Old Stone House

Old Stone House Road in Granite Quarry (formerly Granite Ridge), Rowan Co, NC

This house was built with local stone by Dutch Immigrant Michael Braun in 1766. It is the last remaining colonial structure in Rowan County. This historical site is owned & operated by Rowan Museum, Inc.
It is worth noting that Michael immigrated from Germany to Pennsylvania before settling here. At the time this area was considered wilderness but covered in heavy thicket, rather than forests as generally thought. Also, the structure was not typical of the period, but much more grand.

California Separatist Constitutional Convention

California ponders changes in constitution

This story ponders the complexities of the California Constitution and how they hinder raising taxes, funding the state's ever growing list of ridiculous and anti-American laws, regulations and programs. A state Constitutional Convention is proposed to fix the system.

I call BS.

Latino separatists have wanted this for years, but not for state budgets. Those that say that a convention could be very focused and narrow, just dealing with state budget problems, obviously have not read this or this or this or this or this or this or this.

WCVI Co-Sponsors Summit on California Constitutional Convention
Tuesday's Sacramento summit on a possible new state constitutional convention is picking up some interesting support, including the William C. Velasquez Institute, a think tank on Latino affairs."The disastrous state of California's government is of concern to us all," according to a news release from the institute, which is based in Texas and has offices in California and Florida."Latinos will soon be the majority in California, and we have a vested interest in not only government reform, but making sure our community is properly represented during the convention development process.

This has been a goal of La Raza, Aztlan, the Mexica Movement and other radical groups such as MEChA.

La Raza -Chicano Activism in California
The predicted demographic shift from minority to majority status is a triumph for Chicano activism and brings vast new political opportunities for its leadership. But the literal "retaking" of California pales in comparison to its symbolic value - the long-awaited return of those "illegally annexed territories" which the Chicano movement claims were stolen from their indigenous forebears in 1848, by the occupying forces of the United States, after the Treaty of Guadelupe-Hidalgo.
...

The uniformed "Brown Berets of Aztlan" stood shoulder to shoulder along the walls of the meeting room; Mexican flags were flying and student tee shirts bore the message, "We don't need no stinking green cards." Benicio Silva of UC Berkeley declared that having to show them at the border was a "violation of our human rights" because "Aztlan is ours and the white man is the invader."

"They say we're 'Latinizing' Los Angeles! Don't you love it?" boomed fiery orator Jose Angel Gutierrez, long-time University of Texas faculty member. "We are fighting to build a new Mestizo nation," he shouted, "in this, our historic homeland for for-ty thou-sand years."
At that, the Brown Berets raised their fists in the air and the excited crowd screamed "Chicano Power" and began stomping and clapping with the familiar two-three beat: clap-clap, clap-clap-clap. "We are here again," Gutierrez continued, "we are millions and millions, and the aging white Americans are not making babies, we've got to get ready to govern!"

California is just the start. The Reconquista Movement wants all of the Southwest and as far north as the state of Washington. Their movement is growing and being assisted by many organizations in the US and, it seems, by the government. In doing work throughout the Midwest I saw entire towns of illegal aliens. The surrounding communities state they need the illegal alien's support of the local economies which is what the separatist movement has planned all along.

A Constitutional Convention in California is just their first step.

Pelosi Tells Another Whopper

Pelosi: I didn't know about waterboarding

Making up Bible verses, lying about Catholic doctrine and making up false time lines that a third grader can look up, telling the nation that she's going to drain the GOP swamp that she helped create and used like payola like some city machine mayor, laughing as she lies about earmarks and on and on and on.

If this woman said 'good day' I'd look for the sun and expect the moon.

"I don't consider him a particularly reliable source of information"

Come on guys, she's serious.


"Well, it won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source of information," Clinton said of the former vice president.

The First Earth Day April 22, 1970

The first Earth Day observances take place. April 22, 1970 and the assualt on private ownership of land hasn't stopped.

I suggest we start Hearth Day to celebrate family and liberty. Of course we have July 4th, but that day seems to upset liberals.

New York, 1774, Mohawk Tea Party

New York "Mohawks" have a "tea party." April 22, 1774

Also known as the Coercive Acts; a series of British measures passed in 1774 and designed to punish the Massachusetts colonists for the Boston Tea Party. For example, one of the laws closed the port of Boston until the colonists paid for the tea that they had destroyed. Although the acts were intended to check colonial opposition to Britain, they only inflamed it.

Mohawk was Emerging as a Symbol of Liberty in the New Land

Almost everyone, regardless of knowledge of history knows that the patriots who participated in the most famous protest of American Revolution were dressed as Mohawks. But there is almost no information on why this specific disguise was chosen. And the lack of information makes many people believe the Indian dress was chosen merely out of convenience or by chance. Hardly this is the case. The history of Sons of Liberty and Freemasonry shows that these organization place a great deal of importance on symbols. Take for example symbolic hangings of effigies by the Sons or the artifacts of Masonic ceremonies. In fact the Mohawk image was emerging as a revolutionary symbol of liberty in the new land...

Following the Boston tea party, a broadside was widely released - containing a song/poem written about the tea party. It is speculated (in the biography I have of Sam Adams) that he had a hand in writing it. Sounds like his high-energy blazing style.

TEA, DESTROYED BY INDIANS

YE GLORIOUS SONS OF FREEDOM, brave and bold,

That has flood forth ---- fair LIBERTY to hold;

Though you were INDIANS, come from distant shores,

Like MEN you acted --- not like savage Moors.

CHORUS

Our LIBERTY, and LIFE is now invaded,

And FREEDOM's brightest CHARMS are darkly shaded:

But we will STAND --- and think it noble mirth,

To DART the man that dare oppress the Earth.

Bostonian's SONS keep up your Courage good,

Or Dye, like Martyrs, in fair Free-born Blood.

How grand the Scene! --- (No Tyrant shall oppose)

The TEA is sunk in spite of all our foes.

A NOBLE SIGHT -- to see th' accursed TEA

Mingled with MUD -- and ever for to be;

For KING and PRINCE shall know that we are FREE.

Bostonian's SONS keep up your Courage good,

Or Dye, like Martyrs, in fair Free-born Blood.

Must we be still --- and live on Blood-bought Ground,

And not oppose the Tyrants cursed found?

We Scorn the thought -- our views are well refin'd

We Scorn those slavish shackles of the Mind,

"We've Souls that were not made to be confin'd.

"Bostonian's SONS keep up your Courage good,

Or Dye, like Martyrs, in fair Free-born Blood.

Could our Fore-fathers rise from their cold Graves,

And view their Land, with all their Children SLAVES;

What would they say! how would their Spirits rend,

And, Thunder-strucken, to their Graves descend.

Bostonian's SONS keep up your Courage good,

Or Dye, like Martyrs, in fair Free-born Blood.

Let us with hearts of steel now stand the task.

Throw off all darksome ways, nor wear a Mask.

Oh! may our noble Zeal support our frame,

And brand all Tyrants with eternal SHAME.

Bostonian's SONS keep up your Courage good,

And sink all Tyrants in their GUILTY BLOOD.

I. F. Stone Was A Soviet Spy

I.F. Stone, Soviet Agent—Case Closed

He'd have an easier time today.

John Singleton Mosby - The Grey Ghost

I came across this photograph which brought back many memories.

My childhood was spent with scads of time spent re-enacting the exploits of a distant relative, the Grey Ghost, throughout our fields and woods. I would charge out of ravines and across creeks giving my best rebel yell while I controlled my imaginary horse and the raiders following me. Mosby, in my mind and my mother's stories, always was out front leading his men. Later, when I learned to ride I still had those thoughts and it made me ride a bit more upright.

For evening prayers my mother had taught me to ask God to bless "the General and his eyes beyond the horizon." Just before my father died he asked me one evening who had been Eisenhower's eyes beyond the horizon and why all those years I had held such a fascination for the General. My mother quickly left the room before I answered that the General and his eyes had nothing to do with President Eisenhower, but in fact were Robert E. Lee and J.S. Mosby. I quickly followed my mother before the explosion. I obviously was no fearless Mosby. My father, a Northerner and rock ribbed Unionist, resolutely maintained that all Confederate officers should have been shot at the end of the war for treason to their oaths. My mother's grandfather had been a Colonel with the Virginia 18th, Co E, Army of Northern Virginia.

The only time my mother responded to his spoken thought of firing squads was to gently point out to him that "such an odious act would make our marriage problematic."

Grey Ghost
Mosby’s exploits included a daring raid far inside Union lines at the Fairfax County courthouse in 1863, where his raiders captured some key Union officers, including General Stoughton, whom Mosby found in bed, waking him with a slap to his rear. Upon being so roused, the general exclaimed, "Do you know who I am?" Mosby quickly replied, "Do you know Mosby, general?" "Yes! Have you got the rascal?" "No but he has got you!"
...

He was also a vital element in the Confederate secret service, moving spies into and out of Washington; he frequently rode himself in disguise into the capital. Once while in Washington, Mosby sent of a lock of his hair to Abraham Lincoln as a gift. It is reported that Lincoln’s keen sense of humor fully appreciated the gesture. Mosby and his notorious raiders refused to surrender at the end of the war. While the group disbanded, they never surrendered.

Mosby spent his later years in San Francisco with friends and family. One particular family lived nearby with a young boy. The boy would often come over and eagerly listen to the stories of the old Grey Ghost. Mosby would entertain the young boy with tales of his gallant exploits and daring raids. The two became fast friends and would play war games outside. Mosby taught the young boy the secrets of Guerilla warfare. He taught him to fight like a raider, to fight like a guerilla.

The young boy was George S. Patton.

Tea Parties Really Getting Under Lib/Dem Skin

Now! Hampshire: The thousands of taxpayers who gathered in several locations around the Granite State on Tax Day “didn’t even know what they were protesting,” according to the state’s top Democratic Party official. “They looked like they lost their minds,” said Ray Buckley, Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party of the protesters.

The protesters knew exactly what they were protesting, but the NH Dem Chair knows that. He's just shilling the party line.

Bummer

Between our recent coronation and the total disconnect by the media and the left concerning the rising discontent as opitimized by the "Tea Party" movement, Blogical Conclusions has shut down. This is a loss for all of us.

I am leaving Blogical Conclusions on my blogroll in hopes that he will return.

Man Made: Congress Causes Global Warming!

As the corrupt investigate corruption, while pontificating about a new transparency they hide their corruption and now, as they lie about made made global warming for profit, they cause, if you buy their formula "proving" their lies, global warming.





*CONGRESS BATTLES THE BULGE;MEMBERS BLAME RECESSION FOR BEING OVERWEIGHT...

SCIENTISTS' ALERT: FATTIES CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING

Ahmadinejad Moves People

Yep, Chairman Short moves them right out the door with his words. He is a creepy little man.

Walkout at UN conference after Iran president calls Israel 'racist'

British delegates joined a dramatic diplomatic walkout today when President Ahmadinejad of Iran told a major UN conference against racism that the state of Israel had been founded "on the pretext of Jewish suffering" during the Second World War.

Around 20 delegates, including envoys from the UK, France, and Finland stood up and left the room at what was considered an anti-Semitic remark by the Iranian leader, who has repeatedly called for Israel to be wiped off the map.

Nine Western countries including Israel and the United States had already decided to boycott the conference entirely because its draft declaration endorsed the conclusions of an anti-racism conference in South Africa eight years ago in which Islamic nations pushed through a text equating Zionism with racism.

Even before the walkout, Mr Ahmadinejad's speech had been interrupted by three protesters dressed as clowns who where quickly bundled from the vast conference room at the Palais des Nations by guards.

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose

Of course Gertie wouldn't like this, but Socialism by any other name would smell just as bad.

This is an excellent and concise read from Maggie Thurber. I recommend it to you:

Calling it 'capitalism' doesn't make it so

Another Thurber, James, said;

"Let us not look back in anger, nor forward in fear, but around in awareness."

and

"You can fool too many of the people too much of the time. "

Dear Aunt Matilda

Fish Oil Could Curb Cow Flatulence

Christ Covered For Obama At Catholic School

Georgetown Says It Covered Over Name of Jesus to Comply With White House
Georgetown University says it covered over the monogram “IHS”--symbolizing the name of Jesus Christ—because it was inscribed on a pediment on the stage where President Obama spoke at the university on Tuesday and the White House had asked Georgetown to cover up all signs and symbols there. As of Wednesday afternoon, the “IHS” monogram that had previously adorned the stage at Georgetown’s Gaston Hall was still covered up--when the pediment where it had appeared was photographed by CNSNews.com.

President Obama is greeted by Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia as he arrives to deliver remarks on the economy, April 14, 2009, at Georgetown University. Georgetown had covered the symbol "IHS" on the pediment above and behind the two men.

“In coordinating the logistical arrangements for yesterday’s event, Georgetown honored the White House staff’s request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols behind Gaston Hall stage,” Julie Green Bataille, associate vice president for communications at Georgetown, told CNSNews.com. “The White House wanted a simple backdrop of flags and pipe and drape for the speech, consistent with what they’ve done for other policy speeches,” she added. “Frankly, the pipe and drape wasn’t high enough by itself to fully cover the IHS and cross above the GU seal and it seemed most respectful to have them covered so as not to be seen out of context.”

On Wednesday, CNSNews.com inspected the pediment embedded in the wall at the back of the stage in Gaston Hall, where Obama delivered his speech. The letters “IHS” were not to be found. They appeared to be shrouded with a triangle of black-painted plywood. Pictures of the wooden pediment prior to Obama’s speech show the letters “IHS" in gold. Many photos posted on the Internet of other events at Gaston Hall show the letters clearly. The White House did not respond to a request from CNSNews.com to comment on the covering up of Jesus’ name at Gaston Hall.

Georgetown, which is run by the Jesuit order, is one of the most prestigious Catholic institutions of higher education in the United States.

I bet the White House would not ask liberal groups to cover up their identities. Hell, the White House would work with them to highlight them. I'm surprised that Axlerod hasn't had a fitting for a pink suit for Obama when meets with Medea Benjamin and her 12 disciples.

Cole Sullivan Plunder Interrupted Honoring Blumer

John Cole, Andrew Sullivan, Plunderbund and Blogger Interrupted have stated that TomBlumer of BizzyBlog doesn't know what he is talking about in his column Tax Receipts Plummet as Americans ‘Go Galt’. Blumer does finance. The attackers do..., well you can find out.

Gee, they even threw in their tiresome invective usually reserved for highly placed Republican Administration member from the last eight years. Well done Mr. Blumer. You've touched a nerve in the Obama/JournoList disinformation network.

Pot, kettle, black not-withstanding, isn't this like being called short and crazy by Ahmadinejad?

Jan Schakowsky Despicable And Shameful

It's always dispicable when people speak their minds,eh, Jan?

Schakowsky: Tea parties 'despicable'
Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) blasted "tea party" protests yesterday, labeling the activities "despicable" and shameful."

"The ‘tea parties’ being held today by groups of right-wing activists, and fueled by FOX News Channel, are an effort to mislead the public about the Obama economic plan that cuts taxes for 95 percent of Americans and creates 3.5 million jobs," Schakowsky said in a statement.

"It’s despicable that right-wing Republicans would attempt to cheapen a significant, honorable moment of American history with a shameful political stunt," she added. "Not a single American household or business will be taxed at a higher rate this year. Made to look like a grassroots uprising, this is an Obama bashing party promoted by corporate interests, as well as Republican lobbyists and politicians.”

This is the strongest language to date opposing the protesters, which, according to some estimates, topped 250,000 across the country.

Let's see, do as I say, not as I do?

From April 5, 2009:

Cong. Jan Schakowsky, Robert Creamer, and the Illinois Public Action Council
Earlier today Robert Creamer, the husband of Cong. Jan Schakowsky, (D-IL), was sentenced to five months in prison and 11 months house arrest for his role in a 1990s check-kiting scheme while he was the head of defunct Illinois Public Action Council, a consumer advocacy group.

Schakowsky has not been implicated in the scheme.

Jan Schakowsky is one of the most liberal members of Congress. She is a member of the far-left Progressive Caucus. Other members of the caucus include such "stars" as Cynthia McKinney, Maxine Waters, Dennis Kucinich, Jim McDermott (Baghdad Jim), Bernie Sanders, and Lynn Woolsey.

Schakowsky made her name in the Illinois Public Action Council. From 1976 to 1985, she was the IPAC program director. Four years later, Jan organized a senior-citizen rally that was a TV reporters dream. In 1989, cameras caught Schakowsky-led seniors chasing the powerful then-Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Dan Rostenkowski, (D-IL). That protest drew national attention.

The Illinois Public Action Council was known for the aggressiveness of its members, particular in their "pro-consumer" door-to-door fundraising efforts. Those same IPAC members proved to be a useful ground force that got Schakowsky elected to Congress in 1998.

After Illinois Public Action folded, Robert Creamer went on to serve as a highly paid political consultant for Democrats such as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, Congressman Lane Evans, and Chicago Alderman Joe Moore, among others.

In short, Creamer was not a "Mr. Mom."

(He was also part of Obama's campaign.)

Despicable And Shameful? She's got the right vocab, but has bad aim.

I May Be On Janet's Jaded Jihadists of Conservatism List

CNN's Roesgen Showing Some Love For Journalism

Of course when President Bush was the subject, Ms Roesgen was merely reporting on what she witnessed and calmy pointed out that Bush couldn't make the event. Presumably President Bush couldn't be bothered.

I love to watch a professional journalist at work. When I see one I'll be sure to let you know.

Liberals, Loose Women And Gays Out The Tea Party Conspiracy

When libs at HuffPo start quoting Goldwater and Reagan you know you’re in for some great fun(nies).

Conspiracy Theory Conservatism
If the rash of 'Tea Party' protests planned for Tax Day 2009 is any indication, the Right Wing in American politics may finally abandon all pretense at what Barry Goldwater once called the "conscience of a conservative." Instead of that lofty, albeit tattered ambition, the Right Wing of 2009 is rapidly embracing a wild-eyed, media manipulated, and self-destructive "conspiracy theory conservatism."

If I were a Republican leader, I would be very worried about this change. Should it come to pass that conspiracy theory conservatism wins out once and for good over Goldwater conservatism, the Republican Party will be doomed, broken, kaput.

And then there is the ever lovely, vivacious and estimable Jane Hamsher.

The Corporate Lobbyists Behind the Tea Parties
Maybe they're afraid that if people knew that those behind the demonstrations were the very same lobbyists and influence peddlers the teabaggers claim to decry, the whole thing would be revealed to be what it is -- a hollow excercise in extremist right-wing hypocrisy.


This one from the Atlantic is fun. Hoogly boogly men behind every tree. Hoogly boogly being shorthand for conservative libertarian.

The Santelli Conspiracy?*
Update: As Megan McArdle notes, this story appears to be completely bogus.
Was Rick Santelli's "Chicago Tea Party" a spontaneous expression of populist outrage? Or was it a carefully orchestrated media campaign that was planned long before Santelli's now-famous socialist-bashing CNBC rant? Mark Ames and Yasha Levine suggest that Santelli's mini-movement was in fact bought and paid for by a network of right-of-center moguls led by the Koch family, best known for their outsized backing of libertarian causes.


Then there is the respected journalists at Playboy. Feminists all. Too bad Playboy found out this story was completely bogus and took it down. That's just proof that people buy Playboy for the articles. Not the pictures.

Playboy dips a toe into investigative journalism
What we discovered is that Santelli's "rant" was not at all spontaneous as his alleged fans claim, but rather it was a carefully-planned trigger for the anti-Obama campaign. In PR terms, his February 19th call for a "Chicago Tea Party" was the launch event of a carefully organized and sophisticated PR campaign, one in which Santelli served as a frontman, using the CNBC airwaves for publicity, for the some of the craziest and sleaziest rightwing oligarch clans this country has ever produced. Namely, the Koch family, the multibilllionaire owners of the largest private corporation in America, and funders of scores of rightwing thinktanks and advocacy groups, from the Cato Institute and Reason Magazine to FreedomWorks. The scion of the Koch family, Fred Koch, was a co-founder of the notorious extremist-rightwing John Birch Society.

And then there is Cooper who is a big part of why CNN has become a joke. It's always funny to share vulgar gay humor with one's audience.

CNN's Anderson Cooper: 'It's Hard to Talk When You're Tea-Bagging'
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper followed his colleague David Shuster into the gutter on his Anderson Cooper 360 program on Tuesday in making a vulgar “tea-bagging” joke about Republicans/conservatives. After CNN’s senior political analyst David Gergen remarked that Republicans were “searching for their voice” after two electoral losses, Cooper quipped, “It’s hard to talk when you’re tea-bagging.” [audio available here]

Andy keeps them rolling at any Bar & Bath or over at Blogger Interrupted who stole Andy's line to humor all of us with his witty and self deprecating headline.

Seems that JournoList memo made it to everybody.