Open thread for Sunday, January 12th: Happy birthday to America’s Watchtower
Here is the open thread for Sunday, January 12th; please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
As usual you can follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right. I often post links to articles I probably will not be writing about so it is a great way to keep up with what is going on in the world. You can also subscribe to receive email updates and if you do you will never miss a post again.
In case you have not noticed I have replaced the old Twitter widget with a new, fully interactive Twitter widget. This widget updates my tweets in near real time and allows you to respond to or retweet my tweets right from the blog. Is also allows you to tweet me right from America’s Watchtower. How cool is that! If you do not have a Twitter account what better reason do you need to sign up for one!?
Please check out what the New Federalist Party has been up to by clicking on the link to the right. On the NFP Facebook page you will find a link to the party platform. Check it out and if you like what you see we are currently looking for donations and delegates to the states for the convention.
January 12th holds special meaning to me as it just happens to be the seventh birthday of the blog which eventually became America’s Watchtower and it is hard to believe that so much time has passed since I started doing this. Long time readers here might remember the time when the blog was called ‘Wake Up America’ and they might remember when I posted under an alias before coming out of the closet, so to speak. (Extra credit will be given to those who can name the three variations of the alias I used before I came out of the closet.)
Thank you to all who continue to frequent this little blog for you and my family are what keeps me going when all I want to do is say to hell with it and throw in the towel–other conservative/libertarian bloggers know this feeling all too well, of that I am sure. But just knowing there are so many like-minded people out there is an inspiration to us all and I thank you again.
In all the years of doing this I hope that I have achieved two goals on a personal level. First; I hope that I have become more informed about the issues than I was in the early days for I have made it my goal over these last seven years to read as much American history as I can digest. And second; I hope that I have become a better writer than I was back in the day. When I started this blog I had not written anything in the 20 years since I left high school and I asked people to judge me on what I was trying to say rather than how I was saying it for this very reason. I look back on some of those early posts and laugh, partially–mostly–out of embarrassment. Punctuation is still not my strong point but I hope it doesn’t take away from the points I try to make here.
I have decided to celebrate America’s Watchtower’s birthday by giving you a version of a song by ‘The Cure’ called ‘All Mine/Forever.’ The Cure is my favorite band so I can think of no better way to celebrate than with this track as my musical selection of the week.
‘All Mine/Forever’ is a song which technically does not exist, at least in the discography of The Cure. ‘All Mine’ is simply an improvised and extended version of ‘Three’ from the ‘Seventeen Seconds’ album which The Cure used to end many shows in the early days–no two versions are the same.
Eventually ‘All Mine’ morphed into ‘Forever’, which got its name from an unnamed track the band recorded for the John Peel radio show. The track got its name with fans of The Cure because the only intelligible word in the song is the last one and you guessed it, that word was ‘forever.’
Hardcore collectors of The Cure pride themselves in collecting bootleg copies of the different versions of this song and I am one of them. There are two versions of this song which are must-haves for fans of The Cure, one has been dubbed ‘All I Have to do is Kill Her’ and the other is this one, which was dedicated to bass player Simon Gallup on his 20th birthday and it has been dubbed ‘Happy Birthday Simon’ by Cure fans.
Enjoy:
America's Watchtower 
I’dnever heard of the Cure before- i liked their sound…my favorite band is Gogol Bordello. Happy Birthday to American Watchtower !! this is my first time commenting, so be gentle with me !haha
LikeLike
Welcome, Margaret! We are all “opinionated” here, sometimes good, sometimes bad, but always tolerated!
LikeLike
Hi Lou – thanks for the nice welcome !
LikeLike
Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you around here as well as on FB. We have a great group of people here and like Lou said, we are all opinionated but everyone is welcome.
I will have to check out Gogol Bordello, I haven’t heard them.
LikeLike
Hello Steve !
Ahhh Some Good Old Cure ! Thank You and Happy Birthday
LikeLike
I love this version of this song. Joy Division is another of my all time favorites.
LikeLike
I’m not nearly as educated or informed as i should be or would like to be, so this may sound somewhat simplistic…but i’m so discouraged and appalled by the apathy and blind compliance of most Americans….ObamaCare, raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment benefits again, increasing food stamp benefits, etc……the list goes on and on…all of it is just setting us up for total dependency – and people not only don’t seem to care, most don’t even see it at all ! How did Americans become so “un-American” ? How can they not see what’s right in front of them? Take the unemplyment benefits for example….(that’s being “paid for” out of $ from sequester cuts – that don’t go into effect until 2024 – oh, did i forget to mention the national debt problem?!) so, while people can receive unemployment longer and longer, thereby becoming less motivated and less self-sufficient, businesses are being forced through the ACA to lay off employees and/or cut their hours, and certainly won’t be doing any hiring…..it’s so convoluted i can’t even wrap my head around it – ah – sorry – i’m rambling….i just don’t understand how so many Americans are falling for it and don’t see what’s happening – and most importantly, don’t care.
LikeLike
You left out our “welcome sign” for illegals! As if we need MORE people trying to get a job in this economy! Mind boggling isn’t it? Some of those illegals will be coming here to try and get a job and you cannot blame them for wanting something better than they have. But, how many are only coming to certain states for the benefits? We see this all the time, we give them with all the benefits that they deserve. After that, we have how many family members that show up? Don’t they have a “right” to those benefits? We are told they do! The Americans you speak of that are falling for it have more important things to focus on. I guess they are too preoccupied to see that WE are not the only ones that will suffer. I do see a bit of them opening their eyes to the situation going on, but it is probably too late. As for your rambling, sounds like you just have a lot you want to say and you want to get it out before you forget some of it.
LikeLike
Well, you nailed it! Obama’c goal is to get as many people as possible dependent on the government, this is how the Democrats keep their voters in line. This mentality has been seeping into the public mindset for quite some time but in recent years it has seemingly exploded.
LikeLike
oh yeah – illegal immigration – how’d i miss that one?? There’s so many problems, and the problems are so big, it’s overwhelming for me !
LikeLike
It is hard to keep up with it all, and that is the way Obama wants it.
LikeLike
Has anyone seen Lone Survivor yet?
LikeLike
I haven’t seen it yet and I probably won’t have a chance next weekend, so I probably won’t see it for two weeks, but I am sure looking forward to it.
LikeLike
Lone Survivor
I have seen it, based on a true story.
The Mark Wahlberg Problem.
New Kids On the Block, the fact of getting fame through this teenage girls band, did not good to for his changing into an Actor. (On my side I believe he made it, and can act whatever, and he has done enough now to loose that NKOTB Tattoo)
But stil for some it stay : Fake Actor, (may be) But True Stories : definitly
Invincible (2006)
And Now Lone Survivor..
What Can I say…Please don’t leave after the movie right away, they shaw the real team from what the film is made of, and the casting…well…is a good casting.
It’s not a great film but it inspire Respect !
Greetings,
Wil.
LikeLike
Thanks for the review. Walberg has managed to shed his NKOTB years and become a credible actor. People here don’t hold his boy band past against him and as far as I know he is the only NKOTB to go on to do anything else after that was over.
LikeLike
Happy Birthday!
LikeLike
Thank you Fred.
LikeLike
Steve, congratulations! Happy Anniversary!
margaret…welcome. That is my sister’s name. 🙂
The subject of another article was a ‘law’ many states have enacted that it is illegal for a driver to idle his vehicle when he is NOT in the car. Those of us living in cold climates understand that warming up our vehicles some days is an IMPERATIVE. I only do this on my property and I take the key fob with me so I can lock the car while it is running – I’m not stooopid. 😉
My comment posited that we are allowing the government to place the responsibility of OTHERS behavior onto us. I am not responsible for the behavior, words, thoughts of anyone except me. If I leave my car running, with the keys in the ignition, at a gas station – I am NOT responsible if someone steals my car. I am not responsible for the theft OR any crime THEY commit in my car.
My insurance company would be a different story. They COULD, rightfully, deny my claim in that situation. However, I have no criminal culpability in that situation or any similar one.
The person with whom I was discussing this disagreed. He said laws are to PREVENT crime, ensure public safety, AND allow a means to catch criminals. Of course, laws are NOT for the first two reasons he cited. We have laws solely to provide a consequence when people violate the Rights of others. People don’t obey the laws because they are laws. People obey the laws because they don’t want to face the consequences if they are CAUGHT.
What we have allowed the government to do is to so restrict our innocent behavior that they have made US responsible for being victims of crime. We have allowed them to transfer all the responsibility of committing a crime from the criminal to the victim. The ‘law’ now says that we are victims BECAUSE WE EXIST. It’s the victim’s fault for being a victim because THEY WERE THERE, they WORE that diamond watch, they had that money in their wallet or purse, they drove that nice car.
Do you know which crime victims are NEVER blamed? Rape, sexual assault. So, if a woman NEVER has ANY responsibility for being a victim of rape/sexual assault, why does any other victim bear ANY responsibility for the crime committed against them??? If a person IS held responsible for behavior which ‘allowed’ or ‘invited’ someone to commit a crime against them, WHY AREN’T RAPE VICTIMS TREATED THE SAME WAY??? Why do we allow this unconstitutional double standard? Why do we allow the government to place ANY responsibility for a crime on the victim???
Thoughts?
LikeLike
Hey Laura! I guess to answer your question it is just “because we do”! Most people just do not want to rock the boat and will be good little sheeple and do as we are told to do. It really doesn’t matter if it is “legal” that they do these things to us, they know most will not stand up to them. Take for instance the illegal roadside checks that are happening, pulling you over without probable cause, well, isn’t that illegal? Then to have the police there for “looks”, but the others from the government are intimidating people to give saliva samples and take the breathalyzer test….hmmm. Is it for a big database? I think this is just another tactic of getting us used to being pulled over. This is what they call “nudging”, I guess. A little at a time and people get used to it happening. Same thing happened with gasoline, they spiked it up and then brought it up and down to get us used to it, now $3.50 seems “ok”, right? Well, not really, but we are used to paying it now. We bitch, but we know they control the strings.
On another note, I have to read over all the new rules that Illinois has, I do not think that leaving a car idle is one of them. The biggest rule all of us have to deal with is to have a Bluetooth headset now, we cannot use a cellphone while driving. Texting is illegal as well, that one I can understand. Remember that ignorance of the law is not an acceptable answer if you do something wrong, so I imagine all the states are passing a lot of new laws and not telling us. We do however, have a 70 mph speed limit again..it has been 65 mph for years. We also have conceal carry now, along with the rest of the states, but there are all kinds of bells and whistles attached that it will be almost impossible to get. Oh well!
LikeLike
Hi lou!! 🙂
My sister would always rail against new traffic laws enacted for ‘safety.’ No phone, no texting, no eating, no putting on make-up, no READING. OMGeee , do we really need a LAW prohibiting READING while driving??? No. All of these ‘unsafe’ behaviors are covered under reckless operation/distracted driving.
I read about those checkpoints where drivers ‘voluntarily’ submit DNA samples. Are these people totally INSANE? Are they completely CLUELESS regarding the reason the government wants our DNA?
LikeLike
I wrote about these “voluntary” checkpoint before and it appears as if many people feel as if they are not all that voluntary for they are being pressured to comply even though they do not have to. Many people are intimidated and don’t want to cause waves so they go along to get along. This is a clear abuse of power and one which should not be stood for no matter how tough they make it on a person.
LikeLike
Thanks Laura.
You made a great argument in that case and of course I feel you are right on! The government has no right to tell us we cannot leave our cars running when we are not in them, but the insurance company does have a right to say our actions make us partially responsible for the crime. People like you were arguing against simply fail to understand the difference between the government and the private sector. This person feels the government is always right and should not be questioned and that is a person who will probably never be convinced otherwise.
LikeLike
Steve,
I don’t know why, but I am not always getting an email to verify the subscription to your posts. When I do get the email to verify, I don’t always get email notifications of comments on those posts. I don’t think there is anything YOU can do, it’s probably some error on my part. I wanted to let you know in case it’s happening to other readers, too. 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks for letting me know. You are right, there is nothing that I can do other than to notify wordpress of the problem. Let me know if the problem persists and if it does I will contact wordpress to see what the problem is.
LikeLike
just have a minute to pop in – interesting stuff about crime and “nudging”…and Steve – i’m not getting to the movie til next wk’end either….enjoyed my first blogging experience – anad hi to you Laura ! bye..
LikeLike
If you see the movie before I do please drop by and let me know what you thought of it.
LikeLike
Here is a picture for you anniversary. This image has been posted at several news sites recently. Have a look:
Beyond NASA photo, ‘Hand of God’ seen everywhere
Stunning X-ray telescopic image suggests more than some scientists intended
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/01/beyond-nasa-photo-hand-of-god-seen-everywhere/#wR4lv0u0WLvoCXlm.99
LikeLike
That was interesting, thanks for sharing!
LikeLike
Here is another thought for today
May there always be work for your hands to do.
May your purse always hold a coin or two.
May the sun always shine upon your window pane.
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near to you and
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
LikeLike
Very nice!
LikeLike
“Happy BDay”! Looked into the Way Back Machine and found this: http://web.archive.org/web/20090210094614/https://americaswatchtower.com/ to help celebrate and see how your site has grown and updated!
And to how much some things continue on the way they are this: https://americaswatchtower.com/2007/02/01/hillarys-joke/
Thanks for keeping the light on Steve!
LikeLike
I had no idea you could go back and see the old layouts like that, thanks for sharing! Unfortunately we are going to have to go through another Hillary run, and even more unfortunately this one will probably be successful.
LikeLike
Happy Birthday to one of my favorite blogs. Well done, Steve.
I remember only one version of your alias. That would be Mr. Pink Eyes. Not sure about the rest.
LikeLike
Thanks Larry. I started out as mpinkeyes and then added the ‘r’ to make it mrpinkeyes!
LikeLike
A belated happy birthday and thanks for all of your fine work. Many of the micro bloggers have given up. Worn down with what appears hopeless at times. No matter how this whole thing turns out as far as our government, we can at least say we gave it our best to make a difference.
LikeLike
Thank you. I thought about giving up for a short time but I guess I am just to pig headed to do so! 🙂 Too many people have given up but we need to push on until all is lost, it may be getting close to that point but it hasn’t gotten there yet.
LikeLike
I ran across this article today, did not know if anyone else had seen this. We are battling trying to keep those damn Smart Meters off our houses and now this:
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/doe-plugs-energy-rating-homes-similar-mpg-rating-cars
I am not sure if any of you are concerned with the EMF’s that the smart meters put off, but I am. I have Himalayan Salt Lamps in all of my rooms. They emit negative ions that attach to the positive ions that are put off by all of our electrical smart items. Might want to do a search on these lamps.
LikeLike
I did see this today, I have to do some more digging into this issue.
LikeLike