Thanksgiving

I frequently sat down to my meat with thankfulness, and admired the hand of God's providence, which had thus spread my table in the wilderness. I learned to look more upon the bright side of my condition, and less upon the dark side; and to consider what I enjoyed rather than what I wanted; and this gave me sometimes such secret comforts that I cannot express them; and which I take notice of here, to put those discontented people in mind of it who cannot enjoy comfortably what God has given them, because they see and covet something that he has not given them. All our discontents about what we want appeared to me to spring from the want of thankfulness for what we have.

from Robinson Crusoe, by Daniel Defoe (1719)

"If Obama had a city, it would look like Detroit."

--quoted by Mark Steyn 

link: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/353959/downfall-detroit-mark-steyn?splash=

When the state has the capability to know everything except the difference between right and wrong, it won't end well. --Mark Steyn

The end of Scouting

In my 12 years as an adult leader in Scouting—from den leader to district representative with over 50 Eagle boards—I never once discussed sexuality with a boy.  We didn’t avoid the subject.  It just never came up. 

When I first heard about the BSA’s change in policy I wasn’t too concerned.  We  don’t talk about sex, anyway, so what possible difference could it make? The main objective is keeping sexual predators away from the boys—and that usually means adults who might take advantage of their position. That’s why Youth Protection Training and Two-Deep Leadership is required for all adult leaders.

But we already know how aggressively the homosexual activists pursue their agenda. It’s just a matter of time before some 13-year-old Scout announces his homosexuality. Parents of most of the other scouts will express their concern to the Scoutmaster or troop committee, and indicate that they don’t want their son to share a tent with this newly emancipated boy.

Who can blame them?  If a boy announces such a thing you can bet he has more on his mind than square knots.

But then there will be a discrimination lawsuit, and the troop—which is run by volunteers on a shoestring budget, anyway—will quickly concede. Parents of the other boys will immediately resign from the troop, and probably Scouting.  The Boy Scout troop in that community will disappear.

Remember the homosexual agenda I mentioned earlier?

Mission accomplished.

 

Cliff Raymond

Not one dime. It's true!

Moral courage

I just ran across the following fascinating juxtaposition of statements on The Weekly Standard website:

From Transcript of Defense Secretary Leon Panetta comments before Congress about the Benghazi attack,  Oct. 25, 2012 [LINK]

"The basic principle is that you don't deploy forces into harm's way without knowing what's going on; without having some real-time information about what's taking place, and as a result of not having that kind of information, the commander who was on the ground in that area, Gen. Ham, Gen. Dempsey and I felt very strongly that we could not put forces at risk in that situation."

 

Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication 1: Warfighting  - the following passage appears on pages 86 and 87 [LINK] 

"We must have the moral courage to make tough decisions in the face of uncertainty--and to accept full responsibility for those decisions--when the natural inclination would be to postpone the decision pending more complete information.  To delay action in an emergency because of incomplete information shows a lack of moral courage.  We do not want to make rash decisions, but we must not squander opportunities while trying to gain more information.  Finally, since all decisions must be made in the face of uncertainty and since every situation is unique, there is no perfect solution to any battlefield problem.  Therefore, we should not agonize over one."

That just about sums up the Obama administration.