In my book that is now in the process of being published, I tell the complete story of the incredible life of Charlie Goodnight.  The main theme of the book is about amazing miracles that I know God performed.  The whole life of Charlie Goodnight is a miracle to me.  Here is the first of several continuing posts relating that life… …. Ron  

Charles Goodnight – 2^nd Installment

As stated in the 1^st Instalment, you don’t hear much about him in the history books, but Charlie Goodnight was one of the most influential men in developing early Texas and the Western US.  The Bible says that God is interested and involved in the founding and development of nations.  It is my opinion that He used Charlie Goodnight over and over again in the development of the Western US and particularly the Southwestern part.   He was one of the original men that protected the settlements along the frontier from the Indians.  These men were called “Rangers” and they predated what were later officially established as the “Texas Rangers”

Continuing from 1^st Installment:

A company of Federal Troops was finally stationed there in that part of Texas.  Charlie was asked to scout for them.

Colonel Cureton from Waco also formed a company of rangers.  They like the other ranger groups would pursue the Indians as quickly as possible after a raid.  They would not take

provisions or blankets or other equipment for camping; they would just go.  I have personally always wondered why they did not take better provisions for such forays, though they would usually take a piece of salt pork and sometimes a little salt for the wild game they would kill.

About this time, during a heavy rain, the Comanches raided the houses of two new settlers.  These couples were not really wise to the ways of the frontier.  They did not even have guns.  The Comanches were particularly brutal in this attack.  They mutilated the settlers bodies and tied one of the women to the ground with stakes and violated her before shooting arrows into her body.

Baylor’s ranger group, Cureton’s ranger group and Colonel Ross’s troops from the fort started after these Comanches.  Even with all of the rain, Charlie Goodnight was able to follow their trail.  Their trail was crossed by two large herds of buffalo, but Charlie was able to stay on it.

The group of pursuers stopped to rest, but Charlie went on way up ahead and stationed one man in between to intercept any signal from him.

By now they were out in the very open country up near the Pease River.  That river was quite salty and gyppy, but Charlie knew that there was a fresh-water creek that entered the river up ahead.  He could also tell from their trail, that the Indians were no longer in a hurry, figuring they had outrun any pursuit.  He figured that the Indians would be camped up on that fresh-water creek.   He also spied some berry trees that the white’s did not like, but that were relished by the Indians.  He had his companion stay back and wait for any signal while he went up to those berry trees.

Sure enough, he could tell that two Indians had just left there and were headed toward that creek.   He signaled for the company to come on; that he had found the Indians.  Ross’s troopers headed a little to the east and the two ranger companies angled a little to the west.  The older troopers had good horses and topped the hill and headed down to the Indians’ camp with the younger troopers following.

Charlie looked back and could see the rangers strung out in a long line, depending on how good their horses were, with the sun glinting off their tin cups and their shiny rifles.  All stung out like that, they looked like a much larger group, and Charlie knew that the Indians would think the same thing.

The Comanche squaws and the older men in their camp had been butchering buffalo and had most of their horses loaded down with the meat.  Ross’s troopers had the best angle and reached there first.  They charged right through the camp, shooting each buck as thy came to them.  The new recruits coming behind probably couldn’t tell a buck from a squaw and proceeded to kill most all of the squaws.  Chief Nocona had a Spanish wife that he had captured long before.  She was wounded and crawled off into the grass.

Just beyond the camp was an absolutely flat piece of ground that the buffalo had grazed completely clean.  It was about a mile across.  The Indians that got on horseback would have faired much better to have headed off to the side into some sandy hills, but in their panic, they headed straight across that flat area.  Everyone of them was killed, and Colonel Ross engaged in hand to hand combat with the chief and finally killed him, too.  Ross claimed it was Chief Nocona, but Charlie was sure that it was another chief whose name was No-bah.

Among the confusion was a squaw on a fine iron-grey horse.  She was able to keep up with the bucks.  Ross ordered his Sergeant to take charge of her so that the recruits would not mistake her for one of the bucks and kill her.  She had a buffalo robe wrapped around her, and in its folds, a really small infant.

Charlie told later that she was in the most intense grief and distress that he had ever seen.  He said it made a deep impression on him.  He went over to her in an attempt to console her.  That was when he discovered that she had blue eyes.  Her skin was dark from having cut up all that meat, but Charlie was amazed to see that she had blonde hair.

He went over and told Judge Pollard with the Rangers that they had a white woman.  This news caused quite a stir.  Army Colonel Ross carried her and 30 or 40 head of Indian ponies back to his permanent camp on Elm Creek west of Fort Belknap , even though she tried to escape several times.

Colonel Cureton, with all his knowledge of the frontier and plains said that he had never heard of a battle with the Comanche where at least a few did not escape.  He asked Charlie to go out and cut for sign before it got dark.  Charlie did find the tracks of two Indian ponies and followed them for several miles.  As he topped a hill, he looked down onto an Indian camp with over a thousand Indians.  Charlie went back and told Cureton that it was his best judgment that they go back and catch-up with Ross.

Everyone there in the area of the soldier’s camp and Fort Belknap thought that the woman may be the long lost Cynthia Ann Parker who had been carried off when the Comanches’ and Caddo’s massacred the people at Fort Parker way down on the Navasota River back in 1836.  They sent word for Colonel Isaac Parker to come up there and see if he could identify her.  They also secured a fellow named Ben Kiggins to come.  He had been ransomed back from the Indians where he had been a captive for many years and could speak good Comanche.

When they were all there, they brought the woman out of her tent and into the group.  Failing to escape, she had now become sullen and morose.  The little infant that she called Prairie Flower in Comanche had also now died.

Kiggins told Colonel Parker that he thought that the one thing that the woman could remember would be the name that she had been called as a girl.  Parker said that he knew that his brother and his brother’s wife had called her Cynthia Ann.

When the women heard him say that and then repeat it, she stood up, faced them, patted herself and said:  “Me Cincee Ann”.  She went on to tell Kiggins that, though she regrets it, she indeed had a paleface ma and a paleface pa and that they called her Cincee Ann.  She went on to say that she now had a redman ma and a redman pa and that they have a name for her and that name is Palux.  She was also able to tell Kiggins many of the details of Fort Parker.

They took her back to the piney woods of east Texas, but she was a stranger in a strange land now with people that “were not hers, and among the hated Tejanos”.  She longed for the treeless Plains where Nocona and her sons still hunted the buffalo.   She did finally escape and tried to get back, but she died of sinking grief and loneliness on the way.

By now, the Civil War was starting.  Old Sam Houston did not want Texas fighting in any such war, but those independent Texans were so big on “state’s rights”.  Though almost none had slaves, they did not want to be told that they had to be confined to any union.

Many of the rangers went off to fight for the Confederacy, but the state officials convinced and paid Charlie Goodnight to stay and scout for the rangers that were assigned to protect the frontier from the Indians.  And that is how he spent the years of the Civil War.

The country where those rangers patrolled had most dramatic features.  For over two hundred miles to the northwest from the western cross timbers the country was undulating, but not too rough, though interspersed with a few sandy hills.  Beyond that the country became very broken.  It rose up in jagged brightly colored rocks and broken canyons to a high escarpment or the Quitaque, which today is called the Caprock.

The springs that come down from this jagged escarpment form the rivers that flow south and southeast across Texas .

On top of the escarpment the land is very level, almost flat as a table.  That begins what was called the “Staked Plains”.  However, cut across this immense, flat region was a big gash with rugged canyons along its sides that is called the Palo Duro Canyon .  It was here in the Palo Duro that the Comanche’s had their ultimate refuge.  For the longest time, white men dared not go near it.

Way off to the west of it in New Mexico the country was fairly civilized with settled communities like Santa Fe and Taos and other communities.  The Indians there were mostly the peaceful Pueblos .

Off to the north, were settled communities in Colorado like Pueblo and Denver , and even north of there in Wyoming country were towns like Cheyenne .  However, you did not dare venture within two hundred miles of the Palo Duro Canyon country.   And in Texas , the settlements most all stopped at the western cross timbers as a result.

After the war, Union Soldiers came to help with the Indian problem.  They were not plainsmen like the rangers and had no knowledge of that wild country just described. 

Their officers asked Charlie to guide for them, and he had all kinds of problems keeping them alive.  Their officers were so “headstrong” and determined to be “in charge”.  Charlie’s problem with them was not the Indians.  The Indians would just steal their horses and escape with them.  The main problem was their lack of knowledge of how to survive in that wild county.  Time and again some headstrong Colonel would lead his troops off into that immense, flat tableland and start following the mirages that prevailed there.  Eventually they would be lost and start circling.  Many times Charlie saved them from certain death by getting them back to drinkable water.

On one of those occasions something happened that is being studied by medical doctors today.  This group of troopers went off on their own without proper scouts.  They felt quite safe because they carried wagons with a large quantity of water and had a large supply of mules.  They knew that if they got lost, they could always eat the mules.  Sure enough they got lost and had to stay out way much longer than anticipated.  Without a scout to get them buffalo or antelope they did have to eat mule meat.  Those men were consuming as much as 11 pounds of that meat a day.  But those mules were so lean that they had absolutely no fat on them.  When those troopers finally got back to their fort, several had died of starvation and the remainder were close to death.

What modern medical pathologists have recently studied, and with that as their example, is that one cannot process protein without at least a little fat to go along with it.  Those mules had no fat.

After the war was finished, Charlie and his partner, Sheek, went back to see how their cattle had faired during this extended period.  They had for sure multiplied, and were mixed with those having other brands, and with almost half unbranded.  It was necessary to brand all those roaming without a brand.  However, thieves and carpetbaggers had invaded and were putting their own brands on them. 

Charlie had been very scrupulous his whole life about who’s cattle belonged to whom.  He wasn’t very tall, but he became like a one-man army bringing order to the situation.  Being so tough, such an accomplished horseman, such a good marksman and just effusing authority all helped.

However, along with the carpetbaggers and thieves larger and larger bands of Indians began to raid this turbulent frontier.  They were killing as many as 12 settlers at a time and carrying of increasing numbers of captive women and children.   They were also trailing thousands of head of cattle back northwest.

By this time, 1864, Charlie and Sheek figured they had at least 8,000 head of cattle.  They bought other cattle, and had bought all of Varney’s CV cattle, giving him notes to pay in gold over three years. 

Some of the cattlemen set out southwest toward Mexico for more and less troublesome range.  However, Charlie decided to take a heard west and then up into New Mexico and on to Colorado if necessary.   He gathered up a heard of 2,000 steers and dry cows in preparation, but a band of several hundred Comanches came through on a raid and carried them all off while he was away getting ready for the drive.   This delayed him until the following Spring.

He bought an army wagon, and had its wood replaced with seasoned bois de’ark, some of the hardest wood anywhere for use on his drive.  The wagon had steel axels as opposed to the wooden ones on most of the frontier.  And Charlie had a drop-down counter installed in the back for cooking.  This was the first “chuck-wagon” ever used in Texas and has been little changed since.  He took 12 yoke of oxen to be used 6 at a time, alternating between the two sets.

Charlie gathered up another heard and then set out for Weatherford to buy flour and supplies.  On the way he passed Oliver Loving’s camp who was gathering a heard to trail to the east.  However, after conferring and figuring he asked to join Goodnight, and so the two joined forces and formed a partnership that was to last through many great adventures.  Loving was a sturdy and healthy age 54 and Goodnight was age 30.

Charlie could have easily blazed a trail straight northwest, directly to Colorado with all the knowledge he had gained with the rangers of that wild country.  However, they would have for sure lost their cattle and horses to the Comanche’s and Kiowa’s there.

Together they had over 2,000 head.  They were mostly long horn steers and about 800 mother cows.  Their 18 hands were the most experienced and toughest they could find.  And they had a sizable heard of horses for spare mounts.

On June 6, 1866 they headed out, full of optimism and spirit.

To Be Continued

In my book that is now in the process of being published, I tell the complete story of the incredible life of Charlie Goodnight.  The main theme of the book is about amazing miracles that I know God performed.  The whole life of Charlie Goodnight is a miracle to me.  Here is the first of several continuing posts relating that life… …. Ron  

Charlie Goodnight

You don’t hear much about him in the history books, but Charlie Goodnight was one of the most influential men in developing early Texas and the Western US. The Bible says that God in interested and involved in the founding and development of nations. It is my opinion that He used Charlie Goodnight over and over again in the development of the Western US and particularly the Southwestern part. He was one of the original men that protected the settlements along the frontier from the Indians. These men were called “Rangers” and they predated what were later officially established as the “Texas Rangers”.

He father was born in Kentucky, grew up in Kentucky and married a girl named Charlotte Collier when he as age 20 and she was 15. They moved to southern Illinois just west of St. Louis and then soon moved a little north to Madison, County to escape the malaria in their area.

The elder Charles Goodnight worked so hard on their farm from dawn to dark. Young Charlie was born on March 5, 1836, only three days after Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico. Charlie had a brother, Elijah, who was born 4 years prior.

Young Charlie started to school at age 7. He managed to finish only two annual semesters, but all his life he remembered and revered his teacher, Jane Hagerman. She instilled in him a life-long desire to learn which he was still doing even into his 90’s.

Since the elder Goodnight gave little thought his health, and did not take care of himself, he died of pneumonia from exposure to the elements in 1841.

Those were not days of economic independence for women. His mother soon married a neighboring farmer named Hiram Daugherty.

Young Charlie spent long periods out in the woods, particularly studying the animals and birds.

All his life he was very contemplative and dreamed of big exploits and goals. Even at age 93 he still dreamed of great ranching enterprises he would yet direct.

All over that part of the country there was so much talk of Texas and the magnificent opportunities and freedoms there. Finally, Hiram Daugherty loaded the family’s possessions onto two covered wagons and they set out for Texas. Young Charlie rode his little horse, Blaze, bareback all the way without saddle or even a saddle blanket.

They drove to Springfield Missouri, then to Little Rock, ferried across the Arkansas River and then the Red River into Texas. They passed Paris, the little trading post of Dallas where they crossed the Trinity and proceeded down the west side of it. That was where young Charlie saw his first buffalo. Some men, as was the custom, had rounded up a big group of them with huge, vicious, cur dogs and were leisurely shooting them down to collect their hides.

They eventually left the Trinity and traveled west. After leaving the Trinity they saw no settlers as they crossed the prairie until they got to the Robinson Plantation on the Little Brazos. They then crossed the Little Brazos to the town of Nashville on the main Brazos. The settlers there were “forted up” as protection from the Indians. They would fort up each night and then go out each day and work their farms.

Daugherty and family really liked the country there, though there were only a few settlers at Nashville.

They settled on a farm just below the junction of the Little Brazos and the main Brazos.

The only settler beyond them was a man from Georgia that was called Major, though he had never been in the army. He lived out to the west and beyond everyone else since he had two wives that he kept in the same house. Thus, he was not able to live near the other settlers with such unconventional circumstances. Charlie said the Major fussed that the two women could not get along and that he could not ever understand why, since no one else lived within 15 miles of them.

Soon after they settled there Charlie’s mother left Daugherty (Charlie always said with “good cause”). Now she was like a widow again out on that frontier with only Elijah, age 15, and Charlie, age 11. However, they “got by” with both boys doing the farming and working at odd jobs.

At about this time Elijah caught a baby wild mustang horse on the prairie. Charlie nursed that mustang on milk until it was old enough to eat on its own. Charlie loved that horse, but it never lost its wildness from its mustang blood. Charlie said that it must have bucked him off over a hundred times. He said it would not run away after bucking him off, but just stand there and wait for him to get back on and then buck again.

The family kept moving north, and eventually settled on a homestead 15 miles west of Waco between the Bosque River and the main Brazos River. Charlie had all manner of odd jobs, but still found time to hunt and fish out in that wild country.

He was particularly intrigued with the innate sense of direction that animals had. He watched how the mother alligators would go way out and scrape up a big mound of dirt and leaves and twigs and lay their eggs. The warmth of the decaying mass would hatch the eggs and the mother would later come all the way back to the same spot and lead the babies to the closest slough.

He also observed how that soft-shell turtles did the same thing. And one time one of their big sows broke out and went way off and made a thick bed of grass under a bluff and had nine little white piglets. Charlie gathered them up in a basket and took them back to the farm. He then got the mother back into her pen. However, he had no sooner gotten her back than those new-born piglets had make their way all the way back through the tall grass to their original bed.

He was so intrigued at this innate sense of direction that these animals had.

Very few humans ever have or develop this sense, but Charlie discovered that he had this same sense. It saved not only his life many times, but the lives of many other men that he was responsible for. He could travel with no compass even on the darkest night long distances directly to his destination.

At age 16 Charlie turned to freighting and hauling in Waco where he worked for two years.

In 1853 his mother married a preacher named Adam Sheek. Charlie described him as “a very devout Christian man, extremely kind, and in my estimation as nearly faultless as it is possible for a man to be.”

In 1856 Charlie formed a partnership with his stepbrother, J. Wes Sheek, who was three years his senior. Charlie said that between them they had three good horses, splendid firearms, a large wagon, and six yokes of cattle. These two set out to find their “fortune” in the world.

They first headed southwest to the San Saba country. They found a few settlers there along the San Saba river but decided there was no money to be made there, although they almost lost their horses to Indians while camped there.

For years they had heard about California. They figured there must be wealth to be had there and lost no time in starting for California. They headed straight north to intersect the Brazos and intersected it at old Fort Graham. From there they followed a military road to Fort Belknap. From there the immigrant road led straight toward California.

About this time they met up with Charlie’s brother-in-law, Alfred Lane. He talked them out of going to California and instead buying a large valley of land south of Weatherford, agreeing to finance their part of the deal. However, they discovered that they could not get good title to it, and so had to scrap that project.

They then met up with Sheek’s brother-in-law, Claiborn Varner. He proposed that Wes and Charlie take his heard of four hundred and thirty head of mostly mother cows and keep them for ten years wherever they pleased, taking every fourth calf as pay. They went down into Somervell County and received the heard which Varner delivered with the help of his negro slaves.

They wintered the cattle in a big bend of the Brazos about 15 miles from where Glen Rose is now located while they stayed in a log cabin near there. When Spring came in 1857 and new grass started up, they moved the heard northwest to wild, open country to a place called Black Springs in the Keechi Valley in the Western Cross Timbers.

At that time in Texas, except for deep east Texas, the whole country was all prairie except for two strips of post oak timber that went down from the Red River to an east-west line at about Ft. Worth. These two long, narrow strips of timber were on outcropping sandy strips that averaged between one-half a mile to ten miles in width. With all those hundreds and hundreds of miles of prairie on both sides and way south, these cross timbers were very prominent landmarks. If you were to start from Texarkana for the long trip to El Paso, those were about the only trees you saw, the whole way. Every thing else was prairie.

At the bottom terminus of the eastern cross timbers was a huge spring. That was where Sam Houston met with the Indians and brokered a peace with them that lasted until the Comanches came down from Colorado into Texas.

In 1857 the edge of the frontier lay about 100 miles west of the villages of Dallas and Waxahachie in spite of Indian troubles.

Since there was no market for calves and steers were not marketable until they were four or five years old, Wes and Charlie knew that though they were now “in business”, it would be a long time before they would be seeing any money payback. Charlie went to freighting or “whacking bulls” as they called it. He started with 6 yokes of oxen, but soon graduated to twelve yokes, with 24 head pulling one great wagon.

Their cattle soon settled-in along the grassy slopes of the Keechi and Charlie and Wes cut logs and built a nice cabin there. There were not only deer an turkey, but many fat bear for food. As soon as the cabin was finished, Charlie moved his mother and the preacher Sheek up there.

Meanwhile, Charlie kept freighting back and forth from that frontier to Houston and back for three years. On his last trip he hauled 13,000 pounds of salt on one load. Their one fourth of the calf crop was so meager that Wes, who had now gotten married, wanted to quit the contract. However, Charlie was so stubborn and principled that he was determined to keep on with it.

There had not been too much Indian trouble along that part of the frontier, but in the later part of 1858, their raids started becoming frequent. Near Charlie’s log house, a few miles up the cross timbers a young couple named Mason built a place in what they called Lost Valley. It was one of those double log houses with a habitation on both sides of what was called a dog trot in between. A couple named Cameron lived on the other side.

Mrs. Mason’s father was an interesting old fellow named Lynn. He raised fine horses, but he never rode them. He just walked everywhere he went no matter how far. On this one occasion he decided to go over to see his daughter. He walked the twenty miles from his ranch to the Mason’s Lost Valley place.

When he got there he found that the Indians had raided the day before. Mr. Mason was dead and his wife had gotten out to the cow lot where she had been shot down with a little baby in her arms. The little baby was still nursing its dead mother. However, their other child, about two or three years old was still alive in the house. Lynn found that the Cameron’s were both dead, too. The Cameron’s had a bright young ten year old boy who was taken off by the Indians, as was their custom with young boys; but he was later found alive where the Indians had shoved him off their horse when they were later pursued.

The men along the frontier began to organize into groups that were called “rangers”. One of the most formidable organizers was a fellow named John R. Baylor. He was over six feet tall and straight as an arrow. No one remembers his military background, but he was called, “General”.

Anytime one of those ranger groups went after Indians, they always wanted Charlie Goodnight with them. Charlie, even at that young age was just a natural scout and frontier’s man.

Charlie remembers that shortly after the killing of the Masons’ and the Camerons’ General Baylor took a group of rangers up north to hunt Indians. He had a passion for wanting them dead. Up in the north part of their western cross timbers they ran onto a large group of Comanches, who started firing at them from the timber. Charlie, always with a fine horse rode straight at them and flushed a small group out of the timber. He followed them until he closed on the last one. Charlie shot him between the shoulders with his pistol, but the Indian rode back into another stand of timber holding onto his saddle horn with both hands.

About then the much larger group of Indians began firing at the group of rangers from the timber. They killed one man and injured another. Baylor formed the men into a battle line and backed off a fairly safe distance. Right along the front of the timber this really brave Indian with a big eagle feather head-dress was riding back and forth yelling loudly and occasionally firing at them.

Charlie had loaned his good rifle to another fellow, and only had a shotgun. He noticed that there was a low line of brush between them and that Indian. He figured that he could crawl up into that brush and get close enough to kill him with the shotgun. As he was crawling up there, here came Baylor crawling behind him. He told Charlie that he could much better get the Indian with his rifle, to let him get the Indian.

As the Indian started slowly riding east, Baylor took a long time carefully sighting his rifle. When he finally shot, a big puff of eagle feathers blew-up over the Indian’s head. Charlie said Baylor thought for at least a minute and finally said: “Well, if I can’t kill him, at least I can pick him!”

To be continued

Supposedly highly intelligent “do-gooders” keep telling us that Artificial Intelligence (A-I) is going to replace the human brain. It ain’t going to happen. I have written you before that George Guilder has by far the most intelligent brain alive today as respects technology. He told us what the internet was going to be and do before we even knew what it was……and he told us in advance about all of the other great tech advances before they ever happened. And he personally knows and keeps in contact with all the other great tech minds. In this note that he sent me, he proves that while A-I is useful, it cannot replace the human brain. Do read to his conclusion at the end………….
Ron

The Genesis of Synaptics and the Future of Computing

From George Gilder:

Dear Ronald,  January 12, 2022

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
– Albert Einstein

During the holidays we had the opportunity to sit down with Federico Faggin’s recently published book, Silicon. Long-time readers of this newsletter are undoubtedly familiar with Faggin’s name and his pioneering work in semiconductors.

Federico has had many impressive technological accomplishments during his career. At the top of the list are leading the team at Intel (INTC) that developed the first microprocessor and collaborating with Caltech physicist Carver Mead on neuromorphic chips at Synaptics (SYNA). These accomplishments were highlighted in my books, Microcosm and The Silicon Eye.

We published a Monthly Report on Synaptics last summer and added the stock to the Paradigm Portfolio. Faggin no longer is involved with the company, but his innovative spirit is alive and well there. The company is prospering under the leadership of CEO and tech veteran, Michael Hurlston.

As Faggin recounts in his book, the technological vision he and Mead shared at Synaptics back in the mid-1980s had evolved to include general-purpose building blocks for making sensory systems based on neuromorphic integrated circuits (ICs). Bringing the vision to life entailed defining a family of chips for resolving generic pattern recognition problems based on learning rather than programming.

The I-1000
The key, said Faggin, was to address this class of problems with a small family of mostly analog chips. The general idea was to combine various numbers of four or five different types of chips to build a variety of pattern recognizers, just as is done today with memory chips for which the amount and organization depend on the complexity of the program and type of data needed.

Faggin points out that the operation of the entire system would be orchestrated by a general-purpose microprocessor or microcontroller. This goal, however, was easier said than done. They needed an overall architecture for neural networks that did not yet exist.

To develop the technology, the team at Synaptics first concentrated on solving several different pattern recognition problems for potential customers, while in parallel developing the basic VLSI technology for neural networks capable of continuous learning, along with imaging technology for vision systems.

One of the early custom projects at Synaptics was the design of a character recognition chip for Verifone to optically read the magnetic ink character set at the bottom of bank checks. This would help achieve higher accuracy than was possible with magnetic reading for which those characters had been explicitly designed. This chip was called the I-1000. Getting Verifone on board early on was a coup for Synaptics The company was a world leader in payment systems.

The I-1000 was a highly sophisticated chip containing several pieces, including an optical imager, two neural networks, several analog-to-digital converters for the output data, and the control logic to interface with a conventional microcontroller. The combination of the Synaptics I-1000 with a properly programmed microcontroller realized the entire electronics of the check reader.

Conscious Computers?
As Faggin recounts in his book, the development of the I-1000 chip taught the Synaptics team many useful lessons about the design of neural networks. It also led him into the study of the subject of consciousness and prompted him to ask the question of whether it was possible to make a conscious computer.

Faggin surmised that if consciousness arises from the brain, then a computer could be conscious as well, as least in principle. Taken by great curiosity, he began to ponder how he could make a conscious computer.

As he thought about it and reflected deeply on the characteristics of consciousness, he encountered a great obstacle: the complete lack of understanding scientists have about the nature of sensations and feelings. Consciousness, says Faggin matter-of-factly, is a fundamentally unsolved problem.

He observes that a machine can recognize a rose by its “emissions” through emulating natural processes, but it does not feel anything. Humans, by contrast, feel the aroma or scent as well as recognize the rose as the source of that feeling. In other words, where the name of the recognized object is another symbol, the scent of the rose is not a symbol, it is something else. It is, says Faggin, a sentient experience that connects us with our emotions and knowledge.

A computer that identifies a rose by its aroma only mechanically captures the pattern of electrical signals produced by appropriate sensors of the rose’s aromatic molecules (the chemical symbols). The computer is not aware of the scent of the rose, even though it may respond in various ways to the rose symbol.

Thus, says Faggin, the computer blindly responds to a rose the way it has been programmed to, or in the way it has automatically learned. Crucially, the computer can neither be aware nor consciously know anything. Hence, the comprehension brought by consciousness is not accessible to a computer.

Herein, notes Faggin, lies the fundamental limitation of artificial intelligence (AI).
Faggin’s insights on the limitation of AI are kindred with those I expressed in my book, Gaming AI. As I noted, the best, most complex and most subtle analog computer remains the human brain. AI poses no threat to it whatsoever.

I encourage you to pick up a copy of Faggin’s new book… and Gaming AI, too, if you haven’t already.

Regards,

George Gilder

45 minutes north of my house is a large kid’s prison. It is for youth ages 12 through 19. Most are ages 15 through 17. It is called the Gainesville State School, but believe me, it is a very secure prison. It is complete with the high inward curving electric fence and razor wire. Every vehicle coming out is scanned underneath with mirrors on poles to make sure no one is escaping in the undercarriage.

The worst of the worst are sent there. It is under the auspices of The Texas Youth Commission, an agency of the Government of Texas.

This prison is rather unique in that each youth is confined to his own individual room. In almost every case it is the first time these youth have stopped “running on the streets” and been confined to a room where they can think about their life and where it may be headed.

For the past 20 years I have had the privilege of presenting the Gospel to each youth that comes into that facility. In most cases, I see them two at a time in private, glassed-in rooms. When presented properly in a high-quality fashion after much prayer by several people, almost every one makes a decision to accept Christ and have God in their life.

If you ever wondered whether there really is a God out there, if you could be with me and see those kinds of boys just change right there in front of your eyes and pray with tears in their eyes, you would know that there had to be something there other than just my words to cause such a change. It amazes me every single time.

Seeing them two at a time seems better than singly, since making a decision about God in front of a peer tends to cement the decision and make it more meaningful.

I usually see between 10 and 12 each week, though more on some weeks. If I have to be gone, like out of the country, I must “double-up” on the days until I have caught-up with all who have come into the prison while I was gone.

I follow up with a letter to each boy. I include several stories with each letter. They love the stories, especially ones with an emotional message. In the Appendix of this book I have included a long list of the stories that they like best.

Some of these prison boys have experienced things that I will never experience, but from whom I have learned much. Some of them claim to be Devil Worshipers, but it is usually to gain attention from their peers. However, I have met a few there who have delved deep into “the real thing”. And what is interesting to me is that, without exception, every one of them has renounced Devil worship. When I have asked them to explain it to me, they all say pretty much the same thing. They say the Devil is powerful, and it is logical to assume that if you give yourself over to worshiping Him, he will take care of you on this earth. No. They say that the farther you go with the Devil, the more bad things happen to you. When they finally realized this, it caused them to flee from the whole thing.

I have literally thousands of letters from these youth, mostly thanking me for introducing them to the real God and telling me how their life has changed. Also, I thought it would be helpful to you for me to include below, approximately the same words that I share with these youth that God uses to convict them and guide them to make the decision to accept Christ. Without being dramatic, I honestly believe that God showed me just the right words.

If you have someone that you want to help make that same decision, I encourage you to try these same words that are shown below. Of course, God does all the saving, but it can be such a privilege to be the one saying the words. (Approximately the same words shared with each youth over the past 20 yeas is included here.)

Approximately the Same Words Shared with the Prison Boys:

It is really boring in here for you guys; would you like me to stretch your brain a little?

OK.

What if the sun were 1/2 the distance to the earth than it is now? It could have been.  Yes. It would be about 850 degrees F. out there. Everything would be burned up.

But the sun could have been any distance……so close that we are burned up, or so far away that we all would be frozen to death. Just a small fraction of its present distance either way and we would all be dead. Makes you wonder how it got in that perfect spot.

If we are going to stretch your brain we are going to have to make it a little harder!

What if the moon were 1/2 as close to the earth as it is now? It is not hot or cold; it is going around the earth like a big rock.

Yes, it would look a little larger, and it would look a lot brighter at night.

What else does the moon do for us right now?

When the moon goes over the ocean (and 75% of the earth is ocean), it pulls the water up a little. When the moon goes down, the water goes back down. This makes the tides in the ocean. Without the tides we would have no currents in the ocean. Without them both, the scientists tell us that almost no rain would fall upon the earth. They help with evaporation and get the clouds over to us.

But if the moon were 1/2 as close as now, the tides would cover the highest mountains on earth twice a day. A 2,000 foot wall of water would sweep across us twice a day. It would wipe away all buildings, trees, people, everything. Soon, even all the land would be washed away.

So the moon is just the perfect distance to keep us alive with rain, but not kill us with the tides. But it could have been any distance.

Are you staying with me? Shall we continue?

It is a little over 24,000 miles around the whole earth. Yet, it takes 24 hours for the earth to make one revolution. When you divide 24 hours into 24,000 miles, you find that we must be traveling 1,000 miles per hour at this very moment…..about the speed of a rifle bullet. It does not feel like it does it? But we are. When you get up about 35,000 feet in a plane and hit that jet stream where the air that is going with us sheers against the other air that is not, then you know it!

So…..what if we were only going 1/2 that fast, say 500 miles per hour? That is still fairly fast.

Well, yes, then every day would be 48 hours long. So what would that be like?

You know how hot it can get in August in your home town at about 4:00 in the afternoon, over 100 degrees F sometimes. What if on a day like that you had another 24 hours of sunshine before the night came?

It would get up above 200 degrees. All the crops would be burned up. It would catch the roof on fire….boil the water right out of the swimming pool.

And in January when that north wind whips through your town, you know how cold it can get at about 4:00 in the morning. What if, on a day like that, you had another 24 hours of darkness before the sun came up? It would get 100 degrees below zero. You would all freeze.

So…..it seems that the earth rotates at just the perfect speed for us to be alive, but not be burned up or frozen.

But it could be rotating at any speed. It happens to be rotating at just the perfect speed for you to be alive.

When we look out the window on a sunny day, the sky it looks what color. Sure, it is blue. Why is it not pink or green or black or white. It just looks blue. Let me explain it to you. The earth is surrounded by the atmosphere. And it is only 5 miles thick and then it is all gone. 5 miles is nothing out in space, like a little egg shell around the earth. When you look through those 5 miles it looks blue. When you get outside the 5 miles it looks black You have seen those pictures that the Astronauts take, always black back of them. Why does it look blue to us?

You are looking out through our atmosphere that surrounds the earth like a lovely blanket. We breath the oxygen in it and the trees breath the carbon dioxide. Actually, it looks blue because the sun is reflecting off the blue ocean and reflecting up into that atmosphere. We are called the blue planet.

But the scientists tell us that if it were just 10% thicker, its weight, plus the present atmosphere would crush us to death. You have 15 pounds of pressure on every inch of your body right now. It would not take much more to bust your bones.

But do you know what would happen if it were just 15% or 20% thinner? That is what is interesting to me.

There are thousands of meteorites that are trying strike the earth every minute. Your mom called them “shooting stars” when you were little. Right now they just barley burn up before they get to us. The friction coming through the atmosphere burns them up. A few get through, but not very many. But if that atmosphere layer were thinner, they would most all get through. They would wipe us out like bombs and bullets. Most are not much bigger than a very small pebble, but if a pebble hits you at 25,000 miles an hour, it blows your ass off, or something off.

But the atmosphere could have been any thickness. It happens to be the perfect thickness for us to be alive.

I can give you a 100 more like these, but if you solve mathematically for the probability of just these four arranged perfectly for us to be alive. You get over 150 billion to one that they could not have all happened together by accident at the same time.

If one is honest, the only answer one can honestly come to is that there has to be an Intelligence that guides all of this…..an author. You can call that God or whatever you wish, but it has to be there.

But indulge me just one more….one of my favorites:

The earth goes around the sun at a perfect angle of 23 degrees. That is what gives us our seasons. Without them, most crops would not grow.

It takes one year to go around.

The scientists tell us that if the earth ever got even two degrees off this perfect angle (either 21 or 25 degrees), vapors would move north and south from the equator and the ice caps at the poles would move all the way down to the equator…..the whole earth would turn to a block of ice.

Just two degrees…..you would think that it would wobble that much.

In fact, they think that it got off just 1/2 degree a few times in history, and that is what made the ice ages that you studied about in school.

Yes! There has to be an author…..an Intelligence that holds our life in the palm of His hand. That is the only conclusion that a truly honest scientist can draw. The mathematics are too overwhelming to say that we just adapted to these conditions. The Intelligence that is the author of this universe some of us do call God!

I have a group of friends down there in another dorm. They like to ask me tough questions. They say: “given what we have studied about the earth and the rest of the universe, we know that there has to be a God; but tell us, why did He make people? He did not have to make people.” They are just messing things up. Why didn’t he just stop with the bees and animals and the butterflies?

What would you tell them?

Here is what I told them: I said…..”Can you get a picture in your head of the one time in your life when the feelings between the people in your life were the very, very best? Maybe it was Christmas time. You were just a little guy. Your grandma had a big turkey cooking in the oven. They had all of those presents under the tree for you. It was really nice! You knew it would not stay that way. Things would get messed up. You would really wish to freeze those feelings just as they are in your ‘picture’ and keep them that way all of the time.”

I told them: “God made people to have those same feelings between Himself and them, only 1,000 even 10,000 times better…..through all of eternity.”

Then the boys said back to me: “That is great. We love that, but we have been reading the Bible and we have looked around out in the free world and we know that compared to the perfect purity and mathematical correctness of the Intelligence that runs and controls this whole universe, people have become so messed up, so dirtied up, so filthy compared to the perfect purity of the Intelligence that runs this universe….. There is no way that man can be with Him as He planned.

“Every man is too dirty to come into the presence of such purity.”

And I told them…..“that is correct. That is why God had to make a way to clean us up. He sent His only son to die for our sins as a way to cleanse us so that we could be able to spend eternity with Him.”

However, the boys had another question that I thought was really interesting. They said: “Man if God is so smart that He could make this whole universe; if he is so smart that he could make our bodies as complicated as they are………like your eyes take in light images, flip them upside down, send a chemical message to your brain, and your brain sends an electrical image to your legs and tells them to run because you saw a bear chasing you……otherwise that bear is going to eat your ass off, man”. So I said OK, dudes, I know how smart God is……….What is your question?

They wanted to know: “Well, if God is so smart that He could create the whole universe and the people in it…..why didn’t He just make all the people to be perfectly good and always make the right and perfect decisions? Then Adam and Eve would not have messed up. The Devil would have no power, for we would always make the right decisions. Then it would be like Heaven on earth…..you would not need any fences, any locks on your door, no police, no prisons.”

One boy even said, “You would not even need to wear clothes.” And I laughed and said, “Why?” And he said, “Because, no one would have any bad thoughts.” And I said, “well, that is right.”

“So, why didn’t God do it that way? He could have. Then everyone would be in Heaven with Him as He planned.”

So, how would you answer the boys? Why didn’t God do it that way? He could have.

Yes, I answered it, and here is my answer to them. I asked them: “What if you had a girlfriend, and all that she did, and all that she could do was just what your mind thought for her to do….and nothing else.”

Oh! I got some big grins. They could think of “lovey” things for this girl…..fantasy things.

Then they thought some more, and said: “No! That would not work!”

And I said: “Why?”

And they said: “Because that would be like having a robot or a machine for a girlfriend. What makes the magic and the feelings between me and my girl is that she chose me, though she could have chosen some one else………. and I chose her, though I could have chosen some one else.” That is what makes the ‘feelings’………..with no feelings there is no fun!

Oh, then the light went on in their heads!

The question was…..”Why didn’t God just make us to always make the perfect decisions?”

Because (just like with the girlfriend) He had to make us so that we could either choose Him or not choose Him, or (just like with the girlfriend) the fantastic relationship and feelings that He desires with us through all eternity could not be there. God could not get feelings back from a robot!

And the whole history of man is that he has chosen most everything but God!

I don’t know how it is in your town or where you have been “hanging out”, but it appears to me that God made people with a big, huge empty place down inside of them.

I am sure that it was His original intention for His Spirit Power to come into people and fill-up that empty place and make them feel full. But when that big place down inside is empty, it really eats on guys and drives them.

And most of your and my friends out there are not just running around; they are racing around trying to fill that empty place with something…..They think that if only they can get enough money, enough sex, the right wheels to ride on, enough good times and play, enough drugs. ……then that empty place will feel full. Some think if they can just have a wild enough good time, it will fill up the empty place. But it doesn’t. Some think if they all get together in a gang it will fill it up. But it doesn’t.

But the Living God created us and put the empty place there. Only He the Living Person of God can fill it and make you feel full!

I would like to propose to you that there are four Spiritual Laws. They exist just as sure as there is a law of gravity, but they are spiritual laws.

The First Law is ——-

That God loves you and offers a wonderful plan for your life.

The Second Law is ——

Man is sinful and separated from God. Thus he can not know and experience God’s love and the wonderful plan that He has for your life.

As we discussed earlier, God is so perfectly pure and man has become so dirty, man cannot get to God on his own merits. Jesus said no man has or will live a good enough life on his own to stand in God’s presence. However, God did not give up on us.

The Third Law is ——–

Jesus Christ is God’s only provision for man’s sin. Through Him you can know and experience God’s love and plan for your life.

God actually invaded human history in the form of a man to bridge the gap between the Perfect God and sinful man. How his dying on the cross and shedding his blood to wash us clean enough to be in Heaven, and then rose again on the third day to conquer death for all time is the greatest mystery of the universe and the crowning, supreme gift of all time.

Yet, some still have trouble understanding the necessity of being washed clean. Let me see if I can think of an example to make that “cleaning-up business” more clear for both of us?

I know!!! The first time that I went to China , years ago, they gave me a banquet in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square just as they did for Nixon and Kissinger. It was so formal and fancy……… probably more so than going to dinner in the White House in our country. They had real linen table covers, real crystal glasses, plates painted with real gold, ivory chopsticks inlaid with gold. That dinner had 22 different entrées. Just one was a whole roast pig for each table of eight people. You would have had a great time there. You are probably a “professional eater” like I am. I hated to leave.

But the next day I had to be traveling on a train across that part of China . Suddenly, a young man came and sat beside me and wished to converse in English which he had been studying. See, China back then was still a Communist country. Everyone at that time was back of the fence there. They did not want you having a bible. They did not want any churches. The government controlled everything. Every family got only one baby. No more. So a person did not ever know they were hearing the truth, and I was probably the first outside person that he had ever met.

Any way, after a while he got his courage up and said to me: “I believe that there is a God.”

And I said: “Oh”, for I did not want to get him into any trouble. I knew he was not supposed to believe that.

Then he said: “I believe that God’s Spirit can live in a man.” And I thought, wow, you have learned a lot over here without a bible or any such thing.

Then things got really serious, for he said: “Can you and will you show me how to do that?” He wanted God’s Spirit to come live in him and fill up his empty place.

It was getting noisy where we were and there was a Communist lady in her uniform trying to listen, so we moved out between the cars on the train like in a spy movie.

And wow, God’s Spirit did come into the young man. It was an incredible thing to see as he just changed right there in front of my eyes and shed great tears of joy. I wish you could have seen it.

Of course, only God’s Spirit could have changed him like that. Certainly, just my words did not. However, what helped that Spirit get through to him was one little story that I told him. I do think that God really put the words of that story directly into my mouth so that he could understand. If you wish, I will share that same little story with you.

OK, I asked him if he had ever been “camping”. Then I said: “Oh, you wouldn’t know what that means, that doesn’t translate into Chinese.” However, he quickly said: “I have a master’s degree in English, certainly I know what going camping means…..you sleep out in the woods under the trees, you cook your food over a wood fire, you catch a wild pig and you roast him and eat him.”

So I said: “OK. Let us assume that you go camping for two whole weeks. You sleep out under the trees, you have a great time, you catch your wild pig and roast him and eat him. He is really good.”

And he said: “Oh, that would be fun, and I could get away from that dorm and all those guys where I live at college.”

Then I said: “But the whole second week that you are there, you really begin thinking how great a shower would feel and clean clothes. You start just dreaming about them.

“You stay the whole two weeks; you have a great time, but by now you are really dirty and you smell really bad, and it is time for you to go back. You start the long walk back to the dormitory where you live with your friends. You have had a grand time, but all the way back you are thinking and dreaming about how wonderful that shower and those clean clothes will feel.

“Finally, you arrive back and you see that all of your friends are getting on this bus. They are all dressed-up, fancy. You ask what is happening and they tell you—–’Oh, we have been invited to a banquet in The Great Hall of the People…..It is the chance of a lifetime for us. We have been getting ready all afternoon…..getting our hair combed just right, getting our shoes shined, and our ties on straight.’

“And you say: ‘Yes, you fellows really look great.’

“And they say: ‘Haven’t you heard!’

“And you say: ‘I haven’t heard anything. I have been out in the woods for two weeks!’

“And they say: ‘You were invited to this banquet too!’

“And you say: ‘No!’

“And they reply: ‘Yes! But it starts in just 15 minutes. We are already late leaving. Look!!! The bus is leaving right now. Jump on! You must go! It is the chance of a lifetime! You don’t have time to change or have a shower or get cleaned up. Hurry, hurry, hurry!’”

Oh! How could you go to such a beautiful banquet with all of those dressed-up people as dirty and smelly as he was. Those bad-ass Communist guards would never let you through the gate.

But the young man saw what I was trying to show him. Don’t you see. God has prepared Heaven like a great banquet for all of us—-for all of Eternity. He wants all of us to be there. But how can we be there in such purity and splendor—-as dirty and filthy as we have become? No matter how much He might love us, it just could not happen. But that is what the Forth Law is about.

Thus, The Forth Spiritual Law:

We must each one, individually receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. Then we can be in Heaven with Him, and know His love here and the wonderful plan that he has for our life here.

It is not enough to just believe in Him. The Devil believes in Him, but the Devil will not be in Heaven. Jesus called such a decision “being born again”…..having our souls washed clean. He did all the “work” for us when He died on the cross. But we have to each one individually accept it like accepting a contract.

Here is a person. The dots represent all the things in his life. The chair represents the throne in his life…..who is king, who is in charge, who is boss? This person is like most people we know…..his self is on the throne. He is in charge of his own life. I don’t know whether he is doing a good job or not. He believes there a God. He prays sometimes. He even goes to church sometimes. But as far as his life is concerned; he is in charge, and God is outside.

However, Jesus said in the back of the Bible (Revelation 3:20): “Behold, I stand at the door of every man’s heart and I knock”. He will not break the door down or force His way in, but you can open the door of your heart and invite Him in. His Spirit Power can come in and change your whole life.

That is what this second person has done. He has asked God to be on the throne of his life. And the things in his life are now getting arranged around God. His self is still there, but it is not running things, not in charge, not in control anymore. He will still sin and mess-up sometimes, because he is still trapped in a human body…..but he is on a new and different road now.

Which one of these two people is you, ?

Which would you like for it to be?

If you wish to be the second person, and ask God into your life, and really be born again, you can do so right now. I would want you to very be serious, and plan for a turning in your life.

OK, I will pray for a few seconds, and then I will say some words that you can repeat after me, quietly, but out loud, straight to God, if you really mean them.

“Father God, we come before you now. And as it says in your Holy Book, if we meet here in Your Name, Your Spirit Power will be right here with us, and we know that this is true, for You do not lie. Father God, this young person wishes to come now and ask you into his heart and life. He wants his sins to be forgiven. He wants a turning in his life. He wants to be washed clean. He wants to be saved into Heaven, and he needs your Spirit Power living inside him to help him. So, he is going to come now, Father God, and quietly say these words, to You:

‘Lord Jesus, I need you. Thank you for dying on the cross for my sins. Right now I open the door of my heart and receive You as my Savior and my Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins, and for giving me eternal life. Now Lord, just take control of the throne of my life, and make me into the kind of person that you want me to be.

Amen.’”

If you would like to watch the Jesus Film also, get yourself all prepared to watch a full length movie, and then go to this site and be really blessed…………….. https://www.jesusfilm.org/watch/jesus.html/english.html

如果你也想看耶稣电影，让自己准备好看一部完整的电影，然后去这个网站，真的很幸运………. …………https://www.jesusfilm.org/watch/jesus.html/chinese-mandarin.html

 I think that it is only fitting for us to remember all those brave Americans who died to preserve our freedom in this greatest if battles, and what FDR said about our Faith in God.

Ron

The Battle of Okinawa is considered the largest land-sea-air battle in world history, and the last major battle of World War II. It began April 1, 1945, when 60,000 U.S. troops landed on the Island of Okinawa. It was called “The Typhoon of Steel” because of the hundreds of kamikaze attacks, where suicide bombers flew planes filled with explosives into American ships.

Fighting continued for 82 days. Kamikaze pilots sank 38 U.S. ships, and damaged 368 more, in what is considered the greatest loss of American ships in U.S. naval history. There were over 72,000 American casualties. Imperial Japan lost over 110,000 soldiers, in addition to nearly 150,000 Okinawan civilian casualties, many of whom were ordered by the retreating military to be human shields or to commit suicide, as the Imperial honor code, called “seppuku” or “harakiri,” considered surrender a shame worse than death.

Pulitzer Prize winning war correspondent Ernie Pyle was killed in the battle, April 18, 1945, by Japanese machine-gun fire on an island northwest of Okinawa Island. Ernie Pyle had been embedded with Army infantry soldiers in Europe, North Africa and the Pacific.

Infantry soldiers were given “Government Issued” supplies, resulting in the initials “G.I.”

Ernie Pyle’s newspaper columns were turned into the 1945 movie, The Story of G.I. Joe.

Ernie Pyle wrote in 1943:
“I love the infantry because they are the underdogs. They are the mud-rain-frost-and-wind boys. They have no comforts, and they even learn to live without the necessities. And in the end they are the guys that wars can’t be won without.”

The fierceness of Japanese combat in the Battle of Okinawa convinced the U.S. Navy and Marines to expect over a million casualties if they attempted to invade the main Japanese islands. This convinced Democrat President Harry S Truman to drop the atomic bomb on the industrial centers of Hiroshima and Kyoto in August of 1945. Secretary of War Henry Stimson argued to spare Kyoto as a target. The city Kokura was then chosen, but on the fateful day cloud cover blocked the crews’ visual identification, so the bomb was dropped on nearby Nagasaki.

Tragically, Nagasaki had been the most Christian city in all of Japan.

Nagasaki was first visited by Jesuit missionary St. Francis Xavier in 1549, through whose efforts the powerful daimyo (lord) Ōmura Sumitada had been baptized. Over 300,000 Japanese became Christian by the end of the 16th century. Suffering intense persecution, the Kakure Kirishitan “Hidden Christians” or Mukashi Kirishitan “Ancient Christians” passed their faith on to succeeding generations, century after century.

Martin Scorsese’s movie SILENCE (2016) gives the account of missionaries to Japan and the persecutions suffered by Japanese Christians.

Emperor Meiji finally allowed religious freedom during the Meiji Restoration, 1868-1912.

From 1912 to 1926, Japan experienced unprecedented freedom and prosperity during the “Taishō democracy.”

Beginning in 1926, Japan’s Shōwa Emperor, Hirohito and his generals re-concentrated power politically into a totalitarian, militaristic state.

Emperor Hirohito’s Imperial Japan entered into a Tripartite Treaty with Benito Mussolini’s Fascist Italy and Adolph Hitler’s National Socialist Workers Party on September 27, 1940, being referred to as the “Axis Powers.”

After the Imperial planes had attacked Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt recited the reason the U.S. entered into war in his address to Congress, December 8, 1941:

“The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage … lives have been lost …Ships have been reported torpedoed between San Francisco and Honolulu …The Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya … Hong Kong … Guam … Philippine Islands … Wake Island … and Midway Island.”

FDR stated January 6, 1942: “Japan’s … conquest goes back half a century …

War against China in 1894 …

Occupation of Korea (1910) …

War against Russia in 1904 …

Fortification of the mandated Pacific islands following 1920 …

Seizure of Manchuria in 1931 …

Invasion of China in 1937.”

Invading Imperial soldiers massacred over 300,000 in Nanking, China, 1937-1938.

FDR concluded his address: “We are fighting today for security, for progress, and for peace, not only for ourselves but for all men, not only for one generation but for all generations. We are fighting to cleanse the world of ancient evils, ancient ills. Our enemies are guided by brutal cynicism, by unholy contempt for the human race.”

“We are inspired by a faith that goes back through all the years to the first chapter of the Book of Genesis: ‘God created man in His own image.  We on our side are striving to be true to that divine heritage …”

“We are fighting, as our fathers have fought, to uphold the doctrine that all men are equal in the sight of God. “

“Those on the other side are striving to destroy this deep belief and to create a world in their own image — a world of tyranny and cruelty and serfdom. That is the conflict that day and night now pervades our lives.”

“No compromise can end that conflict. There never has been, there never can be, successful compromise between good and evil.”

“Only total victory can reward the champions of tolerance, and decency, and freedom, and faith.”

March 2^nd is Texas Independence Day.  But do you know the real history of how it came about.  And have you ever read the real Texas Declaration of Independence.  Every real Texan should read it at least once.

Below I have transcribed a verbatim copy of it for you.  However, first, let me give you a short history of what brought it about, and then show you the document.  See, the Mexican people had been under the control of Spain and then France for so many years.  Finally they gained their independence.  They were overjoyed at what they expected would be their new-found freedom. 

The Americans living in the northern part of Mexico north of the Rio Grande River in the area called Texas were thrilled too.  They were expecting to enjoy new freedoms also.  Most had come to Texas to start a new life and acquire their own land. 

The people of Mexico had their first free election and elected their own president.  His full name was ………Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón or for short, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

However, much to their consternation, he immediately overrode their constitution and became a vicious dictator.  He ruled through executive orders, demanding more control and higher taxes.  Santa Anna decided the people were incapable of ruling themselves, so he ignored the Constitution, dissolved the Congress and declared himself dictator. 

Santa Anna wrote to the U.S. minister to Mexico, Joel R. Poinsett:  “A hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty … a despotism is the proper government for them, but there is no reason why it should not be a wise and virtuous one.” 

Santa Anna demanded citizens surrender their guns, decreeing:  “All foreigners who might be caught under arms on Mexican soil should be treated as pirates and shot”   Santa Anna wrote in his Manifesto, 1837:  “I offered life to the defendants who would surrender their arms and retire under oath not to take them up again against Mexico.”  He incited killings and used his military against those resisting his centralized power.  

 New Orleans there was a Mexican army led by General José Antonio Mexía.  He decided to march his troops down and free the people of Mexico from Santa Anna. In 1835, Federal General José Antonio Mexía marched his troops from New Orleans to Tampico, but Santa Anna defeated him and executed every prisoner. 

None of this sat well with those Texans living north of the Rio Grande river.  They needed their weapons to kill wild game, which was a big part of their diet, and for protection from the Kiowa, the Apaches, and especially the Comanches.  They drew up a Declaration of Independence from Mexico and started to organize for defense. 

So, Santa Anna himself decided to lead his army north and put down these rebellious Texans.  On February 23, 1836, General Santa Anna’s army arrived outside the Old Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar.  His troops, eventually numbering 1,800, flew the blood-red flag of no quarter, signifying that all those captured would be killed.

Texan and Tejano defenders, numbering between 182 to 257, responded by firing their cannon.  In the “13 days of glory at the Alamo,” Santa Anna’s take-no-prisoner policy had all defenders killed, including: William Travis, Jim Bowie, and former U.S, Congressman Davy Crockett. 

Santa Anna ordered those who surrendered to be executed and have their corpses burned.  The few survivors included Susanna Dickinson, her baby, Angelina, and Travis’ young black servant, Joe.

The only Texas army left in the field was Col. James Fannin’s.  It departed Goliad to rescue the Alamo but was surrounded in open ground and 350 were captured.  Santa Anna ordered the prisoners executed.  When the Mexican officer hesitated carrying out the executions, Santa Anna sent another officer who proceeded to execute nearly all of them in the Goliad Massacre, March 27, 1836.  Bodies were stripped, piled, burned and left exposed to vultures and coyotes.  A few dozen of the Texans were spared execution through the courageous intervention of Francita Alavez, the “Angel of Goliad,” and Mexican Colonel Francisco Garay.

Had Fannin’s troops been left in prison, Texans would have been disheartened, but instead, Santa Anna’s Goliad Massacre aroused world outrage. 

General Sam Houston had by now recruited a crew of tough Texans.  Much to their consternation Houston kept retreating until he had led Santa Anna and his troops all the way down to the San Jacinto area south of present day Houston.  He waited until the Mexican army retreated into their tents for their daily siesta. Then those brave Texans attacked in force.  They loaded their cannons with grape shot and aimed them at ground level.  They say that all across the battle field were the loud shouts of the Texans…….”Remember the Alamo!, Remember Goliad!……Remember the Alamo!, Remember Goliad!” 

The Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836 was a massive Texan victory.  Santa Anna was shot through the leg and managed to hide in the swamp, but those Texans found him and drug him back in front of General Sam Houston.  He had no choice but to cede all the territory north of the Rio Grande to the new Texas Republic. 

So, like I said, every real Texan should read the Texas Declaration of Independence at least once, and here it is for you:

“UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE by the delegates of the People of Texas in General Convention at the Town of Washington, on the Second Day of March, 1836.  When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted; and so far from being a guarantee for their inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression… …insuch a crisis … the inherent and inalienable right of the people to appeal to first principles, and take their political affairs into their own hands in extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves and a sacred obligation to their posterity to abolish such government, and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, and to secure their welfare and happiness …”

The Texas Declaration continued:  “The late changes made in the government by General Antonio Lopez Santa Anna,who having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers, as the cruel alternative, either abandon our homes acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood… It denies us the right of worshiping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a National Religion, calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God.  It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defense – the rightful property of freemen – and formidable only to tyrannical governments …  It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defenseless frontiers …”

The Texas Declaration ended:  “We, therefore, the delegates, with plenary powers, of the people of Texas … DECLARE, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas, do now constitute a FREE, SOVEREIGN, and INDEPENDENT REPUBLIC …  Conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme Arbiter of the destinies of nations.

Remember the Alamo

Please note that in declaring their independence the Texans not only demanded the right to keep their guns and homes and property, but they absolutly did not want to be subjected to a State Religion.  As they put it in their Declaration, they demanded the “right of worshiping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience” and that this worship be according to “the glory of the true and living God”. 

I would really like for you to know about one of the most brilliant men that ever lived…..Isaac Newton.  Do take the time to read this short revelation about him that I have prepared for you…….. 

Ron

Isaac Newton was born on December 25, 1642, the same year Galileo died.  Newton’s mother was widowed twice, resulting in him being raised by his grandmother.  He was sent off to grammar school at The King’s School, Grantham, England.  His uncle, Rev William Ayscough provided the recommendation for him to attend Trinity College, Cambridge, 1661.

In the Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life, written by William Stukeley, there is this story:  “Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground, thought he to himself; occasioned by the fall of the apple, as he sat in contemplative mood. 

“Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? But constantly to the Earth’s center? Assuredly the reason is, that the Earth draws it.  There must be a drawing power in matter. And the sum of the drawing power in the matter of the Earth must be in the Earth’s center, not in any side of the Earth.

“Therefore does this apple fall perpendicularly or towards the center? If matter thus draws matter; it must be proportion of its quantity. Therefore the apple draws the Earth, as well as the Earth draws the apple.’’ 

So Issac Newton from this formed the Laws of Universal Gravitation that we study in our beginning physics courses. 

Newton became a renown mathematician and a natural philosopher. 

He formulated the three laws of motion, which aided in advancement of the discipline of dynamics.  He explained in Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, 1687: 

“FIRST LAW: An object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force; 

SECOND LAW: Force equals mass times acceleration; 

THIRD LAW: When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.” 

Newton was honored to occupy the Lucasian Chair of Mathematics, 1669, and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society, 1672.

He was given the position of Master of the Mint, 1699, and in 1701, entered Parliament.           

In addition to discovering the Laws of Universal Gravitation, Newton was a discoverer of calculus.  He helped develop it into a comprehensive branch of mathematics. 

He constructed one of the first practical reflecting telescopes.

Using a prism, Newton demonstrated that a beam of light contained all the colors of the rainbow.

He laid the foundation for the great law of energy conservation and developed the particle theory of light propagation. 

In 1703, Sir Issac Newton became the President of the Royal Society, and served in that position until his death. 

This was one of the most brilliant men that ever lived…….just an amazing mind!!!  He has to be considered the father of modern physics………such a brilliant scientist!   

Now here is my point:  All across the U.S. in our universities are a plethora of scientists and professors who say there is no God, that “science” has proved that to be true.  They are atheists who say science has proved and led them to this conclusion.  So, since most of the laws upon which their work and studies rest were discovered and formulated by the brilliant Sir Issac Newton.  Let’s look at what he thought and said about whether there is a God or not. OK? 

Newton wrote one of the most important scientific books ever, Principia, 1687, in which he stated:  “This most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being … All variety of created objects which represent order and life in the universe could happen only by the willful reasoning of its original Creator, whom I call the ‘Lord God’ … This Being governs all things, not as the soul of the world, but as Lord over all; and on account of His dominion He is wont to be called ‘Lord God’ … The supreme God exists necessarily, and by the same necessity He exists always and everywhere.” 

Newton wrote in the last query of Optics, or, a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light (1704, London, 1730, 4th edition, quoted in Sullivan, p.125-126):  “Now by the help of these principles, all material things seem to have been composed of the hard and solid particles, above-mentioned, variously associated in the first creation by the counsel of an intelligent agent. For it became him who created them to set them in order.  And if he did so, it’s unphilosophical to seek for any other origin of the world, or to pretend that it might arise out of a chaos by the mere laws of nature; though being once formed, it may continue by those laws for all ages.”

Newton wrote in Principia, 1687:  “From His true dominion it follows that the true God is a living, intelligent and powerful Being; and from His other perfections, that He is supreme, or most perfect.  He is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient; that is, His duration reaches from eternity to eternity. His presence from infinity to infinity. He governs all things, and knows all things that are or can be done.” 

Newton was quoted in Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton by Sir David Brewster (Edinburgh, Thomas Constable and Co., 1855, Vol. II, 354):  “God made and governs the world invisibly, and has commanded us to love and worship him, and no other God; to honor our parents and masters, and love our neighbors as ourselves; and to be temperate, just, and peaceable, and to be merciful even to brute beasts. 

“And by the same power by which he gave life at first to every species of animals, he is able to revive the dead, and has revived Jesus Christ our Redeemer, who has gone into the heavens to receive a kingdom, and prepare a place for us, and is next in dignity to God, and may be worshiped as the Lamb of God, and has sent the Holy Ghost to comfort us in his absence, and will at length return and reign over us.”         

Newton wrote in a “Short Scheme of the True Religion” (Sir David Brewster, Memoirs of the Life, Writings, and Discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton, Edinburgh, Thomas Constable and Co., 1855, Vol. II, P. 248):  “Opposite to godliness is atheism in profession, and idolatry in practice. Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind. 

“There is one God, the Father, ever-living, omnipresent, omniscient, almighty, the Maker of heaven and earth, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus …To us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by Him. 

“That is, we are to worship the Father alone as God Almighty, and Jesus alone as the Lord, the Messiah, the Great King, the Lamb of God who was slain, and hath redeemed us with His blood, and made us kings and priests.” 

Sir Isaac Newton died MARCH 20, 1727.           

Flight 93

On this 22nd Anniversary of 9/11 I thought you would like to read the actual, verbatim transcript of Todd Beamer’s conversation with a GTE operator.  He was a passenger on Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania.  He was able to get into a pantry on the plane and get ahold of an “air phone”.  He and his three companions died as they overwhelmed the terrorist hijackers and put the plane into a death dive.  Otherwise it would have been crashed into our US Capitol Building.  These were regular folks who turned into major heroes.   As my friend, E.V. Hill likes to say: “God delights in using just regular people to accomplish his purposes”.

Ron

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Todd: Hello… Operator…listen to me…I can’t speak very loud. – This is an emergency. I’m a passenger on a United flight to San Francisco..  We have a situation here….Our plane has been hijacked…..can you understand me?

Lisa: (exhaling a deep breath to herself) I understand… Can the hijackers see you talking on the phone?

Todd: No

Lisa: Can you tell me how many hijackers are on the plane?

Todd: There are three that we know of.

Lisa: Can you see any weapons? What kind of weapons do they have?

Todd: Yes…. they don’t have guns….they have knives – they took over the plane with knives.

Lisa: Do you mean…like steak knives?

Todd: No, these are razor knives…like box cutters.

Lisa: Can you tell what country these people are from?

Todd: No…..I don’t know. They sound like they’re from the mid-east.

Lisa: Have they said what they want?

Todd: Someone announced from the cockpit that there was a bomb on board.  He said he was the captain and to stay in our seats and stay quiet. He said that they were meeting these men’s demands and returning to the airport… It was very broken English, and… I’m telling you…it sounded fake!

Lisa: Ok sir, please give me your name.

Todd: My name is Todd Beamer.

Lisa: Ok Todd….my name is Lisa…Do you know your flight number? If you can’t remember, it’s on your ticket.

Todd: It’s United Flight 93.

Lisa: Now Todd, can you try to tell me exactly what happened?

Todd: Two of the hijackers were sitting in first class near the cockpit.  A third one was sitting near the back of the coach section. The two up. front got into the cockpit somehow; there was shouting. The third hijacker said he had a bomb. It looks like a bomb. He’s got it tied to his waist with a red belt of some kind.Lisa: So is the door to the cockpit open?

Todd: No, the hijackers shut it behind them.

Lisa: Has anyone been injured?

Todd: Yes, ..they…they killed one passenger sitting in first class. There’s been lots of shouting. We don’t know if the pilots are dead or alive. A flight attendant told me that the pilot and copilot had been forced from the cockpit and may have been wounded.

Lisa: Where is the 3rd hijacker now Todd?

Todd: He’s near the back of the plane. They forced most of the passengers into first class. There are fourteen of us here in the back. Five are flight attendants. He hasn’t noticed that I slipped into this pantry to get the phone. The guy with the bomb ordered us to sit on the floor in the rear of the plane……….oh Jesus.. Help!

Lisa: Todd….are you ok? Tell me what’s happening!

Todd: Hello…..We’re going down….I think we’re going to crash……Wait – wait a minute. No, we’re leveling off….we’re ok. I think we may be turning around…..That’s it – we changed directions.  Do you hear me….we’re flying east again.

Lisa: Ok Todd…. What’s going on with the other passengers?

Todd: Everyone is… really scared. A few passengers with cell phones have made calls to relatives. A guy, Jeremy, was talking to his wife just before the hijacking started. She told him that hijackers had crashed two planes into the World Trade Center……Lisa is that true??

Lisa: Todd…..I have to tell you the truth…..it’s very bad.  The World Trade Center is gone. Both of the towers have been destroyed.

Todd: Oh God —help us!

Lisa: A third plane was taken over by terrorists. It crashed into the Pentagon in Washington DC. Our country is under attack….and I’m afraid that your plane may be part of their plan.

Todd: Oh dear God. Dear God…….Lisa, will you do something for me?Lisa: I’ll try….if I can….Yes.

Todd: I want you to call my wife and my kids for me and tell them what’s happened. Promise me you’ll call..

Lisa: I promise – I’ll call.

Todd: Our home number is 201 353-1073…….You have the same name as my wife…Lisa….We’ve been married for 10 years. She’s pregnant with our 3rd child. Tell her that I love her…….(choking up)..I’ll always love her..(clearing throat) We have two boys.. David, he’s 3 and Andrew, he’s 1…..Tell them……(choking) tell them that their daddy loves them and that he is so proud of them. (clearing throat again) Our baby is due January 12th…..I saw an ultra sound…..it was great….we still don’t know if it’s a girl or a boy………Lisa?

Lisa: (barely able to speak) I’ll tell them, I promise Todd.

Todd: I’m going back to the group—if I can get back I will…

Lisa: Todd, leave this line open…are you still there?……

Lisa: (dials the phone..) Hello, FBI, my name is Lisa Jefferson, I’m a telephone supervisor for GTE. I need to report a terrorist hijacking of a United Airlines Flight 93….Yes I’ll hold.

Goodwin: Hello, this is Agent Goodwin.. I understand you have a hijacking situation?

Lisa: Yes sir, I’ve been talking with a passenger, a Todd Beamer, on Flight 93 who managed to get to an air phone unnoticed.

Goodwin: Where did this flight originate, and what was its destination?

Lisa: The flight left Newark New Jersey at 8 A.M. departing for San Francisco. The hijackers took over the plane shortly after takeoff, and several minutes later the plane changed course – it is now flying east.

Goodwin: Ms. Jefferson…I need to talk to someone aboard that plane. Can you get me thru to the planes phone?

Lisa: I still have that line open sir, I can patch you through on a conference call…hold a mo…..

Todd: Hello Lisa, Lisa are you there?

Lisa: Yes, I’m here. Todd, I made a call to the FBI, Agent Goodwin is on the line and will be talking to you as well.

Todd: The others all know that this isn’t your normal hijacking. Jeremy called his wife again on his cell phone. She told him more about the World Trade Center and all.

Goodwin: Hello Todd. This is Agent Goodwin with the FBI. We have been monitoring your flight. Your plane is on a course for Washington, DC. These terrorists sent two planes into the World Trade Center and one plane into the Pentagon. Our best guess is that they plan to fly your plane into either the White House or the United States Capital Building.

Todd: I understand…hold on……I’ll…….I’ll be back..

Lisa: Mr. Goodwin, how much time do they have before they get to Washington?
Goodwin: Not long ma’am. They changed course over Cleveland; they’re approaching Pittsburgh now. Washington may be twenty minutes away.

Todd: (breathing a little heavier) The plane seems to be changing directions just a little. It’s getting pretty rough up here. The plane is flying real erratic….We’re not going to make it out of here. Listen to me….I want you to hear this….I have talked with the others….we have decided we would not be pawns in these hijackers suicidal plot.

Lisa: Todd, what are you going to do?

Todd: We’ve hatched a plan. Four of us are going to rush the hijacker with the bomb. After we take him out, we’ll break into the cockpit. A stewardess is getting some boiling water to throw on the hijackers at the controls. We’ll get them….and we’ll take them out. Lisa, …..will you do one last thing for me?

Lisa: Yes…What is it?

Todd: Would you pray with me?

They pray: Our father which art in Heaven
Hallowed be thy name,
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our trespasses
As we forgive our trespassers,
And lead us not into temptation
But deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory
Forever…..Amen
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…
He makes me to lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside the still waters
He restores my soul
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for His name’s sake
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me…..

Todd: (softer) God help me…Jesus help me….(clears throat and louder)
Are you guys ready?……..

Let’s Roll ……………………

Smoke from the crash of Flight 93 seconds after is plunged straight into the earth

I wish to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11.  I could recall the actions of the brave firemen who climbed up those burning building, and it would be appropriate.  However, to make the commemoration more meaningful I much prefer to tell you a true story that happened that day about a brave blond girl,  which you have probably never heard.
Ron

Heather Penny

On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, 1st Lt. Heather Penney arrived at work at Andrews Air Force Base.  She grabbed a seat around the briefing table. She was just returning from two weeks of air combat training in Nevada, but in a very real way, Penney was still a rookie without much experience in a supersonic fighter.  But she was the first woman ever confirmed for aerial combat in the US.  And she later flew many missions in Iraq on two tours there.   

She was born on an Air Force base. Her father, Col. John Penney, was a pilot with multiple combat missions at the stick of America’s A-7 Corsair II under his belt in Vietnam. 

Along with the other folks there at Andrews, she had just seen the tv pictures of the Twin Towers.  Everyone was immediately aware of the World Trade Center crash, but like most Americans at the time, they assumed it was nothing more than a tragic accident. 

In fact, many dismissed the story, assuming it had been a personal plane, like a small Cessna, that likely hit the building. But 17 minutes after the first aircraft hit the North Tower, another Boeing 767, this time United Airlines Flight 175, hit the South Tower. Most of the nation didn’t know it yet, but the pilots at Andrews Air Force Base did; America was at war.

 At 9:37 a.m., a third hijacked aircraft, this time American Airlines Flight 77, crashed into the Pentagon, just a 30-minute drive from the briefing room where Penney sat.

Almost simultaneously, another message came through the pipeline: there was another hijackaircraft in the air and it was heading straight for Washington DC. 

Heather and her group were not in the regular Air Force.  They were in the Virginia Air National Guard.  But they knew that they were the closest ones that could guard the Capital area.  And they had taken an oath to guard the American people. 

They sprang into action, but despite their professionalism, confusion swelled within the ranks. No one had anticipated such an attack, and there were no standing procedures to follow. Penney knew the hijacked aircraft would have to be intercepted and shot down before it could reach a target like the Capitol building, but there were no armed F-16s standing by for the job. 

Every Fighting Falcon on the tarmac was equipped with dummy rounds and fake munitions meant to mimic real ordnance for training. It would take at least an hour to get the ammunition changed out and have missiles mounted on the aircraft’s hardpoints. 

“We know we have to get airborne. We know we have to protect. I was so eager, so impatient, and yet so frustrated and angry, because we couldn’t,” Penney said. 

“As I said, we’re with the DC Guard. We’re not part of our nation’s alert squadron.” 

But waiting an hour wasn’t an option. The United States was under attack and the men and women of Andrews Air Force Base may have been the only thing standing between the American Capitol and what was now a 250,000-pound missile full of innocent people heading straight for it. 

Penney was too junior in rank to do anything about it, but just then she saw Col. Marc “Sass” Sasseville scrambling to put on his flight suit, having just received the go-ahead from Vice President Dick Cheney to put fighters in the air and start searching for the hijacked airliner. 

“Lucky, you’re coming with me,” the colonel shouted.  (That was what they called Penney) 

Jumping at the opportunity to get into the fight, Penney headed off behind Sass, running to their respective F-16s. But the junior pilot had never had to scramble a fighter in combat conditions before. 

Like any pilot, she deferred to her training, hurriedly beginning the checklist required to safely start an F-16 and get it ready to fly. 

“Lucky, what are you doing? Get your butt up there and let’s go!” Sasseville shouted. So, Penney jumped into the cockpit, fired up her engines, and screamed to her ground crew to yank out the wheel chocks keeping the aircraft from rolling. 

As she began to taxi down the runway, her crew chief still had his headphones plugged into the fuselage, allowing the two of them to communicate directly. He was still pulling safety pins out of the fighter as it rolled down the tarmac. 

By the time her crew chief unplugged, Sass was already in the air. Penney whispered to herself, “God, don’t let me [expletive] up” and followed right behind. They had made it into the sky, and only then did the gravity of the situation begin to set in. 

Other Air Defense fighters from the regular Air Force were already in action, but they were all way out over the Atlantic.  They had assumed from their training that any threat to the US would be coming from that direction.  That left “Lucky” and “Sass” as the only defenders of the DC area. 

As they flew low over the smoldering Pentagon at over 400 mph, the senior pilot considered their options. He already knew that with no munitions on board, they were on a suicide mission. That wasn’t the part troubling him. It was the aerodynamic design of their target that gave him pause. 

“We don’t train to bring down airliners,” said Sasseville later. 

“If you just hit the engine, it could still glide, and you could guide it to a target. My thought was the cockpit or the wing.” 

As they headed out to find Flight 93 which was now only 200 miles from DC, Col. Sasseville told Penney that he was going for the cockpit of the airliner.  Penney decided in her mind that she would go for the tail.  “Sass” was planning to hit his ejection button upon impact and maybe survive.  However, “Lucky” was not planning on hitting her’s.  She was planning to die upon impact. 

As you know, Todd Beamer and his three new friends brought down Flight 93 themselves.  And you have heard many times about how brave they were and how brave those firemen were to climb up into those burning buildings.  But I am sending you this because you may not have heard about how brave this young blond girl was.  Those firemen knew they were heading into danger, but “Lucky” knew she was going to die for sure as she streaked ahead in her Fighting Falcon!!!