Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Butter On A Bagel


I swear, these jihadis are like women. I was newly married when my mother invited my wife and I out to dinner. My wife was pregnant and sullen. After we got home, she remarked that I never once turned to her to engage her in conversation. Ten years and two kids later, this little incident turned up in the divorce papers I was served. It was number two on a list of ten things she held against me. Which just goes to show that women and jihadis don’t need valid excuses. Any one will do to justify the mayhem they are intent on causing.

The cartoons must have polled well among these illiterates. They’ll use it till the cows come home. Meanwhile, we’ve all but forgotten 9/ll, the USS Cole, the Beirut barracks, Daniel Pearl and thousands of similar atrocities that they’ve committed and are continuing to commit. Our proverbial rug has ballooned into a virtual mountain.

We beat our own people into submission, lest they utter something that might offend the terrorists in the hope (we say) that they’ll stop being offended. I have news for you: They’ll never stop. The only thing that will satisfy them is if we were to bow down and lick their boots. And even then, they would think nothing of creasing our necks with their swords or sticking a knife in our backs.

I think our leaders know this. They’re using terrorists for their own purposes. They say they’re protecting us. We’ve been conditioned to depend on government for our safety. A collapse of government is deemed unthinkable. Immediately, we would find ourselves at the mercy of unspeakable terror.
I, for one, am beginning to doubt this premise. I think we’d probably be much better off without the heavy boot of government on our necks. Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, is the quintessential government (the sky is falling) nanny. He’s intent on taxing everything that reflects light. He’s taking his hits this week because New York’s streets weren’t plowed in a timely manner after this weekend‘s storm. He, who promises that government can do all things and more. Accordingly the people waited. They kept their shovels locked away. “We’re paying enough taxes,” they said. “Let the city take care of it.”

The city that taxes putting butter on a bagel couldn’t cut it. The streets remained unplowed; the airports remained closed; travelers were stranded. I dare say, if the people had been left alone to take care of their own business, they would have fared much better.

In Chennai, India, there is frequent flooding. The wells in many neighborhoods have run dry. Still the people manage and nothing ever comes to a standstill. There are thousands of businesses that open and close every day. If they provide a good service, word spreads and they survive. In New York it takes an act of Congress to hire a single person to do so much as carry a sandwich board. It’s no wonder people are moving out.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

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