From our not so distant past

Reposted in its entirety from Powerline:

In today’s New York Times Richard Goldstein recalls:

As Christmas 1970 approached, 43 American prisoners of war in a large holding cell at the North Vietnamese camp known as the Hanoi Hilton sought to hold a brief church service. Their guards stopped them, and so the seeds of rebellion were planted.

A few days later, Lt. Cmdr. Edwin A. Shuman III, a downed Navy pilot, orchestrated the resistance, knowing he would be the first to face the consequences: a beating in a torture cell.

“Ned stepped forward and said, ‘Are we really committed to having church Sunday? I want to know person by person,’” a fellow prisoner, Leo K. Thorsness, recounted in a memoir. “He went around the cell pointing to each of us individually,” Mr. Thorsness continued. “When the 42nd man said yes, it was unanimous. At that instant, Ned knew he would end up in the torture cells.”

The following Sunday, Commander Shuman, who died on Dec. 3 at 82, stepped forward to lead a prayer session and was quickly hustled away by guards. The next four ranking officers did the same, and they, too, were taken away to be beaten. Meanwhile, as Mr. Thorsness told it, “the guards were now hitting P.O.W.s with gun butts and the cell was in chaos.”

And then, he remembered, the sixth-ranking senior officer began, “Gentlemen, the Lord’s Prayer.”

"And this time,” he added, “we finished it.”

Col. Thorsness tells the story in his moving memoir Surviving Hell: A POW’s Journey. In 2009 NRO excerpted the story from the memoir here. The Times recalls the story today as it notes the death of Commander Shuman earlier this month at the age of 82. RIP.

These, and other stories of American character, must never be forgotten.  And it is up to us to ensure that such a country never ends.

Merry Christmas!!

There, I've said it.  Now, between the NSA and the Political Correctness Thought Police, I should expect to be on two "naughty" lists for next year.

In all seriousness, Merry Christmas.  May all your presents fit.

Santa - Left or Right?

Many people, and you can count the OC among them, have compared the vast liberal giveaways to Christmas.  We've said that the American people don't want to vote against Santa Claus, in the form of ever increasing federal handouts.  Well, Adam Shaw has his spin on the question of whether Santa is on the right or the left.  Reposted in its entirety:

I’ve been making a list and checking it twice, and although I can’t tell you who’s been naughty or nice, I can say that Santa Claus has all the hallmarks of being a conservative.
Could it be true? Could everyone’s favorite Christmas figure be a right-winger? Well, let’s see the evidence:

1. Did you ever hear Santa wishing someone a “Happy Holidays?” No, for the man in red, it’s always “Merry Christmas” – no matter who it offends.

2. He lives in the North Pole – a tax haven with a zero percent tax rate – hardly a sign of someone who believes in government and wants to pay his “fair share.”

3. Santa’s whole mission is one of private charity. There are no records of the Santa Claus movement being given even $1 in public assistance. Santa epitomizes charity over welfare.

4. He is the sole employer in the area of huge amounts of unskilled elves. Does anyone really believe they are getting minimum wage? They certainly aren’t getting $15 an hour as the unions demand.

5. Speaking of unions, if one calculates the amount of work required at Christmas, there must be some solid all-nighters being pulled by the Santa team. There’s certainly no room for union-allocated breaks and hour limits. Santa’s factory would not meet the approval of the left.

6.Santa is almost single handedly responsible for the surge of consumerism that pounds our culture every year – a trend that benefits big corporations enormously, and something that our liberal friends despise.

7. On the subject of regulation, does the sleigh meet EPA regulations? Its unspecified power source is hardly an approved fuel – yet Santa seems not to care whether it damages the environment or not. Is Santa a global warming ‘denier?’ It sure sounds like it!

8. Santa also operates what would be an enormous factory right near the ice caps. Definitely no climate change concerns here then.

9. Also, flying reindeers must surely be a protected species. Is it ethical to be using them for intense labor lugging around tons of presents across the globe? PETA would surely have a fit, but Santa appears not to have any ethical concerns for Rudolph and his friends.

10. As for the children to whom he delivers gifts, these are no handouts. Kids must earn their gifts via good behavior, promoting a conservative work ethic, and Santa has no problem with snatching gifts away from naughty kids. Punishment is not a naughty word for Claus.

11. The naughty or nice list also shows an objective moral compass. Santa apparently rejects liberal relativism or explaining away bad behavior with pop psychology and ‘culture’ issues.

12. His love of cookies and large stomach shows a blatant disregard for Michelle Obama’s healthy eating program, as it encourages children to believe that eating vast quantities of cookies is perfectly acceptable. If he were a liberal, he’d be asking for broccoli and cranberry juice.

13. Finally, he works with Coca-Cola – one of the biggest corporations on the planet - something that no self-respecting liberal would even dream of doing.

The evidence is clear – Santa is a conservative. But our liberal friends should not worry, just like a good conservative, Santa excludes no-one! Merry Christmas!

 

Is Santa on the Right?

From Patterico comes this gem:

Santa has a job, and he does it in a remarkably efficient manner. He performs a valuable service, delivering presents all across the world in a single night, while facing logistical nightmares that would terrify the average liberal. Here are some other indications that Santa is definitely a conservative.

• He makes a list and checks it twice. Lefties wouldn’t bother re-checking the list, if they could bother to make it at all. Obama would delegate the list-making to Valerie Jarrett and go play a round of golf.

• He cares if you’ve been bad or good. If you’ve been good, you get your presents. If you’ve been bad, you get a lump of coal. He believes in personal responsibility and consequences for bad behavior. What part about any of this sounds leftish to you?

• He has a large workforce, albeit of elves, and knows what it means to make a payroll. You think elves work for free? And I’m told they’re not always that easy to work with. Managing problems like this tends to make one conservative.

• He has chosen to locate his business in a remote and extremely cold location. I hear he made this decision because the North Pole is one of the few places on Earth not under the jurisdiction of a government, meaning Santa is free from laws, taxation, and regulation. This is an indication of rugged individualism. [UPDATE: A reader informs me that Canada recently laid claim to the North Pole, eh?]

I do have to acknowledge two counterarguments. He does take credit for others’ good deeds, which is kind of lefty behavior. And he seems to be quite a fan of the surveillance state — he sees you when you’re sleeping? He knows if you’re awake? Really? — which is a disturbing characteristic that crosses ideological lines, as Bush and Obama both went overboard in that area.

Listen, I’m not saying the guy’s perfect. But look: Reagan signed an amnesty bill. On balance, Santa is pretty danged conservative.

Gotta agree.....though The One is trying to take his place, at least in the giving of gifts department.  Or should we say giving to his favored supporters by taking from the rest of us.

Original post can be found HERE.

You pay for your beliefs, or lack thereof

I wanted the images of the Arizona to be the only message for December 7th.  A date which will live in infamy.

Now that it's the 8th, time for some more posts.  First, a light hearted take on "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays".  Or at least the arboreal version.

Stolen from The Lonely Libertarian.