A Pack not a Herd.

We have all heard the story of how Watertown man, David Henneberry, found the Boston Marathon bomb suspect cowering inside his boat in his backyard.  Mr. Henneberry is the sort of neighbor we would all like to have.  But his actions, and the events leading up to them, are a litmus test for all Americans.  It is a choice that we all will make, and the consequences of that choice will impact the lives of our children.  Let me state it plainly:

• A) Promises of security imposed at the cost of our freedom

-or-

• B) Freedom with the risks and responsibilities it requires

There are no other choices.  Either you are willing to take the chance that when you go out into your backyard to secure the tarp on your boat you will come face to face with a desperate murder-suspect hiding from justice, or you will allow your sacred rights to slip away from you and your children.  Do we give up protection against unreasonable searches and seizures?   Need we give up protection against self incrimination?  Does security require that we inflict cruel and unusual punishments so that there becomes no difference between us and the monsters we oppose?  Nietzsche warned, "Be careful when you fight the monsters, lest you become one."

When we are confronted with horrific crimes it is natural to turn away.  It is even natural to focus on a minute detail to avoid the magnitude of the horror of the whole event.  It is human to want a shining knight on a white horse to save us from the bad guys.  I understand those emotional responses and reject them for the false hope they offer.  Notice I said false hope. 

All of the best trained and equipped men and women of the Commonwealth's departments of law enforcement bravely searched for this terrorist.  But they did not find him.  They did everything in their power, and some would say they even went beyond their allowable power, but to no avail.  There are conflicting reports about why they did not find him, but, the point is, they did not find him.  He was found by accident by a man that was looking after his property supposedly after the danger had past.

If all of this was done, and it was unsuccessful, what can we do to make sure that law enforcement would find the fugitive next time?  The Choice A answer: more cameras; more cameras connected to a central office so that they can keep an eye on you. To watch your backyard for you.  To watch out for you.  More cameras in high crime neighborhoods and at intersections and most importantly at public schools.  If you are accustomed to cameras focused on you as a child at school, then why would you be opposed to a camera focused on you anywhere else?  What do you have to hide?

The Choice B answer is harder but proven.  It is old fashioned but very effective.  Before the founding of our Republic, citizens banded together to deal with the adversities and misfortunes that occurred.  Everyone knew that if they didn't help they could not count on help when they were in need.  Whether it was flood, fire, hostile nations, or desperate criminals, people would run to the sound of trouble.  An example of this from our past was the Northfield Raid, a attempted bank robbery that ended the decade long career of the James-Younger Gang.  More recently we have the example of the passengers on Flight 93 and those that ran to the sound of the explosions at the Boston Marathon.  If we take the Choice B answer then we must all accept that as our President said, "We are the ones we've been waiting for."  We will have to step up to meet the challenges that will come.  We will have to be prepared to save ourselves and others.  We will have to do what needs doing.  But we will be able to face the challenges because we are not alone.

"Ich bin ein Bostonian!"

I am proud to come to Boston and to confront Mayor Thomas Menino, who has come to symbolize throughout the world what is wrong with Progressives. And I am proud to visit the Chick-fil-A with its distinguished President Dan Cathy who has become the victim of the progressives’ war on freedom. And to come here in the company of my fellow Americans, members of the Tea Party Movement who have been in this city during its great moments of crisis and will return again whenever needed.

Two thousand years ago the proudest boast was "civis Romanus sum". Fifty years ago in the face of Communist brutality and oppression it was "Ich bin ein Berliner". Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is "Ich bin ein Bostonian".

There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the Tea Party Movement and the progressives.
Let them come to Boston.
There are some who say that progressive-ism is the wave of the future.
Let them come to Boston.
And there are some who say we can work with the progressives.
Let them come to Boston.
And there are even a few who say that it is true that progressive-ism is a corrupt system, but it permits us to make social progress.
Let them come to Boston.


Freedom has many difficulties and democracy is not perfect, it can be hard to live up to the standard set by those that struggled for freedom from our past.  I want to say, on behalf of the men and women of the Tea Party Movement, for those who live many miles away on the other side of the route 128, we are not so distant from Boston, by our shared history we are connected, and we take no pride seeing what has been done to Boston, even from a distance, the shameful story of the last 19 years.

In 1993 when running for Mayor, Menino pledged to serve "only two terms, and that's it for me." In 2001, when Mayor Thomas Menino ran for a third term, he clarified "I promised I'd serve two terms - in every century." Back then, as even now, Mayor Thomas Menino is supported by a corrupt cadre of city workers who make his political cause their sole focus. During business hours, they perform the activities of their office. By night, they serve Mayor Thomas Menino by attending community gathering reminding all to stay in line; Mayor Thomas Menino is watching you.

In 2001, Mayor Thomas Menino admitted to urging his inspectional services commissioner, to ''take a very serious look'' at zoning issues affecting the planned Brooks Pharmacy store opening a few blocks from Sullivan’s Pharmacy which was owned by a close friend who donated thousands of dollars to the mayor’s reelection campaigns.

Read this article here

Even Boston Globe/Democrat has witnessed the thuggish tactics of Mayor Thomas Menino's reelection campaigns. In a September 13, 2009 article they reported several instances of questionable behavior, including cases of Mayor Thomas Menino‘s associates monitoring Michael F. Flaherty's Facebook friends. According to the article, Mayor Thomas Menino’s campaign sent out a campaign memo containing the name of at least one small business owner who supported Flaherty. Michael F. Flaherty, claimed that his running mate Sam Yoon had to leave Boston because Mayor Thomas Menino’s allies made it difficult for Yoon to find work locally.

Read this article here

Now Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said it would be "very difficult" for Chick-fil-A to get needed licenses in Boston and sent a letter telling Dan Cathy that there was "no place" for Chick-fil-A in the city, just because President Dan Cathy spoke about his faith in public. Even though he has “walked back” his statements, that is unlikely to restrain the kinds of influence that Mayor Thomas Menino wields. The fact is that Mayor Thomas Menino has done it before and this is a very real threat.

I know of no town, no city, that has been held hostage for 19 years in the way that the city of Boston has. Out of 352123 registered voters only 63,123 gave in to Mayor Thomas Menino so he would continue to inflict himself on their city. But still you bear that burden; still you suffer under those that demand loyalty through threat and coercion. Mayor Thomas Menino and his enforcers have not sapped the vitality, and the hope, and the freedom, and the unique history of the city of Boston.

While the city of Boston has the most obvious and vivid demonstration of the failures of the progressive-ism, for all the world to see, we of the Tea Party Movement take no satisfaction in it, for it is, as the Mayor of West Berlin once said of his city, an offense not only against history but an offense against humanity. What was true of that city is true of Boston - real, lasting freedom in does not come from iron fisted dictators. No petty official can deny the elementary rights of free men, and demand that they remain silent. No bureaucrat can trump the First Amendment of our constitution.

19 years of corruption and bad faith is enough, this generation of Bostonians have earned the right to be free, including the right to the free exercise religion; and the right to the freedom of speech, and the right to a free and honest press; and the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. And all the other rights that the Tea Party Movement stands for!

You live in a cloistered island of tyranny, but your life is part of the main. Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.

So let me ask you, to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, to the hopes of tomorrow, beyond the freedom merely of this city of Boston, or our Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to the advance of freedom everywhere, to the day of freedom and liberty, beyond yourselves and ourselves to all mankind. All free men, wherever they may live, are the descendants of Sons of Liberty, and, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words

"Ich bin ein Bostonian!"

Cold and timid souls no more

By Ken Mandile

Three years ago, the tea party movement was sparked by bailouts, stimulus spending, growing deficits, and an ever-expanding government. We spoke out against politicians who over-promised, overspent, and overtaxed. Our political process had become a corrupted system of self-serving politicians, cronyism, and greedy public employee unions, fueled by money provided by large corporations who distorted the free market to their advantage. 

These are but symptoms of the real issue, though. The true blame belongs to people like me who were too busy raising a family and paying their bills to participate. 

If there is one thing that I have learned in the past three years, it is that participation in the political process is not something that can be left to others. Every citizen has a duty to participate beyond casting a vote. For a republic to function effectively, its citizens must be actively engaged in politics. 

A little more than 100 years ago, in April 1910, former Progressive Republican President Theodore Roosevelt delivered his "Citizenship in a Republic" speech at the Sorbonne in Paris. It is best known for the single paragraph referred to as the "Man in the Arena" quotation: 

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat." 

Those of us who are new to politics are often criticized because so many of us were not active before President Obama took office. 

We plead guilty to this accusation, but it does not diminish the credibility of our position that our Constitution must be defended, that our inalienable rights are best protected by truly free markets and a limited government, and that irresponsible fiscal and monetary policies are threats to our freedom and to that of future generations. 

We may have come late, but it is never too late to do what is right. In fact, having become aware of our duty we have no choice but to remain in the arena. 

President Roosevelt's 1910 speech in Paris on citizenship was not a new theme for him. He had given a similar call to duty 17 years earlier in another speech about citizenship. 

He said, "The people who say that they have not time to attend to politics are simply saying that they are unfit to live in a free community. Their place is under despotism; or if they are content to do nothing but vote, you can take despotism tempered by an occasional plebiscite ... If freedom is worth having, if the right of self-government is a valuable right, then the one and the other must be retained exactly as our forefathers acquired them, by labor, and especially by labor in organization, that is in combination with our fellows who have the same interests and the same principles." 

This Sunday, the Worcester Tea Party will celebrate local citizen activism with its fourth annual rally, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Lincoln Square, Worcester. At our very first rally in 2009, we thought that we were just protesting an out-of-control government. Little did we realize that our small group of novices would become part of a major force in American politics. It's still very early to know where our efforts will lead us, but we remain committed to our cause, not because we don't have other things that we would rather be doing, but because we do not have a choice. 

The fact that 200, or maybe 2,000, people will show up in Lincoln Square on Sunday to defend our freedom genuinely moves me, but there should be 100,000 people there. Throughout history people have given and continue to give their lives for a chance of freedom for their children and future generations. 

We have remnants of our freedom left and can defend it without risking our lives, but most Americans refuse to participate. Are you one of those people that Teddy Roosevelt referred to as "cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat?" 

Ken Mandile is president of the Worcester Tea Party.

April 12. 2012 12:00AM

Cold and timid souls no more

AS I SEE IT, telegram.com  

Happy Birthday America!

Tom always does a great job with his essays but this one is especially poignant. 



Video streaming by Ustream 

A Letter from my Mirror Image.

In the T&G there is a Letter to the Editor that I responded to at lenght.

 

How can adding a trillion dollars to the deficit by giving huge tax breaks to large corporations and the wealthiest Americans be considered deficit reduction? Too bad Republicans can’t explain that logic to us liberals stuck on the crazy idea that everyone should be on a level playing field and pay their fair share.

It doesn’t make sense to me, nor to billionaire Warren Buffet, who said his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does and there’s something wrong with the system. Now, he and I can say that General Electric Co. paid less taxes to the government than we did last year. Of course GE isn’t alone in that respect; two-thirds of American corporations pay little or no taxes. That’s the Republican way.

Then there are other Republican agendas I don’t understand as being a good thing for the people. Like trying to repeal the little bit of health care reform we did get, trying to end Medicare as we know it, and trying to destroy organizations that do family medical planning services and helping minorities understand their voting rights, e.g., Planned Parenthood and ACORN. Spreading misinformation, lies and editing tapes unabated in order to keep people from being helped and educated is an abomination.

The Republican Party has some “splainin’ to do, Lucy,” on why they’re stuck on stupid. Here’s how to save the economy in a nutshell: Single-payer, tax the rich, end wars and regulate Wall Street.

EDWARD A. SAUCIER

Dear Mr. Saucier,

It is nice to again read your prose in the pages of the T&G.  I am glad that you are well and up to the challenge of attempting to defending your ill conceived ideology.  As is you habit you have thrown a lot at the wall hoping some of it will stick.  As is also your habit you have laced your letter with vitriol and attacks on your favorite boogie man those “Rascally Republicans.”  Your letter is a poorly formed collection of misinformation and half truths.  But it is no doubt the best defense you can make considering the ideology you are trying to defend.  But you should be proud of your unabated passion.  While others have been discouraged by the failures of your political ideology, you have reached a singular height in zealotry.  Let me start that I am not a Republican.  I write for the advancement and defense of the Tea Party movement.  Much of your scatological rant does target core positions of the Tea Party Movement so I will attempt some “splannin” for you.  I have much to say it will take several posts. 

The basic premise of conservative taxation is to raise the revenue that the government needs to operate.  A public good needs to be meet so a tax must pay for it.  This is as basic as it can be and is where most of us want the issue to stay.  I want to drive on roads so I pay a tax on the gallons of gas I buy to build and maintain the roads.  Easily understandable.  Liberal politicians want to use the tax system to make thing “fairer.”  When liberal politicians say the word “fairer,” they really mean complicated.  Liberal politicians wish to use the government to punish those they don’t like; unfortunately they don’t like productive people.  They say that raising taxes on this group will make “taxes fairer.”  Returning to my road example, the tax you pay is based no longer on just the gallons of gas you buy, but on what station you purchase your gas at and what type of vehicle you put the gas into.  After those increases, and “fairer” always means tax increases, the liberal politicians take the tax money that they collected to build and maintain roads and spend it on their agenda items.  They take trips to other countries to learn about their roads.  They fund studies, pay off their friends in academia, to show why roads are “bad.”  After all those expenses there is no tax money left for the roads.  That is when they higher people who have donated to their election campaigns to propose new taxes that we need for the maintenance of the roads.  Don’t you see how much trouble this “fairer” gets us into?  

Mr. Saucier, you and I are probably more alike than either of us would like to admit.  We both wish to improve our nation and protect our neighbors.  We both passionately believe we know how to achieve those things.  I believe the words of that famous Republican. “Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?”  I wish you to understand that I seek to refute your ideology but that I do not seek to destroy you.  I would only destroy the enmity between us.  I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.

Respectfully,

RWB

P.S.  I have no illusions that there is anything I can do to dissuade  Mr. Saucier from his political opinions.  But I do believe that when ever and wherever possible it is important to stand up for what you believe in and it is possible to disagree without being disagreeable.

A Ridiculously Dangerous Idea

Today I read this letter in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette:


In the aftermath of the tragic shootings in Arizona, I’m now troubled by the denials of partial responsibility emanating from the right wingers. I heard Sarah Palin talking about not retreating, but reloading. She put sniper’s cross hairs on a map of Democrat-held congressional seats, one of which belongs to U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. I also heard Sharron Angle say that if the right-wingers didn’t win at the voting booth, there would also be a “Second Amendment remedy,” and a tea party candidate running against U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Shultz of Florida said something about bullets if not ballots.


Fox News, and its employees Glenn Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, plus Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh, have been demonizing those of us who think differently for several years. They call us “socialists and communists,” and tell their listeners that we are left-wing haters of America.


Now, a mentally confused individual from Arizona, whose writings tell of his anger at the government and its supposed disregard of the Constitution, has shot Mrs. Giffords and many others at her “meet and greet.” The Constitution talk comes straight from the Republicans and their Fox-promoted tea party.


I firmly believe that the shooter was influenced by this right-wing rhetoric. His writings prove it. Sure, he’s unstable, but these are the most easily influenced by hate speech. So, stop the gun talk; we’re all Americans, and I’m a disabled U.S. Navy and Army veteran.


ROBERT J. BOLDUC

Thanks to the Telegram and Gazette for publish this letter. It is very important that all of us read it and understand what the writer is really saying. Mr. Bolduc’s letter can be reduced to five words;

“Sarah Palin is a Witch!”

We saw this 1692 in Salem. We saw what people were willing to when they believe in magical boogie men. They will blame the innocent for imagined crimes. They will turn on their neighbors. They will believe in Spectral Evidence. They will pervert the Rule of Law. We know the tragic results from history.

In school we were taught what happened. We wondered how seeming normal people could have acted so stupidly. After class we prided ourselves that we are so much wiser now than they were then. I am sure we are not. I see no evidence that we have changed much in that few hundred years.

I have read many comments from well educated people from many sites on the internet. Some have demanded that Sarah Palin be sued for all her money because she is responsible that crime, and money is all she cares about. Others insist it is Sharron Angle forced the madman’s hand and she must go to prison for life. Many site the Evil Miasma that comes from the famous that Foxnusgunbekbilloralesehanityancoulterushlimbha monster as the cause of the crime. They demand that the monster be gagged and strangled with our shredded Constitution. They want it be made illegal for those scary others to say words that up set them. They have spread rivers of ink to argue that they are the victims of superhuman bullies that are able to kill with their words. The sound most like small children that complain that their playmates won’t play fair and let them win.

I have read these comments on the pages of our greatest newspapers and on the websites for all the major news organizations. It is an opinion that many Americans fervently believe. That so many people so passionately believe such an obviously ridiculous idea scares me. We know that ridiculous ideas have away of creating unthinking action. Ridiculous ideas have caused wars.

Mr. Bolduc is an American Patriot. He, by his own admission, has suffered for our nation. I salute his sacrifice which was made for all of us. His bravery and service to duty is far superior to my own. But what he has written in this letter is wrong. Dangerously, ridiculously wrong. I hope that he reconsiders what he has written and changes his opinion.

Congress and Crime on the Corner.

It is the eve of Martin Luther King Day and our nation again is struggling to come to grips with another horrible crime. Last Saturday, a madman who was obsessed with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, shot her in the head at point blank range then turned the gun onto a gathering of his fellow citizens. Six people were murdered; Christina-Taylor Green, 9, of Tucson, John Roll, 63, chief judge of the U.S. District Court for Arizona, Gabriel "Gabe" Zimmerman, 30, a member of Giffords' staff since 2006, Phyllis Schneck, 79, from Tucson, Dorwan Stoddard, 76, retired construction worker and husband of Mavy Stoddard, who was wounded, Dorothy "Dot" Morris, 76, a retired secretary and wife of George Morris, who was also wounded. The madman’s bullets wounded 14 people in all.

The madman was apprehended at the scene. After he had emptied his first clip of bullets, he stopped to reload, but fumbled and dropped the clip where an unwounded Patricia Maisch was able to grab it. Another citizen clubbed the madman with a folding chair. The madman was then tackled to the ground by 74-year-old retired colonel Bill Badger, who had been shot, and was further subdued by Maisch and Roger Sulzgeber and Joseph Zamudio. It is because of the quick acting of these good people that this horrific crime was not worse. While we can see that evil is everywhere, it is heartening that heroism is more common in our national character.

As of this date Congresswoman Giffords has reportedly been taken off a ventilator. She has opened her eyes and the doctors seem optimistic. It has been said that she was lucky that the bullet exited her skull, thereby causing less damage. According to the father of Christina Green, her organs were donated to a little girl in Boston.

We have lost more than enough to this horrific crime and our thoughts and prayers go out to the injured, the fallen, their loved ones, and their families. All of these are our Patriot dead. They are American citizens that by fate or chance found themselves on the battlefield of freedom. We cannot make the wounded whole. We cannot replace what those that lose a spouse now do not have. There is nothing that would compensate for the lose of a nine year old daughter. Those of us that would call ourselves Americans must do all that we are able to make ourselves worthy of their sacrifice.

The Abuse of Power by the TSA.

You may have heard some stories about how TSA agents grope and fondle fliers in a misguided attempt to foil terrorists. You can listen to the conversations of a man trying to fly from San Diego International Airport and the TSA thugs. It’s chilling.



You can read entire account at this gentleman's blog:

http://johnnyedge.blogspot.com/2010/11/these-events-took-place-roughly-between.html

As of today our Nation has changed utterly. We are not the Nation of free people we once were. No longer are we "...the land of the free and home of the BRAVE!" This level of brutal unthinking is beyond acceptance. How does the TSA reconcile what they are now doing with the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution.

Amendment 4 - Search and Seizure. Ratified 12/15/1791.
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

All Patriotic Americans please send comments about this to the TSA Comment page.

https://contact.tsa.dhs.gov/DynaForm.aspx?FormID=20

God Bless America!

"...shall not perish from the earth."

President Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the decisive Battle of Gettysburg. President Lincoln saw all the horrors that war can inflict on a nation and its people. On this day with so many urgent crises swirling around us let us all pause as Americans and listen to his magnificent words as we also pause in memory of those who lost their lives in NY, Washington and Pennsylvania 9 years ago.

God Bless America!

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

In the Cold Light of Day

Scott Brown has been elected and now has more fame than any other rookie senator in Washington. We all wish him well. Going to Washington with him are all our hopes for “Good Government” and for a chance to improve our union. In a short time we will learn if this one man will live up to our best hopes or if he will disappoint us in the job we hired him for.

All over the Airwaves and in Newspapers and on the Internet there are Pundits and Journalists and others that explain to any whom would listen, the events of the election. My personal favorite was Mr. Howard Dean explaining how this election was a vote for socialized medicine. So many voices, all talking at the same time, about one event, is the surest way to learn nothing. I will let the historians work this over to distill the truth of what this means to America.

From my perspective this is a victory for those people that have formed into Tea Parties. Mr. Brown was supported by many people who have been energized by Tea Party movement. He in turn, supported the goals of the Tea Party. I am not claiming that he only won because of the Tea Party. It is that these people, whom have only recently become involved with politics, have exercised a new set of muscles that they weren’t aware that they had. I have previously observed that the Commonwealth has mostly an Independent (un-enrolled) electorate. We have suffered with lackluster representation in Washington and Boston for as long as I can remember (a very, very long time). Those of us that believe we can do better, that we deserve better, are taking heart that we played a part in this historic election. But I can see that this victory has only further energized us and already there is talk of what we will do next.

There are mid term elections and initiative petitions and town meeting and more work than hands. If you are interested join the Worcester Tea Party. There ain’t no party, like the Worcester Tea Party, ‘cause the Worcester Tea Party won’t stop!

A Day On Not a Day Off

Monday is the day when we will celebrate the life of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. We all should spend the time to remember this great man. I can recommend this article from King Center web site on his ideals about nonviolence and creating a beloved community.

http://www.thekingcenter.org/ProgServices/Default.aspx

As more acrimony infects our political sphere we all should remember how this gentle man moved our nation with the power of his words and his faith.

With malice toward none, with charity for all...

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

So ends President Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. Some one hundred forty five years have past since he said them, but still these words are a powerful call to action that every American should rally around.

At this turning of the page and beginning of a new year we all set priorities and refocus ourselves to achieve goals that each one of use has determined. Some with loose a bad habit others will start good habits. Many of us will try to strengthen the bonds we have with our families and communities that have been renewed by the recent holiday season. Some will succeed in there goals, others will fall short. Our nation is enriched not only by those that succeed, but sometimes more so by those that fail. Excuse my hubris but here are some of mine.

I hope this year Freedom and Liberty will continue to advance across the globe to the nations that have not known it.

I hope this year all those whom toil for Justice will see their labors bare fruit.

I hope this year that we care for those who have been wounded in our nation’s battles.

I hope this year that we care for their orphans and mourning families.

I hope this year we are able to become pure of heart and inspire purity of heart in others.

I hope this year that we are able bear the burdens of righteousness so as to spread it in our world.

I hope this year that art and science reveal even more of the Truth

I hope this year brings relief to those that have suffered in this economic recession.

I hope this year that we will take more steps on the road to peace and not turn from it.

I hope this year that the gift of mercy is given to us all.

May all of you have a Happy New Year!

The Incident on Ware Street

By now everyone has heard something about what happened in Cambridge between Sgt James Crowley and Professor Henry Gates. There is a story in The Crimson and one in The Herald. The Smoking Gun has the arrest report. Now we can listen to the911 Tapes. The Professor gave an interview to the magazine that he founded. The Sergeant was interviewed by a radio talk show host. The Mayor of Cambridge held a press conference. The Patrolmen’s union came out in support of the Sergeant. The Governor was quoted as saying that this was every black man’s night mare.

It was a local story until President Obama commented on it after an exceedingly boring news conference about healthcare. A fire storm of controversy ensued with the nation dividing into the all too familiar camps which set about using this incident to prove their preexisting narratives. Today is ten days after the incident. Much has been said and written and video taped and broadcast about this story. All the ancillary details have been examined. It rages across the news today even after the President has invited both men to the Whitehouse for a beer and a reconciliation.

What have we learned? Race is still a hot button issue in America? Only Martian invaders could fail to see the truth of that. All Americans live with the problems of race everyday. We are all diminished by what has become know as the “original sin” of our Nation. Have we learned anything about our President? No he acted like a friend would. Wouldn’t any of us think it was stupid for the police to arrest a trusted friend over a matter of miscommunication? Are we adding to the case that we are becoming a post racial society? No, we are not, check the comment on the articles I linked to above and you will read some startlingly racist posts. You can imagine what there is to see at less professional news sites. Does it prove that our police are no longer the brutes that beat Rodney King? No, Sgt Crowley seems an exemplary officer but he is outnumbered by the heavy handed, thuggish, and out right corrupt members of his profession. What does this teach us about Professor Gates? Nothing, we all have acted badly at the exact wrong time. It is a universal part of the human condition.

So where does that leave us? Will it change in my son’s lifetime so that we can be united as one people? I am a religious man and I have never read in the Bible were Jesus divided the people of creation by race. John 3:16. We all must work to improve race relations in America. We must move beyond the injustices of the past and reject those that would trap us in interracial conflict for another generation. We owe that debt to our children and to ourselves.

Real Special Interest Groups

Mr. Obama tells us that the stimulus package is working as intended and with a little more time all of us will see the benefits of this wise and timely spending. Here in the America I live in, the stimulus package ARRA (pronounced erreh) has not improved the economy. Unemployment has reached 9.5% and consumer confidence is falling. That is not to say that our president is lying. He is boldly honest in telling us: “Without the help the Recovery Act has provided to struggling states, its estimated that state deficits would be nearly twice as large as they are now, resulting in tens of thousands of additional layoffs – layoffs that would affect police officers, teachers, and firefighters.” (Emphasis mine) It is clearly evident that all this ill considered spending was meant as a pay off to the special interest groups that supported his election.

Unionized labor is a bedrock constituency of the Democrat party. Government Worker Unions are the only labor unions whose membership is growing. As such they exert tremendous influence in the Democrat Party. When called upon, government unions can produce, campaign donations, protest groups, and the foot soldiers that are the basis for winning elections. After working to elect the politicians that are supposed to exercise fiscal restraint on behalf of the citizens, the unions have the power to gild contracts for their membership. This is why toll takers on the Mass Turnpike make $70,000.00, and a large percentage of their work force are issued free use transponders.

So after years of spending, spending, and more spending, state governments are in fiscal ruin and need to restructure. This sad story has been replayed in most states but only in the great state of California has it reach such epic levels as to require that state to issue IOU’s. With recession come the call for reform and a resetting of priorities. The unions are out raged. If that happens some of these sweetheart deals would surely be ended and the members of the government workers unions might loose the no-show jobs they have worked so hard to create. So the call goes out to Washington. Down in Foggy Bottom there is no need to balance a budget. So our dear leader has pushed though a trillion dollar bailout for that powerful special interest group that propelled him to the presidency. It is working as intended.

Tea Bags and Patriots

I attended a meeting of the Worcester Teaparty Planning Team last week and I have joined this patriotic effort. The meeting was well attended and started promptly. The agenda was quite large covering everything one could imagine from making signs, to parking and cleanup. All of those present were happily volunteering to; put up signs, build a podium, make posters, speak to the media, canvass towns for volunteers, and much, much more. These good people came from all over central Massachusetts. Some knew each other but many were new to this movement. That most of these people followed the same radio and TV talking heads is to be expected but, what may surprise you is how different these people are. They come from different towns and different churches. Some are successful and some where just laid off. Some are new immigrants; some trace their families back to the 1600’s. The man leading this effort introduced himself and with quite humility said, “I started doing this because no one else was doing it and it needed to be done.”

All through history people have banded together to deal with thing they saw as problems. At the founding of our nation a small group formed and came to be known as the Sons of Liberty. It formed in opposition to a tax. The members came from the common people. The parallels are obvious and encouraged by the leadership and members of today’s Teaparty movement.

Today we are saddled with a government which invades every aspect of our daily lives. It has grown ever larger and more disrespectful of those that it governs. Government at every level has swelled its bureaucracies and written more and more onerous rules, regulations, and taxes. I live in a city that has a ban on “silly string.” Boston has illegalized trans fats. All around us, there are signs of decay in our communities but our legislatures argue which should be the official muffin of Massachusetts. We the people have lost faith in all whom once were held in irreproachable respect. Teachers, Doctors, Lawyers, Businessmen Politicians, Journalists and Religious leaders of every strip, have not lived up to the responsibilities of their offices. President Obama was elected in part because he was seen as outside of the usual group of leaders that have failed us in so many ways.

What I saw at that meeting and what I have read about on the internet is the first sprouting of something reborn in our country. People are coming together to fix those things that they see as not working for them. Everyday people are learning how to get their voices heard. We can see that there is change coming and those that think they can manipulate it for their personal gain will find that we are beyond the point where we can be bought off with a few of campaign promises or an empty slogan. What is coming will change this nation no less than the up hevals of the “Sixties” did. What I leave you with is the question that every person must answer in their own heart, “What are you going to do about It?”