ElBaradei: Sliced Bread

We, John Batchelor junkies, are pretty much all in agreement that ElBaradei is a Tehran stooge. He speaks English and that makes him acceptable to the West. Remember that after the Iranian revolution, they also installed a stooge who was termed acceptably ‘moderate’. We know all this.

Does the White House know? Sure. Does the media? Unknown. In any case, they’re following the script which says that ElBaradei is the best thing since sliced bread. No discussion at all about Israel. Israel seems to have been forgotten in all this. The White House has already written Israel off - as well as the Suez Canal.

Is the White House engaged? Sure. Was the White House taken by surprise? I doubt it. We, the people, were the ones taken by surprise. We are the ones who still insist on believing that this White House does things with America’s interests in mind.

Go on insisting. Go on being caught off guard when things happen. Go on believing POTUS incompetent. When Tehran comes knocking at our door, open up and ask, “Who is it?”

The Islamic threat is spreading west. I’ll know who it is at the door. They’ll see the light on but will find nobody home.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

No More Sequels

It’s easy to predict this one - to run it all the way out to its conclusion. It’s like we’re all at the movies, watching a James Bond thriller. It’s been cat and mouse all the way. The final scene is approaching. Bond has located the farm house where the beautiful hostage is kept. He creeps stealthily towards it. He has already poisoned the dog. He reaches the porch. The floorboard creaks. He stops. All remains quiet.

The door is unlocked. Standing aside of the frame, he pushes it open. It creaks on its hinges. A car passes along the road. Bond freezes. All else remains quiet.

Meanwhile, the villain lurks in the shadows inside the house with his hand over the mouth of the beautiful hostage. He watches Bond’s movements on a monitor.

Though cautious, Bond thinks he’s in the clear. He had checked the barn earlier. There were no cars there. Bond draws his gun before bursting into the house.

Involuntarily, we put a hand over our mouths. We want to scream at the screen, “Watch out!!!”

Why is the media suddenly becoming so cagy about Egypt? Saying anything but the obvious is treated as virtual blasphemy. No speculation endues. History starts with Obama, even as his own history remains incomplete. All we need to know is that before Obama, all history led to ruin. The U.S., the most powerful nation on earth, was in charge and everyone else had to dance to its tune - and life on the planet was a misery to most.

Perhaps it’s not accident that Obama started his presidency with what was billed as a major speech in Cairo. I just re-read it. It struck me as childish - almost simple-minded. I’m sure nobody there bought it. They might even have been offended by its condescending tone.

Platitudes don’t translate easily to bread. Not much there by way of loaves and fish. Certainly not much mention of political strategy which, taking into account that America was speaking, was a lie of omission. Just so much American soma, Coca-Cola, change, and all the rest. Nobody believed it.

Except, it wasn’t America speaking. The ‘change‘, that would involve them, had actually come from America . And though nobody knew it yet, much of what Obama said was true - a reflection of the new America, the one in bed with jihad and the Muslim Brotherhood. Nobody foresaw that Egypt would become the crucible. Except, Obama knew.

Now more of us know because we can see what‘s happening. We see the outline of what’s coming - what’s already here. Yemen and Jordan bookend Saudi Arabia. The Suez Canal remains a vital shipping lane. Oil remains vital to functioning of the West. Tehran claims armies and allies. Israel cries foul. There will be no more sequels.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Procol Harum

Always liked this one. It was the only song I ever learned to play on the piano.

Chaos In Egypt

The U.S media has been up front in its comparison of the Egypt situation with what happened in Iran back in the late seventies. But there’s a twist: Both the media and the government are using the occasion for U.S. bashing: All U.S. policy up to this point has been wrong, they say, and even immoral. There is practically no discussion about Israel or the fact that Egypt controls the Suez canal.

The view consistently promoted by the media is that Obama will either fix everything or that he is doing the best he can given the situation on the ground. In fact, Obama is doing neither. Rumors are circulating that the Obama administration itself actually encouraged the foment in Egypt. While only just rumor, it is to some extent believable as it has become clear that Obama is neither a friend to Israel nor of (big) oil. If the price of oil rises out of reach for Americans (due what’s happening now throughout the Middle East), so much the better. It fits right in with the Left’s agenda and will force America to get serious about developing a carbon-neutral energy strategies (to which the president devoted much of his State of the Union Address. Significantly, perhaps, no mention was made of Israel and the still unresolved conflict with its neighbors). Israel, as you must know by now, has already been given up as a lost cause.

While all eyes are turned to the chaos in Egypt (and throughout the Middle East), the real revolution is taking place in America. Obama came in with the promise of being a transformational president. As far as he is concerned, his vision for America is right on track. My best guess is that he will be re-elected in 2012.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Staring Us In The Face

As Egypt’s travail progresses, I increasingly hear glowing reports in the media about the demonstrators and their ‘legitimate’ grievances. This may all be well and good. There hasn’t been a legitimate election in Egypt since Mubarak assumed office in 1981 (following the assassination of Anwar Sadat). In all that time it would not be an overstatement to say that the Egyptian people have gotten the short end of the stick.

However, Egypt is not America or any other nation where elections have paved the way for a smooth transfer of power. (We let it happen it in Gaza and it didn’t work out so well.) It might even be said that Egypt has been held together by ten-cents worth of salt water taffy and glue, courtesy of (who else?) Uncle Sam.

There are those who now joyfully opine that this may not have been our best policy - especially now that the jewel in our Middle East crown (Israel) stands somewhat tarnished by events. This view contends that Israel should be left alone to see to itself, allowing for serious reform to develop among its neighbors.

There is every indication that the current American administration is now prepared to do just that. This would release a lot of water currently dammed up. Not sure if Israel could survive the flood.

Leaving the issue of Israel’s survival aside for the moment, there’s now a different, more ominous narrative emerging. Increasingly one hears about this initially noble revolution (throughout the Middle East) being hijacked by extremist elements. No doubt Iran and its proxies, as we, have a stake in its eventual outcome. We hear that we shouldn’t worry; that Iran will never get a foothold (in Egypt) because their population differs from Egypt’s in significant ways. We can only hope.

When Obama was elected, we also had hope. Now, we might say that, first, our Democrat party was hijacked; and, then, our government. We look around and might say that our universities and our media were hijacked by a radical fringe. We might even say that our financial institutions, our churches and our unions were infiltrated and hijacked while we weren’t paying attention. Now, even though we still think of ourselves uniquely as Americans, we find it difficult find a solid hold to steady ourselves. We’re just ‘the people’ who sense that something has gone terribly wrong. We speak out, but our voices trail off into the ether. We gather to show our solidarity with what? - Some guy on the radio? Ourselves?

Meanwhile, the government grinds on along its merry way with seemingly no regard for us. In fact, it is ruling against our will. We find ourselves working for it, even as we thought it was working for us. This is tyranny.

Not exactly sure how long it’s been this way. It’s just that we woke up one morning and saw it staring us in the face.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Irish Potato Famine

“…widespread opinion among the Cairo elite that the US aided the foment”

I’d go easy on that one. If proven, it could be blockbuster. It’s like the birth certificate fracas. (Quite possibly a trap.) But, as of now, there’s nothing much there (but the obvious). I’m sure Aaron Klein will be giving us the latest on his Sunday show.

It’s funny, though, that none of us would be so reckless as to bet the farm either for or against. We should know by now that Obama dislikes Israel intensely. He also dislikes the old guard that has brought us to this point. I can’t see him sitting around with Mubarak and chewing the fat for old time’s sake. It’s born of an inferiority complex stemming from not being facile with the facts. He knows that Mubarak would immediately size him up as a lightweight. Obama would feel much more comfortable sitting down with the likes of Ahmadinejad who’s a crazy as he is.

As for JB’s contention that Egyptian Muslims share nothing in common with Iranians, I beg to differ. As I’ve said before, the one issue that cements the Ummah into one cohesive unit is its hatred of Israel. This trumps any and all differences they might have among themselves. They stand united in their desire to rid their shores of the Jewish State. Whosoever achieves it will go down in the annals of Islamic history as no less than divine. Not only is it a big issue for them; it’s the only issue.

We ourselves went through the same thing here in America. The Democrats succeeded in cobbling together a coalition of splinter groups into a powerful force to unseat Republicans during Bush’s terms. These groups may not have agreed on every issue; but, on Bush and Republicans, they stood as one. They were successful. Their differences would emerge to haunt them later.

So too, it is in the Middle East. The various factions will unite against Israel (and its supporters). Even those who remain silent regarding this issue remain at risk.

We may very well witness the coalition breaking up under traditional stresses after the dirty deed is done. But this would amount to no more than being of curatorial interest as we spend the next century re-creating the Irish potato famine.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Cowering In Egypt

Egypt is in the grip of a classic revolution. It begins with chaos and ends in tyranny. This is not to say that Mubarak represented anything other than tyranny. He knew that it was the only way he could keep his country together - that is, to keep it from descending into the even deeper hell of Tehran’s sadistic hordes. In his particular neighborhood, Mubarak knew, he was essentially spitting into the wind. Not much use in pretending that he would not eventually succumb either to death by natural causes or to go down swinging. He held up his end as long as he could.

When the Left decided to join up with the Muslim Brotherhood, he knew it was over. When the West - and, especially, the United States - turned its back on Israel, he knew it was twice finished. He sent his successor son and his family to safety. He himself would stay and fight and, if need be, go down with the ship.

Not much help from Obama who would pepper his stammering response to the chaos with “the people” to the point where it became embarrassing to listen.

In the past, the U.S. could always be counted on to intervene. It was Mubarak’s reward for making peace with Israel. With Obama’s rise to power, the contract became null and void. Mubarak would have to go it alone.

The plague haunting the world remains anti-Semitism. It’s what unites all the players in the Middle East. Once it became apparent that no one would be spared, the faint-hearted veered to the dark side. Israel was declared a pariah nation and even the West would follow suit.

Israel reminds of an Islamic woman who has sinned. Her fate is determined by shariah. They will want to dig a pit for her. And the bloodlust of their god will be satisfied (now that the secularists have also joined in the clamor).

Besides the Israelis, the secularists will also be losers. They confuse secularism with a total ban of religion. They think that this would help them escape the twin burdens of guilt and duty, not realizing that these, in the hands of men, would become even more oppressive and arbitrary. They further delude themselves in that their 'secular humanism' is much different from religion. It is as crude and intolerant as Islam itself. And its high priests are every bit as extreme as the most radical jihadist.

If you want true 'secular humanism', you need only look to India where it is not unusual for an extremely competent high-tech worker to stop at a temple on his way home to circumambulate the idol of his choosing (always keeping it to the right of him) three times before receiving the priest’s blessing and be sent on his way; or, a humble rickshaw driver inviting his priest to bless his brand new vehicle; or the bus driver stopping at a temple to have his upcoming journey blessed… Religion is woven into daily life. No one mocks it. No one feels slighted. No one is cursed, even if they choose to shun ritual.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not like that. They insist on shariah (for everyone). Atheists are not like that. They insist on religious ritual being hid under a bushel. Communists are not like that. They ban any religion, not understanding the concept of ‘giving unto Caesar…’

Islam is not celebrated for being enlightened or tolerant. It is fear that spreads it. It gives off the illusion of power. Who can resist cowering before madmen after the doors of the asylum are thrown wide open and it becomes no longer possible to avoid them?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Abida Parveen

Sufi music by a master from the album Raqs-e-Bismil.

Hall Of Mirrors

The world is like a room of mirrors. You look at an old person and you are reminded that you too will be old some day. You look at a baby and you know that you too were once young.

So it is with nations. They look at themselves in these mirrors which essentially reflect the times of a single observer; or, as Jorge Luis Borges would put it, a “garden of forking paths”.

The history of nations is always the same. All are birthed in blood. It’s just that each one, at any given moment, exists in its own time. This gives the illusion that each one is different.

Egypt is in the grip of revolution. There are good people on both sides - people with vision. It’s the chaos that kills - and even more so: indifference. It’s a time when nihilism prospers, when opportunists make their move, when things can go either way. It’s the reason NFL games are so popular with American viewers, that sense of not knowing; that sense of wishing, praying, wanting so desperately to see what happens and to be on the right side after the dust has settled. It’s been declared a crime to affect the outcome from outside betting parlors. Unless, of course, the outcome you're hoping for is chaos itself - chaos without end; containment - as it now appears to be.

Obama has nothing to add after having set the wheels (of fire) in motion. He is presenting us with a poignant historical spectacle. And yet, we are not amused. Chaos simply isn’t our cup of tea. We reject it in ourselves as we reject it in others. If chaos is Obama’s objective, he must go there alone.
---------------------------------------------------
Perhaps historians were wrong. Perhaps Clinton wasn't the first black president after all. Perhaps it was Jimmy Carter who presided over the first Middle Eastern domino to fall. How long before Obama appears on our TV screens wearing a sweater?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Reply to Corlyss: Trouble in Egypt

Corlyss - You knew this was coming. Always looking ahead. Here, in America, it’s already happened. Both in Egypt and in America the people were made to so despise the status quo, they would stampede for ‘change‘. Both in Egypt and in America, there are (and have been) good people in support of ‘revolution’. Mubarak was a dictator, Bush was an incompetent who insisted on playing by the Queensberry rules. But both were more or less benign.

In Egypt, the mullahs painted Mubarak black. In America, the press painted Bush black. The people were riled up. They were told it couldn’t get any worse. In Egypt, they are now taking to the streets. In America, they went to the ballot box (2008).

Ours was a bloodless revolution. We had money as a buffer to absorb the shock (of revolution). When the money runs out, we too will take to the streets. We’re apt to suffer our own Tehran moment. Egypt, on the other hand, is a relatively poor nation. The only option for them is (go directly to… Do not pass GO) civil unrest. In both countries, the revolution was carefully orchestrated. As I said, a lot of good people were enticed to join in. They will be the first to be crushed in what follows.

The revolution is not over - neither in Egypt nor in America. In Egypt, Iran’s “Moslem Brothers are hanging back“. In America, the Marxists radicals are hanging back. Both revolutions are made to appear as a grassroots movement attracting only the pious. In America, we ended up with a dictator. The same will result in Egypt. In America, things will get worse; in Egypt things will get worse as well. Both freedom and any hint of optimism will suffer - along with tolerance, civility, and fair play. Israel should be worried.

Israel has been painted a pariah. Israel is the ultimate target - the jewel in the crown of dictators. America will not help. America’s conscience has been severed from its body politic in the interest of (short-term) expedience. America is going down the same road as Israel (and Egypt). The difference is that America has already had its revolution and the bad guys won. “The Marxists (sic) are patient and relentless.”

By the time the dust has settled, America will be already be preparing for its next ‘revolution’. The military will take the side of the people. The next one should be relatively brief as all of America’s enemies will be residing at close quarters - in Washington/DC.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Morphic Resonance

Let’s step back for a moment. I’ve written about it before: ‘morphic resonance', a term coined by Rupert Sheldrake to explain some instances of paranormal experience. Sheldrake notes that there are ‘morphic (memory) fields’ that surround organisms; that these can and do bleed what can be termed knowledge stemming from the ‘memory’ of collective experience. He came upon it when he noted that a particular species of birds in one part of England had learned to pry the tops off of milk bottles. Shortly thereafter, a group of the same species in another part of England were doing the same.

There may be other explanations for such phenomenon which have since the publication of Sheldrake’s first book on the subject (1981) been developed and expanded, touching other areas; and argued about - both by Sheldrake and his numerous critics - and may not really represent anything more than a shorthand - ‘a way of talking’, if you wish - about something for which there are as of yet no words. Nevertheless, it’s a fascinating subject and does make sense to some degree.

Linguists too may have something to say in parallel when claiming that the human brain is hard-wired for language - not for any specific language (otherwise there would only be one language) but for the grammatical structure that supports it.

As we look around, the world seems in great upheaval. All of us sense that something is afoot. The optimists among us welcome it, trying hard to fall in stride; while the pessimists fear and resist it. The fatalists are content to absorb whatever buffeting may ensue.

This (what’s coming) seems bigger than just the traditional conflicts that have arisen here and there in the past. The modern explanation for it is that the world has grown smaller (metaphorically speaking) and that what happens in heretofore inaccessible parts is now instantly known to all (via the internet). But this approaching storm seems bigger even than a quarrel between nations. It is like the shadow of the spaceship ‘Armageddon' that all but eclipses reason and civility. And we scurry hither and thither, struggling to explain it. There are conflicts on the brink of breaking out all over the place.

Some might point to the inexplicable, seemingly voluntary withdrawal of the United States from the world stage. Surely, they claim, this would cast ripples across the globe as nations scramble to re-tune their alliances. Others point to the Mayan calendar. But this still falls short of explaining the ubiquitous nature of the thing. It is shallow thinking to finger some individual part as a cause when this part, and every other part, are parts of a whole.

Enter ‘morphic resonance’. The divide appears to be between the privileged - the self-proclaimed (often illegitimate) - leaders and the masses that feel themselves somehow disconnected from their leadership and oppressed. We see it in the Middle East; we see it in Asia; we see it in America itself with the rise of the Tea Parties. There appears to be a universal dissatisfaction with leadership in general.

Leadership, in turn, desperately seeks to preserve the status quo. It cajoles; it threatens; it paints any departure from the norm as ominous. Nevertheless, most of those now in power, know that their days are numbered. Chinese leadership knows. They are preparing, as we speak, to hold back the tide. We watch them prepare and think that they are planning to attack us. Clearly, we both know that neither we nor they are a threat to each other. So, we are puzzled. China knows that the threat comes from within. It is already palpable.

While we are still in the process of finishing off what remains of our individual soma rations, our president concerns himself primarily with staying in power. To this end, he has falsely co-opted the idea of ‘change’, never considering that he himself is its target. The next two (or six) years will bring change alright, but it will not be due to Obama.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Muddy Waters

Stick with it to the end: "My Girl" fade.

Auras

I wish the president had been more specific. His continual use of the pronoun ‘we’ (was that a mouse in his pocket?) was startling to me. Who exactly was the ‘we’ he was referring to? Was it his team at the White House? Was it his party? Was it the government in general? Or was it, as should have been the case, all of us?

Therein lies the puzzle of the president’s State of the Union speech. Therein lies the answer as to whether he heard the American people speaking out during the midterm election. Therein is the clue we’ve all been waiting for that would give us some indication as to whether or not the president has shifted toward the center.

You would have to have been born yesterday to mark this as a substantive speech. Obama does not come without history, after all. He’s had two full years to weave his magic. Where are we now?

He pretty much glossed over the (self-inflicted) problems of the past two years. Perhaps these did not much matter. These could still be spun as Bush’s fault. Now we are going forward into an era of high-speed bullet trains (did I say ‘bullet’?) and mercury light bulbs, solar shingles and clean energy to boot. We will reach out to South America (after having reached out and touched China and India; Syria, Iran and Hamas). We’re making progress. We’ve adopted Soviet style terminology to explain ourselves. For the moment, at least, we’re sweeping the fires raging in the Middle East under the carpet.

So far so good. It’s the ‘we’ I can’t seem to wrap my brain around. If by it he meant just he, his appointees and supporters, nothing has essentially changed. If he includes Republicans in his schemes, it’s likely that he means to win them over by threatening to use them as a foil. Only if he meant ‘all of us’ (which I doubt), is he now on the right track.

To one capable of seeing auras, a live mouse shines brighter than a dead elephant. How does Obama see us?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Henry Mancini

Music from 'Peter Gunn', as recognizable as Beethoven's 5th.

What's the Big Deal?

I honestly thought that this issue of Obama’s birth certificate had been put to rest; that only crazies - like the so-called 'birthers' - still were using it to make themselves interesting. All the more curious that it should show up on this blog when there is news far more pressing - like the terror bombing of one of Moscow’s two airports for instance.

What this shows is that we don’t really want this serial to end. The ending might scare us or leave us feeling uncomfortable. Or, we don’t really care either way. So what if he’s not legitimate? He’s president, isn’t he? He’s doing the job - going to work and all. What more could anybody want?

Reminds of the stories of dentists that crop up now and then after it’s been found out that they never studied dentistry and got their diplomas over the internet for twenty bucks. There’s always a hue and cry raised by the press about it and the culprit invariably lands in jail despite voluminous testimonials from satisfied customers. Or what about the semi-literate farmer who lived somewhere in the wilds of the Amazon, who was said to perform delicate surgeries with only his hands. And who was later declared a saint?

There would be no question about Obama’s birth if he had actually performed miracles during his first two years in office. There are, of course, still those who contend he has. And Obama himself may even be among these. Bringing the once mighty beacon of the free world to its knees was surely no easy matter.

Circuses and Rights During Wartime

Interesting how Congress has been reduced to gimmicks. Interesting how appearances are used to overshadow fundamental differences that are said to exist between Republicans and Democrats. Perhaps the lesson here is that there really is no difference; that it’s all a part of the same dysfunctional, irrelevant stew - or worse. The only voice that matters is POTUS’. Without cut-out POTUS, no one would be there, dressed in finery, kissing and hugging; beaming and patting backs. It’s a carnival barker‘s paradise put on every year for the amusement of themselves, and so-called political pundits. “…and let’s all meet afterwards for drinks.”

The public remains the foil. All that will be said and done will be tailored to appeal to TV couch potatoes. Remind that last year’s theme was ‘focusing on jobs‘ (like a laser). What happened to all those jobs? Fool me once…

The most memorable of these presidential high-performances (in my lifetime, at least) was back when LBJ announced he won’t be running for a second full term. Now that was news! It sent shock waves throughout the nation. Dare we hope for anything of substance?
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Make no mistake about it, yesterday’s bombing of the airport in Moscow was an attack on all of us. We diminish what happened when we ask why? The fact is, we do not understand the motives of terrorists. In last night’s interview with Stephen F. Cohen the word ‘Islam’ was mentioned exactly once.

The word ‘terrorist’ explains nothing - no motive; no philosophical or historical underpinnings - only nihilism. Seeking explanations under such conditions inevitably brings us back to ourselves. We are at fault - the enduring mantra of narcissists.

There are infinite explanations for why this may be so. The most plausible both start with ‘p’: ‘poverty’ and ‘politics’. There are infinite reasons that argue against both. This whole terror thing has become a (war) dance. The terrorists lead; we follow. We screen ourselves before getting on an airplane. The terrorists change tactics. They target innocents waiting for loved ones to arrive. We increase security perimeters. The terrorist target public places. We put up cameras on street corners. They send mail bombs consisting of wires, then powders, then liquids…

There is no winning this. We must be persuaded to lead. We must fight fire with fire. We must do as they do. Only, we must be smarter about it. We must lead. It does us no good to chuckle about Mr. Putin’s embarrassment as he chuckles about ours. We’re all in this together. We must work together - not celebrate momentary relief that it wasn‘t us (this time).

This is war. All is fair in love and war. In war, conventional niceties go out the window. We must do what they do. We must blow up their stuff. We must not play footsies with nations who sponsor terrorism - as Putin continues to do wit Iran. We cannot continually appease and change the language to reflect a fiction.

We must begin to close their mosques, bar them from our shores and send home those who are already here. Sure, it’s unfair. Many good people will suffer inconvenience. But aren’t we inconvenienced by them. Never once have anyone of us heard anything even close to condemnation from their side. Their silence makes them accomplices. Change must come from within. Perhaps once they are back home, they will change things. Why is the onus always on us - to change?

Muslim countries routinely attack Christians and Jews. In some, Christians and Jews are prohibited from even being there. Fine. It’s their turf. I know many families who wont allow smoking or guns in their homes. It is their right.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Super Session

Sweet!!!!

...and liberals applaud

The headlines this morning read that the reason for Hu’s visit to the U.S. was to proclaim to the world that China is now equal to the U.S. It has also been quite apparent for some time that China is on the rise (while America is in decline). Therefore, it can be now be said with some certainty that China will overtake the U.S. in the future. Such is the narrative of the (popular mechanics) press at any rate. …and liberals applaud.

There are, however, still some facts on the ground that put the lie to this view. The Chinese economy is clearly only a fraction of the U.S.’s. China’s military might, while growing, also lags behind. The difference as it stands now is in the willingness each country exhibits in using these to advantage. China has shown it is serious about overtaking the U.S., while America, under the current administration, could care less about maintaining its edge.

We have come to a critical point in world history. For the first time, we have an administration whose fundamental view is that America should not be preeminent on the world stage and is actively seeking to bring this about. It has happily abandoned the notion of American ‘exceptionalism’ and gone to foreign shores to apologize for America over and over again. At the same time, it has all but abandoned its traditional allies and sought to embrace its enemies.

The strategy, if there ever was one, was to ease points of friction by simply stopping the wheels. It has not worked. Unilaterally deciding to step aside and end our resistance to the thrusts of our traditional enemies will not automatically make them into friends. Instead, they will interpret this as a sign of weakness and double down on their efforts. Meanwhile, our friends are heading for the tall grass.

So far, our media has put down sundry omissions and missteps in diplomatic protocol to our president’s inexperience. In the diplomatic world, however, no serious player would return symbolic gifts to allies, offer inappropriate gifts to heads of state, bow to lesser leaders, inadvertently fly foreign flags upside down, or misspell the names of foreign dignitaries on White House table settings. Just not done.

Lang Lang’s ‘prank’ was not a mistake. It was carefully and deliberately orchestrated with the full knowledge of Chinese leadership. It was meant primarily for home consumption, showing that China is running rings around a timid and uninformed America. (Chavez pulled a similar stunt.) It is the equivalent of Chinese proxy North Korea sinking the Cheonan or bombing a South Korean (populated) island with impunity.

As is his way, Obama, the President of the United States, leader of our nation, just sits there in seemingly ignorant bliss and allows the credibility of our once great nation get dragged through the mud. No doubt Hu Jintao (as well as bin Laden) has seen the pictures of American soldiers tied to the backs of Toyota pick-ups being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. It’s doubtful that Obama’s memory goes back that far.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Steve Miller Band

Steve's finest work.

American Royalty

The Kennedys are as close to American royalty as anyone in my lifetime has ever come. This is the reason the ground on which even idiot blood walks is still routinely worshipped. John Kennedy was by no means an idiot. This distinction is reserved for most comprising the modern-day clan. John Kennedy was an able representative of his party in its day.

Back then, of course, the Democrat party was more conservative than even the Republicans are today. Some say that back in 1960 Kennedy and Nixon were virtually tied at the end of a hotly contested presidential race. It was only after Richard Daley raised thousands from the graveyards of Chicago and bussed them to the polling stations that Kennedy was nudged over the goal line.

Nixon knew this, but conceded anyway; for the good of the country, he was to have said.

There were problems with the Kennedy presidency, just as there have been problems with all. All that was swept aside when Kennedy was martyred - and rightly so. We only remember that he promised that we would put a man on the moon, and we did. I too will not dwell on the man's failings.

In those heady days of the sixties, it really did not matter who was president - Republican or Democrat. Both loved their country. They just had slightly different ways of showing it.

Would anyone dare to envision the Obamas, or the Bushes, or the Clintons as royalty today?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Kina

The next Tina Turner?

Sorry Larry... (Liberalism Is Not Dead)

There’s a reason they did health care. And they didn’t do it to have it repealed by the first no-name senator to come along in a now thoroughly disgraced Senate. Yes, all that Barrasso says about it is true on one level. But there are other levels behind it that support Obamacare and all else that Obama has done in his brief two years in office. My clue was the word “replace” (as in ‘repeal and…’). Possession is nine-tenths of the law. The libs control the narrative and will continue to do so. We, as the saying goes, have become chopped liver.

There are 11 years’ difference between my brother and I. So, when it came time for him to drive, it fell to me to teach him. I backed out of the driveway and gave him the wheel. So far so good. We went down Springfield and made a right turn onto Oakley. At the Beekman, I told him to turn left. That’s where the trouble started. He didn’t turn the wheel hard enough and we ended up on somebody’s front lawn. I asked him to back up and try again. He did, and smashed into a telephone pole, leaving a permanent ‘V’ in my newly chromed rear bumper. I had sense enough to end the lesson right there and then and told him to get out of the car.

First, we poisoned world financial markets by ignoring the elementary rules of capitalism in an effort to satisfy some utopian fantasy in which everyone is entitled to own a home. Then we drove our own markets into an accelerating nose dive with health care legislation with similar implausible promises. Next, we continue to pump money into places like Pakistan and Gaza, knowing full well that we are hated even more, precisely for doing so. And finally, we continue to maintain ethanol subsidies which puts food and fuel into the sharp competition within the same basket, reducing the availability primarily of food (world-wide) and sending both food and fuel prices through the roof. In India, the issue of food prices is currently poised to topple the present government. (Each of these topics is discussed in detail under different headings in this weekend’s edition of the WSJ. The lead editorial refers to our ethanol policy as ‘immoral’ as it is already taking a toll on the poor all over the globe.)

Most of our efforts are centered on the reduction of fossil fuel emissions which are said to promote 'climate change’. Even in light of the University of East Anglia e-mail revelations that exposed the whole thing as a hoax, we push on with cap and trade, fuel standards, ever mounting regulations on domestic coal and oil production, mercury light bulbs and what not.

While most other countries struggle to throw off the choke collar of unbridled socialism, we continue to make it tighter. Sure, there’s been an outcry against present policies. But it goes unheard among Washington elites. Liberalism is not dead, as many pundits after the last election proclaimed. It is now busy pursuing a scorched-earth policy, marching on an on over the wreckage of our economy, our agriculture, foreign alliances, and anything else that may have helped us in the past to achieve world class status.

Today, I read about Obama’s plan to increase government spending even further. Haven’t we tried that already? I’m sorry Larry (Kudlow), I just don’t see the silver lining in this scenario. How many dents and scratches have we yet to suffer before we hit the bridge abutment head on?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Let's See How It Plays

Olbermann gone, but not forgotten. Perhaps it all boils down to ratings after all. Olbermann has always been near the bottom of the heap. He has talent, no doubt. His talent was overshadowed by his bias. Once bias has been freely and audaciously exhibited, there is no longer any need to watch. Everyone already knew what was coming.

Olbermann is much too smart to let this happen. I suspect he was encouraged all the way. He knew that his ratings suffered. (They all know.) In fact, he had much larger audiences than what was obvious when his clips were played on much more successful shows. These made him out to be a clown and he readily obliged. Why?

I suspect it’s some version of the ‘fairness doctrine’ again: Olbermann on the Left; Beck on the right. “We’ll get rid of Olbermann, if you get rid of Beck. In fact, let’s get rid of the whole bunch of them: We’ll get rid of MSNBC; you’ll get rid of FOX. Let’s start with Beck and Olbermann and see how it plays.”
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"Despite the fact that Democrat policies are hugely unpopular, two factors have enabled the party to continue to present itself as mainstream.

“The first factor has been the media. As has been their practice forever, it seems; the media have helped Democrats by demonizing the Republicans and rightist politicians. Working hand in glove with leftist politicians, the media have implemented the politics of personal destruction against right-wing leaders. By demonizing the likes of Bush, Cheney, Palin, Limbaugh et al, they have rendered the social cost of supporting Republicans and the Right too high for many Americans to bear.

“At the same time, the media have colluded with the Left to present leftist leaders as earthy, heroic, sophisticated and responsible statesmen. By keeping the content of their policies firmly out of the discussion and framing the debate instead around personal attacks and symbols, the media have successfully kept conservative leaders on the defensive and shielded leftist politicians from substantive attacks on their radical policies.“

The preceding has been taken from Caroline Glick’s latest article in the Jerusalem Post. It is not about America. It is about Israel. I’ve taken the liberty of changing a few words.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Upsetting the Apple Cart

There can be no doubt that Apple is a hugely successful company. Their sales model works. At the moment, there is much confidence that Apple will continue to do well. No one will seriously challenge or question what Apple does as long as the company flourishes. (If it’s not broke…) Most people will agree that Steve Jobs has been instrumental in the company’s success. Consequently, there is now proper concern about Jobs’ medical condition. Successful corporate leaders, unlike American presidents, are not readily interchangeable.

Companies are much like countries. They are either successful or not. We would think twice about electing a president who smokes, for example; or one with an unsavory past. The metrics to measure a nation’s success are somewhat different however. For one thing, countries are ‘too big to fail‘. You can’t just close them down and tell the workers to go home. The failure of a country generally implies that its people are living in miserable or sub-standard conditions.

As the leaders of nations increasingly see themselves as divorced from the general population, there has been an effort underway to erase the standards by which the success or failure of a nation is defined. What remains is two classes of people: the leadership class and the led.

The leadership class is the one that generally hogs the spotlight. They tend to eclipse the led - no matter how great their numbers - in the national narrative. Furthermore, the leadership class tends to stick together. They will echo each other’s excuses and tend to support a continuance of the status quo. The led, on the other hand, are often divided and thus unable to effectively affect the issues - corruption, ineptitude, shortages, oppression, etc. - confronting them.

This is why Madeleine Albright can go over to N. Korea, smile and toast the Dear Leader while his people are starving in labor camps. This is why Robert Mugabe can continue to live in a palace; why Chavez is able to close down radio stations; why Ahmadinejad can fire live ammunition at unarmed protesters; why Hu Jintao can keep political prisoners in jail without public accusation or trial; etc.

Tunisia was a big deal because it broke protocol. The ruling class(es) - especially in the Middle East - received a wake-up call, saying that a people united are perfectly capable of upsetting the apple cart.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Name Calling

Calling Hu Jintao a ‘dictator’, ‘cutthroat’, murderer and worse is like calling Obama a ‘socialist’. It’s meant to inspire fear in some, awe in others; and serve as a clever phrase to disseminate at cocktail parties.

It’s all true! So, what are we going to do about it? Jaw-jaw: “No he isn’t.” “Yes, he is!” This kind of thing can go on forever - at least until the party winds down and it’s time to go home.

Hu Jintao is not “fearful of the facts”. Why should he be? He works within a political system which manufactures facts to suit. We do the same. Only we still pay attention to facts as they appear, which some call lies and others don’t. That makes us divided as to the facts. …and you know all what they say about ‘divided houses‘.

It all boils down to who holds the reigns. The one in power determines the facts. That’s how it is and how it has been. History books have always been written by the ones who have earned that right by victory. From God’s point of view, written history is always only half right.

The truly troubling aspect of all this is what is now referred to as the “re-write of history”. It means that we can no longer trust anything we see.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Drifting

Just finished a delightful book, “The Village By The Sea” by Anita Desai. It tells of a family in rural India - the father is a drunk, the mother is sick and dying, their 13-year old daughter is running the household, her 12-year old brother runs off to Bombay; there are also two young (school-age) girls - life looks very bleak indeed for this unfortunate family.

However, things change. And when things can’t get much worse, they often get better. The trick to survival, the author tells us, is keeping the faith. As long as you have hands and fingers to work, there’s hope.

America has had it pretty good for a long time. There’s nothing here even close to approaching conditions that exist for many Indians even now. We are often told that poverty leads to crime; that religion is all that enforces the ‘goodness’ of man; and if not religion, it is the state that must be the final arbiter in any matter.

In Desai’s book, religion plays practically no role, and neither does the state. People are ‘good’ by nature, despite their faults.

We know where Obama stands on the issue of poverty. For him, the ultimate solution is always the state. It is a philosophy he shares with Hu Jintao, his current White House guest.

Americans are almost evenly divided on the issue. Many believe that rolling back the state will bring about untold disaster. Slightly more believe that the state itself is the cause of disaster.

It is likely that we will keep vacillating between the two extremes for some time to come. Meanwhile change is inevitable. This is another theme of “Village”. Change must not necessarily be bad. It can be neutral. When Obama answers a reporter’s question by saying that “China has a different political system than we do…” he is absolutely right. He was also speaking honestly when he said that he intends to transform America.

Americans should have been astute enough to ask what exactly he meant by that. Did he mean to ease America into the Chinese system, or the Islamic system; or did he envision himself as the author of a brand-new system that has never been tried before?

We are perplexed as we watch our president work. He seems to dismiss the American system entirely. To him it is a hated relic of the past. And yet, much of what he ends up doing is following along in our previous president’s footsteps - clearly without conviction.

Perhaps Obama is impatient. He cannot wait for the changes that will come naturally. He pouts and threatens perceived enemies. He pushes and prods. And yet, he is most popular when he’s on vacation.

As far as the public is concerned, Obama’s principle problem is that he has told us nothing. He hasn’t articulated his plan. We seem to be drifting. He tells us “we’re going there“, and we end up here. And then he tells us “here is there”. It’s not something that inspires much confidence.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Guns n' Roses

It never really got all that much play. I wonder why?

Where's Waldo?

You already know how I feel about Hu Jintao's atate visit to Washington, so I won’t even go there; except to quote from a WSJ editorial this morning: “Of all the differences between dictatorship and democracy, probably none is so overlooked as the ability of the former to project strength, and the penchant of the latter to obsess about its own weakness.” This quote was written under the heading, “RED SCARE REPRISE”. Now, apply this bit of wisdom to our own Democrat and Republican parties today.
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I must say, I've been missing Beck on the radio each morning. His replacement here in New York means well but is an utter lightweight. It's like going from putting cream in your tea to putting in water. WOR gave ‘low ratings’ as a reason for dropping Beck. I happened to run across a ratings book (on the net) since. There is no way that Beck had low ratings - even in New York!!! WOR is lying big time.

Also, when you google "Batchelor leaving WABC” (some time ago) or “Curtis Sliva leaving WABC” (more recently) you get no less than eight pages of material to choose from. Googling "Beck leaving WOR (in New York)" gives you just two stories (one is a re-cap of the other). Beck is much bigger than Batchelor (in terms of ratings), yet there is practically nothing reported about Beck being dropped anywhere. No talk show host has talked about it. To my knowledge, not even Beck has mentioned it.

I’m not a Beck junkie. I haven’t gone chasing after Beck, either on the radio dial or on the net. Yet, this says to me ‘news blackout’ - like what we experienced during the oil spill, and the sinking of the Cheonan.

If this can happen, anything can happen. People can just ‘disappear’, legislation can be passed without the knowledge of those affected, election results can be manipulated, or falsified outright, etc.

This, to my mind, is a big deal. It could be an indication of where we are headed. Up until now, we’ve all been painfully aware that the media slants the news. But what are we to say if there is no news to slant?

Sure, there are plenty of links out there where you can stream Beck’s radio program, jihad, porn or anything else you might want. But that isn’t really my point, is it? It’s not a matter of having accessibility to news. There are millions of people in North Korean work camps as well. Each and everyone of them knows exactly what’s going on there. But you never hear from them, do you? It’s as if they don’t exist.

The third-highest rated radio program is shut out of the biggest American media market. And nobody talks about it!? That’s what I find disturbing!

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Apple Scruffs (How I Love You)

While I too tend to drool at the stylistic innovations of Apple products, I have never quite been tempted to buy into it. Apple, it seems, operates on the same principle of the marketing model of American car companies during the late fifties to mid-sixties. Their thrust was two-fold. One, the cars wore out after two years. And, two, after two years, the styles had changed so dramatically, nobody would want to be seen in cars two (or more) years old. The latest models were unleashed on the public with such fanfare and ferocity, it kept the cycle of trading-in the old cars for new ones in high gear.

When I went to get my iPod fixed some years ago (the battery was bad), I was told that it would be cheaper for me to get a new one (which even had additional features to entice me). Innovations are deliberatively held back to be included in next year’s model. But nobody is willing to wait that long, so they buy what’s available now, and the following year they buy again.

It’s a brilliant, all-American sales strategy that applies to women’s fashions as well. Hat tip, Steve Jobs!

Ironically, Apple products have also assumed a political dimension. Self-proclaimed liberals in particular can not seem to do without. It’s become a symbol of progressive, left-wing politics to own Apple products; much like the Volvo brand. The irony is that the Apple sales strategy flies in the face of openly professed liberal lip service in support of conservation.

The flashy cars of the sixties eventually would come face to face with the reality of more durable foreign imports, and consumers flocked to the competition in droves. Apple reminds of what’s left of the ‘trendy’, "keeping up with the Jones's" mindset. It works because an investment in Apple is not as great as an investment in a car.

As our economy continues to erode and after Apple too has been dashed upon the shoals of necessity, some toothbrush company will be attempting what Apple is doing now.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Ian Dury and The Blockheads

Reasons to be cheerful...

CLOSE OUT: Everything Must Go

Knowing and comprehending are two entirely different animals. Caring is a third. We actually don’t know what POTUS knows. We’ve never seen his college transcripts. We don’t know what courses he’s taken. It’s all a closely guarded secret.

What we do know is that POTUS has a short attention span. He does not absorb new material readily. He has a flair for spectacle and self-promotion. Hu Jintao knows that something in America has gone terribly wrong. He has come to see for himself.

I do not agree with John Batchelor that the Chinese leader sees himself or his leadership either as fragile or illegitimate. There are templates out there other than ‘democracy’. In fact, democracy seems to be on the wane the world over. It has lost favor in the same way that capitalism has. This is in large part because we’ve abused ours.

There has even been the suggestion that our very own government (under Clinton) gave away military secrets to the Chinese with full approval of the military itself. Why? Because they thought in doing so they could exact more funding from the Congress to build even bigger and better projects. Corruption everywhere.

In fact, ‘democracy’ has always been a shill for power. Power is all that ever really mattered. Since Obama, our power (under the guise of ‘democracy’) has been proclaimed illegitimate. Our enemies have been singing this tune for a long time. This is the first time we ourselves have picked up the refrain.

To view Obama as impotent, derelict or incompetent is a mistake. He is doing exactly what he set out to do. The world’s leaders are beginning to take note. Hu Jintao is no exception. The doors to the whore house have been thrown wide open. The gang rape of America is on. Everyone gets what they want.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Sudan: Happily Ever After

Too early to celebrate southern Sudan's independence from the north. Yes, elections are always a plus (or are they?) There are now indications that the elections occurred solely for purposes of clearing the table. Civil wars are always messy. It’s far easier to conduct campaign between recognized nations. The flashpoint will be Abyei. Oil will be a factor. AQ will agitate. It will not allow a Christian nation to stand. The West will fail to protect its interests.

Elections will hardly matter. It’s just a show to appease Western sensibilities. The West is obsessed with symbolism, even if symbolism amounts to mere ritual.

Last weekend, the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu celebrated Pongal. It coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated throughout India. Pongal in Tamil means "boiling over" or "spill-over”. The boiling over of milk in a clay pot symbolizes material abundance for the household. Pongal, celebrated at harvest time, is traditionally intended to thank the Sun God and farmstead livestock that helped create the material abundance.

You now know more about Pongal than the average Indian does. They see it merely as a three-day celebration sanctioned by the government and to which the Chief Minister contributes amusements and protection at designated sites. It is a secular holiday in which all can participate - just like elections (the world over) these days.

Sudan's north-south civil war has simmered since 1955, claiming an estimated two million lives.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Flores Para Los Muertos

For weeks now we’ve been hearing different people in the Obama administration obsessing about China, alternately calling them out as either ‘failure’ or ‘success‘; threat or ally (in the fight against terrorism and/or maintaining stable currency markets). We are left with a picture of China as seriously schizophrenic, split between its political wing and its military.

What we have failed to do is look in the mirror. Is it not possible that we ourselves are divided about China? It is clear that they have made significant progress in the past number of years. And they have done so on their own terms without bowing to Western frills such as giving undue attention to human rights, individual freedom, transparency and such.

Of perhaps most obvious significance, they have managed to veer their economy away from its traditional ‘dependent almost entirely on exports’ model to turn on the effectiveness of its very own consumer base (if indeed their numbers can be believed). One must remember that China is a communist, authoritarian nation that tightly controls information and its dissemination. And, even more significant for us to understand is, that in such a nation, metrics and standards by which to gage economic (or any) activity are meaningless to begin with.

There can now be little doubt that the narrative that has been created shows China as rising and America in sharp decline. In this light, Hu Jintao’s upcoming visit to Washington may be regarded more as a hospital visit to a sick friend. It is unlikely that the Chinese leader will give any ground - only sympathy. It is equally unlikely that Obama does not know he is in no position to demand more. Already, China holds the fate of America’s economy in its hands. It can collapse it with a single word.

China won’t do this now. It is presently deeply engaged in buying everything it can with U.S. virtual dollars. For the time being, it is to its advantage to keep the dollar alive. It will make its move once it feels it is fully prepared to handle any (and all) fallout in the wake of America’s final collapse (which it feels is inevitable).

For whatever reason, we’ve managed to destroy our systems. Can we really blame China for putting up theirs against ours? Can we really expect them not feed off what’s left of the dregs of ourselves we’ve left scattered and unprotected, adding more and more each day to the scrapheap of failed illusions?

No, we’ve gone off track. High-speed trains, mercury light bulbs and windmills won’t save us. And, as with the dying, cut flowers are the only consolation.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

More Christians Than Lions

There’s another narrative here that the media couldn’t quite bring off; but, God knows, they tried. That was to say, because of Obama’s visit to the hospital, Giffords opened her eyes. It would have made for terrific copy world-wide. It would have gone along seamlessly with an earlier thread: Obama as messianic figure.

All the other stuff worked. They really can’t complain. Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Tea Party - all in the dog house. The need for yet more money to treat people with psychological problems and to house psychopaths; maybe even a brand new Federal department complete with death panel czar to oversee it all. More welfare for the afflicted; higher taxes, of course. More money for education; more gun control… on and on it goes.

Finally, it’s all Republicans’ fault. Listening to Aaron Klein broadcasting from Israel last Sunday, he related how Israelis were convinced that Jared Loughner was a right-wing tea party member - and these were people working in news rooms!

In India, it’s the same story.

There are more Christians than lions; but, hell, you’d never know it.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Tunisia: From the Frying Pan Into the Fire

I don’t claim to know the particulars, but the pattern seems set: corrupt governance the world over, often supported by the West (particularly the United States) and kept in place for its own geopolitical game-board advantage; the locals - as always, getting the shaft - are unhappy. They seek alternatives. The alternative in that part of the world is invariably state(Iran)-sponsored Islam. (Note: the words “state” and “(any)religion” used in the same sentence always amounts to an oxymoron.)

Islam offers the illusion of escape from tyranny while imposing its own tyranny, but the people do not yet know it. They embrace the notion of a caliphate which promises liberation from outside influence. In a single stroke, they think all their ‘enemies’ will now be humbled - and, for now, that is enough to rally in support.

Home-grown tyranny is always preferable because its home-grown.

Why all this now? Because the U.S. under the leadership of Barack Hussein Obama has made it clear that America will no longer fight to preserve old ways; that, frankly, it no longer cares who is in charge or what happens. Algiers, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon are all on the chopping block, along with Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Turkey has already decided to place its bet with the strong horse. You bet “Israel is watching closely”. She will soon find herself surrounded by an ever-rising (green) tide. She watches in despair as her ship takes on water: Islamic fervor from without; liberalism from within, while Gibraltar America fades in the distance.

As I continue to say, America’s break with the past - brought to the fore in its last presidential election - will continue to reverberate around the globe. No one will be spared. No one can anticipate where the chips will end up when it’s over. No one is prepared. All are in deep denial. Only China is trying. You’ve got to give them credit.

The irony is that America will be blamed for whatever happens. Despite our considerable resources, we seem to have adopted a deliberate stance of not caring - primarily about ourselves.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Inappropriate

I, for one, am getting pretty sick of this story. We just keep going round and round like perpetual motion machines. The Left thinks it has something here when it doesn’t. It keeps trying to punch the square peg into the round hole. It’s really quite pathetic to watch.

What strikes me about Jared’s video is how nice the campus looks. It must have cost taxpayers quite a bundle to build. A virtual palace of learning.

Reminds of American colleges and universities building campuses in India for whatever reason - exporting liberalism, I suppose.

Reminds also of India’s project to re-build Nalanda University, a Buddhist center of learning from 427 to 1197 CE and one of the first great universities in recorded history. Nalanda was sacked by Turkic Muslims invaders in 1193, a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India. The great library of Nalanda was so vast, it is reported to have burned three months after the Moguls set fire to it. The restoration of Nalanda was approved by the Indian government in 2010. It was meant to be a project in which all Asia was to participate. China balked at the proposed involvement of the Dalai Lama in the planning. Singapore supported China’s stance. India capitulated and thus another noble experiment in education fell victim to politics and was thereby diminished.

It’s not difficult to imagine what was being taught at his community college. It’s the same liberal claptrap that’s being taught throughout America. Witness the raucous - and some say, ‘inappropriate’ - reaction to Obama’s ’memorial’ appearance at the McKale Memorial Center on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Ronald McDonald Insanity

I bet you can't watch this ten times in a row.

Assassination Prohibition

China has actually been conducting military exercises with Russia (among others) under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as late as September of last year. It was labeled “Peace Mission 2010”.

During the exercise certain Russian deficiencies came to light. No doubt, Russia is in the process of rectifying these shortcomings. Russia and China do not mock each other publicly as both are openly mocking the U.S. Both know that POTUS Obama has withdrawn from the game at his own peril.

The signing of the START treaty was universally seen as a public humiliation of Obama and America. Obama knows this, but does not care. He is above geopolitics. He has his own agenda. So far, we can only guess what this agenda might consist of. We might assign naiveté to Obama; we might even assign incompetence. We might allow him to play out his utopian farce until a new man can take over in orderly fashion. Both Russia and China appear to be in agreement that it won’t hold together that long. Something will happen before Obama leaves office - it will likely be something our present president won’t know how to handle. In fact, they’re counting on it. Both are seeing to it that they are prepared.

Afterwards, it’ll be a new game.
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Ever since President Ford’s Executive Order# 11905 in 1976, the option of political assassination has been pretty much off the table. A subsequent EO in this regard (Carter’s EO# 12333) reiterated the assassination prohibition. President Reagan was the last president to address the topic. At the same time, he seemed to have no problem whatsoever in sending a lethal package right into Col. Kaddafi’s Tripoli tent, killing about 100 including Kaddafi’s fifteen month old daughter, Hana. I don’t imagine he would have lost much sleep had Muammar had been killed as well. Because no subsequent executive order or piece of legislation has repealed the prohibition, it remains in effect today.

It seems to me that all this smacks of a gross double standard: faceless grunt soldiers appear to be fair game, while those who sent them out to kill are off limits. Nowhere was this point brought home to me more forcefully than watching Madeleine Albright toasting the North Korean dictator, Kim Yong-Il, while much of his nation was starving in some bestial work camp. It showed me that there appears to be an understanding among the privileged that guarantees their continuance simply by being a member of some exclusive club.

This raises the issue of just who can be considered a ‘political target‘. What exactly constitutes the threshold of political leadership. Is the unelected Hu Jintao a legitimate leader? Is the fraudulent Karzai? Is Kim Yong-Il? Is Ahmadinejad? Chavez? Mugabe? Rush Limbaugh?

Certainly, North Korea and others have been giving us huge problems. They have threatened us and predicted our immanent downfall. They are at this very moment preparing our graves. Besides the basic unfairness of the two-tier class distinction all this implies, there are also practical aspects to consider. Did Kaddafi continue to give us much trouble after his tent was hit?

We know precisely where each one of these troublemakers lives. We knew exactly where Saddam Hussein spent his nights. Yet, we mobilized an invasion at great expense, killed a lot of people (including our own) and eventually arrived at the same result. Why go through all this?

All we’ve succeeded in doing is to ignite (perhaps) a million fuses, each singularly fixated on our death by a thousand cuts, when a single 'stitch in time' would have more than sufficed.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

No Remorse

Any written document exists at best as a shorthand in support of a theme. Any sentence within it must not and cannot be regarded as absolute truth. It can only be an approximation. Haiku is a Japanese art form in which three lines of writing aim to convey a broader concept. It usually amounts to a pictorial. The intended effect is a feeling that often defies definition.

When I say, “Obama is out to destroy the nation”, I do not mean by it that he will order the military to carpet-bomb America. And even if true, the landmass would remain along with most of its people. What I really mean is (and it has surfaced at various times, embedded in various terminology) that he is out to fundamentally 'change' the nation. He has said so himself. But we, as heretofore optimistic Americans, automatically jump to the conclusion that this American president would strive to make America a better place - at least, better than it has been. ‘Better’ meaning that all ships are raised by what he intends.

Having watched our president over the past two years, I find this is not the case. The part about ‘change’ is still applicable, but the one about ‘better’ is clearly not. As I look around, I cannot fail to see that now, two years later, everything is worse. The press does not trumpet it as they did with Bush, but nevertheless housing, jobs, and the economy in general are barely limping along. The world too, is a much more dangerous place as rogue nations, seeing America taking a back seat, are flexing their muscles.

All this could not be happening by accident. There is a plan. The plan for the past two years has been to diminish America’s influence in the world. In order to achieve this, America itself needs to be diminished. And this program is proceeding unimpeded.

You may ask yourself, why would any American - never mind the president - be complicit in such a program? The answer is: because he believes it. There are citizens living here who actually hate this country. It stems from a condition of profound narcissism. They look around and see huge problems elsewhere and erroneously assume that America - universally acknowledged to be the greatest power and influence in the world today - is at fault; that everything our nation has ever done has led to this condition; and, worse yet, that America has profited unjustly by it. Therefore, the answer they arrive at is that America must be cut down to size.

They recruit the like-minded, the weak-minded, the corrupt, and those hostile to America from overseas to form a coalition to bring this about. Our president, sadly, is among these.

It may make some sense when written within the frame of a history text or doctoral dissertation. It may even earn one honors by the way in which it was expressed, the balance, symmetry and beauty of the argument. But actual geopolitics does not necessarily conform to academic theory, however elegant. As I suggested at the outset, dogma is but a shorthand (set in stone) for utopian dreams.

There are so many factors that play into the reality of a single situation, it would overflow every existing library in the world just to house a minute fraction. Therefore, it is sheer madness to reduce these to just one or two simple solutions and then to pursue these come hell or high water.

Of far greater import is one’s love for one’s country, one’s faith in one’s people; and of wanting to do what’s best for them. In other words, to subscribe to the concept of 'exceptionalism'. Not to wallow in one’s self-loathing. Also, it’s always so much more effective to lead by example; to begin at home, or with oneself even: to develop discipline; to eschew bad habits; to remain vigilant and caring for those whose situation it may be in one’s power to affect.

Barack Hussein Obama, for whatever reason, wants to go down in history as having changed (no less than) the world. For this, he seems to be willing to sacrifice his own. It will not work. The damage he would end up doing to America would reverberate around the world. No one will be immune - least of all he.

The story of Detroit is not what it seems on the surface. It is of jackals feasting on a carcass. It is of corruption sanctified by hatred - hatred for the whites that built this once great city on the backs of blacks. It is pay-back. It is kicking over the sand castle. It is the Palestinians destroying the greenhouses of Gaza.

Even if convicted, Kwame Kilpatrick will show no remorse.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

To Live Another Day

All this is entirely self-evident. Taxation inhibits economic activity. That’s why one sees the flight of people and businesses from high tax states to lower tax states. As jobs and money flee, the tax base shrinks, resulting in less money flowing into government coffers. It’s difficult to understand why this concept is so difficult to grasp for some people.

‘Democrat ex-legislators’ have just sealed Illinois’ fate. It is not hard to figure out what will happen next. “Wisconsin, here we come!”

Unless, of course, Illinois is so progressive, they feel they are not subject to economic consequences. They would first and foremost blame the economy in general - the loss of jobs (new norm) overall, due to whatever - without necessarily understanding what the word ’economy’ actually means. They would further argue that what is quite obvious in ordinary household budgeting becomes counter-productive when applied to a macro model where increased government spending and higher taxes are the ultimate solution. They would have plenty of company in support of that view from the likes of Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist, to many in the halls of Congress, and in Democrat-controlled State legislatures.

Even more ominously looms the casual wholesale dismissal of economic principles overall; the view that it is and never has been about fiscal policy; that the whole purpose of the exercise is to make things ‘fair’ by re-distributing wealth.

Our current administration has been mounting an all-out campaign to criminalize achievement. Wealth is regarded as some kind of unpardonable stain - and, to some extent, the class warfare narrative has taken hold. If successful, metrics to actually measure economic success or failure would cease to exist. Only one thing would stand in the way of fully implementing the program: neighboring states or countries in which capitalism actually works.

That is why these too have to be destroyed by Federal rules and regulations. It is why Israel cannot be allowed to survive, and why America cannot remain as she once was.
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Read an article this morning in the WSJ by John Eibner and Charles Jacobs, entitled, “Will Freedom Come for Sudan’s Slaves?” about a country that is about to be split in two. Among a whole host of outrages, slavery is still practiced in northern Africa. It is of the most brutal and degrading sort, vividly detailed here.

Earlier this week, I saw a clip of a debate on France 24 about the kidnapping and murder of French citizens in Niger. And yet, we keep our condemnation close to our vests. At no cost must we insult Islamic extremists. They are noble savages, after all. Easier to turn against ourselves and become like them. It is now clear that they won’t necessarily like us any better if we do; but, at least, they’ll presumably no longer be tempted to come across to our shores to raise holy hell. We who have far less experience in the art of intimidation and physical brutality may yet live another day.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/