Habits Not Peculiar....

Wood Bison Thrive Amidst Alberta Oil Sands Production

2012-12-20T16:58:00.002-05:00

The Good News: Wood Bison are thriving amidst the massive Alberta Oil Sands project and the United States could become energy independent and claim the title of the world's leading producer of liquid energy. (details below)

Male Wood Bison (Bison bison athabascae)

Two articles in the Eurasia Review caught my attention today. I learned that Wood Bison, the largest terrestrial animals in North America and long extinct in the U.S., have been brought back from the edge of extinction and may be found placidly grazing near the massive Alberta oil sands project in Canada. This formation contains the third larges proven reserve of crude oil in the world.

The last woods bison in the United States was apparently shot by a hunter in West Virginia around 1835. For many decades, the woods bison was presumed extinct – until an airplane spotted an isolated herd in the muskeg swamps north of Alberta, Canada...The bison living at the oil sands recovery site are direct descendants of the remnant herd found in 1957. They were busily browsing about 300 yards from a huge diesel shovel that loads 400 tons of oily sand at a time into a lineup of huge trucks. The trucks carry the sand toward a giant “cooker” where the oil is steamed out...

The oil sands extraction methods are twofold: surface mining with shovels and trucks; drilling and steam extraction from the deeper beds. As one area is exhausted the Canadian government reclaims title to the land and complete restoration of the landscape is undertaken.

...The tar sands are a geological marvel: an 84,000 square miles deposit – an area the size of Kansas – but the sand is soaked with 5–25 percent heavy petroleum. In total, the Alberta sands are estimated to contain 169 billion barrels of oil, making it one of the largest petroleum deposits in the world. Experts say the oil sands’ operations could produce 465,000 U.S. jobs in construction, refining, petrochemicals and other sectors by 2035, if President Obama finally lets the Keystone XL pipeline go forward...(emphasis added)

The oil sands article led to another in the same publication asserting the U.S.could become the world's largest supplier of liquid energy surpassing, at some point, the output of Saudi Arabia. U.S. output of liquid energy is increasing with the development of oil shale formations in North Dakota, Utah, and Colorado. October 2012 oil production in North Dakota hit 747,239 barrels per day, The Green River oil shale formation in UT and CO, yet to be tapped, is estimated to contain upwards of three trillion barrels dwarfing the output of OPEC.

Shale Oil Exploration Rig in Rifle CO
(Article also published today at The Middletown Insider)

Memorial Day 2012

2012-05-28T12:45:00.000-04:00

Go HERE for enlarged image

A Year's Output of Our Planet's Chromium Mines Visible Here: Motorcycle Mania 2011

2011-08-21T16:22:00.003-04:00

Thousands of motorcycles with their drivers and passengers. plus thousands more spectators filled the entirety of Main Street and some of the surrounding streets with a sea of chromium and brilliant paint. This was Motorcycle Mania 2011, an annual event in Middletown, Connecticut for the past several years. Follow are a sampling of photos from the event.

I don't know what motorcycle they rode in on but I am pleased they agreed to be photographed (obligatory eye candy)!

Note: Click on any photo to enlarge

There were a great variety of machines on display including Harleys of every description, Honda comfort bikes, Spyder trikes, and conventional trikes; also spotted was a single Ducati and a Victory. There were quite a few female drivers but always solo and of course the usual pairing of guy driving and gal holding on in back.

No motorcycle rally would be complete without a cast of colorful characters and this event was no exception:

Bikes and more bikes:

The End (time to partay!):

Reposted from Conservacity (Aug 12, 2011)
Tags: motorcycles,motorcycle rally,motorcycle mania, middletown ct

The Afghan Front: Excellent Photgraphic Slide Show

2011-01-24T14:11:00.002-05:00

The afghan front

View more presentations from guimera.
Tags:afghan war,afghanjstan,afghan people,afghan children

Shooter Jared Loughner a Leftist Loon

2011-01-08T17:54:00.008-05:00

This photo from the Tucson Book Festival, March 2010 shows volunteer Jared Loughner.
Arizona Daily Star Photo

By Aaron Klein
© 2011 WorldNetDaily

"The Communist Manifesto" and Hitler's "Mein Kampf" were among the favorite reading materials of Jared Lee Loughner, the suspected gunman in today's fatal shooting that reportedly left six dead and gravely injured a U.S. congresswoman.

Lougher, 22, listed those tomes among his favorites on his YouTube channel, in which he wrote that "conscience dreams" were a "great study" at his college, Pima Community College.

One user on Twitter, Caitie Parker, wrote she went to high school, college and was in a band with the gunman. She said she hadn't seen him since 2007.

Parker wrote of Lougher, "As I knew him he was left wing, quite liberal and oddly obsessed with the 2012 prophecy."

She also described him as "more left."

Lougher also left a trail of bold political statements.

On his now deleted MySpace page, Lougher wrote a series of disjointed rants, including:

"If there's no flag in the Constitution, then the flag in the film is unknown. There's no flag in the Constitution. Therefore, the flag in the film is unknown. Burn every new and old flag that you see. Burn your flag!"

"I bet you can imagine this in your mind with a faster speed. Watch this protest in reverse! Ask the local police, 'What's your illegal activity on duty?'"

"If you protest the government, then there's a new government from protesting. There's not a new government from protesting. Thus, you aren't protesting the government."

Three months ago, Lougher made a YouTube video in which he proclaimed, "I know you're illiterate! This is the greatest protest for exposure into a wrongful act. The school is breaking the Constitution. If you watch the video then you'll understand. The teachers are taking advantage of you in the First and Fifth Amendmen the United States Constitution, which is the law, can be broken at this school."

With research by Brenda J. Elliott

Note: Loughner's name is mis-spelt throughout except in the first mention.

And, speaking of Loughner's left wing influences:

The Fascist New Frontier by Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs

Ayn Rand delivered this lecture at the Ford Hall Forum in Boston in 1962...(read more)

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/01/who-said-that.html

Tags: jared lee loughner,gabby giffords,gabrielle giffords,tucson shooting,u s rep shot,federal judge killed,atlas shrugs,nazism left wing,pamela geller,ayn rand

Update: Said Sisters Honor Killings: Fox News Investigation

2010-08-08T21:05:00.001-04:00

Honor Killings: The Said Sisters Amina & Sarah from John Brush on Vimeo.

Stephen Foster: Born on the Fourth of July (Hard Times)

2010-07-04T18:37:00.011-04:00

Stephen Collins Foster was born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania,now part of Pittsburgh, on the Fourth of July in 1826. That was a most important Fourth; it marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. It was on that day too that the second and third presidents died - John Adams and Thomas Jefferson

(John Tasker Howard, from historical notes to book below)

(born July 4, 1826, Lawrenceville, Pa., U.S. — died Jan. 13, 1864, New York, N.Y.) U.S. songwriter. He began writing songs as a child, influenced in part by black church services he attended with the family's servant and by songs sung by black laborers. In 1842 he published "Open Thy Lattice, Love," and in 1848 he sold "Oh! Susanna" for $100; it quickly became an international hit. He later entered into a contract with the publisher Firth, Pond & Co. He was commissioned to write songs for Edwin P. Christy's minstrel show; his "Old Folks at Home" became one of the most popular songs of the century. In 1857, drinking heavily and in financial difficulties, he sold all rights to his future songs to his publishers for about $1,900. In 1860 he moved to New York; he died penniless at age 37, leaving about 200 songs, including "Camptown Races," "My Old Kentucky Home," "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair," and "Beautiful Dreamer," and he is universally regarded as the greatest American songwriter of the 19th century. Source

-----------Oh, Susanna! Foster's Greatest Hit?

Oh, Susanna! sung by Pete Seeger: Oh, Susanna

"So far as is known, only one song has ever made the Hit Parade eighty-seven years after it was written and seventy-seven years after the death of its composer. That song is Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair by Stephen Collins foster. In 1940 and '41, when the broadcasters and the American society of composers, Authors, and Publishers were feuding, the radio suddenly discovered Jeanie. She was sung, she was played as a ballad, an aria, a chorus, a fantasy, a ballet, a foxtrot, a swing tune. It is a safe wager that during those two years Foster's ballad had more performances and was heard by more people than in all the years since its creation. The wonder is that it survived such mauling, that it has not departed into Limbo together with Yes, We Have No Bananas and the Hut Sut Song..." (Deems Taylor, in the forward to A Treasury of Stephen Foster; Random House, New York; 1946. The illustrations here are from that book and are by William Sharp.)

Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair-Sung by Jan Degaetani: Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair

-----------Jeanie With the Light Brown Hair

Hard Times "Hard Times was the second of the two songs which were based on fragments of folk songs which Stephen heard as a child in the Negro church where the family nurse, Olivia Pise, worshipped. Hard Times was published in January of 1855, four and a half years later than the other song of Negro derivation. Oh Boys, Carry Me 'Long, and its words were tragically prophetic, for it became one of the songs that Foster sang most frequently in hi last days, when "hard times" were on him in full force indeed"

---------Hard Times Come Again No More

Here is Hard Times.. sung by Renee Fleming and Garrison Keillor:
Hard Times Come Again No More Garrison Keillor-Renee Fleming

...And, another version by Emmylou Harris:
Hard Times [Come Again No More Emmylou Harris

This post is reprinted from Steady Habits, July 4, 2010

Tags: emmylou harris,garrison keillor,Jan Degaetani,renee fleming,stephen foster,oh susanna,hard times,jeanie w light brown hair,

Dems on Nuclear Option in 2005

2010-02-24T11:42:00.003-05:00

OBAMA & DEMS IN 2005: 51 VOTE ‘NUCLEAR OPTION’ IS ‘ARROGANT’ POWER GRAB AGAINST THE FOUNDER’S INTENT

In this video from 2005 you will view leading Dems pontificating about the so called Senate "Nuclear Option", otherwise known as "reconciliation"; a rarely employed tactic to stifle filibuster and allow for a simple majority to prevail. The Dems are singing a very different tune today and refuse to rule out use of the tactic to ram through their monstrous health care bill.

Video credit: Breitbart TV

Tags: senate dems hypocrisy,nuclear option, reconciliation,senate 51 votes,obamacare,health care bill,

CPAC 2010 Speech Highlights: Gingrich & Beck

2010-02-21T12:16:00.009-05:00

Following is the complete (1 hour) video of Glenn Beck's address.

Historian, author, and former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker, Newt Gingrich, spoke earlier in the day; his speech (35 minutes) titled "Principled Bipartisanship Starts at 2 + 2 = 4" can be viewed here.

Newt's, professorial demeanor lent credence to the seriousness of our Nation's political and economic dilemma and was a stark contrast to the antics of Glenn Beck, who with his ever present chalkboard, outlined the dangers of Progressivism with his, by now, well known delivery of comic gesture, grimace, and patter. Both speakers were quite effective despite their very different approaches to the plight of the U.S.A. in 2010.

Here is an audio snippet from the Gingrich speech. (MP3 2:57) and

an audio snippet from the Beck presentation. (MP3 2:26)

Here is a selection of comments about the Glenn Beck presentation from Newsy.com:

Tags: newt gingrich,glenn beck,cpac 2010,american conservative union,conservative politics,george orwell,albert camus,god given rights,

Scott Brown for U.S. Senate: Mass. Election Jan 19!

2010-01-08T18:31:00.005-05:00

The special election to fill the Ted Kennedy U.S. Senate Seat will be held January 19, 2010. We strongly urge everyone who is fed up with Democrat/Liberal machine politics in Boston and Washington to come to the polls on that Tuesday and cast a vote for Scott Brown. About the man and his beliefs:

State Senator Scott Brown has led the fight in Massachusetts against wasteful government spending and higher taxes. He is a free-market advocate who believes our strength as a nation flows from its people. He believes in a culture of family, patriotism and freedom. At his September 12 announcement of candidacy for the U.S. Senate, Senator Brown articulated a core set of beliefs that guide his thinking.
Government is too big and that the federal stimulus bill made government bigger instead of creating jobs
Taxes are too high and are going higher if Congress continues with its out-of-control spending
The historic amount of debt we are passing on to our children and grandchildren is immoral
Power concentrated in the hands of one political party, as it is here in Massachusetts, leads to bad government and poor decisions
A strong military and vigorous homeland defense will protect our interests and security around the world and at home
All Americans deserve health care, but we shouldn't have to create a new government insurance program to provide it

Amazing that in a Bay State dominated by leftists a conservative has come within striking distance of victory against Martha Coakley, the robotic candidate in lockstep with the Obama,Reid, Pelosi, and Patrick agenda.

We've dumped Dodd in Connecticut and Dorgan in North Dakota; now let's continue the momentum towards turning our nation back from the disastrous course set by Obama & Co.

More from Scott Brown
Rasmussen Polling Results (Jan 5)
John McCormack at Weekly Standard

Tags: scott brown for senate,scott brown, senator scott brown,conservative momentum,take back country,take back congress,

Merry Christmas One and All-God Bless Us Everyone!

2009-12-20T18:05:00.001-05:00

Tiger Woods: The Apology Tour....

2009-12-03T12:59:00.005-05:00

Looks like he used his driver on exotic fairways more than once....

Tags:tiger woods,elin nordegren,tiger woods apology,tiger woods crash, tiger woods putz,putz,

Song of Birds on the Wires

2009-09-14T11:45:00.002-04:00

We've all noticed birds perched on wires in large groups and we may have wondered what they were doing or plotting! One Jarbas Agnelli got the idea to make a piece of music using the various birds on different wires to represent the notes on a stave. Here in a short video is the beautiful result. Best viewed full screen! : Source

Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

Tags:birds,blackbirds,bird song,bird song music,jarbas agnelli,electronic music,

Sing the Single Payer System Song

2009-08-29T09:53:00.005-04:00

This video and song are funny and spot on!

Here are the lyrics:

ONE: Single Payer System

One single payer system thats what we intend to get
One single payer system perhaps not all of it yet
Something that Bill and Hillary could not do
Well just abolish illness with you-know-who

One single payer system everybody gets their share
But well never have to ration care, no way son
Hell, folks he can heal the planet
Disease, well, well simply have to ban it
Cause hes the one

One single payer system like our neighbors the Canucks
One single payer system but ours will be real deluxe

In one fell swoop were solving the health care crunch
Whos says that we dont believe that theres no free lunch

One single payer system lets do it for Uncle Ted
Pretty soon hes dead, its time to get it done
This is change you can believe in
Trust me, you know we aint deceiving
Cause hes the one.

One single payer system might be kinda tough to sell
One single payer system wont leave it up to Michelle
Harry and Nancy you folks can calm your fears
And hell get coverage that will fix his ears

One single payer system covers every healthcare need
No time to read the bill just pass Obama Care
But it sounds a little socialistic
This pig is gonna need some lipstick
Obama-care

h/t Graphic Fresh Conservative (on Flickr)

Tags: obama care,government run health care,statism,socialism,obamacare song parody

Sgt Crowley is a Gentleman, Obama Oblivious

2009-07-31T16:25:00.003-04:00

Police Officer James Crowley is a class act.Below is the officer's press conference following the beer picnic. He is the consummate professional and I suspect we will be seeing much more of him. "Joe the Plumber" rose to fame in an earlier episode of Obama dumbspeak; now welcome Sgt James Crowley to national prominence.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Sgt. Crowley garnered much support from his collegues in the Cambridge P.D., including officer Kelly King, pictured below; and, Sgt Leon K. Lashley who found himself embroiled in the controversy by being at the scene of the arrest of Prof. Gates. (video below)

Tags: Sgt James Crowley,Professor Gates,obama,cambridge police,racial profiling,race relations,obama dumbspeak,sgt leon lashley,officer kelly king

Obama History With Cambridge Authorities

2009-07-24T10:02:00.006-04:00

There is an interesting sidelight to the Obama-Gates-Police controversy. We are reminded of Obama's presence in Cambridge MA over 20 years ago while a student at Harvard. The Somerville (MA) News reported on March 7, 2007:

Before Barack Obama was a United States senator and a presidential hopeful, he was a Harvard University law student living in Somerville who parked in bus stops and accumulated hundreds of dollars in parking tickets. And for nearly two decades those parking tickets went unpaid, until a representative of Obama’s settled all his outstanding debts with Cambridge’s Traffic, Parking and Transportation Department Jan. 26.

Obama attended Harvard Law School from 1988 to 1991. During his time at Harvard, Obama lived at 365 Broadway in Somerville, according to his parking tickets. Records from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation office show that between Oct. 5, 1988 and Jan. 12, 1990 Obama was cited for 17 traffic violations, sometimes committing two in the same day. The abuses included parking in a resident permit area, parking in a bus stop and failing to pay the meter. Twelve of Obama’s 17 tickets were given to him on Massachusetts Avenue.

In one eight day stretch in 1988, Obama was cited seven times for parking violations and was fined $45. Thirteen of the 17 violations occurred within one month in 1988.

Obama’s disobedience of the rules of the road earned him $140 in fines from the City of Cambridge. The tickets went unpaid for over 17 years and $260 in late fees were added to the tab. On Jan. 26, the fines and late fees were paid in full. The final tally for Obama’s parking breaches was $400, according to Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation.

One wonders if Barack Obama's previous encounters with Cambridge authorities predisposed him, in the Gates case, to speak out rashly, and by his own admission, without" knowing all the facts". Obama's propensity to flout the law manifests even today in his unwillingness to prove his eligibility to hold his office and his refusal to reveal much of anything about his past (i.e college records, early writings etc) except what he allows us to know from his published memoirs.

Obama has described as "stupidity" the actions of Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. Prof. Gates, accompanied by a friend, was attempting to break into his own house, which activity a passerby interpreted as an attempted burglary prompting a call to the police. What happened next is described in the police report. (PDF)

In the video below Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas supports Sgt Crowley and takes questions from the press:

At the website "The Root" where Gates is Editor-in-Chief, Gates is interviewed:

Henry Louis Gates Jr.: I’m outraged. I can’t believe that an individual policeman on the Cambridge police force would treat any African-American male this way, and I am astonished that this happened to me; and more importantly I’m astonished that it could happen to any citizen of the United States, no matter what their race. And I’m deeply resolved to do and say the right things so that this cannot happen again.

Of course, it will happen again, but … I want to do what I can so that every police officer will think twice before engaging in this kind of behavior.... (read more)

Perusing "The Root" you'll find it's pretty much all about race.Some recent articles: Seeing Black and Seeing Red; Please Professor Gates!; Why Obama Did Not, Should Not Apologize to Officer Crowley; Gates Says 'Yes' to Beer with Crowley.

As to settling the matter over a beer as proposed by Obama and agreed to apparently by Gates and Crowley, a commenter at The Root opines:

"I don't want to hear the rants and or ravings of an idiot like Skippy Gates or Obama and how either of them thinks they can teach me anything about racism. I stopped listening long ago. They are both out of touch completely. Obama needs to get back to trying to solve the country's real problems. And I am sorry but race isn't high on the list....Now we have to hear about how an insignificant nerd with an over indulgent opinion of self is going to sit down and drink alchohol to solve the world's racism problems. Can this country get anymore ludicrous? When has alchohol ever solved anything?...Here's a couple of guys who are so used to having a captive audience of yes men and now they're convinced the rest of the world works that way. Skippy.....if you want to change the world, you just blew your best opportunity to be a vehicle for that change. Public opinion just passed you by. Sarge......if you fall into this trap it will be one of the saddest days in American history. Sargeant.....you are being set up. Be the bigger man by TURNING DOWN the invitation to partake in this scam."

Additional Video from Breitbart

Tags: louis henry gates arrest,sgt james crowley,barack obama parking tickets,barack obama cambridge,cambridge ma police,america racism,professor gates,the root,racial profiling,

The Doctor is In by Chris Muir

2009-07-19T13:32:00.004-04:00

Thanks to Chris Muir at Day by Day Cartoon

Tags:day by day cartoon,chris muir,dr obama,barack obama health care,joe biden,bankrupt nation,

AFLAC, HALFBLACK

2009-07-18T21:31:00.004-04:00

Tags: barack obama,tv ads,aflac,halfblack,joe biden,little off the top, not too close,aflac duck,yogi berra,the obamas,political cartoons,political humor

Obama Care Revealed

2009-07-15T09:54:00.004-04:00

Voodoo Economics actually Works; Obama Care Never! They're gonna Rham it down our throats! This will be almost impossible to undo once Obama the Destroyer is gone.

h/t Smart Girl Politics

Tags: obama care,voodoo economics,obama health plan,obama fraud,obama danger

------------- Happy Birthday America!

2009-07-04T16:43:00.006-04:00

In Congress, July 4, 1776. A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress assembled.

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth,

the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Tags: declaration of independence,independence day,july 4 1776,our founders,

Obama is "Sort of God": Newsweek's Evan Thomas

2009-06-12T14:22:00.003-04:00

The media's Slobbering Love Affair with Obama continues unabated. We thought nothing could top Chris Matthews's tingley thrill up his leg, but now adulation has been replaced by adoration. Newsweek Editor at Large Evan Thomas has declared Obama is "sort of God".

Contrast that with Thomas responding to a question on whether the media's unfair to Bush on the TV talk show Inside Washington "Well, our job is to bash the president, that's what we do." (February 2, 2007)

National Review created a great Newsweek parody earlier this week. Here is the cover shot:

Tags: barack obama,lord obama,media adoration,chris mathews,evan thomas,newsweek,national review,newsweek obama parody

How Many Time/Newsweek Covers is it Now, Obama?

2009-06-08T16:34:00.004-04:00

Read the rest of this parody at National Review Online.

Tags: national review,satire,parody,obama cool,newsweek parody,time covers, newsweek covers,slobbering press,obama love

D Day: The Greatest Generation Storms Ashore

2009-06-06T08:56:00.004-04:00

This is a photo essay to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the Normandy invasion which marked the beginning of the end for the Nazi regime. Allied forces suffered huge losses on June 6, 1944 and subsequent days of Operation Overlord but they eventually secured France and routed the German invaders.

"You will bring about the destruction of the German war machine, the elimination of Nazi tyranny over the oppressed peoples of Europe, and security for ourselves in a free world. Your task will not be an easy one. Your enemy is well trained, well equipped, and battle-hardened. He will fight savagely....The free men of the world are marching together to victory. I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle. We will accept nothing less than full victory. Good luck, and let us all beseech the blessings of Almighty God upon this great and noble undertaking." ~General Dwight D. Eisenhower giving the D-Day order on June 6, 1944.

Supreme Command Tour Of Allied Forces

Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, commander in chief of Allied Forces in Europe, reviewing troops shortly before the Normandy invasion while British Gen. Bernard Montgomery looks on over his right shoulder.

Normandy Invasion

American soldiers, mostly Army Air Corps, aboard LCT (tank transport) ship listen to "anchors away" instructions while en route to beaches of Normandy for Allied invasion of France, aka D-Day. (note field kitchen in foreground)

Invasion Of Normandy

American soldiers playing poker, using the 200 francs each was given for their trip to France, as they sit atop Army supply truck, one of many waiting on dock to be loaded onto ships for transport to their D-Day objective, the beaches of Normandy.

Injured American soldiers of 16th Infantry Div. bandaged and awaiting evacuation to field hospital after storming Omaha Beach during the invasion of Normandy, aka D-Day

American troops wading from troop carrier towards shore into German artillery fire on Omaha Beach during D-Day invasion of Normandy.

Dazed German prisoner puts his belongings into a white sack after being captured by American troops during the Allied push through Normandy following the D-Day invasion of France.

Bodies of 8 American paratroopers lie outside the wreckage of their glider near Hiesville, France on the day of the invasion of Normandy, aka D-Day.

Allied Military Cemetery at Omaha Beach on the coast of Normandy, the location for the great D-Day landing invasion on coast of German-held Europe during WWII. July 1951

All photos from Time/Life archives now at Google
Tags: ww 2,operation overlord,normandy invasion,omaha beach,u s soldiers,greatest generation

Obama World: Your Ride is Here!

2009-05-31T21:55:00.011-04:00

Click image to enlarge!

Latest from political cartoonist Chris Muir.
Tags: barack obama,black panthers,acorn,hilary clinton,obama follies

At Last: Sarah Palin Centerfold!

2009-05-04T11:42:00.006-04:00

This surprise comes from the pen of Chris Muir who produces Day by Day Cartoon:

Here's an earlier view of Biker Sarah:

Read Michelle Malkin for more about the Palin appearance on American Chopper.

Tags:sarah palin,sarah palin centerfold,political exposure,sarah palin exposed,american choppers,chris muir, day by day cartoon,political cartoons,humorous cartoon,biker sarah palin, biker sarah,michelle malkin,sarah palin tweets