Having The Cake And Eating It Too

David Limbaugh, in his January 3rd column, contemplates the foundations of the American Experiment and the assaults against those foundations by ignorant yet usually well-meaning people of all stripes.

He asks whether or not conservatives have that “fire in the belly” necessary to motivate the country into entrusting its direction to their hands again.

Before Reagan was elected, there was much more for conservatives to be concerned over, the country had bought into massive economic and social lies and was being led by its nose down a path of recession. But Reagan led on ideas and hope, and with solid economic principles he allowed the country to see the truth in his dreams.

Have we now forgotten the strengths of America are not magic or unassailable permanent fixtures of our corner of the world?

We expect liberals to believe: We can punish the producers in this nation without reducing overall output and hurting all economic groups; we can socialize health care without destroying its quality, quantity and affordability; we can assault our traditional values and cultural institutions without eroding the nation’s character; unbridled, illegal immigration without assimilation will lead to multicultural Nirvana; and we will be secure at home if we’ll just be nicer to foreign nations and more sensitive to the terrorists’ concerns.

But what about conservatives? Do we also need a reminder that free nations are the exception in world history and that our liberty was purchased with the greatest sacrifices and will ultimately disappear without a rededication to our founding principles?

Read it all. Then tell Fred Thompson to get some fire in his belly.

His greatest strength is that he doesn’t need to be president. But his greatest failure is that he doesn’t recognize the necessity of at least acting as though we need him to be president. If the strength of his own convictions is this weak, what is there to entrust to him?

Ron Paul?

A friend of mine supports Ron Paul for president. Admittedly, his libertarian views are very appealing to many people feeling as though the Republican mainstream has hung them out to dry. However, there are deep issues that I have with Ron Paul, very deep issues.

My friend and I got into a discussion regarding Ron Paul, and they have graciously given me permission to post it here:

Matthew:

Please tell me you only joined the group supporting Ron Paul as a joke.

Friend:

No, I wasn’t joking. Why should I? Go ahead and convince me! =] I’m game.

Matthew:

His political platform is mostly appealing, I do agree with that. However, he supports pulling us out of a war that, regardless of whether you agree with the necessity of the war or no, you must understand to pull out is to give a victory to an enemy who will not accept our defeat graciously but who will next bring the war to our doorstep again. His consistency on the issues he is most vocal about on the campaign trail is also less than stellar, with a marked propensity for bringing “pork” projects to his district.

Finally, and I know he himself does not espouse these beliefs, but white supremacists have jumped on his campaign, contributing money and support. Ron Paul has not repudiated these supporters or returned their money or prevented their support.

He is not a leader in the sense America needs. And while the the pickings are few in the field, I think of all the candidates running with an (R) after their name, Paul is least qualified.

Friend:

We are in a war that can’t be won. Don’t you remember that Bush declared victory over 4 years ago? Since then, 3,735 American soldiers have lost their lives. If that is victory, then we can’t win this war.

Do you remember Vietnam? We lost that war, and had the common sense to get out of there, (although it wasn’t until we lost 58,000 of our guys) and now? We trade with them! Our relations with Vietnam are as they should be with any country!

If a forthcoming attack is your concern, think about this. When Ron Paul talks about bringing our troops home, he’s talking about bringing home ALL of the troops from over 700 military bases, in over 160 different countries, all over the world. We would not no longer be growing resentment in any of these countries, who all deserve, as much as we do, to run their countries how the want, and not have a bigger, more powerful government come and tell them how to live. How would you feel if China or Russia came over here, and built 15 military bases or more, and started telling us how to run our lives? Would you sit back, and let them? I wouldn’t… I would do everything in my power, (which isn’t much=]) to stop them!

So, who would you stand behind for the next president of the US?

Matthew:

First, what about the war we are currently in is failing so very badly that there is no way the war can be one? Have you followed the news beyond what has been force-fed us by the media? Read the post here to see one side of the new growth of freedom in Baghdad. Even the New York Times, a paper arguably more invested than any other in our defeat in Iraq, last week published on the front page an article telling of the good that is occurring there.

We lost Vietnam because the politicians (the revered but Clintonesque JFK and the worst president in history Lindon Baines Johnson) would not allow the military to prosecute the war as it needed to be. The president selected the military targets, micromanaging far beyond what any true and wise leader would have or should have done. There was a small but vocal contingent at home which proclaimed the injustice of the war, getting their faces (and other body parts) smeared all over the evening news as our country fought for it’s soul. Public figures such as Jane Fonda openly consorted with the enemy while our soldiers, not allowed to fight as they should have, were captured and imprisoned and tortured. We still do not know the fate of many of those imprisoned, as the Vietnamese Communists who gained power through the pride and ineptitude of our leaders at the time, persecuting and killing many of their own countrymen as well as our servicemen.

Comparing that just but unjustly-prosecuted war with the conflict we are currently in, the times when the current was going poorly coincide with times when the military leadership has taken away responsibility and power from their field-level commanders, much as in the Vietnam war. One of the the reasons freedom from tyranny is succeeding right now and we are experiencing success in our military operations is that the generals are giving direction and responsibility and allowing the people under them to work and decide and wage their battles as they know best.

And regarding the justice of the war. Who do you believe attacked us in 1992, attempting to topple the trade towers? And again in 2001? The same people made both attempts. And regarding specifically the portion of the conflict in Iraq, yes, we have not found weapons of mass destruction. But operating on the intelligence we had then, all the leaders, not just Bush, not just Republicans, not just ‘hawks’, and not just Americans, but the UN security council (regardless of the morality of their position) supported us in our use of force to depose Saddam Hussein and protect the world from any furtherance of his tyranny, either on his own people or on others through his state-sponsoring of terrorists and their weapons systems. Important to remember in this is that while we have not found any actual WMDs we have not found evidence that they were not or never there. Instead, the consensus is that they were trucked across the border to Syria and Iran, both countries with despotic governments who are not shy about broadcasting their intentions of world domination by their religion by their leadership.

As far as defense goes. The worst defense is the kind where all your assets are kept close by. With the world getting “smaller” as technology and transportation move more and more people further and further more and more quickly, and with weapons capable of striking anyplace from anywhere in mere hours, being “on-site” and in the region of conflict is a much more effective defense.

Regarding the bad feelings we are breeding by our presence in the regions. First, America is the only superpower in the history of the world which has neither forced it’s culture upon those it is around as superior, nor have we failed to relinquish sovereign control of the nations we’ve fought in to legitimate governments of those nations in most cases (several islands in the Pacific being the only exceptions to that). Instead, we fight alongside indigent warriors to free their nations, then we spend billions upon billions of dollars to shore up those nations economies and social structures. The hotbeds of hatred spring up wherever they will regardless of our presence. And to remove from the area would only grant unwelcome power to an unworthy underclass of malcontents and misfits.

I am not sure who I’m supporting for the nomination. I will support any Republican nominee in the main presidential race because: 1, they are all and each morally and pragmatically superior to any of the Democrat nominees, and 2, third party candidates are never a viable option except to take votes away from one of the two main party’s candidate (yes, liberal third partiers… keep up the good work, grin).

As far as the nominees, I’m becoming more and more convinced that Rudy is bad news, and his promises to set up conservative judges are likely to be empty. Romney, I think most of his detractors are picking at straws in their critiques of him, but I do not think I’ll vote for him in the nomination for his lack of history to his moral beliefs regarding abortion. Thompson is (little) talk and I think he’ll fade away soon. Huckabee looks good but I’ve heard those close to him call him a pro-life liberal. I think he’d make an excellent VP if given a position of counsel and some authority. I’m not sold on him.

Of all these, I think Huckabee, if he shows strength continuing into these upcoming primaries, is my preferred choice, pending a bit more investigation.

We didn’t continue the conversation further mainly due to busy-ness.

Huckabee is looking to be less and less of a man I’d want to lead this country. He’d make an admirable vice-president, but his fiscal and many of his social programs are not good. He does not see that the best way to help people is to remove all government-sponsored assistance and as much government-required hindrance and and encourage as much private assistance as possible.

Instead his proposals include large amounts of money to be given to people by the government. Government money is never free and it always comes with strings. And it costs you and me. Why not just take less to start with?

But Ron Paul is the last person this nation needs. He does not appreciate the necessity of remaining in Iraq to bring it to a place of stability. A process in which much progress has already been made. He is not a man of his word.

Acting Presidential: Mitt Romney

Read the story on the far side of this link. Mitt Romney is acting Presidential, very Presidential.

I’m leaning towards Huckabee in my vote in the nomination, but I’m less than happy with his lack of fiscal responsibility and faith in government programs.

Guiliani is a strong man who is honest and truthful, but his social and moral views are very different from my own and I cannot support many of his policies.

Thompson will not be a factor, unless lethargy is a quality.

Paul can keep spinning his little wheels as long as he stops once the primary voting is over and his nuts see just how few of themselves there really were.

McCain is a politician, not a man. He gets ideas in his head and nothing shakes them loose, especially when they are incorrect. Think Campaign Finance Reform, the worst thing to happen to American Politics since the invention of the lie.

The others are also-ran’s. Egotistical or misguided or just unable to recognize they are at the margin of the margin. And incapable of pulling beyond single-digit support, counting their own families.

Because I Didn’t Feel Up To Original Content (I’ve Got A Cold And I’m Still Working)

When Is Good Enough?

Social conservative Christian leaders meetings are being trumpeted by the media. The talking heads crowing that the current crop of Republican presidential contenders are not conservative enough on certain issues and that movers and shakers such as Dr. James Dobson are planning on voting for a third party or not at all if the eventual chosen nominee of either of the two main parties does not support traditional family values such as opposing abortion and support marriage for one man and one woman exclusively.

I agree with these leaders that we desperately need strong leadership, morals and values in our President, without them we really do not have a chance as America. It has been rightly noted that the next President may very well nominate several more Justices to the Supreme Court, and with the current balance of ideology in the Court, the next Justices will direct the Court firmly in either direction.

Things we know for sure:

Hillary will appoint Ginsburg’s and similar justices. Men and women whose moral compass is screwed wrong. This is not a question or a chance, it is a known and acknowledged fact. She is not ashamed to say it. These Justices will direct the court towards the globalization of our legal authority, the affirming and legalization of abortion, the normalization of homosexual “marriage”, and the legal protection of terrorists and the aiders, abettors, and sympathizers, among other things. The Justices will practice judicial activism and will deny the will of the people and their elected representatives and the original intent of the constitution. They will hasten the destruction of America in immorality, wickedness, and the blood of our children.

The front runners of the Republican race, Guiliani and Romney, would appoint justices similar to Scalia and Thomas, who believe in the rule of law and the strong original intent of the Constitution. As such, the will of the people and their elected representatives when codified in law, is the law to them and they would not change it or define it into oblivion. They would deny the constitutionality of Roe V Wade, they would uphold the rights and protections of American citizens and the entire world by denying the supposed “rights” of enemy combatants and terrorists. They would uphold the will of the people in their laws and constitutional amendments protecting marriage between one man and one woman.

I have serious disagreements with the social ideas of Guiliani and qualms about the religious view of Romney, but when the option is Hillary, I will throw my whole weight of support behind them for our Country’s sake.

Of the two, I support Romney right now. He has changed his mind on social issues, but in the right direction.

So what of Thompson, McCain, and the others? Thompson has not done much since he announced his candidacy, wowing few and wooing fewer. He is not consistent in cutting spending or on social issues. I’d support him just as heartily if he were to be the nominee, but I will not support him in the primary. McCain is not good for America. His highest aim is his own preeminence and he can only be trusted to to what is expedient for himself. A selfish man is not a man to whom one gives authority.

Huckabee is trying too hard to be all thing to all people, the funny man, the cool man, the smart man, the right man. He is all things to all, and nothing true. This is sad. I had hoped he’d be a good man for the job, but he would be polling and focus-grouping as much as the last President from Arkansas. And with a name like Huckabee, how can he be elected?

As for Paul, to (mis)quote a bastion of English (French?) literature: “I fart in (his) general direction”. There is neither honor, honesty, nor leadership potential in that man. He tickles the ears of his listeners with good ideas mixed with bad. With false libertarianism and fake posture. His listeners and adherents are as enthusiastic as they are deluded and I pity them, and have little patience for them.

Do I wish there were a strong Christian man with history and depth, with values and strength? Yes. It is a sad commentary on the state of the lazy and bloated, idle Christianity which defines our Country that we do not have a strong man leading the way, an obvious and unimpeachable choice, a shoo in who no one can say wrong about because He is right and good.

We do not have such a man, and to search elsewhere for one is to run the risk of finding ourselves lost in history as those who forsook the good hoping to find the impossible.

Today’s Interesting Stuff

It’s an old letter, but it bears rereading:

To al-Qa’ida terrorists in Iraq:

I see that you have captured a U.S. Marine, and that you plan to cut off his head if your demands are not met.  Big mistake.  Before you carry out your threat I suggest you read up on Marine Corps history.  The Japanese tried the same thing on Makin Island and in a few other places during World War Two, and came to regret it.  Go ahead and read about what then happened to the mighty Imperial Army on Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.  They paid full price for what they did, and you will too.

You look at America and you see a soft target, and to a large extent you are right.  Our country is filled with a lot of spoiled children who drive BMWs, sip decaf lattes and watch ridiculous reality TV shows.  They are for the most part decent, hard working citizens, but they are soft.  When you cut off Nick Berg’s head those people gasped, and you got the media coverage you sought, and then those people went back to their lives.  This time it is different.  We also have a warrior culture in this country, and they are called Marines.  It is a brotherhood forged in the fire of many wars, and the bond between us is stronger than blood.  While it is true that this country has produced nitwits like John Kerry, Michael Moore, Howard Dean and Jane Fonda who can be easily manipulated by your gruesome tactics, we have also produced men like Jason Dunham, Brian Chontosh and Joseph Perez.  If you don’t recognize those names you should.  They are all Marines who distinguished themselves fighting to liberate Iraq, and there will be many more just like them coming for you.

Before the current politically correct climate enveloped our culture one of the recruiting slogans of our band of brothers was “The Marine Corps Builds Men.”  You will soon find out just how true that is.  You, on the other hand, are nothing but a bunch of women.  If you were men you would show your faces, and take us on in a fair fight.  Instead, you are cowards who hide behind masks and decapitate helpless victims.  If you truly represented the interest of the Iraqi people you would not be ambushing those who come to your country to repair your power plants, or sabotage the oil pipelines which fuel the Iraqi economy.  Your agenda is hate, plain and simple.

When you raise that sword over your head I want you to remember one thing.  Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun is not alone as he kneels before you.  Every Marine who has ever worn the uniform is there with him, and when you strike him you are striking all of us.  If you think the Marines were tough on you when they were cleaning out Fallujah a few weeks ago you haven’t seen anything yet.  If you want to know what it feels like to have the Wrath of God called down upon you then go ahead and do it.  We are not Turkish truck drivers, or Pakistani laborers, or independent contractors hoping to find work in your country.  We are the United States Marines, and we will be coming for you.

Our military is the right stuff. If only our leadership (besides Bush and those stalwart few who, like Lieberman and Thompson, put no cowardly qualifications on their patriotism) would accept that and allow them to fight their fight.

If WWII Was An MMPORG

(Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game, ie. fake life for those without real lives)

Be careful reading this, profanity is rather strong. But for those willing to brave the junk, and with a n00b lvl of l33t sp34k, you are in for the read of the day.

You Might Be Too Educated If…

And for that tag line above. No doubt you’ve already pasted it in google and read the answer, but if you haven’t…

Si hoc legere scis nimium eruditionis habes
Roughly translated means: “If you can read this, you’re overeducated.”

Call A Kid Smart And Ruin Their Life

Well maybe not that bad, but it certainly does not help their chances.

I’ve written about this recently but I ran across another article on the issue of children who know their smart versus children who are used to having to try to succeed. In considering this issue I find my own reactions to be similar to the child who knows they’re smart. I don’t try very hard. I love to learn, it’s one of the greatest perks of being a geek: I’m expected to learn and know. But when I don’t succeed I become discouraged very quickly, falling prey to thoughts of insufficiency and other sundry terrible things. My rather positive disposition tends to offset this effect for me, but it is still hard to keep playing a game when I’m being beaten. In computer games I’m more likely to find the ‘cheat codes’ and play the game using an invulnerability mode or other enhancement. I tell myself and others that it makes the game more enjoyable to me, which is true, but it is only a surface evidence. I play games with assistance because I become irritated when I try and fail and try and fail, and I don’t try again.

They say the first step towards fixing a problem is recognizing you have one… Well, consider this problem well and truly recognized.

Video Games And Children

I am a geek, I enjoy computers and nearly all things related to computers. I enjoy playing computer games. I own a Nintendo Gamecube and I intend to purchase a Wii before too much longer (after I pay off Italy, save a little, and purchase the projector). I find games stimulating, social, and relaxing. I prefer to play multi-player games with decent people. I try to spend a little time each week on a Day Of Defeat server for the clan DeathByToons, consisting of matured ex-professional gamers and people who have lives besides gaming but enjoy a good skirmish every once in a while without dealing with the losers, posers, hackers, and other assorted foul-mouthed idiots who populate so many game servers these days. The people I meet on the DbT server are friendly and good at their game. Several of them are parents and a few have children old enough to play alongside them, and they do, with aplomb. But the game, Day Of Defeat is a relatively realistic WWII first-person shooter game. There’s no blood unless the server is running some mod, and no gore, but there are bodies laying around for a period before disappearing and the whole purpose of the game is to work as a team to achieve objectives and killing the other teams players. I’ve often wondered what kind of controls I’ll put on my childrens’ computer and gaming use.

Growing up, my family purchased our first computer in 1992 when I was 10 years old. It did not have any real games to begin with, but having uncles involved in technology and gaming and friends with Nintendo systems, we were cognizent of video games, and it was only a question of time before we started playing video games on our computer. Mostly we played flight simulator games, military flight simulators (it’s no fun to just fly the things, you gotta shoot and bomb and chase and dodge to have real fun), graduating up to military helicopter sims (Comanche 3 was and is an awesome game, especially when you have a 386DX and Windows 3.1 and need to run a seperate memory space to even load the game). And then the rules came. We had to finish our weekly chores on Saturday before we could play, and we could only play for half an hour per week. We were active boys and were used to entertaining ourselves outdoors most seasons of the year (in northern California, the weather is rarely nasty enough to keep the kid indoors). Now that I’m grown, I play games as I like and as I can, and I’ve found a balance that works: I don’t ever have time to play, but when I do, I’ll play until I feel like stopping.

I want my children to be able to enjoy the active and healthy lifestyle I experienced growing up. I don’t want them to be video game vegetables. I don’t intend to own every game console out there. This is one reason I’m very attracted to the Wii, it’s an active platform that requires exagerated movement of the whole body or significant portions to control most games, and the games are easy to learn, hard to master, and endlessly creative. But despite the creativity and activity and learning that the Wii offers, it does not compare to being able to imaging an entire universe all your own in a tree in your backyard (watch Bridge to Teribithia), or to dig dungeons and fortresses out the garden, or to contruct castles out of Christmas trees in mid-January.

I want my children to grow up strong and independent of techology. Not unaware or ignorant. I don’t want them to need technology to have a good time. Three weeks in Italy with a pen and paper were sheer bliss for me, even my iPod was out of juice. And at the same time I won’t mind of my children become geeks like me. In fact I’d love each of my children to be able to ‘geek out’ over something, to find something they love and to find a way to live by doing it. Geeks don’t just use computers.

I don’t have the answers yet, but there are others who are a little further along the family road than myself who are facing the same issues. In a Wired magazine article, Clive Thompson faces the issues and comes up with some interesting and practical guidlines which I may incorporate with variation into my own ruleset. GeekDad Chris Anderson was interviewed for the article as well and in reading his blog I’ve found a gem. My dad brought home discarded electronics and equipment that we boys would proceed to dissemble and deconstruct, usually ending by dropping the -con- in that last word. We even tried taking apart an old motorcycle once, though the nuts and bolts were a little too stiff for our pre-teen age muscles and we only really succeeded in removing the seat and the dials. Now I know who to thank for planting the seed of geek in me. A geek is one who seeks to know. A geek is hands on and endlessly curious. A geek learns by doing, usually finding solutions by trial and error, mostly error.

I want my children to enjoy games, both computer and board and card and made up and random. I want my children to enjoy life, not just video games. I want my children to grow up like I did. After all, I turned out ok, right?