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)

Portrait of an Everyday Patriot

August 3, 2010 | Comments (1)
A woman near and dear to me recently attended a town hall hosted by her Congressman, George Miller (D-CA). She had waited a year to attend such a meeting, writing and calling Congressman Miller almost daily. But her congressional representative, like so many of his colleagues, has been hiding under a rock for the last year, tiptoeing out only long enough to jump a jet back to DC, safe from his constituents 3,000 miles away.

For those unfamiliar, Congressman Miller (D-CA) is an entrenched San Francisco Bay Area representative who not only votes however his Bay Area mistress Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) — and, by extension, fearless leader Obama — mandate, but is also the driving force behind the idea that the federal government should take possession of the nation’s 401K accounts. According to Congressman Miller, the feds are far more qualified to take care of your 401K money than you are. You understand.

But on this particular summer day, suddenly believing the media propaganda that the American people have forgotten their rage and are climbing onboard the Obama express, Congressman Miller ventured out into the sunlight and into a Bay Area auditorium.

It didn’t take long for the Congressman to learn he had severely misread the tea leaves. Before he knew it, he was being hailed by a woman – a mom, a grandma, a regular American – a woman whose emails, letters and phone calls he had successfully dodged for over a year. Before the night was over, this woman, a woman so near and dear to me, would emerge an everyday American patriot.

She took the microphone and told Congressman Miller that she had no question, but rather a statement to share with him. Her only intention was to verbalize what she had been writing to him for months, this time making sure he heard. She would report afterwards that she no idea her words would garner such cheers and applause from the other people surrounding her as, for the first time in her life, she spoke in a public forum. Health care, cap and trade, crippling taxes, the future of her grandchildren – she covered them all with that pure and organic eloquence that comes only when true passion is the source.

And as a mom and a grandma, practiced in the art of motherhood, not politics, she informed her representative that she did not appreciate the canned mass-mailed and spammed form letters that were his only contact with his constituents. “Congressman,” she said, “in one of your emails you said, and I quote, ‘I am working very hard to pass these bills in order to help you make smarter decisions.’ Congressman, I am 71 years old. I do not need you or the government to help me make smarter decisions!”

What she did need, she told him, was for the government to stop. “Please stop,” she pleaded. “Just stop the spending and the government takeover of every aspect of our lives….we have the right to make our own decisions, and we will make our own choices.”

Much to Congressman Miller’s relief, you won’t find this on YouTube. The woman at its heart wasn’t looking for viral notoriety so she made no such preparations. Her intent was simply to be heard by the man ostensibly elected to represent her and her family’s interests, a man who at one point during her statement tried to stop her, to quiet her, but, trained as she is as mom and grandma, she informed him she would finish, and he would listen.

And he did listen. He had no choice. What he heard will have no bearing on what he does, of course. Nancy and fearless leader Obama hold those reins. But others listened. And others are listening all across the country. And others are speaking up for the first time in their lives, too, just like this everyday patriot who is so near and dear to me. And to you. And to all Americans who applaud those who are finding a courage they never knew they had to stand up in defense of the country we love.

Betsy Siino | Comments (1)

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)

General McChrystal’s Dismissal and a Failing President’s Panic

June 23, 2010 | Comments (4)
So General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of our U.S. troops in Afghanistan, is summoned to the White House to explain comments critical of the Obama administration in Rolling Stone Magazine. The military hit piece insinuates that the General and his inner circle are not all that pleased with Obama and his minions (even though he, the General, allegedly voted for Obama). General McChrystal is summarily dismissed by Commander-in-Chief Obama, a man unworthy even to lick the combat boots of this American hero, who for decades has upheld his Constitutional oath to protect this nation from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

And I say, thank you, General McChrystal. Perhaps by your own design, you find yourself playing a key role in this flagging President’s pathetic effort to suggest he is a leader in a time when his incompetence is being showcased in circus-like clarity to America and the world. Perhaps you and your staff were insubordinate in even considering (for whatever reason) speaking with Rolling Stone, but you are no fool, Sir, and I am confident you knew exactly what you were doing.

For months I have ranted that our military cannot possibly respect this man they are forced to regard as their Commander-in-Chief. Perhaps this recent event, then, is a message, a sign sent to us from our troops, reassuring us that despite their mandated courtesy, the military at large does not in any way respect or trust this radical left-wing administration and the man at their helm.

We have seen glimmers of this, particularly in the less-than-boisterous response our military tends to offer the President when he enters a room. This occurred most recently, when the light applause that greeted Obama for his West Point commencement address forced him to delete a reference to overwhelming cheers from his telepromptered speech. It’s downright laughable to imagine that this anti-war, anti-military “community organizer,” who surrounds himself only with like-minded sixties throwbacks (“wimps,” their critics in Rolling Stone called them) would somehow believe that the greatest military force in the world would follow them blindly in their efforts to bring our great nation to her knees.

Nevertheless, Obama today justified his dismissal of a man so blatantly his superior in a phony, hawkish speech, insisting, without any shred of authenticity, that he values debate among his team and that he reveres the greatness of America and her military. If he says it, he figures once again, we will believe.  And, once again, he is wrong. In fact, early response to his latest phony speech indicates that far too many Americans for Obama’s comfort are once again viewing him, his words and his actions as wrong, ineffectual and dangerous.

 Obama has told us, as well, that General David Petraeus will be taking the reins in Afghanistan. In his phony-hawk speech Obama sang General Petraeus’ praises, apparently hoping we’ll forget those halcyon days when he counted himself among the tyrants in our government who referred to this American hero as General “Betrayus” and treated him with abject disrespect when he testified before Congress about our troops’ success in Iraq. But we won’t forget, Mr. Obama. Ever. And you can bet that despite whatever you discussed today, General Petraeus hasn’t forgotten either.

The bottom line here is that this is simply another wrench thrown into Obama’s ongoing troubles that seem to be spiraling out of control by the day. And, as with all the pathetic, face-saving, panic-driven decisions he makes, he will soon be reminded yet again that there are consequences to his unique blend of thuggery and ineptitude.

Though Barack Obama attempted to appear strong and decisive to the masses today (his expression revealing another truth), his decision unleashed a man of true leadership and heroism who can squish him like a bug, both literally and with his now-liberated freedom of speech. The General has street cred among us “regular Americans” that the current occupant of the White House will never have. Despite General McChrystal’s alleged vote for Obama – which, frankly, I find the most shocking element of this entire story – I have a feeling the General  will do much in the months ahead to make amends for a vote that helped to sentence our nation to Obama’s twisted dominion.

In the meantime, as we await the fallout of General McChrystal’s dismissal and a failing President’s panic, my prayers remain with our troops in Afghanistan. Once again they find themselves pawns in an insidious game of wonton D.C. decisions that place political aspirations and posturing above their safety, their security, and their dedication to protecting our United States. May God be with them. May God be with us all.

Betsy Siino | Comments (4)

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)

Trying to Look Away

March 21, 2010 | Comments (0)

I’m trying to stay away from it. It’s agony, the waiting. It’s like watching two high-speed trains heading full-speed, head-on toward each other, watching and waiting for the ultimate collision that you know is coming, that you know will be of catastrophic proportions, the pit in your stomach telling you to look away, but you can’t.

So I am removing myself entirely from the overlook that gives me a view of those trains. Yet in the brief moment I dared to look down, I learned that:

Alleged pro-lifer Stupak is huddled in a corner with other alleged pro-lifers; I can only imagine that self-serving conversation, which you know has nothing to do with rules of law or the American people.

Pelosi was mobbed by protestors and was apparently overheard telling Hoyer that they have to pad the vote because “none of these members wants to be the deciding vote.”

Congressman Alcee Hastings (D-FL), a member of the House Rules Committee is on record commenting about rules: “we make ‘em up as we go along.”

Reid has urged fellow Senators not to worry, that the public option will be added to the bill in “coming months.”

TV pundits are claiming this is just like the contentious passage of Social Security and Medicare; no mention that they are both in financial ruins and were ultimately passed by bonafide bipartisan support.

I can’t stand anymore. Watching a government takeover of the country you love: agony. Watching those who have the power to exercise courage to prevent it: blood boiling. Watching the Constitution you revere shoved through the White House shredder: unforgivable.

Time to look away. Time to step away from he overlook. For awhile. I’m grabbing my family and going to lunch. And I will remind myself that when this day is done, we must look toward rescue and redemption and possibly entertain the notion that today may just mark the start of a new American Revolution. And they fired the first shot. But America will survive — in the image of our people and that of our founders — not in the image of the left-wing fascists who will take a decisive step today toward destroying her. They may win this battle, but ultimately, America will survive. Semper fi.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)

Trusting Our People

March 17, 2010 | Comments (0)

I believe in the American people. And for the last year and three months, they have not let me down. Every time they have been given the opportunity to let their voices be heard, to shout and scream – and vote – against the people who have made it their mission to destroy our country, the American people have not hesitated to shout, to scream, to vote.

From the summer’s town halls; to the special elections in Virginia and New Jersey; to a miracle vote in Massachusetts that saw a little-known republican claim a Senate seat all of Washington, and America, assumed was a Kennedy entitlement; to the congressional phone lines jammed yesterday and today by Americans scrambling not only to tell their so-called congressional representatives that they don’t want this atrocity of a health-care bill, but also to remind those so-called representatives that it is their job to represent their constituents, not a man in the White House whose dream is to see America reduced to a third-world dictatorship.

But this time, we the people are being denied the precious inalienable rights granted by the Constitution. Having met defeat after defeat at the hands of the American populace they so despise, the criminals in Washington have concocted a plan to bypass those ungrateful Americans and the Constitution they rode in on, thus ensuring that they, the criminals, can jam through any policy or crippling bill they “deem” critical to their transformation of the United States. In other words, this is only the beginning, folks. They jam this health-care atrocity through without a vote, without the consent of the American people, and the sky’s the limit. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) so much as said just that yesterday.

Americans do not want this. Our founders did not want it either, and they did all they could to protect us from those who would try to destroy us from within. But cowardice and evil are reigning supreme in DC tonight, especially among those sniveling representatives who don’t want this thing either, but nevertheless kneel whimpering at the feet of the President, Pelosi and Reid.

Meanwhile I am filled with so much rage I can hardly talk. But I take some solace knowing that my rage is shared by the vast majority of the American people who have remained exactly who I have always believed them to be throughout this chaos. I look forward to the day when we will at last be able to channel the energy of that rage toward the rescue, protection and preservation of our nation once more.

Betsy Siino | Comments (0)