Eighty World War II veterans from Upstate S.C. departed Greenville-Spartanburg Airport around 9:15 a.m., Tuesday, April 20, on board U.S. Airways flight 9090 to Washington, D.C.

As the plane taxied toward the gate area, two Reagan National Airport fire trucks, one on each side, presented a water cannon salute to the veterans.

When the veterans entered the airport they were greeted by well-wishers carrying American flags and patriotic posters.

Jim Lee, one of five Republicans vying for the Fourth Congressional seat currently held by Rep. Bob Inglis, has made a written commitment to the people of the district.

Lee describes himself as “an American, a born again Christian, a husband and father, a U. S. Air Force veteran, an active member of the U. S. Air Force Reserve, a business professional, and conservative Republican.”

As a congressional candidate, Lee said he seeks to “restore the public trust and confidence between the people and their elected representative.

“Oh, the humanity!” exclaimed news correspondent Herbert Morrison as he watched the conflagration that consumed the airship Hindenburg on May 6, 1937, at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

Morrison was recording a radio broadcast of the landing of the Hindenburg for WLS, a radio station in Chicago. Other news organizations were filming the landing for newsreels. While those who were in attendance anticipated viewing a very rare event, the landing of an airship, no one could have in the least expected that they would be witness to one of the most shocking and dramatic news stories of the 20th century.

Everyone is in favor of clean water. In an honest and truthful world, only a fool would oppose efforts to promote clean water. We, however, are living in a sinister and deceptive world where truth is sacrificed for wealth and power. In a land ruled by Progressives, Marxists and fellow travelers, a legislative commitment to clean water tragically means a sinister plan for rulers to abolish ownership of private property by using well-organized and financed environmentalists motivated by greed.

Open borders advocates are livid that the State of Arizona has enacted a new law authorizing State law enforcement personnel to arrest illegal aliens. The Reverend Al Sharpton is threatening to march. The mayor of San Francisco has declared Arizona off limits as a travel destination. The national government of Mexico has issued travel warnings. President Barack Obama is contemplating bringing a federal lawsuit against the State. Some are calling for a boycott of the State.

So, why all the fuss?

In his address to the Israeli nation on the recent occasion of their 62nd Independence Day anniversary, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, " Israel can only truly rely on itself."

Obviously, and with good reason, he was reminding his nation and people that they cannot depend on the United States or anyone else in the international community to defend them if and when Iran may try to fulfill their threats to "wipe Israel off the face of the map."

He quoted Theodore Hertzl, the respected Zionist leader of 100 years ago, who had said: "Don't rely on help from strangers, don't trust the charitable, and don't wish for stones to grow soft." And Netanyahu added, "A nation that wishes to stand tall must place all its trust in itself only."

Mr. William Goat and Mrs. Nanette Goat were pondering. They wanted to raise their young goats just right. They had a good set of standards for their kids to follow. But the other creatures in the barnyard had such a variety of different standards! Oh, they all followed the very basic farm rules, but everyone had a particular interpretation of the rules. The barnyard was become disharmonious because everyone was so proud of his or her particular standards. What should they do?

“I’ll tell you what, Billy,” said Mrs. Nanette. “Tomorrow let’s ask some of the other animals and see how they view creatures who have different standards. I will talk with Mrs. Cat and Mrs. Pig. Why don’t you talk to Mr. Rooster and Mr. Dog?”

This week I am featuring one of the true gentlemen in Southern Gospel Music. This artist is none other than Squire Parsons. Squire is from a little town in West Virginia called Newton, which is about fifty miles from Charleston. He stated that his farther was active in the music program of his local church and also was part of a local quartet. Other members of Squire’s family were also active in music in one way or the other in the different churches located in the area. The music schools came through the area in the early 1900’s and this was where the Parsons Family began to learn the quartet style singing, commonly referred to as “shape note” music.

Misinformed citizens promote fear and confusion.

During the Greenville County Council meeting Tuesday, April 20th, a speaker addressing the Council for an allotted 3 minutes commented that he saw one of the Council members at the Upcountry Tea Party the previous Saturday.

The comment prompted an emotional outburst from Council Woman Lottie Gibson later in the meeting.

Mrs. Gibson stated that she was offended that one of her colleagues would attend a tea party and said the tea parties reminded her of bad memories of past racism, etc.

The Greenville County Republican Women heard from the following candidates at their April 22 meeting: Curtis Loftis, candidate for South Carolina Treasurer; Nathan Earle, candidate for SC House Seat 17; state Sen. David Thomas, candidate for the fourth U.S. Congressional seat; and Elizabeth Moffly, candidate for State Superintendent of Education.

Dr. Thomas Kendall, MD was a featured speaker at the Upcountry Tea Party. His daughters, at right, Christiana, Prentiss and Lisë Kendall provided music.

Codeword for an Entire Economic and Social Agenda

(Text of a presentation at the April 17 Upcountry Tea Party at the Bi-Lo Center)

I believe the American people, and their every action, are being ruled, regulated, restricted, licensed, registered, directed, checked, inspected, measured, numbered, counted, rated, stamped, censured, authorized, admonished, refused, prevented, drilled, indoctrinated, monopolized, extorted, robbed, hoaxed, fined, harassed, disarmed, dishonored, fleeced, exploited, assessed, and taxed to the point of suffocation and desperation.

“There is no limit to what you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit!”

To a large degree, the survival of our republic rests on the people in the tea party movement. It must not be allowed to fail in its mission to educate the public with truth and support the Constitution without compromise.  Leaders of the various factions must be willing to share success as well as failure. The slogan above served me well from 1974 until 1980 when I was given a task that many thought was impossible. During the following decade President Ronald Reagan placed the slogan in a frame behind his desk in the Oval Office. I borrowed it from an old retiring Congressman a decade earlier. It is a great motivator in times of stress and success. 

First off, I would like to say thank-you to those of you who were able to come out to the TEA Party on April 17th at the Bi-Lo Center. We really appreciated it!   We know God is sovereign and that He is still in control; He has blessed America over the past 400 years, but we have been commanded to be, and must remain faithfully occupied. We have watched America give over our freedoms right in front of the people.

Don't you realize this is important? This affects you, your children and grandchildren... the future of America.

Measurements are important. They give to us dimension, so we might comprehend size. They reckon for us moments of time so that we might schedule events to occur and date former occurrences by year, month, day, hour, and so forth.

Measurements assign to things relativity. It is by measurement we are able to access quantity or quality. We say that something is more than or less than something else, which establishes quantity, or we speak of an item being more or less like another item, thus giving in measure of quality.

Last week all of Israel once again made the incredible transition from deep mourning to bounding joy. They first marked the nation's Remembrance Day in honor of all the nation's fallen soldiers, and then moved immediately into the joyful celebration of their 62nd Independence Day.

The rest of the nations of the world never experience the deep emotion the Israelis feel on these two back-to-back holidays. No other nation has experienced what Israel has gone through to become the free and prosperous nation that it is today.

The Times Examiner is blessed to have subscribers in 37 states. Recently, we learned that Ray Mortimeyer, a subscriber whose daughter resides in Greenville, was elected Mayor of Cuba, Missouri, located about 80 miles south-west of St. Louis on historic Route 66.  Ray has served four year terms as mayor twice before.  He is the father of Pamela Durham, 1st Lt USAFR (Retired), and current treasurer of the Military Officers Association of America, Greenville Chapter, and the Father-in-law to native Greenville resident Danny Durham, Adjutant of the 16th Regiment, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Camp 36. Congratulations Mr. Mayor!

“The Architect” Karl Rove, former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush, presented the Keynote Address at the 43rd Annual Silver Elephant Banquet in Columbia, Saturday, April 24, 2010.

He is author of the recently published book Courage and Consequence.

Rove talked about his ties to South Carolina from experiences with the late Lee Atwater to the key role the state party had in propelling President George W. Bush to victory in the Republican primary and to the presidential nomination.

Speakers Held Most of Crowd for More Than Four Hours

A brisk afternoon breeze eased the sting of the hot sun as speaker after speaker took the stage rigged on the bed of a large trailer at the side entrance of the Bi-Lo Center.

Vendors and spectators began arriving hours before the program was to begin at 1 p.m.

No elected officials were scheduled to speak at the event and most stayed away. A few candidates for office with opposition paid $250 for space for a table and small tent from which to display signs and pass out campaign material. A few elected officials and candidates were dispersed through the crowd, but not very many compared to previous events.

The Upcountry Tea Party seemed like a reunion for subscribers and readers of The Times Examiner. It was a distinct pleasure and honor to have dozens and dozens of readers come by The Times Examiner table and say hello at the Bi-Lo Center, Saturday. Many were friends we had not seen for a while and others were readers we had never met in person. Please allow me to take this opportunity to thank every one of you for your kind remarks and support of this newspaper through the years. Your feedback has been a great encouragement. Publishing The Times Examiner has been a labor of love for the past 16 years. It is a unique publication with no equal anywhere. We believe it is an effective vehicle for informing the public of important issues.