Throwing The Gauntlet: It's Time For America To Wake-up And Take A Stand

This is probably going to be my last post, for a while at least, so as in many things, when faced with a task that is probably one of the last you need to accomplish, you make it count. So here goes. But first, a warning: This post has very strong language, so for the pacifist or the easily offended, take heed. I will be taking names and there will be a body count.

In the last few weeks, I've come across several news articles and life stories about George W. Bush, American-Christians (yes the hyphen is deliberate), Muslims, Islam and tolerance, Musharraf of Pakistan, The Pope, Hugo Chavez and the U.N., a certain “whack job” in Iran, my father and of course, where there's “W” there are the Dems and their respective “talking heads” aka Pelosi, anyone of the Kennedy clan, Billy the ex-prez, and a number of media mainstays from Greta to Katie and who can forget Rosie and her rant.

George W. Bush is in the limelight again. This time around he was thrust there by Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. By now, everyone has either heard of, or read, Mr. Chavez's speech in front of the United Nations' General Assembly. But just in case current events are not your forte, here is an excerpt directed at George W. Bush.

(In reference to a book written by self-described anarchist Avram Noam Chomsky) “I think that the first people who should read this book are our brothers and sisters in the United States, because their threat is in their own house. The devil is right at home. The devil -- the devil, himself, is right in the house.

And the devil came here yesterday. (Laughter and applause.)

Yesterday, the devil came here. Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of.

Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.”

There are so many retorts and one-liners I could think of as a response to Mr. Chavez' remarks. The most immediate, and most juvenile, is “It takes one to know one.” Others include, “How dare you?”, “He did not say that, did he?”, and if I were affiliated with organized crime “I know where you live you filthy-mouthed retard.” and so on. As a Christian, I can definitely say that the devil (the real one) made him do it, for Mr. Chavez is, after all, one of his minions.

Yes I know, do not judge others lest you be judged yourself and I agree. But, that specific passage applies to judging one's heart. After all aren't we commanded as well to judge. We can quibble about appearances later, but for purposes of judging Mr. Chavez' heart, the only thing I can say is this man's outburst condemned his heart.

And may I say, what a coward! I dare Mr. Chavez to say those things without the protection of the U.N. General Assembly. Am I the only person who appreciates the irony of all this? Mr. Chavez' vicious remarks were aimed at the leader of the country which has so graciously welcomed him. Mr. Chavez, not only insulted said leader but its people and yet, he was able to leave the country unmolested and unharmed with no more than a little “there, there, let's play nice” from the Rev. Jesse Jackson. I hope Mr. Chavez understands that had he made his vitriolic speech elsewhere, he would have had to carry his head in a separate sack lest they detach it from his body without his consent. Maybe, we should sic “Dog the Bounty Hunter” after him. After Dog's potential jail sentence I mean.

And, what about the Dems jumping on the bandwagon to DEFEND “W”? You've called him worst in your inner sanctums. You've ridiculed the man, attacked him and members of his administration, fabricated all kinds of sleaze against him and his advisors, all in an effort to bring shame and degradation to his office which, in case you've all forgotten, is the face of this country. And now that an outsider dares to defile and insult “W” and the American people, y'all stand up in arms? You hypocrites!

I wonder if the Dems have really seen the error of their ways. I can't help but think that this defense of "W" is just a political ploy to distance themselves from what Chavez had said. After all, this socialist, whacked-out, space cadet goofball quoted directly from their playbook. For crying out loud, the man endorsed Chomsky, a self-described political activist, nay, anarchist from MIT. Geez, need I say more.

And am I the only one who noticed how fast Schumer, Pelosi, Jackson, and their like back-pedalled from their own criticisms of "W"? And yet, on the other hand, they have no qualms associating with the likes of Chavez. Take Charlie Rangel of New York. He couldn't denouce and condemn this self-righteous infidel fast enough and yet, he has no problems forming alliances with him.

Following is an excerpt written by AP reporter Ian James on September 22, 2006:

"Rangel called the heating oil program very effective and said he expects that next year his district will be getting an even larger amount of oil.

"But you don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district and you don't condemn my president," Rangel said"

Shame on you Mr. Rangel!

Listen y'all, I'm not saying don't disagree with Chavez, after all that would be prohibiting freedom of speech, but disagree with the man honorably. Don't spout rhetoric in fear of losing votes or for the sake of holding on to your elected post. In case y'all have forgotten, an elected position in office is a temporary job, with term limits. It is not a lifetime appointment. Good God, with friends and associates like these, we're not going to have much need for enemies.

Which leads me to my next point. Do you know that a large percentage of the world's population recognize the United States as the land of opportunity? Citizens of countries like Rwanda, India, Indonesia, Cuba, Red China, North Korea and so on, who have stared true oppression in the face, dream of coming to this land to make a better life for themselves. They understand that despite our flaws our form of government works for the benefit of its citizens. Our form of government allows for prosperity, freedom to express ideas and freedom of worship. Things they will never have in the countries that I've mentioned, unless they belong to the right party or the upper class strata.

If this is the case, ever wonder then why the world hates America and its citizens? It's because the hatred comes from within. In the last 40 years, we've seen a growing group of American-bashers all living within our borders and all the rest of the world has done is follow suit. Can you say ACLU?

Let's get one thing straight. Communism never has and never will spawn true freedom. Just ask all them Russians, Chinese, Cubans and everyone else who dared buck the communist system, see what they say. Oh, my bad, they can't say much of anything cause they're pretty much all dead or imprisoned and forgotten. Just look at what the ACLU and it's henchmen are doing. In an effort to separate church and state, they are hard at work outlawing God in our public facilities.

The first amendment states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

It does not say anything about taking religion out of our school systems and government buildings. The first amendment prevents a state-imposed worship, not the individual practice of a particular religion.

Again, I wonder if the people at the ACLU truly understand what they're working against. With everything that they've done or trying to do, they seem to have infringed and/or prohibited our free exercise thereof. Oh wait, again my bad, I forgot that only applies to us radical Christians who are out to spread God's love and His word. It sure doesn't hold true for the jihadist out there who claims lives in the name of their deity.

And then there are those who are interested in nothing more that their own private agendas. Interest and advocacy groups, corporate raiders, Muslim extremist, the liberal church, postmodern thought and so forth and so on. All have one thing in common, the demise of the patriotic American-Christian man.

As for those of us who purport to be patriotic, what have we done to stem these attacks on our culture, our beliefs and our very rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness? Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Outside of some grassroots movements here and there, the majority of us have sat back, in the name of freedom, and done nothing. We have sunk into the quagmire of mediocrity and complacency, thinking that somebody else will pick up the baton and run with it.

Newsflash: There is no baton. If we love this country and its people as we proclaim in rhetoric, it is our personal, individual responsibility to stand up and do something about it. This is not a call to arms but it is a call to reason. Let us defend our rights from people living within our borders who so passionately hate everything that is right and moral and good about this country. Let's not wait for a fascist dictator to malign our great nation or its leaders. Let's not sit back and wait for the fight to come to our backyards.

There is nothing more disquieting than reading about brothers and sisters in Christ who are giving up the fight because their issues, the ones that bring them to the polls and vote, are not being handled by the government fast enough. Although it's good to get involved in the democratic process, let us not rely on government to affect the changes we would like to see done. After all, government is still fallible and there is always room for error. Let us instead affect change on our own, by stepping outside our comfort zones and reaching one person at a time through God's word. It is not enough to stand on the sidelines and say “I love Jesus” or “I love you man”. Let's embed the word of God into our hearts and our minds and bring the good news of His son and the saving grace that God gave and affect change that way. Let's plant the seeds in obedience to God's commands and watch God do all the nurturing.

I would rather be ridiculed and laughed at while giving my testimony than find myself in a situation where I'm about to loose my head because I kept silent. My preference will always be to depart from this earth and enter the Kingdom as painlessly as possible, however, if God has other plans for me, then His will be done. As Paul, says “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Philippians 2:21). Either way, I've got my one-way ticket to heaven.

I am not asking for jihad, like some religious groups do. What I am asking for is let's all take up our yoke and make a difference so that we won't have to worry about jihads, call to jihads, Rosie O'Donnell, Ahmadinejab and his sidekick Hugo Chavez, Bin Laden and anyone and everyone who wants to see us brought to our knees.

Next, we've seen or heard of various reports of the threats against the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church by a bunch of guys whose towels have been tied up in a bunch lately. Talk about irony. All the Pope did was to read something from this ancient historical document from the 14th century and everyone involved with the worship of Allah is calling for his head (Hugo Chavez should probably make a note of that the next time he decides to speak off script).

Even Musharraf, testicularly-challenged individual that he is, jumps on the bandwagon and talks about how we threatened them back to the stone age if they don't give us their full cooperation. Last I looked, they were still in the stone age. Philosophically and infrastructurally. And here lies the dilemma of the entire Western world. All this talk about tolerance and forbearance, diplomacy and such are all good, except we're all talking to people on the other side of the world who do not understand the true meaning of tolerance, forbearance and oh yes, democracy. Because they, the Islamic world, have not progressed much from the stone age and they have no clear example of tolerance, forbearance and diplomacy in their daily way of life. What with all this jihad stuff going around.

Some argue that our responsibility is to teach them and bring them out of the Dark Ages. My reply: Teaching is futile if the other side refuses to learn. They have, in so many ways, made it very clear that they're not interested in co-existence. What they are interested in is complete assimilation. For all you movie addicts, think “The Borg” from Star Trek, The Next Generation or better yet, “The Necromongers” from The Chronicles of Riddick.

Here's a brief description as given in the movie: "They are an army unlike any other... crusading across the stars toward a place called UnderVerse, their promised land - a constellation of dark new worlds. Necromongers, they're called. And if they cannot convert you, they will kill you. Leading them, the Lord Marshal. He alone has made a pilgrimage to the gates of the UnderVerse...” Sounds familiar?

Last but not least, to those, like my father, who've decided to renew the citizenship of their birth country, and still hang on to their American citizenship, I posit this question. Why in hades would you do such a thing?

In the entire course of human history, there has never, ever been an instance of anyone serving two masters successfully. Citizenship demands loyalty and responsibility so how can one be loyal and responsible to both? In the event of conflict between this two countries where would that loyalty lie?

Let me clarify what I mean. I was born not in the United States. But twenty some years ago, I was brought to this country by the same parents who also thought it was in my best interest to apply for and obtain an American citizenship LEGALLY!

So in 1988, I trotted down to the Convention Center, took my oath and renounced the citizenship of my birth country and became an American. That does not mean that I've turned my back on the culture of my birth country. I still eat the strange foods, speak the language, acknowledge the important historical dates, and most importantly, I am proud of my heritage but I am, first and foremost, an American.

And it was by choice. No one put a gun to my head and forced me to wave the star-spangled banner or put my right hand over my heart as I recited the pledge of allegiance. Therefore, since citizenship has its privileges, I have the privilege of exercising my rights as an American, pay taxes as an American, and live by the laws of this land I now call home and profess my faith to an almighty God as an American and it is my duty to defend this country.

So, if needed, I will die for this great country and everything that it stands for. The good, the bad and even the ugly. Because in the end, when all is said and done, I am an American-Christian and it's time for all who share my beliefs to wake-up and take a stand for all that we believe to be noble and good and true.