J. D. Pendry

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name ….” – William Shakespeare

John Sydney McCain repeatedly reminds us that he has the utmost respect for both of his likely opponents in the general election for the presidency. So much so that he apologized that someone so much as dared to use the given middle name of one of them during a political rally. With that approach, Senator McCain will never lay a glove on Barack Rose Obama, especially if he tries to spar him with political rhetoric and does not try to educate the voting populace about him. Sydney will get waxed while a complicit liberal media, eager to defeat any Republican, even the moderate, liberal leaning John Sidney McCain will turn its collective head in order to help.

Have you read about Antoin “Tony” Rezko? Syrian born “Arab American” Rezko is under federal indictment (pdf) for fraud. According to the Chicago Sun Times: “Obama and Rezko have been friends since 1990, and the Wilmette businessman has raised as much as $60,000 in campaign contributions for him.“ If I were an aspiring journalist, possibly working for the New York Times or some other august publication, I would be interested in learning more about Obama’s relationship with a man that is under indictment for kickbacks on government contracts, especially contracts steered by Illinois state politicians.

Obama, a former [state] lawmaker now in his first term in the Senate, once backed a proposal to grant public money to a company formed by Rezko, and the purchase of his home got tangled up with Rezko — something he [Obama] called a “boneheaded” mistake. – Chicago Tribune

It is an interesting real estate deal. It gets more interesting if you read about it, but of course it requires that you mine for the information that no single mainstream news organization wants to bring to the forefront. Another interesting character is also tied to Obama fundraising. His name is Nahdmi Auchi. An Iraqi born billionaire and former Baathist, if one can actually be a former Baathist. He was one of Saadam’s boys. Bill Gertz points out some interesting coincidence surrounding the possible Auchi-Rezko-Obama link in his Washington Times column.

Auchi gave at least $10.5 million to Obama fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko, including a payment of $3.5 million that coincided with Mr. Obama’s purchase in 2005 of a $1.65 million Chicago house, the London Times reported Tuesday. The newspaper said the timing of the payment and the house purchase, along with the purchase of land next door by Mr. Rezko’s wife Rita from the same seller, raise questions about whether Auchi helped buy the house.

That $3.5 million loan is already in the crosshairs of the prosecutor. I wonder if this trial will happen before November.

The other thing that no one is allowed to do is display the picture of Obama dressed like a Somali. It is just a picture, but it may cause a certain sector of our country to recall that it was Somalis with the help of Al Qaeda terrorists that dragged the bodies of American Soldiers through the streets of Mogadishu.

Raila Odinga, the Kenyan opposition leader claims to be Obama’s cousin. Obama’s father was Kenyan and supposedly of the same Luo community as Odinga. I love his website, “Your agent for change. Register for change. Vote for change.” It was Odinga supporters who set fire to a church, burning alive its occupants and hunting down with machetes those who escaped the fire.

EVEN the children were burnt alive. In broad daylight, a crowd of Kenyans set a church filled with hundreds of terrified families on fire and listened to their screams as flames engulfed them.

Nothing quite like change is there?

Obama has other interesting acquaintances that deserve our attention. Did you ever hear of the Weathermen Underground? They were our own Vietnam era American bred terrorists. They liked to plant bombs in federal buildings. It turns out that Obama knows the leaders of that little outfit and actually met with them during his political rise. It is not just a passing acquaintance. He served as a director of the Woods Fund along with Weatherman William C Ayers. Ayers contributed to Obama’s senatorial campaign. The Woods fund gave money to an Arab organization that bemoans the “catastrophe” of Israel. The co-founder of that pro-Palestinian organization also held a fundraiser for Obama.

Although Obama might have some interesting associations, we are assured that he is a Christian. His spiritual mentor embraces some theological concepts that are personally troubling to me. He belongs to the Trinity United Church of Christ. His pastor, Reverend Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright preaches liberation and the Black Value System (pdf). I find some parts of it quite interesting. For example:

Disavowal of the Pursuit of “Middleclassness”
Classic methodology on control of captives teaches that captors must keep the captive ignorant educationally, but trained sufficiently well to serve the system. Also, the captors must be able to identify the “talented tenth” of those subjugated, especially those who show promise of providing the kind of leadership that might threaten the captor’s control.

Maybe Jehoiada will examine this theology for us one day. Read the Reverend’s words in this Church bulletin, What’s Goin’ on? (pdf)

We have lost over 3,000 boys and girls in an illegal and unjust war, and the media is on a feeding frenzy about Barack Obama’s church. Where is the outrage about the 3,000 dead American military personnel and the 600,000 dead Iraqi civilians who are dead for no reason other than greed and ego? What’s goin’ on?

It is easy to see where Obama gets his voice on the war. It is scary, however, when you tie those views together with some of the relationships that, like his given name, are simply not to be mentioned. There is another interesting relationship that comes to Obama via his pastor. Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan has endorsed Obama.

“This young man [Obama] is the hope of the entire world that America will change and be made better.” – Farrakhan

Reverend Wright honored Farrakhan recently in his Church magazine (pdf) saying of him:

“When Minister Farrakhan speaks, Black America listens… “Minister Farrakhan will be remembered as one of the 20th and 21st century giants of the African American religious experience.”

Obama had to be cajoled to give a half-hearted rejection of Farrakhan in his last debate with Clinton. Reverend Wright tells us that when Farrakhan speaks Black America listens. If that is so, then this is what they hear:

White people are potential humans — they haven’t evolved yet” Wikipedia

“The Jews don’t like Farrakhan, so they call me Hitler. Well, that’s a good name. Hitler was a very great man. He rose Germany up from the ashes.” – USA Today

“The white man is our mortal enemy, and we cannot accept him. I will fight to see that vicious beast go down into the lake of fire prepared for him from the beginning, that he never rise again to give any innocent black man, woman or child the hell that he has delighted in pouring on us for 400 years. – USA Today

John Sydney, I’m not quite sure that I know what to make of all of this. Except that you will probably apologize that I even brought any of it up.

Guilt, on the contrary, like a base thief, suspects every eye that beholds him to be privy to his transgressions, and every tongue that mentions his name to be proclaiming them. – Henry Fielding

Copyright © J. D. Pendry 2008 All Rights Reserved

J. D. Pendry

It is Inauguration Day. Either you voted for or against the person taking the oath. Or, you sat at home due to apathy, disenchantment, because you wished to make a personal statement or for some other as yet undefined rationalization. Either you fulfilled your obligation as a citizen to the greatest representative republic in recorded history by voting or you did not. It really is that simple. Your rationalization is irrelevant to a nation on the brink of becoming something none of us can recognize anymore. What is relevant is that if you did not participate, you forfeited your voice either for or against whatever follows the inauguration speech

Across the globe, in places you have never heard of and in places that are also in the news every single day, American fighting men and women confront people that wish you and me dead and who do not like the idea of free people choosing their leaders. They are trying to help nations of oppressed, terrorized people progress into nations of free people with the opportunity to vote for the leaders they want. They are doing just what they did at the beginning of this free nation. Voting and choice is something you value when you never before had either or maybe when it is gone.

Here in the world’s best example of freedom, a place that some scholarly types have dubbed the world’s last great hope, we consider anything approaching 50 percent as a great voter turnout. Less than half of us, who can, often choose the leaders for the rest of us. When we look at the products of some of those elections, it is not always obvious that it was the brightest 50 percent who actually went to the polls. Yet, it was the 50 percent that fulfilled an obligation of their citizenship and helped choose the direction of our nation through participation rather than consternation. If you, for whatever reason, sat it out then by your action you expressed contentment with that direction whatever twists and turns it brings. That great silent majority we hear so much about does not amount to a hill of beans if it indeed is silent on Election Day.

Following his speech, President and Commander in Chief Obama immediately began to fulfill his promises. Trying to correct what he called America’s greatest foreign policy mistake, he ordered the immediate stand down and cessation of action by all United States Military Forces currently in the Middle East. He reiterated his position that this is a war that should have never been started, should have never been waged and has resulted in wasting the lives of the bravest young Americans. He reminds us that the money wasted on George Bush’s war could easily fund many programs here at home such as his plan for subsidized and socialized medical care. While US Forces are in stand down, President Obama fulfills his next promise to hold a summit with Muslim nations for his stated purpose of improving America’s image. He then follows through on his commitment to meet unconditionally with Raul Castro, Hugo Chavez and other dictators. Michelle Obama reiterates that for the first time in her life, she is proud of her country. The question left in the minds of many Americans is what country is that exactly and is this the change with which we thought we could live?

Following her speech, President and Commander in Chief Clinton began to fulfill her promises by ordering the stand down and immediate redeployment of all United States Forces from the Middle Eastern theater of operations. She instructs the Democrat led Congress to give her legislation to sign into law that immediately repeals the Bush tax cuts and adds new taxes on energy company profits. She also wants legislation that provides a $5,000 baby bond to each of the nearly five million new babies born each year. A gift that will likely cost that baby more in a lifetime of taxes than it will actually ever be worth. She also asks for legislation that begins the national health care payroll tax deduction. This is to ensure that all Americans do, in fact, purchase health care coverage. This of course will be a proportional tax, one that distributes the total cost to those most able to pay it. Then she asks for a new payroll tax. This one she needs to fulfill her promise of a 401K retirement plan for every American. This is in addition to the increases needed to sustain the current social security and Medicare systems. Her promise of taking from some of us to the betterment of all of us is fulfilled. Somewhere Karl Marx dances a little jig. Bill Clinton continues to be Bill Clinton.

Following his speech, President McCain… Oh, sorry, there was no President McCain …

Copyright © J D Pendry 2008 All Rights Reserved

J. D. Pendry

When Johnny comes marching home again
Hurrah! Hurrah!
We’ll give him a hearty welcome then
Hurrah! Hurrah!
The men will cheer and the boys will shout
The ladies they will all turn out
And we’ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.

Mr. Frank Woodruff Buckles is 107 years old. A resident of Charles Town, West Virginia, he is the last known surviving Veteran of World War I. Most Americans, I believe, cannot tell you very much about the war meant to end all wars. They could not talk to you about American Army recruits boarding ships headed for Europe having never fired a rifle in training. They never fired them because they did not have them. Our standing regular Army before entering the war was practically nonexistent by any reasonable standard of measurement. Mentioning names like Ardenne, Belleauwood, Chateau-Terrie, and Meusse-Argonne will probably not get a conversation started outside of military circles. Most also do not know that men like Mr. Buckles were not welcomed home with a GI Bill of Rights to help them restart their post war lives as were the Veterans of World War II.

World War II Veterans came home to a grateful nation. Grateful, because we were a nation at war then rather than a nation preoccupied with which celebrity overdosed this week while its Soldiers were at war. World War II Veterans were fortunate to have the GI Bill of Rights, The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944. If you study it, you will learn that it did not come easily as most things of value do not come easily from our politicians. In the end, it was as much about trying to make themselves feel better for their neglect of World War I Veterans as it was to help World War II Veterans restart life. Regardless of what motivated each individual Congressman, the GI Bill provided one of the greatest returns to our nation of any investment ever made in it by a collection of politicians.

Before the war, college and homeownership were, for the most part, unreachable dreams for the average American. Thanks to the GI Bill, millions who would have flooded the job market instead opted for education. In the peak year of 1947, veterans accounted for 49 percent of college admissions. By the time the original GI Bill ended on July 25, 1956, 7.8 million of 16 million World War II veterans had participated in an education or training program.

Of our living Veterans, 13.9 percent (2006 statistics) are World War II Veterans. 39 percent of our total Veteran Population is over 65 years old. Some who read this will be present on the day when someone writes about the last surviving Veteran of World War II. If there is by that time anyone left who would care to write or read about it.

Our largest population of Veterans is from the Vietnam era, comprising 33.5 percent of our total Veteran population. This group of Veterans endured combat in a politically mismanaged war that they were not allowed to win. Those who were grateful to them for their service had their voices drowned out by those who welcomed them home with baby killer signs and mischaracterization of their service in all forms of the media. They were repeatedly Kerryed, but rarely thanked or defended. The 1960s provided us with the ugliest view of some Americans and politicians. Young men and women sent off to fight a war that our political leaders believed necessary and once the politicians got them into it they seemed to always be facing 3 down with 9 yards to go in a never ending game of political football. How does a young person understand being sent to a place where every single person he confronts might want to kill him only to come home to a collection of people that openly detest his very existence?

Nothing much has changed since then. In print and broadcast media and by politicians, our Veterans and serving Men and Women are still mischaracterized. In the most recent episode of liberal lunacy, the Berkeley, California city council voted to tell the United States Marine Corps Recruiters that they are unwelcomed intruders in the Republic of Berkeley. I will bet you my tiny Military Retirement check that if these were Murtha Marines, the Berkeley city council would offer them the keys to the city. This is not new for Berkeley. In October 2005, I wrote Cancelled in Berkeley about how old anti-war hippie Joe McDonald caused the city’s Veteran’s Day observances to be cancelled. I will also bet you that this nonsensical collection of miscreants got more press than did Mr. Buckles.

So, here we are now with an apparent Presidential nominee who is a War Veteran and former Prisoner of War. One who clearly sacrificed in service of his country. If you read last week’s posting, you know that I’m not a fan of the politics of Senator John McCain and had the Republican Party bosses here in Wild Wonderful given me the opportunity, I would have voted for another candidate. But let us put that aside for a minute. The Senator will oppose either the first Black or Woman candidate for the Presidency, both of them liberal media darlings of the Berkeley class of politicians – make no doubt. I will make you another wager. In the not too distant future, the papers will fill with stories of post traumatic stress disorder hinting that someone who has endured the traumatic events of war that Senator McCain has must surely suffer from it. Then will follow the stories about his temper and hot headedness ad nauseam and all of it meant to not so subtly put the question of fitness into the minds of voters. The people who have made careers out of loathing the military will not change their spots to be nice to War Veteran and Prisoner of War Senator John McCain.

As you enter the voting booth on Election Day, you may not have it in your heart because of your political disagreements to vote for Senator McCain. Maybe you might want to consider accepting the task as I have. In the interest of Service Men and Women, Veterans and the security of our country – even Berkeley – I must and will pull the lever against Obama or Clinton.

Let love and friendship on that day,
Hurrah, hurrah!
Their choicest pleasures then display,
Hurrah, hurrah!
And let each one perform some part,
To fill with joy the warrior’s heart,
And we’ll all feel gay when Johnny comes marching home.

Copyright © J D Pendry, 2008, All Rights Reserved

J. D. Pendry

In the military, the importance of being the example is stressed constantly. Role modeling and mentoring are not endeavors taken lightly. The understanding that everyone influences someone all of the time, whether conscious of it or not, is critical. It causes one to consider the consequences of actions beyond their impact on self. To reinforce the importance of that, the military rewards the good examples and hammers the bad ones.

In my seminar days, I’d ask participants to compile a list of attributes in people that they most admired and wanted to emulate. Interestingly, attributes like egomaniac, corruptness, sexual perversion, alcohol and drug abuser, foul mouthed, self-serving, general all around butthead, etc. never made it onto the lists. What’s more telling was that their lists of people they most admired were often in conflict with their admired and desired attributes. Out here, were everyone is supposed to be smarter than those in the military we exalt the bad examples and hammer unmercifully the good ones. That’s because we admire and desire the fame, wealth and power the bad ones have more that we detest their behavior.

Look at professional athletes. They were pampered through a public education system that failed them. They got breaks that the average kid doing what he was supposed to do didn’t get. We raised them to hero status because of their athletic skills. We turned them into uneducated millionaires with a twisted value set then gasped when they ended up in prison or got involved with things like dog fighting, which then causes them to declare that they’ve found Jesus. We rewarded their bad behavior which reinforced for a generation of kids the attributes needed to acquire wealth and fame.

While our sons are wearing their ball caps sideways, sporting their bling bling, and wearing an oversized Michael Vick jersey, what attributes are we stressing to our daughters? Reckon we’re teaching them to be like Paris or Britney or Lindsay? All that is required is that you have a little talent for something like acting, singing or Internet porn videos and be relatively pretty. Then you magnify those attributes by being a drug and alcohol abusing celebrity party girl. Each time you are caught doing stupid celebrity tricks, have your agent declare that you are off to rehab for the cure and that the cocaine in the pocket of the jeans you were wearing wasn’t your cocaine because they weren’t your jeans. Everyone in the media will compete for your story and the rest of us will endure it repeatedly during the 30 minute news cycle. You’ll be more famous and wealthy and our daughters will emulate accordingly.

We have good role models for our young men and women. They’re neither wealthy nor famous, but model the good attributes our young people need to acquire. These are the Men and Women serving in the United States Armed Forces. It’s a rare day when anything positive is said about them. Instead they’re portrayed as everything except positive role models. Members of the United States Congress have publicly compared them to Nazis, called them cold-blooded murderers, torturers, terrorists, and implied that they ended up in Iraq because they’re too uneducated and stupid to do anything else. That is how we emphasize positive attributes for our youth here in the land of the free. After all, what young person aspires to be a cold-blooded killer too stupid to do anything else when he can be like Mike?

If there is any group that should stand out as an example for all of us, it should be our elected leaders. Too often, they are the unfortunate example. The President of the United States had sex with an intern inside the Oval Office and he probably wasn’t the first. We allowed him to remain as our leader even after he lied about it. Congressman Mark Foley and Senator Larry Craig are not the first members of that elected body to have their sexual perversions made public. Instead of closeting them, they should have followed the example of Congressman Gary Studds who admittedly had sex with an underage male page and was reelected several times afterward. Or the example of Congressman Barney Frank who found a companion through gay personal ads then allowed him to live in while he operated a prostitution ring from his house. Good ol’ Barney is still serving and probably in more ways than we care to know.

It goes beyond sexual perversions. Duke Cunningham is in prison for bribes, where he should be. Cold Cash Willie Jefferson is still on the payroll. Neither has the distintion of being first crooks in Congress. The Hillary-Hsu connection is neither the first nor only time a criminal contributed money to put or keep someone, Democrat or Republican, in office. Watergate was not a onetime Republican only event.

Washington is a cesspool. One wonders if it is a reflecting pool or a perpetuating one. Regardless, they have the audacity to pass judgment on others, like the infant Iraqi government, while being incompetent to accomplish anything themselves. Their failure at being an example for the American people is their most notable accomplishment. How do you tell a youngster that behavior is not acceptable, when it is perfectly acceptable in the Oval Office and Congress? Leaves one to wonder if any of them have ever considered the consequences their conduct has beyond self. Somehow I doubt the thought ever entered their collective minds.

Maybe they are being what they want to see.

© J. D. Pendry, 2007, All Rights Reserved

J. D. Pendry

Or maybe it is rather the seeds of our demise. As a nation, we’ve sown ours over the years.

I think our first seed was in Korea. That’s where we first decided that a cease fire is as good as total victory. We hold up South Korea as a great democratic and economic success. It is that no question about it, but everyday its Soldiers and ours peer across the world’s most fortified and defended border at an enemy still holding onto the goal of reuniting the peninsula under communist rule. That is where we demonstrated our ability to win military battles and lose political ones. The Chinese and Soviet proxy of North Korea never gained anything for its war effort, but in the end it never lost anything either.

Then followed the Vietnam seed. Following our credo to help people who seek liberty over tyranny, we again sent our Soldiers into a divided country. Yet again, we faced a Chinese and Soviet proxy by whose own admission we defeated militarily. Political bumbling, the anti-war elites led by the likes of Fonda and Kerry, and the leftward tilting media led by Walter Cronkite caused the war to drag on. As the last of our Soldiers left a South Vietnam capable of defending itself with our promised support, Congress withdrew financial and logistical aid. The Soviet and Chinese supported communists rolled into Saigon as we evacuated it. We abandoned our ally to reeducation camps and killing fields. Atrocities now discounted with a nonchalant wave of the hand by the same politicians whose actions caused them. Those lessons were not lost to our future enemies nor to our allies.

In 1973, the surrounding Arab nations started the Yom Kippur War with Israel. We provided support to Israel. For our efforts to support the region’s only democracy the OPEC cartel, who if not for the help of Western technology and engineers would still be trying to get their oil out of the ground with siphon hoses, decided to impose an oil embargo on the United States. We made feeble attempts to improve our domestic energy production and OPEC countered by turning back on the cheap Arab oil spigot. We responded like crack addicts. Instead of improving our domestic energy production, we grew more dependent on foreign energy. We provided the money that further separated the ruling classes in those countries from the masses that were getting their indoctrinations from the Mullahs teaching them to lay all of their problems at the door of the Great Satan. Our response to energy blackmail was to build no new nuclear power plants, no new oil refineries, conduct no new oil exploration, make no efforts at improving the technology to extract any of the 2 trillion barrels of oil reserves we have in shale, and no efforts toward improving coal to liquid fuel technology… The Arabs knew then and know now that the Great Satan is also the great cash cow that insists on financing its own end. Political ineptitude is another of our seeds.

In 1979 as we did in Vietnam, we abandoned another ally. We abandoned the Shah of Iran to the Islamic Fascists. Led by the Ayatollah Khomeini, described by some of our politicians as a holy man who would improve the lives of Iranians, the fascists invaded our sovereign territory. They invaded the grounds of the United States Embassy in Tehran and took American hostages. We attempted a rescue. What we achieved was leaving dead Americans in the desert for the mullahs to later display on television. On top of solidifying the idea of abandoning allies in the minds of our enemies, we now planted in their minds the seeds that we were not able of or willing to fight either.

In 1983, our forces were attacked in Lebanon leaving more than 300 dead. Instead of responding to the Iranian sponsors of that attack, we left again. The seed of not able or willing to fight was added to the seed of if you hurt them, they will quit.

In February 1993, the Islamic Fascists made their first attempt to destroy the World Trade Center. We viewed it as a criminal act and not an act of war and responded accordingly deepening the roots of political ineptitude.

In October of 1993, our Somali humanitarian aid mission morphed into a nation building one and our Soldiers were sent into Mogadishu to capture leaders of the war lord hierarchy. They went in denied the armor support they’d requested. When the battle ended, two Blackhawk helicopters were destroyed and 18 Americans were dead, some of them drug through the streets. We responded not by laying waste to those militias, but by leaving. Osama bin Laden indicated that this was further proof that America was just a paper tiger – strong in appearance and bluster, but not willing to sustain the tough fight.

In 1998 embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by the Islamic Fascists. In October 2000, the USS Cole was bombed killing 17 Sailors. The seeds we planted of not being able or willing to fight were continuing to bear fruit for our enemies up until the attacks of September 11, 2001.

We took out the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan then entered into Iraq. We are still in both places and Al Qaeda is still dying there, as the President reported in his speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, at the tune of about 1500 a month. Since American Forces have been engaged with Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Iraq, there have been no attacks on United States interests or on the United States proper.

We are sowing another important seed. One that shows we are now willing to pursue and fight those who want to harm us for as long as it takes. Still, as the political winds blow across Washington there is a fervor to prematurely uproot all that’s been gained.

The rule of the harvest is an unchanging principle.

© J. D. Pendry 2007 All Rights Reserved

J. D. Pendry

A sick society must think much about politics, as a sick man must think much about his digestion. - C. S. Lewis

I was asked how we can ever expect to select the best leader for our country - one with integrity, candor and a strong moral fiber. Unfortunately, my answer has to be that most of us won’t make the choice based on those characteristics. We are a media driven society. One-half of the 50 percent of us that will turn out to vote, even fewer in the primary elections, will choose the best packaged façade to lead us. We’ll choose the one with the slickest campaign ads, best sound bites and of course the one most championed by the media as likely to deliver to us the promised utopia. Then all of us, including the 75 percent of the voting population that didn’t participate in choosing our leader, will lament the sad state of our nation. Then we will repeat the same mistake the next time around. It’s like the instructions on the shampoo bottle, wash, rinse, repeat.

How do you gage the integrity of a candidate? People can change their minds, their attitudes and the direction of their lives. The best example of that I can think of is Charles Colson. Life events brought about his changes, not a campaign for political office. So, I’m wary of candidates who have life changing revelations that just happen to coincide with the well-known beliefs of their party’s political base. How can a politician state logically, for example, that he or she is personally pro-life but must defend a woman’s right to choose to kill an unborn child?

How do you assess candor? In our poll driven society, my radar activates as soon as a politician cites the poll telling us what most Americans believe or want. There’s a problem with that logic. We are media driven. Most Americans do not take or have the time to truly study issues because they are too busy with other things – like working every day to support their families. Instead, they rely on what the media provides them. People listen to and accept what they hear and read in the media – even if Dan Rather said it. They respond to poll questions based on being barely informed. Politicians react to polls. Wash, rinse, repeat. A candid politician studies the issues then has no difficulty outlining and informing people about what the real problems are regardless of what the polls indicate.

Does one have a strong moral fiber? It is a perplexing question for most in modern society. Each of us defines what is moral according to our own beliefs and value systems. C. S. Lewis reminded us, “Moral collapse follows upon spiritual collapse.” The Apostle Paul explained it more directly in Romans 1:18-31. You’ll need to make your own moral assessment.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. – Micah 6:8 (NIV)

While searching for your perfect candidate, you must make a serious assessment that transcends the media façade. An assessment that transcends stated positions and attempts a deeper examination of the character of the person. I assess leaders, which most certainly includes any who hope to lead the world’s most blessed nation, using do justly, love mercy and walk humbly.

Do justly - means to act or conform to what is morally upright or good. This is not a complicated assessment. Do the candidate’s values expressed through words and deeds meet the criteria? This of course filters through your concept of what is morally upright or good. Do the candidate’s actions (not promises) represent just acts as they’re defined? Do the actions represent what is best for our most blessed nation?

Love mercy – means having a disposition to show kindness or compassion. Like you, I’ve been listening to unceasing political rhetoric. One group in particular has been quite shrill and disrespectful. Do you know what’s funny here? Not everyone is going to agree about which group that is. That’s fine because it’s the candidate’s response to political attacks that demonstrates if he has the needed disposition or not. Add to that an evaluation of policies. Can you find kindness and compassion in your candidate’s actions versus his or her promises?

Walk humbly – a person who walks humbly ranks himself low in a hierarchy and is not too proud or arrogant. Can you relate to the candidate on a personal level? For me, red flags go up when a candidate tells me his purpose is to look out for the “little people.” With such a statement, the candidate places himself above “little people.” One, who walks humbly, does not make such distinctions because he knows that in the grand scheme, we are all little people.

Choose wisely, the fate of our country depends on it.

© J. D. Pendry 2007

J. D. Pendry

“I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”

President John F. Kennedy, speech to U.S. Congress, May 25, 1961

Eight years after President Kennedy made that speech, American Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were standing on the moon. In less than one decade, with technology light years behind what we have today, we moved from second place behind the Soviet Union to leading the world in space exploration. It’s a position we can only lose to complacency.

We were a different America then. We were not a collection of people looking to hide our Americanism behind a hyphenated loyalty to a place or culture never visited and never likely to be. Being American meant something. It meant a nation of people yearning for challenge and willing to commit to a world leading vision. While our Soldiers were fighting for the freedom of another people in the jungles of Vietnam and our Astronauts were astounding the world, Americans were taking to the streets trying to find themselves. Woodstock, mind-expanding drugs, war protests, and new hyphenated identities supplanted just being American. We demonstrated to the world that our time for facing down dangerous enemies as we did during the Cuban Missile Crisis or leading as we did with the Apollo Space program was lost to hyphenated individualism. The loss of our national identity and will became apparent to all of our potential adversaries culminating with our political loss of the Vietnam War. The nations that hoped for our end or that wished us to move backwards or standstill saw us losing our ability to commit to achieving any great challenge.

In October of 1973, because of our support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War, the Arabs handed us an oil embargo. As the price of fuel moved up faster than an Apollo moon shot, our responses were fuel conservation and tinkering with daylight savings time. We could buy gas on odd or even numbered days depending on the digit with which our license plated number ended. Politicians started preaching that the resolution to our problem was to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Yes, that was in 1973.

We countered with the Trans-Alaskan pipeline. Some oil companies also invested large amounts of money into learning how to extract oil from shale, but it was an expensive proposition at 1970’s prices and with 1970’s technology. The Arabs responded to our efforts in the 70’s by reducing the price of a barrel of oil and turning the spigot back on. Our political leaders and oil companies chose cheap Arab oil over the more expensive alternative of freeing ourselves from dependence on it. The Arabs figured us out.

Our estimated reserve in oil shale is 2 trillion barrels. That is 60 percent of the known reserve worldwide and 80 percent of that is on federally owned property. At today’s prices and with today’s technology it’s economically feasible to go after it, but we seem bent on growing more corn while continuing to enrich those financing the opposition in our “terror” war.

Oil shale development will diversify and increase the supply of domestic energy. The Nation’s 2 trillion barrel untapped oil shale resource base could make a significant contribution to our future mix of energy options. – Strategic Significance of America’s Oil Shale Resource

Here in my state we provide the coal that keeps the lights on in more than 50 percent of America. We have enough of it to match the fuel produced by some Middle Eastern Countries. The Fischser-Tropsch process for producing liquid fuel from coal has been in use for a long time. The German namesakes developed it in the 1920s and the Germans used it as a source for fuel during World War II. Sasol of South Africa is the current world leader in using this process, producing 30 percent of South Africa’s fuel supply. The EPA tells us it’s cleaner than the diesel fuel we now burn in our vehicles. In regards to industry, the Southern part of my state resembles and underdeveloped third world country. Our politicians believe the answer to our economic woes lies in a Vegas style gambling industry. Of course, that’s more glamorous and it’s easier than building and operating coal to liquid fuel plants. In the long term, which commitment will better serve our people and our country?

In retrospect, the cost in lives and wealth of weaning ourselves from the Middle Eastern oil teat would have been much less than it has been. For the decades since October 1973, we have transferred enormous amounts of our national wealth to oppressive Islamic regimes whose religion and teaching does not allow for our co-existence and whose terrorist offspring have taken thousands of American lives. To steal a phrase from a Presidential candidate: In America, “Energy Independence” is little more than a political bumper sticker. Until we make a true national commitment toward it we are not nor will we ever be a free nation. “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal …”, now. To paraphrase President Kennedy, no single commitment in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range security of our nation.

© J. D. Pendry 2007

J. D. Pendry

anarchy: 1. lack of government. 2. chaotic situation

I’m not too sure where I first heard or read that there are three milestones leading to the fall of great nations. First there is spiritual apostasy, followed by moral degeneracy, and then comes political anarchy. I think history supports those assumptions.

In the United States, legions of lawyers worked hard to push us toward the first milestone by forcing God from the public view. If it feels good do it moral relativism has steadily steered us toward the second one.

We now strive to achieve the third milestone of our demise. My life experiences have taught me to be a slow burn, but at some point, like everyone else, I reach my tipping point. That’s when I’d like nothing better than to walk into the U.S. Capitol and pass out eviction notices. The United States Capitol belongs to you and me just as does the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. We’re the only landlords in the world who pay their tenants large salaries to occupy our property ($162,500 “above the table” for even the rookies) and then do not insist that they fulfill even the basic obligations in their leases. In our representative government, politicians have but two basic obligations to us. Protect us from enemies, foreign and domestic. The Islamic Nazis, for example, who want us and our culture dead and the criminals who make some of our city streets more dangerous than a stroll through Sadr City. Secondly, they must ensure that the things we need to carry on daily life are there and functioning. Basic things, such as clean water to drink and bridges that won’t collapse beneath us when we are on our way home from work.

Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Boyda of Kansas heard so much good news from retired Army General Jack Keane that she practically hyperventilated as she walked out of the Armed Services Committee hearing. It appears the General had the audacity to forego kowtowing and political correctness in lieu of offering the ground truth to the Congresswoman. A person the citizens of Kansas pay well to weigh facts and truth and make decisions on their behalf walked out on a General Officer offering her facts and truth. That is a pathetic display. Does it make you feel more secure? It causes me wonder if winning in Iraq is important to Congresswoman Boyda or other politicians like her. Or, maybe it was the possibility of our success that frustrated and frightened her so dearly. In the words of her party’s whip, Congressman James Clyburn, good news out of Iraq “could be a real problem for [Democrats].” Imagine that, American success is bad news for the Democratic Party – and they even admit it – and they’re in charge of Congress.

The media and pollsters actually control what happens in the United States. They like us to believe that they are reporting or opining about the important events of the day and how Mr. or Mrs. Average views them, but instead they’re driving events or at the minimum influencing outcomes. To me, that is just more evidence of the dysfunctional yet highly paid collection men and women we charge to meet the most basic functions of government.

One group of politicians refuses to hold a debate on a particular news network because, it can only be assumed, they fear being challenged by questions of substance that do not come from someone dressed up like a snowman. Yet, we are to believe they can well up the courage when needed to face down enemies and meet their most basic obligation which is our security.

Then, there’s the other group of politicians who rely talk radio hosts to speak to the people for them because they’ve become beholden to the art of not offending people, like Congresswoman Boyda, by speaking to them the politically incorrect truth.

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking for the political leader that is willing to talk to me, directly, and in un-poll tainted thoughts. One that can look me into the eye and tell me what we really face and what he or she intends to do about it. Then I can decide for myself if it is wise to invade an ally or swear off ever using nuclear weapons. Frankly, I’m not interested in what a few hundred or even thousands of ill-informed people called during their dinner hour believe. I’m much more interested in what one highly paid individual with much information at his disposal thinks. Problem is most of them are too chicken to tell me what they think unless it’s supported by the latest poll data.

Finally, we learned just how close we are to achieving political anarchy. Anyone with at least two firing brain cells knows that Congress has become incapable of accomplishing anything toward meeting their basic obligations. A recent poll showed a 3 percent approval rating for them. For a collection of people so beholden to the pollsters for direction, you’d think it would have some impact. I have no reason to think that it will. The other night a vote was closed in the House of Representatives defeating legislation by a vote of 215 to 213 that would have provided benefits to illegal immigrants. Then the vote was reopened, something unprecedented in the history of our country, and closed declaring the vote a 214 to 214 tie.
Then it was reopened and closed again showing it passed by a margin of 212-216. Hugo Chavez parliamentary procedures turned the world’s greatest deliberative body into political anarchy and effectively voided our representative democracy.

Congress, mine and yours, cannot get past political hatred for one another and they simply cannot wean themselves from vote buying pork long enough to meet their basic obligations. Congress should move from C-Span to the comedy channel. You and I should lay in food, water, medicine and ammo supplies and avoid bridges.

© J. D. Pendry 2007

J. D. Pendry

“The Democratic Congress will go on record, every day if necessary, to register a judgment in opposition to the course of action that the president is taking in Iraq,” Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi

“Your actions here in the Congress appear to be in direct conflict with the realities on the ground where the trends are up and progress is being made,” General John M. Keane, USA (retired)

Did you hear the President’s speech given at Charleston, South Carolina? If you didn’t, take a minute and read it. He provided some detailed declassified information that every US news source should be broadcasting worldwide. And they would be too, if they didn’t view George Bush’s destruction as more important to them than the destruction of al Qaeda. Next, find a world map and locate Iraq. Although this is not a commercial for it, I suggest Google Earth. It is useful for things other than looking for a picture of your house.

Now that we’ve worn out the Bush lied us into war drivel, the new debate is about what will happen in Iraq if we leave there abruptly as many in Congress and some leading Presidential contenders propose that we do. Some of them convinced that since our last bug out went so well it will be just fine this time too.

“We heard that argument over and over again about the bloodbath that would engulf the entire Southeast Asia, and it didn’t happen.” Senator John Kerry

How many deaths do you reckon it takes to qualify as a bloodbath? Apparently two million doesn’t meet the criteria. Pathological liars are dangerous. Especially once they become members of Congress and are convinced of the truthfulness of their own lies. Unfortunately, but frankly, a Middle East bloodbath is the least of our concerns. What likely follows the bloodbath is.

While our deep thinking Congress and their media cheerleaders are trying their level best to destroy a sitting President and ensure the defeat of our country, we never hear discussions about what might have been had we not gone to Iraq in the first place. Considering that might add perspective to the possibilities following our retreat.

As you peruse your world map, recall some history. In 1936, Winston Churchill was already sounding alarms about Adolph Hitler and his Nazis, which curiously enough had the same goals does today’s Islamic Nazis. Sir Winston was mostly ignored, at least up and until the time that Hitler consolidated his hold on central Europe and set about his business of killing Jews and expanding towards Russia and England. Still, we sat on our hands until the war came to us at Pearl Harbor. Because of our hand sitting, more than 450,000 Americans became casualties of war. Had the world listened and responded to Sir Winston’s alarms in the 1930’s the outcome likely would have been much different.

As you review your map, consider where we would be if we only focused our efforts on Afghanistan. Arrayed to the East would be Iran, Iraq and Syria, allies by necessity and with hostile intent toward the great Satan. Instead, we have forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have Iran in a bracket and are on the border of Syria. If we hastily leave Iraq (remember, we still have forces in Germany, Korea and Japan seeing to long periods of peace and prosperity) there will undoubtedly be a Shiite and Sunni conflagration that will engulf the region because religious fanaticism doesn’t know anything about borders. There will also be a Middle East version of the Vietnam boat people fleeing for their lives, many of them won’t make it out. When the dust settles, there will be the sought after Islamic Caliphate reaching from Afghanistan in the West to Syria in the East, rolling up the Lebanons, Kuwaits and Quatars along the way. Once consolidated, like Hitler did, it’ll set out the kill the Jews then come for Europe and the United States. The casualties we’ve endured till now won’t amount to a blip on the meter compared to what it’ll take to bring back security and peace. Our survival will require a full mobilization of our country for war complete with military conscription. There won’t be any running off to Canada, because they’ll be in the boat with us.

Our generation’s Pearl Harbor was not enough to bring us out of our stupor because we’ve been so media indoctrinated to believe that our problem is attributable to a small criminal element who’ve hijacked the religion of peace. Unfortunately, we are unable to get past our internal political wars long enough to make the average American understand our precarious situation.

What each of us must do is take a critical look at the world situation. Don’t let talk radio conservative or otherwise, the news media, the blogs and most certainly not the politicians issue you an opinion. Discard the politics and try a little study and some critical thinking of your own. Then you decide. Then let your political leaders know what you’ve decided is best for our country.

© 2007 J.D. Pendry

J. D. Pendry

Something humorous turned up in my mail. Like all good humor it held an element of truth. It was about post turtles. I expect many of you city folks have never heard of or seen a post turtle. Or so you think. A post turtle looks like any other turtle you might encounter in the countryside except that it’s found sitting atop a fence post. Post turtles as it turns out, have much in common with many politicians. They don’t’ belong where they are, they didn’t get there by themselves, and now that they are there they don’t know what to do.

Mrs. Clinton has her drawers in a bunch. Sorry, I didn’t mean to blind your mind’s eye by implanting that image in it. She is miffed because the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, Eric Edelman, responded to her in a way that everyone in the Pentagon, at one time or another, has wanted to respond to an asinine Congressional request. She asked for Iraq redeployment plans and was told by Mr. Edelman that premature discussion of such plans contributes to the enemy’s propaganda effort.

How Mr. Edelman responded doesn’t matter because this wasn’t about a plan or lack thereof. There was no acceptable answer he could give to Mrs. Clinton. She knew there was no answer the Pentagon could or would give her that she couldn’t spin to her advantage. That is what makes her inquiry a calculated political tactic and not a sincere request for information. A complicit media will use the exchange to convince mushy headed Americans that the President and Department of Defense have no plan, are therefore incompetent and our only hope (and the only hope for the troops) rests in making Mrs. Clinton the Commander in Chief.

Mrs. Clinton is a Senator and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. If her request was an honest one, then she’s too stupid to be Chelsea’s Mommy much less be the Commander in Chief. Accept that, or accept that she is being dishonest. Frankly, I don’t accept that she is stupid. Well not politically anyway. The Armed Forces at all operational and strategic levels have skilled military officers who do nothing but plan. That’s why we call them planners. If you can conjure up in your mind a potential mission for the United States Military for any region of the world, there exists a plan to make it happen. There are key elements to any plan involving movements of military units. Although some elements might vary by contingency, be assured that all of them contain deployment, sustainment and redeployment elements. Wartime troop movement plans are also classified, which means they’ll probably turn up in the news next week anyway. Mrs. Clinton knows the plans are classified and cannot be divulged for public consumption, which is why in coming days she’ll repeatedly insist that no such plans exist. This only demonstrates that in her post turtle world the elite sport of politics is much more important to her than are the lives of the men and women she voted to send to war.

“When President Bush says, ‘I just want to give the commanders what they want, listen to the generals,’ he doesn’t understand how we work here in America. Civilians control the military and we are supposed to set the mission for the generals and then the generals should carry out the mission,” – Senator and Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Hussein Obama

If Oprah wants you to be the President, who am I to question? Was there a concern about civilian control of the military in the United States? If you have any concept of the military or of history, Senator Obama’s statement should scare the living daylights out of you. Civilians micromanaged a defeat in Vietnam the same as they hope to do for us in Iraq. From the Korean War forward, civilian micromanagement of military operations after they “set the mission” put us where we were on 9/11 facing an enemy believing us historically incapable of sustaining a fight until they are defeated. It is a smart Commander in Chief that relies on the expertise of professional military officers in deciding military matters once the mission is set. I’m thankful he chooses their advice rather than a post turtle’s when lives of Americans are at stake.

There is one other I need to mention.

“It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it, and it put the leader [Hitler] of that country in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted.” – America’s first Muslim Congressman, Keith Ellison, Democrat, Minnesota

Congressman Ellison was speaking of President Bush and The United States’ response to the 9/11 attacks. This topic could easily take up my already exceeded word allotment, but I couldn’t let this post turtle go an extra week without comment. As a Muslim and a member of Congress, Mr. Ellison could do a lot to address the people of his religion about their “radical” element that will eventually lead to their destruction. He chooses not, I suppose, so I’ll help him out. What Mr. Ellison could have said, and I’m sure it just slipped his mind, is that the Nazis with whom he has compared us had as their goal the annihilation of the Jews and world domination under the their thousand year Reich. The Islamists that he is either to cowardly to address or complicit with in thought have the same stated goals. A top seller in Middle Eastern book stores is Mein Kamph (My Struggle, in Arabic - My Jihad) Hitler’s field manual for achieving his goals. So, for Mr. Ellison, a little bit of honesty might go a long way toward achieving a fence postectomy.

You need a stick when approaching a post turtle because they are angry and frustrated critters, otherwise you could be bitten. Tap them on the back with it. When they withdraw their heads and legs into the shell for protection you can safely pick them up and put them back on the ground. With luck, they’ll wander back into the roadway and have to face the harsh reality of possibly being squashed by a dump truck.

© J. D. Pendry 2007

J. D. Pendry

Victory Surrender at all costs, victory surrender in spite of all terror, victory surrender however long and hard the road may be; for without victory surrender and defeat of the United States, there is no survival chance for a liberal political victory no matter how short-lived the following celebration might be. - Winston Churchill The United States Congress

Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself. –Mark Twain

I keep having the same nightmare. I see Nancy Pelosi and Barbara Boxer, with that no one is home look in their eyes, wearing love beads and peace symbols with daisies in their hair standing in front of the Whitehouse fence. Behind them stands Harry Reid wearing little green rectangular sunglasses with a dirty bandanna tied around his pointy head and strumming on a guitar. Along with a chorus of Congressional backup singers, he drones out the melody all we are saying is give peace a chance. John Kerry raises a defiant fist into the air and tosses someone else’s military medals over the fence. Murtha is hoping to cut another deal with an Arab. The audience is a collection of black turban wearing mullahs holding large serrated knives. They don’t appear at all amused

That Boxer woman is piece of work isn’t she? I believe she is in competition with Nan Pelosi for the title of most whacked out Congressthing to ever escape from California. I recall her belittling attack on Secretary Condoleezza Rice during a Senate charade, also called a hearing.

“Who pays the price? I’m not going to pay a personal price. My kids are too old, and my grandchild is too young. [To Secretary Rice] “You’re not going to pay a particular price, as I understand it, with an immediate family.”

How’s that for a demonstration of Motherly concern -concern that she apparently cannot transfer to the children being murdered every day in Iraq. Actually, Ms. Boxer wasn’t concerned about anyone’s children. She wanted to be as liberally disrespectful as possible to Secretary Rice. At the same time she’d have us believe she was concerned about the Men and Women volunteers who fill the ranks of our Armed Forces and the parents and other family who watch them choose to become Men and Women of honor committed to something greater than self. The other day, before I could find the remote and switch the channel, I was treated to an excerpt from one of her incomprehensible Senate diatribes. In the sound bite, she complained about how much money we’d spent and how many lives we have lost fighting George Bush’s misguided war. Then she asked, “When are we going to have the guts to do the right thing?”

If you listen to any news at all, some talking head or politician will repeatedly remind you that according to one pollster or another, a huge percentage of Americans want to quit Iraq. Pollsters are actually running the United States nowadays because the politicians we elected are unable to make informed and principled decisions on our behalves. I don’t need a pollster to tell me that 100 percent of Americans want to leave Iraq. I just don’t think they want to leave on Ms. Boxer’s, or for that matter, the entire Democrat Congress’ terms. My question for Ms. Boxer and the others who have sold their souls for political power is what exactly the right thing to do is – that also requires guts?

Ms. Boxer and many of her political colleagues, not all of them Democrats, hold the same disdain for our country and our military as does this idiot. Mr. Rall is a manifestation of the rhetoric coming from the mouths of polidiots. Durbin’s Nazis, Kerry’s illiterates, Kennedy’s torture chamber operators, Rangle’s downtrodden, and Murtha’s cold blooded murderers. They speak it, he draws it. It shouldn’t surprise anyone. According to the pollsters most of us must be OK with it.

Stupid people do and say these things when they have no concept of the real enemy faced or the ramifications of just quitting. Disparaging someone that you know will not harm you does not require guts. In fact it is the most obvious demonstration of cowardice one might come across. I looked, but was unable to find the courageous Mr. Rall’s Mohammed cartoons.

In the first part of my nightmare we did Ms. Boxer’s version of the right thing and immediately withdrew from Iraq. Shia Iran and the Shia Iraq began their religious genocide of the Iraqi Sunnis. The Turks invaded Northern Iraq to take out the Kurds and grab the Northern oil fields. Sunni Saudi Arabia, Sunni Syria and Sunni Jordan refused to stand by and watch the Persian led Sunni genocide in Iraq. The entire region imploded. Western economies dependent on Middle Eastern oil collapsed. President Hillary agreed to terms with the Mullahs, backed by Russian and Chinese nukes, who were now running the new caliphate.

My nightmare always end the same way. In a cold sweat, I run out to the bunker and check my food, water, medical and ammunition supplies. If you need me, that’s where I’ll be.

Copyright © J. D. Pendry 2007

J. D. Pendry

Americans who cared revolted when Washington prepared to give amnesty to illegal immigrants. We were labeled racist bigots by weak willed politicians of the left, middle and right varieties because we believe in the rule of law wherein illegal behavior is not rewarded. Especially not at the expense of those who follow the rules. Many Americans refused to stand by and watch politicians give our country away to people who have no desire to become part of it and who only want to reap the harvest of the greatest country God ever blessed. A harvest the seeds of which, unlike generations of legal immigrants, they never sowed. Instead of a desire to become Americans, learn our language, and pledge allegiance, they want to bring with them the failed societies from which they escaped and back to those societies transfer our wealth. This is not how immigrants built the United States, but it is how other nations have fallen.

This is not a rehash of immigration policy or enforcement or the lack of coherence of either. This is about the power of a voting constituency when it finally decides that enough is enough. Politicians were so hammered by the People’s collective voice over illegal immigration and amnesty that it scared them. When career politicians fear being ridden out of town on a rail, they respond. This time the response was inaction. They didn’t follow through with stupid legislation, but they did nothing positive either. Our problem grows and Washington, collectively, lacks the will and competence to solve it. The problem is not a lack of ideas. The problem is that one political party fears the other may appear to come out on top. Political power trumps what benefits the nation, what benefits you and me and our families or what it takes to defend and preserve our sovereignty.

What I cannot explain is why we seem impotent to dredge up the same amount of energy to demand victory in our terrorist war as we did to demand that illegal immigrants not be granted amnesty. Why do we not demand total support for the Men and Women who are engaged in combat with our enemies and who confront death on our behalf every single day with the same vigor? Why is that?

I read a comment that was attributed to an unnamed member of our Armed Forces. It’s one of those comments that stay with you because the truth of it hits you in the head like a piece of dimension lumber. I don’t remember the exact words, so allow me to paraphrase. “America is not at war. Our military is at war. America is at the mall.” We’re at the mall with little yellow magnet stickers on the backs of our vehicles proclaiming we support the troops. But do we really? I know there are plenty of people and organizations out there providing many things for our heroes and their families, but is it enough? Are we doing the right things?

Why did we get so fired up about amnesty that we shorted out the Capitol switchboard? Because we saw thousands of people marching in our streets under flags of other countries and making demands. We saw the Stars and Stripes flown upside down beneath a Mexican flag. Those sorts of things tend to bring a problem home and even offend the most liberal of us. Unsecure borders and our threatened national security were never more prevalent than when highlighted by those demonstrations. Americans seen it then loudly demanded that Congress do something about it, but amnesty was not the fix most sought. It was security.

Americans haven’t seen the war up close unless they’re members of the Armed Forces or their families. Now, the pollsters tell politicians that a majority of Americans want the Iraq war to end and politicians act accordingly. I’ll do them one better. I’d wager that 100 percent of Americans and every member of the United States Armed Forces wish the war to be over. Like amnesty, however, I believe most of us want the war ended on our terms and not just ended for the sake of ending it. Like immigration, without positive resolution.

Last year I fired an essay out to my private mailing list taking some politicians including the Commander in Chief and news media to task over their conduct and treatment of our Troops. David Horowitz of FrontPageMag.com posted a version of the article recently (a few edits as it has made the rounds on the net) on David’s blog. Today, I received an email, and a Freeper ping or two advising me that Mr. Horowitz’s blog entry was also reposted at Free Republic. The Freeper discussions are generally lively, but since this article has been around for a year this is not the first discussion of it I’ve seen. I’ve been thanked and cursed for what I had to say. Too often, I read comments and my email that thank me for “saying what needed to be said.”

If, you believe I am indeed saying what needs to be said, then it is time for you to join in and help sing the chorus. I have one Republican Congresswoman that actually responds to letters and two Democrat Senators that stopped responding. If you truly do support the troops, it is time to shut down the Whitehouse and Capitol switch boards and to keep them shut down. It’s time to demand that the people who voted to send our Men and Women into combat provide them the total and unequivocal support they need win and come home to their families and a grateful nation with their heads held high. If our politicians support, our Troops will deliver. It is time to demand victory.

Copyright © 2007 J. D. Pendry.

J. D. Pendry

Nothing important happened today. - from the diary of England’s King George III, July 4, 1776

“Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.” – Liberty Bell Inscription

The Declaration of Independence would not mean very much if men of resolve did not stand ready to seal it with sacrifice.

Every Soldier, a term I use here as representative of all branches of the Armed Forces of the United States, knows his purpose and his potential sacrifice. Yet, he Soldiers on each day. Often under difficult conditions and always holding on to the memories of loved ones, home, peace, freedom and better times. Those memories are why he serves. He never asks for much. He doesn’t ask for thanks. He has the gift of selfless service. He savors the smallest comforts that most of us take for granted – a hot meal, a phone call home, mail, a hot shower and even clean socks. A post card from a schoolchild, a simple thank you or the smiling face of someone helped is about all it takes to recharge his enthusiasm to meet a day that might be his last. He’ll say a prayer and shed a tear for a fallen comrade then remember him forever with a bond only soldiers know.

In peaceful surroundings, he’ll show a broad grin when a fifty gun salute is fired on Independence Day. Regardless of age, he still gets a little tingle when he hears the Star Spangled Banner, when the flag goes up at Reveille or when it’s lowered at Retreat. When someone defaces or burns the symbol under which he serves and sacrifices, the emotion he feels is anger. But, the anger turns to sadness. Sadness that some might not know how great and free our country is