Meanings Behind The Folding of The Flag

Have you ever wondered what the United States Flag draped across a soldiers coffin really means?  Here is how to understand the flag that laid upon it and is surrendered to so many widows and widowers: Do you know that at military funerals, the 21-gun salute stands for the sum of the numbers in the year 1776?  Have you ever noticed that the honor guard pays meticulous attention to correctly folding the United States of America Flag 13 times?  The 1st fold of the flag is a symbol of life.The 2nd fold is a symbol of the belief in eternal life. The 3rd fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veterans departing the ranks who gave a portion of their lives for the defense of the country to attain peace throughout the world. The 4th fold represents the weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in time of war for His divine guidance. The 5th fold is a tribute to the country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, 'Our Country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still our country, right or wrong.' The 6th fold is for where people's hearts lie. It is with their heart that they pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America , and the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all. The 7th fold is a tribute to its Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces that they protect their country and their flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of their republic.. The 8th fold is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day. The 9th fold is a tribute to womanhood and Mothers. For it has been through their faith, their love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women who have made this country great has been molded. The 10th fold is a tribute to the father, for he, too, has given his sons and daughters for the defense of their country since they were first born. The 11th fold represents the lower portion of the seal of King David and King Solomon and glorifies in the Hebrews eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The 12th fold represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in the Christians eyes, God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit. The 13th fold, or when the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost reminding them of their Nations motto, 'In God We Trust.' After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of a cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George Washington, and the Sailors and Marines who served under Captain John Paul Jones, who were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of the United States, preserving for them the rights, privileges and freedoms they enjoy today. There are some traditions and ways of doing things that have deep meaning. 

I personally did not know what the folds stood for.  Be sure and share this with all Americans.  We need to understand our history and symbolisms.

Thank you, Sarah Hirz, for suggesting this subject for the blog.

Symbols On The One Dollar Bill

How much do you know about the symbols on the dollar bill?  How much history do you know about it?  Our Founding Fathers knew exactly what they wanted each item to symbolize for their day and for all the generations to come.

On the back of the One Dollar Bill you will see two circles.  Together they comprise the Great Seal of the United States.  The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men come up with a Seal.  It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved.

If you look at the left-hand circle, you will see a Pyramid.

Notice the face is lighted, and the western side is dark.  This country was just beginning.  We had not begun to explore the west or decided what we could do for Western Civilization.  The Pyramid is uncapped, again signifying that we were not even close to being finished.  Inside the capstone you have the all-seeing eye, an ancient symbol for divinity.  It was Franklin's belief that one man could not do it alone, but a group of men, with the help of God, could do anything.  The Latin above the pyramid, Annuit Coeptis, means, 'God has favored our undertaking.'  The Latin below the pyramid, Novous ordo Seclorum, means, 'a new order had begun.'  At the base of the pyramid is the Roman numeral for 1776. (MDCCLXXVI)

In God We Trust is on the currency.

If you look at the right hand circle, and check it carefully, you will learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States.  It is also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell, Florida National Cemetery, and is the centerpiece of most heroes' monuments.  Slightly modified, it is the seal of the President of the United States, and it is always visible whenever he speaks, yet very few people know what the symbols mean.

 

The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons.  First, he is not afraid of a storm, he is strong and he is smart enough to soar above it.  Secondly, he wears no material crown.  We had just broken from the King of England.  Also, notice the shield is unsupported.  This country can now stand on its own.  At the top of that shield there is a white bar signifying congress, a unifying factor.  We were coming together as one nation.  In the Eagle's beak you will read, 'E Pluribus Unum' meaning, 'from many - one.'   Above the Eagle, we have the thirteen stars, representing the thirteen original colonies, and any clouds misunderstanding rolling away.  Again, we were coming together as one.

In his talons the Eagle holds an olive branch and arrows.  This country wants peace, but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace.  The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch, but in time of war, his gaze turns toward the arrows.

And finally, notice the arrangement of the 13 stars in the right hand circle.  You will see that they are arranged as a Star of David.

This was ordered by George Washington who, when he asked Haym Solomon, a wealthy Philadelphia Jew, what he would like as a personal reward for his services to the Continental Army.  Solomon had given $25 million to save the Continental Army to help "-our freedom and independence from England."  Solomon's answer to Washington was he wanted nothing for himself, but he would like something for his people.  The Star of David was the result.  Therein lies America's Judeo Christian beginning.

Thank you, Steve Kennedy, for suggesting this subject for the blog.

Beginnings of The Oil Industry

What is oil, and who had the first oil well?  Pennsylvania, Azerbaijan, Ontario, West Virginia, or Poland? All claim to have been the first.

Crude oil is a natural mix of hundreds of different hydrocarbon compounds trapped under ground.  The hydrocarbons were formed millions of years ago when tiny aquatic plants and animals died and settled on the bottoms of ancient waterways, creating a thick layer of organic material.  Sediment later covered this material, putting heat and pressure on it and transforming it into the petroleum that comes out of the ground today.

Indians and early European explorers had known of the oil seeps in western Pennsylvania, and had made some use of it for many years before the mid 19th century.  Interest grew in the mid 1850s as scientists reported on the potential to manufacture kerosene from crude oil if enough could be found.

Enter Edwin Drake. He was convinced there was oil, and lots of it, in Titusville, Pennsylvania. Frustrated by the limitations of existing methods of extraction, as well as problems with water seepage, Drake decided on a departure from the usual trench-digging technology. He turned to the methods used by salt-well drillers, which involved sinking a shaft straight to the source while providing more structural integrity. He also devised the drive pipe, made of segmented cast iron, as a boring tool. Drake's crew struck bedrock at 32 feet, and the drilling stalled, earning sarcastic jeers from interested observers. Even after specialized drilling tools were employed, progress remained slow.  The locals started calling the well "Drake's Folly."  Drake, however, persevered and finally, at a depth of 69.5 feet, struck oil.

The Drake well in Titusville, Pennsylvania is referred to as the first commercial oil well.  Before the Drake well, other oil producing wells in the United States were wells that were not actually drilled for oil.  They were drilled for salt brine and produced oil and gas only as accidental byproducts.  An intended drinking water well in Oil Springs, Ontario found oil in 1858, a year before the Drake, but it had not been drilled for oil.  Historian have noted that the Drake's  importance was in the fact that it caused prompt additional drilling establishing a supply of petroleum in sufficient quantity to support business enterprises.  It was responsible for the first great wave of investments in oil drilling, refining, and marketing.

On January 10, 1901, a drilling derrick at Spindletop Hill near Beaumont, Texas hit and produced a huge gusher coating the landscape for hundreds of feet that took 9 days to cap.  It signaled the beginning of the oil industry in Texas.  The Spindletop Well was struck at 1,000 feet and produced 100,000 barrels a day. Within one year there were more than 285 active wells at Spindletop and an estimated 500 oil and land companies operating in the area including Humble (now Exxon), The Texas Company (Texaco) and Magnolia Petroleum (Mobil).

Funny Tidbit of History

In searching for a subject in history to write about I came across this information.  I think it should be shared.

On January 9, 1493, Christopher Columbus was on his voyage in the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria hoping to find the western trade route to Asia.  He was sailing near the Dominican Republic and wrote that he had seen "three mermaids, and in reality they were not half as beautiful as they are painted."  It was later learned that what he saw was most likely a manatee, as they were common it that area.

That "manatee" must have seemed to be a very ugly mermaid to Columbus.

Freedom of Religion or Freedom from Religion?

Every year at this time I do a blog about the meaning of Christmas.  For the last several years I have been alarmed by the slow removal of our rights to celebrate Christmas as we have done for generations. For that reason, I feel the need to address this subject rather than my annual Christmas Blog. 

While tackling  this subject it occurred to me I would never be able to address it  as elegantly as Richard Wells, National Write Your Congressman's Western Division Manager.  Richard writes the "Patriots Perspective" for NWYC.  He generously agreed to be my first guest blogger.  Thank you Richard.  

These are his words...

Freedom of Religion or Freedom from Religion?

With the Winter Solstice upon us and snow beginning to fall, Christmas spirit begins to rise for much of the nation.  It’s a season of giving, caroling, Santa Claus, Nativity scenes and for decades now a new tradition--the tradition of lawsuits over religious expression.  This month in the news for instance, a West Point Cadet quit the academy because of religious activity and its encouragement by several officers, claiming that they were violating their oath to defend the Constitution.  Contrast that to an old tradition set by the first commander of the US military, General Washington, where he closes his final orders to the army at the end of the Revolutionary War with a prayer.  Later as President of the US and Commander and Chief of the military, he often publicly called upon God to support the nation.          

           

But this shouldn’t just be about tradition, so perhaps a few more examples can add clarity to this whole religious freedom thing.  In September of this year, the Connellsville Area School District of PA was sued in an attempt to have the 10 Commandments monument removed from the lawn of one of its schools, yet in 1935, the Supreme Court Building for the United States of America was constructed with religious references and an engraving of the Ten Commandments—law makers approved the plans.  Then in December last year the mayor of Warren, Michigan was sued for allowing a Christmas Nativity Scene in the City Hall Atrium. However, Thomas Jefferson recorded his approval that the Charlottesville Courthouse near his home in Virginia was used by the four denominations in the area for religious services.  His only concern was equal access and so the four alternated preaching every fourth Sunday and congregants from each sect attended.  In light of these diametrically opposed views on religion in the public square, which interpretation of the first amendment which guarantees religious freedom should be adopted? After all isn’t there supposed to be a wall separating church and state? 

           
Actually, the phrase separation of church and state does not appear in any of our National Documents, but comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote nearly fifteen years after the Constitution was signed.  The letter was not a directive to government but was sent to a religious group.  The Constitution actually reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”  It was intended to ensure that the Federal Government (the constitution grants power to The States in this area), not designate any religion as supreme over another nor to act in anyway which prohibits the free exercise of religion.  It appears then by their actions that they didn’t want God removed from public discussion, but rather they wanted government removed from dictating the nature of that discussion.  After all, they understood their history.  They knew that valiant men like Hus, Tyndale and Rogers were all executed for translating and distributing copies of the Bible in opposition to the religious and political authorities of the day who forbade such activity.  They saw how their work and the work of many others allowed for self-study, the codification of language and a burning desire for wider religious and political freedom.  This desire was so deep that many more would risk everything to establish self-governing political and religious bodies in America.  Ironically, many of these groups disallowed religious freedoms to others outside their sect.  And so it was from this perspective that the founders set up a restriction for the government, not a censorship imposed upon the people. 

           

For more than 150 years this was the standard in the United States, until the Supreme Court ruled in the 1947 case of Everson v. Board of Education and built a “high and impregnable” wall separating church and state.  This opinion has been used to silence prayer in schools, remove religious symbols from public places and much, much more.  Regardless of your religious or non-religious belief system the question must be asked, is it right that an atheist or agnostic body of people should have preferential treatment in seeking to silence religious sentiment in the public square?  Even the US Supreme Court doesn’t think so as evidenced by a subsequent opinion in their 1952 case Zorach v. Clauson:  

“The First Amendment… does not say that in every respect there shall be a separation of Church and State. Rather…there shall be no concert or union or dependency one on the other. That is the common sense of the matter. Otherwise the state and religion would be aliens to each other…

            Municipalities would not be permitted to render police or fire protection to religious groups… Prayers in our legislative halls; the appeals to the Almighty in the messages of the Chief Executive; the proclamation making Thanksgiving Day a holiday; “so help me God” in our Courtroom oaths—these and all other references to the Almighty that run through our laws, our public rituals, our ceremonies, would be flouting the First Amendment…

            When the state…cooperates with religious authorities by adjusting the schedule of public events…it follows the best of our traditions. For it then respects the religious nature of our people and accommodates the public service to their spiritual needs. To hold that it may not, would be to find in the Constitution a requirement that the government show a callous indifference to religious groups. That would be preferring those who believe in no religion over those who do believe…We cannot read into the Bill of Rights such a philosophy of hostility to religion.

America has a great tradition founded in religious principles.  It certainly has violated the rights of minority religions and the irreligious alike and in such cases the Constitution should be called upon to protect those rights.  However, over-zealous efforts often by well intentioned people must not allow the demon of persecution to enter our society nor suppress the ideas of open inquiry, discussion and debate.  Excluding ideas, whether religious or not suppress such honest inquiry and threatens to put our society back in the dark ages.  Remember, Madison carefully worded that first amendment as freedom of Religion, not freedom from it… Now I ask you the reader to decide carefully which interpretation best honors America’s tradition of freedom?  

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM NATIONAL WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMAN

    

Veterans Day

World War I, known at the time as The Great War, officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. Amazingly, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, was regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”

In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day with the following words, "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

The original concept for the celebration was for a day observed with parades and public meetings and a brief suspension of business beginning at 11:00 a.m.
The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:

Whereas the 11th of November 1918, marked the cessation of the most destructive, sanguinary, and far reaching war in human annals and the resumption by the people of the United States of peaceful relations with other nations, which we hope may never again be severed, and

Whereas it is fitting that the recurring anniversary of this date should be commemorated with thanksgiving and prayer and exercises designed to perpetuate peace through good will and mutual understanding between nations; and

Whereas the legislatures of twenty-seven of our States have already declared November 11 to be a legal holiday: Therefore be it Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), that the President of the United States is requested to issue a proclamation calling upon the officials to display the flag of the United States on all Government buildings on November 11 and inviting the people of the United States to observe the day in schools and churches, or other suitable places, with appropriate ceremonies of friendly relations with all other peoples.

On May 13, 1938, Congress passed an Act making the 11th of November of each year a legal holiday.  It was a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated and known as "Armistice Day." Armistice Day was primarily a day set aside to honor veterans of World War I, but in 1954, after World War II had required the greatest mobilization of soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen in the Nation’s history; after American forces had fought aggression in Korea, the 83rd Congress, at the urging of the veterans service organizations, amended the Act of 1938 by striking out the word "Armistice" and inserting in its place the word "Veterans."  

National Write Your Congressman would like to sincerely thank all Veterans for their loyalty and sacrifice to our country, and to the freedoms of generations to come.

Popular Vote + Electoral College

When we vote, is the President elected by our individual vote or by the Electoral College?

All votes count!  However, the final outcome of the election is determined by the Electoral College.  When you vote for a presidential candidate you are really voting to instruct the electors from your state to cast their votes for the same candidate that took the majority vote in your state.  This system was established in Article II of the Constitution and amended by the 12th Amendment in 1804.

Four times in history a candidate lost the popular vote but won the election by way of the electoral count. They were John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, Benjamin Harrison, and George W. Bush.

Each state gets electors equal to the number of U.S. House of Representatives plus one for each of its two U.S. Senators.  The District of Columbia gets three electors.  While state laws determine how electors are chosen, they are generally selected by the political party committees within the states.

Each elector gets one vote.  If a state has eight electors then eight votes would be cast.  There are currently 538 electors and the votes of a majority of them, 270 votes, are required to elect the president.  The map below shows how many electors each state has.

If no candidate wins 270 electoral votes, the 12th Amendment kicks in, and the election is decided by the House of Representatives.  The combined representatives of each state get one vote and a simple majority of states is required to win.  This has only happened twice.  Presidents Thomas Jefferson in 1801 and John Quincy Adams in 1825.

The night of the election a winner will be declared by all the news outlets.  One candidate will claim victory and one will normally concede defeat.  It will not become "official" and a new president and vice president named "elect" until the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December, when the electors of the Electoral College meet in their state capitals and cast their votes according to which candidate won the majority of their states popular vote.

Early Voting

Even though Election Day is still several weeks away, many Americans are already casting their votes.  The number of people choosing to vote before Election Day has dramatically increased over the last 32 years.  Today, Election Day is merely the last day a voter can cast a ballot.

Early voting in recent American elections has skyrocketed, reaching a record thirty percent of all votes cast in the 2008 presidential election, much higher than the twenty percent cast in 2004.  It appears that these records will be shattered again in 2012, with somewhere around thirty-five percent of all votes being cast prior to Election Day.

States vary their early voting options.  Some states like Indiana and Texas allow persons to vote early at  special polling locations.  Some like Oregon and Washington, and some local jurisdictions, run all-mail ballot elections.  Some like California and Colorado allow persons to request that they vote by mail in all future elections.  Some like Ohio allow persons to request a mail ballot for any reason.  Then there are a handful of holdouts like Pennsylvania and Virginia that have traditional absentee balloting laws that extend early voting only to those who provide a valid excuses.  Complicating definitions is that some states like Florida and North Carolina allow both early voting at special polling locations and no-fault absentee balloting.  And where mail balloting is the primary method of early voting, voters can vote in person at an election administration office.

All states used to have what might be considered traditional absentee voting laws.  The laws have evolved since.  California was the first to adopt no-fault absentee balloting in 1980.  Florida, Tennessee and Texas first opened special early-voting locations in 1996.  Oregon adopted all-mail elections by a 1998 voter initiative.  When early voting is tabulated by states, the national upward trend in early voting is located clearly among early voting states, although there has been a slight rise in early voting in states with traditional absentee balloting.  The upward national trajectory is a combination of more states adopting early voting alternatives and increasing use among voters.  Washington best exemplifies the love voters have for early voting.  So many people signed up to permanently receive ballots that election administrators decided to dispense with opening Election Day polling places that were costly to run and empty.  Colorado is nearing a similar tipping point.

Campaigns have adjusted their strategies to the way people vote.  Election administrators track the status of every registered voter, whether they voted in person early, and if they have a mail ballot in hand or if it has been returned.  They then scratch these voters off their target lists and refocus their efforts to those who have yet to vote.  Once the election rolls around and you want the campaigns to stop contacting you...vote early!