Month: April 2010

Quote of the Day – ‘We’ve Met the Enemy’ Edition

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From a comment to a WaPo piece, Obama’s 17-minute, 2,500-word response to woman’s claim of being ‘over-taxed’ from yesterday:

The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president.

The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails us. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.

Posted by: Grandpa2 | April 3, 2010 11:24 PM

But what if he’s not? A fool, that is.

I’ve been arguing since about day one on this blog that the unannounced but obvious purpose of our public school system over the last 100 years has been the deliberate dumbing-down of the electorate so that they would be easier to lead around, said purpose justified by a philosophy that made its end game the destruction of the capitalist West – a philosophy still around even after the collapse of its spawning ground, the Soviet Union. “Grandpa2” believes Obama a fool that the country can survive, but 95 year-old Harold Estes is concerned that he’s not a fool, but a determined enemy. Lou Pritchett shares that concern.

So do I.

But “Grandpa2” has hit upon the problem: we elected him. Not only that, but we settled for John McCain as his opponent. And before that, George Bush and John Kerry, and before that George Bush and Al Gore. And before that….

Comedian Lewis Black had it right, back during the run-up to the 2000 election. “In my lifetime,” he said, “we’ve gone from JFK to Al Gore. In my lifetime, we’ve gone from Ike to G.W. Bush.

“If this is progress, in a few years we’re going to be voting for PLANTS!“

And not wondering why.

They’ve trained us well.

But Can it Survive Emnity?

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That was a question I asked last August when I wrote Restoring the Lost Constitution. I quoted from Orson Scott Card’s recent book Shadow of the Giant:

(America) was a nation created out of nothing – nothing but a set of ideals that they never measured up to. Now and then they had great leaders, but usually nothing but political hacks, and I mean right from the start. Washington was great, but Adams was paranoid and lazy, and Jefferson was as vile a scheming politician as a nation has ever been cursed with.

…

America shaped itself with institutions so strong that it could survive corruption, stupidity, vanity, ambition, recklessness, and even insanity in its chief executive.

But, I asked, can it survive enmity?

Today I received an interesting email from a coworker about a letter sent to The Won by a WWII veteran. Here’s that letter in its entirety:

Dear President Obama,

My name is Harold Estes, approaching 95 on December 13 of this year. People meeting me for the first time don’t believe my age because I remain wrinkle free and pretty much mentally alert. I enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1934 and served proudly before, during and after WW II retiring as a Master Chief Bos’n Mate. Now I live in a “rest home” located on the western end of Pearl Harbor, allowing me to keep alive the memories of 23 years of service to my country.

One of the benefits of my age, perhaps the only one, is to speak my mind, blunt and direct even to the head man. So here goes:

I am amazed, angry and determined not to see my country die before I do, but you seem hell bent not to grant me that wish.

I can’t figure out what country you are the president of. You fly around the world telling our friends and enemies despicable lies like:

“We’re no longer a Christian nation”

” America is arrogant” – (Your wife even announced to the world,” America is mean-spirited. ” Please tell her to try preaching that nonsense to 23 generations of our war dead buried all over the globe who died for no other reason than to free a whole lot of strangers from tyranny and hopelessness.)

I’d say shame on the both of you, but I don’t think you like America, nor do I see an ounce of gratefulness in anything you do, for the obvious gifts this country has given you. To be without shame or gratefulness is a dangerous thing for a man sitting in the White House.

After 9/11 you said, “America hasn’t lived up to her ideals.”

Which ones did you mean? Was it the notion of personal liberty that 11,000 farmers and shopkeepers died for to win independence from the British? Or maybe the ideal that no man should be a slave to another man, that 500,000 men died for in the Civil War? I hope you didn’t mean the ideal 470,000 fathers, brothers, husbands, and a lot of fellas I knew personally died for in WWII, because we felt real strongly about not letting any nation push us around, because we stand for freedom.

I don’t think you mean the ideal that says equality is better than discrimination. You know the one that a whole lot of white people understood when they helped to get you elected.

Take a little advice from a very old geezer, young man.

Shape up and start acting like an American! If you don’t, I’ll do what I can to see you get shipped out of that fancy rental on Pennsylvania Avenue .. You were elected to lead not to bow, apologize and kiss the hands of murderers and corrupt leaders who still treat their people like slaves.

And just who do you think you are telling the American people not to jump to conclusions and condemn that Muslim major who killed 13 of his fellow soldiers and wounded dozens more. You mean you don’t want us to do what you did when that white cop used force to subdue that black college professor in Massachusetts , who was putting up a fight? You don’t mind offending the police calling them stupid but you don’t want us to offend Muslim fanatics by calling them what they are, terrorists.

One more thing. I realize you never served in the military and never had to defend your country with your life, but you’re the Commander-in-Chief now, son. Do your job. When your battle-hardened field General asks you for 40,000 more troops to complete the mission, give them to him. But if you’re not in this fight to win, then get out. The life of one American soldier is not worth the best political strategy you’re thinking of.

You could be our greatest president because you face the greatest challenge ever presented to any president.

You’re not going to restore American greatness by bringing back our bloated economy. That’s not our greatest threat. Losing the heart and soul of who we are as Americans is our big fight now. And I sure as hell don’t want to think my president is the enemy in this final battle.

Sincerely,

Harold B. Estes

Neither do I, Mr. Estes, but I’m wondering how hell I could tell the difference?

This letter reminded me of another, written by a former vice-president for Procter & Gamble, Lou Pritchett:

Dear President Obama:

You are the thirteenth President under whom I have lived and unlike any of the others, you truly scare me.

You scare me because after months of exposure, I know nothing about you.

You scare me because I do not know how you paid for your expensive Ivy League education and your upscale lifestyle and housing with no visible signs of support.

You scare me because you did not spend the formative years of youth growing up in America and culturally you are not an American.

You scare me because you have never run a company or met a payroll.

You scare me because you have never had military experience, thus don’t understand it at its core.

You scare me because you lack humility and ‘class’, always blaming others.

You scare me because for over half your life you have aligned yourself with radical extremists who hate America and you refuse to publicly denounce these radicals who wish to see America fail.

You scare me because you are a cheerleader for the ‘blame America’ crowd and deliver this message abroad.

You scare me because you want to change America to a European style country where the government sector dominates instead of the private sector.

You scare me because you want to replace our health care system with a government controlled one.

You scare me because you prefer ‘wind mills’ to responsibly capitalizing on our own vast oil, coal and shale reserves.

You scare me because you want to kill the American capitalist goose that lays the golden egg which provides the highest standard of living in the world.

You scare me because you have begun to use ‘extortion’ tactics against certain banks and corporations.

You scare me because your own political party shrinks from challenging you on your wild and irresponsible spending proposals.

You scare me because you will not openly listen to or even consider opposing points of view from intelligent people.

You scare me because you falsely believe that you are both omnipotent and omniscient.

You scare me because the media gives you a free pass on everything you do.

You scare me because you demonize and want to silence the Limbaughs, Hannitys, O’Relllys and Becks who offer opposing, conservative points of view.

You scare me because you prefer controlling over governing.

Finally, you scare me because if you serve a second term I will probably not feel safe in writing a similar letter in 8 years.

Lou Pritchett

But then I tell myself that these are both obviously heterosexual white males and are thus racist homophobes and xenophobes and probably almost definitely Republican Palin-supporting teabaggers, so I can safely dismiss their concerns – the Media tells me so.

When Does a Wookie-Suit Become Evening Wear

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I’m beginning to understand the fascination that sociology holds for some people. I came across an AP piece today that was originally published on Sunday, Prosecutor: Agent infiltrated Christian militia. Since it’s an AP piece, I won’t tempt their wrath by actually quoting from it, I’ll instead quote one of the commenters (at the time of this writing there are 12,443 comments):

the comments are a @#$%load more interesting than that waste of time “story/non-story”
three unspecified arrests of unspecified persons for unspecified crime/s in unspecified places, insinuating that unspecified persons may belong to an unspecified militia.(a 2nd amendment right) oh my! – Pooh, 967+/194-

The last number, 967+/194- is the “approve/disapprove” rating given by the readers of the comment. I’m in agreement with “Pooh.” Others were as well:

Could this article be any more vague? Jeesh. Not news worthy without information. John B. 3/28 1:04pm 2036+/419-

what did they do,couldn”t make much sense from the article – Richard 1:10 pm 1733+/324-

That was apparently OK though, because it didn’t prevent many from commenting on what they thought it was about.

The truly fascinating thing about the comments, though, was not so much what was said, but the tone and to some extent the approval/disapproval ratings.

From a quick sampling, I call the ratio about four parts anti-government/pro-liberty, two parts pro-government anti-right, and about one part each of neutral and “WTF, over?” (those being comments that leave you scratching your head wondering WTF the commenter intended to say).

Here are a few representative samples from immediately after the story posted:

Tea party terroists strike again. – Paul 3/28/10 1:29pm PDT 364+/724-

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It aint over until they bust and waterboard Glen Beck – Knight 3/28/10 1:34pm PDT 514+/708-

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You can stop all this nonsense by shutting down RUSH LIMB, glen Beck, Hannity, you know what just shut dow FOX NEWS…Radio and TV people are useless. Bunch of people sitting on their arses expressing their oppinion that I don’t give darn about.. – David 3/28/10 1:47pm 363+/648-

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just another tea bagger republican who dosen’t want to pay his taxes like the rest of us. he wants to operate his illegal meth labs and illegal distilleries to making his moonshine and raping his nine year old cousin doing the lords work by being fruitful and multiplying and claims the government is infringing on his freedoms and rights and stocks his pantry with guns and bullets and bibles instead of food. he buys them with his welfare check.hallelujah praise god bubba now past me that bottle of moonshine and that mexican ak-47 . i think i see them damn government revenuers coming i can’t tell though i can’t see to good shouldn’t have taken that last hit of meth. – Daffy22 3/28 2:02pm 148+/329-

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They are nuts, the REPUBLICANS, are promoting rage, Palin say the REPUBLICANS are tie to the TEA PARTY, and the TEA PARTY is evil and to me they are dangerous, every time they start up, there is more more killing, more harsh words, they are lack of moral value, just because some did not want HEALTH PLAN, doesn’t mean the rest of AMERICANS did not want it, just cannot satisfied very one.

THE AMERICA WAY IS DEMOCRATIC WAY, just be glad, happy and enjoy it
THE JUG HEAD PROMOTING SUES
AGAIN WASTING OUR TAX PAYERS MONEY, IS THAT WHAT THE AMERICAN WANT? BECAUSE THAT IS AGAIN OUR MONEY IS BEING SPEND FOR SOMETHING GOOD FOR THE PEOPLE – Wanda G 2:12pm 89+/229-

I didn’t format any of these. They’re taken verbatim from the comments. Note their scores.

From the other side:

Why do you, whichever of you, say derogatory things about Tea Party people? I have not gone to a Tea Party meeting, but the last time I looked, this still was The United States of America, operating under the Constitution. These people have every right to rally and say basically whatever. That’s America. I will say this, the history of America has always been one set of ideas competing against another. Another side of America is that sometimes it has come to a face to face confrontation. I hope it doesn’t, but I would expect many of the Tea Party types to be there if it comes to it. The idea of America is a free flow of political ideas. Try and stop that, and something else may flow. That’s our history. – William 3/28/10 1:49pm 657+/125-

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Oh (expletive deleted) wonderful. The last thing we needed right now was for the Obama administration to turn the paranoid delusions of the extreme right-wing crazies into reality. One would sincerely hope the FBI had actual evidence of actual crimes committed or planned. If not, this is just pouring gasoline on a fire.
I hear the government sent troops to confiscate an illegal arsenal in Concord, Mass., and they ended up in a running firefight with the local militia. Oh, wait- that was April 18th 1775- the “shot heard ’round the world” that began the American Revolution. – Ostlandr 3/28/10 2:05pm 334+/92-

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Let me get this straight. Muslim terrorists threaten and kill thousands of Americans and Homeland Security tells us not to call them terrorists. A Christian militia group THREATENS muslim groups and the FBI and Homeland Security perform raids around the country rounding up these “terrorists” to protect who? Whose side are they on? – Scorchin_blues 2:08pm 322+/102-

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When arrests are made, indictments, especially federal, should NEVER be sealed. Our government is totally out of control. But then, Waco proved that. – WillamK 2:10pm 255+/58-

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Meanwhile, radical Muslims are living in Virginia right in the shadow of our Nation’s Capitol. And Barack Hussein ‘I’m not really a Muslim, I’m just named after one of the most revered Muslims, and both my father and step-father were both Muslims and I spent my developmental years living in Muslim countries’ Obama turns a blind eye. – M 2:11pm 266+/118-

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The mighty Homeland Security Forces, under the auspices of our Beloved Leader Barak Hussein Obama, have swooped down on the evil heartland of America and apprehended 3 very suspicious Bible readers who also owned guns and were concerned about so many Jihadists allowed to festoon the urban areas of our nation. Wow…..I wish I could have seen them slide down from the ropes of their black helicopters and bust through the windows of those bungalows with their automatic weapons. I makes me proud of this what this country has become. Janet Napolitano warned us about these evil doers…now I feel so safe. – Shannon – 2:13pm 232+/97-

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Everyone in the USA should own a gun to protect themselves from the power hungry – Opps did I say that 1:20pm 1356+/393-

Personally, I have to say I share Daphne’s position on this story:

My level of trust in the government has reached such a low point that I am seriously doubtful that the militia people recently arrested actually did anything criminal. I’m inclined to believe that they’re nothing but political scapegoats to further the White House meme that white, Christian, right-wing protesters are dangerous extremists.

I know, that sounds nutty, but I still remember the murders committed by our government at Waco and Ruby Ridge the last time a Democrat administration went on this sort of witch hunt.

Could be wrong, but I remember (I think) John Ross in Unintended Consequences saying something on the order of “You can always tell which militia member is an undercover Fed. He’s the one agitating for violent action,” or words to that effect.

Anyway, I don’t think that the comment thread to that article is representative of the general public, but I do think it may be representative of the politically active subset of that group.

Which means that the “Tough History Coming,” as Peggy Noonan put it so long ago, appears to be coming closer.

Read that piece, and think on Billy Wilder’s words.