Obama Stoops to Gestapo Tactics in Desperate Re-Election Bid

Obama's people have really gone overboard on this knuckle-headed idea of Americans snitching on other Americans.  There's a website (http://www.attackwatch.com/) which is an Obama re-election campaign effort to root out all the supposed lies, smears, untruths and so forth that they expect to come from the right to disparage their messiah.  It is a place where the left can come and report things the right is doing or saying that makes the One look bad.  This site is supposed to arm users with the 'truth' on the issues so they can 'fight the smears' and convince their conservative neighbors where they went wrong.

As you can imagine, the site has been overrun with people sarcastically reporting all manner of silly infractions, such as: "I saw 6 ATMs in an alley killing a job.  It looked like a hate crime." Someone put together this hilarious Youtube video showing Hitler finding out that AttackWatch is a joke:

It would be funnier if it weren't so pathetic.  Are there any adults working for Obama's re-election?  I mean, really?  I invite you to go to http://www.attackwatch.com/ and submit something.  Heck, the other day I saw a bumper sticker that said "Just Say No to Socialism" - maybe someone should go pick that knuckle-dragging subversive right-winger up and question him.  Do I detect the smell of desperation coming from the Obama re-election camp, or is that just the armpit stench of adolescent boys?

9/11: Ten Years After

I'm sure you remember exactly where you were on that clear September morning when you first learned about that passenger jet flying into one of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and what happened in the hours following that horrific event.  I know I do.  I was working in my school library and a co-worker called and told me to turn on my tv.  I said "Why?"  She said, "Just turn on CNN." and hung up.  I did, and saw the smoke and flames billowing out of the building.  As I stood, transfixed by this horrible accident, I remember thinking, "How could this have happened, couldn't the pilot have tried to crash the plane into some less populated spot if it had to crash land?"  Then I saw the second jet crash into the other tower, and instinctively I said "Oh God, we're at war." 

The rest of the school day was a blur, as knowledge of this event and the crashes at the Pentagon and in Shanksville spread and teachers and administrators struggled to find a way to explain to the students what was happening and at the same time mentally deal with the knowledge that we were in the middle of something truly nightmarish. 

I remember in the weeks and months following this national disaster, as we all witnessed at first the heroic rescues, and then the grim recovery work at what came to be known as Ground Zero, how we all joined together as Americans.  Nationwide, there was a  feeling of togetherness, of patriotism.  We had a common response: "We'll get through this and we'll get the people who did this terrible thing."  There was a feeling of real sacrifice, a shared experience that bound us together as a country.  We baby boomers finally knew what our parents had felt after the attack on Pearl Harbor and during WWII.

Fast forward ten years later.  Americans, conservatives and liberals, are battling and bashing each other, literally.  Candidates for high office are being vilified on the evening news.  Our fellow countrymen who are advocating the values our founding fathers fought and died for in order to create this great country are being called jihadists, terrorists, barbarians and worse.  Union thugs are beating people up.  Teen 'flash mobs' are terrorizing neighborhoods and killing vulnerable people for fun.  Political figures are getting death threats.  People who once were friends no longer speak to each other because they can't tolerate their differing political views. 

It reminds me of a portion of that William Butler Yeats poem, The Second Coming:

Things fall apart, the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world.
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

I hope and pray we don't have another terrorist attack on our homeland.  But ten years later, it seems we may have already lost this war.  Our economy is in tatters.  Confidence in our great nation is crumbling.  Politically, we are tearing ourselves apart.  Morale in this nation is at a very low point.  It's as if the terrorists have won.  Will we ever recover from the attacks on September 11, 2001?

I Guess This Should Be Obvious, But It Needs to Be Said Nonetheless

Contrary to what most of the media report, Tea Party members are not bigots or racists.  We are not terrorists.  We believe in fiscal responsibility, smaller government, adherence to the constitution, the free enterprise system, less government regulation and less taxes.  Does that sound like terrorists, bigots or racists?  Don't believe everything you hear on the nightly news.

Everyone is welcome at tea party meetings, which are always held in public places.  We don't check party affiliation at the door, but I'm sure we have republicans, democrats and independents that attend our meetings, and probably a few libertarians and constitution party members, too. 

Here is the agenda of a typical tea party meeting: recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance (the same one children used to recite in grade school - why and when did this stop? - but that's another blog entry); a review of any old business (which might be a report on a recent blood drive or a discussion of how the last parade went and what the turnout was); new business (usually a list of upcoming events members might be interested in attending, such as a political fundraiser, a congress person's town hall meeting, and usually an urging to attend our local government meetings, to be informed of local issues); and then we have a speaker or two.  Speakers in the past months have been prospective political candidates (all parties are welcome, but so far, only the GOP has responded), our local state rep giving us an update of what bills he voted yea or nay on and why, a person talking about his research into the health effects of living near wind turbines (a big issue around here), etc. 

I'm pretty sure this is the same kind of stuff that is going on at tea party meetings all over the country.  If you are still wondering whether the media is right and the tea party folks are agents of the devil, gather up all your courage, bring a few friends, and attend a tea party meeting.  You'll find a nice group of folks (most likely your neighbors) who are just fed up with the mess our country has gotten into over the last decade or more, who want to educate themselves so they can elect like-minded people in the future who will bring our country back from the brink of economic self-destruction.  Many are worried about what the future holds for their children and grandchildren.  If that's not scary, I don't know what is.