Just incase you missed it...

You Can Learn A Lot From History

Guess The Title Of New School Rap Curriculum: Old Dead White Men

What inner-city kids in Oklahoma are learning about President James Monroe, America's fifth president and last to be considered a founding father,

“White men getting richer than Enron./ They stepping on Indians, women and blacks./ Era of Good Feeling doesn’t come with the facts.”

What they should really be learning,

President James Monroe fought in the American Revolution. He served in the Continental Congress as an anti-Federalist delegate to the Virginia convention in consideration of the U.S. Constitution. Monroe opposed ratification on the grounds that it gave too much power to the federal government. Monroe studied law under Thomas Jefferson. He is best known for the Monroe Doctrine of 1823 that stated the United States would not tolerate further European involvement in the Americas.

My New Favorite Network & My New Favorite Show: Drive Thru History

Wow! And they even tell the truth about the Moors/Muslims. Amazing.

Reagan Palate Cleanser *Phrase attributed to Proof Positive

Cross posted at Proof Positive

(I took the liberty of swiping this one, Lady C!)

Deja Vu

I was just doing a little reading and stumbled upon Philip the Fair, King of France. And just thought I'd summarize a bit... All statements below are quoted from wikipedia... Emphasis added is mine...

"Philip ascended the throne and became King at age 17, although according to the publication entitled "The Life And Times Of Jacques de Molay", Philip was 16. As a king, Philip was determined to strengthen the monarchy at any cost. He relied, more than any of his predecessors, on a professional bureaucracy of legalists. Because to the public he kept aloof and left specific policies, especially unpopular ones, to his ministers, he was called a "useless owl" by his contemporaries.^{[citation needed]} His reign marks the French transition from a charismatic monarchy...to a bureaucratic kingdom, a move, under a certain historical reading, towards modernity.

"Philip however had to resort extensively to monetary devaluations and reevaluations in order to finance his royal budget...

"In the shorter term, Philip arrested Jews so he could seize their assets to accommodate the inflated costs of modern warfare: he expelled them from his French territories on 22 July 1306 (see The Great Exile of 1306). His financial victims also included Lombard bankers and rich abbots. He was condemned by his enemies in the Catholic Church^[4] for his spendthrift lifestyle. He debased the coinage...he also levied taxes on the French clergy of one halftheir annual income...

"This landmark coin of Philip the Fair, called a "Masse d'or", was issued soon after the "false" double-parisis and tournois of 1295. It was minted from 10 January 1296 to August 1310. This coin was supposed to be a "Double Florin", but it was actually debased (it was a "false" Double-Florin). The weight of the coin was indeed double that of the "Petit Royal assis" (7.10g), but its title was only 22 karats (instead of 24 karats), a title of only 0.916. The copper alloy used actually hardened the coin, so that it was nicknamed "Royal dur" ("Hard Royal"). Its value was one "livre Parisis" (one "Parisis pound"). It represented a major devaluation, and represented an attempt by Philip IV to obtain revenues through minting. At minting, the coin was attributed an account value of 25 sols tournois (one pound parisis).^[1]

^{"Philip was hugely in debt to the Knights Templar, a monastic military order who had been acting as bankers for some two hundred years. As the popularity of the Crusades had decreased, support for the Order had waned, and Philip used a disgruntled complaint against the Order as an excuse to disband the entire organisation, so as to free himself from his debts. On Friday, 13 October 1307, hundreds of Knights Templar in France were simultaneously arrested by agents of Philip the Fair, to be later tortured..."}

Black History

Terrorist Wing Of The Democratic Party

"It was Inauguration Day, and in the judgment of one later historian, "the atmosphere in the nation's capital bore ominous signs for Negroes." Washington rang with happy Rebel Yells, while bands all over town played 'Dixie.' Indeed, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who swore in the newly elected Southern president, was himself a former member of the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile, "an unidentified associate of the new Chief Executive warned that since the South ran the nation, Negroes should expect to be treated as a servile race." Somebody had even sent the new president a possum, an act supposedly "consonant with Southern tradition...March 4, 1913, the day Woodrow Wilson of Virginia-DEMOCRAT-moved into the White House." Quoted at Reason

"Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) has falsely accused the Tea Party of having ties to the Ku Klux Klan. Speaking at the NAACP convention, she said: "All those who wore sheets a long time ago lifted them off to wear Tea Party clothing."

Now is the time to speak some Truth to Power.

It would have been far more truthful for the congresswoman to have admitted the fact that all those who wore sheets a long time ago lifted them to wear Democratic Party clothing. Yes, the Ku Klux Klan was established by the Democratic Party. Yes, the Ku Klux Klan murdered thousands of Republicans -- African-American and white -- in the years following the Civil War. Yes, the Republican Party and a Republican President, Ulysses Grant, destroyed the KKK with their Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871.

How did the Ku Klux Klan re-emerge in the 20th century? For that, the Democratic Party is to blame.

It was a racist Democrat President, Woodrow Wilson, who premiered Birth of a Nation in the White House. That racist movie was based on a racist book written by one of Wilson's racist friends from college. In 1915, the movie spawned the modern-day Klan, with its burning crosses and white sheets.

Inspired by the movie, some Georgia Democrats revived the Klan. Soon, the Ku Klux Klan again became a powerful force within the Democratic Party. The KKK so dominated the 1924 Democratic Convention that Republicans, speaking truth to power, called it the Klanbake. In the 1930s, a Democrat President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, appointed a Klansman, Senator Hugo Black (D-AL), to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the 1950s, the Klansmen against whom the civil rights movement struggled were Democrats. The notorious police commissioner Bull Connor, who attacked African-Americans with dogs and clubs and fire hoses, was both a Klansman and the Democratic Party's National Committeeman for Alabama. Starting in the 1980s, the Democratic Party elevated a recruiter for the Ku Klux Klan, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), to third-in-line for the presidency.

Speaking more Truth to Power, the GOP has been a resolute enemy of the Ku Klux Klan, terrorist wing of the Democratic Party.

To quote from Back to Basics for the Republican Party, "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more the Democrats will worry about the future of theirs." See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

This article is available at the Grand Old Partisan blog. You can help me to help the GOP, by sending this permalink to your contacts nationwide.

The purpose of the book Back to Basics for the Republican Party is to show Republicans how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of the GOP." ~Quoted from Michael Zak

President Obama Would Do Well To Learn From His Black American Forefathers

Excerpts from Frederick Douglas's July 5th speech commemorating American Independence

Citizens, your fathers made good that resolution. They succeeded; and to-day you reap the fruits of their success. The freedom gained is yours; and you, therefore, may properly celebrate this anniversary. The 4th of July is the first great fact in your nation's history - the very ring-bolt in the chain of your yet undeveloped destiny.

Pride and patriotism, not less than gratitude, prompt you to celebrate and to hold it in perpetual remembrance. I have said that the Declaration of Independence is the ring-bolt to the chain of your nation's destiny; so, indeed, I regard it. The principles contained in that instrument are saving principles. Stand by those principles, be true to them on all occasions, in all places, against all foes, and at whatever cost.

From the round top of your ship of state, dark and threatening clouds may be seen. Heavy billows, like mountains in the distance, disclose to the leeward huge forms of flinty rocks! That bolt drawn, that chain broken, and all is lost. Cling to this day - cling to it, and to its principles, with the grasp of a storm-tossed mariner to a spar at midnight.

The coming into being of a nation, in any circumstances, is an interesting event. But, besides general considerations, there were peculiar circumstances which make the advent of this republic an event of special attractiveness.

The whole scene, as I look back to it, was simple, dignified and sublime.

The population of the country, at the time, stood at the insignificant number of three millions. The country was poor in the munitions of war. The population was weak and scattered, and the country a wilderness unsubdued. There were then no means of concert and combination, such as exist now. Neither steam nor lightning had then been reduced to order and discipline. From the Potomac to the Delaware was a journey of many days. Under these, and innumerable other disadvantages, your fathers declared for liberty and independence and triumphed.

###

They were peace men; but they preferred revolution to peaceful submission to bondage. They were quiet men; but they did not shrink from agitating against oppression. They showed forbearance; but that they knew its limits. They believed in order; but not in the order of tyranny. With them, nothing was "settled" that was not right. With them, justice, liberty and humanity were "final;" not slavery and oppression. You may well cherish the memory of such men. They were great in their day and generation. Their solid manhood stands out the more as we contrast it with these degenerate times.

How circumspect, exact and proportionate were all their movements! How unlike the politicians of an hour! Their statesmanship looked beyond the passing moment, and stretched away in strength into the distant future. They seized upon eternal principles, and set a glorious example in their defense. Mark them!

Fully appreciating the hardship to be encountered, firmly believing in the right of their cause, honorably inviting the scrutiny of an on-looking world, reverently appealing to heaven to attest their sincerity, soundly comprehending the solemn responsibility they were about to assume, wisely measuring the terrible odds against them, your fathers, the fathers of this republic, did, most deliberately, under the inspiration of a glorious patriotism, and with a sublime faith in the great principles of justice and freedom, lay deep the corner-stone of the national superstructure, which has risen and still rises in grandeur around you.

Of this fundamental work, this day is the anniversary.

# # #

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are ploughing, planting and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver and gold; that, while we are reading, writing and cyphering, acting as clerks, merchants and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators and teachers; that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hill-side, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives and children, and, above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? that he is the rightful owner of his own body?

# # #

Fellow-citizens! there is no matter in respect to which, the people of the North have allowed themselves to be so ruinously imposed upon, as that of the pro-slavery character of the Constitution. In that instrument I hold there is neither warrant, license, nor sanction of the hateful thing; but, interpreted as it ought to be interpreted, the Constitution is a GLORIOUS LIBERTY DOCUMENT. Read its preamble, consider its purposes. Is slavery among them? Is it at the gateway? or is it in the temple? It is neither...Now, take the constitution according to its plain reading...

Quote O' The Day Number 2

"As a manifestation of Islamic domination and expansionism, mosques have frequently been placed on the sites of the holy places of other religions. The Al-Aqsa Mosque, built on top of the Temple of the Jewish people, which is located in Jerusalem, is the most famous example. Many famous churches have been turned into mosques, including the Aya Sofya Mosque in Istanbul, which until the Islamic conquest of Constantinople of 1453 was the grandest church in Christendom. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus was, before the Islamic conquest, the Church of St. John the Baptist. " - Atlas Shrugs

Generation Zero

This Is How Evil Happens

Consider the case of Jews in Germany, during the 1930’s:

Here was a people who had been so tormented and prosecuted and psychologically beaten down that they came to believe the outrageous slander that they were guests in their own county. Behind their shuttered doors at night, they created cocoons of astonishing culture and beauty, a symphony of violins and cellos and poetry and literature. They were far over-represented in occupations we rightly esteem as among the most noble of our species: surgeons, musicians, teachers and scientists.

By any measure of human decency, these were the people that should have been helping to lead a ravaged Germany back to respect and prosperity. Yet they were massacred in their millions by brutes and sadists who could barely write their own names.

If it is possible to write a clearer lesson on human nature, then I cannot imagine it, nor can I imagine the amount of blood it will take to convince people unwilling to look reality in the face; that reality being that compassion, culture, law and philosophy are precious, rare and acquired habits that must be defended with force against people who understand nothing but force. The great failure and staggering tragedy of European Jews is that they could not accept that some of their neighbors were not as decent, humane and educated as they were. A culture that learned to survive by turning inward simply never was willing to face the reality of what they were up against; namely, that hoping for compassion and humanity from the likes of the Nazis was akin to reading poetry to a hurricane. This denial — and that is the only word for it — is, in the final horrible analysis, a form of unconscious arrogance, a refusal to see things for what they are. A people of astonishing internal beauty simply could not look into the face of such ugliness without turning away. And now they are dead.

Quote O' The Day

"But what madness it must be to run in debt...But ah! think what you do when you run into debt; you give to another power over your liberty"~ Poor Richard aka. Benjamin Franklin

Happy Columbus Day

Hat Tip: Let's Get It Right

The Rattlesnake

"I observed on one of the drums belonging to the marines now raising, there was painted a Rattle-Snake, with this modest motto under it, 'Don't tread on me.' As I know it is the custom to have some device on the arms of every country, I supposed this may have been intended for the arms of America."

This anonymous writer, having "nothing to do with public affairs" and "in order to divert an idle hour," speculated on why a snake might be chosen as a symbol for America.

First, it occurred to him that "the Rattle-Snake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America."

The rattlesnake also has sharp eyes, and "may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance." Furthermore,

"She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage. ... she never wounds 'till she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of treading on her."

Finally,

"I confess I was wholly at a loss what to make of the rattles, 'till I went back and counted them and found them just thirteen, exactly the number of the Colonies united in America; and I recollected too that this was the only part of the Snake which increased in numbers. ...

"'Tis curious and amazing to observe how distinct and independent of each other the rattles of this animal are, and yet how firmly they are united together, so as never to be separated but by breaking them to pieces. One of those rattles singly, is incapable of producing sound, but the ringing of thirteen together, is sufficient to alarm the boldest man living." ~American Guesser (thought to be Benjamin Franklin) Pennsylvania Gazette, 1775

Quoted from Founding Fathers Info

Obama Throws Poland Under the Bus or Salute to General Kosciuszko

I have another little story to tell and don't ask me why I'm so full of them lately. But Proof had this post acknowledging Obama's tribute to the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland and it reminded me of my weekend.

I made a little trip to Philadelphia for a bit of history hunting. I sipped a whiskey at the 1760's Bedford, PA tavern that was the site of the 1794 whiskey rebellion. I sat under the same tree where Lafayette was placed, bleeding from his boot, after the Battle of Brandywine Creek and visited Gideon Gilpin's house which served as the quarters for the Marquis de LaFayette prior to the Battle. This was the young French volunteer's first military action under General Washington. The tree is as fat as five people with arms stretched end to end (we measured) and they have a metal cable that runs up the tree to protect it from lightening. We visited this site September 12, 2009 and the actual battle took place September 11th. Yep, one of the biggest defeats in the American Revolution which pushed the continental army all the way back to Chester and gave Britain control of Philadelphia took place on a different September 11. Year 1777.

But what struck me about this little hike through history was the preserved home of Revolutionary War hero of both America and Poland, General Tadeusz Kosciuszko. We didn't get to tour the home, but it seems there were many Europeans at the time who understood the great experiment that was taking place in America, where for the first time in human history, men were not ruled by czars or princes or kings, queens, elites, tyrants or despots, but were writing their own constitution; declaring themselves freemen with God-given rights.

General Tadeusz was born in Poland on February 4, 1746 and attended the Cadet Academy in Warsaw before continuing his engineering studies. He arrived in America from Poland in 1776, as a skilled engineer who came to offer his services to the American colonies in their struggle for independence. Shortly after arriving in Philadelphia in 1776, Kosciuszko read the Declaration of Independence and was moved to tears because he discovered in this single, concise document everything in which he truly believed. Too bad our constitutional-lawyer-president didn't have the same reaction.

In the early days of the war, Kosciuszko helped to fortify the Philadelphia waterfront, but was transferred to New York, where he helped with fortifications along the Hudson and planned the defense for Saratoga. The Battle of Saratoga became known as one of military history's most famous struggles for independence and proved to be a turning point in the war.

In 1778, Kosciuszko was made chief engineer of West Point, New York. This fortification became known as the American Gibraltar because it was unable to be penetrated by the British Army. Eventually West Point became a military academy, as suggested by Kosciuszko to General George Washington. In 1783, Kosciuszko was appointed Brigadier General and was awarded the Cincinnati Order Medal. Washington presented Kosciuszko with two pistols and a sword as gifts for his outstanding service to America.

After the colonies won their independence, Kosciuszko returned to Poland in 1784, to help his own country win independence from the surrounding European powers. Who says history doesn't repeat itself. Kosciuszko was wounded in the failed revolt and taken prisoner by the Russians. Upon his release from prison, he returned to America on August 18, 1797, which he considered his "second home." He received a hero's welcome.

"He is as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known." ~Thomas Jefferson

Kosciuszko is buried in Wawel Castle, in Krakow, Poland, among the tombs of the
Polish Kings.

Thanks, Poland, for giving us General Kosciuszko.

Before 9/11

"“In the seventh century of the Christian era a wandering Arab, of the lineage of Hagar, the Egyptian, combing the powers of transcendent genius with the preternatural energy of a fanatic and the fraudulent spirit of an imposter, proclaimed himself as a messenger from heaven, and spread desolation and delusion over an extensive portion of the earth....The essence of his doctrine was violence and lust; to exalt the brutal over the spiritual part of human nature. Between these two religions, thus contrasted in the characters, a war of more than twelve hundred years has already raged. That war is yet flagrant; nor can it cease but by the extincture of that imposture, which has been permitted by Providence to prolong the degeneracy of man." ~John Adams

"“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. " ~Sir Winston Churchill

"The ambassador answered us that [the right] was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise."~Thomas Jefferson to Secretary of State John Jay and to Congress

Quote O' The Day

"Just as occurred with the Reign of Terror, it is the very rejection of tradition, decorum, rule of law, common sense and civility that are the fuel of the Obama revolution. Wake up, conservatives." ~?

MUST READ FICTION. Vlad: The Last Confession

I've always been a fan of historical fiction as there's no better way to get your head into history. It is most often written in the gap between true events and myth, propaganda and truth. Nowhere is this more evident than in C.C. Humphrey's Vlad: The Last Confession. If you are afraid I'm going to tell you how I'm a big fan of the recent vampire craze, you'd be seriously wrong. This tells the true story of Vlad the Impaler, Prince of Transylvania. What is frightening about the book is, like most history, it runs right into the present. And C.C. Humphrey's is one of the best writers of historical fiction along with writer's like Bernard Cornwell. So, I give you a taste...

'No,' said Vlad, serious again. 'We fight because, however much we may hate each other, we have to hate them more. They are the enemy. Of our faith in Christ, however we see it, Orthodox or Catholic. And for our lands. Free, not under the yoke of Islam and the Turk.'

and there's this one.

'It is because a restored Order of the Dragon could once again become Christ's cutting edge, uniting leaders in every state in the Balkans, and in lands beyond, under our banner. And thereby - need I remind you of this? - helping to lift the scimitar that presses on Rome's throat.'

Something to keep in mind while reading the book. By November of 1204, Christian knights were facing a long, protracted war in the middle-east for control of the holy land. A mission that was suppose to take them to Egypt to attack the Muslim stronghold there, instead had them laying siege to Constantinople to win over the seat of power for a greedy nobleman. The mission was a disaster and it weakened the largest city of eastern orthodox Christians, it broke christian Rome from the Eastern Orthodox Church and it heralded the death knell for christian knights in general. By 1291, the Muslims eject the last of the crusaders from the holy land and in 1307, the entire order of knights Templar are arrested, killed, tortured and imprisoned. By 1453 the Muslims are able to conquer Constantinople.

Let's Bring Back The Duel!!

Summer Patriot, Winter Soldier has come up with a brilliant idea that I've quoted below. Can we petition to bring the duel back into vogue? Heh.

bring back the duel to the death ...

friends:
i make a modest proposal to bring civility and comportment back into politics.
i suggest that we bring back the duel to the death.

it was a cherished institution right up until the civil war, and did much to assure that those who openly engaged in public rancor with their political adversaries at least did so in all seriousness. you may be sure that when aaron burr killed alexander hamilton, he did not do so in light jest.

just imagine if you will, a world without the braying jackasses lanny davis, james carville, susan estridge, barney frank, al franken, and a host of other loud mouthed insufferable braggarts and professional sycophants. imagine a world with reverend wright, or jesse jackson, ... , or any number of others who are of spiteful, contemptuous and rancorous dispositions. i assume that all such people as named above would button up their yaps were dueling back in vogue, as i am assuming that not one of them would be of sufficient mettle to actually have at it with an equally
armed opponent at arms length. nothing quite like the prospect of death to invoke a little caution in one's expression, a little civility in one's demeanor.

as to weapons, if guns were favored by the combatants, i would think that the .45 long colt in a brace of model 1873 colts at 15 paces would be sufficiently lethal to insure the death of one or more of the participants. if people wanted to work hard enough at it to ensure a proper aesthetic, in keeping with the proper solemnity of the moment, say a duel as between franken and frank, then nothing beats the classic foil. and, always, as in all things human, one or a society should not entirely loose it sense of humor about such things, we should always be mindful of abraham lincoln's choice of weapons when challenged to a duel by a fellow illinois militia officer, during some very obscure militia versus indians campaign. lincoln chose rapiers, and the fight to occur on a plank slung between hogsheads, e.g., that's a big ass wooden barrel, to you.
the would be duelist thought the better of it in lincoln's case, and was consigned to a deservedly obscure place in history.an occasional genius like hamilton was felled, but
far more hot tempered big mouths like lincoln's adversary were sufficiently
chastened by the chill air of morning to perhaps reconsider whether the matter
at hand actually merited dying. i can think of nothing more desirable than
shutting up the caravilles and estridges of the world, and believe the duel to
the death a fitting mechanism by which to do so. what could be the downside to a fight between barney frank, and any other person on earth?(you'll notice an implicit trust in my analysis in g_d making the proper decision, in all cases.)
john jay @ 07.06.2009