Drats! Now the Pilgrims Were Grave Robbers

To all my friends in Blogland

Here’s hoping your Thanksgiving is blessed in every way!

Football, feasts, and family.

Thanksgiving is a time for us to give thanks.

Meanwhile back on the lecture circuit of Politically Correct- I found this lovely

Ah, historical revisionism enlightenment by way of the Madison (WI) Capital Times:

 

Patty Loew: Thanksgiving traditions all based on myths

By Mike Ivey

Everything you know about the “first” Thanksgiving is wrong.

Plymouth Rock.

Pilgrims.

Perseverance.

Big feast.

Happy Indians sharing in the bounty.

It’s all bunk, except maybe the part about eating turkey. Early settlers were so hungry they ate about anything with fur or feathers.

Otherwise, there is little connection between reality and the version of Thanksgiving events still taught in most schools.

That point was hammered home Sunday by award-winning filmmaker Patty Loew.

A member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe, Loew was the keynote speaker at the third annual “Interfaith Thanksgiving Celebration” held at Lakeview Lutheran Church on Madison’s north side.

Loew said the problem with the traditional Thanksgiving story is that it plays to the American version of history where peace loving English settlers tame the wilderness and survive attacks from the bloodthirsty Indians.

“It’s the quintessential American holiday,” she said. “It involves escaping danger, surviving in a harsh environment, carving out a new life.”

Unfortunately, Loew says, the whole Thanksgiving story is nothing but myth.

In reality, the Indian tribes living along the Eastern seaboard had been decimated by disease in the years preceding the storied landing at Plymouth Rock in 1620.

An epidemic of bubonic plague, most likely brought to the New World by European fishermen in 1617, had killed an estimated 90 percent of the Native population by the time the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts.

“What the settlers found were empty villages with crops still in the field because the Indians had either died or left,” Loew said, quoting a version of event laid out by author James Loewen http://www.trinicenter.com/his…..giving.htm.

The more religious of the settlers — only 32 of the 102 who landed at Plymouth were actually Pilgrims — thought the existing villages and cleared fields were a sign that God was providing for them.

Other settlers took to digging up the graves of Indians, picking through the housewares, blankets or weapons buried with the dead.

“So the first Thanksgiving in America was actually held by grave robbers,” Loew told the crowd of more than 200.

Loew challenged the audience to tell the correct version of events and think about what it means when they celebrate this Thursday with family or friends.

“We’re not just talking about feel good history, but history that reflects the truth,” said Loew, a longtime local TV anchor who serves as associate professor of life sciences communications at UW-Madison…

If the crops were still standing in the fields and they were robbing graves, why didn’t the Pilgrims get the bubonic plague?

What would we ever do without associate professors of life science like Ms. Loew and “authors” like Mr. Lowen?

For the record, here are some other titles from this “author”:

This is just a multicultural curriculum which is designed to get as many little kids as possible to question the decency and the goodness of their own country.

Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, Revised and Updated Edition by James W. Loewen (Hardcover – April 1, 2008)

Lies Across America: What American Historic Sites Get Wrong by James W. Loewen (Paperback – Oct 16, 2007)

Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism by James W. Loewen (Paperback – Oct 3, 2006)

We Are the People: Voices from the Other Side of American History by Nathaniel May, Clint Willis, and James W. Loewen (Paperback – Oct 27, 2003)

The Mississippi Chinese : Between Black and White, Second Edition by James W. Loewen (Paperback – Jan 1988)

Lies My Teacher Told Me About Christopher Columbus: What Your History Books Got Wrong by James W. Loewen (Paperback – Jun 19, 1992)

Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong by James W. Loewen (Paperback – Nov 14, 2000)

Everything You’ve Been Taught is Wrong (Portable Professor) by James W. Loewen (Audio CD – 2005) – Unabridged

One begins to detect a pattern.

There is some good stuff out there, my friends..

Just like the Terminator, I will be back and visit you real soon. Promise. 🙂

Hugs to all of you! Leave your last post link for us to enjoy!

Is There A Green/Energy Connection with Soro’s Goldman Sachs and Obama?

We have been hearing a lot about $500 Billion for stimulus package, Obama Team wants to work on infrastructure..etc: Oh, right, Paulson did change mind about the Government buying mortgages. Then the Team wants to tackle Global warming.

0ur country is losing jobs right and left. So my question is ‘why in the world would Team Obama want to cost us more jobs in the energy field? Why would ‘the team’ care more about the ‘environment’ than the middle class? Why does ‘the team’ not get it or care that Americans screamed loud and clear that they wanted to be free of Foreign dependence and rely on our resources? Why now when so many are suffering as it is? Why? I have too many questions that need answering and the American people deserve to know the truth..so I challenge us all to find out.

I have posted prior on

Guess What? Obama Plans to Bankrupt Coal Industry!

I have also posted on George Soros before below:

Will Soros Money Determine Election Results? Will Racism Be an Issue?

…Now add Goldman Sachs to the questions? Oh, and don’t forget the Obama connection. We have seen in the past that you can follow the money honey and learn a lot by who benefits. Well, just who does benefit big time from a green policy that would further send us down the pit? Let’s investigate together. Bet we can find some mighty big fish in both parties.

It really does seem that some would like for America to go down…in order to have their NEW WORLD ORDER at our expense.

Hat tip Butasforme

Original article COAL BUST BRIEF (printed below in entirety-thank you for photo)

TEAM OBAMA WARNS OF A ‘PAINFUL’ FUTURE FOR THE MANUFACTURING AND ENERGY SECTORS IN ORDER TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT. OBAMA’S RECENT COMMENTS ON BANKRUPTING THE COAL INDUSTRY, BY OUTRAGEOUS TAXES, SUGGEST THE COAL-RUST BELT TO BE AN EARLY CASUALITY OF OBAMA’S ENERGY PLAN. OBAMA SAYS, IN ELOQUENT RHETORIC, HE IS TRYING TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT. HOWEVER, WHEN THE OPPORTUNITY EMERGES TO ENACT LEGISLATION TO CLEAN UP FOSSIL FUELS, OBAMA VOTES AGAINST THE PLANS. THIS LEAVES THE COAL INDUSTRY IN AN INESCAPABLE PREDICTIMENT SHOULD OBAMA EMERGE AS PRESIDENT: THEY WILL HAVE TO CAPTURE 100% OF CO2 EMISSIONS, BUT OBAMA IS AGAINST LEGISLATION THAT WOULD GET THEM CLOSER TO THE MARK. THIS BEHAVIOR IS NOT ONLY CONTRADICTORY, BUT SUSPECT. A LOOK AT OBAMA’S DONORS TURNS UP INDIVIDUALS WITH OUTSPOKEN AND SHARED INTEREST IN THE ‘GREEN- ENERGY’ INDUSTRY. COULD OBAMA’S ERRATIC ENERGY POLICY BE AN INDICATION HIS ENERGY POLICY IS TIED TO HIS DONORS AND SUPPORTERS?

The first indication something is amiss is the fact Obama’s team is already suggesting the coal industry will be first casualty. This is very odd because we have the largest deposits of coal. This does not mean we have to abandon the pursuit of making this energy clean. We are Americans, and can scientifically accomplish greatness. However, team Obama is quick to lay the groundwork for a huge decline in these jobs. Even worse, team Obama blocks laws that can help this industry become more efficient.

Bloomberg: Obama’s Plan Would Close Half of All New Power Plants.

Jason Grumet, Obama’s Chief Energy Advisor On Obama’s Energy Plan:

“Sen. Obama is somewhat unique in not implying that this radical transformation of our economy is just going to be easy, or that stocks are only going to go up. There are going to be significant changes within the manufacturing sector. Those will be painful for some people…. The campaign believes that in the early years of that transition, there will be some disproportionate impact on different industries and different regions that has to be acknowledged up front; they’re not going to be avoidable…”¹

Jason Grumet, Explaining Obama’s Plan Told C-SPAN:

“Obama is confident his carbon policy will make it “ludicrous” to invest money in new coal that’s not 100% sequestered. You only need a $15/ton price on carbon to make pulverized coal uneconomic. If Obama’s unable to get that climate policy in place, he will do whatever is necessary to prevent construction of a round of new pulverized coal plants, including standards that would essentially amount to a moratorium.”

Obama Called For A Tax On “Dirty Energy” Like Coal and Natural Gas:

“What we ought to tax is dirty energy, like coal and, to a lesser extent, natural gas.” (”Q&A With Sen. Barack Obama,” San Antonio Express-News, 2/19/08).

U.S. News: “Isn’t it True Obama You Want Higher Energy Prices?“

So with his obvious aversion to damaging the environment, you think he support laws to make emissions cleaner? Well his record suggests otherwise.

Obama voted against laws that would have helped coal plants capture 100% of the carbon dioxide.

In 2007, Obama Voted Against Mandating The Production Of Six Billion Gallons Of Clean Coal-Derived Fuels. “Bunning, R-Ky., amendment no. 1628 to the Reid, D-Nev., substitute amendment no. 1502. The Bunning amendment would mandate that 6 billion gallons of clean coal-derived fuels’ be produced by 2022. It would define these fuels as having 20 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions than gasoline and being produced by facilities that capture 100 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.” (H.R. 6, CQ Vote #213: Rejected 39-55: R 39-6; D 0-47; I 0-2, 6/19/07, Obama Voted Nay)

Obama Blocked Statutory Laws to Make Coal Cleaner:

In 2007, Obama Voted Against Authorizing Funds For Coal-To-Liquid Fuels. “Inhofe, R-Okla., amendment no. 1505 to the Reid substitute amendment no. 1502. The Inhofe amendment would expedite the permitting process for the expansion of refinery facilities and authorize funds for the development of coal-to-liquid and cellulosic biomass fuels.” (H.R. 6, CQ Vote #210: Rejected 43-52: R 43-2; D 0-48; I 0-2, 6/13/07, Obama Voted Nay).

His reason?

Obama: “The Bunning amendment would have been premature in requiring the production of billions of gallons of coal-to-liquids without providing strong environmental safeguards to ensure that this new fuel alleviates, not worsens, our climate crisis.” (Sen. Barack Obama, “Obama Statement On Coal-To-Liquid Fuel Proposals,” Press Release, 6/19/07)

It seems funny that Obama has reservations about science. But his obvious resistance puts the coal industry and other industries that utilize fossil fuels in a ‘catch-22‘.

So it is understood that the coal industry has little wiggle room to emerge victorious. But as a nation we will still need energy to power our nation. The Obama team proposes a comprehensive energy plan that is not only expensive, but does not utilize any of America’s natural resources. And you have to admit the fact Obama put the coal industry in a ‘catch-22′ is at best illogical, at worst criminal.

While it is possible Obama truly believes in the newest forms of energy, what if the motive is good old fashioned greed.

If greed is the motive, is not out of the question that Obama is pushing specific energy paths that benefit shared interests at the cost of entire industries such as coal. Obama is on the record saying he wants to move people away from coal by utilizing “price signals” (sharp increases in energy prices that change behavior).

In turn, this manipulative form would be burdensome to the population. Eventually, we would demand cheaper energy. While the architect of the price fluctuations and manipulations would be the Obama administration, he would claim his plan is not for his shared interests’ gain, but helping America deal with energy challenges.

But who does Obama know that has a vested interest in these forms of energy?

World, Meet George Soro’s and Goldman Sachs.

(Research Soros and compare it to Obama. You’ll find striking similarities. It is elections eve, and I do not have a lot of time to get this out. But please post your findings in the comments section. I will update this post with other information).

George Soros is a huge proponent of this type of energy and has investment, though it is not clear to me how in depth they are. (Please research and help out). He also financed Obama’s campaign. He is also a financial manipulator, convicted of illegal insider trading in France for playing financial games with a bank there. A hedge fund operator, George Soros, who was convicted of insider trading in France, is known to make money from the collapse of national economies and currencies. Labeled “The Man who broke the Bank of England” because of his financial activities against the British currency, he is said to be on a witness list of hedge fund operators that will be called to testify before Congress next month―probably after the election.

The statement above, is “known to make money from collapsed economies and currencies..broke the Bank of England, Insider trading, hedge funds,”

Does that not give you pause? In Nazi Germany, he posed as a German and helped round up his own people, took their possessions, in short..enriched himself as his own people were slaughtered. That alone gives me pause…change that to horror.

George Soros raised $60,000 of this Obama funding, with his own donations and those he procured from his family. Soros reportedly met with Obama first in March — a mere state senator, Obama was the only candidate in the country with whom Soros met personally during the 2004 election cycle, according to Soros spokesman Michael Vachon (quoted by CNS News, July 27, 2004). On June 7, 2004, Obama was in Soros’ New York home for an Obama campaign fundraising event.

But this is where it gets interesting.

It’s reported that Obama and Soros staged a disagreement, as if to show the world they were not on friendly terms. But the donations kept on flowing. Odd? Not unless this theory is true.

Other questions concerning campaign financing: Many of Obama’s donations are untracable. He simply will not publish his donors under $200.00. It would not be unreasonable to assume many of his donations are illegal. But could these millions of smaller donations, which he is not required to record, be coming from the same source?

We will not know unless he releases the data. That ain’t likely now to happen. Check this out:

Obama Lied, Now He’ll Slide, On Campaign Finance Audit from Road Sassy

But this network of secret combinations is not limited to Soros and Obama.

Obama’s biggest donor is still Goldman Sachs and the trio (Goldman, Obama and Soros) run deep with their shared interest in this newer form of energy.

Henry Paulson, the man who convinced Bush of the economic crisis, has huge ties with China and Goldman Sachs.

And almost as secretive were Treasury Secretary Paulson’s maneuvers. He produced a quick three-page proposal to make himself a virtual financial dictator without judicial oversight or review. Then just as quickly it was secretly altered so that he would have the authority to bail out banks in China and other foreign countries.

For those interested in some of the fascinating details about Paulson’s extremely close relationship with China, which may have provoked the financial crisis and stands to benefit from it, the October issue of Bloomberg Markets is a good place to start. It notes that Paulson was sworn in as secretary in July 2006 and that by September he was announcing “creation of the first U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue.” Paulson, the magazine reports, has a relationship with Chinese leaders and has traveled to China at least 70 times in his career. It reports that he personally had $25 million worth of holdings in a Goldman Sachs fund whose sole asset was a stake in the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China.

Goldman Sachs, a “full-service global investment banking and securities firm,” is “the leading underwriter of Chinese equity securities and M&A [merger and acquisition] advisor in China,” its website declares.

“Managing the U.S. relationship with China is an increasingly important part of the Treasury secretary’s job,” Bloomberg Markets says. “During the Fannie and Freddie crisis, Paulson used his credibility with Chinese leaders to reassure them that the U.S. mortgage companies weren’t in jeopardy.” Paulson is quoted as saying that “I clearly talked with the Chinese through this. They’ve worked with me enough that they knew I wouldn’t say it unless I believed it.”

Equally significant, on September 23, Paulson’s former firm, Goldman-Sachs, received an infusion of $5 billion from Warren Buffett, a major Obama financial backer and booster.²

There was also a secret meeting with Tom Brokaw, Goldman Sachs and Obama at the museum of modern art.(This meeting happened shorty before Obama’s primetime debate). It has to be left to speculation on what happened at this meeting.)

In addition, it is rumored that Soros funds various media organizations. This Soros backed venture has influence with major television networks, newspapers and magazines. These well backed groups could be the reason the media is so biased towards Obama & Biden.

But the spending and secret combinations even extend beyond the domestic energy programs. Obama is sponsor of a $840 BILLION dollar poverty bill, that subjects the United States to a United Nations tax of 0.7% of GDP. More investigation into this is needed as well.

I urge all of those interested to begin research. Please post your research links in the comments section here. Lets research and get to the bottom of this fishy story.

It is not to say Obama is a huge fraud. But all these events are terribly fishy. It is really really odd. We must get to the bottom of this. Help out.

Forward this to your friends so we get more people working on this, and more people asking questions. The more this gets out the better we can get to the bottom of this.

Sources are in links above.

Our True Hero’s The American Soldier

The True American Hero’s

Thank you for all you have done/doing for us

We appreciate you!

Visit Debbie at Right Truth for The Undiscovered Citizenry: Honoring your local veteran

Then visit the Achoress for : Rent this movie

excerpt: BUSH, CUBA & THE LIVES OF OTHERS

Jay Nordlinger’s column is one of the few places I’ve seen extensive coverage of President Bush’s little-mentioned, must read speech in which he dares to talk plainly about the much distorted realities of Cuba and communism.

Says Bush:

Cuba’s rulers promised individual liberty. Instead they denied their citizens basic rights that the free world takes for granted. In Cuba it is illegal to change jobs, to change houses, to travel abroad, and to read books or magazines without the express approval of the state. It is against the law for more than three Cubans to meet without permission. Neighborhood Watch programs do not look out for criminals. Instead, they monitor their fellow citizens — keeping track of neighbors’ comings and goings, who visits them, and what radio stations they listen to. The sense of community and the simple trust between human beings is gone.

A huge Thank you to those who have sacrificed so much for our liberty! GOD BLESS YOU!

California Dreaming or Nightmare..Alternative Lifestyle Ed,Communism,Bailout, Threats, and Votes Don’t Count?

California Dreaming (wasn’t that a song) may be over. Remember that old country song..Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys..The line now should read..or sing…Mama, don’t raise your babies in California.

My first trip to California was as a wide eyed 14 year old. I was going to see Hollywood, The Sunset Strip, Beverly Hills and Santa Monica. I could tell you lots of fun stories but I will just share that the people were great that I met. California was a place of dreams. Hope. Whatever happened to the great state of California?

A new plan by a California lawmaker would allow schools to be used to promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, and let teachers in public district classrooms “inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism,” according to a traditional values advocacy organization. “Just when we thought the indoctrination in California’s public schools couldn’t get any worse, state lawmakers introduce bills that will further brainwash innocent children,” said a statement from Capitol Resource Institute, a traditional values and family advocacy organization based in California. […] Her organization, along with several others, already has been battling over lawmakers’ orders, already placed in law, that public schools in the state teach nothing but positive messages about homosexuality, transsexuality, bisexuality and other alternative lifestyles. (source)

An Englishman Mourns The Twilight’s Last Gleaming-New World Order In Play

JFK BLOWS THE WHISTLE ON SECRET SOCIETIES

Kennedy spoke from the heart, as does Obama. Both were put into power by forces behind the scenes, forces in control of the chief executive, or so they assumed.

From the desk of Englishman, James Higham on the fall of America, a truly excellent prediction of what the Obama vote means for America and the world. I will excerpt it here:

“Oh, say can you see by the dawn’s early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? ”

<…>Blair came to power mouthing sentences without predicates, verbs or specifics: “Now is the time to do,” “Britain forward, not back,” and “If you value it, vote for it,” and Obama has learnt from it: “Yes we can,” “Change we can believe in,” “If you believe that, I have a bridge I want to sell you in Alaska.”

Oh, there is no doubt that the orchestrated insult to the intelligence will now be in full cry. The markets will rally, stocks will rise, the power will cease to bring the people to their knees for some time and give some respite. Obama will have victories and in spite of himself, he will find consensus. He’ll be hailed as the Messiah America and the world have been hoping for. He is naive and therefore can be guided. Or coerced. The perfect president.

Bush, Obama, & Ghosts of Hate

Hat tip by The Achoress

“The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” Lincoln’s Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862.

I would love nothing better than to be able to stop writing about “left” and “right.” I wish we had a better vocabulary to describe our distinctions, because these words are limiting and off-putting. I am determined, with the merciful conclusion of this abusively long election season, to work diligently at spending less time entertaining these distinctions. But for today, I think it is only fair to note a very important and glaring difference between “left and right” – and in so doing – consider how we may, finally, stop needing to indulge in what is tedious.

Victor Davis Hanson says Let’s not imitate the left in our opposition. I agree.

It has been wonderful – really beyond wonderful – to consider how differently most of the right has reacted to their defeat than the left did in 2000 and 2004. In the two previous elections, the left responded by calling the other half of the country “stupid,” “morons,” and “Nazis” – Jane Smiley called them “unteachably ignorant” – they indulged in high drama, sniffling “apologies” to the globe, and denunciations of their fellow countrymen as “lying between repugnant and reptile in the dictionary.”

And oh, yeah (eyeroll) George W. Bush was not “their” president.

While you’ll see a few disgruntled extremists on the right say foolish, even ignorant things – and many throwing daggers at the sickening double-standards of the press – they’re not indulging in that sort of dehumanizing (and very adolescent) hate of their fellow countrymen or the president-elect. The reports they’re filing read very differently than those following the Bush wins. They read as grown-up, tolerant, open-minded discourses, not tantrums. There is a willingness to be hopeful, even in defeat.

And there is a determined respectfulness being offered to the winners – people who could not manage maturity and respectfulness in their defeat and who, sadly, are not always managing it in their victory, either.

I’m hopeful that the left – if it takes the time to actually condescend to notice how well it is being treated by the vanquished – might consider that self-indulgent defamation is the lesser way; that such a consideration may inspire introspection, and perhaps the smallest bit of regret for some of their appalling excesses toward the right and toward the American President who did not return hate in-kind.

I’m hopeful. I’m an optimist. I KNOW that the folks on the right – for all of their faults, and both sides certainly have faults – want America to be successful and strong and exceptional and free. I’m hopeful that hugely empowered left will discover that – beyond the feel-goodism of “free social programs” which are never free –they actually, really do want all of those things, too. That they’ll look back on the last 8 years and realize, finally, that their enemy was never George W. Bush. Bush, the guy who never dehumanized them, was only trying serve those corny ideals.

And then, miraculously, we may actually have unity.

Some similar thinking from my girl crush, Donna Brazile:

“The one mistake that we continue to make is that we label people. We say you’re conservatives, liberal, progressive, right wing, left wing. I think people just want to spend one day being Americans. They want to come together around a common purpose, common values.”

I wondered the other day if the catharsis of this election might open up “a vein of generosity” (or at least decency) from the left as concerns President Bush. I have not seen it yet, but I’m going to be optimistic and keep looking.

But maybe it’s enough just to see a little appreciation from the right, to start. Like this, for instance:

I link, therefore, I Err has a little mini-round-up of appreciation for George W. Bush. You’ll want to read it all.

From Alppuccino at Protein Wisdom:

At 10:40, President Bush will keep his streak alive by telling everyone how much he loves America. Just as he always has. And he’ll show everyone how much he loves America by preparing Obama as best he can for the next 4 years.

Read it all; it’s doubtful that Obama’s team will come into the White House finding O’s missing from their keyboards, any rude messages greeting them. And that is how it should be in America, a respectful transition.

Michael Gerson:

Many liberals refuse to concede Bush’s humanity, much less his achievements.

But that humanity is precisely what I will remember. I have seen President Bush show more loyalty than he has been given, more generosity than he has received. I have seen his buoyancy under the weight of malice and his forgiveness of faithless friends. Again and again, I have seen the natural tug of his pride swiftly overcome by a deeper decency — a decency that is privately engaging and publicly consequential.

[In 2005]…the White House senior staff overwhelmingly opposed a new initiative to fight malaria in Africa for reasons of cost and ideology…In the crucial policy meeting, one person supported it: the president of the United States, shutting off debate with a moral certitude that others have criticized. I saw how this moral framework led him to an immediate identification with the dying African child, the Chinese dissident, the Sudanese former slave, the Burmese women’s advocate. It is one reason I will never be cynical about government — or about President Bush.

Jeffery Scott Shapiro:

[The treatment of President Bush] from this country is nothing less than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have…Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty — a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Until we fix, within ourselves, our enthrallment with hate for others, simply because they hold differing views, we’ll never pull it together. In 2006 we watched a right-wing blogger be called less than human by a left-wing reader. We’ve seen President Bush being referred to as “the chimp” and “the monkey” by the wits who insisted that ideology trumped having a decent respect for another’s humanity. I wrote about that a little here:

Thus, George W. Bush is “Chimpy McHitler.” Hillary Clinton is “a pig in a pantsuit.” Barack Obama is “O-Bambi.” Cindy McCain, who has exhibited some courage and laudable compassion in her life, is reduced to a “pill-popping beer-frau,” and so forth. From there it is smooth sailing down an ever-descending river of hatred, until we are incapable of seeing anything good in the “other,” both because we have willfully hardened our hearts, and because our hate — especially when it is supported by a group of like minds — feels safe and inviolable.

With that in mind, you’ll want to read this excellent piece over at Conversion Diary, wherein Jenifer ponders pictures from a Nazi-era photo album and wonders, how such common-variety people managed to support and enable such profound evil.

One thing that stands out in all these examples is that the victims of the widespread evil were categorized as something less than human…not only that innocent people were killed or enslaved, but that their humanity was taken away by the societies around them…So here is the advice I would offer to my children, and to my children’s children:

Every decade or so, take a look around the society in which you live, and ask yourself if there is any group of human beings who are seen as something less than human. A big tipoff is if dehumanizing words — terms other than “man,” “woman,” “child,” “baby,” or “person” — are used to describe any category of people.

And if you ever see that going on, you might be in the midst of something gravely evil.

Dehumanizing people begins with baby-steps like name-calling, or the sort of intellectual dishonesty that delights in deliberately twisting the meaning of others in negative and misrepresentative ways. Those are the little gateways to the great evils that come once you’ve managed to thoroughly de-humanize others.

We’ve had 8 years – I’d say 12, really – of people demonizing and dehumanizing others, from both sides, and it is not getting us anyplace good. I believe that the response of most of the right to Obama’s victory is a step toward changing that. But the left has to do their part, too.

Pope Benedict XVI said, “those who hope live differently.” The election of Barack Obama was borne on this word, “Hope.”

If the people who voted for “hope” were sincere, then let them begin, today, to embrace it – and to live differently – without the kneejerk move to hate “the other side.” The right, responding levelly to their defeat, has offered the opening. Will the left take it?

UPDATE: Seems some will. Here is mostly accurate, and appreciated praise from a surprising quarter:

Would America have elected Barack Obama if white Americans had not gotten accustomed to seeing (in succession) two African-American Secretaries of State? I don’t think so. Before Bush, African-Americans were appointed to some good posts but not to our #1 foreign policy job. Two African Americans (one with a pretty odd first name) served as America’s face to the world. That eased Obama’s way. It is not Tiger Woods in whose footsteps Obama is walking — it’s Rice and Powell….Fact is, “W” never gave any evidence of holding racist attitudes…even just the slur the occasionally slips out of the mouth of even our most liberal leaders.

Same with Arabs and Muslims…Bush, after 9/11, never resorted to anti-Arab or Muslim stereotypes. He drew distinctions between terrorists and Arabs…Had he not done these things, Arabs and Muslims might have experienced not just hate crimes but pogroms.

Meanwhile, from Grand Rants:

Here is a man who is regularly compared to Hitler in casual conversation in Leftist circles high and low. His honor has been regularly impugned, his intelligence (or, as the press loves to put it, his “intellectual curiousity”) constantly demeaned, his verbal stumblings consistently mocked, and his accomplishments in office discounted or ignored. He is a man who kept his head down and did his job, despite the slings and arrows hurled at him by fortune made all the more outrageous by nearly the entire Democratic party.

I for one, would like to say thank you to Pres. Bush. For keeping us safe. For watching out for us. For persevering in spite of all the spite. I believe history will ultimately judge you as one of America’s best presidents, and I believe you deserve that judgement.

H/T to Opinionated Catholic, who writes:

The throwing under the bus of the President by even his friends and indeed the base has been shocking to me. Many groups will find out soon enough how they took Bush’s support and advocacy for them for granted, Catholics, especially.

Meanwhile, Jules Crittenden is beginning to enjoy Omerica, Quin Hillyer is saying America is over, kaput, finished, Evan Thomas suddenly finds Obama “slightly creepy” and when you refuse to release medical records, and the press doesn’t care…conjecture begins about your mental health.

I like to have my morning coffee & after a bit of quiet time, I like to visit the Achoress and meditate a bit on her wisdom. I especially like her views on Bush. I know we have all been very disappointed with some of his views. I certainly have.You do have to hand it to the Man. He was our President and he kept us safe on his watch. I believe as the Achoress that he has been unfairly attacked by too many. It is one thing to disagree but quite another to have such hate. I know that many of you are as I, praying for our new President even though we vehemently disagree and will work diligently to keep him and those in Washington accountable. It will not always be flattering. Probably not. At the same time you won’ t see us wearing t-shirts with profanity on them and being vulgar like we have witnessed with both him and Sarah Palin. You don’t see us going on his supporters blogs and leaving vile messages and attacking their person.

Now while I agree with most of her gems of wisdom. I continue to  think we need to stay on our toes, know what is going on, report it and work like mad, exercise our rights..organize to defeat BS. LOL! Continue to call, write, fax and email as if we were gonna die if we do not. Yes, that is what we need. Informed citizens who will do more than just whine. Who will actually bug their reps when votes are needed until they think they are going deaf with our noise. We did it with the bailout. We did it with the borders. We did it with drilling for oil. Yes, I know, some of that will have to be done again. But remember who and what you are doing it for. LIBERTY! yOUR BILL OF RIGHTS! YOUR CONSTITUTION. If we fail, we can look our children or grandchildren in their eyes and say ‘we tried and tried hard until the fat lady sang and then some’ Nuff said.

Global Realities= Dangerous Territory with Loss of Checks and Balances

President-Elect Obama Faces a Dangerous World

So much will ride on the new president’s willingness — or refusal — to accept and act upon global realities.

As voters stepped into the polls, they came armed with their opinions, their emotions, their gut feelings, their peer pressure, their community organizers’ suggestions and a variety of other decision-making tools that will never supplant bare-bones knowledge on the issues.

Last time around, it was Diddy warning citizens to “Vote or Die,” but last year a study by the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press nearly gave the world of punditry a collective heart attack. Looking at the survey somberly reminds us that these are the people who voted, volunteered, were perhaps cajoled into registering by an ambitious, compensated town crier with a clipboard.

Only 36 percent of Pew respondents could name Vladimir Putin as the president of Russia — even when he’d been president for nearly eight years. Only two-thirds could name their own state’s governor. Sixty-nine percent could even identify our vice president, even with Dick Cheney’s starring role as the butt of liberal jokes. Just 37 could peg the chief justice of the Supreme Court as leaning conservative, and even fewer respondents, 32 percent, could name Sunni as the Islam branch opposite Shia. And on, and on.

Too many American voters sleepwalk through the world, and yet lined up to pick the next leader of the free world. And now, Barack Obama, you have the weight of the world on your shoulders — a world where many of its inhabitants would like to see a weaker United States so that they can feel stronger themselves, and have won agreement from many on the American left. You have constituents and global onlookers alike who think that the reputation of the U.S. is paramount to doing the right — even if unpopular — thing.

Here are five things you should remember about the world today — and that you should cling to stronger than upper-class citizens’ money:

Read the rest2Next

Source:Pajamas Media

The trouble with ignorance is that it picks up confidence as it goes along..
In politics, stupidity is not a handicap. – Napoleon Bonaparte

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we. – George Bush

George Washington’s: Advice to us

Computer Systems Of Both Obama and McCain Campaigns Victims of Foreign Entity Cyberattack

Do you know where one of the “front lines” is in international war / finance / fraud? Computers. At least President Elect Obama now knows this first hand.

1)The computer systems of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were victims of a sophisticated cyberattack by an unknown “foreign entity,” prompting a federal investigation, NEWSWEEK reports today.

At the Obama headquarters in midsummer, technology experts detected what they initially thought was a computer virus—a case of “phishing,” a form of hacking often employed to steal passwords or credit-card numbers. But by the next day, both the FBI and the Secret Service came to the campaign with an ominous warning: “You have a problem way bigger than what you understand,” an agent told Obama’s team. “You have been compromised, and a serious amount of files have been loaded off your system.” The following day, Obama campaign chief David Plouffe heard from White House chief of staff Josh Bolten, to the same effect: “You have a real problem … and you have to deal with it.”
—————
Officials at the FBI and the White House told the Obama campaign that they believed a foreign entity or organization sought to gather information on the evolution of both camps’ policy positions—information that might be useful in negotiations with a future administration. The Feds assured the Obama team that it had not been hacked by its political opponents. (Obama technical experts later speculated that the hackers were Russian or Chinese.) A security firm retained by the Obama campaign took steps to secure its computer system and end the intrusion. White House and FBI officials had no comment earlier this week.

Nothing like being a victim to alert a person to the danger. I wonder if any technology-related policies will benefit from Obama’s victimization.

2)Meanwhile, in Russia, things are heating up. Foxnews has a piece about Russian President Medvedev “sending a signal” to the US.

Russia will deploy missiles near NATO member Poland in response to U.S. missile defense plans, President Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday in his first state of the nation speech.

Medvedev also singled out the United States for criticism, casting Russia’s war with Georgia in August and the global financial turmoil as consequences of aggressive, selfish U.S. policies.

Speaking just hours after Obama was declared the victor in the U.S. presidential election, Medvedev said he hoped the incoming administration will take steps to improve badly damaged U.S. ties with Russia. He suggested it is up to the U.S. — not the Kremlin — to seek to improve relations.

“I stress that we have no problem with the American people, no inborn anti-Americanism. And we hope that our partners, the U.S. administration, will make a choice in favor of full-fledged relations with Russia,” Medvedev said.

Well, here we go. A Russian demand for a new American President to kiss some butt. Hmmmmm.

sources: NEWSWEEK Foxnews NoQuarterusa