'Being There"

At this point I'm almost breathlessly looking forward to the sit-com. We're taking it all too seriously. Where are the belly laughs? All I hear is cynicism and outrage. Where is the updated version of "Being There"? "Life is a like a box of chocolates", after all. What's the sense of crashing if we can't get that blessed adrenaline rush? Unless we've lost confidence in the air bag (with the Chinese union label attached).

From what I've read, Groucho and his brothers never used a script or teleprompter. They made it up as they went along. They were hugely successful in their day. Obama, the Ballerina and all the Marxist czars have all the makings of a hilarious circus act. How come we're not splitting our sides laughing?

Maybe we've outgrown slapstick. Maybe, we're looking for thrills and chills - seeing our hero dangling off the hands of a clock some thirty stories up, à la Harold Lloyd? And I'll never forget that scene in "Limelight" in which Chaplin and Keaton played music together. And Laurel and Hardy's "The Music Box". They all flirted with disaster - and we simply loved it.

Blow or Forever Hold Your Breath

Lou - Thanks for the advice. I can't really disagree with anything you've ever said. As for me, I try to wear a number of different hats. One is the 'whiner' hat; another is the 'know-it-all'; a third is 'doomsday' hat; you get the idea. I don't think about it all that much; I just write what comes to me. I've looked back over what I've written and find that, surprisingly, I've been rather consistent. So have others. There have been no converts on either side. And that may well be a part of the problem.

You, at least, are willing to listen. You endure liberal blogs. You will applaud a well-crafted point. All of this is commendable. And in a more tolerant world, you'd be rewarded with the honor of being a statesman or diplomat.

But, I fear - I truly fear - we've already gone beyond that. It's been termed a culture war. The operative word is 'war'. They seek to destroy us. Any quarter we grant them - any compromise - will be turned against us and decrease our advantage.

If it were legitimate, I could live with it. They won; we lost. But it was done with smoke and mirrors. It was done through subterfuge, all orchestrated by a relatively small number of players. It galls me that they are doing all this on the backs of hard-working, well-meaning American families who were rightfully engaged in raising their children while trying to keep their own heads above water. The American dream, after all, is a full-time job.

I bet many of them had been told by their parents that if they did the right and honorable thing for their families and participated in community affairs, everything else would turn out right as well. They never dreamed that a moment's glance away would put the entire nation at risk. It just wasn't ever supposed to be that close. When you get on the bus you expect to get where you're going (provided you get on the right bus). There should never be a question as to vetting the driver; examining his political leanings, competency, or state of mind. So lax have we become, we didn't even insist on seeing Obama's valid birth certificate or school and health records! No, we trusted everyone (Frank, Pelosi, Schumer, etc.) to do their jobs and represent our best interests. We assumed they were honorable men and women when we sent them to Washington in our stead. We never thought they would betray us. Ditto, our Universities and the media.

What I think happened last November was a coup. There's nothing much ma n' pa kettle can do about a coup. Still, justly or unjustly, I poke them and won't let them forget that they let it happen. I want them to get so riled up as to ultimately blow the libs' straw house down. Right now, it's our only chance. There's nobody else out there. The Republicans have abdicated. There's a lot of people talking and writing; some are even marching. But it won't amount to a hill of beans until we all decide either to blow in unison - or forever hold our breath.

Sorry; No Longer Possible

The seemingly unstoppable liberal agenda (including health care) can hardly be said to be threatened by conservatives. It is threatened by itself and, most of all, by the growing credibility crisis in our nation. Every week, it seems, we find out that our government as well as our institutions have been lying to us all along. As each lie is painstakingly uncovered and documented; or implodes under its own foul weight, the proponents of said lies paint their critics as liars. And so it goes...

Most Americans have gotten the message that truth has become one of the first casualties in our culture wars. The elite media, with its megaton megaphones can no longer contain the fissures and leaks consuming the American landscape. What to do? Run stories about celebrities and gate crashers; and censor the other stuff; sweep it under the rug and smear the ones who dare mention it.

Those most affected are the poor. They've been lied to from the beginning. With Obama, they were led to believe, their salvation was at hand. When will they figure out that they've been led along the garden path; sold a bill of goods; taken for rubes; taken for granted, etc.? When will they turn on their slave masters? When will they stop believing their lies and discover for themselves the unlimited potential that lies within them? When will they recognize the disparity between Obama’s lifestyle and their own? At what point will they say, “Hey, this is not working; let’s try something different next time?”

Probably never. Like India, America has a caste system. The poor in America are born into poverty and are destined to stay there as long as they live. The workers are born into slavery and will stay there as long as they are able to negotiate a tool. The gangsters are born into gangs and will stay there as long as they have the stomach for killing. The rich are born into wealth and will choke on its excesses as long as they have the ability to eliminate. That much is a fact of life in America and elsewhere. The Obama administration is there simply to ensure that everything will get decidedly worse for all, across the board; while the overall percentages remain fixed.

Leadership has failed in America. Competence has been shut out of the process. Pseudo-leaders have filled the vacuum with empty promises and ideology. All the rest are barred from participating. Corruption has taken the place of power. We are Afghanistan. We are Palestine; Pakistan; Zimbabwe; Venezuela; Saudi Arabia; Somalia and every other failed state on the planet. We are a bankrupt bag of puss. Punch it, and it bursts open, polluting everything around it.

At least the Jihads know what they want: world domination – nothing less. Their aim could not be clearer. We, on the other hand, want nothing. Some shout, ‘We want our country back!’ Back to what? What is it we want? To turn back the clock? A chicken in every pot? The love of all those we have long ago abandoned? Respect?

Sorry. No longer possible. The road stopped back at the cliff where we all collectively decided to take the leap …into nothingness. Dress it up in Christmas lights and dazzling strands of piano wire; an illusory display just beyond the reach of most grasping mortal men; vindictive men (and women) who see every other man as an enemy that must be destroyed – even the unborn. How have we come to this?

And so we’ve made it our life’s work to destroy ourselves without any thought as to what will take our place; without the effort of writing a will; planting a seed, or charting a course for others to follow.

‘We’ll fix it – really, we will. The next time we step into a voting booth,’ we promise ourselves; again, looking for the easiest way out; the path of least resistance – quite without having learned the lesson from the last time we faced it: that pulling the lever - like pulling a trigger – can be for keeps.

Cowering Before Midgets

Only by listening to the John Batchelor Show can we hope to understand how the geopolitical plates connect. The idea of proxy wars fought by client actors is not something the MSM is very good at conveying. For them, the automatic hand-off is invariably back to America in order to prove their point that everything is America's fault - or, to be more precise, everything is the fault of America's Republican administrations.

Even though this template cracks time and time again from persistent misuse, the MSM will not give it up. They are as if enslaved, consumed by the notion of guilt which, they pompously feel, only they have the power to adjudicate. As they lack both the knowledge and the power to see beyond themselves, they keep harping on the same straw dog, not realizing that no one can realistically assert with certainty the innocence of anyone; that every man must testify to the crimes of all others; that cowering before midgets solves nothing – for the only real sin is the sin of surviving in a world where everyone else is doomed.

Humiliation

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Ghosts in the White House

'Official’ departures from this current administration are likely not ‘departures’ as we have come to expect them. Whereas in previous administrations, highly publicized departures were predicated on performance, ethical, criminality or ideological issues and could be regarded as ‘final’, in the Obama administration any announced departure may not necessarily be all that meets the eye. The ghost of Van Jones still haunts the dark corners of the White House along with gossamer Anita Dunn. Of that much you can be sure. Bill Ayers and the Right Reverent Wright also continue to be vital influences. Maybe that was what all the fuss behind Obama’s Blackberry (in the early days) was about?

The difference between this and previous administrations is that in this administration people are dismissed for having been shown to reflect Obama’s own views.

Dubai: A Cautionary Tale

What’s happening in Dubai exposes the fundamental problems that exist in many (if not all) of the oil-rich Middle Eastern nations. It should also serve as a cautionary tale for the U.S.

Dubai’s vaults are said to be bursting with gold and foreign currency; the UAE sits on a virtual sea of ‘black gold’ – all of it valueless. For decades the country has survived in gaudy opulence off the sweat on the backs of foreigners – mostly people from the Indian communist state of Kerala - who were restricted from integrating with the broader Arab society. UAE citizens themselves do not work. Work is beneath them. They subsist off of oil revenues that the world sends them by the buckets. Whereas the world uses ME oil in the furtherance of work (building/creating…), Dubai simply pays others to do what needs doing.

These ‘others’, mostly Indians…, send the bulk of their earnings back home where it is used to sustain families in a communist state that cannot provide sufficient work for its own people.

This Dubai snapshot should settle the argument about the definition of ‘wealth’ once and for all. Wealth is not gold, oil or currency. It has little to do with ‘social justice’. Wealth without ‘value’ is nothing. And value can only be derived from human work. Any people who devalue work, or create so many obstacles as to make work impossible; any nation that diverts the just rewards of honest work by erratic, self-serving re-distributionist policies will end up with nothing.

During WWII, parts of both, Germany and Japan, were physically bombed into oblivion, their populations decimated. Yet, both countries had a work ethic which bombs could not destroy. In relatively few years, both countries were back on their feet. Look at Dresden today; look at Hiroshima!

The desert will reclaim Dubai once the West no longer has need of its oil. America will revert back to the wilderness it was before the pilgrims came should it persist in reducing education to mere propaganda (and cult worship); making work unprofitable; punishing exceptional talent or effort outright; creating a sheep-like mentality in a people who would otherwise bust their britches in trying to outdo each other .

Most of the Indian workers in Dubai have been sent home. The communist state of Kerala still does not have jobs for them. They will fan out across the subcontinent to find work – not at Dubai’s generous rates but enough, perhaps, to put food on the table back home – and the hollow, reverberating social fallout of fatherless houses will continue.

The Warmist E-mail Scandal

Another, perhaps fatal, blow to academe, science, media, and government’s credibility in general. Another step towards out and out chaos in which no public voice can be trusted. How close we are to a revolution in this country!

However, these things can only come to pass if no one is held to account. I’m not talking about coming to some vague consensus in which it is agreed that everyone is guilty (as we have happily done with regard to our financial problems, for instance). I’m saying that, specific people have to be held accountable for the crime of willfully disseminating false information for political and financial gain. They have to be named and investigated. A verdict needs to be rendered and a punishments handed down. Al Gore’s name might well be at the top of that list.

But just the opposite is happening. I picked up my ‘free’ paper from the bottom of our driveway this Thanksgiving morning. (It’s the same paper we canceled better than two years ago.) I open it up and there’s an article about how ‘global warming’ can affect the food supply adversely. Last week, ‘The New York Times’ called for the hacker/whistleblower’s head(s). The now real possibility of fraudulent scientific data having been knowingly disseminated is not what troubled the ‘Old Gray Lady’ at all.

JB says that ‘the warmist e-mail scandal (still) has months to go’. I don’t think it’ll take quite that long for it to get swept completely under the rug. The MSM will ignore it and continue with its polar bear stories. Teachers in schools will continue to teach about those dreaded carbon footprints. President Barrack Hussein Obama will go to Copenhagen and commit us to policies that will reduce our carbon emissions and curb our economic activity – in short, just like 9/11 never happened as it did; just like our financial meltdown never happened as it did; just as we never elected a Marxist to the highest office in the land as we did, this too shall pass.

History is written by the winners, and the Left has won. And if, despite the best efforts of the MSM, this particular issue should persist and prove troublesome to this administration’s efforts to tax the country and all its future generations into feudal servitude, we can always declare ‘global warning’ skepticism a ‘hate crime’ and lock ‘global warming’ skeptics into the same loony bin along with ‘holocaust deniers’. Come to think of it, that would likely require that we make an exception for Iran’s Supreme Leaders.

India's Enemies

India, a leader in the region, also has enemies. The flash points are disputed territory with China to the east, and disputed territory with Pakistan in the (north-)west. Pakistan is a client state (if you can still call it a ‘state’) of China. This is not to say that, if India were to give up all disputed territories unilaterally, there would be peace. Much deeper problems - mostly unspoken - exist between China and India. These are primarily ideological.

China's leadership (as JB has often said) is an unelected tyranny. India is much closer to being a democracy. Looking even casually around the political world shows that these two systems of governance do not easily coexist. Even within our own country there has developed a split, an irreconcilable divide along similar lines.

China continually agitates India. It funds Maoist rebels to create havoc along border areas. It encourages Pakistan to keep up pressure on Kashmir. It releases policy statements saying that India is not a country and should be broken up into parts. And it has clearly used its influence to dissuade the U.S. from favoring India in any matter involving these two nations.

Obama clearly has shown to have greater affinity for tyrants than for the freely-elected leaders of a people. Notwithstanding the huge sums we owe China, our president personally finds far greater kinship with the Communist regime. That much has become obvious from the policy decisions Obama has made since assuming office. And this has not gone unnoticed in the region. It seems to have confounded and perplexed many Indians, though; especially since the roundly despised Bush administration – the demonization of which Indian media has gleefully participated in, not to mention the over-the-top deification of Barrack Hussein Obama – appears to have held India in far higher esteem.

Carry That Weight

What is it in the DNA of the human eye that sees gold the way it does? No other creature on earth sees gold in the same way. A proof, perhaps, that our vision of heaven is bogus might be that (for some reason) we’ve insisted on painting a picture of gilded columns with winged angels playing celestial music on gilded instruments; and there is actually very little to suggest that God views gold (or anything else in his creation) with special favor. The myth of gold seems to be entirely one of man’s creation. As such, it is subject to collapse, like currency or even, what we might call, ‘civilization’ itself.

Since mankind is given some leeway in these matters, it is understood that we are free to assign ‘value’ to whatever we want. Our assignments in this regard can be totally arbitrary. The trick, as always, is to get others to go along with it. The appropriate illusion is by no means impossible to construct. Recent examples show that it was quite successfully done culminating with our election of Barrack Hussein Obama. ‘Global warming’ is yet another such illusion. These two examples, however also show that illusions of this kind, especially ones that are designed to mask real malfeasance, will at some point blow up and vanish, leaving the perpetrators red-faced and stammering.

Gold, aside from some limited industrial applications, has little or no intrinsic value. It cannot be eaten, grown, or loved. We shall see how far its advocates are willing to carry its weight along the corpse-strewn path to irredeemable ruin.

They're Growing Desperate

Jim – You’re looking at it the old way when a third party would indeed have split the Republican vote – and the Dems would run away with it. However, with Obama’s election, things have changed considerably. You can pretty much throw all you know about American election politics out the window. Frankly, even I don’t know exactly how it’ll shake out. But I do know it won’t be anywhere near what the pundits (including John Batchelor) predict. I can give you the rough outlines of the endgame though: either we will end up being totally enslaved by some oligarchy with no economy and influence to speak of; or we will re-discover the things that make us uniquely American and hold them sacred. We are at the tipping point. It could go either way. I personally would give the edge to the latter. It may just be wishful thinking on my part, except I know I’ve got plenty of company. These things have a tendency to snowball. Practically the whole country is poised and waiting for a break – for the opportunity - to clear out the chaff of corruption and re-establish what’s good, fair and decent.

Things are happening fast out there. There’s still plenty that’s going right. Did you happen to read about the e-mails that were made public, originating from some ‘global warming’ think tank in the UK, proving without question that the ‘global warming’ frenzy was a hoax and that they all knew it was? These are the same people who’ve been scamming us for decades, pushing through destructive legislation (destructive to America, that is) involving everything from drilling (for oil) to all the various pandemics. With each scam they’ve succeeded in taking something away from us.

Now, with Obama in the White House, they think they’re into the home stretch. If you’ve noticed (and I’m sure you have) they’re throwing everything but the kitchen sink at us. It’s meant to overwhelm us; to get us to heel; to accept their chains and shackles without so much as a whimper. It also means they’re growing desperate; that they’ve got more faith in our ability to counter them than they’ve got in themselves.

They won’t get it done. They know, we’ll fight them all the way; we’ll take our country back; and we’ll do it in our uniquely civilized American way that will astound every two-bit dictator that happens to be watching the scrimmage. We’ll do it without getting our hands dirty.

Hamburger Hill

Interestingly, it’s all about POTUS – and not in the way you’d expect. POTUS, I would bet, does not know what’s in the bill, nor does he care. All he seems to care about is that the bill be passed by a certain date (sometime before the mid-term elections). Obama clearly expects to be basking in the glory of having conquered this ‘Hamburger Hill’.

Why does he want it so badly? Because he sees the health care issue as confirmation of his personal power and efficacy in bringing policy to bear; it represents (in his eyes) the validation of his (self-imposed) mandate to transform our nation to comply with his own alien vision. Those who support him are relatively few in number, but are rabid in their beliefs and extremely well organized. They fall into one of two categories: (1) those who share the president’s Utopian vision; and, (2) those who hate their country so much that they would support anything or anybody who promises to either change it or kill it outright. A third category that had been prominent leading up to the presidential inauguration - but has been rapidly deflating - consists of those who comprise the ranks of Lenin’s ‘useful idiots’.

As I have stated in earlier threads, POTUS' interest in health care reform is confined to targeting two birds with the same stone: (1) It would bankrupt the nation and therefore drive a stake into the heart of the economy; and, (2) It will likely do irreparable damage to representative government in America. By the time this is over, Congress will have divested itself of any shred of credibility, by which the executive branch can only stand to benefit. Imagine any POTUS finding himself no longer fettered by the people’s will!

Out of the Blue

If there are only Republicans and Democrats to vote for by the time the next election comes around there will be a major uprising in this country. Both the Democrat and Republican scripts are so pathetic, neither would motivate anyone to go to the polls.

America is ready for a third party. This could take the form of an outsider galvanizing one of the existing parties to become in effect a third party - a scenario under which one of the existing parties would simply fade away (we have seen this with the election of Barrack Hussein Obama when the Democrat Party effectively ceased to be, to become the Socialist Party of America) - or a third party that admits to it outright and would run against both Republicans and Democrats, treating both as complicit with regard to the crimes foisted upon the American people and their Constitution. I would venture that under either scenario the third party would win easily.

Key to the process is the man or woman who would lead the third party to power. No current political figure with party credentials will have a snowball's chance in hell of getting elected president in 2012. This leaves out all of the names we hear currently being bandied about. Our next president will come to us out of the blue. Like Obama, he will catch us off our guard. But unlike Obama, the problems he will face will be real; not imagined, or fabricated by two-dimensional TV images produced and directed by George Soros’ photo shop section.

Blame-Shifting

It's one of the most popular forms of amusement in Washington these days. It's called 'blame-shifting'. But, strictly speaking, this is a misnomer, as Batchelor himself suggests. The point of the exercise is to give the illusion that those at fault are not at fault. (If one were to tie 'blame-shifting' to its obvious nomenclature, somebody would actually have to be at fault, and suffer the consequences of being at fault: go to prison; go to the gallows, etc. But since nobody is actually in prison and nobody is likely to be executed, I guess, nobody is at fault ...and the crimes continue.)

Friedman, like Krugman among others, has consistently soiled himself in defending the indefensible. Designated by academe and liberal media as a high intellect, he has had to hold his nose and swallow hard in trying to defend the Left’s faulty logic, its broad disregard of historical precedent and its blatant double standard. It is not clear to me whether or not he knows that he has prostituted himself or if he actually believes the stuff he writes. No doubt, he’s made a good living among the like-minded. But even their never robust ranks are thinning, leaving behind only the most seriously hobbled. How long Friedman can continue (assuming he’s reasonably sane) doing his stick before packing away his writing tools and sending them off to permanent storage is anybody’s guess.

Is Friedman deliberately lying or is he just plain stupid. It’s the same question in essence we could pose regarding President Obama. Both men are likely to keep the answer close to the vest. In the final analysis it’s not about them; it’s about us. How we ourselves answer these questions will determine whether we are on the road to better health or locked into a death spiral.

Breaking the Cycle

We've got to break the cycle, John! This is not breaking the cycle. It all started with Bill Clinton who disgraced himself, and the Democrat Party that decided to defend the indefensible. After Bill, George W. absolutely had to be destroyed in order to save Bill's legacy and his party's viability. They succeeded with smoke, mirrors, and lies oft repeated in classic propaganda style. The Dems could have put Daffy Duck on the ballot - and they practically did.

The American people had no clue as to how bad it could actually get until Obama came along. Now they know. They also know it can still get much worse. At this point too, the Republicans could put Daffy Duck on the ballot and he would win overwhelmingly. The Dems are done. They will not be effective in the next go-round. Never has a political party been so obtuse to the wishes of the voters. It seems, quite like Kamikaze pilots, they are absolutely determined to go down in flames.

Don't get me wrong, I think Sarah Palin is a fine person. Under normal circumstances, she'd make a fine chief executive. But these are not normal times. We are all collectively in intensive care. We need our wounds to heal from the accumulated damage of three successive administrations. We cannot afford a fourth fatally wounded administration to continue our drift.

At this time, I see no one out there who can withstand the slings and arrows of a vicious Left. I see no one who can resist being seduced by the gossamer illusions of Hollywood. We've got ourselves a situation here, much like exists on the Palestinian side of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. How long would you think an honest Palestinian bloke would last getting up on a soap box in the market square, saying what the majority of Palestinians must be feeling in their hearts?

Defeat in Afghanistan

A loss in Afghanistan is another example of events overtaking (best) intentions. We can't really blame POTUS. He just happens to be there at this moment. Clearly, he doesn't know what to do. Would anyone? It might be nice if someone told us the truth.

It's difficult to mesh reality with campaigning. It's much easier to promise something (anything) that will make the people vote for you. Winning in Afghanistan was one such (to my ears, unambiguous) promise. Come to think of it, there were many others involving both foreign and domestic goals. We're still waiting, Mr. President.

So far, I would say, we’ve gotten nothing for our unbridled optimism and support. Many of us have even lost jobs, homes, retirement savings or savings in general. We’ve lost our faith, M. President. We no longer think you can handle the job. Your now famously ‘fuzzy math’ has been exposed as fraud. I guess you never thought that we would see through all that; that we were smarter than what any of your ivory tower cronies gave us credit for.

What now, Mr. President? At some point you’ve got to start leveling with us; at the very least, treating us as equals; let us know in no uncertain terms what’s up and what your plans are. Can you really blame some of us for calling you a ‘Marxist’? You yourself have often enough stated that you want to redistribute our nation’s wealth. Your associations and appointees seem to be totally okay with that – some more so than others. Tell us how that’s not Marxism.

We understand how you like to play with the language. You might point out that Karl Marx has been dead for some time. Therefore, Marxism cannot be said to exist except as a vacuous but deliberate slur – like the word ‘terrorism’ (which must never be uttered again particularly as it relates to the Islamic sort). Fair enough.

All this can be argued (as long as we’re still permitted to argue); shades of meaning; what the definition of ‘is’ is. But Mr. President, we beg you, do not refer to ‘recession’ as ‘recovery’; job losses as gains (or ‘saves’); losing as winning; etc. All these are direct opposites. Not even the slowest learner in the class would fall for that.

The Dollar: That Great, Big Sucking Sound

When the housing bubble was in the process of waxing, I kept watching the value of our house going up and up. All the while, its size and the quarter acre on which it stands remained the same. Nevertheless, we felt good about it and felt ourselves to be inordinately fortunate and well off.

When Argentina experienced serious inflation back in the '70's - when a carton of American cigarettes cost the equivalent of 30 cents - they pegged all their financial transactions on the value of a gallon of gas as defined by the American dollar (which was seen to be the bedrock of fiscal integrity).

Inflation in a currency is a sign of 'value' being sucked out of it. Only the productive sector of an economy produces ‘value’. Government and government-sponsored entitlements (directed to the undeserving) dilute the value of the currency - as does money printed on government printing presses. As you're watching things costing more and more, don't think of it that way. Think of it as the dollar buying less and less. Though it comes out to the same thing, there's a significant distinction in how we look at it. The former engenders visions of greed and corruption - a failure of the private sector; capitalism - whereas the latter points to a failure of government policy.

Excesses in the private sector will always diminish in the course of normally occurring cycles. Government excess can seldom be slowed; never reversed. Once voters decide to abandon their civic duty with regard to voting in elections (or casting their vote lightly), government excess spreads like a cancer unchecked throughout the system - and the system dies.

Riot Act

It's possible that Obama was read the riot act while in China. He might well have been told that he can't just take his ball and go home; that there are others still out there who are entitled to play. “America can't just be permitted to retreat behind some smoldering economic ruin just because it happens to please the Utopian academics of that country; just because someone claims to have discovered the Holy Grail that would create some socio-economic arrangement that has never been seen before.

“No thank you, Mr. (American) President. By the way, how did you ever manage to get elected? Surely the whole country couldn't be as loony and bitter as you are? Go back there and fix what your administration has already wrecked. While we recognize that the some of the problems stem from what you inherited, there's no denying that, since you’ve been in office, you've made everything many times worse. Now, you've put us all at risk.

“Remember, we own you as we own your debt. We could demand our money back at any time. We know what you're doing: driving the dollar down, so we will be left holding the bag. Well, it won't work. We'll come over (if we have to) and claim your land; your women; your resources; the labor of your people - until we feel we have fair value in return for all that we've already invested there.

“And, by the way, don't even think of making any noise about Taiwan, Tibet, Pakistan, Africa or any other place in which we decide to exert our (admittedly) pernicious influence. China is a big country; we've got way too many people; we desperately need to expand. …and right now, we find, you’re in our way."

Heart of Darkness

Today, B. Raman writes that Obama clearly seems to be favoring China over India and lists his reasons. He notes this as being a change from Bush administration’s policies.

In the past, a country's democratic credentials held some sway when it came to being seen by America in a favorable light. All that ended when Obama came into office. It not only ended, but actually reversed the equation. American President Barrack Hussein Obama seems much more at ease with despots, dictators and oligarchs than with the democratically elected representatives of a people. He clearly favors Iran over Israel; Venezuela over (constitutionally grounded) Honduras and (as B. Raman says) China over India. Neither can we say that any of this is pragmatic or strategic. Instead, it is becoming increasingly clear that Obama's agenda is solely ideologically driven. He is at heart a Marxist (which he hid from the American electorate) and aims to turn the U.S. in a hard Left direction and/or destroy it altogether.

In this way he seeks to curry favor with the kindred of Cain who continue to despise him; not, as he believes, for not moving fast and/or decisively enough to eliminate what is commonly regarded as a cancer in those ideological quarters but, quite simply, for being a traitor. In almost every case ‘traitor’ trumps ‘dogma’ as applies to the hierarchy of reasons usually put forth as an excuse to shun a person, as it speaks of a cold but erratically beating heart that is adversely affected by some kind of virulent affliction.

Sarah Palin: Is She Out of Her Mind?

There's now a powerful feeling sweeping our nation. It stems from a hunger for a patriotic, pro-American agenda. All that is missing is leadership. Should someone emerge who is willing to embrace this agenda, he or she would be swept into elective office by overwhelming majorities.

The American Left is well aware of the situation. They know that the American people are against them. They know they cannot expose their candidates to fair and impartial elections; they know they would lose it all in a flash should Americans be given the opportunity to take back the votes they cast a year ago.

This is something the Left cannot change for they are ideologues who do not know compromise. If they mean to hang on to power, they need to do it by unorthodox means. One way is to immediately and ruthlessly destroy any person around whom a pro-American agenda can potentially coalesce. As such, Sarah Palin will be mercilessly attacked, demonized, smeared, lied about, neutralized, etc. until she can no longer be regarded as a threat. It will be the same for any other potentially credible standard-bearer for conservative values who would dare show his or her face in the public arena.

What we have in this country already is a form of fascism - rampant intimidation that borders on outright censorship. Only liberal views go unchallenged. Only progressive views are praised. Conservative ideas, on the other hand, are strictly backwater, uneducated, hick, racist, sexist, and just plain wrong. Who in their right mind would risk wading into such dangerous waters?

Is Sarah Palin in her right mind? Possibly not. But if she is, she’s a hero in my book.

We Won, They Lost

Obama has the facts alright - the facts he wants (us) to believe. In order for ideologies to survive, they need to be supported - if not with facts, then with lies. To our president, the only evil that has ever existed in this world is us. It is we who rape and pillage the planet; it is we who drop bombs and make war; it is we who live off the exploitation of the world's poor.

And we ourselves have gone along with it, happily spitting on the success and prosperity our forefathers have wrought, glibly casting their effort and sacrifice in the same light as our own sloth; ennui; nausea and nihilism. Therefore, it becomes possible for us to say that the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki took little thought – like deciding to have an abortion or taking the garbage out.

Above all, it highlights the utter and profound disdain these people have for the nation that’s given them all she had to give – even the platform from which to ridicule her. I am not surprised that with new display of our leaders soiling themselves publicly on the global stage, our people’s outrage grows. It will reach a point where not even the state-sponsored media will be able to air-brush it away.

By the way, I think it is wrong to attempt to justify any war action in terms of soldiers lost as opposed to the soldiers that might have been lost. It’s the same algebra that Obama uses to justify copious spending in order to justify jobs ’saved’. What matters in war is WINNING, and only that.

There are always those who will contrive a rhetoric to blame America first for anything and everything. They represent the squeaky wheel that should at worst be no more than tiresome. The point is, WE WON/they lost. We have nothing to be ashamed of. When winning becomes the source of one’s shame, a civilization lapses into irrelevance.

Curtain of Deceit

Only persons with no stake in this earthly existence can in clear conscience fail to appreciate the difference between a (mental patient) suicide bomber and a Dalai Lama or Pope who are more than willing to offer their good offices in an effort to ease religious tensions around the world.

Whether one wants to believe it or not, there really are those in whose interest it is to actively promote strife. In religious terms they could be classified as demonic or evil. Some sell arms; some direct armies; others are in the throes of some version of a death wish. Many, if not most, carry U.S passports.

They all profit hugely from war (or the threat of it), funded by Marxist sycophants whose manifesto clearly advocates and glorifies constant revolution and bloodletting with the same zeal with which some of us are asked to advocate and glorify the sacrament of abortion.

The end of armed struggle would put them all out of business. While politicians sit on their fences, counting their campaign donations, the hate merchants’ influence, regrettably, grows stronger every day. Already, it has acquired sufficient clout to overrule any chance for peace that a clear majority, living in any one of the various global trouble spots, might dare to hope for.

The day will come when Obama’s name will be synonymous with Mao, Pot, Stalin, Castro or anyone else on the left side of the ledger you care to mention, for the pendulum is bound to swing back. On that day Tibet will be free, as will the good people of N. Korea and Iran… for tyranny can never be more than transient.

Marxism and religion are diametrically opposed as religion consistently and paradoxically imbues the weakest link – children and the aged – with (divine) power, while shunning coercion that benefits only the few who manage to hide the stain of corruption behind a curtain of deceit.

Death Penalty

Once again, a blizzard of contradictions swirls around a decision reached by the current administration. It is difficult to see any upside to anything that might result from trying KSM in a NYC Federal Court.

In mathematics, any inconsistencies and/or discrepancies can always be resolved from the reach of the next higher dimension. So too, POTUS’ reasoning can be discerned by asking, “Why?” Already we see red flags emerging in watching Obama comment on the decision from oversees havens, essentially saying, “No comment. Eric Holder is handling it.” This means that, should anything happen to warrant blame, Holder becomes the guy who will be asked to fall on his sword.

Why, indeed! To me it’s quite consistent with what’s been happening from the start of this presidency. Many people, particularly the MSM, are not quite ready to admit it yet lest they get egg on their Botoxed faces – which just goes to prove that the Himalayan sage was right when he proclaimed that ego is the last thing that one gives up when faced with certain death.

Obama wishes first and foremost to destroy America. He is well on his way to having accomplished just that with regard to America's economy. He is working on the destruction of representative governance; education; private industry, energy; strategic (foreign) alliances… there are others I could list. The big item remaining, however, is the military which would include the intelligence services.

A public trial will bring out the inner workings of the CIA and make them public. It will also rekindle the debate about waterboarding and torture - all of it, designed to make the military look bad and ineffective. There are those who suggest it will outright destroy the viability of the CIA. It will also spur the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld haters to renew their demand to put the entire Bush administration on trial for war crimes. And ultimately it will give the blame-America-first Left a platform from which to spew their venom which may just be enough to result in a “not guilty” verdict.

KSM has already admitted guilt. He has asked to be martyred. Why we need a (circus) trial at all is a mystery. Unless, of course, it's to put the U.S. on trial and establish guilt there as well. It then becomes a game of deciding who bears the greater guilt. Would the death penalty apply to the U.S. as well?

Under Siege

The point is, something ugly happened at Fort Hood. There were clues and indications earlier that should have been heeded. Just like there were clues and indications before 9/11/01. We learned something from 9/11/01. We now check all airline passengers and their carry-on bags.

You mean to say we've learned nothing from the Fort Hood massacre; that we will continue conducting business as usual? That we will continue with our hands tied, sporting blindfolds as PC demands?

Have we not learned from this that the enemy is among us; that all of us must now be considered ‘suspects’? Have we not learned that we are a nation at war with itself? Do we still harbor the illusion that there are not those here who wish to destroy us? This thing is bigger than Muslims vs. infidels; Democrats vs. Republicans. This is about people who are determined to wipe out the very essence of a nation and enslaving its population under a yoke of insurmountable debt leading first to chaos, then to oligarchy… gulags for the rest of us.

Yes, you might say, socialism works in other places. You might even say that communism works okay in China. So what's the big deal? The big deal is that America is not a place where socialism or communism can work. These are alien concepts to who we are. Forcing these on us would kill us. You can't give type 'A' blood to a type 'B' (blood) person and expect him to survive.

Still you persist. You ask, "Why can't we be like China? They're successful; they're on the ascent. So what's the loss of a little freedom here and there as long as no one goes hungry and nobody dies?" The difference is this: The Chinese leadership for all its failings is saved by some sense of national pride. A large part of its concern is doing what it truly believes is best for the country. There are chasms of (differences of) opinion that exist within this narrow but significant mandate, but it's enough to earn the people's trust. The overwhelming majority is willing to give the government the benefit of the doubt with respect to the choices it makes.

In America today there is overwhelming doubt by the majority of the people that their government is actually on their side; that it can be counted on to protect them. Americans feel like hostages, totally at the mercy of the thugs who have taken them hostage. Every incident, such as the one at Fort Hood, in which ordinary Americans are killed is played out against the backdrop of Americans (in general) feeling that they are under siege. So far, there is no rescue party in sight - only a faint glimmer of hope that the next election cycle will be sufficient to put an end to this nightmare of uncertainty and loss.

Petraeus For President

The next U.S. president won’t be elected to that position because he has an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ after his name. Nor will he be elected because he can speak well and make lofty promises. He will not be elected because he’s black, or white, or green…

The next president of the U.S. will be elected on the strength of his resume and his character. And this is the way it should be. There should be no question as to his birth certificate or his allegiances. He will wear the stars and stripes lapel pin proudly and not waver between “Should I? Or, shouldn’t I?” Make no mistake, he will be a patriot.

He’ll take this broken nation as it is and will not further divide it. He will not deliberately demonize groups or industries to score cheap political points. He will have a plan for healing the nation and he will doggedly see it through.

His policies will not be poll-driven. He will not stick his moistened finger into the air to see which way the wind is blowing. He will understand his mandate and get it done. He won’t be shy to expose the feckless, the corrupt, the anti- American. He will stand with the people who can make this country great again. He will work tirelessly to clean up the messes left by the past three administrations.

I can see Petraeus as our next President – not in 2016, but much sooner.

I Will Go to Prison

It’s sad to know that the gravity of all these lessons of history remains unknown and unappreciated by the young people here in America. The other day, I happened to read an account of the fall of the Berlin wall on the opinion page of our local NJ newspaper (which continues to show up at our doorstep like an abandoned child). In it, all the credit went to Gorbachev; the name, Ronald Reagan, was never mentioned once. I understand too that our president refused an invitation by the German government to represent America in ceremonies commemorating the liberation of the East German people.

Meanwhile, here in America we're going precisely in the opposite direction. Our people (including the unborn, the ones we will choose not to abort) are being systematically enslaved to outrageous debt. It won't be long before the walls along our own borders will go up as well. These will be built to keep us in, not to keep others out. For once, our government will not dither as it has.

I will go to prison rather than comply with the health care mandate passed by our representatives last night.

Energy Shapes

My wife and I usually go out for a walk after dinner. Along the way, we always pass by a particular house where invariably a black cat comes (literally) galloping to greet us, roll over on its back at our feet; purring uproariously and, then, getting up to follow us part way down the block.

Actually, at one time, there were two black cats - the one I just described, and another - a larger one - that stayed pretty much in the background, simply observing our daily encounters. On rare occasions, when our usual feline friend happened to be occupied elsewhere, the larger cat would deign to come out of the shadows and grudgingly permit itself to be petted.

The day would come when (suddenly) the smaller cat no longer appeared. Instead, the larger cat would come running up to us exactly as its mate had done. We asked the woman (who was watching us from the porch of the house) what had become of the little cat. She told us that he had been hit by a car and died.

We found this absolutely stunning. I don't know how else one could possibly account for it but, in dying, the smaller cat had apparently transferred its entire personality lock stock and barrel to the larger cat which now continued the antics of its now dead partner precisely to the letter.

In Hinduism, no sharp distinctions can be drawn between gods, men and animals. All these exist in an unbroken line, from the highest down to the lowest. Using Carlos Castaneda's terminology, all are essentially ‘energy shapes’, fractured only by men's minds and egos. No doubt there are other Edens out there where life can flourish. But the physical shape of whatever that life may take is largely irrelevant.
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When, after an intense argument, life threatened to leave the earth, earth laughed and said, "Don't be absurd! Nowhere else will you find my bounty with which to build and power your pathetic little toys.” And life replied, "You're so wrong! Even on the dark side of the moon; even in the outer reaches of space would it be possible for me to find sufficient substance to shape and sculpt. I am infinitely more flexible than you think. I can adapt myself to any condition. I have self-determination and the desire to be. I will go anywhere I want, using whatever means available to give expression to the essence of myself.”

The Fear of Offending

The government-media complex is lying to us, as usual. Even B. Raman's analysis (above) uses the word 'suddenly' (as opposed to premeditated), attempting to give the impression of a lone, wildly unhinged psychotic - definitely no conspiracy; no outside support. Except there are a couple of facts that put the lie to that particular speculation: (1) The shooter was reported to have given away many of his perishables before the rampage, and (2) He obviously had guns with live ammunition. Where did he get them?

Apparently too, he'd been making comments for months that should have alerted the brass to a possible problem with this man. But, because of political correctness (now awash even in the military), no sensible precautions were taken. We are paralyzed by the fear of offending the enemy. And this has been the crux of our problem all along.

We've allowed the enemy to write our rules of engagement. This is the real conspiracy. We've conspired against ourselves. We've agreed to observe the double standard that dictates that the enemy is always right, and we are always wrong. Al Qaeda; the Marxists; the Liberation Theologists; the (Socialist) Democrats; the corrupt politicians (of all stripes); the bankers and arms merchants - all must be having a mighty good laugh quite literately at our expense. We - the mules; the work horses; the ones that pull all their wagons in grand style over the sun-baked skulls of the third-world expendable populations - are forever guilty, simply for enjoying our little pleasures.

Every other night there's a party in the White House while we're sitting at home counting our pennies. Adding insult to injury we're told that 13 unarmed soldiers were killed in cold blood by a Muslim Major with a ‘troubled mind’. And this too is our fault. He was observed to have yelled "God is great!" before pulling the trigger, thereby summoning the 72 virgins he had been expecting to greet him on passing. Is that why they're keeping him alive (instead of feeding him to the dogs); to deprive him of his just reward?

'Failed' States

We shook our heads, creased our foreheads and clucked our tongues every time a military installation was attacked in Rawalpindi, Pakistan recently. We pronounced Pakistan a ‘failed’ state – a failed state with nukes. HRC received much praise in some quarters for talking tough during her recent visit to Pakistan. It reminded me of sitting on the back end of one of those horse-drawn two-wheelers on the streets of some non-descript South Indian town when the horse (bag of bones as he was) suddenly dropped like a rock, catapulting us all - passengers and driver alike – forward and onto the still steaming carcass that the spirit had already abandoned. Luckily, save the horse, no one was hurt. We simply brushed ourselves off and walked away. Looking back once more, we saw the driver still sitting next to his dead horse and wailing sorrowfully while beating it with a stick.

Now we can add Ft. Hood to the list of targets of the insurgency. It’s interesting that no one in the government-media complex will come right out and say it, preferring instead to speculate on the psychopathic loner theory, likely driven over the edge by right-wing hate radio. The people, however, are not that dumb. As soon as they heard his name, they knew. They know that America’s current leaders are in a race for time; that, for some inexplicable reason, they are willfully sowing the seeds of chaos, intent on catching up, and overtaking the likes of Pakistan – failed States. There seems to be no rhyme or reason other than revenge; to lay every painful aspect of the human condition on America’s doorstep and make her pay.

Single-Issue Diversions

In response to the Catholic bishop's opposition to abortion funding as outlined in the Health Care bill:

This is just the latest attempt to stop this thing or (at the very least) to slow it down. People from all walks of life know that, should this bill ever reach the president's desk, it would do irreparable damage to the very foundation of what it has meant to be American. Symbolically, this attempt by the Obama administration to take over one sixth of the economy can be compared to the Taliban training their guns on the Bamyan Buddhas.

I’ve been accused of being intemperate in my comments, especially in regard to comparing the Obama administration to the Taliban. I feel it is not enough to oppose this administration on single issues such as abortion, for example. By doing so, one would be implying that everything else this administration does is alright and perfectly acceptable. It also puts one in the position of being forced to horse trade, like, “we’ll agree to take out abortion funding but you, in return, will no longer oppose us on immigration reform, ‘cap and trade’, etc.” when, in fact, nothing this administration has done and proposes to do is acceptable. Everything is designed to bankrupt the nation; to diminish our influence in world affairs; to dismiss the idea of ‘American Exceptionalism’ in its entirety. Many of us now realize that we are being driven down to a place where the center cannot hold; that the ultimate result that this administration appears to favor is utter and complete chaos.

Look at Afghanistan: utter and complete chaos, corruption and fear. Once our own situation reaches a point where it would take a wheelbarrow instead of a wallet to buy a tank of gas or a pack of cigarettes, you will find out how fast civil society unravels. I have heard nothing from this president that would in any way indicate that he is not totally committed to pursuing some horrific version of the Marxist revolution on our own shores.

Are Both Parties Dead?

The question to be answered by every voter is, "Are both parties dead?" There is enough evidence to indicate that this is indeed so. The next question is: “Can we afford to start from scratch; to plan, nurture and organize a new party into existence?” The answer is decidedly no.

The Democrat Party, which is now the Socialist Mop Party (SMP), is threatening to sweep our country into the ash heap of history (and us along with it). We must act now! Granted, the Republican Party has pretty much kept silent during this time of crisis. This gives the impression of it being sorely ineffective - complicit, even. Still, it must be said, Republicans do not seem as determined to cast us upon the jagged shoals of feudal servitude and personal bankruptcy.

There's not much time. We must go into battle with what we have - a dispirited party of losers. Perhaps, with some combination of threat and encouragement, we can goose them back to some semblance of strength. Perhaps we can salvage the GOP mantle and some of the elements of its structure and animate the carcass with our own desperate need to preserve what we have worked so hard for. Perhaps this would suffice to frighten our enemies - the jihadis; the communists; the nihilists; the dreamers; the one-worlders; the Utopians; the narcissists; the thieves; the charlatans; the liars; the soulless - just long enough to delay their final assault.

It's day to day now. Each weekend evening we can count among our blessings with John Batchelor's dulcet tones to accompany us is a gift. Pray that the tsunami unleashed by the Obama election will not be sufficient to destroy the elemental precepts of our civilization.

Lemmings?

I remember back in 2008, Republicans campaigning for office asked Bush to stay away. They did not want to be seen with him. And he understood the political realities and did not impose himself.

This past election cycle, anemic an indicator (of anything) as it was, Obama was asked to appear with both Democrat gubernatorial incumbents. He was said to be the man of ‘hope and change’, after all; the man of the hour; of destiny; the Messiah; the man with the big mo, whose multi-colored, socialist mop could confidently sweep away any and all messes.

It didn't work. I know Obama came several times to embrace Corzine publicly and cause massive traffic disruptions in this, my beloved, hugely blue state. If a presidential visit or two works anywhere, it should have worked here.

There is perhaps a parallel that can be drawn here (between ‘W’ and Obama). I’m just not quite sure of how to articulate it.

Cynics will try to put the onus on a fickle and confused electorate. They would argue that, given, the people went wholesale for anything ‘not Bush’ during the last election cycle, is it then so difficult to believe that those same lemming-like clods would not also veer severely to the Right on the mere suggestion of talk radio blather? Or is it, perhaps, the executive branch itself that has become toxic; a sacrificial stone for any president?

Linking the anti-Bush and the anti-Obama sentiment in this way, however, lacks nuance. Anti-Bush was manufactured fun spun from whole cloth by nihilists, stand-up comics, propagandists and spoilers. Anti-Obama sentiment, on the other hand, spawns from a genuine fear that America is headed for the proverbial cliff. It is infinitely more potent than the care-free jabs at Republican governance over the office water cooler. There will be a bloodbath next year.

Accepting Thugocracy

What amazes me is how easily we accept and submit to thugocracy and outright corruption. Here in NJ, for instance, it is routinely reported that ACORN and the unions are engaging in massive (absentee ballot) voter fraud. At the same time, it is said that that the gubernatorial election here is too close to call. I have yet to hear a rendering of what we might expect if there were no fraud.

For better and for worse, fraud seems to have become incorporated into NJ’s election process. The subtext reads that Republicans, in order to win in this very blue state, simply have to be able to overcome their (somehow) divinely-ordained handicap and recognize fraud as a fixed reality (always giving the advantage to the Dem side of the ledger) that is now so entrenched as to have become, for all intents and purposes, sanctified.

And the people unquestioningly accept the premise and dutifully go to the polls in the vacant performance of their civic duty that guarantees only the continued flight of those who can afford to get out, and the continued rape of those who cannot.

The elections in Afghanistan were not much different. As I understand it, Karzai’s opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the process, branding a runoff as superfluous. Everyone agrees that the first election was fraudulant and seems to be okay with it. It is not inconceivable that the U.S. itself persuaded Karzai’s opponent to quit the field with bribes and/or threats.

Meanwhile, here at home there’s been a run on the treasury – the people’s money – that can only be described as theft. Meanwhile, as taxpayers dig ever deeper into their pockets, it never occurs to them to ask is it legal, is it fair, is it constitutional? What is the down-side of bankrupting a nation? – I’m talking to you Soros!

Parrot Sketch

The Republican Party is dead. There's no longer anything that can save it. It can appear to function - like a Zombie bank - but that illusion of movement is just the buzzards and the maggots. Sure, there's a rich history there, all the way from Lincoln to Reagan. It hurts some of us to let it go just the way we were once determined to hang on to our American brand of car and cigarettes - until we figured out that both were killing us. Eventually, most of us went Japanese and we gave up cigarettes altogether. Now, all we can do is watch the old Bogart movies.

We're all on the same side. I get wary when someone attacks the Republicans without mentioning the Dems - or vis-a-versa. Both parties are no more; deceased; expired – like the ‘Norwegian Blue’ in Monty Python’s ‘Parrot Sketch’. It's no use pretending they’re not dead. The Dems are animated by Marxism; the Republicans are animated by maggots. Time for something new and healthy; something optimistic; something with a vision; something capable enough to inspire; something vigorous enough to sweep all the road kill to the side.

It'll take some time to get organized; to find our sea legs; to become confident enough to draw serious attention. We're already much further along than anyone thought possible. You wouldn't know that from reading most papers and watching TV.

The '9/12 March on Washington' was a watershed moment. All those who attended knew it was that. There will be other such moments - like a Hoffman win in NY's 23rd, like Corzine going down to defeat (eventually), like the anti-Obama vote in Virginia come next Tuesday. Republican wins in NJ and Virginia should not be interpreted to mean that the Republican Party is alive and well. It's a mere stop-gap measure to show that the country is already sick of Obama’s brand of communism. The Republicans are next up to get their clocks cleaned by, let's say, a party of people who embrace (American) principles, values, sanity and common sense.

FAILED!!!

Pakistan is like the Republican Party: FAILED. Pakistan is not a real country; it is only the shadow of one - like the Republican Party. Try to grasp it, and your hand comes away empty. Sticks do not bring the dead back to life, nor do carrots. Neither does pretending that the dead are alive.

Where both HRC and JB's arguments break down into nonsense is by trying to have it both ways. Either Pakistan or the Republican Party are certifiably dead, or they are not. If, as JB continues to intimate, that the Republican Party is dead or dying, let it go in peace and hope that whatever supplants it will prosper. Care for it; nurture it. Rip out the old stump and burn it. Why even waste time discussing it?

Same with Pakistan. Why must we pretend it's a vibrant democracy when we all can see it's a sink-hole (albeit, a sink-hole with nukes). Maybe it's become too dangerous to let it go on. So, what are we (still militarily the world’s most powerful country) going to do about it? Seems to me we have a crisis in leadership. Once reduced to the size of Denmark (as Obama seems to want us), then we can start wringing our hands. As for now, should anything bad happen over there (or in Iran, for that matter), we have no excuse. We’ve had plenty of warnings.