… bless America
Are are Americans better off after four years? Why of course they are. And if they don’t know it they must be dense or ungrateful. Things are better, take it from Joe Biden who when pressed for the details said he would answer the question in excruciating particulars if the weather weren’t so hot. It’s obvious to Rahm Emmanuel. The Chicago Mayor, speaking at the Democratic Convention, gave us the reason. He proclaimed Obama a once in a generation president.
“We faced a once-in-a-generation moment in American history. Fortunately for all of us, we have a once-in-a-generation president.”
During a crisis, you learn a lot about a person’s character. During five at the same time, you learn even more. What Emanuel learned was where the president finds, what the mayor likes to call his “North Stars.”
Every night in his residence, he reads ten letters from “everyday Americans” struggling to make ends meet.
“I can’t tell you how many times the president would walk to his desk, take out one of their letters and say, ‘This is who we’re fighting for’” the mayor said.
America was saved, saved! by the man who fights for all. Emmanuel assured the audience they were in capable hands, in the care of a statesman who could set the agenda not just for the next four years, but the next forty.
“In the next four years, an unforeseen crisis, challenge or conflict is going to seize the country. Whose leadership, whose judgment, whose values do you want in the White House when that crisis lands like a thud on the Oval Office desk?”
Obama’s values of course. When asked to define ‘sin’ in a 2004 interview Obama defined sin as “being out of alignment with my values”. Not since the days of the mid-20th century titans has there been a person of more resolute character and even sanctity, whose genius mind allows him to see past the limited advice of his puny professional advisers.
Seeking to draw a sharp contrast with Republican nominee Mitt Romney, Mr. Emanuel played up the Obama administration’s decision to come to the aid of domestic automakers. The president, Mr. Emanuel said, rejected doubts from within his own staff over the best course of action, pushing ahead with the plan to go all-in to bail out the automakers.
“The American auto industry is not just surviving. It is thriving. Where Mitt Romney was willing to turn his back on Akron, Dayton and Toledo, Ohio, the president said, ‘I’ve got your back,’” Mr. Emanuel said, making a not-so-subtle pitch to voters in the key swing state of Ohio.
No hyperbole here. Just the modest truth. As a New York Times article put it, it’s hard to be humble when you’re so great.
As Election Day approaches, President Obama is sharing a few important things about himself. He has mentioned more than once in recent weeks that he cooks “a really mean chili.” He has impressive musical pitch, he told an Iowa audience. He is “a surprisingly good pool player,” he informed an interviewer — not to mention (though he does) a doodler of unusual skill.
All in all, he joked at a recent New York fund-raiser with several famous basketball players in attendance, “it is very rare that I come to an event where I’m like the fifth or sixth most interesting person.”
Despite all this, the President finds enough to pursue pastimes that would overwhelm an ordinary man.
For someone dealing with the world’s weightiest matters, Mr. Obama spends surprising energy perfecting even less consequential pursuits. He has played golf 104 times since becoming president, according to Mark Knoller of CBS News, who monitors his outings, and he asks superior players for tips that have helped lower his scores. He decompresses with card games on Air Force One, but players who do not concentrate risk a reprimand (“You’re not playing, you’re just gambling,” he once told Arun Chaudhary, his former videographer).
His idea of birthday relaxation is competing in an Olympic-style athletic tournament with friends, keeping close score. The 2009 version ended with a bowling event. Guess who won, despite his history of embarrassingly low scores? The president, it turned out, had been practicing in the White House alley.
When he reads a book to children at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, Mr. Obama seems incapable of just flipping open a volume and reading. In 2010, he began by announcing that he would perform “the best rendition ever” of “Green Eggs and Ham,” ripping into his Sam-I-Ams with unusual conviction. Two years later at the same event, he read “Where the Wild Things Are” with even more animation, roooooaring his terrible roar and gnaaaaashing his terrible teeth. By the time he got to the wild rumpus, he was howling so loudly that Bo, the first dog, joined in.
About the only fly in the ointment is that such an extraordinary man is limited by the Constitution to only one more term. Alas! The Constitution — that document more than a hundred years old which nobody reads any more — unfortunately stands between America and forty more years of superlative leadership.
But now is not the time to dwell on sad things. For the moment the Democratic Convention is an occasion to recall that America is blessed — not by ‘God’ — for that term has now been expunged from the party platform. But by Obama. And it’s just as well too, since “The Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To”.
Belmont Commenters
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“The Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To”.
That says it all, doesn’t it?
Jerry Pournelle had it right with his CoDominion novels years ago. It all comes down to being either a Taxpayer or a Citizen (ie: a subject). You’re either part of the nomenklatura or you’re in the proletariat.
Bread and circuses for all, or will there be gulags in America’s future?
Q: “… an unforeseen crisis, challenge or conflict is going to seize the country. Whose leadership [...] do you want in the White House when that crisis lands like a thud on the Oval Office desk?”
A: Why, I want the man who can manipulate that crisis to his own persoanl best advantage, make the most of it, and not let it go to waste! I want Barack Husein Obama!
But does he bowl overhand? That’s what I really want to know.
Sorry for the OT post, but I’m hoping that Wretchard might have a future post on this topic. I saw this pull quote and got that feeling in the pit of my stomach:
If true, not surprising in the least but still very chilling.
“In the next four years, an unforeseen crisis, challenge or conflict is going to seize the country………..”
Emmanuel sounds like he knows something: something specific, and not at all general.
Of, course, that could never happen.
I turned to the Dodger game before Michelle came on screen.
If I hear one more time that we’re better off now than four years ago, cuz four years ago we were losing 800,000 jobs a month and now we’re “gaining” 100,000 (less than the population growth per month), I’m gonna scream … I’m gonna be screaming a lot between now and November. It’s mathematically invalid, for one thing.
Q: “Are you in New York today or Los Angeles?”
A: “Well, four years ago I was moving 800 miles an hour away from New York, and today I’m moving 100 miles an hour towards Los Angeles.”
That wasn’t the friggin’ question.
–
But the keynote by Castro was pretty good. The guy is about eleven degrees away from being a Republican instead of a Democrat, but he does seem to share that wonderful third world neo-progressive crypto-fascist idea of Obambus’, that the central goverment is the source of all blessings.
The Democratic convention, for all of its nauseating attitudes, seems more – organic or something – than the Republican. Argh.
What I have to hope is that, seriously, nobody is really listening. Romney’s strategy for the last year has been to simply be the un-Obama, and even if Obambus points that out, it’s still true. Romney will win or lose on that basis, not on any affirmative belief or plan of his own. Drech.
–
db @ 4: Diplomatic sources tell Israeli journalists that the U.S. is scrambling to distance itself from the Israel and appears to be giving Iran the green light to launch a counter-strike, if Israel attacks first.
It looks like elements in our Arab-loving state department, plus or minus Obambus himself, are trying to bribe Iran not to attack the US fleet, if and when the fur flies with Israel. The best that can be hoped for is that the US would not actively (with bullets) oppose an Israeli strike. Seems to me this US attitude escalates the stakes for Israel enormously, as in forcing them to go nuclear or stay home. If indeed Israel has nuclear weapons and it hasn’t been a fifty year bluff.
I also like the reference to Obama’s careless and ignorant term “North Stars”. Only someone with a gaping lack of comprehension would pluralise such a singular thing, or mis-construe that term in such a manner. It’s like saying, “My Top Ten Number One Favorite Things” or “my humility is deeper and far far more profound than anything you could ever experience”…
This administration is filled with frighteningly ignorant jackasses and psychopathic narcissists …
7) Morton D,
I thought the same thing – it’s actually a pretty good explanation for why his admin navigates through events/issues/policies/pronouncements like it does. Just luck if they happen to pick the correct “North Star” for a particular item.
#5 & #4
“In the next four years, an unforeseen crisis, challenge or conflict is going to seize the country………..”
I linked to an article some posts ago citing administration source who claimed they were doing everything to keep a crisis from erupting before November. They’re kicking the can down the road and they know there isn’t much road.
What could it be? Well the European crisis, a blowup in the Middle East, a run on the banks. Or maybe all of the above. All caused by George Bush or something.
At any rate, we’ll be grateful the President will be there to lead us out of that cesspool. I guess they’re just hoping they can hold out till election day.
When they speak about government they sound like Don Corleone extolling the family.
Surtac 1,
Great Minds etc. We don’t belong to the government. The government belongs to us.
We need a President working for an America where people don’t write letters to the President for personal problems. His vision is an America where people would say “If only
StalinObama knew.”This video says government is all we have in common? I thought that the Constitution, Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence were what we as Americans had in common. The DMV is not the my ideal of government and the best of the USA. The TSA is not my ideal either.
If you believe the state is more important than the individual, and the state is always right, then this video makes sense. I think we can summarize it as, “One People, One Government, One Leader”
Or as the original said, “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuehrer.”
And this democrat party view will work out as well as the previous attempt. (Sorry for going Godwin.)
“Diplomatic sources tell Israeli journalists that the U.S. is scrambling to distance itself from the Israel and appears to be giving Iran the green light to launch a counter-strike, if Israel attacks first:”
Logistically it probably makes no sense, but I would love to see Israel launch on Iran about an hour before Buraq’s big acceptance speech, ruining his big day. That might be at least some payback.
I can’t help but think that the world hasn’t seen such an all around prodigy since Kim Jong Il.
I’m also starting to think that there may be other similarities.
“Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Obama.”
I couldn’t stop myself. I don’t see what youse guys are worried about! Yes the 0bumbler and the clown posse are putting out numbers. So what. This is America, Americans are used to politicians lying to them. Bush did it, Obama does it, Romney will do it.
On November 06, voters will go to the polls. They will look into their wallet. If they like what they see, they will vote for the incumbent, if there is one. If they don’t they will vote for the challenger. The rest is all BS that the strap hangers use to justify their overly large salary. This happens EVERY 4 years.
When Wolf Blitzer is sitting in the CNN Situation room about 9 PM EST looking at a mostly red map going “I don’t understand how this happened” remember that Wolf gets a pretty good check and doesn’t worry about it bouncing. His wife doesn’t have to choose between lunch and enough gas to get the kids after school. Nobody that has to get up 10 minutes early to make a bag lunch because he can’t afford the cafeteria anymore will not care what sort of statistics come out of the White House.
4. Dworkin Barimen
Do you remember the name of the goofy State Dept broad that told Saddam it was ok to invade Kuwait? I wonder if the Mullahs remember her name? They might since she was the State Dept gofer that was in charge of passing military intelligence to Saddam during his war with Iran. That is why Saddam thought the permisson to invade came from the USA. Then she blew the whistle on him.
It can be amusing to watch Diplomats with an IQ several upgrades below idiot trying to be devious. Then people die because they are stooopid and it makes me cry.
You don’t suppose the Mullahs will actually believe what they hear?
It’s been obvious for some time that the Wan has tried to foreclose any non-atomic gambit for Israel.
The hope is that an atomic strike would allow the Brain to cut Bibi loose AND yet still hang on to Jewish $$$$ and Democrat loyalty.
Of course, under no circumstance will the Wan impede a Salafist A-bomb.
All wars are caused by one side misunderstanding the intentions and will of the other side. “Strength” certainly aids the cause of “peace”, or more specifically for democracies, deterrence. However, strength alone deters nothing. The force of will is critical.
What Obama and H. Clinton have done in their “diplomatic back channel” maneuvers has saved the USA nothing. They have provided the Islamacists a rationale for a “force of will” to wage war. America will be involved regardless, and both American civilians and military personnel will die in the ensuing war. What Obama and H. Clinton have done is to frame an unrealistic situation for Iran and the Middle Eastern Islamic nations. Iran’s leaders will think that they can win, that there will be material gain from the conflict, which will trigger their march to war, and/or an Israeli prophylactic attack.
Israel will act with standard restraint and attempt to attack her enemies with laser-like precision as “Plan A”, which they can sustain for 72 to 96 hours. There is no “Plan C”. The war will move from conventional to “Plan B”, nuclear attack within a matter of hours or days. As soon as Israeli cities start burning, as soon as Egypt or Iraq or Lebanon/Syria/Hephzibah even rattle a sabre to mobilize in support of Iran, Islamic cities, Mecca, and Medina will begin to glow at 5000 degrees C. Israel won’t have time or the resources to conduct a long defensive war. She’ll have insufficient reserves to conduct follow-on attacks let alone defend against many sorties. (There are too many variables involved with the “Arab Spring” to know if other Islamic countries would aid Iran. That decision would be made country by country and based entirely on secular risk assessment, theological sympathies not withstanding.)
What Obama has done is to become the catalyst for a “change” in the Middle East that he cannot even fathom. Actions have consequences. No aggressor begins a war to lose. Iran has been preparing for thermonuclear war for 30 years because it felt that in the long run, it will win. Obama has become the trigger.
Enjoy that “hope and change”, Democrats. Particularly, American Democrat Jews, oh-my-gosh, are they going to see some “change they can believe in”? And how!
As far as I can tell, Charles Manson was never guilty of – “being out of alignment with my values”.
“Are Americans better off after four years? Why of course they are. And if they don’t know it they must be dense or ungrateful.”
A comedian whose name I have forgotten, once said; “The crime rate in New York is going down” – pause – “all the good stuff has already been stolen”
“[H]e cooks “a really mean chili.” He has impressive musical pitch, he told an Iowa audience. He is “a surprisingly good pool player.”
And, as I recall, Big Brother invented the helicopter.
Chairman Mao was a good swimmer.
Stalin liked to play with children as did Hitler
Dictators always try to wear an affable face.
In historical terms the bodies, millions of them, are still warm from the governments that dropped God from the party platform. Bolsheviks, Mexican Constitutionalists, Spanish Republicans, and Maoists all loved humanity so much that even the gun and the bayonet were justified to save it from ancient superstitions.
If the only thing we all belong to is the Government, as Mrs. Obama tells us we do, then that doesn’t leave much space for distractions like the Church, your neighborhood, and your family (at least those kids that were allowed to live), does it?
In 1789 France the radicals were calling for a constitutional monarchy. Three years later they were chopping off the king’s head and sending the people’s army to exterminate every man, women and child in the hold-out Catholic Vendee province. They only got about 400,000 of them with such wonderfully humane methods like cramming these folks who thought the government was not the only thing in their lives on barges and then sinking them in the rivers.
Governments without God have no competition for Big Ideas and they have, and will, do anything to keep it that way. You don’t need ancient history books to follow these bread crumbs. You can hear it from living survivors in Russia, Mexico, Spain and China if you had a mind to.
Of course it will be different this time.
“In the next four years, an unforeseen crisis, challenge or conflict is going to seize the country.”
Technically speaking, that’s now impossible. . .as it has been foreseen.
“being out of alignment with my values” reveals Obama’s true religion: secular humanism. It is the religion of the left, where the only morality that counts is the one each holds. The cornerstone (there is only one cornerstone) of this religion is subjective morality: where anything goes – so long as it aligns with the one(s) running the show. At the extremes, secular humanism produces a Hitler, Stalin or Pol Pot.
It is a recipe for chaos.
s @ 16: Do you remember the name of the goofy State Dept broad that told Saddam it was ok to invade Kuwait?
April Glaspie.
And in retrospect, maybe she was right. LET Saddam have Kuwait, who cares. Then Iraq continues to face off Iran – which is why Bush41 did NOT take Baghdad. Let an unhindered Saddam Hussein threaten Saudi Arabia – or take it over. He could only improve the situation there. Probably 9/11 would never have happened. Osama bin Laden would probably never have happened, the Taliban would have stayed in Afghanistan and only goats would have cared. But Israel would still have faced down the Palestinians by now, so the Iraqi support for them would matter less. Saddam Hussein himself would probably have died by now of coronary artery disease or lead poisoning. Iran, hindered, might not have supported Hizboolah as strongly, in fact one or the other, Iran or Greater Iraq, might have decided to make peace with Israel for their technological and economic help. Iran, in constant battle with Greater Iraq, might have been unable to start a nuclear program.
OK, that’s selective and reaching. But maybe. Nobody exactly foresaw today’s realities, either.
But Israel must be seriously despising Obambus about now, their nuclear attack on Iran, Mecca, etc is NOT something that they want to do, because it is unlikely to end well, even if the end is another 50 years down the road.
That’s some pretty declarative stuff coming from the leadership and propaganda cadres of a political party in a financially overextended Constitutional Republic…And in just the last week.
Between this crap and the disappearing of God from a Democratic Party[ing] Platform befitting the ‘Cities of the Plain’…Oh look…A squirrel!
“I can’t tell you how many times the president would walk to his desk, take out one of their letters and say, ‘This is who we’re fighting for’” the mayor said.
Does anyone else suspect that Rahm “can’t tell you how many times” because it never happened once?
A major challenge and moral imperative, should we win 3 branches, will be de-unionizing gov’t workers. From TSA inspectors, all the way down to water supply staffers, dog catchers and garbage collectors. First decree. Right now!
The unions have shown their true fascist faces. Then the Supremes get to decide our fates.
…And now the Dem powers that be apparently fear lightning bolts from the heavens.
https://twitter.com/wxbrad/status/243351985414340609
THE KEEPER OF THE VALUES
Deep in the bowels of the Obama White House, below the swimming pool where frolic the ghosts of JFK and Fiddle and Faddle, there sits, in the darkness, a solitary figure, The Keeper Of The Values.
In darkness deep, behind the stone
Lined door that leads to what
In former times would have been called
A corridor whose shut
And moldering doors are fairly lined
In rectangles of rust
With signs brief lit in flickered light
In Naught but O we trust
The Keeper, bent and frail he is
Works steady at his task
Of shining values with a cloth
Yet pausing now to ask
What are the values of this man?
Has he a core belief?
Has anything he’s said or done
Stood out in stark relief
To show he has the inner strength
To lead in crisis times
Or faith to face down wickedness
And punish tyrant’s crimes?
He doubted now his very work
He doubted Hussein’s heart
And doubting, heard the footsteps fall
And heard the heavens part
As down the corridor it came
To punish doubter’s sin
The screaming Keeper watched the door
Slam shut and lock him in
27. James
Exactly. It sounds so contrived. Unbelievably contrived.
But of course. There will always be a top dog, a de facto deity. Driving the Creator from discourse and thought makes it inevitable for the state to assume that role. Necessary even; that’s why of all the Roman Empire’s cults Christianity posed a unique threat. Unlike the others they refused to repeat the mantra “Caesar is Lord.”
Where I think the election up until now was about whose cronies benefit from the established crony capitalism, there is now a real difference between the parties. The Democrats for the past year have been the party of in-your-face practical, intolerant atheism and now they are seeking popular mandate for that. Either this nation acknowledges God or it gives Him the finger. And I wonder how many millions of deluded Catholics will vote for them anyway.
Cluck, Cluck, Cluck…. Sky is falling, the Sky is falling… Really! It ain’t falling today, it ain’t falling tomorrow, doubt it will crash in the next week or two ether. Israel really can’t take out Iran’s Nuke sights by itself (without going nuclear) and will be in a world of hurt if it tried, Yes Israel has the best Military in the ME and most likely second only to US in the world but Israel is very small, has very limited resources, surrounded by ether genocidal enemies or people who won’t lift a finger to help them and their patron saint (America) has a sinister ruler who hates them almost as much as the genocidal neighbors do… Now being Christian and solid in my faith I am not really worried about Israel, things are gonna get really bad for them but it all comes out in the wash (pun intended) Its really gonna get worse here than there… Yes it really is unbelievable the things coming from the Demoncrat party, I think this is more of a sign of how well our Government Education has dumb down our citizenry and of how many are on the Government give aways. If 0bama wins this election by a lot America is past the tipping point, there will be little resistance, no revolution, from 2013 on America is a Socialist Country, if it is close 0bama will win even if major fraud is discovered (Think Al Franken, major fraud in the voting yet he’s still a senator, even after Al talked about “raping” a woman, never did it but spoke openly about raping a certain woman by name, ya sure he was jok’n) If Mitt wins it will have to be by a large margin and even than there will be riot’s and blood spill, Things are still gonna get bad, 0bama’s Government has been lying about a lot of stuff and that includes Ben B. at the Reserve, just cause 0bama gets unelected doesn’t mean the Sun is gonna shine and the flowers will bloom over night, I am not total convinced 0bama won’t refuse to vacate the White House, I don’t think there will be a coup, just might be our first court ordered eviction, thats when a civil war will start.
16 @stoi & 25 @Josh
Yes, reminiscent of Glaspie. Perhaps even more so of Acheson; instead of just forgetting to mention an ally in our defense perimeter, we may be actively throwing them to the wolves. If there is any truth to this rumor, then it’s nearly guaranteed to ignite a war, not stop it. One wonders if perhaps that’s a feature and not a bug.
@22, PB: Lest there be any confusion, the God in question must be an ethical God and not an arbitrary one. See Pope Benedict’s Regensberg Address. This was the whole point of the dialogue between Abraham and God regarding the destruction of Sodom. This is what distinguishes the Judeo-Christian branch from the Islamic one in the monotheistic universe.
@18, Old Salt: Nice application of Three Conjectures to the current Israel/Iran situation. By foreclosing any intermediate steps BHO is forcing Israel’s hand to go all the way.
“Government is the only thing we have in common.” Well, if this doesn’t enlighten voters as to what is at stake, I doubt anything else will.
“I can’t tell you how many times the president would walk to his desk, take out one of their letters and say, ‘This is who we’re fighting for’”
Obama can’t steal from the 99% without first identifying a 1% fictional victim to pledge his loyalties to.
It is worse than that. They’re mere proxies to the true benefactors of the rising fascist state. The State itself is the benefactor of all and its toils are little more than the maneuvering of pawns on a rigged chess board that always favors the house. The state eternally seeks out the approval of minorities (1%) because having given them their tithe, there is more left for the public employee union “heroes” to purloin than had they served the greater good.
Obama seeks to seize power for a greater good, one better than your own life. At least, that is what he’d have you believe. The Dems are either the sole deserved angels of history or they are a satanic minority who have high-jacked all that is good by institutionalizing lies and hatred under the umbrella of state. They say follow the money and in this case it flows directly into their pension accounts. They have stolen from the future to save themselves from the wretched destruction that they themselves have caused.
The whole idea of the state is to hide the face of the thief from individual culpability. No one is to blame and this can only be made true by the destruction of the individual through collective guilt and guilt can only be sustained through an unwavering steady-state of institutional hatred. And hatred can only be justified by upholding the fictional victim for eternity.
{{{}}}
Obama’s posturing on the ME does seem to isolate Israel, it is almost a Clarion Call to Iran that there moment is near and they may not have the chance again. The Israeli press has leaked a bunch of hoohaa that suggest that Bibi might move before the election. Why would he do that? It would be in Israel’s best interest to wait for a more sympathetic administration to take hold. The fact is, Obama has been flexing his military muscles since he has taken office and he alone can take credit for being a great military leader. It is hogwash but the campaign has been about the economy and rightfully so. If it becomes about war in the Middle East then ol’ Mitt would have to completely revamp his posture. Either way, I’d see this like calling down HE on your own position, a last resort. America, if I can’t have her and bend her to my will, nobody will.
“Every night in his residence, he reads ten letters from “everyday Americans” struggling to make ends meet.”
“Everyday Americans” don’t write letters to the President asking for help. They don’t even write such letters to the President of Wal Mart or Sears Roebuck, which would do them more good.
“In the next four years, an unforeseen crisis, challenge or conflict is going to seize the country.”
Does this not describe every crisis thus far during the Obama Regime, including the Regime itself? Even the ones they concocted themselves seem to have been unforeseen.
“The Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To”.
Benito Mussolini could not have said it better.
Seriously, the problem President Obama faces is not that he actually said it. (He didn’t.) The real problem is that it fits. President Obama had might well have said it, given the political philosophy he espouses.
My problem with the view that “the government is the only thing we all belong to” is that it looks like the wishful thinking of the Left. The Left has sought to destroy any sense of common ground and common purpose that lies outside of its own government programs. By equating the government with community, the Left seeks to destroy any and all sense of community in our society, pulverizing it into a state of dependency.
Government is important. It is not all-important. No nation can long endure when citizenship is defined by nothing more than government fiat. When government destroys all sense of community outside itself, nothing remains when the government collapses. E Pluribus Unum may be the motto of our federal government, but it is also an attitude that goes well beyond government. It is neighbors helping neighbors, friends helping friends, creating a community to stand the test of time – and the foolishness of politicians so many of us elect.
Americans deserve better than a leader who crowns himself with an airbrushed halo. Americans deserves better than a cult of personality. Americans deserve better than to be seduced by a supposedly bottomless pit of goodies, only to be faced with a bottomless pit of debt the next morning. The United States of America is a community, a community of communities, defined not by our government that seeks to pit us against one another, but by a common future we build today.
I wonder how many millions of deluded Catholics will vote for them anyway.
Probably lots. The Catholic Church has been really bad at communicating it’s rich intellectual history and tradition for at least the last 100 years. Even Catholic universities stopped teaching tradition many years ago. The trend toward willful ignorance appears to be changing thanks to bottom-up initiatives like the Institute of Catholic Culture, but their reach is still very low.
The Democrat Party abjuration of God is troubling for a few reasons. One is that the DNC cares more about pleasing its cadre than even appearing to stay in sync with a core belief of a majority of Americans who are not prepared to remove God from the universe. Do they know more about the electoral process than we do? Another is that the very recent historical record of regimes that deliberately excised Divine Authority have zealously used the power and arms of the state to cower or eliminate opposition not prepared to offer sacrifice only to Caesar.
If the state says that belief in God is stupid or not worthy of the modern mind then the people critical of such liberating ideas as same sex marriage and abortion on demand are also stupid and not worthy of the protections of the modern state. Can’t happen here? Well it couldn’t happen in Orthodox Russia, Catholic Mexico or Catholic Spain either, but it did – big time.
I’ve been trying to understand the lunacy of this post-modern thing until I finally got gob-smacked by the obvious. Intellectuals (philosophers, social scientists, educators) since at least Kant have not been attempting to describe reality – they’ve been creating reality out of their own heads. The trouble starts when what is turns out different from what their philosophy says is should be. The post-moderns do not adjust their philosophy, they eliminate the opposition in influence or in a more permanent manner if conditions allow.
Am I being alarmist? Maybe, but why do I keep seeing stories like the U. Texas sociology professor who was brought up on ethics charges because his research showed that the children of same sex couples were culturally disadvantaged, or the Vermont elderly couple who lost their business because they declined a same sex wedding, or European politicians fined and jailed for quoting from approved Islamic texts about Mohammed’s sexual proclivities for adolescent children?
“The Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To”.
Hmmm…. “Belong to” as in “be the property of”?
The new Democratic motto translated: “All your bodies are belong to us.”
I think there is a typo here. Should be:
” can’t tell you how many times the president would walk to his desk, take out a mirror and say, ‘This is who we’re fighting for’” the mayor said.
“The Government Is The Only Thing We All Belong To”
“You didn’t build that”
“Now is the time that the oceans will cease to rise and the planet begins to heal”
“Leading from behind”
“Right to protect”
With brilliant ideas like this, what could possibly go wrong? Except, except… boldly saying that every American is a human unit owned by Almighty Government is a mistake at least as big as “you didn’t build that”. Just see how people react to being assimilated by the Borg! This might be the best thing for the Republicans to come out of the Democratic convention.
“The Israeli press has leaked a bunch of hoohaa that suggest that Bibi might move before the election. Why would he do that?”
Lots of possibilities come to mind.
If Obama were to win the election, that might close the window completely. Perhaps they think it is better to act now just in case.
Or, conversely, Iran may have decided that Obama is going to lose and that they had been act now before it gets more difficult. Giving Israel little choice about the timing.
There could also be a technical reason. Maybe the bomb is ready, or maybe the weapons-grade material is about to be moved even deeper underground, etc. (I don’t know anything about nuclear weapons, but when one reads the detailed military analysis from people who do, there is often discussion of technical milestones like this.)
Or, of course, the reports may incorrect. Or they might be disinformation.
“I don’t think there will be a coup, just might be our first court ordered eviction, thats when a civil war will start.”
I thought that way up until this past Spring. My Nephew, who had just gotten back from the ‘stan had a long talk about that with me.
His thoughts were that the Left is seriously undermanned and untrained. Meanwhile, the US Army has discharged about 50,000 combat vets per year for the last 7 years or so. The Left knows this. 80% of those former warriors are conservatives. The Left knows this. The only chance for a coup is if the military supports Obama. My nephew is an E-6, he does not sit around and listen while O-6′s are hobbknobbing. His best guess was that the chain of command would hold. Down to the Platoon level. All it takes is 1 officer to say, that’s an illegal order and I’m under no compulsion to obey it. Then his commander relieves him and finds someone that will obey an illegal order. My nephew, who is a crack shot has decoded to miss if ordered to fire on crowds of citizens exercising their rights. If fired on, he would have an improvement in marksmanship.
My son the Apache pilot dodged the issue by volunteering to go back to the ‘stan. The Army KNOWS that it is facing a desperate rear guard action in the ‘stan. So they are preparing. So is Pakistan.
Long and short, there will be no Civil War. Rioting, yes. The USA has many cities with FINE riot police. They will deal with riots. The worst that will happen is the National Guard will be called out. That has happened before and it isn’t a civil war.
“I wonder how many millions of deluded Catholics will vote for them anyway.”
Every mass I have attended in the last few months has had prayers to preserve our right of religious freedom and religious conscience. Back in July, that had a special series of masses on the issue. Anyone with a brain knows who and what they are talking about.
I’m trying to decide whether I want to write the pResident a letter, too. Surely, this is what has been missed by so many of us, who thought he was out to harm us USAians, trample upon our heritage and subvert our USC.
@39. Peter Boston: Thanks for the link. Ever notice that nobody is postmodern on those issues where they perceive a risk in the event of being wrong? There are no postmodern surgery suites, airplane cockpits, accounting offices, etc. This observation leads some people to suggest that postmodernism is mere unbelief that lacks the courage to declare itself.
@45. Unsk: That varies one parish to the next. Some people at my former parish support Obama, his healthcare “reform”, gay marriage etc. etc. and that’s all OK because the Vatican is just made up of old men clinging to their privileged position. The moral component of RCIA was completely incoherent except for the claim that nothing is a mortal sin as long as you believe it’s not wrong. I kid you not.
The USS Stennis departed San Diego today for the 7th Fleet area of responsibility. That makes four carrier battle groups in the Persian Gulf.
Stennis deployed four months ahead of schedule. Any thoughts from those more connected than me?
48. Old Ned
I sailed on the USS Kitty Hawk back before the wheel. Putting carriers on the line way earlier than their planned rotation really screws up the works. It ensures that all the newbies won’t get the amount of training to blend in with the old timers and too much OJT “in combat” is not a desireable thing – when mistakes really hurt people. Did they get to do an ORE before they departed to ensure the Skipper’s team knows how to integrate into the fight? Was necessary maintenance done on the short turn-around? Was the non-skid replaced on the flight deck? Did some of the crew miss fire-fighting training enroute to their ship because “everything” had to be moved up. yadda, yadda, yadda…But when Teh Won is leading from behind that means we really need to be ready to jump on it.
In short, you don’t sortie carriers (not to mention all the Battle Group small boys and MSCS ships for all kinds of support, and fueling functions) unless there is a serious “contingency” waiting to be met.