Ted Williams’ Redemption Metaphor: People, Not Government, Make America Work

 

 
Is there anyone among us who, by now, hasn’t seen or heard of the miraculous turn of events for radio voice-over artists Ted Williams? Williams, who was raised in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, NY, had worked in Radio as a disc-jockey and voice-over artist until (by his own admission) cocaine, crack, and alcohol took over and cost him his career and home leading to 10 years of homelessness and his eventual redemption recently.

For those who have somehow not seen or heard  his story, the below video will bring you up to date…

But there’s a second, even more significant story that is, perhaps being overshadowed by Williams’ own story. And while it is directly related, it could well-define the future of this country.

They’re Figthing for Us, Their Votes Should Count

Even though we saw a wave of red sweep the nation last week, there have been many very troubling reports of absentee ballots either not being sent to our military, not having been sent in a timely manner, or sent and received received but not counted.

Of the many reprehensible instances of voter disenfranchisement and fraud that you may or may not have seen affecting the November 2010 and 2008 elections, these examples have to be the most shameful:

Feds to Sue New York Board Over Military Voting Violations, State Official Says (Link)

“We send our young men and women overseas to fight and to die for us, and we don’t care enough to make sure they get the right to exercise their franchise? That’s what they’re over there fighting for as much as anything else.”

By Monday night [October 11, 2010], it remained unclear just which of the counties still had yet to mail their ballots.

Troop ballots left unsent for election (Link)

Absentee ballots for the upcoming election were not mailed out to almost 2,900 troops serving overseas by the deadline in about one third of Illinois counties…

Missed Deadline by New York Voting Board a ‘Huge Oversight,’ Soldier Says (Link)

The New York State Board of Elections’ failure to send all of its 320,000 absentee ballots to the state’s military servicemen and women and overseas voters after an extended deadline is alarming, an active duty Marine told FoxNews.com.

Senate Report: One Forth Of Military Votes Uncounted in 2008 (98,000 servicemembers screwed out of their vote) (Link)

A Senate report, [c]ited by the Associated Press today, seem to indicate that at least one quarter of all military ballots in the 2008 election went uncounted…

DoJ scandal reveals how thousands of military ballots may go uncounted (Link)

“…[L]egal complaints, news stories and studies all showed dozens of states failing to give soldiers enough time to vote in the 2008 election…”

To our active military members, thank you for your service to our country; your votes should count.

To our veterans, thank you for the services you have rendered to America.

And especially to our very own co-blogger here at Grand Rants, Gerry Ashley: thank you for your service.

Stoutcat

An Open Letter to the Next Speaker of the House

Dear Speaker Boehner/Cantor/Bachmann/Whomever,

Speaking as a citizen, a conservative, and a Tea Partier, I’d like to give you some advice as you prepare to take up the reins for the 112th Congressional session. These suggestions come from my desire to get our country back on track, to mitigate the disasters wrought by the 111th Congress, and to start Congress delving into the bigger picture about what will happen to America if we allow ourselves to continue on our current path.

They are very simple suggestions, and I hope you will take them in the spirit in which they are offered.

1. Get a normal-sized gavel. Hubris the size of Queen Nancy’s gavel is unbecoming in the People’s House.
2. Fly commercial. We’ll spring for business class. I know you’re third in line for the presidency, but given our fabulously successful national security policy of depending on good luck to protect us from attacks on airplanes, you should be fine.
3. Begin discussions of the  800 –pound gorillas in the room: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and state and federal pensions. Until those are addressed, all other fiscal discussions – including the current demand for a stand-alone vote on hiking the U.S. debt limit – are akin to re-arranging deck chairs on the Titanic. On April 14, 1912. At 10:30 or so in the evening. All Americans must understand that the U.S. government keeps three sets of books: immediate debt, emergency funds, and financial obligations for the future. It’s that last set of books which is already sinking us and which must be addressed immediately.

I sincerely hope you will take these suggestions to heart. Otherwise, you might not like what happens in 2012.

Stoutcat

Translating Obama (Without Rosetta Stone)

I’ve long believed in the value of speaking more than one language. Years ago, when I learned I was going to be sent on a business trip to the (then) Soviet Union, I studied the language for 4 months prior to my departure. It only half paid off, however, as I quickly discovered that, while I was able to speak to them with my well-rehearsed phrases, I had no idea how to translate their replies to me.

This led to some experiences best forgotten. And if  Pavlik is reading this, I swear I thought I was saying your wife had a big heart (not to worry, comrade, my eye socket healed just fine).

Oh Yes! Just ONCE, Please!

So it was with great wonder that I discovered Sunday night how easily I was  able to translate Obamish (the language of President Barack Obama) to English as I watched him on 60 minutes.

Here’s just a sample:

During the interview with Steve Kroft, Obama said the health care system itself is huge and complicated and that changing it eluded previous presidents because it was so difficult.

Translation:

Liberals at the Bat

With apologies to Ernest Thayer.

The outlook wasn’t brilliant for the Liberal gang today:
The House looked sure to lose it, and the Senate was in play.
And when Blanche Lincoln lost her race, and Grayson did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the Left side of the game.

A straggling few showed up and cast their votes in deep despair.
The rest would cling to hope and change around the precincts there;
They thought, “If we could only just explain to all the dopes
The wonders of the Nanny State, we might not be on the ropes.”

But Reid crashed in Nevada*; though Mass kept Barney Frank,
You see Harry was a lulu but dear Bawney’s just a crank;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy falls,
For there seemed now little chance to hold the Senate‘s hallowed halls.

For Rubio took Florida while Kentucky captured Rand;
In Delaware and Hartford Libs then schemed to keep command.
But Feingold in Wisconsin boded poorly for the night
And stolid old New Hampshire went entirely to the right.

The Libs then called on ACORN and their SEIU thugs.
The pollwatchers were outraged as they saw those ugly mugs;
“Why are you marking ballots for illegals and the dead?”
The unionists grinned broadly; “That’s just our style,” they said.

And now the pundits and the talking heads began to blare,
And the Libs stood by a-watching them in haughty grandeur there.
Close by their ACORN henchmen and their minions looked ahead –
“We’ve got to win!” said Liberals. “Strike one,” O’Reilly said.

Then from the throats of Libs galore there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked on purple mountains, wafted o’er the fruited plain:
“We’ve still got O and Dopey Joe help us ease our pain!”

“We’ve got  Black Panthers in Texas finding out who they can shove
To get the folks in Houston all to vote for White for Gov.”
But even then ‘twas far too late, as Perry’s vote count flew;
But the Panthers still ignored it; Sarah Palin said, “Strike two.”

“Fraud!” cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one look from We the People and the Liberals’ base was awed.
They saw the faces stern and cold across this mighty land,
And they knew their Liberal leaders had to let the vote just stand.

The gavel’s gone from Nancy’s grasp; this day’s delivered shocks;
Her face has froze in grimace wild, from far too much Botox.
Her breath now comes in gasps as she’s escorted from the room
And Dems and Libs all stand aghast ‘gainst their impending doom.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sky is blue and bright;
And there’s unicorns a-playing under CFLs each night,
And Welfare lasts forever, and Big Brother reigns no doubt;
But there is no joy in Libville – the Progressives have struck out.

Stoutcat

*Expecting that recounts in NV will put Sharron Angle over the top.

Vote

Polls of all types are showing likely massive gains by Republicans in this election cycle. But we will only realize those gains if we all get out and actually cast our ballots. So please be sure to go and vote.

And be aware: Voter fraud has already been reported all around the country.

Please go vote. And bring a camera with you. Take a good look around your voting location. If there’s anything  or anyone odd or looking out of place, report it. If anything about your ballot looks odd, report it.

Tomorrow night and into Wednesday, be a gracious winner. Adversaries can sometimes be turned into allies, but doing a “neener neener” is not a good way to start off.

On November 2, the American people will speak, and the message will be unmistakable:

CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?

Stoutcat

If This Doesn’t Get You To The Voting Booth…

 

…then nothing will.

It’s time to speak up.

Stoutcat

L’Etat Radio, C’est Moi

Unchastened by the backlash caused by the firing of Juan Williams, NPR CEO Vivian Schiller is spurning the outcries to defund public radio and charging ahead full speed with her agenda.

Richly clad in robes that she believes are of more than Oriental splendour, she does not see that she is merely clutching close the tattered rags of a threadbare ideology. Instead, she promenades before her subjects, confidently wrapped in the righteousness of her cause, until a voice from the crowd calls out, “The NPR has no clothes on!”

Sadly, Ms. Schiller doesn’t realize care that a great many in her audience have just experienced the ultimate in cognitive dissonance: the firing of an NPR news analyst who consistently represented the best of the Left on conservative shows. This has causes an epiphany not just for Mr. Williams: ” I used to think the right was the intolerant side…” but for many regular NPR stations and their listeners, and one might think that Schiller would allow the furor to die down a bit before wreaking more havoc.

But Ms. Schiller, now unrobed to the world, goes blithely on her merry way. In an ongoing attempt to “re-invent journalism” Ms. Schiller said recently:

“We have the megaphone… And I would like to see us use that megaphone to expand the wonderful reporting that’s going out to our audiences to include not just NPR and public radio news and information, but news and information from all of the new not-for-profits.” 

Perhaps Mr. Soros will buy reporters for everyone, if asked politely.

As far back as last December, she said to her audience at a 2009 FTC panel discussion:

“This is not your grandfather’s radio. We are nimble, we engage our audience, we work with partners, we are eager to bring ever more like-minded partners into the public media,”

“Like-minded partners”… I wonder whom she means by that? And whom does she expect will pay for all her grandiose plans? Why, we the chumps, of course!

A document released earlier this year pitched a slew of taxes — on consumer electronics, television broadcasters and other entities — to publicly finance media, as well as the creation of a journalism wing for AmeriCorps and other funding mechanisms and tax breaks to prop up the industry. The FTC, though, said at the time that the document did not represent an endorsement of any of those ideas. [Of course it didn’t…]

In short, despite hitting an unfortunate speedbump named Juan Williams, Ms. Schiller is charging full speed ahead with plans to left-ify public radio even more. And she can’t see that her public is perhaps not quite as adoring as it once was; she’s still under the delusion that she’s clad in those invisible robes of almost Oriental splendour.

So tread softly, friends, lest Ms. Schiller be rudely awakened by harsh reality. Let’s just set her alarm for November 3.

Stoutcat

Thanks, NPR. We Get The Message

And the message is this: We are still under assault from our betters in the ruling class. You know, the Harvard educated, inside-the-beltway blatherers who wish to smother free speech completely with political correctness; who believe that Socialism really will work this time around, now that they’re in charge; who simply want to control our lives in all ways great (healthcare), small (lightbulbs), and everything in between.

They’ve already taken over the education system in this country, from pre-K through graduate school, and are busily leading our children and young adults down the path of liberalism toward Socialism. They’ve made that path look especially appealing to our youth, as the young are far more easily catechized than their more seasoned parents. We must take back our schools and colleges.

They’ve already subsumed most of the major news media. Fortunately in this day and age, there’s no way they can subjugate that army of Davids, the great unwashed, those bloggers in their jammies who continute to kick against the pricks, and with considerable success in many areas.

They almost completely encompass the gazillion-dollar entertainment industry. It is only recently that the technology has begun to allow for more independent points of view in the entertainment field: PJTV,  Declaration Entertainment and RightNetwork spring immediately to mind.

And they’ve completely taken over the energy and environmental movements: from the EPA controlling carbon emissions to diverting water from farms to protect supposedly endangered species to siphoning millions of government dollars to study things like bat conservation and the organ pipe cactus to the Sierra Club’s “stifling of dissent” and meddling in local, state, and national politics, to the reckless subsidizing of power sources which will never be able meet more than a fraction our energy needs. We need sane, sensible, and sustainable energy and environmental policy. And what we have is none of the above.

A Watershed Moment

The firing of Juan Williams at NPR is a turning point for our nation. Every one of us: conservative, liberal, independent, Tea Partier, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Pastafarian, whatever… Every. One. Of. Us. must decide: Is this what we really want? Has it really come to the point where a respected commentator and author and liberal and minority — or any one of us — can be summarily fired from his job for simply telling the truth?

It’s a watershed moment; and the lesson we must learn, and learn now, is that we must not stop. It’s just over a week until the elections and we must not quit. We can thank NPR for the wake-up call and continue as Winston Churchill said:

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never — in nothing, great or small, large or petty — never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Or in more modern parlance:

Stoutcat

A Modest Rebuttal, Tea Party Style

 

The headline of the article in my local newspaper says it all:
“Tea Party a stammering, stuttering ruse“.

In a “Guest Commentary” by one Thomas P. Johnson, sandwiched in with ignorant, incorrect notions about debt under President Bush vs. massively increased debt under President Obama and the not-so-subtle accusation of racism inherent in the author’s statement that “Republican leadership responded viscerally to a new Black president…” we find the typical uninformed jeremiad about the Tea Party movement, in which Mr. Johnson repeats all the tired talking points he picked up from MSNBC and mainstream news outlets: we are a “sub text [sic] of the Republican Party”, we carry “racist signs”, we are “a creation of Dick Armey and Tom DeLay”, “a shadow of the RNC!!1!” and the like.

In short, in Mr. Johnson’s view, Tea Partiers are racist, dumb as a post, and being manipulated by shadowy politicians and lobbyists for nefarious purposes.

To begin with, Mr. Johnson, if you’re relying on the mainstream media to prove any of your points, you might want to reconsider.

For example, if you’re looking for stupid: Is it someone like Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, who insisted that the phrase “separation of church and state” is contained nowhere in the First Amendment (it’s not)? Or is it her opponent, candidate Chris Coons, who sniggered at her perceived stupidity, while not being able himself to enumerate the five rights protected by that same amendment.

 Or perhaps it’s someone like Sarah Palin, who admonished a gathering of Tea Partiers in Nevada not to get overconfident, suggesting that they not “party like it’s 1773”, only to be mocked by the usual lefty blogs, as well as more mainstream types like Gwen Ifil of PBS, who subsequently tweeted to her eager followers: “Sarah Palin: party like it’s 1773! Ummm,” proving who the stupid one really is. (In case you’re a bit hazy on American history, the first Boston Tea Party took place in… that’s right, 1773.)

So let’s leave off with the “stupid”, shall we? Now, on to “racist!”

Just last week, the Washington Post wrote about a study done at the 9/12 rally:

“A new analysis of political signs displayed at a tea party rally in Washington last month reveals that the vast majority of activists expressed narrow concerns about the government’s economic and spending policies and steered clear of the racially charged anti-Obama messages that have helped define some media coverage of such events.”

I have attended the two Boston Tea Parties in the past two years, and found no evidence of racism at all, and before you try to make the point that the groups are made up of all white people, I will refer you to my blog posts on the subject, which are complete with photos and video of a racially diverse crowd.

Why, even our esteemed Vice President, Joe Biden, concurs that we are not a racist group, and says that President Obama agrees. And that little tidbit was reported by none other than the all-white guys at MSNBC back in July.

That takes care of “racist.”

What’s next?” Oh, right, all the rest of that stuff. Did you know that a study done just six months ago reported that 40% of Tea Partiers are either Democrats or Independents? So much for “shadow of the RNC.”

In short, we’re Americans. It’s a safe bet that you know quite a few of us, but due to your disdain of and antipathy toward us, we probably don’t feel comfortable sharing our views with you.

On average, we’re pretty bright. We’re a diverse, loosely organized group, with lots of differing ideas, and no specific platform other than a desire for limited government and fiscal responsibility, support of free enterprise, and a love of the Constitution.

And when we disagree with someone, we bring facts to the discussion, not thinly-veiled innuendo, vague denunciations, and unsubstantiated accusations.

Also: we can see November from our house.

Stoutcat