Monday - November 10, 2008

Italy considers legalising vigilante groups .

H/T LyndonB.
Lyndon brought it back to my attention after I totally forgot to find and post it. So thanks again L.

Almost wish it could be done here.  You know, you get so angry at what you see and hear.  But I’m not, in saner moments, certain about how wise this is.  I can see it being used wrongly and illegally.  It worked fine in California in 1849.  But that was a different time and a far different sort of people.

If laws were strictly enforced and liberals and their lawyers could be made to disappear, there might not be a need for this.
But it’s comforting anyway to think about the possibility of doing unto others what they’ve done to their victims.

Bravo Italy .... at least someone is raising a very public cry re. mosques and all the problems they’ll bring.  Imagine that.  Some Italians are actually trying to save their country and culture.  Why .... the very nerve of them.

Italy considers legalising vigilante groups
The Italian parliament is considering the legalisation of citizen vigilante groups as part of a further crackdown on law and order.

By Nick Pisa in Rome
Last Updated: 12:37AM GMT 10 Nov 2008

Unauthorised patrols of several northern Italian cities have been underway for the last year and authorities have turned a blind eye to them as concerned locals fight back against rising crime rates.

Under the proposals by the anti-immigration Northern League, the vigilante patrols would have the backing of the local police. The plan is now to be considered by the Italian Upper House.

Another controversial proposal by the Northern League the introduction of a referendum before a mosque or other place of worship is built.

The League is part of centre right Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s coalition. Mr Berlusconi was elected on a tough law and order campaign.

Northern League MP Mario Borghezio said: “Thanks to the initiatives of the Northern League these ronde (vigilante) patrols will soon be working with the forces of law and order.

“Now all honest citizens will no longer feel that they have to hand over the areas where they live to criminals, drug dealers and prostitutes. It’s a very proud day.”

The Northern League, is led by firebrand Umberto Bossi, who once said the Italian navy should shell boats carrying immigrants. In April’s general election it doubled its national vote to more than 8 per cent.

The League capitalised on the fear of immigration with its election posters which showed an American Indian in a feathered headdress, with a caption saying: “They suffered immigration: Now they live in reserves.”

Many of the vigilante groups are based in the Veneto region which has a high proportion of Muslims and the outcry against the building of mosques has been stronger there than anywhere in Italy.

Last year the League’s Roberto Calderoli suggested a ‘pig day’ against new mosques across Italy. The idea was that a pig should be taken to any land where Muslims proposed to construct a mosque.

He said:"We will walk up and down on the land where they want to build, after which it will be considered infected and no longer suitable.”

The League has also proposed that no mosque should be able to have a minaret or loudspeakers calling the faithful to prayer, and sermons must be in Italian, not Arabic.

Given that many of the one million Muslims who are in Italy live in areas with a heavy Northern League influence, if passed the legislation is almost certain to mean no new mosques.

http://tinyurl.com/6qvbkl

Posted by peiper     on 11/10/2008 at 12:59 PM   
Filed Under: • Crime • Patriotism •  
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   Thursday - November 06, 2008

flag of convenience

Seattle rediscovers patriotism, now that The One shall be King. Get used to stuff like this, it’s only the beginning.

Red, white and true blue: City hoists Old Glory

Barack Obama’s presidential win held a poignant significance for liberal Seattleites: This is their America, too.

The feeling was evident in jubilant partying in the streets, in quiet moments of reflection and in blossoms of red, white and blue.

With newfound patriotism, Seattleites want to wave the flag, hang it from their homes and stick it on their cars.

“The thing that’s kind of astounding to me is I never ever would have cared to own a flag,” said Rosemary Garner, 42. “This is the first day in my life I actually feel this funny sense of pride about my country. It’s a very foreign feeling, but it’s a good one.”

Garner, a self-described “flag virgin” who lives on Capitol Hill, bought eight flags Wednesday—some to wave and others to stick on her car to “mix and match with some nice Obama and peace signs. Then I bought a couple of flags for some friends who wanted to hang them from their truck along with their biodiesel stickers.”

How does Seattle feel about the election?

The answer is in the numbers: King County voted 72 percent for Obama. Incumbent Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott, whose district includes Seattle, won 85 percent of the vote.

The answer is in their words:

“I’m finally proud to be an American again, after eight years of being ashamed,” 66-year-old Mark Lowney said, ticking off a list of complaints, including the Iraq war.

“It’s just a rare feeling to feel that type of, I don’t know, national connection,” said Noah Kriegsmann, a 33-year-old builder from West Seattle. He feels that Obama’s win will help America’s standing in the world, and he bought a flag to fly on his truck, though he admitted it felt strange to see the flag in his hand.

“I have just historically felt shame for what the symbol of this country is internationally. Being in someplace like Morocco, and Canadians have their flag on their backpacks—I would never ever do that,” he said.

“I voted for McCain, but I’m not sour grapes,” said her friend, who did not want her name used. “I’ve tried to be supportive of all our presidents, whoever it is. It is a hard job—and worthy of respect.”

At All the King’s Flags in Ballard, people have been snatching up American flags.

“Just today I’ve had a noticeable rush on U.S. flags,” said James Sawyer, assistant manager. “I had a lady come in and she said she’s happy to be an American again, that’s why she was buying a flag.”

There’s more too, including an excerpt from the Flag Act, to remind the new Suddenly Americans in Seattle that the flag really isn’t just for wiping your ass with and then setting on fire. I’m sure there will be a steep learning curve for them, so this article will have to be reprinted several times until they can overcome their old reflexes.

Posted by Drew458     on 11/06/2008 at 01:14 PM   
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   Wednesday - October 29, 2008

NEVER JUDGE A BATTLING BRIT BY THE COVER. THEY COME IN MANY FORMS, AND THEY WILL GET YA.

THIS BATTLING BRIT DIDN’T DO IT IN A SPITFIRE OR ON THE BATTLEFRONT WITH A RIFLE.
TOO OFTEN WE FORGET THAT THERE ARE MANY WAYS OF SERVING YOUR COUNTRY THAT CAN BE JUST AS LIFE THREATENING.

This woman’s life was spent doing a James Bond for real.  Can you imagine the stress?  I can’t see how there wouldn’t be. I guess she had nerves of steel.  If not that, then something else and whatever it was, she was extraordinary.

RIP and Thanks, Miss Julia Pirie.

Julia Pirie
MI5 agent who for two decades worked at the heart of the British Communist Party

Last Updated: 8:48PM GMT 28 Oct 2008

Julia Pirie, who has died aged 90, spent two decades as an MI5 agent at the heart of the Communist Party of Great Britain, most of it as personal assistant to the party’s general secretary.

A small, dumpy woman with the appearance of a confirmed and rather matronly spinster, Julia Pirie was the most unlikely of spies. But her unassuming demeanour masked a sharp intellect and the powers of observation essential for the task of a secret agent.

She was recruited to infiltrate the party at the beginning of the 1950s, at a time when many Britons still remembered the Soviet Union as a valued wartime ally and Communists retained considerable influence within the trades union movement.

Julia Pirie would pass over her regular reports and photocopied documents to her MI5 handlers during cricket matches at the Oval cricket ground, a procedure that left her with a lifelong love of the game.

She was told to resign from her party post in the 1970s, by which time, she said, the Communist Party had become a rather pathetic and increasingly irrelevant organisation. She went on to collect intelligence on the Provisional IRA during several missions in Europe.

Effortlessly adopting the cover of a harmless, elderly English spinster intent on sightseeing, Julia Pirie once travelled to Barcelona, renting a flat immediately below one occupied by IRA officials. The flat, rented by members of the Catalan terrorist group Terra Lliure, was being used by the IRA as a safe house and a temporary store for shipments of gold bullion supplied by the Libyan President Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

Julia Pirie’s inability to control the reverberation and echo coming from her own equipment led to some precarious and alarming moments. At one point her apartment was raided by the Barcelona police, putting the entire operation at risk. Julia Pirie was aware from monitoring their communications that the IRA terrorists were nervous of discovery, and the arrival of a number of armed police officers was unlikely to reassure them.

But she managed to persuade the police that she was simply an innocent English spinster, and calmly continued her monitoring operation until her MI5 handlers, alarmed at the latest turn of events, pulled her out for her own safety.

Elizabeth Mary Julia Pirie (known to her family as Elizabeth, but, later, as Julia to her colleagues in MI5) was born at Harbury, Warwickshire, on July 8 1918, the only daughter of Allen Grant Pirie and Elizabeth Mary Pirie. Her father, an advocate from Aberdeen, died in 1923 as a result of wounds received in France while serving in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment. Soon afterwards Elizabeth’s mother decided to return to Calcutta, where she had been born and brought up, taking her daughter with her.

Elizabeth was educated at the Loreto convent at Shillong, in a rural area of Assam, where she recalled tigers roaming around the school. On the outbreak of war in 1939 she returned to Britain, determined to join the war effort. She joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the women’s section of the British Army, and saw service as a driver of staff cars and ambulances in Shrewsbury before volunteering after D-Day for work in France and Germany.

She was among the first Allied soldiers to enter Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, and would later speak movingly about the effect this experience had on her.

After serving with the British Army on the Rhine, she left the Army and went to work as secretary and personal assistant to Kitty, Duchess of Atholl, who, as chairman of the British League for European Freedom, was an ardent campaigner against Soviet control of eastern Europe. It was during this time that Elizabeth Pirie joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry, which had provided female agents for the Special Operations Executive working with the French Resistance.

She then worked for the International Maritime Organisation before being approached by MI5, possibly as a result of her links with FANY, and asked to infiltrate the Communist Party of Great Britain working as a typist. She worked for F4, the section within MI5 which monitored the Communist Party’s activities and its links with the trades union movement.

Given her position as personal assistant to the general secretary, John Gollan, it seems highly likely that one of Julia Pirie’s earliest coups was to provide information that allowed MI5 to obtain the entire secret membership of the party. Selected members of the party were told to keep their membership secret so that they could be used by the KGB or Soviet military intelligence (the GRU) in operations in Britain.

Peter Wright, a former senior MI5 officer, revealed in his book Spycatcher that in the late 1950s one of the F4 agent handlers obtained details of the location of the secret membership files from an agent inside the party. The files were stored in the Mayfair flat of a wealthy party member, and the property was put under blanket surveillance. When the owner’s wife rang him to say that she was going out for an hour, but would leave the key under the doormat, an MI5 officer swiftly went round to take an impression.

Armed with the key, MI5 simply waited until the occupants went away to the Lake District for the weekend, then let themselves in and copied the secret files, rendering the potential Soviet agents useless. This was Operation Party Piece, one of a number of operations against the Communist Party that led Wright to claim: “For five years we bugged and burgled our way across London at the state’s behest while pompous bowler-hatted civil servants pretended to look the other way.”

Wright also described how bugging the party’s King Street headquarters was made more difficult by the way in which the leadership constantly changed the location of key meetings, eventually moving them to a windowless basement room.

An agent inside the building tipped off F4 to the location of the room and said that an old coal chute led down to it from the pavement. The response was another MI5 coup, known as Operation Tie Pin. This took place on a Saturday night when no one was likely to be in the party headquarters. The entire staff of MI5’s “A” branch surveillance team, known as “the Watchers”, was carefully choreographed to play the part of drunken revellers walking past the building in different directions, disguising the noise as an MI5 technician surreptitiously placed a false door containing a bugging device over the chute to allow continued monitoring of the meetings.

As personal assistant to the general secretary, Julia Pirie would certainly have been aware of the change of location for the secret meetings and remains the most likely source of the MI5 tip-off.

But within the Communist Party she was completely trusted, accompanying the general secretary to regular meetings and conferences behind the Iron Curtain. The fact that she usually attempted to avoid these “dreary” visits to the Eastern Bloc only reinforced her cover.

Despite the “threat within” that the party was believed to be, Julia Pirie revealed to her handlers that Gollan had very little power and was entirely beholden to Moscow and the Communists within the trades unions.

The Soviet intervention in Hungary in 1956 was the catalyst for a loss of party members that was to increase with the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968. Gollan responded to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia by saying: “We completely understand the concern of the Soviet Union about the security of the socialist campe_SLps we speak as true friends of the Soviet Union.” With membership plummeting, from 56,000 during the Second World War to 20,000 by 1978, Julia Pirie was pulled out.

After retiring from active operations in the 1990s, she lectured to groups of MI5 trainees and the police before indulging her love of travel, visiting Russia, Europe, Africa, Australia, the Caribbean and the United States.

She remained extremely generous with her time and her commitment to those she regarded as her close family, regularly keeping in touch with relatives of all ages.

Despite the intense pressure of working under cover for much of her life, she always retained her quiet sense of humour and warm laugh. She never lost her keen interest in sport, particularly cricket, and was an avid and skilled bridge player.

Until her death on September 2 Julia Pirie continued to receive her pension from the Communist Party, paid monthly into her account from a bank in Italy. She was unmarried.

http://tinyurl.com/5rje8k

Posted by Drew458     on 10/29/2008 at 09:11 AM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism • UK • War-Stories •  
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   Monday - October 27, 2008

McCain on Fire!

Horry Clap, McCain’s on fire. Catch his speech from Ohio today; I’m sure Fox will have it as well as McCain.org and JohnMcCain.com, etc. He’s all over today’s viral video of Obama’s 2001 radio interview video. The old man is up on the podium, actually raising his voice! He’s energized! He’s shouting! He’s against big government! He’s against out of control spending! He’s against Socialism (but he doesn’t call a spade a spade and he doesn’t identify the obvious). He’s not lying down and giving up. It’s like a rally! It’s almost sounds like he’s a Republican!

The before the speech transcript from the NY Times is pretty close to what he actually said.

It’s been a long campaign and we’ve heard a lot of words, and great campaign trail eloquence. The amazing thing is that we’ve learned more about Senator Obama’s real goals for our country over the last two weeks than we learned over the past two years. It is amazing that even at this late hour, we are still learning more about Senator Obama and his agenda. He told Joe the plumber right here in Ohio he wants to quote “spread the wealth around.” It’s always more interesting to hear what people have to say in these unscripted moments, and today we heard another moment like this from Senator Obama.

In a radio interview revealed today, he said that one of the quote—“tragedies” of the civil rights movement is that it didn’t bring about a redistribution of wealth in our society. He said, and I quote, “One of the tragedies of the Civil Rights movement was because the Civil Rights movement became so court-focused I think that there was a tendency to lose track of the political and community organizing and activities on the ground that are able to put together the actual coalitions of power through which you bring about redistributive change.”

That is what change means for Barack the Redistributor: It means taking your money and giving it to someone else. He believes in redistributing wealth, not in policies that grow our economy and create jobs. He is more interested in controlling wealth than in creating it, in redistributing money instead of spreading opportunity. I am going to create wealth for all Americans, by creating opportunity for all Americans.

...

Let me give you the state of the race today. There’s eight days to go. We’re a few points down. The pundits have written us off, just like they’ve done before. My opponent is working out the details with Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid of their plans to raise your taxes, increase spending, and concede defeat in Iraq. He’s measuring the drapes, and he’s planned his first address to the nation for before the election. I guess I’m old fashioned about these things I prefer to let the voters weigh in before presuming the outcome.

What America needs now is someone who will finish the race before the starting the victory lap ... someone who will fight to the end, and not for himself but for his country.

I have fought for you most of my life, and in places where defeat meant more than returning to the Senate. There are other ways to love this country, but I’ve never been the kind to back down when the stakes are high.

I know you’re worried. America is a great country, but we are at a moment of national crisis that will determine our future.

Will we continue to lead the world’s economies or will we be overtaken? Will the world become safer or more dangerous? Will our military remain the strongest in the world? Will our children and grandchildren’s future be brighter than ours?

My answer to you is yes. Yes, we will lead. Yes, we will prosper. Yes, we will be safer. Yes, we will pass on to our children a stronger, better country. But we must be prepared to act swiftly, boldly, with courage and wisdom.

I’m an American. And I choose to fight. Don’t give up hope. Be strong. Have courage. And fight.

Fight for a new direction for our country. Fight for what’s right for America.

Fight to clean up the mess of corruption, infighting and selfishness in Washington.

Fight to get our economy out of the ditch and back in the lead.

Fight for the ideals and character of a free people.

Fight for our children’s future.

Fight for justice and opportunity for all.

Stand up to defend our country from its enemies.

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. America is worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history.

Now, let’s go win this election and get this country moving again.

Posted by Drew458     on 10/27/2008 at 01:21 PM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism • Politics • Republicans •  
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   Wednesday - September 10, 2008

Thanks Chris!

Two very worthwhile posts up this morning at cmblake6’s blog.

The first is a link to a newspaper article. From the Telegraph, “Britain’s No.1 quality newspaper website”, the author writes about Our Sarah. And the amazing thing is ... he gets it!

It is clear that few in America, let alone Britain, have any idea what to make of Sarah Palin. The Republicans’ vice-presidential candidate confounds the commentators because they don’t understand the forces that shaped her in the remote state of Alaska.

...

But, having worked with Alaskans, I know something of the challenge she has faced, and why - contrary to what Democrats think - it could make her a powerful figure in the White House.

...

Her rise from parent-teacher association to city council gave her a natural political base in her home town of Wasilla. Going on to become mayor was a natural progression. Wasilla’s population of 9,000 would be a small town in Britain, and even in most American states.  But Wasilla is the fifth-largest city in Alaska, which meant that Palin was an important player in state politics.

The second one is for this video:

My hope is that neither of these are voices in the wilderness. The first one probably is. The second one is not, but I wish a couple hundred million folks on the left would watch it and actually understand. I don’t have high hopes for that.

Posted by Drew458     on 09/10/2008 at 11:24 AM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism • Politics • War On Terror •  
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   Saturday - September 06, 2008

Dems Dump Flags, Republicans Rescue Them

           

Cuz, ya know, the flag is just a worthless prop to waive around in front of the cameras. After the show is over, they’re junk not even worth recycling.

Democrats are not caring for their Stars and Stripes. At least that’s the message out of John McCain’s campaign.  McCain supporters, claiming they rescued 12,000 miniature American flags from the site of Barack Obama’s nomination acceptance speech last Thursday, redistributed the orphan flags to audience members ahead of a McCain rally in Colorado Springs on Saturday.

The move was an overt swipe at Obama from a campaign whose motto has been “country first.”

Sweet. And thanks for saving them too.

But Democratic convention organizers claimed the flags were not going to be discarded — but instead were snatched from the site of Obama’s historic address to carry out a “cheap political stunt.”

Sure. And they were in Hefty bags out of convenience, and they were kept in the dumpsters out back because that’s where everyone stores their patriotic gear, isn’t it?

McCain supporters said the flags were discovered by a vendor at Denver’s Invesco Field after the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention. The vendor supposedly found trash bags full of flags in and near garbage bins, and turned them over to the McCain campaign.

Boy Scouts were sorting through 84 bags of flags in Colorado on Saturday, before a McCain supporter had veterans distribute them to the audience.

Your move dems. What are you going to do, call the Boy Scouts a bunch of liars? 84 bags worth? That’s a lot of flags. A LOT.

“We want to find good homes for these flags,” radio host Dan Caplis said at the rally, adding that whatever flags remained would be placed at memorials throughout Colorado.

Audience members, who booed when Caplis announced that the flags were left in Denver, waved the flags and chanted “U.S.A” before McCain arrived at the rally with his running mate, Sarah Palin.

Good move Dan. I’m glad there are some patriots left who understand things.

Damon Jones, spokesman for the Democratic National Convention Committee, released a statement saying McCain should applaud the fact that thousands of American flags were “proudly waved” at their convention.

Suck my ass, you lying shitbag. “Proudly waived” and then gleefully discarded. I’m only amazed you pinkos weren’t inventive enough to make instant “protest street art” and pave the sidewalks with them for your benighted masses to walk on. Or worse.

“But instead his supporters wrongfully took leftover bundles of our flags from the stadium to play out a cheap political stunt calling into question our patriotism,” he said.

Which translates as “damn, they caught us red-handed. Quick, apply some CYA and drag out “don’t question our patriotism”. Loser.

Obama has faced attacks on his patriotism since the beginning of the Democratic primary race and has set up a Web site specifically designed to fight such charges.

The McCain campaign has denied questioning Obama’s patriotism, and even released a statement Friday calling Obama’s most recent comments on the matter “hysterical.”

I agree. Hell, I save McCain the effort: Barack Obama has no patriotism to question. The only America he admires is the utterly Changed one that exists in his dreams. Sorry, that dog don’t hunt.

Obama said Friday that Republicans are trying to make the election a personality contest, and that “what they’re really saying is ‘we’re going to try to scare people about Barack. So we’re going to say that you know, ‘Maybe he’s got Muslim connections or we’re going to say that, you know, he hangs out with radicals or he’s not patriotic.’”

No, we aren’t going to say “Maybe” at all. Because he DOES have muslim connections, he DOES hang out with radicals, and he is blatantly unpatriotic. And that doesn’t scare people. Not at all. No, it disgusts them.

84 giant garbage bags full of American flags. 12,000. Son of a bitch. It’s a shame they gave them all away in Colorado. This could have been a great fundraiser - “Help save the flags the dems threw away! Send $10 today and we’ll mail you one to keep and care for!”

flag picture from RedState

Posted by Drew458     on 09/06/2008 at 11:54 PM   
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   Saturday - August 16, 2008

The Second American Revolution.  Just got this, be interesting to know your thoughts.

HT Jim and thanks.

A former neighbor in CA. sent this to me and I was much impressed. Very passionate is this fellow. Be very interesting to know what BMEWS readers think.
Was it on target? Was it overdone?  Agree? Don’t agree? Why?  Will it do any good or have we become so apathetic it won’t matter anymore.
And btw, I was just infomed by friend Jim thru photos, about floods in Iowa.  Huh?  When?  Not being funny, not at all.  I never saw or read about the extent of the floods anywhere here.  True, there may have been a mention but nothing lasting so it was new, news to me.

Will post on that later.

Sorry to have left Friday a blank.  Wasn’t home here at the house, and never booted Fri.  Feel guilty for that but could not be helped.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/16/2008 at 02:56 AM   
Filed Under: • Editorials • Immigration • Judges-Courts • Patriotism •  
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   Monday - July 07, 2008

The Battle Hymn of the Republic

I’ve been going through a patriotism phase lately. Please, do not confuse patriotism with nationalism. The two, while close, are not the same thing.

Bearing that in mind, I was going to post the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

I find I can’t do so.

Limewire had over 188 versions, from the US Marine Corp, to Jim Nabors, to Elvis Presley. (I like Elvis’ version.)

I listened to several, and decided that you BMEWsers should pick your own version.

So, if you don’t have it, get Limewire, and search for the Battle Hymn of the Republic. Download your favorite version.

I’m guessing that YouTube has several available also. I wanted it for my iTunes and iPod.

Lyrics:

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored;
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.

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

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

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

In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me:
As He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free;
[originally …let us die to make men free]
While God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! While God is marching on.

He is coming like the glory of the morning on the wave,
He is wisdom to the mighty, He is honor to the brave;
So the world shall be His footstool, and the soul of wrong His slave,
Our God is marching on.
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Our God is marching on.

Words: Ju­lia W. Howe, 1861, alt. This hymn was born dur­ing the Amer­i­can ci­vil war, when Howe vis­it­ed a Un­ion Ar­my camp on the Po­to­mac Riv­er near Wash­ing­ton, D. C. She heard the sol­diers sing­ing the song “John Brown’s Body,” and was tak­en with the strong march­ing beat. She wrote the words the next day:

I awoke in the grey of the morn­ing, and as I lay wait­ing for dawn, the long lines of the de­sired po­em be­gan to en­twine them­selves in my mind, and I said to my­self, “I must get up and write these vers­es, lest I fall asleep and for­get them!” So I sprang out of bed and in the dim­ness found an old stump of a pen, which I re­mem­bered us­ing the day be­fore. I scrawled the vers­es al­most with­out look­ing at the p­aper.

The hymn ap­peared in the At­lant­ic Month­ly in 1862. It was sung at the fun­er­als of Brit­ish states­man Win­ston Church­ill, Amer­i­can sen­at­or Ro­bert Ken­ne­dy, and Am­er­i­can pre­si­dents Ron­ald Rea­gan and Ri­chard Nix­on.

Music: John Brown’s Bo­dy, poss­i­bly by John Will­iam Steffe (MI­DI, score). John Brown was an Amer­i­can abo­li­tion­ist who led a short lived in­­sur­­rect­­ion to free the slaves.

http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/b/h/bhymnotr.htm

Posted by Christopher     on 07/07/2008 at 04:07 PM   
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   Friday - July 04, 2008

Happy 4th of July !!

Get out there and party today people, but don’t forget what it’s all about. If I had kids, or was at a BBQ with loads of them, I’d drag out the old Declaration and have them read it aloud. There would be questions later too. After the sack races, hotdog snarfing contests, and backyard baseball game, but before slathering on the mosquito repellent and heading off to see the fireworks.

We’re off to see the relations, and it just might rain. So we’ll make the best of it. If your crowd gets stuck in the house today, or if you can’t locate your copy of the document, try this link that Rancino provided ... go over here and your kids can “sign” the Declaration of Independence themselves. Then visit the home page, where you can download copies of the Declaration and the Constitution, or print them out. Plus there are lots of bits of history and the understanding thereof that you can pull up. It’s a nicely done site.

For the rest of us lucky enough for good weather - and not devastated by flooding - here’s some fun. This is what happens when talent meets too much barbeque sauce. (Like there’s such a thing as too much barbeque sauce. That’s like saying there’s too much lobster. Or the beer’s too cold. That just don’t happen!)

Posted by Drew458     on 07/04/2008 at 10:38 AM   
Filed Under: • Fun-Stuff • History • Patriotism •  
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   Saturday - June 14, 2008

Flag Day June 14, 2008

             

Posted by Drew458     on 06/14/2008 at 12:01 AM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism •  
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   Friday - June 13, 2008

vocal campaigners in the call for a British referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

EU treaty: Telegraph campaign for British referendum
By Tom Peterkin in Dublin
Last Updated: 2:48PM BST 13/06/2008

The Daily Telegraph has been one of the most vocal campaigners in the call for a British referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

The Let The People Decide petition calling for a referendum has become one of the biggest campaigns in the newspaper’s 152-year history.

People have signed up either on line or via coupons through the post in droves - and at a rate of more than 1,600-a-day at its peak - since it was launched in July last year.

Well over 100,000 people have signed up to the petition and on the eve of Ireland’s poll our leader pages explained why Ireland should vote no.

“As the only EU country to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, Ireland today carries the can for the cowardly evasion of its partners,” the leader said.

The Telegraph has argued that Labour has wriggled out of holding a referendum despite promising to do so in its manifesto for the 2005 election.

The Government made a commitment in its 2005 manifesto to hold a national vote on the EU Constitution before it was halted by the French and Dutch votes.

(I remember that too. It was thought at the time that French would certainly vote yes.  But when both they and the Dutch said No way Jose, it sent a shocking message to those who took for granted that others would willingly give away their sovereignty.  Then, the powers that be in Brussels tried to ignore the votes and said that the French and Dutch would be given “another chance to vote correctly.” Oh, that went down a bomb.  Worse yet, the (then) Blair govt. backed away from a promise to the country that the voters here would have a say thru a referendum.  Blair saw the writing on the wall clear as day.  There has still been NO referendum on the issue.  And make no mistake about it.  The ppl do want one.  Stay Tuned.)

Critics have claimed that the Lisbon Treaty, which replaced the EU Constitution, contains 90 per cent of the original document.

The rejection of the pact by Irish voters will increase pressure on other countries to offer a referendum, although Ireland is the only one of the 27 member states constitutionally bound to do so.

http://tinyurl.com/57kcmz

Posted by Drew458     on 06/13/2008 at 11:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism • Politics • UK •  
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   Wednesday - March 05, 2008

sad reflections of an old soldier

Hadn’t realized I’d been away so long. Have much catching up to do.
Over the last week I’d found a few items that surely belong in the Moonbat catagory and was in the process of trying to tie some things together, and cope with with problems both computer and personal when a friend sent this to me.  I thought it well worth posting here.

sad reflections of an old soldier
By Albion

Many times I have heard the phrase ‘life is too short’ and when you have lived more of your life than you have left to live one is inclined to agree. I have got to an age where I have to seriously consider whether I am too old to take up the violin. I don’t feel old; my brain is that of a teenager but the all-consuming drive to own ‘stuff’ and to impress the opposite sex has gone. That is a good thing as I now consider that youthful impulse no more than a trivial distraction, being immaterial and of no consequence to ones future. That is the crutch or heavy baggage that one unknowingly carries in their early years.

I served in the British army when Stalin was in power in Russia, when Franco was in charge of Spain, Tito was ruling a ‘United’ Yugoslavia, Chiang Kai Shek was being driven from mainland China into Taiwan and it was another 12 years before the Berlin Wall went up. I was a British soldier defending England, its freedom and its way of life, who the hell would I be defending now?

Things change very quickly. I lived in an England when her empire was beginning to crumble. Time passes, now its own children are beginning to lose their sense of racial identity, and indeed the whole country is made to feel guilty of its proud history and ethnic uniqueness and is tragically losing its sense of purpose and direction. 

Our leader’s talk of embracing British and British-ness, they tell us we are not English any more and very shortly we will even cease to be British and become European. The England as I knew it will be no more; all this change has occurred in one person’s terrifyingly short lifetime.

In my youth my country did not spawn ‘home grown’ terrorists, the person sitting next to me on the bus was English so was the bus conductor and the driver. Stop and think; what or who caused these catastrophic negative social changes to our once homogeneous society? It was not the people; it was our traitorous narcissistic politicians in collusion with the power hungry, corrupt European federalists.

When my son reaches my age what will my country resemble? If nothing changes the descent into a European authoritarian autocracy will be total and absolute and the England I defended will be no more, the England my uncle died for will be unrecognizable and the England my grandfather God rest his soul, who fought in the boxer wars, would be horrified.

The politicians are still telling the grubby peasants they have the country and its peoples best interests at heart at the same time they are breaking up what was once a ‘United’ Kingdom and eroding the very fabric of a proud nation who feared no-one, who kowtowed to no-one and most certainly did not allow a totally foreign or exotic Eastern culture to affect, influence, dictate, threaten its security, its way of life or its future, and to change the English character of many of its major cities. What total screaming madness is this?

What have our government done for its own people you might ask? Well they have put in place legal mechanisms to threaten and to silence its own people with incarceration if they dare object to this horror.

This is the country I gave the best years of my youth for. I will make doubly certain that my son does not waste his youth as I did, sacrificing his immature youthful years believing in the lies of ‘home grown’ renegade, lying, and treasonous bloody impostors.

http://tinyurl.com/2a52u6

Posted by Drew458     on 03/05/2008 at 09:18 AM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism •  
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   Monday - January 28, 2008

CONSRV.(?) BRIT MP IS “FED UP” WITH BUSH AND CHRISTIAN RIGHT, GOES TO USA TO WORK FOR SHILLERY.

Will I get flamed for using any four letter words?  OK, that establishes what I’m thinking. But the hell with it. I am really so fuckin pissed off I’m having a hard time getting the words right.  Look ... this bastard is an MP.  That’s a Member of Parliament!  He is supposed to be representing a district in his own freekin country. Not sticking his unwanted foreign assed nose in our affairs.
I thought we ousted their sorry asses in ‘76 with the don’t tred on me thing.  But ... Theiiiiiiiirrrrrrr Baaaaaaaack!  And I wouldn’t approve even if he went to work for our side.  They don’t belong in the USA and if they do ya may as well give em the vote too.  No I’m jolly well not thru!

Tory MPs back Hillary Clinton for president
By Melissa Kite, Deputy Political Editor
Last Updated: 2:09am GMT 28/01/2008

Tory MPs are forging links with Hillary Clinton as the traditional alliance between the Conservatives and the Republican Party shows signs of increasing strain.

One Conservative MP is so convinced by the Democratic senator and wife of former president Bill Clinton that he travelled to the US this month to work on her campaign.

Simon Burns, the MP for West Chelmsford, has spent nine days pounding the streets as a member of Team Hillary. Other Tories backing Mrs Clinton include Alan Duncan, the shadow secretary of state for enterprise, and Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire.

While most Conservatives support John McCain, the Republican senator who addressed the party’s conference in Bournemouth two years ago, some modernisers are turning to Mrs Clinton because they fear Mr McCain will lose the nomination to a more Right-wing candidate such as Mitt Romney.

Mr Burns turned up unannounced at the Clinton campaign headquarters in Manchester, New Hampshire, offering to work for free. He said: “I walked in and I said ‘I want to see Hillary Clinton as president and I’m prepared to work in any way you want to try to help’.

“I said, ‘Look, I’m British so the accent might not be helpful and I happen to be a Tory MP’. For those who understood what a Tory MP was politically, they were very good about it. They immediately put me to work. I did a considerable amount of telephone canvassing and helped with ‘visibilities’.”

This is a technique whereby campaigners stand at crossroads with placards chanting slogans as drivers hoot their horns. Mr Burns, who met Mrs Clinton at a rally, said he had told the Tory leader, David Cameron, about his activities.

“He asked, ‘Did you have a good time?’ and I explained what I had done and he just listened. I can’t speak for him, but he is an intelligent and astute politician, so he must be interested in Hillary.”

An increasing number of Tories have become alienated from the Republicans during George W Bush’s presidency because of the situation in Iraq. Mr Burns said: “Maybe it’s perceived as a bit odd for a Tory MP to want to support Hillary Clinton but the Republican Party has moved so far to the Right and has been captured by a rather unpleasant religious agenda, and the Tory Party under David Cameron is not equivalent to that. I have nothing in common with them and I wouldn’t have thought many of my Conservative colleagues had either.”

Mr Duncan, who supported the Democrats in the last two American elections, said: “I’m for Hillary unless it’s McCain, in which case I’m for McCain. Over the last 10 years I have been worried about the American deficit, the increasing dominance of the Christian Right and the need for deeper understanding of the Middle East.”

Ms Dorries, one of several female Tory MPs in the Clinton camp, said: “If it is going to be a Democrat I want Hillary to win the nomination. She’s a woman with a lot of substance and experience. It will be great to have a woman as president.”

Oh what a really good reason for this foreign assed slag pile of crap to support Mrs. Clinton.  I’d like nothing better had I the opportunity, then to use these interfering goobers for target practise.  Really I would.  Why doesn’t someone shoot their sorry asses?

A Clinton victory is an interesting prospect for Mr Cameron who last year distanced himself from “neo-con” Republicanism. MPs point out that Clinton and Cameron have similar stances on childcare and health and that Mr Cameron has much more in common with a centrist Clinton than he does with the American religious Right.

Mr Cameron has not declared a preference, although earlier this month he said he admired Barack Obama, the rival Democratic contender, whom he called a “brilliant speaker”.

One senior Tory said: “He likes the fact that some of his MPs are Democrats. In the end it’s the big picture that counts for him and if it’s Hillary he will make it work.”

http://tinyurl.com/2xjnsb

Posted by Drew458     on 01/28/2008 at 11:12 AM   
Filed Under: • News-Briefs • Outrageous • Patriotism • Politics •  
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   Sunday - December 23, 2007

Fred Thompson’s Christmas Holiday Message

Very Well done, not egotistical… in fact till the very end you wouldn’t even know it was his..  great for him to do a military support Message…

Posted by Infinity     on 12/23/2007 at 01:32 PM   
Filed Under: • Patriotism • Politics •  
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