Political Republican Opinion

Political Republican Opinion:

My, how times have changed. All one needs to do is look at the history of the Thanksgiving holiday to see how twisted things have become here in the good ole’ USA.

As we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, it is important to think about what the holiday really means. Our public education system offers one point of view, our churches and past government another and the writings of an early Pilgrim leader teaches an all-together different lesson.

I apologize in advance for the length of this post, knowing many won’t have the time, patience or inclination to read it all the way through. To those that do take the time, I hope that it changes the way that you think of this day of Thanksgiving in terms of political, religious and historical perspectives. To those who don’t, I’m sorry I could not consolidate the following information into the bite-sized portions that many have grown accustomed to for their “knowledge” of important facts.

Thanksgiving In The Public School System

The following is from a public school board in Seattle Washington and provides an excellent example of the way that our public school system is now teaching the story of Thanksgiving:

HIGHLINE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES and ADMINISTRATIVE CENTER
15675 Ambaum Boulevard S.W. Telephone 206/433-0111
Seattle, Washington 98166

November 13, 1985

Dear Colleague:

As educators, we continually strive to improve the clarity and accuracy of what is taught about the history of our country. Too often, we have presented what is considered to be a traditional mono-cultural perspective of history to our students. Our celebrations and observances have borne this out. We are, however, becoming increasingly aware of the need for greater cultural accuracy in historical studies. This is consistent with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction’s commitment to multi-cultural education for all students.

With this in mind, the Highline Indian Education program designed these instructional materials last year to be used in teaching about Thanksgiving in grades K-6. The response to these materials has been very positive and we are happy to have the opportunity to share them with districts in the state. We trust that you will find them to be a valuable addition to your instructional resources.

- Dr. Kent Matheson
Superintendent

- Dr. Bill McCleary
Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum and Instruction

The Thanksgiving holiday season is a time when Indian history and culture are frequently discussed in the schools. Unfortunately, the information and materials available to teachers are often incomplete or stereotyped in their presentation. For example, some commercially-produced bulletin board posters depict Plains-style Indians with feather warbonnets, tipis in the background, and horses tied nearby, sitting down to dinner with the Pilgrims. While these images are popular, they do not accurately represent the unique culture of the New England tribes, whose lifestyle was quite different than that of the Plains Indian stereotype. In addition, some books make brief mention of the critical assistance given by the Indians to the Pilgrims and tend to leave readers with the mistaken impression that all participants at the Thanksgiving feast remained friends for many years to come.

This unit provides additional information about the Indians of the North-east culture area where the first Thanksgiving took place. It includes art projects and other activities teachers can use for expanding and enriching their instruction. It is hoped that these materials will enable teachers to better portray the events surrounding the first Thanksgiving.

- Cathy Ross, Mary Robertson and Roger Fernandes

THE PLYMOUTH THANKSGIVING STORY

When the Pilgrims crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 1620, they landed on the rocky shores of a territory that was inhabited by the Wampanoag (Wam pa NO ag) Indians. The Wampanoags were part of the Algonkian-speaking peoples, a large group that was part of the Woodland Culture area.

These Indians lived in villages along the coast of what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They lived in round-roofed houses called wigwams. These were made of poles covered with flat sheets of elm or birch bark. Wigwams differ in construction from tipis that were used by Indians of the Great Plains.

The Wampanoags moved several times during each year in order to get food. In the spring they would fish in the rivers for salmon and herring. In the planting season they moved to the forest to hunt deer and other animals. After the end of the hunting season people moved inland where there was greater protection from the weather. From December to April they lived on food that they stored during the earlier months.

The basic dress for men was the breech clout, a length of deerskin looped over a belt in back and in front. Women wore deerskin wrap-around skirts. Deerskin leggings and fur capes made from deer, beaver, otter, and bear skins gave protection during the colder seasons, and deerskin moccasins were worn on the feet. Both men and women usually braided their hair and a single feather was often worn in the back of the hair by men. They did not have the large feathered headdresses worn by people in the Plains Culture area.

There were two language groups of Indians in New England at this time. The Iroquois were neighbors to the Algonkian-speaking people. Leaders of the Algonquin and Iroquois people were called “sachems” (SAY chems. Each village had its own sachem and tribal council. Political power flowed upward from the people. Any individual, man or woman, could participate, but among the Algonquins more political power was held by men. Among the Iroquois, however, women held the deciding vote in the final selection of who would represent the group. Both men and women enforced the laws of the village and helped solve problems. The details of their democratic system were so impressive that about 150 years later Benjamin Franklin invited the Iroquois to Albany, New York, to explain their system to a delegation who then developed the “Albany Plan of Union.” This document later served as a model for the Articles of Confederation and the Constitution of the United States.

These Indians of the Eastern Woodlands called the turtle, the deer and the fish their brothers. They respected the forest and everything in it as equals. Whenever a hunter made a kill, he was careful to leave behind some bones or meat as a spiritual offering, to help other animals survive. Not to do so would be considered greedy. The Wampanoags also treated each other with respect. Any visitor to a Wampanoag home was provided with a share of whatever food the family had, even if the supply was low. This same courtesy was extended to the Pilgrims when they met.

We can only guess what the Wampanoags must have thought when they first saw the strange ships of the Pilgrims arriving on their shores. But their custom was to help visitors, and they treated the newcomers with courtesy. It was mainly because of their kindness that the Pilgrims survived at all. The wheat the Pilgrims had brought with them to plant would not grow in the rocky soil. They needed to learn new ways for a new world, and the man who came to help them was called “Tisquantum” (Tis SKWAN tum) or “Squanto” (SKWAN toe).

Squanto was originally from the village of Patuxet (Pa TUK et) and a member of the Pokanokit Wampanoag nation. Patuxet once stood on the exact site where the Pilgrims built Plymouth. In 1605, fifteen years before the Pilgrims came, Squanto went to England with a friendly English explorer named John Weymouth. He had many adventures and learned to speak English. Squanto came back to New England with Captain Weymouth. Later Squanto was captured by a British slaver who raided the village and sold Squanto to the Spanish in the Caribbean Islands. A Spanish Franciscan priest befriended Squanto and helped him to get to Spain and later on a ship to England. Squanto then found Captain Weymouth, who paid his way back to his homeland. In England Squanto met Samoset of the Wabanake (Wab NAH key) Tribe, who had also left his native home with an English explorer. They both returned together to Patuxet in 1620. When they arrived, the village was deserted and there were skeletons everywhere. Everyone in the village had died from an illness the English slavers had left behind. Squanto and Samoset went to stay with a neighboring village of Wampanoags.

One year later, in the spring, Squanto and Samoset were hunting along the beach near Patuxet. They were startled to see people from England in their deserted village. For several days, they stayed nearby observing the newcomers. Finally they decided to approach them. Samoset walked into the village and said “welcome,” Squanto soon joined him. The Pilgrims were very surprised to meet two Indians who spoke English.

The Pilgrims were not in good condition. They were living in dirt-covered shelters, there was a shortage of food, and nearly half of them had died during the winter. They obviously needed help and the two men were a welcome sight. Squanto, who probably knew more English than any other Indian in North America at that time, decided to stay with the Pilgrims for the next few months and teach them how to survive in this new place. He brought them deer meat and beaver skins. He taught them how to cultivate corn and other new vegetables and how to build Indian-style houses. He pointed out poisonous plants and showed how other plants could be used as medicine. He explained how to dig and cook clams, how to get sap from the maple trees, use fish for fertilizer, and dozens of other skills needed for their survival.

By the time fall arrived things were going much better for the Pilgrims, thanks to the help they had received. The corn they planted had grown well. There was enough food to last the winter. They were living comfortably in their Indian-style wigwams and had also managed to build one European-style building out of squared logs. This was their church. They were now in better health, and they knew more about surviving in this new land. The Pilgrims decided to have a thanksgiving feast to celebrate their good fortune. They had observed thanksgiving feasts in November as religious obligations in England for many years before coming to the New World.

The Algonkian tribes held six thanksgiving festivals during the year. The beginning of the Algonkian year was marked by the Maple Dance which gave thanks to the Creator for the maple tree and its syrup. This ceremony occurred when the weather was warm enough for the sap to run in the maple trees, sometimes as early as February. Second was the planting feast, where the seeds were blessed. The strawberry festival was next, celebrating the first fruits of the season. Summer brought the green corn festival to give thanks for the ripening corn. In late fall, the harvest festival gave thanks for the food they had grown.

Mid-winter was the last ceremony of the old year. When the Indians sat down to the “first Thanksgiving” with the Pilgrims, it was really the fifth thanksgiving of the year for them! Captain Miles Standish, the leader of the Pilgrims, invited Squanto, Samoset, Massasoit (the leader of the Wampanoags), and their immediate families to join them for a celebration, but they had no idea how big Indian families could be. As the Thanksgiving feast began, the Pilgrims were overwhelmed at the large turnout of ninety relatives that Squanto and Samoset brought with them. The Pilgrims were not prepared to feed a gathering of people that large for three days. Seeing this, Massasoit gave orders to his men within the first hour of his arrival to go home and get more food. Thus it happened that the Indians supplied the majority of the food: Five deer, many wild turkeys, fish, beans, squash, corn soup, corn bread, and berries. Captain Standish sat at one end of a long table and the Clan Chief Massasoit sat at the other end. For the first time the Wampanoag people were sitting at a table to eat instead of on mats or furs spread on the ground. The Indian women sat together with the Indian men to eat. The Pilgrim women, however, stood quietly behind the table and waited until after their men had eaten, since that was their custom.

For three days the Wampanoags feasted with the Pilgrims. It was a special time of friendship between two very different groups of people. A peace and friendship agreement was made between Massasoit and Miles Standish giving the Pilgrims the clearing in the forest where the old Patuxet village once stood to build their new town of Plymouth.

It would be very good to say that this friendship lasted a long time; but, unfortunately, that was not to be. More English people came to America, and they were not in need of help from the Indians as were the original Pilgrims. Many of the newcomers forgot the help the Indians had given them. Mistrust started to grow and the friendship weakened. The Pilgrims started telling their Indian neighbors that their Indian religion and Indian customs were wrong. The Pilgrims displayed an intolerance toward the Indian religion similar to the intolerance displayed toward the less popular religions in Europe. The relationship deteriorated and within a few years the children of the people who ate together at the first Thanksgiving were killing one another in what came to be called King Phillip’s War.

It is sad to think that this happened, but it is important to understand all of the story and not just the happy part. Today the town of Plymouth Rock has a Thanksgiving ceremony each year in remembrance of the first Thanksgiving. There are still Wampanoag people living in Massachusetts. In 1970, they asked one of them to speak at the ceremony to mark the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s arrival. Here is part of what was said:

“Today is a time of celebrating for you — a time of looking back to the first days of white people in America. But it is not a time of celebrating for me. It is with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my People. When the Pilgrims arrived, we, the Wampanoags, welcomed them with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning of the end. That before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag would no longer be a tribe. That we and other Indians living near the settlers would be killed by their guns or dead from diseases that we caught from them. Let us always remember, the Indian is and was just as human as the white people.

Although our way of life is almost gone, we, the Wampanoags, still walk the lands of Massachusetts. What has happened cannot be changed. But today we work toward a better America, a more Indian America where people and nature once again are important.”

In summary, the story of Thanksgiving as taught in our public schools teaches us that:

• Pilgrims were thankful for their good fortune, not the blessings afforded them by God.
• The Indian people are the only reason that the Pilgrims survived.
• The Pilgrims slaughtered the indians in return for their kindness.
• Pilgrim Women were subservient to men; Indian women were treated as equals.
• Nature and the environment must be protected.

God & Thanksgiving According To Our Government

Thanksgiving is now celebrated annually in the United States on the fourth Thursday in November. Many people mistakenly think that it was President Franklin D. Roosevelt that declared the first official Thanksgiving holiday. Although he certainly set the precedent for the official day that Thanksgiving has been celebrated in this country since 1939 (an Act of Congress in 1941 made it official), the US government had previously set aside a day of Thanksgiving on numerous occasions in this country’s history.

As the Liberal movement in this country chips away year after year at the morals our nation was founded on and attempts to re-write the Constitution of the United States of America by misconstruing the intent of its authors to recognize the teachings of God, it is important to read the words that were used by our past Presidents (beginning with the first, George Washington) and our Congress. It is important to note how God was the focal point of our Thanksgiving holiday in their eyes:

The Continental Congress – 1777:

General George Washington, leader of the revolutionary forces in the American Revolutionary War, proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving in December of 1777 as a celebration of the defeat of British troops at Saratoga. At the same time, the first national proclamation of Thanksgiving was given by the colonial government, the Continental Congress. In December of 1777 they wrote:

“FOR AS MUCH as it is the indispensable Duty of all Men to adore the superintending Providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with Gratitude their Obligation to him for Benefits received, and to implore such farther Blessings as they stand in Need of: And it having pleased him in his abundant Mercy, not only to continue to us the innumerable Bounties of his common Providence; but also to smile upon us in the Prosecution of a just and necessary War, for the Defense and Establishment of our unalienable Rights and Liberties; particularly in that he hath been pleased, in so great a Measure, to prosper the Means used for the Support of our Troops, and to crown our Arms with most signal success:

It is therefore recommended to the legislative or executive Powers of these UNITED STATES to set apart THURSDAY, the eighteenth Day of December next, for SOLEMN THANKSGIVING and PRAISE: That at one Time and with one Voice, the good People may express the grateful Feelings of their Hearts, and consecrate themselves to the Service of their Divine Benefactor; and that, together with their sincere Acknowledgments and Offerings, they may join the penitent Confession of their manifold Sins, whereby they had forfeited every Favor; and their humble and earnest Supplication that it may please GOD through the Merits of JESUS CHRIST, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of Remembrance; That it may please him graciously to afford his Blessing on the Governments of these States respectively, and prosper the public Council of the whole: To inspire our Commanders, both by Land and Sea, and all under them, with that Wisdom and Fortitude which may render them fit Instruments, under the Providence of Almighty GOD, to secure for these United States, the greatest of all human Blessings, INDEPENDENCE and PEACE: That it may please him, to prosper the Trade and Manufactures of the People, and the Labor of the Husbandman, that our Land may yield its Increase: To take Schools and Seminaries of Education, so necessary for cultivating the Principles of true Liberty, Virtue and Piety, under his nurturing Hand; and to prosper the Means of Religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that Kingdom, which consisteth “in Righteousness, Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost.

And it is further recommended, That servile Labor, and such Recreation, as, though at other Times innocent, may be unbecoming the Purpose of this Appointment, be omitted on so solemn an Occasion.”

President George Washington – October 3, 1789:

There was no official annual holiday of Thanksgiving in our country’s early days. Presidents declared a day of thanks as times dictated. As our first President, George Washington recognized the importance of God in the first official proclamation of Thanksgiving by the government of the United States of America, which he set to be held during the last Thursday of November. His proclamation was as follows:

“Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me “to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us, and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.”

Abraham Lincoln – October 3, 1863:

During the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln declared that a Thanksgiving Holiday be celebrated on the same day that our first President, George Washington, had celebrated it on. He declared that a day of thanks should be held on the last Thursday of November in 1863. In Lincoln’s proclamation, he asked the American people to thank our Creator for all that he had given them and to offer “humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience.” It was as follows:

“The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle, or the ship; the axe had enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years, with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and voice by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.”

From 1863 to 1939, every President observed the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanks until President Roosevelt changed it in order to extend the holiday shopping season.

God, Thanksgiving & Socialism

When the first Pilgrims settled in the American colonies, they were not only escaping religious persecution in England, but they were trying to establish their ideal version of collectivism based upon communal sharing and altruism. Their goal was to create a society based upon Plato’s vision of Communism.

The original colonists, therefore, decided that their society as a whole should benefit from the labor of the group, with all fruits of their labor divided equally amongst the people. An excellent article by Richard M. Ebeling titled, “The Real Meaning of Thanksgiving: The Triumph of Capitalism over Collectivism,” points out the failings of the Pilgrims’ Communistic experiment. He uses the head of the colony, Governor William Bradford’s, diary as proof that a system of shared wealth does not work. In Bradford’s piece, he modernizes the Old English language of Governor Bradford, providing the following translated quotes from the early Governor’s diary:

“For the young men that were able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children, without recompense. The strong, or men of parts, had no more division of food, clothes, etc. then he that was weak and not able to do a quarter the other could; this was thought injustice. The aged and graver men to be ranked and equalized in labor, and food, clothes, etc. with the meaner and younger sort, thought it some indignant and disrespect unto them. And for men’s wives to be commanded to do service for other men, as dressing their meat, washing their clothes, etc. they deemed it a kind of slavery, neither could man husbands brook it.”

Two years of the Socialistic experiment left the colony devastated by plague, starvation and death. The elders of the colony realized that if they did not do something quickly, the remaining 44 of the original 102 pilgrims would perish as well. They decided to allot a portion of land to each family and that the fate of each family would be the result of their own design. Governor Bradford wrote:

“And so assigned to every family a parcel of land, according to the proportion of their number for that end. . . .This had a very good success; for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content. The women now went willingly into the field, and took their little-ones with them to set corn, which before would alledge weakness, and inability; whom to have compelled would have been thought great tyranny and oppression.” …

“By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine, now God gave them plenty, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoicing of the hearts of many, for which they blessed God. And the effect of their planting was well seen, for all had, one way or other, pretty well to bring the year about, and some of the abler sort and more industrious had to spare, and sell to others, so as any general want or famine hath not been amongst them since to this day.” …

“The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years, and that amongst the Godly and sober men, may well convince of the vanity and conceit of Plato’s and other ancients; — that the taking away of property, and bringing into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort.” …

“Let none object this is man’s corruption, and nothing to the curse itself. I answer, seeing all men have this corruption in them, God in his wisdom saw another course fitter for them.”

So, as we celebrate this Thanksgiving Day, it is up to each of us to decide what it is that we are thankful for. Is it the Indians who helped the ruthless evil white men from another land? Is it God who made our lives and all the wonders of it possible. Or, is it the original Pilgrims who adapted to a Capitalistic form of government that led to the United States becoming the greatest country on earth? Perhaps we should be thankful for all three.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! – The Political Republican Opinion Blog

Political Republican Opinion Quote of the Day: “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” - Melody Beattie

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Political Republican Opinion:

The rise in piracy along the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in recent months has given rise to fears that a premature withdrawal of US military forces in Iraq would lead to an explosion of piracy in the region and increased attacks on Iraqi citizens.

During a press conference held in Baghdad yesterday, Iraqi defense minister, Abdel Qader Jassem Mohammed al-Obeidi, warned that if coalition forces “withdraw precipitously, our gulf will become like the Gulf of Aden, where there have been 95 acts of piracy.”[1]

The ever-increasing boldness of the Somali-based piracy rings is apparent. Originally content with seizing fishing trawlers, returning the ships to their owners for a sizeable ransom, the pirates have moved on to bigger, better and more expensive vessels. Cargo ships have been frequent recent targets and now, with the seizure of the Sirius Star, a Saudi oil tanker, it appears that there is no limit to the type of ship that the ruthless mercenaries are willing to count on for their booty.

According to the London-based research organization, Chatham House, the average ransom request is $1 million.[2] An estimated $100 million has already been collected by the marauders this year, alone.[3] The pirates controlling the Saudi oil tanker are demanding $25 million for its safe return. With the cost of the tanker in the range of $148 million and its precious crude oil cargo valued at over $100 million, a $25 million request for the safe release of the crew, ship and cargo are a relative bargain, it would seem.

“What’s this have to do with us?” you may ask.

Close to 20,000 ships pass through the Gulf of Aden every year; it is the main trade route for dry and manufactured goods between Asia, Europe and the Americas. The extra costs associated with bolstered security for these vessels would surely be passed down to consumers if it was at all practical to arm these ships; but, because they are not equipped to defend themselves, many shipping companies have chosen to avoid the Gulf of Aden altogether. Instead, some companies have chosen to take the long route around the southern tip of Africa, which adds an extra three weeks to shipping time. This further increases the costs associated with getting goods to the United States estimated at an extra $20,000 to $30,000 per day.[4]

If the cost to our pocketbooks is not enough, more serious national security issues dwarf those concerns. The pirates have begun using satellite tracking devices, heavy weaponry and intelligence picked up from sources in ports. In an interview on Fox News this morning, former Scotland Yard chief inspector and National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU) Superintendent, Steve Pearl, said the piracy groups are being aided by Islamic fundamentalists who are more than happy to receive kickbacks for their intelligence gathering assistance.

Nato, the United States and numerous European nations have all sent ships to the region to try to stop the piracy. Nevertheless, the number of attacks on merchant ships has increased. South Korea, Japan, and Saudi Arabia are now also considering sending warships to help secure the area.

As the world scrambles for answers to the piracy problem, Iraq is understandably concerned about its own national security. Obeidi said in the press conference that Iraqi territory risks being attacked by neighboring states, referring to Turkey’s bombing of Turkish Kurdish PKK rebels in the mountainous regions of northern Iraq.

“Today, Iraq is the target of bombing from abroad but it is limited because the (US-led) coalition represents a dissuasion force. If it is not there any more, the whole country risks being the target of shooting, even (the southern port of) Basra, and they will justify their actions by referring to information on a PKK base there,” the Iraqi defense minister said.

Obeidi also said his country has turned into “a battleground for different foreign intelligence services,” adding, “Iraqi security forces, backed by the coalition, must impose a limit on their activities, of which Iraqis are the victims.”

One can only wonder if Barack Obama will continue to hold firm on his plan to extricate US troops from the Iraqi arena. As is usually the case, the world looks a whole lot more complicated when viewed from inside the Oval Office. Let’s hope that the people Barack Obama surrounds himself with have the wisdom and experience to guide the inexperienced new President-elect in the right direction and that he has the wisdom to make the right choices.

Political Republican Opinion Quote of the Day: “The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm and something else when he leaves.” - Deng Xiaoping

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Political Republican Opinion Blog Guest Writer: Tony Newell

Ask any magician and he will tell you virtually every trick in the book relies, to some extent, upon distraction. Get the audience to look at the right hand while the left hides a quarter, or these days, a giraffe.

Something tells me Savior-Elect Obama knows a thing or two about magic. In fact, it seems he has elevated the art to include the most effective distractive force known to man - his mouth.

He began, at least as a headliner, by telling us his campaign would eschew race altogether, and instead focus on issues that matter to ordinary people. The niftiness of turning hope and warmth and soul-tickling into “issues” aside, Obama’s ability to sell this above-race- shtick to millions of Americans, all while glibly reminding us of how he doesn’t look like those “ guys on the dollar bills” or allowing his disciples in the press to denounce any criticism of him as racist, is nothing short of impressive.

Then Obama, after promising to accept public financing for his general election campaign, decided he would opt out once it was clear John McCain would never match him dollar for dollar. For most candidates, that kind of stunt haunts them through November – but not Obama. An effortless rhetorical tweak and a few more meters about “change” and “politics as usual,” and everything is dandy.

But this we’ve heard. This we know.

Now is when the words begin to curdle. Now is when burden of responsibility manifests substance. Indefatigably, Barack Obama has promised to unite Washington and bring the country and its leaders together in a common cause for hope and prosperity and dandelions.

But, where is this unity?

So far the President-Elect’s strategy has been to stack his staff and cabinet with ardent progressive after partisan liberal, and if there isn’t a sufficiently liberal candidate to fill a position, it goes to a rival. After all, isn’t there an adage regarding the proximity of friends and enemies?

Again, not exactly surprising to Obama’s many detractors. It would appear, in fact, that our forty-fourth President is poised to lend himself quite well to predictability.

With that mentioned, allow me to briefly indulge in a bit of prognostication.

Burdened with the responsibility of, well, responsibility, I imagine Barack Obama is going to have a tougher time keeping the crowd than he had winning it over. A seemingly inevitable nuclear Iran, a schizophrenic economy and a dysfunctional congress to exacerbate it are only the beginning of what the Messiah is going to have to face from the very start.

Granted, it’s been my contention that, from this point on, the current economic atrophy will largely correct itself. However, the threats of Islamofacism and a contumacious Iran will do no such thing. Not only will both threats require sacrifice and resolve, but an audacity that has very little to do with hope and more to do with reality - there will be no more voting “present.”

Given the imminence of geo-political turmoil, Obama’s next sleight of mouth will probably mean an increase in tough talk with Iran; probably to the extent of sufficiently convincing most Americans that he is nobody’s dove and that he really, really means business. This posturing, naturally, will be concomitant with “hard-nose negotiations” with Iran. These negotiations, of course, will take months if not years. After all, some will argue, Obama is a smooth talker, just give him some time.

Eventually, Obama will have afforded Iran enough time to enrich enough Uranium to cross the “point of no return”-that is where an airstrike will result in a catastrophic release of radiation. At this point, any decisive and tolerable military option will be off the table and the game will have changed. President Obama will blame the failure on the previous administration, claiming he never had enough time to halt Iran’s progress, Israel is left to defend itself alone and the discussion in the U.S. immediately shifts to how we will successfully live with a nuclear Iran - assuredly an argument already being perfected by Obama’s “experts” (and one that is completely unacceptable).

Naturally, I, and to be fair many others, could be wrong; and, I truly hope we are. But if not, the next chapter of our American story will be a grim one that all the charm and all the poetry in the world will not ameliorate.

Let’s hope this next President has some other tricks up his sleeve; let’s hope he is saving the real magic for the big stage. But, if what we see is what we get, I fear we are in for a wicked show.

The Political Republican Opinion Blog would like to thank Tony Newell for his submission and welcomes any other writers to send in their Conservative articles to be published, as well (just submit them via the Contact Us page).

Political Republican Opinion Blog Quote of the Day: “I was to learn later in life that we tend to meet any new situation by reorganizing and a wonderful method it can be for creating the illusion of progress while producing confusion, inefficiency, and demoralization.” - Detronius Arbiter

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Political Republican Opinion:

After losing the presidential election and witnessing their second consecutive landslide defeat in both houses of Congress, the Republican Party is scrambling. Despite claims that the mainstream media was biased toward Barack Obama (they were), they have no one to blame but themselves.

The Party clearly needs to do a better job of defining themselves and also must take a serious look at some of the antiquated parts of their platform if they are to regain the trust of the American public and show that they really exist to defend the rights of individuals.

So, what will it take for the Republican Party to re-energize itself in the modern era? Ten things need to be accomplished before the GOP can climb out of its funk and re-emerge as the pragmatic leaders they once were:

1. Fiscal Responsibility

Republican Congressmen must re-establish themselves as the Party of fiscal responsibility. The ridiculous spending that occurred during the Republican-led Congressional years from 2000-2006 will not soon be forgotten.

The GOP can begin to redeem themselves in the next two years by following a simple principle: Not a single Republican should request earmarks and should oppose any piece of legislation that contains even an ounce of pork. Even if the rest of the legislation in a bill is acceptable, Republicans must loudly state their objections to it and declare that pork is the reason that it will not get their support.

2. Cut Federal Spending:

Americans are beginning to look seriously at their own budgets, making cuts to “wants” and concentrating on “needs.” Congress should be doing the same. Republicans in both the House and the Senate should lobby adamantly for cuts to federal programs that are wasting taxpayer money.

3. Communicate with the Media:

Actions don’t speak louder than words when those actions are never noticed because the words are never heard. Party members need to issue press releases and appear on any and all radio and television shows where they can show what they are doing to promote savings to taxpayers and tell the American public who is standing in the way of their efforts. I, for one, want to know which members of Congress are standing in the way of progress!

4. Learn the Power of Social Media:

The GOP has already taken the first step in communicating on the newest news medium - the Internet - by setting up the Republican For A Reason website. Although this was a good first step, the site is poorly optimized and its lack of buttons for social bookmarking shows that the Republican National Committee does not yet understand the concept.

There is no more powerful way to get your message out on the web than to promote it through hub pages and social networks. If the webmaster for the site hasn’t taken the time to set up social bookmarking buttons, it is doubtful that he/she has taken the time to perform any of the manual submission chores associated with social bookmarking, either.

5. Change the Republican Position on Abortion:

While it is important to stand firm on its position regarding partial birth abortions, the federal funding of abortions and the Born Alive Act, until the GOP axes the Human Life Amendment from their agenda, they will always be alienating over half of the US voting base.

This does not mean that Republicans shouldn’t state what they personally believe and what they would do if they or a family member was confronted with an unexpected pregnancy. It does, however, mean that the GOP needs to realize that these are highly personal decisions and that looking to overturn Roe vs. Wade will not accomplish anything other than to diminish their potential voter base.

Just as prohibition did nothing to stop the consumption of alcohol in this country, making abortions illegal would return us to the far more dangerous illegal abortions practices that occurred before Roe vs. Wade.

Instead, Republican Congressmen should concentrate their efforts on ensuring that women facing this highly emotionally decision have all the facts and alternatives available to them and that those who choose to make the unsettling choice for an abortion, have the emotional support they need and that the procedures are being performed in the safest way possible.

6. Traditional Marriage:

Again, I believe that the Republican Party has missed the boat here. A federal mandate on the definition of marriage is unnecessary and is counterproductive to the concept of a republic of people who are free to make their own decisions without federal government intervention.

States and the people who live in those states need to have the freedom to make these decisions. Each state can makes its own laws relating to this issue and whether or not they will recognize same-sex marriages that may have been legal in other states. The individual will then have the ability to choose where they want to live based upon those laws.

Why the federal government believes they need to dive into this tempest in a teapot is beyond me.

7. Fight to overturn the Kelo Decision:

An individual’s right to property is a concept originally introduced by John Locke and later refined by Thomas Paine in his book, The Rights of Man. In that book, Paine wrote, “The right to property being inviolable and sacred, no one ought to be deprived of it, except in cases of evident public necessity, legally ascertained, and on condition of just indemnity.”

When the US Supreme Court upheld the decision by the state of Connecticut’s highest court - that the government could seize individual homes and property from citizens in order to benefit the interests of a private land developer without just compensation in the form of current market value - a serious breach of trust occurred.

Sandra Day O’Connor correctly argued that the decision eliminates “any distinction between private and public use of property—and thereby effectively delete[s] the words ‘for public use’ from the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.”

There was no evident public necessity for the takeover of these peoples’ homes (unless you consider a Pfizer, Inc. research facility, a pedestrian riverwalk, a state park, a U.S. Coast Guard Museum and a “small urban village” including a waterfront hotel “necessities”) nor were the former owners justly compensated for their property (unless you consider valuing the property at pre-development rates a fair estimate of a property’s value).

Until the GOP proves that the individual is more important than corporate interests, people will always be skeptical about whose rights the Party is really fighting for. The Republican Party needs to let the American public know that they will fight to reinstitute the principle of property rights that was important to our founding fathers and that they will battle to overturn the horrible precedent set by the Supreme Court in the Kelo Decision that allowed a developer to steal a person’s property.

8. Energy Independence:

The Republican Party needs to do a much better job of convincing the American public that they are willing to explore every viable form of energy that exists. While it is true that they should continue their fight to allow drilling in ANWR and off the coast of the United States, they need to show that the GOP plan involves far more than “drill here, drill now.”

The Republican Party needs to step out of the shadows and into the light, showing that they are at the forefront on alternative energy issues. Paying lip service to the concept of human involvement in global warming is not enough. There are far more important issues at hand when it comes to energy independence.

Our national security and economic survival depends on weaning ourselves off oil for our energy needs. While we are drilling for our own supplies, I would like to see a Republican panel put together that would focus entirely on funding research for wind, solar, clean coal and nuclear technologies. Forget being bipartisan here; the GOP needs to show the nation that it is the real Party of energy independence.

9. Judges:

The Republican Party needs to emphasize their belief in the US Constitution and that they will only support judges who interpret the Constitution, rather than legislate from the bench based upon their own individual beliefs. This will help to ensure that the [un]Fairness Doctrine is held as an unconstitutional Act and that our right to bear arms remains intact.

10. Less Government Means More Freedom:

The Republican Party needs to stop sending out mixed signals. If the GOP truly believes that there should be less government intervention in the lives of Americans, they cannot possibly support some of the stances listed above that restrict the freedoms of so many Americans.

Tolerance for others who are different from us is the key to social harmony and what makes the American melting pot the model for all societies. Until the Republican Party proves that they can keep their hands out of our pockets and their noses out of our lives, they will struggle to gain the acceptance of the American public at large.

Political Republican Opinion Quote of the Day: “Facts are stubborn things; and, whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” – John Adams

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Political Republican Opinion:

In an interview earlier this week, US House of Representatives member, Paul Broun, called President-elect Barack Obama a Marxist and likened him to Adolf Hitler. His words could not have been clearer:

“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed this national security force,” Broun told the AP in the Monday interview. “I’m just trying to bring attention to the fact that we may - may not, I hope not - but we may have a problem with that type of philosophy of radical socialism or Marxism.”

Broun’s comments were in reference to a July speech by Barack Obama in which the President-elect called for “a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded” as the US military.

Broun told the AP, “That’s exactly what Hitler did in Nazi Germany and it’s exactly what the Soviet Union did. When he’s proposing to have a national security force that’s answering to him that is as strong as the US military, he’s showing me signs of being a Marxist.”

“We can’t be lulled into complacency,” Broun continued, “You have to remember that Adolf Hitler was elected in a democratic Germany. I’m not comparing him to Adolf Hitler. What I’m saying is there is the potential.”

Now, after a sea of protests in regards to the comments, the Georgia representative is backpedaling:

“I regret putting it that way,” Broun told WGAC radio in Augusta, GA. “I apologize to anyone who has taken offense at that.”

Broun added, “The point I tried to make is that he is extremely liberal, he has promoted a lot of socialistic ideas, and it just makes me concerned.”

Don’t you just love it when someone insults another person and then pretends he didn’t mean the insult by saying that he didn’t intend to offend anyone? Isn’t it pitiful when a Congressman slinks away with his tail between his legs?

You said it, Mr Broun, now be a man and stand behind your words. There are surely invertebrates with more backbone than you. If I lived in Georgia, I wouldn’t re-elect you solely on your lack of mettle!

The Obama transition office, however, didn’t seem at all offended by the Congressman. In fact, they had no comments at all in regards to the Congressman’s allegations.

It seems eerily like the shrug given when “Joe the Plumber” challenged Barack Obama for his notion of “spreading the wealth around.” Their indifference to Broun’s words is highly disturbing to say the least!

Political Republican Opinion Quote of the Day: “The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which, like a giant octopus, sprawls its slimy length over City, State, and Nation… It seizes in its long and powerful tentacles our executive officers, our legislative bodies, our schools, our courts, our newspapers, and every agency created for the public protection.”– John F. Hylan (Mayor of New York City, 1918-1925)

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Political Republican Opinion:

Barack Obama wants every student who wants to go to college, to be able to do it. In order to make that possible, he says he wants to give every college student a $4,000 “college credit” every year in exchange for 100 hours of community service each year. At my college, even the star football players didn’t manage a sweet $40/hour summer gig!

It’s an admirable goal. I mean, don’t we all want any kid who desires to attend college and has the grades for it, to be able to live that dream? Don’t we all also want to help some organization out that is serving the greater good on behalf of our communities? Two birds are killed with one stone here! (Sorry, bird lovers, for the insensitive avicide remark.)

It’s just like healthcare. Of course everyone should be able to see a doctor, have an operation and get whatever subscription drugs that they need. Or how about home ownership. Wouldn’t it be great if we all could afford that dream?

Unfortunately, we live in the real world … a world where things cost money. Doctors don’t work for free. Nor do teachers, construction workers or, for that matter, our elected officials. If we all were handed everything we needed, who would need to work? If no one worked, how would we get the things we needed? Quite the tangled paradox we have here, isn’t it?

Every citizen has been afforded the opportunity to succeed in this country. Both Barack and Michelle Obama claim that they came from very humble beginnings yet somehow, despite living in a country that has what he describes as a “broken system,” they managed to not only succeed professionally, but have become our next president and first lady. How is this possible? Oh, and to paraphrase Barack Obama, did I mention they are black?

I have a funny feeling it has something to do with hard work. Kudos to both Michelle and Barack for beating the odds and becoming successful. The thing is, though, they didn’t really beat the odds. We are all given the same set of dice; each has six sides and two cubes. Some are playing in back alleys and others on imported marble tile, but it’s still the same game; the odds are the same of winning or losing.

Some expect to win, however, while others assume that they have lost before the first throw of the dice occurs. The success or failure of any individual may very well be a self-fulfilling prophesy. If you are told by your parents, your peers, your teachers, your preachers and yes, even your politicians, that you are doomed for failure, that the odds are stacked against you, you are bound to lack the will or desire to succeed and invariably you will not. Even Oprah could tell you that!

If your politicians tell you that you need their help, you undoubtedly will. Why strive to prove them wrong? Why try to be better than they think you are? They are giving free stuff away, right? There’s no reason to succeed.

And who do they want to pay for all of the free stuff? That’s right, the successful people who beat the odds, who refused to take no for an answer; the people who refused to accept failure, who went ahead and rolled the dice; the people who lost game after game before finally getting on a roll; the people who refused to listen to their line of craps!

Then again, maybe I’m wrong. I have been working my butt off my entire life, sometimes working more than one job, and still find myself treading water. Of course, I’ve never made $40 an hour. We don’t have unions here in Florida unless you count Walt Disney World. (Did you ever wonder why tickets cost $65 to get in and why a one dollar hamburger costs six bucks?)

$40/hour is more than $83,000 a year (that’s with no overtime). My wife and I work a combined 100 hours per week and don’t make that combined, yet he wants me to pay that to college students to do volunteer work? I have a better plan, Mr. Obama. My wife and I will both do our patriotic duty and help those organizations in our communities that need assistance for the bargain price of $30/hour. We’ll save the taxpayers money, bring a far more advanced skill set to the table and gladly take home the nearly $125,000. It’s a win-win for everybody!

Political Republican Opinion Quote of the Day: “For the ordinary man is passive. Within a narrow circle (home life, and perhaps the trade unions or local politics) he feels himself master of his fate, but against major events he is as helpless as against the elements. So far from endeavoring to influence the future, he simply lies down and lets things happen to him.” – George Orwell

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