Monday, August 20, 2007




The Gonzales Flag

I like to read history. I do it for fun! In the past few weeks I came across an event in American history of which I had been unaware. It's an inspiring and important episode in the American saga. A brief account of the event, as reported by Gallery of the Republic , is this:

In late September, 1835, Colonel Ugartechea, the commander of the Mexican garrison at San Antonio, sent a few men to Gonzales to recover a cannon that had been loaned to the town to fight off occasional Indian attacks. The citizens of Gonzales realized that the intent of the move was to disarm possible rebels, and so the request was denied.

Ugartechea then sent dragoons under Captain Francisco Castaneda to demand the cannon unconditionally. As word of the conflict spread, the Texan force grew to over 200 armed men and the town was fortified. The cannon was mounted on a wagon, and blacksmiths hammered iron scrap and chains in the cannonballs.

Two ladies of the town, Cynthia Burns and Evaline DeWitt, painted a flag on cotton cloth, depicting the cannon, the lone star of Texas and a clear challenge to the enemy.

The Mexican troops moved north to ford the river and approach Gonzales. The Texans decided that they had to attack before Mexican reinforcements arrived. They crossed the river at dusk, formed their battle lines at night and surprised the Mexicans at dawn on October 2nd.

The battle that followed was brief; when the Texans opened fire, the Mexicans withdrew, abandoning their supplies. Stephen F. Austin joined the army as commander on October 10th, and the other Texans, under the command of James Collingsworth, took the Goliad the next day. On October 12th, the march on San Antonio began.

Would that Americans today had the courage to say “Come and Take It,” rather than giving our country away.

There are many forces trying to take away our nation and our heritage. Allow me please, dear readers, to name just a few:

Islamic Radicals (and their terrorist partners around the globe). Simply put, they want to kill all Americans who will not submit to their form of religious fanaticism. This country allows for religious freedom (as long as you aren’t a white Christian). I don’t care if there are mosques all over the place. They can have that freedom. They can worship as they wish. They can proselytize, too. But that’s not what these radicals want. They want me dead. I’m old, so that’s not too big a deal for me, really. But, they want my kids and grandkids dead, too. Why don’t we just say “Come and Take It,” and mean it. Put up a fight. Freeze and nationalize all their assets. Ask questions later. They cannot continue to terrorize effectively without funds. Any nation or non-national entity found to be funding them gets blockaded; or worse. We can survive without them. There’s nothing less at stake than our national survival.

Illegal Aliens. I am not against immigration. I am not against aliens. Illegal, however, means “outside the law of the land.” They start out illegally; they sap our financial resources; and, according to many sources they are responsible for a major crime wave all across the fruited plain. I know that there are reports with all sorts of conflicting data regarding illegals and crime. You choose yours; I’ll choose mine. Here’s just a snippet of one report:

But now comes Eric Rasmusen arguing that the cost of crimes committed by illegal immigrants add up to over $80 billion per year.
Crime costs America about $400 billion per year, of which about $167 billion per year is government spending–-$72 billion on police, $57 billion on imprisonment, and $38 billion on courts. …By a conservative estimate, illegal immigrants cause 21% of crime. 21% of $400 billion is $84 billion, and 21% of $167 billion is $35 billion...

An article in World magazine recently indicated that meth sales on Native American reservations are the result of targeting by the “Mexican Mafia.”

They’ve already come to take it. Stand up. Make immigration to this country fair; build the fence; stop the North American Union.

The Liberals. They’re already in the process of giving away the country. Did you ever notice that liberals are all too happy to give and give – as long as it doesn’t come out of their own pockets? I don’t want to hear the arguments that rich liberals pay a lot of taxes. They shelter their assets to minimize their taxes, just like rich conservatives. That’s why they (the liberals) can afford to keep asking for higher taxes. They can afford to hide their cash – legally, mostly. They also lag far behind conservatives in giving to charitable organizations. Liberals like Kennedy, Kerry, the Clintons, Soros, etc., act like European royalty of old. It doesn’t matter what nation the other royalty is from, just marry royalty. Let the peasants (that’s us!) fend for themselves. Send them away. Stand up. Vote conservative (notice that I do not connect a party label to that admonition); oppose liberal schemes to end the American experiment begun with the blood of patriots going back to the 18th – and 19th centuries and preserved with the blood and guts of courageous Americans – and legal immigrants through the 20th and 21st centuries.

Americans; make them “Come and Take It.”

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Promises, Promises.
We all make promises. Some we keep. Some we intend to keep, but for one reason or another it just doesn’t happen. Then there are the plain-old lies. There are a lot of those kinds of promises being made in places like New Hampshire and Iowa these days.
I've been reading about some wonderful promises, however. Jesus Christ made some promises
; promises that He kept. For instance:

“But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.”
He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. (John 12:32-33, NIV).

This was a promise; a promise of what He was going to do for mankind.

He promised, first of all, that He would be lifted up. This, of course, was Jesus’ pledge to die for us. Jesus promised to die in my place; to be lifted up on a crude cross; to suffer agony and die; so that we might be healed. The background for this statement is found in Numbers, chapter 21, verses 4-9.

4 They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; 5 they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!" 6 Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.

People looked at that snake which was lifted up and lived.

Friends, we have also been snake bit. The snake has sneaked up on us and sunk his demonic fangs deep into our flesh. Sins festers and the wound is eternal. Don’t try to slap on some potion of New Age religion and optimism. Don’t run off and join a cult – or the circus. Don’t go and hide in alcohol, drugs, or promiscuity.

Look up at Jesus on that (now-empty) cross and live forever.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

habla What?

As someone who travels to many countries on a regular basis, I try to be sensitive to the host people and their language. Obviously I cannot speak the languages in all the countries I visit, but I work at not being demanding regarding the native population speaking English.

The same courtesy is not extended to us in this country. People, legal and illegal (I don't much care what the PC term is - the law is the law) come here and expect us to adopt their language - or at least not learn ours and live in their cultural ghettoes while the government panders to them with everything printed in their own languages and free interpreters when they get in trouble with the law.

Last Saturday I got home in the afternoon and actually had a couple of hours to myself. I turned on the TV and tuned in to ESPN. The Pan American games broadcast was on. Only one problem: the whole thing was in Spanish. No subtitles; no English. Even some of the commercials were in Spanish.

I complained to the cable company and they told me all I had to do was use the SAP function on my TV. Is that anything like "press 2 for English?"

I enjoy many cultures; I try their foods and coffee, I dabble in learning at least some phrases in their languages even though I spend very little time in any one culture at any given time. BUT THIS IS AMERICA. We speak English.

It's time for that language amendment. Let's have an English-speaking country. If people want to speak Spanish, Hindi, Russian, Chinese - or any other language with friends and family that's fine. But the public and governmental language of this country should be English.

Thank you.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Just Catching Up

The "lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer" are hazy and crazy, but I'm still waiting for the lazy part. It has been non-stop "go" for months. So I thought that I would just share a few thoughts today, I will be "equal opportunity" in how I deal with the various political entities I'll skewer.

The Dems/Libs - Some of the blogs were absolutely disgusting in their glee over the medical predicament of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. They truly are the party of hate and division.

The Repubs/? - I have always voted for the candidate rather than the party, but I have also, for years, voted primarily for Republican candidates even though I am registered as an "Independent." The gap between Conservative and Republican has, however, continued to grow at an alarming rate. I have been of the opinion that voting for a "third party" candidate was really a wasted vote. No longer, since I now believe that most of my votes in the past several decades have been wasted. We need a new system, or a new party - or something!

I really would like to see your comments on these two subjects.