Friday, November 11, 2011

Veterans Day And An Obama Sour Note

Originally celebrated as a World War One day of remembrance called Armistice Day, Veterans Day came into being as a memorial celebration of the veterans of all foreign wars in 1954. The bill changing the name of the observance was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, former Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during World War Two.

I would prefer to simply observe the day with proper reverence and leave it at that. Barack Obama's administration has put a big crimp in that plan. Although only indirectly related to Veterans Day itself, this administration's disdain for America's religious principles and determination to fight and overcome tyranny wherever it rears its ugly head shows itself with some regularity. Obama himself went out of his way to delete the words "endowed by their Creator" in his speech about the Declaration of Independence, believing that his version was superior to that of author Thomas Jefferson's.

Obama has pointedly shown disrespect for the American flag and the national anthem by putting his hand on his crotch rather than on his heart during ceremonies. And now his minions have decided to reject the plaque proposed by Congress which would add President Franklin D. Roosevelt's D-Day speech to the World War Two memorial. The politically-correct left already removed that jaunty cigarette holder from FDR's hand on his statue, leaving the hand waving about aimlessly rather than "encourage children to take up smoking." Sneaky smoker Obama himself was complicit in that idiotic desecration of an icon. And now he wants to prevent God and FDR from appearing on a plaque at the memorial.

Robert Abbey, Obama's Director of the Bureau of Land Management (in charge of national memorials) told Congress in written testimony on the proposed bill to add the plaque: "It is not a judgment as to the merit of this new commemoration, simply that altering the Memorial in this way, as proposed in HR 2070, will necessarily dilute this elegant memorial's central message and its ability to clearly convey that message to move, educate, and inspire its may visitors." Thousands of veterans were inspired by FDR's message, but Obamists believe that prayers for victory and the invocation of God are counter-productive at the memorial. What does he think World War Two was--a college debate?

In my opinion, the lack of anything heroic or inspiring is the major flaw in the memorial. It is beautiful, with fountains and marble pillars and a great sense of tranquility. It is certainly respectful. But as a war memorial, it could be celebrating Mahatma Gandhi as easily as it could be seen as celebrating the great heroism, bravery and sacrifice made by our World War Two veterans. Compare the message that Abbey is afraid will be "diluted" (above) with the message conveyed by the Marine Corps Memorial to the heroes of Iwo Jima (right).

The plaque would be relatively inconspicuous among the memorabilia of the immense monument, but it would add the words of our wartime president, asking for God's assistance in winning a war against brutality, mass human extinction, and government tyranny. How that could possibly "dilute" the message of the memorial is entirely beyond me. Unless the message is "hide behind those marble pillars and hope the enemy will just go away." It is a war memorial, not a peace memorial. As the prophet Jeremiah said: "They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace' they say, when there is no peace."

So, in order for everyone to read what Obama would banish from the War Memorial, I have taken the liberty of reproducing FDR's entire D-Day speech and prayer below:

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men's souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home -- fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas -- whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them--help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too -- strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

Amen.


If that dilutes the message of the memorial, then so be it. It only means that the message Abbey and Obama think should be conveyed is the wrong message. FDR and the House members proposing the plaque have it right. While a grateful nation remembers, Obama and his gang choose to forget and demean.

36 comments:

Tennessee Jed said...

Thanks for an appropriate post on this day, Hawk and thanks for taking the time to inscribe the original speech. It was all about the thanking God that inspired this crotch coverer. Maybe, we should start calling him "Jacko"

T-Rav said...

What a useless piece of @#$%. Obama, I mean, not FDR. At least he had the humility to acknowledge who was really responsible for victory. Is this retard out of office yet?

(sigh)

But today is Veterans' Day, and I'm not going to let this loser ruin it for me. Thanks to all the vets who have defended the liberties we take for granted.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Why am I not surprised? Stuff like this is yet another reason that most veterans have no respect for ObaMao.

There's plenty about President Bush to complain about but the vast majority of veterans respected and still do respect him because we all know he actually cared about us, past and present.

The same can be said of FDR during WW2.

That's something a President can't fake.
But to not even act like he gives a damn seems to be this President's specialty.
And he has surrounded himself by likeminded scum that have only barely concealed contempt for our veterans.

Oh well, we can rest assured Obama won't pass up the chance to negotiate with terrorists.
Afterall, the religion of pieces is more near and dear to his heart anyway.

Thanks for bringing this to light, Lawhawk!

tryanmax said...

LOL! I initially read this line:

"Obama's administration has put a big crimp in that plan."

as:

"Obama's administration has put a big chimp in that plan."

Must be my racist tendencies coming through. More when I finish reading.

StanH said...

Elegance personified, and indeed is as much part of D-Day as the soldiers hitting the beach in historical retrospect. My father-in-law, uncles, business associates, who fought in WWII, sadly all deceased, all had one absolute string, their faith in the Lord above, and would think the memorial incomplete without those wonderful, and comforting words. Kind of like leaving out the Gettysburg Address in a discussion about The War Between the States. When in the midst of Hell, you had better search for solace from a higher power, some things in life are beyond our terra firma understanding of logic and reasoning. Barry is a disgrace.

T-Rav said...

tryanmax, don't be alarmed if you hear a knock on the door. The nice men in suits are just going to take you away for your re-education. Don't struggle, it only makes things more difficult.

Ben, since you're the only one I know of on this blog who's a veteran, let me extend a hearty "thank you" to you personally.

Unknown said...

Tennessee: Obama can't thank God because he thinks that would be thanking himself.

Unknown said...

T-Rav: Whatever we might think of his economics, FDR was a great war leader until the very end when his health failed. Ronald Reagan understood that, and rarely said anything negative about FDR when it came to patriotism. Nobody with a brain in his head will ever think that of Obama.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Thanks T-Rav!

It was an honor and privilege.

And it really was an adventure, although I wasn't thinking of it that way my first few years.

There was enough dirty jobs to fill a few seasons of that show: Dirty Jobs, lol.

Unknown said...

USSBen: This is the president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism. So by inference, he doesn't believe in the exceptionalism of the American soldier either. It's not at all unexpected that our military men and women don't have the highest respect for the commander-in-chief they are serving under. But unlike Obama, they won't cross that line into outright criticism of their leader. I suspect that for many of them, their best veteran's day will be when they have a new commander-in-chief who actually respects and honors them.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: We don't do chimp jokes. Not because they are inaccurate, but because suggesting that Obama is anything less than a demigod raises the cries of racism. What they could call Bush we don't dare call Obama. Better to stick with non-stereotypical racist analogies and call him a weasel.

Koshcat said...

To me, this just shows how much the far left has control over the democrats. There are well meaning dems out there. I might disagree with them on many issues, but I usually feel that they have this countries best interests at heart. Not the progressives. Workers of the World rate above the US soldier. When you start tearing down one of your own greatest leaders, you are lost. It would be equivilant to the GOP tearing down Lincoln or Reagan. Sad.

AndrewPrice said...

Happy Veterans Day everyone. And thanks to all the Veterans!

tryanmax said...

Obama and his ilk don't respect anything but themselves. That extends to history itself. You can hear it in the very language they use.

They declare themselves to be on "the right side of history" and their opponents on "the wrong side." They aren't talking about victors and vanquished from the immutable past. They use the word "history" referring to the future.

Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past. - slogan of The Party, George Orwell, 1984

The lie is to justify their inexorable march toward creating a world in their own collective(ist) image. In other words, they are declaring themselves the victor while the battle still rages.

"Peace, peace" they say, when there is no peace.

The seed of chaos is a lie, and those like Obama sow those seeds (forgive the term) liberally.

Unknown said...

Stan: My youngest uncle (now deceased) was a much-decorated Marine who retired as a colonel. He got his field commission at Iwo Jima. I always admired him, even when I was on the other side of the issue during the Vietnam War. I know he understood that I opposed the war but never lost my faith and trust in the American military. And he knew my opposition to the war was never opposition to America.

He and I would be standing together today on this current insult to God, America and our fighting men and women. I also know that he would be proud to have FDR's D-Day speech posted at his burial site.

Unknown said...

Koshcat: Just as Obama has no sense of humor, he also has no sense of irony. He probably doesn't know enough history to realize that FDR was also a Democrat. Likewise, he would never comprehend that a Democrat can be both a Democrat and a patriot.

Unknown said...

Andrew: I join you in that sentiment.

rlaWTX said...

Thank you, USS Ben, for your service.

Thanks, Andrew, for this post and FDR's prayer.

Unknown said...

tryanmax: Well said. FDR recognized the forces of evil and was determined to defeat them utterly. Obama sees only his own one-world vision, and is willing to kowtow to evil whenever he considers it expedient. Surrender wasn't in FDR's vocabulary. For Obama, it's just one of several options.

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: And of course, that is the whole point of Veterans Day. These men and women made it possible for us to live our lives in a free society, and we must never forget.

Oh, and Andrew's the other guy. LOL

Unknown said...

Before I got to the comments, I was watching Obama's Veterans Day address. He didn't disappoint. As usual, he did the least he had to do to honor our veterans, but spent most of his speech making political statements and patting himself on the back for all his wonderful wartime accomplishments.

tryanmax said...

LawHawk - how do we know that "crimp" isn't just a racist dog-whistle code-word already?

Maybe you are referring to wool crimp to suggest the texture of black people's hair. Calling them sheep, followers. Can't think for themselves?

Or perhaps you were thinking of crimping cards because you think black people are cheaters.

Or were did you have in mind crimps that would force men into coerced labor aboard merchant ships in the mid-19th century? Nothing to do with actual slavery, mind, but who cares about facts when there are racists afoot?

Or maybe you just used "crimp" because it sounds like "chimp."

I can't believe how racist I think you are. You should be ashamed. LOLZ!

Unknown said...

tryanmax: I already had to remove the word "niggardly" from my vocabulary lest I get censured like the college teacher who lost her job for using it. In a nation of hypersensitive Democrat chickens, we must be careful when we are walking on eggs. Mea culpa. LOL

rlaWTX said...

sorry, forgot when I was typing...
so, Thank you, Lawhawk!!!

T-Rav said...

LawHawk, just make sure you don't make any mention of "black holes" and the like. That could be even more offensive.

Unknown said...

rlaWTX: Think nothing of it. Andrew and I are twin sons of different mothers. LOL

Unknown said...

T-Rav: That council brouhaha was one of the funniest and one of the stupidest public confrontations I've ever seen. "How come you never talk about 'white holes'?" We do--the one in Nancy Pelosi's head.

Unknown said...

For some reason known only to God (or Satan), I'm still on all the local Democratic e-mail lists. Just got Nancy Pelosi's Veterans Day e-mail. After the obligatory and half-hearted paean to our vets, she points out that Veterans Day is a great day to celebrate Obama's "job creation" plan. Well, it does have some benefits for veterans, so I guess her e-mail isn't all bad or totally unconnected to the reason we have a Veterans Day in the first place.

Writer X said...

Thank you for this post.

Since we're losing thousands of WWII veterans each day, with my father as one of them, I find this decision to dilute this important piece of history as particularly insulting, not to mention frightening. What's next? Will the Obama administration move to wipe all mention of WWII from history books entirely to suit its purposes?

I hope veterans groups and politicians (if it's possible to pry any of them into real action) rise up to fight this.

Unknown said...

WriterX: Even the Bible tells us there's a time for war and a time for peace. Wars are often fought to restore peace. But war is conflict, dying, and fighting. A memorial to the sacrifice of millions in a world war should at least have some uplifting message about why America went to war. FDR's address does that better than all the marble pillars and fountains put together. Yet the Obama accommodationists think the address would be inconsistent with the purposes of the [war] memorial. Ptui!

The Obama administration will continue to do its pick and choose form of history, so WW II will remain in the discussion. Why? Because our war with Japan is great proof of what a racist nation we are. We must remember that we dropped the A-bombs on Asians, not on white Europeans. Or at least that's the Obama revisionist version of history.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Thanks rlaWTX!
Happy Veterans Day!

Lawhawk: Definitely tacky and classless.

I actually received one from Rick Perry today and it had no mention of politics nor did it seek a donation.
Very nice Veterans Day msg. though!

I doubt I'll vote for him, unless a lot changes between now and the primaries, but he showed some real class with his message.

Unknown said...

USSBen: All of the Republican candidates are patriots, even the misguided Ron Paul. The same cannot be said of the Democrats and their [current] only candidate. Veterans Day is not a political event, nor is the observance Republican or Democrat. It is American. Only a lowlife like Pelosi would use the occasion to push a political agenda.

T-Rav said...

Because it's worth posting:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


— Lt.-Col. John McCrae (1872 – 1918)

Notawonk said...

freedom to speak our minds. i am so thankful for the many who fought for that freedom.

given that, barry is a useless piece of political stank. they don't make a febreeze strong enough to cover *that* stench.

Unknown said...

T-Rav: My mother made me memorize that poem when I was about five. It always touches me. Since I reached young adulthood during the John Kennedy era, I was pleased when he used "the torch is passed" as part of his inaugural address.

Unknown said...

Patti: Unfortunately for us, our belief in freedom of speech means we even have to listen to people like Obama. Those veterans fought for the right of the President of the United States to make idiotic speeches, and we must respect that.

But as we say, the remedy for bad speech is more good speech, and we intend to keep producing that speech to counter Obama's.

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