A Would-Be Obama Voter

Wow, it certainly made me sit up and take notice when I heard about the British celebrity who referred to President Bush as a "retard" who "wouldn't be trusted with a pair of scissors" in England.

I got curious. I wanted to see who this Russell Brand person who made these statements was:

Ah, I think I understand his "evaluation" better now.

Reagan Day 2007

The SouthTenn blogger and fam pose with Congressman Marsha Blackburn following the 2007 Lincoln County Republican Party's Reagan Day Dinner. Levi Harwell demonstrates that when it comes to political leadership, it's important to pick wisely.

Perspective

I wonder if anyone else is struck by how ridiculous those who want to keep the Don Imus controversy alive look in light of Monday's events at Virginia Tech.

After all, as painful as words can be, all that Mr. Imus did in his offense was speak hurtful words. Words which, by the way, probably would not have been heard by those they were directed at had not those invested in the "Victim Culture" decided to repeat them ad infinitum to a much broader listenership/viewership than Mr. Imus could ever hope to reach. It may very well be that many other people have said similar hurtful things about the Rutgers Women's basketball team, and many other teams for that matter, that they will never hear about. Nevertheless, those women all have the opportunity to celebrate a great run in the NCAA tournament and get on with their lives.

On the other hand, what we saw in Virginia on Monday was real hurt inflicted by a disturbed individual. His victims - who didn't go looking for victimhood - have nothing left to celebrate, and will never have the opportunity to see what their lives would have produced if they would have been allowed to move on past April 16, 2007.

My heart breaks for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting, and their families. And my mind reels back in disgust from the trivial and petty individuals who are calloused enough to still assert victimhood on the part of a group of people who are, after all, still alive.

Not Surprising, But Still Maddening

Perhaps conservatives should be grateful to the anti-war lunatic left for its behavior this past weekend. It’s doubtful that anything I, or any other conservative, could say could illustrate moral bankruptcy of those for whom law and order are, more often than not, impediments to the achievement of their goals better than what they said themselves by their actions this past Saturday.

During the War of 1812, the British captured and burned the United States Capitol Building. Since that time, I am unaware of any direct assault intended to deface the capitol until this past weekend, when anarchists – Americans – were allowed to march up to the west front of the building and spray paint anti-war graffiti on the Capitol steps.

Please understand, I am not making a direct comparison between the two events. Obviously, the foreign troops, and the government they represented, were a far more formidable enemy, physically and intellectually, than the hippy-holdovers and hippy-wannabes that were allowed to do something that most Americans are simply too decent to even consider. But that both represented enemy assaults on our system of government is, in my mind, beyond question.

The Chief of the Capitol Police offered up the far-too-often-misused “freedom of speech” excuse in defense of his decision to allow the disgraceful activity to take place. But really, if this qualifies as freedom of speech under the First Amendment, what’s to stop people from other forms of “expression” on the Capitol steps – like maybe overt sexual activity, or worse yet, perhaps spray painting the Ten Commandments on the building?

Why is it that the adults among us are having to accommodate these overgrown children by allowing them to exercise their alleged “rights” to the detriment of the rights of those of us who disagree with them? Why are they allowed to deface a piece of public property – moreover, to many, a cherished symbol of the United States – when the vast majority of Americans – with the law on their side, mind you – don’t want such to be done?

The foolish displays usually seen in such leftist demonstrations are generally nothing more than an attempt to force the rest of us to listen to what they have to say – which is not a right that any of us holds. But their significance should not be downplayed. These attempts by the godless fringe left – which holds greater influence over one of our major parties now than probably any time in history – to force-feed their viewpoints while actively seeking to silence any dissent gives us all the chance to see what an America under the thumb of the left would be like. And, as I said, perhaps for that we should be grateful, if only we can take the hint before it is too late.

Truly Deserving

Kudos to the newest inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame – Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. In recent years, I have become convinced that the membership in the hall has become too large, due to the induction of many who were, while certainly good players in their day, don’t really measure up to clearly being among the absolute greatest to play the game in its 100+ years.

This year, however, both selections were right on the money.

Tony Gwynn, while never providing the nation with the spectacle of a run at .400 like Rod Carew or George Brett, nevertheless had no equal during his playing days as a dominant hitter. The absence of a World Series championship from his resume – he made it to the series twice with the Padres – does nothing to diminish his status as a legend, and a nice guy, to those who follow the game.

Cal Ripken will always be known primarily for “the streak” which saw him play in over 2,600 consecutive games, obliterating a record set by the legendary Lou Gehrig that many thought would never be broken, especially in an era of prima donna players that are comfortable taking the day off for a runny nose, while collecting multi-million dollar salaries. The breaking of this record alone is certainly enough to set Ripken apart from most of the rest who have played in the majors. But the fact is that, even without that item on his resume, his career statistics would have been enough to number him among the greats of the diamond. The only real question surrounding his selection is, why did he only get 98.53 percent of the vote?

Both of these men demonstrated a level of grace and class in addition to their athletic ability and work ethic that made it easy for anyone to take satisfaction in their victories and accomplishments – including this latest one. Many congratulations to Tony and Cal – two of the true giants of baseball history. And may history grant us a few more like them before it’s all over.

Remember?

I understand that the “Blind Sheik” is near death – by now he may be dead, for all I know.

Anyway, it seems that American intelligence and law enforcement agencies are concerned that Islamic fascist terrorists may try to stage attacks on, and in, the United States if and when he actually dies.

So how does that make things any different than any other day?

Have the five years since the last attack on American soil just been a case of their taking some time off to give us a break?

I know readers of this space have heard me say it time and again, and I recognize that I shouldn’t be too haughty when I point this out – in fact, I fully expect another successful terrorist strike against us at some time in the future – but this whole episode regarding the blind terrorist only serves to remind me of how successful the Bush Administration has been in preventing another attack to take place following the horror of September 11, 2001. For those keeping score at home, that’s five years, three months, and four days since Islamist barbarians have scored a “hit” on American soil.

For all the missteps that may have been made in administering the war and its aftermath in Iraq, fairness demands that everyone acknowledge that the lack of another such attack here at home is no accident or coincidence (of course, I am fully aware that not everyone is fair). And it provides further evidence – though, granted, not conclusive evidence – that engaging the enemy on his “home turf” has been a vital part of keeping him from planning and carrying out operations here. For all the troubles that the bad guys are causing, they are unquestionably on the defensive over there, rather than on the offensive over here.

Of course, I am one who believes that, ironically, the success of President Bush and his administration in returning life to “normalcy” here at home has been a major source of voter dissatisfaction with him. There has never been a serious attempt to fully ingrain in the minds of Americans that we are in a war for survival, other than the President’s occasional reminder that “we are at war.”

This has allowed many non-observant types to come to the conclusion that there is no real war going on and no impending external threat to the nation. After all, life as many see it goes on as it always has. And if there is no war going on, why are there nearly 3,000 new military graves here in the United States? (By the way, can any of you tell me how many of the sub-human terrorists have been killed by our forces? Me neither – the government stopped talking about these numbers publicly a while back – but I know it’s a lot more than 3,000).

George Orwell once said that people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf. In a world where evil, and evil men, exists, safety and security don’t just happen. And just because we haven’t had to deal with the horrors, and inconveniences, that people in other nations do on a regular basis for over five years doesn’t mean that it’s for a lack of desire on the part of evil doers.

Our military personnel, and their Commander In Chief, recognize that eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. It concerns me that eternal vigilance is no longer a high priority for many of the people from whence their power derives.

December 7, 1941

Remember . . .