AMERICA: A PREHISTORIC MELTING POT

   Bering Straits frozen-over or dry ground ~ BERINGIA ~ was the pathway used by Siberian tribes in traversing, discovering and inhabiting the totally so-called uninhabited Americas some 10,000 years ago: and so it was thought and taught. What once was mere guessology became ironclad history in the last century. That was what we, the over-70-crowd, were given as it was best cobbled together; that was, until older (earlier technological) stone arrows, spears and knives were discovered in the southwest U.S.

      FOLSOM chert and flint points from New Mexico, discovered in 1926, pointed to a similar time-frame as the Beringia theory, with arrow flaking technology predating the stone techniques first uncovered which helped shore up the Beringia crossing. Shortly after Folsom flints, New Mexico's CLOVIS cave primitive stone tools threw the date of crossing over to an even much earlier timeframe of some 13,000 years ago. Perplexing at first, but a new immigration theory was beginning to develop. Stone arrows, knifes, scrapers axes, spear points, etc. are a remarkable historical textbook of human ingenuity which increasingly became more ballistic-worthy, with styles indicating an ever-growing body of hunter specificity in technological stone-age tool-making. These older Clovis types have now been found and identified at several more sites in the United States.

      Virginia's Delmarva Peninsula findings in the 1980's of a SOLUTREAN flint which was lodged in a prehistoric whale's bone made Folsom and Clovis stone artifacts appear to be a later derivative technology which had to emanate from SOLUTREAN stone skills. There was enough material in the whale bone to scientifically date the kill to about 15,000 years ago. This has led to the most modern thinking on the subject of who came first to America; and is known today as the Solutrean Hypothesis.

      SOLUTREAN societies from France, Spain and Portugal (circa 21,000 ~ 15,000 years ago) were flaking flint tools in a direct line of technological upgrades from the oldest MOUSTERIAN stone tools [the most primitive] which are still being found in Northern Africa and western Europe.

      The SOLUTREAN HYPOTHESIS proposes that during one of the major ice/glacier ages, some 20,000 to 15,000 years ago, sea-hunters followed along the southern leading edge of the melting glacier from southern France and/or northern Spain all the way to the westward of the glacier's melting edge, ending up on Virginia's shores; all with the ever-present food/clothing bounty of seals, whales and an occasional woolly mammoth.

     The Stone-Tool Technological Chronological Order begins with Western Europe's MOUSTERIAN (Neanderthal); moves on to SOLUTREAN (Western Mediterranean and North African) as well as eastern shore of Virginia, U.S.; then on to CLOVIS NM and southwestern U.S.; then onward to FOLSOM, NM; thence to PALEO-NATIVE PAN-AMERICAN which evolved into ARCHAIC INDIAN; and finally to HISTORIC-NATIVE AMERICAN stone tools.

    ONE DISCOVERY, IN MY OWN DOORYARD, has given me somewhat more tolerance of the Solutrean Hypothesis. I found a flint scraper which is an exact match to the continually growing discoveries of Mousterian French flint stone artifacts which specifically include these small bubble holes. These holes were formed by gases trapped when the flint was a molten mass during volcanic formation. In searching "Mousterian flints" using any search engine, we find this particular light gray flint with small holes or bubble pockets. This French flint found here in Cutler, Maine, I believe is a Mousterian stone-age scraper, and clearly has a sharp point to use for separating skins from animals. Being left-handed, I picked it up in my left hand and it seemed logical, yet a little clumsy; however, when I put it in my right hand, it fit like a natural glove between my fingers for maximum pressure in cutting and gouging.

    RECENT DISCOVERY OF A STONE by my grandson, Ryan, 12-years-old, is quite a curious enigma. This 6-1/2 inch long black stone has many odd yet man-made doodles covering most of its surface. These scratches are quite stylistic and offer no modern designs whatsoever. It's all primitive linear scratches. Ryan found it on the shores of Little Machias Bay just last week; and we're in the process of research and communications with the Maine State Museum and Dr. Bruce Bourque.

     A white Kineo-flint of a LITTLE MACHIAS BAY ARROWHEAD sparkled into my eye one day 20 years ago as I walked down to the shore on the clam access road from the glacial moraine on the "Ridge." I picked the arrow up; and it remains my prize possession as it has "Made in ancient Maine" written all over it. The point and base broke off eons ago, coupled with countless ocean tides which have smoothed away the sharp knaps along with the breaks; but there can be no doubt that some prehistoric Native American chipped this flint for use in hunting. When I picked it up, I could not help but get the feeling that not a one of us will ever know the centuries which separated the ancient hunter's dropping it and my retrieval; but it had to be many, many, mucho, multitudinous moons ago.

    Another possible STONE CUTTER or KNIFE was found on the shores just below my cabin by my sister-in-law, Marlene, who insists it's a handy cutting tool from former times. This odd piece of fine-grained gabbro is most definitely the true underlying material of Cutler/Lubec lithic quadrant of Washington County. When holding this stone cutter in my left hand, it feels much more comfortable as a grip if I were to use it for scraping or cutting blubber from seals; although it can also fit comfortably in the right hand too. Back in the late 1970's, the late Carroll Ackley of Cutler told me that when he was a young lad that just a few years after the turn from the 1800's to 1900's, he remembers watching Passamaquoddy tribal members on the shore of Holmes Bay near the Ackley Road cooking and rendering seal blubber into oil. These tasks before modern metal tools of the 1600's reached these shores, would have been accomplished by a stone-age people using stone implements either refined by their stone-making skills; or just a convenient stone found nearby.

    A STONE FISHING SPEAR rested on the shores before my waterlogged shoes in the early 1980's while on a whitewater canoe trip down the Machias River. As Chuck Henderson and I carried on the portage at Little Falls to make camp for the night, I picked up the spear on the left bank, and turned it over and over, and back and forth repeatedly in studying the ingenuity of its' stone-age manufacturer. My suspicion is that this stone spear attached to a long pole was probably used to stab/catch salmon or bass in the Machias River.

     A LONE STONE TOOLMAKER used thousands of years of technological adaptation on the human design curve in creating any one of these wonderful relics from ancient times. One cannot but remain in awe at the skills involved in not only creating these artifacts; but you have to respect the skill to use them; and how the reward for the hunter must have been life-giving nourishment to himself, his family, clan and tribe.

    I see a NEANDERTHAL toolmaker as one of the earliest creators of a stone artifact that can still turn our heads today, and make us think of technology, tool design and purpose... even if we don't make any further connection to the Solutrean Hypothesis. However, from my perspective, the United States and the Americas was populated by several different groups of peoples coming in successive waves from what is now Western Europe, Polynesia, Japan and Siberia: All happening before Lief, Christopher and Bradford. The United States and all of America is indeed not only the MELTING POT of human immigration post 1000, 1492 & 1620 A.D., but just a continuum from our earlier PREHISTORIC MELTING POT.

SHAREHOLDER & WORKER PREROGATIVES

    Let's consider that a group of people join together in a venture. Some invest money, time and effort in this enterprise. They gather at the end of a business or fiscal accounting cycle and hold a meeting to see if there needs to be changes, tweaks, and/or a major overhaul of the venture. Who should have the right of a vote in any direction to be taken for continuity of such an enterprise?

     This is the exact/fundamental question many are asking today about what's happening to our ballots, voting machines and chad-punches in our ballot-boxes all across the United States.

     When the founding fathers argued this question, it was proposed that only natural-born, and/or citizen landholders would have the right to vote in our Republic. It was decided that only citizens: both native-born or legally naturalized citizens would be eligible to vote.

     Some of you might remember when vice president Richard M. Nixon and Senator John F. Kennedy campaigned before the electorate asking to be chosen to the high office of the United States presidency, that it was settled by Democrat Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago who delivered a spurious amount of Illinois votes in Cook County which gave Kennedy [surprise, surprise: another Democrat] the office. Nothing new in Chicago and Cook County: Dead men and women voted. Non-existing people voted. Some zephyrous creatures voted early and often.

     Here in Maine, we have out-of-state people check into motels around Portland, Lewiston, Augusta and Waterville who then vote for their candidate; and then check out of the motels the day of the election after they've voted by driving back to their home States. They're not even residents of Maine.

     We hear of stories in the South-land and in southwestern states that illegal aliens, foreigners with visas, imprisoned criminals and imaginary/invented people have been voting in state-wide and national elections.

     Here's the proposition. First of all: Only U.S. citizens who are native-born and/or legally naturalized citizens should enjoy the privilege of a vote. And to make our national venture of FREE ENTERPRISE to continue in a sound, honest, true, and fiscal direction... we should prove it to the ballot clerks that we are one or the other. Positive proof with a birth certificate and/or naturalization papers. No exceptions. No profiling. Just legal voters, freely exercising their voting rights; and thus protecting each and every American vote.

    Secondly: Let's also begin to consider the these U.S. Shareholders further prove it by presenting copies of taxes paid that they themselves have invested with local, state and federal taxes. These Americans are true shareholders in our Free Enterprise Republic who have given their labor and/or time and money. After all, labor is time and money.

    U.S. WORKERS, UNITE. We should NEVER allow illegal aliens, foreigners, criminals, political hacks, political mafia-bosses, carpetbaggers and dead people anywhere near our ballot clerks in an attempt to smudge, smear and sully a true and clean election on election day. What have we got to lose? Only our sacred national inheritance our founders gave us: One man, one vote.

     Surely Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Republicans and Greens should all be able to agree that only verifiable U.S. citizen shareholders can rightfully and legally determine the direction and outcome of our Republic's future enterprise.

CANADA LYNX: Threatened or Endangered

    
     Walking behind my cabin this morning to check out the roaring rill after our major April rainstorm, I came face to face with a Canada Lynx. He didn't hear my quiet footsteps since gurgling water was right under his tufted ears. We both stood there, frozen in place, pondering what next to do. The Lynx and I were a mere twenty feet apart. He was standing on the upper hill looking downward and facing me. I was looking uphill directly into his wolf-gray face. Reminded me somewhat of an owl too.

     I made a hissing noise, twice, and he didn't blink or move; so I lifted my walking stick, waved my arms and hissed even louder. In a split second, he turned around went back up the walking path, and darted further uphill. After about five seconds, and his getting totally out of sight, he let out three very loud 'complaining' shrieks. I believe he was telling me that he wasn't pleased with me invading his territory.

     Fish and Wildlife Service [FWS] claims that here in Maine we have little to no Canada Lynx population. But I beg to differ. Thirty years ago, our daughter said to me just before she left for school one Spring morning: "Dad, look at the big cat in our drive." I looked out the front windows and beheld a Canada Lynx sauntering across the drive without a care in this world. You can't miss identifying them, as they have black-hair tufts on the tip of their ears. Lynx have a bobbed or short tail and have very heavy-looking legs with monstrous paws. The Lynx uses his paws in snow to keep atop the mounds to run like lightning in catching snowshoe hares.

     This morning's Lynx meeting out back of the cabin was a sight I will long remember. There is something about the wildness of the Maine woods which is akin to being dirt-humbled before the vastness, variety and splendor of our Maker's designs. Didn't have a camera with me... and Lynx photos are easily accessed from the National Geographic Society.
  

     FWS in 2009 announced a revised critical habitat designation for the Canada Lynx that marks a twentyfold expansion over a Bush-era designation. The service set aside 39,000 square miles of forest in Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Washington. The decision reverses a 2006 designation that enraged environmentalists by declaring 1,841 square miles of habitat for the Lynx.

     Critical habitat was limited to lands that Lynx currently occupy or have occupied in the recent past. Conservation groups were also hoping to see critical habitat designated in sections of Colorado's southern Rockies, where state wildlife officials have been reintroducing Lynx since 1999 after the local population went extinct in the 1970s. FWS officials say they are not sure the state's habitat can support a Lynx population, and without that knowledge, it would be premature to designate the area as critical habitat.

     The Canada Lynx was listed as "threatened" on the endangered species list in 2000 following a lawsuit from environmental groups. Because the reclusive cats depend on large, contiguous tracts of boreal forests to survive, their population has plummeted as timber harvests and development have destroyed or disconnected the forests. An estimated 1,000 Lynx remain in the wild, according to FWS estimates.

     Canada lynx range from 30 to 35 inches in length and weigh between 18 and 23 pounds. The cat is distinguished by its pointy ears and its broad paws and long legs that allow it to stay above snow drifts while hunting snowshoe hares.

     Seeing one of the 1,000 remaining Canada Lynx directly around my cabin -- twice so far -- are thrills long to be remembered.

APRIL SHOWERS BRING MAY FLOWERS

   Despite soft April rains, flowers aren't what they used to be. In former times, anywhere from fifty to sixty years ago, when you bought florist blossoms, you could count on a recognizable perfume coming from each species and variety. And additionally, these flowers lasted a very long time. Onward from the 1970's, flower growers began to genetically tinker with the natural beauty in attempting to make the blossoms bigger with more stark and/or unnatural colors. As it is today, the species in each variety sold are indeed big, but their aromatic history is all but erased. Worse still, they don't hold up as they should.

   Daffodils in former days would last well over a week in a water-filled vase. Today, the daffodils which you pick up at any flower display, wither and wilt in about three days. Better instead, why not use your garden space, plant your own bulbs and reap your own harvest? Hard to imagine that daffodils of days gone by had a very strong, pleasant and bees-wax perfume to them. About the only flowers sold over the counter today that have an aroma worth taking in are hyacinths and Easter lilies.

   A church filled with flowers for weddings and funerals before the 1960's would leave their scented calling cards for days on end. Any of you older than 60 will certainly remember the sweet smell of carnations, the rich perfume of roses, and the overwhelming aroma of gardenias. Today, a room full of floral arrangements give off little to no scent whatsoever.

   Old New England dooryards are still full of the "tried-and-true" naturals. Lilac bushes, Lily of the Valley patches, a bed of double-Narcissus as well as downeast's own "Rosa Rugosa" and the Balm of Gilead trees and their budding waxy, sticky leaves filling the air with sweet scents. Come apple blossom time, from old homestead apple trees, we can still experience the wafting over the yard with the most pleasant perfumes. Even the ubiquitous alder bushes, when their catkins are dangling in the breeze, give off a sweet smell. Or how can anyone wish for a more pleasant scent than thick green woods full of balsam fir. Oh heck, even spruce gum has a very good smell to it.

   One favorite here in Little Machias district of Cutler is the multi-petal, bright-red "Rosa Rugosa" bushes which old-timers had in their dooryards. These will begin to flower, here on the coast, from early July until September if you keep pruning the flowers by collecting them for the kitchen table. The single-petal Rosa Rugosa, common all over Maine, will blossom in the colors of deep red, red, pink and white.

   The common small wild roses also are an aroma-laden gift of nature, but when you pick the closed buds and place in water indoors, they'll last only one or two days before the aromatic petals open then fall off.

   The natural flora of Maine, even if each variety has little or no aroma are still my personal favorites; and they remind New Englanders that they're living in a downeast paradise. These are: the mildly sweet orchid "Lady-slipper," or the Woods Violet. Deep in the backwoods of Little Machias is an ancient lake-bed, which is now a sphagnum moss heath; and therein grows the "Pitcher Plant" which is a carnivorous beauty; and also the rare cloudberry or "baked-apple-pie berry" On a smaller scale we often see the truly minuscule, red-budded lichen that grows on decaying wood or old cedar shingles; and how can anyone not mention the varied species of lichens on stone or the hanging/dangling moss which clings to black spruce up and down the spruce-clad coast of Maine.

   Other downeast favorites include: the purple, white and pink lupines growing along roadsides in summer; along with wild daisies, followed by fall's wild asters.

   Fireweed is another spectacular wildflower here in eastern Maine. Banks of these sparkling spikes decorate dry and otherwise parched 'useless' soils. Friends in Alaska tell us that fireweed grows and blossoms well in the the Land of the Midnight Sun, a.k.a. The Last Frontier; and Seward's Folly.

   Last but not least in the quest for memorable Maine blossoms; one can always find around old cellar holes from former homesteads -- besides lilac bushes and Rosa Rugosa -- is none other than the white and mystical Pearly Everlasting remnant patches. These seem to stand out during August as a sort of white mini-prelude to tufts of snow, come winter.

   Nonetheless, April showers do bring flowers; and hope springs eternal.

SAVING our FORESTS, PRAIRIE GRASS, LITORAL SPACES, VIEWSHEDS, PLANET, BIG CATS, SEALS, WHALES & POLAR BEARS...

     INCOMING MAIL ASKING FOR DONATIONS to save this or that usually gives me a chuckle; but not as large a laugh [with also a bitter tear to the eye] because unfortunates and dupes will get sucked into these money-grubbing schemes. Unfortunately, these days, schoolchildren are the first victims who fall for the snake oil, because they've been indoctrinated with movies, reports, and synthesized anecdotes, etc. at school which have been either subtly pushed or even peer-pressured into supple minds. Teachers today, with not one ounce of sound scientific education are peddling Al Gore's "Earth In The Balance" among other media-guesses, which are fundamentally unscientific dribble.
     ALWAYS FOLLOW THE MONEY. Not a one of us should ignore the corporate jets, air-conditioned offices in high-rent districts in major cities, lobbying expenses, travel expenses, food allowances and etc, in which these self-proclaimed do-gooders [supposedly SAVING this animal, their mother-earth or that plant] are wallowing in fiduciary excesses. It is obscene to say the least. As a side note, remember when Al Gore told us that gasoline rising to $6 or $7 per gallon would wean us off evil petroleum, the extraction of which, is marring our sacred earth mother.
     SEVERAL YEARS AGO, MY BRIDE WON an all-expenses-paid weekend vacation from a Radio Station in Ellsworth, to go to Bar Harbor near Acadia National Park for two at one of the finest hotels, located close to the College of the Atlantic [noted for its earth-sensitive so-called environmentalism]. We saw how the "other half, " or better yet, the 1-percent lives. At breakfast-time, we sauntered over to another seaside adjoining mansion to imbibe in fresh squeezed juices, the rarest Colombian coffee and specially prepared eggs, waffles, pancakes, and muffins. The place was -- our unfortunate luck -- crawling with pine-cone crunchers, tree-huggers, and enviro-freaks. They were living in the lap of luxury at the expense the many small donations from hard-working people who had been fooled into thinking every penny of their contributions was going to save Smokey the Bear, Sammy the Seal, Willy the Whale or whatever other animal, planet, or plant one could envision. When in fact, this was just yet another "conference" which these spoiled viro-vendors use to indulge themselves in by mutually stroking each other with ultra-Gaea conservationist intonations and incantations pivoting around their dogmatic earth-religion-worship.
     WHEN THINKING OF "EARTH FIRST"... wrap your discerning minds around a bumper sticker which we all see from time to time. Average thinking people have figured these Earth First folks for sure. The sticker to most of us should read: "Earth First, We'll Log The Other Planets Later." I believe that if but one vaccine dose was left on earth which could be used to save a life, and the choice were between an Atlantic Puffin or a little sick child... the Earth First extremists would give it to the puffin and watch the little child die.
     PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals], which most rational humans rather think of as: People Eating Tasty Animals, which we do discern that eating the protein from animals is as natural as natural can be for us human beings, which is species perfect along with other natural omnivores on the planet. As an example: a lobster's brain is the same size as a mosquito's brain; so go ahead with wild abandon, and boil up a couple bugs for suppah. There have additionally been scientific studies which clearly indicate that carrots actually feel vegetarian-chemical pain when uprooted. Put that in your PETA pipe and smoke it.
     ALL THE LAND PRESERVERS AND SAVERS... continually chant the mantra that not enough of the United States is "saved." Hard fact, there is actually more forested land today in the United States than there was when Christopher Columbus tippy-toed onto Guanahani Island in 1492. Remember, native Americans purposefully burned the entire mid-western and western states every year or so, to keep prairie grazing fresh for buffalo and other native herbivores. Here in Maine, most of the Pine Tree State is either preserved, saved, conserved, and/or pickled for all eternity and then-some by the federal government, state government, Appalachian Trail, a multitude of Conservation Trusts, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, National Park Service, state parks, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Ducks Unlimited, Island Preservation System, Land Trust Complexes, National Wildlife Refuges, National, State and Private Preserves, Conservation Easements, and etc. Nonetheless, Roxanne Quimby of Bert's Bees is instigating a brand new National Park idea to gobble a big chunk out of the middle of Maine. She represents the Brunhilda with horns in coalition with the other marauding Enviro-Valkyries who want to destroy our productive woodlands from being productively renewable; and then becoming dead tourist museums. The other Valkyries include groups such as: "Save the Coyotes", "Save the Wolves", "Save the Furbisher Lousewort", "Save the Lichen", "Save the Spotted Owl", "Save the Snail-darter", "Save the Appalachian Trail from human beings", "Save Mt. Katahdin trails from human beings", "Save Heaths from human beings" or "Save Sears Island from human beings", to name just a few.
     "SAVE THE POLAR BEAR" SAVIORS just got caught with egg on their face. Turns out there are many more polar bears in the wild than the purposefully under-reported few they have thusfar been claiming, in order to create the endangered species scenario and coeval yet necessary money-collecting scheme.
     WHAT SEEMS TO EVADE MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL SAVIORS is that the earth is an ever changing, evolving globe in a galaxy of ever expanding creation. Differing and countless species come and go. Species extinction itself IS A NATURAL PROCESS. Global cooling and global warming are yet just more natural cycles which continue to come and go; in which we human beings -- basically earth-affecting piss-ants -- can do little to nothing in bringing about or stopping. It's all natural and part of earth's own, self-sustaining, and created inter-environmentally meshing genius
     PRESIDENT OBAMA credited as being a thinker, has swallowed the electric car hogwash. The Chevy "Volt" is just the beginning in the unraveling of electric cars. Recharging electric cars using electrical grids that burn any form of fossil fuel, including coal, are less efficient, and also outputs a large carbon footprint. It's better to use gasoline. Here in Maine, our electricity from BANGOR HYDRO ELECTRIC is produced by burning oil which is shipped up the Penobscot River. Some "hydro" that!
     MOST CONTRARY OF ALL are the environmental squeelers who don't want wind turbines near their counties, towns, or viewsheds. They publicly worship wind and solar power; but the truth be told, Not In Their Own Back Yards.
     THIS CURRENT CROP OF "SAVIORS" OF THE EARTH have one viewpoint fairly much agreed upon. They generally deny that Jesus Christ of Nazareth SAVED the earth and all of us inhabitants once and for all on a terrible Friday upon Calvary's hill back in 33 A.D. To these current saviors of whatever, it's supposed to be up to us lowly plebians in handing over our hard-earned pennies to their modern charades about SAVING the earth or anything else they concoct. Rather than being hornswoggled, count me among those who firmly believe in the plain-spoken wisdom of Mahalia Jackson who sang the old spiritual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0Tz0PZm3og&feature=related "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands."

THE SKY IS FALLING SAYS CHICKEN LITTLE: Since the end of the world draws near, repent!!!

     THE CARTOON WE'VE ALL SEEN of a man carrying a sign reading "Repent, the End is Near" is used oftentimes in magazines and periodicals. We can correctly predict this is the best definition of the word 'ubiquitous.' Among the earliest end-of-time predictors was Saint Malachy [1094 - 1148] writing a complete list of 112 future Bishops of Rome [Popes] from 1139 until the end of the world. According to Malachy, using short Latin phrases, the current Pope, Benedict XVI, is second to last; with the last being: "Petrus Romanus" or Peter the Roman, whose very pontificate is the imminent-harbinger of Rome's and the world's destruction.

     NOSTRADAMUS' QUATRAINS written by Michel de Nostredame [1503 - 1566], also in Latin, can easily be interpreted and reinterpreted to mean just about anything; and since they're jumbled all about in no chronological order... who can actually gather any time-frame logic to them?

     SIR ISAAC NEWTON [1643 - 1727] is noted for his scientific records; however, he also was an ardent student of Hebrew/Jewish prophecy as found in the Old Testament. Newton predicted that the earth we live on will come to an end in the year 2060 A.D. Advisory note: Don't hold your breath.

     THEN CAME WILLIAM MILLER [1782 - 1849], a Baptist preacher and believer in Adventism predicting that October 22, 1844 would be the end of the world. "Millerites" and other followers of Miller believed in his predicted 'end' so they sold all their possessions and waited for October 22. The day is known today as the "Day of Great Disappointment." Many Millerites were disillusioned and became either Seventh-day Adventists or gave up Adventism altogether. A substantial number of Millerites became Quakers.

     WHO CAN FORGET HAROLD EGBERT CAMPING [1921 - 2011] the American Christian radio broadcaster who predicted the world would end on May 21, 1988, then again on September 6, 1994; and finally on October 21, 2011. Mr. Camping's personal end came at the age of 89 on May 21, 2011, a day he did not predict. It should be understood that the predicting business is a fairly dicey jab.

     MAYAN CALENDAR followers are presently reminding us all that the end of the world will be December 21, 2012. Think of it as only about 200 more shopping days until DOOMSDAY. The background for this doomsday prediction is found in Mexico's state of Tobasco in the city of Villahermosa inside El Museo Regional de Anthropologia de Carlos Pellicer Camara. Upstairs in this museum rests three rectangular slab-stones depicting "Lord Jaguar" Ahau Balam who was born in 612, A.D. and ruled from 644 to 679 A.D. The actual doomsday prediction is taken from the final passage of the stone figures which boil down to eight carved characters that are crumbled and not very clear. They are most currently interpreted as: "The thirteenth baktun will end on the day 4 Ajaw; three K'ank'in; Will occur the descent of the god Bolom Hokte." Better and more esoterically soaked brains than most of us make this final connection between doomsday and the descent of Bolom Hokte, whoever he is. Search me how this forebodes the end of earth...

    OR IF YOU LISTEN TO PILLOW TALK as I do from my bride of 44 years who is a registered Republican: The world will end as we know it during the late hours of November 6, 2012 if Barack Hussein Obama proclaims he's been reelected president.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN . . . . . (1809 ~ 1865)

     Most schoolchildren in the United States recognize the image, and know some portions or brief history about our nation's sixteenth President: that of the boychild Abraham being born in a log cabin on the 12th of February during a blizzard in Kentucky; of his lacking formal schooling; and yet, his rising like cream to the top; and his being elected President of the United States for two terms. His weary and troubled years in the White House were completely soaked, through and through, by the blood-filled War of Rebellion [1860-1865].

     What most do not know about Lincoln was that despite his mother's death [Nancy Hanks Lincoln] of milk-fever when Abraham was 11-years-old; losing his first true love [Ann Rutledge] when he was in his twenties; marrying Mary Todd Lincoln an extremely high strung, shopaholic (some claimed insane); losing two of his young sons [Edward and William] from childhood diseases; the death of his only sibling a sister [Sarah Lincoln Grigsby]; and coupled with his own melancholic nature -- all the while -- dealing with one incompetent general after another during our nation's bloodbath of the War of Rebellion [Civil War] which almost tore our nation in twain... was that Abraham Lincoln loved and retold anecdotes, jokes or funny stories at every possible turn. It was a balm to his tortured psyche and sorrow-filled soul; it made his life less unbearable.

     Carl Sandburg in 1959, addressing a joint session of Congress said: "Not often in the story of mankind does a man arrive on earth who is both steel and velvet, who holds in his heart and mind the paradox of terrible storm and peace unspeakable and perfect. Here and there across the centuries come reports of men alleged to have these contrasts. And the incomparable Abraham Lincoln... is an approach if not the perfect realization of this character." And yet, it was Lincoln's constant search for humorous stories, anecdotes, and jokes which puzzled cabinet members of his administration.

     Artemus Ward, a pen-name of Charles Farrar Browne [1834-1867] of Waterford, Maine was Lincoln's favorite humorist. Artemus Ward is not to be confused with Major General Artemas Ward [1727-1800] of the American Revolution. Many officials in the Lincoln Administration admonished the President repeatedly about his habitual diversion of reading and re-reading Artemus Ward's writing.

     Lincoln's favorite anecdotes were usually about himself. He relished poking fun at himself. During his circuit lawyer days in Illinois while riding on a horse path and meeting an elderly woman on the same path was often told by the President. Lincoln said he stopped his horse and stepped aside off the path so the woman, also on horseback, could easily pass. The woman stopped and looked Lincoln in the eye and said: "Sir, I believe you are the ugliest man I have ever seen." Lincoln replied, "Ma'am, there's very little I can do about that." She then proclaimed: "You could stay home more often."

   Lincoln, the man of steel and velvet, used humor to also explain complex problems, or just illustrate and clarify the obvious. For example, directly after the Union's horrendous loss at Antietam, owing to McClellan's inaction; the President then visited the camp with his friend, O. M. Hatch of Illinois. As they stood on the summit of a nearby hill overlooking the encampment, Mr. Lincoln asked: "Hatch, Hatch, what is all this?"
     "Why," answered Mr. Hatch, "that is the Army of the Potomac."
     "No, Hatch, no," said Lincoln; "that is General McClellan's body-guard."

   Abraham Lincoln, the man of steel and velvet, of sorrow and mirth, who saved the Union and abolished slavery, also changed our nation from plural to singular [i.e. the United States are ... becoming: the United States is ... ] Or as Secretary Stanton said so well: "Now he belongs to the ages."

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS & BUCKET LIST

Not being someone who makes New Year's resolutions, the plan is to acknowledge and reconsider places on earth which are personally the most memorable, which also prove that our fellow human beings can sometimes actually touch genius and create impressive items of timelessness. The New Year holiday usually sees predictions, along with lists of popular resolutions. However, the following international list is of incredible creations by God and man which are on my personal 'bucket-list' [a list of desired events in which to participate; and in this overview, of a 'bakers-dozen' places to be seen before kicking the bucket]. Most of the following are crossed off, while a few are still to do:

UNITED STATES: Sinking Spring Farm in Hodgenville, Kentucky is a National Historic Site which houses the birthplace log cabin of Abraham Lincoln. The cabin, built before 1809, is housed in a neoclassical stone memorial/temple. However, the bucket-worthy highlight of this beautiful homestead on earth is the actual sinking spring which still trickles springwater. It's the same water from the ancient Kentucky bedrock which nourished infant Abraham Lincoln for the first few years of his life. Took my family here back in the mid-eighties.

CANADA'S ST. FRANCIS-XAVIER MISSION: Wherein is found the burial site of Kateri Tekakwitha. She was an Algonquian-Iroquois maiden born in 1656 at Auriesville, in upstate New York, whose dying words on April 17, 1680 in Kahnawake, Quebec were "Jesus, I Love You" when she breathed her last at the tender age of 24. Those present near her deathbed witnessed Kateri's extremely Smallpox-scarred face instantly and miraculously change into the most peaches-and-cream complexion for which any young lady could ever hope. The Catholic Church and presiding Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI, will publicly proclaim her a canonized Saint in a few months. Kahnawake Indian settlement just south and across the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal is still on my bucket list to visit.

ENGLAND'S STONEHENGE is by far the most intriguingly eerie yet inspiring stone monument left from ancient peoples of the British Isles predating Angles, Saxons, Norse and Normans. The most believable scientific/historic explanation so far is that the site was used by hunter/gatherers for understanding and or defining life, death, and mysticism by rituals of using drums with repetitive echo-force for mesmerizing participants in the ceremonies performed for reverberation within the large megalithic stonework. I walked away from this site, on foot, all the way to Salisbury with countless questions; and has since then, evoked even more questions. I suppose they'll never be answered.

AUSTRALIA'S ULURU, or AYERS ROCK, a naturally reddish and overlarge sandstone outcropping in the Northern Territory of central Australia calls to me. Many tourists intend to climb it; however the Anango natives consider their Uluru as a sacred tribal precinct which they never climb; and they kindly ask that tourists also do not climb. Just to be near the site listening to Australian aboriginal musicians playing their native tunes on traditional instruments would do me fine; and is still on the bucket list.

GERMANY'S COLOGNE CATHEDRAL (Koln Dom) is the superlative of all Gothic architecture. Each doorway, outer buttress, arch, vault, ceilings, pillars: the whole of this Christian stone monumental house of worship is pure Gothic in every sense of the word. Superlatively-massive size yet perfect proportions lend it to giving you a refreshing and airy sensation not found in almost every other man-made stone structure in the world. I crawled up inside the south [open-to-the-air] spire, and braved a gale upon ascending into the heights.

INDIA excites the imagination for sure. Of all the places shown in tourist films about India, and in books on travel, the most desirable place for my feet to walk within and my eyes to feast upon are the tombs of Mumtaz Mahal and her devoted and worshipful husband, Shah Jehan. Theirs is a resting place, side by side, which is a symbol of undying love and affection. Both rectangular, decorated tombs lie in hard stone which is the encased and decorated tribute to marital love: a marble mausoleum known as the Taj Mahal.

ITALY'S MARBLE STATUE OF MOSES which can be found in one of Rome's lesser-known churches. It's off the beaten path for tourists. Inside San Pietro in Vincolo (Saint Peter in Chains) which actually houses the chains with which the Apostle Peter was shackled. This Church also is home to a magnificent larger-than-life statue of the Old Testament's Prophet Moses seated, carved by Michelangelo. I stood before this cold stone figure, eyes riveted to the veins in Moses' hands, almost breathless for what I imagined would be an instant when surely a pulse could soon be seen throbbing in the veins of those strong hands. Very lifelike indeed.

FRANCE'S SAINTE CHAPELLE is located just a short walk from Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris with its famous flying buttresses; however Sainte Chapelle is more impressive because when you're inside, you believe the entire roof of this lacework Gothic structure is suspended in air by endless curtains of stained glass. As you stand inside, with mouth open, you feel as though you're actually suspended inside a richly colorful and sparkling stained-glass container. I think of it as the "French Jewel Box."

SPAIN'S LA SAGRADA FAMILIA BASILICA in Barcelona designed and begun by Antonio Gaudi defies description. This overwhelmingly fantastic architecture best shouts out an in-your-face definition of the word 'gaudy,' yet its scope becomes beautiful in the full context as the eye attempts to take in its oversized and mythically designed curves. A Navy buddy and I visited this place back in 1966 when it was in the mid-stages of being built; and it boggled my mind then as totally other-worldly; and so I won't even attempt to convey what it looks like. The news media released press accounts that it is now somewhat more finished; and was consecrated as a fully functional house of worship just last year.

RUSSIA'S TRETYAKOV ART GALLERY in Moscow displays two of the finest icons ever painted on wood. Andrei Rublev (1360 - 1430) the artist, used techniques from Byzantium for his Theotokos of Vladimir and the Trinity which explain, in just these two images, the entire heart and soul of Russia and the Russian people. Having seen only photos in artbooks and on the Internet, I find Rublev's painted faces and eyes explain the sorrow and suffering of these Slavic people not only under the Czars but as the portend of brutal treatment by Bolsheviks, Soviets, and Lenin/Stalin communist overlords. Unfortunately however, with just a slight breath of hope with the fall of Russia's communism, Vladimir Putin is presently beginning to repeat the former czarist stranglehold of bygone centuries. But at least we can now begin to understand the fatalistic resignation of starotrepsy [suffering] Russian royal brothers Boris and Gleb who were totally resigned in accepting being put to death by their own uncle's greed to sit on the Czarist throne of Russia. Let's hope the Vladimir Theotokos can still change the KGB-coldblooded-heart of Vladimir Putin.

DENMARK'S CAPITOL OF COPENHAGEN. This Nordic kingdom and wonderfully happy town is the complete and total vacation package for the aspiring traveler. Anywhere you visit in Copenhagen will leave you refreshed. Whether it's the breweries, restaurants, recreation park of Tivoli, or the fish market; you'll experience the ease and reason why this northern climate of an ancient human settlement is just plain warm and loving, even in wintertime. Antique shops here give you the best artwork of Nordic folk-impressions and craftsmanship as well as the most modern designs which are also a hallmark of the Danes. It's those friendly Danes themselves which warm the welcome. Oh, and the cheeses... And don't forget to visit the bronze mermaid in Copenhagen's harbor as she sits atop a rock while seawater washes over her leggy fins. I visited her close-up one wintry day by walking over frozen seacakes.

ARUBA'S NATURAL BRIDGE with a strong incoming tide. As of late, the two missing young ladies have removed some of this Caribbean pearl's luster; however, the native Papiamento folks [who share native South American and Caribbean Indian blood] are very warmhearted and accommodating. The beaches are among the finest in the world, and the warm ocean water is always a tempting emerald green. The natural bridge with a strong incoming tide will impress the most jaded tourist. The bride and I had but one week's stay, basking on the soft crushed-seashell Manchebo Beach; and we loathed leaving this island paradise.

NEW ZEALAND. This is still on the "to do" list. Having only seen travelogues on cable television, I'm dreaming of farms full of fragrant orchids, stark mountainside views and ocean vistas in this island nation. Have to begin searching the Internet. "Happy Trails" to those of you who enjoy traveling; especially if your headed to places such as L'Anse-aux-Meadows in Newfoundland, Easter Island, Angkor Wat, the Galapagos, Machu-Picchu or the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island. And how about fishing in Alaska on the Kenai River for Chinook salmon, then bringing the fresh catch back to your lodge, and feeding your family. Until the day I hook and cook a Chinook, guess I'll just wait until our local Shiretown grocer gets a fresh shipment of Alaskan salmon. Ultimately however, it ends up being the unexpected -- the unplanned experiences -- while traveling which rewards us with the most unforgettable moments. Bon Voyage!

HOLY CHRIST-MASS & Merry Christmas too

     When Christmas rolls around, some people spool out endless strings of lights; go on a frenzied shopping binge; cook enough rich food to clog the arteries of an entire army battalion; and wrap a gazillion gifts to stack under an over-glamorized evergreen tree. The December 25th Holy Day has become for them a heathen holiday resembling some pagan Bacchanalia of ancient Rome wherein wallowing in both varnished and unvarnished dialectical materialism is de rigueur.
     At the end of the day, when all the fancy-wrapped packages have been ripped to smithereens, when the sodium-bicarbonate eases the belching only somewhat, and the batteries are on their last spark, these hedonists might wonder: Is this all there is? Is this what life is about? Is this the real meaning of, and ultimate reason for, Christmas? Then again, they might not even conjure up such cogent questions; but rather, plan next year's holiday with more rabid imagination and phantasmagorical intensity.
     Christ-Mass [or the modern usage: 'Christmas'] is celebrated on December 25th to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ in a stable at Bethlehem in the Holy Land. The day is about not only remembering the gift of our Creator in giving us His only Son as our Savior; but in sharing that Divine love with our fellow Christian believers as well as the entire world; and in a more personal way, for us to draw nearer in our lives to the pattern which Jesus Christ gave us while He walked the dusty pathways of Nazareth, Capernaum, Bethsaida, Jerusalem, and Emmaus by accepting Him as our Savior, and living up to His ideals as given us in the Holy Bible.
     The greatest gifts from Christmastide are the birth, life, teaching, suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, born in Bethlehem. Today, we can still visit the Church of the Nativity in the little town of Bethlehem. Under the present church which is Christianity's oldest shrine and most sacred place, we will find the grotto, the place where Jesus (who said He is "the way, and the truth, and the life") was born on earth as one of us, His creatures; to show us and lead us on to His way into eternity. In the recess of that grotto, on the marbleized floor, is a silver star which tradition from the first century holds is the spot where Jesus was born. Ah yes, for you doubting Thomases: there is an eternity. And indeed additionally, there is the Judgment Seat of God. We all will ultimately have to own up to who we truly are and what we've accomplished.
     On that still night two thousand and eleven years ago, when shepherds saw a star and heard angels sing praises to God concerning the birthing event in the humble village of Bethlehem, these livestock-tenders were the first to actually visit that infant child who was born into our world, who is Christ the Lord.
     So to all readers, wherever you live: Here is a forthright Christmas wish from the billions of us who celebrate Christ's Mass in the dark of Christmas Eve or wee hours of December 25th... that you and your loved ones may draw your hearts and minds closer to the reason for the birth of Christ, and to Jesus Christ Himself. Merry Christmas for sure; but moreover, wishing every last one of you the choicest blessings from our Creator and Savior.

SOME PEOPLE DON'T BELIEVE IN SANTA. Hey, it's a free country; believe what you like.

BUT... "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." The Sept. 21, 1897 New York Sun editorial gave us this famous line in answer to a little girl's questioning Santa's existence. The newsman wasn't off the mark either. Historians know Nicholas was born  in 270 A.D., and became Bishop of Myra in Asia Minor. Bishop Nicholas died on December 6, 343 A.D. and was buried in his Cathedral at Myra. In 1087 A.D., Christians transferred his remains to Bari, Italy because of the Muslim Seljuk conquest of Asia Minor; after which, this Islamic over-lordship eventually became known as the Islamic nation of Turkey. The remains of Bishop Nicholas' Cathedral, and his first burial site is now a tourist attraction maintained by the Turkish tourist industry in Demre [Turkish name for Myra]. Turks claim it to be Santa Claus' home-base. At any rate, December 6th is still celebrated all around the Christian world as Saint Nicholas Day.

    CHRISTIANS: Anglican, Catholic, Congregational, Episcopal, Evangelische, Lutheran, Methodist-Episcopal, Orthodox and Protestant Episcopal congregants still prayerfully recite the "Apostle's Creed" wherein the Apostles taught followers of Jesus Christ about the "communion of saints;" meaning average Christians can ask family members and/or Christian members on the other side [i.e. Saints] for prayers. According to ancient Christian belief, the saintly Bishop Nicholas is living on the other shore; and we can communicate [communion of saints] with him, presently in 2011.

     SAINT NICHOLAS over the past 17 centuries also became lovingly known as Kris Kringle, as well as Sant Nicklaus and Sinterklaas which has linguistically morphed into Santa Claus. Some people in English-speaking nations loved the duplex idea of Father Christmas; and the Communist atheists of Russia -- forced by their own dogmatic atheism of intolerance and rejection of God and spirituality -- had to invent Father Frost as a replacement for Christianity's Nicholas.

     THE SANTA CLAUS of our modern era -- especially over the past century -- acquired the furry-edging on the red Bishop's tunic. Santa's Bishop Miter became a red hat with furry pompom at the end. The Santa Claus legend has also grown into a fable well beyond logic too. Santa now lives at the North Pole with elves who make toys for Christmas presents. Jolly Old Saint Nick flies around the world in a sleigh powered by eight named reindeer, headed by Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer guiding the way. Santa slips down the chimney to leave his presents under the Christmas tree. He eats children's offerings of cookies and milk, then tweaks his nose and flies back up the chimney and into his sleigh, onward to the next house. In the spirit of being a believer in what the good Saint Nicholas can do, and what his persona might do... here's my 2011 Wish List Letter to Santa:

DEAR SANTA, I didn't leave you any cookies and milk next to my woodstove [which incidentally burns only organically grown wood pellets] because Michelle Obama is teaching us to eat mostly arugula and tofu; plus I've seen drawings of you which Coca Cola has published for decades; and frankly Santa, you are obese. And another thing; I hope all my energy-saving solar panels from Solyndra for my hot water tank and deepfreeze on the roof didn't cause too much of a landing problem for your sleigh, eight reindeer or Rudolph. And a couple of questions too: Why don't you include antelope, caribou, springbok and whitetail deer into the mix of your transportation? Don't you believe in species diversity? And one word of advice too: You should be distributing toy-cars and trucks to girls, and dolls or toy-stoves to boys. From now on, you better intermix gender specific toys, because college professors and politically-corrected psychologists tell us there's absolutely no difference between boys and girls. A few more questions too: is it true you pack heat when you land in crime-infested neighborhoods? Who do you think you are? Mr. Fast and Furious? Anyway, here is my wish list for Christmas:

     1.) PLEASE GIVE ME a brand new idea what to do with my 16-year-old, re-gifted fruitcake. I've used it for an anchor and as a doorstop. It's really indestructible; even mold won't grow on it. Re-gifting never works either, it always comes back.

     2.) CAN YOU GIVE ME a lifetime membership to PETA? I want to be a card-carrying member of PETA: NOT the loony-tune outfit that tortures tofu, is cruel to carrots, pains parsley, bashes Bulgar-wheat and sells soy sauces. I mean the real PETA: the People Eating Tasty Animals organization.

     3.) I WOULD LIKE a 40-m.p.g. Ford product. Although normally I'm a Chevy and GM guy, it has to be admitted: Ford has not willingly become an economic burden or slave for government plantation masters in Washington, D.C.

     4.) I NEED TV COMMERCIALS around lunchtime and suppertime that don't make me blush, or turn my stomach. No more sickening side effects of drugs, explicit advice for erections lasting longer than four hours, nor absorbency capabilities of sanitary napkins. Same goes for tissue softness comparisons for butt-wipe. Bodily functions make it difficult to hold down my arugula. Although in all honesty, if any species of arugula -- whether Arctic, Saharan or Chilean -- landed on my plate, I still couldn't identify which was which.

     5.) WOULD IT BE POSSIBLE that you might kindly put gorilla tape securely on Joe Biden, Gloria Alred and Snooky's mouths?

     Thank you Santa, that's not such a long list, nor too much to ask. I've basically been a very good boy; except for when I willingly burned styrofoam to see if it enlarged the ozone hole; and especially the one time I voted for George McGovern. Oops, and I must confess, I find it hard to believe in global warming since I've purposely avoided Al Gore's "Earth in the Balance" movie/torture. But all in all, Santa, I've cancelled any bad energy wastefulness [and will actually erase my carbon footprint from now on] since my Christmas Tree will be lighted only with energy-saving LED lights made by forced child-labor in China; and I bought them at Walmart too. This is in addition to the Solyndra panels, organic pellets, and also, an old "Hudson Bay" woolen blanket.

                                                         You can call me:
                                                         Environmentally-bodacious Bob

THANKSGIVING DAY = AMERICAN FEAST or turkey-day chowdown, eyes glued to idiot box.

     A mid-east Arab gentlemen, a few years ago, wrote an editorial in the Bangor Daily News about what he experienced in American homes during several Thanksgiving Day dinners. He observed that it was quite evident we Americans consider Thanksgiving Day as a time to watch endless hours of football while engaged in a relentless stuffing of faces with drinks, turkey and snacks. He was surprised that this specifically American-only holiday was such an irreligious festival of gluttony and hedonism. In his defense, it should be admitted, that some Americans do celebrate the popular heathen feast of "turkey-day" (with no intent to thank our Maker whatsoever); and where the day is primarily about being a TV tackle-fest addict becoming a food inhaling machine, while putting forth some kind of thankful mental mode which can be credited merely to a healthy paycheck, good education, good genes, a beneficent government and a bounteous landscape that produces all kinds of food, national wealth, comfortable homes and good-looking automobiles. Oh, how obscenely wrong this is. The Arab gentlemen based his misinterpretation of our national holiday upon one or several historically-challenged and/or just plain ignorant families.

THANKSGIVING DAY is a celebration which many of us continue to observe with true foundational reasons using historical dishes and recipes in creating a solid traditional and religiously solemn feast. And it might be added, in so doing, we continue what was begun in 1621 on our shores in gaining a full heart and satisfied mind by retaining excellent familial -- yet God-centered -- practices. Thanksgiving to God is a continuum of our core American place in history; and thus, we actually then bequeath to our children and grandchildren an activity of incalculable value. To validate this point: The following historic documents speak for themselves:

THE NOVEMBER 11th, 1620 MAYFLOWER COMPACT: "In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."
     /signatures/ "John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, Isaac Allerton, Myles Standish, John Alden, Samuel Fuller, Christopher Martin, William Mullins, William White, Richard Warren, John Howland, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Tilley, John Tilley, Francis Cooke, Thomas Rogers, Thomas Tinker, John Rigsdale, Edward Fuller, John Turner, Francis Eaton, James Chilton John Crackstone, John Billington, Moses Fletcher, John Goodman, Degory Priest, Thomas Willliams, Gilbert Winslow, Edmund Margesson, Peter Brown, Richard Britteridge, George Soule, Richard Clarke, Richard Gardinar, John Allerton, Thomas English, Edward Doty, Edward Leister."

DEAR READER: Don't be afraid to read the awkward old English words and phrases. You may be tempted to skip over some of it; or worse, not even read these valuable first-hand, eye-witness accounts and documents of our foundation as a nation; but then, you place yourself at risk of being ignorant of our American heritage. These accounts almost 400 years old, one over 200, and another over 100 are the real deal. It's what, when, where, who and why we Americans are Americans.

1st THANKSGIVING AT PLYMOUTH: NOVEMBER, 1621: Governor Bradford wrote of the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving Feast this way: "For summer being done, all things stand upon them with a weather-beaten face; and the whole countrie, full of woods and thickets, represented a wild and savage hue. If they looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which they had passed, and was now as a maine barr and golfe to separate them from all the civill parts of the world. What could now sustaine them but the spirite of God and his grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: 'Our Fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this willderness; but they cried unto the Lord, and he heard their voyce, and looked on their adversitie. Let them therefore praise the Lord, because he is good, and his mercies endure for ever'."
     Bradford wrote of the First Thanksgiving Feast being held in November of 1621 which was about celebrating the arrival of the ship FORTUNE with provisions; the gathering of a fair harvest; and a: "Great store of wild Turkies, which they took many besides venison. At which time amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms [my emphasis], many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest, their greatest king, Massasoyt, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted."

1st THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION: NOV. 29th, 1623: "Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience."
     "Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives, and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the daytime, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings."
 /s/ "William Bradford
Ye Governor of Ye Colony"

PRES. WASHINGTON'S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION:

"New York, 3 October 1789
 "By the President of the United States of America, a Proclamation.
      "Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor -- and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
     "Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be -- That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks -- for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation -- for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war -- for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed -- for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted -- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us. And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions -- to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually -- to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed -- to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord -- To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us -- and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best."
      "Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789."
 /s/ "Go: Washington"

PRES. LINCOLN'S 1863 THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION: 
"By the President of the United States of America. A Proclamation.

     "The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom."
     "No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."
     "In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the Unites States the Eighty-eighth."
 /s/ "Abraham Lincoln"

HISTORIC & TRADITIONAL THANKSGIVING DINNERS should then include: roast turkey, venison, clams, oysters, cranberries, beans, corn, squash and pumpkin, [with perhaps some target-practice to exercise our arms]; but above all, the gathering should include bowed or uplifted heads in a prayer of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father Who so bounteously bestows His blessings upon our nation. The choice is ours: Either just another high-caloric, non-event, chowdown, OR: a true thanksgiving prayer to God with an authentic American Thanksgiving Dinner acknowledging His Divine Providence in our nation's history and a supplication for His continued sustenance.

VETERANS DAY ~ NOVEMBER 11, 2011

VETERANS DAY this year will see many of us still keeping the oldest tradition of standing at attention, facing east towards our National Cemeteries overseas in Europe, for one minute in honoring all our doughboys who gave their lives in WWI. This will happen at the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month, this year in the 11th year of our millennium.
       It was in 1918, at 11:00 o'clock on November 11th that the Armistice ending WWI was signed by Germany at Versailles. Up until 1954, every American observed ARMISTICE DAY by the minute of silence; wearing red poppies which grow in Flanders Fields [or cloth poppies]; and also by reading or reciting "In Flanders Fields" by John McCrae. 

          IN FLANDERS FIELDS
                   by John McCrae

                    In Flanders fields the poppies blow
                    Between the crosses, row on row,
                    That mark our place; and in the sky
                    The larks, still bravely singing, fly
                    Scarce heard amid the guns below.

                    We are the Dead. Short days ago
                    We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
                    Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
                    In Flanders fields.

                    Take up our quarrel with the foe:
                    To you from failing hands we throw
                    The torch; be yours to hold it high.
                    If ye break faith with us who die
                    We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
                    In Flanders fields.

VETERANS DAY since 1954, when the U.S. Congress changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day; November 11th is now the day to honor all Veterans who have served our nation in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, National Guard, Marines, Navy and Reserves. To all you Veterans, all you men and women who served in the military: We honor you; we love you; and we salute you. Thank you for your service.
                   

ALBERT EINSTEIN'S PERSONAL VIEWS

Nine quotes from Albert Einstein (Great Quotes from Great Leaders, Published by Simple Truths, Naperville, IL, 2007).

1.) "There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

2.) “It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day. Never lose a holy curiosity.”

3.) “The only real valuable thing is intuition.” 

4.) "Imagination is more important than knowledge.” 

5.) “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” 

6.) “Truth is what stands the test of experience.”

7.) “The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions; only this can give beauty and dignity to life.”

Despite growing up as a Jew, Einstein was neither practicing nor orthodox in his Jewish faith. He does however, admit to being:

8.) “Enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene” (What Life Means to Einstein: An Interview by George Sylvester Viereck, The Saturday Evening Post, Oct. 26, 1929, p. 17) in which Einstein had the following to say about Jesus.

George Viereck: “You accept the historical existence of Jesus?”

9.) Einstein answered: “Unquestionably. No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life. No man can deny the fact that Jesus existed, nor that his sayings are beautiful. Even if some of them have been said before, no one has expressed them so divinely as he.”

OCCUPYING WALL STREET, NYC and ETC.

     FOR THOSE OF US OLD ENOUGH, we remember countless young people, college students, political hacks and idealistic dreamers who gathered together occupying various spaces in our nation to protest our government, and to demand an immediate end of the Vietnam War. We thought we saw it all; but then we had to endure yet again when Woodstock youth, during the flower-power days, were infected with the perfected ideals unreachable by the human species, but somehow always in sight through their bloodshot eyes, broken eardrums and marijuana induced grey matter. And quite a few decades have passed without restless natives; but: Here we go again with the OCCUPY WALL STREET [O.W.S.] gang. Those so inclined this time around have gathered around Wall Street and other cities, this two-thousand and eleventh year of our Lord to protest American bankers, American insurance agencies, American companies, American corporations, American billionaires, American investors, American capitalists, American capitalism itself, American millionaires, American achievers, hardworking Americans; and also for OWS to excoriate those of us Americans who don't worship socialism, obamanomics, communism, mind-altering powders, liquids and etc, collectivism, obamacare, monetary redistribution, mediocrity and failure.

     OCCUPY WALL STREET crowd also contains some of our nation's latest ne'er-do-wells, which even the dirt beneath their fingernails has been ill gotten. One criminal from Connecticut is hiding in plain sight from warrants issued in that State. He luxuriates with free food and drugs as do so many others surrounding Wall Street. As reported in the press, Dave, 24, is a scrawny, unshaven miscreant in filthy clothes. He boasts: "I got warrants. I'm running from the law. I'm not even supposed to be here, but it's as good a spot as any to hide. I've been smoking and drinking in here for eight days now. I need to get some methadone. Every day, I wake up, and I'm f----d up."

     DRUGS ARE ALL AROUND, a NY Post reporter discovered when he was offered pot for $15 and heroin for $10. The reporter also noted that another OWS guy "was found charging people $5 to use the McDonald's bathroom. He was on LSD or high on something." There is a sort of romance by this youngest generation who've been brainwashed by the media's repeated and endless sanctification of "Woodstock;" and so inculcated with the belief that Woodstock changed the world for the better. You'll see among the crowd thousands upon thousands of cellphones, blackberries, ipods, cameras, high-end laptops, et al... so that nobody is fooled into thinking these hip and tech-savvy occupiers are perhaps the most destitute of unfortunates who've fallen on hard times, fallen between the cracks of society; or their parents kicked them out of the house. Although the latter may be in part the real background story here; since parasites living at home leave the first-hand, eyewitness of parents' suffering with little or no other choice than to kick these listless scumbags out of the house; which thus creates so many roaming and enabled/spoiled men and women with a penchant to gather in public places with all their bad habits, thus spending endless days living outdoors in Manhattan without any visible support.

    AH, BUT THERE IS SUPPORT. Many of the OWS crowd have taken advantage of the free condoms distributed by organizers to help in facilitating the public love-making in full view of other OWS protesters. One young lady, Sarah, 19, from the Upper West Side said: "It kinda makes me think of what Woodstock must have been like. I haven't hooked up with any guys; but one of my friends did have sex in a tarp with a guy last night.

    AND MORE SUPPORT is coming from many sources. The free food passed out to OWS protesters is maintaining and boosting the energy of the crowd. Cameron, a 26-year-old from Jersey City said: "People say they are here for the cause, but the real reason is the free food. On my third day, they had smoked salmon with cream cheese. You know how much smoked salmon is a pound? Sixteen dollars. I eat better here than I do with my parents!" 'Tis sad commentary on modern American families that this salmon-starved bloke has such hard-hearted parents.

     BESIDES PUBLIC SEX, FREE CONDOMS & FREE FOOD there has been public urinating and defecating. Check out and/or google GOOGLE's photos of the OWS crowd and you'll find at least one photo of a man publicly defecating on a New York City Police cruiser. So much for supporting our public safety employees.

     OWS RABBLE HAVE ENDLESS GOALS: Some are against what they see as Wall Street greed, corporate greed, the large gap between rich and poor; while others are protesting, unemployment, student loans, political corruption protesting for immediate withdrawal from Afghanistan and Iraq, giving more aid to Haiti, more Peace, more Justice, the relaxing or abolishing the laws which criminalize drug use including marijuana, cocaine and LSD. So many causes, so little time.

     OPEN SEWER... Brookfield Office Properties, the company which owns Zuccotti Park [the site of the protests] has made its sanitation concerns known. Company officials in a recent statement wrote: "Sanitation is a growing concern. Normally the park is cleaned and inspected every week night. Because the protesters refuse to cooperate, the park has not been cleaned since Friday, September 16th and as a result, sanitary conditions have reached unacceptable levels."

     BILLIONAIRE SUPPORTER George Soros, the fattest of fat-cat financiers, hedge-fund kingpin and unabashed globalist has come out publicly in support of the OWS movement. Soros said: "I think I can sympathize with their views. Actually I can understand their sentiment, frankly since they were relying on that credit to run their businesses an awful lot of them actually were put out of business." Research conducted by Infowars.com and other media  resources reveal that much of the Occupy Wall Street movement is financed by foundations and organizations connected to Soros.

     ANOTHER SUPPORTER IS CHEERING. General Masoud Jazayeri of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, as reported in the official Iranian press, IRNA, said: "The protests against corporate greed and the gap between rich and poor are a revolution in the making that will topple the Western capitalist system. The failure of the U.S. president to resolve the Wall Street crisis will turn this economic movement into a political and social movement protesting the very structure of the U.S. Government. A revolution and a comprehensive movement against corruption in the U.S. is in the making. The last phase will be the collapse of the Western capitalist system."

     ANOTHER OWS SUPPORTER is Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez who denounced the horrible repression of the American people. This socialist dictator said: "This movement of popular outrage is expanding to ten cities and the repression is horrible, I don't know how many are in prison now. Poverty's growing, the misery is getting worse. But that empire is still there, still a threat."

     A GAGGLE OF LEFTISTS & LOONIES including Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakhan, Russell Simmons, Danny Glover, filmmaker Michael Moore, Susan Sarandon, Kanye West, Harry Belafonte, the usual Hollywood pack of pampered poodles have all made their appearance and given very vocal support. None other than MSN talking heads with their so-called 'reporters' from the radical, left-wing, uber-progressive MSNBC collective in their reportage keeps attempting to compare the OWS pogrom to the Tea Party; however the comparison is not even pitifully humorous.

     FROM THE HIGHEST OFFICE of the president of the United States, we've seen Barack Hussein Obama just wink and nod in giving the OWS a Brooklyn Bridge-sized pass. Nancy Pelosi has said she not only understands OWS grievances, but supports them. As many will recall, Obama has said, intimated, directly, overtly, obliquely and covertly for the past three years that the real enemies of America are: Bankers, Wall Street, Private Enterprise, Private Industry, American Corporations, Insurance Companies, American businesses, Pharmaceutical Houses, and especially those who have achieved wealth by working long hard hours. Speaking of working long hard hours; was anyone surprised or shocked that some of our own American unions have joined in with this rabble? We have to face it: This OWS crowd is Marx and Lenin's CLASS WARFARE seed which Obama's money-men planted, and are now watering, in which Obama intends to harvest come election time when this amorphous OWS rabble will vote as many times as possible using the Acorn model of redundancy to reelect their community organizer, Barack Hussein Obama, for a second term.

     THE MOST OBJECTIVE VIEW OF OWS comes from presidential campaigner Herman Cain who says the protesters should rightfully be protesting outside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue to bring attention to the actual degradation of the American economy which is directly attributable to BHO. Cain however missed the larger picture. Take two of our staunchest enemies: the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the nonredeemable Marxist, Hugo Chavez; add to this mix the anti-American, fat-cat, globalist George Soros, the Communist and Socialist parties who are also sponsoring the OWS, and with all the usual Hollywood and entertainment leftists, there is quite the mix of anti-American, anti-free-enterprise souls occupying Wall Street. Some are down and out, some have lost jobs, many are college students on a lark, some are just there for the gathering experience. BUT most of them are very plugged in to Facebook, Twitter, instant messaging, and communications networks to the Obama playbook, to Obama-Central -- and like lemmings -- will all vote for Barack Hussein's second term. Make no mistake about it; there has never been such a leftist gathering of the most progressive activists in the U.S. ever facing off, except for when Bernie Sanders of VT shaves in the mirror.