Reverence

                Families, communities, and nations are strengthened when parents teach reverence by precept and by personal example.  Reverence is showing our love for God; it prepares us to receive personal revelation.  When we are reverent, we become more sensitive to the still, small voice of the Spirit.  Heavenly Father will trust us and reveal additional truths to us when we treat sacred things with reverence.

                By teaching reverence to the rising generation, our nation could receive a spiritual awakening.  According to an unknown author, some signs of a spiritual awakening are:  1) An increased tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.  2) Frequent attacks of smiling.  3) Feelings of being connected with others and nature.  4) Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.  5) A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than from fears based on past experience.  6) An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.  7) A loss of ability to worry.  8) A loss of interest in conflict.  9) A Loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.  10) A loss of interest in judging others.  11) A loss of interest in judging self.  12) Gaining the ability to love without expecting anything.

                The scriptures teach us that God communicates with His children through “a still, small voice.”  (See 1 Kings 19:12.)  They also teach us that we must be listening with our eyes and hearts as well as our ears if we truly desire to hear that small voice.  (See Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 3 Nephi 11:1-7.)  Other scriptures teach us that we must treat sacred things with reverence or we will incur the wrath of God.  (See Doctrine and Covenants 63:64; 84:54-57.)

                Sacred music brings a feeling of reverence to me.  There are many songs that teach about reverence; one such song is a beautiful Primary song entitled “Reverence Is Love” (Children’s Songbook, p. 31; words and music by Maggie Olauson)

                Rev’rence is more than just quietly sitting;

                It’s thinking of Father above,

                A feeling I get when I think of his blessings.

                I’m rev’rent, for rev’rence is love.

                When I’m rev’rent, it shows in my words and my deeds.

                The pathway to follow is clear.

                And when I am rev’rent, I know in my heart

                Heav’nly Father and Jesus are near.

                We can learn about reverence from living prophets and apostles by their own words or in manuals authorized by them.  In True to the Faith (p. 145) we learn that “Reverence is profound respect and love.  When you have a reverent attitude toward God, you honor Him, express your gratitude to Him, and obey His commandments.

                “You should be reverent in your behavior as well as your attitude.  Reverent behavior includes prayer, scripture study, fasting, and payment of tithes and offerings.  It includes wearing modest clothing and using clean, wholesome language.  The depth of your reverence is evident in your choice of music and other entertainment, in the way you speak of sacred subjects, and in the way you dress and act when you attend church and the temple.  You show your reverence for the Lord when you serve other people and treat them with kindness and respect.

                “As you become more reverent, you will notice a quiet transformation in your life.  The Lord will pour out His Spirit more abundantly on you.  You will be less troubled and confused.  You will be able to receive revelation to help you solve personal and family problems.

                “Just as reverence brings you closer to God, irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary.  Satan will tempt you to follow the world’s trend to more noise, excitement, and contention and to less restraint and quiet dignity.  Like a commander mounting a military invasion, he will try to jam the channels of communication between you and the Lord.  Beware of such tactics, and strive to be reverent in all you do.  (Additional references:  Leviticus 26:2; Psalm 89:5-7; Hebrews 12:28; D&C 59:21; 63:61-62, 64; 109:21.)” 

                Elder Paul B. Pieper of the Seventy spoke about reverence in General Conference in April 2012 (“To Hold Sacred,” Ensign, May 2012, pp. 109-111).  He discussed how three prophets had spiritual experiences that prepared them for their sacred callings.  He told us that about 1500 years before Christ, Moses was tending his sheep when he saw a burning bush on the slopes of Mount Horeb.  He was fascinated by the bush and made the difficult climb up the mountain to discover why the bush was burning.  Thus began the transformation for Moses from being a shepherd to being a prophet.

                About 1300 years later, Alma was a young priest in the court of King Noah.  He was captivated by Abinadi and his witness of the Christ.  Thus began Alma’s evolution from a civil servant to a servant of God.

                About 2000 years later, Joseph Smith entered a grove of trees seeking an answer to a sincere question.  Thus began Joseph’s journey from a young boy to a prophet.

                “Moses’s, Alma’s, and Joseph Smith’s lives were all changed by encounters with the divine.  These experiences strengthened them to remain faithful to the Lord and His work throughout their lives despite overwhelming opposition and subsequent difficult trials.

                “Our experiences with the divine may not be as direct or dramatic nor our challenges as daunting.  However, as with the prophets, our strength to endure faithfully depends upon recognizing, remembering, and holding sacred that which we receive from above….

                “As we seek answers from God, we feel the still, small voice whisper to our spirits.  These feelings – these impressions – are so natural and so subtle that we may overlook them or attribute them to reason or intuition.  These individualized messages testify of God’s personal love and concern for each of His children and their personal mortal missions.  Daily reflecting upon and recording the impressions that come from the Spirit serve the dual purposes of helping us (1) to recognize our personal encounters with the divine and (2) to preserve them for ourselves and our posterity.  Recording them is also a formal recognition and acknowledgment of our gratitude to God, for `in nothing doth man offend God, or against none is his wrath kindled, save those who confess not his hand in all things’ (D&C 59:21).

                “With respect to that which we receive by the Spirit, the Lord said, `Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred’ (D&C 63:64).  His statement is more than a reminder; it is also a definition and an explanation.  Light and knowledge from heaven is sacred.  It is sacred because heaven is its source.”

                President Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles also spoke in General Conference about reverence (“Reverence Invites Revelation,” Ensign, November 1991, pp. 21-23).  

                “When we meet to learn the doctrines of the gospel, it should be in a spirit of reverence.  It is about reverence and how it relates to revelation that I wish to speak.

                “Inspiration comes more easily in peaceful settings.  Such words as quiet, still, peaceable, Comforter abound in the scriptures:  `Be still, and know that I am God.’ (Ps. 46:10; italics added.)  And the promise, `You shall receive my Spirit, the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which shall teach you the peaceable things of the kingdom.’ (D& 36:2; italics added.)

                “Elijah felt a great wind, an earthquake, a fire.  The Lord was not in any of them; then came `a still small voice.’ (1 Kings 19:12.)

                “Helaman said of that voice of revelation, `It was not a voice of thunder, neither was it a voice of a great tumultuous noise, but behold, it was a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper, and it did pierce even to the very soul.’ (Hel. 5:30.)

                “It was Nephi who reminded his brothers that an angel `hath spoken unto you in a still small voice, but ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.’  (1 Nephi 17:45; italics added.)

                “For the past several years we have watched patterns of reverence and irreverence in the Church.  While many are to be highly commended, we are drifting.  We have reason to be deeply concerned.

                “The world grows increasingly noisy.  Clothing and grooming and conduct are looser and sloppier and more disheveled.  Raucous music, with obscene lyrics blasted through amplifiers while lights flash psychedelic colors, characterizes the drug culture.  Variations of these things are gaining wide acceptance and influence over our youth….

                This trend to more noise, more excitement, more contention, less restraint, less dignity, less formality is not coincidental nor innocent nor harmless.

                “The first order issued by a commander mounting a military invasion is the jamming of the channels of communication of those he intends to conquer.

                “Irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary by obstructing the delicate channels of revelation in both mind and spirit.

                “Our sacrament and other meetings need renewed attention to assure that they are truly worship services in which members may be spiritually nourished and have their testimonies replenished and in which investigators may feel the inspiration essential to spiritual conversion….

                “No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration.  The spirit of reverence can and should be evident in every organization in the Church and in the lives of every member.

                “Parents, stake presidencies, bishoprics, auxiliary leaders, teachers:  maintain a spirit of reverence in meetings, encourage participation in congregational singing and the use of reverential terms in prayers.

                “While we may not see an immediate, miraculous transformation, as surely as the Lord lives, a quiet one will take place.  The spiritual power in the lives of each member and in the Church will increase.  The Lord will pour out his Spirit upon us more abundantly.  We will be less troubled, less confused.  We will find revealed answers to personal and family problems without all the counseling which we seem now to need.”

                There is so much noise and static in the world today that people are confused about which direction to go in life.  When children and youth learn reverence for God and sacred things, they are more capable of hearing the still, small voice of God giving them direction for their lives.  When the rising generation understands and lives the principle of reverence, our families, communities, and nations will receive more blessings from God. 

Value Freedom

                The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is the simple fact that freedom comes with a price, which means freedom has a value and is not free.  Since we observed Memorial Day this week, it seems only fitting that I should write something on this subject to help us remember the cost of freedom.  It is fitting that we honor those who gave their lives for us.

                A photo of Iraq war veteran Sgt.Eric Hille standing over the grave of a fallen soldier has been seen by millions of people and touched many hearts.  National Guard Sgt. Eric Hille and his friend Sgt. Eric Holke were on a mission together in Iraq in 2007.  An improvised explosive device exploded and killed Sgt. Holke.  Six years later on Memorial Day 2013, Hille started a new tradition – marching to the grave of a fallen soldier.  This year he chose to march thirteen miles in full combat gear to the grave of his dear friend at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.  It was no “walk in the park” and was difficult both emotionally and physically.  He said that twenty people have “signed up to march” with him next year for Memorial Day.  Hille stated, “We have to do our best to continue to remember the ones who paid the ultimate sacrifice for what we have the privilege of doing in this country.”  Do you think Eric Hille know the value of freedom?  I do.

                Kelly Strong watched his father serve a career as a marine and knew of the sacrifices made by his family as his father served two tours in Vietnam.  While a senior and a JROTC cadet at Homestead High School in Homestead, Florida, in 1981, Kelly wrote the following poem as a tribute to his father.  Kelly is now married with three children of his own; he is an active duty pilot with the Coast Guard and is stationed in Mobile, Alabama.  The words of the poem along with beautiful music and powerful images can be found here.  The poem makes it obvious that Kelly Strong knows the price of freedom.

                    FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

                I watched the flag pass by one day,

                It fluttered in the breeze;

                A young Marine saluted it,

                And then he stood at ease.

                I looked at him in uniform,

                So young, so tall, so proud;

                With hair cut square and eyes alert,

                He’s stand out in any crowd.

                I thought… how many men like him

                Had fallen through the years?

                How many died on foreign soil?

                How many mothers’ tears?

                How many pilots’ planes shot down?

                How many died at sea?

                How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves?

                No, Freedom is not Free.

                I heard the sound of Taps one night,

                When everything was still;

                I listened to the bugler play,

                And felt a sudden chill;

                I wondered just how many times

                That Taps had meant “Amen”

                When a flag had draped a coffin

                Of a brother or a friend;

                I thought of all the children,

                Of the mothers and the wives,

                Of fathers, sons and husbands

                With interrupted lives.

                I thought about a graveyard

                At the bottom of the sea,

                Of unmarked graves in Arlington.

                No.  Freedom is not Free!

                Patrick Henry understood the value of freedom when he made a speech to the Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775. 
“On that day, at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia, he is credited with having swung the balance in convincing the Virginia House of Burgesses to pass a resolution delivering the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War.  Among the delegates to the convention were future U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.”   He was very forceful in stating how he felt about liberty.  “Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?  Forbid it, Almighty God!  I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!”  A video of his speech can be found here.      

President Ronald Reagan  recognized the value of freedom when he said, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream.  It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Newsman Walter Cronkite knew the value of freedom when he said,  “There is no such thing as a little freedom.  Either you are all free, or you are not free.”

Americans are protected by the best military forces in the world and in all history.  There is none better.  We have been blessed with freedom for so many years that many of us do not value freedom.  This is why we are losing freedoms on a regular basis.  Glenn Beck claims that “We’re giving our freedoms away.  The American experiment was about freedom.  Freedom to be stupid, freedom to fail, freedom to succeed.”

How are we giving away our freedoms?  We are trading our freedom for security.  I remember a day when I could get on an airplane or walk into a federal building without having to show identification, undress and be x-rayed to determine if I were a terrorist.  We let the terrorist attacks  frighten us so badly after 9/11 that we gave away freedoms in order to gain security.  Did we make a good trade?  I do not think so!

Americans lost more freedom when the majority of voters re-elected Barack Obama as President of the United States.  We had the opportunity to elect Mitt Romney, a good and honest man with great leadership skills, but the majority of Americans chose a man that lies and does his best to destroy freedom.  He is more supportive of our enemies that he is our allies!  We know that our government will have all of our health information under Obamacare just as it has all of our financial information from the income tax laws.  They will know everything about us before long.  Why would anyone want the government to have all that information about them?

There are too many low-information voters in our nation.  It was low-information voters that put Obama in the White House for his first term.  Some of them wised up during those four years because fewer people voted for him the second time around; however, there were still enough people who were willing to give up more freedom in order to get free stuff - food stamps, Obama phones, etc.  In order for us to remain free, we have to educate the low-information voters and help them become more self-reliant!

                President John Adams said, “Liberty cannot be preserved without general knowledge among the people.”

                President Franklin D. Roosevelt said “The only sure bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to maintain its sovereign control over the government.”

                The big problem, as I see it, is that low-information voters do not particularly want to become educated because they do not value freedom.  They do not want to be responsible for taking care of themselves and are willing to give up freedom in order if the government will take care of them from cradle to grave.  Sigmund Freud said, “Most people do not really want freedom, because freedom involves responsibility, and most people are frightened of responsibility.”

                President Ronald Reagan explained it best when he said, “I hope we once again have reminded people that man is not free unless government is limited.  There’s a clear cause and effect here that is as neat and predictable as a law of physics:  As government expands, liberty contracts.”

                President Thomas Jefferson is credited with saying, “A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have.”

                Judge Andrew Napolitano said, “In the long history of the world, very few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its maximum hour of danger.  This is that moment and you are that generation!  Now is the time to defend our freedoms.”

                All Americans must understand that freedom is not free.  The freedom we enjoy today cost the blood of hundreds of thousands of men and women over the past 236 years.  Freedom will continue to cost blood to preserve it and protect, but it will take less blood to stay free than it will cost to regain freedom once it is lost.  Will you join me in an attempt to preserve freedom by becoming better informed about the U.S. Constitution and how our government is supposed to work?  Will you join me in becoming active in electing good men and women who will preserve the Constitution and protect our freedoms?  Will you join me in becoming well informed citizens?  Will you learn the true value of freedom?

Benghazi - Where Was Obama?

                It appears that the question “where was Obama while four Americans were being killed in Benghazi?” has gotten even more interesting.  The White House has consistently refused to answer the question or give any kind of explanation for why the President – the Commander-in Chief of the Armed Forces – was AWOL (away without leave) and/or MIA (missing in action).  I firmly believe that Americans have the RIGHT to know where he was when he was supposed to be leading!

                Charles Krauthammer became the latest media person to ask “where was President Obama during the attacks in Benghazi.”  Krauthammer believes the missing-in-action President is the bigger scandal.  His interview on Fox News can be found here.  

                Chris Wallace at Fox News interviewed Dan Pfeiffer, senior advisor to President Obama, on May 19, 2013, about the scandals plaguing the Obama Administration.  They discussed the IRS targeting of conservative individuals and groups before turning to the topic of Benghazi.  Wallace asked Pfeiffer:  “Let’s turn to Benghazi. And I want to ask you about a lingering question, which is the president’s actions on 9/11, the night of the attack, because we don’t know very much about that.”  Wallace asked Pfeiffer numerous times and in numerous ways where the President was during those crucial 18 ½ hours on September 11, 2012.  Pfeiffer told Wallace that it was “a largely irrelevant fact” where the President was and the fact that people keep asking where Obama was that night “is absolutely an offensive premise.   And there’s no evidence to support it.  Wallace continued asking where the President was, and Pfeiffer never answered the question.

                Kevin DuJan at HillBuzz  suggests that President was not available during the attack on Benghazi because he was using cocaine.  “If you’ve ever known anyone who is a drug addict, you’d see it’s obvious that Barack Obama was high on cocaine the night of Benghazi; it is the only logical explanation for his disappearance and the White House’s refusal to comment on what he was doing at the time.  Since this was a night of great crisis for our country, the only logical reason that the White House won’t explain where the president was is if this man was high as a kite on illegal narcotics at the time.”

                DuJan mentioned that a friend suggested that “Obama was having sex with Reggie Love during the `missing hours,’ but he apparently did not agree.  “I think Obama doing cocaine is a much better explanation for his missing hours, simply because at his age and with all the men he’s been with it’s not like he couldn’t just stop romancing Reggie for a little bit… and then get back to it when they were in Vegas....  It’s not like this would have been the first time that Barack Obama was having gay sex… so surely he could have pushed `pause’ to be president for a while (before getting back to whatever he was up to when the crisis was over).

                “However, once you take drugs you are pretty much on another astral plane for however long it takes for the drugs to leave your system….”

                Doug Hagmann thinks the Obama Administration should stop acting like teenagers trying to keep their parents unaware of their mischief.  “All the White House has to do is produce the authenticated logs of POTUS activities and his location that are maintained for every minute of every day within the walls of the house of the people.  If he has nothing to hide, then produce the records of who he was with, what he was doing, when he was doing it, where he was during this missing time, and why.

                “According to my source within the intelligence community, the answer to this question is one of the most critically important and revealing pieces of information that is being deliberately hidden from the American public.

                “There is no need to further insult the American people with elusiveness and semantics, or add insult to the injury and death of Americans on the night of September 11, 2012.  We need straight answers, and we need them now.  Stop acting like your teenagers who believe that they are smarter than their parents, or suspects that can outsmart the questions of professional investigators with convoluted semantics.  Answer the question.”

                Marinka Peschmann reported that the attack on Benghazi was not a terrorist attack, but “a nation-state attack, an escalation of war, and an opening of a new front in the tit for tat conflict with Iran and by extension their proxy partner Russia that is now being fought in Syria….

                “What is happening is America is [in] the final stages of the run up to the next major military conflict coming up in the Middle East.  But unlike Iraq and Afghanistan or the smaller operations in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, Syria won’t implode; it will explode and spread throughout the region in an epic bloody, deadly Sunni-Shiite conflict.  Christians, people of all faiths, non-believers will be persecuted if not outright slaughtered.  Think Islamic Caliphate time.

                “The security and existence of Israel will also be in jeopardy.  As Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz recently warned:  Israel must prepare for a three-front war, presumably having to defend themselves from Syria, Lebanon, and Iran.  Already sectarian violence is flaring up in Lebanon and Syria.  On top of Iran’s nuclear program, Israel will have to defend herself from Syria’s massive weapons arsenal that includes `advanced anti-aircraft missiles, anti-ship missiles and surface-to-air missiles.  Syria also has large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, advanced artillery as well as the other components of a large conventional military force,’ reports Caroline Glick.  In addition Israel could also become the target of the weapons that went missing from Libya and Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s vast weapons arsenal that the Obama-Clinton funded rebels looted from Gaddafi’s warehouses and includes the most advanced Russian surface-to-air missiles, SA-24s that are easily launched from a person’s shoulder or a truck bed that can take down low-flying military and commercial aircraft.

                “I repeat massive bloodbath ahead, genocide and ethnic cleaning draws near if Obama’s underhanded policies are not stopped….

                “Wake up America.  Wake up the useful idiots now.  The Obama administration has picked a fight with Iran and Russia in Syria which could trigger World War III.  It intensified with the Obama-Clinton regime’s gunrunning out of Libya into Syria.  As the WSJ reported, Hillary’s State Department provided the `diplomatic cover’ in Benghazi.  Do not be deceived.  Benghazi was a nation-state attack.”

                It sounds to me that Obama had a good reason to get “high on cocaine” and go missing for 18 ½ hours!  His plan had exploded in his face, and he did not like reality.  He obviously failed to look out for America’s interests.  Now what do we do – punt?

Still More on Benghazi

                I have written about the terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya, several times in the past month.  I posted on May 7 about the four whistleblowers who had come forth to testify about the happenings in Benghazi.  The very next day I wrote more about the congressional hearing about Benghazi.    A week later the Obama Administration was fighting three major scandals. The next day I wrote about the difficulties of staying ahead of the scandals.  I questioned why so many scandals were popping up all of a sudden and wondered what was being hidden.

                I was not the only person wondering about the frenzy.  Doug Hagmann was also asking questions about the flurry of scandals suddenly thrust upon us.  “As the details of Benghazi are beginning to emerge from `whistleblowers’ and the murderous events are being rightfully elevated to the proper realm of criminal conspiracy, other scandals have suddenly seemed to erupt, almost as if cued by a complicit choreographer.  Most egregious misdeeds of the Internal Revenue Service, for example, that allegedly targeted Conservative groups, from 501c3 organizations to any group with Tea party or Constitution in their names, were suddenly `revealed.’

                “Other scandals of lesser significance, but nonetheless poking at the embers of public ire and intolerance are popping up as well.  Watching the people who are reading the multiple news headlines on various news aggregator sites are like watching spectators at Wimbledon, as their heads move from side to side as they follow the ball in play.  The white noise of new problems are constantly erupting, resulting in a feeding frenzy in the waters surrounding the Executive branch.

                “While fascinating to watch, has anyone stopped to consider that the process of chumming the waters with a flurry of cascading news events, combined with a docu-dump of 100 pages of Benghazi e-mails is actually a methodically orchestrated diversion?  What is it we are not supposed to be seeing amid the white noise of new controversies of varying values?  …

                “Like a levy that has been suspiciously breached, the informational flood created by these news events is without recent precedent.  The timing of this flood is of particularly critical importance.  The headlines are diverting our attention away from a critical window of investigative value relating to Benghazi.  Could it be that we’re seeing a form of force majeure being implemented to overwhelm and distract us from something far more important to truth seekers and consequently, much more lethal to Obama’s second term?  Perhaps the Cloward-Piven strategy adapted and modified for the modern news cycles of today?”

                Hagmann discussed how both the Watergate and the Benghazi cover ups were to hide a “nugget” of information that would damage the administration.  During the Watergate investigation a great battle took place about tapes that were made in the White House.  When the tapes were finally released there were 18½ minutes not accounted for.  “Analysis of that effacement determined that it was the result of at least five separate manual erasures, verifying that the missing time memorialized by these tapes was no accident.

                “Whether it’s Watergate or Benghazi, there’s one piece of evidence in both of these criminal cover-ups from which the actors involved try to deflect your attention by any means possible….  It is a highly protected secret nestled among other less damning facts, diversions and deceptions.

                “Benghazi is no exception, but instead provides a textbook example of diversion from the golden nugget hidden inside a crusted shell made to look like all others.  So, just what is that particular nugget of criminal naughtiness?

                “The nugget that is being hidden here is not content of the memos relating to matters of diplomatic security, but something far more nefarious and elusive by its mere simplicity.  Like the questions that surrounded the mysterious 18 ½ minute gap in the Watergate tapes forty-years ago, there is a period of missing time that few seem anxious to address.  By order of magnitude, however, this missing time is far greater than anything we saw with Watergate.  Instead of 18 ½ minutes of presidential time, it’s nearly 18 ½ hours of time involving actions, utterances, commands or lack thereof of Barack Hussein Obama as Americans were being killed a half-world away.

                “Expose that nugget and I suspect the finding will be far more damaging, far more troubling, and exceedingly more alarming than anyone has begun to imagine.  It is this mystical missing period of time where many clues exist.  Exactly where was Barack Hussein Obama following his 5:00 meeting in the Oval Office until the next day?  Where wasn’t he?  It’s almost as if the Wizard of Oz himself waved his magical wand to divert attention away from those lost hours.”

                Hagmann’s article continued with his ideas about what was happening and why this time period is important.  Meanwhile, Doc Vega posted an article about a retired four-star Admiral blowing the whistle  on the Benghazi attacks.  Vega wrote that the new evidence brought forth by the retired Admiral James A. Lyons “promises to break the case wide open!”

                “… Finally, an authoritative figure with the proper credentials has stepped up to the plate to tell the true story of what did happen without the lies and cover-ups that have so far kept those guilty of murder from standing trial.  The admission on the part of this man will likely blow the Benghazi scandal wide open and lead to arrests if we can get our legal system to act as it should.  That, however, is a big if.”

                Vega claims that Admiral Lyons revealed “the entire plot that led to the deaths of Americans in Libya that could have been prevented, who gave the orders, and why events took place as they tragically did….  In his words Lyons says that the attack on Benghazi was a bungled kidnapping attempt to be perpetrated upon Ambassador Stevens.  This was to appear to be a hostage exchange for a terrorist prisoner who was to be released in trade for a supposedly captured US ambassador.  The trade would have been for Omar Abdel Rahman, an international prisoner, known as the Blind Sheikh.

                “This apparent abduction by terrorists of our ambassador and then negotiated trade for the Blind Sheikh would have been the `October Surprise’ that would have elevated President Obama’s flagging popularity and boosted his approval ratings for a re-election.  A dramatic prisoner exchange that saved our ambassador’s life.  However, something went horribly wrong…..

                “With what should have been only a staged kidnapping of Ambassador J. Christian Stevens, instead, Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty refused a stand down order and began doing their job of protecting the ambassador using force.  Immediately the well-trained Seals began inflicting heavy casualties upon the terrorists who thought they were merely in a cake walk to abduct Ambassador Stevens without mishap.  As a result of the plan going awry, a massive attack arose from the anger of the terrorists who felt they had been betrayed by President Obama.  In the aftermath of the battle which saw Navy Seal Glen Doherty killed after the embassy had been overrun along with the ambassador’s staff.  Ambassador Steven’s body showed up 5 hours later at a Benghazi hospital supposedly overcome by smoke, but as the initial foreign press reports indicated a much different outcome, in fact, Stevens was raped, tortured, and dragged around Benghazi in retaliation for the botched Obama White House plan.  If not for foreign press agents, who were there and saw, we would never have known the truth as the sold out leftist media of the US would have hidden this fact to aid President Obama’s campaign efforts.”

                Megyn Kelly interviewed Admiral Lyons on November 5, 2012.

                The Washington Times published an article by Admiral Lyons himself stating that the report by Independent Accountability Review Board about the attack on Benghazi leaves important questions unanswered.  Here are some of his questions:  “How could the CIA not detect the planning or the movement of the jihadists who carried out the `organized’ attack?”  [Why weren’t the two Marine anti-terrorist teams based in Rota, Spain, deployed to Benghazi and Tripoli?]  “Why [didn’t we] secure the Benghazi mission compound?  What is it that our personnel were kept from seeing?”  [Why wasn’t the 130-man, fully armed and well-led Marine Force-Recon unit on the ground in Sigonella, Sicily, sent to Benghazi since they “could have been in Benghazi in a matter of a few hours”?]  [Why wasn’t a fighter aircraft sent to “make a low pass in full after-burner since it has been used in similar circumstances as “an effective tactic for dispersing a mob”?]   “Why [didn’t we] request security assistance from the Turkish or Italian Benghazi consulates or the British security team that reportedly was at the mission compound only one hour before the attack?  Each has stated that they would have provided support but were never asked.  Why?” “What important activity was being conducted at our Benghazi mission compound to cause Stevens to have to be there on the night of Sept. 11 to meet the Turkish consul general, even though he feared for his safety?”

                Admiral Lyons concluded his article, “This is a major betrayal that cost the lives of four Americans.  Congress needs to form a special bipartisan investigative committee to uncover the facts and make them known to the American public.  Nothing less is acceptable.”

                It sounds to me that we really do need to have a special investigator looking into the Benghazi attacks.  The report that the murder of Ambassador Stevens was the result of a botched kidnapping attempt would answer a lot of questions.  If Obama really did arrange to have our Ambassador kidnapped to exchange for the Blind Sheikh for his own political advantage, then he needs to be held accountable.  If this is true, he would in fact have blood on his hands.  No wonder he went and hid for 18 ½ hours!

America's Oldest Veteran

                It seems only fitting that my VIP for this week should be a veteran.  In fact, I have chosen to highlight a man who is believed to be our nation’s oldest living veteran, Richard Arvine Overton.  Monday will be his 107^th Memorial Day, and he plans to spend it quietly at his home in East Austin, Texas.

                Overton was born on May 11, 1906, in Bastrop County, Texas.  After World War II he returned to Austin where he built his present home.  He served in the South Pacific from 1942 through 1945 and had stops in Hawaii, Guam, Palau, and Iwo Jima, to name just a few of them.

                Overton has received several honors and was formally recognized by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell on May 9.  On May 17 he traveled to Washington, D.C. “as part of Honor Flight, a nonprofit group that transports veterans free of charge to memorials dedicated to their service.”

                No one can confirm that Overton is the oldest living veteran since only “9 million of the nation’s 22 million vets are registered with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.”  Overton’s wish for this Memorial Day is for the opportunity to “spend a few hours” just “reliving war stories with fellow veterans, but he’s outlived most – if not all – of them.” 

Memorial Day

                This weekend America celebrates Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor the men and women who have died in service to the United States.  The Civil War ended on May 5, 1868, and “Decoration Day” was established three years later to honor both the Union and Confederate soldiers who died in that great conflict.  Major General John A. Logan, the commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30.  This day was known as Decoration Day until January 1971 when Congress made the “Monday Holiday Law” and changed the day to the last Monday in May and the name to Memorial Day.

                The Civil War cost the lives of at least 625,000 and maybe as many as 750,000 men.  In comparison, World War I cost 116,516 American lives, World War II cost 405,399, the Korean War cost 33,686, the Vietnam War cost 58,209, the Iraq War cost 4,404, and Afghanistan has cost 4,086 lives thus far – and there are still other wars and other casualties.  The casualties in these six wars fall short of the lives lost in the Civil War!   

          

                Alan Caruba wrote a wonderful article entitled “Our Honored Dead” and included the following paragraphs.  “War has been an integral part of America’s history, a nation that began with a long, eight year conflict from 1775 to 1783 in which an estimated 25,000 died.  On this Memorial Day most Americans will be thinking of the casualties of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars that followed in the wake of 9/11.  Our troops are stationed all over the world because, after World War II, the nation’s mission has been to ensure peace, but they have fought since then in Korea, Vietnam, Beirut, Grenada, Panama, in the first Persian War (1990-1991), intervening in Somalia, Bosnia, an air campaign in the former Yugoslavia, and the Middle East where our troops have since been withdrawn from Iraq (2003-2011) and will be out of Afghanistan in 2014….

                “Memorial Day is a day to remember that the history of war is also the history of civilization; wars fought for conquest and as often as not initiated by those whose thirst for power was the cause.  War is often called the interval between periods of peace.  The Romans used to say `Si vis pacem, para bellum.’  If you want peace, prepare for war.

                “Those of us who have worn the uniform of our armed forces have a special bond with those who preceded us.

                “It is astonishing how many men sacrificed their lives for an America striving to be born and one that has had to engage in a number of conflicts to maintain itself; to expand from coast to coast; to preserve the Union and, in the last century and the beginning of this one, to protect those around the world seeking relief from oppression.

                “We have not seen the end of war, nor will our grandchildren.”

                As I prepare to commemorate Memorial Day on Monday, I am grateful for the men and women who have served in the Armed Forces.  I am grateful for their service and for their willingness to stand between enemies and my family.  I recognize that members of our Armed Forces do not fight because they hate the “enemy” but because they love what they left behind – their families and homes.  I am grateful for their families who support them and make sacrifices of their own.

                I think of my husband’s maternal grandmother who sent six sons off to fight in World War II.  I cannot imagine how she stayed mentally sane knowing that her sons were in danger and not having good communications with them.  Her oldest son, Ernest, was injured several times but was patched up and sent back into the war.  I believe that a miracle took place when all six sons returned home whole in body.  The two youngest sons served in the military after World War II, one in Korea and one in Germany.

                I think of my father-in-law who joined the Navy during World War II.  His ship was in San Francisco preparing to set sail, and he was on shore leave.  A black out took place, and he had to return to the ship in the pitch dark night.  He was hit by a truck and spent the remainder of the war in the hospital with a broken back.  He spent the rest of his life suffering the results of having his back broken.

                On this Memorial Day I particularly remember those who died in service to our nation.  I know that “all gave some,” but I also know that “some gave all.”  They gave their lives in order that I could live free, and I am grateful for their sacrifice.  I am grateful for the opportunity to live in a democratic republic and for the freedom I enjoy here.  I know that I live in the “land of the free” because of the brave men and women who protect our country.  Thank you!