Tuesday, September 01, 2015

OBAMA MOCKS CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS: 'Alone, on their shrinking island'.

He doesn't seem to be aware whose island is shrinking....
THOMAS SOWELL: A Revealing Clue. An excellent point, and http://a-shadow-world.blogspot.com/2015/08/jeb-bush-just-lost-my-vote.htmlone I made earlier.
CALIFORNIA BILL restricting UAV flights awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown’s signature.

Let them fly above public roads and highways; otherwise I favor the second comment.
BUT YOU'LL FREEZE IN CRYSTAL-CLEAR SKIES: Obama coal plan will boost electricity bills 16%, drive companies offshore.
A NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN MOMENT: Florida Democrat hails Iran deal as 'Peace in our time'. Well, yes, having not yet experienced it, I suppose death is 'peaceful'.
NEXT UP: Global cooling.
For what it is worth ... [a lot of meteorologists] ... believe that we are entering a cooling cycle, the sixth during the last 1,000 years. The theory that liberals used to blame global cooling on human prosperity in the 1970s has been discredited, but if they can come up with a new rationale for how human poverty and unlimited government power (exercised by liberals, of course) can stave off the deadly peril of global cooling, they will do a 180 so fast it will make your head spin.
Got to keep that grant money flowing.
DID YOU KNOW? The presidential election is traditionally held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. November was chosen as the election month because it was a convenient time for farmers as the weather was still nice enough to travel to the county seat and the bulk of their harvest chores were finished. The Tuesday after the first Monday was chosen to prevent the election from ever falling on the first day of the month and to thwart travel on Sunday.

From the Morning Examiner daily email.
GOD BLESS AMERICA:
Frank Sinatra considered Kate Smith the best singer of her time, and said that when he and a million other guys first heard her sing "God Bless America" on the radio, they all pretended to have dust in their eyes as they wiped away a tear or two.

The video at the bottom is the very first public singing of "GOD BLESS AMERICA". But before you watch it, you should also know the story behind the first public showing of the song.

The time was 1940. America was still in a terrible economic depression. Hitler was taking over Europe and Americans were afraid we'd have to go to war. It was a time of hardship and worry for most Americans.

This was the era just before TV, when radio shows were HUGE, and American families sat around their radios in the evenings, listening to their favorite entertainers, and no entertainer of that era was bigger than Kate Smith.

Kate was also large; plus size, as we now say, and the popular phrase still used today is in deference to her, "It ain't ove till the fat lady sings".

Kate Smith might not have made it big in the age of TV, but with her voice coming over the radio, she was the biggest star of her time.

Kate was also patriotic. It hurt her to see Americans so depressed and afraid of what the next day would bring . She had hope for America, and faith in her fellow Americans. She wanted to do something to cheer them up, so she went to the famous American song-writer, Irving Berlin (who also wrote "White Christmas") and asked him to write a song that would make Americans feel good again about their country. When she described what she was looking for, he said he had just the song for her. He went to his files and found a song that he had written, but never published, 22 years before - way back in 1917. He gave it to her and she worked on it with her studio orchestra. She and Irving Berlin were not sure how the song would be received by the public, but both agreed they would not take any profits from God Bless America . Any profits would go to the Boy Scouts of America. Over the years, the Boy Scouts have received millions of dollars in royalties from this song.

This video starts out with Kate Smith coming into the radio studio with the orchestra and an audience. She introduces the new song for the very first time, and starts singing. After the first couple verses, with her voice in the background still singing, scenes are shown from the 1940 movie, "You're In The Army Now." At the 4:20 mark of the video you see a young actor in the movie, sitting in an office, reading a paper; it's Ronald Reagan.

To this day, God Bless America stirs our patriotic feelings and pride in our country. Back in 1940, when Kate Smith went looking for a song to raise the spirits of her fellow Americans, I doubt whether she realized just how successful the results would be for her fellow Americans during those years of hardship and worry. And for many generations of Americans to follow.

Now that you know the story of the song, I hope you'll enjoy it. Many people don't know there's a lead in to the song since it usually starts with "God Bless America". So here's the entire song as originally sung.



The YouTube link is here.
COMMERCIAL SPACE HAS BEGUN: $19 billion invested in space travel startups since 2014.
CAMPUS REFORM: Professors threaten bad grades for saying ‘illegal alien,’ ‘male,’ ‘female’.

Via Instapundit:
Apparently these sensitive little snowflake professors cannot tolerate any disagreement. For their failure to tolerate a diversity of views and engage in actual teaching (rather than proselytizing), they should be terminated for “cause.” Parents and students should avoid this university at all costs, unless/until the University’s administration takes appropriate disciplinary action to ensure that all viewpoints are welcomed, even those that are “offensive.” It’s called “free speech,” and yes, it protects offensive speech, too.
Obviously the First Amendment protects 'offensive' speech, because I, for one, certainly find these so-called professors' morons' speech offensive.

Fire 'em all and let 'em sue.