Showing posts with label Beck. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beck. Show all posts

Friday, December 20, 2013

28 Pages Later: Shrouding an Act of War

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton -  Cross-Posted at Right Side News

A scandal that spans three presidencies and more is coming to light. In a non-defined conflict against terrorism, we have lost over 6,750 U.S. service members who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. American blood spilled in wars that do not attack those who attacked us on 9-11. To put this in perspective, fewer died in Pearl Harbor and we nuked the Japanese. We were told after 9-11, that it was al Qaeda, with no other state sponsors. If the allegations prove accurate, 9-11 was nothing less than an act of war by Saudi Arabia.

“It’s classified because if it were released, the people would demand war against Saudi Arabia, and the entire US policy of having the Sunni Arabs price their oil in US dollars in exchange for supporting their dictatorships would fall apart.”
– Comment left at Hot Air (Hat Tip: The Radio Patriot)

According to the New York Post, Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch and Republican Rep. Walter Jones have come forward with solid accusations claiming that 28 pages from the 2002 report on 9-11, were not only redacted, they were blank except for an on-going ellipsis. The 28 pages were purportedly removed by President Bush when the report was released, but are now leaking out 12 years later:

President Bush inexplicably censored 28 full pages of the 800-page report. Text isn’t just blacked-out here and there in this critical-yet-missing middle section. The pages are completely blank, except for dotted lines where an estimated 7,200 words once stood (this story by comparison is about 1,000 words).

A pair of lawmakers who recently read the redacted portion say they are “absolutely shocked” at the level of foreign state involvement in the attacks.

Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) can’t reveal the nation identified by it without violating federal law. So they’ve proposed Congress pass a resolution asking President Obama to declassify the entire 2002 report, “Joint Inquiry Into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001.”

Some information already has leaked from the classified section, which is based on both CIA and FBI documents, and it points back to Saudi Arabia, a presumed ally.

The Saudis deny any role in 9/11, but the CIA in one memo reportedly found “incontrovertible evidence” that Saudi government officials — not just wealthy Saudi hardliners, but high-level diplomats and intelligence officers employed by the kingdom — helped the hijackers both financially and logistically. The intelligence files cited in the report directly implicate the Saudi embassy in Washington and consulate in Los Angeles in the attacks, making 9/11 not just an act of terrorism, but an act of war.

As Ed Morrissey of Hot Air points out, the intel Sperry cites will eventually be discredited or the executive branch will be implicated in the interference with one or both reports.

Three Strikes And You Are Out

Buck Sexton at TheBlaze last night said that he thought that the redaction was either to cover embarrassment for incompetency on the part of our intelligence agencies (the fact that no one was minding the store), or that our government was complicit in aiding and abetting the Saudis. Here are some facts for you:

1. Clinton and his intelligence agencies knew full well what bin Laden intended. Bin Laden stated it in 1998 and carried it out in 2001. I see no way that our agencies didn’t know it was a grave possibility.

2. Bush put the Saudis on a plane right after 9-11 and sent them home. No questions asked, right after the murder of 3,000 Americans and the largest terrorist attack on US soil ever.

3. At least one Saudi was involved in the Boston bombing. He was hurt and hospitalized. Michelle Obama visited him in the hospital. He was given safe passage back to Saudi Arabia and he visited the White House afterwards.

Three strikes and you are out.

I believed in President Bush when 9-11 happened. He seemed a hero for his actions right after the attack. Now those actions are clouded and it would seem that those branded conspiracy nuts on both sides of the aisle, were in part right. I still don’t buy the wackier conspiracy theories that you will find out there and I will never be a Truther. But, I have for a long time pointed out the involvement of Saudi Arabia and Iran as well in the attacks. Now there seems to be strong evidence against Saudi Arabia who has denied their involvement since the beginning. Denials that were suspect to begin with since 15 of the 19 bombers were from Saudi Arabia.

The New York Post has laid out the now expanding evidence that Saudi agents, officials and operatives in several states, including Virginia, Florida, California and DC, gave funding and/or intelligence to the hijackers in 2001. If true, explain to me how that is not an act of war?

Karl Denninger put it better than I can and got right to the heart of the matter:

It’s obvious given what happened, the logistical and funding requirements and where the hijackers came from along with inexplicable actions immediately following the attacks – unless our government explicitly let certain people flee.

Yet we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan while helping the Saudis — the very people who attacked us.

And Obama, to this day, kisses the Saudi King.

[...]

It makes a very convincing case that the Saudi Government was involved in an act of war against the United States. Not simply terrorism — remember, the Pentagon, a military target, was one of the locations hit. The other intended target for the plane that went down in PA was the Capitol.

You awake yet America?

You damn well should be.

It’s about damn time that the mainstream media started talking about this — you’re only a decade late, *******s. And no, people like myself who have been saying this all along are not nuts.

We’re right.

And American blood flows, while we protect those who kill us. Sheer insanity. Obama literally bows to the Saudi King and it would appear that Bush and Clinton did as well. I can’t get the image out of my head of Bush holding hands with the King of Saudi Arabia. That blood is as black as oil. No one has ever solved or revealed who made the killing in the stock market by shorting airline stocks during all this. That needs to be answered.

Eight Trillion has been spent on security since 9-11 and we are less secure now than we were then. Does anyone really believe this is not on purpose? Incompetency only goes so far; evil intent is forever. We have been lied to over and over and over again. We see it going on every day and feel helpless to stop it. We must put a stop to this. These elite Progressives are getting wealthy off the deaths of our people and are redistributing every last dime America has. By design, they are bringing us to our knees and forcing us into a dictatorship. They have no reverence for the Constitution, for our laws or our branches of government. Do you trust our government anymore? I don’t – not on either side of the political spectrum.

Inside The Saudi 9/11 Coverup

Read the New York Post’s investigative piece in its entirety: Inside the Saudi 9/11 coverup. I would very much like to know what is in those 28 pages. I want to know if this is another contrived attempt to smear Bush and Republicans, or if they were complicit in aiding the Saudis. I want the truth:

Democrat Bob Graham, the former Florida senator who chaired the Joint Inquiry, has asked the FBI for the Sarasota case files, but can’t get a single, even heavily redacted, page released. He says it’s a “cover-up.”

Is the federal government protecting the Saudis? Case agents tell me they were repeatedly called off pursuing 9/11 leads back to the Saudi Embassy, which had curious sway over White House and FBI responses to the attacks.

Just days after Bush met with the Saudi ambassador in the White House, the FBI evacuated from the United States dozens of Saudi officials, as well as Osama bin Laden family members. Bandar made the request for escorts directly to FBI headquarters on Sept. 13, 2001 — just hours after he met with the president. The two old family friends shared cigars on the Truman Balcony while discussing the attacks.

Bill Doyle, who lost his son in the World Trade Center attacks and heads the Coalition of 9/11 Families, calls the suppression of Saudi evidence a “cover-up beyond belief.” Last week, he sent out an e-mail to relatives urging them to phone their representatives in Congress to support the resolution and read for themselves the censored 28 pages.

Astonishing as that sounds, few lawmakers in fact have bothered to read the classified section of arguably the most important investigation in US history.

Granted, it’s not easy to do. It took a month-long letter-writing campaign by Jones and Lynch to convince the House intelligence panel to give them access to the material.

But it’s critical they take the time to read it and pressure the White House to let all Americans read it. This isn’t water under the bridge. The information is still relevant ­today. Pursuing leads further, getting to the bottom of the foreign support, could help head off another 9/11.

As the frustrated Joint Inquiry authors warned, in an overlooked addendum to their heavily redacted 2002 report, “State-sponsored terrorism substantially increases the likelihood of successful and more ­lethal attacks within the United States.”

Their findings must be released, even if they forever change US-Saudi relations. If an oil-rich foreign power was capable of orchestrating simultaneous bulls-eye hits on our centers of commerce and defense a dozen years ago, it may be able to pull off similarly devastating attacks today.

Members of Congress reluctant to read the full report ought to remember that the 9/11 assault missed its fourth target: them.

If any of this is true, America will never be the same. Our leaders should be forewarned that the public will not be pleased – the woodshed will have a long line on this one and tar and feathers will be handed out judiciously. We always knew that Saudi Arabia was involved, but this takes it to a new level. When a country’s government sanctions and helps with a terrorist attack of another country, ally or not, it is an act of war. Thanks to Obama, we are too weak after gutting our military to go to war. But if Saudi Arabia’s government was involved, then America needs to clean out our government now, beef up our military and go on a road trip to the land of oil and do a smack down of epic proportions.

The enemies within and without seem to have been shrouding an act of war and Americans need to wrest control of our Republic back into the hands of patriots. As Judson Phillips says, we should remember there are certain crimes that have no statute of limitations.

Glenn Beck: What Do They Have On Us?

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Thoughts on Syria… From All Sides

This Is About Destroying Sovereignty’: Beck Examines Potential Syria Strike Through the Eyes of a ‘Radical Leftist’

Many have been alarmed by the rapid escalation in Syria this week after years of horrific violence. With the reported use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, U.S. officials say America could begin missile strikes within the week.

But why now? What exactly do we hope to achieve?

Glenn Beck: Intervention in Syria Is About Controlling the World After

(Photo: TheBlaze TV)

Glenn Beck tackled the issue on his television program Wednesday evening, arguing that the focus of the administration may not be on the war itself — but on the subsequent layout of the world.

“This administration knows that we are on the brink of World War III. The global economy is fragile, global stability is weak, the west is on the edge, it’s only a matter of time before it crumbles,” he said. “Iran will eventually lose any remaining restraint and go after Israel, Syria starts spilling across the border… When it all falls apart and the west is so weakened, who puts it all back together again?”

“War is — after a long period of just running things into the ground — war makes the people of the world forget what the world was like before the war,” Beck continued. “Beyond that, history shows us that war also changes all the players. It changes borders, it changes everything…”

He speculated that after a period of violence, we will “gather at the U.N. because we have to stop an international crisis, and everything is teetering on the edge, and people will cry out, ‘stop the madness!’ And so we do, the international way.”

If we’re not listening to China now, Beck said he guarantees we’ll listen to them at the bargaining table, and we’ll concede. If they say, for instance, we’ll forgive your debts if you just sign the U.N. Arms Treaty, we will.

“This is about destroying sovereignty,” Beck asserted. “The United Nations will, in the end, broker the deal, making them the new superpower and making us just one of the guys. That’s what everybody wants, for the United States just to be average, just like everybody else…”

Considering alternate explanations, Beck said he can think of “a million reasons” why we shouldn’t intervene, “and not one why we should.”

Intervention, he said, will further destabilize Syria, further destabilize the region, and will likely impact our gas prices and the stock market.

If we are intervening purely for humanitarian purposes, why didn’t we intervene sooner? Why don’t we intervene in other cases of mass slaughter? And if the tipping point is truly chemical weapons, Beck asked if you trust the intelligence community more or less than the last time they claimed there were weapons of mass destruction?

Remember the guy who cut his enemy’s heart out and ate it, Beck added? “We’re on his side now.”

The list goes on, Beck said, including the financial cost of the endeavor and the possibility of dragging us into another war we don’t have the energy or resources for.

“Syria is not about teaching Assad a lesson. Two days of bombing probably won’t even seem out of place in Syria today, unfortunately,” he concluded. “Syria is not a response to the shock and horror of murder — hundreds of thousands have died… Syria is this — it is a sick opportunity for the globalist progressive revolutionaries in our own administration and all around the globe to remold the world closer to their heart’s desire.”

Beck - Syria Intervention
Video: Glenn Beck: Intervention In Syria Will Establish One World Government - New World Order

8/28/13 - Glenn Beck says the threat of military action against Syria is part of a plot by global progressives to allow the UN to establish peace and avert WWIII and create a One World Government. 

Video:  George Galloway Explosive Speech British Parliament Debate On Military Action Against Syria

August 29, 2013 - George Galloway Explosive Speech British Parliament Debate On Military Action Against Syria

'Me And My Big Mouth' - UK's Cameron Backs Off From Syria Attack

The French Bow Out Of Syria Strike

And Russia Calls For Urgent UN Security Council Meeting

Some more from BBG:

  • RUSSIA CALLED FOR THE SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING, DIPLOMAT
  • 5 PERMANENT COUNCIL MEMBERS U.K., U.S., FRANCE, CHINA, RUSSIA
  • FIVE PERM. SEC. COUNCIL MEMBERS TO MEET AT 2:30P

Hopefully Putin doesn't whip out incontrovertible proof the chemical gas attack was linked to Al Qaeda, Qatar... and the US of course.

Two Minds on Syria

aleppo-syria-august-580.jpeg

The New Yorker: So it looks like we’re going to bomb Assad.

Good.

Really? Why good?

Did you see the videos of those kids? I heard that ten thousand people were gassed. Hundreds of them died. This time, we have to do something.

Yes, I saw the videos.

And you don’t want to pound the shit out of him?

I want to pound the shit out of him.

But you think we shouldn’t do anything.

I didn’t say that. But I want you to explain what we’re going to achieve by bombing.

We’re going to let Assad know that chemical weapons are over the line. There’s a reason they’ve been illegal since Verdun or whenever.

Except when Saddam used them against the Kurds—we knew, and we didn’t say a word.

Is that a reason to let Assad use them against his people?

At this point, I don’t think Assad is too worried about the Geneva Conventions.

He should have to think hard before using them again.

He’s a bloody dictator fighting for survival. He’s going to do whatever he has to do.

Not if we really hurt him. Not if we pound his communications centers, his air-force bases, key government installations. He’ll be more likely to survive if he doesn’t use chemical weapons.

Killing civilians while we’re at it.

These would be very specific targets.

The wrong people always get killed.

Maybe. Probably. But if you were a Syrian being bombed by Assad every day, trying to keep your head down and your family alive, wouldn’t you want the world to respond, even if a few more people die? I think so.

Easy for you to say.

Hey, can we not personalize this?

Weren’t you just saying that I don’t care about dying children? (Pause.) So you want us to get involved in their civil war.

I’m not saying that.

But that’s what we’ll be doing. Intervening on the rebel side, tipping the balance in their favor.

Not necessarily. We’ll be drawing a line that says dictators don’t get to use W.M.D.s without consequences.

You can’t bomb targets on one side of a civil war without helping the other side.

It would be very temporary. We’d send Assad a clear message, and then we’d step back and let them go on fighting. We’re not getting involved any deeper than that, because I know what you’re going to say—

The rebels are a bunch of infighting, disorganized, jihadist thugs, and we can’t trust any of them.

I’m not saying we should.

And what do we do if Assad retaliates against Israel or Turkey? Or if he uses nerve gas somewhere else?

We hit him again.

And it escalates.

Not if we restrict it to cruise missiles and air strikes.

Now you’re scaring me. Have you forgotten Iraq?

Not for a single minute.

My point is that you can’t restrict it. You can’t use force for limited goals. You need to know what you’ll do after his next move, and the move after that.

It only escalates if we allow ourselves to get dragged in deeper. Kosovo didn’t escalate.

This isn’t Kosovo. The Syrian rebels aren’t the K.L.A. Assad isn’t Milosevic. Putin isn’t Yeltsin. This is far worse. Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate. That’s not going to happen in Syria.

You think Putin is going to risk a military confrontation with the U.S. and Europe?

I think Russia isn’t going to let Assad go down. Neither is Iran or Hezbollah. So they’ll escalate. This could be the thing that triggers an Israel-Iran war, and how do we stay out of that? My God, it feels like August, 1914.

That was a hundred years ago. Stop with the historical analogies.

You’re the one who brought up Verdun. And Kosovo.

I brought up Kosovo because you brought up Iraq. That’s the problem with these arguments. Iraq! Vietnam! Valley Forge! Agincourt! People resort to analogies so they don’t have to think about the matter at hand.

And because they don’t know anything about the matter at hand.

I know what I saw in those videos.

Thank God Obama doesn’t make foreign policy that way. He knows what he doesn’t know about Syria. He’s always thinking a few steps ahead. He’s not going to get steamrolled by John McCain and Anderson Cooper.

At a certain point, caution is another word for indecisiveness. Obama looks weak! Or worse—indifferent. Anyway, he should have thought ahead when he called chemical weapons a “red line.” He set that trap a year ago, and now we’re in it.

Why does it have to be a trap?

Because our credibility is on the line.

Thank you, Dr. Kissinger.

See, that’s another thing people do in these arguments.

What?

“You sound like so-and-so.” It shouldn’t matter who else is on your side. I mean, you’re in bed with Rand Paul. Anyway, credibility matters even if Kissinger said so. You have to do what you say you’re going to do, especially with bullies.

I don’t think Obama committed himself to any one course of action. But if he does bomb them, we’re involved in that war, and I sure hope his advisers have thought through all the potential consequences better than you have.

Inaction has consequences, too. Assad gases more people, the death toll hits two hundred thousand, the weapons get into Hezbollah’s hands, Iran moves ahead with its nuclear program, the Syrian rebels disintegrate and turn to international terrorism, the whole region goes up in sectarian flames.

And how does firing cruise missiles at Damascus prevent any of this?

It doesn’t. But, look, all of this is already happening with us sitting it out. If we put a gun to Assad’s head, we might be able to have more influence over the outcome. At least we can prevent him from winning.

A violent stalemate. How wonderful for the Syrians. Some people think that’s the best solution for us.

I’m not saying that.

What are you saying?

I don’t know. I had it worked out in my head until we started talking. (Pause.) But we need to do something this time.

Not just to do something.

All right. Not just to do something. But could you do me a favor?

What’s that?

While you’re doing nothing, could you please be unhappy about it?

I am.

___

Above: photo authenticated based on its contents and other A.P. reporting, Syrians inspect buildings damaged by heavy shelling from Syrian government forces in Aleppo, on Monday, August 26th. Aleppo Media Center AMC/AP

Video: Daily State Department Press Briefing FULL. 8/28/2013  

Video: "IT'S NOT CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE!" Pentagon Sounding Kinda Defensive About Their Syria Intel 

Video: John Bolton with Greta Van Susteren slams Obama - President needs a character transplant to work effectively on Syria

And after all of this… Obama Threatens To Go It Alone On Syria

Ah, yes...President Obama is steaming mad since the Brits and French backed out of his little Syrian adventure, and he saying he's fully prepared to go it alone.

He even sent another American ship towards Syria, a destroyer escort.The Russians already have a fleet of warships headed that way.

Remember what our Dear Leader and his minions said in 2007 and 2008 about 'Cowboy' Bush? Remember the horse manure about "meeting the global Test" and the Magic Wisdom of the International Community?

Biden 2007

Video:  Here is Senator Joe Biden: Iran & Impeachment – Biden Saying If “W” Didn’t Get Congressional Approval Before Going to War He’d Seek Impeachment… and Senator Obama Agreed

So what happened?  There is very little support by Americans to enter the Syrian Civil War… In a new HuffPo poll, conducted after U.S. officials claimed Syria's government killed thousands of civilians with chemical weapons, shows 25 percent of Americans now support air strikes to aid rebels in Syria, while 41 percent said they are opposed. Another 34 percent said that they're not sure.  Germany I also a thumbs down along with Britain and France.

The only logical conclusion is that the truth about the scandals Obama is attempting to divert attention from, by getting involved in Syria, are probably a lot worse than any of us thought.  Time for more investigation!!

You be the judge…  By Marion Algier – AskMarion~

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Now Is The Time…

By Marion Algier – AskMarion

Do not listen to the nay sayers and doomsday predictors… Now is the time to stand-up and fight.  A coalition of conservative voices, fiscal conservatives, Constitutionalists, independent thinkers and Libertarians are on the verge of taking over the Republican Party and the taste for freedom is in the air around the world, like in Egypt… Yet OBAMA OFFICIALS to Offer Muslim Brotherhood Top Positions in Egyptian Government (Video)

Video:  We Are On The Verge Of Taking Over The Republican Party

The Republican Establishment, the RINOS, who are part of the power elite system that run both parties, are split; half think Average Americans are stupid and the other half fear Conservatives, Libertarians and all common sense thinking Patriotic Americans to the point that they will go to any measures to spy on Americans, manipulate the law and judicial rulings, subvert investigations, manipulate the media and entertainment industries, and destroy anyone who shows the slightest ability and glimmer of possibly becoming a rising star or strong voice of reason and opposition in the GOP or the media, especially if they are conservative minority voices. Opposing voices in the Democrat party tend to become Independents or Republicans rather than fight the leadership within their Progressive party.

The fight and focus for the revitalization of the Republican Party and to save America must be on the forefront and begin with the 2014 Election and then be continued through the 2016 Election.  The Democrat party is very aware of that and preparing for those battles and all the smaller ones leading up to the elections is at least part of what has caused many of the scandals plaguing the Obama Administration… as more and more people are speaking up and in-turn waking up every day.  The IRS investigations, auditing and holding up of ‘tax exempt status’ of hundreds of conservative and religious groups, as well as already existing groups like the Leadership Institute and the Claire Booth Luce Organization, that affected the outcome of the 2012 Election ‘was not’ an accident, just as the subversion of information regarding the Benghazi Attack including the purposeful hiding of witnesses is not a accident.  And sadly some of this comes from support of members in both parties.

It is time to clean house in the Republican Party and as Beck says, we have never been closer to taking over the reins.  It is time for every concerned American to step up their efforts or start getting involved  in the name of truth, honest and fair elections, the Constitution, a government that represents the interests of the people and a clear choice between two parties of differing ideologies.

As Beck mentions in the video, we are at the point where the Republican Party replaced the Whigs, resulting in the election of the first Republican President, Abraham Lincoln.

The Whig Party: In 1834 political opponents of President Andrew Jackson organized a new party to contest Jacksonian Democrats nationally and in the states. Guided by their most prominent leader, Henry Clay, they called themselves Whigs-the name of the English antimonarchist party-the better to stigmatize the seventh president as 'King Andrew.' They were immediately derided by the Jacksonian Democrats as a party devoted to the interests of wealth and aristocracy, a charge they were never able to shake completely. Yet during the party's brief life, it managed to win support from diverse economic groups in all sections and to hold its own in presidential elections.

Although unable to unite behind a single candidate in 1836, thus permitting Jackson's handpicked successor Martin Van Buren to obtain an electoral majority, the Whigs won a popular vote for their candidates that was close to the popular tally for the Democrats. And in 1840 and 1848, the party captured the White House. Their only loss in a presidential election during the decade occurred in 1844 when Clay lost by a hair to the Democrats' dark horse James K. Polk, who had greater appeal to voters favoring the expansion both of territory and slavery. But in 1852, as slavery's expansion became the great issue of American politics, the Whigs suffered a drastic decline in popularity. And by 1854 they had given up the ghost, no longer able to hold the support of 'cotton Whigs,' who found a more congenial political home in the Democratic party, or of 'conscience Whigs,' who helped form the new Republican party.

Historians have interpreted the Whigs in strikingly different ways. They have been seen as champions of banks, business, corporations, economic growth, the positive liberal state, humanitarian reform, and morality in politics, and as opponents of expansionism, executive tyranny, states' rights, labor, and the democratic suffrage, among other things. These dissimilar assessments are unsurprising given the heterogeneity of the party itself, in its leaders, policies and programs, political style, and rank-and-file supporters.

The Whig party was founded by individuals united only in their antagonism to Jackson's war on the Second Bank of the United States and his high-handed measures in waging that war and ignoring Supreme Court decisions, the Constitution, and Indian rights embodied in federal treaties. Beyond that, however, there were Whigs and Whigs. Some played the demagogic anti-Catholic game; others scorned it. Some spoke critically of working people; others, admiringly. Detailed studies of the Whig party in the states and biographies of such Whig leaders as Clay, William Seward, Daniel Webster, and Horace Greeley reveal dissimilar policies from one state to another and important differences in the character, beliefs, and actions of the leaders. Thurlow Weed was much more opportunistic than his New York State colleague Seward. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania was more high-minded and not nearly as pragmatic as Clay of Kentucky. For all Clay's political flexibility and his lust for the presidency, he could still inspire the young congressman from Illinois, Abraham Lincoln.

The tendency of Whig officeholders to vote as a bloc on certain issues, in opposition to Democratic blocs, helps account for the tendency of some historians to exaggerate the extent and depth of Whig single-mindedness. In Congress, Whigs supported the Second Bank of the United States, a high tariff, distribution of land revenues to the states, relief legislation to mitigate the effects of the great depression that followed the financial panics of 1837 and 1839, and federal reapportionment of House seats (a 'reform' likely to enlarge Whig representation in Congress). Studies of voting patterns in the states reveal Whig support of banks, limited liability for corporations, prison reform, educational reform, abolition of capital punishment, and temperance. Although the Whig party was hardly an antislavery party, free blacks and abolitionists overwhelmingly preferred it to more ardently proslavery Jacksonian Democrats.

The old notion propagated by the party's enemies-that the Whigs drew their support primarily from the rich and the well-to-do-has been sharply modified by modern scholarship. The relatively few rich men in the country did prefer Whigs to Democrats, but by a modest margin. Whigs fared well at the polls among people of all classes in economically dynamic communities heavily engaged in commerce. Jacksonian propaganda did induce many people to regard the Whigs as an upper-class party (not organized working men, however, whose leaders dismissed both Democrats and Whigs as 'humbugs'). Yet Whigs could win presidential elections, governorships, and state legislature majorities only because they attracted mass support. Although they received the votes of many small farmers, shopkeepers, clerks, and artisans, they appear to have appealed particularly to what some modern historians call distinctive ethnocultural groups: evangelical as opposed to liturgical Protestants; moralists and abstainers; persons unhappy with brutal treatment of blacks and Native Americans. In some states Whig leaders seemed so critical of political parties that they appeared to be religious zealots rather than party leaders. Yet for all their antiparty rhetoric, Whigs were as realistic and efficiently organized as their Democratic opponents.

American major parties develop their own distinctive auras that are no less real for being intangible and unmeasurable. In that time, Whig and Democratic leaders were strikingly similar in such significant characteristics as wealth, occupational prestige, a fundamentally conservative social ideology, materialism, and opportunism. These similarities help explain why both major parties were attractive to moneyed men. But it is unwise to discount the significance of the unique blending of moral values and social philosophies that some imaginative historians have recently discerned in Whig leaders, a blending that helps account for the Whigs' special appeal to one rather than another kind of individual.

Ultimately, however, the Whigs are best understood as an American major party trying to be many things to many men, ready to abandon one deeply held 'conviction' for another in the drive for political power. The party died not because its unique aura no longer appealed to voters but because it could not cope effectively or persuasively with some of the issues of the time.

The Democrat Party has already undergone its own change, morphing from the Democrat Party of our grandfathers to the Progressive Party that it is today.  But because the fresh voices on the right have been thwarted from both sides and were delayed in breaking out of their cocoon, leaving the Republican Establishment, that is all too much like their Democrat counterparts, in power, the opportunity of a real election choice has been stolen from the American people for several cycles now.

And it is the fresh voices within the Republican Party that are rising that the Progressive left fears, because they are an honest alternative choice for Americans.  It is why both the left and the GOP leadership fear (feared) and demonized the Tea Party.  It is why they feared Sarah Palin and why the biased left media created Palin Derangement Syndrome, based on lies, manipulation, and distortions, that little by little have bubbled to the surface in various forms of exonerations proving that Palin was purposely set-up by the left as well as GOP leadership.  It is also why the mainstream media ignores, minimizes coverage and distorts the words and accomplishments of other politicians like Senators Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Mike Lee; Mayor and Congressional candidate Mia Love; Representatives Michelle Bachmann, Jason Chaffetz and a long list of others; plus most anyone who speaks out against the machine that is in place.

It is also time to put the in-fighting behind us.  The bitter 2012 primary debates on the Republican side certainly didn’t help anyone.  And the arguments between people who are generally on the same side need to stop as well.  Time to see and focus on the bigger picture.  For those not aware, there has been an on-going, mostly one-sided feud between Mark Levin and Glenn Beck.  This past week Mark Levin recognized on-air that he got a nice note from Glenn Beck the other day and called it an “absolute class act”. He went on to say:

“I think it’s long over due that Glenn Beck and I do what we can in our own roles to help save the country and restore the Republic.”

Side Note: The one sided feud began in 2010 over the direction of the conservative movement. Glenn was bashing progressive republicans and Mark Levin was focused on winning back the House. They just saw things differently. It took off after Glenn Beck’s CPAC speech. But it was mostly Mark Levin ranting about Glenn. Glenn never went after Levin.

None of us agree with anyone all of the time.  If we can agree most of the time there is room for compromise to focus on the bigger issues and common enemies, a concept that President Ronald Reagan firmly believed in.  He was a master of constructive compromise. Far too many Conservatives, Libertarians, Evangelicals, Independents, and just plain concerned patriotic Americans forgot this in 2012.

Get-involved!! Educate yourself and then share what you have learned… not what the mainstream media is feeding you… with friends, family, neighbors and anyone who will listen, however hesitantly.  Get involved in a campaign.  Support issues and candidates locally, statewide and nationally with funds, volunteering or just sharing their message. Run yourself.  Start a blog.  Be present in the truth and if you are so inclined.. pray.

Now is the time to stand-up for choice, freedom, America and fresh voices within the Republican Party!!

New Book: Collusion: How the Media Stole the 2012 Election---and How to Stop Them from Doing It in 2016/Kindle

Monday, February 4, 2013

United Nations – Agenda21 – Sustainable Development and the Regional One Bay Area Plan

bayareaplan

By: Heather Gass – AskMarion

Over the past few years I and many others in the Bay Area have been fighting against a plan that will socially reengineer our lives referred to as the One Bay Area Plan. It will transform the lives of over 9 million people and towns in 9 counties over the next 25 to 30 years into high density stack and pack housing next to mass transit all in the name of saving the planet and reducing GHGs (Green House Gases). Private property outside of city and county urban limit lines will be highly restricted and/or off limits as part of the first ever statewide re-wilding and corridor system in California is created.  The crazy thing is no one seems to know about it. Bay Area residents and taxpayers have been kept out of the process. Most have never heard of the regional unelected bodies pushing these plans or the legislation we are now being asked to follow, but all will be affected by it in some way in the near future.

Although I will be focusing on the regional plan in the Bay Area this is happening all over the state and country under different names so don’t feel left out. I have done thousands of hours of research over the past few years and discovered the genesis of these plans and who is behind it. I am hoping that by providing the historical timeline and links to back up my findings that it will be clear that these plans are were not being pushed by the people of the Bay Area, the local municipalities or by state level mandates. These plans were hatched long before the state legislation was enacted by a small group of NGO’s (Non-Governmental Organizations), stakeholders, foundations and regional unelected bodies funded with tax payer money. 

There are three main pieces of legislation that are being followed in California to complete the transformation and socially re-engineer our lives; SB375 (2008 Sustainable Communities Strategy), AB32 (2006 Global Warming Act) and AB2785 (2010 California Essential Habitat Connectivity Map).   All of these bills were signed into law by Governor Schwarzenegger. The global warming bill calls for a reduction in GHGs to 1990 levels by 2020. The SB375 bill links land use to transportation and specifies the majority of future construction be compact, high density, low income housing next to mass transit in order to force Californians out of their cars and single family homes to ostensibly reduce GHGs. AB2785 identifies (maps) an animal and vegetation corridor system throughout California, connecting large blocks of government regulated land through private property that must be taken in some way to complete the California Wildlands corridors. This map is most egregious in that it  casually illustrates (with a sliding scale of less to more cost) how much it would cost our government (in terms of dollars, conservation easements, eminent domain, zoning to open space, etc) to take the land from private individuals in order to complete this map. California planning organizations are expected to use it in their planning for land use and transportation process. What people don’t realize is that this map is NOT about preserving land (Open Space) for the animals and plants. These land masses that are being set aside are being incorporated into giant land trusts for the purpose of selling carbon credits in the trillion dollar Cap n’ Trade scheme that recently started in this state. A few large land trusts and foundations will be the beneficiaries of this giant piggy bank. Here’s a list of land banks (http://www.dfg.ca.gov/habcon/conplan/mitbank/catalogue/). The CARB board will be giving many of the credits away to preferred corporations and to entice cooperation in the program.  This is a fraudulent pay to play scheme and giant land grab not an environmental initiative.

The few, regular citizens, who have found out about the One Bay Area plan were horrified and attended workshops and hearings in an attempt to stop this plan from being adopted.  Where did this plan come from? And why are unelected regional agencies dictating how and where the people of the Bay Area will live in the future?

Over the years the two main bodies pushing this plan MTC (Metropolitan Transportation Commission) and ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) have pointed the blame at either local jurisdictions or at state legislators as the responsible parties for this plan. At times they claimed this was an organic, bottom up plan that the local municipalities want and were asking them to implement. Then on other occasions they claimed they were only following state level mandates and that if we had a problem with this plan we should be taking it up with the legislators who voted for the bills. The truth is ABAG and MTC were behind this plan way before the legislation was enacted and have been quietly involved in the forming of this plan for almost 20 years and if you include international connections it is even longer (See U.C. Berkeley PhD. Judith Innes White Paper). ABAG led the effort and along with other agencies they engaged in backroom secret meetings, formed international alliances, regional compacts with stakeholders and NGOs in an effort to reach their goal of transforming our cities and towns into the United Nations vision of Sustainable Communities ultimately leading to the passage of AB32 (2006), SB375 (2008) and AB2785 (2010) legislation that codified this agenda in California. The following timeline will illustrate how this so-called regional plan came about and who is behind it.  You will learn, as I did, that this plan is not a grassroots effort and was not originated at the state level. It is an international plan from the United Nations and is referred to globally as Agenda21 Sustainable Development.

These regional agencies are unconstitutional and the elected officials appointed to them have in my opinion violated Article 1, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution by joining an international alliance with ICLEI and should be at the very least investigated and/or abolished.

I have included links throughout so you can check the facts for yourself. This plan is being duplicated all over the country and the world, but the Bay Area is one of the four initial pilot programs within the U.S. The pilot areas were Denver , Atlanta , Chicago and the Bay Area. In my research I found a white paper about the Bay Area Alliance written by Judith Innes a PhD from UC Berkeley (white paper “Getting Serious about the Three E’s”).  She followed the alliance process from 2004 to 2007 and validates my findings.  She points out how flawed the process was with virtually no experts being used to prepare data and reports and how the stakeholder workshops were misleading and outcomes were controlled and predetermined.

1987       – The term “Sustainable Development” was adopted at the Brundtland Commission meeting in 1987 as part of the “Our Common Future” outcome document. The official definition of Sustainable Development is “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”  The term Sustainable Development encompasses three main principles; Equity, Environment and Economy. Economy is the key word used to describe replacing free market principles with PPPs (Public Private Partnerships). The Environment is used as catalyst for change and Equity describes the social and environmental justice and the redistribution of wealth. Not equal justice. Social equity is the driving factor to alter the function of law to impose social requirements replacing individual rights.

   

1990       -The United Nations accredited NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) ICLEI (International Council for Local and Environmental Initiatives) was founded in order to establish Agenda 21 campaigns throughout the globe. The ICLEI Charter/Constitution defines a world congress of mayors and elected officials working together with ICLEI serving as the international agent representing the members of the world congress throughout the globe. ICLEI serves as liaison between local governments and international governments. ICLEI members pay dues and must explicitly adopt the ICLEI Constitution which follows the 16 principles of the Earth Charter and a model of global governance. This international membership by cities and counties violates Article 1, Section 10 of the United States ConstitutionNo State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance , or Confederation… with a foreign power”. The ICLEI headquarters in North America is in Oakland , Ca.  Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner founded ICLEI USA. ICLEI is responsible for injecting international climate, land use and other policies into local governments. Many cities, counties and regional bodies across the country are contracting with ICLEI.

1992       -UN Agenda21 Earth Summit hosted by Maurice Strong was held in Rio de Janeiro , Brazil . At this summit the term sustainable development was adopted as part of the global Agenda21 campaign. 178 nations pledged their support for Agenda21. President George Bush, Sr. signed on to this for the U.S. Although this is technically a non-binding soft law, since Congress did not ratify it, Agenda21 and Sustainable Development have been incorporated into every aspect of our government through Executive Orders, the EPA, ICLEI and other regulatory agencies, bodies, boards and commissions. (See also video: Nancy Pelosi sponsored H.Con.Res. 353 on Sustainable Development.)

1993       -President Clinton signs Executive Order 12852 creating the President’s Council for Sustainable Development affectively bypassing Congressional approval of Agenda21. This council was tasked with injecting Sustainable Development and Agenda21 into all levels of our government nationwide.

1996       - Richard Clarke, retired Chairman and CEO of PG&E and Michele Perrault, International V.P. of the Sierra club (both members of the President’s Council for Sustainable Development) present the idea of a regional sustainable development initiative to the ABAG general assembly and to other NGO’s and stakeholder groups.

- David Early, Urban Ecology publishes the Draft Blueprint for a Sustainable Bay Area— The Final Plan (1999) is the basis for the One Bay Area Plan.

1997 – ABAG and several dozen NGOs around the Bay Area sign a Compact forming the BAASC (Bay Area Alliance for Sustainable Communities) (See Compact for Sustainable Bay Area). This document specifically states that MTC and ABAG as well as other groups joined forces to implement a regional plan for a Sustainable Bay Area. The document states “It is founded on the principle of the Three Es of Sustainable Development – prosperous Economy, quality Environment, and social Equity.” It also states “The Bay Area Alliance adopted the definition of sustainable development endorsed by the United Nations’ World Commission on Environment and Development.” And goes on to clearly point out “The Bay Area Alliance also operates within an international context. The Earth Charter Initiative (www.earth-charter.org) is an outgrowth of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and has many principles similar to the visions and commitments contained in this Compact.” Sunne McPeak represented the Business (Economy) side of the Alliance .  Sunne McPeak also served on the ABAG board, Bay Area Council and she oversaw the Department of Transportation (Caltrans), the Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Housing Finance Agency, the Department of Real Estate and many others. She was a key player in pushing the SB375 legislation behind the One Bay Area plan.

1999  – Five regional agencies MTC, ABAG, BAAQMD (Bay Area Air Quality Management District), BCDC (Bay Conservation and Development Commission) and RWQCD (Regional Water Quality Control Board) were working on  Smart Growth Strategies

- The BAASC (Bay Area Alliance for Sustainability Communities) plans “Regional Livability Footprint” Project a preferred land use pattern that dictated where development could occur in the Bay Area

- These two groups merged creating the Smart Growth Strategy/Regional Livability Footprint Project

- The Bay Area region and the BAASC were selected as one of four regional pilots in the nation by the Partnership for Regional Livability, a consortium of major foundations and federal agencies dedicated to advancing sustainable development and smart growth.

          – “Final Blueprint for a Sustainable Bay Area” is prepared by David Early of Urban Ecology  (one of the original stakeholders in the Alliance ). David Early also founded DCE Planning, which currently consults with local cities and counties to ensure the implementation of the plan locally.

2000 – Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg launched SCOR (Speaker’s Commission on Regionalism) to promote regionalism and collaboration across California . Sunne McPeak representing the Bay Area Council and many of the BAASC, NGOs and stakeholders were part of this new group. The main purpose was to push for legislation institutionalizing regionalism throughout California . Sunne McPeak was also the ABAG President.

2001 – First Round of stakeholder workshops (approximately 1000 participants) from all 9 Bay Area counties. These meetings were mostly attended by ABAG and MTC officials, planners, developers and social / environmental justice advocates who were stakeholders in the BAASC.

2002 – Second Round of stakeholder workshops (approx. 1000 participants).  Three Regional Scenarios are proposed (Central Cities, Network of Neighborhoods and Smarter Suburbs). The preferred scenario was Network of Neighborhoods. ABAG develops policy-based projections using the Smart Growth Scenario as a starting point.

- Publication of “Shaping Our Future” was the result of this coalition. 

2003 – Executive Board adopts policy-based projections.  Abandoning the trends based projection model used in the past. This approach forces development to occur based on the preferred land use and transportation scenario. MTC’s RTP (Regional Transportation Plan) is based on ABAG’s projections.

2005 – Governor Schwarzenegger passes Executive Order S-3-05 to reduce GHGs in California to 80% below 1990 levels by the year 2050.

2006 AB32 legislation passed - calls for a reduction in GHGs to 1990 levels by 2020. CARB (California Air Resources Board) is appointed to oversee and monitor state level GHGs.

2007 – California Center for Regional Leadership hosts a meeting where, then Assembly Member 11th District DeSaulnier (co-author of SB375 with Darrell Steinberg) and Van Jones both speak about pushing regional legislation. (http://calregions.urbaninsight.com/regcivic/bln/20071126/index.html)

– SB375 legislation introduced (Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier was one of the co-authors of SB375 with Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg). Mark DeSaulnier served on the following boards ABAG, MTC, CARB and BAAQMD (Bay Area Air Quality Management District) all proponents of this legislation.

2008 SB375 legislation passed – Links land use to transportation. Directs regional agencies to create blueprints focusing development in PDAs (Priority Development Areas) next to mass transit for the purpose of reducing GHGs based on AB32 legislation.

2010 – AB2785 legislation passed – California Wildlands Act.  The California Essential Habitat Connectivity report sponsored by DOT (Dept of Transportation), CalTrans and DFG (Dept of Fish and Game) shows many maps of the intended wildlife corridor system throughout California . This document is quietly being used by all planning, transportation agencies and commissions throughout California without the public’s knowledge.

2010–2012 -  MTC/ABAG and a host of paid stakeholders and NGOs launch a series of public workshops. This time the public really engaged in opposition to the plan.  Here’s a video of citizens opposing the plan at a workshop held in the County of Alameda in January of 2012.

As you can see the One Bay Area Plan did not originate as an organic bottom up plan, nor did it start with state level legislation. The President’s Council on Sustainable Development brought the idea to the regional agencies. The regional agencies then joined forces with local NGOs, stakeholders and foundations. The plan to socially re-engineer the Bay Area was going on long before the legislation (SB375, AB32 and AB2785) came to pass. This first ever regional plan in the Bay Area is scheduled to be adopted by the JPC (Joint Policy Committee) of MTC and ABAG in June of 2013 and when it does local jurisdictions will become virtually irrelevant. When money and power are concentrated at higher and higher levels by unelected regional boards bodies and commissions the end result is uncontrolled corruption. Someday the citizens of the Bay Area and California will wonder what happened to their beautiful unique towns and suburbs and go looking for answers. I’m hoping my research will give them the answers they seek and help them hold those behind this plan accountable. 

 

AGENDA 21  -  Book Review

Agenda 21

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton

I am a big fan of Glenn Beck’s books. His most recent, Agenda 21 by Glenn Beck with Harriet Parke, does not disappoint. The book is very well done, with a great plot and characters. It is realistic and disturbing. It’s a great read, but this first installment is a sobering look into what will transpire if we do not change course from the Progressive’s vision of our future.

The heroine of the story is Emmeline, who was about four years old when her parents were rounded up and placed in what can only be called an austere camp. A prison camp that is in the formation of a circle, where the homes are cinder block, with only a mat to sleep on and energy boards. Most were shot that would not go to the camps – some escaped and are referred to as the ‘shadow people.’ All tenants must earn their keep by producing energy for the collective. Producing children is required and the mother never holds her child. The state takes them immediately. Pairing is assigned. Nature and authority are the only things revered in this world. Meals are two cubes a day. Non-production is rewarded with death.

Think it can’t happen? Think again… Agenda 21 is very real as has been written about on this blog many times and it is spreading across the US. The Progressive Marxist elites will not stop until we are stacked and packed in hovels or trailers. They will take the land for themselves to create more wealth with carbon credits while we sweat and toil for them in ghettos.

Agenda 21  is a look into where this road leads. The ending of the book brings hope and definitely leaves it open for a sequel. I would recommend this book to everyone I know. You can’t fight your enemy, if you don’t know your enemy. And this is not about animals and plants; it’s about power, control and money.

A final note… Make sure you read the end of the book which gives research and facts on Agenda 21 and how to fight it in your communities. This is the fight of our lives. Take the fight to the Progressives, don’t wait until it comes to your doorstep.

You can get a copy of Agenda 21 at Amazon.com or at Glenn Beck’s web site. You should get several copies. I can’t wait for the sequel. Beck does it again with the help of Harriet Parke. Fantastic!!!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

American Traditions

“The greatest Christmas gift is the wisdom and history that can be found in the stories shared by older relatives and friends… if we only ask and take the time to listen!~

The War on Christmas (and religion) verses the Spirit of Christmas Series at AskMarion – 16  -  originally posted on 12.22.10

AMERICAN CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS

Here’s hoping that this story will bring the light of the American Christmas into your life and those you love.

Christmas! It comes but once a year, but what a warm and joyous holiday it is. No other holiday in America boasts such a wealth of traditions and customs. Christmas is familiar songs, delicious food, gifts and greeting cards, as well as brightly lit trees and red-ribboned wreaths, Santa Claus and stockings. But all these traditions didn’t come from the same place, as did the people who brought them to America.

Not only do we enjoy our uniquely American traditions–Christmas dinner with roast turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, tiny lights strung on houses; plump Santa Claus–but we also celebrate in ways that reflect the diverse backgrounds of our immigrant ancestors. Their holiday traditions, transplanted here from many countries, have taken root and thrived.

To the first English colonists who arrived in Virginia in 1607, Christmas was both a holy day and a festival which they celebrated here with the same merriment and feasting that they did in England. They also began the practice of exuberant noise-making, with horns, drums, and firecrackers, that’s still part of Christmas in the South.

Early American Christmas celebrations were simple by necessity. Life offered few luxuries, and most families struggled just to survive. But the Pilgrims took a dim view of the singing and dancing, feasting and drinking that characterized the Yuletide celebration back in England. For them, Christmas was strictly a religious event, and merrymaking on this holy day was an unwelcome reminder of pagan winter rites. So the Pilgrims who landed in Massachusetts in the winter of 1620 spent December 25th erecting their first building, refusing to make the day special in any way. By the Revolutionary War, they began to lift their bans, but it was not until 1856 that Massachusetts recognized Christmas as a legal holiday.

Fortunately, Christmas was cheerier elsewhere in the colonies. On Christmas day, 1624, an expedition of the Dutch East India Company went ashore to the now island of Manhattan to give thanks with a merry feast. As more colonists arrived from Holland, they brought their Christmas customs of a gift-bearing St. Nicholas, the stocking filled with treats, and the spirit of family closeness that’s so much a part of Christmas today.

Other immigrants along the Atlantic seaboard joined the Dutch in keeping a merry Christmas. With the Scandinavians who settled in Delaware in 1638 came the legend of gift-giving elves, as well as the custom of hanging a wreath of fir or pine boughs on the front door as a sign of welcome and a symbol of good luck. A century or so later, German colonists introduced the practice of decorating evergreen trees with candles, cookies, and ornaments.

Christmas in the southern states was a convivial affair, the American counterpart of the English Yuletide revelry. It wasn’t so much an occasion for gift giving as for friendship and hospitality. In Williamsburg, Virginia, people lit the Yule log as the foundation of the traditional Christmas Eve fire, and gathered to sing carols. The Yule log played a special role in holiday observances. As long as it burned, usually throughout Christmas week, no one was expected to work. Not surprisingly, people went to great lengths to keep the giant log ablaze. The next morning they attended church services, and then the festivities began–banquets, dances, games, hunts, and fireworks–sometimes continuing until the New Year.

In the huge expanse of country beyond the thirteen original colonies, other traditions took hold. From the Great Lakes to Louisiana, French settlers attended a midnight mass on Christmas Eve, then sat down to a special supper called a reveillon. Children left their shoes by the crèche before going to bed, in hopes that the infant Jesus would fill them with gifts. For most French-American families Christmas was a time of peace and contemplation. The secular celebration waited until New Year’s Eve, which they celebrated with a town festival complete with parades, masquerade balls and the like.

Spanish communities in what’s now Texas and in the mission settlements of the Southwest re-enacted the journey of Mary and Joseph on the first Christmas. Called Las Posadas, this combination procession, play, and pageant was followed by a lively celebration. At the height of the festivities, children swung at a piñata with a large stick, and when it broke scrambled after the toys and sweets that spilled out.

As the tide of immigrants swelled in the 19th century, new Christmas customs appeared. It was at this time, too, that Christmas assumed national importance. By the 1840s, Clement C. Moore’s classic poem “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” became a family favorite. Christmas parties and gift giving, Santa Claus and ornamented trees were common to the whole country by 1860.

By the 1890s, the height of the Victorian era, Christmas had acquired many modern traditions. Then as now, Americans remembered the true meaning of Christmas through generosity and charitable deeds. While they made merry with family and friends, they also recalled the origin of this once-a-year event, exemplified in star-topped trees, Nativity scenes, performances of Handel’s Messiah, and above all the sharing of joy and love with their loved ones.

Because the United States is primarily a Christian Nation (85%), the traditions of Christmas are a part of the entire fabric of the American Experience.

by Bob Brooke

American Traditions

Video: American Traditions

Elvis’s Most Loved Gospel Songs

Video: Most Loved Elvis Gospel Songs

Merry Christmas

“There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.” ~ Erma Bombeck (1927-1996), American author and humorist.

Best Holiday Movie Classics – A Merry Christmas From Hollywood

Related:

War on Christmas is Part of the Overall War on Religion… a Move Toward a ‘New Age’ – a NWO with a One World Religion and Often From Within Churches

Adopt a Pet This Christmas… Or Give Someone a New Friend for Christmas (or Hanukah)!

Christmas Baking

NewsWeek and Jon Stewart Decree the War on Christmas is Over…

Carolling… or Caroling and Christmas Music

Nativity – The Reason for the Season - ‘Glory of Christmas’ begins final season at Crystal Cathedral (2008 to 2009)

Christmas Trees

Hanukkah, Hanukah, Chanukah

European Markets or Christkindlmarkts Capture the Christmas Spirit

St. Nickolas Day

So Where Is the War on Christmas Coming From? – A Worthwhile Read!

Best Holiday Movie Classics – A Merry Christmas From Hollywood

God Rest Ye Merry Merchants – Christmas: An American Holiday and Tradition to Love and Preserve

Advent – The Season of Anticipation and Hope

The War on Christmas verses the Spirit of Christmas Series at AskMarion – with comments from Ben Stein

Red Kettles & Bell Ringers

Atheists intimidate Santa Monica into eliminating Nativity… And So the War on Christmas and Freedom of Religion ContinuesChurches Thwart Nativity Ban By Putting Up Living Displays In Santa Monica

Black Friday Holiday Shopping Kick-off Overshadows True Meaning of Christmas

What Movies in History Best Captures the Spirit of Thanksgiving?

“Holidays Are Great and Fun To Share With Our Pets, As Long As We Avoid the No-No Foods”Animal Nativity

Christianity & Gun Owners in the Crosshairs: Chilling Tactic Exposed

How Should Christians Respond to Atheist ‘Hatred’ & the War on Christmas? This Priest Has Some Advice

The Need For A Christian Worldview of Freedom And Economics

BECK GOES GLOBAL, MEETS WITH CATHOLIC CLERGY & INTERNATIONAL TEA PARTY LEADERS IN ROME

A great read: Losing Our Religion: The Liberal Media’s Attack on Christianity