Forward Edge of Freedom

My Return (Take 2)

My return (again) is here.

Quite inauspicious I would say. Some would equate it to Red Oneill from Platoon. Hiding during the big firefight and then appearing after the coast was clear. Where was I during the CBS Memos? Where was I during the election? The World Series? What a sell out. Well, I have to be honest, and I only intimated at it a couple of months ago. My current career, which is not in politics or writing (no shock there) is basically over. While I spent most of the last couple months fighting for the remnants of it and planning the rebirth. During that free time, much was spent in the very fruitful and productive job of screaming at the TV. Well, things have quieted down, and the preparation for 2006 are well underway at the FEF. Could that be the cause for the delay? Sadly no. After things quieted down in the personal department, the FEF became like a dirty closet. Should I post? No, no too messy. Deal with it later. Well, finally I have come to put my house in order. Posts will be flying out with reckless abandon! Election 2006, 2008, Cubs in 2005? "Double Trouble" being made into a movie. Just what happened to the Segal twins? Can we make a newer version of Utopia with Blue States vs. the Red States?

Right now someone is probably taking these ideas now and making a million. While you are at it: Blue Thunder: the tv show. Bring this baby back out right now. Including co-stars Dana Carvey, the irresistible Bubba Smith and Dick Butkus. What a show. No one remembers it. Run a few shows. People might not notice the fact it is 2 decades old. This could be big. If I am absent from writing again, check your TV Listings…

Good to be back for anyone that might still be holding out hope that I am here.

Birth of a Liberal: A Study in Naivete

Rememebr that first feeling of "Whoa, I am deep…"

That first feeling was like when you are a kid and you think that maybe all the crazy people are on the outside, and all the sane people are locked up. This thought was usually debated at camp in between stories of the friend of the friend's head banging against the car, and the exploding stomach filled with pop rocks and Coke…

Then, most people (most who choose to not stand on the FEF, of course) decide to hibernate their deep thoughts until college when some Womyn's studies professor explains of the evils of all white men. Alas, someone lost to all reason. They take that first gulp of deep thought (the crazy people idea = moral relativism) mix it with an agenda driven propagandist and an ideology is born. As this person grows up, they listen to NPR because the soothing guitars and calm speaking provides that coffee house feeling of superiority one gets while shelling out 3.95 for coffee and milk. Plus, this person, and we shall call her "Molly," never heard the story of the poor Vermont farmer who was ruined by the greedy corporation until the trial lawyer thankfully stepped in and put the company out of business. This NPR news is a different slant for Molly…(think the looney bin story…). "Well," Molly thinks, "I care about this poor farmer so clearly we must help these poor souls. Molly was too busy filling up her Nalgene bottle and rolling her eyes during Economics class, so she missed the whole "White Man Conspiracy Theory" about efficient markets, supply and demand etc…Much like no thought is given from an adolescent to say, "Wait a minute. These people in the looney bin drool on themselves, hear voices from Willard Scott, and wear jammies all the time. I think the right people are on the right side of the walls on this one…"

And thus another liberal is born…misguided until she bothers to actually notice all the money coming out of her meager PR assistant's salary...Of course, she is getting her periodical news from Rolling Stone (in between Cosmo quizzes of such importance as: "Are you a slut? Take the test now!" Or "9 ways to drive your man crazy!")and her TV news from the Daily Show. She also will base her opinion on who to vote for from sitting down and really "thinking about the issues"…unless of course the new season of the Apprentice gets in the way…Yes, indecision, lack of ideology and convictions. True signs of a deep thinker. Hey Molly, be sure to Vote…on Wednesday.

Pass the hair gel, I am Getting a Lehman!

Before I begin with anything...Let's realize that there was not just one song about ET, there were 2. Always remember that fact. Can you name any other movies where songs were written about them without promoting the film? The FEF has not come up with anything at all. And no, I am not going to answer the goofy lists that seem to be the rave now. I am not one to follow trends blindly! That is why I have a blog ...hmmm.

Too busy to write much more...I am reading the 9/11 commission report. I hope they explain why Tom Lehman and Bob Kerrey went with the Backstreet Boy haircuts for the hearings. I wonder if Osama Ben-Veniste thought of getting in on it. Nah, he was probably putting the moves on Gorelick. Wow, what a looker...I should be done by April...

FEF Note: That is a joke, I am not about to pull a HMQ move here...

Trip to America? Maybe Next Century

Rear D

This is military speak for Rear Detachment. These are the people who stay behind at military instillations while a unit is deployed overseas. They are the people that deal with issues regarding deployed servicemen's families. It is thankless job that required them to handle angry and frustrated wives' phone calls, while also maintaining the facilities and left behind equipment while soldiers are fighting overseas. Many of them also serve as a casualty officer. That is the grim task of personally informing people of their loved ones death. There are a lot of great guys who get assigned this duty who would gladly volunteer to be fighting overseas.

That being said, there are unfortunately some less that stellar warriors who try and worm their way onto this duty. These people list a variety of reasons for volunteering for this, but, in the end the people that volunteer to stay are afraid. Afraid of doing the job they volunteered for. As a result, the "Rear D" soldier is the military equivalent of the kid not picked in kick ball.

Further poor allusions are due to the age old vision of men not going off to fight providing "comfort" to lonely wives. There is a mythical name for this person. He is called Jody. What is nice is that Jody is a unisex name, so it can now apply to both fighting men and women. When a soldier deploys "downrange" (could be for a training exercise, could be war…I should create a glossary someday to help), Jody impregnates the wife, steals the car, and basically becomes a Kato Kaelin like figure in the house. This is why marching or cadence calls are sometimes called "Jodies." They are meant for Jody to run off because the soldiers are returning.

Looking back at history, one realizes that there always was a "Rear D" or Jody for everyone that went in harms way. These are the men who decided or were not able to head out into the great unknown. Think of the colonization of America. Trading companies offered new lives and riches. All that was needed was a bit of stake money, and a lot of bravery. As news reached Europe of religious freedom, ample farmland, and escape from a plebian lifestyle, more and more people seeking fortune decided it was worth the risk. Sure Indians chopped up babies and raped women, and entire colonies died from disease and hunger, but who wanted to sit through what meager offerings there were in Bonn, Bath, and Beyond?

I will tell you who. Most of the ancestors of the population of Europe. Think of it. Their ancestors were daunted and afraid of venturing to this new world. With the exception of descendants of the bloated European aristocracy, the rest were content in their meager jobs, with their meager stations in life, and were happy to work with no possibility of improving themselves. Sure they were able to comfort Johann, Nigel and Jacques's wife in their absence, but that is it. Generation after Generation sat in pubs and cafes with no hope of anything else. No wonder they began to philosophize of God's demise. Hell. Their lives were one big wait for Godot…Besides meaningless plays, some food, paintings and sexual inventions (let's be frank (NPI) ménage a trios ain't in English people…), what has Europe really given us?

So, here is Olde Europe 2004. No aspirations. No hope. One Euro Disney. Lots of Porn. The only thing they worry about is their lives ending. Self preservation is the only worry. So why would we think these people who are the "Rear D" of the world would ever want to stand a post on the FEF.

I am not going to debate nature vs. nurture right now, but let's think of the United States. Everyone here wanted more. Yes, even the Indians didn't start here (can you say land bridge…). So generation after generation wanted something better for themselves. More riches, more freedom, super size this, McMansion me that. Instead of being embarrassed about it, embrace it. We are descendants of frontiersmen. We are generations of people that are not content of the status quo. We should not forget that. Many people who have been here a bit too long seem to want to turn this into Europe. Michael Moore (notice I did not do the Michael Moores of the world thing…I am trying to help out) and others wish we could turn into a content little society is not competitive and is not striving for something more. We must resist this. We must continue to be restless. We do not want another continent of Jodies running around. We have Freedom to defend. I am going to move right now...

Prepositions and Gerunds Never Secured a Beachhead

Here we are back in business. Holiday over, and the fight must go on. One brief comment on the comments. If you will see from the misspent life, there was some disagreement about whether we are engaged in a fight for ideas. My point is not that ideas are not being fought about, and the like, but the idea that many of the intellectuals on both sides like to act like this war is fought in tweed coats and pipes while drinking coffee on the lecture circuit. My point is that these people, while intelligent and (self-)important, cannot be seen as the winners of these wars. Nazis were not beaten because their ideas were so terrible. They were beaten because there were a few million people who fought better and tougher and beat the Hun back through superior fighters. Were the ideals of freedom superior? Sure they were. Did the intellectuals motivate our side to fight stronger? Absolutely. But in the end, machine gun nests were not taken by ideas, nor were cities and bridges captured through a giant academic decathlon like in Billy Madison…

Despite what John Kerry and other liberals in the 80's wished, the Soviet Union only went away because they were terrified of the M1 Abrams Tank, Pershing missiles and the several hundred thousand soldiers sailors and airmen we had all over Europe. The point of the 4th of July posting is to remember that the men that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are winning this war of "ideas." We are not pondering the issues of school vouchers and abortion right now. We must re-elect our President to stop a group of people who will not stop until we are wiped from this Earth.

Happy Birthday, Freedom!

Sorry again for the lack of posts. It is a holiday weekend, and I am sure many of you are not racing around to look at the updates, but I hope in all the BBQ's we remember that we are not grilling burgers and watching fireworks if not for some brave people that came before us to protect us.

We are once again engaged in a struggle and contrary to many who wear tweed jackets, this is not a war of ideas. We must choose the more difficult right to the easier wrong. While watching the "Hitler Channel" (What would this channel do, without the WWII? Would we have weekends dedicated to Grenada?) there was a special on the SS and its rise in Germany. There are easy things to remember. First, these fanatics were alligned with the SA, or German Socialists, and 2) they gained much of their power in the early 30's. Perhaps millions could have been saved with intervention earlier. Right now, we are doing this work in the Middle East while others want to wait for a bloody reckonging a decade or two from now. Hopefully, our nation will choose this more difficult right preventing future bloodshed. At least, the country is heading in that direction now, and we do not have aplogists and weak minded men in charge of our nation's future. Otherwise, I worry that kids in 4th or 5th grade will have much tougher work ahead of them...

Thank God for all those on the FEF, past present, and future.

Great Thoughts, from a liberal, no less

Great article from Christopher Hitchens (yes, a liberal from Vanity Fair, no this is not my roundabout way to get invited to the tawdry parties...)

This should silence the Moore supporters

Hitchens Michael Moore Article

This kind of liberal I can appreciate because he recognizes that freedom is superior compared to tyranny. Even if the freedom is from a conservative, it beats totalitarian states. Why other liberals are more worried about defeating Bush rather than defeating evil shows their true lack of conviction for their supposed causes.

Moore and Chernyenko: Sharing More Than the Same Waistlines

I saw Roger and Me. I saw Canadian Bacon. One sided, sure. Hatchet jobs? Of course. Now I am not going to sit here and debate whether you can consider his new movies are documentaries. Because they are not. Note: I am NOT linking those movies on this site. You want information, go and get it yourself. There is not reason to debate how these propaganda pieces of Michael Moore are filled with exaggerations and outright lies. These tactics were used in propaganda films for Nazis and the Soviet Union and other totalitarian states. People like Havel, Walesea, and others who had to fight for truth would be shocked that so many of the United States would not only tolerate false information, but how many people who consider themselves "progressive" would endorse this type of information flow. I am not going to spend hours lambasting Mr. Moore because frankly, I would rather discuss thinking opposition.

My question is this: A USA Today article said that Fahrenheit 9/11 is a good movie putting aside the politics. Let's remember our past note on double standards (The Misspent One conquers this issue as well). What if the USA Today had a headline for Triumph of the Wills by Leni Riefenstahl? Or, how about DW Griffiths, A Birth of a Nation? Both films are seen as two of the strongest films ever made. Since TOTW is seen as a propaganda film for the Nazi's (that is debatable, while Moore's is clearly propaganda), and DW Griffith gave a positive view of the Klan, they were blacklisted forever. One can barely mention these movies in the Hollywood circles. Yet, Hollywood praises a movie that promotes falsehoods. If this movie praised Bush, would the praise still want to "ignore the politics?"

Many would hang their heads and say the Liberal elites seem to be well entrenched. I offer a counter theory that has history on my side. Remember the Soviet Union in the last decade. They seemed to be so strong as they propagated some absurd theories. The shooting of Flight 007. The fact that they would wait months to announce a leader would die. Chernobyl meltdowns. During all of this, our liberal media thought there was not way for the truth to penetrate into the Soviets thoughts. Furthermore, some would argue (like today) that our enemy's words were truth and ours should be questioned. A short decade later, on nation no longer exists. The liberals are filling their supporters with scare-tactics (Every time you vote Republican, a lynch mob hangs a black, Bush went to war for oil…) As the lies get more preposterous, the silent majority grows.

A Quick Memory Jog

Sorry for the lay off, I was basking in the success of the poker column and noticed that my Sports hero, Bill Simmons, wrote many of the same points. Now most of my readers know that I would not read other people's columns and copy it, so I figure I do not need to discuss any thoughts of improprieties.

There are quite a lot of things to discuss on the FEF. With the execution of another American who was guilty of actually liking the middle east, I can only think how much both Mr. Berg and Mr. Johnson would have loved being anywhere on the butt pyramid…There are many people who seem to wonder where the Hunter S. Thompson types (I much prefer this wording to describing people in the plural i.e. the Sammy Sosas, the Don Rumsfelds etc. There is only ONE of them. Please do your part to stop this.)

Where do we even begin with these people who want to cry over Abu Ghraib, yet do not have any plan to stop the murder of our own people? Remember Ted Kennedy wanted to invade North Korea rather than Iraq. I am sure his administration would have done that. I said a few days after 9/11 that if Gore were President we would be having forums to figure out why the world hates us. Well, apparently we do not need President Gore for that. Even though Russia, France, and Germany were getting rich selling arms and receiving oil from Iraq, a Kerry presidency would somehow get them on board in Iraq. The way they would do this is through appeasement, and slashing the military, and perhaps some sort of "arms freeze."

The only reason I bring these up is because these are the things the liberals have done in the past to protect us. The idea that somehow these anti military people would become more supportive of the military and want to keep our resolve fails the laugh test . How would this be? 30 seconds after the liberation of Iraq, we were in a "Quagmire." In short, these people did not have the resolve to win Vietnam, to rescue the hostages in Iran, win the cold war, destroy warlord rule in Somalia, stop ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Kosovo, and prevent terrorist attacks against the US Air force and United States Navy. All they can do is criticize the entire effort in Iraq so much that it is hard to discern which quotes are from Ted Kennedy and John Kerry and which ones are from Al Zarkawi and Osama Bin Laden.

Voting for the Democratic party in 2004 is surrendering the war on terror.

Do you have a race card? Go Fish...

Well, once again, thanks to all the visitors. It has been interesting to see all the traffic, and like George C. Scott talked about at the end of Patton. The conquering centurion parades through Rome while a slave whispers in his ear, "Glory is fleeting…" I would not say that was a great movie moment, but it qualifies for today I suppose.

With the passing of a columnist who once postulated that Barry Bonds being accused of steroids use was because of racism (Yeah, Ralph the expanding head has nothing to do with the suspicions. It is all about race…), and with the accolades being passed down to Ludacris by the mayor of Atlanta, I thought it might be time to chat about some race issues.

Some might wonder where the FEF stands on these issues. I can tell you, on freedom's forward edge it is pretty simple. Here is the theory that if implemented, all would be solved:

Pick a nation:
Are people being murdered, barred from entrance to public places, or not receiving equal due process because of their race, color or creed?

If yes, then there are race problems that need to be addressed. Germany, France, Russia, and just about every country in the Middle East and Africa I am looking at you...

In case you missed it, the United States is not on the list. We are cured of racism. I have declared it. Now I suppose sometimes someone can play the race card and get away with murder and other times some people might wait a bit longer at Denny's, but to say that we suffer from racism is like someone who sneezes is dying of cancer. In a word…hyperbole.

Any other issues…Suck it up. People call you names? What happened to sticks and stones? A quick playground point: remember when you hated a nickname people called you? Did it help to show how much it annoyed you? How did we forget that lesson after age 8?

Another important point: If you are going to complain about racism, then keep the playing field level. If someone says something that when implemented would violate the above rule, then that is a racist statement. After an apology, everyone should forgive and move on. Also, the statement should be judged without worrying about what political party or race the person making it is. Confused? (I doubt it, but let's pretend) Try this. This statement could have been made by someone like Rev. Jackson:

"Blacks deserve extra opportunities in the workplace. We must examine companies to ensure they have enough minority representation. We must also look first to working with minority owned ownership."

Hmmmm. Tough…someone like Rev Jackson cannot be racist can he? Let’s try this tool. Switch black and minority to white and majority…

"Whites deserve extra opportunities in the workplace. We must examine companies to ensure they have enough majority representation. We must also look first to working with white owned ownership."

Whoa, who broke out their copy of Mein Kampf? Quite a difference. But why? Because, many people don't want to be treated like equals. Some people want to be treated better because of their race. So, we continue with guilt trips and character assassinations, and every once in a while we change how to address certain races. These so called Civil Rights Activists might want to ask themselves what is their really left to accomplish? Isn't this exaggeration of outrage of fairly innocuous events turning public opinion against the cause? The answers to these questions are never answered because why would the CRA want to go the way of the buggy whip maker...