Democrats Conveniently Forget Their Racist History

In the days running up to the 2012 Presidential Election, Conservative author Ann Coulter was on ABC's The View. Because she is a Conservative writer, it wasn't surprising that it was a heated meeting.

She was supposedly there to talk about he latest book Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama.

But instead, Ann Coulter got into a heated argument with all of the co-hosts, with the exception of Conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Of course, ultra-left ardent Obama supporter Whoopi Goldberg took the most offense to Anne Coulter being there.

And yes, it started out bad as Coulter began to describe her thesis that "race-mongering has been very bad for America." She went on to say how white "liberals use it to promote causes that have nothing to do with blacks and, in fact, harm blacks,"

Goldberg angrily interrupted telling her, "Please stop, please stop. If you’re going to talk about race, at least know what you’re talking about!"

Ann Coulter replied, "I write about the things I know."

That was when Whoopi Goldberg said, "Tell me how much you know about being black?"

Seeing that Goldberg simply was not capable of understanding what Coulter was saying, Coulter corrected Goldberg by telling her, "This isn’t about being black."

Goldberg then tried to spin what just happened to her advantage by saying, "You just made all these statements about how black people feel."

But Coulter wouldn't let her, stood her ground and said, "No, I didn’t."

Goldberg then shot back, "Yeah, you did."

But again, Ann Coulter stood her ground and wasn't going to bow down to the very wrong Goldberg, telling her, "This isn’t a book about black people. It’s a book about white liberals."

Have you ever see that look on somebody's face after they just attacked someone who they obviously don't like on a person level -- and their attack frizzled? Well that was Whoopi Goldberg as she tried again to steer the discussion away from her screw up, saying, "your facts are a little shaky".

But then, out of the blue Goldberg admits that she doesn’t understand exactly what Coulter’s point is. That's right, Goldberg was arguing about something that she has not read. She really knew nothing about Coulter's book.

Of course, the show blew up when Ann Coulter tried to explain to Goldberg and the others, saying, "I don’t think liberals ever cared about black people. Five minutes after the Civil Rights Act of ’64 passed, they start calling everything that has nothing to do with black people a ‘Civil Rights issue.’”

That set off another round of attacks with all five co-hosts talking over one another. At one point, ABC bleeped out Goldberg as she called Coulter's thesis "bullshit" on the air.

So what was that all about? 

Well, it was called political theater. And yes, I believe that Whoopi Goldberg was arrogant and condescending just so she can brag to her liberal pals that she took on Conservative Ann Coulter. She attacked Coulter because Coulter is a Republican, white, and for no other reason.

That seems to be the new plan of attack from the political left these days: Attack Republicans for being white, racists and wealthy elites.

Of course the whole idea that we Republicans are wealthy elites is strange considering Obama has raised more money than Mitt Romney through huge million dollar fund-raisers.

And as for the idea that we Republicans are all racists, well that's like saying all blacks are thugs. But more importantly, Democrats should look to their own history and find out who the real racist are in American History.

As for Whoopi Goldberg  talking a bunch of shit to Ann Coulter?  Well, the gal should understand that you don't have to be black to know something about racism and segregation in America.

As for legislative segregation, it is dead in America. But racism is not, and I'm sorry to say that racism has more than is more than just a black thing.

A few years back Senator Harry Reid privately described Barack Obama during the presidential campaign as a black candidate who could be successful thanks in part to his “light-skinned” appearance and speaking patterns “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.”

What in tarnation is “Negro dialect?”

Bill Clinton said of Obama, “A few years ago this guy would have been getting us coffee.” And yes. Liberals hails him as one of the country’s most popular presidents ever.

Today, blacks like Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, John Lewis and Malik Zulu Shabazz are the face of black racism.

When Rep. John Lewis used his convention speech to argue that a Republican victory in November will send African-Americans back to when he and other Africans-Americans were forcibly denied access to restaurants, public transportation, restrooms, and the ballot box.

He tried to set race against race for political gain, and that is a form of racism.

When he went on and on describing his activism in the Southern states in the 1950 and 1960s, Lewis claimed, “I’ve seen this before, I lived this before!" - he was in fact trying to divid Ameirca with lies that he knowns damn well are lies.

The Democrat delegates went crazy, then Lewis said, "We were met by an angry mob that beat us and left us lying in a pool of blood. Brothers and sisters, do you want to go back?"

He openly lied to the people that night. If he didn't lie, than he is ignorant of history that he had supposedly lived.

He could have mentioned the Republican role in the passage of the Civil Rights Bills over the years. He could have been honest and said how hard Republicans worked for Civil Rights.

Republicans were the minority and Democrats were the majority - especially in the Southern States where they were called "Dixiecrats".

And yes, southern Democrats did not want to end segregation. Democrats held the power to keep whites and blacks apart and they used their power the same way Democrats owned slaves in the South before the Civil War.

Strange how Representative Lewis failed to mention that Democrats were Slave Owners while Republicans were Anti-Slavery. I guess he must have forgotten who fought to free Blacks in America.

Strange how Lewis didn't mention the very first Republican Civil Rights Acts in the 1870's which would have given blacks the right to vote and stop segregation almost 100 years before the 1964 Bill.

Its strange how he couldn't find the cojones to mention men like Republican Everett Dirksen of Illinois who worked both in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1933 to 1949, and the U.S. Senate from 1951 to 1969, to ensure black civil rights.

As Senate Minority Leader for over a decade, Everett Dirksen played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s, including authoring, writing, and passing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - and the Open Housing Act of 1968, both landmarks of civil rights legislation.

Everett Dirksen’s role in helping to pass the bill was highly controversial among Democrats. But like the Radical Republicans of years ago, Dirksen was also controversial in his own party with Liberal Republicans.

Republicans are always having to defend what they say and do. It is a shame that even anti-segregationist like Republican Everett Dirksen had to defend his position by saying, “When it comes to the rights of others, I don’t play politics. It is the right thing to do.”

It's a shame that today's Democrats like Rep John Lewis feels they have to lie to cover-up the truth of what their own political party has done in the past. It is a shame really that lies are what they now resort to.

John Lewis should apologize for saying that "segregation would return under Mitt Romney" - it was as shameless a statement as could have possibly been made by anyone there.

Republicans have worked too hard fighting Democrats to end segregation. Lewis and others want to spread the lie that it has been the other way around when in fact it hasn't been.

And yes, I agree with what some say today in that if segregation would return that it will be under the guise of the Democrat's idea that we should observe something called "diversity" - which I see as devisive as segregation itself.

I believe that if some form of segregation did return, it will be the Democrats who will bring it back.

Maybe they have some sort of nostalgic love for the old days when they had all the political power and they forced blacks to live sparate but unequal lives. I can only pray that we will be able to stop them as we did in 1964.

And by the way, just for the record, this is for Democrat Rep. John Lewis who said he was "met by an angry mob that beat us and left us lying in a pool of blood."

I'm sorry to have to inform you that you were beaten up by Democrats.

Tom Correa

Obama's Agenda -- Hold Muslim Classes While Banning Christian Holidays

On December 13th, 2015, Fox News reported that Non-Muslim high school girls were made to wear Muslim hijab to promote acceptance of Islamic beliefs.

As ridiculous as it sounds, more than a dozen non-Muslim girls at a Chicago high school were made to wear a traditional Islamic head scarf on Wednesday as part of “Walk a Mile in Her Hijab.”

The event, organized by the school's Muslim Student Association, featured 17 non-Muslims wearing the garment and speaking with other students about the meaning of the hijab.

Vernon Hills High School principal Jon Guillaume told the Daily Herald. "I think this is an opportunity for our kids to embrace the Muslim community within the school."

"You can’t really understand or judge a person and their beliefs until you understand why they do it and what it’s like for them to do what they're doing," said senior Yasmeen Abdallah, the president of the Muslim Students Association.

So is this a part of a cultural Jihad? It has been reported that the Muslim Students Association is affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood and was a proxy named an un-indicted co-conspirator in the largest terrorist funding trial in our nation's history. 

While there was no word on whether the kids made to wear the hijab were Christians or Jews, the Muslim Students Association sponsored the "wear a hijab to school" event at Vernon Hills High School in Chicago in order to "provide a better understanding of the Muslim faith." 

I can't help but wonder how it would have went down if the school told Muslims to wear a cross around their necks or a yarmulke on their heads to "provide a better understanding" of those faiths? I don't think that would have ever happened, thus the double standard.

Besides the double standard, I have to ask if perhaps teaching the students why the Muslims see anyone who is not a Muslim as an enemy would be a way to better serve their education of the Muslim faith? 

How about dressing the girl students in traditional Muslim hijab and then taking away their rights? How about those girls find out how easy they can become candidates to be stoned? 

How about they dress as Yezidi slaves at a Muslim slave auction, or dress them as suicide bombers so they know how it feels to walk the walk of a faith that kills women and children? Would this also give them a better understanding of the Muslim faith? I think it certainly would.

While the Muslim Students Association has made a point of saying that the event was planned last May (2015) and was not a response to Islamic terror attacks in Paris on November 13th, or to the massacre in San Bernardino on December 2nd, both it and Chicago school did not make any effort to cancel the event out of respect for those slaughtered by people of the Muslim faith who see terrorist attacks as justifiable. 

Maybe the students there should have been asked if they condone those attacks?  If so, then the indoctrination may be working as planned. Maybe a better understanding of the Muslim faith means understanding their barbarism?

Of course, besides the school only giving the kids only a "good" taste of the so-called "religion of peace", the big questions are:

With the separation of church and state, why is this Muslim indoctrination class was seen as OK by those in charge at the school and city levels? Why was this class permitted in a public school when Christian indoctrination would not be OK? Is there a concerted effort by city and school officials to endorse Islam over other religions like say Christianity or Judaism? Why haven't the people responsible for putting this on been terminated instead of being allowed to stay and do this again? Will that high school give equal time to Christians and Jews in the future? I doubt it!

PS 169 Principal Eujin Jaela Kim

These are legitimate questions since a public school in New York has seen fit to ban Christian celebrations and American traditions including Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Pledge of Allegiance because of the reference to a Christian God, and banning Santa Claus.

Yes, the principal of Public School (PS) 169 in Brooklyn has banned Santa Claus, banned the Pledge of Allegiance, replaced Thanksgiving with the term "Harvest festival," and has replaced Christmas with the term "Winter Celebration." 

The school's new principal, a woman by the name of Eujin Jaela Kim, age 33, has given the Sunset Park, Brooklyn, school a Politically Correctness cleansing befitting some Communist commissar. 

In contrast to the Muslim indoctrination courses going on in some public schools around the nation, in Brooklyn at PS 169, PTA president Mimi Ferrer said administrators there told her, "We definitely can’t say Christmas, nothing with Christmas on it, nothing with Santa. No angels. We can’t even have a star because it can represent a religious system, like the Star of David."

Though 95% of the 1,600 kids at PS 169 are Asian or Hispanic and Christian, it was reported that a memo last month urged the school staff to "be sensitive of the diversity of our families. Not all children celebrate the same holidays." Yes, in other words, "Don't offend Muslims!"

Although a recent directive to all schools, the city's Department of Education stated it permits holiday symbols including Christmas trees, kinaras (candleholders for Kwanzaa), dreidels, Hanukkah menorahs and the Islamic star-and- crescent. But, displays that "depict images of deities, religious figures or religious texts" are prohibited. That doesn't seem to matter.

In a memo to staff this month added, "In case you are wondering about grey areas: Santa Claus is considered an 'other religious figure.'"

If power corrupts, this school's principal Kim is a prefect example of just how insane with power one person can become. Soon after joining PS 169 in May of 2014, her first time as a principal was to order the faculty to clear their classrooms of "clutter." 

Yes, she ordered hundreds of new text and other books and loads of supplies to be moved into the gym. Once there, she allowed parents and other community members to take what they wanted. The rest was tossed in the trash. She then had people paint over and remove historic murals there.

And with school dollars said to be tight, principal Eujin Jaela Kim dumped boxes of newly purchased reading books in the trash or moved to the the basement. Instead of books, she spent scarce school funds on seven 70-to-80-inch Sharp flat-screen smart TVs, which retail at about $3,000 each. The TVs have been mounted in the auditorium, three over the stage and two on each side. And yes, the TVs have never been used.  

​​So yes, while this principal dismantles core instruction, American tradition, and history at that school, make no mistake that Kim is behind the Politically Correctness cleansing and all out assault on the Pledge of Allegiance, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even Santa Claus. 

Sounds familiar? Yes, it sounds like what the Communist tried to do to eliminate Christianity and Russian history after the October 1917 Communist Revolution. And yes, it sure sounds a lot like what ISIS is doing when they are destroying Middle Eastern history and attacking Christians over there. 

The reader who sent me this article asked, "Could she be a Communist or a Muslim? Or, could she be an ISIS sympathizer like President Obama?" 

Her atrocious policies of eliminating American traditions and attacking Christian celebrations are a great deal like Obama's policies since taking office. As with Obama and the Democrat Party only caring about keeping the nation divided, does she care that she's robbing her school's children of their nation's heritage and ability to assimilate into American society? Does she care that this will hurt the kids at her school? Frankly, I really believe, it doesn't mater to those with such agendas.

Is she helping to prepare that school for Muslim indoctrination? Does she, like President Obama, see nothing wrong with attacking Christian traditions to fundamentally change America into some Socialist/Communist model state? I don't know. But yes, either is very possible. 

There are more folks than just me who see the approval of Muslim indoctrination classes and the attacks on Christians in America as a Liberal agenda to undermine America as the biggest Christian nation in the world. I know that I'm not the only one who thinks that Democrats, Liberals, so-called Progressives see Christian values as a threat and in direct opposition to Socialism/Communism ideals which sees the "state as being god-like." 

And frankly I'm not the only American who now believes that Obama and his White House is actively prosecuting Christians who spread the word of Jesus Christ while looking the other way as local, state, and federal government entities sponsor the spread of the Muslim faith.

Their efforts have become very obvious. By sponsoring Muslims, the Obama White House is actively trying to change the demographics of the United States.

By changing the demographics, the makeup, of the United States, he can destroy America's overwhelming belief in Christian morality. And with that, Obama truly succeeds in fundamentally changing America for the worse.

    

And yes, that's just the way I see things.

Tom Correa

Strange But True Odds & Ends -- Part Three

Bicycles built for two apparently were not catchy enough, so why not make a tandem tricycle! That was the attitude of the Columbia Tricycle Company when they mass produced their product during the fad of the 1880s.

They claimed that they insured “absolute freedom from danger of accident.” They were more stable as they had three wheels and more support.

So what is the most magical place on earth?

Disneyland Employee Cafeteria in 1961

How about the employee cafeteria at Disneyland? Yes, indeed, seeing Snow White, Goofy, and a Native American all dining elbow to elbow must have been an interesting sight.

What at first appears to be a scene out of an old Sci-Fi flick, it is in reality London during WWII. Brits feared that the Nazi's would turn their poison gas attacks on civilians, and they protected themselves accordingly -- including their children with gas masks.

Jackie Mitchell was the only woman to ever strike out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. In the picture above, she shakes their hand in 1931.

It's just your average Las Vegas day in the 1950s. They might as well have had a viewing party to watch atomic bomb tests. No big deal, right? After all, Las Vegas used this to their advantage to boost tourism by promoting "atomic cocktails" served at "Dawn Bomb Parties." One casino owner remarked, "The best thing to happen to Vegas was the Atomic Bomb."

Ham was not your average astronaut when he flew the Mercury mission in 1961: he was a chimpanzee! His training included working with a neuroscientist to push a lever if he saw a blue light flash. Ham not only survived the mission, but lived out the rest of this 25 year life at the Asheboro Zoo in North Carolina.

Atabrine, a synthetic treatment for fighting malaria, was used in large quantities by he US military in the South Pacific during WWII. This sign was a reminder to the troops near a military hospital in New Guinea, where nearly two-thirds of our men fell ill with malaria.

It was not uncommon in the 20s for the beaches to be monitored for swimming suit length. Women whose suits were not long enough, and considered too revealing, were asked to change. While I'm sure it was difficult to find someone to do such a job, imagine something like this happening today!

Prohibition was not our country's brightest hour. You can take the booze out of the country, but, no wait, you can't. This flood was part of disposal of illegal alcohol being poured out of a Detroit building. It's proximity to Canada made it a key location for smuggling in spirits.

This Prohibition bust by the state police included arresting the local sheriff and the Mayor!

Ever wonder how Harley-Davidson motorcycles got started? Well. here you go! The picture above is of William Harley and Arthur Davidson in 1914.

And yes, this was compiled from multiple sources.
Tom Correa

Strange But True Odds & Ends -- Part Two

en.wikipedia.org and en.wikipedia.org

Bayer, the German pharmaceutical company that produces aspirin, commercialized heroin in the 1890s as a cough, cold, and pain remedy.

What’s really shocking, however, is that Bayer marketed heroin for use in children as late as 1912, years after reports began to surface that it could be a dangerous drug. In 1914, heroin was restricted to prescription-only use in the U.S. and eventually banned by the FDA altogether in 1924.

In a 2008 survey, 58% of British teens thought Sherlock Holmes was a real guy, while 20% thought Winston Churchill was not.

Did you know that the U.S. government paid the Zapruder family $16 million for the film of JFK's assassination in 1999? They did. Or should I say, we did.

Fredric Baur invented the Pringles can. When he passed away in 2008, his ashes were buried in one.

In the mid-1960s, Slumber Party Barbie came with a book called "How to Lose Weight." One of the tips was "Don’t eat."

When asked if he knew the speed of sound, Einstein said he "didn't carry such information in my mind since it's readily available in books."

The last time a Republican was elected president without a Nixon or Bush on the ticket was 1928. That Republican was Herbert Hoover who became the 31st president of the United States a mere eight months before the Stock Market Crash of 1929.

Sea otter couples hold hands when they sleep so they don't drift apart. Yes, it's true!

In 1973, Mao Zedong told Henry Kissinger that China had an excess of females and offered the U.S. 10 million Chinese women.

There are 9 million more women than men in Russia. In fact, it is said that Russia's population has fallen by 6.6 million since 1993.

Each Russian consumes 18 litres of alcohol per year on average, doubling what experts consider as dangerous. There are more than 500,000 alcohol related deaths each year in Russia And believe it or not, beer only started being classed as alcohol in Russia in 2013.

Talking about boozers, when fruit flies are infected with a parasite, they self-medicate with booze -- they seek out food with higher alcohol content.

The Code of Hammurabi decreed that bartenders who watered down beer would be executed. 

In 1493, Columbus thought he saw mermaids. They were "not as pretty as they are depicted, for somehow in the face they look like men." It was probably manatees.

When the Westboro Baptist Church protested a soldier's funeral in Oklahoma, their tires were slashed. People in town refused to repair them.

An early ATM was deemed a failure because its only users were "prostitutes and gamblers who didn’t want to deal with tellers face to face."

The American Psychiatric Association’s DSM-V handbook classifies caffeine withdrawal as a mental  heath disorder. 

On May 15th, 2014, it was reported that Dave Harrell of Edmond, Oklahoma, caught an "Alligator Snapping Turtle" on a rod and reel at Eufaula Lake in Oklahoma. It is the biggest he had ever seen.

It is typically the largest freshwater turtle in the world based on weight and can live to be 200 years old. The beast weighed over 100 pounds. And yes, they were just out fishing for catfish.

Columbus struck land in the Caribbean and also explored Central and South America, but he never set foot on North America. Nonetheless, the U.S. celebrates Columbus Day every year.

Also, thinkers as far back as Pythagoras, a Greek mathematician in the sixth century B.C., knew the world was round. Columbus even supposedly planned his trip using a copy of Ptolemy's "Geography," which included theories about the world's spherical shape.

President George Washington did have horrifically bad teeth. He even wore multiple sets of dentures throughout his life made of ivory, gold, and lead -- but not wood.

According to the organization that runs President Washington's famed estate, Mount Vernon, President Washington did love his Port wine though. The burgundy-colored drink may have stained his teeth, making them appear brown and grainy, like wood.

The Great Chicago Fire killed hundreds and burned more than 3 square miles in 1871. Contrary to popular myth, the blaze actually started in a small alley for unknown reasons.

The journalist who attributed the blaze to "Mrs. O' Leary's cow" knocking over a lit lantern admitted he lied and made up the story. Yes, we haven't been able to trust the news media for years.

And yes, this was compiled from multiple sources.
Tom Correa

Strange But True Odds & Ends -- Part One

This photo, taken in 1919, shows Goddard Squadron honoring their fallen member Freddy Jackson shortly after his funeral. 

If you look closely at the photograph, you can see a man in the background who was identified by other squadron members as, you guessed it, Freddy Jackson.

If you think that is amazing, in 1838, Edgar Allan Poe released a book called "The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket" which tells of the four crewmen of a whaling ship who had to draw lots to decide whom they would eat after days of hunger.

The lot fell on the cabin boy named Richard Parker. Forty-six years later, a disaster at sea caused legal furor because three crewmen ate their cabin boy named Richard Parker after drawing lots.

It you think that's strange then you will like the following:

The heart of a Blue Whale is so big, a human can swim through the arteries. An Octopus has three hearts. Armadillos nearly always give birth to identical quadruplets. Hippo milk is pink. And yes, the Unicorn is the National Animal of Scotland. 

Vending machines are twice as likely to kill you than a shark is.

Not once in the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme does it mention that he’s an egg.

All of the men who fought in World War II were born before sliced bread. Yes, they pre-dated the day when people started selling already sliced bread. 

Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been pre-sliced with a machine and packaged for convenience. So what did they say before the advent of sliced bread?

Well, sliced bread was first sold in 1928, and advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped!" Now you know! 

Did you know that former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's mother was born in Brooklyn. She was.

Call him Mr Lucky! Mr. Tsutomu Yamaguchi was in Hiroshima for work when the first A-bomb hit, and made it home to Nagasaki for the second. Though he was "nuked" twice, he lived to be 93.

New research suggests that 15–20 million people were murdered or imprisoned by the Nazis during the Holocaust, much more than previously believed. All in the name of Socialism. 

Yes, Germany's Nazi Party were in fact Socialists.

Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the USSR from 1929–1953, is believed to have killed between 20-60 million people. All in the name of Communism.

In the 1970s, Cambodia's Pol Pot’s Communist regime brainwashed thousands of children into becoming soldiers who committed mass murders and other atrocities. They slaughtered millions of people. All in the name of Communism. 

Chairman Mao Zedong killed 45 million people during Communist China’s "Great Leap Forward" from 1958–1962. All in the name o f Communism.

In China, in recent years tens of thousands of baby girls were abandoned each year because of the country’s one-child policy. All in the name of Communism. 

A strawberry isn’t a berry but a banana is. And yes, so are avocados and watermelons. Peanuts are not nuts. They grow in the ground, so they are legumes.

Humans share 50% of their DNA with bananas. There is 10 times more bacteria in your body than actual body cells. And yes, 90% of the cells that make us up of aren’t human but mostly fungi and bacteria.

Before the mid-19th century dentures were commonly made with teeth pulled from the mouths of dead soldiers.

After Pope Gregory IX declared that cats were associated with devil worship, cats throughout Europe were exterminated in droves. This sudden lack of cats led to the spread of disease because infected rats ran free. The most devastating of these diseases, the Bubonic Plague, killed 100 million people.

The Aztecs made human sacrifices to the gods. In 1487, at the dedication of the temple in Tenochtitlan, 20,000 people were put to death. The Mayans also made sacrifices. The most common involved pulling a still-beating heart out of a victim’s chest. And imagine, today people try to say only the Europeans were cruel. 

People were buried alive so often in the 19th century that inventors patented safety coffins that would give the "dead" the ability to alert those above ground if they were still alive.

Approximately 750,000 men died in the Civil War, which was more than 2.5% of America’s population at the time.

The last time the Chicago Cubs won the baseball World Series, lollipops had not yet been invented, and women did not have the right to vote in the United States. 

In fact, the last time the Cubs won the world series, Alaska, Arizona, Hawaii, and New Mexico were not yet states, And yes, the Ottoman Empire still existed.

Speaking of the Ottoman Empire, its Sultan Ibrahim I had 280 of his concubines drowned in the ocean after one of them slept with another man.

In Medieval times people were put to death for being witches. One anthropologist conjectures as many as 600,000 “witches” lost their lives.

In Medieval times the accused often faced a “trial by ordeal,” where they were forced to stick their arm into a vat of boiling water. If their arm emerged unscathed, it was believed God protected them, thus proving their innocence. And yes, believe it or not, animals were put on trial in medieval times and routinely sentenced to death.

A thousand seconds is about 16 minutes, a million seconds is about 11 days. a billion seconds is about 32 years, and one trillion seconds is about 32,000 years. 

Honey never spoils. You can eat 32,000-year-old honey.

In 2006, an Australian man tried to sell New Zealand on eBay. The price rose to $3,000 before eBay shut it down.

Mexican General Santa Anna had an elaborate state funeral for his amputated leg.

Toy companies failed to duplicate the success of Theodore Roosevelt's teddy bear with William Taft's "Billy Possum."

Prairie dogs say hello with kisses.

New Mexico State's first graduating class in 1893 had only one student -- and he is said to have been was shot and killed before graduation.

If you think you always needed to make A's in school, there is one student who had a lot of satisfaction with his grade even though it wasn't an A. Our 50-star American flag was designed by an Ohio high school student for a class project. His teacher originally gave him a B–

Here’s something we’ll probably never see again in our own lifetime: the Hoover Dam without any water in it.

Last but not least, it might sound strange, but it is true that you can’t hum while holding your nose shut. Now you know you going to try it!

And yes, this was compiled from multiple sources.
Tom Correa

I Agree With Donald Trump

OK, so Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said that he would stop Muslims from entering the United States -- that includes Muslim students, tourists, refugees, and of course potential terrorist.

Wait, did I say he wants to keep out potential terrorists? Yes, he does. Imagine that. That is quite a change in policy over the present policy of allowing anyone in -- even if they hate us.

While Trump's call for a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States has drawn condemnation from Muslim groups, Democrats, and even Trump's Republican rivals, is anyone really surprised that they would not agree with Trump. 

Friends, Muslim groups such as and associated with the likes of CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Nation of Islam want to kill Americans. Of course they don't want the door secured and the bad guys kept out. 

And as for so-called Republicans like Speaker of the House Paul Ryan who came out to say that Trump does not reflect the values of Republican Party, Paul Ryan does not reflect the values Republican Party.

When did it happen that stupid and reckless abandonment of security for our nation became values of the Republican Party? When did it take place that Republicans stopped caring about the safety of the American people just to appease United Nation refugee mandates and an administration that doesn't give a shit about our security? 

When is it that the Republican Party became the Democrats and want to be Politically Correct instead of sane and prudent? Since when has the Republican Party been hijacked by politicians who put their own wants and desires, themselves, ahead of America? 

This is not about some passage of a poem on the Statue of Liberty, or the Democrat idea that there should be no borders. This is about the security of our nation and the protection of our people. Yes, this is about the reason that our government was created in the first place. This is about providing for the common defense of the United States.

And guess what, limiting access is as old a basic principle of security as one can possible find. 

Security is the degree of resistance to, or protection from, harm. It applies to any vulnerable and valuable asset, such as a person or many people, homes, businesses, organizations, groups, events, gatherings, towns, cities, small communities and big, state and nation.

There are a number of security measure we take every day. We limit access to our bank accounts, our computers, our cars, homes, businesses and so on. When I was a young Marine, one of my first duties was to be assigned to the security of Nuclear Weapons.

As with most types of physical security, we are talking about security measures designed to deny unauthorized access to facilities, equipment and resources, and to protect personnel and property from damage or harm. In the case of store security, the primary threat is theft. In the case of Nuclear Security, the primary threats were espionage and sabotage. 

The primary threat involved with allowing un-screened or inept screening to take place is terrorist  attacks that result in the deaths of Americans. Yes, Americans which may include your family members. 

So, why do I support Donald Trump's call for a temporary halt to Muslims seeking to enter the United States -- including Muslim students, tourists, refugees, and of course potential terrorist?

It is simple, I treasure your life and the life of members of your family. I was a Security Consultant for years, and I can tell you that physical security involves the use of multiple layers of interdependent systems -- which include surveillance systems, security guards and the incorporation of patrol procedures, barricades, protective barriers, locks, and of course access control. Yes, access control.

Good security is about controlling access to those you want to keep safe. The first rule is to keep the bad guys out. How you do that means limiting who can come in. Screening protocols will establish who you allow in and who you try to keep out. 

This is not brain surgery. This is basic security, basic self protection when there are bad guys who want in to harm you and yours. 

Whether all of the Republicans who just chastised Trump over this understand it or not, this is not about values of "who we are" but about losing American lives to people extremely determined to kill Americans. 

Pertaining to Donald Trump's comments, comments that I believe reflect the feelings of a great number of Americans, Jeb Bush tweeting that Trump "is unhinged". Carly Fiorina called the proposal an "overreaction [as] dangerous as President Obama's under-reaction." I just hope these two have the guts to tell that to the families of the victims of the next Muslim terrorist attack which could have been prevented if we halted Muslim entry until we have a better screening system. But believe me when I say, as with Paul Ryan, they won't.

Trump’s proposal has come five days after Muslim terrorists killed 14 people and injured 21 at a Christmas office party in San Bernardino, California, all while President Obama is determined to relocate tens of thousands of Syrian refugees in the United States. 

The head of the FBI stated that there is no question that Syrian refugees CANNOT be effectively screened. Because of what the head of the FBI says, I feel that Donald Trump has bravely stepped forward to take on the task of the first duties of president.

Trumps's proposal: "Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life."

Yes, the first duty of a president is not to worry about appeasing the United Nations or bowing to Muslims who want us dead. It is to protect us, our homeland, our nation, America.

It's not surprising that Muslim leaders expressed outrage at the idea. And really, who is really surprised when Hillary Clinton called the proposal "reprehensible, prejudiced and divisive."

And really, who is surprised that the openly avowed Socialist, a Democrat who has constantly demonstrated his hatred for the United States, Bernie Sanders said "Trump and others want us to hate all Muslims." 

And by the way, for you people out who agree with Hillary and Bernie, those of you who believe in Open Borders -- why don't you take the locks off the doors of your homes? Why don't you make the place where you live like the America you want?

Like the Democrats who are always bad mouthing the Police yet need them, or want guns banned yet called to borrow one during the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles, you should practice what they preach and leave the doors to your home open to all. Ask yourself if you are really OK with letting in the known and the unknown?

Would you open your doors and allow all to access your home? I wouldn't. Friends and family can get in if they want and need to, and no one else has the need without my permission.

Would you not concern yourself with who comes into your home? I am very concerned with who comes in my home. Yes, I care if their intentions are friendly or not.

Security is a big deal to me and maybe that's way I see this as being a big deal. That's the reason that I think Donald Trump is right. The people he is talking about keeping out, until we can truly determine their background and intentions, are among the Syrian refugees that Obama wants to bring here.

Trump is right because experts have already determined that ISIS members and sympathizers are among them. That is a fact not up for debate. And frankly, that makes Trump's proposal a good start to control access and safeguard the American people.

And frankly friends, why should we allow citizens to put all of us at risk because of some political agenda? Besides, since Trump is talking about a halt until a better system is in place, I'd really like to know why it's so important to politicians that the American government to act in hast?

Why is it so important that we allow would-be terrorists to enter America right now? What is wrong with getting a better system in place before moving forward?

We spend billions of taxpayer dollars on all sorts of fancy military hardware to protect us. We also spend billions of taxpayer dollars on government waste such as the scam called "Climate Control."

How about we funnel some of those funds to create protocols and a screening system that can keep us safe today by limiting access as to who comes in and who doesn't? America is our home, why are we not securing it in the same why that we do the homes we live in? We should.

UPDATE: I have received a lot of email over this telling me that I'm talking about taking away people's rights. First, I've read the Constitution a number of times and cannot find where we cannot keep out FOREIGNERS who are a threat. Second, no matter what Democrats and Liberals and RINOs say, FOREIGNERS do not have the rights of American CITIZENS. That is a fact, so keeping out FOREIGNERS because they pose a possible threat to our nation is well within the law.

And yes, that's just the way I see it.
Tom Correa

Islamic Group C.A.I.R Is A Sham

By Terry McGahey
Associate Writer/Historian

After the cowardly terrorist attack that took place in San Bernardino, California. The Council on American-Islamic Relations made their grandstand appearance on the news talking about how they feel badly for the victims. This act was done for no other reason than damage control, period!

The Islamic group CAIR was created by the Muslim Brotherhood which, as we all know, is a radical Islamic organization.

This group receives financial support from several foreign powers, some of these are the same powers which supported Osama Bin Laden, Al-Qaeda, and Hamas as well.

This group has not only received donations from convicted terrorists, but has also praised terrorists and has stated that suicide bombers are acting on behalf of Islam.

CAIR board members have also called for the overthrow of the United States Government and to impose Sharia law, which in reality means murder, the killing of anyone who criticizes Islam on the internet or anywhere else.

This is nothing but a Muslim Brotherhood organization which lies to the American people about their so called moderate Muslim approach. Even in the Koran, it is permissible for Muslims to lie to the infidels, or non believers if you will, to promote their agenda.

If CAIR truly was a moderate Islamic organization, if there really is such a thing, then why is it that they as well as others are not standing up in public in mass against radical Islam? Maybe it's because the so-called "moderates" are afraid of their own Islamic brothers, or is it because there is no such thing as "moderate" Muslims?

The so-called "moderate" Muslims read from the same Koran that the radicals do, and believe in the same words written within the Koran or they wouldn't be true Muslims.

As I have said before, there are over 100 passages within the Koran that promotes the killing of infidels which they consider the non believers. They call Muhammad their prophet.

Well, Warren Jeffs who led the child raping polygamist cult in Arizona City was also called a prophet. Jim Jones who planned the mass murder of his cult followers was also called a prophet by his dominion. Over these past many years, religious cults have called their leaders prophets and followed them with blind eyes, and even some like sheep to the slaughter house.

What amazes me about this so-called president of ours, who claims to be a Christian, is why he objects to calling attacks such as the Boston Marathon, Fort Hood killings, or now the massacre in San Bernardino, attacka by Islamic terrorists. Obama would rather call this work place violence and has tried to play that game even with this latest horrific event.

Even before the bodies of our citizens were cold, he announced the need for more gun control. There is no amount of gun control laws that would have stopped this terrorist action, nor will there be any gun control laws in the future that will stop an Islamic terrorist attack. The only thing more gun laws will do is to make it harder for the honest citizen to defend themselves.

Obama himself was raised as a Muslim up until the age of eleven years old that we know of, which are the formative years in a child's life, and his actions prove time and time again that if he truly is not a Muslim by belief, he leans more toward the Muslims than Christians.

My opinion, yes he is a Muslim and his actions, or should I say inaction, have proven this to me over the years. There is nothing about the Muslim belief system that works within our Constitution or the American way of life, not even a little bit.

Don't take my word for it, do some research yourself. If you do you will find that there is no room for Islamic beliefs within our governments structure. This being of fact, why has Obama appointed Muslims into his cabinet and why are a few of them associated with the Muslim Brotherhood?

As I close this article, I only want to leave you with this old saying. When it comes to CAIR and our so called president, "if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a damn duck!"

Do citizens (not police officers) with guns ever stop mass shootings?

By Eugene Volokh 

Backers of laws that let pretty much all law-abiding people carry concealed guns in public places often argue that these laws will sometimes enable people to stop mass shootings. 

Opponents occasionally ask: If that’s so, what examples can one give of civilians armed with guns stopping such shootings? 

Sometimes, I hear people asking if even one such example can be found, or saying that they haven’t heard of even one such example.

A while back I posted about a few examples, but since then there have been some more, so I thought I’d note them. Naturally, such examples will be rare. Even in states which allow concealed carry, there often aren’t people near a shooting who have a gun on them at the time. 

Many mass shootings happen in supposedly “gun-free” zones (such as schools, universities or private property posted with a no-guns sign), in which gun carrying isn’t allowed. 

And there is no central database of such examples, many of which don’t hit the national media, especially if a gunman is stopped before he shoots many victims. Moreover, at least some examples are ambiguous, because it might be unclear — as you’ll see below — whether the shooter had been planning to kill more people when he was stopped.

Still, for whatever they are worth, here is a list of some such incidents (which deliberately excludes killings stopped by people who were off-duty police officers, or police officers from other jurisdictions, at the time of a shooting, as well as some other cases which struck me as borderline):

1. In Chicago earlier this year, an Uber driver with a concealed-carry permit “shot and wounded a gunman [Everardo Custodio] who opened fire on a crowd of people.”

2. In a Philadelphia barber shop earlier this year, Warren Edwards “opened fire on customers and barbers” after an argument. 

Another man with a concealed-carry permit then shot the shooter; of course it’s impossible to tell whether the shooter would have kept killing if he hadn’t been stopped, but a police captain was quoted as saying that, “I guess he [the man who shot the shooter] saved a lot of people in there.”

3. In a hospital near Philadelphia, in 2014, Richard Plotts shot and killed the psychiatric caseworker with whom he was meeting, and shot and wounded his psychiatrist, Lee Silverman. Silverman shot back, and took down Plotts. 

While again it’s not certain whether Plotts would have killed other people, Delaware County D.A. Jack Whelan stated that, “If the doctor did not have a firearm, (and) the doctor did not utilize the firearm, he’d be dead today, and I believe that other people in that facility would also be dead”.

Yeadon Police Chief Donald Molineux similar said that he “believe[d] the doctor saved lives.” 

Plotts was still carrying 39 unspent rounds when he was arrested. 

4. In Plymouth, Pa., in 2012, William Allabaugh killed one man and wounded another following an argument over Allabaugh being ejected from a bar. 

Allabaugh then approached a bar manager and Mark Ktytor and reportedly pointed his gun at them; Ktytor, who had a concealed-carry license, then shot Allabaugh. 

“The video footage and the evidence reveals that Mr. Allabaugh had turned around and was reapproaching the bar. Mr. [Ktytor] then acted, taking him down. We believe that it could have been much worse that night,” Luzerne County A.D.A. Jarrett Ferentino said.

5. Near Spartanburg, S.C., in 2012, Jesse Gates went to his church armed with a shotgun and kicked in a door. 

But Aaron Guyton, who had a concealed-carry license, drew his gun and pointed it at Gates, and other parishioners then disarmed Gates. 

Note that in this instance, unlike the others, it’s possible that the criminal wasn’t planning on killing anyone, but just brought the shotgun to church and kicked in the door to draw attention to himself or vent his frustration.

6. In Atlanta in 2009, Calvin Lavant and Jamal Hill broke into an apartment during a party and forced everyone to the floor. 

After they gathered various valuables, and separated the men and the women, and Lavant said to Hill, “we are about to have sex with these girls, then we are going to kill them all,” and began “discussing condoms and the number of bullets in their guns.” 

At that point, Sean Barner, a Marine who was attending Georgia State as part of the Marine Enlisted Commissioning Education Program, managed to get to the book bag he brought to the party; took out his gun; shot and scared away Hill; went into the neighboring room, where Lavant was about to rape one of the women; was shot at by Lavant, and shot back and hit Lavant, who then ran off and later died of his injuries. 

One of the women was shot and wounded in the shootout, but given the circumstances described in the sources I linked to, it seemed very likely that Lavant and Hill would have killed (as well as raped) some or all of the partygoers had they not been stopped. 

This incident of course involves a member of the military, not a civilian, so some may discount it on those grounds. But Barner was acting as a civilian, and carrying a gun as a civilian (he had a concealed carry license); indeed, if he had been on a military base, he would generally not have been allowed to carry a gun except when on security duty.

7. In Winnemucca, Nev., in 2008, Ernesto Villagomez killed two people and wounded two others in a bar filled with 300 people. 

He was then shot and killed by a patron who was carrying a gun (and had a concealed-carry license). 

It’s not clear whether Villagomez would have killed more people; the killings were apparently the result of a family feud, and I could see no information on whether Villagomez had more names on his list, nor could one tell whether he would have killed more people in trying to evade capture.

8. In Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2007, Matthew Murray killed four people at a church. 

He was then shot several times by Jeanne Assam, a church member, volunteer security guard and former police officer (she had been dismissed by a police department 10 years before, and to my knowledge hadn’t worked as a police officer since). 

Murray, knocked down and badly wounded, killed himself; it is again not clear whether he would have killed more people had he not been wounded, but my guess is that he would have. 

[UPDATE: he apparently went to the church with more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition].

9. In Edinboro, Pa., in 1998, 14-year-old Andrew Wurst shot and killed a teacher at a school dance, and shot and injured several other students. 

He had just left the dance hall, carrying his gun — possibly to attack more people, though the stories that I’ve seen are unclear — when he was confronted by the dance hall owner James Strand, who lived next door and kept a shotgun at home. 

It’s not clear whether Wurst was planning to kill others, would have gotten into a gun battle with the police, or would have otherwise killed more people had Strand not stopped him.

10. In Pearl, Miss., in 1997, 16-year-old Luke Woodham stabbed and bludgeoned to death his mother at home, then killed two students and injured seven at his high school. 

As he was leaving the school, he was stopped by Assistant Principal Joel Myrick, who had gone out to get a handgun from his car. 

I have seen sources that state that Woodham was on the way to Pearl Junior High School to continue shooting, though I couldn’t find any contemporaneous news articles that so state. 

[UPDATE: For whatever it’s worth, Heidi Kinchen of The Advocate (Baton Rouge) notes that Myrick was in the Army reserves and in the National Guard, though he was obviously not on duty at the time of the shooting.]

Of course there’s much we don’t know about civilians and mass shootings: In what fraction of mass shootings would such interventions happen, if gun possession were allowed in the places where the shootings happen? In what fraction would interventions prevent more killings and injuries, as opposed to capturing or killing the murderer after he’s already done? In what fraction would interventions lead to more injuries to bystanders?

Finally, always keep in mind that mass shootings in public places should not be the main focus in the gun debate, whether for gun control or gun decontrol: They on average account for much less than 1 percent of the U.S. homicide rate and are unusually hard to stop through gun control laws (since the killer is bent on committing a publicly visible murder and is thus unlikely to be much deterred by gun control law, or by the prospect of encountering an armed bystander). Still, people had asked for examples of some shootings in which a civilian armed with a gun intervened and brought down the shooter, so here is what I found.

Some of these incidents are drawn from a list on the Crime Prevention Research Center site, though I have independently read the media reports to which I linked (as well as some other media reports on the incidents, for background).

UPDATE: I originally called this post, “Do civilians with guns ever stop mass shootings?,” using “civilians” to set aside mass shootings stopped by on- or off-duty police officers. But after learning that Myrick (#10) was a National Guard member, and that Barner (#6) was a Marine, I changed that to “citizens (not police officers).” 

I think including the military members is still helpful, because they were acting as civilians, and were not on duty, on base, or otherwise different from other citizens (though of course they had weapons training and the experience of military discipline, something that many millions of former military members also have). 

But I note their military membership above, so people who want to set them aside and focus on the other eight examples can do so.

Editor's Note:

The above article from October 3rd, 2015 was sent to me right after the recent San Bernardino Massacre, the most recent Muslim terrorist attack. It makes the great point as to how armed citizens, yes Americans with guns, could have stopped the Muslim terrorist attack.

Eugene Volokh is a blogger and teacher. His blog The Volokh Conspiracy is very good. And yes, he teaches free speech law, religious freedom law, church-state relations law, a First Amendment Amicus Brief Clinic, and tort law, at UCLA School of Law, where he has also often taught copyright law, criminal law, and a seminar on firearms regulation policy.

His article addresses the issue of citizens with guns stopping what can be mass murder. I hope you share this with others in an effort to combat the myth that guns are the problem -- when in fact guns may have very well prevented what took place in San Bernardino, California.

Just knowing that there would have been the possibility of armed resistance may have been enough to stop a terrorist attack. After all, the target was chosen because of its lack of protection -- as most "soft targets" are.

And yes, that's just how I see it.
Tom Correa
Editor, American Cowboy Chronicles

We went to the Price Is Right

So OK, I made it to Hollywood! Yes, as funny as that sounds, it's true!

So what am I talking about? Well, my mom turned 81 years old  on November 6th. When asked what she wanted for her 81st birthday, she replied, "To be on the Price Is Right!"

Yes, my mom is one of the millions of people out there who turn on their televisions to watch the Price Is Right game show. And yes, since mom requested what she had, I have found a great number of people who watch that show religiously. Some watch it daily, others tape it for later, and a few have said that they want to be on it as well. For me, being real honest, I'd never watched the whole show. So frankly, I really didn't know much about it.

But with mom's request in mind, my wife Deanna and I got on-line to research what it would take to go to Hollywood and be on the Price Is Right. We found their website, and soon picked a date and time and had tickets to stand in line with a couple of hundred other people to get in.

Of course, first in line has a better chance of getting in to be part of the audience. The four of us were numbers 008, 009, 010, and 011. So as you can see, we were pretty much the first in line.

We arranged to be there on November 30th, at the 12 Noon taping. We were also given directions, and we found hotel rooms. We did all of this within an hour or so of us sitting at a computer. Yes, as remarkable as that is, it was all just that quick all on line.

To say that my mom was excited about going would have been an understatement. She told all of her friends who she plays cards and bunco with. And yes, she certainly told all of her Red Hat cronies the news. In fact, I don't know anyone in the small town of Ione who didn't know she was going to be on the Price Is Right.

On Thanksgiving, after having dinner, while I grabbed a seat in a recliner to slip into a turkey-coma, Deanna and mom set out to make shirts that would hopefully catch the attention of the folks who pick people to go up on-stage. For me, I have to admit that it was certainly a lot of fun just watching them acting like kids as they wrote catchy phrases on their shirts -- all in glitter of course!

As for me, since it is the Christmas Season, I figured that I'd simply grab my newest 4XL red shirt and wear it. Since I was told that television cameras make people look 10 pounds heavier than they are, I figured I'd certainly look as big as a house on TV.

At first, I figured we'd drive the 7 hours or so south to Los Angeles a day ahead of time -- but then it became very evident that mom wanted to go sight seeing even if it meant just the sights right there in Hollywood. Thankfully, my wife Deanna is game and willing to go on adventures now and again.

So while I figured that Deanna and I would take my mom to Hollywood alone, I was shocked when my older brother said that he wanted to go as well. While he's not one for traveling, come to find out that he watches the show pretty regularly as well.

Deanna and I asked and were very happy that our great friends Kevin and Bret Haight agreed to feed and care for our horses and critters while we were gone. They are such a great young couple. And yes, their son Rider, age 10, and daughter Paisley, age 5, are wonderful kids. While I'm thankful that Kevin sees me as a good friend, Bret calls me "dad," and their kids treat my wife and I as their adopted grandparents. So yes, we are all pretty close. And frankly, it's great.

Knowing that our place was in good hands, and knowing that my father-in-law was coming up to use my gun range and then take our dog Holly home with him for the week was a great relief, it certainly helps lessen worry about what's going on at home while you're away.

So with everything set in place, at about 10:30 on Saturday morning November 28th, my wife and I left home to pick up my brother and mom to head south for Los Angeles about 400 miles away.

Google Maps determined that our trip would take 7 hours from our home. But with detouring to pick up my brother and mom, we lost an hour or so right at the start. And no, Google's timeline didn't account for Holiday Weekend traffic or construction delays. So all in all, I drove for almost 10 hours to get us to Hollywood.

We stayed at the Best Western Hotel on Highland Ave. And yes, it was very nice there. On Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel's coffee shop, and that's where I met my first actress while in Hollywood.

Our server was a very friendly gal by the name of Fany Rosen who had a very slight accent. Because I can usually pickup that sort of thing, I asked her where she was originally from? Come to find out she was from "Sweden," and she said that she was there to be an actress.

Fany is a very pretty gal who ended up telling us a lot about how the whole acting thing works. The want of being on camera. The acting workshops. The acting academies. The want of a line or two. The hope of being a guest on a show. The desire to be a recurring guest star on a series. The dream of getting a part in a movie. She said she had been in a film or two, and that was great to hear. She seemed to have the right attitude to stay the course. I really do hope she makes it.

Since mom wanted to check out Grauman's Chinese Theater and the historic Hollywood Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard, we left the Best Western to check it out and almost immediately ran smack dab into traffic. We found that Hollywood Blvd and a few other streets were being closed because of the Hollywood Christmas Parade that night. Yes, closed streets means diverted traffic to already congested traffic. It was a mess!

Friends, it was one of those situations you find yourself in where there's nothing else to do but remain calm and keep cool. Yes, the traffic down there takes all the patience that you can muster.

And frankly, while I only lost my cool once and yelled at some jerk to get his head out of his ass, I mostly just kept shaking my head in disbelief that people actually live there. They have an abundance of jackasses behind the wheel down there. We almost got hit a few times. So yes, it's hard to believe that people live in that on a daily basis.

We were diverted down one street where there were over a dozen tow-trucks towing away parked cars. Soon it became evident that there was a fleet of tow-trucks out all doing the same thing to get ready for the parade that night.

About 4 pm, I decided that mom would be disappointed if we didn't check out the parade that she'd only seen on TV. So since it was supposed to start at 5 pm, I dropped of Deanna and mom. I left for a few minutes to take my brother back to the hotel.

When I returned, I found Deanna and mom. We then pushed mom's wheelchair down the sidewalk through the crowd block after block until we found a place to position ourselves to watch the parade.

Now I would have thought that those city people would be rude and pushy like the people in San Francisco. But frankly, they were the opposite. Unlike the city folks in San Francisco, all of the folks along the sidewalks of the parade route were very friendly. It was a great surprise!

Patiently, yes, we waited and watched the parade preparation until the show started. It didn't start until 6:30 pm. And all in all, it was worth it because mom certainly enjoyed seeing the celebrities from the different television Soap-operas. For me, I had never heard of any of them -- but then again I don't watch Soap-operas.

And yes, I really believe that it was worth it for my wife and I since we both enjoyed the marching bands, the huge parade balloons all being held down by people on the ends of ropes, and the movie cars from films such as Batman, the Green Hornet, Transformers, Back To The Future, and more.

I went over to the Hooters Restaurant on Hollywood Blvd to buy a few bottled waters. It was there that I met two gals who were actresses, one singer, and one gal who was a model. Daisy, the Hooters gal who was working the register, said she was from Los Angeles and didn't have any desire to be an actress or a model. I found that sort of incredible considering she was the one person there with the nicest personality.

During the parade, of the people standing around us, many seemed to be from someplace other than California. Most of those folks were there to get into show business in one way or another. By then, I was getting used to meeting people who wanted to be actors and actresses.

While meeting would-be entertainers was not surprising after a while, what was surprising was the lack of education of many who wanted to pursue acting. You see, when I was in college, I remember a few folks there who studied drama and even Shakespeare. Most were good Liberal Arts students. Back then, it seems as though most of the drama students enjoyed life in college and "learning the craft of acting" as one fellow student told me once.

In Hollywood, I met a couple of would-be actresses who said they simply dropped out of High School and College to go to Hollywood to get into show business. One young man told me that he realized that he didn't need a College degree to be an actor. He said one day he suddenly realized that he didn't have be a doctor to play a doctor on television. He said, "They'll tell me what to say and all I have to do is repeat it."

Yes, he has a point. Actors and actresses don't have to be very educated to parrot lines. But frankly, I would think that as with any profession -- a well rounded education certainly wouldn't hurt.

After the parade, instead of dodging people on the sidewalk, Deanna and I pushed my mom onto the "red carpet" in front of Grauman's which was all covered up. So since the road was still blocked off, I pushed mom up the middle of Hollywood Blvd for the 4 or 5 blocks to where our car was parked. We had a good laugh about her making it onto the "red carpet."

The next morning, we arrived at CBS Studio and was allowed in at 10:30 and not a minute earlier. Once there, we sat around in line along with about 200 others until around 11:30. That was when we were issued "Contestant" numbers, and herded to benches for orientation.

The orientation included getting name tags, and legal forms to fill out and sign. The forms were all very legal to make sure that we stayed within their guidelines of not wearing any clothing to push products, or make political statements, or are vulgar or obscene. And of course, they wanted us to know what we could say and could not say on stage if called up. It was about 5 pages of legalize.

Then a little after Noon, a man who I believe was the Assistant Producer came up to each of us to "interview" us. He was the man who selected who would be chosen to go on-stage. He wanted to know what we did for a living.

I really believe that he wanted to see just how animated we were. Yes, it seemed to me that he was looking for the most animated dancing monkeys he could find. And yes, that's probably why none of us were picked. He probably saw that we looked a little tired from waiting around in lines.

Of course, there was a lot more waiting to do before actually going into the studio. You see, after the two question "interview", we were told to wait before being allowed in.

So yes, we all sat around until 3:30 pm before they finally let us into the studio to get the show on the road. Because my mom was in a wheelchair, they allowed us head-of-the-line-privileges for us to get to our seats. After we were inside the Bob Barker Studio and seated, they then let everyone else in. And yes, the place became a party!

The studio ceiling was hidden by what looked like a thousand studio spot and theatrical lights of every sort. There were at least 5 cameras on stage, including a boom camera. Among the monitors to watch what was being filmed, was also "APPLAUSE" signs. I found the whole production all very interesting to watch.

The taping of the show took about 3 hours. Yes, we left there at 6:45 pm. It was one long day. And this all leads to the question put to me by a friend yesterday when I was telling him about the trip.

"Was it worth it?" he asked.

Well, by the time it ended, mom was exhausted -- but she loved it. My brother, my wife and I all enjoyed the show a lot. And no, I'm not talking about the show that millions of viewers see on television. I'm talking about the production and the show that goes on during the production.

Though it took hours to get there, and hours to finally get in and be seated. it was a hoot! And yes, the reason for all of the laughter and fun was the show's star Drew Carey. Between he and announcer George Gray, during the taping, they entertained the audience non-stop!
Drew Carey asked people in the audience where they were from, what they did for a living, and who they were with. He'd relate his love of Disneyland and things in common with folks in the audience. His being personable was just great. He got personal about his time in college and other aspects of his life as well, and everyone in the audience ate it up -- me included.

Yes, since I was wearing Marine Corps ball cap, he asked me if I was in the Marine Corps? I said yes, and he went on to tell me that he was in the Marine Corps Reserves once upon a time. He was about to say something else when he was called away. I'm sort of curious what was it that he was about to say, but I'll never know.

Was it an effort to keep the audience raved-up and cheering? Sure, but it worked to the benefit of everyone there. From what I could see, everyone was having a great time. And frankly friends, I hadn't laughed so hard in a long long time -- especially at great clean jokes and puns!

If I had it in my power to produce a television show, it would be a show about what goes on behind that scenes at the Price Is Right.  It would show the crazies in the audience, it would have Drew Carey's outstanding sense of humor, and it would have his sidekick George Gray to back him up. It would be something to watch, and it would be a hit.

So was it all worth it? Was it worth it even though none of us were called to "Come On Down!"?

Well, yes it was. You see besides making mom's wish come true, the good time during the show and even the fun we had during the trip itself made everything worth while. Heck, even my curmudgeon older brother had a good time down there and on the way home. Imagine that! Miracles do happen!

As soon as it was over, we fought a little traffic but surprisingly not much. Once on the freeway north, I set the cruise control to 75 and pointed my Tahoe home. With no freeway traffic to speak of, we made it from Hollywood to just outside of Bakersfield in under 2 hours.

After stopping for dinner, we left and a little over 4 hours later dropped mom off at her home in the town of Ione a little after 2 am. My wife Deanna and I dropped my brother off at his home in Jackson at about 3. And as for Deanna and I, the end of a long day came when we got home at about 3:30.

During dinner, mom asked us if we would do it again? I though about it for a second and said "maybe with a few changes. But sure!"

On the way home, after dropping off my brother, Deanna told me that she didn't know about doing that run to Hollywood again anytime soon. I told her that after I thought about it a little more, I didn't think we would be making such a trip again. It made for a very long weekend, and none of us are getting any younger.

But then again, who knows what we might do or where we might head off to on a whim. As is life, we should just be ready for any impulse that one gets. That is, after all, part of what makes life exciting.

And yes, that's just the way I see it.
Tom Correa

Lobbyists, Non-Profits, & Special Interest Groups

By Terry McGahey
Associate Writer/Historian

Since my articles are purely of my own opinion, which I truly believe in, I want to give you my thoughts on the special interest groups which plague Washington, D.C.

I am only going to name a few, so for the most part I will only generalize. The reason being is because there are so many of them it would be darn near impossible to list them all.

Lobbyists, which represent special interest groups in Washington D.C. are one of the major sources of cancer that has been eating away at our freedoms. Example, do you truly believe that the government cares if you wear a seat belt in your vehicle, or if you wear a helmet while riding your motorcycle?

These laws were passed by the Federal and state governments because of the insurance lobby period. I am not arguing weather it's right or wrong, just pointing out that this was done through lobbyists.

Why do you think it is that the green movement has gained so much ground? Ecology group Lobbyists, that's why. Groups like Greenpeace and others may have started out for the right reasons, but once they reached a point of bringing in loads of money through donations and such they went off the deep end, and have taken things way to far.

Why? Money! Those groups are making millions of dollars while paying people in think tanks to figure out the next big cause to get behind which in general hurts corporations there by hurting the people as well.

The first thing they will tell you is that they are non profit, which is true, but the CEO and other officers of those groups are allowed to be paid and they are making money hand over fist. Do you think for one minute they are going to give that up? Not hardly!

That's why they have to keep coming up with more and more crap, they have to keep the money pouring in to feed the machine that bilks large amounts of cash from those who are foolish enough to donate to them in order to pay those obscenely high salaries at the top.

The Brady bunch, as I call them. The Brady Bill has brought in large amounts of cash over the years supporting anti gun legislation which initiated many other anti gun groups to spring up supporting this legislation in Washington D.C. Once again, the officers of those groups are being paid very large salaries which those people will do anything to keep lining their pockets with.

There are so many of these special interest groups and their paid lobbyists working for these well oiled machines, and of course this includes large corporations such as Google. It's no wonder we the American people don't stand much of a chance anymore, because donations and votes mean more to many of our politicians than the oath they promised to up hold or even more so, we the people.

These groups pour millions of dollars into our elected officials campaigns as well as promises of highly paid positions later in life, and again, votes that can be swayed one way or another by these crooks who control splinter groups such as ACORN and others.

In closing, I would like to ask one thing. When these crooks in D.C. get together and cut deals with each other about how one will support another's bill if the other will support his bill rather than do what's right, who do you think it will benefit? Not We The People that's for damn sure.