They Do It in Vietnam

Godfather Politics
Verbatim Post

Eventually, even people in Communist nations – and even nations where the individual people and their families have been oppressed for centuries – begin to realize the value of individual liberty, and the sanctity of property. And when they realize it, they fight back. Literally.

That’s what Doan Van Vuon, a fish farmer in the Vietnamese city of Hai Phong, did. He fought the police who came to seize his farm. The farm was on government land leased to the Vuon family for a specific period. The family developed the land from swamp to a farm. Then the government declared that the land is needed for other purposes and tried to evict the Vuons before the lease was over.

The Vuons met the police with home-made land mines and improvised shotguns. They repelled the 100 police officers, wounding 6 of them in the battle. Later, though, the police came prepared and three of the men in the family were arrested, including Doan Van.

But instead of condemnation in the country controlled by Communists, Vuon is turning into something of a national hero. And his popularity is so high now that even the central government in Hanoi is reluctant to support the local authorities. Vuon’s heroic resistance against the government’s change of rules and violation of contracts has gained sympathy among the Vietnamese.

Liberty and justice are popular. Even in a Communist country. Especially in a Communist country.

Meanwhile, in the US, the “eminent domain” as a means of confiscation of private property is increasingly used and abused by both local authorities and the Federal government. As I am writing this, private farms are closed or confiscated by the Federal government for selling raw milk – to favor big corporations using practices that are dubious, morally and legally. And not a single shot is fired. Where have the all the patriots gone? The Founding Fathers must be turning in their graves.

At least the rest of the world is learning to resist. They do it in Vietnam. Hopefully, we’ll start doing it here, again.

Honor in the Valley of Tears

Just seeing the last part of this and it is good. Misty here. Comes on again at 11PM eastern on Documentary channel.

The story of A-Company 1/8 4th Infantry Division, US Army during the Vietnam War from 1965 to 1967. In the men's own words, through the stories they narrate, the film gives us insight into the time these men spent together and the bond they formed that remains unbroken to this day. The 4th Infantry Division is one of the only divisions that trained and retained its troops during the Vietnam War. The men of A-Company trained together for eleven months and served together for one year.

Their story begins with basic training at Ft. Lewis Washington in 1965 and continues 40 years later at their last reunion in September 2007. Filming began September 27, 2007 in Houston, Texas during a reunion to honor First Sergeant David H. McNerney, who is the only living member of the 4th Infantry Division to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was celebrated by the men he trained and served with and who's lives he saved on March 22, 1967. Conceived by executive producer John A. Ponsoll, whose father served with A-Company and had documented his tour of duty with a Kodak slide camera, the film honors the memory of A-Company 1/8 and documents their incredible courage and dedication to one another.

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1SG McNerney was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Johnson for his actions at Polei Doc, Republic of Vietnam on March 22, 1967. 1SG McNerney took command of his company during an attack in which all of the officers were killed or wounded by a numerically superior North Vietnamese force. Of the 108 men from Co A, 1st Bn, 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division - 22 were killed and 43 wounded on that day.

Footnote: The next day they found over 400 NVA graves or bodies around the perimeter. This company went on to fight more intense engagements during the war. Remarkable outfit. The full movie is a killer.

Hindsight

The patriots who declared the independence of this nation, who fought a bloody war to achieve that independence and drew up the federal papers - which describe the freedoms and liberties that independence would insure - promised us "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

The government of this nation consisted of elected officials who came together periodically to pass the laws and chart the course of this new country, men who were plantation owners, lawyers, doctors and merchants whose interest in government was to steer it away from monarchy and dictatorship, to guarantee the rights of all men and insure their ability to go as far in life as their intelligence and work ethic would take them..

At that point government stepped back out of the way and let each man rise or fall according to what his wit and ingenuity were capable of. He could strike out across the largely unchartered plains and lay title to vast acreage by homesteading, or he could go into the mercantile business, open a store in one of the many towns that were popping up across the frontier or harvest the plentiful timber, or fish bountiful oceans, be a fur trapper or a ordinary wage earner.

Opportunity abounded and vast fortunes were invested in laying rails establishing freight and passenger lines to move a restless population across the endless expanses of this new nation.

If you farmed, you lived off what you could raise and what you could get to market. If you ranched, your living depended on getting your herds to the railhead and nobody was responsible for you, except you.

You stood on your own two feet, if your crop failed due to laziness you were in for a hard winter. If you didn't get your cattle to market, there was no money. No government subsidized your crops or moved your herds for you.

It was root hog or die. You depended on your God, yourself, your family and your neighbors. There were no safety nets. If you fell, you fell, got up, dusted off and started again.

The only social programs were the charity of good people helping those less fortunate folks who needed a hand up.

This kind of society, though it definitely had it's blemishes, bred a race of men who conquered the West, brought about the Industrial Revolution, abolished slavery, fought and won two world wars and stared down communism.

Nowadays instead of our government being our protector and the guarantor of our rights and freedoms, it wants to be the be all end all center of our lives, the authoritative Robin Hood taking from the "haves" and giving the "have-nots," encouraging the "have-nots" to be "never haves" with their "give fish instead of fishing poles" policies, fostering such a dependent mentality that much of society now believes they have to depend on government for even their contraceptives and that the government should force employers to provide them free of charge.

I am perfectly willing to help feed the poor, to provide medical care for the indigent to provide shelter and clothing to those who can't provide them for themselves, but in the name of all that's reasonable, I do not - emphatically do not - believe it's my place to provide contraception or abortion for anybody and resent my tax dollars being spent on it.

In my book, providing contraception is downright silly. That's not a government function. It's funny how the same people who demand federally subsidized contraception are the very same ones who scream to" keep the government out of the bedroom."

And you're right; the government should stay out of the bedroom, so provide your own contraception.

Nowhere in the Constitution or any of the other federal papers - except for the colossal socialist document known as Obamacare - can you find any provision for governmentally provided contraception?

Our problem is not about the free distribution of condoms and morning after pills, ours is a problem of self-responsibility, of letting irresponsible slugs father children and leave the expense of raising them to society.

Our problem is one of casehardened consciences that look at a fetus as a blob of flesh instead of a divinely created, precious new life.

Our problem is politicians who sell the future of America for another couple of years of power and a population whose morality is fashioned more by television than the Bible.

The battle that is going on between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church reaches far beyond the right or wrong of contraception, it is a battle to decide if government is going to dictate religious doctrine and practice.

If they can dictate to the Catholic Church about their contraception belief can they tell a preacher what to preach and what not to preach?

Does that sound far-fetched to you?

We are one Supreme Court appointee away from it.

What do you think?

Pray for our troops, and for our country.

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels

Black History Month Spotlight -- Langston Hughes

Via Bernhard

Langston Hughes:

Community Activist & Poet

Before two State legislatures, black communist Manning Johnson identified black poet and activist Langston Hughes as a communist; and that he [Johnson] had been assigned the job of bringing the NAACP into the communist orbit. Johnson further testified to the effect that the NAACP “was a vehicle of the communist party designed to overthrow the government of the United States.” Throughout his career, Hughes was vocally and demonstrably supportive of communist ideology and regimes.

It is said that Hughes became interested in socialism in his youth, with a belief that all property should be divided equally among society---this led him to join the communist party [CPUSA]. He wrote articles for WEB DuBois's "Crisis" magazine as well as "The New Masses," the propaganda arm of the CPUSA, joined the Marxist "John Reed Club" and became director of the pro-communist "Suitcase Theatre" with which communist Whitaker Chambers was also involved. Hughes listed among his early influences James Weldon Johnson who served on the board of the Garland Fund, a philanthropic group which funded various radical and communist movements in the 1920's and 1930's.

In 1932, he went to the Soviet Union as part of a writers project and came away with admiration for Soviet society and saw it as a symbol of hope---in 1934 he wrote the poem "One More "S" In The USA" for the CPUSA publications. Although he only spent a year in the Soviet Union, his 1956 memoir "I Wonder As I Wander" chronicled his visit and made it clear that like so many superficially-educated Americans, Hughes allowed himself to be exploited by the Soviets and became another of Lenin's literary "useful idiots." Hughes was then inducted into the International Union of Revolutionary Writers and wrote passionate odes to communism.

Hughes served as president of the "League of Struggle For Negro Rights," and under his guidance, this organization published the “Harlem Liberator” which fomented race hatred and encouraged black Americans to believe that communism is their only friend, and that they must unite with other communists against the common enemy. The leadership roster of the LSNR was a Who's Who of black American communists, including Benjamin J. Davis, Jr. and James W. Ford, the latter a three-time vice presidential candidate in the 1930's on the CPUSA ticket. Also on the roster were CPUSA presidential candidates Earl Browder and William Z. Foster. Hughes referred to Moscow as "the world's new center."

Hughes was summoned to testify at the 1953 McCarthy hearings but was not able to convince the committee that his previous involvement with communist activities and organizations was

not genuine, and that he really believed in a republican form of government. Eric J. Sundquist recorded in Commentary magazine that "although he was a cooperative witness, his tightrope act left the distinct impression of a man who wished neither to defend nor renounce his former beliefs but simply to set them aside, like an abandoned literary style." In 1960, Hughes received the NAACP’s “Spingarn Medal," its highest award, which was presented to other known black communists like WEB DuBois, A. Phillip Randolph, Paul Robeson and Walter White Hughes authored “The Story of the NAACP” in 1962 that tried unsuccessfully to discredit communist infiltration of the NAACP.

Sources:

The Red Network, Elizabeth Dillings, 1934

American Communism in Crisis, Joseph Starobin, University of California Press, 1972

Communist Party of the US, Fraser Ottanelli, Simon & Shuster, 1987

Oil & War

Via Bazz

5 Minute Forecast

Today we’re going to try to pull back the veil a little and see what’s driving the U.S. to war, again.

“The dispute over Iran’s nuclear program,” declares a blistering editorial in the Tehran Times, the self-anointed voice of the Islamic Revolution, “is nothing more than a convenient excuse for the U.S. to use threats to protect the ‘reserve currency’ status of the dollar.”

“Recall that Saddam [Hussein] announced Iraq would no longer accept dollars for oil purchases in November 2000 and the U.S.-Anglo invasion occurred in March 2003,” the paper goes on. “Similarly, Iran opened its oil bourse in 2008, so it is a credit to Iranian negotiating ability that the ‘crisis’ has not come to a head long before now.”

If the paper’s thesis is correct, then matters will likely come to a head in the next five weeks.

On March 20, Iran’s oil exchange will start trading in currencies other than the U.S. dollar.

“If Iran switches to the nondollar terms for its oil payments,” says an analysis in the U.K. Telegraph, “there could be a new oil price that would be denominated in euro, yen or even the yuan or rupee.”

That would set a precedent for oil trading in currencies other than the dollar for the first time in nearly 40 years — ever since Saudi Arabia’s King Faisal promised President Nixon he’d accept only U.S. dollars for oil.

Is that a pretext for war? We don’t know.

But the Saddam precedent is there. Ditto for the now-departed Col. Gaddafi in Libya, who proposed a “gold dinar” — a single currency for African and Muslim countries.

We do know this much: The number of scenarios that could bring a “New War” to life is multiplying by the day. It’s still on outlier, but less so than it was even a few weeks ago.

For the most part, we don’t pay much attention to the foreign policy set. But one thing’s certain: If a new war does break out, regardless what justifications are gussied up for the American public, it will have a direct impact on your life. Not the least of which will come in the way of higher energy prices... including gasoline

Ron Paul’s Last Hurrah

Don't miss this old one by by Justin Raimondo

If the GOP bigwigs are hoping Paul will eventually endorse the nominee, and bring his supporters into the Romney camp, they don’t know anything about the Texas congressman, who has spent his whole political career fighting the very forces represented by Romney and his backers. Take it from me: It isn’t going to happen. And even if it did—if Ron Paul were suddenly possessed by an evil spirit—he wouldn’t bring very many of his supporters with him. His followers are just like him: principled, cantankerous, and uninterested in merging with the “mainstream.”

The GOP hierarchy thinks it has Paul over a barrel. By holding his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), hostage, the wags inform us that Paul is unlikely to launch a third-party campaign, because it would supposedly end Rand’s career.

Maybe, but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

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Public School Official: Parents Shouldn’t Have Choice

Update: The video has been removed, but a comment below offered this!:)

Toaster 802Feb 14, 2012 04:36 PM

Sub this video instead. Same same...

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Information on the witch from the comments below.

mmasseFeb 13, 2012 04:32 PM

Here is her public information is as follows:
Title: Associate Director
Year: 2008
Phone: 517-694-8955

Fax: 517-694-8945
Email: debbie@memspa.org
Website: http://www.memspa.org

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Moonbattery
VerbatimPost

Choice is a good thing when it comes to killing inconvenient children, but don’t try applying it to kids who survive long enough to go to school. Parents may want what’s best for their children; however, only union-owned left-wing educrats know what that is, as Debbie Squires of the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals Association explains:

Rare colour photos of U.S. troops before and after D-Day

Extremely rare and striking photos of the days leading up to and after the historic D-Day invasion have been put on display, nearly 70 years after World War II's dramatic turning point.

The full-colour images, taken by photographer Frank Scherschel, display anxious American soldiers as they prepared for Operation Overlord, the code name for the Battle of Normandy.

The photos also capture the celebratory tone upon the June 6 invasion’s success.

MORE

100,000 line up to back Sheriff Joe

Officials with Grassfire Nation, a key coordinating group for tea-party-type activities and issues, say the Department of Justice’s investigation of Maricopa, Ariz., County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is nothing more than a political attack.

And to offer encouragement to the sheriff, Darla Dawald, representing the Grassfire Nation group, has presented Arpaio with a petition of some 100,000 signatures from people who have declared their support for the law-enforcement officer.

Grassfire Nation supports the Patriot Action Network, which calls itself the “nation’s largest conservative social action network, involving tens of thousands of citizens,” including many tea party members.

The petition demands DOJ prove its accusations that Arpaio’s office has engaged in a policy to systematically violate the civil rights of Hispanics, which WND has reported DOJ refuses to do.

The petition claims the DOJ investigation is nothing more than a baseless, politically motivated attack on Arpaio.

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Video via Cousin John

Mass murder in Paradise remembered

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Sinful Chocolate, Birthday Cake and Long Hair

Do Medical School Acceptance Rates Reflect Preferences for Preferred Minority Groups?

Dumb question, I know........

Milton Wolf
Verbatim Post

1. For those students applying to medical school with average GPAs (3.40 to 3.59) and average MCAT scores (27-29), black applicants were almost three times more likely to be admitted than their Asian counterparts (85.9% vs. 30%), and 2.4 times more likely than their white counterparts (85.9% vs. 35.9%). Likewise, Hispanic students with average GPAs and average MCAT scores were about twice as likely to be accepted as white applicants (68.7% vs. 35.9%), and more than twice as likely as Asian applicants (68.7% vs. 30%).

2. For students applying to medical school with slightly below average GPAs of 3.20-3.39 and slightly below average MCAT scores of 24-26 (first column in the table), black applicants were more than 8 times as likely to be admitted as Asians (67.3% vs. 7.7%), and more than 5 times as likely as whites.

At my medical school, it was not just common, it was codified. If a minority student was not admitted, they could apply again through a post-baccalaureate program where they were virtually guaranteed acceptance the following year. They took courses on the college campus that exempted them from the toughest first-year med school classes the next year (anatomy and physiology) thereby giving them a significant advantage over their classmates who took the full, customary course load. Their acceptance was guaranteed if they could score at the 50th percentile on the MCAT ... for their ethnic group. On top of that, they were actually paid a stipend for the year.

Sadly, like liberalism often does, the supposed beneficiaries often become victims. I'm not aware of statistical measures and I doubt the numbers are high but I saw some of these medical students simply drop out due to the clinical demands in the 3rd and 4th years, once the didactic affirmative action favoritism could no longer protect them from real-world demands. Some could not find residencies. And some were fired from residency. They were left with enormous, usually six-figure, debts and no means to repay them.

Other victims included the better-qualified but still rejected med school applicants, black med students who earned their positions by merit alone but were viewed with suspicion by a system that had seen too many who hadn't, and -- worst of all -- patients who deserve the best medical care no matter who provides it.