Cruzing for a Bruising

Some things are worth fighting for.  Ted Cruz believes that defunding Obamacare is one of those things and he is willing to use every means available to make that happen.

Some people say his 21-hour talkathon on the Senate floor was tantamount to trashing at windmills.  I say he accomplished his purpose.   He not only put that issue front and center, he exposed the leaders of his party as weak-kneed scaredy cats.

If you go into a fight you have to be willing to get your nose bloodied to win.  Has Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell ever put up his dukes?  He is too busy playing footsie with Democrat Leader Harry Reid to fight for anything.

Make no mistake:  McConnell has the power to make Reid agree to allow a clean up-or- down vote on the Continuing Resolution passed by the House that would fund the government sans Obamacare by getting 41 Republicans to back a filibuster.  However, the lily-livered McConnell and his lieutenant, John Cornyn, are working with Reid to strip the bill of that requirement. Continue reading “Cruzing for a Bruising” →

Syria: Obama’s Bubba Imitation

It is popular in some circles to draw comparisons between Obama’s proposed action against Syria to Bush 43’s war in Iraq.  A far better example would be Clinton’s bombing of Iraq.  Even better: Clinton’s war on Kosovo.

Obama is simply following his Democratic idol in this latest wag-the-dog exercise.

For the uninitiated, “Wag the Dog” was a black comedy produced by Barry Levinson, starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro that, in 2008, became a classic case of life imitating art. Continue reading “Syria: Obama’s Bubba Imitation” →

Sending Assad to Bed without Supper

Obama’s message to Assad is a classic.

It is tantamount to a mom who lacks the intestinal fortitude to discipline a naughty child.  Instead of simply taking care of a problem when it happens, she stamps her foot and tells her youngster, “When your dad get’s home, he is going o punish you!”

For the first time in his four plus years as president, Obama has suddenly gone all constitutional on us.

He drew a red line on the use of chemical weapons for Syria’s dictator Bashar Assad again, and again.  In fact, there is evidence that this red line has been crossed as many as 14 times.

After losing face on the world stage, Obama beat his chest and announced that he is finally going to “punish” Assad with the help of some of our allies.  Our best friends turned their backs on him and refused to participate (another embarrassment).   There was more chest pounding as our warships moved into position.  Then, Obama suddenly calls a halt to the operation in order to ask permission from Congress.  Obama simply did not have the stomach to go it alone.

In this case, Obama is the mom  (the one in the frilly undershorts) and Congress is the dad.   Continue reading “Sending Assad to Bed without Supper” →

MLK’s Dream now a Nightmare

I grew up in a small town outside of Atlanta.  I remember finding bullets from the Civil War in the yard of my  great-grandparents home where I played as a young child.  They were so common in that area I never thought about saving one.

I also remember hearing the term “separate but equal” throughout my youth.  The full impact of those racially-charged words did not hit home until the early 1960’s.  I was rehearsing a play at the Fox theater on famed Peachtree Street.  When the crew broke for lunch, I went across the street with a black cast member to grab a bite at one of my favorite restaurants.  The maitre d’ refused to seat us.

I was shocked and dismayed!  Separate but equal was not equal, just separate.  Often it meant one had to do with nothing at all.  Where were we supposed to go to eat in order to get back to the theater for the afternoon rehearsal? Frankly, I don’t remember where we ate or if we ate.  I do remember the impact those words had on me.  My friend didn’t get upset like I did.  She was accustomed to being treated as a second-class citizen.

So much has changed in the 50 years since that March on Washington where Dr. Martin Luther King delivered what has become known as his “I had a Dream” speech. The rhetoric from Saturday’s gathering sickened me.  It was supposed to be a celebration of that important event.  However, these organizers turned Dr. King’s dream into his worst nightmare. Continue reading “MLK’s Dream now a Nightmare” →

Arguments for the Welfare State from the Looney Left

“If a man is not a socialist in his youth, he has no heart. 

If he is not a conservative by the time he is 30, he has no head” 

Georges Clemenceau, Former French Prime Minister and one-time radical.

 

In my last column I made a case for a modern-day equivalent of the “poorhouse,” a place of last resort for my father’s generation.

From the comments on that column and elsewhere it appears we have a lot of immature citizens in this country who will never grow up and use their heads.

Clearly our practice of handing out free money, free food, free housing, free health care and a myriad of other goods and services to people with no accountability isn’t working.   It isn’t helping the poor and it is dragging our nation down into an economic abyss from which, if not corrected, there will be no escape.

Our government is serving as an enabler to those who prefer not to work, or at least not to work until such time that one can find the job of his or her dreams with a salary to go along with it.   Continue reading “Arguments for the Welfare State from the Looney Left” →

Bring back the Poorhouse

Some of you are old enough to remember an admonition from your parents to work hard and save a portion of what you earn so that “you don’t wind up in the poorhouse.”   That was a fate worse than death to my father’s generation because it signified abject failure, loss of pride and a complete dependence on welfare, most likely for the remainder of one’s life.

The poorhouse, or more commonly the poor farm, was a place of last resort for those who could not support themselves in the 19th and early 20th century.  Residents were required to work, to the extent they were able, in order to provide for their daily needs.  Accommodations were sparse and pleasures were few.

Most of our parents and grandparents of that era didn’t have big houses or drive fancy cars, but they had good-sized savings accounts.  Why?  When hard times come — and they invariably do — our folks didn’t want to end up in the poorhouse. Continue reading “Bring back the Poorhouse” →

Why Americans have no confidence in Republicans

Conversation overheard on a street near the nation’s Capitol building.

Person 1:  (In a panic) What was that loud boom?  Was it an earthquake?  A sonic boom?  Are we under attack?  Where is the nearest fallout shelter?

Person 2:  Don’t worry.  It’s just the sound of Republicans caving.  You’ll get used to it after a while.  It occurs quite often, especially around this time of year.  Relax.

Yes, it’s an all too familiar sound in Washington, D.C.  No one is surprised by it. 

You may not be able to hear the boom or feel the tremors emanating from Washington, D.C. from your spot hinter  lands, but the results are felt by every American: a sluggish economy,  joblessness, higher prices, stagnant wages, vacant buildings and ailing businesses. Continue reading “Why Americans have no confidence in Republicans” →

The BSA to BSUN: One World Scouting

When the Boy Scouts of America voted to admit openly gay youth, it was a sea-change for the organization which, since its inception, had trained young boys to serve both God and country and to keep themselves “morally straight.”  In other words, to abide by to the principles in His word.

Now that the big (G)od is gone and only a little (g)od who doesn’t demand anything is allowed, it is only a matter of time that “country” also will be invited to take a hike.

The 2013 Jamboree, which was just concluded at the Summit, the Scouts new 10,600 acre, half billion dollar home in West Virginia, was a giant step toward that end.   Continue reading “The BSA to BSUN: One World Scouting” →

The Culpability of Trayvon’s Parents

What if George Zimmerman were dead?  That’s what the angry mobs that rioted after the trial wanted.  That’s what the people who placed anonymous phone calls to Zimmerman, his attorneys, his parents, and the Sanford police chief wanted.

So let’s go back to the night of February 26, 2012.  What if George Zimmerman had not pulled the trigger as he was being beaten by a younger, taller, stronger Trayvon Martin?  No one really knows how many blows Zimmerman could have withstood or if one of those blows to the head could have been fatal.  

Would that have made Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Jay-Z, Beyonce, President Obama and Trayvon’s grieving parents happy?  Unlikely! Continue reading “The Culpability of Trayvon’s Parents” →

Now that’s EXTREME!

The debate over the Texas abortion bill that soon will become law was predictable.   The bill would  ban most abortions after 20 weeks, require abortion facilities to meet the same requirements as ambulatory surgery centers and require the doctors who perform them to have admitting privileges at a local hospital.

When abortion advocates have no argument they call you names:  Texas governor Rick Perry and the legislators who support this measure have been call radical, fascist, right-wing, misogynist and worse.  However, the most common adjective used to describe the measure and its supporters is “extreme.”

In fact, the word extreme has been used so often its meaning has been lost.  It is not a simple expletive to be hurled willy-nilly at one’s political opponents.  

Examine its definitions and then decide for yourself which side is really extreme: Continue reading “Now that’s EXTREME!” →