Thanksgiving Proclamation In The Year Of The Independence Of The United States Of America The Nineteenth

The first national Thanksgiving Proclamations were those issued by the Continental Congress between 1777 & 1784.  From 1785 to 1788 there were no national Thanksgiving

Proclamations.  George Washington issued the first Presidential Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789.

 

Not all early Thanksgiving celebrations were in November.

 

President Lincoln started the tradition in 1863 of celebrating Thanksgiving on the last Thursday in November – later changed to the fourth Thursday in November.

 

Below is President Washington's second Thanksgiving Proclamation issued on January 1, 1795 – with Thanksgiving to be celebrated on February 19, 1795. 

 

 

Proclamation 6 - Day of Public Thanksgiving January 1, 1795

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation When we review the calamities which afflict so many other nations. the present condition of the United States affords much matter of consolation and satisfaction. Our exemption hitherto from foreign war, an increasing prospect of the continuance of that exemption, the great degree of internal tranquility we have enjoyed, the recent confirmation of that tranquility by the suppression of an insurrection which so wantonly threatened it, the happy course of our public affairs in general, the unexampled prosperity of all classes of our citizens, are circumstances which peculiarly mark our situation with indications of the Divine beneficence toward us. In such a state of things it is in an especial manner our duty as a people, with devout reverence and affectionate gratitude, to acknowledge our many and great obligations to Almighty God and to implore Him to continue and confirm the blessings we experience. Deeply penetrated with this sentiment, I, George Washington, President of the United States, do recommend to all religious societies and denominations, and to all persons whomsoever, within the United States to set apart and observe Thursday, the 19th day of February next, as a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, and on that day to meet together and render their sincere and hearty thanks to the Great Ruler of Nations for the manifold and signal mercies which distinguish our lot as a nation, particularly for the possession of constitutions of government which unite and by their union establish liberty with order; for the preservation of our peace, foreign and domestic; for the seasonable control which has been given to a spirit of disorder in the suppression of the late insurrection, and generally, for the prosperous course of our affairs, public and private; and at the same time humbly and fervently to beseech the kind Author of these blessings graciously to prolong them to us; to imprint on our hearts a deep and solemn sense of our obligations to Him for them; to teach us rightly to estimate their immense value; to preserve us from the arrogance of prosperity, and from hazarding the advantages we enjoy by delusive pursuits; to dispose us to merit the continuance of His favors by not abusing them; by our gratitude for them, and by a correspondent conduct as citizens and men; to render this country more and more a safe and propitious asylum for the unfortunate of other countries; to extend among us true and useful knowledge; to diffuse and establish habits of sobriety, order, morality, and piety, and finally, to impart all the blessings we possess, or ask for ourselves, to the whole family of mankind. In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed to these presents, and signed the same with my hand. Done at the city of Philadelphia, the 1st day of January 1795, and of the Independence of the United States of America the nineteenth. GO. WASHINGTON. By the President: EDM: RANDOLPH.

Kentucky Tea Party Governor-elect Matt Bevin - One To Watch

One of the brightest spots coming out of the November 3 election was Tea Party candidate Matt Bevin winning the Kentucky governorship 53% to 44% with 3% of the vote going to an independent.  This election result is further indication of the political outsider mood in the country epitomized by Trump, Carson, & Carly.

 

Bevin has pledged to shutdown Kentucky's ObamaCare exchange, expressed concerns about the expansion of Medicaid in Kentucky under ObamaCare, & supports Rowan County clerk Kim Davis's First Amendment right to not sign her name to homosexual marriage licenses – Mrs. Davis had been imprisoned in a cell by herself without bail a few months ago for being in contempt of court for defying a court order that followed the Supreme Court's decision that homosexual marriages are constitutional.  U.S. Judge David Bunning of the Eastern District of Kentucky found the aforementioned Supreme Court ruling & anti-discrimination laws take precedence over Mrs. Davis's First Amendment rights.  Bevin disagrees.

 

In addition, Bevin intends to oppose BO's war on coal in Kentucky by ignoring the EPA's regulatory overreach & its effects on Kentucky.  Bevin believes that the EPA has no legal authority over Kentucky & all the EPA bureaucracy can do is sue the state because the EPA has no enforcement arm themselves – in a reversal of recent trends (where states do the suing) that would make Andrew Jackson smile. 

 

Although coal production has been cut by over 40% since 1990 & coal mining jobs have been reduced by over 75% during that same period Kentucky is still considered a coal state - for most of the 20th century coal had been the foundation of jobs & a source of low cost energy.

 

Many Kentuckians, including Governor-elect Bevin, blame federal regulations for this decline in their standard of living — including, most recently on August 3, 2015, BO's Clean Power Plan that calls for reduced carbon emissions from existing power plants – in an attempt to destroy the coal industry.  BO joins socialist Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in pretending to believe that climate change is the world's greatest problem in that the Clean Power Plan shows the world how committed the U.S. is to leading efforts to address climate change as opposed to leading or even participating in lesser Democrat perceived threats to America like the ISIS murders in Paris over the weekend.  Ridiculous.

 

Click here to hear Governor-elect Bevin discuss his plan with Glenn Beck as to how he will fight BO & the EPA through his understanding of the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.

 

Carly & Some Common Sense Climate Change Questions

In this interview, with over 1 million views, Carly Fiorina shows her grasp of facts on yet another subject as she provides a very reasonable approach & analysis regarding climate change, formerly known as global cooling in 1975 & more recently global warming.

 

I hope everyone who is on the fence concerning whether or not there is any validity to the climate change issue will consider Carly's common sense points made on the video with an open mind or @ least contrast them with BO's commentary regarding skyrocketing electricity rates under his proposed cap & trade system that targets putting coal burning plants out of business.

 

Just last week, to no ones' surprise, BO officially rejected the Keystone XL pipeline project after almost seven years of delays & State Department reviews.  This is just the latest example of BO's subterfuge using environmental issues to ruin one piece after another of the American economy - as if we need more examples of BO purposely working against America.

 

But before you surrender your way of life to socialist climate change regulations (that will put U.S. businesses @ a competitive disadvantage with developing nations who have no such regs or ignore them if they do) that reduce innovation & productivity thereby resulting in higher energy costs, slower economic growth, & reduced job creation please do not panic & concede defeat to someone who can not address to your satisfaction the points Carly makes in the above video or the following few points I present below off the top of my head:

 

1.  In recent years it was determined that the polar ice caps were melting.

 

2.  Where is all of this carbon dioxide greenhouse gas - the density of CO₂ is greater than air?    How did CO₂ get into the upper atmosphere to form a thermal blanket over the earth?

 

3.  The specific volume (inverse of density) of ice is greater than liquid water - meaning that as ice melts to liquid water the resultant material takes up less volume not more.  Where does the flooding & rise of sea level come from?

 

4.  What is the cost of adapting to global warming if it is real?  The economic consequences of pouring money into complying with regs resulting from unproven (political) science consensus could be much worse than the warming itself.  As far as the so called consensus is concerned - it is a good thing for us that Columbus didn't believe in the consensus that the earth was flat in 1492.

 

5.  Are we to believe that we will wake up one morning 100 years from now & the sea will be higher to flooding levels all @ once or is there a profile of what we can expect & measure in (say) three or five year increments?

 

6.  Why are some politicians more worried about the effects of climate change 100 years from now than they are about Social Security's financial integrity?  Who knows what other issues we will face in 100 years but we do know that Social Security has been paying out more in benefits than it collects in tax revenue since 2010 & that the program will run a deficit by 2022 when the combination of tax revenue & interest earnings are exceeded by benefit payments - such that across the board benefits cuts of about 25% are projected by 2035, if not sooner.  

 

The enjoyment of the American way of life takes energy - we consume 25% of the oil produced in the world every day.  Before I will feel guilty about employing the blessings that God has bestowed on this earth for human use I want to hear some definitive answers to both the points Carly makes in the above video as well as the above six preliminary common sense questions so that a real debate can begin instead of just emotional points designed to mislead. 

 

By the way, the melting polar ice caps that I mentioned in point #1 above - they are the ones on Mars.

 

The Ryan Speakership & Z Standing For Zero

"This begins a new day in the House Of Representatives.  John Boehner served with humility & distinction, & we owe him a debt of gratitude.  But tomorrow we are turning the page.  We are not going to have a House that looked like it looked the last two years." – new Speaker of the House Paul Ryan commenting on the new start for congressional House Republicans after former speaker Boehner cleared the deck of immediate problems for Ryan by 1) leading another suspension (not just raising) of the debt ceiling, this time until March 15, 2017 – well after the 2016 presidential election, & 2) negotiating a two year budget deal that establishes overall funding levels through September 30, 2017 that increases spending $50 billion above the sequester caps in fiscal year 2016 & $30 billion in FY 2017.  In short, the Republican led House under Boehner once again gave BO everything he wanted & on Friday the Republican led Senate under McConnell followed suit.

 

Ryan won the speakership 236 to 184 with 9 Republicans (see below) voting for Congressman Daniel Webster of Florida.  Congressman Jim Cooper of TN voted for Colin Powell; Congresswoman Gwen Graham voted for Congressman Cooper; Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema voted for Congressman John Lewis; & Congressmen Gregory Meeks, Ryan, & Webster did not vote.

 

 

Brat Clawson (FL) Gohmert

Gosar Jones Massie

Posey Weber (TX) Yoho

 

Now Boehner certainly cleared the deck for Ryan to get a fresh start as indicated above.  The aforementioned debt ceiling & budget legislation passed the House 266 to 167.  The incongruity of Boehner being a Republican House Speaker who passed major legislation with 187 Democrats (all but the one who didn't vote) plus a minority of 79 Republicans against the majority of 167 Republicans (see below) who voted against the legislation shows what an effective Democrat speaker Boehner has been.  BO has painted the Republicans into such a corner that he gets his way more with this leadership arrangement than if he had Pelosi back as speaker.  I cannot think of one thing that BO wanted that he did not get with this deal.

 

Not boding well for the fresh start was Ryan saying "I think this process stinks" referring to the closed door negotiations between BO, Boehner, & McConnell - before promptly voting for the budget & debt ceiling legislation himself.

 

---- NAYS    167 ---

 

Abraham Aderholt Allen Amash Amodei Babin Barletta Barton Bilirakis Bishop (MI) Bishop (UT) Black Blackburn Blum Boustany Brat Bridenstine Brooks (AL) Buck Bucshon Burgess Byrne Carter (GA) Chabot Chaffetz Clawson (FL) Coffman Collins (GA) Crawford DeSantis DesJarlais Duffy Duncan (SC) Duncan (TN) Ellmers (NC) Emmer (MN) Farenthold Fincher Fleischmann Fleming Flores Forbes Foxx Franks (AZ) Garrett Gibbs Gohmert Goodlatte Gosar Gowdy Graves (GA) Graves (LA) Graves (MO) Griffith Grothman Guinta

Hardy Harris Heck (NV) Hensarling Herrera Beutler Hice, Jody B. Hill Holding Huelskamp Huizenga (MI) Hultgren Hunter Hurd (TX) Hurt (VA) Issa Jenkins (KS) Jenkins (WV) Johnson, Sam Jones Jordan Kelly (MS) Kelly (PA) King (IA) Knight Labrador LaHood LaMalfa Lamborn Lance Latta Long Loudermilk Love Lummis Marchant Marino Massie McCaul McClintock McKinley Meadows Miller (FL) Moolenaar Mooney (WV) Mullin Mulvaney Murphy (PA) Neugebauer Newhouse Noem Nugent Olson Palazzo Palmer Paulsen Pearce

Perry Pitts Poe (TX) Pompeo Posey Price, Tom Ratcliffe Renacci Ribble Rice (SC) Roby Roe (TN) Rohrabacher Rokita Rooney (FL) Roskam Ross Rothfus Rouzer Russell Salmon Sanford Schweikert Scott, Austin Sensenbrenner Sessions Shimkus Smith (MO) Smith (NE) Smith (NJ) Smith (TX) Stewart Stutzman Tipton Trott Wagner Walberg Walker Walorski Weber (TX) Webster (FL) Wenstrup Westerman Westmoreland Whitfield Williams Wittman Woodall Yoder Yoho Young (AK) Young (IA) Young (IN) Zeldin Zinke

 

On Friday the Senate followed the same capitulation principle when Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (KY), acting as the effective Democrat leader of the Senate, passed the House bill with 18 Republican senators joining all 46 Democrat senators over the majority of 35 Republican senators who voted against the measure – see below.

 

NAYs ---35
Blunt (R-MO) Boozman (R-AR) Burr (R-NC) Cassidy (R-LA) Coats (R-IN) Corker (R-TN) Cotton (R-AR) Crapo (R-ID) Cruz (R-TX) Daines (R-MT) Enzi (R-WY) Ernst (R-IA)	Fischer (R-NE) Flake (R-AZ) Gardner (R-CO) Grassley (R-IA) Heller (R-NV) Hoeven (R-ND) Inhofe (R-OK) Isakson (R-GA) Johnson (R-WI) Lankford (R-OK) Lee (R-UT) Moran (R-KS)	Paul (R-KY) Perdue (R-GA) Portman (R-OH) Risch (R-ID) Rubio (R-FL) Sasse (R-NE) Scott (R-SC) Sessions (R-AL) Shelby (R-AL) Sullivan (R-AK) Toomey (R-PA)

Not Voting - 1

Vitter (R-LA)

 

Please note that Jeb made a fool of himself @ the last debate scolding Rubio for missing Senate votes; but Rubio did return to Washington to vote against the debt ceiling & budget legislation.  Go figure.

 

None of the above is meant to be totally cynical toward Boehner.  He (& McConnell) were asked to deliver more than they could & accordingly they never defined the problem correctly – namely that they (we) are outnumbered & cannot pass bills 1) without a 60 vote filibuster-proof majority in the Senate that brings debate to cloture & a floor vote & 2) a veto-proof majority in both chambers that will be able to override a presidential veto.  Short of both of these conditions there is nothing but frustration for people who are seeing the country deteriorate in front of their eyes as BO continues his deliberate path of destruction virtually unabated. 

 

There is no substitute for winning elections & it was not long ago that the Democrats won the presidency & controlled both chambers of Congress in what Sean Hannity calls a center-right country.

 

If Ryan was the answer to conservatives' prayers to start reversing BO's programs there would have been no need to clear the deck of problems for him -  he would have simply done the work that conservatives have longed for that Boehner supposedly couldn't.  But neither Ryan or any member of the Freedom Caucus or any other caucus could have done any better than Boehner did in the long run because the numbers are just stacked against them (& us).  All that happened last week was that the Republicans moved past the usual debt ceiling & budget problems that have dogged them during BO's entire presidency – but @ tremendous cost as Pelosi & Reid, who were both all smiles last week in welcoming Ryan to the speakership, were only too happy to go along with the charade since they got everything they wanted & are ready to pull the rug out from under Ryan when the appropriations bills must be passed, likely in an omnibus bill, by December 11 – the date the government's current funding expires.

 

Prior to the Senate vote Senator Ted Cruz took to the Senate floor to 1) protest Ryan's deck clearing start orchestrated by Boehner, 2) forecast no change of results under Ryan's speakership, & 3) describe the above situation to a tee – namely that McConnell would pass the debt ceiling & budget legislation with every Democrat & enough Republicans to overrule the majority of Republicans – all with no fight. 

 

Senator Cruz went on to provide seven different things the Senate Republicans could do to show some fight such as using the Default Prevention Act of 2015 that requires the Treasury to pay in full & on time the principal & interest due on the debt regardless of the debt ceiling status.  Cruz pointed out that the Treasury takes in over $200 billion per month in revenue & that the interest payments approximate $40 billion per month so there is enough money coming in to honor the interest payments.  The problem of course with this line of reasoning is that this means that funding of other government programs will not be honored under this scenario & we will quickly find out just how unimportant honoring the country's debt obligations are to the people dependent on government programs.

 

BO implies he is financially responsible when he frequently points out that raising the debt ceiling does not authorize more spending – it authorizes the government to pay for things that Congress has already agreed to spend money on.  With this explanation BO tries to shift the blame for the nation's debt problems to Congress's spendthrift ways as if he is just an innocent bystander.  At the very least, when the debt ceiling is approached, potential reductions in government spending should be front & center for all elected officials to consider, including BO, so that raising the debt ceiling ad infinitum can be reversed.  Of course BO's purposeful destructive plan for America precludes such teamwork.

 

But it is not just BO & Congress who do not want to take bumping up against the debt ceiling as an opportunity to become financially responsible – it is the 108 million Americans who got means-tested government benefits in 2011 (compared to the 102 million Americans who work full time – source Dick Morris, Power Grab - Page 48).  It can be nothing but dangerous to the Republic when the number of people who get welfare from the government exceeds those working full time.

 

To the majority of Americans – those receiving government benefits - the 2016 election will not be about such things as B standing for budget, C standing for concerns about a rising national debt, D standing for debt ceiling, or H standing for hope that Ryan's speakership will restore order & respect for the people's House; but rather Z standing for zero which is the chance that any Republican presidential candidate has to win the presidency in 2016 unless there is a dramatic mindset change to restore lasting liberty & wealth-producing jobs through a return to our founding principles of limited government, personal responsibility, & free enterprise.

Reference posts: 

 

Alphabetically A Through Y Why BO Should Not Be Reelected 

 

KO BO Responses - Alphabetically A Through Y Why BO Should Not Be Reelected