We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
The below is copied from Home Of Heroes. I hadn't heard this story before. On this day, 70-years after Pearl Harbor, take some time to navigate around the site, and find many stories you may not have heard before. And remember. And resolve for our future that lays in the hands of our Presidents to come and our servicemen and women who rise to the challenges for us all.
At 7:58 A.M. Paradise was shattered. The first of two separate waves of Japanese fighters and bombers unleashed death and destruction on the city below. Amid the bullets raking her deck, the men of the Nevada stood in formation without breaking ranks until the flag had been raised and the "Star Spangled Banner" finished its refrain. Then they begin what ultimately became a two hour struggle for survival. They watched in horror as the first bombs hit their sister ship the U.S.S. Arizona. A few minutes after 8 A.M. the Arizona sank beneath the surface of the harbor taking 1,103 men of its 1,400 crew to a watery grave.
Caught completely unawares, the devastation was unbelievable. By 10 o'clock 7 of the Navy's heavy battleships had either sunk or were severely damaged. Of 394 airplanes on the island, 140 were destroyed and 80 more damaged. The island lay in smoky ruins, 2,330 Americans killed, 1,145 wounded. Smoke from the Arizona filled the morning sky bearing mute testimony to the total destruction wrought by the enemy. But through the pall of smoke one image remained, the flag of the United States of America. It was the one symbol of hope, a reminder that freedom had survived and would ultimately triumph. When it seemed that all hope had vanished with the last whisps of smoke from the Arizona, the Red, White, and Blue still waved over Hawaii.
Does a math professor at California State University, Northridge, have the right to use the university’s web server, the url being the university’s, to post a hate page against Israel and Jews?
The webpage says, “Israel is the most racist state in the world at this time,” Israel engages in “ethnic cleansing”, says “No” to the question “But aren't Palestinians equally responsible for the violence?”, posts links to other similar charges from the usual assortment of Israel-haters, and calls for a boycott of Israel.
According to the California State University’s legal counsel, “The California State University is committed to protect against the misuse of its name.” He continues on “Misuse of the CSU name”, "It is inappropriate to use the CSU name without the written permission of the institution for any purpose, including:…Advertising any meeting or activity that has the purpose of supporting or opposing any strike, lockout, boycott, or political, religious, sociological or economic activity…"
Yet, according to the Cal State Northridge president, retiring this month, a review of the professor’s webpage, spurred by many letters of complaint, “raised many difficult issues, it found no such violations.
This morning on the way to Sunday School, my boys complained at my classical music radio station, "There's no words." Our Maggie's Farm pinup Marianne wrote me later about a childhood experience:
I wonder whether you’ve ever heard Rosa Ponselle. She is the first opera singer I ever heard and the one who made me fall in love with singing. Caruso discovered her on “the Borscht Circuit” where she was singing duets with her sister. They called themselves “Those Italian Girls” and they simply bowled Caruso over. He arranged an audition for her with the manager of The Metropolitan Opera, and he was bowled over by the beauty of her voice and her skill in singing and immediately offered her a contract. Talk about a fairy tale! In the early 1930s, I was just a little squid, and had to take a nap every afternoon. I had smuggled my Mom’s radio into my room and one Saturday afternoon, I found the Metropolitan Opera broadcast, which absolutely astounded me. That’s when I fell in love with opera.
I went to YouTube, listening to many of Rosa Ponselle's recordings, and went to WikiPedia to learn more about her. To sum it up, Maria Callas called Ponselle, "The greatest singer of us all." The New York Times critic called her voice "vocal gold."
Here's Rosa Ponselle in one of her greatest, demonstrating her unique range:
And, as Sunday comes to a close, here's Rosa Ponselle with one of her fitting non-operatic entries:
Every day that I know Marianne is a perfect day. Including one like this when she helps me get vengeance on my boys.
It is ironic that Jews are fighting the establishment on many college campuses, since Walt and Mearsheimer assert that Jews either are or control the establishment. However, an establishment has arisen at many colleges that tolerates, even supports, a leftist and pro-Palestinian alliance that attacks Israel and Jews and that undermines free speech and academic freedom.
The 1947 film produced by Darryl Zanuck, A Gentleman’s Agreement, stunned audiences with the exposure of upper-class bigotry toward Jews. It was elected the best movie of the year in the Oscars, won two more Oscars, and was nominated for five more.
This post, Jews Confront The Gentlemen’s Agreement On Campuses, is about two such groups that have been successful, and the depth of the gentlemen’s agreement on college campuses that is not only hateful or allows hate but is also inimical to free speech and academic freedom.
My deep felt thanks goes to one of the most prestigious publications, Arma Virumque of The New Criterion, and to its editor Roger Kimball, for posting an abridged version of Jews Confront The Gentlemen's Agreement On Campuses. As in all things, Kimball and The New Criterion stand up for the best of Western culture, under attack for its decency by those who would destroy it. (Just dive in to and savor The New Criterion's December 2011 issue, now online.)
In A Gentleman’s Agreement a reporter passes himself off as Jewish to explore anti-Semitism. He is shocked at how deep it runs among professional associates and friends, even his girlfriend. The gentleman’s agreement operated behind the scenes to discriminate against Jews despite laws or promises, while publicly denying its existence or that the perpetrators are bigots. Zanuck, not Jewish, decided to make the movie after he was rejected for membership in the Los Angeles Country Club who thought he was Jewish. Wikipedia continues: “Before filming commenced, Samuel Goldwyn and other Jewish film executives approached Darryl Zanuck and asked him not to make the film, fearing that it would "stir up trouble".”
Since then, American Jews have come to enjoy and expect successful acceptance in the United States. American Jews, also, took pride in the successes of Israel and Israel’s repeatedly almost-miraculous defensive wars against Arab invaders. Still, Israel and its bad neighborhood was thought of as far away. But, no longer.
Virulent pro-Palestinian groups ally with leftist groups that attack the US as they do Israel. Their demonstrations, their hate language toward Israel and Jews, their disruptions of pro-Israel speakers, their violence, have become all too common-place on US college campuses. Jews on campuses and outside have been shocked at this and have been even more shocked at the neutrality or support for these haters by some college administrators and faculty.
This post, Jews Confront The Gentlemen’s Agreement On Campuses, examines how Jewish groups are now fighting back against this new radical gentlemen’s agreement. Many Jews in “establishment” positions are as blind as the old Hollywood moguls, and complicit in not more forcefully confronting fellows in the establishment about this renewed anti-Semitism. Many Jews of the political Left are downright dismissive of the dangers of the excesses of the pro-Palestinian radicals they ally with.
Like Darryl Zanuck and the reporter in the film, the pro-Israel groups covered in my article are not afraid to “stir up trouble” to confront the hate culture that runs rampant on too many college campuses. More and more US Jews now know that Israel’s defense is no longer far away, and their own defense as Americans enjoying free speech, academic freedom, non-discrimination is under attack within academia, often looked away from or abetted by those in responsible positions who Jews once thought of as decent people.
For Internet posterity and additional guidance for those who may want to be more active, continue on to see “Jews Confront The Gentlemen’s Agreement On Campuses” in the much longer version of the article, which contains some differing views and lessons-learned/how-tos at the end.
Today, there’s a new gentlemen’s agreement on many college campuses that tolerates and often supports anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism. Shocked out of their comforts, many Jews are fighting back.
Danny Bloom is an American expatriate enjoying his cyberholic life in Taiwan. He writes:
CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan –As many readers know, the old song called “Amazing Grace” was a religious hymn written by the English clergyman John Newton and first published in 1779. While the song has a soulful, dreamy melody that has touched millions with its words and plaintive notes, the time has come for a 2011 rewrite.
Why tamper with something as beautiful as “Amazing Grace” since it is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world, and people know the melody in Asia and Africa as well? The original is a good song, a perfect song, with inspiring words, yet here I go with my updated revision. Instead of “amazing grace,” I want to talk about our amazing human race. So my title is “Amazing Race.”
Being myself a lover of Amazing Grace, I was skeptical.........until I listened to this. Wonderful. The lyrics are at the above link.
Britain's Financial Times does its usual fine reporting on today's Vietnam. Some excerpts:
Just five years ago, Vietnam was the darling of foreign investors in search of the next hot emerging market after China, where Soviet-style stagnation had been transformed into an economic boom by a reforming Communist party....
Deep-seated problems, such as corruption, poor education and infrastructure bottlenecks – all often overlooked by investors in the boom years – have moved into sharp focus....
To many analysts, Vietnam serves as a warning of the pitfalls facing the region, even as Europe and the US struggle with their own economic crises. The Asian Development Bank has warned that Asia’s rise is not preordained – and that nations such as Vietnam, as well as China, will need to take tough political choices....
A bigger question is whether authoritarian regimes can develop high-income economies while sustaining a political system that curtails public debate and fails to promote the establishment of the strong, independent institutions needed to combat corruption and wasteful state spending.
Difficulties are in evidence across the country. A series of interest rate hikes, started this year as the government belatedly moved to get a grip on monetary policy, has delivered a hard blow to the economy. The key refinancing rate stands today at 15 per cent. Thousands of businesses have been forced to close, record numbers of strikes have broken out and bad debts have soared. Enquiries from new foreign investors have slowed dramatically, according to lawyers and consultants....
This has all appeared to overwhelm the government of Nguyen Tan Dung, prime minister, and the country’s ruling cadre – most of whom are alumni of Soviet-era institutions. Rather than pursuing further reforms, they have resorted to knee-jerk, backward-looking measures, including a crackdown on free speech, curbs on the import of luxury goods and restrictions on visas for foreign workers....
Social discontent appears to be on the rise, with land protests becoming common in Hanoi, as hard-up farmers complain that they have been short-changed by officials selling their land to well connected businesses on the cheap.
Some Vietnamese officials have conceded to foreign diplomats that they are worried about an Arab spring-type rising breaking out. Diplomats say this is likely to be little more than an attempt to justify a continuing crackdown on human rights.
Corruption is a serious problem, though the benefits are shared more equally than in Arab dictatorships toppled this year. Graft and weak governance remain significant obstacles for investors, particularly since the American and British governments began strict enforcement of laws against bribing overseas officials....
Authoritarianism seeds its own demise. Rather face the US or Europe's problems, wouldn't you?
The riots by anti-Vietnam war protestors at the Democrat Convention in Chicago in 1968 received mostly favorable coverage from the major media at the time, as it bemoaned the police actions. Contrary to their expectations, public opinion was negative toward the protestors and Democrats seen as weak on public order, which helped elect Richard Nixon.
Democrat and Republican presidential campaign sages likely studied this and are planning for similar events in 2012.
Then, avoiding the draft motivated most college-age protestors to join in with radicals whose program was supporting North Vietnam. Now, the financial and career repercussions of loan debt and fading job prospects sends students to the barricades to demand continued societal financial support for avoiding their fate, and liberals are supporting this to defeat Republicans who want to face up to our debilitating deficits and stagnant economy.
That is the sharp difference between then and now. The anti-Vietnam war protestors, although having much support among leading Democrats, were largely independent of the Democrat Party and its organizations. Their primary target was to elect anti-Vietnam war Democrats and to confront Democrat presidential nominee Vice-President Hubert Humphrey for his public fealty to President Johnson’s war policies. Today, there is major financial and manpower support for the OWSers from a key and critical Democrat base, the liberal labor unions, and there are major Democrat leaders, right up to President Obama, publicly for the OWSers.
Now as then, protestors provoke police actions to clear their blocking of public spaces, not to mention police the violence and rapes occurring within their encampments or clean up their fetid messes. Now as then the liberal media neglect to report mush of the excesses by protestors and castigate the police, and by extension those who believe in public order.
A prediction. Although some OWSers will interrupt Democrats, (President Obama today replied to the OWSers, “You are the reason I ran for office.”) the Democrat powers behind the OWSers will try to gather them at the Republican presidential nominating convention in 2012 in Tampa, Florida, for a repeat of Chicago 1968. The question. Will the OWSers end up helping the Republican nominee’s election in 2012 as in 1968?
Snark question: Will they bus in "homeless" people?
University of California President Mark Yudoff on Sunday issued a press release that “ I am appalled by images of University of California students being doused with pepper spray and jabbed with police batons on our campuses.” President Yudoff went on:
I intend to convene all 10 chancellors, either in person or by telephone, to engage in a full and unfettered discussion about how to ensure proportional law enforcement response to non-violent protest.
To that end, I will be asking the chancellors to forward to me at once all relevant protocols and policies already in place on their individual campuses, as well as those that apply to the engagement of non-campus police agencies through mutual aid agreements.
Further, I already have taken steps to assemble experts and stakeholders to conduct a thorough, far-reaching and urgent assessment of campus police procedures involving use of force, including post-incident review processes.
This prompt action stands in stark contrast to how President Yudoff handled the outrageous and illegal interruptions of Israel Ambassador Oren’s speech at UC Irvine in February 2010.
When I was able to get on a military transport home to the East Coast from the West just before going on to Vietnam, it was all officers on board except me (then a Lance Corporal). Regardless of rank, I was fully treated as an equal. When we arrived at New Jersey's Maguire AFB, anti-Vietnam protesters surrounded the gates, blocking buses in to NYC. Several high-ranking officers invited me to share their cab, at no cost (knowing I cleared about $100 a month).
When I returned from Vietnam and was mustered out, all my college friends -- most opposed to the US in Vietnam -- threw me a welcome home party. It was totally sincere and non-political. Many told me I had experienced something they couldn't imagine and wouldn't risk, and wondered what that would add to my life or diminish in theirs. -- However, my first date after that was with a girl who asked if I'd killed any babies in Vietnam. I didn't date for many months after.
My point is that almost any who have an inkling, a modicum of sense, have respect for our service. As decades have gone by, most Americans have realized that respect is due.
All this is by way of introducing you to read all of Justin Timberlake's awakening to respect. Then, for rueful chuckles at a complete fool in a dangerous position of academic authority, I invite you to read this post, and wonder "why can't this jerk be more like Justin Timberlake?"
A clip from a series on History Channel about Vietnam experiences told by those who served. This clip expresses experiences shared by many of us returning to the States. Today and every day, better Veterans Days.
Is it just a coincidence that November 11 is the celebration of Veterans Day and St. Martin’s Day? I haven't found documented evidence that the two are connected. (The evidence of the connection may be in some memoir of decision-makers.) Yet, it does seem more than a coincidence, rooted in Christian and European culture.
St. Martin’s Day is widely celebrated in Europe, its roots going back to one of the earlier Christian saints, who as Wikipedia describes it:
The feast day is November 11, the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, who started out as a Roman soldier. He was baptized as an adult and became a monk. It is understood that he was a kind man who led a quiet and simple life. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. That night he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. Martin heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clothed me." …
St. Martin's Feast is much like the American Thanksgiving [a thanking for bounty harvest festival]…In many countries, including Germany, Martinmas celebrations begin at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of this eleventh day of the eleventh month….
In another Wikipedia entry, the widespread adoption of St. Martin as a saint to the military is described. “He was a brave fighter, knew his obligation to the poor, shared his goods, performed his required military service, followed legitimate orders, and respected secular authority.”
The armistice ending fighting (at least on the Western Front) was signed at 5AM on November 11, 1918, scheduled to take effect at the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The diplomatic wrangling leading to the armistice had gone on for several months. So, the fighting didn’t end just because of St. Martin’s Day, but the timing of the signing and cessation very likely was a reach into a shared meaning in Christian and European culture.
Today’s Veterans Day, in the US, and similarly timed observances in other countries, owes its roots to Armistice Day, and even to St. Martin.The word “chaplain” – military clergy from the various religions -- traces back to the “capellas”, early churches that had relics of St. Martin’s cloak, later churches being named “chapels”.
President Woodrow Wilson's proclamation of the first Armistice Day is fitting: "To us in America, the reflections of armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations." Those who served, who we honor today, brought peace and justice at the ultimate sacrifices of comforts and, for many, of life. The eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is a well-fitting time to remember that.
Hot News: "Designers from Studio Roosegaarde, an interactive design firm in the Netherlands, has created dresses that react to the wearer’s body, as well as to those around her. One dress changes colors to the beat of the wearer’s heart, becoming more transparent based on close encounters."
Here's the link to GoDaddy.com's video tribute to the USMC on its 236th birthday. GoDaddy's founder served as a Lance Corporal and, like all of us, is always a Marine.
This afternoon I had lunch and a stroll along the ocean with a new friend, Jonathan Spyer. We struck it off immediately when he said the only organization he ever joined which he promised to obey was the Israel Defense Force. This mirrored my experience in joining the US Marine Corps. Our normally rebellious spirits matched.
Spyer was in San Diego to speak about his new book, The Transforming Fire: The Rise Of The Israel-Islamist Conflict. I’d read some reviews before, all laudatory, from the left-leaning Haaretz to the right-leaning Weekly Standard. After reading the book and talking with Spyer, although the focus is on what Israel faces and the book doesn’t delve deeply into US or European foreign policy, the book could have just as easily been sub-titled The Rise of the Western-Islamist Conflict But What Israel Realizes And The West Doesn’t.
Spyer’s motivation for writing the book was being blown out of the tank he was driving in the 2006 war in Lebanon, a draw that was poorly prepared for, poorly conceived, poorly executed but required the utmost – which was given – of soldiers on the ground. Spyer wanted to explore in depth what Israel is facing. Again we clicked, I having similar motivation after my tours in Vietnam.
Spyer brings to his book much more than being a frontline soldier, or his travels throughout the Middle East, or his fascinating return to Lebanon after the 2006 war. British-born Spyer has a PhD in Middle East politics from the London School of Economics, and served in the Israel Prime Minister’s Office. What makes his book interesting and not dry is his weaving of his personal experiences and observations into his learned descriptions of Middle East Politics.
At lunch, Spyer acknowledged that the current state of affairs in the Middle East is more negative than when he wrote the book. The “Arab Spring” unleashed violent animus toward Israel that is encouraged and supported by Iran, toppling formerly controlling, hostile but more benign toward Israel rulers in Egypt and Tunisia. Iran seeks to align a bloc with Hamas in control of Gaza, Hezbollah in control of Lebanon, and Syria as a client state of Iran as a funnel of training, arms and missiles to Hamas and Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia is comparatively weaker, as are Sunnis right now, but struggling to counter Iran’s Shia influence. For now, Iraq is slipping into Iran’s orbit, largely due to Iran’s cat’s paw there, Muqtada al-Sadr’s influence on the dominant Shia coalition in Baghdad.
Meanwhile, the US is withdrawing from its former predominance in the Middle East, and Europe continues pursuing its mostly economic interests there.
That leaves Israel with the question of how to survive. Among militant Islamists is the illusion that Israel is ultimately doomed due to its smaller population and adherence to values and institutions less militant than theirs. On the contrary, Spyer points out, Israel is relatively militarily and financially stronger than ever. More important, Israel’s population has largely moved past its former Ashkenazic and Sephardic divisions, or its left-right divisions, and through common experience with failed hopes and ruthless adversaries molded a more united and nationalistic leadership and purpose. Remnants of the old left are still common in academia and media but depend on the attention they are granted by Western media although their internal influence is otherwise negligible.
Longer term, Spyer is optimistic. As Spyer ends his book, and still believes:
In all these areas, the challenges are immense. Nevertheless, eventual success is likely. Iran and its allies suffer from the fundamental problem that they cannot produce societies in which people want to live. Rather, they create immensely repressive internal arrangements, coupled with and endless repeat of acts of military theater, which then brings down retribution and suffering on the populations they control. The anger and sense of humiliation that they are focusing on is real. But once it becomes clear that they are not in fact able to bring the victory, they are likely to decline.
In the meantime, Israel must strike hard when necessary. Otherwise, patience is needed in the Middle East cold war with Islamists. Israel may pay harsh prices along the way, but an Iran-led Islamist encirclement will erode first. I’m reminded of our protracted conflict with the Soviet Union and all’s surprise when its walls fell.
What will follow, I asked Spyer. Most likely some sort of military-commercial elite regimes, like before, still hostile toward Israel and the West, still mired in backwardness, but a lesser threat to Israel. The transforming fire is a crucible in which weaknesses are revealed and the product strengthened. The ultimately stronger is Israel’s abilities and resolve based on Western values that too many in the West have abandoned.
For those of you who, like me, are regular viewers of Newsbusters' Newsbusted videos (examples here) here's the Israeli counterpart, Tribal Update. Not as brief as Newsbusted, but as funny in poking holes in Israel leftist pretensions.
If you haven't seen the movie Moneyball, then do. Jason and I had our Little League schedule interrupted by a rare rain in San Diego, so we went to see the film. It will rank as one of the top baseball films ever, the acting by Brad Pitt and all others excellent.
But, the movie is about much more than baseball, as is baseball itself. Jason and I discussed its lessons after, about deportment and courage in leadership, about relations among management and players in tough situations or conflict, about the practical uses of education, and so on.
One of the lessons isn't in the movie. The judo use of statistics by a team, the Oakland Athletics, far outspent by such rich teams as the Yankees, to find undervalued players was successful but once the success is shown, other teams adopted it. The niche was lost as many exploited it, which reduced its power by any one team. The traditional "art" of experience returned to the fore but adjusted by this innovation. That is, in a nutshell, the path of innovation, useful improvements that energize competition and up the play to everyone's benefit.
The US District judge who presided over the trial of of the "blind sheik" in 1995, later appointed the US Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, spoke at Hillsdale College's Constitution Day on September 15 about the Constitution in wartime and the legal challenges it faces. The speech is here.
Mukasey begins, "President Obama campaigned for office largely on the claim that his predecessor had shredded the Constitution. By the Constitution, he could not have meant the document signed on September 17, 1787. Article II of that document begins with a simple declaration: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Not “some” or “most” or even “all but a teeny-weeny bit” of the executive power. The President is vested with all of it." Mukasey addresses the Bill of Rights, and in between discussing Article II and the first ten amendments discusses US intelligence and prosecutions of Islamist terrorists.
It would be hard to find a better summary of the issues. That's the calibre found in the monthly Imprimis which Hillsdale College mails to over 2-million subscribers. If you want your copy, and promise to read it and not waste Hillsdale's postage, you too can subscribe at the above link to Mukasey's speech. The subscription is free but the charge is to pay attention and be informed. Intelligence is our first line of defense in all matters.
The new World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. is not to include FDR's powerful prayer on D-Day. The WTF explanation:
But Robert Abbey, the director of the Bureau of Land Management, said any plaque or inscription of the prayer would "dilute" the memorial's central message and therefore "should not be altered."
"It is not a judgment as to the merit of this new commemoration, simply that altering the Memorial in this way, as proposed in HR 2070, will necessarily dilute this elegant memorial's central message and its ability to clearly convey that message to move, educate, and inspire its many visitors," Abbey said in written testimony.
The House is planning to vote otherwise. Will Senators, also? Will President Obama respect FDR and his betters, who recognize from where our strength comes. Stay tuned. Meanwhile, please read the prayer that expressed the faith and determination of our people, and maybe add a prayer that we will have new leadership in Washington who share that faith and determination to know and act upon right and wrong.
This is the prayer originally entitled "Let Our Hearts Be Stout" written by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as Allied troops were invading German-occupied Europe during World War II. The prayer was read to the Nation on radio on the evening of D-Day, June 6, 1944, while American, British and Canadian troops were fighting to establish five beach heads on the coast of Normandy in northern France.
The previous night, June 5th, the President had also been on the radio to announce that Allied troops had entered Rome. The spectacular news that Rome had been liberated was quickly superceded by news of the gigantic D-Day invasion which began at 6:30 a.m. on June 6th. By midnight, about 57,000 American and 75,000 British and Canadian soldiers had made it ashore, amid losses that included 2,500 killed and 8,500 wounded.
My Fellow Americans:
Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our Allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.
And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:
Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.
Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.
They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.
They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest -- until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.
For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and goodwill among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.
Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.
And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas, whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them -- help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.
Many people have urged that I call the nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.
Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.
And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.
And, O Lord, give us faith. Give us faith in Thee; faith in our sons; faith in each other; faith in our united crusade. Let not the keeness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment -- let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.
With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogances. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace -- a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.
The Occupy Wall Street encampments in public spaces are a hodge-podge of activists, malcontents, crazies, homeless, and paid attendants from some leftist-directed unions and ACORN fronts.
The Occupy Wall Street encampments in major media are a coterie of self-referential, Internet connected, liberal and leftist journalists and columnists.
The incoherence of the public campers, and violence by some, is increasingly clear to the wider public. This is despite the best efforts of the other journo-campers pitching tents upon the ground of the public campers. The journo-campers excuse and avoid examination of the real facts in the parks and streets. Instead, they use it as their launch-pad to repeat their leftist defenses of the direction that President Obama has taken the US into more European style socialism, or to bemoan that he hasn’t taken us further.
That’s good for several – already too many -- news cycles, but runs up against, again, facts on the ground, the most telling being that everything President Obama has promised or done has been an abject failure, indeed too often only enriching bureaucrats and cronies on Wall Street or in industry.
The kids will mostly wake up as they grow older and gain experience. Their parents already are waking up, as exhibited in polls showing an increased tilt against the romantic facades on the public campers erected by those in the major media.
Major media has further reduced its public esteem and influence. The prospects for President Obama’s re-election are further reduced, by the journo pimps declining impact on most Americans’ opinions, and by President Obama’s own embrace of the public campers and his own shallow and strident demagoguery.
The Reins Act is part of the Republican Jobs Bill, antithetical in most respects to the Democrats killing-jobs bills and regulations that we’ve suffered the past 3-years. There are 192 co-sponsors (text and sponsors) in the House, and growing. Check and see if your Congressman has signed on yet. The major media, of course, has not paid much of any attention to the Reins Act. President Obama would, of course, veto it, but he may not be in the position to do so after next year’s elections. Then, await the howls of the legions profiteering from the federal regulatory behemoth. But, Congress must be held accountable for regulations promulgated in its name.
Last week, House Speaker Boehner said of pending job-killers, “Today there are 219 such rules that are sitting in these agencies ready to come rolling out and to impose new costs on a private sector that’s struggling to keep its head above water and to create jobs.”
Amity Shlaes points out that in 1933 President Roosevelt’s National Recovery Administration “had generated more paper than the entire legislative output of the federal government since 1789.” (The Forgotten Man) In 1935, the US Supreme Court found the NRA unconstitutional for infringing on the separation of powers by delegating powers to the executive properly those of the legislative branch.
Firm action by Congress to rein in costly regulation is sorely needed. Over the past few years, the cost and number of new regulations have increased dramatically. This increase did not begin with President Obama, but it has accelerated markedly during his tenure. From inauguration day 2009 through March of this year, regulatory agencies imposed some 75 major new regulations (defined as those costing $100 million or more), imposing some $38 billion of new costs annually on the economy and consumers.[1]
This is on top of the continuing burden of the existing stock of red tape, which has been estimated at some $1.75 trillion per year.[2] This burden not only increases costs for consumers but hinders enterprises from growing and jobs from being created.
[A] bill to increase legislative control over and accountability for federal regulatory policy. The central provisions of the REINS Act provide that new “major rules” – those regulations expected to cost over $100 million annually – may not become effective unless a joint resolution of approval passes Congress. The Act would further create an expedited review process designed to ensure that there is a prompt up-or-down vote in each house of Congress on all new “major” rules, which represent less than five percent of the 3,000-plus federal regulations promulgated each year….
The question is not whether we would have “more efficient and more effective regulation” but whether we would have regulations that more closely follow the value preferences of the American people. Existing regulatory decisions are not made by “scientists and engineers” who have regulatory authority due to their independent expertise, but by executive and independent agencies that are headed by political appointees who are granted regulatory authority by Congress. Their regulatory decisions are informed by scientific and technical information, but the ultimate regulatory choices are based on normative judgments – whether it is worth imposing X amount of costs for Y benefits, whether it is fair to impose particular costs, risks or burdens on particular segments of the population, whether environmental gains in one area are worth safety or environmental losses in another, and so on. These are legislative policy judgments for which legislators should be held accountable.
Critics of the Rein Act say it will gum up the works. But, as Heritage points out, there are not hundreds but a few dozen such regs a year, "hardly an unmanageable number." And, surely more worthwhile for Congress to analyze and act upon than much else that it does. -- Regulatory threats led to the housing values meltdown. Next Friday, in what's billed as a major speech, Mitt Romney will address government spending at Americans For Prosperity Tribute to Ronald Reagan dinner. Americans For Prosperity supports the Reins Act. Let's see if Romney does.
The Mameluke Sword
