Posts filed under 'Patriotism'
When your back is against the wall and your fundamental beliefs are challenged, just what do you do? McCain and the other residents of the Hanoi Hilton showed rare courage:
“There were many times I didn’t pray for another day and I didn’t pray for another hour — I prayed for another minute to keep going,” said McCain, who was brought up Episcopalian but now worships at North Phoenix Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist church. “There’s no doubt that my faith was strengthened and reinforced and tested, because sometimes you have a tendency to say, ‘Why am I here?’ “…
…The prisoners decided that every Sunday, after they had eaten their rice, the highest-ranking officer would cough loudly and say the letter ‘c’ for church. The prisoners would then say the Pledge of Allegiance, the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm. The psalm was said in plural: “Yea, though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death we will fear no evil.”
Prisoners used diarrhea pills mixed with cigarette ash—or charcoal or dirt—to write lines of Scripture and surreptitiously share them.
The church riot erupted after U.S. Special Forces raided a site about 40 miles from Hanoi trying to rescue prisoners who, it turned out, were no longer there. The Vietnamese, fearing more such raids, rounded up American POWs and moved them from other outlying camps into Hanoi. That meant an end to isolation, as dozens of prisoners were packed together.
“We agreed that we were going to have a church service and told the Vietnamese, and they said no,” recalled fellow prisoner Bud Day. But on Feb. 12, 1970, the prisoners went ahead anyway, holding a service and singing songs.
“The Vietnamese broke in and seized the people who were standing against the wall doing the service,” Day said. “They marched them out of the room at gunpoint. So I stood up and started singing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ ‘God Bless America,’ ‘My Country ‘Tis of Thee’ and every song we could think of.”
The Vietnamese stormed back in, putting a definitive end to the service.
“We wanted to actually just have a chance to do what we felt was a fundamental human right … and we got spiritual comfort from being able to worship together,” McCain said. “We thought, look, if we’re going to be together, then we’re going to stand up. … They’d done so many bad things that we weren’t nearly as afraid of them as maybe we would have been if a lot of us hadn’t gone through what we’d gone through.”
There are some people who think that the act of saying something - like, for instance, giving an obscure speech against liberating Iraq - is an act of courage…but a real act of courage is when you do or say something which can put you in immediate risk of life and limb. John McCain has done this before, and so we can rely upon it that when its time to speak the truth and act upon it - regardless of how harsh - McCain will know that the worst thing that can happen to him, won’t happen. It already did. Character really does count in a President - all the intellect in the world is worthless if it isn’t joined with the simple courage to take a stand.
Tags: Acts of Courage, Hanoi Hilton, John McCain
August 15th, 2008
We can trust that a veteran who suffers from war wounds will do what is right for our veterans:
John McCain Believes We Must Provide Our Veterans With World-Class Health Care. We must fully fund the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care budget in a timely and predictable manner. Those who have risked their lives in service to their fellow citizens deserve nothing less than the best medical care in the world.
When The VA Cannot Meet Our Veterans’ Needs, Our Veterans Must Be Given Alternative Means Of Access To Health Care And Freedom Of Choice. Too many veterans are unable to obtain health care through the VA because of geographical constraints, unreasonably long waiting lists, or the lack of specialized facilities at local VA hospitals. John McCain will develop and enforce demanding new standards for veterans’ access to health care for injuries or illness related to military service: no more than an hour’s drive for care, routine care within a week, urgent care within 24 hours, and specialty care within a month.
Veterans’ Care Access Card: John McCain has proposed a Veterans’ Care Access Card, which would expand access and choice for those veterans with illness or injury incurred during military service, as well as low-income veterans. This supplement to ordinary VA care — which would not replace or privatize existing programs — would permit those veterans unable to obtain timely and appropriate VA care under the standards set out above, to receive care at a private facility.
That last one is a good idea - its not always possible to get to the VA clinic and I can tell you from personal experience with my father, there are some things the private insurance either doesn’t cover or doesn’t cover as well as the VA, but the VA can be at times an onerous bureaucracy in getting things done. The more flexibility and choice in VA benefits, the better for the veterans and their families.
Outside of that, I also have a proposal of my own, in line with this:
As our veterans get really up in years (75 or older) the amount of care they need expands quite a bit, what I think we should do for our veterans as they enter their final years is ensure that they really do have everything they need. Right now, the old man gets some VA benefits because he was injured during war service, but the father-in-law doesn’t get them because his injury in service wasn’t directly war-related - that plus the records from that time are sketchy and he’s having a hard time convincing the VA that his hearing loss is service-related. Both were once upon a time very young men who joined, and both are now 81 with various service-related injuries made worse by the ravages of age.
What I think we should do is just work out an amount that veterans might need for the time 75 until death and just give it to them. In a three trillion dollar Federal budget, it won’t be that much extra a burden and a lot of the cost might be offset by other VA benefits going unused as the veterans and their families use the stipends to work out their own care arrangements. I understand that after a certain time our World War One veterans were given such a benefit, pretty much no questions asked - and this benefit came in handy for my grandfather in his last few years of life. Anyways, we can never fully repay those who fought for us, and I think this is one of those “least we can do” sort of things.
Tags: John McCain, VA benefits, veterans
August 11th, 2008
…If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight! I repeat it, sir, we must fight! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us!
They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?
Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of the means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, are invincible by any force which our enemy can send against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There is a just God who presides over the destinies of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us.
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no retreat but in submission and slavery! Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable — and let it come! I repeat it, sir, let it come!
It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, “Peace! Peace!” — but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death! - Patrick Henry, March 23, 1775
Tags: Patrick Henry, The United States of America
July 4th, 2008
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
These inspiring words are what it means to be an American. One can believe a lot of things, but unless one subscribes whole heartedly to every iota of our sublime Declaration, then one is not an American. Outside the bible, there are no words written by the hand of Man more valuable.
Tags: Fourth of July, The United States of America
July 4th, 2008
Matthew Rothschild over at The Progressive:
…those things that truly made us great—the system of checks and balances, the enshrinement of our individual rights and liberties—have all been systematically assaulted by Bush and Cheney.
From the Patriot Act to the Military Commissions Act to the new FISA Act, and all the signing statements in between, we are less great today.
From Abu Ghraib and Bagram Air Force Base and Guantanamo, we are less great today.
From National Security Presidential Directive 51 (giving the Executive responsibility for ensuring constitutional government in an emergency) to National Security Presidential Directive 59 (expanding the collection of our biometric data), we are less great today.
From the Joint Terrorism Task Forces to InfraGard and the Terrorist Liaison Officers, we are less great today.
Admit it. We don’t have a lot to brag about today.
It is time, it is long past time, to get over the American superiority complex.
It is time, it is long past time, to put patriotism back on the shelf—out of the reach of children and madmen.
The madmen would presumptively be Bush and Cheney - now, to be fair to Mr. Rothschild, he does list other American sins which are noy intrinsic to Bush/Cheney - our consumerism and other evils, real and imagined, which the left dredges up from time to time to prove that we’re a bunch of creeps…and if we’d only all become leftists, all would be made better. The curious thing about Mr. Rothschild’s article is that it starts out condemning nationalism - even saying that it is a worse killer than religion, and that is a great concession on the part of any leftist. After all, the whole point of religion - and especially Christianity, and most especially Catholicism - is to kill and destroy and hold down…so to say that nationalism is a bigger ill is astounding, and demonstrates the author’s sincerity in being the anti-patriot.
And yet, he ends his bit by lamenting the way Bush and Cheney have allegedly done away with the US Constitution - in other words, he’s distressed over the supposed demise of a national government. This would seem to indicate that it isn’t really nationalism which gets Mr. Rothschild upset, but a sort of nationalism he doesn’t like. He’s convinced himself that if only we could recover our old, hallowed Constitutional structure, we’d be a better nation…no reactionary ever said it better (side note: the curious thing about leftists is how very reactionary they actually are).
Earlier in the piece the author condemns another writer for pointing out that we love our nation the same way we love our family - because they are ours. Mr. Rothschild doesn’t like this concept at all - in fact, he’s of the opinion that there’s something inherently wrong with loving the nation you’re born in simply because it is your native land - such love is somehow imposed and thus false. For Mr. Rothschild, we should love what is lovable - which is true, in a very narrow sense, but the real test of human character is to love what is unlovely.
It is easy to love the sublime, much harder to find the love in the ridiculous. Given that most human actions tend towards the latter, however, if we are to really love at all, then we’re going to have to set our minds to loving those things which we find disagreeable. Its either that, or hardly have any love at all. The great hearted person looks upon America - warts and all - and still says, “I love you”. Just as a good man will say of his wife that she is beautiful, even if her prime was some time ago - just as a kindly person will observe the flawed, remember his own flaws, and then seek out what is wonderful amongst the flaws, and build on that. If we’re to suspend our love of country - our patriotism, that is - until such time as our country exactly suits us, then we will wait forever, and never get what we want. To hold to Mr. Rothschild’s view is to hold a view common to a petulant child, but not something a mature mind concerns itself with.
I, on the other than, do love America - even Mr. Rothschild, and those like him. I wouldn’t dream of having an America without them - they are mine, and so I love them, even as I hope they’ll eventually change their views. I love this land not because it is perfect, but because it has much good in it, and I’ll concentrate on that and seek to expand that, in order that this land I love becomes more lovable over time, even though it will never through human agency become entirely lovable.
Tags: The United States of America
July 3rd, 2008
Today’s speech:
Thank you. Mr. Secretary, thank you for the kind introduction. Members of my Cabinet, members of the administration, Admiral Mullen, members of the United States Congress, Senator Warner and Congressman Skelton, members of the military, our veterans, honored guests, families of the fallen: Laura and I are honored to be with you on Memorial Day and thank you for coming.
A few moments ago, I placed a wreath upon the tomb of three brave American[s] who gave their lives in service to our nation. The names of these honored are known only to the Creator who delivered them home from the anguish of war — but their valor is known to us all. It’s the same valor that endured the stinging cold of Valley Forge. It is the same valor that planted the proud colors of a great nation on a mountaintop on Iwo Jima. It is the same valor that charged fearlessly through the assault of enemy fire from the mountains of Afghanistan to the deserts of Iraq. It is the valor that has defined the armed forces of the United States of America throughout our history.
Today, we gather to honor those who gave everything to preserve our way of life. The men and women we honor here served for liberty. They sacrificed for liberty. And in countless acts of courage, they died for liberty. From faraway lands, they were returned to cemeteries like this one, where broken hearts received their broken bodies — they found peace beneath the white headstones in the land they fought to defend.
It is a solemn reminder of the cost of freedom that the number of headstones in a place such as this grows with every new Memorial Day. In a world where freedom is constantly under attack and in a world where our security is challenged, the joys of liberty are often purchased by the sacrifices of those who serve a cause greater than themselves. Today we mourn and remember all who have given their lives in the line of duty. Today we lift up our hearts especially those who’ve fallen in the past year.
We remember Army Specialist Ronald Tucker of Fountain, Colorado. As a young man, Ronnie was known for having an infectious smile and a prankster’s sense of humor. And then he joined the United States Army, which brought out a more mature side in him. Ronnie transformed from a lighthearted teenager into a devoted soldier and a dutiful son who called his mother every day from his post in Iraq. In his final act of duty, less than a month ago, he worked with other members of his unit to build a soccer field for Iraqi children. As he drove back to his base, an enemy bomb robbed him of his life. And today our nation grieves for the loss of Ronnie Tucker.
We remember two Navy SEALS — Nathan Hardy of Durham, New Hampshire, and Michael Koch of State College, Pennsylvania. Nate and Mike were partners in the field and they were close friends in the barracks. Through several missions together, they had developed the unique bond of brotherhood that comes from trusting another with your life. They even shared a battlefield tradition: They would often head into battle with American flags clutched to their chests underneath their uniform. Nate and Mike performed this ritual for the last time on February the 4th — they both laid down their lives in Iraq after being ambushed by terrorists. These two friends spent their last few moments on earth together, doing what they loved most — defending the United States of America. Today, Nathan Hardy and Mike Koch lay at rest next to each other right here on the grounds of Arlington.
The men and women of American armed forces perform extraordinary acts of heroism every single day. Like the nation they serve, they do not glory in the devastation of war. They also do not flinch from combat when liberty and justice are embattled. Ronald Tucker, Nathan Hardy and Mike Koch make clear, they do not waver — even in the face of danger.
And so today, here in Washington and across our country, we pay tribute to all who have fallen — a tribute never equal to the debt they are owed. We will forever honor their memories. We will forever search for their comrades, the POWs and MIAs. And we pledge — we offer a solemn pledge to persevere and to provide the security for our citizens and secure the peace for which they fought.
The soil of Arlington and other sites is filled with liberty’s defenders. It is nourished by their heroism. It is watered by the silent tears of the mothers and fathers, and husbands and wives, and sons and daughters they left behind. Today we pray for God’s blessing on all who grieve and ask the Almighty to strengthen and comfort them today and everyday.
On this Memorial Day, I stand before you as the Commander-in-Chief and try to tell you how proud I am at the sacrifice and service of the men and women who wear our uniform. They’re an awesome bunch of people and the United States is blessed to have such citizens.
I am humbled by those who have made the ultimate sacrifice that allow a free civilization to endure and flourish. It only remains for us, the heirs of their legacy, to have the courage and the character to follow their lead — and to preserve America as the greatest nation on earth and the last best hope for mankind.
May God bless you and may God bless America.
Tags: Arlington National Cemetary, Memorial Day, veterans
May 26th, 2008
Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;
He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword;
His truth is marching on!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps;
They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps.
I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps;
His day is marching on!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
I have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel;
“As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
Since God is marching on.”
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;
He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment-seat;
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet!
Our God is marching on!
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! Glory! Glory! Hallelujah! His truth is marching on.
In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me;
As he died to make men holy, let us die to make men free,
While God is marching on.
Tags: veterans
May 26th, 2008
Blow out, you bugles, over the rich Dead!
There’s none of these so lonely and poor of old,
But, dying, has made us rarer gifts than gold
These laid the world away; poured out the red
Sweet wine of youth; gave up the years to be
Of work and joy, and that unhoped serene,
That men call age; and those who would have been,
Their sons, they gave, their immortality.
Blow, bugles, blow! They brought us, for our dearth,
Holiness, lacked so long, and Love, and Pain.
Honour has come back, as a king, to earth,
And paid his subjects with a royal wage;
And Nobleness walks in our ways again;
And we have come into our inheritence.
- Rupert Brooke
Tags: veterans
May 26th, 2008
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War: a hymn published in 1867, “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping” by Nella L. Sweet carried the dedication “To The Ladies of the South who are Decorating the Graves of the Confederate Dead” (Source: Duke University’s Historic American Sheet Music, 1850-1920). While Waterloo N.Y. was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860’s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead, each contributed honorably to the growing movement that culminated in Gen Logan giving his official proclamation in 1868. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. Memorial Day is not about division. It is about reconciliation; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all.
Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11, and was first observed on 30 May 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. The first state to officially recognize the holiday was New York in 1873. By 1890 it was recognized by all of the northern states. The South refused to acknowledge the day, honoring their dead on separate days until after World War I (when the holiday changed from honoring just those who died fighting in the Civil War to honoring Americans who died fighting in any war). It is now celebrated in almost every State on the last Monday in May (passed by Congress with the National Holiday Act of 1971 (P.L. 90 - 363) to ensure a three day weekend for Federal holidays), though several southern states have an additional separate day for honoring the Confederate war dead: January 19 in Texas, April 26 in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi; May 10 in South Carolina; and June 3 (Jefferson Davis’ birthday) in Louisiana and Tennessee. - Source: memorialday.org
Tags: veterans
May 26th, 2008
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