Neddy's Palaver

Vanquished, Vanished

Come, come, come …
Let us ponder the America of our memories:
We sang like the birds of the field; we sang of freedom;
When we sought opportunity, we found it awaiting us.
America was a dream, a vision of seekers;
America was a dream that lasted ten score and thirty years.
The dream that was America encountered the anarchy of liberty;
And was felled by the anarchy of immorality.
We beg forgiveness of our founders, our fathers;
We weep for the blood they shed for us.
The America that was their dream is now our master.
Freemen no longer, we are serfs to toil land that is not ours.
We live the lives of the slaves of old, lives of quiet desperation;
We beat our breasts in despair knowing we sold our posterity into bondage.
We still pray, but not to God; We still sing, but not of freedom.
We tell tales to our children and they laugh,
For, as we recollect our remembrances,
Our children hear fairy tales of long, long ago.
We talk to those who sacrificed for freedom,
And they ask: “Did we win or did we lose?
Was God with us or were we against God, in those days?
Was freedom worth the blood we spilt?
Or was freedom but a mysterious nothing,
A mere longing of our souls?”
We will soon go away too, we who have the memories.
When we are gone, will seekers ever dream that dream again?

Look out Loudoun and Fauquier Counties! The big enchilada that is Fairfax County is about to take over your horsey status as “Horse Country.” A movement is underway to banish horse-less carriages in favor of more horses, bicycles and walking in Fairfax County, Virginia.

In future, beginning July 2009, Fairfax County residents seeking admission to their own taxpayer funded park-lands, must pay a fee if they arrive in a “horse-less” carriage, but no fee if they arrive riding a horse. This is blatant discrimination against non-equine modes of transportation. Why is Fairfax County trying to become horsey Fauquier County? If one employs a horse-less carriage instead of a horse to transport oneself, why should the horse be favored in entering into government owned parks.

Do horses pay taxes to Fairfax County? I do not know. I do not own a horse, because Fairfax County will not allow me to stable one upon my minuscule Fairfax County property. But Fairfax County does allow me, for now at least, to keep a horse-less carriage on my property, and I do know that my horseless carriage indeed pays taxes to Fairfax County.

I demand to be allowed to keep a horse, so that I can get into Fairfax County’s parks without paying a penalty.

Read today’s WaPo for this latest revelation about Fairfax County’s Plan to charge its own tax-paying residents to enter publicly own parks.

If you are interested in fighting Fairfax County’s City Hall on this “additional” tax on horse-less carriages, read PatCleary.com.

Who Was

• The first president born in a log cabin?
• The first president nominated by a political party?
• The first president to ride on a railroad train?
• The first president victimized by an assassination attempt?
• The only president to find himself an orphan and an only child at the age of fourteen.
• The only president to have been a prisoner of war?
• The only president to have killed a man in a duel.
• The last president who was a veteran of the Revolutionary War.

Hint, Hint; They were all the same person. The answer is at http://tinyurl.com/djt7q6.

I found this musical creation so beautiful that I had to learn more about it and its meaning. I found it on an album at Amazon, which I just ordered: The Irish Tenors / McNamara, McDermott, Kearns, Tynan.

This is what I discovered about the song entitled “Grace.” Give a listen. (The Video)

“As we gather in the chapel here in old Kilmainham jail,
I think about these past few weeks; Oh, will they say we failed?
From our school days they have told us we must yearn for liberty,
Yet all I want in this dark place is to have you here with me.

[Chorus]
Oh Grace just hold me in your arms, and let this moment linger,
They’ll take me out at dawn and I will die.
With all my love I’ll place this wedding ring upon your finger,
There won’t be time to share our love for we must say goodbye.

Now I know it’s hard for you my love to ever understand,
The love I bear for these brave men, my love for this dear land,
But when Padraic called me to his side down in the G.P.O.
I had to leave my own sick bed, to him I had to go.
[Chorus]

Now as the dawn is breaking, my heart is breaking too,
On this May morn, as I walk out, my thoughts will be of you.
And I’ll write some words upon the wall, so everyone will know,
I loved so much that I could see His blood upon the rose.”

Joseph Mary Plunkett was an Irish nationalist, poet and leader and planner of the 1916 Easter rising. It was largely his plan that was followed in 1916, which ended in a military disaster. Plunkett was held in Kilmainham Jail and faced court martial. Hours before his excecution by firing squad, at age 28, he was married in the prison chapel on 4 May 1916, to his sweetheart Grace Gifford, a Protestant convert to Catholicism.

Grace remained loyal to the republican movement while earning a living as a commerical artist.She voted against the treaty which divided Ireland and during the civil war she was imprisoned in Kilmainham jail for three months. She died in 1955.

The Snakes and Snipers Song by John Edmond

“We won the fight upon the battlefield,
but then the politicians came,
and played a sad and alien game.
They said that we should bend and we should yield.
And the snakes and snipers slayed us in the bush,
but they couldn’t ever beat us with the sword.
Now the snakes and snipers hide behind the pen,
and try to get us with the written word.” ~~John Edmond

The following is an essay that I wrote and posted at “Blatherings” on 28 July 2005. As we near a Veterans Day 2006, that has been overshadowed by political slings and barbs against our fighting men and women, I feel it bears repeating.

Military Culture
A country can never know exactly when it may need to call upon its warriors to take on the enemy; to fight to the death if necessary in order to protect its citizens’ lives and property. For this reason, it has always been necessary for countries to have a strong and well-defined military culture that is built upon ancient traditions and respect for national history. Governments and civilians who allow their military institutions to dissipate into an unhealthy state, will bring devastating effects upon their nation’s security if not corrected. No country, even one as wealthy as the United States, has ever been able to financially reward soldiers fairly for the risks they take and the deeds they do. Therefore a people must rely upon the ancient military culture to give the soldier the rewards necessary to have him go into battle and to fight valiantly for his homeland.

If one were to ask military people what they like about their careers, most would answer that they enjoy the opportunities to lead, to work and train with other soldiers, the military camaraderie and the opportunities to be patriotic. Military people enjoy the “esprit de corps” that comes from working on a team, the sense of accomplishment for jobs well done and the pride and prestige that comes from just being soldiers, representing their beloved homeland. These opportunities can only be found in the military lifestyle. No other job offers them. Seldom does a soldier mention pay or benefits, and every military person understands that his pay is in no way comparable to what his job would gain in the civilian sector.

What exactly is a healthy military culture? The military is a world of the young and always will be. There is no generation gap, but instead a hierarchy among the various ranks from low to high, which the military finds comforting. Each soldier knows exactly where he fits in the grand scheme and he call tell another soldier’s place by the uniform, rank and medals worn. There is a “warrior spirit” interwoven into the framework of military culture, which is built upon basic moral and institutional values held in common between the warriors. Additionally, the military is rich with old fashioned traditions that have been bequeathed from soldier to soldier, as civilians hand down unseen treasures from father to son. Rather than having an occupation, a soldier feels part of an institution that is far greater than himself.

The military is expected by its commander in chief and the taxpayers who fund it to maintain a high code of ethics. In order to fight and win in battle, each soldier understands that discipline is demanded at every level of his job. Because military culture is almost always more conservative than that of the civilian sector, it can hurt morale to change codes of behavior which were in effect when the soldiers joined up. Although a civilian employee can walk off the job when he dislikes new rules imposed by his employer, a military person is subject to imprisonment for doing the same. Although a soldier fights to uphold freedom, he in fact has been required to give up some of his own freedoms in order to serve as a soldier. Ofttimes, this causes a lack of understanding from civilians as to why a soldier does or does not do certain things.

In the United States of today, with its entirely volunteer fighting force, it seems that, more than ever, the military culture should be upheld and respected. In fact, even a bit of emulation could be of great benefit. Those who belittle it, or try to merge it into the more modern civilian culture, or attempt to destroy it in various way, are actually harming all of us, not just the military.

“Yes, Virginia, there is a war on Christmas. It’s the secularization of America’s favorite holiday and the ever-stronger push toward a neutered ‘holiday’ season so that non-Christians won’t be even the slightest bit offended.

“That is certainly not what the founders intended when they wrote, ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.’

“John Gibson, a popular anchor for the Fox News Channel, … reveals that the situation is worse than you can imagine. For instance:

“• In Illinois, state government workers were forbidden from saying the words “Merry Christmas” while at work
• In Rhode Island, local officials banned Christians from participating in a public project to decorate the lawn of City Hall
• A New Jersey school banned even instrumental versions of traditional Christmas carols
• Arizona school officials ruled it unconstitutional for a student to make any reference to the religious history of Christmas in a class project

“John Gibson is the host of The Big Story on Fox News Channel, which airs daily at 5:00 p.m. and is currently the sixth highest rated show in all of cable news. Before joining Fox News Channel, he was an anchor and reporter for MSNBC, CNBC, and NBC News.”

John Gibson has been unable to get television shows to interview him about his new book. These are the reviews that Amazon has chosen for “Spotlight Reviews”:

Offensive and Unreadable I sat down with this book and was unable to finish it. The notion that anyone interested in enforcing the idea of the separation of church and state is therefore “anti-Christmas” is ludicrous and patently offensive. Gibson is tacitly approving cultural McCarthyism in this book. If you are liberal and hate America so much that you see the wisdom behind not forcing non-Christian children to participate in the Passion Play, then according to this book you are anti-Christmas and therefore part of the problem.

Windows 2005, Red State Edition
We hyar at Microsof’ haf created a noo addishun of our sof’ware jest fo’ yo’uns. Eff’n y’all kin read, y’all will recernize th’ Red State EDITION by th’ unique openin’ screen which reads WINDERS 2005, wif a backgroun’ pitcher of Waylon an’ Willie superimposed on a quart of Jack Daniels. Thar haf been a few other necessary an’ wo’thwhile changes:

The Recycle Bin is labeled “Outhouse”
My Computer is called “This Dern Contraption”
Dial Up Networking is called “Good Ol’ Boys”
Control Panel is known as “The Dashboard”
Hard Drive is referred to as “4-Wheel Drive”
Floppies are “Them little ol’ plastic thangs”
Instead of an error message, “Duct Tape” pops up

CHANGES IN TERMINOLOGY IN “Red State” EDITION:
Cancel…………stopdat
Reset…………..try’er agin
Yes……………..yep
No………………nope
Find……………hunt fer it
Go to………….over yonder
Back…………..back yonder
Help…………..hep me out here
Stop…………..kwitit (WHOA!)
Start…………..crank’er up
Settings……..settins
Programs……stuff at duz stuff
Documents…stuff ah done did

Also note thet th’ RED STATE EDITION does not reckanize capital letters o’ punckuashun marks. Some programs thet is exclusive t’ “WINDERS 2005“:

Tiperiter…………………….. a word processing program
Colerin’ Book………………a graphics program
Cyferin’ Mersheen………..calculator
Outhouse Paper…………..notepad
Inner-net……………………..Microsoft explorer 5.0
Pitchers………………………a graphics viewer

Yo’ may view a sample of th’ Internet as translated by “Winders 2005 Red State Edishun” by clickin’ HERE.

Ah varmintally hope this hyar he’ps all y’all becomin’ mo’e computer iliterate!
CEO an’ FOUNDER, Billy Bob Gates
Git ‘er done!

Sent fum th’ Internet by mah friend, Elaine, wif elabo’ashuns by me, Neddy. Linked at basil’s blog Lunch, DaTaste.com and WizBang’s Carnival of Trackbacks

Recently, I was reminded of something I had read about copperhead snakes, when I was told about the grandchild of a church member at a county park near my home, in a summer camp studying lizards. The pre-schooler lifted a rock and was bitten by a copperhead snake. The snake was captured and killed and the little boy carried by ambulance to the hospital. The child was fine, as the snake did not deliver much venom, probably because it was a juvenile copperhead. However, throughout the history of Virginia and the South, poisonous snake bites more often than not have a sadder outcome. Therefore, we know our snakes and we are ever vigilant.

In 2003, I had read an editorial by Senator Zell Miller about his family life in Georgia and snakes and I wrote - “Exactly! That is what this War on Terrorism is about- Copperheads!” I was troubled by hearing so many of our government officials who did not understand this war. Even worse, it continues to be maddening when many Americans seem to hope for the war to go badly, so that President Bush will be disgraced. This kind of talk gives comfort to our enemies and spurs them on. It hurts our cause; it frightens our allies who want to be with us. And worst of all, it puts our battlefield troops in even more danger. Zell Miller’s comments about the war and about copperheads is well worth the reading. This was written before “Give ‘em Hell” Zell had challenged Chris Matthews to a duel on TV. I wonder if Zell’s choice of weapon for the duel would have been a garden hoe?

“we were doing some work on my back porch back home, tearing out a section of old stacked rocks, when all of a sudden I uncovered a nest of copperhead snakes. I know the difference between those snakes that are harmless and those that will kill you. A copperhead will kill you. It could kill one of my dogs. It could kill one of my grandchildren. It could kill any one of my four great-grandchildren.

“And you know, when I discovered these copperheads, I didn’t call my wife Shirley for advice, like I do on most things. I didn’t go before the city council. I didn’t yell for help from my neighbors. I just took a hoe and knocked them in the head and killed them dead as a doorknob.

“I guess you could call it a unilateral action,” I said. “Or pre-emptive. Perhaps if you had been watching me, you could have even called it bellicose and reactive. I took their poisonous heads off because they were a threat to me. And they were a threat to my home and my family. They were a threat to all I hold dear. And isn’t that what this is all about?”

~~ from “In pursuit of an American Churchill” by Zell Miller, published in The Washington Times.

It is interesting to compare the current president, George W. Bush, with a president of two hundred years ago. Both came to the same decisions about fighting terror. Here is the book’s editorial from Amazon:

Two centuries ago, the ostensibly pacifist president Thomas Jefferson launched America’s first war on foreign soil—a war against terror. The enemy was Muslim; the war was waged unconventionally, with commandos, native troops, encrypted intelligence, and foreign bases under short-term alliances. For nearly two hundred years, Barbary pirates had haunted the Mediterranean, enslaving infidels and extorting millions of dollars from European countries in a holy war against Christendom. Newly independent, American ships became a target of piracy. Instead of paying tribute, after his inauguration Jefferson chose to fight. … Jefferson ordered the new U.S. Navy to Tripoli in 1801, starting the Barbary War that ended in 1805. … William Eaton’s bold frontal assault on Derna with a fractious army of Arabs, disaffected Tripolitans, European mercenaries, and eight U.S. Marines punctuated the American victory as the marines ran up the Stars and Stripes over the city—the first flag-raising on hostile shores by U.S. troops.