I received the following email from a great man, Colonel Riley, aka "Sarge". A truly great man that just loves his country and is fighting to give it back to the people. I share his sentiments:
Hi Everyone,
As with some of you, I have been getting an untold number of emails from various sources about How to save the GOP I get this stuff constantly from Newsmax, Human Events, Newt Gingrich and a huge number of others. Of course the chronic talk of how Conservative Republicans (?) can get back POWER??
I have a suggestion for all these pundits, editorialist, and talking heads.
HOW ABOUT SAVING THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA???? SCREW THE PARTY AFFILIATIONS! Where are Real Americans willing to serve this country and defend the Constitution, our Freedoms & Liberties, and get GOVERNMENT OUT OF OUR LIVES and the Private Sector?
Playing with politics and BS Party Lines is why we are in the shape we are in today. Playing with the Constitution is why we are where we are today. What happened to serving the country as opposed to serving Party Agenda, special interest, and buying votes with programs that amount to redistribution of the wealth?
We are a unique country in that we all have the right to the Pursuit of Happiness. The key word is PERSUIT!! The Constitution does not provide anything more than your right to pursue your happiness, You cannot pursue your happiness with the government involved in your life or business, Nothing is guaranteed, and if you fail to pursue or fail in your pursuit, that does not justify or obligate the government with other people's money to provide it for you! Remember the government does not have any of its own money. The money the government has comes from Americans whom they do not feel can apply it properly so the government has decided to spend your money for you in ways they determine for you. Why has this never sunk in is beyond me. Of course someone getting a free ride or something for nothing from the government is grateful. They do not seem concerned with the restrictions and controls placed on them for their acceptance of government money. This includes most states in this country who are or have forfeited their control and sovereignty to the Federal Government in the name of accepting funds for more and more programs they should not be involved in, in the first place. The rights of the individual are disappearing with more and more government and government control. The pursuit of happiness is void when government has too much control.
We have two options:
- Accept Socialism and more and more government control over our lives and private industry and redistribution of the wealth. Thus giving up our heritage and all of what our forefathers fought and died for
- Accept Freedom, Liberty, Much Less Government involvement in our lives. Become independent and lead our lives as we chose within reasonable laws of course. Take responsibility for our own actions and lives without the lame excuses or relying on the government or someone else to do it for us.
Socialism is winning big time right now. I know there are those in denial about the socialist agenda and that is why they are winning. People / Americans are in denial because they have been conditioned to believe that it could never happen here. Guess What??? It is happening!!! It's not about America anymore, it's about power, & control and if that reality does not scare you, nothing will.America has lost its pride and its soul. A Great Nation, that while not perfect, has accomplished so much good in this world and for its self, has lost its sense of resilience and independence. Our leaders travel the world apologizing for imagined faults to countries who owe their existence and prosperity to this country. Our Leaders are traveling the world visiting and sending messages of weakness and apology to enemies that would like to see every American Dead and this great country destroyed. America seems OK and very acceptable with this conduct from our leaders. What is missing is the simple fact that one can be a PROUD AMERICAN without being ARROGANT! The Arrogance is not average Joe or Jane American, but the elitist who can only find fault with the country that has provided them with so much, and think they have the right to think and speak for all of us! How about America being ashamed of such conduct by these leaders and electing them right out of office. Some comments by some leaders are borderline sedition if not sedition in fact. Where is the outrage? There is none, it's simply accepted.
So I ask again, how about focusing on saving this once great country, I think that is far more important than saving any political party. Historically political parties are more concerned with power and control. Granted some political agendas want more power than others and in differing ways. The core of this Nation is the Constitution and it is under its most sever attack right now today. Both Major Political Parties are guilty of abuse of the Constitution. Elected officials are sworn to protect and defend the Constitution. Yet, they ignore it in the name of power and buying more votes by providing programs and money they have no business getting involved in and is not in their Constitutional authority. Unless of course, as they have done without our consent, voted themselves such power and authority. The attack on the Constitution is dramatic if one takes the time to look into it. America is far too accepting of using the government and expecting government to be the answer to any and all problems. You live in a hurricane zone below sea level, common sense says you can expect to be hit hard by mother nature. It is your decision, and responsibility, so why does America have to pay to get you out of trouble and rebuild your life?? The afore mentioned comment is meant in just general terms to make a point and nothing more.
So it goes.
Sarge
"To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical." -- Thomas Jefferson
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty." -- Thomas Jefferson
There are some things I want you to know
These things I write are not just for show
This land we live on, full of beauty and space
Is a God given land of liberty for every race.
That all may earn, by hard work, personal responsibility and sweat
A place to call their own, where only God holds their debt.
A land where free commerce, family, worship, and charity
go unhindered nor dictated by those we place under authority.
A place where people gave their very lives with the determination to be free
A place where government was told "Don't Tread On Me!"
A place where the Governor, law maker, and average citizen
had to obey the laws given regardless of status or position.
A land where the people, the government must fear,
A land I truly still hold very dear.
A glorious republic, for all to live free.
Oh beautiful country! What has happened to thee?
Where tyranny was once hated and feared for its guile,
Is now embraced for free handouts and a handsome smile.
Now a place where the "elite" tell you how to live,
And where the hard working and responsible to the slothful must give.
Our founding fathers were wise men who knew the histories of great nations, yea them all!
Who knew the successes and failures that caused their greatness and fall.
Monarchies, while a potential to be strong,
Had a great weakness if a tyrant came along.
Communism and Socialism, while seemingly good in their intent,
Misery, laziness, stagnation, and a government the people were left to resent.
Democracy! Surely the people knew better!
Surely no, the individual is lost to the desire of the crowd.
No, democracy on its own, unrestrained, must not be allowed.
The individual with law and the government to fear
the very people who put them there.
Yes! A Republic, the law, was the solution!
Checks and balances were placed to avoid pollution!
Yet here we stand, our government corrupt and bloated
Full of a clueless aristocracy and a budget overloaded.
Where a teleprompter rules and a press helps to cover up
The loss of liberty while you cheer it on and eat it up.
Keep you distracted is all they have to do,
Before you notice you have lost everything important to you.
Awake ye citizens! Awake from your deep sleep!
How much of your future will you allow them to keep?
The deed is being done, there's no other to blame.
Our founding fathers would bow their heads in sorrowful shame.
Look at what you've done! You've let it go!
The greatest and most successful nation the world would ever know.
Look at the world before this nation was here.
The poverty, the stagnation, the filthiness and bad health.
This nation pulled the whole world out of darkness and fear.
It brought innovation, technology, medicine and personal wealth.
Why would you ruin it, why tear it apart?
To history, this nation has been its very best part!
Peace we bring where there once was tyranny and oppression,
From 1812 and other wars, with tyrants, in like succession.
This nation saved the world as a whole,
And yet it is being flushed down the toilet bowl.
The Constitution is there a document from the divine,
Don't let it wither like rotten fruit on a vine.
That document is the key to success,
Be it business, commerce, liberty and happiness.
When man is left to himself without hindrance, regulation and government theft,
He can accomplish so much more than the collective liberal left.
Solve the problems of the world can he,
If only you give him his personal liberty.
-- SuperSparky
http://supersparky.vox.com
What's the worst part about your job?
I'm really really good at it. I get paid a ton of money to do it. I totally hate it. I'd rather be a radio talk show host.
Andrew McCarthy, a man with genuine BALLS. A well respected former Federal Prosecutor by both parties, who served under two Presidential administrations (Clinton & Bush), received the Attorney General's Special Service award (by Janet Reno), author of "Willfull Blindness" (a book about his prosecution of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman the leader of the first World Trade Center attack), poignantly turns down an in invitation by Attorney General Eric Holder and the Obama administration to participate on the "roundtable" Presidential Task Force on Detention Policy for enemy combatants.
Mr. McCarthy says it plainly, cites law, and gives logical and intelligent reasons for his refusal.
Now if only we had Congressmen this willing to stand up for their country. If anyone questions the Tea Party movement, we'd honestly say that this man should be leading it. His sentiments and reasoning are exactly why there is a Tea Party movement. We are sick and tired of a government running afoul of the highest law of the land, the U.S. Constitution. It is the very document that gives them their authority, and yet they disregard it, thinking their newer laws trump it. No, they are governed by it. The pigs have broken into the garden and are gorging themselves. They need to be put back in the pens where the Federal government belongs.
The Federal government answers to the US Constitution and the States. It is clearly written down and is clearly the LAW. A law the Congress and Administration clearly ignore. That is incompetence and blatantly tyrannical.
The US Constitution is this country's Highest Law, not the Congress, not the President, and most certainly not any foreign law. It is what made this country great. It is not a "living" or "breathing" document. It's just as valuable now as when it was conceived, and conceived by much more intelligent men than are in our society now. It is what brought the world out of the dark ages. It is what made our modern world possible. It was the liberty that document guarantees.
Andrew McCarthy knows this better than many people, as the law is his specialty, and representing the people was his duty. Duty to the people, a concept the current Federal government has no grasp or concept of.
Here is Mr. McCarthy's reply to that invitation:
Andrew McCarthy's Letter to Attorney General Holder
May 1, 2009
By email (to the Counterterrorism Division) and by regular mail:
The Honorable Eric H. Holder, Jr.
Attorney General of the United States
United States Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
Dear Attorney General Holder:
This letter is respectfully submitted to inform you that I must decline the invitation to participate in the May 4 roundtable meeting the President’s Task Force on Detention Policy is convening with current and former prosecutors involved in international terrorism cases. An invitation was extended to me by trial lawyers from the Counterterrorism Section, who are members of the Task Force, which you are leading.
The invitation email (of April 14) indicates that the meeting is part of an ongoing effort to identify lawful policies on the detention and disposition of alien enemy combatants -- or what the Department now calls “individuals captured or apprehended in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations.” I admire the lawyers of the Counterterrorism Division, and I do not question their good faith. Nevertheless, it is quite clear -- most recently, from your provocative remarks on Wednesday in Germany -- that the Obama administration has already settled on a policy of releasing trained jihadists (including releasing some of them into the United States). Whatever the good intentions of the organizers, the meeting will obviously be used by the administration to claim that its policy was arrived at in consultation with current and former government officials experienced in terrorism cases and national security issues. I deeply disagree with this policy, which I believe is a violation of federal law and a betrayal of the president’s first obligation to protect the American people. Under the circumstances, I think the better course is to register my dissent, rather than be used as a prop.
Moreover, in light of public statements by both you and the President, it is dismayingly clear that, under your leadership, the Justice Department takes the position that a lawyer who in good faith offers legal advice to government policy makers—like the government lawyers who offered good faith advice on interrogation policy—may be subject to investigation and prosecution for the content of that advice, in addition to empty but professionally damaging accusations of ethical misconduct. Given that stance, any prudent lawyer would have to hesitate before offering advice to the government.
Beyond that, as elucidated in my writing (including my proposal for a new national security court, which I understand the Task Force has perused), I believe alien enemy combatants should be detained at Guantanamo Bay (or a facility like it) until the conclusion of hostilities. This national defense measure is deeply rooted in the venerable laws of war and was reaffirmed by the Supreme Court in the 2004 Hamdi case. Yet, as recently as Wednesday, you asserted that, in your considered judgment, such notions violate America’s “commitment to the rule of law.” Indeed, you elaborated, “Nothing symbolizes our [administration’s] new course more than our decision to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay…. President Obama believes, and I strongly agree, that Guantanamo has come to represent a time and an approach that we want to put behind us: a disregard for our centuries-long respect for the rule of law[.]” (Emphasis added.)
Given your policy of conducting ruinous criminal and ethics investigations of lawyers over the advice they offer the government, and your specific position that the wartime detention I would endorse is tantamount to a violation of law, it makes little sense for me to attend the Task Force meeting. After all, my choice would be to remain silent or risk jeopardizing myself.
For what it may be worth, I will say this much. For eight years, we have had a robust debate in the United States about how to handle alien terrorists captured during a defensive war authorized by Congress after nearly 3000 of our fellow Americans were annihilated. Essentially, there have been two camps. One calls for prosecution in the civilian criminal justice system, the strategy used throughout the 1990s. The other calls for a military justice approach of combatant detention and war-crimes prosecutions by military commission. Because each theory has its downsides, many commentators, myself included, have proposed a third way: a hybrid system, designed for the realities of modern international terrorism—a new system that would address the needs to protect our classified defense secrets and to assure Americans, as well as our allies, that we are detaining the right people.
There are differences in these various proposals. But their proponents, and adherents to both the military and civilian justice approaches, have all agreed on at least one thing: Foreign terrorists trained to execute mass-murder attacks cannot simply be released while the war ensues and Americans are still being targeted. We have already released too many jihadists who, as night follows day, have resumed plotting to kill Americans. Indeed, according to recent reports, a released Guantanamo detainee is now leading Taliban combat operations in Afghanistan, where President Obama has just sent additional American forces.
The Obama campaign smeared Guantanamo Bay as a human rights blight. Consistent with that hyperbolic rhetoric, the President began his administration by promising to close the detention camp within a year. The President did this even though he and you (a) agree Gitmo is a top-flight prison facility, (b) acknowledge that our nation is still at war, and (c) concede that many Gitmo detainees are extremely dangerous terrorists who cannot be tried under civilian court rules. Patently, the commitment to close Guantanamo Bay within a year was made without a plan for what to do with these detainees who cannot be tried. Consequently, the Detention Policy Task Force is not an effort to arrive at the best policy. It is an effort to justify a bad policy that has already been adopted: to wit, the Obama administration policy to release trained terrorists outright if that’s what it takes to close Gitmo by January.
Obviously, I am powerless to stop the administration from releasing top al Qaeda operatives who planned mass-murder attacks against American cities—like Binyam Mohammed (the accomplice of “Dirty Bomber” Jose Padilla) whom the administration recently transferred to Britain, where he is now at liberty and living on public assistance. I am similarly powerless to stop the administration from admitting into the United States such alien jihadists as the 17 remaining Uighur detainees. According to National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair, the Uighurs will apparently live freely, on American taxpayer assistance, despite the facts that they are affiliated with a terrorist organization and have received terrorist paramilitary training. Under federal immigration law (the 2005 REAL ID Act), those facts render them excludable from theUnited States. The Uighurs’ impending release is thus a remarkable development given the Obama administration’s propensity to deride its predecessor’s purported insensitivity to the rule of law.
I am, in addition, powerless to stop the President, as he takes these reckless steps, from touting his Detention Policy Task Force as a demonstration of his national security seriousness. But I can decline to participate in the charade.
Finally, let me repeat that I respect and admire the dedication of Justice Department lawyers, whom I have tirelessly defended since I retired in 2003 as a chief assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York. It was a unique honor to serve for nearly twenty years as a federal prosecutor, under administrations of both parties. It was as proud a day as I have ever had when the trial team I led was awarded the Attorney General’s Exceptional Service Award in 1996, after we secured the convictions of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and his underlings for waging a terrorist war against the United States. I particularly appreciated receiving the award from Attorney General Reno—as I recounted in Willful Blindness, my book about the case, without her steadfastness against opposition from short-sighted government officials who wanted to release him, the “blind sheikh” would never have been indicted, much less convicted and so deservedly sentenced to life-imprisonment. In any event, I’ve always believed defending our nation is a duty of citizenship, not ideology. Thus, my conservative political views aside, I’ve made myself available to liberal and conservative groups, to Democrats and Republicans, who’ve thought tapping my experience would be beneficial. It pains me to decline your invitation, but the attendant circumstances leave no other option.
Very truly yours,
/S/
Andrew C. McCarthy
cc: Sylvia T. Kaser and John DePue
National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section
Way to go Andy! You are a true American, not a Republican, not a Democrat, just a loyal American with honor and integrity.
