// API callback mycallbackfunc({"version":"1.0","encoding":"UTF-8","feed":{"xmlns":"http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom","xmlns$openSearch":"http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/","xmlns$blogger":"http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008","xmlns$georss":"http://www.georss.org/georss","xmlns$gd":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005","xmlns$thr":"http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0","id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359"},"updated":{"$t":"2024-03-14T03:40:51.105-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Intersections"},"subtitle":{"type":"html","$t":"Welcome to the Intersections Blog, where I try to work out where politics, pop culture, and the Bible meet"},"link":[{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/posts\/default"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default?alt=json\u0026max-results=100"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/"},{"rel":"hub","href":"http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/"},{"rel":"next","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default?alt=json\u0026start-index=101\u0026max-results=100"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"generator":{"version":"7.00","uri":"http://www.blogger.com","$t":"Blogger"},"openSearch$totalResults":{"$t":"593"},"openSearch$startIndex":{"$t":"1"},"openSearch$itemsPerPage":{"$t":"100"},"entry":[{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-2649616165914829906"},"published":{"$t":"2020-12-15T12:13:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-12-15T12:13:29.479-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Bill of Rights"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDuring the battle to ratify the U.S. Constitution, many Americans worried that the founding document failed to list specific rights to be protected against abuse of power. Thomas Jefferson, who generally approved of the new Constitution, put voice to that view when he wrote to James Madison: “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth . . . and what no just government should refuse.” To gain support for the Constitution, Federalists agreed to add amendments protecting personal liberties.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMadison was one of those who had considered a list of protected rights unnecessary. He believed the Constitution, as written, gave the federal government no power to violate citizens’ liberties. He also worried that listing specific rights might imply that the government could limit rights not listed. Nevertheless, when the First Congress met in New York in 1789, he set about crafting a set of amendments. “If we can make the Constitution better in the opinion of those who are opposed to it,” he said, “without weakening its frame, or abridging its usefulness in the judgment of those who are attached to it, we act the part of wise and liberal men to make such alterations as shall produce the effect.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMadison and a few colleagues sifted through scores of proposed amendments and winnowed them down to a brief list, using the Virginia Declaration of Rights and other precedents as guides. Congress sent twelve amendments to the states for approval. Ten were eventually ratified. On December 15, 1791, Virginia became the last state needed for ratification, and the Bill of Rights went into effect. Those first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, preserving such cherished rights as freedom of speech, press, and religion, lie at the heart of Americans’ faith in limited government and the rule of law.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. It's \"a daily newsletter that will teach you key events that took place each day in American history.\" Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2649616165914829906\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/12\/the-bill-of-rights.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2649616165914829906"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2649616165914829906"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/12\/the-bill-of-rights.html","title":"The Bill of Rights"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8287300570141854833"},"published":{"$t":"2020-10-29T11:43:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-10-29T11:43:51.948-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Rescue of the Lost Batallion"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAfter the attack on Pearl Harbor, a suspicious U.S. government ordered 110,000 people of Japanese descent into internment camps. Yet when offered the chance to join the Army, many Japanese Americans jumped at the opportunity to prove their loyalty. Hundreds ended up in the 100th Battalion\/442nd Regimental Combat Team, a Japanese American unit that saw some of the hardest fighting of World War II.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EPerhaps their finest hour came in October 1944 in the Vosges Mountains of France, where the Germans had surrounded 211 U.S. soldiers, many of them Texans, on a ridgetop. “Medical supplies low, no rations for three days . . . need ammunition,” the desperate Americans radioed. News reports called the Texans the “Lost Battalion.” The 100th\/442nd got orders to save them.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe men started into the hills in darkness so thick, each grasped the man ahead to keep from losing the way. As they climbed the steep, forested slopes, the Germans opened fire. “I had never seen men get cut down so fast, so furiously,” one GI remembered. They pushed forward a yard at a time.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETwo days later, on October 29, the exhausted soldiers charged up the slope they dubbed “Suicide Hill” in a last effort to break the German line. “I didn’t think about dying,” a private later said. “I had a job to do.” On October 30 the men of the Lost Battalion saw Americans where Germans had been. The 100th\/442nd had arrived.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe 100th\/442nd became one of the most decorated units in U.S. Army history. Its members received 9,486 Purple Hearts for battle wounds. Its twenty-one Medal of Honor recipients included Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii. In 1959, when Inouye was told to “raise your right hand” to be sworn in as the first Japanese American member of Congress, a hushed awe came over the House of Representatives. Congressman, later Senator, Inouye had lost his right arm in service to America.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8287300570141854833\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/10\/the-rescue-of-lost-batallion.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8287300570141854833"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8287300570141854833"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/10\/the-rescue-of-lost-batallion.html","title":"The Rescue of the Lost Batallion"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-7221837675109243203"},"published":{"$t":"2020-10-13T12:26:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-10-13T12:26:59.215-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Navy Birthday and Flag"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe U.S. Navy celebrates its birthday on October 13, the day in 1775 that the Continental Congress authorized the outfitting of two armed vessels to cruise in search of British munitions ships. On that day, Congress also established a Naval Committee to oversee the new navy. John Adams was a member of the committee, and although the Massachusetts representative knew little of naval\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cb\u003Eaffairs, he got busy making himself expert. As historian David McCullough writes, the committee “met in a rented room at Tun Tavern [in Philadelphia], and it was Adams who drafted the first set of rules and regulations for the new navy, a point of pride with him for as long as he lived.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThroughout the Revolution, Adams urged support for the tiny American fleet, telling Congress that “a navy is our natural and only defense.” Over the course of the war, the Continental Navy included about fifty ships of various sizes. After the Revolution, Congress disbanded the navy, then restarted it in 1794 when it ordered the construction of six frigates.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe U.S. Navy flag, adopted in 1959, is a dark blue flag that carries the image of a three-masted square-rigged ship underway before a fair breeze. A bald eagle and an anchor are shown in front of the ship. Navy ships do not fly the Navy flag from their masts. The banner is reserved for display purposes and is carried by honor guards during ceremonies.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-bOgwEBP3MJo\/W8IWgatYszI\/AAAAAAAEFhg\/oRsK3y55b6cOGDBntO9h5p_S-2meOK0LQCLcBGAs\/s1600\/1024px-Flag_of_the_United_States_Navy.svg.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"635\" data-original-width=\"1024\" height=\"198\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-bOgwEBP3MJo\/W8IWgatYszI\/AAAAAAAEFhg\/oRsK3y55b6cOGDBntO9h5p_S-2meOK0LQCLcBGAs\/s320\/1024px-Flag_of_the_United_States_Navy.svg.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7221837675109243203\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/the-navy-birthday-and-flag.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7221837675109243203"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7221837675109243203"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/the-navy-birthday-and-flag.html","title":"The Navy Birthday and Flag"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-bOgwEBP3MJo\/W8IWgatYszI\/AAAAAAAEFhg\/oRsK3y55b6cOGDBntO9h5p_S-2meOK0LQCLcBGAs\/s72-c\/1024px-Flag_of_the_United_States_Navy.svg.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-907697618267199093"},"published":{"$t":"2020-08-16T18:12:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-08-16T18:12:33.416-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn this day in 1790, President George Washington was beginning a goodwill tour of New England. His first stop would be Newport, Rhode Island, where citizens met him with booming cannons and a public dinner where dignitaries gave “thirteen toasts abounding with patriotic sentiment.” Moses Seixas, warden of the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, penned a letter welcoming the president to the city. Washington’s response, written the next day, has become a famous pronouncement on religious freedom:\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy, a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights. For, happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAs Claremont professor Harry Jaffa has pointed out, this was the first time in history that any ruler addressed the Jews as equals. President Washington closed his letter with these gentle words, taken from Scripture: \u003Ci\u003E“May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in his own due time and way everlastingly happy.”\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/907697618267199093\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/08\/to-bigotry-no-sanction-to-persecution.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/907697618267199093"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/907697618267199093"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/08\/to-bigotry-no-sanction-to-persecution.html","title":"“To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-7081615605388151405"},"published":{"$t":"2020-08-09T11:54:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-08-09T11:54:59.792-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Jesse Owens at Berlin"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJesse Owens came from humble beginnings—he was the son of a sharecropper and grandson of a slave. When he was a boy in Cleveland, a coach saw him running in gym class and invited him to join the track team. Jesse couldn’t go to the team’s after-school practices because he had a job to help support his family, so the coach trained him in the mornings. By the time he was in college, Owens was a star. At one track meet, in a span of forty-five minutes, he broke three world records and tied a fourth.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn 1936 he traveled to Berlin to compete in the Summer Olympics, in which Adolf Hitler planned to show the world the “Aryan superiority” of German youth.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn three days Owens won three gold medals in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and long jump. A few days later, American athletes Marty Glickman and Sam Stroller—both Jewish—were yanked from the 400-meter relay team to appease Hitler. The American coach told Owens that he and Frank Metcalfe would run in their place. “I’ve won the races I set out to win,” Owens protested. “Let Marty and Sam run.” The coach insisted, and on August 9, 1936, Owens won his fourth gold medal.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EHitler, who had stopped shaking each winner’s hand, was asked if he wanted to make an exception for Jesse. The Führer shouted: “Do you really think I would allow myself to be photographed shaking hands with a Negro?” But German crowds cheered the American champion with the cry of “Oh-vens! Oh-vens! ” African American athletes won almost one-quarter of all U.S. medals in the 1936 Olympics, a firm rebuke of Hitler’s venomous theories about the so-called superiority of the Aryan race.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7081615605388151405\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/08\/jesse-owens-at-berlin.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7081615605388151405"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7081615605388151405"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/08\/jesse-owens-at-berlin.html","title":"Jesse Owens at Berlin"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8226168587423217029"},"published":{"$t":"2020-07-10T10:04:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-07-10T10:04:55.634-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"We Are All Descendants of 1776"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOn July 10, 1858, during his campaign for the U.S. Senate, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech in Chicago, in which he reflected on the Declaration of Independence:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIt happens that we meet together once every year, sometime about the 4th of July. . . . We run our memory back over the pages of history [to 1776]. We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers. They were iron men. They fought for the principle that they were contending for; and we understand that by what they then did, it has followed that the degree of prosperity that we now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done, of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it. . . .\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWe have [among us immigrants] who are not descendants at all of these men. . . If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none. . . . But when they look through that old Declaration of Independence, they find that those old men say that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” And then they feel that that moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh of the men who wrote that Declaration. And so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of men throughout the world.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8226168587423217029\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/07\/we-are-all-descendants-of-1776.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8226168587423217029"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8226168587423217029"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/07\/we-are-all-descendants-of-1776.html","title":"We Are All Descendants of 1776"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-350337013125729348"},"published":{"$t":"2020-07-04T11:09:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-07-04T11:09:30.044-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"They Risked All"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn July 4, 1776, delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence. The men who issued that famous document realized they were signing their own death warrants, since the British would consider them traitors. Many suffered hardship during the Revolutionary War.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWilliam Floyd of New York saw the British use his home for a barracks. His family fled to Connecticut, where they lived as refugees. After the war Floyd found his fields stripped and house damaged.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ERichard Stockton of New Jersey was dragged from his bed, thrown into prison, and treated like a common criminal. His home was looted and his fortune badly impaired. He was released in 1777, but his health was broken. He died a few years later.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAt age sixty-three, John Hart, another New Jersey signer, hid in the woods during December 1776 while Hessian soldiers hunted him across the countryside. He died before the war’s end. The New Jersey Gazette reported that he “continued to the day he was seized with his last illness to discharge the duties of a faithful and upright patriot in the service of his country.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThomas Nelson, a Virginian, commanded militia and served as governor during the Revolution. He reportedly instructed artillerymen to fire at his own house in Yorktown when he heard the British were using it as a headquarters. Nelson used his personal credit to raise money for the Patriot cause. His sacrifices left him in financial distress, and he was unable to repair his Yorktown home after the war.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThomas Heyward, Arthur Middleton, and Edward Rutledge, three South Carolina signers, served in their state’s militia and were captured when the British seized Charleston. They spent a year in a St. Augustine prison and, when released, found their estates plundered. Such were the prices paid so we may celebrate freedom every Fourth of July.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history.\" Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/350337013125729348\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/07\/they-risked-all.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/350337013125729348"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/350337013125729348"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/07\/they-risked-all.html","title":"They Risked All"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1428935087753161908"},"published":{"$t":"2020-06-28T16:54:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-06-28T16:54:07.939-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Ben Franklin’s Reminder"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn the summer of 1787, the Constitutional Convention met at Independence Hall in Philadelphia to decide how to set up a new government. At times the arguments grew bitter, and tempers flared in the summer heat. Some delegates verged on quitting when they reached an impasse over whether representation was to be based on the population of each state or if each state should be given one vote. Historians have called this period the “critical juncture” in the Convention. The country was brand-new, and already it looked as though it might fall apart.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn June 28, 1787, eighty-one-year-old Benjamin Franklin, the oldest delegate, rose from his seat and made a simple but profound suggestion: they should pray for guidance. He reminded the others that the Continental Congress had asked for divine aid at the start of the Revolutionary War.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E“Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered,” he said. “And have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe delegates did not follow Franklin’s suggestion to begin each session with prayer -for one thing, they had no funds to hire a clergyman. But his words helped calm the Convention, which soon began to make progress, and that answered Franklin’s fervent prayer.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1428935087753161908\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/06\/ben-franklins-reminder.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1428935087753161908"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1428935087753161908"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/06\/ben-franklins-reminder.html","title":"Ben Franklin’s Reminder"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-587947245639611697"},"published":{"$t":"2020-05-22T10:57:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-05-22T10:57:04.000-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Saying No to a Crown "},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From \u003Ci\u003EBill Bennett's American Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAfter the Revolutionary War, some Americans doubted that the newly freed colonies could govern themselves. In May 1782 George Washington received a letter from one of his officers, Colonel Lewis Nicola, proposing that the general use the army to make himself king of the United States.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWashington’s response on May 22 was sharp:\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EWith a mixture of great surprise and astonishment I have read with attention the sentiments you have submitted to my perusal. Be assured sir, no occurrence in the course of the war has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the army as you have expressed, [which are] big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. . . . Let me conjure you then, if you have any regard for your country—concern for yourself or posterity—or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your mind.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EYet there were some who still wondered if General Washington would give up his power. He had the adoration of the people and command of the Continental Army. Washington erased doubts once and for all in late 1783 when he appeared before Congress, meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, to “surrender into their hands the trust committed to me” by resigning his commission.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EKing George had said that if Washington voluntarily gave up power, then he truly would be the greatest man on earth. Oliver Cromwell hadn’t done it. Napoleon would not do it. But Washington did. He might have had a kingdom for the asking. He was not interested. He put his country first, not himself.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. It's \"a daily newsletter that will teach you key events that took place each day in American history.\" Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/587947245639611697\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/05\/saying-no-to-crown.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/587947245639611697"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/587947245639611697"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/05\/saying-no-to-crown.html","title":"Saying No to a Crown "}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8317812217177741666"},"published":{"$t":"2020-04-30T19:17:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-04-30T19:17:36.586-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"President Washington’s First Official Act"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nOn April 30, 1789, George Washington took office in New York as the first president of the United States. In his inaugural address, he began his duties by giving thanks to the Almighty for the blessings the new country had received during the Revolution and making of the Constitution:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIt would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own. . . . No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. And in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8317812217177741666\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/04\/president-washingtons-first-official-act.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8317812217177741666"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8317812217177741666"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/04\/president-washingtons-first-official-act.html","title":"President Washington’s First Official Act"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8995706674260785241"},"published":{"$t":"2020-04-08T10:09:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-04-08T10:09:41.962-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“The only thing to do was keep swinging”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E“My Motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThat was Henry Aaron’s approach to baseball and life, especially in the early 1970s, when “Hammerin’ Hank” was playing for the Atlanta Braves and getting close to overtaking Babe Ruth as the all-time home-run leader. As he grew closer to the record-breaking 715 mark, the hate mail began to arrive, and what should have been the best time of his life turned into an ordeal.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESome people couldn’t stand the thought of a black man taking Ruth’s place as the homerun king. There were thousands of malicious letters. “You will be the most hated man in this country.” “You’re black so you have no business being here.” Even death threats. “I’D LIKE TO KILL YOU!! BANG BANG YOUR DEAD. P.S. It mite happen.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EHe just kept swinging through the ugliness, quietly carrying on the work of Jackie Robinson, who had first broken baseball’s color barrier, and taking comfort from the flood of fan mail urging him on.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn April 8, 1974, Henry Aaron stepped up to the plate in Atlanta and hammered number 715 over the left centerfield wall. As he rounded the bases, millions of Americans cheered. Few realized the full extent of the gauntlet he’d run. But his dignity and perseverance were evident. President Nixon may have said it best: “When I think of Hank Aaron, I think of power and poise, of courage and consistency. But most of all, I think of a true gentleman, an outstanding citizen. On the field and off, Hank Aaron represents America at its very best.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8995706674260785241\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/04\/the-only-thing-to-do-was-keep-swinging.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8995706674260785241"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8995706674260785241"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/04\/the-only-thing-to-do-was-keep-swinging.html","title":"“The only thing to do was keep swinging”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-3060146222346719924"},"published":{"$t":"2020-03-17T10:40:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-03-17T10:40:46.967-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"St. Patrick’s Day"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESaint Patrick, a fifth-century missionary born in Roman Britain, became the patron saint of Ireland by spreading Christianity throughout the Emerald Isle. For centuries the Irish have set aside a day to remember him. But the version of St. Patrick’s Day that Americans know, which celebrates all things Irish with parades, parties, and “putting on the green,” was invented chiefly in our own country.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAnd no wonder. Some 36.5 million Americans claim Irish ancestry—more than eight times as many people as the population of Ireland itself.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIrish settlers, many of them indentured servants, brought the custom of remembering Saint Patrick to the American colonies. Boston held its first observance in 1737. In New York City, Irish soldiers in the British army held a parade on St. Patrick’s Day 1762. During the Revolutionary War, George Washington allowed his troops camped at Morristown, New Jersey, many of whom were of Irish descent, to have a holiday on March 17, 1780.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn the nineteenth century, as millions more Irish immigrants arrived, including those fleeing the Great Potato Famine, St. Patrick’s Day observances became more widespread. Over time the day became less a remembrance of the saint himself, and more a way to remember Irish heritage, often with flair (as in Chicago, where the city dyes the Chicago River green).\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFrom Davy Crockett to Bing Crosby, Americans with Irish roots have shaped our history and culture. By some estimates, one-third to one-half of American troops in the Revolutionary War were of Irish descent, as were 9 of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence. As many as 19 presidents, including Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan, have had Irish ancestors. If the United States is the world’s melting pot, the broth has a wee bit o’ the taste of Irish stew.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3060146222346719924\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/st-patricks-day.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3060146222346719924"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3060146222346719924"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/st-patricks-day.html","title":"St. Patrick’s Day"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8256790264257550860"},"published":{"$t":"2019-11-26T11:25:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-11-26T11:25:18.243-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"George Washington’s Thanksgiving Prayer"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThis prayer is abridged from George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003EMay we all unite in rendering unto God our sincere and humble thanks— For His kind care and protection of the people of this country, For the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have enjoyed,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFor the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFor the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge, and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAnd may we also unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him—\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETo pardon our national and other transgressions,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETo enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETo render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETo protect and guide all nations and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETo promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAnd generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8256790264257550860\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/11\/george-washingtons-thanksgiving-prayer.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8256790264257550860"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8256790264257550860"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/11\/george-washingtons-thanksgiving-prayer.html","title":"George Washington’s Thanksgiving Prayer"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-3573339995616019562"},"published":{"$t":"2019-11-10T11:30:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-11-10T11:30:37.639-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Marine Corps Birthday and Flag"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Even though I served in the Army, not the Marines, I have nothing but love and respect for the Leathernecks who stand between us and the bad guys.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nSemper Fi.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe U.S. Marine Corps traces its origins to November 10, 1775, during the Revolutionary War, when the Continental Congress called for two battalions of Continental Marines to be raised. Their mission was to provide security onboard Navy ships, conduct ship-to-ship fighting, and serve as landing troops. Tradition has it that the Tun Tavern in Philadelphia served as the first Marines recruiting post. The Marines’ first landing, led by Captain Samuel Nicholas, came in March 1776 at New Providence, in the Bahamas, where they seized British cannons, shells, and powder.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Marines were disbanded after the Revolutionary War, then reformed in 1798. The U.S. Marine Corps has served in every major armed conflict in American history. As a “force in readiness,” its missions range from amphibious assaults to counterterrorism operations.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Marine Corps flag is a scarlet banner that carries a yellow and gray image of a globe (symbolizing service in any part of the world) and an anchor (a reminder of the amphibious nature of Marines’ duties, and that the Marine Corps is a partner of the U.S. Navy). An eagle stands on the globe, holding in its beak a scroll inscribed with the Marine Corps motto, Semper Fidelis (“Always Faithful”). Below, a larger scroll reads, “United States Marine Corps.” The flag’s design dates to 1939.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-HUUfKvwFZPs\/VkH8Amm4WDI\/AAAAAAADLbo\/8_NjvUeje6k\/s1600\/Flag_of_the_United_States_Marine_Corps.svg.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"192\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-HUUfKvwFZPs\/VkH8Amm4WDI\/AAAAAAADLbo\/8_NjvUeje6k\/s320\/Flag_of_the_United_States_Marine_Corps.svg.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3573339995616019562\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/11\/the-marine-corps-birthday-and-flag.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3573339995616019562"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3573339995616019562"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/11\/the-marine-corps-birthday-and-flag.html","title":"The Marine Corps Birthday and Flag"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-HUUfKvwFZPs\/VkH8Amm4WDI\/AAAAAAADLbo\/8_NjvUeje6k\/s72-c\/Flag_of_the_United_States_Marine_Corps.svg.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1722880687861588223"},"published":{"$t":"2019-11-09T01:00:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-11-09T01:00:00.265-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Day It Finally Fell"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\nToday marks the 30th\u0026nbsp;anniversary of one of the\ngreat events of the 20\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E century: The beginning of the end of Soviet\nCommunism when the East German border guards started allowing people from East into\nWest. The Wall had begun to be torn down, and Soviet Communism, which had\nmurdered about 30 million of its citizens over a 70+ year span, began to fall\nas well.\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\nFrom \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/392390\/wall-could-not-stand-john-fund\"\u003ENational\nReview\u003C\/a\u003E:\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe irony is that\nthe Wall’s opening actually came about through a bureaucratic blunder. On\nNovember 9, East German Politburo member Günther Schabowski mistakenly\nannounced that East Germans would be allowed to cross into West Germany\neffective immediately. Thousands of people surged to the Berlin border and\ndemanded their “right” of exit. The border guards, despite their intensive\ntraining, gave up.\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAs former National\nReview editor John O’Sullivan has noted, “Communism had failed to retain enough\ntrue believers who would murder on its behalf.”\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWho brought about\nthe fall of the Berlin Wall and then the end of the Cold War? The ordinary\npeople of Eastern Europe, especially those who rose up in protest, deserve\npride of place. But for different reasons, history will record two paramount\nfigures: Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev. Reagan first saw the Wall in\n1978, when he \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/historynewsnetwork.org\/article\/119816\"\u003Etold\u003C\/a\u003E\nhis aide Peter Hannaford: “We’ve got to find a way to knock this thing down.”\nAfter he became president, he returned in 1982 and enraged the Soviets by\ntaking a couple of ceremonial steps across a painted borderline. Then, in 1987,\nhe overruled his own State Department by giving a momentous speech in which he\nimplored the Soviet general secretary directly: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this\nwall!”\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EPeter Robinson, a\nformer Reagan speechwriter, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.archives.gov\/publications\/prologue\/2007\/summer\/berlin.html\"\u003Etells\u003C\/a\u003E\nthe fascinating story of how the president’s entreaty came to symbolize the\ndesire for freedom in Europe. After Robinson inserted the now-famous phrase\ninto a draft of the speech, it became a topic of bitter dispute inside the\nadministration. Officials tried over and over to have the section removed,\njudging that it was too provocative and theatrical. White House officials\nbelieved the language would embarrass Gorbachev. A June 2, 1987, memo from a\nNational Security Council aide called the speech “mediocre” and said it\nrepresented a “lost opportunity.” The edited draft that was attached to this\nmemo had the entire “tear down this wall” section crossed out.\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBut Reagan\ninsisted on leaving his sock-it-to-’em lines in, and they proved a hit with the\nmany thousands of people who heard it — they cheered for a full 20 seconds.\nMany Reagan aides remained unconvinced, but two and a half years later, the\nWall had been entirely swept away.\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\nIn less than a year, the two Germanys were united into\none nation for the first time since 1945, and a little more than two years\nlater, the Soviet Union dissolved. \u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nLet’s give thanks today for this, shall we?\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\nWe went from this…\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/--OyCYpJnb8A\/VGAmwkyerNI\/AAAAAAACfrE\/P_J3xsdm6os\/s1600\/berlinwall_08.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/--OyCYpJnb8A\/VGAmwkyerNI\/AAAAAAACfrE\/P_J3xsdm6os\/s1600\/berlinwall_08.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\nAnd this (yes, those are grandparents waving to their grandchildren\nacross the barrier)…\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-OS0oSnCvFLU\/VGAn17TuFzI\/AAAAAAACfrQ\/kgyL5wKqVt4\/s1600\/berlinwall_403.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-OS0oSnCvFLU\/VGAn17TuFzI\/AAAAAAACfrQ\/kgyL5wKqVt4\/s1600\/berlinwall_403.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\nTo this…\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-kOFURB4lWs8\/VGAoHWQDoGI\/AAAAAAACfrg\/YTVe4fVM454\/s1600\/pic_giant_110914_SM_Berlin-Wall-G.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"186\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-kOFURB4lWs8\/VGAoHWQDoGI\/AAAAAAACfrg\/YTVe4fVM454\/s1600\/pic_giant_110914_SM_Berlin-Wall-G.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\nAnd this…\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-xhmVzX10T_s\/VGAoA0IyzvI\/AAAAAAACfrY\/obk7JuO_ebo\/s1600\/berlinwall_32.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"180\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-xhmVzX10T_s\/VGAoA0IyzvI\/AAAAAAACfrY\/obk7JuO_ebo\/s1600\/berlinwall_32.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\nFreedom is not something to take lightly. It must be guarded. Please let's not forget.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNoSpacing\"\u003E\n\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1722880687861588223\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/11\/the-day-it-finally-fell.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1722880687861588223"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1722880687861588223"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/11\/the-day-it-finally-fell.html","title":"The Day It Finally Fell"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/--OyCYpJnb8A\/VGAmwkyerNI\/AAAAAAACfrE\/P_J3xsdm6os\/s72-c\/berlinwall_08.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1765468668464523707"},"published":{"$t":"2019-10-03T08:11:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-10-03T08:12:05.599-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Mary McLeod Bethune"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAs a girl, Mary McLeod Bethune dreamed of becoming a missionary in Africa. Born in 1875 to parents who had been slaves, she grew up near Maysville, South Carolina, working in cotton fields. Her burning desire to learn made her the star student in Maysville’s one-room school for black children. Scholarships led to more schooling in North Carolina, and then at Dwight Moody’s Institute for Home and Foreign Missions in Chicago. After finishing her studies, she learned there were “no openings for Negro missionaries in Africa.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EUndeterred, she embarked on a career as an educator. On October 3, 1904, with $1.50 in cash – all the money she had – she opened the Daytona Literacy and Industrial School for Training Negro Girls in a cottage in Daytona Beach, Florida. The school started with five pupils. Bethune used crates for desks, made ink from elderberries, and sold sweet potato pies to raise funds. She convinced wealthy businessmen to support her efforts. “Invest in a human soul,” she urged them. The school grew, and today it lives on as Bethune-Cookman University.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EOne night in 1920, eighty hooded Ku Klux Klansmen appeared outside the school, waving a burning cross. They had heard Bethune was registering black voters, and threatened to burn the school. If you do, we’ll rebuild it, she answered. The Klansmen rode away, and the next day Bethune led a procession of blacks to the polls.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EHer courage won the admiration of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. In 1936, she became the first black woman to head a federal agency, the Division of Negro Affairs of the National Youth Administration. Bethune joined other prominent blacks to form FDR’s “black cabinet,” an informal committee that advised the president on racial issues. “There can be no divided democracy, no class government, no half-free county, under the Constitution,” she wrote. Her life moved the country toward those ideals.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe. "},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1765468668464523707\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/10\/mary-mcleod-bethune.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1765468668464523707"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1765468668464523707"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/10\/mary-mcleod-bethune.html","title":"Mary McLeod Bethune"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4275350683731148358"},"published":{"$t":"2019-10-01T11:18:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-10-03T08:11:18.531-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Honorary Citizens of the United States"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn October 1, 1996, Congress declared Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, better known as Mother Teresa, an honorary citizen of the United States. A native of what is now the Republic of Macedonia, the Roman Catholic nun spent a lifetime helping orphaned and abandoned children, the poor, the sick, and the dying in regions throughout the world, including the United States.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOnly a handful of non-citizens have been declared honorary U.S. citizens. According to Congress, it is “an extraordinary honor not lightly conferred nor frequently granted.” The other honorary citizens are:\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cul\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EWinston Churchill (1963), the great British statesmen whose “bravery, charity and valor, both in war and in peace, have been a flame of inspiration in freedom’s darkest hour,” as President Kennedy put it.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ERaoul Wallenberg (1981), the Swedish businessman who risked his life to save tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews from the Nazis, and who died after being imprisoned by Soviet authorities.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EWilliam Penn (1984), the English Quaker who in 1681 founded Pennsylvania to carry out an experiment based upon representative government, and his wife, Hannah Penn, who administered the Province of Pennsylvania for six years.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003EThe Marquis de Lafayette (2002), the French soldier and statesman who fought alongside American Patriots during the Revolutionary War. An American flag flies over his grave in Paris.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003Cli\u003E\u003Cb\u003ECasimir Pulaski (2009), the Polish soldier and nobleman who fought in the Revolutionary War and became known as “the father of the American cavalry.” He died of wounds at the siege of Savannah in Georgia.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/li\u003E\n\u003C\/ul\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4275350683731148358\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/10\/honorary-citizens-of-united-states.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4275350683731148358"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4275350683731148358"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/10\/honorary-citizens-of-united-states.html","title":"Honorary Citizens of the United States"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6307233224700533312"},"published":{"$t":"2019-09-17T10:42:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-09-17T10:42:55.935-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Signing of the Constitution"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESeptember 17, 1787, brought a world-changing event: the signing of the United States Constitution.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe day dawned clear and chilly in Philadelphia, where delegates from the thirteen states had spent a long, hot summer writing and debating the new Constitution for their young country. They assembled in Independence Hall and listened as their work was read aloud one last time. Then they heard an address from old Benjamin Franklin, who urged them all to sign the document. Franklin was too frail to make his speech, so another delegate read it for him.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThirty-eight delegates filed forward to put their names at the bottom of the Constitution. George Washington signed first as president of the convention. The other delegates signed in geographical order from north to south, starting with New Hampshire and ending with Georgia. Franklin was helped forward from his seat, and it was reported that he wept as he signed. Their work done, the delegates closed the Constitutional Convention, and the document was sent to the states to be ratified.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn writing the Constitution, the Founding Fathers launched a daring experiment. The idea that a free people could begin a new country by designing their own government and writing down the laws and principles they would follow had never been tried before.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Constitution has guaranteed freedom, equality, opportunity, and justice to hundreds of millions of people. It is the oldest written constitution still in effect and has become a model for nations around the world. It is, as Great Britain’s prime minister William Gladstone called it, “the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6307233224700533312\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/the-signing-of-constitution.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6307233224700533312"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6307233224700533312"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/the-signing-of-constitution.html","title":"The Signing of the Constitution"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5337466135197263632"},"published":{"$t":"2019-09-11T10:09:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-09-11T10:09:21.866-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"September 11, 2001"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn Tuesday, September 11, 2001, nineteen al-Qaeda terrorists, mostly from Saudi Arabia, hijacked four commercial jetliners and turned them into flying bombs. Two of the hijacked planes slammed into the 110-story twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. Americans watched their TV screens in horror as the two skyscrapers, among the tallest in the world, collapsed. Another plane hit the Pentagon, and the fourth jet crashed in rural Pennsylvania.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ENearly 3,000 people died in the attacks, including more than 400 firefighters, police officers, and emergency medical services workers who had rushed to the World Trade Center to help survivors before the buildings fell.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAmong the day’s heroes were passengers on board United Flight 93, which had left Newark International Airport for San Francisco but changed course toward Washington, D.C., after four terrorists seized control. Passengers who began making frantic calls on their cell phones learned that other airliners had been hijacked and crashed in suicide missions. Realizing their captors must be headed toward a high-profile target, a group of Flight 93 passengers resolved to stop them.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EPassenger Todd Beamer told an operator that he and a few others were going to jump the hijackers. “Are you guys ready?” the operator heard him say to someone. “Let’s roll!”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMoments later, Flight 93 went down in rural southwestern Pennsylvania. All aboard were killed. The hijackers’ target was probably the U.S. Capitol building or the White House.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ECongress and the president have designated September 11 as Patriot Day. The flag should be flown at half-staff, and Americans are asked to observe a moment of silence to honor the innocent victims who perished during the worst acts of terrorism ever carried out against the United States.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. It's \"a daily newsletter that will teach you key events that took place each day in American history.\" Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5337466135197263632\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/september-11-2001.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5337466135197263632"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5337466135197263632"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/september-11-2001.html","title":"September 11, 2001"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-2312159446837291219"},"published":{"$t":"2019-08-28T10:37:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-08-28T10:37:23.277-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"\"I have a dream. . .\""},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Daily Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn August 28, 1963, more than 200,000 people, black and white, gathered in the nation’s capital to urge Congress to pass President John F. Kennedy’s civil rights bill, which prohibited racial discrimination in public places, employment, and education. The daylong celebration of speeches, songs, and prayers climaxed with an address by the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., who spoke from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial:\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EI have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. . . . I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! . . . And so let freedom ring . . . from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi—from every mountainside. Let freedom ring. And when this happens—when we allow freedom to ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children—black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: “Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ERarely can it be said that speeches change things. But King’s “I have a dream” speech, one of the greatest in the nation’s history, helped secure passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The speech helped change millions of hearts and minds. It changes things still.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. \"You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place 'On This Day' in American history.\" Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2312159446837291219\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/08\/i-have-dream.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2312159446837291219"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2312159446837291219"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/08\/i-have-dream.html","title":"\"I have a dream. . .\""}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-295417782330127156"},"published":{"$t":"2019-07-18T08:17:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-07-18T08:18:33.826-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“Boys, the old flag never touched the ground”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAs dusk fell on the evening of July 18, 1863, about 600 men of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry assembled on a beach near Charleston, South Carolina. At the shout “Forward, Fifty-fourth!” they began to move across a narrow spit of sand toward Fort Wagner, a massive sand-and-wood Confederate stronghold with walls that rose thirty feet high. As they neared the fort, a storm of cannonballs and bullets tore into the blue-coated line.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe 54th Massachusetts was a Northern black regiment organized shortly after Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Its ranks were full of young men who volunteered to fight because they knew that if blacks helped win the Civil War, no one could ever think of them as slaves again.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nTwenty-three-year-old Sergeant William Carney helped lead the assault on Fort Wagner. At his side ran Sergeant John Wall, carrying the American flag. When enemy fire struck Wall down, Carney threw his rifle aside and grasped the colors before they hit the ground.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAs he pressed forward, a bullet hit him in the thigh. He fell to his knees but managed to get up and struggle onto a parapet, where he planted the flag. There he knelt, bearing the colors as the battle raged around him.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWhen the overwhelmed Union troops fell back, Carney struggled back down the earthworks, determined not to let the flag fall into enemy hands. He was shot twice more as he staggered across the sand to his own lines, still clutching the Stars and Stripes. “Boys, the old flag never touched the ground,” he exclaimed as he collapsed.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe 54th Massachusetts lost nearly half of its men during the assault, but its courage won respect for black soldiers in the North. William Carney recovered from his wounds. For his bravery in protecting the flag that night, he received the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\nIn case any of this sounds familiar, yes, the events of this (true) story are what the movie \u003Ci\u003EGlory\u003C\/i\u003E--starring Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington--was loosely based upon.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his\n American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their \nachievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American \nhistory. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe. "},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/295417782330127156\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/07\/boys-old-flag-never-touched-ground.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/295417782330127156"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/295417782330127156"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/07\/boys-old-flag-never-touched-ground.html","title":"“Boys, the old flag never touched the ground”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4655885537591963481"},"published":{"$t":"2019-07-15T14:48:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-07-15T14:48:56.440-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Among my problems with the logic of social justice is that its practitioners start from the answer and then look for the right questions to fit it. They start from the conclusion that women make less, on average, than men because of sexism, and then they design questions that confirm the conclusion. Inequality is bad because shut up, it just is. Inequality exists because capitalism is cruel and bigoted at its heart.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nThe world should be a better place than this. And if it’s not, the reasons are an indictment of the system, not the free choices made by individuals or the political choices made by enemies of the market. Capitalism is always to blame because there’s some perfect alternative just waiting around the bend to replace it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Jonah Goldberg"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4655885537591963481\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/07\/thought-for-week_41.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4655885537591963481"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4655885537591963481"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/07\/thought-for-week_41.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1082520081852909241"},"published":{"$t":"2019-07-08T11:44:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-07-08T11:46:44.955-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Conservatism does not have a monopoly on wisdom, but I do believe that conservatism properly understood is inseparable from wisdom. Wise people of all political orientations recognize that the only hard decisions in life are between two (or more) good options or two (or more) bad options. One needn’t be a sage to know that it’s better to eat ice cream than get poked in the eye with a sharp stick. And every right decision still involves trade-offs.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Jonah Goldberg (\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonahNRO\"\u003E@JonahNRO\u003C\/a\u003E)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1082520081852909241\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/07\/thought-for-week_8.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1082520081852909241"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1082520081852909241"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/07\/thought-for-week_8.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6726635266391334645"},"published":{"$t":"2019-07-05T09:12:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-07-05T09:12:10.846-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“The things of the spirit come first”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn July 5, 1926, in a speech in Philadelphia commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, President Calvin Coolidge reminded Americans that “in its main features the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EOur forefathers came to certain conclusions and decided upon certain courses of action which have been a great blessing to the world. . . . They were a people who came under the influence of a great spiritual development and acquired a great moral power. No other theory is adequate to explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence. It is the product of the spiritual insight of the people. We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren scepter in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more compelling flame, the altar fires before which they worshiped.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6726635266391334645\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/07\/the-things-of-spirit-come-first.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6726635266391334645"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6726635266391334645"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/07\/the-things-of-spirit-come-first.html","title":"“The things of the spirit come first”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4814103326710020289"},"published":{"$t":"2019-07-01T17:46:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-07-01T17:51:53.320-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Women – and men – are as free as they ever were to churn their own butter, sew their own clothes, and grow their own wheat. But they’d rather do something else with their time. That’s not bondage.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nYou know what \u003Ci\u003Eis \u003C\/i\u003Ebondage? Nature. What I mean is that, in a state of nature, we are slaves to necessity, vassals to the vicissitudes of weather, climate, geography, and disease. Science and technology bring about “the relief of man’s estate,” in the words of Francis Bacon, by reducing the cost – in time, labor, and resources – of necessities. In prehistoric society, producing 1,000 lumen hours of light required chopping wood for 10 hours a day for six days. That’s 54 minutes worth of your average lightbulb. Living in darkness – literal darkness – is a kind of bondage. Light is liberating.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Jonah Goldberg"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4814103326710020289\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/07\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4814103326710020289"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4814103326710020289"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/07\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6373918814411342669"},"published":{"$t":"2019-06-26T11:29:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-06-26T11:29:35.830-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"\"Ich bin ein Berliner!\""},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;It's really sad. This morning I got my daily dose of Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Daily Almanac \u003C\/i\u003E(which you can get \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E, and I highly recommend it). Today, June 26th, marks the day of President Kennedy's famous (or infamous) \"Ich bin ein Berliner\" speech which he made in front of a cheering crowd in Berlin, that divided city just after the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Berlin_wall\"\u003EBerlin Wall\u003C\/a\u003E came up.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;So what's sad about it? The problem is twofold. First, the only thing that most people remember about that speech was Kennedy's alleged flub-up of saying \"Ich bin ein Berliner,\" supposedly calling himself a \"Jelly doughnut\" instead of identifying himself with the people of that divided city in standing up against Communism. My friends, according to \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.snopes.com\/language\/misxlate\/berliner.asp\"\u003ESnopes\u003C\/a\u003E, this is a myth. It's not true. People to this day snicker and make jokes about Kennedy's gaffe, and the joke's really on them for falling for an urban legend.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Second, all this discussion about his alleged gaffe distracts from the strength of this speech. Yes, President Kennedy was horrible in the arena of faithfulness to his wife. He--with the complicity of the press--covered up the fact that he was in incredibly ill health, something that should've caused him to step down as President. He was responsible for some other policies which I heartily disagree with. But. . \u0026nbsp;.when it came to standing up against Communism, he was about as stalwart as he could be. He recognized how evil a system it was. He was never mealy-mouthed or wishy-washy on this subject, nor did he have any problems favorably comparing his country with totalitarian states. He gave not one inch to moral equivalence. And for that, he deserves some praise. Oh, how much I yearn for the days when Democrats as a party saw evil as evil, when they had no trouble defending America in both word and deed! Anyway, here's Bill Bennett's posting on the speech. Read and tell me that the most important part was a (mythological) gaffe:\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn June 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy became the first president to stand on the west side of the Berlin Wall and denounce totalitarianism. Kennedy called the wall “the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the Communist system, for all the world to see.” With the words Ich bin ein Berliner (“I am a Berliner”), he assured Europeans of U.S. resolve to stand up for freedom.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u003Ci\u003EThere are many people in the world who really don’t understand, or say they don’t, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say that Communism is the wave of the future. Let them come to Berlin. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, but we have never had to put a wall up to keep our people in, to prevent them from leaving us. . . . [The Berlin Wall is] an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity, separating families, dividing husbands and wives and brothers and sisters, and dividing a people who wish to be joined together. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner.”\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6373918814411342669\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/ich-bin-ein-berliner.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6373918814411342669"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6373918814411342669"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/ich-bin-ein-berliner.html","title":"\"Ich bin ein Berliner!\""}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5554525923582577238"},"published":{"$t":"2019-06-23T23:26:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-06-23T23:26:44.662-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"There is no easy way to prevent attempts to crush the individual in any society, but there is an easy way to repel them. The liberal order is the dissenter’s best friend.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Charles C.W. Cooke"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5554525923582577238\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/06\/thought-for-week_23.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5554525923582577238"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5554525923582577238"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/06\/thought-for-week_23.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1708662324913383915"},"published":{"$t":"2019-06-17T21:55:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-06-17T21:55:41.043-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Conservatism consists partly in a consciousness of things lost, but also in a consciousness of precious things not lost — or not yet lost, or not forever lost.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Kevin D. Williamson"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1708662324913383915\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/06\/conservatism-consists-partly-in.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1708662324913383915"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1708662324913383915"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/06\/conservatism-consists-partly-in.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-3608861899643382115"},"published":{"$t":"2019-06-09T19:45:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-06-09T19:45:07.174-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"“Believe me sir,those who attempt to level never equalize. In all societies, consisting of various descriptions of citizens, some description must be uppermost.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Edmund Burke"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3608861899643382115\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/06\/thought-for-week_9.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3608861899643382115"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3608861899643382115"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/06\/thought-for-week_9.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-859056417262644123"},"published":{"$t":"2019-06-08T08:57:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-06-08T08:57:53.437-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"From Punch Cards to Microchips"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn June 8, 1887, a former Census Bureau employee named Herman Hollerith filed a patent for a “novel sorting device” he had devised as part of an “apparatus for compiling statistics.” His name is not as famous as it used to be, but Hollerith was one in a string of American inventors who ushered in the computer age. His machine used punch cards – cards with rows of holes representing information – to quickly tabulate statistics for millions of pieces of data.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBefore Hollerith’s time it took the Census Bureau eight years to sort through information collected in its once-a-decade census. Hollerith’s system allowed workers to tally the 1890 population in just six weeks and publish refined data in a mere two years. “The apparatus works as unerringly as the mills of the gods, but beats them hollow as to speed,” one expert marveled. Hollerith’s Tabulating Machine Company later merged with two other companies to form the corporation known today as International Business Machines – IBM.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn June 1951 the world’s first commercial computer was put into service at the Census Bureau. The UNIVAC I (Universal Automatic Computer I) was built by the Eckert-Mauchly Computer Corporation. The next year, another UNIVAC machine astounded TV viewers when it accurately predicted that Dwight D. Eisenhower would win the 1952 presidential election.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn June 1977, Apple Computer, Inc., began selling the Apple II, the first widely successful personal computer. Apple was the brainchild of Stephen Wozniak and his friend Steve Jobs, who sold his Volkswagen minibus to help fund the company started in his parents’ garage. By the early 1980s, microchips in the first generation of personal computers could perform close to 5 million operations per second, compared to the room-size UNIVAC’s 1,900.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/859056417262644123\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/06\/from-punch-cards-to-microchips.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/859056417262644123"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/859056417262644123"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/06\/from-punch-cards-to-microchips.html","title":"From Punch Cards to Microchips"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4846417206188258707"},"published":{"$t":"2019-06-04T11:45:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-06-04T11:48:51.291-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"30 years ago today"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; It was 30 years ago\ntoday that protests in China came to a bloody end. What came to be known as the\n“\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989\"\u003ETiananmen\nSquare protests of 1989\u003C\/a\u003E” started in April when Communist Party General\nSecretary, Hu Yaobang died. He was a liberal reformer, and his passing sparked\ndemonstrations and protests. At the height of the protests, about a million\npeople assembled in the Square. They requested government accountability,\nfreedom of the press, freedom of speech, and the restoration of workers'\ncontrol over industry\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; The government tried a\nconciliatory stance at first, and protests spread to 400 cities by mid-May. But\nthe government, led by Deng Xiaoping, got tired of talking and decided to use\nbrutal force, sending in tanks and soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army. Of\ncourse, we don’t know exactly how many people were murdered by their own\ngovernment, either in the actual fighting or later by being “disappeared,” but\nestimates range from a few hundred to several thousand. June 4\u003Csup\u003Eth\u003C\/sup\u003E was\nthe official, bloody, end. \u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; Now, \u003Ci\u003Etoday\u003C\/i\u003E, students are held in ignorance. According to \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2019\/06\/tiananmen-square-china-still-hides-truth\/\"\u003ENational Review\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThis week, China will diverge from the rest of the world as if it resides in an alternate universe. While outside of China the world will commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre that took place on June 4th, 1989, inside the country President Xi Jinping’s regime will continue its campaign of silence: not acknowledging the massacre ever took place; not apologizing to victims and their families; strongly condemning any commemorative activities outside China; and deploying its massive cyber-security force to vigorously scrub any mention of the incident from the domestic Internet.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe censorship will be so thorough that Chinese people won’t even be able to send a text message that contains any one of the numbers eight, nine, six, and four. Such a campaign of silence has been going on for 30 years, and as technology has improved, the Chinese government has only gotten better at suppressing dissent.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp; But I couldn’t let\nthis anniversary pass by without comment. To anyone who’ll has access to this\nand who’ll listen, I’ll proclaim this from this blog, adding my voice to a lot\nof other (much braver) ones:\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThis is not forgotten.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E The Chinese government desperately wants\nto pretend this never happened, and they’ll take any necessary measures to\nsilence those who’d call us to remembrance, but what happened is not forgotten.\n\u003Ci\u003EThe entire world might forget\u003C\/i\u003E, but\nthere is One who never will. He sees all. He knows all. He remembers all. The\ndissident who’s languishing in a prison cell, awaiting a final bullet, is known\nby him. . .by name. Each and every one. \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=rev%2020:11-14\u0026amp;version=NIV\"\u003EOne\nday the books will be opened\u003C\/a\u003E, and each one not covered by the blood of\nChrist will get \u003Ci\u003Eexactly\u003C\/i\u003E what he or\nshe deserves. \u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\nTo all my Chinese siblings in Christ, I want to let you know something\nas well. The One who \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew+10:29\u0026amp;version=NIV\"\u003Enotices\u003C\/a\u003E\nwhen a sparrow falls sees what you’re going through. And one day, he will make\nall things right. You’re not forgotten by your Father, and you’re not forgotten\nby me. Just wanted you to know. \u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-r6fgivhMFHQ\/U4y17Wo32dI\/AAAAAAACQcU\/Kov9i6Wanu8\/s1600\/300px-Tank_Man_Long_Shot_by_Stuart_Franklin.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-r6fgivhMFHQ\/U4y17Wo32dI\/AAAAAAACQcU\/Kov9i6Wanu8\/s1600\/300px-Tank_Man_Long_Shot_by_Stuart_Franklin.jpg\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;\"\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4846417206188258707\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/wow-25-years.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4846417206188258707"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4846417206188258707"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/wow-25-years.html","title":"30 years ago today"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-r6fgivhMFHQ\/U4y17Wo32dI\/AAAAAAACQcU\/Kov9i6Wanu8\/s72-c\/300px-Tank_Man_Long_Shot_by_Stuart_Franklin.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6093356537065618932"},"published":{"$t":"2019-06-03T22:35:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-06-03T22:35:31.376-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"[The] failure of discrete socialism is not a warrant for more general socialism, except in the minds of ideologues who are disposed to see everything as a warrant for more general socialism.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Kevin D. Williamson"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6093356537065618932\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/06\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6093356537065618932"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6093356537065618932"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/06\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5057639201024138855"},"published":{"$t":"2019-05-27T20:40:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-05-27T20:40:48.110-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"When you decide to undo norms, it’s not the rich and powerful that will suffer the most.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Frank J. Fleming (@IMAO_)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5057639201024138855\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/05\/thought-for-week_27.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5057639201024138855"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5057639201024138855"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/05\/thought-for-week_27.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5806440121612895102"},"published":{"$t":"2019-05-20T23:40:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-05-20T23:40:23.395-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"When a nation goes down, or a society perishes, one condition may always be found; they forgot where they came from. They lost sight of what had brought them along.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Carl Sandburg"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5806440121612895102\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/05\/thought-for-week_20.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5806440121612895102"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5806440121612895102"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/05\/thought-for-week_20.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8221743795571457458"},"published":{"$t":"2019-05-18T07:43:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-05-18T07:43:45.990-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“Our Constitution is color-blind”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn May 18, 1896, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, a case that challenged a Louisiana law segregating railroad-car passengers by race. The Court upheld the statute, establishing the policy of “separate but equal” public facilities for blacks and whites. John Marshall Harlan, a former slave owner, was the only justice to dissent from the Plessy decision. In the following decades, civil rights advocates often quoted his forceful argument in their quest to end segregation:\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003EIn view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our Constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law regards man as man, and takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe arbitrary separation of citizens on the basis of race while they are on a public highway is a badge of servitude wholly inconsistent with the civil freedom and the equality before the law established by the Constitution. It cannot be justified upon any legal grounds. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EWe boast of the freedom enjoyed by our people above all other peoples. But it is difficult to reconcile that boast with a state of the law which, practically, puts the brand of servitude and degradation upon a large class of our fellow citizens, our equals before the law. The thin disguise of “equal” accommodations for passengers in railroad coaches will not mislead anyone, nor atone for the wrong this day done.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. Get it \"to receive a daily source of inspiration and information. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place 'On This Day' in American history.\" Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8221743795571457458\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/05\/our-constitution-is-color-blind.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8221743795571457458"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8221743795571457458"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/05\/our-constitution-is-color-blind.html","title":"“Our Constitution is color-blind”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1885757931590988923"},"published":{"$t":"2019-05-12T20:19:00.003-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-05-12T20:19:58.018-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"One of the greatest advantages of the totalitarian elites of the twenties and thirties was to turn any statement of fact into a question of motive.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Hannah Arendt"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1885757931590988923\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/05\/thought-for-week_12.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1885757931590988923"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1885757931590988923"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/05\/thought-for-week_12.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1673764820998216582"},"published":{"$t":"2019-05-06T19:34:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-05-06T19:34:23.148-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"The special mark of the modern world is not that it is skeptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G.K. Chesterton"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1673764820998216582\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/05\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1673764820998216582"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1673764820998216582"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/05\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4068817064998237304"},"published":{"$t":"2019-04-28T22:00:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-04-28T22:01:24.447-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Bad ideology, like bad dogma, is a very real thing as well. Bad ideologies confuse is and ought. They hitch themselves to an unproven or unfalsifiable conviction about the way things should be. The worst ideologies assume humans are clay, dispensable when insufficiently pliable. They heap scorn on the hard-learned lessons of civilization in favor of glorious castles built in the air. Opposition to their agenda is seen as an evil desire to deprive people of happiness not attainable in this life.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Jonah Goldberg"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4068817064998237304\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/thought-for-week_28.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4068817064998237304"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4068817064998237304"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/thought-for-week_28.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-432633521917522058"},"published":{"$t":"2019-04-21T22:12:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-04-21T22:12:26.961-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"What the witnesses of the Resurrection were looking at was the first day of a new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth; and in a semblance of the gardener God walked again in the garden, in the cool not of the evening but the dawn.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G.K. Chesterton (h\/t @GKdaily)\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/432633521917522058\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/thought-for-week_21.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/432633521917522058"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/432633521917522058"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/thought-for-week_21.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4849885943420364486"},"published":{"$t":"2019-04-18T01:00:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-04-18T01:00:08.321-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Doolittle Raid"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"This is especially poignant, since the last surviving participant of the Doolittle raid died at the age of 103 \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2019\/04\/09\/richard-cole-doolittle-raiders-dies-103\/3416542002\/\"\u003Ejust over a week ago\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn April 17, 1942, the aircraft carrier USS Hornet steamed west across the Pacific, several hundred miles from Japan. Lashed to its deck were sixteen B-25 bombers—planes never before launched from a carrier on a combat mission. Their secret target: Tokyo.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn the four months after Pearl Harbor, Japan’s forces had surged across the Pacific. The Japanese were confident their nation was safe from attack. Lt. Col. James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle and 79 other airmen were determined to prove them wrong with a surprise air attack from the sea. They knew they would not have enough fuel to return to the Hornet, so they planned to land in China after dropping their bombs.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EEarly on April 18, a Japanese patrol boat spotted the task force, and Doolittle realized he must launch earlier than planned. His airmen had spent months training but had never taken off at sea. In the midst of a howling storm, Doolittle got his plane off the pitching deck and into the air, with the other B-25s following.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe bombers roared toward Japan, just twenty feet above the waves to avoid detection. The attack was a complete surprise—many Japanese waved as the bombers flew overhead, not dreaming they could be Allied aircraft. The raiders quickly dropped their bombs on Tokyo and other targets and sped away.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDoolittle and his crews continued toward China, where they crash-landed or parachuted from their planes as they ran out of fuel. One bomber landed in Russia. Most of the men eventually made it home with the help of Chinese who hid them from the Japanese. The Japanese did capture several airmen, executing three and starving one to death.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe audacious raid did little physical damage, but it stunned the Japanese. News of Jimmy Doolittle’s “thirty seconds over Tokyo” electrified Americans and helped turn the tide of the war in the Pacific.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere \u003C\/a\u003Eto subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nStuff You Missed In History has a 2-part podcast on this, \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.missedinhistory.com\/podcasts\/jimmy-doolittle-and-the-doolittle-raid\/\"\u003Eon the raid itself\u003C\/a\u003E and then \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.missedinhistory.com\/podcasts\/china-and-japan-after-the-doolittle-raid\/\"\u003Eon the aftermath on the Chinese\u003C\/a\u003E who helped them.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4849885943420364486\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/the-doolittle-raid.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4849885943420364486"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4849885943420364486"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/the-doolittle-raid.html","title":"The Doolittle Raid"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-3400338832299026388"},"published":{"$t":"2019-04-15T23:52:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-04-15T23:52:06.434-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Why is the West so Successful? "},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Why is the West so much more successful than the rest of the world, both now and in the past? According to Ben Shapiro, it's all about the union of two cities: Athens and Jerusalem. Here's a five minute video on why that is.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ciframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https:\/\/www.blogger.com\/video.g?token=AD6v5dzXems_NCqJ48IPtDyaeAWzXH8DDwLMRx8DoDO8hAda3nbYqgcQTQypkJlQMRr71u-EI1U98HTAbuvpu8uBhw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'\u003E\u003C\/iframe\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3400338832299026388\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/why-is-west-so-successful_15.html#comment-form","title":"1 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3400338832299026388"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3400338832299026388"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/why-is-west-so-successful_15.html","title":"Why is the West so Successful? "}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"1"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-483339584917421783"},"published":{"$t":"2019-04-14T21:43:00.001-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-04-14T21:46:03.478-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"A dead thing can go with the stream, but only a living thing can go against it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G.K. Chesterton (h\/t\u0026nbsp;@GKCdaily)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/483339584917421783\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/thought-for-week_14.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/483339584917421783"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/483339584917421783"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/thought-for-week_14.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8939942100388344273"},"published":{"$t":"2019-04-08T21:47:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-04-08T21:47:07.213-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"The moment a supposedly alternative economic system stops recognizing the role that markets and prices play, it ceases to to be economics and becomes some romantic ideology that borrows from the language of economics to sound more attractive.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Jonah Goldberg"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8939942100388344273\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8939942100388344273"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8939942100388344273"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/04\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-3312841230578124735"},"published":{"$t":"2019-03-31T22:58:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-03-31T22:58:45.429-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"If you will not have rules, you will have rulers.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G.K. Chesterton"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3312841230578124735\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/03\/thought-for-week_31.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3312841230578124735"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3312841230578124735"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/03\/thought-for-week_31.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5349892330160110283"},"published":{"$t":"2019-03-25T00:05:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-03-25T00:05:26.343-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"The depravity of man is at once the most empirically verifiable reality but at the same time the most intellectually resisted fact.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Malcom Muggeridge"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5349892330160110283\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/03\/thought-for-week_25.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5349892330160110283"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5349892330160110283"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/03\/thought-for-week_25.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8895502055814214479"},"published":{"$t":"2019-03-17T23:01:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-03-17T23:01:15.274-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"The conservative response to modernity is to embrace it, but to embrace it critically, in full consciousness that human achievements are rare and precarious, that we have no God-given right to destroy our inheritance, but must always patiently submit to the voice of order, and set an example of orderly living. The future of mankind, for the socialist, is simple: pull down the existing order, and allow the future to emerge. But it will not emerge, as we know. The philosophies of the \"new world\" are lies and delusions, products of a sentimentality which has veiled the facts of human nature.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Roger Scruton"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8895502055814214479\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/03\/thought-for-week_17.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8895502055814214479"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8895502055814214479"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/03\/thought-for-week_17.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-2260910657923097562"},"published":{"$t":"2019-03-07T11:05:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-03-07T11:05:16.906-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Bloody Sunday"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBy 1965 a century had passed since the end of the Civil War, but in some parts of the South, blacks still lacked the right to vote. Literacy tests, registration requirements, and other barriers hindered them on Election Day. Hoping to draw attention to the problem, civil rights workers planned to march more than fifty miles from Selma, Alabama, a town where blacks had suffered much violence and discrimination, to Montgomery, the state capital.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn Sunday, March 7, 1965, about 600 protesters began their march. They had barely started when they met a line of state troopers and policemen, some on horseback, who ordered the crowd to turn back. When the marchers held their ground, the police attacked with tear gas, bullwhips, and billy clubs, driving the activists back into Selma.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe nation was shocked by televised images of “Bloody Sunday,” as the brutal assault came to be known. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. immediately called on civil rights activists to converge on Selma for another march.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn March 21, after even more bloodshed, some 3,200 marchers left Selma again, this time under the protection of the National Guard. With King leading the way, they walked along Highway 80 through rain and chilly weather, camping out at night and singing hymns of freedom. By the time they reached the capital on March 24, thousands more had joined them. “In a real sense this afternoon, we can say that our feet are tired, but our souls are rested,” King told a swelling crowd the next day. “I stand before you this afternoon with the conviction that segregation is on its deathbed in Alabama.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EHe was right. The Selma-to-Montgomery march opened many eyes to the need for change. Later that year, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, which helped ensure voting rights for all citizens.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2260910657923097562\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/bloody-sunday.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2260910657923097562"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2260910657923097562"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/bloody-sunday.html","title":"Bloody Sunday"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5938099520011601941"},"published":{"$t":"2019-03-06T13:06:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-03-06T13:06:15.621-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Remember the Alamo!"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EStorm winds of tyranny blew across Texas in early 1836. In those days the region was a part of Mexico, where General Santa Anna had seized power and made himself dictator. Texans weren’t willing to submit to his rule, so Santa Anna marched north with an army.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn San Antonio a small band gathered to make their stand at the Alamo, an old Spanish mission turned into a fort. They were tough characters, men who had settled a wild frontier. With them was the famous Davy Crockett from Tennessee.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Mexican army arrived and demanded the Alamo’s surrender. The Texans answered with a cannon shot. Santa Anna ordered a red flag raised, a signal meaning “We will take no prisoners.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EColonel William Travis, commander of the Alamo, dispatched messengers bearing appeals for reinforcements. “Our flag still waves proudly from the walls,” he wrote. “I shall never surrender nor retreat . . . Victory or death!”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nJust on a side-note, here's Col. Travis's \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.lsjunction.com\/docs\/appeal.htm\"\u003Eappeal\u003C\/a\u003E in full:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ECommandancy of the Alamo\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EBexar, Fby. 24th, 1836\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ETo the People of Texas \u0026amp;\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Eall Americans in the world\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EFellow Citizens \u0026amp; Compatriots\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EI am besieged by a thousand\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Eor more of the Mexicans under\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ESanta Anna. I have sustained a\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Econtinual bombardment \u0026amp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ecannonade for 24 hours \u0026amp; have\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Enot lost a man. The enemy\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ehas demanded a surrender at\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ediscretion, otherwise the garrison\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Eare to be put to the sword if\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ethe fort is taken. I have answered\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ethe demand with a cannon\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Eshot, and our flag still waves\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Eproudly from the walls.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cu\u003EI\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cu\u003Eshall never surrender nor retreat.\u003C\/u\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EThen, I call on you in the\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ename of Liberty, of patriotism, \u0026amp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Eof everything dear to the American\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Echaracter, to come to our aid\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ewith all dispatch. The enemy is\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ereceiving reinforcements daily \u0026amp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ewill no doubt increase to three or\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Efour thousand in four or five days.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EIf this call is neglected, I am deter-\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Emined to sustain myself as long as\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Epossible \u0026amp; die like a soldier\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ewho never forgets what is due to\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ehis own honor \u0026amp; that of his\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ecountry.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EVictory or Death\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EWilliam Barret Travis\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ELt. Col. Comdt.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EP. S. The Lord is on our side.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EWhen the enemy appeared in sight\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ewe had not three bushels of corn.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EWe have since found in deserted\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ehouses 80 or 90 bushels \u0026amp; got into\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003Ethe walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ETravis\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOnly 32 men made their way through the enemy lines to join the Texans at the Alamo. That brought the number of defenders to about 189. The Mexican army, meanwhile, swelled to perhaps 5,000.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELegend says that Travis called his men together, drew a line in the dust with his sword, and announced that those who wanted to stay and fight should step over the line. Every man but one crossed over.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe attack came early the next morning, on March 6, 1836. For a while, the Texans managed to hold the Mexican army back, but soon Santa Anna’s soldiers swarmed over the walls. All of the Alamo’s defenders were killed.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Texans weren’t finished. On April 21, troops commanded by Sam Houston attacked and broke Santa Anna’s army. “Remember the Alamo!” was their battle cry—a cry that still reminds Americans of unyielding courage and sacrifice for freedom.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\nIt should also be noted that this sacrifice was not in vain: This last stand was a delaying action which allowed the other other Texians (led by Sam Houston) to organize and rally and otherwise prepare for the final battle\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5938099520011601941\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/remember-alamo.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5938099520011601941"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5938099520011601941"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/remember-alamo.html","title":"Remember the Alamo!"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1550270446212705557"},"published":{"$t":"2019-03-04T11:22:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-03-04T11:22:33.709-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"On this day we had what I consider probably the greatest speech in our nation's history.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWhen Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address at the U.S. Capitol on March 4, 1865, the end of the Civil War was in sight. Sherman had cut through the South, and Grant was slowly tightening the Union vise around Lee’s army at Petersburg. Yet Lincoln did not speak of triumph. Instead, he turned to the task of healing a broken nation. He reminded his listeners that the war would end the evil of slavery, and suggested that it was God’s will that both North and South pay for that evil. He urged his countrymen to maintain their faith in God’s wisdom as they began to “bind up the nation’s wounds.” Lincoln’s second inaugural address, like his Gettysburg Address, is inscribed on an inner wall of the Lincoln Memorial.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Ci\u003E. . . Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EWith malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1550270446212705557\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/lincolns-second-inaugural-address.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1550270446212705557"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1550270446212705557"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/03\/lincolns-second-inaugural-address.html","title":"Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-486736523296642135"},"published":{"$t":"2019-03-03T21:19:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-03-03T21:19:32.741-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"A poor man has much more interest in good government than a rich man. A poor man must stay and be misgoverned; a rich man has a yacht.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G.K. Chesterton"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/486736523296642135\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/03\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/486736523296642135"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/486736523296642135"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/03\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4101336597181833489"},"published":{"$t":"2019-03-02T13:15:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-03-02T13:15:45.086-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Sam Houston"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESam Houston lived a life as big as Texas. Born on March 2, 1793, near Lexington, Virginia, he moved to the Tennessee frontier with his family at age thirteen and soon struck out on his own. He lived for a while with the Cherokee . . . taught in a one-room schoolhouse . . . fought the Creek Indians under Andrew Jackson . . . studied law and was elected to Congress . . . became governor of Tennessee . . . organized a Texas army and defeated General Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto . . . became the first president of the Republic of Texas . . . worked to have Texas admitted to the United States . . . represented Texas in the U.S. Senate . . . and served as governor of Texas.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EHis finest moment came toward the end of his life, as the Civil War approached, and a secession convention voted to take Texas out of the Union. Houston opposed the move with every fiber of his soul. He took to the hustings to warn scornful crowds that secession would bring only disaster. In one town, when an armed man threatened him, the 68-year-old Houston stared him down, declaring, “Ladies and gentlemen, keep your seats. It is nothing but a fice [a small dog] barking at the lion in his den.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EHis efforts weren’t enough. Texas legislators demanded that Governor Houston swear loyalty to the Confederacy. “In the name of my own conscience and manhood . . . I refuse to take this oath,” he wrote, knowing it meant the end of his career.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESupporters offered to take up arms to fight for control of the statehouse, but Houston turned them down. He did not want to cling to office by spilling the blood of fellow Texans. Brokenhearted, he retired to private life. It was for this final act of public service that John F. Kennedy would later make Sam Houston a hero in his book \u003Ci\u003EProfiles in Courage\u003C\/i\u003E.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4101336597181833489\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/03\/sam-houston.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4101336597181833489"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4101336597181833489"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/03\/sam-houston.html","title":"Sam Houston"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8112532975549816886"},"published":{"$t":"2019-02-24T21:47:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-02-24T21:47:08.337-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\"In those other constitutions, the Government tells the people of those countries what they're allowed to do. In our Constitution, we the people tell the Government what it can do, and it can do only those things listed in that document and no others.\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Ronald Reagan (h\/t @baseballcrank)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8112532975549816886\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/02\/thought-for-week_24.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8112532975549816886"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8112532975549816886"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/02\/thought-for-week_24.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-7087188333200328222"},"published":{"$t":"2019-02-23T01:00:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-02-23T01:00:07.667-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Iwo Jima"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"You've undoubtedly seen this iconic photo\/statue:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-BE7abSoxNO0\/VOt2wFRlY1I\/AAAAAAACh_E\/wOL8a6SP_Eo\/s1600\/marine-corps-war-memorial.jpg\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" height=\"247\" src=\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-BE7abSoxNO0\/VOt2wFRlY1I\/AAAAAAACh_E\/wOL8a6SP_Eo\/s1600\/marine-corps-war-memorial.jpg\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nBut you might not know the story behind it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn the morning of February 19, 1945, some 70,000 U.S. Marines began to swarm onto a tiny island in the northwest Pacific called Iwo Jima—a name that means “Sulfur Island” in Japanese. Twenty-one thousand Japanese defenders lay waiting for them, burrowed into volcanic rock in hundreds of underground fortifications.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Japanese plan was simple: fight to the death. The goal of each defender: kill ten Americans before being killed.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn the southern tip of the island stood Mount Suribachi, a 550-foot volcano. From its flanks, Japanese guns could crisscross Iwo Jima with deadly fire.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWith bullets and shells screeching around them, wave after wave of Marines hit the beach. “I just didn’t see how anybody could live through such heavy barrages,” one officer remembered. The Americans rarely saw their hidden enemy, while the Japanese had every U.S. soldier in their sights. The Marines fought forward, inch by inch.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn the morning of February 23, 1945, U.S. troops all over the island were elated by the sight of a small American flag flying atop Mount Suribachi—the Marines had gained the summit. Later that afternoon, five Marines and a Navy hospital corpsman raised a larger flag.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBy the time the fighting finally ended, some 6,800 Americans had died capturing Iwo Jima’s eight square miles. More than 21,000 Japanese were dead.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EToday a giant bronze statue near Arlington National Cemetery, outside of Washington, D.C., depicts one of the most famous images from American history: the Marines raising the U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi. The Marine Corps War Memorial is dedicated to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of the United States. An inscription on its base reads: “Uncommon Valor was a Common Virtue.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7087188333200328222\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/02\/iwo-jima.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7087188333200328222"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7087188333200328222"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/02\/iwo-jima.html","title":"Iwo Jima"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-BE7abSoxNO0\/VOt2wFRlY1I\/AAAAAAACh_E\/wOL8a6SP_Eo\/s72-c\/marine-corps-war-memorial.jpg","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1811402027914071407"},"published":{"$t":"2019-02-19T09:31:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-02-19T09:31:47.787-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Japanese-American Internment"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn February 19, 1942, in what is now considered to be one of the worst mistakes of his presidency, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which cleared the way for the internment of tens of thousands of people of Japanese descent.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe order came ten weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Up and down the West Coast, posters appeared declaring that “all persons of Japanese ancestry, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated.” Some 110,000 Japanese-Americans were uprooted and moved inland to internment camps in remote locations scattered across seven states. Nearly two-thirds of these “evacuees” were American citizens.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ESecurity concerns prompted the drastic step – the U.S. government worried that people of Japanese ancestry might be spying for Japan. Mexico and Canada took similar actions. But the ugly truth is that hysteria and racism were also at work. Many Americans, with images of burning ships and dead sailors at Pearl Harbor seared in their minds, looked at Japanese-Americans and saw the enemy.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMany internees spent two and a half years in the camps, which were hastily constructed miniature cities, full of wooden barracks and surrounded by barbed wire. After the war, they faced the task of rebuilding their lives.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn no way can the internment camps be compared with Nazi concentration camps or Stalin’s Gulag, where millions died. But the terrible fact remains that loyal Americans who had done no wrong lost their property and, temporarily at least, their liberty. It’s an ugly blot on our nation’s history.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn 1988, President Reagan signed a law that offered a national apology to Japanese-Americans and $20,000 to each person who had been interned in the camps.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1811402027914071407\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/02\/japanese-american-internment.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1811402027914071407"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1811402027914071407"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/02\/japanese-american-internment.html","title":"Japanese-American Internment"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-7217794413666464293"},"published":{"$t":"2019-02-10T22:54:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-02-10T22:54:45.656-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"The most radical idea in American politics is that it is possible to have a politics that is not oriented toward the domination and subordination of competing social groups but that instead seeks to enable Americans to seek fulfillment and human flourishing on their own terms in accordance with their own interests, values, and priorities.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Kevin D. Williamson"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7217794413666464293\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/02\/thought-for-week_10.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7217794413666464293"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7217794413666464293"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/02\/thought-for-week_10.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-9211190858652698487"},"published":{"$t":"2019-02-06T21:07:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-02-06T21:07:07.059-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Ronald Reagan "},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Today we celebrate the birthday of the greatest American President in my lifetime.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ERonald Wilson Reagan, born February 6, 1911, in Tampico, Illinois, became the nation’s fortieth president at a time when many said that America’s best days were behind us, that the future would be one of fewer opportunities. He spent much of his presidency (1981–89) reminding Americans, again and again, that this country is still a land of boundless potential, a beacon of freedom and hope for the world.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003EHistory is a ribbon, always unfurling. History is a journey. And as we continue our journey, we think of those who traveled before us . . . and we see and hear again the echoes of our past: a general falls to his knees in the hard snow of Valley Forge; a lonely president paces the darkened halls and ponders his struggle to preserve the Union; the men of the Alamo call out encouragement to each other; a settler pushes west and sings a song, and the song echoes out forever and fills the unknowing air. It is the American sound. It is hopeful, big-hearted, idealistic, daring, decent, and fair. That’s our heritage, that’s our song. We sing it still. For all our problems, our differences, we are together as of old. We raise our voices to the God who is the author of this most tender music. And may He continue to hold us close as we fill the world with our sound—in unity, affection, and love—one people under God, dedicated to the dream of freedom that He has placed in the human heart, called upon now to pass that dream on to a waiting and hopeful world.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E— Ronald Reagan, second inaugural address\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/9211190858652698487\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/02\/ronald-reagan.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/9211190858652698487"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/9211190858652698487"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/02\/ronald-reagan.html","title":"Ronald Reagan "}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-7335096749460665837"},"published":{"$t":"2019-02-04T10:53:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-02-04T10:53:23.797-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Frederick Douglass Fights Back"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFrederick Douglass was born a slave near Easton, Maryland, in February 1818 (the exact date is uncertain). A story from his youth sums up his courage in many ways. When he was sixteen years old, his master hired him out to a farmer named Edward Covey, who had a reputation for cruelty to slaves. Covey often whipped his new field hand until Douglass was, in his own words, “broken in body, soul, and spirit.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOne day Covey began to tie Douglass with a rope, intending to beat him again. “At this moment—from whence came the spirit, I don’t know—I resolved to fight,” Douglass later recalled. He grabbed Covey by the throat and held off his blows. The two men fell to wrestling and rolling in a barnyard until finally Covey quit. Striking a white man could bring severe punishment, but Covey told no one of the fight—he did not want people to know he could not control a 16-year-old slave. He never tried to whip the boy again. “My long-crushed spirit rose,” Douglass remembered. “The day had passed forever when I could be a slave.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDouglass eventually escaped to the North, where he became one of the nation’s most eloquent voices decrying the evils of slavery. After the Civil War he continued to write and speak for the rights of black Americans. Though often a fiery critic of his country, he was also a patriot who was determined to make it a better place. “No nation was ever called to the contemplation of a destiny more important and solemn than ours,” he wrote. He spent his life working for an America that offered “justice for all men, justice now and always, justice without reservation or qualification except those suggested by mercy and love.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7335096749460665837\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/02\/frederick-douglass-fights-back.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7335096749460665837"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7335096749460665837"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/02\/frederick-douglass-fights-back.html","title":"Frederick Douglass Fights Back"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4525861593850762170"},"published":{"$t":"2019-02-03T20:31:00.002-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-02-03T20:35:45.936-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"In truth there are only two kinds of people; those who accept dogmas and know it, and those who accept dogmas and don’t know it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G. K. Chesterton\u0026nbsp;\u0026nbsp;(h\/t @JonahNRO)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4525861593850762170\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/02\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4525861593850762170"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4525861593850762170"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/02\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4130845589988220295"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-27T20:30:00.003-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-27T20:35:44.613-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cspan style=\"color: #202124; font-family: roboto, arial, sans-serif;\"\u003E\u003Cspan style=\"letter-spacing: 0.1px; white-space: pre-wrap;\"\u003EMadison encouraged everyone to conceive of themselves as creedal minorities.\n\nAssume that if you believe anything important or hold anything dear, it will not always align with majority opinion. Wise republicans (small-“r” republicans) — by which he meant all citizens of this new experiment in liberty, who had just observed a century-plus of religious war in Europe — should be aiming to preserve space for peaceful argument and thoughtful dissent. Government isn’t in the business of setting down ultimate truths. It doesn’t decide who’s saved and who’s damned. Government is merely a tool to preserve order, to preserve space for free minds to wrestle with the big questions. Government is not the center of life but the framework that enables rich lives to be lived in the true centers of freedom and love: houses and communities.\n\n--Senator Ben Sasse\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4130845589988220295\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/thought-for-week_27.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4130845589988220295"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4130845589988220295"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/thought-for-week_27.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1889955512437518384"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-26T12:28:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-26T12:28:24.602-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Audie Murphy"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Marines turned him down. They said he was too small. The Army paratroopers said no too. But Audie Murphy was used to setbacks. The son of Texas sharecroppers, he had helped raise his ten siblings after their father deserted them and their mother died. When the U.S. entered World War II, he was determined to fight. The Army finally accepted him in the infantry a few days after his eighteenth birthday.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EHe fought in the invasion of Sicily, and then in Italy at Salerno, at Anzio, and in the mountains as the Allies pushed to Rome. On January 26, 1945, in eastern France, 250 Germans and six tanks attacked his unit. Ordering his outnumbered men to fall back, Murphy climbed onto a burning tank destroyer and used its machine gun to hold off the enemy. Then, though wounded, he organized a counterattack. For his courage the military awarded him the Medal of Honor.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIt wasn’t the only time he threw himself in harm’s way. Before he turned twenty-one, Murphy had become the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, earning twenty-four medals from the U.S. government, three from France, and one from Belgium.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAfter the war, Murphy became an actor, making more than forty movies. He starred in \u003Ci\u003ETo Hell and Back\u003C\/i\u003E, based on his autobiography, and in \u003Ci\u003EThe Red Badge of Courage\u003C\/i\u003E. Still, his life wasn’t easy. For years he battled post-traumatic stress disorder. He died in a plane crash in 1971 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E“The true meaning of America, you ask?” Murphy once said. “It’s in a Texas rodeo, in a policeman’s badge, in the sound of laughing children, in a political rally, in a newspaper. . . . In all these things, and many more, you’ll find America. In all these things, you’ll find freedom. And freedom is what America means to the world.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1889955512437518384\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/audie-murphy.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1889955512437518384"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1889955512437518384"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/audie-murphy.html","title":"Audie Murphy"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-750203945502698959"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-20T22:47:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-20T22:47:00.648-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;\"\u003EFusionism\nwas an idea championed most forcefully by Frank Meyer, the longtime literary\neditor of National Review. He argued that libertarianism — then often called\n“individualism” — and traditionalism are the twin pillars of conservatism and,\nmore broadly, of a just and free society. The chief obligation of the state is\nto protect individual liberty, but the chief obligation of the individual is to\nlive virtuously. Coerced virtue is tyrannical: Virtue not freely chosen is not\nvirtuous. Or as Meyer himself put it: “Truth withers when freedom dies, however\nrighteous the authority that kills it; and free individualism uninformed by\nmoral value rots at its core and soon brings about conditions that pave the way\nfor surrender to tyranny.”\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;\"\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003E\n\u003Cspan style=\"font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;\"\u003E--Jonah\nGoldberg\u003Co:p\u003E\u003C\/o:p\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/750203945502698959\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/thought-for-week_20.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/750203945502698959"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/750203945502698959"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/thought-for-week_20.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4092854467335341216"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-13T23:50:00.002-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-13T23:50:43.051-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"“When you tear out a man's tongue, you are not proving him a liar, you're only telling the world that you fear what he might say.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--George R.R. Martin, \u003Ci\u003EA Clash of Kings\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4092854467335341216\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/thought-for-week_22.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4092854467335341216"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4092854467335341216"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/thought-for-week_22.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-2322720932791291493"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-11T12:03:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-11T12:03:24.711-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Alexander Hamilton"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's\u0026nbsp;\u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAlexander Hamilton was born January 11 in either 1755 or 1757—the exact year is uncertain. An orphan from the Caribbean island of Nevis, he rose with astounding speed to become an aide-de-camp to George Washington, a hero of the Revolutionary War, and a member of the Constitutional Convention. As the first secretary of the treasury, he helped build the new nation’s financial systems. As a leader of the Federalist Party, he helped create our political system. He was never president of the United States, but he shaped the new American nation as few other Founding Fathers did.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cb\u003EBecause he argued for a strong central government, Hamilton is often seen as an anti-democratic figure. But he could write as memorably of natural law and human rights as any of the Founders. “The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records,” he wrote. “They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the Divinity itself and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cb\u003EOne of Hamilton’s greatest contributions was to help persuade Americans to accept the Constitution. With James Madison and John Jay, he wrote The Federalist Papers, a series of brilliant newspaper essays urging the Constitution’s ratification. Many people predicted that the new plan for government would not work. But Hamilton believed his countrymen should put aside their differences and give it a try. “The system, though it may not be perfect in every part, is, upon the whole, a good one,” he reminded them. “I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man.” If not for Hamilton’s brilliant arguments and efforts, the thirteen former colonies might have gone their separate ways.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2322720932791291493\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/01\/alexander-hamilton.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2322720932791291493"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2322720932791291493"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/01\/alexander-hamilton.html","title":"Alexander Hamilton"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1005223037719187809"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-09T09:11:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-09T09:14:52.994-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thomas Paine Publishes Common Sense"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn January 9, 1776, Thomas Paine published \u003Ci\u003ECommon Sense\u003C\/i\u003E, a pamphlet that set the American colonies afire with a longing for independence.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EPaine was born in England to a poor family and received little schooling. For several years he drifted from job to job—corset maker, seaman, schoolteacher, customs collector, tobacco seller—without success. His prospects were few when he met Benjamin Franklin, then living in London, who suggested he go to America. Sailing across the Atlantic, Paine caught a fever and was carried ashore half dead in Philadelphia. Once recovered, letters of recommendation from Franklin helped him get a job as a magazine writer.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIt has been said that Paine “had more brains than books, more sense than education, more courage than politeness, more strength than polish.” But he could work magic with pen and paper. In Common Sense he made bold arguments that Americans should demand their freedom. “The birthday of a new world is at hand,” he insisted. He attacked the idea that people must live under a king, and urged a break from Britain.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E“O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth!” \u003C\/i\u003Ehe wrote.\u003Ci\u003E “Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! [America] receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.”\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EPaine’s words sounded like a trumpet blast through the colonies. Thousands snatched up the pamphlet and decided that he was right. As Thomas Edison, one of America’s great geniuses, wrote 150 years later, “We never had a sounder intelligence in this Republic. . . . In \u003Ci\u003ECommon Sense\u003C\/i\u003E Paine flared forth with a document so powerful that the Revolution became inevitable.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1005223037719187809\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/01\/thomas-paine-publishes-common-sense.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1005223037719187809"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1005223037719187809"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/01\/thomas-paine-publishes-common-sense.html","title":"Thomas Paine Publishes Common Sense"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-493356399962538175"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-06T23:18:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-06T23:18:46.282-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"There are far, far better things ahead than any we leave behind.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--C.S. Lewis"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/493356399962538175\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/493356399962538175"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/493356399962538175"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2019\/01\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-2422018061551623103"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-02T13:07:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-02T13:07:58.679-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Haym Salomon: A Financial Hero of the Revolution"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"On the \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mytawg.blogspot.com\/\"\u003ETAWG Blog\u003C\/a\u003E (my daily Bible devotional), I have a series called \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/mytawg.blogspot.com\/p\/unsung-heroes.html\"\u003E\"Unsung Heroes\"\u003C\/a\u003E in which I pay tribute and learn lessons from heroes in the Bible which people tend to not think about. Today is a tribute to an unsung hero of the American Revolution.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn this day in 1777, George Washington’s army was busy fighting the British in the Second Battle of Trenton, New Jersey. While Washington fought, another great patriot was hard at work behind the scenes, aiding the American cause. You may never have heard of Haym Salomon, but he was one of the heroes of the American Revolution. In fact, if not for Patriots like Salomon, there would never have been a United States.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBorn in Poland, Salomon immigrated to New York City in 1772 and soon became a successful merchant and banker. He joined the Sons of Liberty, a Patriot group, and when war broke out, he helped supply American troops. The British arrested him in 1776 and flung him into prison. After a while they released him, and he went straight back to aiding the Patriots. The British arrested Salomon again in 1778. This time they decided to be rid of him. They sentenced him to be hanged as a rebel, but he escaped and fled to Philadelphia.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOnce again Salomon went into business as a banker, and he continued to devote his talents and wealth to the Patriot cause. American leaders frequently turned to him for help in raising funds to support the war. Salomon risked his assets by loaning the government money for little or no commission. He helped pay the salaries of army officers, tapped his own funds to supply ragged troops, and worked tirelessly to secure French aid for the Revolution.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAfter the war the young nation struggled to get on its feet. When the republic needed money, Salomon helped save the United States from financial collapse.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe years following the Revolution took a toll on Haym Salomon’s business. At the end of his life, his wealth was gone. In fact, he died impoverished. He had poured much of his fortune into the service of his country.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2422018061551623103\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/haym-salomon-financial-hero-of.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2422018061551623103"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2422018061551623103"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/haym-salomon-financial-hero-of.html","title":"Haym Salomon: A Financial Hero of the Revolution"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-7036174573239853757"},"published":{"$t":"2019-01-01T14:36:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2019-01-01T14:36:47.040-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Lincoln Signs the Emancipation Proclamation"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared all slaves in Confederate territory to be free. The proclamation stated that, as of that day, “all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State . . . in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThose words changed the Civil War from a fight to save the Union into a battle for human freedom. They meant that the United States was finally facing the fact that it could not tolerate the evil of slavery if it really believed that all people had the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. With the Emancipation Proclamation, the U.S. started down the path of becoming a truly great nation, one that could try to live up to the soaring ideals on which it was founded.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELincoln signed the proclamation in his office on New Year’s Day afternoon. A handful of advisors joined him for the historic occasion. The president dipped a pen in ink but then put it down because his hand was trembling. He’d been shaking hands for hours at a reception, he explained, and his arm felt “almost paralyzed.” He worried that a shaky signature might prompt critics to claim that he hesitated. “I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right than I do in signing this paper,” he told those looking on.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFlexing his arm and taking up the pen again, he carefully wrote his name. Lincoln signed most government documents as A. Lincoln. For the Emancipation Proclamation, he wrote his name in full. “That will do,” he said, looking up and smiling.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWith the passing of time, the text of the original Emancipation Proclamation has faded, and its paper has yellowed. But the signature of Abraham Lincoln stands forth bold, bright, and clear.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAlso, I've submitted a \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/11\/one-nation-under-god-indivisible-part_3.html\"\u003Eposting\u003C\/a\u003E on the Emancipation Proclamation and how that relates to the Neo-Confederate movement (which hates Lincoln and wishes the South would've won). If you wish to see my full defense of Lincoln and my lambasting of the Neo-Confederate movement, it's all \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/p\/one-nation-under-god-indivisible.html\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/7036174573239853757\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/lincoln-signs-emancipation-proclamation.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7036174573239853757"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/7036174573239853757"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/01\/lincoln-signs-emancipation-proclamation.html","title":"Lincoln Signs the Emancipation Proclamation"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4425142647607477783"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-30T19:53:00.002-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-30T19:53:26.875-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"The story of the progressive movement can best be understood as activists going wherever the field is open. If the people are on your side, expand democracy. If the people are against you, use the courts. If the courts are against you, run down the field with the bureaucrats, or the Congress, or the presidency. Procedural niceties — the filibuster, precedent, the law, custom, the Constitution, truth — only matter if they can be enlisted to advance the cause. If they can’t, they suddenly become outdated, irrelevant, vestigial organs of racism, elitism, sexism, whatever. Obstruction, or even inconvenience in the path of progressive ends is prima facie proof of illegitimacy. The river of history must carry forward. If History hits a rock, the rock must be swept up with the current or be circumvented. Nothing can hold back the Hegelian tide, no one may Stand Athwart History. If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. This is the liberal gleichschaltung; get with the program or be flattened by it.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Jonah Goldberg"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4425142647607477783\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week_30.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4425142647607477783"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4425142647607477783"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week_30.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5286104774672836124"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-26T11:13:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-26T11:13:41.958-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Washington Crosses the Delaware"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ELate December 1776 may have been the American Revolution’s gloomiest hour. The Patriot army, which seemed unable to win a battle, lay shivering in Pennsylvania. The troops were hungry, sick, and exhausted. More and more men deserted every day. “I think the game is pretty near up,” George Washington wrote.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAcross the Delaware River in Trenton, New Jersey, 1,400 Hessian soldiers hired by King George of England sat snugly before their fires. Figuring that no army could move in such frozen winter weather, they were getting ready for a Christmas feast of roast goose and rum. George Washington’s men, meanwhile, were searching the Pennsylvania banks of the river for every boat they could find.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Patriots began crossing the river as dark fell on Christmas night. Chunks of floating ice crashed into their boats as they fought the currents. Rain, hail, and snow fell. “It will be a terrible night for the soldiers who have no shoes,” wrote one of Washington’s aides. “Some of them have tied old rags around their feet.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIt was 3 a.m. before the last of the troops and equipment were across. The snow was stained with bloody footprints as the men stumbled nine miles toward Trenton. The wet weather had soaked much of their gunpowder, making it useless. Washington decided to push on.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Americans attacked in the early light of December 26 in a blinding snow. The Hessians, stunned to discover an army appearing out of nowhere, had no chance to organize a defense. Within forty-five minutes, the fighting was over.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ENews of the American victory raced through the colonies. Perhaps the Patriot cause was not so hopeless. Weary soldiers began to talk of fighting on. With one bold move, George Washington had his countrymen believing that the fight for liberty might be winnable after all.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5286104774672836124\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/12\/washington-crosses-delaware.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5286104774672836124"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5286104774672836124"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/12\/washington-crosses-delaware.html","title":"Washington Crosses the Delaware"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4380377698099197284"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-24T12:07:00.002-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-24T12:07:13.391-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\u0026nbsp;“So God throws open the door of this world—and enters as a baby. As the most vulnerable imaginable. Because He wants unimaginable intimacy with you. What religion ever had a god that wanted such intimacy with us that He came with such vulnerability to us? What God ever came so tender we could touch Him? So fragile that we could break Him? So vulnerable that His bare, beating heart could be hurt? Only the One who loves you to death.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Ann Voskamp"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4380377698099197284\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week_24.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4380377698099197284"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4380377698099197284"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week_24.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5712052027317607989"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-24T11:44:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-24T11:44:55.154-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Apollo 8’s Christmas Eve Broadcast"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe year 1968 was one of the most discouraging in modern U.S. history. The Vietnam War dragged on. Despite major civil rights bills, many people feared the country was turning “increasingly separate and unequal.” The nation grieved over the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. Riots filled city streets.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAt the end of this dismal year, a Saturn 5 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on mankind’s first attempt to reach the moon. On board were three Apollo 8 astronauts: Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders. Their mission was not to land on the moon, but to orbit it ten times. NASA told their wives that the men’s chances of making it back to earth alive were about 50–50.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn Christmas Eve millions of enthralled TV viewers watched as the astronauts transmitted a blurry but miraculous image of the lunar surface. Then they heard the voice of Bill Anders: “We are now approaching lunar sunrise and, for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light, and there was light . . .’”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe astronauts took turns reading the first ten verses of Genesis. Then Frank Borman said, “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you—all of you on the good Earth.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAfter a year of death and destruction, the astronaut’s brave journey and healing gesture were like a balm in Gilead. Apollo 8 held the promise that a free people would not fail after all. Americans coming together could still achieve wonders.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5712052027317607989\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/12\/apollo-8s-christmas-eve-broadcast.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5712052027317607989"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5712052027317607989"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/12\/apollo-8s-christmas-eve-broadcast.html","title":"Apollo 8’s Christmas Eve Broadcast"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-2144178323293675654"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-23T09:44:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-23T09:44:13.172-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“These are the times that try men’s souls”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThomas Paine wrote these famous words in his pamphlet The American Crisis, dated December 23, 1776, a time when Patriot forces stood on the verge of losing the Revolutionary War. Paine implored Americans to not give up the fight. George Washington ordered that the pamphlet be read aloud to his troops on Christmas Eve 1776 before they crossed the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack at Trenton.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThese are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: ’tis dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods, and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELet it be told to the future world, that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it and to repulse it. . . . I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ’Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/2144178323293675654\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/12\/these-are-times-that-try-mens-souls.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2144178323293675654"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/2144178323293675654"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/12\/these-are-times-that-try-mens-souls.html","title":"“These are the times that try men’s souls”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-3431742298452955334"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-19T11:25:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-19T11:45:34.724-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"A Revolution Begins"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFew people realized it at the time, but the issue of Popular Electronics magazine that hit the newsstands in late December 1974 marked the beginning of a modern revolution. On the cover, beneath the headline “World’s First Minicomputer Kit,” sat a photo of a plain-looking box covered with rows of switches and lights. The machine was the Altair 8800, and for about $400, anyone could buy the kit and assemble it themselves. It was the first truly personal computer to come to market, and thousands of hobbyists rushed to place orders.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn Boston a young computer programmer named Paul Allen picked up the magazine and ran to find his friend Bill Gates, a student at Harvard. The two had been computer enthusiasts since junior high school, and had dreamed of making their mark in the computer revolution. “Look, it’s going to happen!” Allen said, waving the article. “I told you this was going to happen! And we’re going to miss it!” Gates decided to leave Harvard and start a software company with Allen.* They wrote a program for the Altair, and Microsoft Corporation was born.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cdiv class=\"separator\" style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-TFNvQjqFIcs\/XBqDue5DPvI\/AAAAAAAEQFU\/nZpq2sMTNrYnmFm0LUUTV5GNzasycK8IgCLcBGAs\/s1600\/2018-12-19%2B11_44_51-Google%2BKeep.png\" imageanchor=\"1\" style=\"margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;\"\u003E\u003Cimg border=\"0\" data-original-height=\"636\" data-original-width=\"772\" height=\"263\" src=\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-TFNvQjqFIcs\/XBqDue5DPvI\/AAAAAAAEQFU\/nZpq2sMTNrYnmFm0LUUTV5GNzasycK8IgCLcBGAs\/s320\/2018-12-19%2B11_44_51-Google%2BKeep.png\" width=\"320\" \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMeanwhile, in California, 20-year-old Steve Jobs and his friend Stephen Wozniak wanted to build their own small computers. Jobs sold his Volkswagen van and Wozniak sold his scientific calculator to raise funds to start Apple Computer, Inc., in 1976. They assembled their prototypes in the Jobs family’s garage. Early Apples (like the one shown above) were among the first personal computers.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn 1981, industry giant IBM introduced its own personal computer, the IBM PC, run by Microsoft software. Other companies followed suit. By the mid-1980s, the American-bred personal computer revolution was poised to change the world.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3431742298452955334\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/12\/a-revolution-begins.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3431742298452955334"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3431742298452955334"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/12\/a-revolution-begins.html","title":"A Revolution Begins"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"media$thumbnail":{"xmlns$media":"http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/","url":"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/-TFNvQjqFIcs\/XBqDue5DPvI\/AAAAAAAEQFU\/nZpq2sMTNrYnmFm0LUUTV5GNzasycK8IgCLcBGAs\/s72-c\/2018-12-19%2B11_44_51-Google%2BKeep.png","height":"72","width":"72"},"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6157595169460886886"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-16T20:58:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-16T20:58:09.541-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"“Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one's first feeling, 'Thank God, even they aren't quite so bad as that,' or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything -- God and our friends and ourselves included -- as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.”\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--C.S. Lewis"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6157595169460886886\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week_16.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6157595169460886886"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6157595169460886886"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week_16.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4798604672134506682"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-15T14:02:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-15T14:02:49.716-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Bill of Rights"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's\u003Ci\u003E American Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDuring the battle to ratify the U.S. Constitution, many Americans worried that the founding document failed to list specific rights to be protected against abuse of power. Thomas Jefferson, who generally approved of the new Constitution, put voice to that view when he wrote to James Madison: “A bill of rights is what the people are entitled to against every government on earth . . . and what no just government should refuse.” To gain support for the Constitution, Federalists agreed to add amendments protecting personal liberties.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMadison was one of those who had considered a list of protected rights unnecessary. He believed the Constitution, as written, gave the federal government no power to violate citizens’ liberties. He also worried that listing specific rights might imply that the government could limit rights not listed. Nevertheless, when the First Congress met in New York in 1789, he set about crafting a set of amendments. “If we can make the Constitution better in the opinion of those who are opposed to it,” he said, “without weakening its frame, or abridging its usefulness in the judgment of those who are attached to it, we act the part of wise and liberal men to make such alterations as shall produce the effect.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMadison and a few colleagues sifted through scores of proposed amendments and winnowed them down to a brief list, using the Virginia Declaration of Rights and other precedents as guides. Congress sent twelve amendments to the states for approval. Ten were eventually ratified. On December 15, 1791, Virginia became the last state needed for ratification, and the Bill of Rights went into effect. Those first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, preserving such cherished rights as freedom of speech, press, and religion, lie at the heart of Americans’ faith in limited\u0026nbsp; government and the rule of law.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere \u003C\/a\u003Eto subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4798604672134506682\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/12\/the-bill-of-rights.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4798604672134506682"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4798604672134506682"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/12\/the-bill-of-rights.html","title":"The Bill of Rights"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1765335734065403558"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-09T19:51:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-09T19:54:25.952-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\"The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience.\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Albert Camus (h\/t \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fande3rls1\"\u003E@fande3rls1\u003C\/a\u003E)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1765335734065403558\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week_9.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1765335734065403558"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1765335734065403558"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week_9.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1764428549572526625"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-05T12:25:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-05T12:25:00.225-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Montgomery Bus Boycott"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E“Don’t ride the bus to work, to town, to school, or anywhere on Monday,” read leaflets that spread through the black community of Montgomery, Alabama, in early December 1955. “If you work, take a cab, or walk.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAn arrest had triggered the appeal. Rosa Parks, a black seamstress, was riding a crowded city bus home after a long day at work when the driver ordered her to give up her seat to a white man. Tired of being pushed around by segregation laws, Parks refused. The bus driver called the police, and Rosa Parks was arrested.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe city’s black leaders called for a boycott of city buses on Monday, December 5. No one was sure if the protest would have much support. Many blacks in Montgomery depended on the buses to get to work. But when Monday morning came, city buses followed their routes carrying only handfuls of white riders.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe boycott organizers, led by a young pastor named Martin Luther King Jr., decided to keep the boycott going. Black taxi drivers lowered their fares for protesters. People loaned cars to help get others to school, work, or the store. Many blacks simply walked wherever they needed to go.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETension rose as the boycott dragged on. Police harassed black taxi drivers and carpool drivers. King’s home was bombed, but he and his family escaped harm. As news of the protest spread, support for the boycotters grew across the nation.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn November 1956 the Supreme Court struck down Alabama’s bus segregation laws as unconstitutional. On December 21, 1956—381 days after it started—the boycott came to an end. Rosa Parks was one of the first to ride the desegregated buses. For her courage she is remembered as the mother of the modern-day civil rights movement.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1764428549572526625\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/12\/the-montgomery-bus-boycott.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1764428549572526625"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1764428549572526625"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/12\/the-montgomery-bus-boycott.html","title":"The Montgomery Bus Boycott"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4317909616053127029"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-02T21:19:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-02T21:19:27.871-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"We are called the nation of inventors. And we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors, if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented – which was human liberty. . .\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Samuel Clemens (aka Mark Twain)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4317909616053127029\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4317909616053127029"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4317909616053127029"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/12\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6457616124054179639"},"published":{"$t":"2018-12-01T11:57:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-12-01T11:57:34.782-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Youngest Pilot in the U.S. Navy"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"In honor of his passing, here's the story of when the youngest pilot in the U.S. Navy, George Herbert Walker Bush, was shot down over the Pacific.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nFrom Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn September 2, 1944, George Herbert Walker Bush, the youngest pilot then serving in the U.S. Navy, climbed into a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, catapulted off the deck of the carrier San Jacinto, and headed toward Chichi Jima, a Japanese island 600 miles south of Tokyo. With him rode two crewmen, radioman Jack Delaney and gunnery officer Ted White. Their target: a Japanese radio installation.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAs Bush dove toward the station, black splotches of antiaircraft fire exploded around the Avenger. “Suddenly there was a jolt, as if a massive fist had crunched into the belly of the plane,” he later wrote. “Smoke poured into the cockpit, and I could see flames rippling across the crease of the wing, edging toward the fuel tanks.” He managed to unload his bombs on the target and head the Avenger to sea, yelling for his crewmates to bail out. As the aircraft lost altitude, Bush jumped as well, colliding with the plane’s tail on the way. He landed bleeding but alive in the water. Delaney and White did not survive—one’s parachute failed to open, and the other never made it out of the plane.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBush climbed into a life raft as Japanese boats sped toward him. U.S. fighter planes drove them back, but currents pushed the raft toward Chichi Jima, where (unbeknownst to Bush) the Japanese had executed and cannibalized American POWs. Using his hands, Bush paddled furiously against the tide.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EA few hours later, he saw a periscope break the water’s surface, followed by the hull of the sub USS Finback. Within minutes, the downed pilot was safely aboard.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Navy sent Bush to Hawaii for rest and recovery. But he couldn’t sit still while the war raged, especially when he thought of his lost comrades. So the future president cut short his leave and headed back to the San Jacinto to finish his tour of duty.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6457616124054179639\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/the-youngest-pilot-in-us-navy.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6457616124054179639"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6457616124054179639"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/09\/the-youngest-pilot-in-us-navy.html","title":"The Youngest Pilot in the U.S. Navy"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4389750164297656432"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-30T10:11:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-30T10:11:45.896-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Mark Twain on Foreign Critics"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMark Twain, born November 30, 1835, was a loving critic of his country, usually with humor. (“There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress,” he once observed.) But disdain for America by European snobs raised his hackles. In an 1890 address in Boston, he let loose.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EIf I look harried and worn, it is not from an ill conscience. It is from sitting up nights to worry about the foreign critic. He won’t concede that we have a civilization—a “real” civilization. . . . [H]e said we had never contributed anything to the betterment of the world. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EWhat is a “real” civilization? [Let us suppose it is one without despotic government and near-universal inequality, ignorance, and poverty. In that case] there are some partial civilizations scattered around Europe—pretty lofty civilizations they are, but who begot them? What is the seed from which they sprang? Liberty and intelligence. What planted that seed? There are dates and statistics which suggest that it was the American Revolution that planted it. When that revolution began, monarchy had been on trial some thousands of years, over there, and was a distinct and convicted failure. . . . [W]e hoisted the banner of revolution and raised the first genuine shout for human liberty that had ever been heard. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EWho summoned the French slaves to rise and set the nation free? We did it. What resulted in England and on the Continent? Crippled liberty took up its bed and walked. From that day to this its march has not halted, and please God it never will. We are called the nation of inventors. And we are. We could still claim that title and wear its loftiest honors, if we had stopped with the first thing we ever invented—which was human liberty. . . . We have contributed nothing! Nothing hurts me like ingratitude.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4389750164297656432\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/11\/mark-twain-on-foreign-critics.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4389750164297656432"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4389750164297656432"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/11\/mark-twain-on-foreign-critics.html","title":"Mark Twain on Foreign Critics"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-132032716884959627"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-25T19:41:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-25T19:43:03.837-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"War is, in the main, a dirty, mean, inglorious business, but it is not the direst calamity that can befall a people. There is one worse state, at least: the state of slavery.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G.K. Chesterton (h\/t \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GKCdaily\"\u003E@GKCdaily\u003C\/a\u003E)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/132032716884959627\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/thought-for-week_25.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/132032716884959627"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/132032716884959627"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/thought-for-week_25.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1969191839798670706"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-24T11:54:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2020-11-24T11:38:23.049-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The President Pardons a Turkey"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn 1863, when Abraham Lincoln was president, the cooks at the White House received a live turkey to fatten up for a holiday feast. The turkey’s name was Jack, and it didn’t take long for Lincoln’s son Tad, age ten, to make friends with the bird. Soon Jack was following young Tad around the White House grounds like a pet.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOne day, the story goes, Lincoln was in a Cabinet meeting when a tearful Tad burst into the room. He announced that Jack was about to be killed and begged his father to stop the execution.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E“But Jack was sent here to be eaten,” the president tried to explain. “He’s a good turkey, and we mustn’t kill him,” Tad sobbed back. The president halted his meeting, took a piece of paper, and wrote out a reprieve. A joyful Tad raced away to show the presidential order to the executioner and save the life of Jack the turkey.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAccording to the White House, people sometimes gave live holiday turkeys to presidents in the years following the Lincoln administration, but it wasn’t until 1947 that the first official National Thanksgiving Turkey was presented to Harry S. Truman, who followed Lincoln’s example and pardoned the bird.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe reprieve has become an annual tradition. Each year, the National Turkey Federation chooses a plump bird and brings it to Washington. (Believe it or not, an alternate is also chosen in case the winner cannot fulfill its responsibilities.) Just before Thanksgiving, the president of the United States pardons the National Thanksgiving Turkey at the White House. The grateful bird then retires to a petting zoo or a resort such as Disney World, where it stays the remainder of its happy, natural life.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1969191839798670706\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/11\/the-president-pardons-turkey.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1969191839798670706"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1969191839798670706"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/11\/the-president-pardons-turkey.html","title":"The President Pardons a Turkey"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5727589958813134867"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-19T09:37:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-19T09:37:27.344-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Gettysburg Address"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn the autumn of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln received an invitation to give a speech at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where a few months earlier Americans had fought one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The battlefield was being dedicated as a cemetery for soldiers who had died there. Would Lincoln come help honor the dead? The president accepted the invitation.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EIn the following weeks, Lincoln worked on his speech but did not get a chance to write it all down before the time came to travel to Gettysburg. He finished it there the night before the ceremony. The next morning, November 19, he made a few final changes and a clean copy.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EA short time later, the president mounted a horse, joined a procession to the burial ground, and took his place on a wooden platform for the dedication. Thousands of people had gathered on the battlefield. The main speaker of the day, Edward Everett, spoke for two hours. When Everett was through, the president unfolded his single-page manuscript and approached the podium. He spoke for only two minutes. Many in the audience thought he was just getting going when he suddenly finished. Lincoln himself was unsure of the oration’s success. (“Lamon, that speech won’t scour!” he reportedly told a friend.) But with fewer than 300 words, Abraham Lincoln had given the greatest address ever delivered on American soil.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Gettysburg Address still reminds us that thousands have died defending an ideal on which our country was founded—that all people are created equal. The dead can be honored only if the nation lives up to that ideal, Lincoln asserted. By devoting ourselves to it, and by defending it when necessary, Americans ensure that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd of course I can't leave this subject without reproducing the speech:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EFour score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003ENow we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003EBut, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWow.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5727589958813134867\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/the-gettysburg-address.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5727589958813134867"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5727589958813134867"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/the-gettysburg-address.html","title":"The Gettysburg Address"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6981736681335425168"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-18T22:22:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-18T22:22:24.780-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"To be happy at home, said Johnson, is the end of all human endeavour. As long as we are thinking only of natural values we must say that the sun looks down on nothing half so good as a household laughing together over a meal, or two friends talking over a pint of beer, or a man alone reading a book that interests him, and that all economies, politics, laws, armies, and institutions, save insofar as they prolong and multiply such scenes, are a mere ploughing the sand and sowing the ocean, a meaningless vanity and vexation of spirit. Collective activities are, of course, necessary, but this is the end to which they are necessary.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--C.S. Lewis"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6981736681335425168\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/thought-for-week_18.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6981736681335425168"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6981736681335425168"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/thought-for-week_18.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-293092039217569183"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-18T21:34:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-18T21:34:26.714-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"John Peter Zenger"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWilliam Cosby, England’s governor for the colony of New York, was a bully and a scoundrel. He tried to silence opponents, rig elections, and use his office to make himself rich. But Cosby had a problem: John Peter Zenger and his printing press.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EZenger, a German immigrant, began publishing his New York Weekly Journal in 1733, and he made it his business to publicize Cosby’s greed and arrogance. No other paper had been so bold.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ECosby reacted by sending his henchmen to seize and burn copies of the paper. Zenger went right on printing his Journal. On November 17, 1734, the governor tried to silence Zenger for good by having him arrested for seditious libel.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAt Cosby’s request, bail was set much higher than Zenger could pay. For nearly nine months he sat in prison while his wife, Anna, helped publish the paper.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFinally Zenger got his day in court. But the governor’s handpicked judges disbarred his lawyers, leaving him without counsel. Andrew Hamilton, one of the finest attorneys in the colonies, rose from his sickbed in Philadelphia and journeyed to New York City to defend the printer.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe court all but ordered the jurors to find Zenger guilty of libel. Hamilton reminded them that the printer’s only crime was that he had dared to publish the truth. It did not take long for the jury to reach a decision. On August 4, 1735, it returned its verdict: not guilty.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe trial set a precedent for America’s world-famous freedom of the press. Journalists sometimes abuse that freedom in pursuit of their own agendas. Still, the First Amendment remains an American bedrock. As Zenger’s newspaper put it, “No nation ancient or modern has ever lost the liberty of freely speaking, writing or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/293092039217569183\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/11\/john-peter-zenger.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/293092039217569183"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/293092039217569183"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/11\/john-peter-zenger.html","title":"John Peter Zenger"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6131478332782120747"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-13T13:16:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-13T13:16:26.538-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Vietnam Veterans Memorial "},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., dedicated on November 13, 1982, honors American men and women who served in a long and controversial war. The main part of the memorial consists of a polished black granite wall that bears the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died in the war, or who are listed as missing in action. Every day, visitors leave flowers, pictures, and notes for loved ones lost in Vietnam. Many people make pencil rubbings of the name of someone special. During a visit to the Wall, as it is known, President Ronald Reagan said this:\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EThe memorial reflects as a mirror reflects, so that when you find the name you’re searching for you find it in your own reflection. And as you touch it, from certain angles, you’re touching, too, the reflection of the Washington Monument or the chair in which great Abe Lincoln sits. Those who fought in Vietnam are part of us, part of our history. They reflected the best in us. No number of wreaths, no amount of music and memorializing will ever do them justice, but it is good for us that we honor them and their sacrifice. And it’s good that we do it in the reflected glow of the enduring symbols of our Republic.\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E \u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EWhen our soldiers returned from Vietnam, they sometimes met the scorn of fellow Americans who, as Reagan put it, “were unable to distinguish between our native distaste for war and the stainless patriotism of those who suffered its scars.” In decades since, Americans have found renewed gratitude for those who served. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a place to remember the price of war and honor those who have answered the call of their country. As the poet Virgil wrote:\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003EHere, too, the honorable finds its due\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; And there are tears for passing things;\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp; Here, too, things mortal touch the mind.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6131478332782120747\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/11\/the-vietnam-veterans-memorial.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6131478332782120747"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6131478332782120747"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/11\/the-vietnam-veterans-memorial.html","title":"The Vietnam Veterans Memorial "}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-8092655208244756087"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-11T21:17:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-11T21:17:20.427-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Christianity is a fortunate religion in the sense that the endless moral failings of its leaders (and followers) keeps illustrating, generation after generation, the fundamental facts of the creed. The creeds based on human perfectibility, which is the romantic notion at the heart of all utopian thinking, have as their main problem the countervailing example of everybody you’ve ever met and ever will.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--Kevin D. Williamson"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/8092655208244756087\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/thought-for-week_11.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8092655208244756087"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/8092655208244756087"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/thought-for-week_11.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6234383220205391411"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-11T01:00:00.000-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-11T01:00:06.104-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"It Is The Soldier"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"It is the Soldier, not the minister\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWho has given us freedom of religion.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt is the Soldier, not the reporter\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWho has given us freedom of the press.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt is the Soldier, not the poet\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWho has given us freedom of speech.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt is the Soldier, not the campus organizer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWho has given us freedom to protest.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt is the Soldier, not the lawyer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWho has given us the right to a fair trial.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt is the Soldier, not the politician\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWho has given us the right to vote.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nIt is the Soldier who salutes the flag,\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWho serves beneath the flag,\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAnd whose coffin is draped by the flag,\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nWho allows the protester to burn the flag.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n© 1970 2010\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nCharles M. Province, U.S. Army"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6234383220205391411\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/it-is-soldier.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6234383220205391411"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6234383220205391411"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/it-is-soldier.html","title":"It Is The Soldier"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6989445035571389208"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-09T09:52:00.001-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-09T09:52:08.521-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Benjamin Banneker"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ETo Benjamin Banneker, born this day in 1731 in Baltimore County, Maryland, the words “all men are created” had potent meaning. A free black and descendent of former slaves, Banneker had been limited to a few scattered months of education at a one-room Quaker school. But from an early age he exhibited a mathematical and scientific genius. As a young farmer, he decided to build a clock that struck the hours, even though he had never seen one before. He made it entirely from wood, carving the gears and wheels with a pocketknife, and it kept time for more than forty years.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAt age fifty-seven, Banneker borrowed some books and a telescope from a neighbor, George Ellicott, and taught himself astronomical calculations that allowed him to predict a 1789 solar eclipse. In 1791 he helped lay out the boundaries of the nation’s new capital, the District of Columbia.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EFrom 1792 to 1797 he furnished the astronomical tables for \u003Ci\u003EBenjamin Banneker’s Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia Almanack\u003C\/i\u003E. The yearly almanacs spread his fame as the “African astronomer,” and abolitionists used them to fight antiblack stereotypes.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBanneker sent his first almanac to Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, along with a letter reminding him of the ideals he’d expressed in the Declaration of Independence. He wrote Jefferson that he hoped “that your sentiments are concurrent with mine, which are, that one universal Father hath given being to us all; and that he hath . . . afforded us all the same sensations and endowed us all with the same faculties.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EJefferson’s cordial reply expressed satisfaction “to see such proofs as you exhibit.” A more cogent observation came from Maryland’s James McHenry, a signer of the Constitution. Benjamin Banneker’s work, he wrote, showed that “the powers of the mind are disconnected to the color of the skin.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6989445035571389208\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/benjamin-banneker.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6989445035571389208"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6989445035571389208"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/benjamin-banneker.html","title":"Benjamin Banneker"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1156203238025709057"},"published":{"$t":"2018-11-04T20:01:00.004-06:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-04T20:01:27.578-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"\"All wealth is the product of knowledge. Matter is conserved; progress consists of learning how to use it.\"\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--George Gilder, \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Life-After-Google-Blockchain-Economy-ebook\/dp\/B072NYKG2G\/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8\u0026amp;qid=1541383060\u0026amp;sr=8-1\u0026amp;keywords=Life+After+Google%3A+The+Fall+of+Big+Data+and+the+Rise+of+the+Blockchain+Economy\"\u003ELife After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy\u003C\/a\u003E"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1156203238025709057\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1156203238025709057"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1156203238025709057"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/11\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-910790719675886597"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-30T10:32:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-30T10:32:36.397-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EToday [October 30] is the birthday of John Adams, born in 1735 in Quincy, Massachusetts. As this excerpt from his Dissertation on the Cannon and Feudal Law (1765) shows, Adams believed that the best way to guard the blessings of liberty is through education.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E \u003C\/span\u003E\"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people, who have a right, from the frame of their nature, to knowledge, as their great Creator, who does nothing in vain, has given them understandings, and a desire to know. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cb\u003ELet us dare to read, think, speak, and write. Let every order and degree among the people rouse their attention and animate their resolution. Let them all become attentive to the grounds and principles of government, ecclesiastical and civil. Let us study the law of nature; search into the spirit of the British constitution; read the histories of ancient ages; contemplate the great examples of Greece and Rome. . . .\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELet the pulpit resound with the doctrines and sentiments of religious liberty. . . . Let the bar proclaim “the laws, the rights, the generous plan of power” delivered down from remote antiquity—inform the world of the mighty struggles and numberless sacrifices made by our ancestors in defense of freedom. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003ELet the colleges join their harmony in the same delightful concert. Let every declamation turn upon the beauty of liberty and virtue, and the deformity, turpitude, and malignity, of slavery and vice. . . .\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Ci\u003EIn a word, let every sluice of knowledge be opened and set a-flowing.\"\u003C\/i\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac.\u0026nbsp;You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/910790719675886597\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/10\/liberty-cannot-be-preserved-without.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/910790719675886597"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/910790719675886597"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/10\/liberty-cannot-be-preserved-without.html","title":"“Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-217479261579205654"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-28T21:48:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-28T21:48:25.560-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The Statue of Liberty"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn October 28, 1886, President Grover Cleveland dedicated the Statue of Liberty on an island in New York Harbor, declaring, “We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home; nor shall her chosen altar be neglected.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EA gift from France, the statue was designed by Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. The people of France raised money to build the statue itself, while the people of the United States raised funds to pay for its giant base. Construction on the statue began at a workshop in Paris in 1875 and took nearly a decade to complete. Lady Liberty was then disassembled into 350 pieces, packed into 214 crates, and sent by ship to America, where she was reassembled on her pedestal.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe statue, whose formal name is Liberty Enlightening the World, depicts a woman who has thrown off the chains of tyranny that lie at her feet. Her right hand holds up a torch symbolizing liberty. Her left hand holds a tablet containing the date July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals. The seven rays of her crown represent the light of liberty shining across the seven seas and continents.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EStanding 305 feet high from the bottom of its base to the tip of the torch, the statue is one of the largest ever built. French engineer Gustave Eiffel, who built the Eiffel Tower in Paris, devised its iron skeleton. The exterior is sheathed with copper.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMillions of immigrants passed the Statue of Liberty over the years as they entered the harbor en route to the immigration station at Ellis Island. For them, it came to symbolize America’s promise of opportunity. A tablet within the pedestal contains the famous words of poet Emma Lazarus: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/217479261579205654\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/10\/the-statue-of-liberty.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/217479261579205654"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/217479261579205654"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/10\/the-statue-of-liberty.html","title":"The Statue of Liberty"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6745059890655625965"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-28T19:59:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-11-04T20:00:47.788-06:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"We are far too seldom reminded that just as church-going is not religion, so reading and writing are not knowledge, and voting is not self-government.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G. K. Chesteron (h\/t @GKCDaily)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6745059890655625965\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/thought-foe-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6745059890655625965"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6745059890655625965"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/thought-foe-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-6599597458687419462"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-22T08:30:00.003-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-22T08:30:33.083-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn October 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy appeared on television to inform Americans that U.S. spy planes had uncovered a “clandestine, reckless, and provocative threat to world peace” – Soviet missile sites in Cuba, under construction but nearly complete, that could soon house nuclear missiles capable of striking the United States. Kennedy demanded the missiles’ removal and announced a naval blockade of Cuba to stop Soviet ships from bringing more weapons to the island.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThus began some of the tensest days of the twentieth century as the U.S. and U.S.S.R. stood at the brink of nuclear war. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev warned that his subs might sink U.S. Navy ships attempting to stop Soviet vessels. “If the U.S. insists on war, we’ll all meet together in hell,” he growled. Kennedy certainly did not want war, but he refused to back down. “The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing,” he told the American people.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThe world held its breath as Soviet ships approached the blockade line. The crisis deepened when a U.S. reconnaissance plane was shot down over Cuba and its pilot killed. Americans stockpiled emergency supplies and even fled large cities.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EMeanwhile, U.S. and Soviet officials traded urgent proposals and counter-proposals. On October 28, Khrushchev agreed to dismantle the sites in return for a U.S. pledge not to invade Cuba, as well as the removal of U.S. missiles in Turkey. “We were eyeball to eyeball, and the other guy just blinked,” commented a relieved Secretary of State Dean Rusk.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EHistorians have debated who came out on top in the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy or Khrushchev. But there is no doubt that in standing up to Soviet totalitarianism, the young president turned back a dangerous threat to the nation’s security and to world peace.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/6599597458687419462\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/the-greatest-danger-of-all-would-be-to.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6599597458687419462"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/6599597458687419462"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/the-greatest-danger-of-all-would-be-to.html","title":"“The greatest danger of all would be to do nothing”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-5510496857205635524"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-21T21:58:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-21T22:01:06.562-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"When people begin to ignore human dignity, it will not be long before they begin to ignore human rights.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G.K. Chesterton (h\/t @GKCdaily)"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/5510496857205635524\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/thought-for-week_21.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5510496857205635524"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/5510496857205635524"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/thought-for-week_21.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-3798094725657697548"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-19T10:58:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-19T10:58:53.802-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"The World Turned Upside Down"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAt 2:00 pm on October 19, 1781, British soldiers filed out of their trenches at Yorktown, Virginia, laid down their arms, and surrendered their flags. At that moment the American Revolution effectively ended.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBritish general Charles Cornwallis had taken his troops to Yorktown, on the Chesapeake Bay, because southern Patriots had worn down his army. He hoped to meet up with the British navy, which might either resupply his exhausted force or carry it away. But American and French troops laid siege to Cornwallis’s lines, pounding them with cannon fire, and a French fleet cut off escape by sea. The British found themselves trapped.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThomas Nelson, governor of Virginia and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, was with the American army at Yorktown. According to tradition, he directed an artilleryman to fire at a stately brick home. “It is my home,” he explained, “the best one in town, and there you will be almost certain to find Lord Cornwallis and the British headquarters.” According to legend, the first cannonball sailed through a window and landed on a table where several British officers had just sat to dine.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn October 19, as the redcoats marched forward to surrender, they could not help but notice how poorly dressed and equipped George Washington’s troops were. Few had uniforms. Many wore rags and went barefooted. “Out of this rabble has risen a people who defy kings,” one of King George’s soldiers observed.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBands played as the British troops filed between the French and American soldiers.The Americans played “Yankee Doodle.” The British played a tune called “The World Turned Upside Down.” After Yorktown the British realized there was no point in fighting the upstart colonists any longer. Americans had won their freedom.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3798094725657697548\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/10\/the-world-turned-upside-down.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3798094725657697548"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3798094725657697548"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2014\/10\/the-world-turned-upside-down.html","title":"The World Turned Upside Down"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-4163902508429376356"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-15T10:13:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-15T10:13:34.663-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"“All the ladies like whiskers”"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOn October 15, 1860, young Grace Bedell of Westfield, New York, wrote the Republican nominee for president, a clean-shaven man, with some advice:\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EDear Sir,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EMy father has just [come] home from the fair and brought home your picture. . . . I am a little girl only eleven years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother’s and part of them will vote for you any way and if you will let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband’s to vote for you and then you would be President. . . . I must not write any more answer this letter right off\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EGood bye.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EGrace Bedell\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EMy dear little Miss,\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EYour very agreeable letter of the 15th is received. I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters. I have three sons – one seventeen, one nine, and one seven, years of age. They, with their mother, constitute my whole family. As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a silly affectation if I were to begin it now?\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EYour very sincere well wisher\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ci\u003E\u003Cb\u003EA. Lincoln\u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/i\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cspan class=\"Apple-tab-span\" style=\"white-space: pre;\"\u003E\u003Cb\u003E \u003C\/b\u003E\u003C\/span\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EDespite his answer, Lincoln began growing a beard. The next year, on his way to the White House, he stopped in Westfield, gave Grace a kiss, and thanked her for her advice.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/4163902508429376356\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/10\/all-ladies-like-whiskers.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4163902508429376356"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/4163902508429376356"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2016\/10\/all-ladies-like-whiskers.html","title":"“All the ladies like whiskers”"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-3288355659672033209"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-14T22:16:00.002-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-14T22:16:36.314-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Thought for the week"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"Human tyranny, like every other human sin, has generally some excuse or at least some temptation. It is the further difficulty that the excuse was often originally a respectable one; some devotion to institutions or ideals for which some men at least had really been grateful.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n--G.K. Chesterton"},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/3288355659672033209\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/thought-for-week.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3288355659672033209"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/3288355659672033209"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2018\/10\/thought-for-week.html","title":"Thought for the week"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-491959230961565734"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-14T21:58:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-14T21:58:33.219-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EUntil October 14, 1947, no one knew if a plane could fly faster than the speed of sound. Aircraft approaching Mach 1 shook violently, as if hitting an invisible wall. Only a year earlier, British pilot Geoffrey De Havilland had died when his plane broke apart flying close to the speed of sound. Scientists theorized that as a plane reached high speeds, sound waves piled up around it, creating a “sound barrier” that held it back.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EAfter World War II the U.S. military and Bell Aircraft developed the X-1, a “bullet with wings” designed to punch a hole through the sound barrier. The test pilot for the rocketpowered plane was 24-year-old Captain Chuck Yeager. A decorated combat ace, Yeager had cheated death more than once. During the war, he’d been shot down over France but eluded the Nazis with the help of the French Resistance, made it back to his squadron, and returned to the skies.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EBy mid-October 1947 Yeager had flown the X-1 several times over the Mojave Desert, edging closer to the sound barrier. On October 14 he climbed into the plane with two cracked ribs from a fall off a horse—an injury he kept secret so he wouldn’t be grounded. A giant B-29 carried the X-1 to 20,000 feet and released it. The plane stalled and dropped 500 feet while Yeager struggled to bring it under control. He fired his rocket engines, climbed to 42,000 feet, leveled off, and fired a rocket again.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThen it happened. The shaking suddenly stopped. “I was so high and so remote, and the airplane was so very quiet that I might have been motionless,” Yeager later recalled. But the needle on the speed gauge jumped off the scale. On the ground below, engineers heard the thunder of a sonic boom. Chuck Yeager had punched through the sound barrier.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/491959230961565734\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/10\/chuck-yeager-breaks-sound-barrier.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/491959230961565734"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/491959230961565734"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2015\/10\/chuck-yeager-breaks-sound-barrier.html","title":"Chuck Yeager Breaks the Sound Barrier"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}},{"id":{"$t":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4857730174017156359.post-1291084138776209713"},"published":{"$t":"2018-10-11T11:47:00.000-05:00"},"updated":{"$t":"2018-10-11T11:47:20.683-05:00"},"title":{"type":"text","$t":"Reagan at Reykjavik"},"content":{"type":"html","$t":"From Bill Bennett's \u003Ci\u003EAmerican Patriot's Almanac\u003C\/i\u003E:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EOctober 11, 1986, brought the opening of a two-day summit in Reykjavik, Iceland, between President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev—a turning point in a four-decade-old Cold War with a Communist empire that threatened the liberty of the world.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EGorbachev, desperate to cut his ailing nation’s military spending, offered major weapons cutbacks if the United States would do the same. Reagan was astounded and delighted. Previous Soviet leaders had answered nyet to serious proposals for nuclear arms reductions. The U.S. president responded by suggesting that both sides scrap all offensive missiles within ten years. Soon both leaders were trading breathtaking proposals to dismantle nuclear stockpiles. We have negotiated the most massive weapons reductions in history, an exultant Reagan told himself.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EThen Gorbachev threw a curve: “This all depends, of course, on you giving up SDI.” The demand angered Reagan. He had made it clear that the Strategic Defense Initiative—a U.S. research program to develop a defensive shield against incoming missiles—was not a bargaining chip. In his view, SDI would ultimately prove the best defense against foreign threats.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003EReagan could have left Reykjavik hailed as a great statesman for making the deal. All he had to do was give up SDI. Instead, he ended the summit. “The price was high but I wouldn’t sell,” he wrote in his diary.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/b\u003E\n\u003Cb\u003ECritics accused the president of being too stubborn. But others believed that standing firm would pay off. “You just won the Cold War,” an administration official predicted on the plane ride home. Reagan was confident that the bankrupt Soviet empire could not stand up to U.S. resolve. “I’m convinced he’ll come around,” he wrote of Gorbachev. Sure enough, the Soviets came back to the bargaining table, and the two countries soon reached historic agreements to reduce nuclear arms.\u003C\/b\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nEvery day, Bill Bennett provides via email--for free--a reading from his American Patriot's Almanac. You’ll read about heroes, their achievements, and key events that took place “On This Day” in American history. Click \u003Ca href=\"http:\/\/www.patriotsalmanac.com\/\"\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E to subscribe."},"link":[{"rel":"replies","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/feeds\/1291084138776209713\/comments\/default","title":"Post Comments"},{"rel":"replies","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/10\/reagan-at-reykjavik.html#comment-form","title":"0 Comments"},{"rel":"edit","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1291084138776209713"},{"rel":"self","type":"application/atom+xml","href":"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/feeds\/4857730174017156359\/posts\/default\/1291084138776209713"},{"rel":"alternate","type":"text/html","href":"http:\/\/whocareswhatkeiththinks.blogspot.com\/2017\/10\/reagan-at-reykjavik.html","title":"Reagan at Reykjavik"}],"author":[{"name":{"$t":"Unknown"},"email":{"$t":"noreply@blogger.com"},"gd$image":{"rel":"http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail","width":"16","height":"16","src":"https:\/\/img1.blogblog.com\/img\/b16-rounded.gif"}}],"thr$total":{"$t":"0"}}]}});