Two new reads for your pleasure.
Vernal Verities 
Pillsbury in Films 

W. Leon Smith

W. Leon Smith hails from the family of Erastus Smith, the courageous patriot who guided the survivors of The Alamo to safety. Sam Houston, among others, believed his timely actions made Texas independence possible. "Remember the Alamo," first came from the lips of Erastus Smith.

W. Leon Smith is the courageous newspaper editor who published The Editorial for the Iconoclast in 2004 endorsing John Kerry instead of George W. Bush. In the aftermath Smith and those working for him were threatened and assaulted. The boycott of both the Iconoclast and the Clifton Record, the other paper owned my Smith, continues to this day and has cost Smith heavily.

Being a Whistle Blower comes with real risks.

Lt. Eric Shine

Lt. Eric Shine graduated from King's Point, the USS Merchant Marine Academy in New York in 1991. He began blowing the whistle when he noticed gross violations of the rules that were passed by Congress to ensure the integrity of American shipping and the rights of those serving America.

Officers in the Merchant Marine take an oath to protect the Constitution, not to lie, cheat or steal. Lt. Shine took his oath seriously. He was born and raised in San Diego, California and there was honored with the badge of an Eagle Scout.

Melinda Pillsbury-Foster

Melinda Pillsbury-Foster is the grand-daughter of Arthur C. Pillsbury, the inventor of the time-lapse camera, the microscopic motion picture camera, the X-Ray motion picture camera, and the underwater motion picture camera. The Pillsbury and Foster families were active in the Abolitionist and Suffragist Movements after fighting in the Revolution.

Pillsbury-Foster began working in politics when she was eleven, passing out literature for Barry Goldwater. She was an early Libertarian activist, returning to the Republican Party in 1988.

Melinda confronted the nasty behavior of the NeoCons in the early 90s and has been working on persuading them to change their evil ways ever since.