Jan 30 2010

2010 Mardi Gras Schedule – Mobile, AL & Bay Area

Category: Local StuffWilliam McGill @ 11:47 am

For all you Mobile Bay Area parade goers, here ya go… this years Mardi Gras schedule.

2010 Mardi Gras Schedule

All parades roll on Route A unless otherwise noted.

Parade schedule dates and times are subject to change. Check this page for updates.

Saturday, January 16
1:00 pm

Krewe De La Dauphine Parade

(Dauphin Island)

Saturday, January 23
1:00 pm

Island Mystics Parade

(Dauphin Island)

Friday, January 29
6:30
pm

Conde Cavalier Parade
Saturday, January 30
12:00 pm Bayport Parading Society
7:00 pm Pharaoh’s Mystic Society Parade
(www.thepharaohs.org)
7:30 pm Conde Explorers Parade
Thursday, February 4
6:30 pm

Order of the Polka Dots Parade
Friday, February 5
6:30
pm
Order of the Inca Parade

(www.orderofinca.com)

Saturday, February 6
2:00 pm Mobile Mystics Parade

(www.mobilemystics.com)

6:30 pm Maids of Mirth Parade
7:00 pm
Order of Butterfly Maidens Parade
7:30 pm Krewe of Marry Mates
Sunday, February 7
6:30
pm
Neptune’s Daughters Parade
7:00
pm

Order of Isis Parade
Monday, February 8
6:30
pm
Mobile Mystical Ladies Parade
7:00
pm

Order of Venus Parade
Tuesday, February 9
6:30
pm
Order of LaShe Parade
Thursday, February 11
6:30
pm
Mystic Striper Parade
Friday, February 12
6:30
pm
Crewe of Columbus Parade
Saturday, February 13
12:00
noon
Floral Parade
12:30 pm Knights of Mobile Parade
1:00 pm Order of Angels Parade
6:00
pm
Mystics of Time Parade
6:30
pm

Coronation of Queen to King Felix III(Mobile Convention Center)
Sunday, February 14
2:00 pm Arrival of King Elexis I

(at foot of Government Street)

2:30
pm
Joe Cain Parade
5:00
pm
Le Krewe de Bienville Parade
5:30
pm
Les Femmes Cassettes Parade
8:15
pm

Coronation of King Elexis

(Mobile Civic Center)

Monday, February 15
11:00 am Arrival of King Felix III

(at foot of Government Street)

12:00 Noon King’s Parade and Floral Parade
3:00
pm
MLK Business and Civic Organization Parade

(rolls on Route D)

3:30
pm
MLK Monday Mystics Parade

(rolls on Route D)

4:00
pm
Northside Merchants Parade

(rolls on Route D)

6:30
pm
Infant Mystics Parade
Tuesday, February 16

Mardi Gras Day

FAT TUESDAY!(always the day before Ash Wednesday)

10:30
am
Order of Athena Parade
12:30
pm
Knights of Revelry Parade
1:00
pm
King Felix Parade
1:30
pm
Comic Cowboys Parade
2:00 pm Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association

(rolls on Route B)

6:30
pm
Order of Myths Parade

(rolls on Route C)

*parade info. as provided by the City of Mobile Traffic Dept.

*subject to change without notice.

Future Mardi Gras Day Dates:

2011 – March 8

2012 – February 21

2013 – February 12

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Oct 03 2009

Changing Directions

Category: GeneralWilliam McGill @ 5:35 am

It’s currently about 5am on Saturday morning and I’ve been up for a few hours surfing the net, thinking about the direction in which things in, of, and around my life are heading. Doesn’t appear to be too bad when I consider how fortunate I am to have a decent job, a beautiful, healthy, loving family, my health, and a chance at life.

I’ve decided that i’m not going to change the world by posting things that I hope will encourage others to see the world as I do. Be that spiritually, politically, or otherwise.  Everyone has to find there own path.
I feel it’s time for a slight change in direction for my, as of late, stagnate site.
I’ve also decided that I don’t want to worry about my grammar as much either. Or spelling for that matter.

Life is change and so shall my blog reflect that as well.

Au revoir.
whm


Jul 23 2008

What Happened to the Fifty-six Men…

Category: HistoryWilliam McGill @ 5:20 pm

I received the following in an email today. I’m in the process of reviewing the information for accuracy. However, I couldn’t resist posting it early since I received it from a fairly reliable source.

————————-

Have you ever wondered what happened to the fifty-six men who signed the Declaration of Independence?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons in the Revolutionary War, another had two sons captured. Nine of the fifty-six fought and died from wounds or the hardships of the Revolutionary War.

What kind of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners, men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British navy. He sold his home and his properties to pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers or both, looted the properties of Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his Headquarters. The owner quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart of New Jersey … was driven from his wife’s bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Lewis Morris and Philip Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such are the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were softspoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they pledged:

“For the support of this declaration, with the firm reliance on the protection of the Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

They gave you and I a free and independent America. The history books of today do not tell the student a lot of what happened leading to and during the revolutionary war. We didn’t just fight the British. We were British subjects, a state of siege and repression of rights and liberties had existed for many years and a state of war had existed for two years prior to the signing of the Declaration, and we fought our own government for independence!

Most of the citizens of today take their liberties so much for granted. They shouldn’t, for in taking liberty for granted, they have lost much of it. All governments progress from liberty to tyranny and despotism, unless carefully watched and circumscribed. Much is to be learned in today’s times from the events of that time, the causes and the reasons for the uprising and indignation of the citizens in opposition to tyranny. Many parallels can be drawn as we review the happenings of today.

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Jul 04 2008

The Star Spangled Banner

Category: HistoryWilliam McGill @ 6:40 pm

Today I learned something new. Something that I’m very surprised I didn’t know already. Is it just me or did anyone else not know about the fourth and final verse of The Star Spangled Banner?

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must,
When our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

I think this is a very important verse that shouldn’t be left out. So… I decided to blog about it. :) Below is the full version of the Star Spangled Banner for you to see; just in case you didn’t know about the other verses either.

May God bless the true patriots of this nation!

Happy Independence Day,

-William McGill

The Star Spangled Banner

Oh, say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets’ red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam
Of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wiped out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save
The hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must,
When our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Francis Scott Key

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Mar 18 2008

Protected: A Week In This Life – Brayden Patrick McGill – Part 1

Category: FamilyWilliam McGill @ 8:46 am

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Jan 05 2008

Ron Paul Revisted

Category: PoliticsWilliam McGill @ 1:25 am

Ron Paul took in over 10% Thursday at the Iowa caucus. That’s better than both Carter and Clinton did during their primaries. I use those two as examples not because they are Democrats, but because they both won the presidency!!

Anyone care to wager on who gets the White House? I say Hillary and Obama get the Democratic nomination (Hillary being President and Obama going on as the VP), and Ron Paul, after many scandals and voting machine errors, gets the Republican nomination only to be deep sixed Bhutto-style before he’s ever able to rip one on the Commander-in-Chief’s seat.

How’s $10 dollars on any one of those. You can bet the powers that be won’t go quietly. Much like those Bhutto was threatening to dethrone. And for what?! Power? Greed? The only person we can truly control is ourself, and we surly can’t take anything with us from this temporary physical world. Why does the word ancient suddenly come to mind. ;)

I’m praying that I’m wrong and instead the people in this country begin to see what is wrong with this country, and get off their lazy asses to do something about it. I’m talking get up and do something for someone other than themselves. Myself included!

Anyway, all that being said, I think Ron Paul has a definite shot at this and I encourage any of you who haven’t taken a serious look at him to do so.

- William McGill

I received the following email today which prompted me to write my plea to all the voters out there in these United States of America :

From: mail@ronpaul2008.cpro30.com [mailto:mail@ronpaul2008.cpro30.com] On Behalf Of Ron Paul 2008
Sent: Friday, January 04, 2008 11:35 PM
To: williammcgill
Subject: Thank you!

January 4, 2007

Yesterday was a remarkable day for Ron Paul, and it wouldn’t have happened without you. For those of you who haven’t yet heard, Ron Paul took over 10% in yesterday’s Iowa caucus, handily beating Rudy Giuliani and finishing right behind both Fred Thompson and John McCain. This despite that Rudy Giuliani made more visits to Iowa than Ron Paul. And, entrance polls showed that Ron Paul took first place (29%) among independent Republicans!

This campaign is just beginning, and we are starting off better than anyone in the “mainstream” media imagined.

Back in February 2007, no one gave Ron Paul any chance to succeed in this race. Ron Paul did not have the name recognition of other candidates, nor the financial resources. Essentially, Ron Paul started at a level of 0% in all 50 states.

But then, as we know, something started to happen. Americans started to hear this message of freedom, and began to galvanize behind the cause. It’s no small feat that we brought in 10% yesterday in Iowa, a double-digit turnout that has brought a lot of commentary – even from Fox News!

Just last night, Greta van Sustern had this to say:

Ten per cent is not insignificant – that’s a huge number. Here you have a candidate that 10 per cent of the people caucused in his party really want him and it’s not like he’s an insignificant player. He didn’t just drop in yesterday to the process, he has been running for president for a long time, and certainly many of the issues he’s raised are rather provocative and certainly stimulate the debate; that’s not a bad thing.

This election is just getting started. It’s time to mobilize and do what needs to be done. It’s time to win the most important election of our lifetime.

We can only compete in the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses with your continued support. Help us keep this momentum going with your most generous donation today: https://www.ronpaul2008.com/donate.

Lew Moore
Campaign Manager
Ron Paul 2008

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Dec 22 2007

The Butcher’s Apron

Category: PoliticsWilliam McGill @ 12:46 pm

Here’s one to get you thinking, mad, confused, or laughing…  I suppose it depends on how receptive you are to information that may not be what you’re use to hearing.

 

The Butcher’s Apron
By Mike Whitney

12/21/07 “ICH” — – Every four years the country is swept up in the pomp and pageantry of presidential elections. And every four years loyal Americans flock to the voting booths to select the candidate of their choice. Elections–we are told—are supposed to be the true expression of democratic government. But they aren’t. They’re a sham and most people know it. The balloting creates the illusion of choice where there is none. It’s become a meaningless ritual that has nothing to do with representative government.

The 2008 elections have already been marred by a number of controversies, the worst of which is the report that was published last Friday by Ohio’s top election official, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. The report proves that the voting systems that decided the 2004 election in Ohio were rife with “critical security failures”. The election was rigged; pure and simple–stolen by the Bush team and their friends in the establishment media who refuse to report the news. It’s actually funny, in a cynical kind of way. The perpetrators were so cocksure they could pull it off that—according to Democracy Now— “the servers for the computation of the Ohio vote count were in the same basement in Chattanooga, Tennessee that houses servers for the Republican National Committee. The programmers who (worked) for Ken Blackwell, the Republican Secretary of State, were Republicans who did websites for the Bush administration.” (Democracy Now)

What gall. Blackwell’s thugs didn’t even try conceal what they were up to. Why should they care? It’s not like there’s an independent media that’s going to report the details of a stolen election. No way. Blackwell ripped off the election and then thumbed his nose at the public. No investigation. No accountability. No nothing. Just like a banana republic only bigger.

So why do we keep throwing billions of dollars down a black hole just to maintain this pathetic charade that fools no one? Why not just load up the boxcars with pallets of crisp-new hundred dollar bills and ship them off to Crawford where they end up anyway. Let Bush worry about how to distribute the loot. Besides, with Congress’ public approval dithering at 11%; we’d be better off paying them to stay at home and turn the House of Representatives into condos.

This year every one of the leading candidates is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Every one of them is a “dual loyalist” with a globalist agenda. Every one of them accepts the new regime of curtailed civil liberties, endless war, and free trade. There’s not a nationalist or a patriot among them. None. They’re all part of the same corporate effluent that washed into Washington on a wave of special interest payola drowning all visible symbols of a once-vital Republic. Romney pontificates about expanding Guantanamo while Clinton boasts about an attack on Iran. Blah, blah, blah. How can anyone listen to this gibberish? There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between any of them. They’re all lacquer-hair phonies who’ve never had an original thought in their lives. Everything they think or say comes off a cue-card or teleprompter that flashes poll-tested, focus-group mumbo-jumbo which they reiterate roboticly. It’s all rubbish.

If a prospective candidate hasn’t sworn his undying allegiance to the cabal of transnational corporations, or taken a blood-oath to defend the doctrine of unfettered self-aggrandizement, or pledged to carry out a bloodthirsty “economy-busting” global crusade; he is quickly banished to the wilderness.

Just look at Ron Paul, who collected $6 million in donations in a matter of hours but still can’t even get his picture in the papers. Why is that?

It’s because he hasn’t sold his soul to the carpetbagging freebooters who run the system. Apart from Kucinich, he’s the only red-blooded, Constitution-toting American in the race. The rest are just bunko-artists and Pharisees.

Everyone knows what’s going on. The whole campaign extravaganza is a pointless farce. Why continue the deception?

We all watched in 2000 while the five loonies on the Supreme Court suspended the hand counting of ballots, overturned the ruling of the Florida Supreme Court, and awarded the election to their own Party’s candidate. How is that any different than Blackwell’s manipulations in Ohio? It’s all the same. In fact, the 5 justices had so little regard for the intelligence of the American people they invoked the 14th amendment—the “equal protection” clause—which had never been used except in cases of racial discrimination. They didn’t care. Who was going to stop them?

Can you imagine, dear reader, the peals of laughter that must have gone up at the right-wing think tanks after that ruling? Hooray for the oligarchy of racketeers! Pass the brandy.

That was a turning point in American history. It showed that the ruling class really doesn’t care what the people think anymore. This is THEIR country and they’ll run it whatever way they want. To hell with democracy.

The reason there’s more coverage of the campaigns this year is simply because the boardroom Mandarins want to restore the illusion that we actually have a choice. We don’t. They pick the candidates and we pull the lever and go home. End of story. The debates are nothing more than a public relations gambit designed to lend a bit of credibility to a system that is rotten to the core. What part of the body-politic has been spared the cancerous ravages of corporate corruption. The Congress? The Executive? The High Court? The media?

Don’t make me laugh. The entire system is marinated in a culture of violence and dishonesty. Nothing is salvageable. It all stinks.

The real difference between the parties is minuscule but significant. The Democrats have become the party of traditional imperialism spearheaded by Brzezinski, Holbrooke, Albright and the other guardians of Empire. These are the master-puppeteers who operate behind the scenes for their well-heeled benefactors. Their focus is mainly on Central Asia; controlling resources from the Caspian Basin, “pacifying” Afghanistan, rallying the EU to a greater role in NATO, and continuing the apocryphal “war on terror” into infinity. It’s the Great Game redux.

The Republican Party has become the party of neoconservatives. Their operational plan is “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm”. It aligns the US with the foreign policy objectives of Israel’s Likud Party. The focus is balkanizing the Middle East, undermining Arab nationalism, installing US-Israeli client regimes, and controlling the regions prodigious natural resources. It is a straightforward strategy for regional hegemony.

This is the REAL split between the parties, not the meaningless Democrat-Republican labels. Presently, the traditional imperialists have regained the upper-hand as the Bush bandwagon lurches into the ditch. Of course, there is some cross-pollenizing between the two parties; the differences are not absolute. There’s plenty of gray-area and incestuous intermingling, but this is a pretty accurate overview. What’s important is that neither party has any intention of restoring the Bill of Rights, slowing the outsourcing of jobs, or abandoning the war on terror. No way. That is not in their collective interests at all.

When civil liberties are stripped away; elections become pointless. Freedom has nothing to do with pushing a colored-nob on a touch-screen computer every 4 years. Its about containing the power of the state. Doesn’t anyone grasp that? Freedom has become hollow buzzword that’s sprinkled through presidential speeches or used to defend the latest bloody intervention in some foreign country. It’s lost whatever meaning it had. We’ve forgotten that the Bill of Rights doesn’t give us special, superhuman powers. It was designed to be a straitjacket that would restrict the actions of power-hungry politicians and confine them within the law. That’s all it is; a shackle on government. Now, all that’s been lost. The basic rules of the game have changed; the social contract has been repealed. Even the flag, which once embodied the hopes and aspirations of the nation; has been raised over Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib and countless other black sites spread across the planet like grains of sand. What does the world see when they look at that flag now? Do they see a symbol of liberty and justice or the butcher’s apron flapping lazily above some far-flung torture chamber.

Everything has changed. America has lost its way. Casting a ballot for one silver-spoon CFR plutocrat over another accomplishes nothing. That’s not democracy. It’s a fraud.


Oct 13 2007

To Muse

Category: PhilosophyWilliam McGill @ 2:09 pm

The following are some of my introspective thoughts.  They may or may not make sense to some or all of you.  There are many levels of enlightenment. Revelations may occur you when you fully realize what is being said.  I believe we should try to achieve understanding during our lifetime. Hence; we should strive to grow; mentally, physically, and spiritually.

~o~

We are constantly changing… why resist this by trying to hold on to an idea of yourself… Let go… Swim in life and appreciate it’s waves of change when they wash over you. “Life is a journey not a destination.”

~o~

The worse part about pretending that you have no trouble is that in doing so it sometimes causes more trouble than you began with.  Remember, problems in life are merely opportunities to learn and grow. Be mindful of your thoughts, and try to recognize and resolve your problems.

~o~

We all have to get there together. If you win I win. We are all of, within, about, and a part of the same thing. In essence; I’m am you and you are me.  Love is the way.

- William McGill


May 11 2007

The Fight Within

Category: PhilosophyWilliam McGill @ 3:54 pm

Author Unknown

An old Cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, “A battle is raging inside me … it is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The old man fixed the children with a firm stare. “This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.”

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee replied: “The one you feed.”


Apr 21 2007

Protected: Heart Walk 2007

Category: FamilyWilliam McGill @ 2:25 pm

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