Thirty-five years ago the last U.S. soldiers left Vietnam. Yet the war continues because Vietnam’s veterans returned home to contempt rather than appreciation. Even today a celebration in their honor--held near Ft. Bragg in Fayetteville, NC no less--can’t escape the longstanding divisions.
Fayetteville’s mayor organized this “homecoming” celebration. But he also invited Quaker House to participate in the festivities. Quaker House represents a pacifist, anti-Vietnam War attitude, a fact readily recognized by the organization’s director, Chuck Fager. Fager defended his group’s participation on the basis that anti-war sentiment is a historical aspect of the Vietnam era. While he’s factually correct, he has missed this event’s point.
Not every celebration needs to be a history lesson. The Holocaust is a historical fact of World War II. Selling out neighbors to the British was common during the Revolutionary War. But we don’t recognize Nazis on Victory in Europe Day or Tories on Independence Day. These examples are extreme, yet the inclusion of an anti-Vietnam protest organization in a Vietnam veteran’s recognition ceremony is equally inappropriate.
The mindset represented at Quaker House had its day. Protesters received the hero’s treatment during the Vietnam War. Sure, they had their share of detractors. But media coverage gave protesters far more favor than was their due. Why can’t the Fayetteville celebration honor the soldiers who did Vietnam’s dirty work? Why should they share the spotlight with an organization promoting anti-Vietnam War films featuring the traitorous Jane Fonda, which is Quaker House’s plan?
Mr. Fager, stay home and keep your sympathizers with you. Keep your films in the can and the North Vietnamese Army’s favorite vixen off the screen. This is the soldier’s day, not yours. Fayetteville’s mayor shouldn’t have invited you and you should gracefully butt-out.
People can disagree with why Vietnam was fought and how it was managed. They’re free to question and second-guess Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, or whoever. But the men who fought, bled and died in those steamy jungles didn’t deserve the anti-war protester’s scorn.
The Vietnam soldier fought the communist expansion in Southeast Asia. They won the battles in a war where political considerations denied them victory. Vietnam’s ultimate outcome wasn’t what their efforts earned. There was no justifiable reason for a misguided generation of Mao disciples and slovenly hippies to spit on them and called them “baby-killers.”
Vietnam veterans gave what they had and proved that America wouldn’t sit idly in the face of communist aggression. They fought under restraining rules of engagement against an enemy that knew no rules. And they did so at the behest of a government that tied one hand behind their backs before sending them afield.
Sure, efforts have since been made to recognize and honor the Vietnam veteran’s service and sacrifice. But they deserved a proper homecoming when they returned from Southeast Asia. A little extra recognition now is more than justified.
Showing posts with label communism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label communism. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Saturday, November 27, 2010
America is becoming a nation of “Boxers”
In the George Orwell classic Animal Farm, there lived a horse named Boxer. He was strong, willing and dependable. In fact, Boxer was so dedicated to his assignments and his leader that he often said, “Napoleon is always right,” followed by his personal pledge to “work harder” toward accomplishing the state’s goals.
Boxer was a good, faithful horse. But his fault was his blind devotion to his leader and his willingness to sacrifice himself to Napoleon’s grand goals. Boxer never benefited from his loyalty or from Napoleon’s phony promise of an easy future. When he was no longer useful he was shipped to the glue factory, ironically under the guise of receiving state provided medical treatment. Let that sink in, Obamacare advocates.
On Animal Farm, appeals to necessity, subtle changes to established rules and revisionist history were the tools used to control Boxer and his comrades. Boxer willingly accepted his marching orders until his fate was sealed. The tactics that led to his demise, and the enslavement of his friends, are now deployed at airport security checkpoints across America. I can’t help but wonder if we’ve become a nation of “Boxers.”
Even before John Tyner’s videoed confrontation with body image scanners and full-body groping sessions there was Joe Sharkey, who wrote of his own experience with the TSA. Sharkey also refused to be scanned, which prompted security screeners to repeat a vocal alarm that might have been necessary had Osama bin Laden himself tried to board a plane. But there was no reason to suspect Sharkey. There was nothing conspicuous or suspicious about him. His sin was balking at being treated like the terrorist he isn’t.
Sharkey’s article mentioned another flier, Bruce Delahorne, who faced a similar situation. When Bruce questioned the need for the unfamiliar tactics to which he was exposed he was informed that nothing had changed in airport security screenings. “We have always done this,” the TSA agent explained. After passing through the checkpoint Delahorne asked the same question of another agent. He received a similar answer, “the process has always been the same.”
Well, airport screenings haven’t always been this way. Sure, we live in a post-9/11 environment and caution is prudent. But body imaging every air traveler isn’t the same as intercepting specific phone conversations between Abdullah the Butcher and a cave in Waziristan. We’re dealing with de facto strip searches of everyday Americans, pat downs of nuns and confiscation of shampoo and nail clippers. All of this nonsense is done so as not to offend Islam, whose virulent adherents fostered this “necessity.”
The rules are changed and history is rewritten so that everything appears constant. Napoleon is always right. And we, like Boxer, adapt and comply.
The TSA has released images from both the millimeter wave and backscatter imagers currently in use. The fact is that the TSA images aren’t exactly fodder for next month’s Playboy centerfold. Other images are circulating that depict an inverted scan that reveals both nudity and identity. But such photos are easily faked and there appears to be no proof that they are authentic. That’s little comfort to air travelers who are exposed to humiliating body scans and invasive pat down searches. Even the stance assumed for the scans--feet apart and hands held above the head--portrays a submissiveness that belies a free people. Fellow Americans, our government has declared us guilty until we prove our innocence.
There remains the argument that body scanners are necessary to prevent terrorists from smuggling bombs aboard aircraft. That may be true, but realistically the scanners do nothing to combat terrorism as a tactic. A terrorist attack isn’t like an advancing army; it doesn’t acquire territory and it need not commandeer or destroy an airplane to accomplish its goal. Terrorism need only sow doubt and fear to be effective.
When innocent Americans are essentially strip searched in airport concourses the terrorists have achieved their goal. In fact, terrorists are equally served without boarding an aircraft at all. Suicide bombers need only detonate their payload at a crowded TSA checkpoint. Scores of unsuspecting travelers would be killed or injured. Such an attack would do more to shatter our illusion of security than blowing up an airliner.
We’re being sold a false sense of safety from a Department of Homeland Security that can’t muster the courage to identify our real enemies, much less target them. But Napoleon is always right. Thus we’ll be scanned and probed so not to offend the very people who hate us, our liberties and our culture simply because we’ve refused, thus far, to adopt their ways.
The day will come when we won’t be able to enter a sports arena, a shopping mall, or a public parking deck without passing a body imaging checkpoint. Maybe then we’ll realize we’ve become like Boxer, dutiful and obedient until securely locked in the knacker’s wagon.
This column originally appeared at American Thinker: Americans Learning to Submit.
Boxer was a good, faithful horse. But his fault was his blind devotion to his leader and his willingness to sacrifice himself to Napoleon’s grand goals. Boxer never benefited from his loyalty or from Napoleon’s phony promise of an easy future. When he was no longer useful he was shipped to the glue factory, ironically under the guise of receiving state provided medical treatment. Let that sink in, Obamacare advocates.
On Animal Farm, appeals to necessity, subtle changes to established rules and revisionist history were the tools used to control Boxer and his comrades. Boxer willingly accepted his marching orders until his fate was sealed. The tactics that led to his demise, and the enslavement of his friends, are now deployed at airport security checkpoints across America. I can’t help but wonder if we’ve become a nation of “Boxers.”
Even before John Tyner’s videoed confrontation with body image scanners and full-body groping sessions there was Joe Sharkey, who wrote of his own experience with the TSA. Sharkey also refused to be scanned, which prompted security screeners to repeat a vocal alarm that might have been necessary had Osama bin Laden himself tried to board a plane. But there was no reason to suspect Sharkey. There was nothing conspicuous or suspicious about him. His sin was balking at being treated like the terrorist he isn’t.
Sharkey’s article mentioned another flier, Bruce Delahorne, who faced a similar situation. When Bruce questioned the need for the unfamiliar tactics to which he was exposed he was informed that nothing had changed in airport security screenings. “We have always done this,” the TSA agent explained. After passing through the checkpoint Delahorne asked the same question of another agent. He received a similar answer, “the process has always been the same.”
Well, airport screenings haven’t always been this way. Sure, we live in a post-9/11 environment and caution is prudent. But body imaging every air traveler isn’t the same as intercepting specific phone conversations between Abdullah the Butcher and a cave in Waziristan. We’re dealing with de facto strip searches of everyday Americans, pat downs of nuns and confiscation of shampoo and nail clippers. All of this nonsense is done so as not to offend Islam, whose virulent adherents fostered this “necessity.”
The rules are changed and history is rewritten so that everything appears constant. Napoleon is always right. And we, like Boxer, adapt and comply.
The TSA has released images from both the millimeter wave and backscatter imagers currently in use. The fact is that the TSA images aren’t exactly fodder for next month’s Playboy centerfold. Other images are circulating that depict an inverted scan that reveals both nudity and identity. But such photos are easily faked and there appears to be no proof that they are authentic. That’s little comfort to air travelers who are exposed to humiliating body scans and invasive pat down searches. Even the stance assumed for the scans--feet apart and hands held above the head--portrays a submissiveness that belies a free people. Fellow Americans, our government has declared us guilty until we prove our innocence.
There remains the argument that body scanners are necessary to prevent terrorists from smuggling bombs aboard aircraft. That may be true, but realistically the scanners do nothing to combat terrorism as a tactic. A terrorist attack isn’t like an advancing army; it doesn’t acquire territory and it need not commandeer or destroy an airplane to accomplish its goal. Terrorism need only sow doubt and fear to be effective.
When innocent Americans are essentially strip searched in airport concourses the terrorists have achieved their goal. In fact, terrorists are equally served without boarding an aircraft at all. Suicide bombers need only detonate their payload at a crowded TSA checkpoint. Scores of unsuspecting travelers would be killed or injured. Such an attack would do more to shatter our illusion of security than blowing up an airliner.
We’re being sold a false sense of safety from a Department of Homeland Security that can’t muster the courage to identify our real enemies, much less target them. But Napoleon is always right. Thus we’ll be scanned and probed so not to offend the very people who hate us, our liberties and our culture simply because we’ve refused, thus far, to adopt their ways.
The day will come when we won’t be able to enter a sports arena, a shopping mall, or a public parking deck without passing a body imaging checkpoint. Maybe then we’ll realize we’ve become like Boxer, dutiful and obedient until securely locked in the knacker’s wagon.
This column originally appeared at American Thinker: Americans Learning to Submit.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Why do we go to the polls?
Tea Partiers have waited nearly two years for this Election Day. We’ve dreamed about it, worked toward it and suffered unsubstantiated slanders for our efforts. Our opponents, who live for the Washington establishment, call us racists, xenophobes, homophobes, Islamophobes and the sexually derisive “tea-baggers.” We’re Limbaugh’s, Beck’s and Hannity’s puppets, intellectually vapid and thoroughly Neanderthal.
Such derision is unwarranted but not surprising. When an ideology is under assault its adherents will fight. Therefore the Washington establishment--well represented in both dominant parties--is retaliating against the Tea Party, for we threaten to tear the playhouse down.
We’ve traveled a long road to this day and many a long road lies ahead. With polls showing large conservative gains across the electoral spectrum complacency becomes a danger. We must send a loud message on November 2nd. And our motivation lies in the reasons the Tea Party was born, why it grew, and why it’s redefining the two party system.
Our national balance sheet is corrupt. The debt is $13 trillion, give or take a few hundred billion. That’s roughly an entire year’s worth of national production. Obama, who campaigned on reducing deficits, has proposed a $9.7 trillion increase in debt over the next ten years. Yet our federal “representatives” claim the answer lies in more government, higher taxes and an expansive cradle-to-grave welfare state. Therefore we go to the polls.
Social Security and Medicare are runaway trains hurtling toward a washed-out bridge. There is no Social Security trust fund and the touted “surplus” is but an accounting gimmick backed by worthless IOUs. Medicare is just as bad, if not worse. The Part D prescription drug plan and Obamacare only expand the problem.
Productive Americans--rich, poor and in between--are taxed to fund programs for the dependent. Politicians tantalize ignorant voters with promises to soak “evil” corporations and institute mythical visions of regulatory “fairness.” Yet the costs of such measures are paid by people, not legal entities. Each tax, each burdensome regulation is absorbed by the people, for the cost is passed to the consumer. Economists call this phenomenon the “unseen consequence.” It’s time we, the unseen consequences, were both seen and heard. Therefore we go to the polls.
We must repeal the onerous healthcare bill that promises high costs, poor service and shoddy results while granting enormous power--and the probability of abuse--to the central government. A majority of Americans, even if those who aren’t Tea Party activists, want this law repealed. Furthermore, it is another unconstitutional program sold to us “for our own good.” Therefore we go to the polls.
We are tired of arrogant “public servants” like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who invents Bible passages to promote her global warming agenda. She holds our freedom, the U.S. Constitution and her duty to both in utter contempt. Truth and honesty aren’t character traits for Nancy Pelosi; they are obstacles to overcome. This woman is unfit to hold public office, much less the Speaker’s gavel. Therefore we go to the polls.
Sen. Harry Reid thinks you and I stink. We, the great unwashed, are just too gamey for his aristocratic olfactory. When the Capitol Visitors Center opened Reid expressed his joy. A sensible, reasonable person would’ve been happy for the Americans who would no longer wait in the broiling sun to tour Congress. Not Reid! The air conditioned center meant no more smelly peasants near his office. Frankly, a herd of filthy goats couldn’t stink up the Capitol like Sen. Harry Reid and his ilk have done.
Reid ramrodded the healthcare overall into law despite deep objections from a sizeable number of Americans. Oppose amnesty and you’re racist in Harry Reid’s world. He is arrogant, unresponsive, sanctimonious and insulting. Even Reid’s own son views him as damaged goods, shunning the family name while running for the Nevada governorship. Therefore we go to the polls.
On Tuesday we strip power from the tyrants who kept the healthcare bill hidden, changed it indiscriminately, lied about its content and their pledge for an open review, and then passed it via a secretive, backroom vote. The bill itself was unreadable; a labyrinth of legalese, vagaries and cross references intended to prevent public understanding. Supporters of Obamacare blithely told us how wonderful the legislation would be for all Americans, yet said that the bill must pass before we can know what’s in it. Not even Sen. Max Baucus, the bill’s alleged author, bothered to read this nonsense before it became law. It’s naïve to think Congressmen and Senators read these large bills. But their contempt for our intelligence can’t go unchallenged. Therefore we go to the polls.
We go to the polls to prevent cap and trade from sacrificing our economy to an unproven theory. We go to the polls so card check won’t transform employer-employee relationships into one-sided AFL-CIO/SEIU playgrounds, which will ultimately fund our further demise. We go to the polls to correct our fiscal future and secure our national sovereignty.
Government is too large. It is unmanageable and unrestrained. Our representatives have stretched government far beyond its constitutional limits while scoffing at the Tenth Amendment, state sovereignty, property rights and individual liberty. We go to the polls to save the greatest hope for human liberty from a destructive Marxist agenda.
Ultimately, the reason we go to the polls is to fire the first salvos in a long and arduous revolution--fought each election cycle, as our Founders intended--to restore constitutional principles, fiscal sanity and common sense to American government at all levels. And we do this not only for ourselves. We go to the polls for our posterity, that future Americans may live as government’s masters, not its servants. We go to the polls because we are liberty’s last line of defense.
Such derision is unwarranted but not surprising. When an ideology is under assault its adherents will fight. Therefore the Washington establishment--well represented in both dominant parties--is retaliating against the Tea Party, for we threaten to tear the playhouse down.
We’ve traveled a long road to this day and many a long road lies ahead. With polls showing large conservative gains across the electoral spectrum complacency becomes a danger. We must send a loud message on November 2nd. And our motivation lies in the reasons the Tea Party was born, why it grew, and why it’s redefining the two party system.
Our national balance sheet is corrupt. The debt is $13 trillion, give or take a few hundred billion. That’s roughly an entire year’s worth of national production. Obama, who campaigned on reducing deficits, has proposed a $9.7 trillion increase in debt over the next ten years. Yet our federal “representatives” claim the answer lies in more government, higher taxes and an expansive cradle-to-grave welfare state. Therefore we go to the polls.
Social Security and Medicare are runaway trains hurtling toward a washed-out bridge. There is no Social Security trust fund and the touted “surplus” is but an accounting gimmick backed by worthless IOUs. Medicare is just as bad, if not worse. The Part D prescription drug plan and Obamacare only expand the problem.
Productive Americans--rich, poor and in between--are taxed to fund programs for the dependent. Politicians tantalize ignorant voters with promises to soak “evil” corporations and institute mythical visions of regulatory “fairness.” Yet the costs of such measures are paid by people, not legal entities. Each tax, each burdensome regulation is absorbed by the people, for the cost is passed to the consumer. Economists call this phenomenon the “unseen consequence.” It’s time we, the unseen consequences, were both seen and heard. Therefore we go to the polls.
We must repeal the onerous healthcare bill that promises high costs, poor service and shoddy results while granting enormous power--and the probability of abuse--to the central government. A majority of Americans, even if those who aren’t Tea Party activists, want this law repealed. Furthermore, it is another unconstitutional program sold to us “for our own good.” Therefore we go to the polls.
We are tired of arrogant “public servants” like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who invents Bible passages to promote her global warming agenda. She holds our freedom, the U.S. Constitution and her duty to both in utter contempt. Truth and honesty aren’t character traits for Nancy Pelosi; they are obstacles to overcome. This woman is unfit to hold public office, much less the Speaker’s gavel. Therefore we go to the polls.
Sen. Harry Reid thinks you and I stink. We, the great unwashed, are just too gamey for his aristocratic olfactory. When the Capitol Visitors Center opened Reid expressed his joy. A sensible, reasonable person would’ve been happy for the Americans who would no longer wait in the broiling sun to tour Congress. Not Reid! The air conditioned center meant no more smelly peasants near his office. Frankly, a herd of filthy goats couldn’t stink up the Capitol like Sen. Harry Reid and his ilk have done.
Reid ramrodded the healthcare overall into law despite deep objections from a sizeable number of Americans. Oppose amnesty and you’re racist in Harry Reid’s world. He is arrogant, unresponsive, sanctimonious and insulting. Even Reid’s own son views him as damaged goods, shunning the family name while running for the Nevada governorship. Therefore we go to the polls.
On Tuesday we strip power from the tyrants who kept the healthcare bill hidden, changed it indiscriminately, lied about its content and their pledge for an open review, and then passed it via a secretive, backroom vote. The bill itself was unreadable; a labyrinth of legalese, vagaries and cross references intended to prevent public understanding. Supporters of Obamacare blithely told us how wonderful the legislation would be for all Americans, yet said that the bill must pass before we can know what’s in it. Not even Sen. Max Baucus, the bill’s alleged author, bothered to read this nonsense before it became law. It’s naïve to think Congressmen and Senators read these large bills. But their contempt for our intelligence can’t go unchallenged. Therefore we go to the polls.
We go to the polls to prevent cap and trade from sacrificing our economy to an unproven theory. We go to the polls so card check won’t transform employer-employee relationships into one-sided AFL-CIO/SEIU playgrounds, which will ultimately fund our further demise. We go to the polls to correct our fiscal future and secure our national sovereignty.
Government is too large. It is unmanageable and unrestrained. Our representatives have stretched government far beyond its constitutional limits while scoffing at the Tenth Amendment, state sovereignty, property rights and individual liberty. We go to the polls to save the greatest hope for human liberty from a destructive Marxist agenda.
Ultimately, the reason we go to the polls is to fire the first salvos in a long and arduous revolution--fought each election cycle, as our Founders intended--to restore constitutional principles, fiscal sanity and common sense to American government at all levels. And we do this not only for ourselves. We go to the polls for our posterity, that future Americans may live as government’s masters, not its servants. We go to the polls because we are liberty’s last line of defense.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Obama’s supporters and alliances tell us who he is
No one should be surprised with President Obama’s rush toward bigger, more powerful government. Politicians win support from people with like minds and the President is no exception. His supporters and associates tell us much about his political ideology.
Joe Sims is impressed with the Obama presidency. Mr. Sims wrote of Obama’s swearing in as the “people’s inaugural”, the dawn of a new American era. Sam Webb shared that exuberance. In January, 2009 Mr. Webb praised Obama’s victory as the end of “30 years of right-wing extremist rule.” He wasn’t so bold as to declare the election a national referendum for socialism. But he did claim it signaled America’s willingness to experiment with socialist ideas. Thus Webb wrote of the Obama administration, “Yes, this is a socialist moment.”
Both Sam Webb and Joe Sims write for the People’s Weekly World, a Communist Party (CPUSA) publication. Webb himself serves as the national chair of the CPUSA, which publicly declared Obama’s election a triumph for their agenda.
The President has drawn international communist allies as well. Fidel Castro compared Obamacare to his own communist nation’s medical system. Unfortunately, that’s not all. The old guard communist dictator admires Obama’s position on global warming and his charismatic personality. China has also joined the act. The Chinese commemorated Obama’s visit with “Oba Mao” t-shirts depicting the President wearing a Red Guard uniform. Artist Liu Bolin honored the occasion with a statue similar to one previously created for Chairman Mao himself.
Obama’s inner circle is filled with questionable liaisons and appointees. The administration’s communications director, Anita Dunn, counts Mao Tse-tung among her greatest political influences. Ron Bloom is Obama’s car and manufacturing czar. Yet he has contempt for free markets, pals around with the SEIU and has worked with the leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America. Van Jones resigned an environmental post appointment because of his declared commitment to communism. And Obama’s idea of a fair-minded judge, Goodwin Liu, considers free enterprise, property rights and limited government to be radical ideas.
None of these associations flatter Obama. But the worst alliance may be his “safe school’s czar” Kevin Jennings. Jennings supports indoctrinating teenagers with a radical sexual agenda, having gone so far as to conceal and condone child molestation. Jennings also defended the late Harry Hay, who dedicated his life to mainstreaming intimate relations between men and boys. And yes, Hay also had a little communism in his closet.
Is Barack Obama America’s first Bolshevik-in-Chief? He has certainly drawn support from staunch communists, apparent sympathizers and assorted oddballs. His policies thus far have done nothing to betray their faith and support.
Joe Sims is impressed with the Obama presidency. Mr. Sims wrote of Obama’s swearing in as the “people’s inaugural”, the dawn of a new American era. Sam Webb shared that exuberance. In January, 2009 Mr. Webb praised Obama’s victory as the end of “30 years of right-wing extremist rule.” He wasn’t so bold as to declare the election a national referendum for socialism. But he did claim it signaled America’s willingness to experiment with socialist ideas. Thus Webb wrote of the Obama administration, “Yes, this is a socialist moment.”
Both Sam Webb and Joe Sims write for the People’s Weekly World, a Communist Party (CPUSA) publication. Webb himself serves as the national chair of the CPUSA, which publicly declared Obama’s election a triumph for their agenda.
The President has drawn international communist allies as well. Fidel Castro compared Obamacare to his own communist nation’s medical system. Unfortunately, that’s not all. The old guard communist dictator admires Obama’s position on global warming and his charismatic personality. China has also joined the act. The Chinese commemorated Obama’s visit with “Oba Mao” t-shirts depicting the President wearing a Red Guard uniform. Artist Liu Bolin honored the occasion with a statue similar to one previously created for Chairman Mao himself.
Obama’s inner circle is filled with questionable liaisons and appointees. The administration’s communications director, Anita Dunn, counts Mao Tse-tung among her greatest political influences. Ron Bloom is Obama’s car and manufacturing czar. Yet he has contempt for free markets, pals around with the SEIU and has worked with the leaders of the Democratic Socialists of America. Van Jones resigned an environmental post appointment because of his declared commitment to communism. And Obama’s idea of a fair-minded judge, Goodwin Liu, considers free enterprise, property rights and limited government to be radical ideas.
None of these associations flatter Obama. But the worst alliance may be his “safe school’s czar” Kevin Jennings. Jennings supports indoctrinating teenagers with a radical sexual agenda, having gone so far as to conceal and condone child molestation. Jennings also defended the late Harry Hay, who dedicated his life to mainstreaming intimate relations between men and boys. And yes, Hay also had a little communism in his closet.
Is Barack Obama America’s first Bolshevik-in-Chief? He has certainly drawn support from staunch communists, apparent sympathizers and assorted oddballs. His policies thus far have done nothing to betray their faith and support.
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