Saving America from Salinger Syndrome one reader at a time…

Pierre Salinger.  You remember him.  He was the White House press secretary for JFK, better defined for his position as the gullible liberal democrat who caused the government to waste untold amounts of dollars and man hours researching the bogus theory that a U.S. Navy missile shot down TWA flight 800.  Interestingly, even after being proven factually incorrect, the myth that Salinger popularized continues to live on in Urban legend and is fodder for many internet websites and blogs. (No, really. There are actually people out there who believe that an entire crew of sailors can keep a secret.)

Well, Pierre, back in 1997, was given the dubious honor of having a syndrome named after him.  According to Wikipedia, “The term[Pierre Salinger Syndrome] is widely attributed to Moira Gunn, who said in a Wired magazine interview (July 1997), ‘Just because it’s online doesn’t make it true. We’re heading toward something called the Pierre Salinger syndrome, which is endemic to people who have not hung around the new technology and are fooled by its shortfalls.’”

Clearly, this is an affliction that is having a profound impact on American life.  Even with the dawn of the intellectual awakening upon us, there are still many who refuse to believe that mainstream media sources spin stories and are agenda driven information peddlers.  These depression profiteers sell sensationalism and conspiracy theories.  But then how well would a paper sell if it sported the headline “All’s well.  You can relax today.”   The MSM is only the tip of the iceberg, however.  Bloggers know, as do most experienced internet surfers that there are countless web pages that purport to present the absolute truth on anything from tap dancing to topography and about anyone from Tony Blair to Jessica Simpson. 

Just because you see it on the internet, don’t make it so!  Sadly, the truth is that most of us get caught up in sensationalism from time to time.  Surfing the web allows us to revel in the ridiculous much in the way it (unfortunately) fosters the use of pornography.  No one is watching so we are much less careful about what we read – we indulge ourselves.  Reading some sites is much like picking up the National Enquirer – something we’d never ackowledge doing, but isn’t it fascinating?  

The danger in the medium is that there is are a lot of young people and older people, too,  who are less familiar with the online world and are less discriminating than experienced internet users.  The medium offers credibility to very unreliable sources.  And it allows for spinning in a way that is less recognizable simply because we can’t look into the eyes of the human behind the commentary. 

As conservatives, I often wonder if we are losing the PR war.  As a Christian conservative,  I feel sure we have waited much too long to even enter the battlefield.  Nevertheless, we are gaining ground and battling back with our keyboards.  We cannot content ourselves to campaign from computer chairs alone.  We need to be out there gladhanding and reminding people why America is great.

I suggest the following:

1.  Get to know your neighbors.  Take them a plate of cookies.  Make nice.  Show them what you are about. 

2.  Go to work in your communities.  Donate time to local charities – not the ones your church runs but in a place where you can meet new people and set an example of compassionate conservatism.

3.  Make an effort to hear people out.  Everyone wants respect.  You don’t have to agree.  You don’t even need to acknowledge that you disagree.  “That’s a very interesting position.”  is a wonderful response.  When you listen to others, they listen to you. 

4.  Go about the sharing your political ideology with the same attitude you take when you share your religious beliefs.  Show respect and kindness.  Every person is worth having on our side of the aisle. 

I’m not suggesting that you “sell” an American reformation, simply that you present it in a way that isn’t confrontational.  The beauty of true American ideals is that they sell themselves.  They are the natural inheritance of all men, having been granted to us by a wise Creator. 

There you have it – my plan to save the country – it’s not “Go ye therefore and teach all nations…”  but you get the idea.   Now, get busy!

Promote the general welfare

Today on Sean Hannity’s show,  a liberal caller, phoned in and suggested that “promoting the general welfare” meant that the government should provide housing, food, jobs, transportation, education (college), and health care.  The caller seemed truly shocked that Sean would suggest that individuals should assume responsibility for their own welfare. 

The confusion between “the general welfare” and welfare checks is a serious problem.  Promoting the general welfare means that the government has a responsibility to provide a safe, secure environment and to promote the values it espouses, namely, freedom and liberty to all.  Equal treatment means a level playing field with respect to the law and a reasonable expectation of meritorious compensation (i.e. your sweat earns your paycheck).

The fact that there are generations of people in this country who have so little appreciation for freedom, the freedom to achieve as well as freedom from oppression, is indeed frightening.  Communist ideals are winning the hearts and minds of many Americans.  It is no longer enough to wage the war from behind computer screens, we have got to mobilize grassroots campaigns to reeducate confused constituents who continue to vote for policies and politicians who are driving this country away from freedom and toward an Orwellian future.  Regardless of party.  We must hold all politicians to account.

Ride on

This post goes out to the wonderful men and women at Patriot Guard Riders.  These wonderful people are doing the most kind and compassionate thing and deserve all the thanks we can heap upon them.  In response to the outrageous protesting by the Westboro Baptist Church  at the funerals of military servicemembers, the PGR ask the loved ones of fallen soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen if they can attend the service.  They arrive with flags in hand and line up in front of churches, synagogues, and buildings where the funerals are held and maintain a reverent and respectful “firing line”, shielding family and friends from hate-mongers and protestors.

The PGR does not have a political ideology or a partisan agenda.  They welcome all who share their appreciation for men and women in uniform.  They do not even require that you “ride”.  The group has gained national attention lately and certainly deserves it. 

As an Army wife who has known the fear, the dread, the nightmares that are a part of being married to the military,  I am at a loss to describe just how touched I am by the gentle service of these wonderful citizens.  Standing silent between the grieving family and unscrupulous political opportunists, these Patriot Guard Riders are a reminder that man can rise above the fray and reach true nobility when he puts forth his hand to lift another up.  May God bless each and every man and woman who stands (and rides) this compassionate and Christlike vigil.  Thank you, PGR.

       

On Family Dynamics

I’ve been a miniscule part of the blogging community for just over a month now but in spite of my limited experience, I have to say that I am absolutely loving the life of an online journalist.  My online journal, taken at face value, probably seems as contradictory and convoluted as its author.  People and their opinions are generally even more complex than the issues themselves.  And yet, with few exceptions, my experiences online have been enlightening and engaging.  I’ve learned a lot, met some very interesting people and, in the process, come to know myself better.

Some of the blogs I’ve seen are filled with answers, others with questions, but all with opinions.  Opinions about weather and sports, music and art, Washington and Hollywood.  Just about every subject under the sun.  Some are intensely personal and others are guardedly anonymous.

The anonymity of online journaling is, in my opinion, one of the greatest benefits.  It offers a chance to be known for what you think without who you are muddying the waters.  You can be a voice of morality, a political pundit, a cultural whiz, a poet, a pervert, or like me, a person who just likes to hash things out with the wonderful sounding board of strangers unencumbered by the distraction of actually knowing me.

After some mental debate, I broke my silence and sent my blog’s link to my family.  Probably a mistake.  As the fifth of six children, I have had an audience watching me succeed and fail all my life and in my family, filled with fiercely competitive souls, and zealous critics,  I knew I’d be opening myself up to rejection.  It didn’t take long for judgements to be handed down.  But, that was to be expected.  My siblings have heard my opinions A LOT.  With six kids in a family, it’s easy to get lost in the crowd.  I’ve always been the one who’s spoken out with reckless abandon and usually without the tact that a Backspace button affords me.  And I have played the family Simon Cowell enough to warrant my own special judge’s chair, so I don’t deserve any mercy.  The sad part is that I really have grown into a mature adult, a good mother and an intelligent, strong woman.  Nevertheless, it seems unreasonably hard to shake those familial roles whenever we are together.  Know-it-all, tag-along, chatty, little sister.  And ever begging for approval from the siblings, I admire.  That’s me.

There are days, days like today, when I struggle with self-doubt and wonder if I am destined to walk the same path as those who have gone before me.  I feel their dismissive gazes upon me and recognize the condescending looks that reduce my opinions, values, and struggles to the growing pains of a kid sister who will someday reach their level of maturity and understanding. 

I’ve thought a lot about the family dynamics today and decided that I was not alone in my circumstance.  There is another lady I know of, whose past as a young know-it-all haunts her.  Like me, she is a crusader who holds to ideals that are rarely practically attainable.  Regardless, she keeps advocating principles that even she finds hard to live up to.  Convinced that the world holds promise and she can help others see the glory in it,  she is a frequently outspoken.  She’s made mistakes, visible to all, and those from whom she’s descended are quick to point out her flaws.  But she gets it right, too.  A lot more right than she’s given credit for, and she has friends, most of them unemcumbered by knowledge of her past failures who flock to her and find in her a rare beauty.  My lady friend,  America,  still bound to the Western European family that judges her harshly and praises her all too rarely, keeps turning homeward as if that is where all answers lie.  And yet, this beautiful woman, for all her highly visible wrongs, is a startling success in her own right.  She is winsome woman and her gates are filled to overflowing with people, literally, dying to get in.  Despite her detractors, there are many fledgling young nations who look to her as a shinging example of liberty and the triumph of principled reason. 

Some days, like today, America struggles with self-doubt.  She wonders if the message she has embraced, the message of self-determination, freedom and inalienable rights endowed by a Creator, is a banner worth waving.  She struggles with the practical application of letting the Liberty Bell sound in all the world instead of just in Philadelphia.  When America stands at the crossroads, listening to the criticisms of her older, more cynical European family, she must not only look back at where she started, but how very far she has come.  She can follow the footsteps of Western European nations or she can continue onward, blazing a new and freer path.  With her critics outnumbering her allies, even within her own borders, America has a hard road ahead.  She’ll have to decide whether or not she is going to go the way of the Old World or if she will maintain the passionate and fiery charge of her youth.

What anyone becomes is ultimately the sum of his heart and his head, the culmination of where his ideals and his actions coincide.  Do we follow the paths of others, do we cling to outdated roles that relegate us a position we’ve outgrown, or do we march to the beat of our own drummer?  America and I, we have some choices to make.

 

The truth about Saddam’s WMDs (from a reliable source)

Saddam had weapons of mass destruction.  There is no denying it.  He had them.  He actively hid them and deceived the U.N. insepctors.  He had plans involving biological, chemical and nuclear weapons.  And I have this information on very good authority.  Saddam Hussein said it himself. 

While the whitehousepresscorp was busy being offended over Dick Cheney’s failure to send out personally engraved press releases regarding the Whittington hunting accident, some of us in America were paying more attention to the taped discussions of Saddam and his ‘cabinet’ than the events on the Armstrong ranch.  Turns out the dictator recorded hours and hours worth of chats he had with his comrades and those recorded conversations are darn enlightening. 

Where did all of these WMDs go?  According to John Shaw, former deputy undersecretary of Defense, they were moved into Syria and Lebanon.  But not without help.  Just ask the Russians.

Interesting isn’t it that the “Bush lied” liberals in this country have gone suddenly mute.  What ought to be a fiery backlash against the anti-war left seems not to have engendered the fury of Americans.  Personally, I can’t figure how so many who were misled with misinformation aren’t more upset.  If I’d bought into the Bush the Prevaricator doctrine – I’d be really p****d right now!  But, heh, that’s just me.

Read it for yourself:

Newsmax

BP News confirms Saddam’s obsession

and even (with a little spin) ABC

For even more excitement type “Saddam Hussein tapes” into your search engine and download the powerpoint presentation from the Intelligence Summit.

Weekend Updates

Where I spent my weekend: 

PC Watch is always a fun stop and somehow blogger, John Ray, always finds the most wildly PC-gone-awry news blurb.  This one ought to keep Letterman in business for a while.

Amy Proctor has a great post up about the culture of “pimps and hos” that is being peddled to our kids.  It is a great reminder that nowadays not only can’t we let the village help raise our children, we have to take extraordinary measures to protect them from the villagers.

Over at Mudville Gazette, the call is being issued for counterprotesters to meet Cindy Sheehan on March 11th when she will be setting up “Camp Casey” outside of Landstuhl medical center in Germany.  Everyone’s favorite media whore will be standing just outside the first hospital our troops see when they leave combat injured or dying.  Bet she wouldn’t be doing that if Casey were inside being reassembled after an IED blast.  He must be turning over in his grave.

Over at P-BS Watch, the funniest of all the Mohammad cartoons is posted.  And, as always, you can count watch the Kerry clock to see how many days John has left to prepare for the 2008 presidential election. 

For the scoop on the other Iraq, Washington Times has an interesting editorial by Victor David Hanson about the fluidity of war and the possibility for success in Iraq.

For more insight on the furthering of Democracy and advancing the cause of freedom, check out Clifford D. May’s article for Foundation for Defense of Democracies.  A great analysis of why we should stay the course.

 

Also from P-BS watch, comes this beauty. 

Idiots and the people who love them

The ugliness that rears its head when people express dissident opinions has always been a testament to the fact that some people just aren’t capable of ignoring idiots.

Fist fight broke out today between neo-nazis and counter protestors in a predominantly black Florida neighborhood.  Did counter-demonstrators really feel that this was worth wasting a Saturday?  Neo-nazis enjoy extremely limited popular support in this country and get very little leniency from the government.  Why can’t we just ignore these clowns?  Giving them attention does nothing more than put them in the spotlight they crave. 

Freedom of speech may mean that every moron is allowed his say but it doesn’t require that the rest of us prove we’re morons by paying attention.

Oh yes, and what a wise way to spend tax payer funded police (SWAT team) man hours!

Express Mail from Tall Afar

Cal Thomas wrote a wonderful article yesterday that reveals more of the truth about what is happening on the ground in Iraq.

Excerpted:

Tall Afar was the main base of operations for the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The mayor says his city was held hostage by al-Zarqawi. “Our schools, governmental services, businesses and offices were closed. Our streets were silent, and no one dared to walk them. Our people were barricaded in their homes out of fear; death awaited them around every corner. Terrorists occupied and controlled the only hospital in the city. Their savagery reached such a level that they stuffed the corpses of children with explosives and tossed them into the streets in order to kill grieving parents attempting to retrieve the bodies of their young.”

The 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment (ACR) arrived in Iraq in 2003 and began attacking insurgents in Fallujah. Last year, they went back for a second tour, this time in Tall Afar. The mayor’s letter sums up the result: “This was the situation of our city until God prepared and delivered … the courageous soldiers of the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, who liberated this city, ridding it of al-Zarqawi’s followers after harsh fighting, killing many terrorists and forcing the remaining butchers to flee the city like rats to the surrounding areas, where the bravery of other 3rd ACR soldiers in Sinjar, Rabiah, Zumar and Avgani finally destroyed them.”

Hat’s off to the 3rd ACR and to  Mayor Najim Abdullah Abid Al-Jubouri for graciously telling the story of their heroism. 

 

Are you kidding me?

Many of you may have heard of the “Tunnel of Oppression” exhibit that has become so popular on college campuses (or is that campi) over the past 10 years or so.  But as Michael Medved revisits the issue of academia’s most PC thrill ride, i thought I’d join in with my two cents.

The desire of most freedom loving Americans to liberate the nation of bias and bigotry has become hopeleesly confused with the notion that we should be required to tolerate the intolerable and forced to embrace any and all behaviors as if they were all equal and equally acceptable.

Yet another example of the push to completely remove moral judgement from society can be seen in the emergence of the “Tunnel of Oppression“.  At first glance, the tunnel, an interactive experience designed to create an emotional atmosphere in which student participants can feel the pain and frustration of discrimination, seems like a reasonably forward-thinking idea.  It’s goals are not intellectually based nor are they aimed at promoting discourse but they are designed to stir the feelings of attendents so that they profoundly feel the cause of the girl who suffers from having to endure an illegal backroom abortion or the pain of a young man who is harrassed for choosing a gay lifestyle.

In addition to promoting a distinctly liberal morality by victimizing abortion participants and homosexuals, the tunnel goes even further in pushing it’s agenda.  Driven by a desire to create hate-crimes legislation, the program relies on stirring the feelings of 18-24 years old youths.  It is precisely the emotion focused individual who carries out “hate-crimes”.  Wouldn’t it be infinitely better to take aim at the minds of these college kids and change the paradigm within which they THINK.  Change is a choice that is made consciously when reason compels us to move in a different direction.  To push the emotional buttons of tunnel viewers only serves to shift the strong emotions from one target to another.  Now, instead of hate for the discriminated, they are filled with rage against any perceived bias – real or otherwise.

It appears that the emotion driven activity is designed to compel acceptance of everything.  You can erase insitutional discrimination without denying moral judgement.  You can love the sinner and hate the sin.  However, it appears as though The Tunnel would remove those distinctions and completely eradicate morality from the mindset. 

Heaven help us if we are not bound by our own inhibitions and if we find nothing objectionable except objection.

 

A scene from one “tunnel”

  

Bringing top light the oppression of the

animals we eat.

 

What would we do without the NEA?

Yet another teacher has been arrested and charged with criminal sexual conduct with a minor.  Wendie A Schweikert is accused of having sex with one of her 11 year old students at E.B.Morse Elementary School.  You read that right. ELEMENTARY school! 

Not content with the trend toward violating our teenagers, apparently Ms. Schweikert decided to pick sexual partners from the prepubescents listed on her class roster.

I am not without compassion, I was a school teacher and I know that salaries are low and probably wouldn’t allow for splurging on the occasional male prostitute, but really!  We’re talking about boys whose only sexual feature of note is a cracking voice. 

If these charges are true, may she have 12 homeschooling mothers on her jury.