Here is an excellent article I found this morning on The American Thinker.

In this article, US Army Major Greg Reeson responds to bleating screed written by supposed historian Howard Zinn. Among Mr. Zinn’s absurd notions are the silly suggestions that Switzerland lacks military power, that American Exceptionalism is a fallacy, and that we should be embarrassed both of our history and what we as a nation have become.

Major Reeson disagrees, and so do we. If Mr. Zinn has such a distaste for American Exceptionalism, we would like to take the opportunity to remind him there are plenty other places on this ball of mud to hang his hat. He needn’t salute the colors on his way out the door, but no amount of hand-wringing or bleating on his part cause me embarrassment when I do. Mr. Zinn’s hasty departure to greener pastures can only make the place better.

Major Reeson’s article is right on target. We are proud and blessed to be here, and we know that if we had been born anywhere else on this planet, we would have made it our business to come here.

Here is the money quote from the article:

A former commanding officer of mine summed it up beautifully when he said, “When we deploy our forces, one of two things happens: people either say ‘Thank God, they’re coming, or they say, ‘Oh shit, they’re coming.’” Both speak to the greatness of this nation.

Once again,

Orson Scott Card knocks one out of the park.

I’m always stunned by his analysis. If someone in the administration isn’t listening to him, they damn well should be.

Some of the best parts, any text in bold is my emphasis…

History does repeat itself. Never exactly — there are always enough differences in the details that people who are determined not to learn anything from the past can find an excuse.

But history shows patterns precisely because human beings don’t change.

…

American politics in the decade of the Zips (it’s zip-seven right now) aren’t British politics in the 1930s. American strategy in the war we’re currently fighting isn’t anything like the specific strategies that Hitler or Churchill needed to follow in order to win.

In fact, in one key way, we are living through the opposite of the run-up to World War II. America has a President who has taken the early action against the maniacs who seek world domination that Chamberlain refused to take.

But there are still some very important lessons we must learn:

1. When the press has decided to report only one side of the story, the public is ill served.
   …
2. If you do not believe the threats of an insane enemy and destroy their war capacity early, when it can be cheaply done, you will pay for it in blood and horror.
   …
3. Only fools believe that an enemy cannot do what he threatens to do.
   The Brits really believed that because they had a long reputation for ruling the ocean, Germany could not really challenge them. They ignored all the intelligence reports about Germany’s effort to rebuild its army and, particularly, its air force.

   They seemed to believe that just by being Britain, they could stop Germany whenever they wanted to.

   Similarly, Americans seem to think that no matter what weapons Iran develops, when it becomes necessary we can stop them.
   …

4. Only fools allow their best allies to be neutralized before the war begins.
   …
5. Remember the big picture.
   …
6. Everybody makes horrible mistakes; the side that learns from its mistakes and relentlessly moves forward is the one that will win.
   …
7. Without leadership, the cause of democracy cannot be won.

   Here is the place where I have finally come to despair of the Bush administration. There is no one — no one — who speaks with a voice like Churchill’s.
   Right from the beginning of the war against Islamic terror, I have been saying that President Bush needed to ask us for sacrifice, to work together for victory. Instead, his message was to ignore the war and just go about our business. This is not how democracies win wars.

   We only win when we are stirred in our hearts, convinced of the righteousness of our cause, united in a common struggle, and asked to make sacrifices. In other words, in democracies the people have to believe it is their own war.

   The sad thing is that our cause is righteous — freedom from religious oppression and from the dictatorship of madmen. We are right now in the business of saving the world from a Muslim empire that will make Hitler look like an amateur, when it comes to murder and oppression. And yet nobody is telling that true story to the American people.

   Instead, it’s as if the administration were trying to hide the war from us so we won’t get annoyed by it. Meanwhile, the appeasers are telling their false and dangerous story and getting away with it. Even the bloggers and the Republicans in Congress waver, because they have no voice leading them.

   President Bush has made the right decisions. But he is, in fact, a manager, not a leader. Nor has he found a Churchill and brought him into the administration to do that job. All the faces are grey, all the voices are dull, and so the opposition dominates the public conversation.

It gets better. You should read for yourself.

The nice thing about having nine months

before your baby is born, is that you have that nine months (presuming you noticed fairly early in the process) to figure out exactly what kind of parent you’re planning to be. Life is unpredictable to be sure, things may change, but we need a good philosophic base from which to start.

We’ve said before that the concept of responsibility involves two parts; One, you stand up and take the consequences when you foul-up and two, do everything in your power not to foul-up in the first place. We think that this principle also applies to parenting. If our child grows up to be a brat or a bum, we are to blame. Therefore it is our responsibility to ensure our child doesn’t become a brat or a bum in the first place.

We offer the following attempt to distill the wisdom we’ve collected over the years into a small proverbia.

1. No one owes you anything. Everything that you have is a blessing from God and from your parents. We will provide you what you need to survive, but you must work for that which you want.
2. Thou shalt use common sense. This is the ability to look beyond the first step of any situation in order to avoid disaster at step two, three, or twenty-eight hundred. If you can predict disaster somewhere along the line, you should probably avoid all the steps leading up to it.
3. Learn from the mistakes of others.
4. Thou shalt not live in fear of any man, woman, child, or beast. When we are with you, understand that we are equipped with the knowledge and wisdom to protect you and the physical means to destroy those who would seek to do you harm. When we are not by your side, you must use the tools that we have given you, knowing that when we return, we will exact a heavy price on those who would attempt to harm you.
5. Do not seek to provoke any man, woman, child, or beast.
6. Never allow any man, woman, child, or beast to cause harm to you or anyone unable to defend themselves. If you can walk away, then walk. If you can’t walk, then run. If you can’t run, then it is honorable to fight.
7. Seek excellence in all that you do. Understand that you must win the competition with yourself to succeed.
8. Be curious. We are blessed with a big world. Never cease learning about it. Like Kipling’s mongoose, “Run and find out!” We never pretend to know everything, but it is our job to teach you that which you need to know in order to survive and succeed. That is our motivation in all that we teach you. You can trust that what we tell you is true to the best of our knowledge. Other people in this world may have other agendas. Trust, but verify.
9. Do not waste your time on people of little worth. This is as true of actors and singers as it is for the brat that calls you names at school. Your time is too precious to involve yourself with them.
10. It is good to have friends who are your age, but know that they don’t understand life any more than you do. They may think they do, or act like they do, but they don’t. It is a grown-up world. Enjoy your childhood, but know that one of the goals of growing up is to be able to relate to other adults. Remember that grown-ups can teach you things that you need to know because old people know stuff.
11. Be honorable: Thou shalt shoot straight and speak nothing but the truth.
12. Respect yourself, and be respectful towards others. Do not keep company with those who do not respect you.
13. Choose friends that are worth your loyalty, and be loyal to them. Be a good friend. Sometimes, this means asking an adult for help when your friends get into a bad situation. They may get angry at you for doing that. If they stay angry, they are not worth your loyalty. A friend is someone who cares how your life turns out.
14. Be tough. Life is difficult. It is dishonorable to retreat in the face of adversity. There will be adversity. Being tough means that sometimes, you will have to ask for help when you are embarrassed or afraid to do so. Other times, it means that you have to do things on your own that would be easier to ask someone else to do for you. Never give up.
15. The value of your life is not measured by your possessions, but rather that which you share.
16. Live well. We each are blessed with only one life on this world. Make the most of it. Enjoy time with your family and with your friends. Work hard to succeed, but don’t work too much. Every hour you spend working is one hour you will never get back.

Sigh…

http://powerlineblog.com/archives/018126.php

It looks like thinks in Britain are going to get much worse before getting any better.