An Open Letter to Glenn Beck on Pastor Broden

Glenn,

I traveled all the way from California to be with you on 8/28. With tears in my eyes as your tears have flowed, I have shared in your efforts, since mid-2008, to save our country and the pain you and your family have suffered at the hands of hateful progressives. But I must say to you now that I believe you have contracted a form of "Conservative PC." This may be a natural outgrowth of being branded as a hate-monger. However, considering that it was George Washington who won the Revolutionary War, and not Ghandi, I was shocked at your response to Pastor Stephen Broden when he rightly said that violence can never be taken off the table as a last resort. Was this not what the original "Black Robe Brigade" preached? Were they pacifists who stood by to watch their countrymen suffer at the hands of tyrants?

Broden acknowledged that we are nowhere near that point yet, but you have begun to act like Ghandi has replaced George Washington as the iconic element to save America. Ghandi is not a Founder; not a man that could have parted us from England in that time. The pacifists have their place as Dr. King and Ghandi have shown us. But relying ultimately on them to stop the march of progressive socialist communism or the Islamic juggernaut is a fools idea. How can you support our troops, law enforcement, and freedom without arms and the possibility of using them?

I honor you for all you have done for your country; all you have suffered and given of yourself. But God did not make us to be slaves, nor did he make us helpless. By taking all ultimate action off the table as a last resort in the face of tyrants is not only un-American, it is crazy. The meek never inherit anything, Glenn. They become slaves. Broden deserves an apology from you. 

With love and respect,

Steve Bayrd

California

Apologies

Having not posted here since April 2010, I must apologize for being remiss. I do much on Twitter (@SteveBayrd) and in supporting conservative candidates and, as you know, it can be hectic. My post today about Bill O'Reilly's book, Pinheads & Patriots, shows what I sent him by email and why he can be a bigger pinhead when he ignores things that others, like Glenn Beck, prove daily.

I'll try to do better in my posts. We are saving our country. I appreciate all who may find value in my words. Thank you!

An Open Letter to Bill O'Reilly on his P&P Book

Subject: Your book, Pinheads & Patriots

Mr. O’Reilly:

May I first say, before I offer my critique, that I know you love your country and that you are a patriot. I’ve read most of your books and found them very useful and entertaining. The books you write for children have changed young lives for the better. I sometimes robustly disagree with you, but I know you are a strong force for good in America. You have courage that few can muster in the media today; you are a real man. That is why the premises upon which you assess the facts presented to you are critically important. Chapters 9 and 10 in you book are swell. I generally agree with you. But there are some things I must mention about your take on the current situation.

It is good to be “fair” and also to think the best of people when it is deserved. I was a deputy sheriff for 18 years and developed good investigative skills and instincts without letting it overpower my basic belief of good in my fellow man. But there is a point where good, basic investigative instincts must be listened to. Such is the case with Mr. Obama. I spent years in industry and the intelligence community, having undergone extensive background investigations and receiving top-level security clearances. I’ve been in Iraq and Washington, D.C. with the best people… and the worst. Like you, I wasn’t a gold-plated angel in parts of my life, but I love my country and it showed on the polygraph and in those investigations. With Mr. Obama’s background, he could never have received such clearances. Just associating with Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers would disqualify him. America-haters only get clearances through massive bureaucratic bumbling.

Your colleague, Glenn Beck, has amassed huge amounts of facts and challenged the Whitehouse to correct any mistakes made. They never call. You both have investigative teams and either they to come to very different conclusions, or you are not listening to yours. Could you have been so single-minded as to have filled your team with yes-people? The crux of the difference is one of basic premise. Your staffs may bring you similar facts, but YOUR premises decide how the information fits. In your great desire for “fairness” you assume the best of those in power and come to other conclusions only reluctantly. This is a fine goal in general but can be catastrophic if what lurks behind the door can take your life, your property or your freedom. Here is where instinct must command your premises if you are to save yourself or your children’s future. Let’s call this a “Chuck Yeager” instinct. With all your time in foreign countries and reporting on world conflicts, I suspect there have been times when you felt the hair on the back of your neck stand up and that little voice say “I better move fast” or “I better get outta here.” It likely saved your life. Though our current situation is not so imminent, it is a rapid creep wrapped in a cloak of stealth.

You have enumerated a number of pinheaded “judgments” made by Mr. Obama or his personally chosen minions. Beck has put a video and audio face to these minions and exposed lifetimes of Socialist, Marxist and Chicago-machine background, plus union bosses, ACORN acolytes, Weather Underground terrorists, and leftist university professors that never ran ANY business. I’m sure your mother told you, as mine did, you are judged by the company you keep. The sweep of actual facts shows a man who disagrees with much of what America stands for. Add to this Obama’s own words from his books and you have enough to make that neck-hair tingle. Dinesh D’Souza’s article in Forbes Magazine, “How Obama Thinks,” and his new book shed light on why Obama’s premises are totally counter to American exceptionalism and the Constitution: to him we are gluttonous Imperialists. This is what his father “dreamed” and this is what he dreams.

You claim that Obama isn’t a Socialist because he hasn’t attacked private property. What do you call stealing the “property” of the GM bondholders and giving it to unions? Property is not only buildings. It is everything one “owns.”

The Obama DoJ has made a mockery of law and equality. You have mentioned the KSM trial but not much on the Voting Rights section. On top of the blatant New Black Panther free-pass on voter intimidation, our military can’t get ballots to vote. States are given waivers from military voting requirements and this plays into wins for Democrats, as do illegal alien amnesty rulings. Obama’s love affair with ACORN is compounded by the voter-fraud this organization is commonly linked to. When Obama’s Sacramento mayor buddy was targeted by an Americorps IG for misusing funds, the IG was fired without notice to Congress and was the subject of smears that he was “disoriented.” Later interviews prove this false and yet we hear nothing more of this. Do these things not make that “Chuck Yeager” instinct tell you there is a villain at the door?

You draw a parallel to the “hate” of Bush with the “hate of Obama. I don’t hate Mr. Obama. I don’t hate rattlesnakes either, but I know their nature and avoid them for obvious reasons. While some in any population will show their contempt as hate, your parity of tea partiers in the current time and Bush-haters is way off the mark. Sure, there are a few nut-cases, but overall, the discontent of a majority of the population has nothing to do with hate. It has to do with values, culture, fear and love of freedom.

You state that you think Obama works hard at his job. From where have you drawn this conclusion? This man spends more time vacationing, golfing, partying with celebrities and collecting honors that he hasn’t earned than any president in my lifetime. I had watched your pre-election interview with him. Reading your transcript was vastly eye-opening! In your usual way you didn’t let him slide. This placed him in the most difficult moment in his entire campaign. He tried his usual dissimulation and was thwarted, so he “ah”d and “um”d and weaved. His suave, teleprompter image was gone. This is no professor… this is a fake.

Back to trust and premises: Why would a seasoned bloodhound like you not question why Mr. Obama has spent huge sums to prevent release of his school records? (No, I’m not getting into birthplace here). Does this one issue not loom large in one’s trust quotient? Does not the back-room dealing and bribes (yes, BRIBES) to pass Obamacare and FinReg bother you? This is much more blatant than both parties usually engage in, as bad as that is. Lies are so obvious now about so many issues that America is a-flood with once-asleep patriots like me. We will not tolerate the corruption and lies from EITHER party anymore. Beck helps keep a lid on the most aggressive forms of our disgust. A few leak through but the facts show that most “racist” and “Nazi” events are staged by the Left to appear as tea partiers, or they are just the Left going uncontrolled, as with the events at the G-20.

I grandly applaud your support of the Snyder family (I sent money, too), your charities, and your love of country. But you need to let your instincts loose from their cage. I hate to compare two great men that are colleagues but you need to listen closer to Glenn Beck. You need to have your investigators work more closely with his. And then YOU must listen and not just seek some arbitrary “fairness” that is not deserved. I was angry at times while reading P&P, but because I know you are a patriot, I let my wisdom carry me through to this letter. I hope it can be received in the “no spin” and respectful manner intended.

Steven Bayrd

The Tensions of Our New Awareness

As conservative Americans we spent so many years raising our families, working hard to succeed and provide, and trusting in our political process, that we had to be slapped into awareness of the exponential growth of "Progressive" Socialism in our political class. The only thing we can thank Barack Obama for is his hubris in racing toward his Marxist/Socialist agenda.


Unfortunately, side-effects of our new awareness are tenseness and jumpiness about ALL legislation in Congress. We MUST be constantly vigilant and aware, but this new role for us as everyday Americans often makes our responses less than comprehensive and well researched. It makes us lash out at those in Congress who we often support but who must sometimes make a call on legislation that, at first look, we disagree with. We don't have time to research every bill. We often see potentially bad consequences because we DON'T TRUST the agenda of the Administration and its congressional lackeys; and rightly so!


A case in point is HR2499, the obvious attempt by the Obama regime to fast-track Puerto Rico to statehood; thus gaining two senators and six representatives, likely all Democrats. As initially proposed, this bill would do just what it intended. But the opposition to the bill as proposed was bipartisan, not just Republican. Amendments made the bill more like the three previous excursions into possible statehood, all which failed. See this Washington Times article http://tinyurl.com/2cruhpf for more detail. My initial disappointment with one of my favorite Congressmen was blunted by the reality that he and his staff helped craft the amendments and blocked the Obama fast-track agenda for Puerto Rico without shunning the desires of Puerto Rican citizens.


The lesson here is that we will sometimes be disappointed, but we must trust in our chosen conservative heroes while remaining vigilant and holding them to our principles. Unless their position is clearly at odds with out Constitution and conservative principles, seek their reasons for their votes on specific legislation before you lambaste them. They may have excellent reasons in long-term strategy to renew our Constitutional Republic.