>>> Please note that the "S-S-Banner" was written in 1814, during the assault on Ft McHenry (War of 1812). A<>E<>R <<< >From http://looksmart.infoplease.com/ipa/A0194015.html }}>Begin On Sept. 13, 1814, Francis Scott Key visited the British fleet in Chesapeake Bay to secure the release of Dr. William Beanes, who had been captured after the burning of Washington, D.C. The release was secured, but Key was detained on ship overnight during the shelling of Fort McHenry, one of the forts defending Baltimore. In the morning, he was so delighted to see the American flag still flying over the fort that he began a poem to commemorate the occasion. First published under the title “Defense of Fort M'Henry,” and later as “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the poem soon attained wide popularity as sung to the tune “To Anacreon in Heaven.” The origin of this tune is obscure, but it may have been written by John Stafford Smith, a British composer born in 1750. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was officially made the National Anthem by Congress in 1931, although it already had been adopted as such by the Army and the Navy. End<{{ >From www.townhall.com/columnists/wfbuckley/printwfb000717.shtml }}>Begin townhall.com William F. Buckley, Jr. (back to story) July 17, 2000 Is 'The Patriot' patriotic The furor over "The Patriot," the "patriotic" movie that enshrines honor, family, liberty, gore and banality, raises yet again the question: What do we know about our birthright, as sons and daughters of the Revolutionary War? One school of thought, in a comfortable sedentary way, says: Why all the fuss? Everybody knows "The Star-Spangled Banner" version of American history. These assumptions are not safe, not even professionally. A consequence of holding to that position was drastically suffered by a young columnist in Boston. Conservative Jeff Jacoby, writing his biweekly column for The Boston Globe, filed a piece in which he recounted the future lives of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence: X number imprisoned, Y number killed in action, Z number dispossessed. Most of us first heard about the ill-fated Founders at age 6, and again every year or two since then. But lo! Mr. Jacoby neglected to introduce his column on the Founders' fate by acknowledging that it was old stuff -- and he got suspended! On hearing this, one had the feeling it would be deceptive to relay in a column the arguments of "Areopagitica" without first confessing that John Milton had first come up with them. So then: We have a movie. It is written by Robert Rodat, who gave us "Saving Private Ryan," and it is directed by Roland Emmerich, who gave us "Independence Day" and "Godzilla." The hero is Mel Gibson, the villain is Jason Isaacs. The plot is the South Carolina chapter of the Revolutionary War. The contested parts of the movie have to do with British conduct during the war, and with slavery. Question: Is it believable, let alone true, that British officers would incinerate an entire congregation of men, women and children trapped in a church during Sunday services? Was the British attitude toward life indistinguishable from that of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union? David Horowitz, the distinguished author and bellicose critic of wanton anti- Americanism, weighed in heavily on the whole question in his important and lively FrontPagemag.com Web site. He begins by reminding us that the extent of historical ignorance in America is, well, unbelievable. A recent survey of 55 leading colleges and universities revealed that 80 percent of seniors are virtually illiterate in the subject. They could not, for instance, identify Patrick Henry. (If Mr. Jacoby, when he resumes his column, reveals that Patrick Henry was the man who said "Give me liberty or give me death!" he should remember to cite his sources.) Mr. Horowitz defends persuasively the conviction that the Revolutionary War brought on a crystallization of the ideals of the Founders. By no means complete -- the abolition of slavery, the enfranchisement of women were years ahead -- but to ignore the war's idealistic contribution to the idea of freedom and equality is greatly to disserve it, as also the sacrifices endured. Granted that most men of the soil will fight to resist oppressors, whether Americans, Nazis or communists, wars can nevertheless be distinguished from the mere genus-war when a strategic goal in sight is such as the goals of freedom and liberty enunciated in the Declaration of Independence. In 1774 an old statute imposed on a slaveowner who killed his own slave the trivial sentence of one year in jail. Mr. Horowitz reminds us that "Eight years later, when the revolution had been won, the North Carolina legislature changed the law, saying the old law was 'disgraceful to humanity and degrading in the highest degree to the laws and principles of a free, Christian and enlightened country' because it drew a 'distinction of criminality between the murder of a white person and of one who is equally an human creature, but merely of a different complexion.' The new revolutionary law made the willful killing of a slave murder and punishable by death." That much being said, the movie itself, as distinguished from the movie's cause, is long and soupy, the lines uttered formulaic and unconvincing. One needs to forget that the same author wrote "Private Ryan"; the only alternative is to think that he was tortured, along with everybody else, to produce awful lines. But there are 160 minutes of the movie, and they include an absolutely splendid villain (a British colonel), and battle scenes that vividly remind us what war was like, back when Patrick Henry was pleading for liberty and offering his life in exchange. William F. Buckley, Jr. is editor of National Review, a TownHall.com member group. ©2000 Universal Press Syndicate townhall.com End<{{ A<>E<>R Integrity has no need of rules. -Albert Camus (1913-1960) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The libertarian therefore considers one of his prime educational tasks is to spread the demystification and desanctification of the State among its hapless subjects. His task is to demonstrate repeatedly and in depth that not only the emperor but even the "democratic" State has no clothes; that all governments subsist by exploitive rule over the public; and that such rule is the reverse of objective necessity. He strives to show that the existence of taxation and the State necessarily sets up a class division between the exploiting rulers and the exploited ruled. He seeks to show that the task of the court intellectuals who have always supported the State has ever been to weave mystification in order to induce the public to accept State rule and that these intellectuals obtain, in return, a share in the power and pelf extracted by the rulers from their deluded subjects. [[For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Murray N. Rothbard, Fox & Wilkes, 1973, 1978, p. 25]] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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