tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69885351530238943282012-02-10T06:42:31.549+03:00Remembering who we are and where we came fromLance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.comBlogger721100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-91216340285873684922012-02-10T06:42:00.000+03:002012-02-10T06:42:31.559+03:00

I had been thinking about what I wrote yesterday on an American Antichrist all weekend. After the way things went in Florida and Nevada it was looking like Romney was about to run away with the field. My son had a basketball game last night, and I hurried to get the e-mail out before the game. Then when we got home and saw the results of the caucuses coming in I thought I should have waited to

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-72406457252602708592012-02-08T02:06:00.001+03:002012-02-08T02:06:28.240+03:00

There is a new book out, "Once Upon a Secret: My Affair With President John F. Kennedy and its Aftermath," by Mimi Alford, who claims to have had an affair with JFK in the White House in 1962. Alford was a 19 year old intern who was "overpowered" by the attention of Kennedy. The claim seems to be creditable as she was mentioned years ago in a biography of Kennedy, "An Unfinished Life," and

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-23857448648907088162012-01-25T17:30:00.001+03:002012-01-25T17:30:28.595+03:00

I sat through the entire boring State of the Union Address and found it to be just about what I expected. There was nothing new, just more of the same big government blather, but with one difference. Three years ago there was all the excitement about Hope and Change. Tonight there was no mention of it, and nothing hopeful about the speech. But before I get into that, let me share something from

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-24340390264167683802012-01-24T23:27:00.001+03:002012-01-24T23:28:16.879+03:00

We watched the debate last night and found it to be somewhat lackluster compared to the Fox debate last week. The moderator, CNN's Brian Williams, kept a tight reign on the questions and the answers, often throwing questions to one or two candidates but not letting the others answer. He went back to the old liberal tactic of trying to provoke the candidates to fight each other, and overall I

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-82318484415803608742012-01-23T06:32:00.002+03:002012-01-24T00:46:44.481+03:00

I haven't written anything since we arrived home last July. My wife was desperately ill and her care took up a lot of time as well as concern. I got out of the routine of writing and I just never got back into it. Yesterday somebody asked me my opinion on the Republican candidates, so I put some thoughts down and then decided to post them on American Flyer to see if it would reignite my writing

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-39773439132417121372011-11-24T18:52:00.001+03:002011-11-24T18:53:01.861+03:00

Since the politically correct and historically unintelligent textbooks recommended by the National Education Association for our public schools have rewritten our history to say the Pilgrims declared the first Thanksgiving Day to thank the Indians for their help, a review of what actually happened nearly four hundred years ago to set the record straight is in order. In 1609 a group of religious

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-38790728813612622542011-07-15T23:02:00.010+03:002011-07-18T07:11:32.178+03:00

Years ago the autobiography of movie star Errol Flynn, My Wicked, Wicked Ways, caught my eye in a bookstore. I was tempted to get it, but alas, at the time I was too principled and erudite to waste my time on what sounded like a very sleazy tome. Besides, I was in college, and it was hardback and too expensive. Recently in the Philippines we had dinner at a western style restaurant designed to

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-80414441180965302432011-07-04T14:15:00.005+03:002011-07-05T02:00:36.902+03:00

One thing we've learned living outside of the country is that no matter how bad the problems are, or how difficult life has become in the United States, America is still preferable to anywhere else. The United States of America is home. We are in transit to the States, and this year in particular I wanted to be home in time for July 4th to give our adopted daughter, Hannah, a taste of American

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-38364156232202217392011-07-01T08:13:00.005+03:002011-07-02T15:26:01.907+03:00

Last Sunday we were at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila preparing to head for the States when my wife, Lhey, became so ill she almost collapsed. I got her a wheel chair and we saw an airport doctor who gave her some pain medicine for her back and recommended we reschedule our flight. Our ride was still waiting so we repacked the van and headed back to Olongapo. Unknown to us as

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-63903712577767607542011-06-27T05:54:00.003+03:002011-06-28T02:51:59.722+03:00

On PBS's "Inside Washington," host Mark Shields, pontificating about raising the debt ceiling, pointed out that because of "two wars" we are spending 25 percent, but only taking in 14 and a half percent in revenues. "That's unsustainable and it's unacceptable and it's fundamentally un-American." True, spending ten and a half percent more than you're bringing in every year is unsustainable and

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-82837993254487768752011-06-17T03:26:00.002+03:002011-06-29T04:03:15.737+03:00

By the end of 1775 the American colonies were in a tentative war with the mother country, Great Britain. It had begun with protests against unfair, debilitating taxes levied against the colonists to pay for the king's European wars, but grew as British troops, ostensibly occupying the colonies to provide security for the colonists, took over their homes and attempted to confiscate their weapons,

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-29438432942739275872011-06-12T03:00:00.003+03:002011-07-04T15:18:47.396+03:00

Twenty years ago today at 9:15 a.m., I was walking across the VC-5 ramp at Cubi Point in the Philippines to my assigned aircraft. I was about to lead a flight of A-4's to Okinawa. My head was down when one of my wingmen came over pointing to the north and saying, "Look!" A massive plume of light gray ash against a pale blue sky was rising quickly into the air through about 10,000 feet. The

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-25393122782912545032011-06-04T08:06:00.010+03:002011-06-11T04:46:37.315+03:00

In the 1950's the growing new medium of television invaded American homes and one of the most popular TV genres was the western. The first western to appear was the Hopalong Cassidy show in 1949. Many of the early programs such as The Roy Rogers Show, Gene Autry, and The Lone Ranger were oriented more toward child audiences. Plots were usually pretty simple 30-minute "shoot-em-ups" with the

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-73976823195555304612011-05-30T14:16:00.001+03:002011-05-30T14:17:47.483+03:00

American Flyer salutes all who have served and are serving, and remembers those who have given the "last full measure of devotion." If it weren't for those who loved country more than life, we would have neither. God bless all of you, and God bless America. My Country tis of Thee, Sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing, Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-46329543727341386632011-05-26T16:28:00.006+03:002011-05-27T07:36:07.772+03:00

Everyone was dressed in their finest formal wear, enjoying the most expensive dinner imaginable, in the extravagant, formal dining hall of Buckingham Palace. At the head table sitting to the left of the Queen of England was her husband, Prince Philip. Next to him the First Lady of the United States. At the Queen's right hand sat President Barack Obama in all his boyish splendor. The last

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-65108086135956272642011-05-15T22:10:00.001+03:002011-05-15T22:13:19.251+03:00

Stonewall Jackson's last words, "Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees," prompted me to write this continuation of the last entry, but it has nothing to do with the Civil War or Confederate heroes. When I was young I used to think those were the silliest last words ever. But as time went on they became more meaningful. My Grandpa's favorite hymn was the gospel song,

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-17610117135233063452011-05-10T11:32:00.002+03:002011-11-22T19:55:05.093+03:00

On Monument Avenue, a parkway in Richmond, Virginia, on consecutive corners are monuments to three of the most revered leaders of the short-lived Confederacy, Robert E. Lee, Thomas J. Jackson, and James E.B. (JEB) Stuart. A short distance away stands the Confederate Museum, in what was the Confederate Capitol building, a testament to a time that many Southerners do not wish to forget. To many,

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-44703587977464647432011-04-30T15:39:00.005+03:002011-05-01T22:14:25.278+03:00

(Ideally this would have been published last Monday, April 25, but coming right after Easter I thought it better to leave the Resurrection posting on the front page for a few days first, and then came the birth certificate. So here now, for your consideration, is The Only Real Game in the World.) In ancient times there was a game played in Egypt that included hitting a ball with a stick. The

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-3676545341468706322011-04-28T20:05:00.005+03:002011-04-30T15:20:29.430+03:00

Yesterday the president finally released his birth certificate to the public and followed it immediately with a press conference in which he took no questions. He just made a statement and left. It looks after all like Donald Trump has done what the Democrats didn't try to do, the liberal media didn't want to do, the Republicans didn't insist on being done, and the birthers couldn't get done no

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-56240423695510888952011-04-24T01:10:00.006+03:002011-04-24T18:51:03.035+03:00

The king of the TV and radio interviewers, Larry King, was once asked who would be his choice if he could interview anybody in history, and what would he ask him. King answered, Jesus Christ, and he would ask him whether or not he really rose from the grave. Why? the dumbfounded pundit wondered. "Because," King answered, "the answer to that question makes all the difference in the world."

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-4985050892259528852011-04-19T00:04:00.004+03:002011-04-19T12:03:01.842+03:00

In December 1860, as the United States stared at the prospect of Civil War, one of her greatest poets, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, put pen to paper to retell a tale of one of the events that had forged the nation. Dismayed at the prospect of his great country being torn apart, Longfellow set out to make a hero out of a minor character in the Revolution by the name of Paul Revere in order to

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-87648537558179023152011-04-12T23:55:00.170+03:002011-04-13T22:45:45.713+03:00

One hundred fifty years ago today at 4:30 a.m. Lt. Henry Farley fired a 10-inch mortar round from Ft. Johnson on the south side of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The shell arched high over Ft. Sumpter and exploded directly above the Union troops in the fort. From across the harbor, Edmund Ruffin, an irascible, ardent secessionist from Virginia, fired the first shot directly at the fort, a

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-74042624969673466932011-04-09T16:18:00.003+03:002011-04-09T19:19:09.975+03:00

One year ago today, at the suggestion of a friend, I started American Flyer. I have occasionally written political commentary on e-mail in the past, mostly to blow off steam, but in 2009 there was so much going on politically that I ramped it up and turned out many more articles than normal, so keeping this blog seemed like a good way to catalogue what I was writing. It has done a couple of

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-69647937289766812062011-04-06T12:26:00.003+03:002011-04-08T17:59:06.828+03:00

Liberal propaganda tends to follow a mantra that is handed down by the White House or the DNC, and once put into circulation is repeated by every Democrat in the government and liberal in the news media until it is so overused it becomes meaningless. A good example from a few years ago is "mean-spirited." A current example is going to be "extremist." On the health care front, a common tactic

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-51462702671894611382011-03-27T17:29:00.004+03:002011-04-20T18:41:49.374+03:00

Whenever conservatives speak out against a liberal sacred cow such as abortion, illegal alien amnesty, gun control, social welfare or the like, some whiney Democrat will start comparing them to Nazis. When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and the Republican controlled legislature, trying to save their state from bankruptcy, ended the collective bargaining power of government unions, Ohio Democrat

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-78482567110853657092011-03-24T01:25:00.000+03:002011-03-24T01:25:24.367+03:00

On this date in 1775 one of the great patriotic speeches in all history was given. The speaker is sometimes overlooked because of his opposition to the Constitution many years later, but until the rise of George Washington, there was no greater patriot, or outspoken colonial leader than Patrick Henry. Henry was a firebrand, an early leader of the colonists seeking independence from Great

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-34421212154119923792011-03-05T14:52:00.012+03:002011-03-06T09:36:30.336+03:00

While I was at the Marine Corps Basic School in Quantico, Virginia, in 1982, a black colleague of mine accused me one day in front of our entire platoon of being a racist because I had graduated from Bob Jones University. He knew nothing else about me, but he hated me because he was sure I was a racist. I hope the evidence of my life tells a different story. I am interracially married to a

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-5266103498307631982011-02-27T14:55:00.005+03:002011-03-04T10:29:19.548+03:00

We often hear people refer to America as a democracy. In a pure democracy the people vote on every issue and the majority, no matter how slim, wins the day. The danger of democracy historically has been that it devolves in time into mob rule. When people don't get what they want they go to the streets and try to bully the opposition into surrendering. The result is chaos and civil war. Our

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-3810287203111882352011-02-23T12:47:00.004+03:002011-02-23T13:48:20.612+03:00

I always find it interesting to watch news media and pundits trying to outdo each other in predicting what political trends will happen next and how the world will be affected. A few years ago one author wrote a book to prove that the 2008 presidential election would be Hilary vs. Condoleeza Rice. Boy, did he get it wrong. It never seems to bother these people, they keep making their

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-60535586047839192482011-02-18T21:21:00.003+03:002011-02-20T09:03:00.475+03:00

In a recent article political columnist Mike Adams writes about Two Kinds of Atheists. He describes one as being an "unbelieving" atheist. The unbeliever is generally a reasonable person who may have never had any religious influence on his life and has accepted the secular humanist view of life without God, that religion and logic don't mix. He is content in his belief and doesn't worry about

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-28567846378122848642011-02-06T10:38:00.011+03:002011-02-06T21:25:50.864+03:00

In the fall of 1996 I was working temporarily as a mail sorter for the US Post Office in Denver. The election was on the horizon and a representative of the Postal Union came around every night trying to encourage the workers to vote Democrat, because, he said, if Robert Dole wins the election the Republicans will change the Post Office and we will all lose our jobs. A Republican victory would

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-14374696108434694212011-01-30T20:19:00.007+03:002011-01-31T00:27:37.586+03:00

This last week in his State of the Union Address, Obama, trying to claim the mantle of JFK, and sound Reaganesque all at the same time, referred to the crisis of our time as "a Sputnik moment." In the process he spoke a lot about "investment" (code word for more out of control deficit spending), and not only did he not sound like Ronald Reagan, he failed to make the connection between himself and

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-8013221149904712492011-01-14T23:00:00.005+03:002011-01-15T09:04:46.990+03:00

We were on the coast in Malindi at Turtle Bay last week; no TV's, no internet, completely disconnected from the rest of the world for a relaxing six days. Consequently we missed the opening of Congress and the reading of the Constitution, and we didn't hear about the Tucson, Arizona shooting until Monday.Sadly, the mainstream media's reaction to the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-86906017396917997972011-01-02T22:52:00.002+03:002011-01-02T23:20:39.031+03:00

Fast away the old year passes, and it’s only 357 days until next Christmas. Where does the time go? Or better yet, what are we going to do with the time before it gets away? We’re at the beginning of a new year with all the promises of a new beginning before us. What are we going to do with it?John Quincy Adams once wrote, “There is no people on earth so ambitious as the people of America.

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-70458230249944228042010-12-30T00:34:00.021+03:002011-02-26T14:50:03.683+03:00

The last week of the year for many people is usually a time for reflection. Many will take stock of their accomplishments, or lack of, and news media will remind us of the significant events of the past twelve months. Some events are so critically important that people never forget where they were when they first heard. You know, the "Where were you when" events. I'm too young to remember

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-6422751969793814352010-12-20T01:45:00.009+03:002010-12-22T17:53:47.107+03:00

December is a month stock full of significant historical events for Americans. There is Pearl Harbor day on the 7th, the "day that will live in infamy," when, in 1941, the Japanese surprise attack on Hawaii killed over 2400 US servicemen and brought the United States into World War II.The 8th is another infamous day for those who are fans of John Lennon, who was gunned down outside his apartment

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-48392301005052866442010-11-24T11:12:00.004+03:002011-11-24T18:49:03.288+03:00

Since the politically correct and historically unintelligent textbooks recommended by the National Education Association for our public schools have rewritten our history to say the Pilgrims declared the first Thanksgiving Day to thank the Indians for their help, a review of what actually happened nearly four hundred years ago to set the record straight is in order. In 1609 a group of religious

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-7832468220551024992010-11-10T00:27:00.003+03:002010-11-13T21:32:23.141+03:00

Eight years ago when I was still at the young age of 48, the Marine detachment at the US Embassy here in Nairobi started a search for the oldest Marine living here in Kenya. They were going to have him speak at their annual birthday ball. I gave them my name and even went so far as to prepare a speech, but then they found a guy who was 54 living over here, and not only did I not get to give my

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-57588240946866613252010-11-05T19:44:00.016+03:002010-12-05T20:16:03.626+03:00

For nearly two years Candidate Obama, along with Hilary Clinton and all the other Democrat candidates, lambasted President Bush for his out of control spending. When his 2008 deficit reached 458 billion they complained that the country couldn't survive that kind of irresponsible spending. Right. The fact is, conservatives were saying the same thing! The difference was conservatives were

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-64239039804679405092010-11-04T13:32:00.009+03:002010-11-10T09:58:56.820+03:00

After the trouncing the Democrats took in 1994, Bill Clinton got up and said, "I hear you." He proceeded to give up his health care plan and high tax schemes and governed from the center. Then, by repackaging himself, he was able to win reelection in '96 by taking credit for the recovered economy the Republican Congress gave him.The question going around the last few days was whether or not

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-36049186963456834562010-11-01T14:18:00.008+03:002010-12-02T22:46:51.775+03:00

As I sat thinking about this election tomorrow and praying about the outcome Proverbs 14:34 came to my mind. "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people." America is certainly not an innocent nation when it comes to the sin problem. There have always been deviant characters in our history, even in the early days of our Christian Founding Fathers. Alexander Hamilton,

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-29551959466260384122010-10-26T20:25:00.008+03:002010-10-27T12:00:22.065+03:00

Voter fraud, shady deals and all kinds of other chicanery are probably as old as politics itself, and probably no party in America has a monopoly on the practice, but when you consider recent history it's hard not to point a finger. The Democrats are still crying that George Bush stole the election in 2000, but what happened there was so obvious that anyone except a mindless liberal knows who

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-13003766969267119822010-10-23T14:10:00.011+03:002010-10-23T20:30:09.841+03:00

It's a little hard for me to really get a feel for the political atmosphere in the States right now from over here in Kenya. I get a lot of political e-mails and I'm seeing a lot of predictions of a Democrat disaster and Republican takeover of Congress in this coming election. Obama's popularity is tanking as people are fed up with his socialist agenda and the continuing recession and high

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-61529705445984447932010-10-21T22:32:00.012+03:002010-10-22T18:32:50.870+03:00

For the third time in a month Obama has quoted the Declaration of Independence and left out "endowed by our Creator." After the first incident at a hispanic caucus many of the president's defenders brushed it off saying it was a paraphrase or slip of the tongue. But then at a fundraiser in New York City he repeated his performance, and this last week at a fundraiser in Maryland he did the same.

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-10498278058257129472010-10-06T12:16:00.010+03:002010-10-06T14:35:25.928+03:00

A few months ago the president told Republicans to put their money where their mouth is because next year he's going to tackle the deficit. Now we are again hearing of his plans for next year. In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine for its October 15, 2010 issue, the president said the following:One of my top priorities next year is to have an energy policy that begins to address all

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-51702143769223656832010-09-24T13:43:00.006+03:002010-09-25T01:08:49.945+03:00

Last week in a speech to the Hispanic caucus President Obama regurgitated a worn out liberal mantra about "shared values," values that he said British, French, Dutch and Spanish, as well as Mexicans and American Indians "all hold so dear." It was a rather bold statement considering that between liberals and conservatives most Americans can't even agree what those "shared values" are. According

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-22683079661961281402010-09-14T12:02:00.004+03:002010-09-15T12:14:58.531+03:00

I've been thinking a lot lately about National Anthems. I believe we are right now in the crisis moment of our existence as a free people. The unbelievable spending of this government over the last almost two years is only the beginning. The open denial of our Christian heritage by our admittedly Muslim loving president (he said he favors Islam over Christianity in one of his books) is a threat

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-47441096790704487712010-09-11T23:20:00.004+03:002010-09-16T13:37:23.554+03:00

In moments of crisis the memory of sudden, tragic attacks against the United States has fanned the flames of patriotic fervor. "Remember" has become a motto that has stirred Americans to action. It has been the battle cry that has kept the purpose for going to war close to our hearts. It has been the motivation to right the wrongs perpetrated against Americans.In 1836, 188 Texans gave their

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-76159071735990833762010-09-06T10:53:00.005+03:002010-09-06T14:53:54.319+03:00

Of the Arizona border President Obama, defending his lack of action to protect America against Mexican drug cartels that are overrunning sovereign United States soil, said that a "nation is not defined by its borders." As he has so many other times, he proved once again his absolute ignorance with that statement. A culture may not be defined by physical borders, but a nation is. If you don't

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-40902207646278338342010-08-23T14:59:00.013+03:002010-08-24T13:34:00.837+03:00

Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese warrior philosopher, in his classic, The Art of War, wrote that in order to be victorious you must "know your enemy." You must know his numbers, his weaponry, his strengths and his weaknesses, but more important than mere statistics, you must know him. The king, the general, the leader, whoever he is, must be identified and defined. You must know how he thinks, his

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-7605216281058816502010-08-16T10:20:00.020+03:002010-08-17T11:58:59.371+03:00

When the Pilgrims set sail for the New World they left religious tyranny looking for religious freedom. Many of the other early settlers came to the American colonies for the same reason. Most of the colonial charters included statements about the Christian faith and the advancement of the Christian religion. Yet most of the colonies set up state religions of their own, and were often just as

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-38208324321787148772010-08-04T15:02:00.009+03:002010-08-04T23:34:47.427+03:00

For most of history most of the world's population has been more concerned with simply surviving than pursuing happiness. Tyrants, from kings to war lords, to local officials and small time hoods, have enslaved and kept most people in poverty while they live in luxury off the spoils of the common man's labors.A good example is my worker, Sammy, here in Kenya. His father had two wives. When he

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-34962676591063724172010-07-30T12:24:00.013+03:002010-08-05T08:51:08.360+03:00

The right to liberty is the second God endowed right expressed in our Declaration of Independence. It is a right that most of the world's peoples have never enjoyed. From Nimrod's first empire 4500 years ago to the Marxist dictatorships of today, tyrants have enslaved, terrorized, and brutally smothered the desires and ambitions of people to be free.Nimrod was a mighty hunter before the Lord (

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-48840104663536149892010-07-21T10:35:00.020+03:002010-08-06T16:35:48.580+03:00

The first of the "certain unalienable rights" endowed by our Creator listed in the Declaration of Independence is the right to life. According to our Founding Fathers life is a God-given right.Yet, today the most explosive and divisive issue in our culture is about life and who has a right to it. One would think that in a society gone crazy about rights, human rights, women's rights, children's

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-69961704852527463112010-07-17T23:43:00.013+03:002010-08-04T09:30:13.220+03:00

The Declaration of Independence finds it a self-evident truth that all men are created equal. Yet all men are not equal. In fact, many of the signers of the document owned slaves even as they agreed to the proposition of equality. This has become one of the great controversies in American politics and culture. The Founding Fathers are accused of hypocrisy for not freeing the slaves outright

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-26055033457058198172010-07-15T20:07:00.004+03:002010-07-18T22:41:01.746+03:00

Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “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.”“We,” were the fifty-six delegates who represented the thirteen colonies in the Continental Congress. They were all agreed that

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-12486049999701109692010-07-10T09:59:00.005+03:002010-07-10T11:28:34.488+03:00

This week the Justice Department officially filed a law suit against Arizona over the immigration law Arizona passed in April. The Justice Department's argument is that "enforcing immigration law is a Federal responsibility." Well, duh! Wake up Eric Holder. The reason Arizona acted is because the Federal government has reneged on its responsibility. By the way, have you read the Arizona law

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-91554475972698413832010-07-03T15:33:00.004+03:002010-07-14T17:43:31.326+03:00

There is a YouTube video circulating of a former Marine singing the last verse of the National Anthem. A comment with the video says the audience was shocked that he knew the last verse. It didn’t shock me. My fourth grade music teacher, Mrs. Lewis, taught the anthem, both verses, to our class. I’ve remembered it ever since. What dismays me, however, is how few people actually do know it.In

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-39161568283874027292010-06-27T20:00:00.006+03:002010-07-04T16:02:19.888+03:00

For over two hundred years US presidents have faced the challenge of upholding the Constitution, securing the borders, and protecting American citizens. Some have been more successful than others, but it could be said of most of our presidents that they at least tried to do what was right for our country. That has changed.Now we have a president who, by appointing unelected and unconstitutional

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-67182420959221568732010-06-16T16:43:00.008+03:002010-06-16T17:16:18.026+03:00

Sunday evening, June 13, a peaceful demonstration at Uhuru Park in downtown Nairobi was broken up by two explosions 15 minutes apart that left five dead and 75 wounded. The meeting was led by Christian ministers and politicians who oppose the new draft constitution because, among other things, it will legalize abortion. The assembly was mostly over, the politicians had left, but many were still

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-50553924597675880662010-06-11T23:50:00.004+03:002010-06-12T09:46:32.502+03:00

Six years ago today the greatest president of the 20th century, Ronald Reagan, was laid to rest at his presidential library in Simi Valley, California. Lest we forget, Reaganomics turned the Carter recession of 1980 around and gave us six years of the greatest expansion of the US economy in history. It was Reagan's hard hand, moral high ground and military build up that forced Gorbachev to start

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-77000605824417698462010-05-26T11:34:00.004+03:002010-05-29T17:54:20.932+03:00

One of the finer things the medium of television has ever produced is the Turner Pictures 1993 movie, Gettysburg. Based on the Michael Shaara book, The Killer Angels, it is a slightly fictionalized but extremely accurate depiction of the three-day battle July 1-3, 1863, that became the “ebb tide” of the Confederacy in the American Civil War. The climax of the movie is Pickett’s charge performed

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-84017314881756693152010-05-20T17:30:00.005+03:002010-07-12T22:33:26.532+03:00

America the Beautiful is one of our finer patriotic songs. With a majestic melody it describes every corner of the country, from mountains to prairies, and from sea to shining sea under the vast, spacious sky above. It describes the pilgrims and heroes who settled and built the land, and appeals to God for His grace and hand on our country at the close of every verse.I first learned the song in

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-33645748962015874562010-05-16T23:15:00.012+03:002010-05-17T21:48:55.115+03:00

My cousin, Sharon, married Jim Smith and they spent 29 years in Ecuador as missionaries. They had two delightful children, Zac and Stacey. Stacey ran an orphanage and placement service all by herself in Ecuador for seven years. Zac married Mandy, and they had three children, Lizzy, Luke and Jake. Zac went to seminary and was working in a church in South Carolina when about a year ago he was

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-21063282809546876412010-05-15T10:14:00.007+03:002010-05-15T14:24:08.079+03:00

During the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton in 1998, Congresswoman Maxine Waters defended her president by complaining that our troops were in harm's way and it would be demoralizing to them to have their Commander-in-Chief convicted and removed from office. As with most Democrats, she was typically out of touch with the military. Clinton had been a draft dodger who cavorted with communists in

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-56367466242989833262010-05-07T22:48:00.012+03:002010-05-10T12:44:28.347+03:00

When I was ten years old we passed through the Black Hills on vacation and stopped at Mt. Rushmore. I was happy to see it because there was a popular joke going around at the time about a guy who climbed to the top of the mountain and fell off. He grabbed on to George Washington's nose and as he hung there he shouted to his friends, "Look, I'm a booger."A few years later I saw the Alfred

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-28523179154385850632010-05-04T22:10:00.002+03:002010-05-04T23:20:32.836+03:00

Is there any better proof as to why Arizona needed to pass its new Illegal Alien law than the events that have happened since it passed? Illegal aliens marched on the capitol, flew American flags upside down beneath Mexican flags, attacked police with stones and bottles, and created general mayhem. Illegal aliens came from California and other places to join in. An hispanic Arizona senator

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-11647956307979498292010-04-28T20:07:00.010+03:002010-05-08T20:30:20.032+03:00

It is common to hear the accusation that our Founding Fathers were deists, and that they were influenced by the 17th century Rationalism of Descartes, and the 18th century Enlightenment of Rousseau. Where did these arguments come from, and are they true? Did these empty philosophies, which offer no hope for mankind, and which did greatly influence the irrational slaughter of the French

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-52542022929407937762010-04-26T11:46:00.011+03:002010-04-28T22:37:05.238+03:00

Bowing to pressure from the atheist/agnostic Freedom From Religion Foundation, US District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled on April 15, 2010, that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional. She based her ruling on the worn out liberal, anti-Christian argument that the establishment clause of the First Amendment demands separation of church and state. She defended the decision saying it does not

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-66791394352011027932010-04-18T17:08:00.010+03:002010-04-25T16:21:04.522+03:00

I am not against foreign nationals immigrating to the United States. My grandparents were immigrants. My grandfather, Henry Boonstra, came to the US in 1920 from the Netherlands. Four years later he brought my grandmother, Rose Kooistra, over and they were married in Iowa. They struggled, they learned English, and they worked a farm through the Great Depression until his asthma and bad heart

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-44616129241907700092010-04-15T11:01:00.006+03:002010-04-27T10:21:52.406+03:00

I was taking the adversary course at TOPGUN when the first Gulf War started in 1991. When my training was finished I took a trip across the US to South Carolina to visit friends and then to Denver to see family before heading back overseas. There was an amazing thing going on at the time. People everywhere were waving flags. They were buying them to stick in the windows of their cars so they

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6988535153023894328.post-28478733402028011362010-04-09T23:00:00.003+03:002010-04-10T00:32:22.749+03:00

I do a lot of writing and I especially like political commentary. I've had letters in newspapers all across the country and even had an editorial article in the Denver Post once. But my e-mail audience is limited to those in my address book and whomever they sometimes forward my missives to. Someone suggested I start a blog to increase my audience range.So this is it. I don't know anything

Lance Pattersonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07068149428331254472noreply@blogger.com4