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August 17, 2009
Exclusive: Yes Virginia – No, You Can’t!
Editor’s note: This is the second column in an occasional series titled “Yes Virginia.”
Author’s note: The origin of the expression “Yes Virginia” now used to address a naïf and ultra gullible person is a lovely exchange between an 8-year old-girl, Virginian O’Hanlon and the New York Sun, which took place in 1897.
Virginia O’Hanlon wrote a letter to the New York Sun in 1897 asking “Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?” Francis P. Church's editorial, "Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus" became one of the most famous editorials ever written and appeared every year until the paper went out of business in 1949. It was also run every year during the run of the New York Sun published by Seth Lipsky from 2001 until 2008.
Virginia O'Hanlon became a teacher and then a principal in the New York City school system. She retired after 41 years as an educator and died in 1971.
Francis P. Church, son of a Baptist minister, had covered the Civil War for the New York Times. He died in 1906. Throughout his lifetime his personal motto was: "Endeavour to clear your mind of cant."
Yes Virginia: You and Mr. Church left your mark.
Today, the mainstream media would answer: "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He is a homeless victim of the Bush presidency left without income, home or health care. Once a year he dons a red suit and glues on a fake white beard to bring cheer to 45 million poor, uninsured people.”
But never mind....Read the editorial:
Virginia, I know that you worked long hours and selflessly to promote the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, and unlike some sullen holdouts, you accepted her loss graciously and went on to apply the same zeal and indefatigability to get Barack Obama elected. Your motives were pure.
You made calls, canvassed neighborhoods, held cappuccino parties, hated George Bush, loathed and derided Sarah Palin, overlooked some of the Obamapals such as Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers, Tony Rezko, thrilled to the sound of Obama’s speeches, and finally, took seniors to the polls and gently helped them push the levers for your er…their candidate. You had what we call a real “crush” on the guy and announced that your dream of utopia would be fulfilled in the age of Obama.
When he nominated your idol Hillary to her cabinet position as Secretary of State, you were overcome by his generosity and as you called it “noblesse oblige” channeling your junior year in France. Finally, you declared, we had a government you could be proud of that would restore honor and respect from the world.
Well Virginia, you can’t go on pretending that was not a national hallucination, can you?
All that blaming America, apologizing, bowing and kowtowing, hug-a thug foreign policy is a little Carteresque. And we still get no respect.
Also, you must be a tad disappointed in Hillary’s performance, n’est pas?
Never mind her outburst in the Congo which could be attributed to “the vapors” but what about Hillary’s outrageous comparison between the rigged “elections” of a murderous thug in Nigeria and the American elections and the recount in Florida in 2002?
It’s a good thing she skipped Chad, a neighboring country plagued by oppression, brutality, poverty and hangings….know what I mean?
And Virginia, you were so happy that our nation would finally confront injustice after all those years of Bushian depredations. How about Hillary’s statement when asked about the United States response to the murderous spree of the Iranian mullahs against protestors?
This is how she explained our government’s total silence on CNN:
“We did not want to get between the legitimate protests and demonstrations of the Iranian people and the leadership.”
Virginia, now as the kids say “get real.” The “leadership” is a group of Holocaust deniers, brandishing the threat of nuclear war on the West, while jailing, beheading, hanging, and shooting all protesters. She could be a little less mealy-mouthed….wouldn’t you say?
But never mind. How about domestic policy? Who are these well-paid czars – up to 32 of them and counting – who are wielding power over your life and mine? Well, they are the Presidential enforcers.
Transforming America is a big nut to crack and the czars and their assorted advisors include some big nuts.
Ever hear of Cass Sunstein the “regulatory czar?” He’s married to Samantha Power the Obamapal who called Hillary a “monster.” He oversees…really “over-runs” the government regulations with respect to the environment, occupational safety, and financial services. He is also galvanizing all his intellectual heft to censor the critics of the Emperor Obama in the internet under the guise of “fairness” along with Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod.
Did you know, Virginia, that Sunstein favors the rights of animals to sue humans? In his own words in a book Animal Rights: Current Debates and New Directions, Sunstein wrote: “I will suggest that animals should be permitted to bring suit, with human beings as their representatives, to prevent violations of current law. ….Laws designed to protect animals against cruelty and abuse should be amended or interpreted to give a private cause of action against those who violate them, so as to allow private people to supplement the efforts of public prosecutors.” Does this include angry “tort”oises?
Czars also get their friends to write op-eds in support of some of the President’s policies. One of Sunstein’s friends is Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics at Princeton University. He wrote a column for the New York Times on July 15th “Why We Must Ration HealthCare.”
He has a more perverse “pet” policy even nuttier that Sunstein’s. He condones bestiality…sex with animals. Yes Virginia! In his own words on sex with dogs who often sniff at human’s “private parts”… . "The host usually discourages such activities, but in private not everyone objects to being used by her or his dog in this way, and occasionally mutually satisfying activities may develop."
How about John Holdren the Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy…the Science czar…who considers Cass Sunstein and Peter Singer paragons of knowledge and policy? He argued that trees have legal rights and should be allowed to go to court to protect those rights. Careful, Virginia…the two maples that you took down on your lawn may have hired counsel.
Then there is Carol Browner, the czarina for energy development. She is an avowed socialist and card holding member and former commissioner of the Socialist International an extreme organization. To boot, she has also been accused of ignoring legitimate whistleblowers and racism.
As head of the EPA she lost a case in federal court, was found guilty of discrimination and retaliation against whistleblowers. Also a February 2001 report in Time magazine, stated that Browner’s EPA was plagued with “festering racial problems” which Browner ignored.
All the above info was neatly air-brushed from the announcement on her nomination.
Oh yes, Virginia, speaking of whistleblowers how about the case of Gerald Walpin the Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service the agency which oversees government subsidized volunteer programs? In short, he was fired for doing his job protecting taxpayer’s money. Mr. Walpin, a distinguished lawyer with a sterling reputation for integrity was fired without notice for getting too close to disclosing chicanery by an Obama crony.
There is a bit of irony here. Sen. Obama was co-sponsor of last year’s Congressional Inspector General Reform Act which requires the President to give Congress a 30 day notice, plus reason, before firing an Inspector general. Hmmm.
Did you know there is a “Diversity Czar?” No Virginia, this is not some multi-culti enforcer of hiring and firing in the malls. Mark Lloyd, is the Chief Diversity Officer of the Federal Communications Commission and his job is “fairness” defined as challenging, financially and through regulation, all the conservative talk shows.
There are literally dozens more “czars” doing the jobs that could easily be done by legitimate departments vetted by Congress. These czars are accountable to no one and it is a cynical Obama ploy to override elected legislators and proper departments in setting policy and implementing the President’s “fundamental transformation” of our nation.
That’s a subversion of democracy Virginia, but your stubborn resistance to documented criticism of Obama and Company reminds me of the joke about a kid who gets a big box of manure as a prank. Instead of tossing it out, he keeps looking for a pony inside.
Yes Virginia: No, you can’t keep denying the obvious.
"Endeavour to clear your mind of cant."
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Ruth S. King is a freelance writer who writes a monthly column in OUTPOST, the publication of Americans for a Safe Israel. Feedback: editorialdirector@familysecuritymatters.org.
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