It's That Time of Year for Me...

Sorry, folks, that my blogging has been spotty recently. I'm a softball coach, and as anyone who is familiar with youth sports knows, it takes a lot of time. We're in tournament mode now, playing in the second of our 3 All-Star gigs, so I've been spending lots of time coaching, teaching girls how to play softball, and eating infield dust by the pound.

So while I haven't had as much time as I'd like to rant and rave, I've been doing something more important: teaching girls to believe in themselves, to take responsibility for their actions, to be confident, to listen and to learn, and how to play hard and want to win and still have fun. I've also been teaching them how to lose and be gracious but to also hate losing (fortunately, I've had little opportunity for this), teaching them the joys of grinding their opponents skulls into the dust, but to always shake hands and congratulate them when the game is over, and to never, ever be a poor or arrogant winner.

You know, the kind of life lessons that Hussein is obviously lacking.

Some Words From Allen West

I saw the text of this speech at Atlas Shrugs. It is well worth re-posting here.

Lt Colonel Allen West's monthly column sums it all up. It's a jagged little pill.

Washingtoons

15 July 2009

Lieutenant Colonel Allen B West (US Army, Retired)

“The Breaking Point; Summer of Discontent”

Greetings fellow South Florida riders, South Floridians, and Americans, here we are for another monthly installment of our Wheels on the Road political assessment. If you read the title of this month’s piece you realize where I am headed.

A good Commander always pays attention to the environment and notices that which is not normal. In combat, I would always counsel my junior leaders to look for things that are “out of whack” when you are out on patrol. Did you see children out playing? Were the regular sidewalk meat markets open? Were there news media vans riding around in the area of operations? You must always be tuned into the indicators and warnings (I/W) which can confirm or deny the intelligence reports you receive.

In the same light I have been listening to people and observing them whenever I am out and about.

We just had the 4^th of July tea party events here in South Florida. I attended the Broward event which was in downtown Ft Lauderdale. The estimate by the Police was around 3000 for the crowd, truly amazing considering a hot holiday weekend Saturday. The local news came after the event and gave their estimation at a couple dozen.

We are living in such a time of media manipulation that Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Goebbels, would be proud. Many times I will flip back and forth between TV media outlets to contrast the story being reported, guess what? The glaring difference is not even debatable; one would think there is a completely different story being done.

The issue is that more and more people are noticing this, and Americans are becoming rather angry. You can see it in the falling subscriptions of the NY Times, and in the failing ratings of the “mainstream media” news.

Of course there are the mindless lemmings who truly are content with the current state of affairs in America. There are the left wing liberal socialists who believe that America is on the right track and could not be happier. However, what I am witnessing and assessing is their abject fear and concern about maintaining their “power”.

America, as a Country, is slowly awakening and the growing anger is no longer hidden. You see it in emails being passed along, you hear it on the street, when you look at the comment section to internet articles you sense it. Yes, there are the left wing blogs and comments but the hard hitting responses to them are powerful.

There is a reason why this current regime seeks to shut down voices of opposition, the truth is getting out. Why is there legislation to label pro-life and pro-gun groups as domestic terrorists? Why is there a move to create local community review boards that will evaluate, truly regulate, talk radio, the bastion of conservative discourse?

We sit in our Republic and find ourselves living with an unemployment rate that is at 9.6% and climbing. We listen to leadership who tell us that they “misread” the economy or had bad information. We are hearing about a second stimulus package because the first stimulus will not really take effect for two years…then why was it called a “stimulus”.

This most recent exhibit of Congressional incompetence called the “Cap and Trade” bill is nothing more than a behavior modification by taxation piece of legislation. We live with a government which seeks to coercively make us succumb to their desired energy agenda.

We know that there is legislation to grant citizenship to the 15-20 million illegal immigrants residing here in America. This is the number one means to solidify liberal power before the mid-term elections of 2010. The long term solution to cement the power grab is the 2010 census which has been moved from the Department of Commerce to the White House and handed to ACORN (or whatever their name is) for execution. These two actions will change the electoral base of our Republic for years.

We are up to 32 “Czars” in our Nation, in essence a shadow government which does not answer to the people, just the President. We are told that we WILL have a healthcare reform solution which contains a public option. Why would I want the same people who run the Postal Service and AMTRAK involved in my healthcare?

Our President does nothing to support young people in Iran against the Ayatollah’s but condemns the people of Honduras who are following their Constitution. We are seeing so many foreign policy faux pas’ which more than remind us of the Carter administration, just worse. Most recently we just ceded our nuclear weapons program to Russia and sold out our Eastern European allies. And what shall we do with North Korea? They are still holding two American female journalists.

All of you know my sentiments about the radical Islamic infiltration in America, and the world…..but hey, our President said they have made many contributions to the American way of life.

Yep, I think about that every time I undress when flying and see old movies of the New York City skyline.

Ok, the liberal response is simple, “It’s Bush’s fault”! To wit my response is even simpler, when does Obama take responsibility and is held accountable?

Leaders never look for excuses, they accept the situation in which they find themselves and come up with viable solutions. I would offer you read the story of COL Joshua Chamberlain at Little Round Top during the second day at the Battle of Gettysburg.

I know my liberal friends will say, war is terrible, but as John Stuart Mill stated,” the decayed and degraded moral state of patriotism which believes nothing worth war is worse”.

Hey Liberals, no more excuses, it’s your economy, your foreign policy, and you are in control, so stop whining!

So what does this all have to do with this month’s topic……people are getting more and more pissed off! (There is no better way of saying this)

We are approaching the “breaking point” and I reflect back to the 1993 Joel Schumacher film “Falling Down” which starred Michael Douglas. During this summer, the discontent will continue to arise as we head into the fall, which could have an appropriate meaning for the liberals.

Americans are growing tired of the ineptness, incompetence, and corruption which now characterizes Washington DC. Get to DC on 9-12 and let your anger be known, your voice heard, and do not just internalize that emotion.

Michael Douglas’ character just wanted to get a birthday present to his daughter……we want our Country back!

Steadfast and Loyal,

LTC(R) A B West

What Atheists and Agnostics Don't Understand

I was struck by a thought this evening, as I listened to my children say Grace over dinner. Religion is very much like softball (or any other sport, really, but I'm a softball coach): you can read the books, watch the films, listen to the "experts", observe other people doing it, and endure all of the armchair Popes in the world...but unless you practice, you'll never be any good, or really understand how it works or what it's all about.

I've noticed that with almost perfect precision, the people who wail the loudest against religion don't practice one of their own to anything even resembling a meaningful extent, if they practice one at all. They like to say things like they're Buddhists or Wiccans, as if this somehow absolves them of their ignorance. Most of them are just spouting liberal tag-lines so they can sound hip, which they didn't. They sounded about as cool as hip-replacement surgery.

An anecdote: I was in a coffee shop of an afternoon, one that I patronized with fair regularity until I found out that the majority share-holder of the parent company was a muslim-owned interest (which is why I no longer eat Krispy Kreme donuts). It was filled with an ever-changing mob of liberal types, but they had really good coffee, so I would just grab my plain, double-shot espresso and sit quietly in a corner and listen. Soon enough a pack of 20-something knuckleheads sat close by, and a few began berating the Catholic Church for being outdated, evil, corrupt, etc. I was in an antagonistic mood, I guess, so I listened for a while then interrupted.

"Excuse me," I said, "but as a Catholic I have to take issue with some of your comments." This elicited an expected response: they went stone quiet and the loudest of them began to twitch. I'm not sure why. I doubt it could have been embarrassment; it might have been that I outweighed any three of them and was likely stronger than all of them together, and have once or twice in the past used my size to my advantage. But I sat still, and expressed my rebuttal to their opinions. Silence followed, then I asked the twitchy one what religion he practiced. I got no answer from him, but they rail-thin waif next to him answered "I'm a Wiccan. I worship Mother Earth."

"Ah," I said. It being late October at the time, I said, "What are your plans for Samhein?", giving the word its proper SOWan pronunciation.

The waif answered, "Plans for what?"

Gotta practice what you preach, people...and if you don't practice, don't preach. You can't tell someone how to hit a change-up if you can't hit one yourself.

Call a Red a Red...

I'd really like to see the Democratic Party find their collective stones and start calling their party what it really is: the New Socialist Party.

Why, you ask? Well, I'll tell ya: they tax the holy bejeezus out of EVERYTHING, blame the wealthy for the poor, marginalize organized religion, turn every fringe concern into a national crisis, want to regulate every aspect of our lives with nanny-state legislation, and want to re-write the Constitution to disarm and disenfranchise the free citizens of America. The Democratic Party wants the Almighty State to be the end-all be-all of our lives, to put our trust in the hands of the privileged few who "know better".

It staggers me that the same people that accused Bush of being a fascist dictator are now being more brazen about their quest for power than Bush even pretended to be. If that ain't the pot calling the kettle a darkie...

Nuts to Sotomayer

Here's hoping that America wakes up and does not have to endure Sotomayer's appointment to the Supreme Court. She is an underqualified, racist wonk who worries more about her name in the papers than actually delivering justice.

I'll do my part and put the whammy on her from my end; now the rest of you get your mojo working.