The Take Charge Democrats

Is it any wonder poll after poll shows that Americans are more comfortable with Republicans at the helm when it comes to dealing with terror?

Here’s an an example of Democrats dealing with terror.

Three Dover officials say they’ve found a serious homeland security threat to chew on: gumballs.

They worry the colorful round treats could be poisoned by an enterprising terrorist who sees them as bait for unsuspecting targets — young kids.

So, with the approval of the mayor and the skepticism of the police chief in this central Morris County town of 18,000, the three aldermen are in the middle of a nine-month inspection of Dover’s coin-operated gumball and candy machines. Thus far, they have surveyed 103 local businesses about their machines.

Led by Alderman Frank Poolas, who envisioned the project and enlisted the aid of fellow Aldermen Jack Delaney and Michael Picciallo, the trio began their investigation six months ago and plan to report their results to Mayor James Dodd Jan. 1.

Already they say they’ve discovered more than 100 unlicensed coin-operated machines in town — many filled with gumballs, jawbreakers and other candies they call perfect for potential terrorists.

The security threat should be “looked at seriously in light of what has happened so far,” said Poolas. “Someone who wanted to do harm really could.”

However, Police Chief Harold “Butch” Valentine said the police department has no reason to believe terrorists are even contemplating contaminating candy.

“We’ve never received any information to the contrary. The gumballs are safe,” he said.

The odds are remote that candy machines would be targeted by terrorists, he added. “You’d probably win the lottery first,” Valentine said.

Thomas Zellman, director of the Morris County Department of Law and Public Safety, agreed that gumball machines are “certainly not” a threat to homeland security.

While sticky local issues such as overcrowded housing, taxi ordinances and redevelopment projects have dominated past elections in Dover, Poolas called gumball machine inspections a “high priority.”

Delaney said the aldermen’s goal is to create a registration process for gumball machines and find out where all that candy is coming from.

There is no word yet as to how much money has been spent defending the gumball machines from terrorists. As far we can tell, the New Jersey Democrats  have no plan to safeguard the nation’s food supply- only gumball machines.

“His was a good and honorable life”

From In Honor Of A Great White Dead Man:

He went on to study engineering and, with the outbreak of World War II, worked at the Quincy shipyard in a draft-deferred, war-essential job. It was not long, though, before he felt as though he was not doing enough for the war effort and felt compelled to leave the shelter of that job and put himself in harm’s way. He was never a violent or angry man and I suppose he could not picture himself intentionally killing other human beings. He solved the conundrum by enlisting in the branch of the armed services that, by virtue of being essentially “sitting ducks” for submarines, aircraft, battleships and shore batteries sustained the highest casualty toll of the war, the Merchant Marine Service. He served then as he lived his whole life- with unassuming courage, good humor and quiet loyalty…

His was a good and honorable life. I was used to seeing the eyes of people light up when they realized I was his son. When I was younger, more self-centered and insecure than I am today I was even, at times, irritated at the number of people who would seek me out in social gatherings and business functions expressly to tell me what a great guy my dad was and how much they loved him. At the funeral I was pleasantly surprised at how many people showed up for the funeral of a 91 year-old man. After all, most of his old friends have either predeceased him or are so frail they could not make the trip…

Through all of the challenges of his long and eventful life, the great constants were his love of life, respect for other people and his razor-sharp wit. He was a comedian with a difference- he never had a laugh at anyone else’s expense. In a world where it is all too easy to find someone who will laugh at you, my dad would find a way to laugh with you- to make you laugh too…

No salesman ever left his presence feeling that he had not had a fair hearing gotten the best opportunity he could have had. My dad understood that they were trying to make a living and wanted to treat them fairly while making the best living he could for his own family…

I think his greatest gift was that even though he always knew that life can be hard and even cruel, he never lost sight of the fact that it is always wonderful and miraculous at the same time. He dwelt upon his joys- his loving marriage to the woman he once told me was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, the sons and daughters-in law who loved and honored him, the adoring grandchildren, nieces, nephews, friends, the successful business he built from nothing. To him life- all of it- was always a miracle…

…We are all miracles- it’s just that some of us that know it and show it more than others. My Dad was a quiet, wise, steady, sweet, funny, ninety-one year long miracle. None of us at that funeral wanted to say goodbye but everyone whose life he ever touched wanted to thank him for pointing out the miracles we might have missed otherwise.

Oscar Wilde noted that

Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.

Those are the things that are passed on, from father to son.

In the end, wisdom and kindness are more valuable than all the material possessions. It is not the material things that are remembered, no matter how bountiful. Sons and daughters remember of their parents the kind and gentle words, spoken and unspoken.  They recall the thoughts shared together, in public and in private. Mostly, they recall the passing on of wisdom so that they might grow and be elevated.

These things are the real wealth and legacies passed on.

Blowin’ In The Wind?

A while back, Dr Sanity wrote The Myths That Fuel The Left’s Denial, a post in which she addresses the vast chasm between reality and the orthodox dogma of denial and deceit that is the leftist catechism.

She wryly notes

The essence of psychological denial is a refusal to look at or acknowledge reality.

Fortunately, reality exists outside of one’s head and is objective and verifiable. It is not altered by whim, desire, lies or myth. This is not to say that people might not believe ideas that do not conform to reality–in fact, they do so all the time… the ego of an otherwise normal adult may also resort to childish, immature and primitive mechanisms when it feels threatened.

Dr Sanity deliberately leaves much unsaid- not the least of which is the reality that in addition to ‘a refusal to look at or acknowledge reality,’ leftist orthodoxy demands that adherents deliberately embrace deceit and psychopathy, putting as much distance between themselves and reality as possible. With regularity of an ‘I Love Lucy‘ rerun on some cable station somewhere, the left, with as much hysteria as it can muster, levels some ridiculous charge and assertions that they claim will ring in the death knoll of their adversaries. It matters little to them that the charges are spurious, unfounded or are deliberately concocted lies. With the aid of a willing MSM, the deliberate deceit is broadcast and within a day or so, it is forgotten (CNN, MSNBC, et al, and the networks have yet to ‘connect the dots.’ Deliberate deceit, no matter how ‘well meaning’ by the media is still deceit).

The left and MSM have also yet to discover that the sins of omission are just as serious as the sons of commission. Of course, this should come as no surprise. The media fears the same things the leftists and their predecessors feared- a population free to think and make decisions for themselves (the classic example is the women’s movement, ostensibly all about celebrating ‘choice.’ Of course, that only applies to the women who make the ‘right’ political or ideological choices. Women who make the ‘wrong’ choices are labeled the hated ‘enemy.’ So much for choice and ’sisterhood’).

The MSM would have you believe that Hillary Clinton is the rightful heir to the Democrat Party throne. While the senator from New York may indeed win her party’s nomination, it is interesting to note how uninterested the MSM and left are when it comes to Ms Clinton’s bona fides.

No one is asking how 940 plus FBI files of Clinton era ‘enemies’ found their way into her study and no one is challenging her assertions that they magically appeared in what is supposed to be the most secure place on earth. Given the lefts’ aversion to religion, one has to wonder why they have not yet questioned that particular miracle.

Neither the left or the MSM seems to care that a panicked Senator Clinton agreed to paying $10,000 a month to South Carolina state Senator Darrell Jackson for his endorsement of the Senator from New York. It seems Jackson decided he liked Senator Clinton more than he did John Edwards, notwithstanding his statements to the contrary.

It is understandable the left hopes voters forget the $400,000 Hillary Clinton’s brother was paid in the last minute pardons granted by Bill Clinton on his way out the White House door. What is curious that the MSM, who were initially so determined to legitimize the Dan Rather phony National Guard documents, seem to have no interest in pursuing the pardons issued by President Clinton, all with long paper trails.

The New York Senator also hopes you’ll forget Clinton confidant David Geffen’s insider observations of the Clinton Clan- “Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it’s troubling.“ Why haven’t any MSM outlets pursued those remarks and claims? It isn’t as if Geffen were a Clinton adversary with an ax to grind.

With help of an adoring and fawning leftist base and willing media, Hillary Clinton wants you to note her piety, notwithstanding her longstanding record of deceit.

She recounts that after hearing MLK speak in Chicago, she was inspired to support “the great revolution that the civil rights pioneers were waging on behalf of a more perfect union.” She does not mention her fond memories of the time she was a ‘Goldwater Girl.’ Nor does she mention that Barry Goldwater joined with southern Democratic segregationists to oppose the Voting Rights Act of 1964.

Lately, the senator from New York has likened herself to John Kennedy.

“A lot of people back then said, ‘American will never elect a Catholic as president.’ But those who gathered here almost half a century ago knew better. They believed American was bigger than that and American would give Sen. John F. Kennedy a fair shake … So when people tell me, ‘A woman can never be president,’ I say, ‘We’ll never know unless we try.”

Of course, she is right. America is ready for a woman president. What Americans are asking of themselves is whether or not Hillary Clinton is the right woman.

Notwithstanding Ms Clinton wrapping herself in the American flag and the robes of Mother Teresa, given her long history of deceit, Americans are rightfully leery.

Dr Sanity gets it right when speaking and observing the left through an unfiltered lens:

To acknowledge even the slightest possibility that these keystones of their religious political faith are warped would threaten their entire ideology–and thus, their image of themselves. They need to see themselves as caring and compassionate; always standing for peace and brotherhood–and oh, and by the way, did you know that they are a community of “reality-based” people? Get that?

How could you not? They obsessively and repeatedly make sure you understand how loving and good they–always in contrast to the members of the political right who are always described as “hate-filled” (the right “hate” blacks; “hate” hispanics, “hate” women, “hate” gays, “hate” the poor etc. etc.). Academics of the left are desperate to “prove” these assertions and give them a scientific seal of approval (see here, for a discussion about one example of this tendency).

These remarks are neither obsessive or extreme. Dr Sanity is addressing the deliberate denial of the left and the escalating psychopathy needed to maintain the illusion. This is not unlike the child who insists not only on the existence of her imaginary friend and then goes on to concoct entire conversations and shared experiences with that imaginary friend.

Fausta ‘cements the deal.’ In no uncertain terms, she describes the hypocrisy, deceit and fraud that so envelopes the icons the left embraces.

Dr Sanity goes describes what happens when the leftists and their imaginary friends and imaginary reality coalesce:

For the Democrats and their increasingly histrionic leftist base, denial–not America– has been their country of residence since September 11, 2001. Generally, it has been a safe and happy place for them to be; because as long as they can hate and vilify George Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice and all those evil Republicans and Lieberman Democrats out there; and as long as they can pretend that the objects of their hate are the real cause of any problem; then they don’t have to deal with the external reality of Islamofascist terror, or face the truth about their own unacknowledged and pathological internal reality. They can continue to cling to the holy, neo socialist faith, newly risen from the ashes of the 20th century; and delude themselves into thinking that they are wonderful, caring, loving and reality-based people.

Do we really need to look under the rock that is leftist ideology?

Cuba’s Castro will leave a legacy of shame, one that is openly embraced by the left. It is a society that has suppressed religion and that persecutes believers. There are no independent media outlets, no independent courts and no independent unions.

Armando Valladares, the ‘Cuban Solzhenitsyn’ was confined to a prison cell for over twenty years. His crime? He was designated a ‘counter revolutionary’ because he had openly discussed his misgivings about communism. In prison, he met Clodomiro Mirada. who had fought alongside Castro in deposing Batista. Mirada’s crime was that he fought for freedom and democracy.

Prior to his execution, Mirada was relegated to the same Cuban gulag as Armando Valladares, who relayed that Mirada was shot not tied to a post, but rather, lying on the ground.

Cuban intellectuals, writers and artists were persecuted if they did not acknowledge Castro as Saviour.

What does this have to do with the American left, Hillary Clinton and other Democrat candidates for President of the United States? Everything.

She and other Democrat candidates are seeking the help and endorsement of the leftists who believe the likes of Castro are the future for America.

Indeed, when will they ever learn?