Like Slimey Cockroaches & their crooked President, Liberals Spread Disease

[Warph]

   


State Department Getting Played by the Muslim Brotherhood
By David Bossie
July 25, 2012


The number one goal of the Muslim Brotherhood is to spread Sharia law throughout the world, not just in the Middle East. Since its founding over eighty years ago, the Muslim Brotherhood has been no friend of America's ideals and democratic way of life. That is why it is so disturbing that the Obama Administration's own State Department has given the Muslim Brotherhood's radical Islamic agenda a wink and a nod.

Although the Obama Administration wants Americans to believe that the Muslim Brotherhood is a moderate organization, nothing could be further from the truth.

A sense of friendship with a radical organization will only jeopardize America's security in the long-run. Americans must realize what the Muslim Brotherhood stands for. Sharia law has spread into Europe and has taken hold in Egypt thanks to the Arab Spring. Many Americans do not understand what Sharia law entails or, for that matter, have even heard of it.

Essentially, Sharia law is a rigid Islamic moral code that commingles religion and government. Sharia law encompasses all facets of Muslim life from religion and finances, right down to personal hygiene. Before the U.S.-led invasion, Afghanistan was the center of Sharia law in the Muslim world, where women had no rights and were treated as second class citizens on a good day.

Andrew McCarthy is the former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York who successfully prosecuted Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, "the blind cleric," for the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993. He has written a riveting and smart piece for National Review Online about how the State Department has bowed to the Muslim Brotherhood's agenda.

There are many revelations that McCarthy touches on but the three that stand out are:

1. The State Department announced that the Obama Administration would be 'satisfied' with the election of a Muslim Brotherhood–dominated government in Egypt.

2. The State Department has collaborated with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, a bloc of governments heavily influenced by the Brotherhood, in seeking to restrict American free-speech rights in deference to Sharia proscriptions against criticism of Islam.

3. The State Department and the Obama administration waived congressional restrictions in order to transfer $1.5 billion dollars in aid to Egypt after the Muslim Brotherhood's victory in the parliamentary elections.

Perhaps the State Department thinks it is following the Godfather adage "keep your friends close but your enemies closer." However, the reality is the State Department is getting played by a nefarious group of Islamic extremists. A strategic plan that was introduced as evidence in the 2008 Holy Land Foundation trial, the largest terrorist financing prosecution in our nation's history, stated that the Muslim Brotherhood has as its goal "destroying Western civilization from within." The way to achieve this goal, according to the Muslim Brotherhood, is to employ a "civilization jihad" by influencing policy makers and government agencies.

Thankfully, Representatives Michele Bachmann, Trent Franks, Louie Gohmert, Tom Rooney, and Lynn Westmoreland sent letters to the inspectors general of the State, Justice, Defense and Homeland Security Departments and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to question if people within the government are being influenced by the Muslim Brotherhood. These letters ask the inspectors general why policy has dramatically changed towards the Muslim Brotherhood under the Obama Administration.

These Members of Congress came under withering attack from both the Left and some in the Republican Party's establishment for just doing their jobs as legislators. If Americans understand what the Muslim Brotherhood is really about and how repressive their beliefs are, especially towards women, they would have the same questions.

President Obama and his State Department have bent over backwards to appease the Muslim Brotherhood. Americans should be asking, "Why?"

[Warph]

7 Suggested 2012 Campaign Slogans For Barack Insane-Hussein Obama

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

[Warph]

                       


One of the most annoying things about this election is that people keep asking the candidates what they'll do to create jobs.  The problem is that the only way the federal government can create jobs is by hiring more bureaucrats, which is the last thing any sane person wants to see.  The job of the president is to create an environment in which entrepreneurs and small businesses can flourish.  That means you cut the tax rate and you get rid of stupid, power-grabbing, regulators, like the storm troopers at the EPA, and you take the jackboot of the federal government off the necks of those driven to succeed and get wealthy.  Prosperity is the greatest engine for job creation and it's the only way that a $16 trillion national debt won't sooner, rather than later, turn us into Greece.

Speaking of money, in 2010, during the worst days of our recession, we were sending $4.16 billion in foreign aid to Afghanistan, $1.8 billion to both Pakistan and Haiti, $758 million to Mexico and $615 to Nigeria.  All of that would have been bad enough, but that was money we had to borrow and then pay interest on to the Chinese.  To me, that sounds a lot like the dumb schmuck who borrows money from a shylock and then races down to the corner bar to buy drinks for the house.

Speaking of Mexico, a nation that has seen 50,000 of its citizens murdered by drug dealers in recent years, I, for one, don't believe that the government couldn't wipe out the creeps if it really wanted to.  Those goons may have a lot of automatic weapons, thanks to Eric Holder, but they don't have tanks.  I suspect that the cartels are allowed to run wild for the same reason that Mexico does nothing to shut down its northern border: money, money, money.

If it weren't for millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. wiring billions of dollars back to their relatives, and the drug loot that's floating around south of the border, Mexican politicians would actually have to do something for the people or face a civil war.  It's the same reason that Pakistan lets its farmers continue to grow poppies, the source of most of the world's heroin.

Finally, although several motives have been suggested to explain why John Roberts sided with the loons on the Court, the one I like best is that by doing so, he not only forced Obuma to defend ObumaCare during the campaign, but to defend what is now officially, thanks to Roberts, the largest tax increase in history.  Only time will tell, based on his future decisions, if Roberts suffered a brain cramp or if he is so diabolical that people might start referring to him as Mac, short for Machiavelli.

Although Obuma's immediate reaction to the Court's decision was one of unbridled glee, by the time this all plays out, he may find himself like the fencing master in the cartoon who apparently dodges his opponent's sword, and says, "Aha, you missed!" a second before his severed head drops to the floor.

[Warph]

   

RNC: These Aren't Gaffes Mr. President
By Katie Pavlich
7/25/2012

The Republican National Committee is out with a new ad. The message?
President Obama's "gaffes" on the economy and business actually aren't
gaffes at all.

Click here to view:

2008 FLASHBACK:

Click here to view:

The bottom line is, President Obama has made it clear he believes business in
America owes him and the government something, despite business in America
being the back bone of a functioning government. This becomes more apparent
every time the words "pay your fair share" come out of Obama's mouth.
Businesses already "pay their fair share" not only in taxes, but more importantly
in providing 120 million jobs for Americans.

Click here to view:

Also, lets not forget President Obama's stated support for Occupy Wall Street,
a movement that has shown no respect for business in America.[/font][/size]

[Warph]

   

"Violence And Destruction Are Heard Within Her"
By Michael Brown
7/23/2012

As America reels from yet another devastating tragedy, the message of the ancient Hebrew prophets speaks to us afresh: A nation that is filled with violence is a nation on the verge of collapse. Consider where we stand today.

While grieving families in Aurora, CO come to grips with their agonizing losses, it is sobering to realize that the movie theater massacre was actually the sixth multiple-victim shooting in America so far in July, with a total of 24 killed and almost 100 wounded (again, this represents multiple-victim shootings only).

As we look back over the last five years, the roll-call of horror and pain is overwhelming, especially when we remember that each of these "statistics" represents a precious, irreplaceable, human life (and note that I'm not listing the large number of people who were wounded):


• Jan. 8, 2011, Tuscon, AZ: 6 dead (at a political rally)

• Nov. 5, 2009, Ft. Hood, TX: 13 dead (at an army base)

• Apr. 3, 2009, Binghamton, NY: 13 dead (at an immigration center)

• Mar. 30, 2009, Carthage, NC: 8 dead (at a nursing home)

• Mar. 29, 2009, Santa Clara, CA: 6 dead (family members)

• Mar. 10, 2009, Samson, AL: 10 dead (including the killer's mother and grandparents)

• Dec. 24, 2008, Covina, CA: 9 dead (at a family Christmas party)

• Sept. 2, 2008: Alger, WA: 6 dead (at several locations)

• Feb. 14, 2008: Dekalb, IL: 6 dead (at a college campus)

• Feb. 2, 2008: Chicago, IL: 5 dead (at a store)

• Dec. 24, 2007: Carnation, WA: 6 dead (family members)

• April 16, 2007, Blacksburg, VA: 33 dead (at a college campus)

And can we ever forget April 20, 1999, the Columbine High School massacre, where the teenage murderers were reported to be laughing as they mowed down their fellow-students and teachers at close range and in cold blood?

Added to this – and perhaps related to this – is the ever intensifying culture of violence in TV and movies and video games, with a whole generation becoming increasingly desensitized to blood and gore. According to a report posted by the University of Michigan Health System,


• An average American child will see 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 murders on TV by age 18.

• Two-thirds of all programming contains violence.

• Most violent acts go unpunished on TV and are often accompanied by humor. The consequences of human suffering and loss are rarely depicted.

• Many shows glamorize violence. TV often promotes violent acts as a fun and effective way to get what you want, without consequences

• Children imitate the violence they see on TV. Children under age eight cannot tell the difference between reality and fantasy, making them more vulnerable to learning from and adopting as reality the violence they see on TV.

• Repeated exposure to TV violence makes children less sensitive toward its effects on victims and the human suffering it causes.


Rest of story @: http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbrown/2012/07/23/violence_and_destruction_are_heard_within_her

[Warph]

Spoilers: 'Dark Knight Rises' plot shares scary similarities with old Glenn Beck monologues
Monday, Jul 23, 2012 at 4:23 PM EDT
http://www.glennbeck.com/2012/07/23/spoilers-dark-knight-rises-plot-has-share-scary-similarities-with-old-glenn-beck-monologues/

Have you seen the Dark Knight Rises yet? If so, feel free to continue reading. If you've missed it – stop reading this right now, bookmark the page, buy yourself a ticket, go see it, be amazed, and then come back and read this.

Ok, now for those of you who have seen the movie and are big Glenn fans, you may have noticed some scenes that could have been pulled from old 'Glenn Beck' shows where he was warning about the dangers of the 'Occupy' movement. And while Glenn certainly doesn't think the screenwriters were ripping off his ideas, they certainly seemed to understand the dangers of a socialist movement that turns violent (which history shows they usually do).

"I went and I watched Batman and I have to tell you, I would like a royalty check, please. Because if it's not almost every monologue we've done in the last three years. I mean, these guys have ‑‑ whoever wrote this movie has either really ‑‑ really knows what's going on in the world and sees the world a similar way, or they have read The Coming Insurrection. Because everything that I say is coming is happening in this movie except it's, you know, done with a guy with a mask in a bat outfit," Glenn said.

For example, in the movie the villain, Bane, targeted the rich and the wealthy of Gotham City with rhetoric similar to that of the Occupy Wall Street movement. He continuously refers to them as corrupt liars who are oppressing normal citizens, and in several pivotal scenes escalated that rhetoric to violence.

Early in the film, Bane and his band of mercenaries target the Gotham Stock Exchange (with portions filmed on Wall Street), and brutally assault a trader on the floor while accusing the finance workers as being the real criminals.

GPD Special Operative: This is a stock exchange. There's no money for you to steal.

Bane: Then what are you people doing here?

Even Catwoman, who wavers back and forth between hero and villain over the course of the film, delivers lines that could have been lifted from the Occupy talking points. At a fundraiser, she tells Bruce Wayne/Batman: "You think this can last? There's a storm coming, Mr. Wayne. You and your friends better batten down the hatches, because when it hits, you're all gonna wonder how you ever thought you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us."

But it's when the violence really ramps up halfway through the film that a moviegoer could see scenes literally lifted from Glenn's head. As the movie gets closer to it's final act, Bane traps the police underground, breaks open the cities prisons, and orders the citizens of Gotham to take control of their city. The rich are dragged out of their homes – the exteriors of which appear to be from affluent New York City neighborhoods - and are killed in the street or taken before kangaroo courts where they have already been found guilty. Bodies are hung in the streets as warnings not to oppose the revolution. The police are called corrupt and the prisons are emptied. The top comes down, the bottom rises up, and everything is turned inside out. The system collapses, and something sinister rises in its place. It's as if the Occupy philosophy were violently forced into reality, with the wealthy and influential forced into hiding as Bane and his goons enforce their own version of order.

And there is one man who saw that as a possible violent phase of the "Occupy" movement.

"Capitalists, if you think that you can play footsies with these people, you're wrong. They will come for you and drag you into the streets and kill you. They will do it. They're not messing around," Glenn said back in October. " If you're wealthy, they will kill you for what you have."

"Once you start going for hate ‑‑ and this is what Marxists always do. They always pit people against each other classes," he said.

At the time, Glenn compared the rising Occupy movement, and its philosophy of class warfare, with other movements with Marxist influence such as the French Revolution, the Soviet Union, and Mao.

The filmmakers of Dark Knight Rises have even said that the class warfare themes were heavily influenced by A Tale of Two Cities, Charles Dickens's novel on the French Revolution. And while the ideas started to form before the "Occupy" movement, the impact those themes have today are clearly heightened due to the events of the past year.


Dark Knight screenwriter Jonathan Nolan wrote:
"Chris and David [Goyer] started developing the story in 2008 right after the second film came out," he says. "Before the recession. Before Occupy Wall Street or any of that. Rather than being influenced by that, I was looking to old good books and good movies. Good literature for inspiration... What I always felt like we needed to do in a third film was, for lack of a better term, go there. All of these films have threatened to turn Gotham inside out and to collapse it on itself. None of them have actually achieved that until this film. 'A Tale of Two Cities' was, to me, one of the most harrowing portrait of a relatable, recognizable civilization that completely folded to pieces with the terrors in Paris in France in that period. It's hard to imagine that things can go that badly wrong."

Who was it that wanted to turn things inside out? This guy:


Top down. Bottom up. Inside out. That was Van Jones's strategy.

But Glenn predicts that were the events of 'Dark Knight Rises' to actually happen in America, it would be Jones playing the role of Bane.

"But there's a point where (Bane) gives the Van Jones speech that we've talked about a million times. He talks about oppression. And they have taken this land. Bane's not for America. He's not for Gotham. He's saying, 'They've taken this great city and they have ‑‑ and they've turned it into a land of oppression, and I'm going to free you. And this is a symbol of the oppression,' and he points, and behind him is the prison. It's like Guantanamo basically. It's all prisons," Glenn said.

"Van Jones, I'm telling you Van Jones will be the guy that gives the Bane speech. He will. If allowed, he will give the Bane speech in front of a prison, and he'll open up the gates. And he'll say, 'These guys, they were oppressed. Let them be free. You're free. The city is about to be yours again.' And he opens them up," Glenn said.

[Warph]

     

Evangelist Billy Graham defends Chick-fil-A (compares U.S. to Sodom & Gomorrah)
CNN - July 26, 2012

(CNN) - Billy Graham, the dean of American evangelists, has once again broken his usual silence on hot-button issues, defending the president of the Chick-fil-A restaurant chain for his opposition to same-sex marriage days after issuing a letter decrying what he sees as the nation's moral decay.

Earlier this year, the ailing preacher publicly endorsed a proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay unions in North Carolina, raising eyebrows among many who'd watched Graham studiously avoid thorny social issues for years.

On Thursday, he issued a statement of support for the popular fast-food chain. Many people have slammed Chick-fil-A President Don Cathy for saying his company backs the traditional family unit and is opposed to same-sex marriage.

Graham praised restaurant founder S. Truett Cathy and son Don Cathy, the company's president, "for their strong stand for the Christian faith."

"I've known their family for many years and have watched them grow Chick-fil-A into one of the best businesses in America while never compromising their values," Graham said.

The Chick-fil-A controversy reflects what many see as America's deep cultural and religious divide. The company's position on same-sex marriage doesn't sit well with Jim Henson Co., whose Jim Henson's Creature Shop toys have been served in Chick-fil-A's meals for children.

Jim Henson Co. is named for the creator of The Muppets. However, the company transferred The Muppets' rights and ownership to the Walt Disney Co. in 2003, according to Jim Henson Co.

"The Jim Henson Company has celebrated and embraced diversity and inclusiveness for over 50 years and we have notified Chick-fil-A that we do not wish to partner with them on any future endeavors," the company said in a posting on its Facebook page.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, is backing Chick-fil-A. He urged people to turn out to Chick-fil-A restaurants on Wednesday to show their support for what Cathy had to say about marriage.
Graham says he appreciated Huckabee's leadership and plans to visit a Chick-fil-A on that day, August 1.

"Each generation faces different issues and challenges, but our standard must always be measured by God's word. I appreciate the Cathy family's public support for God's definition of marriage."

On Tuesday, Graham leveled deep criticism at the United States. He compared the country to Sodom and Gomorrah, the Biblical cities synonymous with sin.

"Self-centered indulgence, pride, and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle," Graham writes in the open letter released by his organization this week.

He blasts what he sees as efforts to keep references to Jesus out of the public sphere.

"Our society strives to avoid any possibility of offending anyone -- except God. Yet the farther we get from God, the more the world spirals out of control," he writes in the letter released Tuesday.

Graham, 93, has preached to untold millions over six decades, and provided counsel to generations of U.S. presidents.

His open letter also contains a fund-raising appeal and a notice that Graham's son Franklin, himself a major evangelical figure, is launching a new effort to "bring the Gospel into neighborhoods and homes in every corner of America next year."

Randall Balmer, the chair of the religion department at Dartmouth College, suspects the motivation for the letter is at least partly political.

"It's hard for me to believe that this letter does not have political intent," he said.

Its move to decry what he would see as moral decay "would be tied to the Obama administration," he argued, asking rhetorically why Graham would not have issued the statement in response to an event like the Abu Ghraib torture scandal.

Graham's spokesman did not immediately respond to a question about what prompted the letter.

It does not clearly refer to specific recent events.

Balmer said that evangelicals would take note of the letter, though Graham has largely retired from the public eye in recent years.

"There is certainly admiration for Billy Graham, as there should be," Balmer said. "There is lingering respect for Billy Graham and I think that people will take notice."

But he said the comparison to Sodom and Gomorrah -- which Graham attributes to his late wife Ruth in the letter -- was startling.

[Warph]

               

The 20 Best Quotes From Ayn Rand
By John Hawkins
7/20/2012


20) "Ask yourself why totalitarian dictatorships find it necessary to pour money and effort into propaganda for their own helpless, chained, gagged slaves, who have no means of protest or defense. The answer is that even the humblest peasant or the lowest savage would rise in blind rebellion, were he to realize that he is being immolated, not to some incomprehensible noble purpose, but to plain, naked human evil."

19) "The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities."

18) "Pity for the guilty is treason to the innocent."

17) "Man's unique reward, however, is that while animals survive by adjusting themselves to their background, man survives by adjusting his background to himself. If a drought strikes them, animals perish — man builds irrigation canals; if a flood strikes them, animals perish — man builds dams; if a carnivorous pack attacks them animals perish — man writes the Constitution of the United States. But one does not obtain food, safety or freedom — by instinct."

16) "And what is the state but a servant and a convenience for a large number of people, just like the electric light and the plumbing system? And wouldn't it be preposterous to claim that men must exist for their plumbing, not the plumbing for the men."

15) "Every movement that seeks to enslave a country, every dictatorship or potential dictatorship, needs some minority group as a scapegoat which it can blame for the nation's troubles and use as a justification of its own demands for dictatorial powers. In Soviet Russia, the scapegoat was the bourgeoisie; in Nazi Germany, it was the Jewish people; in America, it is the businessmen."

14) "I swear by my life, and my love of it, that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine."

13) "Statism survives by looting; a free country survives by production."

12) "Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society's virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion — when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing — when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors — when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you — when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice — you may know that your society is doomed. Money is so noble a medium that it does not compete with guns and it does not make terms with brutality. It will not permit a country to survive as half-property, half-loot."

11) "We can evade reality, but we cannot evade the consequences of evading reality."

10) "Government 'help' to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off."

9) "The right to life is the source of all rights -- and the right to property is their only implementation. Without property rights, no other rights are possible. Since man has to sustain his life by his own effort, the man who has no right to the product of his effort has no means to sustain his life. The man who produces while others dispose of his product, is a slave."

8 ) "An attempt to achieve the good by force is like an attempt to provide a man with a picture gallery at the price of cutting out his eyes."

7) "Individual rights are not subject to a public vote; a majority has no right to vote away the rights of a minority; the political function of rights is precisely to protect minorities from oppression by majorities (and the smallest minority on earth is the individual)."

6) "The spread of evil is the symptom of a vacuum. Whenever evil wins, it is only by default: by the moral failure of those who evade the fact that there can be no compromise on basic principles."

5) "The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me."

4) "The hardest thing to explain is the glaringly evident which everybody had decided not to see."

3) "There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. When there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."

2) "America's abundance was created not by public sacrifices to 'the common good,' but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes. They did not starve the people to pay for America's industrialization. They gave the people better jobs, higher wages and cheaper goods with every new machine they invented, with every scientific discovery or technological advance—and thus the whole country was moving forward and profiting, not suffering, every step of the way."

1) "We are fast approaching the stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute force."

[Warph]

            
The Chicken Inquisition spreads to San Francisco
By: John Hayward
7/27/2012 03:01 PM

The war against Chick-fil-A, in which several politicians of a totalitarian mindset have decided must be punished because of its CEO's unacceptable exercise of his First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and religion, has expanded to San Francisco.

Mayor Edwin Lee issued the following message via Twitter: "Very disappointed Chick-fil-A doesn't share San Francisco's values & strong commitment to equality for everyone."

Well, everyone except practicing Christians, of course. Those people can be discriminated against and treated with the most vicious intolerance imaginable, as the mayor made clear with his thuggish follow-up Tweet: "Closest #ChickFilA to San Francisco is 40 miles away & I strongly recommend that they not try to come any closer."

(Emphasis mine.) Or what, Mr. Mayor? Will it be brown shirts and truncheons at the Chick-fil-A construction site?

Lee's fellow inquisitor, Mayor Thomas Menino of Boston, apparently had a quick remedial education in the nature of American liberty, because after making some blustery threats to block Chick-fil-A construction in his city, he suddenly reversed himself on Thursday. "I can't do that. That would be interference to his rights to go there," Menino told the Boston Herald, referring to his threat to withhold licenses from Cathy's restaurant on the grounds of ideological impurity.

Menino added, "I make mistakes all the time. That's a Menino-ism." Ha! What a knee-slapper! Totalitarianism is hilarious, provided the correct people suffer.

Does that word "totalitarian" sound ugly? Good. It should. That's exactly what this is. If you don't like it, then stand up and oppose it, even though you may find yourself strongly disagreeing with the views of Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy about same-sex marriage. The height of respect for freedom of speech is the defense of speech you disagree with.

When we discuss Menino, Lee, or Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel, we've moved on to a very different topic than argument with Cathy, or even voluntary boycotts of his restaurant. I've never been a big fan of boycotts myself, but people do business where they choose. If they're more, or less, inclined to eat a restaurant because of something its executives have said, then so be it. Their decision can certainly be criticized, and that criticism can in turn be called into question. That's what debate and discussion are all about.

But we're talking about high officials abusing the powers of their office, to punish a cultural perspective and religious beliefs they disagree with. Chick-fil-A stands accused of no discrimination in its hiring or business practices. The free speech they dislike was not profane or offensive in any way. It's worth noting, as the editors of National Review did when they spoke up against "The Chicken Inquisition," that "Mr. Cathy did not even target homosexuals, and his reference to being married to "our first wives" indicates that his criticism of the recent decay of marriage is by no means limited to the question of same-sex marriage."

The treatment of Cathy by these thug mayors amounts to the abuse of official power to criminalize dissent. The "dissent" in question is far from an extreme view held by a tiny minority – although, once again, the principle at stake would be no different if it were.

No one should be eager to sacrifice that principle, whatever their position on the issues of the day. If you support the likes of Menino and Emanuel, but would shriek in outrage if an arrogant city official made a big show of denying permits to a company whose founder enthusiastically supports same-sex marriage, then "hypocrisy" is too mild a word to describe your position. Neither is there any room for cutesy-poo euphemisms like "Menino-ism." The correct term is very unpleasant, and should be welcome beside no American's name.

Update: Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is not inexperienced when it comes to the intersection of politics and food, criticized Lee, Menino, and Emanuel in his weekly radio show. Bloomberg said it's inappropriate for officials "to look at somebody's political views and decide whether or not they can live in the city, or operate a business in the city, or work for somebody in the city."

Bloomberg is a supporter of same-sex marriage himself, but he won't try blocking the construction of Chick-fil-A restaurants. He'll be a significant presence inside the restaurants after they're built, but that's another story.

[Warph]

   

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs - Dave Grossman
By LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, author of "On Killing."

http://www.gleamingedge.com/mirrors/onsheepwolvesandsheepdogs.html

"Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always,even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for?" - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997

One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident." This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.

Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.

I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.

"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.

"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf."

If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed

Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids' schools.

But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.

The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.

Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, "Baa."

Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.

The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?

Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.

There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, "Let's roll," which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. -- from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.

If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

For example, many officers carry their weapons in church.? They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs.? Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.

I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, "I will never be caught without my gun in church." I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy's body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, "Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?"

Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for "heads to roll" if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids' school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.

Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, "Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?"

It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.

Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: "...denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn't so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling."

Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself...

"Baa."

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.