"In Our Youth Our Hearts Were Touched With Fire"

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

http://people.virginia.edu/~mmd5f/memorial.htm

[An address delivered for Memorial Day, May 30, 1884, at Keene, NH, before John Sedgwick Post No. 4, Grand Army of the Republic.]

Not long ago I heard a young man ask why people still kept up Memorial Day, and it set me thinking of the answer. Not the answer that you and I should give to each other-not the expression of those feelings that, so long as you live, will make this day sacred to memories of love and grief and heroic youth--but an answer which should command the assent of those who do not share our memories, and in which we of the North and our brethren of the South could join in perfect accord.

So far as this last is concerned, to be sure, there is no trouble. The soldiers who were doing their best to kill one another felt less of personal hostility, I am very certain, than some who were not imperilled by their mutual endeavors. I have heard more than one of those who had been gallant and distinguished officers on the Confederate side say that they had had no such feeling. I know that I and those whom I knew best had not. We believed that it was most desirable that the North should win; we believed in the principle that the Union is indissoluable; we, or many of us at least, also believed that the conflict was inevitable, and that slavery had lasted long enough. But we equally believed that those who stood against us held just as sacred conviction that were the opposite of ours, and we respected them as every men with a heart must respect those who give all for their belief. The experience of battle soon taught its lesson even to those who came into the field more bitterly disposed. You could not stand up day after day in those indecisive contests where overwhelming victory was impossible because neither side would run as they ought when beaten, without getting at least something of the same brotherhood for the enemy that the north pole of a magnet has for the south--each working in an opposite sense to the other, but each unable to get along without the other. As it was then , it is now. The soldiers of the war need no explanations; they can join in commemorating a soldier's death with feelings not different in kind, whether he fell toward them or by their side.

But Memorial Day may and ought to have a meaning also for those who do not share our memories. When men have instinctively agreed to celebrate an anniversary, it will be found that there is some thought of feeling behind it which is too large to be dependent upon associations alone. The Fourth of July, for instance, has still its serious aspect, although we no longer should think of rejoicing like children that we have escaped from an outgrown control, although we have achieved not only our national but our moral independence and know it far too profoundly to make a talk about it, and although an Englishman can join in the celebration without a scruple. For, stripped of the temporary associations which gives rise to it, it is now the moment when by common consent we pause to become conscious of our national life and to rejoice in it, to recall what our country has done for each of us, and to ask ourselves what we can do for the country in return.

So to the indifferent inquirer who asks why Memorial Day is still kept up we may answer, it celebrates and solemnly reaffirms from year to year a national act of enthusiasm and faith. It embodies in the most impressive form our belief that to act with enthusiam and faith is the condition of acting greatly. To fight out a war, you must believe something and want something with all your might. So must you do to carry anything else to an end worth reaching. More than that, you must be willing to commit yourself to a course, perhpas a long and hard one, without being able to foresee exactly where you will come out. All that is required of you is that you should go somewhither as hard as ever you can. The rest belongs to fate. One may fall-at the beginning of the charge or at the top of the earthworks; but in no other way can he reach the rewards of victory.

When it was felt so deeply as it was on both sides that a man ought to take part in the war unless some conscientious scruple or strong practical reason made it impossible, was that feeling simply the requirement of a local majority that their neighbors should agree with them? I think not: I think the feeling was right-in the South as in the North. I think that, as life is action and passion, it is required of a man that he should share the passion and action of his time at peril of being judged not to have lived.

If this be so, the use of this day is obvious. It is true that I cannot argue a man into a desire. If he says to me, Why should I seek to know the secrets of philosophy? Why seek to decipher the hidden laws of creation that are graven upon the tablets of the rocks, or to unravel the history of civilization that is woven in the tissue of our jurisprudence, or to do any great work, either of speculation or of practical affairs? I cannot answer him; or at least my answer is as little worth making for any effect it will have upon his wishes if he asked why I should eat this, or drink that. You must begin by wanting to. But although desire cannot be imparted by argument, it can be by contagion. Feeling begets feeling, and great feeling begets great feeling. We can hardly share the emotions that make this day to us the most sacred day of the year, and embody them in ceremonial pomp, without in some degree imparting them to those who come after us. I believe from the bottom of my heart that our memorial halls and statues and tablets, the tattered flags of our regiments gathered in the Statehouses, are worth more to our young men by way of chastening and inspiration than the monuments of another hundred years of peaceful life could be.

But even if I am wrong, even if those who come after us are to forget all that we hold dear, and the future is to teach and kindle its children in ways as yet unrevealed, it is enough for us that this day is dear and sacred.

Accidents may call up the events of the war. You see a battery of guns go by at a trot, and for a moment you are back at White Oak Swamp, or Antietam, or on the Jerusalem Road. You hear a few shots fired in the distance, and for an instant your heart stops as you say to yourself, The skirmishers are at it, and listen for the long roll of fire from the main line. You meet an old comrade after many years of absence; he recalls the moment that you were nearly surrounded by the enemy, and again there comes up to you that swift and cunning thinking on which once hung life and freedom--Shall I stand the best chance if I try the pistol or the sabre on that man who means to stop me? Will he get his carbine free before I reach him, or can I kill him first?These and the thousand other events we have known are called up, I say, by accident, and, apart from accident, they lie forgotten.

But as surely as this day comes round we are in the presence of the dead. For one hour, twice a year at least--at the regimental dinner, where the ghosts sit at table more numerous than the living, and on this day when we decorate their graves--the dead come back and live with us.

I see them now, more than I can number, as once I saw them on this earth. They are the same bright figures, or their counterparts, that come also before your eyes; and when I speak of those who were my brothers, the same words describe yours.

I see a fair-haired lad, a lieutenant, and a captain on whom life had begun somewhat to tell, but still young, sitting by the long mess-table in camp before the regiment left the State, and wondering how many of those who gathered in our tent could hope to see the end of what was then beginning. For neither of them was that destiny reserved. I remember, as I awoke from my first long stupor in the hospital after the battle of Ball's Bluff, I heard the doctor say, "He was a beautiful boy", [Web note: Lt. William L. Putnam, 20th Mass.] and I knew that one of those two speakers was no more. The other, after passing through all the previous battles, went into Fredericksburg with strange premonition of the end, and there met his fate.[Web Note: Cpt. Charles F. Cabot, 20th Mass.]

I see another youthful lieutenant as I saw him in the Seven Days, when I looked down the line at Glendale. The officers were at the head of their companies. The advance was beginning. We caught each other's eye and saluted. When next I looked, he was gone. [Web note: Lt. James. J. Lowell, 20th Mass.]

I see the brother of the last-the flame of genius and daring on his face--as he rode before us into the wood of Antietam, out of which came only dead and deadly wounded men. So, a little later, he rode to his death at the head of his cavalry in the Valley.

In the portraits of some of those who fell in the civil wars of England, Vandyke has fixed on canvas the type who stand before my memory. Young and gracious faces, somewhat remote and proud, but with a melancholy and sweet kindness. There is upon their faces the shadow of approaching fate, and the glory of generous acceptance of it. I may say of them , as I once heard it said of two Frenchmen, relics of the ancien regime, "They were very gentle. They cared nothing for their lives." High breeding, romantic chivalry--we who have seen these men can never believe that the power of money or the enervation of pleasure has put an end to them. We know that life may still be lifted into poetry and lit with spiritual charm.

But the men, not less, perhaps even more, characteristic of New England, were the Puritans of our day. For the Puritan still lives in New England, thank God! and will live there so long as New England lives and keeps her old renown. New England is not dead yet. She still is mother of a race of conquerors--stern men, little given to the expression of their feelings, sometimes careless of their graces, but fertile, tenacious, and knowing only duty. Each of you, as I do, thinks of a hundred such that he has known.[Web note: Unfortunately for New England, no such "conquerors" have played for the Red Sox since 1918]. I see one--grandson of a hard rider of the Revolution and bearer of his historic name--who was with us at Fair Oaks, and afterwards for five days and nights in front of the enemy the only sleep that he would take was what he could snatch sitting erect in his uniform and resting his back against a hut. He fell at Gettysburg. [Web note: Col. Paul Revere, Jr., 20th Mass.].

His brother , a surgeon, [Web note: Edward H.R. Revere] who rode, as our surgeons so often did, wherever the troops would go, I saw kneeling in ministration to a wounded man just in rear of our line at Antietam, his horse's bridle round his arm--the next moment his ministrations were ended. His senior associate survived all the wounds and perils of the war, but , not yet through with duty as he understood it, fell in helping the helpless poor who were dying of cholera in a Western city.

I see another quiet figure, of virtuous life and quiet ways, not much heard of until our left was turned at Petersburg. He was in command of the regiment as he saw our comrades driven in. He threw back our left wing, and the advancing tide of defeat was shattered against his iron wall. He saved an army corps from disaster, and then a round shot ended all for him. [Web note: Major Henry Patten, 20th Mass.]

There is one who on this day is always present on my mind. [Web note: Henry Abbott, 20th Mass.] He entered the army at nineteen, a second lieutenant. In the Wilderness, already at the head of his regiment, he fell, using the moment that was left him of life to give all of his little fortune to his soldiers.I saw him in camp, on the march, in action. I crossed debatable land with him when we were rejoining the Army together. I observed him in every kind of duty, and never in all the time I knew him did I see him fail to choose that alternative of conduct which was most disagreeable to himself. He was indeed a Puritan in all his virtues, without the Puritan austerity; for, when duty was at an end, he who had been the master and leader became the chosen companion in every pleasure that a man might honestly enjoy. His few surviving companions will never forget the awful spectacle of his advance alone with his company in the streets of Fredericksburg.[Web note: The legendary suicidal charge of the 20th Mass. Regiment occurred on Dec. 11, 1862.] In less than sixty seconds he would become the focus of a hidden and annihilating fire from a semicircle of houses. His first platoon had vanished under it in an instant, ten men falling dead by his side. He had quietly turned back to where the other half of his company was waiting, had given the order, "Second Platoon, forward!" and was again moving on, in obedience to superior command, to certain and useless death, when the order he was obeying was countermanded. The end was distant only a few seconds; but if you had seen him with his indifferent carriage, and sword swinging from his finger like a cane, you would never have suspected that he was doing more than conducting a company drill on the camp parade ground. He was little more than a boy, but the grizzled corps commanders knew and admired him; and for us, who not only admired, but loved, his death seemed to end a portion of our life also.

There is one grave and commanding presence that you all would recognize, for his life has become a part of our common history. [Web note: William Bartlett, 20th Mass.]. Who does not remember the leader of the assault of the mine at Petersburg? The solitary horseman in front of Port Hudson, whom a foeman worthy of him bade his soldiers spare, from love and admiration of such gallant bearing? Who does not still hear the echo of those eloquent lips after the war, teaching reconciliation and peace? I may not do more than allude to his death, fit ending of his life. All that the world has a right to know has been told by a beloved friend in a book wherein friendship has found no need to exaggerate facts that speak for themselves. I knew him ,and I may even say I knew him well; yet, until that book appeared, I had not known the governing motive of his soul. I had admired him as a hero. When I read, I learned to revere him as a saint. His strength was not in honor alone, but in religion; and those who do not share his creed must see that it was on the wings of religious faith that he mounted above even valiant deeds into an empyrean of ideal life.

I have spoken of some of the men who were near to me among others very near and dear, not because their lives have become historic, but because their lives are the type of what every soldier has known and seen in his own company. In the great democracy of self-devotion private and general stand side by side. Unmarshalled save by their own deeds, the army of the dead sweep before us, "wearing their wounds like stars." It is not because the men I have mentioned were my friends that I have spoken of them, but, I repeat, because they are types. I speak of those whom I have seen. But you all have known such; you, too, remember!

It is not of the dead alone that we think on this day. There are those still living whose sex forbade them to offer their lives, but who gave instead their happiness. Which of us has not been lifted above himself by the sight of one of those lovely, lonely women, around whom the wand of sorrow has traced its excluding circle--set apart, even when surrounded by loving friends who would fain bring back joy to their lives? I think of one whom the poor of a great city know as their benefactress and friend. I think of one who has lived not less greatly in the midst of her children, to whom she has taught such lessons as may not be heard elsewhere from mortal lips. The story of these and her sisters we must pass in reverent silence. All that may be said has been said by one of their own sex---

But when the days of golden dreams had perished,
And even despair was powerless to destroy,
Then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
Strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.
Then did I check the tears of useless passion,
weaned my young soul from yearning after thine
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.

Comrades, some of the associations of this day are not only triumphant, but joyful. Not all of those with whom we once stood shoulder to shoulder--not all of those whom we once loved and revered--are gone. On this day we still meet our companions in the freezing winter bivouacs and in those dreadful summer marches where every faculty of the soul seemed to depart one after another, leaving only a dumb animal power to set the teeth and to persist-- a blind belief that somewhere and at last there was bread and water. On this day, at least, we still meet and rejoice in the closest tie which is possible between men-- a tie which suffering has made indissoluble for better, for worse.

When we meet thus, when we do honor to the dead in terms that must sometimes embrace the living, we do not deceive ourselves. We attribute no special merit to a man for having served when all were serving. We know that, if the armies of our war did anything worth remembering, the credit belongs not mainly to the individuals who did it, but to average human nature. We also know very well that we cannot live in associations with the past alone, and we admit that, if we would be worthy of the past, we must find new fields for action or thought, and make for ourselves new careers.

But, nevertheless, the generation that carried on the war has been set apart by its experience. Through our great good fortune, in our youth our hearts were touched with fire. It was given to us to learn at the outset that life is a profound and passionate thing. While we are permitted to scorn nothing but indifference, and do not pretend to undervalue the worldly rewards of ambition, we have seen with our own eyes, beyond and above the gold fields, the snowy heights of honor, and it is for us to bear the report to those who come after us. But, above all, we have learned that whether a man accepts from Fortune her spade, and will look downward and dig, or from Aspiration her axe and cord, and will scale the ice, the one and only success which it is his to command is to bring to his work a mighty heart.

Such hearts--ah me, how many!--were stilled twenty years ago; and to us who remain behind is left this day of memories. Every year--in the full tide of spring, at the height of the symphony of flowers and love and life--there comes a pause, and through the silence we hear the lonely pipe of death. Year after year lovers wandering under the apple trees and through the clover and deep grass are surprised with sudden tears as they see black veiled figures stealing through the morning to a soldier's grave. Year after year the comrades of the dead follow, with public honor, procession and commemorative flags and funeral march--honor and grief from us who stand almost alone, and have seen the best and noblest of our generation pass away.
But grief is not the end of all. I seem to hear the funeral march become a paean. I see beyond the forest the moving banners of a hidden column. Our dead brothers still live for us, and bid us think of life, not death--of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and joy of the spring. As I listen, the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, hope, and will.

THE OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE / ELIGIBILITY / OBAMACARE

For Immediate Release: - 05/28/2010
For Further Information Contact:
Philip J. Berg, Esquire
555 Andorra Glen Court, Suite 12
Lafayette Hill, PA 19444-2531
Cell (610) 662-3005

(610) 825-3134
(800) 993-PHIL [7445]
Fax (610) 834-7659

philjberg@obamacrimes.com

(Lafayette Hill, PA – 05/28/10) - Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the first Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Obama’s lack of “qualifications” to serve as President of the United States stated that “WE THE PEOPLE” by and through Philip J. Berg and Obamacrimes.com is sponsoring the OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE / ELIGIBILITY/ OBAMACARE March on Washington.

Due to scheduling conflicts and the importance of this March, the date of the OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE / ELIGIBILITY/ OBAMACARE March on Washington was postponed from Memorial Day Weekend to sometime in August / September 2010. The new date will be announced shortly.

All individuals participating are requested to bring a copy of their Birth Certificate.

The crucial issues regarding Obama, the “IMPOSTER”, continue to grow. However, the most important issue is Obama not being Constitutionally eligible to be President: 1) not being “natural born” being born in Mombasa, Kenya; and 2) even more important the fact that Obama was “adopted” or “acknowledged” by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, and his school record in Indonesia indicates the “Imposter’s” name as “Barry Soetoro” and his nationality being “Indonesia”. Obama, the Imposter’s legal name is “Barry Soetoro”. Obama must be stopped ! WE THE PEOPLE can, by way of the largest march ever on Washington, DC have a “Peaceful Revolution” and force Obama to prove he is Constitutionally eligible or resign from office. YES WE CAN !

The cost of the March on Washington is expensive. We must raise Fifty Thousand [$50,000.00] Dollars to cover the cost of the March including advertising this important event.

Donate today to help cover the expenses of this March and defend our Constitution.

An updated flyer regarding our March is attached. Please stay tuned to obamacrimes.com for the new date.

For copies of all Press Releases and Court Pleadings, go to:
obamacrimes.com

Arizona’s 'illegal super - highway' from Mexico

An E-mail to Chuck Sproull from a friend, John

Chuck Sproull,

Forward this to your network if you believe it to be true. I do.

I forwarded this one to a friend who lives in Tucson, AZ. He has confirmed that it's absolutely true. He stated that Americans don't understand what is happening in Arizona. He said that the state is being overrun by illegals from Mexico. Wherever they go, there are packs of illegal Mexicans who are trouble, trouble. He told me that if other states had the problem that Arizona has, they too would do something about it. RG

Where is the EPA? Oh, that's right, we can't Drill in Alaska, but Illegals can trample our land under guise of "compassion."

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY AWFUL!

We, in Arizona, know you're boycotting us -- but you really should come out here and see our Beautiful Sonoran Desert.

It's just gorgeous right now! We know you'd love it and maybe you can share what you saw with the rest of the country so they can love it too!

This is on an 'illegal super - highway' from Mexico to the USA (Tucson) used by human smugglers.

This area is located in a wash, approximately 1.5 miles long, just south of Tucson, Arizona. If a flood came, all this would be washed to the river and then onto the sea!

It is estimated over 5,000 discarded backpacks are in this wash. Countless water containers, food wrappers, clothing, feces, including thousands of soiled baby diapers. And as you can see in this picture, fresh footprints leading right into it.

As we kept walking down the wash, we thought for sure it was going to end, but around every corner was more and more trash!

And of course the trail leading out of the wash in our city, heads directly NORTH to Tucson, then leads to your town tomorrow.

They've already come through here. Isn't Arizona just beautiful, America?

Why would you boycott us???

Our desert has basically been turned into a landfill.

The trash left behind by people illegally crossing our border is another Environmental Disaster to hit the USA .

If these actions had been done in one of our Northwest Forests or Seashore National Parks areas, there would be an uprising of the American people.....but this is the Arizona-Mexican border.

You won't see these pictures on CNN, ABC, NBC or the Arizona Republic Repugnant newspaper. Nor will they mention the disease that comes from the uncovered human waste left in our desert.

However, with respect to CNN, ABC & NBC, they do offer us "Special Reports" on cheating celebrity spouses....

This information needs to be seen by the rest of the country.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/restarea.asp

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/socialpoliticalissues/ss/illegal_super_highway.htm

Protect America Before It Is Too Late

President Obama and the appointed and elected majority Democrat Party officials on Capitol Hill are in the process of continuing to destroy our American Flag, our US Constitution, and the freedoms from within.

Why do these radical left-wing officials continue to rip away our own rights of which we have won for through prayer, work, and service to America? I love my nation and offered to serve, fight, and perhaps lose my own life, so others may enjoy these same rights (from God) and freedoms (from our US Constitution).

America and our US Constitution were based on Judeo-Christian values. Help us to protect these precious rights!

In Primaries and General Elections in November, please vote and encourage all of your family, friends, and associates to eliminate these left-wing radicals so freedom loving citizens will continue these freedoms.

God Bless America!

Oscar Y. Harward

Obama Administration Manipulating/Misguiding/Falsifying History?

President Obama’s financial fix is a failure. As America’s economy continues to fail, we are told daily by President Obama as to how our recovering economy is on the right track. Our stock market and our currency rates continue to fluxuate more down than up. New unemployment rates are declining, but the total number of the unemployed continues to increase. Obama administration leaders told us as to how many jobs were being created or saved? We never got an explanation in defining ‘jobs saved’?

Is it possible that our own government agencies are manipulating, misguiding, and or falsifying Americans with erroneous history and facts? Reports are that food prices are down by .1%. This is contrary to my personal observations. Could it be a fact that unemployment numbers and rates are higher than reported? Could it be that the ‘Dow’ did fail on May 6, 2010, but a government agency poured hundreds of billions of federal dollars into the ‘Dow’ in support? If not, why has the individual making the mistake by selling with ‘Billions’ rather than ‘Millions’ of issues not been identified?

The Obama administration and majority Democrat Party leaders on Capitol Hill continues to act as the only answer to these solutions are to spend and spend. This continued excessive spending is digging credit debility for our taxpayers, their children, and more. We are spending to the end of any credibility being able to ever repay the debt. What, where, when, and how is their solution to repay?

How criminal is President Obama’s administration and his ‘Storm Troopers’, alias as some 500 SEIU members, ‘… exploded with 500 screaming, placard-waving strangers on a mission to intimidate my neighbor, Greg Baer. Baer is deputy general counsel for corporate law at Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500), a senior executive based in Washington, D.C. And that -- in the minds of the organizers at the politically influential Service Employees International Union and a Chicago outfit called National Political Action -- makes his family fair game’… ‘Waving signs denouncing bank "greed," hordes of invaders poured out of 14 school buses, up Baer's steps, and onto his front porch. As bullhorns rattled with stories of debtor calls and foreclosed homes, Baer's teenage son Jack -- alone in the house -- locked himself in the bathroom. "When are they going to leave?" Jack pleaded when I called to check on him.’ http://money.cnn.com/2010/05/19/news/companies/SEIU_Bank_of_America_protest.fortune/index.htm

Where are ABC, CBS, and NBC? Where are others of the main-stream media? Are AG Holder and President Obama supporting SEIU members to intimidate law-abiding citizens? Why has President Obama failed to criticize these actions? Is it representative of majority Democrat Party Capitol Hill members to accept these kinds of illegal activities?

Oscar Y. Harward

Richard Blumenthal, Resign! You Lied For Your Own Political Gain.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Is Barack Obama a qualified American by birth President

For more than one year I have been following the issue, “Is Barack Obama a qualified American by birth President” as required by our US Constitution? For this time, many Americans have prosecuted and carried law suits into Federal Courts with Judges dismissing the suits. To me, many Judges just dismissed many of these suits as "with" or "without" merit.

This one article has a different wrinkle which should be researched, investigated, and find the truth to be found.

Is President Barack Obama an “American by birth President” or is he a fraud being supported by the majority Democrat Party on Capitol Hill?

Americans need to know. More than 600,000 Patriots have died on the battlefield in defense of our American Flag, our US Constitution, and our freedoms.

Oscar Y. Harward
oharward@carolina.rr.com
http://conservativechristianvoice.blogspot.com



BORN IN THE USA?

Investigators: Obama using Connecticut Soc. Sec. Number 3 experts insist White House answer new questions about documentation

Posted: May 11, 2010
9:57 pm Eastern
By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=152773

Two private investigators working independently are asking why President Obama is using a Social Security number set aside for applicants in Connecticut while there is no record he ever had a mailing address in the state.

In addition, the records indicate the number was issued between 1977 and 1979, yet Obama's earliest employment reportedly was in 1975 at a Baskin-Robbins ice-cream shop in Oahu, Hawaii.

WND has copies of affidavits filed separately in a presidential eligibility lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia by Ohio licensed private investigator Susan Daniels and Colorado private investigator John N. Sampson.

The investigators believe Obama needs to explain why he is using a Social Security number reserved for Connecticut applicants that was issued at a date later than he is known to have held employment.

See the movie Obama does not want you to see: Own the DVD that probes this unprecedented presidential eligibility mystery!

The Social Security website confirms the first three numbers in his ID are reserved for applicants with Connecticut addresses, 040-049.

"Since 1973, Social Security numbers have been issued by our central office," the Social Security website explains. "The first three (3) digits of a person's social security number are determined by the ZIP code of the mailing address shown on the application for a social security number."

The question is being raised amid speculation about the president's history fueled by an extraordinary lack of public documentation. Along with his original birth certificate, Obama also has not released educational records, scholarly articles, passport documents, medical records, papers from his service in the Illinois state Senate, Illinois State Bar Association records, any baptism records and adoption papers.

Robert Siciliano, president and CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com and a nationally recognized expert on identity theft, agrees the Social Security number should be questioned.

"I know Social Security numbers have been issued to people in states where they don't live, but there's usually a good reason the person applied for a Social Security number in a different state," Siciliano told WND.

WND asked Siciliano whether he thought the question was one the White House should answer.

"Yes," he replied. "In the case of President Obama, I really don't know what the good reason would be that he has a Social Security number issued in Connecticut when we know he was a resident of Hawaii."

Siciliano is a frequent expert guest on identify theft on cable television networks, including CNN, CNBC and the Fox News Channel.

Daniels and Sampson each used a different database showing Obama is using a Social Security number beginning with 042.

WND has further confirmed that the Social Security number in question links to Obama in the online records maintained by the Selective Service System. Inserting the Social Security number, his birth date and his last name produces a valid Selective Service number.

To verify the number was issued by the Social Security Administration for applicants in Connecticut, Daniels used a Social Security number verification database. She found that the numbers immediately before and immediately after Obama's were issued to Connecticut applicants between the years 1977 and 1979.

"There is obviously a case of fraud going on here," Daniels maintained. "In 15 years of having a private investigator's license in Ohio, I've never seen the Social Security Administration make a mistake of issuing a Connecticut Social Security number to a person who lived in Hawaii. There is no family connection that would appear to explain the anomaly."

The hottest book in America is the one that exposes the real Obama and all his men (and women)! Get your autographed copy only from WND!

Does the Social Security Administration ever re-issue Social Security numbers?
"Never," Daniels said. "It's against the law for a person to have a re-issued or second Social Security number issued."

Daniels said she is "staking my reputation on a conclusion that Obama's use of this Social Security number is fraudulent."

There is no indication in the limited background documentation released by the Obama 2008 presidential campaign or by the White House to establish that Obama ever lived in Connecticut.

Nor is there any suggestion in Obama's autobiography, "Dreams from My Father," that he ever had a Connecticut address.

Also, nothing can be found in the public record that indicates Obama visited Connecticut during his high-school years.

Sampson's affidavit specifies that as a result of his formal training as an immigration officer and his 27-year career in professional law enforcement, "it is my knowledge and belief that Social Security numbers can only be applied for in the state in which the applicant habitually resides and has their official residence."
Daniels told WND she believes Obama had a different Social Security number when he worked as a teenager in Hawaii prior to 1977.

"I doubt this is President Obama's originally issued Social Security number," she told WND. "Obama has a work history in Hawaii before he left the islands to attend college at Occidental College in California, so he must have originally been issued a Social Security number in Hawaii."

The published record available about Obama indicates his first job as a teenager in Hawaii was at a Baskin-Robbins in the Makiki neighborhood on Oahu. USA Today reported the ice-cream shop still was in operation one year after Obama's inauguration.

Politifact.com, a website typically supportive of Obama, claims he worked at the Baskin-Robbins in 1975 or 1976, prior to the issuance of the number in question.

"It is a crime to use more than one Social Security number, and Barack Obama had to have a previous Social Security number to have worked at Baskin-Robbins," she insisted. "Under current law, a person is not permitted to use more than one Social Security number in a lifetime."

Another anomaly in the law enforcement databases searched by Daniels and Sampson is that the date 1890 shows up in the field indicating the birth of the number holder, along with Obama's birth date of 08/04/1961. A third date listed is 04/08/1961, which appears to be a transposition of Obama's birth date in an international format, with the day before the month.

Daniels disclosed to WND the name of the database she searched and produced a computer screen copy of the page that listed 1890 as a date associated with the 042 Social Security number.

Daniels said she can't be sure if the 1890 figure has any significance. But she said it appears the number Obama is using was previously issued by the Social Security Administration.

After an extensive check of the proprietary databases she uses as a licensed private investigator, Daniels determined that the first occurrence of Obama's association with the number was in 1986 in Chicago.

Daniels assumes, but cannot prove, that Obama took on a previously issued Social Security number that had gone dormant due to the death of the original holder.

Daniels has been a licensed private investigator in Ohio since 1995. Sampson formed his private investigations firm, CSI Consulting and Investigations, in 2008. He previously worked as a deportations law enforcement officer with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The Daniels and Sampson affidavits were originally recorded by attorney Orly Taitz in an eligibility case against Obama last year.

National Security Policies – Democrat Party v. Republican Party

Let us examine a difference between elected Democrat Party leaders and elected Republican Party leaders on ‘National Security’.

President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and a majority of elected Capitol Hill Democrat Party leaders allowed and/or supported the prosecution of Navy SEALS in Military Courts.

These same elected Democrat Party leaders reject captured terrorists to remain at GITMO. This majority elected Democrat Party leaders support a terrorist attempting to bomb an airplane on Christmas day and/or a terrorist who attempts to leave a bombed SUV in New York’s Times Square to be tried in US Courts. These majority elected left-wing Democrat Party leaders choose to reject these radicals as captured terrorists; therefore, to be tried in Military Courts.

The majority of elected Republican Party leaders criticize President Obama and others for ‘allowing the prosecution’ of Navy SEALS in Military Courts or any other courts. These four captured insurgent radicals were terrorists who killed four Blackwater agents as they were transporting supplies for a catering company to Americans. These terrorists tied two of Americans’ hands behind their backs and threw them off a bridge. One of the captured terrorists, ‘Ahmed Hashim Abed’, was one of the US terrorists’ ‘most wanted’.

These majorities of elected Republican Party leaders want terrorists to remain at GITMO. These majorities of elected GOP leaders desire to try every terrorist attempting to bomb an airplane on Christmas day, and/or a terrorist who attempts to leave a bombed SUV in New York’s Time Square to be declared as radical wartime insurgents and be tried in Military Courts. These elected Republican Party leaders choose to ban each and every terrorist from attacking America ‘ever’ again.

This is representative of a major ‘National Security’ difference between elected Democrat Party leaders and elected Republican Party leaders.

A majority of elected Democrat Party leaders oppose trying terrorists in Military Courts, but favor trials in US Courts.

A majority of elected Republican Party leaders favor terrorists be tried in Military Courts, not in US Courts where a terrorist case may be dismissed on a simple judicial error.

Now, President Obama has appointed nominee Elena Kagan for a lifetime appointment to the SCOTUS. Obama’s nominee, Kagan has ‘NO’ experience as a Judge anywhere, not even in your local county District Court. Additionally, Elena Kagan opposes our US Military recruitment on college campus and did oppose college campus recruitment while serving at Harvard Law School Office of Career Services.

A majority of elected Republican Party leaders support US Military recruitment on college campuses and others, as our US Military protects our US Flag, our US Constitution, and our freedoms.

Oscar Y. Harward

Protect America and Arizona’s New Law!

How does anyone with a clear conscience support illegal immigration? Illegal immigrants are law-breakers. Over our US history, more than 600,000 Americans have died protecting our US Flag, our US Constitution, and the freedoms therein. I served (y)our country in the military to preserve these same values. With that being said, I support legal immigration and detest illegal immigration. Left-wing legislators, the ACLU, and other activists have promoted and prevailed with SCOTUS in their decision that burning of our American Flag is now merely ‘free speech’. Today, there are many radial left-wing activists, including the ACLU, who choose to destroy these treasured freedoms, one step at a time. When will each American be responsible to honor and protect our cherished freedoms?

Many all over the world appreciate the freedoms and values as tenderly expressed in our Constitution. America must continue to fight terrorism around the world ‘at all cost’. America must reject illegal immigration, whomever, whenever, and wherever they arrive. Similarly, we must protect our Judeo-Christian values ‘at all cost’.

The newly passed Arizona legislation was passed to stop illegal activity. The first illegal activity for illegal immigrants is to forge and/or purchase a counterfeit identification such as a Social Security Card, driver’s license, etc. These purchased and/or otherwise fictitious documents are stolen records, often on living American taxpayers. Illegal immigrants steal from the taxpayers as they receive Medicaid, food, education, and other benefits. Many illegal immigrants bring illegal drugs, and other criminal activity. An overwhelming number of arrested illegal immigrants are repeat criminals.

Most appointed and/or elected officials who are attempting to ‘legalize’ all illegal immigrants seem to be Democrat Party legislators, appointees, and/or other party activists. There activity is attempting to destroy our US historical freedoms. Most who support illegal immigration cannot legitimately defend the issues. In lieu, these left-wing radicals will accuse those who oppose illegal immigration as racists. This is the only smear they know how to shield. When left-wing radicals cannot argue the issue, they switch, they deflect, and/or they divert. They bark loudly, then run for cover. Supporting illegal immigration is alike to supporting terrorism without any law, any police protection, or any organized government.

Sec. of State Hillary Clinton may openly object to the Arizona law to stop illegal immigration. I fail to understand why any American supports illegal immigration.

You will not hear former President Clinton legally debate this legislation with SCOTUS. You may remember President Clinton was disbarred from practicing law before SCOTUS.

Oscar Y. Harward

Vote in NC GOP Primary

For thirty years in the US Senate, you and I never had to doubt as to how Sen. Jesse Helms would support and/or vote on any issue. For eight years as President, you and I never had any reservation as to how President Ronald Reagan would govern on any issue.

In the year 2010 Republican Party Primary Election, I am proposing to each of you the following candidates based on Conservative Christian values. These values are based on six issues. The first three issues of today are (1) ‘Jobs’, (2) ‘Jobs’, and more (3) ‘Jobs’. After that, the issues include (4) ‘reduce government spending’, (5) ‘lower taxes’ to relieve the stress on the taxpayers, and (6) ‘support Judeo-Christian’ values on all these and other issues of the day.

US Senate – Richard Burr

US House District 8 – Hal Jordan

NC Senate District 35 – Wyatt Thomas Tucker

NC House District 68 – Jeffrey Mark Gerber

District Attorney District 20B – Clayton Jones

County Commissioner(s) – Jonathan Ryan Thomas
Jerry Bennett Simpson
Matthew Todd Johnson

All registered voters, Democrats, Republicans, Unaffiliated voters may vote for or against these Non-Partisan NC Court of Appeals candidates for election.

Court of Appeals – (Calabria) - Ann Marie Calabria
Court of Appeals – (Elmore) - Steve Walker

Thank you for your consideration. Now, go out and ‘Vote’.