"...an utterly corrupt new religion called environmentalism..."
If the history of this planet's climate over millions of years is any guide, we are about to enter a new ice age.
CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper indicated in a 1993 interview with the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he wants to see the United States become a Muslim country.
Assessing Ohio
By Ari Kaufman (07/07/08)
Roughly 18 months after his defeat in the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry spoke at the commencement of Kenyon College, a small liberal arts college in rural Ohio.
The students and faculty, predominantly Kerry fans, were regaled with his story of the night of the election---at beginning when he noted, "Class of 2006 - fellow survivors of November 2, 2004...” and throughout: For example:
For the Election Day event that united us was a disappointment. There’s no way around it. Even as we flew in over Columbus this morning, I was looking down at the Ohio landscape, thinking: we came so close. So what.
I watched a CSPAN replay of that Kerry speech while vacationing in very liberal Ithaca, New York, a few weeks after it transpired. I recall musing that Kerry's US geographical knowledge, though better than the 2008 Democrat nominee's, was lacking. This part of Ohio, John, like most American small towns, especially in the Midwest, was Bush Country. While Ohio has more small "progressive" liberal arts schools that most states outside of New England (Kenyon, Denison, Oberlin, Antioch, Wilberforce), they all sit in small towns, where conservative politics are the rule once you leave the campus gates.
But Ohio, America's seventh most populous state, also has nine cities with close to or more than 100,000 people---all of which lean left, from the metropolises of Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati to the mid-size heartland union towns in the north like Akron, Toledo, Dayton and Youngstown. And while Hillary Clinton did very well here, it's unknown how Obama will be received.
Since the Electoral College dictates that only seven or eight states truly matter on November 7, and because Ohio might well again be THE state that tips the scales again in '08, I set out to find out where people will lean in the fall and why.
Fast forward two years from the night that I viewed the Kerry speech: My fiancée and I were taking a weekend trip from Indianapolis to Cleveland to visit family. Rolling along I-70 past sitting water from the great 2008 flood of early June in southeastern Indiana, we stopped for a break from the sun and mugginess at an Ohio legend: Skyline Chili.
The walls in most Skylines I've eaten at are adorned with American pride: heroic scenes from 9-11, the Iwo Jima Memorial, and patriotic flare. And this one, in the flatlands just north of Dayton, Ohio, was no different. After wolfing coneys and pasta, I went to pay our bill and struck up a discussion with some gentlemen I'd overheard at the next table that had been talking about umpiring local high school baseball. As I was about to inquire as to his political views, news broke of the passing of Tim Russert. The man crossed himself and said a small prayer for the fallen journalist. I did too. Well, as Jew, just the latter for me.
He then noted to me, "Kind of an loud mouth, but we cherish any life equally."
I didn't press further. We changed the subject back to sports and he eventually left with his friend, another athletic looking 40 year-old, with a blue tooth in his ear. As I was leaving, I asked one of the three clean cut Skyline workers, if they knew about those guys, since everyone seemed local, and they noted, "Oh yeah, that's Mr. Wilson and Mr. Baker. They're good people."
Noting my Kansas Jayhawks 2008 Championship shirt, one piped in, "I'm surprised they didn't give you grief. They both love North Carolina, and those Jayhawks beat 'em. I lost a $1 to Mr. Baker on that one." I chuckled, but also admired that was an actual bet. Later, I was informed Baker sang in the church choir and was a city councilman in Englewood. No one told me who they preferred for president, but as this "small town scene" played out again, I realized that the wonderful clichés are surely true. And here we were just miles from Ohio's fourth largest city.
An hour down a sudden thunderstorm across I-70 to the East sat Ohio's capital city of Columbus.
My cousin and her husband -- he just back from a tour in Afghanistan -- reside here, and we stopped to say hello.
"Jeremy" grew up in a family mostly consisting of "old Democrats from the working party mindset when party lines were not necessarily drawn along social lines." But as he and his twin brother joined the ROTC in college and then were deployed to Afghanistan (his brother is there right now with the Army Corps of Engineers; Jeremy returned last spring), they became conservative-minded, particularly with respect to the Global War on Terrorism.
“My vote in November will be for John McCain. He is an expert on National Security; the most important issue at hand," Jeremy, now an Army Captain, who spent two years at West Point before graduating Cum Laude from Vanderbilt in 2003, said. "He is a true American hero and a qualified commander-in-chief. “
Jeremy is, all things considered by all the friends and family of mine who know him, one of the most intelligent, honest, genuinely "good" people they know. I have heard all those adjectives and more relayed by those who know him. Currently working as a Mechanical Engineer, he was the lone valedictorian of his high school class in Louisville, KY. With respect to his perhaps erstwhile Democrat-leaning family, he now claims, "Although this election, the majority of them will vote for McCain."
My cousin, from a Democrat-voting family in the Cleveland suburbs, has also done an about-face, voted for Bush in 2004 and will support McCain in the fall.
One of Jeremy's co-workers, "Steve", an Engineer who resides in Columbus as well, noted:
"In this presidential election I think we have two choices a Democrat and a Marxist. McCain is the Democrat and Obama the Marxist," said the 40 year old with a wife and 2 small kids. "I wish we had a Republican running."
To find dedicated Obama supporters, I had to enter Dennis Kucinich country in northeastern Ohio. As I moved into the East Cleveland suburbs past where my mom was raised and her family still resides, I entered the lily-white suburb of Beechwood, median income $166,000. About every third house on historic Shaker Blvd., where the 4,000 square foot houses start at well over a million dollars, had an Obama sign in their huge front lawns. There are few, if any, churches or synagogues, and an abundance of Whole Foods, Williams Sonomas and shiny malls.
On this Flag Day 2008, we went to briefly visit our family friend, "Tom." A native Ohioan, Tom is a 32 year-old salesman with a pleasant wife and two young children. He's not necessarily a salesman in the Willie Lohman sense, but the modern sense in that he's comfortable and happy. He has a nice house, good friends and season tickets to all the three majors Cleveland sports franchises. I've known Tom since we were children, and he's always been apolitical; but this year, though he does not have a campaign sign, he's really into Obama. Why? I asked him, and his best answer, after refusing to discuss at first, was that he "wants change." Particularly, he traveled on business to New Orleans last year and saw the devastation of Katrina, which helped him make up his mind that we needed a president who "cared about the little people." He is no fan of President Bush, claiming "every time that man opens his mouth, I'm ashamed he's the president."
I don't know why else Tom wanted "change" from his great life, and he offered no more clues, only to say, "Let's just agree to disagree. Can we talk sports?" Realizing further pressing would be feeble and frustrating, I obliged, this surely not being the first time a conversation with an upper middle class Obama supporter had ended this way.
We attended the Cleveland Indians game that night with "Leah," who is friends with my cousin. Before we were introduced, my cousin confessed, "Ari, you may not get along with her..." I pondered if she was perhaps a New York Yankee fan or something, before hearing about her admiration for Obama.
Leah was not your typical liberal elitist, having grown up in Alaska. And aside from ranting about the melting glaciers there, at first, she seemed as white-bred American as anyone. Much like me, she loved sports and the Midwest.
Then we came to learn she was a Spanish and Women’s Studies instructor at a local university, who had attended Barack Obama speeches all throughout the Midwest the past few months---from Cleveland and Cincinnati to Pittsburgh and Chicago. As my cousin chucklingly told me prior, "she's in love with him, treats him like G-d...even though she's a committed atheist." I would have laughed harder if I had not heard that one before about other Obama supporters.
Leading off, Leah bemoaned that The Wire will never be a popular show since it has an "All African American cast" which "we are not ready for." Facts to the contrary aside, she feels the same about Obama, declaring to all of us (all being likely McCain supporters) that "Some Americans are not ready for a black president." When I pressed about other Anglo nations' leaders, she was unaware of any who had black leaders. She continued on a diatribe, but the only other nugget I took note of was her angry declaration that, "Fear and hatred of blacks in the US is ingrained in the national culture."
Leah does lives in Cong. Dennis Kucinich's district, for the record. She is neither a fan of the current President, the military, nor Hillary Clinton. She called Pres. Bush "an evil environmental rapist," has no interest in discussing any positive attributes of our armed forces, and said she did not vote for Mrs. Clinton in the primary because Hillary "reminds me of my mom."
On the long drive back Father's Day evening, we stopped in Ashland to have an early dinner with a friend. Ashland, whose city motto is "Where Accent on the Individual is a Tradition" is also home to a small private college; but unlike other liberal arts schools in Ohio, Ashland University is a religious school. There are thus more KFCs, Grandpa's Cheese Barns and Lowe's Hardware stores than Panera Breads, Restoration Hardwares and Starbucks.
I met up with "Mike" at the local Bob Evans, an Ohio and Heartland staple, founded by the eponymous farmer from southeastern Ohio. Mike is a Republican through and through. I knew this, but also wanted to pick his brain on a pleasant town like Ashland, which sits nearly halfway between Cleveland Columbus in the Cuyahoga Valley off Interstate 71.
We ate and ate well, and it should be noted that Matt is not your typical conservative in that he is a recently-retired public schoolteacher. But, as Idid when I taught, he was a history teacher who bucked the system, creating his own military history curriculum each year during the 33 he taught.
Upon entering his house, a cardboard cut out of President Bush greets you (seriously), along with his paraphernalia from the military concert band he conducts each weekend in the summer, a Bush bobble head doll, "Wanted: Dead or Alive" posted of Osama Bin Laden, and lastly, his incredible collection of Second World War artifacts: helmets, pictures, uniforms and lots of guns.
Some of this took my fiancée aback, but I was amused. Being well-versed in history but not necessarily helmets nor guns, I inquired.
"A lot of conservatives and even some moderates are big fans of the Second Amendment," he told me with a wry smile. "The Democrats are not. They take this seriously. I am not an NRA member but I own a gun, so this matters to me."
Matt's father helped liberate Normandy in June 1944, though his grandfather fought for Germany in The Great War three decades prior. His German descent was only evident in his last name and perhaps his array of German/Nazi war helmets. However, I have seldom met someone so patriotic.
The small house was adorned with Old Glory, and his two college-aged children both drove vehicles with "Support our Troops" and "Bush/Cheney" stickers. Matt shared with me that not all teachers are like those I worked with in Los Angeles.
"In the Ashland schools, it's about a 50/50 split between party affiliations amongst faculty" he said. "But this year, the kids happen to be really infatuated with Obama. Too bad they can't vote," as he laughed and offered me and Maria an RC Cola.
Matt shared then with me that "McCain has four votes here," proudly hugging his wife, also a teacher, and children---both music majors in college, home for the summer.
When I asked him what he though would occur in Ohio, overall, he was not bashful.
"McCain will cruise. I really believe there are too many veterans, conservatives and moderates who care about this country here in the Buckeye State, especially outside of the major metropolitan areas."
He seemed confident. And he had to head to Home Depot to get supplies for a "sumemr project" he was working on in the backyard. Therefore, though it was mid June with lots of daylight in the 7pm air, we moved along southeast and headed for home.
Back in downtown Indianapolis a few days later, I stood on the steps of our World War Memorial, gazing out at the Historic District, chatting with a Korean War Vet from Perrysville, Tennessee. He was in town for the Southern Baptist Annual Conference, and after I showed him around the War Memorial Plaza, he said, very eloquently but seriously:
"You know son, we are blessed to live in the greatest nation on earth. Millions would die to live here, and millions have died so we can live here," he said, wiping a tear. "There are a lot of stories out there of heroism. But God makes it all possible. You know that right?"
I nodded.
"You are doing the lord's work here by honoring our veterans. I hope everyone your age realizes that."
He then looked up at the sky on a gorgeous sunny day in Central Indiana and said, "I hope Americans think of that when they choose their future leaders and decision makers."
I didn't have to guess what he meant as he headed off to the Korean War Memorial to see the names of 36,000 of his comrades who paid the ultimate sacrifice so that he, I, and all of us may live as we desire. I have no idea who he is voting for in November either, but I'd like to guess.
He sent me and the co-workers he also met that day a magnanimous and unnecessary thank you gift a week later, just for showing him around the War Memorial for 20 minutes that day.
The Obama campaign is wisely to realizing he very well may have to win this General Election without Ohio now. Though he was able to gain the Democrat nomination while losing in Ohio and other regional states (West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Indiana), Obama's braintrust should realize that the last person to win the presidency without carrying Ohio was Franklin Roosevelt in 1944. That would clearly be evidence of "Change" were "The Messiah" to pull it off.
Ari Kaufman
A shorter version of this piece ran July 7th at Pajamas Media
(Printer friendly version) Email: Ari Kaufman
A California teacher for five years, Ari Kaufman now works as a military historian in Central Indiana and is an Associate Fellow at the Sagamore Institute in Indianapolis. Kaufman is the author of "Reclamation," a book on educational reform. Access his archived work at: www.ajkauf.com
Send Feedback To Ari Kaufman
Site: http://www.ajkauf.com/
UPSSA
United Progressive Socialist States of America
|
"Mexico, Canada partnership underway with no authorization from Congress"
The United States Is Being Overthrown By Our Politicians - "A silent but all-reaching coup is taking place within the
United States. This coup is not being directed by bomb-laden Muslim terrorists, nor will it ever be covered by the mainstream media.
The seditious act is being carried out by our very own elected officials, with President Bush leading the insurrection."
"The FDA has conveniently used the excuse of looking out for consumer safety to increase their perverse regulatory power,
undermine free speech, disrupt commerce, and generally get in the way of helping people improve their health. The "half-truth" of
the safety issue is used as a ploy to reduce the rights of Americans, one freedom at a time. Once again, the FDA is seeking more
police power to intimidate supplement companies. This is one step in an overall FDA master plan to eliminate therapeutic nutritional
supplements from the free market. Those who lose are the American public." The FDA - A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
|
|
