Confronting the Spin on the Fort Hood Massacre

November 19, 2009 | Filed Under Afghanistan, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Crime, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, GOP, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Islamofascism, Israel, Liberals, Palestinians, President, Religion, Society/Culture, Terrorism, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

It is sad and disturbing commentary on the state of American culture when the facts surrounding an event, such as the slaughter that took place at Fort Hood, can not only be manipulated to facilitate a political ideology but blatantly ignored in the pursuit of a political agenda. In the face of the most potent enemy the United States and the free world has ever know – aggressive and violent radical Islam – our leaders and members of the mainstream media are doing just that; manipulating the truth to facilitate an agenda, and we are all in danger because of it.

By now, everyone in the world knows the details surrounding the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas. US Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, in committing not only an act of terrorism but an act of treason, perpetrated the most deadly terrorist act on American soil since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Actions and statements made by Hasan prior to his murderous spree indicate beyond doubt that he was not only opposed to US military action in the Iraqi and Afghan theaters and that he felt it was appropriate for Muslims in those countries to kill US and NATO soldiers in response to “the infidel occupiers,” but that he made a purposeful and premeditated choice to execute his jihad. Yet, President Obama, his spokespeople and members of the mainstream media are hyping the “backlash against Muslims” sentiment while completely ignoring – and in some cases arguing against – the mountain of evidence that points to the fact that Hasan was a radical Islamist and a jihadist.

Four Qualifications for Terrorism

Alan Colmes erroneously cited a definition for the word “terrorism” as used by Webster’s Dictionary during a recent stint on The O’Reilly Factor. While Webster’s is a wonderful resource for everyday use in divining the meaning of words, where terrorism is concerned it falls short.
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Pretending to Speak for an Entire Culture

November 4, 2009 | Filed Under Barack Obama, Christianity, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, Free Speech, Government, Corruption, Hillary Clinton, Iran, Islam, Islamofascism, Israel, Liberals, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Terrorism, War on Terror, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

One of the things that brings me to the boiling point is when I hear elected officials tell me what “Americans want” or what “Americans think.” To believe that today’s federally elected politicians understand – or care – what their constituents want, never mind Americans on the whole, after they belittled town hall attendees and ignored the citizenry’s opposition to government-run healthcare is to exist in fantasyland. No, federally elected politicians (and in many cases local politicians, as well) only invoke the wants and thoughts of “Americans” when they want to bolster their political positions and those have more to do with special interest groups and ideology than what Americans really think and want.

How many times have you heard Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, President Obama or any number of their surrogates – and to be fair and honest, it does happen on both sides of the aisle – begin a sentence with, “What Americans really want…” or “The Average American thinks that…” It is an insult to the intelligence of the citizenry, no matter how dumbed-down the American populace has become.

Another facet to this intellectual arrogance is when an elected official or public figure uses a “broad brush” to address an entire group or demographic, regardless of whether it is favorably or unfavorably.

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When Ideology Masks Ignorance

October 26, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Founders, Frank Salvato, Free Speech, Government, Corruption, Liberals, President, Society/Culture, Supreme Court, The Law | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

After giving a talk to a group of family values minded Freeport, Illinois area residents addressing three major threats facing the United States – which I term “The Perfect Storm,” and a solution to a problem that safeguards the US Constitution, I found myself personally and ideologically assailed by a letter-writer to a local newspaper, a Ms. Patricia Wemstrom. I take issue with her critique not only because she mischaracterized each and every point that I made at the event, but also because she wasn’t even in attendance.

The critique was caustic and hateful in nature:

“I am surprised by the hatred, bigotry and lack of knowledge expressed by Frank Salvato in the front page story of Oct. 18. (“Speaker Warns of Threats”) It seems to me the danger to this country rest not so much in ‘Radical Islam,’ but in people like Salvato.”

Such explosive rhetoric emanating from a person who wasn’t in attendance and who never attempted to contact me for any clarification leads me to believe – through the context of experience – that Ms. Wemstrom is not only of the Progressive or Liberal political ideology but, also, either uneducated on the issues, disingenuous and partisan in her approach, or both.

Although out of order of presentation I will attempt to clarify the misinformation presented by Ms. Wemstrom…in the interest of truth and education.
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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 Only Real Strategy for Afghanistan

October 6, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Frank Salvato, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Iran, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Military, President, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Terrorism, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

There has been quite a bit of criticism directed at President Obama for his handling – or mishandling – of the Afghan theater in the global conflict with radical Islamists. To be certain, it should be the number one or, at the very least, number two item on his list of priorities. That it is not is deserving of criticism. But the catalyst for this dysfunctional thinking emanates from the reality that we, as a nation, don’t have a proper understanding of the conflict at hand and, therefore, have very different opinions – some based in fact but most influenced by ideology – as to the consequences of implementing the wrong strategy.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, then candidate Barack Obama identified the Afghan theater as the only “legitimate” military theater in which the US military was engaged. He did so in a politicized attempt to paint the Iraqi theater as illegitimate; an optional battle theater championed by his opponent. Whether or not you agree with that belief is irrelevant to the fact that Mr. Obama identified the Afghan theater as being “the good war.” This declaration, along with his promise to support the generals on the ground, intimated that he was going to respect the judgments and opinions of the field commanders with regard to strategy and assessment. That understood, it really shouldn’t be too much for the American people to expect their president to follow through on his campaign promises.

The Enemy

Ongoing military campaign aside, we have never really accurately profiled the enemy and therefore have never really been about to honestly contemplate a successful strategy for achieving victory in not only the Afghan theater but in the overall global conflict with radical Islamists.
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“Please, God, No…It’s So Hot, I’m Burning Up”

September 12, 2009 | Filed Under Democrats/Leftists, Flight 93, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Military, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, Terrorism, War on Terror, Warner Todd Huston, Western Civilization | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

“The floor is completely engulfed. We’re on the floor, and we can’t breathe, and it’s very, very, very hot…I’m going to die, I know it. Please, God, no. It’s so hot, I’m burning up!” These were some of the last words of Melissa Doi, 32, one of the thousands of innocent victims that perished at the hands of radical Islamists on September 11, 2001. In all, 3,017 souls were lost and 6,291+ people were injured on that fateful day by al Qaeda terrorists in New York City, Arlington County, VA, and Shanksville, PA. Now, eight years later, one of the biggest fears held by counterterrorism experts and experts on radical Islam is coming to pass and we are less safe for it.

One of the biggest fears advanced by myself and people who I have had the honor of working with in the quest to educate Americans on the threats and dangers posed by radical Islamists, is that the American people would soon forget the horrors of September 11th; that they would start to forget the sense of helplessness they felt as they watched the World Trade Center collapse into the streets of New York City, the carnage at the Pentagon and the despondency of rescuers demonstrated in a field in Shanksville. We all understood that there would be a waning of the immediacy felt in the aftermath of the attacks – immediacy of response, education and prevention – but we feared the encroachment of apathy to the grotesque loss of life and butchery foisted upon the American people on that day. We feared it because we all understood – and still believe today – that to abdicate vigilance to the threat of Islamist aggression is to set the stage for another catastrophic event.

In the days after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Liberal media (formerly referred to as the mainstream media) began to remove the images of the attacks from our television screens. Gone were the images of dust-covered people wandering the decimated streets of New York. We were no longer able to see the images of heroic firefighters and Pentagon workers frantically searched for people to rescue. And we were no longer provided the images of frustrated first responders – professionals trained to save lives – milling about the wreckage of an airliner in a field with no one to save. The media explained the removal of these images – these realities – by insisting it was done in the name of preventative tolerance; to quell any hatred, any catalyst for retribution toward the Muslim community.
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Missing the Larger Point on the Public Option

September 6, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Frank Salvato, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, Rights, Security/Safety, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

As Congress prepares to return to work – now there’s an oxymoron – the subject of healthcare is weighing heavy in the air. The August recess provided the American people with contentious town hall meetings where We the People were described by opportunistic, power-hungry politicians as “astroturfers,” “un-American” and “terrorists.” It also saw the Progressive Liberal machine dispatch their minions – special interest group contingents from ACORN, MoveOn.org, SEIU, etc. – to the citizenry in an effort to silence the dissent about government-run healthcare and provide a cheery backdrop for Progressives and President Obama as they “met” with the unwashed masses. But in the debate over healthcare and the public option everyone, sans a very few, missed a constitutional point of order.

The Declaration of Independence, the first of our Charters of Freedom, states:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”

Thomas Jefferson and his fellow Framers, acknowledging the philosophy of Natural Law, made it quite clear that we, as an American people, believe in and accept that the right to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” is unalienable. By establishing these “unalienable rights,” the Framers meant to ensure that government would refrain from legislating laws that would encroach upon or deny these natural rights – these unalienable rights – to every American citizen.

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Challenging the Status Quo

August 31, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Frank Salvato, Free Trade, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

With the death of US Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) the Democrats lose their sixty-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. This will make the passing of Obama agenda legislation – specifically healthcare – more difficult until Massachusetts seats its next Junior Senator, who promises to be a Democrat. The loss of even one Democrat in the Senate is cause for concern for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) because he has a rogue element within his Democrat caucus, the Blue Dog Democrats. In Washington, it is all about counting the votes at any given moment on any piece of legislation. As they say, politics makes for strange bedfellows.

In the US House of Representatives the Democrats have a lock on the majority. According to the Office of the Clerk of the US House of Representatives, the congressional profile stands at: 256 Democrats, 178 Republicans, 0 Independents and 1 Vacancy. These numbers give the Democrats, as a party, a 78 vote majority in the House.

In the Senate, Democrats have a lock on a majority as well: Democrats number 57, Republicans have 40 seats, and Independents and Independent Democrats have one seat each.

In addition to the fact that it matters which party is in the majority, in both chambers of Congress, it also matters who the parties elect as their leaders.

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You Say You Want a Real Solution

August 25, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Capitalism, Communism, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Frank Salvato, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, Uncategorized, Welfare | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

As the debate over health care reform rages on – and despite the fact that the debate should be over how to provide true health care affordability to all, if in fact the goal of the “overhaul” is genuinely about the good of the downtrodden – we hear one retort from Progressives, Liberals and neo-Marxists, both in government and out: Where is your plan if you don’t like ours? Truth be told, there are several conservative and Republican crafted plans but Madam Pelosi and Mr. Reid won’t entertain them and the agenda-driven mainstream media won’t cover them. But one thing is evident, even to the intellectually challenged. If the goal is truly to provide health care affordability to every American citizen, there are ways to do it without the heavy hand of government.

Most honest Americans agree, our health care system – the system that provides medical service, i.e. doctors, hospitals, clinics, etc. – is the best in the world. It certainly does not need reform or government intervention. If you need proof it comes in the form of the richest and most powerful people in the world coming to the United States for treatment, especially when every other avenue of treatment has been exhausted. To fall prey to the notion that the “health care system is broken,” is to be gullible to a fault.

The cog that isn’t meshing correctly in the machine that includes patients, doctors, hospitals and insurance companies is the insurance company cog. Many in our country would like to see more affordable prices, inclusionary coverage for those of us with pre-existing conditions and security in knowing that if a catastrophic medical event happens to us we won’t be driven to the poor house by increased premiums of unfunded procedures. As our health care insurance system exists today, these desirable elements are not within reach of everyone. But by including a few simple provisions and/or pursuing a few sensible avenues, Americans can have affordable, functioning health care insurance for all without creating a government-run health care entity.
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‘You Have Awakened the Sleeping Giant’

August 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Frank Salvato, Free Trade, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

One of the benefits coming from the recent congressional town hall meetings – of which there are many – is that we now know to what extent the elected class in Washington DC is cognizant of their constituents’ positions on the issues; specifically, healthcare. They aren’t, especially on the Left side of the aisle. Instead, the elected class in Washington – and it is true for an overwhelming majority on both sides of the aisle – has opted-out of their sworn duty to represent their constituents in deference to a blinding loyalty to their political party organizations and the ideologies they hold.

While many of the elected officials in question, their aides, the DNC, MoveOn.org, Organizing for America and the agenda-driven mainstream media talk about the “angry” and “vocal” nature of the town halls, they allude to the notion that the American citizens attending these meetings are not letting the elected officials speak; that they are “shouting down” the Congressmen and Senators as they try to explain a “very complicated” healthcare plan to their constituents. Nothing could be further from the truth.

To believe that the American people haven’t heard – ad nauseam – the plethora of contorted and contrived talking points meant to sell this gigantic over-reach of government into the private sector health insurance industry is to lie, bald-faced, to anyone within earshot.

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“Birther” Label Overshadows a Real Issue

August 15, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Founders, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, History, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

I have always been one to say that I cannot know the answer to the “birthers’” question of whether Mr. Obama is eligible to hold the Presidency. I can’t answer the question because I am being kept from examining the only documents that do exist to prove the point. To date, I have heard all the arguments and seen all the propaganda – from both sides of the issue – and for all the uproar there is only one way to know who is right and who is mistaken. But the “birther” issue is a literal smoke-screen issue and one that is covering up a much more serious one; one that threatens to produce a constitutional crisis.

In examining this subject in the days after it first presented, our non-profit organization, BasicsProject.org, tasked with educating and informing the citizenry on matters that include constitutional literacy, began to ask questions in an effort to honestly understand the facts of the matter. As our examination progressed it became abundantly clear that there exists no mechanism for the enforcement of Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution, which states:

“No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.”

During our examination of the issue we contacted each of the State Boards of Election and/or Secretary of State’s offices to ask whether they or another organization within their jurisdiction required candidates for the Executive Branch offices to present first-source, vaulted proof of their prerequisite satisfaction of Article II, Section 1. They shared with us that their candidacy filing requirements for any elected office includes:
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Reading Legislation… It’s Your Job!

August 2, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, President, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

It would appear that some of our elected officials – oh heck, let’s say most of our elected officials – believe it isn’t necessary to read legislation before voting on it. A perfect example of this is playing out right now in Congress with regard to the healthcare legislation where several high-ranking elected officials have unabashedly stated that expecting elected officials to read legislation, in its entirety, before voting on it, is to expect too much. Really…

Recently, at a National Press Club Luncheon, Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said:
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A Government Run by Mrs. Kravitz

July 31, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Budget, Business, Communism, Congress, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Frank Salvato, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Health, Liberals, President, Socialism, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

If you are a Baby Boomer you, no doubt, remember the television series Bewitched, starring Elizabeth Montgomery. Ms. Montgomery played Samantha Stevens, a witch who was married to a mortal and who lived in a quintessential American suburb. One of the regular characters – and one of the funnier characters – was a neighbor of the Stevens’, Gladys Kravitz, played by Alice Pearce and then Sandra Gould. An incredibly nosey neighbor, Gladys Kravitz was always just moments away from being able to prove to her husband, Abner, that “something very strange is going on over at the Stevens’ house.” Gladys Kravitz was the model busybody and, if she were alive and real today, she would, no doubt, be a member of the 111th Congress.

Gladys Kravitz knew everything and nothing at all, all at the same time. Her advice was most always wrong and her opinion was most always uninformed but this didn’t mean that she ever gave thought to not offering both to anyone and everyone with whom she came in contact. Mrs. Kravitz, as Samantha always called her, believed that she was always right, even without knowing all the facts or understanding all the issues. That she existed was enough reason for her input to be solicited and Lord help you if you didn’t act on her advice in an expeditious manner! Just ask Abner!

As I remember the character I can’t help but think that we have a factionalist gaggle of Mrs. Kravitzs currently running our government. Then, in deference to Ms. Pearce, Ms. Gould and the writers of Bewitched, I reconsidered…the gaggle now in control of the US government is much worse. The 111th Congress can only be described as being run by a minority of know-it-alls who insist they know what’s best for you, for me, for our entire country without any practical experience to support their arrogance and without any understanding of reality to sustain their bloated sense of elitist superiority.
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Instituting a Safeguard Against Political & Ideological Tyranny

July 25, 2009 | Filed Under Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Frank Salvato, GOP, Government, Corruption, Liberals, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

It is fairly clear, to anyone paying attention, that the people of the United States are currently suffering the political tyranny of the special interest minority. We arrive at this point not because the character of the nation has changed dramatically – we are still a center-right nation ideologically, although we have become more permissive in our social views – but because we have fallen prey to exactly the political malady James Madison feared we would: factionalism.

This factionalism exists within both political parties, as well as throughout our society.

Neo-Marxists have come to power in the Democrat Party even though the majority of Democrats could be considered moderate to centrist. And because of the hierarchical system utilized by our federal Legislative Branch, this minority faction of the Democrat Party has come to power nationally.
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Amid All the Celebrity Deaths, A Reality Check

July 14, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Democrats/Leftists, Frank Salvato, History, Hollywood, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, Security/Safety, Society/Culture | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

Some have labeled the summer of 2009, the Summer of the Celebrity Death Watch, and one could successfully argue the point. Ed McMahon, Karl Malden, Farrah Fawcett, Billy Mays, David Carradine, Koko Taylor, Fred Travalena and, most notably, Michael Jackson – to name but a few off the top of my head – have all passed away over the course of June and July. While the mortality of a generation is always catalyst for priority re-evaluation and reflection, it is the caliber of “the catalyst” – those we have elevated to iconic status – that exposes just how superficial our American culture has become.

This is not to say that I don’t appreciate the successes and contributions, the talents and the prowess those who have passed over the last month and a half have shared with the world. As someone who was part of the entertainment industry in my youth, I certainly appreciate the talents of pitchmen, actors and musicians passed. And even though a few of those who are now celebrated had colorful and sometimes disturbing personal lives or political views that differed from mine, I am able to divorce the ugly flaws of man and political ideology (within reason) to appreciate the talents they shared with the world.

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Genocide or Massacre, US Repeating Mistakes of the Past

June 29, 2009 | Filed Under Elections, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, Free Speech, Freedom, Government, Corruption, History, Islam, Islamofascism, Religion, Rights, Society/Culture, Terrorism, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

“We come here today partly in recognition of the fact that we in the United States and the world community did not do as much as we could have and should have done to try to limit what occurred…All over the world there were people like me sitting in offices who did not fully appreciate the depth and speed with which you were being engulfed by this unimaginable terror.”
– Pres. Bill Clinton in his apology to the Rwandan people for his lack of intervention during the Rwandan genocide of 1994.

“It is not productive, given the history of US-Iranian relations, to be seen as meddling — the US president, meddling in Iranian elections.”
– Pres. Barack Obama commenting on Iran’s stolen 2009 election.

Reports coming out of Iran, limited though they are, state that a massacre took place on June 24, 2009, in Tehran’s Baharestan Square. Iranian basij, club-wielding militiamen, savagely attacked pro-freedom protesters, throwing some of them off a pedestrian bridge. They attacked them with batons, tear gas, bullets and, in at least one location, axes. What was the catalyst for this slaughter? Their desire for liberty and freedom, rights guaranteed to every human being under Natural Law.

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The Path to the Future Requires a Return to the Roots

June 22, 2009 | Filed Under 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Communism, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Economy/Finances, Education, Foreign Policy, Founders, Frank Salvato, Free Speech, Free Trade, Freedom, GOP, Government, Corruption, History, Liberals, Media Bias, Patriotism, President, Religion, Republicans, Security/Safety, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes, The Law | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

As President Obama thunders ahead with his liberal agenda, unencumbered by any significant opposition in either chamber of Congress, the focus for the Right has been on how to re-invent the Republican Party so as to be competitive in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. This renewed and urgent focus is more akin to a meeting of rival mafia families, each faction unwilling to cede influence, power, control or status to another, than it is a quorum of individuals dedicated to true and original Republican principles. In light of this it is appropriate to revisit the founding platform of the party.

In the immediate aftermath of the inaugural 1856 Republican Convention in Jackson, Michigan (the party was founded in Ripon, WI, in 1854), the Republican Party declared as their founding platform commitments and allegiances to:
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With All Things, Facts & Truth Matter

June 18, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Censorship, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Founders, Frank Salvato, Free Speech, Freedom, Government, Corruption, Journalism, Liberals, Media Bias, President, Republicans, Security/Safety, Socialism, Society/Culture, Taxes | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

“Among the calamities of war may be jointly numbered the diminution of the love of truth, by the falsehoods which interest dictates and credulity encourages.” – Samuel Johnson

Few things are more important in life than the facts and the truth. Ironically, the quest for both has waned over generations. Today, fact and truth suffer the narcissism of a generation of self-indulgent ideologues who have sought to shape the world to their belief system, doing so armed with little more than falsely elevated self-esteem. The result has been to bring our great nation to a divide not seen since the US Civil War; a divide of politics, ideology and culture; a divide that threatens our Republic’s very existence.

Samuel Johnson’s adage about truth being a casualty of war is not exclusive to wars of nations, it is applicable to wars of all breeds: cultural, violent, ideological and political. In fact, today’s American culture places more worth on the delivery of words than on the credibility of words. A gifted orator can mesmerize the citizenry into reacting to a melodic tone and artful inflection and into caring little for the accuracy of the statements being made. He can pass impossibilities as realities using hollow promises, promises that serve as distractions to truth and fact. Truth be told, today, the American public is more interested in being captivated by the “bright shiny” distraction, being entertained by the slickly delivered sleight-of-hand rhetoric of “hope” and “change,” than they are in gathering the facts in an effort to better understand reality.
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Gitmo, Liberals, Politics & Deceit

June 2, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Media Bias, Religion, Republicans, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

The debate over the disposition of the terrorist detainees currently housed in Guantanamo Bay’s detention centers (, Camp Echo Camp Delta, Camp Iguana & Camp 7) rages on. The anti-war/anti-Bush contingent continues to call for the shuttering of the facilities while those in support of fighting the war against violent Islamist aggression challenge them on their alternative for the securing of the enemy combatants housed at the facility. And as this debate drags on one thing has become painfully obvious: the efforts of the anti-war/anti-Bush contingent are not only visionless, they are purely political.

First, we need to be honest about two critical points that have been allowed to morph from political talking points to perceived realities; talking points that have become the anti-war/anti-Bush contingent’s mantra: 1) That the mere existence of the facility at Guantanamo Bay has tarnished the reputation of the United States around the world, and 2) That the mere existence of the facility more commonly referred to as “Gitmo” has served to create more jihadis. Both assertions are manufactured, contrived and patently false.

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Obama, Cheney & The Bright Shiny Thing

May 25, 2009 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Barack Obama, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Foreign Policy, Frank Salvato, Government, Corruption, Islam, Islamofascism, Liberals, Media Bias, Military, President, Republicans, Security/Safety, Society/Culture, War on Terror | No Comments

-By Frank Salvato

It couldn’t have been planed more perfectly. President Barack Obama uses the power of the presidential bully pulpit to show his dismay with anyone and everyone who dares to question his version of morality where the war on terrorism is concerned. Just moments later, former Vice President Dick Cheney effectively rebuts the president and dismantles several of the president’s talking points. The “impromptu” tele-debate made for great television. What it didn’t do was move anyone to question what they believe on the issues that were presented. In fact, it simply ensconced each to his or her position.

The American public has long suffered from what I call a sitcom attention span (I blame Norman Lear but I digress). Truth be told, the limited attention span of the American people goes back to well before the invention of television, having become an increasing problem ever since the American Revolution. Politicians recognized this malady – or opportunity as they see it – right off the bat and have been taking incredible advantage of the public’s limited attention span for almost as long as our country has been sovereign. It is for this reason that troublesome reports, testimonies and declarations are usually released after 2pm on Friday as Americans turn their brains off in preparation for the weekend. Where they may be outraged at something on Friday at 2pm – if in fact they even become aware of it then – by Monday it is just one more reason why all politicians can’t be trusted and anyway, what are you going to do about it, right?
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