Posted on 09/09/2007 9:17:03 PM PDT by joanie-f
My husband and I discovered this morning that yet another young man whom we know well has volunteered to be deployed to Iraq. He will be leaving in January. Which spurred me to do some serious thinking on the subject of our young men volunteering …
My support for the war effort in Iraq has dwindled, for two sad reasons:
(1) Our president told us four years ago that America has to battle the terrorists in the Middle East in order to prevent the need to battle them here on our own soil.
So we are sending our troops six thousand-plus miles from our shores into a region surrounded by a vast sea of enemy sympathizers in order to fight a ruthless adversary, whose supply lines are easily replenished, and who wages war under rules that defy comprehension by the civilized world.
Yet, at the same time, we are leaving our own two-thousand-mile border virtually unsecured, so that those very same barbarians may enter our own country at will, circulating among us, and devising all manner of mass brutality that may eventually make the bloodshed on the battlefield in Iraq seem a comparative walk in the park.
It would appear that our president is intent on facing down the enemy half a world away, while at the same time issuing them an open invitation to walk, unhindered and undocumented, across our unprotected border … and
(2) I believe that we are fighting this war with one hand tied behind our backs. Men and materiel are streaming across the borders of Iran and Syria, and our attention is consistently diverted from addressing that critical situation – a diversion that costs the lives of both our courageous fighting men, and innocent Iraqis, every day.
With all of that said, I respect beyond words those duty-bound, patriotic Americans who see it as their calling to do their part in creating an island of democracy in a sea of Muslim tyranny, and attempting to keep the terrorists contained and off of American shores. They are truly modern American heroes, standing in the cross hairs so that you and I might go on with ‘life and usual.’
Because of the above considerations, I suppose I might be considered a member of the anti-war contingent. But, no matter my thoughts on the prosecution of this war, never would I consider entertaining a negative thought regarding the successes our military has achieved. And never ever would I consider voicing such a thought, in public or in private. To my mind, depending on the tenor of such a voiced opinion, that opinion would be tantamount to undermining our troops, at best, and treason and betrayal of allegiance and duty, at worst.
I ask the readers here to consider the following statement made recently by the infamous senior senator from New York, Chuck Schumer. Then ask yourself whether this man should be allowed to continue to occupy a seat in the American senate. I’ll comment no more, and leave the matter for you all to decide:
The violence in Anbar has gone down despite the surge, not because of the surge. The inability of American soldiers to protect these tribes from al-Qa’ida said to these tribes, ‘We have to fight al-Qa’ida ourselves.’ It wasn’t that the surge brought peace here. It was that the warlords took peace here, created a temporary peace here ... Senator Chuck al-Schumer, last week in an interview
I ask you, which of the following should be considered an American patriot, and which should be the object of criticism and scorn? Which possesses the moral high ground? Which is the embodiment of the America in which you take pride?
We're living in a Lewis Carroll world, where up is down, black is white, and criminals hold positions of power over heroes ... and have the arrogance and audacity to denigrate their heroism.
~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed
ROTFL!!!!! Entirely unintentional, I assure you. (*snicker*)
In some rare cases, I think that might be our self-preservation mechanism kicking in to divert us away from doing something really stupid at the wrong time when our rage and desire for immediate justice would carry us beyond the limits of acceptable behaviour.
Lord knows enough betrayal has gone down in this country in the past 20 years to cause us to seek justice in unconventional ways.
But we are ever the hopeful ones, aren't we? Thinking that the problems will resolve themselves without our personal intervention, except for maybe a few polite requests and a fax or two. ;<
FRegards, -- Dave
Watching Petraeus's testimony before Congress today really brought home that idea. It was maddening to watch the dems all posturing and some of them even as much as calling Petraeus a liar.
During debates, reasons are given why an idea needs to be modified or discarded. When questioned a full reasoned response should be given, not an emotional wisecrack.
Emotional posts, in most cases are reactions to an event, generally idiotic remarks from flustered, angry people. This is so obvious these days in the anger and disrespect shown to other posters who do not fall in line.
I get flamed for criticizing the Republicans. Retorts commonly spoken are, “Well, the Republicans are much better than the Democrats” along with a simplistic comparison.
If the Republicans want to become the only party that is ever in power then the Republicans need to make some big changes that don’t include using remarks critical of the Democrats as a first line of defense.
In order for a businessman to outpace his competitor, he must first examine his competitor carefully. Select the techniques that are superior to his own and adopt them. Also he must listen to what the customers have to say about each company. Corrections must be emplaced.
Listening seem to be very difficult for many leaders and/or people who deem themselves as experts. All problems can be approached from 360 separate directions, not just the one being expounded by the “expert”. That is another thing not recognized by very many of FR these days. Eight years ago it was a commonly understood and accepted fact.
When conservatives started abandoning the Republic Party, was it not because they felt they had been abandoned by the Party? In my opinion there was absolutely no reason for this to ever occur.
Imagine what would have happened if the President had pushed for a law saying that everyone who enters America for work must speak and read English. Imagine how smoothly the *invasion* of immigrants would have been if they all had a US government ID card issued to them. Our jails would not be jammed with people who have stolen citizens identity.
This could have been accomplished quite smoothly and effectively had he just been open about the need for workers been established beforehand, not the insulting remark we endured from him about “jobs Americans refuse to do.” Assimilation would have occurred smoothly with America being the winner.
I am positive that if a simple minded guy such as myself can comprehend this technique, experts in Washington should be able to do so also. Instead on FR we saw months of derision because we wouldn’t support the Party and the President.
Careful thought and an acceptable plan established before spending a single taxpayers dollar, not this foolish argument we are currently having with our representatives. They wish to hide as much as they can from the voters creating the idea amongst us that whatever is going on is wrong and or illegal.
That is what I meant by "Have you ever noticed that some subjects are just too ‘heavy’ for the general audience?"
Let me discuss briefly my feelings regarding today, and particularly the "so-called" recent tapes from bin Laden.
Here's what I get from those tapes. Al Quida is running scared. Neither of these "videos" tells us that bin Laden is even alive. In fact, they are so poor, that they could be easily taken to prove the exact opposite.
2nd, when he upbraids the Democrats for not "ending the war", it is clear how desperate they are. Proof positive that they desperately want whiney, weazely politicians to do something that all of their Jihadists in the world clearly cannot do on the battlefield, even employing the terror tactics that they do.
They are losing, and they are losing big time. They desperately want the chance to replenish their supply of indoctrinated, maniac, homocide warriors...but we are not given them that chance. We are killing them faster than they can fully indoctrinate or train them.
As much as I would like to see the Bush administration prosecute this war even harder, they have the basic idea right on the foreign front (now if they would just end the insane practices they propose on our own border). We have taken the war to them and created a fly trap to draw them to us and kill them where they dare not let us succeed in creating a constitutional republic in their own back yard...but we are succeedding and these tapes, in my mind are more proof of the same.
Now, do not get me wrong, these animals are still trying to get at us, both there and here. They may well get under our guard at some point (particularly with the insanity at the border)...but I stand by the fact that they are being decimated and what we are doing in both Afgjhanistan and Iraq...and hopefully what we will see at some point in Iran...is the right thing to do.
As always, best FRegards to you and yours.
For reasons of which you are aware, I am likely to be scarce around here for a few more days. I do intend, however, to get back to this thread as soon as I possibly can to carefully review what you have posted and the other comments.
Put simply, critical thinking is a higher order thinking process in which one analyzes, evaluates, and interprets information and argumentation, whether verbal or written. The process is reflective, purposeful, deliberate, and active. The purpose is to determine whether we might accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim. It is through critical thinking that we achieve intellectual growth.
Critical thinkers are rational, self-aware open-minded, disciplined, and evaluative.
Not only do critical thinkers have attributes, they also have abilities, which can also develop over a lifetime. They can:
• Identify and define the relevant issues
• Be comfortable with ambiguity, seeing the gray, not just the black and white
• Ask open-ended questions, going beyond the yes/no paradigm
• See linkages between different topics, ideas, and perspectives
I have been on a rampage for the past decade or more over the fact that I believe our public education system is now purposefully geared toward disallowing critical thought. If a child (and the adult he becomes) is capable of nothing more than swallowing whole that which is fed to him, he becomes much easier to oppress, and much more willing to abdicate his freedoms to a ‘nanny state’ that will do his thinking for him, and see to his every need.
I have degrees in math and English. I tutor math, and, at times, help local students with writing projects, speeches, etc. I am always dismayed (understatement of the century) at the fact that students with obvious potential are often unable to move intellectually from Point A to Point B without a roadmap being placed before them. The majority of the children I have tutored and otherwise helped are of average or above-average intelligence, but are dramatically lacking in critical or analytical ability. And I blame that on our modern public education system – and secondarily on parents who are too ‘otherwise occupied’ to notice that their children aren’t being provided critical thinking tools, either through their parental example, or through the schools their children attend.
Attend a local school board meeting someday and you will see just how concerned the average American parent is about this dangerous decline in the quality and direction of their child’s education. Unless an increase in taxes, or termination of a sports program, is on the agenda, you will be pretty safe in assuming that the number of parents in attendance is at or near zero.
For what I believe is the first time in our history, our public education system is geared, more than it is not, toward indoctrination of America’s youth so as to raise succeeding generations who are incapable of serious critical or analytical thought. The system has found itself incrementally hijacked by socialist/Marxist-leaning decision-makers over the past fifty-plus years. Children indoctrinated by dogmatic texts and teaching techniques, and unschooled in methods of critical analysis, are much more likely to be submissive to government control, and much less likely to see America as historically unique, or deserving of pride …and defense.
B4Ranch, I’m afraid that the ‘businessman’s model’ that you describe in your post #84 is fast becoming unattainable for the average young American:
In order for a businessman to outpace his competitor, he must first examine his competitor carefully. Select the techniques that are superior to his own and adopt them. Also he must listen to what the customers have to say about each company. Corrections must be emplaced.
Such a common-sense, analytical analysis is becoming out of reach of the average young American. Sit a pre-ordained ‘plan’ in front of him, mapping out each successive step he must take in order to reach his goal, and he may succeed. But ask him to design and construct a map of his own creation and you will most likely be met with a blank stare.
... which is precisely the fabric of which Lenin’s useful idiots are crafted.
~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed
Amen.
On a positive note, an evil leader is always in a power struggle with another evil element to retain power. Currently, we see many aligned in an axis of evil. Remember that evil power grabbers ultimately only care about one thing, their own power. Those they use to get to the top, eventually become disposable, especially if they seek to undermine an evil leader’s personal agenda with their own. Stalin and Hitler are perfect examples of this illustration.
Even more positive is that a good leader seeks what is truly best for society, freedom under God’s sovereignty. They have an entirely different focus. It is not about themselves. This example leads to a civilized society.
Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Winston Churchill are perfect examples of this illustration.
It is most definately interesting times in which we live.
I have been associated with what now, in this country, passes for an institution of higher learning for some time now and am saddened that I can only confirm the truth of every word you said there Joanie.
The ONLY ray of sunshine on the horizon in my view is the home school movement. God bless them every one!
We see examples of it everyday in the media. Not only by the readers, but by the reporters as well. Just discovered the test on line. Here's the link:
All FReepers should check this out.
joanie,
We have to accept our part in what has happened to our culture, For a great many years, so many of us simply allowed it to happen with every manner of excuse- “too busy”, “politics are boring”, “there’s no one good to vote for”, etc. We have all heard these excuses and, maybe, used them ourselves.
The absolute beauty of our system is its freedom. The down side is its freedom to do nothing.
A great statesman (Edmund Burke)once put it this way "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." and I cannot figure out how to state it more correctly or succinctly for the life of me.
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