We Remember

We remember the trenches of Ypres, the slaughter of the Somme, the mud of Passchendaele, the triumph of Vimy.

We will not forget Juno Beach, the Battle of Britain, the slog of Holland, the disaster of Dieppe, the deadly fight against the U Boats, the loss in Hong Kong, or the push into Germany to defeat Hitler's tyrannous Third Reich.

We will remember defying the odds on Hill 132 in Korea and helping to repel the hordes of communist soldiers who tried to envelop the peninsula in statist oppression.

The heroism of the Gulf War, the precision attacks of the Kosovo War, and the continuing fight in Afghanistan against radicalism and subjugation will linger in our hearts and our soldiers will be in our prayers.

We always fight for the same things: freedom, individual rights, the rule of law, and democracy. We will always fight for liberty and the rights of mankind. And we will never forget the price that must be paid to preserve our freedom.

How Could Ft. Hood Be Anything But Terrorism

As usual, the fact that the Fort Hood attack was perpetrated by an Islamic extremist is being minimized by the media and the White House. There has been a pattern of such "down play", stemming from the DC sniper John Allen Mohammed, the attack on the recruiting office in Arkansas by Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, and the planned attacks against Fort Dix in New Jersey.

The fact is, few get on subways worrying about Hindu, Jewish, Buddhist, or Christian extremists bent on self detonation. On the other hand, terrorist attacks by Islamic terrorists are common in Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India. Spain, Indonesia, Britain, Australia, Russia, India, and Germany have been victimized by Islamic terror.

The attack on Fort Hood was another attack carried out by a radical Muslim bent on killing Americans because they were infidels. This was not a "crazy", a guy who snapped, or a disgruntled postal worker. The attack was carried out after Nidal Hassan yelled "Allah Akbar", a common pattern of behaviour for Muslim terrorists. Not only that, Hassan attempted to contact Al Qaida and made his anti-American, pro-jihad views known while serving in the Army. How his behaviour did not warrant consequences will haunt many families and servicemen forever.

For whatever reason, thousands of young Muslim men continue to find themselves enchanted by Islamic extremism. They are often fueled by Imams and literature preaching hate and radicalism. The Koran fuels their hate with anti-Semitic and violent passages compelling them to kill for their faith. This is a problem which Muslim leaders have failed to adequately address, continually. The result has been attacks by groups, coordinating with Al Qaida or other radical group or even individuals acting alone but inspired by Islamic terrorists.

If you ask me, Fort Hood was an act of Islamic terrorism plain and simple and to see it any other way is wilful blindness.

The Wall: 20 Years On

Twenty years ago one of the most remarkable events of the 20th century took place. Democracy, liberty, and individual rights triumphed over the forces of tyranny, oppression, and collectivism.

It is a tragedy that President Obama has chosen to not attend this great anniversary in Berlin. Ronald Reagan did more than anyone to bring the Cold War to end, not through war or appeasement, but through the steadfast ideology that freedom would triumph over statism (or, socialism). He did not accept the USSR, much to the chagrin of the left and elites in academia and the media, rather he dismissed the Soviet Union as a historical absurdity. Reagan challenged the Soviets confident that free markets and individualism would triumph over the collectivist, central planned monstrosity that trampled the dignity of people and killed without remorse or mercy.

Gorbachev is wrongly credited with ending the Cold War, but Gorbachev's plans for reform were intended to preserve and continue the existence of the Soviet Union while tens of thousands languished in gulags, disappeared in the night, or suffered at the hands of the KGB, Stasi, and other secret police. By the time the USSR finally collapsed, millions would be die at the hands of the most oppressive ideology to ever exist on Earth.

It is shameful that so many Obama administration officials have spoken warmly or even identified themselves as communists, Marxists, or socialists. Their desire to increase government at the expense of the free market and the choice of individuals in health care, cap and tax, while taking over entire industries reflects a pattern that is directly opposed to the ideological framework upon which America was founded. Freedom can only exist when people are free from government, not dependent upon it's programs or agencies.

The media has, and continues to encourage the growth of the state in concert with the political left in the United States. They even have gone so far as to apologize for such tyrannies as the Soviet Union, as Dan Rather did in 1988, and even as recently as this year by NYT's Thomas Friedman who lamented the difficulties and slowness of democracy in comparison to the autocratic efficiency of the Chinese (never mind their horrible human rights abuses).

For the left, democracy has always been a stumbling block to the expansion of government. It is for this reason that the people must be ever vigilant against unchecked government expansion of any kind, no matter how benevolent it may seem.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. -- Ronald Reagan

Goodbye Gun Registry

Canada became a freer country today with the vote to eliminate the gun registry. While the registry may have had good intent, encroachments on individual freedom are always couched in the rationale of "the common good", "safety", or "the collective". However, when the government has all the guns, freedom is gone. Its ironic that both tyranny and liberty come stem from the barrel of gun. The difference between the two depends on who's holding the gun.

In the movie "V" for Vendetta", "V" says that people should never fear the government, the government should fear the people. How true.

And while police advocates like Chief Blair in Toronto (aka Miller's puppet) say that it's a useful crime fighting tool, common sense shows that criminals don't register their guns anyway. There's scant evidence the gun registry stopped any crime at all. Nevertheless, we can be grateful to all the MP's who voted in favour of the private member's bill to abolish the registry.

Bravo.

NJ, VA, and NY Election Results

The left is trying to play down the election results in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia, but it seems quite clear that people are rejecting the Big Government policies in areas that Obama had won in 2008. CNN and Fox News have declared Christie and McDonnell winners so far in their respective states. Christie's win is especially significant since NJ is typically a very blue state and has not elected a Republican to a state wide office in some time.

Hoffman, surprisingly to me, is trailing Owens by about 4% with 64% of polling stations reporting at 10:48pm EST. This would be a surprise to conservatives for a Democrat win in a district that has been traditionally Republican for decades.

The Democrats may have an even tougher time next year if the unemployment numbers don't start turning around. Ten percent unemployment will leave Obambi with a lot of explaining to do. It's no surprise to conservatives that if you implement anti-business policies, it will be hard to create jobs. Nevertheless, Obama, Biden and Pelosi keep spewing the fantasy that "green" jobs will be created in the same way a magician pulls a rabbit from a hat.

UPDATE
Corzine has just conceded to Christie.

Rev. Wright Does It Again

Is Obama a radical? No one in the press seems to really want to dig deep on that question, but it's clear that Obama has a heck of a lot of radical friends and appoints key members of his administration who praise murderous tyrants.



Of course, all this started recently and President Obama had no idea of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's communist, radical, pro-terrorist, America hating views.

A Conservative Awakening

Three special elections are poised to be a referendum on President Obama and, more so, the party of statism versus the ideas of individual liberty (typically known as conservatism). Christie in New Jersey faces Corzine, the incumbent governor of New Jersey, in a tight race. McDonnell faces Deeds in the governorship of Virginia and has a wide lead. Hoffman leads Owens in New York Congressional District-23 by about 5%.

The most interesting tale from these races has been the race with Hoffman, where GOP candidate Scozzofava dropped out after falling far behind the Conservative Party candidate and the Democrat. Revealingly, Scozzafaza endorsed Owens to the dismay of Republicans who had endorsed her. I was especially disappointed with Newt Gingrich's, who I still endorse for President in 2012, support for her. I understand his reasoning, but I believe principle always supersedes political party.

Reagan spoke of the need to have a big tent, but I don't believe he would have been willing to compromise his principles for the sake of "unity". The big tent for the GOP is not a state, region, or group; it is the United States of America where over 40% of voters identify themselves as conservative, not liberal, progressive, Republican, or Democrat. America's conservative streak is symbolic of its history of rugged individualism.

The Republicans do not need a single leader, they need to be a party of ideas. The have lost the idea that government is too big. Simply running a huge government better than Democrats do is not a political ideology. Conservatives, and the GOP, need to focus on rolling back government and increasing liberty and choices for individuals in all aspects of life. Entire governmental departments need to be eliminated: Energy, Education, every unconstitutional Czar, and the bloated pork barrelling that is corrupting America's political soul.

As Reagan prophesied: "Government is not the solution to our problems. Government is the problem."

Obama the Whiner

Obama should man up. Enough whining, complaining, and blaming. Act like the leader of the Freeworld.

So Much For Transparency

"I'm going to have all the negotiations around a big table. We'll have the negotiations televised on C-SPAN, so that people can see who is making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who are making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies.” --Barack Obama, August, 2008

So much for Obama's promises. Then again, Afghanistan was a war of necessity back in March when Obama chose his general (McChrystal), announced his strategy, and took ownership of the war. Now, he's revising again and still blaming Bush. How pathetic.

On health, Obama has made a deal with 'Big Pharma' to get them onside. And, why wouldn't they, now the government will pay for drugs for millions of people just like they do now for seniors thanks to Bush's idiotic Prescription Drug Plan.

America needs a new entitlement program like it needs a hole in the head. The fact is, America is spending it's way towards implosion and the destruction of its democratic institutions by straying far from the wisdom of the Founding Fathers who set up a system for limited government to prevent tyranny. Remove the foundation and the house will eventually collapse.

Newt Gingrich: "President Obama has failed to deliver on his repeated promises of transparency and openness.
But that doesn’t mean that we have to silently accept a government health care bill that was negotiated in secret and paid for with deals cut with special interests using our tax dollars.
Please sign the Center for Health Transformation’s (CHT) petition here, to tell Washington that We The People demand that all bills be publicly available, including legislative language and accurate budget analysis, at least 72 hours prior to any vote by Congress or committees in Congress."

Thomas Jefferson said: "The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first."

Blacklisting Conservatives

The left wing of the political spectrum sometimes appears to look back at the years of McCarthyism with a bizarre sense of nostalgia. Perhaps, it is that it was a time of victimization for which they recall with twisted fondness or perhaps it is mere historical revisionism. While Senator McCarthy may have over stepped in his pursuit of Soviet infiltrators and collaborators, he was undoubtedly correct that the Soviets were attempting to infiltrate American society and one of their key avenues was through the media. While communism is no longer the threat it once was, the threat of “statism” through unchecked government expansion remains real. Indeed, as long as humanity inhabits this Earth, the threat of central planning through authoritarian control under the arm of government will always exist.

However, the shoe is now on the other foot, or so it seems. Instead of “the right” going overboard in their attack on “the left” and the punishment (or criminalization) of ideas, it is now the media in cooperation with the political elite on the left using the power of the government, tactics of intimidation, defamation, distortion, and ostracism to de-legitimize conservatives in America. This shift has been especially noticeable since the Democratic Party’s takeover of the Congress in 2006 and has amplified since Barack Obama took control of the White House.

This past summer, average Americans from across the country took to the streets, town hall meetings, and marches in opposition to the Obama administration’s health care reform plans. Regardless of how you feel about the Administration’s plan, the protests expressed legitimate grievances and ideological opposition to an overt desire to expand the government’s role in health care. The media, denigrated these protests, labelling them “tea baggers”, a disgusting sexual reference most notably aired by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. The perverse label has continued to be used by the media as recently as this past Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” by E.J. Dionne and Paul Krugman. Cooper and others have been incapable of concealing their disdain for these protesters and were joined by senior members of the Democratic Party’s leadership. Nancy Pelosi falsely accused the protesters of having swastikas and dismissing them as an “AstroTurf” movement. At the same time the health care company Humana was effectively censored by the White House for exercising their first amendment rights in issuing warnings to their customers about what the potential consequences of the proposed reforms might entail.

Now, in true Nixonian fashion, the Obama administration has made a concerted effort to marginalize and ostracize Fox News because of its rightward bent in its prime time line up. Fox makes no apologies for this, just as MSNBC and CNN don’t apologize for their leftward bent. It is a free country after all, and news organizations are free to push an agenda if they so wish. However, the Obama administration has gone a step further in targeting Fox News in verbal attacks by senior members of the administration such as Rahm Emmanuel and David Axelrod. It is now less surprising that Obama has been unwilling to take a hard line against Hugo Chavez, he may be borrowing some of the same techniques used against Globovision TV.

And, as usual, the left has chosen to once again target conservative radio hosts Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Agree or disagree with either of them, their programs are examples of the first amendment in action. Rush Limbaugh’s association with a group attempting to buy the St. Louis Ram’s was opposed by race-baiters Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, enabled by the spineless NFL Commissioner Robert Goodell in an apparent bargaining chip for upcoming collective bargaining agreements with the NFL players union. Even if you hate Limbaugh, you should agree that in a democracy one’s legitimate political views should not affect your ability to participate in legal commercial activity. Limbaugh was defamed and slandered, enabled by CNN and other news outlets that shamelessly aired quotes that had no basis whatsoever (fact checks for critical SNL skits only). And as usual, Rush was forced to re-live his unwise (but not racist) comments concerning Donovan McNabb from his brief stint on ESPN years ago.

I’m not a huge Glenn Beck fan. His views are paranoid at times and he’s prone to emotional roller-coasters which can be hard to take after a day’s work when you just want to put your feet up. That said, he’s done an excellent job exposing a vein of extremism running through the administration. First, he exposed the Marxist Van Jones as radical with troubling views from his past statements. The White House either did a horrible job vetting him, or simply didn’t have any major disagreements with his left wing extremist views. He’s also pointed out another Marxist strain in Anita Dunn’s praise of Mao Tse Tung during a speech to high school students. She can attempt to spin it any way she wants, and the media can ignore it for the time being, but her comments on Mao are nothing short of sickening. Having Mao as her favourite philosopher, a man who killed between 30 and 70 million people, is no better than heaping praise on Joseph Stalin, Kim Jong Il, or, dare I say it, Adolf Hitler. It is disgusting, unjustifiable, and shameful.

The Obama administration should be wary of playing this card against Fox News. President Nixon further complicated matters for himself when he made an enemy of the media. While CNN and MSNBC may smugly enjoy the attacks from the White House for now, they may become envious of still higher ratings for Fox News that have resulted from the controversy and adopt similar tactics of opposition to the Obama administration. Many other commentators have already observed that the White House demeans itself by stooping to such petty attacks, but if the attacks garner attention, others might be tempted to grab some attention for themselves.

The tragedy for the country is that it is being disserved by a media so complicit in the attempt to marginalize conservative views while unapologetically cheerleading the Obama administration. If the American experiment is to continue, it must be a bustling marketplace of ideas from the left and right. This attempt to blacklist conservatives seems a concerted attempt to distract the public and the media from the real issue at hand: the expansion of government. No news agency is asking the direct question that must be asked of the Obama administration and the Congress: at what point is government too big? The state cannot continue to expand without the endangerment of the continuation of democracy and liberty. Thank goodness for Fox News and responsible journalism.

This article is also available at: Family Security Matters