Monthly Archives: May 2010

President Wilson asks Congress to declare war on Germany (1917)

At night on April 2, armed cavalry restrained a seething multitude outside the Capitol, while in front of a subdued Congress, with a  packed gallery listening, the President delivered his war message. The Supreme Court justices were present. They and most of the Congressmen wore small American flags in their lapels.

The President said: “There is one choice we cannot make, we are incapable of making; we will not choose the path of submission.” The passage touched Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, a Civil War veteran. He raised his hands above his hoary thatch and collapsed in tears…

… The President continued to a more meaningful expression of purpose. “The world must be made safe for democracy. ITs peace must be founded upon the trusted foundations of political liberty.” The sentenced that reflect his trial-of-soul as an individual, though oft-quoted, are of little importance. In crisis, it was the nation that counted. For the sake of that nation, he asked the Congress for a joint resolution declaring war against Germany.

On leaving the rostrum, Wilson got the greatest ovation of his life. Later, at the White House he said to his Secretary, Joseph Tumulty: “Think of what it was they were applauding. my message of today was a message of death for our young men. how strange it seems to applaud that.”

At three o’clock in the morning on April 6, after an 82 to 6 vote in the Senate, the House voted 373 to 50 to support the President, and the nation was at war.

- from the American Heritage History of World War I

“We were young. We have died. Remember us. … We have done what we could But until it is finished it is not done. … We have given our lives But until it is finished no one can know what our lives gave. … Our deaths are not ours, They are yours, They will mean what you make them. They say, Whether our lives, and our deaths were for peace and a new hope Or for nothing We cannot say. It is you who must say this. … We leave you our deaths, Give them their meaning.” –Archibald MacLeish, American poet, writer and the Librarian of Congress
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“The Revolution was effected before the War commenced. The Revolution was in the minds & hearts of the people; a change in their religious sentiments of their duties & obligations…This radical change in the principles, opinions, sentiments, & affections of the people, was the real American Revolution.”

-John Adams

Do not miss this…

From left to right: Gadsden, Unite or Die, Betsy Ross, and Old Glory flags… 

“When cities or provinces have been accustomed to live under a prince… they do not know how to live in freedom… and a prince can win them over with greater faculty and establish himself securely. But in republics, there is greater life…they do not and cannot cast aside the memory of their ancient liberty, so that the surest way to conquer them is to lay them waste.“
–This, from Machiavelli’s most famous work, The Prince 

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Too funny…

What’s the term I’m looking for here? Sad? Ironic? Humorous? Scandalous? Curious? Interesting?

Alright Barry Obama (if that is your real name) give it up already. I promise to not get all conspiratorial on you but isn’t it “interesting” that the most closely guarded national secret is the President’s birth certificate? At least that’s safe from prying eyes.

Obama citizenship status, birthdates, and Social Security numbers

Obama will be on hand at the Kalamazoo Central High School commencement ceremony next month. The school won a national competition to bring the president to the school. All seniors are being asked to provide social security numbers, birthdates, and citizen status so the Secret Service can perform background checks.

I find it interesting these kids have to provide more paperwork to go to their graduation than Obama does to be president.

You gotta love Alabama. He’d have my vote.

She’s come a long way from “The Goonies”, although the Beast could do without the whistling guy.

As they say, six months is a century in politics, and a lot can change before November. Liberals who repeat this mantra do so in the hope that things will get better for them, which they may. But they can also get worse.

Liberal Charles Blow appears to have had an epiphany. In today’s New York Times Op-Ed column he writes a piece that’s quite frank but stippled with bits of self delusion. He asks “Is ‘Left’ becoming a four letter word?”.

The answer, he reluctantly concedes, is “Yup”.
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Or he’s a racist.  Only Dems get to be pugnacious – when Repubs try it they’re being “confrontational”.

You got to love the legacy media. Check out the guy behind Governor Christie – he’s loving it!

“Comprehensive” Immigration Reform is now officially dead. That’s not a big surprise, considering the events of the past few weeks, but what is amazing is that it was ever considered a winning issue to begin with.  Perhaps if you’re a Baby Duck, living in the eternal now, you might be unaware of how well the last effort worked out for GW Bush and John McCain, but if you actually enjoy a fair measure of sentience you must realize the American People are against it. The Arizona Illegal Immigrant law, despite massive, relentless demonization, characterized by willful lies and misrepresentation on the part of the left and the MSM (granted, this is  a meaningless distinction) still polls (via Rasmussen) 59% in favor for two weeks in a row, essentially unchanged.  That’s a clear majority of America on the opposite side of the issue from Obama. And it’s hardly atypical.
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You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.

-Winston Churchill

The Beast is going to interrupt the crickets chirping away on this site for a moment and continue his rumination on the left’s inability to engage in reasoned discourse. Case in point: ex-member Wes and the comments he posted on the Beast’s first effort, Imagine If Liberals Were Capable Of Reasoned Debate.
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