In this new Age of #Scandal, we’re once again at ‘A Time For Choosing’…

I love car rides.

Even as a kid, I enjoyed just getting into the family vehicle. It always seemed to be filled with such promise: a trip to the store, or a hockey game, or maybe the open highway for a family vacation. The cars were bigger back then: more comfortable and built for long land voyages. Plus, since Mom or Dad was driving, I didn’t need to be too concerned about where we were going. I wasn’t nervously glancing at the road atlas, or calculating our fuel levels. Instead, I trusted that the destination would be entertaining, or educational, or wonderful in some way.

Blissfully ignorant, I relied totally on the beneficence of my parents to get us there unscathed, wherever and whatever “there” may be.

We Honor our Fallen this Memorial Day Weekend

Powerful words about the price of Freedom, …spoken by a President who loved our country, believed in it deeply, and lived those words daily.

Taken from Reagan’s first Inaugural address back in January 20th, 1981, the following is also wonderfully appropriate this Memorial Day weekend.

‘…Directly in front of me, the monument to a monumental man: George Washington, Father of our country. A man of humility who came to greatness reluctantly. He led America out of revolutionary victory into infant nationhood. Off to one side, the stately memorial to Thomas Jefferson. The Declaration of Independence flames with his eloquence.

And then beyond the Reflecting Pool the dignified columns of the Lincoln Memorial. Whoever would understand in his heart the meaning of America will find it in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

I believe in Monsters, and Things that go Bump in the Night…

My wife and I have been watching a lot of old Law & Order episodes recently, back when the series dealt with its topics in a relatively even-handed way. And one line in particular keeps coming back to me.

It was spoken by ADA Jamie Ross (played by Carey Lowell), and it certainly applies to many of our current news items today: “I believe in monsters and things that go bump in the night, Jack. May they rot in hell, along with their attorneys.”

I wholeheartedly agree.

What else would you say about national monsters like Kermit Gosnell, whose abortion mill was so gruesome and stomach-turning that just reading the reports makes your skin crawl?

Or about tyrannical despots like Ahmadinejad in Iran, or Kim Jong-un in North Korea?

These men, each of them, ARE monsters…and are very, very real.

“North Korea” – Mr. Virtual President at a Press Conference

“Peace through strength.”

Maybe no other phrase more embodies Ronald Reagan. That he believed so thoroughly in this concept was what made it so powerful. Far from being an out-of-control cowboy, Reagan was being utterly reasonable: make sure the world’s bullies understand that not only CAN you wipe them off the face of the Earth, but you have the conviction to do just that, IF they don’t behave accordingly.

His clarity on this subject was echoed by the recently deceased Margaret Thatcher, who along with Reagan formed a solid wall of willpower which ultimately toppled the Soviet Union.

Oh, that we had such leadership today.

30 years ago today- Ronald Reagan’s “evil empire” speech

One of The Gipper’s best. This is kinda’ long (a half-hour), but worth the investment.

—

At the very LEAST watch the first 6:10 of it. Even just that abbreviated viewing shows the “essential” Reagan: funny, gracious, self-effacing, and mindful of God’s Hand in all matters.

And then, stick around for lines like this: “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.“

T.B Rickert's Call

30 years ago today President Ronald Reagan addressed the National Associations of Evangelicals. While the speech is most memorable for Reagan calling the Soviet Union an evil empire, it is a fabulously spiritual speech. A speech I do not think a President or presidential candidate can give today without some fool attempting to ask them: “How old is the earth?”

I’m not going to take up your time, with my words. The speech is about 30 minutes long take the time to listen and reflect upon what has become of the country since this speech.

View original post

Ronald Reagan on the gun debate… (part TWO)

Ronald Reagan believed not only in the greatness of our country, but also the supremacy of the individual. That explains his opposition to Socialism and Communism and, by definition, the loss of individual freedoms that such systems entail.

As a result, he was an unequivocal proponent of the 2nd Amendment. 

I mentioned this in an earlier post because that belief does not seem to be shared by our current Commander-in-Chief. This is also why I’m posting a column (below) written by Reagan waaaaay back in 1975, where he magnificently defended the virtue of our country’s historic stance on Gun Rights.

In light of President Obama’s recent power grab, it’s refreshing to read the thoughts of one of our country’s finest patriots on this subject.

The arguments against the 2nd Amendment are not new, just newly packaged. And the reasons they must be rejected are just as relevant today as they were 40 years ago, …or 240 years ago. 

–JTR

——

**Written by Ronald Reagan, from the September 1975 issue of ‘Guns & Ammo’ Magazine:

Ronald Reagan sums up the entire gun debate… (part ONE)

I have witnessed more discussion about guns and gun rights in the past month than I have cumulatively in my entire life. And yet the Left keeps yammering on about “we have to do SOMETHING”, as if even doing something extra-constitutional (at best) or highly destructive (at worst) is a better option than choosing NOT to.

If they habitually spill coffee on their carpeting, is their solution to burn down their house (“well, the carpeting was ruined anyway…”)??

It would be doing something, after all.

Much as was the case with Obamacare, the Left is again focusing on an end result of a problem, and not the problem itself. Illegal gun violence is the end result of people who choose to commit illegal violence; that’s it. Guns are not good or bad, any more than toaster ovens are good or bad.