Why Anwar al-Awlaki Is Laughing

The clip above demonstrates why we are losing; why Anwar al-Awlaki looks so much like the cat that's just polished off the cream. The difference in mindset is as obvious as it is annoying. One side is unsure, scattered, careful, unfocused; the other is determined, unified and having fun. Note they've identified us. That's where it starts.

We still refuse to identify them. Instead, we turn on ourselves. To most of us - or, at least, at the time we elected Barack Hussein Obama - George, Rush and Palin were considered more of a threat to us than AQ. (Freud would be perplexed by our inclination to regard non-threatening things and situations as dangerous, while we blissfully ignore the real thing.)

I truly believe that our gambit was and remains the following: assuage evil, and evil will not hurt us. Of course, nobody would be so bold as to identify evil. In fact, the strategy itself precludes identifying evil. Taken to its logical conclusion, the concept either (A) does not exist - like God - or (B) could only be used to apply to ourselves. The immediate consequence of the latter was to produce traitors in our midst, while the former produced ostrich eggs. Interesting too is that we have yet to formulate a Plan B.

That's why Anwar al-Awlaki is laughing. Even AQ's failures produce tangible results. The 24-hour news channels prove it. In failing to identify the enemy, we're once again at each other's throats. How’s that ‘hope and change’ working out for you? Happy New Year, everyone! May we all be so fortunate as to survive it.

Things Turn Dicey

What was the money quote that seems to define this administration? - Something about never letting a crisis go to waste? Sounds like these guys are quite happy when things turn dicey. It gives the president another chance to get out there and blame Bush. Bush, after all, was the one who put the security apparatus that failed in place. Obama had nothing to do with it, it seems. This alone could easily give POTUS a month of talking points about 'hope and change' to distract from the poisoned pill health care bill (which will now sneak through under the radar). It will kill health care and the economy to boot, just as sure as the would-be bomber’s ex-Guantanamo denizen handlers fully expected to bring down that plane over Detroit. Only, the bomber was a kid with a serious attack of nerves. He probably peed in his pants which was likely the only thing that kept the explosives from going off.

Obama is no kid. He's not stupid. If he looks stupid to you, know that it's an act. Barack Hussein Obama is a committed ideologue. By now we should all know what his ideology is. He knows he must first break the back of this country in order to then build it up into what he has in mind. America is diminished, but survives yet. It survives despite the efforts of Obama and the Left. They can be expected to keep hammering away at it as long as they’re able: that Interpol thing, healthcare, cap and trade, immigration, spending, more spending - even the mishandling of the terrorist threat.

I attended a pre-New Year's Eve breakfast in my neighborhood yesterday. There were cucumber sandwiches, (German) Christmas Stollen, and English Breakfast Tea, quietly brewing in a pot wrapped in a cozy. I remember the liberal ladies asking me, "You don't mean Obama...?" eyes open wide, never finishing the question. It's too disturbing even to contemplate. I understood what was not being said, and did not object when they abruptly changed the subject.

Flatlining

In every blog of mine, I try to make the same point: Barack Hussein Obama is not stupid; he knows exactly what he’s doing. The media is starting to come around, but they’re approaching every story from the perspective that Obama is stupid. We laugh and pat ourselves on the back and say, “I told you so.” And we feel good about ourselves, adding, “So, how’s that ‘hope and change’ thing working out for you?” …more self-satisfied laughter.

But we’re falling into a trap; the same trap we fell into with Bush. In Bush’s case, we just had fun. We weren’t really concerned. We just played along with the hyperbole because it made us laugh. Obama is not so funny; he’s dangerous. Nobody’s laughing anymore. Unfortunately, we blew our wad on Bush – we cried ‘wolf’ too many times – now no one believes us anymore. Hell, we don’t even believe ourselves!

All I’m saying is that until we get off this ‘the president is a moron’ kick, things will only get worse for us. For one thing, good people are afraid to run for office. As for Obama, the sooner we recognize the criminal nature of what he’s doing and trying to do, this country will continue to flatline.

What's Happened to the Engineer?

Aaron Klein, the Jerusalem Bureau Chief for World Net Daily writes, "Republican lawmakers last month placed a 'hold' on Obama's pick to head the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) over concerns he (Erroll Southers) could undermine safety by unionizing airport security." As I read this, I would have to say that no one is in charge at the TSA. The system still functions, but solely on the momentum of what previous administrations have put in place. However, it now appears that the clocks are winding down.

We could take it a step further and scribe a wider arc to include the entire U.S. government; and we could say with equal certitude that no one is in charge there as well - not in a practical way, at any rate. We are reminded of it over and over again as we watch the dollar's steady downward slide; as we watch gate crashers crashing White House security; as we watch our foreign policy unraveling; as we watch for the mailman to bring us our government checks.

On so many levels, in so many areas, we are barely moving on rapidly dying momentum. Since Barack Hussein Obama took office, nothing of substance has been added. The Yankee Clipper is running out of steam and the passengers are getting nervous. "Why are we slowing down?" they're asking. "What's happened to the engineer?"

What indeed! Could somebody check? How long do you think it would take to bring in a new guy to take over?

Stop Punishing Us!!!

Let's see now if I can follow this: Because we aren't allowed to 'profile', every airline passenger must be viewed as a potential suicide bomber; and air passengers, are therefore expected to sacrifice that uniquely American convenience of being innocent until proven guilty. This approach is already flawed because, clearly, not everyone is a terrorist – please excuse me, I forgot for a moment that we aren’t allowed to use that word anymore. Let’s substitute ‘terrorist’ with the old Cherokee term, ‘one who smells of explosive substances’. Let’s continue…

Since it is impractical to screen every passenger, we must go by the numbers. This means, we screen every tenth (or any number) person. If the tenth person happens to be a four-year old child, or a 97-year old grandmother - or, heaven forbid, a 23-year old Caucasian male - these folks will be pulled from the line for special attention (from now on surely to include a rectal exam by a certified government health professional as well).

By the same token, if the eighth person in line happens to be a guy named Mohammed who’s on the terror list (there goes that banned word again – I guess, the list , by extension cannot be said to exist either), paid for his one-way ticket with cash at the airport, has no luggage or passport, and has wires sticking out of his shoes, we can’t touch him because (1) he’s not the tenth person (and we wouldn’t want to be sued if it turns out that he’s not planning anything). And (2) he’s obviously not white and we wouldn’t want to be seen as being racist. In fact, it’s been quite permissible in the past to bend the rules a bit in this situation, for, even if he happens to be the tenth person, we’re allowed to pretend he’s #11 or 9. As a person of color, he wouldn’t understand the self-imposed hoops we're required to jump through – and we wouldn’t want to offend, after all.

What to do? Profile! Use your brains!! Use your common sense!!! Realize we’re at war with these people!!!! Stop punishing us for what they do!!!!! Damn it!!!!!!

Will Silver and Gold Climb?

The answer to most of your questions is a resounding YES, except for the one about silver and gold. People from India, for example, have been going to Dubai for decades for the express purpose of buying gold. This is tradition. It is not new. The value of gold is a constant. Only currencies fluctuate – up or down. If the dollar, the yen and the euro implode, gold will not be of much help. Neither will property (unless you are actually living there).

I recall my mother telling me about fleeing the Russian advance during WW II. They'd packed all their valuables into wagons and headed west. All along the wayside, she remembers seeing the carcasses of dead pack animals strewn; along with the 'valuables' people had discarded in an effort to lighten the load. Nobody thought it a smart idea to stop and load gold candle holders or silverware onto their own carts.

Currencies are the only thing capable of gaining in value. It depends entirely on the work and productivity of the people they represent. If a government hinders people from working; if it smothers productivity; if it runs up too much debt; if it prints too much paper; if it taxes too much and makes it unprofitable to work; if it insists on shifting value from productive sectors to unproductive sectors - everything that we are currently doing - the currency will fail and the disaster will be more than just economic. This is why socialism/communism cannot work on a societal plane of higher complexity than the single family unit.

If there Were No America

I had relatives living on the South Indian coast when the tsunami hit. Within minutes I was on the phone trying to find out if everything was alright. It was. It turns out, we were far enough away from the beach to escape serious damage. The water's advance had stopped just down the road. The neighbors attributed it to the favored status by the gods of the legendary Indian singer, Yesudhas, whose house stands at the end of our block, at the corner of 4th Seaward and Balakrishna.

What has come to be known by its date, 9/11, happened a few years earlier. The news of it spread like a wildfire around the world. I was working at the time. It was a brilliant, clear day. We could see the smoke rising from numerous vantage points on the NJ side of the Hudson. After my shift I went home, shaken. That night I received phone calls from three continents …inquiring.

Today, the lettering announcing 'tsunami relief', painted on the side of the boats that were donated by the West to the fishermen who had lost their livelihoods, is fading. The new boats still go out every morning at daybreak without fail as they have done for a thousand years. In New York City, there's still a giant hole in the ground. No foreign nation has come forward to lend a hand.

I've long wondered what would happen if there were no America. Who would send food to the starving, blankets to the freezing, building materials and expertise to the homeless, hope to the oppressed? Surely none of the would-be giants of the new world order one hears so much about these days would be so inclined.

And, maybe, in the end, it won’t really matter all that much. I was talking about it with my wife just last night – about how vulnerable we all are; how even what we consider to be the ultimate in stability, terra firma, is just a brittle crust that’s floating on a sea of lava; that the whole universe could at any given moment decide to make us the target in a shooting gallery; that our own lives are only a heart attack away from being snuffed out.

So what do we do? Faith. We must live on faith. Attacking a people’s faith is the quickest way of rendering them helpless. Yes, by God! We will get our country back!

Things We Are Allowed to Hate

This story makes me mad. And it looks like it’s making other people mad as well. In any case, it’s set to run its all too predictable course in the national press for a couple of days and then be forgotten. In the meantime we can expect to hear that Islam is a peaceful religion; that Muslims have contributed more to mankind than perhaps all other religions combined; that we here in the West are singularly to blame for their anger; that until and unless there is social justice in the world, we can expect to be targeted. We will be told that our president is doing all he can to bow to and appease all those who hate us; that he will boldly re-double his efforts to reward Middle Eastern hotbeds with our largesse and expertise, and revive previously failed efforts to forge critical contacts (perhaps banking John Kerry’s wide expertise in global affairs) to nudge ourselves into Tehran’s benevolent orbit.

Meanwhile, the American news media will be careful to never show the man’s face, for he might look like a Muslim. Instead, they will only show the plane; as is their bent, only to show selective inanimate objects that fit the classification of what we are allowed to hate: SUVs, guns, Caucasian males, unborn fetuses and grandmothers.

In the meantime, all the rest of us must endure increased scrutiny at airports, especially Caucasian males, children and grandmothers while politically-correct sensibility is allowed to shrug off obvious clues such as ethnicity, political affiliation, age, and circumstance. (Sorry, we’re only allowed to check the no-fly list if we know you’re not on it.)

Now that we’ve caught one, let’s make sure he’s comfortable. Let’s give him the best of what’s left of our medical care. Perhaps he’ll tell us more of what we don’t really want to know out of his now boundless gratitude to us. We’ll have to apologize and beg forgiveness for all those ruffians on the plane who might have inadvertently given him a fat lip, neglected to read him his rights, or failed to let him have his one phone call to Osama.

Meanwhile, after a couple of days, we won’t mention it again just like 9/11, the global warming e-mails, Obama’s birth certificate, Letterman’s infidelities, Clinton’s infidelities, Reid’s unconstitutional bribes; Pelosi’s brutal arm-twisting, and everything else that’s uncomfortable for the Stalinist Left to live with.

In the mean time, we’ll just keep yelling BUSH; Cheney; Bush, CHENEY, Rove, Rumsfeld …on and on, forever, Amen.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Black Swan

In the early 70’s singer-composer Tom Rush had a minor hit with “Circle Game” in which he talks about the cyclical nature of life.

There are essentially two ways of divining the future. Both involve looking to the past. Most fortune-tellers look to the recent past to make pronouncements about tomorrow’s weather or stock market. Others make bold leaps, taking into consideration such things as the ‘Big Bang’ and the rise and fall of empires. Either approach risks not seeing something that may be critical: the sudden and unexpected appearance of a black swan.

Take the stock market for an example. Looking to the recent past will show that markets go up and down. As we are currently clawing back from a low, conventional wisdom would have it that we should be investing now rather than later (when the markets can be expected to be higher). This view, however, assumes that nothing fundamental has changed with the election of Barack Hussein Obama. It assumes that he either will fail to deliver what he has promised; or that he doesn’t really mean what he says. I do not fall into that category.

I continue to believe that something has fundamentally changed. The free market has been discredited and will no longer be given the breathing room that it needs to survive. Instead, we will see market manipulation by men whose judgment may be flawed by emotion and skewed by bias. As competing interest are likely to undercut any given strategy every step of the way, we will see abortive rallies and reversals which will in effect grind the markets into chaotic bits.

We will look back with bitter longing for the predictable cycles of yesteryear as we find ourselves entangled in the chaos of someone’s slipshod vision from which a new world order will be said to have emerged. No yardstick will yet exist to measure the efficacy of this Utopia. It will be what it is, and what somebody tells you it is. You see, you will no longer have a brain with which to judge these things for yourself.

Ignore Them

Unlike those who still cling to the slim-to-none hope that this so-called 'health care’ bill will yet be derailed, I do believe something approximating its nomenclature will reach the president's desk in due time. He will sign it, of course. It will represent, at the very least, the camel having gotten its considerable nose under the tent.

I also believe that this particular bill - along with everything else that is advanced by this administration – has been presented under false cover. In other words, 'health care’ is ultimately not about 'health' or 'care'. Instead, it is a cynical attempt by one political party to grow government and to secure for itself a permanent position of leadership within it. You might even say that such intent is laudable and can be expected from any political party worth its salt. The rub is when it's being done by misrepresentation, bribery, threat, and without the support of the voters the party is supposed to represent.

The '08 election has now turned into a coup. When the people called or sent letters to their elected representatives, they were ignored. When the people held 'tea parties' all around the country in hopes of catching Washington's attention, they were demeaned. When the people confronted their representatives at town hall events, they were shouted down. When people showed up in great numbers on the steps of the Capitol, they were turned back. Eventually, the people would get the message that they are no longer a part of the process.

The times for democracy in our country are dire indeed. But we are not helpless. We need not let our enemies paint us as victims with bull's eyes attached to our chests and backs. We can do to them exactly what they're doing to us: We can ignore them.

When the mailman brings us mountains of forms and paperwork (from the government) for us to fill out and send back, we can simply throw it in the trash - unopened; same thing applies any official government mailing bearing the words ‘important’ or 'open immediately' including letters from the IRS. Simply refuse to play; ignore them as they are ignoring us. It has to be done en mass though. If only some of us do it, they’ll pick us off one by one and no one will be any the wiser.

Then, after the weather turns nice again, put out the flag and set up a chair on the front lawn, on your stoop or your balcony. Go out there and sit with your dog (if you have one) and listen to the second hour of Rush on your portable radio. Don't create a disturbance; don't make a spectacle of yourself - just sit quietly on your front lawn in a simple, dignified act of defiance.

If enough people did that, day after day, along every street, in every town, it would scare the bjesus out of our blood-sucking bureaucrats and politicians. Each time they’d see or hear about one of us sitting quietly in front of our houses, it would prick their consciences. Eventually, it would invade their dreams. They need to be reminded every day of their betrayal; their breech of duty. They need to be shown up as rogue. They need to be aware that the possibility of criminal charges lurks just down the road.

The jails and ACORN armies they’re preparing to counter us will be no match for our silent public vigils; on our own properties (no less). No additional laws or infamous act - short of a Katyn-style massacre - would serve to silence our wordless protest - our bloodless resistence - IF we ever decided to stand together and take our country back.

Foreshadowing

In literature the term foreshadowing is used to predict future action. In history, politics can be used to foreshadow a turn of events. Foreshadowing is usually a depiction of small occurrences, or a myriad of small occurrences that essentially mirror what can be expected happen on a much grander scale later on.

Mexico has already crossed over into a cycle of revenge-driven violence. There are essentially two sides: the weak and divided government, and the ruthless drug cartels. The drug cartels appear to be winning. I recently saw the Mexican film 'Sin Nombre' ('09). It shows the utter disrespect for any sense of decency that the gangs and cartels exhibit. It is not much of a stretch to assume that gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha 13 are operating in league with known geo-political players. Many Mexicans who come to the U.S. do so in order to flee the dangers that lawlessness and political chaos breed.

The evil that is driving them to seek safer havens in the U.S., however, pursues them across the border. In America, we too stand divided. Nobody is yet certain which half of the divide will prevail. At this point both sides can and do claim supremacy as the standard to measure such things has not yet been determined. But already political corpses are piled everywhere. There is fear of political reprisal. There is silence when high crimes are openly committed.

As the worm turns, bullets and blood will take the place of words and cowardice. This is because no less than the fate of a nation is at stake. Two separate ideologies compete for its soul. Before the jackals can feast, the animal must be brought down. Nature plays no favorites. She gives her nod to the jackals by offering them the weakest of the herd. The jackals never know the difference.

Democrats Are Not Suicide Bombers

The way this health care bill is progressing through Congress has produced outrage after outrage. Most significant of these is the fact that two-thirds of Americans don't want it. Yet, it is being rammed through by hook and by crook. What is it that these Democrats have in mind by demonstrating their total disregard for the people who sent them to Washington in the first place?

We do in effect have one-party rule in America today. The American people, in their infinite wisdom, have seen to it that the Democrats should have no opposition. And, indeed, the only opposition we see is within the Democrat party itself. Members can now be seen openly soliciting favors and outright bribes. Republicans are standing on the sidelines, licking their pompous chops, and saying, "The Dems are committing suicide. Why should we stop them?"

Meanwhile, talking media heads are keeping score. “It's not looking good for the Dems in the next election cycle”, they say. The poll numbers look atrocious for the Democrats, yet none of them, save perhaps a handful, seem concerned in the slightest. And therein lies a mystery. Could it be that the Dems know something we don't?

One pundit explained it in terms of the Dems - now solely ideologically driven - being quite willing to suffer future defeats if it means being able to ram their sacred agenda through. Another claimed that this now all but certain ‘victory’ for Obama and the Democrats will be hailed as 'historic' and unbelievably wonderful in the mainstream press, the people will come to believe it after it's been repeated often enough. A third predicted that, by the time the next election rolls around, people will have simply forgotten.

There is certainly ample precedent for all of the above. The ‘9’12 March on Washington’ never happened, after all; and Rush Limbaugh is not the driving force behind the Republican Party. But I do believe this time it's different.

American Democrats are not suicide bombers; they mean to survive. People this time around will not fall for the MSM propaganda. And voters will not forget. For one thing, there will be no happy news to distract us as long as Barack Hussein Obama occupies the Oval Office. There will be nothing to tempt us to forgive and forget. Bottom line: Republicans can expect to win big in the next election(s). Unless...

I believe that the Dems are fully aware of the situation. Yet, by and large, they're confident, almost as if they're quite expecting to rule in perpetuity. The will of the people does not seem to enter into their calculations.

Democrats are running rings around Republicans who still harbor the treasured illusion that there will actually be a next time for them. They don't seem to realize that they’ve already been shut out of the legislative process. They might as well not exist. One party rule, by definition, is never accountable to the people. Therefore, as far as the government in Washington is concerned, neither Republicans nor the people exist. So where’s the problem for Democrats?

We are already a dictatorship in which the legislative politburo simply rubberstamps the leader's demands. The events of the past year have proved as much. To think otherwise is pure delusion.

The Prisons Stand Ready

This parliamentary maneuver by the Dems, if successful (and at this point it sure looks like it will be), will not only kill health care, but will bankrupt the country as well. Additionally, it spells the end of representative government and insures that Marxists (under guise of the banner of an ass) will be in charge of our impoverished landmass forever. No doubt, this has been a great victory for the Left

What the Dems are doing reminds me of any one of the latest Hollywood monster blockbusters in which bigger and bigger guns are brought out to kill the beast: stimulus; health care; cap and trade; immigration...

In this case, the beast is us; we, the American people. I'm not sure why the Left continues to be so unsure of itself. Wasn't the election of Obama enough to knock us out for the count? Apparently, they didn’t think so. We also needed stimulus and healthcare; suffocating taxes; dwindling services...

For some reason the town hall confrontations and the tea parties didn't spawn enough violence for an excuse to call out the troops and put the clamps on broadcasting. Has anybody ever wondered why we have empty prisons sitting out in the middle of nowhere? Is this possibly meant for people who might refuse to buy health insurance, pay their taxes, or send their kids to government schools?

The crackdown hasn't started yet. But when it does, it's good to know that the prisons stand ready. In the meantime, we can put the terrorist there until after their trials are over.

Waiting for Sarah Palin

All this is rooted in the impulse to escape the squalor of earth as used-up hankie. We can’t seem to live here anymore. We’re polluting the air and the water; we’re using up resources; melting the ice; killing species; and on top of everything, we’ve come to hate each other, as well as the weather.

Last night, the U.S. Senate voted to advance a bill that everybody hates. It was done solely to demonstrate the power of the majority party. What’s worse is that very few of those voting knew what they were voting for. They did it simply for revenge; to poke a stick into the eye of the hated opposition.

George W. Bush was the most hated politician, certainly in my lifetime. Nixon came close, but Bush took the cake. He was so despised that the American people voted for an unknown and untested individual on blind faith. The argument was that nobody – absolutely nobody - could be worse than Bush. In addition, in their infinite wisdom, the American people elected clear Democrat majorities to both the House and Senate, abandoning any notion of checks and balances.

Now they sit here and condemn the blue dogs and anybody else who could have saved them from this health care debacle - and didn’t. Today, for instance, there is a lengthy editorial in the WSJ decrying the health care bill and making dire predictions - and putting it all on Nelson. When is it going to dawn on the good people at the WSJ and anybody else who got up this morning shaking their heads that elections have consequences? Elect a Marxist to the office of president and you will get Marxist policies. Brother will be turned against brother, young against old, rich against poor – and you’ll have your revolution. This is how it starts. It’s not funny. Hate! And you will see blood on your streets. It’s as simple as that. Throw any notion of checks and balances out the window and you end up rolling down this road without any brakes.

But we did it only because we hated Bush so much. Why did we really hate him? Why indeed! Was it the war? the torture? The truth is, we can’t really remember exactly. We hated him because every waking minute we were told to hate him; that it was cool to hate; it made us feel better to vent - and it cost us nothing. Bush was a convenient target; he was stupid-looking – bewildered by our hatred - like we ourselves are now, sitting with our thumbs up.... waiting for Sarah Palin to make the announcement.

Gavage

Watching the clip of the president above, you would think what he says is perfectly reasonable. Who would not want the government to provide better health care to more of our people, cheaper than it is now, and with the added bonus of reducing the national expenditure? It almost sounds too good to be true – and it is. The president is lying.

The bill currently before congress will do none of these things. In fact, if enacted, it will do just the opposite. The people know this. They are against it two to one. They know that this administration and this congress are doing them no favors. Come next election, they will remember how this (as of yet still unread) bill was literally shoved down their unwilling throats, greased with old-fashioned Chicago-style bribes, threats, hubris and sheer bloody-mindedness.

The way this health care bill was passed (and, make no mistake, it will be passed. The Dems got their 60 votes for cloture. For final passage they only need 51, along with the president’s signature) was a legislative outrage. It speaks to a larger pattern which is made perhaps even more obvious in the second part of John’s post (above) regarding the climate conference in Copenhagen. The fact that our president went there in an effort to legitimize an obvious farce, and give away money (we don’t have) in the name of ‘social (eco) justice’ – a concept that, if voted on by Americans, would produce no takers – simply begs for an alternative explanation to his publicly stated reasons.

I have often said that I don’t believe that Barack Hussein Obama is stupid. He does not do what he does out of inexperience; that everything he does is part of a plan. By his own words we know he wants to re-do America. That means he wants America to be different from what it has been. It has been pointed out that an overwhelming number of his closest aides, appointments, associations and influences harbor views that are rooted in Marxism. By his actions thus far he has been proven to be no fan of capitalism. On the geo-political spectrum, Obama is most closely aligned with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Brazil’s Lula, both unabashed card-carrying communists.

It is therefore no stretch to assume that BHO intends to impose communism on the United States. In practice, there are two features common to the creation and maintenance of the communist state. One is revolution; the other is strict party discipline, enforced by a dictator (for life). By breaking the bank and destroying the U.S. dollar through reckless spending and accruing unfathomable debt, Obama will have his revolution. By perverting the U.S. Constitution and rendering the whole notion of representative government obsolete, he installs himself as the unopposed leader of his party, the terms of which only he defines.

The Obama-nation will not cease in 2010 or even in 2012. In fact it looks like Obama will win a second term because the opposition vote will be split between Republicans and (independent) Conservatives. By 2016, the opposition will have been silenced altogether. Political struggles will not cease, however. These, as now will simply play out between the Left and the radical Left. The significance of this is that, as now, the American people will no longer have a say.

Pixie Dust and Blizzards

Everyone at the table - naked emperors, all - knows that the 'global warming' farce has unraveled. Everyone knows they stand exposed as the appeasers of a failed ideology. The best they can do is to continue and pretend it isn't so.

Earlier this year, Obama told some Turkish college students, "States are like big tankers, they're not like speedboats. You can't just whip them around and go in another direction."

'Can't' or 'won't'? And the answer is 'won't', because it never was about 'global warming’ anyway. It was about extortion. Chavez made it quite clear in his speech to the delegates, and the chamber erupted in uproarious applause. Meanwhile, outside there was vandalism. The red flag was ubiquitous. I would bet the Russians and the Chinese felt embarrassed by this pathetic display of the (once great) West's incontinent children.

Every one of these so-called leaders (excepting the communists egging them on and, at the same time, mocking them) will from now on find himself in the position of Tiger Woods. They will return home to outraged electorates, who will be in no mood to listen to stories of pixie dust and blizzards in Hopenhagen (sic).

What Happens Next?

I see a disconnect here. On one hand we're supposed to help the Mexicans, the Iraqis, the Pakistanis, etc. defeat the enemy. On the other, we're supposed to believe that Iran, N. Korea, and even Russia either have or will soon have nuclear weapons potential.

Since it's a fact that we're not really willing to stop anyone from having nuclear bombs, let's stop getting our panties in a knot about it and think logically. Let's show them that we don't really care what they say (or don't say) because we believe in ourselves.

Let's make it clear that we're willing to put our military, our bombs, and our technology up against theirs any time they choose. Let's call their bluff. Does anyone honestly believe that a bunch of psycho-illiterates can hit New York or Jerusalem with any kind of accuracy, with rockets that are more likely than not to explode on the launch pad?

I'm beginning to believe there's a lot of bluffing going on. And we've fallen for it too many times already. Believe it or not 'global warming' opened my eyes. Though I never thought that it was man-made or that we could do anything to reverse it, I basically believed what the 'scientists' were saying.

Now that we know that all of it was total fabrication, I'm starting to wonder about all the other stuff too: anything Obama, Pelosi or Reid say for starters. All I know is that every time they open their mouths, it costs me money. Well, I'm plumb tapped out - what happens next?

It's Not ॐ (Om)

I heard the quote first thing this morning, POTUS saying something to the effect that if we don't pass health care, the U.S. (economy) will go bankrupt. Only half of this statement is true. And, passing health care will only accelerate the process.

It also points to the fact that the Dems have now totally given up on trying to be creative. They've resorted to the using Republican mantras, asking, “It works for them; why can’t it work for us? The constant threat of bankrupting ourselves seems to be something the voters are responding to. Let's exploit it with equal passion. Let's get the media to repeat it endlessly: bankruptcy; devastation; joblessness; sickness and death; that is, if we don't get what we want. Scare the bjesus out of them just the way Republicans are doing it, getting a herd to turn by the crack of the whip; clearing the premises with shouts of Fire!; predicting no less than the end of the species if the hall lights should inadvertently be left on at night.”

When I was a kid, the likelihood of a formal spanking sufficed to curb my errant appetites. Tell me again that the Left isn’t overreaching by promising Armageddon. All the noise from both sides is now merging onto one dystopian chord - and it’s not ॐ (Om). Pass the Quietus please.

Related Methods

Even if there were 'global warming' and even if a malleable cause could be identified to explain it, you could never get a majority of the world's population to cooperate. Now, it happens to be up to those who think of themselves as the majority - the smartest, the richest, the most compassionate, the most highly degreed and, yes, militarily the strongest as well - to act on their own predictions and designs. They do not yet recognize their own hubris, their arrogance, their imperialism and, quite frankly, how ridiculous they look to anyone standing just outside the 'amen choir’ circle.

The same goes for those who lose sleep over any minutiae put forth by the oh-so-righteous Left. 'Global warming', health care, and open borders; one-world, UN-governed fantasies - it all must be resisted and ultimately defeated. The murderous ways of Islamic intolerance can never mix smoothly with genteel western sensibilities, no matter what Dr. Phil says. The fervent, almost trance-like worship of Hindu deities would not play favorably in an atmosphere of western secularism; Chinese compliance with top down totalitarianism would never succeed in the West without prisons and bloodshed. So, let's stop pretending it is one world - one melting pot - where everyone can be accommodated, tolerated, respected and celebrated with malice towards none.

Imagine living in close proximity with someone who slaughters goats on holidays. Imagine hearing the animals' cries as they are slowly and painfully bled. Imagine this same neighbor's outrage on hearing the cries of sexual ecstasy emanating from (the porn channel on) your TV. The only way to enforce a perfect peace is the way Tito did it in Yugoslavia by lobotomizing the populace, by banning the public display of all cultural and religious symbols. “It was Tito's call for unity and related methods that held together the people of Yugoslavia” during a critical period right after WWII, as Wikipedia explains (my own emphasis added).

Judas Trees

It's already been decided at the highest levels. Everyone has been promised safe passage - except Israel. Israel will be the first and only target of Iran's nuclear ambition. The world at large, including the U.S., is content to let it happen. Iran has won by attrition. The problems in the Middle East have become needlessly tiresome. It could all be solved if Israel were just to go away.

This is the view of Europe, the Russians, the Chinese and, since the election of Barack Hussein Obama, the United States. Israel will be attacked and the world will bite its lower lip, but do nothing. The only uncertainty remaining is Israel's response.

My view is that Israel will not respond. Its leadership knows that it cannot survive as the world's sole pariah. Responding in kind can only serve to prolong the agony.

The reason it hasn't happened already is that Iran is not yet ready. In the meantime a massive propaganda campaign is underway to demonize Israel. All the familiar radical left-wing groups and figures are busy casting aspersions. They are even hard at work within Israel itself. Conditions are being created similar to those that brought Obama to power. The excuses and blame-shifting after the fact are already in place.

Initially, no one will show much emotion. Only stunned silence will be prevail. Eventually, though, those with some remaining semblance of conscience will find themselves having difficulty sleeping. Remember, it took barely a year for 44% of us to pine for the return of one who was the target of the greatest smear campaign in modern history. Israel too will be sorely missed, especially by her own who plotted against her from within. Like Obama, they won’t find a home among the enemy. Don’t be surprised to see the streets littered with the broken branches of rosebud trees.

(Green) Jobs Strategy - Part One

I would bet Thomson is excited. They're likely saying, "So glad we voted for Obama; so glad the new prez hails from Illinois; so glad he's chosen our community to be in the vanguard of his (green) jobs strategy."

I'm wondering why this prison was built to begin with. Sounds like some kind of political pay-off to me, like the ‘bridge to nowhere’ up on Palin’s turf. What a windfall for Thomson, though; during the toughest economy in generations, no less - to just happen to have an empty prison exactly at the time when GITMO needed to be closed!

"What'll happen to GITMO?" you have a right to ask. You paid for it, after all; and all the improvements to it since. (You know, just to make it nice for our foreign visitors.)

"Nothing, I guess. I guess it'll stay empty - like the Thomson facility is and has been." Speaking of 'empty', I hope they remembered to shut off the water. From what I hear, it gets cold up there in Thomson. Wouldn't want the expense of frozen pipes. That, by the way, won't be a problem at GITMO.

I also wonder how long it will take for Thomson to become a stain on the map; before our visitors will have to be moved again - back to GITMO, perhaps (or somewhere else). Wouldn't it be easier to just let them go and give them all social security numbers? That way they'd be subject to Geithner's IRS scam and be taxed to death - probably as fitting a punishment as any for plotting against Obama's new world order.

Hopenhagen (sic)

Again, this is turning out to be a proxy fight for the fundamental issue confounding the world: Right vs. Left. Rule by the will of the people, or rule from the top down. And even this is a proxy, for the bone of contention has always been raw 'power'. Clearly the West has wielded immense influence and power for the past half century. Now, it is being challenged by those who think of themselves as being equally worthy.

The one thing that has lifted the West - especially America - above all the others was liberty. As our government grew, costing us more and more of our liberty, we also lost our advantage. Now, we're just like everybody else. Knock us over with a feather; knock us over with lies; knock us over with promises; knock us over with threats; knock us over with guilt; knock us over with anything you've got. We've become so corrupt; this ship of state is no longer seaworthy.

For one thing, we've begun believing in our own dystopian tales: The world as septic tank; the world as rat-infested tenement; the world as home to starving war orphans; the world of jihad and nihilism; the world of rising sea levels; the planet as hockey rink. And it's true, without a way to transcend appearances it's difficult to go on. Many of us have robbed ourselves of the tools needed to survive: religion, family, hope - the Left more so than the others.

Actually, we on the Right can sit back and relax. The Left has already won. The food fight we see is exclusively among those on the Left. Plays for power are notoriously destructive; they leave victims in their wake. This was the big idea of allowing Iraq and Iran duke it out for so many years. We didn’t really care who won as long as both sides were diminished. In the same way, the Left will diminish itself. The Right will grow stronger in comparison. Let’s hope we won’t overreach as the Left is doing; as every amateur gambler in Las Vegas is tempted to do.

We Can Only Watch And Wait...

Jimmy - Nice to be the optimist, but there is a difference - and we'll find out pretty soon. If they're merely incompetent, we can start fixing things next year. If they're 'treasonously nefarious', there's no reason to assume that they haven't already planned the next step. Look at what they've already managed: demonize Bush (and Republicans); create an economic crisis; install Barack Hussein Obama; spend the dollar and country out of existence; have congressmen and women vote for unpopular programs without (seemingly) caring what happens in the next election.

I ask myself, Will there be a next election? Will it matter who we elect? Obviously, the Dems don't seem to give it a thought. Could it be they know more than we do? Maybe, they know that democracy in America has already played itself out. There's nothing in it for the likes of Mr. Smith anymore. All that’s left is the jackals that feed off the comatose corpses of taxpayers.

That's why they're in such a hurry to go for that last big score. By the time the next election rolls around, all you'll see is tumbleweeds. I think a lot of this is already known in and around Washington. That's why they can be so blatant about ignoring us; that's why they feel they can serve up outrage after outrage: sending our troops into battlefields wearing straight jackets; raising taxes; cutting services; continuing to threaten doomsday (global warming), even though it's been exposed as a crude hoax.

To my mind, the only way they can think they can get away with it is by knowing that he American people have already been cut out of the political process. They know we are living under an oligarchy made up of leftist elites and ideologues; and they have already made the adjustment. The intrigue can be expected to continue exclusively at the top. We have no power to intervene. We can only watch and wait while they strangle each other to death.

Breaking the Line That Marks the Curb

Any discussion re ‘global warming’ should from now on be confined to halls of Congress and asylums for the criminally insane. To continue talking about what essentially amounts to wealth redistribution; reparations; incitement to world-wide revolution and chaos; the death of Western civilization; survival of the fittest; invitation to rape, murder and brutality; etc. in terms of a six degree rise in the temperature of the planet - even after the ‘global warming’ fig leaf has dropped, exposing the blunt tool of oppression - is utter madness.

We all understand that the warmist vocabulary was too convenient a way of obscuring the harsh reality of what is really at stake. It even provided a nearly spiritual motive for the godless Kool-Aid addicts. Who would not do their bit to save the planet?

The cat was let out of the bag by Tony Blair who said (with a straight face), “It is said that the science around climate change is not as certain as its proponents allege. It doesn’t need to be.” No, Tony, Barack, Gordon, Al, etc. Nothing needs to be anymore. Modern leaders can now simply proclaim what is. And the adoring crowds will believe them. People who question will be shunned. They will be made criminally liable for whatever happens. Goodness knows that enough happens that can be spun into guilt or accusation. Depending on the circumstance, we could always ratchet dissent up to shame; into cases demanding public execution – hikers, for instance, unwittingly crossing an obscure border; sailors, straying unintentionally off course; drivers, carelessly breaking the line that marks the curb. Better watch your step, Sarah!

A Christmas Carol

Barack and bankers are like oil and water. They are at odds; at cross purposes; they do not get along. The president does not understand bankers. Neither do bankers understand that he is out to punish them and worse; that in his biased mind, bankers are nothing but greedy money lenders with hook noses, counting their ill-gotten gains from morning till night. They are Scrooge; they are Madoff, sitting by the warm fire on Christmas day while honest folk are outside in the cold, hungry and shivering – a Christmas carol.

Obama does not understand the ‘value’ component of money. He does not understand ‘work’. Obama’s understanding of money goes no deeper than Bonnie’s or Clyde’s. You could say, Obama’s understanding of money is paper thin; a mere surface reflection of how he views himself: dependent; impoverished; inadequate. Now, suddenly thrust into a leadership position, this community rabble-rouser (with an inferiority streak as broad as his arm) is in a position to take his revenge; to strike a blow and actually make it hurt. By God, they will respect him now! He’ll see to it.

At one time, in America and elsewhere, church steeples were the tallest man-made structures in any given town. When we started building the towers of our financial institutions taller, the Islamists were not fooled. Only, Obama does not understand the connection. Having rejected both, religion and capitalism, it would seem Obama’s true aim – like Mao’s before him; like Pol Pot’s - is to level the city and drive the population out into the fields. In his dreams, he envisions only one city in America - his city - Obamaville, a collection of corrugated cardboard shacks. His house is the tallest structure in it. Only the statue of his own likeness is taller and broader, rising up through the haze of wood smoke – a veritable Mt. Rushmore Ravana - with only one face, endlessly repeated in every direction.

At our local shopping mall there’s a bright red Bentley convertible displayed on the ground floor with a price tag in excess of $200,000. It’s a beauty alright. I just ask myself why anyone would deliberately carry a flashy sign on their back, proclaiming to an impoverished world, “I am an a**hole!”

'Disgrace'

One must always keep in mind that every loss is a win for somebody; that every failure opens a door to a fresh opportunity; that every defeat is celebrated somewhere as a victory. When we say that things do not look good, we say so strictly from the viewpoint of our own perspective. Because we are blinded by vanity, we assume that everyone else sees everything the same way we do. But how can this be?

The 9/11 skyjackers targeted the twin towers. You might say they had a brief moment of celebration when they were about to hit their mark. Indeed, the whole of the Middle East celebrated along with them. They became martyrs, heroes to millions. If there is such a thing as 72 virgins, these are with them now. They are not in hell, eternally suffering. They have redeemed themselves; they have found salvation in achieving their purpose.

In fact, they have achieved even more than they had hoped for. Primarily because of 9/11, America today stands divided and bankrupt. It has become a political ruin. All her geo-political alignments are poised to collapse as well: UK, Israel, Western and Eastern Europe…

We know how these things happen. We hear them carefully delineated endlessly: the milestones that mark the fall of great powers. Yet, we can no longer defend ourselves against the onslaught; we cannot stop our plunge into the abyss. History is against us. Islamists and communists, by the sheer weight and momentum of history, are slated to win the next round.

I just finished reading the novel, ‘Disgrace’ by J.M. Coetzee. The author won the Nobel Prize in Literature for same. Given the Nobel committee’s proclivity to use its considerable platform to promote ideology, we can therefore assume that this slim volume can also be read as a political statement. Coetzee is South African. He writes about his country; his experience. He evaluates the changes that loom large in his part of the world: the end of apartheid; the chaos that ensues in the vacuum created by the forced departure of the old order. The protagonist is an academic – a teacher of traditions that have become irrelevant.

In an earlier thread I spoke of alternatives. J. M. Coetzee, the author of ‘Disgrace’ has left South Africa and moved to Australia.

Drastic Alternatives

Barack Hussein Obama will have to decide what it is he wants to happen. Does he want the unemployment rate come back down to normal? We all assume he must want that - at least he says so. In order to do that, however, he would have to change his policies and admit he was wrong. He would have to abandon the idea of wealth re-distribution; reparations; central planning; single-payer everything. He would have to declare himself a friend of industry; capitalism. He would have to begin thinking in terms of American exceptionalism, which involves believing that what's good for America is also good for the rest of the world.

As there is no indication of our president yielding on any of these issues, I would guess the economy will continue to fight him for the remainder of his days. In normal times, under a more conventional president, we, the people, could expect things to improve after this current administration has been voted out. If, as many now suspect, the Republicans are in on it as well - and that we will be doing nothing by our vote except changing hats - our jobless malaise may well last indefinitely.

The key point to watch in all this is whether or not our government will hold off on ‘cap and trade’ legislation for as long as it takes to re-evaluate the science that’s driving the issue. (Remember, McCain was totally on board the ‘global warming’ bandwagon as well.) If not, America is screwed three days to Sunday and Americans should begin to consider more drastic alternatives.

Home-Grown Terrorists Plotting

Home-grown terrorists, plotting against us? Where is this coming from? Why is this happening? It's all those madrassahs and mosques and websites, preaching hate. Hatred is often aligned with righteousness for those shallow of thought. It is preached unceasingly in the Middle East.

But wait! Why single out the Middle East? Right here in America we have also succumbed to righteousness' allure. We too allow mosques, our public schools and prisons, our institutions of higher learning, our media to preach hatred directed toward opposing ideologies. Is it any wonder that the weak-minded should take some of this poison to heart?

For years now, we've sat by while talk radio has unabashedly smeared president after president; each duly elected to represent our nation. We're still doing it now, often with the red hot banner of righteous indignation unfurled and snapping in the storm. We listen compulsively for reasons to ridicule. It's become an industry in a nation that's managed to outsource everything else. And then we wonder why there are no longer any jobs in America.

'Elegy' ('08)

I liked the Russian contribution to the Nobel farce in the form of a Christmas star over Oslo just before Obama arrived, signifying, perhaps, not so much the coming of Christ, as a babe in the (manger) woods.

No, the late night comics (or comics in general) will not be brutal with Obama. The sharpened end of brutality’s stick remains reserved for Republicans who are thought to have thick (elephant) skins and can take it. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the ban on brutality was never sanctioned under the rubric of 'civilization'. Only, those on the receiving end were more precisely delineated - as to include minorities… and, of course, women - bringing to mind a quote from the film, 'Elegy' ('08): "When you make love to a woman, you get revenge for all the things that defeated you in life."

Crashing Poll Numbers

Politically speaking, Obama is in exactly the same position Bush was in. He is set to lose his base. True believers will not now suddenly say that war is right simply because a Democrat says so without having to admit to a double standard.

For some, little this president can say or do will seriously diminish him. They are known to fall into one of two categories: one, those who happily acknowledge and submit to the perceived higher power of the Obama brand; and, two, those who have placed their bets on Obama, the man, and are counting on him to sweep them to the winning side of history. The latter have already started to re-think their positions. It is they who account for Obama's crashing poll numbers.

There is no upside for the Obama administration in any of this. The country is so polarized, it is impossible for him to draw converts from the Conservative/Republican side, even if it should occur to him to adopt all their positions. The popularity contest is lost; the campaign is over. Obama is now free to do whatever he wants within that sliver of time he has been afforded.

Perhaps the single most astounding indicator of Barack Hussein Obama's decline is a recent poll that states that a whopping 44% would now rather have George W. Bush back to run the country.

A Fool's Errant

Evo Morales's climate ambassador may well have let the cat out of the bag and articulated for us what's really at stake. For those whose aim it is to turn the world upside down, 'climate gate' is indeed only a footnote. Whereas 'global warming' is merely a previously effective tool that has worn dull, the thrust toward 'socio-economic justice'; progressivism, i.e. communism and, hence, toward reaching that first inevitable step to its world-wide implementation, remains vibrant and dangerous as ever. ‘Vibrant’, because enough has now been put in place (including a leader, sympathetic to the cause, in the target country); and, ’dangerous’, because what is envisioned has never worked, cannot work, and will never work as advertised.

When Karl Marx wrote “Das Kapital”, the march of ‘fellow travelers’ into that vaunted bloody revolution and beyond was confined to occur within the borders of any given nation state. Since then, the world has grown considerably smaller; boundaries have become blurred. The prize, so desperately sought by the communists has always been that hugely successful bastion of unabridged capitalism, America. It was difficult to turn America against itself, especially on the basis of the economic argument alone. In America, after all, the poor tended to have many more advantages than the richest do in much of the rest of the world. The mission of the communist crusaders needed to be slightly modified. It would become necessary to turn the rest of the world against America.

‘Global warming’ was tailor made to bring this about. Even Americans in significant numbers were recruited to the effort. In fact, so much in resource and emotion was invested in the project, it became too big to fail. So, when the science propping it up proved fraudulent, enough else was already in place as to reduce the potentially explosive University of East Anglica e-mail disclosures to merely a passing mention. Leftist governments (including the U.S.), media, academe and public opinion were all already committed to a fool’s errand. The most powerful people in the world had already placed their bets. It would only become a matter of riding out the squall and pretend nothing had been revealed.

It will be interesting to note how many eyes Bolivia’s representative’s frank talk at the climate summit in Copenhagen will have opened. My guess is none; apart, of course, from eliciting howls from the skeptic choir that already stands excluded, denounced; discredited; ignored.

Holding Our Collective Breath

'Health care', as it's currently being discussed, spawns from the same template as 'global warming'. It is not about health, and even less about care. It is a proxy war waged by the Left to advance a political philosophy that is essentially alien to our traditions. It is designed to discredit the notion of representative government, eliminate the middle class, and destroy the dollar. In the chaos that ensues, people will be expected to submit to the dictates of any man who displays the trappings of being in charge, even if that man is shown to harbor a deep inclination to exact revenge for slights, real or imagined, toward the very people who will be asked to submit to his onerous demands.

This was not something that was generally envisaged during our last election cycle. Increasing constituencies, however, are slowly coming to this conclusion despite the major media’s reluctance to dig below the surface.

In any case, much of what can now be comfortably termed ‘the Left’s agenda’ is expected to be in place by the time the next election cycle begins. This explains the frantic rush to get all these benchmarks passed now. The re-election of Barack Hussein Obama will certify the Left’s dominance. It will be celebrated as yet another milestone in the Left’s long march to power, similar to the victory the Right claimed after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The difference between then and now is that ideology has now spilled beyond borders and blurred national boundaries.

Obviously there will be winners and losers. Pragmatists are already scrambling to position themselves on the winning side of history. Ideologues on both extremes are holding their breath. When all this is over, one of these will find themselves completely shut out of the political process for generations to come.

Set Ourselve On Fire

Lou - There's really not much Republicans can do legislatively; and, as this presidential term drags on, they'll be able to do even less - even with a majority in both houses. In case you haven't noticed, the czars and courts are taking over the running of everything.

The least we Conservatives/Republicans can do is to stick together and stop sniping at one another (thank you Mr. Batchelor, Mr. Savage, Mr. Levin). Additionally, we could do things to bust through the major media smoke screen and protest; shout; resist; set ourselves on fire; educate; hobble; slow; block; march; withhold our taxes; organize; fill the prisons (with ourselves) if need be. Shout 'liar!' every chance we get without apologizing afterwards. I swear; it's as if the Republican Party is and has been on a permanent vacation. You don't hear so much as a peep out of any of them. Scrap the bi-partisanship! We can't convert them; their minds are made up. Neither can we give in. This is war!

Granted, the media isn't helping matters. But that didn't seem to bother Reagan much. He managed quite nicely to get his points across. Mark Levin is filing lawsuits against the government predicated on the proposition that our Constitution is being shamelessly violated on all fronts. That alone should give the Dems pause or, at the very least, provide us with a platform to speak our piece. Why should only terrorists have that privilege?

I don’t have all the answers. In fact, I don’t have any. I’m just a regular guy (despite what Spencer says) who can see what’s happening and what is about to happen. Can it be stopped? I think so. I think there’s overwhelming support out there just waiting for the right leader to emerge. So far, there hasn’t been anyone. McCain? Palin? Dobbs? Huckabee? – lightweights, each and every one. Among those I’ve mentioned, Palin appears to be the best at the moment. But the media would turn her into road kill. Still waiting for someone who can dodge the traffic.

Cats and Dogs

Let's stipulate for a moment that there is a real difference between the Democrat and Republican parties. Let's make believe that they're working at cross purposes. Let's say, as Lou claims, that the Republicans can actually stop the Democrat mad march to socialism even though they don't have the votes to stop anything.

A neighbor of mine has a German Shepherd which she takes for a walk twice a day. He's smaller than you would expect a German Shepherd to be as she was bred to be a ‘seeing eye’ dog, compact enough to fit comfortably into smallish spaces – like carry-on luggage.

Several houses down the street there's a man who owns a Pit Bull. He also takes his dog for walks. The other day, the pit bull got loose and attacked the German Shepherd right in front of the woman's house. The woman froze and looked on in horror.

The Shepherd lives in the house with a black cat named ‘Bubba’. Bubba was sitting on the porch at the time. He saw what was happening and raced down the wooden steps and jumped on the Pit Bull's back, scratching and clawing at the aggressor’s sensitive eyes and nose. The Pit Bull retreated, howling.

You could make the argument that the Shepherd is the American people; the Pit Bull is the Democrats and Bubba is the Republicans. So far, I have personally only heard a whole bunch of meowing. It's been the Dems themselves who have been tearing each other up on the issues.

Look at Your Perps

>…government officials would require bribery and permanent control of the dispute, perhaps over years, and that there never would be resolution or transparency of the decision.<

Candace Rondeaux has just unwittingly described the strategy that particularly Democrats have embraced in our own country. By no means original, it’s been used by every tin-horn dictator that’s ever been given the opportunity to lift himself and his cronies up by driving his own people deeper into the ground. The Dems always whine about how bad everything is. It’s bad alright but, comparatively speaking, it’s far worse in the areas that they themselves control. Katrina hit New Orleans hard, but the storm hit neighboring Mississippi hard as well. We seldom hear about what happened in Mississippi while we constantly hear about New Orleans. New Orleans was Democrat, top to bottom. It consisted of a disproportionate number of welfare clients and affirmative action officials. Mississippi was Republican.

Put yourself in the position of any one of your elected representatives (in Washington). By all accounts, they live rather insular lives. They do not pal around with people like you and me. Instead, they see themselves as highly influential policy wonks, imbued with considerable gifts. A wink and a nod can move millions (of dollars) here and there; for this or that. They are coddled, glad-handed, sweet-talked by powerful interests who seek their favors. They are wined and dined - in some cases, bribed. They know on which side their bread is buttered. Then, there’s the matter of keeping their jobs. They know to hoe the party line because even in their rarified circles there’s a hierarchy based on power. If they have any hope of being allowed to feed at the troth that finances their next campaign, they know they must goosestep to the staccato beat that may not necessarily be in sync with that of the people who elected them.

They look around and note that the natives are restless. There’s all this talk of protests and tea parties. Nevertheless, they’re not all that much concerned – not yet, anyway. Bush and his Republicans were also deeply unpopular. Besides, voters always bitch and moan, even when there’s nothing to bitch and moan about. It’s an integral part of exercising American civic pride. In the end, it really doesn’t make much difference. Only the money in the campaign coffers counts.

What our transplants to Washington do not seem to understand is that with Obama’s election everything changed. The veil has slipped off. Voters have experienced an epiphany. The hypocrisy and corruption in the capital has been exposed. All the happy talk from our so-called leaders sounds hollow no matter how often the (now generally acknowledged to be state- run) major media repeats it.

The lid has come off government; science; Wall Street, academe; foreign policy; terrorism; poverty; health care; media – every major institution has been shown to be completely and utterly corrupt. ‘How so?’ you ask - and there are still far too many who ask. They don’t yet see the bones exposed and moving inside the maggot infested carcass of our Republic through the sloppy steps of its own ritual death dance. “How so?” ask those still living in pre-Obama time. “How so?” ask fellow travelers awaiting the 12th imam in the form of the sacred Communist State. “How so?” ask the one-worlders, the warmers, the Kumbaya singers, the Kool-Aid drinkers, the truthers, the junkies, the (New Orleans) dykers, the America haters; those forever ready to pull the cord, willing to take everything down with them; and a long list of others: intellectuals, entertainers, talk show hosts, the heads of unions, communists, anarchists, Marxists, jihadis (I could go on…) If I have omitted your particular perversion, please excuse the oversight.

How so? Indeed. I think Candace Rondeaux has just answered your question. Take any problem that’s ever been described as intractable – anywhere in the world. Now look at those who would have to go away and retire if the problem should ever get solved. There, look at your perps.

They Didn't Need God

In my view, the most significant threat to the human race is what it has always been: war. War is nature's way of saying, we have reached an impasse; there is no other way out. War is needed to clear the decks of lies, disinformation and the confusion that is choking off the natural processes, reason, conscience and common sense. Currently, we are poised precariously on that cusp. It could go either way. Science, the last bastion of anything resembling truth, has been co-opted by ideology. Government has fallen to corruption. Truth has become whatever anybody says it is. Policy is based solely on the most recent pronouncement.

Pronouncements are issued daily. Most are at odds with what has come before. Distrust of any source is at record levels. It's interesting to note that major media has refrained from reporting on the 'climate gate' scandal - as if, by not mentioning it, it can be made to go away. Common sense dictates that climate gate was never credible anyway. Neither is Keynesian economics; neither is socialism. All these work together in the building and maintaining the paradox that is (this new eco-based) religion and do not represent a practical (or secular) way foreword.

When functioning is restricted to swirling in the narrow part of the funnel, we find ourselves in what Camus referred to as the 'spitting cell', "a walled-up box in which the prisoner can stand without moving. The solid door that locks him into his cement shell stops a chin level. Hence only his face is visible, and every passing jailer spits copiously on it. The prisoner, wedged into his cell, cannot wipe his face, though he is allowed, it is true, to close his eyes. Well, that, mon cherie, is a human invention. They didn't need God for that little masterpiece."

Underestimating the American People

Nice post, Tom. All these possibilities are ones that I have thought of as well. No doubt, it'll be a hard slog to defeat this enemy. And then, it'll be another hard climb to reclaim that what will have been taken from us. It won't be easy because the infrastructure - the government (specifically the courts), law enforcement, the economy and whatever else we have known and relied upon - just won't be there. It'll be a little bit like crawling over the blessed ruins. Maybe that's why, as you say, the Bamster is so cocky?

One line I myself will never cross, however, is to resort to violence. The day we are forced into picking up guns and using them against our own (and don't think I don't have one tucked away, ready, locked, and loaded), we might as well give our concession speeches. My reason is purely tactical. This is exactly what these people are praying for - an excuse to declare a national emergency and shut us down. These next three years are hugely critical in this respect.

I'm not despairing yet. Barack Hussein Obama is making as many mistakes as he's making gains. All these will come back to haunt him. His biggest mistake is underestimating the American people.

Passive Aggression

I agree with everyone that the job situation does not look good. Asians who have come here to work are returning back home where American 'outsourced' jobs are plentiful and gaining. Obviously, not one of Obama's policies does anything to help the economy. As I've stated many times before, Barack Hussein Obama is not stupid. He knows exactly what he's doing. He is a virus that has been deliberately introduced into the American body politic – Trojan horse style, if you wish – to infect it and to morph it into a neo-Marxist model.

The American people have also caught on. The entrepreneurs are keeping their powder dry. Small business is holding off expanding. Those who can afford it, are not working. Consumers are not buying. Yes, some of this is due to all the things we routinely mention: economic uncertainty, high taxes, government imposed regulation and crushing bureaucracy. I happen to believe that a lot of this is proactive on the part of Americans as well. They appear to have collectively decided that they will do nothing to help this current government succeed. They've resolved to sit on their hands and wait it out. They do not like where we’re being herded. They want this government to fail.

It goes way beyond the economy. The economy is just a convenient obvious measure by which administrations are commonly judged. Beyond that, most Americans abhor the political philosophy espoused by this administration. They mean to make their displeasure felt by not doing; holding back, by denying this government the tax money that is wantonly ripped away from them during every economic transaction.

We've become passive-aggressive. We see this as being the only thing we can do to get our country back. We understand that all the other (obvious) ways are booby-trapped. Marching (on Washington), for instance; tea parties; attempting to talk to elected representatives - all have resulted in being ignored, ridiculed, demonized and marginalized. Resorting to violence is the most dangerous course we could take. Americans know this instinctively. It would result in a clampdown followed by utter and complete chaos. Chaos would usher in the classic Marxist revolution. There is now considerable evidence that this may be the administration’s ultimate goal.

There is, however, a proven alternative: the Gandhian example: non-violence; passive resistance; not being a part of; not doing. This appears to be the strategy the American people have chosen. It is reflected in the economic numbers. It represents a sacrifice, to be sure; but if it serves to slow down this administrations ‘flat earth’ agenda, it may be well worth the effort.

It's a Wonderful Life

Can you believe it? I had actually never seen 'It's a Wonderful Life' before last night. I know, they're always playing it around the holidays - been doing so for years. People always refer to it. It's an American classic of the highest order - but I'd never seen it; consciously avoided it, even. Last night, I decided to have a look.

Without a doubt, 'It's a Wonderful Life' is a rousing affirmation of everything that's good in America - at least, it was back when it was made. Hard-working, principled family man runs into financial trouble. He's at the end of his rope. 'Deus ex machina' solution sets everything right again. It all happens on Christmas and audiences can go home with a teary smile, believing in the essential goodness of men and God.

The movie also may have unwittingly pointed out the flaw that would eventually bring on our present fiscal difficulties. While watching the film, I hoped for it; I eagerly anticipated it; I relished the thought of it coming. It never came: I wanted to see Potter's reaction when it became clear that Bailey was saved. I wanted to see Potter racked by remorse; suffer a stroke - anything. I wanted to see him exposed. I wanted to see this villain pay for his sins. Nothing of the sort happened - not in the version I saw, anyway.

We, Americans are so quick to forgive and forget. Often, we forget before the villain has been punished. In recent years, we've even forgotten to look for the villain. The result has been that villains now expect to operate with impunity. What Americans fear most is guilt. Better to just clean up the mess quietly without asking too many questions. We forget that punishment is also a deterrent; that it would help us immeasurably in the long run if more of the rascals would get the message.

Now we've got rascals in government and deeply embedded in every one of our major institutions. We find ourselves reduced to just shaking our heads and muttering under our collective breath, "The system failed." We feel we're safe with that. Again, we're off the hook. We’re absolved from having to accuse, try and meet out punishment when an abstract ‘system’ can be blamed. The system doesn't care if we make use of it or not. It won't suffer regret and apologize. It won't change its ways. A system is merely a tool - in the hands of men - like a gun. We say guns kill, but it's not guns - it's murderous men. ...and men must be held responsible.

Speed Bumps

Whereas international agreements generally come to nothing, the effect of same as propaganda footholds for the ground troops should not be underestimated. When Kyoto failed, it did not die and pass into the dust bin of the 'never-again-mentioned'. On the contrary, it became a the rallying cry of the defeated - a wound that would never be allowed to heal; a sore, repeatedly scratched open to bleed its puss into the body politic - now culminating in Hopenhagen (sic) with even higher stakes. For the first time, a U.S. president and a U.S. Congress is fully aboard. It's show time! They will press ahead! If not now, when?

The focal point of Serb history was the battle for Kosovo in 1389 which Serbia lost. Six hundred years later, Slobodan Milosevic addressed a crowd of a million Serbs at the monument commemorating the defeat (6 miles outside of Pristina) and stripped the local Albanian majority of their civil rights and autonomy.

‘Warmers' are a patient lot. It took them many years to construct their house of cards. "Climate gate" is but a speed bump for them. They won't slow down. The wheels may come off. But then again, they might not. In any case, they're betting that, if and when they go down, they'll take America along with them - like suicide bombers crashing the gate. So far, amazingly, they're still very much on track to accomplish what they set out to do. What does that say about us who are watching and know exactly what's going on?

A Child With a Pink Ball...

A child with a pink ball is running and laughing out loud. A few steps behind, her parents are locked in a muted but bitter dispute. All three are heading down the steep, narrow path leading to the Japanese stone garden. Upon reaching it, the child bounces her ball across the meticulously raked sand.

Her father shouts and runs to catch up with her. He grabs her roughly from behind and spins her around to face him. Then, he slaps her hard with his open hand. The child staggers and falls.

She is stunned and silent now, whimpering softly to herself at the edge of the garden; while her mother retrieves the ball, leaving the imprint of her footsteps in the sand.
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Kyoto, Japan (1976)
There is one garden in particular which struck my eye and imagination. It is the 500 year old rock garden at the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto. It was constructed by a landscape artist in accordance with the principles of Zen Buddhism.

The scene, briefly, is this: a rectangular sea of small white pebbles in which 15 rocks of varying sizes are arranged in groups. One is supposed to sit quietly and meditate. The mind struggles for comparisons. Depending on the vividness of one's imagination, anything is possible. Given that one sits there long enough, the mind will at some point cease its struggle and see the garden simply for what it is: a semi-random arrangement of stone.

This final stage is difficult to achieve, even under the best of circumstances. And here at Ryoanji, conditions are far from perfect. Loudspeakers drone on intermittently. Hordes of tourists are continually either arriving or leaving. Their faces are infinitely more arresting than this simple study in serenity. And the eye and heart are so easily nudged away from the disciplines required to...
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In the mid to late ‘70’s, I discovered an exact replica of the garden referenced above at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden in New York City. The following is an excerpt from my notes:

I sit down at a point just to the left of center near the front edge of the platform. The two young people behind me glance up from their pamphlets. The boy returns to his reading presently, but the girl's eyes continue to linger over the somber shades of the garden.

I am startled when I realize that it is precisely from this same perspective that I had viewed the original garden in Japan. As then, my eye glides naturally to the open area of crushed rock directly in front of me. (None of the major configurations of stone interest me for the moment.)

The bright bed of finely fractured stone blinds me to detail at first. But soon, the parallel patterns - drag marks left by the points of a rake - begin to emerge throughout my field of focused vision. The patterns appear to be shifting under my steady gaze, almost as if something were about to materialize in this vast illuminated field.

If light is energy, and energy is indeed merely a manifestation of mass, then there might almost be enough of the stuff here to create something from light alone. Perhaps this explains the five islands of rock and moss which are only now beginning to intrude into my consciousness. Perhaps someone long ago - or was it I, myself, even - had stared long and hard at the brightness and had organized it into stone; from there creating the rest: moss and ants and men with rakes...

The people behind me are stirring. They get up and head for the exit. The girl looks back at me before rounding the corner. A pale smile flickers across her painted lips.

Finally, just two and a half minutes before closing, I do manage to attain some sense of unity when a slight movement distracts me. The static perfection of the garden becomes momentarily unhinged and I recognize my opportunity. My senses respond to a single sound: that of a dry leaf scratching across the white surface of raked stone, propelled by a hesitant breeze. Its brittle points leave no mark on the stone (the way the rake did). Soon it will have reached the wall where, in time, it will disintegrate to become the stuff from which new living shapes are spawned.

The guard has entered the garden. He walks silently across the platform. His size twelve shoes leave odd-shaped patterns of moisture and mud on the wooden surface. I remain unaware of his approach. The guard puts his gnarled hand heavily on the younger man's shoulder. I start, and turn to look up into the old man's tired eyes.

"I must lock up now, son," he says. "Do come back tomorrow."