This was another of those 800 miles in a day trips. Literally.
We had the chance to visit the Open House at the Reading and Northern RailRoad. I’ve been watching this great business develop over the years, from a more or less excursion only line with a couple bits of steam power in the early 80’s, to a money making freight rail service that still has extensive excursion service.
BMNR started back in 1983 as a 13 mile short line. They’ve since then grown under the direction of owner Andrew Muller Jr, to a point where they’ve grown from the original 13 miles to over 300 miles. In their words,
…. Reading & Northern serves over 50 customers on the Reading Division with diversity of commodities ranging from coal to bird seed and from potatoes to plastic…
It’s nice to see a business come to such success when they clearly hold the past in such high regard. They put on a really fine show. Note to Andy Muller: A great time. From myself, and my family, thank you.
We left there in time to run to York PA for the York County fair… and had a great time there, too. Saw Trace Adkins and Lonestar. If you’re from within driving distance of York next year, you may want to schedule a visit fr this annual event.
I did have a chance to do some thinking on “of where we are” and add some things, to make it a long-form BIT. It’s written in the Palm, and will be up tonight.
It is something of an indication of where we are, in the state of the world, when we can pass our time, and our anger in comparative minutiae. As someone else recently noted to me; when the exact location of Madonna’s tongue is front page news, you can pretty much figure we’re still here; that the threats we face are not larger, at least than they were the day before.
Of itself this suggests that the White House is doing a far better job than they’re being given credit for by the leftists who desperately want back into the place. Indeed, were any of the current crop of challengers to obtain it, I wonder if they could do as good a job and President Bush and his people have done? Somehow, I tend to doubt it.
And I wonder if anyone else will make that connection?
Consider it; yes, we’re involved in a war. Yes, we must be vigilant. But the Islamofacists have not succeeded. To the degree possible, we’re in a state of normalcy that few would have predicted, two years ago today…. a normalcy that had we had different leadership, would certainly not exist today.
Conclusions? No. Other than they obvious one, of course… That Bush is a better leader than the afore-mentioned group would have you think, there’s no real conclusion, because so much of this game still needs to be played out. Still, we’re looking more hopeful than they’d like to admit.
And that, dear reader, is certainly something to think about, today.
There is hope in my heart for America when I see school kids taking actions like this
But why do we never see news coverage of such events?
Not fashionable in the news media circles to project American patriotism in a postive light, I suppose.
Will the anti-American nonsense from leftsists ever stop?
With all of what’s going on with Arafat these last 24 hours, I’ll simply draw attention to a repost of a column I wrote on him some months ago. Amazing how little has really changed, there. And, how what I suggested should happen, looks to be starting to happen.
Israel shows amazing patience, that it took them so long to come to the conclusion I had so long ago.
I’ve made the remarks I’m going to make about things surrounding the 9/11 attacks and our actions since, but can’t allow the sight of the lights shining up from Ground Zero, to pass unheralded. I was struck by one shot that pulled back from the shot of the lights to bring into view the Statue of Liberty.
I was struck, when I saw that camera work, by two thoughts.
First, that in spite of it all (or, perhaps, because of it all), she’s still standing.
Second, I can’t help but wonder what it’s creators would have thought of their fellow Frenchmen of today.
Respectful note is made of the passing of the Man in Black… Johnny Cash.
You knew, when June passed, that Johnny wouldn’t be long behind her. Losing June took a lot of the fight out of him, I suppose.
Cash was 71, and suffered many maladies, but always with grace.
A sad day, that he finally lost his battle.
She’s written an excellent BIT on how 9/11 has been abused by pols, particularly the leftists, and centerists.
I know… I’ve posted both my thoughts the 2nd night after the attacks, here in the Blog, and my more organized thoughts in the BITS. But for some reason, this morning, I find myself angry. This is a deep, abiding anger, that my writings of the last couple years on this point do not do justice to.
Crime, or act of war?
CBS News ought to get spanked on this one. They’re repeatedly referring to the events of 9/11 as ‘The Crime of 9/11″. I know they’re smart enough to understand that there is a major difference between a crime and an act of war. So are we to assume that what they’re trying to do here is bend our will, and that of our military?
It’s true; our enemies in this war don’t drive Tanks, don’t ride in APC’s and certainly don’t wear uniforms. But make no mistake…this is a war none the less. It should be treated as such. It has been by the President. The anti-American left, however, is trying to convince us a war isn’t needed.
They’re wrong.
Islam?
There is one surefire way to identify the enemies of America, and it’s one you won’t hear the press talk much about today; The attackers, our enemies, are adherents to Islam. You’ll hear “Terrorist” today, but I’ll bet you don’t hear Islam mentioned in the same breath… for fear of offending someone or other. Typical liberalism. Ignore the obvious grouping, even if it exposes you to more harm.
Let’s look at our current status.
Thanks to the leadership of President Bush, Al Quieda’s leadership has been all but destroyed. bin Laden is likely dead. But even if he is alive, he’s been reduced to threats delivered by audio tape of questionable origins. The training camps have been shut down, most of the leadership is dead, jailed, or on the run. Instead of attacking our citizens, they’re forced to defend themselves from our military, which is why the attacks outside of Iraq (and Israel) have all but halted.
The rabid dogs that saw us as fear- filled, soft, gutless, who saw us as an easy pushover, and so attacked us, have had their heads returned to them via parcel post. This is no small accomplishment, though the left tries to separate the victory from it’s import, and from the man who led us to it.
Al Quieda’s connections in Iraq unquestionable, now
Connections between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaida that have always existed, are now seen and understood by all but the loudest anti-Americans. In this, I include the anti-Bush at all costs Democrats… Including all of the Democrats currently running for the Presidential Nomination of that party.
There is no longer any question that Saddam Hussein’s Iraq was training Islamic terrorists south of Baghdad at a place called the Salman Pak Training Facility. This point has been repeatedly confirmed both documentation found by our troops as they wade through the mass of documentation, but also by Iraqi defectors.
We also know, through financial records, that Saddam Hussein was paying millions to Ayman al-Zawahiri, who was bin Laden’s chief deputy. It’s only the anti-Americans who claim this is false that the troops and the defectors are lying, else that it’s been “exaggerated.” Again, in this title of ‘anti-Americans” I include liberal Democrats. Given their anti-American actions, you should as well.
Actions we can take to defend America
Sullivan points up this morning a quote from Jonathan Schell, which seems to say it all; it sums up the anti-Americanism embedded in the left wing:
“Biden says we must win the war. This is precisely wrong. The United States must learn to lose this war Ã?– a harder task, in many ways, than winning, for it requires admitting mistakes and relinquishing attractive fantasies. This is the true moral mission of our time (well, of the next few years, anyway).” – Jonathan Schell, saying out loud what many on the Left believe, and have long believed. Good that some of them are finally being more honest about their loathing of the West.
The Democrats should not be trusted, having been exposed as liars,and as anti-American to the core.Those who vote for Democrats are electing the enemies of America. It’s really that simple, that direct, and that profound…. Their goals, if realized, will weaken us to our destruction. They should certainly not be allowed anywhere near the reins of power.
To give this point some focus, (this cannot be overstated) consider that we’d not be discussing this at all, that 9/11 would never have happened at all, had their hero Bill Clinton, actually done what he swore to do when he took the oath of office…. to protect our country.
Brendan Miniter writes an excellent column in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal Online.
“To overcome terrorism, Americans must remain willing to pay the price of mastering our emotions. We must not give into the cravenness of fear, nor the seduction of half-measures. America is, as Ronald Reagan said, the last, best hope of mankind because our resolve and courage are the best guarantors for freedom,”
For Americans to have moral authority, he says…
…” then as Americans we must act. Today we have a president who is willing to take the battle to the terrorists even in the face of international pressure to do nothing. But for too long as a nation we’ve allowed our culture, driven by a fear of offending anyone, to drift toward timidity.”
He goes on, speaking of Democrats, who…
“..offer us the middle ground between good and evil. The terrorists are now showing themselves in Iraq and giving us a chance to kill them. We vowed in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks never to forget. But those will prove to be empty words if we forget where we must continue to stand.”
Thing is, htere is no middle ground between good and evil.
Highly reccomended read.
Resepctful note is made of the passing of Doctor Edward Teller at age 95, in SanFransisco.
Teller did more than most anyone else to protect America. The H-Bomb, “star wars” and so on…. Teller recognized that those who do not carry swords stand a better chance of dying on them.
