Please read in its entirety. I know this is long but it's so worth it. **In honor of the Fourth, the following article from Isaac Asimov, March 1991** 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 1000 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 September 13, 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 dread 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, trying 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. Called "The Defence of Fort M'Henry," 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 Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light, W hat 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.

Well the last few weeks of my life have been insane. Imagine that your apartments (two of them) get 100% over run with bed bugs. $4000 later they are coming weekly trying to kill them. The a-hole that probably started the mess refuses to pay rent and worse, HE SUES YOU for his pain and suffering, all his troubles and is even suing for a lack of furniture HUH? Oh yeah, HE THREW OUT ALL THE FURNITURE and actually found a crack-pot lawyer that says WE are not keeping the property in the condition we rented it ummm HE THREW ALL OUR FURNITER OUT! Imagine if the police are knocking on your door... not once, not twice... but even more sometimes to deliver every single thing HE wants to say to us! WE ARE PAYING HIS WATER, ELECTRIC, CABLEVISION, TRASH... He claims his girl friend is mentally ill and has that "organization" involved! Trust me thats a big deal! He can lie, not pay, raise hell, attack me... we have to follow the law to the letter, and be victimized by this nut-job! So we're in for a massive lawsuit. I'm dealing with the police, city, county, courts, lawyers every day! I'd say there are well over 200 pieces of legal paper invovled already (easily, more like 300 pieces). This has become a daily battle to get a conman out of our lives that is suing my 84 year old mother who has cancer. She's almost died several times from the sheer stress this asshole has caused her. We've had to calm her, turn on the A/C and try to get her to control her breathing. I am 100% off the grid until this is handled. All, and I do mean ALL my commitments are on hold - when her life is on the line, everything else is a distant second. I'll be in touch with some of you but I'm currently on the West Coast of FL several hours from home. One mission... find the right guy to take this thief down! Not an easy thing to do unfortunately. And no, you can't kick his ass, throw him out physically, change the locks or even turn off his electricity or WE would be in huge trouble... Sorry I disappeared, but right now we're $10,000 deep with no end in sight! ~ Mikeee P

If u read this just really quick (help) I (lew dog) dont trust anyone or anything I also dont believe much of what i hear or see I always feel like another number like even at a doctors appointment, they just try to give me vaccines and medz, and im like (fuk no) I always feel like im being rushed out the door And everything is too damn expensive. And last but not least, i feel like almost everything im told, can be argued on each side..... I AM A LAWYER TRAPPED IN A SOILDERS BODY! HELP! The world is a lie!

Continuing with yesterday's theme, which was, "THE INTERNET IS NOT YOUR LAWYER", please remember that when the chips are down and when things have gone horribly askew, Google will not be standing there beside you in court. Neither will whatever website you got your form will, contract, or whatever from - even if you paid for those forms. In fact, neither will your pre-paid legal service, unless you actually pony up the cash to hire them (which sort of belies the whole "pre-paid" concept, doesn't it?). When you have a legal question, consult an attorney. A real one, one made of meat, not a series of ones and zeroes. Trust me, I'm almost entirely made of meat, and most of the time, I don't even charge for simple questions. If I do charge for a consultation, it's a heck of a lot less than the tens of thousands of dollars that litigation can cost you later on. Isn't that worth it?