Showing posts with label American History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label American History. Show all posts
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Saturday, July 4, 2009
A Little Something Different on the 4th
Today, 70 years ago, Lou Gehrig gave this speech.
Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career to associate with them for even one day?
Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert - also the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow - to have spent the next nine years with that wonderful little fellow Miller Huggins - then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology - the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy!
Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift, that's something! When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies, that's something.
When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles against her own daughter, that's something. When you have a father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it's a blessing! When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the finest I know.
So I close in saying that I might have had a tough break - but I have an awful lot to live for!
Lou Gehrig - July 4, 1939
Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.
Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career to associate with them for even one day?
Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert - also the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow - to have spent the next nine years with that wonderful little fellow Miller Huggins - then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology - the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy!
Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift, that's something! When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies, that's something.
When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles against her own daughter, that's something. When you have a father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it's a blessing! When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the finest I know.
So I close in saying that I might have had a tough break - but I have an awful lot to live for!
Lou Gehrig - July 4, 1939
Saturday, June 6, 2009
The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc
Text of the famous Pointe Du Hoc speech by President Reagan, June 6, 1984
We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved and the world prayed for its rescue. Here, in Normandy, the rescue began. Here, the Allies stood and fought against tyranny, in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, two hundred and twenty-five Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs.
Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge of the cliffs, shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only ninety could still bear arms.
And behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. And these are the heroes who helped end a war. Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life and left the vivid air signed with your honor."
I think I know what you may be thinking right now -- thinking "we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day." Well everyone was. Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren't. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him.
Lord Lovat was with him -- Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "Sorry, I'm a few minutes late," as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he'd just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.
There was the impossible valor of the Poles, who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold; and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.
All of these men were part of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore; The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots' Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's "Matchbox Fleet," and you, the American Rangers.
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought -- or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4:00 am. In Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying. And in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.
Something else helped the men of D-day; their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he told them: "Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do." Also, that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."
These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.
When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together. There was first a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall Plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall Plan led to the Atlantic alliance -- a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.
In spite of our great efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned. Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. The Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost forty years after the war. Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as forty years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose: to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest.
We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent. But we try always to be prepared for peace, prepared to deter aggression, prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms, and yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.
It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II. Twenty million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.
We will pray forever that someday that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.
We're bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We're bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we're with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.
Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."
Strengthened by their courage and heartened by their value [valor] and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.
Thank you very much, and God bless you all.
We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved and the world prayed for its rescue. Here, in Normandy, the rescue began. Here, the Allies stood and fought against tyranny, in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history.
We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but forty years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, two hundred and twenty-five Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs.
Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy guns. The Allies had been told that some of the mightiest of these guns were here, and they would be trained on the beaches to stop the Allied advance.
The Rangers looked up and saw the enemy soldiers at the edge of the cliffs, shooting down at them with machine guns and throwing grenades. And the American Rangers began to climb. They shot rope ladders over the face of these cliffs and began to pull themselves up. When one Ranger fell, another would take his place. When one rope was cut, a Ranger would grab another and begin his climb again. They climbed, shot back, and held their footing. Soon, one by one, the Rangers pulled themselves over the top, and in seizing the firm land at the top of these cliffs, they began to seize back the continent of Europe. Two hundred and twenty-five came here. After two days of fighting, only ninety could still bear arms.
And behind me is a memorial that symbolizes the Ranger daggers that were thrust into the top of these cliffs. And before me are the men who put them there. These are the boys of Pointe du Hoc. These are the men who took the cliffs. These are the champions who helped free a continent. And these are the heroes who helped end a war. Gentlemen, I look at you and I think of the words of Stephen Spender's poem. You are men who in your "lives fought for life and left the vivid air signed with your honor."
I think I know what you may be thinking right now -- thinking "we were just part of a bigger effort; everyone was brave that day." Well everyone was. Do you remember the story of Bill Millin of the 51st Highlanders? Forty years ago today, British troops were pinned down near a bridge, waiting desperately for help. Suddenly, they heard the sound of bagpipes, and some thought they were dreaming. Well, they weren't. They looked up and saw Bill Millin with his bagpipes, leading the reinforcements and ignoring the smack of the bullets into the ground around him.
Lord Lovat was with him -- Lord Lovat of Scotland, who calmly announced when he got to the bridge, "Sorry, I'm a few minutes late," as if he'd been delayed by a traffic jam, when in truth he'd just come from the bloody fighting on Sword Beach, which he and his men had just taken.
There was the impossible valor of the Poles, who threw themselves between the enemy and the rest of Europe as the invasion took hold; and the unsurpassed courage of the Canadians who had already seen the horrors of war on this coast. They knew what awaited them there, but they would not be deterred. And once they hit Juno Beach, they never looked back.
All of these men were part of a roll call of honor with names that spoke of a pride as bright as the colors they bore; The Royal Winnipeg Rifles, Poland's 24th Lancers, the Royal Scots' Fusiliers, the Screaming Eagles, the Yeomen of England's armored divisions, the forces of Free France, the Coast Guard's "Matchbox Fleet," and you, the American Rangers.
Forty summers have passed since the battle that you fought here. You were young the day you took these cliffs; some of you were hardly more than boys, with the deepest joys of life before you. Yet you risked everything here. Why? Why did you do it? What impelled you to put aside the instinct for self-preservation and risk your lives to take these cliffs? What inspired all the men of the armies that met here? We look at you, and somehow we know the answer. It was faith and belief. It was loyalty and love.
The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead, or on the next. It was the deep knowledge -- and pray God we have not lost it -- that there is a profound moral difference between the use of force for liberation and the use of force for conquest. You were here to liberate, not to conquer, and so you and those others did not doubt your cause. And you were right not to doubt.
You all knew that some things are worth dying for. One's country is worth dying for, and democracy is worth dying for, because it's the most deeply honorable form of government ever devised by man. All of you loved liberty. All of you were willing to fight tyranny, and you knew the people of your countries were behind you.
The Americans who fought here that morning knew word of the invasion was spreading through the darkness back home. They fought -- or felt in their hearts, though they couldn't know in fact, that in Georgia they were filling the churches at 4:00 am. In Kansas they were kneeling on their porches and praying. And in Philadelphia they were ringing the Liberty Bell.
Something else helped the men of D-day; their rock-hard belief that Providence would have a great hand in the events that would unfold here; that God was an ally in this great cause. And so, the night before the invasion, when Colonel Wolverton asked his parachute troops to kneel with him in prayer, he told them: "Do not bow your heads, but look up so you can see God and ask His blessing in what we're about to do." Also, that night, General Matthew Ridgway on his cot, listening in the darkness for the promise God made to Joshua: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."
These are the things that impelled them; these are the things that shaped the unity of the Allies.
When the war was over, there were lives to be rebuilt and governments to be returned to the people. There were nations to be reborn. Above all, there was a new peace to be assured. These were huge and daunting tasks. But the Allies summoned strength from the faith, belief, loyalty, and love of those who fell here. They rebuilt a new Europe together. There was first a great reconciliation among those who had been enemies, all of whom had suffered so greatly. The United States did its part, creating the Marshall Plan to help rebuild our allies and our former enemies. The Marshall Plan led to the Atlantic alliance -- a great alliance that serves to this day as our shield for freedom, for prosperity, and for peace.
In spite of our great efforts and successes, not all that followed the end of the war was happy or planned. Some liberated countries were lost. The great sadness of this loss echoes down to our own time in the streets of Warsaw, Prague, and East Berlin. The Soviet troops that came to the center of this continent did not leave when peace came. They're still there, uninvited, unwanted, unyielding, almost forty years after the war. Because of this, allied forces still stand on this continent. Today, as forty years ago, our armies are here for only one purpose: to protect and defend democracy. The only territories we hold are memorials like this one and graveyards where our heroes rest.
We in America have learned bitter lessons from two world wars. It is better to be here ready to protect the peace, than to take blind shelter across the sea, rushing to respond only after freedom is lost. We've learned that isolationism never was and never will be an acceptable response to tyrannical governments with an expansionist intent. But we try always to be prepared for peace, prepared to deter aggression, prepared to negotiate the reduction of arms, and yes, prepared to reach out again in the spirit of reconciliation. In truth, there is no reconciliation we would welcome more than a reconciliation with the Soviet Union, so, together, we can lessen the risks of war, now and forever.
It's fitting to remember here the great losses also suffered by the Russian people during World War II. Twenty million perished, a terrible price that testifies to all the world the necessity of ending war. I tell you from my heart that we in the United States do not want war. We want to wipe from the face of the earth the terrible weapons that man now has in his hands. And I tell you, we are ready to seize that beachhead. We look for some sign from the Soviet Union that they are willing to move forward, that they share our desire and love for peace, and that they will give up the ways of conquest. There must be a changing there that will allow us to turn our hope into action.
We will pray forever that someday that changing will come. But for now, particularly today, it is good and fitting to renew our commitment to each other, to our freedom, and to the alliance that protects it.
We're bound today by what bound us 40 years ago, the same loyalties, traditions, and beliefs. We're bound by reality. The strength of America's allies is vital to the United States, and the American security guarantee is essential to the continued freedom of Europe's democracies. We were with you then; we're with you now. Your hopes are our hopes, and your destiny is our destiny.
Here, in this place where the West held together, let us make a vow to our dead. Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for. Let our actions say to them the words for which Matthew Ridgway listened: "I will not fail thee nor forsake thee."
Strengthened by their courage and heartened by their value [valor] and borne by their memory, let us continue to stand for the ideals for which they lived and died.
Thank you very much, and God bless you all.
Monday, March 2, 2009
As Was Pointed Out To Me Earlier
Happy Casimir Pulaski day for anybody reading in Illinois.
Who, you ask?
Pulaski was a Pole who left his home (at the time a part of Russia) to come to the US during the American Revolution to join our cause against the British. Pulaski was known as the Father of American Cavalry, and was killed in Savannah, Georgia, during the war.
In 2007, the Senate voted to posthumously extend honorary citizenship to Pulaski. The House has taken no action; nor has either President Bush or President Obama. In case you are wondering, only six people have ever been given that honor: General Lafayette, William Penn and his wife Hannah, and Raoul Wallenberg were all given honorary citizenship after death, while Winston Churchill and Mother Teresa were honored during their lifetimes.
Who, you ask?
Pulaski was a Pole who left his home (at the time a part of Russia) to come to the US during the American Revolution to join our cause against the British. Pulaski was known as the Father of American Cavalry, and was killed in Savannah, Georgia, during the war.
In 2007, the Senate voted to posthumously extend honorary citizenship to Pulaski. The House has taken no action; nor has either President Bush or President Obama. In case you are wondering, only six people have ever been given that honor: General Lafayette, William Penn and his wife Hannah, and Raoul Wallenberg were all given honorary citizenship after death, while Winston Churchill and Mother Teresa were honored during their lifetimes.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Future Obama Speech Sites
Since he's gone to Berlin to speak, like Kennedy and Reagan before him, here are a couple more ideas for potential speech sites for co-opting by Barry the Bus-Drivin' Messiah:
Philadelphia, Independence Hall-standing where Jefferson, Adams, Hancock and Lee read the Declaration of Independence for the first time.
Valley Forge-spend a night camping where Washington and the Continental Army spent a winter, then speech.
Gettysburg-give a speech at the Cemetary, just like Lincoln.
Cooper Union-give another speech, just like Lincoln, this one in New York.
Lincoln Memorial-give speech, just like MLK.
Memphis-another MLK speech.
Arizona Memorial-speech, just like FDR on Pearl Harbor.
Shiloh-maybe by the Hornet's Nest, or Bloody Pond.
Alamo-maybe a speech about standing your ground.
Neshoba Fairgrounds-it'll be great-except all the Democrats will hide when you show up.
A small mount in Israel-since you are the secular Messiah, after all.
Philadelphia, Independence Hall-standing where Jefferson, Adams, Hancock and Lee read the Declaration of Independence for the first time.
Valley Forge-spend a night camping where Washington and the Continental Army spent a winter, then speech.
Gettysburg-give a speech at the Cemetary, just like Lincoln.
Cooper Union-give another speech, just like Lincoln, this one in New York.
Lincoln Memorial-give speech, just like MLK.
Memphis-another MLK speech.
Arizona Memorial-speech, just like FDR on Pearl Harbor.
Shiloh-maybe by the Hornet's Nest, or Bloody Pond.
Alamo-maybe a speech about standing your ground.
Neshoba Fairgrounds-it'll be great-except all the Democrats will hide when you show up.
A small mount in Israel-since you are the secular Messiah, after all.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
So Let Me Get This Straight
Karl Rove supposedly encouraged an investigation that resulted in a corruption conviction for former Alabama Governor Don Seigelman.
And for that, he gets called before Congress to testify? Shouldn't he get a medal or something?
I guess he picked the jury or something, too. There is a woman who claims that Rove was 'targeting' southern Democrats and that she was Rove's point woman in the whole shebang. She has no evidence other than her word and calls to a number in Virginia (where Rove has never lived, by the way). This all makes sense if you don't take into account Rove actually had a job in the White House. And in the face of this damning evidence, Rove has refused to testify.
Karl Rove-boogeyman of the Democrat Party. He will soon be accused of the Kennedy, Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley assassinations, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, planning Burnside's assault on Fredericksburg, and being Aaron Burr's second in his duel with Alexander Hamilton. They wonder why the Congress last approval rating was nine.
Rep. Whiplash, you say you want out of Iraq because it's costing money. How much is this going to cost?
And for that, he gets called before Congress to testify? Shouldn't he get a medal or something?
I guess he picked the jury or something, too. There is a woman who claims that Rove was 'targeting' southern Democrats and that she was Rove's point woman in the whole shebang. She has no evidence other than her word and calls to a number in Virginia (where Rove has never lived, by the way). This all makes sense if you don't take into account Rove actually had a job in the White House. And in the face of this damning evidence, Rove has refused to testify.
Karl Rove-boogeyman of the Democrat Party. He will soon be accused of the Kennedy, Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley assassinations, the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald, planning Burnside's assault on Fredericksburg, and being Aaron Burr's second in his duel with Alexander Hamilton. They wonder why the Congress last approval rating was nine.
Rep. Whiplash, you say you want out of Iraq because it's costing money. How much is this going to cost?
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Geese, Part 2
Apparently it wasn't just a slip of the tongue when Senator Messiah said his uncle helped liberate Auschwitz (he later backtracked and said it was Buchenwald, I believe). Turns out that the speech in 2002 which has caused so many wet dreams amongst our friends on the left was rife with the same mistakes, this time referring not to an uncle, but his grandfather.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-repeats-auschwitz-gaffe-on.html
Treblinka was never liberated by Allied troops, or Russian ones; it was closed in 1943. Sleeping through Geography and History is not good when running for president. Does this guy even try to keep track of the whoppers he keeps feeding us?
My grandfather signed up for a war the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed, fought in Patton's army. He saw the dead and dying across the fields of Europe; he heard the stories of fellow troops who first entered Auschwitz and Treblinka. He fought in the name of a larger freedom, part of that arsenal of democracy that triumphed over evil, and he did not fight in vain. I don't oppose all wars.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2008/05/obama-repeats-auschwitz-gaffe-on.html
Treblinka was never liberated by Allied troops, or Russian ones; it was closed in 1943. Sleeping through Geography and History is not good when running for president. Does this guy even try to keep track of the whoppers he keeps feeding us?
Monday, May 26, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
The Text of Robert Byrds' Endorsement of O'Bama
A Parody of the Conscience of the Senate.
WASHINGTON, DC-89 year old Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., the longest-serving Senator in US history and former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan, today announced his endorsement of Senator Patrick O'bama for the Democratic nomination for President. Senator Byrd’s statement follows:
"As people all across this great nation know, I have been one of the most outspoken opponents of the Bush Administration’s misguided war in Iraq and its saber rattling around the globe, when we should be worried about the threat of miscegenation here at home. People tell me that there's actually one running for president, but I can't believe anyone would vote for someone like that."
"With the Bush Administration's latest request to fund this on-going war in Iraq without any attempt to start bringing our troops home, the issue of the upcoming presidential contest has been weighing heavily on my heart. Just imagine, as well, all of the money that has been spent on those lesser races in the Middle East that could have been spent here. The loss of life continues and the sons and daughters of tens of thousands of American families remain in harm’s way every day, some of them even white."
"This Democratic primary campaign has been tough and competitive. I had no intention of involving myself in the Democratic campaign for President in the midst of West Virginia's primary election. But the stakes this November could not be higher, and besides, that crazy broad is married to a man they called the first black president. How could I support such a woman? She should go back to cooking and find her a nice white man who acts white."
"After a great deal of thought, consideration and prayer over the situation in Iraq, I have decided that, as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, I will cast my vote for Senator Patrick O'bama for President. Both Senators Clinton and O'bama are extraordinary individuals, whose integrity, honor, love for this country and strong belief in our Constitution I deeply respect, especially the parts that guarantee that the laws of segregation are still legal."
"I believe that Patrick O'bama is a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from this costly misadventure in Iraq, and to lead our nation at this challenging time in history. Patrick O'bama is a noble-hearted Irish American patriot and humble Christian, who assures me that he's not a dirty Papist, and he has my full faith and support."
WASHINGTON, DC-89 year old Senator Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., the longest-serving Senator in US history and former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan, today announced his endorsement of Senator Patrick O'bama for the Democratic nomination for President. Senator Byrd’s statement follows:
"As people all across this great nation know, I have been one of the most outspoken opponents of the Bush Administration’s misguided war in Iraq and its saber rattling around the globe, when we should be worried about the threat of miscegenation here at home. People tell me that there's actually one running for president, but I can't believe anyone would vote for someone like that."
"With the Bush Administration's latest request to fund this on-going war in Iraq without any attempt to start bringing our troops home, the issue of the upcoming presidential contest has been weighing heavily on my heart. Just imagine, as well, all of the money that has been spent on those lesser races in the Middle East that could have been spent here. The loss of life continues and the sons and daughters of tens of thousands of American families remain in harm’s way every day, some of them even white."
"This Democratic primary campaign has been tough and competitive. I had no intention of involving myself in the Democratic campaign for President in the midst of West Virginia's primary election. But the stakes this November could not be higher, and besides, that crazy broad is married to a man they called the first black president. How could I support such a woman? She should go back to cooking and find her a nice white man who acts white."
"After a great deal of thought, consideration and prayer over the situation in Iraq, I have decided that, as a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention, I will cast my vote for Senator Patrick O'bama for President. Both Senators Clinton and O'bama are extraordinary individuals, whose integrity, honor, love for this country and strong belief in our Constitution I deeply respect, especially the parts that guarantee that the laws of segregation are still legal."
"I believe that Patrick O'bama is a shining young statesman, who possesses the personal temperament and courage necessary to extricate our country from this costly misadventure in Iraq, and to lead our nation at this challenging time in history. Patrick O'bama is a noble-hearted Irish American patriot and humble Christian, who assures me that he's not a dirty Papist, and he has my full faith and support."
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Which Senator Said That?
“Lord, if only I could have talked with Hitler, all this might have been avoided.”
If you said Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden, or even Chuck Hagel, you'd be wrong, but you'd know that. It was the quote used today by President Bush as he addressed the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem, discussing appeasement and the idea that all we need to do for there to be peace in the world is simply to talk to our enemies. It's an appropriate quotation, since so many of us believe that if we meet face to face with those whose stated desire is the destruction of our country and its way of life, they'll change their mind and love us.
Neville Chamberlain was had at Munich, and the entire world knows it. You can probably see the piece of paper that Hitler and Mussolini signed somewhere in the British or French archives (it's probably not on display in, say, the Czech Republic or Poland). People who are fanatics, Churchill observed, will never change their mind or the subject. And so it is with those who desire your death, destruction, or subjugation. You would think that Jimmy Carter would have learned that after the Soviets duped him on Afghanistan. Is it any different today? Apparently so, as all that stands between us and peace in our time is cowboy diplomacy.
The quote, by the way, was Idaho Republican Senator William Borah, an isolationist, made in 1939, as recorded in William K. Hutchinson's book Borah, 1961. Hutchinson records it made in a conversation with Borah. Apparently, Borah held himself in the same high regard as today's Congress does itself. Would that the rest of us felt the same, eh?
If you said Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden, or even Chuck Hagel, you'd be wrong, but you'd know that. It was the quote used today by President Bush as he addressed the Israeli Knesset in Jerusalem, discussing appeasement and the idea that all we need to do for there to be peace in the world is simply to talk to our enemies. It's an appropriate quotation, since so many of us believe that if we meet face to face with those whose stated desire is the destruction of our country and its way of life, they'll change their mind and love us.
Neville Chamberlain was had at Munich, and the entire world knows it. You can probably see the piece of paper that Hitler and Mussolini signed somewhere in the British or French archives (it's probably not on display in, say, the Czech Republic or Poland). People who are fanatics, Churchill observed, will never change their mind or the subject. And so it is with those who desire your death, destruction, or subjugation. You would think that Jimmy Carter would have learned that after the Soviets duped him on Afghanistan. Is it any different today? Apparently so, as all that stands between us and peace in our time is cowboy diplomacy.
The quote, by the way, was Idaho Republican Senator William Borah, an isolationist, made in 1939, as recorded in William K. Hutchinson's book Borah, 1961. Hutchinson records it made in a conversation with Borah. Apparently, Borah held himself in the same high regard as today's Congress does itself. Would that the rest of us felt the same, eh?
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
I Would Be Remiss
If I didn't also mention another anniversary. Today in 1607, Colin Farrell founded Jamestown, Virginia, the first English colony in what would grow to be these United States, and managed to bed a hot Indian woman.
I kid, I kid. Jamestown, salut. I will drink in celebration (no wussified commemoration here!) of your founding this very evening.
I kid, I kid. Jamestown, salut. I will drink in celebration (no wussified commemoration here!) of your founding this very evening.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
And Nash Forgets Something Today
About the Clinton wins 1992 and 1996, which were won without those 'hard-working white folks.' Let me remind you with a visual aid, Jere.
Clinton took 43% of the vote in 1992; he took 49% in 1996. In 1996, at the height of his popularity, Clinton took Kentucky (full of hard working white folks) by less than 1%, Nevada by just over 1%. He took Arizona by 2.2%, and Tennessee (home of Al Gore, his running mate) by 2.4. He won Missouri, where Perot ran strong, 47-41. He won Louisiana and Arkansas, also with a large number of working class whites.
Perot took 8% in KY; 9% in NV; 8% in AZ; 5% in TN; 10% in MO; Perot took another 9% in FL (Clinton 48), 10% in OH (Clinton 47), 9% in PA (Clinton 49), and 9% in NH (Clinton 49). And remember, Perot's share in 1992 was more than double his share in 1996. Are there enough favorable minority groups and eggheads in any of those states to swing them to Obama without a third-party candidate to hamstring McCain like Bush 41 and Dole? And keep in mind, Jere, that Obama tanks just as badly among Hispanics as he does whites, judging by the results in Texas and the Mountain West.
I guess this is where my math fails me, but doesn't Bill Clinton owe more to Perot and his oil billions than he does any particular aggrieved community? No Democrat has been elected twice without a third party challenge to his Republican opponent since Franklin Roosevelt. Before him, you have to go back to Grover Cleveland. And they also have not won without West Virginia since 1916.
Clinton took 43% of the vote in 1992; he took 49% in 1996. In 1996, at the height of his popularity, Clinton took Kentucky (full of hard working white folks) by less than 1%, Nevada by just over 1%. He took Arizona by 2.2%, and Tennessee (home of Al Gore, his running mate) by 2.4. He won Missouri, where Perot ran strong, 47-41. He won Louisiana and Arkansas, also with a large number of working class whites.
Perot took 8% in KY; 9% in NV; 8% in AZ; 5% in TN; 10% in MO; Perot took another 9% in FL (Clinton 48), 10% in OH (Clinton 47), 9% in PA (Clinton 49), and 9% in NH (Clinton 49). And remember, Perot's share in 1992 was more than double his share in 1996. Are there enough favorable minority groups and eggheads in any of those states to swing them to Obama without a third-party candidate to hamstring McCain like Bush 41 and Dole? And keep in mind, Jere, that Obama tanks just as badly among Hispanics as he does whites, judging by the results in Texas and the Mountain West.
I guess this is where my math fails me, but doesn't Bill Clinton owe more to Perot and his oil billions than he does any particular aggrieved community? No Democrat has been elected twice without a third party challenge to his Republican opponent since Franklin Roosevelt. Before him, you have to go back to Grover Cleveland. And they also have not won without West Virginia since 1916.
Monday, May 12, 2008
I Agree With Hampton
Or, more precisely, William Winter.
We should learn more about the past in order to prevent mistakes.
See below:
Equals
Learning can be fun.
We should learn more about the past in order to prevent mistakes.
See below:
Equals
Learning can be fun.
Friday, May 2, 2008
It Does, Apparently, Take A Weather Man
William Ayers, Senator Obama, was more than a prof who lived in your neighborhood. John Murtagh in the City Journal recalls a night when he was nine (remember, this stuff happened forty years ago, when Barry was eight).
http://www.city-journal.org/2008/eon0430jm.html
Far from being just someone who lives in Obama's neighborhood, Ayers' home was used to launch the Obamessiah's Ministry, I mean, political career, back in the '90s. They served on the board of a charity together.
Then there's Tony Rezko, the somewhat shady developer under indictment in Chicago.
And finally, there's suspected Middle Eastern terrorist financier Rashid Khalidi.
But remember: It's not important that Senator Obama really hasn't ever accomplished anything, or that he's never really had to make a tough decision. The issue is judgement, the judgement of the Obamessiah. And the judgement of Obamessiah cannot be questioned.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Well, I'm Glad This Settled It
Putting an end to quite possibly the stupidest non-controversy in McCain's candidacy:
Senate Resolution 511 has just declared John Sidney McCain III a natural born citizen of the United States. The authors are Sens. McCaskill, Leahy, Obama, Clinton, and Webb, all of the D persuasion.
Well, good. Since, you know, being born with two American parents isn't enough.
(For those of you who missed it: A month or so ago, the New York Times ran an article questioning whether or not Senator McCain, who was born on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone, is actually a US Citizen. This non-controversy erupted shortly before Jeremiah Wright was introduced to the national consciousness).
Senate Resolution 511 has just declared John Sidney McCain III a natural born citizen of the United States. The authors are Sens. McCaskill, Leahy, Obama, Clinton, and Webb, all of the D persuasion.
Well, good. Since, you know, being born with two American parents isn't enough.
(For those of you who missed it: A month or so ago, the New York Times ran an article questioning whether or not Senator McCain, who was born on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone, is actually a US Citizen. This non-controversy erupted shortly before Jeremiah Wright was introduced to the national consciousness).
Monday, April 21, 2008
Just Build the Bypass Already!
This morning in the Clarion-Ledger, we learned that Port Gibson residents don't want Highway 61 widened on historic Church Street, where, frankly, the town looks its best. And, in its infinite wisdom, the MDOT has decided to take one of the most picturesque main drags in the state and turn it into a construction zone. Or, they could just build a bypass.
Congratulations, MDOT. You're accomplishing something that Grant and Sherman couldn't bring themselves to do-tear up Port Gibson, a town that needs tourism to survive. Dick Hall seems to be the one person in MDOT with any sense anymore, since Butch Brown has decided to make it his own personal fiefdom.
Why don't we knock down the Elvis Presley birthplace while we're at it? How about all those tour houses in Natchez? Why don't we just nuke Rowan Oak? On the list of bad ideas, tearing up one of the most beautiful places in the state is right up there with the Edsel, the Bay of Pigs and Gigli.
Friday, April 18, 2008
We Will Not Bring Up McCain's Age
So says the Screamer himself.
Follow along, okay?
http://lonestartimes.com/2008/04/18/how-old-is-john-mccain/
Good stuff.
Follow along, okay?
http://lonestartimes.com/2008/04/18/how-old-is-john-mccain/
Good stuff.
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