A 'deal' versus an Ideal (I told you so)

...or "The Lesson of the Tea Party 22"

To those who have worked tirelessly for the conservative cause and who were called RINO's last week allow me to apologize on behalf of the more...exuberant...members of the Tea Party.  The blood spilled in 1776 and beyond came from both Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.  You love your country and that should not be called into question.

Oh, and by the way, we told you so.

I can't read the Wall Street Journal's "A Tea Party Triumph" and not pop a least one shirt button over my massive, manly chest I am gifted to have (at least in my own mind).  And, as I read I read Sissy Willis' excellent article From violent, racist "teabaggers" to debate changers with a seat at the table the thought occurred to me:

We told you so.  An IDEAL will beat a "deal", any day.

I've been trained by my mom, church and others - this is not humble, gracious or a character quality of my beloved Savior and therefore I should immediately cast down such thoughts.  But it is damn tempting not to do so.

No we've got a VERY long way to go.  To claim 'victory' now, would be like popping the champagne at retreated of the British from Boston harbor. (For you non-history buff's it preceded years of torment and continual defeat for the forces lead by Geo Washington).  No, agreeing to to a fraction LESS of debt to be incurred over the next 10 years is nothing to celebrate.  But I beg of you to understand what actually happened here.  Essentially here is a timeline:

7/22 - Senate tables "Cut, Cap, Balance" 51 to 46
REID: "Worst Piece of legislation in US history."
TEA PARTY: "Hold the line"

7/25 - Obama/Boehner address the nation
OBAMA: Bushes Fault, Jet Owners Bad, Catastrophe if REAL Cuts Enacted.

BOEHNER: Quit Spending Barry, No More Blank Checks.

TEA PARTY: "YAY!" ...("Hold the Line.")

7/27 - Rumors of GOP doing back door deal

BOEHNER: "We have to have a back-up plan..."

TEA PARTY: "Uh Oh...."

7/28 - Vote in House scheduled

McCAIN: "Nasty Hobbitses"

BOEHNER: "Get in Line!"

Non-TeaParty Conservatives: "Govern responsibly, Wait for 2012, the MSM will kill us."

(some) TEA PARTY TWEETERS: RINO's!

TEA PARTY: "When do we ever ACTUALLY stop the out of control spending?  Hold the Freakin' Line."

7/29, 7/30, 

MSM & others: "EXTREMEISTS! TALIBAN! TERRORISTS!"

7/31 - Reid, McConnell shake hands, Obama (gasp) address nation

POLITICIANS: "We have a deal!"

8/1

MSM  & others: "Tea Party kept us honest.  They Win."

TEA PARTY, "We are not idiots.  Hold the G_d damn line."

Is that a fair characterization?  I think so.  What has happened is the typical pattern of non-principled tough nosed negotiation. 

When I was a young adult, I had the privilege of watching a mentor of mine negotiate for a new Cadillac he wanted to buy.  He told me how he had been dreaming of this car for months and had done the research to find out EXACTLY what the dealer had paid.  I learned through him that car manufacturers give the dealers 'fake' invoices that fool even the best intended car buyer who thinks they can get the best price. 

My mentor first made sure the salesperson knew he was interested. He told him that he would pay cash, so the salesperson didn't think the deal would fall apart in financing.  Then he asked question after question and after question until the salesperson had over an hour invested in him. 

Finally the salesperson asked, "what price would it take for you to drive this off of the lot, today?" My mentor had been waiting for him to make the first inquiry and gave him the 'number' he had calculated as the REAL price the dealer paid and about $300 profit.  (My mentor said, I WANT them to make money so they can be in business.  I don't want to finance his kid's college fund on my back.)

The salesperson acted hurt and injured that my mentor would offer such a horrible first offer.  After putting a modicum of protest, salesperson reluctantly said he'd ask his manager but had no hope in the offer.  He came back almost immediately shaking his head but offering about a $1000 discount from the sticker price.  My mentor thanked the salesperson for his time, gave him his phone number and told him he would be visiting another dealer tomorrow to buy his car.

The salesperson assured my mentor he would have the same result and bid him adieu.

I wondered if my mentor wasn't concerned about spending every weekend for the next 2 months and asked him, "what if no one gives you this deal and you have to go back changing your hard line"?  My mentor responded, "it is the end of the month and I guarantee you that salesperson needs the sale, and that not even as much as the dealership.  He'll call."

When about 2 hours later he received a call from the dealer telling him to come pick up his new Caddy, My mentor explained, "they didn't know I was serious until I walked away."

I wondered why I they bothered with half of the required classes and didn't teach this!  This led me to write and teach about negotiation techniques for one of the largest contract negotiation educators for a number of years. Every time McConnell, Boehner or my fellow non-Tea Party conservatives spoke about, "the best we can get for now," or "we only control 1/3 of the government," I PHYSICALLY felt sick.  So what have we learned?

Lesson 1 - Never believe the position of your opponent and NEVER hint at yours

The Democrats have been brilliant at this. The Republicans - pathetic.  What a shocker (not) that the Democrats wouldn't pass Cut, Cap and Balance when Boehner tells them BEFORE THE VOTE they are working on a backup plan.  Why do you think the Democrats have not put forth a 'serious' bill and Obama none at all?  BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE TO!  Reagan figured this out with the Soviets at Reykjavík.  Later he explained that the Soviets knew that they would never have to deal seriously, because we trained them that would offer deal after deal when they rejected a previous offer.  Reagan knew they finally had to KNOW we would walk away from a bad deal.  Later Gorbachev  admitted, it changed their entire strategy for dealing with Reagan.  Republicans have GOT quit telegraphing every move they make. 

Lesson 2 - Know what your opponent is willing to 'die' for

A seasoned (or smart) negotiation opponent is NEVER going to let on to what they WILL settle for  and, in fact, will make it APPEAR they are fully committed to the 'straw man' position to keep you from knowing their real one.  Washington is so used to people with no principles, they assume that when a Tea Party representative like Bauchmann says no, she is really just positioning for a little more.  Our Founders believed that it is better to die for freedom than live a slave in tyranny.  It is why you heard even hard line liberal reporters confess it was , "refreshing" for anyone to really stand up for what they believe.  And why, when people like Allen West gave in to compromise with the 'establishment' GOP, Washington and the MSM didn't take the Tea Party 22 seriously.  They figure we are all hypocrites.  It is simple: the man who wouldn't dare give his car away to someone else for free will quickly change his mind when a gun is pointed at his head as a REAL threat.  His values quickly change.  Those who perceive the entitlement structure and debt as not just a 'more expensive' version of America but a real threat on our way of life and government will not settle.  Hopefully others will change their position and join us.

Lesson 3 - Those with the most conviction will win 

The BIG split among conservatives was FEAR.  Fear of being perceived that we couldn't govern, fear that the MSM would taunt and hold us guilty and it would somehow reflect negatively in the 2012 elections.  Yet we all lament at the career politician's willingness to lie about ANYTHING to score a political point.  Let me ask how can we expect them to change when we show that we are willing to compromise on fundamental beliefs (like living within our means) just because it is 'the best we can get.'  For all of us faults, George W. Bush exemplified this in his stance on the 'Surge' in Iraq. We need to remember the principle of doing what is right, rather than worrying about the outcome.

Why do we gamble that the most immoral political party in the history of our country will somehow 'not budge' on their position or that WE have to compromise?  They don't believe in ANYTHING except their own selfish interest.  I suspect it is either because we truly don't believe that our position is that important, or that we aren't willing to suffer the emotional or political pain for our convictions.  We are better people than that.  My experience has also taught me the man with the most conviction will win - even in loosing.  We love Cool Hand Luke not because he beat George Kennedy's character, but because he didn't give up.  He won by finally making George Kennedy's character understand - the fight would never end. 

So, what I would like to persuade my fellow patriots who despised the idea of standing strong on principle last week, is this:  there will NEVER be a better time to fight.  Not only are the Democrats weak politically in the polls - they are now beginning to understand that the American people WILL rally to the side of the person RIGHT in their convictions - MSM coverage or not.  It is my guess that after continued rants about how 'extremist' and 'crazy' we Tea Partiers are, they will someday use US as the example and ideal in their arguments.  I mean, would you EVER have envisioned Sam Donaldson speaking as highly of Ronald Reagan as Obama has been doing?  Of course not.

And, finally, to my fellow tea partiers - let us be gracious in our speech.  Remember that those who aren't willing to go as far in the fight as we are, are still our friends, compatriots and brothers/sisters in the cause.  Make sure they know we love them for whatever part of the battle they are willing to fight.

And God bless the Tea Party 22.

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The Current Conservative Sympathizers

This is in response to the article: 

Obama, Geithner Hold All the Face Cards in Debt Ceiling Fight

The administration will get to choose who gets government checks and who doesn't.

July 29, 2011 - 12:00 am - by Jazz Shaw

It always amazes me how conservatives are so ignorant of history.  Not just recent history, but the history of how this country started.

Few realize that when the Revolutionary War began, public support for outright 'war' against the British was hovering somewhere around 40%.  With the first skirmish that sent the Redcoats running, popular opinion soared - only to crash with humbling defeat after defeat.  But the war wasn't waged by public opinion.  It was to do what was right.


A few - fully committed - to see it through to the end - even if it meant death - and not those who wanted to continue to 'reason' with the British - is why we are the greatest country on earth.


Some would see the message of the 2010 House landslide as a bad spanking or stern warning to government to get it's fiscal house in order.  The fringes of the movement may indeed have seen it that way, but those of us who were moved to tears and action from the first Rick Santelli rant saw it as a declaration of war.


So the question raised here is how do we do it.  This author - and others - are terrified of the consequences of forcing our Executive Branch to make hard choices.  As a student of not only Alinksy, but also Marx, and Clower/Piven - it might even be goal for the President to create utter chaos in government services and blame the GOP.


So what.


The only REAL problem we have is in finding a leader who will not back down as the 'war' is engaged. Without that person, Democrats will continue to treat us as the new prison inmate in the militant gay pod of this political prison.


With the supposed dire threats of Independents sharpening pitchforks minutes after a strong stand by the GOP, the conservative movement for fiscal accountability continues to look like they are not serious about holding not not only our government - but our immediate elected representatives accountable.


It certainly didn't help that Boehner admitted to the Democratic leaders that we would have a 'back up' plan ready in case Cut Cap Balance wouldn't pass the Senate (as he already knew it would not.)  Remind me to invite him to my next poker game. 


How do we know WHAT we can get out of Senate Democrats unless they are pushed to a place where THEY are finally seen as the obstructionists that they are?  This can not be done by continued TELEGRAPHED 'compromise.'


When government services are being shut down and CUT CAP BALANCE are sitting in front of Obama and/or REID - it is THEY who will eventually be on the hot seat IF every GOP representative says NO!  You can not spend anymore.


A key lesson of history and human nature is that opportunists and those not planted in a morally righteous cause are the first to fold under real pressure.


What you do is you what Reagan did to that 'evil' empire.  You blow up all their preconceived ideas how they can (and have traditionally) played us.


If the GOP would have stuck together on CUT CAP BALANCE suddenly putting Reid and the White House in the position of saying they WOULD NOT bring spending into control - we have no idea what concessions we could have achieved.


Instead, Boehner acted like Obama's personal press boy and reinforced the absolutely false notion that sheer disaster would strike if a deal wasn't 'struck' and by August 2nd - a claim that has been proven as complete hogwash.


We haven't even BEGUN to test the stamina of the democrats.  And it is because of the 'fear sympathizers' like this author.


It is embarrassing as a conservative to read articles like this continuing to 'accept' that ANY political pain for the GOP 'brand' is simply off of the table.  When it is clear THERE WILL BE NO FUTURE if the entitlement structural issues aren't dealt with immediately (something folks like Jack Kemp warned of 30 years ago) - at some point REAL Men and Women who want to save the country must risk a battle that could have cost.


I hear the angst of John Adams in the tenor of my own words here as he was frustrated with similar voices (like the Pennsylvania representative of his day) who merely felt they had to play 'devil's advocate' to make sure they were taking all routes before the most dangerous. 


What these people don't understand is that while some are gifted with diplomacy, and others with patience, there are those of us who are gifted with a sense of risk and prophecy.  It is these people who do what people laugh at.  Palin did it in Alaska.  Smith did it with FEDEX.


There will be pain.  And that pain (as it did in 1775) will continue to build and compound the longer we sit around and 'wait' for the right time to save our children's future.  As then, we actually are in a WEAKER position to fight as we wait.  There will NEVER be the right time to enact all of the great reforms we all fantasize about with. 


An appropriate scripture is Ecclesiastes 11:4 - "He who observes the wind [and waits for all conditions to be favorable] will not sow, and he who regards the clouds will not reap."


What if we don't win the Senate?  What Obama finds some way to win in 2012?  You are not promised the future.  You take what you have and wage war the best you can with what you have.


Churchill knew this.  The reason he was at the right place, at the right time to lead Britain was NOT because he cautioned to wait until the right time to fight.  No, he advocated the same position to his peers for a decade.  But the jeers and embarrassment of his 'weaker' poltico's changed as the threat HE saw became more and more evident.


What would have happened had they the intestinal fortitude to test Germany's resolve even a year earlier?  Think about that.


Certainly continuing to buy into the liberal argument of the moment (it will disrupt government, credit rating will suffer, GOP wants to take services away from those who need it, etc.) - you will NEVER make a dent in the problem because they will simply change their accusation to blunt whatever objective we pursue at that moment.


Rush Limbaugh, Jim DeMint, Erick Erickson, Michelle Bauchmann and Sarah Palin are courageously playing the role Ronald Reagan played against the establishment media and party by their call to arms.


Quit betraying the cause and be worthy of those Founders who pledged their lives, their fortune and their sacred honor to do not what they felt they could get the other side to agree to - but what is right.


www.streamofjim.blogspot.com

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Israel uses excessive force to respond to children who are just throwing stones.

MYTH

“Israel uses excessive force to respond to children who are just throwing stones.”

FACT

Palestinians, young and old, attack Israeli civilians and soldiers with a variety of weapons. When they throw stones, they are not pebbles, but large rocks that can and do cause serious injuries.

Typically, Israeli troops under attack have numbered fewer than 20, while their assailants, armed with Molotov cocktails, pistols, assault rifles, machine guns, hand grenades and explosives, have numbered in the hundreds. Moreover, mixed among rock throwers have been Palestinians, often policemen, armed with guns. Faced with an angry, violent mob, Israeli police and soldiers often have no choice but to defend themselves by firing rubber bullets and, in life-threatening situations, live ammunition.

The use of live-fire by the Palestinians has effectively meant that Israeli forces have had to remain at some distance from those initiating the violence. In addition, the threat of force against Israelis has been a threat of lethal force. Both factors have inhibited the use of traditional methods of riot control.

According to the rules of engagement for Israeli troops in the territories, the use of weapons is authorized solely in life-threatening situations or, subject to significant limitations, in the exercise of the arrest of an individual suspected of having committed a grave security offense. In all cases, IDF activities have been governed by an overriding policy of restraint, the requirement of proportionality and the necessity to take all possible measures to prevent harm to innocent civilians.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians escalated their violent attacks against Israelis by using mortars and anti-tank missiles illegally smuggled into the Gaza Strip. Palestinians have fired mortar shells into Jewish communities in Gaza and Israel proper, and IDF reports indicate that anti-tank missiles have been fired at Israeli forces in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority (PA) has also been stockpiling weapons smuggled into Gaza by sea and underground tunnels linked to Egypt.

The possession and use of these weapons and other arms by the Palestinians violates commitments they made in various agreements with Israel. Under the Oslo accords, the only weapons allowed in the Palestinian-controlled areas are handguns, rifles and machine guns, and these are to be held only by PA security officers. The recent violence makes clear that in addition to the police, Palestinian civilians and members of militias, such as the Tanzim, also are in possession of such weapons.²⁶

The number of Palestinian casualties in clashes is regrettable, but it is important to remember that no Palestinian would be in any danger or risk injury if they were not waging a terror campaign. If children were in school or at home with their families, rather than throwing rocks in the streets, they too would have little to fear. And children throw more than rocks. Abu Mazen, Yasser Arafat's deputy revealed that children are paid to carry out terrorist attacks against Israel. He told a Jordanian newspaper that "at least 40 children in Rafah lost arms from the throwing of Bangalore torpedoes [explosive charges]. They received five shekels [approximately $1.00] in order to throw them."²⁷

Also, while the number of Palestinians who have died is greater than the number of Israelis, that should not minimize the traumatic loss of life on the Israeli side. From September 29, 2000, through June 7, 2005, 1,061 Israelis, including more than 730 civilians, were murdered by Palestinians. Contrary to Palestinian assertions that they are fighting a war against armed forces, fewer than one-third of the Israelis that have been killed were soldiers. In 2004, Palestinians successfully carried out 15 suicide attacks and Israeli security forces thwarted 367 others.²⁸

It is also worth considering how police in the United States and other nations react to mob violence. Abuses do sometimes occur when police are under attack, but no one expects them to stand by and allow their lives to be put in danger to assuage international opinion. In fact, the Palestinian Authority itself does not hesitate to use lethal force against protestors. For example, after the U.S. coalition attacked Afghanistan, Hamas organized a rally in the Gaza Strip in which thousands of Palestinians marched in support of suspected terror mastermind Osama bin Laden. Palestinian police killed two protestors when they tried to break it up.²⁹

It is only Israelis who are denied their right to self-defense or see it used as a propaganda weapon against them.

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Get Knowledge on the Palestine/Israel Issue

Two parts.  First the issue.  Second, how you should feel about this as a Christian believer.

It is unfathomable that there are people today who still believe Israel is somehow the problem in the Palestine State controversy.  ....well, maybe not.  There aren't many mainstream news sources that tell you how rockets (paid for by Iran) have been launched at schools and hospitals for the past 2 decades.  There aren't too many analysts that REMIND viewers that when Prime Minister Olmert OFFERED EVERYTHING the PLO wanted, including the land requested this week - they still turned it down refusing to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist.

But if we turn from emotion or what OTHERS tell us - we can figure out the RIGHT answer to this dilemma by asking 3 questions:  Who are the Palestinians, Whose land is it, and Who really wants peace?

Other questions that are good, (but never asked) include:

Has anyone asked WHY Jordan - a country with ideological sympathies to the Palestinians has never offered (or been pressured) to give land?

Does anyone ever wonder why, after the British and United Nations granted land to the Israelis that ALL Arab nations suddenly attacked, without provocation a tiny group of people that had just faced extermination by Hitler?

And why won't Hamas acknowledge TODAY Israelites right to exist?  No, those who insist that Israel is at the heart of the lack of peace have no understanding of history or they simply are too intellectually lazy to find out.

How about when Rome invaded Jerusalem and took the land.  Does that count?

Why 1967 CE?  Why not 967 BC? How about when islamic forces took it, raped women, leveled nearly every sacred synagogue and built their mosque on Jewish land with a history FAR better documented and OCCUPIED before they even existed?  Why not be incensed at that?

There are really 3 central questions that must be answered to come to an accurate understanding of the problem:

1. Who are Palestinians (I think we all know who the Jews are).
2. Whose land is it? (what is Palestine)
3. Who REALLY wants peace?

The first two questions can be answered well by this documentary:  Jerusalem, the Land of Covenant

However, suffice it to say that NO ONE called the land Palestine until the end of the Roman empire. SEE this short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xrnw-yIc9w&feature=related

The land has been documented to be in Jewish hands up until islamic forces tried to conquer in 636 CE (AD).  There was no legal right to the land then.  However, wars come and go (Texas and California anyone?) but it has been pretty well established that there were Jews in Jerusalem CONSISTENTLY (albeit in minority) for it's entire history.

So why 1967?  Why not 15 years prior when British rule prevailed.  Why not 1000 years before?  Those arguing for Israel to give up it's tiny slice of land (kind of like Virgina and Maryland asking for Washington DC) will always try and ground the debate in 1967.  WHY!!???  And why not JULY of 1967 when Israel took land from those who publicly declared they were going to annihilate them?

The dirty little secret is this: ONLY THE JEWS can lay history to the land before the modern area (BC).  ONLY THE JEWS have historic documentation that they BOUGHT (not conquered) the site where their religious shrines are.

Prior to the WW1 NO ONE  lived in Palestine/Israel. Well, maybe a few thousand people.  NO ONE WANTED IT!!  (see Jerusalem, Land of Covenant link above).  Prior to Islam, the Arabs  and Jews that lived there got along quite nicely even though Jews were an extreme minority after the Arab control.

Only when the United Nations granted them sovereignty, did it become valuable.  There were no trees, no culture, no farm land until the Jewish people populated and cultivated the land.

Which brings us to question #3: WHO REALLY WANTS PEACE?

An argument is made that Israel has tanks and the Palestinians have only sticks and stones.  This is a blatant lie (the flotilla that was attempted to land at Gaza months back on a "peace" mission had hundreds of thousands of lbs of rockets and guns.)  But EVEN if Israel had tanks and Palestinians did not-  it doesn't negate the fact Israel has an attempt to defend itself.

Israel does NOT do similarly to lands in Jordan, nor areas that are predominately populated by Arabs.  Only when attacked, and told they will be exterminated, do the Israeli's fight back.

Ironically, it is ISRAEL that had a baby dismembered last month by Palestinian forces (google it) and other atrocities.  Israel isn't perfect - far from it - but THEY are continually under attack under Hamas (Iran) sponsored terrorism.  (You don't find Israelites dressing their women and children up as suicide bombers.).  Who is the civil one here?

Again, WHY - when Islam takes over a region (like Lebannon) does it become an uncultivated war zone?  When Christians or Jews take populate an area THE REVERSE becomes true.  So even now, that the Jewish people have made Israel beautiful and viable - why suddenly is there such world pressure WHEN NONE OF THE WORLD CAME TO HELP THE JEWS WHEN THEY WERE ATTACKED IN 1967!???

Because, this is a spiritual battle.  Our grandparents and populations prior to them for hundreds of years NEVER would have believed that Israel would be reconstituted much less become the center of the world's attention.  It seemed impossible.  But as prophesied by the Bible, it WILL become the center of attention for the REAL end of the world in the coming years.

And if you are unsure where you stand.  READ.  INVESTIGATE.  And not just the sources you normally listen to!  Listen to BOTH sides and ask God for enlightenment and truth.

And if you are a Christian believer, you will also shiver at the curses upon those who attack God's chosen (not perfect) people. You should marvel at how in 1948, a nation was reformed that seemed impossible for hundreds of years.
http://www.alphanewsdaily.com/Warning%201%20Israel%20Jerusalem.html

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