When Your Political Opposition is Committing Suicide….

July 7, 2010 | Comments (2)

Yesterday I heard yet another typically brilliant interview with political commentator and nationally syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer. He was asked what he thought of RNC Chairman Michael Steele’s recent comment that the Afghan war is a war of Obama’s choosing.

Please forgive my paraphrasing of the good doctor’s response, as I would never dream even of attempting to channel his insight, but his answer, as usual, cut straight to the core of the matter. You see, he explained, as only he can, the democrats right now are in the process of committing suicide. And unfortunately, Mr. Steele ignored the first rule of politics: If the other side is committing suicide, get out of the room!

In other words, shut up and get out of the way. Don’t give your opposition and, in this case, their media lapdogs, any distractions they can use to re-direct the public’s attention, or, worse yet, slap those who are imploding back to their senses. Just get out and let them get on with their mission.

As if seeking consciously to prove Dr. Krauthammer’s brilliance, grandam Nancy Pelosi urged her minion democrats seeking re-election this November to get out there on the campaign trail and not only sing the praises of Obamacare, but also boast of their voting for it. And I say, here, here, Nancy! Keep offering those minions that sage advice of yours. And please, dems, listen to fearless leader Nancy’s directives and take them to heart. Do exactly what she says. Sing those praises. Boast of those votes. And don’t let up. Not for a minute. Let everyone everywhere know exactly who you are, where you stand, and what you did.

In the meantime, those of us on the right, don’t mind us. We’ll just be here, quietly leaving the room so you can get on with your mission, undistracted and without interruption. We won’t bother you, so carry on.

Betsy Siino | Comments (2)

Happy Birthday to Our Nation

July 4, 2010 | Comments (1)

I have always loved the 4th of July for what it represents: the birth of our nation, a nation unlike any other in any imagination, at any time, anywhere. I revere the men who risked their lives to create this grand experiment, and the men, women and families who have sacrificed their lives for us to keep it.

But today I find myself reflecting on the fact that this year we observe a 4th like no other. We celebrate our nation’s birth at a time when she faces a great danger unlike any other. Certainly our nation has faced danger before, particularly back in the 1860s during a war that threatened to tear us apart. But our threat today comes from forces within our own government who seek to tear our nation down and rewrite her story to fit a twisted view that in no way resembles what she is and what she is meant to be.

I refuse to see this happen. And I end today, as I listen to the songs that celebrate the greatness of our nation and the people throughout our history who have created and preserved that greatness, knowing I am not alone in my resolve. I remain faithful, even as those in Washington attempt to dismantle and shred the Constitution that is our backbone, that the vast majority of us beyond those cloistered DC walls feel the same in our collective devotion to that nation we are blessed to call home. I thank all of you who over this last year since I began writing on these pages have stood up with me and confirmed what we all know to be true about the American spirit and its endurance.

So now together we embark on the road to the next 4th. Together let us pray – especially after an important wake-up call we are confident will be coming in November to push those deadly forces back – that this time next year we will be breathing a great sigh of relief, knowing we are headed back from the brink. In the meantime, my humble thanks go out as they do every year to our founders, to our troops who keep and have always kept our nation and our children safe, to the courageous and often unsung heroes who have made the nation what she is, and to our God for remaining with us in our past and in our present. Happy birthday, America. Not a day goes by that we are not grateful for you.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

At Least Five Supreme Court Justices Believe in the Constitution

June 28, 2010 | Comments (2)

We who believe in the Second Amendment, and, by extension, the U.S  Constitution, are supposed to look at today as a big day for gun rights. Our opposition probably assumed we would be dancing in the streets right now, celebrating wildly in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 5 to 4 vote, ruling that local governments (such as Chicago and Washington, DC) cannot pass laws denying gun ownership that override the second amendment of the Constitution that grants we the people the unalienable right to bear arms.

But I’m not celebrating, and I’m not hearing many whoops and hollers from others who happen to believe in the Constitution as the law of our land, either. Instead, I am feeling sad, confused and, not surprisingly in our nation’s current climate, angry yet again. I don’t happen to see why there is even a question here. I don’t understand how this case ever found a place on the docket in the first place.

Until further notice, and despite the current administration’s and Congress’ efforts to change this, our nation is governed by the laws set out clearly in black ink and parchment on that legendary document assembled and signed by our founders more than two centuries ago. Stated clearly, alongside our rights to assemble, to speak freely and to practice our chosen faiths, is our right as Americans to protect our homes, our families, and our country, by whatever means necessary. And the Mayor of Chicago, the City Council of Anytown, USA, nor the President of the United States can’t change that. Period. Case closed. No interpretation necessary.

But today four so-called Americans assigned the duty to ensure our nation remains true to its rule of law, the U.S. Constitution, made clear their hostility and disregard for this great document. They announced clearly to all who would listen (and it’s a safe bet, I think, that if confirmed, Elena Kagan, would have joined their chorus, as well) that they are willing shamelessly to cast the Constitution aside in favor of their own leftwing worldview (without forfeiting their own armed bodyguards, of course). This is nothing new, I know, but today’s ruling just seems somehow more blatant than other more subtle, obscure, even complicated rulings of years past.

If I didn’t know plenty of people, including my own son, who have seen the Constitution in person over the last few months, I would guess that if we looked, we would find it in shreds at the bottom of the White House paper shredder having been replaced by an angelic portrait of Barack Obama. But in truth it has been shredded. In spirit if not in fiber. And it leads us to yet another sad day for America. I just don’t know how many more of these we can take.

Betsy Siino | Comments (2)

Memorial Day 2010

May 30, 2010 | Comments (1)

Three months or so after September 11, 2001, the day we witnessed a devastating attack by radical Islamic terrorists on our nation, I went to Ground Zero in New York City. As my friend, a native New Yorker, and I walked from Greenwich Village to Lower Manhattan, we could feel it in the air, growing more palpable, more intense, the closer we got to the site of America’s collective loss. Call it a sensation, an aura, the footprint of the souls who were taken from us that day, the “it” to which I refer here is something known only to those who have been to ground we call sacred.

This was not new to me. I felt it at Pearl Harbor. And at Gettysburg, too. I hope someday to experience it at Normandy Beach and that field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The footprint of the souls who left us in sudden fury. The souls of Americans who were taken from us.

I think of that sensation, those footprints, today on the eve of Memorial Day, the day when we honor the countless Americans who have given their lives, either consciously or in sudden unexpected fury, for our country. I honor as we all must the blood they shed for us, for our children, for the preservation of this extraordinary experiment we call home. And, though my words seem so feeble in comparison, I thank those extraordinary Americans for what they have done for us.

Our nation today is once again traveling treacherous territory. This time we are encountering threats perhaps not so overt as those we encountered on that day in December of 1941 or on the bloody battlefields of our nation’s terrible Civil War or on those beaches in France so far from home – threats that are thus probably even more treacherous because of that. So I think of that famous passage I would hope every American has heard and should embrace. To paraphrase, it reminds us that it is not the reporter or the lawyer or the politician or the preacher or the community organizer who gives us our precious freedoms, freedoms unique and extraordinary in all the world. No, we have only one individual and one individual alone to thank for those precious freedoms. The American soldier.

I for one will never forget the ultimate sacrifice the American soldier has made for me and mine, nor will I ever forget the ultimate sacrifice that soldier’s family has made for us. Knowing full well the enormity of what that sacrifice means to us all, I remain eternally grateful to that soldier on this Memorial Day and every day. And I pray that every American will join me in this. We must never forget.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

Thanks to the Grizzly Moms!

May 18, 2010 | Comments (1)

I want to thank all the Grizzly Moms out there who have contacted me since I praised the spirit of the great mother bear in my last post.

In the crazed times we are now enduring, sometimes it’s natural to feel we are all alone in the wilderness, facing circumstances none of us ever dreamed possible in this great nation of ours. We need to be reminded from time to time that we who love this country and want to preserve and protect her for our children are not alone.

When I hear from others out there who share my love for this nation and my faith in our people, then I know this insanity will be short-lived. You all are doing that for me, as you express your own love for this country and our heritage; your genuine concern for your children, their futures and our liberties; and your faith that together we will prevail in the ferocious spirit of mama Grizzly herself.

So many thanks to you all for reminding me that I am not alone. May this serve to remind you that you – and all who share our love for this country – are not alone either. Keep the faith. We will see morning in America once more.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

Sarah Evokes the Great Spirit of Mama Grizzly

May 16, 2010 | Comments (2)
Once again Sarah Palin has said “boo” and whipped the left into an hysterical frenzy. And this time, it’s personal for yours truly, because this time she evoked the spirit of the great mama Grizzly, as we on this site know to be one of the fiercest, most ferocious creatures on God’s blue planet. Knowing that such a creature belongs to the right and the right alone, and with no such warrior of their own to claim, the left just doesn’t know what to do with itself. Or with her. Or with us. Again.

Sarah told an audience last Friday that it will be the women of the right, the “mama Grizzlies,” who will “take this country back” come November. This is no news to us, the women of the right. We mama Grizzlies have never swayed from our belief in our nation and her people. But those on the left would rather not be reminded yet again that our side is rich with heroic women, who know exactly what this country stands for and are not afraid to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done.

Follow the direction of the venom they spew, and you will find who the left fears most. From Sarah to Michele Bachmann (Nancy Pelosi’s greatest nemesis) to Arizona’s fearless Governor Jan Brewer to Michelle Malkin and Ann Coulter to the courageous women who for the past year at town-hall meetings across the nation have stood up face to face in courageous opposition to the President and his congressional lapdogs, to moms who have demanded that their kids’ schools cease and desist in proliferating this administration’s leftist propaganda and the desecration of our flag, to the women of all ages and economic circumstance who have cast conservative votes – we the ferocious mama Grizzlies, moms and non-moms alike, are their greatest fear.

We know this by their squeals of protest. By the insults they hurl. By the names they call us and their claims that we are stupid, uneducated, illiterate and ignorant. I revel in those names, for they reveal so clearly the underlying fear at the root of such attacks launched by women of the left and their unmanly, namby-pamby men.

What awaits, and what has already begun, just may be the greatest “cat fight” in history. Indeed in our culture, the proverbial cat fight is regarded as a joke, celebrated with lighthearted aplomb in television sitcoms and sports bars and mens’ locker rooms everywhere. But as severely out-clawed and out-fanged as they are now, I doubt our opposition will find – or is finding – a bear fight, more specifically a Grizzly mom fight, quite so laughable.

Betsy Siino | Comments (2)

But Names Will Never Hurt Us

May 4, 2010 | Comments (3)

For the last year or so, the left has told the right in no uncertain terms, like never before, in the most condescending manner possible, that those who oppose their left-wing – make that socialistic, even fascistic — agenda, are to be named the worst of the worst.

Oppose them, and you are “Hitler.” You are “haters.” You are “rageaholics,” “angry Americans,” “truthers” and “tenthers” (those who dare believe in the 10 amendment of the Constitution). You are “religious extremists” and “terrorists” (though don’t dare call a jihadist, the 9/11 perpetrators or the Fort Hood slaughterer, such a vile name). You are “racists,” “goons,” “rednecks”and “astroturfers.”

The list never ends, and indeed they seem to come up with new terms almost daily, patting each other on their collective backs for their oh-so-clever collective intellects that so-succinctly keep us neanderthals on the right in our place. Most recently, the Gulf Coast oil-rig disaster has been christened “Palin’s folly” by a pathetic leftist or two, and even the President of the United States, that scion of civil discourse, has ramped up his own additions to the fray, calling those who oppose his agenda “teabaggers” (well aware, no doubt, and with an arrogant smirk, no doubt, of the full implications of such a slur).

What you won’t hear the oh-so-clever clever name-callers admit, however, is their understanding that we neanderthals on the right couldn’t care less what they call us. Indeed we just add the newest additions to the list and laugh at the obvious desperation they represent. And that is driving our opponents, the clever name-callers, completely insane. That is why they continue to struggle almost daily to come up with more and more names to hurl our way.

But, as they see daily, their slurs fall on our deaf ears. I have been called Hitler (and much worse) myself from time to time – and this in response not to what I write here, but to puff pieces I penned about dogs, horses and small fuzzy pets (it doesn’t take much to incite some people – and, it would seem, some Congressional representatives, Presidents and presidential mouthpieces). We cannot, will not, fear their words. Those who oppose us may say what they will, but we in turn remain undaunted in our love for our country, our founders’ ideals and the enduring documents that made those ideals not only a reality, but the last best hope on earth.

So keep it up, guys. While many on our side who have been physically injured by left-wing thugs since January 2010, can testify, your sticks and stones – and punishing legislation – can break our bones. But your names will never hurt us. Indeed all they do – along with those sticks, those stones, those fists and baseball bats — is strengthen our resolve.

Betsy Siino | Comments (3)

Calls to Arms in an Alarming Time

March 18, 2010 | Comments (0)

Our country is moving at a dizzying pace right now, patriots and usurpers running neck and neck in the quest to claim the heart and soul of America. While Pelosi and el presidente scramble to “convince” the “undecideds” on health care before a just-announced Sunday vote, Press Secretary Gibbs sweats it out at his daily press briefing where for once he is asked genuine questions, and Jon Voight and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) call all freedom-loving Americans to march on Washington on Saturday….yeeehaaa!!

If you’ve been too busy to keep up, here’s the day in a nutshell:

“I am calling to all of you freedom-loving Americans to come once again to Washington D.C. to gather on the Capitol steps on Saturday, at 12 o’clock noon. We must come by the thousands….I’ll see you there!” – Jon Voight

“If you get a deal for you or your district, I’ve already instructed my staff and the staff of seven other Senators that we will look at every appropriations bill at every level at every incidence and we will outline it by district and we will associate that with the buying of your vote. So, if you think you can cut a deal now and it cannot come out until after the election, I want to tell you that that ain’t gonna happen. Be prepared to defend selling your vote.” –Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) in a warning to House democrats.

“…against the opposition of a clear majority of the American people, the Democrats in Congress and in this administration are prepared to ram through a $1 trillion government takeover of health care. Ignoring the will of the American people, twisting the rules of the House and the Senate into a pretzel, we are headed for a showdown this weekend. But I got to tell you, I like our chances….Let’s have the debate. A minority in Congress plus the American people equals a majority. America, we can win this fight!” –Congressman Mike Pence (R-IN)

And finally, a cry for help….

“If you don’t tie our hands, we will keep stealing.” – Congressman Tom Perriello (D-VA)

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Why?

March 16, 2010 | Comments (0)

Why would a man place his hand on a Bible – Abraham Lincoln’s Bible, of all Bibles – and vow to honor and uphold the Constitution of the United States, then set out consciously and publicly to defy the tenets of that document, as well as the people that document represents?

I suppose we already know the answer to this question. Indeed the man now occupying the White House, his wife, the minions with whom he has surrounded and insulated himself, as well as his kindred spirits in the United States Congress, have all made it abundantly clear that the document they are sworn to uphold is meaningless to them. Most, including the President, made this disdain clear when they were running for office. What they did not publicize quite so blatantly was their desire to tear this nation apart from its guts, and rebuild into a distorted and weakened entity that does not even begin to resemble the blueprint set forth in our Constitution, the blueprint they apparently fraudulently swore to honor and uphold.

So I ask: Why are these perpetrators so hell bent on destroying our nation?

It goes beyond a simple lust for power. The President of the United States has power from that title alone. A great deal of power emanates from a congressional seat, as well. No, there is something far more insidious at play here. This current President and his wife have made no secret of the fact that their motive to claim the White House had nothing to do with love of country. Quite the contrary. America needs to be punished, they and theirs have told us, and they and theirs are just the people to carry out the punishment.

Why they have grown to feel this way, well, I won’t use labels (at the moment), but I’d say it has all to do with the so-called “inner child.” The people now running this nation, from the couple occupying the White House, through the administration, to the radical majority in the Congress – and, by extension, the squishy, wishy-washy Congresspeople who have elevated the term “for sale to the highest bidder” to a whole new level – they all seem to be acting out according to their inner demons and past, probably childhood-related, affronts.

Given the realities of early biological brain development, and my own experience as a mom, I firmly believe that by the time a child reaches about 5 years of age, he or she is pretty much formed in terms of who he or she is and will be. We have all had the so-called “inspirational,” and certainly fuzzy, story of this President’s early beginnings jammed down our throats, so it’s not all that difficult to make the leap from that childhood to the man we see before us today. As we know, he is not alone in his mission, so I think we are witnessing a mass expression of childhood angst at the federal level, and it is not at all pretty. The inner children, the perpetual 5-year-olds, have been given the keys to the kingdom, and they are running amok, to the detriment of us all.

Even as I write this, these people are plotting a coup, right out in front of us, for all America to see. They are colluding at this moment to make law a bill that promises to destroy the fabric and fiber and the inalienable rights of these United States. Without a vote. Without the consent of the people. The vast majority of America has refused repeatedly to go along with their plan, so, like a mob of spoiled children, they are going to do it anyway. They tell us that Americans don’t care about parliamentary procedure and Constitutional rules. Translation: We’ll just make up our own rules. We’ll show you.

And they are laughing. Laughing at our love for that stale old document, the Constitution. Laughing at us. See them as the spoiled and damaged children they are behind the grown-up masks, and we see why.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Oh, Danny Boy

March 14, 2010 | Comments (0)

Wednesday is St. Patrick’s Day. This is huge in my predominantly Irish-American community, and though I am not Irish myself, I have always found great comfort and warmth and inspiration in the influence.

Today in church I received that comfort and that warmth and that inspiration just when I desperately needed it, and I don’t think I quite realized it until it called me.

Our week ahead promises not only the annual celebration of St. Patrick, but also the hostile, vicious promises from our so-called leaders that they will do whatever it takes – the Constitution be damned – to make this atrocity of a health-care bill the law of the land. The American people have made it clear that they do not want it. Congressional democrats, along with the President of the United States and his administration, have spat back, “we don’t care!”, and at this very moment they are threatening the members of their own party who are considering a “no” vote and looking for whatever unconstitutional bypass they can find to shove it through without a vote. The capper came today when Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced that by next Sunday, it will be the law of the land.

I am grateful I didn’t hear Gibbs say this personally. I was in church when he said it. Kneeling. Feeling confused and sad, and very worried as I thought about the week that lies ahead for us. But then I heard the soft, haunting introduction on the piano to one of my favorite songs: “Danny Boy.” This was soon joined by the voices of a bonafide Irish tenor in duet with a beautiful deep baritone. And at that moment, the words I had been struggling to find came to me: “Please don’t let them take our country.”

That was my prayer. It was just what I needed, all that I needed. And it was given to me by the beautiful Irish anthem “Danny Boy.”

I felt better after that. I still do. The Irish have always been warriors. They have contributed mightily to the warrior fabric and fiber of America – and why I find such comfort in their influence. Though I remain worried. I sit here tonight and wonder, is Robert Gibbs right? This time next week, as he said, will this atrocity be the law of the land, a jagged tear in our greatness? Please, God, don’t let them take our country.

In my heart, I don’t think it will happen. If it were left solely to the American people, I know it wouldn’t. But there are other, more insidious forces at play here, forces that defy openly what America is and what her blueprint has deemed she must and will be. There is thus a chance that those forces could win this one. They have vowed to do it this week, to subvert with hostility and arrogance our nation, our Constitution, our people and, as an open affront to the Irish, the spirit of St. Patrick. But even if they do take this round – admittedly a terrible blow to those who love this country — I still believe that the American people, and the spirit of the United States itself, will prevail. As I have said so many times before, there is no other option.

 In the meantime, I will keep the lovely strains of “Danny Boy” streaming through my head. And my prayer. Please don’t let them take our country. And with that I say good night, America. This week is going to be a rough one. It’s going to be painful. But as has been the case with all of America’s many righteous battles, we must keep up the fight and keep the faith. God bless us all.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)