Sharp Knife

Bush: Honor war dead by winning Iraq
May 29, 2006

ARLINGTON, VA. (AP) - President Bush, delivering a Memorial Day message surrounded by the graves of thousands of military dead, said Monday that the United States must continue fighting the war on terror in the name of those have already given their life in the cause.

That's not right. We don't continue to mindlessly fight on, simply because someone has already been killed. We continue to fight because we also believe in that same great cause for which the fallen were willing to give their very lives. I can't believe the President said that.

Oh, wait; he didn't:

"The best way to pay respect is to value why a sacrifice was made," Bush said, quoting from a letter that Lt. Mark Dooley wrote to his parents before being killed last September in the Iraqi city of Ramadi."

In other words, we honor the "who" by honoring their "why", and we fight on because of the same "why".

Here is the full transcript of the President's speech. I defy you to show me where he says we fight today simply because we fought and died yesterday.

The AP and the rest of the Drive-By Media never stop.

Even on Memorial Day.

Shame on them.

THE GREAT GORE TRUFFLE KERFUFFLE OF 2006

Al Gore has been in the news lately for his film, "An Incovenient Truth". Actually this is Gore's second Inconvenient Truth. The first one was this: a man can't be President of the United States if he can't even carry his home state.

While in Cannes to accept the Order of The Golden Tongue Bath from French film critics, Gore claimed to have spent an entire summer as a youth in France, studying the Existentialists and speaking only French. Thus proving conclusively that, deep-down, he really really, REALLY doesn't want to be President.

Jonah Goldberg greeted Gore's claim with some skepticism.

But Goldberg has now apologized after one of his critics picked up the phone, dialed Gore's office and asked his staff "Do you have Prince Albert in Cannes?"

Amazingly, Gore's staff backed up their boss' claim. I don't know about you, but that settles it for me. Issue resolved.

I'd urge Mr. Goldberg to pull a "Dixie Chicks" and retract his apology, or, come to think of it, pull a "Gore" and retract his concession. Nevertheless, in the spirit of Fraterntie, I thought I'd help Jonah write his promised clarification:

"To Whomever Has Controlling Legal Authority;

I hereby apologize to Albear Gore Junior, who, as a 15 yr.-old mule-drivin', stump-clearin' tobacco-plantin' prodigy from Tennessee, did indeed make a holy pilgrimage to France, where he spent minute after minute studying the great French existentialists such as Sartre, Camus and Jerry Louis XIV.

Let me go further and concede that Monsewer Gore is every bit as French as the Eifel Tower, a bidet or Citizen Genet.

Indeed, he is as French as Marie Antoinette, Lili Marlene, the guillotine, the Committee of Public Safety, The Reign of Terror, Jaques Chirac's mistress, the mistress of Chirac's mistress, Chirac's other mistress, her toilet water and his lingiere.

I concede that Al Gore is as French as Madame Tussaud, the Raelians, France's Constitution du Jour, a plate full of endangered snails, The First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth and whatever-number-Republic- they're-now-going-on, the Dreyfus Affair, the Richard Dreyfus Affair and the Julia Louis-Dreyfus Affair.

Also Newman, fat weasel that he is.

Furthermore, I freely admit that Al Gore contains more Frenchified goodness than french fries, french toast, a french kiss on the Convention floor, french doors or a French whore. Or John Kerry.

But I repeat myself.

And for doubting that Gore's claim to be a member of the French Resistance, I also apologize. In fact, Al Gore invented the Resistance. And personally liberated Paris.

In the true Spirit of France, I offer this groveling apology in the hopes that it will appease my enemies. Let me close with the the immortal words spoken by so many Frenchmen from time immemorial:

"I surrender!"

Sincerely, etc."................................................

No need to thank me, Jonah. I'm happy to help.

Because, as they say in Tennessee, "Vive le Lafayette...y'all!"

SOMEONE TOOK A BULLET

for you and me so that we could enjoy beer, beaches and barbecues in freedom and safety today.

So by all means, enjoy it. Enjoy the hell out of it. They'd want it that way. After all, they were every bit as alive as you and me.

Remember them, honor them, and be grateful. They thought we were worth it, so we owe them our worthiness.

Happy Memorial Day to all Americans everywhere.

BAD IMMIGRATION

(From our archives, July 2003)

"I've been reading "A Patriot's Handbook--Songs, Poem, Stories and Speeches Celebrating the Land We Love" by Caroline Kennedy.

It's a decent, 'tho leftward, collection of everthing from Tom Paine to Cole Porter, Langston Hughes to Brian Wilson.

I was struck by two articles. The first is 'Barrio Boy' (1971) by Ernesto Galarza (1905-1984).

Mr. Galarza writes of escaping the Mexican Revolution and coming to America, where he attends Lincoln School. His classmates were both American cowboys and new immigrants from all over the world.

"Miss Hopley...never let us forget why we were at Lincoln; for those who were alien, to become good Americans; for those who were so born to accept the rest of us."

"Miss Hopley warmed knowledge into us, and racial hatreds out of us. ...It was easy for me to feel that becoming a proud American, as she said we should, did not mean feeling ashamed of being a Mexican."

That's perfect. Mr. Galarza was proud of his heritage and as American as anyone.

But skip forward a generation or two and you get this: "How to Tame the Wild Tongue" (1987) by Gloria Anzaldua, in which the Tex-Mex author claims her First Amendment rights are violated by having to speak English to English-speakers.

She rejects borders and the concept of citizenship. She calls herself Mexican, meztizo, Chicano, a member of La Raza (The Race).

But never an American.

"We know what it is to live under the hammer-blow of the norteamericano culture. But more than we count the blows, we count the days...until the white laws and commerce and customs will rot in the desert...lie bleached....Chicanos will walk by the crumbling ashes...we...will remain."

Why this is in a book about American patriotism, except as a negative example, is beyond me. It's not even a wholesome Mexican patriotism. It's racist, for sure, yet worse; it is rank tribalism. And is no doubt mild in comparison to much of what is taught today.

What were you thinking, Caroline...E Unum Pluribus?"............................

White Separatists can kiss my ass.

I once let David Duke know that. But Brown Separatists can kiss my ass, too. In fact, all the hues of the wonderful Separatist Rainbow are hereby invited to pucker up.

I've supported immigration all my life. I still do. Like eating nourishes the body, immigration nourishes a nation. But we don't eat 24/7; we also pause between meals to digest. One of the many reasons we must have an orderly, fair and controlled process is so that immigration can continue.

You've all heard the arguments, but here are a couple that haven't garnered much attention:

If we continue at the present rate, we could have a Latino plurality or even majority...with racial preferences intact. Then we're back to a Jim Crow system. Now that's an argument against pigment preferences, not immigration. But Justice O' Connor spoke for our elites when she said that maybe in 25 years we might reconsider and start obeying the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

There is also the danger of expanding our already bloated government. When the wages of working Americans are artificially depressed by an endless amount of cheap foreign labor, at some point many of those workers will say "Screw it; I can't afford insurance anymore. I want "free" government health-care."

I also object to telling everyone in the world that they have an iron-clad Constitutional Right to come to America...and telling Americans they have no say in the matter.

I object to a non-English National Anthem, recorded in Europe by fast-buck artists, with altered lyrics and meant to honor Latino immgrants. The National Anthem is by definition meant for all citzens to honor their common nation, not for some citzens to honor themselves. It is an act of national unity, not racial diversity.

I object to Latin-style government-by-demonstration, where whoever puts the biggest mob in the street wins. And I object to foreign flags being waved while telling me how badly you want to "absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty."

I object to politicians passing laws they do not intend to enforce. If that's the case, then let's declare all federal laws to be "non-binding, Sense of Congress resolutions". Starting with the Tax Code.

I strongly object to system that lets foreign criminals run amok among us. Think about it--if you were a foreign criminal, wouldn't you want to come where your previous crimes were unknown, the targets were fat, where you could freely obtain weapons, fake I.D.'s and freely return to the safety of your country if pursued? This must stop. In fairness, we have also inflicted a crime-wave on Latin America by our seeming inability to face the rigors of modern life unmedicated.

I might even object to a fence. Only because it might slow down our tanks when we are forced to invade Mexico again.

A Mexican consular official recently complained about the apprehension of one of his citizens here illegally, saying "They only come for hope and freedom." That is true. But it is an admission by the Mexican government that it refuses to provide hope or freedom for its own citizens.

Mexico has good, hard-working people. It has a good climate, rich soil, beautiful beaches, oil and mineral wealth. The only reason Mexicans feel the need to flee their own country must be because of the corrupt theives who run the place. It may be our Christian duty to remove these bandits from power, instead of forcing Americans to live under their edicts also.

Mexicans also have a particular problem. Many of them did not so much immigrate as wander across the street for a raise. But this is about much more than Mexico.

If we surrender the principle that Americans have a right to control their citizenship and borders, by what principle will we object when a million Wahabbists arrive? Or a hundred million Chinese Communists? Or more?

There are two ways to destroy a good thing. It can be contracted out of existence or it can be expanded until it is meaningless. We see this in the gay "marriage" movement (whose advocates, like the open-borders crowd, also wish to redefine a basic civilizational concept without the Consent of the Governed and are also quick to cry "Bigotry!"). If we grant citizenship to a billion people or even all 6 billion people on earth, will we have expanded America...or dissolved her?

Immigrants build America. But America also builds her immigrants into Americans. And that takes time. We have a Christian duty to help the poor. But in the process, we also have a Christian duty not to screw up the greatest national beacon of hope the world has ever known. And immigrants, even poor ones, also have duties.

Starting with obeying the law.

Let me end with another piece from the archives, this one about the Alamo. For those of you who don't know, it wasn't just white guys like Davy Crockett in the Alamo. There were also brave Tejanos.

Yes, that's what I'm saying; Americans of Mexican descent, like Americans of African descent, helped to found this country. Even then, you see, there were those who did not wished to be ruled by a bunch of stinking theives in Mexico City.

(from the archives, Mar. 2003:)

In "A Line in the Sand; The Alamo in Blood and Memory" by Randy Roberts & James S. Olson, there is a story of a successful American family of Mexican descent who come to visit the Alamo.

The father, a CPA with a degree from Wharton, poses his family in front of the Alamo for pictures, and tells his girls of the integrity and courage that were displayed there, and the need to emulate those qualities in their own lives.

He is promptly set upon by a white grad student, brimming with PC platitudes, who aggressively hectors the father. Failing to be put off politely, the sophomoric Sandanista rudely continues (quoting directly from the book):

"You shouldn't be teaching your kids this stuff."

The CPA stopped short.

"Escucheme, bolillo (Listen to me, white bread)," he said sharply. "If Santa Anna would have won the war, this whole city would be a shithole just like Reynosa. Soy tejano (I'm a Texan). Mind your own goddamned business. It's my Alamo too."

And so it is. I'd gladly trade a hundred of those grad students for one of those Tejanos.

By all means, be an American. But do it right. For all our sakes.

WE NEED A YEAR OF THE PERSON

By the Babe Unborn

If trees were tall and grasses short,
As in some crazy tale,
If here and there a sea were blue
Beyond the breaking pale,

If a fixed fire hung in the air
To warm me one day through,
If deep green hair grew on great hills,
I know what I should do.

In dark I lie; dreaming that there
Are great eyes cold or kind,
And twisted streets and silent doors,
And living men behind.

Let storm clouds come: better an hour,
And leave to weep and fight,
Than all the ages I have ruled
The empires of the night.

I think that if they gave me leave
Within the world to stand,
I would be good through all the day
I spent in fairyland.

They should not hear a word from me
Of selfishness or scorn,
If only I could find the door,
If only I were born.

--G.K. Chesterton