Pitchfork Solutions

The success of America has always been relative. This means, it could have been better. Instead, we chose worse. The genesis of our decline began with higher education and spread from there. At first it was largely well-intended. Americans took an interest in the world around them. They wanted to know about other cultures and such. America is a big country and also somewhat geographically isolated. Unlike Europeans, they never traveled much to see for themselves what was actually out there. Many with Jewish names were barred from traveling to certain places or were treated shabbily once they got there. In order to sate their curiosity they turned to universities and colleges. And academia set out to fill this need.

They imported foreign scholars. What better way to teach about other countries and cultures than to have a native do it! The foreign professors were eager to accept. It was their chance to strike a blow for the home team. Their areas of expertise were rapidly elevated to the same status that traditional academic disciplines enjoyed. (The new courses were popular and brought in the money.) But their envy-spawned hatred of America followed them like a dark shadow. They were articulate and relentless in their criticism of their new world. They were often flamboyantly colorful and charismatic. Thus they succeeded in persuading many young, formative minds to believe that Utopia was just around the corner and that America wasn’t it; that, in fact, America hindered any possible progress elsewhere. They brought foreign concepts to the fore which sounded intriguing: Islam; communism; Buddhism; Hinduism; tribalism; Zen; etc.

Revolt had been brewing since the early sixties. The young needed a way to distinguish themselves – to find new, exotic ways in which to express themselves. All the new subjects – many under the aegis of ‘critical theory’ - turned students away from serious consideration of old hat subjects that their parents knew, excelled in and, in some cases, fought for.

These were the privileged among us - those who could afford higher education – who would eventually assume prominent positions in government, media, finance, education and industry.

It is often heard that in order to move ahead a college education is indispensable. It’s become a hard and fast rule, like the Indian caste system. The elite graduates from their ivy-covered cocoons would seldom come in contact with ordinary people. They were well compensated and could well afford to isolate themselves from the unschooled. Elitism came in vogue and without any real understanding of how life unfolds at ground level, they devised ways to dictate compliance as they felt was their right.

Now that the failures of their theories are staring them full in the face, they have responded by circling the wagons. They will be turned out at the first opportunity, hopefully to be replaced by people with real-world experience. They can thank God that the rank and file is comprised mostly of decent, principled individuals who would never resort to entertain pitchfork solutions.

Don't Hold Your Breath

From the beginning the Obama administration has been a lead balloon held aloft by wires, widgets and strange devices. The fact remains that lead balloons do not float. The moment cracks appeared in the suspension anchorage (in the form of poorly designed health care reform, stimulus; the University of East Anglia e-mail dump; foreign policy set-backs; deepening economic malaise; and, now, the Gulf oil spill – an apt metaphor) the balloon came crashing to the ground. Die-hard supporters of Obama’s Utopian vision were prepared for even this eventuality. They are now quite prepared to lower the ground.

"Mr. Obama is systematically diminishing the United States, effecting its transformation from what was once called 'the world's only superpower' to a nation subordinated to the demands of international consensus, organizations, 'peer competitors' and even rogue states." So writes Frank J. Gaffney, Jr. in a piece entitled, ‘The Obama Doctrine’.

Mr. Gaffney concerns himself primarily with international affairs, but the same ‘diminishing’ is going on domestically as well. It is largely uncertainty that is keeping the economy from roaring back. While much of it falls under the category ‘to be determined…’ (after elections), we do now have some idea of what the end game will look like (which we all know is not possible to achieve on American soil as it is presently configured).

Socialism is not what frightens us. It can be argued that we have been living under some degree of socialism for years. What frightens us is the specter of the step between now and then. In order for the seeds of socialism (or any new system) to sprout, the existing crop has to be plowed under. It is this we are now witnessing on a daily basis. In fact, the work has already progressed to the point of where it can no longer be stopped. Both the private sector and our government(s) are on the verge of collapsing.

On this blog we have been focusing on the private sector. Most of us are paying roughly 50% of our earnings to sustain government. Even at that rate, the government cannot survive. As taxes are increased, the private sector shrinks in same measure. There will be even less money to sustain government. The conservative drumbeat to shrink government is also no solution. The first thing cut will be the services we have come to rely on. This will also create problems for the private sector that depends on the continued maintenance of various forms of infrastructure while, at the same time thrusting more people onto the welfare rolls. Government and the private sector are entirely codependent. Cuts in either one end up harming both.

We have entered a lose-lose situation. The only way out of it is to encourage a robust private sector to mop up government excess. The private sector, however, is no longer robust. Government has grown too large and oppressive. It has smothered any hope of sustained economic expansion. We have in effect hit a wall.

The plowing under of the old crop has become inevitable. The kind of seeds we plant will be our next major decision. If we choose to go with the same old crop, the soil will end up even more depleted. There are alternatives, however. We can plant something different that will revive our soil; or we can leave the land lay fallow. In any case, we’ll have to resign ourselves to a long wait for the new seeds to sprout, for the stalks to grow. I would not advise anyone to hold their breath.

Hollywood Always Has It End Well

The narrative in and around the Gulf is so compelling - so riveting - if it never had happened, we would have had to invent it. And so we did. Plenty of horror movies out there in which some threat is burgeoning and seemingly unstoppable. Then the hero rides to the rescue on his white horse… Hollywood always has it end well.

It occurs to me that in this particular oil spill saga there are no heroes – at least none that we can see (yet). It just keeps chugging along, getting worse every day. The means we have currently devised to mitigate the immediate problem – the loss of jobs; massive dislocation, and overall threat to the environment – seem inadequate. We’ve elected to sacrifice BP on the altar of public opinion and, along with it, even more jobs. The moratorium on drilling ups the ante as even more jobs are absurdly sacrificed to our pagan god, Gaia. In short, we seem to be fighting the loss of jobs with the loss of more jobs.

In the meantime, the spill spills on. There are signs that the media and our ADD president are on the verge of losing interest altogether. The World Cup and our rapidly approaching midterm elections are just too juicy to overlook. And then, of course, there was Michael Jackson’s death anniversary.

Odd to see no one coming to our aid. Besides affecting the lives and livelihoods of Gulf residents – not to mention wildlife – badly, the spill can also be classified as a global environmental emergency. Whenever there has been such an emergency abroad, the U.S. has usually been the first to arrive. We were always quick to offer humanitarian aid to the stricken whether we were invited or not. Earthquakes in Turkey and Haiti; tsunamis in East Asia; famine in Africa; etc. Often our considerable contribution had to be disguised - our sacks of emergency foodstuffs re-labeled - to look like it’s not coming from us but from some NGO (as not to offend the people filling their bellies with our own home-grown grains).

On May 3rd, 2008, Cyclone Nargis hit shore in Myanmar and devastated the densely populated, rice-farming delta of the Irrawaddy Division. It was the worst natural disaster in Burmese history. The ruling junta’s version of our Jones Act prohibited the country from accepting foreign aid – this, despite 200,000 dead or missing and millions displaced. We continued to beg and bribe officials and they eventually relented and allowed some of us in.

No such efforts are being made here. The nations of the vaunted ’global community’ seem to be just standing around, clucking their tongues and shaking their heads. Where are the Russians, the Chinese, the Venezuelans, Brazil? Where is the Middle East? Europe? Where is The Sierra Club? PETA? Nothing to say? Where is the UN to bash down our doors and fix this thing (which, as is becoming increasingly clear, we can’t handle ourselves).

“Yes, we can!” indeed! Since Obama has been in office, we haven’t been able to do anything, except to make things worse. Whether due to incompetence or by design, it doesn’t matter anymore. We’re going to hell in a hand basket. While the rest of the world just stands around watching.

I once saw an Indian film “Bandit Queen” (Shekhar Kapur) in which a woman was publicly beaten to within an inch of her life. The town’s people just stood around and watched. It sent a chill through my heart.

Could this be the legacy of Ameica's fall from grace: Nobody helping anyone? Every man out for himself?

Animal Farm

Not much is known about North Korea these days but it may in fact mirror George Orwell’s classic “Animal Farm” to a tee. I recommend this slim volume to anyone who may be tempted to believe that central planning is the answer to all the world’s ills. All the elements and personalities of Marxist lore are uncannily brought into sharp focus in this dystopian spoof that was originally meant to bring the brutal reality of Stalinism home to the general reading public: the pigs; the useful idiots; the need for an enemy; food and health rationing; weapons development (the windmill); the re-write of history; propaganda; corruption; oppression, and more.

Many of these very same trends are rapidly developing within our own nation today. The slide into Marxism seems easy at first. Later, the mix of delusion and raw power tends to turn lethal when issues of succession are at stake. We are now seeing this in North Korea.

The West (including much of America) has already capitulated to Orwell's pigs. Barack Hussein Obama represents the closest we have ever come to tyrannical rule. You might ask yourselves, Who is Obama’s designated enemy? Who is the one, we are constantly told, that is keeping the central planners from achieving their Utopian goals? The answer is YOU.

Metrics

We do not have an economic crisis. We have a crisis in leadership. The ‘bad’ economy is merely a symptom of the crisis in leadership world-wide. The economy is not fragile. It is not failing. It is telling us precisely about the state the world finds itself in.

If you use a thermometer to check your child’s temperature and find he has a fever, a reasonable response should not be to blame the thermometer; to pack it in ice or throw it down in a rage. Yet this is exactly what we’re doing. The economy is merely a metric - a tool - a device to measure the relative health of a nation(’s overall policies). A tool can never exceed its function. As policy is always contingent on mercurial political demands, the economy can be said to reflect the relative soundness of political realities as well.

In an effort to build (false) constituencies, politicians have taken the value out of work. They’ve taken winning out of the game. They’ve taken the truth out of history. They’re taking the killing out of war. They’re taking the people out of governance. In doing all that, they’ve taken hope out of the future. What they’re attempting here amounts to no less than a man-made contingency operation; attempting to change the world into what it has never been before – into what it can never be. It’s no wonder alarm bells are going off everywhere you look.

If it were merely theft, it might be a blessing. The thief is caught and punished. The victim either writes off his loss and begins again, or he is in some way compensated. Either way, there is closure. What we’re witnessing at the G8 summit in Toronto is not theft. It is trying to change the way things actually work; it is trying to upend the laws of gravity. It is going against nature without the temperance of conscience, without an understanding of trespass onto the sacred ground of reality.

You don’t go about building a machine in which every module is wholly dependent on every other. You build it so that failing modules can be easily swapped out. You don’t build an oil tanker (or submarine) without breaking it up in to compartments. If one should be breached, it can be sealed off and the rest of the ship survives. “Too big to fail” spells disaster and worse. In fact, if “too big to fail” should become the norm, we will no longer be able to tell what is disaster and what is not. There will no longer be anything to compare. Every traditional standard loses its meaning. What is is. No further argument is possible. This, plain and simple, is the definition of tyranny.

The reason America’s economic metrics are bad is not because of some vague notion of the failure as relates some equally vague academic construct. (“You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.”) It is a failure that originates and is maintained by the people themselves. In our set-up it is the result of people rebelling against a self-serving, wrong-headed, oppressive, ruling class. The people themselves produce all the metrics needed. Governments ultimately serve at the will of the people. Without their acquiescence, government is illegitimate. The metrics tell us that this has now become the case.

A Voice Calling in the Wilderness

In a horse race, seldom do any of those comprising the initial breakout group finish in the money. It’s only after two thirds of the race has been run that one horse from somewhere in the middle makes a strong move, easily passing all those ahead of it and go on to win.

As we look forward to the 2012 presidential elections we are naturally drawn to what we now consider to be the front-runners. This would presumably include Palin on the right and Obama on the left. There will be others, of course. Petraeus was a strong possibility until just a few days ago.

Conventional wisdom has it that establishment Republicans, independents, and the Tea Parties will split the ticket on the right, leaving the field wide open for any Democrat who chooses to accept the mantle. Obama, currently, is the best bet. However, if - as has been rumored – Obama drops out of the race, there is currently no Democrat with even a snowball’s chance in hell to get elected dog catcher – except Hillary Clinton. She’s been hanging back, conveniently keeping herself out of the various loops of what can be construed as any of Obama’s assorted controversies and disasters. She has been pointedly quiet about the oil spill, about the McChrystal mess, ObamaCare, Israel, Wall Street reform, Arizona, unemployment, etc. It’s almost as if she weren’t even there. I believe that the liberal media is actively helping to shield her; that she has become their next ‘project’.

Yet, her presence is palpable. Her silence on issues hangs like a damp cloth over everything and can be taken as either approval or disapproval. By purposefully failing to openly endorse Obama’s policies, she appears as one who stands apart from the Democrat power hub (that appears to be making all those unforgivable mistakes. Mark my words, the press will not allow her to be tarred by any of them).

Look for Hillary to make a move as 2012 draws nearer. Voters will not easily forget the Bush years (Democrats will do their best to remind us over and over again), nor will they take seriously Tea Party incursions. Obama will go back to what he loves (and he doesn’t love being president; ex-president will suit him far better), leaving Hillary to pursue her socialist vision with the full gravitas of her blue* or green pants suits - and her name. We’re being set up. The country has been preparing to receive its savior for a long time now. We thought the time was at hand when we elected Barack Hussein Obama. Little did we know that he was only a voice crying in the wilderness.
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*remember in today’s upside-down America the colors are not what they appear to be – specifically, blue could be red.

Feelin' Alright?

Has luck finally run out for this president? Keeping in mind that luck is 10% opportunity and 90% preparedness, that is the question the main stream media will be asking itself during the now fast approaching hurricane season and beyond. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that their reporting with regard to Barack Hussein Obama has been consistently skewed in favor of the ‘opportunity’ part while totally ignoring the bit about ‘preparedness’ (or competence).

Comparisons to Bush’s presidency have long since lost their edge. Obama has been at the helm long enough for us to have forgotten much of what it was that irked us so much about Bush. Increasingly we look back longingly to times when we could still afford much, including the luxury of bashing the Republican team with abandon.

We have not been bashing Obama. Is that because Obama has been perfect? Few would think so today. (God, the guy lied – and we fell for it!) It’s rather that we have finally come to acknowledge the close connection between our country and its leader. During the eight years of the Bush administration we were under the general impression that our country was strong; that it could easily withstand our joyous bashing of its leadership. Today, we feel as vulnerable as Obama looks. We’ve come to the conclusion that the two go hand in hand; that if Obama fails, the nation fails - we fail.

No, we refrain from bashing Obama because, in doing so, we basically weaken ourselves even more. And we cannot stand too much more self-flagellation. Hurricanes, earthquakes and volcanoes, of course, are natural phenomenon. Acts of God can’t be helped. It is our ability to respond effectively that is now in question. What about man-made contingency operations such as financial collapse, getting ill due to smoking or drinking Coke and eating too much fat? What about oil spills? Civil unrest? Insubordination? War? It hasn’t been looking so good all the way around. We seem to have run out of all the big ideas, including the biggest one of all: Yes we can!

Disaster appears to be lurking on every conceivable corner. Government is our life vest – or so we’ve been told. This vest has been shown to be severely deflated and barely functioning. What will we do should something really bad happen? Our anxiety is heightened with all this talk going ‘round about Manchurian candidates, Trojan Horses and such. Will we really be forced into having to take care of ourselves? Can we?

It’s best to tread lightly for now. It’s not because we particularly like the guy – the big ‘O’. It’s because we feel he’s all we’ve got. We’ve got to make what we’ve got work – at least for as long as it takes to replace him with a sturdier model.

Circling

John McCain must be defeated. He could be put up against a three-legged stool with pictures of Donald Duck on it and the stool must win. McCain represents everything that’s wrong with the Republican Party. He must not be rewarded! Better to install the most rabid Marxist in his stead. At least you’ll have someone who believes in something.

Just saw John Frankenheimer’s “The Train” (’64) today. In it the Nazis were trying to ship a load of looted art from France into Germany. The French Resistance devised an elaborate ruse to reroute the train, temporarily renaming the railway stations along the way, to make it seem - to the German escorts on board - as if they were headed to Germany when in fact they were just circling around.

This is exactly the ruse employed by the Obama administration. The series of disastrous policies which have been rammed through since he’s been in office are the stations, named in such a way as to make us believe we’re on our way to Utopia. As soon as the train passes, the wraps are removed to reveal our true direction. The film’s narrative tension is heightened when we realize that it’s dictated by the clock. It is nearing the end of the war. The Allies are on their way. Will they be in time to save Paul Labiche (Burt Lancaster) and is precious cargo?

Today we too are circling. We are helplessly captive under the Democrat onslaught. I heard on the news just yesterday that Republicans successfully stopped legislation to extend unemployment benefits. I have news for you: Republicans do not have the votes to stop anything. If it was stopped, it’s Democrats who did it.

Republicans will have to tolerate misfits like JD in office like the Dems tolerate unfunny comedian Al Franken and most of his ignorant Marxist cabal. For those looking out the window, we’re just passing the town of “Financial Regulations Overhaul”. After the train has passed, the wraps will come off and the sign will read: “Obama Power Grab# (take your pick)”.

Honorable Men

In order to advance his agenda overseas, Obama has had to choose an honorable man. Petraeus is faced with a moral dilemma. Should he support his Commander-in-Chief in a fool’s errand, or resign his commission? He chose to attempt the impossible. In doing so, he has sown the seeds of his own demise. He bears the praise of those who once cursed him and who will curse him again. He has chosen to fall on his sword in the name of honor (as defined by the military code of conduct).

This is not to say that what McChrystal did was not honorable. In his own way, he succeeded in drawing attention to a losing cause. Neither man considered the dearth of honor in Washington. Neither man considered the possibility of Barack Hussein Obama heading up a rogue government on the home front. Neither man gave consideration to what Obama’s true motive may be: the humiliation and ultimate destruction of the American military.

Petraeus will never think outside the box of total allegiance to the military which continues to give him meaning and purpose at the height of his career. He will defer to his civilian commander even if the latter chooses to use the military as a pocket knife for the stated purpose of bringing down a building. The building may in fact still stand, even after the knife has been irreparably ruined.

Father Henri Kremer in Volker Schloendorff’s film “The Ninth Day” faced a similar dilemma. Rather than submitting to the Nazi demand that he bring his religion in line with current realities, he chose to remain true to his church and, above all, to his conscience. Kremer survived.

Used And Abused

We take so many things for granted: a soft, clean bed when we’re tired; a drop of water when we’re thirsty; a praline when we’re feeling peckish; bread when we’re hungry. All this comes to mind while watching Volker Schloendorff’s “The Ninth Day” (German; ’05).

Water is a weapon; food is a weapon; oil is a weapon. We thought it couldn’t get any worse with Bush in office. It’s worse now, and we’re already desperate for a turn-around - after midterms; after 2012. Have we finally hit bottom? Or will our slide continue? Oil is spilling into the Gulf. Fish and birds are dying. Industry is dying. Cities and towns – entire States; the country – are going bankrupt. Services cut. Taxes are up. Public services are struggling to meet ever increasing demand.

Turn-around in November; 2012. New York’s Andrew Cuomo is saying all the right things. Scratch a little deeper and you find he’s joined at the hip with public sector unions.

No budget in New York yet; no federal budget till after elections. Uncertainty. Dead canaries in the mines; on Wall Street; in the stores along Main Street that are closing their doors forever.

People are waking up – even those who initially supported President Obama’s agenda. I found it fascinating when this past Tuesday the influential Business Roundtable issued a critique of a whole host of Obama/Democrat initiatives, concluding, “In our (BRT’s) judgment, we have reached a point where the negative effects of these policies are simply too significant to ignore.”

Much of America – including business leaders – had been up front shilling for the administration on a variety of issues, believing it best to play ball with what they perceived to be the new reality in Washington. They enthusiastically propagandized for ObamaCare, for ClimateCare, fiscal overhaul, stimulus, etc., believing they could escape the consequences of such potentially disastrous policies by striking deals (with the devil). They did so, often at the expense of support from their own members. AARP, AMA, Big Oil, Religion and Wall Street come immediately to mind. Every one of these is now beginning to have second thoughts. They are beginning to understand that they have been used shamelessly. Red-faced, they now realize that the lowly rank and file had been ahead of the curve all along.

This is how governments fall – when trust between the leadership and those faithfully paying the dues is broken. At that point the leadership becomes illegitimate. In our country too, the unions will find that they are being used and abused; that ‘equality’ in Obama’s view does not mean equality with the fat cats on any American Street but, rather, equality with ‘the workers of the world’, some, earning less than a dollar a day. They will find that their living standard, far from rising, will fall. And all this, despite having carried the water for an administration that is only out for itself.

Piñata Republicans

Debate has been effectively shut down in America. Every position on any issue is routinely bifurcated and assigned either to the Right or the Left, and then bifurcated again to engender intra-partisan squabbles. The ultimate winner is determined by which side is able to keep its choir from heading for the exits.

Any suggestion of disagreement with the Left is immediately met with accusations of racism, homophobia and fascism. Any suggestion of disagreement with the Right is immediately met with accusations of Marxism, radicalism and anti-Americanism. At that point debate invariably grinds to a halt and we don’t talk anymore.

With serious intellectual debate on the ropes, the ultimate arbiter becomes raw power. This paradigm is unlikely to change with Republicans at the helm.

Should Republicans win overwhelmingly in November, they will continue to be attacked mercilessly. All the power that has accrued to the White House since Obama has been in office is likely to preclude any significant improvement in our overall situation. Judging from past instances when Republicans have been in the majority, they are unlikely to wage the battles that actually have the potential to count for something. Expect no roll-back of existing policy; expect no movement toward impeachment. Instead, expect piñata Republicans merely to occupy a lower branch on the tree as to make them even more accessible to the stick-wielding children that comprise today’s media hoard.

Horse Latitudes

"My routine mistake in reading the news is presuming that there is a best outcome. There is just an outcome. You survive, then you deal with it." - John Batchelor

I can’t really argue with that. Der Mensch denkt, und Gott lenkt. English translation: Man makes plans and God laughs. Still, there’s the narrative to consider. You can’t build a narrative on chaos. There has to be some underlying principle pulling it all together – a frame. Whether it’s socialism, tyranny, or preserving the American way (of life), at least it’s a narrative. Right now we have nothing. We’ve lost our identity and, with it, our direction.

We’ve created a vacuum. Vacuums are unsustainable. It’ll fill up with something. None of us can agree on what to fill it with. A trophy president won’t cut it anymore. Oil spill. The air has gone out of our balloon. It drifts; it falls.

The chaos of uncertainty. It’s killing us. We’re not a dumb people. We know what’s (not) happening. We’ve taken our foot off the gas. It’s always been a race; and we’re slowing down. Even the seventh century Islamic jalopy is gaining on us.

Dead in the water. The horse latitudes. What else can we throw overboard? The economy stalls again. ‘Green’ is out of reach and will continue to elude our grasp even if we insist it won’t.

Tired is no excuse. We’re tired of carrying the load. Whether anyone admits it or not, America has been a great stabilizing force in the world. We’ve extended our hand to so many. All they had to do was ask. We even went so far as to extend our hand to those who spit in our faces. Now we’re overextended. We’re torn. We’ve got nothing left to give.

Who will ride to our rescue when the curtain falls for the last time? Will they be celebrating in Gaza? In Tehran? In Caracas? In Havana? In Pyongyang? In Harare? - shooting their guns in the air. And what happens in the capitals that once shared our vision? They will curse us for our tiredness.

And what will happen to us? You say we “survive, then deal with it”. But what if we don’t?

Gen. McChrystal vs. POTUS Obama

The apology tour continues on all fronts:

When Israel gave up Gaza to Hamas it left in place housing, greenhouses and fully functioning factories. The first thing Hamas did was smash all such infrastructure in the name of (victory) celebration.

The brouhaha that has erupted between POTUS and Gen. Stanley McChrystal is what normally happens between a professional (employer) and his or her less-than-dedicated novice underling. Only, in our upside down world (since Obama) the roles are reversed. McChrystal is the professional and Obama is the novice. McChrystal’s exposé in Rolling Stone was a cry for help. No way can we win a war with all these namby-pamby restrictions placed on our fighting men and women. Putting them out on the battlefield under such conditions is like signing their death warrants in advance. June is already the deadliest month ever for our soldiers in Afghanistan.

While conservative talk show hosts eagerly line up on every conceivable side of the argument in hopes of boosting the sales of their sex toy advertisers, our brave men and women are dying on foreign soil. McCrystal is a general’s general. His men are foremost on his mind. How can he be expected to explain the sacrifice of his fallen when he knows the exercise is essentially pointless; when we are merely treading water - already slated for withdrawal no matter what happens? We’re not even allowed to define ‘victory’ (or ‘enemy’) for God’s sake! In today’s world, it is no longer a general’s job to march his troops off a cliff just to demonstrate their loyalty to an egotistical, maniacal king.

No doubt, McCrystal also feels the reputation of the armed forces is on the line. Coming home without a clear victory to show for it is bound to signify yet another nail in the coffin of the once proud American military. No other president has used the military so recklessly; so dismissively; so reluctantly; so insufficiently. U.S. presidents in charge of wars from Vietnam through Iraq might have made tactical mistakes and then taken their just lumps. But no president, prior to Barack Hussein Obama, has dispatched American troops for (what now appears to be) the sole purpose of destroying his own military.

The pattern is clear: In order to rebuild America you first have to destroy every functioning piece of it. You have to destroy democracy, history, the economy, education, trust, religion, the press, industry, etc. The big thing that’s left is the military. No doubt, McCrystal sees the writing on the wall: The impossible mission; his troops hogtied, then accused. He will have no part in it.

Close in Nevada

JB makes it look close in Nevada. In fact, the brutal Democrat pro’s pro machine going up against the novice, amateur Angle would seem to give Reid the edge and set up a David vs. Goliath-like confrontation in November. Nevada’s unemployment rate is the highest in the nation. Reid will claim he has sufficient political standing to bring home the Washington bacon in the form of unemployment checks and government cheese. He may even suggest federally sponsored ‘shovel-ready’ jobs to build or repair more ‘bridges to nowhere’ in the desert. No doubt Harry can deliver on such things. Real prosperity based on real jobs, of course, is another matter entirely.

Yet he could claim that real jobs are just over the horizon: wind; solar; batteries; nuclear, even. He could try to convince voters of existing jobs ‘saved’ by his party; that all that appears to have gone wrong so far was due to Bush’s eight years in office and Republicans’ mindless knee-jerk opposition; that he had been (albeit barely) successful in averting total economic collapse. He could warn of slippage; of a repeat of the past two years’ struggle (against good sense).

Angle has no such arguments. She can only paint Reid’s reign as ‘failure’, promising change without resume or clout. JB is right. It could be close.

Say what you will, Harry Reid has proven himself a master in the political arts. His mastery, however, only extends to the intricacies of political maneuvering in the ‘glass bead game' as it is played in far-away Washington. And Washington will be eager to come to Reid’s aid.

There remains the sense, though, that Washington is no longer wedded to the people’s best interests; that Washington is strictly out for itself; and that the worst is yet to come. The gusher in the Gulf is a metaphor for a whole basket of gushing threats to our liberty; the private sector economy; American influence abroad; and, perhaps most troubling of all, American identity.

It is still unclear if the average American voter appreciates the implication of America’s overall slide into irrelevance due to a series of highly coordinated domestic and international efforts; or if he even cares about who (on the world stage) thinks what of us. These are issues that are generally left in the hands of high-ranking officials who receive their salaries precisely to handle such things in our stead, leaving us to provide for our families and keeping our neighborhoods safe.

Since Obama has been in office, there are many now crying ‘fire!’ in our crowded theater. While most of us do not yet smell smoke, our suspicions have nevertheless been heightened. We tend to look more closely at things. Many have taken to connecting the dots. Overwhelmingly, the picture that emerges is troubling.

The word has gotten out and can no longer be ignored and buried in an avalanche of distracting minutia. Is Reid even aware of the groundswell that is building against Washington with which he is joined at the hip? Or does he remain blithely confident that pre-2009 tactics will work as they always did. The MSM certainly continues to do it’s best to cover but the bare surface of our metaphorical oil slick. By making Nevada’s November senatorial election out to be a horse race, JB himself hopes we will keep tuning in.

I predict right now that Reid will lose badly – not that it makes much difference with Schumer and Durbin standing in the wings. It will nevertheless send yet another signal to Washington that its gig - one way or another* – is up.
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*read carefully.

POTUS Speaks Mechanically

When Obama agreed to reach into the big time and act as front man for the Soros-led super cabal of blind faith red and green agitators, he thought the work would be easy. With the Pavlovian applause of a condemned nation (and world) still ringing in his ears; he thought, “How hard could it be kicking down sand castles?”

Obama is not his own man. He’s a mask, bought and paid for. In this way, he has the exact same function as BP’s Tony Heyward had.

POTUS speaks mechanically alright because he’s been rocked. He realizes that one of the perks he was promised has dried up. He’s no longer getting the adulation his ego so craves. He craves it because he himself is incomplete. He sought to fill a never-ending personal void – with applause.

The signs are not good. The opposition is gaining. He knows his handlers won’t let him lose. They’ll keep him in the ring until the bitter end. It won’t be pretty – for team Obama, that is. People are starting to say things now – things they wouldn’t have said a year ago. And yet, he’d followed the famous script to the letter. He’d tried to infuse the role with the passion that any world class performance demands. He now questions himself. Maybe he just wasn’t as good as he thought he was. He hears the crowd booing; he hears the cat calls; each, a dagger twisting in his heart. He guesses it all started falling apart back when Alinsky’s CliffsNotes were distributed to the public.

Time for a mind-clearing Zen break on the links. Time for another cigarette – it could be the last. What was it again - the last thing the condemned men in the old movies usually asked for before…?

Kyrgyzstan

Is it just random, roving gangs of jihadis, would-be dictators and assorted miscreants who are raising Cain in Kyrgyzstan? Or is the whole show being directed by legitimate and recognizable political entities? For example:

There are so-called Maoists operating in parts of north-eastern India, attacking government installations, derailing trains, killing policemen and so on...

India views the Maoists as a bother and often as an embarrassment. Some claim they have their roots in poverty stemming from inadequate access to government cheese. Their answer would be to develop the areas where Maoists operate and provide opportunity and services for the villagers so that they might be less eager to embrace violence.

At the same time, there has been a festering border dispute between India and China to which no solution is in sight. Add to this China’s stated ambition to see India broken up into autonomous states.

Is it therefore so impossible to believe that the Maoists are in fact China ops, sent there specifically to cause trouble; that it has nothing to do with poverty and insufficient attention from the Feds; that Indian villagers participating (do in fact) do so under duress?

There are proxy skirmishes going on all over the world. They are ugly and draw our attention. At the same time, they obscure the real players in the haze of immediate human brutality and suffering.

Even Chicago gangs need money and supplies. They need direction. The money is filtered through middlemen who almost always have high political connections. The CIA has been accused of funding such gangs all over the world (not under Obama, of course). Iran has Israel surrounded by ops. Russia has its players in place and (we can assume) China has theirs as well. I find it laughable that we break our heads over what North Korea does, when (if we were serious) all we’d have to do is force China’s hand.

I haven’t had time yet to examine what’s going on in Kyrgyzstan and learn who the players are. But you can bet it’s not spontaneous or ‘accidental’. Two or more of the big boys in the region are engaged in a bout of arm-wrestling. They are being very careful not to get their Armani suits dirty.

George Soros: Kingmaker

Many people in Utah are still angry about then-President Bill Clinton's designation of the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in 1996. It put the area off limits to further development – especially mining. The Grand Staircase contains one of the two major sources of highly prized clean-burning coal. This type of coal is only found in one other place in the world: Indonesia.

Questions were raised at the time about Clinton’s connections to a wealthy mining family in Indonesia from which it was alleged he received beaucoup campaign contributions. - Quid pro quo?

There’s more than one way to skin a cat. Follow the money is usually a good bet. The Clinton co-presidency was after money. To Barack Hussein Obama money is strictly secondary. Obama’s currency is ideology. By rendering idle the Gulf’s oil rigs and auxiliary equipment, he makes certain that such equipment will be forced to move overseas. In addition, two billion of our tax dollars will soon be going to the (left-leaning) state-owned Brazilian oil company, Petrobras, to explore drilling in the off-shore Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin. The WSJ wrote, “The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a ‘preliminary commitment’ letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount.”

Now it begins to make sense: why the slackness in the Federal government’s response to the Gulf oil spill; why the moratorium on drilling. If you still want to ‘follow the money’ consider this: George Soros remains a major private investor in Petrobras. There was no one more eager to remove George Bush and Republicans from U.S. governance. Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew, understands the nexus between money and political power. He single-handedly funds every left-wing organization and cause in America. He contributed liberally to Democrat (including Obama’s) campaigns over the years. – Quid pro quo?

The Takeover of America

At this point there is nothing the president can do to save himself or his party. Even embracing conservative policies, personally rolling back health care, building a 20 ft. razor wire fence along our entire southern border with Mexico, slashing tax rates across the board, disbanding the unions, plugging the hole, etc. would not return to him a single vote he has lost. Obama has revealed himself as far too left, too radical, too Muslim for the bulk of those who are seriously concerned and likely to vote. The same metric applies to all Democrats who have supported Obama all along.

November will serve as a big eye-opener for Democrats. It is now still possible that Obama and the Dems do not yet know how far their initial support has fallen. If they read The New York Times and watch MSNBC; or talk to pointy-head academics, they may well get the idea that they still have a chance. But, I hear, even the Jewish vote is seriously compromised.

I predict that Democrats will lose both the House and the Senate. Moderate Republicans also will be shown their walking papers. Republicans, as we speak, are planning to hire dozens of investigators to target Obama with an eye toward impeachment. Again, I predict, Obama will weather the storm, but he will find himself so tied up fighting to defend himself, that he will be unable to advance his agenda. Meanwhile the public will be mesmerized. Their bloodlust will be stoked.

Again, actual governing will come to a standstill. Obama is the third president in a row who will have reached this point. His hardcore support will at some point abandon him and call for his resignation. Hillary Clinton will assume de facto power.

The public will be dazzled and dazed by the dramatic action. Once again, they will take their eye off the ball. Note: Our nation’s lunge to the left will not in any way abate. Democratic governance will continue to erode. Strategically timed disasters here and there will facilitate the Left’s continued power grab. By the time 2012 rolls around, there will be so much chaos; there won’t even be a prayer of holding elections.

The takeover of America will be complete.

Shift Sleep Disorder

I once worked the night shift: 12 midnight to eight. It wasn’t very pleasant. I never got used to it. What I remember most was that sleeping in daylight never broke time up into a series of digestible days. Time just seemed to go on and on - an unbroken spill that steadily petered off into exhaustion.

The ‘end of the Obama beginning’ is not what everyone expects: the end of Obama. It is only the beginning. I have written often that, in my opinion, Obama is not about to fade away. (I hope I’m wrong.) What it could mean is that Obama will let his mask slip and reveal himself as everything people thus far have only whispered about - not as incompetent; not naïve; but - as determined to take the country further left than anyone could ever have imagined. In order to do this, he will seek to unleash the four horsemen: pestilence, war, famine, and death.

It’s already started: The oil spill in the Gulf; Federal authorities have already closed U.S. park land along with three Arizona counties along the Mexican border because it is no longer safe for Americans after the territory was taken over by violent NGO drug smuggling cartels. This, like the spill, too will spread.

Our economy continues to teeter on the brink. What can be expected to happen when government checks begin to bounce off the rim like wayward basket balls? When businesses are forced to close forever? When trains no longer run, and store shelves and gas tanks are on empty?

The remaining months of the Obama presidency will be operatic indeed – like a forty car pile-up on a California freeway to be savored in slow-mo as we stand mesmerized by the spectacle of fire, blood and twisting steel. By 2012, we may already have our first glimpse through haze of the still smoldering ruin that once was America; of the eternal twilight, hallmark of the Left’s equalitarian vision which the majority of us freely consented to embrace.

SmackDown

No matter which side you take re Washington’s BP shakedown, there’s more than enough suspicion that the whole thing has been staged. Wrestling too was once a legitimate sport. It no longer is. This is not to say that WWE (formerly WWF) is not popular. It is.

Purists will point to modern high-profile wrestling as a sham. Those who patronize the sport agree that it’s 100% drama, theater and hype – but they are more than willing to suspend their disbelief for the duration of the show (as we all must when we go to the movies, watch television, read books, newspapers or just listen to friends either boast or complain). The slightly squeamish among us can take solace in knowing that the blood we see is fake – ketchup, which we all just adore.

Not so in the Gulf. The oil washing up on the coast is real. The birds and fish are actually dying. These are the actors who are facing a real existential threat. Suspended dividend payments to retired BP share holders who will now have to cut back on medicines and cold weather jaunts to tropical climes are real as well. They may yet be willing to forgo their loss and see it simply as the price of admission. As in professional wrestling, however, they will be asked to suspend their disbelief for the duration.

The news out of Washington does not get better. Last week we were told that, due to unforeseen circumstances, health care costs - far from declining - will actually increase; that, no, you will not be able to keep your insurance provider or doctor. What else haven’t we been told? Every week the estimated damage from the oil spill rises. Taxes rise; job creation continues to falter.

Yet, we are told, the green valley of plenty lies just ahead. Somewhere, over the hills, the drums of war are beating. Israel, Kyrgyzstan, the Koreas are on the brink. Fake blood? Fake oil? Lies? (Spoonfuls of sugar help the medicine go down.) …and, don’t forget, fake money to salve any wound that doesn’t kill outright.

Enjoy your SmackDown, America. You paid for it.

We Live To Fight Another Day

Our educational system must be pretty bad. We're liable to believe anything anybody says. A world without war; a world without (oil, coal, nuclear...) energy; a world where the fabled golden goose lives eternally without regard to how many times we kill it.

Or is it the other way around? Those telling us these things believe it? Or they believe that we believe it? Any way you look at it, we're in a heap of trouble.

As far back as the late 18th - early 19th centuries red flags were raised concerning over-population (Thomas Malthus). I’ve been hearing renewed whisperings concerning this aspect too – like couples qualifying to earn 'birth credits' for not having children. Add ‘a world without people’ to the list above.

Would there really be a world if there were no people? Clearly, we believe that at one time there were none. Therefore, it also becomes theoretically possible to envision a future without (humans). But the whole exercise is invalid because it is we who are doing the thinking.

With regard specifically to last night’s presidential address to the nation – the first by this president from the Oval Office, I might add – it is clear from the reactions this morning that it caught us all equally off-guard. Red and Blue are now united against Obama. (Bush found himself in a similar situation.) Stalemate! We live to fight another day.

'Touchdown Jesus'

This clip reminds of ‘Touchdown Jesus’ struck by lightning and burning to the ground in Monroe, OH this week. Surely the faithful cross themselves while driving past its charred remains in their imagined hearses. Surely no greater portent of garden variety apocalypse could rise to this level of symbolism.

Throughout our history, every major and minor religious cult has had to deal with the issue of apocalypse. It usually involves the return (to earth) of some deity which can then be expected to ‘separate the wheat from the chaff’.

It works on both, a personal level (heaven/hell) as well as on a societal one (the four horsemen). The nation of Iran appears to have melded this concept (the 12th Imam) with global (nuclear) politics - a dangerous mix for all of us.

Proclaiming a specific date for apocalypse does not come without risk. Should the date come and go without anything happening, it devalues the stock of the self-proclaimed prophet instantaneously. In the run-up, however, grand reputations are built. Sixteen Century Nostradamus is still held in high regard today. Even famously stoic JB admits to being mysteriously drawn to apocalyptic visions. In one way or another, we all are. It absolves us from having to face death alone.

The modern version, of course, involves ‘global warming’ and all its derivatives. Its course was entirely predictable. In its ascendancy, fortunes and reputations were made. In its demise, same were dashed. Just this week, it was announced, that not even the high priest’s (Al Gore’s) marriage is likely to survive.

Still, the overall concept will never fade. It’s being pursued in Iran as we speak; even as we ourselves scramble to reframe our own apocalyptic argument along the lines of '(Big) OIL SPILL'. It ultimately boils down to a divergence within what we commonly refer to as ‘religion’ itself. No matter how many atheists proclaim the death of God, men are essentially ‘religious’ animals. They split into two groups: those who have true faith, and those who don’t. The faithless also believe; but they are invariably drawn to the apocalyptic side.

Nikki Haley

Nikki also hails from an Indian tradition of hard work and achievement. The subcontinent is a crowded place. Every Indian learns early on that one’s elbows are worth their weight in gold. Coming in second in any (academic) competition is utterly worthless. Any Indian speaker attending any forum is preceded by someone who reads his or her entire resume. It is often more voluminous than the speech itself. Indian families tend to wax proudly about relatives having made it in the U.S. They tend to look on America as the gold standard of business practice as well as governance. Indians were jubilant when Obama was elected. It was meant to put to rest incessant accusations of racism (in America) by India’s Left.

Indians are smart. They were quick to recognize the disaster that is the Obama administration. They understand the potential consequences world-wide. The news has been filtering back to India via the Indians working here.

It’s not outside the realm of possibility that Nikki’s Haley’s ambitions exceed the obvious; that she hopes to be able to help stem America’s slide into irrelevance. No doubt she maintains contacts in India. No doubt she is well aware of the threat China poses to all its neighbors. No doubt she acknowledges the vital role the U.S. has traditionally played in keeping China in check. No doubt, seeing U.S. influence ebb in the region concerns her.

Nikki’s roots are Punjabi Sikh. Punjabis are proud and strong. Punjabi women work as hard as their men. Sikhs are fearless; they are fiercely loyal. The Indian army is made up in large part by Punjabi Sikhs. It’s not a stretch to think that by inserting herself in America’s political process Haley hopes at some point to be in a position to save the free world from itself.

Going For the Jugular

It’s been going on for years: the demonization of Big Oil by the Left – like Ahmadinejad promising Israel’s demise. Remember, ‘global warming’? The torching of SUV dealerships? Strictures against drilling. Instability in the Middle East. The list goes on and on. We now have a leftist president. Why would he now suddenly abandon one of the Left’s key tenets: the war on oil and all it represents: prosperity; capitalism; America itself?

Building the World Trade Center complex so high as to tower over the economic capital of the free world was largely symbolic. The attacks on it were symbolic as well, designed to rip the pride out of America’s heart. We have never recovered. It’s turned us into sniveling victims; forced us into taking a defensive stance. The red-green alliance has been hammering us ever since. Ten years later, symbolism is passé. Now they’ve graduated to going for the jugular: OIL.

Imagine a new neighbor has moved in next-door. One morning you go to work and you decide to use your wife’s car instead of your own. Later, your wife takes your car to go shopping. It blows up when she cranks the ignition.

You are grieving. In an apparent gesture of good will, your neighbor’s wife brings over a casserole. Your hands are no longer steady. You drop the dish, spilling its contents on the kitchen floor. The dog comes over and eats it. He goes into convulsions and dies – poisoned.

One night, your house catches fire and burns to the ground. You manage to save yourself by jumping out a window just in the nick of time.

At what point do you begin to suspect your neighbor of something?

Slouching Towards Serfdom

The lasting legacy, I fear, from this, loosely referred to as the Obama administration, will not be from oil gushing into the Gulf; from value evaporating from our paper currency; from American influence eroding abroad – all of which can be reversed and made to look whole again. Instead, it is the abrasion of (our) trust in elected officials.

There was a hint of it already back in the Bush administration when some people insisted that 9/11 as well as the aftermath of Katrina were part and parcel due to Bush’s evil designs: the first to provide Bush-Cheney with an excuse to invade Iraq; the second, because both men hated blacks.

The concept of the possibility of a rogue government was now out there. Clinton supporters (or even Clinton himself) enhanced its legitimacy in the political realm when they lamented that 9/11 happened during Bush’s tenure. If it had happened when Bill was in office, he could have been a great president.

“Disaster” as political tool to advance policy objectives and to strike crippling blows at the opposition was already well rehearsed by the time Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. Some even claim that the pre-election fiscal meltdown was instrumental to Obama’s installation. Rahm Emanuel emblazoned the concept into the national dialogue by dropping all pretence with his “Never let a crisis go to waste” comment.

Here we are now, wondering why the oil continues to spill; why there are an ever growing number of victims? The suspicion is that, even if it wasn’t sabotage, why is it taking so long (to plug the hole)? Clearly, the outlines of a solution are beginning to emerge: The policy objective of choking off America’s energy supply seems to be gathering steam; the prospect of a large pool of money for the federal government to waste on unprofitable ventures looms large, as does the demonization of Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Nuclear, paving the way for yet another government takedown and thrusting another huge number of people onto the welfare rolls.

All this talk about Obama feeling dispirited and actively thinking of voluntarily forgoing a second term is just that: talk. Barack Hussein Obama is doing just fine (at our expense, I might add). In short order, we can expect the private sector to be just that: private Obama. We’ll all, in one way or another, be working for him. We will live or die as he decides. He will elevate those who support him, while those of us who do not will find the yoke becoming ever tighter; the load ever heavier.

We are seeing the birth of a Chavez-style total socialist takeover. Even with the systems he himself has installed failing on all fronts, I don’t see Chavez in political trouble. Castro has managed to hold on for decades. Don’t think it’s because the people are particularly enamored of them. Ditto, Kim Jong-Il; Ahmadinejad; Mugabe; etc.

We are well along on a similar path, even with a Congress of elected, essentially rubberstamp officials standing in whispered opposition. And yet, the country on the whole is continuing to say, “It can’t happen here” – like a diabetic progressing through the stages of his irreversible disease. It has happened!

'Disasters' have become political bots to keep us in line and make us depended on the good graces of whoever has the audacity to declare himself king. Don’t tell me bots don’t work. They work just fine. Bots are but tools, the extensions of human hands. Unless we begin thinking critically, we openly embrace the prospect of serfdom.

An Esculent Mix

I’d like to draw your attention to an opinion piece by James P. Rubin in the Wall Street Journal this morning. It’s entitled, “Obama’s Foreign Policy Successes”. It details some of what the president has done on the international front since assuming office and paints the result as a vast improvement over the (so-called) debacle the Bush administration had left us with. The article is articulate and works logically within its own frame, and surely represents the thinking of the present administration and of those supporting it.

Clearly, the opinions expressed in Rubin’s article do not reflect the opinions expressed by the majority of contributors to this blog, the majority of opinions expressed by WSJ contributors, or even the majority American opinion (as reflected by the polls) as it relies heavily on Bush and Israel bashing to achieve its point. Several, if not all, of Rubin’s underlying assumptions are highly arguable. Still, this article cannot be classified as ‘spoof’. (I kept looking for the punch line.) It is an honest attempt to give due credit to an administration the author appears to hold in high regard.

Neither can this article be considered an ‘apologia’ as, in the author’s view, there is nothing to apologize for. The worst that can be said for it is that its author likes what Obama has done and is defending it from a basis of that preconceived notion.

I, on the other hand, could not disagree more. I am troubled by the fact that different people witnessing essentially the same series of events can come to such radically different conclusions. I worry about it in the same way I worry about a bust of Stalin suddenly appearing in a WWII soldier’s cemetery in Virginia; a mosque now having gained approval for construction in close proximity to Ground Zero; or the name of Mao Zedong uttered in the same breath as ‘inspiration’ by high administration officials.

While I see nothing wrong with a bust of Josef Stalin in Russia, or a mosque built somewhere in the Middle East (or even somewhere in our own country where a high concentration of Muslim demands it); or a picture of Mao overlooking a square in China, I do find it incredulous that Americans could actually be moved to celebrate such things right here in America.

America’s traditional melting pot has ruptured. Its contents have putrefied and are spilling their poisons into the bloodstream. We no longer seem to be able to stem their lethal surge.

I once tried to make cheese fondue from scratch. Fondue consists of a smooth blend of three different cheeses, wine and (potato) starch. It’s a delicate process involving a narrow range of temperatures (for each ingredient) and precise timing. My own attempt ended in disaster. Washington too appears to lack the expertise to produce an esculent mix.

Something Has Happened

The world’s economies are imploding. Not that it makes much difference now, but I ask myself, “Did it start with the housing bubble in the U.S.?” Did the insane policy by our government forcing the banks to lend to people who never had a prayer of paying it back result in generating of so much publicly traded toxic paper that it ended up compromising currencies world-wide?

If so, how long will it take for nations around the world to start pointing fingers stateside? Has their reluctance to do so been due to their own disregard of economic principles? Clearly, the integrity of the dollar has been hurt. So far, the banks have absorbed all the blame. At what point will banks drop the pretense and tell what really happened? That what they ended up doing was in response to existential threats from our political class who urged them: First, to continue lending; and, second, to deal with the fallout creatively in anyway they could - short of naming names, of course. As long as the current crop of political elites remained in power, banks were assured, they would be protected. And the banks played the game.

Market signals are oracles. Oracles have no reason to lie. Their integrity is impeccable. Only men can twist the veracity of said signals to suit their own designs – or to ignore them entirely. The rising price of gold, the instability of equity markets, and chronically high unemployment all expose the slight of human hands and the effort to achieve something outside the realm of possibility. Oracles are blunt. They scream the truth amidst the blizzard of whispered lies.

Incompetence? I hardly think so. The oracles are screaming louder. “Name the culprits!” they scream. “Understand their motives!” As the Obama administration (through its mouthpiece, The New York Times) continues to advocate a doubling down on failed policy, we can almost envision the pillow being lowered over the gasping head on the sickbed. Death panels. Rather than taking the screams as proof of potency; rather than taking the oracle’s screams as a warning; the screams must be stifled at all cost.

Last night there was an earthquake off the coast of India. At one thirty in the morning the birds awoke and went nuts. In Chennai, it was a pleasantly balmy night and air conditioners were for the most part turned off - windows open. It took most people till sun up to find out that something had happened.

Re: Discovery of a 5,500 Year-Old Shoe

I enjoy hearing about such discoveries. It puts everything else that we allocate so much editorial space to in perspective. Interesting too is the current drive by tea partiers - many of whom are said to carry a set of our founding documents in their breast pockets - to reacquaint us with our founding. It is an attempt to connect and revive the potency of past building blocks while avoiding present realities. Aside from the fact that it is never possible to rewind time, it is also fallacious to assume that said (hallowed) building blocks did not in themselves contain the seeds of what now constitutes our present.

Clearly, America’s train has gone off the rails. Perhaps there were never any rails to begin with. The late sixties, early seventies produced a sea-change in the way those who would become the elite of our generation thought of themselves. No longer were truth and goodness of primary concern in the positive formulation of a life; instead, the degree of enlightenment that can be attained or, at the very least, demonstrated with gestures of intent became key.

The effects have been huge. Freed from the bonds that religion-based societies have traditionally imposed, the gates were now thrown open to new and unconventional arrangements that propelled economies to produce wealth at an unprecedented rate and allowed its (elite) beneficiaries virtually unlimited freedoms.

Despite this - the thrill of being able to cradle practically infinite potential in the palms of one's (now often) arthritic, cyber-assisted hands - a palpable unease has settled over the land, particularly among the elite, who now increasingly find themselves under the gun. Clearly, the only strategy we have thus far identified as being even remotely compatible with our Utopian global designs, enlightened tolerance, remains at risk.

We invariably escape to the politics of blame. Since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon and subsequent spill, the overriding theme can be summed up by the term ‘man-made’. Suppose for a moment that the tectonic plates had shifted of their own accord and caused a rupture, releasing a never-ending geyser of oil into the waters. The result would have been the same: fouled beaches, imperiled wildlife, shocks to our economy. Entire populations would have had to shift in order to find jobs and build lives elsewhere. As John points out, such things have happened before – many on a much grander scale.

Instead of cooperating, we choose to blame BP, Obama, Bush, whoever… hoping against hope that after the dust has settled it will somehow pay off in our favor. We scour recent histories for flaws, for someone to crucify or offer as a blood sacrifice to our current accredited, omnipotent ‘isms’. Throughout, we take care to avoid the cutting edge of history’s scythe. We take pains to re-write our own stories, choosing only facts which logically absolve us (on academic paper) while conveniently discarding any material that might condemn us.

70,000 years is a long time. Not much to be gained from diddling on the fringes except, perhaps, the assurance that we will survive even this. My question concerning the above clip is: What happened to the other shoe? - thrown at Bush, no doubt.

Morphic Resonance

I am continually amazed that after posting the day’s offering on this blog, I often hear virtually the same thing spoken or written by someone else later that day or the day after. This morning, for instance, I wrote about the possible linkage between the demise of ‘global warming’ speculation and the Gulf oil spill. This afternoon, substitute host for the Rush Limbaugh Show, Mark Belling, made the very same point. It’s happens time and time again. I really don’t believe that someone is out there using my stuff. The only credible answer then has to lie in what Rupert Sheldrake refers to as ‘morphic resonance’: a growing number of people all reaching the same conclusions.

So, let’s stipulate that ‘morphic resonance’ in one form or another exists. I, of course, feel gratified by the sense of being ‘plugged in’. Why is it then that liberals don’t get it? Answer: blocking. Liberals are somehow able to block, for whatever reason, the feedback mechanism between the morphic field (within which the awareness of the species gestates) and themselves.

I pretty much know where we’re headed. I’ve stated it outright or alluded to it in nearly every post. What eludes me (and presumably others as well) is the way out. How do we save ourselves? is the question that now preoccupies me. I’ve made some plans which involve leaving the U.S. for good. But that doesn’t solve it for my children. I’m still hoping that this new generation can come up with some answers to get us out of the mess my generation has left them with. I just don’t see it.

Meg Whitman says she ‘see(s) it every day’. Her answer is to put Californians back to work. Duh! If someone had said this even two years ago, I would have believed it’s as simple as that. In the meantime, we’ve become so terribly entrenched in our debt obligations, a magic wand of hopeful words simply won’t do it anymore. I found it interesting that the clip began with a view of San Francisco, Mecca of liberalism in America. It ended with a shot of Death Valley. Coincidence? (…like the steady stream of offensive advertising on conservative talk radio?)

Conspiracy Nutcase

Do I detect a pattern? I’ve been accused of being a conspiracy nutcase. But there appears to be a pattern nonetheless. Case and point: The so-called near world banking collapse installs Barack Hussein Obama in office amid the jubilant cries of the hopeful. Since assuming office, the crisis is said to have been averted, but every policy decision appears to be having precisely the opposite effect. New York State is said to go bankrupt by Monday. Other states are on the brink. In New Jersey, for instance, we have a governor who says all the right things but risks the wrath of the public sector unions as well as that of homeowners who can be expected to pay higher taxes for lesser services. In our town the local library has cut its hours of operation.

The ‘solutions’ being so vociferously discussed and fought over do not address the fundamental issue. They merely delay the inevitable. Money that is saved will immediately go to plug some other hole. And the whole thing is predicated on the expectation that the economy will gradually improve. Not much chance of that. Looks to me rather like the doubling down on a death spiral.

There has been much talk of ‘disaster’ lately. First there was the constant harangue about what we can expect if ‘global warming’ were to continue. After that particular ploy fell apart, there was the ‘disaster’ in the Gulf. Are these two connected? True, the first was theoretical; the second is real. Question: Was the second concocted to maintain the momentum of the first? Will it now become possible for our government to pass ‘cap and trade’, a scheme to rake untold billions into government coffers, quite without regard to what it will do to the private sector economy?

Additionally, there’s been trouble along our southern border with Mexico. Should it escalate into ‘disaster’, will that be the signal to cram immigration reform onto the books that (some say) would add millions of Democrat voters to the rolls, assuring (for lack of a better word) ‘Democrat’ control of over U.S. governance in perpetuity?

The pattern appears to be ‘disaster’, followed predictably by a blizzard of regulation, all designed to benefit one party. I will go further: These regulations, by the very definition of the word, are designed to limit the people’s freedoms. Whereas it can be said that the Bush administration also spent our money like a drunken sailor, what’s been happening since literally dwarfs all previous spending. It may have still been possible to grow ourselves out of Bush’s excesses by prudent policies designed to encourage economic growth. But now, most agree that even that hope has all but faded.

Lastly: Is it being deliberately done? In my view, yes. If this makes me a nut job, so be it. Just as there are alternate energy solutions out there (to my mind, illusory) - like wind, solar panels and perpetual motion machines – there are alternate economic models as well. There is the Islamic model involving such concepts as zakat and gharar, strikingly similar to communism and the overall concept of wealth re-distribution. There is feudalism and barter – all designed to concentrate power among the elite few. The vast bulk of us, reduced to worker bees, would exist solely for the benefit of the State which then decides whether we live of die.

A frontal assault on the very concept of democracy, I fear, is perilously close. It will assert itself with a vengeance within the next couple of years when we are likely to find that our choices at the ballot box are severely limited or inconsequential. It may also take the form of canceled elections. We remain under assault.

This is not to say that we remain victims. In fact, I believe, our present economic malaise is more due to our own determination to put on the brakes – passive resistance: not buying; not spending; not expanding our businesses; not investing; and, in some cases, not working. We are sitting on our hands. We are refusing to contribute to the success of a government whose policies we despise. We hold the reigns. If things continue to go the way they might, we may even decide not to vote.

Vision Fails

Karzai calls for peace. But it’s not his call to make. Suing for peace is a call for surrender. Karzai is not a leader. Just like the American president, he stands at the mercy of events. War is a constant condition. From birth we learn to fight. We fight for our place at the trough; we fight for attention; we fight for a mate; we fight for resources, for market share; we fight for sympathy. The Left has it right: Competition, the essence of capitalism, produces inequity: For someone to win, somebody must lose. The difference is that on the parlor game battlefield of capitalism, the same players can begin another round right after one side declares checkmate.

Afghanistan is not so advanced. Whereas we use the abstraction of a ‘ball’ in all our various national pastimes, Buzkashi (the Afghan national sport) still uses the headless carcass of a calf or goat to define the action. They determine victory by the measure of blood spilled. And they will not stop until we have either gone or bled dry. And even then it’s unlikely to end as the terms of surrender will never be agreed to by all.

Wars are the milestones of human history. Wars mark beginnings. They also signal ends. As such, they chart our progress from one upheaval to the next. On a concept circle, war and peace are represented by a single point; they are two sides of the same coin. War is not the opposite of peace just as peace is not the opposite of war. Each is merely the (temporary) absence of the other. That is why war and peace can exist simultaneously – in different places; at different times; and within separate chambers of the human heart - each failing to appreciate the other in what essentially amounts to a charade of willful delusion.

It might even be said that peace is a precondition for war; that peace itself foments the poisons that eventually force men into battle; that the simmering chaos underlying outward tranquility allows for inequities to build unseen, until these then must topple under their own weight. The laws of survival during war are far less forgiving, after all.

Some have sought to break the cycle of history by (the) diplomacy (of delay) or by outright appeasement. This has only lead to even greater disasters as evidenced by past horrors. Success or failure in diplomacy eludes objective measurement (such as body counts) and can be manufactured by effective propaganda campaigns. The latest effort centers on a strategy termed containment; allowing conflicts to fester in the hope that they will simply go away. Clearly, so much discontent is currently being stoked the world over – such dearth of leadership; so many hearts aflame - it’s hard to know exactly where the firebreaks we’ve attempted to enforce will be breached first.

In human history one third is given over to war, while two thirds is given to peace (or the absence of war). War continues to be the domain of the young; the virile; the idealists. It is a tool meant to be grasped by those with the courage to pursue (or protect) a vision. Once one’s own vision has failed, the challenge is never far. One must either fight blind or yield. In the Hindu trinity, war is represented by Shiva (the destroyer) who is by far the most popular in the trinity of Hindu gods.

War is a wound that never heals. We are forever tempted to scratch it open for the fascination of watching it bleed. Even in peace, the memory of past wars continues to haunt us. Even in peace, the prospect of the next war is just over the horizon. That’s why we urge our populations to support armies that stand idle two-thirds of the time.

Texas Textbooks Rewritten

My son and I usually take a walk after dinner. More often than not, we stop halfway at our local 7/11 for a snack. Yesterday, we happened to be following a man who also appeared to be heading that way. Arriving there, I stayed outside while my son went in. When he came back out, sucking on a Coke can, he told me what had transpired inside.

Apparently, the man we had been following came in to the 7/11 in search of Aleve. The Indians behind the counter were either indifferent, or they couldn’t understand what the man was saying. In short, the man’s inquiries were met with shrugs.

It was at this point that my son turned to the man and said, “My father’s outside. He has a doll with your name on it and he’s sticking pins in its head. For ten dollars I’ll go outside and tell him to stop.”

The Gulf oil spill represents a big headache for our president. He has gathered the sum total of his brain trust (‘global warming’ scientists, socialist academics, and ‘green’ technical experts) at the White House to solve the problem. They all shrug. Obama refuses to talk with Tony Heyward and others. He declines overseas offers of help in a rare display of patriotic pride. He does not attend Memorial Day services at Arlington Cemetery. He does attend a Paul McCarthy concert. In other words: fiddling while Rome burns.

At some point, an idea that might actually work (to halt the gusher) will breach the White House cordon. It will be an idea that originates from outside the box that defines the president’s ideological agenda. It may be something simple like prayer. Or, it might involve words that George W. Bush is known to have had trouble pronouncing.

Will this (our) president go for it? Unlikely. More like Carter’s 444 days and beyond. A presidency crashing like an oil-weary pelican; the 3-D media-sponsored illusion of governmental omnipotence shattered beyond redemption, to be swept under the proverbial rug until that time when Texas textbooks can be re-written once again.