WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED This is the true memoir of one US Air Force navigator’s journey from the schoolhouses of Air Training Command to the nuclear alerts of the Cold War to combat in a 35-year-old anachronism called the B-52. It is a first-hand account of life during the last days of Strategic Air Command, the early days of Air Combat Command and the ensuing military drawdown of the 1990s. From peacetime training exercises across the globe to combat operations in Desert Storm, Jim Clonts takes the reader inside the cockpit where life and death are seconds apart. Often comical, sometimes heart-pounding, other times tragic, WHEN PENGUINS FLEW AND WATER BURNED takes you into the world of military aviation, a crucible where warriors learn the true nature of character, conscience and mortality.

Friends of Liberty VOL 19
by Jim Clonts, 2009

08/10/2009

Friends of Liberty,

I always assumed America was unique. I assumed our exceptionalism made us invulnerable to the history of Humanity, a history dominated by tyranny, coercion, terror, dungeons and violence. I always assumed if there were any tyranny in America, it would be soft, a loss of individual liberties perhaps, but not violent, intrusive, police-state tyranny. After witnessing the Administration's reaction to the recent town hall meetings being held across the country, I now believe we are on the path to hard tyranny.

The White House website recently told its supporters that disinformation is being spread about the Healthcare Reform Bill. They said it ran "just below the surface" in casual conversation and chain emails. (They have a problem with casual conversation!) It went on to instruct its supporters to send an email to a White House address with the names of anyone heard speaking ill about the Healthcare Plan or sending emails that opposed the bill. So now they are recruiting an army of informers. It seems the Government wants to know the names of people who oppose this plan. Why do you suppose that is? Do you think they'd like to send someone to speak to those people---to get their minds right? Do you think maybe they want to intimidate these people with a little Government harassment---IRS audits, maybe local law enforcement harassment, put them on watch lists to make sure they get the thorough treatment when going through airports, or maybe to ensure they don't get the double by-pass or kidney transplant they'll need once their plan is in place. Maybe it's to make sure their kids can't get Government student loans for college, especially since with the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act in place, the Government will be the only legal place to get educational loans. Or maybe if your kid does get the loan, they'll force them to pay it back with ten years of Government service in the slums of Detroit.

Aside from wanting to know names, the Government is also coming down hard on the town hall attendees. When law-abiding, middle class people show up and start asking straight-forward, detailed questions, rather than answer the question, the congressman will spew rhetorical talking-points and get booed off the stage. Then the Dems claim the people were all paid-for plants by big insurance and the Republican Party. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the people at these town hall meetings were sabotaging democracy. Senator Dick Durbin called these citizens questioning public servants "un-American."

Nancy Pelosi told reporters the people at these meetings were too well-dressed to be real. What she meant was if you aren't wearing a T-shirt that says ACORN or SEIU, then you aren't genuine. Then she accused them of being Nazis and wearing Swastikas at these meetings. Anybody seen Swastikas at these meetings? I'd think that would make the news. Besides, does anyone really believe if insurance companies and the Republican Party were paying these people, as Pelosi accuses, they'd tell them to be sure and wear a Swastika?

The mudslinging is bad enough, but lately the Dems have been sending in union thugs to townhall meetings to keep the dissent down...and folks have been getting threatened, coerced, even beat up and sent to the hospital. Several SEIU (Service Employees International Union) members were arrested in St Louis after a town hall meeting when they beat up a black conservative in the parking lot selling American flags and buttons that said "Don't Tread on Me." How do we know they were SEIU members? They were nice enough to wear SEIU T-shirts.

Obama himself said, "I don't want the folks who created the mess do a lot of talking. I want them just to get out of the way so we can clean up the mess. I don't mind cleaning up after them, but don't do a lot of talking.' I'm not sure who we was referring to in this particularly eloquent statement, but essentially he was saying he doesn't want to debate the issue; he wants to clear the playing field of opponents. It's called The Chicago Way.

Obama told congressmen last week if they take a punch (politically), we'll hit back twice as hard. Does he realize he's hitting back at a majority of the American people? Why is the community-organizer-in-chief surprised when communities organize around a political cause in which they believe, especially something as insidious as Government-run healthcare, given the almost one hundred trillion dollars of unfunded Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security liabilities? If that number is too large to be comprehensilble, just remember these people also run AMTRAK.

Why are the Dems making accusations about the character of the town hall attendees and not trying to sell us on the details of their healthcare bill? Maybe because they know many of us have read some of the bill and those details are indefensible? Obama himself will spew rhetoric, but not answer questions. With poll numbers showing a clear majority of Americans do not want the Dems' healthcare plan, do they really think attacking the character of those who agree with the polls will change minds? If over 60% of the people are against you, what kind of crazy strategy is it to attack the character of these people? I would think the mathematics of the situation would dictate a different strategy, but the Dems proved in the stimulus bill math is not their strong suite.

Friends, Obama is transforming America, even as you are reading this. He is changing this country into something our generation will not recognize. Our exceptionalism, our ability to stand up to our Government and "petition the Congress for redress of grievances" is at stake. The end game is not really even about healthcare. The topic of the day will change, but if we let the Government coerce us into submission and silence with the bullying tactics of Jimmy Hoffa, it won't be long before we'll see the far-scarier tactics of Joseph Stalin.

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