thinklets

Give George a Break

I alternately pray and then stare at the television’s repeating images of airplanes turning into fireballs and buildings collapsing. All commercial flights are grounded. The economy is in shambles – the stock market closed indefinitely. And nobody knows when and where more murder will plunge out of the quiet blue sky.

Suppose I had been given a clue back on that day. And inkling of what the future would hold. Perhaps a snippet from a cable news program...

I turn on the TV, Fox News’ O’Reilly Factor – miraculously dated January 25, 2008, six years in the future. "How did we get it so wrong?" Laura Ingraham is asking a tragic-looking Peggy Noonan as they discuss the failings of our commander in chief.

President Bush failed? That must mean that six years after the terrorist attacks...

• Osama Bin Laden struts with impunity throughout stone-age, Taliban-controlled Afghanistan instead of cowering in a cave.
• Saddam Hussein and his evil sons continue to rape, torture and murder; harbor terrorists; reward terrorists; threaten Israel; attack our pilots; refuse to account for chemical weapons; kick out inspectors; bribe UN officials; and tell the UN to shove every resolution that comes down the pike.
• The economy is in shambles, having never recovered from Al Qaeda’s crippling blow to our financial nerve center.
• We didn’t draw sneaky Al Qaeda out of the shadows into a bitter, hot war that we are on the verge of winning.
• There are not transparent, democratic governments in Iraq and Afghanistan. Perhaps our allies in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, and Pakistan have been swallowed up by radical Islam as well.
• Like Israel, America is terrorized by repeated suicide attacks.

But this is 2008, and I know what really happened in the past six years. That’s why I found Ingraham and Noonan’s gossipy little chit-chat utterly ridiculous.

While Noonan rambled about a failure of "serious philosophy," Ingraham was more specific, and I discerned a few complaints: Dubai ports. Immigration. Harriet Miers’ nomination to the supreme court. Government spending and size of government.

Well, well, well. The puppet thinks he’s a real boy. Obviously it really ticks them off that Bush doesn’t pick up the phone and clear it with them before he makes a move.

I can think of half a dozen sins that my beloved Ronald Reagan committed that could equal and surpass those supposed grievances. Right-wingers whined constantly about Reagan’s spending, size of government, some even announcing that he wasn’t a true conservative – though they’d never admit it now.

If I had known of our successes since September 11, 2001, I would have jumped for joy that day. Because I was scared. But if I had looked in a crystal ball and only seen Peggy Noonan’s declaration, I would have been terrified. Because I never would have imagined that she could be so unjust when our leader has accomplished so much – even as the struggle continues.

Because I knew that we were in for a fight and our very freedom was at stake even before President Bush said as much to the anxious and fearful nation on September 21, 2001, warning of the long, costly, and difficult struggle ahead.

"Great harm has been done to us.  We have suffered great loss.  And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment.  Freedom and fear are at war.  The advance of human freedom -- the great achievement of our time, and the great hope of every time -- now depends on us.  Our nation -- this generation -- will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future.  We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage.  We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." 

Unfortunately our president, the unyielding terror warrior, appears more like Michael Keaton in Mr. Mom, doggedly running a booby-trapped obstacle course, than George MacArthur. But instead of the comic saboteurs that repeatedly tripped and tackled Keaton’s character, we have the not-so-funny New York Times informing the world of our secret terror surveillance methods (rendering them useless), the entire democratic party going into hysterical spasms every time Bush forgets to dot an i, and most of Hollywood roaming the world pronouncing that our president is Jeffrey Dahmer and Satan incarnate rolled into one.

Not to worry, though. Unlike Democrats who will tolerate the nastiest behavior and defend the biggest blunders from their fellow partisans (as long as they support abortion), when things get tough, Republicans can always rely on their friends to desert them.

Like Peggy Noonan who is more than happy to dump marbles on the track as President Bush barrels toward the finish line. After all, even the New York Times could use a pinch-hitter every now and then.

I am so tired of whiney-baby Republicans, pounding their little fists in fury when they realize that President Bush has the gall to not be clairvoyant, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.

How tiresome. Turns out that the war on terror is a long difficult struggle, just like the president said it would be.

Thank God these people weren’t around during World War II. A cursory glance at history will clue you in: Those leaders weren’t clairvoyant, omniscient, and omnipotent then either. Lucky for us, both political parties were run by adults who cut them a break.

Thank God that we have a leader who doesn’t tire, doesn’t falter, and doesn’t fail. And thank God that every time he is tripped or knocked down by his fellow Americans, he quietly picks himself up, dusts himself off, and resolutely heads once more toward that finish line.

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Related articles:

Flopping Aces - Peggy Noonan’s Absurd Bush Rant

Listen, I loved Reagan. But time has a way of making people forget the bad and only remember the good. Reagan was a great President and will go down as one of the top five in my book, but he did do things that would have conservatives of today yelling and screaming.

Don’t tell that to Peggy Noonan tho, who today wrote a harsh piece against Bush (once again) basically saying that he destroyed the Republican party:

Tapped: The Group Blog of the American Prospect - So I Guess She Won’t Be Cradling Bush’s Foot Then

On the other hand, someone who writes something like...

I first saw [President Reagan] as a foot, highly polished brown cordovan wagging merrily on a hassock. I spied it through the door. It was a beautiful foot, sleek. Such casual elegance and clean lines! But not a big foot, not formidable, maybe a little ...frail. I imagined cradling it in my arms, protecting it from unsmooth roads.

Is clearly already playing for the silly team...

The Captains Quarters - Did Bush Destroy the Republican Party?

Peggy Noonan aims her considerable cannon at George Bush this morning in the Wall Street Journal in the middle of her analysis of the primaries. She fingers him as the main culprit in the destruction of the Republican Party, discounting other and perhaps better causes and engaging in just a little hyperbole...

Martin Luther King's Birthday

A couple days ago the nation commemorated Martin Luther King’s birthday, a day festooned with black and white images of drinking fountains, segregated restrooms, police dogs, and fire hoses. And of course all those dignified and devout people who on a good day endured only rudeness, snobbery, and condescension from their fellow Americans, and whose example shamed me when I remembered how put-upon I felt yesterday when I was cut off in traffic.

Martin Luther King’s birthday is a day of necessary and painful reflection. Because we must acknowledge the tragic paradox that this greatest, kindest, most generous country in history was and is capable of enormous cruelty to her very own children.

And what better time to acknowledge the scourge of groupthink, which causes the masses to tolerate and perpetuate the ugliest of human behavior.

For example, it is currently legal in America to drive steel into the brain of a partially born infant and then throw the lifeless body out with the trash.

Groupthink changes when the group is told to think differently by the powers that be in popular culture. Perhaps in a made-for-TV movie, a segment of Oprah, or an article in People Magazine. Until then, the masses will merely yawn at such things as impaled babies and bombed churches.

And only then do previously persecuted and ridiculed independent thinkers, like Martin Luther King, finally get the honor that they deserve.

Clearly, however, Martin Luther King wasn’t looking for personal glorification. He loved his people, but he also loved America, and he knew she was capable of doing better. This forgiveness for his imperfect country was a replication of Jesus’ love for all of us, the unconditional love as described in I Corinthians 13 – always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, and, always persevering.

Because Martin Luther King loved God, he harbored no bitterness and never gave up on America. That’s why "I Have A Dream" is one of American’s historical treasures – a profound and moving piece of American literature.

How fitting that it was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial, which has etched on its walls these words from Lincoln’s second inaugural address:

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’"

Abraham Lincoln fought the Groupthink of his time, but was only able to conquer it through bloody violence that ripped through our county for four long years.

The fact that Lincoln’s legacy and our country’s sacrifice was so carelessly squandered by his successor is one of the greatest tragedies in our history.

After Lincoln’s murder, the southern blacks were cheated out of their promised property, returned to the servitude of the whites, and thus sentenced to another century of apartheid-like bondage – until another man of courage and faith rose up and laid down his life for their freedom.

Hence, Martin Luther King, fought the Groupthink of his time. And unlike Lincoln he was able to conquer it peacefully – through patriotism, courage, and the firm unswerving faith that his fellow Americans to do better.

Then, like Lincoln, Martin Luther King’s legacy was squandered by his successors, who have conned many black people back into a different kind of bondage. The bondage of a lying Pied Piper who replaced their God with government and their fathers with a monthly check.

These Pied Pipers don’t see black Americans as Martin Luther King’s dignified devout people. They only see a Voting Bloc.

And the way to get all those votes is to keep the black Americans dependent on them.

America needs a new Martin Luther King. Someone of courage and faith who will tell politicians with promises on their lips and contempt in their hearts to stop marginalizing, picking open wounds, and dividing his people from the rest of America.

When a white teacher tells black children they should learn the culture of some corrupt, violent African country because it is their "heritage," this leader will point out that while her ancestors were still wearing Lederhosen and dancing the polka in Europe, those kids’ forefathers were sweating and bleeding on the first foundational stones of this nation.

And then this leader will inform her that black Americans have more of a stake, more of an investment, more of a right to be called outright, unmodified, unhyphenated straight up, 100% Americans than any one else alive..

And it is my dream that this leader will once again lead a dignified and devout people out of bondage by restoring their families, their fathers, and their love of God and country.

Navy Spies

When I heard about the former Navy sailor, Hassan Abujihaad, who had the charming ship-board hobby of sending juicy information-filled emails to Al Qaeda – unbeknownst to his oblivious superiors – I was reminded me of another email in March of 2001 that originated from our home and was delivered to a U.S. Navy destroyer in the Persian Gulf.

Our sailor son, Nathan, had emphasized the importance of military security enough to provoke his dad’s teasing nature, prompting the following communication:

Hey, Nate,

How are you this fine NAVY morning? I am a happy little lad because I have the day off and the weather is chipper and the birds are chirpy. Do the seagulls follow your ship? Do dolphins lead it? Are you already getting sick of these dorky questions? Are you convinced that your dad is a real dorknut, dipstick, doofer?

Actually, this is all code for Persian.catster.kidnapster.wargames.battleships.netster. nukeworld.gov… Please destroy this message before you receive it. It contains secret datalink megacode intersplicing information that only you will recognize because your dog, Sheldon, ate the McGuffin and threw it up on the veranza. (That is code, too, by the way!)

Are you getting all this… This message will self-destruct in 29 O-niner seconds, so read fast! The weather is fine today… that is F I N E (fine)… Are you getting this? Hey, I set my computer to the Atomic clock today, so all is well in the USA Today and the Cold War is on ICE (ice).

It took me a while to link up today because the radar (internet) was jammed and the chickadee couldn’t lay her egg (email wouldn’t work) but the situation is now rectified. We will await further instructions from you. By the way, the weather is FINE this FINE NAVY morning.

P.S. I know that wasn’t your camera because yours will take BETTER pictures! So get the Satellite linked and fire up those birdies, and get them chirping straight through the webnet! We are counting on you, Natester, so get to it! This is your Dadster speaking!

Signing out (side) for now,

Chirp at you later,  Big Daddy Chirpster

We received a very terse reply from Nathan, basically, "Knock if off!"

I have a photograph

September 2001

I have a photograph that I keep put away. It is of a young man who I’ve never met because he died in 1945, 15 years before I was born. It shows a smiling teenager in an army uniform. Although I’ve never met him, he’s not a stranger. There is something in his eyes that is familiar. By looking in his eyes, I see gentleness and intelligence that some day would have matured into wisdom. I know this because they were just like my mother’s eyes.

He was her baby brother who she adored, who she delighted in making laugh so hard that he would roll around on the ground. She told us about him, how he would get up before dawn, before everyone in the house, to light the stove and milk the cows. I heard stories about their days in a little country schoolhouse and how one day my shy mother sassed their teacher because she made her little brother cry.

As my own sons began to approach manhood, It became painful for me to look at that picture. Because it was so tragic that that sensitive, hard-working farm boy, Bernard Polehn, should be violently killed by a machine gun far, far away from home before he even reached the age of 20.

He had to lay down his life like countless others, in other conflicts and other places and times, because there are entities that hate us. They wait in the shadows on other shores and in our own land. Over time one entity will go away, but it will be replaced with another. They patiently wait and watch, obsessed and consumed with desire for our destruction, for us to become complacent and forget that they are there.

It is easy for us to forget they are there because we don’t understand them. It is our nature to live and let live, raise our families, work hard, and mind our own business. It is easy for us to stop being watchful, to slide into the assumption that others are doing the same. We don’t understand why our existence on this planet should inspire some to make it their life’s mission to level as much murder and mayhem upon us that they can muster, some even at the expense of their own lives.

The paradox is that when this greatest of evil strikes, it is always matched and then overtaken by the greatest of love. Jesus, who knew something about the subject, said, "There is no greater love than this, that one should lay down his life for his friends," John 15:13.

To the possessors of this love, a friend can be a nameless, faceless individual miles away and thousands of feet below them on the ground; a not-yet-born niece; or a fellow New Yorker or Washingtonian.

The greatest of love rushes from safety into a mortally-wounded skyscraper even as others are running away from it. The greatest of love counts not his life, in fact, hastens his own death in a doomed plane out of concern for those on the ground. The greatest of love travels halfway around the world to unfamiliar places and risks his or her life in order to drive back darkness that threatens to cover us all.

Conversely, the greatest of hate imposes oppression and misery on the innocent in the name of God. The greatest of hate feels that strict religious legalism practiced out of fear is preferable to faith that is freely chosen with an open heart. The greatest of hate despises societies that are free, hospitable, open, and trusting. They hate the prosperity that those attributes produce. However, the greatest of hate will exploit those attributes that they despise in order to effectively, patiently, and deliberately carry out plots to vent their hatred. Those with the greatest of hate understand the greatest of love only to the extent that they plan their destructive deeds in such a way as to cause more heros to be forced to sacrifice their lives for others.

The greatest of hate could be defined as the antithesis of the greatest of love. That, however, suggests that there are equal amounts of each, and that isn’t true. Love always has the majority. Those who hate may feel that if they kill enough of the best and the brightest, those who hate will eventually outnumber those who love. They never seem to learn that it doesn’t work that way. Out of ashes, rubble, and tears, love always multiplies and flourishes. It increases from person and person, house to house, and between nations that are oceans apart.

We are daily recipients of precious gifts, provided at unimaginable cost to others, some recently and some of them decades and centuries before we were born. We have all benefitted from the sacrifices of those who possessed the greatest of love. The greatest tragedy of all would occur on the day that we ever forget their example.