The 25 Best Quotes From American Soldiers
29 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in TownHall.com Tags: Clifton B. Cates, Curtis, Flag of the United States, Iwo Jima, John Parker, Marine, Purple Heart, William B. Travis
25) “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” — William Prescott at the Battle Of Bunker Hill
24) “To be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace.” — George Washington
23) “When this war is over, the Japanese language will be spoken only in hell!” — Admiral Bill Halsey on December 7, 1941
22) “Nuts.” — The response of General Anthony MacAuliffe, when asked to surrender during the Battle of the Bulge, 1944
21) “I tremble for my country when I hear of confidence expressed in me. I know too well my weakness, that our only hope is in God.” — Robert E. Lee
20) “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.” — Gen William T. Sherman
19) “Of the Marines on Iwo Jima, uncommon valor was a common virtue.” — Chester W. Nimitz
18) “They’ve got us surrounded again, the poor b@stards.” — Creighton W. Abrams, Battle of the Bulge
17) “Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here” — Captain John Parker, 1775
16) “We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own lives in peace.” — Colin Powell
15) “We have met the enemy and they are ours!” — Oliver Hazard Perry
14) “It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.” — Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC
13) “I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm’s way.” — John Paul Jones
12) “Damn the torpedoes, Full speed ahead!” — Admiral David Glasgow Farragut
11) “I have only two men out of my company and 20 out of some other company. We need support, but it is almost suicide to try to get it here as we are swept by machine gun fire and a constant barrage is on us. I have no one on my left and only a few on my right. I will hold.” — Clifton B. Cates, Belleau Wood, July 1918
10) “Yonder are the Hessians. They were bought for seven pounds and tenpence a man. Are you worth more? Prove it. Tonight the American flag floats from yonder hill or Molly Stark sleeps a widow!” — John Stark at the Battle of Bennington in 1777
9) “Godd@m it, you’ll never get the Purple Heart hiding in a foxhole! Follow me!” — Henry P. Crowe
8) “Victory was never in doubt. Its cost was…What was in doubt, in all our minds, was whether there would be any of us left to dedicate our cemetery at the end, or whether the last Marine would die knocking out the last Japanese gun and gunner.” — Major General Graves B. Erskin in reference to the Battle Of Iwo Jima
7) “Come on, you sons of b!tches! Do you want to live forever?” — Dan Daly, WWI
6) “Don’t you forget that you’re First Marines! Not all the communists in Hell can overrun you!” — Lieutenant General Lewis “Chesty” Puller when surrounded by eight enemy divisions
5) “Get there first with the most.” — Nathan Bedford Forrest
4) “It is fatal to enter a war without the will to win it.” — Douglas MacArthur
3) “I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continued bombardment for twenty-four hours and have not lost a man. The enemy have demanded a surrender… otherwise the garrison is to be put to the sword if the place is taken. I have answered the summons with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat.” — William B. Travis, Alamo
2) “If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting.” — Curtis LeMay
1) “No b@stard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb b@stard die for his country.” — George Patton
http://townhall.com/columnists/johnhawkins/2012/05/29/the_25_best_quotes_from_american_soldiers
John Hawkins
John Hawkins is a professional blogger who runs Right Wing News, Linkiest, and Viral Footage. He’s also the co-owner of the The Looking Spoon. You can read more from John Hawkins on Facebook, Twitter, G+, You Tube, & Pajamas Media.
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‘Without Them, Who Would We Be?’
28 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in TownHall.com Tags: Arlington National Cemetery, Audie Murphy, Berks County Pennsylvania, George Washington, Lyle Smith, Tomb of the Unknowns
ARLINGTON, Va. — Lyle Smith sat in a wheelchair on the grounds of the national cemetery, not far from the Tomb of the Unknowns.
“I never imagined there would be so many headstones,” he said, looking out over the green rolling hills covered with snow-white markers.
Smith was born seven years after the “War to End All Wars” ended; less than 20 years later, he left his family’s homestead in Columbus, Wis., as a volunteer to serve his country in another world war.
Except for time spent in the European theater, he never ventured far from Wisconsin; he married Shirley and they had a son and daughter, each of whom also had a son and daughter, and those four grandchildren each had a son and daughter as well.
“I’ve led a good life,” Smith, 87, said. “I’ve worked hard, I’ve loved my family.”
He made a living as a skilled carpenter and now volunteers at a senior center. He remains fiercely proud of his military service.
Smith struggled to find words to describe how he felt about being where former comrades are buried alongside soldiers from every U.S. conflict going back to the Civil War.
“It’s overwhelming,” he said. “And I think back to our very first war, our Revolution and those freedom fighters, and I have to thank all of them. Without every one of them, I would not be here.”
One such freedom fighter was Frederick Hain of Berks County, Pa.
His father, John Henry Hain, took him and his brothers, Adam, Daniel and Joseph, to enlist to “fight for freedom.” Father and sons reported to a friend, Daniel Broadhead, who — because of his bravery in the beginning battles of the American Revolution — had just been made a colonel in the Colonial army by Gen. George Washington.
Family and church records note that John Henry Hain was a “staunch patriot” and a “fanatic in the cause of freedom.” It took some persuasion, but Broadhead finally convinced the elder Hain not to enlist with his sons, saying: “It is a shame to suffer so old a man to perform the arduous duties of a soldier.”
Frederick Hain quickly rose to the rank of sergeant — probably not too difficult, since soldiers in that army of farmers deserted with shocking frequency for reasons ranging from harvest duties to disenchantment, starvation and other horrid conditions faced by the rag-tag force.
Years later, at age 84, Frederick Hain appeared before the Common Pleas Court of Berks County, requesting a pension for his Revolutionary War service. He wrote that he enlisted in December 1776 in Capt. Fisher’s Company, First Regiment of the Pennsylvania Line, commanded by Col. Broadhead.
Hain said his company remained in Reading for only a few days before marching to join the rest of the regiment in Philadelphia “or nearby.”
From there, the company was ordered to Trenton, N.J., and Hain “was one of the guards to conduct the Hessian prisoners from Trenton to Reading.”
Also in his company were his brother Daniel and his eventual brother-in-law, Mathias Wenrich; all three men “recruited” other young farmers from throughout the county to join the cause as they made their way to Reading with their prisoners.
In his petition, Hain mentioned that his servants and team of horses were “constantly at the service of the government.”
The pension was denied because his commission had been lost and he had outlived everyone who had served with him or known him, “so there was no one living who would be able to swear to his three years service with the army.”
Back at Arlington National Cemetery, Lyle Smith paused to listen to a chorus of buglers celebrating the 150th anniversary of “Taps.” He saluted and said, “That is for every man and woman who kept this country free, God bless them.”
Over by the grave of World War II Medal of Honor recipient Audie Murphy, John Grey played “Taps” on his bugle, wearing an Air Force uniform. The Pelham, Ga., native served in Vietnam; his teenage grandchildren stood in awe around a nearby oak tree as the familiar song filled the air.
We can never forget all who have served, Grey said when he finished, adding: “Without them, who would we be?”
Note: Frederick Hain is my great grandfather times 9 – his home and grist mill still stand in Berks County Pennsylvania – they are both on the National Registry.
Salena Zito
Salena Zito is a political analyst, reporter and columnist.
http://townhall.com/columnists/salenazito/2012/05/28/without_them_who_would_we_be/page/full/
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Amarillo By Morning (Smith and Wesson on My Mind)
28 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in TownHall.com Tags: Concealed carry, Concealed carry in the United States, Glock, Gun, Gun Control, Pro-Gun Rights, Recreation, Regulatory and Legal
I never travel without a loaded gun. I usually carry a Smith and Wesson Model 640 in a bucket in the trunk of my car. Sometimes I carry a Glock Model 23 instead. I was really happy I was carrying the former when I arrived at my hotel room in Amarillo last week shortly after midnight. As I was unpacking my trunk, a man came walking across the parking lot from an adjacent hotel. His largely incoherent introduction began something like this:
“Hey, I’m a big scary black man and I need some help. Won’t nobody help me ‘cause I’m a big scary black man. I ain’t gonna hurt ya (pulls out wallet). See? Here’s my ID. I’m a preacher and I got kicked outa my room. I ain’t no beggar. I just need $12 or I’m gonna have to sleep in the parking lot. I’m stayin’ right over there (points to adjacent hotel). Theys a woman and a child that’s gonna have to sleep in a car if don’t get $12.”
I detected a slight stumble as the man was walking toward me talking. It took very little insight to detect that he was no preacher and that the money was not needed to pay off a $12 balance in order to get re-admitted to his hotel room. So I turned back toward my trunk and continued unpacking.
The final part of my unpacking ritual involves securing my firearm, which I always take with me into the hotel room. I always reach into the bucket, take the gun out of the holster, and slip it in my pocket on my left hand side (I ‘m a southpaw). It just so happened that the stumbling “preacher” was approaching from my left hand side and could see my hands clearly as I was unpacking.
Shortly after I secured all of the items from my trunk, the stumbling “preacher” shouted, “Oh, mercy! Can’t a black man get a break?” He threw his hands in the air and then turned around and walked hurriedly towards the adjacent parking lot. I had substantially more than $12 worth of cash on me that evening (actually it was early morning). I made it to the hotel room before I had to pull either the wallet or the gun out of my pocket.
The man who approached me in the parking lot that evening did three things that I consider to be morally reprehensible. Although he did not split a single infinitive, his actions are worthy of condemnation for the following reasons:
1. He invoked race where it was irrelevant.
2. He falsely claimed to be a member of a noble profession.
3. He pretended to be acting on others’ behalf while he was acting in his own selfish interests.
Fortunately, I have been a handgun owner since 1993. I also obtained my concealed weapon permit in 1997. At no time since then have I been robbed or assaulted. Nor have I even had to fire a shot, point a gun, or verbally threaten a person to secure my safety.
My experiences as a handgun owner have been no aberration. States passing concealed carry laws have seen significant decreases in predatory crime. Academic studies have also demonstrated that these decreases are statistically significant even after controlling for variables that might otherwise explain the reductions in crime.
To date, there have been 16 refereed studies that have concluded that violent crime goes down as a result of concealed carry laws. About 10 refereed studies have shown the results of concealed carry laws to be inconclusive with regard to violent crime. No refereed studies – I repeat, zero refereed studies – have shown that allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons increases the rate of violent crime.
Sadly, most of these refereed studies have been conducted by economists interested in cost/benefit analysis on matters of public policy. I used the word “sadly” because the question of the effects of gun laws on crime is a matter that falls squarely within the discipline of criminology, which is a branch of the larger discipline of sociology. Yet criminologists and sociologists generally shy away from the issue. Their inactions are worthy of condemnation for the following reasons:
1. They invoke race where it is irrelevant.
Too many “social scientists” ignore citizens’ legitimate concerns over their safety and well-being. Those who would like to carry a gun lawfully are often dismissed as having an irrational fear of people or color.
2. They falsely claim to be members of a noble profession. In addition to avoiding doing research on gun ownership, most “social scientists” are not familiar with the results of studies on the topic. To ignore science and hold oneself out as a scientist is simply wrong.
3. They pretend to be acting on others’ behalf while acting in their own selfish interests. Sociologists are opposed to rape. But they are overwhelmingly opposed to concealed carry laws that reduce rape. Clearly, they have decided that they are more interested in preventing an assault on their worldview than in preventing assaults on innocent women.
Put simply, the time has come for these “social scientists” to stop acting like bums and become productive members of society. It may be true that they have families to feed and nowhere else to go. But we can’t keep giving them handouts forever.
Mike Adams
Mike Adams is a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and author of Feminists Say the Darndest Things: A Politically Incorrect Professor Confronts “Womyn” On Campus.
A Heartening Trend: Majority of American Adults Pro-Life
27 May 2012 2 Comments
in Pro-Life, TownHall.com Tags: Abortion, American Center for Law & Justice, Gallup, March for Life, Mexico City Policy, Obama Administration, The Gallup Organization, United States
A new Gallup pollbrings encouraging news on the subject of abortion. Fifty percent of American adults now define themselves as pro-life (up 5% from 2011), and 41% of American adults now define themselves as pro-choice (down 8% from 2011).
Gallupfirst started asking American adults how they define themselves on the abortion issue back in 1995. At that time, 56% of American adults considered themselves pro-choice, whereas 33% of adults defined themselves as pro-life. Clearly, over the past seventeen years, the trend in this country has been steadily moving toward the pro-life position and away from the pro-choice position, with the majority of American adults now considering themselves pro-life.
According to the poll, the decline in the pro-choice views of American adults runs across the three main political groups in this country: Republican, Independent, and Democrat.
Among Republicans and Independents, pro-lifers outnumber pro-choicers. Seventy-two percent of Republicans consider themselves pro-life (up 4% from 2011) compared with 22% who consider themselves pro-choice (down 6% from 2011). Forty-seven percent of Independents define themselves as pro-life (up 6% from 2011) compared with 41% who define themselves as pro-choice (down 10% from 2011).
Although pro-choice Democrats still outnumber pro-life Democrats, the percentage of pro-choice Democrats has dropped ten points in the last year, from 68% to 58%. Pro-life Democrats currently make up 34% of the Party, which is a seven point increase over the same time period.
The upward pro-life trend in the country is not limited to older adults. A 2010 Gallup poll illustrates that Americans between the ages of eighteen and twenty-nine have been moving in the pro-life direction. In 2003, 40% of that age group considered themselves pro-life. By 2010, that percentage had increased seven points to 47%.
I think there are short and long term reasons for the increase in the pro-life position over the past seventeen years since Gallup first starting polling on this matter.
The short term reasons deal with the Obama Administration, which has been ardently pushing its pro-abortion agenda for the past three years. It started almost from the moment President Obama took office when he issued an Executive Order overturning the “Mexico City Policy” and allowed our tax money to be used overseas to fund abortions.
Recently, it became known that the Obama Administration is imposing an abortion surcharge, as part of ObamaCare, that will require those enrolled in certain job-related health insurance plans to pay a monthly one dollar surcharge to pay for abortions.
In addition, the Obama Administration recently came down with its HHS mandate, requiring people of faith who own businesses with fifty or more employees to provide their employees with abortion-inducing drugs. The HHS mandate has been met with many lawsuits, including one recently filed by the American Center for Law & Justice on behalf of a private business owner, and the twelve lawsuits filed this past week by forty-three Catholic organizations, including the University of Notre Dame, the Michigan Catholic Conference, and the Archdiocese of New York.
The Obama Administration’s radical pro-abortion efforts have forced Americans to think about the abortion issue more carefully and to determine where they stand on the matter. As the poll shows, a majority of Americans are deciding to stand on the side of life and not join the Obama Administration on the side of death.
With regard to long term reasons, over the past two decades technology has moved Americans in the pro-life direction. With the wide availability of ultrasounds, Americans can see that the unborn baby is truly a human being and not a blob of tissue as the abortion industry used to make people believe, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. Looking at an ultrasound image of an unborn baby leads to only one conclusion: the unborn baby is a person, no matter how small (to paraphrase Dr. Seuss).
Moreover, one must acknowledge that this pro-life trend has been growing because of the great work pro-life advocates have been doing through the many excellent activities they engage in on a regular basis, for example, providing women alternatives to abortion, educating the public about abortion, witnessing each year at the March for Life in Washington, D.C., and praying to soften the hardened hearts of those who favor abortion and end this evil.
The recent poll is a heartening illustration that we as a nation are moving in the right direction. This trend will continue as more and more Americans realize how extreme the Obama Administration’s abortion agenda is and how that agenda is implicating all of us in abortion whether through the use of our tax money or through our health insurance policies at work. It will also continue as more and more Americans become educated and understand that abortion ends the life of a human being. And, it will continue as more and more Americans pray for the culture of life to replace the culture of death in this country.
Edward White
Edward White is an accomplished attorney with a 20-year legal career that includes extensive experience with federal law.
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Are Democrats Deserting Obama?
26 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in TownHall.com Tags: Barack Obama, Democratic, Democrats, Kentucky, Mitt Romney, Obama, United States, Washington Post
WASHINGTON – President Obama isn’t doing so good in some of his party primaries where a surprisingly large number of Democrats are giving him the thumbs down.
Little attention is being paid by the national news media to the Democrats’ presidential primaries because Obama is assured of his nomination. But the large size of the anti-Obama vote — exposing deep unrest in his party’s political base — has shaken his campaign’s high command.
The latest explosions came in Tuesday’s Kentucky and Arkansas primaries which of course he won easily. But a stunning 42 percent of Kentucky Democrats voted for “uncommitted” on their ballot.
In yellow-dog Democrat Arkansas, 42 percent voted for a little- known Tennessee lawyer, John Wolfe, over the president of the United States.
And two weeks ago in the West Virginia primary, Keith Judd, a convicted felon and now Texas prison inmate got 41 percent of the vote.
Some smarty-pants political pundits who think they know everything say some of this is about race and that these states are firmly in the GOP column anyway.
“You will forgive me, I hope, a lack of excitement about the ‘story’ of the president’s weakness in these two states [i.e. Arkansas and Kentucky] and in other border states with large fossil-fuel energy industries and relatively few African-Americans, since I’ve been reading about it since the 2008 primaries,” says Democratic strategist Ed Kilgore in Wednesday’s Washington Monthly Political Animal blog.
But others think the Democrats’ sizeable anti-Obama vote in the party primaries has much deeper implications for the 2012 elections.
Such strong antipathy toward Obama at this end point in his trouble-plagued presidency is “an indicator of not-insignificant pockets of unrest within his party,” writes The Washington Post’s campaign trackers Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake.
Racial factors “may be less of a problem for Obama than the broader cultural disconnect that many of these voters feel with the Democratic Party.” And they quote Democrats who point to growing grievances that many in their party have over the political direction Obama is taking the country.
“The most significant factor is the perception/reality the Obama administration has leaned toward the ultra-left,” says former Democratic Congressman Charles Stenholm of Texas.
That’s certainly true in the coal-rich Appalachia states where Obama’s zeal for eliminating coal as one of the fuels that run our country has triggered a political backlash at him and the Environmental Protection Agency that is carrying out his anti-coal agenda.
These are states with large populations of low income, blue collar, “working class” Americans who have been hit hardest by Obama’s economic policies. And they do not like the national Democratic party’s sharp lurch to the left on both economic and cultural policies.
In states like West Virginia and Oklahoma, it’s just that voters are down on national Democrats generally. I don’t believe it is due to race,” says former Congressman Martin Frost, Democrat of Texas.
So far in the Democratic nominating process, the voting data shows that the president was averaging 84.6 percent of the vote in those states where voters were presented with an alternative to Obama (either for another candidate, a write-in line, or simply voting “uncommitted”).
“In the five states where there was a named opponent, though, Obama’s share of the vote was 72.7 percent,” the Post said.
With all of the battleground state polls showing that the race between Obama and former governor Mitt Romney is tighter than a drum, the president cannot afford to lose 20 to 30 percent of his party’s base.
But that’s what may be shaping up now in key states as the economy continues to slow down, the stock market is in decline and high unemployment rates remain frozen.
For example, in North Carolina, which is a tossup right now, over 20 percent of the Democrats checked off the primary ballot line for “uncommitted” instead of voting for Obama.
Obama won the state in 2008 with just a razor-thin 0.4 percent of the vote by promising to lift its economy out of a deep recession. But if he were to lose anywhere near 20 percent of his base there in November, it could cost him the election.
And the political environment in North Carolina — where Democrats will hold their national nominating convention this summer
– is looking bleaker than ever.
Its 9.4 percent unemployment rate is one of the worst in the country and many Democrats there are going to voice their disapproval by voting against Obama.
Speaking of battleground states, perhaps no state is more pivotal to the outcome of this year’s elections than Florida. And Obama is sinking fast there.
A new Quinnipiac University poll there shows Romney leading Obama by six points among registered voters. Obama was leading by seven points in March and was in a dead heat with his rival last month.
Now, with 8.7 percent unemployment in the state and the housing industry in the basement, Obama’s support is shrinking fast. The poll found that Romney was seen as better able to handle the economy by 50 percent to 40 percent.
With a little more than five months to go before Election Day, the country’s mood and the economic and political trend lines are turning against the president.
“President Obama is running for re-election with Americans feeling about as dissatisfied with the country and the economy as they were in 1992 when George H. W. Bush lost,” the Gallup Poll said in an election analysis last week.
The titled of the Gallup report: “National Mood a Drag on Obama’s Re-Election Prospects.”
Donald Lambro
Donald Lambro is chief political correspondent for The Washington Times.
http://townhall.com/columnists/donaldlambro/2012/05/25/are_democrats_deserting_obama/page/full/
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Freedom? Yeah, Right!
26 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in TownHall.com Tags: Barack Obama, Catholic Church, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Freedom of religion, Heritage Foundation, Kathleen Sebelius, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, United States
Confronted with a “train wreck,” the new archbishop of Baltimore implores us to “pray diligently as communities, as families and as individuals.”
Coming from a man of the cloth, this wouldn’t be breaking news, except the train in question is driven by President Obama and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. As part of the health-care overhaul, the administration is bent on forcing American employers to offer health-care coverage that includes contraception, sterilization and abortion-inducing drugs, regardless of any moral objections.
And so Archbishop William Lori‘s prayer is for religious liberty.
It’s an ecumenical prayer that requires ecumenical labor. During a speech at a conference on religious freedom, Lori made clear that this religious liberty talk “is not about the Catholic Church wanting to force anybody to do anything; it is instead about the federal government forcing the church — consisting of its faithful and all but a few of its institutions — to act against church teachings.”
We are confronted at this moment with a question of integrity, a question that goes right to the heart of the ethical and religious principles that shape us as a nation: Are we as committed to liberty as we say we are?
This question of integrity is why Georgetown University wins this year’s competition for most audacious commencement ceremony: Having Sebelius speak on campus was a dereliction of moral duty, sending a message of complacency at a time that demands action from any American who values freedom. We have long been the place where people come to flee tyranny. But are we comfortable with it at home? It’s not just another left-right squabble, this health-care fight — it strikes at the core of who we are.
Drastic measures are being taken: Numerous institutions have filed lawsuits against HHS. More alarmingly, the Franciscan University of Steubenville announced that it would no longer provide student health plans. That the Ohio Catholic college found itself forced into this position is, as a letter protesting the Obama administration’s actions put it, “unacceptable.”
“It is simply a matter of integrity that what we teach in the classroom, advance in our student life and preach in the chapel is consistent with how we use our limited resources in regard to health care,” says Michael Hernon, vice president of advancement at Franciscan.
“The question is whether, under Obamacare, students who want to attend an authentically Catholic university will be able to do so without being disadvantaged,” is how Thomas Messner of the Heritage Foundation explains it on the organization’s blog. He further points out that these predicaments about conscience “should lead those who care about religious freedom to ponder more deeply the ways that religious freedom goes hand in hand with the condition of freedom more generally.”
He adds that the health-care legislation itself “represents an enormous intrusion by government into freedom of private choice and decision-making more generally.” That the law “has already triggered” the deepest imposition on religious freedom our nation has known should come as “no surprise” given the nature of the beast. Messner isn’t speaking as a good conservative think tank fixture hitting ideological talking points but as someone concerned about the future of civil society, noting: “A society that abandons its moral and political commitment to freedom in general will become less willing and indeed even hostile to protecting religious freedom in particular instances.”
This is why Archbishop Lori, in his speech, said: “The HHS lawsuits, if successful, would only provide a Band-Aid solution to the greater problem of radical secularism that we face in this country.”
It’s a faulty foundation that the president is offering for a vote in November. We stand on this new platform at our peril.
Kathryn Lopez
Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of National Review Online, writes a weekly column of conservative political and social commentary for Newspaper Enterprise Association.
http://townhall.com/columnists/kathrynlopez/2012/05/25/freedom_yeah_right/page/full/
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Are Teenagers Really Americans?
26 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in TownHall.com Tags: AbeLincoln, AbrahamLincoln, Bill Clinton, Facebook, Harry Potter, John Adams, Lincoln, United States
As a former high school teacher, I know one of the great challenges in education is to get teenagers interested in their country. Many of them take their freedom for granted and have no interest in even learning about what it takes to be a good citizen. They are too busy keeping up with the Kardashians to absorb John Adams.
So I have undertaken a new project: teaching a 13-year-old girl to care about being an American.
Lesson 1: Obey the rules. We start with open doors. The rule is that no door in the house is closed unless there is a dressing situation. The reason for the rule is to discourage Internet chicanery and encourage lively conversation.
“I can’t have my door open, I just can’t,” the teen wails.
“What’s the problem?”
“People are annoying. I don’t want to see any people.”
“Then look away when a human being passes.”
“YOU are SO annoying!”
I know.
Lesson 2: Discuss intelligent things — and not just reality shows and music maniacs.
“Nobody wants to talk about politics. That’s boring!”
“The presidential election is boring?” I am sincerely curious about this one.
“No one cares about Obama and Romney.”
“Well, at least you know their names.”
“But I don’t want to TALK about them.”
“I do just fine talking about them. Millions of people listen.”
“But you have no social skills. That’s why you’re on TV. I can’t be like you.”
She may have a point.
Rule 3: Learn about your country’s past.
“My school says we have to read your book ‘Killing Lincoln’ over the summer.” This soon-to-be eighth grader is nearly distraught. “I can’t believe it costs $20. What a ripoff!”
“It’s worth it. You’ll learn a lot about the greatest president America has ever had.”
“No one cares.”
“So what do you guys care about?”
“‘Harry Potter‘ and ‘Glee.’”
Sounds like the situation is hopeless, right? Well, it’s difficult, no question. When I was a kid, there was boredom to contend with. Some days nothing was happening, so you might actually read a book about your country. Not anymore. The machines have made boredom obsolete. There are thousands of video games, chat opportunities and gossip sites — plus Facebook — and they’re all available if your fingers work. There is always action in cyberspace, much of it pernicious.
Therefore, you have to either force the urchins to pay attention to important things like their country or bribe them to do it. There’s no other way unless you have a savant like Bill Clinton running around your house.
But educating America’s youth about the value of their country is second only to educating them about the value of their souls. So against all odds, I’m attempting to do it. Abe Lincoln would approve.
Bill O’Reilly
Bill O’Reilly is host of the Fox News show “The O’Reilly Factor” and author of “Who’s Looking Out For You?” and Pinheads and Patriots.
http://townhall.com/columnists/billoreilly/2012/05/26/are_teenagers_really_americans/page/full/
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The Top 20 Reasons To Vote For Barack Obama In 2012 According To Liberals
25 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in TownHall.com Tags: BarackObama, Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Obama, Republican, Right Wing News, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin
1) You even have to ask who you should vote for? What are you, some kind of racist?
2) Obviously Republicans hate women like Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann! Wait, bad examples…ahm, let’s see, they kill female babies, put women’s faces on pinatas and beat them, and degrade women by drawing them with penises in their mouth! That’s still us? Geeze, uh…war on women! Move on to the next item! Hurry, hurry!
3) Mormons are scary! Ooooh, magic underwear! Multiple wives! They probably hate black people and were behind something or another awful that happened 150 years ago!
4) Obama did lots of great things besides killing Obama! I just don’t want to talk about any of those things right now, for no particular reason!
5) Did you know Mitt Romney is a Republican? You’re going to vote for a Republican? Seriously? Everybody in my lesbian studies class at Berkeley always says, “no” when I ask that question.
6) Barack Obama evolved on gay marriage unlike Mitt Romney who flip flops on things!
7) It’s George Bush’s fault! What is? Uh….everything bad while Obama is responsible for everything good!
8) Mitt Romney is REALLY rich unlike Barack Obama who is just worth 7-8 million dollars, has 40k a plate fund raisers with celebrities, and goes on lavish vacations every 2 1/2 months.
9) Mitt Romney is mean! Republicans are mean! You’re mean — unless you vote for Barack Obama, which makes you nice!
10) Rush Limbaugh. Sarah Palin. Glenn Beck. Andrew Breitbart. Case closed!
11) According to Joe Biden, he’s the, “first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
12) Did you see how good that guy was at reading speeches off of a teleprompter back in 2008? That was really something, wasn’t it? Now it’s all kind of dull, but, he might get better again.
13) Mitt Romney once put his dog on the roof of his car so he could go along with the family on vacation instead of humanely eating him as Barack Obama would have undoubtedly done in the same circumstances.
14) 50 years ago, when he was in high school, Mitt Romney may or may not have cut some kid’s hair. You really want to reward that kind of behavior with the presidency?
15) Obama has driven up gas prices which encourages people to buy more electric cars….ehr, wait, this is for an environmental group, right?
16) Do you know how SAD it would make Chris Matthews if Obama lost? How could you do that to him?
17) Did I mention you’re racist if you don’t vote for Obama? Even if I did, it never hurts to bring it up twice, does it?
18) If you want to stick it to those Wall Street jerks who’ve given Barack Obama more money than any candidate in history for no reason whatsoever, vote for Bo!
19) Barack Obama is the first gay President! Not literally gay, mind you — well, unless that would make you more likely to vote for him, in which case, depending on who you believe, he may be gay.
20) You don’t want the Jackie Robinson of American politics to get sent back to the minors just because he can’t hit, he can’t field, and he can’t throw do you? Think what a setback that would be to black Americans!
John Hawkins
John Hawkins is a professional blogger who runs Right Wing News, Linkiest, and Viral Footage. He’s also the co-owner of the The Looking Spoon. You can read more from John Hawkins on Facebook, Twitter, G+, You Tube, & Pajamas Media.
