The Easter weekend interviews, press conferences and statements by the 24 American crew members of the downed EP-3E surveillance plane were a primer on patriotism and faith. With all of our problems and decades of cultural decay, America is still producing young people capable of paying any price and making any sacrifice their country requires of them. To a tongue-tied
media, Lt. Osborn made it clear that he and his crew were alive because God was their co-pilot. Other crew members said they hoped the 11 days taught their fellow citizens that America is not just another place, but is in fact an oasis in a world filled with "bad neighborhoods." Osborn
also told a harrowing story of Chinese interrogators who subjected him to sleep deprivation, long hours of interrogation and threats of a "show trial" if he didn't apologize. Cokie Roberts asked him if he had visions of such a trial and how that affected him. Osborn's reply, "I thought about it. But it didn't really matter. I wasn't going to apologize."
These are the kind of people that led General Eisenhower, when surveying the carnage on the battlefields of World War II, to ask the rhetorical question, "Where do we get such men?"
Use the quiet bravery of this crew as a "teaching moment" with your children and grandchildren about faith, duty, honor and country.
Battle Lines Drawn
The China debate is now intensifying with people inside the Bush Administration picking sides as well as members of Congress. The usual liberal apologists like Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) quickly went on the weekend talk shows to suggest that we had to cooperate with Beijing and reemphasize the trade relationship. Some business lobbyists in town were sounding the same note and the "soft wing" inside the Bush Administration was also seriously pushing business as usual. But many senators said over the weekend that they doubted they could vote for trade privileges for China again and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld was strong in his weekend press conference. This split in the Administration is why it is so important for pressure to be kept on the White House from the right to counterbalance those pulling it toward accommodation with China. Meanwhile, the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk is headed toward the South China Sea, hopefully to provide fighter protection to the surveillance flights, which are scheduled to begin again on Thursday.
To read more about China, visit our China Alert Section.
Homosexual Activist Gets Top Pentagon Post
What in the world is going on? According to Human Events, a national conservative weekly, a homosexual activist, Stephen E. Herbits, has been given a job at the Pentagon screening applicants for top Defense Department positions in the Bush administration. Herbits opposes the ban on open homosexuality in the military. He gave $13,000 to the Democratic National Committee in 2000 and thousands more to other Democratic candidates. A homosexual democratic activist is screening top appointments for a Republican Defense Department? This disclosure comes in the wake of the Administration appointing a homosexual who supports giving free needles to drug addicts as head of the White House AIDS office. These shocking appointments must stop. They are an insult to every traditional, conservative, pro-family voter that worked so hard to end the Clinton/Gore years. |
