This is encouraging for a couple of reasons. First, because with less violence in the country, fewer Americans become casualties as well as Iraqis themselves. They are gaining confidence in their own forces, which means fewer Americans need to be there to protect them. As they continue to believe in the value of a democratic form of government, they may exert a more stabilizing influence in the region, thereby reducing our own worries and expenditures there, and promoting a more peaceable trend overall (Hmmm...I seem to remember a recent former president saying the same thing a few years back). But the best part for me is that ABC News is actually admitting this on national television. Remember when Charlie Gibson and others were echoing the words of Reid, Pelosi,Murtha & Co., that "the war is lost"? Perhaps they've just discovered that truth actually sells; or maybe they've had a "come to Jesus" moment. Anyway, it's good to finally have something encouraging to tell you. Relish the moment.
And perhaps common sense is regaining a foothold in the popular culture as well, albeit slowly. Comedy Central's John Stewart had a fitting retort to the malAdministration's musing about making soldiers use private insurance for combat-related injuries.
Speaking of soldiers, I just learned of a terrific blog called Oath Keepers that supports and encourages those in uniform in an area of great concern to me: what will American troops do if ordered against their fellow countrymen? Those who take this oath know what it means to be an American. I think everyone in uniform, including police, need to look at this and consider where they would stand when and if the rubber hits the road. It is my solemn prayer that those who defend us would never resort to the lame excuse of the past..."We were only following orders."
Moving to the inevitable bad news, on Thursday we discovered that amid all the hubbub about the AIG scandal, the US government decided to borrow over a billion more dollars, from ourselves. Think about it: other countries will no longer bankroll us, so we've essentially taken the money from one pocket and put it in the other. Not only doesn't it work, but we still have to pay the Fed interest on it. The word to remember here is...depression (and I'm not just talking about the mental kind). Shovels, anyone?
While we're on the topic, amid the politicians' angry (and hypocritical) demands for the AIG employees to give back their bonuses, I wonder how soon Obama and Chris Dodd will give back the hundreds of thousands in political donations they received from the company. I don't think I'll hold my breath waiting.
Hey; are we beginning to see light at the end of a dark tunnel? It's beginning to look like more and more people are slowly starting to become disenchanted with the socialist approach that is being foisted on western civilization. A no-BS British Parliamentarian, Daniel Hannan, made verbal mincemeat of socialist-leaning Prime Minister Gordon Brown during a meeting of the European Union recently in a scathing critique of Brown's Obama-like spending policies. This guy -- he should serve as a model for our own representatives -- could one day be another Churchill if he doesn't get politically destroyed first.
If you've never read George Orwell's prophetic novel 1984, you may not recognize the ominous similarities, especially in the manipulation of the language to disguise the true actions and agenda of a tyrannical government. A truly depressing and dreary story, it manages to show how easy it is to manipulate human behavior by the adulteration of the common tongue and the mangling of history.
Although the Obama malAdministration has demonstrated a truly Orwellian approach to using language to blindside Americans to what they are doing and planning, the practice has been used by the Left for a long time. It really began in earnest during the early 1970s. By changing "gay" from a common term for "happy" or "frivolous", and using it to hide the truth behind the term "homosexual", radicals of that deathstyle instantly equated their behavior with lightheartedness, masking the disease, suicide, lonliness, and lack of progeny. Around the same time, "choice" came to be used instead of "abortion", thus making the killing of one's own preborn child the immoral equivalent of a civil right. In days gone by, both homosexuality and abortion were shameful terms that were culturally useful in deterring behaviors that were and are detrimental to a society.
Now the Obama Mob is using this technique in an effort to take our minds off the danger we face. The president has ordered that the phrase "war on terror" be officially replaced with the nebulous phrase "Overseas contingency operation" -- which has no clear definition. He also changed the terms "terrorist" and "enemy combatant" (as used to refer to captured terrorists and al Qaeda operatives), substituting instead the less descriptive term "detainee".
Without a clear meaning, words and phrases become meaningless, especially to anyone just becoming politically or socially aware. Keep in mind that changing the language for these purposes isn't about affecting the present because most folks are at least somewhat aware of what's going on; it's about changing or controlling attitudes in the future. That's why one of the first objectives of communism/socialism/fascism is to gain control of the educational system, which explains why the Hitler Youth were among the most loyal and fanatical soldiers by the end of WW2.
The other side of this coin is Team Obama's all-out assault on dissent as they continue to clamp down on the reins of power. After an initial attack against conservative talk radio by attempting to revive the Fairness Doctrine and an abortive campaign against Rush Limbaugh (which has only raised Rush's ratings as disaffected Democrats tune in), they have moved on to what they see as easier prey: Glenn Beck, Fox News, and Carl Rove.
The important thing to remember is that words have meanings, and these meanings can be powerful weapons to influence people. Perhaps you've seen (or experienced) how kind or cruel words can affect young children for a lifetime. Using the right words can build someone's character, or destroy their self-confidence and even their will to live. My concern is that our government is using language as a means to further distract the people from its true intentions; and distraction is the key which opens the door to tyranny.
