Exiting the Backside of the Trojan Horse...

What the Bowe Bergdahl Prisoner Exchange Means


The 'Trojan Horse's Rear' as seen on a recent trip to Washington. It is an actual sculpture in the Federal Triangle.

Five dangerous Taliban commanders released in exchange for a deserter... but more likely a TRAITOR. The United States gained NOTHING in that exchange and severely compromised the safety of our troops in Afghanistan in the process! But consider the strange nature of this case more closely. Bergdahl, a United States Army soldier, was held captive by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan from June 2009 until his release on May 31, 2014. These people usually behead their captives. Bergdahl's longevity suggests he was at least a useful pawn for obtaining a prisoner release, but his personal history suggests he actively sought to JOIN the Taliban.

Now consider the surrealistic scene where Bergdahl's father stands with the President of the United States and says in Arabic:

“In the name of Allah, the merciful, the compassionate.”

The father proceeded to speak in Pashtu, also known as Afghani, because he said his son might have difficulty understanding English after five years in captivity. After learning of how the inmates of the infamous 'Hanoi Hilton' prison in Vietnam used their MINDS to stay focused on who they were, I find that just a little too incredible. Bergdahl's platoon leader spoke to Sean Hannity and painted a picture of a troubled young man who stepped out looking for trouble. Six men died trying to find him after he deserted his post.

But the platoon leader went on to consider the lives lost capturing the five dangerous Taliban! Many in the Mainstream Media were no doubt scratching their heads! But had they studied the man who would be President, they would have known who his Communist mentors were. They would have noted the Anti-colonialism of his Kenyan Father. They would have seen all too well that the 'Gift,' brought into the city in the guise of "Hope and Change," had indeed opened up to reveal a force intent on destroying the America we love! For my low-literature readers (if I have any), I reference the famous Trojan Horse.

"The Wooden Horse, a device resorted to by the Greeks, after the death of Achilles, was used to capture Troy. The story is known to Homer and is referred to in the Odyssey as well as being part of the cycle of stories about Troy, but the Iliad ends well before this event. Epēius, a skilful craftsman, constructed a very large wooden horse inside which picked Greek warriors, including Odysseus, were concealed. Then the Greek army sailed out of sight, leaving Sinon, one of their number, behind. He pretended to the Trojans that he was a deserter and that the horse was an offering to Athena; if brought within the city it would render it impregnable. In spite of the warning given to the Trojans by Lāocǒon (a priest of Apollo) not to trust ‘Greek gifts’, the Trojans dragged the horse into the city, convinced that the destruction of Laocoon and his sons by two serpents after he had given his warning was a punishment for impiety. Cassandra too prophesied disaster but was disbelieved. At night the Greeks came out of the horse and the city was taken. In Homer's Odyssey (book 4) Menelaus reminds Helen how, when the horse was inside the walls of Troy, she had walked round it calling out the names of the men she suspected might be inside, and Odysseus had prevented anyone from answering. In book 8 Odysseus at the court of Alcinous asks the bard to sing the story of the Wooden Horse. Virgil tells the story of the horse in Aeneid 2." -- Ask.com

Erick Erickson writes: "Barack Obama is not a stupid man. One does not win the Presidency twice by being stupid. Looking at all of his foreign policy and national security blunders and pronouncements, I think there is only one rationale way to explain his foreign and national security policy without relying on him being stupid. Barack Obama has decided the best way to make the world a safer place is to make America a less safe place. If we must be worried about the shadows and random dictatorships with nukes, we will be less bold in pursuing our own interests. To Barack Obama that’s a good thing." [2.]

The scene at the White House is in keeping with what many of us know the President to be. It is time, dear reader, to take action. Overpasses for America and Operation American Spring have sounded the warning. We MUST register our friends to vote and inform them. This year we MUST gain Conservative seats in the Senate so that we may effectively fight the enemy inside our gates. If you are one inclined to ignore politics, be assured that politics WON'T ignore you!

THYME Magazine Special Shutdown Issue III

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume VI, Issue XIX

Taking the Narrative Back

Blogger Bill Evans Writes in a piece entitled NPR and the Power of Narrative [click to read]:

"Most of the government is shut down.” So we repeatedly hear from mainstream news outlets like National Public Radio (NPR), as they continue to hammer the narrative that American wellbeing and the interests of the common person are threatened by a small group of selfish “Tea Party extremists” who have seized control of the Republican Party in order to subvert the Constitution and representative democracy.

Of course, the reality is that the facts don’t support this narrative. According to informed estimates, 83 percent of the government continues to operate. And this, in turn, explains why lots of Americans don’t seem particularly worried, despite mainstream media efforts to portray the situation as apocalyptic or worse."

Dr. Evans continues: "Moreover, the Republican Party is, in fact, a splintered and messy conglomeration of main-street business interests, neo-cons, libertarians, cultural conservatives, religious conservatives, and yes, Tea Party types. And for the record, despite the whining of the current President, in this instance the government is working exactly as the Founding Fathers envisioned."

Dr. Evans goes on to point out that a body of citizens who possess little knowledge of how our government was designed to work look to the narrative as they form their opinions and make choices. He who controls the narrative controls the discussion. Using the example of the Matthew Shepard murder in 1998, Dr. Evans cites NPR host Rachel Martin's interview with author Stephen Jimenez about his book: The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths About the Murder of Matthew Shepard (Steerforth, 2014).While the narrative surrounding the murder was that it was undoubtedly a "hate crime," Jimenez' own investigation proved otherwise. Jimenez is a gay man himself, but his honest investigation and NPR's airing of the interview are laudible.

Still, the narrative of the "hate crime" became the driving force behind President Clinton's push for the subsequent Hate Crimes Legislation. Even as Jimenez, who admits wrestling with this confrontation of the truth, determined that the truth was what really mattered.

To be perfectly honest, all of us resort to the narrative. I recently considered a purported Bill Cosby quote that underscored MY narrative for inclusion in THYME. There was a problem though, my research pointed to the strong possibility that Cosby didn't say it. The quote was dropped. Another wonderful story hit my desk about NASA scientists "discovering" a "missing day," thus corroborating Scriptural accounts. The problem here was that there was no reference to any actual paper or research.

Truth matters. Sadly Mr. Jimenez is a rare force in journalism. Many in the mainstream media will continue to reinforce the narrative that "the government is shut down," but how many of them will consider the plight of those outside their narrative: "So the next time you hear NPR journalists talking about how “most of the government is shut down” (when it’s not) don’t be surprised. And the next time you notice NPR and the rest of the mainstream media studiously ignoring the people whose health insurance costs are skyrocketing because of the now ironically named Affordable Care Act, and at the same time paying no attention to part-time workers whose hours are being cut or who are losing their jobs due to the quite predictable impact of Obama Care (as anybody would have known if they had bothered to read the bill), don’t be surprised."

Taking Back the Narrative

Conservatives OUTSIDE the political process, ironically, are masters of the narrative  on their home court. (If you are reading this, you probably are Conservative or Libertarian; or one of my colleagues just being nice). Creating beautiful publications like American Conservative [click to read] and City Journal [click to read], we are great at telling a more complete, more truthful story. The problem is who we're NOT reaching.

If anything, the current government shutdown offers us a great opportunity. Our friends and family who are furloughed government workers have time on their hands... dare I suggest we give them some THYME? As self-serving as that may be, it behooves us to attempt at every turn to create provocative presentations of beauty and truth and share them. Hopefully we can insert solid dialogue and reason into the narrative.

Terror at Talladega, Government Gone Wild

'Government Shutdown' Creates Dangerous Scramble


After orders by federal officials to leave, a dangerous exodus ensues. Photo by Angie Creswell McGhee

Guest Commentary by Angie Creswell McGhee

Talladega: Insane day and night dealing with psycho government federals. Imagine doing a fast 50 in very hot, humid conditions over rugged trails. Some were still on trail finishing up the 75. You've all been up since 4 AM. At 10 PM the federals showed up and said "EVERYBODY OUT NOW!!" 100 big rigs backed in all around tricky pine tree parking areas, DARK, your stuff is scattered everywhere, horses are tired and need to rehydrate. We said, "FIRST thing as soon as it's light". NO NOW!! or you will be ticketed, prosecuted, towed." "TOWED WHERE WITH WHAT? What could even get IN these parking places at night?" More threats. Now there’s a traffic jam building up through camp with long trails of red tail lights at a standstill. "What about the people who came from Texas and Louisiana, came in off the trail and had a few drinks, this is insane! None of these people are really safe driving a big rig on the road at this time of night after a day like this!"

This is where I saw what government healthcare will be like. You have a local official who is probably a nice person who agrees with you, but he has this boss, who has a boss, who has a boss, and they don't get it...and if HE doesn't carry through with orders HE will get a huge fine. They would love to stand up for you but when it comes to your family or his well, sorry. This ride is actually a BENEFIT ride for the Talladega National Forest. They stood to make thousands. It has to be closed down because the person who empties the kiosk with the money in it was on forced furlough. Actually, that person came out to visit with us all day because these volunteers help him do his job every day of the year. The management from this ride literally is the maintenance crew for this trail system and donates hundreds of hours labor per year. Actually, this ride is the reason this camp is as large as it is since they got the grants, and did much of the work to build it. HERE'S THE KICKER...the officials say,"Ok, you can stay till morning...OVER THERE." WHERE??" The day parking area on the other end of camp that doesn't have a kiosk. "You are kidding, right?"

Nope, that was the sort of logic you get from a far removed government official (the kind that will be making your healthcare decisions). There is a day parking area just as you turn in off the road into camp. There is no gate between them, it’s just a different designation. An entire over crowded horse camp with over 100 rigs and exhausted horses and riders was supposed to hook up, load it all, back up around a bunch of pine trees on the sides of hills in the dark, and shift your rigs about 100 yards crammed into a tiny parking area for the next 5 hours or so, then try to get everyone turned around and back out in the morning. The insanity of it was so frustrating. I know that in Washington they all imagined us furious at those who shut down the government. They were WRONG. I really didn’t hear anyone talking about either party, we were talking about a federal government that is inept and out of control.

Personally, it made me see how much WASTE is involved with the federal government and that they are too far removed and cumbersome to be logical about anything. Think about it, because they needed to save the money to pay one person to empty a kiosk, thus would lose a couple of $100 in fees, they lost thousands of dollars that the riders who were already on site were going to donate to the forest. In order to ENFORCE the closure, though they couldn’t afford one man to empty the kiosk, they spent thousands in overtime to send a CREW from Montgomery to work all night with marshals to throw us out! The amount of money spent not to spend money was insane, but the federal government probably does it every day of every week. Rather than risk some psycho physically forcing us to leave our horses, or haul them with our rig off to what…a holding yard where nobody is allowed to touch them because they’re under forced furlough?

We loaded up and pulled out of camp headed for home near midnight. We had been up since 4. The horses were tired and dehydrated. It was NOT good for them and I worried until we unloaded them save at home at 3:30 AM. It was NOT safe for us to be driving. We had a car and a truck there, 3 drivers, so fortunately when Josie started nodding off at her wheel I was fortunately able to take over. Don’t know what anyone who was alone and no place to take a horse would do, maybe pull over but what do you do with horses? I talked to several people including quite a few who are furloughed and the mood was not “Oh well, they’ve made it so unpleasant for us, let’s give in.” The mood was, “These people are out of control and somebody’s got to stop them. Now is as good a time as any.” Having some faceless person several safe levels away from the action making life and death calls for you is an awful situation. I just hope that those naive people who have pushed for it will feel the consequences in time to turn this country around.

Government's Constitutionally Defined Function

National Security Should Be the Overriding Priority


The Hiroshima Prefecture Hall of Industry near the site of the world's first atomic bomb attack on a populated city...

The government shutdown, in my mind has created an overwhelming argument for keeping the government totally out of healthcare management. Consider this, if Harry Reid has no problem denying cancer patients access to possibly lifesaving trials in order to keep the bad old conservatives from scuttling the "Affordable Care Act" with it's religious liberty offending contraception mandate and it's generally liberty offending individual mandate; what is to keep future conservative administrations from shutting everything down in order to remove all abortion? Now personally, I would love to see abortion removed from our healthcare system as my view is that the procedure is killing an unborn person. I would also love to see people of faith free to exercise their conscience in choosing heathcare and insurance. Still, if you are pro-choice, I hope you can see the logic of my argument. In a pluralistic society government solutions are often cumbersome one-size-fits-all solutions that are at best is a poor fit. At their worst they violate basic liberties in a way that a free people should not be willing to accept. Whoever you see as to blame for the current shutdown, it makes sense to consider the weakness of mandatory public systems in that they never operate in a moral vacuum. They will always be potential political pawns. This argument alone begs the abandonment of the "Affordable Care Act."

Single-payer systems, which the "Affordable Care Act" obviously creates a structural framework for, work better in fairly homogenous small nations such as those in Europe. They are still quite controversial. Tourists rejoice that they get treatment for a few dollars while elderly residents of the country report waiting years for such things as artificial hips. The wealthy leave the country and purchase care where a "private option" exists. The poor simply wait. Government certainly may have a legitimate roll as the safety net of last resort and no one would argue against its underwriting the new technology in hospitals, but government has no role in a person's personal healthcare decisions. Whatever role you see for the state, it works better as a supporter of other institutions and worse as a direct agent in people's lives. This week's issue of THYME [click to read] has more thoughts on this controversial healthcare bill that many feel was pushed through to law in defiance of strong and well-reasoned opposition.

Congress does have a Constitutionally mandated duty to originate and authorize spending. They have exercised this responsibility by crafting legislation to fund essential spending on a case by case basis. A return to this level of budgeting might just do wonders in reducing waste and redundancy in government spending.  Hopefully the civics lesson sprung upon us will not be in vain. Scores of companies have already requested (and received) exemption from the corporate mandate. Others are switching large numbers of employees to part-time status to avoid it. The President's "Signature Piece of Legislation" still leaves thousands uninsured while driving up costs for people like myself who have to purchase individual policies. It is time to put this Constitutionally questionable boondoggle out to pasture and create real solutions at the point of actual need.

Our government has another clear function, and that is the defense of our nation. Earlier this week Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu [click to read] was doing our own President's job for him. In addressing the UN he clearly and concisely detailed the very real threat of Hassan Rouhani's soothing rhetoric diverting our attention from Iran's yellow-cake and heavy water production efforts. Mr. Netanyahu pointed out the fact that Iran is now developing long-range ICBMs similar to the ones the US and the Soviet Union possessed in the 1960's.

I respectfully suggest that the President show some firmness to our nation's real enemies outside our borders and embrace honest discussion from the citizens within. Allow the government to be funded, as Congress is empowered to do, and work with all Americans to create targeted and reasonable solutions to the problems that face us.


...The U. S. Capitol, soon within range of Iranian missiles?

What's Happened to America? [click to listen]. Here is a very interesting and informative podcast from Donna Lou Shickel. This is the first of a series broadcast on her program: A Place of Grace.

First, They Came for the Catholics

Matters of Conscience and Government Overreach


The entrance to St. Francis Church in Staunton.

Michelle Malkin writes today about Government Overreach [click to read] in the matter of conscience. Catholic adoption services in Massachussetts have already been shut down rather than give in to demands that they allow the government to dictate their placement policies.

"President Obama and his radical feminist enforcers have had it in for Catholic medical providers from the get-go. It's about time all people of faith fought back against this unprecedented encroachment on religious liberty. First, they came for the Catholics. Who's next?

This weekend, Catholic bishops informed parishioners of the recent White House edict forcing religious hospitals, schools, charities and other health and social service providers to provide "free" abortifacient pills, sterilizations and contraception on demand in their insurance plans — even if it violates their moral consciences and the teachings of their churches." -- Michelle Malkin.

Standing Together [click to read]. Protestants and Jews declare to the White House: "We stand with Catholics."

"Today, more than 40 non-Catholic religious organizations including Protestant-affiliated colleges, National Association of Evangelicals, Focus on the Family, Assemblies of God, Northwest Nazarene University, and Eastern Mennonite University, sent a letter to the White House demanding religious protection against the newly issued HHS contraceptive mandate."

“We write not in opposition to Catholic leaders and organizations. We write in solidarity.” Says the coalition letter. “Leaders of other faiths are also deeply troubled by and opposed to the mandate and the narrow exemption.” -- Emily Hardman

Does Government Do Too Much?

That Could Depend on Your View of the Divine


The Federal Reserve in Washington.

Here is a really thought provoking piece: Does Government Do Too Much? [click to read] by G. Jeffrey MacDonald in Jewish World Review. Dr. Walter E. Williams looks at the real cost of looking to the government for more and more, asking: "How do we Fix it?" [click to read] ht/Greg

"People who strongly believe in an engaged G-d who "has a plan for me," were much more likely to agree that "the government does too much" and "able-bodied people who are out of work shouldn't receive unemployment checks," according to a just-released Baylor University survey.

By contrast, those who believe that G-d is more removed from day-to-day affairs — or who don't believe in G0d at all — are more likely to reject small government and economic conservatism." -- G. Jeffrey MacDonald

The Dilemmas of Democracy

Problems and Perils Of our Beginnings as a Nation


Montpepier, home of James Madison. Mural in the Charlottesville Hampton Inn by Bob Kirchman and Russ Fisher.

What kind of government did the Father of the Constitution envision? Myron Magnet writes in City Journal on the Challenges of Democracy [click to read] as James Madison saw them.

THYME Magazine

Citizen Journalism with a Better Flavor


Volume II, Issue XX

The New Sheriffs of Nottingham...

When the 'other' news magazine called them 'The New Sheriffs of Wall Street' [click to read] an old favorite movie came to mind...

The regulators are coming! The regulators are coming! Here's a trio of regulators for Wall Street, but watch out. The Internet is a 'public utility' now. That means the government will seek to regulate it!

Enjoy your hamburger while you can. Mrs. Obama has her sights on regulating that too.

Unless we stop them in November we might all be eating beans and without horses!

School Official "Was Only Following Orders"

Child Given Week's Detention for Possession of Candy


This is outrageous.

Where's the common sense? Leighann Adair, 10, is a third grader at Brazos Elementary School. Another child gave her a "Jolly Rancher" hard candy. School policy does not regulate what she can bring from home but it does cover what she is allowed to receive at school. ht/Phil

Homeschooling looks better all the time.