The Hangover

>...is a consequence of the Bush administration's failure to confront Tehran and the United Nations Security Council.<

The ‘failure’ you refer to was quite a bit more pervasive than just that. For eight long years we allowed our Commander-in-Chief to be attacked, ridiculed, threatened, blocked, and disparaged. We allowed Democrats, the press, Hollywood and academe to spew vile accusations and stir up palpable hatred towards this man and his administration. Yes, the Bush administration was ineffective in many ways. I'm surprised it lasted two terms, punch drunk as it had become. I blame the American people (and Republicans in particular) for letting all this go on unabated for so long.

The orgy over now, we look around at the shambles it’s left us with - like the bachelor party boys in the current hit movie, 'The Hangover', awakening after a night of madcap carousing - remembering nothing. No, John, this was a collective failure on the part of all of us.

Every time one of us succumbed to the compulsion to inflate his own anemic ego by slamming our president and country over cocktails (or in front of our gracious hosts on foreign shores) we eroded our own position. Every time we let the insults pass without counseling restraint we helped to cripple our duly elected leadership. Every time we paid good money to attend Bruce Springsteen concerts, applauding baseless invective hurled at our president, we fed the fiction that would come to be known as ‘Bush Derangement Syndrome’.

Now that we’ve sobered up, we wonder what has happened to us. Well, let me tell you, we’ve blown it. We’ve blown the whole wad. And, what’s more, we can’t get back to how it was without a major effort that will likely deprive us of what little we have remaining. Frankly, John, pointing fingers now is just too pathetic for words.

I’m not saying we can’t criticize our president. But we must do it with some measure of respect for the office, all the while remembering that the man occupying it is of flesh and blood – like us. We turned Bush into a two dimensional video game caricature, a bean bag, a Mexican piñata. We’re on the verge of doing the same to Obama. Only, it seems to me, that Bush would have been more receptive to sober, constructive criticism – had we had any to give other than simply parroting, “Bush sucks!” over and over again. Now we see that Bush didn’t suck half as much as we do.

Autocratic Tendencies

The prevailing sentiment among productive Brazilians is fear. They fear random violence and unequal justice. Their government tells them that violence is to be expected in a country where the gap between rich and poor is so uncompromising. The Brazilian media has elevated the reporting of common street thuggery to high art. If you were housebound anywhere in the country and had only the newspapers and TV to let you know what’s going on outside, you would think it’s nothing less than a bloodbath in which only the fittest survive to live another day. The left-of-center government does very little to address this situation. Obviously it works in its favor.

Obama sides with Zelaya, because he is from the (far) left-of-center school regarding political survival. He knows exactly how dictators achieve power and remain there. Intimidation, chaos, fear and violence are the tools that dictators find most effective. Do not think the current administration will not make use of any and all of these as the next election cycle approaches.

Zelaya is an ideologically kindred spirit. All the lefties will automatically rush to his aid the moment he’s in trouble. It’s an entirely reflex impulse, even more indicative of deep-seated autocratic tendencies than carefully parsed public pronouncements.

Repeating History

I wonder what we'll say, somewhere down the line, after Israel is no more. No doubt, we will be angry and remorseful. At the same time, we'll be happy to have dodged the bullet once more. We'll be looking for someone to blame - Obama? Ahmedinejad? Ourselves? None of this will work, of course.

And the winner is ISRAEL!!! Someone will have hit upon the brilliant idea of blaming the victim. And we'll be quite comfortable with that. It's been done before. In fact, it's like killing two birds with the same stone - totally expedient - for someone without a conscience.

It's simply baffling to me how we can allow the worst parts of (recent) history to repeat themselves. While we point fingers and call each other 'Nazis' right here at home, we happily all but ignore the true reincarnation of Hitler in the Middle East.

We know exactly what worked and didn't work when we were dealing with the original Hitler; yet, we are hell-bend on making the very same mistakes again. Makes you wonder, doesn't it? Maybe there is a little bit of Hitler in each one of us.

The Winter of Our Discontent

The winter of our discontent looms large: unresponsive government, poised to pursue its own agenda; global alliances scrambling to realign; policies tailored exclusively to expediency. Meanwhile, fires are burning everywhere – both literally and figuratively. We feel like we’re all suddenly in California just waiting for the landmass to detach and float out to sea. Everyone knows instinctively that we have hit an iceberg. Luckily – thanks to ‘global warming’ – the iceberg is now smaller than the ship. It may yet make it to port (though with the pirates still out there, one never knows).

School children singing praises to the naked boy emperor has been the story of the week. We’re clearly uncomfortable with that. I suspect it’s not that we have a problem with children singing. It’s Obama we have a problem with. Just wait ‘till Christmas when the Left will counter punch by announcing their own problem with Jesus.

In the midst of all the turmoil, deception, grandstanding, holocaust denying, genocide threatening and pancake feasting – deliberately designed to overwhelm the system and render it paralyzed – one single voice rang out. It rose above the clutter of egos continuously shattering and reassembling, forever re-emerging in unpredictable, increasingly flamboyant avatars. It cut through the steady stream of outrage that has now been dubbed ‘mainstream’. Everybody heard these words, spoken by a sober, well-informed man – so rare in our time – precisely because they cut to the heart of every problem we face today: “Have you no shame?”

Applauding Circus Monkeys

POTUS definitely knows more than we do. Watching what he does and says is like watching an iceberg that's 90% under water. Much of what the POTUS knows, we wouldn't want to. Most of us are happy enough just to know that POTUS will take care of it in our stead. Unfortunately, this particular POTUS has already said enough to put us on guard. Many suspect a secret agenda. POTUS appears unconvincing when he tells us that everything will turn out alright. For one thing, his methods are different. No American president before him has ever gone around apologizing. It's something we're not used to. No American president before him has spent so much money in so little time. Again, it's not something we're used to. So, we pay a bit closer attention. But, darn it; we forgot to bring our under water goggles! We just can't quite see what's going on down there. So we start imagining all kinds of sea monsters and things.

Personally, I believe this Iran nuclear thing is bigger than Obama. He was given the announcement to read to give him confidence; to allow him to be a part of something in which he had no hand. Don't forget, the U.S. still has brand equity. What I'm saying is that decisions have already been made by the grown-ups as to how to handle Iran. Obama is not considered to be a grown-up; he's looked at the same way one looks at a puppy.

I believe that something is about to happen. Somebody will take out Iran's nuclear facilities. It might well be Israel (with the tacit approval and support of everyone including the Saudis and Egypt). The Russians too might be on board. This is why the announcement now. Like John says, they've known about it for months, if not years. They're getting ready to strike; they're playing us like Stradivarius violins; they're preparing us. Biden hinted at it back during the campaign. ...and we'll all be applauding like circus monkeys when it happens; and POTUS will get blamed if it fails.

SHUT UP!!!

Try it the other way around, John. Maybe it is we who do not understand what Obama is doing. Maybe, precisely because of that lack of our understanding, we tend to go off the rails in our criticism of him. It is always the unknown that frightens us most. Maybe Obama knows something we don’t.

So we claw into history in an attempt to understand. It’s funny, how all the history books ever written involve turbulent times; heroes and villains. Because we’re pressed for time, we try to find the shortest book: ‘A Loser’s View of History’ (which should theoretically exist) and we see that it’s not on the shelf; that somebody must have taken it out and never returned it. Never mind; we’ve got quite enough here to pick from; in fact, more than enough to read.

Finally, we learn that every part of the world goes through good times and bad. This makes us feel better about our own situation. Maybe it’s just a rough patch (for whatever reason) - that has our new president looking so ineffective. But at least he’s trying – God! The man is practically everywhere at once. - No human being could do much better at this point – not with what he inherited. It’s all Bush’s fault, don’t you know – the one who used to smell like ‘sulfur’ (snicker, snicker).

Wouldn’t want to be him – Obama, that is. He’s got such a tough job; so much responsibility; so much to know, so much more than we could ever hope to grasp with our permanently scarred public school brains. God bless him! All those right-wingers don’t seem to understand that he’s our president now; that he’s the one who represents us to the world. And he’s doing a heck of a nice job, if I do say so myself. Did you hear all that applause our president got when he was speaking before the UN General Assembly? When was the last time that happened? …and if all those crazy right-wingers - all those wild-eyed Beck types - should have a problem with that, let them come out and vote for somebody else in the next election. Until then, “JUST SHUT [the (f)hell] UP!!!”

The Antichrist Is Alive and Well

Everyone with half a brain can see that Barrack Obama is leading us down the garden path to socialism or worse. Some people have become so concerned that they have sought to organize tea parties, town hall confrontations with their elected representatives, and street protests. Yet, at least half the American population remains unconvinced. These include some of our most highly educated, most talented and most successful citizens. Why?

We might argue that the privileged among us also tend to be blinded by their privilege. They may be so wrapped up in academic theory as to be unable to see the signs that the perhaps less highly bred are able to recognize instinctively. We tend to dismiss animals as being stupid. Yet when the tsunami hit the east coast of India in 2004, it was the curious (humans) who got sucked out to sea while the stray dogs living on the beaches headed inland as fast as their spindly legs could carry them, well in advance of the sea returning in the form of a great, destructive wave. Similarly, those who consider themselves ‘educated’ - and more often than not ‘Godless’ - have lost their intimacy with the world at large, preferring instead to perpetuate their incestuous relationship with like-minded, self-actualized academic elites while ignoring the warnings quite obvious to everyone else.

I count myself among the masses, the salt of the earth (if you will). I’ve always held blue collar jobs and worked closely with immigrants and minorities whose main focus it was to put food on the table for their families. They’d heard about ‘global warming’ but never gave it much thought. Neither did they give much thought to world affairs or to politics in general. If asked, they would say they favor Democrats over Republicans.

Since Obama has been in office, things have gotten decidedly worse for them. Many are now subsisting on some type of government handout; others have gone back home. Still they tend to blame Republicans, capitalism and democracy (in that order) for their problems – this, largely due to the unrelenting propaganda spewed by the mainstream media targeting Republicans, capitalism and democracy for the past 50 some odd years. Curiously, even with their self-appointed savior, Barrack Obama, now at the helm of the most powerful nation on earth, they tend to exhibit a distinct lack of optimism.

There are of course many who know exactly what’s wrong and are able to articulate it. Talk radio has become the vortex of the opposition to the new president and his radical agenda. The hosts are smart, articulate and passionate. Their listeners have become a significant – albeit under-reported - factor in American politics.

Despite a Herculean effort to marginalize the conservative position, the movement appears to be gaining momentum. The government is now working on strategies by which they would be able to take talk radio off the air. No doubt, they will succeed at some point, citing some academic construct intended to illustrate some inequity.

Even as eyes and minds are being opened as to the nature of the government scam that is being hoisted upon Americans, there are still enough intelligent, well-meaning burghers who support Obama’s agenda. They might even know that the ultimate outcome is some version of socialism, but this also seems to be quite okay with them.

Conservatives, who have consistently been raising the alarm to the threat of socialism, are at wit’s end. The word ‘socialism’ itself does not seem to scare people anymore. Maybe they have forgotten their history: the Berlin Wall; Communist Eastern Europe; the Soviet Union; gulags; re-education centers; ovens, Cambodia; Cuba; etc. No matter how vocal we may be with respect to the dangers of socialism, many simply brush it off, denying it is so or, worse, accepting it as inevitable despite virtual volumes of historical documentation pointing to failure upon horrendous failure in terms of human degradation and suffering under such perverse governance.

The failure of our argument against socialism may stem in part from how we are framing it. People who still continue to view socialism as panacea are not likely to look back to understand what has happened in the past. Instead, they are looking to the future. It is there that they perceive a threat much more compelling than the mere surrender of individual liberties: the destruction of the earth itself.

Throughout history, people have been predicting the end of the world. Various causes were cited; various predictions made. Alarms were raised concerning over-population; pandemic; meteor strikes; decline in moral standards; Y2K; etc. Groups that espoused such bizarre ideas were generally considered fringe cults. So far, none of these predictions have materialized.

Today, the big scare is ‘global warming’. It has now become general knowledge that ‘global warming’ is occurring and that mankind, specifically America, is the cause. We are told it would lead to untold ecological and social disasters unless something is done to reverse it. Every child attending school in America may graduate without necessarily knowing the multiplication tables or even how to read the diploma handed to them at graduation, but all have been made indelibly aware of the threat of ‘global warming’. They have been made to feel that they themselves are to blame for polar bears drowning in the Arctic Sea as well as for any natural climate-related disaster. They’ve been made to feel guilty for wars, food shortages or any other social failings anywhere on the planet.

It’s no wonder that all this saturation scare mongering has had an impact. Now we feel compelled to look to anyone who can promise redemption – a way to save the planet as well as ourselves – no matter what must be sacrificed to appease the earth (mother) who has turned angry and threatens to withhold her patronage. This represents a throw-back to when the concept of religion first gained traction.

Socialism, the willing suspension of personal freedoms, is but a small price to pay for the guarantee of seamless continuance. And that is why so many off us are willing to take the unprecedented risk of embarking on an experiment whose proponents are arrogant enough to claim certain absolution for previous sins knowingly or unknowingly committed. Jihad suicide bombers labor under similar delusion.

The lesson learned is that we all are all religious, whether we admit it or not; that the Antichrist is alive and well, forever vigilant and prepared to take advantage of our human weakness ultimately to ensnare us in his diabolic schemes.

Our Path of Inattention

We believe what we want to believe. We see what supports our beliefs. We hear what we want to hear. That's how we construct our world. Sometimes the deus ex machina literary device, forgetfulness, is called upon to intercede - when it becomes impossible to ignore or bend the ‘facts’ our way - to round off rough edges of mendacity (as it were), as in photo shop.

It is likely that Kennedy remembers it as he wrote it. It is unfair of Roger Mudd to challenge him now; now that Ted can no longer defend himself. The clip reminds me of what they did to Bush reading 'My Pet Goat'.

Sure there's more media available for the people to access today. But we have already surpassed the saturation point. Not everyone has the time or desire to peruse every news web. And who among us is qualified to make a decision as to which one is telling the truth?

Again, it comes down to what we want to hear; what we want to see. You can never expect a good progressive to listen to Limbaugh (unless there’s an underlying psychological problem). By the same token, you can never expect a good conservative to listen to Olbermann. You can never expect a good Christian to listen to rap, or a rapper to listen to Bach. You can't even get people of different ideologies to talk to each other anymore unless they've got something other than politics to discuss – something that they can agree on or mutually benefit from. Sometimes politics poisons everything and causes brother to rise up against brother. That’s why our mothers told us never to talk about politics or religion in good company.

What it comes down to is trust. We listen to those we trust. It is significant when nearly two million people converge in Washington to protest Obama’s policies. It is even more significant when most of the media goes out of their way to marginalize it. It means that someone is being disingenuous. Someone is lying. Someone is hiding something under a bushel. Someone is no longer worthy of our trust.

It’s gone beyond words; beyond the ‘facts’. Call it morphic resonance, call it anything – a gut feeling. Ted Kennedy was one of the architects of what we have today. He was a deeply flawed man. As such he could be ‘used’ to help accomplish what the Left has accomplished in America. We only saw what we wanted to see – the flag; the dynasty; the glitter of privilege. We ignored all the rest of the clues from Chappaquiddick on to Ted throwing his support to Obama.

Now, we can no longer ignore what has happened. Most of us are still inclined to shoot the messenger. But as our nation continues to flounder - as Bush slips from memory - more and more will be forced to connect the dark and sinister dots. To some these will represent a flock of black swans. To others these will mark our path of inattention; our almost pathological clinging to the dubious solution of appeasement when confronted by a challenge; our taste for having sand covering our sense organs.

It has been said often that people get the government they deserve. Perhaps it’s right and proper for us to suffer for our sins. The tragedy is that our children will suffer as well. Our unborn have not yet had the opportunity to make mistakes. Yet they too will suffer. For the first time in our history we will have handed our kids a nation in ruins. No doubt about it, this is historic.

Presidential Sex Crimes

I said months ago that the Obama presidency would bring about a shift in global alliances. We had always been known as the leader of the 'free world'. Those who shared our ideals were considered our allies; those who did not were considered our adversaries. Now that we have so openly displayed our weakness (under this administration) there is no longer any reason for anyone to side with us. No one needs us for money, for we are bankrupt; no one needs us for protection, for we refuse to fight. No one even needs us as a credible adversary.

The betrayal and handover of an eviscerated America will not be celebrated by our enemies. They will not hate us less. Neither will they reward Obama for it. We will quietly slip into irrelevancy - like Myanmar; like North Korea. Some future American dictator might even find it necessary to build a bomb to extort aid from the successful nations.

The world will laugh at our bravado; they will know that there is nothing behind our threats; our baseless boasts; that we have squandered all we had to atone for the sex crime of a former American president.

The Rape of Capitalism Continues

If people like Olympia Snowe end up bolting the Obama health care plan, it would deny him attaching the ‘bi-partisan’ label to any legislation that might pass – even while the hallowed moniker would likely attach to its opposition. This would clearly demonstrate the shallowness of support for anything Obama might claim as a victory.

Progressives would be locked into a defensive stance so severe that any future legislative thrust would suffer an equally difficult uphill slog. Time for a crisis (manufactured or otherwise) to move the agenda. But even that card has been played now too often. People no longer believe any pronouncement coming out of Washington.

I happened to catch the speech Obama gave yesterday in New York. He seemed tired; off his game; trying to inspire, but falling way short. There was polite applause, but little enthusiasm.

Not that Obama needs enthusiasm to get what he wants. He is POTUS, after all. He has control of the House and Senate. No one is in a position to question his stated support for the likes of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and others he has put in place to continue the rape of capitalism.

Still, it is now clear that Obama will not reach the moon. Though promises have been made to his radical fringe, these cannot be kept. Should he try, the prospect of impeachment would likely emerge. I do not claim that it will run to its logical conclusion, but such proceedings would definitely serve to slow the Left’s advance. It would virtually guarantee a one-term presidency for Obama and with it the Left’s momentum would dissipate.

Barring Obama’s resorting to fascist methods, this is what we can expect: merely a partially wounded nation that with competent leadership may yet recover.

Broken (Circle) Trust

I honestly don't know how it will shake out. I just know that something big is afoot. The Left in this country is on the march. Its aims are clear. Obama is the spokesman for the Left. We've sidled up to tyrants and autocrats under his reign; we've dissed and trashed former (like minded) allies. It's clear where Obama's sympathies lie. His actions so far have been consistent. The ones he has chosen to carry out his policies have backgrounds and beliefs consistent with his own. Every American president wants to establish a legacy. What legacy would you think Obama wants to establish?

Clearly, his eye is not on preserving America as she has been. Clearly, he has a much more encompassing vision. Obama sees himself as a world leader. He sees the world as being under the auspices of a single world body (like the United Nations). He sees himself as the leader of that august body. Yet he knows how despised America is in the UN and the world over. (This is not true, by the way; but Obama thinks it is just the same.) In order to ingratiate himself to our vocal enemies, he hopes to deliver the country that elected him president, toothless, broken and defeated. This, he thinks, will earn him a spot in the pantheon of socialist kings. (Ahmedinejad suffers under a similar delusion. Only, he's decidedly more sane than Obama. The Iranian (puppet) leader wants to earn kudos by taking out Israel - not his own country.)

People are only now waking up to the threat. (Clearly, it’s not a threat to socialists.) America is not, and has never been a socialist country. Americans will rise up and attempt to stem the red tide.

Like I said, I don’t know how it’ll shake out. Right now it’s a tug of war with the Left having a slight advantage. The American people know what’s at stake. Even if they are unable to articulate it, they can feel it in their gut.

My grandfather used to say, “Believe nothing of what you see and only half of what you hear.” It was his way of saying. “Go with the force.” Renaming the parties is simply in the interest of calling a spade a spade.

In the final analysis, it’s a matter of trust. We’ve pretty much been lied to all along. Washington is out for Washington no matter what they say. It’s just that the lies have become whoppers that can no longer be ignored. A ‘reality check’ is in order. It’s Washington, not America, that’s off on a fantasy ride.

The Wave

Slowly, surely, JB is coming 'round. He acknowledges the 'wave' of discontent sweeping the nation. He doesn't quite see all of it yet. He still argues Republicans vs. Democrats. He doesn't yet quite appreciate the power of that 'wave'; that it will sweep away Republicans and Democrats alike; that we have already entered a new paradigm.

The real anger in this country is directed at Republicans. Everybody knows that the Dems are a bunch of crazed political jihadis. Republicans, however, have clearly betrayed us. Whenever they have had power, they've frittered away their advantage; they've happily conceded too much for nothing in return (except, perhaps, for a neutral mention in the disgraced NYT).

JB doesn't yet get that both parties are dead; that the Democrat Party has become the plaything of maggots and jackals; that Republicans are just barely breathing and on life support. Both parties will be swept away in the storm that we can no longer avoid.

From now on the parties will be known by their proper names. The Dems will be known as the ‘American Socialist Alliance’. The new name for the Republicans is yet to be determined. (‘The Freedom Party’, ‘The Constitution Party’, ‘The Conservative Party’ all are excellent names.) The new center-right party already has the support of the most powerful force in America: its people.

Now Is the Time

There seems to be some confusion about the number of people attending the March on Washington rally this weekend. Press reports have it anywhere from several scores to two million. This tells me that this event in and of itself has not succeeded in piercing the media’s protective Teflon coating around the president. People of differing political persuasions will still be able to cite the source of their choice in order to support their arguments. I personally subscribe to the higher number (and this is not counting all those millions who wanted to, but could not attend).

This just points out that we cannot rest; that we have to continue to find inventive new ways of piercing the media bubble around Obama. Joe Wilson did it – and he was just one man. Glenn Beck and his team of intrepids also managed it – and these were just a handful.

The accompanying video (above) clearly showed that the young reporters were unhinged. They did not expect what was happening (at the 9/12 Washington rally). In order to succeed in bringing some sanity back into our public discourse, we need to get the press to heel. We need to get them to acknowledge that something of seismic proportions is happening here; something that cannot be simply swept under the rug with blanket accusations of ‘racism’.

Our elected representatives too are not stupid. They must by now have recognized the tremendous opportunities that exist simply for the courage of stepping forward and taking up the reigns. They also must see the perils (to themselves) of attempting to maintain the status quo. Who will it be? Who will step into the breach? Will it be Joe Wilson? Thaddeus McCotter?

Every great nation can expect a savior to appear when that nation is in trouble. America is a great nation. She is in trouble. Who will come forward? Now is the time!

We March

We march to overturn past elections. We march for the opportunity to re-fight past wars. We march for the Constitution, now in tatters. We march for capitalism, now discredited. We march for our educational system, now corrupt. We march to demonstrate our reawakening to the political process. We march to reassert what’s left of our political power. We march.

We’ve overslept; we’ve failed to heed the alarms. We look at the clock. We’ve missed our train. Now we march.

The sun is already high over the horizon; we march to put the genie back into the bottle. Common sense tells us it cannot be done. We know we must start again at the beginning. We must start at ground zero. Our enemies have had a head start by about 40 years or so.

We march. We know that in order to save ourselves we must catch up. We must rally our troops. We recognize our disadvantage; the impossibility of what still lies ahead, demanding to be done. Still, we march.

Despite the long odds, we also recognize that we have allies. We have the numbers; we have our tradition; we have the truth on our side. The truth always wins out, they say. This gives us comfort. This alone makes the attempt worthwhile.

No great cause is achieved (or maintained) without sacrifice; without effort. We’ve been lazy – running on fumes; on the sweat and sacrifice of our forefathers. We’ve had to do nothing for a very long time. And nothing is exactly what we did. It’s brought us to this point; it’s brought us Obama; it’s emboldened those who would seek us harm.

They, on the other hand, have not been asleep. They’ve plotted and planned. They’ve taken baby steps that have gathered into miles – steps we have consistently ignored or swept under the proverbial rug. Now we’ve been forced to move – cast out of our own house and into the house of a stranger. The moving van is outside, waiting. The carpet goes too. We roll it up and are forced to confront all the broken things underneath it: the Constitution; our educational system; our foreign policy; our free-market economy; our legal system; our melting pot; our morality; our capacity for ignoring important things.

Now we march. We take the first step. We hope. We pray. God helps those who help themselves, they say. We pray it’s not too late.

God’s speed, marchers!

MY APOLOGY: Obama is no Marxist

There is something almost irresistibly romantic in those who espouse communism. The young especially, who have lived sheltered lives; who may not yet have ventured out into the real world and are reluctant to do so - to put their mettle to the test; afraid, that once cut off from the proverbial apron strings, they might fail. To them, often the game outside appears rigged. Low self-esteem contributes. They demand an ideal world – a utopia – where every want is a right to be freely accommodated; where no one can claim to have more than any other. And that is the childish fear that permeates every aspect of the human condition: to be seen as having less; of being less than the next best thing one can imagine.

To children at home, it seems that communism works quite well. Dad goes to work and brings home the bacon. The money is shared and given out to each according to his or her need. If the 17-year old should need 50 bucks to take his date out to the burger hop on Saturday night, Dad might spot him the change and even let him borrow the car. The teenager did score a 98 on a health exam this week, after all. Also, he did do an admirable job in cleaning out the garage this past Tuesday. Mom too always seems to have enough cash on hand to buy groceries, get the car washed, and go to the hair salon.

The 17-year old does not yet understand that the communist model breaks down and becomes unworkable when it’s imposed on society at large. He may not yet have read enough of the history books that chronicle the rise and fall of communist nations; of how these never achieved much worth mentioning, and of how it invariably became necessary for the proverbial iron boot to live in close proximity to the collective necks of the people, a constant reminder to those who might count themselves among the elites, and a constant menace to those who might not yet have learned the fine art of boot licking. They might not yet be familiar with terms such as ’gulag’ and ‘re-education center’; or conceive of empty store shelves, hunger, and thwarted opportunity. As such, we might excuse their misguided embrace of a system that promises much but consistently fails to deliver.

With recent revelations by Andrew Breitbart (in conjunction with Matt Drudge and the Glenn Beck radio and FOX News TV programs) of high corruption within taxpayer-funded ACORN, it seems we might have been all too kind in calling our current president a communist. 'Thug' seems a much more appropriate description. But, of course, those who never had occasion to achieve anything more than putting up multi-digit scores on video screens would fail to appreciate even this level of endemic corruption. “They all do it,” is the glib response one is likely to hear out of the mouths of these babes – these hollow Peter Pans. Participatory democracy, the “rule of law”; the concept of “critical thinking”; the “right of ownership”; the freedom to pursue one’s bliss, all this means nothing to them. Been there, done that. Everything still sucks.

It’s more a psychological problem than a political one. People no longer feel the need to mature beyond childhood. Yet life is unstoppable and, for those who refuse to take that turn into adulthood, life becomes pathology.

Particularly with respect to the law we’ve become jaded. Highway speed limit signs read 65. We go 85. We’ve let Clinton off the hook for lying under oath; we refuse to acknowledge criminality on every level. California is set to release thousands of prisoners (presumed criminals) due to budget shortfalls. So what?

Why is it that no attempt has yet been made to identify and punish the culprits who caused our bank failures? Why has the MSM yet to delve into Obama’s past associations, birth certificate controversy, political appointments, agenda, etc? Why is it left up to Breitbart and ‘burlesque queens’ like Limbaugh and Beck to shout out the truth and raise questions. Why were allegations of voter fraud never pursued by Republicans and Democrats alike. Why is Charles Rangel still in office? Why is evidence that points to ‘global warming’ as being a hoax routinely suppressed? Why is there no evidence of highways, bridges and schools being built? Where has all the stimulus money gone?

Our political wars have gone way beyond ideology. We are now firmly entrenched in corruption. It is of such magnitude, it almost defies description. It’s like the eye trying to see itself.

I was wrong when I referred to Obama as a Marxist in past postings. Obama is no Marxist. I apologize to Marxists. Obama, along with the whole bunch of them – Republicans and Democrats alike – is nothing more than a two-bit crook. Look to the likes of Iran, Cuba and Venezuela to know what we are on the verge of becoming.

I have a bridge I'd like to sell...

Everybody knows that our health care delivery system needs fixing. Too many people are forced to make medical decisions on the basis of whether or not they can remain economically viable. What we definitely don’t need, however, is a hugely inefficient government-run health care program that is twice as expensive as the one we presently have.

But, then, improving health care was never something that Obama had in mind in the first place. As I’ve stated previously, what the Left really wants is to destroy America’s flagship – the dollar. If it hasn’t been damaged enough already (under Bush), health care reform and/or ‘cap and trade’ – two huge pending tax-and-spend bills - would surely suffice to render our currency virtually worthless.

Like I said, we may be there already – only we don’t know it yet because too much ancillary stuff is still linked to the dollar, all of which is dropping at the same rate. Keep an eye on price of oil. A barrel of oil at $35 is still only a single barrel at $70. It is not double the amount. The only difference is, that at $70 a barrel, our money (in real terms) is worth half as much.

Most of the world is already screaming for a new base currency. This is music to our president’s considerable ears. Obama will become the first American president to chair the UN’s 15-member Security Council this month. This is where everything from ‘global warming’ to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is expected to be resolved. Then, I read this headline on Drudge yesterday morning: “UN wants new global currency to replace dollar...” Does anyone out there really think that Barrack Obama is going to the United Nations to defend the U.S. dollar? I have a nice bridge I’d like to sell to anyone who does.

Allow me to predict that he’ll endorse (in principle) the UN sponsored ‘global currency’ idea which will make us wards of the UN and subject to UN taxation. He will apologize; he will throw Israel under the bus. He will say all this and more to huge applause from the elite members of this august world body – and with barely a whimper from Congress and the American press. Nice work if you can get it!

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee!

They have the votes, John! It's not the outcome that's important here. It's the vote itself that matters. Obama is handing our representatives a revolver with all the chambers loaded and asking them to play Russian roulette. Either way they vote, they're dead.

This is about killing off representative government in this country. Even with a 'no' vote, Obama still has his czars in place to enforce his decisions. He can declare a 'state of emergency' and get everything he wants. No skin off of his nose.

Obama is playing for keeps. As I see it, he has all the bases covered. I’m waiting to see when dolt Republicans (and Democrats) will finally wake up and smell the coffee.

Eco-Terror

Forty years ago, some friends of mine bought a partially destroyed (by fire) ranch in a lovely secluded California valley. They rebuilt the main structure and furnished it with furniture they had brought from the east. I had occasion to visit them some years later and was utterly charmed. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before: gently rolling hills, covered with tall, golden grass rippling in the near constant breeze. I wondered privately whether the investment had been worth it. It seemed to me that a stray match, a cigarette or a lightning strike could easily raze this idyll at a moment’s notice. But in the forty years that have passed since, nothing of the sort ever happened.

This leads me to suspect the origin of recent high-profile fires in California and elsewhere. Indeed, arson is often confirmed as having been a factor.

As eco-awareness has developed into a significant political movement the world over, eco-terrorism increasingly becomes an attractive way to get the message out: Mankind (primarily America) is destroying the planet. This is not to say that the environment is not changing; that it has not gotten hotter and dryer in some places; that any ground cover there has not become decidedly more combustible.

But, we could deal with all of this if it were possible for us to work together. Unfortunately, the environmental movement as it exists today knows nothing of compromise. In that it is radical. It argues for the complete cessation of industrial development. As such, it favors pulling the plug on energy. It sees no downside to the societal chaos that would ensue. In fact, it would welcome any crisis, human or otherwise, to help push its 'flat earth, no growth' agenda.

Eco-warriors have learned their social theory well. They know that chaos is the first step to bringing about the revolution that would usher in Marxism. They know that Communism can only really succeed in a highly successful capitalist nation in which the populace has been made to become so disgusted and disillusioned, as to gladly submit to the tyrannical bit. To this end, no manner of mischief is entirely wasted as long as it serves to keep the society unhinged.

Adding ‘acts of God’ to the list of man-caused ecological disruptions only increases the effectiveness of their efforts exponentially. …and many of us are buying into the scheme. Instead of thinking for ourselves and exposing the dirty political trickery for what it is, we capitulate – all the way to the ‘death (of freedom) panel’.

Understand What's at Stake

The lead this morning on Drudge reads: ‘Critics march against Chavez across Latin America...’ The article it links to says that there were protests in New York and Europe (Madrid) as well. It seems that people are waking up to Chavez’s global designs.

Hugo is a dogged sort. He has it in mind to rule the world, starting with Latin America. He built his credentials by criticizing the U.S. - especially Bush, who never responded to the dictator’s rhetoric directly, except by quietly (and ineffectively) plotting his overthrow. Hugo has since succeeded in rallying any number of bad actors to his side, both in Latin America and in the Middle East. Count Mugabe in Africa also among the people whose sympathies he was able to engage.

In all this, Chavez could count on support from the American Left that rose to prominence in an unprecedented wave of Bush (i.e. America) bashing, spearheaded by the Democrat Party, the American MSM and academe; all three, who first managed to coordinate and then orchestrate an orgy of contempt for everything American and thereby succeeded in legitimizing anti-American principles and conferring high status on anyone who espoused them. That’s how miscreants like Paul Krugman and Mary Robinson came to be rewarded high internationally coveted honors. And this is what gave us Barrack Hussein Obama, our first revolutionary president since George Washington.

We can well understand Latin America leaning left. Decades of corrupt rule, inexplicable economic stagnation and blame-shifting have engendered a climate of distrust towards their hugely successful (relatively speaking) northern neighbor. We can understand Chavez’ schmoozing with Ahmadinejad, whose own fortunes so clearly depend on maintaining an adversarial stance with the West. We understand the role of Israel in all this – the only free democracy in the Middle East - whose very existence puts all the other oil-rich nations there to shame.

But what of the American Left? How are we to explain their disdain for freedom, opportunity, economic success and so much more? Is it the sickness of arrogance? Is it a failure of confidence in God? Is it the scourge of compulsive, questionable behavior and excess that has become so ingrained in the fabric of (especially) urban society that can no longer be curbed and must therefore seek atonement under radical guise?

Whatever the reason, we have finally arrived at the brink. From here on, it could go either way for us. Our only hope is to register our numbers. We must demonstrate that the overwhelming majority of us understand what’s at stake. We must show solidarity, unwavering resolve, and the will to risk everything – for freedom.

To my readers:

I’d like to thank my readers; all those who’ve found it in some way worthwhile to visit here occasionally. Do feel free to leave a comment. I know that when I first started doing this it was not possible to leave comments. We got that fixed. I read them all and answer when appropriate.

Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together...

Satyajit Ray’s ‘Apu Trilogy’, completed between 1955 and 1959, chronicles the life journey of a young boy, born to a poor Brahman family in rural India. Apu is bright and his teachers are compelled to take notice. They give him special consideration and instruction. Eventually, the boy lands in Calcutta at the University where many of his new-found friends dream of continuing their studies in Great Britain. From there, they all hope to go to America. It is a fair assessment (pre-Al-Qaeda) of the dreams young people harbor in many disparate parts of the world.

The movies, shot in black and white, are recognized for their expert portrayal of the universal themes Ray sets out to convey. These are movies that, once one has seen them, stay in one’s mind and become a part of one’s world view. Apu’s motivation to leave everything behind and reach the promise land of milk and honey, where the streets are paved with gold, is metaphorically unmistakable.

I have often thought of those – including myself – who’ve had the now questionable good fortune to grow up here - in the New York Metropolitan area, no less – in what has been traditionally perceived by many as the center of the universe. Where do we go to seek our fortune, to sacrifice our straight-jacketed heritage for the opportunity to do great and impossible things? Where are we to park our dreams when, by all accounts, we’ve already arrived by mere accident of birth?

Is it then our lot to turn against the systems that our forbearers have sweated bullets to put in place? Are we to trash it all and turn back the clock to raw feudalism? Is this the ‘change’ that will sustain our illusion of having done something worthwhile with our lives? Apparently so.

Why else would we (or anyone) now look to Marxism for answers? China mirrors us. It is the opposite of what we once were (not too long ago). Both systems are now under attack - the natives rattling their cages, wanting desperately to change places. They want liberty; we want bondage. Why else would we be so eager to trash the best of the best that’s ever been for the mere promise of a government check; empty store shelves; limited opportunities for employment and free self-expression.

Around the world, governments have outgrown their britches. The people’s vision of globalism has outpaced that of the ruling classes. Whereas the Zeitgeist dictates that globalism should be in our future, the concept as envisioned differs according to who articulates it.

In America, it is not the poor that clamor for social justice; it is not the poor who plot to incite revolution. It’s the rich, those at the top of the heap, who are plagued by guilt and ennui. It is our best educated (or those who’ve invested the most on their ‘education’) who have allowed themselves to be dazzled by elegant but meaningless social equations, and are now scheming quietly to turn this country (and all others like it) into a system of colorless gulags where existence is reduced to simple-minded brutality and heavy breathing.

How difficult to break the chains once we’re there! But at least it’s a challenge; one, that is a hell of a lot more daunting than it was tearing it all down.

Scratching at the Surface

Word on the street has it that any version of any health care bill must be stopped now! Furthermore, any bill (cap and trade; immigration, climate, stimulus, etc.) proposed by this administration must be regarded as a Trojan horse, designed to promote anti-American principles. Due to the diligence shown by 'burlesque queens' like Glenn Beck and Mark Levin in gathering evidence marking many of the president's closest advisers as out and out communists - interested primarily in bringing about the redistribution of all wealth, reparations, the acquisition of immutable political power, and the elimination of the private sector; using social upheaval to effect a total reordering of society to resemble that of a Marxist state - suspicion of a conspiracy has leaked out. There are now enough Americans who do not trust this president's motives.

Hold-outs include those who have not yet brought themselves to see beyond the traditional rivalry between Democrats and Republicans, who refuse to accept that the Democrat Party has been hijacked by far Left elements and, as such, no longer represents any semblance of American values. Hold-outs also include those still wedded to Washington's political chess game and view it as masturbatory amusement or as an opportunity to sharpen and practice their cynical wit.

Even those who have connected the dots continue to snipe at colleagues perceived as rivals in the ratings race. I cannot for the life of me understand why Mark Levin, for example, continues to disparage both Beck and Savage when all three of them are essentially reading from the same page. We cannot continue effectively if we insist on bloodying our own.

JB too, is often heard making light of talk radio. Why? Is he not a part of it? I remember the days when JB himself used to announce his show as 'conspiracy radio'. He would spend endless segments on the vagaries of Bill Clinton's rascally brother, suggesting that this would bring the Clinton presidency down. There were so many scandals brewing in those days and JB was up to his neck in each comedic episodic farce.

Now, suddenly, here's a legitimate tragedy - conspiracy, if you wish. It involves no less than the dismantling of the very essence of our nation and the Constitution on which it is based. And all we hear is that talk radio sucks; Republicans suck; tea baggers suck. What's up with that, John? These appear to be the very people and groups who will need our support if we are to have any chance of fighting this menace.

I know you know what's at stake. I know you only report open source. I know you know much more than you can say. I know you know what's happening. Why are you only scratching at the surface?

THEM

In a previous thread, someone asked me if I really believe that Obama is shilling for the ‘other’ side. Yes, I really believe it. He continues to use every difficulty as a springboard to hand the enemy - both at home and abroad - yet another victory. What would you say 'bugging out' means? Defeat; retreat - another Bush failure to add to his already voluminous list of mortal sins.

Losers are losers. They can never redeem themselves and claim they are winners. There is no honor in defeat. Obama, at least at this stage, does not see himself as defeated. For one thing, he is too proud to concede defeat. Consequently, for the logic to proceed, Obama stands with the winners - in this case, the Taliban.

What nobody seems to have grasped yet is that Obama does not represent America. Obama and America are separate. They harbor opposing views of success and failure. What is good for Obama is bad for America. What is bad for Obama is good for America.

Americans are not insensitive. Even the stupid ones can feel it in their gut. That's why all the hand wringing; the tea parties; the proposed March/tea party. They've come to understand that it's either he or them.

This is not to say that there is not a significant constituency that supports Obama's Marxist vision. They have everything invested in him. They expect to do their share and more. They think now is the time. They think they can win. They quite expect to be celebrating victory after victory under General Barrack Hussein Obama. They do not plan to relinquish power just for the sake of elections which, to them, represents an antiquated holdover from the now discredited concept of democracy.

In a previous thread too, I was asked who exactly ‘they’ were – the ‘they’ I always seem to be talking about. Isn’t it obvious? It’s the Communists. After all these years, they’ve finally determined it’s safe to come out of the closet and operate openly. They wouldn’t have done so, if they didn’t expect to get exactly what they want.

Two for Tea

Good arguments all around. I love the way we can argue back and forth about Afghanistan without treading on eggshells; without the feeling that we are in danger of breaking something fragile; something we consider to be almost sacred.

The atmosphere changes drastically, when we try to talk about our own country. Immediately, the long knives come out - accusations of 'racism' from the Left; 'socialism' from the right. Throw in words like 'stupid' and 'burlesque', and you have the makings of a colorful salad that no one wants to eat.

I took an informal survey re the proposed 9/12 March on Washington yesterday - just my facebook contacts. Most had no idea what I was talking about; a few were cautiously optimistic, and some even went so far as deleting my name from their contact list - just for asking the question, "Are you planning on going to the '9/12 March on Washington'?"

What this tells me is that the MSM is set to ignore the event entirely. This means that those who had expected to go and make a big splash will be hugely disappointed. Unless something ghoulish happens, the national media will barely snicker. The good news is that the Left will stay home. There should be no confrontations. And the whole thing will be reported simply as Saturday afternoon's stroll in the park.

And therein lies the problem: Saturday. People are off work anyway. The next day they can sleep late. They're not losing a day's pay. If the weather is in any way cooperative, they're risking nothing.

You can't fight the system without taking a risk. If McCain had been elected, the Left would be out there every other day smashing windows; burning cars, and getting themselves arrested. I understand that our ways are non-violent. It is the one principle that will secure our eventual victory.

In a previous post I wrote about the concept of a bandh within the context of a political movement. The word in Hindi means ‘closed’. In practice it means, nothing moves – shops stay closed; no cars; no buses – usually for the duration of a day. Here, in India, a political party will call for a bandh when it wants to demonstrate its strength. If there are two parties - somewhat evenly matched, just before elections – party X will call for a bandh on Monday; Y will then call for the same on Thursday. Both days, business grinds to a halt. But notice is taken (because of its financial ramifications) – quite unlike if just a bunch of people decided to attend the Mad Hatter’s tea party in the park on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

Face/Off

We, as a people, have largely abandoned fact. We’ve tied our fate to pure emotion. We either love something or we hate it. We're no longer reluctant to announce our likes and dislikes publicly. We indulge ourselves shamelessly in our prejudice without having to suffer the consequence of being proven wrong.

As such, an expansive and lucrative industry has developed; one, that can supply designer ‘facts’ to suit every mood. Hate Israel? Plenty of material out there to support this position. Hate Republicans? Ditto. Love men? Women? Nazis? Children? Islam? Everyone has a favorite site they can go to find support for their particular perversion. And so, perversion is continually reinforced - anonymously and entirely without consequence. In some cases, some twisted truth manages to gather so much momentum as to become mainstream. (Classic example: Bush Derangement Syndrome.)

JB is right to view right-wing talk radio with suspicion. It is often pompous and tediously predictable. The same is true of its lone counterpart, Air America. To whom, then, can we turn to get a fair and balanced assessment of events? The John Batchelor Show, perhaps? We too have our crazies, to be sure. But Batchelor himself always manages to maintain a stiff upper lip.

I have found that in general it takes more effort to promote a lie; and its promotion, therefore, is apt to be more desperate; more conspicuous; flamboyant. But, as Barry Goldwater once said, “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.” This, I believe, is what gets Limbaugh et al. off the hook.

At the moment, every position regarding Israel is extreme. This has come about because of the unwavering demand by a large and influential part of the world’s population to have Israel wiped off the map. There is no middle ground.

At the moment, the Democrat (turned Socialist) Party is engaged in a bitter campaign to socialize the biggest, most successful free market economy in the world. They have decided to draw support from anyone with a beef. They have made the calculation that Israel can be sacrificed without hurting their cause. As such, they freely disseminate anti-Israel propaganda in the hope of recruiting the larger of the two populations to their side.

Until some semblance of middle ground can be re-established, the crazies on either side will continue to slug it out. As the rhetoric heats and reaches the boiling point, containment will cease to be an option.

Whether Islamist or Democrat (turned Socialist), neither is in a position to accept compromise. Their arguments are too weak to withstand even so much as fair scrutiny. In order to survive, it is essential that Israel as well as Republicans match tactics. The ‘other’ cheek has been bloodied so often, we are in danger of no longer having a face to present. If Israel should fade to a footnote in the ancient scrolls, can America be far behind?

'Click'

Interesting that the thrust of John's missive today has turned from its originally intended geo-political focus to local fiscal concerns. I too had a sleepless night in which this Soros-inspired endgame suddenly came clear to me. I hope to God I'm wrong! But right or wrong may no longer be of consequence. If my assessment is correct, the ball has already been sent rolling (specifically during the second term of the Bush administration) and can no longer be stopped. It's like stepping on a landmine and hearing the ‘click’, knowing one’s next step will be the last. The ‘click’ was TARP.

Or, you might say it started way before, when the landmine was first being assembled. And you would be right; in which case, it could be said, that the whole thing started back in the sixties - or, even further back, when the whole plan was hatched in some nondescript politburo office building. Nevertheless, the 'click' was TARP. That’s when it became apparent to those in the know that the plan could no longer fail.

That’s why our representatives are passing all these bills sight unseen. It no longer matters what’s in them. They could be pictures of Goofy and it wouldn’t make any difference. They basically understand what these bills are trying to accomplish, and they’re okay with it – Democrats and Republicans alike.

The ultimate aim is to collapse the dollar. If this were a novel, the 9/11 World Trade Center bombing would have been an excellent foreshadowing (literary) device. Our currency has been booby-trapped. It’s set to burst into inflationary hell-fire once the people start feeling confident enough to go back to spending. After that you’ll have a Weimar Republic scenario in which it took a wheelbarrow full of bills to buy a loaf of bread. After that, it becomes all too predictable.

While we breathlessly await poll numbers that would signal Republican sweeps in the next election cycle(s), we remain blissfully unaware that precisely this could be the trigger that drives the final stake into the heart of zombie America.