"(Conservatives) love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups."

If you listen to a lot of conservatives, they'll tell you that the difference between them and us is that conservatives love America and liberals hate America. That we "blame America first." That we're suspicious of patriotism and always think our country's in the wrong. As conservative radio and TV personality Sean Hannity says, we liberals "train our children to criticize America, not celebrate it."
They don't get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world.
That's why we liberals want America to do the right thing. We know America is the hope of the world, and we love it and want it to do well. We also want it to do good.
When liberals look back on history, we see things we're very proud of. And we also see some things, which might have seemed like good ideas at the time, but turned out to be mistakes. And some things we did, well, they were just bad. That doesn't keep us from loving our country—it's part of loving our country. It's called honesty. What do you think is more important to a loving relationship: honesty or lies? 

ref: Franken, Al. Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them : A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. New York: Dutton, 2003. 24. Print.

Alan Stuart "Al" Franken is an American comedian, actor, politician, and writer. He is currently the junior United States Senator from Minnesota. He became well known in the 1970s and 1980s as a writer and performer on Saturday Night Live.

ref: Al Franken, Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You may find the book in the embedded link right here contained within its title,  Lies & the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair & Balanced Look at the Right.

American Conservative Thinking on Syrian Refugees. WWJS?

WWJS

What would Jesus say to Americans who want to deny admission of Syrian refugees into the United States of America?

(Click or tap on the meme to enlarge it.)

USA Should Welcome Syrian Refugees

Americans who are clamoring for refusal of Syrian refugees entry into the United States of America brings to mind an event that happened in USA history involving President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1939 that is just as shameful as denying the Syrian refugees today.

"The MS St. Louis was a German ocean liner most notable for a single voyage in 1939, in which her captain, Gustav Schröder, tried to find homes for 908 Jewish refugees from Germany, after they were denied entry to Cuba, the United States and Canada, until finally accepted in various European countries, which were later engulfed in World War II. Historians have estimated that, after their return to Europe, approximately a quarter of the ship's passengers died in concentration camps."

ref: Wikipedia article, MS St. Louis

"On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba. On the voyage were 937 passengers. Almost all were Jews fleeing from the Third Reich. Most were German citizens, some were from eastern Europe, and a few were officially "stateless."
The majority of the Jewish passengers had applied for US visas, and had planned to stay in Cuba only until they could enter the United States. But by the time the St. Louis sailed, there were signs that political conditions in Cuba might keep the passengers from landing there. The US State Department in Washington, the US consulate in Havana, some Jewish organizations, and refugee agencies were all aware of the situation. The passengers themselves were not informed; most were compelled to return to Europe."

ref: Holocaust Encyclopedia, VOYAGE OF THE ST. LOUIS

I had written these things over on Facebook. If you can, you should take a look-see and read the comments I received over there.

Today, many Americans want to refuse admittance of refugees into the United States of America. It is not unlike American attitudes of yesteryear. Please go on over to The Washington Post to read the article, What Americans thought of Jewish refugees on the eve of World War II.

As with the previous reference in regards to the MS St. Louis incident, I had also written this comment about American attitudes over on Facebook. And as with the previous reference, if you can, you should take a look-see and read the comments I received over there about American attitudes today being similar to those of the past.

SHAME on those people sharing xenophobic comments, messages, and memes that actually spread hatred of refugees fleeing their countries of origin (especially Syria right now) seeking to escape torture and murder by violent extremists. WWJS

Emma Lazarus was an American Jewish poet born in New York City. She is best known for "The New Colossus", a sonnet written in 1883; the lines of which appear on a bronze plaque in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. The sonnet reads:

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame

Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Before proclaiming opposition to Syrian refugees seeking sanctuary, I say: Think, people, think!
Please go over to Frontline Fellowship in order to read A Christian Response to Xenophobia.

I refuse to apologize for having the ability to think. Nor will I succumb to the sheeple who parrot Conservative prejudice, discrimination, hatred, and xenophobia.

I say loud and clear:

The USA Should Welcome Syrian Refugees

The War on Christmas

I read this:

"In the United States of America, a nation overwhelmingly Christian, literally any sign of Christmas in public can now lead to complaints, litigation, angry protests, threats, and bruised feelings. Every year the limitations get tighter and tighter and spread to more and more communities, far from the big liberal cities. And as Fox News Channel’s John Gibson reveals in this shocking exposé, it’s not happening by accident.
Secular liberals say they’re just protecting the constitutional rights of non-Christians who don’t want to see or hear about Christmas. But what about the constitutional rights of millions of Americans who simply want to celebrate their traditional holiday—without insulting anyone else but also without having to hide behind closed doors?"

on a website advertising a book for sale.
The name of the book is:

The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought

and, the website is contained within this embedded link.

Another interesting read starts out with this:

”It was the Yuletide, that men call Christmas though they know in their hearts it is older than Bethlehem and Babylon, older than Memphis and mankind."

—H.P. Lovecraft[1]

The so-called "War on Christmas" (or less sensationally, the Christmas controversy) a primarily American right-wing demagogic neologism referring to secular attempts to keep the December solstice holiday shopping season culturally inclusive. It is famously fought every year by none other than Bill O'Reilly.

and, it comes from Wikipedia article, War on Christmas, You may read that entire article by following the embedded link contained within its title.

Zack Hunt, Writer, Blogger, and Speaker, has written something interesting that I found over on TheHuffingtonPost.com and I suggest you go on over there to read:
The War On Christmas Is Real and It's Being Waged by Christians, Posted: 11/10/2015 2:45 pm EST Updated: 11/10/2015 2:59 pm EST

And then there is the article over at The Washington Post that I suggest you also read. Just go on over to:
The phony ‘War on Christmas’ is back, fueled by those alleged Jesus haters at Starbucks

And now, I close out this Roland Hansen Commentary blog entry with the following two memes.