Thinking About Thinking

I had an interesting chat yesterday with a friend of mine. She is married to a retired Anthropology professor, so we know they both have a wit or two. (Big brains are sexy in a man. Remember that.) At any rate, she revealed that her spouse had been instrumental in bringing the liberal Left to Alaska. He had been a Socialist, and was also instrumental in establishing Alaska’s ACLU office.

Now, this man, whom I am proud and pleased to call my friend, is the epitome of Conservative thought and action here. He is a courtly gentleman, proudly and openly Conservative, armed at all times (I asked him once if he wore his pistol in church. He said, “Well, yes, of course. How else would I be able to protect the parishoners in an attack?”), and thoughtfully, profoundly anti-Socialist.

Another liberal who has made the shift rightward by virtue of their own ability to THINK and REASON is my middle son, who once accused his dad and I of being involved in a “cult” because we listened to Rush Limbaugh. By simply paying attention to the dialogue, listening to what he was hearing, and noticing the differences between Right and Left, he was able to make the same kind of intellectual leap that stirred my professor friend to switch sides.

It obviously doesn’t follow that all liberals will eventually be able to think deeply enough to cause them to change their stance, although it would be nice to see. But, like the poor, I imagine that we will always have the leftists with us. The adage about horses and water come most quickly to mind. Many times, a Conservative arises from a leftist’s heart when that leftist discovers he has much to protect. Leftism simply doesn’t provide for LOVE. Marriage, parenthood, and livelihood become established in the heart, and the need to protect those precious things becomes imperative. The only way to really protect them is to shift one’s thinking to something much less socialisltic.

Being able to really THINK about the differences between the two philosophies is a great plus, and almost always results in a shift rightward. For some reason I have not been able to discern at this point, the leftists in my experience are unwinlling (or unable) to really THINK about the differences in the two sides. Having the ability to get through one’s day without drinking out of the toilet, walking into walls and each other, or being able to dress oneself is not “thinking.”

Thinking about things requires some concentrated, undistracted time that is not consumed with hand-held anythings. The most pampered generation yet to arrive on the American scene, today’s young people are never seen without some portable device, which many of them revealingly refer to as their “brain.” Using these devices does not constitute much in the way of “thought,” although a fair amount of manual dexterity is a plus. But Blackberries and i-phones are not really brains, and can’t do our thinking for us. That doesn’t mean some people don’t expect them to, or to rely on what the devices provide as “thought” and be satisfied with it.

An unthinking, uneducated mass of people in a country’s population is what could be called the caramel center. Soft and gooey, these people don’t read, don’t think, don’t express anything much besides, “OMG! LOL! TY! TTFN!” Any hope we might have held out for their continued development has pretty much been abandoned by now, as they wander past us, earbuds in place, i-pod in one hand, Blackberry in the other, oblivious and utterly uninvolved in the world around them and without a thought in their heads that isn’t accompanied by guitars.

Excuse the following apparent non-sequitur, but I promise to tie everything together: Most times, articles about Rush Limbaugh are negative. I imagine that a lot of the writers who put forth these efforts are jealous of Rush’s success and his ability to confront the world with the truth they don’t want to hear. But, occasionally, one comes across an article that admires Rush’s abilities in print, and expresses, for the umptieth time, the gratitude most of us feel to have such a thoughtful warrior on our side. In most cases, people’s reaction to Rush and his show runs something like this: “Rush, THANK YOU. For the first time in my adult life, somebody out there is expressing exactly what I believe. I thought I was alone in my beliefs. It’s wonderful to know you’re on the air, speaking for us little guys.”

But Rush doesn’t just do our thinking for us. He has taught his audience to think for themselves. He sets the example by studying for hours before every show, by noticing contrasts or comparisons, by memorizing statistics and trivia, and by becoming not just a radio host with a message, but a real resource for information and encouragement.

People like Rush are the hope of the Right. Learning to think like him, to express those thoughts cogently, and to be persuasive enough to help turn others from the Dark Side are the weapons we can use to fashion a new Right. Building a new Republican Party from the ashes of falure of the wimpy, go-along to get-along Establishment Republicans (called RINOs–Republican in name only) who have co-opted the platform of the party and have become indistinguishable from the establishment Democrat party, is the primary goal of thinkers on the Right. It’s the first thing we must do, before we dash out to design those “Palin/Jindal 2012″ bumper stickers.

Barack Hussein Obama ran on a campaign of “hope” and “change.” All we have left is the “hope,” since the “change” appears to have gotten misplaced in the selection of the new Cabinet. We must hope for the intellectual regeneration of our Republican Party, and the re-appropriation of the platform planks put in place in the Reagan years.

For the Right, our Hope still burns brightly, and the re-energized Conservatives in the Republican Party feel once more like honing their skills and sharpening their wits, and putting together an army of thoughtful, courageous, and dedicated people willing to make sacrifices to restore forgotten freedoms. The Republic will return. THINK ABOUT IT.

Thanksgiving

I woke up an hour early this morning, but since I’d gone to bed a bit early last night, it all evened out. So I decided it would be a good time to just start giving thanks. I made my tea, and sat in the dark, and I began to thank God for all His blessings. If you are anywhere near as old as I am, you might remember the old song: “When I’m worried, and I can’t sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep, and I fall asleep counting my blessings…” I started with Creation, because I knew I had to have some format for my list or I’d wind up going in circles and not accomplishing much besides contemplation and free-association.

One of the things I spent the most time thinking about and thanking Him for was what follows. I know– it isn’t July 4. But humor me. Herewith, one of the things I am MOST grateful for in America, especially in view of the ease with which it is being removed from our grasp, even as we watch:

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, ALL!!

Bible Banging

In those years previously, when this country called itself “Christian,” it was prosperous in ways we can only dream of now. Americans were really free–free of nitpicking regulations, ACLU types, and ugly demonstrations from people who have been blinded by the lies of selfish and jealous tyrant-wannabes.

People were patriotic in those days, from old grandpas at parades wearing the last few pieces of their military uniforms that still fit, right down to little kids who recited the Pledge in school every morning, and never wondered what it meant, trusting their teachers to show them the truth. These little kids would be taught the uniqueness of America and her exceptional greatness, her founders, and her Constitution, and when those kids got older and recited the pledge, they KNEW they were free, and why. People got tears in their eyes when they saw the flag go by in a parade, and those old grandpas stood up unsteadily and saluted as well as their shaky arms would permit. That was the flag they’d risked their lives for.

It was okay then for people to make public expressions of religion, because we all believed in something, and we belived that the Constitution gave us each the right to worship as we chose, and to show our faith without fear of prosecution from some sorehead with a seared conscience. Mormons stood and worked shoulder to shoulder with Catholics who stood next to Baptists and Jews, and the world was a much safer place. The Bible was the guidebook, and we knew that if our lives were out of control, it was because we’d stopped reading the Instruction Manual and set ourselves up on His throne.

Nowadays, in this enlightened country, we’ve kicked God out of the public square. We have laws against Him everywhere. We take people to court for expressing Christianity in public. Patriotism is frowned on as something that “might offend,” and people literally poop on the flag in public so they can “make a statement.” Now that America is no longer called “Christian,” what do we have? A nation of debt. A land of loans, credit cards, foreclosures, and bills. No longer Christian, and no longer prosperous. Our economy is a house of cards built on the shifting sands of toxic loans, bailouts, and an overtaxed workforce. Our prosperity has been done away with along with our public expression of our religous freedoms.

Now, we who believe are called “Bible bangers” by unbelievers. By “banging” on the Bible, I presume those unfortunate people mean that we are using it as the foundation for our lives, for our states in life, or for our expectations of a country that was founded on a faith in the very God Whose Book that Bible is. I plead guilty of this exercise, and know of many others who will come and stand beside me.

WE are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the ones who will make the real change. We are the Americans who understand hope and cling to it daily. This nation was not founded on a lie. It began in a time of great faith in God and hope in a people who expressed that faith freely. It will not die of a lie. Inevitably battered, but it will rise to once again be the proud beacon of opportunity and hope the founding fathers prayed America would become; the land the “wretched refuse” risked everything to reach, just for the opportunity to try their hand at prosperity. They brought their faith with them, along with their willingness to work and better their lives. Don’t write America off yet.

Proudly banging away…

Those Turkeys!

Nothing says “turkey” like ABC,CBS,NBC,CNN,MSNBC, etc…

UPDATED! Michelle Malkin reports the horror from the sanctimonious elitists….

Now.

If Governor Sarah Palin had not been thrust into the national political limelight during the recent “election,” this little clip would never have made it out of Alaska. Alaskans know where turkey dinner comes from. But, elitist press people from Outside have some kind of idea that turkey dinners come from Boston Market. We here in Alaska can enjoy this and get a good laugh out of it, because it’s obvious the irony was way above the heads of the whiny leftist presstitutes who filched it and thought they had an awful story of Palin’s evil ways. Whatever.

The Third Party Is Exposed

Some years ago, I signed up for a two-year nonfiction writing course through Long Ridge Writers Group. My final assignment was to write a 2,000 word article on a nonfiction topic of my choice. I chose to write an opinion piece on the deteriorating condition of the national and local television news presentations, called, “It’s Not News To Me,” and sent it in. Happily, it received a superior grade, and my certificate was soon in the mail. The article has long since been deleted, and exists only in hard copy in my Long Ridge binder.

But, that writing exercise is not the point here. It just illustrates how long I have been observing and critiquing the manipulated, preformed propaganda that has been passing for “news” since the earliest days of television news. The print media are no better, obviously, but require a whole different point of view.

The 2008 election was entirely, from the first campaign speech to the final “see you tomorrow” the creation of the mainstream media. They selected the candidates, they controlled the campaigns. They controlled the dialogue and the discourse. They manipulated opinion with their polls, and by their decisions on what to leave in and what to leave on the cutting-room floor, with an ease and smoothness that should have left observers gasping at their sheer hutzpah. Something a lot of us forget about these people is that they were in J-schools in Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc., since the Sixties and Seventies, under the influence of Marxist thought in academia. And America reaps the whirlwind of their indoctrination.

Watching the way the major news outlets pass on what they want you to hear or see can be a lesson in something we could call the Leni Riefenstahl School of Totalitarian Propaganda. In my writing-class lesson, I wrote about the proven times when the mainstream outlets deliberately lied/cheated/attemted entrapment in order to destroy some aspect of capitalism. Take the case of the Food Lion scandal, in which the supermarket chain was driven out of business by trumped-up charges of fraud in the meat department, presumably videotaped by a camera hidden in a wig. The case was thrown out of court because all the evidence pointed to the INNOCENCE of the store, and the network was forced to admit it lied.)

Who could forget the little dustup over the “exploding gas tanks” on the Toyota vehicles? In order to prove the gas tanks would explode, the news people attached a solid-fuel model rocket engine to the gas tank of the demonstration truck, and set it off. Caught in the act, what did they say? They admitted they had lied, but only showed remorse over being caught in their decption. (Don’t even get me started on Dan Rather’s blatant attempt to destroy President Bush by, not FORGING, but FAKING the so-called document that supposedly proved W didn’t show up for Texas Air National Guard duty. At least, in this case, the main perp was made to pay with his job. But the network still believes the lying story, even though it was proven to be false).

Were those “stories” really news? Or were they media-generated showmanship, intended to impress the doltish masses with the news-companies’ altruistic actions against eeevil big business, and designed to make us feel so good at having such intrepid watchdogs on the job that we would not notice the fact that the news stations were not just lying to us, but lying about their lying.

Now, in the aftermath of the recent (entirely media-generated/perpetrated) fraudulent election, we are being expected to be glad that the media’s chosen candidate has been so generously provided to the world. My advice would be the same as it always is: Turn OFF your television news, cancel your big-city newspapers and so-called newsmagazine weeklies. Turn to the internet and Conservative talk radio instead, and get real news and opinion instead of propaganda and newspeak. Learn the real truth about what the Third Party intends for you and your business, your rights, and your posterity.

Here’s What We Are Up Against

Any state that would elect Jesse Ventura to the Governor’s mansion, and then turn around and fifteen years or so later attempt to FORCE the voters to accept somebody like (ugh) Al Franken (now I have to go wash out my computer with soap. I think I’ll use the hospital-strength stuff for this one), deserves not to be taken seriously. But we can’t afford NOT to take them seriously, when this is this kind of election crookedness (like the Minnesota Democrat official some years ago, who was arrested with a voting machine and a stack of four thousand or so pro-Democrat ballots all finished up, sitting right in his car trunk–”How in the WORLD did THOSE get there???”) we are up against.

There is a LOT of money behind the Democrats now, a LOT. The Republicans are up against formidable foes, people with tons of money to spend on getting their people elected by hook or crook. There aren’t very many multi-millionaires on the right, for some reason– What makes a rich man turn his back on the people who helped him get rich?

Write this out in block letters and stick it on your refrigerator or bathroom mirror: THE DEMOCRATS DON’T KNOW HOW TO NOT CHEAT!

“Soon after the Election Day debacle, my mailbox was crammed with “This is the worst day of my life” and other depressing missives. Call me a cockeyed optimist but I refuse to get into that helpless mode when this is a time to gear up one’s loins and fight. It’s time for conservatives to give Barack Obama a taste of the treatment the liberals gave George Bush but this time we’ll do it legally. We need to remember that people come out in droves to vote for a new president but they tend to ignore the equally important races for the House and the Senate. We need to get those numbers up so that we have sufficient stopping power for the “change” the new president has in store. “

No matter what happens from now on, know this: THE DEMOCRATS ARE BUSY RIGHT NOW MAKING SURE THEY WIN THE NEXT ELECTION.”

And, HERE’S what we can do about it. Gather your conservative friends. Keep them in your loop. Get together frequently to make sure everybody knows what’s at stake and to be brought up to date on the latest Conservative news and information. Our posterity are depending on us. We can’t afford to fail.

Manchurian Candidates

The best thing about banging one’s head against the wall or desk is that it feels so good when you quit. It’s been one of those weeks for me. A goose-egg the size of a baby’s fist tells me it’s time to find another way to express my frustration with the country’s headlong, mesmerized dash toward destruction like lemmings, each voter fixated on the back of the one in front, none knowing the destination, but all scurrying like mad to get there.

I’m just old enough to remember the last days of freedom in this country: Days when the government was SMALL, unobtrusive, busy with the business of protecting the people. Those were times when we little guys out in Flyoverland were left alone as long as we weren’t breaking the laws, which were, at that time, rather more broadly general and leaned less toward activisim, regulation, and forced compliance. They were the days when patriotism and the flag meant something important to everybody, even judges and lawmakers, and courtrooms were places where real justice was meted out.

I woke up this morning sort of planning to write another post on the nostalgia for the past, but never dreamed it would tack toward the crumbling of the nation and its apparent addictive behavior. I don’t know what I was expecting. Perhaps I had some idea that I would be able to live out my years in a country that was still more free than not. But that little daydream seems to be slipping away more quickly than I had imagined.

The STOLEN election of 2008 will go down in history (IF and when America can right herself from this vicious body blow long enough to write a true account for history) as the most brazen act of political chicanery ever perpetrated. There was very little about this campaign and election that was “normal,” including the “selection” of the Republican candidate– by the Democrats, who manipulated the process with the help of the compliant media, leaving Republicans with a weak, wounded, and lackluster candidate the Democrats KNEW they could beat easily. An awful lot about this election was slimy, underhanded, manipulated, and coldly calculated.

The Socialists who have been infiltrating American government, education, and politics over the last fifty years were infinitely patient. Like spiders waiting on their webs for the hapless flies to become entangled, they took one municipal office, one county position, one state legislative vote, one senate seat, one judge’s bench at a time. Slowly but surely, they slithered their way into the power-making positions they needed to spring their trap. Meanwhile, they forced the formation of the Department of Education and unionized the teachers, making sure all the union officers were completely indoctrinated. They systematically removed old-fashioned teachers, curricula, and policy, replacing real education and learning with propaganda and indoctrination at ever lower grades, gradually lowering the educational standards of school districts across the country until there was nothing recognizable remaining of the schools we old duffers had been educated in.

Now, they will continue to wait until we old patriots die off. Patience is their long suit. They don’t mind waiting– after all, they waited for fifty years to reach this point. A few more years now isn’t going to be significant, especially with their action-arm, ACORN, standing by to manufacture and manipulate as many elections and votes as needed to tip the balance into their favor.

The Socialists’ footsoldiers are like millions of Manchurian Candidates, lined up, ignorant as cattle, unaware that they have been deliberately manipulated into compliant little voters, mostly bribed by welfare checks and grant money. They are vacuously waiting to be called into action; to do their part by pulling that lever for the Socialist politician who makes the promises filled with the buzzword triggers that send them into action. They are the ignorant, the welfare-addicted, the poorly educated lower and middle class, the propagandized collegians, and the True Believers. Together they form an army large enough to cause the patriotic remnants to fear for the future of the country. Our only secret weapon is the family. Homeschooled children are taught patriotism, civics, economics, history. They are the real leaders of tomorrow. Pray for them.

We have lost this battle. Let’s pray it’s not the final battle of the war. America, in the words of the pundit Peter Hitchens, is “the last, best hope of the world.” Who will those countries turn to in times of disaster? And, how long will it be before some tinpot dictator decides to test our weakness?

If we lose it all now, it will be because we have lost heart for the fight. God save America.

For All My Veterans

Dear Heroes:

How can I ever thank you enough for your willingness to sacrifice everthing, including your lives, for the sake of freedom? America is one of the few countries whose first choice is to fight for good, even if it isn’t for ourselves. And you are the instruments of that good fight.

Thank you for the blood you’ve spilled on foreign soil. Thank you for the body parts you’ve lost in the cause. Thank you for not giving up. Your courage is my comfort, and I pray for you all every day.

Please know that your country loves you, honors you, and thanks you from the bottom of her heart for your sacrifices. And, know, too, that this little old lady has a special place in her heart for you all.

And to my own two special heroes, I say this: “You boys will never know how proud your mother is of your selfless service. Thank you for stepping up and signing on that dotted line. Thank you for making your dad and I feel so good about you. May you live long and enjoy the fruits of your sacrifice, beside the rest of your heroic brothers in arms, and may you always know how my heart swells when I see the flag fly anywhere and know that you were willing to give your all to keep it floating on the air.

May God bless you ALL, and may God bless America and keep her true to her founding and FREE for our posterity.

WOW!!