USS IOWA REMEMBERED

A few weeks ago a forgotten anniversary came and went. On April 19, 1989 a tragic explosion took the lives of 47 sailors on the USS Iowa. This poem was read on a local Christian radio station the day of the memorial.

Her number BB-61, Iowa her name

She’s earned 11 battle stars hurling shells like rain

Ole Glory flies above her decks for all the world to see

Her guns the biggest guns around to keep our people free

Gunnery practice was the call the mighty shells they flew

Then given was the order “Prepare to fire turret two”

“Oh God” they cried in turret two something had gone wrong

As sailors rushed to fight the fires in a mighty throng

When the count of sailors taken 47 were no more

A dozen would survive to sail the seas once more   

Wives and parents and children mourned those they loved so well

Their Captain and their President the nation’s grief did tell

Though they did not die in battle nor in time of war

Yet as Patriots and heroes they are remembered evermore

Seeming nearly human Iowa recalls every name

And cries out oh dear patriot your deaths are not in vain

For more info on the USS Iowa go to http://www.navsource.org/archives/01/61c.htm

 

Freedom is not free

Until next time, Keep on the firing line

George W Bush

It would not be hard to sum up the 2008 presidential debates in a few words:

Democratic nominee Sen. Barak Obama to Republican nominee Sen. John McCain, “Your George Bush!”

Sen. McCain to Sen. Obama, “No I’m not!”

“Yes you are!”

“No I’m not!”

“Yes you are…NA NA NA NA NA!”

That’s about as cerebral as I remember it. Ah, George W Bush, member of every evil secret society that “exists”, the epitome of evil, the man who made hurricanes and thrust them at the poor blacks in New Orleans, the man who blew up the twin towers just for the heck of it, framed innocent Bin Laden, tried to conquer the middle east for cheap oil, and the man who single handedly deceived the entire world into believing that poor Sadaam Hussein was a bad guy, and that he actually had the weapons of mass destruction that he used on his own people. All this was done as simultaneously he was the most stupid, inarticulate man to hold high office in the history of the world. So which was it, was he the incarnate form of the Prince of Darkness? Many Republicans thought he was the man, in fact ati one time nearly the whole country thought he was, were all befogged by his evil powers or were we right, maybe he was “the man” after all. Let’s look back at some of the issues and see.

Issue #1 Immigration….not the man.  I disagree with those who say President Bush betrayed conservatives on this issue, he was consistent both as Governor of Texas and President, he was always in favor of a more lax policy and a guest worker program that was a code word for amnesty. We voted for him in spite of this because it wasn’t a key issue until during his second term when the Bush-McCain crowd tried to push through his unpopular program. Closing the border was never an emphasis of his.

Issue #2  economy…. THE MAN.  (Most of the time any way) President Bush inherited a recession that was complicated by the September 11^th attacks, but once his tax policy went into affect, economic activity increased and 52 weeks of job growth ensued. In fact unemployment reached record lows during this time. the housing bubble did aid Bush job growth and its bursting did hurt extensively and it is popular to blame Bush but we should remember that in 2003, long before the collapse, Pres Bush proposed a regulatory authority to reign in Freddie Mac and Fannie May, the big culprits in the sub prime crisis but was soundly rejected in his effort. Where Pres. Bush went wrong was in his 700 billion dollar bailout scheme which was loosely defined and as the President himself admitted,  “I readily concede I chunked aside some of my free market principles when I was told by chief economic advisors that the situation we were facing could be worse than the Great Depression.”  Free market principles should never be chunked aside; it’s never a good idea. For this reason and an overall failure to reduce the size of government Pres Bush’s overall economic legacy will likely not have the long term sticking power of Ronald Reagan’s but start to finish his economic policies were a success. Gas prices were the other killer of the Bush economy but it was he who proposed sweeping energy reform that would have likely alleviated most if not all of the gas crisis and put us on a true path of energy independence.

Issue #3 foreign policy… THE MAN ! I miss the day when we helped our allies and opposed our enemies. President Bush had a no nuanced straight forward approach to the world. Al-Quada attacked us and went from being a global terror to a desperate regional group desperately clinging to its last stronghold of power. Afghanistan was ruled by the Taliban and supported our enemies now the Taliban is a rag tag insurgency trying to threaten the new Democratic government in Kabul. Sadaam, who did have chemical weapons and used them, is dead as are his sons and Iraq’s democracy will be extremely difficult to turn back in the near future. (Even though we did not discover the stockpiles of weapons, we did find the facilities to make them, the systems to deliver them and facilities where terrorists were being trained to use them so lets lay this myth to rest once and for all).  Gaddafi  was a non issue, and the Somali pirates were reluctant to attack an American flagged vessel as long as Bush was President. President Bush also gave Israel their best chance to defeat Hamas, though the previous Israeli administration was too timid to take full advantage. While some of us feel that the road map to peace made too much demand on Israel, they being the only rational party involved, there is no real doubt of where we would have stood if Israel was attacked. Likewise China would have been hard pressed to take aggressive action with Taiwan, even though President Bush continued a policy of engagement that allowed China to prop up there own economy with our money and debt.

Issue #4  defense….THE MAN!  Following the September 11^th, attacks President Bush reformed our intelligence agencies and put into action a plan to secure the nation. Gone was the Gorelick wall that prevented the sharing of information between agencies and a new series of tools were implemented in the form of the patriot act. None of these measures were perfect and I believe sun setting the patriot act was wise, I wish all governmental expansions had a sunset date, but over all the plan worked and compared to past wartime presidencies the infringement upon civil rights was a nonconcern. President Bush largely allowed the military to do its job, at times political correctness interfered with the rules of engagement, but in the end we won in Iraq and we can win in Afghanistan if our current President will let the generals make the strategic decisions. Let us also remember that it was President Bush’s policies that lead to finding Bin Laden. Let us also remember that it was never our policy to torture people,  what the Bush justice department did was to establish guidelines as to how far can you go before it is torture, any administration should have the same debate, even if it reaches different conclusions. Personally I think it was a debate better held behind closed doors. Why do we want our enemies to know what we will and won’t do?

Issue #5….tax and revenue…THE MAN!  When President Bush cut the tax rates and the economy grew, as it always does, tax revenue skyrocketed, as it always has.

Issue #6  spending and deficit…NOT THE MAN! Perhaps the greatest failing of the Bush Presidency was the failure to diminish and at times even encourage the government’s insatiable appetite for spending. The bailout and prescription drug plan are prime examples. While the Bush deficit was a relatively small percent of GDP and while the wars added to the deficit, the unbridled entitlement and social spending was the devouring beast that has grown exponentially and has now come to threaten our very existence. To Pres .Bush’s credit though he did attempt to reform social security though few in his own party had the guts to stand with him at that time.

Issue #7 judicial appointments….THE MAN!     Even though the Harriet Meyers nomination was suspect to some President Bush went a long way toward populating the benches with strong constructionist judges. Too bad McCain and his gang of 14 cut his legs out on some of the most important ones.

Issue #8  social (moral) issues….THE MAN!  Again not perfect, but Pres Bush did support life unfailingly, he stood against gays in the military and in defense of marriage as between a man and woman.

Issue #9 environment….NOT THE MAN! While the President avoided most of the radical environmentalist positions one of the many “bipartisan compromises” he agreed to, was the moronic and damnable rule that soon will outlaw incandescent light bulbs    ! Unforgivable!

Issue #10 education…NOT THE MAN! No child left behind was a good idea with noble goals but in the end it was too much government, too much spending, too much bureaucracy, and too much Ted Kennedy (who wrote the legislation)

President George W Bush was a social conservative and a foreign policy hawk, and when he was true to these concepts he really shined. He believed in American exceptionalism and in the moral superiority of freedom. He succeeded in making America stronger and more secure and until the Democrats took over congress more prosperous. He conducted himself with dignity and respected the office he held.

Unfortunately the concept of compassionate conservatism was really just more government. The idea that government should be smarter not smaller, is incorrect, government is not the solution to our problem too often it is the problem (as Reagan warned). As a recent presidential hopeful stated President Bush believed that we have no enemies in politics just opponents. His opponents never thought of him that way. I think George W Bush will  be remembered as a very good President perhaps a great one, he united the country after 9-11, my first memory is of him throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium or yelling in that blow horn, “the people who knocked down these towers will hear from us all soon!”  

In my opinion Bush was the right man for 2001.He is also the last in the lines of conservatives who can afford the idea that we all want to get to the same place we just have different ideas about how to get there. The liberals’ designs for our country are no better than the terrorists. The day of the new tone is over and it is time for a President who will fight the liberals with the same devotion that President Bush fought Al-Queda. 

until next time keep on the firing line

Marriage, used cars, and strikeouts

As the coverage of the Royal Wedding continued I heard an English journalist asked if Princess Catherine would fare better in the long run than did Princess Diana, at least in her marriage and the lady journalist answered confidently that she likely would, after all she knows William far better than Diana knew Charles and they had even lived together. I don’t know if the terms “live together” have the same connotation in England as here, but if so I have bad news for our English reporter:

:

·                            The number of unmarried couples living together soared 12-fold from 430,000 in 1960 to 5.4 million in 2005.

·                            More than eight out of ten couples who live together will break up either before the wedding or afterwards in divorce.

·                            About 45 percent of those who begin cohabiting do not marry. Another 5-10 percent continue living together and do not marry.

·                            Couples who do marry after living together are 50% more likely to divorce than those who did not.

·                            Only 12 percent of couples who have begun their relationship with cohabitation end up with a marriage lasting 10 years or more.

·                            A Penn State study reports that even a month’s cohabitation decreases the quality of the couple’s relationship

  (Ray Fowler .org)

I once pointed these facts out to a coworker who believed in the logic of living together, or cohabitating, to “see if it works”; in response she said that this was my opinion and that my opinion was stupid. Now I will admit to having some stupid opinions this isn’t one, even that radical right wing think-tank of Penn State agrees that cohabitating ruins relationships. The question is why. If Hollywood portrays cohabitation as simply one stage of courtship (and Hollywood marriages are what we all should aspire to), and if so large a segment of our population believe it’s the way to go why do these same couples strike out so regularly? I have an opinion; rather it is stupid you decide.

Strike one. The type of man who cohabitates: this type of man wants the use of a woman but not the commitment of marriage; he is a renter who wants the liberty to leave without having to pay alimony. A marrying man sees a woman as a treasure to be competed for wooed and respected, the cohabitating man wishes someone to share his bed and the rent, not his life. A marring man cleaves to his wife as one flesh, a cohabitating man keeps one foot in the door at all times. The argument that the cohabitating man makes is simple, you wouldn’t buy a car without test driving it would you? Interestingly a man doesn’t usually test drive just one car and when that car gets a few miles on it, or when it needs more work than he’s willing to give what does he do? Trades it in on a newer model. Does this sound like a winner to you, ladies?

Strike two the type of woman who cohabitates. The old adage women give sex to get love so men feign love to get sex is too often true. The type of lady presupposed to allowing her self to be used without getting a meaningful commitment back is a weak woman. She cannot see that she is a treasure, a rare mysterious treasure rarer and more unique than gold or silver because in the entire universe and in the whole of time God made only one of her, there will never be another. Any man who wants to possess that treasure must pay the highest of all costs, his life.   Ought not the husband to lay down his life for her as Christ did the church? Should not the wife be wholly committed to her husband as the church is to Christ? The woman who casts her pearls before the swine either disrespects herself or her man or most likely both. Guys, hold out for a woman who sees herself as more than an object to be test driven.

Strike three natural law.  Cohabitation is symptomatic of the first two points but in the third it is causative. Natural law is the concept that God places in man, an instinctive knowledge of right and wrong, this is referred to in Romans1:18-20: 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Natural law or moral absolutes are as essential to society as marriage any time we rebel against these standards our plans will not succeed, our nation and especially our children suffer as a result of rebellion and the arrogance of our belief that we know better than God. When mankind was cast out of Eden he was allowed to keep only one thing from paradise, marriage. Marriage is sacred and it must be treated as sacred in order to thrive. Just as God is a jealous god we must be jealous of our marriage. We make that commitment for richer for poorer, for better for worse, in sickness and in health, then and only then do we reap the rewards and face the challenges of life together.

Can a marriage survive cohabitation? Sometimes, just like a batter in baseball can sometimes be safe after a strikeout (if the catcher drops the ball and fails to either tag the batter or throw to first base before the batter reaches it) but when it comes to the rest of your life, I doubt that’s how you want to try to get on base.  Yet that is exactly what cohabitating does.

Until next time keep in the firing line.

p.s. next time I shall endeavor to do the impossible! Have a rational conversation about George Bush!

When I see Ole Glory

Usama Bin Laden is dead.  I knew it would happen; it was only a matter of time. I’ll even say “well done President Obama” I won’t dwell on the narcissistic speech that announced it, or the fact that every tool of intelligence used to track down the terrorist leader was opposed by Pres. Obama, or the apparent indecision in deciding the biggest no brainer in the history of military “go no go’s”.  rather it was because of or in spite of the President’s leadership is of no matter, we, the United States of America, did what we said we would do, dead or alive we got Bin Laden.

I didn’t feel the desire to celebrate when I heard the news; instead I felt relief, a sense of accomplishment, and pride. The same pride I feel when I see the flag that flies over the Arizona memorial at Pearl Harbor, or the Star Spangled banner which soared over Fort McHenry , or the picture of the firefighters raising the flag at ground zero. When I see the flag I see America.

When I see the flag I see the mightiest military force in the history of the world. I see half a million 18-24 year olds given weapons, trained to kill people and break things, and sent all over the world. Not all of them are good guys, just 99%. We defeat nations then rebuild and protect them, we don’t conquer, we don’t seize oil fields, and we have no empire. The rules of Bushido or the laws of chivalry were celebrated codes of honorable combat, yet both of these were written after the fact it was an attempt to romanticize a past struggle, the real code of honor is the US military’s rules of engagement. We have tried desperately to limit civilian casualties; we spend billions on smart bombs so we don’t have to carpet bomb civilian areas, our troops will put themselves at risk rather than just blow up a crowd of innocents to get one bad guy. Besides when there is a disaster the first best and fastest relief, rather it is Haiti or Thailand or Japan, comes from the US military. When the oppressed see our flag, they see hope, when he destitute see it they see help, when our enemies see it they see the end, even if its ten years down the road.

When I see the flag I see freedom. Where in all the world can Muslims Christians and Jews coexist in peace, seek happiness and prosperity each according to his or her gifts? The United States of America. I believe our freedoms are under attack that’s the lion’s share of the reason to do this blog, how dare I receive from my father a free nation purchased with the blood  of his shipmates at Iwo Jima, and not do all that is in my power to pass it along to my children!   I am sitting in my home writing a blog hoping to have it read by as many people as possible that is frequently critical of the president and the powers that be and what fear do I have of having my door kicked in, and being hauled off to prison, or just kind of disappearing? None. Are our freedoms under assault, are they being infringed on, yes undeniably! We must battle against each and every infringement and attempt to secure the freedoms guaranteed in the bill of rights for another generation, lest those infringements grow into true oppression, but ask the people of Syria what it means to not be free. Ask the Iranians or the Chinese if freedom of speech and religion are worth dieing for. Even under Canadian law speech and expression are repressed. America really is the last hill where free men must take a stand and die if need be.

When I see the flag I see one nation under God. We are a Christian nation, and only a Christian nation can be truly free for those of other faiths. More Bibles have gone from this nation to the world than all others combined; more missionaries have carried the gospel from our shores than any other. We have not always been in obedience to the God who blessed our founding, we are now as we have in times past straying from the straight and narrow but I have no doubt that God still has a place for us in his plan. Don’t get me wrong if we don’t repent and turn away from the path we are on, God could raise up another nation in our place. Some of my friends feel   that it’s too late, we’ve gone too far, but I doubt we have gone so far as had Sodom, which God would have spared for the sake of 10, yet we are a nation where millions live decent moral and charitable lives, where hundreds of thousands pray to God and who humble themselves and before Him every day. Think carefully of what the world without us would be like, those we feed would go hungry those we protect would be helpless, those we rescue would perish. I believe God sees these things as much as He does our sin.  

When I see the flag I see a friend of all freedom loving people. Years ago a friend traveled to Israel and said the Israelis divide the world into three categories: enemies, neutrals, and the United States. Even those who support Israel may disagree on policy, settlements and the like, and I think we have asked too many concessions of Israel and too few of the Palestinians, but even the most misguided of American policies has sought the end result of a secure and independent Israel.  Even now with a truly ambiguous administration hell bent on reaching out to our enemies and insulting our allies, American troops with no fanfare go quietly to Sinai to ensure that the new Egyptian government doesn’t get any ideas about breaking the Camp David accords as some in that nation have threatened to do. Israel is not our only friend, Europe had no ability to fend off the soviets or the Nazis without us, South Korea has a large free and vibrant economy because of us, and things didn’t go as well for those poor schleps in the north did it? Even our former enemies, Japan, Germany, soon Iraq and God willing Afghanistan, are among the freest nations on Earth.

In closing I quote the words of one far more eloquent than myself, one who saw in this nation what I see.  You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done -- Ronald Reagan

Until next time, keep on the firing line.