Franklin Town Hall

This is the town hall of Franklin, NC. I took the photo last week before the Christmas Parade.

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The Laughing Baby

This is my favorite laughing baby video on You Tube. It had about 30,000 views when I first saw it, and note that it is about to pass the 100 million mark. Wow.

What is it about laughing babies that is so appealing? I have no idea, but I like to hear them and love to make faces or noises to get them to laugh...

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The Future Jackson County Public Library

Construction continues...

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Old Lodge Re-discovered Under Lake Jocassee

Check out Ruminations from the Distant Hills for an awesome video detailing the discovery of an old lodge beneath the waters of Lake Jocassee.

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FTC Issues Guidelines for Bloggers

The guidelines took effect on December 1st, and you can download a pdf copy for yourself.

My answer to the FTC is as follows:

STUFF IT!!!

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Charles Johnson Makes it Official, He Quits

Photo Courtesy 1389 Blog

American Power has the story of his Auto-Excommunication from the right-o-sphere.

I think it is safe to say that most conservatives have known Charles Johnson wasn't one of us for a while now, especially Basil. Good riddance to another lefty trying to pass them self off as a conservative. We don't need him, or those like him.*

Previous posts regarding Charles Johnson.

*--I have to link to that blog via a re-direct because I have been blocked from linking to them directly. Typical lefty tactic.

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Video of 2009 Christmas Parade in Franklin, NC

This is the full parade that was held yesterday in Franklin, NC.

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2009 Franklin Christmas Parade Slideshow: Staging Area

The staging area for the Christmas Parade was bustling with activity Sunday afternoon as parade participants scurried about, preparing their floats and getting into costume. I was there, and took some photos of the goings on and have posted them in a slide show below for you to enjoy...

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The Christmas Season begins in Franklin, NC

This past Friday evening, I attended the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony and Candlelight Service in downtown Franklin that marked the beginning of the Christmas Season in my hometown.

Today the Christmas Parade starts at 3 pm and I am looking forward to attending it and getting some photos and video of it.

Here are two videos I took of Friday's activities:


Part One


Part Two


Singing Carols during Candlelight Service


Closeup of nativity Scene in front of Courthouse

More photos can be found on WNC Citizens Blog.

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New Template Now Live!

**update** New template is online. It is an adaptation of the MobiPress Template. There are still some minor tweaks to do, but I am happy with it so far...except that I can't get it to display the publish time of posts.

I've also reverted back to the old post editor to fix several formatting problems I encountered using the new one, which is still a bot buggy. --TP

I am about to change my template to a new one, and I have had to abandon my old one because I have been getting Malware warnings from Google Chrome. This is just a temporary fix while I tweak the new template.

Thank you for your patience while I deal with this problem...

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Christmas Events for 2009 in Franklin, NC

 I'll be taking the day off from blogging, except for this piece.






Friday, Nov 27


Tomorrow night at 7pm, the Christmas Season gets kicked off with the Tree Lighting Ceremony at the Clock Tower. There will be free cider, cookies and music at the Gazebo. A community sing-a-long will also take place. A candlelight service next to the Macon County Courthouse will also take place, candles will be provided.




Saturday, Nov 28


In downtown Franklin from 10 am to noon, the children can enjoy Cookies with Santa, deliver their letter to him or deposit it in his special mailbox in front of Townhall, or bend his ear in person.








4th Annual Mistletoe Magic Art and Craft Show, Nov. 27 & 28 beginning at 10am at the Macon County Community Bldg. on 441 S. in Franklin, NC. This very festive show features 70 of the finest juried Artisans available! You will be greeted by Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus and their elves, so bring your camera and your children for a picture! The building will be beautifully decorated and the atmosphere alive with the sounds of carolers and strolling musicians. 70 Free handcrafted door prizes will be given away and Main Street Pizzeria will be offering a full menu.






Sunday Nov 29


The annual Franklin Christmas Parade will take place Sunday beginning at 3 pm. The route will be same as usual, starting at the East Franklin Shopping Center, turning left onto Main Street, continuing up Town Hill to parade down the center of town, then turning left onto Porter Street and continuing to Franklin High School where it will disband. 


The theme for this year's parade is "Christmas in the Mountains". I've included a behind the scenes video I took of last year's parade...

      Window Wonderland Dec 4th and 11th

The first two Fridays following Thanksgiving, Franklin, North Carolina will again be transformed into an old-fashioned holiday atmosphere during Window Wonderland. On December 4th and December 11th from 5-8pm Window Wonderland will take Franklin back in time as "windows come alive" with living scenes from Franklin’s past.


Franklin businesses will be open to warmly greet visitors with hot chocolate, hot cider, cookies, or other refreshments reminiscent of the season. Strolling carolers will entertain shoppers with seasonal music and contribute to the holiday atmosphere as well as other entertainment throughout town.


Luminaries will line Main Street, creating the soft glow which makes the evening so magical. There will be vintage horse-drawn carriage rides and children of all ages can meet Santa Claus at the Macon County Historical Museum on Main Street.








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Rainbow People and Other Lost Souls Attracted to the "Asheville Vortex"

These videos were made by a group involved in witnessing to the spiritually lost in the Asheville Occult Scene.




Asheville, NC is infamous among the natives of this area for attracting the weirdest kind of people. Rainbows, Hippies, Pagans, Progressives and Ron Paul Supporters...Asheville has more than enough weirdness to do a normal person a lifetime. The lefties and lefty libertarians celebrate it.


You can read more about it from one of the charlatans of the New Age Movement at New Frontier, where they go more into detail about the "Vortex" that is supposed to be centered near Asheville.

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Introducing Ed Krause, Congressional Candidate NC-11 Republican Primary

Here are his goals if elected to Congress according to a handout he gave me:

1. Revive our economy by reducing taxes so that individuals and corporations can have more capital to spend and invest to increase jobs. Throwing stimulus money around to people such as ACORN will not accomplish anything.The national debt must be dealt with by controlling Federal spending. My top priority would be to recruit industry for this area. We are blessed to have a good labor force, beautiful surroundings and a pleasant climate.


2. Strive for energy independence from foreign sources. Off shore drilling, nuclear energy, and conservation efforts must be expanded. Rail service is the most energy efficient means of transportation and needs to be promoted to reduce traffic on our highways. Folks, sooner or later the gas tank will be empty.


3. Strengthen and support our military and intelligence organizations so that the Country will be safe from terrorism and foreign aggression. Secure borders are essential for national security. Nonetheless, America should be the shining city on a hill to the rest of the world as Ronald Reagan said.


4. Increase competition among doctors, hospitals and insurance companies so that health care costs can be reduced. Legislation should be passed to allow people to purchase insurance from out of state sources. I am not in favor of further governmental control of health care.

I'll be sure to let you know if he establishes a website for the campaign.


I'll be providing a live webcast of a candidate forum for candidates in the Republican Primary on the afternoon of December 5th. Check back by to watch it.

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Black Friday & Cyber Monday Digital Camera Deals

I dropped my camera while covering the annual Pumpkinfest in Franklin last month, and I've been waiting for just the right deal to come along...hoping that either Black Friday or Cyber Monday would serve some low hanging fruit that would fit my wallet. 


I've been watching the Interwebs for signs that my targeted model, the Kodak Z1015 IS, would see a cut in price. So far, nothing, nada, zilch, or as my poor Canadian friends would say, Zed. 


Photography Bay has an excellent run down on the deals, and where to look for them. I swiped the title for this piece from them. 


Here are some other websites claiming to have the scoop on Black Friday Specials...


Black Friday.info


Black Friday 2009 


Black-Friday.


Black Friday.com




A word of warning...many of these websites wants you to provide an email address. Don't give them a real one. Take a few minutes to set up a fake one at Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail. That way, you'll avoid spam in the future. 


And, if you are going to be one of those people getting up before dawn to hit the race for deals...be careful and don't get hurt. After all, it's only merchandise and not worth getting hurt for...






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Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience

A formidable coalition of 150 Catholic, Orthodox and evangelical leaders are calling on Christians in a new manifesto to reject secular authority – and even engage in civil disobedience – if laws force them to accept abortion, same-sex marriage and other ideas that betray their religious beliefs.

On Friday, these leaders released a 4,700-word document – called the "The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience."

The document was signed by leaders ranging from evangelical leader Chuck Colson to two of the leading Catholic prelates in the U.S., Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. and Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, and calls on Christians to engage in civil disobedience to defend their doctrines.

Source: NewsMax


Read the full document.


Commentary


I've already decided not to purchase health insurance for myself if the Health Reform Bill passes into law. I will see if the government will force to go to prison. Hopefully, millions of others will feel the same.


Egads, I'm starting to sound like a hippie!!!


Or, since Illegal Aliens will not be penalized...is there a way to become an Illegal Alien? I'm starting to see some benefits.

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In Which I Swear To Carry A Camera With Me At All Times From Now On

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The John Batchelor Show for 11-22-2009 Audio From 11-21-2009 Show

It's Sunday night, and that means it's time for John Batchelor!





Here is his website.

The show starts at 9pm Eastern, and continues for four hours of the best radio you will find anywhere, as only John Batchelor can deliver it with his stable of experts...


Here is last night's show, and he starts it off with a bang by discussing the Obama Administration's decision in trying 9/11 Mastermind in Manhattan. You won't get this kind of analysis any where else...








Hour One










Hour Two










Hour Three









Hour Four

And here is where you can listen to the show live online:

New York, WABC-AM 770 9PM to 1AM ET;

And here is where you can find the podcasts of the show: John Batchelor on Demand.

Schedule for Tonight: (scroll down for Sunday Schedule)

Sunday November 22   

Sunday 905P Eastern Time:Marc Morano, Climate Depot, re Cap and Trade abandoned, re Copenhagen dicthed. 

Sunday 920P Eastern Time: Aaron Klein, WND, re Barghouti speaks from prison, re Jerusalem expands the settlements, re Palestinian building in Gilo.

Sunday 935P Eastern Time:  Roundtable Mona Charen, NRO, re healthcare strategy in the Senate, re POTUS in China, re Sarah Palin on the loose.

Sunday 950P Eastern Time: Continued re the healthcare vote in the Senate.

Sunday 1005P: (705P Pacific Time): Michael Wallenstein, WSJ, re Sarah Palin book tour: is it a political sortie?

Sunday 1020P: (720P Pacific Time): Charlie Gasparino, author, "Sellout: How Three Decades of Wall Street Greed and Government Mismanagement Destroyed the Global Financial System."  Re the Bank of American nobody wants.

Sunday 1035P: (735P Pacific Time): Jodi Schneider, Simon Constable, DowJones, Kelsey Hubbard, WSJ, re gold on a bull run, re Tim Geithner fights back, re Goldman revolt? 

Sunday 1050P: (750P Pacific Time): continued re the healthcare bill costs.

Sunday 1105P: (805P Pacific Time):  Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, James Taranto, WSJ, Tunku Varadarajan, DailyBeast, re POTUS in Asia, the results, re POTUS and the India problem.

Sunday 1120P: (820P Pacific Time): Continued re Afghanistan the exit plan. 

Sunday 1135P: (835P Pacific Time): Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents Major American Jewish Organizations, re the Iran negotiation, re Tehran breaks off, re what sanctions?

Sunday 1150P: (850P Pacific Time):  Bob Zimmerman, author re the sunspot watch, re Enceladus, re the ISS mission.
Sunday 1205P: (905 Pacific Time): Shobhana Chandra, Bloomberg, re US housing starts plunge, US mortgage market darkens.

Sunday 1220P: (920 Pacific Time): Mary Kissel, Asia Wall Street Journal, re measuring POTUS trip to Asia.

Sunday 1235P: (935P Pacific Time): Robert Lacey's "Inside the Kingdom: Kings, Clerics, Modernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle for Saudi Arabia."

Sunday 1250P:  (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt.

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Watch the US Senate Debate Health Care Bill Live

The US Senate will debate on cloture of the Health Care Bill today for ten hours today.



For those of you who cannot watch on TV live, but have a broadband Internet connection, you can watch it here today:


**Debate on Cloture is over, and I've removed the video player.


The Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Proceed to H.R. 3590 has passed 60-39 (Sen Voinovich (R-OH) did not vote. You can read the bill on Open Congress. The Democrats have posted a Bill Summary online. The Republicans haven't gotten around to it yet...if they ever do.






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Franklin Comes to Franklin Ben Franklin Speaks About the US Constitution

This is a 10 video play list of an appearance by John Armor portraying Ben Franklin.


Franklin comes to Franklin in "Ben Franklin Talks About the Constitution" was held at the Macon County Community Facilities Building, Hwy. 441 south, Franklin.


John Armor starred as "Ben." Armor is a graduate of Yale and Maryland Law School, post-graduate work at the American University, has published seven books, and practiced law in the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years.

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Franklin comes to Franklin; "Ben Franklin Talks About the Constitution" Tonight at 6:30

Franklin comes to Franklin in "Ben Franklin Talks About the Constitution" at 6:30 p.m. at the Macon County Community Facilities Building, Hwy. 441 south, Franklin. John Armor stars as "Ben." Armor is a graduate of Yale and Maryland Law School, post-graduate work at the American University, has published seven books, and practiced law in the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years. This event is free and the public is invited to attend.


Google Map of location.


Previous Posts about John Armor.


John Armor also has an audio CD that is called America's Owners Manual.


One of my videos of John Amror as Ben Franklin is also embedded on the website.

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