Massachusetts - Jan.19,2010 - David vs. Goliath

Atlas Shrugs.com


Note: This is the day America speaks out! May it be a day of rejoicing! Let this day be known as Boston's "second" Tea Party and let the cry be heard throughout the land! BeeSting

God Bless Massachusetts

Canada Free Press
By Mike Konkel Monday, January 18, 2010

It Is a Freedom Thing

One can hardly think of Massachusetts without thinking about Kennedy….all of them. When I was growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and was a junior in high school, John Kennedy got assassinated. I was a ward of the county since my 7th or 8th year, dysfunctional family and all, and in November, 1963 I was residing at Perpetual Help Boy’s Home, a place when we weren’t doing homework, we were polishing the linoleum floors with cinder blocks on top of army blanket pieces.

I wrote a poem at that time and sent it in to some writer’s magazine:

He traveled through the town spreading faith and good cheer
remembering what happened doth bring forth a tear,
to the eyes of the old and to the eyes of the young,
over a President, now sung…

A man of valor, of courage and kindness,
who hath fired that shot, hath fired in blindness.

I don’t know if it ever got past the person’s garbage can who opened the envelope but the point is Kennedy was a democrat and back then, they were just all right with me.

Six weeks later, 19 days after my 17th birthday, I was on my way to Marine boot camp and one year and six weeks later I was fighting in Vietnam, the war John Kennedy thought was important to win…important to beat communism.

I went to Vietnam twice, Marines did 13 month tours and mine spanned mid-65 to mid-66 and then a year in language school, back in mid-68 to mid-69 and had friends from that “Dirty Water” state. I spent 9 years total in the Corps and distinctly remember this boot corporal from Boston, when I was between tours and stationed at Camp Elmore (Norfolk, Va)(FMFLant), one in particular used to zoom around in a little TR3 with the radio blaring especially when he cranked up that ‘Dirty Water’ song. We were buds.

I didn’t change much….spent many years really apathetic after we quit Vietnam and I doubt if my fellow Marines from Boston or Texas or wherever, really changed that much. Once the democratic party was a proud party…they had good intentions. I loved John Kennedy and Bobby. I loved Bobby’s passion and maybe I was just young but I knew instinctively that when me, other poor white trash like me along with my bro’s from the hood were the only ones in Vietnam….something was going on.

The democratic party and America are now watching, almost idly, as progressives make a giant raid on our Republic…oh please, let us throw in the elitist republicans like Richard Lugar (I live in Indiana now) who factored hugely in the acceptance of President Ubama’s czardom.

Massachusetts is simply joining the rest of America in awakening to the evils under the dome in DC. And all at once I am proud of the people that produced Bobby and John Kennedy…Patrick, this is a school day, go to bed early tonight. I do hope Martha Coakley doesn’t get anywhere near Kabul, Afghanistan….even though I hear there aren’t any terrorists there anymore….moved to Pakistan and Yemen you know. Hey, Martha, some actually did move to New York City you know.

It is difficult on an individual level or on a corporate level to turn back to true north after making so many damn wrong turn in one’s life, and often not much fun in doing so. But when you don’t know how to get back to where you started, when it looks gummed up left and right…there is always up. Prodigal sons and daughters eventually, look up.

Massachusetts is looking up and looking good. This is not about party, this is about the American Republic and we all know it.

Semper Fi,

Michael R. Konkel
Sg, USMC

Mike Konkel Most recent columns

Mike Konkel, Married, an empty nester, former Marine and Vietnam war veteran. Retired manufacturing manager and I have recently shaken off my political apathy. Mike can be reached at: MikeK369@msn.com

Lawyering up Kirk seat a legal target (Massachusetts Brown)

There is speculation that Sen. Paul Kirk (above) will lose
his vote in the Senate after the special election AP

By POLITICO STAFF | 01/18/10 9:06 AM

POLITICO Pulse reports on the possible legal fallout from Tuesday's special election in Massachusetts:

A victory by Republican Scott Brown tomorrow in Massachusetts could quickly turn into a legal battle over the man he would replace -- with the future of health reform in the Senate hanging in the balance. The Weekly Standard's Fred Barnes is arguing that Sen. Paul Kirk will lose his vote in the Senate after the special election, no matter who wins, signaling a possible GOP line of attack against health reform if it passes with Kirk's vote. GOP elected officials haven't embraced that argument, and two academic election law experts contacted by POLITICO rebutted the notion that Kirk will no longer be a senator after the election.

But it's a sign of the fierce legal and political battles likely to ensue if Brown upsets Democrat Martha Coakley in the race to fill the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. And Kirk would be in the middle of it all. Brown would take over for Kirk, a supporter of reform, and become the 41st vote against the health bill - ending the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority and throwing reform's future into serious doubt. Republicans are worried that if Brown wins, Democrats will try to jam through a Senate health reform vote while Kirk still occupies the seat, in the time between Brown's election and when he is certified the winner. Kirk has pledged to vote for reform for as long as he remains a senator, even if Brown wins.

Dems try to tar Brown as Birther, thinly (Massachusetts election)

The DSCC is making hay this morning of this clip in which Scott Brown, in the process of praising President Obama's mother for deciding to have him at age 18, expresses some doubt -- and chuckles uncomfortably -- over the question of whether his parents were married when he was born.

DSCC spokesman Eric Schultz called the video "appalling" and tried to link Brown to the Birther movement, which denies Obama's citizenship and claims he was born abroad -- things he didn't even hint at in the video.

"Now, we find out that similar to the fringe birthers movement, he’s raised questions about President Barack Obama’s birth. Despite his best attempts to mask who he is, Scott Brown is an extremist who does not represent Massachusetts values, and he owes voters an explanation today on what he meant in this interview," Schultz said.

The claim is a wild stretch. The fact that Obama's mother was young and had to marry on the fly (his mother was pregnant when they were married in Feburary, 1981) is central to his biography, as is his father's absence, and while Brown seems confused on that biographical point, he doesn't suggest in any way that he's aligned with the Birthers. Indeed in a GOP where Birther claims are common on the Hill and on the airwaves, Brown's words are practically a vote of confidence.

UPDATE: Slightly updated with the details of Obama's parents' marriage.

Posted by Ben Smith 10:46 AM