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My good friend Gary Stelly reminded me via his web page that today is Flag Day.  I want to share with you something I’ve never read or heard before, the 4th verse of the Star Spangled Banner.  Please listen to the words on this YouTube link before someone in our government takes this away from us too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0fQd858cRc

Some advice from a friend of mine, as he often reminds me, is to “use all the words.”  Here are “all the words” to our National Anthem:

The Star Spangled Banner Lyrics
By Francis Scott Key 1814

Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave

For those of us who pray, please join me in praying that God continues to Bless America, to forgive all those who want to eliminate Him from our lives and to protect us from all that is evil.

Happy Flag Day – WR

I was reminded today that it had been Thanksgiving since my last post.  Sorry about that.  My problem lately has been motivation.  Today my motivation is politics, specifically national politics.  And since the State of the Union speech is tonight here’s a political cartoon I received today via email:  

 A LOT has happened since Thanksgiving.  And a lot has happened in national politics in just the past week.  Can you believe that just one U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts has derailed an entire political party’s agenda? 

As I listened to Scott Brown’s acceptance speech I found myself getting excited.  Finally, after 2 LONG years I heard someone espousing the same political ideology as me.  My favorite line of his speech, in reference to terrorism, was when he said (paraphrased) “I want to make sure we’re spending our money on weapons to eliminate terrorists instead of defending them in court.” 

Since Tuesday, January 19, which by the way was the one year anniversary for the current administration, the majority party has fumbled around trying to redefine themselves.  It’s almost as if they want to stick their finger in their collective mouths and then hold them up in the air to see which way the wind is blowing.

I hope that our elected officials will finally, as a result of Senator Brown’s election, show us, the electorate, the courtesy of listening to what we have to say rather than continue to snub us and look down their noses at us and tell us they know better than we do what’s good for us.  How arrogant and pompous.  I’m not sure how long it will last but at least it appears Senator Brown’s election has, at the very least, gotten their attention.  Time will tell…

I know, I know, I’m late with this month’s post.  But, hello… November IS hunting season!  I’ve been on the road a lot this month.  Back and forth to Fredericksburg a couple of times, one weekend on retreat and, oh yeah, I’m working too.

All that said, this morning finds me in Fredericksburg waiting for Noon for dinner and then off to the lease for the rest of the weekend.  Sitting here I’m reminded how hectic our lives can become.  Some of it is neccessary, much of it is self inflicted.

So for just a moment, whenever you have the opportunity to read this I hope each of you pause and reflect on what’s hectic in your life.  If you can eliminate something, I hope you will.  It’s really kind of uplifting to consider and discard some burdens.  For me, the most reassuring moment is when I realize they weren’t as important after all, as I thought they were.  What’s important is today and what you choose to make of it.

What’s not important is all this garbage about stores opening at midnight or 4:00 AM for Black Friday.   But I’ll save those comments for later. 

May God Bless and protect the men and women who protect us by their service in the military and may God continue to Bless each one of us.

Happy Thanksgiving.

There’s a song that goes something like, “I was country when country wasn’t cool.”  Well, to paraphrase, “I was an Internet provider before anyone really knew what the Internet was, including me.”  In late 1992, early 1993, Mark Foreman and I were working the bugs out of transitioning ”Pink’s Place” BBS (Mark was a fan of Pink Floyd) into what eventually became Public NetXchange, PNX, Internet service.  [Read the rest of this entry...]

About 6 years ago, Elaine’s Mom and Dad bought a house on the bayou in Bridge City.  Before they moved in we went by to take a look at the house and hear their plans for remodeling and making it their home.  On the back porch, off in one corner was a hot tub.  At first glance it was obvious it had not been used in quite awhile.  I didn’t really pay any attention to it.  That, maybe, was my first mistake.

I learned later that when they signed the papers on the house one of the conditions they made was to have the seller repair the hot tub and return it to good working order.  At some point, Elaine’s Dad told her once the hot tub was restored, he was giving it to us…  Elaine was excited.  What do you think my chances would have been at that point to say “no thanks?”  No, I have to admit that initially when she told me I thought it would be OK.  What I had to do now was figure out how to have the hot tub moved from their house to our house.  It couldn’t cost too much, after all the hot tub was free. [Read the rest of this entry...]