Moscow Subway Bombing

Looks like a classic example of the dog turning on its master. (Note: I make no qualitative distinction between dog and master.) From these (cyber) pages we have learned that Russia encourages Tehran; that Tehran encourages terrorists. Will Russia now cooperate with America to defeat terrorism?

Answer: No. Putin does not see America as a credible partner in any serious area of endeavor. Putin has looked into Obama's eyes and saw nothing useful there - only immense pride and unearned arrogance. Putin will handle this on his own. He will be utterly ruthless. He can be expected to take full advantage of the crisis. He will make heads roll publicly to distract from his own failings.

Americans watching from the sidelines will not feel encouraged. They will despair at what they see as their own president's efforts to counter terrorism. FBI raids of Christian militia groups will fail to allay fears.

Since passage of the health care bill, there has been much talk in the media about right-wing violence. The NYT – party organ of our current administration - has suggested that the tsunami of public disapproval of the bill has nothing to do with the bill itself; that instead, it has become an excuse by white males to attack a sitting black president. We are now to believe that any criticism of Obama’s policies is the result of racism. This is a dangerous tact this administration is taking.

Obama was elected primarily to vanquish white guilt. It appears to have backfired. Obama’s election is about to give race baiters a field day. I propose we shut down all conservative websites, and silence conservative talk radio. Why, when disagreement alone is deemed sedition, hand them more nails with which to crucify us?

Poser

Every expectation, both domestically and internationally, has been turned on its head by this administration. Most of us have yet to realize this. We still insist on calling it failure (or incompetence) when ticking off accomplishments (or the lack thereof) since Barack Hussein Obama has been in office. Can we now say ‘DELIBERATE’?

Iraq is a throw-away for Obama. He’s looking to scoot under any pretext. The mission as he sees it – his mandate, if you wish – is to remake America. Even that is a euphemism, I’m afraid. He means to destroy us. He sees America as an unrepentant evil that must be erased from the earth.

On the Right, it has become fashionable to shout ‘SOCIALISM’ in the hope of stirring the comatose into exhibiting some spine arched in opposition. It's even worse than that. Socialism is the least of it. Other nations have and are surviving - whereas some can even be said to have prospered - under socialism. Read Alinsky again. Obama intends to destroy us. This means, every trace of what we have come to know as 'America' - gone. To do this, he has lit many fuses. Economic collapse is no longer unthinkable. Neither is Israel's demise. The specter of violence looms on our own shores, stoked by this administration and by the now state-controlled media. Obama wants no less than revolution - with all its bells and whistles.

Socialism to these people is merely a point of argument to keep us distracted and confused while discord about race, gender, income, political affiliation, etc. is sown. Obama has come to divide and destroy so that his name will go down in history as the greatest of tyrants the world has ever seen - to outshine even Mao, Stalin and Hitler. In this way he intends to win the respect of modern-day tyrants who have thus far dismissed him as a mere poser.

Elections Posponed Indefinitely

When we elected Obama, we put all our stones on the wrong side of the see-saw. Has there ever been a more flawed election as the one we have seen in Afghanistan? Is there any doubt that Iran will fill the void after we leave Iraq?

The question posed in the clip above is, “Can the U.S. stop from increasing its influence in Afghanistan?” Answer: No. Not if we don't have the desire to stop them. Or, “Can the U.S. work with Iran?” Answer: Yes, because it is becoming increasingly clear that Iran's path to power in the region is to take Israel out. This single achievement would give rise to a celebration the likes of which the world has never seen. It would elevate Tehran to the pinnacle of political power in the region (and beyond) and erase traditional rivalries, at least temporarily. The U.S. under Obama has already chosen sides. It will side with Iran.

Interesting is the timeframe within which all this can be expected to happen. As no one can be certain if Barack Hussein Obama will be elected to a second term, we can expect the conflagration sometime before 2012. As Israel has already figured out the game plan, it will have had time to mount an effective response. Even though, it knows it can’t win without American help, the war will likely be long and bloody - just the right opportunity for the American president to announce that we cannot risk having elections at this time.

Packing It In

It is no secret that Obama wants out of the Middle East. It’s now just a matter of face saving. Politically, our adventures there have already run their course. There are no more political gains to be had by continuing. All the talk about Taliban held territory not being used to attack the U.S. mainland is just that. They wouldn’t be capable of doing it anyway. This doesn’t mean that we could now let our guard down and open Club Meds all over the Tora Bora. As long as Israel exists, the Middle East in general will remain a tinderbox.

The campaign to demonize and eventually to allow Israel to be overrun is already well underway. It is hoped that by giving the Arabs this victory, a lasting ‘peace’ will return to the region. There are signs that the Obama administration believes this too. It fails to take into account, however, that there are other rivalries in place and brewing within the Ummah itself that will keep the region unhinged for centuries to come. The point is that we will no longer be involved. Neither will our dependence on oil become an issue as, it is believed, we can just as easily buy what we need on the open market; from Russia or China who presumably will step into the vacuum.

As the nations of the world continue to give in to Arab demands, Israel will find itself increasingly alone and isolated. She will be pushed into the sea. Such will be the price of our profound indifference. It remains to be seen how history will judge us. Will we be able to live with our consciences so bruised beyond repair? Perhaps, in a generation or two when a conscienceless new order emerges from the ruins of the old - one, blissfully ignorant of the past - people will ask themselves how a race of men so disfigured and scarred can still be counted among the living; how it is possible for wounds, still bleeding so profusely, to no longer hurt.

Do Not Let Them Do It!!!

Some years ago, I found myself sitting on a palm-fringed beach somewhere in Indonesia. A storm was developing out at sea. I watched it gathering; gaining strength. It was headed my way. The women that walked past me in groups at irregular intervals, with baskets or jars on their heads, increased their pace and headed for the thatched-roof huts that dotted the coast. I was too far away from anywhere. All I could do was hunker down, dig my fingers into the sand and await the onslaught.

I feel a little like that now. Oh, it’ll come alright. The Left has been playing us like violins. They’ve turned us into Pavlov’s dogs. First they got us to hate Bush; then they got us to elect Obama (no questions asked). Then they got us to swallow all the garbage this president has so carelessly thrown into the trough over the past year. Where is it going? When will it end?

The only reason I can think of for why this administration would inflict on us another contentious issue right on the heels of the health care debate is to get us even more upset. The strategy seems to be pay-back – for what? Being Americans? The plan is, I am convinced, to keep jabbing us until we snap. Already, Homeland Security has classified us as more dangerous than Islamic terrorists. Increasingly, state-controlled media is beginning to air mostly unsubstantiated reports of violent behavior. It appears coordinated and minutely calculated, so that when something happens, it’ll be blamed on us. Who threw that brick through the window of the Democrat headquarters in… wherever? Was it one of ours or was it one of theirs? The press will assume it was one of ours and run with it. Who shouted that slur (that, incidentally, nobody else heard) at the Democrat legislator? Who put that sign up along the highway?

With immigration reform in the offing, you can be sure that Obama himself will be out there flipping the race card. Things can only get worse.

Do not, I repeat, DO NOT let them get their way! Do not resort to violence of any kind – ever! When you attend rallies, bring your cameras and cell phones. Should you witness a disturbance, film it; take pictures. Chances are good that any disturbance that erupts will have been started by them. With your pictures, we can prove it.

Gandhi and MLK proved that one can move political mountains with non-violent protest alone. Countless others have fallen on their swords trying to prove otherwise.

Tiananmen Square

I wouldn’t give a plug nickel for anything (Google, GE, GM. etc.) connected with the U.S. government right now. As we speak, they are devaluing work, initiative, talent, representative governance, law, education, alliances, etc. - all, as a matter of official policy. They’ve all done it in the past, to be sure. But now it’s blatant. It cannot be said that they are doing it on our behalf. Every poll shows that they’re governing against the will of the people.

Michelle Obama let the cat out of the bag when she said, “Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual…” Looks like the people don’t really want to go there after all. But, “Barak will never allow…” What’s that all about? Aren’t Americans a free people? And who says that Barack (or anyone) has all the answers?

And while we’re at it, what does she consider “usual”. True, there are modifiers: “uninvolved” and “uninformed”. Another mystery: Who’s uninvolved? The people all over the country who are now busy organizing the biggest, most profound defeat of any political party in history? Who’s uninformed? The man who doesn’t know how many united states make up America; who doesn’t know what’s in the bills he signs?

Today, Obama wouldn’t allow pictures be taken of him and Netanyahu together. Israel is our closest ally in the Middle East. All the others have been playing us for chumps. And remember how hard it was to get Obama to wear that American flag pin on his lapel?

Obama was telling us exactly who he was from the very beginning. Now we act surprised that he’s been true to his word? It’s not hard to infiltrate any institution in a free society and destroy it from within. How do you think our economy got the way it is? Ditto, our educational system; our charities; our foundations; our churches – and now, our government as well.

Look what’s happening to the Catholic Church in Europe at the moment. It’s being destroyed from within. It only takes one kid who claims abuse; it takes just one martyr infiltrator to agree to be the abuser; it takes just one motherless boy to stand at the president’s side and watch him sign health care legislation. The God-hating press will do all the rest.

The dignity of even the most virtuous man always hangs by a thread. That thread is trust. When trust is broken, he becomes a pariah. It’s all done with smoke and mirrors. The trust our president engenders is thinner than gossamer. It’s pure Madison Avenue illusion – always has been. For it to continue it will increasingly require meatier measures – like the picture of Mao on an exterior wall overlooking Tiananmen Square.

Who's Embarrassed?

Who’s embarrassed? The Dems won. The press is ecstatic. The Republicans got a stick in the eye; their noses rubbed in the mud. Representative governance got a black eye. Our economy gets another nudge toward total collapse. Union’s got theirs. The American people got their asses handed to them - doesn’t look to me like there’s anything to be embarrassed about. Last I looked, Pelosi and allies were celebrating.

There were people celebrating after 9/11 as well. They weren’t embarrassed either. Nobody’s embarrassed after they’ve just scored a big win. Imagine the Yankees not celebrating after a World Series romp! It will never happen. Only Republicans, after winning, are constantly apologizing, appeasing, and reaching across the aisle, seeking the hand of the enemy. That, in a nutshell is our domestic political picture anyway.

Internationally, it’s just the opposite. We go to our enemies and apologize our heads off. Just to prove to them how profoundly sorry we are, we disparage our allies publicly before the world.

Celebration and regret: We’ve confused when and where celebration is appropriate. We also don’t know when to express regret. This is due to the loss of our sense of self. We no longer know who we are and what we want to be. We’ve become a cardboard cutout of what we once were - blown aimlessly about by the political winds; crawling in the gutter like the pages of yesterday’s news.

Limbaugh-Palin in '012

ABC News is reporting that the Dems have the votes to pass the health care bill later tonight. What I’m going to say next will likely be seen as controversial by some of you. I don’t care. I’m through ‘pussyfooting’ around. I think the reason we lost today is because we marched, because we jammed switchboards, because we wrote letters – in short, because we made our opposition known only by half measures. For the Left, what we have been (and are) engaged in is a war. For us it is just another in a long series of losing battles. We’re getting too used to losing. And with each loss, the Left grows stronger because we show our hand which continues to be wavering and weak.

The Left rejoices when it can showcase our weakness. For them, AQ and the Taliban deserve more respect than we do. How are we weak? Take our march on then Capitol yesterday. It never even made the news cycle. If mentioned at all, what was subsequently repeated (over and over again) was that some lawmaker had been spit on and another cursed out. Our ordinariness was pathetic; our helplessness, obvious; our demeanor sad-sack civil; impotent in the face of what they perceive to be their power: brand Obama at the helm.

We betray our weakness at every turn. We react. We don’t lead. At the same time we allow those who would lead us to be besmirched. We deny them. We belittle them. We compete amongst ourselves as to who can say the nastiest, most sarcastic things about them. This one’s just a talk show host; a burlesque queen. That one’s from Hicksville, somewhere up in hick Alaska. I never heard anyone on the left having a problem with Byrd, Franken, O’Donnell, Penn and the rest – or even with Obama himself who, truth be told, is just a two-bit, rabble-rousing hood out of Chicago. We never even got to see Obama’s papers because we were too busy digging through Sarah Palin’s underwear drawer.

I still hear quite frequently (from our side) Bush referred to as the worst there ever was – as if Obama is better. I hear from our side Palin labeled ‘stupid’ - as if Biden were a genius. We still deny that we listen to Rush, Beck, Savage, Levin, etc. when challenged. Though, honestly, has anything any one of these men ever said been untrue? You know yourselves that they’ve been right on target. Yet we constantly deny them and treat them as if they don’t really exist, other than in some attic crawl space in our uncommitted minds – like psycho’s mother. And the more we deny them, their views lose their impact. And all that’s left is a pitiful smattering of incoherent slogans on hand-painted signs on the National Mall.

We must come to realize that any leader who may be wanting to emerge to represent our side will become a target. We have shown time and time again that we will buckle and let them take him or her down. Hell, we’ll even assist! Numbers don’t help. We’ve got the numbers - and still we lose. Cull the herd. Get rid of the weak. Keep the strong. We’ve been killing off our strong. We cannot win without leaders. No army has ever won a war without a strong general. Limbaugh-Palin in 2012!

It Won't Work Here

No doubt, our health care system needs improvement. Health care in America is way too expensive. Over the years there have been many calls for reform. I too agree that reform is long overdue.

If I were to reform health care, I would talk with people in the industry. I would listen to their ideas. I would then ask them to put something together that makes sense. Some of it I already know first hand. I know that in India I can get first class medical care at one-tenth of what it would cost me here in America. I know that one reason for this is competition. If I think an Indian doctor is charging too much, I simply go to another. A second reason for the high cost of health care in America is the high premiums doctors (and medical staff in general) must pay for liability insurance. A fix in this part of the equation would involve the thorny issue of tort reform. I am convinced that this, coupled with some version of patient-controlled medical savings accounts, would solve the lion’s share of our medical insurance problems.

Karl Marx was once to have said, "First you socialize medicine and everything else follows like night follows day." Whether or not this quote is accurate, or even if it can be attributed to Marx is not the issue. Significant is that the quote exists and has likely found itself into various socialist catechisms. Additionally, it is also likely that Barack Hussein Obama (who has never been known to be a stickler for exactitude) is profoundly aware of it. At any rate, our star-crossed president is acting as if he believes it.

In a nutshell, I would suggest that health care can be fixed by taking the advice of professionals and proceeding reasonably and incrementally towards a solution. Obama, on the other hand is looking to ‘fix’ health care by taking an entirely ideological approach. As such, this would not necessarily require expertise. All he would need to do is to pass into law a loose framework that remains open to interpretation. It must be remembered that, in Obama’s mind, the goal is not to fix health care. The goal is control. The clue that this is indeed this administration’s plan is obvious by their relentless bashing of the industry and shunning its experts.

We have learned much about the Left in the past year. We have learned who they are and how they operate. The implementation of policy is a reasoned and linear process. It is like an equation whose variables cannot be assumed to be such intangibles as falsehoods and emotion. It may work in the Middle East where ignorance, cruelty and cult of personality still reign supreme; where self-destruction is part and parcel with articles of faith; where martyrdom, not progeny, is seen as the link to salvation.

But it won’t work here in these United States.

Getting our hands dirty

ccdavis is right. We’ve found ourselves a way to conduct a war without getting our hands dirty. Or so it appears. JB asks who else was killed in the drone attacks. He means, of course, who else was killed that was important (to the fight). No mention of women and children.

In much of India, if you want to eat chicken (or any meat), you go to the shop where they have live chickens (in coops) and point out the one you want. They’ll take it out and give it to you right then and there; or they’ll tell you to come back in 20 minutes and they’ll have it all cut up and ready for you. My squeamish wife refuses to point out a victim. Therefore, when in India, we become vegetarians.

Drone strikes are one more step removed from the grit of war. In addition, there’s the potential for misinformation, and false reporting being disseminated. Suppose you leave the chicken stall and the vendor puts your choice of chicken back in the coop; and wraps up the pieces of another chicken, that may have been killed hours earlier, to give you when you return 20 minutes later.

In any case, drone strikes don’t work in culture or civil wars. It might be said that we here in America are engaged in a culture war. We’ve reached a point even beyond using drones. Instead, we use our elected officials as drones so we don’t have to get our hands dirty.

We’re coming to realize that our drones no longer work for us. In fact, they’re increasingly seen as targeting us. We all have children whom we occasionally send to the market. The enemy is often hiding behind a human shield comprised of our children. Every time there’s a vote to increase the school budget, we’re asked to choose between our children and some old person who must now choose between his or her property taxes and his or her meds. It amounts to a Hobson’s choice. It’s been that way for years. And now, it seems, the chickens have come home to roost.

They're not stupid if they don't know.

The legislative process on display in Washington this week seems like an echo of the very same process that elected Barack Hussein Obama over a year ago. The big story here – as then – is the American media which views the whole thing as a horserace between the evil Republicans and the saintly Democrats, refusing to examine the broader issues of viability and consequence. The difference is that between then and now the American people appear to have awakened. They have come to recognize that a Trojan horse sits in the White House, but find themselves powerless to act. Their own soldiers are under siege, held at political gunpoint and forced to commit unspeakable acts of betrayal.

While still too many of us see this as a contest between skins and shirts, there is no doubt that if the current health care tussle on The Hill – now beginning to resemble the Afghan (national) sport of Buzkashi (in which the object is to get a goat carcass across the goal line) – were subjected to a direct popular vote, it would go to the skins by a considerable margin. It is the margin that is troubling here. It ought to be 100% against – not some version of 50 -50.

Still, it would not be fair to call those who support the bill ‘stupid’. You’re not stupid if you don’t know. Access to information has been so bifurcated in our country as to make a bridging of the chasm improbable, if not impossible. Whereas you and I have learned of the outright fraud and misapplication of science in order to affect social engineering, the readers of The New York Times and The Washington Post know none of it. Mainstream broadcast news and print still tout ‘global warming’ as a serious issue. They still tout Obama as a ‘savior’ figure. They still tout Republicans, industry and capitalism as essentially evil. They ignore fiscal debt and deficits. They refuse to delve into the reason for why so many jobs have disappeared from the American scene. They discount the dangers of continued fiscal mismanagement.

Ditto, our schools and universities...

They’re not stupid if they don’t know. How can they know? Listening to talk radio, they’ve been taught, is stupid. It merely represents the rantings of a dying breed of greedy men and earth destroyers. They’ve been assured that theirs is a higher purpose. They’ve been meticulously groomed to pursue ‘social justice’.

Our kids have been commandeered into a kind of jihad. Our schools and universities are madrassahs where they are fed a steady diet of socialist propaganda. Not unlike the Arabs who have been taught to hate Jews, our kids hate us. They hate our jobs, our religions, our way of life. Is it working? Will familial ties snap? Unknown. Will they inform on us when the time comes. Unknown. Will they turn against us when the mob attacks? Unknown.

The latest drive in teaching American history is to start with Woodrow Wilson while ignoring the founders and framers and even the Civil War. The rationale is that an understanding of modern American history is more immediate and pertinent to current times. Coincidentally, Woodrow Wilson’s presidency marks the beginning of progressivism in America. I often hear Wilson and especially FDR lumped in with Obama lately. While it is true that progressives of the past also envisioned global state control (socialism), early progressives differ from Obama as night differs from day. Wilson and FDR were patriots. True, they envisioned a single (benign) authority ruling the world, but they took it for granted that this authority would be American. Obama on the other hand so hates the supposed county of his birth, he would quite happily cede control elsewhere. In fact, I maintain that he undestands his personal mission as sacrificing America and handing its sacrificial scalp to whoever steps forward to accept it.

Enlightenment

On Batchelor’s website today there was a picture of Colleen R. LaRose, dibbed by the media as Philadelphia’s ‘Jihad Jane’, dressed in a black, tightly wrapped niqāb, showing only her eyes through a horizontal slit. It reminded me of a short story by Andre Malraux I just finished reading entitled, “The Tank Trap”. It talks about four men in a tank during WWII. The driver of the tank also saw the world only through a narrow slit. The aperture was designed for the crew’s protection but it was also severely limiting, revealing barely where they were going, not where they had been or what might be approaching from the sides.

Man’s highly touted perceptions in general can hardly be said to foster a state of enlightenment. On our best days we see only a narrow spectrum of light; we hear only a narrow band of sound – much less than a dog. We think in symbols arranged in linear form. In short, we are almost blind. It is the human condition itself that pronounces us ignorant as we stumble through the debris of fractured perception while, ironically, we often presume to hold ourselves on the same level as an all-knowing, all seeing God. It is a sign of supreme arrogance that has led so many of us to abandon the concept of ‘God’ altogether. As such we presume to control populations, the oceans, mortality and even the weather.

The truly enlightened man is humble. He is profoundly aware of his limitations. He does not abandon his humanity in favor of ridiculously play-acting God’s supposed role. All today’s troubles (and all the troubles that have ever been) are spawned by the striving for control which stems from a failure to recognize the remarkable fact that only the blind are forever condemned to rule.

Finding the Entrance

I must posit here that we have all collectively entered a kind of perpetual motion machine. There is literally no end to it. It has no hallowed purpose. There is only continued violence simply for violence’s sake. In order to address the problem, we must examine how we got here. And, then, walk ourselves painstakingly back and hope of finding the entrance.

The temptation for us is to accept that it has always been this way. But that would be wrong. I remember vacationing in Kashmir on a houseboat on Dal Lake back in the early 70’s. Friends of mine traveled through Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq and reported having had a wonderful time. My senior year in high school, our class hosted two foreign exchange students – one from Germany and one from Afghanistan – both of whom became close friends. Something has changed in the meantime. It behooves us to define precisely what this is.

We might begin – as our president Obama has often suggested – that we confront all our enemies face to face in a room and ask them what it is they want. Islamists would say that they want all the unbelievers to abandon their 'evil' ways and submit to their concept of God. Communists would say they want a central governmental authority that would require everyone to submit to the dictates of a single all-powerful state. These in a nutshell are the demands of our enemies. The common bond between them is ‘submission’. Never mind (for now), that both these goals are unachievable and that, even if they were (achievable), all hell would soon break loose between whatever remains.

India has been declared an enemy by Pakistan only in the sense that Pakistani Islamists see her as having aligned herself with western values – democracy and capitalism. Both these concepts fall under the heading of ‘evil’ in the Islamic and communist lexicons. As both - the Islamic vision of the world as well as the communist vision - are in essence unattainable, the conflict must continue endlessly.

The pressure has been building on all parties to show results. The West is tired, and is quite prepared to submit in this, what has become a war of attrition. Obama’s election represents a capitulation to both communism and to Islam. However, a powerful backlash is presently building. The breach will come if and when Israel acts or falls. Expect all-out war. In war, reason stops. All that matters is survival.

How India ends up after all this depends on how the (I Ching) yarrow stalks happen to arrange themselves. America as she has been may disappear - or she may not. One thing is for certain, everyone will be greatly diminished. It’ll be the perfect time to start over.

First They Came...

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communists.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

The above is a popular quote attributable to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. The present ‘health care’ drama is a classic modern-day example of just what the good German pastor was talking about. Legislators are being given a false choice to vote either yes or no on a deeply flawed bill. In effect, they’ve been given a loaded gun. Either way they vote, they fatally damage themselves and, with it, their institution.

Some of our representatives have already recognized the ploy. After a long and prolific career sucking at the public troth, they have recused themselves; jumped ship. It was the only way to avoid a virtual bloodbath of embarrassment. Their intimate and long association with Washington high jinx has taught them that the gig is now up; that the progressives now rule; and that there are no longer any rules.

They recognized that they’ve been playing along without it ever having occurred to them that some day they too might stand in the cross hairs. They’d stood by and watched as the courts have been polluted; as once mighty industrialists and financiers have been dragged in front of congressional kangaroo courts and publicly castrated; as the desperate cries of the American people have been deliberately ignored; as our country’s founders have been discredited; our Constitution shredded; our press hobbled; religion disparaged; etc.

There’s no one left to save them now. Even the occasional sane utterance is but spit in the wind. The progressives are on the march. What will stop them? The military? What, military? You mean the one that’s still arguing about ‘don’t ask; don’t tell’? The military that’s already been issued its own poisoned pill to swallow?

Hope vs. Success

‘Hope’ is the last refuge for the defeated dying. It is possible that when Axelrod crafted the message of ‘hope’ for Obama, he had already seen the writing on the wall. The media shock troops had performed well. Everyone was under the impression that America under Bush and Republicans was mired in the depths of debauchery; that we had hit bottom; that we couldn’t possibly sink any lower. It was a message that had echoed throughout major media for as long as Bush was in office. It had echoed in the universities and in our schools. It had echoed in the churches; in beer halls and on TV. We were told we had lost our way; that he only way out was to elect Barack Hussein Obama – or ‘the savior’, as he was known. And we did.

It was a cakewalk for David Axelrod, a man who had scored so many successes, not only at home, but oversees as well. No doubt, he knows his business. But I think of him more as a very sharp tool in the kitchen drawer than a hammer/sickle ideologue; more as a brilliant scientist in a white lab coat, entirely focused on concocting the next WMD. True, all his successes were on the left-hand side of the ledger. It’s easy to paint him as a leftie. My problem with that is that he has been productive and, what’s more, highly successful. (His firm recently engineered a win for the Russia-leaning candidate over the Orange Revolution candidate in Ukraine.) ‘Success’ is generally not so much a part of the essence of Leftists. ‘Hope’ is.

Hope is the ultimate shortcut for underachievers. There’s a big difference in the mindset of a person who hopes that things will turn out alright and a person who actively does something to improve his chances for success. Axelrod may have hit his high water mark with the election of Obama. Curiously, I have yet to see anyone pointing fingers at Axelrod. It could well be that Obama doesn’t even know he’s there; he’s likely not even listening.

The Skewed Hand

We're all aware of the double standard in the American media. We're all aware that they willfully engaged in anything that would serve to hurt the Bush administration. We know that they did anything they could to get Barack Hussein Obama elected. Their single most effective strategy was to turn Bush into an ogre. It worked. Bush became toxic. In a two-party political system there is only one alternative.

I happened to be in India during most of that time. If I hadn't been able to access various radio talk shows via the internet, I too would have thought that Bush was evil incarnate. The only media that makes it outside our borders is liberal media. Time and time again, people would ask me what I thought of America being in the grips of the most wrong-headed, stupid and incompetent administration in human history.

When Obama came on the scene, everyone (in India and elsewhere) believed that America had been restored to its former glory. And they still do. Indians are not so much affected by what happens in America. True, many of their sons and daughters are now finding themselves out of work and have had to return home. But all in all, any personal hardship suffered still seems to get blamed on the previous administration. And that appears to coincide with the template the liberal press is pursuing in America today.

Unlike overseas, where no alternative voices are heard, Americans have gotten wise. Major print media has seen tremendous declines in readership while liberal cable channels have seen significant declines in viewership as well. They would like to give the impression that these trends are merely due to the inevitable upsurge in the usage of net-based media. This is of course bogus. There are only three reasons why the MSM has suffered such stunning public rejection: CONTENT; CONTENT and CONTENT.

All kinds of polls are allowed about presidential approval ratings, congressional approval ratings; consumer confidence; etc. The poll I have yet to see is the poll that measures media approval ratings. Though, one might say, that cratering subscription figures tell us all we need to know, it would still be nice to have it out there unambiguously in black and white: Media approval numbers rank lower than Congress’.

If any blame can be assigned to the sorry state in which we now find ourselves, it must be assigned to the media in this country. It is they who have played the skewed hand in all of this. Democrats will be Democrats; Republicans will be Republicans; liars will be liars; corruption is corruption. It is up to the media to sort it all out. They have failed us.

Tipping Point

I think we have a problem with our indiscriminate use of nomenclature here. I’m referring to the use of the word ‘trigger’. For the second time today this word has come up, first in connection with an event that would bring about civil strife here in the U.S., and now again in connection with something that would seal the financial collapse of a nation or currency. The problem as I see it is that by the use of the word ‘trigger’, you absolve all past sins while placing blame on a single specified (or unspecified) event. This is not fair or accurate.

Greece has been spending money like a drunken sailor for far too long. By doing so, they have managed to maintain the peace and tranquility that its socialist unions are forever threatening to disrupt. This has now reached a ‘tipping point’. Pouring more and more sugar into the weighing pan, the scale will lose its equilibrium and begin to tip. Increasing the weight on the other side will bring it back into balance. If that weight happens to be debt (or negative weight), the only option is to remove a portion of the sugar. The laws of economics are immutable. Gimmicks will only work as long as it is possible to confuse or distract the public.

We here in America are faced with a similar problem. Only here, it was the politicians who were pouring sugar onto the scales. We too have reached and (some say) surpassed our ‘tipping point’. Since our problem was politically driven – government corruption: buying votes, bribery, etc. – the blood you’re seeing is being (figuratively) spilled on the Senate and House floors (while in Greece, the blood is being spilled on the streets). It ultimately filters through and comes to one and the same: blood everywhere.

Time and time again, fancy financial accounting gimmicks were created to facilitate kicking the stink bomb farther on down the road. Well, we have reached a dead end. The damage done can no longer be masked by fancy arithmetic. Simply put, we’ve spent too much and don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever paying it back.

Lost in all the gimmickry is the willful ignorance of the value of money which is maintained only by hard work, prudent risk-taking and talent. If there is no appreciation of value, we might as well scrap the whole system and go back to bartering. But first, we are destined to endure a cycle of blame involving ‘triggers’, political pariahs, and even the trappings of success itself. Meanwhile the scale remains buried.

Grasping At Straws

Of course Obama 'stands pat' with the script. He is the anvil on which our political system is forged into a new beast. Suppose in the next election cycle we are faced with four parties instead of two. Would we be prepared to deal with that? We are not used to a parliamentarian system. We still worry about what would happen if a third party were introduced into the mix. What about four? Clearly, the Republican Party has fractured; clearly, the Democrat Party is fracturing.

Already words like 'ungovernable' are being heard. Today there was an editorial by Bret Stevens in the WSJ entitled: “Iraqis Embrace Democracy. Do We?” Why are we so willing to have the whole notion of representative governance undermined? Why would so many of us agree that legislative gridlock can be blamed on a leader who is either inept or prevented from executing his mandate by a fatally flawed system? It never occurs to many of us that the agenda itself could be flawed. It never occurs to us that the real agenda may not be health care, cap and trade, comprehensive immigration reform, gay rights, abortion or even jobs. The agenda may well be to paralyze our system of governance. Four or more political parties could do it, leaving only the executive branch as a viable way forward.

Of course Obama stands pat and pushes for the impossible to happen. When it doesn't, the system is declared broken; ergo a new system is called for; a system along the lines of totalitarian rule. Obama is not behaving like he's worried about the next election. Why? Could it be because he believes he will have broken the system by then? All the calamities that are certain to accrue will only strengthen his hand. He will not blame himself; he will not apologize; he will not commit seppuku. He will offer himself as the only viable alternative to broken, discredited governance. And the people, in the throes of calamitous upheavals will grasp at straws.

Rush may only be partly right when he says that the aim of putting a majority of Americans on the public dole is for the sole purpose of keeping Democrats in the majority in perpetuity. The real purpose of this sordid exercise may not be so much to keep Democrats in power, but to keep Obama in power (in perpetuity).

Delicate Arch

Back when my son was a small child, he used to be very good at catching frogs. None of us could do it, but Ian would approach the animal and invariably come up with it. One summer, Ian and I took a trip out west. One of our stops was Arches National Park in Utah. On our trek up to the ‘Delicate Arch’ we encountered many small lizards scurrying among the red rocks. True to form, Ian set out to catch them (by their tails). To our amused surprise, the tails would immediately detach from the body, the lizard would escape as the tail continued to writhe between my little boy’s fingers. We were told that the lizard would go on to grow a new tail within a matter of days. No one would confirm that the tail too would go on to grow a new body, but (in our innocence) we clearly suspected as much

Today, in our haste to promote the Republican brand, we may well have missed something even more potentially significant: that which comes after the implosion of the Democrat Party. When something like a party implodes, it doesn't just disappear. Its disparate parts continue to writhe in the political vacuum like the detached tails of common lizards. We see the Dems coming apart; uncooperative; speaking out; challenging their leadership. From all this may yet emerge a new, and more acceptable animal for the American voter to embrace.

Clearly, Obama’s socialist version is not acceptable to the American – or even the Democrat – voter. Would Hillary’s version of same, for instance, be more acceptable? Certainly, the press would play up a Hillary dominated Democrat Party to the hilt; much more so than, say, the Palin Tea Party types. We could very easily be lulled into an acceptance of socialist lite under the stewardship of a known, as of yet unsullied, potentially political powerhouse.

Ahmadinejad Never Wears a Tie

Were it that easy; to simply write a wish list and consider it done. Bush had the chance to wash his hands. Saddam Hussein was toppled. “Mission Accomplished.” Yet, he did not walk away. Saddam Hussein Obama (if we can take his word) will walk away after - what? After the stars have aligned in a certain way? Just before U.S. presidential elections? After Iraqi election results have managed to establish some sort of pecking order in the new kleptocracy?

Eighty parties, each one sporting a fax machine; six thousand candidates? We have enough on our plates with only two and six. And even in the relative simplicity of our own civic exercise we have been getting it wrong.

I see no reason for hope in Iraq. The election process there could have been simplified by handing out blindfolds and darts. The name of the game is ‘Pin the Tail on the Donkey”. Children can do it. Anyone can win. The result is never merit based.

I attended a concert by the middle schoolers of a prestigious private academy at one of our local churches last week. It featured a boys’ choir, a girls’ choir and string ensemble. What struck me was that 80% of the of the string ensemble was comprised of Asians. They were also very good. The choirs were only fair to middlin’, made up of what you’d expect: white, upper middle class kids. They sang without enthusiasm. They seemed strictly ‘affirmative action’.

I took note that Iraq’s affirmative action candidates wore (what Indians would refer to as) their ‘monkey suits’ as targets. Has anyone ever noticed that Ahmadinejad never wears a tie?

Surrender or War

Today’s drive to establish an Islamic caliphate roughly approximates the drive by the Left to rule globally under a single red banner. So far, the ominous similarities have escaped notice because the two have been working largely in tandem toward more or less the same purpose. As such, they have sought to minimize the frictions between them (for now) in view of their overriding objective: to defeat western values and, especially, capitalism.

As nothing is ever new in any matter, the strategies employed here have also been seen before and are based on the domino theory. It involves flipping individual countries form one camp to the other. I first heard of it by name when our government claimed that if the spread of communism isn’t halted in Vietnam all of Asia would fall.

The latest countries to flip over to the dark side are Turkey and Greece. Increasingly, people are realizing that one can now also add the U.S. to the list. Turkey was a heartbreak. Not that it couldn’t have been foreseen. As in the U.S., there were plenty of warnings of what could be expected if Erdogan were elected. Although, I don’t understand the intricacies of Turkish politics, I must assume a similar pattern of deceit and false promises were employed there to bring radical Islamists to power.

Greece, of course, has been subject to leftist sabotage for decades. Leftist union and student pressure have managed to ruin their economy which has now put the entire EU at risk. Leftist instigators have as recently as yesterday pulled out of serious negotiations with the government and declared that the battle would henceforth be fought out in the streets.

Compromise in Greece and elsewhere is no longer on the table. Hence, the only option free market advocates have is appeasement. The latter always serves to contain the ugliest part of it, but at a cost. The remaining democracies that are still functioning now find themselves with their backs to the wall. In order to appease the Left they have to increasingly put their economic principles at risk. In time, there will be no margin left within which to pursue the fiction of negotiation with people who have no interest in solutions. At that point there will be only two options: surrender or war.

WRECKAGE

The lesson to be learned here (albeit too late, I fear) is that if you endeavor to wreck one party, you end up wrecking them both. If you wreck one presidency, you wreck each succeeding one as well. You wreck one country and all others will suffer. Only the wreckers remain unscathed for they are already wrecked – the inanimate tools of a dying hand.

Who would have dreamed that by wrecking Clinton’s (albeit self-inflicted) star-crossed terms in office and then wrecking Bush (in order to salvage Clinton’s wrecked legacy), the following election would bring about the cancer that leaves our nation hanging by a thread? Now all those who have been cheering on the sidelines (on either side), fighting ignobly for the America's scraps, rending her glorious garment and dividing it among the mindlessly greedy, suddenly find themselves drifting aimlessly along with all others on a swollen sea without sail or rudder. None of the swatches of past glory are sufficient to fashion into a sail to catch the breeze and limp back into port. And only the wreckers rejoice and celebrate the headlines.

It cannot be overstated that Communism relies first and foremost on the ‘revolution’ which seeks the wreckage of any and all the belief systems to which we – especially in the West – have become accustomed. Obama’s oft stated resolve to remake America can only be interpreted as an invitation to plunge our nation into the abyss. To imagine a re-building without taking the devastation that must precede it into account is utter folly. In the larger scheme of things, Obama is not the man who will be charged with re-building. He is neither interested nor capable of such. The self-proclaimed re-builders still stand in the shadows, their agendas still hidden and kept close to the vest. No one yet knows what they truly have in mind but the suspicion that it will not be good for us is mounting.

Unknown yet is if our fear is of the chaos or of the demon that will emerge from it. I suspect it’s the former. We’re at the point where we see the tsunami sucking the water away from the shore. The dogs and the simple-minded are heading for the hills, for they sense danger in their entrails; whereas the curious leave the shoreline and venture out to see where the water might have gone. They will be crushed in the uncompromising violence of its eventual return.

Upon Ivan's death, his ravaged kingdom was left to his unfit (retarded) and childless son Feodor. This then would initiate Russia’s ‘Time of Troubles’.

Everything Is Broken

There is no respectability left in this Congress. There is no one who levels with the American people who elect its members. There is only the corrupt Right and the corrupt Left who work in tandem to pass the baton of corruption between them. The few unaligned voices in the middle are systematically drowned out. Reason has been deemed the flattened carcass of a skunk in the middle of the road.

With each turn of the screw by the executive branch it gets uglier. The modesty wraps of the sausage factory peel back exposing the scam. Obama is exhorting the legislative chambers to implode. The American people have awoken from their torpor. They are aware that our system of representative governance is broken; that our country hasn't been governed effectively in years. The best that can happen now is that no further legislation be passed - not until the people have had a chance to clean house.

Obama, on the other hand, knows exactly what he’s doing. He has assigned Congress an impossible task. He has given them a gun and is inviting them to pull the trigger. This would leave only himself in tact – with unlimited power.

Every Washington second-tier politician knows that the curtain has slipped. ("Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.") They are collectively fighting for their lives. Some know what's coming. Some have already left the sinking ship. It is not altogether clear that the American rank and file will know what to do; or that they’ll even be given a chance to do it. They are at a severe disadvantage. All the major institutions - the media, academe, organized labor, Hollywood - are against them. The world has turned against them. They know the way to go with Sisyphus' stone is up. But every foothold has been ground down.

After the Congress has been replaced by a rubberstamp politburo, it will be the military’s turn to be replaced. Then the dollar. I might have the exact order of events wrong. But, either way, all these things are being meticulously planned for. It is the fulfillment of a dream that every Trotskyite has had since the fall of the Soviet Union. They feel they can get there now that Obama is in office. It’ll be interesting to see what they can do to muck up our elections. But in the end, it won’t really matter – will it? With Congress broken, with the economy broken, with a Marxist occupying the White House, it’s hard to see how they could fail.

Tripping the Snare

My wife is currently editing a massive volume detailing the official tax code for American corporations and individuals. It is something so voluminous, so intricate, it bears updating every six months. In her estimation, it is impossible for any one individual to know the entirety of legislation that governs it. As such, it is entirely possible that the majority of people charged with complying with these laws, even after having taken utmost care, can still run afoul of them in some obscure way. As such, we all have become guilty of some arcane transgression. As such, we all are guilty of crimes should someone take the trouble to embark on a witch hunt (for oversights we may have committed) for the sole purpose of laying us low.

It's a bit like the speed limits on NJ highways which no one observes precisely. And even those who do are now suspected of running drugs or guns, or driving without documentation. In short, if someone has it in for us, they could in theory trip the snare any time they wanted to.

Take Governor Patterson (NY), for instance. He was said to have intervened for a friend in a domestic violence case. For this he is being hounded out of office (by the very man who wants to unseat him). I would say, if Patterson hadn't intervened, it would indicate a problem (of character). What are friends for if they are straight-jacketed and kept from executing normal responses?

Only our president and those in his favor seem to be immune from scrutiny. You are already well aware of the litany of transgressions of which this president is guilty. But he is the president; he holds the reigns. This, sadly, is roughly the definition of a third world nation.

Summer Of Love ('67)

I used to admire Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown and Muammar al-Gaddafi. This was before I ever held a job or raised a family. I remember voting for Jesse Jackson in the primaries. The Beatles' 'Revolution' and the Stones' 'Street Fighting Man' were favorite anthems. I don't quite know when the change occurred. For a long time I didn't pay much attention to what was happening in Washington or in the world. Once I came back to it, the fight was already on.

There was a certain romance to those early days. America was our straw man that we could set a match to any time we wanted - to warm ourselves; to celebrate fire - without really changing anything fundamental. America was America, rock solid, leader of the free world. We fed our own egos by tearing pieces off of her, sitting around a campfire on some far-off tropical beach with the blue moon rising over the water, smoking splits.

There's no romance now - only the hard work of getting Sisyphus' stone back up to the summit. Thank God that so many of us have awakened from the stupor and are willing to roll up their sleeves. What's amazing is that so many others are still stuck back there in the 60's and 70’s; that their views haven't changed even in light of all that's happened. It speaks of a Peter Pan syndrome; a kind of pathology that resulted in stunted development of a sort.

I can’t believe that Jerry doesn’t know exactly what he’s doing. He’s a pol first and foremost – and a smart one at that. He thinks he can rekindle that old Haight Asbury illusion in enough others, if not in himself. Maybe in California the smoke is still rising from that ‘Summer of Love’ (’67) disaster as to give the impression that there’s still somebody out there who gives a s**t. And Jackson surely found his niche: extortion. And Gaddafi found his: oppression. I can’t really blame them. Not everybody can afford the luxury of idealism. People get it where they can. The afore mentioned wing nuts have done rather well for themselves - even if they did it at our expense.

But what’s Obama’s excuse. Surely he sees not much profit in standing with the old guard of commie losers. Maybe he’s just plain stupid – but that’s a stretch. Maybe he’s so twisted by hatred, he can’t think straight. Maybe he’s always been carrying that cross of race. Maybe he now sees the opportunity of ditching it for once and for all. But in order to do so, he’s got to put white people in their place. That’s not as easy as he thought – even for the most powerful man in the free world.

Hey Babs! Are you stil out there?

My thoughts have been with you lately. We've both come a long way. Things are coming to a head. I'm sure you're in the vanguard. Would appreciate hearing from you - what you're up to. Do drop me a line.

Obama Has Already Failed

There is no story here. The White Houses itself is in total sync – as is the opposition (the American people). Bottom line: Obama and his crew of clones have been unable to sell the agenda to the American public. They will continue to blame this one and that one – most notably anyone (excepting Obama) charged with getting the message out. They have yet to realize that the message itself is poison; that it’s not a matter of presentation or spin. It’s not even a matter of too little arm-twisting, knee-capping, pay-offs; insufficient bribes, hollow threats and the like. ‘Obama care’, along with a whole host of Obama proposals, is dead in the water because Americans simply do not want them. Period; end of story.

Americans have already decided they will only go so far. They will spend less and save more. They will buckle their seatbelts. They will demand that their children wear helmets when out riding bikes. They will try to stop smoking. They will make an effort to eat healthy. They will be less quick to judge others. They will clean up after their dogs. Etc. But they will not to consent to allow government – any government – to use them as patsies; to steal their freedoms, their inalienable rights, their liberties, their future – all, in the name of some hackneyed notion of ‘social justice’.

As far as the American people are concerned, Obama has already failed. They are resigned to wait this one out till the next act when they will make the make the change; without malice and in orderly fashion as set forth by Constitution. Until then, they will pay close attention to which of their representatives does what and how. They will know whom to vote for; who will represent their best interests. They will organize. And when the time comes they will choose decisively. They will never again fall for media hype; for good-looking, affirmative action types, for empty suits. This time they will look for such time-tested qualities as character, honesty and resume. Until then, they will sit on their hands and do what they can to bleed this administration of its ability to boast of accomplishment.

The underlying fear that Barack Hussein Obama’s vision for America engenders is that Americans will be subjected to a (albeit, benign) tyranny. They do not doubt that the tyranny that Obama’s clones envision is heartfelt; that their motive is the same as that of the Christian Crusaders (1200-1300 AD): to spread the saving grace of Christ throughout the heathen world. Obama and his minions too think that Communism will save America, the human race and ultimately the planet. They cannot understand why we would resist it.

We resist because it is un-American. And we are Americans, after all. We can think for ourselves. We know how to provide for our families. We can build and maintain a nation that towers head and shoulders above all others. We do not subscribe to a hell with only a single ring of ‘victims’. We do not need to be told how to spend every single moment of our lives. We do not need to be told what to think – even if it were someone’s notion of ‘our own good’.

A quote by C. S. Lewis comes to mind in this regard: "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good… torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Peeling Paint

Events are rapidly overtaking any past positions that may have been taken. Our continuing obsession with blaming former leaders is sounding increasingly hollow. Yes, I have often said that had we elected John McCain, things would now be worse. I still believe that. For one thing, the Left's blaming of Bush's policies (and characterizing McCain as more of the same) would now still carry considerable weight. As it is, the Left in America is increasingly stuck with having to defend its own record, which now too sounds hollow and wrongheaded. In fact, what the Left has managed to accomplish since Obama's euphoric election - and even before, since taking majorities in congress (in 2007) - is now roundly seen as having been ineffective to the point of making George W. Bush's presidency look good.

The truth is that neither party has had much to offer, and both share in the blame. The way forward is at best painful. It is time to call on all the American people to sacrifice, something that Bush, to his eternal discredit, has never dared to do. His mantra after 9/11 was to continue as before. Never mind that the economy was already reeling. Ditto, our foreign policy. He, as president, must have known the score. Yet, he gave no indication that there were problems out there that needed be brought to our attention.

Perhaps, Bush - like the Democrats - did not want to alarm us. Perhaps he was hoping for a Deus ex machina event orchestrated by a higher power. Perhaps he, like a good father, did not relish the thought of bringing his work home for the family to deal with. That was a mistake. We are not children. We would have understood that we can't go on as we have. It would have involved no more than a straight-forward discussion about household finances. Instead, we were told everything is fine.

Everything was not fine. Nothing is fine now. Anyone claiming it is, is lying. Anybody claiming that a fix will be easy, is lying as well. The one positive thing that Obama has managed is inadvertently allowing us to see the paint peeling off our gilded walls.

Two Wolves and a Lamb

There's so much one hears daily on the radio talk shows and on cable TV, it all melds into one dull, interminable groan. There is a theme, though, that seems to be emerging on the Democrat side of the aisle: "the majority must rule", i.e., democracy.

People are understandably confused as to the various terms that are being used to describe governance. In the ever-shifting sands of word definitions, there's no longer any way to tell the difference between "socialism", "communism", "Marxism", "Maoism" and the like - especially since such terms are being used indiscriminately as pejoratives by individuals who are interested only in scoring put-downs.

On the other side too distinctions have become blurred. "Democracy" is touted as the highest to which man can aspire: one man, one vote; every vote counted; etc. Seldom mentioned is that ours is actually a republic: "a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them."

There's a reason for why we are a republic instead of a democracy: democracies seldom survive. Which brings me to a quote I heard among all the din only yesterday. It's a quote commonly attributed to Ben Franklin that actually stuck and bears repeating: "Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch."