Sunday, December 13, 2009

What Is Happening?

I consider Charles Krauthammer to be one of the leading journalists and intellectuals of our day. After reading his article, "The New Socialism", I felt somewhat overwhelmed by all that is happening to the US, both domestically and internationally. His article reminded me of my time as a mechanized infantry platoon leader. Back in the 80's and 90's our training was severely restricted because of the presence of Red Cockaded Woodpeckers, a supposeldly endangered animal. We used to joke that the bird must be a communist because so much of our training was limited or canceled because of the presence of this bird. It couldn't have been an accident that the bird was "red" either. Dr. Krauthammer's article gave credence to something I've longed believed; the environmentalist movement is simply a cover for socialism.

Paul Jacob' s article, "Missouri's Arresting Developments" points to a very serious Constitutional crisis within our nation that deserves much more attention than it has received. The federal and state governments are legally stealing the private property of citizens in the name of eminent domain. The real purpose behind this theft is to increase tax income for the government.

Austin Hill, in "What Are President Obama's Actual Objectives", compares Obama's first year in office to Hugo Chavez' first year as President of Venezuela. He ends with this thought....

"Thus far, “control” has been the predominant objective of the Obama presidency."

We are in a crisis in this country. Every branch of government is now controlled by a politcal party that does not believe in American exceptionalism. It does not believe in absolute right or absolute wrong. The party does not recognize true evil in the world. From Obama's actions, it is clear that he believes the only evil that exists are those who oppose his policies in his own country. Ahmedinejead, Chavez, and Putin, in his mind, are not evil. Limbaugh and Fox News are evil. It is interesting that the only time this president has shown any spine has been against his American political opponents. When it comes to true threats to our nation, he is weak and indecisive.

What is happening to this country? Are we at the end of our golden years? The federal government was created to represent the will of the people. It was a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Now we are slaves to the federal bureaucracy. Congress is not representing the interests of the average citizen. It kowtows to the will of a few special interest groups. Congress is an insatiable pig that feeds off of our tax dollars.

Right now, the Democrats are proposing legislation that will nationalize our health care, place the entire economy under severe environmental regulations (cap and trade), and they are thinking about another bailout. On the horizon is another attempt at granting amnesty to all illegal aliens in the country. If Obama and the Democrats pass everything they say they want, we will have a 10 trillion dollar deficit. They are deliberately breaking this country. Why would a political party do this? You have to go back to the statement in Austin Hill's piece. Obama is about control. The Democratic Party is about control. If these bills pass, the majority of Americans will become dependent on the federal government. The Democrats will be in charge of the government. The entire plan is all about votes. People who are dependent on the government will vote for the party that promises to give away the most "stuff". And yet we will be slaves to this government. The Obama plan is simply to enslave the American people to the national government.

What are we going to do about this? When will we have had enough? Have we forgotten what freedom means? What in the world is happening?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Falling On My Feet

It is a common expression to say, "I fell on my knees", but I just had a thought. As Christians, we are commanded, I think, to fall on our feet. When bad things happen to us, or when we choose to do bad things that have awful results, we...myself included...tend to go into serious remorse and regret. Guilt plagues us to the point that we are unable to reach God's eternal grace. So our first response is to fall on our knees. The problem that I have, is that I am prone to stay on my knees and beat myself up for weeks or longer over sin that God has already forgiven. I get deceived by this. I stay on my knees until time erodes my guilt and I begin, through my own efforts to feel better about myself. It is true that these periods of extreme remorse are also characterized by prayer, confession, and humility. But the problem occurs when we simply use time and our strength to remove or lessen the guilt that we experienced from our sin. I know this from personal experience. Inevitabally, the result of this course of action is that in no time, once the guilt has subsided, I find myself committing the exact same sin that I wish I had never done.

I think the answer to this is to learn how to fall on our feet. When we fall on our feet, we are not committing ourselves to some earthly purgatory where time will wipe away our guilt. We immediately respond to our failures by calling on God's grace and forgiveness. Of course, going to our knees in prayer is the first step in this. But for those of us who are plagued by guilt we must take the next step and get up on our feet and drive on with our walk in Christ. If we fail to gain the confidence that we must have as Christians in God's grace and power to forgive, we will live lives in which our greatest demons will continually have power over us. We voluntarily give Satan power because we cannot trust God at his word. This is very difficult for me.
I want to stay on my knees because it is easier. It is much harder to get back on your feet and walk in the light again...immediately. I would much rather feel sorry for myself, tell others what a worthless pig I am, than dust off my jeans and get back in the Christian saddle again.

We must get back in the saddle. There is no choice. We will have horrible consequences, at times, to the sins we have committed. Sometimes the consequences will seem like more than we can possibly bear. But, through Christ, all things are possible. There is nothing that can happen to you on this earth that Christ cannot overcome. God has not promised us a life of unadulterated joy on this earth. In fact, I believe that Satan is called the Prince of the Earth. God will not remove the pain that addiction has caused to your family, even though He has forgiven you. He will not take away your responsibility for the child you had out of wedlock. He will not bring back to life those you have killed emotionally or physically. But he will hold you, carry you, and open your eyes to His wisdom and His purpose for the pain we endure on this side of Heaven.

When we fall on our feet, we are able to perceive God's plans for our suffering in our life much, much faster than if we continue to stay on our knees and whine. He is our Savior, our Messiah. He has rescued us from a life where all we can see is our guilt. I do not mean to imply that we should have a flippant attitude toward the consequences of our sin. That is a sure recipe for disaster. We should feel sorrow, even anger, at ourselves for continually falling into the sin-trap. We certainly should ask God and those we have offended for forgiveness. But if we remain on our knees, we will receive God's forgiveness, but we most certainly will find ourselves in the not-too-distant future repeating the same sins against ourselves, our family, our friends, and God.

Think of it this way. Our Christian life is a struggle...a fight. That's why Paul gave us the image of a Soldier donning his spiritual armor to fight against Satan. And notice something about that armor. Paul did not just describe the helmet and breastplate. These are purely defensive weapons to protect you from the enemy. He also described the sword. The sword is an offensive weapon. We are to be on the attack against Satan. You do not fight on your knees. You fight on your feet.

When we become Christians, we do not, in my opinion, become passive residents on this planet. We do not build our lives around Deism. God has not wound up this earthly clock, with all the natural laws in place, and stepped aside to let us deal with the consequences of being human. He is active in our lives and we must be active in his kingdom. We are at war. Every day of our existence is a battle. I would venture to say that all of us will lose major battles against Satan at some point in our lives. I certainly lose battles on a daily basis. But I want to fall on my feet when I lose. I will get back up, put on my armor again, grab my sword, and go and do battle against the forces of evil that are trying to destroy me and all those I love.

*Note: I am in no way saying that we should not fall on our knees in utter despair over sins we commit. The first step to true repentence is to fall down and surrender yourself to God's mercy. It is God that puts you back on your feet. It is God that enables you to fall on your feet.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Being Home

I've been home now for a little bit over a year. When I reflect on the first few months at home, they almost seem to be a blur. I have been asked about the things that I did to ease the stress of being in Iraq for a year. I have to say, the stress of Iraq was nothing compared to the stress of being home. While I was gone, my wife would frequently point out to me that I had it easy over there. At the time, I cannot say that I agreed with her. But after being home for less than two weeks, I found myself secretly wanting to return to the battlefield, or Division Headquarters. (That's a joke for those who've been there.) In fact, I was seriously looking for a way to get back for several months. Of course, my wife was not completely privy to this. But she did know that I wanted to return. I do not think this is an isolated incident.

I had a couple of opportunities, but declined. I needed to be home. And now, I know that God is working in my life, despite my best efforts at attempting to run away from Him. My unit is going somewhere soon. I volunteered, twice, to go with them. Both times, I have been removed from the roster to go. I just found out, days ago, that my wife is pregnant. I do not know why God gives me the favor that He does. He blesses me, even when I am doing my best to go against His will. But what I love is His gentle, sometimes not so gentle, way of pushing me down the path that I should go. Enough for tonight. By the way, since it has been so long since I've posted, I am practicing a link below. It is to a Skeptics Guide to the Koran, I hope.

Go here for a blow by blow account of the Islamists instructions for killing all who do not agree.

Saturday, July 22, 2006

There Is Something Rotten in Atlanta, Georgia

There is something rotten in Atlanta, Georgia. Some degenerative agent is eroding the very fiber of all that has made this country the great nation that it is. This past week, I have been following, closely, the events of Israel versus Hezbollah. From all accounts, even those hostile to the democratic nation of Israel, Hezbollah initiated the events that have led to this most recent conflict in the Middle East. And yet, CNN and the rest of mainstream media have gone out of their way to portray this conflict as one in which no party is directly responsible for the conflict. In fact, if CNN had to choose the guilty party in this event, it would, of course, be Israel.

You can accuse me of exaggeration. Fine. It is not that they have blamed Israel for initiating the conflict. But they have repeatedly stated that Israel has, “responded with an inappropriate amount of force.” Hmmm. Hezbollah and Hamas, within the last two weeks, have both launched rockets into Israel and murdered/kidnapped soldiers and civilians. It appears to me that Israel HAS a border problem (pay attention President Bush).

When a nation is attacked, it has the right to defend itself. When soldiers of your nation are kidnapped by a renegade band of terrorists that happen to be occupying the land that is your northern border, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT AND OBLIGATION TO RESPOND, EVEN IF THAT MEANS MILITARY FORCE.

The case for Israel is so sound and solid, you have to wonder what in the hell is going on in this country that would make a refutation necessary! There is no need to explain Israel’s actions. What needs to be explained follows:
1. Why did the NY Times feel it necessary to report today that the US Government (and that would include some Democrats) approved the rapid shipment of precision guided missiles to Israel?
2. Why is Israel being “crucified” for defending its national interest?
3. Why do CNN and the mainstream media repeatedly side with the terrorists in the midst of the Global War On Terrorism?
4. Why do reporters for CNN and the mainstream media ignore the fact that if Muslims win the war in which we are currently engaged in, they will be beheaded…at best.
5. Why has the mainstream media sided with Islam, consistently, since 11 September 2001?These questions, though not all-encompassing, need to be answered. It has been the mainstream media, particularly CNN, that has blasted stories about the mythical abuse of prisoners at Guantanamo, the mythical lack of body armor (with the support of Hilary Clinton), the mythical civil war in Iraq, and…now…the mythical transgressions of Israel against (of all people) the terrorist organization, Hezbollah. There is indeed something rotten in Atlanta, Georgia. It is the stench of the lying, filthy reporters who spread vicious lies about men and nations in order to get…” a story”.

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Easter Sunday

This morning I went to the Episcopalian Easter service. It was wonderful to be in a church in the Middle East...in Iraq, the home of Abraham, the probable site of the Garden of Eden...and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. This Easter I was particularly mindful of one of the significances of this event...the idea of new beginnings.

In Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul wrote:
22 that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, 24 and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.

The whole passage is a wonderful reminder to Christians today of what our personal spiritual heritage is: we were corrupt folks, filled with deceit and lust. If we could lie our way out of a situation, we'd lie. If we could steal from the office supply cabinet, we stole. If we could gossip and stab our friends in the back, we gossiped and betrayed those closest to us. If we could fly away with our passions with little chance of getting caught or getting somebody pregnant, we'd be the first one in line on the pleasure cruise. To be honest, all of us were pretty miserable, despicable creatures.

Would you like a good visual of just how disgusting and repulsive we looked? Close your eyes and imagine Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Imagine him hanging on the cross. Have you ever pictured the crown of thorns? I used to picture a wreath of rose bush limbs, with tiny thorns. It sounded irritating to me, but it never seemed that bad. But then one day I actually saw something that was probably closer to what the crown of thorns were actually like...thin dark brown branches with thorns that were probably 1/2 an inch to an inch long. These thorns were not the tiny thorns of rose bushes. When they were pushed on the head of our Savior, they cut deeply into his forehead, his temples, and the back of his scalp. These wounds, though not life-threatening alone, caused a tremendous amount of bleeding, as head wounds usually do. The flesh on his forehead and scalp was torn by these thorns. Picture his body. His skin, ripped to the bone on his back. Gashes opening up to the stinging air on his arms, his stomach, his legs. His face bruised and bloodied from slaps and punches. Let your mind zoom in on his wrists and his feet. Study the trauma that was caused by the wooden nails being pounded through his joints.

Can you see the Savior hanging on the tree in this condition? Why would God allow this to happen? Why would God allow the Savior of the world to be beaten and punished so severely? Why would He allow His son to suffer this torture? I cannot say that I have the perfect theological explanation for this. But I've read, and believe, that it was to remind us of just how disgusting our sin is to God. As grotesque as the body of Christ looked on the cross, our sins appear just as disgusting to God. In fact, I would say we appeared worse than the bloodied body of the Christ.

Notice I said appeared. For the story of Christ didn't end, and was never intended to end, on the cross. It is what happened after the cross that separated, and still separates, the men from the boys. It is what happened after the cross that separates old from new...the Old Testament from the New Testament...the old you from the new you...the ugly you from the beautiful you...the condemned you from the redeemed you.

We civilized, intellectualized, modernized types sometimes get our focus all wrong. We want to prove the divinity of Christ by using His brilliant teachings. We want to prove that Christ is the way through comparative studies of Jesus vs. Mohammed, Jesus vs. Buddha, etc. Because we are certain of our faith, we think we can out-argue and out-debate any other theological position on the planet. And while, I admit, I know that Christ is the Messiah, hence I would be pre-disposed to believe that the logic is on our side, it doesn't matter. Because in the end, it is faith in the resurrection that marks us as Christians. Without the resurrection, Christ would have been simply another philosopher. Yes, His life is filled with wonders and miracles that add to the proof, to believers, of His divinity. And I am not making light of this. The miracle of the virgin birth, to believers, is proof of His divinity. But if that was where the story stopped...a virgin birth, a sinless life, miracles while He walked with humanity...Christ would have been grouped with every other decent philosophical leader. But that is not the end of the story.

Christ rose from the grave! He conquered death! He is the Son of God! And the resurrection is proof of all of this. With his resurrection came the salvation of humanity.

In the beginning of the above passage, Paul describes our old self. Liar, pervert, thief, murderer. But this is what we were. We were condemned to death. The resurrection changed all of this.

Because we know that Christ rose from the dead, we know that He is the Son of God. It is that simple. Our certainty of this is the pivotal point in Christianity. Our certainty of this is what enables us to shed the skin of our old selves and put on the skin of our new selves. We are born again, a new creature freed from all the stains and transgressions of our old selves. Where there was once darkness and doom ahead of us, there is now light and salvation. Fear has been replaced with hope and confidence. Shame has been replaced with joy.

It is no accident that at the moment that Christ rose from the grave there was a bright light. That light still shines brightly for those who know that Christ is the Son of God. That light guides us through the darkness of this world even today. The light of Christ bathes our body, even now, and purifies our souls from our sins. It is our beacon to freedom. When the Messiah rose from the grave, he paved the way for our resurrection. Truly, this is the Son of God.

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Wake Up America...Islam is At the Gate

The other day I read this prescient short story by Dan Simmons, thanks to a link provided by Little Green Footballs. I will not spoil the story for you. I found the following passage to be particularly enlightening:

“Let’s imagine,” said the Time Traveler, “that on December eighth, Nineteen forty-one, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke before a joint session of Congress and asked them to declare war on aviation.”
“That’s absurd,” I said.
“Is it?” asked the Time Traveler. “The American battleships, cruisers, harbor installations, Army barracks, and airfields at Pearl Harbor and elsewhere in Hawaii were all struck by Japanese aircraft. Imagine if the next day Roosevelt had declared war on aviation . . . threatening to wipe it out wherever we found it. Committing all the resources of the United States of America to defeating aviation, so help us God.”
“That’s just stupid,” I said. If I’d ever been afraid of this Time Traveler, I wasn’t now. He was obviously a mental defective.“The planes, the Japanese planes,” I said, “were just a method of attack . . . a means . . . it wasn’t aviation that attacked us at Pearl Harbor, but the Empire of Japan. We declared war on Japan and a few days later its ally, Germany, lived up to its treaty with the Japanese and declared war on us. If we’d declared war on aviation, on goddamned airplanes rather than the empire and ideology that launched them, we’d never have . . .”
I stopped. What had he called it? Category Error. Making the problem unsolvable through your inability – or fear – of defining it correctly.


President Bush has made a Category Error. What is worse is that he has persuaded most Americans, even those who support our efforts in the war, to repeat and believe this Category Error. The biggest failure of our war is that we have incorrectly identified who we are fighting. We have been brainwashed into thinking that we are fighting a small group of crazy extremists that have perverted, in President Bush's words, a peaceful and noble religion. This is a costly mistake.

It ignores that fact that Muslims all over the world are growing more extreme and increasingly demanding rights above and beyond any of the constitutional guarantees of the true democracies throughout the world. In the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, and numerous other places, Muslims have immigrated and have or have attempted to establish communities that have their own legal systems. These communities are completlely segregated from the culture around them by design. They have no desire to assimilate.

In the United States, planned Muslim communities are springing up throughout the major cities. David Kennedy Houck wrote a very informative piece titled The Islamist Challenge to the U. S. Constitution in the Middle East Quarterly. Regarding one such community in Little Rock, Arkansas, he wrote:

In August 2004, a local planning commission in Little Rock, Arkansas, granted The Islamic Center for Human Excellence authorization to build an internal Islamic enclave to include a mosque, a school, and twenty-two homes.[3] While the imam, Aquil Hamidullah, says his goal is to create "a clean community, free of alcohol, drugs, and free of gangs,"[4] the implications for U.S. jurisprudence of this and other internal enclaves are greater: while the Little Rock enclave might prevent the sale of alcohol, can it punish possession and in what manner? Can it force all women, be they residents or visitors, to don Islamic hijab (headscarf)? Such enclaves raise the fundamental questions of when, how, and to what extent religious practice may supersede the U.S. Constitution.

The planned community is also troubling, Houck writes, because:

The group has foreign financial support: it falls under the umbrella of a much larger Islamic group, "Islam 4 the World," an organization sponsored by Sharjah, one of the constituent emirates of the United Arab Emirates.[5]

He further notes that the emirs of the UAE are known to support radical interpretations of Islam.

The Achilles Heel of American democracy, in fact all democracies, is that it is crucial that we respect the rights of minorities. That is what separates civilized societies from uncivilized societies. It is not an accident that democracies are strongest in nations with Judeo-Christian values. It is a part of our religious heritage to be tolerant and respectful of those who disagree with us. (The cynic will be quick to bring up the Crusades. I say...get over it. The Crusades were a thousand years ago. I am talking about American democracy and 2006.) Our nation has bent over backwards to accomodate diversity and differences of opinion.

On the other hand, this value is not reciprocated by Muslims. Muslims believe they are superior and that Jews, Christians, and any non-Muslim are inferior. I challenge you to read the Koran. Mohammed encouraged his followers to treat non-believers as second-class citizens. In fact, if you want to know what Mohammed's marching orders were for the soldiers of jihad, it was:
1. Kill all infidels until they submit to Islam
2. You may spare the women, but take them as captives
3. Steal all of their property that you can
4. The infidels that submit to your superior status must pay a tax if they refuse to convert to Islam.
5. Infidels must pay a property tax if they are to retain it
6. Jews and Christians count as 1/3 of a man
7. Any other type of infidel counts as 1/15 of a man

I encourage every American and European to read the pronouncements by bin Laden, Zawahiri, Zarqawi and the rest of the leaders of the Muslim world. Their words directly reflect what is written in the Koran and it does not bode well for us. As I have mentioned in previous posts, Muslims do not view the Koran the same way that Christians view the Bible or Jews the Torah. Muslims believe that every single word written by Mohammed is the absolute truth. The Koran is sacred in a manner that westerners cannot even comprehend. The violent, murderous words of Mohammed are just as true today for Muslims as they were back in 700. Our liberal eyes will not permit us to understand this horrifying truth.

Houck discusses this lack of reciprocity on the part of Muslims:

There is precedent of Islamists taking advantage of liberal flexibility to more extreme ends. Canada provides a useful example into how Islamist groups can exploit liberal legal tolerance. In 1991, Ontario, Canada, passed a seemingly innocuous law called the "Arbitration Act."[8] This act permitted commercial, religious, or such other designated arbitrators to settle civil disputes outside the Canadian justice system so long as the result did not contradict Canadian law. Like U.S. authorities are beginning to do now, Canadian legislators decided to give religious groups the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they would still hold national law to be paramount.

After the passage of this act, Muslim enclaves in Canada began the process of instituting Sharia law in their communities. Canadian Muslim women began very vocal protests over this because they had everything to lose if Sharia was implemented. In 2003, the Canadian government rescinded the provision that permitted religious arbitration.

Muslims in the United States have also been busy. As Houck notes:

As the Muslim community in the United States grows, an increasingly active Islamist lobby has submitted numerous white papers and amicus briefs to legislators and courts arguing for the religious right of Muslims to apply Shari‘a law, particularly in relation to family law disputes.[13]

We have a very big problem in the United States. Muslims are using our legal system to grant themselves a separate but equal status. If you were to ask any Muslim if he or she would like America to be an Islamic nation, you would get an almost universal assent. The movement is afoot to radically alter everything that we believe in as Americans. If we sleep too long, we may awaken very soon, as they already are in a suburb outside Dearborn, Michigan, to the sounds of the Call to Prayer. Wake up America...Islam is at the gate!

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

There Must Be Hope

Since the uprising of illegal immigrants across the fruited plains of America (fruit picked by illegal immigrants' hands, no doubt), I have been mightily disturbed. I have been disturbed by several things:

1. the sheer magnitude, in terms of numbers, of illegals that hit the city streets.
2. the overt anti-Americanism of the illegals- people who are illegally taking advantage of the blessings our Creator endowed on the United States.
3. the cowardliness of Democrats and Republicans in failing to take a stand to defend our borders, our institutions, our economy, our values, and our culture.
4. the overt persecution by school administrations against students who exhibit patriotism for the United States, while condoning the exhibition of patriotism for Mexico and other Latin American nations by students who are either illegal immigrants or children of illegal immigrants.

The nearly unbelievable numbers of illegal immigrants that took to the streets, and still are, is mind-numbing. You would think that this display of contempt for our political process would have awakened a sense of urgency in the leadership of our nation. In the midst of a war, in which our enemy, Muslim terrorists, have stated that they are using our porous borders to infiltrate our country in order to commit terrorist acts, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants protested against making the United States safer from a terrorist threat. That is the bottom line of these protests. That should be the focus of the leadership of our nation. Instead, the focus is on the plight of these poor, well-behaved, outstanding citizens, as Diane Feinstein or Barbara Boxer (I can't remember which of the two) called these illegal, non-citizen, aliens in a press conference. When we have a Senator of the United States calling illegal immigrants citizens, we've got big problems. When we have a Senator of the United States more concerned with the plight of illegals than with the security of our borders, we've got even bigger problems.

To make matters worse, these poor, well-behaved, outstanding illegals were trashing the very nation they have come to for refuge. The amount of anti-American signage was absolutely appalling. If Americans were confused or unsure of how illegals view this great land, particularly the southwest and mountain states, the protesters left little doubt. They view the American southwest and mountain states as occupied land. One sign said it all...All Europeans are illegal on this continent since 1492. So the obvious learning point here is that our beloved illegals are not coming to this nation to assimilate and take advantage of the blessings God has showered on the United States. They are returning, in their minds, to the Motherland, Aztlan...the mythical home of the Aztecs. In the mind of the illegals, they are not illegal aliens...we are. This, in part, explains why the vast majority refuse to assimilate to the American culture. In fact, they have demanded, and we have acquiesced, that we assimilate to their culture. Spanish is practically a recognized second language throughout most of the southwest. We have accomodated their seperatist demands.

The worst accomodation has come at the hands of our elected leadership in the national and state governments, to include President George Bush. Rather than strengthening our border to the point where illegal crossings are too costly for illegals, we develop programs that actually encourage illegal immigration. We have laws that allow the offspring of illegals to become citizens if they are born in our country, laws that force state governments to provide education, health benefits, and even in-state tuition for illegals...all catering to a population that is not supposed to be here in the first place. The really sad truth is that illegal immigrants receive more benefits than I do from the government. Not that I particularly want benefits from the government, but I find it ridiculous and offensive that my tax dollars support people who are here illegally. And now that the illegals have shown their true colors, I am really angry that my tax dollars are supporting people who sincerely desire to take over a significant part of the country that I have fought for. And despite this, President Bush blithely announces that these people are necessary for our nation's economy. I'm sorry, but I have a problem with this.

When I was a kid, you know who did all the work that illegal immigrants are now doing? High school students. In South Carolina, during the summer break, high school students worked the tobacco farms, the restraunt jobs, the cleaning jobs, etc. The full-time labor jobs were done by high school dropouts or high school graduates who had no desire to go to college. The myth that Americans will not do the jobs that illegals do underlies all the rhetoric for the guest worker proposals or amnesty proposals. It is true that Americans will want more money than illegal immigrants, but the economy would adjust to this change. It will take some time and some pain but Americans are best suited to solve America's problems. To rely on a virtual fifth column, an enemy within, to keep our economy rolling along is national suicide.

The Democrats and Republicans have refused to seriously guard our border. Instead of taking the problem head on, they choose the path of least resistance, which ultimately creates more trouble. We know that Muslim terrorists have used our weak borders to come into the country. If this doesn't call for a military operation, than what does? Why have we not deployed our troops along the borders? The Mexican smugglers, with the aid of the Mexican Army, have increasingly turned to violence to get their illegal cargo, whether drugs or humans, through. We will not be able to secure our borders without the aid of the military. The military has the equipment and personnel, already on hand, to tackle this problem. I know that liberals shudder at the suggestion of this. These poor people are just trying to feed their families! Well, so are Americans. And Americans are also trying to stop terrorists from coming into our nation, aided and abetted by Mexicans and other Latin American countries. What Democrats and Republicans refuse to see is that crossing our borders illegally has become an act of war. When the Mexican Army fires on our border patrol, it is an act of war. When the Mexican Army and the Coyotes smuggle terrorists into our nation, it is an act of war. When illegals come across the border with dreams of creating Aztlan, it is an act of war. When protesters in the streets of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado call for taking over parts of our country and breaking away from the United States, it is an act of war.

But let's be honest, shall we? The truth is that both Republicans and Democrats are looking at illegals as future voters...and they are pandering to them. This is despicable. It is despicable because illegal immigration is a threat to our nation. What President Bush is doing with illegal aliens reminds more of Clinton than it does the President Bush that I admired in his first term. Clinton sold Comminust China, an enemy nation, the technology they needed to improve their satellite communications for their military weaponry. He did this in exchange for money to the Democratic Party. President Bush is selling out our nation's security, albeit in a non-treasonous way (unlike Clinton), in exchange for political power for the Republican Party. This is in total contradiction to the logic and arguments he used to promote his war on terror and the passage of the Patriot Act. The contrast in President Bush's actions on these issues is astounding. I am wondering if he noticed the signs these peaceful demonstrators were carrying. Did he actually pay attention to the demands of the illegals? Did he note the secessionist fever that permeated the crowds? Does he even know what Aztlan is?

So where did this idea of Aztlan come about anyway? Look no further than your tax-supported public education institutions, from elementary school all the way to the universities. The source of hatred for America was originated by Americans. I have been teaching in public schools, from the middle school level to the high school level, for ten years. In those ten years, I have refused to rely on textbooks. I have used them as outlines for my courses, but the real information that I wanted to impart to my students did not come from them. The vast majority of the social studies textbooks are written by liberal authors with an anti-American slant. The focus is not on the great things we have accomplished as a nation. Rather, it is on the evil America has done to its poor, its minorities, and to the rest of the non-English speaking world. Since most teachers are liberal, they regard the textbooks as gospel. Since the 1960's, American public schools have been feeding our children and university students a steady diet of anti-Americanism, activism, cynicism, socialism, reverse racism, secularism, and a whole list of other -isms that do not bode well for our nation. Ward Churchill is a classic product of the American university system. He lied about his ethnicity by claiming he was native American, he plagiarized his books, he plagiarized artwork, he threatened people, including women, he praised the 9/11 highjackers, and despite all this, he remains as a darling among the university elite. Why is this? The answer is quite simple...he says what the rest of the ivory tower snobs believe. If Ward Churchill had been a conservative professor and was caught doing all the things that he did, the university snobs would have booted him out a long time ago. But the man, little boy really, still gets paid to go speak at university forums.

The march of the illegals provided our public school administrations with yet another opportunity to display their anti-Americanism. When patriotic students in Colorado decided to display American flags to counter the obnoxious and defiant Mexican flag-wavers, school administrators in Longmont banned the flags and ultimately suspended the American flag-wavers...but not the Mexican patriots. In the Orwellian world of liberals, free speech only applies to those who say what the liberals want to hear. Since, to most educators, America is evil, anyone who waves an American flag is also evil, bigoted, ignorant, and unworthy of the right to exercise free speech. These same administrators will fight to the death to claim that the Mexicans have the right to display their hatred for America, but true patriots do not have the right to display their love for America. American patriotism, to educators, is a sure sign of ignorance, bigotry, and ethnocentrism. Hatred for America, to educators, is a sign of enlightenment, dignity, and truth. I will add this caveat...not all educators are liberal and unpatriotic. But the sad truth is that most are. Oh, they will claim that they are patriots. But they believe that the highest form of patriotism is dissent, protest, and activism.

But in the midst of all of this disappointing news, there is still hope. For one, I believe that America is becoming more conservative. Multi-culturalism is on its last, dying breath. And my belief is based on something so real and so terrible. We are seeing the true colors of other cultures, particularly the Muslim culture. The adherents to Islam are demonstrating, in no uncertain terms, that other cultures are not as good, or equal to ours. Ethnocentrism might not be a bad thing after all. With every beheading and violent riot over stupid cartoons in the Middle East, light bulbs are coming on across America. We are starting to see that there really are inferior religions and cultures. We still hear supposedly learned people, including President Bush, saying that Islam is a noble and peaceful religion. But the facts are the facts. Islam is violent and highly ignoble. The myth of the moderate Muslim is fading fast. Sharia is being exposed for what it is...a tyrannical, misogynistic, brutal, religious legal system that is contrary to everything that Christians and Americans believe. I have to be honest...I don't like saying this. I know that it comes across as intolerant and racist to some. But the truth is that it is Islam that is intolerant.

The march of the illegals is also opening up eyes in America. I read some excellent articles by Cubans and Mexicans who strongly opposed what they saw occuring in these demonstrations. It is these legal immigrants that President Bush insults the most. I was encouraged by the students who were willing to defend their flag and their country to the point of being suspended. I am hoping that Governor Owens will step in and call the offending administrations to the carpet over this. I was also encouraged with the overt anti-Americanism of the protesters. I didn't like it. But it was encouraging in the sense that now we all know what we are dealing with.

Perhaps I am simplistic, but I believe that we can solve this problem. But it will only happen if the Federal Government decides to recognize the threat that illegal immigration poses for our nation. We must put the military on border patrol. The border patrol agents can then be freed to round up illegals and deport them. I do not think we need to deport 11 million people. But I believe we need to start vigorously deporting people on a regular basis. If your local sheriff can have a quota for speeding tickets for his deputies, the Border Patrol can have a quota for deporting illegal aliens. The cost does not have to be prohibitive. We are talking man-hours and bus rides to the borders. We don't have to fly these people to Mexico. But deportation will not work if we do not deploy the military to patrol the borders. I think it is criminal to throw our hands up and grant amnesty to 11 million people. We must mean business. We can have hope if our elected officials will pull their head out of the sand and act. With deportation and sealed borders, the illegal population will decline slowly. This will give our economy time to adjust to the changes. Again, there is no way we can deport 11 million people. But there is a way to seriously reduce the number and close our borders to infiltration. Will it stop it completely? Probably not, but it will certainly stop the flood.

This is not an argument to completely stop immigration. It is an argument to completely stop, or at least seriously curtail illegal immigration. I am not anti-immigration. We are a nation of immigrants. But we must be a nation of legal immigrants who desire to assimilate. We must stop pandering to illegals. We must get rid of all the Spanish language requirements we have inaugurated at the demands of people who are not even supposed to be here. We must be optimistic that Americans will do the work that illegals do and believe in the character and culture that made this country great. Surrendering to illegal immigrants is surrendering the optimism that has permeated our culture for most of our existence. We cannot allow this to happen.