Watch the entire piece. Priceless!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
"Oh, what a void there is in things."
While America has been completely consumed in the ongoing life and affairs of Charlie Sheen for the past two weeks and while president Obama was entertaining the media with his wit as it concerns his flippant attitudes towards those who remain concerned about the origins of his true birth place, the world has continued to turn.
News Flash! Back home in the real world, in the middle east in general and in Libya specifically, all is not well. Libya is slipping into a genocidal war between Gaddafi and his supporters and the fundamentalist elements of militant Islam that are literally sweeping the middle east like a prairie fire.
Crude oil prices are soaring and the general state of affairs globally is worsening by the day. From the price of energy, to the shortages of food and grain, to world economies teetering on the edge of collapse. News reports are now pointing to Saudi Arabia as the next global flash point, while simultaneously pointing out that nothing has been settled in Egypt since the ouster of Mubarek.
In essence, the entire world is in turmoil and flux, from civil unrest in numerous countries, to imploding economies all across Europe and when the people look around for leadership globally, there is none currently present on the world stage. Therefore, those unaccustomed to occupying the stage of world leadership are being forced by circumstance to step forward and assume some semblance of leadership in a world of ever increasing chaos.
As it concerns oil alone, there are two catastrophic realities converging. Either the complete stoppage of the global oil supply directly, or at the least a global shortage of oil created by further unrest and turmoil in Egypt and the Suez Canal.
In the absence of global leadership on these and other issues, voids are created and those who fill these voids may or may not have influence to impact those issues and they may or may not act in the best interest of the global community at large if they do. In the past, America has always filled that position of influence on the world stage. At least as far as the last one hundred years are concerned. But America has now relinquished that position and the world knows it.
As a nation, we relinquished our global position of leadership by our acts, deeds, lack of commitment to global leadership and the direct actions of our current president, who seemingly is more interested in seeing America fail than attempting to maintain the ongoing continuity of the balance of power in the world. The present political forces that occupy the decision making seats in Washington have lost the script. They have traded common sense and sane reason for their belief in the false gods of multiculturalism and some twisted Kumbaya belief in egalitarian existentialism.
Presently, those like Cameron in the UK and Sarkozy in France are making headlines by attempting to address the global concerns of the world and Europe. But in the absence of the means to back up their calls for those in the middles east to abide by reason, these public pleas by Cameron and Sarkozy and others are no more than empty bellowing by powers incapable of stopping or controlling present world events.
Meanwhile, the implosion of American prominence and the erosion of our alliances with Europe and Israel are not going unnoticed by the Russians or the Chinese. Presently, in a last man standing scenario of global implosion and conflict, they are each far better positioned to weather the conflagration than the United States is.
For those interested in understanding what is happening to America and the world and why, I challenge you to obtain a copy of the recently released book "The Roots of Obama's Rage." (by Dinesh D'Souza) The answers to these questions are in the book. The bottom line, Barack Obama has set into motion the mechanisms to fulfill his dreams of destroying all remnants of the imperialist influences of colonialism in the world. And to that end, he is fundamentally changing America, just as he promised he would. Just as he envisioned it from the perspective of his father who first envisioned the utter collapse of the west more than fifty years ago.
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
Have no fear in Illinois
Want to kill someone in cold blood? Murder them? horrendously and with the most extreme malice and anger possible? Then do it in Illinois. Because as of today? There no longer is a death penalty in Illinois. The democratic governor of the state abolished it today.
Looks like the governor is a happy man. I say let's check back with the illini in a couple of years? And see how this is working out for them.
The governor of Illinois abolished the death penalty on Wednesday, more than a decade after the state imposed a moratorium on executions out of concern that innocent people could be put to death by a justice system that had wrongly condemned 13 men.
Looks like the governor is a happy man. I say let's check back with the illini in a couple of years? And see how this is working out for them.
I wonder what Frank would think of all this.
Some might have thought that this would be a simple task. All that needed being done was the asking and permission would have been granted. But once again, things are not as they appear in Washington DC. Nothing is ever easy in Washington DC.
Before he died, the late Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia and then Senator Richard Burr of West Virginia, penned letters requesting this honor of their fellow senators and representatives on behalf of Frank Buckles. Since Frank Buckles passing on February 27th, Both of the current US senators of West Virginia have sponsored resolutions in the senate. And US Representative Shelly Capoti has sponsored a resolution to honor Frank Buckles in the house. Both of these resolutions are seeking to bestow the honor of a grateful nation, by allowing Frank Buckles remains to lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda.
These resolutions have gained bipartisan support in both houses and as of today, there are a number of members in the house and the senate who are seeking to see that Frank Buckles is paid a fitting tribute to his life, his service and the millions who in the end he became the surviving representative of.
Yet things are never easy in Washington. Especially not when their are political axes to be ground or political points to be scored, or political opponents to be injured or vanquished. One might think that there isn't anything political about honoring Frank Buckles or the movement to see him honored in the Capitol rotunda, but there obviously is something political for those now obstructing these resolutions and the honor being requested.
Since last Saturday, many people across America have been working tirelessly to try and obtain the honor that Frank Buckles and his generation deserves. Since the news first broke that Speaker of the House John Boehner had blocked the resolution in the house and sought the cooperation of Senate Majority Leader Reid to do the same in the senate, thousands across America have banded together on social networking sites like FaceBook, trying to sway the minds of two of the most partisan and closed minded individuals in Washington DC. To date, that mission remains uncompleted. Their hearts and minds remain hardened.
Today is Wednesday, March the 9th. Frank Buckles interment and Arlington National Cemetery is scheduled for Tuesday, March 15th. A privilege that would not have occurred, except for special permission granted by President George W. Bush back in 2008. (citation)
Speaker Boehner and Senate leader Reid believe that holding a ceremony in the Arlington Memorial amphitheater is all that is required to pay tribute to Frank Buckles and all that should be afforded. As of yesterday, they forwarded a letter of request to that effect to Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. Gates is in Afghanistan right now, but I am sure the formality of approval has been moved easily along the proper channels at the Department of Defense.
The same way the request to have Frank Buckles honored in the US Capitol rotunda would have moved easily along US Capitol channels, had Speaker Boehner and Leader Reid simply done the right thing from the beginning.
Some have questioned the monetary costs of such tributes. During the present times of economic uncertainty, do we really need to expend the resources required to honor Frank Buckles. I say yes we do. I believe that we are honor bound to do no less regardless of the costs. Just as we need to expend appropriate resources to honor those currently serving and dying in our behalf and in the service of this nation in Afghanistan and Iraq and all across this planet.
Calvin Coolidge once remarked, "The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten".
I believe no truer or more prescient observation of our obligation to those who serve in the uniform of this nation has ever been uttered.
As a Viet Nam veteran I personally know the pain of service forgotten. There are now 58,267 names on a wall in Washington honoring that service, but it took seven years, seven months and fifteen days to erect that wall. Only after the veterans and their families became a cacophony of cries for remembrance and honor that would not be silenced, was a tribute and memorial finally raised to honor their service and their sacrifices. The names on that memorial wall, now consecrate the efforts expended to remember them.
Every year Americans remember Armistice Day on November 11th, although we no longer call it by that name. We now call it Veterans Day. November 11th, 1918 was the day that the Great War WWI ended. Armistice Day was in honor and remembrance of that day and those who served. The war to end all wars theoretically ended that November day, but we all now know differently, it wasn't to be the war to end all wars.
What we do not know as a nation and what no one ever talks about as it concerns that time in our history, is the fact that those who served and fought in the war to end all wars were the first generation of the forgotten. There are no national memorials honoring their sacrifices. Only a simple marble rotunda off the Mall in Washington DC. Obscured by trees and not listed on the tour brochures of the great war memorials. Not many even know that it exists, because it is not a national monument.
Most people are familiar with the Viet Nam Wall, the Korean War Memorial and the most recent addition, the WWII Memorial, but no one considers the fact that there are no national tributes to those who served during WWI. That simple marble rotunda of pillars off the national mall? It was erected by the citizens of Washington DC to honor their dead. To honor those from the district who fought and died.
November 11th, 1918. It has been eighty two years two months and nine days and yet no national monument or tribute exists in our Capitol city to honor the 4.7 million who served and sacrificed for this nation. No one one has stood up and taken up the banner of that cause, save one. The sole individual to attempt this battle, accepted that responsibility and took on the cause on his own. This sole individual stood up to be recognized as the last of the last and the face of that lost generation. The one person to stand and ask, 'do my brothers not deserve to be remembered also?' That individual was Frank Buckles.
In the last few years of his life, Frank Buckles became the sole crusader for a national monument and the face of his generation. Frank was not seeking to honor himself, but rather to simply request that which has been previously bestowed on so many others. Frank asked that honor be granted to those who have stood silently and died one by one, for over eighty years now. When asked what he thought of possibly being honored after his death in the US Capitol rotunda, Frank said that he believed that it was his last duty to represent all the WWI veterans by accepting that honor and responsibility.
The window of time is rapidly closing for America to honor Frank Buckles and the millions he honorably represented until his own death. Frank in the end lived a full life and toward the end of that life, he made and met countless friends across this nation.
As of today, Wednesday March the 9th, there remain those in the halls of congress who are obstructing every effort to honor Frank Buckles and the lost generation as they should be honored.
In 2008, when the last French WWI veteran passed away, the French government proved him with a state funeral and full military honors. President Nickolas Sarkozy attended the service.
When Great Britain's last three surviving WWI veterans died in 2009, the UK provided services at Westminster Abby and the Queen of England and the Prime Minister were in attendance to honor them.
The Queen and and Prince Phillip arrive at the memorial service at Westminster Abbey
As of this writing, Frank Buckles and his generation continue to be denied the highest honors that this nation can bestow. However, according to Mr. David Dejonge (President of the foundation leading the cause to create a National WWI memorial in DC ) on his Facebook site a few minutes ago, the French have decided their course of action and response to Mr. Buckles passing.
It wasn't just about what was said.
No, it wasn't just what was said, but who it was said to. when these remarks were made, they were made to individuals that this woman and her companion believed to be representatives of "The Muslim Brotherhood."
Vivian Schiller and her fellow executive, were being directed by those they believed to be representatives of this known terrorist ties organization, to accept millions in exchange for the expressed desire of the undercover operatives expressed desire to counter "Zionism" in the media.
Talk about getting into bed with the devil in order to further your own political desires.
There is absolutely nothing that is bipartisan about NPR and the 'people's money' needs to stop funding them and their anti American agenda.
Vivian Schiller and her fellow executive, were being directed by those they believed to be representatives of this known terrorist ties organization, to accept millions in exchange for the expressed desire of the undercover operatives expressed desire to counter "Zionism" in the media.
NPR president and CEO Vivian Schiller has resigned in the wake of comments by a fellow executive that angered conservatives and renewed calls to end federal funding for public broadcasting.The chairman of NPR's board of directors announced Wednesday morning that he has accepted Schiller's resignation, effective immediately.
NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik said in a tweet that Schiller was forced out by the board.
A hidden-camera video of an NPR executive calling the tea party racist and saying the network would be better off without federal money has led to that executive's immediate resignation.
Talk about getting into bed with the devil in order to further your own political desires.
There is absolutely nothing that is bipartisan about NPR and the 'people's money' needs to stop funding them and their anti American agenda.
Farrakan and his BFF's in the democrat party
The middle east is ablaze and in the midst of it all, America's version of Gaddafi prepares once again for a public forum to ferment his own brand of racial hatred.
Anyone else and under any other circumstance and the media would be howling racism and calling for a public lynching of all involved, but when it comes to Louis Farrakan, the media and elected officials cleave to his breast as if he were the Christ.
Read more:
Anyone else and under any other circumstance and the media would be howling racism and calling for a public lynching of all involved, but when it comes to Louis Farrakan, the media and elected officials cleave to his breast as if he were the Christ.
Minister Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, will headline a live town hall meeting and broadcast of The Bev Smith Show entitled "The Disappearing Black Community and How We Can Get It Back."
The broadcast will take place at the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, Downtown, from 7 to 10 p.m. March 11.
Also appearing will be Congressman James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Melanie Campbell, President and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.
Ms. Smith is a nationally known radio broadcaster who has an evening program.
Read more:
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
An open letter To the Senate Armed Services Committee members
America Supports Honoring Frank Buckles
March 8, 2011
An open letter
To the Senate Armed Services Committee members
Senators, America lost one of its greatest treasures on February 27th, when Mr. Frank Buckles died. Mr. Buckles was America’s last surviving veteran of WWI. Our last living Dough Boy.
Prior to his death, the late senator Robert Byrd and Senator Richard Burr (W Va.) penned a letter advocating Mr. Buckles be allowed to lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda upon his death. Since Mr. Buckles death, Senators John D. Rockefeller and Joe Manchin III and Representative Shelly Moore Capito (W. Va.) each have sponsored resolutions in the house and senate to honor Frank Buckles and his generation, by allowing his body to lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda.
At this moment, those resolutions have been stopped by actions of Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Harry Reid. I and many other Americans find these actions denying Mr. Frank Buckles this honor unconscionable.
When the last surviving French WWI veteran died, he was given a state funeral with full military honors and President Sarkozy attended the service. When the last British WWI veteran died, his services were held at Westminster Abby with full military honors and the Queen and Prime Minister in attendance.
At this moment, the French government has expressed interest in honoring Mr. Buckles as I am sure the British government has also.
Senators, Frank Buckles and the American people deserve a fitting and honorable memorial tribute to his life and service and in tribute to the 4.7 million veterans that Frank Buckles now represents via his distinction of being the last of his generation.
The time to accomplish what is right is short and soon will pass. There is only one opportunity to do the right thing. Presently, the proposed memorial service at the Arlington amphitheater is certainly appropriate immediately prior to Mr. Buckles interment; however, it is not appropriate as the sole tribute that America can muster to honor the life of either Frank Buckles or the millions who served this nation during the great war. The amphitheater service that has been proposed, also fails to take into account the many thousands who would like to attend Mr. Buckles Memorial service.
If the services held in France and Great Britain for their veterans are any indication, the numbers desiring to honor Frank Buckles could easily exceed 100,000 and the Amphitheater at Arlington cannot accommodate those numbers.
Mr. Buckles spent the last years of his life seeking to see his comrades honored with a lasting memorial to WWI veterans in Washington DC. That mission remains unfulfilled. I believe that as a nation, we should begin to memorialize these men and women now, with both our tribute to Frank Buckles and ultimately build their memorial on the mall along side the others.
How America handles Mr. Buckles memorial will be viewed not only through the eyes of Americans, but also through the eyes of those in Europe who have previously honored their sacred dead with extensive memorial services at the state level with presidents. prime ministers and monarchs in attendance.
The question at this moment, is whether each of you, representing leadership positions in the senate, and the President of the United States, will come together to do the honorable thing and honor Frank Buckles and his generation as they should be honored. Will you honor him with the highest respect and to the fullest extent of capability that this nation can muster to convey our appreciation for the lives and sacrifices made during the great war. Or will you relegate the memory of Frank Buckles and 4.7 million others to the reality that they simply did not matter to America at this juncture in history.
I believe that President Calvin Coolidge said it best when he said...”The nation which forgets its defenders will be itself forgotten.”
The eyes of this nation and the eyes of the world will determine how America will be
judged as it concerns our respect for those who have sacrificed so much.
As an American citizen and in behalf of all American veterans and especially our American veterans, I am respectfully requesting that each of you support honoring Frank Buckles being allowed to lie in honor in the Capitol rotunda. And I call upon each of you to seek to honor Frank Buckles in the manner befitting his stature as a representative of the last of his generation and as the last American WWI veteran.
Sincerely,
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