Sunday, November 01, 2015

"As long as it continues, it will continue."

At the time of President Lincoln there were 34 stars on the flag.

Reading the history of President Lincoln was a pleasure. It measured morality in a way that is still with us today. I think his steadfastness of the morality within the US Civil War is profound. It changed this country forever.  Not every President can say that. He was right for the time of our country with his character and determination to be a strong President that would bring all states under the new laws that defined humanity.

I realized how wrong a US Supreme Court could be and the fact of the matter is "Citizens United" is a moral issue. It has divided this country.

Today, we are seeing a strong resurgence of values that lifts up all Americans to a standard defined within our birth right. That birth right was defined by President Abraham Lincoln, it is not an abstract idea.

In July 1862, (click here) President Abraham Lincoln, third from left, delivered the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. The Proclamation freed all slaves in areas of rebellion and effectively codified abolition as a Union objective for the Civil War. It went into effect on January 1, 1963. The legacy of this document earned Lincoln a reputation as “The Great Emancipator."

From the Emancipation Proclamation:

First Paragraph: 

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom....

There are certain understandings by Americans that are reflected in their upbringing simply because our culture dictates it. Free thought, freedom to speak, freedom to be understood in the demands of our government. All that basic understanding of our democracy is a birth right. 

...all persons held as slaves...

President Lincoln in his speech points to the slaves as the people who are to be recipient to the rights all other Americans who are not slaves understand.  He doesn't say "All Lives Matter" in his speech, he points to the enslaved people of the USA. Does that mean these rights are now exclusive to the Slaves Only. Of course not and I think I made my point in regard to modern day politics.

But, President Lincoln drew a line the political sand of the USA. He began the war with Union soldiers only when it was evident the Confederacy was serious about secession in a way that would change the United States forever. The Confederacy acted prematurely to any actions President Lincoln might propose to the Congress. They declared war before there was a reason for it.

The US Civil War to President Lincoln was not simply a political volley, it was the character and morality of our people that acted to preserve the Union.

I am convinced President Lincoln believed the founding documents of our democracy were at stake during the Civil War. We were a country founded as no other country had been founded before. From the Declaration of Independence to the Ten Amendments to the US Constitution all carved out a very unique set of values. The people were to rule their own land without inhibition. No monarchy. No dictator. It was the people that were to rule their land through a representative government.

It was unique for the late 1700s. Today, some would say it is a pipe dream. But, back in the day the colonists laid the ground work and began the new government. There was skepticism for a long time even after the colonists won the Revolutionary War. The founding scholars fully expected it all to fall apart, but, they were alive and filled in the new government. They had the concept down right and allowed the new country to roll out as stated. 

The USA Civil War would have changed that US Constitution. I am convinced of it. The Civil War was about freeing the slaves, but, it was also more than that. It was a test of the country's will to end an insurrection. It lasted just shy of four years. It was a war. The South had raised a formidable army. The South was determined to secede. And why not let them is that is what they want. Why not let them simply have their slaves and allow the rest of the country peace?

I think it was the idea of the insurrection, but, there was also a moral overlay to it. There were real reasons to fight the secession of the southern states and bring the country back together regardless of a divisive decision by the US Supreme Court. It was more than boundaries and border lines. It was about the very democracy we as a country carved out for ourselves.

The USA Civil War put a stamp on our birth right. It is a birth right for all Americans. Hearing and reading the words of Abraham Lincoln as President of this country stated about slaves only reaffirmed our beliefs for ourselves. 

The great speeches of President Abraham Lincoln.

The Emancipation Proclamation (click here)

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." 
 
Despite this expansive wording, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory. 

Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom. Moreover, the Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy, enabling the liberated to become liberators. By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union and freedom....

Pope Francis focused on the character of the country as portrayed by President Lincoln in his address of The Emancipation Proclamation. It is understandable Pope Francis would focus on this speech. It delivers humanity to all people living within the borders of the country. 

If the USA could put this humanity in a jar and sell it, the world might be a far better place than today.

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
November 19, 1863


On June 1, 1865, (click here) Senator Charles Sumner referred to the most famous speech ever given by President Abraham Lincoln. In his eulogy on the slain president, he called the Gettysburg Address a "monumental act." He said Lincoln was mistaken that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here." Rather, the Bostonian remarked, "The world noted at once what he said, and will never cease to remember it. The battle itself was less important than the speech."...

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

That is the whole ball of wax. The newness of the government from 1776 was still among the people and their leaders. The US Civil War would test the strength of the country. It was a far different time than today.
 
...and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

President Lincoln would be re-elected in1864 by a landslide. 

The states which Lincoln won in the election of 1864 are shown in red. McClellan won Kentucky, New Jersey, and Delaware. Notice that citizens of the Confederacy did not vote in the election.
He had married Mary Todd on November 4, 1842. 

They had four children; Robert Todd (1843–1926 - age 83 at death), Edward Baker (1846–1850 - age 4 years old at death), William Wallace (1850–1862 - age 12 at death), Thomas “Tad” (1853–1871 - age 18 at death)

The First Secession Convention was held in South Carolina 41 days after Lincoln winning the election of 1860. It was held on December 17, 1860. Three days later South Carolina seceded from the Union. By January South Carolina would be joined by six other states.

February would see the government of "The Confederate States of America" formed in Montgomery, Alabama. Jefferson Davis is appointed President of the new confederacy. He was to be replaced with first available election.

March 4, 1861 Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated the 16th President of the United States of America, which also included the southern states that seceded.

President Lincoln bearly moved into the White House when the first shots were leveled at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. The Civil War had begun on April 12, 1861. Three days later President Lincoln made a public address regarding the insurrection in the south and requested 75,000 troops to end the rebellion.

The rest is history. 

President Lincoln never knew the USA in peace time. He brought peace through the US Civil War on May 26, 1865 when General Simon Bolivar Buckner agreed to surrender on June 2, 1865.The Civil War officially ends.

April 9, 1865 General of the Confederacy Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant. 

April 15, 1865, six days later, President Lincoln would be assassinated.

The Lincoln - Douglas Debates were the turn key for Lincoln's Presidency.

"Fifth join debate, October 7, 1958 at Galesberg, Illinois.
Douglas as reported in the Chicago Times.
Lincoln as reported in the Pennsylvania Tribune. (I wasn't sure of the Pennsylvania part of the title, but, there was such a newspaper established in 1811. At the time of Lincoln it was called affectionately, "The Trib."

As a side note, the newspaper would be called "The Tribune-Review" in 1970 with several subsidiaries. It also employed student journalist, John Filo. John Filo was a student at Kent State at the time of the May 4 Massacre. He wrote for the newspaper about the tragedy and won a Pulitzer Prize along with the paper.

But, this relates to Abraham Lincoln in only one way and that it reported the last of the Lincoln - Douglas Debates. 

The picture is a scrapbook assembled by Abraham Lincoln and maintained in the rare book collection at the Library of Congress. (click here)

The Lincoln - Douglas Debates are considered the most important in history.  

There is a list of reference and a time line that might be of help if anyone wants to go further in their understanding of our 16th President. (click here)

Reference to the six Lincoln-Douglas Debates (click here).

Abraham Lincoln would become ingrained in politics.

Lincoln would be elected to a federal seat as a US House Representative and served from 1847 to 1849. He was only elected for one two year term. Election popularity would escape him for the most part. 

Lincoln was a Whig for a good part of his career. (click here) The Douglas - Lincoln debates set the stage in 1858 for the emergence of a Republican Party. He determined as a Whig he could not be elected to the US Senate, so he cast his net during those Senate nominations to return to fight a different day and as a Republican.

While he was in the US House of Representatives he wrote a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia (Washington, DC). The bill did not pass and he was not re-elected after insulting the then President Polk for the Mexican - American War. 

But, Abraham Lincoln as a "Prairie Lawyer" was well known for the moral content of his practice and stayed involved with politics and legislation. If I was to characterize Abraham Lincoln and his politics it would be as a loyalist to the USA Constitution.

He would be nominated for US Senate as a Republican in 1858. With that nomination he became a leading political voice in the United States.

His views never wavered. He would eventually strike his mark as a political leader with his "House Divided Against Itself" speech. In fact the concept was biblical which proves his devote belief.

Mark 3:25  "And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand."

This was the time of the Dred Scott Decision. (click here)

Abraham Lincoln stated the United States Supreme Court had turned against the Founding Fathers. He denounced the decision. The United States Supreme Court divided the country with the Dred Scott Decision. 

Abraham Lincoln would become the one moral voice that found it's pinnacle in the White House.

Picture to the right is a painting of Dred Scott.

On the night of his re-election, President Lincoln analogized it to his fitness.

Frank Maurer, Engraving, Momus, 1860
 
“For such an awkward fellow, I am pretty sure-footed. (click here) It used to take a pretty dextrous man to throw me,” recalled President Lincoln on the night of his reelection as President in 1864. “I remember, the evening of the day in 1858, that decided the contest for the Senate between Mr Douglas and myself, was something like this, dark, rainy & gloomy. I had been reading the returns, and had ascertained that we had lost the Legislature and started to go home. The path had been worn hog-back & was slippery. My foot slipped from under me, knocking the other one out of the way, but I recovered myself and lit square, and I said to myself, ‘It’s a slip and not a fall.'”...

Abraham Lincoln has a sense of purpose and belonging. He played. He had lighthearted moments in his life. He valued friendship and fairness.

...The Clary Grove boys, the Island Grove boys, the Sangamon River boys and the Sand Ridge boys, each designated by the part of the country from which they came, would gather there to indulge in horse racing, foot racing, wrestling, jumping, ball playing and shooting at a mark. Mr. Lincoln would generally take a lay-off for part of the day and join in the sport. He was very stout and active and was a match for any of them. I do not think he bet on any of the games or races, but they had so much confidence in his honesty, and that he would see fair play, that he was often chose as a judge to determine the winner, and his decisions were always regarded as just.”...

"There I Grew Up..." A. Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln lived in Indiana for fourteen years.

Indiana Panel: 1816-1830.  (click here) The Boyhood Days of Lincoln.  Among the more outstanding features of the Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial are the five sculptured panels of the Memorial Building.  They are the work of E.H. Daniels, who also designed the bust of Lincoln located in the Abraham Lincoln Hall
NPS

The Late President Lincoln credits his character to his boyhood years in Indiana. It is needless to say he was treasured as the surviving child of the couple so love for him existed to nurture his established character without question.

Abraham Lincoln and his family moved from Kentucky to Indiana in 1816 and stayed until 1830 when they moved to Illinois. During this period, Lincoln grew physically and intellectually into a man. The people he knew here and the things he experienced had a profound influence on his life. His sense of honesty, his belief in the importance of education and learning, his respect for hard work, his compassion for his fellow man, and his moral convictions about right and wrong were all born of this place and this time. The time he spent here helped shape the man that went on to lead the country. This site is our most direct tie with that time of his life. Lincoln Boyhood preserves the place where he learned to laugh with his father, cried over the death of his mother, read the books that opened his mind, and triumphed over the adversities of life on the frontier.

Just to clear up the migration of the Lincoln family:

Nancy Hanks (click here) was born on February 5, 1784 in Hampshire County, Virginia (now Mineral County, West Virginia). Her mother Lucy, being a single mother, sent Nancy to live with her Aunt Elizabeth and husband Thomas Sparrow. As Nancy grew into womanhood she was employed as a seamstress by the Richard Berry family. It was while at the Berry's that she came to know Thomas Lincoln who was employed by the Berry's as a carpenter. 

While Nancy Hanks was sorting out her life, Thomas Lincoln has lost his father and with it the farmland he knew to his older brother due to Kentucky law that conferred property to the oldest son.

Thomas worked and saved money to purchase a 234 acre farm in Kentucky. He would eventually sell the farm and move to Indiana with his young family. I see Thomas as a survivor of very difficult and harsh inheritance laws. He went on to be successful and no doubt had little time to offer education or guidance to his son, Abraham.

Over the years, their friendship grew into something more and on June 12, 1806, the two were married. Their first child, Sarah, was born on February 10, 1807. On February 12, 1809, a son named Abraham was born. A third child, Thomas Jr., died in infancy.

During the first ten years of their marriage, the Lincolns occupied three different farms in Kentucky, but boundary disputes caused them to lose all three. Thomas finally decided to move his family to Indiana where he could establish a clear claim to his property under the provisions of the Northwest Land Ordinance. In the winter of 1816, they settled in present-day Spencer County in what became known as the Little Pigeon community.

Carving a new life out of the Indiana wilderness was not an easy task for the pioneer family. After spending the winter in a temporary shelter, Thomas and young Abraham built a sturdy log cabin, utilizing the plentiful hardwood forest for building materials. As was customary on the frontier, Nancy helped with the work of clearing the land and tending the crops, as well as caring for her two young children. It was a demanding life for all of them and it was necessary for everyone to make their contribution in order for the family to succeed....

When Thomas Lincoln left Indiana for Illinois it might have been to put space and time between the family he lost and the family he continued to have.

While getting to know President Lincoln better I could not be settled on his heritage. We do have genetic methods to test DNA and RNA to determine his sincere parents. It just seems to me it is still an issue to some.

Just to add; bibles were then an important part of life.

December 23, 2008

I spoke with Clark Evans, (click here) the Library of Congress's head of reference services, rare books, and special collections division, about the Abraham Lincoln Bible that Barack Obama will be sworn in on at his inauguration next month. 

Excerpts:
This wasn't Lincoln's personal Bible?

It was not the Lincoln family Bible. That was probably traveling by train from Springfield [Lincoln's hometown, in Illinois] to Washington, so he had no personal copy of the Bible available for his inauguration on March 4, 1861. But William Thomas Carroll, clerk of the Supreme Court, had a few Bibles available. He'd given the same edition, published in Oxford in 1853, but a different copy to James Buchanan. Did Lincoln hold on to the Bible afterward?


After the inauguration, it remained with William Thomas Carroll and his wife, Sally. We don't know when the Carrolls passed it back to Abraham and Mary Lincoln, but it would have been shortly thereafter. Carroll was not just a passing acquaintance to the Lincoln family. When Lincoln's son Willie died in 1862, the Carrolls offered their vault in Georgetown for the body, and it remained there until 1865, when his body and Lincoln's went from Washington to Springfield. [The Bible] remained with the Lincoln family until 1928, when the wife of Robert Todd Lincoln, who died in 1926 and was the only Lincoln son to make it to adulthood, gave it to the library. From the pictures, the Bible looks to be showing signs of wear....

The oddest history occurs with Lincoln's father. Understandable. Sex is not in public. Paternatiy is the only place that can be displaced from reality.

This is suppose to be a picture of Thomas Lincoln. It was stated Abraham did not have a good relationship with his father and never attended his funeral.

...Thomas Lincoln (click here) was born in Virginia in 1778 (some scholars say 1776) and moved with his family to Kentucky in the 1780s. His father, also named Abraham, was a prosperous landowner who held more than 5,000 acres in one of the richest parts of Kentucky....

...Thus, Mordecai would become a wealthy landowner, and Thomas would have to live by the sweat of his brow.

Thomas became a "wandering laboring boy," as Abraham Lincoln would later characterize the situation, and he never had a chance to get any kind of education. A farmer and carpenter, Thomas worked hard and saved his money.

In 1802, he bought a 238-acre farm in Hardin County, Ky. Four years later, he married Nancy Hanks, and the couple's first child, a daughter named Sarah, was born in 1807. Abraham was born in 1809, on a new farm Thomas bought on Nolan Creek. A third child, a boy, died in infancy. 

Records indicate that in his early manhood Thomas was a reasonably respectable citizen, according to Mark Neely's "Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia." The records indicate that he was a wage earner, jury member, petitioner for a road and a guard for a county prison. 

Strong and powerfully built, Thomas was average or a little above average in height with a shock of black hair and a prominent nose. He was respected in his community - "honest" was the word most often used to describe him, Donald wrote....

The departure from accurate history is below. Call me crazy but Abraham Lincoln didn't resemble his natural father at all.

The challenge to Lincoln’s paternity (click here) is a very old challenge beginning as early as his nomination for the presidency in 1860. In fact, there are currently a total of 16 individuals who various authors have claimed hold such a distinction, if distinction is the right word. Among these sixteen are such notables as John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and Patrick Henry. More directly to the question of Abraham Enlow, there are actually four men with the name of Enlow, or a variation thereof, who are alleged to have fathered Lincoln. They are: Abraham Enlow of LaRue County, Kentucky; Abraham Enlows of Hardin County, Kentucky; Abraham Inlow of Bourbon County, Kentucky; and Abraham Enloe of Rutherford County, North Carolina. It is the latter individual that is currently making the rounds....

There is this from a historic site in the USA of Thomas Lincoln: 

Thomas was born in Virgina, (click here) and his family soon brought him west to Kentucky. Indians killed his father, named Abraham Lincoln, while he was clearing farmland, leaving young Thomas and his family fatherless. He moved to Hardin County, Kentucky in 1802, and one year later, purchased his first farm. Thomas married Nancy Hanks on June 12, 1806. They had three children: Sarah (February 10, 1807), Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809), and Thomas (1812) who died in infancy.

Historical documents show that Thomas was a responsible citizen and community leader, but he repeatedly fell victim to Kentucky's chaotic land laws and was constantly frustrated by the presence of slavery. In 1816, Thomas and his family crossed the Ohio River and purchased a farm directly from the Federal Government in what is today Spencer County, Indiana.

Two years later his wife died due to milk sickness, and Thomas married a widow, Sarah Bush Johnston.

Although Lincoln developed a close relationship with his stepmother, his relationship with his father was strained. In 1830, he moved with his father for the last time when they travelled to Illinois. A year later, he set out on his own. His father continued farming in Coles County, Illinois until his death in 1851. He was buried in the Shiloh Cemetery, near his Illinois farm.

Sources: The Lincoln Encyclopedia, (1982) by Mark Neely and Lincoln's Youth (1959) by Louis A. Warren.

Following the Lincoln family tree is difficult. There is a lot of controversy about his past.


This is a timeline on Wikipedia. I thought they did a good job with Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln. I also read in other sources her parent heritage was confused. To read source after source only made it more confusing. This wa helpful to recognize her life from the time she was born.

It is understandable that "Good Christian Women" in the late 17 hundreds would have large families. The truth is even though large families occurred the children did not always live. Modern medicine was on the horizon and "The Pill" would be provided to the American woman in the 1960s. 

Abraham Lincoln had a sister and a brother. Sarah died when she was 21 years old and Thomas Lincoln, Jr. died in childbirth. Needless to say Nancy, Lincoln's mother, had her fair share of heartache. She also had a childhood where she was shuffled around from one couple to another until she finally was old enough to learn a profession. Nancy would become a seamstress. She had a strong work ethic. 

...Noted historian Louis Warren, an expert on Abraham Lincoln, stated in his writings that Nancy's mother was Lucinda Lucy Shipley Hanks, daughter of Robert Shipley, Jr., but nothing is really known for certain about Nancy's father. However, he was said to be James Hanks, son of Joseph Hanks. According to Louis Warren, James Hanks passed away in 1785. Lucinda Shipley Hanks was often confused by biographers with Lucy Hanks, the daughter of Joseph Hanks, but they were two different people.

According to Abraham Lincoln's law partner, William Herndon, Abraham once said that his maternal grandfather was "a well-bred Virginia farmer or planter." During the same conversation, Abraham said of his mother, "God bless my mother; all that I am or ever hope to be I owe to her." (It should be noted that this statement has never been verified other than having Herndon’s word for it.)


It is stated those words were never verified, but, he was her one surviving child and she herself knew and appreciated work as a way of life. During her time agrarian economies was the rule of the day. Working for someone who paid wages would be a treasured character that would be shared with her son.
 
Little is known of Nancy's early life. As a child Nancy was taken by her mother along the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. Young Nancy went to live with Lucy’s sister, Rachel Shipley Berry, and her husband Richard Berry, Jr., in Beechland, Kentucky, in Washington County. She lived with the Berrys until she married Thomas Lincoln. Why she didn’t go to live with her mother after Lucy remarried is not known.


As Nancy grew up, she became skilled in the art of needlework, and she became an excellent seamstress. She was hired to sew anything from wedding gowns to funeral attire. Nancy became known for her work ethic, neatness, cheerfulness, and intelligence. She was deeply religious. Her cousin, John Hanks, described Nancy as having dark hair, hazel eyes, 5-7 in height, a delicate frame, weighing 120 pounds, and "was loved and revered by all who knew her." No photographs of Nancy exist.
 

Nancy sometimes lived briefly with families she was sewing for; her services were in demand in Hardin, Mercer, and Washington counties. During the time Nancy was working as a seamstress she met Thomas Lincoln, a carpenter from Elizabethtown. A romance developed, and the two decided to be married.

On June 12, 1806, Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln were married; presiding over the ceremony was the Reverend Jesse Head. The couple moved to a cabin in Elizabethtown (Kentucky) where Thomas worked as a carpenter making cabinets, door frames, even coffins. The Lincolns joined the Little Mount Separate Baptist Church. A daughter, Sarah, was born to the couple on February 10, 1807....

To the right is believed to be a picture of Nancy Hanks as a young woman. It would seem accurate. She strongly resembles her son. 

Staging is everything and I expect to see Abraham Lincoln to become an icon to the American Catholic. A dog whistle if you will?

Jeb Bush, "I think we are on the verge of greatness."

Donald Trump, "Make American great again." I doubt Donald Trump will hold a town hall with a background of the Lincoln Memorial.

Jeb Bush: "I love my father. I would go to kill for my father. I would go to jail  for my father."

He is a fine role model and of course because he would do it for Dad it is okay, right? Why doesn't Bush tell that to those on Death Row. They did it for their own reasons and with at least as much devotion. 

Oh, yeah, and Bush states, "I am a grinder." In other words he may be dead wrong about facts and an issue, but, he rises to the occasion to 'get it right.' I am sure "W" said the same thing. 

The American people are tired of grinders, they want people who know what they are doing and stand down from every impetus to war that comes along as a good excuse.

I know, I know, Bush didn't vote for the Iraq War. That is no longer a measure of anything. Obama didn't vote for the Iraq War and stated he would have all the troops home. It isn't going to happen. So, Iraq War vote or not, the USA military manages to keep their weaponry at the ready no matter the threat or no threat to the USA. 

The question is, "Can you stand up to the Brass at the USA military and state "No, we are not invading another country that is of no consequence to American national security." That is the question, it would seem no one has the backbone to disappoint the commanders of the USA military.

You have to know Bush is desperate to find a toe hold to defeat everyone else if he is appearing on MSNBC, Meet the Press. 

Just one more time for emphasis. "JEB!" stated he is his own man. And now he states, "I love my father. I would kill for my father. I would go to jail  for my father." I wonder what Pope Francis would think about that?

I think the co-dependency of the Bush family to sell themselves to the American family is sad. I do not believe the either of the sons have had or have today the temperament to be President of the USA.
 
It's Sunday Night

It is amazing the imagination Americans have of the bearded man on Halloween.

There is a political statement next, but, the rest of the evening is about Abraham Lincoln.

"Abraham Lincoln" (click here for a website - thank you)  

Oh Abraham Lincoln, carried across the street.
Oh Abraham Lincoln, carried across the street.
The assassin, the coward,
shot him in the head.
The assassin, the serpent,
Struck him then he fled.


Oh many many many people, gather to hear the word.
Oh many many many people, tremble at what they've heard.
Snickering, drunkards, from cover of dark.
Treachery's their master,
murder is their heart.


From the table, rips his chair.
Cross the people on the stairs.
Watch the limbs running for.
All across a empty bar.

 

Oh Abraham Lincoln, buried him in his grave.
Oh Abraham Lincoln, buried him in his grave.
The assassin, the coward, no grave for you.
The assassin, the actor, no cross for you.

 

From the table, rips his chair.
Cross the people on the stairs.
Watch the limbs running for.
All across a empty bar.

Sincere sympathy to the Russian people.

 CNN Video (click here)

It is looking more and more like a jetliner failure. The debris field, which is many square miles doesn't seem to have large pieces of the jet. There are usually engines and larger pieces that fall to the ground. 

It is looking, to me, as though there was some kind of failure with the jet. I think something went wrong and it blew up. Perhaps within the engines themselves. The fuel was correct, wasn't it? I don't know how a jet would receive the wrong fuel in an airport, but, how else can all engines be involved?

That is the way I remember other large jet failures with causes other than the failure of the jet itself. It brings to mind the airliner that went down in the mountains when the pilot committed suicide. The jet was completely shattered, but, the way I remember it there were some larger pieces of jet among the other fragments.

But, even that jet didn't fail. So, if there were larger pieces it is because it was intact when it hit the ground. 

It looks as though no one will certain until the entire investigation is carried out.

The one jet that went down in failure occurred shortly after 911. It was out of New York. The fuel tank was only partially filled and it was ignited by pressure and/or static electricity. Sorry, this jet exploded in 1996, before 911. There was a jet crash in November 2001, but, that was due to pilot error. He took off shorting after another large jet and flew into it's jet wash. The pilot and co-pilot lost control of the jet. It was noted that if the pilots had left the jet alone it would have stabilized on it's own with on board computers. 

In some of the videos of the Russian jet crash the fins of an engine seemed to hold together somewhat. This was an engine from the TWA 800 jet. They look similar, however the TWA 800 jet pieces landed in the water and not crashed to solid ground.

A toy plane (click here) and flowers are left on a makeshift memorial outside Pulkovo airport in St. Petersburg, Russia  Photo: REUTERS/Peter Kovalev

The Russian people are mourning the deaths of their people. There were many children on this flight. It is a sincere tragedy for them. 

These are a few of the dead. 

Victims of the Russian plane crash in Sinai(From top left):Anastasia Bogdanova, Anton Bogdanov, Alena Moiseeva, Diana Golenkova, Maria Ivleva,Aleksandra Illarionova, Leonid Gordin, Aleksandra Chernova, (from bottom left)Aleksei and Tatiana Gromov, their 10-month-old baby Darina Gromov, Valeria Kantcerova, Nina Golubeva, Vera Gerasina, Victor Anisimov and (bottom right) Svetlana Dudochkina.  Photo: Instagram/ Tatyana Gromova/east2westnews/Wil​l Stewart.

So far American media is a propagandist for Paul Ryan.

I fully expect that to continue.

"How do you FEEL about being Speaker of the House?"

"What does being Speaker of the House do to a Presidential run in the future?

AND

"Do you believe in Santa Clause?" The American media should try that one it might actually prove to be partisan.  

December 18, 2014


Bill O'Reilly, (click here) who has become Christianity's General Patton in the so-called “War on Christmas," declared victory on Wednesday.

“We won the war," O'Reilly said on his Fox News show after learning that a recent Pew survey found 72 percent of Americans say Christian symbols like Nativity scenes should be allowed on government property....

Well, that is a relief. I was worried the political right wing of the USA would abandon Christmas as it didn't recognize the unionization of Santa's elves in receiving full room and board along with as much happiness and joy they can master for being able to carry out their toy craftsmanship. And yes, their financial backer is Santa for all the supplies they can possibly wish for.

POTUS is given 100 days honeymoon period because there is only one President and the dynamics of the office are different than any other office in the land. But, Speaker of the House? 

Paul Ryan was elected because he is suppose to be ABLE to bring the US House to order and carry out the people's business.

"What will be done about the gun violence in the country, Speaker Ryan?" 

Does he have bills to move forward in regard to these "new normal" of the American people dying in the street?

"Will you end the very expensive Benghazi Select Committee?"

"Will you apologize to candidate Clinton regarding the brutal grilling over that attack on the US consulate in Libya? After all, Rep. Goudy already stated there was nothing different in the former Secretary's testimony."

The Death Penalty needs a Presidential Committee to bring fact finding. It is no a personal choice no matter who is President.

It doesn't get more heinous than Charles Mason and he never received the death penalty.

McVeigh is dead. I suppose that has some closure for families. But, if Democratic candidates want to be in favor of the death penalty in 'certain' cases then what will they do to obtain the drugs needed?

Federal Law Providing for the Death Penalty (click here)

Which crimes are deserving of the death sentence? Other than adding an additional layer of authority, the federal government doesn't have a death chamber. It is the state that carries out the death penalty and it is the prosecutors within the state that decides if the death penalty should be sought.

The federal government can modify the federal statues regarding the death

 penalty, however, recognizing it only provides reasons to continue it at the state level.The Death Penalty is about 'populous' belief about crime. "Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth." They never finish that statement originally from the Talmud and refined by Jesus. Jesus in the sermon on the mount stated, "...an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord.... he went on to state " ...turn the other cheek..." The truth be known Jesus Christ was a non-violence proponent. I find him interesting in recognizing if a peoples recognizes violence within their laws, violence has a legitimate place.

There are facts that point toward ending the death penalty. The criminal justice system has a record of killing the wrong people and burying the facts with those charged. 

A recent study (click here) by Professor Michael Radelet and Traci Lacock of the University of Colorado found that 88% of the nation's leading criminologists do not believe the death penalty is an effective deterrent to crime....

There is wide spread concensus among those in the criminal-justice system that the Death Penalty is not a deterrent. Why make them prosecute for it? The reason there is a populous understanding of crime and punishment that the Death Penalty is closure and/or a deterrent? Those are not good reasons.

The populous opinion of crime and punishment is politics. The Death Sentence should not be political, but, pragmatic and possibly removed from federal crimes.
It doesn't get more heinous than Charles Mason and he never received the death penalty.

McVeigh is dead. I suppose that has some closure for families. But, if Democratic candidates want to be in favor of the death penalty in 'certain' cases then what will they do to obtain the drugs needed? 

Federal Laws Providing for the Death Penalty (click here)  

Which crimes are deserving of the death sentence? Other than adding an additional layer of authority, the federal government doesn't have a death chamber. It is the state that carries out the death penalty and it is the prosecutors within the state that decides if the death penalty should be sought.

 The federal government can modify the federal statues regarding the death penalty, however, recognizing it only provides reasons to continue it at the state level.The Death Penalty is about 'populous' belief about crime. "Eye for an Eye, a Tooth for a Tooth." They never finish that statement originally from the Talmud and refined by Jesus. Jesus in the sermon on the mount stated, "...an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord.... he went on to state " ...turn the other cheek..." The truth be known Jesus Christ was a non-violence proponent. I find him interesting in recognizing if a peoples recognizes violence within their laws, violence has a legitimate place.

continued...

The new Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan is expected on Sunday talk shows today.

Ask him what he intends to do about gun violence. It needs to be more than improving mental health treatment. It is already too late for at least 11,012 Americans.


November 1, 2015
By AP

Colorado Springs, Colo. — A man marching down the street shot and killed three people (click here) on Saturday, before being fatally shot in a gunbattle with police, authorities and witnesses said.
Officers were responding to a report of shots being fired when they spotted a suspect matching the description of the person they were trying to find, Colorado Springs police Lt. Catherine Buckley said. The suspect opened fire, and police fired back, she said.
Witnesses described a chaotic scene as the suspect went down the street with a rifle.
Matt Abshire, 21, told the Colorado Springs Gazette  he looked outside his apartment window and saw a man shoot someone with a rifle. He said he ran to the street and followed the man and called police.
The man suddenly turned and fired more shots, hitting two women, Abshire said. Their names and conditions were not available.
It was unclear how many people were wounded in the spree.
Alisha Jaynes told KKTV-TV 11 News she was at an ATM when she saw a man with a gun walking calmly down the street.
"They yelled, 'Put the gun down,' and he turned around, and that's when they shot at him a good 20 times," she said. "There was a lot of gunfire."...

Gun Violence Archive (GVA) (click here) is a not for profit corporation formed in 2013 to provide free online public access to accurate information about gun-related violence in the United States. GVA will collect and check for accuracy, comprehensive information about gun-related violence in the U.S. and then post and disseminate it online.

In 2015 there have already been 281 mass shootings.