Hot time In Medford Oregon

It's a hot time in Medford Oregon. Today's forecast is for 107 degrees and 104 on Friday and 109 on Sunday. How about an ice tea. Have fun out at the Jackson County Fair!

241 U.S Marines Killed by Hezbollah

On October 23, 1983 241 American Marines were killed in their barracks in Beirut Lebanon by Hezbollah. Hit them again harder Israel! Next time some European or American liberal talk about the lack of "proportionality" in Israel's attack on Hezbollah remember those 241 Marines. No "cease fire" until they are wiped off the face of the earth!

Debkafile.com

In following the war in Israel and Lebanon I often turn to Debkafie. DEBKAfile is a self-supporting Internet publication devoted to independent investigative reporting and forward analysis in the fields of international terrorism, intelligence, international conflict, Islam, military affairs, security and politics. DEBKAfile comes out seven days a week in English and Hebrew.

Some claim it has a " Israeli hawkish" point of view and some claim it has links to the Israeli secret service the Mussad. In any case you get information here that is not available from other news sources. (Click on the title above for a link)

Summer Weekend

It was a nice summer weekend in the Rogue Valley. The temperature was in the middle 90's so I did my yard work early Saturday morning and washed the car. Our son took his grandmother (wives mother) fishing and the each caught the limit of 5 rainbow trout. My wife and I went to see the movie Devil Wears Prada and loved it. I am a sucker for movies about young college grads who go to the big city and their dreams come true. Sunday night our son and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean (PartII) and I hated it. I love Pirate movies but I want my pirates to fight other pirates or the British not "Davy Jones" fish people. ( Wasn't Davy Jones a teen rock star :)) In any case it was very dark and not that much fun. And this from a guy who's favorite ride at Disneyland is Pirates of the Caribbean. On Sunday afternoon I though I would take a break from watching the war in the Middle East on FOX NEWS and watched my DVD of 13 Days the Kevin Cosner movie about the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The movie brought back a lot of memories. I was in high school at the time and watched many of the public events unfold on TV and was very much of a new junkie then as I am today. However the movie just reinforced my opinion that JFK was a weakling. Although I thought Bobby Kennedy came off very well and I kinda liked him. As I was watching the movie I kept thinking, JFK will be dead in little more than a year and Bobby was killed in 1968. Now, 1968 was a year I will not ever forget. Now, back to work in 2006.

Apple Does Not Fall Far From The Tree..... Morton and Mark Halperin

If you wonder why ABC News and Good Morning America are so Anti Bush this article gives a good explination. The following information by Mark Finkelstein

Morton Halperin was once a name in the news. In 1969, then-National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger named Halperin to the NSA. But soon thereafter Kissinger suspected it was the dovish Halperin who leaked to the NY Times the fact that the US was secretly bombing Cambodia. The FBI began tapping his phone, and Halperin was soon gone from NSA. Perhaps Halperin's biggest claim to fame is the fact that Pres. Nixon put him on his 'Enemies List.' A red badge of courage, no pun intended, off which a person can no doubt eat for a lifetime in liberal circles.

Halperin remains active by politically, serving as a senior fellow at the 'Center for American Progress.' As detailed by the invaluable Discoverthenetworks, CAP is a George Soros-funded organization founded on the risible principle that American colleges and universities are dominated by . . . conservatives, and that it is "time for progressive students to start winning the battle of ideas."

In an op-ed column in today's LA Times entiled Bush: Worse Than Nixon, Halperin claims to find disturbing similarities between the Nixon and Bush administrations. He writes:

"It's hard not to notice the clear similarities between then and now. Both the Nixon and Bush presidencies rely heavily on the use of national security as a pretext for the usurpation of unprecedented executive power. Now, just as in Nixon's day, a president mired in an increasingly unpopular war is taking extreme steps, including warrantless surveillance, that many people believe threaten American civil liberties and violate the Constitution. Both administrations shroud their actions in secrecy and attack the media for publishing what they learn about those activities."

But bad as was the Nixon administration in Halperin's eyes, he concludes the Bush administration . . . is even worse.

"Though Nixon's specific actions might have been more obviously illegal and more "corrupt" (in the sense that they were designed to advance his own career over his rivals), President Bush's claim of nearly limitless power — including the ability to engage in a range of activities that pose a fundamental threat to the constitutional order and to our civil liberties — overshadows all comparisons."

His over-heated conclusion? That Pres. Bush poses "a challenge to our constitutional order and civil liberties that, in the end, constitutes a far greater threat than the lawlessness of Richard Nixon."

In any case, Halperin is perhaps better-known today as father of Mark Halperin, Director of the Political Unit of ABC News. As detailed by Wikipedia here:

"In October of 2004, in the midst of the presidential election, Halperin sent a memo to ABC News staff, directing them not to "reflexively and artificially hold both sides 'equally' accountable." This was interpreted by many as an instruction to favor Kerry in ABC News coverage. He justified this stance by claiming that both Kerry and Bush used 'distortion' in their campaign, but that Kerry's distortion was not 'central to his efforts to win.'"

Seems that the apple hasn't fallen far from the tree.

Top 25 Figures in Oregon Sports By John Canzano

In today's Sunday Oregonian John Canzano lists the " Oregon's 25 Most influential Figures in Oregon Sports". Portland Mayor Tom Potter heads the list but Phil Knight comes in at number 2. I have listed his entrys that may be of interest to Oregon Duck fans. The comments in (parentheses) and the bold lettering are mine and not Canzano's.
Here is Canzano's list:


1. Tom Potter (NR): Portland mayor, 64, has big-time clout when it comes to the Major League Baseball in Portland and goes down as the go-to guy for all parties in the Trail Blazers ownership saga. Potter's influence extends to PGE Park and other popular venues. (Not of interest to this downstate Oregon Duck fan but I included him because he is #1)

2. Philip H. Knight (1): Nike founder, 68, has a net worth of $6.9 billion, buying him huge influence. Donated more than half of the $90 million needed to expand Autzen Stadium. Knight is now the pivotal player in Ducks basketball-arena project.(He was Number 1 last year)

4. Mike Bellotti (7): University of Oregon football coach, 55, has a contract that guarantees him a percentage of Ducks season-ticket sales revenue. Holiday Bowl appearance locks up his status as the state's most influential coach. (Mike is moving up after being number 7 last year)

6. Tom Jernstedt (3): Native Oregonian and NCAA executive vice president holds two degrees from UO. He negotiated the NCAA's $6 billion television contract, runs the men's basketball tournament, and is a board member of the U.S. Olympic Committee.

8. Bob De Carolis (5): Oregon State athletic director, 53, spearheaded the $80 million "Raising Reser" stadium-expansion project and successfully fought off Notre Dame for baseball coach Pat Casey's services. ( He beat out Moos who is # 12 below)

11. Mike Riley (8): Oregon State football coach, 53, saw consecutive bowl-game streak snapped with 5-6 record in 2005.( At least Bellotti is number 4 above)

12. Bill Moos (11): The 55-year-old UO athletic director has icy relationship with top booster Knight. His legacy now rests with shaky basketball-arena project.

13. Jay John (16): OSU basketball coach, 48, needs to break the school's 16-year NCAA Tournament drought to increase clout. ( Beats out Kent who is number 23 below)

14. Vin Lananna (NR): UO director of track and field has Knight's backing and is rumored to be the frontrunner to someday replace Moos as athletic director.

16. Joey Harrington (14): Former Ducks' quarterback, now with the Miami Dolphins, is so popular in Oregon that he should run for governor (What is his political party?)

21. Peter Jacobsen (18): Since 1988, Peter Jacobsen Productions has produced more than 250 events ranging from charity events to major national championships.

22. Kevin Love (NR): Lake Oswego High basketball player took on Nike over summer league and now finds himself at the center of fierce UCLA-North Carolina recruiting battle. (One that got away... Where is Singler? I want a Love vs Singler rematch at Mac Court next year)

23. Ernie Kent (17): UO men's basketball coach survived dismal season, but didn't get his annual contract rollover from Moos. Kent-watch begins in October.

(To see the entire list click on the title above for a link)


I know, this is just one man's list and "he doesn't like the Ducks" but it was fun to read anyway.

Mess With Israel at your Peril..... Or the Second Front on the War Against Terrorism

By Uri Dromi International Herald Tribune

Published: July 14, 2006

"JERUSALEM The recent outburst of violence in the Middle East might look like just another one of those cyclical rounds in which Arabs and Israelis grab at each other's throats. Yet at stake is something much more serious: the ability and the willingness of Arabs to accept the existence of Israel in their midst.

Twice in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, in 1948 and in 1967, the Arabs tried to destroy Israel. In 1948 there was a premeditated plan resulting in a concerted attack by five armies, charging the newly-born Jewish state from all directions. The Arabs of Haifa, for example, were advised by their "brothers" in Syria to leave temporarily to Beirut, because, they boasted, "in two weeks we will throw the Jews into the sea."

The rest is history. When the war was over, the Jews had the land, and the Arabs of Haifa, their children and their grandchildren became refugees in Lebanon. The anniversary of 1948, which in Israel is celebrated as Independence Day, is mourned by Palestinians as Naqba (Arabic for catastrophe).

The Six Day War was not planned, but was rather an escalation. President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt intoxicated himself and the Arab masses into believing that this time Israel could be knocked out. When the guns went silent, the Arabs once again had reasons to regret their aggression, with the West Bank and Gaza in the hands of Israel.

Since then, we have had the Yom Kippur War, the Attrition War, the Lebanon War, two intifadas and endless terror. Israel has not only survived, but has become stronger. It is a vibrant and prospering democracy, with robust economic growth over the last five years, the highest number of books published per capita in the world, and second place in the world in the publication of articles in scientific journals.

The Arabs, in the meantime, with all their aggression, have only brought on their peoples misery and poverty. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan tower above this self-destructiveness as leaders who really served the best interests of their people by making peace with Israel.

So now Hamas and Hezbollah are again feeling Israel's muscles, to see if we have mellowed. It has long been the idea of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, that Israel has become weak, like a cobweb that can be easily torn apart, or better, destroyed from within. These people, who mistake democratic life for weakness, just can't grasp the fact that a democracy, if attacked, will always have the upper hand because free and proud people who fight in self defense will not be defeated.

The Arabs' cries of joys over the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers will soon turn into cries of pain, when Israel brings home the message that no, it hasn't mellowed. And when the dust settles, Arabs will once again realize that their aggression against Israel only strengthens the Jewish state and weakens the Arab cause.

Hamas, with its reckless conduct, will move the world community to declare the Palestinian Authority a failed state. Hezbollah, with its arrogance, will stir the rage of the Lebanese people, who will be fed up with its disastrous acts. The Lebanese have already demonstrated their capability vis-à-vis the Syrians, when they had enough of them in Lebanon.

Finally, if I were President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, I would wipe the smile off my face and start worrying. Soon enough, this troublemaking Alawite dictator of Sunni Syria, who has hosted every terrorist organization in the region, will learn the hard way the basic lesson of the Arab-Israeli conflict: If you mess with Israel, Israel wins and you lose.

Uri Dromi is the director of international outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem.
JERUSALEM The recent outburst of violence in the Middle East might look like just another one of those cyclical rounds in which Arabs and Israelis grab at each other's throats. Yet at stake is something much more serious: the ability and the willingness of Arabs to accept the existence of Israel in their midst.

Twice in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict, in 1948 and in 1967, the Arabs tried to destroy Israel. In 1948 there was a premeditated plan resulting in a concerted attack by five armies, charging the newly-born Jewish state from all directions. The Arabs of Haifa, for example, were advised by their "brothers" in Syria to leave temporarily to Beirut, because, they boasted, "in two weeks we will throw the Jews into the sea."

The rest is history. When the war was over, the Jews had the land, and the Arabs of Haifa, their children and their grandchildren became refugees in Lebanon. The anniversary of 1948, which in Israel is celebrated as Independence Day, is mourned by Palestinians as Naqba (Arabic for catastrophe).

The Six Day War was not planned, but was rather an escalation. President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt intoxicated himself and the Arab masses into believing that this time Israel could be knocked out. When the guns went silent, the Arabs once again had reasons to regret their aggression, with the West Bank and Gaza in the hands of Israel.

Since then, we have had the Yom Kippur War, the Attrition War, the Lebanon War, two intifadas and endless terror. Israel has not only survived, but has become stronger. It is a vibrant and prospering democracy, with robust economic growth over the last five years, the highest number of books published per capita in the world, and second place in the world in the publication of articles in scientific journals.

The Arabs, in the meantime, with all their aggression, have only brought on their peoples misery and poverty. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan tower above this self-destructiveness as leaders who really served the best interests of their people by making peace with Israel.

So now Hamas and Hezbollah are again feeling Israel's muscles, to see if we have mellowed. It has long been the idea of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, that Israel has become weak, like a cobweb that can be easily torn apart, or better, destroyed from within. These people, who mistake democratic life for weakness, just can't grasp the fact that a democracy, if attacked, will always have the upper hand because free and proud people who fight in self defense will not be defeated.

The Arabs' cries of joys over the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers will soon turn into cries of pain, when Israel brings home the message that no, it hasn't mellowed. And when the dust settles, Arabs will once again realize that their aggression against Israel only strengthens the Jewish state and weakens the Arab cause.

Hamas, with its reckless conduct, will move the world community to declare the Palestinian Authority a failed state. Hezbollah, with its arrogance, will stir the rage of the Lebanese people, who will be fed up with its disastrous acts. The Lebanese have already demonstrated their capability vis-à-vis the Syrians, when they had enough of them in Lebanon.

Finally, if I were President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, I would wipe the smile off my face and start worrying. Soon enough, this troublemaking Alawite dictator of Sunni Syria, who has hosted every terrorist organization in the region, will learn the hard way the basic lesson of the Arab-Israeli conflict: If you mess with Israel, Israel wins and you lose."

Uri Dromi is the director of international outreach at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem.

Many years ago when I was young I saw the movie Exodus (1960)directed by Otto Preminger and based upon the Leon Uris Novel. After seeing the movie I read the novel. Since that time I have been a supporter of the people of Israel one of the few true democracies in the Middle East. Israel has bent over backwards to get along with it's Arab neighbors but it hasn't done them much good. There is a reason George Bush called Iran a part of the axis of Evil! Syria should be added to the list.The United States should do all it can to help Israel defeat these evil islamic fascist.THIS IS THE SECOND FRONT ON THE WAR AGAINST TERRORISM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday!

This week is our Son's birthday. His mother and I took the day off from work to take him on a jet boat trip on the Rogue River from Grants Pass Oregon down the river about 30 miles. We went through "Hells Gate" where John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn filmed "Rooster Gogburn and the Lady" .On the way back the boat stopped at the "OK Corral" for lunch. It was a beautiful day and it was very nice out on the Rogue with the wind in our hair. We did miss our daughter who has made this trip with us before. That night we took him to his favorite restaurant , Bella Union, in Jacksonville. Now that he has graduated from college and is going to grad school in the Midwest who knows how many birthdays we will spend with him in the future. I sure remember that day 20++ years ago. Happy Birthday "Kid"!

To Israel!

Hit them again, harder! Hit Syria... Hit Iran!

Have They No Shame!

House Democrats are using campaign ads that feature the flag draped coffins of American solders killed in Iraq.

Nike's Phil Knight, Oregon's AD Bill Moos, Jim Bartko and Oregon's proposed new Basketball Arena

Ron Bellamy: Oregon's stock fragile with loss of Bartko
By Ron Bellamy
Columnist, The Register-Guard
Published: Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Tuesday morning, several huge cardboard boxes occupied the floor of Jim Bartko's office in the Casanova Center, in various stages of packing, and Bartko wondered where he could store almost two decades of Oregon memorabilia.

Monday evening, in the Bay Area, Bartko met with some Cal donors, at the home of football coach Jeff Tedford, in his new role as a senior associate athletic director for the Golden Bears. Today, someone will repaint his old office.

By a week from Friday, after going-away parties at Oregon and at Nike, Bartko will officially be done at Oregon after 17 years as a key fundraiser, dealing with major accounts from the late Harold Taylor to, for more than a decade now, Nike co-founder Phil Knight.

If you're an Oregon fan, you have every reason to be worried that Oregon is losing such a vital personal link to its most important donor, at a time when the proposed new basketball arena, a $160 million project that has been Bartko's almost-exclusive focus for more than a year, is still that, a proposal.


Take it from Knight himself.
"I would just say this doesn't help it, doesn't help my involvement with the basketball arena," Knight said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

"He's become more than just somebody to work with," Knight said. "He's become a very close friend. We're going to miss him a lot."

Knight said he'll still work with the UO and its athletic department, and that he is "continuing to talk to Oregon about all kinds of projects, including that one."

However, Knight, who had been targeted as a contributor for a significant portion of the $130 million in private funding for the arena project, said "at the end of the day, you basically want to have your charitable contributions go where they'll be used well, and there are a couple of clouds on that.
"I don't want to be any more specific than that." Oregon athletic director Bill Moos said Tuesday that he continues to be "optimistic that the arena project will go forward," and that he is "certainly hopeful that Phil and Penny Knight will be involved with it." But Moos admitted that his hope of having the arena open for the 2009-10 season "may be unattainable as a goal."


It's fair to say that Bartko can't get enough credit for his role as a liaison to Knight during the latter's 17-month estrangement from his alma mater over the Worker Rights Consortium issue. He kept that relationship alive, and when Knight resumed contributions to Oregon, he was the major donor to the expansion of Autzen Stadium.

More recently, Bartko has been vital during a period of strained relations between Knight and Moos, stemming in part from Moos' display of interest in the Washington job and, last year, his handling of the resignation of track and field coach Martin Smith, which deeply angered Knight, upset that he and Nike were perceived to have forced Smith's ouster.

It's fair to say, too, that to some degree Bartko has been caught in the middle of the tension between Knight and his boss, though Bartko wouldn't acknowledge that as a factor in taking the Cal job, and Moos said he offered Bartko a pay raise - and sole responsibility for fundraising for the new arena and for the Olympic Trials - to remain at Oregon.

"I don't think anything could have kept me here, really," Bartko said. "I'm not leaving because of the tension that has been there, I'm leaving because it's a good opportunity." ....

On the face of it, the Cal job would enhance Bartko's credentials as a candidate for an AD job someday; it's not a job he's sure he wants, however, and whether that opportunity would have come around at Oregon after Moos retires, especially with the presence now of former Oberlin AD Vin Lananna on the staff as director of track and field, is uncertain....

At Oregon, Bartko played roles in the expansion of Autzen, the construction of the Moshofsky Center, the redesign of football uniforms and the innovative marketing of Oregon athletics through billboards, including that banner of Joey Harrington in New York City.

He'll be missed, in ways that can't be quantified. And, alas for Oregon, perhaps in ways that can.

(To read the rest of Bellamy's column click on the title above for a link)

Oregon will Miss Jim Bartko! He did a lot for the Ducks and was a very nice person. I got to know him when he was stationed by the Ducks in Medford in the Duck Athletic Fund office back in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Under the Moos administration the Ducks have now closed their Medford office. Now we volunteers are running thinks down here and will be here long after Athletic Director Bill Moos has retired or moved on. Go Ducks!

Big Screen TV

This last weekend I broke down and bought a large screen TV ... a Sony KDFE42A10 42" LCD Rear Projection Television. It is high definition with great sound. It is a wide screen TV so I can play my DVD collection on it. The picture is fantastic on DVD and cable TV looks good even if it is not High Definition. It replaced my old 1983 big screen TV that was one of those front projection sets where a mirror folded out from the front of the cabinet and reflected the picture back on a movie screen in a hutch cabinet on top.. It was very 1980's but it still worked. I couldn't bear to have the beautiful oak hutch cabinet removed so I folded the front mirror into the set and removed the metallic fiberglas screen on top from the hutch and mounted the new TV in it's place. It looks built in and makes a nice TV stand with an enclosed hutch. Last night I watched She Wore a Yellow Ribbon with John Wayne and the colors have never been more vivid. We watched Last of the Mohicans on Sunday. I bought it Friday night from Circuit City.com . I arranged on Saturday for delivery with a guy in a call center in India and it was delivered from the local store on Sunday. Isn't technology great! (click on the title above for a link to Amazon's web page on the TV)

"Peace in Our time"!

North Korean mad man Kim Jong-II and Clinton Secretary of State Madeline Albright.

The American Soldier

Zell Miller former Senator from Georgia:

"Never in the history of the world has any soldier sacrificed more for the freedom and liberty of total strangers than the American soldier.
And, our soldiers don't just give freedom abroad, they preserve it for us here at home.

For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.

It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.

It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom he abuses to burn that flag."

Secretary of State Colin Powell said:

"The world remembers well that several times in the course of this century, the United States was at the height of the world, the height of power. After World War I, or World War II, or even at the end of the Cold War, we could have imposed our will on the world but we didn't. All we ever asked for was the opportunity to raise up our former enemies, and to get back to the business of peace and democracy. The only other thing we ever asked for was enough land to bury our dead."

Happy 4th Of July!

This year part of the Wickre family will celebrate The 4th of July in Washington DC and the rest in Ashland Oregon. Tonight we will drive to Ashland and stake out our place on the parade route near the Varsity Theater. They have bathrooms open to the public during the parade and popcorn. On the 4th we will get up early and park above Lithia Park and work our way to the parade route for the 10:15 am parade start. We will take newspapers and breakfast in back packs for the two hours before the parade starts. We will then after the parade head for the band shell in Lithia Park for a picnic. The program at the band shell will start with a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence followed by the Ashland City Band's patriotic concert. We will then head home to watch the DVD of the musical 1776 and then a BBQ at home followed by a trip to Medford's baseball field for fireworks.

The rest of the Wickre family will celebrate the 4th and fireworks near the United States Capital.

What a great and glorious day. Happy 4th of July! Happy Birthday USA!

The Spirit of 76

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Declaration of Independence

Adopted in Congress 4 July 1776


The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.

He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.

He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.

He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:

For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule in these colonies:

For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:

For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy of the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have we been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levey war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

Joys of Home Ownership

Last year on the 4th of July weekend our washer and dryer died and we had to get a new set from Sears. This year our hot water heater sprung a very small leak and we made our annual pilgrimage to Sears to get a replacement. Of course, what I really want to buy at Sears is a new big screen TV. Maybe next year. When I was young it never occurred to me that things like garbage disposals and water heaters wear out.

Musical 1776

Tonight my wife and our son went to a local theater production of the musical 1776 at the Camelot Theatre in Talent Oregon. My son and I each own the musical movie 1776 on DVD and watch it every July 4th. Before DVD I would rent the VHS copy of the movie and we would watch it when the kids were younger. It is one of my favorite musicals and the production tonight was wonderful. I was worried that the John Adams actor would be a pale imitation to William Daniels who played Adams in the movie. The local actor did a very good job as did the actress who played Abigail Adams. The singing, set and staging were all very professional. This is a story I never get tired of. I only wish someone would make a dramatic movie of the drafting, debating and signing of the Declaration of Independent. What a way to start the July 4th weekend.

July 4th & The Declaration of Independence

This weekend we will celebrate the 230th birthday of the United States of America.
John Adams' famous letter of July 3, 1776, in which he wrote to his wife Abigail what his thoughts were about celebrating the Fourth of July is found on various web sites but is usually incorrectly quoted. Following is the exact text from his letter with his original spellings:

"The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction, even altho We should rue it, which I trust in God We shall not."

On the Declarations 50th birtday, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson , the Declarations author, both died on July 4th 1826. Adams last words were "Jefferson lives." Jefferson in fact had died a few hours before.

Who needs fiction when there are true stories like this!

(For more about the Adams' family and the celebration of the 4th of July click on the title above for a link)

Five Wrong Justices

John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, and who served in the Justice Department in 2001-03 has an opinion piece in USA Today Newspaper that says in part:

By putting on hold military commissions to try terrorists for war crimes, five Supreme Court justices have made the legal system part of the problem, rather than part of the solution to the challenges of the war on terrorism. They tossed aside centuries of American history, judicial decisions of long standing, and a December 2005 law ordering them not to interfere with the military trials.
As commander in chief.

President Bush has the authority to decide on wartime tactics and strategies. Presidents Washington, Jackson, Lincoln and FDR settled on military commissions, sometimes with congressional approval and sometimes without, as the best tool to punish and deter enemy war crimes. Bush used them to solve a difficult tension: how to try terrorists fairly without blowing intelligence sources and methods....

What the justices did would have been unthinkable in prior military conflicts: Judicial intervention in the decisions of the president and Congress on how best to wage war. They replaced his wartime judgment and Congress' support with their own speculation that open trials would not run intelligence risks. Their decision to impose specific rules and override political judgments about military necessity mistakes war — inherently unpredictable, and where our government must act quickly and sometimes secretly to protect national security — for the familiarity of the criminal justice system....

To read the rest of Professor Yoo's column click on the title above for a link.....Fighting the War on Terrorism is like an alley knife fight and these are five justices who I would NOT want to cover my back. The same can be said for The New York Times and the majority of Democrats in Congress. History will remember stood and who ran.

No Get Out of Jail Card for Islamic Fascist

From Michelle Malkin's blog about the US Supreme Court decision on military trials for Islamic Fascist.

The ACLU is popping the champagne corks.

But Andrew Cochran makes a prediction:

The decision is actually a huge political gift to President Bush, and the detainees will not be released that easily. The President and GOP leaders will propose a bill to override the decision and keep the terrorists in jail until they are securely transferred to host countries for permanent punishment. The Administration and its allies will release plenty of information on the terrorist acts committed by the detainees for which they were detained. They will also release information about those terrorist acts committed by Gitmo prisoners after they were released. They will challenge the "judicial interference with national security" and challenge dissenting Congressmen and civil libertarians to either stand with the terrorists or the American people. The Pentagon will continue to release a small number of detainees as circumstances allow. The bill will pass easily and quickly. And if the Supremes invalidate that law, we'll see another legislative response, and another, until they get it right. Just watch.

AND THEN

U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) today issued the following statement on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the Hamdan case:
"We are disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision. However, we believe the problems cited by the Court can and should be fixed.

"It is inappropriate to try terrorists in civilian courts. It threatens our national security and places the safety of jurors in danger. For those reasons and others, we believe terrorists should be tried before military commissions.

"In his opinion, Justice Breyer set forth the path to a solution of this problem. He wrote, "Nothing prevents the president from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary."

"We intend to pursue legislation in the Senate granting the Executive Branch the authority to ensure that terrorists can be tried by competent military commissions. Working together, Congress and the administration can draft a fair, suitable, and constitutionally permissible tribunal statute."

(To read the rest of Michelle Malking's blog click on the tite above for a link.)

Tip of the Hat to the Oregon State Beavers!

You won't see this very often on this Duck's Blog but congratulations to the Oregon State Beaver on winning the "College World Series" in Baseball! They are now "National Champs."

"The New York Times At War With America:" By Michael Barone

"Why do they hate us? No, I'm not talking about Islamofascist terrorists. We know why they hate us: because we have freedom of speech and freedom of religion, because we refuse to treat women as second-class citizens, because we do not kill homosexuals, because we are a free society.

No, the "they" I'm referring to are the editors of The New York Times. And do they hate us? Well, that may be stretching it. But at the least they have gotten into the habit of acting in reckless disregard of our safety....." To read the rest of Mr Barone's column click on the title above for a link. Mr Barone is the editor of the Almanac of American Politics and is an editor for US News and World Report magazine.

UPDATE
TONY SNOW: 'The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public's right to know in some cases might override somebody's right to live.' (Tony Snow is President Bush's Press Secretary)
UPDATE (PART 2)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: "In the decade prior to 9/11, we spent more than $2 trillion on national security. Yet we lost nearly 3,000 Americans at the hands of 19 men armed with box cutters and airline tickets. In the case of al Qaeda we are not dealing with large armies that we can track, or uniforms we can see, or men with territory of their own to defend. Their preferred tactic, which they boldly proclaim, is to slip into countries, blend in among the innocent, and kill without mercy and without restraint. They have intelligence and counterintelligence operations of their own. They are using the most sophisticated communications technology they can get their hands on.

"In pursuit of their objectives, they have carried out a number of attacks since 9/11 Â? in Casablanca, Jakarta, Mombassa, Bali, Riyadh, Baghdad, Istanbul, Madrid, London, Sharm al-Sheikh, and elsewhere. Here in the U.S., we have not had another 9/11. Obviously, no one can guarantee that we won't be hit again. But the relative safety of these past nearly five years now did not come about by accident. We've been protected by sensible policy decisions by the President, by decisive action at home and abroad, and by round-the-clock efforts on the part of the people in our armed forces, law enforcement, intelligence, and homeland security.

"Some in the press, in particular The New York Times, have made the job of defending against further terrorist attacks more difficult by insisting on publishing detailed information about vital national security programs.

"The first was the terrorist surveillance program. Sometimes the press calls it domestic surveillance, it is not domestic surveillance. It's a program aimed at the communications that are international in nature - at least one end of the communication has to be outside the United States, and one end has to be affiliated with or associated with al Qaeda.

"The second program that The New York Times has now disclosed is the terrorist financial tracking program, just within about the last week or so. These are both good programs. They provide valuable intelligence. They are very carefully managed to safeguard the civil liberties of the American people. They have been successful in helping break up terrorist plots. They are done in accordance with the Constitution, and there has in both cases - both programs have been properly notified to the appropriate officials in the United States Congress.

"The New York Times has now twice - two separate occasions - disclosed programs; both times they had been asked not to publish those stories by senior administration officials. They went ahead anyway. The leaks to The New York Times and the publishing of those leaks is very damaging. The ability to intercept al Qaeda communications and to track their sources of financing are essential if we're going to successfully prosecute the global war on terror. Our capabilities in these areas help explain why we have been so successful in preventing further attacks like 9/11. The New York Times has now made it more difficult for us to prevent attacks in the future. Publishing this highly classified information about our sources and methods for collecting intelligence will enable the terrorists to look for ways to defeat our efforts. These kinds of stories also adversely affect our relationships with people who work with us against the terrorists. In the future, they will be less likely to cooperate if they think the United States is incapable of keeping a secret.

"What is doubly disturbing for me is that not only have they gone forward with these stories, but they've been rewarded for it, for example, in the case of the terrorist surveillance program, by being awarded the Pulitzer Prize for outstanding journalism. I think that is a disgrace."
PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH,
attacked as "disgraceful" the public disclosure of a secret government program to monitor international finances and track down terrorist funding.

"Congress was briefed, and what we did was fully authorized under the law. and the disclosure of this program is disgraceful," Bush told reporters in the wake of last week's revelations of the roughly five-year-old program.

"We're at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America. And for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it, does great harm to the United States of America," he said.

105 Degrees in Medford Oregon

Good thing I did my outside painting early as it hit 105 today and we are still more than a week from the 4th of July. It must be global warming.... maybe Al Gore is right......Not.