Patriotism Is in the Details

March 9, 2011 | Comments (1)

In January, 2010, I wrote about my attempts to cancel my subscription to Golf Digest when they decided to feature Tiger Woods and Barack Obama on their cover. The issue in question accosted readers, from said cover to pages and pages inside, with ridiculous images of Obama coaching golfer Woods on the fine art of posing for a camera – an activity in which the current president of the United States has spent far too much time.  While Woods, despite his troubles, is a golfer and would belong in a golf magazine, Obama….not appropriate on so many levels.

Well, I am happy to announce that after a year of my repeated cancellation efforts, Golf Digest has finally cancelled this subscription.  We weren’t even paying for it anymore, the freebee no doubt their acknowledgement of a mistaken decision that I have a feeling cost them quite a few subscribers. But I persisted (and let them know why), just as everyday Americans are persisting all over the country, performing small acts of revolt – the small details — that are fueling the rising tide of patriotism we are seeing everywhere.

Beyond the election results, the Tea Party events and the town-hall meetings that have sent elected officials hiding under rocks over the past two years, we find testament to the fact that Americans do not intend to see their nation go softly into the dark night of the left’s efforts to “transform” this country in the details. A few examples:

  • Record sales of guns and ammunition, resulting in Barack Obama being repeatedly named “gun salesman of the year” (and probably the century).
  • Flash mobs spontaneously erupting at Christmastime, with thousands of people singing undeniably Christian Christmas songs – so many thousands that one mall even had to be closed because of the threat to the building’s foundational structure.
  • Thousands of seniors cancelling their memberships with AARP because of that organization’s support of Obamacare with its blue pills and bureaucratic “death panels” that spell doom for America’s elderly.
  • Enraged parents (myself included) contacting the Disney Channel for repeatedly featuring Michelle “let-them-eat-cake/do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do/for-the-first-time-I’m-proud-of-my-country” Obama and her lectures to the peasants about what and how much to feed our children.
  • Car buyers shying away from companies that are owned by a partnership of the United States government and labor unions.
  • Air travelers happily giving their seats on overbooked flights to men and women in uniform flying home to see their families.

Also pervasive in my own life – and in many other American lives as I have discovered – is the effect the current political climate has had on my choice of the movies I see. I am and always have been a profound lover of movies, back in the day attending once a week or more. All that changed post-9/11 when Hollywood’s true colors emerged as never before. From that time forward, I have found it impossible to see past the virulent anti-American, hypocritical rants of certain Hollywood players, despite their lacking expertise in military strategy, economic theory, historical context, or, I suspect, even high-school diplomas — no matter how great their performances on the silver screen.

Show me a trailer featuring one of these nimrods, and my kids roll their eyes, waiting for my own rant to begin, knowing that here is yet another film to be stricken from the list of those for which I would be willing to shell out cash to see. Ignorance being bliss, I carefully guard the names of those performers I love who have not yet to my knowledge spouted off about how our nation should be run into the ground.

What fuels my optimism is knowing I am not alone in my own small acts of revolt, and I encourage those who believe in this country to keep up the good work. Make decisions for the future of our nation, and let those who stand to profit or lose from those decisions know about it. God is in the details, and so is patriotism and the salvation of our country.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

Thanking President Reagan for Being Here When We Needed Him

February 6, 2011 | Comments (0)

It seems somehow poetic as we commemorate the weekend that would have marked Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday, that we find our nation and our world desperate for a man of President Reagan’s strength, determination, and fearless belief in America and her founding principles.

As Egypt explodes, as the American economy continues in freefall, and as the security of our nation teeters precariously on the precipice, a left-wing media that abhorred Ronald Reagan during his tenure as president, now desperately and pathetically tries to convince the masses that the man currently occupying the White House is none other than the second-coming of the man who called that house “home” throughout most of the 1980s. (Just check out the recent cringeworthy cover of Time Magazine depicting Ronny gleefully embracing Obama as partner in patriotism!) Of course such comparisons fall on deaf ears, just as those of us who revere our 16th president never bought those ridiculous comparisons of Obama to Abraham Lincoln, either. 

The very existence of such idiotic comparisons (some shamelessly made by Obama himself) is evidence that many of Obama’s own lapdogs on the left have recognized not only the need for fearless leadership in these treacherous times, but also the weakness of the man we currently call president.  The sudden chaos in Egypt has provided a clear wake-up call to all of us, leaving even those we would least expect to do so, saying, “Reagan would know what to do” – or, even “George W. would know what to do.” Yes, they would. And the guy in charge now? Not so much. Faced as he is with such monumental challenges and failures, he’s looking weaker by the minute, and don’t think those who oppose us in this world aren’t noticing.

While individual Americans may have disagreed with President Reagan on individual issues, not to be denied by anyone was the man’s fierce love of America and her special brand of liberty, opportunity and goodness unique to all the world. So let us celebrate his life today and every day, and be grateful he was here when we needed him, willing to do the heavy lifting to preserve and protect our great nation and her people. May his courage and devotion serve to inspire others to be here when we need them, as well….in 2012 and beyond.  Like President Reagan himself, I intend to remain optimistic. As he well knew, where America is concerned, there is no other option.

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)

Pearl Harbor, a High School Debate, and Arming Our Daughters

December 7, 2010 | Comments (4)
Sixty-nine years ago today, Japan ushered our nation into World War II with an early morning decimation of our Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor.  Imagine sitting in a typical American living room on that day of infamy, 1941, gathered with the family around the large domed ratio, listening to words from the tinny speakers almost too shocking to believe. Though I was not around in 1941 to have shared that moment, I, along with anyone reading this now, was alive and well on a terrible day in September 60 years later, when another early morning attack would, like Pearl Harbor, shake us to our core and usher us into a war with those hellbent on destroying our great nation.

Driven as I am always to find connections, I think, as well, today about a great debate that erupted organically in my son’s high school social studies class a week or so ago.  The topic: the necessity of war. As expected, many in the class regurgitated the tired liberal – fatally pre-programmed — axiom: War is never the answer. My son and his best friend held the opposing view – a view that will one day in such a setting earn them the title of “warmonger” or similar tired liberal labels. But they may take comfort from the countless souls in this world, past and present, who, in times of unspeakable circumstance and evil, are and would be forever grateful to those men and women who recognized when war was truly the only answer.

So I say to those who believe otherwise, go ahead and cling to your “war is never the answer” cliché. Ignore the suffering and salvation of victims and survivors of the Holocaust.  Ignore the suffering and salvation of men and women shackled and punished under despotic and primitive rules of “law.” And ignore the suffering and liberation of people throughout the world held as slaves and/or sentenced to the wonton cruelties and absurd policies of tyrants. Only then can you truly embrace the notion that “war is never the answer.” But for many, if not most of us, the enormity of the human suffering that has been relieved when one side takes up arms against another proves too powerful to ignore.

Which brings me to yet another connection: an article I stumbled upon yesterday on the Town Hall website entitled “Girls Just Want to Have Guns.” Here author Doug Giles discusses in graphic detail the atrocities committed against young women in our so-called feminist society – a sad and despicable state of affairs that could be averted if we only prepared our girls to declare war on the perpetrators with martial arts and weapons training.

Though the response to Mr. Giles’ piece was overwhelmingly supportive from people who obviously do wish to see their daughters, wives, moms, sisters and friends protected and prepared to fight when necessary, peppered throughout, as well, were the typical wimpy, worn anti-gun, kumbaya liberal “self-defense is never the answer” gibberish.

So once again the liberals tell us it’s just dandy to ignore a fascist dictator who is destroying an entire population with gas and ovens, because, you see, war is never the answer. Once again the liberals tell us they are perfectly content to allow tyrants to torture, maim and murder in a demented quest for power and entertainment, because, you see, war is never the answer. Indeed the morally and intellectually superior liberal types find it both commendable and necessary to accept rape, home invasion and indiscriminant murder, even against members of one’s own family, one’s own children, because, you see, war, guns, martial arts, knives, self-defense and self-protection are never the answer.

Pretty twisted viewpoint, if you ask me.  I’ll stick with those among us – the majority, I believe – who know that sometimes war is the only answer, whether that be war between nations or war waged by criminals and terrorists against our families on the homefront. And on this day, an infamous December 7th, I thank those men and women who gave their lives in Pearl Harbor that day, and every day before and after that day to keep our nation, our families and our children safe.

Betsy Siino | Comments (4)

Making Every Day Veterans Day

November 11, 2010 | Comments (0)
Today we as a nation honor the men and women of America’s armed forces who have ensured that our America remains what President Ronald Reagan referred to as “the last best hope of man on earth.”

In contemplating the sacrifices of our country’s veterans and those of their families, I believe a great many of us in a sense view every day as Veterans Day, perhaps without even realizing it.  Not a day goes by when we don’t give a thought and our thanks to our veterans for what they do for us, for what they have done for us, since the earliest days of our great nation. 

We wouldn’t be here, we wouldn’t be who we are, without our veterans.  So on this November 11th, in honor of our nation’s true heroes, I vote we make every day Veterans Day, offering our thoughts and thanks to those courageous Americans, who, from the front lines, have kept us safe and kept us free.  May our efforts in turn remind our veterans that their sacrifice for our nation and our families will not have been in vain.

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)

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 Will Never Forget

September 11, 2010 | Comments (1)

“Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?”

I awoke this morning with these words from Alan Jackson on my radio, my country station featuring such songs as Jackson’s “Where Were You” to commemorate this day, September 11th.

I know where I was. We all know where we were. And though there are some in this country with screeching voices and amplified microphones who would rather we forget, we won’t. Ever.

And that is why the vast, vast majority of Americans, all Americans, never dreamed that nine years after that September day, we would be arguing not over the design of the buildings that should replace the Twin Towers, but the building of a mosque upon the sacred ground where the Twin Towers once stood.

The opposition hurls names at this majority of Americans who wish to keep that ground, and the remains of the thousands of souls lost on that ground, sacred. They scream that we are anti-this, anti-that, phobic-this, phobic-that, and, most laughably, they claim we are un-American. For this instance and this instance only, the fundamentally frightened appeasers haul out the Constitution, claiming we who oppose the plan are defying our founders’ intent – and, most importantly, placing ourselves in grave danger.

From politicians to media hacks to talk show hosts, the politically correct ignore pleas to investigate the shady funding behind the project (which, if terror-rooted, would throw the whole “freedom of religion” argument out the window), pleading instead in so many words that if we don’t do this, if we don’t obey, they’ll hurt as again. And indeed, more than one imam has declared publicly, one on national television: If you don’t build it on that site, on that ground, where we say it must go, more attacks will follow.

The left, including the President of the United States, has heeded such threats, and, with the help of New York City’s mayor, New York’s leading candidate for Governor, various New York Congresspeople, leftwing media outlets and formerly funny late night talk-show hosts, they are trying desperately to obey the edict.

The only trouble is, we the people are not so obedient. We know conquest when we see it. We know that the same people pleading the mosque’s case would be singing a different tune if the targets on that September day had instead been Rockefeller Center or the Ed Sullivan Theater. We also happen to be far more familiar than they with our Constitution and our founders’ intent. We believe good and evil exist in this world, we believe in right and wrong, and, above all, we remember where we were when the world stopped turning on that September day. So, no, we won’t obey. And we won’t forget. Ever.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

Obama Announces the Iraq War Is Over

September 1, 2010 | Comments (1)

Last night Barack Obama announced in a speech delivered from the Oval Office that the war in Iraq has ended. Looking unbearably uncomfortable in his desperate attempt to appear presidential, Obama did this just in time for flailing democrat candidates to take credit for the war’s end come election day, November 2nd.

Though he has for years hesitated to say anything remotely positive about the War on Terror, with his tepid compliments last night to our troops (avoiding such dirty little words as “victory,” and skewing badly such words as “patriot”), he left most of his audience – even the side of that audience seated in the left wing – unimpressed by his performance.

Obama navigates uncharted waters whenever he takes a stab at playing Commander-in-Chief, evident in the responses he yields from his listeners, particularly his listeners who happen to be members of the United States Armed Forces. No wonder. Last night Obama once again offered troop-extraction timelines to America’s enemies, and he spoke of “turning the page” on Iraq. Indeed with these three simple words – “turning the page” — he dismissed the American lives lost, both at war and in the attacks on our homeland on that terrible, tragic morning in September of 2001. He dismissed, as well, the sacrifices made by our troops and their families over the last nine years since that day to keep subsequent attacks off American soil.

 Which brings me to what I consider the most jolting segment of his speech. I’ll let him speak for himself:

It is well known that [George Bush] and I disagreed about the war from its outset. Yet no one could doubt President Bush’s support for our troops, or his love of country and commitment to our security.

Huh?

While many may have disagreed with President Bush on a number of issues, including the war, his devotion to our American troops and the nation they are sworn to protect is beyond reproach. Last night, however, Obama, giving his predecessor a condescending pass rather than offering him any credit for the war’s success, suggested as a given the notion that crowds of people are questioning President’s Bush’s commitment to troops and country. Obama seemed to be projecting his own insecurity in a lame attempt to deflect the growing doubt among the American people about his own alleged lack of support for the troops, a less-than-ardent love of country and her heritage, and a questionable commitment to our nation’s security.

Obama may try, as he did last night, to overcome this doubt by evoking the spirit of our American fighting men and women, but those very men and women can see right through such ploys. Simply witness the genuine love and respect they would shower upon the former Commander-in-Chief (and vice versa) compared to the mandatorily polite greeting they typically offer the current holder of that position.

Our troops are no fools. They know who has their back.  And they know who doesn’t. We the people know it, too.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

Disneyland’s Lincoln Warns Us of Dangers Within

August 22, 2010 | Comments (1)

I don’t think I have mentioned in these posts that I am a fanatic for Disneyland (the original in California). Having grown up practically next door to the park, and working there summers during college, I have never gotten the place out of my system.

I was thus thrilled during my recent visit to the park to see that Abraham Lincoln has returned after a several-year absence in the legendary “Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.” The President returns in the audioanimatronic form and setting in which he was originally seen in the 1960s, original introductory narrative, graphics, and speech intact, said speech featuring prominently our 16th President’s profound belief in liberty; the American people; and the notion that if America is ever to be destroyed, it will be from within.

You could not be more timely, Mr. President.

This experience took me back to my one and only visit to Walt Disney World in Florida six years ago. A highlight was the Hall of Presidents, a seemingly living gathering of all American Presidents, past and present. I was fortunate to see an audioanimatronic George W. give the keynote address, as the sitting President is granted that honor. Needless to say, I won’t be returning to the great hall as long as an audioanimatronic you-know-who is featured speaker.

But seeing Disneyland’s tribute to Abraham Lincoln got me thinking: Perhaps the Powers-that-Be at Walt Disney World should consider changing things up a bit at the Florida outpost. Perhaps they should grant the speaking position to the certainly deserving President Lincoln.

Think about it, Disney-World-Powers-that-Be, would you please? Imagine Mr. Lincoln, flanked by his presidential colleagues, delivering the same words he shares with us in California:

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty. And the American people, just now, are much in want of one.

What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and our independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts. These are not our reliance against tyranny. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms.

Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some trans-Atlantic military giant, to step the ocean, and crush us at a blow?

Never!

All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer: that if it ever is to reach us, it must spring from amongst us….If destruction be our lot, we, ourselves, must be its authors and finishers. As a nation of free men, we must live through all times, or die by suicide.

“Or die by suicide.” Think about that. And look around.

He turns then to face the current President who stands arrogantly nearby nodding to the adoring masses in his spindly designer suit. The 16th President points a long index finger at the 44th.

“I’m talking to you, Obama,” he growls.

Then, turning back to his audience, he concludes: “Let us have faith that right makes might,” he says, “and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”

Ah, well, I can wish upon a star, can’t I?

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)