It was eight years ago today, as many days into George W. Bush’s Presidency then as we are now in Barack Obama’s, that we were viciously attached by an enemy that seeks only to terrorize and devastate us. They have less honor than the Japanese ever did, no apparent desire to take control of our land, and no official standing with the U.N. or any western nation that could provide even a modicum of legitimacy to their actions.

And they attacked a civilian target.

It is not enough to move on from this. Moving on has become a weary forgetfulness that leaves us emotionally and physically unprepared for the reality of a difficult world and the evil intents of those who hate us. Moving on from Hitler’s Germany has left us so dreadfully unscarred that when we see the rise of leaders like Saddam Hussein, we still think we can negotiate our way from the risk of land-grabbing military campaigns, or can turn a blind eye to genocide in places like Bosnia, Rwanda and Darfur. We may not be the world’s police, but we can and should be part of the the conscience and leadership that makes this world free. And perhaps there will be times when we must stand alone for what is right.

It is not enough to move on and yet forget the fortitude it took to work together to emerge from the rubble intact. That fortitude, the wise watching that followed, and the integrity to face head-on the military and political attacks on our nation and all people who long to be free across the world, are what we will need to continue as a strong nation.

Let’s remember those who fell as innocent victims and as rescuers. Remember the price they paid, that we paid in losing them, and the vision of freedom that stirs in every human heart.

After two years, we finally get to pull the lever.
I do not propose to get into specifics, here about what I’m going to do. I don’t suppose I will need to.

You see, when I vote today, I’m going to remember which party made possible another vote recently, and which party decided fighting for freedom wasn’t worth it.

I strongly suggest that you should, as well.

Cross-posted from BitsBlog.

Addendum (Art): Great point, Bit. It’s also great to see American’s taking their right to vote this year as seriously as Iraqis do.

Passed on by a friend of mine today (click image to open video)…

I can’t add a thing to that.

This is Part 2 of the analysis of Friday night’s Presidential Debate.  Part 1 was posted on Saturday.
Iran
Lehrer asked for a “reading” of Iran by the candidates.  Are they a threat?  Both candidates made it very clear that nuclear weapons in the hands of Iran was not acceptable.
McCain did a good job of highlighting both [...]

Here’s Part 1 of my assessment of Friday night’s Presidential Debate.  Part 2 will come on Sunday.
All I can say is, I was wrong.  Jim Lehrer does want to be the next Tim Russert.
I will say, I did not sense any partisanship on Lehrer’s part, but he sure dug into follow up questions, including a [...]

Well, it’s official.  Barack Obama is now the first African American (am I supposed to still say that, or am I supposed to say “black” now?  I can’t get this Political Correctness down right it seems) to be nominated by a major party for President, as long as you don’t include Warren Harding, Thomas Jefferson, [...]

About BitHead

BitHead runs BitsBlog and is an occasional guest writer for
The Conservative Reader.
You can email BitHead at feedback@florack.us.
This special Swamp Stomper Article
is cross-posted from BitsBlog.

Interesting. When you’re a total failure as house speaker, what do you do? You call the President a total failure. CNN:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Bush “a total failure” on [...]

Odd, that someone of Obama’s education and political experience is “puzzled” that anything he has to say would not elicit some reaction.  Worse yet, after taking such a strong position on Iraq and providing such a specific plan to withdraw troops (still on his web site today):
Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from [...]

Karl at Protein Wisdom:
With the Iraqi Army defeating Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army in Basra, the L.A. Times has moved on to tell its readers how terrible things might get in Najaf. Buried in the middle of the piece, however, is a bit about the battle for Basra:
This time, the grand ayatollahs have declined to [...]

John Hawkins over at Right Wing News has an interesting interview up with Will Breazeale, who is an Iraqi vet running for Congress. In the interview, Breazeale tells an interesting story regarding Harry Reid and Barbara Boxer;
“I was a protocol officer for a 3 star general on my second deployment to the Middle-East [...]