Archive for March 31st, 2008

John, Are You Listening?

March 31, 2008

Star Parker wrote a great article and Open Letter to John McCain. Check it out and see if it doesn’t reflect some of your feelings.

An Open Letter To John McCain
By Star Parker March 31, 2008

Dear John McCain,
Every relationship requires effort. I want to do my part. But there needs to be common ground to start with and you’re making it harder and harder for me to find where it is.
I’m an optimist and a woman of faith. I believe we are strong because our nation is meant to be, as President Reagan often reminded us, a “shining city upon a hill.”
You spoke in Los Angeles the other day about our country and its place in the world. You talked about political, economic and military strength, and international citizenship.
I strained to hear you mention our moral uniqueness — our being that “city on a hill.” But I heard not a hint.
President Nixon once observed that Americans often make the mistake of thinking that conflict in the world is the result of misunderstanding rather than difference of belief.
Because you seem not to appreciate that our beliefs make us different, you suggest more talk. You propose more international compacts and organizations, as if we don’t have enough.
What exactly are the values we would share with others in your concept for a League of Democracies? The European Union countries can’t even agree on a common constitution.
A 2000 survey of the United States and 14 Western European democracies checked the percentage of residents who never attend church. France was highest, with 60 percent, followed by Great Britain (55 percent), Belgium (46 percent) and West Germany (30 percent). The European mean was 36, more than twice as high as in the United States, which had 16 percent.

Read The Rest Here

source: http://ablursspot.blogspot.com/

Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Local Politics Colorado, Politics, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | Comments Off on John, Are You Listening?

Navy SEAL killed in Iraq to get Medal of Honor

March 31, 2008

I’ve posted elsewhere on this blog about this action involving this group of American Warriors. This was an unusual situation, and these are, and were unusual men. I can remember Seals coming into Ross – Sands Delicatessen in Point Loma. They were boisterous, and serious all at the same time. Man, could those guys eat!

Fair winds and following seas…

 ‘He never took his eye off the grenade,’ attack survivor says of his heroism

SAN DIEGO – An elite Navy SEAL who threw himself on top of a grenade in Iraq to save his comrades will be posthumously awarded the nation’s highest military tribute, a White House spokeswoman said Monday.

The Medal of Honor will be awarded to Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael A. Monsoor. His family will receive the medal during a White House ceremony April 8.

Monsoor is the fifth person to receive the honor since the beginning of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

“Petty Officer Monsoor distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism on Sept. 29, 2006,” press secretary Dana Perino told reporters during a briefing aboard Air Force One as President Bush headed to Europe for a NATO summit.

Monsoor was part of a sniper security team in Ramadi with three other SEALs and eight Iraqi soldiers, according to a Navy account. An insurgent fighter threw the grenade, which struck Monsoor in the chest before falling in front of him.

Monsoor then threw himself on the grenade, according to a SEAL who spoke to The Associated Press in 2006 on condition of anonymity because his work requires his identity to remain secret.

‘We owe him’
“He never took his eye off the grenade, his only movement was down toward it,” said a 28-year-old lieutenant, who suffered shrapnel wounds to both legs that day. “He undoubtedly saved mine and the other SEALs’ lives, and we owe him.”

Two SEALs next to Monsoor were injured; another who was 10 feet to 15 feet from the blast was unhurt. Monsoor, from Garden Grove, Calif., was 25 at the time.

Monsoor, a platoon machine gunner, had received the Silver Star, the third-highest award for combat valor, for his actions pulling a wounded SEAL to safety during a May 9, 2006, firefight in Ramadi.

He was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star for his sacrifice in Ramadi.

Sixteen SEALs have been killed in Afghanistan. Eleven of them died in June 2005 when a helicopter was shot down near the Pakistan border while ferrying reinforcements for troops pursuing al-Qaida militants.

There are about 2,300 of the elite fighters, based in Coronado and Little Creek, Va.

The Navy is trying to boost the number by 500 — a challenge considering more than 75 percent of candidates drop out of training, notorious for “Hell Week,” five days of continual drills by the ocean broken by only four hours sleep total.

Monsoor made it through training on his second attempt.

source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23886008

Posted in Editorial, Opinion, Education, Local Politics Colorado, Military Science, News, Uncategorized, Valhalla, War, Warfare | 4 Comments »

Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley, Jr.

March 31, 2008

I have been struggling to come up with what both of these men meant to me, and what their passing means for America. The following is by Mike Rosen, follow the link for the full story;

ROSEN: Two irreplaceable minds

By Mike Rosen, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, March 28, 2008

It may be true that no one is indispensable. That is, people come and go, and the world goes on. Perhaps irreplaceable, then, is a better word. Individuals whose unique persona, contributions and impact on events make them one of a kind.

In the past several months, we’ve seen the passing of two such people, both of whom were my intellectual heroes and mentors. In November, Nobel laureate economist Milton Friedman died, and earlier this month we lost William F. Buckley, Jr. Friedman described himself as a libertarian; Buckley was a conservative. Friedman was Jewish; Buckley, Catholic. They had different specialties, different agendas and different styles but had much in common and often overlapped on matters of policy and politics.

I read and was greatly influenced by their writings and ideas, and I had the distinct privilege of knowing them personally. They were kind enough to appear on my radio show on several occasions. Those interviews were always a treat. Friedman restored respectability and stature to free-market economics and had a rare gift for explaining economics in common-sense terms that laymen could understand. (My copy of Free to Choose has the unique distinction of being autographed by Milton and his wife and co-author, Rose).

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/mar/28/two-irreplaceable-minds/

From the comments about that article:

All thinking persons will miss the late Milton Friedman and William Buckley, Jr.

Great minds come by too infrequently and too many average minds pass as great minds because they offer utopian pipe dreams. Neither Friedman nor Buckley can be said to have offered uptopian pipe dreams.

“Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.”

“I won’t insult your intelligence by suggesting that you really believe what you just said.”

“I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.”

“Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.”

“Life can’t be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years.”

“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.”

Posted in Contemporary Quotes, Economics, Editorial, Opinion, Education, Local Politics Colorado, News, Politics, Uncategorized, Wordpress Political Blogs | Comments Off on Milton Friedman and William F. Buckley, Jr.