Foehammer’s Anvil

Over the course of the past few weeks and this past Memorial Day weekend, I accumulated some experiences that have given me a fresh perspective on the present condition of the United States of America. This morning I’m going to share these insights with you, gentle readers.

Often people will ask me how difficult it is to preach outside the “choir” of the relatively safe fold of like-minded thinkers that tend to gravitate towards websites like my own. The answer to that is what you might expect — it isn’t easy. But it also always heavily depends on the immediate surroundings you find yourself in, and as you will come to understand quickly, the general nature of the community where you find yourself speaking to a few strangers about the threats of Islam and Sharia Law and Illegal Immigration. And yes, I have come to find that these three subjects are all so tightly tied to one another that any conversation about just one can easily swing to the others (and back) without so much as a finger-press of effort.

A few weeks ago I was invited to a friend’s birthday party and I attended graciously. I knew the event would be in a ‘Sanctuary City’, that I would know no persons at the party other than the host, and that I would most likely be surrounded by firm liberals to boot, since that’s what my friend happens to be, and birds of a feather, well, you know the rest. So, I was not surprised at all to get questioned at one point by a friend of a friend as to what my blog was about, because he’d heard rumor of it from the birthday boy. I politely warned the gentleman next to me that it might not exactly be a topic he’d want to discuss while eating dinner, and that I wouldn’t give him my web address anyway, for his sake as well as my own — a choice I soon would come to realize a very wise precaution.

The gentleman from the ‘Sanctuary City’ pressed on though, and so I relented and briefly went into the basics: Islam and Sharia Law and their effects on the United States and how they should both be outlawed. It wasn’t more than ten minutes before this fellow uttered the following phrase:

“That’s crazy talk.”

Now, you might think I’d get defensive perhaps at that point, but I’m an old hand at this sort of thing by now and I did exactly the opposite. I simply replied:

“Is it? I told you we’d have been better off eating dinner.” And I smiled and reached for my drink.

But this liberal gentleman pressed on: “So, are you saying that Danny Thomas should be thrown out of the country?” To which I lifted an eyebrow and replied: “Danny Thomas is a Muslim now? I’m not calling for the ousting of American citizens — it isn’t that simple.” But I found myself immediately predicting where this conversation was heading and fast, and since a band was playing, this wasn’t one I was going to continue in an atmosphere that deserved me as the center of attention and was best left out of a birthday party. Instead, I was going to be a sideline conversationalist under assault by yet another illogical liberal looking for a cross-burner to ridicule. Because you see, Danny Thomas is of Arab decent, but he is not, in fact, a Muslim. Marlo Thomas would have had one helluva short acting career if her daddy was.

Isn’t that interesting though, that this educated liberal mind would so quickly try to turn the focus of the conversation on its head with an instant attempt at painting me as a racist for daring to state that Islam should be outlawed in the USA?

The next thing out of his mouth, as I said, was predictable: “I have friends that are Muslims.” To which I almost responded. “Are you sure they are Muslims, or are they really Lebanese Christians, you racist bastard, and you don’t know the difference between being Arab and being Muslim.”

But at that point our food arrived and I simply smiled and said to the room: “This looks great.” Then I leaned over to my new ‘friend’ and said: “Aren’t you glad you pressed the subject now?” And I began eating my dinner and dropped the conversation.

I’m quite sure that the little episode I just described has been repeated in restaurants, bars, social gatherings, casual banter between neighbors, at sporting events and in coffee houses around this nation, in one form or another, countless times since 9-11. If you’re looking to get into an argument, talk religion or politics. If you’re looking to get into a throw-down, talk about Islam, which is both.

Some information about Danny Thomas is now in order:

Marlo Thomas is the daughter of Danny Thomas, a nightclub comedian and television and film actor of Lebanese Maronite Christian descent. He was born Amos Yakhoob in Michigan. He and his wife, Rose Marie Mantell (born Cassaniti), were likely America’s most famous Maronite couple. Rose Marie was of Italian descent. The Daily Catholic placed him 86 on the list of top 100 Catholics, just above the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.

So, now you see how groups like CAIR are out and about drawing fuzzy lines between Arab and Muslim, and they are having enough success at it that a white-bread American Christian liberal is unwittingly doing their propaganda for them at a birthday party. Beware, gentle readers, because this “race card” tactic will be flung at you sometime also, if it hasn’t already, and now after reading this, I hope you are better prepared to deal with such “crazy talk” from the Left yourselves. If I had been in a different situation other than a cordial birthday party, I would have drawn-out that argument and delved into the differences between being Arab and being Muslim for my caustic listener, but that just wasn’t the time and place. But this is, today, and that is the benefit that can be taken from these otherwise awkward experiences from the past.

Now, on to the much different reception I had this Memorial Day weekend in Small Town USA.

In a traditional greasy-spoon on Mainstreet, I had cheese enchiladas for dinner and was joined by a neighbor of mine and a few members of his family at our round table, and even more were at a larger and longer table nearby with kids and grandkids. I was the “outsider” guest of honor and I was on my second day in Small Town USA and loving every minute of it. Directly across from me sat a baseball coach older than myself and his 20 year old son just arrived back on break from Texas A&M. Soon the conversation turned to where it always seems to delve when I’m around, and I was amazed to hear the coach/father say:

“I’m glad to hear someone say the things I’ve been thinking for so damn long.”

And the college student/son readily agreed with me about the need to drill for more domestic oil. His degree focus just happens to be in Agricultural Engineering. Surprised that he would understand the need? Don’t be. The young man inherited his old man’s common sense.

And that was pretty much the theme of my entire visit to Small Town USA: Common Sense Thinking.

But it gets even better. Earlier that day I was taken out to one of the top gun ranges in the country that just happens to be a mainstay of Small Town USA, and my host was my neighbor’s father-in-law, a Vietnam veteran who’s worked steel his entire life and does one terrific job at it from the looks of his custom roofing at his own house. We bought a couple of boxes of .40 caliber and 9mm ammo in addition to the .22 bullets already in the bag, and we wandered over to a part of the range to help me remember how to shoot; it had been well over a decade since I’d had the opportunity to practice with a live firearm.

I’m happy to report that by the end of the hour we spent on the range I was able to put half my clip into the head of a torso shaped target from 60 yards. I’ve still got the knack.

My gun of preference? I liked the kick and power of the heavier .40 caliber pistol. For accuracy I’m sure my own .22 pistols that were left at home would have been far better, but for actually giving that secure stopping-power feeling combined with accuracy, the particular punch of the .40 caliber round couldn’t be matched.

Elsewhere on the range were trap shoots going off and as we drove in and drove back out there was a class for women shooters with at least a dozen students going on.

Yes, Islamists, I’m here to tell you that not only is the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution safe and sound, it’s being well-practiced in corners of the USA where you’d best keep your heads down should you decide to pull off another 9-11. There are grandmas in this country that can out-shoot al-Qaeda. And I’m no slouch myself.

While talking to Small Town USA, I never once heard anything but respect for our military, support for our efforts in Iraq and admission that we have problems with Illegal Immigration and Iran that need to be addressed. Saudi Arabia was also named, and Syria. Let me tell you, it gave me new steam to see that even in a town of barely over 1,000 citizens, the truth was seeping into the soil of the American people and that the will to prosecute this war against Islamic incursions not only exists, it’s flourishing.

What a glaring juxtaposition from the Sanctuary City attitudes.

And before you think that the Small Town USA folks are ill-educated bumpkins, it should be noted that most of the people I was surrounded by in both instances attended many of the same universities as those Sanctuary City folks from the birthday party, and the kids of my friends in Small Town USA were getting ready in several cases to attend big state colleges. These weren’t hillbillies, these were teachers and property owners. These were real, tried-and-true Americans like anywhere else.

Common Sense is not dead in the United States. The People can handle the TRUTH, George W., if you ever have the guts to give it to them before you leave office, but beyond all that, the will to face this war and the necessary sacrifices is definitely intact.

This Memorial Day weekend gave me renewed hope for our nation. I hope that many of you may have found the same sort of experiences in your own journeys over the past few days, too. We need more of this honest experience, and we need more of us in the “choir” to get out and preach to the masses so that the status quo in Washington, DC is no longer good enough. We need the American people to demand action against our enemies and to see our enemies named, stamped and dated for what they are.

I believe Islam will not be blindly tolerated in the United States as members of CAIR are hoping. I also firmly believe that a backlash against idiot Representatives in our government is building and that they would be wise to pay closer attention to the determinative powers of the American People and address our concerns with grit instead of sloth, or they will find themselves out of jobs.

Sanctuary Cities and the other machinations and resulting evils of the Far Left Anarchists will have to be pulled back into step with the rest of the nation or should face the wrath of the Federal Government, which has a sworn duty to protect the sanctity of this Union of ours. Either the Constitution applies equally to all or we might as well burn it now.

It might just be up to all the Small Town USAs to save us from ourselves before the end. So, get out there and practice at the range to give yourself a refresher course. It’s your right, and one day it might very well be your duty.