Showing posts with label allies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label allies. Show all posts

Thursday, August 29, 2013

Thoughts on Syria… From All Sides

This Is About Destroying Sovereignty’: Beck Examines Potential Syria Strike Through the Eyes of a ‘Radical Leftist’

Many have been alarmed by the rapid escalation in Syria this week after years of horrific violence. With the reported use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, U.S. officials say America could begin missile strikes within the week.

But why now? What exactly do we hope to achieve?

Glenn Beck: Intervention in Syria Is About Controlling the World After

(Photo: TheBlaze TV)

Glenn Beck tackled the issue on his television program Wednesday evening, arguing that the focus of the administration may not be on the war itself — but on the subsequent layout of the world.

“This administration knows that we are on the brink of World War III. The global economy is fragile, global stability is weak, the west is on the edge, it’s only a matter of time before it crumbles,” he said. “Iran will eventually lose any remaining restraint and go after Israel, Syria starts spilling across the border… When it all falls apart and the west is so weakened, who puts it all back together again?”

“War is — after a long period of just running things into the ground — war makes the people of the world forget what the world was like before the war,” Beck continued. “Beyond that, history shows us that war also changes all the players. It changes borders, it changes everything…”

He speculated that after a period of violence, we will “gather at the U.N. because we have to stop an international crisis, and everything is teetering on the edge, and people will cry out, ‘stop the madness!’ And so we do, the international way.”

If we’re not listening to China now, Beck said he guarantees we’ll listen to them at the bargaining table, and we’ll concede. If they say, for instance, we’ll forgive your debts if you just sign the U.N. Arms Treaty, we will.

“This is about destroying sovereignty,” Beck asserted. “The United Nations will, in the end, broker the deal, making them the new superpower and making us just one of the guys. That’s what everybody wants, for the United States just to be average, just like everybody else…”

Considering alternate explanations, Beck said he can think of “a million reasons” why we shouldn’t intervene, “and not one why we should.”

Intervention, he said, will further destabilize Syria, further destabilize the region, and will likely impact our gas prices and the stock market.

If we are intervening purely for humanitarian purposes, why didn’t we intervene sooner? Why don’t we intervene in other cases of mass slaughter? And if the tipping point is truly chemical weapons, Beck asked if you trust the intelligence community more or less than the last time they claimed there were weapons of mass destruction?

Remember the guy who cut his enemy’s heart out and ate it, Beck added? “We’re on his side now.”

The list goes on, Beck said, including the financial cost of the endeavor and the possibility of dragging us into another war we don’t have the energy or resources for.

“Syria is not about teaching Assad a lesson. Two days of bombing probably won’t even seem out of place in Syria today, unfortunately,” he concluded. “Syria is not a response to the shock and horror of murder — hundreds of thousands have died… Syria is this — it is a sick opportunity for the globalist progressive revolutionaries in our own administration and all around the globe to remold the world closer to their heart’s desire.”

Beck - Syria Intervention
Video: Glenn Beck: Intervention In Syria Will Establish One World Government - New World Order

8/28/13 - Glenn Beck says the threat of military action against Syria is part of a plot by global progressives to allow the UN to establish peace and avert WWIII and create a One World Government. 

Video:  George Galloway Explosive Speech British Parliament Debate On Military Action Against Syria

August 29, 2013 - George Galloway Explosive Speech British Parliament Debate On Military Action Against Syria

'Me And My Big Mouth' - UK's Cameron Backs Off From Syria Attack

The French Bow Out Of Syria Strike

And Russia Calls For Urgent UN Security Council Meeting

Some more from BBG:

  • RUSSIA CALLED FOR THE SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING, DIPLOMAT
  • 5 PERMANENT COUNCIL MEMBERS U.K., U.S., FRANCE, CHINA, RUSSIA
  • FIVE PERM. SEC. COUNCIL MEMBERS TO MEET AT 2:30P

Hopefully Putin doesn't whip out incontrovertible proof the chemical gas attack was linked to Al Qaeda, Qatar... and the US of course.

Two Minds on Syria

aleppo-syria-august-580.jpeg

The New Yorker: So it looks like we’re going to bomb Assad.

Good.

Really? Why good?

Did you see the videos of those kids? I heard that ten thousand people were gassed. Hundreds of them died. This time, we have to do something.

Yes, I saw the videos.

And you don’t want to pound the shit out of him?

I want to pound the shit out of him.

But you think we shouldn’t do anything.

I didn’t say that. But I want you to explain what we’re going to achieve by bombing.

We’re going to let Assad know that chemical weapons are over the line. There’s a reason they’ve been illegal since Verdun or whenever.

Except when Saddam used them against the Kurds—we knew, and we didn’t say a word.

Is that a reason to let Assad use them against his people?

At this point, I don’t think Assad is too worried about the Geneva Conventions.

He should have to think hard before using them again.

He’s a bloody dictator fighting for survival. He’s going to do whatever he has to do.

Not if we really hurt him. Not if we pound his communications centers, his air-force bases, key government installations. He’ll be more likely to survive if he doesn’t use chemical weapons.

Killing civilians while we’re at it.

These would be very specific targets.

The wrong people always get killed.

Maybe. Probably. But if you were a Syrian being bombed by Assad every day, trying to keep your head down and your family alive, wouldn’t you want the world to respond, even if a few more people die? I think so.

Easy for you to say.

Hey, can we not personalize this?

Weren’t you just saying that I don’t care about dying children? (Pause.) So you want us to get involved in their civil war.

I’m not saying that.

But that’s what we’ll be doing. Intervening on the rebel side, tipping the balance in their favor.

Not necessarily. We’ll be drawing a line that says dictators don’t get to use W.M.D.s without consequences.

You can’t bomb targets on one side of a civil war without helping the other side.

It would be very temporary. We’d send Assad a clear message, and then we’d step back and let them go on fighting. We’re not getting involved any deeper than that, because I know what you’re going to say—

The rebels are a bunch of infighting, disorganized, jihadist thugs, and we can’t trust any of them.

I’m not saying we should.

And what do we do if Assad retaliates against Israel or Turkey? Or if he uses nerve gas somewhere else?

We hit him again.

And it escalates.

Not if we restrict it to cruise missiles and air strikes.

Now you’re scaring me. Have you forgotten Iraq?

Not for a single minute.

My point is that you can’t restrict it. You can’t use force for limited goals. You need to know what you’ll do after his next move, and the move after that.

It only escalates if we allow ourselves to get dragged in deeper. Kosovo didn’t escalate.

This isn’t Kosovo. The Syrian rebels aren’t the K.L.A. Assad isn’t Milosevic. Putin isn’t Yeltsin. This is far worse. Kosovo became a U.N. protectorate. That’s not going to happen in Syria.

You think Putin is going to risk a military confrontation with the U.S. and Europe?

I think Russia isn’t going to let Assad go down. Neither is Iran or Hezbollah. So they’ll escalate. This could be the thing that triggers an Israel-Iran war, and how do we stay out of that? My God, it feels like August, 1914.

That was a hundred years ago. Stop with the historical analogies.

You’re the one who brought up Verdun. And Kosovo.

I brought up Kosovo because you brought up Iraq. That’s the problem with these arguments. Iraq! Vietnam! Valley Forge! Agincourt! People resort to analogies so they don’t have to think about the matter at hand.

And because they don’t know anything about the matter at hand.

I know what I saw in those videos.

Thank God Obama doesn’t make foreign policy that way. He knows what he doesn’t know about Syria. He’s always thinking a few steps ahead. He’s not going to get steamrolled by John McCain and Anderson Cooper.

At a certain point, caution is another word for indecisiveness. Obama looks weak! Or worse—indifferent. Anyway, he should have thought ahead when he called chemical weapons a “red line.” He set that trap a year ago, and now we’re in it.

Why does it have to be a trap?

Because our credibility is on the line.

Thank you, Dr. Kissinger.

See, that’s another thing people do in these arguments.

What?

“You sound like so-and-so.” It shouldn’t matter who else is on your side. I mean, you’re in bed with Rand Paul. Anyway, credibility matters even if Kissinger said so. You have to do what you say you’re going to do, especially with bullies.

I don’t think Obama committed himself to any one course of action. But if he does bomb them, we’re involved in that war, and I sure hope his advisers have thought through all the potential consequences better than you have.

Inaction has consequences, too. Assad gases more people, the death toll hits two hundred thousand, the weapons get into Hezbollah’s hands, Iran moves ahead with its nuclear program, the Syrian rebels disintegrate and turn to international terrorism, the whole region goes up in sectarian flames.

And how does firing cruise missiles at Damascus prevent any of this?

It doesn’t. But, look, all of this is already happening with us sitting it out. If we put a gun to Assad’s head, we might be able to have more influence over the outcome. At least we can prevent him from winning.

A violent stalemate. How wonderful for the Syrians. Some people think that’s the best solution for us.

I’m not saying that.

What are you saying?

I don’t know. I had it worked out in my head until we started talking. (Pause.) But we need to do something this time.

Not just to do something.

All right. Not just to do something. But could you do me a favor?

What’s that?

While you’re doing nothing, could you please be unhappy about it?

I am.

___

Above: photo authenticated based on its contents and other A.P. reporting, Syrians inspect buildings damaged by heavy shelling from Syrian government forces in Aleppo, on Monday, August 26th. Aleppo Media Center AMC/AP

Video: Daily State Department Press Briefing FULL. 8/28/2013  

Video: "IT'S NOT CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE!" Pentagon Sounding Kinda Defensive About Their Syria Intel 

Video: John Bolton with Greta Van Susteren slams Obama - President needs a character transplant to work effectively on Syria

And after all of this… Obama Threatens To Go It Alone On Syria

Ah, yes...President Obama is steaming mad since the Brits and French backed out of his little Syrian adventure, and he saying he's fully prepared to go it alone.

He even sent another American ship towards Syria, a destroyer escort.The Russians already have a fleet of warships headed that way.

Remember what our Dear Leader and his minions said in 2007 and 2008 about 'Cowboy' Bush? Remember the horse manure about "meeting the global Test" and the Magic Wisdom of the International Community?

Biden 2007

Video:  Here is Senator Joe Biden: Iran & Impeachment – Biden Saying If “W” Didn’t Get Congressional Approval Before Going to War He’d Seek Impeachment… and Senator Obama Agreed

So what happened?  There is very little support by Americans to enter the Syrian Civil War… In a new HuffPo poll, conducted after U.S. officials claimed Syria's government killed thousands of civilians with chemical weapons, shows 25 percent of Americans now support air strikes to aid rebels in Syria, while 41 percent said they are opposed. Another 34 percent said that they're not sure.  Germany I also a thumbs down along with Britain and France.

The only logical conclusion is that the truth about the scandals Obama is attempting to divert attention from, by getting involved in Syria, are probably a lot worse than any of us thought.  Time for more investigation!!

You be the judge…  By Marion Algier – AskMarion~

Sunday, April 21, 2013

ON HIS KNEES, RONALD REAGAN

Marion Algier – Ask Marion

I posted this video once before, but this week, with the death of Ronald Reagan’s good friend and ally Lady Thatcher, has brought back many memories from that era in history and it seemed only fitting to post it again for those who have not heard it.

Ronald Reagan's church put this together to commemorate the birthday of Ronald Reagan. Unfortunately the war against the evil of liberalism is still alive and well, and we fight it even at Bel Air Presbyterian. The liberal Presbyterians are doing all they can to pervert the church from the inside out. Fortunately the conservative Christians are strong at Bel Air. (Those Presbyterians from Reagan’s era might be very surprised at the direction their church has chosen.) Ronald Reagan loved Bel Air Presbyterian as I do...Enjoy!

Video: Ronald Reagan Tribute -- Bel Air Presbyterian Church

Below is a quick transcript of the narration from the video above.

“Someone asked me whether I was aware of all the people out there who were praying for the president and I had to say, “Yes, I am”. I’ve felt it…..I believe in intercessionary prayer, but I couldn’t help but say to that questioner after -  that sometimes when he was praying if he got a busy signal – it was just me in there [praying] ahead of him.

I think I understand how Abraham Lincoln felt when he said “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming convictions I have that have nowhere else to go.”

Now I realize it is fashionable in some circles, to believe that no one in government should encourage others to read the Bible. That we are told that will violate the constitutional separation of church and state, established by the founding fathers in the first amendment. The first amendment was NOT written to protect people and their laws from religious values, it was written to protect those [ religious] values from government tyranny.

I’ve said that we must be cautious in claiming God is on our side. I think the real question we must answer is  “Are we are on His side?”

No matter where we live, we have a promise that can make all the difference. A promise from Jesus to soothe our sorrows heal our hearts and drive away our fears.

He promised there will never be a dark night that does not end. Our weeping may endure for a night but  joy cometh in the morning

He promised if our hearts are true, His love will be as sure as sunlight.

And by dying for us, Jesus showed how far our love should be ready to go – all the way.

For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Inaudible [Spanish]

Americans yearn to  explore life’s deepest truths. To say their entertainment ….their idea of entertainment -  is sex and violence and crime is an insult to their goodness and intelligence.

We are people who believe love can triumph over hate - creativity over destruction and hope over despair.

That’s why so many millions hunger for God’s good News. I have always believed that  we were ….each of us put here for a reason we were put here for a reason that there is a plan.

Somehow A divine plan for all of us

I know now that whatever days are left to me - belong to Him.

I also believe this blessed land was set apart in a very special way.

Our forebearers came not for gold, but mainly in search of  God and the freedom to worship in their own way. We have been a free people living under the law with faith in our maker and our future. I have said before that the most sublime picture in American history is of  George Washington on his  knees in the snow at Valley Forge. That image personifies a people who know it is not enough to depend on our own courage and goodness, we must also seek help from God our Father and preserver.

We’ll never find every answer,  solve every problem or heal every wound, but we can do a lot if we walk together down that one path that we know provides real hope.

The morality and values such faith implies are deeply embedded in our national character. Our country embraces those principles by design and we abandon them at our peril.

My experience in this office I hold has only deepened the belief I have held for many years.

Within the covers of that single Book are all the answers  to all the problems that face us today, if we would only read and believe.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9eQIWKBR-s]

Video:  Eulogy to Reagan by Thatcher

President Ronald Reagan, Blessed (Pope) John Paul II, Prime Minister (Baroness) Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev (the General Secretary Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) ended the Cold War and changed the face of the world. Reagan and Thatcher were political soul mates, making our countries even closer allies than they had been before.

Sadly like relations with our strongest ally in the Middle East, Israel, The Obama Administration was conspicuous by its absence, at the Thatcher funeral.  It would have greatly surprised, saddened and disappointed President Reagan. Obama and his administration said it was ‘too busy’ to send anyone just now, and this was before the Boston bombings. There was no official American envoy sent to Thatcher’s funeral.  It was a disgrace! America was (unofficially) represented by former Secretaries of State James Baker III, George Schultz and Henry Kissinger, all of whom attended as private persons. And by a small private, mostly Republican delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives, including former Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, Marsha Blackburn and Tim Holden. Senator John McCain and former V.P Dick Cheney also attended as private citizens because there was no official American envoy sent.

Obama and company, as well as the Clintons and all the Bushes, all stayed home. Shameful.

*First Lady Nancy Reagan and President George H.W. Bush were too ill to travel.

The American Patriot's Bible

Newly Released: The Founders' Bible

Original Intent: The Courts, the Constitution, & Religion

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Thatcher Laid To Rest - And The Left's Promised 'Violent Protest' Falls Flat

The coffin of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher is carried from the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft in the Palace of Westminster to a hearse, as it makes its way to St Paul's Cathedral for her funeral service, in London April 17, 2013. Reuters-Steve Parsons-Pool
JoshuaPundit: Baroness Thatcher was laid to rest today in a state funeral attended by the Queen. Her flag-draped coffin was carried from a small chapel in Westminster to St. Paul's Cathedral for the funeral service escorted by members of Britain's military, including 700 veterans of the Falkland's War.

The Angry Left had promised 'violent protests' and had promised they would pelt the coffin with eggs and coal. For a sample of that rhetoric, look at the comments section here.
In the end, thousands of people lined the road to pay tribute to the Iron Lady,many of them throwing white roses in her path while the promised 'protest' turned out to be a joke. According to Reuters, hardly a conservative friendly site, only about two dozen people booed or turned their backs on the coffin, chanted 'ding dong the witch is dead' or booed.
http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/MRWe4IWp938DE.tUaTC.6A--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9aW5zZXQ7aD02MTI7cT04NTt3PTQzNg--/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-04-17T090743Z_1989341975_LR1E94H0PCK0V_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-THATCHER.JPG
The Daily Mail was a little more charitable, characterizing the number of protesters as around 200 at most, scattered throughout the crowd.

While security was heavy, both the military and the police had said that they would not impede protest. And since the Thatcher Haters are not noted for qualities like common decency, I can only ascribe the lack of attendance to cowardice.

It's one thing to make a speech to the converted, be a has been pop star singing an insulting song to try and resuscitate your career or to leave a hate-filled, anonymous comment on line.It's another to go public, where you might just have to engage in a vigorous debate at street level, if you get my meaning.

The funeral service was attended by 2,300 mourners, including a number of heads of State including Canada's PM Harper, Israel's PM Netanyahu, PM Mario Monti of Italy and Polish PM Donald Tusk. The Obama Administration was conspicuous by its absence, saying it was 'too busy' to send anyone just now. America was represented by former Secretaries of State James Baker III, George Schultz and Henry Kissinger, all of whom attended as private persons. And by a private, mostly Republican delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives, including former Presidential candidate Michele Bachmann.  There was no official American envoy sent.

Margaret Thatcher was one of a kind, sadly. Thatcher and Reagan were fast friends and allies. She gave a moving tribute to Ronnie when he passed. It is a disgrace that no one from our government went to her funeral; no official envoy. I believe Michele Bachmann and a small delegation of mostly Republican U.S. Congressmen… members (including Marsha Blackburn), Senator John McCain, former V.P Dick Cheney and two former secretaries of state from the Reagan Era that worked with her, James Baker III and George Shultz as well as former SOS Henry Kissinger, went.  They all attended as private citizens. But Obama and company, as well as the Clintons and the Bushes, all stayed home. Shameful. – Teressa Monroe Hamilton, the NoisyRoom

It's actually quite fitting that no one from the Obama Administration could be bothered to attend the funeral of one of our staunchest allies, a woman who played a large part oin defeating the Evil Empire.Mrs. Thatcher didn't care much for commies and socialists in life, and I'm sure her spirit doesn't miss them now.

One particularly moving moment in the service came when Baroness Thatcher's grandaughter Amanda Thatcher, 19, read from the book of Ephesians to mourners.
Her reading, delivered with remarkable poise and confidence called for the righteous to put 'on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil'.
And one off putting note came from the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres, who in his remarks at the funeral called Thatcher 'just an ordinary woman' and referenced the Tolpuddle martyrs, a 19th century group of icons for Britain's trade unions, whose strangling grip on Britain's faltering economy was successfully broken during Thatcher's administration.

Amanda Thatcher, 19, drew particular accolades for her composure as she read a New Testament verse that spoke to her grandmother’s strength: “We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” …WAPO

The Bishop, like a lot of Church of England clergy is fairly Left wing in his outlook (Thatcher, by the way was a Methodist) so his remarks were not entirely unexpected.
Margaret Thatcher was not 'just an ordinary woman'. She was an extraordinary woman from an ordinary background. There's a big difference.

Quite simply, she was one of those rare people who saw something wrong and decided to do something about it, and she refused to be put off. She had her defeats, and her autobiography recounts them. But she had her victories too. And in the end, what matters is that she was willing to get in to the arena in the first place, because someone had to. In the end, she fought the battles she had to fight and left things better than she found them, which is all you can really ask of a leader.

So the greengrocer's daughter who changed so much has made the passage, to be reunited with her beloved Denis and her great friend Ronald Reagan.

A number of people along the procession and in the service were openly weeping as they said goodbye to Baroness Thatcher today. She was a symbol of Britain's greatness, and perhaps part of what they found so sad was their sense that greatness has departed and will not return.

-Selah-

Video: Baroness Thatcher's Funeral At St Paul's - FULL VIDEO

Video: Dawn military rehearsal for Margaret Thatcher funeral

Related:

Britain Bids Farewell to Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady

Despicable But Not Unexpected: Obama Refuses To Send Envoy To Margaret Thatcher’s Funeral

Why Obama’s Snub of Thatcher’s Funeral Is No Surprise

Lady Thatcher’s Advice to Conservative Bloggers

Margaret Thatcher: Feminist Icon

The 25 Margaret Thatcher Quotes that Crush Obama and the Left

Margaret Thatcher on Socialism

Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady – Freedom Fighter and Icon Dies at 87

Honoring Margaret Thatcher – The Ultimate Progressive Hunter

Margaret Thatcher, the grocer’s daughter who became Britain’s first female prime minister, is getting a funeral fit for a queen

The Grocer’s Daughter – Margaret Thatcher not only broke a glass ceiling; she broke a class ceiling

How Thatcher Changed Hearts and Minds Behind the Iron Curtain

The Thatcher Haters

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Despicable But Not Unexpected: Obama Refuses To Send Envoy To Margaret Thatcher's Funeral

thatcher

Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady – Freedom Fighter and Icon Dies at 87

Honoring Margaret Thatcher – The Ultimate Progressive Hunter

Margaret Thatcher, the grocer’s daughter who became Britain’s first female prime minister, is getting a funeral fit for a queen

The Grocer’s Daughter - Margaret Thatcher not only broke a glass ceiling; she broke a class ceiling

JoshuaPundit: Apparently Baroness Thatcher, one of America’s staunchest Cold War allies rates a great deal lower on President Obama's priorities than a fascist thug like Hugo Chavez, who received an official U.S. envoy. Of course if we understand Obama’s background and disdain for Britain, Winston Churchill and Conservatism… this is no surprise!!

The White House informed the British government that it would not be sending an envoy to here funeral, citing 'a busy week'. That decision was made before the Boston Bombing, by the way:

Friends and allies of Baroness Thatcher expressed ‘surprise and disappointment’ last night as it emerged President Obama is not planning to send any serving member of his administration to her funeral.

Whitehall sources have revealed that the US delegation at tomorrow’s service in St Paul’s Cathedral will be led by two Reagan era secretaries of state: James Baker and George Shultz.

Though President Obama himself had not been expected to attend, there had been speculation that he would be represented either by Vice President Joe Biden or wife Michelle. However, the Obama administration had said it would not be attending Thatcher’s funeral before the Boston bombings.

The Queen’s decision to attend Lady Thatcher’s funeral has effectively elevated it to a state occasion unprecedented for a political figure in Britain since the death of Sir Winston Churchill in 1965.

Other world leaders, including Canada’s Stephen Harper, Mario Monti of Italy and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, are attending the service in person.

What is the White House so busy with? A spokesman from our UK embassy clarified the matter, saying that both the First Lady and the Vice President were 'the President's point people on gun control', adding: 'This is a week when there is a lot of movement on Capitol Hill on gun control issues.'

Joe Biden is riding shotgun? Heaven help us.

One correction. The phrase 'U.S. delegation ' implies some kind of official status. Baker and Shultz were going to attend as private citizens. So are former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. And House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announced that the House will send a delegation to London this week to represent the U.S. House of Representatives at the funeral, led by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN).

We all know by now that out president is not exactly a class act,and that this is a calculated and deliberate insult, and while the Brits are phrasing their 'disappointment' in diplomatic language, they understand.

After all, President Barack Obama has already let it be known on a number of occasions that he has little regard for any special relationship between America and Britain.

But that brings something to mind.

When Mitt Romney traveled to the UK as a presidential candidate, he received a rude, foul and totally unjustified reception from the British,being criticized and insulted for things he never even said.The Obama media here made a huge deal out of it, and I recall the Obama worship in the British press.

But had Romney gotten elected, I guarantee you he would have come to Britain to pay his respects to America's great ally in spite of that.

That might just be something for our cousins across the Pond to consider.

Why Obama’s Snub of Thatcher’s Funeral Is No Surprise

Related:

Senate Finally Passes Thatcher Resolution, Despite Dem Attempt to Gut It

Lady Thatcher’s Advice to Conservative Bloggers

Margaret Thatcher: Feminist Icon

The 25 Margaret Thatcher Quotes that Crush Obama and the Left

Margaret Thatcher on Socialism

Monday, April 8, 2013

Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady - Freedom Fighter and Icon Dies at 87

By Marion Algier

Lady Thatcher Pushed Back

“Margaret Thatcher was a freedom fighter, a lover of capitalism and promoter of free societies and the rights of the people; a symbol of strength for the world!!  You either loved her or hated her, but nobody ignored her!!  Had she not been suffering from dementia (caused by a series of strokes… and a stroke ultimately killed her) the past several years, like her good friend Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimer’s the last years of his life, she would not have believed what has happened to America and the West and would certainly have been a vocal opponent of the Obama administration  and many of the policies  in her own country ”  …Marion Algier - Ask Marion~

British Prime Minister Cameron said Margaret Thatcher not only led Great Britain, she saved Her.  Thatcher took on the unions, turned her country around and helped change the course of the world.  She was the longest serving British Prime Minister of the 20th Century.  Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thatcher’s global influence was immense.

RUSH/EIB: She was purely formal and sophisticated. I don't mean boring and dull and old-fashioned. She carried herself with a dignity and a self-respect and a seriousness that led no one to question who she really was. If you ever had the chance to be around her, you would know that she was in person as you saw her on television. She was committed, she was serious. She was formal. She was great woman, a great human being…

MargaretThatcherPIX

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Margaret Thatcher has passed away, and that will be the first thing we get into when we come back from the break. We've got some audio sound bites from Lady Thatcher. Lady Thatcher, I was very fortunate to know. Because of some friends of mine who knew her, I was often invited to social occasions with her. I must have spent quality time with Lady Thatcher on 10 to 15 different occasions, all in the 1990s. I've regaled you with some of the stories.

In every one of those instances -- every one -- she was identically the same. She was purely formal and sophisticated. I don't mean boring and dull and old-fashioned. She carried herself with a dignity and a self-respect and a seriousness that led no one to question who she really was. If you ever had the chance to be around her, you would know that she was in person as you saw her on television. She was committed, she was serious. She was formal. She was great woman, a great human being.

Some people call it a coincidence -- I think it's more than that -- that at the same time in the world we had Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II, and Margaret Thatcher. During those years were the only time in my lifetime where the left was actually turned back. Not just stopped, but defeated and turned back. It was the only time in my life. Poland, Berlin, Moscow, the United States. Wherever. Those three leaders on the political stage, the world stage at the same time, did more for freedom and liberty for people all over this world than any three people since the founding of this country -- and they all served at the same time, overlapping.

Lady Thatcher is the only one of the three that I met, and I got to know her very well.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here's a little trivia question. Does anybody out there know who it was that decided to call Margaret Thatcher "the Iron Lady"? Any idea who it was? It was not Neil Kinnock, and therefore not Joe Biden. It was not a British politician. It was not an American politician. It was no one in the media, at least in the Western media. It was the Soviet news agency Tass that called her, that dubbed Margaret Thatcher the Iron Lady, and the West's Drive-By Media gleefully picked up on that.

Tass did not mean it to be a compliment, neither did the American Drive-By Media, but of course it turned out to be one. Margaret Thatcher reminded me of my grandfather. My grandfather was serious all the time. He wore a jacket and tie every day of the year -- Saturday, Sunday, no matter what -- because he worked every day. Lady Thatcher was serious. She was funny, but she was serious. Everything mattered. One of the many things she said that I've never forgotten -- and there were a lot of them, but this one has always stuck with me -- was "Consensus is the absence of leadership."

Consensus is now the objective in this country.

To her, it meant no leadership.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, don't misunderstand when I say that Lady Thatcher was serious. I don't mean that she was boring and constantly talking about weighty things that only a few people were interested in. Quite the opposite. She was filled with self-respect and dignity. And she knew who she was. She's the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, this during the time I knew her. She was proud of that, but that meant something, that had requirements that she was never, ever going to lapse. She was always going to fulfill. She had a great sense of humor, and it was a very dry wit.

The friends of mine who made it possible for me to know her are great people here in Palm Beach, Gay and Stanley Gaines, and they'd known her for many, many years, and Lady Thatcher was entirely willing to attend dinner parties with their friends. Many people would beg off something like that. "Please, I don't want to hang around a bunch of people I don't know. Please, Gay, I came to see you." No, there would be dinner parties with ten people, 25, 30 people. And whatever was asked of her, she attempted to comply, every question. Everybody that wanted to ask her about something was given her full attention. I remember one particular evening, it was the end of the week, it had been a long week for me, and I showed up, cocktail party, dinner. I sit down at dinner and Gay immediately says, "Okay, Rush, what's the latest in..."

I said, "Gay, I'm tired. I just don't want to talk about politics right now." Of course the table looked, "You don't want to talk politics? Do you understand who's sitting here?" She was seated next to me. And I said, "No." At the time I just didn't want to be on stage. I was exhausted, I was worn out, and I just wanted to listen. And Gay kept trying to urge me, and Lady Thatcher said, "Gay, he doesn't wish to speak about politics. So let's talk of the rule of law," and, bam, there we are off on a discussion, the rule of law. She loved the founders. She absolutely thought they were the most brilliant people, 'cause they were Brits, don't forget. Our founders were British. She loved them.

She loved Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was it. But she loved them all. She knew the history of this country better than most people in this country do, and she revered it. She was one of the greatest Americans, quote, unquote, that I've ever met.

Let's go to the some audio sound bites. First up, we have her appearing with William Buckley on Firing Line, 1977. At the time she's a member of parliament, Conservative Party leader. She's not the Prime Minister yet. Buckley said, "What is there to be learned from the failure of British socialism?" This is important. At the time, British socialism was in the process of crumbling, 1977. Of course today it's back with a vengeance, with its tentacles more deeply hooked than ever. But in 1977 it was collapsing. It was on the way. She finished the job.

"What is there to be learned from the failure of British socialism; and what, in fact, has been learned from the failure of British socialism? In a recent speech, Mrs. Thatcher said, 'We observe what happens elsewhere and draw lessons from it, but we are aware that different national traditions, experience, and religious values affect the total political and economic situation.' Question: Does the failure of British socialism have the same meaning for the United States as, say, for Venezuela?"

Video:  Margaret Thatcher - Capitalism and a Free Society

THATCHER: There are two ways in which any government can proceed. One is a way based on what you and I would call a free society, which is enshrined right at the heart of the American Constitution. The other one is a way which allows only one view both of economics and politics and which almost everything is either owned or controlled by the state, including the media, including the ideas, including freedom of discussion and everything. There is no freedom of discussion. Now, between those two ways, the free society and the totally controlled society, there are, of course, variations. I think what we've learned in Britain is that we've gradually, over the last certainly 12 or 13 years, with perhaps a little interruption, gone slowly further and further away from the free society towards something else.

RUSH: So she was in a way disagreeing with Buckley, who was asking about the failure of -- well, not really disagreeing. He was talking about the failure, but not the demise that had yet to happen, and it didn't begin to happen until she became Prime Minister. So after pointing out that Britain had moved further away from a free society in 1977, she continued with this.

THATCHER: At the same time we've found -- I don't find it strange, but some other people do -- that we have stopped creating wealth. We've had a large number of increasing restrictions. And you've been finding two things: First, that we are more and more concentrating on redistributing the wealth we've got, rather than creating any more. To create more, you need a slightly freer society, and you need an incentive society. Naturally when I see that happening, I look with very great alarm to societies which have gone even further left. That is, they've tried to redistribute even more and haven't had the incentives for people working hard on their own account, doing well for their families and often then being able to create jobs for others, they've produced a much more prosperous society than we have. But by and large you've got the two broad, different economic and political approaches.

RUSH: Here we are, 1977, and again, the value here, not just an illustration of who Lady Thatcher was, for those who don't know, but rather in 1977 it was known what is known today. And it was being executed then, as it's being executed now. And in 1977 it failed, i.e., the redistribution of wealth, the stoppage and the creation of wealth, which happens at the same time. The moment a society becomes redistributive, it stops creating wealth. She was cataloging current circumstances in Britain in 1977. And this was, of course, to set up her eventual triumph as prime minister.

But, you see, it serves to illustrate that the left is always what it is. There's nothing new about it. Its failure is commonplace. It has never worked. It has never succeeded. The left, after destroying one free society after another, has to keep finding another to run their experiments on because each time they try, they destroy. They destroy the creation of wealth. They disincentivize the creation of wealth with the redistribution of wealth by creating more and more recipients for having done nothing. And so they create a vicious cycle, spinning in onto itself, which is self-destructive, and it's happening here now. It's happening throughout the world. The thing that is most difficult for me to understand is it's never succeeded. And yet people turn to it still with as much hope as they ever have.

So what's the allure? It's never worked. It never will work. But in the short term, it does work for those who don't wish to work. That's the problem. It does work temporarily for those who are the beneficiaries of all this. In America today, 90 million people aren't working, 90 million. Last month, folks, talked about this on Friday, 633,000 people stopped looking for work. The labor force participation rate grew by over half a million people, in one month. Those are jobs that have vanished. Every one of those people is eating, and pretty much what they want to eat. Every one of them has a cell phone, and every one of them has no trouble getting around. They all live somewhere. And so to them, you say, "Well, it's not working."

"Well, it is for me; I don't have a job, and I'm doing well. It's working fine for me."

And this is how they sell it, catalog it, success. They're never around when the total implosion takes place. And while a society is crumbling and imploding, an implosion and crumbling that they are causing, the people on the left, they succeed in blaming their opponents for it, which is where we are now. Republicans are responsible for everything rotten happening in the country. It's all part of the left's tactics. The thing is, my friends, the people on the left know it's going to fail always, too. They are not -- I mean, you've got maybe some young leftists coming out of college with rosy scenarios of their future, rose-colored glasses, and they think they're onto something here, utopia.

But the left, the adults know it isn't gonna work, never has worked, that's not its purpose. Its purpose is to enshrine them as elites. Its purpose is to gain them power. But in terms of a workable way of governing a country, it fails, has failed, every time it's tried. Brief time-out. More Margaret Thatcher sound bites when we come back.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: November 22nd, 1900, House of Commons in London, Margaret Thatcher delivering her final speech as prime minister. During the speech, she yielded time to a member of Parliament, Mr. Simon Hughes, who said, "There is no doubt the Prime Minister has in many ways achieved substantial success. But there is one statistic that I understand has not, however, challenged you, and that is that over her 11 years, the gap between the richest 10% and the poorest 10% in this country has widened substantially.

"How can she say at the end of her chapter of British policies that she can justify many people in the constituency such as mine being relatively poorer, much less well housed, much less well provided than it was in 1979? Surely the gentlelady accepts that it is not a record that she or any prime minister can be proud of," and of course there were the hoots and hollers, and this is what she said, again, delivering her final speech as PM...

Video: Margaret Thatcher - "They'd rather have the poor poorer!"

THATCHER: He would rather have the poor poorer, provided the rich were less rich. That was the liberal policy! Yes, it came out! He didn't intend it to, but he did. I give way to the honorable gentleman.

MAN: The prime minister is aware but I detest every single one of her domestic policies and I have never hidden that fact..

THATCHER: And I think that the honorable gentleman knows that I have the same contempt for his socialist policies as the people of East Europe who have experienced them. I think I must have hit the right nail on the head when I pointed out that the logic of those policies are they'd rather have the poor poorer. Once they start to talk about "the gap," they'd rather the gap was that, down there. That. Not there. But that. So long as the gap is smaller -- so long as the gap is smaller -- they'd rather have the poor poorer. You do not create wealth and opportunity that way. You do not create a property-owning democracy that way.

RUSH: Ladies and gentlemen, that's called push-back. That's called standing up for what you believe. That's called standing up for your principles. It's called not being shouted down, not being a coward, not being afraid, not worrying about what is said about you. Which, by the way, she also detested: People who were consumed with what other people thought about them. She said, "They will never amount to anything, and we will never know who they truly are," but she called these people out.

The same argument here.

"Under your policies the rich are getting rich and the poor are getting poorer." No, under your policies the poor are getting poorer and everybody's getting poorer and that's all you care about. If the poor get poorer, that's fine with you as long as the rich do! That's what she was shouting back at this liberal. One woman against all these liberals in the House of Commons. There is no such leader in America today. There is no such push-back. There is no one defending the founding, conservatism, whatever. The concept of private property, wealth creation. Not publicly, not defiantly, not pushing back. It doesn't happen.

Here is her tribute to Ronald Reagan, February 3rd, 2004, Simi Valley, California.

Video:  The Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, and Ronald Reagan's 83rd Birthday [1/5]

THATCHER: You strode into our midst at a time when America needed you most. This great country had been through a period of national malaise bereft of any sense of moral direction. Through it all, throughout eight of the fastest-moving years in memory, you were unflappable and unyielding. You were not only America's president, important as that is, you were a great leader. In a time of average men, you have stood taller than anyone else.

RUSH: Margaret Thatcher, Simi Valley, California, February 3rd, 1994. This was at a birthday gala for Reagan. Here she wraps it up, praising Reagan's toughness...

THATCHER: With a toughness unseen for the long time, you stood face-to-face with the Evil Empire, and with an unexpected diplomacy which confused your foes -- and even some of your friends --

AUDIENCE: (rippling laughter)

THATCHER: -- you reached out to that empire, perhaps no longer evil but still formidable. You met its leaders on their turf, but on your terms.

RUSH: That's Reagan's 83rd birthday gala in Simi Valley, California.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Lady Thatcher really was transformative in the true sense of the word. She transformed the UK, during her time, from socialist left to a free market, wealth-creating free society -- and she is hated and reviled today in her own country, by the media, much as conservatives in this country are, but there's the no denying what she accomplished, what she achieved, and how she did it.

END TRANSCRIPT

Margaret Thatcher Bio

Thatcher was born on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, England, Margaret Thatcher became Britain's Conservative Party leader and in 1979 was elected prime minister, the first woman to hold the position. During her three terms, she cut social welfare programs, reduced trade union power and privatized certain industries. Thatcher resigned in 1991 due to unpopular policy and power struggles in her party. She died on April 8, 2013, at age 87.

Politician and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher was born as Margaret Hilda Roberts on October 13, 1925, in Grantham, England. Nicknamed the "Iron Lady," Thatcher served as the prime minister of England from 1979 to 1990. The daughter of a local businessman, she was educated at a local grammar school, Grantham Girls' High School. Her family operated a grocery store and they all lived in an apartment above the store. In her early years, Thatcher was introduced to conservative politics by her father, who was a member of the town's council.

A good student, Thatcher was accepted to Oxford University, where she studied chemistry at Somerville College. One of her instructors was the Dorothy Hodgkin, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist. Politically active in her youth, Thatcher served as president of the Conservative Association at the university. She earned a degree in chemistry in 1947, and went on to work as a research chemist in Colchester. Later, she worked as a research chemist in Dartford.

Two years after graduating from college, Thatcher made her first bid for public office. She ran as the conservative candidate for a Dartford parliamentary seat in the 1950 elections. Thatcher knew from the start that it would be nearly impossible to win the position away from the liberal Labour Party. Still she earned the respect of her political party peers with her speeches. Defeated, Thatcher remained undaunted, trying again the following year, but once more her efforts were unsuccessful. Two months after her loss, she married Denis Thatcher.

In 1952, Thatcher put politics aside for a time to study law. She and her husband welcomed twins Carol and Mark the next year. After completing her training, Thatcher qualified as a barrister, a type of lawyer, in 1953. But she didn't stay away from the political arena for too long. Thatcher won a seat in the House of Commons in 1959, representing Finchley.

Clearly a woman on the rise, Thatcher was appointed parliamentary under secretary for pensions and national insurance in 1961. When the Labour Party assumed control of the government, she became a member of what is called the Shadow Cabinet, a group of political leaders who would hold Cabinet-level posts if their party was in power. 

When Conservatives returned to office in June 1970, Thatcher was appointed secretary of state for education and science, and dubbed "Thatcher, milk snatcher," after her abolition of the universal free school milk scheme. She found her position frustrating, not because of all the bad press around her actions, but because she had difficulty getting Prime Minister Edward Heath to listen to her ideas.  Read Full Bio HERE

16 of the Greatest Margaret Thatcher Quotes

16 Quotes To Remind You What Type of Leader Margaret Thatcher Was

Cold Warriors: President Roland Reagan, Blessed John Paul II, & Baroness Margaret Thatcher (The Blaze)

There must be a great reunion going on in Heaven right now!!

Thatcher, Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Gorbachev ended the Cold War

Daniel Janin/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images  -  Prime Minister Thatcher greeted residents who gathered to see her in Moscow during a visit in 1987. More Photos »

We’re deeply saddened at the loss of Margaret Thatcher. While the Iron Lady is sadly gone, her iron will, her unfailing trust in what is right and just, and her lessons to all of us will live on forever. She was a trailblazer like no other. We lost an icon, but her legacy, as solid as iron, will live on in perpetuity. ~ Sarah Palin

"I always cheer up immensely if an attack is particularly wounding because I think, well, if they attack one personally, it means they have not a single political argument left." ~ Margaret Thatcher  Hmmm… Sound like anyone we know?

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were political partners and ideological soul mates, as written about in Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher: A Political Marriage & Reagan and Thatcher: The Difficult Relationship, and many feel that torch has been passed to Sarah Palin, who considers them both her mentors and idols.

Meryl Streep recently played the ‘The Iron Lady’ [Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Combo). Although political opposites, Streep found Thatcher a remarkable woman and a leader in the role of women in politics!  Although the film was hailed as a success, garnering Streep her third  Oscar win, Margaret Thatcher’s family was appalled at the depiction of the former prime minister as a dementia sufferer looking back at her life with sadness… as usual a little too much artistic license and looking at a Conservative who reforged her country from a Progressive perspective.  It is a film worth seeing, but not to be taken as the gospel.  Watch it, but do your homework and read about this remarkable woman!!  It was not only filmed from a sad and uncomfortable perspective but was full of historical inaccuracies… like two other  recent examples of based-on-a-true-story films: "Lincoln" and "Zero Dark Thirty"

Books on Thatcher: Margaret Thatcher: A Portrait of the Iron Lady, The Margaret Thatcher Book Of Quotations, Margaret Thatcher: Power and Personality

Meryl Streep, left, and Margaret Thatcher

Meryl Streep, left, and Margaret Thatcher (Photo: Weinstein Company/Getty Images)

Related:

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

U.S. Embassy Attacked: CNN Breaking News @ 14:06 EDST, From Egypt… Then Libya, No Comments From Obama

CNN Breaking News @ 14:06 EDST, from Egypt  -   – Yep on the anniversary of 9/11, 2012

Angry protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo today and hauled down its U.S. flags, replacing them with black flags with Islamic emblems.

The incident prompted U.S. security guards to fire off a volley of warning shots as a large crowd gathered outside, apparently upset about the production of a Dutch film thought to insult the prophet Mohammed, said CNN producer Mohammed Fahmy, who was on the scene.

An Embassy operator told CNN that the facility had been cleared of diplomatic personnel earlier in the day, ahead of the apparent threat, while Egyptian riot police were called to help secure the Embassy walls.

One CNN Center Atlanta, GA 30303 (c) & (r) 2012 Cable News Network

  • America apologizes to Egypt… Then Obama says the apology was a mistake.
  • Earlier in the day… Obama refuses to meet with Bibi Netanyahu and refuses to set down red lines for Iran.  Later it is reported that Obama will on Letterman the same say he said he wouldn’t be in NYC to meet with Netanyahu.

Prime Minister Netanyahu: Those in the international community who refuse to set a red line for Iran have no moral right to set one for Israel:  “I have had enough those who do not set a red line for Iran on their nuclear program have no right to set a red light on Israel!”

Obama Announces Letterman Appearance on Day He Snubbed Netanyahu

Muslim Brotherhood Blames America For Not Protecting Islam After Mob Attacks U.S. Embassy

Krauthammer on Obama's apology to Egypt today: "it was a hostage statement and we should have told them to go to hell.."  See Video

American Embassy worker in Libya was stripped bare and then burnt alive by Salafis in Benghazi on September 11 2012  -  Wake-up

Embedded image permalink

Apparently President Obama can’t see Egypt and Libya from his house. On the anniversary of the worst terrorist...

Palin to Obama: Time To Grow A Big Stick

BREAKING NEWS: U.S. State Department Brings U.S. Corporations To Meet Muslim Brotherhood…

Side Story… (looking back to 10.27.11):

State Department spends $70,000 on Obama's books – and stirs a controversy

The US State Department calls the purchase of Obama's books "standard practice," but critics call it "inappropriate."

Records show the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, spent more than $40,000 in 2009 on “Dreams From My Father,”

102711-blog.jpg_full_380[1]

It’s the biggest books shopping spree we’ve seen in a while.

The State Department bought more than $70,000 worth of President Barack Obama’s books, The Washington Times reported Tuesday. The books, mostly Obama’s 1995 bestseller, “Dreams from My Father,” will be used as Christmas gratuities for embassy staff and to stock “key libraries” around the world.

Records show the US Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, spent more than $40,000 in 2009 on “Dreams,” and the US Embassy in South Korea spent $6,061 on the same title, all to be used for Christmas gratuities. Obama reported between $1 million to $5 million in royalties in 2010 for “Dreams From My Father,” and between $100,000 and $1 million in royalties for “The Audacity of Hope,” far more than he has made as President. If he earned 10 percent royalties on roughly $60,000 worth of the State Department purchases, he would pocket about $6,000, notes The Washington Times.

Both the White House – which was not involved in the buying – and the State Department have come under intense fire for the purchases.

“It’s inappropriate for U.S. taxpayer dollars to be spent on this,” Leslie Paige, the spokesman for Citizens Against Government Waste, told The Washington Times. “This sounds like propaganda.”

Tom Schatz, president of Citizens against Government Waste, told CNN that the purchases provide money from the taxpayers to the president in the form of royalties. "[I]n an era where everyone's trying to cut back, it really doesn't look good to the taxpayers to have this being done at the State Department."

The State Department, as expected, is defending its shopping spree.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told CNN it is "longstanding practice" to allow embassies to buy books, "to put them out in libraries ... give them to contacts, which they think will help deepen understanding of the U.S. political system, of U.S. political figures and leaders of U.S. history, U.S. culture."

The purchases, she added are "done in strict accordance with government procurement standards."

"It's the embassies themselves that make the decisions what American books to buy. And they make these decisions based on the interest in the country where they are. But these are not decisions that are made in Washington, and they're not decisions that are directed by Washington."

The White House, for it’s part, is happy to wash its hands of this decision.

"Obviously, the White House didn't have anything to do with this," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters traveling aboard Air Force One on Wednesday. "I think this is an embassy-by-embassy decision based on what they think ... in buying books makes sense for them in terms of advancing American foreign policy interests."

Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.

No doubt right now  every video of Obama and Hillary praising the Arab Spring is being scrubbed off the internet…