...you've got your pistol on your hip, because that's how you roll.
Down on the corner you see a group of thugs throwing rocks at a guy and his family. You've seen the guy around, but don't really know him or his family. What you do know is that he seems to be a good citizen, his kids are happy and his wife doesn't have either eye swelled shut for back-talking - so, you remain relatively certain he's a good guy.
The guys throwing rocks, on the other hand, you know are Bad People. They demonstrate it every chance they get. Now they are throwing rocks at women and kids - on the street in your town.
Moral indignation rise? Do you race down the street and give the guy your back-up piece while starting to bust caps toward the Bad People?
Or, do you say "Screw them. It's their problem."?
Welcome to Israel and her neighbors.
When you boil it down to basics, that's the situation. Basic good guys are attacked by bad guys.
Right now, today, Bad People are throwing missiles from Gaza into the 'burbs and cities of Israel, trying to kill people in their homes, at work, wherever they can be hit.
You haven't heard much of that in MSM these days.
What would you do if your neighbors down the street were throwing .223 rounds at your house, randomly hoping to hit you, your wife, or your kids? Wouldn't you appreciate it if other basic good guys helped you make the missiles stop?
Sure, there is more to the story between Israel and her neighbors.
But the basics are in place.
Here's the story about the missiles and the Israeli anti-missile system, which gets quite a work-out. When is the last time your city missile defense had to go into action?
The basics: You stand with good guys and you kill bad guys.
UPDATE: Read more here: sloggingtowardliberty.blogspot.com
Kerodin
III
Amen, Sam. Folks can get on Ron's bandwagon and talk about non-interference all they want - and in most circumstances, like Libya, Syria, etc. they would be right - but when your friend is being attacked you help out. You don't stand and watch, you certainly don't condemn him when he fights back.
ReplyDeleteSome folks will try to say Israel isn't our friend because of the incident where they attacked one of our Navy vessels. I don't claim to know the facts on that, whether it was a matter of mis-identification (like when our jets shot down the airliner over the Med) or what. They certainly _are_ our friend, though, and there are a many reasons for helping to insure they do not get wiped off the map by muslim scum. I stand with Israel.
Reg T.....read the history of the blatant, intentional attack by Israel AGAINST a naval vessel of the US Navy in international waters in 1968. It was NO accident. Further, you dishonor the memory of those dozens of Americans murdered and hundreds wounded on an American vessel you're too unconcerned with to even know the name of. FYI....it was the USS LIBERTY !
DeleteBut hey....you stand with Israel. You planning on sending a nice, big personal check to the Israeli government to express your support ? Better yet....are you going to volunteer your services to the IDF ? You willing to move to Israel and fight for them ala scumbag Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel ?
I always am amazed how folks like you are so willing to shed other American's blood for YOUR misguided principles. But you yourself are not willing to back your words up with personal actions. Support Israel with YOUR money and blood not mine and that of my friends, neighbors, relatives and fellow Ameri ans.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
Allow me to correct myself and clarify the intentional attack by Israel against USS LIBERTY occured in June 1967. Not 1968. I errored.
DeleteDAN III
Pennsylvania
Yes, I've never understood this hatred for Israel. I believe I could enjoy myself in their land, but wouldn't step foot in any Islamic one.
ReplyDeleteHere's some more "basics" for you...
ReplyDelete"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations to have with them as little political connection as possible.... Trust in temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies... steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world." (President George Washington, Farewell Address, 1797)
"Honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none," (President Thomas Jefferson, Inaugural Address, 1801)
I don't live in Israel. I'm not Israeli. I don't want my sons to fight and die for any nation but the "nation" of Liberty....
No one has asked you to send your sons to Israel. Helping Israel could consist of simply supporting them in the UN and the court of world opinion when they fight back instead of insisting that Israel always be the one to "compromise", make concessions, give up land, hold back from targeting the terrorist in Hamas and Fatah.
DeleteHelping them might mean simply giving them the tools to defend themselves, without involving any of our "sons and daughters" at all. Have you thought about that?
P.S. - Israel is a nation of liberty, too. Probably the only other such nation in the world.
DeleteYeah, because we (the US) would never support a NON "nation of liberty", right?
DeleteRegT,
DeleteHow willing are you to put your "money where your mouth is" regarding Israel ? When are you going to stroke a personal check payable to the Israeli government ? How about you performing the ultimate show of support and physically move to Israel and join the Israeli Defense Forces ?
DAN III
Pennsylvania
Hey RegT....we have military "sons" in Israel as I write this right now.
DeleteYou truly know not what you write.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
Even though I'm going poor I alway give my friends money, but they still always spy on me.
ReplyDeleteAnon 12:41 - Following Washington & Jefferson on this does not exclude my position.
ReplyDeleteNo American should be forced to go there and fight, any more than they should have gone to Afghanistan or Iraq.
But, selling them arms does not violate Washington or Jefferson. Offering them training is the same.
Offering them support in times of existential threat - for instance, pointing a pallet of cruise missiles at Tehran and telling them to be sure to keep their forces on their own soil and fingers off their triggers - is what good men do for one another, lest evil prevail.
Just as I'd arm and defend a single Jew on the street, I'd authorize stand-off military defense on their behalf, when their own power might be insufficient.
K
is there something about the "single Jew on the street" that prevents them from arming and defending themselves? Is there something about the nation of Israel that prevents them from arming and defending themselves?
DeleteFor a movement that preaches self reliance from a soap box we sure as hell spend an inordinate amount of time talking about why we need unconditionally support Israel. We have been at war for almost 20 years now against the Arabic nations of the middle east. In all that tim e I don't recall any Israeli forces fighting along side of us...
Anon 06:02 - In fact, yes - the single Jew on the street (and the average American) are often denied the right to arms and our Government takes the same high hand with Israel as a nation when it comes to export licenses for many weapons systems.
DeleteWho said anything - on this blog - about unconditionally supporting Israel? I surely didn't. I noted that good people need to band together against bad people. Israel can handle her own defense, so long as American politicians stay out of their business.
And you are right about being at war in the Middle East for too long. We should not be there.
K
Anon 12:47,
ReplyDeleteDo you trust our government? If your life were at stake, wouldn't _you_ want to know if they are getting ready to stab you in the back? Our government has done Israel more harm by forcing them to hold back from legitimate self-defense, by trading "land for peace" - a peace which continues to demand more and more land, more concessions - freeing "Palestinians" who come back to kill more Israelis. Do you really think they _shouldn't_ spy on our government? Stop and think about it, OK?
I'm sorry, Sam, but they've got me going here.
ReplyDeleteI was going to place a long comment here, but if you're interested, I'll be posting it on my blog instead: sloggingtowardliberty.blogspot.com
I never listed my blog with you, because I wasn't going to self-advertise on your blog, but this is a topic too close to my heart.
RegT: No worrties. I added your site to the post above as well as the blogroll. ;)
ReplyDeleteK
"Basic good guys are attacked by bad guys."
ReplyDeleteGross oversimplification.
The same logic and lack of context can lead one to believe that the correct course of action during the first Revolution would have been to support the British soldiers, the "basic good guys".
AP
AP - wouldn't casting the Brits in RevWarI as "basic good guys" - who were imposing tyranny, as we all know - put Jefferson and Washington on par with today's Muslims and Arabs who kill gratuitously for religion and power?
ReplyDeleteK
ito AP's point...
DeleteFor the Brits, it wasn't tyranny, it was the "law" they were imposing, right?
Don't lecture on what Jefferson and Washington "would do" on par with todays Muslims... Do you have Muslims troops occupying your country right now? Cause they sure as hell had Brits up close and personal. When Saladin invades Virginia maybe you'll have a point...until such time as that I have NO loyalty nor need to arm and protect neither Jew nor Muslim in the middle east. I've paid my dues int the sandbox, my children will not...
Anon 05:55 - so, since it wasn't tyranny from the Brit perspective, we should all now subscribe to moral relativity?
ReplyDeleteI think not.
And not one person here has said your tax dollars should go to Israel. Selling weapons should be a private sector function - you know, free enterprise.
And you'll note I did no such thing as put TJ & GW on par with Muslims - except in the context offered putting Brit RevWarI soldiers on par with "Good Guys" - which is to say that I dismiss both on the premise.
K
so if selling weapons is a "private sector function", then US companies should be equally free to sell them to Iran, N. Korea, Palestine, right?
DeleteWhere do you draw the line regarding Free Enterprise?
DeleteK
it's a good and valid question. Surely no one will draw the same line, that's for sure. I guess I draw the line at what my tax dollars are paying for.. We arm Israel to the teeth and at the same time we arm her mortal enemies to the same extent. We pay the private sector to develop the latest and greatest then we stand by as they sell that technology to the highest bidder. It makes no sense.
DeleteAs far as the private sector is concerned... Arms merchants know no national loyalty. They are like bankers (and often they are bankers). When US troops are being killed by US weapons systems, I have a problem with that..
We agree that our tax dollars should not be used to defend Israel when alternatives exist.
DeleteWe also agree that many major companies have become larger than national boundaries, and can not be relied upon for national loyalty - so we bump into problems when major companies behave in ways that endanger Americans, and trying to make true Free Enterprise work.
I'm not sure how to reconcile those two issues.
K
Mr. K,
DeleteThe weapons industry in this country IS NOT private. It is supported by American tax dollars not free enterprise or citizen consumers. We give Israel billions of dollars in aid with stipulations they use that "aid" to buy American produced war materials. Look at Egypt....during the recent uprising there did you see pictures of Egyptian troops manning T-72 tanks ? NO ! Instead those troops had American M60 tanks along with US small arms, commo gear, LBE and a myriad of other items courtesy of the US taxpayer and the American military-industrial complex.
Forty percent of ALL foreign aid from this country to other nations is American MILITARY goods procured from the alleged "private" sector.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
Dan: You're right, and that's part of the problem. Our Government is tied far too tightly with the private sector, underwriting way too much "research" and calling too many of the shots.
DeleteK
Mr. K,
DeleteI agree.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
The Brits were putting down an unlawful rebellion and coming to the assistance of the large number of colonists who were loyal to the crown and deserved the crown's protection. They were also putting a small fraction of the costs of protecting the colonies on the colonies - making them pay for their own defense (the Seven Years / French & Indian War wasn't cheap). Did the colonists have a right to military protection without paying for it? - any more than Miz Fluke has a right to fuck without consequences at somebody else's expense?
ReplyDelete(Mind you, once RevWar won they DID pay for their own protection - and paid much more for it than they ever did under the Crown, and the fraction of income going to taxes has increased ever since. But we voted for or against the guys who imposed it! So that makes it all ok, right?)
Also:
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=2429
If anything that man says can be specifically disproved, I would be very interested to see it done. I have not yet seen any case made to that effect.
As for Israel, while I am completely in favor of kicking Islam off the planet, it is not my neighborhood, and not my responsibility, and my tax dollars should on no account have any bearing upon the end results.
Rollory....couldn't agree with you more. Well said.
DeleteDAN III
Pennsylvania
I don't hate Israel. But I don't understand the belief of Americans that it is American responsibility to shed it's blood and remaining treasure on defending Israel. While many of you want to defend Israel I do not. Why do you want your sons, friends, neighbors and strangers to die for Israel (or any of 100 other nations we have as "friends") ?
ReplyDeleteRead your history. Read of the blatant Israeli air attack on the NSA spy ship, USS LIBERTY, in 1968.
Israel is not our friend and they are not our responsibility.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
BTW....I mistakenly named the year 1968 as when USS LIBERTY was attacked. It was in June 1967.
DeletePlease enlighten yourselves on this murderous incident by those many of you call "friend".
This country has no friends. Only interests.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
Dan,
DeleteHaven't you read several of us - including myself - say time and time and time again we don't have to go to war for Iran, just stay the hell out of her way. How could you have missed that?
And the Liberty Incident isn't as black and white as you would like to think. But I am probably wasting bandwidth here. Since you are continuing to push questions that have already been answered, I think you might not really want to listen to what some of us have been saying. That doesn't mean I'm angry with you, just that I'm probably speaking to a mind that will not try to see both sides on this particular issue. We'll have to agree to disagree on this.
RegT....you're correct. Questions have been answered on USS LIBERTY. 34 murdered Americans and more than 170 wounded, the LIBERTY so shot up it went to the scrap heap and the Israelis paid 10s of millions of dollars to the victims in reparations.
DeleteAgain....are you going to send a personal check to the state of Israel to show your support ? Again....are you willing to forsake your comfortable lifestyle and move to Israel and volunteer for the Israeli Defense Forces ? Or are you another American Jew who more proudly wears the Star of David moreso than flying the Stars & Stripes or the Gadsen flag ?
Methinks you are a hypocrite who dismisses Israeli murders of American citizens on the high seas. Further you are not an American Patriot as you would gladly commit American blood and treasure to fight and die for a foreign country that has no bearing on America's well-being.
So....I'll ask you a third time....are you going to send a large, PERSONAL check to the state of Israel to support Israel ? Are you preparing to move to Israel and volunteer your services to the Israeli Defense Forces ? Better yet are you willing to do both of the above ?
If you aren't preparing to stroke a check and/or volunteer for the IDF I would venture to guess you're just another hypocritical, American Jew willing to forsake American blood and treasure for Israel while you yourself are not committed to putting your money and your ass where your mouth is.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
Isn't it time all of you obsessed with Israel, pro and con, start applying your energy and concerns toward defending YOUR nation? Why are we discussing Israel when our Mexican border is a sieve? Americans are being murdered by Mexican invaders and there is little if any discussion about that. Why are you concerned with Israel when your country and federal government has been usurped by an illegal and unconstitutional criminal BARRY HUSSEIN BARACK SOETORO OBAMA? Our citizens are having war waged against us by those in government and you are worried about Israel ?
ReplyDeleteSeems to me all of you have your priorities askew.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
As bad as the border is, and the damage to our nation from the flood of illegals, we will all suffer much worse problems if Iran is allowed to nuke Israel.
DeleteBefore someone here replies "No chance", remember that Ahmadinejad has promised to destroy Israel. Their "religion" (death cult, remember?) talks about the appearance of the Mahdi. Ahmadinejad wants to - and has stated so - to provoke the "Tribulation" in order to speed up the appearance of the Mahdi.
The risk is too great to allow Iran the opportunity of possessing nuclear weapons. They aren't talking about a Cold War, with MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) being the mechanism of keeping the peace. They are talking of the End Times and wiping Israel off the face of the earth.
That is why some of us are fixated on Israel, Dan, and why we assign it a higher priority. Besides, if we simply let Israel do as it wishes instead of interfering, this problem will get solved a whole lot faster than we will solve the problem at our border.
RegT.....I believe you are an American Jew who "worships" at the same temple as the likes of Schumer, Feinstein and Boxer. Benjamin Netanyahu himself declared before Congress that Israel doesn't need American help.
DeleteYou dismiss the trouble on our Mexican border as trivial compared to rhetotic spoken by Iranian leaders.
Again....are you willing to send the government of Israel a large, PERSONAL check and/or move to Israel and join the IDF ? Or are you just another hypocritical coward ready and willing to tell others to do as you say rather than practice what you preach ? I believe you are the latter.
DAN III
Pennsylvania
The broader point to this conversation, which Dan brought us back to, is the premise of helping a guy who needs it.
ReplyDeleteWe rage over helping good people in Israel while our own streets are filled with countless cases of good people being victimized by predators in and out of Government.
Our moral decay has reached critical mass.
K