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Citizen Soldiers On The Front Lines

Leave a Comment / Life, News

Battle captain w-hdstStarting with the militias of the Revolutionary War, when farmers would drop their plows, pick up their muskets, and run toward the sound of the battle, ordinary citizens have been protecting our freedoms. Never more so than in this age of terrorism, fighting an unconventional enemy thousands of miles from home.

The strain on the country’s military has spilled over to the “citizen soldiers” of the National Guard, many of whom have been deployed multiple times, resulting in distraught families and disrupted lives. Among the states whose US National Guard units have paid the heaviest price for the “War on Terror” is Pennsylvania, whose Guard is one of the largest, best equipped, and most deployed Guards in the country. The price for that honor has been high: Pennsylvania has lost more National Guard soldiers than any other state; 48 of our family, friends, and neighbors have been lost.

Beginning in early 2012, the 55th BCT will once again head for foreign shores when they deploy to Kuwait for one year mission. More about the training, preparation, and ramp-up to that deployment in today’s column in The Morning Call

My God protect them and may they all return safely to their families. 

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Cosmo or Coma: al Qaeda Offers Women Both

6 Comments / Absurdity, News, Politics, Women

Literature is rife with stories of people who made deals with the devil for youth, beauty, riches, or success in exchange for their soul. Usually the devil seeks them out in a moment of weakness, like he did Faust or Joe Boyd in the Broadway hit, “Damn Yankees”. Today, the always adaptable Lucifer entered the communication age with a new way to seduce his victims; a glossy magazine complete with assault rifle on the cover.

al Qaede mag cover When I first read the story that al Qaeda had launched Al-Shamikha, loosely translated to “The Majestic Woman”, aimed at recruiting women jihadists, I thought it was funny: I actually laughed at story lines like how to have a lovely complexion by “not going out more than necessary and always wearing your niqab as protection against the sun”. This had to be a spoof…a parody worthy of Stephen Colbert . But the story kept popping up on MSM sites throughout the day. The laughing stopped when I realized there was no joke.

According to the UK newspaper, “The Independent”, this new version of how to be a mid-east Cosmo girl includes advice on finding the right man ("marrying a mujahideen"), and provides tips on first aid and etiquette, along side interviews with martyr’s wives and praises those who give their lives in the name of a twisted interpretation of Islam. "From martyrdom, the believer will gain security, safety and happiness".

For those readers not quite ready for such a drastic step, it argues the pros and cons of honey facemasks and lobbies against "toweling too forcibly": My goodness we wouldn’t want to damage that lovely skin of yours before we convince you to splatter it in little pieces all over a street or cafe.

In full “media launch” mode, the editors of Al-Shamikha, when asked why they started the magazine, replied, “"Because women constitute half of the population – and one might even say that they are the population since they give birth to the next generation – the enemies of Islam are bent on preventing the Muslim woman from knowing the truth about her religion and her role, since they know all too well what would happen if women entered the field of jihad… The nation of Islam needs women to know what is expected of them."

Media analysts say the idea is to market global jihad with the same slick feel as Cosmopolitan Western culture to young women. So there you have it girls: Launch in to spring with a new lipstick or a new Kalashnikov. Either way you’re bound to make a splash.

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Courage vs. Polarization

2 Comments / News, Politics, Women

We’ve seen two demonstrations of extraordinary courage by two ordinary women in the past month.

In December, Ginger LIttleton, who had escaped, put herself back in to harm’s way to try to save her colleagues. With a purse as her only weapon, she attempted to knock the gun out of the hand of a man who was threatening the Panama City School Board of which Littleton is a member. That scenario ended without the loss of any innocent life.

This past Saturday in Tucson, the outcome was not so positive, although the bravery demonstrated by Patricia Maisch was no less admirable, in fact perhaps more so because people around her had already been shot and killed when she took a fresh ammunition clip from the hands of shooter, Jared Loughner.

Unfortunately, Patricia Maisch used the ensuing publicity and media attention to go on a rant about how she believes the rhetoric of the Republican Party was responsible for Loughner’s murderous spree. How disappointing that someone who showed such courage would use that moment to do exactly what she’s accusing the “other side” of doing…ratcheting up the dialog by making accusations at each other.

I wish Ms. Maisch well and hope that she recovers quickly from what will undoubtedly be reactions of post traumatic stress. I also hope that when she comes out on the other side of this experience, she will not find it necessary to polarize or politicize the event, which was clearly the act of a mentally unbalanced person and not of a rhetoric-driven ideologue.

My expanded thoughts about this issue are on The Daily Caller

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The “Downtown Browne” Show…

4 Comments / News, Politics

browne-portrait Technology has benefitted many industries, created many others, and turned the world in to a global marketplace. But no one group or segment of society has reaped more reward from the ability to sit in front of a keyboard to reach out and touch thousands of people, than the political establishment.

The old expression “stump speech” comes from the fact that for a candidate or politician to be heard while addressing their constituents, they’d have to stand on a tree stump to get up above the crowd. Despite all the emphasis on “going green”, there’s not a stump in sight across today’s political landscape. There is however, Facebook, Twitter, and Flipcams.

State Senator Pat Browne, whose 16th District includes parts of Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe Counties, is taking full advantage of these innovations by creating a series of video programs called “The Browne Report”. The latest edition focuses on downtown Allentown and the good things happening there. Included in the 27 minute video are…

** Lee Butz & the Butz Building

** Rev. Bob Stevens & Zion’s Church

** Cosmopolitan Restaurant

** Tamara Weller, Ex. Dir. of Allentown Parking Authority

** APD Chief Roger MacLean & Hamilton Street’s own guardian, Officer Rick Mongolitz

** Ann Vaughn of East Penn Properties

In case you don’t have time to watch the entire program, I’ll share my favorite quote, which I’m somewhat paraphrasing,  from Ann Vaughn who credits Mayor Pawlowski for all his energy and all the money he’s put in to downtown. Or to put it another way… all the money the taxpayers have put in to downtown.

To close on a positive note: I’m not sure if a video about downtown Allentown will bring in any new investors or customers, but I give Pat Browne credit for trying.

Blogger’s Note: This URL does work and will open when you click on it, but it was not suitable for embed.

http://nova.pasenategop.com/browne/2011/0111.wmv

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Veteran’s Sanctuary

5 Comments / Life, News

Veteran's Sanctuary 1-11 Bright white sunlight streamed in to the auditorium of the new Veteran’s Sanctuary in Allentown, PA, lighting the way for the color-guard as they marched up the aisle.

It was gratifying to see the turnout…the large room was filled to capacity, as was the upper balcony that surrounds it. Many VIP’s and elected officials were in attendance including U.S. Senator Bob Casey and Lehigh County D.A., Jim Martin.

Community support is crucial to the success of the Sanctuary and to its residents. During an afternoon workshop, a great deal of emphasis was placed on the importance of the soldiers feeling that they have been accepted back in to their community so they can resume their civilian lives.

As our Vietnam Veterans age, and as our current veterans cope with multiple deployments, the Veteran’s Sanctuary will become an increasingly important safe haven for our soldiers and their families. They are currently trying to raise funds through a “Buy a Brick” campaign. For $100 you can add an engraved brick memorializing the name of a soldier or family member, to the Sanctuary’s outside walkway. This is an effort worthy of our support.

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New Beginnings

2 Comments / Politics

It’s a testament to the human spirit that at the beginning of each New Year, we go through the same exercise, optimistically looking forward to what we believe will be better times ahead while setting countless resolutions that seldom are in effect when the daffodils bloom. But despite years that are not always better and promises to ourselves that we don’t keep, we repeat the cycle each January.

Nowhere will optimism and resolutions be more important than in our state and federal governments where deficits and entitlement programs threaten to sink a very weak recovery.

Republicans, who won what could be considered a mandate in the House must deliver on their promises or risk losing the ground they gained from frustrated members of their own party as well as Independents.

Appearing Sunday, January 2, on Meet the Press, Pennsylvania Senator-elect, Pat Toomey, highlighted his own agenda…reducing corporate and capital gains tax rates, reigning in regulatory over-reach, and “reforming” the health care bill. All good places to start when it comes to keeping those resolutions made to voters.

Let’s just hope when spring rolls around, congress is not sitting on the proverbial political couch, eating bon-bons, having forgotten all about its promises.

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The Desire To Be Free…Through a post 9-11 lens

Leave a Comment / Life, News

Today’s column in The Morning Call tells the story of a non-profit organization that brings Afghan entrepreneurs to the U.S. for training and mentoring. To become part of the program, one must already have a functioning small business, go through a rigorous interview process, and be willing to work within a business plan and prescribed level of expected outcomes. The goal is to grow the business and provide employment for as many Afghans as possible. “More jobs mean less violence” is the mantra.

After all the “T’s” are crossed and hoops jumped through, the group is brought to the U.S. for immersion in modern business techniques and set up with internships in their chosen fields. By way of disclaimer; I am a member of the Business Council for Peace (Bpeace) and regularly participate in this program. Considering the obstacles that the average Afghan encounters every day, the success rate of the Bpeace program has been nothing short of amazing: Over 1000 jobs have been created to date, which in such a tight knit familial and tribal based society, translates into thousands of people whose lives have been stabilized and improved.

As a country of immigrants, the United States has always been tolerant and welcoming to people who want to come here. I imagine many of us have tales of family members who arrived on U.S. shores under less than ideal conditions. I personally know of two tales of daring do from people who jumped ship and become productive members of our society.

But that was then and this is now: “Now” is a post 9-11 world where people from other places must be looked at with suspicion, because they may mean to do us harm. And it’s a place where our southern border is a broken dam over which thousands of people pour and disappear into the landscape.

So when someone comes from a place that has been destroyed by 30 years of war, where hope is a fleeting emotion, and the future is uncertain, and decides to disappear because life here, with us, could be so much better, we no longer have the luxury of welcoming them, or even of rooting for them. Now we live in a world where we must worry about their motives…and fear them.

The Statue of Liberty must be weeping.

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To The Victor Go The Responsibilities…

1 Comment / News, Politics

The political world could look like a very different place tomorrow morning, if all the predictions come to pass.

Or it could look like the same old power-mongering, I-want-mine, gridlocked morass that has brought us to this place.

Whether this is heaven or this is hell is going to depend largely on how the Republicans handle their reacquired power.

One can only hope…and pray…they’ve learned from their past mistakes.

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More thoughts in today’s opinion piece on the Daily Caller

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The Campaign Trail Is No Place for Sissies or Non-believers

2 Comments / News, Politics

Blue shirt voter - Toomey To run for political office you need to believe in "something"…yourself, your principles, perhaps even your party. In this current environment, you also need the skin of an alligator, the endurance of an athlete, and a will of iron.

All those things were on display during the time I spent with Pat Toomey and his staff. The story of my time on the road with the campaign, from a foot-stomping welcome at State Committee in Harrisburg, through the God’s country of Pennsylvania’s northern tier on the way to the Bloomsburg Fair, and on to the Lackawanna Victory Center, is posted on The Daily Caller. http://dailycaller.com/

It was a fascinating look inside one of the county’s most closely watched races. It’s hard to think of two candidates who more directly appeal to their base and who offer the voters in the general election such a clear-cut choice for the future direction of the country. 

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Power Is Palpable…

3 Comments / News, Politics

There are lots of benefits to being a writer; one of them is that in the pursuit of one story, you often encounter others. And so it was in Harrisburg at the meeting of the Republican State Committee.

Mingling with the crowd at the reception before dinner, discreetly writing on the notebook stashed in my purse, I was privy to conversations that ranged from a Party power broker talking about what little enthusiasm there is for Corbett and how much there is for Toomey. I heard a group of women decry the ongoing, never-ending “old boys club” that is the Republican power structure, and I got an earful from a committee person from the coal country who said the “outsiders” are ruining his town.

I like writing about politics because it’s the closest thing we have in a civilized society to gladiators going at each other in the Colosseum; a bloodless fight to the death. Yet for all its ferocity, there’s an ethereal quality that can be sensed and felt, but that can’t be seen or named. The Big Mo…that palpable energy caused by momentum, excitement, and the whiff of victory. In a ballroom filled with Pennsylvania Republicans, you could have cut it with a knife.

The State’s Party Leadership took turns introducing the room’s many VIP’s and revving up the crowd. There was particularly loud applause when Lt. Governor candidate, Jim Cawley, who was very smooth from the podium, introduced Tim Burns, who received national attention when he lost the spring special election for Tom Murtha’s PA-12 seat. Burns is again facing the same opponent, now incumbant, Mark Critz.

But the loudest, hand clapping, foot stomping, cheer of the night went to House Minority Leader, John Boehner. Once on the stage, he turned around and pulled down what had looked like part of the backdrop, to reveal a huge red “Fire Pelosi” sign. The Harrisburg Colosseum crowd was calling for blood. Fire Pelosi signs appeared everywhere.

No doubt this was a speech he had given before, but he never used a note and he never missed a beat. Defending the Tea Party, he said they were average Americans who had been driven in to the streets out of fear for their grandchildren’s future. He brought a gasp from the crowd when he said a total of 100 seats in Congress “were in play”, and there are more Republicans on ballots around the country than ever before.

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