Needed Time

….with soul so dead, he never to himself has said, ‘This is my own, my native land!’

Yes. Many men, women and children now disdain patriotism. This is the triumphant conclusion of the 30 year war against American culture, the victory march of socialist radicals through the institutions. A few such people, primarily those who seek power or are protecting their acquired power from criticism, like to claim they are patriotic, just not impressed with patriotic symbols and conventional expressions.

Here’s a question: if flags are meaningless, why get so bent by an archaic relic like the Confederate Flag?
If flags are so meaningless, then why have Che Guevarra plastered all over a Cuban Flag as a symbol of the Great Socialist Revolution Against Capitalist Oppression? If flags are meaningless, why bother burning your country’s flag at all, it’s not anything one way or the other, is it?

Below is an excerpt from a book review. The reviewer, and the author under examination, are both men of the left who detest patriotism but profess to love America. I think it may hold the Rosetta Stone to understanding our adversaries in the struggle for the future. That Rosetta Stone is the attitude that if my country’s elected leaders enact policies with which I disagree, I cannot love my country. If my country does not meet my vision of a just society, then I cannot be patriotic.

From my end of the spectrum, which I hope is still mainstream, I love America regardless of flaws, regardless of which political faction holds power. My loyalty to America does not end when Democrats hold power, or when Republicans hold power but make serious mistakes. My love for America is even stronger when our fellow citizens, who serve in the armed forces, are deployed into harm’s way to carry out the will of the duly elected civilian President who holds the title, “Commander in Chief” as part of the office of the Presidency. What is beloved is the whole heritage of Constitutional law, the treasury of noble and hard-won victories over tyranny, the realization of opportunity for individuals, free and dignified with ultimate authority over how we are governed.

So, anyway, God Bless America. Michael Moore has a problem with that sentiment, it enrages him. Good. Let’s say it often just to watch them puke.

Loyal opposition (Book review) Commonweal March 24, 2006, Alan Wolfe

Of: The Intellectuals and the Flag, Todd Gitlin (Columbia School of Journalism)

“Then the oddest thing happened. As we grew older and left behind some of the passions of the sixties, increasingly we came to appreciate an America that stood for liberty and could even, at times, promote equality. It is not that we were wild about such centrist Democratic presidents as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, but we knew that they were about the best we could hope for in a country that had also elected Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. An America capable of choosing the sincere Carter or the brilliantly frustrating Clinton was a society in which one could at least feel a strong sense of belonging.
What a surprise, then, to witness the return of extremist politics–only this time in the form of the New Right. Sometimes, indeed, it is literally those to the left of us in the 1960s who have moved to the right of us today. Gitlin and I had belonged to a leftist-oriented study group in Berkeley a couple of decades ago, and one of the other members was David Horowitz (Left Illusions), who would go on to become a fire-breathing conservative zealot. Horowitz perfectly captures the spirit that dominates so much of the Republican Party these days: a Leninist-inspired conviction that the end justifies the means, a willingness to accuse those with whom one disagrees of hating America, a contempt for moderation and compromise, and a zeal to divide the world into good and evil, with good, needless to say, always on your own side.
It did not have to be that way. The Intellectuals and the Flag is structured around Gitlin’s experiences after September 11: living not far from the World Trade Center, Gitlin and his wife displayed a flag outside their apartment and this show of patriotism in turn made it into the New York Times when a reporter discovered it. Somewhat new to public expressions of patriotism, Gitlin reflects on its meaning and significance. Patriotism, he writes, is “unnerving” because it asks you to commit yourself to loyalties larger than yourself. If you believe in universal values such as social justice, moreover, you will experience a conflict between patriotism and justice when your country acts in an arrogant and imperial way. The best part of Gitlin’s book, which consists of many of the essays he has written in recent years, are his reflections on patriotism, especially his persuasive argument that love of one’s country ought to be accompanied by an egalitarian love of one’s countrymen. Neither Gitlin nor I can ever forget how we reacted instinctively to September 11, certain that our country, and thus our innocent countrymen, was attacked in the most brutal way by a real enemy against whom war had to be waged. We loved our country, and we loved being in love with our country.
George W. Bush is a difficult man to love. Gitlin is not sure whether Bush’s failed policies in Iraq and the polarization upon which he relies are due to deliberate lying or simple incompetence, but Gitlin has few doubts about the consequences. “I felt again,” he writes, “the old anger and shame at being attached to a nation–my nation–ruled by runaway bullies, indifferent to principle, playing fast and loose with the truth, their lives manifesting supreme loyalty to private (though government-slathered) interests yet quick to lecture dissenters about the merits of patriotism.” ”

Went and saw There Will Be Blood this afternoon. Tonight I will see No Country for Old Men. Daniel Day Lewis fully deserved his Oscar, and the remarkable young actor who portrays Eli the Creepy Christian was quite good as well. Yes, it was very well acted, a professional quality film with all the fascination of a train wreck.

It is, of course, a propaganda film. We are not always offered crude bludgeoning by the left, or stultifying preachment, the most frequent fare on the great people’s buffet of belief. The meat and potatoes succeed on their own terms in the task of feeding the flock. But with There Will Be Blood we are treated to a real gourmet offering from the propaganda menu.

The beauty of There Will Be Blood is its excellence, the verisimilitude of the socialist alternative universe. We recognize where we are by the villains: a venture capitalist, an Elmer Gantry charlatan, and America. Yes, Upton Sinclair wrote the prototype, the film is based on his novel “Oil.” Our own generation has perfected the tract, with great subtlety and finesse.

Daniel, the protagonist, is the Darwinian independent oilman, lean and hungry, a bestial and ruthless capitalist. We also see his competitors, alpha males, all slick and porcine plutocrats, the big oil syndicate. So much for socialism’s public enemy number one, free enterprise. Meet public enemy number two, Christianity, symbolized by Eli the Creepy Christian. Very nicely done, though, as the actor has a fresh face, a very quiet and nuanced style of delivering his lines. We watch Eli preach to the stolid volk of the “Church of the Third Revelation,” escalating from insinuating intimacy to orgasmic hysteria in such a manner that he could be deluded but sincere, or manipulative and cunning. Okay, you guessed it right, the little punk is a hypocrite of course.

Oh, and the final enemy is of course America, seen in the dirt faced ignorant brethren who live in the town, the glum and downtrodden workers on the oil rigs, the submissive, red knuckled farm wives and abused daughters of the Christian congregation.

Yep. America, land of rapacious appetites, dull-eyed hillbilly snake handlers and beef eating robber barons. There Will Be Blood serves it up steaming hot.

Brianna Denison, murdered college student, Reno, Nevada was mourned by her family and friends last night. The ghouls from Westboro Baptist Church were there, with disturbing Happy Bunny smiles and addled brains. The three, females, waved neatly blocked signs designed to twist the knife in wounded hearts: “God Sent the Killer,” “Thank God for Murdered Kids.” They were met with 150 counter-protesters and were removed from the scene in a police van, perhaps for their own protection.

Link below for an unpublished investigative report that will never receive the Pulitzer it so clearly deserves. Note, it is not in a final form as for publication. A riveting and powerful piece of truly excellent journalism.

http://blank.org/addict
ADDICTED TO HATE
By Jon Michael Bell with Joe Taschler and Steve Fry

Many of Fred Phelps’ former adversaries and law school classmates have gone on to become luminaries, while he has slowly dissolved into a disbarred lawyer and failed preacher, supported by his abused children.

The more his own life slips into the periphery, the more stridently abusive he becomes. Pastor Phelps is one of many false prophets to come who will seek to exploit the loss of faith, soul, and identity in North America. As a society that has lost its path in a steaming, sensual, violent marsh of mindless, me-first, frantic consumerism, America is entering its dark middle age stupified by television and content to let its values be formed, not by saints, heroes, and visionaries, but by default, by advertising and market forces appealing to the basest urges in each of us. Our culture has grown childish and narcissistic, slothful and irrational. With the winter of our nation will soon follow the wolves-fierce white toothed beasts come to trip the flesh of our indolence.

Fred Phelps is one of them. And in our chaos and confusion, the false prophets will claim to lead us into a new day. But by this mark we shall know them: no matter how bright their vision, always it will demand someone or group be punished before a new day can come.

The dark angels will promise a bright tomorrow but ask for blood today.

I do hope the media will begin to actually look at Obama. I believe in hope.

Obama stands with arms straight down, hands clasped tightly when every other debater on the platform places a hand to their heart for the national anthem.
Obama refuses to wear a flag pin, he’s above that type of jingoistic nonsense.

And yet, Obama has huge Cuban flags blazoned with the face of Che Guevarra at his campaign headquarters in Texas. So, he’s not really anti-icon or anti-flag. Obama is only anti-American flag.

It will be interesting to see whether Obama will advocate in behalf of the 9/11 conspirators? Maybe a suspended sentence with community service? What do you think? He frequents the salons of terror operatives of yesteryear without qualm, from reports about his introduction to the luminaries of the “progressive” movement.

I wonder if the American people even want to survive the deconstruction of their own freedom by these leftist operatives. Do people actually think that any nation can survive by failing to mete out swift and mortal justice to deadly enemies like these terrorists? Do we think we are so impervious to destruction that we can give away an absurd amount of our security budget to Mexico–in essence, out-sourcing an aspect of our border security to the Federales?? Will we continue to tolerate a huge, hate filled anti-American fifth column of pathetic neurotics such as those out in Berkeley and San Francisco, or more sinister traitors who long to do violence?

Ah, well, we’ll be global citizens, citizens of the Federation just like Mr. Spock and Jean-Luc Picard and join our peers, the old farting hippies. We can feel good, even more superior in our declining years than during the time of our doobie addled, hormonal youth romps. Of course, our debt enslaved young people will be de facto serfs in a “public/private partnership,” subjected to the corporate fascism of a socialist utopia. But, hey, I believe in hope. Change! Right now 60% of 18-35 year olds are ethically utilitarian, hedonist, and a significant percentage are also functionally atheist and fairly illiterate.

“Soylent Greeeen!”

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSN1819534320080218
(full article see link)

BOGOTA (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s political backing for Colombia’s Marxist guerrillas will make it harder to secure a deal to release dozens of hostages held by rebel leaders, the Colombian government said.

Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said FARC guerrillas would harden their position since receiving public support from Chavez, who leads a bloc of left-wing presidents in Latin America and is a fierce critic of U.S. policies.

“For the moment, we see a tougher position … motivated by the political space which President Hugo Chavez has tried to open for them,” Restrepo said in a document published on Monday on the peace commission’s Web site.

Chavez wants the FARC rebels removed from foreign terrorism lists after the guerrillas handed two hostages over to his government in January.

Colombia’s conservative government at first backed Chavez’s efforts to win the release of dozens of captives held for years by Latin America’s oldest insurgency group, but later accused him of favoring the rebels.

“The incendiary statements in recent days have stimulated them to toughen their position, which for the moment makes the possibility of a negotiated solution more distant,” Restrepo said.

Chavez calls Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a pawn of U.S. “imperialism”, and he maintains contact with the FARC — the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia — the country’s largest rebel group.

Washington calls the FARC cocaine-smuggling terrorists and the rebels have been pushed back by a U.S.-funded security campaign. Violence has ebbed although the FARC is still fighting in rural areas where the state’s presence is weak.

Guerrillas are holding 44 high-profile captives they want to free in exchange for the release of rebels held in prison.

…something wicked this way comes.

Hugo Chavez is a danger to the United States. Are we taking his malicious actions seriously enough?

Expatriate journalist Mark Ames blames Northern Illinois University for the lecture hall massacre, rather than the pathological narcissist who carried out the shootings. Mark Ames is cavalier and brutal in his scribblings, highlighted today at Newsbusters. He writes for The Exile. Excuse me, that may not do him justice. He is founder, essayist for the Exile, an English language alternate paper for Moscow expatriates, with “tens of thousands of fans,” by his own estimation.

Ames affects a superior tone of hip schadenfreud in his writing. That tone works well in the alternative universe where Berkeley alums and pimple-faced anarchofascists dwell. He has written about the Columbine school shootings in the U.S. and also attributes these tragedies to American society rather than to the perpetrators. Ames sees the values and social system of American life as the ultimate cause of these massacres, holding accountable no one but the victimized schools, deserving of butchery for being Red States. The killers are not to blame in these shootings, the victims are to blame, the schools are to blame, Amerika is to blame. Ames apparently singled out one student at Columbine to bear the responsibility for causing the massacre there, and that student was not either of the killers. Here’s an excerpt from Ames’ self-published message to that individual:

“The fact that you brag about not having any regrets about all of the blood on your hands proves my point that dicks like you, the popular jock meatheads and the Red State pigs they grow up to be, are the real sociopaths, not guys like Klebold and Harris whose violence was beaten into them.” Mark Ames

Well, you can Wiki this Berkeley alum’s bio and read his drek on your own if you want. He’s busy scribbling and perfecting treasons, stratagems and spoils at the feet of neo-Stalinists in Moscow. They can keep him.

My dog understands socialism perfectly: the one who feeds you owns you.

Stalinists of Code Pink:

Your behavior during the demonstration at Berkeley has been recorded, reported, and revealed for all the world. “Peace” was not reflected in your actions, your words, your motives. Why would any one of you dare to claim you care about the troops, or that you are not anti-American? Your words, your signs, your behavior all speak of ingratitude and base treason. We saw you, we heard you, we saw your faces. A knife was pulled, sabotage was attempted.

You cowards sought to silence speech you despise. You like to pose for peace and freedom, but you drip with hate. You love to spit on your country.

“Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.” –Samuel Adams

http://www.solomonia.com/blog/archive/2008/02/berkley-the-day-after/
It isn’t that the Berkeley city authorities don’t believe in equality, justice, free speech. It’s just that those things are reserved for the right kind of people, people who agree with the Berkeley political ideology. Others can expect to encounter a double standard. Mayor Napoleon, first citizen of the Berkeley collective, put it well when he explained, “Some of us are more equal than others.”

Eric Blair, rest in peace may you dwell in perpetual light.

White House wants approval for 1.4 billion dollars, to be given to the government of Mexico, to secure [America's]Mexico’s southern border.
Yeah. Good idea.
note: corrected 2-15-08

Barak Obama refuses to honor the national anthem or wear an American flag lapel pin, because he’s above such jingoistic nonsense. He’s a citizen of the world, and one day aspires to be Secretary General of the U.N. Of course, he’s not really averse to icons or flags, per se, as his campaign Headquarters in Houston has prominent Che Flags on display, honoring the communist mass killer. No, Barak is only anti-American icon, anti-American flag symbols, they are quite beneath him.
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=28915_Che_Guevara_Flags_in_Obamas_Houston_Office&only

Even if these Viva Che flags become a generally known preference of our socialist messiah–Americans won’t care.

Our country has completely lost all sense of self preservation. If patriotism doesn’t motivate your vote, why not the simple desire to survive as a free nation, with a decent quality of life? Complacency and conformity have blinded us to our deep peril. Nobody seems worried about media blackouts about the coming food shortages, the deadly border war with Mexican drug lords, increasing militancy and bellicose noises from Putin, sinister test probing by the Chinese military. We have no sense of self-preservation, or we would no longer tolerate daily, commonplace acts of treason and sedition by our own people in support of the “master race” movement of jihadist muslims and the communist regimes in Cuba, Venezuela, Beijing.

Americans wouldn’t care even if Obama or Hillary wore matching red Che T-shirts. Socialist? Communist? No big deal.

We are smart, college educated, technohip, media savvy, and we lend credence to demagogues, satyrs, pedants and mental adolescents who actually want us to believe that Bush and Cheney and Republicans are the greatest threat to life as we know it, worse than Hitler, and that only by selling our autonomy, sovereignty and freedom to socialism can we be forgiven the crime of being Americans.