[Above: my silhouette, northwest Missouri, 1977-ish. Photo by my father.]
The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08
Dedicated to Advancing the Idea That the Other Side May Have a Point
Archive for the 'Patriotism' Category
SUPPLEMENTAL INAUGURAL SPACKLE
January 20th, 2009, 8:20 am by Dan Lehr
Read eyewitness accounts from NewsChannel9ers who were there, as well as listen to some tunes that capture the patriotic spirit of the day, after the jump.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
January 19th, 2009, 8:52 am by Dan Lehr
“Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
&
“A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.“
Martin Luther King Jr. said ‘em both.
HE UTTERLY MISSED THE MOMENT
January 17th, 2009, 11:08 am by Dan Lehr
I’m in 100% agreement with David Broder :
“I thought the most damaging to the American people — both those living now and those yet unborn — was placing the entire cost of Bush’s ambitious, if not misguided, national security policy on the tiny fraction of American families with loved ones in the armed services.
Iraq and Afghanistan are the main fronts in the fourth major war of my lifetime, following World War II, Korea and Vietnam, and the first in which nothing was asked of the civilian population — no higher taxes, nothing to disrupt the comfort of daily life.
…
But in that moment [after 9/11], when the country was truly unified and the people were more than ready to sacrifice, Bush asked for . . . nothing. He spoke of the need for “patience” and “resolve,” but at a news conference at Camp David on Sept. 15, 2001, he was asked, “Sir, how much of a sacrifice are ordinary Americans going to have to be expected to make in their daily lives, in their daily routines?”
Bush’s first words were: “Our hope, of course, is that they make no sacrifice whatsoever. We would like to see life return to normal in America.”
…
Over the next few years, families of active-duty, National Guard and reserve volunteers sacrificed mightily in the form of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and involuntary extensions of tours of duty, not to mention deaths and wounds by the thousands.
As for other Americans, as John McCain repeatedly noted last year, the only thing they were asked to do was “go shopping.”
I’m convinced that had he done more than this, had he called for a shared American sacrifice across the board 8 years ago - rekindling a common sense of national spirit not seen since World War II - he would be remembered as a far greater president today & in the future, even with the disasters of Katrina & Iraq.
He blew it.
FURTHER READING: Bob Woodward on the 10 lessons of the Bush Presidency any future president from any party would do well to heed.
OUR GREATEST POST 9/11 DEFEAT
December 15th, 2008, 12:31 pm by Dan Lehr
[above: Iraqi detainees suffering at the hands of the U.S. Army at Abu Ghraib.]
Do these pictures upset you?
I hope so.
& even more upsetting than that is this bipartisan Senate report (PDF file) on detainee abuse & how it became national policy.
It wasn’t just ‘a few bad apples,’ as was reported at the time.
No, the responsibility lays squarely at the feet of this man:
44 PRESIDENTS IN 4 MINUTES
December 4th, 2008, 7:45 am by Dan Lehr
Neat, but — Ravel’s Bolero???
I can think of, oh, a hundred songs off the top of my head that would be more appropriate.
My top pick (which you should play with the sound of the other clip turned down), after the jump.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
November 26th, 2008, 7:59 am by Dan Lehr
[above: tree near Signal Point, 1997. photo by my wife.]
“Wisdom is not the monopoly of any party. In order for us to be effective, given the scope and scale of the challenges we face, Republicans and Democrats are going to have to work together. And I think what the American people want more than anything is just common-sense, smart government. They don’t want ideology. They don’t want bickering. They don’t want sniping. They want action and they want effectiveness.”
Who said that?
WHAT NOT WRITING OFF HALF THE COUNTRY WILL GET YOU
November 20th, 2008, 3:20 pm by Dan Lehr
“The economic crisis presents a huge opportunity for Obama, and it’s going to be difficult for Republicans to oppose his initiatives, especially if they are aimed at bandaging our collective economic wounds. That will probably be the reality even if Obama governs with Democrats only. But if he taps some of the most well-known Republicans in America to serve in his administration, it will be tougher for conservative Republicans who are opposed in principle to Obama’s agenda. Even the Republicans are Democrats these days, is what the impression would be. In other words, liberal consensus.
The catch here is, Read the rest of this entry »
THE THING ABOUT THAT CHAMBLISS AD
November 13th, 2008, 12:34 pm by Dan Lehr
Democrats hoping to get Jim Martin elected Georgia’s new senator are using this ad as a way to drum up votes for the December 2nd runoff.
Watching the ad again, I find its content tame by the standards of today - in which a politician can claim, with a straight face, that their opponent “pals around with terrorists.”
No, what was wrong with the ad (which aired ad infinitum on NewsChannel9) was what it represented at the time.
GOOD FOR US
November 8th, 2008, 12:31 pm by Dan Lehr
[image by Patrick Moberg, h/t Andrew Sullivan]
Reminder: It’s okay to be happy about this moment in American history & still be critical of Barack Obama.
To those of you who didn’t choose him, take comfort in the fact that Americans have just wielded a powerful global blow to those who (wrongly) believe America is ‘weak’ or ‘in decline’ & thus ‘vulnerable.’
It is one of if not the most effective strikes against those around the world who would do us harm in the past 7 years & 2 months.
& it didn’t involve the firing of a single bullet.
People of every nation around the globe see that America is the one civilization which has proven over time to work the best, & as of Tuesday I would say more people are going to demand their leaders reflect the American system more, not less.
& to those who feel less certain today about the future than they did last Monday - temper your doubt & fear with faith in the genius of the American system.
America & the idea behind it truly does work, & is worth dying for.
This past Tuesday reaffirmed that loud & clear.
FASCISM, IF WE’RE NOT CAREFUL
October 22nd, 2008, 11:53 am by Dan Lehr
What is fascism? Wikipedia defines it as “totalitarian & nationalist ideology.” We fought World War II to defeat it. But we need constant vigilance to make sure it doesn’t surface in this country.
Unfortunately, we’re taking steps towards fascism when we see these kinds of remarks:
FOR BUSH THEN, FOR OBAMA NOW
October 20th, 2008, 1:27 pm by Dan Lehr
A first-hand account of exactly how the Republican brand has damaged itself, based on conversations I had Sunday with voters who picked George W. Bush in the past, but are choosing to pull the lever for Obama this time around - after the jump.
CINDY GOES THERE AGAIN
October 17th, 2008, 3:53 pm by Dan Lehr
From the Swamp:
MIAMI - At a packed rally at Florida International University in Miami, Cindy McCain repeated one of her most controversial lines this afternoon. “And yes,” she told the screaming, pom-pom waving crowd. “I have always been proud of my country.”
The line is a reference to something Michelle Obama said during the primaries. “For the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country because it feels like hope is finally making a comeback,” said Obama, taking heat for the remark.
Cindy McCain, who had just seen Michelle Obama say those words on television, when she walked into a rally earlier this year and said, “I have always been proud of my country.”
Her response created its own firestorm, with Cindy McCain’s words played endlessly on cable television.
Cindy McCain, June 18th, on regretting making the same comment earlier:
“It just spilled out of my mouth, and then I got back on the bus and I thought, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ I thought, ‘Oh, I should never have opened my mouth. How did that happen? I’ll put duct tape over it.’”
ISSUES, IDEAS & OPINIONS: OCTOBER 14th
October 14th, 2008, 8:53 am by Dan Lehr
The Argument for Questioning Everything
From a Adam Gopnik’s review in the New Yorker of a biography of philosopher/free thinker John Stuart Mill:
“…this essentially conservative and tradition-loving man showed that all kinds of practices can stand scrutiny and not be damaged, and that the authoritarian position is not the strongest one but merely the most frightened. Nothing is worse for being looked at. No idea is good enough to exist unopposed. Fundamental differences lie even at the heart of religion and must be freely aired. Christianity is not against argument; it is an argument—should one follow the Greek morality of St. Paul (which includes slavery) or the Jewish morality of St. Mark (which implies the Seder)? The usual objection to Mill’s argument is that free societies will still differ radically about what they want to be free for: my idea of fun is not yours, or Genghis Khan’s. Mill knew this—he knew that you couldn’t prove that good things were good. But he also knew that questions not decidable by proof were still amenable to argument, and that he would rather have the side of the argument that suggested that health, prosperity, and pleasure were good things than the side that said they weren’t.”
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A GITMO-ECTOMY
January 22nd, 2009, 1:00 pm by Dan LehrAbove: President Obama removes one of terrorism’s biggest recruiting tools.
Read about it here, & a discussion about whether it’s the right thing here.
Today I heard Rush Limbaugh on the radio call this move a “political” one.
To which I say: well, duh.
But not ‘political’ in the way Rush is meaning (appeasing the left).
For too long we have failed to capitalize on the United States of America’s greatest weapon: the idea behind this country & the ideals it champions.
Some discussion on Talk 102.3 this morning brought to mind an analogy. Styles, et al were discussing what to do with the Guantanamo prisoners - & how we can’t have them mingle with the “normal” prison population, because they wouldn’t last longer than 2 seconds. They noted that America-bombers & child rapists are subject to the prisoners’ “own form of justice.”
That’s a perfect way of looking at the mindset behind the creation of Guantanamo.
The problem with the system is that it doesn’t leave room for justice. It keeps terrorist suspects off the streets .. but because we’ve thrown them down a legal rabbit hole, one that’s in my view ultimately self-defeating, many of the legitimate terror cases will never be given true justice.
Closing Guantanamo takes away a terrorist recruitment tool, & joins the battle where it really should be fought, & ultimately will be won - not in a physical location, but rather inside the minds of everyone around the world.
& there’s nothing that says we can’t hold a suspect extra-legally. But those cases should be both temporary & reserved for the very few, ones which we have clear-cut evidence on, & not just people picked up off the battlefield, or arrested in cases of mistaken identities who have languished in Gitmo hell for years.
We as a people are far smarter than that, & it’s a breath of fresh air to have someone in charge who realizes this.
(I should also note that I have the utmost confidence we are perfectly capable of housing these prisoners on U.S. soil. The fears of “well, what if we have a prison break?” can be dispelled if you think through logically the scenario about exactly how much damage a person in handcuffs & an orange jumpsuit could really do while on the run).
We need to have faith in our country, & the multitude of legal precedents of our criminal justice system.
We should not be afraid to try these cases based on evidence & the rule of law, & the rights that our Founding Fathers believed to be inalienable - not just to American citizens, but to the entire human race.
I, for one, would rather die while upholding my great country’s ideals than give those ideals up in the name of security.
FURTHER READING:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in: Barack Obama • Commentary • Patriotism • Terrorism | Post a Comment »