Do You Remember America?

HT Palladian View

By Charlie Speight

Do you remember America?
Do you recall that magnificent, unapologetic juggernaut of democracy and freedom?

Do you remember the America that made herself into a mighty power that she used to protect the oppressed elsewhere in the world, asking for little in return?

Do you remember how America created, built, manufactured, invented, assembled, hammered, welded, bought, sold, sailed, flew, plowed, sowed, harvested and shared?

Do you remember the America that was defined by her willingness to help, even to die for, others?  Do you remember that when there was war, America rescued the oppressed and rebuilt her enemies?

Do you remember Château-Thierry, Marne or St Quentin Canal? Do you remember the Maine?  Do you remember Guadalcanal, Normandy, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, Sicily, North Africa, Inchon, Puson or Pork Chop Hill?  Do you remember Khe Sahn, Dak To, or Hue?  Do you remember the Berlin Airlift?  What about Kuwait, Bosnia, Somalia, Basra, Karbala, Baghdad or Fallujah?  Kabul, Tora Bora, Kandahar or Abbottabad?

Do you remember Arlington or the two dozen foreign cemeteries where American warriors are laid to rest?

Do you remember America when her citizens didn’t expect – demand – that government provide for them?

Do you remember when children thought the greatest thing in the world was to be President of the United States?

Do you remember when America’s President “preserved, protected and defended” America and would never apologize for her or bow to the ruler of another country?

Do you remember when America was hated by men of evil because we threatened their intent, and not by countries that question her commitment?

Do you remember when America’s Founding Fathers were revered as visionary pioneers of liberty and not reviled as “a bunch of old white men?”

Do you remember when America was trusted and respected?

Do you remember the America that cherished and not challenged religious freedom?

Do you remember when America looked to her Constitution for guidance and not loopholes?

Do you remember America when a movie for adults meant that children couldn’t understand the plot, not because it was full of foul language and nudity?

Do you remember when you could watch the news in America and not have facts washed out by political ideology?

Do you remember when it was safe for children to play outdoors until dark and walk to school by themselves – and be safe in those schools?

Do you remember the American soul?

She was never perfect.  America had her own internal troubles.  We need to remember that she hasn’t always treated all of her citizens equally and that prejudices, corruption, greed and vanity have left their stains on her history.  Nor should we ignore that technology, scientific discovery, ethnic diversity, social maturity and practice have made America better in thousands of ways.

Through all the sad and dark times, self-imposed or forced upon her, America has been good.  Though, at times she has tolerated her own injustices, she has been sought for justice by peoples around the world.   For over two hundred years, America’s destiny has been the providence of liberty and freedom for millions of people around the globe.

And America’s fate – her future – is yours to decide.

Don’t ever forget that.

Fred Thompson Summarizes The VP Debate: I Know Joe Biden--That Was Joe Biden

OS still believes the GOP completely dropped the ball by not nominating Fred Thompson for President in 2008. The fact that the man contributed much to saving the Republic from the Nixon White House in the early 1970's, and Tennessee from Ray Blanton in the late 1970's shows that we suffer from a case of short memory. So many remember him only as an actor, an accidental career, literally. Fred's really a crack small-town Tennessee Southern lawyer who took his talents to a big stage, and his contributions to this country are significant.

His main failing is his self-effacing personality--he doesn't live for the adrenaline rush of the crowd. He's more interested in making certain he's pithily expressed what needs saying, which brings us to today's essay from Fred:

OS urges his army of listeners to read it all, and offers up this particulary pithy paragraph as a foretaste of Fred's verbal skills.

I met Joe Biden almost 20 years ago and served in the Senate with him for eight. In private conversation among equals he can be candid, introspective and thoughtful. But when he puts on his political hat he has no inner voice that tells him, “Joe, you’re going on too long. Joe you’re being a bully. You’re being discourteous to your colleagues. Joe, that makes no sense. It’s obviously not true. Don’t say that.” He either has no idea how he comes across to normal people or he doesn’t care. I’ve never figured it out. However he parlayed a handful of votes in Iowa into the Vice Presidency. I gotta give him that.

There's much more where that came from.

Enjoy!

'Never Mind...': This Week's Jobless Claims Report Was An Inaccurate Anomaly After All, Because...

California failed to report several trainloads of jobless claims in time to be included in the report.

If something appears too good to be true, it is because it is...too good to be true.

If something looks, walks and quacks like a duck...it's a duck!

If  a BLS report smells like last week's Limburger cheese left in a hot car....

To quote the late great Gilda Radner: 'Never mind...'
 

BTW, OS managed to watch the House hearings yesterday on the Bengahzi debacle, and actually heard the PersonInCharge of embassy security worldwide (a dumpy-looking lady of not-sparkling intellect) claim that they had sufficient resources in place to defend the ambassador and the compound, to which an incredulous panel of Reps kept asking, 'So, tell me--why did our people get killed?'

The dumpy-looking lady had actually watched the attack real-time on State Department screens, which must have been agonizing. She was asked if she had any opinion at the time, or even later, whether this event was an organized assault or just a demonstration of angry Muslims pissed about some obscure YouTube video. She stated she had none then, or now. It was an amazing performance, to say the least.

The two people who had been pleading with the dumpy-looking lady for months to beef up security lest a tragedy occur detailed how they had been repeatedly ignored and denied the resources needed.

They were sitting beside the the dumpy-looking lady. She kept telling the Reps that she had done her job, that she and her superiors (whose names she reluctantly gave up) hadn't been given notice that a potential problem was brewing. When asked if she had ever been to Libya, the answer was 'No'.

It was dark, dark theatre.

Only it wasn't theatre, it was reality. Our reality.

You Just Can't Make This Stuff Up: The 'Violence Tax' Proposal In Chicago

Honestly, no matter how diligently comedy writers slave at their craft, the politicians trump them by just walking around and blabbering.

Chicago's murder rate is skyrocketing. Now, this could not possibly be attributed to the fact that Mayor Rahm(bo) Emanuel, former Obama Chief of Staff is not remotely up to the job of actually running anything, only in manipulating the system to get himself and his kind elected.

Governance, what's that?

It has to be SomeoneElse's fault, preferably George Bush, but blaming Bush for this particular tragic mess won't even pass the laugh test amongst the most rabid Chicago Democrats.

Sooooo.....if we can't stop the craziness, let's......make money from it! That's the ticket! We'll just tax the bejeezuz out of every gun and round of ammo sold in Cook County!!  That'll solve the problem, by golly!

Right?

Huh? 

What do you mean, people will just drive to St. Charles or Geneva or Wisconsin to purchase guns and ammo?  They wouldn't dare!

What's that you say? The gang-bangers who shoot up entire neighborhoods aren't interested in obeying gun laws? You mean to say they're criminals, not victims of a racist society? You don't think the tax will matter to them, but that it might discourage the law-abiding from defending themselves?

Nooooo....no chance of that.....

A Conservative Woman's Manifesto: Posted Obama Campaign Website!

It comes to OS's attention via an interesting coalition of conservative professional women in South Carolina, Palladian View.

OS gladly shares it with his army of loyal readers.

And, since it will soon disappear down the memory hole once His campaign gets word of it, OS copies it below, just to keep the words alive:

The set-up is: Someone has posted an e-card that say's 'Vote Like Your Lady Parts Depend Upon It'.

And someone leaves a comment with it that declares:

“Any woman that would vote for Republicans that are taking away our rights is NUTS. What’s next, it will be okay for your husband to beat you?” 

To which came the response from one Amy Clark:



I have counted to 10. I have smiled politely. But I am going to say what needs to be said:

I will vote Republican because I stand on the side of personal responsibility. I understand that while I have the freedom to make my own reproductive decisions, any lack of planning on my part does not constitute a crisis on someone else’s. Nor does it create an excuse to forfeit human life. I understand that my wants and desires don’t trump someone else’s freedom of speech or religion. I understand that forcing a religious institution to violate its conscience for my personal convenience would make me the worst kind of hypocrite.

I stand on the side of equality. Meaning, I believe that as a woman, I am perfectly capable of making decisions to provide for myself. Being on an equal footing with men negates the need for special concessions from the government to take care of you. I don’t need or want free “goodies” because I understand that a government that is big enough to give me everything I want is big enough to take away everything I have.

I stand on the side of intellectual integrity. Meaning, I don’t traffic in salacious scare tactics by insinuating that anyone would ever think that domestic abuse was justified. I don’t throw around flamingly false accusations that a political party is trying to take away birth control. I understand that tying “women’s rights” to “free birth control” is an insult to women. It shatters the notion that we have broken that glass ceiling, when—all these years later—we continue to allow attention to only be drawn to our reproductive system. Come on.

I stand on the side of moral integrity. Meaning, that though I have the freedom to behave in whatever manner I want, I choose to live a life worthy of the gifts I’ve been given. I understand the meaning of “TMI” and choose to behave accordingly. It’s called having class. I don’t appreciate my gender being hijacked by women who sacrifice dignity and self-respect on the altar of an “enlightened” sexuality. Your sex life does not belong in the political arena any more than the world revolves around you. Don’t embarrass me in front of my family and my colleagues in the adult world while you continue to childishly confuse vulgarity with liberation. One cannot be truly empowered if one doesn’t even have the power of self-restraint.

So perhaps we can agree to disagree in a lady-like manner. I am fine with that. You can call me archaic, ignorant, indifferent, and “NUTS” or worse, that’s fine. I will smile and say, “Have a nice day!” You see, I am truly, wonderfully, and grace-fully free, choosing to celebrate my womanhood, my motherhood, my intelligence, my ability and my challenges, my joys and sorrows, my integrity… and the knowledge that a woman’s real beauty shines from the inside—reflecting her strength of character.

But please, there’s no crying in baseball, and there should be no whining in politics. Quit making it difficult for those of us who understand that rights = responsibility. Please quit muddying the water of a woman’s voice in government but pretending you speak for all us. You don’t. I’m a card-carrying member of the NRA, not the NOW. You don’t speak for me, because I am, in fact, capable of talking about bigger issues. You know, like the $16 trillion national debt or the current crisis in the Middle East. Women are really that smart. We are! But when you claim that women’s top issue in this crucial 2012 election is birth control, how could you pretend to be seeking true equality?

So I will vote Republican, focusing on the real issues in this country. I choose to vote like our economy depended on it. I choose to vote like our Constitutional rights depended on it. And I’ll choose to vote with my brain, thank you. I just believe better decisions come from that end.

 

No, Virginia, GW Bush Did Not Create Obama's Deficits: That Was Obama's Doing

One of the more absurd moments for DuhPrez last Wednesday nigh occurred when he pontificated that the deficits of his administration were inherited, 'And we all know what caused that!', going on to cite two wars fought, increased domestic spending and that Evil Tax Cut.

This chart provides a reality check, and proof from the public record that Obama was, once again, making things up as he went along. He probably even believes the stuff he spouts, which is saddening to contemplate.

Next week's New Yorker cover tells the tale in one image. OS plans to buy a copy and frame it.

In Anticipation Of Tonight's Debate, An Essay That Deserves To Go Viral

These are busy busy days for  OS, with little time to read, much less write.

However, this essay merits attention, as we limp down the home stretch of a dispiriting political season.

What, one may ask, does the account of this particular obscure 20th-Century monster have to do with the situation we now confront?

In a word, everything.

Our President, and those around him, and those around them, all arrive to us from an academic and intellectual universe that deliberately turns the blind eye to atrocities committed in the name of Progress. Historical Necessity, you know. 

It's all so very polite, well-dressed, well-spoken, tweedy-jacket and sensible hairstyles for both genders. White wine, aged cheese, gossip over who will and won't be granted tenure.

It lionizes people like Castro, Chavez, Che, Arafat, Mugabe, Eva Peron, even Ken Philby wasn't that bad a chap.  He had his reasons, and he was sincere in his feelings as he created all that havoc. One must understand these things, you know.

That horrible man Mr. Solzhenitsyn, well he just doesn't exist. The cheek of him, saying all those things at Harvard after we had honored him so. 

He'll not be invited back, Nobel Prize or no. What was the committee thinking?

Ideas have consequences, and ideologies produce outcomes.

OS asks one thing of his readers. Consider the consequences and outcomes, historically, of the ideas and ideologies promoted by this present administration.

Then, go vote--early--as OS has a premonition of chaos engendered at the polling places of America on Election Day.

As We Prepare For November's Elections, A Thought To Ponder From Tom Paine

Well, not that Tom Paine...an admirer of his, a British subject who spent two decades working in Eastern Europe after The Wall fell, only to return home to a country debilitated by the same ideas that ruined Eastern Europe:

More than half of mankind experienced socialism in the twentieth century. Almost all of us experienced some less full-blooded implementations than were tried behind the Berlin Wall. There has never been a greater experiment in all human history and It led to the deaths of millions and the impoverishment of billions. If ever an idea was ready for the dustbin of history, surely this one was? Yet it marches on. A zombie ideology; dead but still a threat.

As the noise increases in the coming weeks, OS hopes we keep our focus. We don't need a glib hustler who would rather hang out with the ladies on 'The View' while in New York, at the expense of meeting with world leaders who have need of face time.  We need a sober grown-up, even if he is stiff as a board in front of an audience.

We need someone who has not drunk the socialist koolaid, insisting we partake with him.

It May Not Matter Who Wins In Syria, Given The Toll The Fight Has Extracted

There are people in this world, as Jesse reminds us from time to time, who are completely willing to burn the world down around them, just so they can claim to rule the ashes.

He, as usual, is correct.

This BBC slideshow give a glimpse of the ancient market in Aleppo, destroyed in this week's episode of Madness Overtakes Syria.

The next time we hear TheWinnerOfTheNobelPeacePrize describe these tragedies as a 'bump in the road', OS thinks it would be good if we asked a simple question:

To Where does this Road lead?

The Best ObamaChair Pic To Date: Sense Of Events

All those effigies are, well, in bad taste. Not a good idea. OS believes that it's possible to win every argument and never win one heart.

Humor always works best; low-key, to the point, elegant humor.

So, a big HT and OS shout-out to Don Sensing at Sense of Events. This is funny and pointed, if for no other reason that it draws the contrast between Churchill and our present occupant of the White House.

 Now, a brief thought about Eastwood's ruminations at the GOP convention. He walked out to greet the audience without a script, and spotted the chair. It wasn't a set-up, it was improv.

The humorless types in the press were not amused...they called him names, said he rambled, on and on. It never occurred to them what they had just witnessed--an actor, writer, director, producer with over five decades of experience taking the raw material of the occasion, the audience and one lone chair to create something totally memorable. Not bad for someone at age 83!

By the way, along the way--Eastwood ran for mayor of his little town and won, and served the office for several years.

Compare Eastwood with the current occupant of the White House: Which one actually has created wealth with his gifts, created memorable art (and continues to create memorable art), actually administered some office of government before seeking high executive office?  Which of them actually has done something with the days allotted by Providence, apart from running for office and spending other people's money? Why is it wonderful to be an actor/director if one is a member of The Left, and disgraceful and suspect when one is a conservative?

That empty chair looks more apropo with each passing day.

Hit that link--you won't be sorry.