Back on December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor, an attack that left 2380 dead (including 68 civilians), and 1178 injured. Nine ships of the U.S. fleet were sunk and 21 ships were severely damaged in a sneak attack that brought the United States into World War II.

Never forget!

Happy Thanksgiving to All RochesterConservative.com readers and authors!

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth by Brownscombe

From: The First Thanksgiving, from Pilgrim Hall Museum

What has come down in American tradition as the “First Thanksgiving” was actually a harvest festival. In the spring of 1621, the colonists planted their first crops in Patuxet’s abandoned fields. While they had limited success with wheat and barley, their corn crop proved very successful, thanks to Squanto [Tisquantum] who taught them how to plant corn in hills, using fish as a fertilizer.

In October of 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated their first harvest with feasting and games, as was the custom in England, as well as prayer. The celebration served to boost the morale of the 50 remaining colonists and also to impress their allies. Among the Native People attending were Massasoit and 90 Wampanoag men. Following are accounts of the first Thanksgiving.

PRIMARY SOURCES FOR “THE FIRST THANKSGIVING” AT PLYMOUTH

There are 2 (and only 2) primary sources for the events of autumn 1621 in Plymouth :
Edward Winslow writing in Mourt’s Relation and William Bradford writing in Of Plymouth Plantation

Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation :
“our harvest being gotten in, our governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a speciall manner rejoyce together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labours ; they foure in one day killed as much fowle, as with a little helpe beside, served the Company almost a weeke, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Armes, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoyt, with some ninetie men, whom for three dayes we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deere, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governour, and upon the Captaine and others. And although it be not always so plentifull, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so farre from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plentie.”

In modern spelling
“our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

William Bradford, Of Plimoth Plantation :
In the original 17th century spelling
“They begane now to gather in ye small harvest they had, and to fitte up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health & strenght, and had all things in good plenty; fFor as some were thus imployed in affairs abroad, others were excersised in fishing, aboute codd, & bass, & other fish, of which yey tooke good store, of which every family had their portion. All ye somer ther was no want. And now begane to come in store of foule, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besids water foule, ther was great store of wild Turkies, of which they tooke many, besids venison, &c. Besids, they had about a peck a meale a weeke to a person, or now since harvest, Indean corn to yt proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largly of their plenty hear to their freinds in England, which were not fained, but true reports.”

In modern spelling
“They began now to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses and dwellings against winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took good store, of which every family had their portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides, they had about a peck of meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to that proportion. Which made many afterwards write so largely of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.”

THE 53 PILGRIMS
AT THE FIRST THANKSGIVING :

4 MARRIED WOMEN : Eleanor Billington, Mary Brewster, Elizabeth Hopkins, Susanna White Winslow.
5 ADOLESCENT GIRLS : Mary Chilton (14), Constance Hopkins (13 or 14), Priscilla Mullins (19), Elizabeth Tilley (14 or15) and Dorothy, the Carver’s unnamed maidservant, perhaps 18 or 19.
9 ADOLESCENT BOYS : Francis & John Billington, John Cooke, John Crackston, Samuel Fuller (2d), Giles Hopkins, William Latham, Joseph Rogers, Henry Samson.
13 YOUNG CHILDREN : Bartholomew, Mary & Remember Allerton, Love & Wrestling Brewster, Humility Cooper, Samuel Eaton, Damaris & Oceanus Hopkins, Desire Minter, Richard More, Resolved & Peregrine White.
22 MEN : John Alden, Isaac Allerton, John Billington, William Bradford, William Brewster, Peter Brown, Francis Cooke, Edward Doty, Francis Eaton, [first name unknown] Ely, Samuel Fuller, Richard Gardiner, John Goodman, Stephen Hopkins, John Howland, Edward Lester, George Soule, Myles Standish, William Trevor, Richard Warren, Edward Winslow, Gilbert Winslow.

FAMILY GROUPS :

* ALDEN : John
* ALLERTON : Isaac with children Bartholomew, Mary, Remember; the Allerton servant William Latham
* BILLINGTON : John & Eleanor with sons Francis, John Jr.
* BRADFORD : William
* BREWSTER : William & Mary with sons Love, Wrestling; their ward Richard More
* BROWNE / BROWN : Peter
* CARVER: The Carver ward Desire Minter; the Carver servant John Howland; the Carver maidservant Dorothy.
* CHILTON : Mary
* COOKE : Francis with son John
* CRACKSTON : John
* EATON : Francis with son Samuel
* ELY: Unknown adult man
* FULLER : Samuel with nephew Samuel 2d
* GARDINER : Richard
* GOODMAN : John
* HOPKINS : Stephen & Elizabeth with Giles, Constance, Damaris, Oceanus; their servants Edward Doty and Edward Leister.
* MULLINS : Priscilla
* ROGERS : Joseph
* STANDISH : Myles
* TILLEY : Elizabeth
* TILLEY: Tilley wards Humility Cooper and Henry Samson
* TREVOR / TREVORE : William
* WARREN : Richard
* WINSLOW : Edward & Susanna with her sons Resolved White & Peregrine White; Winslow servant George Soule
* WINSLOW : Gilbert

The Pilgrims would not have called the event of 1621 a “Thanksgiving.” The Separatist Puritans recognized three kinds of holidays as sanctioned by the Bible : the Sabbath, days of thanksgiving, and fast days. Unlike the Sabbath, days of thanksgiving and fast days were not part of the established calendar. They were proclaimed by the governor only in response to a specific situation. A religious day of fasting could be invoked by a drought or war. A religious day of thanksgiving could be called to celebrate a particularly good harvest or providential rainfall. Although the event of 1621 is known today as the “First Thanksgiving,” that harvest feast had many secular elements and would not have been considered a religious day of thanksgiving by the Pilgrims.

LATER SIGNIFICANCE OF THANKSGIVING

The religious day of thanksgiving gradually evolved into a yearly Thanksgiving customarily held on a Thursday in November. As America grew and New Englanders moved to new states, the custom of an annual Thanksgiving Day took root throughout the country. The religious holiday added secular overtones, celebrating abundance, family and national unity.

The Pilgrim Fathers incorporated a yearly Thanksgiving day among the moral influences they sent over the New World. After our Independence the light crept slowly onward and westward… yet still it blessed and beautified the homes it reached.
Sarah Josepha Hale, Godey’s Lady’s Book 1865

Thanksgiving was not yet part of the national calendar. The governor of each state would determine when (or if) a Thanksgiving would be held. Thanksgiving did not become an annual national holiday until President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 proclamation. Every President since has proclaimed an annual national Thanksgiving. In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving from the last Thursday to the third Thursday in November, to extend the Christmas shopping season. In 1941, this unpopular move inspired Congress to permanently fix the date on the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving has proved one of the most enduring and popular symbols of the Pilgrims. Millions of immigrants who arrived in America between 1880 and 1920 learned “Americanism” from the story of the Pilgrims and their celebration of Thanksgiving. Today, as we celebrate America’s multicultural heritage, the story of the Pilgrims and Wampanoag sharing a harvest celebration remains an inspiration to many.

Our beloved friend, Charlie Eames, passed away a year ago, on November 1, 2009. I thought it would be fitting to honor Charlie by dedicating this Veterans Day tribute to him. Charlie served Honorably in the United States Air Force, during the Vietnam Era in the early 70′s. Here’s a photo of Charlie that will forever be known as “Veteran’s Salute”:

Charlie was also one of the pioneer contributors to RochesterConservative.com and it’s our third anniversary today! Charlie, Veterans Day and RochesterConservative.com will forever be intertwined into my heart…

And we can’t forget starting the Tea Party Movement in Rochester. Charlie was there, speaking at the first three Tea Parties:

Charlie speaking at the first Rochester Tea Party, 3/11/2009

In the following video, you’ll hear Charlie speaking at the 2009 Tax Day Rochester Tea Party:

“I’m finally glad to see people standing up as Americans”.

Right after, you’ll hear phantomlord proclaiming:

“In the present crisis, government isn’t the solution to our problems, government IS the problem!”

We can all buy into those sentiments!

Charlie also spoke at the Rochester Independence Day Tea Party on July 3rd, 2009:

Charlie Eames believed in the American values of limited government, individual liberty and the Constitution and he layed those beliefs and his reputation on the line by standing for those values publicly, where all could witness and be inspired.

I don’t know about you, but I was both inspired and amused by Charlie! I loved Charlie’s commitment to liberty and also for his quirky sense of humor that I miss to this day.

After Charlie left us to be with the Lord Jesus Christ, we honored him and his wife, Donna, daughter, Tiffany and Aunt Vera at the 2010 Tax Day Rochester Tea Party by dedicating the “Tribute to Veterans” to him:

In closing, I feel compelled to share that life is not quite the same without you, Charlie. We love and miss you!

Elaine Woods wrote:

I’m coordinating a free lecture on Saturday, Oct. 9 from 2:00-5:00 p.m. at Lakeshore Community Church on Latta Road in Greece. The speaker is just great – Dr. Shanon Brooks; I paid to go to a 2-day seminar with him last spring so I know how knowledgeable he is. The lecture is part of the ReValue America New York tour that he’s doing – he’s coming in from out west -from Utah, I think – to speak about the real story of our nation’s founding, the ideals of our founding fathers,where America is in the cycle of history and how we need to prepare for what’s coming, and encouragement to not only become real leaders ourselves but also to prepare our children for that role so that we can be “re-founders”.

I especially like the video that explains the cycles of history and where we’re at. You can view it here and then look over more information if you’d like. If you feel that it’s something you could support, would you please either post or forward the information to the Rochester Conservative group? I think they’d really enjoy hearing all the information that Dr. Brooks is going to share. There will be opportunities to follow up and get more if people are interested, but the lecture is valuable just in itself.

Here’s a video of Dr. Shanon Brooks:

RV

We must never forget the 9/11 attacks and the ideology that was responsible for them!

NY Governor David Paterson came up with a good idea to diffuse the controversy that surrounds the proposed Cordoba Initiative Mosque, that will be built 600 feet from Ground Zero. From NY1:

“I don’t have any objection to it being built there, but I’m very sensitive to the desire of those who are adamant against it to see something else worked out,” said the governor. “And frankly, if the sponsors who are looking for property anywhere at a distance that would beseech that, it would accommodate a better feeling among the people who are frustrated, I would look into trying to provide them with the state property they would need.”

I’ve got to give Paterson credit for coming up with this alternative idea! In my opinion, the Cordoba Initiative should take up Paterson on his offer. That will prove that their intentions are truly about understanding and outreach.

But there’s already resistance to Paterson’s offer from the supporters of the Mosque:

One prominent mosque supporter rejected the governor’s trial balloon, saying Paterson’s remarks validate the idea that all Muslims are responsible for what terrorists did on September 11th.

It’s interesting that NY1 does not identify this “prominent mosque supporter”. What are they trying to hide?

In my mind, if the Cordoba Initiative rejects this offer from Paterson, it proves that their intentions are not about understanding and outreach, but of “in our face” symbolism, a monument of radical Islam’s greatest victory over Western Civilization, right next to hallowed Ground Zero.

The ball is in the Cordoba Initiative’s court.

rochesterconserative.com member, HowardRoarke, tipped me off to an article on the New Zeal Blogspot about Journolist members connections to Marxist and far left organizations as well as having ties to the Obama campaign. From the New Zeal Blogspot:

Many “JournoListas” were involved with Marxist based based organizations such as Democratic Socialists of America, or the far left Institute for Policy Studies.

Some, like Robert Kuttner of The American Prospect, had close ties to the Obama campaign and Administration.

An overlapping group of “JournoListas” , at least eight strong were centered on another organization, which has close ties to the three highly influential power centers – financier and “change agent” George Soros’ , internet giant Google and DC based non profit Free Press – accused by its opponents of aiding Obama Administration attempts to censor and manipulate information on the internet.

The organization in question, the Washington DC based New America Foundation has close ties to the Obama Administration, stretching back to Obama’s alma mater Occidental College in the early 1980s.

Marxist journalists shilling in their publications for Obama, who admitted in his book, “Dreams From My Father”, his interest in Marxism:

To avoid being mistaken for a sellout,I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students.The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist Professors and the structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.

Birds of a feather flocking together for the “Hope and Change” to fundamentally transform America into a European style socialist democracy.

“JournoListas” connections to the New America Foundation that’s supported by George Soros, weaves a web of collusion where details of Obama’s radical past were suppressed by compliant, “fellow traveler” journalists. This is truly what Congressman A. S. Herlong Jr described as Communist Goals to the House of Representatives back on January 10, 1963:

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

Rep. Herlong Jr also listed this:

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

The Democratic Party is now controlled by progressives (aka socialists).

Although the conservative blogsphere suspected all of this, the proof that a Marxist was elected as President of the US with the assistance of a compliant MSM and the Democratic Party is chilling.

Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, had an interesting and informative article in the Wall Street Journal about Independent voters and where they stand. From Who Are the Independents, and What Are They Thinking?:

At this point, independents are significantly closer to Republicans than they are to Democrats on a host of questions involving their views of President Barack Obama, the political parties and issues. This is a reversal of the situation in 2006 and 2008.

Unless the Democrats can move independents’ views closer to their own, they are likely to face the same fate Republicans met in the last two elections.

Brown is basing this on a Quinnipiac national poll of 2,181 voters that was released last week.

This shift by Independents to the right is not surprising to me. By it’s very nature based on its founding, America is a fundamentally conservative country. Many people got snookered by “hopey changey” and the desire to elect a person of color to the presidency and the MSM was complicit in keeping the lid on Obama’s radical past. Unless people were reading conservative blogs, they didn’t know about any of this. Now that people have been able to see Obama and his administration in action, they are witnessing his agenda of transforming our country into a European style socialist democracy. Independents are taking notice of this direction Obama is leading our country away from its founding principles and are waking up with a case of buyers remorse.

I also believe that the Tea Party Movement has been instrumental in sounding the alarm to the American people of Obama’s socialist agenda. We had to speak out because the MSM is almost fully behind Obama and acting like TASS back in the days of the Soviet Union. We hit the streets, regular working class folks, and people saw us and listened to us and our message of smaller government, lower taxes, adherence to the Constitution and individual liberty resonates with most Americans. The radicals and socialists are well organized and loud but we outnumber them by a wide margin. The Independents are seeing socialism in action in the White House and they are rejecting it.