Hasan’s PC

Written : Nov. 17, 2009

Nidal Hasan, a U.S. Army Major, went on a murderous rampage Nov. 5 at Fort Hood, killing 13 people and wounding many others. He allegedly screamed “Allāhu Akbar” in Arabic just prior, which in English means, “God is Great”. Yelling (especially that) and then killing Americans has been the calling card of Islamic terrorists lately. Was it a terrorist conspiracy, or, did he commit the act with others? No. Was it a terrorist plot, or, did Hasan plan it? Probably. Was it an act of terror, or, did it terrorize the folks at Fort Hood and/or other Americans? Definitely. Were his actions against the American military treasonous? Yes. Were his actions enough to consider them acts of war? Of course.

It turns out the Army knew Hasan harbored extremist views, and yet the Army kept silent. For example, Hasan carried a business card, which had “SoA” on it, which means, “Soldier of Allah.” Several people who dealt with him on a daily basis have said he expressed his extremist views to them. He is reported to have telephoned known members of Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization; they are our sworn enemy, remember? Chris Matthews, of MSNBC, has asked, “That's not a crime to call up al Qaeda, is it?” Well, yes, Chris, it is. If an American soldier had telephoned the Nazis during WWII, he would have immediately been arrested for treason, no matter what he said to them.

According to Reuters on Nov. 8, General George Casey said, “As horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that’s worse.” I never thought I’d see the day when a U.S. general would place political correctness above the lives of the troops. If we find out we have an enemy in our midst, we just don’t do anything about it and hope he doesn’t attack his fellow soldiers. Did I miss it? When, oh, when did the world get turned on its’ head?

So, why was the Army silent if it knew so much about Hasan? There are three possibilities, as I see them. They didn’t take him seriously and didn’t feel he would erupt. They wanted to avoid a possible lawsuit for singling him out. The most likely is this: The Army didn’t want to appear to have been targeting a religious group, Muslims.

All three reasons are silly. “By protecting radical Muslims,” Nina Easton said, on Hannity on Nov. 12, “who are we helping? It does the majority of the Muslim population, who are peace-loving, no good.” Exactly. As reported by the brave Matthew Continetti on www.weeklystandard.com, Sarah Palin said, “I say, profile away.” And she’s right. Think about it. A friend of mine, who is a Muslim, told me after 9/11 he understands the importance of profiling people who “look like me.” He said if it would keep America safe and free, he was all for it and would be willing to put up with it. He asked me if I’d recently seen a group of mostly Asian, Black, or White terrorists? Now, that’s a true patriot to me!

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Keywords: Conservatism, Conservative, blog, politics, political, Mark Cohen, Mark A. Cohen, From The Left to the Right, conservative blog, conservative blogs, Nidal Hasan, Fort Hood

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Stat Counter Added - 11/13/2009

Questions

Written : Nov. 10, 2009

Generally speaking, people on the right prefer less government intrusion into people’s personal lives and folks on the left want government to do more for the people, especially the federal government. A contradiction caught my eye while watching CNN’s GPS program, also known as “The Global Public Square”, hosted by Fareed Zacharia. This show is set up to showcase Zacharia’s, CNN’s, the mainstream media’s, and his mostly liberal guests’ view that happily, America’s power is waning in the world. It’s just another country. He and his guests don’t always tear America down, they also build up every country - other than the U.S. - to have you believe America is not special; all the other countries are. We’re living in “a post-American world”, Zacharia is fond of saying from time to time. To help you understand the emphasis a little more, the name of one of his books is, “The Post-American World”.

Zacharia’s guest, Matthew Hoh, on the show which aired on Nov. 1, said of the Afghan people: they resent their government’s intrusion [into their lives]! Such a statement forces me to wonder, “Don’t the American people resent the same thing from their government?” But I digress. Instead of touting the left-wing idea of central governmental control (federal vs. the states), Hoh said there are 34 provinces in Afghanistan - there are 34 solutions. Why would such a conservative idea be pushed for other countries when at the same time, for America, the left wants our federal government to control everything? Why did they reject the Republican suggestion to let a single state experiment with the federal health care bill before forcing it on all the states? To be consistent with Hoh, shouldn’t the left say there are 50 states, and therefore there are 50 solutions for health care reform?

A question I ask myself frequently is, “Why does the mainstream media (TV) have the propensity to hand their conservative guests a title? For example, when introducing a guest author who happens to be a conservative, they’ll usually say, “…I want to introduce the conservative author [their name]…”. While introducing a liberal author they generally leave out the “liberal” in the title, and come up with, “I want to introduce [their name], author of…” For example, on CSPAN on Oct. 26, Ramesh Ponnuru, a senior editor for National Review - a conservative magazine - was asked by the host, “In your view as a conservative columnist…” So, I ask you, “Why do they do this?” Is it fair, or are they trying to get a response or rise out of their (assumed liberal) audience when they use the word “conservative” in the person’s title? If you have not noticed this, listen for it when you watch the Sunday talk shows. (Fox News is excluded, because it does no such thing. I encourage you to watch all the Sunday shows anyway!)

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Encouraging News

Written : Nov. 3, 2009

The gubernatorial race in Virginia looks secure for the Republicans. Why should you care? Because this is a glimmer of hope we now have that America is not the socialist nation I thought it was becoming. It appears the more conservative candidates are winning the state in a landslide! We should take the Governorship, the Lieutenant Governorship, and the Attorney Generalship – and such a thing hasn’t happened in Virginia in a very long time.

You see, Virginia went hog-wild for Obama in 2008 but now appears to be wearing pig-red-lipstick in 2009. It’s a huge swing to the right. Perhaps it suggests that the 2008 Obama-mania was more a dissatisfaction with incumbents than a Communist Manifesto. And that’s very good for America. We need to move away from the president’s mainly anti-American agenda.

For example, the dismantling of wealth in this country would help destroy it. Through their spending-crazy bailouts it’s estimated by some the current administration owns almost half the economy! Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but a government takeover of private wealth – anywhere - is called Communism. Now, I am NOT saying that Obama is a Communist! But Obama’s “apology tour” certainly hurt America by hurting our ability to defend our allies and ourselves. Don’t feel guilty, as President Obama does, over what America has done in the past. Without America, dictators would rule the world. We have defended freedom everywhere. And we should be proud of it. Another example of the wounding of America goes to the current effort to socialize the health care system in this country without regard for any conservative ideas. In the House and Senate, Democrats have crafted bills alone - in private - and then reveal them, hoping everyone will just go along. That’s not bi-partisan, it’s dictatorial!

Communism, socialism, and dictatorships are very, very bad for you. Under these demagogic regimes they worship their president (remember the framed pictures of Mao Tse Tung everywhere in China in the 60’s?)! You live where the government says you live. You have the job the government says you have. You do not have the freedom to voice your own opinions. The only opinions that count are those of the government. There’s no opposition. Here’s the comparison: Barack Obama - and his most fervent supporters - hate criticism of any kind. The proof is the Obama administration has started a war with Fox news. Ask yourself why Obama has stated he would sit down and negotiate with foreign dictators such as Ahmadinijad, Chavez, Castro, Ghadafi, and others - and yet he hasn’t the courage to visit a Fox News Bureau. It’s because he wants to silence his opposition! To appear on Fox would be to give them credibility.

Look at the 2009 election results, especially in Virginia and New Jersey. Realize – even if Corzine (D-NJ) wins re-election - he will not have won decisively, and the conservative vote was split between a third-party guy and the incumbent. Even a close loss for the conservative candidate would mean people are dissatisfied with the direction of the Obama Administration and they are dissatisfied with the actions of the president. Be happy tonight, America, things are not so bad for our side!

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An Obama Promise...

Written : Oct. 27, 2009

Among other things, candidate Barack Obama repeatedly promised the following while campaigning in 2008, about his future “open” administration: He was going to have all the [health care] negotiations around a big table. He suggested the participants would include doctors and nurses and hospital administrators, insurance companies, drug companies. They'd get a seat at the table…they just wouldn’t be able to buy every chair… The negotiations were promised to have been televised on C-SPAN so that people could see who’d be making arguments on behalf of their constituents and who’d be making arguments on behalf of the drug companies or the insurance companies.

Obama suggested bipartisanship and transparency. He told us, “Transparency and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.” Many now wonder who, beside his union and media supporters, believes him anymore.

The truth is, the Democrats have created their bills behind closed doors, without any conservative Republican input. The only attempt at bipartisanship has been a demand that the Republicans buy into the Democrats’ plan. That’s not bipartisanship at all. It’s the beginning of a dictatorship. When the American people expressed their displeasure at such secrecy at “town halls” and “tea parties”, the Obama administration dismissed them by among other things suggesting that evil Fox News put all the “crazies” up to it! Mainstream media Obama-supporter reporters openly still call citizens’ opinions “noise”. Kiran Chetry dismissed ordinary Americans on CNN when comparing those at town halls to members of organized political groups singing about the virtues of the public health care option this week. The following didn’t make into the official CNN transcript, but I definitely heard Chetry say, “Now isn’t that better than all that noise?”, referring to the people who attended the town halls.

Just for fun, I remind you of some of the other campaign promises: Promising health care as good as the senators have – for everyone. “We will work to lower your premiums by $2,500 per family…And we’ll do it by the end of my first term,” he said. He promised to not raise taxes on anyone making less than $250,000, then $200,000, then $ per year. Remember that?

To see more campaign promises from the current U.S. President cut + paste the following URL into your browser: http://www.votegopher.com/obamaIssues.php

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Obama’s Prize

Written : Oct. 13, 2009

Just a mention of the Nobel Peace Prize used to give me a feeling one could achieve anything if given a chance. Of course, like a lot of young people years ago, I confused “Nobel” with the English word “noble”. The prize is actually named for Alfred Nobel, a Swedish entrepreneur, who lived his entire life in the nineteenth century (1833-1896). You might be surprised to learn (as I was) that Nobel experimented with explosives like nitroglycerine, is credited for inventing dynamite, blasting caps, and various blasting powders, started his own explosives company, and as a result became quite wealthy. Nobel, the businessman, knew several peace activists in his life and specified in his final will that a peace prize be given to people or groups promoting peace.

Many previous recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize received the award out of something they did to further peace in the world. The current U.S. president, Barack Obama, was awarded the prize after only nine months in office – with no tangible measure of success for peace, at least not yet. According to the Nobel Committee’s rules one must be nominated by Feb. 1 of the current year in order to become eligible. In President Obama’s case, this would have been just after spending twelve days in office!

The questions requiring answers are, “Does Obama deserve the Nobel Peace Prize?”, and, “Was the award given for political reasons?” For example, if the Nobel Committee were comprised of mostly liberals, was it possible they awarded the prize to Obama because they agree with his politics or policies? If so, was such action fair, or was it politically biased? Should the award only be given to liberals?

What is peace, anyway? Is it kindness? Is it the absence of war? Is it the absence of conflict of any kind? Is it the feeling of “peace of mind” one gets when one is completely protected? Is “peace” provided when someone else (or another country) will not attack you out of fear of reprisal? On Hannity, on Oct. 12, 2009, Mark Steyn said that if you define peace as the absence of American power on the world stage, then Obama definitely deserves the prize.

I used to respect the Nobel Peace Prize and its committee, but I respect them no longer. If the prize was used to take a stab at George W. Bush and /or his policies, which protected the U.S. and its citizens, then the prize is a joke. At the very least the committee should have waited until Obama had actually accomplished something peaceful in order to award the prize to him. If the committee had done it that way instead, it would have been much more respectable. Donna Brazile, a liberal commentator, was in favor of Obama being awarded the prize. Of this, her comment on “This Week” on Oct. 11, was, “Now [that he got the Nobel Peace Prize], he has to earn it!” But, doesn’t that go against the idea of a prize? First you earn it, and then after you earn it, you may be recognized for your action!

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Where Do We Go From Here?

Written : Oct. 06, 2009

Former Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) gave what turned out to be a motivational speech on Oct 1, 2009 which he called, “Jumpstarting America’s Economy by Putting People First.” It was part of the American Future Fund's 2009 Conservative Lecture Series. It was televised on CSPAN on Oct. 5. You can view it at: Santorum Speech A speech on TV hasn’t made me feel this good in a long time!

Sen. Santorum pointed out that Republicans shouldn’t “believe in business” as such. Instead, we should believe in people and markets. If markets are allowed to flourish while being modestly regulated, businesses will succeed, he reasoned. “We have to believe that people can… and markets do (work)”. This is a common sense approach, which stabs at the stereotype that conservatives love business to the exclusion of all else. It’s a falsehood some want to perpetuate for political reasons.

This is partly what’s wrong with the GOP’s lost direction these days, and Santorum addressed it with finesse while hitting the nail on the head. I agree. As members of the Republican Party we need to analyze issues like this in detail and choose how to proceed. This is in no way a cover-up, but in many ways this is a struggle with semantics.

Sen. Santorum’s right, we need to do a better job of telling the people who we are. We believe in America’s can-do attitude. We believe in the middle-class work ethic. It doesn’t matter who you are and your heritage makes no difference to us. Be persistent. Don’t let the little things get you down. Work hard, stay in school, do your best, work well with others, learn, and excel at what you do and you can achieve anything in America. It does work. You can achieve great things if you try hard enough. There’s plenty of success around – enough for ALL of us! Who can argue with that? If you consider yourself a moderate or even a liberal who believes in the individual and is dissatisfied with the way things are going, seriously consider us, we may be just what you were looking for all along, but didn’t know it. We welcome you with open arms!

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