GBTV - Where the Truth Lives

Election Season 2014

And it has brought us to this trainwreck called ObamaCare and we have bankrupted our kids and grandkids!

We are now headed into the 2014 Election Season and common sense and conservatism are on the rise. Please stand-up and be counted!

Reading Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election is a great place to start!

The Founding Father's Real Reason for the Second Amendment

And remember the words of Thomas Jefferson "The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." See Video of Suzanna Gratia-Hupp’s Congressional Testimony: What the Second Amendment is REALLY For, below (u-tube HERE).

The Leaders Are Here... Palin, Cruz, Lee, Paul, Chaffetz....

T'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Can You Really Still Believe That None of These People Would Have Done a Better Job???

Bloggers' Rights at EFF

SIGN THE PETITION TODAY...

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Michelle Malkin: Yes, Michelle Obama is fair game

Who will vet the First Lady? It’s Michelle vs. Michelle, Round 2…

Michelle Obama’s “Civilian” Act Is Hard To Swallow
by Michelle Malkin - author of Culture of Corruption
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2012

The first lady of the United States is on a whirlwind publicity tour for her hefty new food and gardening book ($30)… (American Grown), which the White House hopes will bolster Team Obama’s favorability ratings. I’d say it’s a classic recipe for rank campaign hypocrisy and media double standards.

While journalists savor chummy chitchats with Mrs. Obama about beets and Beyonce, FLOTUS is once again escaping hard questions about her cronyism, junk science and generous junkets at taxpayer expense.

Mrs. Obama’s 2012 campaign media blitz has already brought her to daytime airwaves (“The Ellen DeGeneres Show”), prime-time reality TV (“The Biggest Loser”) and children’s programming (“iCarly”). This week, she’s hitting up “Good Morning America,” “The View,” Rachael Ray’s cooking show, “LIVE! with Kelly (Ripa)” and Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”… promoting her book American Grown 

Out: Let’s Move! In: Let’s Move … in front of the TV cameras!

My prediction? As soon as the fawning media frenzy dies down and Mrs. Obama’s book rises to the top of The New York Times best-seller list, POTUS will go back to claiming that FLOTUS is a “private citizen” who should be left alone. The Obamas’ Chicago strategists have long enjoyed invoking selective immunity for the first lady without challenge. Lapdog reporters have assisted in creating an impenetrable bubble of political protection around the profligate, policy-meddling first lady.

We’ve seen it before.

When conservatives challenged Mrs. O’s caustic 2008 campaign trail statements disparaging America and fear-mongering for votes, her hubby invoked the “civilian” shield. He threatened Republicans to “lay off his wife,” arguing that political spouses should not be subject to public scrutiny because they didn’t choose public life.

When Mrs. O’s lavish vacation in Spain — accompanied by an entourage of 70 Secret Service agents and 250 Spanish law enforcement officers — provoked a massive public backlash in 2010, then-White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs argued that the first lady was a “private citizen” who should be off-limits to tough questions about her behavior.

Horse-hockey.

Obama’s outspoken bitter half conscientiously and deliberately inserted herself into the public square long before the family moved to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue — whether it was organizing a Woods Fund panel with her husband and Weather Underground terrorist Bill Ayers, taking a publicly subsidized government job with Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, or parlaying her relationship with political mentor Valerie Jarrett into a cushy public job at the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she oversaw a patient-dumping scheme that benefited her political cronies.

As I reported earlier this month, Mrs. Obama’s signature program (now run by Obama’s best golfing buddy Dr. Eric Whitaker) just received a $6 million grant from an Obamacare agency with zero independent oversight. Taste the boodle.

Just a humble private mom raising her two daughters while Dad does all that hardball politics stuff? Pshaw. Let’s not forget that Mrs. Obama leveraged her hubby’s Senate victory to snag a lucrative seat on the corporate board of directors of TreeHouse Foods, Inc. despite having zero experience in the industry.

When her garden gloves are off, her political boxing gloves are on. Mrs. O famously has castigated other Americans’ choices in how they earn their money. She used her East Wing power to push Obamacare. She has exploited the bully pulpit to restrict food advertisers’ speech. She has served the SEIU’s legislative agenda of increasing the welfare state and padding membership rolls with more government school workers under the guise of fighting child obesity.

And she has relied on questionable science to declare war on so-called “food deserts” in poor neighborhoods where she claims only fast food is available. But according to two major peer-reviewed and published studies: 1) poor neighborhoods had nearly twice the number of supermarkets and large-scale grocers per square mile as wealthier neighborhoods, and 2) there is no correlation between what students in a large-scale California survey ate, what they weighed and what kinds of food they ate within the immediate radius of their homes.

While she denies a Nanny State agenda, Mrs. Obama successfully has strong-armed several major restaurant chains into redesigning their menus to her exacting healthful standards. One of those targets is Darden Restaurants, which operates Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants across the country. At a time when most food service providers are struggling under the weight of increased taxes, health care mandates and regulations, Darden Restaurants just happens to be one of the few and fortunate businesses to obtain one of those coveted Obamacare waivers.

When Michelle Obama stops using her public office to push new Big Government power grabs and redistribute wealth to her cronies (flashback: Chicago Obama-lympics), stoke racial grievances, and meddle in Obama administration personnel decisions that lead to whistleblower firings (ask her about former AmeriCorps Inspector General Gerald Walpin), I’ll leave her alone.

Until then, someone’s got to deliver FLOTUS her just desserts.

Related: (Sent to me by a friend):

Referencing CFR Above:

This is Where Michelle Obama is Listed on CFR Board of Directors In Chicago

http://www.thechicagocouncil.org/chicago_council_board_directors.php

You might think that this is not affiliated with the CFR, but in fact, the name has been changed. If you run your mouse over where it says The Chicago Council on the left side then select FAQ, question # 7 reads the following:

7.Why did the Chicago Council change its name?
On September 1, 2006, The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations was renamed The Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
The world has undergone tremendous change since The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations was founded in 1922. Today, more than ever before, our world is shaped by forces far beyond capital cities. Chicago and the Midwest are affected by events and decisions that reach across national borders.
Our new name, The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, respects our heritage while it signals our understanding of these changes and reflects our expanding efforts to contribute to the global discourse on the critical issues of the day. What has not changed is our commitment to nonpartisanship and public education.

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Team that Got Bin Laden… If You Heard Obama's speech

Obama Osama Team 

Watcher’s Council Nominations – Post Memorial Day Edition

Watcher’s Council Nominations – Post Memorial Day Edition

JoshuaPundit on May 30 2012

People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. – George Orwell

Welcome to the Watcher’s Council, a blogging group consisting of some of the most incisive blogs in the ‘sphere, and the longest running group of its kind in existence. Every week, the members nominate two posts each, one written by themselves and one written by someone from outside the group for consideration by the whole Council.Then we vote on the best two posts, with the results appearing on Friday.

Council News:

This week, Crazy Bald Guy, Right Truth, Common Cents, Against All Enemies and Pirates Cove took advantage of my generous offer of link whorage and earned honorable mention status with some great pieces.

You can, too! Want to see your work appear on the Watcher’s Council homepage in our weekly contest listing? Didn’t get nominated by a Council member? No worries.

Simply head over to Joshuapundit and post the title a link to the piece you want considered along with an e-mail address ( which won’t be published) in the comments section no later than Monday 6PM PST in order to be considered for our honorable mention category, and return the favor by creating a post on your site linking to the Watcher’s Council contest for the week.

It’s a great way of exposing your best work to Watcher’s Council readers and Council members. while grabbing the increased traffic and notoriety. And how good is that, eh?

So, let’s see what we have this week….


Council Submissions

Honorable Mentions
Non-Council Submissions

Enjoy! And don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter..’cause we’re cool like that!

One of the main reasons that our children don’t share the same values as their parents, especially this generation, is because they don’t learn history, they don’t go to church or know their spiritual history and most everyone spends their  free time attached to, watching, listening to or operating some type of electronics instead of talking and sharing with their family and friends in person or participating in activities and events with their mentors or peers.  Spend time with your kids sharing, going on valuable outings and even watching movies that can generate discussion or an interest in them to read and research further.  Choosing a book a month to read and share (between parents or grandparents and kids) is another good instructional opportunity)  Every holiday, outing, event or evening at home is an opportunity for fun, togetherness and learning!!  Ask Marion~

Romney Wins Texas and Clinches GOP Nomination

Mitt Romney clinched the Republican presidential nomination last night (Tuesday) with a win in the Texas primary, officially garnering the 1,144 delegates needed to claim the Republican presidential nomination.  It was a triumph of endurance for the candidate who came up short four years ago and had to fight hard this year as voters flirted with a carousel of GOP rivals, all slugging it out and scratching to reach the prize.

Romney

According to The Associated Press count, Romney surpassed the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination by winning at least 97 delegates in the Texas primary.

The former Massachusetts governor has reached the nomination milestone with a steady message of concern about the U.S. economy, a campaign organization that dwarfed those of his GOP foes and a fundraising operation second only to that of his Democratic opponent in the general election, President Barack Obama.

Romney is the first Mormon nominated by a major party. His religion has been somewhat less of an issue than it was during his failed bid four years ago; perhaps because the economy is on the forefront of everyone’s mind.  Plus many question President Obama’s honesty about his religion, so believe a Mormon is a definite improvement over a Reverend Wright style Christian or perhaps a closet Muslim.

"We did it!" Romney proclaimed in a message to supporters, noting that "it's only the beginning."

Romney was not in Texas, however, but in Las Vegas at a major fundraiser hosted by supporter Donald Trump.

Romey and Trump

"An honor and a privilege and a great responsibility," Romney told supporters at a fundraiser in Las Vegas. "And I know the road to 1,144 was long and hard, but I also know that the road to 11-06…  Nov. 6th… is also going to be long and it's going to be hard and it's going to be worth it because we're going to take back the White House and get America right again."

Romney with Vets in Craig CO - Memorial Day

Romney thanks troops in new campaign video

Romney must now fire up those conservatives who still doubt him while persuading swing voters that he can do a better job fixing the nation's struggling economy than Obama. In Obama, he faces a well-funded candidate with a proven campaign team, but in his favor, in an election year that will be heavily influenced by the negative economy… Obama’s economy.

Romney's campaign went on the attack Tuesday, releasing a Web video citing the Obama administration's loan-guarantee investments in four renewable-energy firms that lost money and laid off workers.

The message, "President Obama is fundamentally hostile to job creators",  has been a theme of the Romney campaign since he launched his presidential bid. But sensing this as an opportunity to reach a new audience, the campaign planned to highlight Obama's support for the failed renewable energy company Solyndra, among other private ventures the Obama administration helped support.

"We need to have presidents who understand how this economy works," Romney told reporters Tuesday. "Sometimes I just don't think he understands what it takes to help people. I know he wants to help, but he doesn't know what he's got to do."

Romney's message and his big day, however, were somewhat overshadowed by real estate mogul Donald Trump and his discredited suggestions that Obama wasn't born in the United States.  Course others were cheering that Trump had the guts to say it.

Romney spent Tuesday evening at a Las Vegas fundraiser with Trump, who had toyed with the idea of running for president earlier in the election season. Romney says he believes Obama was born in America but has yet to condemn Trump's repeated insinuations to the contrary.

Both Trump and Romney steered clear of the issue at Tuesday's, said to have been successful, fundraiser. (Coincidentally, Romney officially released his birth certificate yesterday.)

When asked Monday about Trump's contentions, Romney said, "I don't agree with all the people who support me. And my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in." He added, "But I need to get 50.1 percent or more. And I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."

"He's going to turn this country around. He's going to create jobs like you haven't seen for many, many years," Trump declared. "We were a great country. Soon we won't be a great country at all... Mitt Romney will make us a great country again."  Later in the evening Trump told Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, “Romney understands what needs to be done with China!”

Republicans won't officially nominate Romney until late August at the GOP national convention in Tampa, Florida. At latest count, Romney now has 1,183 convention delegates.

He won at least 97 delegates in Texas with 33 left to be decided. The 152 delegates in Texas are awarded in proportion to the statewide vote. The other delegates were sprinkled among several candidates.

Texas Republicans also voted in a Senate primary to choose a candidate to run for the seat being vacated by Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison. Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and state Solicitor General Ted Cruz were headed to a runoff in July.

With about three-fourths of precincts reporting, Dewhurst led with 45 percent of the vote compared to 33 percent for Cruz. Dewhurst, however, fell short of the majority he needed to avoid a runoff. The nominee will be strongly favored to win in November in heavily Republican Texas.

Romney, 65, is clinching the presidential nomination later in the calendar than any recent Republican candidate, but not quite as late as Obama in 2008. Obama clinched the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, at the end of an epic primary battle with now Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Four years ago, John McCain reached the delegate threshold on March 4, after Romney dropped out of the race about a month earlier.

This year's primary fight was extended by a back-loaded primary calendar because of new GOP rules that generally awarded fewer delegates for winning a state, changes they seemed to regret as the campaign bogged down.  Plus the Republican electorate seemed to enjoy extending the battle before settling on Romney.

Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and yes… Donald Trump all sat at the top the Republican field at some point. Minnesota Rep. And at one point early on, Ron Paul also appeared to have the ability to secure the top spot for a short time.  But Romney outlasted them all, even as some GOP voters and tea party backers questioned his conservative credentials.

The primary race started in January with Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, narrowly edging Romney in the Iowa caucuses. Romney rebounded with a big win in New Hampshire before Gingrich, the former House speaker, won South Carolina.

Romney responded with a barrage of negative ads against Gingrich in Florida and got a much-needed 14-point win. Romney's opponents fought back: Gingrich called him a liar, and Santorum said Romney was "the worst Republican in the country" to run against Obama.

Gingrich and Santorum assailed Romney's work at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he co-founded, saying the firm sometimes made millions at the expense of workers and jobs. It is a line of attack that Obama has promised to carry all the way to November.

On Feb. 7 Santorum swept all three contests in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota, raising questions about Romney's status as the front-runner. After a 17-day break in the voting, Romney responded with wins in Arizona, Michigan and Washington state before essentially locking up the nomination on March 6, this year's version of Super Tuesday.

Romney has already been in general-election mode for weeks, raising money and focusing on Obama, largely ignoring the primaries since his competitors dropped out or stopped campaigning. Santorum suspended his campaign April 10, and Gingrich left the race a few weeks later.  Texas Rep. Ron Paul said on May 14 he would no longer compete in primaries, though his supporters are still working to gain national delegates at state conventions.

Both Santorum and Gingrich initially offered tepid endorsements of Romney as the left the race but Gingrich is now actively promoting Romney's campaign.

Among those in the crowd in Vegas last night: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who joined his former rival on the trail for the first time since dropping his own bid for the Republican nomination last month.

While Gingrich didn't speak at the fundraiser, he talked to reporters ahead of the event, defending Romney's muted reaction to Trump's birther conspiracies.

"Gov. Romney is not distracted, the Republican Party is not distracted. We believe this is an American-born, job-killing president," Gingrich told reporters, per the Los Angeles Times. "Other people may believe that he was born somewhere else and still kills jobs, but that's an argument over background. The key fact is for any American worried about the economy, Obama is a job-killing president."

Rich Galen, a Republican strategist who has been unaligned in the 2012 race thus far, said the long, sometimes nasty primary fight should have helped Romney fine-tune his campaign organization so it can operate effectively in the general election. Galen doesn't, however, think it was relevant in toughening up Romney for the battle against Obama.  Not quite sure how that follows, but we shall see!

"Romney's been running for president for six years. He is as good a candidate as he's ever going to be," Galen said. "Whatever you say about him, he was better than everybody else in the race."

So the general now officially begins!  Game on….

Romney Meeting and Greeting

Romney’s official announcement sent out to his online supporters:

Friend,

Tonight, we surpassed 1,144 delegates and secured the nomination. I am grateful and humbled by your support through this process. We did it!

This has been an extraordinary journey. And yet it's only the beginning.

Now all Republicans can move forward toward our convention in Tampa. There, we will stand united as a party with a winning ticket for America. Ours will be a campaign to unite every American who knows in his or her heart that we can do better.

There's much to be done by November 6th - but with your help, we will get it done!

Thank you for standing with me.
Mitt Romney

___

h/t to AP writer Steve Peoples contribution to this report, reporting from Las Vegas. Photo credits to: the Arizona Daily Star

Related:

Romney Should Seek a Big Win

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Henry Lamb (1938-2012) Led vs. Global Socialism, Silenced by American Media?

We all have an innate need to find one person and call him leader. As the story many of us know goes, we are made for an intimately dependent relationship with God Himself our Father; but mankind failed to live up to its part and that need became tragically unfulfilled. While God in turn made a Great Sacrifice to meet our need, much of one’s sense of its fulfillment is yet a prospect awaiting its future.

That prospect and Henry Lamb came face to face last Wednesday morning, May 23rd. Now, those compatriots who knew him or at least knew of him must suppress all the more, such desires for an earthly king, or a captain of our vessel. More than ever, all of America’s Sovereigns must each learn to take on his accountable role, to lead our nation securely into its own sovereign future.

Many more than I will say he was preeminent in the work to keep our free and independent nation from returning to its former status of colonization by tyrannical global empire. His chief work was to alert us against the usurpation of our rank and rights via the monstrously insidious “think globally, act locally” strategy of U.N. Agenda 21 and sustainable development.

He was unafraid to call out Americans of the subversive Marxist and fascist kinds, from the schemes of Woodrow Wilson’s administration to the likes of Barack Obama, who tries to bring them to completion. He decried Obama’s Executive Order 13575, establishing a national Rural Council and the regional councils of ICLEI (the Russian word for such governing bureaus is “soviet”). But not stopping there, Mr. Lamb went to Manhattan, too, in his “United Nations at 65.”

Obama and his team bring an even stronger admiration for the United Nations, and determination to subject the United States to global governance. He went to Copenhagen to personally try to seal a deal for the Kyoto Protocol. He wants the Senate to ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Convention on the Law of the Sea. He is participating in the G20′s efforts to create a mechanism for controlling the global flow of currency, and has said nothing in opposition to the development of a global currency.

For sixty-five years, the U.N. has publicly abused the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people, while almost without public notice, building its own power through a global web of international laws, regulations, and recommendations. The U.N. paints itself as a noble institution, redistributing the wealth of the West to the needy elsewhere — while raking off an administrative fee and scamming whatever else they can.

I looked for an obituary which might have referred to any of that, this Memorial Day afternoon and found nothing at all, in local or regional newspapers online. I did find only the basics, from a funeral home in Huntington, Tennessee.


Mrs. Lamb told me by phone that she is grateful for prayers, for her family. Also, that there was to be no memorial service and that his remains were to be cremated. More about their shared history may be found at rangemagazine.com’s “The Lambs Who Track the Wolves,” by Floy Lilley, also of Sovereignty International. I highly recommend it. If one wishes to send a memoriam gift, it has been requested to send it to that organization he founded and chaired: Sovereignty.net.

Along with WND, Renew America, Canada Free Press, and others, Gulag Bound has featured many of his articles, since its inception. There is more and we will resume. Henry had a gift for revealing the United Nations’ ground war on America and the world. He presented it from the ground up, starting with basics the reader already knew. Then he explained such critical problems as its encroachments upon property rights, livelihoods, rights of commerce, and upon our constitutional self governance, up the scale to the violation of our national sovereignty and the initiation of plans for depopulation and people herding of a kind previously unshown outside of dystopic novels and films. All along, he was careful to cite evidence and recite the very words of our ideological enemies fast at work in this conspiracy fact.

Sometimes one finds a person who gets there first, to important knowledge and is among the first to tell of it, but he shows he is not one to best deal with it. Thankfully, we find others treating such matters better, who come along after. Unfortunately, some may at times distort truth from the beginning, getting to us first with the worst. Henry Lamb was first and best.

His very brief bio at (the original) Sovereignty International’s site, sovereignty.net, simply states:

But we have the body of Henry’s work and may realize what he has done for us and for decades. At such a time, one may consider the opportunity to recite his own few communications with such a leader and exemplar. I will only say that I will do some of that where I see it will be helpful, but not here and now.

It was enjoyable putting this together, recently; it features our senior Citizen statesman along with three other champions of the cause, “Four Heroes Countering Agenda 21′s Ecofascist Warfare,” May 13, 2012. Turns out it was three days before his last birthday.

I found Henry to be very personally concerned and kind. He was very careful to be true and accurate, whether about observables, or about the authentic American vision, or about the corrupt and subversive doctrines which threaten our demise. He took the responsibilities and rights of a sovereign, free moral agent of God upon our Earth personally. He was attentive and cordial about doing the work of a custodian of the American birthright. After speaking with him, one looked forward to the next time and hoped to meet his approval. Very much.

I thought these last days, of Carl Sandburg’s poem, “O Captain….” Alas, within two lines one sees its setting does not correspond to this moment at all.

O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done;
The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won;

This Captain was taken during the heat of our nearly silenced struggle and there are many hard things left to do in this soft war. The journey seems yet long and we must finish building our ship even as it sails. But our Captain Lamb has charted us a true course, and that we may follow without reserve and if necessary, each until his own last full measure of devotion.

Gulag Bound

Monday, May 28, 2012

How many Catholic Voters Have Been Pushed Away By Obama?

by Daniel NoeWestern Journalism – h/t to Anglo at Sovereignty in Colorado

At some point in the future, a political scientist–maybe one not yet even born-will point to Barack Obama’s declaration of war against the Catholic Church as the worst move of many he has made in his inordinately poor campaign for re-election.

Perhaps no other stupid Team Obama move better highlights the gulf between actual Americans and the phony Obama. It reminds us that Obama may (or may not) have been born in America and has spent his parasitical life here, but he is not OF America. He doesn’t understand America, and the overrated schmucks who are advising him don’t either.

They apparently have never bothered to read some basic electoral history. If they had, they would know that no Democrat has ever won the presidency while losing the Catholic vote.

Just as he has done with so many other groups, Obama has not only given Catholics no reason to vote for him, but plenty of motivation NOT to vote for him or anyone who supports him.

In the 2008 election, Catholics voted for Obama 54/46. That margin was, as much as any other, the reason for his election. There are fewer chances that Catholics will be lining up to support Obama this year, as a Pew poll has revealed.  What Pew found was that until Obama’s war against the Catholic Church, he was leading with Catholics by 9 points. Today, that lead is gone, and he is behind by 5 points.

This 14 point swing away from Obama translates to 18 million lost votes and major trouble in these states with sizable Catholic populations:  Pennsylvania (53%), New Jersey (39%), Wisconsin (29%), Florida (26%), Ohio (24%), and Michigan (24%).

Among Catholics, 29% now say that they are less likely to vote for Barack Obama because of his ham-handed attempt to dictate new secular doctrine to their Church. When juxtaposed to the 13% who say they are now more likely to support Obama’s re-election, the yield is a net minus 16 points. He cannot and he will not survive such a gapping hole in his support. Monday’s 43 lawsuits from Catholic entities was only round one, and Obama is already on the ropes. So far, Cardinal Dolan is way ahead on points.

Photo credit: terrellaftermath

Catholic Groups File Against Obama Contraception Mandate – ‘Pro-Choice’ Americans At Record Low, Poll Finds

Andy Garcia’s new movie, For Greater Glory, that focuses on the attack of the Mexican government against the Catholic Church and how the people stood up, echoes the current church vs. government battle.  Many have mad the the mistake of attacking the Catholic Church or people of faith and come to regret it!!

Related:

Video:  Muslims attack Australian war graves

Video: Documentary on the Marginalisation of Christians in the UK - This video is filled with examples that are surely headed here, with some already here.

Video: Count Cameron Bans Crucifixes! Lord Monckton's In-Studio Report - Lord Monckton Part 2

Did You Know? The Founding Fathers and God

Sunday, May 27, 2012

Best Memorial Day Entertainment

National Memorial Day Concert 2011 in Washington, DC

As we are enjoying the long weekend; we always spend a good amount of time focusing on the meaning of Memorial Day. We especially made sure we did that when our kids were young, including a stop at our church that celebrated America and those who protect(ed) her.

It is so easy to get wrapped up in activities and events that are not related the meaning of Memorial Day in any way or just quickly in passing. It is the weekend for Americans to take their first mini-vacation of the summer season; or participate in a string of activities from picnics and bar-b-ques to block parties, from trips to the local amusement parks now on their summer schedules to postponed projects around the house or involving or taking out the ‘summer toys’ including boats, sea-doos, motor bikes and ATV’s… And before they know it the weekend is gone and nobody even mentioned the reason for Memorial Day. (And don’t get me wrong… we always watch the Indianapolis 500… Congrats to Dario Franchitti!)

I am a first generation American immigrant from a family full of more recent immigrants and one of my fondest childhood memories is of family events where I would sit and soak in the conversation and stories. My mother was German and served in the (German) Red Cross during WWII where she met my father, an Austrian soldier in a medical unit. They married in an American prisoner of war camp after the war (where the Americans made my mother a wedding gown out of gauze from the medical unit supplies). My grandparents went through WWI in Germany. My uncle and his brother served in the Korean War and their father served in the U.S. army in WWI. It was fascinating because we heard personal stories and accounts from several perspectives and since that time we have added relatives and friends who have served in Viet Nam, Somalia, the first and second Iraq conflicts and now in Afghanistan.

There is no greater country on earth than America and there is nobody that deserves more credit for the great lives we live and the freedoms we all enjoy than our Founding Fathers and our troops who have fought for us, sacrificed and given their lives to keep us safe and free for over 235 years, since before we were a nation. Unfortunately we are no longer teaching history in our schools and if you do learn some, it has generally been re-written. As citizens, parents, grandparents and patriots, it is our job to inform ourselves and to reverse this cycle by returning to teaching and learning history from “original sources” and passing it on.

If you can get there, a trip to Washington D.C. and Arlington Cemetery is the ideal Memorial Day trip or summer vacation destination. Some other great Memorial Day Weekend activities are visiting a Presidential Library or civil war battle field, watching the yearly special honoring our troops from DC, visiting a veteran’s grave locally or the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, reading a book about one of the wars we have fought in or about the founding of our nation and sharing about it over dinner or at an event. And watching a movie or movies (hopefully with some accuracy) about one of the wars and then perhaps following up on the history behind it is another. We all know that even the best films throw in a little “Hollywood” slant and sizzle (unfortunately sometimes too much), but the right movies can be a great place to spark our children’s interest in history and a jump off point for us to learn more!

Some years, like this Memorial Day Weekend, when gas prices are high and the The Bridge on the River Kwaieconomy is slow a great weekend is just staying local and participating in or attending the city parade or event, visiting a nearby cemetery, catching the yearly PBS Memorial Day Special from DC and spending your time at home with family, friends (or even alone) eating some comfort food, reading a worthwhile book related to the holiday or our history and/or creating your own film festival of war movies. Below are a few to start with. There are many more that you can add to the selection. One of my favorite movies for both Memorial Day and the 4th of July is Yankee Doodle Dandy about George M. Cohan, starring James Cagney. It is a musical that some might say is a bit corny, but it highlights the patriotic music of our country and somewhat balances out the serious and somber war movies. The songs therein were songs every American child learned in school and every American could sing until recent years.

A few movie suggestions (always good and great at Memorial Day, the 4th of July and Veterans Day):

Saving Private Ryan (Blu-Ray)(WWII): Is at the top of almost everyone’s ‘best’ war movie or movie from that era list.

The Hunt for Red October (Blu-Ray) (cold war): This cold-war submarine flick is a must for author Clancy fans, starring Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery.

Tunes of Glory (post-WWII): A well-regarded 1960 film starring Alec Guinness and John Mills in post-war Scotland.

Das Boot (Blu-Ray) (WWII): A claustrophobic thriller set aboard a German submarine.

Hope and Glory (WWII): Funny and touching, it tells the story of the British home-front in World War II.

Danger UXB (WWII) (hard to find): A TV series from my mom’s post-Brideshead Revisited phase. It also takes place on the British home-front with a squad in charge of defusing unexploded German bombs (“UXBs”).

The Bridge on the River Kwai (WWII, pictured above): An all-time classic, again starring Alec Guiness and William Holden. A great collection for WWII buffs is the WWII 60th Anniversary Collection (The Guns of Navarone/From Here to Eternity/The Bridge on the River Kwai) (Includes Collectible Scrapbook)

Mrs. Miniver (WWII): More from the British home-front, starring Greer Garson.

The War – PBS 7-Part Special Film By Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (WWII): A "Peoples History" of WWII with all original footage and photos.

Lawrence of Arabia (WWI): Another classic, and one of my favorite “see it on the big screen” type of movie.

Letters from Iwo Jima (Blu-Ray) (WWII): Clint Eastwood’s deeply thoughtful look at the Japanese perspective of World War II. And the companion piece, Flags of Our Fathers (Blu-Ray).

M*A*S*H (Korean War): Robert Altman’s black comedy that spurred the long-running TV series, which is also available on DVD now.

Gallipoli (WWI): Not exactly uplifting, but a powerful drama.

Joyeux Noel (WWI): Another one from the Great War. It’s based on a true event in which opposing armies take a respite for the holiday. (Special Collection) I remember my dad telling stories like this from WWII.

Platoon (Viet Nam War): Best Picture of the Year Oscar Winner (1986) that was part of Oliver Stone’s trilogy of Vietnam War films, also including Born on the Fourth of July (1989) — winner of two Academy Awards and Heaven & Earth (1993)

The Patriot (Blu-Ray) (Revolutionary War): An emotional, vivid, and palpable story about a South Carolina Family during the Revolutionary War with an excellent cast including Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger.

Black Hawk Down (Somalia Conflict): Depicting the Battle of Mogadishu, a raid integral to the United States’ effort to capture Somali warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid.

North & South (Civil War mini-series): An epic series with Patrick Swayze and Kirstie Alley.

The Hurt Locker (Iraq-Afghanistan Conflicts) The little film that beat out the mega monen blockbuster; won the 2010 Best Picture of the Year Oscar.

American Soldier: The Complete History of U.S. Wars : As Seen On PBS : Complete 4 Disc Box Set -With Bonus : A Historical Overview Of American Weapons

Others worth a mention including some of my own favorites: Patton, The Clock, The Great Escape, Stalag 17, Casablanca, The Guns of Navarone, The Deer Hunter, Glory, Breaker Morant (hard to find DVD (VHS), We Were Soldiers, Midway, Dr. Strangelove, Or…, Buffalo Soldiers, Tora! Tora! Tora!, The Forgotten Grave, The True Story of the Fighting Sullivans…, All Quiet on the Western Front, Band of Brothers, John Adams, Gone with the Wind… my favorite movie of all times.

Some great books to start or re-start your journey through America’s history with are: The Real George Washington; The Original Argument, A Patriot’s History of the United States…, Original Intent, Giants, The 5000 Year Leap, Glenn Beck's Common Sense, The Greatest Generation (on Kindle), War Letters, Being George Washington and Killing Lincoln.

the hurt locker LA 3 6 101 Oscar Winner 2010: Best Picture: The Hurt Locker

There are many many more great films about American involved wars and the troops who fought them. Sorry if I missed one of your favorites! Unfortunately… “Freedom Is Not Free!!”, so we owe those who fought for us the respect of remembering and remembering the truth.

God Bless America, our troops, our veterans and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice and their families!

Originally posted by Ask Marion on 06.05.11 - Updated 05.27.12 9:38p.m. CT

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Reminder of Upcoming Observance Cartoons

Reminders of the upcoming observances… 

clip_image001
clip_image002
clip_image003
clip_image004
clip_image005
clip_image006
clip_image007
clip_image008
clip_image009

clip_image010
clip_image011
clip_image012
clip_image013

 clip_image014 
clip_image015
clip_image016 
clip_image017
clip_image018
clip_image019
clip_image020
clip_image021
clip_image022
clip_image023
clip_image024 

Patriotism: Supporting your Country ALL THE TIME; and, your government when it deserves it - MARK TWAIN 

IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS, PLEASE, FEEL FREE TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM !!! 

"Freedom is not free . . . but the U.S. Military will pay most of your share." 

Pacifism is a luxury paid for by warriors!! 

God Bless America and all those who have served and have scarified!!!