17 Year Old Cassidy Charette Killed & 22 Injured During Gauntlet Haunted Night Ride at Harvest Hill Farms in Mechanic Falls, ME

TRAGEDY DURING HALLOWEEN HAYRIDE …

A mechanical failure is being blamed for the fatal crash that killed a teenager and injured many others during a haunted hayride in Mechanic Falls, Maine. 17 year old Cassidy Charette was killed and 22 other were injured Saturday night during the Gauntlet Haunted Night Ride at Harvest Hill Farms in Mechanic Falls, west of Lewiston, Maine. The accident took place when a hay wagon being pulled by a Jeep lost control and careened down a hill, where it struck a tree and overturned.

The Saturday night crash claimed the life of 17-year-old Cassidy Charette of Oakland, Maine, according to the Maine Sate Fire Marshal’s office.

They say that two others were seriously injured. The operator, 54-year-old David Brown of South Paris is being treated at Central Maine Medical Center. A 16-year-old, Connor Garland of Belgrade, was transported to Boston Children’s Hospital for treatment.

Authorities say all 23 people on board were injured. The Fire Marshal says injuries include broken legs, arms, shoulders, and backs.

Many of those injured were treated and released Sunday, but some remain hospitalized.

A teenage girl was killed and 22 others were injured in a hayride crash in Mechanic Falls, Maine, on Saturday night.

At about 11 p.m., the Harvest Hill Farms/Pumpkin Land Facebook group posted:

“Emergency crews are on site and Life Flight was called in to transport those needing urgent care. The accident occurred at the Gauntlet Haunted Night ride, a separate venue from Pumpkin Land, our daytime Family Fall venue. However Pumpkin Land will be closed Sunday while authorities investigate the accident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured.”

Happy Birthday … Smokey Bear Turns 70 Years Old, “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires.”

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SMOKEY THE BEAR TURNED 70 ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 8, 2014.

Wow, hard to believe that Smokey the Bear turned 70. Smokey the Bear is probably one of the best and enduring PSA’s put out by the government and the US Department of Forestry. Over the decades Smokey the Bear has had makeovers. Personally, I like the 50′s and 60′s Smokey. What is most interesting is that Smokey’s PSA’s were not originally from the Forestry department, but from the “Wartime Ad Council” instead. Smokey’s job was to warn Americans of the danger of forest fires, not those set by Americans,  but by the Japanese. During World War II, Japan launched fire bombing balloons into the jet stream hoping to destroy American natural resources.

Remember … Only You!

Happy birthday, Smokey Bear! Forest firefighting symbol turns 70.

The Forest Service unveiled Smokey Bear as a symbol for fire prevention on Aug. 9, 1944. Tidwell said the country averaged about 160,000 wildfires annually in 1944, compared with 60,000 today, a decline he attributes to the Smokey Bear campaign.

Up to 90 percent of U.S. wildfires are caused by humans, according to the National Park Service.

Tidwell said today’s wildfires tend to be larger due to drier, hotter weather. With more people living near forested areas, Smokey’s message is more relevant than ever, he said.

Smokey The Bear Song – 1952

CBS NEWS:

He goes to work in blue jeans and utters only one sentence, but his message is loud and clear – “Only you can prevent wildfires.”

Smokey Bear just turned 70 years old, and his image is getting a reboot, reports CBS News’ Ben Tracy.

“Smokey has had a little work done. His costume has been updated… He’s got a fresh new look,” said Peggy Conlon, president of the Advertising Council, the organization that has overseen Smokey’s iconic image from the beginning.

“Ninety-four percent of Americans recognize Smokey Bear,” she said. “He’s really survived generations. And he’s beloved and everybody remembers his phrase.”

Smokey was created in 1944, one of the first campaigns from the newly created “Wartime Ad Council.” The same folks also coined the phrase, “loose lips sink ships.”

Smokey’s job was to warn Americans of the danger of forest fires — not those set by Americans — but by the Japanese. During World War II, Japan launched fire bombing balloons into the jet stream hoping to destroy American natural resources.

Happy Independence Day … July 4, 2014 … Happy Birthday America … Always Remember We Celebrate American Independence, Not Dependence

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!!

As we celebrate America’s birthday today, please do not ever forget that independence and freedom are never free. Nor should it ever be taken for granted as out own government attempts to take away those very freedoms on a daily basis. Remember the sacrifice of the bravery of so many who fought against the British crown to create an Independent country and the many since who have fallen to maintain our Independence. It is “We the People’s” job to maintain American independence as stated in the Declaration of Independence, “That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” America, that means that government gets its power from the people, not the other way around. NEVER FORGET THAT.  Those words scribed in The Declaration of Independence ring just as powerful today as they did in 1776.

Today we celebrate American independence, remember that as our own government attempts to make “We the People” dependent upon government.

The Declaration of Independence:

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL by Ray Charles

GOD BLESS THE USA – Lee Greenwood

I’m proud to be an American where as least I know I’m free
And I won’t forget the men who died, who gave that right to me
And I’d gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land God bless the USA

UNITED STATES NATIONAL ANTHEM – Texas Children’s Choir

The Shot Heard Round the World – School House Rock

God Bless America!!!

This 4th of July Gas Prices Climb to the Highest in 6 Years Since 2008

Thanks Barack, as Americans are squeezed at the pump this 4th of July.

The current national average price of gas is 23 cents per gallon more expensive than it was on the Fourth of July last year, the highest since 2008. Can no one see the parallel and irony that on this 4th of July gas prices will be at a six year high due dependence on foreign oil and the turmoil and unrest in the Middle East and American Independence Day? When will the United States begin an energy policy in this country of  “energy” independence, instead of a war on oil, coal and any other form of energy that the Obama administration does not deem “green”?

Gas prices are expected to be at the highest level in six years for the Fourth of July holiday. Yes, the gas prices are set to raise on national independence day.

Regular gasoline peaked at a national average of $3.98 a gallon in early May. The current national average price of gas is 23 cents per gallon more expensive than it was on the Fourth of July last year. The highest was seen in 2008. The highest record was $4.11 a gallon in 2008.

“We’re going to see the highest July 4th prices since 2008, and we probably wouldn’t have, if it weren’t for Iraq,” said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at GasBuddy.com. “I certainly would not rule out if something happens near Basra or south of Baghdad, we would see national prices make a pass at $4…but I just don’t see a fuel apocalypse in North America this year.”

“Although gas prices in the Southeast remained relatively stable from last week, it wouldn’t be surprising to see gas prices inch up slightly before the holiday weekend,” said Jessica Brady, AAA spokeswoman with The Auto Club Group. “Even though pump prices are higher than they were this time last year, they are not expected to deter holiday travelers.”

Gas prices used to depreciate in the upcoming weeks of the holiday in previous years, but that’s not the case this summer.

AAA Travel reports the statewide average price of gas is $3.71 for a gallon of regular unleaded. It was $3.48 last year on the Fourth.

CAIR Officials Dishonor American Heroes on Memorial Day Who Gave the Ultimate Sacrifice to Preserve Our Freedom

Yup, we have allowed them to live among us and have a credible voice …

From The Clarion Project: While the rest of the country was remembering and honoring US fallen military heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve our freedoms and liberties, some prominent members of CAIR were doing quite the opposite as they questioned whether they deserved to be honored. In fact, Zahra Billoo, the radical executive-director of CAIR’s San Francisco Bay Area chapter went much further and tweeted whether US soldiers should be honored. I remember when such actions were considered anti-American.

Virtually all Americans come together on Memorial Day to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the country’s freedom and safety. Two Council on American-Islamic Relations’ officials spent the holiday weekend differently: Questioning whether U.S. troops deserve to be honored and tweeting that the country was “established upon white supremacy.”

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a group labeled by the Justice Department as a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood entity and unindicted co-conspirator in a terrorism-financing trial, disingenuously claims that it is a moderate organization.

Yet, on May 23, Zahra Billoo, the radical executive-director of CAIR’s San Francisco Bay Area chapter, tweeted that she “struggles with Memorial Day each year” about whether to honor American soldiers who died in wars:

Wait there is more. Another CAIR official, Dawud Walid, the executive-director of CAIR’s Michigan chapter, as questioning whether they should honor American soldiers that died in “unjust” wars and occupations. Remember this the next time you see a CAIR mouthpiece on TV spewing BS as a moderate view. It gets more sick, on May 4, 2014 Billoo re-tweeted two opinions that America is inherently murderous. Hah, this coming from the folks who kill innocents, kidnap girls, kill Christians and sentence to death anyone who does not convert to Islam.

Oh by the way, the U.S. government labeled CAIR an unindicted co-conspirator in the trial of the Holy Land Foundation for financing the Hamas terrorist group.