Friday, August 25, 2006
Where Is Israel's Andrew Jackson?
It was the fiery General Andrew Jackson who rode into Spain’s West Florida in 1823.
He captured and hung two English citizens of spying for Indians in Spanish territory, tore down the Spanish flag replacing it with the Stars and Stripes, and gave everyone in Spanish Florida reason to fear the American General.
The King and parliament of Spain and England expressed shock and demanded an immediate apology from the United States government for such a naked act of aggression. Europe was horrified.
President Monroe was irate and embarrassed by Jackson’s charade. He left town leaving his vice-president the thankless task of addressing Spain, Andrew Jackson, and all of Europe.
What on earth could the vice-president say to a stunned world watching naked American aggression?
A crafty letter was the answer. The letter indicated the dismay and dissatisfaction America bore with Spain’s handling of West Florida. The Spaniards had been warned to control those living in their lands or else. Hadn't wild Indians destroyed American settlements and families one too many times America’s taste?
Since the Spaniards were incapable of civilizing their own lands, the American cavalry was the only recourse left, according to the letter, to protect her own citizens from the savages that roamed the land. Thus, the terror and mayhem of killing innocent American civilians on the plains of beautiful West Florida had been halted by gutsy General Jackson. The toast and greatest hero of America could hardly be reprimanded, though he deserved it. Of course, history would later call him Mr. President.
Israel might learn a thing or two here. America found its moral cause for intervention, sympathy was availed, and American citizens were nobly protected by the American cavalry at the borders of civilization.
How different is Israel’s cause to protect its own citizens from the Hezbollah in Lebanon than that of America’s West Florida in 1823?
Is not Hezbollah’s design to destroy the nation of Israel? Does not Hezbollah target children and women in Israel and celebrate to Allah their deaths? Is not Hezbollah the same group that hides its well-trained militia behind the women and children of Lebanon as shields against precision guided Israeli weaponry?
Will Prime Minister Ohlmert rise up to be the Andrew Jackson of Israel? Should not Prime Minister Ohlmert issue the Monroe Doctrine of Israel to its neighboring nations to secure its sovereignty?
Ohlmert should send the following message:
Since the UN resolution 1559 for six years has been ignored by the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah, a threat to the civilized world and Israel’s existence; since Hezbollah, a known terrorist organization, has been elected by the Lebanese people into parliament to represent Lebanon; since Hezbollah initiated transgressions capturing Israeli soldiers in Israeli territory; since Hezbollah has fired thousands of missiles into Israel as acts of provocation against innocent citizens- for this Israel must decisively act.
For these reasons shall Israel defend its land, its people, and its sovereignty against the evil acts of an oppressive militia in Lebanon that seeks the destruction of Israel.
* A cease fire is unacceptable.
* A truce is unacceptable.
* War is declared on Hezbollah and any other organization that aids Hezbollah’s fight against Israel’s sovereignty.
Since the Lebanese government is unable to control the barbaric acts of violence against Israeli citizens, Israel will pull an Andrew Jackson.
As General Andrew Jackson eliminated threats of violence against American citizens by invading West Florida and securing the peace, should not Israel invade Lebanon? Should Prime Minister Ohlmert not secure the perimeter of Lebanon’s northern, eastern and southern borders while hunting down every Hezbollah terrorist inside Lebanon simultaneously?
Had General Andrew Jackson been around to see Prime Minister Ohlmert issue such a decree, I do believe he would be proud to call Ohlmert friend.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Parent Manifesto: School Year Success
When Dinner is Missing?
May 27, 2005
“All great change in America begins at the dinner table,” Ronald Reagan said.
The great American past time of having dinner at the table, small talk, and home cooked food may well be a picture as to why our children today do not excel in academics like they did fifty years ago.
Standardized tests are pouring in each year during the last week of May measuring our children’s performances. It’s not a pretty sight. We rank last nearly last in educating our children across the globe amongst industrialized nations. Our children wear the caps and gowns, walk the stage, and enter life less prepared than ever before. Why can’t our children spell, read, write, think or do the arithmetic that fifty years ago was child’s play? Plato, Kipling, Shakespeare, and the like have been traded in for MTV, Ludicrous, and Fifty Cents.
Now it would be easy for us to blame our teachers, educational system, or lack of funds for the sub-par performances we see. But other nations with far less money have fared far better in educating their children. Why? I’ve experienced the difficulties of being a parent and of teaching in the classroom. The insights I lay out right now.
Our teachers know that the easiest way to lose their jobs is to report a failing grade even if a child earned that grade. If the kid fails, that teacher’s job is on the line. Teachers go about giving fake grades to failing students who didn’t do their work. And walah!!! We have a kid that passes, but he leaves school ignorant.
Today there are lots of kids that deserve nothing less than a swift kick in the rear end. But there are lots parents that need a swift kick in the rear end because they create a latch-key, broken-home environment that destroys the discipline and nurture required to train quality kids. And, of course, we expect our children to perform in school as their homes disintegrate?
These same parents have the audacity to gleefully look on with pride as caps and gowns are worn. The charade continues year after year. Their children are passed on and it feels great.
Only later will these parents lament the haunting tragedy of their failed parenting skills. The one thing they could have done to change the outcome? Just have normal dinner and normal talk at the dinner table with their children.
Parents for sure will blame the system, the lack of funding, the poor teachers, the idiot politicians, and anyone who can be their scapegoat. But one day they will have to look in the mirror. When they do, the truth will stare them in the face.
From the womb, our parents held the shelter, clothing, and food to train us into greatness. And it was their duty to discipline and nurture us until we became disciplined and educated.
When our infant babe becomes a toddler brat, it’s too easy for us to score it up as the “terrible two’s”. And when our toddler becomes a bratty adolescent, it’s too easy to call it a phase of life. And when the cap and gown are put on our child’s head as a young adult, and they can’t read, write, or reason, its too easy to blame the schools. And then we wonder how our precious child became such a brat and then a barbarian in life?
Of course, it’s too simple to boil the success of our children’s education down to one thing in life. But parents who didn’t do dinner at the table with their children are the same parents who hoped that teachers would do the parenting job- instill respect, knowledge, and inspiration into their own children who they chose not to train. Their kid was disrespectful at home. Parents were afraid or unwilling to go to war at home with that child. So they shipped him off to school hoping PH.D’s counselors and teachers armed with gobs of money and new techniques could fix their problem-child which they created. Lo and behold! Eighteen years later the parents could see the nightmare they created firsthand, an untrained, undisciplined child for life.
But think back with me for a moment. Do you remember the old-fashioned approach to school? Our parents would sit us at the dinner table for dinner. They would say grace, eat dinner, and converse with us all the while requiring a respectful countenance and attitude from us. How difficult was it for our parents to make sure that we did our homework well? If we were untrustworthy, our parents broke our bottoms and our wills to teach us to submissive to authority.
Maybe- just maybe- it’s possible that America’s solution to its educational nightmare is the use of the family dinner table again?
May 27, 2005
“All great change in America begins at the dinner table,” Ronald Reagan said.
The great American past time of having dinner at the table, small talk, and home cooked food may well be a picture as to why our children today do not excel in academics like they did fifty years ago.
Standardized tests are pouring in each year during the last week of May measuring our children’s performances. It’s not a pretty sight. We rank last nearly last in educating our children across the globe amongst industrialized nations. Our children wear the caps and gowns, walk the stage, and enter life less prepared than ever before. Why can’t our children spell, read, write, think or do the arithmetic that fifty years ago was child’s play? Plato, Kipling, Shakespeare, and the like have been traded in for MTV, Ludicrous, and Fifty Cents.
Now it would be easy for us to blame our teachers, educational system, or lack of funds for the sub-par performances we see. But other nations with far less money have fared far better in educating their children. Why? I’ve experienced the difficulties of being a parent and of teaching in the classroom. The insights I lay out right now.
Our teachers know that the easiest way to lose their jobs is to report a failing grade even if a child earned that grade. If the kid fails, that teacher’s job is on the line. Teachers go about giving fake grades to failing students who didn’t do their work. And walah!!! We have a kid that passes, but he leaves school ignorant.
Today there are lots of kids that deserve nothing less than a swift kick in the rear end. But there are lots parents that need a swift kick in the rear end because they create a latch-key, broken-home environment that destroys the discipline and nurture required to train quality kids. And, of course, we expect our children to perform in school as their homes disintegrate?
These same parents have the audacity to gleefully look on with pride as caps and gowns are worn. The charade continues year after year. Their children are passed on and it feels great.
Only later will these parents lament the haunting tragedy of their failed parenting skills. The one thing they could have done to change the outcome? Just have normal dinner and normal talk at the dinner table with their children.
Parents for sure will blame the system, the lack of funding, the poor teachers, the idiot politicians, and anyone who can be their scapegoat. But one day they will have to look in the mirror. When they do, the truth will stare them in the face.
From the womb, our parents held the shelter, clothing, and food to train us into greatness. And it was their duty to discipline and nurture us until we became disciplined and educated.
When our infant babe becomes a toddler brat, it’s too easy for us to score it up as the “terrible two’s”. And when our toddler becomes a bratty adolescent, it’s too easy to call it a phase of life. And when the cap and gown are put on our child’s head as a young adult, and they can’t read, write, or reason, its too easy to blame the schools. And then we wonder how our precious child became such a brat and then a barbarian in life?
Of course, it’s too simple to boil the success of our children’s education down to one thing in life. But parents who didn’t do dinner at the table with their children are the same parents who hoped that teachers would do the parenting job- instill respect, knowledge, and inspiration into their own children who they chose not to train. Their kid was disrespectful at home. Parents were afraid or unwilling to go to war at home with that child. So they shipped him off to school hoping PH.D’s counselors and teachers armed with gobs of money and new techniques could fix their problem-child which they created. Lo and behold! Eighteen years later the parents could see the nightmare they created firsthand, an untrained, undisciplined child for life.
But think back with me for a moment. Do you remember the old-fashioned approach to school? Our parents would sit us at the dinner table for dinner. They would say grace, eat dinner, and converse with us all the while requiring a respectful countenance and attitude from us. How difficult was it for our parents to make sure that we did our homework well? If we were untrustworthy, our parents broke our bottoms and our wills to teach us to submissive to authority.
Maybe- just maybe- it’s possible that America’s solution to its educational nightmare is the use of the family dinner table again?
Saturday, August 19, 2006
*****The Ishmaelites in the 21st Century?*****
The Only Man Whom God Ever Called Jackass!
“You shall name him Ishmael,
For the Lord has heard of your misery,
He will be a wild donkey of a man;
His hand will be against everyone
And everyone’s hand against him,
And he will live in hostility
Toward all his brothers”
Genesis 16:11-12
The dusty pages of biblical scripture come alive with descriptive pictures of a jack ass whose children wreak havoc across the globe in gangster style terror for centuries. It’s just like the Clingons and Romuluns of Star Trek, who have been let loose in the universe to destroy everything they don’t like. Aren’t Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Quaeda, The Muslim Brotherhood, Ayatollahs, and Imams the children of Genesis 16’s jackass?
Did not the biblical scriptures describe with precision the shameful venom that Ishmael's children would spew forth for generations to come?
Every Muslim knows his enemy, Israel. Every Muslim knows his 1st born heritage as children of Abraham. Painstakingly, every Muslim knows that Isaac, Abraham’s 2nd son, produced the line of modern day Israelites. And every Koran believing Muslim, if he is orthodox in his faith, understands his role is to reject Israel’s place in this world.
Mohammed and Abu Bakr in the 7th century of Arabia coalesced tribal leaders across the desert to form bands of gangs to raid local cities of their wealth. So well did the early Muslim leaders get at raiding cities and states, ultimatums were given both to Persia’s King and the Byzantine Empire’s ruler in the 7th century:
“Submit to Allah and his ways, or face the sword of death.”
Persia fell to the raiding Muslims. Christians lost their lands, people, wealth, and parts of their civilization to the marauding band of Koran-loving warriors in the 7th and 8th centuries. The Middle East fell victim including Jerusalem. North Africa was next. Not until Charles, the Hammer, Martel saved Christendom from complete annihilation in Southern France did Christianity have a chance to survive.
The Christian response was long in coming. Four brutal crusades were fought to retake lands that were raided centuries earlier by Muslims between the 11th and 13th centuries.
By the 15th century the Ottomans ruled as Muslim Turks engulfed huge swaths of lands. Slowly lands were relinquished as technology, weaponry, and economics of the Christian west passed the golden age of Islam in the dust. By 1914, the Muslims had chosen to fight on the side of the Germans against the allies. It was the losing side. The Arab lands full of past Muslim glory were carved up into colonial protectorate states of sorts.
Today’s modern world sees Muslims are frustrated historians who live their past repeating the stories of "Mehmet the Conqueror", and "Saladin, the Great", while destroying the future of their children.
If its not Jews orthodox Muslims are jihading against, then it is Christians. If it is not Christians, then it is Hindus. If not the Hindus, then it is western secular influence. Modern day Muslims were born and bread to fight an enemy. Peace is no ultimate goal of fundamental Muslims who plan to meet Allah with a host of virgins as a reward in heaven. It is Jihad that matters most. Osama Bin Laden declared,
“Muslims love death like westerners love life.”
Today’s Muslim children celebrate the wars of Mohammed’s and Abu Bakr’s 7th century band of hell’s angels that rode into cities and states doing Jihad for Allah. Mehmet the Conqueror and Salidan are heralded as 11th and 12th century heroes for having slaughtered the enemies of Allah again and again. The 1000 year golden reign of Islam through the 16th century is craved and longed for by Muslims across the globe. Modern day Muslims remember the past as their license to destroy the future of their children and others as well.
Every Muslim knows his enemy, Israel. Every Muslim knows his 1st born heritage as children of Abraham. Painstakingly, every Muslim knows that Isaac, Abraham’s 2nd son, produced the line of modern day Israelites. And every Koran believing Muslim, if he is orthodox in his faith, understands his role is to reject Israel’s place in this world.
Mohammed and Abu Bakr in the 7th century of Arabia coalesced tribal leaders across the desert to form bands of gangs to raid local cities of their wealth. So well did the early Muslim leaders get at raiding cities and states, ultimatums were given both to Persia’s King and the Byzantine Empire’s ruler in the 7th century:
“Submit to Allah and his ways, or face the sword of death.”
Persia fell to the raiding Muslims. Christians lost their lands, people, wealth, and parts of their civilization to the marauding band of Koran-loving warriors in the 7th and 8th centuries. The Middle East fell victim including Jerusalem. North Africa was next. Not until Charles, the Hammer, Martel saved Christendom from complete annihilation in Southern France did Christianity have a chance to survive.
The Christian response was long in coming. Four brutal crusades were fought to retake lands that were raided centuries earlier by Muslims between the 11th and 13th centuries.
By the 15th century the Ottomans ruled as Muslim Turks engulfed huge swaths of lands. Slowly lands were relinquished as technology, weaponry, and economics of the Christian west passed the golden age of Islam in the dust. By 1914, the Muslims had chosen to fight on the side of the Germans against the allies. It was the losing side. The Arab lands full of past Muslim glory were carved up into colonial protectorate states of sorts.
Today’s modern world sees Muslims are frustrated historians who live their past repeating the stories of "Mehmet the Conqueror", and "Saladin, the Great", while destroying the future of their children.
If its not Jews orthodox Muslims are jihading against, then it is Christians. If it is not Christians, then it is Hindus. If not the Hindus, then it is western secular influence. Modern day Muslims were born and bread to fight an enemy. Peace is no ultimate goal of fundamental Muslims who plan to meet Allah with a host of virgins as a reward in heaven. It is Jihad that matters most. Osama Bin Laden declared,
“Muslims love death like westerners love life.”
Today’s Muslim children celebrate the wars of Mohammed’s and Abu Bakr’s 7th century band of hell’s angels that rode into cities and states doing Jihad for Allah. Mehmet the Conqueror and Salidan are heralded as 11th and 12th century heroes for having slaughtered the enemies of Allah again and again. The 1000 year golden reign of Islam through the 16th century is craved and longed for by Muslims across the globe. Modern day Muslims remember the past as their license to destroy the future of their children and others as well.
Consider the following:
* The Ayatollah Khomeni in the late 1970’s preached death to the “Great Satan”, America, when I was a 10 year old boy seeing American flags burned in the streets of Tehran.
* Ahmadinejad of Iran spews vitriolic death mantra to Israel and seeks WMD’s.
* Hezbollah, Iran's its militant covert force, provokes Israel.
* Hamas demands the death of Israel giving up its boys and girls in tightly strapped death bombs in Israeli marketplaces.
* Al-Quaeda attacks every western friendly institution possible from embassies to central business districts (including the World Trade Center and the Twin Towers).
* The Muslim Brotherhood, formed in 1960, has taken elections in Egypt, overrun Sudanese politics, and infested Syria with sister organizations. Their goal: to destroy Israel.
Ishmael’s venom been has been witnessed in 1948, 1967, and 1973 as all-out assaults to destroy Israel were initiated. Today’s Muslims all carry different names. They are Sunnis in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Egypt. In Iran, Iraq, and Syria they are Shia. They form street gang militias like the PLO, Hamas, Hezbollah, Al-Quaeda, etc…with each as its central tenet to physically destroy the children and women of Israel and the west, not to mention each other.
Each Islamic sect carries the DNA of hostility and resentment born of their father, Ishmael, 3500 years ago. If we have any doubts, will not history bear these facts to be true?
The dusty pages of the bible clearly revealed that not only was Ishmael 3500 years ago a jackass. But his children who spew venom today are jack asses just like their father. Unable to get along with anyone around him, Ishmael wreaked havoc and lived in hostility and strife. Wouldn’t Ishmael be proud of the terror and hate spewed by his children today?
Like father like sons: some things never change!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
What Would Thomas Jefferson Say Today?
America's War on Terror
America's War: What Would Thomas Jefferson Say About War on Terror?
It was the pacifist Jefferson, elected President in 1801, who stunned an American republic by sending out American war party ships to the North African coast. The destination: Tripoli of Tunisia and Morocco. The purpose: destroy the Islamic terrorist threats that were pirating American shipping across the African oceans.
Who on God’s green earth could be so powerful as to demand ransom and hold hostage the commercial powers of England, France, Denmark, and Americans? The Barbary pirates, of which scores of movies and plays have since been made, were absolutely crippling in the 1790’s to all shipping and commerce in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean. The Barbary Pirates of North Africa were a feared and destructive bunch.
So how did the Europeans address Islamic terror on the high seas in the early 19th century? Ransom money, pay-offs, and bribes were the trick. Like bullies on the playground who steal the lunch of the little kids, the Barbary Pirates bullied the most powerful European nations on earth. In fact, because the colonies of America had no navy to speak of in 1784, even the Congress paid $60,000 to the terrorists of Tripoli, Morocco, Algiers, and Tunis to create free passage for its merchant ships in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.
Of the French and English, instead of warring with this Islamic threat, pay-offs to renegade Islamic regents were less costly, at least initially. To pay off the bad guys for protection across the sea lanes was much more practical. Of course, quality pirates have one flaw with making a deal. They don’t keep their word. When more money is offered by another trading nation, the Barbary pirates raised the price for appeasement on every other nation.
Thus, President Jefferson entered the fray. A states rights man who despised standing militias as dangerous to the republic, cast his lot to fight terror and fund it with money he didn’t have. Within six weeks of taking office, it was time to attack to protect American interests abroad. Is it not remarkable that the American republic fought two wars on terror and the American Revolution from Jefferson to Madison in a fourteen years period?
Although the Europeans thought it better to yield to terror demands on the high seas, Jefferson’s Congress paid for naval war ships that set sail to right the injustices against her merchant shipping. Those responsible who had captured innocent American vessels, stripped them bare, and held America’s sailors for ransom were going to pay.
These were Islamic terrorists who would bear the brunt America's newfound creation: the marines and their anthem which hailed the phrase “the shores of Tripoli”. Within fifteen years, the marines supplied by a compliant Congress brought the Barbary pirates to their knees. The terror that had nabbed merchant vessels and sailors alike around the coast of Africa, the Mediterranean, and Atlantic were no longer a threat.
And who were America’s new heroes? Here to stay were names like commodore Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge that placed the American navy and marines on the world’s stage.
Although these North African Islamic terrorists went back to pirating and profiteering during the American Revolution, American and European eyes set their targets on the terrorists and bombed Algiers, Morocco, and Tunisian shores into final submission. For Americans, the sweet day of March 15, 1815 marked the sailing of Commodores’ Stephen Decatur and William Bainbridge and ten fighting ships to rid the terror of the high seas near North and West Africa. Decatur signed a release of America from payment in perpetuity to pirates. And on June 16, 1815, America had loosened itself free from the grip of terrorism.
It was 1816 that the British and Dutch followed America’s lead. Bombing the port of Algiers brought high sea terror to an end for both England and Holland as well. Treaties were signed. Commercial shipping was now pirate-free along the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean.
So what is the moral of America’s first war on terror? Every generation has its terrorists who malign, kill, and rob innocent people of their freedoms. Did not Thomas Jefferson identify rogue terrorist sponsoring states and lay aim to beat down this threat against American interests? Did not President Jefferson have the courage to lead the attack on those states sponsoring terror? After only 14 years, terror had been defeated. Merchant shipping had been set free.
Today we have a choice even in the midst of a debacle in Iraq:
Will we call ourselves Neville Chamberlain’s children hide behind the rhetoric of peace as Israel has appraently done with the Hezbollah terrorist state to their north?
Or will we we courageously take aim at every terrorist sponsoring state including Iran, Assyria, Hamas of Palestine, and Hezbollah- and intelligently fight a Jeffersonian war against these rogue states?
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