westernbeef
westernnewjersey
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Friday, November 22, 2013
50 years today
America has endured four Presidential assassinations in its 237 year history.
The first was Abraham Lincoln.
Lincoln had given a speech advocating voting rights for blacks. This enraged an actor named John Wilkes Booth. While Abe and his wife were at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC, the president's coachman and his body guard hit the saloon together for a drink. Bad idea. While Lincoln chatted with his wife-- unguarded in their private box-- Booth stepped in and shot him from behind in the head. He was 56 years old. That was April 15th, 1865.
Just 16 years later and the Secretary of State serving President James Garfield in 1881 turned some guy down for a job. Charles J. Guiteau wanted a consul job in Paris (who wouldn’t?) after believing a small speech he had given was the key to Garfield’s election. He figured he was entitled. Secretary Blaine didn’t see it that way.
But when Guiteau heard “no” he got surly and aggressive, so Blaine had him banned from the WhiteHouse and that put him over the edge. On September 19th, 1881 he shot President Garfield twice in a railway station, (again, from behind) with a 44 calibre revolver. Garfield was only 49 years old.
Then came William McKinley.
He was just a few weeks into his second term and had been speaking about foreign trade to help get American goods into European markets. He and his wife went to the American Exposition in Buffalo for a few personal appearances, but anarchist Leon Czolgosz was also at the fair. Inspired by another anarchist named Emma Goldman, “the most dangerous woman in America” (I can think of a few others) he confronted McKinley on the fairgrounds after waiting in a receiving line with a gun wrapped in a handkerchief. Leon Czolgosz shot twice into the President's stomach but McKinley survived.
For awhile, anyway.
But the Doctors botched the surgery and a primitive x-ray on exhibition at the fair was never used and so they couldn’t find one of the bullets. They sewed him up prematurely and he died of gangrene a few days later on September 14, 1901. That was turn of the century medicine for you. He was 58.
That’s three presidents shot dead in just 36 years.
JFK, I remember. I was 12 when he and Jackie went to Dallas to paper over differences within the fractious Democratic party. A motorcade brought him into town.
Conspiracies abound but the Warren Commission found Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone, shooting three times with a snipers rifle from the Texas School Book Depository, also from behind. Decades later, Marine Corps marksmen were trained and timed on that bolt-action rifle but were unable to get three shots off within that same period of time, never mind two body hits and a head kill.
Camelot ended on November 22nd, 1963.
JFK was 46 years old.
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
the hunger for justice
One walk around Mott Haven and it’s clear public assistance is everywhere.
Since Obama became our President, living on EBT foodstamps has doubled.
More people are now on some kind of government assistance than are actually working fulltime.
This imbalance is unprecedented in our history.
A few years back, I was advised by our Congressional office “There is no money for healthier eating programs.”
But somehow we can plow $75 billion a year into unsupervised EBT cash distribution.
In just two generations America has migrated from a work-ethic majority culture to one predominantly dependent on the government.
So if you are single, employed and paying taxes, you define a new minority:
“one working to provide enough food for two.”
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
size matters
94 feet long
21,000 pounds
Found off the coast of South America in 1935
Eats krill
Can be heard from 620 miles away
Swims at 30 mph.
Is a mammal, not a fish.
Largest animal on the planet.
Monday, November 18, 2013
just roll with it
As if there isn’t enough surveillance in this world, check out the new Nasal Ranger.™
Like a telescope for your nose, law enforcement can now check the smell around you from a distance.
It comes with its own carrying case for DEA who travel.
Agents can learn about sniff rates and dilution-to-threshold ratios at the sensory “Odor School.”
You think this must be a joke, but it's not.
flickriver
But this is.
But this is.
Sunday, November 17, 2013
give religious donation a hand
This week the New York Documentary Festival is featuring “Mission Congo,” the story of Pat Robertson’s “Operation Blessing.”
Robertson is one of America’s most famous religious leaders, and the host of TV’s 700 Club.
The documentary reveals that Robertson duped his followers during the 1994 Rwanda genocide, using religious donation to secretly transport diamond mining equipment into the Congo.
Robertson then partnered with Congo’s ruthless dictator Mobutu Sese Seko to loot Congo of its diamond reserves.
swissinfo.ch
Both men grew personally wealthy dealing in blood diamonds, all underwritten by “Operation Blessing” religious donations.
greenanimalworld.co.uk
Still giving money every Sunday?
thebrightcontinent.com
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