Goomba Nation ... a word with you

Greetings. I want to take a brief moment to let you all know that though I will still be hanging around these parts, you might not see as much of me over the next few months in terms of posts or comments. Real life beckons. It's one of the reasons I stopped blogging at the trailer park in the first place. Then, my brother Goomba lured me out of my hole. I am ever-grateful.

Now, with the fine team that St. Nick has assembled here, I am certain that things will rock along just swimmingly. I am really enjoying the contributions of all my fellow GNN staff, and I tip my Custer cover to you all, even if I need a translator/thesaurus/English prof-at-the-ready when Rhod writes.

You know, we bloggers are prone to thin-skinnedness and such (except for Goomba ... he has a thick, luxurious coat), so please, understand you're not getting the silent treatment if you don't hear from me, even if you write a scathing expose on my various girlfriends at Fox News. (My relationships there are a matter of public record, so bring it on.) All is well. So, if you stick it to me good or call Pres. GWB a pinko-commie, fear not. If I am occupied, God, or a drone made in Texas, will smite you.

But now, before I head back to the trailer to tend to my crops for the spring, let me say a few things, since we're all here:

We've made it to 2010 and survived while hanging by a thread politically in '09. Looking back, it was a marvelous year of rediscovering the engagement it takes for a nation to remain free. However, the real battle lies ahead, and it is not so much the 2010 elections (which I do think are important and require our focus and energy), but rather winning hearts and minds. Now, go forth and do so with good cheer.

The nation is in peril. Our economy is a mess, and there are no adults in charge of the government who have the good sense to allow Americans to work our way out of this. Worse yet, yes ... worse yet, our national security is in jeopardy. Just today, Obama got an "F" rating for bioterror preparedness. We've been attacked at Fort Hood, nearly lost an airliner ... and Obama's people are telling us that they are not up to the job. These are serious times.

One of the reasons I didn't go high and to the right (as some conservatives did) about President Bush's overspending -- spending that looks Scrooge-like now, by comparison -- was that I saw where we were in terms of national security, including the threats on the horizon and realized: If we're all dead, none of this matters. The Bush Administration made national security its first priority after 9/11. The results speak for themselves. On the other hand, Obama has made ramming an unwanted, disasterous health-care bill down the nation's throat ... while we are broke and at war ... his number one priority.

I miss Pres. Bush. I miss his integrity. I miss his love of our troops. I miss the fact that he understood that he was a steward of something so much greater than himself, indeed, a position and ideals so much higher than petty politics or grandstanding.

None of us know, for we can't see into the mind and soul of Pres. Obama, but I do wonder what he thinks about America in his heart of hearts. This I do believe: He sees the nation far differently than our last president.

The voting malfeasance of those on "our side" who allowed the Obama presidency to occur -- either through act or omission -- has put the nation in great danger. That we on the right might get political gains out of this doesn't matter at all to me.

As Americans, we should hold this truth to be self-evident: That the nation's security, health and welfare always trumps politics.

So ... go forth, be happy warriors, and make a difference in your own spheres of influence. I have written previously, and said many times, that our real work starts at home ... then works out to our neighborhoods, then to our towns and states, and so on.

This is the real work, and I would daresay that a life well-lived is far more persuasive and powerful than the most poignant prose.

God bless you all. See you around.


Semper Fidelis