J's Cafe Nette

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The comment section of this piece at The Strata-Sphere provided a link to this information:

Michele Bachmann asks “What in the world is going on in the White House?” and then proceeds call for an independent investigation into the White House for offering a judgeship to the brother of a member of Congress and then asking that member for their vote on health care.

Leaves one longing for a Republican administration when the press did their job, doesn’t it?

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We haven’t made a post in several days, but we have both been busy. I with grandchildren and concerts, appointments and other things such as trying to neaten up my house for spring.

Sue has been busy shoveling snow at least once a week and taking care of her grandchildren, taking them to school and picking them up etc. as we do too.

We haven’t forgotten you, but life seems to have gotten in the way these past few days. Continue to come back and pretty soon you’ll see something.

I also have writer’s block. I can’t seem to decide what I want to write and what I want to say with all the things going on. In the end, it doesn’t make a bit of difference in the way the world turns.

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If this doesn’t make you laugh then hopefully it will at least make you smile!

Enjoy!

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Who says it’s not fun to be part of the “golden years” crowd?

I caught the few moments FNC put up of the following video and immediately hoped that I could find the entire performance so it could be shared.

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Today is the 37th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States. Since January 22, 1973, over 50,000,000 lives have ended by abortion.

Last year Robert P. George, J.D., D.Phil., McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, founder of the American Principles Project and member of the Drafting Committee of the Manhattan Declaration made these remarks in his speech, Our Struggle for the Soul of Our Nation:

…In the name of a generalized “right to privacy” allegedly implicit in the Due Process Clause of the Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment, seven justices created a license to kill the unborn…. Read the rest of this entry »

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Without going into detail, I want to tell you I have been slack in posting anything lately.

There has been a crisis in my family that has taken a lot of my time on the phone and on my knees praying. It looks as though things will work out by Feb. 3, but that date could be extended also. Right now steps at reconciliation are being taken and they are steps in the right direction.

While this affects my family it is not my immediate family, i.e. my husband, children or their families.

I know Sue has been sick with a nasty cold and busy with her charitable work during the Christmas season and caring for her two granddaughters all at the same time.

We haven’t forgotten you, dear readers, but sometimes life puts different priorities on us such that we cannot meet other commitments. This is one of those times and I offer you my humblest apologies.

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I was musing over the photo of Obama bending to the Emperor of Japan. Everyone is all up in arms about it because it’s not presidential and other leaders didn’t bow to this man who is not a head of state. People say Obama did it all wrong, but I believe I know why he did it.

As a person who has chronic lower back pain I know that if I bend over the way he did it relieves the pain. Now, at my age, you can never tell if strange sounds might come from the back of me, so this was a very daring move by Mr. Obama.

Or maybe he did it because he was having gas pains and had to double over at that particular moment. I don’t know. I’m just guessing, but I’m sure he had a reason other than to show his behind to our faces and thereby slap every American in the face with his bow. After all, he does love America, doesn’t he? Well, doesn’t he? He loves her enough to tell everyone all around the world how bad we are and that takes a lot of love. /Sarcasm

Obama’s gubmint wants to purchase an almost new and unused prison in Thompson, Ill, about 50 miles from Chicago, to use for the Gitmo detainees.

The governor of Ill and Sen. Dick Durbin are all excited, saying it will bring about 2,000 much-needed jobs to the area. Now, I ask you: Would you work in that prison for a lot of money if you had the opportunity? Remember the guy in NY who had his eye gouged out and still has brain damage to the point he can’t speak due to an attack by two Al Qaeda prisoners trying to escape.

I think it will be very exciting to bring Khalid Sheik Mohammad to NY for his trial also. Actually it will be a bang up job for the administration to do so by bringing him and several other terrorists to American style justice.

Think of the glee of the defending lawyers: No Miranda rights given to these guys when they were captured arrested, waterboarding poor Mohammad into confessing something he would never do such as plan the WTC attacks etc.

Evidence to be thrown out because of technicalities and a slap on the wrist and free trip home so he can do it all again. I am constantly amazed at the foresight of this administration. How fortunate we are to have them in office. /Sarcasm

I think our gubmint should also provide these wonderful model citizens with a steady diet of pork. After all, if Christ told Peter to eat pork against his will, then they can eat pork for their cause too. They can enjoy high blood pressure with the rest of us as they eat “unclean” meat.

It would also be a great opportunity for the ghosts of three thousand innocent people killed in the WTC bombings to bother the Sheik and his minions just 3,000 feet away from the wreckage where they died. Maybe every one of them will take turns haunting them until they kill themselves. Great thinking by Obama and Holder.

These are my weird thoughts. What are yours?

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On Thursday, President Obama said:

“We are open to any demonstrably good idea to supplement the steps we’ve already taken to put America back to work”

Well, someone is willing to take him at his word and you betcha she’s ready with a demonstrably good idea!

Thank you, Washington, for Requesting a Demonstrably Good Idea

I commend the president for acknowledging today that “there are limits to what government can and should do” to ease our 10.2% unemployment rate – the highest it’s been since 1983. I also applaud his call for suggestions and expression of openness to considering “any demonstrably good idea.” Taking him at his word, I’d like to suggest this one: let’s learn from history and follow the example of the man who occupied the White House in 1983 and was able to transform an even worse recession than the one we’re currently experiencing into the largest peacetime economic expansion in American history.

When you realize the magnitude of President Reagan’s achievements, there is absolutely no reason why anyone would ignore his “demonstrably good” example. If you want real job growth, cut taxes – including capital gains taxes and small business payroll taxes – and slay the death tax once and for all. If you want to stimulate the economy and help poor and middle class families, cut payroll taxes so that more Americans can keep and invest more of what they earn.

If you want lasting economic expansion and prosperity, get the federal government’s budget under control. Instead of more pork-laden stimulus plans, let the free market correct itself. That’s what Reagan did, and history proves it worked….

More demonstrably good ideas at the link!

Perhaps Congress also needs to hear a few of these demonstrably good ideas!

Crossposted to Be John Galt and RedState Member Diaries.

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H/T: Politico, Sarah Palin’s Facebook Notes (my emphasis, thanks to Clyde5445 for the link).

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His death was a lot easier and less painful than his victims’.

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I appreciate Sue taking the reins and posting here for the past few days, along with the posts INC has made.

I was diagnosed with high blood pressure last Tuesday at my regular diabetes check-up. I also got a shot that is supposed to prevent, or at least minimize, shingles. I still have a nice purple mark on my arm at the injection site, but neither the shot nor the bruise hurt.

On Thursday I got the results of my blood-work and the doctor included a prescription for cholesterol and triglyceride control. He’s the only doctor I’ve ever had who is so intense about triglycerides. I came off one pill when he put me on the blood pressure medicine and came off another when he put me on the triglyceride medication.

I had a terrible headache all day Tuesday and most of Wednesday. The shot and the high blood pressure medication can cause it, but I suspect it’s the shot since it went away so soon.

Right now I’m struggling with the exhaustion of the blood pressure and triglyceride medications and hope those side effects are over soon. It seems I can’t get fully awake before I feel tired again. These are also side effects.

Sometime in the next two weeks I have to go back for a blood pressure check and then I’ll get the 90 day prescription for that medication.

Bear with me for awhile and I’ll come back complaining about the Democrats and their plan to destroy the country as we knew it. I say that in past tense because they’ve already changed it from the way I knew it.

I did manage a call to my congressman’s office to tell him he will never again have my vote after he voted for this abomination of a health care bill on Saturday. I called Plosi’s office to let her know the dress she wore last Saturday was not flattering to her upper figure as you could tell her age by looking at her chest. I suggested she wear jackets or loose tops.

I also called John Boehner’s office and thanked him for standing up for us on Saturday as well as the entire Republican caucus save Cao from Louisiana, who did it to be re-elected, but he’ll never again be elected in a majority Democrat district with a majority of African-American voters. He’s kidding himself if he thinks he will be.

Anyway, it’s late and I’ll sign off for now. Keep reading us, loyal readers, and we will continue to provide you with facts and not just rumors.

Here’s a fact: This 1200 calorie diet I am on is about to kill me, but it will get better as I get used to it. I just have to be very careful of what I eat since I’m diabetic and now have high blood pressure. I’ve found myself reading the labels of everything. For instance, for my purposes, an English muffin has fewer calories than the reduced calorie bread, but it has more fat and cholesterol, so it’s whole grain, low calorie toast for me. And those tuna packed in water sandwiches hit the spot at lunchtime, along with ten grapes.

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Let’s play, Who Said This?

“Does anybody think that the teabag, anti-government people are going to support them if they bring down health care? All it will do is confuse and dispirit” Democratic voters “and it will encourage the extremists.”

emphasis-admin

Nice to see some honesty from the man for a change.

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67 years ago, November 3rd, 1942, was the beginning of the end of the Second Battle of El Alamein. By November 4th Rommel was in retreat from Montgomery’s forces.

On November 10, 1942, Winston Churchill said of El Alamein,

I have never promised anything but blood, tears, toil, and sweat. Now, however,

The bright gleam has caught the helmets of our soldiers, and warmed and cheered all our hearts….

…General Alexander and General Montgomery fought it with one single idea. they meant to destroy the armed force of the enemy and to destroy it at the place where the disaster would be most far-reaching and irrecoverable….

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

This year began with the inauguration of a president who quickly began to extend the power and reach of the federal government as his programs and policies dealt severe blows to the economy. He developed a shadow cabinet of power-wielding czars without accountability, committed to radical leftist ideology.

Citizens slowly began to awake with concern about taxes and spending in the stimulus bill and growing consternation over the White House programs and personnel. On February 15, Keli Carender of Seattle organized a grassroots protest and on February 19, Rick Santelli in his rant cried, “This is America!” and called for a Tea Party! Momentum grew as Tea Party protests started taking place across the nation. A national Tax Day Tea Party was planned. As the government proceeded with the takeover of two of the big three auto makers and the bullying of banks, more citizens became outraged.

The Tea Party protesters were ridiculed and defamed, but they continued to make their signs and show up: veterans, grandparents, children, moms and dads, and students. 4th of July Tea Parties came with their emphasis of our heritage of liberty and the reminder that our nation was founded as a Constitutional Republic.

Then came the August Town Halls protesting the massive government debt and the proposed takeover of the health care industry. YouTube came into its own as video after video was posted of citizens confronting Congress, revealing the breadth and depth of concern and anger over the fiscal irresponsibility and political overreach of the Obama administration and the Democrats. On September 12th the Tea Party movement marched on Washington, D.C., and hundreds of thousands of Americans protested the programs and policies designed without regard to liberty and fiscal and moral responsibility.

Yet still Democrats moved ahead with arrogance, trying to bluff their way to the most massive government grab for power in the history of our country. On the other side of the aisle Republican party leaders also ignored the concerns of the grassroots, but this time in NY-23, citizens and conservative leaders were able to wrench the direction of a campaign and bring to national prominence the concerns of citizens who will consent to be governed, but who will not be ruled.

So here we are, with even NPR saying: Coming Tuesday: ‘A Referendum On The President’.

Today is the end of our beginning. May today be our El Alamein!

It may almost be said, “Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.”

Winston Churchill

In What men may do, we have done. Moe Lane wrote that today is a prologue to 2010:

…today is the day that we start to take back that which was ours.

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Crossposted to Be John Galt and RedState Member Diaries.

H/T: BBC, The Churchill Society, Michelle Malkin, Hot Air, The Corner, NPR, Wikipedia, RedState.

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Ed Driscoll explains.

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Via Gateway Pundit:

Jumping in Pools Blog is a website that specializes in writing realistic but fake stories, publishing them and then watching who will link to their bogus news story. The blog does not identify itself as a satire site and several of their satire pieces are so close to fact that it is hard to tell the difference. Don’t be fooled. Several conservatives have fallen for their pranks and Reuters even published one of their posts at least once. This is a dangerous website.

Pass it along!

*(Update) In the comment section Sally has pointed out that the site above is not satire as stated at Gateway Pundit.

Usually I do check out all information for myself prior to posting but in this instance I did not so I offer my humble apologies to Jumping In Pools. This does indeed apear to be a site which is straight up with posts written as satire addressed as such.

Again, I apologize.

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“What are they trying to hide?”

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In a news release today the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee announced that in the interests of Oversight and Reform they would be accepting applicants for the position of Supervisor of Oversight and Reform of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The qualified applicant must have experience with recalcitrant children and have proven ability in the training and instilling of respectful behavior in all ages. Mothers and grandmothers between the ages of 45 to 65 who have successfully reared their children to mature adulthood will receive special consideration.

Late Tuesday afternoon, The Hill reported:

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present.

Now why would he do such a thing?

Last Thursday Committee Republicans, led by Issa, were poised to force an open vote on the subpoenas [re: Countrywide Mortgage & VIP deals] at a Committee mark-up meeting. The mark-up was abruptly canceled. Only Republicans showed up while Democrats chairs remained empty….

Republicans charged that Towns cancelled the meeting to avoid the subpoena vote. Democrats first claimed the mark-up was canceled due to a conflict with the Financial Services Committee. Later they said it was abandoned after a disagreement among Democratic members on whether to subpoena records on the mortgage industry’s political contributions to Republicans.

A GOP committee staffer captured video of Democrats leaving their separate meeting in private chambers after the mark-up was supposed to have begun….

“It’s not surprising that they would choose to retaliate given the embarrassment we caused by catching them in a lie on tape,” said Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella.

Crossposted to Be John Galt and RedState Member Diaries.
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H/T: Hot Air (link), The Hill, The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Republicans.

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Toppling dominoes is fun. It’s fascinating to plan and set up an elaborate line that curves and weaves across the floor, carefully placing each small block to make sure that when the first one is finally nudged over, it starts the momentum that makes all of the rest eventually fall. The havoc is short lived and easily remedied, and when you’re finished you can always put the dominoes back in the box.

Government programs are frequently the lead domino in a row of cause and effect. Sometimes they’re implemented with less recognition of consequences than you plan for when you begin to set up dominoes on your dining room table.

With Saturday’s Facebook Note, Good Intentions Aren’t Enough with Health Care Reform, Governor Palin points out some of the dominoes that health care reform will topple. She first highlights a few of the problems with the non-Baucus bill of the Senate Finance Committee (Please remember as William Jacobson of Legal Insurrection wrote, THERE IS NO BAUCUS BILL. She is responding to the “concepts” of the Committee.) and warns:

Unintended consequences always result from top-down big government plans like the current health care proposals, and we can’t afford to ignore that fact again.

She outlines some of the consequences set up by the non-Baucus bill, mentioning higher health insurance costs and lower wages and states:

The Senate Finance bill is effectively a middle class tax increase, and as Holtz-Eakin points out, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation those making less than $200,000 will be hit hardest. [6]

She documents the numerous broken promises of President Obama regarding (1) the Stimulus Plan, (2) his pledge of no closed-door meetings with health care lobbyists and (3) his refusal to sign any non-emergency bills before they have been posted on the web for five days, providing opportunity for public review and comment.

Just in case they didn’t get the message the first time, she reminds the Senate Finance Committee that real money can be saved by tort reform before she wryly concludes:

Here’s a novel idea. Instead of working contrary to the free market, let’s embrace the free market. Instead of going to war with certain private sector companies, let’s embrace real private-sector competition and allow consumers to purchase plans across state lines. Instead of taxing the so-called “Cadillac” plans that people get through their employers, let’s give individuals who purchase their own health care the same tax benefits we currently give employer-provided health care recipients. Instead of crippling Medicare, let’s reform it by providing recipients with vouchers so that they can purchase their own coverage.

Now is the time to make your voices heard before it’s too late. If we don’t fight for the market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven reform plan that we deserve, we’ll be left with the disastrous unintended consequences of the plans currently being cooked up in Washington.

Sarah Palin is warning this is one domino row that shouldn’t be toppled.

Crossposted to Be John Galt and RedState Member Diaries.

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H/T: Hot Air, Sarah Palin Facebook Notes, Legal Insurrection, Rogue Doe Cartoon: used by permission.

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This certainly does look interesting:

Tonight is a big night in many ways. It will be the world premiere of a very important movie that will outline the problems with the Global Warming alarmists and their false claims. The movie is called Not Evil, Just Wrong.

But as important, the premiere will be across the internet and in local premieres.

Much more information at The Strata-Sphere including a promotional trailer.

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If this is true, I see no way it helps the Republicans in 2010. No way at all.

More, here.

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One piece of art.

Appropriate words.

Wraps it all up nice and tidy, don’t you think?

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Tuesday, October 6, 2009 11:48 AM, EDT

Praise the Lord! Last night Belle went all night with the drain clamped and this morning the doctor took it out. He told Kelley that she looked great. Thank you Lord for staying with my baby all night. “I lift up my eyes to the hills— where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Belle
will neither slumber nor sleep.” Ps 121

Please visit CaringBridge where you will find the remainder of Tuesday’s updates and can continue to follow the progress of both Belle and her family. Please continue to keep them all in your thoughts and prayers.

Jeanette says: Our church youth made about 400 bells with pink ribbons and small safety pins attached for us to wear. When people ask what it is for we tell them about Belle and ask them to pray for her.

If you wish to do so, all you need is a small bell of the jingle bell variety, a piece of pink ribbon and a small safety pin. Put the ribbon through the bell and attach the safety pin and put it on your shirt, blouse or dress top for Belle. When asked why you are wearing it use it as an opportunity to tell others about Belle, ask them to pray for complete healing and direct them to the Caring Bridge site listed above by Sue.

The bell should look something like this:

Each time you see it yourself be reminded to say a prayer for Belle and for her complete healing.

I thank you on behalf of our church and Belle and her family.

Sue, I deeply appreciate you keeping everyone updated on Belle while I’ve been off doing other things.

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Five minutes of pure entertainment.

The Temptations v. The Four Tops:

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Take a few moments and read this first hand account of the events of 9-11-2001, shared by Allahpundit.

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This evening at 7:45 ET, the Wall Street Journal published a opinion editorial by Sarah Palin:

Obama and the Bureaucratization of Health Care

Writing in the New York Times last month, President Barack Obama asked that Americans “talk with one another, and not over one another” as our health-care debate moves forward.

I couldn’t agree more. Let’s engage the other side’s arguments, and let’s allow Americans to decide for themselves whether the Democrats’ health-care proposals should become governing law.

With those words she begins another exquisitely timed attack on Obama’s plans for a health care bill.

She discusses his plan to create an Independent Medicare Advisory Council and reiterates her previous statement about death panels:

Establishment voices dismissed that phrase, but it rang true for many Americans. Working through “normal political channels,” they made themselves heard, and as a result Congress will likely reject a wrong-headed proposal to authorize end-of-life counseling in this cost-cutting context. But the fact remains that the Democrats’ proposals would still empower unelected bureaucrats to make decisions affecting life or death health-care matters. Such government overreaching is what we’ve come to expect from this administration.

She next moves on to discuss the fiscal implications:

The CBO estimates that the current House proposal not only won’t reduce the deficit but will actually increase it by $239 billion over 10 years. Only in Washington could a plan that adds hundreds of billions to the deficit be hailed as a cost-cutting measure.

The economic effects won’t be limited to abstract deficit numbers; they’ll reach the wallets of everyday Americans. Should the Democrats’ proposals expand health-care coverage while failing to curb health-care inflation rates, smaller paychecks will result.

She next demolishes his argument that health care “reform” will give consumer protection by holding insurance companies accountable, by deftly turning his words and using it as an argument against Obama and the Democrats:

And it’s true that insurance companies can be unaccountable and unresponsive institutions—much like the federal government. That similarity makes this shift in focus seem like nothing more than an attempt to deflect attention away from the details of the Democrats’ proposals—proposals that will increase our deficit, decrease our paychecks, and increase the power of unaccountable government technocrats.

Finally, she calls for:

…real health-care reform: market-oriented, patient-centered, and result-driven….giving all individuals the same tax benefits received by those who get coverage through their employers; providing Medicare recipients with vouchers that allow them to purchase their own coverage; reforming tort laws to potentially save billions each year in wasteful spending; and changing costly state regulations to allow people to buy insurance across state lines.

Her conclusion:

Democrats have never seriously considered such ideas, instead rushing through their own controversial proposals….They will not improve our health care. They will not save us money. And, despite what the president says, they will not “provide more stability and security to every American.”

We often hear such overblown promises from Washington. With first principles in mind and with the facts in hand, tell them that this time we’re not buying it.

Once again her timing reveals her as a point guard who has mastered when and where and how to move on the court. The common sense suggestions she mentions will resonate with Americans.  She is driving the discussion.

Obama’s speech now becomes a response to her editorial!

Crossposted to RedState Member Diaries.

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H/T: bc3b: WSJ link; Wall Street Journal.

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Project 2,996 is a tribute to the victims of 9/11.

On September 11, 2006, more than 3,000 bloggers joined together to remember the victims of 9/11.

Each year we will honor them by remembering their lives, and not by remembering their murderers.

Dale Challener Roe needs many more volunteers to write a tribute remembering our fellow Americans.  Please consider writing one.   She has instructions here for you to follow if you do not have a website.  She also has tips for research.

This is the sign-up page.

Never forget.  Always remember them.

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“A rabble in arms, flushed with success and insolence.”

–General Burgoyne to Lord Rockfort describing American troops before Boston.

When we were living in New England some years ago, one day I visited a favorite used book store. As I was talking books and history with the husband of the store owner, when he asked if I’d read Kenneth Roberts. I said, “No,” and he exclaimed, “You’ve never read Rabble in Arms!” Again, I replied, no, but with the anticipation that all bibliophiles know when they realize they are about to be given a new author to read.

Kenneth Roberts opens Rabble in Arms with the above words of General Burgoyne and finishes with the Second Battle of Saratoga in which Burgoyne is defeated by the “rabble” he had so derisively described. The story begins in early 1776, and follows the American northern army during the retreat from Canada through the building of the first American Navy and the valiant delay of the British on Lake Champlain in the Battle of Valcour Island, to the turning point of the Revolutionary War: the Battles of Saratoga in 1777.

The story of the campaigns to stop Carleton and Burgoyne as they moved south is a story of perseverance when circumstances were grim and the odds offered no hope. It is a story of a frequently incompetent Congress that directed and interfered in matters with little understanding as it promoted and rewarded those who should have been ignored or disgraced. It is a story of petty jealousies and revenge among men who used their positions of authority in self-serving efforts and protection. It is also a story of a few leaders who sacrificially held to their course and inspired men to stand with them. It is a story to read in hard and difficult times.

“…I turned to see where the British were. The Inflexible was coming into the wind, preparatory to tacking, far out beyond the headland. She fell off slowly on the other tack, working her guns with grim persistence. The shot splashed astern of the beached vessels. All of them were burning, the smoke and flames rolling and crackling from cabins and hatches. At their mast-heads flew our red and white flags, each with its rattlesnake and the words “Don’t Tread On Me.”

There was satisfaction in the knowledge that in three days of fighting, the British hadn’t been able to make us haul them down. And there was something in the sight of them that seemed to half strangle me. I think the scores who lay behind such shelters as the beach afforded, waiting for the fire to take those flags, must have felt as I did; for when Arnold, standing alone in the bow of the Congress to watch the progress of the flames, turned and stepped up on the bulwarks, the men burst into a shrill and quavering cheer that sounded as choked as my throat felt.”

Kenneth Roberts was a Down Easter, who was born in Kennebunk, Maine, and his books reflect the seaport heritage of Maine. At times you may disagree with the shades of his bias, but he was known for his historical accuracy and his books provide entrance into the early days of our Republic. In 1957, he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize: Special Awards and Citations, for his historical novels : “…which have long contributed to the creation of greater interest in our early American history.”

Other Roberts books I’ve enjoyed:

Arundel (1929) – The American Revolution through the Battle of Quebec

The Lively Lady (1931) – War of 1812

Rabble in Arms (1933) – Sequel to Arundel; the American Revolution through the Battles of Saratoga

Captain Caution (1934) – War of 1812

Northwest Passage (1937) – French and Indian War and the Carver expedition

Oliver Wiswell (1940) – The American Revolution from a Loyalist’s perspective

Lydia Bailey (1947) – The Haitian Revolution and the First Barbary War

Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood.

John Adams

1765 – A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law

Crossposted to Be John Galt and RedState Member Diaries.

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H/T: Navy Jack: NavyJack.info.; Wikipedia; Who’s who of Pulitzer Prize winners, Elizabeth A. Brennan, Elizabeth C. Clarage, (571); Patriot Post, Founders Quote Data Base.

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Are you thinking along the lines that government controlled health care is a good idea?

This might just change your mind.

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Many of us first became aware of the influence of Saul Alinsky on the Democrat Party upon learning that Hillary Clinton had written her Wellesley College senior thesis, “There is only the Fight” on Saul Alinsky. When Barack Obama’s experience as a “community organizer” was highlighted in the campaign last year, it was greeted with scoffing and laughter because knowledge of this Alinsky term was not yet widespread. Since his inauguration, as the direction and consequences of his administration’s policies have become increasingly evident, there has been growing consternation and renewed interest in understanding Saul Alinsky and his influence on the Obama administration.

As background, from Saul Alinsky’s book Rules for Radicals: A Practical Primer for Realistic Radicals, here is a list of Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals (HT: Moe Lane for the link) with a brief explanation for each. This short Wikipedia article highlights his rules of the ethics of means and ends taken from a chapter in Rules for Radicals. Discover the Networks has a biography and analysis of Alinsky’s thinking as well as a list of related reading:

In the Alinsky model, “organizing” is a euphemism for “revolution” — a wholesale revolution whose ultimate objective is the systematic acquisition of power by a purportedly oppressed segment of the population, and the radical transformation of America’s social and economic structure. The goal is to foment enough public discontent, moral confusion, and outright chaos to spark the social upheaval that Marx, Engels, and Lenin predicted — a revolution whose foot soldiers view the status quo as fatally flawed and wholly unworthy of salvation….

But Alinsky’s brand of revolution was not characterized by dramatic, sweeping, overnight transformations of social institutions. As Richard Poe puts it, “Alinsky viewed revolution as a slow, patient process. The trick was to penetrate existing institutions such as churches, unions and political parties.” He advised organizers and their disciples to quietly, subtly gain influence within the decision-making ranks of these institutions, and to introduce changes from that platform.

Before the election last fall, Dan McLaughlin wrote an invaluable series on the candidates. The second part was the lengthiest and the most detailed:

POLITICS: The Integrity Gap, Part II of III: Sen. Barack Obama

The first post in Part II is the introduction and contains links to six different sections of Part II, detailing the background and rise in politics and power of Barack Obama. The section titled, Obama’s Rootless Ambition looks at the influences that shaped Obama before he ran for office, contains these pertinent sentences on the influence of Saul Alinsky on Barack Obama:

During law school, Obama “spent eight days in Los Angeles taking a national training course taught by [left-wing theorist Saul] Alinsky’s Industrial Areas Foundation.” * (More on Alinsky and Obama’s community organizer days here, and on the Alinsky’s explicit advocacy of dissembling and moral relativism here).

There are four embedded links, including the asterisk as a separate one.

The first link is to an Investor’s Business Daily editiorial, titled, Barack Obama’s Stealth Socialism. The second link, at the asterisk, is to a column from The New Republic Online, The Agitator. This extensive post outlines Obama’s training in politics and power.

Kruglik remembers this episode as an example of why, in ten years of training organizers, Obama was the best student he ever had. He was a natural, the undisputed master of agitation, who could engage a room full of recruiting targets in a rapid-fire Socratic dialogue, nudging them to admit that they were not living up to their own standards. As with the panhandler, he could be aggressive and confrontational. With probing, sometimes personal questions, he would pinpoint the source of pain in their lives, tearing down their egos just enough before dangling a carrot of hope that they could make things better.

In the 13 years between Obama’s return to Chicago from law school and his Senate campaign, he was deeply involved with the city’s constellation of community-organizing groups. He wrote about the subject. He attended organizing seminars. He served on the boards of foundations that support community organizing. He taught Alinsky’s concepts and methods in workshops. When he first ran for office in 1996, he pledged to bring the spirit of community organizing to his job in the state Senate. And, after he was elected to the U.S. Senate, his wife, Michelle, told a reporter, “Barack is not a politician first and foremost. He’s a community activist exploring the viability of politics to make change.” Recalling her remark in 2005, Obama wrote, “I take that observation as a compliment.”

By defining himself as a “community organizer” above all else, Obama is linking himself to America’s radical democratic tradition and presenting himself as an heir to a particular political style and methodology that, at least superficially, contrasts sharply with the candidate Obama has become….

Obama so mastered the workshops on power that he later taught them himself. On his campaign website, one can find a photo of Obama in a classroom teaching students Alinskian methods. He stands in front of a blackboard on which he has written, “Power Analysis” and “Relationships Built on Self Interest,” an idea illustrated by a diagram of the flow of money from corporations to the mayor….

…When Obama returned to Chicago to practice law, he joined the board of Rudd’s foundation. Now he was going to the other side. “That’s a switch!” she told him. Obama insisted that nothing would change. “Oh no,” he said, according to Rudd. “I’m going to use the same skills as a community organizer.”

In fact, Obama had already been applying Alinsky’s core concepts–rigorous analysis of an opponent’s strengths, a hardheaded understanding of self-interest as a fundamental organizing principle, a knack for agitating people to act, and a streetwise sense of when a raw show of power is necessary–to situations beyond the South Side….

Speaking of what he learned as an organizer, Obama himself told me, “I think that oftentimes ordinary citizens are taught that decisions are made based on the public interest or grand principles, when, in fact, what really moves things is money and votes and power.”

The third link is to another of Dan McLaughin’s posts, POLITICS: The Organizer-Based Community, which features the photo of Obama teaching Alinsky. It was written prior to his lengthy Integrity Gap series.

The fourth and last link is to another Investor’s Business Daily editorial, Obama’s Radical Roots And Rules:

Alinsky’s writings even explain what often seems like Obama’s oversized ego….

According to Alinsky, “Ego must be so all-pervading that the personality of the organizer is contagious, that it converts the people from despair to defiance, creating a mass ego.”…

Alinsky also readily admitted that he didn’t trust the people themselves. “It is the schizophrenia of a free society that we outwardly espouse faith in the people but inwardly have strong doubts whether the people can be trusted,” he wrote. “Seeking some meaning in life,” the middle class, according to Alinsky, “turn to an extreme chauvinism and become defenders of the ‘American’ faith.”

This is evocative of Obama’s remark during the primaries that small-town Americans are “bitter” and “cling to guns or religion.”…

Obama’s rhetorical window-dressing is easily recognizable as Alinskyesque camouflage….

On August 16th, David Horowitz began a series on Saul Alinsky and radicals. Two continuing themes that I noticed were deception: Horowitz notes the radicals’ core of dishonesty: any means are justified to achieve the desired end; and destruction: of opponents to their cause, of our way of life and of our Constitutional form of government, as radicals work to take power from the “Haves” and give it to the “Have-Nots” (as defined by them).

Horowitz wrote of the deception and destruction of Alinsky radicals; add to those themes the themes of ego, distrust and disdain found in the background material of Dan McLaughlin’s series. Ego is the keystone of the arch of power acquisition.  One branch of the arch is Actions: deception and destruction; the other side of the arch: Attitudes: distrust and disdain.

I have previously stated that I don’t think judgments about chaotic messages or disorder bother Obama. The conflicting messages and obvious lies are simply tactics to move forward in acquisition of power. Logical and cohesive statements and organized government are unimportant except as they further his purpose. The things that I’m aware of that have angered him have been criticisms of his person and fury regarding opposition. It is my opinion this has occurred because these have been directed at the keystone of ego.

This week Glenn Beck is doing a series titled: The New Republic: America’s Future. Sarah Palin has written:

FOX News’ Glenn Beck is doing an extraordinary job this week walking America behind the scenes of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and outlining who is actually running the White House.

Monday night he asked us to invite one friend to watch; tonight I invite all my friends to watch.

Michelle Malkin and Rush Limbaugh have been guests on Beck’s program this week. Thursday evening David Horowitz will be talking with Glenn Beck.

Obama has not misread his mandate, for I believe a mandate was a negligible factor to him; all he needed to do was to be able to say, “I won.” He has, however, misread the American people. We the People, need to ensure that we do not misread him.

It is necessary for every American, with becoming energy to endeavor to stop the dissemination of principles evidently destructive of the cause for which they have bled. It must be the combined virtue of the rulers and of the people to do this, and to rescue and save their civil and religious rights from the outstretched arm of tyranny, which may appear under any mode or form of government.

Mercy Warren

1805

- History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution

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David Horowitz’ series, Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me:

Part I: Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me

Part II: Hell on Earth

Part III: Boring From Within: Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me

Part IV: To Have And Have Not: Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me

Part V: Post-modern leftism: Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me

Part VI: Means and Ends One: Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me

Part VI continued: Means and Ends Two: Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me

Part VI (continued 2): The Nazi Option: Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me

__________

H/T: Newsreal Blog, Discover the Networks, Miyamoto’s Public Relations Resource, Moe Lane, Wikipedia, Baseball Crank, Investor’s Business Daily, The New Republic, BizzyBlog, New York Post, FOX News, brucefdb, Conservatives4Palin, Sarah Palin, Politico, The Patriot Post: Founders Quote Database.

Crossposted in a modified format to Be John Galt and RedState Member Diaries.

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Glenn Beck’s theme for his programs this week is The New Republic: America’s Future. Michelle Malkin was on today, Rush Limbaugh will be on tomorrow, and Thursday, David Horowitz will be on the program.

On Sunday a week ago, Mr. Horowitz wrote a post titled, Alinsky, Beck, Satan and Me.    This was the first post of a series he began in preparation for his interview with Glenn Beck.    He now has eight posts up, with Part VI divided into three separate posts.

The first post dealt solely with the dedication of  Rules for Radicals.

“Lest we forget, an over-the-shoulder acknowledgment to the very first radical:” (Pause there for second. Now continue): “from all our legends, mythology, and history(and who is to know where mythology leaves off and history begins — or which is which), the first radical known to man who rebelled against the establishment and did it so effectively that he at least won his own kingdom — Lucifer.”

So Alinsky begins by telling readers what a radical is. He is not a reformer of the system but its would-be destroyer. This is something that in my experience conservatives have a very hard time understanding….They assume that radicals can’t really want to destroy a society that is democratic and liberal and has brought wealth and prosperity to so many. Oh yes they can….

Until conservatives begin to understand exactly what drives radicals and how dishonest they are — dishonest in the their core — it is going to be very hard to defend the system that is under attack. For radicals the noble end — creating a new heaven on earth — justifies any means. And if one actually believed it was possible to create heaven on earth, would he not willingly destroy any system hitherto created by human beings?

I think Alinsky did the dedication, at least in part, for shock value. Horowitz uses the shock value by listing Satan’s tactics in order to wake up conservatives to several things.  I’ve summarized his points with alliteration to highlight the comparison.

1. Destruction: The radicals’ goal of destroying our system of government and life.

2. Dishonesty: The radicals’ core of dishonesty–the end justifies any means. Horowitz uses the example of ACORN and election fraud in his post.

3. Deception: The radicals’ continual name changing (he says progressives is the most consistent) to hide their agenda.

4. Draw: The radicals’ mentality (you shall be as gods).

5. Dominion:

Oh, and let’s not forget this — the kingdom that the first radical “won” was hell.

I highly recommend the series.  It may take a while to work throught it, but if you are unfamiliar with the ideas of Saul Alinsky and his influence, this series is an excellent place to start.  It is posted at NewsReal Blog a brain child of the David Horowitz Freedom Center and Discover the Networks.

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H/T:  NewsReal Blog

Crossposted in a modified format to Be John Galt.

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