Higher resolution?

Pics for Christmas calendar

Semper FI

In 1993 Jonathon was in kindergarten. That was the first time we heard that he wanted to be a Marine. 13 years later he was a Plebe at the Naval Academy, with the same goal.

And today, 17 years later, he's been officially accepted into the Marine Corps. Commissioning day from the Naval Academy will be the end of May 2011, at which point he will head to TBS (The Basic School) for six months of basic training.

He never wavered and we never doubted for a minute that he would achieve his goal.

Well done Jonathon.

Andrew Jackson says in one paragraph a concept this country was founded upon

"There is but one safe rule, and that is to confine the General Government rigidly within the sphere of its appropriate duties. It has no power to raise a revenue or impose taxes except for the purposes enumerated in the Constitution, and if its income is found to exceed these wants it should be forthwith reduced and the burden of the people so far lightened. " Andrew Jackson

A clever adaptation of a speech given by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and expert.

Great subtitle: Why I'm bored. This video points out the obvious. EVERY parent and teacher should watch this and remember it. The time for top-down control of education is over; only at the local level can education be saved. And I mean LOCAL: parents especially.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

New Favorite Widget

Wise words from P.J. Husbands and voters take note

“Whether we think politics is a bother or whether we are full of great expectations about all the good things politics tries to do, we have to scale back the scope of politics. Otherwise no good things will be accomplished. We can’t treat the American government like mom, expecting her to get us off to kindergarten in the morning, fix our meals, wash the dishes, fold the laundry, keep our house clean and our grandparents happy, do the shopping and the gardening, and still somehow make herself interesting to dad. That’s why mom snapped and started drinking and got in that car wreck.”

9-11-10

(written by Julia Ward Howe 11/17/1861):
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword
His truth is marching on.

Chorus:
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
His truth is marching on.

I have seen Him in the watch fires of a hundred circling camps They have built for Him an altar in the evening dews and damps
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps
His day is marching on.

(Chorus)

I have read a fiery Gospel writ in burnished rows of steel
"As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My grace shall deal"
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with His heel, Since God is marching on.

(Chorus)

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on.

(Chorus)

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me
As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free
While God is marching on.

(this part was not sung, but still...)

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,

Setting brush fires

It does not require a majority to prevail but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's mind's.

Is Islamophobia the new antisemitism? Hardly.

FBI statistics show that 65.7 percent of hate crimes motivated by religious bias are anti-Jewish, whereas 7.7 percent are anti-Islamic.

Land of Begin Again

Listen here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEoNdMVD_p0

and the lyrics:

There's a land of begin again On the other side of the hill Where we learn to love and live again When the world is quiet and still There's a land of begin again And there's not a cloud in the sky Where we'll never have to grieve again And we'll never say goodbye When all your troubles just surround you And around you skies are grey If you can only keep your eyes on The horizon, not so far away There's a land of begin again On the other side of the hill Where we learn to love and live again When the world is quiet and still There's a land of begin again And there's not a cloud in the sky Where we'll never have to grieve again And we'll never say goodbye There aren't any signposts to guide you You don't need permission to stay And you'll find there's something inside you Showing you the way There's a prize we can win again And together, somehow, we will There's a land of begin again On the other side of the hill (Transcribed by Bill Huntley - July 2005)

John Paul Jones is turning in his sarcophagus

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/jul/30/high-seas-segregation/

Yet another reason I am not getting any sleep of late. Tell me, can any mother of a sailor/Marine be consoled knowing their son or daughter's leader may not have been the best, but at least the Navy is diverse?

Some Army guy made a comment after Ft Hood that the worse tragedy would be if the Army's diversity suffered. To which I say, WTF? What's a worse tragedy than someone being murdered in the name of religion by a fellow soldier?

I will keep my rant brief; suffice to say diversity is a RESULT, NOT A GOAL. If diversity is so great, how come they don't have it in the NBA? Because they wouldn't win, that's why. Why is a basketball game more important than a war?

Buycott Arizona

I have some good friends who never miss KISS when they are in SoCal.

In light of recent events, however, they are traveling to Phoenix to see KISS and spend some of their hard-earned money in the beleaguered state of AZ.

Great idea. We should all follow suit. And not just if we're KISS fans. Spending $$ in AZ is sticking our thumb (or wallet) in the eye of those calling for a boycott.

The city and country of LA may replace France in my spectrum of how to do things. If I don't have time to study the nuances I just see which way they are pointing and then happily turn 180 degrees.

All Four Stanzas of The Star Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

click here to hear a Marine sing the fourth stanza a cappella at a tea party:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0fQd858cRc&feature=player_embedded

Read this

http://www.american.com/archive/2009/march-2009/the-europe-syndrome-and-the-challenge-to-american-exceptionalism

I have been thinking lately about:

1) Obama's apology tour

2) Biden's statement in Belgium that they have a claim to "capital of the free world" (apparently Biden is totally unaware of the atrocities Belgium committed in the Congo)

3) Obama's bowing

4) Obama speaking today about "humility" when faced with technological challenges (ie drilling for oil)

I haven't thought it all through yet, but I think this is all related. When people say we couldn't make it to the moon now like we did in the 60's, it's not because of techno challenges, it's because of attitude.

When Apollo 13 was stranded a mile above Earth, our leaders didn't speak about "technological challenges". They locked the best minds in a room and guess what? THEY FIGURED IT OUT! If Obama wasn't so busy trying to prove we're not better than anyone else, I think this damn oil well in the Gulf would have been capped by now.

It's like we got tired of being the best and we've ceded it without a fight. But what makes me worry is the danger that poses to the rest of the world. Someone has to be on top. And the world is a lot better off when it's America. Just check with the folks in Europe, who needed to be reminded they are not speaking German right now because of us.

America isn't perfect but we are better than most and a helluva lot better than the rest. And bigger than everyone. And if we give up our role as leader, at least two things will happen:

1) someone else will rise to the occasion, good or bad. (and I am guessing bad because Canada isn't all that motivated)

2) our allies won't have anyone backing them up and the REALLY bad guys will feel free to do what they've always wanted to (ie wipe Israel off the face of the map, the stated intentions of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, leader of Iran).

It's embarrassing and scary and stupid. Speaking of stupid, Biden is giving the commencement speech at USNA tomorrow morning. The good news? That means he won't be there in 2011 when Jonathon graduates.

Clever solution to Airport security

Got this via email today:

The Airport Solution

Here's a solution to all the controversy over full-body scanners
at the airports.

Have a special custom-made booth that you can step into that will
not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on you.

It would be a win-win for everyone, and there would be none of this
crap about racial profiling, plus this method would eliminate a long
and expensive trial.

Justice would be quick and swift. Case closed!

This is so simple that it's pure genius. I can see it now: you're
in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly
thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, "Attention
standby passengers, we now have a seat available on flight number
_____ ".

Arizona SB1070

Interesting quote from T Roosevelt. And let me say this: my own belief is that teachers and school have done a terrible disservice to children by "promoting" multiculturalism. It's bad enough that they have failed to teach students what it means to be American (for hints on how to do that, go to PragerUniversity.com and then watch his 5-minute videos on YouTube) but they have encouraged immigrants (legal and otherwise) to retain allegiance to their country of origin.

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room but for one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

And to the writers and pundits who claim that SB1070 is a law that can be abused, what law is immune to that danger?

We ALL need this bumper sticker

Buy it here: http://stores.dennisprager.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=ME106&Category_Code=08&Product_Count=0

The best way to spend 38 minutes ...

well ... almost the best:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQELHJx8Vf0&feature=player_embedded

Spring in Monrovia

The Song of Solomon (2:11-12): "For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of the birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in the land."

Facebook Joke

Wow. There's a group on Facebook that is petitioning Facebook to remove the "hate group" which is praying inappropriately.

The original joke on FB went like this: Dear Lord, this year you took my favorite actor, Patrick Swayze and you took my favorite actress, Farah Fawcett. Please know my favorite politician is the president.

(I am paraphrasing because I don't care enough to look it up).

So ... in bad taste? Yes. Funny? Yes.

All I can say is that the 300,000 people who have joined the protest group must be exhausted after the last 8 years of protesting plays portraying the assasination of George Bush, T-shirt-wearing protesters with his face and a bulls' eye and too many paper mache Bush/Hitler heads for me to count.

And, of course, we only have to go back 12 years or so to remember the lovely moment when Alec Baldwin called for the populace to storm Henry Hyde's house.

I spent 8 years hearing that dissent was the highest form of patriotism. And now the entire media (and about 300,000 people on FB) act like those who are against the POLICIES of President Obama are one Glenn Beck monologue away from losing it and blowing up a building. It's dissent when the left does it and "dangerously violent" when it's the right?

Please. Get a life. Then get a sense of humor. And then grow a pair.

Old Trumpet Article

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

My relationship with the phone has been long and troubled.

I grew up in a home with five kids and – yes, believe it or not kids today – not only one phone line, but only one phone. Weird, but when the phone rang, you knew exactly where it was because it was connected to the wall. And it was so heavy Alfred Hitchcock was able to use a similar model as a murder weapon in Dail M for Murder.

My sisters and I all arrived at dating age at the same time. We had a mother that was ABSOLUTELY scrupulous in her unwillingness to tell a lie. So, in other words, you didn’t dare say:

If so and so calls, I’m not home.

If so and so calls, tell him I’m dead.

If John Yenny calls, I’M HERE!

So, it was not unusual for the phone to ring and all three girls run out the front door. From the front yard we would hear my mother say “no, I’m sorry she’s not here.”

On a good day, she would tell you who the call was for. As in: “Theresa, that was for you.”

No matter how good the day, you hardly ever heard who it was that had called. If it was a guy on the other end of the phone, no message was taken, since we girls were not allowed to return the call, anyway.

So all my life, when the phone rang, I have either bolted out the front door or dived for the phone in the ridiculous hope that it was either John Yenny or Ed McMahon.

But now I have reached a point memorable than turning 30, more life-changing than turning 40 and more life ****** than the prospect of turning 50.

When the phone rings I completely ignore it.

I have gotten to the point where I have given up on Ed McMahon and anyone worthwhile leaves a message. Now that I think about it, even those of no worth leave a message. Does the DNC, RNC and the carpet cleaning company REALLY think I listen to those recordings?

The phone is never for either of my teenagers, so there is no need to answer the phone to find out who is in their lives. The teenagers have cell phones and my only involvement with the telephone aspect of their lives is paying the bill. I had the illusion that I would actually study the bills and see who they were calling and vice versa. Doesn’t happen. My perusal of the bills is limited to who stayed within their minutes and who downloaded the AC/DC ringtone.

The phone is occasionally for one of the little guys. I hear them on the phone grunting for several minutes. They hang up.

I ask: Who was it?

They answer: No one.

What did you talk about, I ask.

They answer: Nothing.

Short of getting out a harsh light and rubber *** I’m not sure how much more involved the law allows me, as a parent, to be.

Watch, listen and enjoy

The two young ladies on the right are 6 years old. The two in the middle are 7 and the one on the left is 8 . Unbelievable.

John Stossel

I finally found the John Stossel special on Libertarianism on YouTube. This is part 2 of 5 and is brilliant. Libertarian thinkers explain how is was government, not the free market or capitalism, that caused our recent financial melt down. Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57hcqsD_btg&feature=related

Jack Flanagan's funeral

Just found this picture on one of my niece's Facebook page. Taken by Ronda when we were all toasting my dad.

Our Finest Hour

Our Finest Hour [Mark Steyn]

Ever since this health care "debate" got going, I've worried that American conservatives underestimate the ability of Big Government to transform the character of a people. After all, the Euro-weenies weren't always Euro-weenies - else how would they have conquered the entire planet? Readers who think I'm just a mopey downer loser (as not a few do) might prefer this alternative take from Hillsdale's Paul Rahe. While "agreeing with almost every word" of mine, he has an entirely different conclusion:

We are not yet a people apt to acquiesce in dictates handed down by our lords and masters. When Britain and Canada drifted into socialism, there were no tea parties spontaneously formed by ordinary citizens to buck the trend. The British and the Canadians lacked the spirit of resistance – though, to be fair, it lived on in the likes of Margaret Thatcher.

We Americans are made of sterner stuff. During the Cold War, we defended the Free World. In our absence, I am convinced, everyone else would have given way...

In my view, [Barack Obama] and today’s Democratic Party represent the last gasp of the Progressive impulse. The tyrannical ambition hidden at the heart of Progressivism’s quest for what Franklin Delano Roosevelt termed “rational administration” Barack Obama has made manifest; and to all with eyes to see, the danger that we have temporized with for nearly a century is now perfectly visible... What is required in what he calls “this defining moment” is what Abraham Lincoln once called “a new birth of freedom.” The period we just entered could be our finest hour.

How to spend money

1. You spend your money on yourself. You're motivated to get the thing you want most at the best price. This is the way middle-aged men haggle with Porsche dealers.
2. You spend your money on other people. You still want a bargain, but you're less interested in pleasing the recipient of your largesse. This is why children get underwear at Christmas.
3. You spend other people's money on yourself. You get what you want but price no longer matters. The second wives who ride around with the middle-aged men in the Porsches do this kind of spending at Neiman Marcus.
4. You spend other people's money on other people. And in this case, who gives a shit?

P.J. O'Rourke

hmmm ... who's hiring right now?

Haven't heard a word about new doctors, new nurses, new clinics, new hospitals or more importantly, new Med Schools. Did hear, however, that the IRS is hiring. I wonder why? Click on the following if you want to see a Dem Representative NOT give an answer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O6Jk7icfMw&feature=player_embedded

Benishek for Congress

Following is the text from a fax that I just sent to Congressman Stupak along with a copy of the $25.00 donation I made to Benishek for Congress:

Dear Congressman Stupak:

I attempted to send you an email last week thanking you for your principled stand for life and against President Obama's destructive healthcare bill.

Unfortunately, since I do not reside in your district, the email didn't go through.

Much has changed since last week. I am enclosing a copy of the donation I made to Benishek for Congress. Due the economy times are tough, but I wanted to let you know that this donation to Mr. Benishek is the first of many. I will continue to make a weekly donation to his campaign and do whatever I can to help him defeat you.

If I was still a Democrat my disappointment in you would know no bounds. As I changed my party 10 years ago, you leave me disgusted in my former party and satisfied with my decision to re-register as a Republican.

Sincerely,

Anne (Flanagan) Yenny

Monrovia CA

Tattered Liberty

BRILLIANT article by Mark Steyn. Read about the true cost to America of Obamacare:

http://article.nationalreview.com/428996/tattered-liberty/mark-steyn

Event at the Ronald Reagan Library

I had the pleasure of attending a book signing over the weekend at the Ronald Reagan library. Gary Sinese was there and graciously agreed to a picture but only if I promised to quit calling him "Mr. Sinese" and call him Gary instead. What a gentleman.

Who will deliver the love letters?

Charles Krauthammer talking about closing the Post Office. As he notes earlier, talk "privatization" and "business model" all you like, but the Post Office has a mandate that no private company every will: to deliver mail to everywhere in the U.S., no matter how remote. And I thought this was lovely:

[As for] the hard-hearted younger generation — well, if you ever got a sweet-smelling love letter at 17, you'd feel otherwise. Of course, I never did, but somebody did.

Well, well, well ...

"And yet it has to be said and it should be understood — now, almost seven hellish years later — that something that looks mighty like democracy is emerging in Iraq. And while it may not be a beacon of inspiration to the region, it most certainly is a watershed event that could come to represent a whole new era in the history of the massively undemocratic Middle East."

Above from this week's Newsweek. Wonder if there will be any quotes from leaders who in the past declared the war lost? Ahh ... you know what they say: being on the left means never having to say you're sorry.

Billy, Uncle Harry, Harry

Me, Uncle Harry & Pat

Pat and Uncle Harry

Three great pics

Dad and me at Joe's 40th BD, Uncle Harry and me at his 90th BD party, Pat and Uncle Harry at same.

Edinburgh

Pat standing at Edinburgh Castle with the city in the background.

Gays in the military

As you all know, I just lost my dad last November; he and I spent more time in heated debate than any other activity (and we both loved it). In the 90's when Clinton was President we got in a huge argument about gays in the military (I was probably pro, he was probably against, but who knows?). Finally, I said: Look, Dad. Neither one of us is gay; neither is in the military, neither one of us knows what we're talking about, so let's drop it.

To which my JY, for years a quiet observer of our debates said: Since when does knowing what your talking about make a difference to either one of you?

Fast forward 15 years. I have a son in the military. To the current debate I would say: Leave it up to the military. They know best and only they should have a voice in the decision because they have to live with the consequences. But after the Ft Hood debacle and military's mishandling, I no longer have the confidence that they have the common sense to make the correct decision. Apparently they are as PC and foolish as the average politician.

Published on National Review Online!!!:

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=M2I5OGQ3YzllM2JjMTAxZmY1YzZmNTA3ODJlNDYwMGM=

Army Navy Game 2009

For the life of me, I can't resize so you can see the full screen (above is cutting off approximately one inch on the right). Double click and you'll go directly to YouTube where you can see everything.

horrifying statistic

"The United States had 2.3 state and local government employees per 100 citizens in 1946 and has 6.5 state and local government employees per 100 citizens now. In 1947, Hodges writes, 78 percent of the national income went to the private sector, 16 percent to the federal sector, and 6 percent to the state and local government sector. Now 54 percent of the economy is private, 28 percent goes to the feds, and 18 percent goes to state and local governments. The trend lines are ominous"

from http://corner.nationalreview.com/

"There is no virtue in compulsory government charity, and there is no virtue in advocating it. A politician who portrays himself as "caring" and "sensitive" because he wants to expand the government's charitable programs is merely saying that he's willing to try to do good with other people's money. Well, who isn't? And a voter who takes pride in supporting such programs is telling us that he'll do good with his own money -- if a gun is held to his head."

— P.J. O'Rourke

Stand, Men of the West

I am feeling giddy over Scott Brown's win in MASS and nostalgic for GWB, who left office one year ago today. Whenever I hear this, I think of him. And whenever I hear anyone criticize Israel, I think of it again:

“A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of woes and shattered shields, when the age of men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good Earth, I bid you stand, Men of the West!”

(thanks, Richard, for the audio link)

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechreturnoftheking.html

More P.J.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGS82XCCwLA&feature=related