-
Obama and the IRS: The Smoking Gun?
May 20, 2013 | 41 comments
-
The Liberal Union Behind the IRS
May 16, 2013 | 142 comments
-
Cumulus Media: Suicide of a Company?
May 14, 2013 | 64 comments
-
From Bimbos to Benghazi
May 9, 2013 | 162 comments
-
The Plantation President
May 7, 2013 | 116 comments
The Nation's Pulse
The Wall, The Fort, and a Movie: The Real Disaster of 2012
Reagan’s Berlin lesson lost on U.S. military, Hollywood’s Emmerich, New York Times.
They are the prototypical Reagan stories.
Everyone of any approved sensibility believes X. Ex-presidents. Cabinet members and ex-Cabinet members. The Staff. The Friends. The Media, Religiondom and all of Academia. All or most of The People Who Count.
Yet…yet.… Ronald Reagan believes something else. He believes, in fact, Not X. Why? He keeps looking at what he is seeing. He reads. He questions what he ses. He has also, not coincidentally, lived an experienced life at almost 70 years of age.
And so… he does precisely what all of the above advise him not to do. He cuts taxes. He pushes hard on missile defense. He refuses to negotiate with Soviet leaders when all of his predecessors have, and he walks out of a summit… something that none of his predecessors would ever think of doing. And he flatly refuses to take four simple words out of his speech in Berlin. The words are now etched in human history: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.”
For a superb recounting of this episode, here’s a link to a great piece from my former down-the-hall colleague Tony Dolan over at the Wall Street Journal. Tony was President Reagan’s chief speechwriter, and he tells the tale of the behind-the-scenes obstacles to Reagan in simply uttering what he believed heart and soul.
As the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall is celebrated, the events surrounding the anniversary stand in the shadow of the terrible news out of Fort Hood, Texas.
Those events — the mass murder committed by a U.S. Army soldier who was also a Muslim — beg the question: Where are the independent thinkers in the Army, the Pentagon, the White House and elsewhere in government?
Where are the Reagans? By which is meant not those Reaganites of a conservative bent (although heaven knows we need more of those!). Rather to think like Reagan is also to have the power to understand the correct answer to the question: What am I really seeing here? Or, as George Orwell put it, the ability to understand that “to see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle” — and then be willing to act. To do something.
And all the while, most importantly, not being afraid to speak the answer to what you are seeing. To speak that answer out loud. Even — especially — if you are alone in doing so.
There is a colloquialism for this. To wit: “If it walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck — chances are it’s a duck.”
Ronald Reagan was very, very good at understanding this.
This, of course, is the moral in the behind the scenes tale of Reagan and his now famous speech at the Berlin Wall. Excepting speechwriters Dolan and Peter Robinson — and most importantly Ronald Reagan himself — there were others aplenty, all of significant stature, who counseled against putting the “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall” line in the speech.
Reagan refused to remove the line. Why? Because he had spent a considerable portion of his career coming to entirely different assessments than others based on his ability to understand what in fact he was looking at. He saw the practical effects of a 90 percent tax rate when he was making movies. He saw what Communism was all about in part because his life was threatened by Communist thugs trying to take over Hollywood when he was the Screen Actors Guild president. He knew the effect of violence on college campuses was damaging the university system when he was governor of California, and determined to do something about it. So too did he understand the ultimate failure that was the Berlin Wall from the moment it was going up — and the importance to human freedom everywhere in the world in getting it destroyed.
Which brings us to Ft. Hood.
The news accounts out there abound, and they should concern. The United States military, like any other organization, is only as good as the capability of those inside the organization to understand what they are seeing. And not be afraid to say what they think they are seeing. To be, like Reagan, the man or woman in the room who doesn’t hesitate to say that the approaching creature that walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck — is in fact a duck. Not something else.
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Mirac777| 11.10.09 @ 7:03AM
Fantastic, real life facts put here for all to see! I especially can appreciate the part about " moral courage" vs political correctness. I,m not a world famous writer or even a serious blogger. I spread info on twitter and try to stick to fact-based info.My main theme is my hatred of the liberal agend and the FACT that we are under attack today from them. For the liberals sure to pounce here notice I said liberal agenda? Read the whole comment before you step into my opinion. I attack that agenda with a fervor. If I see wealth redistribution I call it just that. Its a duck, period. If I see our constitution being trampled and disregarded, I will call you out on it, period.
The fact is that the ISLAMIC FOUNDATION is built upon the death to all westerners motto.They are out to further their agenda, which is very similar to Hitlers farce, of 1 race, only to them its 1 religion.The rest have to go, period. Once they spread their "idologies" all over the middle east, far east , and Europe, which they have if ya havent noticed, they had but 1 continent to invade and infiltrate; N America. As Pres. Reagan might say" the ducks have landed in America".
When you have a military infiltrated with ideologies and hatred for America, you have no defense. When you have a dictatorship (BHO is building one and fast) that basically condones the actions of the murdering Muslim Hassan, through "political correctness" or lack of "moral courage", you have all the signs of subterfuge from within. Best take a hard look at the Muslim in charge in the White house folks, the danger is very real. And if folks want to start crying that I am not politically correct, to me that is a good thing. I have the courage to speak and question boldly, it is my right as an American, period.
Alan Brooks| 11.10.09 @ 1:37PM
"He cuts taxes."
Actually, he raised taxes; but that was part of how he was instrumental in setting in motion the bankrupting of the Soviet Union. The stinger missiles and the other aid cost megabucks, but it was worth it.
Also, he was modest, but not too modest; for when a man is too modest he is hiding himself behind his opinions, unlike Coolidge, who was even better than Reagan-- in my unhumble opinion.
Alan Brooks| 11.10.09 @ 1:41PM
Stinger, not stinger.
But the missiles did sting. And the Red Army asked for it; they didn't invade Afghanistan to help people, or at least not many besides their clients.
The Red Army was a social-fascist, murdering, raping army.
Alan Brooks| 11.10.09 @ 1:43PM
... the Red Army started this current war.
GW| 11.11.09 @ 4:48PM
In effect taxes were cut after everything was over. Capital gains were reduced from 70 to 35%, for instance.
Pingback| 11.10.09 @ 7:05AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : The Wall, The Fort, and a Movie: The links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Appleby| 11.10.09 @ 7:09AM
Most people are in the category of If You Do Not Look At It, It Will Not Look At You.
It is no longer possible not to look at the end of the world and pretend that will make it go away. Yelling GEORGE BUSH IS STUPID! is no longer the answer to every question. There are many more dangerous things going on today than you can ignore.
It is time to figure out what your position is and what you are going to fight for. Because you will have to fight, or you will have to die. Choose.
Ken (Old) Texican| 11.10.09 @ 8:38AM
Appleby
We are gathering. Please contact me at
kbjudgeroybean06@gmail.com
Thank you
SoCon| 11.11.09 @ 12:00AM
"Because you will have to fight, or you will die." Yes, dear Appleby, so succinct and to the point--you have said it all.
Choose wisely, folks.
antss | 11.10.09 @ 7:26AM
The news accounts out there abound, and they should concern. The United States militaryRoll forming machine, like any other organization, is only as good as the capability of those inside the organization to understand what they are seeing. And not be afraid to say what they think they are seeing. To be, like Reagan, the man or woman in the room who doesn't hesitate to say that the approaching creature that walks like a duck, looks like a duck and quacks like a duck -- is in fact a duck. Not something else. GOOD!
Speedbump| 11.10.09 @ 7:29AM
If one examines how things have gotten to this point, it's obvious that terrorism works...it's instilled abject fear into those who are in the best position to expose Militant Islam...I guess if Christians, in general, and Catholics, in particular, want parity in how they're portrayed by the media, then perhaps some gratutious violence of their own is in order...(that was humor, expressed as satire for all of you on the left reading this who have absolutely no sense of humor)...
Lawrence Boccardi| 11.10.09 @ 7:31AM
The doo-doo that we stand in gets deeper each day. Our White House is inhabited by a Marxist Muslim. The reason that we can't see his birth certificate, or records from three schools, is that they state his faith as Islam. You can still see the video (youtube) of Percy Sutton, telling us that Khalid Mansour approached him, to write a letter to assist Obama's acceptance into Harvard. Mansour was (is) Prince Alwaweed's point guy on financial matters. google Prince Alwaweed and the Saudu King to see the depth of that relationship. Where did most of the 9/11 hijackers hail from?
Lawrence Boccardi| 11.10.09 @ 7:33AM
Alwaleed! Sorry.
Melvin| 11.10.09 @ 7:35AM
We could look at it this way. The majority of Americans are not taught to think independently wither by government run schools or their parents.
These young skulls full of mush as Rush like to call them are ingrained with just go along with the flow and support the consensus or mob rule.
Look at all the school shootings most notably at Virgina Tech. the students willingly lined up against the wall and silently waited to be executed all the wall also allowing the shooter to change magazines in his weapon to resume the executions.
Not one student fought back, even though they outnumbered the shooter and the rounds in his weapon. They just stood their like dumb sheep going to the slaughter.
My son also echoed this fact, that schools hammer this fact day after day, don't fight back, just do everything the bad guy says.
During President Reagan's time there was a whole lot of bad guys running around, and Jimmy Carter's public school mentality of, "Just do what the bad guys says" wasn't working very well with Iran and the expansion of Communism right up to our back doors.
Americans unfortunately are perfectly applicably content to be fed their pablum and suckle off the government teat from birth to death, even though the government slips a little something in the pablum during the latter years to speed up the end.
Appleby| 11.10.09 @ 9:19AM
I live in Kanukistan although I am an American citizen. (I do not hold dual citizenship.) Last night some colleagues and I were riding home in a packed subway car and discussing the latest mechanical difficulties of the train and I mentioned a plane trip that had been delayed for two hours while they found the right union guy to change a light bulb (true story). A woman who claimed to be American and was no party to our conversation then butted in and proclaimed herself proud to wait for the union. I ignored her and said "Where is Ronald Reagan when you need him?" to continue the conversation with my colleagues. The stranger butted in again to say "I hate Ronald Reagan." I asked her if she was American, she said she was. I asked her if she moved to Canada because she hated America. She said she blamed Ronald Reagan for the current Depression in Canada. I told her I blame FDR and my Daddy blamed FDR and the Kennedys for everything that had ever gone wrong, even before any of them were born. Then we three got off the train to avoid this woman, and wondered what would possess a woman to buttonhole strangers and proclaim her hatred of Ronald Reagan to them. We decided she was probably married to a draft dodger.
Mr. Reagan is still echoing in the heads of crazy people everywhere.
Margie| 11.10.09 @ 3:30PM
That's some story. I admire yor strong stance.
~and I think the Gipper would be proud of you! :^)
Jamie| 11.11.09 @ 12:04AM
She's a liberal; nothing else is needed to explain her insanity.
Timothy L Pennell| 11.10.09 @ 8:23AM
You are absolutely correct, Lawrence Boccardi. He is a MUSLIM. His FATHER was MUSLIM. Remember him? He was the 'Typical Black Man', who ran out on his Wife and Kid, and died DRUNK in a Kenyan gutter.
His STEP FATHER was MUSLIM. And his MOTHER converted to ISLAM. He lived in Kenya, and Indonesia, where he went to MADRASSA to get a degree in HATING THE JEWS.
Mr. Boccardi is also correct, when speaking of all of the SECRECY that surrounds Mr. TRANSPARENCY. Where ARE all those records? Where are his MEDICAL RECORDS? Where's the Great Mans' COLLEGE THESIS? And why is the L.A. TIMES, sitting on a VIDEO, of BARAK OBAMA, and the boys, whooping it up for everybodys' favorite Palestinian JEW KILLER: Khaleed Rashidis' Going Away Party? Don't the "People have the right to know"? Or is that 'RIGHT TO KNOW' only for TOP SECRET INTELLIGENCE OPERATIONS and PROCEDURES? Why so many Czars? So many people, with so many paper trails, able to wield power WITHOUT having to be CONFIRMED. Because COCKROACHES work best in the shadows. They shun the light. They RUN from the light. Isn't that right, Van Jones? This 'THING' in the White House is trying to DESTROY this Country. Look at his life. Read his books. Look at his various MENTORS. He has spent his ENTIRE LIFE, hating this Country, and doing EVERYTHING HE COULD to TEAR IT DOWN. He doesn't care about DEAD SOLDIERS. In his world, in the crowds he ran around with, and STILL DOES, the best thing you could ask for is a bunch of DEAD AMERICAN SOLDIERS. Ask Bill Ayers. Ask Bernadine Dorhn. Ask his Black Panther Buddies. Because AMERICA is the ENEMY. AMERICA is the PROBLEM in the World. This guys' life is an OPEN BOOK. Why can't you people see this? He's giving SHOUT OUTS, when he should be addressing the shooting at Fort Hood. SHOUT OUTS! What more proof do you need? This guy is the 'DOMESTIC THREAT' that everybodys' OATH is talking about. 'Enemies both FORIEGN,and DOMESTIC'.
Believe it.
Henry Hub| 11.11.09 @ 9:29PM
Man!
You are one sick puppy!
I hope you can get some help.
Jamie| 11.12.09 @ 4:38AM
Truth hurts, don't it, Henry the libtard?
Pingback| 11.10.09 @ 8:48AM
Fall Festivals This Saturday 10/10/2009 : My Indy Kids « John's Blog links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Anthony| 11.10.09 @ 8:59AM
It's the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the Left that leads to feckless political correctness and moral equivalence.
It will be the down fall of America unless more Americans wake up.
Pingback| 11.10.09 @ 9:52AM
Japan Zone – Entertainment News from Japan: Brad Pitt Makes Japan … | Brad Pitt Celeb links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Albert Frevele| 11.10.09 @ 9:54AM
There is plenty of blame to go around on this one, from military bureaucrats, to a PC Congress, to President Bozo's administration peopled with self destructive idiots. But the real blame rests squarely with the American voters. Nancy Pelosi was ELECTED by the demented electorate of San Francisco. President Bozo himself won an election last year and he is demonstrably not even Constitutionally qualified to hold the office! Democrats control both houses of Congress, and without a Democrat defector, the Senate is filibuster proof. President Bozo's administration is littered with Marxists whose agenda is not peace and prosperity, but rather revolution and power for themselves. These people's astonishing levels of egotism and self righteousness are exceeded only by their utter incompetence. How did we get this way?! It is time for the American voters to stop burying their collective head in the sand. It is time for the VOTERS to stop electing idiots! To stop voting in traitorous fools who see only Socialism as the future and are willing to destroy everything America has built to convert over to it. It is time to stop pussy-footing about the enemies of America. They ARE the Democrat Party. Socialism is a crime against humanity. Just look at the Socialist record of the 20th Century: over 100 million people murdered by their own Socialist governments. Socialism IS economic destruction. Socialism IS totalitarianism and enslavement. Socialism destroys. Yet the American People elect one Socialist after another. Until and unless the American people stop electing Socialists, things like this Islam inspired attack will continue to happen and our Government will continue to deliberately avoid stopping it.
Kris Lepine| 11.10.09 @ 10:01AM
It's all about BULLIES and allowing them to intimidate. Ronald Reagan knew what he believed and would not allow himself to be bullied. He stood up for what he knew was true and right. Too many of us are not willing to do that OUT OF COWARDNESS. Political correctness says "we can't say that, it might hurt someone's feelings" as if hurt feelings are the worst thing we can do to a person. That's stupid. Just ask the families that lost loved ones at Fort Hood what is the worst thing that can happen.
Or we keep quiet about our beliefs because our feelings might be hurt if someone disagrees with us. Very stupid.
If we want our conservative leaders to stand up against the bullies, whether they are radical jihidist, radical leftist, radical policies, radical spending or radical agendas, we better be willing to stand up to the bullies also.
I'm proud of my Christian faith and my belief in God but for too many years the church told me I have to "turn the other cheek" if I'm offended. I think the story of what Jesus did in the temple to the "moneychangers" is a better example of what we need to say about sinful behavior and call it what it is........evil.
Let's see, who today will not allowed themselves to be bullied: Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Michelle Malkin, Michelle Backmann, Sarah Palin, Laura Ingram and others? While the bulllies in the White House are attacking them from all sides.
I'm going to push back against the bullies because I am sick of them telling me my faith is divisive and evil. Just the opposite it true as I heard proclaimed on the radio a few days ago: in the Christian faith, my God died for me, in the Muslim faith, their god asks them to die for him. Pretty clear difference.
Doctor Right| 11.10.09 @ 10:10AM
If the Gipper was still with us, and still in the White House...
Iran wouldn't DARE develop a nuclear weapons program.
9/11 would have NEVER happened.
Our allies in Eastern Europe would have been strengthened, not abandoned.
Taiwan would have been formally recognized.
The newly freed Russian nation would not have slipped into a vacuum into which former KGB officers re-acquired control.
Obama would be running a soup-kitchen in Chicago...And still be unqualified for that.
Nancy Pelosi would be a back-bencher from San Francisco.
We need you, RR...Now, more than ever.
Pingback| 11.10.09 @ 10:49AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : The Wall, The Fort, and a Movie: The links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
etznab | 11.10.09 @ 10:50AM
"2012: Time for Change"
projects a radical alternative to apocalyptic doom and gloom. Directed by Emmy Award nominee Joao Amorim, the film follows journalist Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the bestselling 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, on a quest for a new paradigm that integrates the archaic wisdom of tribal cultures with the scientific method. As conscious agents of evolution, we can redesign post-industrial society on ecological principles to make a world that works for all. Rather than breakdown and barbarism, 2012 will herald the birth of a regenerative planetary culture, where collaboration replaces competition, where exploration of psyche and spirit becomes the new cutting edge, replacing the sterile materialism that has pushed our world to the brink.
Interviews with design scientists, anthropologists, physicists such as Dean Radin, Barbara Marx Hubbard, John Todd and Paul Stamets and celebrities such as Sting, Ellen Page and Gilberto Gil.
http://www.2012timeforchange.com/
Pingback| 11.10.09 @ 11:24AM
Canned Echoes From Berlin - Conservative Republican Discussion Forums links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Pingback| 11.10.09 @ 12:05PM
I Don’t Care About Nidal Hasan, But I Do Care About Islam links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
DaveS| 11.10.09 @ 12:19PM
The Army has been politically correct for decades. The lack of action on the terrorist in the ranks is but a reaped benefit of that stance. Why spend all those words on a heavy piece when you can say it in two sentences? If the terrrorists were all from, say, Dublin, I'd be threatening Dublin. But these days - no, not us. Behave. Look the other way.
Mr.Reality| 11.10.09 @ 12:34PM
Frevele, we did elect these idiots. Even people in so called red and purple states elect idiots, or else their stealth enablers blue dogs and pro-life democrats.
I still do not believe people know what happened in 2006 and 2008 that handed so much power over to the current leaders of government. At this outpost we will hear not conservative enough. So why did truly conservative republicans loose to allegedly conservative democrats. I still think it boils down to democrats care more for regular people. Just what does a conservative offer when your child with a pre-existing condition reaches an age that excludes her from the health care plan offered at work ? Why do conservatives always go nuts against some piddly minimum wage increase, and refuse to wonder if that top 1 percent who make over 20 percent of all income is really an accurate reflection of a truly free market. I know none of you will read my words, and certainly dismiss me as a hopeless compassionate conservative squish, but watch next fall, when the big democrat guns start blasting. We need answers to these human concerns, the guv elecs that won in NJ and VA had answers for such concerns. They should be the Republican voices of the future. Stuff they said clicked.Suburban women felt fine with it. Gridlock is enough to bring down the democrat socialists. They need us to print money to fund stimulus after stimulus billions they funnel into the coffers of financially collapsing blue state coffers, especially California and New York and Michigan , etc. Imagine these states telling public sector unions its time for real belt tightening, not to mention a myriad of special interest their low level, if not totally useless priorities and demands can't be funded? It would be the end of their coalition. A utopian Green party would emerge and suck away votes from the dems. Just jam their gears and reek economic havoc on their natural allies like media conglomerates.Renew a vigorous tort reform campaign and force these rat bastard trial lawyers to defend in self defense. Even little things, like if you give money to charity add a note saying I wish I could give, but the "Obama-Pelosi"economy is killing me. Plant such little seeds every day. And, you Catholics better find a way to smarten up your socialist church.
DaveS| 11.10.09 @ 7:44PM
A Catholic, I agree wholeheartedly with your last sentence.
Nick| 11.11.09 @ 12:36AM
I assume by your last sentence that you are not Roman Catholic.
I know your wife wears the pants in the family, so ask her if it's okay to lecture people of a different religion when you know nothing about that religion.
Mr.Reality| 11.10.09 @ 12:37PM
Frevele, we did elect these idiots. Even people in so called red and purple states elect idiots, or else their stealth enablers blue dogs and pro-life democrats.
I still do not believe people know what happened in 2006 and 2008 that handed so much power over to the current leaders of government. At this outpost we will hear not conservative enough. So why did truly conservative republicans loose to allegedly conservative democrats. I still think it boils down to democrats care more for regular people. Just what does a conservative offer when your child with a pre-existing condition reaches an age that excludes her from the health care plan offered at work ? Why do conservatives always go nuts against some piddly minimum wage increase, and refuse to wonder if that top 1 percent who make over 20 percent of all income is really an accurate reflection of a truly free market. I know none of you will read my words, and certainly dismiss me as a hopeless compassionate conservative squish, but watch next fall, when the big democrat guns start blasting. We need answers to these human concerns, the guv elecs that won in NJ and VA had answers for such concerns. They should be the Republican voices of the future. Stuff they said clicked.Suburban women felt fine with it. Gridlock is enough to bring down the democrat socialists. They need us to print money to fund stimulus after stimulus billions they funnel into the coffers of financially collapsing blue state coffers, especially California and New York and Michigan , etc. Imagine these states telling public sector unions its time for real belt tightening, not to mention a myriad of special interest their low level, if not totally useless priorities and demands can't be funded? It would be the end of their coalition. A utopian Green party would emerge and suck away votes from the dems. Just jam their gears and reek economic havoc on their natural allies like media conglomerates.Renew a vigorous tort reform campaign and force these rat bastard trial lawyers to defend in self defense. Even little things, like if you give money to charity add a note saying I wish I could give, but the "Obama-Pelosi"economy is killing me. Plant such little seeds every day. And, you Catholics better find a way to smarten up your socialist church.
John II| 11.10.09 @ 3:56PM
Yo Reality: Before you repeat yourself again, several corrections and clarifications are in order, among which I reckon the following the most important, to wit:
1. The word "lose" (misplace) is spelled with one "o," not two. The word "loose" is used rather to refer to the hodgepodge contained in postings such as yours.
2. The word "Republican," in reference to the political party, is capitalized. The word "republican" is not capitalized when referring generically to the sociopolitical sensibilities of folks like you and me. In other words, some Democrats and probably the majority of Independents are republican.
3. Federally mandated increases in the minimum wage have long been proven to cost tens of thousands of youngsters entry-level jobs every time the increase happens. The increases--originally inspired by cheap political maneuvers to award artificial competitive advantages to distinct sectors of the nation--do nothing of benefit to the economy and harm small businesses operating on narrow margins of survival. In other words, although the issue doesn't quite reach to the depths of, say, abortion in moral and social significance and consequence, it is nonetheless not a trivial issue.
4. The Roman Catholic Church has long condemned socialism, not just for its transparently baleful consequences, but for its violation of the principle of subsidiarity and attendant precepts of the natural law. See, for example, the 1931 encyclical of Pope Pius XI titled Quadragesimo anno. Those Catholics who promote socialist policies in full awareness of the Church's stance against statism are in a condition of automatic excommunication, latae sententiae.
In other words, the chore for faithful Catholics is not to "smarten up" the Church but to correct fraternally the dimwits in the Church who know nothing in depth about her social teachings.
Otherwise, your points are well taken. The coalitions of corrupt halfwits who make up the Obamanation are all quite vulnerable. They hate each other almost as much as they hate America.
JeffT| 11.10.09 @ 12:51PM
Europe is on its way to being a Muslim entity. The Europeans are so stupid, they won't even realize its happened. Sharia Law will wake them, but it will be too late. To say the same has happened to us is a frightening thought. But it is true, with a proud Muslim as "President," our military has been emasculated to the point of worrying more about "diversity" than the lives of our soldiers. The Army got what it deserved for not connecting the HUGE dots showing the way. We are all at risk in these dangerous times.
Louis Jenkins| 11.10.09 @ 1:23PM
Sometimes people cause great events, other times events find great people. Which ever. The Great Communicator was in the right place at the right time and he made a bit of history. A lady police officer happened to be at the right place at the right time at Ft. Hood, or there would have been more dead US servicemen and women. She did a great thing and saved lives. Follow the attached link for an interesting article about the duality of our nation's Islamic policy.
http://article.nationalreview......cxZTAxNzI=
Conservatives are labeled terrorist. Yet I've never heard of them bombing train stations, airplanes, killing Jews at an Olympics, or opening fire on unarmed people. PC methods are getting us killed like lambs. We're not at war with a geograhical location with borders, we're at war with an idea, a way of life. Even if Obama or the UN runs the world, it will be to the last non-Muslum.
Kelster| 11.10.09 @ 2:37PM
The most important thing to learn from this whole sad affair is to remember something taught at certain Police Academies: Never give your (a) gun to a Duck.
ncatty| 11.10.09 @ 3:23PM
Why do some of the commenters keep referring to President Urchel as a Muslim? No five pillars being practiced that I can see. One wife dressed in western fashion. Attended a nominally Christian church. His father may have been a Muslim but just because a cat has kittens in an oven doen't make them biscuits. Calling the President a Muslim is just a distraction. Back to the issues.
John II| 11.10.09 @ 4:25PM
Mr. Lord's perky send-up gives me an idea, which has probably already popped up somewhere else, but here it is anyhow. I think The American Spectator should sponsor a bumper-sticker contest.
The top five or ten entries could then be printed up and marketed, with the winners sharing modestly in the profits. If anyone's interested, here are some starters:
POLITICAL CORRECTNESS KILLS
PLAY IT SAFE: ATTACK THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SEND OBAMA TO HOLLYWOOD WHERE HE BELONGS
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS: VOTE AGAINST DEMOCRATS
Okay--lame start. But those are just quick examples, easily surpassed by sharper wits. Any takers?
ncatty| 11.10.09 @ 5:08PM
"Be responsible - die now"
John II| 11.10.09 @ 7:22PM
Not bad--but rather too ambiguous, I think. And it looks kind of familiar.
Have you seen this one? . . .
YES--I'M ON MY WAY TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET, BUT I'LL HAVE YOU FOR COMPANY.
I think that represents the upper limit in permissible length before a bumper sticker becomes a road hazard. There's an art to the composition of those things.
albert constatntine, jr.| 11.12.09 @ 6:10PM
How is this:
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you're reading it in English, thank a veteran. If you can't read it, you probably voted for Obama.
Jeff Vowell| 11.10.09 @ 7:39PM
I find it ironic that the refusal (read: 'fear') of these folks (NY Times, Emmerich, Dowd, et al) to criticize or otherwise lay waste to Islamic fascism/terrorism is, in fact, a tacit admission of its evil nature and will to avenge all supposed infidelity. The Times, Emmerich, and Dowd, etc. are basically just everyday cowards. No big mystery—they are what you see them to be.
John II| 11.10.09 @ 11:29PM
Well, cowards--yes, but they're also secular liberals. And the peculiar affinity of the western Enlightenment mentality with Islam first showed up in Gibbon, in the 18th century. It's very weird. The same people who hate Christianity for its alleged logophobia are fond of Islam despite its real logophobia. Go figure.
Meanwhile, where are the honest lexicographers? We have a new word that cries out for entry in the lexicon: Logophobia. Could it be that the lexicographers are themselves logophobic!
seriocomic222| 11.10.09 @ 8:16PM
Great piece.
The only good thing that may come out of this atrocity is a visceral, potent reaction against PC by the public at large. Up until now, most people haven't cared about the issue or have been cowed or have been voices crying in the wilderness.
Pingback| 11.10.09 @ 8:38PM
Find Info On Married People - The Blog Planet links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Mary Louise| 11.10.09 @ 8:42PM
Your writing often uplifts even when it depresses.
I didn’t vote for Reagan. I was a liberal, more or less, at the time. I’ve come to appreciate him mainly through his speeches and writing during the wilderness years. My Father, who is a Democrat, liked him. Reagan’s funeral brought tears to his eyes. My Mother was a Democrat until Bill Clinton -she calls him Mr. Arkansas. She’s a Republican now; a "Howard Baker Republican." Though Immigrants rarely begin as Republicans, neither were ever married to party. I remember Tip O’Neill once saying "we made the middle class and then they deserted us."
The story of the defeat of Communism always boasts Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul II as the heroes. President Truman is rarely mentioned, but without him the narrative seems lacking to me. I like President Truman. I like his face. I love the story about his daughter’s piano recital. Apparently, a reporter panned her performance and that caused Truman to publicly state that he’d like to punch the major leaguer [H/T: President Bush].
Close to a century following our own Civil War we remained a family. We’re a family now if you count the family from Deliverance as one.
When we decided to wage war against Communism we decided that was the paramount struggle. The New Deal, The Great Society would have to be dealt with later. The Great Society, especially, was a direct and frontal assault on the Family. Even without the struggle against Communism it’s unlikely we could have forestalled its destruction. I’m just wondering out loud is all.
Mary Louise| 11.10.09 @ 9:20PM
As far as gathering a crop of bumper stickers...
Mr. President, Pick up that Ball: It's Pax Americana, not Pox Americana.
Or,
Obamacare: Abortions should be subsidized, but Speculums should be safe, legal and rare.
"Zeke" 20:15 - Early detection is a ROI we just simply can't afford!
John II| 11.10.09 @ 11:20PM
Whoa! The contest has hardly started, and you're already way ahead. Come on, posters, try to top Mary Louise. We need contestants! I mean, there's so MUCH material--go for it!
SoCon| 11.11.09 @ 12:13AM
Maybe your buddy- SL Toddard-will join the conversation and elucidate us once again with his obviously 'superior' intellect.
Sorry, couldn't help it; I loathe the imperious moron.
John II| 11.11.09 @ 12:59AM
What the hell kind of a bumper-sticker is THAT? Didn't I already spell out the permissible length?
Sometimes I think I will just go mad! (Groucho Marx quoting Greta Garbo, 1929)
SoCon| 11.12.09 @ 4:44AM
Sorry to break it to you, John II--but you already have. :)
ADM| 11.11.09 @ 4:53PM
The military has been politically correct for many years. There has been no honesty concerning the performance of women in the military nor the many compromises required to allow them to serve as broadly as they do. Just recently, the Naval Academy found itself in yet another scandal when one of its professors went public with the gross double standards used to admit athletes and a sufficient number of visible minorities.
I'd suggest that the single biggest obstacle to the development of an effective strategy is refusing to see things as they are. But, the armed forces have been doing this, on personnel issues, for many years now. Other chickens will no doubt come home to roost.
dofus kamas | 11.12.09 @ 5:02AM
http://www.igchest.com
The anti-Semitism of the Left.| 11.12.09 @ 3:47PM
...is anti-Semitism! Catholic- (and in general, Christian-) bashing is an ADDITIONAL feature of this lovely ideology, not a SUBSTITUTE!
Pingback| 1.26.10 @ 5:06PM
Top 10: Movies To Look Forward To In 2010 | MovieMash.info links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
metal rolling machine | 3.29.10 @ 4:55AM
We are specialized roll former, glazed tile former and C&Z shaped purlin machine manufacturer, whose products have competitive price, high quanlity and comprehensive after-sales service.
formingmachine@yahoo.cn
http://www.chinarollformingmachine.com/
qewrr| 4.1.10 @ 2:43AM
MOV to DVD Converter is a professional and multifunctional software which can not only help you to convert MOV files to DVD, but also can help you to edit the MOV files before converting, set the output parameters, and edit the DVD menu.
FLV to WMV Converter is the most professional software, which is able to convert flv to wmv and convert flv files to wmv. In addition, it is very versatile, for flv file converter wmv can also convert flv to AVI, MP3, MPEG, MP4, iPod, etc. Is it your best assitant
ertyt
www.us-bapeoutlet.com | 4.3.10 @ 9:15PM
www.us-bapeoutlet.com
www.sunglass-mall.com | 4.5.10 @ 9:07PM
You won't have to worry about having your sunglass merchandise to gather dust on its display racks waiting for the summer season to commence www.sunglass-mall.com
Roll Forming Machine | 4.20.10 @ 3:40AM
★We are specialized roll former, glazed tile former and C&Z shaped purlin machine manufacturer, whose products have competitive price, high quanlity and comprehensive after-sales service.
formingmachine@yahoo.cn
http://www.chinarollformingmachine.com/
Trackback| 4.25.10 @ 5:29AM
2012 Prophecies or Better World, on 2012 Prophecies or Better World, links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
grgr | 12.17.10 @ 1:49AM
We live in interesting times. There is uncertainty about the economic affairs in the world, although it seems economic relief in some countries is happening. The H1N1 roll forming virus is rampant and 2012 is looming above our head– what ever that may mean. Some think 2012 will be a major shift in humanitiesà ₠℠consciousness and others think that the world as we know it will come to some sort of physical end (actually, that may be the same thing). Big Changes are on their way; but that’ s life.…