The above cartoon by liberal ‘toonist, Clay Bennett, can be viewed glass half-empty/glass half-full. The assumption on his part, of course, is that George Bush’s presidency has been 8 years of failed policies and disaster for our country.
Iraq should be a political winner for Republicans. Not a losing talking point.
McCain appeals for the votes of 50,000 Harley-riding Americans. Senator Obama appeals for the approval of 200,000 Germans. So which demographic would you rather have: 50,000 Harley riders casting their ballots for you on Election Day, or the support of 200,000 non-citizens who can’t cast a ballot for you?
And a 7 year old girl asks Senator Obama why he wants to run for president of the United States of America.
“America is, uh, is no longer, uh, what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, ‘I don’t want that future for my children.’”
–Barack Obama, 8/7/08, in response to the question of a 7-year old on why he was running for president.
“No longer what it could be. What it once was.”….?!?!…….sounds like he’s endorsing John McCain. He certainly isn’t taking us to a previous time in American history, since the country has never swung as hard left as his policies seem to want to take us.
There’s an interesting book by Gregg Easterbrook called The Progress Paradox How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. In it, the author talks about how it is within human nature to romanticize the past and fabricate a belief that somehow, our grandparents had it better; and that today, we are far worse off. Easterbrook points out, in so many significant ways, how the world is a far better place to live in today than it ever was in human history….even as we feel as though things are a disaster.
I believe some of that is going on here, injected by a steroid shot of BDS political hyperbolic scaremongering that for the last 8 years President Bush has become “the worst president in history”- even though his legacy’s history can’t possibly be known yet- taking the country down a dark path of misery, imperialistic overreach, ruining the economy and taking from the poor and giving to the rich, gas prices shooting up to levels paid at by so many people in other countries, failure to prevent 9/11, failure in Katrina, failure to stop global warming and ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, Terri Schiavo, causing Americans to be hated around the world, taking us lying us into war, abu Ghraib and human rights violations through Gitmo and rendition programs, stripping away our civil liberties, the Constitution’s just a piece of paper, and seizing unprecedented presidential powers. I’m sure I missed a few.
If I had the time on my hands, I’d go through and point out statistical comparisons and facts that on so many points, the BDS sufferers have placed personal politics over reality, because it’s all happening under Bush’s watch.
If these last 8 years have been the worst years in American history due to the leadership of one man, I’d say give me more of the same. Give me more of the McSame over Barack Obama, any year of the decade.
The war against Al Queda in Iraq is certainly not at all over. Just last week I had a conference call w Brigadier General Simeon Trombitas, the Director of the Counter-Terrorism Transition Team in Iraq. It was an amazing experience. With communications radios from on-going operations barking jibberish in the background of the joint counter-terrorism operations headquarters, he described how impressive the Iraqi and other Coalition counter-terrorism forces have become.
Estimated to have drawn a crowd of 200,000 (oops! My participle’s dangling), only that son of a beach, David Hasselhoff might have drawn a larger crowd during his Germany Concert Tour last year. Rock on!
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Remarks of President Bush at Snow Funeral
White House transcript
July 17, 2008
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Sunday’s installment of Back Channels, Ferris highlights how Americans can come together to support our troops in positive ways:
Packages of Support For Our Troops
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In 2007 through to present, we’ve seen about 8 anti-war movies:
The Jacket (2006)
Home of the Brave (2006)
In the Valley of Elah
Redacted
Rendition
Grace is Gone
Stop-Loss
What did I miss….?
I’ve been meaning to blog on this for quite some time, ever since Dennis Prager brought this New York Times article to my attention over 2 years ago.
Take a look at the photo at the top. Is there anything strikingly odd about the photo? What do you see? I see a “ridiculous” little Asian boy pretending to be a cowboy, and proud of wearing the get-up. I say “ridiculous”, because, of course, there weren’t really any Asian cowboys out in the Wild West. If anything, I should be playing the part of an Injun. But back then, at the time, I didn’t feel ridiculous. I thought I looked like Robert Conrad.
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The Fourth of July. An important day and one day we should really reflect on our nation. Enjoy your families, your friends, the fireworks and food. But don’t forget what this day means.
If I had to choose one word to sum up this day I would choose sacrifice. Those who sacrificed everything, their money, their positions in society, their lives, to sign that Declaration should be honored in every way possible. This is not a day to just gaze at fireworks. This is a day to reflect on those who sacrificed everything, including their lives so that we may live in a free land.
Just today over a thousand men and women chose to re-enlist in Iraq, willing to sacrifice everything just as our founding fathers did:
How are you spending your 4th of July holiday? While most Americans probably slept, 1,215 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines raised their right hands and committed to a combined 5,500 years of additional service during the largest reenlistment ceremony in the history of the American military. Beneath a large American flag which dwarfed even the enormous chandelier that Saddam Hussein had built for the Al Faw Palace, members of all services, representing all 50 states took the oath administered by Gen. David Petraeus, Commander of Multi-National Forces Iraq.
Petraeus, reiterating earlier remarks made by Command Sergeant Major Hill, said that the unprecedented ceremony sends a “message to friend and foe alike.” He told those assembled that it is “impossible to calculate the value of what you are giving to our country . . . For no bonus, no matter the size, can adequately compensate you for the contribution each of you makes as a custodian of our nation’s defenses.”
~~~Each of the reenlistees knows full well the costs of war, and yet, they chose to stand with their units, their mission, and each other. It was as humbling an experience as I have ever witnessed. On this 4th of July, while you celebrate around grills and coolers all across America, keep in mind the 1,215 who allow us that privilege.
Take a look yourself at the sacrifice made. One of those heroes:
I honor and salute the sacrifice of our Founding Fathers, and those who proudly serve this country today.
Those men and women are but one reason why this country is great. Cassandra at Villainous Company put it best:
I love my country not because she is perfect, but because she wants so badly to be.
~~~America is not a destination but a journey and in loving her, we must not become so firmly fixed upon the goal that we lose heart when we stumble a time or two upon the road. For stumble we will. After all, we are but human; all too imperfect clay with which to form the more perfect union our founding fathers envisioned.
The whole post by Cassandra should be required reading, please check it out.
And with that, I wish you all a Happy 4th of July. While watching those fireworks tonight don’t forget to start that new ritual, recite the preamble of the Constitution.
I’m offended by the Candidate of Unity…
I was hoping he’d be a different kind of candidate…one who would be all things to all people. But look here. Do you feel left out of the Hyphe Nation?
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I’m into relatively quiet celebrations myself. But there is one ritual to which I am faithful annually. When the “rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air” commence for 4th of July celebrations… whether I am there to watch, or just hear in the distance in the quiet of the eve… I always recite the Preamble of our US Constitution. (I guess because these senior moment brain cells can’t manage to retain the 273 words to the Introduction/Preamble of the Declaration…)
I do so specifically to remind me that the 4th of July is not about the BBQs we enjoy, or the colors dancing in the sky that we never associate with bombs of war, but instead fill us with awe and excitement. These simple pleasures of our daily lives are merely the fruits of what many brave souls secured for us when thirteen colonies decided to defy England, and create a new nation on July 4th, 1776.
Resulting from our predecessors’ signatures on the Declaration of Independence, and their extraordinary dedication to creating “the land of the free, and home of the brave,” our current US Constitution - creating an entirely unique government of “We the people” - was drafted 11 years later. Our place in history as a nation was born.
As a child of 1950s-60s education, we were required to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution… and to this day, I’ve never forgotten. So if you’re looking for a private and quiet reminder of the true importance of this day, I invite you to share my own, longstanding ritual. Perhaps we can start a trend, yes?
If you’ve forgotten, it’s posted below to remind you. And may this Independence Day be filled with the blessings of Freedom for you all.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
For an usual gift for yourself, The National Archives gives you the chance to Join the Signers. It’s a document (this link for a color printer) that you can pick from three quill penmanship styles, and add your name to the Declaration of Independence to print and frame, or perhaps as a gift to a fellow patriot.
Visit this page for more fascinating details on the Declaration of Independence, including informative facts and history, as well as an article by Stephen E. Lucas on the Stylistic Artistry of it’s literary political prose. This is, in itself, the most worthy read. Read the rest of this entry »
This is where I will be on July 4th.
If you happen to be in the vicinity of Philadelphia, take some time on July 4th to stop by Twistee Treat and help support our troops!
A Real Treat for Injured Marines:
Philadelphia - The Twistee Treat ice cream and water ice store at Frankford and Longshore avenues will donate 100 percent of its July 4 earnings to the Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund.
The store, owned by Paul and Linda Corbett, parents of two Marines and eight other children, is small but hard to miss -it’s shaped like a big ice cream cone and is known to Mayfair locals as “The Cone.” Mr. and Mrs. Corbett decided last year to support the fund after Mr. Corbett heard about it on the radio.In addition to donating all proceeds from this Independence Day, Twistee Treat will also collect donations for the fund.
Also, all active duty and reserve military personnel who visit the shop will receive a free large ice cream, water ice or sundae. “What we are doing is a drop in the bucket compared to what the need is,” said Mr. Corbett of Twistee Treat’s donation and fundraising efforts.”They serve us every day,” Mrs. Corbett said of servicemen. “What we are doing is very small and insignificant compared to what they do for us.”
Twistee Treat is located at 6900 Frankford Avenue and is open from 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It is open from 1 p.m. until 10 p.m. on Sunday.
To learn more at IMSFF, or to make a donation, visit www.semperfifund.org
Independence Day approaches and it is clear that, especially in an election year, all politicians must profess to be patriotic. Some are, and some are not. The thing about patriotism is that it is either in you or it isn’t. Patriots who have it, can spot it in others. Patriots live, breathe, and exude patriotism because it is part of their fiber. It becomes part of your fiber when you are taught, beginning as a child, that the root of America’s greatness is our freedom. You learn that America has freed millions of people from the grip of tyranny and oppression over our long and storied history. You learn that American freedom still serves as a beacon of hope for billions of people around the world. And while some people may not be proud of our country, Patriots are proud.
Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. (Proud to be an American) as sung by 5, 6, and 7 year olds at an elementary school in Virginia. They sing a patriotic song every day, right after the Pledge of Allegiance. This is how you make Patriots. Happy Independence Day.
Also find Bill Dupray at The Patriot Room.
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