Reading about The War Of 1812

Upon finishing reading about The War Of 1812;  this question came to mind, what was the outcome of the war? No european powerwould ever challenge the United States on its home territory again. The Army and the Navy would never again be in such disrepair. The lack of leadership, almost lost America the war. Yet Determined young generals Major General Andrew Jackson and Major General William Henry Harrison, would save the Army. Both men would be elected into office as President. On the naval front, Captain Oliver Hazard Perry volunteered his services to build a fleet on the Great Lakes. He would then gain control of the lakes, from the British.  This seemed impossible, considering the freedom the British enjoyed in the lakes. Captain of the USS Constitution Isaac Hull, was another naval hero. Hull, himself an exprienced sailor, trained his ragg tagg crew. On one such occassion, the Captain outmaneuvred Five British ships, (Four Frigates and one ship of the line) to save his ship. He would later seek revenge  on one these Frigates, the Guerriere. Thus proving, that British warships (then the best navy in the world), could be sunk. Despite this, throughout the war, Americans faught at a great disadvantage. The American Army, on many occassions, would relly on volunteers, to survive. States refussed to hand over their  militias to the Federal government (including the New England States who threatened Secession from the Union); that were then desperately needed. One state in particular would answer the call to arms. Tennessee is nicknamed the "Volunteer state" because of its large enlistment rate during the war. Just hours before the start of the Battle of New Orleans, Major General Andrew Jackson was reinforced by 2,500 Tennessee volunteers. His victory saved the Louisiana Territory from becoming a British territory. At the end of the war, both the Navy and Army were significantly boosted. Congress recognized the need to have a permanent military. In 1815 and 1816, Congress gave funds to increase the standing army to 10,000 (triple the standing army in 1801) and to construct 21 warships. Saddely, this lesson has again and again been ignored. The government of the United States of America has repeatdly slashed its military forces. President Madison(considered the father of the U.S. Constitution) would state upon the conclusion of the war "the character of the times particularly inculcates the lesson, that, whether to prevent or repel danger, we ought not to be unprepared for it."

The Tree Is Free

A piece of a tree falls  to the ground. It is no longer a tree. The "no perfect lines in nature" is a branch. The rugged edges where it once connected to the tree. The fallen hero of the tree is free. Yet the survivor of the fall, knows it will have to care for itself. The crooked branch has scares, like the brown leaves, that were once green. After all, the branch knows that being free is not easy. Perhaps he will be dragged far away by a man, far from the shade, and safety of the tree. He will be left alone but he will light his own candle, and set out into the unknown. He knowns the other pieces of the tree, will celebrate his boldness, and the day he fell from the lush green paradise.

The Eagle's View

I was born in the Silver State
In the city of sin
My Mom's from California
And my Dad's from Tenneessee
Theres the deserts of this land
And the green green grass
I wanna see this land

I wanna go to Reno
And across the plains
I wanna go to the east coast
To Philadelphia
I wanna go down south
To Atlanta
I wanna see this land

It has long been argued for a long time that America The Beautiful be our national anthem. The song itself was written as a Poem by Katherine Lee Bates while taking a train to Colorado for a teaching position. Needless to say she was impressed with what she saw and wrote the lyrics to what would became America The Beautiful. Needless to say I have not been across these same plains but it inspired me to write my the lyrics above. I tried to use my minds eye to write something along those lines.

However, the second thing I thought about is how lucky we are to live in America and have been blessed with such a great land. is something to be thankful for. Even if its as simple as not having to worry about being free. Free to go about whereever you live without be perscuted. For there is a divided island of Cyprus divided between ethnic Turks and Greek. In Kashmir the armies of India and pakistan still divide the land. The tiny nation of Taiwan must worry in fear if China will invade its nation.

O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

Our legacy

So I was thinking what would be my legacy and I think to myself who cares. I am 22 years old and soon to graduate college and not really sure what awaits me but gotta let the big man upstairs worry about that. Recently since I am not working at this time but thats ok because I start Jurry Duty on Wednesday and thats 33 dollars a day. It kinda hurts your pride being unemployed but hey life isn't a bunch of roses is it. I was thinking its not like I'm in a hurry anyways as i have enough to pay for school next semester and plenty of money(thanks Sam's Club).

Anyways I didn't plan on staying there much longer anyways aka college degree but it was a great time working there. So back to the legacy part I think no one really expects to be in a history book for what they did. I mean look at William Wallace or the Founding Fathers they were willing to die for their beliefs yet non really expected to be glorified.

I think music is very important to me and I hope one day to be recognized as a great songwriter like George Harrison, Cat Stevens, Neil Young, and Jackson C. Frank just to name a few. However, I recognize this is a very slim chance so I'm ok with where I'm at, playing music at small shows. That doesn't mean that I won't always love music as it makes me world go round. Like I wanna Know what Love Is for example. Look at that song when your not feeling good and that song comes on you could have your whole day made better. Oh and don't pretend you don't like it, this song demands you feel it "I wanna know what love is I want you to show me" that in itself is poweful. Music takes that you to a different place it says its time to get away in a healthy way of course. One such song that is also very powerful is Danny Boy this traditional Irish song conveys suffering and the Love of a Father and a Boy. The songs enters with a line about the pipes are calling. More likely a reference to sense of duty or something like that. The song continues with the Father realising the son must go and how he will wait for the son to return even when he is dead. The song is a lost art not many songs today talk about such a love yet we all feel that about our family.

In this next section I will address just how lucky I was to find something in school that interested me. I will begin back in the high school days. My senior year of High School was a much disapointing year as far as academics go. I was lost in general I had bombed the SATS and with it any chance of going to college as I saw it. I had been accepted to the University Of Nevada, Reno but it wasn't really attainable to go because i lacked the finiancial planning or laziness. So thinking quickly I enrolled in Leeward Community College to get my general Education rquirements and enter the University system through transfer.

Well mostly not knowing what I wanted to do I really just got average grades that first semester. Average meaning lots of Cs. I thought I wanted to be a Communications Major but that in itself is pretty vague overall wasn't really a major. well to make a long story short I found English, Math, and Science to be my worst subjects. However, I found my stride in History Classes with professor Boyrk and Professor Fujita. This is where I didn't mind the work and actually enjoyed going to class. So after completing my two years at Leeward Community College I was pretty sure things would be difficult.

The hardest part being that Transfering to the University Of Hawaii would cost a lot of money. I had thought about the University Of Hawaii West Oahu but I remembered my friend telling me they didn't offer many classes. On a whim I thought well maybe its worth a try to go ask if they offer a History program. Well it turns out they did have one and the tutition was actually a little more affordable than UH. Three semesters later its been a long journey but I have come a long way.

Lastly i was thinking about some of the things people tell you about Americans and our own legacy. People will tell you America ain't what it used to be and that its every man for himself and that Americans are greedy. Well these people haven't been around America if they can't see a great legacy. Political Science Professors will tell you America doesn't give as much as other nations per capita and then people like Bono get on T.V. and tell us were greedy but I disagree sir. Has abyone carred to challenge these people or do we just sit and believe them because we feel like their right. Well here is where this logic goes wrong. Lets look at one simple fact are money is worth more than your money(World). Our money goes further towards building schools and feeding th poor people of the world. So this arguement of we give a greater percentage is invalid money is about worth and not percentages. Yes I was one of those people that let the Professor get away with bended statistics because I was being guilted into being ashamed.

I see a different side of America everyday. When my car broke down on a hill recently I was unable to move the car off the road. A Nissan Xterra is a very heavy car indeed. Well needless to say another motorist lined his bumber up with mine and helped push me to the side. I shook his hand and thanked him. Or how about that motorcyclist pinned under the car of driver. These people dropped what they were doing rushed over and lifted the car to move the man from underneath the car. His motorcycle also pinned under the car caught fire during the incident yet these people moved to save the man's life. These are things that remind me America is still a great country and not the evil empire certain people would have you believe.

As Adam Carolla said in a interview while discussing the Hollywood Left "These people don't love Communism they just hate this country" I think this says a lot about these people's state of mind.

No money

Boo I have no money because of a string of unexpected things I had to pay for and not to mention gas is the highest in the nation here. P.S. thank you State Government for again raising taxes on gas when we already have the highest gas taxes in the nation. Ya this doesn't mean I'm entirely broke just what I call my spending money aka my checking. My savings i do not touch. Anyways almost there sucks when your broke! I get paid Thursday then I can stop thinking how i'm not gonna spend money. Oh and also I'm sure my family reads this yes the new job is fine hard work but much better working environment. I don't mind working super hard but i would like some respect as is the case at my new job lots of respect. By the way they are closing the Waikele Borders hope everyone there finds a job. Also the semester is almost done but i have so much to do like my 9 paper for my writing intensive class. HIST 443 Nazi Germany, I have watched more Nazi propaganda than a Nazi Party member lol. My paper topic is Joseph Goebbels and I have to read his diaries which are really long.

Bitterness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcFDkvtHVFI This is the jammed out version

This is a song I wrote its about loss and dealing with lossing someone whatever the context

Now your here now your gone
Don't feel like sticken around
can't understand why your gone
don't wanna talk leave it all on the floor
theres been times when I've been down
never thought it end that way

Chrous

and now try to think about better days
but it ain't the same it ain't the same
miss your face and the ghost still there
never gonna change never gonnna change
Its time we get around the pain let it all out

Verse 2

your the one that said
many cats are the death of a mouse
wake up still in pain
let it out let it out

Chrous

School is wow

So I'm back in school and you know what the last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy. Lots and lots of reading like I'm about to explode so I came up with a great ideal hey if the reading doesn't have an assignment attached to it there is no reason to stress if I don't get all of it done. I'm about to finish the Nun for Modern European History so that has an assignment attached therefor is more important. For instance in my Western Traditions class I have all this reading which by the way is immpossible to do but you know what this lady is a blow hard so even if I don't finish all the reading I can do the writting assignments because they are open ended basically write something and get a good grade. I was just thinking don't these professors know you have a life like sorry I'm not committed to education 24 hours. This is my schedule monday class 3:30pm-6:15pm, Tuesday 5:00pm-7:45pm, and Wednesday 3:30-9:15 pm or as I call it crazy day. Luckly work isn't that bad Thursday 1-10pm, Friday 1-10pm, Satuday 3-10pm. So here is the key to success people this coming from a veteran college student read but only if assignments or grades depend on it. This will cut down on wasted reading. Anyways now things are much easier or at least managable. P.s. I might be working Monday 9:00 am-2:00pm not sure though if Vickie just scheduled me just this week because it was labor day or this is a regular thing.