The Emerald Rose

   As a lot of you know I am from the State of Florida, in the US of A. This morning we had the King and the queen of Spain come to Pensacola Florida to celebrate 400 years of Spanish heritage here. A number of Galleons stopped here on theirway back t0 Spain from Vera Cruz, Mexico, with untolledamounts of Gold and precious stones. A whole different fleet came her to harvest “Norfolk Pines” highly straight, strong trees which made the masts of the Spanish Armada a reality, and the sheer engineering and “out of the box” thinking to get them to the shore, get them out to the ship, and then load them were engineering marvels of the late 1600’s, and early 1700’s. Pensacola was truly a “port in a storm” back then. A number of galleons are lying beneath the waves of our panoramic coasts on the Gulf of Mexico. Also a number of German Submarine’s from WWII lie at the bottom of the Gulf. But our historyand connection with Spain, one of the three great world powers of that age, and a historic and archaeological treasure trove deserve more than “Barry and the Crew” rendered them!

         Pensacola spent weeks and months planning the “heritage Days” events of today, for years Dr. Judy Bense, the head of the archaeological department of the University of West Florida has been doing a five minute segment every morning on NPR Radio extolling the relativity and rich history of Pensacola, called “Unearthing Pensacola”. Hundreds of volunteers and people inspired by Dr. Judy’s passion and love of the 450 year old history of the area, versus the 233 year old history of the Boston Tea Party and the American Revolution, have inspired folks here to go out and volunteer for “digs” to trace the wood dams and flumes used to float the logs from the forest to the sea, and the equipment and manpower requirements necessary to make it all work, first for Spain, then for France, and then for Great Britain, ….long before the founding of the United States of America.

        An event like this deserves attention, maybe not the President of the United States, and perhaps not the Secretary of State of the United States, but someone of the level and caliber to graciously welcome the King and Queen of Spain to this area!

       But guess what? No one showed! Talk about an embarrassment to the country! It’s not like someone called yesterday and said, “Hey your Kingship, how about dropping by for the party?” It takes months, and I assure you that Washington was made aware of the situation.

         So even if, according to Hillary the Bitch, we need to set aside Human Rights issues because of global economic issues, climate warning issues and security issues, Washington should have been here!!!!

        Just another example of “non-bi-partisan ship ” at work. The Panhandle of Florida is 76% Republican, so we don’t exist in Obama land. we don’t count,….but we have Southern manners, something Washington has never heard of since November of ’08.

        Thank you King Juan Carlos and your lovely wife for sharing this 400th year celebration of the Spanish heritage that helped this country grow to be what it is, and I apologize for the ignorance of our government of “Hope we can believe in” over “reality that made us what we are, by Spanish visitors and citizens that toiled to make us happen.

    Thank you!!

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