A timely message from the other ACLU, The American Christian Life United Choir, reminding us to say Merry Christmas.

A new Christmas song and a beautifully rendered music video to watch and enjoy. How appropriate to see this on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, the official start of the Christmas Season. This music video is sung by The American Christian Life United Choir, a name that seems chosen to remind us what that other group with the same initials has done to this country in their pursuit to transform America into a godless nation. The message in this music video is right on the target, not just because of the rank commercialization of the season for giving, but because of the Democrats war on Christianity. Sit back and turn on your speakers and enjoy the song.

Here is the URL for the video in case you want to pass it on to your friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln01p1M2cH0

Say Merry Christmas - Vocal Carrie Rinderer and the American Christian Life United (ACLU) choir...

 

AFDI End Of The Year 2013 Campaign

AFDI FIGHTING FOR FREEDOM             AFDI.US Please consider the results of the contributions you make with your hard-earned money.   From the very beginning, our initiatives at AFDI/SIOA have been gamechangers.  From the Ground Zero mosque to our explosive ad campaigns, we are changing the 'savage' narrative. And for our extraordinary efforts, we have done it solely on your contributions.   There is no better investment in the fight for freedom than a group that is bold, outspoken, forthright, honest, determined – and effective. A group like AFDI. Now more than ever, when voices and work like ours are increasingly silenced, is when we have to be bolder and go on the offense. And we do like no one else (scroll down). DONATE HERE.   Above: AFDI jihad ad in DC Metro station   As the clouds continue to gather on the international scene, 2013 has been another year of groundbreaking work with unparalleled results for our American Freedom Defense Initiative. There is no group that can match our effective guerrilla style of media and legal warfare – and for our expanding efforts we have relied solely on the love of freedom and generosity of our donors. Our action plans for 2014 are even more ambitious.   Now more than ever, we have to educate the American people. And we are getting it done. AFDI fights this propaganda putsch by going on the offense and taking the message to the people. We’re bringing the truth about the jihad against free people and Islamic supremacism directly to the people. We force a media discussion of the grim realities of jihad and Sharia that they usually sweep under the rug.   Atlas Shrugs and Jihadwatch are updated daily with the latest news on the global jihad and political current affairs. No one has better coverage.   Above photo: front page of The San Francisco Examiner with our ads highlighting Muslim oppression of gays under the sharia.   Here is just some of what we accomplished in 2013: My Jihad Ads .     When the Hamas-tied Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) rolled out a cynical and deceptive campaign designed to lull Americans into complacency about the jihad threat by making them think that jihad just meant getting in your exercise or taking the kids to school, I countered with an ad campaign depicting the actual words of jihad terrorists such as Osama bin Laden and Hamas, showing that all too many Muslims think jihad involves mass murder of Infidels. Of course, the mainstream media tried to obscure the fact that our campaign depicted actual quotes from actual jihadis -- but the truth was obvious to the public. We were inundated with emails thanking me for telling the truth about jihad after years of lies from government, law enforcement and the mainstream media.     VIDEO: NY Times: "Using Billboards to Stake Claim Over 'Jihad' VIDEO: CBS News on AFDI Ads: 'Killing Jews Is Worship' Ad VIDEO ABC News Pro-Jihad Coverage "San Francisco VIDEO: Showdown on San Francisco Transit: Firestorm over AFDI anti-jihad ads   In San Francisco, I ran ads condemning Islam's oppression of gays. You might have thought that San Francisco leaders would have welcomed such an initiative, but it turned out that the imperative to appease Islam trumped even concern for gay rights: in an unprecedented move, the San Francisco City Council denounced my ads in a public statement. The local media even termed them "anti-gay," even though we were standing for the rights of gays in Muslim countries. The hostility to our ads in San Francisco showed how deeply rooted the hatred for the West and Judeo-Christian civilization really is among today's societal leaders: even when we were defending what they ostensibly stood for, they denounced us, because we were pro-freedom and pro-human rights in ways that showed up their hypocrisy and capitulation to Sharia oppression. It was a sad indication of the cowardice and confusion of the present age.     Israel apartheid ads ·      Ads calling Israel an apartheid state ran on New York Metro platforms. Our Islamic apartheid ads immediately went up in subway stations in New York City and Washington, DC, to counter the Islamic supremacists’ lies and expose the truth about the Sharia. For years, ads like this one have run unchallenged. But this time, we were there. Their lies did not stand unchallenged.         Honor Killing Ads ·      We ran ads in Edmonton, Alberta, offering help to Muslim girls living in fear of honor killing. But now even that is “racist”: Edmonton Transit caved in to Islamic supremacist demands and took our ads down.   .        The enemedia called our ads “dishonorable” and, above all, “controversial.” It’s “dishonorable” and “controversial” to save lives? Under the Sharia it is. Yet vicious blood libels against Israel are OK, and are running on transit systems across Canada. Even though our ads were taken down, the coverage our initiative received drew unprecedented attention to the horror of honor killing. Look at the front page of the Edmonton Sun:   “Dishonourable ads pulled” Edmonton Sun “ETS pulls controversial ‘Honour Killings’ advertisements CBC “Controversial ads on Edmonton Transit Service buses will be removed” CTV News “ETS removing ‘racist’ honour-killing ad” Edmonton Journal   We are not giving up. We are going to challenge their decision in Edmonton, and run the ads elsewhere in Canada. The fact that Islamic supremacist groups are so threatened by these ads shows how desperately they are needed. Clearly we struck a nerve: these Muslim groups don’t want people speaking out against honor killing, and so we have to speak out louder than ever.   FBI Global Terror Ads ·      Back in July the FBI ran a terrorism awareness campaign featuring bus ads depicting photos of 16 wanted terrorists, all of whom were Muslim. This was a campaign sponsored by the Joint Terrorism Task Force for the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program, or RFJ. But then leftists and Islamic supremacists complained that the ads were “Islamophobic,” and they came down – and Seattle is refusing to allow my group, the AFDI, to put them back up. This is sharia compliance.     We are suing. We have filed a motion asking the federal court in Seattle to order the King County transit authorities to run our anti-terrorism advertisement featuring photos of 16 of the world’s Most Wanted Terrorists. The link to the motion is here. Twelve years after the 9/11 jihad terror attacks, it has come to this: we have to file suit to fight against jihad terrorism, and the media calls us a “hate group” for doing it. CBS Video: Pamela Geller, AFDI Sues Seattle for Denying Anti-Terror Ads For Fear of Offending Muslims   KIROTV.com: King County faces lawsuit for rejecting bus ads Seattle PI: ‘Hate group’ sues to re-run controversial FBI ads on Metro buses Seattle Times: Group sues to post anti-jihadi ads on Metro buses   Equal Rights for Jews Campaign   ·       Also in Seattle, “Palestinians” ran ads accusing Israel of stealing “Palestinian” territory, but we countered with ads that told the truth that “Palestinian” leaders have said that a “Palestinian” state would be entirely off-limits to Jews. Muslims in Israel have equal rights with Jewish Israelis. By contrast, both the President of the Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad have gone on record saying that no Jews will be allowed to live in Palestine, and that all Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and Jewish neighborhoods built in post-67 Jerusalem will have to be emptied out before they will accept their state. They are demanding a Judenrein state. Seattle Transit didn’t want to run our ad and made us submit an abundance of documentation (which the “Palestinian” hate ad sponsors had never had to do), but we fought and we won. We countered the vicious anti-Semitic “Palestinian” campaign with the truth.   That garnered a lot of media as well:  VIDEO: CBS News on AFDI Pro-Israel ads running to counter vicious anti-Israel ads VIDEO: FOX Seattle on AFDI Pro-Israel Ads Firestorm   Going forward. we are preparing a counter campign in Denver to combat a new vicious, antisemitic blood libel running on Denver buses. (below)   Quran Ads on every clock in NYC Subway Stations   When the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) ran ads featuring a quote from the Qur'an designed to mislead Americans about the nature and ideological underpinnings of the jihad threat, we countered with a quote from the Qur'an saying that Allah would "strike terror into the hearts of the unbelievers" (3:151) and showing the burning World Trade Center towers. This depicted the reality of the jihad against the U.S. that CAIR was determined to obfuscate and obscure, so that we would be unable to defend ourselves adequately against it. Our ads ran on the 150+ clocks in the New York subway system, circumventing media denial by taking the truth directly to the people.     The British Ban Legal Battle   ·      We’re also fighting a legal battle against our unjust ban from Britain. The British government uncritically accepted information about us given them by Leftists and Islamic supremacists – but we’re not taking it lying down. We have mounted a full appeal, and have contracted with British legal help. With the British government letting in a steady stream of Islamic jihad leaders who preach blood and murder, to bar us for speaking the truth about jihad and calling for defense of equality of rights for all shows how far Britain is sunk. We could give up and leave them to their fate. But we’re committed to the fight for freedom: the fight against the ban is just about us, but about whether voices of freedom will still be allowed to be heard in Britain. We say: They must be. SIOA Tradmark Lawsuit ·      In yet another legal battle, we’re challenging the U.S. Trademark Office’s denial of a trademark for our “Stop Islamization of America” name. The Trademark Office said the name denigrated all Muslims – a claim rendered ridiculous by the Muslims valiantly taking to the streets and fighting against Islamization in Egypt, toppling the Muslim Brotherhood regime there. We’re appealing their denial. Several news agencies recently covered our appeal, bringing previously unheard-of media attention to the all-important concept of Islamization.   911 AFDI Memorial and Press Conference     In between preparing and reviewing legal briefs, we held a Memorial and Press Conference at Ground Zero on September 11, 2013, the twelfth anniversary of the 9/11 jihad terror attacks at 1PM at the southwest corner of Zuccotti Park, at Church and Cedar streets in lower Manhattan (above). Robert Spencer and I hosted, and featured speakers were 9/11 family member Nelly Braginsky, 9/11 first responder Alan T. DeVona, and Coptic Christian human rights activist Ashraf Ramelah. We focused on the outrageous anti-American goings-on at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum, and the need to tell the truth about Islamic jihad both at that Museum and in the public square – where the truth about Muslim persecution of non-Muslims in Egypt, Sudan and elsewhere is still largely ignored.   Free Speech Demo in Tennessee Against Proposed Criminalization of Social Media Postings that Offend Muslims     We held a major demonstration in defense of free speech (above) on June 4th in Manchester, Tennessee. An event entitled “Public Disclosure in a Diverse Society” was held featuring Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, FBI Special Agent Kenneth Moore, and Zak Mohyuddin of the American Muslim Advisory Council. They spoke at length about hate crimes, hate speech, and how Tennesseans needed to be more inclusive and welcoming of the increasing numbers of Muslims in their midst – and spoke about criminalizing posts on social media considered offensive to Muslims.   We called for a protest of what was clearly an event designed to intimidate Americans into being afraid to criticize the elements of Islam that give rise to violence and supremacism, and nearly 2,000 protesters assembled at the Manchester Convention Center to register their disapproval of this latest Obama Administration attempt to silence criticism of jihad and Islamic supremacism.   Here are other initiatives we are working on but we cannot move forward without your support: ·      Our Call for Closure of Mosques That Breed Jihad Terror: We have called upon government and law enforcement authorities to close three U.S. mosques that have been established as breeding grounds for jihad terror. ·      AFDI Announces Platform for Defending Freedom: AFDI calls for the U.S. and other non-Muslim governments to recognize officially that Islam is a political movement and so not solely religious in the strict sense of the U.S. Constitution. AFDI recognizes that Islam in it mainstream theological formulations and its dominant form throughout its history, not “extremist Islam” or “hijacked Islam” or “Islamism,” but Islam in the Qur’an and Sunnah as understood by Islamic jurists and theologians, can and should be regarded as an authoritarian and supremacist political system as well as a religion, and thus that Muslim groups should be subject to all the scrutiny and legal requirements of political organizations, without being able to shield their political activities behind the protection of religious freedom. No one else is doing what we are doing and no one is as effective as we have been. Please help us keep going and be even more effective in 2014. Paypal us at AmericanFreedomDefense@aol.com. We are a 501C3. Or send us a check. AFDI, Attention Pamela Geller, 1040 1st Avenue, #121, NY NY 10022.     GIVE THE GIFT OF FREEDOM. DONATE HERE     Published by AFDI.US AFDI, 1040 1st Avenue, #121, NY NY 10022     Telephone: 646-727-4011 Email: pamelageller@gmail.com

This message was sent to oldironsides@fuse.net from: AFDI | 1040 1st Avenue #121 | New York, NY 10022

Repost: The First Thanksgiving and the story about why the Pilgrims came to America.

 

The Pilgrims were a Christian congregation that fled from England in order to avoid religious persecution from the Church of England. In June 1619, the Pilgrim’s congregation obtained a land patent from the London Virginia Company, allowing them to settle in the New World at the mouth of the Hudson River. They chartered a private sailing ship called the Mayflower to make the voyage.

The Mayflower was originally destined for the mouth of the Hudson River, near present-day New York City, at the northern edge of England's Virginia colony, which itself was established with the 1607 Jamestown Settlement. However, the Mayflower went off course as the winter approached, and remained in Cape Cod Bay. The Mayflower made an attempt to sail south to the designated landing site but ran into trouble in a shallow area of shoals between Cape Cod and Nantucket Island. With winter approaching and provisions running dangerously low, the passengers decided to return north and abandon their original landing plans.

The Mayflower anchored at Provincetown Harbor on November 11. The group remained on board the ship through the next day, a Sunday, for prayer and worship. The immigrants finally set foot on land at what would become known as Plymouth Rock near Provincetown on November 13, 1620.

Edward Percy Moran (American artist, 1862-1935) Pilgrim's Landing (early 1900s), oil on canvas, 23" x 29". Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Mass.

During the first winter in the New World, the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly from diseases like scurvy, lack of shelter and general conditions on board ship. 45 of the 102 emigrants died the first winter and were buried on Cole's Hill. Additional deaths during the first year meant that only 53 people were alive in November 1621 to celebrate the harvest feast which modern Americans know as "The First Thanksgiving." Of the 18 adult women, 13 died the first winter while another died in May. Only four adult women were left alive for the Thanksgiving.

The Pilgrims biggest concern was attack by the local Native American Indians. But the Patuxets were a peaceful group and did not prove to be a threat.

On March 16, 1621, what was to become an important event took place, an Indian brave walked into the Plymouth settlement. The Pilgrims were frightened until the Indian called out "Welcome, Englishmen" (in English!). His name was Samoset and he was the first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims. Samoset strolled straight through the middle of the encampment at Plymouth Colony and greeted them in English, which he had begun to learn from an earlier group of Englishmen fishermen.

Samoset was a member of an Abenaki tribe that resided at that time in what is now Maine, Samoset was a sagamore (subordinate chief) of his tribe and was visiting a local Indian chief. After spending the night with the Pilgrims Samoset left the colony. He soon returned with another Indian named Squanto who spoke better English. Squanto told the Pilgrims of his voyages across the ocean and his visits to England and Spain. It was in England where he had learned English.

Squanto's importance to the Pilgrims was enormous and it can be said that they would not have survived without his help. It was Squanto who taught the Pilgrims how to tap the maple trees for sap. He taught them which plants were poisonous and which had medicinal powers. He taught them how to plant the Indian corn by heaping the earth into low mounds with several seeds and fish in each mound. The decaying fish fertilized the corn. He also taught them to plant other crops with the corn.

The harvest in October was very successful and the Pilgrims found themselves with enough food to put away for the winter. There was corn, fruits and vegetables, fish to be packed in salt, and meat to be cured over smoky fires.

The Pilgrims had much to celebrate, they had built homes in the wilderness, they had raised enough crops to keep them alive during the long coming winter, they were at peace with their Indian neighbors. They had beaten the odds and it was time to celebrate.

The Pilgrim Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving to be shared by all the colonists and the neighboring Native Americans. They invited Squanto and the other Indians to join them in their celebration. Their chief, Massasoit, and 90 braves came to the celebration which lasted for 3 days. They played games, ran races, marched and played drums. The Indians demonstrated their skills with the bow and arrow and the Pilgrims demonstrated their musket skills. Exactly when the festival took place is uncertain, but it is believed the celebration took place in mid-October. 

Detail from "The First Thanksgiving" (1914), by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe (1850-1936), oil on canvas, Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts.

While not the first thanksgiving of any sort on the continent, the traditional origin of modern Thanksgiving in the United States is generally regarded to be the celebration that occurred at the site of Plymouth Plantation, in Massachusetts, in 1621. The Wampanoag Native Americans helped the pilgrims who arrived in Massachusetts cultivate the land and fish, saving them from starvation. This harvest celebration occurred early in the history of what would become one of the original Thirteen Colonies that later were to become the United States.

Happy Thanksgiving

From the Noisy Room: Barack Hussein Obama unilaterally trashes the Monroe Doctrine.

Ringing the Dinner Bell for Russia, China and Iran

Posted on November 21, 2013 by TMH

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
Cross-Posted at Right Wing News

Just when you think it can’t get worse, Obama does something even more treasonous. What scares the literal crap out of me is that no one seems to care.

John Kerry announced on the 18th that the Monroe Doctrine was officially dead, throwing the doors open on this continent to Russia, China and Iran. This move will massively ramp up terrorist and communist infiltration. I look at the puzzle pieces of Obama’s moves lately and a very cold chill runs down my spine. From Chinese troops in Hawaii for the Grid X II drill, to the purging of our military. From Amnesty for millions and the dissolution of our borders, to China’s growing investments in Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Chile, and in its bailouts of Venezuelan and Argentinian debt. From Russia’s increased military sales to terrorist/communist countries such as Venezuela and their quasi-military bases being stepped up in Nicaragua and Cuba, to Iran bankrolling Hezbollah cells across the hemisphere, shipping people and materiel to Venezuela and laundering cash in Ecuador, while forging alliances wherever they can. Does anyone else see the preparations taking place here? Will anyone resist or will America succumb without the slightest push back?

Investor’s Business Daily said it just right:

Diplomacy: Secretary of State John Kerry just scrapped 190 years of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America, casually declaring the Monroe Doctrine is over.Why didn’t he just ring the dinner triangle for Russia, China, Iran and their terrorist catspaws to set up shop, too?

“President James Monroe,” Kerry told the Organization of American States in Washington Monday, “declared that the United States would unilaterally, and as a matter of fact, act as the protector of the region… And throughout our nation’s history, successive presidents have reinforced that doctrine and made a similar choice.

“Today, however, we have made a different choice. The era of the Monroe Doctrine is over,” he declared.

So, with the flip of a rubber-chicken dinner, thus ends the oldest, steadiest and most benign pillar in all U.S. foreign policy, the 1823 “Don’t Tread On Us” policy that Old World powers were not to bring their feuds and battles to the Western Hemisphere, nor to meddle in the affairs of Latin America’s fledgling democracies, most of which had just gained independence from Spain and Portugal and needed to develop in peace.

It was a good policy. Latin America’s great liberators, such as Simon Bolivar who freed Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, and Jose San Martin, who freed Argentina, Chile and Peru, both embraced the U.S. with “extreme gratitude.”

And because of that doctrine, Latin America has been involved in very few wars other than civil wars during its short history.

It was a doctrine that reflected that the U.S.’s oldest and most important foreign interests were in its own hemisphere, something that ought to be of comfort to a region that often feels neglected by the U.S.

But instead of defending that two-century-old doctrine, Kerry has decided to scrap it — not just because he doesn’t care about the region, but because he apparently believes the idea pushed by Spanish Civil War leftist exiles and by the likes of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro that the Monroe Doctrine was an evil thing, U.S. imperialism in disguise.

Obviously, by declaring the Monroe Doctrine over in the name of every nation being “equals” now, he is attempting to claim that the Obama administration is atoning somehow for its past.

Well, this should embolden all of our enemies and it will be cold comfort for Trevor Loudon and me to tell you we told you so. Over and over again we have warned America of the communist threat that is alive and well on our own soil and within our own government. We have warned that our enemies are plotting to overthrow us and that our own leaders are communists or proxies for communist governments. I know it is tempting to want to turn from evil and not confront it. We all have families and jobs and just want to lead our lives. But just because you want the bad guys to go away, does not mean they will not come knocking and they are here — now. Enemies from within and without are now making their move — America, please face this threat or we will not survive as individuals, much less as a Republic.

Kerry is a moron and a tool of the Marxists. But Obama is another matter. There are those who control him, but he knows full well what is transpiring. He planned it.

Here’s another revealing quote from The Weekly Standard:

Just when you were getting used to U.S. withdrawal from the Middle East, here comes our formal withdrawal from the Western Hemisphere.

[...]

Ah, ha! So that explains why the Obama administration pays little attention to Latin America. Why Iran and Hezbollah are permitted to run amok from Argentina to Mexico, why Latin drug cartels are allowed to make common cause with anti-U.S. Islamist groups in North Africa and the Middle East.

Next thing you know, the Iranians or the North Koreans or maybe even the Russians will give Fidel those missiles he’s always wanted and the whole world will truly be that partnership of equal vulnerability Obama and Kerry so cherish.

Indeed. Vulnerability on a scale we have never seen in this country, brought to you by the Obama Administration and the Progressives. When I say that, I mean on both sides of the aisle. Plenty of blame and tar and feathers to go around on this. When Kerry made the statement, the communists in South America were jubilant.

In the name of equality, Obama and Kerry will usher in war, death and conquest:

Kerry seemed to agree Monday, saying: “Many years ago the United States dictated a policy that defined the hemisphere for many years after. We’ve moved past that era, and today we must go even further.”

“The question is will we work as equal partners in order to achieve our goals?” Kerry asked. “It will require courage and a willingness to change, but above all, it will require a higher and deeper level of cooperation between us, all of us together as equal partners in this hemisphere.”

Obama, the Light Bringer, will usher in true communism and horrific bloodshed. In the name of peace, he will bring slaughter and darkness. Sound apocalyptic and straight out of Revelations to you? Me too, as I listen to Obama ring the dinner bell for Russia, China and Iran. America is the main course and it will be a feast for the communists.

This entry was posted in Authors, Constitution, History, Military, Politics, Survival, Terresa Monroe-Hamilton, Terrorism. Bookmark the permalink.

From The Patriot Post: Barack Hussein Obama's ongoing war with acknowledging Almighty God.

View online at: http://patriotpost.us/alexander/21808

Alexander's Column Getting Gettysburg Right Lincoln v Obama -- Words Matter By Mark Alexander · November 21, 2013    "Our unalterable resolution would be to be free. They have attempted to subdue us by force, but God be praised! in vain. Their arts may be more dangerous than their arms. Let us then ... under God trust our cause to our swords." --Samuel Adams (1776) This week, we marked the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address, a three-minute speech delivered by Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. That battlefield was the site of the bloodiest conflict in the War Between the States, a three-day battle in July of 1863 that resulted in 23,000 Union casualties and 28,000 Confederate casualties. Lincoln was a self-taught man whose formal schooling added up to less than one year. But he penned this remarkable, concise and eloquent address, which not only captured a pivotal moment in a war-torn nation, but also paid tribute with words that honored all Americans. And he managed to say it without teleprompters. One notable catalyst, which sparked this horrific war, was the abolition of slavery. Lincoln's party was Republican, but in a tragically ironic twist of fate, the Democrat Party has now mastered the cowing of 95% of black Americans as its most loyal constituency. They accomplished this transition by instituting social policies that have enslaved generations of poor people on urban poverty plantations, and then ensuring their fealty with massive redistributive handouts and victimization indoctrination promoting dependency on the state. Barack Obama, who used Lincoln's Bible for his inaugurations and who envisions himself the finest legacy example of Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation -- though he has no slave ancestry on this continent -- was narcissistically compelled to chime in on the anniversary recognition. Notably, Obama offered up his videotaped recitation of the Gettysburg Address for historian Ken Burns' 150th anniversary Web dedication to Lincoln's timeless words. In his recitation of the address, however, Obama predictably omitted two key words. Lincoln said, "that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." But Obama altered his recitation, leaving "under God" out. Comment   For the record, Ken Burns recited it correctly. George W. Bush was also among the handful of participants for Burns' project, and he recited it correctly. Even Democrat National Chairwoman, ultra-leftist Debbie Wasserman Schultz, recited it correctly. For a little historical perspective, Lincoln's use of "under God" is sometimes disputed -- mostly by those who object to those words today. The words do not appear in two historic drafts (Nicolay and Hay) but do appear in three drafts (Everett, Bancroft, and Bliss). However, the best evidence of what Lincoln said is the verbatim text of his speech, which was telegraphed by numerous journalists to their newspapers on the very day he delivered his address. Among the journalists in witness were Joseph Gilbert with the Associated Press, John Young with the Philadelphia Press (who would later become Librarian of Congress), Charles Hale with the Boston Advertiser, and other reporters from the New York Tribune and The New York Times. Each of their telegraphs included the words "under God," and as noted by historian William E. Barton: "Every stenographic report, good, bad and indifferent, says 'that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom.' There was no common source from which all the reporters could have obtained those words but from Lincoln's own lips at the time of delivery." Indeed, as reported by The New York Times the day after Lincoln's delivery, he included the words, "under God." (That original text is posted here). Historians may debate Lincoln's legacy as president, but there is no disputing his religious devotion and his very deliberate use of "under God" at Gettysburg. So why did Obama choose to omit these essential words? Barack Obama has a long history of omitting references to God, such as his repeated omission of "endowed by our Creator" when referencing the Declaration of Independence. So what is Obama's overarching objective? Under the pretense of "religious tolerance," Barack Obama's administration has been quietly advancing his mandate to remove all expressions or manifestations of faith from government forums -- excepting Islam. This eradication serves the Left's strategic objective of replacing God-given Rule of Law with the rule of men -- because the former is predicated on the principle of Liberty "endowed by our Creator," while the latter asserts that Liberty is the gift of potentates and presidents. Obama's administrators are constantly endeavoring to drive wedges between Liberty and its inherent foundational endowment. Most notably, he has done this in those spheres where he can exercise power and influence without legislative and judicial precedents -- such as our military. As commander in chief, Obama has certainly succeeded in suppressing religious expression by uniformed Patriots in our military service branches. However, his subversion of faith expression in the military is not going without objection. For example, last year The Patriot uncovered what appears to be a legal setup by Obama's DoD civilian administrators and their surrogates, which has the potential to force the removal of "so help me God" from all military oaths. That strategic ploy starts with the 2011 removal of those words from officer, enlisted and cadet oaths at the Air Force Academy. Three weeks ago, we published a detailed account of that strategy. This week, in response to that column, 28 members of Congress issued an official letter of inquiry to the Superintendent of the Air Force Academy asking for "a detailed explanation as to why [they omitted] 'so help me God' from these oaths, despite the fact that the phrase is used in the very statutory language of the United States Code, and was part of the military oath drafted by the Founders themselves." (A Fox News report notes the AFA's Public Affairs Office claimed yesterday, "It was an editorial oversight," however, a Freedom of Information Act request will be filed tomorrow in an effort to determine if anyone outside the AFA had a hand in the alteration of oaths.) Comment   Typical of the "expert opinion" syndicated across the nation about our nation's Godly heritage, is that of Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Mark Thompson, who posted an op/ed in Time magazine on the "So help me God" issue. Thompson's Pulitzer was earned for a series he wrote that led to enhanced military helicopter safety. Clearly it was not earned for his limited knowledge of civilian and military oaths. Thompson asserted, "The formal American embrace of religion in civic government is a fairly recent phenomenon: 'Under God' was added to the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954. 'In God We Trust' became the nation's official motto in 1956. In 1957, 'In God We Trust' was added to U.S. paper currency." He got the recent dates right, but his assertion that references to "God" are a "recent phenomenon" is patently, stupefyingly, incorrect. Thompson should recall that the words "under God" were in the Gettysburg Address, as noted, but it is undeniable that the roots of that attribution date to our nation's inception and were inspired by the enlightened manifestos of natural law long before that. The most formative words in our nation's seminal foundational document, the Declaration of Independence, assert that Liberty is "endowed by their Creator," not the gift of man, as Barack Obama and his Leftist cadres assert today. The Continental Congress established its first military oath in 1776 and revised it in 1778 -- both ending with "So help me God." The words "So help me God" were prescribed in oaths by the Judiciary Act of September 24, 1789. But five months earlier, George Washington elected to use those same words in conclusion to the first oath of office as president. Invoking faith was a common theme for Washington and most other Founders, as in these words from his farewell address in 1796: "Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensible supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness -- these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. ... Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths..." The words "In God we trust" first appeared on U.S. coins in 1864, long before it was added to currency in 1957. And one of the earliest references to "In God We Trust" was in the last verse of our National Anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner." During the War of 1812, Francis Scott Key penned the words, "And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust,'" after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814. But Obama and his like-minded Pulitzer-wielding pontificators are busy redacting references to our Creator. Next week, we observe with reverence our timeless Thanksgiving holiday, which has been celebrated appropriately throughout our history. We do so as a nation, because a month before his Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln officially designated a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens," on the fourth Thursday of November. In his proclamation, Lincoln referenced the "ever watchful providence of Almighty God." He noted of our innumerable blessings, "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," and recommended "offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him," that we all may "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." Of course, the first Thanksgiving proclamation was issued by George Washington in 1789. He declared, "Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God," that all Americans should "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..." That history notwithstanding, last year, as with all his previous Thanksgiving addresses, Barack Obama refused to credit our Creator in acknowledgment of Thanksgiving, just as he has omitted God from other historic references. At the conclusion of his Gettysburg Address, Lincoln affirmed, "that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." That reference was to our constitutional republic, not Obama's vision for the People's Socialist Democratic Republic. Pro Deo et Constitutione — Libertas aut Mors Semper Vigilo, Fortis, Paratus et Fidelis Mark Alexander Publisher, The Patriot Post

*PUBLIUS* The Patriot Post is protected speech pursuant to the "unalienable rights" of all men, and the First (and Second) Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. In God we trust. Copyright © 2013 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved. REPRINTING, FORWARDING AND POSTING: Subscribers may reprint, forward or post original content from The Patriot Post, in whole or part, in accordance with our Terms of Use, with the following citation: "The Patriot Post (www.patriotpost.us/subscribe/ )" You have received this email because you are subscribed to The Patriot Post. To manage your subscription or to unsubscribe, link to http://patriotpost.us/manage/.