I learned from a great man — my dad. Unfortunately, the Lord called him home this morning. I don’t expect to be blogging for a while, but hopefully Prophet Joe can make some contributions in my absence.

6pence

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I Learned in Kindergarten Cowboy Movies.

When I was a kid, anything western was the rage. Ford had the Pinto, the Maverick, the Mustang, and the Bronco. Chevy had the El Camino and Jeep had the Cherokee. Gunsmoke and Bonanza were still hot shows on TV and John Wayne still ruled the big screen.

I learned a lot about life by watching cowboy movies. The struggle of good versus evil was epitomized in movies like Shane (starring Alan Ladd). In Shane, Ladd plays a “retired” gunslinger who wants to pursue a peaceful life of farming with the Starrett family. Rufus Ryker, the evil cattle baron, calls in a hired gun named Wilson, played by Jack Palance. At one point in the movie, Mrs. (Marion) Starrett vocally announces her comtempt for guns. Shane rebukes her with this classic line:

“A gun is a tool, Marion, no better or no worse than any other tool, an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that”.

That little life lesson is about all you need to know about gun control in America today. A gun is a tool. The outcome of using a gun is dependent upon the man (or woman) using it.

In another excpetional cowboy movie, called The Shootist, John Wayne plays the lead character, John Barnard (”JB”) Books. Books is an aging gunfighter dying of cancer. After seeing the local doctor (played by Jimmie Stewart), he gets a room at the local rooming house run by a widow (played by Lauren Becall). Her teenage son is played by Ron Howard — about ten years older than when he played Opie in Mayberry.

In the movie, Books has a philosophical moment when he says:

“I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on… I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”

Perhaps this encompasses the American ideal in foreign policy. Prior to the Korean war, we were far less concerned about ‘American interests overseas’. While America has always had economic interests in other parts of the globe, they were, typically-speaking, corporate concerns and not governmental concerns. During the Cold War, that changed as the U.S. took on the ’super power’ role. I would like to see a return to an America first strategy — oh, I know, in this day and age, we can’t stick our heads in the sand and pretend that terrorism doesn’t exist. But I would have preferred that we take a smaller scale approach to the war; and by that I mean using Special Forces to conduct interdictions instead of an occupying force. Using a hit and run strategy keeps the out of the liberal media headlines and reduces the risks to the soldiers by not having all of those hard targets available.
Current politics aside, I think the JB Books quote is good for the individual too. What is not presented in this context (but it WAS conveyed in the movie) was the fact that if Books was wronged, insulted, or assaulted, he would teach the offender a lesson in the form of a good beating or a belly full of hot lead. A great many Americans (and other nationalities) could learn a couple of lessons there: 1) mind your own business and 2) your right to throw a punch ends at my nose.

JB Books also implied what President Teddy Roosevelt said “walk softly and carry a big stick”. Now that’s good diplomacy!

So said the Prophet…

Years ago, mental health professionals used a politically incorrect classification system to denote a person’s mental capacity. In that antiquated system, a person with severe mental retardation having the mental age below three years old and generally being unable to learn connected speech or guard against common dangers was known as an idiot. Today, of course, the term is offensive and is not used in the mental health field.

Unfortunately, there are still many idiots among us who are unable to recognize and guard against common dangers. Take, for example, modern Islamo-fascism. The idiots would have us believe that they are just like John Q. Public, except with a “different point of view” of American diplomacy and foreign affairs. The idiots would have you believe that the Islamic terrorists freedom fighters are just the militant wing of the Islamic culture — something like the Black Panther Movement of Baghdad — activists wanting socio-economic change, but resorting to criminal activities.

Furthermore, the idiots would have us believe that these Islamic terrorists freedom fighters are criminals, not enemy combatants. A liberal will tell you that, like the Black Panthers, the Islamic Freedom Fighters should be afforded Constitutional protection and be processed in a court of law under the rules of the Geneva Convention.

To those liberals I say “Bull F***ing Sh*t!!” If that’s your stand, then you are an IDIOT!! These turds aren’t activitists promoting peaceful social change. They’re violent evangalists of death or conversion. No arbitration. No mediation. No compromise. They will put a gun to your god-damned head and tell you to convert to Islam or they will saw your head off. That is your idea of a religion of peace?

And to enlighten you idiots who may be reading this (and you know who you are), and to remind the rest of us, here’s a short list of their terrorist activities “Islamic evangalism” since 1970. This is, by no means, a complete list — just a few memorable highlights:

· 1972: Munich Massacre: During the Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany a Palestinian terrorist organization, Black September (also known as the Abu Nidal Organization), takes 11 Israeli athletes hostage. During a failed rescue attempt, the 11 Israeli athletes, all 5 terrorists and 1 German policeman were killed. Israel retaliates by giving the order to kill all terrorists tied to Black September, which is linked to the PLO through Yassar Arafat’s group known as Fatah.