Presidents' Day

Today we are observing what has come to be called Presi-dents’ Day. Upon election, a president assumes a unique position in American society. As the political head of our nation, he becomes the em-bodiment, both here and abroad, of who and what we are. Below are a few thoughts on the fundamental attributes any and every president should have.

He, above all others, must possess an unalloyed love of country. He, above all others, must possess an unshakeable belief in our country’s founding principles and ideals. He, above all others, must maintain an unblinking vigil against encroaching threats, domestic and foreign, that would jeopardize our safety and our precious way of life. For he, above all others, is our nation’s foremost patriot, promoter and protector.

No man or woman is fit to serve as president of the United States, no matter what other credentials or qualifications they may possess, if they are not prepared to defend and perpetuate at all cost America’s core beliefs and values. America must have presidents who believe unequivocally in America. We have no need for doubters or apologizers in the White House. A president’s faith must be thoroughly and securely anchored in Americanism, not alien ideologies like socialism, communism or globalism.

Over the years, since the founding of our nation, we have had a small number of phenomenal presidents, a great many good or adequate ones, and a few whose conduct and performance were reprehensible and disappointing, not to mention corrosive and destructive. I don’t think I need to tell you that at this critical juncture in our country’s history we can ill afford to have more of the latter class. We as voters must begin demanding and getting presidents who will inspire and motivate us to meet our nation’s current challenges without forsaking the principles that made us great. We should have no interest in anyone who is willing to settle for second best in world affairs. We should have no interest in anyone whose vision is so narrow and limited that he can offer us no road but the low road.

On this Presidents’ Day, I urge all who read this to become much more attentive and thoughtful in choosing our presidents. Please take the time to thoroughly investigate the background of each candidate. Hold them to the very highest standards of moral conduct, for in as much as we have set aside a day to honor our presidents, let us vow, here and now, to nominate and elect only those among us who are deserving of our deepest admiration.

I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife; to preach that highest form of success which comes, not to the man who desires mere easy peace, but to the man who does not shrink from danger, from hardship, or from bitter toil, and who out of these wins the splendid ultimate triumph. --Theodore Roosevelt

Dangerous Radicals

Liberals view most true conservatives as dangerous radi-cals. We see it everyday in the way they respond to what sincere con-servatives say and do. But I would like to suggest that liberals are being narrow-minded rather than liberal-minded when they think that way. After all, is demanding that presidents and lawmakers adhere to the principles of government as set forth in the Constitution really all that radical? Is the rhetoric and actions of those who are determined to preserve our Constitutional freedoms any more radical than that of those who are determined to abolish them?

The problem is that liberals control the media. Therefore, they can suppress negative information and opinions about themselves while shouting from the roof tops the real or imagined inadequacies and failures of conservatives. So little by little they are placing the blame for all our nation’s woes on conservatives. And in doing so, they are hoping to vilify conservatives and turn every gullible and inattentive citizen against them.

And yet, what are conservatives, true conservatives, really trying to do but preserve some of our inalienable human rights, our God-given rights. They just want our fundamental rights as human beings to be acknowledged, respected and preserved by our government. They are not willing, as some Americans are, to exchange inalienable rights for mere government “entitlements,” for they are fully aware that what the government gives them on one day may be withdrawn on another, and likely will be. But they know the rights their Creator endowed them with at birth are theirs to keep, and no earthly government may lawfully take them away.

Now let’s examine how liberals look at things. What do they keep offering us as solutions to our social and economic problems? What always lies at the bottom of their plans? If you don’t know already, I’ll tell you. Their solutions always entail taking away a right here and a right there, all in the sacred name of making every American, even those who refuse to lift a hand to improve their lot in life, equal.

An example: What is ObamaCare but a surreptitious power grab? It shifts massive amounts of power away from the people and places it in the hands of the federal government. ObamaCare isn’t about making health care more affordable or accessible to Americans, it’s about redistributing power. ObamaCare is simply a ruse to divert attention away from the true goal of liberals, which is to keep stripping Americans of their Constitutional rights until they are all gone. ObamaCare is merely a means to an end, not a sincere effort to improve the quality of life in America.

But in order to prevent people from seeing through this ruse, liberals must discredit anyone who is shedding light on their nefarious plans, especially those who are making a good case against them. That essentially is why our nation’s most popular and influential conservatives are being incessantly harassed and attacked by the liberal media and portrayed as dangerous radicals, people to be wary of, people to be feared.

Try to see this from the standpoint of a liberal. Liberals know that if a true appreciation of our heritage can be reignited in this country, it will mean that all the headway they have gained over these many years will be lost. Therefore, with the growing popularity of such grassroots movements as the Tea Party, expect to see the liberal media turning up the heat on anyone who is attempting to advance the cause of freedom. These bold patriots are voluntarily placing themselves in a highly vulnerable spot. We need to encourage them and support them, for they are the ones the opposition must knock down and push aside if this growing surge of conservatism is to be stopped in its tracks.

A few closing words: We Americans are fortunate. We have a written agreement with our government, something few human beings on this earth possess. It is called the Constitution. It imposes strict limits upon the power our government may lawfully exert over the us.

Please assist in any way you can all those who are at the forefront in the fight to save our Constitution and nation. They are daily putting their reputations and livelihoods at risk as they bravely engage in the dangerous task of unmasking and neutralizing some of our country’s most deceitful, influential and ruthless opponents of freedom.

Photo: Judge Andrew P. Napolitano. You may visit his website at www.judgenap.com

North Pole Working Conditions: Exposed!

Call me a Scrooge if you like, but I feel compelled to ex-press in writing my displeasure, if not outright disgust, over a song that gets a good deal of favor-able attention during the holiday season, attention I believe is unwarranted.

You’ve undoubtedly heard the song. It’s called “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

In my opinion this dubious holiday favorite sends, especially to our innocent and impressionable children, a number of highly damaging messages. First of all, it singles out a member of a group because he was different, different in a way he apparently couldn’t help. Then it describes in graphic detail how he was rejected and boisterously ridiculed by other members of the group, a group employed by, of all people, Santa Claus!

I ask you, shouldn’t Old Saint Nick have been keeping a closer eye out for unacceptable behavior among his paid staff? After all, here is a man, or so we are told, who checks up on every child in the world to see if they’ve been good or bad, but then neglects to check on the day-to-day behavior of his own reindeer. Don’t employers have a moral and legal obligation to see to it that harassment in any form or guise never enters the workplace? I thought Santa was the head guy at the North Pole, the man ultimately responsible for controlling employee behavior there? If this song is true, it would appear that he’s not everything he’s cracked up to be.

And then, as if that wasn’t enough, when Santa called upon Rudolph to carry out a task none of the others were equipped to handle, suddenly Rudolph’s supercilious co-workers “loved him.” And the blatant hypocrisy didn’t end there. The song goes on to say that they made wildly effusive and insincere predictions about his future, some sappy remarks about how he was going to go “down in history.”

And why do you suppose the other reindeer had this sudden change of heart? Well let’s be candid. In all likelihood it was for no reason other than to save their cushy jobs, a job that required them to pull a sleigh just one night a year. They doubtless reversed their position simply because they didn’t want Santa to lay them off now that it was apparent that the whole miserable lot of them, with the exception of one, was lacking a vital all-weather night-flying component--a shiny red nose.

So now do you see why I object so strenuously to this mindless melody? All the deeper issues are never even touched upon, and in the end there’s this so-called happy ending. But in actuality there’s nothing happy about it. Everything is just left unresolved!

A dispassionate examination of the facts reveals, I think, a more likely and far darker outcome. Rudolph had been abused and traumatized for quite some time. He obviously had developed deep seated feelings of inadequacy. Quite likely he never felt worthy of the confidence Santa suddenly placed in him on that foggy Christmas Eve, or the fame it brought to him. If he wasn’t already drinking heavily, as his nose suggests he might have been, it is my guess that he ultimately turned to alcohol and died in obscurity.

But an even larger issue here is whether Santa Claus ever learned the vital lessons one must learn in order to be a good and capable employer, lessons like always making sure that employees who are different are never singled out and cruelly victimized by thoughtless co-workers.

Because if Santa failed to learn and implement those lessons, and we really have no way of knowing whether he did or didn’t, aren’t the doubts this song places in the minds of small children going to be deeply disturbing? Aren’t their tender little minds going to be needlessly tormented with nagging suspicions about the true nature and character of one of the world’s most beloved and venerable characters?

But hey, don’t get me wrong. I’m only trying to apply a little objectivity to this whole tragic and shameful affair.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Free Federal Money

The ability to acquire and dispense federal funds to their home state has become a power-ful advantage to congressional incumbents seeking re-election. We recently witnessed that first-hand right here in Nevada in the tightly contested senate race between Sharron Angle and incumbent Harry Reid.

Members of congress, if they wish to do so, can portray themselves as irreplaceable philanthropists and benefactors, indispensable conduits through which “free” federal money flows to their largely helpless and needy constituents. By playing upon our fears, these crafty politicians can lead us into believing that the world would come to a swift and dreadful end if they were not re-elected.

But let’s take a look at what “free” federal money consists of and what it is doing to us besides making false gods of some of our more wily and unscrupulous politicians.

Simply put, federal money is tax dollars combined with borrowed money. The borrowed portion comes principally from foreign countries, the most prominent being China. The tax portion comes for the most part from ordinary American citizens like you and me.

So what is our growing dependence on federal money doing to us? There actually are a number of things, but here’s one to consider: It is inexorably expanding the power of the federal government while diminishing the power of the state governments.

Think about it. Money is power. So when money generated in Nevada by Nevadans is taken out of Nevada and sent to Washington, only to come back several dollars short and with strings attached, who do you think is winning and who do you think is losing?

Perhaps it’s time Nevadans and Americans in general gave some serious thought to this country’s history. In the beginning there were 13 states. Representatives of those 13 states met together to form a federal government. That’s a key point to remember. I’ll repeat it: The states formed the federal government. It wasn’t the other way around.

So why have the states now become secondary entities, entities that must depend for their survival upon the “generosity” of the federal government and the money brokering skills of their most senior members of congress? Isn’t there something inherently wrong with this arrangement, an arrangement whereby the creature, the federal government, is steadily gaining control over its creators, the states?

If we’re going to get things back to the way they were intended to be in this country, we as individual citizens must clear the fog out of our heads and return to some fundamental principles, and I emphasize the word fundamental.

A few suggestions: If you’re not already one, become a responsible and productive citizen. Don’t expect the federal government to do anything for you that you can do for yourself, even if it will temporarily put a hardship on you. Don’t blame others for your problems. Live within your means, and in your every word and deed demonstrate to your children and grandchildren why that course of action ultimately will yield a greater degree of security for themselves and the nation as a whole than living recklessly will.

And most importantly, begin urging your state and local leaders to start saying no to federal dollars. They’re not worth what we’re exchanging for them: Our precious Constitutional rights and liberties.

Be advised that any and all attempts by the federal government to redistribute wealth in this country carry within them the additional side effect of redistributing power. If we want our system of government to continue having the vital checks and balances provided by the Constitution, we must at some point reverse this dangerous political trend.

The system that has evolved subtly over the past 6 or 7 decades is a degraded and degrading version of what the Founders gave us. Contrary to what some in Washington are telling us, there is nothing beneficial about an arrangement that places the states and their citizens in a position of dependency in relation to the federal government. And if this trend is permitted to continue, the 50 sovereign states soon will become nothing more than regional subdivisions of the federal government.

Then all the eggs, or I should say all the political power, will be in one basket, an idea that once was considered to be a bad one.

If you think it still is, please start speaking up!

The Hero of BB-36

Joseph K. Taussig, Jr. (U.S. Naval Academy, class of '41) received the Navy Cross for heroism on board USS Nevada (BB-36) at Pearl Harbor. He was perhaps best known as the officer of the deck aboard Nevada when Japanese planes attacked “Battleship Row” on 7 December 1941. Fourteen bombs hit Nevada that day; 43 people were killed and 118 wounded.

After sounding the alert on his ship, the 21-year-old ensign manned a starboard anti-aircraft gun and refused to leave his post after taking a hit to his left leg. In his own words, “I was directing fire at the outset of the attack when I don't know what hit me, something went completely through my thigh. They ordered a cot for me, and I just continued to control the gun batteries. Some enlisted men brought a stretcher and I stayed up there until the (ship's) whole structure caught fire. They brought me down through the fire. The Navy said I was decorated because I refused to leave my post.”

“This is a direct order,” the ensign said to BM1 Bob Norman, who was trying to carry him away to safety. “Leave me alone!” “I'm sorry sir,” replied Norman, “but this is one order I'm going to have to disobey.”

Facing a fire that severely damaged the ship, Taussig resisted but was forcefully carried below decks by his shipmates where he was treated for his injuries. Besides receiving the Navy Cross, the Navy's second highest award for valor following the Medal of Honor in precedence, Taussig was also awarded the Purple Heart.

He stayed in several hospitals until April 1946, when his left leg was amputated. He returned to active duty three days later. By the time he finally retired from active naval service in 1954 he was, at age 34, the youngest captain in the Navy.

Reprinted from www.navsource.org

Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their Joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanks-giving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th. day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the greatest degree of tranquillity, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executived and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

(signed George Washington)

Thirteen Trillion And Growing

Sometimes it is useful to compare one thing with other things in order to get a grasp of it’s true size. So let’s compare some numbers.

The circumference of earth is 24,902 miles. The distance between the moon and the earth is 238,857 miles. The distance between the sun and the earth is 92,935,700 miles. The distance between the sun and Pluto, the most distant planet in the solar system, is 3,670,052,070 miles.

But get a load of this. The U.S. national debt is approaching $13,700,000,000,000--and is still growing! That's a huge number, an almost unfathomable number, a number that exceeds even the physical dimensions of our solar system.

So what do we learn from this? We learn that God was nowhere near as expansive and extravagant in creating the earth and the solar system as congress has been in creating a bigger government and national debt.

Furthermore, God knew when to stop. When He was finished, He pronounced His work “good,” and He rested.

When will congress be satisfied with the size of its dreadful and disordered creation? When will it stop and rest?

God only knows.