"We're the Most Transparent and Ethical Administration in U.S. History!”

Just when we thought this president couldn’t top any of the odd or irrational decisions we have witnessed in his first term, i.e., scolding Supreme Court Justices during a state of the union address.

Obama's inaugural committee confirmed last week that he will take his second oath-of-office in a private ceremony on Jan. 20—a – Sunday—with—with the parade, balls, and other public events to take place the next day.

Christmas Gift Ideas: Ballet Performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite

My wife and I have seen the Milwaukee Ballet’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite a number of times over the years and it never fails to exceed our expectations.  If you’ve never attended a performance by the Milwaukee Ballet, this is an outstanding choice for your first experience and it makes a great Christmas gift and could become a family tradition in no time.  Evan a “lowbrow” like me can appreciate this art form.

My favorite scene is the Waltz of the Snowflakes.  This video of the scene is not the Milwaukee Ballet, but I want to share it with you anyway.  In my opinion the Milwaukee Ballet’s production and performance of the Waltz of the Snowflakes is superior to this one.

Obama’s Dirty Little Tax Secret: He’s Already Raised Taxes on the Rich

The Heritage Foundation’s blog “The Foundry” writes

   The one glaring omission in President Obama’s fiscal cliff demands for higher rates on top earners is that he’s already raised their taxes. That’s right! When he signed Obamacare into law, he raised tax rates on families earning more than $250,000—Obama’s definition of rich...Read the full story.

Video of the Day: Top 10 Worst Non-Fatal NASCAR Crashes (1990-2009)

This compilation of non-fatal NASCAR crashes is a testament to NASCAR’s ubrelenting, high safety standards and the car builders in NASCAR.  Many of these crashes resulted in additional safety measures.

Video of the Day: 50 Greatest Comedy Movie Quotes of All Time

WARNING: This Video contains language unsuitable for children.

Video of the Day: “Elf”-Funniest Moments

Yesterday we brought you “Baby it’s cold outside” from the Christmas film “Elf.”  Today’s video of the day features so-called funniest moments from “Elf.”

Video of the Day: Adam Sandler’s CHANUKAH Song

Chanukah begins tonight at sundown and and ends on the evening of Sunday, December 16, 2012.

HAPPY CHANUKAH!

Fly Me To The Moon

Former astronauts recount their experience in this Fox Reports special airing Sunday, December 9 at 8:00PM local time.

Obama Says “Aloha" To The Fiscal Cliff

Should the president go on vacation if fiscal cliff talks remain stalled - or is it a negotiation tactic?

Watching the news, there appears to be  a lot of white folk suffering in New Yort and New Jersey—is President Obama a racist or doesn’t he care about the white victims of super storm Sandy?

Video of the Day: “Baby It’s Cold Outside”

This short  clip is from the 2003 film “Elf” starring Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, Mary Steenburgen and Zooey Deschanel.

Pearl Harbor—24 Hours After

Today is the 71st anniversary of Japan's attack on Hickham Ford Island surrounding  Pearl Harbor; drawing America into WWII.  To comemorate this year's anniversary we are presenting “Pearl Harbor: 24 Hours After,” examining  the pivotal events that occurred after President Roosevelt received the call that Pearl Harbor had been attacked on December 7, 1941.  This History Channel HD documentary is approximately 90 minutes long.

WWII Veteran Recalls “date which will live in infamy”

Today marks the 71st anniversary of Pearl Harbor attack

RELATED STORIES

• World War II Veterans Are Dying at Rate of More Than 1,000 a Day, Numbers Dwindling 
• Pearl Harbor Survivor Helps identify Unknown Dead 
• A Wide Place in The Road by Richard Kirkland

Video of the Day: Saved by a Hero –Man Nearly Run Over by Train

This video comes from Madrid, Spain and was taken in the City’s metro system as a man falls onto the rails as a train is arriving.  The hero who saved his life happened to be a police officer.

 A hero (which happened to be a policeman) saved his life.

This Day in History: United States attacked By Japan at Pearl Harbor

If you remember reading this yesterday, you're not losing your mind,  But I may be losing mine.  I mistakenly published it on December 6.

* * *

The surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II.

Although war was being wagged in Europe since September 1939 and in the Far East since the Japanese invasion of China in 1937.  Holding fast to neutrality, the United States had stayed out of both conflicts.  A great deal of aid had been provided to Great Britain, in spite of a policy of declared American neutrality, but the United States would not consider declaring war unless there was a "deliberate provocation."   As in “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan…

The surprise attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, by the Japanese precipitated the entry of the United States into World War II. The attack brought to a head a decade of worsening relations between the United States and Japan. Japan’s invasion of China in 1937, its subsequent alliance with the Axis powers (Germany and Italy) in 1940, and its occupation of French Indochina in July 1941 prompted the United States to respond that same month by freezing Japanese assets in the United States and declaring an embargo on petroleum shipments and other and other goods.

In addition to commemorating the 71^st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor; Yesterday, December 6,  Americans also celebrated the 147^th anniversary (1865) of the ratification of the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery in the United States.

 RELATED STORIES

• Here’s what you need to know. 
• The case of the missing 13th amendment to the Constitution
• 
  

Bob Costas Explains “ Gun Culture” Comments

Sportscaster Bob Costas, whom I respect and admire as a sports authority, gets into fiery debate with Bill O'Reilly over gun control. 

Costas deserves a lot of credit for appearing on FNC’s O’Reilly Factor to explain and defend his now infamous  halftime comments concerning gun control during last Sunday’s Sunday Night Football broadcast.

Costas should havee manned-up for

Your comments on this matter are encouraged.

Video of the Day: Elevator Ghost Prank from Brazil

Today’s video has 47,472,990 views on You Tube.

I sincerely doubt whether this could be pulled-off in the U.S. without several law suits being filed.

Hillsdale College History 101: Western Heritage

Beginning today and continuing for the next nine weeks we will present another Hillsdale College lecture series.  In the past we have presented the lecture series’ “Introduction to the Constitution” and “Constitution 201.”  Both will soon become  a permanent part of FIJ.

Today we welcome you to Part 1: “Introduction – Jerusalem, Athens, and the Study of History”—From the Book of Genesis to John Locke. 

Each lecture in this series lasts approximately 40 minutes and will be published each Wednesday at noon.  Today we bring you part 1.

Introduction - “Jerusalem, Athens, and the Study of History at Hillsdale College”

Overview

In this introductory lecture to the History 101 online course, Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn discusses the founding of Hillsdale College, its Core Curriculum, and the importance of the study of history, particularly Western civilization and the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian heritage.

Larry P. Arnn is the twelfth president of Hillsdale College.  Under Dr. Arnn’s leadership since May of 2000, Hillsdale College has conducted the $608 million Founders Campaign for capital and endowment goals, launched the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship (located in Washington, D.C.), expanded the core curriculum to include a required course on the U.S. Constitution, and established an Honor Code that all matriculates to the College sign.  As a professor of politics and history at Hillsdale, Dr. Arnn regularly teaches courses on Aristotle, Winston Churchill and the American Constitution.

Dr. Arnn is on the board of directors of The Heritage Foundation and the Claremont Institute.  From 1985 to 2000, he served as President of the Claremont Institute.  Formerly the director of research for Sir Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill, Dr. Arnn is the author of Liberty and Learning: The Evolution of American Education and The Founders’ Key: The Divine and Natural Connection Between the Declaration and the Constitution and What we Risk by Losing It.  He received his B.A. at Arkansas State University, graduating with highest distinction, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the Claremont Graduate School.

The World’s Best Education System?

With the possible exception of some FPS administrators and certain members of the Franklin School Board most everyone agrees the United States needs to improve its education system dramatically, but the question is how? One of the hottest trends in education reform lately is looking at the stunning success of the West's reigning education superpower, Finland, a  Nordic country in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic.  The problem is that when it comes to the lessons that Finnish schools have to offer.  However,  most of the discussion seems to be missing the point.

Finland's schools owe their new-found fame due primarily to one study: the PISA survey, conducted every three years by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The survey compares 15-year-olds in different countries in reading, math, and science. Finland has ranked at or near the top in all three competencies on every survey since 2000, neck and neck with super-achievers such as South Korea and Singapore. In the most recent survey in 2009 Finland slipped slightly, with students in Shanghai, China, taking the best scores, but the Finns are still near the very top. Throughout the same period, the PISA performance of the United States has been middling, at best.

Fox News wrote In a December 2 article that five states were to announce Monday that they will add at least 300 hours of learning time to the calendar in some schools starting in 2013. Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Tennessee will take part in the initiative, which is intended to boost student achievement and make U.S. schools more competitive on a global level.

Bussiness Insider wrote in a December 14, 201 piece entitled “26 Amazing Facts About Finland's Unorthodox Education System”  that since it implemented huge education reforms 40 years ago, Finland's school system has consistently come at the top for the international rankings for education systems.

Here are a few of the facts about Finland's Education that are featured in this article.  Some may really surprise you.

• The Children Must Play.
• Finnish children don't start school until they are 7.
• Compared with other systems, they rarely take exams or do homework until they are well into their teens.

Read more about what the United States could learn from Finland about education reform. 

It's hard to argue with proven success.

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The 150th anniversary of the American Civil War

 

Beginning today we will remedy our neglect in covering the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War,  one of the most defining events in our nation's history.

There are over 70 parks in the National Park System which have resources that are related to the history of the Civil War and provide opportunities to tour the real places where this struggle occurred nearly 150 years ago.

In 1858, Abraham Lincoln warned that

"A house divided against itself cannot stand."

But at the time, most Americans were confident that the forces of cohesion in the young republic would continue to triumph over the forces of division.

General Ulysses S. Grant came to the attention of President Lincoln and the nation when in February 1862 Grant captured two Confederate garrisons on the Tennessee River, Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. "U. S." Grant got the nickname "Unconditional Surrender" Grant after he demanded unconditional surrender from the Confederate commander of Fort Donelson. When his superior in the West, General Henry W. Halleck, was transferred to Washington that summer, Grant took over command of the Union Army along the Mississippi River and began his career trajectory to command of the entire Union army in 1864.

Considered among the greatest of military memoirs, these two volumes were an immediate bestseller. With the help of his publisher, Mark Twain, Grant wrote to the last month of his life to leave a legacy for his family after being defrauded a year earlier of his estate.

Grant wrote his memoir out of financial necessity as a dying man; he completed the manuscript within days of his death.

RELATED MEDIA

• Grant's Tomb
• How Arlington National Cemetery Came to Be 
• Civil War Veteran Finally Laid to Rest
• Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site White Haven, Missouri
• New York Times’ account of President Grant’s death

Marine Corps' “Merriest” Mission

Since its inception 60 years ago, the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program has distributed more than 313 million toys to 151 million children. In addition, the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation has supplemented the collection of local campaigns over a 13-year life, providing more than 47.4 million toys valued at $243 million, plus promotion and support materials valued at $2.5 million.

Marine Toys for Tots Foundation is an IRS recognized 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity and is the fundraising, funding and support organization for the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program.  The Foundation was created at the behest of the U. S. Marine Corps and provides support in accordance with a Memorandum of Understanding with the Commander, Marine Forces Reserve, who directs the U. S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots Program.  The Foundation has supported Toys for Tots since 1991.

The primary goal of the Foundation is the same as that of the overall Toys for Tots Program: i.e. –  to deliver, through a new toy at Christmas, a message of hope to less fortunate youngsters that will assist them into becoming responsible, productive, patriotic citizens.