Optimism in the Face of Adversity – (w/ VIDEO)

Earlier, I did my best to remain upbeat & positive despite Obama’s swearing-in ceremony, marking the start of another 4 years as dictator El Numero Uno POTUS.

Admittedly, it wasn’t easy.

Thankfully, my family and I are spending the week watching our Special Extended Cut version of ‘The Lord of the Rings‘ trilogy, and this particular quote helped put me in the proper frame of mind:

“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

Now don’t misunderstand me: I’m not being Pollyanna-ish about our current difficulties. Only a fool could be aware of any of the following issues and not fear for our country’s future:

Our biggest challenge: this next generation just isn’t very bright…and it’s OUR fault.

Earlier we covered the egregious assault from the CA Teachers Union, as they created and released the most nakedly dishonest, Left-wing piece of video twaddle (to be shown to school children, IN SCHOOL) I may have ever seen.

Shocking? Horrifying? Oh, yeah. But it was just the latest volley lobbed at our kids in a 40+ year attack, and the results are already worse than depressing: 

“In particular, schools in America do an incredibly poor job of teaching our students subjects such as history, economics and geography that are necessary for understanding the things that are taking place in our world today. 

For example, according to a survey conducted by the National Geographic Society, only 37 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 can find Iraq on a map of the world.  According to that same survey, 50 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 can’t even find the state of New York on a map. 

If our students cannot even find Iraq and New York on a map, what hope is there that they will be able to think critically about the important world events of our day?”

Remembrance is a Sacred Act

As both of the “Heads” are off for the holiday, please enjoy this very touching article for Memorial Day.

From Lily Burana @ the NY Times:

I believe that the civilian-military gap isn’t always born of indifference, but rather, at times, a sense of helplessness on the civilian side. What can I do? If you do nothing else, you can remember those who have given their lives for their country. Our country. Remembrance, which may seem a modest contribution in the moment, is a sacred act with long-term payoff — a singularly human gift that keeps on giving, year after war-fatigued year. I don’t need to remind you that America’s sons and daughters are still dying in combat. I don’t want to browbeat you into feeling guilty for not doing more. Instead, I want to tell you that as the wife of a veteran, it is tremendously meaningful to know that on this Memorial Day, civilians will be bearing witness and remembering in their own way — that those who are gone are not forgotten. I also want to say that as you remember them, we remember you.

Read the whole thing.

America: Her Finest Hour is Yet to Come

***A positive & uplifting Memorial Day post from J.E. Dyer @ theoptimisticconservative.

The Optimistic Conservative

Did they die in vain?

As America remembers her honored dead this Memorial Day weekend – those who died in uniform defending our great cause of liberty – many hearts are troubled about what we have come to.  The idea of liberty on which our nation was founded seems to hang in tatters.  The genius of our forefathers in giving us a government that was to be limited, constitutional, and federal appears all but extinguished.  The indispensable ingredient of liberty, an independent people of good character, seems at times to be disappearing into a sorrowful sunset.

But I would like to suggest a few things about these discouraging fears.

View original post 1,397 more words

A Happy and Blessed Memorial Day

God Bless our men and women in uniform, both past and present.

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It’s the Tea Party…. Run for your lives!

I can’t believe they’re still at this.

The Democrats have a curious obsession with comparing the Tea Party to terrorists. This happened with stunning consistency for the past two years, especially during the 2011 Debt Ceiling debates. Even Vice President Joe “Foot-In-Mouth” Biden did it, as did Bill Clinton. It happened over, and over again.

Why? Because the Tea Party wants our country’s government to spend within our means? If you want to disagree, that’s fine. But calling that terrorism? I just don’t get it.

And now …….it’s happened again, this time in Oklahoma City, of all places.

From news9.com:

OKLAHOMA CITY -The chairman of the Oklahoma Democratic Party is refusing to back down from comments he made likening convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to tea party activists.

   Chairman Wallace Collins on Tuesday described McVeigh as an anti-government “right-winger” and said he sees tea party activists in a “similar vein.” He previously told a Fox News reporter that if McVeigh were alive today, he would likely be a member of the tea party.

Oh, good grief.

As Bernie Goldberg said, this is coming from “….people who don’t call real terrorists ‘terrorists’ ”.

Have they still never SEEN a Tea Party?

Michael Graham, a radio talk-show host in Boston, wrote a book in 2010 titled That’s No Angry Mob, That’s My Mom. In it, Graham discussed various Tea Parties and their motivation: ordinary tax-payers pushed into action by the threat of higher taxes and increased government intrusion. Far removed from anyone’s definition of ‘terrorist’, these are non-violent, respectful, patriotic Joe & Jane Six-packs who want their government to not bankrupt the country.

Yep, they’re terrifying.

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Now, if it’s violence and various other illegalities that Chairman Wallace Collins (or anyone else) is looking for, there actually IS a movement that fits the bill, though the media is loath to describe them as such. Have you ever heard of the Occupy Wall Street kids?

It appears that these playful little scamps have run afoul of the law a time or three. The entire list is waaaaay too long to include here, so I’ll just borrow a partial one from verumserum.com as of mid-November last year:

Arson

• Occupy Fort Collins – Member arrested, $10 million in damage
• Occupy Portland –  Member arrested for throwing Molotov Cocktail
• Occupy Seattle – Suspicious fire at Bank of America 2.7 miles from camp
• Occupy Portland – Three men arrested with homemade grenades

Assault/Threats

• Occupy SF – 12 assaults in 24 hours
• Occupy LA – 4 assaults including two with knives
• Occupy Philly – Man punches woman in the face
• Occupy LA – Two assaults including setting someone on fire
• Occupy Berkeley – Police respond to three assault calls per night
• Occupy Wall Street – Three men threaten the life of a sexual assault victim
• Occupy Lawrence – Punch thrown
• Occupy Orlando – Knife fight sends man to hospital
• Occupy Portland – Multiple assaults within a 24 hr. period
• Occupy Toledo – Man assaults police officer after arrest
• Occupy San Diego – Woman assaults cameraman
• Occupy Victoria – Man dumps urine on city worker
• Occupy Vancouver – Two police officers bitten during near riot
• Occupy Oakland – Death threats
• Occupy Austin – Man in Joker make-up arrested for brandishing knife
• Occupy Oakland – Man sets his dog on reporter
• Occupy Oakland – Man pulls a knife in camp
• Occupy Wall Street – Photographer assaulted

Drugs/Dealing

• Occupy Boston – Two drug busts in a week
• Occupy Boston – Another drug arrest
• Occupy Boston – Heroin dealers busted were living with 6-year-old boy directly behind welcome tent
• Occupy Portland – First hand account “Drugs. Selling…Heroin. Meth.”
• Occupy Portland – Video of open drug use in the camp
• Occupy Portland – “I get high“

Fraud

• National Lawyer’s Guild member Ari Douglas pretends to be run over by a police scooter

Illness/Death

• Occupy Santa Cruz – Ringworm outbreak
• Occupy Atlanta – TB outbreak
• Occupy Wall Street – Zuccotti lung outbreak
• Occupy New Orleans – Man discovered in tent had been dead 2 days
• Occupy Portland – Body lice outbreak

Murder

• Occupy Oakland – Fatal shooting

Public disturbance

• Occupy Dallas – Protesters block bank entrance, 23 arrested
• Occupy Vancouver – Mob with bullhorn enters bank
• Occupy Wall Street – Protesters block bank entrance, four arrested
• Occupier takes a bathroom break in the street
• Occupy Vancouver – Occupiers disrupt debate, threaten riot when asked to leave
• Occupy Long Beach – Group disrupts city council meeting
• Occupy Boston – Three arrested for occupying Burger King
• Occupy Oakland – Yelling and nonsense at Burger King
• Occupy DC – Group storms AFP event, traps attendees inside

Rape/Sexual Assault

• Occupy Philly – Man arrested for alleged rape
• Occupy Wall Street – Two sexual assaults unreported to police
• Occupy Wall Street – Man arrested for sexual assault, suspect in rape
• Occupy Dallas – Sex offender allegedly rapes 14 year old
• Occupy Ottawa – Sexual assaults go unreported to police
• Occupy Lawrence – Sexual assault reported
• Occupy Toronto – Foot sniffer arrested
• Occupy Seattle – Man exposes himself to young girls
• Occupy Portland – Sexual assault
• Occupy Wall Street – Drunk gropes women in Zuccotti Park
• Occupy Cleveland – Rape reported after an overnight stay
• Occupy Glasgow – Possible gang rape
• Occupy Baltimore – Multiple reports of harassment
• Occupy Chicago – Man arrested for child porn
• Occupy LA – Man charged with exposing himself to a child

Sedition

• Occupy DC – Let’s have a coup by taking over the military
• Ted Rall wants occupiers to choose the path of violence
• Occupy DC – Mike Malloy incites crowd to cheer for President Bush’s execution

Suicide/Overdose

• Occupy Burlington – Man kills himself with handgun
• Occupy Salt Lake City – Man found dead with syringe in his tent
• Occupy Vancouver – Young woman dies of cocaine and heroin overdose
• Occupy OKC – Young man with history of drug abuse found dead

Theft

• Occupy Portland – Theft is ongoing
• Occupy Boston – Store owner suffers 4 break-ins since camp began

Vandalism

• Occupy Eureka – Protesters use local bank as a toilet
• Occupy Portland – Two banks vandalized, promises of more to come
• Occupy Oakland – Bank windows broken, Whole Foods vandalized, broken windows
• Occupy Boston – Banks vandalized with anarchist, OWS graffiti
• Occupy Portland – Spike in vandalism near camp
• Occupy SF: ATMs being smeared with feces
• Occupy Santa Fe: Banks vandalized with OWS-themed graffiti
• Occupy San Diego – Vendors cart vandalized with bodily fluids
• Occupy graffiti found on PA governor’s mansion

Remember: this is an old list. There’ve been plenty more “indiscretions” since, most recently on May 1st of this year:

“Dozens arrested during May Day protests across U.S.“

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Next time you hear someone painting the Tea Party as some amalgamation of horror-movie monster-meets-Hezbollah-member, keep in mind that actual Tea Partiers look like this:

…

And those harmless, loveable imps in Occupy Wall Street look like this: