The Accurate Story Behind the Star Spangled Banner

Our National Anthem

Our National Anthem   Star Spangled Banner By Isaac Asimov Written by the late Isaac Asimov, in March 1991. Asimov was born in Russia, and emigrated in 1923 with his parents when he was a young child. He became an American citizen in 1928. I have a weakness - I am crazy, absolutely nuts, about our national anthem. The words are difficult, and the tune is almost impossible, but frequently when I'm taking a shower, I sing it with as much power and emotion as I can. It shakes me up every time. I was once asked to speak at a luncheon. Taking my life in my hands, I announced I was going to sing our national anthem - all four stanzas. This was greeted with loud groans. One man closed the door to the kitchen, where the noise of dishes and cutlery was loud and distracting. "Thanks, Herb," I said. "That's all right," he said. "It was at the request of the kitchen staff." I explained the background of the anthem, and then sang all four stanzas. Let me tell you, those people had never heard it before - or had never really listened. I got a standing ovation. But, it was not me; it was the anthem.      More recently, while conducting a seminar, I told my students the story of the anthem, and sang all four stanzas. Again, there was a wild ovation and prolonged applause. And again, it was the anthem, and not me. So, now let me tell you how it came to be written. In 1812, the United States went to war with Great Britain, primarily over freedom of the seas. We were in the right. For two years, we held off the British, even though we were still a rather weak country. Great Britain was in a life and death struggle with Napoleon. In fact, just as the United States declared war, Napoleon marched off to invade Russia. If he won, as everyone expected, he would control Europe, and Great Britain would be isolated. It was no time for her to be involved in an American war. At first, our seamen proved better than the British. After we won a battle on Lake Erie in 1813, the American commander, Oliver Hazard Perry, sent the message "We have met the enemy, and they are ours." However, the weight of the British navy beat down our ships, eventually. New England, hard-hit by a tightening blockade, threatened secession. Meanwhile, Napoleon was beaten in Russia and, in 1814, was forced to abdicate. Great Britain now turned its attention to the United States, launching a three-pronged attack. The Northern prong was to come down Lake Champlain toward New York, and seize parts of New England. The Southern prong was to go up the Mississippi, take New Orleans and paralyze the West. The Central prong was to head for the Mid-Atlantic states, and then attack Baltimore, the greatest port South of New York. If Baltimore was taken, the nation, which still hugged the Atlantic coast, could be split in two. The fate of the United States, then, rested, to a large extent, on the success or failure of the Central prong. The British reached the American coast, and on August 24, 1814, took Washington, D.C. Then they moved up the Chesapeake Bay, toward Baltimore. On September 12, they arrived and found 1,000 men in Fort McHenry, whose guns controlled the harbor. If the British wished to take Baltimore, they would have to take the Fort. On one of the British ships was an aged physician, William Beanes, who had been arrested in Maryland, and brought along as a prisoner. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and friend of the physician, had come to the ship to negotiate his release. The British Captain was willing, but the two Americans would have to wait. It was now the night of Tuesday, September 13, 1814, and the bombardment of Fort McHenry was about to start. As twilight deepened, Key and Beanes saw the American flag flying over Fort McHenry. Through the night, they heard bombs bursting, and saw the red glare of rockets. They knew the Fort was resisting, and the American flag was still flying. But, toward morning, the bombardment ceased, and a dreaded silence fell. Either Fort McHenry had surrendered, and the British flag flew above it; or the bombardment had failed, and the American flag still flew. As dawn began to brighten the Eastern sky, Key and Beanes stared out at the Fort, tyring to see which flag flew over it. He and the physician must have asked each other, over and over, "Can you see the flag?" After it was all finished, Key wrote a four-stanza poem telling the events of the night. He called it The Defence of Fort McHenry, and it was published in newspapers, and swept the nation. Someone noted that the words fit an old English tune called To Anacreon in Heaven - a difficult melody, with an uncomfortably large vocal range. For obvious reasons, Key's work became known as The Star Spangled Banner, and in 1931, Congress declared it the official anthem of the United States. Now that you know the story, here are the words. Presumably, the old doctor is speaking. This is what he asks Key:   Star Spangled Banner  Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there. Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? ("Ramparts," in case you don't know, are the protective walls or other elevations that surround a Fort. The first stanza asks a question. The second gives an answer. ) On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep, Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep. As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream. 'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! ("The towering steep" is again, the ramparts. The bombardment has failed, and the British can do nothing more but sail away, their mission a failure. In the third stanza, I feel Key allows himself to gloat over the American triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key probably was in no mood to act otherwise. During World War II, when the British were our staunchest allies, this third stanza was not sung. However, I know it, so here it is) And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion A home and a country should leave us no more? Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave. (The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more slowly than the other three, and with even deeper feeling. ) Oh! Thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand, Between their loved homes and the war's desolation, Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the Heav'n - rescued land, > Praise the Pow'r that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, for our cause is just, And this be our motto - "In God is our trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.   I hope you will look at the national anthem with new eyes. Listen to it, the next time you have a chance, with new ears. And, don't let them ever take it away

Herman Cain National Anthem!

Beautiful! Oh, how the pinheads and Liberals must hate this country. When you can take something so beautiful and meaningful and not want to stand up and be Proud To Be American! You can always tell who they are when the Anthem is played, They're the ones without their hands over their heart, or talking, or sitting or just showing their disgust by the looks on their faces. Remember, they denied God three times at their convention! Remember, YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID!

They're beginning to see the light...

They're beginning to see the light...

Gabby Chen  The redhawk • 3 hours ago

Obama isn't capable of swatting a fly by alone destroying the ISIS...Look at Obama's polling on foreign policy...He's about as low as he can go.

His threats are meaningless...he is meaningless and his presidency is that of a massive failure.

I wanted President Obama to be successful. I even voted for him the first time he ran. However, he is so incredibly weak, and empty. He has screwed up all the huge gains in Iraq. He caused the biggest immigration crisis in our history.

Obama has destroyed our economy. Everybody I know is underemployed. I have no hope of making more money in the near future. My expenses keep rising. My health insurance is up to $400/month. Before the govt touched it, it was around $200/month. My car insurance, which is still private enterprise, is thankfully only $25/month (from Insurance Panda). Please, President Obama! Don’t try to socialize car insurance too!

He turned victory in Iraq into the mess we see now. He is doing the same thing in Afghanistan.

I rooted for him. I am saddened by the non-stop lies and spin. I am saddened by the disaster that his Presidency has been. I wanted him to be the best President in our history, for so many reasons. He has likely been our worst.

Shock and Awe to Obama...is having tea & crumpets with the very muslin brothers Obama is trying so hard to protect..

Hitler and the Muslims

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kBci41apGn8

Obama’s Caliphate…The Truth Exposed

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Obama’s Caliphate…The Truth Exposed By Craig Andresen on August 26, 2014 at 4:33 am

By Craig Andresen and Diane Sori (RIGHT SIDE PATRIOTS)

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, has backtracked on his previously issued statement that we must take out ISIS in Syria, and now says that he will NOT recommend U.S. military airstrikes against ISIS in Syria until he determines that they have become a direct threat to the U.S.

Uh…excuse me but didn’t Dempsey just sit alongside Defense Secretary…and known muslim sympathizer…Chuck Hagel a few short days ago in a joint press briefing, and agree with Hagel when he said ISIS is an “imminent threat to every interest we have” and that ISIS is “beyond anything that we’ve seen.” Yeah…he did.

And didn’t both he and Hagel say that ISIS must also be defeated in Syria as well as Iraq. Yeah… he did.

Gee I wonder what changed his mind…do the words ‘Barack HUSSEIN Obama’ come to mind…they sure do for us. Hey, we wonder if they ‘talked’ over one of Obama’s recent games of golf…or if Obama has ‘something’ on Dempsey.

Sorry folks but it’s just too damn convenient that now Dempsey…who was all gung-ho about taking out ISIS in Syria just a few short days ago…suddenly echoes Obama’s words by saying that he believes ISIS is more of a ‘regional threat’ and is NOT currently plotting or planning attacks against the U.S. or Europe. Guess he hasn’t looked at the ISIS conquest maps for starters or all the Iraqi heads rolling for finishers, and thrown in the middle is all ISIS’ threats to attack the U.S. done through social and conventional media.

Guess Dempsey also forgets when an ISIS spokesman vowed to “raise the flag of Allah in the White House.” Guess he forgets Mosul being wiped clean of its Christian population as they declared an islamic caliphate covering northeastern Syria and northern and western Iraq with the threat of expanding it all the way to the Americas. Guess he forgets that recently journalist James Foley…an American…was also beheaded and the threat made to do the same to the other American journalist, Steven Sotloff, still being held captive.

Now comparing ISIS to al-Qaeda, Dempsey seems to forget that even al-Qaeda wants NO part of them. Odd isn’t it that while al-Qaeda fears their barbarism it seems Dempsey does NOT as he speaks words of ‘containment’ out of one side of his mouth on one particular day, as in “it would be possible to contain” ISIS, but then quickly adds “NOT without going after the group in Syria“…and then out of the other side of his mouth on another day says, and I quote,“This is an organization that has an apocalyptic end-of-days strategic vision that will eventually have to be defeated,” but obviously to his way of thinking NOT now. But last time we checked ‘end-of-days’ referred to the whole world NOT a small section of it and guess what Gen. Dempsey…the U.S. is indeed part of that world…and so is Israel…more on that in a bit.

And with Gen. Dempsey on his way to Afghanistan to attend today’s change of command ceremony as Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford steps down as the top commander and with Army Gen. John Campbell taking over…you just have to wonder why at this time of war has another General ‘retired’ (yeah right) and is being replaced by an Obama ‘yes man’…sadly, we think we all know why and the thought isn’t pretty.

Now notice how Dempsey, Hagel, Obama, and others in positions of power keep referring to ISIS as ISIL, or as the Islamic Front, or as Sunni terrorists…any and everything but  ISIS. And why…because referring to them as ISIL means they do NOT recognize Israel as a Jewish state…do NOT recognize Israel’s existence at all, and are sending a message to their muslim brethren to that affect. Remember, ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant with Levant being the land bridge from Egypt to Turkey, as in there is NO Israel at all existing in that land.

And now with this backtracking on Syria what a convenient way to buy time…to buy time for ISIS to take out Israel (or at least try) to do ‘their’ dirty work for them…keeping ‘their’ hands clean so to speak. Think of it this way…currently ISIS is like a shark…a constant killing machine with that machine growing stronger everyday as either you join them or you die. And as their numbers increase they grow stronger, and will push out from Iraq, into Iran, into Afghanistan, to arrive at Pakistan…a country who already supports them (see http://thepatriotfactor.blogspot.com/2014/08/op-ed-hey-pakistan.html). And what does Pakistan have that would give ISIS a weapon of true power to use against both Israel and America… nuclear weapons…in fact between 100 and 120 nuclear warheads.

And once they have control over those countries and bring them into the fold, they will backtrack again towards Israel…gathering up the rest of Syria and Jordan as well…and remember, Jordan, as we know is NO friend of Israel and is directly linked to both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood…two barbaric islamic groups who want Israel destroyed and all Jews worldwide…murdered.

And while King Abdullah II tries to portray himself as a moderate Arab, he is anything but. His allegiance lies squarely with both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood…he knows it, Netahyahu knows it, we know it…and Obama both knows it and supports it.

Seeing what Israel is doing in Gaza against the human shield-using Hamas is what is, for now, keeping Abdulla II at bay, but there is something he fears more than Israel’s reprisals. And what is it Abullah fears…he fears ISIS and he’s NOT alone in that fear as both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood exist, for the time being, in Jordan under the shaky protection of Abdulla II, and shaky may well be an understatement of epic proportions.

ISIS, the barbarians of all barbarians, hates HAMAS and the Muslim Brotherhood hence, they harbor a decidedly deadly hatred for those who harbor them and that includes Jordan. To the point…ISIS is threatening an invasion of Jordan and they already hold a few key strategic points from which such an invasion could be launched.

In a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black or, more succinctly, 7^th century barbarians calling other 7^th century barbarians…barbaric… Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the ‘spiritual father’ of the Muslim Brotherhood and the president of the ‘World Federation of Muslim Scholars,’ leveled the charge that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the defacto leader of ISIS was an “illegitimate Caliph in the Muslim world” which failed to sit well with al-Baghdadi who in turn, accused the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas of being Muslim “apostates” and “followers of witchcraft theology.”

To be clear, it’s a tangled web of islamic mudslinging, but what you need to know is that ISIS is threatening to invade Jordan over it and destroy both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. To that affect, they will execute King Abdullah II in the process, thus extending the reach of ISIS to the very front door of Israel and if ISIS and its recent history can be any sort of a guide, what they’re doing in Pakistan right now is most likely the way they’ll go about it.

In Pakistan, several factions of the Taliban have already vowed their allegiance to ISIS. Tehreek-i-Khilafat, a Talibani branch is one of them, and let’s be crystal clear from the get go on this…Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s (Lej) Balochistan and Punjab Talibani groups from Pakistan have been with ISIS since their conception in Turkey. During their building of strength process in Syria they in fact, set up the training camp called, Ghazi Abdul Rasheed, in the Iraqi city of Erbil all the way back in 2013.

And why does Erbil sound familiar…because that’s where U.S. diplomats were trapped by ISIS just a few short weeks ago, so don’t be telling us that Obama was caught off guard by the formation and ascension of ISIS…it was being built right under his nose for the last year or more.

Pakistan, as far as ISIS is concerned, now is starting to show a quantum shift in barbaric thinking, from being only a shark-like killing machine to the incorporation of strategic planning, and that is something exactly like the Benghazi ‘stand down order’ was…which obviously came directly from Obama…and now is being done again in regards to taking out ISIS in Syria.

Here’s the strategy…ISIS intends to overthrow Pakistan’s corrupt government by means of attracting islamist militants and financial resources from within the ranks of the Taliban…courting jihadis…plying them with new power until they are sizable enough to simply topple the Pakistan government.

This should be a major concern to Obama as…once ISIS takes over Pakistan…they will have all the military accoutrements that the 21^st century has to offer including nuclear weapons…and if that doesn’t make them an imminent threat, nothing ever could.

However, without such weapons, their task of eliminating Israel from the face of the Earth is much more difficult. And so Obama’s ‘just do enough to make people think we’re trying to “contain” ISIS, but don’t do anything that would really interfere with the growth or strength of the caliphate’ thus slapping down the Kerry State Department, Hagel, and General Dempsey over this past weekend.

ISIS isn’t the only entity in all of this employed strategic thinking…so too is Obama, but his is decidedly in favor of the caliphate and is doing everything he can to help establish it.

Obama knows he has but two years left and we believe, by keeping any involvement of the U.S. military at a bare minimum, he is attempting to buy time for ISIS to make a move in the next year to seize power and the weapons most coveted by 7^th century barbarians…the nuclear weapons in Pakistan…along with their sacking of Jordan at which point, NO unilateral military action could end the caliphate.

Israel would be all but surrounded with only Egypt militarily capable of offering assistance, along with the more moderate Arab nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE in support roles.

Right now, the Kurds of all people, NOT being known for their military prowess, are holding the line against ISIS in small enclaves which demonstrates the vulnerability of ISIS to a concentrated, well trained, and ultimately well-equipped military like ours…like the one Obama refuses to deploy to put an end to them. ISIS could indeed be destroyed right now, but Obama…true islamist that he is…wants to hold a position of respect amongst 7th century barbarians, and that means clearing the way for and the building of the ISIS caliphate, so simply refuses to do so.

Last week, Obama was blaming the ‘surprise’ that is ISIS on a lack of accurate information from our intel community. “There is no doubt that their advance, their movement, over the last several months has been more rapid than the intelligence estimates, and I think then the expectation of policy makers both in and outside of Iraq.” Are we really to believe that the Director of the CIA, John Brennan, a muslim convert himself, didn’t know what ISIS was up to…oh please…

The Obama doctrine…creating vacuums of power in the Middle East and North Africa…is giving way to the strategic plan of ceding regional power to ISIS in an effort to do away with Israel and complete a caliphate the size and strength of which has never been seen before. And like a garden variety islamist, Obama has moved on from his support of the Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda to throw in with ISIS…always bowing to the barbarians who carry the biggest sword.

Those in the media and elsewhere who believe Obama to be some sort of ignorant wuss, simply in over his head so far that he hasn’t a clue what to do…are sadly mistaken.

None of this is the result of a community organizer trying to feel his way through the world’s most dire chess game. No…this is all being directed by islamic design and Obama is the architect. And so Israel will be surrounded by one of the most brutal of barbaric forces ever to walk this Earth. And Obama and his minions hands will be stained with the blood of millions because he did NOT take ISIS out when he had the chance too.

Oh and by the way, it will be Israel in the end who survives because Israel will in the end do our job for us…and take out ISIS…and then Obama and his minions will truly have something to fear…for payback will indeed be a bitch.

This Wednesday, August 27th from 2-4pm EST…Diane and I will be joined by formed CIA op Dr. Jim Garrow to discuss the growing threat of ISIS…the Obama regime’s lack-luster response and THIS ARTICLE!!!

You can LISTEN LIVE BY CLICKING HERE…DON’T MISS IT!!!

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