Red Flag Warning: You Might Want to Stay Home On 9/11.

Just a basic thought for safety.  If you live in a boarder state or one of the major metro areas of our nation, you may want to think strongly about staying home come September 11^th. 

It is pretty obvious our President is a day late and a dollar short on his response to the threat that ISIS poses to our nation. Talk about the “JV” team! Combine that attitude with an open door policy at the southern boarder where there is strong intelligence ISIS and the drug cartels are best of friends, certainly should give one pause about being out on the town, sending a kid to school, or enjoying a shopping trip to the local mall.

The Watchman could be all wet, and there are some talking head experts who say ISIS wants to create their own “special” day for America since they don’t respect Bin Laden’s organization.  So it may not be 9/11, but some other day down the road. Yet, why take the risk? Personally if I had kids in school in any boarder state, they’d be home watching reruns of Mr. Rogers.

In a criminal investigation, detectives look for capability, motive, and opportunity. ISIS has all three lined up and ready to go. They have acquired millions in assets and money so they could easily send “troops” to Mexico City who then travel to Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, or California by simply following the herd of illegals walking north. ISIS hates America and Christians/Jews that is motive enough.  And as previously mentioned, the opportunity Obama has given any terrorist or drug lord, is an open boarder to walk across unimpeded.

Add on the apparent leadership vacuum by Obama over taking even the least bit of precautions on 9/11/2012 and you have the makings of another horrific event.  It will be tough to top the crashing of the World Trade Centers, but ISIS isn’t about grand spectacular events. They are more like the sneaky little SS Nazis thugs who enjoy cutting the heads off of infidels. So butchering a school full of kids is just their cup of tea.

For what it’s worth, take a day of annual leave, play monopoly with the kids, and think about the thousands who lost their lives to Islamo-fascists 13 years ago.

Red Flag Days welcomes your comments on this and other issues.  Fire off a response! Just keep it civil and on topic. Thanks

Red Flag Warning: Marxist Strategy 101 - Part II

Note: The Watchman has been away for quite some time. I apologize. Work and other pressing demands pushed Red Flag Days Blog too far to the back of my mind.  That is now changing. The Watchman retired from government service in July. He's now free to actively participate in keeping watch, sounding the alarm, and encouraging citizens to take action where they can.  In the weeks and months ahead I have some topics that require addressing such as environmental sustainability, climate change, world events, and the 2014 mid-term elections. Please tune back in on a regular basis to see what the Watchman sees looming on the horizon. 

I am attempting to expand on my answer of the question I posed at the end of Marxist Strategy 101 posted on October 22, 2009 on stopping tyranny.  However, first a confession: I'm not an expert in fighting tyranny. So far I've been blessed to live in a fairly free society where up to now, I have been allowed to spout my wacko ideas, protest to national leaders without fear of retribution, and by the content of this blog issue rants on the topic of the day. I haven't fire a weapon against an aggressor enemy or even so much as served time in a gulag as a political dissenter. I haven't fomented revolution or conspired to conduct terrorist acts. I am an armchair revolutionary simply trying to formulate a response to what I see as a grow threat to our founding values America has long stood for and beginning to drift from.

I have studied history enough to understand some aspects of tyranny and how insidiously easy it can evolve into a truly monstrous life killing cancer. Cancer is the only analogy I can think of that effectively describes what it does to a nation, tribe, people group, or civilization. Tyranny has been with human kind since the fall from grace by Mr. and Ms. Adam. Early history is replete with periods of time where kings and lords dominate through sheer terror and massive power their dominion over their people. These early histories often don't illuminate how the dictator rose to absolute power except in a few cases. Since Roman times the information is generally more available and worthy of study. Victor Davis Hansen has chronicled the period of time before Rome, describing the Spartans and Athenians actions during the long Peloponnesain War. While the Greeks are often described as the birth place of democracy, much of their culture was tyrant driven. So I choose to use more modern example to illustrate my primary thesis: Killing tyranny has to occur early and ruthlessly, or the consequences can be catastrophic for humanity.

Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party serve as the prime example in modern times. An obscure little man, who wrote an obscure little book of his political and economic philosophy, rose ever so quietly, so silently, so hushed that when he broke out onto the international stage in the early 1930's few outside of Germany knew much about him and what he stood for. His ascension to power was nothing less than an epic story of a Don Quixote who against all odds prevailed in the German political wars after WWI. He was a nobody, going no where, with no money, and no connections. But arrive at the pinnacle of German power he did!

The German people in their rush for "hope and change" with a deep yearning for return of their national pride, rode the Hitler horse right up the gates of hell. Patriotic Germans   asked no questions, so they couldn't hear the lies of Nazi propaganda. The media, once it learned where their bread was buttered, drooled passionately for the Fuhrer, never asking the hard questions, never taking the plan outlined in the obscure little book, Mein Kampf, and inquiring as to what Hitler really meant when he talked about dealing with the Jewish problem.

History records only one European leader clearly saw through the facade Hitler carefully wove and attempted to raise the 'Red Flag'. Winston Churchill, nearly alone in all the west's vaunted leaders of the time, saw the rise of Hitler as a threat of unimagined tyranny. He railed against Hitler. Begged his countrymen not to embrace or buy into Hitler's approach to governance. At each turn in the drama, Churchill found himself the lone watchman on the ramparts, calling out a warning. He was roundly criticized and found himself relegated to the back bench of the English Parliament as a kook and ranting radical.

But Churchill had the right idea. Suppose, instead of appeasement of Hitler's moves, England and France had indeed strongly moved to thwart him at the very first violation of the post WWI treaties. Even Hitler later admitted had one nation stood up to his actions he would have had no choice but to back down. So the lesson is: At the first provocation, a strong response may put the tyrant back in their place. The second lesson is: To execute the first, a nation has to have credibility to make their response meaningful.

This leads us to the duel problem America faces to day. The first problem is, we have, by many citizens judgement, the rise of a Marxist tyrant in the White House. In 2008 he was little known, wrote an little known book about his life and ideas, and by some fluke of history got himself elected President. And by every measure of the man's foundational values, he is hell bent on foisting off his ideas, ramming through programs that are counter-American, at the expense of what most citizens hold dear. It is clear he is amassing power within the administration, attempting to crush dissent through every possible means, legal or even illegal. He and his czars have used "crisis" to build opportunities to take over major industry, business, and economic engines of our nation. They are dictating everything from salaries to production quotas, as well as, the color of paint on roof tops. To top it all off, his executive departments such as the IRS, EPA, HHS, and Homeland Security appear to have gone rouge by aggressively attacking through investigation and administrative processes, conservative citizens as well as members of the news media. Adolf would be proud.

The second problem America face is the consequence of having a pro-Marxist at the helm while other world powers are renewing their own power base. Russia is reasserting its position of dominance, it looks hungrily at Ukrainian wheat fields. China is likewise watching the US for opportunity to dominate in the far east. Social-Marxists in Latin America likewise are maneuvering to take advantage of a sympathetic American President, who plays the appeasement card. African socialist and Marxists are taking note and encouragement. The entire middle east has noted Obama's meaningless 'Lines in the sand'.  All these situations leave the US in a precarious weak position, fraught with potential crisis points where one wrong move, one delayed decision, could have devastating consequences beyond what has transpired in recent months.

So then, what are we to do? How do we fight this growing tyranny in a way that preserves our nation and foundational values?
1) Write - Write your your congressional delegation and express your displeasure with Administration policies and programs that seek to unravel our nation's values; Respectfully write to our leaders of your concerns and that you will be watching their actions. Don't write once, but a hundred times on those issues that continue to come out about this administration.
2) Speak - Boldly speak out to fellow citizens of your concerns and identify concrete examples where you believe the president's action (or inaction) have harmed American position in the world community.  Speak to leaders in your community, encourage them to step up and step out against policies advocated by the Administration such as health care and pork barrel spending to special insider interests (i.e. ACORN and green energy big buck donors).
3) VOTE - Go to the polls and vote in those who represent our nation's foundational values.
4) Protest - Stand on the street corner with your signs and demonstrate against the Marxist policies of this President. When Obama or a supporter of the President comes to town, be there in force. Let them know your disagreement with their policies.
5) Research - Read, and dig in to the President's positions and policies. Report on line, blogs, letters to the editor, and any method that can get the word out. Be creditable and truthful, seek solid references and attributions to sources. Support media venues that report truth. And let media outlets that don't or are in obvious collaboration with the Administration that you are voting with your dollars to not buy their sponsor's products.
6) Be a community organizer! Obama doesn't have a corner on this tactic. Conservatives can organize too. Recent demographic data indicate there are more of us out there carrying the conservative banner than one might think. The Administration wants to paint us a lone disgruntled wackos. If so, there are 40+% (calculate 150 million Americans) as conservative followed by 20% or so of Americans who classify themselves as independent. Thus with the right message we can marshal a majority to stand against Marxist Obama, stopping him before he can do to much more damage.

It will not be easy. Nor will it be without pain or difficulty. Fellow citizens who ardently believe the Socialist-Marxist dogma will neither shrink quietly away into a corner. They will fight furiously, using every trick in the book and some not yet invented to maintain their tenuous hold on power. But our stand is also not without power or might. In our numbers and passion to represent the values and ideals of our founding fathers, we can turn the tide, stop the Marxist cancer before it can take hold and it is too late.

In the 11th chapter of the Book of Daniel there is a small but powerful challenge to the people of God, Verse 22: "....And the people who know their God, shall display strength and take action."  What Daniel presents is a situation where a terrible tyrant is attempting to foist off a belief system that will doom the people if they fall for the trick. What he proposed as an alternative, is for those who know and believe in their foundational values (God), can show strength in righteousness, and take necessary action to win the day. We too can display strength and take action. Will we? For our children's sake I do pray so.

Red Flag Warning: Traditional Marriage - What Could Be More American?

This past week we were treated to not one, but two days of Supreme Court examinations of laws defining marriage. One case was about California’s Prop 8, a state constitutional amendment affirming that marriage was between one man and one woman. The second case was a challenge to the constitutionality of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA.  I don’t know much about either case or specifics of the laws involved, other than to note both were attempts via the will of the people to define marriage as it has been traditionally defined for thousands of years: the legal union between one man and one woman.

I did hear several clips of the discussions brought forth by the Supremes and the lawyers for both sides.  The transparency of the court should be praised, as it enabled us to learn the thinking of all parties on the matter. The questions raised by several justices, left, center, and right, were enlightening. One particular exchange centered on Justice Sotomeyer about the issue of follow-on marriage of other combinations of humans.  Much of the discussion revolved around this kind of a point, unintended consequences.

I understand the plight of gays in their quest for some level of stability and normalcy in their committed relationships.  Having a means to lead a legitimate life with one another would enable stability and more enduring gay based relationships.  However, we tinker dangerously with the definition of marriage if our culture determines to change it to “fit” the modern push for marriage by gays, and by extension other possible permutations. 

I stand by this position because society, our civilization’s culture, requires a mooring on what has been accepted moral value for thousands of years.  This mooring is important because it sets boundaries that we can touch base with and know the edges of what is or is not acceptable by a majority of people.  In many ways, the traditional definition of marriage, one man to one woman, is the cornerstone of our nation. This concept was embedded into our national DNA with the early pilgrims and those who were fleeing monarchical tyranny of religion, free speech, and a host of other human rights violations.  Tinkering with or “editing” foundational values of any nation brings about moral erosion, which can doom the underpinnings of that nation.

A Mr. Ryan Anderson, Heritage Foundation Fellow, a conservative think tank was confronted by Piers Morgan, CNN talk show host and deeply blue liberal. In a one against many set of, Mr. Anderson seemed to come off rather well reasoned and respectful of the topic. Mr. Morgan was much less so.  Morgan having the last word labeled Mr. Anderson’s position as, “It’s notfair, it’s not tolerant, it’s not American.”

Not to denigrate Mr. Morgan, but he unfortunately does not have American DNA. He hails from England, where at the time of our nation’s founding, fairness and tolerance were oxymorons of the day under King George.  Holding to the definition of marriage, as it has traditionally been known, one man married to one woman, is as American as apple pie and baseball. All that Mr. Ryan was defending is the long held value of marriage and to exchange it for “marriage to whatever strikes the fancy of humans” is dangerous over time to our nation's well being.

There is one other obvious sticking point missed by all parties of the debate. The role of religion in marriage as it pertains to “legalizing” the act. Most religious denominations will not perform the marriage ceremony until the intendeds produce a duly executed marriage license. Thus we have the joining of church and state rather than the opposite argument commonly invoked by the liberals.  The state gives license to the act. The church or other authority consummates the act.  The two steps are separate and should be seen as a solution to the dilemma.

The solution is rather simple and why it hasn’t been embraced sooner is puzzling. Much of the push back on gay “marriage” has little to do with “moral outrage” as it has to do with “Money”. Business and government simply does not want to pay for benefits to gay couples as they do to traditional couples in marriage, i.e. one man in union with one woman.  Those economic issues could and should be sorted out in the market place.  The state, with an interest to see cultural stability in their citizenry, could easily recognize ‘civil unions’ as a legal union between gay couples. Just as a man and woman go to the county clerk to acquire a marriage license, for union of one man to one woman, the gay couple could appear to acquire a civil union license to the union of whom ever they attest to join.

The second step, consummation of marriage or civil union licenses, enables religious orders to determine their own policies in regard to the issue. Some will adopt a traditional marriage only position; others will accept the civil union as well. It may be for some couples, regardless of lifestyle, will opt for a non-religious ceremony, as the consummation step is in reality the act of making a public statement of the intention to form a committed relationship.

The outcome of this process should be more committed relationships by all and ability for those relationships to be economically secure as well.  The potential unintended consequence for employers, besieged by mountains of rules and regulations, as well as the specter of discrimination lawsuits, will be the discontinuance of employee benefits altogether.  As we’ve have seen with the moral complexities of Obamacare, some business with conflicting values, drop benefits for all.  The other tangential issues such as adoption by gay couples will eventually be sorted out by the states as they work through the complex social research on these topics.

What could be more American than traditional marriage? The resolve of its citizens to find the right solution befitting a great nation.

RFD - NEWS

RED FLAG DAYS - NEWS OF INTEREST

Dateline Cyprus: This news story should be sending shock waves across the world and especially here in America. I'm referring to the European Union's condition for ponying up $13 billion bail-out money to the nation of Cyprus is to receive immediate levies from Cypriot bank deposits. In essence the government of Cyprus is seizing citizens' bank deposits. This is what happens when a nation outstrips it's ability to pay its debts. The banker sets the terms and governments swoop in to take private property. We had better hope the 4th Amendment to our Constitution doesn't come under attack like the 2nd or we're in deep trouble.

Dateline Washington D.C.: If American's could only check out President Obama's college math scores! Apparently the President's budget proposal doesn't add up and even double counts past spending cuts. But not to worry....the budget proposes only another $7.3 TRILLION in deficit spending in the next ten years. See Dateline Cyprus above to learn what happens when the good times are over!

Dateline Serfdom: Yes Virgina, Big Brother is alive and well. Check out this article on "Productive Tracking Sensors".  Now if we could just put these sensors on government employees working at the GSA.