Welcome to the February 2010 edition of the Carnival of Conservative Conversations. As always, for our monthly Blog Carnival we select articles from a wide range of topics and expressing a broad range of opinions. This month is no exception. Below you will find opinions, short editorials, commentaries and full articles on a variety of current topics. In addition to posting to our monthly Blog Carnival, we encourage you to submit your articles directly to our editor for possible posting on our site well in advance of the next carnival. Please submit your articles, together with any specific attribution requirements and photograph by emailing our editor at editor@nakedliberty.com

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Scott Spiegel presents the following articles posted at Scott Spiegel:

Reid to African Americans: “I Come Too Far From Where I Started From” Health Care Bill Kicks Off Farewell Tour in Bay State Dems Weigh Options: Senate-Packing, Queen Olympia, Mass Kidnapping Bernanke: Too Big Not to Fail Incinerating a Hot Potato

Wenchypoo presents the following articles posted at Wisdom From Wenchypoo’s Mental Wastebasket

D-I-Y Economic Reform–Starving the Evil Piggies and says ”All political categories can do this.” This Just In: These Are Supposed to Be Social Security Fixes?

smrtas1 presents the following articles posted at Conservative Patriot HQ

Obama Proposes New Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee White House Clueless Over Scott Brown Win in Massachusetts

David Olms presents the following article posted at Landforms of the World

Landforms of the Earth

Dana presents the following article posted at Roscommon Acres

Homeschooled kids: Did they fall through the cracks?

Heather Sanders presents the following article posted at Masters in Management

10 Tips to Help You Manage Like FDR Did

bball3345 presents the following article posted at Borderless World

Illegal Immigrants Good, Minimum Wage Bad

TheWashingtonMistress presents the following article posted at THE WASHINGTON MISTRESS

Hell Stands Poised to Consume S.F. and says ”This is a satirical article written with a conservative slant regarding the recent disappearance of the sea lions from San Fransisco”

Bradley Hankins presents the following article posted at Bradley Hankins

Obama’s Failed Promise and says “If you cannot keep such an easy promise, how can we trust you at all?”

Ottens presents the following article posted at Atlantic Sentinel

Deregulate the Banks! and says “In a truly free market, failure is possible and consumers are aware of the risk—with the result that they rationally and voluntarily assume less of it. What the US economy needs is not more government oversight. What is needs is more personal responsibility.”

Steven and Debra present the following article posted at The END TIMES Hoax

The END TIMES Hoax: Airline Passenger Profiling: Why Not Do It Yourself (DIY)? , and they say ”Would you get on a plane with this guy?”

That concludes this edition. Please submit your article to the next edition of Carnival of Conservative Conversations using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
Technorati tags:  carnival of conservative conversations, blog carnival.

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by Jean-Marc Liotier

American troops in Afghanistan through the eyes of a French OMLT infantryman.

The US often hears echoes of worldwide hostility against the application of its foreign policy, but seldom are they reached by the voices of people who experience first hand how close we are to the USA.  In spite of contextual political differences and conflicting interests that generate friction, we do share the same fundamental values – and when push comes to shove that is what really counts.  Through the eyes of that French OMLT (Operational Mentoring Liaison Teams) infantryman you can see how strong the bond is on the ground.  In contrast with the Americans, the French soldiers don’t seem to write much online – or maybe the proportion is the same but we just have fewer people deployed.  Whatever the reason, this is a rare and moving testimony which is why I decided to translate it into English, so that American people can catch a glimpse of the way European soldiers see them.  Not much high philosophy here, just the first hand impressions of a soldier in contact – but that only makes it more authentic.

Here is the original French article, http://omlt3-kdk3.over-blog.com/article-22935665.html and below is the translation:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“We have shared our daily life with two US units for quite a while – they are the first and fourth companies of a prestigious infantry battalion whose name I will withhold for the sake of military secrecy. To the common man it is a unit just like any other.  But we live with them and got to know them, and we henceforth know that we have the honor to live with one of the most renowned units of the US Army – one that the movies brought to the public as series showing “ordinary soldiers thrust into extraordinary events”.  Who are they, those soldiers from abroad, how is their daily life, and what support do they bring to the men of our OMLT every day?  Few of them belong to the Easy Company, the one the TV series focuses on.  This one nowadays is named Echo Company, and it has become the support company.

They have a very strong American accent -  the language they speak seems to be not even English.  How many times did I have to write down what I wanted to say rather than waste precious minutes trying various pronunciations of a seemingly common word?  Whatever state they are from, no two accents are alike and they themselves admit that in some crisis situations they have difficulties understanding each other.

Heavily built, fed at the earliest age with Gatorade, proteins at places like Waffle House and McDonalds – they are all heads and shoulders taller than us and their muscles remind us of Rambo.  Our frames are amusingly skinny to them – even the strongest of us – and because of that they often mistake us for Afghans.

Here we discover America as it is often depicted: their values are taken to their paroxysm, often amplified by the loneliness of this outpost in the middle of that Afghan valley.  Honor, motherland – everything here reminds of that: the American flag floating in the wind above the outpost, just like the one on the postage parcels.  Even if recruits often originate from the heart of American cities and gang territory, no one here has any goal other than to hold high and proud the star spangled banner.  Each man knows he can count on the support of their whole people who provides them through the mail all the things that an American could miss in such a remote front-line location: books, chewing gums, razorblades, Gatorade, toothpaste etc. in such way that every man is aware of how much the American people backs him in his difficult mission.  And that is a first shock to our preconceptions: the American soldier is no individualist. The team, the group, the combat team are the focus of all his attention.

And they are impressive warriors!  We have not come across bad ones, as strange at it may seem to you when you know how critical French people can be.  Even if some of them are a bit on the heavy side, all of them provide us everyday with lessons in infantry know-how.  Beyond the wearing of a combat kit that never seems to discomfort them (helmet strap, helmet, combat goggles, rifles etc.) the long hours of watch at the outpost never seem to annoy them in the slightest.  On the one square meter wooden tower above the perimeter wall they stand the five consecutive hours in full battle rattle and night vision goggles on top, their sight focused in the directions of likely danger.  No distractions, no pauses, they are like statues nights and days.  At night, all movements are performed in the dark – only a handful of subdued red lights indicate the occasional presence of a soldier on the move.  Same with the vehicles whose lights are covered – everything happens in pitch dark even filling the fuel tanks with the Japy pump.

And combat?  If you have seen Rambo you have seen it all – always coming to the rescue when one of our teams gets in trouble, and always in the shortest delay.  That is one of their tricks: they switch from T-shirt and sandals to combat ready in three minutes.  Arriving in contact with the enemy, the way they fight is simple and disconcerting: they just charge! They disembark and assault in stride, they bomb first and ask questions later – which cuts any pussyfooting short.

(This is the main area where I’d like to comment.  Anyone with a passing knowledge of Kipling knows the lines from Chant Pagan: ‘If your officer’s dead and the sergeants look white/remember its ruin to run from a fight. /So take open order, lie down, sit tight/And wait for supports like a soldier./  This, in fact, is the basic philosophy of both British and Continental soldiers.  ‘In the absence of orders, take a defensive position.’  Indeed, virtually every army in the world.  The American    soldier and Marine, however, are imbued from early in their training with the ethos:  In the Absence of Orders:  Attack!  Where other forces, for good or ill, will wait for precise orders and plans to respond to an attack or any other ‘incident’, the American force will simply go, counting on firepower and SOP to carry the day.

This is one of the great strengths of the American force in combat and it is something that even our closest allies, such as the Brits and Aussies (that latter being closer by the way) find repeatedly surprising.  No wonder it surprises the hell out of our enemies!)

We seldom hear any harsh word, and from 5 AM onwards the camp chores are performed in beautiful order and always with excellent spirit.  A passing American helicopter stops near a stranded vehicle just to check that everything is alright; an American combat team will rush to support ours before even knowing how dangerous the mission is – from what we have been given to witness, the American soldier is a beautiful and worthy heir to those who liberated France and Europe.

To those who bestow us with the honor of sharing their combat outposts and who everyday give proof of their military excellence, to those who pay the daily tribute of America’s army’s deployment on Afghan soil, to those we owed this article, ourselves hoping that we will always remain worthy of them and to always continue hearing them say that we are all the same band of brothers”.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Much of this the various veterans reading will go ‘Well, duh. Of course we do our ‘camp chores’ and stand our posts in good order.  There’s a reason for them and if we didn’t we’d get our heads handed to us eventually. And, yeah, we’re in shape.  Makes battle easier.  The more you sweat, the less you bleed.’

What is hard for most people to comprehend is that that attitude represented only the most elite units of the past.  Current everyday  conventional boring ‘leg infantry’ units exceed the PT levels and training levels of most Special Forces during the Vietnam War.  They exceed both of those as well as IQ and educational levels of: Waffen SS, WWII Rangers, WWII Airborne and British ‘Commando’ units during WWII.  Their per-unit combat-functionality is essentially unmeasurable because it has to be compared to something and there’s nothing comparable in industrial period combat history.

‘The Greatest Generation’ WWII vets who really get a close look at how good these kids are stand in absolute awe.
So much of ‘The scum of the earth, enlisted for drink.’

Everyone complains about the quality of ‘the new guys.’  Don’t.  The screw-ups of this modern generation are head and shoulders above the ‘high-medium’ of any other group.  Including mine.

I wish to hell this would actually get reprinted in the NYT.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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From a woman in Arizona  who writes
an open letter to our nation’s leadership: 

“I am a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel  any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. Instead, we are burdened with Congressional Dukes and Duchesses who think they know better than the citizens they are supposed to represent. 

There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you’re  willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written . Please stand up now.
You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would feel so horribly disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut-job am I? Well, these briefly are the views and issues for which I seek representation: 

 One,  illegal immigration. I want you to stop coddling illegal immigrants and secure our borders. Close the underground tunnels.. Stop the violence and the trafficking in drugs and people. No amnesty, not again. Been there, done that, no resolution. 

P.S., I’m not a racist. This is not to be confused with  legal immigration. 

 Two, the STIMULUS bill. I want it  repealed and I want no further funding supplied to it. We told you No, but you did it anyway. I want the remaining unfunded 95% repealed. Freeze, repeal. 

 Three: Czars. I want the circumvention of our constitutional checks and balances stopped immediately.  Fire the czars. No more czars. Government officials answer to the process, not to the president. Stop trampling on our Constitution, and honor it. 

 Four, cap and trade. The debate on global warming is not over. There are many conflicting opinions and it is too soon for this radical legislation. Quit throwing our nation into politically-correct quicksand. 

 Five, universal healthcare. I will not be rushed into another expensive decision that will burden me, my children, and grandchildren.  Don’t you dare try to pass this in the middle of the night without even reading it. Slow down!  Fix only what is broken — we have the best health care system in the world — and test any new program in one or two states first. 

 Six, growing government control. I want states rights and sovereignty fully restored.  I want less government in my life, not more. More is not better! Shrink it down. Mind your own business.  You have enough to take care of with your real [Constitutional] obligations. Why don’t you start there. 

 Seven, ACORN. I do not want ACORN and its affiliates in charge of our 2010 census. I want them investigated. I also do not want mandatory escrow fees contributed to them every time on every real estate deal that closes — how did they pull that one off?   Stop the funding to ACORN and its affiliates pending impartial audits and investigations. I do not trust them with taking the census with our taxpayer money. I don’t trust them with any of our taxpayer money. Face up to the allegations against them and get it resolved before taxpayers get any more involved with them.  If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, hello. Stop protecting your political buddies. You work for us, the people. Investigate. 

 Eight, redistribution of wealth.  No, no, no . I work for my money. It is mine. I have always worked for people with more money than I have because they gave me jobs – and that is the only redistribution of wealth that I will support. I never got a job from a poor person! Why do you want me to hate my employers? And what do you have against shareholders making a profit? 

 Nine, charitable contributions. Although I never got a job from a poor person, I have helped many in need. Charity belongs in our local communities, where we know our needs best and can use our local talent and our local resources.  Butt out, please. We want to do it ourselves.. 

 Ten, corporate bailouts. Knock it off. Every company must sink or swim like the rest of us. If there are hard times ahead, we’ll be better off just getting into it and letting the strong survive. Quick and painful. (Have you ever ripped off a Band-Aid?) We will pull together. Great things happen in America under great hardship. Give us the chance to innovate. We cannot disappoint you more than you have disappointed us. 

 Eleven, transparency and accountability. How about it? No, really, how about it?  Let’s have it. Let’s say we give the buzzwords a rest and have some straight honest talk.. Please stop trying to manipulate and appease me with clever wording.. I am not the idiot you obviously take me for.. Stop sneaking around and meeting in back rooms making deals with your friends. It will only be a prelude to your criminal investigation. Stop hiding things from me. 

 Twelve, unprecedented quick spending.  Stop it now.
Take a breath.  Listen to the people. Slow down and get some input from nonpoliticians and experts on the subject. Stop making everything an emergency. Stop speed-reading our bills into law. I am not an activist.. I am not a community organizer. Nor am I a terrorist, a militant or a violent person. I am a parent and a grandparent.. I work. I’m busy.  I am busy, and I am tired. I thought we elected competent people to take care of the business of government so that we could work, raise our families, pay our bills, have a little recreation, complain about taxes, endure our hardships, pursue our personal goals, cut our lawn, wash our cars on the weekends and be responsible contributing members of society and teach our children to be the same all while living in the home of the free and land of the brave. 

 I entrusted you with upholding the Constitution. I believed in the checks and balances to keep from getting far off course. What happened? You are very far off course. Do you really think I find humor in the hiring of a speed reader to unintelligently ramble all through a bill that you signed into law without knowing what it contained? I do not.
It is a mockery of the responsibility I have entrusted to you. It is a slap in the face.  I am not laughing at your  arrogance. Why is it that I feel as if you would not trust me to make a single decision about my own life and how I would live it but you should expect that I should trust you with the debt that you have laid on all of us and our children. We did not want the TARP bill.. We said no. We would repeal it if we could. I am sure that we still cannot. There is needless urgency and recklessness in all of your recent spending of our tax dollars. 

From my perspective, it seems that all of you have gone insane. I also know that I am far from alone in these feelings. Do you honestly feel that your current pursuits have merit to patriotic Americans? We want it to stop. We want to put the brakes on everything that is being rushed by us and forced upon us. We want our voice back. You have forced us to put our lives on hold to straighten out the mess that you are making. We will have to give up our vacations, our time spent with our children, any relaxation time we may have had and money we cannot afford to spend on bringing our concerns to Washington . Our president often knows all the right buzzwords like unsustainable. Well, no kidding. How many tens of thousands of dollars did the focus group cost to come up with that word? We don’t want your overpriced words. Stop treating us like we’re morons. 

We want all of you to stop focusing on your reelection and do the job we want done, not the job you want done or the job your party wants done. You work for us and at this rate I guarantee you not for long because we are coming. We will be heard and we will be represented.. You think we’re so busy with our lives that we will never come for you? We are the formerly silent majority, all of us who quietly work, pay taxes, obey the law, vote, save money, keep our noses to the grindstone… and we are now looking at you.
You have awakened us, the patriotic freedom spirit so strong and so powerful that it had been sleeping too long. You have pushed us too far. Our numbers are great. They may surprise you. For every one of us who will be there, there will be hundreds more that could not come. Unlike you, we have their trust. We will represent them honestly, rest assured. They will be at the polls on voting day to usher you out of office.  

We have cancelled vacations. We will use our last few dollars saved. We will find the representation among us and a grassroots campaign will flourish. We didn’t ask for this fight. But the gloves are coming off. We do not come in violence, but we are angry. You will represent us or you will be replaced with someone who will. There are candidates among us who will rise like a Phoenix from the ashes that you have made of our constitution. 

Democrat, Republican, independent, libertarian. Understand this.. We don’t care. Political parties are meaningless to us Patriotic Americans are willing to do right by us and our Constitution, and that is all that matters to us now.. We are going to fire all of you who abuse power and seek more. It is not your power. It is ours and we want it back. We entrusted you with it and you abused it. You are dishonorable. You are dishonest. As Americans we are ashamed of you. You have brought shame to us. If you are not representing the wants and needs of your constituency loudly and consistently, in spite of the objections of your party, you will be fired. Did you hear? We no longer care about your political parties. You need to be loyal to us, not to them.. Because we will get you fired and they will not save you. 

If you do or can represent me, my issues, my views, please stand up. Make your identity known. You need to make some noise about it. Speak up. I need to know who you are. If you do not speak up, you will be herded out with the rest of the sheep and we will replace the whole damn congress if need be one by one. 

We are coming. Are we coming for you? Who do you represent? What do you represent? 

Listen. Because we are coming. We the people are coming.”

---

This letter is rapidly circulating around the country. Americans everywhere identify with this 53-year-old woman. She has given us a voice. Once you read this, you will want to forward it to all of your friends…

Select this link or the icon below
to forward this article by email

Welcome to the January 2010 edition of the Carnival of Conservative Conversations.

As always, for our monthly Blog Carnival we select articles from a wide range of topics and expressing a broad range of opinions. This month is no exception. Below you will find opinions, short editorials, commentaries and full articles on a variety of current topics.

In addition to posting to our monthly Blog Carnival, we encourage you to submit your articles directly to our editor for possible posting on our site well in advance of the next carnival. Please submit your articles, together with any specific attribution requirements and photograph by emailing our editor at editor@nakedliberty.com.

Copenhagen or Bust (Hint: Bust)

Top 10 Conservatives of 2009

Trust Fund Terrorists

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John Stossel, the respected reporter who in October last year joined Fox Business after quitting his affiliation with ABC as an anchor on the popular “20/20″ news program, will be airing a program discussing topics from Ayn Rand’s great work “Atlas Shrugged.”  The program will air this Thursday, January 7 at 8:00 PM Eastern on Fox Business.

For those familiar with this work, John has published a poll on his blog asking who do you believe Wesley Mouch, one of the leading characters in the book, most resembles in today’s administration. Visit the pool at:

http://stossel.blogs.foxbusiness.com/2010/01/04/updated-atlas-shrugged-poll/

If you don’t receive the Fox Business Channel, I believe John’s program will stream live on their web site at:

http://live.foxbusiness.com/fblive.

I encourage readers to go to the Ayn Rand Institute site to check out the many references to her work and learn more about the revival of her philosophy of Objectivism. Click on the corresponding image below.

Update after program was aired:

John Stossel’s program on Atlas Shurgged, watch it here in 6 parts:

Part 1 of 6

Part 2 of 6

Part 3 of 6:

Part 4 of 6:

Part 5 of 6:

Part 6 of 6:

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