THE YEAR WAS ABOUT 1969 - MEMORIES OF MY FRIEND, DILLARD CRUME

 THE YEAR WAS ABOUT 1969, the dwindling days of the 60s Decadent Decade in America.  My girlfriend and I had just moved back to Southern California from a year working in Huntsville.  And at that time I was still living in the Decadent Decade, a path I would follow for almost another 20 years before Jesus Christ would come front and center into my life.

She and I had toyed with the fascination of the swinging lifestyle, and when we got settled back in Southern California there was a new movie which had become sort of an anthem for that lifestyle.  That movie was "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" and starred Natalie Wood, Robert Culp, Elliott Gould, and Dyan Cannon.  It was about two Southern California couples, good friends, who decided to walk on the wild side by trying the swinging lifestyle.

Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (November 19, 1968) Cast interview on the Tonight Show
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TnplvKM4IY

We did venture into the packed Hollywood theater, found the movie interesting, and went home.  A few weeks later we met a couple, nice people, friendly - and the husband said, "We saw you at the movie a couple of weeks ago, what did you think of it?"  By "the movie" I knew exactly which movie he meant, and I replied, "It was an interesting view of the lifestyle, nice cast, and had some pretty good comedy in it also."

Because they were so outgoing and friendly, we became friends and they invited us to go with them to a night club in Studio City called The Swing, interesting name, describing the atmosphere within the club.  It was a very nice club owned by a man, Greg McClure, and his wife. 

McClure was known for the movie he starred in - The Great John L - the story of John L. Sullivan, a late 1880s American heavyweight boxing champion.  Greg had other parts in movies, but that was his one shining moment.  Matter of fact, I remember well seeing that 1945 movie as a kid - and then when my brother Bob and I would box, I called myself the Great John L. - except I always lost to Bob.

That made the club all the more interesting, and we found it to be full of nice looking couples and it had great music, a handsome lead singer/guitarist, who reminded me of Sidney Poitier, named Dillard Crume, who provided some of the best music of any club we had visited.  And he turned out to be a very nice, humble man who was very easy to like as a person.  He was not like many rock style lead singers who strut around in latex pants.  He was a perfect gentleman - and my girl friend and I took an immediate liking to him.  Matter of fact, I think she had a crush on Dillard, not that I would have blamed her.

Another interesting fact about The Swing, almost every weekend, the well known actor (westerns, war movies, crime, etc.), Leo Gordon, would come in, and sit by himself at the bar.  He never bothered anyone, never talked with anyone that I noticed, just seemed to enjoy the music and atmosphere - and he most likely was a friend of Greg McClure, since they both were actors.  About 10 years ago I became friends with Leo Gordon's daughter on Facebook when she shared a post about her dad.  I shared with her how he was always a quiet gentleman.

During our first year back in Southern California, we lived in Van Nuys in the San Fernando Valley.  And during that year The Swing was our go-to night club, several times a week.  We were drawn to two other couples, as well as the couple who had invited us to the club originally - and most nights we four couples would sit together.  Dillard took a liking to our group and during his breaks, he would come over and sit with us.  We all highly respected him, mainly because, as talented as he was, he was humble - not seeking to be admired as a rock star, but as a friend with friends where he could relax and be himself.

After a year my girlfriend and I moved to Orange County because of my work and did not get to The Swing very often.  After a while she and I decided to go our own ways, so we split and I got busy with my life, working for an East Coast computer company.  My long time friend, Larry Lummis, and I split the Southern California area, he taking the northern half and me taking the southern half, with our office near LAX airport.

Our office consisted of Larry, Roy our field engineer, Jan our secretary, and me.  Jan was the nicest, sweetest lady anywhere.  One day we were talking.  She had known and liked my ex-girlfriend, so we talked about some of the night spots we had frequented.  Since it was Friday, I suggested, "Would you like to see some of them?"

So that evening we started visiting some of the night clubs from my previous life with my ex.  I think The Swing was maybe the second club we visited.  When we walked in, Dillard was still playing a set.  And I did not know he noticed us at the table.  But as soon as the set finished, he walked straight to our table and joined us.  We chatted for a while, then Dillard surprised me when he said, "Bill, this lady does not belong here."

I looked at Jan, realizing what a sweet, naive lady she was - and immediately agreed with my friend Dillard.  We left and as I understand it, not too much longer after that Dillard also left.  From what I have read, Dillard turned down an offer from Greg McClure to buy into the club.  Yes, he was that good an entertainer and could draw a crowd into the club most every night.

I was always convinced that, to Dillard the gig at The Swing was just that - a job.  His agent booked him into the club, it was steady work with an audience which loved his music and liked him - so he stayed, I think for a couple of years.

One of the songs which Dillard sang often was "Amen" from the movie "Lilies of the Field."  It was a Gospel song written for the film by Jester Hairston.  When Dillard sang it at the night club and people were dancing, I often wondered, "Do they know they are dancing to a Christian Gospel song?"   But that gave me a hint about Dillard's background.

After that night when Jan and I visited The Swing, I never saw Dillard again, and often wondered what had happened with him.  About 15 years ago, I began to google his name - and was so happy when I found that he had gone back to his roots and was recording Christian music. 

Then maybe 8 years ago, I saw a Facebook post advertising Gospel Concerts by his daughter, Melanie Crume.  I immediately messaged her and we became Friends.  That is when I learned that my Friend, Dillard Crume, had gone all the way back to his roots and was part of the Soul Stirrers, a Gospel music family with his brothers. 

God has a way of bringing us full circle, so it was no surprise that the last part of Dillard Crume's music career was with the Soul Stirrers singing Gospel music. The Soul Stirrers were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2000.  And that he was promoted into the presence of our Lord in 2008.

For a long time I have intended to put my memories of my friend, Dillard Crume, into writing.  Today I sat down and took a walk down memory lane.  The most rewarding thought today is that, since I became a Christian believer in 1987 - one day I will see my Friend/Christian brother, Dillard, again and he will still be singing praises to our Lord.  Thank you, Lord, and Melanie Crume for the inspiration to write these memories, Bill

Click on the image to enlarge:

Viewing the Transgender Movement - Who, When, Where, What?

WE ALL HAVE HEARD THE STORIES ~ Of guys meeting an attractive female and later discovering that she was no female - but a guy in drag, better known today as a "transgender."   Yes, that has happened to me, not in a personal sense, but in a business connection. 

In the 1970s I was Regional Sales Manager for a Boston computer company.  I personally sold our computers and managed a network of independent sales companies, i.e., Manufacturers Sales Representatives who contracted to sell products for maybe ten companies whose products were related and compatible.

My Southern California sales rep asked me to meet with a lady prospect connected with a group that was organizing a small computer products trade show in Russia, and she was interested in including my computer product.   The three of us met for lunch, he introduced her as Sue, and since this was before I became a Christian, I made a special effort to not use any off-color words or innuendos, i.e., to be on my best behavior.

At that time, the early 1970s, at least on the West coast and I believe in the entire country, computer sales was a male dominated career field.  The first female computer sales rep I recall was at Data General.  When I left Data General, a female application engineer transferred into sales and took over the territory I was leaving.

This lady, Sue, was the second female I knew who was connected with computer sales.  As our lunch was drawing to a close and we were just chatting, I asked her, "With computer sales being so male dominated, in a situation where you are making a sales presentation, what do you do when a man questions your knowledge about the product you are selling?"  Without hesitation Sue answered, "I just say, 'Look, the mother-f - - - - r works!' "  Taken by surprise, all I could say was, "That works for me."

Fast forward to about 1981, I was Regional Sales Manager for Genisco, a Southern California computer graphics company.  My boss, John Fletcher, and I went to a meeting with customers at JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab) in Pasadena,  In the meeting with John and me were several JPL engineers and a consultant, my friend Sue.

After the meeting a JPL employee was walking John and me to the lobby and asked, "Did you notice anything different about Sue?"

From my first encounter with Sue, I had noticed that she was a blonde lady, as tall as me at 6'3" - and had a very deep voice.  But I have met tall females before and I have met women with deep voices before.  And I had met women who could swear like a sailor.  So I replied, "No, what is different?"  He smiled and said, "Sue is a man!"  Back then we did not call them transgenders men or women, so to us Sue was just a tall man who dressed and lived like a woman.  Bill Gray's first encounter with what became the Transgender Nation.

For about 20 years or more, I have been receiving the Imprimis newsletter publication from Hillsdale College.  Hillsdale College has been praised, at least by conservatives, as the perfect college in America, and for several reasons:  It is financially independent, not accepting any federal funds - it has a Christian curriculum and social environment - and it is a shining beacon on the hill attracting many very knowledgeable speakers from organizations who set the standards for political, religious, moral, ethical, international, and other fields of importance to Christian America. 

Just as I do not read and then dispose of a book, I never discard a copy of the Imprimis newsletter.  And recently seeking something to read, I pulled out a stack of older Imprimis newsletters.  Two in particular caught me eye, seeming to fit together.   They both speak to a problem in America, actually in all the western world, which has become a festering sore all across America. 

I am speaking of the Transgender Movement which like a cancer has metastasized across America - especially in our schools - K-12, and most all colleges - drawing our children and young people into its deceptive world.

When I began re-reading the first Imprimis newsletter "Inside The Transgender Empire" - that is when I realized that there is a very high probability that I have rubbed elbows with one of the leading founders of that movement.  In the first Imprimis newsletter intro below, second paragraph, you will read, "In the late 1980s, a group of academics, including Judith Butler, Gayle Rubin, Sandy Stone, and Susan Stryker, established the disciplines of 'queer theory' and 'transgender studies.'” 

And in the next paragraph, "Susan Stryker, a male-to-female transgender professor currently at the University of Arizona, .  .  .  . describing his work as 'a secular sermon that unabashedly advocates embracing a disruptive and refigurative genderqueer or transgender power .  .  .  ."

Hmmm?  I am 95% sure that Susan Stryker is the same Sue from my two earlier meetings.

Below is an introduction to the first Imprimis newsletter "Inside The Transgender Empire."  I strongly encourage you to read the full newsletter.  It is not a long read, but it is a very revealing and important read. Important for everyone who loves our nation, our children, and our legacy to those children.
 
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Inside The Transgender Empire
By Christopher F. Rufo - Author, America's Cultural Revolution
September 2023 | Volume 52, Issue 9
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/inside-the-transgender-empire/

The following is adapted from a talk delivered by Christopher F. Rufo on September 12, 2023, at the Allan P. Kirby, Jr. Center for Constitutional Studies and Citizenship on Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C., campus, as part of the AWC Family Foundation Lecture Series.

The transgender movement is pressing its agenda everywhere.  Most publicly, activist teachers are using classrooms to propagandize on its behalf, and activist health professionals are promoting the mutilation of children under the euphemistic banner of “gender-affirming care.”  The sudden and pervasive rise of this movement provokes two questions:  Where did it come from?  And how has it proved so successful?  The story goes deeper than most Americans know.

In the late 1980s, a group of academics, including Judith Butler, Gayle Rubin, Sandy Stone, and Susan Stryker, established the disciplines of “queer theory” and “transgender studies.”  These academics believed gender to be a “social construct” used to oppress racial and sexual minorities, and they denounced the traditional categories of man and woman as a false binary that was conceived to support the system of “heteronormativity” - i.e., the white, male, heterosexual power structure. 

This system, they argued, had to be ruthlessly deconstructed.  And the best way to achieve this, they argued further, was to promote transgenderism.  If men can become women, and women men, they believed, the natural structure of Creation could be toppled.

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"Bill, how did the Transgender Movement spread so quickly across America?"  Great question, and the answer is MONEY!  Yep, good old American money.  And if you have ever traveled and spent a night in a Hyatt hotel - YOU have contributed to that movement.  Yes, the Hyatt Hotel fortune, at least one person who inherited a portion of that fortune, is responsible for a lot of the chaos we are seeing in America today, especially in colleges, the medical field, and our cities.

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Further on in the Imprimis newsletter "Inside The Transgender Empire" we read:

One of these people is Jennifer Pritzker, who was born James Pritzker in 1950.  After serving several years in the U.S. Army, Pritzker went into business, having inherited a sizable part of the Hyatt hotel fortune. 

In 2013, he announced a male-to-female gender transition and was celebrated in the press as the “first trans billionaire.”  Almost immediately, he began donating untold millions to universities, schools, hospitals, and activist organizations to promote queer theory and trans medical experiments.

This money was (also) allied with political power, as Pritzker’s cousin, Illinois Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker, signed legislation in 2019, his first year in office, to inject gender theory into the state education curriculum and to direct state Medicaid funds toward transgender surgeries.

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Yes, the sitting governor of Illinois - Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker - has been a prime mover in tying Transgender Movement money into his political platform - and bringing misery to an untold number of young children.

How did this work? 

First, this combination of well-funded activism and political influence works in practice:  Pritzker-funded activists at Lurie Children’s Hospital (the largest children’s hospital in Chicago) provide local schools with training, materials, and personnel who promote gender transitions for children.

Then, Lurie Children’s Hospital, through its outreach presentations in Chicago public schools, encourages teachers and school administrators to support “gender diversity” in their districts, automatically “affirm” students who announce sexual transitions, and “communicate a non-binary understanding of gender” to children in the classroom.

And, in effect, this results in a sophisticated school-to-gender-clinic pipeline.  Teachers, counselors, doctors, and activists on social media and elsewhere - many of whom are employed or subsidized by members of the Pritzker family - push children in that direction.

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The second Imprimis newsletter "Gender Ideology Run Amok" is just as troubling:

Gender Ideology Run Amok
By Abigail Shrier - Author, Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters
June/July 2021 | Volume 50, Issue 6/7
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/gender-ideology-run-amok/

The following is adapted from a speech delivered by Abigail Shrier on April 27, 2021, in Franklin, Tennessee, at a Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar.

In 2007, America had one pediatric gender clinic; today there are hundreds.  Testosterone is readily available to adolescents from places like Planned Parenthood and Kaiser, often on a first visit - without even a therapist’s note.

How did we get to this point?  How is it that we are all supposed to pretend that the only way you can know I’m a woman is if I tell you my pronouns? 

How did we get to an America in which a 13-year-old in the State of Washington can begin “gender affirming” therapy without her parents’ consent?  How did we get to an America in which a 15-year-old in Oregon can undergo “top surgery” - elective double mastectomy - without her parents’ permission?  And what can we do about it? .  .  .  .

Historically, this has been the classic presentation of gender dysphoria.  When these children were left alone - when no one intervened medically or encouraged what we today call “social transition” - over 70 percent of them naturally outgrew their gender dysphoria. 

Most of those who outgrew it became gay men.  Those who did not outgrow it became what used to be known as transsexuals.  They did not believe they were women, but they felt most comfortable presenting themselves as females.

Today, however, we don’t leave these children alone. Instead, the moment children seem not to be perfectly feminine or perfectly masculine, we label them as “trans kids.”  Teachers encourage them to reintroduce themselves to their classes with new names and new pronouns. .  .  .  .

You may not know the name Keira Bell.  She is a young woman in the U.K., very troubled in adolescence, who was rushed to transition in her teen years and came to regret it.  She underwent double mastectomy and spent years on testosterone, only to realize that her problem had never been gender dysphoria. 

She sued the U.K.’s national gender clinic, and last December, after the High Court of Justice examined her case and the claims of similarly situated plaintiffs, she won.

The Court examined the medical protocols applied to Keira Bell - protocols identical to the ones we have in the United States - and was horrified that a young girl had been allowed to consent to begin a process of eliminating her future fertility and sexual function at an age, 15, when she could not possibly have gauged that loss.

Hailed as a “landmark case” by The Times of London, The Economist, and even The Guardian - Bell’s victory was widely viewed as a serious condemnation of the effort to fast-track teen girls to gender transition. One of the appalling things the Court noted was that the national gender clinic had been unable to show any psychological improvement in the adolescents it had treated with transitioning hormones.

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I cannot say exactly where I read the quote, but it has stayed in my mind.  I am speaking of a quote from Karl Marx or Friedrich Engels, founders of Marxism and the Communist Party, which implied, "Win the minds of the children and you can conquer a nation without firing a shot." 

In other words, take over the National Board of Education (think Federal Board of Education, NEA [National Education Association]).  Add to that the newest attack, aka, the medical industry, the Liberal news media, etc., and you can control the nation.

~  Karl Marx, in the Communist Manifesto of 1848, called for the abolition of the (nuclear, aka, traditional) family.

~  Karl Marx realized that the way to completely change (a) society was to destroy the most important civil society institution, the family.

Most importantly, Marx said that communism would ensure that children would be educated by the state and not by their parents.  Communists, he wrote in the Manifesto, would “rescue education from the influence of the ruling class.”  The making of the “New Man” was the priority, and the family was an obstacle.

Folks, America is in a fight for our traditional families, our children, even our nation.  Isn't it time we stopped the destruction of our families and take back the life, health, and souls of our children?  Think about it!

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

Click on the image to enlarge:

 

Suddenly Fifty Years Have Flown By, And Microsoft Is Fifty Years Old! WOW

Today my Friend, Forrest M. Mims III, shared a post titled:  "The Origin Of Microsoft 50 Years Ago."   And that triggered a lot of deja vu memories.

In 1975, like the 1959 song by the Coasters, "Along Came Jones" - I guess I would have to add: "Along Came Ed Roberts" - who with fellow Air Force technology officer, Forrest Mims, partnered with Bob Zaller and Stan Cagle to start a company in Albuquerque named MITS (Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems), a company formed in 1969 to sell electronic telemetry modules for model rocket guidance and control.  Later they added calculators, personal and desktop, to their product line.  

In 1974, when Intel began producing its newer and faster 8-bit microprocessor, the 8080, Ed Roberts and MITS made the leap into computer history - by creating and producing the MITS Altair.  And this is the computer which brought Paul Allen, an engineer with Honeywell, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, to demonstrate a Basic software package he and Bill Gates, a long time friend and then a student at Harvard, had created. 

Bill Gates left Harvard, he and Paul Allen moved to Albuquerque and became the programming staff for MITS, living in a motel across the highway from MITS.  At that same time they were laying the foundation for the beginning of Microsoft.

How well I remember joining MITS in 1975.  Just saying that suddenly makes me realize the 50 years really have gone by since that fateful day when I met with Ed Roberts and agreed to join his sales team.  My, how time flies! 

At that time, the MITS Altair was in the early stage of igniting an revolution which would put computers in homes all across America and around the world.  Prior to that, computers were still tools used only in larger companies, educational and research organizations, government and government contractors, i.e., folks with deep pockets. 

My task and reason for joining MITS was to contract and support Manufacturers Rep organizations in selling our company's product.  One tool I used to help our Reps sell the Altair was to present Microcomputer Seminars in their local areas. 

That was a time when companies large and small were looking for ways to use microprocessors in their products.  And the MITS Altair with the Basic compiler created by Bill Gates and Paul Allen helped the engineers use the microprocessors.  So my seminars were always filled with company engineers and project managers eager to learn about microprocessors.

Prior to joining MITS, I was doing the same for a Boston company named Control Logic.  In 1974 I had signed a Manufacturer's Representative contract with Paul Terrell and Floyd Wilson to sell my Control Logic modules and systems in the Palo Alto, California area.  In 1975, when I left Control Logic and joined MITS, I asked Paul and Floyd to jump to MITS with me.  But since they were just getting up to speed selling Control Logic products, they chose not to jump. 

A month or so later, I presented two nights of Microcomputer Seminars at Dinah's Hyatt House Hotel in Palo Alto - and the first night the room was overflowing and I had to ask people standing ten deep outside the room to come back the next evening.  After the seminar that first night, Paul Terrell told me, "Bill, I am ready to make the switch to MITS."   I was impressed with the overflowing response of engineers and managers in the Palo Alto area who came to the seminars - and so was Paul.

Paul and Floyd made the switch in a really big way.  Shortly after joining the MITS team, they opened the Byte Shop computer store in Mountain View, California - the second computer store in America, most likely the world.  The first being a man and wife who had a storefront shop in Los Angeles and sold computer products on consignment. 

Paul then opened another in Palo Alto with his brother, and a third in Oregon with another brother, and the Terrell brothers were giving folks a local store where they could eventually buy a personal computer for use in their homes.  That was the beginning of the Byte Shop Computer Store Chain, the very first computer store chain in the world.

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Forrest M. Mims III posted August 9, 2025 · "THE ORIGIN OF MICROSOFT 50 YEARS AGO"

The 50th anniversary of Microsoft is fast approaching. Several years ago and more recently, MS staff told me a major 50th anniversary celebration was being planned. I am unaware of the status of those plans. Nevertheless, I would like to point out that Microsoft did not originate on its own.

When I was 12 years old, I wanted to assist my blind great-grandfather in his outdoor walks. During my senior year at Texas A&M, I devised a small, handheld device that projected a powerful, invisible beam of infrared (IR) and detected any of that IR reflected back to the device. My great grandfather had passed away, but I spent several years experimenting with IR travel aids for the blind. 

The IR beam for these devices was pulsed by a simple 2-transistor circuit designed by Lou Garner, who wrote the popular "Transistor Topics" column for "Popular Electronics" magazine before I took it over.  While flying model rockets at night to test a new kind of guidance, I used that circuit to flash a small light to enable me to recover the rockets.

How to build the light flasher became my first magazine article for "Model Rocketry" in September 1969. When I showed the article to my friend Ed Roberts at the Air Force Weapons Lab, where we were both assigned, we decided to form a company to sell light flasher kits.  Our partners were Bob Zaller and Stan Cagle.  We named our company Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems--or MITS.  Some of our earliest products are shown in the nearby photo over instructions typed by my wife Minnie.

In 1974, Ed designed the Altair 8800 microcomputer, which was featured on the cover of Popular Electronics, for which I wrote monthly columns.  I wrote the first Altair instruction manual.  Paul Allen saw this cover story at a Harvard Square bookstore and raced over to his best friend's dorm room to show him.  His friend was Bill Gates.  By summer 1975, Ed had hired Paul Allen.  Bill Gates arrived that fall.  Within a few months, they partnered to form Micro-Soft.  Ed stayed with MITS for a few years, and I became a full-time writer and science consultant.

Full details about the launch of Microsoft from MITS are in my two memoirs ("Siliconnections" and "Maverick Scientist") and various magazine articles.

The photo shows rocket telemetry devices and a light flasher (left) and the transmitter and receiver boards and lenses for the Opticom, a light beam communicator I described in "Popular Electronics."

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Wow, after all this fun - and FIFTY YEARS have slipped by so fast.  Forrest, thanks for reminding me, and thanks for the memories which would not have happened if you, Ed Roberts, Bob Zaller, and Stan Cagle had not formed MITS in 1969-70. 

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

Click on the images to enlarge 

Bill and Buck Share Thoughts on the United Nations - What Are Your Thoughts?

ON A PREVIOUS POST ABOUT WHINING DEMOCRATS ~ My long, long time Friend, Christian brother, and Sheffield High classmate, Buck Locke, disagreed with my full agreement with President Trump's "Peaceful Protest" against Iran's nuclear weapons activities.

And I am always excited when a friend, or foe, disagrees with my post - for that leads to further discussions from which you and I can both learn - to agree, or to agree to disagree - and still be friends.

This is what I had written to Buck's dialogue. But Facebook told me my response to Buck was too long. Okay, no problem, I have made a new post and can invite Buck - and you to take a look.

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Hi Buck, If you exam the history of Israel and the United Nations, you will see why Israel does not hold any love for that questionable organization - and in saying that I am being nice.

Since the UN was established in the mid-1940s after World War 2, in all the disputes between Israel and other Middle East nations - the UN decisions have gone anti-Israel and pro-other Middle East nations at least 80-90% of the time - and that is being very conservative in my judgement. Most likely 95% of the time.

The history of the UN is a tale of evil from the beginning. It all began with a nondescript little fellow from Texas name Edward Mandell House. He knew he did not have the charisma to win political office - so he chose to be the power broker in smoke filled behind the scene rooms.

He began by getting 3 or 4 Texas governors elected - and one, out of gratitude, gave him the honorary title of Texas Ranger "Colonel." And since that time, he always wore the name "Colonel Edward Mandell House" even though he NEVER served in any branch of our military.

When he tired of getting state politicians elected, I suppose no more challenge - he set his sight on getting a president elected. After considering all the possibilities, he set his sight on the president of Princeton University, the very liberal Woodrow Wilson.

After convincing Wilson to jump into the politics arena - he got him elected as the governor of New Jersey (only a stepping stone toward the presidency). And yes, he did get Woodrow Wilson elected as president in 1913 - just in time to get America into World War 1.

The question always comes to my mind: "Was House President Wilson's right hand man - or was President Wilson Colonel Edward Mandell House's right hand man?"

I will take a moment to skip a few years for one observation: Wilson served as president until 1921. But the last 6 months of his presidency Wilson was ill and bed-ridden.

During that time House and Wilson's wife, Edith, prevented anyone from knowing he was ill - prevented anyone from visiting him - and made all the decision which came from the Oval Office for those last 6 months. Does that ring a bell? Think Jill Biden!

Edward Mandell House's main goal, his higher stepping goal, during the Wilson presidency was to establish the League of Nations. And while Wilson was initially hesitant about getting America into World War 1 - evidently House was very persuasive.

At the end of World War 1, House assembled a meeting of leaders from other nations in Geneva, Switzerland to form the League of Nations as an international organization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It was created after World War 1 (supposedly) to provide a forum for resolving international disputes.

Agan, supposedly proposed by President Woodrow Wilson as part of his Fourteen Points plan for an equitable peace in Europe. The United States never became a member. It is my firm belief that it wasn't Wilson's Fourteen Points plan, but House's.

Because the League of Nations was headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland - our Congress refused to allow America to join - and the League of Nations failed.

Only to come to life again as the United Nations, the bastard child of the League of Nations. To make it more palatable to Congress and the American people - the Rockefeller family donated a big piece of land in New York City to be the UN headquarters.

And Congress gave its blessing, a decision that all conservative Americans have lived to regret.

What I have written above has long been my personal feelings about the UN. Below I introduce you to a fellow Alabamian, Nathan Tabor, who has written a very informative and accurate book exposing the United Nations as the "Beast On The East River" - which I agree with completely.

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In 2007 I met Nathan Tabor and we became close Friends, and even closer Christian brothers. I have long respected his Conservative Christian Values, his Patriotism - and his deep knowledge of our political process, and his knowledge and wisdom on who is governing America, who is governing the United Nations, and how that is affecting all the world.

When we met in 2007, Nathan had recently, 2004, run for Congress in North Carolina's 5th Congressional District with an impressive list of GOP supporters. His first attempt to run for the high office of Congressional House of Representatives was outstanding, even though he did not win that time.

On the other hand, I personally benefited by his not going to Congress in 2004, for in 2007 when I met Nathan he had founded "The Conservative Voice," an online newspaper. After reading my posts on the TimesDaily Religion Forum, he invited me to be a guest columnist.

I wrote on The Conservative Voice, mostly in the Faith & Family section, but at times visiting the Politics section, for several years, posting about 500 articles. That was a true blessing and a great learning experience.

In my own Christian Writing Ministry, my Friends Ministry eNewsletter, Facebook Notes, our Bill & Dory Gray Christian Ministries blog site, and in the TimesDaily Religion Forum where Nathan and I met - while varying, my list of readers probably never exceeded 2000 people worldwide, predominately Christian. On Nathan's The Conservative Voice, I was now writing to reach about 250,000 readers worldwide - covering a much broader spectrum of beliefs and ideas. That was a challenge which I know God gave to me, through Nathan.

Nathan Tabor, an entrepreneur, businessman, speaker, business consultant, life coach, real estate investor, commercial real estate broker, author, Liberty University adjunct professor, and founder of Handling Life. Since 1999, he has founded and operated more than two dozen businesses, grossing over $150 million in sales.

Along the way, he has had some amazing successes, and some failures, in the areas of commercial real estate, automobile financing, direct product sales, web-based marketing, strategic partnership facilitation, consulting/coaching firm, and online educational courses.

He has authored books on politics, business, and also Christian books. But his book which really impressed me is "The Beast On The East River: The U.N. Threat to America’s Sovereignty and Security."

I am still amazed that a man who was only 33 years old then, but looked to be 21 - had the insight, wisdom, and knowledge to recognize the real threat posed by the United Nations - and the ability to put that understanding into a book.

Below is a short C-SPAN video interview which shows the Nathan Tabor I met and grew to admire on the TimesDaily Religion Forum in 2007. I knew from the beginning that he is a special person, gifted by God with unique intelligence, wisdom, maturity, and a deep love for America. Yet I am still amazed at the level of maturity, knowledge, and intelligence I see in him during this interview in the C-SPAN video.

In the C-SPAN interview, Nathan admits he is 33, but looks 21. Suggesting it was possibly a part of why he did not win the 2004 seat in our Congressional House of Representatives. Yet when he speaks, his intelligence and knowledge make him seem to be a man of twice that age and experience. He speaks intelligently, with knowledge, with the authority of a person who knows his subject matter very well. It is a shame he did not go to Congress in 2004, for we need people like him in Washington DC.

View this video and you will see the Nathan Tabor I know, my fellow Alabamian living in North Carolina, the man who was a very successful entrepreneur, businessman, author - and an even stronger Conservative Christian brother.

THE BEAST ON THE EAST RIVER ~ C-SPAN INTERVIEW VIDEO - Published March 1, 2007

By Nathan Tabor - Founder and CEO, The Conservative Voice

https://www.c-span.org/video/?197059-2/the-beast-east-river

In the C-SPAN interview, Nathan Tabor talks about his book "The Beast On The East River: The U.N. Threat to America’s Sovereignty and Security," published by Nelson Current.

His book argues that the United Nations hopes to establish a “new world order” that limits the sovereignty of the United States. He urges that the U.N. be abolished and replaced with an organization that allows for dialogue between nations, but does not have the power to infringe on the rights of the United States and its citizens.

He also talks about threats to American education and moral values. After his presentation he responded to audience members' questions.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Bill Gray Note: The book, published in 2006, accurately prophesies what we now see has happened to America's Education and Moral Values. The current decay of our education and moral values began in Bill Clinton's presidency - and then rapidly accelerated under Obama's Secular/Muslim administration - and Joe Biden was merely a puppet carrying forward what Obama and the United Nations started.

All of this was their (Clinton, Obama, Biden) concerted efforts to surrender America's Sovereignty to the United Nations. A major tool in their Anti-America arsenal was the resurrected, nourished, and promoted "Racial Division" in America - all done at the behest of their master puppeteer, The United Nations.

Buck, I apologize for the length of this post, but as you my have guessed, I do feel very strongly about the UN and its real goal and ambition for America and the world.

God bless, Bill

Click on the images to enlarge: 

Do You Have A Song Which Bring Back Those Special Memories?

A song that digs those memories out, even if long buried, dusts them off, and makes them fresh and vivid once again?

The photo composite below, for me, reflects the last lines of the beautiful Billie Holiday song "As Time Goes By" recorded in 1944 ~  "The World Will Always Welcome Lovers - As Time Goes By."   My photo composite covers about 40 years of our 47 year marriage. 

And during that 40 year span, this second stanza from Billie Holiday's song proved over and over to be true.  "And when two lovers woo, they still say, 'I love you' - On that you can rely, No matter what the future brings - As Time Goes By."

Anyone who has a marriage which has lasted 20, 30, 40, 50 years or longer will agree that during those years there have been times when you were soaring to the stars - and other times when it felt as though the world is sitting on your shoulders and you will never recover. 

When those times come, you know that Billie Holiday sang the truth all those years ago, when she sang:  "And when two lovers woo, they still say, 'I love you' - On that you can rely, No matter what the future brings - As Time Goes By."  

That is what my composite speaks to me, in both the soaring to the stars times in our marriage, and during those weight of the world times, "they still say, 'I love you' No matter what the future brings - AS TIME GOES BY."

My composite also reflects the beginning of our relationship, in 1977, when Dory and I were dating.  There is one memory from that time which will never grow dusty.  Dory loved singing and was active in Filipino Performing Arts groups.  The groups performed at functions and event around the Southern California area, singing and dancing Filipino cultural dances and songs. 

Once she sang a duet of "The Impossible Dream" with a friend during a reception for the governor of California at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.

And then there were those special times when she sang just to me - as we were driving around on a Sunday afternoon, or going on a date.  My favorite was the song "Memories" from the Barbra Streisand / Robert Redford movie "The Way We Were." 

And, yes, there is a special stanza from that song which speaks to me of those precious times:  “Memories / Light the corners of my mind / Misty water-colored memories / Of The Way We Were.”  

But to bring that stanza up to date in my photo composite, I had to make one slight change to that phrase.  While in the movie Streisand sang "Of the way we were" because in the movie she and Robert Redford (actually their characters) closed the movie by getting a divorce, but remaining friends.

Dory and I have to change that one line, for in our lives it reads "Of The Way We ARE." 

That covers our first 47 years and we are just getting started.  Watch as we fly by that 50th Anniversary date - and start counting again.  All I can say is, "THANK YOU, LORD!"  

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill 

Click on the image to enlarge: