MUST READ

MUST READ: We Need More “Extremists” Like Chris Kyle

Via NRO “The Corner” by David French

Read the entire article here.

I’ve recounted the atrocities in my unit’s Area of Operations before – raping women to shame them into suicide bombing, blowing up restaurants then blowing up first responders, hiding bombs in the backpacks of unsuspecting children, shooting infants then shooting the mothers as they cradled the remains of their dead child, shrieking “Allahu Akhbar” as they saw the heads off old women (while filming the deed and spreading the DVDs around town) — and such atrocities cause right-thinking, rational, compassionate human beings to feel, well, rage. Since he was “outside the wire” vastly more than I ever was (I could not even begin to compare my meager efforts to Kyle’s), I’m sure that he saw much worse, and saw it up close. These atrocities cause those of us in uniform who believe in God and follow Christ to understand that part of our calling on this Earth is to oppose that vile and vicious evil. If that morally responsible response makes us “extremists,” then I wear that badge with great pride. Heck, if I could pull it off (sadly, I don’t have the forearms for a good tattoo), I’d put a cross on my arm as well.

A Tradition of Sacrifice, from Yorktown to Ramadi by Leif Babin

This entire article from the WSJ Online is a MUST READ this Memorial Day!

It was not the Declaration of Independence that gave us freedom but the Continental Army. America was born from conflict, delivered by soldiers willing to pay with their blood the tremendous cost of freedom.

The dead did not wish to be martyred. They no doubt longed to return to their homes and families. But they believed in the “glorious cause,” something far greater than themselves. Despite knowing the dangers before them, they followed Gen. Washington into the fray even when victory seemed hopeless and the cause all but lost.

Read the entire article at WSJ online.

MUST READ: Where Ted Cruz is currently on the Immigration Debate in Washington

Ted Cruz is at odds with Marco Rubio over immigration legislation.

The two have much in common as first-term senators elected with the help of the tea party from states with large Latino populations. Both have Cuban roots and are considered rising GOP stars and prospective presidential rivals. But the pair is divided on immigration legislation — a key difference that could have significant ramifications for their party and political ambitions.

The Texas freshman is sharply critical of the pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants, a central part of the bipartisan bill that Rubio helped write. Cruz is weighing whether to aggressively oppose the immigration overhaul, a decision that could neutralize Rubio’s outreach to conservative activists in order to minimize their opposition.

Comparison of Ted Cruz & Marco Rubio on Immigration Article

Video & Article: US Foreign Policy Speech by Sen. Rand Paul, Discussion by Forbes Op/Ed

Very interesting discussion of Foreign Policy. It’s about time we have substantive discussions about America’s role in the World today.

Rand Paul on Foreign Policy Video at Heritage Foundation, 2/6/2013

In an op/ed article on 2/13/2013 discussing Paul’s speech, Forbes’ wrote the following:

On February 6, Senator Rand Paul gave a speech on foreign policy entitled, “Containment and Radical Islam” to a Heritage Foundation meeting.

Paul began with refreshing realism and candor, pointing out that we are, in fact, at war with Radical Islam. He also noted (correctly) that, within Islam, Radical Islam is not a “small minority”, but a “vibrant, often mainstream, vocal and numerous minority”. Paul dismissed as naïve those who think that Radical Islam would leave us alone if we would just be nice to them.

Having asserted that Radical Islam is “…no fleeting fad but a relentless force”, Paul then seemed to call for a strategy of “containment”, along the lines of the one that George Kennan outlined regarding the Soviet Union in his “Long Telegram” of February 22, 1946. Paul cited this as a needed “middle path” for U.S. foreign policy

What Paul missed in his speech is that it was not Kennan’s “containment” policy that led to the downfall of the Soviet Union, but the approach that Ronald Reagan summed up in the following words: “Here’s my strategy on the Cold War: We win; they lose.”

Read the entire article here.

Must Read: Families doing more w/less; govt. doing less w/more

Since 2002, total federal spending has increased nearly 89% while median household income has dropped 5% and median wealth has dropped 23%. In other words, while families have been doing more with less, government has been doing less with more.

–Sen. Tom Coburn, OK-R

H/T Instapundit: Read the entire article here.