Thursday
Strange day.
I awakened to a text from a close friend who is a devout
Christian and who was so angry at the elite media that she could
not sleep. “I am so frikkin’ sick of the media telling us that
Islam is a ‘religion of peace,’” she said. “Look, people make fun
of Jesus all of the time and I mean ALL of the time and we don’t
kill them or harm them. But do anything at all that offends any
Muslim and they start killing Christians and Jews — and then Obama
apologizes for it. How long can this go on? The times of
Tribulation are at hand.”
I got up, walked out on the deck and looked out at the perfect
fall day over Lake Pendoreille. An absolutely perfect Fall day,
blue skies, light breeze, just a slight chill in the air.
At breakfast, my wife suddenly said, “And then I beheld a red
horse ridden by a man with a great sword….”
“What is that?” I asked her.
“It’s Revelation,” she said.
“I know, but where does that come from?”
“I just feel as if something big is about to happen,” she said.
“Something feels like we’re about to live in a totally changed
world. It feels like end times. Why are we apologizing to the
Muslims? They’re killing and expelling their Christians and we
don’t say a word. End times.”
I nodded. There is that feeling in the air.
I got another text from my very devout Christian friend. “Don’t
tell me Obama isn’t a Muslim,” she said. “I don’t care what he
calls himself, he’s a Muslim. That’s why he’s always apologizing to
the Muslims.”
I think she’s bit off the mark here. If Obama says he’s a
Christian, he’s a Christian.
I slept for a long time while listening to Mozart and the
trains. Then I went to the mail box and got the latest news from
the Obama/Biden campaign — oops, meant to say, “The New York
Times.” Naturally, it was filled with rage against Mitt Romney
There was very little vitriol against the killers in Libya, but
plenty against Gov. Romney.
I sure hope that the people at the Romney campaign don’t read
The NY Times. It is just endless propaganda against
Republicans. Nonstop. We Republicans should campaign on our own
issues. Mr. Obama’s idiot foreign policy is such an issue.
I went off to do my errands in Sandpoint. A visit to a super
pleasant post office. A helpful clerk was patient with my terrible
handwriting. Then a visit to the Alpine Shop to see my pal, Tim
Farmin, who looked happy but told me my boat needed a new battery.
Then, a visit to Ivano’s to pick up some grub for tonight.
At Ivano’s, I talked to a man who seethed with rage against Mr.
Obama. He simply could not believe that Mr. Obama would make time
to be among his Hollywood big shots but not make time to see
Benjamin Netanyahu. “These are getting to be Biblical days,” he
said. “The final days.”
A trip to the art framer, then to the drug store, then to the
Safeway to buy a cake. The woman in the bakery told me that the
days of tribulation and the dictatorship were upon us. She is
looking to move to the mountains “to find refuge…”
“Be careful,” I said. “That’s what Vicki Weaver was looking for
and it didn’t work so well. Our refuge is in The Lord.”
(I am up on Vicki Weaver because I am reading an astonishingly
good book about the federal killings at Ruby Ridge called
Ruby Ridge by a writer of unique talent by the name of
Jess Walter. It is terrifying.)
Back to Ivano’s to pick up my grub. Then back home to read the
latest about the murder of the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three
of his staff.
Apparently word had been out for months that the most extreme of
the anti-Qaddafi rebels were working with al Qaeda for 9/11. The
State Department and the Defense Department had done nothing
meaningful to protect the Ambassador. When the killers attacked the
U.S. compound, they were heavily armed with anti-aircraft automatic
cannon (a very deadly weapon) and RPG’s. They were a recognizably
violent group connected with al Qaeda.
It’s amazing that Qaddafi kept saying that the people fighting
against him were al Qaeda and we kept helping them — and sure
enough, they turned out to be al Qaeda. And Qaddafi, who had become
our friend — although a cruel and vile man — was killed by the
rebels so now Libya is in large measure in the hands of al
Qaeda.
Same with Egypt. Mubarak was no one’s idea of a great guy, but
he was our pal. He kept the peace with Israel. He suppressed the
terrorists. So, naturally, we stabbed him in the back. Now, we have
worked to create an “Arab Spring” that has given us a fantastically
more anti-American, anti-Israel, pro-al Qaeda Middle East.
But incredibly, Mr. Obama considers this an achievement. An
achievement? To help al Qaeda and its pals, the Muslim Brotherhood,
take power in the most populous Arab state? To help al Qaeda take
over in oil rich Libya? What are they talking about?
I hope Mr. Romney will not let himself get pushed around by the
Obama smear machine. I see that at a rally today in Virginia, his
speech was derailed by a lone Obama heckler asking, “Why are you
politicizing Libya?” That apparently rattled Gov. Romney badly.
The answer, should it come up again, is, “Because this is a
democracy. We debate big points of foreign and domestic policy,
especially during election campaigns. The failure of the
administration to stand up to Muslim thugs is a big issue.
Apologizing to terrorists is a big issue. The failure to protect
our diplomats is a big issue. The failure to stand up for free
speech is a huge issue. We are supposed to debate those things. If
you don’t like that, move back to Iran or wherever you came
from.”
Meanwhile, time for Mr. Romney to go back to attack mode. Why
did the State Department not protect our Ambassador in Benghazi?
Why isn’t Mrs. Clinton resigning over this? Why isn’t Secretary of
Defense Panetta apologizing and resigning? There was a colossal
failure here. The President is accountable. Why isn’t he taking
some responsibility here?
The Obama smear machine is making much of the supposed time line
of this week. That supposedly the worst attacks came after Mr.
Romney criticized The State Department for apologizing to the
Muslims for an anti-Muslim film. But of course, they are missing
the point totally and on purpose.
Why should we have been apologizing as a nation to Muslims for
one person making a cartoon? We didn’t apologize to the Russians
when people in the USA made anti-Communist remarks. We didn’t
apologize to Hitler when people in America made anti-Nazi remarks.
Why do the Muslims get this special apology treatment? What’s up
with that? We respect all religions, but we are not going to
apologize to anyone as a people for what one guy does in his
garage.
What is with Mr. Obama’s special deference to the terrorists? I
am well aware that he’s done a darned fine job using drones to kill
them and God bless him for it. But then why apologize to groups of
people we feel are so terrible that we kill some of them without a
trial or a declaration of war?
Let’s get it straight, once again: We live by the first
amendment and the Constitution. Our people have freedom of speech.
Even the nutty ones. We do not apologize for our Constitution.
Well, enough of that. It is time for a quiet dinner listening to
the lake and the trains. For now, it is paradise. The time of
tribulation has not yet come for us all, and God bless that brave
Ambassador, Christopher Stevens, who was murdered and had his body
dragged through the streets by people we put in power. God help us
when Judgment Day comes.
