About Ercille I. Christmas Ercille I. Christmas was born in the tiny Caribbean island
of St. Kitts, the “Gibraltar of the Caribbean." She is thrilled to be an
American citizen, living in “the land of the free and the home of the
brave." Formerly a supervisor in the insurance industry, her life changed on
September 11, 2001, and she has devoted every minute since then, to speaking
and writing about the threat that Islamic terrorism and internal
anti-American behavior pose to our country. Her book, “Thoughts
of a Proud American," can be bought on Amazon.com, and she also blogs at
www.Ercillesworld.com
and
www.Ercillesuniverse.com.
Ah, the fourth day of July, 2009. Bring on the barbecues. Uncork
the champagne. Rev up the RV. Party like it is 1776!
Stop! Before we party hardy, I would like us to take a few minutes
to examine the state of our nation. I truly hate to break into the
revelry with sobering thoughts about the dismantling of the country
created by the first “revelers” of 1776, but as a loving citizen, I
must. Call it tough love. Back then, those first soon-to-citizens had
real and lethal fireworks with which to contend, with all of those
mortar shells flying through the air from the British Army. But they
persevered, and here we are two hundred and thirty three years later,
not sure whether to uncork the champagne or leave it on ice.
Mixed in with the confetti, I am seeing our freedoms fluttering
through the air, being snipped with a gargantuan pair of scissors called
“change.” “Change” has come in the form of the government taking over a
presumably private company, thrusting the government into the car making
business. With the takeover of Government, er General Motors, does that
mean that the US is joining China in the hybrid business, hybrid as in a
mix of capitalism and communism?
Speaking of China, maybe as part of this program of “change,” we
had all better start practicing Mandarin. China just about owns the U.S.
Just ask those Chinese students who had a good chuckle at the U.S.
secretary of the Treasury when he was on his “hat in hand” tour of
China. I was mortified that a representative of the U.S. government was
eliciting laughs as he was expounding about the serious business of
finance, trying to engender trust in the current methods of “curing” the
financial disease the world is experiencing. Those students were highly
amused by the “your money is safe” rhetoric.
We have arrived at a state of the union where even some students
not yet out in the real world of finance realize that a country cannot
survive by continuing to print money, sell toxic assets to itself, and
borrow and borrow and borrow from a country whose economy was put on
steroids by U.S businessmen and women looking to exploit cheap labor.
Those students were probably thinking about which parts of U.S. industry
they would take over as their country takes over more and more of US
assets.
The last laugh may be on those US businessmen and women who began
turning capitalism into cannibalism by feeding on the financial flesh of
their victims, AKA fellow citizens. The hosts, fellow citizens, have
been gnawed down to the financial bone, and cannot afford much of what
is being offered, not even the cheap Chinese goods. According to an
Economic Policy Institute study, 2.3 million jobs were lost to China
over the past seven years. I am not going to call for a boycott of
Chinese-made/manufactured goods. As a matter of fact, I am with the
Chinese. If, as a country, you have businessmen of foreign countries
knocking on your borders to let them in to exploit, er offer work to
your willing workers, it would be foolish to ‘just say no.” When
opportunity knocks, open the factories and let opportunity in! Import US
dollars in. Let them out for purchasing U.S. “securities,” and own more
and more of the “land of the free and home of the brave.” Xie xie (thank
you)!
“Land and assets for sale or for stealing” should be more on the
radar than is the case. Foreign ownership of American landmarks,
industry, tolling booths, is at an all time high. On this day of
“independence,” the American people are now more dependent on their
government than in any time of their history. The role of government has
been expanded from fixing potholes and maintaining security to taking
over car companies, much of the financial industry, and firing Inspector
Generals.
The bailout bonanza was supposed to yield thousands upon thousands
of jobs. A ratio of a little over one hundred thousand jobs “saved or
created,” to somewhere around two million “stimulated” right out of the
companies that received bailout money, is more deadly than Russian
roulette. Math is not my strong suit, but even I know that millions of
folks forced out of work is not going to translate into dollars spent to
revive the economy. That “unholy alliance” of jobs outsourcing, “illegal
immigrants in-sourcing,” and the slow march to a society of rich and
poor, without a middle, is going to lead to a country collapsing on
itself. Are we there yet? Almost.
Enough of this doom and gloom! Let’s return to the July 4th
parties, now that we have the serious stuff out of the way! This is such
a festive time that the new president has sent out invitations!
Hold everything! What is this I am reading, that Iran got an invite
to July 4th parties to be held by U.S. embassies around the
world? Why Iran? Didn’t the president of Iran “advise” America to limit
its interference to its own borders? What part of that is not
sufficiently clear? Are the overtures by the U.S president part of a
wider masochistic foreign policy? Is it “kick me some more, because I
still have one good leg left to stand on?” Geez!
Maybe someone will need to rethink this invite. There are plenty of
fireworks enough going on in Iran. In a “democratic and fair” election,
the president of Iran was declared the “winner” about two minutes after
the polls closed. Now the police are enthusiastically maintaining law
and order. So far, about two dozen Iranians, and probably counting, have
been “eliminated.” A US State Dept spokesman has declared that the US
needs to know more before condemning the actions in Iran. I guess the
escalating deaths do not merit condemnation.
Hold the presses! The policy of not “meddling” has been stepped up
an inch. The Iranian regime was “advised” to let its people freely
protest. This latest admonition has fallen on deaf ears. The regime and
its enforcers are clamping down even more repressively. The posturing
that has moved from “no meddling” to “condemnation” of the crackdown on
the protestors in Iran, is turning out to be nothing more than, well,
posturing?
But hey, the invites, which were never accepted by the Iranians,
were retracted! I admire the smidgen of ‘testicular fortitude” being
exhibited by the “retractors,” but that is like inviting someone to a
wedding. They do not RSVP, and you send a letter stating that you are
taking back the invitation. That’ll show them!
I became sidetracked by that “unusual” overture to Iran, but I mean
it when I say that the celebrations shall now begin in earnest! What can
we celebrate? We can celebrate that we still have young men and women
willing to die for us. There I go again. I am veering off into territory
that it not exactly “party” fare. Instead of confetti and fireworks, can
we light a simple candle for Pvt William Long, whose life was robbed
from him by a “homegrown” Muslim extremist? I was surprised and yet not
surprised by the miniscule coverage that this act of terror received.
Let us also light candles and place in our windows so that ILT
Michael Behenna can find his way home from Leavenworth prison, to his
parents and other loved ones. His “crime” was shooting a Muslim prisoner
in self defense. Are we to infer from Ranger Behenna’s harsh twenty-five
year sentence, that he would have been held in high esteem if he had
not protected himself, and had been brought home in a body bag?
Based on the coverage of the murder of Pvt Long, I don’t think so.
Stolen lives or stolen honor, our warriors always pay a dear price for
protecting us.
I promise that I will end this article with reasons why we can
celebrate this birthday. Here goes. This nation is still the nation
where millions of folks from all over the world, if given a choice of
homeland, will choose to come. It is still our freedom that attracts
them. It is still “my country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty!” It
is still the land of opportunity. It is still a Judeo-Christian country,
where countless numbers of citizens still believe in the tenets of the
Ten Commandments, and practice them. It is still the country of the
Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, Mount Vernon, and Colonial Williamsburg.
On this July 4th Holiday weekend, here are some suggestions
for paying homage to America. Please pay a visit.
These and
other such monuments are lasting testaments to why there is cause for
celebration. What is the
“secret weapon,” immortalized in those monuments? It is the people known
as Americans. The US has been bountifully
blessed with many citizens of sturdy character, who most assuredly
cannot be described as “summer
soldiers” or “sunshine patriots.” Quite frankly, it is the grit of its
citizens and God’s grace that will go a long way to helping this nation
celebrate another birthday with joy and pride!
This land is still the land of millions who love this country, and will
gladly give up their lives for it. Let us celebrate it while we still
can. Light up the red, white and blue fireworks! Fly that Flag!
Happy Birthday “land that I love!” And….many more!
