Small Things

Hey, we voted for the guy! Next time (if there is a next time) we’ll be more careful. Mr. Batchelor is only half right when he says: “POTUS disdains foreign policy. POTUS disdains domestic policy.” Obama distains foreign policy because in this he has already failed. His apologetic overtures and pathetic prostrations in foreign capitals have not had their desired effect. Nobody out there - in the real world - takes mere palaver seriously. It’s got to be backed up with something more substantial than small things and a preparedness to commit treason.

Domestic policy is quite another matter. This is an area in which POTUS feels he still has some leverage. Indeed, domestic policy will be by which he will measure success. If he should succeed in turning his ship of state on a leftward course, all else can be expected to fall into place.

What has become clear is that the American people are jumping ship. Obama had hoped for - but did not expect - their support. As it is, only one arrow remains in his quiver: revolution. To this end he will continue to prod and poke, trying his best to whip the people up into a lather. Once this happens, he will have achieved his goal. He can then impose draconian measures that most will find preferable to chaos.

We saw the same MO employed with regard to the oil spill. Nothing yet as to its cause, which appears to be a closely held state secret. Though, speculation abounds. It provided the rationale to impose an oil drilling moratorium. Now that the threat is over, we don’t see the moratorium lifted. It will remain in place to put pressure on America’s lifeline (energy). Eventually prices will rise beyond what can be sustained, putting additional strain on an already faltering economy. When everyone begins shouting ‘collapse!’, Obama will have achieved what he set out to do.

November’s midterms will not change the script. Conventional wisdom has it that Obama will have been sent a signal and that he will change course. He will not. Besides being a committed ideologue, he is also a realist. He knows that what he has already put in place can not be reversed. He knows that economic collapse is at hand. Perhaps he’s getting cold feet. Perhaps he is already looking for a place to hide. All that is possible.

A suicide bomber seldom detonates his own vest. It is usually detonated remotely by someone watching from afar (just in case the bomber loses heart).

Pather Panchali

The Apu Trilogy is a trilogy consisting of three Bengali films directed by Satyajit Ray: Pather Panchali (Song of the Little Road), Aparajito (The Unvanquished) and Apur Sansar (The World of Apu). The films - completed between 1955 and 1959 - were based on two Bengali novels written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay: Pather Panchali (1929) and Aparajito (1932). The original music for the trilogy was composed by Ravi Shankar.

Bold Moves

Where in the world is Zhou Xiaochuan? The first three reports are always wrong. What we do know, however, is that an explanation will follow (after the dust has settled; after Monday's market close).

The continued perceived weakness of the Obama administration on virtually every front, is inviting bold moves. When the North Koreans attacked the South Korean war ship, Cheonan, and the Obama administration did essentially nothing, China knew it can do whatever it wants. America is no longer an impediment to whatever goals it might set for itself.

That much is true: America no longer has a foreign policy. As long as Obama remains in office, America will maintain the classic stance of the ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ monkeys. The sole challenge Obama acknowledges is the one here at home where he has deemed the American people the enemy.

Abroad, countries are scrambling to get what they can before America regains its senses. China has been building infrastructure throughout Asia to accommodate its ever growing military might . Just this month, Chinese naval vessels made port call in Myanmar for the very first time. Major Chinese construction projects are ongoing in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. China has been busy making deals all over the world to secure exclusive rights to important natural resources. China is putting all its ducks in a row.

Clearly, China is readying for war. Why, you might ask, is China so intent on positioning its military favorably at a time when the U.S. is in clear decline? China does not view the U.S. as the enemy. It is not the U.S. it must be ready to fight. It’s the chaos that will ensue once it has become clear to everyone that the U.S. has exited the world stage.

China is already in a position to push the U.S. over that edge. Its holdings of U.S. debt give it that power. However, China feels, it is not yet ready. When she moves, she will move fast. Much of her U.S. holdings will go up in smoke. But it won’t matter. America will lie in ruins. Taiwan will assume the position of low hanging fruit.

The current act is simply a way for the gamers to squeeze some temporary cash out of the markets. Strictly small stuff compared to having to face the Russian bear …later.

Killing Jobs

No mystery here. POTUS is too embarrassed to talk about jobs. It’s too obvious what he’s doing. He’s killing jobs… and he’s doing it on purpose. It would be too much of a lie - even for him - to say otherwise. He stresses education: Marxist education; re-education. He celebrates Katrina (not the Boy Scouts) because, he feels, it focuses the nation once again on the much ballyhooed failures of Bush.

Obama keeps stressing the failure of past administrations. As his wife once famously proclaimed, “Barack will never allow you (the people) to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.” Back to what? Jobs? Economic growth? Prosperity?

He means to turn the nation into a land of the jobless. Only then will he be able to impose his solutions and to do whatever Marxists do with legions of beggared masses.

In Obama’s world view, a return to prosperity would spell defeat. He cannot allow it because he knows that it is the rich who would prosper again and return the nation to a two-tier system of rich and poor; of winners and the losers. This would be unacceptable to POTUS who wants everyone to exist on an equal (economic) plane, some being more equal than others by virtue of skin color (and political orientation).

Virtually all the talking heads miss this point. They view Obama’s policies as failures while he sees them as successes. Limbaugh recognized it early on when he said he wants Obama to fail. The Left was stung by the clarity of his revelation. He had swerved too close to the truth. And he was attacked relentlessly for it.

In Obama’s world, America had become a cancer. He sees himself as the surgeon mandated to cut it out, leaving but an empty shell with no relation to past glories and what we all have traditionally regarded as success. American exceptionalism to Obama was and is anathema as long as it put our nation on a higher (economic) level than the rest of the world; as long as there is even one child starving in Africa. America had no right to endure its standard of living because, to Obama, it was never a result of hard work, talent and ingenuity. It was the result of theft.

A thief has no conception of the value of work. Therefore he has also no conception of what it takes to run an economy. He happily takes what does not belong to him and thinks it is good. Obama is essentially a thief. He has never worked a day in his life. He was pre-ordained to his present position by skillful apparatchiks who carefully groomed him to fit Shiva’s part. He is no more than a ventriloquist’s dummy. A hollow man. Dead wood, on which someone has chosen to hammer (and sickle) out an implausible Fabian tune.

Sniveling Cowards

Recovery or no recovery - it depends on who you listen to. Even bad numbers can always be worse. I honestly don’t know any more. If Obama is such a disaster, how come roughly half the country still supports him?

There are people who I respect that continue to believe that Obama is leading us along a proper path. They acknowledge that there will be pain in the short run, but are confident that Obama has what it takes to lead us out of the woods - if those pesky Republicans just would let him do it.

Obama has yet to confess outright that he is a communist (or a Muslim) who wants to reduce our nation to ruins. Without that confession it’s hopeless I’m afraid. People no longer trust what they see. Any criticism of the president is seen in significant quarters as extreme, racist, homophobic, fringe.

The major media certainly is buying it. Case and point: Attendance at Glenn Beck’s Washington rally was either in the tens of thousands or upwards of a million. Not counted, of course, are the millions who wanted to but could not go.

We no longer trust numbers. Even science has been perverted. Everything is a lie. We’re flying blind.

Clearly, I remain of the old school. Aside from the numbers, I don’t see how centralized autocratic government can work. History has taught me that much. But history is being rewritten as we speak. The young are taught a different history than I was. They believe they are right. They trust their teachers. They trust their teacher's excuses, their misdirection, their lofty claims.

So, no matter how bad it gets, they’ll always have an out. The entirety of American history has brought us to this point. The chickens have come home to roost.

In my heart, I believe that most people believe as I do. But I can no longer be sure. It’s the ’sitting on the fence’ types that’ve got me stumped. Bill Clinton introduced the concept of ‘triangulation‘. By triangulating he sought to appear as being above the fray.

I don’t think this will work again. Either the Left or the Right - along with the triangulators - will be swept from the pages of American history. The time will come when triangulators will be asked to declare themselves. Those who refuse to, will be left homeless. High principles involving moral equivalence (or neutrality) will not save them. They will be despised by all sides as the sniveling cowards they are.

Eberg

Eberg’s second album Voff Voff ('06) is an organized arrangement of acoustics and electronics that made most of the songs on the album hits in the UK and Iceland. Eberg explains, "Voff Voff is how Icelandic dogs bark, I’ve always tended to be a bit of a barker."

Credit For the Killing

“What will move the economy to growth remains unknown.”

Not true. Ask your colleague, Larry Kudlow; ask anyone who has even a rudimentary acquaintance with economic principles, anyone who is holding a job and has had to balance a household budget.

The fact is that Obama and his team is envisioning a fiscal system in which all wealth flows to the government which, in turn, redistributes it according to political expediency. It is a system that has never worked anywhere it’s been tried.

There are also two additional possible factors to consider: one, that the people themselves have adopted a passive-aggressive stance as a protest against the current administration; and, two, that the collapse of the U.S. and world economy is the ultimate goal of our current Washington leadership.

It almost feels like the latter. Whereas (to my mind) the former rings most definitely true, its effect cannot be measured precisely when pitted against the latter. Both strategies will, in fact, lead to the same end. The only difference being: who can claim credit for the killing.

In military terms it’s known as mutually assured destruction (MAD). The Obama administration has already fired the first salvo. The only possible response from the people - who have been deemed the enemy in all this - can be to beat the administration to the punch.

Smokes In The Rough

Alan Grayson is the face of today’s Democrat Party - what’s left of it, anyway. He is energetic, attractive and, above all, confident. He is confident that people will believe anything they’re told - as long as they’re being told it with confidence.

Grayson believes - not without cause - the American electorate to be stupid and blind. His brand of politics has been highly effective in the past. But this is a new era. The difference between political rhetoric and political reality has become too great. It can no longer be papered over by wearing an American Flag tie and a used-car salesman’s smile.

POTUS is another one pretending nobody notices that (for instance), since assuming office, he has been on more vacations and played more rounds of golf than all other presidents put together. He does this fully aware that, if it were to become known, the public would not react favorably. Yet, he needs to keep doing it to maintain some sense of balance within his own fragile mind; to keep telling himself that the job assigned to him is not really so momentous, after all: the systematic and deliberate slaughter of (what once was) a very important nation.

POTUS is not really so committed as others who standing behind him (the mosque at Ground Zero, and every other divisive, job-killing initiative he has been made to endorse) urging him on, and telling him what to do and say. His compulsive golfing proves it; as does sneaking smokes in the rough. He is not mature enough to appreciate the gravity of what is happening to the country that honored him with its sacred trust. It never occurs to him that old men play golf to pretend they are not dying.

EWR - MAA

Flew Jet Airways to India. When going to Chennai in particular, Jet flies there directly from Brussels. This saves a five-hour stop-over in Bombay. Still, it’s a long time to be up in the air. When you come back down, you’re happy to be just about anywhere.

The uncontested champ of the multiple forms of in-flight entertainments offered is the GPS screen that shows the plane’s progress. I, personally, can’t get enough of it. I watch for minute changes in outside temperature, speed and altitude. The screens rotate between maps and statistics in a multitude of languages.

I noted this time (and every other time) that Israel and any of its cities were not on the map. Meanwhile, all the countries and towns of the rest of the Middle East, including Mecca, were prominently represented. Apparently, Arabs are thought to fly into a rage whenever they hear or see any mention of Israel. And we all can count ourselves as enablers of that rage. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen maps without Israel on them.

If Arabs should succeed in wiping Israel off the map - as many are said to want to do - I can promise, there won’t be enough water on planet earth for anyone to get their hands back to clean.

Something Doesn't Add Up

Look where we were just two years ago. Bush was playing the role of the ruddy, good-natured fireman in the dunking seat at the local county fair. We all cued up to give it our best shot, hurling projectiles at the big, colorful target that was hard to miss. Over and over, he went down into the tank only to emerge wet and dripping. We gleefully continued to play the game even after the sun had gone down and he was shivering. Some of us took cheap shots, aiming our shoes at his face. How we laughed! It was all in good fun. What else are county fairs for?

Little did we know that it all was to boomerang. Now we are the target. Reading today’s opinion columns in the NYT, we are told we are stupid, small-minded, xenophobes for not embracing - among much else - the mosque at Ground Zero.

The game has artfully turned deadly. We suspect something is very wrong - something is happening which we never expected could happen in our country. Elections still seem an eternity away. Midterms. Shrug. It’s bigger than that. As we learn more and more about Alinsky, Cloward, Piven among others too numerous to mention, it gets downright scary. We’re no longer living a James Bond novel in which Sean Connery can be expected to fight for our side - and win. We are the only side remaining, it seems - all the others are against us.

How did Bush do it? We never suspected we were in this deep s**t. “D’ya miss me yet?” Yes we do, Mr. President. We know you’d have just the right words to say concerning the mosque and all. We know you’d get dunked again for opening your mouth. We now know that your erstwhile enemies are now our enemies. We just wish we’d have a man in The White House who’d feel comfortable inviting someone like Rush to dinner, letting him and his wife sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom for a couple of nights and chew the fat over breakfast. He’d then come back to us and tell us it’s all alright, that there’s a plan - a plan for saving our country.

We’d be quite prepared to sacrifice; to do whatever it takes. We’d rally around the flag until the whole lot of these bastards are defeated. (This includes you, Hillary!) We’d even buy government bonds with what money we’ve got left, and work our fingers to the bone in some rivet factory for the slightest glimmer of light.

What I still can’t understand is the women nowadays. Would they really want to go back to a totally male-dominated society without any rights? Why aren’t they up in arms and at the point of the spear? Can’t they see where it’s going? The military is banned from recruiting on campuses because of ’don’t ask, don’t tell’. Why aren’t Muslim organizations banned from those same campuses for their even greater affronts to human dignity?

No. Something doesn’t add up - doesn’t add up at all.

Australia: Still Tilting at Windmills

People of the West tend to focus on developing exterior spaces whereas in the East interior spaces are of primary concern. When, in fact, equal attention to both would seem ideal. The difference in emphasis could be attributed to the arithmetic of population density. Overriding all this is the fact that human beings are essentially an amalgam of political, economic and spiritual sensibility. We’ve seen an erosion in all three. Corruption in the West has centered primarily around economic issues.

Every part of ourselves has become vulnerable to the virus of corruption. Currently the race is on to see which political region is most at risk. Will the West’s economic power collapse. Will the Middle East succumb to religious extremism? Or, will the Far East implode politically?

Current odds favor the West’s early demise. We draw the line after that because, after it’s happened, we will no longer be in the game. The world, however, will continue even after America and its allies have fallen. This will leave political and spiritual corruption (which are now working in tandem against the West) to fight it out. It is tempting to believe that, after one or the other has been defeated, the world will be one and the struggle will cease. This overlooks the fact that corruption will still haunt what remains.

If Islam remains, it will fracture under its own weight. Ditto, (Chinese) authoritarianism. Nature abhors singularity.

Australia, as the West is in general, stands divided. This is usually a good thing. It is not good, however, when corruption is on the move. It is difficult for the eye to see itself; to know the speck (or beam) within own center. Similarly, it is difficult for a nation to recognize the usurper within itself. I must assume that climate change was a big factor in the Australian elections. As the whole notion of climate change (and what to do about it) has been largely discredited in the most of the West, it must be regarded as the biblical beam in the eye of Australia’s overall political process.

Australia seems to lag behind in its recognition of what the fight is ultimately all about. Whereas in the West the debate now turns on brass tacks: socialism vs. freedom; Australia still appears to be tilting at the illusory windmill project within which the real issue lies buried.

Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd

My daughter gave me her iPod with her music still on it. She said she avails herself to free downloads whenever the opportunity presents itself - like at Starbucks for instance. I ran across this tune and recognized the melody immediately.

Hop-Off

And so has the United States of America been dead now for a number of years, particularly since 9/11. Obama’s election to the highest office in the land simply amounted to the pronouncement of Last Rites.

I have always been keenly interested in foreign affairs. My interest in the Far East has been constant since high school. It was sparked in part by George Harrison’s ‘Wonderwall’ album. Then, when I had a chance to actually participate in an Indian student exchange program in college, I literally leapt at the opportunity.

On returning home, I found nobody was particularly interested in the stories of my experiences there. Most only had some vague notion of what lay beyond America’s borders. And that much was entirely understandable.

At the same time, India’s newspapers featured stories about America prominently on the front page of every edition. In many cases, Indians were better informed about what was going on here than we ourselves were. The reverse was hardly the case. We here in America seldom heard about what was going on in the rest of the world. True, there was some occasional dismissive mention about folks starving in India (which, by the way, was never quite accurate). When news about India did happen to receive attention in the American media, it was treated as big news at home (in India). Good news; bad news - it hardly mattered, was celebrated locally as if some glass ceiling had finally been shattered.

Now, hardly a day goes by without mention of world affairs. We hang on every word uttered by Osama bin Laden and others. We carefully follow the vagaries of China and carefully calculate any implications as to how these might affect us. They’ve hit the big time - Hollywood; Rambo, Jay-Zee! They’ve passed the audition; they’re now demanding their place in the spotlight. They’ve learned to manipulate us; to make us dance; hurt; squeal.

All this has happened in direct correlation to our having lost confidence in ourselves. We’ve chosen to be victims and clowns. We’ve chosen hand wringing and whining over leadership. “We’re bad! We’re bad! We apologize” - for what? We don’t rightly know.

In Iran, presently, there’s a case in which an accused and convicted man is awaiting a medical procedure that will paralyze him. We no longer dare to speak out against such brutality. Nor do we speak out against stoning; genital mutilation and a whole host of other unholy acts that should be repugnant to us. All our “Save Darfur” banners have come down since George W. Bush has left office.

We’ve abandoned our principles, our liberties, our honor, our faith, our courage, our senses - without which we cannot continue to stand. We have allowed ourselves to be overrun from within and without. We will submit to shariah and anything else that may come our way. The mosque at Ground Zero is a perfect example of how far we‘ve fallen. Does mayor Bloomberg realize that it will be off-limits to non-Muslims? - especially women? Maybe he thinks it’s no big deal; that it’ll just add a stop along the CitySights hop-on, hop-off tour - much like St. Patrick’s.

Traffic

An old favorite from back in my college days. I can't handle listening to most of the old stuff anymore, but this one still holds my attention.

Clash of Civilizations

Paul Harvey used to preface some of his stories by saying, “It’s not one world.” It isn’t. Howard Dean has not suddenly become Republican or conservative. He is and will (most likely always) be a socialist. Hillary Clinton is a socialist. Obama, at the very least, is a socialist. ‘Big government’ is fundamental to socialist thinking.

At the same time, socialists are not suicidal. They do not check their common sense at the door. They know that in order to survive as a viable alternative, they cannot totally ignore certain political realities. For Muslims to build a 13-story mosque in close proximity to Ground Zero is simply a bad idea, unless we fail to understand that Muslims have declared war on us; that they cannot be appeased or bargained with; that any altruistic gesture we might intend will not make them like us, and will be proclaimed a victory for their side, allowing them to propagandize and recruit in continuance of their war against us.

In a recent exchange with a friend about ultimate causes, it came to me that the fundamental difference between man and animal is ego. I had it right, but I did not go far enough.

We’d been putting bones out on the driveway after supper with the expectation of seeing them gone by morning. We’d often wondered just who our nocturnal visitor might be. We imagined any number of the ‘friendly’ animals we’d become familiar with over the years of living here. After an overnight blanketing of fresh winter snow, their various tracks cross the lawn in every conceivable direction. Most of these we can readily identify.

Last night I had to go out for milk. When I returned, I happened to see the interloper in my headlights. I still can’t tell you what it was: larger than a cat; smaller than most dogs; large pointy ears; protruding snout; thin, spindly legs. There have been reports of fox and/or coyote in our neighborhood, but I’ve seen the fox in daylight and it wasn’t that.

I almost felt sorry for the intruder. He looked so frail and wobbly, and nervous to boot. We don’t put scraps out every day. I imagined him coming by on days when we don’t - and being hungry. It also occurred to me that he - as most any animal - had no arms and was obliged to eat directly off the ground. The difference between us, I reasoned, is that we at some point decided to get up on our hind legs and remained that way. This allowed our front legs to develop into arms, hands and fingers with which we could do things. We could now build something and say, “I did that. It’s mine.” - hence, ego.

Thought would develop similarly as well - based on differing assumptions - into different appendages. Ayaan Hirsi Ali in an opinion article in yesterday's WSJ entitled “How to Win the Clash of Civilizations” briefly summarizes the late Samuel Huntington’s assertion that “the essential building blocks of the post-Cold War world are seven or eight historical civilizations of which the Western, the Muslim and the Confucian are the most important.

The balance of power among these civilizations, Huntington argued, is shifting. The West is declining in relative power, Islam is exploding demographically, and Asian civilizations—especially China—are economically ascendant. Huntington also said that a civilization-based world order is emerging in which states that share cultural affinities will cooperate with each other and group themselves around the leading states of their civilization.

Ali concludes: “The West's universalist pretensions are increasingly bringing it into conflict with the other civilizations, most seriously with Islam and China. Thus the survival of the West depends on Americans, Europeans and other Westerners reaffirming their shared civilization as unique—and uniting to defend it against challenges from non-Western aggressors (sic)."

Duke Ellington

Fine work by a master. Never been much into jazz, but this guy can get you interested. The above clip is also a great character study.

13th Floor Elevator

Again, this is not an issue of agreeing or disagreeing with Obama. Obama is getting exactly what he wants: Americans at each others throats. Both Obama and Muslims are laughing all the way to the bank. We are gleefully taking the bait the enemies of America have laid out for us - like the shiny coin on the sidewalk which we stoop to pick up only to find it has been glued there: like the rope we busily braid for somebody else to fashion into a noose. The aim is two-fold: first to divert our attention from weightier issues; second, to get us to quarrel, call each other names, and distrust each other. If political points can be scored, so much the better.

Midterm elections do not hinge on the mosque issue. Democrats will lose with or without it. No doubt, after they lose, they will blame the mosque fiasco.

No, the mosque should not be built there. The reason should be obvious. If it's not, God help us! Two parallel lines are forming: on one hand is the issue of government ruling against the will of the people; on the other, a mosque is being proposed to besmirch a site that is sacred to most Americans. Defeat the mosque and we have a chance of saving our nation from its unholy descent.

It’s interesting that Maureen Dowd is now asking for W to weigh in. She has been one of his most consistent and fiercest critics. She has made no secret of her hatred of him. Has she changed he mind? Hardly. She seeks to draw him into the mess and get him to soil himself - as we ourselves are doing every time we broach the subject. Hillary is obviously smart enough to keep mum.

Splitting Hairs

“In Geneva I have known artisans who did not know what I meant when I inquired if they were communists; but immediately admitted to being ‘progressives‘. I was not deceived. The same is true of Buddhists. The name by which the world knows them is not one they themselves utter.” (adapted from Borges’ “The Sect of the Phoenix”.)

I don’t know why we keep trotting out Sarah Palin at every turn. She is a good person, to be sure; but her comments are utterly predictable (as are the comments of those entrusted to publicly berate her.)

Why are we still surprised about what Obama says or does? There is now enough evidence for us to know precisely who he is and what he hopes to accomplish. Anything beyond that reaches into an endless curatorial abyss. We must act now!

Obama’s remarks about the proposed mosque near Ground Zero are not remarkable. What is remarkable is that we still haven’t learned to avoid taking the bait. A huge argument ensued that now echoes on practically every doorstep. And that was the point; to get us to argue amongst ourselves. Any happenstance that allows BHO room to dodge and weave shifts our focus away from the damage that is being inflicted as we speak. By splitting hairs with our neighbors about what has happened, what should happen, and why, diverts our eye away from the actual threat.

Who cares if the mosque is built and completed even before (what used to be called) “Freedom Tower” has been started? The girl is being assaulted in a public place - right now! Who would refrain from jumping in to stop it on the basis of some absurd sophism? Who could not be certain that once the decision has been taken to personally intervene, others would not also join in to help? Would we really just stand there and argue while the rapist attacks woman after woman? Have we already reached that point?

We know that Obama is a communist, or an Islamist, or both. We know his playbook. We know what must happen if he were to succeed. It is as if we were already bound and gagged awaiting execution. We are aware of the circumstances that have conspired to bury us in this echo chamber - the lies, the exposés, the show trails, the false witnesses. We know; we anticipate; we fear, yet we do not act - except to argue amongst ourselves about something as meaningless as loopholes in nomenclature.

Clap Your Hands And Say Yeah

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (often abbreviated CYHSY) is an American indie rock group based in Brooklyn, New York and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Their debut album, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, was self-released in 2005. Good beat; powerful, rolling bass. Great fun!

The Last Laugh

How long have we been anticipating the impending commercial real estate market collapse - the other shoe dropping? Just because we’re not hearing about it does not mean it’s not happening (or has not already happened). The government-media complex is doing its best to paint rosy pictures for us in this, the “Summer of Recovery”.

It’s gotten so that bad news actually feels like a breath of fresh air - because it’s the truth. Our government has lost control of the economy. There are, of course, a whole host of other issues that have gone begging as well: foreign policy, for example. We are too timid to call it ‘intentional‘, preferring instead to put it down to ‘ineptitude‘.

Either way, it amounts to the same thing. We are hurting. Bush must have been some kind of genius to do all that: consign Democrats to minority status for innumerable election cycles yet to come. The laugher is that he (Bush) managed to beat the press at its own game. I’ve always wondered why he didn’t do more to defend himself when they attacked him so mercilessly. Now we know.

Union Jack over Yorktown

Let’s cut to the chase. Islam, as it exists today, is a ‘religion’ (sic) that seeks to either convert or kill infidels. I am unaware of any significant faction of Islam that has come out and set itself in opposition to this. Admittedly, there are some individuals who have publicly stated that they repudiate this policy, but they are then immediately forced into hiding or condemned to languish in some sort of (U.S.) government-sponsored protection program.

As such, strictly speaking, Islam is not a religion but a ruthless mercenary movement that is often exploited by secular enemies to inflict pain on one another. This is where Islam derives its funding and power. If communism should succeed in bringing down the Free World with the help of Islamist extremists, Islam would find itself crushed within the span of less than a decade. Most Islamists are not smart enough to know that they are merely the pawns in a much larger fight for world supremacy.

In India, as soon as a Christian church is built somewhere, within days a mosque springs up within earshot. Often noisy open-air celebration are quickly organized to intrude on Christian high holy day celebrations. The police is brought in to keep things from getting out of hand. Hindu Temples are now closed to non-Hindus because it has been noted that Muslim visitors tend to make a nuisance of themselves. In order to keep from pointing a finger at the troublemakers, any non-Hindu is now prohibited from entering most sacred Hindu shrines.

Islam is not tolerant of other religions. It does not seek to coexist peacefully. In fact, Muslims who renounce Islam are under threat of death.

It is a fact that AQ conducts its terror all over the world under the banner or Islam. Again, no faction of Islam has come forward to denounce AQ’s repeated atrocities in its name.

Islam cannot win militarily. It seeks to achieve its aims through propaganda, terror and threat. In it’s dealings with non-Islamic states, it is permitted - even encouraged - to lie to secure its advantage. Therefore, any agreement with Islamists - signed or secured with a handshake - is not worth spit.

Lastly, all manner of myths have sprung up surrounding the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World trade Center. One is that Bush personally had a hand in it. Shrug. Another is that no Jews died because they were alerted to what was about to happen. Shrug. Let me suggest a third: Nadler mentions that Muslims also died in the attacks. This is not difficult to accept. Islamists, after all, show little regard for their own anywhere in the world. It is a fact that many more Muslims have died since AQ’s reign of terror than non-Muslims. Nadler may also be technically correct because the hijackers also died on 9/11. However, I have heard of no Muslim innocent dying as a result of the 9/11 outrage. A cursory scan of the internet does not lend credibility to the assertion that innocent Muslims died. If any had, I’m sure their families would have been repeatedly trotted out in front of the TV cameras.

I don’t see how the Carmelite Nuns example figures into the argument. What I do see is akin to the Union Jack being raised over Yorktown to presage the war‘s end in favor of the enemy.

Broken Bells

On the Flooding in Pakistan

Now that the world’s only superpower has been sufficiently hobbled to the wild cheers of it’s enemies, these self-same enemies are lamenting that they themselves are going down. Where are all the others to help? China? Russia? Venezuela? Brazil?

Predictably, America still bears much of the blame: not enough aid, expertise, outpouring, generosity, etc. In addition, it’s America’s fault that so much rain has fallen in the first place. It’s all a trick by the Great Satan to punish Muslims. It’s been proven and widely flaunted by the Americans themselves, after all; that ‘global warming’ causes such catastrophes and that America is first and foremost responsible for ‘global warming‘. All the more reason to double down on the ‘Great Satan’, to bring him to his knees and rid the world of this singular evil.

No doubt, this is the template by which the next crop of mosque sermons will be written. At least, in America, a man - a brother - has now come to power; a man who has been the first from that nation to acknowledge that eight years of Bush’s policies - indeed, the whole history of America’s shameful rise on the backs of the poor - has been instrumental in bringing us to this sad point. Israel, that shining abomination (on the hill) - by the grace of this singularly enlightened individual - can now no longer expect the West’s illicit support for its shameful insistence on maintaining its heathen stain on the sacred land of the faithful.

He (Obama) has come out in favor of building a holy mosque, near Ground Zero no less; which is destined to rise much faster, much higher, than the star-struck replacement for what has been brought down and reduced to ash in the name of Allah. Our flag, our minaret(s), will point proudly skyward on the day of the tenth anniversary of our heroic victory over capitalist blight - thanks to the ceaseless efforts of the enlightened one. The mean remnant of unbelievers will fail to stop our progress in bringing to the world shariah by which we will then proceed to cleanse all mankind of its sin.

As for our dead and dying, we grieve as is natural. It is Allah’s will. They are the martyrs who in both large and small ways have sacrificed (or are in the process of sacrificing) their existence for the greater glory of Islam - the only true religion. For even as we die our quiet deaths, America’s fall will reverberate around the world and usher in righteousness.

Allah Akbar!

Moratorium

Man is by nature a deceptive animal. We wear masks which, if we were to let slip, would show us to be the same as everyone else. We are literally obsessed with masks to the point of confusing the mask with what lies beneath. This is good news for politicians who survive by division. They use what is obvious (and, at the same time, not so obvious) to divide us into indefensible camps in order to build a political base for themselves. POTUS is no different.

We are most sensitive about that which we cannot change. The indelible mark of gender and race are primary in our struggle to maintain the appearance of dignity. Culture and religion come in a close second; political orientation comes in third, and so on… By such superficial factors we allow ourselves to be herded into separate rooms, to be used and abused in the privacy of someone’s yawning void. When, in fact, biologically speaking, the differences between us are so minute, they hardly bear mention.

We are all equally human, though this is hardly apparent from the masks we are given and compelled to dance in accordance with. We are taught to hate, act fierce and threatening; or to seduce with words and delicate pirouette; smile; march; kill (always, we are told, for a higher purpose).

Our various protocols are constructed to hide the fact that we are predatory by nature. Our masks mask that aggression is ugly and hides inadequacy - which once again makes us victims to someone’s political ambitions - someone whose own inadequacy compels him to commit ever greater crimes to which we willingly accept the role of accomplice.

There can no longer be any doubt that Obama is not as was advertised: the benign ruler of a complex nation. He would fit much more comfortably into an autocracy (of which, sadly, there are many). But even this eludes him. ‘He is slender and flaccid at the same time; and gives the uncomfortable impression of being invertebrate. In private, he makes use of dialectical materialism to put an end to any discussion.

‘The reasons one can have for hating a man - or loving him - are infinite. Obama reduces the history of the universe to a sordid economic conflict. He affirms that the revolution is predestined to succeed. He dictates opinions with scorn and a certain anger.’*

If Barack Hussein Obama were an American president in the true tradition of American presidents, he would impose a moratorium on mosque building - not oil drilling.
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*Again I am compelled to borrow from Jorge Luis Borges; this time, from “The Shape of the Sword”.

Al Stewart

Al Stewart Year of the cat (+lyrics)
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Being Immortal

The following thought was sparked by two lines in Borges’ “Funes the Memorious”, in which this author asserts “that we live our lives putting off all that can be put off; (because) perhaps we all know deep down that we are immortal and that sooner or later all men will do and know all things.” The passage caught my eye because I too have been known to leave things to the last minute and because I too have always harbored the suspicion of being immortal. The latter would often plague me deep into the night - especially in my early youth - when thoughts of suicide would stalk me practically everywhere I went.

Then, just today, someone replied to one of my postings, claiming that Americans are no less intelligent than Indians. I responded saying that it’s not a matter of intelligence but, rather, of policy - specifically with regard to education (which is what we were discussing). I was careful to add that I’m not passing judgment, just noting results.

Then, later, it occurred to me that the way we commonly view education - a gathering of facts and statistics in a hoarding sort of way - may in fact achieve just the opposite; that every ‘fact’ we accept as our own, discards another (or even a whole series). Education, then, would amount to no less than blocking. In other words, we actually do know all we need to know, and then we proceed to block portions of our innate wisdom with facts.

When my son was still quite young, I taught him the elementary moves of chess. We played a few games which he always won. I bought him a book entitled “My 60 Memorable Games” by Bobby Fischer, which he read. After that, we played a couple more games, both of which he lost. We never played again.

Or, how else would you explain that so often - after a murderer has be caught, the murder weapon secured, the motive established - the jury clears him for lack of conclusive evidence? If the defending attorney is clever, he can pummel a jury with facts and suppositions designed to erase what they already know to be true. Such is the power of words and books, to block, twist and obfuscate until we find ourselves helpless to the talent of audacious seduction.

The present administration gives out ‘facts’ that now only 20% of us believe. Even with misreporting by the media, there is a feeling that something’s gone terribly awry. We are more apt to accept lies when things are going well; when facts don’t much matter. We were told that Bush was the worst ever. And we went along with it because it didn’t really matter either way if he was or not. Now it matters.

It’s reached the point at which we will ignore what Obama and the Democrats are saying, and vote according to the alarm bell in our gut.

He Did Not

It does seem like many Americans must be hit in the head with two-by-fours before they finally realize what’s actually happening. The trouble is that a blow like that is also likely to render the victim unconscious. It is now clear that ever since 9/11, some - if not most - of us have been rendered unconscious. This is not to say that the forces that are bedeviling us today had not been gathering long before the towers came down. 9/11, however, should have served as a wake-up call. It didn’t.

I am amused by reports that consistently prefix their findings with words such as ‘unexpected’ and ‘surprising’. There were many who predicted exactly where we were headed years ago. I myself remember saying that Barack Hussein Obama was destined to chauffeur the hearse to America’s final resting place. We seemed to be okay with that.

9/11 was an attack on what? America’s source of strength: its economy (and to a lesser extent on its military). It succeeded in bringing down the manifestation of that strength in unambiguous, most spectacular fashion. Less of our people died in the Japanese attack on Peal Harbor than did on 9/11. You would think that that would have meant something. Instead, our government to this day still has a problem in defining the enemy. And as such, it’s strategy is in disarray: unfocused, scattered, ad hoc, and - in large part - turned in against itself.

Bush meant well when he said, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” Almost immediately our enemies - both here and abroad - sprang into action and began to ridicule him. Our domestic enemies turned out to be far more effective, turning ridicule into high art; a national pastime. They got what they wanted. They gave us Obama.

Now that it’s become clear where our nation is ultimately headed, everyone acts surprised. As a WSJ reader points out today, ‘unintended’ is not the same as ‘unforeseen’. Whereas everything reported today is couched in ‘unintended’ (surprise); nothing was ever so obscure as to escape prediction. We are being attacked on so many fronts, it’s difficult to keep one’s focus. Unless we’re willing to admit (to ourselves) that we’re in a war, and address the enemy appropriately, our fortunes will continue to wane. The ‘mosque on Ground Zero’ controversy is a case and point: Half of us do not recognize that Islam is at war with us, while all of Islam is utterly convinced of it.

Yesterday, the president of the United States spoke out for the first time on the mosque controversy. I wish he had said, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” He didn’t.

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (sarod)

Peter Koelliker replied to comment from Kenneth Stevens

Kenneth - Grammatical point well taken. In fact, it proves my point. The Indians I know are highly educated in the sciences, mathematics, finance, medicine, and the arts. It literally makes my head spin. I’ll give them a pass, for the moment, on politics. But even there, they’re making progress. Our own current crop of graduates can’t hold a candle to them. True, there’s Apu and the 7/11 pump jockeys. But even they flaunt a work ethic that’s hard to beat.

Hispanics most closely support your argument. They also are hard-working to be sure. But they work with their hands. This is the work that Americans could do but no longer want to. There is a difference between immigrant groups. There is a difference between immigrant groups and us. I continue to maintain that immigration is not our most pressing problem. Our problem is having turned the issue into a political football at the very time when we seem to be breaking apart in so many ways. It provides our political leadership with a scapegoat; an excuse to point fingers elsewhere.

You cannot deny that our educational system is broken. When we continually question tests instead of the tested, we have turned things seriously upside down. As such, our children do not learn. The latest pc racial bias can be made to explain everything. How dare we expect a kid to answer 4 when asked, “What does two to plus two equal?”! We rather view it as innovative, original. It can be argued that in some numerical systems 2 + 2 could indeed equal 5 (or any number). Little Johnny is a genius after all. We are indeed blessed!

While in India last, I happened to pick up a paper and noted the headline, “Crisis In Public Education”. I began to read, expecting to see the same template as ours. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The author made the point that schools were too strict. It was right after year-end examinations. There had been several suicides.

The Maxine Waters Show

Watching these clips inspires no interest within me. I could very well be in some outlying suburb of Harare; in some thatched community centre where the stout woman serves up cola and beer (and whatever else that can be chewed or smoked) to glaze over one’s nervous energy.

Accused or not, it makes no difference. These people at the palace all are guilty of the most unpardonable of crimes, chief of which is the betrayal of trust - after which theft is only a distant second. The TV is tuned (by law) to a single channel. What I cannot escape seeing is jackals fighting among themselves over the scraps of a dying beast. This bears no relation to us (aside from the suspicion that we, collectively, are the beast) - unlike back in the Bush days when it was still possible to take sides and root for a favorite.

This is ignominious infighting, pure and simple. Any resolution changes nothing for us. The sky has darkened. Static intrudes into the broadcast. It grinds on the nerves. There’s no on/off switch. The plug is hardwired into the grid. The only way to turn it off is to push the TV off it’s pedestal or throw a stone. That, however, is punishable. I see my fellow customers slowly drifting away, trying to reach home before it rains.

Add to this the reported thirty thousand at East Point on Wednesday, seeking a handful of applications for government-subsidized housing. '62 INJURED' read the headlines the next day. This is Obama’s America. No wonder he sends his family to holiday in Spain.

As for me, I’m heading back to India at the end of the month. The thatched-roof deal sounds just fine to me. For one thing, I’ve always enjoyed sitting in a public place where I can’t understand a thing of what the people are saying. I’ll miss out on the midterms, as well as Glenn Beck’s extravaganza at the Lincoln Memorial. He’s been rather circumspect about what’s to happen there. Though, I do think, he knows.

Art Tatum

Culture of Corruption

It looks like the ‘culture of corruption’ within the Democrat Party is coming home to roost. Both Rangel and Waters are right to insist on a public airing. They have done nothing that most of their Democrat colleagues haven‘t also done. Nancy Pelosi, for instance. What is surprising is that any of this has even come out. With the Dems in complete control of the process, I would have thought they could have kept it all under wraps. Who would have challenged them? Not Republicans. It speaks of a Democrat party in disarray; in self-destruct mode. The in-fighting has begun and will not end well.

For some time now, I have been alluding to the suspicion that one of this administration’s principal aims is to lay waste Congress in general - and, with it, any vestige of representative governance. Republicans have already shown themselves as woefully ineffective. It stands to reason that the next step is to strike the fatal blow against Democrats as well.

Case and point: Yesterday we witnessed the spectacle of the Senate in action. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York had the floor to himself as he and Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland held a special session to pass a $600 million border security bill which everyone agrees is inadequate. The Senate historian said it was the first time just two Senators passed a bill.

It was a nod to all those who are demanding action on the highly volatile immigration issue. Democrats, in effect, said, “You want a bill? Here’s a bill. Live with it.” The cavalier way in which this non-entity was passed goes along with how the House has been conducting business since the current administration has been in office. “You want it paid for? Fine. We’ll pay for it by raising the fees on H-1B visas which allow foreign workers to work in the U.S. All the bases are covered. Now let’s go home and continue with our summer vacations.”

Meanwhile in India there is much hand-wringing. Indians are well aware of how this small, seemingly throw-away gesture by Democrats affects them. Virtually every middle and upper class family has someone working in the U.S. Many of them can be expected to lose their jobs.

This is a huge issue for them, as well as a loss for us. Indians working here are well educated and highly trained. They fill a niche in any number of specialized fields in which Americans can and do not compete.

So, with yesterday’s throw-away gesture we’ve managed to turn a whole nation against us. Bravo Chuck Schumer, Ben Cardin, Democrats, Republicans, President Obama! You’ve done it again. This is not effective diplomacy. This is shoddy; grandstanding. This strikes at the very root of a nation - a nation that has heretofore been one of our most adoring allies.

Rashomon: A Different View

There are some things that even I, a no-name blogger, can not write. Suffice it to say that something is about to happen. The Left is desperate - beyond idly wishing that Sarah Palin had been on that plane that crashed in Alaska, taking the lives of all on board, including former U.S. Senator, Ted Stevens.

What the recent Gibbs ‘gaffe’ shows is that the Obama administration is not beholden to either the Left or the Right. For months now they’ve been poking and prodding the Right, trying to paint them as violent anti-government activists. It has not worked. The Tea Parties have behaved themselves.

As I said, the administration is desperate to start something. All it’s efforts so far have come to naught. But lately, they’ve begun to take a different tack: They’ve started poking the Left. In the administration’s view, the Left is boiling, and much more susceptible to erupt into violence. Violence is the only element still missing for the administration to cement its hold on America.

It may happen before midterms or after. Certainly within the next two years something will occur to cause the government to lock down America, cancel elections and declare itself the sole arbiter of affairs.

Gibbs did not make his remarks without Obama’s approval. Obama knows what he’s doing. He’s prodding the Left to action.

Shattered Windows

Actually Obama, a cold, heartless ruler, came along just at the right time, to remind us of just how bad it can be while our government is still functioning in a way as to give us some leverage. In a way, we can still say he’s inept. He has revealed his stripes (or spots) all too readily. He and his entourage of Democrats (I use the term loosely) will be defeated at the polls - eventually.

What is still unclear is our own capacity to learn - to remember - as to not fall for the twin ploy of promises that no one can keep, and lies. In an opinion column in today’s WSJ entitled “Why Obama Is Still the Favorite in 2012”, Michael Medved makes the case that the whole thing hinges on the Hispanic vote. No matter how desperate conditions in our country get, will Hispanics, Blacks and Asians still insist on voting race to the exclusion of all other (more weighty) factors? Clearly Democrats think so. That’s why a recent comment by Harry Reid, ('I don't know how ANYONE of Hispanic heritage could be Republican'…) raised such eyebrows - especially in conservative circles.

Whites themselves are divided. Though there is some indication the white liberals are having second thoughts, the rest apparently are content to tough it out. A steady stream of dismal economic data will not convince them. The popular media will continue to drive the narrative: blame Bush, Republicans, conservatism; etc. As Kenneth Stevens so artfully explains in post after post, race is fast becoming the driving force behind everything. Perhaps it already has.

We still have a chance to turn it around, but the window is closing. The re-election of Barack Hussein Obama in 2012 would shatter the window and replace it with bars.

The Postal Service

There Is a Difference

The clip above (Ben Quayle campaign commercial) does not sound convincing. Why is Ben Quayle running? Is it to avenge his father’s lynching? Not good enough. Is it to worry Barack Obama? Unlikely. The way they went after Dan was either because they were scared he would score, or because it was a way to get at Papa. Probably the latter. Either way, it was shameful. But what can you expect from potato eaters.

People go into politics either for power (Obama) or money (Clinton). There is a difference. People go into journalism to change the world. That’s why the journalists of today are sitting around inert on their laurels. They’ve already succeeded in doing what they set out to do. Now they see their job as protecting the sandpainting they’ve sponsored.

They’ve managed to affect the biggest change possible. They’ve painted America evil, and America’s enemies with bold, shining halos. They did it without regard to allegiance. They did it because they could. They’ll retire to their graves toothless but smiling.

Checkerboard America is on its way. Already the country is divided into red and blue states. As the Federal government becomes increasingly intrusive, demanding ever more from us; states will begin thinking about seceding. Already lawsuits are flying back and forth; populations are on the move; treasure is leaving the country.

There will be fences alright. We won’t be shy about building them - and prisons. These will be designed to keep people in - not out. There is a difference.

The Rolling Stones

The Nuclear Option: Destroying Both Camps

Gibbs is in a difficult position. And what’s worse, he knows it. He knows the administration, as a political entity, is becoming unraveled. Not he (Gibbs), nor the president can stop the unraveling. It has become a lost cause to attempt to maintain the trappings of a democracy.

The people have discovered that ‘progressivism’ is just another word for what used to be called ‘communism’ and they want no part of it. Re-defining terms has been a hallmark of this administration and of the movement it represents. It has become all too clear that the ‘Big Lie’ is being exposed. Gibbs trips. He intends to hide the ‘Big Lie’ behind an even bigger one - and nobody’s buying.

The president has managed to destroy both camps. Progressives are so eager to come out of the closet, they’ve all but punched through the doors. Conservatives, arrogant as always, can finally see - beyond their own noses - what’s lurking inside.

This is not good news for a president who needs the support of at least one political faction. Fortunately, when they made Obama, they broke the mold. He is totally disinterested in politics as usual. In fact, he distains it. What is still unclear is whether he personally means to cling to power in perpetuity, or whether he is prepared to subordinate his own ego to the Cause. If the latter, he will hand off to Hillary Clinton; if the former, he will declare himself dictator for life.

Death Cab For Cutie

Circular Ruins

Steve Slater, folk hero, captures America’s current mood precisely. He isn’t the first. He now joins the likes of Joe Wilson, who famously shouted “Liar!” during a joint session of Congress, and Rick Santelli who let loose from the floor of the stock exchange - all of which had the elites screeching like stuck pigs.

The American people have had just about enough of those who would shunt them aside and deny their humanity; subject them to endless experiments in social engineering while berating them and robbing them blind.

Something’s got to give at some point. The daily insults: the proposed mosque at Ground Zero; the government suing Arizona; the moratorium on oil drilling; the relentless spending of our money; ever accelerating tax rates and national debt; the now steady diet of blatant propaganda; the re-write of history - I could go on and on.

It’s nice to see that we’re not giving up; that we have come to realize that our enemies are mere ankle biters; that we can shake them off with some small gesture. All is not lost when such gestures - without violence, for violence is not in our nature - garner tidal waves of support that even the media can’t gloss over and render illegitimate.
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Lou, this one’s for you: You said you’d enjoyed reading Borges. I was given “Labyrinths” to read in college. It made no sense, so I left it. I just came across it again some 40 odd years later. I am reading it now and understand it perfectly. Last night I read “Circular Ruins” in which the protagonist arrives at the ruins of a temple with the intent of dreaming (creating) a man. He does so after so many fits and starts. At some point the temple burns and the man is consumed as well. As he walks into the flames, ‘they do not bite into his flesh, they caress him and engulf him without heat or combustion. With relief, with humiliation, with terror, he understands that he too is a mere appearance, dreamt by another.’

Reminds of Barack Hussein Obama.

The Lottery in Babylon

At some point someone will dare to write the truth about our government. It may go something like this: “In those days, as now, the government, with divine modesty, avoided all publicity. It’s agents, as is natural, were unelected and secret. The orders which it issued continually ( perhaps incessantly) did not differ from those lavished by impostors: the drunkard who improvised an absurd accusation leading to indictment; the dreamer who awakened suddenly and strangled the woman by his side. Did they not execute, perhaps, a secret decision of the government? That silent functioning, comparable to God’s, gave rise to all sorts of conjectures. One abominably insinuated that the government has not existed for centuries and that the sacred disorder in our lives was purely hereditary, traditional. Another judged it eternal and taught that it will last until the last night, when the last god annihilates the world. Another stipulated that the government is omnipotent, but that it only has influence in small things: a bird’s call; the shadings of rust; in the half dreams of dawn. Another, in the words of masked heresiarchs, 'that it had never existed and will not exist'. Another, no less vile, reasoned that it is indifferent to affirm or deny the reality of shadowy government, because Babylon has never been anything else than an infinite game of chance.”*

As for me, I have practically run out of words to describe a man (corporation, government) who receives a life-threatening wound on his right arm and seems totally absorbed in administering to his left. I have begun posting music videos on my websites.
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Passage taken from (and loosely translated to fit intent) Borges’ “The Lottery in Babylon”.

Airborne Toxic Event

Everyone Is Guilty

The temptation to turn WikiLeaks into a wedge issue is an indication of the state-controlled media attempting to make yet another statement in support of its overall agenda. We saw the same thing happening in response to the killing of employees at a Connecticut beer distributor; and, before that, the shooting of military personnel at Fort Hood. In each of these cases, the media went out of its way to cast the criminal as ‘victim’. (There are innumerable other such examples.)

This, of course, obscures the fact; first, that a horrendous crime has been committed; and, second, that there already exists a well-entrenched history of emphasis and intent, ceaselessly being stoked by both our government and its propaganda appendages.

There can be no doubt that our current political class feeds on division. Therefore, division and disharmony is promoted on every level of officialdom. Our reflex response to any incident has become so thoroughly conditioned as to immediately seek victim status for the aggressor, and aggressor status for the victim.

The gun violence this past weekend in the Bronx (NY) immediately becomes a debate about the second amendment, to further the cause of those who would challenge it. Lost in all this is the appreciation for the obvious fact that a crime has been committed by someone who deserves to be punished.

‘No fault crime’ has become the focus of the game. When something goes down, everybody must be made to pay equally. Everyone is guilty. No one escapes scrutiny. We live in a land where everyone is a suspect; where everyone must be watched and kept on a short leash, and no one is trusted; most especially the press, which we all have come to know has a singular agenda of shilling for our present government which, in turn, demands ever greater control over our lives, extending now even to what we can and cannot do in our bedrooms. I’m surprised JB fell for it.

Blue October

Changing Heart and Minds

Life is a series of circles within circles by which actions are constantly repeated. Logic and teaching seek to encourage the break-up of behavior that is determined to be destructive to self and others. It has been shown that the young are much more receptive to such instruction. Although the very same tendency can be exploited by demagogues to promote endless cycles of doom.

This does not apply strictly to humans. Every Thursday night we keep our car garage closed because we can expect a visit from our local contingent of raccoons who will enter through a garage door left open, jump atop our garbage cans and rock them until they fall over. This will dislodge the lids and the animals can joyfully tear apart the bags and scatter their contents in advance of Friday’s morning pick-up. The rest of the week it’s just fine to keep the garage doors open. Any hunter will confirm my story as it pertains to the wanderings of deer as well.

As it is difficult to break one’s own habits (smoking, blogging, boasting, reading, etc.), it is even more difficult to intervene in the habits of others. How stale is the story of a young woman saying, in all sincerity, that her love alone will suffice to entice her lover to relinquish troublesome or even criminal habits?

This is why in the Middle East changing hearts and minds has always been a tall order. Besides betraying some degree of arrogance, it may well be fundamentally impossible. To stop the raccoons from coming back, we may well have to shoot them (or simply keep the doors closed on Thursdays). To put our nation back on track, we may have to impeach its present leadership. To save Afghanistan, we may have to abandon it. It will fall from within if the circle of distrust, brutality and loathing is allowed to fester beyond the people’s ability to contain it.

Punching Holes in Reality

In his writings, Jorge Luis Borges punched joyful holes in reality. He wrote mostly short pieces: hit and run. It is because of this that his writings never got the recognition they deserved. It only appeals to a select group of metaphysically-oriented intellectuals. The rest of us who are deeply engaged in life’s struggles tend to come away with very little.

Borges emphasized form over content. His writing is no doubt meticulously structured and at the same time dazzling in its denseness and complexity. As such, he is much as one who paints or sculpts. Borges managed it with words alone. If Borges had not suffered severely from progressive eye disease, I suspect he would have secured for himself a place in the visual arts.

Obama’s speeches are much like Borges’ writings. One never suspects that reality supports what he‘s saying. A leader’s job is different from that of an artist. We don’t look to a leader to necessarily entertain or dazzle. We look for results. Obama’s rhetoric leaves us empty. Even as he herds us towards the Marxist ideal, his vision lacks warmth, empathy and compassion. It is coldly theoretical. But unlike Borges, whose blindness released him from the world of color and form, Obama seems still trapped by the spectacle of high living which turns bitter on the tongue of all those who are asked to sacrifice.

Old Brown Shoe

Even as we continue to strive to be like France, we still cling to some of the old American taboos inherent in a stubborn streak of our puritan tradition. To be sure, Bill Clinton’s dalliances were a game changer. Although we would never - now 15 some odd years later - think of impeaching a man (or woman) for casual private affairs, we’re still not comfortable with it. I have previously (on this blog) enumerated the consequences of the Monica Lewinsky affair and defended my contention that it was precisely this - not the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - that, in a real sense, brought us to where we are today.

In order to maintain any semblance of old brown shoe prudishness (which seems to compliment our unctuous leanings), we’ve had to introduce money into the equation. New Jersey governors Corzine and McGreevey as well as New York’s Elliott Spitzer all fell under this sword. Corzine was said to have had improper dealings with the someone in a public sector union; McGreevey was said to have given a plum job to a lover; and Spitzer was said to have paid actual money (God forbid!) to the madam of high-end call girls. It is no wonder that the Hurd affair is now couched in similar terms.

Only someone of such immense political stature as Bill Clinton could get by and change the game once again, removing even the last remaining vestige of fig leaf with regard to the sex trade.

Admittedly, the whole notion is preposterous, especially in the face of all our other problems. It is infinitely more palatable than looking a train wreck straight in the face, especially while standing on the same track. Guilt weakens; and, as such, renders a powerful man vulnerable. Still, it would allow him at least some space in which to squirm. A good lawyer can always find enough wiggle room for the perp to slip the cuffs. A train wreck, on the other hand, spells closure. The paints are dry; the brushes broken. Nothing can be done anymore to alter even a single brushstroke of the finished dystopian masterpiece once it has been released for public endurance.