News, Entertainment, Enlightenment
By William W. Lawrence Sr
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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: Arguing with liberals is like playing chess with a pigeon; no matter how good I am at chess, the pigeon is just going to knock out the pieces, crap on the board, and strut around like it is victorious.
–Anonymous
Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf died yesterday, Dec. 27, at the age of 78. These words from an address he gave the Corps of Cadets at West Point shortly after his victory in the Gulf War are a pretty good way to remember him.
To be a 21st-century leader, you must have two things: competence and character.
I’ve met a lot of leaders that were very, very, very competent. But they didn’t have character. For every job they did well in the Army, they sought reward in the form of promotions, in the form of awards and decorations, in the form of getting ahead at the expense of somebody else, in the form of another piece of paper that awarded them another degree. The only reason why they wanted that was because it was a sure road to faster promotion, to somehow get to the top. You see, these were very competent people, but they lacked character…
I’ve seen competent leaders who stood in front of a platoon and saw it as a platoon. But I’ve seen great leaders who stood in front of a platoon and saw it as 44 individuals, each of whom had his hopes, each of whom had his aspirations, each of whom wanted to live, each of whom wanted to do good. So, you must have character. Some great man once said that character is seen only when nobody is watching. It’s not what people do when they are being watched that demonstrates character, it’s what they do when they are not being watched that demonstrates true character. And that’s sort of what it’s all about. To lead in the 21st Century, to take soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coastguardsmen into battle, you will be required to have both competence and character. You say, “How do I do that?. How do I do that?” The answer is very simple–and I guess this is what I really want to tell you most of all. You are being taught every day at this great institution how to do that. I have a classmate–one of the most ethical and moral people I’ve ever met. I was discussing with him one day what gave him his great character. He said, “Norm, that’s easy. When I went to West Point, I was one of those guys that really believed what they told us up there. And I still do.”
Out there among you are cynics. They are the people who scoff at what you are learning here. They are the people who scoff at hard work. But they don’t know what they are talking about, let me tell you. I can assure you that when the going gets tough and your country needs them, they are not going to be there. They WILL NOT be there. But you will.
Competence with character. That’s what you must have. That’s what you are going to carry with you from West Point. Those of you who really believe what you are learning here. To hell with the cynics. Believe it! Believe it! Believe it! You must believe it if you are going to be a leader of the 21st-century military. You must believe it!
By William W. Lawrence Sr
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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: It is better to be free among those who recognize an inclination towards greed, than to be a slave among those who deny it.
J.W. Dant
Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor, who some are touting to take on Gov. Corbett in the 2014 GOP primary, has penned support for right to work. 
Right to work means unions can’t make an employer deduct union dues or service fees from an employee’s check. The money to pay for the salaries of union leaders must be given voluntarily without compulsion. It’s about time a Republican came out in support of the worker and against special interests.
Thank you, Bruce.
Below is the letter:
By his recent signing of legislation making Michigan the 24th state to prohibit unions from forcing workers to join and pay dues, Rick Snyder joined Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker as a beacon of leadership.
The measure approved by Gov. Snyder, known as Right to Work, will give the Wolverine State a much-needed economic boost. The premise is simple: giving workers freedom makes them more prosperous. Research by the Commonwealth Foundation shows that Right-to-Work states, on average, have higher employment and per-capita income (adjusting for cost of living) than forced unionism states.
Another key component of worker freedom is paycheck protection, which protects public sector union members from having dues automatically deducted from their paychecks. It also prevents their dues money from being used for political purposes without their consent. Paycheck protection holds public sector unions fully accountable to their members, which ensures they get the greatest amount of take-home pay possible while getting the level of representation they want.
With Pennsylvania’s economy and personal income growth lagging, it’s time to give our workers the freedom they want and deserve to prosper. It’s mind-boggling that we are still a forced unionism state when nearly three-fourths (72 percent) of our residents favor right-to-work legislation, according to a 2011 survey by the Manhattan Institute.
All that is needed to give our workers freedom and more prosperity is the kind of leadership and courage that has been shown in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Wayne Lapierre of the National Rifle Association got grief from the “I Think I’m Smart Crowd” when he reiterated Bill Clinton’s idea of having armed guards in public schools as a more effective means of making them safe than gun bans.
The Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C. where President Obama’s daughters go has 11 armed guards as standard operating procedure, Brietbart.com has revealed. In other words, this does not include the Secret Service protection the Obama girls get.
Note Sidwell is a Quaker school.
In other ironic gun-grabbing news, David Gregory of NBC, who was complaining of too few gun laws is facing charges after waving around a 30-round magazine to demonstrate his point on last week’s Meet the Press. The possession of the magazine is illegal in Washington D.C. where the show is produced.
What parents have to come to understand is that their children are going to be most safe and best treated in schools that they can fire.
By William W. Lawrence Sr
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Answer to yesterday’s puzzle: You don’t know a woman until you have had a letter from her.
Ada Levenson
Chalk this one in the stories you won’t see in the Philadelphia Inquirer category.
Maryland Democrat congressional candidate Wendy Rosen is facing up to 10 years in prison for voting in 2006 and 2010 in Maryland despite being a resident of Florida. She withdrew from this year’s 1st District race against incumbent Andy Harris after the charges became public. She still got 92,000 votes. There are a whole lot of people in this country who really don’t care in the rule of law it seems.
Massachusetts state Rep. Stephen Smith, a Democrat, has pleaded guilty to vote fraud for his role in submitting absentee ballot applications and casting invalid ballots in multiple elections in 2009 and 2010 in elections that he won. Smith will escape jail time in return for the guilty plea, resigning from his office and agreeing not to seek elected office for five years.
In New Jersey, campaign worker John Fernandez is getting five years for filling out absentee ballots in other persons’ names without their knowledge for the 2007 New Jersey Senate campaign of Teresa Ruiz.
Filling out absentee ballots in other persons’ names without their knowledge is how the Democrat establishment won a 2009 election in Troy, N.Y. Apparently it was recognized as the normal course of business up there.
Does this sort of thing happen in Pennsylvania? In Philadelphia? Ho ho ho, as Santa would say.
In the last election, Democrats refused to seat court-appointed Republican poll watchers at 43 sites in the city as the Dems followed their tradition of appointing their own poll watchers. How did the Inquirer treat this bit of news? They noted it on the fourth page of a long piece about how a mean judge rejected a request to give the Democrat Party more provisional ballots in the city where several wards went 100 percent for Obama.
Yes, Republicans have good reason to be suspicious about the results of the last election.
If you don’t think it’s happening ask yourself why the Democrats fought so hard to keep photo voter ID from taking effect.
Here’s the report from Fox News about the recent vote fraud cases.
By William W. Lawrence Sr