Let me take the occasion of Barack Obama's speech in Berlin today to remember the words of another American to give a speech in that city. An actual American President, a man, a leader with clear moral conviction and courage.
On June 12, 1987 Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate and gave a speech that would, in part, define the legacy of his presidency and frame his memory in the minds of many Americans. You can read and listen to the entire speech here. Worth the time. I'll quote just a couple highlights:
...In the 1950s -- In the 1950s Khrushchev predicted: "We will bury you."
But in the West today, we see a free world that has achieved a level of prosperity and well-being unprecedented in all human history. In the Communist world, we see failure, technological backwardness, declining standards of health, even want of the most basic kind -- too little food. Even today, the Soviet Union still cannot feed itself. After these four decades, then, there stands before the entire world one great and inescapable conclusion: Freedom leads to prosperity. Freedom replaces the ancient hatreds among the nations with comity and peace. Freedom is the victor...
...There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace.
General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization: Come here to this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate.
Mr. Gorbachev -- Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
"Freedom is the victor." "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Fantastic stuff, well delivered lines from a man that believed them. (As an aside, there is one other politician in recent memory that still talks this way, George W. Bush. Seriously. He believes it too)
While we pursue these arms reductions, I pledge to you that we will maintain the capacity to deter Soviet aggression at any level at which it might occur. And in cooperation with many of our allies, the United States is pursuing the Strategic Defense Initiative -- research to base deterrence not on the threat of offensive retaliation, but on defenses that truly defend; on systems, in short, that will not target populations, but shield them. By these means we seek to increase the safety of Europe and all the world. But we must remember a crucial fact: East and West do not mistrust each other because we are armed; we are armed because we mistrust each other. And our differences are not about weapons but about liberty. When President Kennedy spoke at the City Hall those 24 years ago, freedom was encircled; Berlin was under siege. And today, despite all the pressures upon this city, Berlin stands secure in its liberty. And freedom itself is transforming the globe.
(emphasis mine)
Back to politics. Ready for some good news for once? Some time ago I mentioned Senator Murtha in connection with his remarks on the now-infamous "Haditha Incidient." Those remarks aren't the only reason to object to the existence of Murtha in the senate as he has long been a champion of "pork barrel" spending and "pay to play" politics, but frankly, they're enough for me. This is good news? Well, not exactly. But it looks like there's a bit of a dust-up brewing in Pennsylvania.
Michelle Malkin has an article posted at National Review Online this morning talking about Lt. Col. William Russel. Col. Russel is challenging Sen. Murtha for his seat this November. You can read the article for yourself, but if write-in votes and fundraising numbers mean anything, Col. Russel has a real chance. He's raising more cash than Murtha, getting out the "grass-roots" votes and gaining momentum. Did I mention he's not actively campaigning full-time? He's deployed in Iraq.
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
As the summer heat begins to set come on in earnest and the work day starts earlier and earlier (tis busy season in the steel fabrication business), let us take a break from baseball and our various national celebrations and turn towards more weighty matters.
In the relative cool of the day before work I have been reading through selections from C.S. Lewis' writings. One of my favorite essays of his is The Weight of Glory. I love the way Lewis writes, his cadence, his "voice" as it were. If he were to be sitting in my living room with a cup of coffee, there are many finer points of theology that we would disagree on I am sure. However, I could not help but share the following selection.
In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you - the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both. We cannot tell it because it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience. We cannot hide because our experience is constantly suggesting it, and we betray ourselves like lovers at the mention of a name. Our commonest expedient is to call it beauty and behave as if that had settled the matter.When quoting Lewis, the primary challenge is know when to stop. To really get where he's going I would need to post the entire essay, however, this will have to do for a starting point. This may come as a surprise to some, and as no surprise at all to others; but I am a ridiculous romantic. This passage strikes a chord with me as it puts into words thoughts that I have always had. Each of us reacts to certain things around us with a certain... longing, admiration, affection. It can be different things for each of us. Personally, I am most greatly moved by ideas, principles, qualities; as well as the Creation. Ideas and principles like loyalty, nobility, integrity, sacrifice for a cause. Seeing these qualities lived out elicits a deep admiration and respect from the depth of my soul. More than that, often feelings deeper than seem warranted. I am not alone in this.
~ C.S. Lewis from The Weight of Glory
My lovely wife has put together a brief slide show featuring some highlights of our 4th of July in Hopedale. It's her first attempt at this software (not to mention the two primary subjects of the slide show can be somewhat distracting while trying to work on the computer), but how can you go wrong with kids this cute? Even though John Denver didn't write a song about Central Illinois, we still appreciate this one anyway. Hope your 4th was as adorable as ours.
~ Gabriel
As I am still working on catching up from the extended weekend (I hope you all had a fantastic Independence Day), I will return to baseball for at least one more post.
Chalk this play up as one more reason I'm a Cardinal fan. In an era where the home-run is king of the highlight reel (although this trend seems to be slowing a bit); the art of base-running seems to have fallen by the proverbial wayside. Seemingly gone are the days of the "hit and run," the "suicide squeeze," the double steal, scrapping for runs is passe. The importance of a stolen base seems to be slipping in everyone's book, even the scorekeeper now routinely scores a well stolen base as "defensive indifference." I grew up watching Vince Coleman swipe bases as if it were an inalienable right. Ricky Henderson.
So what happened? Well... many things, but that is a discussion for a different day. The point of this post, and again, one of the reasons I love to watch (listen usually) to the Cardinals, is that the fundamentals of baseball have not vanished from St. Louis. While it may seem like the aformentioned days of scrapping for runs are gone, that is just an illusion. Take the play I linked to earlier, watch it if you have time. Go ahead, I'll wait.
This is skillful base-running and coaching at it's finest. Ludwick is at bat, Ankiel leads off from first base with second open, Izturis is hovering at third. As the National's pitcher sends the ball to the plate Ankiel breaks for second. But he doesn't get a good jump. With visions of a free out running through his head the catcher jumps up and throws hard to second. Plenty of time to get Ankiel, not generally known for his base stealing prowess. Sure enough, too late Ankiel sees his mistake and tries to turn back to first, his steal attempt in shambles. Or is it?
Ankiel's steal is merely the white gloved hand of the magician distracting us from the "trick" about to happen. It's Han Solo picking at the wall with one hand while the other pulls his blaster in the Cantina. As the ball leaves the catcher's hand, Izturis, momentarily forgotten is breaking for home. Forgotten by everyone but the National's 2nd baseman. With his own visions of glory he scorns the stumbling Ankiel, cuts off the throw and hurls it right back to the catcher. A heroic effort, but too late. His decision doesn't pay off as his throw is not only off balance and fails to catch Izturis, but Ankiel miraculously finds his feet and trots to second. A double steal. They've successfully stolen a run. The rabbit jumps from the hat, the bounty hunter falls to the floor. In the words of Tony LaRussa, "Beautiful, just beautiful baseball."
Let us take a break from politics and government for a moment. As you can no doubt surmise, July 4th is one of my favorite holidays. It is a showcase for so much of what I love about this county and my particular corner of it. I assume this is true for other areas of the country as well, but here in small town Illinois this weekend will be celebrated with parades, fireworks, softball tournaments, carnivals, flea-markets, soapbox derby races, car shows, tractor pulls and the like. Tomorrow night you will find me on blanket somewhere in the outfield of the Hopedale, IL softball diamond. I'll be eating donuts made by the local Lions Club and watching my kids chase fireflies until the fireworks start. (Incidentally, the fireworks are still kicked off every year with the whole crowd standing to sing our National Anthem. It can be a very moving experience, but perhaps I'll write about it some other time.)
This year we can add one more Midwestern institution to the mix of Independence Day festivities. The Cubs are coming to St. Louis for the weekend. It doesn't get much more American than baseball, and it doesn't get much more Midwestern America than Cubs vs. Cardinals on the 4th of July weekend. I can't, however, do any better than Buzz Bissenger, so here is an excerpt from Three Nights in August in honor of this weekends festivities.
The rivalry between the Cubs and the Cardinals is probably the oldest and perhaps the best in baseball, no matter how the Red Sox and Yankees spit and spite at each other. That's a tabloid-fueled soap opera about money and ego and sound bites. That's a pair of bratty high-priced supermodels trying to trip each other in their stilettos on the runway. But the Cards-Cubs epic is about roots and geography and territorial rights. It's entwined in the Midwestern blood and therefore refreshing and honest and even heroic. It isn't simply two teams throwing tantrums at each other but two feudal city-states with eternal fans far beyond their own walls, spread throughout not only he Midwest but also deep into the South and the West. The Cubs started amassing their empire through WGN, it's crystal-clear radio waves sweeping out of Chicago into Iowa and Wisconsin and the Dakotas. Until the Boston Braves moved to Milwaukee in 1953, no other National League team was in the upper Midwest.
As for the Cardinals, they were for a period of time baseball's westernmost team, and its southernmost, too, until the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. The Cardinals' retort to WGN was KMOX, whose fifty thousand watts fed millions starved for big-league baseball. Carried by its powerful signal, Cardinals games rolled south from St. Louis, across Missouri into Arkansas and Mississippi, and west in Oklahoma and Texas and even beyond, if the night sky was right.
In Peoria and Decatur and dozens of smaller Illinois farm towns, factions developed, with half the population tuning to WGN and half turning on KMOX. But the rivalry goes farther back than radio, deep into baseball's mythic youth.
It might have originated on June 24, 1905, when the Cubs' Ed Reulbach and the Cards' Jack Taylor each pitched eighteen-inning complete games before the Cubbies won 2-1. The mutual contempt was only sharpened by more recent heroics, such as the nine showdowns in the late 1960s and early 1970s between the Cubs' Fergie Jenkins and Cards' Bob Gibson. In seven of these duels, both men pitched a complete game, four were decided by one run, and two of them produced a final score of 1-0. Once, in 95-degree St. Louis heat, as terrible a heat as this hemisphere can muster, both pitchers went the distance undaunted by the departure of homeplate umpire Shag Crawford, who found the weather so insufferable that even he quit in the middle of the game. St. Louis fans also hearken back to Bruce Sutter's spit-fingered fastball, perhaps the greatest contribution to pitching since Mordecai “Three Fingers” Brown refined the curve ball. Cubs fans exult in the memory of Ryne Sandberg's stroking that splitter for two back-to-back homers in 1984, a deliciousness made more delicious because Sutter had once been a Cub himself before going over to the dark side.
The inevitable implosion of the Cubs – the sad fury of their futility – only gave the rivalry an added extra, with nothing more fun for a Cards fan than to watch the Cubs self-destruct with their own special brand of pathos...
(Three Nights in August -Buzz Bissenger
This year might be an exception. If both teams can keep up their success, we should be watching a Chicago vs. St. Louis fight for the NL pennant this fall. But, as they say, there's a lot of baseball yet to be played. Have a happy Independence Day.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.—That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it; and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.—Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migration hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.
Nor have We been wanting in attention to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.—
WE, THEREFORE, the REPRESENTATIVES of the UNITED STATES of AMERICA, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do.—And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Signed by ORDER and in BEHALF of the CONGRESS,PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY JOHN DUNLAP.
Signed on this day 232 years ago in Philadelphia. It would go on to be approved by Congress on July 4th. Did they know that the face of entire world would be changed by their actions in generations to come? Look for more Independence Day posts in the next couple days.
~ Gabriel
Surely he's kidding, right?
The "he" being the FBI director Robert Mueller. We're all used to hearing inane statements from our government employees, but if this doesn't take the cake, it can sure taste it from here. You can read the story for yourself, but here are some highlights.
FBI Director Robert Mueller on Monday criticized the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that Americans have a right to own guns for self-defense and hunting, saying it may harm efforts to deter violent crime.The primary problem with Mr. Mueller's position here is his fundamentally flawed view of the Supreme Court and the Constitution. The Supreme Court did not grant or bestow rights upon anyone. The Court recognized an existing right and struck down an illegal restriction of that right in a specific place (Washington D.C.). I might add that the area in which Constitutionally protected gun rights were so restricted has the highest rate of violent crime in the country. I'm not really sure how recognizing the right of citizens to self defense hurts the FBI's efforts to deter violent crime. Especially since he goes on to say that deterring crime is not a priority of the FBI.
He tends to believe weapons harm people? What?!? Of course they do, that's one of their primary purposes. I would assume a former soldier would understand that. Speaking of, I fail to see what Mueller's service in Vietnam has to do with his expertise in Constitutional law.Mueller said communities will have to determine their own license programs. As a former Marine who served in Vietnam, he said "I tend to believe weapons harm people and more often than not they harm the people carrying them."
With his grandchildren going to college, Mueller said he hopes "those campuses will be weapons free."
Mueller said the FBI's top priority remains counterterrorism, counter-intelligence and protecting the secrets of the United States.Well that's good. What else would it be? Keeping tabs on law abiding gun owners?
He said college campuses and small communities could be "potential incubators of terrorism" even while major cities such as New York and Los Angeles remain primary targets for terrorists.WHAT?!? Ok, I really am not an all-caps kind of guy, but seriously... Is he trying to suggest that gun owners are terrorists? If that's the case, then apparently the founding fathers envisioned a nation of terrorists. "Small communities" aren't really affected by this ruling as most of them have not attempted to restrict the right of citizens to own firearms to begin with.
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