ISI Conference Part Three: More British Than the British!

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Patriotism, President, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, State Government, The Law, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

This is the final installment my three part report on the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s one day conference on The Roots of American Order. So here is part two of mine titled Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant? (Click for parts one and two)

After a break for lunch, Mark C. Henrie took up America’s Britishness. Henrie wrote the ISI’s A Student’s Guide to the Core Curriculum that explains the value of a traditional core of studies in Western civilization and his session reflected that study.

Capitalizing on Birzer’s citation of Edmund Burke who praised the colonist’s essential Britishness, Henrie made the point that America is best understood not as a break from tradition but as the culmination of a long series of continuous ideals that range back through Western history, specifically through England.

Henrie says that we get four essentials from England.

  • The English language and literature
  • The common law and a respect for the rule of law
  • A desire for self government
  • Manners and a social order

One of the questions that researchers have often wondered is why American English and British English are essentially the same? Why didn’t America reinvent English for its own purposes in the same way the Dutch altered German, for instance? Henrie says that the reason is that the focal point of language in the colonies was contained in the King James Bible and that pervasive reliance on a single source of language arrested any development of a widely diverging American version of English. We Americans inherited the English language through the Bible.
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Lift a Glass to the Past: America Rooted in Tradition or a New Covenant?

November 16, 2009 | Filed Under Britain, Chicago, Christianity, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Patriotism, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, The Law, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | 8 Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Is the United States a grand experiment, a new covenant invented out of whole cloth by the fertile minds of the founders from never before seen ideas or is it a nation spawned from deeply rooted traditions of western thought? This was the question posited in a one-day-long conference on classicism in America’s founding sponsored by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) and held in Skokie, Illinois, a near northern suburb of Chicago.

The short answer is that the liberal mindset that holds that we should invent the USA anew with each succeeding generation is an erroneous conception of what the United States was meant to be when it was founded. Sure America has some ideas never before seen by political man, but at heart, America is rationalism informed by tradition, not some amorphous mélange of constantly changing ideas.

The founders created a new nation based heavily on Western ideas through British tradition, not one based solely on rationalist thinking. As they struggled to set their new nation on its new Constitutional course, for instance, the words of Founder John Dickinson of Delaware served as their benchmark.

Let experience be our only guide. Reason may lead us astray.

An intimate crowd of 60 some participants enjoyed four separate addresses by lecturers associated with ISI. Appearing behind the lectern were Bruce Thornton, Professor of Classics at Fresno State University; Brad Birzer, Professor of History at Hillsdale College; Mark C. Henrie, Senior VP and Chief Academic Officer of ISI; and E. Christian Kopff, Professor of Classics at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

In these three installments, I will lay out what we talked about at this interesting one-day conference.

Part One: How it all Began
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A Fitting Memorial to Veterans

November 11, 2009 | Filed Under History, Military, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

An inscription on a WWII monument in Kohima, India fittingly describes the sacrifices that our soldiers make with their service to our nation. And on this Veterans Day it is also fitting to focus on it. The Inscription says:

“When You Go Home, Tell Them Of Us And Say, For Their Tomorrow, We Gave Our Today.”

What could be a more fitting tribute to the sacrifices made by our fallen loved ones, comrades, and servants? They gave their last full measure so we could enjoy the freedoms we are so fortunate to have today. They gave their lives for our benefit in the truest definition of sacrifice.

This memorial commemorates the Allied dead that faced the Japanese 15th Army upon its invasion of India in March of 1944. The invasion was beaten back by June of the same year through the sacrifice of these Allied troops.

The words are attributed to John Maxwell Edmonds (1875 -1958), an English Classicist who in 1916 added them to a collection of 12 epitaphs to commemorate World War One. Adding the inscription to the Kohima monument was a suggestion by Major John Etty-Leal, the GSO II of the 2nd Division who was a classical scholar in civilian life.

The verse is thought to have been inspired by the Greek lyric poet Simonides of Ceos (556-468 BC) who wrote after the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC: “Go tell the Spartans, thou that passest by, That faithful to their precepts here we lie.”

And now we too can recall this verse etched into a stone in a far away and foreign land as a perfect tribute to our fallen as well as for those who gave service to their fellows by wearing the uniform of our armed forces.

So, thank you all. We appreciate your sacrifice. And happy Veterans Day.
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The Happiest of Anniversaries: 20 Yrs. Since Berlin Wall Fell

November 9, 2009 | Filed Under Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Europe, Government, Corruption, History, Security/Safety, Socialism, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

It was 20 years ago when one of the most prominent symbols of tyranny finally fell. The storied Berlin Wall that separate East from West Germany, raised to tyrannize a populace controlled by East German communists. For decades no one ever expected that oppressive barrier to ever fall, but fall it did at long last.

So, let us remember that day Nov. 9, 1989, when tyranny was defeated.

The Moral Argument For God

November 9, 2009 | Filed Under Christianity, Frederick Meekins, History, Religion, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Frederick Meekins

The early 21st century stands as a period of profound moral confusion. On the one hand, mothers and doctors are permitted to crack open the skulls and suck out the brains of nearly-born babies with government sanction under the banner of partial birth abortion. Should these very same people hike into the woods and crack open a bald eagle egg, they could face serious prison time.

It would therefore seem that contemporary society is marked by two seemingly contradictory extremes — that of extreme license and that of excessive control. However, upon closer inspection it could be concluded that these conditions are not as contradictory as the situation might originally appear. Rather, it would seem each is the result of the systematic removal of the ethical balance provided within the Judeo-Christian tradition with its emphasis upon transcendent standards provided by an infinitely just and loving God.

With the increasing complexity of knowledge and technology, those trained in the acquisition and use of this complex body of thought (those broadly referred to as “intellectuals”) have taken on increased levels of influence and responsibility throughout society. No longer does agriculture or manufacturing dominate society to the degree it once did.
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Utopia or Dystopian Nightmare?

November 2, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Budget, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Founders, Freedom, Government, Corruption, History, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Nancy Salvato, Rights, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Nancy Morgan

Sometimes I worry that our country will become more like the former Soviet Union. Americans will wait in lines for hours in order to receive bread for the week. I wonder what it would be like to run out of toilet paper and not be able to run to the store to stock up on what I grew up believing were necessities. Mostly, I am angered that I am living paycheck to paycheck…tethered to a house not worth the mortgage I own, unable to advance my earning potential because there is no free money for a middle aged white person who gives one third of her income back to the government to be spent on programs with which I don’t agree and from which I receive no benefit. However, I must pick my battles when addressing an issue with which I’m concerned because I know the majority of folks in the blue state in which I reside and work dismiss my speculation as the ranting of a lunatic or someone who can’t get with the program; embrace “change”.

Today, I read how our government has set aside a multi-million dollar technology fund for Islamic countries. Our education system would thrive if that kind of money could be used to provide free online courses to adults wanting to earn a terminal degree or specialize in a shortage area. Instead, tuition goes up, taxes go to fund free money for those who qualify for the Pell grants which will supplement the cost of a college education, and more and more graduates (and many who won’t graduate) will leave their post-secondary experience with an accumulated debt that will make it even more impossible to chase the elusive American dream. Many will not find jobs that require their advanced education.

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What’s So Happy About Halloween This Year?

October 29, 2009 | Filed Under Ann "Babe" Huggett, Barack Obama, Children, Christianity, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Family, Fashion, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Ann “Babe” Huggett

The terror of ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties and things that go “Bump” in the night hasn’t got anything on the real life fright Americans are experiencing nine months into the Obama Administration. One could look at the title of this article and substitute Thanksgiving and/or Christmas too because it is only going to get worse if Obamacare is passed.

The “Pedophile Protection Act” just got signed into law as a rider to a defense spending bill. Our men are dropping like flies in Afghanistan as Obama dithers around on the golf course. US workers are losing their jobs, their homes, their currency, their privacy and if Obama unconstitutionally signs that Globalist climate control Treaty of Copenhagen in December, their sovereignty and freedom to a one world government predicated on massive redistribution of wealth to Third World countries, anarcho-tryanny through demonization of native First World populations if they fight against unrestricted immigration from hostile and aggressive foreign cultures and peoples and grotesquely criminal governmental corruption paid for by the fiscal enslavement of producing workers for generations to come.

The American Dream is turning into a nightmare but, hey, First Lady Michele Obama is on the December cover of Glamour Magazine, sans her usual boob belt, and inside chirping on about how “cute” doesn’t make it in the long haul. In light of the utter hash her husband is making of the US Presidency, perhaps we need to revisit Thomas Paine’s comment that, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” because what Barack Obama is doing to this country isn’t cute either although it has long haul repercussions.
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A Reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven

October 25, 2009 | Filed Under Entertainment, History, Hollywood, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

For a Halloween treat, please enjoy this reading of Poe’s The Raven.

I always wanted to hear an old school, horror styled production of the raven, so here it is. The Raven replete with spooky music, lightning, and blustery weather sounds. This is a fun one to heighten your Halloween mood.

Peace Prizes for War and Death

October 10, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, History, John Armor, Liberals, President, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By John Armor

Below are all the American Presidents and Vice Presidents who have received the Nobel Peace Prize, in order from first to most recent. It was an educational experience to review all the awards since the first was given in 1901. That bears on whether the Prize just awarded to President Obama is a positive or negative thing with respect to international war and peace.

1906 - (President) Theodore Roosevelt who “drew up the 1905 peace treaty between Russia and Japan.” T his was an actual shooting war, which ended with the Treaty which Roosevelt negotiated.

1919 - (President) T. Woodrow Wilson as “Founder of the League of Nations.” The fatal failure of the League of Nations was a major contributing factor in the outbreak of World War II. Had the League acted against Italy for its brutal invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, Germany might have been discouraged from invading Poland three years later. Major powers had a veto power on League actions, so Italy and Germany could and did prevent the League from acting to protect its member state. Ethiopia. The UN shares the same veto defect.
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Happy Che Guevara Death Day

October 9, 2009 | Filed Under Communism, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Socialism, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

I almost forgot to celebrate a great day in history. It was on this day in 1967 that that murdering scumbag Ernesto “Che” Guevara was killed by Bolivian forces.

I am always amused that this supposed military genius got captured by such unprofessional soldiers and when confronted tried to save his own life by pleading not to be shot because he was “worth more alive than dead” to the solders before him. Big tough guy suddenly pleading for his life.

He got what he deserved. Too bad more of his ilk didn’t get theirs.

It’s Time to Pay Close Attention to the Politicians

October 9, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Founders, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Military, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Terrorism, War on Terror, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

I have long said that we, the citizens of the United States, must demand good government over politics from our elected officials. The need for this demand has grown exponentially over the past four decades. While We the People were pre-occupied with the trappings of the self-centered 1960s, the self-absorption of the 1970s, the greed culture of the 1980s and the falsely elevated self-esteem culture of the 1990s, political opportunists and special interest operatives, cloaked in the façade of public service, quietly took control of our federal government. Now we are paying the price of cronyism politics over good government.

The Founders and the Framers conceived of and created our Constitutional Republic with the understanding that every American citizen would cherish the Charters of Freedom – The Declaration of Independence, The US Constitution and The Bill of Rights – as a contract, a covenant between citizen and government. In keeping up our end of the contract, the Framers took for granted that we would work to be constitutionally literate while providing governmental oversight. It never occurred to them that we would abdicate our responsibility to liberty, to freedom, the gifts they fought a Revolutionary War to attain for themselves, for us and for future generations of free Americans. It never occurred to them that those who would be bequeathed liberty and freedom would ignore their maintenance in deference to a culture of narcissism.

Today, looking upon what our government has become – a gaggle of political opportunists, special interest courtesans and revolutionary neo-Marxists – the Founders, Framers and revolutionaries would have to wonder if it was all worth their sacrifices and the sacrifices made by their families.

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The Dangerous Left-Wing Hatemongering from Media Matters

October 5, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Government, Corruption, History, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Patriotism, Socialism, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

Eric Boehlert of Media Matters is the worst kind of American. In fact, it’s hard to count him as an American at all except by accident of birth. It is plain that this Boehlert fellow is against many aspects of the American tradition chief of which is freedom of political speech. Well, perhaps, he’s not entirely against that freedom. Instead he’s against that freedom for anyone that isn’t in wholesale agreement with him and his left-wing cronies.

One of his September postings on the extremist, anti-American website AlterNet.org stands as exhibit “A” in the proof of his anti-Americanism, his utter lack of historical knowledge, his uncivil attitude, and his desire to shut down those that disagree with him. It all goes to prove that Eric Boehlert seems to be little else than a fascist.

The left’s newest meme against anyone that disagrees with it is to say that all conservatives are “dangerous” to the county. It is said in leftist circles that anyone with a conservative viewpoint is only a hairsbreadth away from committing violence against the U.S.A., its government, and citizens. Because of this, the left claims, conservatives have somehow become dangerous.
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Newsweek’s Lack of Knowledge of American History

October 5, 2009 | Filed Under Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, History, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment

-By Warner Todd Huston

History is not an easy subject. It takes decades, sometimes hundreds of them, for historians to come to a full understanding of what happened in any particular era. Sometimes, in fact, the truth is lost forever and only conjecture is left for the living to ponder. Still, it takes long, hard study and painstaking detective work to ferret out what really happened in the past, even the recent past.

Consequently, history isn’t something that your average journalist should attempt. This maxim couldn’t be proved out better than by a recent effort by Eve Conant of Newsweek. Conant so badly garbled the facts in her piece about America’s “anti-census sentiment” that one wished she’d take up writing cook books instead of articles based on historical facts. She didn’t even get current sentiment right, much less that of history.

Conant begins her discussion of historical American anti-census sentiment by confusing the suspicion of census workers with that of the revenue agents that plagued backwoods moonshiners of the 1940s and 50s. She assumed in her piece that census agents were hated simply because they were from the government. Of course, it was Treasury Dept. Agents that were hated, not census workers. People may mistrust the government, but no one is up in arms about the census itself.
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A Telling Quote on Slavery Reparations

September 30, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Democrats/Leftists, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Race, Slavery, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

If you want to know what the ultimate goal is of those that want reparations for the American slave trade, you have to look no farther than a telling quote that appeared in the Memphis Commercial Appeal on September 25.

For slavery reparation advocates, the ultimate desire is not contrition, no apology will do, no memorial statues or finger wagging in Congress is satisfactory. Nothing less than punitive sanctions against living Americans for an institution that is 150 years dead is what these people want.

The article in question details the efforts of Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen (D, Tenn.) who has been spearheading a resolution that would see Congress launching a commission that would study reparation proposals.

The quote in question comes from Detroit City Council member JoAnne Watson. She said that an apology is just the first step in the reparations process. (my bold)
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Publius Podcast: SFChron: Palin’s ‘Paranoid Politics’

September 8, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Communism, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Freedom, Government, Corruption, History, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Podcasting, President, Publius' Forum, Republicans, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here is the latest Publius Forum podcast for your listening pleasure:

SFChron: Palin’s ‘Paranoid Politics’

September 8, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Government, Corruption, History, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Republicans, Society/Culture, Warner Todd Huston | No Comments

-By Warner Todd Huston

Once again the extreme left goes into a conservative-bashing theory without the slightest knowledge of human nature not to mention owning even a tiny bit of introspection. This time it is one Geoffery Dunn of the San Francisco Chronicle who told his readers that Palin exemplifies America’s ages-old “paranoid-style politics.”

The piece is interesting for the fact that it is apparent that as the left-wing Dunn talks about “American paranoid-style politics” he offers examples from only the conservative side of the aisle. Apparently Mr. Dunn imagines “paranoia” only resides on the right in that “American” politics of which he assumes to be an expert.

Dunn amusingly praises the long-ago work of leftist professor Richard Hofstadter, whose fame came from his 1964 book “The Paranoid Style in American Politics.” Hofstadter was a Marxist in an era when Marxists infested American politics as Russian archives successfully proved years ago. Hofstadter was an avowed communist who associated with the anti-capitalist, anti-American “historian” Charles Beard whose hackneyed work tearing down America’s founders was so well debunked decades ago by Forrest McDonald. But whatever Hofstadter was he wasn’t an unbiased observer of American politics. He wrote from an extreme left-wing point of view and castigated conservative politics from that ideological vantage.
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Revised apathey to dependence‏

September 4, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Freedom, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Rights, Socialism, Society/Culture, Vince Johnson | No Comments

-By Vince Johnson

There is an interesting opinion making the rounds that I believe precisely describes the realities of the current state of affairs.  There is  an issue as to who wrote it and when it was written but there is  no doubt in my mind that these words accurately describe what is happening in America today

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
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Left Abandons Women’s Rights In Favor Of Islam

September 3, 2009 | Filed Under Ann "Babe" Huggett, Democrats/Leftists, Education, Family, Feminism, Free Speech, Freedom, History, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Rights, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Ann “Babe” Huggett

What do aging pop-star, Madonna, and Harper’s Bazaar have in common besides an obsession with the House of Balmain? How about rank ignorance of non-Western political agendas? Madonna just got booed while on the Bulgaria section of her latest tour not for her minimal talents but for making unwarranted, politically correct statements about the status and treatment of gypsies. She pushed the tolerance line to people, who weren’t buying because they have extensive dealings with the lawlessness, crime, fraud, drug dealing, vandalism and human trafficking that have made the Romany communities notorious all over the EU.

The 2009 September issue of Harper’s Bazaar has an article titled France’s Burkha Ban Uncovered with the usual leftist tripe that banning French burkhas equals religious bigotry by the war correspondent, Janine di Giovanni, whose cost-of-war stories always seem to tilt towards being pro-Islamic and anti-Western. So when such supposedly sophisticated taste makers like Madonna and Harper’s Bazaar don’t bother to consider the ramifications of their leftist opinions, is it any wonder then that articles like Twice Branded: Western Women In Muslim Lands by Vanity Fair editor, Judy Bachrach start showing up wondering why our Western governments do not go to women’s aid when they fall victim to Islamic misogyny?
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Two Americas or One Nation with Liberty & Justice for All

September 2, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Founders, Government, Corruption, History, House of Representatives, Liberals, Nancy Salvato, President, Senate, Society/Culture | 1 Comment

-By Nancy Salvato

Fundamental law is the key to maintaining the rights and freedoms of every citizen in the United States of America. It is questionable how many people actually understand what is considered fundamental law, or why it is referred to as such. The US Constitution and the Bill of Rights -which was promised as part of the ratification of the US Constitution in order to ensure its passage-, are both considered to be the fundamental law of the United States. These documents, along with the Declaration of Independence are commonly referred to as our founding documents – the Charters of Freedom.

Fundamental law is so important to this society that the justices working in our federal judicial system are sworn to uphold it. Every case that comes before the Supreme Court brings into question fundamental law. If a law or decision contradicts fundamental law, it is to be overturned. The only way to change the fundamental law of our nation is through the amendment process and in the history of our country, this has only occurred 27 times, including the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution -which are encompassed in the Bill of Rights.

Every President and every US Representative and Senator take an oath of elected office, swearing to uphold the US Constitution.
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“We The People”

August 30, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Communism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Freedom, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Marie Jon, Patriotism, President, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Marie Jon


“When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” — Thomas Jefferson

President Barack Obama, you’ve overwhelmed “We The People.” Since you were given the prestige of the highest office in the land, there has not been one day of peace or tranquility for the citizens of our country. Many Americans are feeling frustrated and angered, and rightfully so.

One could say you’ve eroded away the last of the American people’s trust, respect, and patience. You’re now threatening to intrude into every facet of our daily lives, and enough is enough.

Thou shalt not bear false witness

We see you as the “number one” community organizer sitting in the White House. The members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and union thugs are being mobilized to counter the truth at public gatherings. They are sent out for the sole purpose of confronting, threatening, intimidating, and maligning your opponents, including those among America’s elderly who’ve come to stand up for their rights at town hall meetings. — View YouTube)

Very few believe you anymore. Only those who refuse to listen to reason remain gullible. Their minds are still open to your deceptive lies. You used cunningly-crafted words and theatrics during the 2008 election to con half of America into thinking you were a special and decent man of integrity, but even your Democrat constituents are becoming aware of what you are. You and your political cronies are corrupt to the hilt, like the rest of the Daley Chicago political machine.

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Help the Soldiers!



"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776




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