America Rendered Unrecognizable Once More

August 26, 2011 | Comments (1)

I have been gone from here for a while, and I want to thank those of you who have wondered why. I have spent the last weeks overseeing my clan’s move from the northeastern corner of the United States back to our original home turf in the west, and I apologize for offering no warning. But it’s done now, and here I am.

I return now amid a national climate once again made unrecognizable by recent events from that of our nation four years ago, let alone two months ago when I last tended to these pages. Within these last weeks we have witnessed our nation’s economy downgraded for the first time in our history. We have witnessed a roller coaster in our stock market that back in 1929 would have sent investors flinging themselves from high-rise windows. We witnessed the devastating destruction of members of our beloved Seal Team 6, as well as the courage and conviction of their family members, who, in the grief-filled aftermath of their loss, made clear the family character that results in the rearing of true national heroes.

We have witnessed a president content, like a modern-day Nero, to attend campaign fundraisers and hip-hop birthday festivities as he continues to pursue the leftwing socialist agenda he promised when he campaigned for the highest office of our land back in 2008. We have witnessed this same president, announce between tee-offs, that he will suspend the deportation of illegal aliens and thus provide amnesty for said lawbreakers, despite the overwhelming majority of Americans who oppose this policy. And we have witnessed the Tea Party, not only blamed for the ills of all the world, but also called “terrorists” by the left, as well as by increasingly hysterical mainstream media lapdogs and certain entrenched Beltway republicans who somehow believe they are immune from the anger of an enraged electorate.

But so have we also witnessed the rise of individuals who have led us to believe that there just might be true conservatives in our midst set to grapple the office of the American presidency away from the current holder of that office. Indeed I venture to say that we on the right just may be starting to see our own homegrown glimmer of hope and change on the horizon. We know from attempts by certain leftwing publications to smear these newly minted candidates with lies, incendiary headlines, namecalling, and uncomplimentary magazine cover shots that we are on the right track. So keep the faith. There is still time to make America right once more.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

The Secret Longings of Useful Liberal Men

June 9, 2011 | Comments (1)

As someone constantly recognizing connections in the events that shape this world, I couldn’t help but find some rather illuminating links between news stories from the last few weeks.

The first involved Michelle Obama as she and her husband enjoyed their regal sojourn across the British Isles. The press followed the wannabe royals with slobbering idolatry, chronicling with mad, obsessive detail everything their beloveds ate, wore and said, all the while heralding them as legendary scions of style and intellect.

What captured my attention, however, was not the fabric that may or may not have adorned the first lady’s much-lauded arms and waistline, but rather comments she made to the young students at a girls’ school somewhere in Britain. In a nutshell, she confided to these impressionable young ladies that when she met her husband – to whom she said she was ordered to “mentor” – she got the feeling that he might be “useful” someday.

And that, in a related nutshell, sums up my personal perception of the liberal female view of men. Men are, after all, the root of all evil and, no doubt, the source of every awful event liberal women have ever experienced in their own personal liberal lives. But should a man pledge his allegiance to the most extreme liberal tenets and prove himself willing to sacrifice any hint of testosterone in favor of a progressive and feminized/metrosexual agenda, then that guy may just earn his way into the graces of liberal women, “useful” to their cause. Michelle here reminds us most brazenly of her own allegiance to the likes of Hillary, Janet, the Supreme Court’s Sonia, and the politically paralyzed/blinded National Organization of Women.

Think a moment about our nation’s current political climate. As entrenched and trembling republican men struggle to find their way through an angry American right, staunchly conservative women, such as Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer, Michele Bachmann, Dana Perino, Laura Ingraham, Liz Cheney and Ann Coulter are out there roaring from the rooftops, reminding Americans what this nation was and is meant to be.

What perplexes the left, particularly the men of the left, is that these women roar with a smile and a fearlessly feminine sparkle, extolling the virtues of joyful patriotism, love of country, and, yes, even a love of men.  Such messages simply cannot be lost on those useful left-wing male reporters sent out to vilify and destroy them. Following obediently the directive, do these men wonder beneath the vitriol slung by their side, what it might be like to enjoy the good graces of women who might actually value and respect the masculine for its own sake? Women who see men as more than simply “useful” servants? In their quiet moments, do they think back to a moment when, ignored or rebuffed by smart, confident, patriotic and right-minded girls in high school and college, they pledged instead to become “useful” to those other women? Do they ever regret the sacrifice? I don’t know, of course. Just a thought.…

As I have pondered these connections and the possible secret longings of liberal men, Doug Giles, conservative author of the book Raising Righteous and Rowdy Girls has posted another of his brilliant articles on the need for young women to learn to defend themselves to the death (an assailant’s death, of course). This time his inspiration is the alleged attack by the avowed socialist and “useful” French International-Monetary-Fund president on a hotel maid in New York City, resulting in Mr. Giles’ article, “Preferred Headline: IMF CEO Killed by Rape Victim.”

Whenever Mr. Giles writes about his passionate belief that young women should be trained as both expert martial artists and expert marksmen, I am inevitably drawn to the commentary that follows. The vast majority of his readers sing his praises, but far too many ignore the message in favor simply of blasting Mr. Giles for even suggesting that young women learn to fight off attempted rapists and murderers.

That women in general — or parents of either girls or boys — would oppose Mr. Giles’ belief in self-protection….well, I don’t know what to make of that and I won’t even venture a guess. But that liberal men would find female self-protection repulsive and unacceptable….perhaps that reveals a deeply rooted psychological phenomenon deserving of study. I’m no psychiatrist, but perhaps liberal men who have allowed themselves to be subjugated as “useful” to liberal women relish secretly, subconsciously, the notion of such women rendered weak and helpless. Perhaps it is simply that hobbled testosterone making one last gasp of protest. I’m no psychiatrist, but you never know.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

Pelosi and Slaughter Desperately Hurl the Tired Old Threats

April 10, 2011 | Comments (0)

The left is pulling out all those tired old chestnuts to combat the budget chaos plaguing Washington at the moment, a situation that threatens to shut down the federal government. Currently raging is Congress’ battle over just how – and if – they will/should rein in the spending spree draining America’s economy of every cent sent to them in good faith by America’s taxpayers.

Playing her part as expected, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), no doubt missing the limelight these days, has nostalgically informed us that the republicans want to starve senior citizens. A laughable comment coming from a high-profile representative of the left, who, along with her fearless leader and their party faithful spent the last two years forcing upon America a much-vilified health-care bill that promises openly to ration health care, by pacifying ailing seniors with blue pills and relegating their health-care decisions to bureaucrats (a.k.a. “death panels,” remember?). I personally will never forget that chilling town-hall moment when a smiling president told a woman that no, under his plan, the woman’s elderly mother would not have received the pacemaker her doctors ordered. His plan, he was proud to say, would not take into consideration such silly factors as “spirit” or will to live – no individual considerations whatsoever.

And now we hear from Louise Slaughter (D-NY), as well, notorious for her highly publicized strategy to bypass openly that pesky Constitution to jam through the beloved Obamacare (for we the peasants only, of course; Congress and anyone who supports this president are exempt and immune). Slaughter this week announced that the freshmen republican representatives (her way, I presume, of saying Tea Party and /or conservatives) are trying to kill women.  Now, at the risk of sounding ineloquent, that is just flat out stupid. Anyone who believes such a foolish comment should be stripped of all voting rights (same for the Hollywood bimbos who way back when on Oprah’s slobber-fest sobbed that re-electing George W. would legalize rape).

What both of these women conveniently disregard with their desperate, wanna-be-incendiary statements is that despite what the media lapdogs may try to promote, most of us out here beyond the Beltway don’t automatically equate the word “republican” with “conservative.” In this spirit, let me say that we on the right are watching the right, as well. Indeed everyone is in the hot seat at the moment, regardless of the party-affiliation letters representatives happen to slap on to their names. And, like our national debt, our expectations are growing exponentially by the day.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

California Conservatism on the Eve of 2011

December 31, 2010 | Comments (0)

Made it back to New York from California on this eve of 2011, and it was a rewarding journey all around. The highlight: nine airports all over the western United States in as many days, and not a single body scan, not a single pat-down. I’d like to think it’s because my little clan exudes a don’t-tread-on-me vibe, but I don’t think so. Let’s just say I thank the TSA for profiling, and I thank them for treating us with dignity.

I was equally pleased throughout my journey from the results of my completely non-scientific survey of bumper stickers observed on the many freeways I traversed throughout the state of California, north to south and back again. Though I spent time in the San Francisco Bay Area, I saw only one Obama sticker. One. And that one was the only liberal-leaning message I would see on those West Coast cars throughout those nine days.

Indeed even more stunning than the lack of Obama/Pelosi/leftist accolades in my completely unscientific survey, was the overwhelming avalanche of conservative-minded comments people had slapped on their cars.  Many of those cars were big, gas-guzzling SUVs, including the one sporting a “Capitalist” sticker, the answer to the politically correct “Coexist” message liberals like to paste to their tiny, tinny, death-trappy “smart” cars.

Yes, throughout those California freeways, from north to south and back again, I found drivers proclaiming proudly their belief in Tea Party patriotism; the hope of Election Day, November 2012; the radicalism of our nation’s founders; the Don’t-Tread-on-Me mindset; and anything and everything to do with gun rights; as well as the command that this administration “Change it Back!” And not a single one of these vehicles appeared to have been keyed or vandalized in any way.

Now I realize California disappointed us mightily back on Election Day 2010 – though I still believe part of that blame rests with the “mainstream” republican party that was, and perhaps still is, trying to play nice-nice with the left. Nevertheless, on this eve of 2011, my own completely unscientific survey left me feeling pretty hopeful that perhaps California – and that misguided republican party – will change its course in the next couple of years.

Don’t let us down next time, California (and misguided mainstream republican party). As your economy plummets toward bankruptcy, thanks to the liberal policies and the greedy politicians that guide them, take note of those little signs on your freeways. I, in the meantime, will be thinking positively for our country as a whole on this eve of 2011, hoping and believing that what we witnessed during the bloodbath that was Election Day 2010, was only the spark for what lies ahead in the next two years.  Happy 2011, everyone. Keep the faith.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Obama Pretends Tuesday’s Bloodbath Was Not About Him

November 5, 2010 | Comments (0)

There was a day when I might have found it funny to hear Barack Obama claim that though the bloodbath his party took on Tuesday was in no way a rejection of him and his agenda, he is willing to listen to any remedies either party might suggest for the very serious problems plaguing our nation right now.  But because of the severity of those problems; because of his continued emphasis on climate change, electric cars and Bush blaming; and armed with the American peoples’ show of muscle last Tuesday, I instead find this President’s response pathetic.  And arrogant.  And so quintessentially him.

I have had the great honor and privilege over the last couple of years to attend various small gatherings featuring the likes of republican Congressmen Eric Cantor (R-VA) and Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) – the “young guns” they are called, rising stars of the republican party.  For two years, they insist, they have literally begged this President and his minions to listen to their ideas, only to be shut out consistently by a fatally inexperienced man whose oh-so-clever response to his opposition has consisted of: “I won….you are ‘enemies’….get to the back of bus.”

But on Wednesday, during his embarrassingly inept day-after-the-bloodbath press conference, he seemed to have flown back in time to those halcyon days of 2008, when he canvassed the country campaigning to adoring crowds and a slobbering media. He even pulled out those insipid comments about his “funny name” and his unusual upbringing, his attempt, perhaps to return to that happier time when he was regarded a god.

Obama increased the embarrassment quotient of his presser when he invoked, as well, all those tired old anecdotes with which he assaulted us for an entire year as he struggled so desperately to convince the American people to swallow willingly the bitter pill that is Obamacare (and we all know how that turned out).  I personally did not need to hear rehashed again the endless stories of all those poor anonymous people who had to sell their homes to pay for health insurance and similar tales of doom and gloom. And through it all, appearing so very folksy, he would drop the “g” on his gerunds – “talkin’,” “movin’,” “drivin’” – you know, that thing he does to convince the masses that he’s one of us.

In the end, all he did was solidify my hope that no one will be fool enough to believe a word this man says. Now. Or ever. This panicked President is not to be trusted. Now. Or ever.

And now, Obama and an entourage unmatched in size and expense by any entourage in American presidential history are off on an opulent, five-star, completely unnecessary, budget-busting tour of Asia. As he embarks on said excursion, let us all remember what the President told us on Wednesday: “Budget, budget, budget, people. Tighten those belts and stop spendin’ more than you’re earnin.’ See ya!”

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

The First Step Toward Our Great Nation’s Rescue

November 3, 2010 | Comments (2)

It’s morning in America, and on this fine morning we may at last breathe a great sigh of relief.

We might say that Election Night, November 2010, was an evening of miracles, but when we consider the character of our nation and her people, there was nothing miraculous about the outcome.  After four years in the desert, which found many, including many on the right, claiming that the age of conservatism is over, the Republicans have recaptured the House of Representatives by more than 60 seats with a message of conservative principals.  We the people have finally been able to express our adamant opposition to this administration and its radical agenda, and yesterday we took the first step toward salvaging our great nation before she is maimed beyond all recognition.

But this is only the beginning, and Republicans, both the newly elected and the remaining entrenched, are wise to hear the message.  Many of the candidates who won last night, unseating powerful Congress members who have been in DC for decades, did so with the backing of the Tea Party and a conservative constituency that refuses to tolerate the repeated attacks any longer.  Newly minted Republican Florida Senator-Elect Marco Rubio said it best in his victory speech: “We make a great mistake if we believe that tonight these results are somehow an embrace of the Republican party.  What they are is a second chance, a second chance for Republicans to be what they said they were going to be not so long ago.”

The Republicans did not take the Senate, although they did make progress in that area – Barack Obama’s Illinois Senate seat, for one, going Republican.  Several Democrat strategists and pundits actually confessed that they wished the Republicans had claimed a Senate majority, so that the Democrats would not have to take responsibility for anything that occurs in the months ahead. (Indeed as many discovered tonight, taking responsibility for one’s actions – such as a vote for nationalized health care — can be quite painful.)

The highlights of an evening filled with highlights included:

  • The staggering number of Republicans who claimed the governorships of states throughout the nation – even in Ohio and Michigan  – which will prove detrimental to the Dems as the 2012 presidential election process heats up.
  • Disgraceful Florida Congressman Alan “the Republicans want you to die quickly” Grayson is out, and it looks like his fellow caught-on-tape-arrogant-whackjob colleague, Bob Etheridge (D-NC), is gone, too, the latter having fallen to his opposition, a nurse named Renee Elmers.
  • Right-wing victory speeches were rich with evocation of American exceptionalism and the beauty of our founding documents.  How long it has been since we have heard those touted and celebrated so vigorously.  Congressman John Boehner (R-OH), the presumptive Speaker-of-the-House come 2011, choked up with genuine emotion when he reflected on what occurred on this night.  It was lovely to behold (as was the lack of teleprompters across the board).
  • And, finally, no more Speaker-of-the-House Nancy Pelosi!  

Of course, not all went our way last night.

New York and California both chose to stay their course toward complete economic collapse, casting aside candidates with proven business acumen in favor of Governors, U.S. Senators and Congressional Representatives superglued to punishing tax-and-spend policies, self-serving special-interests, and the White House.  Look to New York and California, and you will find elected officials in lockstep with the Obama administration and anything their dear leader mandates.  Especially infuriating was California’s re-election of dim-witted Senator Barbara Boxer, whose track record includes repeated insults against our military and against successful black businesspeople who refuse to remain in what she considers their “place.”

Of equal, if not greater, disappointment, however, was the re-election of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV).  That said, it would have been difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to beat the “incentives” (food, gift cards, free flights to polling places) he and his union supporters used to inflate his numbers.  Nevertheless, he has been defanged, as have his fellow conspirator Nancy, now relegated to non-Speaker status, and his dear Obama in the White House.

Speaking of Mr. Obama — and his wife — I would guess there is much anger permeating the halls of the White House this morning.  This First Couple does not deal well with opposition, and I imagine their hostility toward America has mushroomed exponentially over the last 24 hours.  Much was speculated last night about Obama coming out today in a contrite move to the center, complete with brilliant words about compromise and bipartisanship — which anyone would be a fool to believe, let alone embrace.  I personally doubt he has that in him in any genuine sense, and, frankly, I would prefer to see him remain as radical and hostile toward America as ever – in other words, remain true to who you are, Mr. Obama.  Stay the course.

As for the new influx of Republicans who will be flooding DC come 2011, they need to stay their course, as well.  We the people have sent them a clear message.  We the people have had enough of the nonsense that has come for far too long from both sides of the aisle in our nation’s capitol.  Will they take that to heart?  Only time will tell.  But now, we will be watching.

Betsy Siino | Comments (2)

Reflections on Election Day, November 2nd

November 2, 2010 | Comments (0)
It’s been impossible to forget that today is November 2, 2010, a day so many of us have awaited so ardently for two years.  With the election results due to start trickling in in about an hour or so, some reflections from the day:

1.  Started the day with my usual non-scientific review of various news outlets and their early coverage of a potentially historic day for America.  Fox News proceeded as expected with wall-to-wall coverage, and CNN seemed fairly well focused, as well.  Then I clicked on MSNBC to find them discussing first, New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg; then the New York Yankees (they could at least have discussed the San Francisco Giants, who won the World Series last night); and, finally, a few minutes later, a panel discussing Barack Obama.  The upshot of the Obama discussion: If the blood-bath predictions for the democrats come true, Obama is so amazing he will handle it brilliantly and carry on as the most gifted and successful President the world has ever known.  And that was enough for me.

2.  Went to vote an hour after the polls opened and found my polling place far more crowded than usual, a situation that seemed true all over town.

3.  Perused some headlines and found that Barack Obama is backpeddling on his labeling of Americans who oppose him as “enemies.”  Too little, too late.

4.  Listened to Dennis Miller on the radio as people called in from all over the country to report their polling places were packed to the gills – and glorying in the fact that it took them up to two hours to vote.  Dennis was an absolute delight, as eloquent as always.

5.  Looked through a calendar I received today from the USO with my daughter.  It had us both teary-eyed, even moreso when I remembered that the votes of so many of our troops who sacrifice their lives daily for our nation, our families and our children will not be counted.  And that is just the way the democrats want it.

6.  Was barraged by endless political commercials, my own Congressman bragging only, and repeatedly, that he supported cancer research, but not a word about how he has obediently voted exactly as Obama/Pelosi/Reid have mandated in the House.

7.  Felt oddly and unexpectedly content and relaxed throughout the day.  Here’s hoping there’s a reason for that.  And now time to find out….

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Do You Hear the People Sing?

November 1, 2010 | Comments (2)

Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the songs of angry men.
It is the music of a people
Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart
Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start
When tomorrow comes!
(Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg)

I am a great lover of musical theater. And as my family well knows, I like my theater dark and tragic, rich with the immortal themes of injustice, redemption, pain, healing and unrequited love, temptation and salvation, courage and sacrifice, tyranny and triumph.

Not surprisingly, then, topping my list of all time favorites is the magnificent Les Miserables, the epic story of hero Jean Valjean and the people of an early 19th-century France vowing to bring justice and representation to their corrupted nation.  Here we find, as well, the equally magnificent song from above: “Do You Hear the People Sing?”  This song has not-so-mysteriously popped into my head repeatedly over the last week or so, particularly tonight on the eve of Election Day, 2010.  I can think of no better commemoration.

Tomorrow is a day many of us thought would never come.  I need not reiterate the significance of this day for the salvation of our country, but if we the people do not decisively take our country back tomorrow, I don’t know if we ever will.  But I also have complete faith that the people of my country, “singing the song of angry men,” will not let me down. Tomorrow, fired by that anger, may our votes speak for the fact that “we will not be slaves again.”  As they also say in Les Mis, “one day more.”  See you on the other side….

Betsy Siino | Comments (2)

We the People Flex Our Collective Muscle. Again.

September 21, 2010 | Comments (0)

Oh what fun it has been watching the left melt down in the wake of last Tuesday’s primary elections.

With what they deem dangerous, rightwing nutjobs – and certainly anyone endorsed by Sarah Palin and/or the Tea Party – emerging victorious, often at the expense of “moderate” incumbents expected to glide onto their respective ballots, liberal elites have been shrieking and stomping so violently, I expect at any moment they will simultaneously pop clusters of veins.

When not shrieking and stomping, they wag their fingers at us from their political offices, from television screens and from computer monitors, warning us how dangerous that oh-so-ignorant-racist-intolerant Tea Party is, and how destructive it will prove to be to our conservative cause and to the republican party at large. Their concern for our cause simply evidence of their own panic, they as usual choose to address only half of the story. Mainstream republicans received a smackdown of their own last week, the conservative victories illustrating for them once more that we the people will no longer tolerate a republican party that is nothing but a weak and appeasing photocopy of the left.

Their desperation in fever pitch, the left has now laughably even played the “witch” card against newly minted Delaware republican senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell. So enmeshed in their own hysteria, they are, much to our amusement, grasping for any and every possible straw in their mission to vilify and demonize the Tea Party.

I do not at all regret to inform them, however, that it’s too late. The momentum begun with the elections of November, 2009, that brought us, among others, rising conservative star New Jersey pitbull Governor Chris Christie, has spun out of control, and I’d say, thankfully, there’s no turning back.

Even in my own extremely blue corner of the country, entire blocks of flags are seen flying on homes – many atop newly erected flagpoles – some demanding “Don’t Tread on Me.” Check out the bumper stickers, too, my most recent serpent-adorned favorite seen on a car next to me in a parking lot today: “Liberty or death. Don’t tread on me.” I saw that and grinned the same grin I see on people everywhere these days. It’s the grin of the momentum that we all hope and suspect is unstoppable. November 2nd can’t come soon enough.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Accountability and Regretful Americans

July 13, 2010 | Comments (1)

I wish I could laugh, hearing that captains of industry now regret the millions they donated to Barack Obama, arming him with the power to decimate American industry and the free-market system. I wish I could smile when I hear the lapdog media reporting with shock that confidence in this President is plummeting across the board, and that even members of his own party are realizing they have made a terrible mistake by pledging him their blind allegiance. I wish I could at least grin upon hearing that millions of voters now admit they would vote differently if given the opportunity to go back in time to November, 2008.

But I’m not laughing, and neither am I feeling the relief I suppose I should upon hearing that these Americans have recognized the terrible mistakes they made. Because of the devastation those mistakes, those choices have caused our country, our families and our children, I feel no relief, no sympathy. This is permanent-record territory, so anger is all you’ll get from me.

From sea to shining sea, well-educated, highly skilled, Constitution-loving Americans are admitting they regret their votes for Obama now that their eyes have opened to the true character and agenda of the man. We just don’t understand what happened, these individuals invariably plead.

But why don’t they understand? What’s the big mystery here? It’s really quite simple: They and so many others just don’t want to acknowledge the part they played in the current attacks on our country. They did so knowingly, and probably at the time with a big goofy smile of do-gooder, guilt-relief on their faces.

Though my own conscious is clean, I find the simplicity of this tragic situation staggering. Here you have thoughtful, highly skilled, professionally experienced people who have worked very hard for what they have achieved in this life. I know these people. You know them, too. Now along comes this guy running for President. To spare my own sanity, I’ll skip the description of his lack of experience, his mysterious past, his frightening associations, and his childhood scars.

Now, given this man’s thin resume and problematic personal background, let’s ask our regretful yet accomplished, hard-working, professionally experienced Americans, including friends and family members of our own, if they would ever hire this man to work for their companies, their practices, their shops. Of course they wouldn’t. And they would say this without hesitation, I’m sure. Yet millions of these same accomplished, professionally experienced friends and family members, also without hesitation, entrusted the futures of our precious nation, our families and our children to this same incompetent individual.

And they should be ashamed. Not shocked. Not disappointed. Ashamed.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to shed my own anger over what they did to us – beginning with what I hope will be a redemptive election for our country come November. In the meantime, all those regretful Americans out there can take their first step toward their own redemption by acknowledging their guilt – not regret, guilt — and then doing all they can to make things right again.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)