Democrats look for purpose

As I watch the Democrats go crazy over tariffs, closed borders, the fight to clean up government graft and greed, negotiations for peace, and how they rail about Trump's care for the "little people" I'm reminded of something I heard, but didn't catch who said it. Paraphrase: Trump (and MAGA) is the Democrat our parents (i.e. citizens of the 30s and 40s) voted for. Rich, connected and powerful person who cares about the little guy. A true patriot. [clarification--I personally do not see FDR that way, but my parents did]. Democrats are now the wealthy party, the snobs, looking down at the blue collar family, soldiers, farmers, police --and it's awfully hard to give back what you've stolen.

 
And Dems are almost as hateful toward JD Vance who pulled himself out of a difficult, low income situation in the rust belt of America that the corporations had abandoned for greener profits abroad. There's a fentanyl pipeline from Mexico to Southern Ohio. The Ohio Trump wants to restore to its former glory. The Northwest Territory that invented the Bill of Rights. Life is hard right now for Democrats with no one to look up to, but movie stars and leftist academics. Their big hope seems to be to abort the next generation and finance a proxy war.

I was listening to the "All-In" podcast yesterday. Three of the four venture capitalists who gather to discuss politics, technology, culture, finances and poke fun at each other are immigrants. Some started really poor, were picked on at school, had difficult family situations, etc. Do you know they learned as teen-agers with really grubby jobs the importance of compound interest? They began investing their tiny wages as teen-agers! I didn't have a retirement account until I was in my mid-forties!!! Although they didn't start out as Republicans, they all support Trump now.

David Sacks, one of the four, is now less active.  He's now in the Trump administration David O. Sacks: Silicon Valley Visionary Blazing New Trails - History Tools as cryptocurrency czar.

 
My hope for Trump is that he not try to pay back the Democrats for their crimes against him personally. Retribution and revenge are not good policies in the long run even if deserved. We've seen Democrats use non-profits and political office to get around free speech, and Lawfare to destroy justice. It's not pretty especially when it works.

America the Beautiful

"America the beautiful" by Katherine Bates composed on a trip to Colorado is so beautiful I thought I'd write something about it. It's been recorded by so many famous entertainers and bands--Elvis Presley to Aretha Franklin, military bands to small town band concerts. Everything I've read would indicate it is public domain--but alas, even that is being argued and worked out in the courts. But I was certainly shocked to read in my morning devotions (Magnificat, July 2024) that the copyright is held by the Benedictine Nuns of the Abbey of St. Cecilia, Ryde, Isle of Wright, UK. That's either a big typo or perhaps applies to a particular recorded rendition. I'll check with the publisher.

Katharine Lee Bates | Biography, America The Beautiful, Poems, Books, & Facts | Britannica

"Amber Waves" is the title of a USDA magazine. The title is probably taken from that familiar tune. I used to collect first/premiere issues of magazines and have the first issue (in print). It still exists on line. https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves.aspx

Donald Trump and MAGA

Someone believes this is a great country worth saving and that's President Donald J. Trump.

 
I believe all these phony charges and ridiculous trials (NARA, Jack Smith, Fani Willis, Letitia James, Alvin Bragg) would never come to trial for any other American. Begin with the classified documents--Biden, Pence, and even Jimmy Carter all had classified documents unsecured years after they served, and vice presidents aren't allowed to take ANY, not even for their memoirs. And no one knows what Obama has because his are in a "special" NARA facility. The charges are in part to convince Trump and his supporters that this really is a country deeply flawed because the president in power can jail his opponents just like a third world country. Look how many people they've already jailed during the Biden term.

With Big Tech and Big Pharma colluding with FBI, CIA, FDA and CDC the Biden team has managed to cancel thousands of lives and ruin the education of millions of children over an unapproved vaccine and unnecessary lockdown. What great country would do that?

They want to defund the police, and emasculate the military by spending our wealth on the safety of other countries in proxy wars. They are importing drugs and gangs making every state a border state. They allow Islamists shouting death to Jews, but jail Christians if they pray in front of an abortion clinic. What great country would do that? Democrats believe former NY governor Cuomo who said, "America was not that great."

Yes, Biden and the Democrats are making a strong case against the U.S. being a great country.

How nations slip from greatness

Although this is circulating as "anonymous" at various sites it is from the opinion column of Don Feder, Front Page, June 17, 2021. https://www.frontpagemag.com/how-nations-slip-greatness.../ Democrats call it hyperbole and misinformation. You may disagree, but this is "his truth," and Dems are all for that.

"Men, like nations, think they’re eternal. What man in his 20s or 30s doesn’t believe, at least subconsciously, that he’ll live forever?

In the springtime of youth, an endless summer beckons. As you pass 70, it’s harder to hide from reality.
Nations too have seasons. Imagine a Roman of the 2nd. century contemplating an empire that stretched from Britain to the Near East, thinking: This will endure forever.

Forever was about 500 years, give or take.

France was the thing in the 17th and 18th centuries. Now the land of Charles Martel is on its way to becoming part of the Muslim ummah.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the sun never set on the British empire. Now Albion exists in a perpetual twilight. Its 95-year-old sovereign is a fitting symbol for a nation in terminal decline.

In the 1980s, Japan seemed poised to buy the world. Business schools taught Japanese management techniques. Today, its birth rate is so low and its population is aging so rapidly, that an industry has sprung up to remove the remains of elderly Japanese who die alone.

I was born in 1946, almost at the midpoint of the 20th century – the American century. America’s prestige and influence were never greater. Thanks to the Greatest Generation, we won a World War fought over most of Europe, Asia and the Pacific. We reduced Germany to rubble and put the rising sun to bed.

It set the stage for almost half a century of unprecedented prosperity. We stopped the spread of communism in Europe and Asia, and fought international terrorism. We rebuilt our enemies and lavished foreign aid on much of the world.

We built skyscrapers and rockets to the moon. We conquered Polio and COVID. We explored the mysteries of the Universe and the wonders of DNA, the blueprint of life.

But where is the glory that once was Rome?

America has moved from a relatively free economy to socialism – which has worked so well nowhere in the world. We’ve gone from a republican government guided by a constitution to a regime of revolving elites. We have less freedom with each passing year.

Like a signpost to the coming reign of terror, the cancel culture is everywhere. We’ve traded the American Revolution for the Cultural Revolution.

The pathetic creature in the White House is an empty vessel filled by his handlers. At the G-7 Summit, Dr. Jill had to lead him like a child.

In 1961, when we were young and vigorous, our leader was too. Now a feeble nation is technically led by the oldest man to ever serve in the presidency.

We can’t defend our borders, our history (including monuments to past greatness) or our streets. Our cities have become anarchist playgrounds.

We are a nation of dependents, mendicants, and misplaced charity. Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.

The president of the United States can’t even quote the beginning of the Declaration of Independence correctly. Ivy League graduates routinely fail history tests that 5th graders could pass a generation ago.
Crime rates soar and we blame the 2nd. Amendment and slash police budgets.

Our culture is certifiably insane. We have men who marry men. Men who think they’re women. People who fight racism by seeking to convince members of one race that they’re inherently evil, and others that they are perpetual victims. A psychiatrist lecturing at Yale said she fantasizes about “unloading a revolver into the head of any white person.”

We slaughter the unborn in the name of freedom, while our birth rate dips lower year by year.
Our national debt is so high that we can no longer even pretend that we will repay it one day. It’s a $28-trillion monument to our improvidence and refusal to confront reality.

Our “entertainment” is sadistic, nihilistic and as enduring as a candy bar wrapper thrown in the trash.

 Our music is noise that spans the spectrum from annoying to repulsive.

Patriotism is called insurrection, treason celebrated, and perversion sanctified.

A man in blue gets less respect than a man in a dress.

We’re asking soldiers to fight for a nation our leaders no longer believe in.

How meekly most submitted to Fauci-ism (the regime of face masks and hand sanitizers) shows the death of the American spirit.

How do nations slip from greatness to obscurity?

• Fighting endless wars they can’t or won’t win
• Accumulating massive debt far beyond their ability to repay
• Refusing to guard their borders, allowing the nation to be inundated by an alien horde
• Surrendering control of their cities to mob rule
• Allowing indoctrination of the young
• Moving from a republican form of government to an oligarchy
• Losing national identity
• Indulging indolence
• Abandoning faith and family – the bulwarks social order.

In America, every one of these symptoms is pronounced, indicating an advanced stage of the disease.
Even if the cause seems hopeless, do we not have an obligation to those who sacrificed so much to give us what we had?

I’m surrounded by ghosts urging me on: the Union soldiers who held Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, the battered bastards of Bastogne, those who served in the cold hell of Korea, the guys who went to the jungles of Southeast Asia and came home to be reviled or neglected.

This is the nation that took in my immigrant grandparents, whose uniform my father and most of my uncles wore in the Second World War. I don’t want to imagine a world without America, even though it becomes increasingly likely.

During Britain’s darkest hour, when its professional army was trapped at Dunkirk and a German invasion seemed imminent, Churchill reminded his countrymen, “Nations that go down fighting rise again, and those that surrender tamely are finished.”

The same might be said of causes. If we let America slip through our fingers, if we lose without a fight, what will posterity say of us?

While the prognosis is far from good, only God knows if America’s day in the sun is over." By Don Feder

Five characteristics of successful civilizations, guest blogger Michael Smitih

Earlier Michael wrote:  "It is hard for anyone with an open mind to look at the policies and executive orders of the Biden administration, contrast and compare them with those of the Trump administration, and not see the Democrat's total, unrestricted, all-out war on every aspect of America - what she is, who we are and how we live.

You can see the attacks accelerating, the condescension and threats are turning into actions - if they cannot bring us to heel with laws, rules, and regulations, if they can't make every single one of us a dependent beggar, they will make your savings worthless and break the entire country with spending and debt."

That passage made me think about how I once proposed that the most successful and long-lived civilizations of history have the five characteristics in common, that the loss of any one of the five results in decline, loss of more than one results the fall of the civilization. In these civilizations, the overwhelming majority of their members share:

• A common theism,
• A common ideology,
• A common culture,
• A love of the aforementioned, and
• A willingness to defend all the above (with deadly force and to the death, if necessary).

A common theism is important – to be a unified civilization and survive challenges from other, competing civilizations, there must be a unity at a spiritual level. Contrary to what our ruling class and the elite academia believe; the rise of Islamic terrorism is not driven by economic or political motives. Most academics and devotees of secularism deny that Islamic terrorism has a religious and spiritual genesis because they give little or no credence to their own spirituality and are motivated by a form of dialectic materialism rooted in their own fealty to socialism and communism. Jihadis come from all strata of Islamic and Western society, we have seen the wealthy and the poor, the educated and the ignorant become agents of human destruction. Islamists conceptualize this “struggle” as Islam versus the infidels – this is the only dimension they understand. If Western civilization cannot unite behind a single, motivating, spiritual organizing principle, it will fall. The Crusades are often thought of in pejorative terms but in more visceral times, the Islamic threat was far more obvious and therefore imminently more visible.

A common ideology (and by ideology, I mean a concept of freedom, liberty, and the governance necessary to preserve them) is also necessary. A common understanding of the political process, the legal environment and a broad understanding of the governing structure is essential. To avoid an arbitrary and capricious nature of savagery, people must be able to predict how their interactions will affect others and what the reaction from those “others” will be. This commonality must also be as minimal as possible – for it to bind all the civilization, it must be simple and clear enough to be understood by the most common of men in that civilization.

Like ideology, a common culture is required – and this does not mean that it is unchanging or without variation, just that it is shared across the civilization as new, unharmful and enhancing aspects of other varying cultures are assimilated (and assimilated is the key point). Important aspects providing strength to a civilization are the stability and predictability brought about by the common bonds between its people – Rousseau called it a social compact or contract. It is the mutual understanding of how things are going to work in society and what are the expectations of, and duties between, members of the civilization.

It goes without saying that the members of a given civilization must love it – that is to be totally and completely devoted to it. Members must value liberty, the systems that protect it, the culture that drives it and the spirituality that preserves it. Absent that level of devotion, the final aspect of defense is impossible - the willingness to defend the civilization with force and with the risk of one’s own life.
For better or worse, it seems clear that Western civilization has witnessed varying degrees of success in the intermixing of these five characteristics. It is a personal belief that America’s success has resulted from

 a) Christianity, 

b) the classical liberalism of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, 

c) the unique American ability to assimilate the best of the world’s cultures and create a singular American culture, 

d) the nationalism and patriotism of American exceptionalism and 

e) the willingness to expend its treasure and give the ultimate sacrifice of American lives to defend the ideals incorporated in these five characteristics and to provide the opportunity for the rest of the world to benefit from them as well.

America’s decline is not an inevitability; it is a choice – we are choosing to violate the characteristics of success (or at least we are not stopping those who are).

Every single one of these five characteristics are under active (and passive) attack. Given that the failure of one set us on a path to destruction, it is not a stretch to imagine that multiple violations of all five will spell our end just as it has the great civilizations of antiquity.

Honor your father and your mother

"The fourth Commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.” That’s not just a call to filial piety; it’s a call to patriotism as well." . . .

Did you know that only 18% of colleges require a class in American history? And then we wonder why social media, academe, business and entertainment world are either battle grounds or kindergarten recess. People my age fear dementia--we've seen it ravage family members and friends, taking them from us and leaving behind a stranger. But what about national dementia--we've stolen history from our young people by offering nothing but grievances and pretending smugly only the current generation is smart and moral--they will have no memory to steal.

https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2020/05/11/patriotism-in-the-fourth-commandment/?

Is patriotism right wing extremism?

"When I mentioned to my liberal wife that my next book would be dedicated to the defense of patriotism, as an antidote to growing divisiveness, she warned me that my colleagues would consider it a defense of right-wing extremism." (Amitai Etzioni) He went on to write the whole essay on how he gets that from publishers (change the title) or reviewers like NPR--that patriotism is considered right wing and he asks when did that happen and why.

My question first would be how do these two live together? And second I'd give an answer to his question. This didn't happen over night. It was long before the 1619 garbage NYT is promoting.  Since 1980 when Howard Zinn's poisoned history began to creep into the classrooms of America, first as extra reading then required textbooks, American students have been taught that our founding and our history have been racist, sexist, evil and everything that promotes the USA is racist and white supremacist. That's 40 years--a lot of heads of mush. A lot of teachers have graduated who then taught teachers who are teaching your kids and grandchildren. That's why Democrats get so enraged by MAGA. In their minds, America was never great, and by putting that on a hat, you want to bring back slavery. There are other propagandists in the classroom besides Zinn, of course--I used to run into them at OSU, but he's the one I'm the most familiar with.

I love Paul Johnson's "A history of the American people," and if I need to look something up that doesn't insult me or my ancestors (some of whom arrived in the 1600s), that's my go-to title. I also like "A history of the 20th century," 3 vol. by Martin Gilbert, because it treats Communism and Socialism with the respect those evils deserve. Both Johnson and Gilbert are British and are prolific writers.

The Federalist offers an alternative. https://thefederalist.com/…/replace-howard-zinns-communist…/ The original essay I quoted is https://www.city-journal.org/in-defense-of-patriotism. You're up against much more than the silliness and memes you see on the Internet.

Name calling—the last resort for Democrats

I've never been able to figure out how Donald Trump gets slammed with that racist meme. He called MS-13 thugs and terrorists. Well? Did he say all Hondurans? Or all people attempting to break into our country? No.

He tried to block people from a few Muslim dominated countries until they could be vetted--Obama's list--because the countries didn't have viable governments. Do you have any idea how many countries are dominated by Islam? About 24% of the world's population. Do you really think the President was blocking that many people, or that Obama had all of them on a list?

But once ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, NYT, WaPo, Politico, HuffPo, and all the late night comedians, has-been movie stars and women dress in pink body parts costumes get on a roll, they just crash down the mountain.

Here's a photo of President Trump and the award he and other patriotic, diverse Americans--Rosa Parks, Muhammed Ali--received in the 1980s, the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, which recognizes American citizens who embody “patriotism, tolerance, brotherhood and diversity.”

If Democrats can't call a white person racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, xenophobic or white supremacist, they are left tongue tied and speechless and go back to their knitting-- promoting abortion.

Nothing a patriot can’t do

What makes Donald J. Trump so popular with the people and so successful in accomplishing things other politicians could only dream about? He loves America!

New book by his son reveals his zest for life. https://spectator.org/the-book-on-the-president/

When visiting with the president in the Oval Office, the writer of this article in American Spectator expected to find the man who is maligned in the press--stormy, erratic obsessed—the guy the Trump haters like to pick on.

"I hate to report back to his enemies, but he was not erratic, not gloomy, not obsessed with his enemies. In fact, we hardly talked about his enemies. The president was upbeat, optimistic, and full of fun. He was in very good form, and his aide, Brad Parscale, remarked that this is one of the reasons Parscale enjoys working with him. Never once did the president mention a conservative writer, but he mentioned things American. When I mentioned my visit with a Fox News contributor, he said he had had a similar experience. “They’re [the president’s enemies are] living in a bubble,” the Fox reporter said. The president is having a ball, and if he is obsessed with his enemies he never showed it to us."

Comment on patriotism by Diane McDermott

“Just for the fun of it, I randomly checked the Facebook walls of six left-leaning friends of mine who use the site on a regular basis.

Not one of them mentioned 9/11, in any form.

I usually play this game and see similar reactions on major patriotic holidays as well ... 4th of July, Veterans’ Day, etc, so now apparently you can add 9/11 to that list.

I know it doesn’t really mean a whole lot but, to me, it just reinforces my belief that they have very little love for this country...or at least no desire to openly display it.”

America is under attack by guest blogger, Todd L. Thorton

“I'll go out on a limb here and say assaulting people in restaurants, airports, and elevators because they don't agree with a particular point of view rises well above a civil conversation. Destroying businesses, city vehicles, occupying parks, defacing private homes, and blocking city streets is no way to win an argument. Taking a stand against national borders, law enforcement, and the rule of law tips the scales of sound judgement. America doesn't want socialism in any form.

We are proud nationalists, not racists. We want everyone to do well and be successful. The left has destroyed our schools, our health care, and religious freedoms. Their idea of "help" is to fence off minorities into racist "projects" and attempt to care for their every need at their neighbor's expense. No one wants a hand-out, they want a damn job. They attack our legal system because a conservative court will stop them from overturning our elections, taking our guns, our freedom, and our ability to stop them from fundamentally changing America into China, Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, or Cuba. They decry fascism while actively practicing it while calling us fascists. They think we are that stupid because we don't speak up.

America is under attack, and as such, an equally defensive show of force is required to stop these offensive attacks. The left has lied, misled, and deceived the American public using scare tactics because they too know we are not Venezuela. The left will pay the price at the ballot box this fall. The left has brought tools to the battle field of political discourse never before used. Despite George Soros spending nearly $1 Billion to finance the fall of America funding this nonsense and nightly reporting of the horror and lies by $1 Million talking heads at CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, et. al, the left is still failing. All that money should have been spent on homelessness, education, medical research, cleaner fuels and the environment all issues the old left used to care about.

The old left is gone, replaced by globalists using our youth as tools to destroy freedom, democracy, and everything that stands in the way of the power of Billionaires to lord over us. The leftists and Democratic socialists/communists are about to have these weapons of political discourse now turned upon them. One simply cannot un-ring the the bell when it appears they are losing.

Despite their best efforts, we will win. We are smarter, we work harder, we love freedom, and we love the United States of America. Say no to censorship. Do not let anyone divide us by gender, by race, by religion, or even by sexual orientation. We are all Americans. Period. Identity Politics is designed by the leftists to destroy and divide us. Vote Republican in all races this fall and continue the journey to make America great again.”

Least patriotic states

Wallet Hub’s survey.  “In looking at such factors as the percentage of resident volunteers, voters, veterans, and enlistees, the site’s annual study—just in time for the Fourth of July—named Massachusetts America’s least patriotic state (New Jersey and Rhode Island follow close behind; Virginia tops the list [as most patriotic]). As a Bay Stater, this makes me sad. As an American, it makes me sad, too. The American Revolution started here. We celebrate Patriots Day. We root for the UMass Minutemen and the New England Patriots. We make tourism dollars off the Freedom Trail and Boston Tea Party reenactments. Unfortunately, all that history is just that—history. Past isn’t prologue.”

Ohio ranks 32nd in patriotism.

https://wallethub.com/edu/most-patriotic-states/13680/

Wallet Hub has many “best” and “worst” articles.  Some facts about July 4 and the various celebrations https://wallethub.com/blog/4th-of-july-facts/22075/

An immigrant addresses Colin Kaepernick and buddies

An immigrant addresses the disrespect of some of our athletes and celebrities:

"I am a first generation Naturalized American who was born in India. I am neither white (without white privilege), nor black or Hispanic (not a victim either), I am just a person who came to a land of opportunity with a dream. I have traveled some in this world and to the best of my knowledge I have not known of any other country where some of the people desecrate their flag, disavow their National Anthem or tear down their own country. If I am wrong please straighten me out. BUT if I am right, then please address how do we expect any other country to respect ours when we (under the “excuse” of freedom of speech) do not respect it ourselves."

When I became a U.S. citizen, I took an oath denouncing my allegiance to my old country and even agreed to take up arms against my former country if asked to by the USA. Please check the verbiage of the oath these days, but do oaths mean nothing anymore?

Just like family, we may not always agree with our parents or siblings but we do not insult or degrade them in public (at least I don’t think they should).

I have three comments for your consideration:
1) If they (the desecrators) dislike our country so much then by the same freedoms that are granted to us through our constitution and bill of rights they are free to denounce their citizenship and go embrace and live in a country that they think is better than ours. They are free to run and embrace that country’s flag and anthem, but I am sorry I would appreciate them not doing it on our soil. In America fly the American flag with pride and no other!!!

2) Every immigrant like myself that came here to this wonderful land of opportunity seeking a better future, should leave the policies, laws, traditions and attitudes of their former countries behind and assimilate into our culture, traditions, language, laws and attitudes. After all if their old country’s ideas, policies, traditions and laws were so good then why did they leave and come here in the first place? Go home!

3) I believe immigrants come here either because they admire us and the opportunities we offer or to rape and abuse our country for all that they can pillage. I am sorry but we must block the latter kind. I believe that Mr. Trump has the right idea. As for those who were born in this country, wow, what can I say? They were blessed to be born into opportunity but many unfortunately could not admire the beauty of the forest because they were blinded by the tree in front of them.

I wish to remain anonymous, but I will be glad to answer any questions if needed for clarification.
I am just a man who loves my country and all that it stands for. May God bless the USA.“

 https://patriotpost.us/opinion/45412

Guest Blogger Joan—she is no longer naïve, believes she must speak out.

“For a number of years, I allowed myself to naively believe that individual citizens couldn't make any difference in our country's destiny and that surely those in charge had our country's best interests at heart and would take care of things. I believed that all the heated political debate was useless and that no one was going to change anyone else's opinions on any political topic. While I still believe that last sentence, I have finally grown up enough to realize that a responsible, patriotic citizen cannot sit on the sidelines and watch his/her country be totally destroyed without at least speaking up and taking a stand, for whatever it might be worth. We have elected leaders who do not share typical, traditional American values and who do not have the experience necessary for the job. We have elected leaders who have no depth of character from which to draw for decision-making. This link is to an article that gives a morsel of hope to those of us who realize the jeopardy our country is in and hope to avoid losing our treasured way of life."

If the Nixon era should have taught politicians anything, it is that trust and credibility are essential to the presidency. Nixon's downfall was not so much in the petty thievery of his campaign researchers; it was the lying and cover-up that brought him down. With Obama, abuse of trust is the theme running through all the scandals. Ironically, the shear number of scandals is helping the president in the short term - there is scattershot investigative coverage rather than focused probing. The cumulative effect, though, is beginning to show. Americans bought into the president's campaign image of "hope and change," but lately, they instinctively know that "where's there is smoke, there's fire" and the "smoke" of all the scandals seems to come directly from fires at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. In the Internet era, doubletalk doesn't work; there've been too many side-by-side comparisons of truth versus White House spin.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/06/obamas_loss_of_trust_and_credibility.html#ixzz2WaDlKgdu

Born in the USA lyrics read by Glenn Beck

Now that's a sobering experience. Heard Glenn in the car this morning; he was reading Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" aloud. You've got to love how celebrities get rich off of kids by denigrating the country that's made them wealthy and famous. Politicians too. Particularly the ones in power right now. I don't know whose story about Viet Nam Springsteen's telling in the song, but it wasn't his--he got classified 4F by acting crazy for his physical, according to Wikipedia, which of course, is not a real source, but I'm not interested enough to look further. [Disclaimer: the post time has been adjusted so the TT stays on top.]

Government push back

“The year [2008] just ended was characterized by three trends: a growing worldwide demand for greater personal and political freedom, governmental efforts to push back on those freedoms, and further confirmation that human rights flourish best in participatory democracies with vibrant civil societies.” Introduction, 2008 Human Rights Report, U.S. Department of State, February 25, 2009

The assault and ridicule by the mainstream media and the Obama Administration attacking tea parties, talk show hosts, conservatives, Republicans, libertarians, and cable opinion shows, including targets as minor as notes for a speech, indicates that this trend--a demand for greater personal and political freedom--is continuing and growing. Especially here at home. The push back would seem they believe our own civil society is too fragile for the freedoms for which we go to war elsewhere.

President Obama wants to hear from you

Really. He said so many times. Not all blacks voted for him. Not all gays are liberals. Not all women are feminists. Not all Hispancis crossed the border in this century. Not everyone at the tea parties were Republican retirees. He says you should speak out, you should effect change, so JUST DO IT!!

Here are the president's words, and a link where you can go to write a letter to your local papers (based on your zip code) so you don't have to reenter the information several times.

“I have always said that I don’t think that the LGBT [insert your group here] community should take its cues from me or some political leader in terms of what they think is right for them. Real change comes from the bottom up, not the top down. As your President, I will fight to make LGBT equality a reality at the federal level. But it is the LGBT community [insert your name, family, group, church here] that has to decide what is in their best interest, and to help make it happen by engaging actively with the political process.”
Barack Obama, April 30, 2008


"This is what change looks like when it happens from the bottom up. And in this election, your voices will be heard.

Because at a time when so many people are struggling to keep up with soaring costs in a sluggish economy, we know that the status quo in Washington just won’t do. Not this time. Not this year. We can’t keep playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and expect a different result – because it’s a game that ordinary Americans are losing….

The politics of hope does not mean hoping things come easy. Because nothing worthwhile in this country has ever happened unless somebody, somewhere stood up when it was hard; stood up when they were told – no you can’t, and said yes we can."
Barack Obama, February 13, 2008


". . . it’s so important that you continue to speak out, that you continue to set an example, that you continue to pressure leaders — including me — and to make the case all across America.
Barack Obama, October 10, 2009

Let's take him at his word. He wants us to speak up, stand up, demand no more same old, same old, from corrupt, pork crazed, deficit deranged politicians!

Then go to this link, it's extremely easy to fill out your message to your local papers, (it's Obama's own website) and be clear, specific and polite.

Here's mine--and I think I clicked on the Columbus Dispatch, WSJ and USAToday. Whether their editors are honoring these, I don't know. But it certainly is easier than contacting each one and trying to figure out different templates. It has a preview before you send, with an easy editing feature. Of course, Obama will have your home address and e-mail, . . . but oh well, did you think he wouldn't know?

Easy solutions for fixing health care [subject line you fill in]

[Message] Our system will work much better if competition across state lines is included in the plan. Once we eliminate the fraud from Medicare and Medicaid we will have a template for reform; but let's not add to that plate until we've cleaned it up. People in this country illegally are breaking the law and should not be eligible for any plan, not employers, not public option. The government should not be silencing people who have alternative views any more than it should be taking over private businesses and running them. And that includes insurance companies, car companies, banks, small businesses, large businesses. That's statism, and it's not the hope and change Americans voted for. Also, Democrats and Republicans both seem much too cozy with lawyers and don't want to consider tort reform. Why is that?

Also, legislators who have broken laws--ethics or tax--should be excluded from the process until they are cleared.

Only about 10% of our citizens are without health care in any given week/month. That's probably about the number who also want vaccines. When we get the vaccine campaigns correct without fear, scare tactics and declared national emergencies, maybe we can move to larger targets.

Short memory--the paranoid conspiracies of the right, never the left

Thomas Frank at the Tilting Yard in the WSJ today displays a very short memory. The only paranoid conspiracies and talkers he can think of are all appearing on Fox News. He's forgotten Rosie and the Dixie Chicks; Carville and Dean; Carter and Gore; Rahm and Dunn; Moore and Soros. I guess he got the Obama memo on denigrating Fox. Next he’ll be touting volunteerism and green tips. He apparently doesn’t remember the Hollywood stars and talkers who bought into the conspiracy theories about 9/11, accusing George Bush of plotting the whole thing; or the Katrina Hurricane when an entire state and city firmly in control of Democrats managed to blame President Bush for years of their neglect, Corps of Engineers, environmental EPA decisions, etc.; nor does he remember all the Democrats who pounded the podiums about WMD in the late 90s when they thought Al Gore was going to be President; or how the Republicans were accused of stealing not only the 2000 election but the 2004; and who can forget the Patriot Act conspiratists? And have you read Janet Napolitano's latest dictionary of terrorism words? I mean before it got pulled for really, really bad press. Wow. Talk about paranoid. It's her middle name! And who could be kookier than the global warmists? They make the birthers look absolutely reasonable, but with less evidence. Yes, Mr. Frank, Mr. Pseudo-journalist, you ought to see a doctor--your short term memory is really slipping.

Murray reports on 9/12, pt. 2

The March began an hour early because the plaza could no longer contain the number of patriots as they just kept coming in with each Metro stop. So at 10:30 they began the March up Pennsylvania Ave. with a small but appropriate Revolutionary Band leading the way. It started smooth with the patriots positioned by state as best they could. I heard that every state was represented. As we marched the patriots would break into song and chant. The ones in the back would start a voice wave that was awesome. You could hear it coming from behind and reaching a crescendo as it got to us. We then joined in and you could hear it progress on up to the front. The singing and voice wave repeated as we progressed up Pennsylvania Ave. There were people on the sidelines cheering us on with personal cameras everywhere. There had to be a million pictures taken that day.

Capitalism was not dead as there were people selling flags, tee shirts, food and beverages. One old timer was pretty clever. He set up shop right in the middle of Pennsylvania Ave. selling bagels and bottled water. The patriots were young, old, people limping and in wheelchairs. It was a fantastic sight.

When we reached The National Mall it was an impressive sight. People as far as your eye could see. They were everywhere. The Fox news truck was there and as we paraded past their truck the people chanted we love Fox News. The CNN truck was there also. ABC, NBC, and CBS choose not to show up for this un-newsworthy event. We stood and listened to the various speakers for about an hour on the far side of the pond.

Unfortunately the sound system was inadequate and could not provide enough power to reach the thousands in attendance. We could only understand the speakers with the loudest voices. It was here that we started to hear from the crowd about how many people were in attendance. The numbers were from 10,000 to 2 million. It was next to impossible to be accurate because as we were walking back to the Metro around 2:00 p.m., people were still showing up and arriving. My best guess would be around 50,000 to 100,000. But to put this number into it's proper prospective, you must understand that not only were we on the far east coast but there were over 800 other "Tea Parties" going on in major cities all over the country.

So, what do we have here? We have one of the largest civil protest ever against our federal government in this country and the news media ignores it. ( Except Fox News) Our President leaves town to continue to campaign for HIS causes and our representatives cower where they can't be reached. Now, here we are at the very spot that thousands of citizens (many who are in this March) paid their respects to our new President at his inauguration and what does he do in return ? He and his cohorts turn their backs on the patriots of this country and refused to even acknowledge we exist. To me, this is like a declaration of war against their own countrymen! When you consider that our representatives, our President, the newspapers and the video news media all ignore the patriots of this country, there has to have been a carefully planned conspiracy that has been a long time in the making. There can be no other conclusion. They are muting the spirit of hope and change that is driving the patriots to rise up and be heard. How else can you explain that our President and the media are together to fight the spread and existence of the grass-roots movement if it isn't a conspiracy? Why, every major newspaper is involved.

All I can say is what I saw on 9/12 tells me that the patriots are prepared to fight for the preservation of our great country. They are definitely not going to sit idly by and watch the current administration destroy the greatest country in the world. Do you want to join this fight or watch this great country be destroyed? If you are interested in joining then you can do yourself a favor and watch Fox News as they are the only news service that I know of that keeps you up to date on what your government is doing to you while you are not looking. Someone said, "Do not pay attention to what Obama says, but what he does!" I wish I would have said that.

Murray reports on 9/12, pt. 1

I would have sent this sooner but you have to understand that you're dealing with a 71 year old that drove 950 miles, marched 3 miles, and then drove back 950 miles over 4 days. I was pooped. But it was worth every minute and I would do it again.

When we got to the Freedom Plaza at 9:30 a.m. on 9/12 and saw the thousands of patriot grass-root protesters already filling the square it was AWESOME! It was emotional, inspiring and encouraging. It was all of those things because it proved that the SPIRIT OF AMERICA was alive. The spirit that started this country of ours and built it to greatness.

I left Mt. Morris and picked up my son-in-law in Sidney, Ohio. We stayed at a motel in Rockville, Md. When we went for breakfast the next morning the motel breakfast area was packed with patriots from Michigan. The excitement had already started. These people came prepared to voice a message to our President and representatives. The message wasn't just about healthcare as some will lead you to believe, it was about that plus all the reckless spending that has taken place the last several months. These people weren't the dangerous, threatening, angry "mob" that the Democrats claim is behind the protest. They were simply frustrated grass-roots taxpayers who do not agree with the direction our government is taking us. They wanted someone to listen to the voices of the masses. So far they have been muted by the press, the video networks and their own representatives. The lens caps remain on the network's cameras.

We took the Metro down to the Freedom Plaza where the March was to begin. While I was waiting at one of the changeovers I had two young ladies eyeing my sign which read PUT "WE THE PEOPLE" BACK IN GOVERNMENT. One of them ask what it was all about. I ask them if they knew what was happening that day and they said no. They had not heard of The March on Washington. So I turned my sign over to the message on the other side which read WHERE IS? NBC, CBS, ABC and said this is the reason why. I told them this was going to be one of the largest civil protest ever and the media has not considered it newsworthy. They asked good questions and I provided answers. Healthcare care up and one lady said she didn't have health insurance. I told her that if Obamacare went through she would have no choice, she would have to buy health insurance. She didn't know what to say. When it was time to leave they shook my hand and thanked me for providing them with the information about what was happening that day in their city and to their country.

We boarded the Metro and the excitement was mounting as we made each stop along the way and more and more patriots boarded. By the time we reached Freedom Plaza the Metro was so jammed packed it was almost impossible for passengers to get on or off. Then it happened. We walked out to the plaza around 9:30 and there they were. Thousands of grass-roots patriots already assembled in the square for a March that wasn't to begin until 11:30. There they were both young and old from everywhere across the country. Signs and flags waving with singing and chanting U.S.A ! U.S.A.! U.S.A.! I was moved. I was overjoyed. I was proud. I was glad I was a part of this and wished every grass- root patriotic American could feel that moment of electricity and power that can be achieved peacefully. The crowd was in unison singing, "God Bless America" and The National Anthem. Their many sign messages were clear, precise and to the point. There where no disagreements or arguments taking place as to what direction the country should take. People were friendly but focused and determined to have their messages be heard and seen by their representatives.