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Wednesday, September 03, 2014
Radical Islam: Coming to a City or Town near You Soon?
Welcome to the war America. What war you ask? Or did ask which war---Afghanistan or Iraq? Or was it Syria, Gaza, or perhaps the invasion along our Southern border? It really doesn't matter. They are all wars and we're hip deep in all of them although the Commander-in-Chief has no plans; no national strategy; nor does he have an agenda except, perhaps, drawing another "red line" in some imaginary stretch of sand in some Godforsaken country. An imaginary line to match his imaginary foreign policy. He promised the Government of Ukraine there will be Allied troops on the ground should Russian Prime Minister Putin do anything; pick whatever you want. We still haven't done anything about the seizure of Crimea, nor about the shot down airliner and the hundreds of passangers who lost their lives. He orginially promised to solve our border crisis like Bush did, but like unlike Bush, he's totally undermined America. Just recently, the Farce-in-Chief promised to come to the aide of Estonia, along with troops from the EU. Don't believe it Estonia. He has no grand strategy for you either, except perhaps to dither while your government falls should Russia invade. If the situation is really bad, he might head out for a fundraiser or if it becomes a humanitarian crisis, then he'll likely go golfing.
Anyway, back to the point I set out to make originally. I was referring to the war declared on us by extremist Islam and its latest incarnation, ISIS or ISIL if you'd prefer. This too is a war Obama has chosen to ignore. Just because the bad guys have declared war on you, if you look the other way and ignore them, then just maybe they'll go away and with it, the war. Well, it didn't go away when they beheaded journalist James Foley or his family. And it didn't go away for journalist Steven Sotloff or his family either. For that matter, it hasn't gone away for thousands of Christians in Mosul who have been forced from their homes along with other religious minorities. It sure hasn't gone away for the hundreds of men, women, children, or Syrian soldiers who've been beheaded and had their heads put up on pikes in market squares, nor did it go away for all those publically hanged for being Christian or not being a radical enough Moslem. Nor have we forgotten those beaten and abused women who have literally had crucifixes rammed down their throats (go ahead and Google them. I won't show them here).
I have a lot of liberal friends. I love my liberal friends; they make life interesting. Groups like ISIS don't care how "politically correct" you all are. They don't care if you're interested in trying to "understand" them, or that you're willing to let them speak openly about what they intend to do to the West, and to our nation, or to us. It's not empty rhetoric like the kind you're used to hearing from Washington. They aren't just mouthing off. They really meant it--cross their hearts and hope you die. Atheist, agnostics, and Humanists like Drs. Stephen Hawkins, Bill Nye, or Neil Degrasse Tyson, I enjoy your work (I really loved "Cosmos" Dr. Tyson), but they don't care that you do or don't believe in a god or that we're just cosmic dust. The point is, they do. And you will bleed and beg for mercy just like anyone else, and like anyone else, you won't find it; not from them.
As for my pagan and Wiccan friends, I admire you. I've had pagan and Wiccan friends for most of my life. I really like what you have to say; I really do. There's a comforting sensibility to the relationship one has with Nature; not overly different from agnostics or Humanists if you think about it. But (and here's the rub), no spell, potion, or charm is going to save you from machete wielding murders intent on your dying for their god. They don't even mind dying for their god so long as they take some non-believers like you with them. What path you follow means nothing to them.
As for my many Hindu and Buddhist friends, I've enjoy learning about faith and becoming long time friends with several of you. I love the peacefulness your faith brings; the calmness and serenity. If only others could experience that, I truly believe the world would be a better place. However, there's a bunch of psychos out there who are totally committed to your complete and utter destruction. No matter the number of times you spin your prayer wheels or bathe in the Ganges, nothing will stop that. They intend to remove every trace of your existence, and they've already started by removing your sacred temples and statutes. Zoroasterists, I'm sorry to say that I've never met any of you. Your religion is one of the oldest and most interesting in the world. I bet you have much you could teach us, but you're faced with the same problem as the rest of us are, only greater. Same for you Shamans and Taoists. For the Kurds, Turkmen, Coptics, Chaldeans, Assyrians, Yazidis, Mandaeans and others small in number, you already know the lessons I am attempting to impart here. I wish you much strength and courage.
To my LGBT friends, I've known you all for years; hell, decades and you're some of the craziest cool people I've ever met. You may hope for acceptance; you might even think you've earned it or that its due you. Will, sorry to burst your pretty pink balloons, but this group of extremists I speak of see you as nothing but so much human waste to be eliminated as quickly and brutally as possible. My fellow veterans both here at home in America, and around the world, we are indeed comrades-in-arms. We share a bond few will ever know. It's an honor serving with each of you in one fashion or another. But know this---the enemy is here. It's breeched the gates---our gates and yours. We are a threat because we understand it; we know how to fight it; and we know how to win.
Now for all my Christian and Jewish buddies, regardles of whether you dunk, sprinkle, or tinkle, we have a deep problem here. We have an extreme element of a religion alledgedly known for being "peaceful" (and at one point, one of the intellectual lights of the world), which wants to butcher us all and destroy thousands of years of Western Civilization (not to mention most aspects of Eastern Thought). Now, I don't know about you all, but I can't accept that. I am quite proud of our Western Heritage and what it had created over the eons...things like liberty, freedom, democracy, equality under the law, philosophy, public debate, social experimentation, and increasingly equality of gender...of races...of sexual orientation...and religions. Sure, we've screwed up a lot of things over the centuries too (the Crusades, Inquisitions, Holocaust, a few genocides here and there come to mind), but we've sure have done a whole lot of things right too like science, exploration, trips to the moon, technology, medicine, social equality, and even moderate forms of capitalism. I also appreciate much about the Eastern World too, like medicine, technology, and philosophy. It's taken us awhile, but given how long Man has been around based on the cosmic calendar, we're not doing too bad for a bunch of upstarts.
Sure, we see things different when it comes to God, or gods, or simply the cosmic mystery, but that's ok isn't it? Because thanks to our collective thought, we've come to accept that we don't...we can't...know everything. Maybe we're not supposed to. I know I question whether we have the wisdom to grasp what we think we know now. But as we come to know more, and understand more, our collective understanding of nature, the universe, and yes, even of the Divine, will change too. It should. It's part of our evolutionary process. We cannot---must not---as the leading species on this planet---the "Crown of Creation"---attempt to hold back the hands of time. Yes, they once held validity. They represented those things we understood and those things we didn't. In looking at all of our diverse faiths, we must accept that there are many paths to the Ultimate Truth--call it whatever you will. We can and should embrace certain core articles of faith or truisms, and follow them wherever they led. How do we know they're true or not? Simple. Truths do harm to none. If what you're preaching and teaching causes harm, you're teaching and preaching the wrong stuff dude (or dudette as the case may be).
As for the Bummer-in-Chief, you need to get your act together. You're need to step up and lead this country and the "Free World" or someone else will, and it may not be to your liking or to anyone else's either. I personally don't think you were cut out for the job. I don't think you have the personal or professional experience or mental acuity for the job, but I was willing to give you a chance. Frankly Barack, you've repeatedly dropped the ball. The US Presidency is no place for on-the-job training. If you can't handle it, and I mean right now, get out of the way. There's lots of real Americans out there who are ready and willing to step up to the plate. America is, after all, a nation of leaders in case you've missed that memo while you were "out of the office".
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