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Dear Reader,

You know I come across stories like this and it steels my resolve to fight and combat these people everywhere and anywhere I see them. You want to heckle The President, that's one thing. But Laura and Jenna didn't run for anything, nor are they setting policy. Laura Bush recently visited my daughter's school. A former teacher, Laura Bush is a huge advocate of education. And here comes some liberal punk who, when told to shut up, punched an 18-year-old with cerebral palsy that adored The First Lady.

I have said this before and I firmly believe it: this is the new face of The Democratic party. This is not a party of hope that Obama claims should lead us the next four years, this is the party of hate. These are same people that stormed an Easter Mass, scaring children and polluting a house of God with their filth because they oppose the Liberation of Iraq; these are the same people that talk about freedom of speech while using "political correctness" to silence real debate; these are the same people that scream about the marginilization of felons when it comes to voting while slashing the tires of Republicans who were going to vote for Bush in 2004; these are the same people that punch young women in wheel chairs.

It's a disturbing trend. There is no debate with these people. It would be nice if Mccain realized this-- in the war of politcs you have to fight fire with fire. Does he represent The Conservative Movement or his friendship with fellow Democrats?

A man heckling First Lady Laura Bush and daughter Jenna outside the 92nd Street Y was arrested after he punched a wheelchair-bound girl whose parents had told him to shut up, authorities said Wednesday. German Talis, 22, was shouting obscenities at the Bushes, who were leaving the building Tuesday, when he crossed paths with Wendy and John Lovetro and their daughter Maureen, 18, who has cerebral palsy. They had been in the audience to hear the Bushes talk about their children's book, "Read All About It." "He began yelling about Iraq and Iran at Jenna Bush. She was waving at the crowd. I told the guy, 'What are you doing? Shut up. This is about a child and books,' " said John Lovetro. "He was unperturbed. I said, 'Get out of here! You're being a moron!' " The next thing he knew, Talis was allegedly punching Maureen, a fan of the first lady since meeting her in 2004.

source: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352498,00.html

Tags: Wevoteright Conservative Bush Heckler

Newt Gingrich

April 22, 2008 Vol. 3, No. 17

Pope Benedict XVI Loves Americans -- and Millions of Americans Love Him

By Newt Gingrich

I witnessed firsthand this week that Pope Benedict loves America and Americans.

The first great moment of connection came at the end of the White House welcoming ceremony when Pope Benedict XVI said simply, "God Bless America."

The people on the White House lawn were electrified by this simple three-word closing.

They had all been shocked in recent weeks to see a different kind of religious figure saying vicious things about America. The stark and compelling contrast had enormous impact -- both for the immediate crowd and for the millions watching on television.

Callista and I were very fortunate to have four opportunities to experience the magnetism and impact of Pope Benedict XVI last week.

The Largest White House Welcome in History We were at the White House welcoming ceremony (there were 13,000 of us, the largest welcome at the White House in history).

Callista sings in the Basilica Choir and was fortunate enough to be part of the Vespers (evening prayers) Wednesday afternoon in an intimate setting in the Crypt Church of the Basilica. As a spouse I got to attend in the upper Church and see the Pope enter and exit and watch both Vespers and his talk to the assembled Cardinals and Bishops.

Then we attended the Mass at Nationals Stadium with 45,000 other enthusiastic participants.

Finally, by grace, we had an opportunity to attend the Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

Callista took some fantastic photos of Benedict, including a shot of him with President Bush. You can view her photo album of the Papal visit here.

Three Big Impressions from the Papal Visit

Three big things hit me from the Papal visit:

First, the Pope seemed to gain energy and strength from the enthusiasm and love of his American audiences. The very strength of the reception became his strength. I am certain he returned to Italy a stronger and more dedicated evangelist for his belief that Christ is Hope.

Second, many -- probably most -- Americans were eager to have a religious leader who appreciated their country, liked them, and clearly wished them well in a positive message of love, salvation, and hope.

Third, my impression of the Pope has grown far beyond the original reports of his intellectual strength and his dedication to rebuilding faith and reason (in contrast to the secular dictatorship of rationality which he had experienced in Nazi Germany and had seen in the Soviet tyranny). The leader we saw was the embodiment of leadership and conviction whose presence made an enormous impact on those who experienced it. The pope is clearly not going to be simply an interim leader between Pope John Paul II and some future younger leader. Pope Benedict XVI is going to be an historic force for the reassertion of faith and reason in the lives of Catholics and people of all faiths.

Fittingly, Benedict XVI's last official words in the U.S. were "God Bless America." After personally experiencing the Pope's visit last week, I can say with confidence that America returns the love.

The Gingrich-Pelosi Climate Change Ad: Why I Took Part

Many of you have written to me to ask why I recently taped an advertisement with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for The Alliance for Climate Protection, a group founded by former Vice President Al Gore.

I completely understand why many of you would have questions about this, so I want to take this opportunity to explain my reasons. First of all, I want to be clear: I don't think that we have conclusive proof of global warming. And I don't think we have conclusive proof that humans are at the center of it.

But here's what we do know. There is an important debate going on right now over the right energy policy, the right environmental policy, and making sure we do the right things for our future and the future of our children and grandchildren. Conservatives are missing from this debate, and I think that's a mistake. When it comes to preserving our environment for future generations, we can't have a slogan of "Just yell no!" I have a different view. I think it's important to be on the stage, to engage in the debate, and to communicate our position clearly. There is a big difference between left-wing environmentalism that wants higher taxes, bigger government., more bureaucracy, more regulation, more red tape, and more litigation and a Green Conservatism that wants to use science, technology, innovation, entrepreneurs, and prizes to find a way to creatively invent the kind of environmental future we all want to live in. Unless we start making the case for the latter, we're going to get the former. That's why I took part in the ad.

Italy Makes It Three: The Right Makes Gains in Europe

Finally, in news studiously ignored by the mainstream media, parliamentary elections in Italy last week routed the Communists and the Greens and marked the third big victory for the Right in Europe after the elections of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The elections were a history-making win for the party of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. For the first time since the end of World War II, no one will represent the Communist Party in the Italian parliament. The Greens were also voted out.

Michael Ledeen, my colleague at the America Enterprise Institute, points out another significant feature of the elections: "Berlusconi is an outspoken, even passionate admirer of George W. Bush and the United States of America. Reminds one of the elections that brought Sarkozy to the Elysee, doesn't it? Best to keep that quiet, or somebody might notice that hatred of America doesn't seem to affect the voters in Italy, France or Germany."

The scale of Berlusconi and the center-right's victory in Italy opens the door to significant reform for the first time in decades. Could real change be coming to Europe?

Your friend,

Newt Gingrich

P.S. -- Another item you likely didn't see in the mainstream media this week was a ruling by three federal judges in New Jersey forbidding the East Brunswick, New Jersey football coach from bowing his head and going down on one knee during voluntary, student-led prayer before games. The East Brunswick Board of Education had charged that the football coach's actions were an unconstitutional endorsement of religion and a violation of their policy against employees engaging in prayer -- even if the coach didn't speak the words of the prayer along with his team. The ruling is being supported and applauded by all the usual suspects engaged in driving religion from all but the narrowest spheres of American life. To fight back, arm yourself with Rediscovering God in America, available as both a book (in your choice of unautographed, autographed, or personalized) and DVD.

Source: http://newt.org/tabid/102/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3345/Default.aspx

Tags: Wevoteright Conservative Newt Gingrich

April 15, 2008 Vol. 3, No. 16 A Visit of Faith and Reason The Real Barack Obama Shows Up in San Francisco & Don't Go to China, Mr. President By Newt Gingrich

Benedict XVI's first visit to America as Pope this week is an exciting and joyous event for the nation's millions of Catholics. But his visit carries a message of hope and reconciliation for all Americans, regardless of faith.

The Pope is both a deeply faithful and a deeply learned man. He has been called "a voice of faith and a voice of reason in our time." Balancing faith and reason can be a difficult task, even for a country like the United States, a nation Pope Benedict loves. One of the reasons the Pope is so fond of America is because we are, unlike Europe, "a nation which values the role of religious belief in ensuring a vibrant and ethically sound democratic order." Benedict's Message: Embrace Both Faith and Reason Pope Benedict teaches us that healthy, free societies must embrace both religious faith and secular reason.

At a time when radical secularists are calling for the abolition of faith and God in the American public square, the Pope's message is an important one to hear.

And at a time when religious extremism threatens the very existence of our civilization, Benedict is able to reach across different religions -- without minimizing their very real differences -- to begin a dialogue. As Thomas Patrick Melady, former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican, has written, "Pope Benedict will bring a message for peace in Iraq and elsewhere, but not one based on "some mostly utopian hope that man's capacity for evil will somehow end, but is instead rooted in a very realistic strategy that there exist nonviolent ways to change people's hearts."

A voice of faith and reason is indeed a voice that is needed in our time. We welcome Pope Benedict to America and wish him well in his travels. The Real Obama Shows Up In San Francisco

If you go to the most expensive private school in Hawaii and then move on to Colombia University and Harvard Law School, you may not understand normal Americans -- that's the impression created by Senator Barack Obama's recent comments.

For Obama, it seems, the beliefs of normal Americans are so alien to his leftwing viewpoint that he has to seek some psychological explanation for what he thinks are weird ideas. They can't really believe in the right to bear arms. They can't really believe in traditional marriage. They can't really believe in their faith in God. They can't really want to enforce the law on immigration. And because ordinary Americans can't really believe these things, they must just be bitter and frustrated.

This is the closest Senator Obama has come to openly sharing his wife's view that "America is a mean country." Not since 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Mike Dukakis have we seen anyone so out of touch with normal Americans. It makes perfect sense that it was at a fundraiser in San Francisco that he would have shared the views he has so carefully kept hidden for the entire campaign. Are We Headed for a Democratic Foreign Policy Re-Run? One thing Senator Obama hasn't kept hidden from Americans is his willingness to meet -- without preconditions -- with some of the world's most dangerous tyrants.

Now along comes former President Jimmy Carter's planned meeting this week with the terrorist organization Hamas in Syria.

It's enough to raise the question: Are we headed for a season of Democratic foreign policy re-runs? Would a future Obama Administration replicate the Carter Administration's foreign policy of weakness? Dems Should Disinvite Carter to Convention, Strip Him of Super-Delegate Status

President Carter isn't just an ordinary American citizen. As a former president, his actions have consequences for the United States abroad. To show that he does not share President Carter's leftwing world view that regards the United States as a force for evil in the world, Senator Obama needs to do more than say, as he has, that he won't meet with Hamas because it does not recognize Israel's right to exist.

That excuse doesn't wash. The Iranian dictator, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom Obama has said he would meet with as president, not only doesn't recognize Israel's right to exist, he has called for wiping Israel off the face of the planet.

Senator Obama and the Democratic Party must do more to show Americans that they don't share the Carter foreign policy of weakness.

If President Carter goes to Damascus and meets with Hamas, he should be stripped of his super-delegate status and be disinvited from the Democratic National Convention this summer.

A time when America faces an existential threat from the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam is not a time for confusion in our foreign policy. Democrats should make it clear they don't share Jimmy Carter's view of the world -- and America's role in it. Don't Go to Beijing Mr. President

And speaking of foreign policy confusion, in the ongoing debate over whether President Bush should attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer, my advice is this: Don't go, Mr. President. No sitting president has ever attended an Olympics held on foreign soil, and now is not the time to set a new precedent. There is no reason the United States should give the Chinese a gigantic propaganda victory, which is what a presidential visit would be.

By attending, the President will be saying, in essence, that the Chinese can kill Tibetans, slaughter monks, support repressive regimes, repress their own people and lie to the world and America will still show up and honor them.

Don't honor them Mr. President. Let the athletes go. You should stay home. Alexander Leads on Real Change in Tax Policy in the Senate

Recall that a few weeks ago I reported to you Congressman Michael Burgess' leadership in the House in introducing an optional flat tax bill (HR 1040) that would save time and money for all Americans. Yesterday -- mere hours before our taxes were due in the mail - Senator Lamar Alexander announced he will introduce a similar bill in the Senate.

With so much of the conversation on the health of our economy amongst the political, new-media elite focusing on short-term fixes, it is encouraging to know that leaders like Congressman Burgess and Senator Alexander are advancing long-term solutions that will keep America prosperous for generations to come.

Counting Americans in the World that Fails? $14 Billion

The final item I want to talk to you about today could have been taken directly from the pages of my new book, Real Change. It is a perfect illustration of the incompetence and horrific taxpayer expense of government in the world that fails.

Last week, the Department of Commerce announced that it is scrapping its $1.3 billion effort to modernize the 2010 census using new technology. Instead, it will be returning to counting Americans the old-fashioned way: by hiring an additional 600,000 temporary employees to walk door-to-door. In this world that fails, American taxpayers will be forced to make up the cost of bureaucratic incompetence, estimated to be between $13-15 billion, or about $89 per household.

A 21st Century Census in the World That Works? Priceless

A better, cheaper and more efficient way to count Americans in 2010 would draw on expert systems used by companies like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Google, AOL, Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon to get the job done.

Silicon Valley entrepreneur and current California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has noted that MySpace now has over 200 million active users. If MySpace were a country, it would be the 5th largest in the world. There were more text messages sent yesterday than there are people on the planet.

And for those Americans without computer access, companies like WalMart, Costco, Target, and even UPS and Fedex could assist in counting. I've said it before and I'll say it again: There is a world that works. It's not a theory, it's all around us. Whether it's counting Americans or securing our borders, we need to rely on the entrepreneurial, high-tech spirit of the American economy, not outdated, expensive bureaucratic programs.

I have a feeling most of you agree. Now all we have to do is spread the word. Now all we have to do is make it happen, and it begins at the Solutions Lab at AmericanSolutions.com.

Your friend,

Newt Gingrich P.S. -- Whatever Happened to the Separation of Madrassa and State? If you haven't yet seen it, check out this article about a publicly financed charter school in Minnesota that should have the usual radical secularists filing lawsuits but hasn't - because it's not promoting Christianity, it's promoting Islam. P.P.S. -- Ambulance Chasing Goes High Tech: A new website that allows people to file and search for reasons to sue companies online is a one-stop shopping venue for trial lawyers. By just going to sueeasy.com, trial lawyers can collect clients for individual and class action lawsuits and reap millions of dollars, all while adding to the cost of living and working for the rest of us. If this isn't an incentive for fundamental tort reform, I don't know what is.

P.P.P.S. -- My latest novel, Pearl Harbor, is now out in paperback.

Source: http://newt.org/tabid/102/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3330/A-Visit-of-Faith-and-R eason.aspx

Tags: Wevoteright Conservative Newt Gingrich

Five Years After the Fall of Baghdad: Honoring the Sacrifice of Michael Monsoor
By Newt Gingrich

As we listen to General Petraeus' testimony to Congress this week and mark, on Wednesday, the fifth anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, we should keep in mind the number of young Americans who have sacrificed their lives for America. Any judgment we make about where we are and what we must do in Iraq must be conditioned by the courage and commitment of those who have volunteered to protect us.

Consider Mike Monsoor as just one example of those who believe in the cause of freedom and believe in protecting America. He Yelled "Grenade!" but It Was Too Late

On the morning of September 29, 2006, Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike Monsoor was on duty with three fellow Navy SEALs on a rooftop in Ramadi. Monsoor was 25 years old and already serving his country with more courage and more impact than most of us do in our lifetimes.

The SEALs' job was to protect the coalition troops clearing the streets below their rooftop position. When they came under automatic weapon and rocket-propelled grenade fire, Monsoor and his fellow soldiers stood their posts. Suddenly, an insurgent lobbed a grenade up onto the roof. It hit Monsoor in the chest and bounced onto the floor. He yelled, "Grenade!" but it was too late to escape the rooftop. So Monsoor threw his body on the grenade and absorbed the blast. His three fellow SEALs survived. Michael Monsoor died thirty minutes later.

Wednesday Marks the Fifth Anniversary of the Fall of Baghdad For his bravery and sacrifice -- fully comprehensible only to brothers in arms -- today Petty Officer 2nd Class Monsoor is posthumously being awarded the nation's highest honor, the Medal of Honor.

It is fitting that this reminder of our permanent debt to young men and women like Mike Monsoor comes today. In addition to General Petraeus' testimony this week, tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's brutal tyranny.

In these five years of conflict, only three other Americans have been awarded the Medal of Honor for service: two in Iraq, and one in Afghanistan. Together with the thousands -- indeed millions -- of acts of honor, courage, and sacrifice of our other service men and women, they are the true story of this war. And keeping faith with them by completing our mission in Iraq is the great challenge we face.

The Iraq War Is a Battle in the Larger War against the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam

So where are we today, five years after we watched cheering crowds topple the statue of Saddam Hussein in central Baghdad?

As I warned in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute last fall, Iraq is just one battle in the global war against Islamic extremists. And the debate over success or failure in Iraq is crowding out a larger examination of what it will take for America to prevail in this real war. The United States is in a long struggle with a vicious, determined enemy in the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam. This Irreconcilable Wing, what some have called Islamic Fascism, is a small minority of Muslims -- 8 percent by one estimate. Still, this means a jihadist recruiting pool of over 100,000,000 people. This is a determined, hardened movement willing to kill innocent civilians -- including women and children -- and to engage in deliberately horrifying and brutal acts in order to impose its will through terrorism.

An American Faction That Would Prefer Defeat to Continued Struggle Afghanistan and Iraq are two of the great battlefields of this struggle between freedom and modernity on the one side and terrorism and religious dictatorship on the other. Neither battle has been won. Both are still contests in which violent radicals seek to defeat America and her allies. Here at home there is a faction that would prefer defeat to continued struggle.

This is nothing new.

There were a number of Americans who tired of the Revolutionary War and were prepared to surrender to the British Empire and resume their role as colonists. They thought freedom was simply too expensive.

"We Here Highly Resolve That These Dead Shall Not Have Died In Vain" There were a number of people who tired of "Lincoln's War" and were prepared to dissolve the Union and allow the South to secede. They were the people Lincoln was rejecting in his Gettysburg Address (which I have attached below as a reminder of how Americans honor those who have given the fullest sacrifice so they will not have died in vain).

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives, that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

There were many Americans who believe the slogan "better red than dead." From Henry Wallace's 1948 Progressive Party campaign to the very end of the Cold War there were people prepared to give away American security and freedom to appease the Soviet Union.

In that tradition the North Vietnamese had no better allies than the American Left and the demonstrations against the American effort to defeat communism in Southeast Asia.

Careers Invested in Bad News about America and Bad News about the War

Now once again we have those who are tired of the fight, afraid of the costs, and eager to appease our enemies.

As you listen to General Petraeus' testimony tomorrow, remember that he is testifying to a Congress in which a significant number of people will actually be saddened if America wins. All too many Congressmen and Senators (and sadly too many editorial writers) have invested their careers in bad news about America and bad news about the war. They will be opposed to reports of progress and they will be opposed to any suggestion that, with determination, America can win.

Success Is Being Achieved in Iraq, and Victory is Possible

Despite the determined negativity of those who are invested in defeat in Iraq, the news from there is good.

As Senators Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pointed out yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, General Petraeus will testify in Washington this week "having led one of the most remarkably successful military operations in American history. His antiwar critics, meanwhile, face a crisis of credibility -- having confidently predicted the failure of the surge, and been proven decidedly wrong."

And my colleague at the American Enterprise Institute, Frederick Kagan, has a new report out that states confidently in its opening sentences: The United States now has the opportunity to achieve its fundamental objectives in Iraq through the establishment of a peaceful, stable, secular, democratic state and a reliable ally in the struggle against both Sunni and Shiite terrorism. Such an accomplishment would allow the United States to begin to reorient its position in the Middle East from one that relies on antidemocratic states like Egypt and Saudi Arabia to one based on a strong democratic partner whose citizens have explicitly rejected al Qaeda and terrorism in general.

A Dark Cloud on the Horizon: The Continuing Threat of the Iranian Dictatorship

Despite the progress being made in Iraq, Iran remains a major source of violence, terrorism, and instability.

Speaking to reporters last week, Major General Rick Lynch, a U.S. Commander in Baghdad, described facing three enemies in Iraq: Sunni extremists, Shia extremists and Iranian influence.

Here's what Lynch told reporters:

Last night I attended a memorial service for one of my soldiers; he was killed by an explosively-formed penetrator. Tonight I will do the same thing. These Iranian munitions, placed in the hands of the Shi'a extremists, are causing devastating affects on Iraqi security forces, on the coalition forces, and your innocent Iraqi people. And that just has to stop.

As you watch General Petraeus testify, note the details that are coming out about Iranian involvement in Iraq. And remember that Iran is a danger, not just to our troops in Iraq, but to our way of life. Here's how I put it in my AEI speech: "As long as the current dictatorship runs Iran and works every day to create nuclear weapons and to sustain terrorists groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the professional state-sponsored terrorists of the Iranian Guard units, our civilization will not be safe."

Honor Those Who Have Sacrificed by Insisting on Victory

We will hear a lot of information and disinformation this week about America's effort in Iraq and in the war against the Irreconcilable Wing of Islam.

Despite the demonstrable progress that has been made, we will hear more voices urging us to leave Iraq in defeat.

But here are the facts to remember:

The United States is engaged in the right fight in the right countries. We are gradually winning those fights, but the road will be long and difficult.

Now is the time for Americans to insist that we honor the memory of those who have sacrificed for America -- men and women like Petty Officer 2nd Class Mike Monsoor and his family -- by insisting on victory for the cause of freedom.

Your friend,

Newt Gingrich

P.S. -- If you haven't already seen this outrageous ad showing the American southwest as part of Mexico, I'm reprinting it here. Although the ad is only currently running in Mexico, as the LA Times blog notes, it seems almost "absolute" that it will hurt sales here north of the border.

Source:
http://newt.org/tabid/102/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3308/Default.aspx

Tags: We Vote Right Conservative Newt Gingrich

I came across this and it made me laugh. I must admit I have bit of a Francophobe streak in me and I pity The French for being so downright stupid on almost all international issues besides being a bunch of cowards. However, they did elect Sarkozy so there might be a small glimmer of hope left.....a very, very small glimmer.

Sitting together on a train, traveling through the Swiss Alps, are a French guy an American guy, an old Greek lady and a young blonde Swiss girl.

The train goes into a dark tunnel and a few seconds later there is the sound of a loud slap. When the train emerges from the tunnel, the Frenchman has a bright red hand print on his cheek. No one speaks.

The old lady thinks: The Frenchman must have groped the blonde in the dark, and she slapped his cheek.

The blonde thinks: That Frenchman must have tried to grope me in the dark, but missed and fondled the old lady and she slapped his cheek.

The Frenchman thinks: The American must have groped the blonde in the dark. She tried to slap him but missed and got me instead.

The American thinks: I can't wait for another tunnel, so I can smack that Frenchman again.

Tags: Wevoteright Conservative French

April 1, 2008
Vol. 3, No. 14

Confronting Bad Culture and Bad Government: The Key to a Healthier, Safer, and More Prosperous America By Newt Gingrich

There is one critical topic for the 2008 campaign that is so far outside the elite mainstream that it probably will not be mentioned: This key issue for America is how bad culture reinforced by bad government is crippling America and trapping the poor in disastrous situations. To his credit, Senator Barack Obama began this conversation in his speech in Philadelphia, but this critical conversation is a long way from being finished. The coming months will test whether we can have an honest, direct dialogue about the disastrous cultural patterns and destructive government policies of the last 40 years.

Replacing bad culture and bad government with good culture and good government is the most important single challenge we face here at home.

The Need to Go from Preaching to Meddling

This is a decisive moment. Unquestionably, confronting bad culture and bad government will be threatening to most of our elites, our bureaucracies, our lobbyists, our political consultants, and our news media. Every effort will be made to avoid the challenge.

There is an old saying that someone has "gone from preaching to meddling." If we insist on a serious, candid discussion about bad culture and bad government, we will clearly have gone to meddling -- and our elites will resist.

Yet this topic is the key to creating a better future for all Americans and solving our major domestic problems.

Senator Obama Was Simply Wrong to Emphasize Racism in His Speech

Last Thursday at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) I gave an initial response to Senator Obama's Philadelphia speech on racism.

For an hour, I emphasized that the key problem of poverty in America is a function of bad culture and bad government.

My point was that Senator Obama was simply wrong in his emphasis on racism. In case after case it is clear that the number-one threat to poor people is not racism. Instead, the poor are trapped by bad culture and bad government.

Yelling racism is an attempt by the elites on the left to hide from this reality. After all, the bad culture and bad government trapping the poor are in large part a product of the efforts made by those elites and their allies.

The more I talk with people about the sorry state of our current dialogue, the clearer it is to me that both sides are missing this crucial point. This failure to confront reality has brought us to a decisive turning point in American history.

Senator Obama has opened the door for a fundamental conversation about why there are poor people in America and what we need to do about it. It is incumbent on us to have the courage to engage in that conversation without fear and without flinching.

It's Time for Right and Left to Follow the Lead of Bill Cosby

The Left is determined to blame all the current problems on President Bush and pass a series of programs that will actually make those problems worse. But since the Left -- with its academic, Hollywood, trial lawyer, bureaucracy, and union factions -- is the cause of much of the bad culture and most of the bad government, it can hardly be expected to voluntarily start a dialogue about repudiating its own cultural values and reforming its own bureaucratic allies.

Sadly, however, the Right has been too shallow and too focused on raising money and developing clever tactics to engage in the level of fundamental conversation America needs.

Bill Cosby has been a lonely voice advocating a serious look at the fundamental patterns and the cultural crisis that underlie many of our most serious problems.

It's time the rest of us reinforced Bill Cosby and followed his lead. The Founding Fathers Knew: Good Government Requires Good Culture

One of the amazing things about the generation that founded America was that they knew we as a people would eventually drift into a crisis of bad culture and bad government. And they had no doubt which came first. They knew that bad culture leads to bad government -- and good government requires good culture.

Consider just a few quotes from our Founders:

"...there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained..." -- President George Washington's First Inaugural Address

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports." -- George Washington's Farewell Address

"Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." -- John Adams

"Religion and good morals are the only solid foundation of public liberty and happiness." -- Samuel Adams

"Reading, reflection, and time have convinced me that the interests of society require the observation of those moral precepts ... in which all religions agree." -- Thomas Jefferson

"Religion is the only solid Base of morals and Morals are the only possible support of free governments" -- Gouverneur Morris

"The only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments." -- Benjamin Rush

American Government and Culture Took a Wrong Turn in the 1960s

How did America go from Benjamin Rush's call for religion as the only foundation for a useful education to the amoral, do-your-own-thing, militantly secular culture and bureaucracy we have today?

America took a wrong turn in the 1960s, both in culture and in government. The counterculture and the militant Left repudiated middle class values and assaulted the core patterns which had worked for 200 years, creating the most prosperous country in the world.

But we didn't stop there. Big bureaucracies were created at the federal, state, and local levels; and they have been decaying in efficiency and effectiveness ever since.

The result is that we now have red-tape-ridden governments that reinforce the wrong values and undermine the still healthy parts of the culture. The Result? Bad government and bad culture reinforce each other. Bad culture preaches vice over virtue, getting something for nothing over hard work, and immediate gratification over saving and planning. Bad government then rewards all these destructive habits, fostering even more bad culture.

This pattern has created an America in which:

A 13-year-old is arrested as a "Madame" in Dallas.

One out of every four teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease (including over 50% of African American teenage girls).

One out of every five eighth graders has tried an illegal drug.

We have a horrendous high school drop-out rate that will ultimately doom America in economic competition with China and India.

Atheists seek to use the courts to erase every element of God from public life.

Celebrities routinely make headlines for drug and alcohol addiction and other self-destructive behavior.

African American males who drop out of high school face a 73% unemployment rate in their 20s and a 60% chance of going to jail in their 30s. We have the largest prison population in the world: One out of every 100 Americans is in prison.

A subprime mortgage crisis exists because greed, short-sightedness, and self-deception convinced both very sophisticated financiers and very unsophisticated home buyers to enter into commitments which were historically guaranteed to create a disaster. Now the nation is being asked to bail both groups out.

These Are Not the Patterns of a Society Prepared to Maintain Its Freedom and Prosperity

These are not the patterns of a healthy, wise society prepared to maintain its prosperity and sustain its freedom.

These are the patterns of a self-destructive, juvenile society that is putting everything at risk by ignoring the lessons of history. I wrote Rediscovering God in America, Winning the Future, and Real Change to begin laying out the fundamental changes America needs if we are to remain the most successful country in history (and more recently, Callista and I produced the DVD version of Rediscovering God in America for the same reason).

We founded American Solutions and created the first draft of the Platform of the American People to begin a positive dialogue about the solutions and the policies that will bring us together as Americans. Our goal is to create a red, white, and blue dialogue of unity to replace the red-versus-blue screaming match of partisanship that has blocked real change in our federal and state capitols and in our city halls and county commissions.

Americans Are Ready to Talk about Bad Culture and Bad Government

Having watched the banal and trivializing presidential campaign for the last year, the speech by Senator Obama in Philadelphia struck me as the right invitation to begin a real dialogue about what is wrong in America and what needs to be done to put America back on the right track.

The initial reaction to my speech at AEI has been very encouraging. C-SPAN got such a strong reaction from broadcasting it live last Thursday that they ran it four more times in the next 24 hours. Since then they have continued to run it.

The emails and phone calls we have received have been very encouraging. There are a lot of Americans who are prepared to begin a fact-filled dialogue about bad culture and bad government.

Over the Next Few Months I Will Have More to Say

There are even more Americans prepared to begin a dialogue about real change in every aspect of society and government that is currently failing. Over the next few months I will deliver a series of speeches expanding on the need to confront bad culture and bad government and replace them with good culture and good government. Watching the success of John Adams on HBO, I am convinced there are a lot of Americans eager to talk about the lessons of history and the permanent principles on which a healthy society and government (and therefore a healthy country) can be renewed.

Hopefully we can challenge the platform committees of both parties in August to consider bold new platform proposals that tackle the challenge of bad culture and bad government.

If you have ideas of your own about proposals and policies that could improve America, please share them with me at Newt@AmericanSolutions.com. I look forward to your ideas and suggestions. I will report more in the coming weeks.

Your friend,

Newt Gingrich

P.S. -- The Race to the Endless Frontier: Last September, during Solutions Day, my friend and former House colleague Bob Walker presented a workshop on fundamentally changing our space policy. Future national greatness depends on leading the world in the creation of new knowledge, and nowhere is the potential for new knowledge development more evident than in the endless frontier of outer space. We are pleased to follow up on that workshop with a fascinating interview that American Solutions recently conducted with the people in charge at Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic is the first company that will offer space tourism. If you want to learn more about space tourism and how it will happen -- along with the political hurdles and a discussion of "X Prizes", I encourage you to listen to the interview by clicking here: http://www.americansolutions.com/SolutionTV/AudioPlayer.aspx?GUID=881ad09a-a00e-424f-afaa-161e9d0ebf7f

Source: http://newt.org/tabid/102/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3293/Default.aspx

Tags: We Vote Right Conservative Newt Gingrich

Dear Reader,

Normally, I post this kind of thing on the bulletin boards to keep people updated on current events. However, this is so outrageous I decided to put it front and center. This is what we're up against--liberal loons storming Church service on Easter morning and making a disgraceful scene and scaring small children so they can draw some attention to themselves.

This might not be all Democrats but these are the type of people that are more and more becoming the face of that party. The moveon.org crowd, the we-hate-free-speech so let's throw a pie on a Conservative crowd. These are the same people that destroy private property and burn down housing developments; these are the same people who hate our military and despise this country. They are becoming more and more radical.

This is why as time goes on I become more and more entrenched in my political positions. This isn't dialogue anymore, it's open war. Conservatives need to wake up and take a good look at what we're up against: lunatics that scare children on a sacred holiday to score a few political points for their ignomonious movement. This is a fight for the hearts and minds of a nation, and to lose this fight means to lose many of the freedoms and a way of life we take for granted.

Sincerely,
Ivoteright

Chicago Police Arrest Six Iraq War Protesters for Squirting Fake Blood on Easter Churchgoers Monday, March 24, 2008

CHICAGO — Six Iraq war protesters disrupted an Easter Mass on Sunday, shouting and squirting fake blood on themselves and parishioners in a packed auditorium.

Three men and three women startled the crowd during Cardinal Francis George's homily, yelling "Even the Pope calls for peace" as they were removed from the Mass by security guards and ushers.

One Mass attendee, Mike Wainscott of Chicago, yelled at the anti-war protesters.

"Are you happy with yourselves?" he said. "There were kids in there. You scared little kids with your selfish act. Are you happy now?"

The group, which calls itself Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War, said in a statement after the arrests that they targeted the Holy Name Cathedral on Easter to reach a large audience, including Chicago's most prominent Catholic citizens and the press, which usually covers the services.

Kevin Clark of International Solidarity Movement told the Chicago Tribune that he attended the Mass to serve as a witness for the protesters.

"If Cardinal George is a man of peace and is walking the walk and talking the talk, he should have confronted George Bush and demanded an immediate end to the war," Clark said.

Speaking after the service, George said, "We should all work for peace, but not by interrupting the worship of God."

Police charged each of the six protesters with one count of felony criminal damage to property and two counts each of misdemeanor simple battery.

The six were scheduled to appear in bond court on Monday to face the felony charge, police said. They have court date set for March 31 on the misdemeanors.

Source:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,340794,00.html

Tags: Wevoteright Anti War Protestors Easter

Transcript of Bill O'Reilly's Interview with the former Speaker Fox News: The O’Reilly Factor March 17, 2008

Now for the top story tonight. Should the Republicans seize the moment and gin up Wright controversy? Joining us from Washington, FOX News analyst Newt Gingrich, author of the big bestseller "Real Change."

OK, so Senator McCain is in Iraq. And the Republicans have been fairly quiet on this. Hillary Clinton certainly not saying anything. And I guess the strategy on both the Republican party and the Clinton campaign is just to see how badly this damages Obama without getting in. Correct?

NEWT GINGRICH, FMR. SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Well, I think there's a different set of problems. I think Senator Clinton can't very aggressively go after left wing anti-Americanism, because there are too many people in her own party who share it. I mean, if you look at what Senator Durbin of Illinois said a year ago, comparing the United States to Hitler's Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union, and Pol Pots Cambodia. Don't underestimate how far -- how many people there are in the Democratic party's left wing, who secretly share and agree with Reverend Wright, but wouldn't say it as vividly and as enthusiastically but they say it.

And they say it and they say it regularly. Susan Sarandon said the United States has raped every part of the globe. I mean, these kind of comments are not, you know, uncommon on the hard-line anti-American hard left that has probably 10 or 15 percent of this country.

So I think in that sense, Reverend Wright is a problem for the entire Democratic party. But he's a bigger problem for Senator Obama because he raises, I think, two fundamental questions that go at the heart of who Senator Obama is.

The first is a question of judgment. How could you have heard these kind of things, read these kind of things, seen these kind of things over a 20-year period and not noticed them until they made FOX News? And I think that there's a disingenuousness about Senator Obama's answers.

But the second, I think, goes to the very core of his entire candidacy. I don't think he's being candid. I think that he is giving political answers. The fact is he had to have known a great deal of this. And he actually thought it was fine or irrelevant or unremarkable.

O'REILLY: But wait, let me stop you. Why would you say he thought it was fine? Why couldn't a man have a personal relationship? Say Wright and we don't know Wright and here's something interesting. We're trying to track him. We think he's in Africa. They got him out of the country. That -- you know, that's where we think he is. But say Wright is a very nice guy, an emotionally supportive guy. And this persona that he puts out in his church is nothing like he is in private. Say that's a fact. I don't know if it is, but could be.

GINGRICH: (INAUDIBLE).

O'REILLY: And Obama is going to say, listen, this guy has helped me. And he's brought me closer to Jesus. And he's a real good guy. It's just that this part of him, and we all know people like that, there's a part of them they don't like is wrong. So, you know, could he -- could that be a rational explanation?

GINGRICH: Look, I think if you're talking about a private friendship between two people, one of whom happens to have fairly nutty ideas, that's fine. But Reverend Wright wasn't a private person. Reverend Wright was in the pulpit regularly. He went with Louis Farrakhan to visit Gadhafi in Libya publicly, reported on it, wrote about it. They have a newsletter that they print at their church that's pretty explicit.

So you're talking about what is the weekly pattern of language? And I think to say that this is a caricature of him, I mean, we're not taking one sermon one time for three minutes. If you look at the various and sundry quotes and the various things people are watching on television, this is a pretty consistent, authentic left wing hate America diatribe that is factually false and very vicious. To suggest that the United States government invented AIDS to kill black and other people of color, which is explicit quote to suggest that the United States is engaged in terrorism in South Africa when in fact it was American policy which ended apartheid and American policy which helped the transition to the new government in South America. When you go through the statements, they're not just bad. They're not just divisive. They are factually false and they are viciously anti-American.

O'REILLY: OK.

GINGRICH: And I think that makes a difference.

O'REILLY: Now does -- should the Republican party seize on this at any time during this campaign and make it even more of an issue? The polls show 66 percent of Americans have heard about this story. 34 percent don't know anything about it. So if you were advising John McCain, would you say hey, here's something you can drive home?

GINGRICH: Look, I think it's fair for the Republican party to say that if somebody tells you they have the judgment to be commander and chief, and they tell you the judgment to be president, and for 20 years they haven't noticed this level of anti-Americanism in their own church, you have to ask what kind of judgment they have. And I think in that sense, this is a legitimate campaign question about Senator Obama's judgment.

O'REILLY: All right. Newt Gingrich, the book is "Real Change." Big bestseller. And we appreciate it, Mr. Speaker.

Source: http://newt.org/tabid/102/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/3258/Default.aspx

Tags: We Vote Right Conservative Newt Gingrich

I came across this and thought it was neat. I had no hand in creating this and I'm just passing it along.

A True Redneck - this isn't your typical redneck joke. Please Read.

We have enjoyed the redneck jokes for years. It's time to take a reflective look at the core beliefs of a culture that values home, family, country and God. If I had to stand before a dozen terrorists who threaten my life, I'd choose a half dozen or so rednecks to back me up. Tire irons, squirrel guns and grit -- that's what rednecks are made of. I hope I a m one of those. If you feel the same, pass this on to your redneck friends. Ya'll know who ya' are.

You might be a redneck if: It never occurred to you to be offended by the phrase, 'One nation, under God.'

You might be a redneck if: You've never protested about seeing the 10 Commandments posted in public places.

You might be a redneck if: You still say ' Christmas' instead of 'Winter Festival.'

You might be a redneck if: You bow your head when someone prays.

You might be a redneck if: You stand and place your hand over your heart when they play the National Anthem.

You might be a redneck if: You treat our armed forces veterans with great respect, and always have.

You might be a redneck if: You've never burned an American flag, nor intend to.

You might be a redneck if: You know what you believe and you aren't afraid to say so, no matter who is listening.

You might be a redneck if: You respect your elders and raised your kids to do the same.

You might be a redneck if: You'd give your last dollar to a friend.

If you got this email from me, it is because I believe that you, like me, have just enough Red Neck in you to have the same beliefs as those talked about in this email.

God Bless the USA !

Tags: Wevoteright Redneck Conservative Country

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