Guest post from Mark West of the Chattanooga Tea Party.

When Evil Visited Our City

It was another quiet, sunny day in beautiful Chattanooga, affectionally known as “Scenic City” Tennessee.  Just a few weeks earlier our city with such charm and character was voted “Best Town Ever” by hundreds of thousands of Americans.  And yet, on the morning of July 16 at 10:45  the peace in our city was tragically shattered in a sudden and violent manner.  In the moments that followed, our city was drawn into a worldwide battle between good and evil.  Previous to July 16, our sleepy neighborhoods, bustling shops, busy ballfields and overflowing restaurants seemed to insulate us from this enemy, which to date had been advancing in their one-sided war, with very little opposition.  

Our leaders, entrusted with the security of the world’s sole superpower, like too many Americans, have wished this evil away.  Many of our leaders at all levels, both federal and state, have refused to acknowledge the truth of the ideology known as “radical islam” or “islamic terrorism.” 

Ignoring a deadly virus in one’s body does not eliminate the certain death that virus will cause. Likewise, refusing to mouth the words “islamic terrorist” does not insulate innocent citizens from the evil that most certainly awaits them. 

Unfortunately my fellow Chattanoogans and I know the truth of this evil ideology.  We have seen it first hand.  We have witnessed the physical effects.  And tragically, there are four families whose lives have been forever changed with the reality that their beloved Marine will never return home.   

But, did this have to happen?  Could this virus evil have been stopped?  As importantly, will our state and national leaders once and for all place the lives of their citizens above their stubbornness and political correctness? 

We all know the story of the boy who cried wolf for some time to a point that folks around him stopped listening to him so that when the wolf finally showed up, there was no one to kill the wolf and save the boy. 

For many years now there have been many in our nation crying wolf.  The wolf is radical islam.  Here in Chattanooga our organization has been warning our community of this evil for years.  And our movement across Tennessee has been expressing a dire warning to our political leaders, both in Nashville as well as Washington.   

In 2013 a group of over 500 concerned Tennesseans met US Attorney Bill Killian in Manchester, TN to express our opposition to his veiled threat that if citizens expressed an “inappropriate” negative sentiment towards Islam that they could be charged and prosecuted.  For many of us, the extent of our comments was to assert that Islam is not a religion of peace, in opposition to what we’ve heard regurgitated since a few days after 9/11.  Truthfully, our assertion is backed up with irrefutable evidence at infinitum.  The meeting with Killian was a volatile gathering because of Killian’s antagonistic attitude towards citizens who, while perhaps unruly at times, believed that their cry of “wolf” was unquestionably justified. 

Fast forward to yesterday and we heard from the same US Attorney Bill Killian at a news conference in Chattanooga just a few hours after 4 marines were killed.  Ironically, or perhaps sadly, the warning by hundreds of citizens who cried “wolf” about the threat of radical islam was tragically validated when Killian admitted that Chattanooga was struck by domestic terrorism.  

There’s no jubilation in being right about a tragedy.  In fact, there is sadness, frustration and anger.  Too many of us are experiencing these emotions because once again the policies of our nation, guided by men like Killian, Governors, Congress and the Commander in Chief continue to result in dead Americans.  

Whether it’s the fourteen murdered and twenty-nine wounded by Nidal Hasan (which was falsely documented as “workplace violence”) or now our own four tragic deaths and several wounded in Chattanooga, these senseless deaths might have been prevented if we merely had a Commander in Chief and many other elected officials who would speak truth.  

Wishing a war or an enemy away will not cause them to dissipate.  Rather, such behavior only emboldens and enables terrorists like Abdulazeez.  Only an aggressive pursuit of our enemy with the intent of total victory will insure their destruction and secure the lives of our citizens. 

So, will this happen?  I can see only one way this will occur.  You and I must recommit ourselves to never, ever allow this to occur again.  We must remember the ache within our soul on July 16 at 10:45am.  We must never allow that pain to diminish or depart.  And with that understanding that this threat continues, we must step up today, tomorrow and the next day to demand truthfulness by our leaders in identifying our enemy and action by the same in pursuing those enemies to the gates of hell to defeat them… or else, evil will once again visit our community, our state, our nation.  

But then, it will be too late. 

Posted on July 17, 2015 by Mark West

Thought for Today

"If we ever hope to rid the world of the political AIDS of our time, terrorism, the rule must be clear: One does not deal with terrorists; one does not bargain with terrorists; one kills terrorists."

~~~~~ Meir Kahane

Thought for Today

"Fighting terrorism is not unlike fighting a deadly cancer. It can't be treated just where it's visible – every diseased cell in the body must be destroyed."

~~~~~ David Hackworth

Thought for Today

"Never, ever deal with terrorists. Hunt them down and, more important, mercilessly punish those states and groups that fund, arm, support, or simply allow their territories to be used by the terrorists with impunity."

~~~~~ Rabbi Meir Kahane

Thought for Today

"In the days ahead we need to systematically redevelop our approach to this [terrorism] problem, recognizing that the worst outcome of all is one in which terrorists succeed in transforming an open democracy into a closed fortress."

~~~~~ Ronald Reagan

Thought for Today

"We live in a world of guns, bombs and terror. To conquer hate seems a nigh-impossible task."

~~~~~ Theodore Bikel

Thought for Today

"Fighting terrorism is not unlike fighting a deadly cancer. It can't be treated just where it's visible – every diseased cell in the body must be destroyed."

~~~~~ Col. David Hackworth

The Virus of Anti-Semitism

For a disturbing, depressing, but deadly accurate discussion of anti-Semitism in its latest guise, read Phyllis Chesler's op-ed Our Eternal Struggle, first published in The Jewish Press, then reprinted in Pajamas Media's Chesler Chronicles. Here's a snippet:

Who would ever have dreamed that Israel would be condemned for trying to defend its civilians? Or that Israel would reap hatred for exercising restraint in its treatment of Palestinian civilians? Or that Israel's terrorist enemies would be praised for hiding behind their own women and children or would themselves be counted as civilians (even as they fire rockets at Israel) because they craftily choose to dress as such?

Who would ever have imagined that such Big Lies would be championed by western intellectuals, academics, journalists, students - not a few of them Jews and even Israelis?

Orwell would laugh. Or cry.

Judging by the amount and vitriolic nature of the hate mail the piece has been generating, it has apparently struck a nerve among the Jew-haters (or "anti-Zionists," as they now prefer to style themselves). To find out why, go read the rest of it.

Putting Israel At Risk

Israeli author Naomi Ragen tell us about Learning the Hard Way. Here's a pull quote:

I know that I am helpless to stop this juggernaut towards disaster. Perhaps it is America's turn to experience first hand what we in Israel experienced: the consequences of electing a leadership which does not have the best interests of the country in mind; which has an agenda that has nothing to do with those interests. Sometimes people have to make horrible mistakes in order to learn that they are horrible mistakes. In Israel, this included over 25,000 terrorist attacks. Children dying in the streets. Being afraid to walk to the bus stop or enter a store.

Kyle-Anne Shiver read it, then wrote this Open Letter to Americans Who Love Israel. It begins like this:

Please, dear reader, do call me a skeptic; I am one. I started learning the price of gullibility in first grade. I traded my chocolate chip cookies to a third grader for his promise of a new pencil sharpener at recess. He lied; I learned.

My grandfather helped. He taught me to “always consider the source” before believing a promise and to never place my trust in an untrustworthy person. I lived and I learned.

Now that I’m well into my sixth decade of life, I’m a very hard sell. And the higher the stakes riding on the promise, the more care I put into my decision to proffer my trust.

When it comes to Israel and her survival as a free nation, the stakes are so high that it behooves even the most trusting American to examine closely the words and records of our candidates in this regard. And, sadly, we are forced to admit that the only reason Joe Biden had to make the reassuring statement above to Jews in Florida is that his candidate, Barack Obama, has the most tenuous, nearly nonexistent, and utterly unreliable “record” of any candidate ever to seek the presidency.

Especially in the arena of foreign affairs. Especially with regard to Israel and the Palestinians.

If you care at all about the fate of Israel, you'll want to read both columns carefully.

Empowering Our Enemies

Mona Charen, author of Do-Gooders: How Liberals Hurt Those They Claim to Help (and the Rest of Us), asks in her latest column Does Obama's Friendship with Khalidi Matter to Jews?

In addition to his close and long-standing friendship with Rashid and Mona Khalidi, Charen mentions two more of the close friends which Obama would rather his Jewish supporters didn't know about, Jeremiah Wright and Mazen Asbahi.

Others have pointed out that Obama's past and present advisors include such notorious pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli individuals as Robert Malley, Samantha Power, former Congressman David Bonior, retired Air Force General Merrill "Tony" McPeak, and Carter administration National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.

Can anyone not see a pattern here? Is it not true that a man may be judged by the company he keeps?

Why, then, is it likely that judging by their past voting records, approximately three-fourths of my co-religionists are going to vote for Obama in seven days? Won't they feel the least bit uncomfortable about elevating this unknown, inexperienced individual with his shady, mysterious past and his troubling associations to the most powerful position on earth? Can Jews really be that naïve and stupid?

I'm hoping the answer is No.

"If you care about Israel’s security, vote for McCain."

One of the Chicago Boyz, David Foster, tells us that Israelis Support John McCain.

…most of them do, anyhow. Polls show that 70% of Israelis would vote for McCain if they were eligible to vote in the U.S. election.

And some of them are. There are an estimated 40,000 Americans residing in Israel who are eligible to cast absentee ballots, and many of them will be voting in swing states. The chairman of Republicans Abroad in Israel predicts a 75% vote for McCain, although other reports show a large number of undecideds.

Read the rest of it and find out why.

"Is America Really Going To Do This?"

Nashville blogger Kay Brooks highly recommends Melanie Phillips' latest contribution to the British Spectator in her post Getting down to brass tacks. Phillips, a brilliant author (most recent book: Londonistan) and essayist, asks in disbelief, Is America really going to do this?

Kay was particularly struck by these words

McCain believes in protecting and defending America as it is. Obama tells the world he is ashamed of America and wants to change it into something else. McCain stands for American exceptionalism, the belief that American values are superior to tyrannies. Obama stands for the expiation of America’s original sin in oppressing black people, the third world and the poor.

about which she commented "That's as succinctly worded a paragraph about the difference between these two men as I've read thus far."

Particularly for those with an interest in Israel and its fate, I'd recommend reading Melanie Phillips' entire essay. It will be well worth your time.

What Did Ayers Do, Anyway?

For those who may not be familiar with the violent history of William Ayers' and Bernadine Dohrn's Weathermen, this short City Journal article, "Fire in the Night," will be instructive.

The author, John M. Murtagh, is the son of a New York State judge of the same name. In 1970, when he was 9 years old, Ayers' Weathermen tried to kill him and his family, and very nearly succeeded.

Here's the beginning of Murtagh's account:

During the April 16 debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, moderator George Stephanopoulos brought up “a gentleman named William Ayers,” who “was part of the Weather Underground in the 1970s. They bombed the Pentagon, the Capitol, and other buildings. He’s never apologized for that.” Stephanopoulos then asked Obama to explain his relationship with Ayers. Obama’s answer: “The notion that somehow as a consequence of me knowing somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was eight years old, somehow reflects on me and my values, doesn’t make much sense, George.” Obama was indeed only eight in early 1970. I was only nine then, the year Ayers’s Weathermen tried to murder me.

Not long after this attack, several Weathermen, including Ayers' then-girlfriend, Diana Oughton, died in what the Israelis have come to call a "work accident." They were building a bomb inside a Greenwich Village townhouse, and accidentally detonated it.

The bomb had been constructed with a payload of roofing nails in order to accomplish the maximum amount of murder and mayhem, Its intended target was an upcoming dance for soldiers and their dates at nearby Fort Dix, NJ. Had the plotters succeeded, they might well have killed and maimed hundreds instead of just themselves.

Oh, yes – the designer of the bomb, who made sure his own precious ass was somewhere else during the construction? William Ayers.

Let's hope that his brazen attempt to get his friend Obama into the White House blows up in his face.