On Thursday, President Obama said:

“We are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we’ve already taken to put America back to work”

Well, someone is willing to take him at his word, and you betcha she’s ready with a demonstrably good idea!

Thank you, Washington, for Requesting a Demonstrably Good Idea

I commend the president for acknowledging today that “there are limits to what government can and should do” to ease our 10.2% unemployment rate – the highest it’s been since 1983. I also applaud his call for suggestions and expression of openness to considering “any demonstrably good idea.” Taking him at his word, I’d like to suggest this one: let’s learn from history and follow the example of the man who occupied the White House in 1983 and was able to transform an even worse recession than the one we’re currently experiencing into the largest peacetime economic expansion in American history.

When you realize the magnitude of President Reagan’s achievements, there is absolutely no reason why anyone would ignore his “demonstrably good” example. If you want real job growth, cut taxes – including capital gains taxes and small business payroll taxes – and slay the death tax once and for all. If you want to stimulate the economy and help poor and middle class families, cut payroll taxes so that more Americans can keep and invest more of what they earn.

If you want lasting economic expansion and prosperity, get the federal government’s budget under control. Instead of more pork-laden stimulus plans, let the free market correct itself. That’s what Reagan did, and history proves it worked….

More demonstrably good ideas at the link!

Perhaps Congress also needs to hear a few of these demonstrably good ideas!

Crossposted to Be John Galt and J’s Cafe Nette.
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H/T: Politico, Sarah Palin’s Facebook Notes (my emphasis, thanks to Clyde5445 for the link).

67 years ago, November 3rd, 1942, was the beginning of the end of the Second Battle of El Alamein. By November 4th Rommel was in retreat from Montgomery’s forces.

On November 10, 1942, Winston Churchill said of El Alamein,

I have never promised anything but blood, tears, toil, and sweat. Now, however,

The bright gleam has caught the helmets of our soldiers, and warmed and cheered all our hearts….

…General Alexander and General Montgomery fought it with one single idea. they meant to destroy the armed force of the enemy and to destroy it at the place where the disaster would be most far-reaching and irrecoverable….

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

This year began with the inauguration of a president who quickly began to extend the power and reach of the federal government as his programs and policies dealt severe blows to the economy. He developed a shadow cabinet of power-wielding czars without accountability, committed to radical leftist ideology.

Citizens slowly began to awake with concern about taxes and spending in the stimulus bill and growing consternation over the White House programs and personnel. On February 15, Keli Carender of Seattle organized a grassroots protest and on February 19, Rick Santelli in his rant cried, “This is America!” and called for a Tea Party! Momentum grew as Tea Party protests started taking place across the nation. A national Tax Day Tea Party was planned. As the government proceeded with the takeover of two of the big three auto makers and the bullying of banks, more citizens became outraged.

The Tea Party protesters were ridiculed and defamed, but they continued to make their signs and show up: veterans, grandparents, children, moms and dads, and students. 4th of July Tea Parties came with their emphasis of our heritage of liberty and the reminder that our nation was founded as a Constitutional Republic.

Then came the August Town Halls protesting the massive government debt and the proposed takeover of the health care industry. YouTube came into its own as video after video was posted of citizens confronting Congress, revealing the breadth and depth of concern and anger over the fiscal irresponsibility and political overreach of the Obama administration and the Democrats. On September 12th the Tea Party movement marched on Washington, D.C., and hundreds of thousands of Americans protested the programs and policies designed without regard to liberty and fiscal and moral responsibility.

Yet still Democrats moved ahead with arrogance, trying to bluff their way to the most massive government grab for power in the history of our country. On the other side of the aisle Republican party leaders also ignored the concerns of the grassroots, but this time in NY-23, citizens and conservative leaders were able to wrench the direction of a campaign and bring to national prominence the concerns of citizens who will consent to be governed, but who will not be ruled.

So here we are, with even NPR saying: Coming Tuesday: ‘A Referendum On The President’.

Today is the end of our beginning. May today be our El Alamein!

It may almost be said, “Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.”

Winston Churchill

In What men may do, we have done. Moe Lane wrote that today is a prologue to 2010:

…today is the day that we start to take back that which was ours.

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Crossposted to Be John Galt and J’s Cafe Nette.

H/T: BBC, The Churchill Society, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, The Corner, NPR, Wikipedia, RedState.

Obama has declared swine flu to be a national emergency. Considering this statement was made while the Democrats have health care on their political agenda, the timing needs some scrutiny!  This White House has cried wolf so many times, they are reaping the crop of skepticism sown by their frequent and flagrant lies.  By continually demonstrating a predilection to dramatize a situation for their agenda, and with Rahm never let a serious crisis go to waste Emanuel hard at work, this administration has no credibility.

CBS News had this report on Wednesday, October 21st (my emphasis):

Swine Flu Cases Overestimated?

CBS News Exclusive: Study Of State Results Finds H1N1 Not As Prevalent As Feared

If you’ve been diagnosed “probable” or “presumed” 2009 H1N1 or “swine flu” in recent months, you may be surprised to know this: odds are you didn’t have H1N1 flu….

In late July, the CDC abruptly advised states to stop testing for H1N1 flu, and stopped counting individual cases. The rationale given for the CDC guidance to forego testing and tracking individual cases was: why waste resources testing for H1N1 flu when the government has already confirmed there’s an epidemic?

Some public health officials privately disagreed with the decision to stop testing and counting, telling CBS News that continued tracking of this new and possibly changing virus was important because H1N1 has a different epidemiology, affects younger people more than seasonal flu and has been shown to have a higher case fatality rate than other flu virus strains.

CBS News learned that the decision to stop counting H1N1 flu cases was made so hastily that states weren’t given the opportunity to provide input….

…we asked all 50 states for their statistics on state lab-confirmed H1N1 prior to the halt of individual testing and counting in July. The results reveal a pattern that surprised a number of health care professionals we consulted. The vast majority of cases were negative for H1N1 as well as seasonal flu, despite the fact that many states were specifically testing patients deemed to be most likely to have H1N1 flu, based on symptoms and risk factors…

CDC continues to monitor flu in general and H1N1 through “sentinels,” which basically act as spot-checks to detect trends around the nation. But at least one state, California, has found value in tracking H1N1 flu in greater detail.

“What we are doing is much more detailed and expensive than what CDC wants,” said Dr. Bela Matyas, California’s Acting Chief of Emergency Preparedness and Response. “We’re gathering data better to answer how severe is the illness. With CDC’s fallback position, there are so many uncertainties with who’s being counted, it’s hard to know how much we’re seeing is due to H1N1 flu rather than a mix of influenza diseases generally. We can tell that apart but they can’t.“

This CBS article means we do not know exactly how prevalent H1N1 is.

With most cases diagnosed solely on symptoms and risk factors, the H1N1 flu epidemic may seem worse than it is.

CBS also discusses the problems unconfirmed cases cause with vaccination.  The vaccine is in short supply and it may be used unnecessarily with those who are already immune because they have actually had H1N1.  They are also needlessly put at risk to contract Guillain-Barre syndrome.

The CBS report is from Wednesday, October 21st.  CBS filed a Freedom of Information request over two months ago with the Department of Health and Human Services to discover why the CDC decided to no longer report H1N1 case counts.  As of last Wednesday, they had not received the information.

Fox News has a quote from the CDC on deaths and hospitalizations.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, we’ve seen more than 1,000 deaths and 20,000 hospitalizations,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, head of the CDC. “We expect it to occur in waves, but we can’t predict when those waves will happen.”

While I assume the hospitalizations and deaths from swine flu were confirmed by state labs, I’m going to ignore the statements in the article about how prevalent the swine flu is, because the CBS report indicates the CDC doesn’t have statistics.

Here are statistics from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to compare with those above on the swine flu:

Every year in the United States, on average:

• 5% to 20% of the population gets the flu;
• more than 200,000 people are hospitalized from flu-related complications; and
• about 36,000 people die from flu-related causes.

So, is it really time to declare a national emergency?

Why did the CDC tell states to stop testing and stop counting individual H1N1 cases?  Is this incompetence?  playing politics?  Remember what CBS said above?

Some public health officials privately disagreed with the decision to stop testing and counting, telling CBS News that continued tracking of this new and possibly changing virus was important because H1N1 has a different epidemiology, affects younger people more than seasonal flu and has been shown to have a higher case fatality rate than other flu virus strains.

If the swine flu pandemic does become more serious, questions will be asked about the CDC decision, the HHS and the vaccine delivery delays. In Aesop’s fable of the boy who cried wolf, no one believed the boy when the wolf actually did come.  With the swine flu, any genuine efforts made by the administration to combat problems would be lost in the storm of accusations of playing politics with lives.

Even when liars tell the truth, they are never believed.

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Crossposted to Be John Galt in a modified format.

H/T: CBS News, Fox News, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SmartAboutHealth, Wikipedia.

In a news release today the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced that in the interests of Oversight and Reform they would be accepting applicants for the position of Supervisor of Oversight and Reform of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The qualified applicant must have experience with recalcitrant children and have proven ability in the training and instilling of respectful behavior in all ages. Mothers and grandmothers between the ages of 45 to 65 who have successfully reared their children to mature adulthood will receive special consideration.

Late Tuesday afternoon, The Hill reported:

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present.

Now why would he do such a thing?

Last Thursday Committee Republicans, led by Issa, were poised to force an open vote on the subpoenas [re: Countrywide Mortgage & VIP deals] at a Committee mark-up meeting. The mark-up was abruptly canceled. Only Republicans showed up while Democrats chairs remained empty….

Republicans charged that Towns cancelled the meeting to avoid the subpoena vote. Democrats first claimed the mark-up was canceled due to a conflict with the Financial Services Committee. Later they said it was abandoned after a disagreement among Democratic members on whether to subpoena records on the mortgage industry’s political contributions to Republicans.

A GOP committee staffer captured video of Democrats leaving their separate meeting in private chambers after the mark-up was supposed to have begun….

“It’s not surprising that they would choose to retaliate given the embarrassment we caused by catching them in a lie on tape,” said Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella.

Crossposted to Be John Galt and J’s Cafe Nette.
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H/T: Hot Air (link), The Hill, The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Republicans.

Toppling dominoes is fun. It’s fascinating to plan and set up an elaborate line that curves and weaves across the floor, carefully placing each small block to make sure that when the first one is finally nudged over, it starts the momentum that makes all of the rest eventually fall. The havoc is short lived and easily remedied, and when you’re finished you can always put the dominoes back in the box.

Government programs are frequently the lead domino in a row of cause and effect. Sometimes they’re implemented with less recognition of consequences than you plan for when you begin to set up dominoes on your dining room table.

With Saturday’s Facebook Note, Good Intentions Aren’t Enough with Health Care Reform, Governor Palin points out some of the dominoes that health care reform will topple. She first highlights a few of the problems with the non-Baucus bill of the Senate Finance Committee (Please remember as William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection wrote, THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL. She is responding to the “concepts” of the Committee.) and warns:

Unintended consequences always result from top-down big government plans like the current health care proposals, and we can’t afford to ignore that fact again.

She outlines some of the consequences set up by the non-Baucus bill, mentioning higher health insurance costs and lower wages and states:

The Senate Finance bill is effectively a middle class tax increase, and as Holtz-Eakin points out, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation those making less than $200,000 will be hit hardest. [6]

She documents the numerous broken promises of President Obama regarding (1) the Stimulus Plan, (2) his pledge of no closed-door meetings with health care lobbyists and (3) his refusal to sign any non-emergency bills before they have been posted on the web for five days, providing opportunity for public review and comment.

Just in case they didn’t get the message the first time, she reminds the Senate Finance Committee that real money can be saved by tort reform before she wryly concludes:

Here’s a novel idea. Instead of working contrary to the free market, let’s embrace the free market. Instead of going to war with certain private sector companies, let’s embrace real private-sector competition and allow consumers to purchase plans across state lines. Instead of taxing the so-called “Cadillac” plans that people get through their employers, let’s give individuals who purchase their own health care the same tax benefits we currently give employer-provided health care recipients. Instead of crippling Medicare, let’s reform it by providing recipients with vouchers so that they can purchase their own coverage.

Now is the time to make your voices heard before it’s too late. If we don’t fight for the market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven reform plan that we deserve, we’ll be left with the disastrous unintended consequences of the plans currently being cooked up in Washington.

Sarah Palin is warning this is one domino row that shouldn’t be toppled.

Crossposted to Be John Galt and J’s Cafe Nette.

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H/T: Hot Air, Sarah Palin Facebook Notes, Legal Insurrection, Rogue Doe Cartoon: used by permission.

Via Hot Air, from The Hill:

Analysis: Obama speech to Congress unlikely to be game changer

President Barack Obama’s address to Congress on healthcare reform was short on specifics and long on ideas he and his advisers had already floated this year.

The historic speech left some liberals wanting more details and conservatives emboldened to torpedo the president’s top domestic priority….

Still, while the speech once again illustrated the president’s extraordinary oratory skills, it was not a game changer and appears to leave the president with the same quandary: Healthcare has become the pinnacle legislative issue of his first term, but has divided his party in Congress and run into almost universal GOP opposition. Polls suggest Americans are not convinced reform will help their lives and it is unclear whether the legislation Obama seeks will reach his desk….

As he as done throughout 2009, Obama is largely deferring to lawmakers on the details. His address drew laughs from Republicans when he said some details still needed to be worked out.

I recommend the full article at The Hill as well as Ed Morrissey’s analysis at Hot Air as I only want to focus on a couple of things:

First of all, it is time to stop calling everything Obama does historic!  Bill Clinton gave a speech on health care when he was President.  Why was Obama’s speech historic?  The word is so overused it has become hackneyed and laughable.

Second, I am sick to death of the meme of lauding Obama’s oratory skills.  I had some telephone calls during the speech I had to take so I only saw some brief clips of him on mute–but here’s my opinion!

Obama’s facial expressions range from angry to nose-in-the-air to sly humor.  He is condescending to his audience and tells obvious lies and at times contradicts himself within a speech.  He does not connect with his audience–there is a remoteness as if TOTUS really is between you and him.  His real persona is hidden.

If, as Marshall McLuan wrote, The Medium Is The Message, I think the most important medium to consider is the speaker himself.

Who is he?  What does he think of his audience?  What does he think of himself?  What does he think of his message?

My answers:

If your integrity has been already shot to bits because of innumerable broken promises, then you really should quit talking and starting acting to rebuild it. You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. If enough people are on to you, then you might as well not waste your time.

If you consistently condescend to your audience or berate them or lecture them, then you really should quit talking and start pointing that finger at yourself and ask yourself why you have such contempt for those to whom you speak.

If you continually indicate your commitment to yourself and your agenda over the well-being of anyone else and a belief in your inherent superiority, then you really should quit talking and get a clue that no one is really that impressed with you.

If your message is lengthy and tedious and full of lies designed to obscure reality, then you really should quit talking, and learn that truth is more important than power.

In the dictionary under The Inflated Style, it says See : Barack Obama.

George Orwell: “Politics and the English Language”.

The inflated style itself is a kind of euphemism. A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outline and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish spurting out ink.

As JustMary quoted in a comment this morning:

“The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

Proverbs 18:17

Crossposted in a modified format to Be John Galt.

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H/T: Hot Air, The Hill, WIkipedia, http://www.orwell.ru/, JustMary.

This evening at 7:45 ET, the Wall Street Journal published a opinion editorial by Sarah Palin:

Obama and the Bureaucratization of Health Care

Writing in the New York Times last month, President Barack Obama asked that Americans “talk with one another, and not over one another” as our health-care debate moves forward.

I couldn’t agree more. Let’s engage the other side’s arguments, and let’s allow Americans to decide for themselves whether the Democrats’ health-care proposals should become governing law.

With those words she begins another exquisitely timed attack on Obama’s plans for a health care bill.

She discusses his plan to create an Independent Medicare Advisory Council and reiterates her previous statement about death panels:

Establishment voices dismissed that phrase, but it rang true for many Americans. Working through “normal political channels,” they made themselves heard, and as a result Congress will likely reject a wrong-headed proposal to authorize end-of-life counseling in this cost-cutting context. But the fact remains that the Democrats’ proposals would still empower unelected bureaucrats to make decisions affecting life or death health-care matters. Such government overreaching is what we’ve come to expect from this administration.

She next moves on to discuss the fiscal implications:

The CBO estimates that the current House proposal not only won’t reduce the deficit but will actually increase it by $239 billion over 10 years. Only in Washington could a plan that adds hundreds of billions to the deficit be hailed as a cost-cutting measure.

The economic effects won’t be limited to abstract deficit numbers; they’ll reach the wallets of everyday Americans. Should the Democrats’ proposals expand health-care coverage while failing to curb health-care inflation rates, smaller paychecks will result.

She next demolishes his argument that health care “reform” will give consumer protection by holding insurance companies accountable, by deftly turning his words and using it as an argument against Obama and the Democrats:

And it’s true that insurance companies can be unaccountable and unresponsive institutions—much like the federal government. That similarity makes this shift in focus seem like nothing more than an attempt to deflect attention away from the details of the Democrats’ proposals—proposals that will increase our deficit, decrease our paychecks, and increase the power of unaccountable government technocrats.

Finally, she calls for:

…real health-care reform: market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven….giving all individuals the same tax benefits received by those who get coverage through their employers; providing Medicare recipients with vouchers that allow them to purchase their own coverage; reforming tort laws to potentially save billions each year in wasteful spending; and changing costly state regulations to allow people to buy insurance across state lines.

Her conclusion:

Democrats have never seriously considered such ideas, instead rushing through their own controversial proposals….They will not improve our health care. They will not save us money. And, despite what the president says, they will not “provide more stability and security to every American.”

We often hear such overblown promises from Washington. With first principles in mind and with the facts in hand, tell them that this time we’re not buying it.

Once again her timing reveals her as a point guard who has mastered when and where and how to move on the court. The common sense suggestions she mentions will resonate with Americans.  She is driving the discussion.

Obama’s speech now becomes a response to her editorial!

Crossposted to J’s Cafe Nette.

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H/T: bc3b: WSJ link; Wall Street Journal.

While I was not a Radical Son as David Horowitz was, I went to high school and college with the radicals of the 60sand 70s. I know these people. I also became a Christian in college in the midst of this uproar and that chaotic period was my learning ground for debate and apologetics as I witnessed for my faith and gave my perspective in papers and in class discussion. At least at that time the liberals I had for professors would still give me good grades even though I disagreed with them. There was still a vestige of honesty among some liberals who allowed give and take and listened to other points of view. I had a radical feminist professor in education who said I was one of the few people in the class who was thinking. I did actually like her and enjoy talking with her–she did not go into the sewer of slander regarding opponents as the Left does today.

I think Horowitz was born for this hour. This is his moment to help save our Republic. In a small way I can do my part. I realized some years ago that the prayer I’ve prayed for myself the most over the years has been asking for wisdom and discernment. I began doing this when I was in college as I was flooded with the books and ideas coming at me and I have continued to pray this prayer for myself. I have no problem pointing out the travesty of the moral self-image of the Left as Horowitz suggested. I fully agree with him that that in their political radicalism they seek redemption. Many are spiritually empty and are seeking hope, but in their pride they want to do it on their terms and believe they themselves in their ideology can change the world. They refuse to look at history to see the wretched and horrible consequences of the thinking to which they adhere and they are in denial about what they do to others.  The lyrics of the song, Easy to Be Hard, from the sixties rock musical Hair, that was later sung by Three Dog Night, has always typified for me their moral obtuseness and failing.

They can’t get back at me in a similar way because as a Christian I know I have been redeemed and that it has not been through my own efforts. I know I am imperfect and flawed and that I don’t live up to my standards, let alone God’s standards. I know I am forgiven and fully accepted in Christ. That’s my protection against slander.

This is also why I think Sarah Palin has been so effective. She has the moral clarity and understanding to realize what they are doing and to speak directly to it. She has the fortitude and perseverance to endure. This again, is something Christians learn along the way. In the midst of the fire and flood of the circumstances of our lives God enables us to go on and teaches us His care. The slander against her and her family is surely painful, but when she stands against her accusers, she knows the integrity of her own heart, she knows she is forgiven and those fiery darts cannot deter her.

The Alinsky rule of making others live up to their own standard just falls apart and will not work when they try to attack Christians with it, because we can say we already know this, but we’re forgiven and we go on. Humility and honesty before God are the best inner defense against their attacks.  This they cannot comprehend.

I think Horowitz is right on (to use a 60s term!) when he said:

The only way to defeat the left — and I have failed in twenty years of arguing this to persuade conservatives — is to turn the table around and attack their moral self-image. Leftists are in fact the enemies and oppressors of women, children, gays, minorities and the poor, and conservatives should never confront them without reminding them of this fact.

They have no defense against this turning of the table because it is the truth. They are guilty. It has been fascinating to me that Horowitz, who is an agnostic, recognizes the spiritual dimension to what is taking place in our country. I firmly believe this is not only a political war–it is a moral and spiritual war. That is why, whether or not you think she is fit for national office, Sarah Palin upsets and angers the Left. He said this of Sarah Palin the other night:

That’s what she did. That’s why they hate her. Because she’s very effective….And it shows you–they react, they squeal, they yell and suddenly the issue is in front of everybody. And that’s what you want to do.

Others have their own place in the battle going on at this time, but David Horowitz and Sarah Palin echo my thinking, my heart and the place at which I fight.

“If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace;”

Thomas Paine

1776 - The Crisis

Rush Limbaugh has a speech given by his father that he reads from time to time.  In it his dad traced the consequences to those men in 1776, who pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.  Many lost family and land and livelihood.  We may not have a national audience to whom we can speak and our influence may be limited, but we must each, as we are able with the encouragement and help of one another, and, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, support liberty.

Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.

John Adams

1765 - A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law

Crossposted in a modified format to Be John Galt.

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H/T:  Front Page Magazine; Wikipedia; Glenn Beck/FOX News; ushistory.org; The Declaration of Independence; Patriot Post, Founders Quote Data Base.

This is the second part of Glenn Beck’s interview of David Horowitz. It continues: Glenn Beck Interviews David Horowitz Part One: How Radicals Operate and Achieve Their Agenda:

“In my view we should take a page out of Alinsky’s book, Rules For Radicals. And he said what you do is you go outside the experience of your opponent and you disorient them and you make them react in a way that reveals who they are.”

David Horowitz emphasizes a point he wrote about in a column at Front Page Magazine, In How To Defeat The Left, regarding the Left’s pretense to be champions when in fact they are oppressors. This quote is from the column:

The only way to defeat the left — and I have failed in twenty years of arguing this to persuade conservatives — is to turn the table around and attack their moral self-image. Leftists are in fact the enemies and oppressors of women, children, gays, minorities and the poor, and conservatives should never confront them without reminding them of this fact.

Last night NewsReal Blog’s post, Horowitz Exposes Leftist Agenda On Glenn Beck, highlighted his emphasis:

This crucial point by Horowitz goes to the heart of what we see today not only in terms of what Obama is orchestrating for our nation domestically, but also in the Left’s contemporary unholy alliance with Radical Islam. Indeed, the so-called “progressive” Left is on the side of the most vicious and barbaric abuser of minorities, women and gays.

They aligned this with his previous statement from part one of the interview:

“And what’s wrong with the Left is its agenda. What it actually does. Not what it says, but what it does.”

In the interview, as Horowitz further discusses the Democrats as oppressors, he begins talking about health care and limiting medical treatment that would keep the elderly alive. Glenn Beck mentions Sarah Palin. It is easy to see that she attacked the moral self-image of the Democrats with her phrase “death panels.”

Horowitz:

That’s what she did. That’s why they hate her. Because she’s very effective….And it shows you–they react, they squeal, they yell and suddenly the issue is in front of everybody. And that’s what you want to do. And the Tea Parties are great….

His conclusion:

But it’s what they’re doing to real people–that’s their Achilles’ heel.

Glenn Beck Interviews David Horowitz Part One: How Radicals Operate and Achieve Their Agenda

Crossposted to Be John Galt in a modified format.

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H/T: Glenn Beck/FOX News; YouTube clip: 1776Philadelphia; Front Page Magazine; NewsReal Blog.

David Horowitz, the Radical Son, sits down with Glenn Beck and discusses the connections and actions of the Left.  This video cuts off about the last thirty-five seconds of this part of the interview.  I have a link at the bottom of this post to the longer FOX News video that will not work for me here.  If you missed this interview from Friday, September 4th, it’s an important one to hear.

“…but it’s becoming increasingly dangerous with these people. You have to take them at their word.”

Horowitz: “They are still thinking to overthrow the system and to create a socialistic future.”

Beck: “Do you think the President of the United States, Barack Obama, has that agenda?”

Horowitz: “Absolutely. I have no doubt about it.”

On whether Obama has put his past associations behind him:

“You can always tell when a radical has changed. They tell you they’ve changed and they understand what is wrong with the Left. And what’s wrong with the Left is its agenda. What it actually does. Not what it says, but what it does.”

When Glenn Beck asks if anyone had thought about what the country would look like after four years of just the policies that have already been implemented:

“When you’re a radical, what you’re thinking of is power. It’s about power. You adopt this position or you take up that issue, but it’s all to advance the power. They never think about what it’s going to look like or how to put it together. I can tell you a radical never spends five seconds on thinking what makes a society work.”

Many of the things discussed in the interview have been mentioned in previous posts I have done here and at Be John Galt:   The Obama White House: Alinsky Reprise, David Horowitz On Saul Alinsky, A Mandate Misread Or Merely Immaterial? and An Extension of Power.

Glenn Beck Interviews David Horowitz Part Two: The Democrats’ Achilles’ Heel

Crossposted to Be John Galt in a modified format.  The video there is slightly longer.

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H/T: Glenn Beck/FOX News, YouTube clip: 1776Philadelphia.

“A rabble in arms, flushed with success and insolence.”

–General Burgoyne to Lord Rockfort describing American troops before Boston.

When we were living in New England some years ago, one day I visited a favorite used book store.   As I was talking  books and history with the husband of the store owner, when he asked if I’d read Kenneth Roberts.  I said, “No,” and he exclaimed, “You’ve never read Rabble in Arms!”  Again, I replied, no, but with the anticipation that all bibliophiles know when they realize they are about to be given a new author to read.

Kenneth Roberts opens Rabble in Arms with the above words of General Burgoyne and finishes with the Second Battle of Saratoga in which Burgoyne is defeated by the “rabble” he had so derisively described. The story begins in early 1776, and follows the American northern army during the retreat from Canada through the building of the first American Navy and the valiant delay of the British on Lake Champlain in the Battle of Valcour Island, to the turning point of the Revolutionary War: the Battles of Saratoga in 1777.

The story of the campaigns to stop Carleton and Burgoyne as they moved south is a story of perseverance when circumstances were grim and the odds offered no hope. It is a story of a frequently incompetent Congress that directed and interfered in matters with little understanding as it promoted and rewarded those who should have been ignored or disgraced. It is a story of petty jealousies and revenge among men who used their positions of authority in self-serving efforts and protection. It is also a story of a few leaders who sacrificially held to their course and inspired men to stand with them. It is a story to read in hard and difficult times.

“…I turned to see where the British were. The Inflexible was coming into the wind, preparatory to tacking, far out beyond the headland. She fell off slowly on the other tack, working her guns with grim persistence. The shot splashed astern of the beached vessels. All of them were burning, the smoke and flames rolling and crackling from cabins and hatches. At their mast-heads flew our red and white flags, each with its rattlesnake and the words “Don’t Tread On Me.”

There was satisfaction in the knowledge that in three days of fighting, the British hadn’t been able to make us haul them down. And there was something in the sight of them that seemed to half strangle me. I think the scores who lay behind such shelters as the beach afforded, waiting for the fire to take those flags, must have felt as I did; for when Arnold, standing alone in the bow of the Congress to watch the progress of the flames, turned and stepped up on the bulwarks, the men burst into a shrill and quavering cheer that sounded as choked as my throat felt.”

Kenneth Roberts was a Down Easter, who was born in Kennebunk, Maine, and his books reflect the seaport heritage of Maine.   At times you may disagree with the shades of his bias, but he was known for his historical accuracy and his books provide entrance into the early days of our Republic.   In 1957, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize: Special Awards and Citations, for his historical novels :  “…which have long contributed to the creation of greater interest in our early American history.”

Other Roberts books I’ve enjoyed:

Arundel (1929) - The American Revolution through the Battle of Quebec

The Lively Lady (1931) - War of 1812

Rabble in Arms (1933) - Sequel to Arundel; the American Revolution through the Battles of Saratoga

Captain Caution (1934) - War of 1812

Northwest Passage (1937) - French and Indian War and the Carver expedition

Oliver Wiswell (1940) - The American Revolution from a Loyalist’s perspective

Lydia Bailey (1947) - The Haitian Revolution and the First Barbary War

Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.

John Adams

1765 - A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law

Crossposted to Be John Galt and J’s Cafe Nette.

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H/T: Navy Jack:  NavyJack.info.; Wikipedia; Who’s who of Pulitzer Prize winners, Elizabeth A. Brennan, Elizabeth C. Clarage, (571); Patriot Post, Founders Quote Data Base.

Many of us first became aware of the influence of Saul Alinsky on the Democrat Party upon learning that Hillary Clinton had written her Wellesley College senior thesis, “There is only the Fight” on Saul Alinsky. When Barack Obama's experience as a "community organizer" was highlighted in the campaign last year, it was greeted with scoffing and laughter because knowledge of this Alinsky term was not yet widespread. Since his inauguration, as the direction and consequences of his administration's policies have become increasingly evident, there has been growing consternation and renewed interest in understanding Saul Alinsky and his influence on the Obama administration.

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Promoted from diaries.  And while I’d like to believe that someone was paying attention, alas… - Moe Lane

Many times commenters quickly pick up and spread the latest news on threads. Today someone at Hot Air mentioned something, that while off topic on that thread, is going to be the topic of news this weekend!

Sarah Palin has another Facebook Note up today . She goes for the jugular with this one:

President Obama’s health care "reform" plan has met with significant criticism across the country. Many Americans want change and reform in our current health care system. We recognize that while we have the greatest medical care in the world, there are major problems that we must face, especially in terms of reining in costs and allowing care to be affordable for all. However, as we have seen, current plans being pushed by the Democratic leadership represent change that may not be what we had in mind — change which poses serious ethical concerns over the government having control over our families’ health care decisions. In addition, the current plans greatly increase costs of health care, while doing lip service toward controlling costs.

We need to address a REAL bipartisan reform proposition that will have REAL impacts on costs and quality of patient care. …

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Dorothy Rabinowitz, Wall Street Journal:

“The president has a problem. For, despite a great election victory, Mr. Obama, it becomes ever clearer, knows little about Americans. He knows the crowds—he is at home with those. He is a stranger to the country’s heart and character.”

Katy Abram, “This is about the systematic dismantling of this country.

…You have awakened a sleeping giant.”

Kyle-Anne Shiver, The American Thinker:

It takes neither a genius, nor a shrink, to see why Alinskyite Democrat pols are so confused by all this 1776 Redux confronting them in their home-district townhalls….They’ve become so immersed in the Alinsky Way that they’ve nearly…forgotten the American Way, folks.

Andy McCarthy, NRO’s The Corner:

“This is gut-check time about whether we are going to maintain the bedrock American relationship between the citizen and the state. We are in the battle against ruthless, radical ideologues who have the media and the daunting numbers on their side.”

Val Preito, Babalu Blog:

WE do not work for YOU. YOU work for US.

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H/T: Gadsden Flag: Gadsden.info, Hot Air, WSJ, KnightHawk, Breitbart.tv, The American Thinker, The Corner, Babalu Blog.

Crossposted to Be John Galt.

Pelosi and Hoyer have written that Americans protesting against the health care bill are acting “Un-american”, but will they allow an unconstitutional census to proceed?

From John S. Baker and Elliott Stonecipher in the August 9, 2009, Wall Street Journal:

Our Unconstitutional Census
California could get nine House seats it doesn’t deserve because illegal aliens will be counted in 2010.

Next year’s census will determine the apportionment of House members and Electoral College votes for each state. To accomplish these vital constitutional purposes, the enumeration should count only citizens and persons who are legal, permanent residents. But it won’t.

Instead, the U.S. Census Bureau is set to count all persons physically present in the country—including large numbers who are here illegally. The result will unconstitutionally increase the number of representatives in some states and deprive some other states of their rightful political representation. Citizens of “loser” states should be outraged. Yet few are even aware of what’s going on….

The census has drifted far from its constitutional roots, and the 2010 enumeration will result in a malapportionment of Congress.

WSJ background on the authors:

Mr. Baker teaches constitutional law at Louisiana State University. Mr. Stonecipher is a Louisiana pollster and demographic analyst.

Crossposted to J’s Cafe Nette and in a modified format to Be John Galt.

Obama will be speaking to the Islamic world from Cairo, Egypt.  The Washington Times reported on some of the spin and the criticism surrounding this speech in Obama’s speech in Egypt to reach out to Muslims.  Elliott Abrams’ concerns regarding the struggle of some Egyptians for freedom are important to note.  Ayman Nour has refused to attend the speech.

On May 9th, I read this post by Pamela Geller of Atlas Shrugs in which other concerns are presented; concerns that should never be lost or forgotten in the vortex of spin:  Obama, Make One Stop Before the Muslim Capital.  In it she linked to a column written by Andrew Bostom for The American Thinker on February 8th:

Mr. Obama, Speak First at Touro

At the time of Mr. Bostom’s column, Cairo had already been discussed as a possible venue for this speech.

In the article he discusses and documents the hatred of Jews taught and fomented in Egypt. He closes by presenting a contrasting visit–that of George Washington to the Touro Synagogue and the subsequent correspondence.  He then writes:

Contemporary American Jewry has expressed with even greater intensity the “fervent wishes” for President Obama’s “felicity,” as their forebears did in praise of President George Washington. Will President Obama exhibit George Washington’s moral clarity and reassure contemporary Jews he is committed to their liberty and security, which is now gravely threatened by global jihadism?

Mr. Obama, before your planned speech in a Muslim capital, I urge you to address the world’s Jewish community, and condemn the jihad-inspired antisemitic violence fomented by esteemed Islamic religious institutions, including notably, Cairo’s Al Azhar University. And I can suggest the ideal venue-redolent with American history-where you should make this statement: Touro, America’s first Jewish synagogue, located in Newport, in my beloved home state of Rhode Island.

We know now that Obama will not be speaking first at Touro.  Ironically, although the speech will be given at Cairo University, Al Azhar University is a co-host.

Mr. Bostom also includes this information:

(i.e., recent Pew Data indicating the number of US Muslims are half, or less, the number of US Jews)

Related to this post, Power Line has a preview by Ronald and Allis Radosh of their new book released on May 12th:

A Safe Haven:  Harry S. Truman and The Founding of Israel.

If you are not familiar with the history of Touro Synagogue, please read these links from Andrew Bostom:

George Washington’s lasting gift to generations of Jews

Address to the President from the Hebrew Congregation

GW’s Reply to the Hebrew Congregation

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H/T:  The Washington Times, The Spectator, Atlas Shrugs, The American Thinker, The Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Sun-Times, The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Power Line, The Papers of George Washington.

Crossposted to J’s Cafe Nette and previously in a modified format to Be John Galt.

There is a fine line between realism and pessimism, between facing a situation with courage or facing a situation with gloom.  I know as well as anyone else that things are difficult.  Our family has already been directly and badly hit by D.C. policies.

Our heritage as Americans is one of resolve and fortitude and perseverance in the face of all odds.  It is one of advancing when we can and holding ground when we must.

Earlier this year Hot Air linked to an article by Thomas L. Friedman that discussed the demise of leadership, Are We Home Alone? I want to focus in on one quote from his opinion editorial:  (My emphasis in all of the quotes below).

“There is nothing more powerful than inspirational leadership that unleashes principled behavior for a great cause,” said Dov Seidman, the C.E.O. of LRN, which helps companies build ethical cultures, and the author of the book “How.” What makes a company or a government “sustainable,” he added, is not when it adds more coercive rules and regulations to control behaviors. “It is when its employees or citizens are propelled by values and principles to do the right things, no matter how difficult the situation,” said Seidman. “Laws tell you what you can do. Values inspire in you what you should do. It’s a leader’s job to inspire in us those values.”

Leaders inspire by words and by example.  Their values and principles have been inculcated within their minds and hearts and they hold fast to them.  They may know moments of despair, but they continue on steadfastly.  I think of Washington at Valley Forge and Churchill at the beginning of World War II.  We forget as we look back on history that these men and others did not know the outcome when they persevered in the midst of an outlook that was bleak.

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Duty Calls

(Been there, done that!!!)

Thanks to xkcd - A Webcomic

Books, to the reading child, are so much more than books — they are dreams and knowledge, they are a future, and a past.
~ Esther Meynell ~

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C. S. Lewis describes Eustace Scrubb, the insufferable cousin of the Pevensies, as a child who hadn’t read “the right sort of books”.

As a child I was fortunate enough to read those sort of books!  These are the books that capture the imagination and build a world in which a child can delight and roam.  As they do so, the very best of the right sort of books touch a child’s heart–-they touched my heart–-because integral to the story were the deep truths of goodness, love, friends, home, reunion, courage and perseverance in failure and the overcoming of evil.

Tolkien in his essay, “On Fairy-Stories”, wrote (The Tolkien Reader; 85-86, 87, 88):

The consolation of fairy-stories, the joy of the happy ending: or more correctly of the good catastrophe, the sudden joyous “turn”…does not deny the existence of dyscatastrophe , of sorrow and failure:  the possibility of those is necessary to the joy of deliverance; it denies (in the face of much evidence, if you will) universal final defeat and in so far is evangelium, giving a fleeting glimpse of Joy.  Joy beyond the walls of the world, poignant as grief.

…In such stories, when the sudden “turn” comes, we get a piercing glimpse of joy, and heart’s desire, that for a moment passes outside the frame, rends indeed the very web of story, and lets a gleam come through.

…in the “eucatastrophe” we see in a brief vision that the answer may be greater–it may be a far-off gleam or echo of evangelium in the real world.

In a letter to his son Tolkien explains his term eucatastrophe (Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien,  100):

I coined the word ‘eucatastrophe’: the sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears (which I argued it is the highest function of fairy-stories to produce). And I was there led to the view that it produces its peculiar effect because it is a sudden glimpse of Truth, your whole nature chained in material cause and effect, the chain of death, feels a sudden relief as if a major limb out of joint had suddenly snapped back. It perceives – if the story has literary ‘truth’ on the second plane (for which see the essay) – that this is indeed how things really do work in the Great World for which our nature is made.

C. S. Lewis and Tolkien are the masters at this. I read Lewis as a child although I discovered Tolkien as an adult. However, there were numerous other authors I read growing up that also interwove their stories with pictures of truth, ranging from P. L. Travers and her Mary Poppins books to Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Little House books and Louisa May Alcott.

Why were these books important and profound? I knew enough sorrow and evil as a child and these books placed that pain within a larger context of joy and truth. They saved my mind and heart and strengthened the kindness and goodness that I did see and know.

I became a Christian the summer after my freshman year in college. I found I knew God in a relationship that was a reality grounded in reason.

I met the One who is Truth. I met the One who is Joy.

The evangelium gleam I had only glimpsed before, I met in the person of Jesus Christ.

It was then that I realized, as Tolkien had written (The Tolkien Reader, 88-89):

The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man’s history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation.  This story begins and ends in joy.

There is only one book that I have ever seen simply referred to The Book.   The Bible is the center of my world view. Other books have brought insight and discernment and refreshment to me–but none like God’s Word because it is the Living Word of the Living God.  It is the one book in which every time you read it, you can meet the Author heart to heart and discuss the pages with Him.

I wrote this post as a labour of love and gratitude to C. S. Lewis and to the other authors of my childhood who gave me many hours of happiness and hope as their words unknowingly prepared my heart for the lasting Hope of the Gospel.

I thank the Author who gave them talents and inspiration through which they gave a glimpse of joy to a little girl.
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Meynell quote from the Richmond Public Schools’ Reading Quotes webpage.

Crossposted to J’s Cafe Nette.

A few weeks ago phineas gage commented at Be John Galt,

Conservatism does not need to be reinvented.

It needs to be remembered.

Well, today I am excited to introduce to you the American Principles Project, launched Thursday, May 28th, at a press conference by Robert P. George, J.D., D.Phil., the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Founder and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.  He is the founder of the American Principles Project.  (He was also busy debating Doug Kmiec on Thursday!).

From the APP About the Project page, Foundations of the American Principles Project:

The United States of America does not need new principles.  It needs renewed fidelity to the principles set forth in our Delcaration of Independence and the Constitution…

If these timeless principles are to be restored and our national commitment to them renewed, then a new voice is needed in American politics, a voice that is unafraid to stand up for what is right and speak out against what is wrong…

The American Principles Project has been created to help every citizen who truly wishes to be part of what our founding fathers called this great, “experiement in ordered liberty,” to be an informed citizen, and thus someone empowered to make a difference.

Are we conservatives? You bet we are, if by a “conservative” one means a believer in the rule of law, democracy, limited government and respect for civil liberties, private property and the free market, equality of opportunity, the sanctity of human life, the protection of marriage and the family, and the defense of our nation’s sovereignty and security. For us, these convictions are not platitudes. We are convinced that the renewal of our nation and the flourishing of our people vitally depend on making these historic ideals and commitments once again operative in the laws and policies by which we govern ourselves.

Their Resources page contains what is sure to be a growing list of articles and links to offer some discerning thinking and to give assistance in fighting propaganda.  Thomas Peters, who just received a graduate degree, will begin work as their Communications Director on June 1st.   His blog, American Papist, has already won recognition.  He has provided a link to the APP twitter feed.

Fred Barnes has more information: The Principled Opposition Princeton’s Robert George sets up a conservative activist group with intellectual heft.

For those of you not familiar with George, I think you’ll enjoy reading this article from 2003 about him in action as a professor that also includes some fascinating biographical material:

Conservative Heavyweight: The Remarkable Mind of Robert P. George

The American Principles Project states:

Across the country, Americans are looking for men and women of firm conviction and sound principles to lead our nation into the future.  A conservatism that is true to the political and moral principles that made America great will win, and will do so for the best of all possible reasons:  because it deserves to win.

John Adams’ words still hold true:

The Revolution was in the minds and hearts of the people;…This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, and affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.

Godspeed to Robby George; may he be one of many who will remind and reinvigorate the people of our nation through advocating and expounding our founding principles.

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Quotes:  phineas gage, American Principles Project, John Adams (via TeachingAmericanHistory.org).

Crossposted to J’s Cafe Nette and in a modified format to Be John Galt.