New York Post

Such a lovely idea.  I speak here as a person who has worked with many of the same people for more than forty years, and virtually “grew up” and “grew old” with them, many of them friends who have shared the important milestones of my life.
There is a poignant hidden significance to the placement of Cantor Fitzgerald names on the 9/11 Memorial.

 To an outside eye, the names appear in no logical way — not arranged in alphabetical order, and not identified by age or company.
But 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees — all killed in the Sept., 11, 2001, terror attacks at the World Trade Center — are inscribed in a very specific pattern on the bronze panels that wrap halfway around the north pool of the 9/11 Memorial.
Seemingly random but far from it, their names are surrounded by those dearest to them — not just co-workers, but close relatives, best buddies and, in one case, a cherished former baby sitter.
“They weren’t people who just worked together and went home. They made up the fabric of their lives,” said Danielle Gardner, who lost a brother in the attacks and has directed a new documentary about the financial-services firm’s staggering loss, “Out of the Clear Blue Sky.”

Continue reading to learn some of the stories behind the memorial.

On December 7, 2001, Peggy Noonan wrote an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal with the title used for this post.  Here it is.
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Let me start by saying that I am enthusiastically in favor of using hydraulic fracturing to build a robust domestic energy program.  Until I saw this map, however, I never realized the huge potential in the United States:
My own state of Michigan is literally covered by the Michigan Basin and the Devonian aged Antrim shale deposits.
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Daily Caller (Patrick Howley):

The Daily Caller feels compelled to present our first, and hopefully last, review of the new version of CNN’s vaunted ‘Crossfire.’ For Review #1, we will focus on the show’s Monday debut starring President Obama’s 2012 deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and guests Sens. Rand Paul and Bob Menendez.
(snip)
A loathsome creature like Stephanie Cutter, the roots jutting out from her blonde dye job as black as the recesses of her soul, can push her way onto national television to sit next to a former Speaker of the House and two sitting U.S. senators. A charmless, dead-eyed, tacky sociopath with no sense of ethics, an empty shell spewing her flat-throated bile without the slightest trace of self-awareness, can beat all of us to the front of the Darwinian line.
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Tea Party Command Center

Daughter of Reverend “God Damn America” Wright and 12 other Democrats are charged with embezzling $16 million in Federal health grants that should have gone to AIDS charities and other programs for the poor and needy.
More than one of the defendants has direct ties to President Barack Obama.

Chicago Sun Times

The U.S. attorney’s office in Springfield has been busy the past few years investigating a variety of fraud schemes involving state grants. Thirteen people have been charged so far, six who have pleaded guilty.
Two of them have ties to President Barack Obama. One is the daughter of his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Another was chief of staff to Obama’s longtime friend Eric E. Whitaker when Whitaker was Illinois’ public health chief.
In all, prosecutors are alleging a total of $16 million in fraud involving state health or commerce department grants and contracts.  Read details HERE

This is a rerun of a post from the past.  It’s challenging, but fun!
(Intercollegiate Studies Institute) Are you more knowledgeable than the average citizen? The average score for all 2,508 Americans taking the civics test was 49%; college educators scored 55%. Can you do better?
Questions were drawn from past ISI surveys, as well as other nationally recognized exams.
Considering the vast majority of “College Educators” are “Progressives” we can infer that their average score was around 55% nationally.   So, do you think you can do better?   To find out CLICK HERE !
UPDATE:
For those who are interested in them, Hillsdale College offers free on-line (no credit) courses concerning the Constitution, History, and (beginning this Fall) Economics.  The list of courses is:
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A friend at Facebook posted a link to this  article by Dr. Angela Graham West, the wife of Allen West, the former Congressman from Florida.

It is interesting to me because I knew virtually nothing about Angela West, and also because she explains clearly how she became a liberal, what it was like, what happened to liberalism, and why she is now a conservative.

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I don’t know how many of you know about Honor Flight.  I first heard of it because I knew someone who fought in WWII who was able to travel to D.C. to visit the Memorial because of the generosity of this group.
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Now that we have spent a couple of months years analyzing Middle Eastern events, here is the geography quiz again.   Let’s see if we remember what we have learned.
Here is a little fun site lesson in pertinent geography that I think you will enjoy. Either that or it’ll frustrate the dickens out of you. But don’t be embarrassed or shy. Give it a try and see how much you have captured from recent events. 🙂
Click Here to start.
Then share how you did. There are no scores or grades just the sheer fun of knowledge. Everyone is an honor student here. (oh yeah, and Mr. SmartyPants “The All Frilliant”  ZurichMike no need)
UPDATE!
Here’s another quiz you might enjoy (this site has multiple tests of this type):
http://www.lizardpoint.com/geography/mideast-quiz.php

Seriously, we have received a number of emails from followers of The Conservative Tree House who are telling us that they receive the subject message whenever they try to post a comment here.  In most cases, these folks were able to comment here for months, but now are unable to do so.  Here’s the latest email:

I’m just dropping by to wish you all an awesome day and to thank each of you for all you do.  For some reason, I still can not comment.  I get a wordpress error that says “sorry. this comment can not be posted.”  I don’t know what further to try, so I guess I’ll ride it out.  It’s been like this for months now.  Anyway….I have to go to work soon, but I just wanted to touch base and let you all know I’m still perched on my branch, reading regularly, but muted by wordpress!!

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