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?

(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

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~

Technorati Tags: One World Government,Joe Biden,Double Standards,Great Britain,Middle East,watch the other hand,Beck,Glenn Beck,Fox,Fox News,NWO,you be the judge,globalism,Syria,WWIII,War,Iran,Britain,France,Ambassador John Bolton,Greta Van Susteren,red lines

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

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.

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

Technorati Tags: The Iron Lady,Margaret Thatcher,Cold War,Ronald Reagan,haters,strength,conservatism,politics,ally,Britain,history,leadership,remembering

Honoring Margaret Thatcher – The Ultimate Progressive Hunter

And they still hate her for it… Evil always despises strength and Baroness Margaret Thatcher was holy water to the vampiric Progressive Left. The Lioness of the British Isles roared onto the scene with Ronald Reagan and John Paul II to fight Communism and oppression. The Iron Lady, depicted here by Meryl Streep from the movie ‘The Iron Lady’ [Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Combo), was a warrior for freedom and she will forever be admired by me and millions of others.

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton – The NoisyRoom

From Rush Limbaugh:

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.

From Sara Palin:

Today we say goodbye to a towering figure of the 20th century. With the passing of Margaret Thatcher, we’ve sadly lost the last living member of that great triumvirate that included Ronald Reagan and John Paul II – those giants who defeated the evil empire of Soviet Communism and allowed the liberation of its captive nations. We’ve also lost one of the great champions of economic freedom and democratic ideals.

The Grocer’s Daughter was indeed iconic and one of the greatest leaders of our time. She was not afraid to voice her opinions and go toe to toe with the Leftists – summarily wiping the political floor with them time and again. A debater that had no equal, she used facts and logic as her weapons of choice, burnishing their mortal impact with eloquent prose and stunning delivery. Thatcher was a titan spearheading accomplishment, while dragging Progressives kicking and screaming into the light of capitalistic success and growth:

She put those beliefs into action. Like Reagan, she was a leader for whom word and deed were one and the same. A leader of a conservative think tank behind the Thatcher revolution famously said, “We were not interested in political office for the Conservative party. We were interested in power for them to get things done.” And that’s exactly what Thatcher did. While others in her party were interested in holding on to political office and overseeing “the orderly management of [Britain's] decline,” she actually radically reformed a broken system and brought it back to free-market principles, leaving her country stronger, wealthier, and a leader in the world when just a decade before it had been dismissed as “the sick man of Europe.” Her push to privatize British industry and lower tax rates led to a substantial economic expansion and became a model for other countries shrugging off the yoke of socialism.

The Real Legacy of Margaret Thatcher, Britain’s Iron Lady:

She knew what Ronald Reagan knew. That free markets and a free people are the best defense against tyranny and that peace comes through strength, not accommodation.

Prophetic in her vision for a stronger Britain as well as a freer world, Thatcher diagnosed the Socialist disease that plagues the globe and offered the cure of smaller government, lower taxation and economic expansion. Her enemies put forth wealth redistribution and equal misery for all with more taxation, regulation and government rule. It is small wonder her enemies celebrate her death in the streets, but all Americans and the world should reflect and hold in wonder the ideals of Margaret Thatcher, while reimplementing them before it is too late. Communism/Socialism/Marxism/Progressivism never succeed, they always fail. They end in massive death, poverty and misery. The world cries out for another Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher to deliver us from One World rule.

Will America once again follow the vision of Reagan and Thatcher? We do indeed stand at the crossroads of history — a choice between what the Founding Fathers saw in smaller government, less regulation, less taxation and the power lying with the States and the people vs. the horrific future of the Progressive Left with an all-encompassing Nanny State, never-ending regulation and government control, crony capitalism and dictatorial rule.

JoshuaPundit:

What can you say about Margaret Thatcher’s accomplishments? She was a green grocer’s daughter who rose to become Britain’s Prime Minister, who did her best to reverse what she clearly saw as her country’s decline, who led Britain in war and peace, who survived a terrorist assassination by the IRA that killed five people.This was someone who put principle first, who informed the people who wanted business as usual that this lady was not for turning. She literally scared Britain’s Socialist establishment witless by pointing out loudly and clearly what they were doing to her country and where it would ultimately lead.

America owes much to Margaret Thatcher, a courageous, principled leader who laid the foundations for Reagan’s revolution that brought massive prosperity to the United States.

Carrying on Margaret Thatcher’s Vision

Carrying on Margaret Thatcher’s Vision

I identify with Baroness Thatcher. I consider her my role model and I grieve her passing. Her legacy, however, will live on and so will our fight for conservative ideals and individual liberty. The fight will never end while Communism lives. While Constitutional Conservatives fight to regain America’s freedoms, Democrats are blocking a resolution to honor Lady Thatcher. How sick and twisted is that? It shows a dearth of character and a lack of morality. I guess they only honor commies these days. The death of morality presages the death of a country. Always.

The Moral Foundations of the American Founding:

Free societies demand more care and devotion than any others. They are, moreover, the only societies with moral foundations, and those foundations are evident in their political, economic, legal, cultural, and, most importantly, spiritual life.

We who are living in the West today are fortunate. Freedom has been bequeathed to us. We have not had to carve it out of nothing; we have not had to pay for it with our lives. Others before us have done so. But it would be a grave mistake to think that freedom requires nothing of us. Each of us has to earn freedom anew in order to possess it. We do so not just for our own sake, but for the sake of our children, so that they may build a better future that will sustain over the wider world the responsibilities and blessings of freedom.

Heritage’s Nile Gardiner on the Passing of Margaret Thatcher

I intend to honor Margaret Thatcher by continuing the research into and the hunt for Progressives on both sides of the political aisle. You can see my research and work with Trevor Loudon over at KeyWiki.org. To paraphrase Lady Thatcher, “Our job is to stop America from going Red.”

Quotes from the Iron Lady:

• To cure the British disease with socialism was like trying to cure leukemia with leeches.
• I came to office with one deliberate intent: to change Britain from a dependent to a self-reliant society — from a give-it-to-me, to a do-it-yourself nation. A get-up-and-go, instead of a sit-back-and-wait-for-it Britain.
• We want a society where people are free to make choices, to make mistakes, to be generous and compassionate. This is what we mean by a moral society; not a society where the state is responsible for everything, and no one is responsible for the state.
• My job is to stop Britain from going red.
• There can be no liberty unless there is economic liberty.
• They’re casting their problem on society. And, you know, there is no such thing as society. There are individual men and women, and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first. It’s our duty to look after ourselves and then, also to look after our neighbour.
• Socialists cry “Power to the people,” and raise the clenched fist as they say it. We all know what they really mean — power over people, power to the State.
• Communist regimes were not some unfortunate aberration, some historical deviation from a socialist ideal. They were the ultimate expression, unconstrained by democratic and electoral pressures, of what socialism is all about. … In short, the state [is] everything and the individual nothing.
• Of course it’s the same old story. Truth usually is the same old story.
• I owe nothing to Women’s Lib.
• Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.
• Pennies don’t fall from heaven, they have to be earned here on earth.
• Good Conservatives always pay their bills. And on time. Not like the Socialists who run up other people’s bills.
• Let us never forget this fundamental truth: The State has no source of money other than the money people themselves earn.
• Let me give you my vision: A man’s right to work as he will, to spend what he earns, to own property, to have the state as servant and not as master.
• All corporatism – even when practised in societies where hard work, enterprise and cooperation are as highly valued as in Korea – encourages inflexibility, discourages individual accountability, and risks magnifying errors by concealing them.
• Constitutions have to be written on hearts, not just paper.
• It is not the creation of wealth that is wrong, but the love of money for its own sake.
• No one would remember the Good Samaritan if he’d only had good intentions; he had money as well.
• Many of our troubles are due to the fact that our people turn to politicians for everything.
• People have got the entitlements too much in mind, without the obligations, because there is no such thing as an entitlement unless someone has first met an obligation.
• When all the objectives of government include the achievement of equality – other than equality before the law – that government poses a threat to liberty.
• Socialists have always spent much of their time seeking new titles for their beliefs, because the old versions so quickly become outdated and discredited.
• Socialism’s results have ranged between the merely shabby and the truly catastrophic – poverty, strife, oppression and, on the killing fields of communism, the deaths this century of perhaps 100 million people. Against that doctrine was set a contrary, conservative belief in a law-governed liberty. It was this view which triumphed with the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. Since then, the Left has sought rehabilitation by distancing itself from its past.
• Marxists get up early to further their cause. We must get up even earlier to defend our freedom.

From: AskMarion:

“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! ”

“Margaret Thatcher, The Iron Lady – Freedom Fighter and Icon Died at 87 but will live as long as there is a flicker of hope for freedom left in the world!!”

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

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

Technorati Tags: Margaret Thatcher,The Iron Lady,tribute,conservative women,strength,conservatism,history,educate yourself,Ronald Reagan,leadership,courage,Rush Limbaugh,Sarah Palin,politics,remembering,freedom

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…

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

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 (Photo: Weinstein Company/Getty Images)

Related:

• Gorbachev says "exceptional" Thatcher helped end Cold War
• SkyNews: Margaret Thatcher Dies After Stroke
• UKDM: Former Prime Minister Baroness Thatcher Dies Peacefully In Her Suite At The Ritz After Suffering A Massive Stroke. She Was 87
• UK Telegraph: Margaret Thatcher Dies: Latest Reaction
• New York Times: Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Who Reforged Britain, Dies
• UK Independent: 'A Heroine And A Hate Figure': Indifference Wasn't An Option When It Came To Lady Thatcher
• Washington Post: Margaret Thatcher: In Every Sense A Leader
• No state funeral for Margaret Thatcher
• Britain's "Iron Lady" Margaret Thatcher dies
• Thatcher Video: Why Socialism Fails
• ‘The Iron Lady’: What Meryl Streep and Co. Got Wrong About Margaret Thatcher
• For Thatcher and Reagan, it was a very "special relationship"

Technorati Tags: Margaret Thatcher,freedom,Iron Lady,strength,freedom fighter,remembering,Ronald Reagan,EIB,Riush,Rush Limbaugh,Capitalism,free society,Britain,England,Free World,irreplaceable,Sarah Palin,Meryl Streep,sadness,icons,Cold War,Cold War Warrior,Barroness Margaret Thatcher,John Paul II

English Warning To Americans: DONT GIVE UP YOUR GUNS!

Video: English Warning To Americans: DONT GIVE UP YOUR GUNS!

The British people have been completely disarmed according to UN resolution, and here are personal accounts of British citizens of why Americans need to fight this with all they've got.

Related:

CFR Says Don’t Worry About Hillary’s Small Arms Treaty

Why Do They Want Us Disarmed?

SWISS TV FORECASTS DEFEAT FOR TIGHTER GUN LAW – UPDATE

Video: The British Want Their Guns Back

Video: Troops Ordered to Kill Americans

Technorati Tags: Brits,Great Britain,England,gun grab,gun confiscation,UN small arms treaty,disarming America,disarmed England,global elitist agenda,United Nations,gusn second amendment,right to bear arms,CFR,Switzerland,controlling the population. control,watch the other hand,politics

Barack Obama feasts while Rome burns. Do America’s ruling liberal elites think they are the new emperors?

As reported in Great Britain By Nile Gardiner World Last updated: August 4th, 2011  -  104 Comments Comment on this article

Fiddling while America's heartland freezes

I don’t think anyone will begrudge the president for celebrating his 50th birthday. It’s a big milestone in life that deserves to be marked. But does he need to do it in such an extravagant and insensitive style at a time of tremendous economic turmoil when tens of millions of Americans are hurting financially and nearly one in ten are out of work? Barack Obama is not a Hollywood celebrity or corporate mogul. He is a public official, paid for by the American people, and is expected to lead the country by example.

Is it really necessary to host a $35,800 a head campaign fundraiser in Chicago as the United States faces  towering debts and the possibility of a double-dip recession? Details of the event emerged today in several US papers, including this report in The Washington Post:

Good thing that debt-ceiling tussling is over. Now begins President Obama’s 50th-birthday week, with lots of fundraising fun and plenty of recruiting for the 2012 reelection campaign.

There is the gala fundraiser Wednesday night in Chicago at the Aragon Ballroom featuring stars from that city — maybe Jennifer Hudson , Herbie Hancock and others. There’s also a dinner fundraiser planned for some high rollers for only $35,800 a person. (Must be serving some really good grub.)

For America’s ruling liberal elites there is clearly no age of austerity, but there is undoubtedly an air of impunity with a rather vulgar let them eat cake mentality. I very much doubt the British prime minister would even dream of holding this kind of ostentatious bash on his upcoming 45th birthday while at the same time telling the British people they must be prepared to make historic sacrifices to restore the economy. And undoubtedly there will be significant costs to the American taxpayer with the intense security involved in these large-scale presidential events.

With 75 percent of likely US voters believing the country is heading in the wrong direction, and with a job approval rating scraping 40 percent, this should be a time for humility from the White House. There is instead a great deal of imperious arrogance on display, coupled with increasingly bitter and nasty attacks on political opponents – witness vice president Joe Biden’s astonishing outburst against the Tea Party earlier this week.

After 30 months of staggering levels of public spending, massive failed bailouts, rising unemployment, declining consumer confidence, and a collapsing housing market, the American economy is literally on its knees. This is no time for grand celebrations Mr. President, but should be a moment for pause and reflection, as the world’s only superpower heads towards the economic abyss under his leadership.

Related:

The Secret of Socialism