Category Error: Attacking Norway for Pearl Harbor

Bahukutumbi Raman, in a recent dispatch labeled “PAK ARMY & ISI: DANGEROUS MIX OF HUMILIATION & DESPERATION”, warns that Pakistan may be planning to redeem itself by orchestrating a successful strike against India, especially in the contentious Kashmir region.

No doubt, Pakistan’s citizens are seriously concerned about the ability of their government and armed forces to protect them. No doubt there has been talk on the streets of intelligence failure at best or illicit collusion with the Americans at worst.

Yet, all this follows a familiar pattern. Most military incursions into sovereign territory for any reason are done in stealth. The inevitable questions and accusations follow. Did Roosevelt know about Pearl Harbor in advance? Did Bush know about 9/11? And in her column in yesterday’s Jerusalem Post, Caroline Glick accuses Ehud Barak, Israel’s Defense Minister of failing to anticipate trouble along the country’s Syrian border on Nakba Day.

The truth is, no government can promise ironclad security to its citizens. A successful strategy, however, must involve the threat of consequences for anyone intending such a move. If Pakistan were to attack India in the wake of its so-called ‘humiliation’, such redemption would be short lived. For one thing, India had nothing to do with the bin Laden raid.

President Bush underwent a hell of tortures for his decision to attack Iraq in the wake of 9/11. His opponents constantly labeled it as “the wrong war”. In the end, rightly or wrongly, it proved to be his undoing.

My own sense of Pakistan’s leadership is that it is too mature to attack India as a direct consequence of the U.S. bin Laden raid. It has far better options: Turning its focus away from Washington to cooperating more with China is one. If India is attacked, it will not be because of anything that happened in Abbottabad.

I wish I had a similar degree of confidence in America’s foreign policy.

Sheer Madness

My dander goes up when I hear people say, “Everybody does it.” Or, “Republicans are the same as Democrats.” It’s like saying, “Everybody is at fault,” when what you really mean to say, “Nobody is at fault.” If there is indeed fault, we need to get specific.

As pertains to the Middle East in particular, it is often said that Islamists target all who are not followers of Islam alike. Therefore, India, Europe and Canada all are in the crosshairs. This trope is spread by Israel for obvious reasons. It is, to my mind, is a simplification; when, in fact, the truth is even simpler than that.

I am an American. I have seen and heard people targeting America for destruction. Likewise, I have seen and heard people targeting Israel for destruction. I’ve seen and heard it as clear as a day in September. I’ve heard it said that anyone with ‘links to America’ must be destroyed. (This is important to understand: ‘links to America’.) I’ve dug a little deeper and learned that primary reason they hate us is because we have a history of supporting Israel. And suddenly, we arrive at the nub of it. It means that if Europe and Canada had no links to America, they would be safe. It means that if America did not have a history of supporting Israel, America would be safe.

These very same people (you all know who they are) have now partnered with the communists. This muddies the picture somewhat. Communists don’t care a whit about Israel. All they care about is that capitalism falls. They are using the first group of malcontents to see to it that it does. After that has been accomplished, the Islamists and the communists will fight it out. We will no longer care what happens, because we will no longer be around.

I’m not saying that we should abandon Israel. My posts have been consistent in their support of Israel; even now, when such unequivocal American support - as Israel has enjoyed in the past - appears to have eroded at the highest levels of our government. For me, Israel has always been a reliable bellwether to forecast our own situation. But, it has become more crucial than ever for us to define our terms precisely if we are to have any chance of prevailing in this struggle that has put our very identity at risk. Israel is a part of our identity.

To seek easy solutions – such as sacrificing Israel – or worse, ignoring the core problem all together, would be sheer madness.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

View from India: Wake Up Call

by Parvathi

It was unexpected - the killing of Osama - in the sense, we were not aware of how hot the pursuit must have been. It was said to have taken place without anyone knowing. That's hard to believe. Either way, Pakistan is absolutely miserable about its public image - America's favorite, not being told about the operation that took place just a few miles from its capital. Or worse, did Pakistan trade Osama for Afghanistan?

Strangely enough, Osama bin Laden no longer had what it takes to evoke any great emotion. In the ten years after 9/11, Al Qaeda has morphed and metastasized into a movement in which Osama appeared no longer to be central. It had become an ideology - a social movement, some say - that can no longer be easily wiped out. Who knows, maybe Osama hiding in Pakistan hated his miserable life - whatever. The most suspicious thing to me about the whole operation were the repeated reports by the press about Osama's burial at sea, complete with proper Islamic rites. Burial at sea when he was killed on land? Islamic rites - really?

Someone seems to have slipped up on their homework. Was it even Osama who was killed? Or was it all staged to boost President Obama's sagging public image? He now goes down in history as the man who avenged the carnage of 9/11. What about Osama's image as a martyr to the cause? What about the backlash for not giving him a proper Islamic burial (facing Mecca)? Who knows? Time will tell. My commitment to politics reaches only as far as the armchair remote; I see only generalities.

But the Islamic faith is an unique one. For one thing, it speaks of an abstract God who is beauty and truth. There is no image to focus on and pray to. Islam also recognizes that all men and women are equal: the beginnings of Socialism perhaps?

I had a wonderful experience of staying with a Hyderabadi Muslim family, years back, when I was in college. The men and women ate separately sitting round a low table. What fascinated me was this: their servants also ate with them - something I had never seen anywhere else before. These people were very rich upper class traders, but at the table all were one. I saw this again while watching a Bergman movie about the 19th century Swedish middle/upper-middle class. Of course here the men and women were not segregated as in the Muslim household. Neither way seemed particularly unnatural. It has always stayed with me, this wonderful feeling of community that came across.

This morning while walking on the beach I saw a beach party in progress. A big group of young people were celebrating someone's birthday with cake and candles. They were busy cutting pieces of cake, serving each other, drinking fizzy soda pops and all the rest of it. Standing at the fringe of it all and watching avidly were two beach urchins. The smaller one was asking his big brother questions: what are they eating? why the candles? how does a cake taste?

A man stood watching the two kids. He had a prayer cap and sported the traditional Muslim beard. He walked up to the group said something to them. The young people cut a couple of pieces and the man went up to the boys with the pieces of cake. The older one said he did not like cake, but the younger one just grabbed his and ate it with gusto. He looked positively ecstatic. The older one then reluctantly took the other piece. They thanked the man with the prayer cap. He said, "Allah is just, beautiful, and true." and walked away. The beach urchins turned and went their own way.

I never thought of telling the group to share their cake with the two kids.

-- from Parvathi's blog FINE LINE; reprinted by permission.

A Little Bit Pregnant

JB raises a salient point when he poses the question regarding OBL being shot in cold blood; that is to say, he was ‘unarmed’. Even the WH spin-Meisters appeared to have trouble explaining it as evidenced by the fact that they felt compelled to change their story regarding this. It must be assumed that the second version is true.

This administration has had trouble with (what now appears to be) this particular policy before. It reminds me of the would-be Detroit bomber who was read Miranda rights before he even had time to spill the beans. And again, with a strike that presumably was designed to take out Kaddafi (but failed to achieve its objective). It may just be a way for the administration to circumvent its own rules and directives; and also a way to keep from having to add to the inconvenient GITMO population. It may also be due to an understanding that there are now no longer any interrogation methods at our disposal that are both legal and effective.

It’s not a question of us knowing what bin Laden would have said. By unwritten contract with our government we agree to not know some of the seamier deals that go on between governments and international outlaws. We assume that there are competent people whose job it is to know and how to handle such things while keeping our own best interests at heart.

I remember Bush saying (shortly after the 9/11 attacks) that appropriate measures will be taken; that we will be aware of some of these and not of others; that even our successes might never be known. In trying to find the exact quote (which I didn’t), I ran across Bush’s speech before a joint session of Congress (with Tony Blair in attendance). I was moved by this speech. I had forgotten it, though I must have seen it because I remember the line, ‘you’re either with us or…”

How our world has changed since then! Bush was subsequently attacked and vilified incessantly for cheap partisan political advantage. He was mocked, taunted. He was denied his victory. That would go the Barack Hussein Obama in much diluted form.

I urge you to watch this particular speech again and tell me honestly how Bush’s own words paint him as a buffoon. He was never a buffoon. He was painted that by ourselves (for whatever prurient reasons). This speech says volumes about the Bush presidency – the last American presidency.

Everything Bush spoke that night was true, logical and understandable. His plan of attack was measured and sound. Little did he know that the nation would be derailed by our own; that the enemies of America had already infiltrated and organized into a powerful force at the highest levels of our key institutions.

Instead of coming together, we came apart, installing our first post-American president to our highest office; a man, whose words ring hollow to most Americans. They serve only to divide us even further. Trust has been broken between us and our government. Even, what now should be regarded as a great victory is tainted with uncertainty and suspicion.

Take some time to hear President Bush’s post 9/11 speeches again and note how far we have fallen – now, to the very brink of bankruptcy. Take a look at the pictures of the collapsed Trade towers. It’s a fair metaphor of where we find ourselves today. Bin Laden never had to lift another finger. We ourselves bravely went out and finished his work in his stead.

The fact that many people are yet unwilling to recognize what has happened to us makes us into little girls who come home and announce, “Guess what? I’m a little bit pregnant.”

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Barack Hussein Obama: The American President

Peter Koelliker replied to comment from NJ to IL | May 3, 2011 10:12 AM | Reply

Spengler is awesome. I’m glad you discovered him. He goes by a pseudonym and nobody really knows who he is. He is deep and keenly aware of what’s going on. He has Obama figured out to down to the patterns of his crib blanket.
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All is forgiven. Obama has redeemed himself. In one masterful stroke he has managed to turn a failed presidency into a great success – this according to major media reports this morning. Were elections held today, Obama would win handily over any (Republican) opponent. It was he, after all, who succeeded in slaying America’s most recognizable enemy and killer of nearly 3000 innocents back on 9/11/01.

Osama has been crowing about it ever since, taking credit and chipping away at America’s confidence. Quite beside the point is the fact that bin Laden was never the architect or inspiration of al-Qaeda; that al-Qaeda was always a burgeoning movement that chose to adopt bin Laden’s human face in order to present itself to the world.

There are now millions of other names and faces associated with al-Qaeda just as there are now also a multitude of faces competing to represent America. Al-Qaeda is really only an abstraction, quite like the idea of ‘America’ is an abstraction. The president of a country enjoys an enormous advantage over all others insofar as he has been proclaimed ‘leader’ by whatever means that nation decides to conduct its leadership lottery – this, quite apart from any particular ideology.

That much is true for any street gang or family. Someone always comes to the fore to assume responsibility for maintaining the clan’s security and giving voice to its ambitions. Seldom – though it has happened – does a leader actively champion the clan’s demise.

Ascension to leadership usually involves a killing – either virtual or direct – some demonstration of power and the willingness to use it. Bin Laden certainly fit the bill on that account. What he managed to do was audacious and unexpected. It rocked the most powerful nation back on its heels. We never quite recovered and remained on the defensive. Now, Obama took it right back to them by this (alleged) high profile killing that cannot go unnoticed. It means that al-Qaeda has weakened just enough to let it happen.

The truth is that al-Qaeda has changed. It is no longer a fledgling, narrow Islamic-based, anti-colonialist movement. It has grown into a global force with many powerful allies. Bin Laden’s brand was no longer adequate to encompass its expanded mission statement that now involves nations and a wholesale shift away from capitalism. Bin Laden had become old hat, passé. He was expendable.

The new face is Barack Hussein Obama’s. He has shed his timidity and shown that he now means business. And we applaud the resurgence of (the new) America.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Clouds Gathering

Things are starting to come into focus. Let’s stipulate for a moment that all we’ve been hearing is true; that Obama is actually native born, and that he succeeded in finding and killing Osama; that Osama hasn’t really been dead for years and that it’s not only just now that Obama is taking credit for his corpse. Let’s even say that Pakistan was involved in the ruse (which now seems likely) and that the whole thing hinged on a deal by which Obama get’s Osama and Pakistan gets Afghanistan. How does this help Obama?

Well, for one thing, judging from the reaction of both the left and right media, Obama is counting on his poll numbers to go up – and stay up. He’ll be able to say to the American public that the war in Afghanistan is now over and we can withdraw our troops. Americans would view this as welcome news and give full credit to our heroic and victorious president - and reelect him to a second term.

The problem is that the world has changed since 9/11. What has changed is that the Left and the Islamists are now united and are working in consort for a common goal. The movement that started with bin Laden is no longer strictly Arab based. It is based on the far broader idea of ending western capitalism. There are strong indications that Obama is quite on board with that. This would make POTUS our very own home-grown “Jihad Johnny” (Walker, a.k.a. ‘The American Taliban’).

The fly in the ointment is the Islamic inviolable desire to push Israel into the sea and that this must occur before anything else happens. POTUS has already shown himself as being no particular friend of Israel. Yet, he still depends heavily on (liberal) Jewish support. This would require him to play a double game. He must seem to please both the Arabs as well as the Jews.

The best way for him to proceed would be to work against Israel in a stealth manner. We note that every maneuver of his is designed to weaken Israel and strengthen her adversaries. It is my belief that he intends for Israel to fall while keeping his own hands clean. I do not believe this strategy will work. When push comes to shove, Israel will either successfully defend herself or receive help from an unexpected source. (China?)

At this point, the Left-Islamic coalition will come off the rails and the game will be exposed. The West will turn on a dime and fight back. None of this will be pretty to watch; but in the end all will turn out alright. The cleanup will be tremendous though. Economies will be in ruins and there will be plenty of blood. Islamists will meet up with their sainted martyrdom and the Left will be pursued to the ends of the earth.

We are reminded of the start of the Second World War. It’s difficult to imagine such a war without the U.S. being on the side of the good guys. But Germany turned out alright in the end, after everything was said and done. It’s just a shame that we will have to go through the whole mess all over again.

You might want to re-read my article entitled “The Tables Are Turning”, posted June 4th, 2010 for some background re elitism and how Israel fits into the overall picture.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Ding Dong The Witch is Dead

Good story, this morning’s news. I don’t know if my heart can take it. In less than a week’s time we’ve unearthed no less than two holy grails: Obama’s alleged birth certificate and Osama Bin Laden’s alleged body. Both make Obama look like Superman, himself of now questionable citizenship.

Note that by POTUS’ own admission, we have now entered the silly season. In Obama’s mind, he sees himself as running against both Bush and Trump. Both opponents – one clearly virtual; the other quite real – have been one-two punched in early sparring. It makes Obama seem heroic and effective. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

The way our present political system is structured, we need a boogie man inspire and maintain cohesion. If bin Laden is indeed dead – as everyone is currently reporting – it would serve as somewhat of a blow to our hawkish stance re Afghanistan. I note that the president made sure to take personal credit for the kill. All that was missing was the banner proclaiming “Mission Accomplished”. The mystery that remains is who will be next to serve as a foil?

Unfortunately, holy grails no longer suffice to change the facts on the ground. These themselves are frequently contrived to distract from the obvious. Personally, I’m still somewhat confused. I’ve heard the phrase “architect of 9/11” applied to both KSM and Osama bin Laden. Which one is it? I’ve heard the term ‘justice’ thrown around to apply to practically anything and I note it’s even used do denote Eric Holder’s Federal fiefdom which to my mind hasn’t exactly distinguished itself.

I can hardly wait to see what the mainstream press will be making of these latest developments in the face of our continuing economic collapse and other tensions. It’s too bad that both Batchelor and Bahukutumbi Raman happen to be ‘away’ at this momentous juncture. Frankly, there are precious few others whose analysis I respect.

Suffice it to say, that we are now in full re-election mode and anything can still happen – even the improbable. Was happy to hear that bin Laden was buried at sea in full accordance with Islamic custom. I’m sure that the American military had been adequately instructed in advance. If bin Laden had been a Parsee, this exercise might have presented some logistical problems. But, never mind; what’s done is done and seems to have worked out nicely for our president and all concerned. If nothing more, Obama has discovered the power of documentation.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

'Check Engine' Light

For the first time I see U.S. oil dependence as a real existential threat. The perfect storm is raging while we are agonizing over Charlie Sheen. Oil prices alone will crush our economy. We can now appreciate the efforts of previous administrations designed to keep it all together. ‘Containment’ had become an intricate game that demanded increasingly complex solutions. Clearly, our present administration does not know how to play.

We went to war in Iraq in response to 9/11. It was not something we could avoid. Admittedly, we ran the risk of destabilizing the region. It did not destabilize. We actually were on the right track. The countries of the Middle East were reminded to mind their manners. They did - for a time. When it became clear that America was crumbling from within and that we would not be able to sustain the drive, they began to bolt. The election of Barack Hussein Obama confirmed to the world that we were finished.

Now, voters' remorse. We don’t even have it in us to criticize our president’s handling of the job. We’re just desperately hanging on till the next election cycle, watching as we circle the drain. Our fear that we won’t last that long is already palpable.

Russia and China will survive. It’s not that our past presidents were so much smarter or capable than Putin or Hu Jintao. But at the very least it was a more or less even match. Now, ‘the U.S. is out of the game’. We’ve left the stadium and taken our ball.

There is one attribute that elevates the leaders of China and Russia (and those of most other nations) to the status of players on the global gridiron: patriotism. Most leaders take pride in their countries. They may have different ways of expressing it; different approaches; different ideologies, etc. But, in almost every case, they do what they do to give their nations a chance to survive. Even Kim Yong-Il rattles his bones of a nation to fair advantage. There are only two notable exceptions: Iran and the U.S.

Iran is so locked into an eschatological vision, it pays no heed to possible consequences. This, while current U.S. leadership wildly pursues some utopian ideological throw-back to some unworkable drug-induced version of a coma. Both are so arrogant as to ignore any and all warning signals.

I’ve been driving for years with my ‘check engine’ light on. So far so good. I haven’t had problems. It’d be a bit different if I still had to ferry kids to and from soccer practice. Or, if I were running a country with over 300 million people in it.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Too Civilized

It seems we have become too ‘civilized’ to fight wars with guns. In fact, guns are now classified as being pretty much in the same category as Chinese toxic toys. So, what do we do now? How do we fight?

We now use food, currencies, unemployment, propaganda and promises as weapons. And even so, there must be blood. We haven’t yet given up entirely on the puritanical idea of requiring the blood of a sacrificial lamb - a price paid - to give substance to any effort. Israel.

America is losing. America will survive, but in greatly diminished state. Our anachronistic weapons will no longer save us. Our money is worthless. We are dispirited. We are forever reacting. We have no plan. Go with the flow; jump aboard. Better late than never. The flow is toward chaos. Hang on! We are going down.

It is now our official policy, to draw back; to hide in the reeds, watching as our house of cards collapses. We have no strategy, no will - only ideology; ideology which says that whatever anybody else does is good. We have been wrong all along. Bush. The terrorists are right. They, at least, are fighting for a cause. We have no cause. We have no religion. The almighty dollar crashes and burns like the twin towers in Lower Manhattan.

We hate ourselves. We promote the chief haters to important positions. We teach our kids to hate themselves - their country, their parents, their heritage.

Change. It’s coming. It’s been coming for a long time. We hope for the best: collective salvation; deus ex machina in the form of Islam, perhaps?

It no longer matters how we got here. The dominos are falling. I’m currently reading a delightful book, a novel by R. K. Narayan, “A Tiger for Malgudi”. The headmaster of the school is hiding in the rafters, watching the the sage lead the beast to safety. The town’s folk, skeptical at first, marvel at the ease with which their humble ‘savior’ handles the animal which turns out to be smarter than all the bureaucratic heads, paralyzed by fear, put together.

So we fight; for fight we must. To get what we want; or to keep what we believe to be ours. We use all our modern tools to our best advantage, even while we now openly question which side our general is on.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Decoy

Obamacare, as it has come to be known, may be only the tip of the iceberg. It may simply serve as something of sufficient gravity to keep the opposition occupied and out of the way while a whole host of other unpleasantness quietly slips under the radar - FINREG, immigration, military budget cutting, START, Israel, Iran, China, Venezuela, terrorism, cap and trade, the dollar, net neutrality, just to name a few. Obamacare may have been envisioned simply as a decoy from the start.

I dare say, that if Obama had been right in his approach to all the other issues facing the nation, there would be little or no outcry over Obamacare now. The fact remains that everything, without notable exception, that the 111th Congress has passed in conjunction with this president has been wrong. Nearly everything he has said has revealed his own personal agenda which, in the final analysis, is not America’s agenda. Even the hope that this president would bring us together along racial lines has been dashed.

I personally cannot see how this president can recover. There is literally no way back for him. Any backtracking at this point (or at any point in the future) will at best be viewed with suspicion. For most Americans, Obama has already torn up his ‘parent card’.

Still, Obama seems confident going forward. Why? Could it be that he has even more in store for us than has already been revealed? I would be the last to ever count this president down and out. I believe that within the next two years the other shoe will yet drop. (It’s happened already once with the bogus financial crisis that anyone has yet to explain - the one that brought Obama to power. It happened even before that with the World Trade Center bombing that kept Bush in office a second term.)

In boxing you first ‘soften up’ your opponent, then you let him have it with the haymaker.

In other words, we haven’t seen nothing yet.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

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/

Don't Tell Anybody

Just the other day, I heard one of our local morning radio hosts expressing surprise at the speed with which the new “Freedom Tower” is going up. “It’s almost half-way there,” he said.

I haven’t been there myself recently. I can only guess that he’s right. The fact that it’s taken us almost 10 years to get crackin’, however, is a disgrace. On the battlefield, the role of flag bearer is always most important and, hence, dangerous. The man remains a target to the end. If he should fall, another will pick up the flag and continue the advance. The soldiers take their cues from the position of the flag.

We’ve allowed our flag to lay fallow for far too long. We’ve been wrangling about it either to advance personal egos or to keep personal egos from advancing. In a way, the threat of seeing a mosque completed in the proximity of the Trade Center site on the 10th anniversary of its collapse, seems to have spurred us to action.

Make no mistake, the World Trade towers were our flag. They were our monument to the success of capitalism. It was our Mecca. Its destruction should have roiled us to immediate anger and to taking revenge. One just doesn’t leave one’s flag lying on the ground this long to be trampled.

I’m glad that it’s finally underway. Cynics say that we’re just building another target. They advise that we bulldoze the whole thing, plant a few trees in memory and be done with it. Our enemies say, “Let us plant our own flag while you declare defeat.” It’s almost gotten to the point where many of us no longer care either way.

We botched our revenge in large part because we left our flag to be trampled. Our anger flagged because our own government convinced us to take our enemies’ advice: “We’re trying to kill you. It’s true. But don’t tell anybody.”

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

No Sushi in the Lobby

When will we finally take the leap from viewing this administration as incompetent to accusing it of criminality? If there had been only one plane to hit the World Trade towers, we would no doubt still be saying that the pilots slipped up. We’re practically doing that now, even though we know. What does it take for the good people of this country to wake up and realize that we are deliberately being taken down? So many mistakes, all pointing only one way; and we still can’t seem to connect the dots!

“Fiddling while Rome burns,” I think, is the expression that applies. More to come… Arguing over tax cuts/hikes no longer matters. What happens in Congress no longer matters. What happens to our economy, in our schools, churches, synagogues; in our banks, hospitals; State Department, cookie fundraisers - all amounts to kabuki theater. Nothing happens till the end.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen Grand Kabuki. It’s boring and atonal as hell. You sit there, trying to read what it says in the program. And you try to find some connection between that and what happens on stage. It’s usually a lost cause (unless you’re Japanese). You look around to see if anybody is walking out. No such luck. You try to meditate and it doesn’t work because for some reason you’re roiling inside. You wonder if they’re selling sushi out in the lobby. At this point you’d pay a fortune even for bait.

And then it all happens so quickly. Crescendo. Trap doors opening and closing. People appearing and disappearing. Choreographed chaos - like the finale of a fireworks display. Death; fake blood, unbelievable acrobatics. You’re stunned. You can’t take it all in. It’s slipping by so fast. …and then its over. The curtain falls, and opens. The players take a bow.

“What the hell just happened?” you’re thinking as you’re walking away. You look, but there’s no sushi in the lobby.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Who Will Be Left Standing?

We tend to be arbitrarily selective in weighting individual events as to their relative importance. Almost every pundit concerns him or herself with simply categorizing the flotsam to satisfy some curatorial interest or bias. Officially, our country has already become a museum - desultory displays in every room - static, enforced silence; no running; no cameras allowed. No hint of the wave that continues to build.

During Clinton’s term in office, some tried to make hay of his brother’s cocaine use. It fell flat and was quickly dismissed as irrelevant - yet, it most likely occurred. Then, Republicans made a lot of Bill’s peccadilloes outside the sacred vows of marriage. That too fell flat, though it did ended in impeachment; in this case, merely a technical term - an asterisk - that essentially meant nothing.

Then there was Gore’s stolen election, which, as far as it went, only proved that a “bird in the hand…”

Then, it all started with 9/11.

In my view, Bush was an adequate caretaker, but the wave was already building: a hardening of positions, a disrespect of government in general. A whole line of American presidents had already been discredited, reaching back all the way to our founding.

The Left was the first to take advantage of our political chaos. Republicans had to be defeated at any price, even at the expense of the country - and things went from bad to worse. Obama was elected in ’08. He was supposed to be the messiah who was sent to bring us together and heal us. The country had been proclaimed a basket case - but, at least, we still had a country.

Obama changed things alright. He cut us loose from our moorings. It’s become clear to many of us that the Left has managed to hoist its red sail even without openly stating our destination. Meanwhile, the Right has dropped anchor. Horse latitudes. We’re not going anywhere.

Meanwhile, the wave is building. It is expected to crash on shore in early November, scattering flotsam all across our beaches. The clean-up may cost us more than we can afford.

Already the tourists are leaving the continent. The tsunami flags are flying. Both Democrats and Republicans are running for the hills. Losing has become as risky as winning. Who will be left standing? Who will right the ship? Who will clean up the beaches?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Clinton's Legacy (Redux)

It seems incredible to me that the Dems would stoop to bringing back a man who single-handedly destroyed their party. To be sure, back when he did it, the party was in much better shape than it is today. It must also be noted that Bill Clinton is not out there campaigning for Obama or any of his lackeys; he is campaigning for his wife who he hopes to take over party leadership after Obama has been disposed of.

To remind readers of just how it went; what ruptured the old-style Democrats and allowed the anti-American, hard Left to take sole possession, I reprint a post written back in January of this year:

“I am just now beginning to see how the Bush presidency was doomed from the start. My clue came from an off-hand remark made by my wife. 'Clinton was the one who damaged America’s standing in the world,' she said. This thought had never occurred to me, especially since he (Bill) is routinely held up as the gold standard of American politics by the mainstream media. Yet, what he did - what he will forever be known for - was so outrageous; it blindsided everyone. Any corporation executive, anywhere in the world, could not have survived a similar situation for ten minutes. Any self-respecting wife would have walked away. Any court would have been justified in sending Bubba to prison.

“None of this happened. Republicans were too cowardly to act. Those assigned to the matter were ceaselessly attacked. Meanwhile the Clinton spin machine went into overdrive, besmirching America’s founders one by one. 'See, what Bubba did wasn’t so bad' went the drumbeat day in and day out on the front pages of newspapers and on network TV. It went on for months; the public felt hurt and humiliated; ashamed that the man, in whom they had placed their trust, would act like a cad. They felt sorry for his wife and especially for his daughter. Eventually everyone would get tired of this sordid business and tried to pretend it never happened – just like they do now with respect to 9/11.

“The entire world watched in disbelief as Bill Clinton continued to be defended by his party. The effort continued throughout the Bush/Cheney years: In order to excuse the inexcusable, the man who would come after (Bush) had to be destroyed. It was the only chance the Clinton legacy (as well as the Democrat party) would ever have for redemption.”

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The Meaning of 'Destroy'

This backyard exercise by the president reminds me of French film, “Joyeux Noël” (‘05) about the WWI Christmas truce of December 1914, depicted through the eyes of French, Scottish and German soldiers. One minute the adversaries are cowering in trenches, shelling the b’Jesus out of each other; the next, they are singing Christmas songs, drinking and eating together; and, later, burying their dead. It was based on a true story and had a tear-jerker of a plot, showing the futility of war. Naturally, liberals liked it and wondered why the whole world could not be (re)painted in sad and pretty colors.

POTUS is waging a PR blitz throughout the country. People say they like him personally; they just don’t like his policies. This is a cop-out and a win for a president who wants to destroy our nation. It will gain him more time to do it.

Let me just take a moment to define the word ’destroy’. ’Destroy’ in war means killing and breaking things; in politics it means rendering the opposition impotent. It does not mean change, improve, or compromise. It does not mean win-win. It does not mean working together as a unit to make things better for all.

To destroy means tearing down a house for the purpose of building a mosque in its place. Destroyers have no regard for the destroyed. If the destroyed happen to still be alive, their utility is exploited; they are enslaved. My grandfather was a medical doctor in his time. When the Russians killed all others, they spared his life only because they needed his services. He became a slave. Not only black people have had the singular experience of having been slaves.

I have seen enough to know that Obama does not like any part of this country that elected him to the highest office in the land. Perhaps the ultimate fault for this situation - and it is a situation - lies with the people who could not think far enough out of the box to anticipate 9/11. And with those who elected him as a remedy for some unspecified ailment; and he turned out to be poison. We’re like babes in the woods. We haven’t learned yet which mushrooms to pick and which berries; and which ones to leave be. Someone along the way should have taught us what to look out for.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

They Are Mocking Us

“Stop following me.”

“Stop following me.”

“Go away!”

“Go away!”

“Leave me alone.”

“Leave me alone.”

“Stop hitting me.”

“Stop hitting me.”

“I’m telling Mom.”

“I’m telling Mom.”

Remember when the bully in the schoolyard or an older brother, perhaps, used to do this: repeat everything you said with the smirk of superiority on his face? He was mocking you and you would eventually dissolve into tears. This is exactly what the infantile, bullying Left is doing in response to Glenn Beck’s 8/28 gathering in Washington at the Lincoln Memorial. They are mocking us. They are attempting to diminish the gravity and sacredness of what happened there. They are showing themselves as arrogant, as disrespectful of the genuine impulse that had brought so many people from all over the country together.

Just the other day, they mocked Congress itself by inviting one of their funnymen flamethrowers to discuss a dead-serious subject on Capitol Hill. They’ve been mocking Sarah Palin and the Tea Parties and anyone whom they perceive as a legitimate threat to the continuance of their disastrous policies for as long as I dare to remember. Their attacks on these good people have been constant and merciless

Every word out of the mouth of our historic president is a mockery. He talks about the failure of education, about the failure of the housing market, about the failure of journalism, the auto industry, banking, the military, etc. never mentioning that it was he and his party that were the primary reason for these failures. And to drive the point, he recklessly proposes more of the same. Failure has become the new norm.

He mocks the polls, elections, democratic governance in general. He is mocking us as if he knows enough is in place to deny us the power to affect even an iota of change. He is supremely confident that his Marxist revolution is close to fruition on American soil. If history is any gage, he and his minions will gather on the National Mall and spew anti-American obscenities on this sacred ground.

He is confident that the mosque on Ground Zero will stand to be celebrated throughout the Muslim world on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

They are mocking us daily. In order to get them to stop, we must think back to the schoolyard and figure out what we eventually did to put the bully his in his place.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

We Have To Pretend...

What’s disturbing is that we’re still in Afghanistan. Our government is running this show. Who knows why? Despite the media’s best effort to put 9/11 on the backburner, it keeps mutating - popping up in most surprising guises. The latest happens to be that pesky mosque our government wants to build in conjunction with Islam near our sacred Ground Zero burial site. This pits our people against the government which seemingly has aligned itself with our self-proclaimed enemy.

Who would have foreseen this twist back in 2001? You really can’t make this stuff up. When the Towers fell, we are told, we had the full support of the world. When Bush came to office he inherited a surplus. Everything that was good, we are told, was squandered by Bush. History started and ended with Bush. Now, poor Obama, our historic messiah is simply trying to put things right.

In order to do this we have to roll back time. We have to pretend 9/11 never happened. We have to pretend that Muslims don’t hate us. We have to pretend that they won’t fight to the last man to get us to submit (to sharia). We have to pretend that they wouldn’t murder every last Jew if given even half the chance. We have to pretend we’re unified. We have to pretend the opposition - defined as anyone criticizing Obama’s policies - has had its tongue cut out; that the noise it generates is mere gibberish. We have to pretend that our president is not a Muslim. We have to pretend that he doesn‘t want to change us fundamentally into some version of Satan. We have to pretend we’re continuing to fight an inherited war without strategy, without history, without reason. (Note: This last point could be true.)

We have to pretend we’re not simply going through the motions of governing. We have to pretend we’re fighting a war we are winning. We have to pretend that we are not the enemy. We have to pretend we are not doing our damnest to destroy the dollar. We have to pretend that the doors to the Trojan horse we dragged into our courtyard have yet to open.

With all we are asked to believe (that goes against everything we know to be true), what are we going to tell the Taliban that will change their precious hearts and minds?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The Worm Has Turned

Conventional wisdom has it that every election hinges on pocketbook issues. The standard measure of a party on Election Day has always been JOBS. Since Obama’s election the worm has turned. Midterm elections will be primarily about Islam.

With the benefit of hindsight, we now know that 9/11 was a watershed moment in modern American history. It began a cascade of events that gave us our first Muslim(-leaning) president.

Obama’s views on how our nation should be run are more in accordance with shariah than what has come to be known as American tradition. The people of America have figured it out. At this point, the economy could do a completer turn-around between now and election day, and Democrats would still be defeated because the electorate views it as a referendum on Obama’s term in office.

The mosque controversy in New York and the holy book burning talk have served to focus attention on our government’s inability to handle the Islamic threat. Existential threats trump pocketbook issues. And while Islam’s belligerent and insulting behavior toward us is routinely ignored by our leadership, it is not lost on the people. They are beginning to demand that we pull up our socks and handle it.

Preaching tolerance and turning the other cheek has been deemed a failure. Also, increasingly, we see our enemy gaining strength. Iran is about to go nuclear. Our nation’s policy of ’changing hearts and minds’ has not worked.

It’s now coming down to the wire. We’ve run out of time. We need to hold moderate Muslims responsible for their silence. A society can be broken, but will never change, when pushed from the outside. Change must come from within. We need to get (what we are told is the great majority of moderate) Muslims to root out and turn against extremism within their ranks. Up till now they’ve been perfectly happy to go along with it. We need to incentivize them to do otherwise.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Iraqis Who Once Believed In US

Once we leave, Iraq will become a ward of Iran. The mullahs will keep Iraq unsettled; one, to embarrass the U.S.; and, two, to deny the population the space and tranquility to establish democratic systems. To jihadis, a successful Iraq is unacceptable. Iraq has already assumed the pariah status of Israel in the region.

Unlike Israel, secular Iraq has no roots. All pretense to the contrary, Iraq will become a killing fields. The life of every Iraqi who is said to have cooperated with the Americans will be in jeopardy.

In the short term, violence can be expected to increase steadily and, as JB says, for our remaining troops there the danger will escalate. POTUS will try to keep the American domestic scene riled up and unstable, so we won’t notice what’s happening elsewhere. He will say that he ended Bush’s war in Iraq - a war we should never have started. He will conveniently omit mention of 9/11 that triggered it. And that the whole exercise was a key part in an overall strategic plan to pacify the region, preserve the free flow of oil, and enhance Israel’s security by bookending Iran which had already become a menace. In any case, the WTC attacks could not go unanswered. Retaliation almost never scores precisely. Often, simply having retaliated must suffice.

As we now barely remember 9/11, the exercise seems wasted (especially since we failed to achieve our goals). This is not the fault of our military or of Bush. The Iraq initiative has been politicized from the start. It became a political football reflecting not so much the situation on the ground in the Middle East, but the political situation within our own country.

As far as Democrats were concerned, the sole object of the war was to make Bush look bad; so bad, in fact, that we now have our first half white, half black Muslim president. The war in Iraq was effectively over when Barack Hussein Obama was elected. We didn’t even fight to a draw. We lost outright. Now Iraq can be flushed down the toilet along with the American Constitution. And, as has already happened so many times around the world, Iraqis who once believed in us will now curse us to our graves. And we will have deserved it.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/