National Guard 372nd anniversary.

Friend, did you ever have the opportunity to wish somebody a happy 372nd birthday?

Well, you do now. Our cherished National Guard, the first line of America’s defense since pre-colonial days, even before we were called America, was born 372 years ago this Saturday.

It had its beginnings in the colonies, when farmers had to drop their plows and pick up muskets to defend their settlements. Of course, when we became a British colony, we had to have defense, and again it was settler/soldiers who volunteered. Paul Revere and many of the signers of the Constitution were themselves members of what became known as our National Guard.

Today, half or more of our fighting men and women, wherever they are deployed around the globe, are still our volunteer soldiers who stop what they’re doing, leave their professions and families, and ship out to defend all of us.

The best way I know of that we can celebrate their 372nd birthday is to have – and give to loved ones – For My Country, The Ballad of the National Guard, complete with the documentary history of our fellow citizens who put it all on the line for our liberties.

Let’s celebrate and commemorate and pay tribute to our National Guard on their 372nd anniversary!

Pat Boone

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes
Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country – in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.


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Pat Boone Addresses 250 Members of the National Guard in Long Beach, CA

Hi folks…

I hope everybody’s having a great time–and I wish I could be with you in person.

I’m in snowy Minnesota right now, where it truly is “beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” and I’m doing something I love…a full Christmas concert. I think I’m one of the last singers around who still does one. And I wish I were doing it for you right now.

But I’m in Minnesota, and you’re here. And I’ll be home for Christmas, while some of you may be shipping out. I’m told that maybe 250 of America’s finest may be looking at redeployment and a temporary separation from your families—and I don’t have the words or ability to thank you enough for your willing sacrifice for the rest of us. Only God can do that, and I pray He will.

But I do have a couple of Christmas presents for you, the kids and your families. One is a copy of my new Christmas CD, with 21 new songs, for each family represented. It’s not like any Christmas album ever, and should add some funny moments to your holiday, as well as a few new meaningful reasons to be thankful.

The other present is a deeply heartfelt tribute to the National Guard, and every blessed member of it. Some time back, I realized that there hadn’t been a well known song about the Guard, and felt there should be one. So I wrote and recorded “For My Country“, the Ballad of the National Guard. I went even further, and produced a music video and a full length documentary about the 372-year history of America’s historic first line of defense.

It’s a loving and grateful tribute to you and the Guard. I want you to see the music video, and then to know the Boone family prays for your successful mission and safe return to your family. God bless you, dear friends

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes
Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country – in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.

Thank God for earthquakes

As noted philosopher Jerry Lee Lewis once prominently proclaimed: “WHOLE LOTTA SHAKIN’ GOIN’ ON!” Yep, our whole economy is being routed, uprooted, hung by its heels and shaken viciously. Not just the common folks who don’t know much about banking and finance and bundled and bungled mortgages (but are in danger of losing their shirts anyway). No, even the “fat cats” and CEOs of Ford and Chrysler and GM. Even builders and suppliers and hedge fund managers and retailers. So many people in every walk of life are being shaken

You may well wonder why, in this Thanksgiving season, I’m thanking God for all this shaking. Well, let’s look again at what brought the Twin Towers down. The first time the Islamic jihadists tried to destroy the WTC, they did it the smartest way – they attacked the foundations, down in the subterranean garages, planting huge bombs that would surely have toppled the massive buildings. But they were foiled at the last minute, and had to try again. So on Sept. 11 in 2001, 23 trained and disciplined terrorists attacked the Towers at a much higher and totally unexpected level. They commandeered some jetliners, filled with unsuspecting passengers, and plunged them into the upper floors of the Towers, accomplishing the unthinkable. Two giant buildings, with thousands of people in them, crumpled to the ground in cataclysmic annihilation.

Be thankful for any of that? No, of course not. But yes, I give thanks for the brief period of galvanizing unity and the outpouring of goodwill that drew our people together. Out of that national quake came a refreshing promise of the kind of spirit that created America in the first place. It dissipated, but while it lasted, it was real.

And now a much greater shaking is affecting our national life. In a terrible pincer movement, an assault is taking place on two fronts simultaneously – one all-out attack on the foundations, the very pillars of our society, and the other on the executive suites in the ivory towers of business and finance. The jihadists in these organized, hugely funded attacks on our morality and virtue are not Middle Eastern – they’re homegrown Americans who actually believe they’re promoting a better America by destroying the foundations on which this nation was built!

To read more, click here.

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes
Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country – in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.


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National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program

As a great supporter of the National Guard, I want to share one of their little known programs with you which makes a big difference in the lives of young men and women, The National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program. Available in 28 states and Puerto Rico, this program is a community based program that leads, trains and mentors at-risk youth so that they can become productive citizens in America’s future.

The core components include:

· Leadership/Followership

· Responsible Citizenship

· Service to Community

· Life-Coping Skills

· Physical Fitness

· Health and Hygiene

· Job Skills

· Academic Excellence

Recognized as one of the nation’s most effective and cost efficient programs for targeting youth who are at the greatest risk for substance abuse, teen pregnancy, delinquency and criminal activity, successes include:

· Over 70% of 2005 graduates (the latest year I’ve been able to find statistics) received their high school diploma or GED

· Over 57% joined the work force

· 12.3% joined the military

· 26.7% continued their education

· Program participants have donated over 5 million hours of community service since the program started

· Programs have awarded graduates over 40,000 academic credentials since 1993

· Over 70,000 teens have graduated from the program

So if you wonder why I am so, so supportive of the National Guard, it’s programs like this that help Americans of all walks of life. Not only does the National Guard protect us at home and abroad, but it helps today’s youth become more productive citizens, which is ultimately the best thing for our country.

May God continue Bless the National Guard.

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes

Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country – in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham (www.patsgold.com/billy-graham/thank-you.html) in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.

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Honor America – Fly the Flag This Veteran’s Day

Soldier with Iraqi ChildVeteran’s Day is a day when all Americans should show their patriotism by not only honoring all of those brave men and women who have served and continue to serve our country to keep us free, but honor America by flying the flag in front of their house or on their car.

The flag is so very important to me. Back in the late 60s, during all the rampaging dissent over the war in Vietnam, an event occurred that forever embedded in me a truth about priority and, yes, propriety.

I read about a scene in front of President Nixon’s Florida retreat. He was there inside when a growing mob of dissidents began milling around the entrance gates, yelling anti-war, anti-Nixon epithets. One of the protesters, a big guy, was carrying an American flag – upside down, as part of his demonstration.

A little old lady, over seventy years old, was driving by in her dusty VW Beetle. When she saw what was happening, she pulled over and waded right into the mob, right up to the big galoot carrying the flag so disrespectfully. She wrenched the pole and the upside down flag right out of his hands, saying “My husband died for that flag, young man, and you’re not going to treat it that way – not while I’m around!” She marched away, leaving the crowd dumbfounded.

As I pondered how she could have done that, such a small older woman confronting the bigger, younger man, I realized that she had might because she was right – and the crowd knew it. Sometimes it’s that simple – right makes might.

Priorities. Propriety. They’re old fashioned ideas but they made America what it was. They made Americans who we were. I don’t think we can ever recover our identity without them.

Yes, these are difficult days we’re living in. At times it can be downright overwhelming. But despite what you hear and read, there are more folks with us than it sometimes appears.

I still believe. I believe in my America – an America I still remember very well.

So on Veterans Day support our soldiers, support our country, and fly our flag proudly. Let your neighbors and friends know that you support the greatest nation in the world

(FOLLOWED BY INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO FLY THE FLAG PROPERLY – DON’T NEED PICTURES – NOTE THAT I ONLY GAVE YOU INSTRUCTIONS FOR PERSONAL USE, SO THAT WHILE THERE ARE MISSING NUMBERS BELOW, THEY RELATE TO CORPORATE FLAG BEARING AND NOT PERSONAL FLAG HANGING)

Displaying the Flag

1. When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.

5. When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.

6. When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony, or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff.

8. When the flag is displayed in a manner other than by being flown from a staff, it should be displayed flat, whether indoors or out. When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag’s own right, that is, to the observer’s left. When displayed in a window it should be displayed in the same way, that is with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street. When festoons, rosettes or drapings are desired, bunting of blue, white and red should be used, but never the flag.

13. When the flag is displayed on a car, the staff shall be fixed firmly to the chassis or clamped to the right fender.

14. When hung in a window, place the blue union in the upper left, as viewed from the street.

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes
Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country (For My Country) – in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham (Thank You Billy Graham) in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.


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HAPPY 90th BIRTHDAY BILLY!

Billy Graham

Billy Graham

I first met Billy over 50 years ago at a Christian award gala. A deep admirer of Billy’s prior to our meeting, we have since developed a relationship based upon our mutual dedication to God. He and I have become closer over time and talk as often as time and circumstances allow. A couple of years ago I was thinking about ways in which I could pay tribute to him and was surprised that no one had thought to pay tribute to this great man through music, and I took the opportunity to get together with some of Billy’s admirers in the music world to create this tribute.

David Pack, Billy Dean and I wrote what we thought was a great song and brought together some of the brightest stars from across the musical spectrum to create a moving tribute to Billy, who is turning 90 years young on November 7. The three of us contacted many of our friends in the industry and created an all-star loving tribute to a man who has few peers.

As Billy approaches his 90th birthday, there are many DVDs available that showcase Billy’s life, and you should check out all of these titles to see which one you might rent or purchase to help you better understand what an incredible man he is. Two of the more interesting titles are “Billy Graham: God’s Ambassador,” which is the only DVD authorized by BGEA, and “Thank You Billy Graham, “ which is unique and different from all other Billy Graham tributes or documentaries in that the world’s greatest musicians pay tribute to Billy through song and testimony.

The tribute video performance opens with Bono’s perspective lauding Graham’s global influence and rolls into a stunning montage highlighting Billy’s impressive career and the notable figures who have looked to him for spiritual guidance.

Andrae Crouch, Kenny Rogers, LeAnn Rimes, Michael McDonald, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, George Strait, Reba McEntire and Charlie Daniels are just a few of the musicians handling verses and joining in on the indelible chorus “He heard the word, got the call, took the message to us all, said it so we all could understand.”

The Billy Graham Evangelical Association is asking everyone to send Billy birthday greetings and I urge everybody to share their thoughts to the one man who changed the world with one message.

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes

Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country– in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.

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National Guard Cleans Up Pot Operation in Tennessee

I just returned from a week in Tennessee, and while there heard about yet another way that the National Guard is helping America – this time by keeping drugs off of our streets.

Last week the National Guard, in conjunction with the Forest Service, rehabilitated a remote area in the Cherokee National Forest that was recently used for a large marijuana growing operation. Guardsmen from the Counterdrug Task Force assisted Forest Service agents in transporting over 800 pounds of debris from the sight via a National Guard UH 60 helicopter.

The operation began in June, when 357,500 marijuana plants were eradicated by a joint task force consisting of the Tennessee National Guard, The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Alcoholic Beverage Commission and supported by The Drug Enforcement Agency.

Other than natural disasters such as hurricanes and tornadoes, we rarely hear about many of the great things that the National Guard does on a daily basis to keep our country and people safe. Drug dealers continue to try to exploit our youth, and the National Guard is just one of many organizations that help limit those who try to ruin our culture.

The National Guard has a 372 year history in keeping America safe both home and abroad, and this is just another example of why we all need to support these heroic American men and women.

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes
Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country (For My Country) – in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham (Thank You Billy Graham) in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.


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Pat Boone Creates Web Sites to Share His Passion About American Heroes

Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: the soldiers who serve our country in the National Guard and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham. For My Country is a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and features interviews, commentary and action sequences. Thank You Billy Graham is a star-studded “We Are the World” musical tribute, including, Bono, LeAnn Rimes, Reba McEntire, Charlie Pride and many more celebrities.

(PRWEB) October 28, 2008 — You can teach an old dog new tricks. Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: the soldiers who serve our country in the National Guard and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham.

Pat created these sites to promote two CDs/DVDs he produced and are near and dear to his heart. His goal is to not only share his vision with millions of Americans, but to donate money from sales of his work to worthy charitable organizations including the Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Samaritans Purse and Mercy Corps.

As part of the program, Pat and his friends will be creating weekly blogs where they will share their thoughts on all sorts of American heroes as well as sharing their vision of America and religion.

For My Country: The History of the National Guard is a stellar visual and musical homage to the “people’s militia” and the nation’s oldest service branch, the 500,000 member National Guard. It includes both an original documentary and an accompanying CD, on which is featured the first Anthem ever created for the National Guard.

Thank You Billy Graham is a star-studded musical tribute to the greatest evangelist of our time, Dr. Billy Graham. Many of the greatest musicians in the world, including Bono, LeAnn Rimes, Faith Hill, Larry, King, Michael McDonald, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Kenny Rogers, Charlie Pride, George Strait and many other musicians and special guests share personal experiences about Billy Graham and join together in this musical tribute to one man who changed our world with one message.

About Pat Boone:
A pop culture icon an entrepreneur, Boone, often called the original “American Idol” after winning a TV talent competition five decades ago, boasts a career that includes six #1 records and more than 45 million records sold, making him the tenth biggest selling rock recording artist of all time. Among his rare achievements are three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and memorable works in music, TV and film.


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Early Voter Turnout Shows America Is Excited Again

We’ve heard about ACORN and YPM and other organizations that have registered hundreds of thousands of voters over the past couple of months. President Bush has just asked the Justice Department to probe whether or not there has been voter registration fraud in Ohio. Laws have been passed in a handful of states to ensure that only those who live in the United States legally, and are legally registered to vote, will cast their ballot in our upcoming presidential election. And once this all gets sorted out, once voter fraud is identified and those who are registered illegally are not allowed to vote, one thing stands out; Americans are excited about this election. They know what it means to them and to our country.

To those who know me, or think they know me, it will come as no surprise that I believe that John McCain is the best man to run our country for the next four years and I fervently hope that he is our next President. I’m proud to cast my ballot for Senator McCain and Governor Palin.

But what really excites me is that record numbers of voters across the country are casting their ballots before Election Day, either with absentee ballots or in the 32 states that allow early voting. More Americans are expected to vote this year than in any presidential election since I’ve been able to vote, and it’s great that Americans are so interested in our future.

I watch TV and see that in Florida and other states where people are standing in line for two or more hours to cast their vote. Over 1.5 million people have already cast their votes in Florida alone. The experts say that 30% of all votes may be cast before November 4, up from 14% in 2000.

A Gallup pole released Friday found that of all people that have voted nationally, roughly half voted for Senator McCain, the other half for Senator Obama. As a Republican, I’m confident that the vote will be won on Election Day, when Republicans generally turn out to vote in much bigger numbers than Democrats. But as a patriot who loves America, I’m very excited that more people will vote this year than any other time in my lifetime.

God Bless America.

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes

Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country (For My Country) – in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham (Thank You Billy Graham) in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.


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Pat Boone says he’s not sure he belongs in rock hall

By Brad – view all of Brad’s posts
October 21st, 2008 – 4:59 pm

Pat Boone

Music Row’s Mike Curb is pushing hard for Pat Boone to be in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame, but Pat, 74, says he’s not sure he belongs in there.

“The folks there have all had either nervous breakdowns or drug busts,” he told me, laughing, at an appearance today at the downtown Ernest Tubb Record Shop.

Pat Boone signs autographs Oct. 21, 2008, at Ernest Tubb record shop

Pat acknowledges he helped launch rock music in the ’50s by doing covers of black artists’ R&B hits.

“I helped it become popular to a far wider audience that was not at all sure they wanted what was called ‘race music’ in their homes,” Pat said.

Pat, who lives in California after calling Nashville home for decades, is back here to sign copies of his new Christmas CD. We’ll have more with him on News 2 at 10.

Pat Boone Honors American Heroes
Entertainment legend Pat Boone has created two new websites to honor his American heroes: The National Guard and the soldiers who serve our country (For My Country) – in a documentary history of the Guard from the Revolutionary War to Iraq and evangelist Dr. Billy Graham (Thank You Billy Graham) in a celebrity-packed musical tribute to this iconic American.

read more | digg story


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