemy's possession, the whole of the Channel ports are in his hands, with all the tragic consequences that follow from that, and we must expect another blow to be struck almost immediately at us or at France. We are told that Herr Hitler has a plan for invading the British Isles. This has often been thought of before. When Napoleon lay at Boulogne for a year with his flat-bottomed boats and his Grand Army, he was told by someone. "There are bitter weeds in England." There are certainly a great many more of them since the British Expeditionary Force returned.

The whole question of home defense against invasion is, of course, powerfully affected by the fact that we have for the time being in this Island incomparably more powerful military forces than we have ever had at any moment in this war or the last. But this will not continue. We shall not be content with a defensive war. We have our duty to our Ally. We have to reconstitute and build up the British Expeditionary Force once again, under its gallant Commander-in-Chief, Lord Gort. All this is in train; but in the interval we must put our defenses in this Island into such a high state of organization that the fewest possible numbers will be required to give effective security and that the largest possible potential of offensive effort may be realized. On this we are now engaged. It will be very convenient, if it be the desire of the House, to enter upon this subject in a secret Session. Not that the government would necessarily be able to reveal in very great detail military secrets, but we like to have our discussions free, without the restraint imposed by the fact that they will be read the next day by the enemy; and the Government would benefit by views freely expressed in all parts of the House by Members with their knowledge of so many different parts of the country. I understand that some request is to be made upon this subject, which will be readily acceded to by His Majesty's Government.

We have found it necessary to take measures of increasing stringency, not only against enemy aliens and suspicious characters of other nationalities, but also against British subjects who may become a danger or a nuisance should the war be transported to the United Kingdom. I know there are a great many people affected by the orders which we have made who are the passionate enemies of Nazi Germany. I am very sorry for them, but we cannot, at the present time and under the present stress, draw all the distinctions which we should like to do. If parachute landings were attempted and fierce fighting attendant upon them followed, these unfortunate people would be far better out of the way, for their own sakes as well as for ours. There is, however, another class, for which I feel not the slightest sympathy. Parliament has given us the powers to put down Fifth Column activities with a strong hand, and we shall use those powers subject to the supervision and correction of the House, without the slightest hesitation until we are satisfied, and more than satisfied, that this malignancy in our midst has been effectively stamped out.

Turning once again, and this time more generally, to the question of invasion, I would observe that there has never been a period in all these long centuries of which we boast when an absolute guarantee against invasion, still less against serious raids, could have been given to our people. In the days of Napoleon the same wind which would have carried his transports across the Channel might have driven away the blockading fleet. There was always the chance, and it is that chance which has excited and befooled the imaginations of many Continental tyrants. Many are the tales that are told. We are assured that novel methods will be adopted, and when we see the originality of malice, the ingenuity of aggression, which our enemy displays, we may certainly prepare ourselves for every kind of novel stratagem and every kind of brutal and treacherous maneuver. I think that no idea is so outlandish that it should not be considered and viewed with a searching, but at the same time, I hope, with a steady eye. We must never forget the solid assurances of sea power and those which belong to air power if it can be locally exercised.

I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our Island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to outlive the menace of tyranny, if necessary for years, if necessary alone. At any rate, that is what we are going to try to do. That is the resolve of His Majesty's Government-every man of them. That is the will of Parliament and the nation. The British Empire and the French Republic, linked together in their cause and in their need, will defend to the death their native soil, aiding each other like good comrades to the utmost of their strength. Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous States have fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old.

Churchillian Speaches, Part Two.

2006-08-30T11:39:00.000-04:00

First Speech as Prime Minister

May 13, 1940 to House of Commons

On May 10, 1940, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.
When he met his Cabinet on May 13 he told them that "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

He repeated that phrase later in the day when he asked the House of Commons for a vote of confidence in his new all-party government.
The response of Labour was heart-warming; the Conservative reaction was luke-warm. They still really wanted Neville Chamberlain. For the first time, the people had hope but Churchill commented to General Ismay: "Poor people, poor people. They trust me, and I can give them nothing but disaster for quite a long time."
I beg to move,
That this House welcomes the formation of a Government representing the united and inflexible resolve of the nation to prosecute the war with Germany to a victorious conclusion.

On Friday evening last I received His Majesty's commission to form a new Administration. It as the evident wish and will of Parliament and the nation that this should be conceived on the broadest possible basis and that it should include all parties, both those who supported the late Government and also the parties of the Opposition. I have completed the most important part of this task.

A War Cabinet has been formed of five Members, representing, with the Opposition Liberals, the unity of the nation. The three party Leaders have agreed to serve, either in the War Cabinet or in high executive office. The three Fighting Services have been filled. It was necessary that this should be done in one single day, on account of the extreme urgency and rigour of events.

A number of other positions, key positions, were filled yesterday, and I am submitting a further list to His Majesty to-night. I hope to complete the appointment of the principal Ministers during to-morrow. the appointment of the other Ministers usually takes a little longer, but I trust that, when Parliament meets again, this part of my task will be completed, and that the administration will be complete in all respects.
I considered it in the public interest to suggest that the House should be summoned to meet today. Mr. Speaker agreed, and took the necessary steps, in accordance with the powers conferred upon him by the Resolution of the House. At the end of the proceedings today, the Adjournment of the House will be proposed until Tuesday, 21st May, with, of course, provision for earlier meeting, if need be. The business to be considered during that week will be notified to Members at the earliest opportunity. I now invite the House, by the Motion which stands in my name, to record its approval of the steps taken and to declare its confidence in the new Government.

To form an Administration of this scale and complexity is a serious undertaking in itself, but it must be remembered that we are in the preliminary stage of one of the greatest battles in history, that we are in action at many other points in Norway and in Holland, that we have to be prepared in the Mediterranean, that the air battle is continuous and that many preparations, such as have been indicated by my hon. Friend below the Gangway, have to be made here at home.

In this crisis I hope I may be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today. I hope that any of my friends and colleagues, or former colleagues, who are affected by the political reconstruction, will make allowance, all allowance, for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act. I would say to the House, as I said to those who have joined this government: "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat."

We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many long months of struggle and of suffering. You ask, what is our policy? I can say: It is to wage war, by sea, land and air, with all our might and with all the strength that God can give us; to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.
You ask, what is our aim? I can answer in one word: It is victory, victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory, there is no survival. Let that be realised; no survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge and impulse of the ages, that mankind will move forward towards its goal. But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope.

I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, "come then, let us go forward together with our united strength."

Churchillian Speaches, Part One.

2006-08-29T10:04:00.000-04:00

October 29, 1941 Harrow School

When Churchill visited Harrow on October 29 to hear the traditional songs again, he discovered that an additional verse had been added to one of them. It ran:

"Not less we praise in darker days The leader of our nation, And Churchill's name shall win acclaim From each new generation.For you have power in danger's hour Our freedom to defend, Sir! Though long the fight we know that right Will triumph in the end, Sir!

Almost a year has passed since I came down here at your Head Master's kind invitation in order to cheer myself and cheer the hearts of a few of my friends by singing some of our own songs.

The ten months that have passed have seen very terrible catastrophic events in the world - ups and downs, misfortunes - but can anyone sitting here this afternoon, this October afternoon, not feel deeply thankful for what has happened in the time that has passed and for the very great improvement in the position of our country and of our home?
Why, when I was here last time we were quite alone, desperately alone, and we had been so for five or six months. We were poorly armed. We are not so poorly armed today; but then we were very poorly armed.

We had the unmeasured menace of the enemy and their air attack still beating upon us, and you yourselves had had experience of this attack; and I expect you are beginning to feel impatient that there has been this long lull with nothing particular turning up!

But we must learn to be equally good at what is short and sharp and what is long and tough. It is generally said that the British are often better at the last.
They do not expect to move from crisis to crisis; they do not always expect that each day will bring up some noble chance of war; but when they very slowly make up their minds that the thing has to be done and the job put through and finished, then, even if it takes months - if it takes years - they do it.
Another lesson I think we may take, just throwing our minds back to our meeting here ten months ago and now, is that appearances are often very deceptive, and as Kipling well says, we must "…meet with Triumph and Disaster. And treat those two impostors just the same."
You cannot tell from appearances how things will go. Sometimes imagination makes things out far worse than they are; yet without imagination not much can be done. Those people who are imaginative see many more dangers than perhaps exist; certainly many more than will happen; but then they must also pray to be given that extra courage to carry this far-reaching imagination. But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period - I am addressing myself to the School - surely from this period of ten months this is the lesson: never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.
Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. We stood all alone a year ago, and to many countries it seemed that our account was closed, we were finished. All this tradition of ours, our songs, our School history, this part of the history of this country, were gone and finished and liquidated.
Very different is the mood today. Britain, other nations thought, had drawn a sponge across her slate. But instead our country stood in the gap. There was no flinching and no thought of giving in; and by what seemed almost a miracle to those outside these Islands, though we ourselves never doubted it, we now find ourselves in a position where I say that we can be sure that we have only to persevere to conquer.
You sang here a verse of a School Song: you sang that extra verse written in my honour, which I was very greatly complimented by and which you have repeated today. But there is one word in it I want to alter - I wanted to do so last year, but I did not venture to. It is the line: "Not less we praise in darker days."
I have obtained the Head Master's permission to alter darker to sterner. "Not less we praise in sterner days."
Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days - the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race.

Why I'm not a duck hunter.

2006-08-21T21:36:00.000-04:00

I always knew there was something fishy about duck hunting.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060731-bird-flu.html

The day the Bobcat went bizerk

2006-08-16T21:57:00.000-04:00

Last year, sometime in August,
Dad had some people over looking at his model-H Farmall.

While he was visiting with the older gentleman interested in buying it,
we heard the chickens start cackling and screaming,
fearing that my hound, (who was expecting puppies then and as slow as a slug)
was attempting to catch an old hen, I turned around and ran.

Just as I got to the coop I saw a hulk of a animal walking into the woods.
Turning around I saw my hound, and all of the other dogs,
staring at me like I was crazy.

I realized I had just witnessed a hit and run, bobcat style.

After throwing off my over-shirt in the doorway and grabbing my 22LR,
I ran out the backdoor,

No luck.

The culprit had already vanished into the woods,
and I wasn't about to go in there with him.

That December, me and Dad went deer hunting,
we had just bought a new bleat call that I was wielding.

As I preparing to blow on it for one of the first times
I decided to pray for God's Blessing on it, which I did.
After blowing it and waiting a moment, I heard a crashing in the woods next to us,
Dad told me to shoot it as soon as it came into sight.

What came into sight was 47 pounds of trouble, complete with tufted ears.

Dad looked fairly surprised, but gave me the nod anyway.

Looking down the sights I set right between the eyes and pulled the trigger.

CRACK! Nothing.

The Bobcat looked at me and then at Dad, I re-bolted, aimed, and just as I pulled the trigger,

BOOM!!!! Dad slugged him.

I close with a quote from The Ghost and the Darkness:

If you want to see the lions now, you will have to go to America.
Even now if you dare lock eyes with him, you will be afraid.

2006-08-15T22:12:00.000-04:00

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead.

Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved, and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch, be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow...

In Flanders fields.

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row...

We should never forget what happend on the date of 9/11.

The Alamo.

2006-08-09T16:20:00.000-04:00

The Alamo.
The symbol of Courage, Manliness and Bravery... Not anymore.

Now we have movies that portray Davy Crockett as a woman beater, James Bowie as a slave trader (both are untrue.) They have been liberalized, their memory desecrated, they have been made out to be 'phonies'' as in the book Catcher in the Rye, (I discourage even researching this book).

Why? Why do this to these men, without whom there would be no Texas, and maybe, no western states?
Without a firm foothold in the west, the Mexican
army would have found it fairly easy to take over
the newly acquired Louisiana purchase.

Then why demonize them?
Because they feel guilty in the presence of such men,
even their very names cause them to feel inferior.

These great men who fought and died for a cause,
strikes fear in their communist hearts,
the fear is 'could it happen again?'

Could men fight and die for freedom
again if they thought that their country
was being usurped?

They forget that in the
Declaration of Independence,
there is a line that goes:

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evidences 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. "

The social revolution would be overthrown,
and their view of freedom(licentiousness) would be gone.

This is all supposing that there was a new social take-over,
We must remember that all Liberty is a gift of God and (though I hate
quoting from Tolkien) ''Is worth fighting for''.
This can only be understood through the lens of righteousness.
Sadly we no longer deserve the freedom's that our fore-fathers bought for us.
We have foolishly squandered them. May the Almighty redeem us from our
enemies as He did Israel, for His name's sake. May He give us warrior's hearts
so that we, like Caleb, will say
'Let us go up at once, and possess it;for we are well able to overcome it.'

Now to a personal update.
We changed hotels, because Gabe
had an allergic reaction to something at the La Quinta,
(or so we thought)
and we are now at the Sheraton Gunter.

I close with (it happens to be a Marty Robbins song) the ballad of the Alamo

In the southern part of Texas, in the town of San Antone,
There's a fortress all in ruins that the weeds have overgrown,
You may look in vain for crosses and you'll never see a one,
but sometimes between the setting and the rising of the sun ,

You can hear a ghostly bugle as the men go marching by,
You can hear them as they answer to that roll call in the sky,
olonel Travis, Davy Crockett and a hundred eighty more,
Captain Dickinson, Jim Bowie, present and accounted for.

Back in eighteen thirty-six - Houston said to Travis
"Get some volunteers and go - fortify the Alamo"
Well, the men came from Texas and from old Tennessee
And they joined up with Travis - just to fight for the right to be free ...
Indian scouts with squirrel guns, men with muzzle loaders
Stood together heel and toe to defend the Alamo.

"You may ne'er see your loved ones" Travis told them that day,
"Those that want to can leave now, those that fight to the death let 'em stay.
"In the sand he drew a line with his Army saber,
Out of a hundred eighty five not a soldier crossed the line .

With his banners a-dancin' in the dawn's golden light
Santa Anna came prancin' on a horse that was black as the night ...
Sent an officer to tell - Travis to surrender,
Travis answered with a shout and a rousin' rebel yell.

Santa Anna turned scarlet, "Play [*Deguello]", he roared
"I will show them no quarter, everyone will be put to the sword"

One hundred and eighty five, holdin' back five thousand,
Five days, six days, eight days - ten;
Travis held and held again.

Then he sent for replacements for his wounded and lame,
But the troops that were comin' never came, never came, never came ...
Twice he charged them to recall - on the fatal third time Santa Anna breached the wall
and he killed them one and all.

Now the bugles are silent and there's rust on each sword
And the small band of soldiers ... lie asleep in the arms of the Lord ...

In the southern part of Texas, near the town of San Antone,
Like a statue on his Pinto, rides a cowboy all alone,
And he sees the cattle grazin', where a century before,
Santa Anna's guns were blazin', and the cannons used to roar.
And his eyes turn sorta misty and his heart begins to glow,
And he takes his hat off slowly - to the Men of Alamo,
To the thirteen days of glory at the seige of Alamo.

La Quinta, Spanish for bad maid.

2006-08-08T22:59:00.000-04:00

Here I am in San Antonio for the Entrepreneurial bootcamp, finally.
We left this morning at 4:28 and drove all day, only two breaks on the whole trip.
Needless to say, I was looking forward to the hotel, (we stayed in the same one last year at the SAICFF convention), we got here at 8:45pm, went to our room and found it looking like a dog house. So we tried another room on the same floor, and found that one in the same condition.
After calling every other hotel in town to no avail, we decided we would try one more room, thankfully this room is ten times better then the others.

And now a song, sung to the tune of The Patriot game.

Now as I sit here, my back all in knots,
I type on my blog and set up my cot,
and I wish my computer would use DSL,
I hope we dont have to switch hotels.

Well I guess that's about it.

Cheers

Mike

Music

2006-08-07T06:17:00.000-04:00

People just don't enjoy music anymore, I mean think about what modern music sounds like, to me it sounds like someone spiting into a microphone.

I try to be a good witness to my friends but they just turn the "music"up louder, and soon they're doing this little dance like they've got ants in their shoes.
How did we come so far in so little time?
Only one hundred years have passed from the victorian era, and now everybody is into hip hop and rap, how did that happen?

It's not only that my friends like this stuff that bugs me, it's that if you say you like celtic music they give you a look that says what planet did you come from?
Maybe I'm overeacting, but I'm tired of just driving down the road and thinking my exahust is backfiring, and turns out someone just has their beloved music on.

Music, good and bad, is identity, you are what you eat.

You might be a liberal

2006-08-06T19:56:00.000-04:00

If you were to take a vacation to Cuba, and then say it was like a breath of fresh air, you might be a Liberal.

If you cry when you think about Kerry losing the campaign, most people would agree your a liberal.

If you drive a electric or solar powered car, your either a nut or a liberal, (they're both the same).

If you talk about the social revolution in positive terms, you are either:
A. A liberal
B. Someone who attends public school or
C. Someone who the F.B.I. is watching night and day.

If any of these fit you, vote the for the Constitution Canidate next election, and save yourself from the utter stupidty of being a Liberal.