An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
Archive for December 2011
Worst President…..EVAH!
The Last Incarnation of Barack Obama
The Foundry
If there was any doubt where President Barack Obama’s ideological heart lies, yesterday he let it be known loud and clear in a wide-ranging speech in Osawatomie, Kansas. President Obama is at his core a dyed-in-the-wool progressive who sees the federal government as the answer to all of America’s problems. And he is charging full steam ahead on this far-left course toward Election Day 2012, despite the total failure of his big-government policies and an American people who have flatly rejected the message he is trying to sell.
True to form, President Obama yesterday did what he does best: He delivered a flowery speech and flexed his rhetorical muscles. It’s a talent that won him the presidency, but unfortunately it hasn’t won the future for the American people. And that’s because the President’s underlying philosophy is terribly flawed. After three years of a massive expansion of government, the enactment of Obamacare, hundreds of billions of dollars in failed stimulus spending, government ownership of General Motors, a Big Labor/pro-unionization onslaught, threats of even higher taxation, the promulgation of more unnecessary regulations, and a total failure to confront the entitlement challenge, the verdict is in on President Obama’s record and the soundness of his statist, progressive philosophy. Deficits are soaring, the economy is stagnant, 13.3 million Americans are out of work, and job growth is flat. Not surprisingly, the President’s speech did not touch on those facts.
The Danger Of Forgetting The Past
Dec. 7, 1941: A date that new generations should know
Seventy years ago today, a peaceful Sunday morning at Pearl Harbor turned to carnage and panic as Japanese aircraft roared through the Hawaiian skies and hot ammunition ripped into American ships. Caught by surprise, America lost 2,388 military personnel and civilians. The fuse that would send America into the Second World War had been ignited.
The following day, President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the nation from the Capitol. In a speech which lasted less than seven minutes, the president gravely described the “date which will live in infamy.”A wounded but resolute America was at war. And Roosevelt predicted “always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.”
I wonder if we’re living up to that prediction.
Sadly, I would have to say no. We don’t remember. Especially the younger generation. To paraphrase Stephen King in his Dark Tower series, “We have forgotten the face of our fathers.”
The historical significance of Pearl Harbor, its warnings against geopolitical complacency, and its ongoing implications are not even concepts that the majority of our college students would recognize.According to a study of college seniors from elite universities around the country, a third could not identify Germany, Italy and Japan as our wartime enemies. Almost two thirds did not even know the Battle of the Bulge occurred during World War II.
I have had conversations with younger folks, mostly teens, about history, and what they’ve learned of the sacrifices of those who came before them. Simple questions that any elementary school kid should know. They don’t. I find it more than just a little disturbing that out of all the kids I asked, not one knew who Patrick Henry was. Not one! For college aged people not to know the answers to such questions is totally unacceptable!
This is not a matter of simply amassing facts and dates. It’s about our obligation to teach our young people about the pivotal moments in the defense of the free world – which still needs defending.
The Roman orator Cicero, who is coincidentally believed to have died on Dec. 7, 43 BCE, observed, “Not to know what happened before you were born is to remain forever a child.”
Our school system is failing miserably. They have become nothing more than indoctrination centers for the left’s agenda. Our kids NEED to know where we have been, and the mistakes that were made, in order to not repeat them. Unfortunately, we have become way too complacent as a nation, and are once again, being attack, from the inside.
Are our young people developing into the adult citizens that a free society requires?
The answer to that question would be a resounding NO! I do not trust the youth of today to be the leaders of tomorrow. I fear putting such responsibility into their hands.
Colleges are failing to provide our students with the educational foundation they deserve and our country needs. A nationwide study of more than 1,000 colleges and universities, What Will They Learn? (www.whatwilltheylearn.com) found that 80 percent of our colleges don’t require students to take a foundational course in American history. A mere 5 percent require economics. Barely 15 percent expects students to study foreign language. Without a strong foundation, how can the leaders of tomorrow set the course for our future?
What was once a nation built on a rock solid foundation, with principles and morality, has now become nothing more than a house build on sand. Without a strong foundation, we will no longer be a strong nation.
Students today are more likely to know the vulgar lyrics of rappers such as Kanye West, T-Pain and Nicki Minaj than the brilliant ideas of Sir Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein or Galileo. Students can describe Occupy Wall Street in impassioned detail without knowing who occupied Europe in the 1940s, or how and why it happened.Lady Macbeth has receded into near oblivion as Lady Gaga takes center stage.
We have truly become the Ugly Americans.
~ George Santayana ~
Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation, and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific.
Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And, while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. I regret to tell you that very many American lives have been lost. In addition, American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya.
Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong.
Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam.
Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands.
Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island.
And this morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has therefore undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday and today speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense, that always will our whole nation remember the character of the onslaught against us.
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.
I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph. So help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December 7th, 1941, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt – December 8, 1941
Election Stuff
For your state info for primaries and such, go here.
You Want It? Earn It!!
The Problem With The Occupy Wall Street Generation
by John Hawkins
Playing baseball games without keeping score. Parents not allowed to cheer for one side or the other at basketball games. Refusing to use red ink to grade tests because it’s too jarring. No dodgeball. Participation trophies. Telling kids, “You’re special,” without their doing anything to show they’re special.
Newsflash: You may be special to God, your mommy, and your teacher just because you were born, but the rest of us aren’t impressed.
The world doesn’t owe you a living, a promotion, or any special consideration at all. The people who tell you otherwise are doing it because they think you’re stupid, easy to manipulate, and they want to use you for their own purposes.
Oh, but what about the lucky ones, you say? The lazy, good-for-nothing punk kids who just happened to be born in the right family and live a life of luxury as a result?
What about them? There’s always a little bit of randomness in life. The woman who does everything right and gets hit by a bus before she ever gets her payoff or the guy who does everything wrong and seems to get every break. So what? Is the idea supposed to be that you should have everything you want in life handed to you on a silver platter even though you’re lazy and good-for-nothing because the Kennedy family exists?
Wait, wait, I forgot; you’re not lazy and good-for-nothing. Your teacher told you that you are special and so did your mommy.
Read the whole column here.
The King of Vacations
H/T: DJ
Think You Have Rights As A Parent?
THINK AGAIN!!!
Anyway Possible… Obama MUST Go!
On private call, Republicans say attacking Obama personally is too dangerous: Yahoo News exclusive
Republicans on a private Republican National Committee conference call with allies warned Tuesday that party surrogates should refrain from personal attacks against President Barack Obama, because such a strategy is too hazardous for the GOP.
First question: If this was a PRIVATE call, how the hell did that yahoos at Yahoo get the information? Doesn’t private mean that it’s not for public consumption?
“We’re hesitant to jump on board with heavy attacks” personally against President Obama, Nicholas Thompson, the vice president of Tarrance Group, a Republican polling firm, said on the call. “There’s a lot of people who feel sorry for him.”
Really? Feel sorry for him? They can’t be serious! He has done more damage to this country in 3 years, than any previous occupant of the White House….COMBINED! Who feels sorry for him, and just why?
Recent polling data indicates that while the president still suffers significantly low job approval ratings, voters still give “high approval” to Obama personally, Thompson said.
I am having a real problem here. He, PERSONALLY, has gone around the world, apologizing for America, to our natural enemies. Those would be the ones who want to kill us, by the way. He has, PERSONALLY, circumvented Congress, to implement his dangerous policies. He and the spouse have, PERSONALLY, spent millions of taxpayer dollars on their lavish trips around the world. Obama is PERSONALLY responsible for the financial disaster we are in right now! The list is long! So, PERSONALLY, I don’t like him one single bit, as a person or a president!
Voters “don’t think he’s an evil man who’s out to change the United States” for the worse–even though many of the same survey respondents agree that his policies have harmed the country, Thompson said. The upshot, Thompson stressed, is that Republicans should “exercise some caution” when talking about the president personally.
Uh…actually, YES, WE DO! You GOP hacks really need to get outside the Beltway now and then. You might be surprised at how much you would learn from WE, The People!
On the call–which Yahoo News was invited to attend because of a mistake by someone on the staff of the Republican National Committee–Ari Fleischer, the former press secretary for George W. Bush, encouraged Republicans to turn around the Democratic attacks lobbed at the GOP presidential candidates (Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, for starters) for “flip-flopping.”
Well, that answers that question, doesn’t it. There is some staffer who is either incompetent, or…as Freud claims, ‘there are no such things as accidents’…intentionally included Yahoo News.
“I don’t like playing defense,” Fleischer said. He suggested the listeners to Tuesday’s call label the president as a flip-flopper on the following issues: opposing tax increases for those making under $250,000; opposing the Bush tax cuts; opposing raising the debt limit; and opposing a health care mandate.
“When it comes to flip flopping, Barack Obama is the king of flip flopping,” Fleischer said. “You can offer that to anybody,” he suggested.
D’Bama has kept one campaign promise…. to “fundamentally transform” the country. He’s done that alright, to the detriment of us all! Listen up GOP! We don’t really give a damn how we get him out of office, as long as he is GONE on 20 January 2013!!!
What Part Of ILLEGAL…..
Illegal Aliens, In-State Tuition and the Law
The Foundry
Consider it an illegal fringe benefit for illegal immigrants. Today, 12 states allow individuals who are in the United States illegally to pay the same in-state tuition rates as legal residents of the state without providing the same rates to others in the country who are here legally. And those states are doing it in direct contravention of federal law.
In a new paper, Heritage’s Hans von Spakovsky and Charles Stimson explain that in 1996, Congress passed–and President Bill Clinton signed into law–the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act. Under Section 1623 of the law, state colleges and universities are prohibited from providing in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens “on the basis of residence within the State” unless the same in-state rates are offered to all citizens of the United States.
“By circumventing the requirements of § 1623 these states are violating federal law, and the legal arguments offered to justify such actions are untenable, no matter what other policy arguments are offered in their defense,” von Spakovsky and Stimson write. Which states are on the list? The offenders include California, Texas, New York, Utah, Washington, Oklahoma, Illinois, Kansas, New Mexico, Nebraska, Maryland, and Connecticut.
Irrational Hatred
Via Frontpage.com
Devil Woman
Pelosi Risks Ethics Charges to Bring Down Newt Gingrich
It looks like that the air of bipartisanship that hung over the infamous couch ad with former Speakers Newt Gingrich and Nancy Pelosi has dissipated to be replaced by threats, counter-threats, and accusations.
Pelosi fired the first shot by threatening to reveal some dirt on Gingrich that she learned while sitting on the House Ethics Committee, according to The Hill. She would reveal this privileged information “when the time is right” presumably in October, 2012, if Gingrich were nominated.
The word ‘ethics’ and the name ‘Pelosi’ should never be used in the same sentence. Why? Well, Pelosi has NO ethics. She can claim, and just might have, actual dirt on Gingrich, but how much ya wanna bet that he has some dirt on her too? Oh, lets face it, the woman has no class. She is as corrupt as they come. I would like to think there are few intelligent people in the San Fransisco bay area, but it’s quite obvious there are way too few. If they had any self respect at all, they would have gotten rid of the useless black female dog a long time ago. Whether or not Gingrich becomes the nominee is still way up in the air,and for her to be spewing her crap already tells me quite a bit….like the Dhimmis are terrified they are going to lose their messiah.
Gingrich fired back, suggesting that Pelosi would be in violation of House rules were she to go through with this move. He urged that Pelosi be investigated for threatening to violate her duty to keep deliberations of the ethics committee secret.
Does anyone really think she cares about violating House rules? Pfft! She is nothing more than one huge violation….of common decency! She should be ‘investigated’ for a number of things, but you know it won’t happen. The Dems don’t give a flying fart about rules, or ethics, or honesty, and the lame stream media backs them up, on all levels.
The Pelosi threat seems to represent a return to the Democratic strategy to try to bring down Gingrich with ethics charges, most of them bogus. The campaign that was waged during Gingrich’s speakership, as related by the Washington Post, was successful in weakening Gingrich to an extent and helped to lead to his resignation in 1998 after a disappointing midterm election for Republicans.
I’m not a huge Gingrich fan, but if he ends up being the nominee, I will cast my vote for him. He’s extremely intelligent, although he is much more of a RINO that I would like. He would, however, make Obama seem extremely stupid in a debate, especially if there are no teleprompters allowed. (Personal opinion, I thought Hillary Clinton proved to be a LOT smarter, and better informed, in the ’08 Dem debates.) The dude just can’t put a coherent thought together without someone giving him the words. 
The fiasco in the 90s shows just how desperate the Dems get when there are people who fight against their socialist plans. To say the Dems have no integrity would be an understatement.
Democrats are said to be gleeful at the prospect of running against Gingrich. He is too extreme, too unpleasant to win against President Obama, it is said.
Extreme? Uh…ok. So, I guess they believe that the current resident of the White House is a center of the road type dude, right? Well, sure….if you think a Marxist is middle of the road, I guess he is. As for unpleasant? Well, there again, I have to say…if showing your opponent to be a bumbling, stumbling, anti American stooge, I can live with unpleasant too.
But the spectacle of Pelosi expressing willingness to expose herself to an ethics investigation and possible sanctions in order to bring to light dirt on Gingrich suggests that the Democrats are afraid of him. Gingrich did end a 40-year rule of Congress by Democrats in 1994, taking away their power, and enacting elements of the Contract with America. The fury of the Democrats over this is unending and without limit.
The saddest part about the end of the Dem rule was that Republicans didn’t know how to win! They snatched the power away from the ever increasing lean to the left Democrats, and didn’t know how to handle it. The problem? It is possible to be too nice. But then, most folks with an ‘R’ behind their names practice their faiths. ‘D’s apparently only have faith in one thing….power! And will do anything, and everything, to destroy decent men and women to achieve their goals. Honestly, it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if there was an altar somewhere that many of the Democrats go to worship the real Deceiver.
The nightmare of people like Pelosi is a President Gingrich with a Republican House and Senate, enacting legislation that makes the Contract seem tame by comparison. Considering that the promise of Obama was that he would do the same thing in reverse, it shows that we’re in a turning world indeed.
Therefore, Gingrich must be destroyed – again – as thoroughly as the Romans destroyed Carthage. The 2012 campaign is bound to be nasty. With Gingrich as the nominee, it will bring new definitions of that term.
A Republican White House, House of Representatives, and Senate would definitely be a Democrat>progressive>socialist>Marxist nightmare! But it would go a long way towards reversing the damage inflicted by the recent four years of Democrat rule (2006-2008 majority in Congress, 2008-2010 control of both Congress and White House). It has taken 100 years to find ourselves at such a low point, and our nation’s ills won’t be cured in just a few election cycles. Be prepared to fight tooth and nail to regain all the freedoms we have lost over the last century. Nancy Pelosi and her cohorts be damned!
Challenging Liberals
Bombers Whine After Getting Bombed?
Lebanon files UN complaint over Israel’s rocket response
Lebanon filed a complaint in the United Nations against Israel Monday for its retaliation to Katyusha rockets fired into Israel late last month, Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star reported.
In response to the four rockets fired from Lebanon, the IDF pounded the launch sites with artillery shells. The Lebanese report claimed that only one rocket was fired from Lebanon into Israel and that the IDF fired six artillery shells.
So, let me get this straight. Rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon. Israel retaliates. Lebanon files a complaint because after they fired rocket into Israel, Israel fired rockets right back. Have I got this right?
May I say…… what a load of caca de toro! You punch someone in the face, they punch you back, and then you have the gall and audacity to go whining to the teacher?
This is a serious incident in violation of UN Council Security Resolution 1701 and is clearly directed at undermining stability in the area,” a UNIFIL statement said.
An organization associated with al-Qaida claimed responsibility for firing the rockets.
A group that can definitely be called “terrorists”, claims responsibility. Lebanon is giving them a ‘safe haven’, then has the balls to complain when they get slapped back? Seriously? Who is it that is ‘undermining stability”? It sure isn’t Israel.
Reality snap here. Muslims want to destroy Israel. Muslims want to destroy the United States. The Useless Numnuts is nothing more than the mouthpiece for ‘Muslim extremists’. It’s not surprising the guilty go whining to them on a regular basis.
Update On Kentucky Interracial Couple
Last week, I posted about a couple who was basically being shunned by a church because the lady who grew up in the church was engaged to a man of another color. What the church did was so anti Christian, it was mind blowing.
UPDATE: Pikeville Church Overturns Decision to Ban Interracial Couples
Dean Harville is relieved his church will not be keeping people out because of their race.
“The healing process can begin,” he said.
Some members of the congregation at Gulnare Freewill Baptist Church took issue with Harville’s daughter Stella and her black fiancé attending recent services.
They voted last Sunday to ban interracial couples from attending their services.
Stacy Stepp has been the pastor at the church since August. He says he was against the ban from the beginning.
“As pastor I did everything I could to vote this down, not even let this come before a vote,” Stepp said.
The church is a member of the Sandy Valley Conference. Stepp says Saturday the conference deemed the ban null and void because it conflicts with state and federal equality laws.
I’d be more concerned about the ban conflicting with the teachings of Christ, than state and federal laws. It’s a shame they had to have their racism brought to the attention of the entire nation, and had to have their association over turn the ridiculous and anti Christ ban.
Agenda 21
Agenda 21 and the Threat in Your Backyard
The Foundry
Ready to trade in your car for a bike, or maybe a subway instead? Interested in fewer choices for your home, paying more for housing, and being crammed into a denser neighborhood? You can have all this and more if radical environmentalists and “smart growth” advocates have their way and local, state, and the federal government impose the policies set forth in the United Nations’ Agenda 21.
You might have heard of this nefarious-sounding policy in a recent Republican presidential debate, but even if you haven’t, here’s some background information: Agenda 21 is a voluntary plan adopted at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. It calls on governments to intervene and regulate nearly every potential impact that human activity could have on the environment. The end goal? Getting governments to “rethink economic development and find ways to halt the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources and pollution of the planet.”
A Bad Idea
One Sperm Donor, 150 Offspring
Cynthia Daily and her partner used a sperm donor to conceive a baby seven years ago, and they hoped that one day their son would get to know some of his half siblings — an extended family of sorts for modern times.
So Ms. Daily searched a Web-based registry for other children fathered by the same donor and helped to create an online group to track them. Over the years, she watched the number of children in her son’s group grow.
And grow.
Today there are 150 children, all conceived with sperm from one donor, in this group of half siblings, and more are on the way. “It’s wild when we see them all together — they all look alike,” said Ms. Daily, 48, a social worker in the Washington area who sometimes vacations with other families in her son’s group.
Now, I know, there are going to be people who disagree with me, for a variety of reasons, but there is a reason that God created us the way He did. Without a male, females can not have children. The intention of marriage (one man + one woman) was to be ‘fruitful and multiply”. Well, we’ve sure done that, haven’t we! Unfortunately, more babies are murdered each year by their mothers than any cult of the ancient world.
There are several reasons I don’t think this donor business is a good idea. One, is being stated in the column. There are too many who are coming from the same donors, which can, and will, cause issues for the kids in the future. Second, if women would instead put their babies up for adoption, instead of slaughtering them, there would be many couples who could raise adopted children in a happy and safe environment, and there would be no need for men to ‘donate’ sperm. The third issue I have is, well, selfishness. Why are there people who believe a child can’t be their own if he/she didn’t come from their own genetic material? I mean, if you are combining your genes with a total stranger’s genes, why is it so difficult to just adopt a child in need of a loving home?
We’ve come a long way in the last 100 years. Sorry to say, not all advances have been positive. This is one of them, IMHO. If it hadn’t been for the unselfishness of 3 people (birth mother, adoptive mom and dad), I wouldn’t be here right now. How many of those murdered babies would have grown up to be the next Einstein, a future president, the one who found a cure for childhood diabetes, or a musician that could bring tears to your eyes just listening?
