LEADING THE CHARGE TOWARDS DISASTER
It is common knowledge now, I hope, that this weekend the House of Representatives approved their version of the so-called Affordable Health for America Act, H.R. 3962. How did our congressmen vote? Here is a link that shows how the vote went.
We here in Virginia’s 11th Congressional District are especially cursed. Our congressman, Gerry Connolly, voted for that dratted bill enthusiastically. Here is what he supposedly said on the House floor in support of the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to address the issue of health care reform. H.R. 3962, this bill, has been a century in the making.
Teddy Roosevelt first called for comprehensive health care in the early 1900’s. Some rush.
A hundred years after that Republican’s vision, T.R. has been vindicated. Americans need the reform he endeavored to achieve.
Today’s vote will mark an epic turning point for our country, for it enshrines national principles far more important than legislative pages:
The principle of universal access and affordability;
The principle of protection for American families against bankruptcy from the cost of catastrophic illness;
The simple justice of shielding millions, including our children, from the caprice and devastation of health care benefits denied because of a pre-existing medical condition.
If we have common American values that include compassion and economic common sense, if we have some sense of commonwealth in which your need is also mine, if we can rise above partisan advantage and understand our responsibilities to our fellow countrymen, here in this place, then we will seize this moment, this one transformative moment to make America a better place.
I will vote for this bill. I yield back. (from here)
It is compassionate to spend other people’s money? What makes anybody think nationalizing health care will work? When they do not even know how to balance a budget, what makes anyone think Congress knows anything about delivering health care? When most people are happy with their medical care, we are suppose overhaul the entire health care system and wreck havoc on the entire economy? “Fixing” something that is not broke defines compassion and economic common sense?
So what are we going to do about such a compassionate and financially sensible, big spending, maniac determined to lead us all into poverty? Well, there is a Republican who cannot wait to run against Connolly. There is a Republican opposed to the socialist agenda.
Here is what Fimian said about H.R 3962.
Dear Friend,
Over the weekend Nancy Pelosi passed legislation supporting a government takeover of health care.
Gerry Connolly stood in lockstep with the far-left of his party, vocally supporting this egregious bill.
Please stand with me against the “public-option” by donating $20 to my campaign.
The Washington Post says “The price tag is $1 trillion; that gets whittled down to $894 billion only by taking into account penalties paid by individuals without insurance and employers who don’t offer it.”
Nancy Pelosi and Gerry Connolly plan to pay for this bill by taxing and penalizing small businesses and hard-working families.
I am running for Congress because I believe you deserve a representative who understands how to create jobs, and how to revive our economy. I am a business owner who knows what it takes to create jobs, and that is the experience I will bring to Washington next year.
Support my campaign of fiscal accountability, new jobs, and economic revival.
The direction of this country rests on next year’s midterm elections. Your help is needed now more than ever.
Thanks for your help,
So now we have a choice. On the first Tuesday in November, 2010, we can either vote for a tax and spend socialist or we can vote for a former businessman who knows how to balance a budget.
THE BEST DEFENSE
The elections are over. Conservatives clearly won, but these battles were merely another skirmish. Until November 2010, we can only, at best, stall the socialist agenda.
So the news media has moved on. There are two big stories. They are both about different types of war. The first story is about the latest battle against the Democrat’s socialist agenda. Fox News made the battle seem somewhat hopeless, Health Care Protesters Run Up Against Wall of Momentum as Bill Nears Vote. Whereas ABC News emphasized the “character” of one side of the participants in the battle, ‘Tea Partiers,’ House Republicans Rally Against Health Care Bill.
ABC News also reminded us of the sorry fact that we are on the verge of losing much of our freedom. In Congress the advocates of socialism have the superior numbers.
“You came! And you came for your House! You came for an emergency house call,” Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said before the cheering crowd, holding colorful signs and waving banners.
“The Republicans don’t have the votes to kill this bill. … But what we knew was unlimited is the voice of persuasion of the American people. And that’s why you’re here today.” (from here)
The other story was about a madman, a madman who seems to have brought a faraway war once again home to our nation, Gunman kills 11 in shooting rampage at Fort Hood army base. This Reuters story the provided background. Fox News, on the other hand, focused more on the killer, Sources Identify Major as Gunman in Deadly Shooting Rampage at Fort Hood. What motivated the killer? That still seems to be a bit sketchy, but the fact the killer was a Muslim is disturbing.
Another story entirely, however, headlined on this morning’s Washington Times, Armored troop carriers called unsafe for duty. How does the story begin?
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | Staff Sgt. Daniel Paul Rabidou nervously rubbed the sweat from his palms onto his Army fatigues.
The tall, well-built 24-year-old from San Bernardino, Calif., had already survived two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) on convoys in the past six weeks, including one on the same road he was getting ready to traverse again from Forward Operating Base Ramrod near Kandahar to a small outpost in the heart of Taliban territory.
Since they arrived at the outpost on Sept. 13, the Blackwatch unit – Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, with the 5th Stryker Brigade – had lost three soldiers and two civil affairs officers. IEDs had destroyed three of their four Stryker vehicles. Overall, 21 of 350 Strykers have been destroyed since the 5th Brigade deployed in southern Afghanistan in July; more than two dozen Americans have been killed and nearly 70 wounded.
Soldiers call the Strykers “Kevlar coffins,” Sgt. Rabidou said. (continued here)
How are all these stories related? We live in a highly competitive world. We are in a very real sense struggling for survival. If America is to survive as a free nation, then the American people must be prepared to fight for the right to live free. Will we continue to fight that battle? Can we continue to win?
Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War thousands of years ago. He believed he could predict a winner. Here are the factors he considered important.
13. (1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral law? (2) Which of the two generals has most ability? (3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and Earth? (4) On which side is discipline most rigorously enforced? (5) Which army is stronger? (6) On which side are officers and men more highly trained? (7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in reward and punishment?
14. By means of these seven considerations I can forecast victory or defeat. (from here)
Consider why our Army purchased Strykers. Maneuver is critical in war. War is won by acting inside the enemy’s decision loop. What is the objective?
Sun Tzu said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them. (from here)
The skillful warrior does not seek to destroy his opponent. Instead, he seeks to make it impossible for his opponent to do anything except surrender. Thus the Army sacrificed heavy armor and a costly, clumsy logistical tail, for mobility. Following Nathan Bedford Forrest principle that we need to “get there fustest with the mostest” (from here), the Army purchased light armored vehicles. Such vehicles can both be transported rapidly to the theater of operations and can travel rapidly once they arrive. In Afghanistan, this sort of equipment is near ideal. Afghanistan is on the other side of the world and in the interior of Asia. We have no easy way to get heavy armor and thousands of gallons of fuel to such a distant place.
So what is the problem? Rapid maneuver requires smart leadership and a willingness to carry the war to the enemy. If we are going to fight with vehicles like the Stryker, then we cannot sit and wait around to be attacked. Instead, we have to attack when and where we are not expected. We have to keep the enemy off balanced and on the run. We must not allow the enemy time to worry about placing IEDs.
Unfortunately, we do not have a sovereign imbued with the Moral Law. Here is how Sun Tzu defined the Moral Law.
5,6. The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger. (from here)
Instead of being in accord with our leaders, we are at war with them. Whether he be a Republican or a Democrat, half our country is furious with our leadership. What is worst is that our troops have no reason to have any confidence in our current leadership. Our president simply is not interested. If anything, it seems he just wishes that the foreign problems that confront him would just go away. He just wants to worry about his own conquest of the United States.
What is the solution? There is no immediate solution. What we must recognize is that we are likely to take heavy losses, both economic and military. Before we can win the hearts and minds of the Iraqis and the Afghans, we must let the cause of liberty capture our own hearts, souls, and minds. Then we must elect leaders who love America more than they love themselves.
WHO DO YOU BELIEVE?
The bias of the corporate news media has become transparent. All we have to do is crosscheck our sources.
For example, how is Bob McDonnell’s big win playing in different new sources? An AP story in the Houston Chronicle carried this conclusion.
This time voters expressed angst about major Obama initiatives such as health care, energy and stimulus spending. But McDonnell dominated the campaign’s central issues: jobs and the economy.
In Associated Press surveys at polling places statewide, about eight in 10 voters said they were worried about the direction of the nation’s economy, and the majority of those favored McDonnell. (from here)
On the other hand, ABC had this to say.
Majorities of voters – 52 percent in Virginia, and 57 percent in preliminary exit poll results in New Jersey – approved of the way Obama is handling his job. Most in both states, moreover, said the president was not a factor in their vote. (from here)
Apparently, the corporate news media still has not had time to get in lock step. So their disarray is apparent.
What is the bottom line? Do not check the corporate news media to find out what your neighbors are thinking. You will get more accurate results if you just ask them.
HOW DO WE EXPLAIN TO A CHILD?
I received the following from the mother of a school-aged child. She went with her child on a field trip to Mount Vernon.
The Patriarch of Liberty
Dear Tom,
Yesterday my youngest child’s class visited Mount Vernon. In the main hallway in the Mansion hangs a key with an old drawing of some ruined building. I had no clue what they were about, and felt compelled to share with you what I learned.
As I’m sure you know, the French were our close allies during the Revolution. Kids in school are taught that the assistance provided to us was primarily because the French were at war with England and helping us helped them fight England, rather than some shared belief in Liberty. France, after all, was a monarchy at the time.
The monarchy in France, however, fell shortly after the American Revolution ended. One of the first battles of the French Revolution was the battle of the Bastille, a notorious French prison. As the battle began a number of French soldiers abandoned their posts in the prison and joined the revolutionaries. The battle was won by the revolutionaries and the monarchy fell sometime thereafter. Bastille Day is celebrated in France as the day the monarchy fell.
What does this have to do with Mount Vernon, you might wonder? The key which hangs in the hallway at Mount Vernon was from the Bastille. The hand drawn picture is of the Bastille, shortly after it was destroyed.
The key was presented to General Washington by General Lafayette in 1790. In his letter which accompanied the key, General Lafayette said, “Give me leave, my dear general, to present you with a picture of the Bastille, just as it looked a few days after I ordered its demolition, the main key of the fortress of despotism. It is a tribute which I owe as a son to my adoptive father – as an aide-de-camp to my general – as a missionary of liberty to its patriarch.”
The key was given to Thomas Paine to present to General Washington. Paine also drafted a letter which he gave to Washington along with the key. The letter read, “I feel myself happy in being the person through whom the Marquis has conveyed this early trophy of the spoils of despotism, and the first ripe fruits of American principles transplanted into Europe, to his great master and patron. ….That the principles of America opened the Bastille is not to be doubted, and therefore the key comes to the right place.”
The key and hand drawn picture, according to the guides at Mount Vernon, were hung by General Washington in the main hallway of his home where every person who enters would see them. They still hang in the same spots today.
Washington and the other founders knew that what they’d created here in America was unique – that it was radical and would change the face of the world. The French Revolution was our first, and perhaps best, export.
I don’t know why that hit me so hard yesterday, as I watched my six year old and his classmates romp around Mount Vernon. Our founders created something absolutely amazing, and they knew it.
I tried explaining why this was so important to my son, but he’s six and seeing who could run up and down the hill behind the mansion was a million times more interesting. I thought you might appreciate the story a bit more than they did.
Thanks for listening.
Because it does not understand the example its Founders left us, the world has not found the American Revolution easily imitated. When the Bastille fell, the hope was there. Unlike the Americans, however, the French based their revolution upon the powers of human reason, not upon rights endowed by God. So their revolution proved more fragile and a for a time withered. What immediately followed became a Reign of Terror. Thereafter, the prideful tyrant Napoleon Bonaparte seized control. Then he began his conquest of Europe, and more suffered and died in the wars that followed.
Eventually, neighboring states defeated Napoleon. Then the French slowly established a democracy. Thus, the battle over Bastille is now looked upon as the beginning. Yet, we should also look upon it as a lesson. Our wisdom and our reason are not enough. Unless we ask for His blessing and follow His example, our endeavors cannot long succeed.
So what should this mother tell her child? Perhaps there is nothing she can say. Regardless of what we say, it is not our words our children hear; it is our example that they see. What each generation must do is save and pass on the heritage of this nation. It is from our example, our struggle to be worthy of God’s blessing, that our children will learn what is necessary. Without that example, we will fail them.
HUH! IS THIS FOR REAL? SEXUAL RIGHTS: AN IPPF DECLARATION
We live in an age of glossy advertisements, when any silly, stupid, and even suicidal notion can be made to look attractive. Nonetheless, we live in a rich country. Most of us live in a stable communities. So it is easy to ignore the degree to which our world is unraveling.
It is unpleasant to be reminded. Thus, when I saw this blog post, Speaking Of Planned Parenthood, It’s Worse Than Anyone Thinks, I did not want to believe it.
The post provides a five-minute video that explains the International Planned Parenthood Federation’s (IPPF) definition of sexual rights. Skeptical, I looked up this organization. Sure enough, there is such an organization, and they really do have a declaration of sexual rights, SEXUAL RIGHTS: AN IPPF DECLARATION. In addition, this outfit has a Strategic Framework: 2005-2015. So the video was starting to look factual. Yipes!
Then I began to wonder. Is there really a connection between Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) and the IPPF. The answer is yes. Consider this question/response.
Q. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, The Family Planning Association of Maine — What’s the difference?
A. Think of us as a family tree with different branches and leaves – some serving different purposes and some doing similar things in different places. What we share is that we are all working for the reproductive and sexual health and rights of women, men, and teens.Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) is one of 97 independent Planned Parenthood affiliates in the United States that operate under the Planned Parenthood name. Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is the national umbrella organization, providing technical assistance, national advocacy, and leadership to our movement.
PPFA is the U.S. affiliate of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and is part of a worldwide network of Planned Parenthoods.
Each of these Planned Parenthood organizations raises funds separately from the other.
In Maine, the Family Planning Association of Maine (Maine FPA) provides technical assistance, statewide lobbying, performs grants management functions, trains physicians to provide abortions, and provides family planning services in Augusta.
The key difference between PPNNE, PPFA, IPPF, and Maine FPA is that PPNNE provides direct medical, educational, and advocacy services in Vermont, New Hampshire, and southern Maine.
We are all separate organizations and must raise funds independently, which is why you may receive mailings and phone calls from all of us. (from here)
Why does our government give money to organizations such as this? How do abortion doctor live with themselves? It seems people adjust to such things in small steps. For example, there is only a short step between demanding abortion as a right and demanding that others pay for it. Once we imagine we have the right to murder, is it that hard to imagine we have the right to steal other people’s money with which to kill? So it is that in Virginia we pay tax dollars for abortions, Breaking: Joint Statement By Family Foundation And Virginia Catholic Conference On Absence Of Pro-Life Safeguards By Budget Conferees.
There will always be people and organizations such as IPPF and PPFA that relentlessly push us to take steps in the wrong direction. If we want the right to raise our children to be good Christians, we have to push back even more forcefully. There is an election on Tuesday. Make certain you vote.
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