A Day of Remembrance...

When I was contemplating what to write today, the following quote kept running through my mind.  It is one of my favorites and I feel really embodies the American spirit:

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. "

-Theodore Roosevelt 

When Did We Become a Nation of Pussies?

First of all, I would like to apologize for my vulgarity (sorry Mom), but I read a story that made me so angry that nothing else really seems to fit.  Maybe the Mayans have it right and the apocalypse is upon us because I never thought I would live to see the day when the US friggin A would so cravenly pander to our enemies.  And what, dear readers, you may ask, has driven Sahib, normally a pillar of decorum and restraint, into a vulgar fury?  Just read the title of this Fox News story:

"Proposed Army manual tells G.I.s not to insult Taliban, speak up for women"

In a quote from the article:

"A proposed new handbook for Americans serving in Afghanistan warns them not to speak ill about the Taliban, advocate women’s rights or criticize pedophilia"

And this gem taken from the proposed manual:

 "Many of the confrontations occur because of [coalition] ignorance of, or lack of empathy for, Muslim and/or Afghan cultural norms, resulting in a violent reaction from the [Afghan security force] member,"

Yes!  God forbid that we stand up for women, criticize pedophiles, and insult our enemies.  I am so sick of the idiots that think if we just empathize with our enemies they won't hate us.  If we were just nicer to them and didn't mention their abhorrent acts, we could then skip hand-in-hand with them through fields of daisies singing Coca Cola jingles. For those people, I say scroll back up to the top of this post and look at that picture again.

Try this one on for size.  Imagine the response you would have gotten if you had suggested to Patton that he refrain from criticizing Hitler?  Or encouraging MacArthur to empathize with the Japanese way of thinking after the Bataan Death March?

I'm glad my grandfather, a World War I veteran, and my wife's grandfather, a multiple silver star winner and D-day veteran are not alive to see what this nation has become.  I truly weep when I think that as a nation we have devolved to the point where we are instructing our fighting men and women not to speak out against evil.

Come on Mayans, drop that giant asteroid on us now.

What If Todd Beamer Had Been There?

Over the last year, Sahib and I have taken a lot of cracks at Barack Obama.  We have used sarcasm and satire to illustrate the pernicious nature of this administration, and the evil of the statist movement they represent.  Today is not a day for jokes.  Today we know that Barack Obama left those Americans in the Benghazi consulate twisting in the wind, left them to die at the murderous hands of Islamic terrorists. And then, he and his surrogates lied to you and I about the circumstances surrounding the attack.  Absolutely unforgivable.

It's been over 11 years, and I still can't say the phrase "United Flight 93" without getting misty-eyed.  The heroics of Todd Beamer and the other passengers on that flight prevented the atrocity of 9/11 from being even more unthinkable.  They wrestled control of the airplane away from the al-Qaida terrorists, and kept it from destroying the White House or Capitol, losing their lives in the process.  The courage and determination to act in the face of evil shown by this small group of ordinary Americans is why we must save this country from Barack Obama.

Contrast the response to terrorism of the Flight 93 passengers on Sept. 11, 2001, with that shown by Barack Obama on Sept. 11, 2012.  News is breaking today that the State Department sent email communications to the White House Situation Room as the Benghazi consulate was under attack.  Those emails confirmed that the attack was a planned, coordinated terrorist action, and most certainly not a violent mob reaction to a Youtube video.  Two of the 4 Americans killed that night died several hours into the attack, well after Obama had been informed of the situation.  There was time to save them, or at least move heaven and earth trying to save them.  Barack Obama did nothing.  Well, that's not accurate-   he went to bed, and flew to Las Vegas the next day for a campaign fundraiser.

Not only that, but he and his administration orchestrated a cover up of their heinous inaction for many days afterwards, blatantly lying to the American people at every turn.  Barack Obama is a traitor to the legacy of Flight 93,  a disgusting coward of a man who disgraces and tarnishes the office of the President every moment he occupies it.

What if Barack Obama had been on Flight 93 instead of Todd Beamer?  Hell, he probably would have volunteered to take the co-pilot seat for the duration of the flight to Washington.

What if Todd Beemer and the Flight 93 passengers had been in the White House Situation Room 11 years later as reports of the attack in Benghazi came in?  Do you think that they would have shrugged it off and hit the rack?  Hardly.  Let's roll would have been their call to action, and maybe, just maybe, they would have saved American lives again.

9/11 Cross: Dear Atheists, Quit Whining!

You know, growing up, I had a much different mental picture of atheists.  Being a child of the Cold War, my first awareness of atheists were the godless-commies who wanted to bomb us into oblivion.  Later, I discovered American atheists.  These were hard-core inflexible people who were so confident of their own knowledge and intellectual superiority that Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, and Billy Graham together couldn't soften their heart towards God.

My how things have changed.  It is nothing new for atheists to file lawsuits to get any remotely religious symbol or artifact removed from any public place other than a church, synagogue, or mosque. But when did they become such mentally and emotionally unstable sissies?  I have always found it narcissistic in the extreme that atheists can be so sure of their depth and breadth of knowledge that they can claim categorically that God does not exist, but at least I could respect the strength of their convictions.  Now, not so much.

Case in point:  The lawsuit they have filed to have the 9/11 cross removed from the the National September 11 Museum and Memorial. Again, this isn't surprising for them.  I would have been more surprised if they hadn't sued to have it removed.  Of course, they trot out the old and tired "separation of church and state" argument which we previously debunked in the blog post "Atheists Want to Starve Children!".  I think they realize that their chance for success arguing the establishment clause is unlikely at best because they have added a new strategy.  It is the "We are giant wusses!" strategy.  Light years from the steely-eyed Russian soldiers or the maniacal crazed atheists of the '70s and '80s, today we have the kinder, gentler, metrosexual, sensitive atheists. In addition to their constitutional challenge, the American Atheists say the cross should removed because it hurts their feelings. According to the Washington Compost the lawsuit asserts:

"The presence of the cross would result in injury — emotional and even physical in the case of extreme anxiety — to atheists left feeling excluded from what should be a place of unity and healing."

Yes devoted readers, you heard it here first.  The very sight of the cross causes physical injury to atheists.  I can hear them now... "It burns!  It burns!"  Wait... wrong group.  That's Obama and the Democrats.  Probably more like, "I am so depressed that I don't even have the energy to get in my Prius and drive to Starbucks for a pumpkin latte. I think I'll just lay around my eco-friendly condo in my North Face jammies, have a tofu burger, and listen to Alesana CDs. I may even have to call my doctor to up my meds."

Oh, the humanity...

Please remember to pray today for the family members of those who perished on 9/11 and for our country.  Never Forget!

Never Forget