Juneteenth

Wikipedia photo, from whose front

 balcony the Emancipation Proclamation
 was read on June 19, 1865

The History of the Juneteenth Celebration  "The celebration of Juneteenth is not only a show-case event of the African American community's positive contributions to the American way of life, but it also makes a statement for all Americans that the United States is truly the "Land of the Free." Juneteenth is an expression and extension of American freedom and, like the Fourth of July, a time for all Americans to celebrate our independence, human rights, civil rights and freedom."  Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth

Junteenth: Emancipation Day! "Juneteenth was celebrated in Texas until the late 1960s and early 1970s. The civil rights movement seemed to overshadow the holiday. But in the late 1970s, Juneteenth became a popular holiday again, and the tradition began to spread beyond the borders of Texas."

There are many in this nation I admire, but there is a special place in my heart for one particular group. I think of older African-Americans who lived under the shameful Jim Crow laws and vile treatment by whites -especially in the South but certainly the North as well - yet still love America, see the best in her and staunchly defend our nation. We have published columns by some of those people in the Tunnel Wall and here are some more:  (TD)

Armstrong Williams : Memorial Day Remembrance  "Established in the 1860s during the American Civil War, Memorial Day tapped into the general human need to honor our dead who have done so much to serve this great country."


Thomas Sowell:  Dependency and Votes "To listen to some of the defenders of entitlement programs, which are at the heart of the present financial crisis, you might think that anything the government fails to provide is something that people will be deprived of."


 Ken Blackwell ; Indefensible: Israel’s 1967 Borders and Obama’s Policy "Mr. Obama delivered a major address calling for Israel to return to its pre-1967 borders. That would mean the West Bank and East Jerusalem are to evacuated and handed over to Israel’s mortal enemies. They would become, under Arabpressure, Jew-free zones. The German word for that is Judenrein."


Clifton B:   Another Black Conservative "I am a black conservative from a black conservative family.... Throughout my life I knew I did not share many of the common beliefs of other American blacks. For starters, I never took to the term African-American."...."My culture is distinctly American, from the way I speak, think, dress and act and you know what else? I love it! So for me, I will always be an American who just happens to be black."


Lloyd Marcus;  Liberal vs Conservative: A Spiritual Battle. "Christians believe that though we strive to do the right thing, the heart of man is critically flawed which is why we were in need of a savior, Jesus Christ....."Obama’s promise to “fundamentally transform America” is a spiritual attack on our freedom, liberty and culture."  ....
"Lloyd Marcus, Proud Unhyphenated American"

Walter E. Williams  ; Our Moral Dilemma;  "A related moral question is: Does one American have a moral right to live at the expense of another American?"

Star Parker;  Why 2012 looks like 1860; "The difference in presidential approval rates between Democrats and Republicans over the course of the Obama presidency and the last few years of the Bush presidency has been in the neighborhood of 70 points. This is the most polarized the nation has been in modern times.
"This deep division is driven, as was the case in the 1850’s, by fundamental differences in world view regarding what this country is about."

These are only a few examples of great African-American thinkers whose counsel we respect and whose love for our nation we admire. TD

Islam for Pols: a Primer;" We’re in favor of religious toleration for those religions that practice toleration."

Pajamas Media  ..."But here’s the rub: tolerance only works when practiced by all parties to the social contract. It’s one thing for a Unitarian and a Catholic to tolerate each other. They have some important doctrinal differences. But they do not endeavor to kill or enslave one another on account of those differences.

"The friction of difference works differently when you add Islam to the equation. Why? Because Islam does not — in principle as well as in practice — acknowledge a legitimate sphere of operation for the secular as distinct from the sacred realm. There is no “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s” in Islam because Islam — that’s mainstream, garden-variety Islam, not just its wacko Wahhabist allotropes — regards everything as subordinate to the will of Allah."

Roger Kimball

Romney’s Religion Problem /Sharia is not about private faith, but public institutions.   By Andrew McCarthy      (Linked to in the above article, TW wanted to make sure you saw it.)
"Mitt Romney is said to be the early frontrunner in the GOP presidential sweepstakes. One rival, Newt Gingrich, is perceived as floundering in a swirl of unforced errors and staff insurrection. Yet when it comes to Islam, which will continue to matter mightily in the next administration, the frontrunner could learn a thing or two from the flounderer. The issue is not religion. It is the seditious Islamist political program."....
"When the threat came from 20th-century totalitarian ideologies, Gingrich concluded, “we discovered after a while, well you know, there are some genuinely bad people who would like to infiltrate our country, and we have got to have the guts to stand up and say, ‘No.’” It is every bit as essential today to say “No” to Islamists who use the shield of American religious liberty as a sword in the service of a dark political program — one that has precious little to do with spirituality. It remains to be seen whether Republicans will offer a presidential candidate with the guts to do it. If Mitt Romney is to be that candidate, he’s got work to do."  (Emphasis added)

"...Steyn was accused of “flagrant Islamaphobia” after his bestselling book America Alone was excerpted in Canada’s oldest newsweekly magazine, Maclean’s, in 2006."  "Author and columnist Mark Steyn’s week-long trial for “hate speech” began in a British Columbia courtroom on June 2 [2008]"....
"Canadian Human Rights Tribunals boast a 100% conviction rate on such “hate speech” cases, and have already handed down lifetime bans against the likes of Rev. Scott Boision. That Christian preacher is now forbidden for life from ever citing Bible verses regarding homosexuality in his sermons, or “in newspapers, by email, on the radio, in public speeches, or on the Internet.”"

Free Speech vs. Muslim Sensibilities "Steyn repeatedly reminded readers that his opponent, Dr. Mohammed Elmasry, was a rather unlikely defender of "human rights":

"... he's the guy who said on Canadian TV [in 2004] that he thought all Israeli civilians over the age of 18 were legitimate targets for murder. In other words, he is an objective supporter of terrorism - I've got no complaint against that: he's entitled to his views, I just wish he thought I was entitled to mine.

"But it does show you how absurd this is, that a guy who is an active supporter of terrorism is suddenly the poster-boy for Canadian human rights."