Over the Independence Day weekend, I visited Hampton Beach for a time and attended the midnight fireworks show at the Weirs. At both locations, when watching and listening to those around me, I found myself faced with the reality that we are fast being swarmed by a foreign culture complete with a foreign language. Having lived here in the Lakes Region for nearly twenty years, and having spent parts of my summers since I was a teenager at Hampton Beach, I can attest that these large numbers of non-English speaking people have not always been the case. Starting within the last decade, however, everything changed. Since then, the loss of our American identity and common language has grown with increasing rapidity.
Doug
New Movie- Islam: What the West Needs to Know
Press Release
Los Angeles, CA, July 6, 2006, Quixotic Media, announced today the upcoming theatrical release of the feature documentary Islam: What the West Needs to Know, An examination of Islam, violence, and the fate of the non-Muslim world. The movie will open in Landmark Theatres on July 7th in Chicago, Washington DC, and Atlanta.
As acts of Islamic terrorism have multiplied over the past years, numerous Western leaders have insisted that Islam is a "religion of peace," and that violence committed in its name contradicts the teachings of the Koran and the example of the prophet Muhammad. But rarely does this claim receive serious scrutiny.
For the first time, the question will be publicly asked, "Is Islam itself violent?"
Dope of the week: NYC Mayor Bloomberg
The list of so-called "Republicans" from New York who hack me off has long included NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg. In a contest for the worst between him and Gov. Pataki, I’m not sure who I would pick. This week, it’s the mayor. The AP reports on July 5th that Bloomberg, testifying before a Senate committee, said … Read more
Honor those who preserve our independence…
As we celebrate our great Nation’s birth, let us never forget that the freedoms we take for granted did not last from 1776 to the present without cost. On Saturday July 1st, Gail and Peter Sora, parents of LCpl. Peter J. Sora, Jr., were presented with the Gold Star banner by the Blue Star Mothers of … Read more
America- the mission
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Today brings the annual celebration commemorating the birth of our great Nation. The above words, by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence, could be called, in today’s lexicon, America’s “mission statement.” The main purpose of our government is to DEFEND rights that we all possess at that instant of our creation. Government cannot grant to us rights that we already have. This was declared to the world on July 4th, 1776. Life, liberty, happiness- all will be defended by the very people who possess it, as they see fit.
July 4th, 1776- a bad day for kings, dictators, and despots, but a great day for the rest of mankind. From that date forward, the human race became free of the bonds of servitude. People no longer existed to provide for the pleasure and desires of their rulers. Governments would only be legitimate when they exist for the sake of their citizenry.
Jim Morrison- “This is the End” July 3rd, 1971
Jim Morrison, singer for The Doors died on this day, July 3rd, 1971. The music of The Doors is like that of Pink Floyd: timeless. While hailing from the sixties, their music in no way sounds dated. The Doors are another of those bands I like to say "bridges the generation gap of music," as my kids and many of their friends have them on their ipods.
UPDATE2: A man’s home is his castle…
The story of the Nashua man’s arrest for audio/videotaping police while ON HIS PRIVATE PROPERTY goes on. As details continue to come out regarding the circumstances of the story, it becomes more apparent that the police may have been concerned, not with the ACT of the taping, but with what was actually ON said tapes. Now that the story has gained widespread attention, the Nashua police have decided to get a second opinion on whether charging this case is such a good idea.The Saturday Nashua Telegraph reports police have given details of the case, including the videotapes, to the County Attorney’s office for a review of how the charges might be handled. The paper quotes the Nashua police chief:
“We don’t get it right all the time. Although I am not condemning the officers . . . I don’t have all the facts. If it turns out when I do have them all that we erred, then I will be the first to admit it. We wanted to be confident, early on. . . . We wanted a prosecuting source to look at it objectively. Technically, the charge is an accurate one, but sometimes what’s technical and what’s good common sense is not necessarily mutual.”If prosecution isn’t warranted, it’s best to find out sooner rather than later."
Hmmm… sounds like the police have had a change of heart. Again from the Telegraph piece:
“I don’t want to run him through the wringer here,” Hefferan [police chief] said of Gannon [the accused]. “If it isn’t there, I want to know about it and I want to know about it early… There was some suggestion that we dismissed his complaint out of hand and merely took the tapes to keep it quiet. That is not the case at all,” Hefferan said.
Israel warns: free soldier or PM dies; Sherman would agree
The Israelis have as an enemy one who has vowed to stop at nothing until the Jewish state is completely eliminated. The Palestinian Islamofascists have shown time and again that there is no reasoning with them on a human level. They are barbarians. A July 1st news report from The Austrailian says
ISRAEL last night threatened to assassinate Palestinian Prime Minister Ismael Haniyeh if Hamas militants did not release a captured Israeli soldier unharmed. The unprecedented warning was delivered to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a letter as Israel debated a deal offered by Hamas to free Corporal Gilad Shalit. It came as Israeli military officials readied a second invasion force for a huge offensive into Gaza. Hamas’s Gaza-based political leaders, including Mr Haniyeh, had already gone into hiding. But last night’s direct threat to kill Mr Haniyeh, a democratically elected head of state, sharply raised the stakes.
I hope they do. For many years I believed that Yassir Arafat, father of modern terrorism, should have simply been eliminated. As I stated in this previous posting, this is how our enemy must be dealt with- the only way to stop them is to kill them.
"Oh, but Doug- the Israelis blew up the power plant, threatening many innocent civilians!"
UPDATE: A man’s home is his castle? Not quite…
In a June 29th posting, I discussed a Union Leader story covering the arrest of a Nashua man involving audio/video tapes he made of police while they were at his home. In the June 30th print edition of the Union Leader, I learned that police obtained and executed a warrant for the search and seizure of all tapes and recording equipment from the residence. Can you believe this?
Mr. Peabody’s WABAC machine
Recalling the cartoon shorts from “Rocky & Bullwinkle,” let’s join talking-dog Mr. Peabody and his pet boy Sherman on a trip to the not too-distant past using the WABAC (pronounced “way back”) machine: Holding up a Daily Sun from 2005, just after the November Laconia elections, the pet-boy Sherman exclaims, “Look, Mr. Peabody- this Thursday paper has a column titled ‘The Broken Arrows’ by some guy named Doug Lambert discussing the passage of that city’s tax cap while electing a full slate of big spenders!” The wise Peabody nodded and told his boy Sherman that Doug was one of the more outspoken and prescient writers of his time. “I wonder what he had to say about this tax-cap issue- read on boy.”
Sammy Still Rocks!
The great folks at the Meadowbrook Farm concert venue here in Gilford, NH were kind enough to hand out tickets for the Wednesday Sammy Hagar concert to regular customers. Taking them up on their offer, I decided to go. Being the lover of music that I am, how could I not? Sammy did not disappoint. Starting … Read more
Canary in the coal mine?
Many pundits through the years have called the nation of Israel the “canary in the coal mine” of western civilization. Today’s sworn enemies of Israel know that standing above the Jewish in the so-called “free world” is the United States- otherwise known in the Islamic world as “the Great Satan.” After a fall of Israel, where do you think the Islamofascists will set their murderous sights next?
A man’s home is his castle? Not quite…
This story from the June 29th Union Leader about a man arrested for using tapes from security cameras installed at his home offers a chilling revealation about private property rights if you think about it for a moment: A Nashua man is facing two felony charges for allegedly using secret video cameras to tape police … Read more
While you weren’t looking…
It has long been held that in the political world, news less than positive or not beneficial to the powers that be is best released over the weekend when a large segment of the population is otherwise occupied “pursuing happiness.” This is true whether talking about the national, state, or local levels of government and their respective attendant bureaucracies. Consider this local story (whether you are a local reader or not, you KNOW this goes on wherever you live, so please, read on…) about a sudden "need of a quick replacement" of a fire truck at $250,000+. It was buried in the Saturday paper and is currently mistakenly listed in the “school news” section of the online version of that paper.
It’s only GROK ‘n roll, but I like it!
If anybody happens to read the “about Doug” link on this blog, they will note several references to “rock ‘n roll” in my bio. That’s right- in addition to being a political commentator (junkie, really), my other love (besides God, family, and country, which come first, of course) is music. Not playing it, mind you- just buying and listening to it. After a half-hearted attempt at mastering the guitar, I decided that all the good tunes have already been played (or yet to be played) by others and I am best suited to fan status. This short piece is the kickoff to what I hope will be a regular weekly posting on this topic…
Ledeen: “There’s always a mosque”
One of my favorite thinkers and authors is Michael Ledeen. His recent book, The War Against the Terror Masters, demonstrates his knowledge and understanding of our war against the Islamofascists. Ledeen’s latest column takes up the same point I made in yesterday’s posting about the potential dangers posed by the presence of a mosque. In … Read more
Harmless as a “Modest Maiden”
In the classic ancient Chinese text of military strategy, The Art of Warfare, Sun-Tzu advises an attacking force:
“Revise your strategy according to the changing posture of the enemy to determine the course and outcome of the battle… At first be like a modest maiden, and the enemy will open his door; Afterward be as swift as a scurrying rabbit, and the enemy will be too late to resist you.”
Over the past weekend, the “New Hampshire Sunday News” printed an article written by Shawne K. Wickham entitled A call to build. The news contained within left me both perplexed and angry. When reading that
“Members of the Greater Manchester Interfaith Council are hoping that area churchgoers will pitch in to help build New Hampshire’s first mosque,”
I nearly fell off my chair. Why would they do such a thing?
A Possible Turning Point?
For the President, it was
“perhaps the single busiest day of his whole presidential life, and it came moreover at dead center of what was perhaps his period of deepest gloom and perplexity of spirit. Not only was there political division within his party, and even within his own official family,” the military was unable to fulfill “hopes for a multifaceted early-winter triumph… in putting a quick end to the rebellion.” The failures had not “gone unnoticed by the country at large, the voters and investors on whose will and trust the prosecution of the war depended. The Democrats, still on the outside looking in, had seen to that.”
A typical example included a political opponent who
“was savagely pointing out, from the vantage point of his seat in Congress, the administration’s errors.” Speaking to Republican House members, he stated, “Money you have expended without limit, and blood poured out like water. Defeat, debt, taxation… these are your only trophies.”
New Year’s Day wasn’t a good day for the President. As the months dragged on, the President desperately needed to regain momentum, or risk an early end to the war- and defeat. Without the support of a majority of the citizenry, this would be inevitable. A friend sent him a letter advising that he
“set the public aright on the true issue of the war. ‘My suggestion is that you should seize an early opportunity, and any subsequent chance, to teach your great audience of plain people…’”
The President, recognizing the wisdom of such a plan, kept this in the back of his mind.
“Quiet, Religious Men”
Back in March, I wrote in my Daily Sun column, “What if, while patiently waiting and planning the next big “hit,” our enemy was able to unleash small, individual attacks randomly throughout the US? Is it possible that the radical Islamo-fascists could unleash such attacks with virtually no coordination or planning, meaning no direct contact or communication between any would-be attackers? Is it possible that a radicalized strain of Islam, subtly taught in mosques throughout the US homeland, can have an effect on the ideological outlook of individuals in attendance week after week? Could some individuals so inclined toward jihad find communion with other like-minded persons via the technologies widely available in today’s modern world? Could ‘ideas’ be implanted in certain persons most receptive to such powers of suggestion?” This phenomenon is coming to be widely referred to as “random acts of jihad.” And it has now spread to Canada, our neighbor north of the “other border”.
NH: Lowest Taxed in Nation. So?
The June 5th "Citizen" (Laconia,NH) newspaper published an editorial regarding NH’s continued status as having the lowest overall tax burden in the Nation. In it, the paper writes,
"Imagine the relief we will feel in knowing the additional taxes we are paying are mitigated by the knowledge that our pockets are being picked at a slower rate than in 49 other states."
Right on! We may be the lowest, but the annual increases continue apace with everyone else. The costs never remain stable. The "Citizen" concludes:
"New Hampshire residents are forced to drop 12.3 percent of their income into the well of state and local taxes. Then there is what they’re paying in federal taxes — income taxes and a variety of other levies. The people of New Hampshire are paying too much in taxes. It is time to demand government get its hands out of our pockets and live within its means — like those of us it is supposed to represent."
Click here to read the whole editorial. Then come back here and finish reading this post to read the letter I submitted to the paper in response.