Kiwanis Club of Historic St. Augustine

Newsletter – 2 March 2006

President’s Message:

It’s Official!! Village Inn is the place to be on Thursday mornings at 0700 hours. We have all checked by telephone and by eyeball, and the makeover is complete and the Village Inn is open again and they tell me they are looking forward to serving us every Thursday. So, let’s all turn out and swamp the kitchen with our orders and break them in right. See you there.

Don’t forget that Thursday night we will have an Interclub to the Division Council meeting. As many as can should go, because the District Governor will be there and we should make a point to greet her.

Also don’t forget the Board meeting next Monday at The Allegro.

Lastly, our next big function is the Geography Bee on the 16^th. I think Bob has all the worker slots filled, but every member and their spouses should show up and enjoy the contest.

Coming Events: [Advise the editor of events of interest at 797-4332]

2 March 2006: District Governor’s meeting to be held at Selva Marina CC. The meeting starts at 1800 hours, and the Governor would like to meet with the club officers in attendance at 1700 hours.

6 March 2006: Regular monthly board meeting to be held at The Allegro. The meeting will start at 1700 hours. There is much to discuss, so be prompt and be prepared to share some ideas.

11 March 2006: Kiwanis College (formerly Zone Conference) held in Lake City, and it begins at 0730. Early wake up for the ones attending that meeting.

16 March 2006: Our annual Geography Bee to be held at Sebastian Middle School beginning at 1900 hours.

Guests: Harry Matteson, our fellow Kiwanian from Malone, NY, is here for his annual vacation;

Programs: (Check the website for your speaker assignment date.)

LAST WEEK: Our intrepid earring wearer, Frank Nemec, introduced Verna Brown, who is the Resource Director for our local Habitat for Humanity. She is also a member of that other Kiwanis Club that meets at noon. She gave us a good overview of the Habitat program in this county. They have done a lot with very little. I like the program, because it is not FREE housing. The new owners work hard (sweat equity) and they have a small mortgage to repay. I guess you realize that the program is NOT run by the government.

THIS WEEK: Charles Myers has the duty

NEXT WEEK: Next week is the Human & Spiritual Aims meeting along with our Student of the Month. I’m not sure which school this month, but it won’t be FSDB, because they were last month. The following week Otis Mason is up.

⅓-⅓-⅓ DRAWING WINNERS: Doug Hernandez won money as did Rudy Xue. In addition, Rudy also won the Habitat Bank that was donated by our guest speaker. Congrats and mix those tickets up better next time. Buy your tickets early and often.

Late Breaking News:

The annual Geography Bee is coming up soon and Bob will keep us posted as the time draws neigh. New members, this is a MUST attend! You will enjoy it as much as the kids. This really is an event that you don’t want to miss. It is educational for one and all.

Winter Olympics are now over. I had to agree completely with the sports column in Monday’s Record. USA came in second in the number of medals, but the squad did not live up to their hype. There were no moments to remember in this one. I am reading a very informative book, The Politically Correct Guide to Islam and the Crusades, by Robert Spencer. If you think you know anything about Islam, by all means read this book and find out that most of what you “know” is wrong. You really need to find out the enemy we are fighting. For example, you probably think that the Crusades were all about Christians going in to take over Muslim land. Actually, it was an attempt to regain the land from them. At one time all of North Africa and the Holy Land was Christian and this only changed when the people and the land were taken by the sword. Islam has ONLY advanced with sword.

While we are on the subject, we hear a lot about possible civil war in Iraq between Sunni and Shiite Moslems. My question, and I actually sent it to Bill Hemmer of Fox News, how do they tell each other apart? Do they lie in wait and get them as they go into a different mosque?

Quote(s) of the Week:
"On every question of construction carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates and instead of trying what meaning may be squeezed out of the text or invented against it, conform to the one in which it was passed." —Thomas Jefferson

"America was born in the midst of a great revolution sparked by oppressive taxation. There was something about the American character—open, hard-working and honest—that rebelled at the very thought of taxes that were not only heavy but unfair... But slowly and subtly, surrendering first to this political pressure and then to that, our system of taxation has turned into something completely foreign to our nature—something complicated, unfair and, in a fundamental sense, un-American. Well, my friends, the time has come for a second American revolution." —Ronald Reagan

Open query..."We might also consider whether, and to what degree, dependence on essentially permanent government programs serves to create a large number of Americans who are 'united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.' That is the definition of what James Madison in Federalist 10 called a faction, and a majority faction is what the American Founders thought to be the greatest threat to republican government." —Matthew Spalding, Ph.D.

"All that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for enough good men to do nothing." —Edmund Burke