From Erick Erickson at Red State

My Confession

Posted by Erick Erickson (Diary)

Wednesday, December 7th at 4:46AM EST

536 Comments

The problem with Mitt Romney is the inconsistencies in his record. The problem with Newt Gingrich is the consistency of his record.
I will support either of these men against Barack Obama. Either would be better.
I support Gingrich over Romney because Gingrich fights and I don’t ever have to doubt where he stands on an issue. I trust Gingrich even if I don’t agree with him.
But I don’t know that I can support Gingrich. I really don’t. That is my confession. In Romney v. Newt, I support Newt. But in Newt vs. the rest?My problem is very basic.
In all honesty and candor and recognizing we all fall short of the glory of God, I do not know that I can support a man who is on his third wife having cheated on his two prior wives. It is very much more the adultery than the marriages. Many of my friends have marriages that do not work out.
But, if a man cannot be faithful to his vows made before God related to his marriage, how can he be faithful to the constitution he swears to God to uphold?
Maybe Gingrich moving his letter from the Baptist Church to the Catholic Church made a real difference. I don’t view it as a conversion when one moves from one Christian denomination to another. But still . . .
I just don’t know. Beyond his marriage, Gingrich supported Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind, Harriet Miers, Dede Scozzafava, Bob Bennett, Freddie Mac, and on Glenn Beck just yesterday largely defended the individual mandate.
But in all honesty, I am really hung up on the three marriages with the affairs in between. It goes directly to a man’s character in a way the others do not. Those are politics. This is something bigger. But it is, I think, reflected in his positions elsewhere on life issues, government expansion, etc.
A buddy of mine on twitter, when I first raised this, noted that Obama and Carter have both had one wife, Reagan had two, and Jefferson and Franklin had mistresses.
In all honesty, I don’t know what that has to do with my point. Mitt Romney is on his first wife and I’d take Gingrich over him. Sometimes marriages do not work out and we get remarried. I get it. Sometimes amoral people are good leaders. I get it.
But when you’ve cheated on your first wife with your second and you’ve cheated on your second wife with your third, and your policy positions in the past decade have been all over the place, how do I first know you won’t cheat on me politically and how do I reconcile my desire for a President my kids can respect with your life?
I feel guilty for feeling this way, but I just don’t know that I can support him in the primary. Over Romney? Sure. Newt won’t be nearly as devastating down ballot as Romney if things go wrong for the GOP. But over Bachmann, Huntsman, and Perry in alphabetical order?
I hope for a Perry rebound. He’s on his first wife still and has the most consistent record of conservative policies. And we hate the same people and institutions. We have the same general world view.
But if Perry is not ready, I have to say I may have to seriously reconsider saying I’d never, ever, never vote for Jon Huntsman. He is more consistently conservative than either Newt or Romney, more pro-life than either, and a far more competent executive than either. He and Perry also are very real and sincere family men. Jon Huntsman clearly adores his family and I have concluded, despite my own misgivings about him, that he would govern more consistently to the right of Mitt Romney than even his campaign team would have us believe.
I’ll support the nominee. Any of the Republicans will be better than Obama, regardless of the number of wives.
I’m just not yet at a position where I think I can look myself in the mirror and be comfortable knowing I voted for a guy on his third wife who cheated on the first two. Honestly, it is more the cheating than the number of marriages. And even after moving his letter from the Baptist to the Catholic church, it seems he may have settled down on the marital front, but he’s still cheating on conservatives.
I’m having a very hard time this election trying to find a winner. I’m having a hard time trying to get used to the idea of Newt Gingrich as the guy with whom we will confront Barack Obama. The debates would be awesome. But the rest?
At what point does winning so badly mean willing to risk one’s principles or one’s soul?

Dave Bego wrote about us

October 11, 2011

Occupy Wall Street is No Tea Party!

The mainstream media is attempting to portray the “Occupy Wall Street” protestors as the left’s version of the Tea Party.  In truth, they have little in common, with the exception of their legitimate objections to “Crony Capitalism” and “Wall Street Bailouts” (see Tea Party attacks could damage GE). I speak from experience when I characterize Tea Party participants as people who want to see change occur, but do so through a peaceful, gracious, and low profile approach, unlike the boisterous, high-profile and obnoxious “Occupy Wall Street” approach, now seen nightly on the networks and cable television.  This past week I had the distinct pleasure to speak in front of the Palm Beach County, Florida Tea Party, the Palm Beach County, Florida Republican Club, and the Madison, Indiana Tea Party. Those in attendance were attentive, respectful and thoughtful. They were patriots concerned about the direction and future of this great country and the future of their children and grandchildren. This is markedly different from “Occupy Wall Street” and similar protests held around the country this past week, which are only self-serving, as illustrated by demands to eliminate mortgage and other debt.
“Occupy Wall Street” is not the voice of the people. It is part of a grand scheme concoted by labor unions to serve their agenda (see Former SEIU Official Reveals Secret Plan to Destroy JP Morgan, Crash the Stock Market and Redistribute Wealth in America?). As you view the videos of the protest, you will see numerous SEIU and AFL-CIO participants in the crowd. This is clearly an organization attempt by labor unions, despite SEIU President Mary Kay Henry’s attempt to distance SEIU involvement in “Occupy Wall Street” in a duplicitous article Why Labor Backs ‘Occupy Wall Street’. Interestingly enough, the AFL-CIO was very up front in its involvement as reported in the Indianapolis Star article Occupying Indy.
As I spoke to the Tea Party groups, it was apparent to me that the attitude was not “What is in it for me?”, but rather “What is best to preserve this democracy, and this republic?” The debate and questions were animated, but thoughtful much as I envision were those of our Founding Fathers. They understood the problems on both ends of the spectrum, from “Crony Capitalism” on one end to “big labor” corruption on the other.  Their true goal was to work to discover what needed to be done to fix the system and preserve our future. Never did self indulgence, class warfare, religion or race enter the picture.  Does anyone believe the “Occupy Wall Street” protestors can say the same?
In the Tea Party groups I met and listened to great Americans such as General Paul Vallely (Stand Up America), Thomas and Deneen Borelli (The National Center for Public Policy and Project 21), Rick Berry, Rick Reuss & Lisa Seng (Sons and Daughters of Liberty), Les Naiman (Louisville talk Show Host), Jim Coyle (Radio Personality), Randy Frye (Indiana State Senator), Anita Carbone (Tea Party Coordinator) , Marie Davis ( Republican Club President), Brian Mudd & Joel Malkin (Radio personalities, WJNO), and many others who spoke with obvious passion about preserving this great nation and American Exceptionalism. These are people who work for a living, ask for no entitlements, defend this great country and look to preserve the God given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, without government intervention. They realize that Individual choice, not government, fuels prosperity. This is in contrast to a group which had no answer when asked “why are you here?” They are nothing more than union stooges.  It is time to understand America, We are at War! Armageddon is at Hand! Please Wake up!

President Obama, Uphold the Law and Unleash an Iranian Spring

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

For Immediate Release: Priority

President Obama, Uphold the Law and Unleash an Iranian Spring

By Paul E. Vallely - MG US Army (ret)

Member of the Iran Policy Committee

It is this time of the year again and the “tiny tyrant of the desert,” the Iranian regime’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is in town to get the world media interested in his denial of everybody’s rights and destruction of a country, a nation, or the main Iranian opposition.

But the world attention should not be on him, as the era for the dictators is over. Instead the world should pay attention to what the Iranian people have to say and to the suffering and ideals of a nation which has been suppressed by the ruthless Ayatollahs for over three decades.

Both the United Nations and the heads of state who travel to New York as well as our own president must focus on the plight of a population who, with unmatched passion for democracy, may be slaughtered if the world does not fulfill its responsibility. As a citizen of the world and as a physician, I feel obligated to speak up.

Halfway across the world, in a dusty, besieged Iraqi outpost known as Camp Ashraf, the lives of 3400 Iranian refugees, members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), rest in America's hands.  A legitimate and highly effective democratic resistance movement, the MEK were wrongly designated as a terrorist organization during past U.S. Administrations.  The Iranian regime and the government of Iraq that we helped to establish take this "terrorist" designation of the MEK as a license to kill.  As a result, scores of unarmed men, women, and children are being murdered with impunity.  Keeping MEK on the list is literally a green light for Iran and Iraq to massacre all of the people in  Camp Ashraf.

President Obama has been strangely mum on the topic. While both the UK and the European Union have removed the MEK from terrorism lists, the American President has ignored the unfolding humanitarian crisis. He may be correct to think that this problem is something he inherited from previous administrations and is not his doing. He may subscribe to the view of past administrations and not wish to "provoke" the tyrannical regime in Tehran by de-listing their mortal foes in the MEK.  But President Obama can no longer avoid the legal responsibility the US bears for protecting these people. 

As Iran's main opposition group, the MEK has been based in Iraq since the 1980's. After the MEK surrendered their weapons and renounced violence following the 2001 invasion of Iraq and took refuge in Camp Ashraf, they were deemed “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention and were to be shielded by the U.S. military. 

With this bond of trust, the residents of Camp Ashraf became dedicated partners of the US who provide critical intelligence on Iran's nuclear program and promote a popularly-supported representative republic in Iran.  Indeed, the MEK ardently support democracy, freedom, gender and ethnic equality and human rights. Despite these commitments and the promise of protection by America, they die at the hands of pro-Iranian death squads.

The MEK does not meet and has never met the statutory criteria for being designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in the US. A nonviolent, disarmed group cannot as a matter of law be an FTO (the use of violence is the fundamental criterion for such a designation).

A federal appeals court in July 2010 ordered the department to reconsider its position. However, no decision has been made or even signaled by the Obama administration, and with each passing day, the danger increases.

On April 8, 36 innocent civilians lost their lives in a massacre at the hands of the Iraqi Army, which is now receiving materiel and financial support from Iran. 

So, will President Obama uphold the law and direct the US State Department to avert the impending humanitarian crisis?

From a legal and humanitarian standpoint, delisting the MEK should seem a cut and dried case. However, there is an intensive disinformation campaign underway in Washington that supports Tehran's position of marginalizing and ultimately destroying the MEK.  The MEK has in recent weeks been branded a "cult", a group with no basis of support in Iran, and more. These charges have no basis in reality, and even if they had, they would not constitute grounds for the FTO designation.

President Obama has an opportunity to be on the right side of the law and on the right side of history. Let us hope this opportunity is not squandered.

MG Vallely – Chairman Stand Up America US and Founding Member of the Iran Policy Committee.

Paul E. Vallely MG, US Army (Ret)

Chairman – Stand Up America

CEO – NEMO LLC ( New Evolution Military Ordnance)

E-Mail: standupamericausa1@gmail.com; pvallely@nemoarms.com

www.standupamericaus.org; www.soldiersmemorialfund.org

Fax: 406 837 0996

American Exceptionalism

Working a speech for the October 6, 2011 Tea Party event in Madison on "Restoring American Exceptionalism."  Not sure where this guy's blog is but his words are worth putting here:
BLOG POST BY R.D. WALKER:
"WHEN PARISIANS STORMED THE BASTILLE IGNITING THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, THEY WEREN'T DEMANDING LESS FROM THE STATE.  WHEN RIOTERS ATTACKED THE WINTER PALACE IN ST. PETERSBURG IN 1917, THEY MOST CERTAINLY WERE NOT DEMANDING LESS GOVERNMENT SPENDING.  THE CROWDS THROWING STONES AND SETTING FIRES IN THE STREETS OF GREECE THIS SPRING WERE NOT ASKING FOR INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY AND LESS INTRUSIVE GOVERNMENT.  IN FACT, THROUGHOUT HISTORY WHEN PEOPLE HAVE TAKEN TO THE STREETS, IT IS VIRTUALLY ALWAYS TO DEMAND MORE FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

AMERICA IS THE EXCEPTION TO THAT RULE. ONLY IN AMERICA DO PEOPLE TAKE TO THE STREETS WITH SIGNS DEMANDING LESS FROM THE GOVERNMENT.  ONLY IN AMERICA DO PROTESTERS INSIST THE GOVERNMENT GET OUT OF THEIR WAY SO THAT THEY MAY GO ABOUT THE BUSINESS OF CREATING PROSPERITY.  THIS IS THE CORE OF AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM.  THIS IS THE AMERICAN DREAM.

THE AMERICAN DREAM IS UNIQUE. THERE IS NO PORTUGUESE DREAM, DANISH DREAM OR BELGIAN DREAM. THE AMERICAN DREAM IS HOPE AND BELIEF IN A BETTER FUTURE. IT IS THE INDIVIDUALISM, INDEPENDENCE AND SELF RELIANCE THAT SETS AMERICA APART. IT IS WHAT MAKES AMERICA SPECIAL."

General Vallely on Strategy and Lily Pads

Major General Paul Vallely was our guest Monday night on the Rick and Rick at Night Show.  He spoke of Lily Pads ... here's what he was talking about:

Joint Force Strike Operations

Lily Pad Strategy Series

By

Paul E. Vallely

Released By: Stand Up America

Another thirty one Special operations Forces killed today (August 6) in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan south of Kabul (may have been a Taliban shoulder held missile).  Iran is controlling more each day the future of Iraq. To date, government security policy elitists in the United States government have demonstrated almost complete ignorance towards revised, adaptive and forward strategic planning. While virtually every military officer and many policy “wonks” have been taught strategic planning at some level, it is obvious many have thrown most of the lessons out the door upon graduating. This is demonstrated more than ever by our senior Generals, Admirals, and Defense and State Department and Intelligence political appointees. One only needs to observe the international scene and turmoil in Afghanistan and the Middle East. The time is now to change strategy and reposition our Forces for present and future operations. This mythical COIN strategy must cease immediately. These so called decision makers have bankrupted the United States, are decimating our Armed Forces by continuing critical budget cuts, wearing out our military equipment and wearing down our force structure with extended operations in the Middle East. Just what our enemies like to see……..

We must reposition our forces now and change our global strategy. I implore the Generals and Admirals to take charge and do what is right for America. Since the early 80s, the United States has been engaged in conflicts throughout the Middle East. From the Iranian hostage situation, to the Beirut bombing of our Marines in 1983, to Iraq and Afghanistan, we have witnessed one cultural diplomacy debacle after another with no apparent victories for the United States. Why do the United States and its military/political leaders and strategists still languish in failed strategies since the victories of World War II to the present? Before we commit our Armed Forces into any conflict, the policy must firmly answer the question:” is this enemy a threat to the United States and the American people?” We as a sovereign nation do not take edicts, mandates and direction from the United Nations or other international organizations.

Our nation simply does not have the human and financial resources to continue investing blood and treasure into nation building enterprises or foreign aid packages into the Middle East. Obama along with other broke, financially strapped European countries is now committing billions of new US dollars to new nation building to the Middle East.  All of these Islamic countries seem to be willing to protect terrorists/jihadists, rule by Sharia law in the guise of seeking democracy, and chastise America at every opportunity for their own selfish interests and hope of keeping U.S. money flowing into their coffers. How senseless is this? Oh, Treasury, keep printing money - no problem there! Maybe I am naïve, but I think we need to shore up America first and do it quickly.

There is no reason to order our Armed Forces into the Middle East and enemy territories that require large commitment of human and financial resources without the ‘Endgame” for the United States We can strike the enemy from any of our established friendly (domestic and overseas) and seaborne “Lily Pads” when intelligence dictates clear and present dangers to America, its people, its interests and its assets.

Lily Pads are established bases in safe areas where joint force operations can be launched at any time. Based on well-established human and technical intelligence operations, we can hit any enemy target globally; with precision, decisiveness, lethality, and assured success. We have made great and innovative technological advances in weapons systems; in the air, sea and ground, communications, advanced intelligence systems, and command and control systems but we must have new and adaptive strategies. The tools at hand are not being properly applied because of the lack of these strategies, thus endangering the lives of our warriors irresponsibly.

Yes, we have operational war planners at all levels of command, senior policy, and politicos in the White House and Department of Defense, a National Security Team, and a multitude of military commands positioned around the globe to guide and lead us in national security. But where are the common sense and rational senior General and Admiral Strategists that we have trained and schooled to be innovative, aggressive and win our nation’s wars quickly and decisively. I rarely hear any of them talking about the valued Principles of War that successful combat leaders in the past have used to achieve success and victory. They cannot even talk in terms of victory, winning, and bringing the troops home. Or maybe, they do not want to for politically correct reasons at home. Billions of dollars and valued human resources have been consumed by a massive Middle East Sponge. And, I ask, for what?

Unfortunately, American leaders are increasingly trying to transform this magnificent force into one optimized for counterinsurgency and humanitarian missions (when, in fact, we are not, in my opinion, fighting insurgencies but Islamic Jihadist and a fomenting global Caliphate) using  conventional war strategies followed on by long-term military occupations. Track back if you will to Korea, Vietnam, and now Iraq, and Afghanistan. However, “victory” in war appears lost in the world of political correctness and appeasement.

Not all political goals are achievable this way, but most are and those that cannot be achieved through conventional operations likely cannot be achieved by the application of even the most sophisticated counterinsurgency doctrine either. We seem incapable of discerning between the differences in conventional and non-conventional warfare. The war against mainstream Islamic Jihadist forces and a sick ideology has been and will continue to be one requiring unconventional solutions. The White House and the Pentagon either do not understand this, or are in abject fear of calling this a war against a manifestly evil ideology, cloaked in the robes of a so-called religion.

Our military is for national security, defending our country, and defeating our enemies before they bring havoc and harm to our citizens. Why do we not understand this fundamental fact? Why do we waste our resources, jeopardize our trained armed forces, across the globe in futile nation building operations when we should be leveraging them instead to counter threats to our country? When will we realize that you cannot “Nation-Build” in an area of conflict until the enemy is totally defeated? It is akin to repainting one room in a house while a fire rages in another room in the same house.

The world has literally never seen anything like our American military capability and power. A fundamental strategy for the use of this great asset is to show them first hand – in a quick, decisive, and devastating fashion. The U.S. today has military capabilities at least equal to the rest of the world combined, so why do we act in a manner that shows us to be a paper tiger?

There is virtually no spot on the globe that could not be targeted by American forces, and at most a small handful of countries that could thwart a determined U.S. effort at regime change — and some of those only by virtue of their possession of nuclear weapons. This is the driving point; why are we so worried about what others think? Did these so-called allies not have to be bailed out numerous times for their failed thinking in the past? Will we ever learn from our own history, so we are not doomed to repeat failed thinking? Einstein’s definition of insanity: “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Failure to Understand the Enemy

While many believe the war in Afghanistan is solely fought inside the confines of the Afghan borders, they are sadly mistaken. The war in Afghanistan consists of operations throughout Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and elsewhere. Our enemies do not respect nor recognize borders.

Our enemy is fully aware and informed of our faulty and ill-advised Rules of Engagements (ROE’s). They understand that the United States will not advance into their harbored locations. They also realize that the countries in which they safely harbor are fully incompetent, corrupt, and oftentimes support their own cause and not the cause of the United States. Because of this fundamental knowledge amongst our current enemy, they have established bases of operations for regrouping, recovering, and reorganizing as needed.

The “Lily Pad” worked and then they abandoned it.

Between the years of 2001 through early 2003, the war in Afghanistan was won by the United States. It was won because United States Special Operations Command was granted control over the country to incorporate plans of execution to rid Taliban from control of Afghanistan. The tactical and operational plans created by our Special Operatives were sound and executable proving success. They covertly struck hard from “lily pads”, overwhelming the enemy, without warning. Striking from a set base is easy to track, and the enemy is warned early, allowing them to ambush in proactive ways, rather than the previous need to react.

With time and signs of success on display in Afghanistan, conventional forces began to flood the country in 2002. They went into Afghanistan with no clear objective and still lack one today. Brigade commanders are often heard stating that their task and purpose during their tours of duty are to continuously “build and enhance their bases, hold them, and ensure their troops come home in one piece.” And yes, we are there to spread Democracy and Nation Build, while the house is still on fire; a nightmare.

The thought of “winning hearts and minds” is moot pertaining to tasks and purposes. One must understand that winning hearts and minds is a tactic. A tactic just like carpet bombing, internment camps, enhanced interrogations, and so forth. Tactics are not strategic plans. They are tools used to ensure that the strategic plan is completed. Once completed, the war has reached an end state. Sadly, policy makers and military decision makers have proven their incompetence in determining their desired end-state for Afghanistan. Without a clear end-state fully written out, a strategic plan cannot be written out, executed, and fulfilled.

For those who have ever been taught strategic planning in any formalized military school know that such planning should be accomplished through a systematic methodology of “reverse planning.” This means, prior to anything being written, an end-state must be identified. Once the end-state is identified, it is then and only then, where decision makers can make a determination and plan may be written to achieve the overall task. Then, the end-state can be accomplished through smaller operational and tactical objectives with sound benchmarks and timelines.

Paul E. Vallely, MG US Army (ret) Is Chairman and Founder of Stand Up America

Excellent Letter to the Editor

We also wanted to share the following Letter to the Editor (which hasn't quite made it into our liberal local newspaper ... it just doesn't quite meet with Jane and Elliot's "bipartisan" dogma).  Bud validates what we Patriots are doing.  

To the Editor:

I keep hearing from Harry Reid and his ilk that the Tea Party is dying out and it is finished. I hear from racist trash like Maxine Waters that we can `go to hell.' But I have news for them. We are not going anywhere. The reason they do not see a lot of the Tea Party Patriots, is that we work. We are not lazy, cradle-to-grave welfare freeloaders. We are not part of the 40% of the country who consider lying on the couch, watching TV and waiting for a check in the mail, to be a job. The Tea Party is not made up of rent-a-mobs paid by the Democrat party or thugs hired by the unions. In other words, we are not typical Obama voters. Patriots who make up the Tea Party groups around the country get up in the morning and go to a real job. They work for a living and pay taxes. We do not have time to be paid professional protesters for the Democrat party.
My wife, her sister, our granddaughter and I went to the 9/11 event in Washington, DC. I had to arrange my workload in order to close my picture frame shop for three days. They had to request days off or use vacation days in order to go. We paid for our own bus tickets, hotels, meals and all other expenses with our money. We did not get paid to go, get free buses, free meals, and have someone pass out professionally printed signs for us to carry around as we got off the bus. I watched a reporter ask a protester at a Democrat party mob event, to explain what his sign meant. It did not make any sense. He replied that he did not know what it meant, they just told him to carry it. That is typical dedication to a liberal cause.
While we were in DC, the police and Parks Department officials told us they estimated the crowd to be 1.5 to 1.7 million. With that many people, we left the Mall cleaner than when we arrived. We cleaned up our trash and left the place spotless.
A rent-a-mob event was held soon after and less than a tenth the number of paid protesters showed up. After that event, the area looked like a bombed out war zone. The human sewage that comprises these rent-a-mobs take no pride in their country, and have no respect for decent people. They live off of working people's money. They do not pay for anything, so they do not take care of anything.
I might add that with 1.7 million Patriots in DC, there were no arrests or incidents. The only negative thing was from Democrat party infiltrators along the sidelines, displaying racist Obama signs. Of course the only people paying any attention to them were from the media, so they could report on their `newscasts' that the event was racially motivated. And that was what we saw when we watched the TV coverage at our hotel that evening, even on O’Reilly (who claimed that there were about 70 thousand people in attendance).
Clowns like Reid talk about the `big money' or the `millionaires' behind the Tea Party. That may sound good when talking to fools, but any one with an IQ higher that a cow flop knows that there is no big money behind the Tea Party movement. People like us who make up the Tea Party pay our own way. We may chip in $5 or $10 at an event to help cover the expenses involved. We do it because we love America and unlike Obama, we are proud of our country. We do it because we are not going to sit by and watch a socialist president and his merry band of tax cheats destroy the U.S.A. So when the next election comes around, Prince Harry can be assured that he will hear from the Tea Party Patriots . We will be there when it counts.
Bud Callaway
Madison, IN

Please keep October 8th Open for our Next Tea Party

The Sons and Daughters of Liberty wish all Americans a great Labor Day weekend! 

Please keep Saturday, October 8th, open for our next Tea Party event "Restoring American Exceptionalism."  Army Major General Paul Vallely will be the headliner [after 9/11, he and General McInerney and Colonel David Hunt were frequent military analysts on Fox News Channel].  We have also invited Congressman Mike Pence, Senators Dan Coats and Rand Paul (depending on the schedule of Congress), as well as many other national, state and local Patriots.  (Richard Mourdock would have been there but for a marathon in Chicago that day!)Further details will be made known closer to Oct. 8.  We are hoping to start a tradition much as our neighbors in Kentucky has with their Fancy Farms weekend. 

My Uncle sent this letter to his editor in Shawnee OK.

July 23, 2011

Shawnee News-Star

Letters to the Editor:

THREE….TWO…..ONE……  TAXI ! When the Atlantis Space Shuttle touched down at Cape Canaveral last Thursday it not only marked the end of the American manned space program, it was a defacto admission that future Americans in space would have to hitchhike or ride the Russian Soyuz taxi to the International Space Station. This is a major Russian propaganda victory! It is also a tacit admission the current Administration has neither the means nor motivation to continue American manned space flights. That bothers me. It should bother all Americans.

Only those of us who worked closely with our early R&D, production, and operations  know of the tireless effort, excitement and unity of the military, contractor, scientific, and governmental  communities in fielding our missile force and exploring space. The technological spin offs to consumers is legendary. Less well known is the economic impact upon all levels of American society. It cost a lot, but we got a tremendous return for our investment. How did you feel July 20,  1969,  when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon? Do you think we would have gotten there first if we had to “Thumb” a ride on a Russian rocket? Nyet!

The Space Shuttle and the International Space Station programs have been vital in furthering knowledge of our own planet as well as planning for future space exploration. Who among us doubts the value of the Hubble Space Telescope? Man in general, and Americans in particular, love challenges and the results they produce. Witness: Achievements in ground transportation, Panama Canal, aviation, atomic power, breath taking advances in agriculture, medicine, communication to name a few, AND space exploration.

Yes, the Space Shuttles were aging and needed retirement, but not the elimination of American manned space flight. Of necessity, American launch vehicles will once more take Americans to the moon and beyond. Talk about adding jobs? Our national pride, as well as our pocketbooks, will benefit.

Glenn C. Peck,  273-4596

Retired, USAF

Cavuto busting myths about debt limit - July 27

You've heard about the sell-off. Now to all the carrying on about this debt.
So, we're going to kick things off a little bit differently on this show today. Because frankly, in the midst of this debt ceiling hysteria. That's all I can call it. I step back and say you know this is kind of long overdue today.
I've heard so many distortions, so many lies, so little time.
So six days from supposedly doomsday, may I be the first to say no doomsday. So why don't we just all calm down here? And let's be clear:
Let's Be Clear Point No. 1: We will not default if the debt ceiling isn't raised by next week. Now we will default if we willingly miss payments to bond holders next week or any week. That never changes.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 2: Republicans aren't the ones who risk not paying those bond holders in that event. Only the president has the power to pay, or not to pay, those bond holders in that event.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 3: Missing a debt deadline does not mean the government is dead. Taxes will still be coming out of your check, I'm sorry to say. So tax revenues in Washington will be alive and well.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 4: The credit ratings agencies won't give us a pass if we just meet this debt deadline. They'll still cut our debt if there's no real spending restraint attached to that deadline.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 5: We're on the brink of a downgrade not because we're bumping up against a deadline. We are on the brink of a downgrade because of all the spending and deficits that have lead up to this deadline.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 6: You can't say Tea Partiers are holding up this process because they won't budge on taxes and not say the same about liberals holding up this process because they won't budge on spending. Just be fair here.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 7: Democrats can't say Republicans are playing politics, not wanting to raise the debt limit now, but they weren't five years ago, when not a single Democrat voted to raise the debt ceiling back then.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 8: The president can't say he's the adult at the table and not the one pointing fingers and then holding pressers and speeches blaming republicans for acting childish.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 9: You can't say spending isn't the problem, then with a straight face say you worry about whether you can send out 80 million checks to people getting paid by the government, only a small portion of which are Social Security and Medicare checks from the government. That's a lot of checks. That's a lot of government. That's a lot of the problem.
Let's Be Clear Point No. 10: And Mr. President, this one's for you -- you can't say the other side has brought us to the brink on this budget, when your side didn't even offer a budget. Not this year. Not last year. And not the year before last year.
So that my friends is where we stand. Sorry to go on and on. But that is where we stand. That is the real deal. A government deep in debt. Two sides trying to fight it out. Both sides playing politics.
Nothing unusual is holding this process hostage. Business as usual is what is holding this process hostage.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/your-world-cavuto/2011/07/27/neil-cavuto-busts-myths-debt-debate#ixzz1TotcHjLe

Blaming the Tea Party - Not so according to Cavuto

Neil Cavuto on July 22:

Fact One -- Tea Partiers' opposition to tax hikes didn't bring us to this brink. Washington's indifference to spending did.
Fact Two -- Tea Partiers didn't create these deficits. Washington did.
Fact Three -- Tea Partiers didn't wreck the budget this year. Try Democrats, who had total control of Washington, not even offering a budget at all... last year.
Fact Four -- Tea Partiers aren't the reason we're up against another debt limit. Washington is.
Fact Five -- Tea Partiers aren't suddenly to blame for the credit ratings agencies now putting this country's credit on watch. Credit ratings agencies first warned about this years ago.
Fact Six -- Tea Partiers have been consistently opposed to the gimmicks that created this mess. Washington's consistently offered only more gimmicks to allegedly fix this mess.
Fact Seven -- Tea Partiers aren't the only ones saying a debt hike without meaningful spending cuts is a waste. Standard and Poor's itself warned such a deal would be a travesty.
Fact Eight -- Tea Partiers aren't the crazy ones for saying it's time to stop this nonsense. Those who call them crazy for dare speaking the obvious are the ones who make "no" sense.
Fact Nine -- Tea Partiers resisting business as usual aren't the problem right now. Self-serving politicians still practicing business as usual are.
Fact Ten -- Tea Partiers demanding accountability isn't the stuff that brought us to this brink. Washington's continued failure to "be" accountable has us at the brink.

Is there no shame?!

    Well folks, we are now being deluged from the dominant media culture as well as outlets which we used to depend on being "fair and balanced," that the debt bill is the "best we can get."  I am so livid that sparks should be coming out of my typing digits, but no, let me tell you about the latest indignity which has been heaped on you and I, Tea Party Patriots.
     Today (August 1) while watching "The Five" (which replaced Glenn Beck on Fox News Channel), Bob Beckel (yes, the same Bob Beckel who managed Walter Mondale's campaign in 1984 and later was involved in a sex extortion scheme in 2004) referred to the Tea Party as "Tea Terrorists"!  This bully joins Democrat Congressman  Mike Doyle (D-Pa.) who, at a two-hour, closed-door Democratic Caucus meeting this weekend, said:  "We have negotiated with terrorists.  This small group of terrorists have made it impossible to spend any money."
    Not to be outdone, but Vice President Joe "Plugs" Biden said: "They have acted like terrorists," according to several sources in the room.
    Where have we heard this before?  Oh yeah, it was our own (former) Congressman Baron Hill.  The Baron said that he would have not have town hall meetings in 2009 because (in Washington Post and Indianapolis Channel TV 6 interviews) he was afraid that those who disagreed with him on socialized medicine (he called it "health care reform") "political terrorists" he called them, might "blow up the meetings."
    Mr. Hill was wrong (and thankfully shown the electoral door) and so are Mr. Becket, Biden and Doyle.  We, The People (many of us are Tea Partiers) are not terrorists!  Terrorists right now and for the past 30 years or so are Islamofascists who fly into buildings killing 3,000 of our countrymen; terrorists strap bombs on their bodies killing innocents; terrorists are those people who are dedicated to the destruction of our country and our way of life.  How dare you?  Have you no shame?  Your comparison is absolutely disgusting and I hope you are all shown the door.  The lack of shame from Mr. Beckel's colleagues on the panel is deafening.  The lack of shame of the Democrats for Biden and Doyle is almost expected.  More's the pity.
  Oh yeah, the debt limit ... we're being hosed again.  Obama gets an additional $2 trillion slush fund to help himself get re-elected.  We get the promises of another blue-ribbon panel (didn't we just have one last year whose recommendations were ignored?) to make recommendations about debt reduction; the promise of a dollar for dollar expense reduction (which doesn't start until 2014); and, what should amount to a total of $17 TRILLION dollars debt owed the Chinese and the Japanese.
  Watching the current spirit of "bipartisanship" on the floor of the House makes me throw up a little in my mouth and reminds me of P.J. O'Rourke's classic book about Congress: A Parliament of Whores.  The title was right then and it certainly fits now.  This capitulation of Congressional leadership is deplorable, particularly on the Republican side.  They say "this is the best deal we can get," until the GOP can control the White House and Senate in 2012.  I pray we still have a country in 2012. 

Randy Frye on Rick and Rick at Night on Monday, July 25, 2011

Back from Boy Scout camp (116 degrees on Wed!).

 The next Rick and Rick at Night Radio Show will be Monday, JULY 25th at 6 PM. 

  Here's our latest ad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3YfJ11JZ3M

  We are so delighted that Indiana State Representative Randy Frye will be our special guest!

  Thanks again to all the hundreds of folks who were kind enough to visit the Sons and Daughters of Liberty booth at the Jefferson County 4-H Fair.

  Please listen online next Monday: http://953wiki.com/

  Please call in - our local number is 812-574-0953 and toll free 877-953-0953.

Sorry to be gone

I know that blogging is supposed to be more timely, but sometimes life intrudes.  Getting ready to go for a week long Boy Scout camp at Camp Maumee (near as I can figure ... between Brownstown, Seymour and Bloomington) ... no cell reception, but a lot of good times with our twins and their Boy Scout friends.  It's supposed to be hot but it's great for reading Limbaugh Letters, historical books (reading about the original Sons of Liberty as well as Lincoln's cabinet), and the last year's Vince Flynn novel.  A poker book is thrown in to boot!
  We (the Sons and Daughters of Liberty) had a great time manning the booth at the Jefferson County 4-H Fair.  We met hundreds of people who are disgusted with the present regime in DC and want to do something about it.  We signed many up for our email trees.  Two Congressional candidates came to our booth as well as state Senator Jim Smith and state Representative Randy Frye.  Smith and Frye are big fans of our cause.  Representative Terry Goodin briefly came by, but seemed very ill at ease when we offered him a pocket Constitution!
  Our next major Tea Party event is October 8.  Please keep the date open.  Well, pray for me, Patriots!  It's "gonna" be hot next week!  That said can't wait to spend the time with my wonderful boys!

Next Rick and Rick at Night - July 25th

This is a tad early, but the next Rick and Rick at Night Radio program will be Monday, JULY 25th (a week from Monday) at 6 PM.  The reason I'm sending this early is the fact that I (the taller Rick) will be gone next week to summer Boy Scout camp with our twins.  (Please hold emails if you can as I won't be able to look at them).

  Will send our ad when I get back.  Thanks to all the hundreds of folks who were kind enough to visit the Sons and Daughters of Liberty booth at this week's Jefferson County 4-H Fair.

  Please listen online next Monday: http://953wiki.com/

  Please call in - our local number is 812-574-0953 and toll free 877-953-0953.

Rick and Rick on air again Monday, June 27

Here's our radio ad for tomorrow (June 27):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq9-IptD4jA 

  Wherever you are in the country, please call.   Our special guest will be Dr. Michael Israel. The discussion is lively and the topics germane to the survival of our country.

  Please listen online: http://953wiki.com/

  Please call in - our local number is 812-574-0953 and toll free 877-953-0953.

Random thoughts

May 29, 2011

This blog will encompass one of the favorite features which Thomas Sowell has called "Random thoughts on the Passing Scene."  Here is my version of random thoughts:

IT'S RACE DAY
    Happy Race Day, Patriots!  I was born and raised in Indianapolis so Race Day has
a special place in my heart.  My Pop took me to my first 500 in 1966.  It was one of those deals that we were poor but we didn't know we were poor, so 500 Mile Race tickets were pretty precious back then.  The race was memorable for me as Pop worked most of the time and it was great to have one on one time with him.  There was a big crash on the first lap and 11 cars went out.  My favorite driver Graham Hill won the race so it was great day.
    Tomorrow is Memorial Day.  One of the teary moments of today's 500 Mile Race for me was when the bugler sounded Taps.  It took me back about 4 years ago when we interred my Mom and Pop's ashes and our younger sons "the twins" played Taps so beautifully and poignantly.
    Pop was a prisoner of war in Germany in World War II.  The toll this experience enacted on my Dad and his fellow "Kriegies" (nickname for the German Kriegsgefangener = POW) was incredible.  He knew first hand the tender "mercies" of a socialist regime.  He was tortured in a Gestapo jail in Vienna and survived the ordeal of a 600 mile forced march across northern Germany in the most extreme winter conditions in Europe for the previous 100 years.  It is his legacy of loving liberty and the freedom which resulted that influences all I do today to try to help reverse the course our country seems to be on as well as pass onto my sons an even better America than the one my Pop left my sister and I.
    On our radio program last Monday, I quoted Kris Kristoferson as Devon Milford from the 1987 television mini-series, Amerika:
"I'm not going to accept the breakup of America.  I'll resist with my spirit.  I'll resist with my life.   I can resist because I've found the love for my children, the possibility that their lives are more important than my own.  I'll live through my children, through whatever good and true things I might have taught them or the legacy of fear I might have left them.  At this time, each of us will find our best selves or our worst selves and through that, immortality."

CLICK IT OR TICKET - WHAT A DUMB IDEA!
    I detest commercials on TV.  Most of the time they involve stuff I don't need.  More often nowadays they involve spending monies which the federal and state government has caused to be taken from my family and I (and your family as well) for what ... commercials which advance their own programs (oh yeah, for our own good!). 
    One of the blackboard scraping moments is the ongoing Click It or Ticket campaign.  In my reading at the end of the day, I hold onto all sorts of articles.  The following op-ed was published in December 1, 2002 by Jon Caldara in the Boulder Daily Camera:
 "No. I am not saying we should kill stupid people. I am simply saying we shouldn't stop stupid people from killing themselves.
  With the best of intentions, police, sheriff's deputies, and the State Patrol have joined the Department of Transportation to promote the new "Click it or Ticket" campaign. They are spending your tax dollars to advertise that they will be checking to see if you're buckled up on the roads. If you're not, you'll get a ticket.
  Let's think about this. The idea here is that the threat of a $17 ticket is more motivating than the threat of meeting your windshield at 60 miles per hour. On what kind of person does this logic work? More importantly, do we really want this person voting?
  People who don't use their seat belts are morons. Now, we have a responsibility to give everyone, even morons, all the facts. What you do with those facts is up to you. Fact is, 565 people died in car crashes in Colorado last year. Of those, 354 weren't wearing their seat belts. That's over 62 percent of all fatal crashes.
  You can cut your risk of dying in an accident by over half just by buckling up. Oh, and you'll save $17.
  What are we going to do next? A $7 fine for your putting your tongue into a blender? A $38 penalty for using an electric razor in the bathtub? A massive tax increase for voting Democratic? (Sorry, that was just gratuitous.)
  Just like people know smoking is bad for them, they know wearing a seat belt is good for them. There's no claiming ignorance. It's not like cars were just invented, and nobody knows how seat belts work. It's easy. It's inexpensive. It's fast. And it works.
  So seat belt laws must apply to kids. Children aren't old enough to understand the facts. And we have a responsibility to protect children from people (including parents) who put them in danger.
  Of course you'll find a handful of folks who actually believe it is safer not to wear a seat belt. They're the types who tell you that their Uncle Ted smoked 28 packs of Marlboros a day and lived 'til he was 93; therefore, smoking is safe. They also tell you that in a nasty car crash they'll be thrown safely out of the wreckage. If they wear a seat belt, they'd be trapped and surely die.
  Yes, these people are kidding themselves. But don't they have the right to make their own (bad) decisions about their personal safety? If they are wrong, and they are, they sacrifice their own lives, not others'. We don't force people into medical treatments they don't want. If your appendix bursts, and you treat yourself with herbal tea, that's your business. We don't fine you. Granted, it's hard to fine the dead (although creative liberals did come up with the death tax).
  Keeping stupid people alive against their will is not in our long-term interests. These idiots we save from their own irrationality reproduce and create even more brainless people. Before you know it, you have California.
  Trust me, Darwin hates seat belt laws.
   In fact, maybe police should pull folks over, and ask them to find the United States on a map. If they can't, they don't have to wear a seat belt.
  The reason most often given for protecting the endangered stupid is that when they injure themselves, we might pay the medical bills. It would seem that some of the stupid are too stupid to buy insurance, even though they are required to by law in order to drive. (But they'll follow the seat belt law?) This is a tempting reason, but where do you stop? Do we outlaw tobacco to save those who are too stupid to stop smoking? Do we fine people for eating fatty food? Apparently the answer is yes; these proposals are being debated on the state and national level now.
  We are not going to take someone off life support if they didn't wear a seat belt and didn't have insurance, just like we wouldn't do to the uninsured person who used herbs on the burst appendix. There is a cost, but it's preferable to the alternative: losing individual decisions over your own body.
  Maybe the stupid need their own Bill of Rights. It's the best way to guarantee people get smarter."

INCUMBENT PROTECTION MAILINGS (AT OUR EXPENSE)
    Well, it's the end of the Indiana General Assembly and I've gotten yet another multi-color, mult-page glossy mailer from State Representative Dave Cheatham.  This is the same Dave Cheatham who equated his cowardly walk out from the General Assembly to a serviceman being deployed to Afghanistan (sorry it was a kid in his wife's classroom who said it, yeah right! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwixYYFmSHI&feature=related). 
    It's bad enough to get this self-serving crud, but I even wrote him to get off his list of mailings! 
  On April 17:
Mr. Cheatham:
  Please stop mailing me your multi-color expensive mailers anymore which are funded at taxpayer expense. I find that your disingenuous information (vis a vis "Thousands of Hoosiers rally ..." when the majority of these people were bused in a union expense from outside Indiana) borders on propaganda. I found this practice revolting when Congressman Hill did it and would find it equally distasteful if a Republican did it.  I shall ask my fellow taxpayers to do the same.
Respectful to the office of State Representative,
Rick Reuss
  On April 18, I got the following:
Mr. Reuss,
  I will gladly stop mailing any information to you and your friends to not waste taxpayer money, especially since you will no longer be in my District. Many citizens want to be informed about issues, which you have made clear with your e-mail that you do not.
  On May 28, you guessed it, I got another mailer from Cheatham!  Earlier in the week, I got a multi-color, mult-page glossy mailer from Congressman Todd Young with the legend in the left hand corner "Official Business - This mailing was prepared, published, and mailed at taxpayer expense."  These mailings are expensive and unnecessary and the only purpose they serve is to act as campaign mailers for incumbent politicians.  It's wrong when Democrats do it and it's wrong when Republicans do it.  WHAT SAY YE, PATRIOTS?!!!! 
Action Plan: Contact these folks to stop sending these mailers and contact the newspaper editor to let them know of your dissatisfaction with these folks using monies we don't have for things we don't need!

BTW
    On Saturday, my radio partner Rick Berry and I taped a tutorial on "How to Do a Radio Ad" under the direction and production skills of my "twins" Joe and Alex.  We should have the finished production on youtube very soon!

MacARTHUR

    On this last Memorial Weekend, Turner Classic Movies and American Movie Classics are showing a lot of war movies.  The movie, MacArthur, was on Sunday morning.  His Duty, Honor, Country speech is timeless:

Douglas MacArthur:
"As I was leaving the hotel this morning, a doorman asked me, ‘Where are you headed for, General?'  And when I replied, ‘West Point,' he remarked, ‘Beautiful place.  Have you ever been there before?'
  No human being could fail to be deeply moved by such a tribute as this.  Coming from a profession I have served so long, and a people I have loved so well, it fills me with an emotion I cannot express.  But this award is not intended primarily to honor a personality, but to symbolize a great moral code - the code of conduct and chivalry of those who guard this beloved land of culture and ancient descent.  That is the meaning of this medallion.  For all eyes and for all time, it is an expression of the ethics of the American soldier.  That I should be integrated in this way with so noble an ideal arouses a sense of pride and yet of humility which will be with me always. ...
  Duty-Honor-Country.  Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be.  They are your rallying points; to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn.  Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.  The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase.  Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.
  But these are some of the things they do.  They build your basic character; they mold you for your future roles as custodians of the nation's defense; they make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.  They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success, not to substitute words for actions, not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm but to have compassion on those who fail; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future yet never neglect the past; to be serious yet never to take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness, the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.  They give you a temper of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, an appetite for adventure over love of ease.  They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life.  They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.
  And what short of soldiers are those you are to lead?  Are they reliable, are they brave, are they capable of victory?  Their story is known to all of you; it is the story of the American man-at-arms.  My estimate of him was formed on the battlefield many years ago, and has never changed.  I regarded him then as I regard him now - as one of the world's noblest figures, not only as one of the finest military characters, but also as one of the most stainless.  His name and fame are the birthright of every American citizen.  In his youth and strength, his love and loyalty, he gave all that mortality can give.  He needs no eulogy from me or from any other man.  He was written his own history and written it in red on his enemy's breast.  But when I think of his patience under adversity, of his courage under fire, and of his modesty in victory, I am filled with an emotion of admiration I cannot put into words.  He belongs to history as furnishing one of the greatest examples of successful patriotism; he belongs to posterity as the instructor of future generations in the principles of liberty and freedom; he belongs to the present, to us, by his virtues and by his achievements.  In twenty campaigns, on a hundred battlefields, around a thousand campfires, I have witnessed that enduring fortitude, that patriotic self-abnegation, and that invincible determination which have carved his status in the hearts of his people.  From one end of the world to the other he has drained deep the chalice of courage.
  As I listened to those songs of the glee club, in memory's eye I could see those staggering columns of the First World War, bending under soggy packs, on many a weary march from dripping dusk to drizzling dawn, slogging ankle deep through the mire of shell-shocked roads, to form grimly for the attack, blue-lipped, covered with sludge and mud, chilled by the wind and rain, driving home to their objective, and, for many, to the judgment seat of God.  I do not know the dignity of their birth but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory.  Always for them - Duty-Honor-Country; always their blood and sweat and tears as we sought the way and the light and the truth.
  And twenty years after, on the other side of the globe, again the filth of murky foxholes, the stench of ghostly trenches, the slime of dripping dugouts; those broiling suns of relentless heat, those torrential rains of devastating storm, the loneliness and utter desolation of jungle trails, the bitterness of long separation from those they loved and cherished, the deadly pestilence of tropical disease, the horror of stricken areas of war; their resolute and determined defense, their swift and sure attack, their indomitable purpose, their complete and decisive victory - always victory - always through the bloody haze of their last reverberating shot, the vision of gaunt, ghastly men reverently following your password of Duty-Honor-Country.
  The code which those words perpetrate embraces the highest moral laws and will stand the test of any ethics or philosophies ever promulgated for the uplift of mankind.  Its requirements are for the things that are right, and its restraints are from the things that are wrong.  The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training - sacrifice.  In battle and in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in His own image.  No physical courage and no brute instinct can take the place of the Divine help which alone can sustain him.  However horrible the incidents of war may be, the soldier who is called upon to offer and to give his life for his country is the noblest development of mankind.
  You now face a new world - a world of change.  The thrust into outer space of the satellites, spheres and missiles marked the beginning of another epoch in the long story of mankind - the chapter of the space age.  In the five or more billions of years the scientists tell us it has taken to form the earth, in the three or more billion years of development of the human race, there has never been a greater, a more abrupt or staggering evolution.  We deal now not with things of this world alone, but with the illimitable distances and as yet unfathomed mysteries of the universe.  We are reaching out for a new and boundless frontier.  We speak in strange terms: of harnessing the cosmic energy; of making winds and tides work for us; of creating unheard-of synthetic materials to supplement or even replace our old standard basics; of purifying sea water for our drink; of mining ocean floors for new fields of wealth and food; of disease preventatives to expand life into the hundreds of years; of controlling the weather for a more equitable distribution of heat and cold, of rain and shine; of space ships to the moon; of the primary target in war, no longer limited to the armed forces of an enemy, but instead to include his civil populations; of ultimate conflict between a united human race and the sinister forces of some other planetary galaxy; of such dreams and fantasies as to make life the most exciting of all time.
  And through all this welter of change and development, your mission remains fixed, determined, inviolable - it is to win our wars.  Everything else in your professional career is but a corollary to this vital dedication.  All other public purposes, all other public projects, all other public needs, great or small, will find others for their accomplishment; but you are the ones who are trained to fight; yours is the profession of arms - the will to win, the sure knowledge that in war there is no substitute for victory; that it you lose, the nation will be destroyed; that the very obsession of your public service must be Duty-Honor-Country.  Others will debate the controversial issues, national and international, which divide man's minds; but serene, calm, aloof, you stand as the nation's war guardian, as its lifeguard from the raging tides of international conflict; as its gladiator in the arena of battle.  For a century and a half you have defended, guarded, and protected its hallowed traditions of liberty and freedom, of right and justice.  Let civilian voices argue the merits or demerits of our processes of government; whether our strength is being sapped by deficit financing, indulged in too long; by federal paternalism grown too mighty; by power groups grown too arrogant; by politics grown too corrupt; by crime grown too rampant; by morals grown too low; by taxes grown too high; by extremists grown too violent; whether our personal liberties are as thorough and complete as they should be.  These great national problems are not for your professional participation or military solution.  Your guidepost stands out like a tenfold beacon in the night - Duty-Honor-Country.
  You are the leaven which binds together the entire fabric of our national system of defense.  From your ranks come the great captains who hold the nation's destiny in their hands the moment the war tocsin sounds.  The Long Gray Line has never failed us.  Were you to do so, a million ghosts in olive drab, in brown khaki, in blue and gray, would rise from their white crosses thundering those magic words - Duty-Honor-Country.
  This does not mean that you are war mongers.  On the contrary, the soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and bear the deepest wounds and scars of war.  But always in our ears ring the ominous words of Plato, that wisest of all philosophers, ‘Only the dead have seen the end of war.'
  The shadows are lengthening for me.  The twilight is here.  My days of old have vanished tone and tint; they have gone glimmering through the dreams of things that were.  Their memory is one of wondrous beauty, watered by tears, and coaxed and caressed by the smiles of yesterday.  I listen vainly, but with thirsty ear, for the witching melody of faint bugles blowing reveille, of far drums beating the long roll.  In my dreams I hear again the crash of guns, the rattle of musketry, the strange mournful mutter of the battlefield.  But in the evening of my memory, always I come back to West Point.  Always there echoes and reechoes in my ears - Duty-Honor-Country.
  Today marks my final roll call with you.  But I want you to know that when I cross the river my last conscious thoughts will be of the Corps - and the Corps - and the Corps.  I bid you farewell."  (Upon being awarded the Sylvanus Thayer Medal, at the plain of West Point, 1962)

Jefferson County GOP Chair Hits a Home Run in the Indianapolis Star

Kudos to Jefferson County Republican Chairman Mark Wynn for the following Letter to the Editor in today's Indianapolis Star:

Duped for Mourdock? Not so, Sen. Lugar

  The days of Indiana county political party chairs wielding power in smoke-filled rooms are long past. The ability to influence county jobs and collect revenue from license branches is no longer part of the Indiana political scene, and for good reason. The job now largely consists of recruiting candidates and making sure they have the financial means and grassroots support they need to win.
  That's why I am more than a little surprised at the attention we have been getting recently in the Indiana Republican U.S. Senate primary. It was reported recently that Sen. Richard Lugar is reaching out by telephone to county chairs. This follows an email sent by a Lugar staffer claiming that those county chairs supporting Richard Mourdock in his primary bid have been "duped."
  Well, consider me duped. My decision to support Mourdock is not based on tea party politics or strict adherence to conservative dogma. My decision is based foremost on my definition of representation. I believe that our elected officials should be available, responsive and responsible to the citizens they represent.
The number of times Lugar has been to Jefferson County in the past decade can be counted on one hand with fingers to spare. This isn't about contact with party officials. I don't need a phone call or to be courted, I simply need to know that you know our county exists and that you hear the concerns of our residents.
  I need to know that you have talked to our farmers, our factory workers, our small businesspeople. I need to know that you have some sense of the struggles and the challenges they face. They need to know that you are responsive; they need to know that they can expect more than a form letter to their questions and a fundraising letter every six years.
  Mourdock has been to Jefferson County multiple times in the past 12 months. I've talked with several of my fellow GOP chairs (not exactly at the heart of the tea party) who express the same frustration with Lugar and the same appreciation of Mourdock.
  I question the ability of an elected official to represent the people of his state when he keeps them at arm's length. The arrogance of the "duped" email is indicative of the sense of entitlement that the senator and his campaign appear to be suffering from. The Indiana Senate seat is no more Richard Lugar's seat than the Massachusetts Senate seat was Ted Kennedy's seat.
  Where so called "establishment" Republicans have been defeated, the media are quick to give credit to "extreme" wings of the GOP, or the tea party. I think it is much more likely that voters in those states suffered from the same feelings of disconnect that so many in Indiana are expressing.
Mark Wynn

Well done, Mark, albeit The War Eagle is very OK with "tea party politics" and "strict adherence to conservative dogma" as it's been a very long time since either have really been tried!  

Our "new" State Representative Terry Goodin

Last Saturday, I went to the wrap up Third House meeting where State Representative Dave Cheatham was, but also attending was our "new" State Representative Terry Goodin.  I don't know really why Goodin was there as the redistricting plan has not yet been implemented.  Figure it was his first campaign stop though in the 2012 election.

  I got there about 15 minutes late and there was not the crowd that there was last time (when ole Dave compared his walkout from the General Assembly to a soldier deploying to Afghanistan).  There were only 2 teachers there this time and they were very excited about what ole Dave and Terry did in their walkout. 

  I waited a little bit and told Mr. Goodin I didn't share their excitement.  In fact, I told him that I thought what he did was patently unconstitutional (I had a copy of the Indiana Constitution in my hand) and expected both in the future to either show up or resign.  They both continued to espouse they were "doing this for the children."

  Seems that Cheatham (retired teacher) and Mr. Goodin represent much more than our children.  Cheatham obviously the teachers' unions but, per the following, Goodin represents his own interests.  Should be an interesting 2012, Patriots!

 

March 14, 2011

CLERE: A formula for positive change

By ED CLERE
newsroom@newsandtribune.com
SOUTHERN INDIANA — Last Friday, I participated in a town hall meeting at Floyds Knobs Elementary School. Several hundred people attended the meeting, which was organized by a parent group. I was on a panel with Republican State Sen. Ron Grooms of Jeffersonville, Republican State Rep. Rhonda Rhoads of Corydon and Indiana Department of Education Assistant Superintendent Dale Chu.

Many of the questions from the audience were about vouchers and charter schools. Both are important topics, but one issue that continues to receive scant attention is the formula that determines how state funding for K-12 education is distributed to schools. I shared some information about school funding, and many in attendance were surprised by the figures.

The state budget proposed by House Republicans would maintain funding for K-12 education at the current level of $6.25 billion, which is about half of Indiana’s entire budget. Not a penny would be cut.

The funding formula has been manipulated for years. The proposed budget would make major changes to the formula, resulting in some schools receiving more money and some receiving less. The pot of money would stay the same, but how it gets dished out would change.

Writing in this space two weeks ago, I cited the Gary Community School Corporation as an example of a district that would receive much less funding under the proposed formula. The Gary schools are receiving $9,525 per student in state funding this year, compared to $6,043 for the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation.

Total funding for Gary is $94 million, compared to $67 million for New Albany-Floyd County. By the second year of the budget, Gary’s total funding would be reduced by $20 million to $74 million. Over the same period, New Albany-Floyd County’s total funding would be reduced by about $1 million because of an anticipated loss of approximately 260 students. Of course, if there are more students, the corporation will receive more money. Regardless, per-student funding would actually increase slightly to $6,066, while Gary’s would drop to $8,166 – still a $2,100 advantage over New Albany-Floyd County.

In other words, Gary is currently receiving $27 million more than New Albany-Floyd County, and under the proposed formula, in the second year of the budget, it would still receive $9 million more. One important fact puts the discrepancy in further perspective: New Albany-Floyd County currently has about 1,200 more students than Gary, and in two years, the gap is expected to increase to about 1,700.

So why does Gary get so much more than New Albany-Floyd County? Politics. Pure and simple. And it’s time to put an end to it. To ease the impact on schools that have been receiving more than their fair share, the proposed formula would create a nine-year transition.

I don’t mean to pick on Gary. It’s a good example, but there are plenty of others, including some closer to home. The lead voice for Indiana House Democrats on education issues is Rep. Terry Goodin of Austin. Two years ago, in the 2009 budget, he came up with yet another way to manipulate the formula to redirect money to politically favored schools – a small school grant. This year, because of the grant, $15.6 million is being redistributed statewide from larger districts to smaller districts.

One of the recipients is the Crothersville Community Schools, a district with two schools — an elementary school and a combined junior-senior high school – and a total of 533 students. Crothersville is in Jackson County, about 35 miles north of New Albany. Because of the small school grant, Crothersville is receiving an extra $97,249 this year. If it weren’t for the small school grant, that money would be going to other schools, including those in Floyd County.

Crothersville may argue it needs the money because it has high overhead expenses relative to its size. Those overhead expenses include a $133,176 salary for its superintendent, who happens to be Rep. Goodin.
Crothersville is receiving $7,206 per student this year — $1,163 more than Floyd County. Under the proposed funding formula, Crothersville’s per-student funding would be reduced to $6,717 next year and $6,565 in 2013 — still $500 more than New Albany-Floyd County’s funding.

Crothersville Elementary School has an enrollment of 264 students. Only three of those students are non-English speakers. Fifty-seven of the 285 students at Fairmont Elementary School in New Albany are non-English speakers. Fifty-two percent of the students at Crothersville Elementary are on free or reduced-price lunch, while at Fairmont the number is 84 percent. Why should money be taken from Fairmont and given to Crothersville?

Not every small school corporation benefits from the small school grant. The Lanesville Community School Corporation, with 644 students, isn’t receiving any money under the grant. Current per-student funding is $5,507, and it would increase slightly to $5,529 in the second year of the budget.

As the walkout by House Democrats entered its fourth week yesterday, the time for debating education issues continued to dwindle. It’s a shame, because there are a lot of important issues that deserve full, public debate.

There can be no debate, however, over the need to get politics out of the school funding formula.


Interesting, huh, Patriots?


In freedom (still),
The War Eagle

My Tea Party discussion of Flee Party Representative Dave Cheatham

At our Tea Party event on Saturday, April 16, I gave the following speech about Indiana 69th State Representative Dave Cheatham which is on Youtube:
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KODKArF_ovM

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THpPfvnLZW4
Here's the text:
    Thanks, Bulldog.    I'd like to take this opportunity to let you Patriots know what the guiding principles of the Sons and Daughters of Liberty are - there are thousands of organizations like ours across this great country and all have common themes, ours are:
•    public validation of the concepts of liberty; freedom; smaller, less intrusive government; and, the united states constitution.
•    provide a public forum for the free and rich exchange of ideas.   (The reason we are here today)
•    raise awareness of corruption in government.
•    not cease our relentless pursuit of those elected officials who have betrayed their oath or affirmation of office.
  This is the purpose of my talk today.
  We've generally confined our issues to national issues, but with the cowardly exploits of the Flee Party Democrats in avoiding their responsibilities in the Indiana General Assembly, I give you Indiana State Representative Dave Cheatham. 
  Now you've got to understand that Dave is a likeable fellow and actually ok on several issues - he's anti-property taxes and anti-illegal aliens, but he's shown his true colors in supporting liberal Representative Pat Bauer in walking away from their constitutional responsibilities in the longest walkout in the history of Indiana.  
  We had a radio ad to this effect trying to shame ole Dave to come back or resign.   (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBYpIfWVLSA&feature=related)
  Rick and I even offered Dave a spot on our radio show to try to explain what he did - indeed it was not going to be a gotcha format but it was going to be with conservative representative Jud McMillan to be in a point-counterpoint format. 
  Dave's response:
"Thanks for asking me to be on the show.   I e-mailed rick (the shorter) and let him know that I think the idea is good to talk about what is going on, so what I plan on doing is buying some time myself and having my own show with some guests from Jefferson County.   I am not sure when yet, but will work on details."  We haven't heard his show yet!!!!
  When constituents emailed him to implore him to come back, ole Dave contended that he had the moral high ground:
  "You are entitled to your opinion.   You have no idea what kind of courage it takes to do something unpopular when it means defending 1 million school children in this state. 
  I did the only thing left for me to do to stop the tyranny of the republican party.   The Republicans filibuster in the U.S. Senate when they don't get their way, as do the Democrats, why haven't you ever mentioned that?   Because you're biased by your Republican ideology, [you] show little compassion for those less fortunate than yourself.    I showed up for those children that need my voice the most, those Republicans that showed up at the statehouse are the ones who didn't show up for the most vulnerable ones in our state - the children. 
  I will give you a Bible verse: do not oppress the poor, the fatherless child, the widow, and the orphan.   For their defender is the lord almighty.   God will bring judgment on those who oppress the children.   Be careful of the words you use (this is to the emailer), you might regret it someday."
  Our Flee Party Representative contended that he has a constitutional basis to walk away from his job.   He seems to confuse this at times with the filibuster in the United States Senate which actually has rules to allow a filibuster.   Our State Constitution does not.
  What our State Constitution does say in Article 4, Section 11 "2/3s of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business; but a smaller number may meet, adjourn from day to day, and compel the attendance of absent members."  Too bad they couldn't figure out how to do exactly that.
  Well, ole Dave finally did deign to show up for a town hall meeting in North Vernon then the next week in Madison.
  The North Vernon meeting was comprised of Democrat operatives and teachers sympathetic to ole Dave.   I was there as well as my middle son.   Sentiments unsympathetic to Cheatham were met with derision by the partisan hacks.   Cheatham mistook sycophant applause for approval of his actions.
  Flush with his success in North Vernon, Cheatham sought to stuff the audience in Madison with his own crowd.   The following is from an email he sent to the Democrats in Jennings County:
  "The Madison Courier reported Tuesday that I was still in Illinois and they weren't sure if I would be at the 3rd House meeting in Madison on Saturday.   While this is completely untrue, I believe their purpose is to make people that support my stand believe that I won't be there so that our supporters won't come to the meeting.   This looks like double-dealing and I don't like it.   I hope that you can ‘cover my back' one more time and do all you can to get as many people from North Vernon to attend the meeting in Madison so we can show the public that people do support teachers and public education.   Let's not let the Madison paper get away with this and have large numbers of supporters be there so we can duplicate the success of the meeting we had in North Vernon."
  Now folks, the Madison Courier was slavish in putting anything Cheatham wanted in their paper before or after he gave this strawman argument.   But he said they were ripping him.   Ironic ain't it?  This is collusion and a tad unethical as well.   If you can't win with facts or ideas, stack the crowd.  As Paul Ryan said of our "historic leader" (Obama), Churchill might have said about ole Dave "he's basically a pyromaniac in a field of straw men!"
   The Third House meeting was memorable for one more thing that old Dave related.   It was a story in his wife's first grade classroom (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwixYYFmSHI&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL)
  Well, thanks to my 18 and 16 year old sons, we got this clip on youtube and it went viral.   It was featured on Sean Hannity's show on the Fox News Channel as well as Human Events, National Review Online, Hotair.com; Michelle Malkin's Blog; the Weekly Standard; Townhall.com; and, many others.   The weekend after the youtube was posted, I was at a camp with my 16 year old twins and their sophomore classmates.   It was really cool to be updated on the progress of this from my dear friends, Rick Berry and State Senator Jim Smith.  
  The outrage from all these sources was quotable but I think the words of our blogger and fellow patriot, John Mustain summarize the disgust of all of us at ole Dave's incredible analogy:
 "Dave Cheatham's little story has all the makings for a heart-wrenching, tearjerker of a tale.   The problem is, whether the story is fiction or non-fiction (and I am leaning toward fiction), it is an unsound argument that seems plausible at first but fails the test of reality.   Mr. Cheatham and his band of run-away democrats are frantically reaching for anything that might make sense of their walkout to their constituents.   Unfortunately for Rep. Cheatham, his story is a barf bag worthy insult to American soldiers and their bravery.
   I am a disabled American veteran.   Like so many others, I bear in my body and on my mind the scars of my service to my country.   I am not claiming bravery or heroism here.   I am simply trying to illustrate that I understand the difference between running to a fight and running from one.
  The American soldier to which Mr. Cheatham is referring is going off to war.   He will see things no human should have to see.   He will endure the harsh conditions of war.   He will suffer sleepless nights and hellacious days.   He will put his life in harm's way everyday he is in Afghanistan.   He will feel the anxiety of patrolling the streets amid a hostile people.   He will feel the emptiness of being without his family.   He may even lose his life leaving his wife a widow and his son without a father. 
  Nevertheless, one thing is for certain, Mr. Cheatham, the American Soldier you reference will not desert his post.   He will not go AWOL.   He will stand and fight, and through his bravery and heroism, he will help secure freedom for all Americans.
  Now let's see, Mr. Cheatham.   You and your rebel band of weak and fearful Democrats left Indianapolis and traveled in your luxury cars to the comfort suites in Illinois.   You slept in warm, soft beds.   When it got hot, you turned on the air conditioner.   When it got cold, you turned on the heater.   You safely traveled at will from your hideout to your home.   Hotel maids cleaned your room each day.   You sat in big comfortable chairs and played on your laptops.   Someone else prepared your meals…no C-rations or MRE's for you.   You abandoned your post, your place of duty.   You broke your sacred oath to not only all the voters in your district, but to all the voters of Indiana as well.   How can you possible equate your cowardice with the American soldiers bravery?
  The truth be told, Mr. Cheatham, your words and actions on Saturday, March 26, 2011, make you nothing more than an irritating pimple on that American soldier's behind.   It is such a tragedy that you have stooped so low.   Yes, Mr. Cheatham.   You have insulted a gallant American soldier and all of our brave men and women serving in the middle east.   You have insulted the people of Indiana by thinking them too stupid to see through your sophistry.
  So my question is this: if you have so little respect for the Indiana General Assembly, the American Soldier, and the People of Indiana, why don't you and your fellow scamocrats resign and go home?"
  Patriots, I can add nothing to john's eloquence other than to reflect that next year, Mr. Cheatham will be up for re-election.   Whoever runs against him might have a slogan "Dave was AWOL, I won't be!"  What say ye, Patriots, next year does ole Dave stay or does he gotta go?
  God bless you all and God Bless the United States of America!
In freedom (still),
The War Eagle