Tough Talk is Cheap

You talk too much, you worry me to death,
You talk too much, you even worry my pet,
You just talk, you talk too much.
~ Joe Jones & Reginald Hall , 1958

Three things President Obama should do immediately:

1. You’re president now-- “man up.”

Just how long do you plan on pointing over your shoulder at George W. Bush? Bush didn’t jam the stimulus bill through Congress. This economy now belongs to you—deal with it, and stop complaining.

2. Stop telling us how bad things are.

Since we, the “little people,” are the ones trying to make the mortgage and car payments, feed our families, and keep or find jobs, there is very little—if anything—you can tell us about the current financial storm that we don’t already understand much better than you do. Pack up your sob story. We at home don’t want to burn any more electricity listening to you whine about “Crisis” and “Catastrophe.” Either find something positive to say, or stop giving speeches until you do.

3. Start outlining specific actions to improve the situation.

Don’t look now, Mr. President (it will only give you something else to moan about), but your approval ratings are dropping with dramatic speed. That’s because Americans are not stupid people. Although no one denies that you are a world class talker, you can only blow smoke for so long. Eventually, you are going to have to explain, in fine detail, exactly how you intend to fix this mess. The sooner you start doing that, the better for all of us—especially for you, if you’re interested in a second term.

Respect, At Last

One Marine's View gives a worthy endorsement to a movie that I've heard nothing but rave advance reviews about: "Taking Chance," starring Kevin Bacon.

The trailer is linked here. The movie airs tonight, Saturday, February 21.

I don't have HBO, but it's the next addition to my Netflix queue.

At long last, a respectful film honoring our fallen heroes. Now this is something that truly gives me "hope" for our country.

Taken Away

With both a Presidents Day holiday and a rainy day to enjoy, I decided to go see "Taken," currently in theaters. It was a very rapid hour and a half.

In the "24"/Jack Bauer tradition, there's Liam Neeson as your basic quick-thinking, highly skilled, brutally efficient government operative with the classic worrisome teenaged daughter, combined with a ticking clock. As this interview describes Neeson's character, he's "part Terminator, part Jason Bourne."

But then, who wouldn't be if their daughter had been kidnapped by sex slave traders?

"Taken" starts out with deceptive slowness, flipping suddenly into adrenaline mode while Dad is checking on his delinquent daughter via cell phone. He listens in agony to her screams as she is spirited away by Evil International Villains (EIVs). He immediately sets out to rescue his little girl. And, of course, he is intent on applying all of his considerably impressive career expertise to killing as many EIVs as his 96-hour window will allow. By film's end, the EIV body count would put the last act of a Shakespearean tragedy to shame.

There's one scene where a particularly unfortunate EIV is being tortured systematically by our determined dad. Father manages to procure the necessary information in short order. As he's leaving, he must make a fast decision--from the abduction scene onward, everything in this movie is fast--about whether to let said EIV live or die. (Spoiler alert: fans of "24" can use their imaginations as to how Jack Bauer might handle the situation.)

If you let yourself get "Taken" along for this thrill ride through the worst parental nightmare, you will most likely be highly entertained. Just brace yourself for the post-movie Knotted Neck Syndrome (KNS).

A Beautiful Story

Would you like to read some really good, heartwarming news for a change? Then click here and read this story of Boston firefighter William Carroll rescuing a baby girl from death in 1968. It left me groping for my Kleenex box.

Be sure to watch the video clip of their recent reunion. Just have your own Kleenex box at the ready.

William Carroll; such a lovely name. I can only hope we're related.

California Bleeding

Okay, things are bad all over. But for anyone living in California, they're much worse.

With the legislature poised to approve State and sales tax increases, a near-doubling of vehicle license fees, and a 12-cent per gallon increase in gasoline tax, California residents like myself are really looking forward to receiving that tax cut from the Federal stimulus bill. Yes, that timely $13 per week will go a long way towards offsetting the cost of living in "the Golden State."

No Surprises

Mark Steyn's NRO article is a customarily entertaining recap of the first two weeks in Obamatopia. Read it for a chuckle; we all need one of those these days.

However, I can't agree with Steyn that the rapid descent of President Obama from his lofty, media-created heights is such a surprise. While hoping I was wrong (if "hope" is still an appropriate word), I fully expected him to fall on his inexperienced face rather quickly.

On a more acerbic note, Victor Davis Hanson tartly outlines the public unraveling of the "cool" president. An interesting analysis, but here again, no surprises. President Barack "The One" Obama is totally unaccustomed to difficult situations, negative scrutiny, uncomfortable questions, and multiple criticisms. His pique and impatience under pressure is to be expected. Obama's ill-temper at his current woes is the logical outcome of the shameless, uninterrupted fawning over him by MSM for years. He never thought he'd be challenged, at least not to such a significant extent.

Now the president is throwing a virtual tantrum and screaming "Catastrophe!" if the stimulus bill doesn't pass. How's that for "change you can believe in"? At his next podium appearance, Obama may well draw himself up and bellow: "How dare you defy me! Don't you know who I am?" This, too, would not surprise me.

MSM created this self-aggrandizing monster, and America now has to live in its uncertain clutches for at least four years. We'll need to pace ourselves on the obviously rocky path to "hope" and "change." While thus far the plot line has been predictable, there may yet be a few surprises along the way.

Lessons in Faith and Courage

Courage is the ladder on which all the other virtues mount.
~ Clare Booth Luce


It's probably safe to conclude that we're all rather weary of idiotic politics, public tax cheats, and global financial disaster. Therefore, I decided to look in an entirely different direction for tonight's post, and this is what I found.

The Martyrs of Nagasaki. Twenty-six of them, crucified on February 5, 1597. I'm sorry I hadn't heard about them before, but far better late than never. Their story is a dramatic and inspiring example of faith, courage, and perseverance in the face of terrible suffering. Once I found them and started researching, I was surprised to find so many references to the Nagasaki Martyrs on the internet.

It's always humbling--and a bit disheartening--to realize how much there still is to learn.

The story of the Martyrs of Nagasaki is well worth knowing, especially in our modern day faith-and-courage challenged world.

Leftovers

Obama's new Cabinet cronies

Have often been typical phonies;

Their taxes unpaid,

Their exits displayed--

We were "hoping" for "change" in baloneys.

What Scares Me Most

In these most recent 20 years -- the alleged winter of our disrespect of the Islamic world -- America did not just respect Muslims, it bled for them.
~ Charles Krauthammer

Charles Krauthammer has written an important essay on the truth of America's treatment of the Muslim world. What scares me most about Obama's presidency is his terribly dangerous posturing as the penitent new American leader, pandering to the Muslim world with firm hubris in the power of his charm and persuasion.

My greatest fear is that this kindler, gentler approach to those who wish us dead will indeed result in more dead Americans. The shadow of September 11 has grown dim in our collective memory (although not in mine), and our enemy thinks in decades, not months or years as is our impatient and perilous wont. This is the reason I voted for McCain, a Republican for which I had little enthusiasm except on the one issue that matters most to me--national security.

I sincerely hope I am wrong. But I am afraid that, with each well-heralded shift away from the security policies of President Bush, we move closer towards disaster at the hands of a vicious enemy who nods approvingly at our incredible naivete.

The economic crisis is serious, of course, but however difficult the means, it can be fixed. Money is in constant ebb and flow, but there is no return on investment for lives lost.

The First Right

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life...

~ Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

The remainder of humanity's rights are rather moot without the first: Life.

There are many impassioned pro-lifers; I have never been one of them. However, I do know right from wrong, and I understand the evil of destroying life. This is neither a religious nor a biblical viewpoint, although I could make those arguments, probably with greater ease. My concept of abortion as a wrongdoing comes from what the philosophers, and our founding fathers, termed "natural law."

In its simplest form, natural law defines that which any human being instinctively knows to be wrong. No religious rules, no Holy Scripture, just a person's gut knowledge that an action is wrong.

Stealing? Wrong. Murdering? Wrong. Killing a baby? Also wrong.

Think about it. Today's technology supports the life argument, not death. Those sonograms of early stage embryos that we see gracing office computer screens and home refrigerator doors, why, that's little Megan or Michael! But if the pregnancy happens to be ill-timed, why is little Megan or Michael suddenly nothing more than a splotch of medical waste?

This is not to say there is absolutely no place for ending a pregnancy. Of course, there are such circumstances. But they should be dictated by serious health reasons, not personal convenience. We, as a society, should be working to protect the life that modern science proves exists within the womb; human rights should apply. Yet with the stroke of a pen last Friday, President Obama signed the death warrants of uncounted multitudes of innocent babies around the world.

Wrong. Not something that makes me in any way "really proud of my country," to quote Michelle Obama on the campaign trail.

The president signed the executive order late Friday afternoon, as though hoping no one would notice. But Pope Benedict XVI happened to be watching, and the ensuing publicity is not quite the cover of darkness Obama had hoped for.

I'm going to watch the follow up on this issue, because I think it will be interesting. American bishops may soon be receiving direction that it's time to stop winking and nodding as such paper Catholics as Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, among others, step up to the communion rail.

While I've never been on fire about the abortion issue, I know it's wrong. I find it very telling that President Obama chose an obscure hour at the start of a weekend to try to slide this change through. He evidently was nervous about media coverage.

If Obama is hoping that Pope Benedict will be too worried about being unpopular to pursue the issue--well, that may not be a matter of natural law, but he's wrong.