If you would like to add a comment to any of the threads here on AADB, registration with blogspot.com is not required. Simply click on the ‘comments’ link at the bottom of an essay, and either enter a nickname under ‘choose an identity’ or post your comment anonymously. Serious comments are always welcome.



REQUIEM

Below are the two final essays to be posted on Allegiance and Duty Betrayed. The first one is written by a friend -- screen name 'Euro-American Scum' -- who, over the past four years, has been the most faithful essayist here. He has written about everything from his pilgrimage to Normandy in 2004 to take part in the 60th–year commemoration of the invasion, to his memories of his tour in Vietnam. His dedication to America’s founding principles ... and those who have sacrificed to preserve them over the past 200+ years ... is unequaled. Thank you, E-A-S. It has been a privilege to include your writing here, and it is a privilege to call you my friend.

The second essay is my own farewell. And with it I thank all of the many regular visitors, and those who may have only dropped in occasionally, for coming here. I hope you learned something. I hope a seed or two was planted. But, even if not, I thank you for stopping by ... 25 March, 2010

8/29/2006

Rules of War

One of the most important, eloquent and insightful
observations I’ve read in recent memory:



Today, in the conflict between the West and Islamists, a cultural discrepancy between the rulebooks of the two sides exists that is far greater than any that existed in World War II. Indeed, the West cannot even decide what acts by our adversaries are war, and which are crimes or 'isolated incidents.'

The greatest discord between the two playbooks centers around the concept of group guilt and the fairness of the targeting of civilians. The cultures of our enemies have a sweeping concept of both group guilt and group honor, with some groups believing, for example, that if one Israeli harms one Muslim, then every Muslim should be angry at every Israeli, and their allies the Americans, and the United Nations, and all Christianity and all Jews and even all the West.

This same cultural tradition of group honor, group guilt, and group retribution is what leads a group of non-government directed Arab expatriates to believe that killing thousands of secretaries and stock brokers in Manhattan is a logical direct reaction to military defeat of Arab armies by Israel, and that they should personally take it upon themselves to accomplish that endeavor.

To be blunt, this means we will need to extract a price not just from those that form the tip of the Islamist spear, but from the entire populations that produce them in such numbers. To win, we may have to make certain cultures regret such support and we may need to temporarily accept our enemy's rules of war, rather than just whine that they are not ours … Mac Johnson


The Patriot Post (PatriotPost.US)
(http://patriotpost.us/pub/06-35_Brief-print.htm)
Vol. 06 No. 35 Brief 28, August 2006


~ joanie

8/20/2006

Conveniently Amending the Constitution Without
Congressional Bill or Constitutional Convention


(Kudos to Cox and Forkum)

The American Civil Liberties Union (in conjunction with CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations) filed the lawsuit, which resulted in the outlawing of the government’s warrantless wiretapping program, on behalf of journalists, scholars and lawyers who say the program has made it difficult for them to do their jobs.

American judicial activists, in conjunction with American “journalists, scholars, and lawyers,” are fast becoming every bit as much a threat to our safety, security and sovereignty as is any barbaric force from outside of our borders.

8/16/2006

On Church-State Separation

Not exactly an essay, just an observation for any readers that may happen by here, and especially for all separation of church and state enthusiasts, secularists, and the ACLU:

The following are the preambles of all 50 states of The United States:

Alabama (1901): We the people of the State of Alabama, invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish the following Constitution….

Alaska (1956): We, the people of Alaska, grateful to God and to those who founded our nation and pioneered this great land….

Arizona (1911): We, the people of the State of Arizona, grateful to Almighty God for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution....

Arkansas (1874): We, the people of the State of Arkansas, grateful to Almighty God for the privilege of choosing our own form of government....

California (1879): We, the People of the State of California, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom….

Colorado (1876): We, the people of Colorado, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of Universe….

Connecticut (1818): The People of Connecticut, acknowledging with gratitude the good Providence of God in permitting them to enjoy….

Delaware (1897): Through Divine Goodness all men have, by nature, the rights of worshipping and serving their Creator according to the dictates of their consciences….

Florida (1885): We, the people of the State of Florida, grateful to Almighty God for our constitutional liberty, establish this Constitution....

Georgia (1777): We, the people of Georgia, relying upon protection and guidance of Almighty God, do ordain and establish this Constitution....

Hawaii (1959): We, the people of Hawaii, Grateful for Divine Guadance ….establish this Constitution….

Idaho (1889): We, the people of the State of Idaho, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings….

Illinois (1870): We, the people of the State of Illinois, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors….

Indiana (1851): We, the People of the State of Indiana, grateful to Almighty God for the free exercise of the right to choose our form of government….

Iowa (1857): We, the People of the State of Iowa, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of these blessings establish this Constitution….

Kansas (1859): We, the people of Kansas, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious privileges establish this Constitution….

Kentucky (1891): We, the people of the Commonwealth are grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties....

Louisiana (1921): We, the people of the State of Louisiana, grateful to Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberties we enjoy….

Maine (1820): Preamble. We the People of Maine acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe in affording us an opportunity ... And imploring His aid and direction….

Maryland (1776): We, the people of the state of Maryland, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberty....

Massachusetts (1780): We...the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe .. In the course of His Providence, an opportunity and devoutly imploring His direction….

Michigan (1908): We, the people of the State of Michigan, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of freedom establish this Constitution….

Minnesota, (1857): We, the people of the State of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty, and desiring to perpetuate its blessings….

Mississippi (1890): We, the people of Mississippi in convention assembled, grateful to Almighty God, and invoking His blessing on our work….

Missouri (1845): We, the people of Missouri, with profound reverence for the Supreme Ruler of the Universe, and grateful for His goodness Establish this Constitution….

Montana (1889): We, the people of Montana, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty establish this Constitution….

Nebraska (1875): We, the people, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom . Establish this Constitution….

Nevada (1864): We the people of the State of Nevada, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom establish this Constitution….

New Hampshire (1792) Part I. Art. I. Sec. V: Every individual has a natural and unalienable right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience….

New Jersey (1844): We, the people of the State of New Jersey, grateful to Almighty God for civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing on our endeavors….

New Mexico (1911): We, the People of New Mexico, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of liberty….

New York (1846): We, the people of the State of New York, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, in order to secure its blessings….

North Carolina (1868): We the people of the State of North Carolina, grateful to Almighty God, the Sovereign Ruler of Nations, for our civil, political, and religious liberties, and acknowledging our dependence upon Him for the continuance of those….

North Dakota (1889): We, the people of North Dakota, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, do ordain....

Ohio (1852): We the people of the state of Ohio, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, to secure its blessings and to promote our common….

Oklahoma (1907): Invoking the guidance of Almighty God, in order to secure and perpetuate the blessings of liberty….

Oregon (1857) Bill of Rights, Article I. Section 2: All men shall be secure in the Natural right, to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their consciences….

Pennsylvania (1776): We, the people of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance….

Rhode Island (1842): We the People of the State of Rhode Island grateful to Almighty God for the civil and religious liberty which He hath so long permitted us to enjoy, and looking to Him for a blessing….

South Carolina (1778): We, the people of he State of South Carolina grateful to God for our liberties, do ordain and establish this Constitution….

South Dakota (1889): We, the people of South Dakota, grateful to Almighty God for our civil and religious liberties….

Tennessee (1796) Art. XI.III: That all men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their conscience….
.
Texas (1845): We the People of the Republic of Texas, acknowledging, with gratitude, the grace and beneficence of God….

Utah (1896): Grateful to Almighty God for life and liberty, we establish this Constitution….

Vermont (1777): Whereas all government ought to .enable the individuals who compose it to enjoy their natural rights, and other blessings which the Author of Existence has bestowed on man….

Virginia (1776) Bill of Rights, XVI: Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator can be directed only by Reason and that it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love and Charity towards each other…

Washington (1889): We the People of the State of Washington, grateful to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe for our liberties, do ordain this Constitution….

West Virginia (1872): Since through Divine Providence we enjoy the blessings of civil, political and religious liberty, we, the people of West Virginia reaffirm our faith in and constant reliance upon God….

Wisconsin (1848): We, the people of Wisconsin, grateful to Almighty God for our freedom, domestic tranquility….

Wyoming (1890): We, the people of the State of Wyoming, grateful to God for our civil, political, and religious liberties, establish this Constitution…

submitted by Rob Maroni

(contributing team member of Allegiance and Duty Betrayed)

8/12/2006

Honoring America At The Rose Bowl

There’s something about August that makes it my favorite month. And that puts me in a distinct minority of people. If I were a betting man – something from which I’ve taken the cure due to an extremely misspent youth – I would venture a guess that October would be the popular choice. Summer often lingers into October, Indian Summer it’s called in many parts of the country. So, the weather is decent, the humidity has dried up (for the most part), the days are still reasonably long, and there are those oh, so magnificent fall foliage colors. Yep. My bet would be October.

But you ever hardly hear anyone mention August as their favorite month. And I can’t quite figure out why. O.K. I’ll concede a few salient points. August comes in the middle of the dog days of summer, and even the dogs don’t like it. It’s hot, humid, languid and slow. People who aren’t on vacation aren’t working very hard, and those who are, are hardly working. Kids who couldn’t wait to get out of school eight short weeks before are bored to tears. And life seems to be on hold.

But something happens in August that portends of perhaps more desirable things to come. The days get a little shorter. The shadows get a little longer. In rare instances when the summer sauna takes a brief hiatus, the air seems almost crisp. Note to my fellow Californians: If you don’t live above the snow line, you don’t know the meaning of the word “crisp”. You can’t imagine the relief it affords the rest of the country after the non-stop summer steam bath has afflicted everyone not fortunate enough to live in earthquake country. Trust me, “crisp” is a good thing.

Something else happens in August. Along with the heightened sense of anticipation of life’s return to a more traditional structure and pace, is a phenomenon that makes the competitive juices pump through the veins of many a combatant made dormant by the summer lull. And it affects both male and female alike.

Football season.

Did you smile a little just now? Did you get a little tingle? Did the goose bumps rise up on your sweat-soaked arms, unrelieved by the portable fan trained on your desk right now? Me too.

There’s just something about this time of year that puts a spring in the step of football fans who have suffered through the long cold turkey cure of basketball, baseball, tennis, golf and hockey (finally) to fill the idle hours until the main event returns.

And it’s finally here.

As a proud graduate of the University of Southern California, the anticipation of the season – particularly the last four years – has been greeted with nothing less than shrill cries of joy from faithful followers of the Cardinal and Gold. USC head coach Pete Carroll has rewritten the Trojan record book. He has taken a wretched, threadbare, joke of a football program to the heights of college football excellence. Under his leadership, USC has stood atop the Mt. Olympus of the game, and the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum has become the center of the college football universe. Even ESPN Gameday had to shake the cobwebs out of its production crew and show up in Exposition Park at 7:30 on game day morning. And that’s never happened in their history. Not even the late, lamented John McKay, who piloted the Trojan powerhouse teams of the 60s and 70s accomplished so much, so fast.

Yes, these are heady days indeed for USC fans, not the least of which was last season’s run up to the Rose Bowl and their national championship clash with the Texas Longhorns.

I’ve been a season ticket holder for ten years now. During my younger years, I was caught between the twin constraints of either not having enough a) time or b) money to indulge in a season ticket subscription. But I did promise myself that later in life, I would definitely partake of the totality of the USC football experience I missed out on in my early adult life.

Ten years ago, I decided “later in life” just got here. I wrote a check to the USC Ticket Office, and the rest, as they say, is history. I took my place, firmly ensconced high above the northwest end zone of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with the rest of the blue collar contingent of Trojan faithful. And there I remain to this day.

While I am an alum, and have ten years “seniority”, so to speak, as a season ticket holder, that does not automatically qualify me for post-season tickets. For that, I would have to be a donor. And one thing I’ve learned in rubbing elbows with my fellow alumni is this: No matter how big a check I can write, there is always someone who can write a bigger one. It’s one of the many hazards of being a graduate of an institution whose alumni rule the world.

But, the University of Southern California is many things and nothing if not egalitarian when it comes to passing out football tickets. They offer a ticket lottery for the meager handful of post-season tickets that go unclaimed by the big dogs. That way, the great, unwashed scum who are not willing or able to pony up thousands of dollars in voluntary contributions can fight over the scraps from the master’s table. And as one such graduate who chose not to cough up five-figure donations for the privilege of sitting in the end zone at the Coliseum, I figured I had nothing to lose by a roll of the dice. So, I registered for the lottery . . . and voila! I came up a winner! Christmas came early last year. If I was doing as well in life as I have been in the last three USC ticket lotteries, I could retire.

So there I was, in mid-December, with two Rose Bowl tickets in my hot little hand, deciding who was going to be the recipient of my largesse. Who would be anointed worthy to accompany me to arguably the biggest college football championship game since . . . well. . . the year before?

Right about that time, I received an email from a fellow graduate and long-time friend who lives in the DC suburbs of Virginia. He sent out a group email, trolling for available tickets from our large alumni base, loosely connected by the Internet. It was more of a lament than a serious inquiry. So when I responded that yes, I did indeed have an extra ticket, and yes, I was perfectly serious about letting him have it at face value, he promptly opened a second tab on his Mozilla Foxfire browser and booked passage to California while we were busy instant-messaging each other.

And thereby hangs the point of this prologue. . .

My friend – Patrick is his name – graduated from USC a few years after I did. We were not acquainted during our student days. We met through a mutual friend and fellow SC grad when the Internet was in its infancy. And we remain close to this day.

While Patrick was the product of private Catholic schooling right through high school, neither he nor his family were Catholic themselves. They were early attendees of Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, and as a result, Patrick learned his Bible from none other than Chuck Smith himself. And that’s a very good teacher to have, when it comes to learning Scripture. That point will take on increasing significance as this weary tale drags on.

So, when I arrived at Patrick’s family home in South Orange County around sunrise of game day on January 4 – his father still lives in the home the kids grew up in – we were off to commemorate two significant developments. First and foremost, of course, was USC’s run at an unprecedented third consecutive national championship. Second, Patrick had just announced his retirement from the U.S. Air Force as a full Colonel after twenty-five years of service.

Along the way, we stopped at a Carl’s Jr. in Anaheim to get something to eat before assaulting the teeming hordes of grimly obsessed football fans, all relentlessly determined to get a parking spot on the golf course north of the Rose Bowl without getting stuck in the mud. After some multi-cultural, bi-lingual attempts at placing our order with the illegal alien cashier at the counter, we settled in to chow down on a fast food breakfast filled with lots of trans-fat and get caught up on recent events.

I’m not sure exactly what Patrick’s job was during his Air Force career. He is, I would guess, purposely vague about what his responsibilities were. Judging by his reticence, I surmise that he served some kind of intelligence function. Still, I don’t know. But he did share with some of his closest friends that he was stationed at the Pentagon the day death rained from above on 9/11. Obviously, he was not stationed in that particular wing of the building, but to be anywhere in the vicinity was to live through history.

After we both arrived at the inevitable conclusion that nothing could stop USC in its undeniable quest for a 3-peat and that Texas didn’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of prevailing on this day, we got around to the events of the day.

I remarked about the counter service at the Carl’s Jr. we were in, and how common it is in California to run in to hired help who don’t speak English. He countered with how his wife would be lost without their Guatemalan nanny for the kids back in Virginia, how essential their Salvadoran cook is to preparing three square meals a day for the family, how much time their Mexican lawn service saves them, and how inexpensive all this is to their household budget.

When we got around to the international news of the day, Patrick said something that I had literally never heard before and made my jaw drop to the floor.

He went on to point out that at his final duty assignment before retirement, he was congratulated by the president for his years of service. This is nothing to write home about for him, since, by virtue of his jobs in the Air Force, he’s met every president since 1980. But Patrick was nothing if not effusive in his open adoration of the current chief executive.

He said it was his privilege to serve under the greatest leader the world has ever known. He was convinced that the president’s domestic and foreign policies were visionary, and inspired by God as part of the End Times global geopolitical alignment that is currently taking shape. Accordingly, Patrick’s first and best service to the country he loved and served faithfully for a quarter of a century was to “see to its destruction” (his words).

Patrick was very reasoned in his analysis of how he came to this conclusion. The United States was an apostate country, fallen away from the one true God. Abortion on demand, gay marriage, blatant pornography, and women in positions of authority were but a few excellent examples of this condition. Biblical eschatology gives no hint of a nation resembling the U.S. in the End Times scenario. Patrick has no idea if the U.S. will fall under the dominance of the now-emerging Indo-Chinese super state, or simply implode in an orgy of self-indulgent sin. But, he argued, America will play no role in the End Times political scenario.

As such, he continued, George W. Bush’s prescient political leadership is the only way for God’s will to be accomplished. As a consequence, our national borders must be abolished, along with our national identity. Our citizens must be reduced to little more than working slaves, for such is the judgment of the Lord on a sinning, apostate nation. The invasion of Illegals from Latin America – something Patrick openly admits is happening, without the customary Neocon spin – will serve both ends nicely.

Our technological and scientific expertise must vanish from our shores and take shape on foreign soil. Our universities must facilitate this erosion by providing the finest education available to the best foreign students in order to weaken and dilute the vitality of the United States. Providing U.S. government funding toward this end is nothing less than serving the will of the Lord.

The war on terror is a righteous and just cause, Patrick reasoned, and the president is right to prosecute it in exactly the way he has. Nothing is more important than the financial health of our largest Fortune 500 corporations, he explained. And the senior executives of these institutions have been ordained by God to rule the world. The tremendous wealth we see around them is proof positive of their righteousness in the sight of God. Radical Islam clearly threatens the continued health of international commerce, and must be stamped out utterly and totally. Such is the will of God.

George W. Bush has been given a vision of God’s kingdom in much the same way as Paul the Apostle was during his three days of blindness following his encounter with Jesus on the Damascus road. In this perilous time of transition the president will lead the world down a path that will ultimately lead to Christ’s return in power and glory. After Jesus judges the nations, He will rule them with a rod of iron and George W. Bush will sit at His right hand. As such, the president is not merely the greatest chief executive the nation has ever seen, nor is he simply the greatest world leader in history. The president is the greatest living human being since Jesus Christ and God’s holy prophet of the truth on earth.

So concluded my friend, Air Force Colonel, and fellow graduate of the University of Southern California.

And there we sat – early on the morning of the Rose Bowl game, at a Carl’s Jr. where the only two people in the place who spoke English were the patrons – listening to a 25-year Air Force officer talk about how his ultimate service to the country he loved was to see to its obliteration.

Patrick asked me what I thought. I told him we better get going or we were going to have to park at the Arcadia Public Library and hitch a ride to the Rose Bowl.

During our drive to Pasadena, we set aside the issues of global hegemony and took up the more important issues of the day. Yes, Reggie Bush was the greatest running back since Gayle Sayers. Yes, Vince Young was as dumb as a post, and would whither under the relentless Trojan onslaught. Yes, we agreed that Texas was a worthy opponent, but no match for a USC team of destiny that broke Notre Dame’s back on the final play of the game of the century. Any team that could win in South Bend under such adverse circumstances, wasn’t going to lose on this day.

But Patrick’s unique vision of God’s will for the U.S. to be destroyed never left me. From that day to this, it has nagged at my sensibilities. We have not spoken of it since. Clearly, he did not learn his unique view of history at Calvary Chapel. I attended one for ten years, and I know such dogma is not taught there.

I did, however, marvel at the reasoning of a classically-educated evangelical Christian and how well his political, cultural, and spiritual orientation lent itself to a globalist, Neocon mindset. What surprised me – no, astonished is a better word – is how a traditional, conservative, Christian career-military officer could speak of the destruction of his country with such unvarnished passion. It was like watching Billy Graham at his most intense talk about the grace of God and forgiveness of sin by faith in the Risen Lord.

I have always operated under the belief that regardless of how the country itself deteriorated, the commitment to defend it, along with the conviction of the country’s value, would remain an unshakable faith of the U.S. military. If this faith has somehow been compromised, then all is lost. If this globalist mentality is common among our career military officers, not to mention our most committed evangelical Christians, this nation is truly doomed.

Over the months since January, I have attempted to formulate a rebuttal to my friend’s passionate contention that the country must be destroyed to serve God’s will.

I can’t. And a careful examination of Scripture yields nothing but support for Patrick’s radical contention.

    1 But know this, that in the last days, perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! – II Timothy 3:1-5
The great apostasy is upon us. Has been for years. One need not even bother to cite examples. Simply turn on the television, pick up a newspaper, read a magazine or surf the Internet.

    4 And Jesus answered and said to them: "Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. – Matthew 24:4-8
I’ll admit Patrick is better acquainted with the real-world examples of this passage than I. He participated in the support of recent dustups in Panama, Grenada, Gulf War I, Bosnia/Kosovo, Somalia, Afghanistan and now Iraq. One of his greatest regrets is his soon-to-be absence in what he considers to be the coming confrontation with Iran and North Korea. This will ultimately lead to a shooting war with China. It is in this conflict, he maintains, that the U.S. will, at the very least, be defeated and relegated to Third World military status, followed by an economic collapse that takes down what remains of western civilization or be utterly destroyed and occupied by foreign forces.

Note: Patrick emphasized to me that this was not based on any classified Intel he might have access to, but simply his personal take on the world situation.

    12 "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful." – Revelation 17:12-14
Ultimately, Patrick is convinced that what remains of the U.S. will come under the dominion of the ten-nation confederacy lead by the Antichrist. In the final analysis, the U.S., he contends, will betray Israel. And this will be a good thing, he is convinced, because how can God’s grace to Israel be made manifest while she depends on America for her protection? Either way, in all the apocalyptic books of the Bible – chief among them Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, parts of Matthew’s gospel, and particularly Revelation – there is not a hint of anything that remotely resembles a western power that is the United States of America. In this interpretation, Patrick is completely right.

Still, I can’t go there with him. I cannot partake of the evangelistic zeal of a true believer when it comes to tearing down my country. And I simply cannot worship at the altar of George W. Bush, regardless of his anointing by God to bring about the Second Coming of Christ.

The founding fathers established a government based on some firmly held convictions. Chief among them, that government served at the behest of the citizens who elected them. Government was charged with the duty to protect the individual rights of each and every American citizen and to safeguard their God-given rights to live in freedom and dignity.

And the founding fathers also owned slaves.

The nation was founded with slavery as an established institution. Ultimately, that sin was paid for by the blood its citizens. 2% of the population died in the Civil War and the entire American South was destroyed. And the nation has been living with the legacy of racial tension from the moment the shooting stopped at Appomattox Courthouse to this day.

Less than a century later, the nation was dragged onto the world stage to defend itself from an attack by fascist aggressors, both east and west. The country went to war in 1941 to defend itself from Japanese and German aggression. It fought a just, albeit ghastly war to beat back the forces of those aggressors, and ultimately achieved the destruction of evil.

For half a century, America stood as a bulwark in defense of the world against global communism, and ultimately outlasted it, at least in its Soviet expression. During the course of the 20th century, Jim Crowe laws were abolished, voting rights were established, a segregated military became integrated, and opportunity abounded, if not for all, than for more people than ever in the nation’s history.

    23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, – Romans 3:23
No nation escapes the judgment of history, much less the judgment of God. There is no question that America has engendered its share of injustices. But I know of no nation that has so thoroughly been willing to confront, correct and remediate its own ills than the United States of America.

America will stand in judgment in the last days along with the rest of the world. And as a nation, we may indeed be condemned. But on balance, I fervently believe America will fare better than most in that judgment.

To criticize George W. Bush may indeed equate to being against God and warrant a place in the lake of fire, as Patrick suggests. But for the time being, I stand by my country. I will do nothing to hasten my country’s demise. And I will not lift a finger to help those who do, regardless of whose name in which they act.

The day may indeed come when we all will have to choose between America and Jesus Christ. But that day has not yet come. It may come to a decision to serve God or serve our country. And to do one, rather than the other may result in the conflict spoken of thusly:

    24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. – Matthew 6:24
But until that day arrives, I stand by my country, and I stand with my Lord. I see no conflict between the two.

I mentioned earlier that Patrick could not have come by his peculiar slant on world politics and Christian doctrine at Calvary Chapel. It has since come to my attention that a contingent of Calvary Chapel pastors met with James Dobson of Focus on the Family, admonishing him to get on board with the president’s policy of open border/amnesty or else. I don’t know what the “or else” part of the warning entails. And I emphasize that I have no confirmation of this meeting. Since there is no corroboration of this event, official or otherwise, I can offer it only as anecdotal speculation. But, if true, the implications are ominous indeed.

I have written earlier of the erosion of once-traditional Protestant denominations in the wake of the spiritualization of radical liberal dogma. (See “Time And A Half on Christmas Eve”, below for that exposition.) In the wake of that ethical collapse, the light of truth that filled the gaping chasm of morality left in its wake has been the conservative evangelical community. If that bastion of conservative values has sold its soul for thirty pieces of silver to the deity of a chief executive, however charismatic, then the last foundational pillar on which the country can rest for support is gone. It reduces the nation to little more than a burnt out shell serving a false god, our citizens to slaves in the hand of that capricious god, and our soldiers little more than hired guns serving the trans-national corporate interests of a contemporary Roman empire.

The Rose Bowl itself was a magnificent spectacle. The day dawned clear and sunny, peaking with temperatures in the high 70s (but with the wind-chill factor was down somewhere around 68 ). Patrick saluted the flag at the presentation of the colors, cheered during the B2 flyover, wept at the singing of God Bless America.

We cheered ourselves hoarse as the defending national champions took the field to a thunderous standing ovation of Trojan fans. We yelled, groaned, tore our hair out and rejoiced. And ultimately we found USC 12-points up with less than 6:00 to go with victory in sight. Close the curtain on Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Lendale White and company with a 35-game win-streak, two consecutive undefeated seasons, a 38-1 overall record and the sweetest thing of all, three consecutive national championships. Fade to black. . . And now some scenes from next year’s national championship.

And then the wheels came off. Texas came back. USC missed on an interception attempt by Ryan Ting. SC was stopped on 4th and 1 with under two minutes left, which would have clinched the win. Vince Young took command. Texas kept coming. USC was powerless to stop them. And with seconds left in the game, Young goes over for the winning touchdown. USC, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in a fashion more reminiscent of UCLA or Notre Dame.

Disaster, defeat, darkness and death. Proof positive we’re living in the end times more dramatically than anything Patrick ever told me about earlier that morning.

It was a bitter loss, but not catastrophic. Sometimes it’s a good thing for our collective reach to exceed our grasp. We are, after all, SC. We have Pete Carroll, for crying out loud. And we will have, no doubt, an army of Reggies, Matts and LenDales lined up and grimly determined to lead the Trojans to yet another national championship. Still, the loss hurt. It was no way to ring down the curtain on such a spectacular three-year run. But that’s football. And that’s life.

I dropped Patrick off at his father’s South Orange County home in the wee small hours of the morning, about twenty hours after our excursion began. He caught an early flight home, back to Virginia, the next morning. So I’m sure he didn’t get much sleep. We didn’t talk about his, shall we say, unconventional take on world politics and Christian theology. We haven’t spoken of it since. But he will be flying out for USC’s home opener against Nebraska on September 16, and then again for Notre Dame on Thanksgiving weekend. Provided, of course, he can get the time off from his new job as a Vice President of Administration for an international defense consortium and his role as an advisor to the Council on Foreign Relations.

As for me, while Nero fiddles in Washington and Rome burns, I’ll be doing what any self-respecting Roman would do under such circumstances. I’m going to the Coliseum. Literally. I’m poised and ready for yet another season of bone-crushing USC tackles, spectacular last-second UCLA losses, yet another heart-breaking Notre Dame loss to USC in front of a sellout Coliseum crowd of 90,000 and a national television audience of 20 million (that’s always good!), and another run at the national championship.

Call it bread and circuses for the 21st century.

by Euro-American Scum

(contributing team member of Allegiance and Duty Betrayed)

Euro-American Scum can be reached at eascum@yahoo.com.

8/10/2006

Vain and Aspiring Men

During these historically unprecedented perilous times, a leader’s worth can be measured by the degree to which he focuses on those forces that are seeking to destroy America, and the free world, versus the degree to which he seeks to divert our attention from those forces. I believe the two most dangerous powers at play that are working against our survival as a republic are the malevolent goals of Islamo-fascism and the invasion that is occurring across our open southern border – and that the two are dangerously inter-related.

Samuel Adams warned: ‘If ever a time should come when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.’

Mychal Massie (see link to his website in the list of links provided here), echoes Adams’ warning and alerts us to the horrifying fact that ‘vain and aspiring men’ now find themselves wielding the majority of power in Washington -- a toxic circumstance that doesn’t bode well for the health, or very survival, of this republic. In a recent article he writes:

American politics aren't about solving problems, nor are they any longer about addressing the concerns of the people … American politics are about joining a very small, very elite fraternity – which makes up its own rules, provides for its own best interest, and whose members are not subject to the laws and provisions that govern the proletariat … American politics have become, at best, a taxpayer-funded brothel and/or liars club comprised of hedonistic opportunists. Many claim the system is corrupt. I submit it isn't the system; rather, it is the ne'er-do-wells who have been permitted to conscript it.

One of the primary causal factors in the creation of our form of government was to eliminate kings and queens. Yet that is exactly the way those on Capitol Hill behave. There are only so many reasons a person is willing to spend tens of millions of their own money to get a job that pays $165,000 a year – and while certain of those reasons may be altruistic, it's a safe bet that the greater majority of same are totally self-serving.

Calibrating the worth of a leader today is very simple: An American leader who has not lost the vision of what it means to be an American leader will daily recognize, acknowledge, and seek to inform us all of the fact that we, and our republican form of government, are under relentless attack from an unprecedentedly evil enemy that will not rest until western civilization no longer exists. And, to the degree that he fails to do so, or attempts to divert our attention to other matters, he is, whether intentionally or not, empowering that enemy.

Today, the most important message a genuine leader can deliver to the American people is an awareness of the inherent difference between us and them -- because it is that inherent difference that must be recognized and addressed if we are to emerge victorious in this war of all wars.

As was evidenced five years ago next month, we are a people who are willing to venture into the remains of an imploded/exploded/collapsed 110-story skyscraper that is still a fiery, gaseous inferno ... walking on and amid shards of metal and concrete that are as fragile as a house of cards … in an effort to hear the voices of, and unearth, those who may still be alive under the creaking, hot rubble. We don’t think twice about the terrible risk involved, because our innocent countrymen have been harmed, and because it’s the right thing to do.

They are a people who, in prosecuting their wicked war of ultimate domination, use their own women and children as human shields.

We are not fighting this war on a level playing field. We are not fighting this war by the same rules of engagement. They are not even on intersecting planes. If we are going to be victorious, we must either discard the heart and conscience that are inherent to a civilized society in favor of a more eye-for-an-eye vision of victory … or continue to occupy the high ground and pray that divine intervention plays a hand in the outcome.

Modern ‘civilized’ societies have their share of deadly warts – generally convoluted definitions of tolerance, human rights, equality, and justice … which leaves barbaric societies an open door to take advantage of the self-imposed Achilles’ heel that results.

Self-defense is a basic right that must trump all of the above considerations. That doesn’t require that we discard our conscience, or our genuinely civilized sense of right and wrong. We need not stoop to their level (i.e., embrace blood-thirst for the sake of blood-thirst), but neither can we continue to worship phony moral fetishes that cause reason to evaporate, and that will inevitably lead to our suicide by sensitivity.

Dependence on divine intervention is never a rational reaction to evil. We have free will for a reason, and we are meant to exercise it for righteous reasons -- of which defending freedom to our last breath is certainly one. But, when the forces of evil seem to be gaining the upper hand, seeking divine intervention is simply evidence of personal faith.

Fred Hutchison (an analyst at renewamerica.us) has beautifully observed:

The arm of flesh and the wit of man cannot prevail against demonic enemies. Our participation in the Lord's battle is fought on our knees. General Washington was driven to his knees in the snow of Valley Forge, when the cause of the new Republic seemed hopeless. Every victory that has brought lasting good to the world was ultimately won in secret by God's people on their knees. When we pray, Almighty God, who raises up one kingdom and casts down another, sometimes allows us to miraculously participate in His battle against evil and in the building of His kingdom.


Nothing less than the future of humanity hangs in the balance.

~ joanie

8/07/2006

Strong Hands and the Weak-Hearted

I received this today from one of my old Air Force buddies. Of course, we military types agree with this author's analysis. We've all been there and watched it happen, over and over again, all over the world. But, I daresay, nineteen of twenty mainstream Americans would not agree with this course of action. They feel certain that there must be a diplomatic solution which will produce the desired outcome without civilian casualties. Sorry folks; It ain't never gonna happen … Richard N.

I once witnessed a bar fight in downtown Olongapo (Philippines) that still haunts my dreams. The fight was between a big oafish Marine and a rather soft-spoken, medium sized Latino sailor from my ship.

All evening the Marine had been trying to pick a fight with one of us and had finally set his sights on this diminutive shipmate of mine ... figuring him for a safe target. When my friend refused to be goaded into a fight the Marine sucker punched him from behind on the side of the head so hard that blood instantly started to pour from this man's mutilated ear.

Everyone present was horrified and was prepared to absolutely murder this Marine, but my shipmate quickly turned on him and began to single-handedly back him towards a corner with a series of stinging jabs and upper cuts that gave more than a hint to a youth spent boxing in a small gym in the Bronx.

Each punch opened a cut on the Marine's startled face and by the time he had been backed completely into the corner he was blubbering for someone to stop the fight. He invoked his split lips and chipped teeth as reasons to stop the fight. He begged us to stop the fight because he could barely see through the river of blood that was pouring out of his split and swollen brows. Nobody moved. Not one person.

The only sound in the bar was the sickening staccato sound of this sailor's lightning fast fists making contact with new areas of the Marine's head. The only sound I have heard since that was remotely similar was from the first Rocky film when Sylvester Stallone was punching sides of beef in the meat locker.

Finally the Marine's pleading turned to screams ... a high, almost womanly shriek. And still the punches continued relentlessly. Several people in the bar took a few tentative steps as though they wanted to try to break it up at that point, but hands reached out from the crowd and held them tight. I'm not ashamed to say that mine were two of the hands that held someone back.

You see, in between each blow the sailor had begun chanting a soft cadence: 'Say [punch] you [punch] give [punch] up [punch]... say [punch] you [punch]were [punch] wrong [punch]!' He had been repeating it to the Marine almost from the start but we only became aware of it when the typical barroom cheers had died down and we began to be sickened by the sight and sound of the carnage.

This Marine stood there shrieking in the corner of the bar trying futilely to block the carefully timed punches that were cutting his head to tatters ... right down to the skull in places. But he refused to say that he gave up ... or that he was wrong.

Even in the delirium of his beating he believed in his heart that someone would stop the fight before he had to admit defeat. I'm sure this strategy had served him well in the past and had allowed him to continue on his career as a barroom bully. Finally, in a wail of agony the Marine shrieked 'I give up!' and we gently backed the sailor away from him.

I'm sure you can guess why I have shared this story today. I'm not particularly proud to have been witness to such a bloody spectacle, and the sound of that Marine's woman-like shrieks will haunt me to my grave. But I learned something that evening that Israel had better learn for itself if it is to finally be rid of at least one of its tormentors:

This is one time an Arab aggressor must be allowed to be beaten so badly that every civilized nation will stand in horror, wanting desperately to step in and stop the carnage ... but knowing that the fight will only truly be over when one gives up and finally admits defeat. Just as every person who had ever rescued that bully from admitting defeat helped create the cowardly brute I saw that evening in the bar, every well-intentioned power that has ever stepped in negotiated a cease-fire for an Arab aggressor has helped create the monsters we see around us today.

President Lahoud of Lebanon, a big Hezbollah supporter and a close ally of Syria, has been shrieking non-stop to the UN Security Council for the past two days to get them to force Israel into a cease-fire. Clearly he has been reading an autographed copy of 'Military Success for Dummies Arab Despots' by the late Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt. Ever since Nasser accidentally discovered the trick in '56, every subsequent Arab leader has stuck to his tried and true formula for military success:

1. Instigate a war.

2. Once the war is well underway and you are in the process of having your ass handed to you ... get a few world powers to force your western opponent into a cease-fire.

3. Whatever you do, don't surrender or submit to any terms dictated by your enemy. That would ruin everything! All you have to do is wait it out and eventually the world will become sickened at what is being done to your soldiers and civilian population ... and will force a truce.

4. Once a truce has been called you can resume your intransigence (which probably caused the conflict in the first place), and even declare victory as your opponent leaves the field of battle. This tactic has never failed. Not once. In fact it worked so well for the Egyptians in 1973, that to this day they celebrate the Yom Kippur War - a crushing defeat at the hands of Israel - as a military victory! No kidding ... it's a national holiday over there!

President Lahoud has already begun to shriek like a school girl to the UN Security Council to 'Stop the violence and arrange a cease-fire, and then after that we'll be ready to discuss all matters.'

Uh huh. Forgive me if I find that a tad hard to swallow. He allowed Hezbollah to take over his country. He allowed the regular Lebanese army to provide radar targeting data for the Hezbollah missile that struck the Israeli destroyer. He has turned a blind eye while Iranian and Syrian weapons, advisers and money have poured into his country.

And now that his country is in ruins he wants to call it a draw. As much as it may sicken the world to stand by and watch it happen, strong hands need to hold back the weak-hearted and let the fight continue until one side finally admits unambiguous defeat.

(from The Braden Files)

~ joanie

8/06/2006

The Feminist Assault on Motherhood

Just stumbled across this article I wrote (for a now-defunct magazine) nearly twenty years ago. Despite the fact that more up-to-date 'evidence' is now available, and the sources quoted are no longer primary leaders in the feminist movement, they remain icons to the N(ational) O(rganization) for W(omen) generation. And I believe that their particularly venomous mantra still infests much of modern feminist doctrine.

The Feminist Assault on Motherhood

As the 'Me Generation' reaches adulthood, and the cult of 'I' gains adherents, and as self-awareness, consciousness-expansion, and self-improvement approach the status of a religion, the 1970’s have been proclaimed the decade of the new Narcissism.
........William K. Stevens in 'Narcissism in the Me Decade,' New York Times, Nov. 30, 1977


Although the above excerpt was written nearly thirty years ago, most observers of the American scene still find themselves in agreement concerning the existence of a growing self-centered, me-oriented movement in our society -- a movement in which the needs and rights of the individual often enjoy precedence over the consideration of the needs and rights of society as a whole.

There are, of course, many and varied explanations as to why this movement toward me-orientation has become so pervasive. Author and teacher Elaine Heffner in her book 'Mothering' suggests that the theory prevalent in the 40’s and 50’s that children should not be unduly repressed or frustrated in order for their personality development to follow a healthy course caused many parents to go overboard in trying to gratify their children's needs. In doing so, Heffner asserts, 'they unwittingly taught them that theirs are the only needs that count. The generation raised on self-gratification now finds it too difficult to give to others, and is thus deprived of a more profound gratification. They are left to continue their search for self-fulfillment.'

It is in the midst of this era of concern with self-fulfillment that the women’s movement has seen fit to promote the cause of fulfilling the needs of women. A certain aversion toward the role of motherhood has evolved, quite naturally, out of this burgeoning concern for the self. After all, the role of fulltime mother is, perhaps more than any other role, self-denying almost by definition.

In her series, 'The Psychology of Women', Helene Deutsch aptly labels motherhood as 'the inevitable conflict between the interests of the self and those of the species.' The feminist movement seeks to sublimate the self and subvert the species by instilling in mothers the idea that they can, without guilt, abandon their responsibility to their children for the sake of their own fulfillment.

Perhaps this state of affairs would be more palatable if feminists would admit to the fact that the primary reason for leaving home and children is indeed a 'self'-centered one. (Of course I do not include in this category those women who must, out of financial necessity rather than out of a search for self-fulfillment, enter the job market). But, rather than acknowledge this fact, feminists have resorted to ridicule and rationalization. And motherhood has found itself reeling under a relentless assault from the left.

The assault is taking place on three fronts:

First, in order to open other doors besides mothering for women, feminists have set out to prove that women are not necessarily needed for it. According to feminist doctrine, both men and society in general are just as well equipped as a woman to care for and nurture her children. We are urged to ignore the fact that a woman not only is biologically equipped to bear children but also has secondary characteristics peculiar to her which destine her to play the primary role in child-rearing.

Feminist dogma asserts that the innate mothering instincts which most mothers feel are not genuine, but are merely feelings which have been forced upon them by an exploitative male-oriented society. It is undeniable that the self-denying aspect of motherhood does lend itself to exploitation, and many mothers do allow their emotional needs to take second place to those of their families more often than is necessary. But the exploitation-prone nature of motherhood in no way justifies its abandonment.

The feminist solution to the mere possibility of exploitation is to disavow motherhood itself and take flight. The rational and caring solution is to balance motherhood with a sense of self. The two are not mutually exclusive conditions. It is here that the women’s movement, so bent on exhibiting the strength of womankind, does womankind its greatest disservice by intimating that women haven’t the strength or the insight to avoid being used as pawns. Mothers, and women in general, are stronger than feminists would have us believe. They can resist type casting. They are fully capable of being mothers and individuals as well.

The second aim of feminist anti-motherhood propaganda is to focus on the notion that self-fulfillment can only be realized outside the mothering role. The more time a mother spends away from her home and children in pursuit of other interests, the better are her chances of achieving personal satisfaction. Mothers are urged to abdicate their roles because there are bigger and better things to be done.

While inundating mothers with patronizing lipservice, feminists, when caught with their guard down, show very little interest in, or compassion for children, and an almost total disrespect for fulltime mothers. It can be a humiliating experience to be in the company of career-oriented women who supposedly have a high regard for the woman’s prerogative. In general they have little interest in relating to a woman who has exercised her prerogative in favor of motherhood.

Witness the following statements by leading founders of the feminist movement:

A majority of American women do not see how profoundly restricted and monotonous their lives are in relation to what they could be. It is important to move out of constricted, predictable and safe situations and into activities and spheres that call for decision-making, problem-solving and initiative ... Victoria Billings, in 'Womansbook'

[Mothers are] prisoners in their own homes for fifteen years while their children grow up ... Victoria Billings, in 'Womansbook'

Women should be able to define themselves not just as somebody’s mother, not just as servants of children ... Betty Friedan, in 'It Changed My Life'

Every wife must live with the knowledge that she has nothing else but home and family. Obviously any woman who thinks in the simplest terms of liberating herself to enjoy life and create expression for her own potential cannot accept such a role ... Germaine Greer, in 'The Female Eunuch'

Middle-class mothers can keep themselves home and miserable for years because they can’t escape their class bias that women with children shouldn't work ... Victoria Billings, in 'Womansbook'

Mothering, if we believe these feminists, is a safe, restricted, predictable occupation, requiring little or no decision-making, problem-solving or initiative. Mothers lives are, by definition, miserable. And because a mother must occasionally elevate her children’s needs above her own, she enjoys nothing more than the status of a servant.

In actuality, conscientious and dedicated mothering involves more decision-making, problem-solving and initiative than any other endeavor I can imagine. The self-discovery and self-realization involved in mothering are classically unique and intrinsically rewarding. What, after all, could be more challenging than being in almost complete charge of an as yet unshaped human life? And what could be more rewarding than to be able to claim at least some small amount of credit for having helped a small, dependent human being develop into a responsible, caring adult? Teaching a child, through example and guidance, to live well in society is an undertaking whose challenge is second to none.

As is the case with most endeavors, what one receives from the effort is directly proportional to the effort expended. Perhaps those who envision motherhood as nothing short of drudgery ought to analyze exactly what it is that they are bringing to the mother-child relationship. The flaw in their concept of motherhood may well be found in the mother herself.

The third, and most insidious, weapon used by feminists in their assault on mothers is the theory that mothers are misguided women who are actually harming their children by devoting a large portion of their time to them. They would have us believe that it is for the children’s sake that a mother must leave the home.

Létty Cottin Pogrebin, in her book, 'Growing Up Free', asserts that studies have shown that 'daughters of employed mothers ... have greater educational and career aspirations and higher academic achievement.'

Apparently being a fulltime mother to one’s daughter will seriously threaten the child’s intellectual growth.

Victoria Billings, in 'The Womansbook', poses the degrading question, 'Is it really better for a mother to stay at home doing for the children what they should do for themselves when she should be teaching them a sense of responsibility?

Apparently, to the feminist mind, a mother cannot teach her children responsibility by example. Her only alternative is teaching responsibility by absence.

Ms. Billings issues the following repulsive piece of propaganda on the subject of the supposed harm fulltime mothers inflict upon their children:

Working mothers of the world unites Start putting out books about the advantages for children when mothers work. Start whispering about the neighbors who stay at home and force themselves on the children all day.

The call to arms has been sounded, and the enemy is motherhood. Being a mother, to be sure, is an enormous responsibility, too demanding to be forced on anyone. The almost total dependence of a young child on its mother can be seen as an assault on the self. All women were not born to be mothers, just as all men were not born to be fathers. But the mother who is comfortable in, and dedicated to, her role cannot easily be swayed by arguments of convenience.

Mothers in general feel a unique love and responsibility for their children. They instinctively comprehend the importance of their role in their children’s lives. They have an innate sense of the magnitude of their children’s needs, and they can and do successfully combine the satisfaction of those needs with the satisfaction of their own. Most importantly, they know that it does indeed make a difference how and by whom their children’s needs are met.

From their rhetoric it appears that feminists in general do not achieve fulfillment from their motherhood, and they harbor a begrudging hostility toward those women who do. One would hope that a movement which professes to be preoccupied with the fulfillment of human potential might learn to exhibit a healthy respect for those who nourish its basic source. For genuine fulfillment is embodied in the consideration of others as well as ourselves. And it is nothing short of judicious self-interest to believe so.

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it....Voltaire—letter, 1767

8/01/2006

Suicide by Concession

It’s becoming more and more obvious that, in deciding to do away with Hezbollah, Israel may eventually find that she has bitten off more than she can chew. I was not aware until the war on the Israeli/Lebanese border began just how integrated into the culture of Lebanon Hezbollah now is. Ain’t it funny how, with one hand, this cadre of madmen performs all manner of humanitarian gestures (can a gesture be truly ‘humanitarian’ if its intent is to forward a violent, evil, barbaric agenda? ... but I digress ...) for the Lebanese community at large, while, with the other hand, they are indiscriminately using those very same ‘beneficiaries’ as human shields?

And what if Israel does succeed in decimating Hezbollah? What does she then do about those who actually pull the strings (i.e. Iran, Syria ... and, even further backstage, Russia)?

I’m not in any way suggesting that Israel should cut and run. This is one war that needs to be fought to the finish. No more diplomacy. No talk of ceasefire. But the frightening question is, how many enemies is she fighting here? There’s one main visible one, and a myriad of depraved directors behind the scenes.

Chuck Hagel yesterday asked President Bush to push for an immediate ceasefire (stating that America’s link to Israel is a ‘special and historic one … but it need not and cannot be at the expense of our Arab and Muslim relationships’). One would think Senator Hagel considers America’s alliance with Israel as ‘quaint’ or ‘traditional’ (kind of like drinking eggnog at Christmastime). But, according to Senator Hagel, it’s time to let old ‘traditions’ die in deference to our genuine (as opposed to mere traditional) friendships ... with the likes of Islamo-fascists.

And a similar chorus of ceasefire/diplomacy proponents – in politics and the media – is going to grow exponentially over the next few weeks. The whispers are already becoming clearly audible, and will soon swell into a mantra of piercing demands that Israel lay down her weapons and stop ‘brutalizing’ the innocent people of Lebanon. I’ve got one simple scenario for this growing chorus to consider:

Your enemy has been single-mindedly, premeditatedly stationing itself in a convenient geographical location from which to annihilate your homeland – while conveniently buying-off the people of that country with ‘humanitarian’ gifts, and thus succeeding in paying them to look the other way while you import, over a mere few years, tens of thousands of rockets into your offensive military staging point. And this enemy, and its malevolent benefactors, have openly proclaimed that their over-riding destiny consists of annihilating (annihilate: to cause to cease to exist) you. Exactly what would ceasefire/diplomacy accomplish? ... other than to publicize to the world that you have either (1) gone insane, or (2) embraced a death wish.

I read a column a few days ago (darned if I can remember where, and I neglected to copy the by-line when I saved it) that made a powerful point:

Many talk of Israel's right to exist and this is an important point. If the situation were reversed and it was Jews from Morocco to the Philippines and from the Caucus Mountains to the Sudan, and in the middle was this tiny country the size of New Jersey filled with Muslims, well, would all of those Jews be going all out to wipe out that tiny lil’ Muslim nation? I don’t bloody think so.

God bless and strengthen the nation of Israel, and keep her resolute in the face of vile global anti-Semites and leftist ideologues who crave her final suicide by concession.

~ joanie