Passive Aggressive

BP is finished (maybe?). Even if BP succeeds in stemming the gusher, the Obama administration will see to it that the company ultimately goes out of business. BP has no incentive to do ‘the right thing’. In order to have even a chance of surviving as a viable entity, BP must do its utmost to bring the Obama administration down. BP and the Obama administration are adversaries.

BP can dick around till August and then go on to failure# 6, and all it will do is improve its own chances. Nobody will question BP’s passive aggression or competence because the Obama administration has already publicly announced that it alone is in charge; that it alone is telling BP what to do and what not to do; in other words, the Obama administration owns whatever happens.

We saw a similar deal go down during the Iranian hostage crisis. The Iranians ran rings around Carter for 444 days and made him look like a complete idiot. Once the new president was in place, all the nonsense stopped.

Yes, Virginia...

It is perhaps unfair to blame the Marshall Plan, the Euro, the Cold War or anything else for today’s geo-political troubles. Everything that America has ever built and nourished over the years wobbles – from Europe to the Middle, near and Far East. For too long now, we’ve let everything coast. We’ve taken our eye off the ball; we’re loosing our grip domestically as well as internationally. God help those who’ve been depending on us; at the very least, to make some noise up in the peanut gallery. Americas has exited the stadium.

It’s sad, really; for what will take its place will not be America-like; will not be freedom, liberty, opportunity, fairness and the human right to dignity. The veneer of civilized behavior will be painted over in blood red: brutality, oppression, and dull endurance.

All those on the Upper East Side who have been hankering for it will be the first to feel it – the blade of the thieving knife; the degradation – their sad sack bones cast into dungeons to rot. “Are we there yet?”

“Hush, hush, Virginia! Can’t you see there’s traffic? Our new driver (What was his name again? I can never remember the names of these damn foreigners) is doing the best he can. – And yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Too Many Accidents

Mike – You seem to accept that the Gulf spill was an accident. I’ve seen or heard nothing so far that would explain what actually happened. There have been too many 'accidents' lately: the election of Obama for one; the collapse of the housing market for another; banking; the continuing collapse of the economy; errant stock market gyrations, and now Deepwater Horizon.

So far: only blame-shifting - no credible explanation as to how any of these happened. We know how the World Trade Towers came down. (The Halliburton-installed sprinkler systems failed to work, no doubt.) Too many witnesses. Now we are asked to believe that Islamic terrorists had nothing to do with it. What was it then? Some kind of domestic overseas contingency operation? (Whatever ‘contingency’ or any word means anymore.) And before that, there had been any number of poorly explained plane crashes that were said to be ‘accidents’ even though in at least one of these the black box revealed someone yelling “Allah Akbar” as the aircraft plunged.

Then there was the government’s attempt to blame the sinking of the Cheonan on a flock of birds. That one didn’t wash, but they nevertheless tried. Then there was the would-be Times Square bomber - a white guy who didn’t like health care reform. The list of attempted deception goes on and on.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster has been handled similarly. (The Halliburton- installed sprinkler systems failed to work.) We don’t know the cause. None of the survivors have been publicly interviewed. In fact, it almost seems like a news blackout is in effect.

I happened to be at a local 7/11 yesterday. A woman came in with a toddler. She let him run around the store while she was making coffee for herself. The toddler brushed up against a shelf of pickle jars. One of these dislodged, fell to the floor and broke. Both, woman and child froze. Gathering herself, she looked down at the child and shouted. “Now look what you’ve done! Pick that up right away!”

Enuff said.

Replicant Children vs. Tyrell

Time is a critical disciplinary element in what defines the human condition. As Jorge Luis Borges wrote in ’The Immortal’: "Death (or its allusion) makes men precious and pathetic. They are moving because of their phantom condition; every act they execute may be their last... Everything among mortals has the value of the irretrievable and the perilous."

Time, often said to be illusory, provides the framework within which we exist. Our ability to manage time effectively provides a measure of our effectiveness as human beings.

Even for those of the leisure class for whom time seems not to be of the essence, the need for precise scheduling somehow tends to assert itself. In William S. Burroughs’s book (and presumed semi-autobiographical) “Junky” (1953), the protagonist voluntarily submits to the timetable of his addiction. Also, often times, a child reared in an undisciplined parental environment, will later seek out the implicit discipline associated with some branch of the uniformed services in an effort to maximize his or her human potential.

It is significant that the Tyrell Corporation’s replicant slaves have been engineered to have only four-year life spans as to prevent them from developing emotions and the desire for independence – in other words, to become fully human.

Corporations – like the fictional Tyrell or the factual BP – clearly remain unconstrained by time. They - like the undisciplined young (and often reckless) - see themselves as eternally immortal. Yet, they too have need of a framework within which to operate and test their mettle. This framework is profit.

Leftists are quick to point out that the profit motive is rogue, out of control, and basically anti-life. When, in fact, profit is depended on a set of the strictest, most uncompromising laws in the universe. A business that is run badly cannot succeed. Going forward, a business plan is self-correcting at every turn. It is inexorably tied to the law of supply and demand and well managed risk which, in turn, is tied in no small measure to performance and customer expectations. If left to their own devices, corporations provide real value to their customers (which is you and I).

If corporations are interfered with for criminal or political purposes, they become cancerous. It is much more likely that corporations become rogue by political interference than the other way around.

It is unreasonable to blame BP for the oil spill in the Gulf. For one thing, anyone would be hard pressed to prove malicious intent. Such intent is infinitely more likely to have originated with some hard-nosed political agenda concern (of which BP may have become an unwitting victim).

Right now it seems that the stunted emotional growth of the replicant children that are presently running our government are far more culpable for the multiple messes that have accrued on virtually every front.

Trashing Apple

It was announced this week that Apple had overtaken Microsoft as America’s most successful tech company. At the same time, there’s been talk that the SEC is investigating Apple. It almost seems like the long knives have come out for Apple. JB’s latest two postings (in Briefs) support this theory. The attacks on Apple are coordinated and coming from all sides.

Reports of suicides at a single Chinese electronics factory that assembles consumer goods for the West are purely agenda driven.

The company, where my wife works in Chennai (India), edits legal briefs as well as academic material outsourced from the United States. The bulk of editors are paid Rs 13,000/month for 12-hour shifts, six days a week. Workers get a half hour (unpaid) break at noon. Most bring their own lunch because they can’t afford to buy the inferior product sold at the in-house company canteen. Many endure grueling (up to) three-hour one-way commutes for the mere privilege of working. Some do so to augment family incomes; some, to escape abusive relationships at home; some, to escape the heat; some, simply to pad their resumes.

Such is Asia – hugely overcrowded; hugely competitive – where a work is still precious. Most jobs amount to revolving doors; a stepping stone – a place to hang out until something better comes along. Not working adds to what is essentially a death sentence.

By the way, in Asia it is not uncommon to see a motorcycle with five riders. One is a woman; two are children under the age of seven. Only the man wears a helmet.

To focus strictly on Foxconn is disingenuous. It begs for another explanation. Pointing out that Foxconn is run by the third-richest man in Taiwan only exploits the class warfare issue for domestic consumption. After trashing housing, health care, automobiles, Big Oil, banking, pharma, etc… can technology be far behind?

How could I have missed it?

After ruminating about religion all week, yesterday struck my epiphany. It seems God too gets fed up and angry at times. He loses patience with mankind’s endless whining and hand-wringing. Like a bolt of lighting He descends from the heavens, brushing every irrelevance aside, and takes matters into His own hands. And we are left standing simply in awe of His superior intellect and power. “Plug the damn hole!” He proclaimed to the assembled. And the very next day it was done.

Glenn Beck tells us that we are about to see miracles. I’ve just seen my first. Maybe there were others but I just didn’t notice. Blinded by ideology and racism, I was loath to give Obama credit for even a single one of his loaves; his fish - his wine. How could I have missed it?

Getting himself elected in the first place was no small miracle. And so was passing health care legislation; shepherding the automobile industry to profit; saving banking, housing and God knows what else: Saving the Euro, saving the dollar, saving no less than the planet from certain catastrophic meltdown. Pouring his viscous ‘cool’ over the choppy waters of the Near, Far and Middle East; Mexico and South America. Too many miracles to mention… We are truly blessed! Let me get my prayer rug.

Paradox

Perhaps one of the failings of language is – and there are many – that words are perhaps not sufficient to explain paradox. Let’s just say that ‘religion’ and ‘politics’ are two sides of the very same coin – like heaven and hell; life and death; etc. Again, the illusory difference emerges in where we choose to place our focus.

A holy man wandering the plains of India toward Varanasi on the Ganges, begging for his sustenance along the way, has totally abandoned politics. That is to say, he has ceased to think of himself as a separate and distinct corporal entity. He is nothing; he is also everything - and quite without bias toward any one thing that can be assigned a name. In this way, he has become like a newborn that has not yet learned to distinguish itself from what it sees. It’s interesting that the first thing we do when a baby is born is give it a name.

Alan Watts speaks of man’s internal and external organs in an effort to blur the basic rhetorical divide that gives rise to the political “I”. As the child grows and learns the names of more and more things, so also increases the distancing and fracturing that some vital part of us always feels compelled to call home. Politics is the process by which we count our possessions; by which we seek to validate our right of ownership; by which we work, litigate and fight for what we say belongs to us. The holy man has found a shortcut that bypasses all the strife, all the exertion, all the pain associated with political maneuvering. He has learned that by simply letting go, all things automatically come back to him.

I agree that the “wizened curmudgeons” in the ivory towers of our universities are doing us irreparable harm. This is only because they have become shamelessly political and we were foolish enough to place our emphasis on their degrees and rhetorical skills. But, short of killing them, they will always be with us. It is we who have afforded them undue importance. We were told that one of Obama’s many virtues was that he was a constitutional scholar at University of Chicago Law School. That was enough to disarm many of us. Now, as the rubber is hitting the road we realize how little academic titles actually mean. The University of East Anglia e-mail revelations should only broaden our doubts.

All this stuff, however, is self-correcting. We just happen to be coming down from the apex of a trend that was never sustainable in the first place.

The Blunt Edge of Brutality

Religion, like language, is hard-wired into the human psyche. At their core, all religions are the same. Religion typically splits into two aspects: spiritual and political. The spiritual aspect of religion is straight forward. Its ‘signature’ is tolerance. It deals with questions regarding faith, God and eternity. The political aspect of religion currently draws most of our attention because it has the potential of affecting our immediate circumstances. The same is true for ‘isms’. We can say that man is in essence a religious animal. Or we can say man is in essence political. Both statements accurately reflect a singularity of the human condition.

While it is true that equating man’s spiritual nature with his political nature is paradoxical, the two are nevertheless inseparable. Mankind is most at ease when the political aspect of whatever his primary concern may be (as Alfred North Whitehead suggests) is benign. A wizened curmudgeon professing his belief in Marxism within the confines of an ivory tower suite is no threat to anyone. Man suffers when such concerns become militant as happened during the crusades and is happening now as militant Islam makes its moves.

The constant striving of religion is to reduce all the divergent aspects of life to one. People who may be several happy meals short of enlightenment do not recognize the essential oneness in what they see. They fail to make the connection that ties everything together. There are two ways to force the issue to its resolution. One is persuasion (proselytizing), militancy and violence; the other is tolerance.

Tolerance is the more difficult nut to crack. We have chosen the easy path. It is easier to lop off the heads of non-believers. It’s easier to ban conservatives from speaking at universities. It’s easier to call for jihad. It’s easier to cause havoc and break things, and then pick up the pieces of whatever is left and cobble these into a single atrocity based on the principle of exclusion. It is also easier getting people to submit.

We here in the West have chosen submission. Our enemies attack us and we submit. In order to rationalize our cowardice, we change the language. We blur the line between good and evil. We assume our enemy’s narrative and admit that we are at fault; that it is we who must adjust or even erase ourselves. Our mea culpas – and even our sacrifices - are flawed; it is only ego that speaks. We abandon our principles; our allies. We no longer tolerate ourselves.

This is the mindset of our current administration. It pays no mind to the violence, pain and dislocation that is certain to ensue. For them, all these comprise the necessary gateway through which we all must pass in order to achieve a more perfect union – the Utopia that is envisioned in James Hilton’s Shangri-La, in B.F Skinner’s “Walden Two”, in Pol Pot’s Cambodia, etc.

In today’s world the concept of tolerance has been all but abandoned. Political strife has taken its place. Unfortunately, just as religion cannot be exorcised from the human psyche, we cannot fight ‘isms’ with ‘isms’ and arrive at a good place. Religion has always been a double-edged sword. We have chosen the blunt edge of brutality.

Bloody Men in Boots

I remember when Saddam Hussein set fire to his oil wells. I remember seeing the pictures of the fires burning; the black smoke rising. It seemed an impossible task to stop it. But highly specialized American teams moved in and put out the fires one by one. They were well trained in this choreography. I remember the on-site TV interviews of these bloody men in boots. They didn't think it was a particularly big deal. They just did what they came to do without undue hand-wringing and mama drama. I remember being surprised by how quickly they were able to finish their work. Their manner on camera throughout was reassuring. …and we felt reassured (though still uncertain as to whether or not the Baghdad museum had been looted of its antiquities by the rough-hewn American invaders).

While the bloody men in boots could reassure us now, they are no where to be seen. This time the pretty ballerinas in pink petticoats appear to be running the show. Their only weapons are obfuscation and blame-shifting (with a furtive nod toward furthering their ball-busting agenda). They are far from reassuring. Maybe the only way to stop this leak is by a strategically placed nuclear detonation as some have suggested. The ballerinas swoon at the thought.

Come to think of it, there are other leaks in progress: the influx of illegals from along our Mexican border; the steady deflation of the dollar; our evapotating influence on the word stage. Deepwater Horizon’s gusher is an appropriate metaphor for all these and more.

Driving the Point Home

Would it not be ironic (in a strictly literary sense) if the SEC were to lose its case against Goldman-Sachs? Its indictment of the financial giant helped to cement the government’s position that Wall Street is corrupt and in desperate need of draconian reform. When the president signs the new financial regulation act, the government will assume sweeping and open-ended powers over America’s financial industry.

This is as big a deal as health care reform was. But, unlike the health care bill, it did not arouse Tea Party ire except in a strictly peripheral sense. It fit neatly into the evil ‘fat cat’ narrative that is currently sweeping the country. The details of the SEC indictment fell well outside the understanding of most casual observers. Unlike universal health care that would affect every citizen on some level, Wall Street is still seen as being quite another planet where ‘obvious’ mischief is casually concocted. Only well-dressed Wall Street insiders ventured to express carefully worded reservations; along with Mayor Bloomberg, of course, who sees city coffers emptying by the hour.

If GS should be acquitted, the damage will already have been done: Our current incompetent and arguably corrupt Federal government will effectively control New York’s Wall Street top to bottom. … and chameleon Bloomberg will continue to wonder where the money went.

The saga of Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut brings us back down to earth. Overtly lying to constituents about one’s resume is disgraceful; getting caught at it is unpardonable. Whether these NYT revelations will hurt Blumenthal in November is still up for debate. My guess is yes (it will hurt). People are less likely to remember a health care grab or the torpedoing of Wall Street (both of which will have been seamlessly woven into the fabric of modern socialist America by then) than a Harvard swim team captain who wasn’t – especially if there is a privately propelled incentive (as there is certain to be) to drive the point home.

Beating the Dog...

Great column today by Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post entitled, “The Fruits of Weakness”. JB is right in stating that Obama fears the military. JB is wrong in framing this challenge in terms of the 2010 election. POTUS does not fear elections.

Obama is like a man beating a dog to death with a club. Once the fur starts flying, his most formidable opposition will be the U.S. military. The conquest of the civilian sector has been relatively easy for Obama who entered office with the tables already set: a compliant press, corrupt unions, and industries willing to sell their souls for the privilege of surviving as conduits to Obama’s revolution. In addition, academe and the political wing of our religious institutions had also long ago signed on.

Obama’s challenge will not come from within his own party. It will not come from Republicans – or the Tea Parties for that matter. It will come from the military. The open question is: Will it stand in support of American principles? Or will it be used to enforce Obama’s alien vision of America? We can only hope it will ultimately decide to stand with the people, either by refusing orders or by actively pursuing and bringing the rogue elements within our government to heel.

They Don't Fear Elections

Markets, no matter what you think of them, are a sounding pole (or line) that measures future economic activity. The markets in and of themselves are not the problem. The problem is political volatility. Traders make money whether the markets go up or down. It is the movement of markets that generates money. Iraq's market reached its highest point just before America invaded. This was not a sign of confidence. It was a market in its death throes.

We all assume that the next election will solve everything for us. We eagerly await November. It is possible that the markets will rally in anticipation of a Republican sweep. This rally has the potential of being like a prisoner, having just been released after a long confinement, now standing in front of his house. He rushes across the lawn, his heart overflowing, eager to see his wife and kids. As he opens the door, he trips the wire that sets off the explosion that levels the house.

Inflation could be the charge, or social unrest, or a war. Too many fuses have already been lit; too many surprises converging dead ahead. I believe the only thing that's keeping us afloat today is our sluggish economy. There's not enough punch currently for the fireworks to proceed. Once it takes off, God help us!

These people will not give up. They’ve come too far. Isn’t it strange how they don’t seem to fear elections?

Enlightened America

The job was to have been America’s – to hit back in case any one of our allies were attacked. The mere threat of robust America defending its interests kept our enemies from pushing too hard, too often.

Since Obama has been in office, we’ve made it clear that the old template has shattered; that we have become enlightened; that we no longer regard the world as warring camps; that we no longer feel obliged to protect ourselves – much less others.

Our enemies would like this to be true. But they’re not quite certain yet. America had fooled them before. Now they’re probing. No doubt, North Korea’s sinking of South Korea’s Cheonan was a probe. China approved and wrote the check. Now China knows that it has a free hand to do whatever it wants. Look out Taiwan!

Our former friends too are watching. They are troubled – now looking for new alliances. It doesn’t look good for them. South Korea, Israel, the former Iron Curtain countries, moderate Middle Eastern nations, South America, Africa – all are looking for a safe haven. It is slowly beginning to dawn on each and every one of these that they will have to go it alone.

Sucking up to regional tyrants and paying protection is the obvious answer for most. Some may want to take a stand. As much as Israel’s nuclear arsenal has been kept a well-guarded secret, her intentions are being kept close to the vest as well. Conventional wisdom has it that Israel has more than enough firepower to stun any aggressor. (Personally I would like to know if any of its trajectories have been re-calibrated to strike Washington as well.) Iran intends to change that equation. Already, several countries in the Middle East have privately expressed the unspoken wish that Israel will prevail.

Unfortunately, Israel too is shot through with the left fad philosophy that refuses to acknowledge existential danger. (Europe has already succumbed to it.) The question is not whether Israel can retaliate if attacked. The question is whether or not it will.

As America retreats from the world stage to concentrate on bringing about its own Marxist revolution, it leaves a huge vacuum in the world of geopolitical intrigue. Nations will now be forced to take sides. They will have to decide whether they are interested in principle or expediency. For those who choose principle, the danger is clear. They might do well to take moxie from a phrase that has echoed throughout the centuries ever since America’s founding: “Give me liberty or give me death!”

No Narrative

Quite right, John! There’s no narrative – no political narrative, that is. There hasn’t been a political narrative since Obama got himself elected. The Congress has disgraced itself beyond redemption - and made itself irrelevant. All the rest is shadow dancing; mere window dressing. Every dictator the world has ever seen has maintained the tinsel trappings that mimic democracy. Iran and Afghanistan hold fraudulent elections – as does Venezuela, Russia, etc. The dictator always wins 99% of the vote. Hurray for the dictator!

There is a narrative alright, but it’s no longer political. It’s Obama’s narrative of change. That’s the one and only narrative that counts. Obama will proceed. Obama will win, for he holds the reigns of power. I can’t wait to see what happens in November – or, rather, what doesn’t happen. Politically, nothing will. But we will find ourselves further diminished and at the mercy of Obama’s change.

Everything has an expiration date. America was finished when we elected Barack Hussein Obama. We say he grovels at the feet of Calderon. He doesn’t grovel; he is in total sync with the Mexican president. He truly believes America has no right to defend its borders. And Calderon believes it as well. His is a poor country. America is rich. That is the narrative. Both men regard this as our unpardonable sin that must be rectified. Without borders, America cannot claim to be a country.

Just the fact that we are even debating whether or not a 13-story mosque should be built within a stone’s throw of the hole we call ‘Ground Zero’ shows we have been defeated. We might as well fly the Nazi flag above Arlington Cemetery.

It’s just a matter of time now for the final recognition of our humbling to sink in. Will it come in November, or two years from now when Obama is overwhelmingly re-elected? I’m sure we’ll be talking about it – if talk radio is still on the air by then - or playing dirges.

Cold Front Approaching

The problem with computer models designed to predict hurricanes, global warming, economic activity, etc. is three-fold. First, it is physically impossible to make any program complex enough to account for every factor that might have a bearing. Second, it is beyond man’s capability to determine the degree of effect any one influence has relative to any other. And, third, the initial selection of data points is purely subjective and often reflects the outcome that scientists (predictors) are predisposed to see.

Often an old man’s knee acting up in advance of bad weather is far more accurate than all of NOAA’s computer models put together. The science of weather prediction often rises to the very pinnacle of ridiculousness when just going over to the window and raising the shade would confirm that what the radio is saying at that very moment is nonsensical.

Some time ago, a huge buck with a lame leg parked itself for a few days under the Maple tree in our backyard. A female hovered nearby for the duration. After three days, the two of them left. The buck’s leg was presumably sufficiently mended without intrusive medical intervention. Presumably too, the couple stayed together without the benefit of a marriage license or the sanction of any formally ordained third party.

I have seen cancers healed by the application or ingestion of natural ayurvedic herbs along with vocal incantations and, above all, time. I have also seen the organs of others destroyed by radiation treatments. This is not to say that the ancient medical arts do not have their limitations. People still tend to die when their time comes. Yet, I will never question an old man’s prediction as he complains about the pain in his joints which he has learned is the invariable precursor to a cold front approaching.

A Day At The Beach

We have hit another wall. For as long as I can remember, we've been living in the greatest country on earth - the envy of the world. What is the fabled destination of every third-world denizen who's spinning his wheels in the mud of oppression, corruption, racism, and crony capitalism? It's where the streets are said to be paved with gold; where dollars and opportunity beckon soft and ripe like low-hanging fruit. So, they plan for the journey across the several seas. They sharpen their useful skills as to have something to trade when they arrive. And sure enough, they make a life for themselves and write home about it, inspiring others to undertake the journey as well.

It's half a life's work to make that journey. Sometimes, it's not all that easy - that tearing away of the heart from the (home) land. Sometimes they have to settle for their children reaching the top; the children conceived and spawned in the fecund new soil of America.

But where are those already here supposed to go? How do they exercise their hopes, their egos, their wits, impatience, their skills? They're already here, in the greatest place on earth. They take their luck for granted. They too look for new angles to satisfy their intellectual prowess. They too see what’s good in America - but to them it’s a wall. It can’t be moved.

They become politicians, journalists, muckrakers. They look for inspiration overseas. They light fires – small fires at first. Then they graduate to buildings, institutions. They run to the rescue, hoping to be heroes.

Ego. They start to meddle - rearrange things that can’t be rearranged; things that can’t be put back – like diabetes. Now they have a cause. They make new rules. They seek control. They deny themselves meat; they wear hair shirts – ego again. The more they meddle, the worse it gets. They’re overwhelmed.

Then they read somewhere that the path to Utopia must start with revolution. Things are already coming unhinged. They’ve had a part in its unhinging. Ego again. Now, the tearing down becomes a path. They reward and praise each other for essentially nothing – for kicking down the sand castle that’s taken Janie half the morning to build. We’ll have our revolution, by God! We’re tearing it all down. We’re doing something after all.

Brutality

This morning the front pages of newspapers are all decked out with men hugging, clasping hands, and smiling broadly. The men were Tehran’s Ahmadinejad, Brasilia’s lame duck Lula, and the rising star of the Islamic world, Ankara’s Erdogan. I would think that Harare’s Mugabe, Caracas’ Chavez and Pyongyang’s Kim Jong-Il were smiling as well, only they likely couldn’t scrape enough money together to make the trip. It’s always good to see the world’s leaders smiling. It says that the rest of us will yet get to see another sunrise or two.

The occasion, of course, was to celebrate the successful diplomatic effort that allows Iran to proceed with its nuclear ambitions while at the same time satisfying UN demands to do so with outside participation. Notably absent from the merry-making was our own illustrious president, Barack Hussein Obama, who had proposed a similar roadmap only last October which Tehran promptly rejected outright and which was then left to languish in the ‘open’ file.

So much for Obama’s outreach to America’s enemies. He does not appear to understand that these have now recognized America as a toothless tiger, and that it remains in their best interest to maintain the fiction of casting us as a worthy opponent despite our having offered our unclenched fist, and made known in no uncertain terms our endless willingness to grovel.

Netanyahu will now be forced to act as he sees himself cornered. We have already fully exposed our bias against him. He knows Israel is being set up as the next domino to fall in Tehran’s bid to establish its hegemony over the entire Middle East and East Asia.

The larger lesson to be learned from this is that the dollar is no longer the dominant currency governing geo-political adventurism; that it has now been replaced by brutality. It is now clear that all those whose primary concerns are centered on tolerance, freedom, ecological purity, democratic participation, human rights, racial and gender equality, etc. have drawn the short straw. From now on we can expect the crane hooks to be wheeled back out into the market square - the knives sharpened, the holes dug, the stones at the ready - to signal the perhaps less-than-optimistic start of oppression, enslavement, feudalism, arbitrary law enforcement, threats and coercion. The death of the dollar means that economic laws have failed; that sharia – which in itself is a throwback to Hammurabi’s Code – is now back in style.

How much Obama had wanted to be a part of this deal! Instead he’s been left on the outside, looking in. What else can a poor man do? He’s already driven a wooden stake through our economy. He’s already succeeded in perverting the functioning of our constitutional republic. He’s already managed to beggar his constituents. What more indeed!

We can be certain that he’ll think of something. His only real enemy is the American people themselves. It is they who will bear the brunt of his frustrated flailing. Obama has been described as a racialist. It’s not a good time to be born white in America – or black for that matter. Zimbabwe is the model for what can happen. Once it was the bread basket of Africa. But that wasn’t good enough. Now its people are starving.

Great Britain: Brown Says Good-Bye

It’s sad to watch the former Empire (on which the sun never set) strangling itself even further. Unlike America, the voters there have not yet formed a clear consensus as to the best way forward. Look for infighting and gridlock as outside events will no doubt continue to heavily influence the political narrative. While it is true that the ruling class has been toppled, its replacement will likely find itself without mandate to tackle all the internal and external challenges facing the country. Suddenly deprived of the roadmap a heretofore dependable ally was happy to provide, Britain will find itself alone to work out its problems.

Clearly, Britain can no longer depend on even minimal tea and sympathy from America. Obama has made it clear that the fortunes of Great Britain are no concern of his. Its leaders must now find their own way. Whether this means teaming up with Russian-German axis or going it alone still remains to be determined.

If Britain should choose to go it alone, the choice is between bringing its own fiscal house to order or depending on the Keynesian model that promises much; but, in practice, has never had much to show for itself. The most likely outcome will entail a series of compromises that will nevertheless steer the country further left and to increased fiscal vulnerability. Social instability can also be expected to rise.

Sad to see Brown go. Gone are the leaders who ended their tenure with the vengeful intrusion of old age. Gone are the days when certain closure (death) necessitated the taking of a new direction. It wouldn’t surprise me if in a few years British voters were to once again clamor for Brown’s return. Such is the warm reassurance and comfort inspired by the re-appearance of a familiar face – all sins forgiven.

Oddly enough, for Britain and countries around the world, the example may once again be set in America, where Barack Hussein Obama will likely show no sign of ever leaving.

The Bottom Rung

While we gleefully crunch poll numbers, it has suddenly occurred to me that we have already lost our freedom of the press here in America. Our media tells us only that which does not threaten the overall structure of what has been put in place to get us to wherever we are headed.

I remember, back during the Bush administration there were multiple media leaks designed to embarrass the administration and ultimately bring Obama to power. Some involved classified material that gave aid and comfort to our enemies. It was all done in the spirit of childish fun – demolishing the battered piñata that Bush had become. Since Obama has been in office, the leaks have all but stopped. In fact, today, even things that are widely suspected have ceased to interest our intrepid investigative reporters and journalists.

Even alternative media has taken a step backwards. I remember a time when ‘The John Batchelor Show’ was hot on the trail of Bill Clinton’s brother’s cocaine use and his connection to secret airstrips in Arkansas. Now, we’re only discussing the polls that show Republicans ousting Democrats in November. (“Meet the new boss; same as the old boss.”) It’s something that takes up air time without the risk of endangering something we obviously regard as both sacred and fragile. We no longer dare talk about the really important things. Off-hand I can think of no less than three recent international incidents in which the White House appears to have ordered total news blackouts. In addition, of course, the suspicion remains that we are not being told the true nature and depth of our fiscal failing. Neither are we told of Barack Hussein Obama’s personal connections to radical Islam and/or Marxism. We don’t even know if he is qualified (by law) to be president.

The press plays enthusiastically along, pouring oil on the roiling (pardon the pun). Yet the public is not fooled. There is a palpable gnawing at the entrails of every thinking American that indicates something is seriously wrong on any number of fronts. Why did POTUS within hours of the Deepwater Horizon disaster order S. W. A. T. teams to the area? Why did he then proceed to all but ignore the spillage for more than a week? Why have none of the survivors been publicly interviewed?

I’ve raised these questions before and, each time I do, I feel more and more isolated. Perhaps it’s just me. I am reminded that in any business where security and even self-preservation and self-interest are paramount, any advancement does not come entirely without personal risk to the individual who is being promoted. Should he or she fail in the higher position, the only option is dismissal. Demotion is not possible. This is because with each step up in the ranks more information is revealed. Once one is in possession of such information, one cannot go back and work among those who have not yet been initiated.

We, the electorate, are clearly regarded as occupying the bottom rung. And though, in theory, we are said to hold the fate of our elected officials in our hands; in practice we only exist to be manipulated and to rubberstamp the designs of our political class whose ultimate aims remain deliberately vague.

New Jersey

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt compelled to say something good about any U.S. politician. Gov. Chris Christie certainly has been saying all the right things, which shows that he understands the problems facing New Jersey. Our state has been the butt of unkind jokes ever since I can remember. The political corruption here has become legendary. And in our current anti-corporate, anti-industrial, no-growth pro- environmental climate, people have been taking liberties to trash the state for everything from our highway system (“Which exit do you live off of?”) to the industrial haze that on rare occasions clouds the sky as one approaches New York City from the Meadowlands.

In truth, it all amounts to a bad rap. While the corruption has been real – like the gusher in the Gulf - New Jersey is a beautiful state. Its beaches are for the most part pristine and I’ll always remember our camping trips to the wooded hills of Sussex County where lakes abound along with the activities these engender. Our quiet – admittedly artificial – suburban landscapes are teeming with wildlife. Barely 25 miles from Manhattan we are proud to host deer, wild turkey, bear, fox, raccoon, fisher cat, badger, opossum and many other species too numerous to mention.

But, best of all, the people of New Jersey are a kind and generous lot. They are self-effacing. They bear all the insults with a dignity unmatched. They have suffered mightily under the burdens of usurious taxation. It’s only lately that they’ve also noticed that the trains no longer run on time.

New Jersey is routinely mentioned among the states facing severe fiscal problems. Successive Democrat and pseudo-Republican governors - egged on by unions, environmentalists, liberal judges and illegal immigration advocates - have taken the state on a wildly reckless ride. Inflows to the treasury no longer match proposed and mandated spending. Property taxes alone have risen to the highest in the nation. This has resulted in the shrinking of the tax base as those who have been able to quit the state have done so.

From what Christie has been saying, we can gather that he understands the problem. He speaks plainly. The question remains: Will he be able to turn things around? As a Republican governor, openly critical of the administration, he cannot rely on Washington’s help. Neither can he depend on the on the unions to volunteer much by way of give-backs. Their knives are already out and sharpened. The state’s teachers unions have already issued death threats. The state’s liberal newspapers attack him daily as they make reference, among other things, to his weight.

Still, he seems to be determined to take New Jersey to a better place. As JB rightly suggest, his success or failure portends much for the nation as a whole. Unlike the federal government, states cannot print money; and neither can the Fed (and get away with it). Should Christie succeed, it means there is still hope for us to turn things around. Should he fail, it means we have already come too far, and the only thing we can hope for is that the airbags work.

Republicans On Steroids

Many wordsmiths have cut their teeth exploiting gold and all its ancillary aspects such as greed, avarice, crime and poverty. The higher message all along has been that “money can’t buy me love” or health, dignity and the like – and that it often works to the detriment of the finer virtues.

When talking about gold and/or money we essentially talk about ‘value’. What is valuable in this day and age? The ‘rarity’ of any given commodity is certainly a factor. Gold is rare; as is talent, know-how, hard work, innovation, inspiration, etc. When the political class tells us that everyone is equal, it denies the notion of rarity as well as individual pursuit of excellence. It denies value at its core. The only thing left, then, is gold.

The rise in gold prices reflects the disillusionment with the political class world-wide. Nobody appears to be standing up for value. Bailouts signal a dangerous trend. It means that failure is on par with success. This is not something that inspires confidence. It means that nothing we do can lift us above the average mean; that we are in essence trapped in the prison of the ‘common good’; that all that is left for us to do is to hoard gold - a fleeting reminder of a golden age when America was exceptional (the gold standard) – to build it into shining but soulless pyramids to sit atop in watch out for equally soulless thieves. Eventually we will feel inclined even to abandon our golden perches as the impulse to exercise our bodies becomes increasingly compelling.

The skyrocketing price of gold signals our misgivings about where we are heading. November elections are routinely hyped as our salvation. But what is the alternative? Republicans? American voters are not impressed by the prospect of Republicans taking up the reigns either. They’ve tried that before and it only managed to get them Obama – Republicans on steroids.

Walk Away

This is just plain silly - trying to link the random killings of Chinese school children to Chinese government intent, policies and corruption. We ourselves have adults killing and preying on children. We have sanctified abortion as a human right. Children routinely kill other children on the streets of our urban centers. Mothers drown their children in bathtubs. Children are left in cars parked in the sun with the windows rolled up while their parents drink in bars, gamble in casinos or commit adultery in shady hotel rooms. Students have been known to turn automatic weapons on their classmates in school cafeterias. Yet nobody takes the leap of blaming any of our sacred cow institutions (except to speciously promote the politically charged gun control agenda).

Wherever there are people such incidents are bound to occur. My sister-in-law was murdered by a rapist in New Delhi where she worked as a medical (speech) specialist. My sister took her own life in Switzerland where she worked as a dentist. These incidents were regarded as personal tragedies, adequately borne by a narrowly confined circle of grieving survivors. None of it was ascribed to American imperialism, capitalism, socialism, government corruption or jihadi recruitment and incitement.

There is plenty of legitimate evidence that indicts the unelected, self-serving crony government of communist China. These five or six incidents chronicled thus far in a nation that big may justifiably qualify as ‘copycat’, but does not translate into a significant trend.

I understand the desire to besmirch and heap insult and blame on someone regarded as distasteful. I understand the desire to overlook human shortcomings in order to defend someone whom we insist on admiring. The U.S. media has been doing the latter for years as pertains to our two most recent Democrat presidents. At the same time they can’t wait for a card-carrying tea party member to fart, so they can classify the entire movement as uncouth.

Blaming the Chinese government for what essentially amounts to no more than a ‘crime’ (or crimes) is just as bad as what our own state-controlled media is doing. And it’s disingenuous to boot. On one hand, we refuse to classify China as an enemy; while, on the other, it gives us the satisfaction to editorialize about what could just as easily apply to us. In this way we can touch upon the true nature of our misgivings without the risk of breaking something which we obviously regard as fragile or sacred. When China responds with its own list of sins as these might apply to America, we simply declare a stalemate and walk away.

Gold

The classic question asked before every election has been, “Are you better off today than you were 1, 2, 3 or 4 years ago?” ‘Better’ was roughly defined in economic terms: jobs, prospects, opportunities, purchasing power, safety, stability, etc. Clearly, the political class has decided that the traditional markers of the economic health of a nation are no longer relevant; that now the notion of ‘social justice’ must be factored in and even take priority over any other consideration. At the same time, every indicator reflecting the relative health of economic activity has been trending downwards.

In our own country, the Obama administration has been promoting policies that have accelerated this downward trend. The popularity of gold is a reflection of the uncertainty and outright fear that the markets are about to collapse. Our administration has done nothing to alleviate such fears. In fact, every policy already enacted as well as proposed seems specifically designed to drive markets down even further. We can no longer interpret this as coincidence, mistake or stupidity. Along with everything else that’s been happening – socially, politically and internationally – it would be foolish to assume that we are not facing a profound change from the way in which we have been conducting our everyday lives.

Gold is seen as the final hedge should everything else collapse around us. It is a fantasy. After everything else has gone up in smoke, a retreat to gold cannot save us. Look at it in practical terms. Imagine lugging a gold bar to the ruin of a store with empty shelves in search of a loaf of bread. People are actually assuming that gold will be capable of performing alchemy in reverse and produce bread.

The futility of hoarding gold was aptly demonstrated during previous wars. When the invading armies were said to be approaching the town, the people packed up their valuables (including their gold candelabras) into wagons and set out to escape certain death, rape and plunder. Along the way they could see all the things once deemed valuable (including gold) strewn by the roadside as so much refuse. They did not even slow their pace. Instead, in a desperate effort to lighten their own load, they dumped their valuables as well. The lucky ones arrived at a safe haven with barely the threads on their backs.

Their ultimate goal was to reach America which promised nothing more than a new start. With America in ashes, there will no longer be anywhere to run to. Gold or no gold, when hope is extinguished humanity has failed.

Elena Kagan

One of the perks of being elected POTUS is that you get to choose candidates to fill Supreme Court vacancies. It gives the president the opportunity to extend his personal influence beyond his tenure. When Republicans were in power, the emphasis was always on compromising with Democrats by half. Democrats don’t compromise. They go full tilt. Republicans have accepted this paradigm for as long as I care to remember.

Kagan comes from Obama’s inner circle. She was chosen because she espouses Obama’s views. There is not much of a paper trail. This should make it easier to overlook her deficiencies and confirm her. Should something untoward emerge and she is rejected, Obama will first blame Republicans. While Republicans are still celebrating their pyrrhic obstruction skills, Obama will then double down and appoint someone even more radical. Republicans, still punch-drunk and exhausted, will give the next candidate a pass. He or she will also likely be even younger, ensuring that Obama’s quest to transform America into a socialist Utopia will survive even after the political winds have shifted.

Germany Bails Out Greece

The big political battle of our time is the struggle between Left and Right. The Left is winning. It’s late in the fourth quarter, the score is tied and the Left has the ball on the Right’s three-yard line. Merkel knows how the game will end. By calling for a time out now – by agreeing to bail out Greece - she intends to postpone the inevitable, hoping to no longer be on the field when the final score is announced. In German it’s called Realpolitik.

The Left seeks the total collapse of world currencies. By beggaring the middle classes, they intend to bring about the chaos that would usher in totalitarian state communism. Bailing out Greece at this point merely kicks the can down the road. Further bailouts are all but inevitable. This will anger the German populace to the point of turning its rage against Merkel’s right-of-center party. Leftists will take up the reigns. The next time the issue of the PIIGS needing money arises, there will be no hesitation about what to do. Neither will there be any incentive for any individual nation to pursue economically sound policies. The Euro will collapse, followed by societal upheaval. In the people’s frenzy to save themselves, they will seek out scapegoats. As Batchelor often says, “There will be blood.” The perceived ‘rich’ will be targeted and sacrificed on the altar of ‘Social Justice' (and Merkel will be permitted to sit by, knitting).

After the revolution, people will be starving and begging for leadership. Strongmen will emerge and rewire the West into a series of cooperative communist dictatorships in which economic principles no longer apply. Cronyism, brutality and ideology will comprise the new world currency.

The Truth And Nothing But The Truth

Some argue that the only effective way of stopping the oil spill in the Gulf is to detonate a thermonuclear device. As this would require POTUS to actually take a decision, we can expect the oil leak to continue indefinitely. Obama will be able to take refuge in his own personal Tora Bora: blame Bush; blame Big Oil; blame America.

The job of being president has overwhelmed Obama. He will ride out his term on the now thread-bare trappings of the office. It is scary to think that, despite what happens, 40% will continue to support him. Whatever you might say, that’s an awful lot of people. Using the oil spill analogy, that’s an awful lot of oil spilled to pollute the potential good will and effectiveness of the next administration.

The focus of global terrorism will now center on oil rigs. It’s a model that was initially developed by the Somali pirates. It was duly noted that the West is incapable of responding even to minor threats; and that each failure to respond diminishes it ten-fold.

The time has come to buckle up; to know that we are not being told even the half of it; and that, if we ever were to find out the whole truth, we would come to realize that none of it is good.

Queen For A Day

In theory, we elect politicians to remove impediments that would keep us from living safe, happy and productive lives. In practice, however, politicians have found it is not in their best interests to solve problems – so much better to exploit these for all they’re worth and give them plenty of lip service; to then, on the strength of empty promises, be able to propel would-be kings to victory in the ever ubiquitous next election cycle. It is a clear conflict of interest that is inherent in the system that has now hit the wall, pitting the political class in direct opposition of the expectations of the electorate.

It has also become evident that the electorate has not been holding their elected representatives’ feet to the fire. At the same time, serious concerns have accrued to the point where there is no longer any margin to add additional grievances to the list of already well-established concerns. Especially, ever changing financial realities along with immigration and terrorism are routinely crowded out and left languishing. It is often said that anything done at this point will only make matters worse. Trust in our leadership has seriously eroded.

Elections are the mechanism designed to fix this. Unfortunately, the people from which we are asked to choose invariably come from within the political class which itself is hamstrung by the need to preserve itself.

In America there has been a huge awakening. This is not to say that we now fully understand exactly what and how much is at stake. Unlike the British parliamentary system in which a multitude of parties participate, we only have two. We’ve tried putting Republicans in charge; we’ve tried Democrats. Neither party has particularly impressed us. What now?

We have to get over the notion that the men and women we have been electing to represent us actually do. We have to face up to the fact that they have come primarily only to promote themselves. The most cynical among us understand this. What we don’t yet seem to grasp is that there’s a difference; that elections have consequences. We have to re-learn our civic lessons; we have to re-read our history books. We can do it. When we see a dog, we can easily agree it’s a dog. Yet, when we see a socialist, we’re somehow incapable of saying, “He’s a socialist.” Instead…

In the 50’s there was a TV show entitled, “Queen for a Day”. It followed a simple game format in which the winner was wined and dined and given pretty clothes to wear for 24 hours. That’s basically what we have been doing when electing our officials. We do it on the basis of their being capable of shining in the glare of the media hype. In our time, a man like Lincoln would be a complete washout. We look to poise, sex appeal, skin color and the like. We have become too lazy to examine complex issues.

Suddenly, we find that they have robbed us of our nest egg. Our security hangs by a thread. How could this have happened? Ironically, we may still not have learned our lesson as we seek out Adonis-like faces to match our Gucci accessories.

I Smell a Rat

The country was already long gone before we elected Obama. We’d already celebrated abortion; questioned the sanctity of marriage; argued about alternative lifestyles and put any perversity into the hands of anyone old enough to click a mouse. We wrapped it all in the flag and called it freedom, choice – liberty. Meanwhile, we were so busy with all this stuff; we never had the inclination or the time to pay much attention to what our schools and our government were doing.

In 1973 I sold my distressed blue jeans over in India for a small fortune. These were not available there at the time and everybody wanted them. Today, I could fill my suitcase with Playboys, Penthouses, Hustlers and the like and probably make enough money to pay for my trip. They never check at immigration. Nowadays, they’re more interested in bombs, wires, matches and water bottles. It never occurs to me to do this, however. You might say it just did.

Stick with me on this… Yesterday, I made it a point to listen to two radio programs I don’t ordinarily listen to: Philadelphia’s Michael Smerconish and New York’s Joan Hamburg. Both host talk shows; both are hopeless suck-ups to Obama. I wanted to test a theory of mine. The conservative shows I normally listen to are peppered with ED and PE commercials. It’s annoying because this is the primary reason I’m embarrassed to recommend such programs to my kids and liberal friends.

Sure enough, the Obama suck-up talk shows had no such commercials. Smerconish made up for it though by dwelling endlessly on sex related topics.

It would seem that male enhancement ads are so totally out of character (and misdirected) on shows like ‘The John Batchelor Show’ for instance. I’m also quite certain that it’s the networks that insist on it – that Batchelor himself has not much say in this. It appears to be the price the liberal media structure feels justified in exacting for the privilege of playing on what it claims as its own turf (not necessarily for profit, but) to put a chink in the credibility of the criticisms certain to be rendered.

I smell a rat.

Soapbox Derby

Lou - I appreciate your comment. However, you make two assumptions that do not necessarily hold water. First, the market did not ‘recover’. It went down almost 350 points yesterday. Today, it went down another 140 even despite all the optimistic talk about the latest unemployment numbers. Second, there is not only one single enemy attacking us. We are being attacked from all sides by a broad base of bad actors - including from within. We’re quite on the ropes already.

Picture one of those soapbox derby races we used to get roped into back when we were Boy Scouts. We’re going downhill, hoping that our wheels don’t fall off before we reach bottom. They won’t come off this time. The skids have been carefully greased and each little push only makes us go faster. They’re all out there pushing: the progressives, the communists, the unions, the anarchists, the atheists, the illegals, the environmentalists, the gays, the blacks, the browns – every malcontent who’s ever had a hung toenail is pushing. …and while they’re pushing, they’re spitting at our flag.

It doesn’t stop there. Internationally, we’re being pushed as well. Look at the military build-up to our south - courtesy of Russia and Iran - in the fallen dominoes of South and Central America. Look at who’s threatening our allies around the world. Look at the oil exploration about to begin practically in our own backyard by the likes of China, while our own hands remain tied. The Deepwater Horizon ‘accident’ sealed out fate in this regard. Instead, we’ll now concentrate on building windmill farms. Pretty soon it’ll be raining birds.

One plan is to choke off our energy supply. I can’t see it any other way. It’s already been decided at the highest levels of our own government that we should come begging for our energy needs. The rationale is that it would save the planet, but it’s really not that. It’s to diminish our influence and power. Some would say, it is to destroy us as a nation; to reduce us to that gushing wound that once was America; or Greece; or Rome or Great Britain (the empire on which the sun never sets).

The Islamists and the communists are all in this together. Their mission is to destroy America; capitalism. Once that’s done, they’ll sort out the differences amongst themselves by killing each other. We’re so rattled now that every time someone drops a pack of Lucky Strikes on the sidewalk somewhere, we close down Times Square. Don’t tell me it’s not having an effect.

We can be reasonably certain by now that our president is a communist. Until I see his birth certificate you can’t convince me that he isn’t a Muslim as well.

Accidents Will Happen (It's only 'hit and run')

Under this, what can be termed as the first in a long line of “accidental” U.S. presidents, we are entering into the “Accidental Ages” This is not to say that any of these presidents will be said to have suffered accidents or black swan poop from out of no where in particular. It simply means that everything that happens during their disastrous reign(s) will be reported as ‘accidental’: Barack Hussein Obama’s accidental election; the accidental failure of capitalism; the inadvertent torpedoing of a South Korean war ship; the Deepwater Horizon’s collapse; the explosion and fire at a Texas oil refinery; the ‘accidental’ failure of terror plots; the implosion of the PIIGS; etc. The pattern is clear. Now we can add ‘accidental’ U.S. stock market manipulation to the list.

I don’t buy the CITI ‘fat finger’ excuse. No finger is so fat as to span three letters on a standard size keyboard without missing ‘N’ (for null). Our enemies are testing our vulnerabilities – and profitably so. It should be easy enough to find who profited from yesterday’s stock market debacle. But, have no fear; nobody will bother to check into it. Besides, the desired damage is already done; the weaknesses have been exposed; the markets spooked; the spoils divided as compensation for amputated tongues.

Still, I’d be interested to know by just how much Soros’ portfolio has been boosted by yesterday’s great adventure.

BTW, the ’accidental era’ too will pass as the Dark Ages ended with the Renaissance. This will happen after final victory has been declared after a series of great “Accidental Wars”.

A Great Foot-Dragging

I don’t think it’s simply a matter of (a lack of) jobs either here or in Great Britain. In countries that have essentially become prisons, in which there are essentially only two classifications of people - wardens and prisoners – there is simply not much incentive to work. Where governments routinely demand upwards of 50% of every monetary unit of sweat in return for shoddy and insufficient services, it has become far more productive to just lie low and wait for the economic climate to improve. The commonly heard complaint about high unemployment, therefore, is merely shorthand for the frustration felt by employers and employees alike who find themselves trapped by ideologically-driven policies that make little sense in the real world.

Add to this the assault we are witnessing on a daily basis on tradition and values, and many consciously (or unconsciously) decide to quit the system voluntarily. We are essentially on strike. Any time kids are sent home from school for the crime of wearing tee-shirts displaying the flag; any time terrorists are given milk and cookies while being read their Miranda rights; any time Al Sharpton opens his mouth; any time a crèche is ordered dismantled at ‘holiday’ time; any time lawmakers vote themselves a pay raise in the dead of a Friday night, we are reminded that this is no longer a country we can wholeheartedly support.

Unemployment, much more than governments’ failed effort to artificially ‘stimulate’, represents a great foot-dragging by the American and British people. Unless and until this is recognized for what it actually is, there will be no improvement in the numbers. We will continue to sit on our hands.

David Obey Retires

Conventional wisdom has it that David Obey ‘retired’ from politics because he feared being defeated in the next go-around by Republican Sean Duffy. The facts show otherwise. Though Duffy has been able to raise more money than any other challenger in 21 elections, Obey has remained the favorite to win in his heavily Democrat district.

Could it be that what sparked Obey’s sudden decision to retire was not the fear of losing, but the fear of winning? Obey gave all kinds of reasons for his decision not to seek reelection – none of which sounded very convincing. For one thing, he blamed the media which embarrassingly remains 110% in support of Democrats in general. He claimed that he had succeeded in helping to secure passage of health care legislation which had been his singular aim from the start. He said he was tired and had no immediate plans.

Besides being a liberal and a Democrat, David Obey was also a mechanic par excellence; a master in conducting a fair fight. He has much to be proud of. His position as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee made him a key player in Washington. One does not relinquish such power lightly.

I suspect that Obey, as so many other Democrats, has hung up his spurs because he has seen the structure of our entire political process disintegrating into chaos. He has likely noted that his unique specialized expertise would in the coming years cease to be relevant; that the old rules no longer apply; that, from now on, ideology would reign supreme, trumping both procedure and protocol.

Some years ago my father-in-law was killed in an auto accident. He died immediately and was said to have suffered no pain. At the time of his death he was in the best of health. Everyone says he was lucky.

We are watching the slow and painful death of our nation. It began to gather in significance when a majority of our citizens suddenly realized that the heart of it – the people – was slowly being cut out and shunted aside. It has been a slow and painful process to watch. No right-thinking Americans can take much comfort in saying that they have been a part of it.

Bloodshed and Anarchy

Just another in a long series of well-connected rich boys sucked into the Islamic jihad excitement. Our liberal press clearly had trouble with this one. They never learned what we JB listeners already know, that the first three reports are always wrong. They ran like laughing hyenas with the first two (reports) that seemed to indicate that the perp was white, and possibly a tea party member (or Beck listener) upset at Obama’s health care legislation. Even Mayor Bloomberg fell for it. Once the identity of the would-be bomber had been established, the back-tracking began to resemble the sound of heavy furniture being dragged across the floor. In some instances, the foot-dragging left unattractive marks. Shahzad’s house was said to be in foreclosure by the evil banks (which must have made him mad) - never a thought was given to the likelihood that one determined to commit the jihad of his life would care less about paying his bills. If he had succeeded, his future at home would have been secure. He and his turncoat father would have been celebrated as undisputed heroes of the jihad. For us, it would have been an unmitigated disaster with only one tiny sliver of silver lining: the fact that this particular jihadi had wanted to live.

The authorities with boots on the ground performed admirably throughout. It’s their liberal bosses who got egg on their faces. Homeland Security was out to lunch once again, having allowed this guy to operate - incompetently as he did - after having taken the trouble of placing him on the watch list. In all fairness, our leadership from the Mayor on up had ample cause to be confused. They’d been issued lexicons with a serious printing error. Antonyms are listed under the heading marked ‘synonyms’ and vice-versa. Good is now bad; war is now peace; up is now down; black is now white; etc. We’ve returned to an antebellum mindset, except now it’s the white male that is suspected first after a crime has been committed.

This is why I have become pessimistic or, better yet, resigned. This is why I do not put much stock in the November midterm elections - because the system that produced Obama will continue to exist. Even if a handful of right-minded individuals were elected overwhelmingly, the wrecking balls are already in place to take them down. Look at New Jersey’s new governor for whom the knives are already sharpened. Look at the president of Greece, facing bloodshed and anarchy in the streets. In both cases, reform is but a speed bump in the road that can do little to halt the Left’s steady advance. America’s enemies are on the march. They have too many potent weapons to arrest the pigskin’s progress towards the goal line. The blue-haired ladies and their retired working stiff mates are no match for the wildly inspired brutes who control the ball - first and ten on the three yard line.

Why Is It...?

Curious! According to authorities, there where 126 people on board the Deepwater Horizon when disaster struck. 79 were Transocean employees; 6 were BP; 41 were contract workers. Let’s stipulate that the Obama administration’s assessment of the situation is correct, that BP was at fault – as Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, so eloquently put it, "Our job is basically to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum, - the lesson we can draw from this is that it takes only a few (community organizers*) to upset the applecart.

In addition, 94 people were able to escape the wreck in lifeboats; 4 were taken to other (North Korean*) ships; 17 were evacuated to shore by helicopter; 11 are missing and presumed dead.

Strange! Following any disaster (mining, flooding, fire, train wreck, etc.) a phalanx of press is usually right there interviewing survivors and their families. Often, the president makes it a point to go and personally comfort the wounded and the grieving. To my knowledge, none of this has happened. Why? Wouldn’t at the very least each one of the 94 have a spectacular story to tell? Why is it that the missing and presumed dead are never mentioned even so much as in prayer? Something about this sounds very fishy (if you pardon my pun).
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*my own speculation

Full Speed Ahead!

Lou, Lagnese – I’m curious. I know you two (John Batchelor Show commenters) – very likely being of somewhat stronger constitution than I - read the opposition blogs; you know, the ones that post proudly in support of anything (brand) Obama while despising the tea parties. I must admit, I have never been particularly tempted. Still, I’m wondering how these bloggers can justify Obama’s disastrous fiscal policies; his endless appeasement of rogue, suicidal regimes; his insistent clinging to the now discredited ‘global warming’ hoax, and so many adjunct policy forays (as into health, security, education, etc.) that any reasonable human being can plainly see are bound to fail? Is it stupidity? Ignorance? Is it to poke a stick in the eye of some political nemesis? Is it in pursuit of some improbable Utopian dream? Is it suicidal? Or does it stem merely from a desire to appear outrageous in the vain hope of ascending to Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame?

No doubt, in comparison to what is now frequently termed the ‘lamestream media’ these left-wing blogging types are far more virulent. One can gather as much by their intemperate rhetoric as reflected on the signs their kindred of Cain often carry at street rallies, sit-ins and such. One gets a sense of it from their unfounded accusations hurled our way – unfounded, because none of it applies. It must come from somewhere, most likely from their own misdirected assessment of themselves.

Just wondering what we’re up against. Any chance of them turning – getting ‘religion’, so to speak? I just thought - if it were to get bad enough – can we expect them to flock to our side? Or is it a hopeless cause, trying to convert them?

There are all sorts of books slated to come out (or released already) detailing Obama’s roots; among them “The Manchurian President” by Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott. All are (or will be) selling tolerably well. But has it all come too late?

Understanding is not enough. The Tea Parties understand. Most of the citizenry understands; America understands. What of it? We ourselves here are essentially preaching to the choir. We argue the finer points amongst ourselves. But we convert no one – or, if we do, they too watch helplessly as health care passes; as our allies are dissed and dismissed; as Iran builds its bomb; as the oil slick spreads; as prices rise; as our sons and daughters turn against us.

I don’t see the ship turning. With the mist of the falls already surrounding us, our captain cries, “Full speed ahead!”

Nobody's Talking

I’m not seeing a plan. All I’m seeing is BP blamed a lot – and Big Oil. How convenient! It’s the same as it was back just before Obama was elected, when we had our big brush with economic Armageddon. At that time the big banks were said to be at fault. And this still is the case. What I’m saying is, we never seem to get at the root of a problem. We never go back quite far enough to examine its cause.

Yet, something caused Bush to panic and start insisting on TARP. And something caused Deepwater Horizon to blow up. It was a huge structure (32,588 tons; 112 meters long; 78 meters wide; 97 meters high). We say it was an ‘accident’. But look at it this way: When the World Trade Towers collapsed, nobody could claim it was due to a mere 'accident' in the kitchen of its ‘Windows On the World’ restaurant. It took something much bigger to bring those buildings down.

The following is only a partial list of recent semi-successful news blackouts we have come to know of.

1. Operation Orchard
2. Specific documentation detailing the spark (and origin) that got TARP rolling.
3. Bhutto assassination
4. South Korean ship sinking

And now we can add the sinking of the Deepwater Horizon to our list. Somebody knows the answers to all of this. (I suspect that JB knows.) But nobody’s talking. Why? It's quite obvious. If we knew only half of what’s going on, we’d be out on the streets with our pitchforks. Perhaps Obama’s only crime is his sloppiness in keeping things covered up. Also, the blame game seems to still be going well. …and we’re still only up to the second letter of the alphabet after all.

Corruption Doubled, Tripled and Squared

I’m talking about corruption with all its bells and whistles – CORRUPTION on the highest order.

At first our currency/economy was based on gold. Then we got rid of gold and based our currency/economy on productivity (the talent, sweat and hard work of our population). Next, we based our currency/economy on credit (future productivity).

Note that each step expanded the universe of money significantly. Clearly, the gold supply is finite as there is only so much of it to go around. A calculation involving human productivity clearly increased the amount of what can be termed ‘distributable value’ or wealth. Adding to this a calculation involving future productivity (i.e. credit) had the effect of increasing it even more. Each step expanded the opportunity for individuals to generate untold riches, even as the basis for these (first gold, then productivity and, finally, credit) became more and more illusory and, at the same time, less and less stable.

The latest scam to increase the universe of money once again is ‘cap and trade’ which would essentially base our currency/economy on air. Step one was to declare CO2 a pollutant. Step two involves charging everyone emitting CO2 a fee for the unpardonable sin of breathing; and, thus, move vast amounts of money into the pockets of the people who were in on the hoax. Governments are in on it; academe is in on it; banks and investment firms (GS, Fannie and Freddie) are in on it; computer companies (Google) are in on it; media; education; unions – anyone who has been tireless in promoting the deal did so with the promise of a big pay-off to follow. Chicago was to be the center for trading in carbon credits. Already an exchange similar to the New York Stock Exchange is all set up there and ready to go.

When the University of East Anglia e-mails were released to the public the scam was exposed, it drove a stake in the heart of a world-wide fiction. The Left latched on to it big time for they rightly assumed it would put an end to capitalism. The one-worlders under the auspices of the UN latched on to it for they could now envision their dream - the dissolution of all borders - as being within reach. The religious wing, the environmentalists, viewed it as their ticket to a pristine world without man-made pollution.

Corruption equals the absence of principles. Any human endeavor lacking principles is bound to fail. The West has been in the process of shedding its principles for a long time. We have now reached the point from which there is no way forward. We have reached the wall. The attempt to tax air was the last straw. Still, those committed to what was obviously a hoax persist. They will now be tempted to apply force to get their way. We’re in for some rough sledding, folks.

This Is the Endgame

Nothing Obama does polls well. Camelot is already dying. Its structural flaw was a bigamous marriage. This story has nothing to do with weakening or ‘weakened’. Both GS and our country are already weak. Why else would we elect a trophy wife president? Why would we assign brilliant minds to political and economic treachery? It was a sham from the start: Obama and GS; Obama and America. Now, the trophy wife wants out, leaving both grooms high and dry. The wife always gets the children.

Our leadership has become so corrupt, it calls our friends “enemies” and our enemies “friends”. Don’t think the world hasn’t noticed. We’re being attacked from all sides. The axis of evil is operating at full steam. They know this is the endgame.

Now, the race is on as to who can strike the final blow. Who can be clever enough to snatch the Rocky Mountain oysters? Obama is just one of any number of matadors competing for the prize. He is the knife slowly twisting inside the doomed animal’s heart.

The nations of the world are already scrambling to form new alliances. They look to align themselves with raw power. ‘Social Justice’ no longer counts for much, and neither does ‘global warming’, environmental concerns, racial and gender equality, or any of the multitude of cuts and bruises liberals have managed to inflict on the now stumbling creature’s back.

The crowd cheers. They are witnessing a spectacle that in any civilized society should be banned. Just goes to show what lies ahead.

Random Thoughts

Good (bad) things come in threes. First there was the Deepwater Horizon oil platform explosion and subsequent collapse; then came the (failed) Times Square bombing. Question: Can we expect one or two more such incidents?
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Mayor Bloomberg: “We have no idea who did this or why”. Are we checking Times Square surveillance cameras for people wearing tee-shirts with tea party slogans?
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'Overseas Contingency Operation’?
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Good idea: Terrorist trials in civilian courts in Manhattan.
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Mayor Bloomberg: “The bomb squad was called... they did the job they're expected to do. The kind of job they're trained for.” Is the White House sufficiently trained and ready to do what the U.S. Constitution mandates it to do?
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Plan A was making friends with terrorists (sorry, I meant to say “man-caused disaster mongers”) and their enablers. What is Plan B?
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“Man caused disaster” - If not “man caused”, what is it? Accidental? Act of God? (Sorry!) What is the meaning of “man caused” accident? The accidental president. Just asking.
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Is the fact that nothing serious has happened thus far since Obama has been in office - excepting of course the Deepwater Horizon overseas contingency - testimony to Obama's overall competence? Or has he been (accidentally) lucky? We all know that Bush failed us as president, having neglected to prevent not only the most serious man made contingency operation on the U.S. homeland since Pearl Harbor but also meteorologically generated conspiracies specifically directed at the hapless inhabitants of the Gulf coast.
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Has anybody bothered to look up the meaning of the word "contingency"? Does it apply here?

Declare the Wearing of Glasses a Crime

You can always count on Bill Maher to say something stupid. His appeal (if it is that) is not in what he says; it is in how he says it. Also, never forget that one of the reasons ‘W’ ran into so much trouble politically was because many of his supporters thought he was not conservative enough. In other words, that he caved in too much to Democrats.

The Left's complaint about POTUS is just that. They feel he has not been radical enough. He has allowed talk radio to dominate the narrative; he has bailed out the rich and famous on Wall Street; he has not closed Gitmo; he has continued Bush’s wars; etc. The hard core Left in this country is basically a destructive and vengeful force. They’d likely see happen what Pol Pot did in Cambodia: clear out the cities and drive people out into the countryside; erase any vestige of human history; declare the wearing of glasses a crime (for it means that one might be inclined to read books). They shun education, technology, art and free individual expression in general. To the extent that Obama has failed in this, they proclaim him a failure and he, who is essentially of a similar mindset, recognizes his shortcomings.

Mention that the Democrat party also does not speak with one voice, though it may seem so. What is clear is that the extreme left wing is calling the shots, while the moderates are being shunted out. It’s the same with Republicans. This makes for fascinating drama. Left and Right politics are irreconcilable – because they are essentially one and the same. With the middle forcibly hollowed out, the shell is bound to collapse.

For now it makes for good political talking points to blame Big Oil. It’s quite superfluous to dig for the truth behind the explosion. We might actually have to face the fact that there are people out there who despite our good (communist) intentions are determined to bring us to our knees – which is actually quite alright with the Pol Pots among us who envision Utopia as an endless system of gulags.