Egypt’s new President Mohamed Morsi recently warned in an interview with the New York Times that it was up to the United States to repair its relationship with the Arab world. He said that the United States should do more to respect Islamic culture, even if it conflicts with Western values.
Something is seriously wrong with this picture. I would have to agree with Mr. Morsi that the relationship America has with the Arab world is in very bad shape, but that is the full extent of our common ground.
One vital element that has been missing from our relationship with the Arab world is respect; not our respect for Islamic culture, but their respect for us. For decades, we have bent over backwards to show them that we respect their culture, and all we have gotten in return is threats, burned American flags, and dead American citizens. It is time to change tactics.
It has been said on many occasions, by many very knowledgeable people, in very clear terms that Middle Eastern culture respects strength, and exploits weakness. This fact is not a secret from anyone, except perhaps those who are setting our foreign policy. Even though the U.S. was already fully engaged in an effort to kowtow to anyone and everyone in the Middle East, President Obama launched his apology tour immediately after he was elected in an effort to prove to them that the U.S. was even weaker than before. The natural result of that effort is currently on display everyday in the news.
It would be a gross understatement to say that it is high time for U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East to grow a spine. I make no claims of being an expert on the Middle East, or on foreign policy, but some things are so obvious that it doesn’t take an expert to see it. In fact, sometimes the rest of us can see things to which the experts are oblivious. The United States must begin to display strength in the region; not just military strength, but strength of character as well.
Will Rogers once said “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” This would be some very good advice to follow right now. Appeasement and apologies only make a bad situation worse. What we should do is make an honest assessment of the grievance the Arab world has with us, which effectively boils down to our relationship with Israel. We have to understand that it is not the nature of our relationship with Israel that bothers them; it is the existence of the relationship to which they object.
We could, of course, turn our backs on Israel as President Obama seems inclined to do, but that would only be a further display of weakness on our part. Instead, we need to make it clear to all involved that it is we who will decide who our friends are, and then we should make it even more clear that there are valuable benefits to that friendship. At the same time it should become obvious that being our enemy entails a number of significant risks. If the Arab nations want a better relationship with the U.S., it is they who must do more to respect our values, even when it conflicts with their culture. Naturally this won’t make the Arab world love us, but it will show strength and gain us a measure of respect.
Dependency is a sign of weakness. It diminishes the respect others have for us, and it diminishes the respect we have for ourselves. For too long we have looked to the Middle East for our petroleum ‘fix’, and as a result we have had to bow before the ministers of OPEC, just as President Obama bowed before the Saudi King. The desire for Middle Eastern oil has shaped our policies and destroyed our self-respect. Like any other addict, we have mistaken desire for need; and like any other addict we are going to have to make some tougn changes to break our addiction.
The United States is more than capable of supplying our own energy needs from sources here in our own country, as well as from our neighbors here in North America. If we had leadership that would implement such an energy policy, the benefits would be numerous and enormous.
First and foremost, we would break the chains that keep us enslaved to OPEC. Not only would our position in the Middle East be strengthened, terrorist organizations that have long benefitted from oil revenue will find their pockets growing empty. Money that now goes to the Middle East to build the glittering cities in the sand would stay here in the U.S. to build our economy, and to create jobs and fuel the economic recovery that we so desperately need.
This simple but profound change in our energy policy would have a major positive impact here at home, on our North American neighbors, and around the world. This change in our energy policy will happen when we have leadership in Washington with the vision to see the benefits and the strength of character to make it happen. This change will happen when we have leadership In Washington that has as a goal of a stronger United States. This change will happen when the American people elect a leader rather than a slogan.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
Enough is Enough
If it wasn’t so deadly serious, it would be humorous to watch the Obama administration flailing around trying to explain their utter failures in foreign policy that have led to the current conflagration in the Middle East. Were there warnings, or were the attacks spontaneous? Did they apologize or did they not? Did the movie cause the attacks, or were they the result of the insanity of radical Islam?
Does it really matter? No.
No matter what we do or what we try, none of this will ever matter. For years, we’ve tried extending the hand of friendship to the “Muslim world”. Heaven knows, President Obama has done everything conceivable to convince them that America is not anti-Islam. He’s even gone so far as to alienate our ally Israel.
It hasn’t worked.
The fact that Obama has turned his back on Israel is reprehensible, but it does put to rest the notion that Islamic nations are only angry at us because we support Israel. There can be no doubt that Obama has chosen the Islamic world over Israel, yet the mobs are still burning American flags, spilling American blood, and chanting “death to America”. So much for that tactic.
Frankly, I’m tired of it. We’ve extended the hand of friendship, and that hand has been bitten. As Einstein once said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Friendship is apparently not an option.
The hand of friendship has been extended, and it was bitten. Bending over is not going to be any more effective. I think it’s time to rethink this strategy.
America is the greatest nation on earth. I’m sorry if you are offended by that, but I’ll get over it. It’s a fact. America is, or at least was, the bastion of freedom for the entire world. Despite our flaws, America has been the single most positive influence on the world since Christ. Perhaps that offends you too, but you’ll just have to get over it. Or not.
The Muslim world is, at best, a well organized third world society that offers nothing of significance to the rest of us. Without western civilization, the Muslim world would degenerate into the totalitarianism it deserves. Yes I know there are many Muslims in the world who don’t subscribe to the same idiocy as the radicals, but they have allowed their religion to be co-opted by those radicals, so I owe them nothing. It is their responsibility to guard their integrity, not mine.
I’m tired of it. We really don’t need this.
Let the Muslim world find that they can’t do without us, and come crawling. Or not. I really don’t care. We have oil, we have sand, and we don’t need camels. Is there really a reason to continue this charade?
The answer is no.
This isn’t politically correct. It isn’t diplomatic. It is what it is. We don’t need them, they need us. A little education is a wonderful thing.
Does it really matter? No.
No matter what we do or what we try, none of this will ever matter. For years, we’ve tried extending the hand of friendship to the “Muslim world”. Heaven knows, President Obama has done everything conceivable to convince them that America is not anti-Islam. He’s even gone so far as to alienate our ally Israel.
It hasn’t worked.
The fact that Obama has turned his back on Israel is reprehensible, but it does put to rest the notion that Islamic nations are only angry at us because we support Israel. There can be no doubt that Obama has chosen the Islamic world over Israel, yet the mobs are still burning American flags, spilling American blood, and chanting “death to America”. So much for that tactic.
Frankly, I’m tired of it. We’ve extended the hand of friendship, and that hand has been bitten. As Einstein once said, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Friendship is apparently not an option.
The hand of friendship has been extended, and it was bitten. Bending over is not going to be any more effective. I think it’s time to rethink this strategy.
America is the greatest nation on earth. I’m sorry if you are offended by that, but I’ll get over it. It’s a fact. America is, or at least was, the bastion of freedom for the entire world. Despite our flaws, America has been the single most positive influence on the world since Christ. Perhaps that offends you too, but you’ll just have to get over it. Or not.
The Muslim world is, at best, a well organized third world society that offers nothing of significance to the rest of us. Without western civilization, the Muslim world would degenerate into the totalitarianism it deserves. Yes I know there are many Muslims in the world who don’t subscribe to the same idiocy as the radicals, but they have allowed their religion to be co-opted by those radicals, so I owe them nothing. It is their responsibility to guard their integrity, not mine.
I’m tired of it. We really don’t need this.
Let the Muslim world find that they can’t do without us, and come crawling. Or not. I really don’t care. We have oil, we have sand, and we don’t need camels. Is there really a reason to continue this charade?
The answer is no.
This isn’t politically correct. It isn’t diplomatic. It is what it is. We don’t need them, they need us. A little education is a wonderful thing.
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Don't Pee On My Leg
Mr. President, there is an old saying that, while a bit crude, is wholly appropriate for what is going on: Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.
Most people are reasonably intelligent and have enough common sense to look at a situation and see what is really going on, but it has become a habit of yours and of those around you to try and tell us we aren’t seeing what we think we’re seeing. For instance, we look around us and see a once great economy failing rapidly, people all around us struggling and looking for work, factories and businesses closing, record numbers of people on food stamps, gas and food prices skyrocketing; and yet you and your lackeys tell us the economy is recovering and despite what we know to be true, we’re better off because of your policies.
We’ve watched you and your family jet around the world taking expensive vacations, we’ve witnessed the frequency of your golf games, appearances on Letterman, the constant fund raising events, and then we’re told you have a “laser-like focus” on job creation. Sir, when was the last time you met with your jobs council? You claim to have created 4 million new jobs, so then why are 23 million Americans either unemployed or under-employed?
We have watched with disgust you worldwide apology tour, gritted our teeth as you tried to tried to cozy up to our enemies, felt shame as you insulted and turned your back on our closest allies, yet you tell us you are proud of your foreign policy record. You joined with Al Qaeda in overthrowing the governments of Egypt and Libya, helping a known terrorist organization seize control of Egypt as they were publicly calling for war with Israel, and you seem surprised that the Middle East is now on fire.
Sir, our embassies have been over run, one of our ambassadors and two other Americans killed, the flag of Al Qaeda has been raised over our embassy in Tunisia while our flag is being burned on streets around the world, people are carrying signs that say “we hate America” and chanting “Death to America”, and your Press Secretary goes on television like Baghdad Bob claiming that these acts of violence are not directed at the United States.
Over and over your policies have failed, people are suffering and even dying because of your inability or unwillingness to lead this country and the best you can do is to tell us things are better than they seem. When someone does have the gumption to call you on it, you blame it on someone else. Mr. President, George Bush lives in Texas now; it is you that occupies the White House.
An election is going to take place in November. As that event approaches you and your campaign staff are doing your best to convince us that Mitt Romney is evil because of his wealth and that despite the misery our country is in, you deserve four more years in office. Mr. Obama forgive me if I don’t stand still while you tell me it’s time for you to switch legs.
Most people are reasonably intelligent and have enough common sense to look at a situation and see what is really going on, but it has become a habit of yours and of those around you to try and tell us we aren’t seeing what we think we’re seeing. For instance, we look around us and see a once great economy failing rapidly, people all around us struggling and looking for work, factories and businesses closing, record numbers of people on food stamps, gas and food prices skyrocketing; and yet you and your lackeys tell us the economy is recovering and despite what we know to be true, we’re better off because of your policies.
We’ve watched you and your family jet around the world taking expensive vacations, we’ve witnessed the frequency of your golf games, appearances on Letterman, the constant fund raising events, and then we’re told you have a “laser-like focus” on job creation. Sir, when was the last time you met with your jobs council? You claim to have created 4 million new jobs, so then why are 23 million Americans either unemployed or under-employed?
We have watched with disgust you worldwide apology tour, gritted our teeth as you tried to tried to cozy up to our enemies, felt shame as you insulted and turned your back on our closest allies, yet you tell us you are proud of your foreign policy record. You joined with Al Qaeda in overthrowing the governments of Egypt and Libya, helping a known terrorist organization seize control of Egypt as they were publicly calling for war with Israel, and you seem surprised that the Middle East is now on fire.
Sir, our embassies have been over run, one of our ambassadors and two other Americans killed, the flag of Al Qaeda has been raised over our embassy in Tunisia while our flag is being burned on streets around the world, people are carrying signs that say “we hate America” and chanting “Death to America”, and your Press Secretary goes on television like Baghdad Bob claiming that these acts of violence are not directed at the United States.
Over and over your policies have failed, people are suffering and even dying because of your inability or unwillingness to lead this country and the best you can do is to tell us things are better than they seem. When someone does have the gumption to call you on it, you blame it on someone else. Mr. President, George Bush lives in Texas now; it is you that occupies the White House.
An election is going to take place in November. As that event approaches you and your campaign staff are doing your best to convince us that Mitt Romney is evil because of his wealth and that despite the misery our country is in, you deserve four more years in office. Mr. Obama forgive me if I don’t stand still while you tell me it’s time for you to switch legs.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Channeling My Inner Racist
Liberals have a tendency to want to ‘redefine’ things that don’t really need to be redefined. I have learned that when they want to redefine something they are about to lie to you on a scale not currently possible with the English language. The most recent example of this is the word “racist”.
Being a child of the 60’s growing up in the Deep South, I was witness to racism so I thought I had a pretty good idea what the word meant. As I became aware of what it was and how wrong it was to practice, I added racism to my list of sins to not commit. Although, like most of us I’m sure I have occasionally failed to live up to that standard to some degree or another, by and large I thought I had been pretty successful at focusing on the content of a person’s character rather than the color of their skin.
Imagine my surprise then, when Liberals began redefining what constitutes racism. For instance, Chris Matthews of MSNBC recently informed us that using the word “Chicago” is racist. Apparently, the name of the city has become a code word that only racist white people understand to be derogatory towards some, or possibly all, minorities. From what I’ve been able to gather, ‘normal people’ (a term now defined as liberal Democrats who support Obama) don’t hear the racist message when the word “Chicago” is used, but racists (everyone else in America) hear the phrase “let’s go back to Jim Crow days” rather than the name of a large city in Illinois.
Okay please take note that we will have to add ‘Chicago’ to the rapidly growing list of code words that now includes Professor, Constitution, Founding Fathers, angry, experienced, food stamps, golf, and pretty much every other word that comes out of our mouths. I suppose we could just all remain silent, but I’m afraid it’s not only our words that condemn us as racists; our actions appear to be just as bad.
It has been determined by Joe Biden that any and all opposition to the policies and/or re-election of the articulate and bright and clean and nice-looking President Obama is the moral equivalent to calling for the repeal of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (oops, there I go again). We could debate the issue of course, but even there we must be careful because the aforementioned normal people have deemed the use of logic in such a debate as being racist. (By that standard of course, we can see that there are absolutely no racists in the Obama Administration or the Democrat Party, and in fact very few exist in what was once the mainstream media.) Additionally, it has recently been announced that carrying on a conversation with an item of furniture, specifically a chair, is an overt act of racism as well.
Apparently then, those of us who are not normal people, as defined by the left, should just sit down and shut-up while they proceed to run the country and our lives as they see fit. I’m sorry, maybe it’s just my inner racist coming out, but I have a problem with that.
You see I just have a natural racist tendency to use logic whenever possible, and that logic causes me to remember a few very important things. One of those things is the fact that I already know what racism is and what it looks like without the help of those ‘normal people’ on the left. I happen to know that racism is something that occurs when you judge people based on their race rather than on their actions and their character.
The second thing is what I stated earlier, that when the left seeks to redefine common words, they are about to lie to you on a scale not currently possible with the English language. The English language had been in use quite some time when I was born, and seemed to serve the purpose quite well so I don’t see any other reason to change it now.
The third thing that I remember is that if someone feels the need to lie, it is because the truth does not support their goals.
Once I take these three things into account, the picture becomes quite clear. Since the left has seen fit to redefine any criticism or opposition to Obama as racist for the sake of promulgating a lie, then the truth does not support the actions of President Obama, or his effort to win re-election.
Being a child of the 60’s growing up in the Deep South, I was witness to racism so I thought I had a pretty good idea what the word meant. As I became aware of what it was and how wrong it was to practice, I added racism to my list of sins to not commit. Although, like most of us I’m sure I have occasionally failed to live up to that standard to some degree or another, by and large I thought I had been pretty successful at focusing on the content of a person’s character rather than the color of their skin.
Imagine my surprise then, when Liberals began redefining what constitutes racism. For instance, Chris Matthews of MSNBC recently informed us that using the word “Chicago” is racist. Apparently, the name of the city has become a code word that only racist white people understand to be derogatory towards some, or possibly all, minorities. From what I’ve been able to gather, ‘normal people’ (a term now defined as liberal Democrats who support Obama) don’t hear the racist message when the word “Chicago” is used, but racists (everyone else in America) hear the phrase “let’s go back to Jim Crow days” rather than the name of a large city in Illinois.
Okay please take note that we will have to add ‘Chicago’ to the rapidly growing list of code words that now includes Professor, Constitution, Founding Fathers, angry, experienced, food stamps, golf, and pretty much every other word that comes out of our mouths. I suppose we could just all remain silent, but I’m afraid it’s not only our words that condemn us as racists; our actions appear to be just as bad.
It has been determined by Joe Biden that any and all opposition to the policies and/or re-election of the articulate and bright and clean and nice-looking President Obama is the moral equivalent to calling for the repeal of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution (oops, there I go again). We could debate the issue of course, but even there we must be careful because the aforementioned normal people have deemed the use of logic in such a debate as being racist. (By that standard of course, we can see that there are absolutely no racists in the Obama Administration or the Democrat Party, and in fact very few exist in what was once the mainstream media.) Additionally, it has recently been announced that carrying on a conversation with an item of furniture, specifically a chair, is an overt act of racism as well.
Apparently then, those of us who are not normal people, as defined by the left, should just sit down and shut-up while they proceed to run the country and our lives as they see fit. I’m sorry, maybe it’s just my inner racist coming out, but I have a problem with that.
You see I just have a natural racist tendency to use logic whenever possible, and that logic causes me to remember a few very important things. One of those things is the fact that I already know what racism is and what it looks like without the help of those ‘normal people’ on the left. I happen to know that racism is something that occurs when you judge people based on their race rather than on their actions and their character.
The second thing is what I stated earlier, that when the left seeks to redefine common words, they are about to lie to you on a scale not currently possible with the English language. The English language had been in use quite some time when I was born, and seemed to serve the purpose quite well so I don’t see any other reason to change it now.
The third thing that I remember is that if someone feels the need to lie, it is because the truth does not support their goals.
Once I take these three things into account, the picture becomes quite clear. Since the left has seen fit to redefine any criticism or opposition to Obama as racist for the sake of promulgating a lie, then the truth does not support the actions of President Obama, or his effort to win re-election.
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