Tag: patriotism

In the late 90’s I shared an office with a Chinese academic who, because of the fact he belonged to a family of scholars going back many generations, was put in a work-camp on the Mongolian border during the Cultural Revolution during most of his adolescence. This was not a happy experience for him and had left deep scars in him. But he still was a Chinese patriot and we would have friendly arguments about Chinese/American conflicts. He expressed doubts that the U.S. would respond to provocations or crises in any muscular way–he saw us as “soft.” I told him that should we ever be attacked the perpetrators would experience a storm of violence beyond their imagining.

I felt, in those days, an underlying sense of frustration and repressed violence that was a result of being the lone superpower in the world yet, we weren’t able to just assert our superiority and, so it appeared to us, not get the proper respect and deference we deserved. I sensed this in American culture. Here we were, the most successful people on earth and we had no national mission like we did when we “fought” and won the Cold War. Capitalism triumphant, prosperity, but what did it mean? Who are we? Why was the most important news story for months a blow job? Neo-conservative intellectuals did write that only a “a new Pearl Harbor” would bring the U.S. out of its lethargy. They made much of our moral decline and need for a unifying enterprise and I think they were right–they saw us as drifting into hedonism and triviality which we were then and still are doing only now much poorer because of the way we reacted to 9/11.

One has wondered where all those ‘citizen kombat keyboarders’ have been this whole past decade! We know they certainly, nor their spin meisters, haven’t been demanding ‘Sacrifice’ by the Country, instead quite the opposite, their representatives as well.

We also know all the names and phrases used against any who didn’t walk in lockstep with their hollow words of support while they waved that flag of what they call ‘patriotism’, their definition of patriotism. Like this beck recently calling out Special Ops soldiers for god knows what twisted reason sits in that chubby head.

Supposedly ‘Uncertainty‘ is the new Corporate buzzword.

‘Uncertainty‘ is the Mantra that keeps them FROZEN with inaction.

Well I guess, a lot depends on what kind of ‘Action’ — were looking at.

America’s Corporate Cash Cushion

Jonathan Cheng, WSJ Market Beat — Sep 17, 2010

The Federal Reserve put out its quarterly report on fund flows today, which shows corporate balance sheets more or less flat at $1.845 trillion, compared to $1.847 trillion in the first quarter of 2010.

[…]

“Companies weren’t stuck like a deer in the headlights because of regulatory or political uncertainty,” he said. Instead, he says corporate directors have been spending on capital expenditures, M&A, and buybacks and dividends.  [ … according to Anthony Carfang, from at Chicago-based corporate treasury consultancy Treasury Strategies.]

Dividends and buybacks, like the ones announced after market close yesterday by Texas Instruments, are on the rise […]

Be afraid, be very afraid, people — Or so the Corporate Speakers are telling us.

It seems like everywhere you look these days, someone’s trying to spread…The Fear.

All around us…in every town…on every corner…a massive Army Of Fear is standing by, according to the Messengers, ready at a moment’s notice to obey the dictates of some unappointed Czar or another.

Just ask Glenn Beck: concentration camps for the white people, jackbooted stormtroopers ready to snatch the guns from your cold dead fingers…Socialist Government-Controlled Healthcare That Threatens Your Not Socialist Medicare…it’s all coming, my friends-and unless we organize, as a community, to return to the values of the Founding Fathers, The Government, meaning that awful Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and George Soros and all the other Evil Community Organizers, will win.

There’s no government, we’re told, like no government.

You know who would find all of this fear of self-government just entirely bizarre?

The Founding Fathers.

In today’s conversation we’ll consider the fundamentals of American patriotism, we’ll ask one of those Founding Fathers how he saw the role of Government-and we’ll toss in a few words from Abraham Lincoln, just for good measure.

Is Anybody Listening?

Many have already heard about the kids from Pomona California Village Academy High School, many have probably caught their little eight minute video that has launched them into the National Spotlight and Political Debate on what this Country is now going through. But this isn’t new it’s just affecting many more kids and families now, with more added each day. Kids can’t learn and achieve any dreams they might have if their families are struggling and their living those struggles daily.

Amazing…msnbc vid is here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21…

Williams: Who is the elite?

Palin: I guess just people who think that they’re better than everyone else…anyone who thinks that they are better than anyone else, I guess that’s my definition of elitism.

Oh, and John McCain goes on to clarify that it’s also anyone living in Washingotn DC or New York City…Rudy, I think he means you.

MISSING IN ACTION! Ram-Obama wants you to you know that Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama Actually Wanted to Join the US Military, But There Wasn’t a War To Fight.  At least, that’s what Barack wanted to do, according to the One. Barack explains that what held back this terrible Dem tiger was an unfortunate lack of blood and gunfire.

“The Vietnam War had come to an end. We weren’t engaged in an active military conflict at that point. And so, it’s not an option that I ever decided to pursue.”

Waaaa…!! Damn that Viet-Nam ceasefire!! The Telegraph notes Barack omitted any previous mention of this deeply-held desire to join the US military. Nothing appears in any interview or publication. Memory loss? Scouring the formative years of his own past, Obama writes nothing about considering a military career, or any form of military service, in either of his two celebrity self-profiles.

Dems savaged Dick Cheney for masquerading as a patriot while doing everything possible to avoid suiting up. And why not? Called to duty five times, college student Dick Cheney received five separate dispensations from Selective Services, thus denying the would-be warrior the chance to guard America’s future.

Grandpa Biden Has His Own Pain to Deal With: Five Deferments. Just like Dick, Biden, the ‘bare-knuckle’ Dem Vice-Presidential candidate was ‘denied’ the right to serve five times. The silver-maned patriot waged a different kind of war, waddling through mountains of Congressional pork, waging war on drugs, and shrieking about morality.

George W. Bush stands head and shoulders above this crowd. It’s that bad. What with Barack’s crap about the ‘route-march’ not traveled and Biden-Cheney’s identical five deferments, Dubya, who actually made it into a recruiting center and into uniform, is positively heroic.

Barack, Bush both claim to have considered’ going to Viet Nam. Barack-Dubya both use exactly the same excuse to to ‘explain’ why staying home seemed a wiser path. With Viet Nam ending, Barack-Bush would have no chance of shedding blood for country.

Damn! Now it all makes sense. Obama wanted to wear the uniform! It’s so easy to picture Rambo-Obama on the roof-top of the US Embassy protecting the last helicopter out. True! Pesky peace kept the youthful patriot from achieving his high-school dream of serving Uncle Sam. If only Nixon had kept the war going until Obama had a chance to suit up! Totally believable. The One simply forgot to tell anyone of his secret ambition to head into combat!

Dubya-Barack are as patriotic as every other American. Both served in elite Ivy League schools, ‘toughing it out’ on term papers and all-night cram sessions before going on to pursue individual national political ambitions.

And the Dubya-Obama similarities don’t end there. Obama now claims the Bush tax-breaks for the rich are necessary.