There is a poster that I love. From the days before the media and stupid people wrongfully maligned Pit Bull breeds and they were considered the "All American Dog". It is a poster from World War 1 of a white American Pit Bull Terrier with an American Flag wrapped around it’s neck. Under this is says:

"The Germans have their "Wincht am Rhein," the English play "Lord Save the King," the Frenchmen sing their "Marseillaise," while the Russians chant their "National Hymn."

Our spirit shuns this warlike ring: Peace breathes in what we proudly sing: "The Star-Spangled Banner."

And long may it wave, o’er the land of the free and home of the brave. By these colors we stand ever true.

Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue."

I would love to get this for my home to frame, because it is so meaningful to me. If you have any idea how I can find it please let me know.

(And please if you don’t like Pit Bulls or dogs in general please don’t bother mentioning it or saying anything bad about Pit Bulls. It’s breedist, ridiculous, and I want no part of a fight with an ignorant stereotype that I know WAY more about than most. Thank you.)

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What is wrong with that?
Olavo de Carvalho
Laigle’s Forum, July 9, 2008

Brazil gets it. Brazilian philosopher, Olavo de Carvalho discusses the perplexity of Obama being a candidate for President of The United States:

"Barack Hussein Obama is, in so many aspects, so different from what one normally assumes to be a candidate to the presidency of the U.S. that only by an enormous stretch of the imagination could anyone think that the most significant detail about him is the color of his skin. The motto of his campaign is “change”, but to bring it about he needs not even get elected: he has already changed everything about the electoral ways and customs of the American people, and he has changed it so much for the worse that many decades will be necessary to repair the damage, if indeed that is possible.
For one thing, he is the first candidate without any administrative experience – and with below-minimal political experience – to be accepted by any party to run for such a high office. He also had no military or professional experience, except as an NGO operative. But if you tell that to an Obamaniac, they will invariably answer: “What’s wrong with that?” The natural sense of strangeness about what is truly odd has become anti-natural, offensive and intolerable.
With the possible exception of Brazilian president Lula, whose ignorance was actually praised as a superior form of wisdom, never has so little been demanded of one seeking maximum authority. Even in Third World countries, the bearer of such an insignificant resume would hardly be accepted as a candidate for the top public office. In the Democratic Party and U.S. big media, nobody seems to find anything strange about Obama. Even among supporters of John McCain there is some sort of tacit agreement not to hurt the opponent’s feelings with demands beyond his capacity. Everyone prefers to ask: “What’s wrong with that?”
Furthermore, the candidate lacks not only a resume but even a trustworthy biography. Suggestions that he is a Muslim in disguise pop up every day, but their quantity seems to be inversely proportional to the interest that his adversary and the big media have in clarifying the matter. All seem to want the electorate to accept as utterly normal and unproblematic the hypothesis of voting for an unknown candidate who conceals his origins, even if these somehow connect him to the enemy that is fighting his country in the battlefield, and even if his dedication to covering up his past prompts him to hide his own birth certificate. Evidence of the candidate’s proximity to communist and pro-terrorist organizations is piling up, but raises nary a shred of curiosity among bien-pensants. After all, what’s wrong with that?
Even in the most elementary issue of respect for national symbols – the minimum of etiquette that candidates from all parties have always observed – Obama seems to have acquired the right to mess everything up, without any hint from the establishment that they are offended by it. He listens to the Star-Spangled Banner with his hands on his genitals, and not on his heart, he tampers with the national coat of arms and turns it into a grotesque electoral ad, and, to top it all off, he says that the flag of the country he wishes to represent before the world is “to many people a symbol of violence.” But if you think about it, what’s wrong with that?
Still, it is in violating the law with an innocent face that the candidate displays the kind of absolute trust in his own invulnerability that is so typical of revolutionary sociopaths. Every week new abuses turn up that would normally be enough to destroy the career of any politician or, worse, send him to jail. But Obama seems to be immunized to the consequences of his actions. This week’s latest abuses were: (1) To collect funds for his campaign, he organized a lottery system – which is illegal in all 50 American states. (2) He flies everywhere in an airplane that does not meet the required security standards, and was recently forced to make an emergency landing. But again, the general reaction is the same: “What’s wrong with that?”
Obama is so utterly weird that apparently the only way to attenuate the embarrassment of his presence in the presidential contest is to pretend that he is normal. But the prohibition of finding anything odd is truly a prohibition of the act of understanding, a veto against the formal exercise of intelligence. The readiness to accept this imposition reveals an alarming weakness of character and the almost diabolical effectiveness of the “politically correct” blackmail that produced it."

Translated by Donald Hank

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You may have to turn your volume up…here goes (please don’t laugh)

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

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

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

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

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Okay, so there is this stray cat that I have seen for a little while now..last night, I came home and she was sitting by my door..aww..I gave her food and wished I could keep her but I can’t ..about 10 minutes later, my door bell rings..I hear my neighboor yelling "IS THIS YOUR CAT!" I scoop up my cat because she tries to get outside ..and I open the door..I explain to her I have 2 that stay inside..she said good I’m terrifed of cats..about 10 minutes go by and a man comes up the stairs and is shaking keys and making loud noises to get the cat to go away.My neighboor then shakes out her door mat and starts cleaning it with some kind of cleaner..I should mention that my cat got out one day while I was letting a friend out, and my neighboor was coming up the stairs and let out a death defying scream,scared my cat to the point of her turning around and running back in the house.I guess my question is, do you know anyone who is that afraid of cats? Could she have gotten attacked as a kid?
Also, should I bring the cat to the shelter so she will at least have a chance to get adopted?..she’s very sweet ..wanted to come inside with me.

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I do not want to … become a bit* but I could do with less " drama" from my juniors at work../ or less drama from my elders .

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THE MUSIC STOPPED

This is written from a Chaplain in Iraq:

I recently attended a showing of ‘Superman 3′ here at LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorium we use for movies, as well as memorial services and other large gatherings. As is the custom back in the States, we stood and snapped to attention when the National Anthem began before the main feature. All was going as planned until about three-quarters of the way through The National Anthem the music stopped.

Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-22 year-olds back in the States? I imagine there would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude comments; and everyone would sit down and call for a movie. Of course, that is, if they had stood for the National Anthem in the first place.

Here, the 1,000 Soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward. The music started again. The Soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. And again, at the same point, the music stopped. What would you expect to happen? Even here I would imagine laughter, as everyone finally sat down and expected the movie to start.

But here, you could have heard a pin drop. Every Soldier continued to stand at attention. Suddenly there was a lone voice, then a dozen, and quickly the room was filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers, finishing where the recording left off:

"And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave, o’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

It was the most inspiring moment I have had here in Iraq. I wanted you to know what kind of Soldiers are serving you here. Remember them as they fight for you!

Pass this along as a reminder to others to be ever in prayer for all our soldiers serving us here at home and abroad. For many have already paid the ultimate price..

Written by Chaplain Jim Higgins
LSA Anaconda is at the Ballad Airport in Iraq, north of Baghdad.

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From a Chaplain in Iraq:
I recently attended a showing of "Superman 3," here at LSA Anaconda. We have a large auditorium we use for movies, as well as memorial services and other large gatherings. As is the custom back in the States, we stood and snapped to attention when the National Anthem began before the main feature. All was going as planned until about three-quarters of the way through the National Anthem the music stopped.
Now, what would happen if this occurred with 1,000 18-22 year-olds back in the States? I imagine there would be hoots, catcalls, laughter, a few rude comments; and everyone would sit down and call for a movie. Of course, that is, if they had stood for the National Anthem in the first place. Here, the 1,000 Soldiers continued to stand at attention, eyes fixed forward. The music began again. The Soldiers continued to quietly stand at attention. And again, at the same point, the music stopped. What would you expect to happen? Even here I would imagine laughter, as everyone finally sat down and expected the movie to start. But here, you could have heard a pin drop. Every Soldier continued to stand at attention. Suddenly there was a lone voice, then a dozen, and quickly the
room was filled with the voices of a thousand soldiers, finishing where the recording
left off:

"And the rockets red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?"

It was the most inspiring moment I have had here in Iraq.
I wanted you to know what kind of soldiers are serving you here.
Remember them as they fight for you!
Just figured sombody has to report what the press refuses to.

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This question is kind of stupid, but I don’t know much about designer labels.
A week ago I bought a pretty navy cardigan with a pearl fleur-de-lis embellishment from a local thrift store. Today I got around to washing it, and noticed the label has "JP Femme", two crossed flags and 1952 on it. All of the other labels, except the washing instructions, have been cut off.
So, I started wondering that JP could stand for Jean-Paul and he was born in 1952. I tried searching for the logo on the internet, but found nothing. Does anybody know if I’m correct or if stands for something else?
A little update: I also found a tiny label on the outer side of the sweater saying "Jean Paul".
Are there any other brands that use the same first names?

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The Elmont Fire Department on Long Island serves 35,000 primarily-black residents. Yet if you look at the logo for Elmont Engine Company 3 you will notice a consistent Confederate flag theme on their logos and fire engine decals. On the new fire truck, a skull is wearing what looks like a confederate flag bandanna.

"I felt very uncomfortable when I saw that,” said an Elmont firefighter, who is black and wanted to remain anonymous for fear of repercussion. He felt he had to talk because of what he and others saw in Engine Company 3’s TV room — an evil Confederate Flag to the right of the television.

Black firefighters everywhere say they are stunned when they see a Confederate flag inside of that firehouse! “I feel there should be a change. There should not be a Confederate flag in the firehouse. It should not be on the fire truck."

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Ever since I started this job it has been confusing as hell. I was lied to in the interview about my duties and now I am stuck. I am a PA/Receptionist/Admin Assistant. But my duties mainly consist of making coffee,being a door mat and bringing in the garbage cans. None of my 13 years of experience are being used. My boss is a jerk who does stupid things all day long, but the minute you make one mistake you hear it forever. She and the Office/HR manager are also ploting things behind my back. They have pulled similar scams with 3 other girls before me. They only plan to keep you for a year then build up things against you so when the "let you go" you can’t get unemployment. I want to leave but because I am new I don’t have anytime to do an interview. I feel stressed and stuck. I can’t walk off because I have a family to consider. What would you do in my situation?
The biggest thing that I notice is that I am the only African American in the company. I know the first thing people will say is " oh she is pulling the race card" but it is constantly brought to my attention any racial or ethic things that go on in the "black neighborhoods" Like one day she says to me "why are your people killing each other?" I just ignore it and chalk it up to ignorance.

The type of mistake I was talking about was one day I sent her an email and mistakenly left the "e" out of management. I hear about it everyday and I’m told " I can’t trust you with big things because im afraid that you will make mistakes like with the email….blah blah. She will purposly do things to try to catch me up. She doesn’t know that I know all about what she has done to the girls before me. I just can’t get the proof because it is in confidential records. I could get into alot of trouble even if I use it as evidence to any lawyers. I’m afraid for myself.

I have time in june to look.

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