Blog Smith is inspired by the myth of Hephaestus in the creation of blacksmith-like, forged materials: ideas. This blog analyzes topics that interest me: IT, politics, technology, history, education, music, and the history of religions.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
COMPLIANCE OFFICER BREAKS INTO WOMAN’S HOME TO SIGN CITATION OVER THE LENGTH OF HER LAWN
“I woke up, I didn’t have my glasses on or my contacts in and all I see is this big burly figure standing in my doorway,” Erica Masters explained. “A big huge guy with a grey shirt. It scared the mess out of me.”
Jimmy Vowell, the officer in question, originally denied that he entered the house, according to the Columbia News-Times.
Monday, July 9, 2012
Ian Hunter, When I’m President, Track Listing
Ian Hunter, When I’m President
Track Listing
1. Comfortable (Flyin' Scotsman)
2. Fatally Flawed
3. When I'm President
4. What For
5. Black Tears
6. Saint
7. Just The Way You Look Tonight
8. Wild Bunch
9. Ta Shunka Witco (Crazy Horse)
10. I Don't Know What You Want
11. Life
Track Listing
1. Comfortable (Flyin' Scotsman)
2. Fatally Flawed
3. When I'm President
4. What For
5. Black Tears
6. Saint
7. Just The Way You Look Tonight
8. Wild Bunch
9. Ta Shunka Witco (Crazy Horse)
10. I Don't Know What You Want
11. Life
‘DR. DOOM’: THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC STORM I PREDICTED IS ON ITS WAY
Nouriel Roubini, the economist whose dire warnings earned him the nickname “Dr. Doom,” said on Monday that the recent slowdowns in the U.S., Europe, and China is proof that the global “perfect storm” scenario he predicted is on its way.
Roubini predicted that the four specific elements would come together to create the perfect global economic crisis: a stalled U.S. economy, the EU debt crisis, a slowdown in emerging markets (China), and conflict in Iran.
Democrats Stalking
Wisconsin GOP Rep. Reid Ribble, who said he’s also been followed by a cameraman when shopping for groceries, said the home videos cross a line.
In Ribble’s case, a clip of his northeastern Wisconsin home appeared online June 18. The soundless video — which lasts 38 seconds — is taken from a car sitting just outside the house. The shot pans across the large home, showing it from several different angles.
OBAMA CAMP PERPETUATES DEBUNKED LIE ABOUT ROMNEY
On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, Candy Crowley had some tough questions for Obama campaign advisor and former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs regarding a recent attack ad targeting GOP nominee Mitt Romney for outsourcing.
Hannity Refutes Obama's Radical Sharia Adviser
G. Mick Smith, PhD 10/17/2009 02:31 AM
Media misses the point regardless of Hannity. Jefferson argued for a wall of separation between church and state which we have achieved. We now need a wall of separation between mosque and Obama. No orthodox Jew has ever had a mediator with an American president to find out what Jews want in order to accede to their demands domestically or internationally.
If anything, American political discourse should center on the question of how Muslims will break sharia law in order to conform with the American Constitution.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free . . . " to follow American custom, and to practice religious freedom in conformity with existing American law.
“I never cut your hair off!,” Runner-Up, Romney Hair
The Blaze has a caption the photograph competition weekly, and IMHO, I should have won but I was the runner-up for the best caption to the statement of:
“Hey…Did you get your sandwich from Wawa’s, too?”
Where Was Obama When He Claimed He Was at Columbia?
142 West 109th Street is on the market where it is advertised as Obama's former apartment when he attended Columbia.
http://www.citi-habitats.com/viewlisting.php?adID=770813&scroll=1
Author David Maraniss claims Obama lived at 622 West 114th Street
610 West 112th, Obama's girlfriend and Bill Ayers attending college during this time.
Clearinghouse records indicate Obama was at Columbia only during the 1982-83 school year while Obama and Columbia’s spokesman have insisted he began attending the New York City school in the fall of 1981. there was a “computer error” in their system that has been corrected. Janine Greenwood, vice president and general counsel for the clearinghouse, stated there was a “computer error” in their system that has been corrected. She said she confirmed with Columbia that Obama was at the university for two academic years, not one. “All I know is [the record] was right originally, and somewhere along the line it went off the rails, and then it was right again,” she said. “We basically had two records running simultaneously, and it just depended on how you input the name and the other information as to which records you got.”
I wonder what the names were? Did inquirers input Barry Soetoro? Or, Barack Obama? She did not state. The two separate reports indicating Obama attended Columbia for only one year were generated in March 2011. One, obtained by lawyer Orly Taitz, was used in a court filing contesting Obama’s eligibility. The other found its way to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse investigating Obama’s eligibility for the presidential ballot in Arizona. Two paid inquiries – one with the name Barry Soetoro and the other with Barack Hussein Obama – were requested from the National Student Clearinghouse to confirm the previous reports. The clearinghouse acknowledged receipt of the inquiries but gave no further information.
Columbia’s top media spokesman, Robert Hornsby, was asked whether he had personally seen a transcript that would verify Obama attended classes during the 1981-82 school year, Hornsby said, “You’re looking for proof I cannot provide.”
Henry Franklin Graff, professor emeritus of history at Columbia for 46 years, has cast doubt on claims Obama attended classes at the New York City university.
“I have no recollection of Barack Obama at Columbia, and I am sure he never attended any of my classes,” Graff stated in a telephone interview.
“For 46 years, I taught political history, diplomatic history and one of the pioneering courses on presidential history, and every future politician of note who went through Columbia in those years took one or more of my classes – every one, that is, except Barack Obama.”
Graff added that no professor he knew could remember having Obama as a student at Columbia.
“Nobody I knew at Columbia ever remembers Obama being there,” Graff insisted.
An editorial titled “Obama’s Lost Years,” published in the Wall Street Journal Sept. 11, 2008, noted Fox News contacted some 400 students who were at Columbia from 1981 to 1983 and found no one who remembered him.
There is some evidence that Obama was in New York, but it may not have been to attend Columbia, it was to forge an alliance with his domestic terrorist friend, Bill Ayers.
Exclusive: Obama Lived 1/2 Mile From Bill Ayers’ College, May Have Shared Apartment
National Student Clearinghouse
Founded in 1993, the clearinghouse describes itself as “the nation’s trusted source for education verification and student educational outcomes research.” Participating colleges and universities provide the clearinghouse with enrollment and degree information on their students and authorize it to respond on their behalf for degree confirmation in conformity with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Saturday, July 7, 2012
September Songs
The Tempos - See you in September, 2:14 (1959)
September Song, Brook Benton, 3:13
Brook Benton was an American singer and songwriter who was a major factor in Rock, R&B, and popular music. His songs Endlessly and Its Just A Matter Of Time reached #3 and #1 on Billboard charts in 1959. He had a total of 16 top 10 hits between 1959 and 1963, with several others reaching the top 40. He is probably best known for his classic Rainy Night In Georgia which reached #1 in 1970. He wrote or co-wrote most of his songs, and also wrote numerous songs for other performers. This selection is from his album Songs I Love To Sing.
The Happenings - See You In September (filmed on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis), 2:45 (1966)
The Happenings were a pop music group that originated in the 1960s. The group's major hits were "See You In September" (1966), which was originally recorded by the Tempos in 1959; a cover version of the George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin song, "I Got Rhythm" (1967), updated for the nascent pop/rock era; and "Hare Krishna," a cover version of a song from the musical Hair (1969). The group's "See You In September" and "I've Got Rhythm" were on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles charts for 14 weeks in 1966 and 1967, respectively, forming musical bookends for the 1966-1967 school year, and both peaked at number 3. Both disc sales exceeded one million copies, resulting in R.I.A.A. gold record awards by 1969.
Members of the original group, created in 1965, all hailed from Paterson, New Jersey and consisted of Bob Miranda, David Libert, Tom Giuliano and Ralph DiVito. In 1968, DiVito was replaced by Bernie LaPorta. Lenny Conforti also joined at this time to play drums in the touring band. Both LaPorta and Conforti took a hiatus from the Northern New Jersey band The Emerald Experience to play and tour with The Happenings. The band continued in this present configuration, performing mostly at colleges and universities until 1970, when Libert left the band to pursue other endeavors within the music industry. Libert went on to manage various bands, including George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, Living Colour, Brian Auger, Vanilla Fudge, The Runaways (Cherie Currie, Joan Jett, Lita Ford), Mother's Finest, Alice Cooper and Evelyn "Champagne" King.
The group had nine Billboard Hot 100 Singles hits from 1967 to 1968, including covers of "Go Away Little Girl" (a #1 hit for Steve Lawrence in 1962) and the jazz song "My Mammy" (popularized by Al Jolson in the 1920s). Both songs peaked at number 13. They also both achieved sales in excess of one million copies, garnering the group another couple of gold records. According to Miranda, the group's original formula was to "take a song that's already proven it could be a hit and put our spin on it". They later wrote some of their own songs, including "Hare Krishna".
The band still exists and continues to perform with lead singer Miranda as the only remaining original member. They recently performed on the cruise ship Explorer of the Seas performing Frankie Valle songs and Run Around Sue.
LaPorta was a high-school music teacher in the North Arlington Middle School until the middle of the 2006-2007 school year, when he retired from his position.
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, "See You In September" was listed in a memo containing 150 songs that radio conglomerate Clear Channel Communications suggested to be pulled from the airwaves - despite the fact that the song is about two lovers saying goodbye for the summer, and has nothing to do with terrorism.
Earth, Wind & Fire - September, 3:36
SEPTEMBER SONG - WILLIE NELSON, 4:33
Big Star - "September Gurls", 2:50
A tribute to a gorgeous bittersweet pop song by Big Star, "September gurls". It appears on their 2nd record, "Radio City" (1974). The song was rated #178 by Rolling Stone in their "top 500 songs of all time"
Fans of "That 70's show" should look for their songs "In the street" and "Thirteen", available on their 1st record, "#1 Record".
Economics: Get Government out of Welfare Now! An Interview with Star Parker
"I know firsthand about welfare and welfare dependency because of my own life, living seven years in and out," says Star Parker, founder and president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE).
Parker, also a syndicated columnist, explains what she thinks are the actual steps out of poverty and why our government should have no role in welfare in America.
Started as part of the Lyndon Johnson's Great Society in the 1960s, the War on Poverty has been anything but effective, according to Parker. "This whole notion that we should even have a 'war on poverty' dismisses the fact that individuals have a role in their own lives," she says.
Parker sat down with Reason.tv's Tracy Oppenheimer to talk about her own experiences with the welfare system, and how she wants to reform it, even beyond the historic changes to welfare in the 1990s.
About 8 minutes. Shot by Paul Detrick, Zach Weissmueller, and Sharif Matar; edited by Oppenheimer.
Free 1Lt Michael Behenna
Michael's plight is standard fare for weak-kneed government officials today. What he did was simply perform the job he was trained to do, just as military personnel have done against America's enemies in the past. We want our enemies eliminated and this is what Michael has done. I encourage the next President, Romney, to pardon Michael and reverse the politically correct and misguided policies of the present regime.
Muslim Political Discussion: Gun, Thrown Shoe
The MP, named in a YouTube clip of the confrontation as Mohammed Shawabka, was debating a political activist named in the clip as Mansour Sayf al-Din Murad, discussing aspects of Jordanian politics including attitudes surrounding the uprising in Syria.
Russian bomber intrusion near Pacific coast is second in two weeks...
"Putin is testing Obama."
Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, a former Alaska commander for the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said the latest Bear H intrusion appears to be Russian military testing.
“It’s becoming very obvious that Putin is testing Obama and his national security team,” McInerney told the Free Beacon. “These long-range aviation excursions are duplicating exercises I experienced during the height of the Cold War when I command the Alaska NORAD region.
"Obama is about to make a unilateral reduction of our nuclear forces as well as major reductions in our air defense forces.”
“These are not good indications of future U.S. Russian relations.”
Friday, July 6, 2012
History of Gold
The History of Gold (Part 1)
The Gold Series: Mining and Supply (Part 2)
Find more of Visual Capitalists graphics here.
CHRISTIAN FINED & SENTENCED TO 60 DAYS IN JAIL OVER AZ HOME BIBLE STUDIES
Michael Salman, who lives in Phoenix, Ariz., has been sentenced to a startling 60 days in jail, given a $12,180 fine and granted three years probation for refusing to stop hosting Bible studies at his home.
Salman and his wife discuss their legal battle.
DO HIPSTERS IN BROOKLYN KNOW WHAT THE ‘GOD PARTICLE’ IS?
To help explain the Higgs boson — a subatomic particle that is expected to provide fundamental answers as to how our universe, as we know it, formed — watch this a simple explanation from “Minute Physics”:
Thursday, July 5, 2012
MAN SUING PA STATE POLICE AFTER GRUESOME BEATING & ARREST
The suspect, Robert Leone, of Vestal, N.Y., was reportedly pulled over on suspicion of committing a minor hit-and-run in Bradford County, Pa. Trooper Scott Renfer reportedly broke his hand after delivering “blow after blow” to Leone’s head. The suspect also argues he was repeatedly kicked and Tased while he was off-camera. The lawsuit asserts police did not allow EMS personnel to treat Leone at the scene and refused to let him be transported by ambulance to the hospital. Instead, they hogtied him and threw him in the back of a police car before taking him to get medical attention. Meanwhile, the trooper who broke his hand beating on Leone’s head rode in the ambulance en route to the hospital.
Leone was convicted in late 2010 of a number of charges, such as assault, fleeing or eluding police and resisting arrest. He is currently serving a 48-month prison sentence. And though the incident happened more than a year ago, his supporters are still advocating for Leone’s release and want the officers involved to face punishment.
Summer Institute 2012 at The University of Pennsylvania: "Teaching Peace & Revolution around the World as a Pedagogical Tool"
Monday, August 6, 2012 - 9:30am - Friday, August 10, 2012
Location: 3907 Spruce St. (Carriage House/LGBT Center) University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia , PA 19104
Website: http://www.africa.upenn.edu/institute/institute12.html
Summer Institute 2012 focuses on the political, economic, technological, and social impact of the world's revolutions. This professional development week consists of panels, renowned speakers, performances and educational activities. Focusing on themes of youth, human rights, religion, social media, film, and science & technology; educators are encouraged to strengthen existing lessons and incorporate new discoveries into their curriculum.
MUSLIM CONGRESSMAN WANTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO FOLLOW CURRICULUM OF THE KORAN
Muslim Congressman: U.S. Schools Should Be Modeled After Madrassas
Muslim Congressman André Carson says American Schools Should Be Modeled After Madrassas. While speaking at the ICNA-MAS convention, Carson told those in attendance that America's schools should be 'modeled' after 'madrassas' (Islamic schools).
Incidentally, the ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America) was identified in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document as one of 29 'like minded' organizations. The goal of these organizations? According to the document itself: "...their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands ... so that ... God's religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions."
MAS (Muslim American Society) was formed in 1992, one year after the date of the document, which might explain why they weren't one of the 29. Bolstering that case further is the fact that MAS has identified two groups who are on the list of the notorious 29 -- Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) as being like-minded.
So, as DHS is more concerned with 'rightwing extremism' than it is with Jihad, a sitting U.S. Congressman is a featured speaker at a convention filled with those who want to destroy Western civilization (America) from within."
ICNA-MAS 2012: The State of The American Family by Congressman Andre Carson
Islamic Circle of North America
Muslim American Society
At 6:20 Carson says we should have Muslim madrassas in the public schools or America will not succeed.
Muslim Congressman André Carson says American Schools Should Be Modeled After Madrassas. While speaking at the ICNA-MAS convention, Carson told those in attendance that America's schools should be 'modeled' after 'madrassas' (Islamic schools).
Incidentally, the ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America) was identified in a 1991 Muslim Brotherhood document as one of 29 'like minded' organizations. The goal of these organizations? According to the document itself: "...their work in America is a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands ... so that ... God's religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions."
MAS (Muslim American Society) was formed in 1992, one year after the date of the document, which might explain why they weren't one of the 29. Bolstering that case further is the fact that MAS has identified two groups who are on the list of the notorious 29 -- Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Muslim Students Association (MSA) as being like-minded.
So, as DHS is more concerned with 'rightwing extremism' than it is with Jihad, a sitting U.S. Congressman is a featured speaker at a convention filled with those who want to destroy Western civilization (America) from within."
ICNA-MAS 2012: The State of The American Family by Congressman Andre Carson
Islamic Circle of North America
Muslim American Society
At 6:20 Carson says we should have Muslim madrassas in the public schools or America will not succeed.
Pakistan: Madrassa, 5:09
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6148590.stm
OBAMA'S SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER CHALLENGED
Woman's court filing based on myriad anomalies.
Obama’s number was issued in March 1977 in Connecticut. Obama was then a 15-year-old living in Hawaii. There is no record of him even visiting Connecticut at this time.
Obama used the 042 number to get a driver’s license when at Harvard and as recently as on his 2009 income tax return.
DNS Malware: Is Your Computer Infected?
Details here and how to check your machine.
How can you detect if your computer has been violated and infected with DNS Changer?
Check out this animation to see the number of infections spread per hour during a given time-frame:
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Occupy Phoenix with AR-15's
Armed citizen militia group US Border Guard is making its presence felt at the Occupy Phoenix demonstration to protect free speech rights, arguing that the second amendment prevents the state from abusing the first amendment.
The group has been labeled “neo-nazis” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which is usually a demonization tactic, but the individual shown in the clip, “JT Ready” has attended neo-nazi rallies and is closely affiliated with the fringe National Socialist Party.
The group has also operated as a “Minutemen on steroids” outfit, organizing armed patrols of the US border with Mexico.
As we have previously highlighted, the fringe neo-nazi movement has been completely infiltrated by the FBI, right down to the level where an FBI informant actually got caught organizing a neo-nazi rally in Orlando back in 2007.
Is this a means of infiltrating the ‘Occupy’ movement, a minority fringe extremist group trying to attach itself to the protesters, or merely concerned citizens expressing their right to bear arms peaceably?
Opinions will undoubtedly be split, but one certainty is the fact that the establishment media instantly seized upon groups like this attaching themselves to the Tea Party rallies as a smear tactic to claim the whole movement was racist and violent. However, in the case of ‘Occupy’, the mainstream networks have largely ignored making such connections.
Occupy Philly Wilts in Heat
OWS‘S ’NAT-GAT’ WILTS IN THE PHILLY HEAT
Nat-Gen had a few more people.
On 19th and the Parkway, after the fireworks, a crowd briefly occupied the Logan Circle.
Another shot of Logan.
Reagan, 4 July 1986
Reagan, 4 July 1986
Text of the speech:
My fellow Americans:
In a few moments the celebration will begin here in New York Harbor. It’s going to be quite a show. I was just looking over the preparations and thinking about a saying that we had back in Hollywood about never doing a scene with kids or animals because they’d steal the scene every time. So, you can rest assured I wouldn’t even think about trying to compete with a fireworks display, especially on the Fourth of July.
My remarks tonight will be brief, but it’s worth remembering that all the celebration of this day is rooted in history. It’s recorded that shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed in Philadelphia celebrations took place throughout the land, and many of the former Colonists — they were just starting to call themselves Americans — set off cannons and marched in fife and drum parades.
What a contrast with the sober scene that had taken place a short time earlier in Independence Hall. Fifty-six men came forward to sign the parchment. It was noted at the time that they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honors. And that was more than rhetoric; each of those men knew the penalty for high treason to the Crown. “We must all hang together,” Benjamin Franklin said, “or, assuredly, we will all hang separately.” And John Hancock, it is said, wrote his signature in large script so King George could see it without his spectacles. They were brave. They stayed brave through all the bloodshed of the coming years. Their courage created a nation built on a universal claim to human dignity, on the proposition that every man, woman, and child had a right to a future of freedom.
For just a moment, let us listen to the words again: “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.” Last night when we rededicated Miss Liberty and relit her torch, we reflected on all the millions who came here in search of the dream of freedom inaugurated in Independence Hall. We reflected, too, on their courage in coming great distances and settling in a foreign land and then passing on to their children and their children’s children the hope symbolized in this statue here just behind us: the hope that is America. It is a hope that someday every people and every nation of the world will know the blessings of liberty.
And it’s the hope of millions all around the world. In the last few years, I’ve spoken at Westminster to the
mother of Parliaments; at Versailles, where French kings and world leaders have made war and peace. I’ve been to the Vatican in Rome, the Imperial Palace in Japan, and the ancient city of Beijing. I’ve seen the beaches of Normandy and stood again with those boys of Pointe du Hoc, who long ago scaled the heights, and with, at that time, Lisa Zanatta Henn, who was at Omaha Beach for the father she loved, the father who had once dreamed of seeing again the place where he and so many brave others had landed on D-day. But he had died before he could make that trip, and she made it for him. “And, Dad,” she had said, “I’ll always be proud.”
And I’ve seen the successors to these brave men, the young Americans in uniform all over the world, young Americans like you here tonight who man the mighty U.S.S. Kennedy and the Iowa and other ships of the line. I can assure you, you out there who are listening, that these young are like their fathers and their grandfathers, just as willing, just as brave. And we can be just as proud. But our prayer tonight is that the call for their courage will never come. And that it’s important for us, too, to be brave; not so much the bravery of the battlefield, I mean the bravery of brotherhood.
All through our history, our Presidents and leaders have spoken of national unity and warned us that the real obstacle to moving forward the boundaries of freedom, the only permanent danger to the hope that is America, comes from within. It’s easy enough to dismiss this as a kind of familiar exhortation. Yet the truth is that even two of our greatest Founding Fathers, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, once learned this lesson late in life. They’d worked so closely together in Philadelphia for independence. But once that was gained and a government was formed, something called partisan politics began to get in the way. After a bitter and divisive campaign, Jefferson defeated Adams for the Presidency in 1800. And the night before Jefferson’s inauguration, Adams slipped away to Boston, disappointed, brokenhearted, and bitter.
For years their estrangement lasted. But then when both had retired, Jefferson at 68 to Monticello and Adams at 76 to Quincy, they began through their letters to speak again to each other. Letters that discussed almost every conceivable subject: gardening, horseback riding, even sneezing as a cure for hiccups; but other subjects as well: the loss of loved ones, the mystery of grief and sorrow, the importance of religion, and of course the last thoughts, the final hopes of two old men, two great patriarchs, for the country that they had helped to found and loved so deeply. “It carries me back,” Jefferson wrote about correspondence with his cosigner of the Declaration of Independence, “to the times when, beset with difficulties and dangers, we were fellow laborers in the same cause, struggling for what is most valuable to man, his right to self-government. Laboring always at the same oar, with some wave ever ahead threatening to overwhelm us and yet passing harmless . . . we rowed through the storm with heart and hand . . . .” It was their last gift to us, this lesson in brotherhood, in tolerance for each other, this insight into America’s strength as a nation. And when both died on the same day within hours of each other, that date was July 4th, 50 years exactly after that first gift to us, the Declaration of Independence.
My fellow Americans, it falls to us to keep faith with them and all the great Americans of our past. Believe me, if there’s one impression I carry with me after the privilege of holding for 5\1/2\ years the office held by Adams and Jefferson and Lincoln, it is this: that the things that unite us — America‘s past of which we’re so proud, our hopes and aspirations for the future of the world and this much-loved country — these things far outweigh what little divides us. And so tonight we reaffirm that Jew and gentile, we are one nation under God; that black and white, we are one nation indivisible; that Republican and Democrat, we are all Americans. Tonight, with heart and hand, through whatever trial and travail, we pledge ourselves to each other and to the cause of human freedom, the cause that has given light to this land and hope to the world.
My fellow Americans, we’re known around the world as a confident and a happy people. Tonight there’s much to celebrate and many blessings to be grateful for. So while it’s good to talk about serious things, it’s just as important and just as American to have some fun. Now, let’s have some fun — let the celebration begin!
Note: The President spoke at 9:50 p.m. from the U.S.S. “John F. Kennedy” in New York Harbor. Earlier, on board the ship, he attended a USO show and a reenlistment and promotion ceremony for members of the crew. Following the fireworks display, the President went to the Rockefeller estate in Pocantico Hills, NY, where he stayed overnight.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
World History I: Roman Civilization Arises in Italy
Roman Civilization Arises in Italy
The Italian peninsula is centrally located in the Mediterranean Sea, and the city of Rome sits toward the center of Italy. This location would benefit the Romans as they expanded—first within Italy and then into the lands bordering the Mediterranean.
Unifying the Lands of Italy
Because of its geography, Italy proved much easier to unify than Greece. Unlike Greece, Italy is not broken up into small, isolated valleys. In addition, the Apennine Mountains, which run down the length of the Italian peninsula, are less rugged than the mountains of Greece. Finally, Italy has broad, fertile plains in the north and the west. These plains supported the growing population.
Early Peoples Settle Italy
By about 800 B.C., the ancestors of the Romans, called the Latins, migrated into Italy. The Latins settled along the Tiber River in small villages scattered over seven low-lying hills. There, they herded and farmed. Their villages would in time grow together into Rome, the city on seven hills. Legend held that twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, had founded the city. Romans regarded this tale highly because the twins were said to be sons of a Latin woman and the war god Mars, lending the Romans a divine origin.
Map
Ancient Italy About 500 B.C.
Map Skills
At the time the state of Rome was founded, the Romans’ many neighbors on the Italian peninsula included other speakers of Italic languages such as Latin.
The Roman god Jupiter, whose traits resembled those of Tinia, an important Etruscan god
The Romans shared the Italian peninsula with other peoples. Among them were Greek colonists whose city-states dotted southern Italy and the Etruscans, who lived mostly north of Rome. The origins of the Etruscan civilization are uncertain. One theory says they migrated from Asia Minor, while another suggests they came from the Alps. What is certain is that, for a time, the Etruscans ruled much of central Italy, including Rome itself.
The Romans learned much from Etruscan civilization. They adapted the alphabet that the Etruscans had earlier acquired from the Greeks. The Romans also learned from the Etruscans to use the arch in construction, and they adapted Etruscan engineering techniques to drain the marshy lands along the Tiber. As well, the Romans adopted some Etruscan gods and goddesses and merged them with Roman deities.
Homeland Security Report Lists ‘Liberty Lovers’ As Terrorists
A new study funded by the Department of Homeland Security characterizes Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority,” and “reverent of individual liberty” as “extreme right-wing” terrorists.
Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970-2008 largely omits Islamism - the report fails completely to mention the 1993 World Trade Center bombing – the study focuses on Americans who hold beliefs shared by the vast majority of conservatives and libertarians and puts them in the context of radical extremism.
Hot Spots of Terrorism and Other Crimes in the United States, 1970-2008 largely omits Islamism - the report fails completely to mention the 1993 World Trade Center bombing – the study focuses on Americans who hold beliefs shared by the vast majority of conservatives and libertarians and puts them in the context of radical extremism.
The report takes its definitions from a 2011 study entitled Profiles of Perpetrators of Terrorism, produced by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, in which the following characteristics are used to identify terrorists.
- Americans who believe their “way of life” is under attack;
- Americans who are “fiercely nationalistic (as opposed to universal and international in orientation)”;
- People who consider themselves “anti-global” (presumably those who are wary of the loss of American sovereignty);
- Americans who are “suspicious of centralized federal authority”;
- Americans who are “reverent of individual liberty”;
- People who “believe in conspiracy theories that involve grave threat to national sovereignty and/or personal liberty.”
The report also lists people opposed to abortion and “groups that seek to smite the purported enemies of God and other evildoers” as terrorists.
‘SOMETIMES THE GOVERNMENT MUST LEAD’: MSNBC HOST SUGGESTS MORE MANDATES FOR OBAMA’S SECOND TERM
In a clip that Mediaite described as “[descending] into self-parody,” MSNBC’s Touré said on The Cycle Monday that the government has a responsibility to “lead” the country into the future– whether the people are ready for it or not.
After likening “We the People” to “petulant children” who sometimes need to be dragged “[kicking] and [screaming],” the MSNBC host declared:
“Perhaps if there’s a second term for Obama after health care is enacted and people see it working well and get used to it, he’ll float to a new level of power.“Maybe he’ll go even further trying to bolster his legacy by enacting new paternalistic mandates meant to make the nation better. Saying all Americans must vote, because government works better when all participate in selecting leaders.Eat your vegetables!Maybe mandate that all citizens must go to some sort of post-high school college — maybe liberal arts, maybe technical — because America works better when we are better educated and trained.Eat your vegetables!How about a mandate of a year or two of public service after college?” [Emphasis added]
Which leaves many asking: which of this is meant as an insult to Republicans, and which of this is serious? Roughly one week ago, panelists on the same show were actually advocatingmandatory voting, and the president has called for a civilian security force (or “civil service”) “just as strong, just as powerful, and just as well-funded” as the U.S. military.
In fact, the only part of the description that seems beyond the realm of plausibility is: “Eat your vegetables!” and post-Bloomberg’s soda ban, many probably wouldn’t even be surprised by that.
But Touré still wasn’t done. This part, however, seemed to be a little more comedic. He continued:
“…Mandate extensive premarital counseling and maybe even a review board that can determine whether or not a couple can get married, and pre-divorce counseling to try and save marriages, because teaching relationship skills is critical to building strong nuclear families.” [Emphasis added]
S.E. Cupp of The Blaze, now a regular on the MSNBC show, was practically speechless by the end of the dramatic monologue.
“I mandate that Touré never be elected to office,” she said.
Independence Hall TEA Party, 2012
Tuesday, July 03, 2012
Pamela Geller, Keynote Speaker July 4th Independence Hall Tea Party, Philadelphia
Celebrate our nation's birthday in our nation's birthplace.
Happy warriors :)
Brandon Posner's Speech at the Independence Hall Tea Party's "Celebrating American Exceptionalism" Rally in the Independence Visitor Center on Independence Day 2012.
Ancient Greek Music: Sappho's Wedding Hymn (Epithalamion)
The song is ΕΠIΘAΛAMIO THΣ ΣAΠΦOYΣ (Epithalamio tis Sapfous), taken from the collection of recreated Greek music made by Petros Tabouris (ΠΕΤΡΟΣ ΤΑΜΠΟΥΡΗΣ): Melos Arheon (MEΛOΣ APXAION) - Vol.1 Secular Music of Greek Antiquity.
Fragment 111:
ἴψοι δἡ τὁ μἐλαθρoν,
ὑμἠναoν,
ἁἐρρετε, τἐκτoνες ἄνδρες·
ὑμἠναoν,
γάμβρoς εἱς ἐρχεται ἶσoς Ἄρευι,
ὑμἠναoν,
ἄνδρoς μεγάλω πoλυ μἐσδων.
ὑμἠναoν.
Oh the roof on high,
sing hymnaios,
raise up, craftsmen,
sing hymnaios.
The bridegroom comes just like Ares,
a man much bigger than a big man.
Sing hymnaios.
***
Sappho (Σαπφώ) of Lesbos (Λέσβος), lived in the VII-VI century BC, and was a great lyric poet of Ancient Greece.
The Roman wedding I conferratio
The Roman wedding I conferratio
Svishtov, Bulgaria, on September, 20th 2009, festival "Antique inheritance". Ritual reconstruction "the Roman wedding" ( conferratio) which was recreated by group of participants of the organisation is Nova Roma . Records of Horace , Dionysius of Halicarnassus , Tacitus and Pliny were used.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Abortion facility staffers dance after botched abortion
On Friday, October 21, 2011, an ambulance arrived at Affiliated Medical Service in Milwaukee to take another woman to the hospital after a botched abortion. AMS staff can be seen singing, dancing and even threatening pro-life vigilers as the woman was taken away. This is at least the third time this year an ambulance has arrived at AMS after a botched abortion; sidewalk counselors recorded two separate ambulance visits on April 8. Abortionist Bernie Smith was reportedly on duty.
Drone Ethics
Drone industry releases ethics code
The guidelines focus on three principals: safety, professionalism, and respect. They include promises that the industry will properly test all drones before flight, comply with all laws governing aircraft, respect the privacy of individuals and work to better educate the public.
I feel so much better now that they safely, professionally, and respectfully violate my natural rights.
Moochelle, MICHELLE OBAMA: THERE‘S ’NO PLACE BETTER’ THAN CHURCH TO TALK ABOUT POLITICAL ISSUES
Legally, churches are restricted from delving too deeply into the political schema. While they can address the issues of the day, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations forbid pastors and faith leaders from endorsing candidates from the pulpit. Many conservative and liberal leaders, alike, rail against these regulations, claiming that they are unfair and that they hamper free speech.
“To anyone who says that church is no place to talk about these issues, you tell them there is no place better – no place better,” Obama told the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s 49th general conference, held in in Nashville, Tenn.
“Because ultimately, these are not just political issues – they are moral issues,” she said. “They’re issues that have to do with human dignity and human potential, and the future we want for our kids and our grandkids.”
“To anyone who says that church is no place to talk about these issues, you tell them there is no place better – no place better,” Obama told the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s 49th general conference, held in in Nashville, Tenn.
“Because ultimately, these are not just political issues – they are moral issues,” she said. “They’re issues that have to do with human dignity and human potential, and the future we want for our kids and our grandkids.”
A clip from the speech captures the point
CNN has a longer version, too, showing Obama warning the congregation about “other folks” who are active (i.e. Republicans):
Ian Hunter and Todd Rundgren - Live 1980 (Disk 2) (With Bonus Tracks)
According to, "Buckeye Randy," a source on the Ian Hunter site who was at the show this is the 1980.10.20, IH/Rundgen, Agora, Akron OH show; I had assumed it was the 1980.10.19 gig with IH/Rundgen, Agora, Cleveland OH since on YouTube the poster stated it was "Cleveland 1980." This was an audience recording.
Screenshot from the YouTube video:
1980, Ian with Stephen Dees
1980, Ian with Todd Rundgren, and Stephen Dees
1980, Tommy Mandel (Dire Straits), Michael Shrieve (Santana, Novo Combo), Ian, Todd Rundgren, Stephen Dees (Novo Combo, Bandees), Mick Ronson
1. Do Ya
2. Black and White
3. Love Of The Common Man
4. Once Bitten Twice Shy
5. All The Way From Memphis
6. Needles And Pins (Jack Nitzsche and Sonny Bono)
7. Cathy's Clown
8. Eight Days A Week
9. Black Maria
10. One World
11. Bastard
12. The Last Ride
13. All The Young Dudes
Side 2
1. Just Another Night
2. Couldn't I Just Tell You
3. Let's Get On With It
4. Just One Victory
5. Cleveland Rocks
Anti-Reagan rap during this John Anderson Benefit Concert
6. The Last Ride
7. Eight Days A Week
8. There Goes My Inspiration
9. Love Of The Common Man
10. If I Didn't Try
11. Tiny Demons
12. It Wouldn't Have Made Any Difference
13. Style
14. Blue Orpheus
There is no hard evidence from the concert but the ticket stub depicted is the closest available.
THE BAND
Todd Rundgren (guitar, piano,
vocals), Roger Powell (keyboards, vocals), Ian Hunter
(guitar, piano, vocals), Mick Ronson (guitar, vocals),
Stephen Dees (bass, vocals),
Mick Shrieve (drums)
Poster
John Anderson Presidential Campaign Poster
Todd Rundgren & Ian Hunter & Mick Ronson - Live The Agora 1980 (Full Bootleg with Bonus tracks)
'Election 1980' single, 2:15
'ELECTION 1980' single was released in late 1980 in time for the presidential election between Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and independent candidate John Anderson. The recording itself is a comedic cut and paste piece that was popular on the nationally syndicated radio program, The Dr. Demento Show
In the recording, the artist, Dickie Goodman, is heard interviewing Reagan, Carter and Anderson on the eve of the election and each of the candidates responds back through recorded lines from the Top 40 hits of that time.
This record is worth noting here as two tracks from Xanadu were used for this single, Magic and Xanadu.
Goodman has made a career out of these types of novelty records, going far back to 1956 as part of 'Buchanan & Goodman' with their first hit, The Flying Saucer Pt. 1 & 2. This first single had space men invading Earth while Goodman asks questions to them and authorities with small excepts of hits from that same year were used for answers.
Goodman continued to issue similar records that comedicly mirrored the times: Mr. Jaws* (for the popular movie), Energy Crisis 74, Watergrate (Nixon and Watergate), Kong (for the 1977 remake), Superfly Meets Shaft, On Campus (1969), Hey E. T.!, Buchanan & Goodman On Trial (1956 single responding to the lawsuits from the their first single) and so on.
Dickie died in 1989 and his son had written his father's biography, King Of Novelty for Libris Books in 2002. 'Election 80' was out-of-print for years until in 1998 when a second CD collection of Goodman's works was released, entitled 'Greatest Fables Vol. 2', which is believed to be still in print.
*For you more anal-retentive fans, especially the ONJ ones, Goodman used a part of the chorus from 'Please Mr. Please' in the original 1974 Mr. Jaws single. Be sure to look for the original version as sequent versions replaced ONJ cut with a different singer.
PS: the Casey Kasem "bit" at the end is NOT part of the single.
XANADU (c) Universal City Studios Inc. ALL OTHER COPYRIGHTS ACKNOWLEDGED
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