Heavy On The Gas

"...we like natural diasters as bookmarks in our chronicles. Earthquakes, flood, tsunamis, volcanoes all appear to be outside of history and non-partisan." - John Batchelor.

I really like your description of natural disasters as ‘non-partisan bookmarks’. I guess it’s been in the back of my mind ever since RE uttered the words, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.”

I just finished listening to Aaron Klein’s Sunday show in which he parsed Barack Hussein Obama’s speech last week re the Middle East. Aaron’s weekly radio program is the kind of radio The John Batchelor Show used to be; and, in somewhat diluted form, still is.

Putting aside what Aaron actually had to say, the very fact that we cannot comfortably take Obama’s words at face value is troubling. Does he support Israel, or does he not? The jury is still out on that. An argument can be made either way. Does he understand the linkage between Israel and America as it has traditionally served? And, in a more immediate sense: What does he intend for America? Again, a variety of opinion prevails.

We’ve come a long way from trying to figure out whether Bill Clinton had sex with Monica Lewinsky or not. The argument we’re having today brings it much closer to home. It puts us in the crosshairs. After two and a half years, we are still at a loss to explain who our president is and in whose interests he might be working. Meanwhile all the metrics by which we have traditionally judged administrations are telling us we’re going down.

It seems what we write here has very little impact; that even what JB and his guests may say on his mighty New York ‘blowtorch’ megaphone is but a thimble’s worth of utterance tossed into the great torrent of popular babble. I think we’re all smart enough to know that no one really cares what we say or write. If people should actually begin to care, it would probably be wise to stop. Mitch Daniels and Donald Trump (among others) seem already to have reached this conclusion.

It is, after all, only ourselves we aim to please. Unfortunately, whether by design or accident, we remain our own severest critics, forever seeking approval from someone ‘outside’. The more astute among us, perhaps, eventually come to realize that there is no one really out there – never was; never will. Call this futile exercise good old-fashioned ‘blame-shifting’.

At one time, there was a great debate to determine the center of the universe. As is customary in any such endeavors, the first three reports were wrong – and from the look of things, all subsequent reports may be wrong as well. In fact, the question may be so absurd as to not even deserve consideration.

Given all we have to worry about, it’s a small matter indeed, intended only for GPS fanatics – as is worry about apocalypse; rapture; the 12th Imam’s well; etc. These are not things we can actually do anything about. What does appear to be possible is for us to handle our own affairs with due care and dignity. And even in that we too often fail (Schwarzenegger, Strauss-Kahn).

When a nation fails, it seldom fails from the outside. It fails from within. It fails due to the fractures and divisions induced by uneven emphasis. By that score, we have failed already – even before Barack Hussein Obama started sporting his first legitimate tooth. Our president is merely the driver whom we have chosen to drive our bus. Netanyahu happens to be on that bus as well. He now wishes he weren't - as he now raises the alarm, saying that our driver may be a little too heavy on the gas.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

On A Silver Platter

We now see what the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ – much of which this president has had a hand in – has been all about. In his (billed as a major) foreign policy speech today president Obama essentially told Israel to fall back to its pre-’67 borders as a precondition for peace talks with Palestinians.

We must suspect that it has been Obama’s plan all along to hand Israel over into the hands of its enemies. Reaction should be predictable. He will be praised by Jew haters, which now includes virtually every nation on earth. (It’s nice to know that we’ve managed to sink to the lowest common denominator among nations in less than a single presidential term.) At the same time, it should send shivers through every Israeli (living in Israel).

Such borders are clearly indefensible should Israel be attacked – and it will be. Obama is betting on being able to gain acceptance in the Islamic world by sacrificing Israel. It will not work. Islamists will feel emboldened and will not stop until Europe and America are Islamized as well. Much can happen between now and then, but this nonetheless represents a milestone in the long view of some who are playing the game.

Exactly how long the game has been going on is at this point hard to tell. Perhaps Israel was doomed from the start. But this speech certainly clarifies things. The implied trade-off, of course, is that there might now be a chance for peace were the Arabs to get what they want; that wars and terrorism (and high oil prices) would cease to be a problem and that all the world would prosper.

You know my view. I’ve stated it often enough. We cannot build stability, prosperity and peace on genocide. Others have tried and it has never worked. I view Israel as the keystone of a delicate arch. It should be defended and reinforced – not removed and discarded. The arch is likely to collapse. All else we can survive: socialism; corruption; a broken economy; a broken government; even the unrelenting threat of terror.

A fallen Israel we cannot.

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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/

Cornerstone

For a long time now, money has trumped ideology. This is no longer the case – especially now that every dollar essentially amounts to an IOU. The ideologies of China and the Islamists share only a disgust of corrupted capitalism. Otherwise, they differ in significant ways. After the West has been defeated, these differences will come to the fore and begin to cause problems. China will have to tread pretty carefully for their alliance with Pakistan to work. In the Islamist’s eyes, they too are infidels, tolerated only because they are now brothers in arms.

Seldom discussed (except on Thursdays on The John Batchelor Show) is the pivotal role of Israel. We can pretty much predict how Israel is likely to react to an imminent existential threat for it shares our own sensibilities. Since Obama’s one vote-one man-one time election, it is rather our reaction to an attack on Israel that remains a question. I predict we will do nothing – this despite the clamor of the American people to step in to help.

Whether by its own effort or with the aid of someone else, Israel will survive. India may rise to the role of Good Samaritan. It has a strong a spiritual tradition and will inherently understand what is at stake. Do not summarily reject the spiritual dimension in all this; and don’t rule out China. They might well jump in as well, seeking to profit from the purely practical aspect of doing so. The Islamists will be defeated as they have defiled their religion. America will stand disgraced on the sidelines for the same reason.

And ‘the stone the builders rejected will once again become the cornerstone’ – Psalm 118:22.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Is Osama Dead?

It’s now pretty clear that Pakistan has been playing a double game. It’s likely that U.S. intelligence knew this. Pakistan represents the pivot between East and West. It’s always solicited money from both sides. If you notice, the major tensions in the world right now are all happening to the west of Pakistan right now. China views Pakistan as a dam to keep the poisoned sectarian waters flowing east.

The bin Laden killing has very little to do with all this. For one thing, ‘getting bin Laden’ was only important to America – especially to Obama who needs it as a reelection prop. The confusion disseminated by the WH in the aftermath of the assassination points to something that the WH does not want the American public to know. It was orchestrated primarily to make America’s current president look good. Indications now are that Obama had help. (1) It is no longer credible that Pakistan was unaware; and (2) given Pakistan’s close ties with China, we can assume that China knew as well.

As far as both Pakistan and China are concerned, neither one particularly cared whether bin Laden lived or died. What it finally took was a request from the WH to make it happen and any incentives that the Obama administration was willing to provide.

My own pet theory is that Osama died years ago in some cave of kidney failure; that this too was known. And that the raid was staged. This would explain some of the scrambling for a narrative we are witnessing. What happens next will depend on the likely dead-cat-bounce in Obama’s poll numbers.

Pakistan and China have now got theirs as well. Obama will declare “mission accomplished” and withdraw his troops from Afghanistan, leaving the field wide open for them. Perhaps this is why we have been so reluctant to destroy the poppy fields, the only viable industry in the country. China will use Pakistan as a proxy to restore tranquility to the region. The Saudis will help. With America now completely out of the picture, the next move is Iran’s.

Is Osama dead? Probably. When did he die? Unknown.

Stinks To High Heaven

‘Purposeful’? Please! The (UK) Telegraph reports that Barack Obama is set to release up to 2000 photographs of prisoner abuse by U.S. military personnel. This comes at a time when he decides not to release pictures of the dead Osama bin Laden. While it is likely that both issues are still in flux – as the WH has been known to waver – the fact that this is even being discussed at this time is nothing short of a slap at America.

There is your reason for why former President Bush will not be seen with Obama (at Ground Zero or anywhere. I would even go so far as to suggest that everyone stay away from today’s wreath laying.) I have often said that the primary aim of this post-American administration is to sow chaos. We have chaos in our financial markets; we have chaos in our energy sector; we have chaos in our government… Everywhere you look there is chaos and no attempt is being made to steer away from what appears to be total collapse.

This incident involving the release of photographs shows as clearly as anything I have seen what Obama is up to overall. It can no longer be regarded as isolated happenstance; a mistake; second thoughts; inexperience – what have you. The pattern is unmistakable.

There is now an attempt to pull Pakistan into it. It is said, they couldn’t possibly NOT have been involved. Pakistan could actually be cleaner than we think. Maybe Pakistan knew that bin Laden was already dead. They were simply paid not to interfere with Obama’s Hollywood photo shoot. I’ve seen the pictures purported to be of the dead bin Laden. I see a dead man. I don’t necessarily see bin Laden. For all I know, it could all be a hoax. The argument against it, of course, is that too many people had to have been involved. Somebody would be bound to talk.

It’s not that there haven’t been hoaxes before. Do I have to list them? ‘Global warming’, for one. Many also suspect the financial meltdown just before the 2008 election. What about the current American presidency itself? You would have to agree that the way in which Obama was elected was highly unusual. (No background checks; no checks at all.) And you’ve got to ask yourself: Would America really have elected a Marxist, had they known? Come to think of it, the last thing I saw on television that was real was the World Trade Towers coming down. Since then, it’s all been pap, and us trying so hard to believe that we haven’t been played for fools.

BTW, I continue to be astounded by Larry Kudlow’s continued optimism. I see nothing on the horizon that would justify this. I agree that if a proper election were held in 2012, our skies would brighten. At this point the leg of a stool would be an improvement over the current WH occupant. And yet, every day we are told that Obama could and will win reelection. I, for one, am wondering if we’ll even make it that far.

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/

Kabuki Theater: The Birth Certificate

Peter Koelliker | April 27, 2011 11:23 AM | Reply
Judging from last night’s show, Larry Kudlow has finally jettisoned his phony optimism and declared Obama’s policies to be all wrong. He, like everybody else, is basing any residual optimism on the assumption that Obama will not be reelected in 2012. All the talking heads agree that this is now inevitable.

The picture that immediately comes to my mind is one of a thief having broken into the jewelry store and set off the alarm. He knows that the cops will arrive in just a matter of minutes and is desperately trying to grab all he can before he hears the sirens. Then he plans to make his escape out through the back door and jump into a waiting get-away car.

What if the cops never arrive? What if there has been some sort of diversion that sent the cops to some different place where they get all tied up? What if the thief has all the time in the world to clean out the place and saunter away? What if the thief gets away with all of it?

Obama does not act like he’s concerned about his reelection. What if he knows that something of such magnitude will happen that it would be impossible to hold elections? Or, what if he knows that the elections are rigged? Who is to question the result?

To say that Obama has been the most unorthodox commander-in-chief we’ve ever had would be an understatement. I’ve never fallen in with the crowd that says he’s stupid. If he’s not stupid, he is smart. Does anyone really think that he, as a smart man, hasn’t thought of everything?

Does anyone really think that what he’s done so far is due to stupidity? He has declared from the start that he means to transform America. We should by now know what he meant. He’s been entirely consistent. Every move he has made has had the effect of diminishing the power and influence of America and pushing her towards chaos. At the same time, he has increased his own standing (the opposition is hopelessly fractured).

I maintain that none of this is accident. We’re all sitting through the slow-moving initial part of a kabuki play, wishing desperately for it to be over. Then, just before the end – before the election – we are suddenly jolted awake. The music grows louder. Trap doors slam open and shut. Actors appear and disappear. How acrobatic and agile they all are! …and then it’s over. We see Obama taking a bow. Time to gather our coats and go home. But there’s no longer a home to go back to. Obama is still president.

Whom can we turn to? Dazed and confused, we walk the streets. All the signs have been changed. America is transformed.

All the while, we’ve watched as the fuses were being lit. Economic collapse. Fuel and food shortages. Civil unrest. War. All the while we’ve sloughed it off. All the while we thought it can’t happen here. All the while we’ve watched the right hand while ignoring what the left was doing.

Obama knows exactly what he’s doing. Unless it rains, his pyrotechnics will catch us off guard. It’s timed to happen before election night 2012. (2008 was just a dry run.) This promises to be the big deal.

I’m telling you, the man won’t just simply go away. He’s following the playbook to the letter. It’s the playbook of revolution. The rest of the world knows it. That’s why they’re all heading for the tall grass. Only we, dullards, sit here. Bored beyond endurance, we still hope to be entertained, even while the furniture is slowly being moved around to accommodate the fancies of our dear leader.
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Today, Obama released his long-form birth certificate. He merely did something that he people have long been entitled to. Good for him. Fake or not, this should put the issue to rest. Still not resolved is just who exactly our president is. Given his track record, we cannot be sure. In his statement after releasing his birth certificate, the president couldn’t help but take a swipe at all those who raised the question. “Birther” is once again a dirty word, used to smear and discredit (Trump), when it is he (Obama) who instigated the whole controversy in the first place.

Of note perhaps is the timing. What else is happening today that the president does not necessarily want us to examine too closely? “Watch the flourishes of my right hand and miss what my left is doing.”

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Piggy's Broken Glasses

While it’s entertaining to indulge in clever segue; delicious irony; add to it a dash of cynicism, perhaps; and execute astounding word pirouettes - the time has come when we long for a voice, saying clearly and distinctly, “Look, the house is on fire; get hold of some buckets; and some of you go out and find these bastard pyros before the whole town burns down to the ground. And make sure you catch at least one of them alive so we can waterboard him and find out who the hell’s behind it.”

If every world leader friendly to America were brought down by some sin, what would it prove? That the wages of sin only work one way? That the sinners on the other side are automatically absolved forever? The point is that Berlusconi is about to be brought down – to be replaced by whom? Anarchists? Leftists? America haters?

Our instincts have been right all along: close the borders before starting to consider amnesty; plug the leak in the bottom of the boat before we start arguing about who does the bailing - and how.

We all admit that our economy is broken. Obviously, the track we’ve taken of appointing those who broke it in the first place to fix it hasn’t worked. It’s time to regroup and try something else.

In the same way that finding bin Laden would have meant eternal salvation for George W. Bush; in the same way as unmasking Obama would give Trump the American presidency; in the same way Obama envisions handing Israel over to the Islamists would secure for him a luxury apartment in downtown Mecca - the only plan right now must involve stopping the hemorrhaging.

We’re bleeding trust, confidence, talent, savings, jobs, respect… Take a look at the video that’s up on Drudge right now. Is this not an apt metaphor for where we now find ourselves? Union thugs. Tea parties. ACLU. ACORN. “Lord of the Flies”: “The chief led them, trotting steadily, exulting his achievement. He was a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand dangled (not the conch, but) Piggy’s broken glasses.”

Time for some adults to step into the ring. We’ve already - long back - agreed to put cops in our schools. Better start hiring more. People will soon be demanding protection in every fast food joint on the planet. And there are a lot more of them around than there are schools.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

J'Accuse

What’s there not to like? Obama now goes around and openly says all this Marxist stuff. And we just sit around applauding – like the monkey pull-toy clapper I had when I was three. It’s we who see but refuse to listen. All this ‘eat the rich’ garbage the administration constantly spews is nothing to cheer about. First, they come for the rich; then they come for the smart… Then everything grinds to a halt.

You might say, ‘But I’m neither rich nor smart.’ But don’t you see? It just keeps going like that until they also come for the stupid. You think the stupid are immune? Eventually, they’ll come for everybody. And you’re somewhere in there as well. If they’re allowed to come for one, they’ll come for all. You’re not separate from the rich, even if you’re poor. We’re all in this together. That’s why I don’t understand why we’re so willing to sacrifice even one while we’re all standing in line.

What the hell does ‘rich’ and ‘poor’ even mean these days? We’re all playing with the same Monopoly money. They’ve practically squeezed the life out of it.

I've never understood the Jews standing so quietly in line for the showers. They must have seen that no one ever came out. What did they think? That God would intervene? God intervened alright and gathered them up to His bosom. They were such a damn spiritual lot! Maybe that’s all they really wanted. I understand the guards first wore them down – made them work till they could barely eat anymore. Not that the food they gave them was so great.

God, I hate what’s happening to our country! I won’t go quietly. Even if they’ve already rigged it, I’ll tell them till my last breath that I know. And, if any of them still have a conscience, I’ll make them feel ashamed.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Respect

For those who would be tempted to view our times within the context of the American Civil War, the BP Gulf oil spill would represent Fort Sumter. We currently find ourselves somewhere between Fort Sumter and Gettysburg. The oil spill was the first clear shot across the bow of America. It gave our president his first opportunity to clamp down on America’s jugular. Since then, the Left has managed to rack up an impressive string of victories. Even counting a significant number of electoral setbacks (during midterms), this seems to have had zero effect on the Left’s forward momentum. The economy is still in trouble and our position globally has become increasingly tenuous. It is clear that the American Left is hard at work toward seeing that America slips to second or third rung status among nations. So far, they are succeeding.

I have long predicted that something will happen that will forestall the 2012 elections and that Obama would remain in office. If this is correct, it would suggest the timeframe within which to expect Gettysburg. Gettysburg could be anything, foreign or domestic. Too many fuses are already lit; too much ordinance likely to detonate. When it does, there will either be chaos or the system will collapse into a shadow structure (already built and in place).

No one is willing to fully accept that any of this can happen – not in America. Those raising alarms are systematically silenced, crushed by ignorance, and by a general unwillingness to connect the dots and follow trend lines to their logical conclusion. Others, only semi-aware, place their hopes on 2012, our next chance to replace the leadership in Washington. They do not consider the possibility that we might never get there.

How to prepare? First off, know what you stand for. If you stand for liberty and the spirit of America, say so outright and without hesitation. Your worst move is to succumb to the bullying tactics of the Left, or to retaliate in kind. If you happen to be on the left, come out of hiding and state your intent plainly. Stealth will no longer serve you. Everybody must have a voice in determining where we want to end up. For the exercise to succeed, all cards must be put face-up on the table. Winner takes all.

Recognize too that your money is gone. It is being used as a weapon against you - to get you to do things you wouldn’t ordinarily consider doing. Write it off; start fresh. Hunger is another matter. But even hunger can be used as a weapon for a righteous cause. Anna Hazare moved the world recently by going on a hunger strike – so did Gandhi.

Know where you stand and adjust to doing without creature comforts. Obama’s threat to raise a billion dollars for his reelection campaign is meaningless. The money he intends on using has no value – and he knows it. It is a bluff to fend off adversaries. Doing without money will be easier than it seems. For one thing, you can no longer be bribed or corrupted by it. You will be free to pursue what’s right and true. And your reward will be far greater than anything money can ever hope to buy, among these: self-respect.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Facebook Lynching

In today’s America, every idea openly expressed that does not strictly conform to a government-approved template opens a cut that bleeds. I guess we still have it better than the people in some countries where they come after you in the dead of night with handcuffs, knives and guns.

In America, they de-friend you on Facebook. Make no mistake, this is our version of jihadists slitting throats – and, in some ways, even more hurtful. (Drew, Steven, Dawn, Tom, Jim, Linda - you know who you are.) You might say that those who would do this were never real friends in the first place. And you might be right. I still see any number of people from my high school and college days who never managed to shed their ‘hippy’ mindset, though most have since washed and upgraded their wardrobes. Most are competent in their professions, conservative in the management of their assets, and responsible toward their children and/or clients. When it comes to politics, however, we are apt to disagree.

I know I’ve changed my stance. And I’m not ashamed to admit it. I feel I’ve grown. At the same time, I do not hold it against anyone who might still be wed to the Leary trope. I’ve even been known to play along should anyone launch into his/her obligatory anti-Bush rant. It would never occur to me to leave feeling insulted, much less with the burden of murderous intent.

Since Obama’s election, we’ve become more divided than ever. This is a fact. I see it in my own life. As the popularity of my blog increases and the news of it reaches into various corners of the web, the defriending has begun. Some have even gone so far as to change their e-mail addresses. This points – not so much to what I am saying, but – to a growing insecurity on the part of the offended. I won’t go so far as proclaiming them ‘revolutionaries’. I know of no one who is. Most live respectable lives. They mean well. It’s just that they can’t seem to let go of something they obviously hold as sacred; that, at one time, may have defined their youth. It’s precious to them as an old, faded image on a photograph might be.

The realization that the world has changed, threatens the sacred nostalgia of the sixties and seventies. Even more ominous is the suspicion that it hasn’t exactly worked out. They might even be finding themselves without a job with no good prospects in sight. But they are likely to blame themselves – or Republicans. I find it telling that Charles Manson has finally broken his silence after 20 years, just to speak in support of our president’s 'global warming' initiatives. By doing so, he closes ranks with the likes of bin Laden, Castro, Ahmadinejad, Chavez and Mugabe - all of whom say essentially the same thing. One might have though all these silent years had produced a rarified wisdom beyond contrition; which just goes to show that a common monastic discipline is no guarantee of acumen. It’s illuminating to see just who all belongs to the active sponsorship of this baseless farce.

It’s never easy to fess up and say we’ve been wrong. It feels much more heroic to double down, even if it means going down with the ship. Many of the people I’ve known are quite willing – now, in the autumn of life – to take it all down with them. It fits in well with the label that’s come to be attached to us: the ‘me generation’. Narcissism is a tough nut to crack and I don’t really blame anyone who is unable to do it. (By the way, did you happen to hear that the author of “Three Cups of Tea” neglected to label his bestselling book as ‘fiction’? These people have become so desperate, even to the point of being dangerous – especially to themselves, I tell you.)

The other day, I saw something new at our local Whole Foods Market. They were selling emu eggs. These are large, dark-green spheres, each one said to be capable of making a six or seven egg omelet. They cost about $30 a piece. I was warned that it is quite difficult to crack them. I immediately thought of the baby emus whose first task in life is to manage their escape. I’m quite sure not all of them make it.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Early Endorsement

I've said months ago that someone will come along to save us (from ourselves). Someone always does. That's why we've been blessed to live here in America. At the time it was not yet apparent (perhaps it still isn’t) who it would be. I counseled patience; saying that if and when he (or she) announces, it will not be someone from the political world - and that we would instantly recognize it as the real deal.

I’m going to go out on a limb. I believe The Donald may be our next president. It basically depends on him and him alone. I believe he’s serious about running. And if he runs, he will win. It should be easy to defeat Obama. Anyone running should be able to do it. If The Donald should run on a third party line, he’ll still win because both people he’ll be running against will most likely be insiders. We can never be sure that any given politician has not been tainted by Soros’ money. Trump has money of his own and he appears to be a patriot. Soros is not (and who knows where he came from).

The difficulty in 2012 will not be getting elected. What comes after will be key. Will our new president understand economics? Will he understand that we’re letting ourselves be screwed by practically everybody in the world? Will he embrace the concept of “American exceptionalism”? Will he restore our sovereignty? Will he move to protect our borders, our language, and our culture?

I don’t see a willingness by any Republican aspirant (so far) to do any of these things save for giving them lip service. Any pol has a closet full of skeletons. Any pol can be bought, bribed, and what have you. It is fair to say that Mr. Soros did not try any funny stuff with Trump.

Sure, you can drag out a lot of old bones out of Trump’s closet. So, he criticized Republicans in the past. So, he gave money to Democrats. So what? This just goes to prove that he does not play the Democrat/ Republican game. Are Republicans above criticism? Are Democrats? I would venture that there are more Republicans who have betrayed - and thus hurt - the nation than Democrats have.

The 2012 election will be a watershed. Obama must lose. The Washington establishment must lose. No more “it’s this one or that one’s turn now at the trough". We’ve been brought to the brink by political high jinks. We must turn it around.

At first we were looking at state governors - for someone who had successfully managed a state house, and was not yet tainted by Washington’s siren song. Sarah Palin fit the bill nicely. But she became too easy a target. The Soros-sponsored media tore her apart. The Donald would not let that happen. He’s a strong and vigorous man and, from the look of it, well capable of handling himself.

Trump fits the template of the ‘can do’ outsider. Washington is paralyzed, spewing toxic waste across our nation. It must be entombed in concrete.

I hope Trump runs.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Blowing Up Bridges

It’s on! The trash talking has begun. And make no mistake, it’s being encouraged by the White House. Expect one of the dirtiest campaigns in recent history.

We are all the same. It should be easy to find common ground. It is not. Enter ideology. Ideology forces us into templates that do not fit well. It tends to pervert our true natures - to live and let live - and puts the accent on confrontation. This is generally needed in times of war - in the face of threat. In peacetime it seems a silly way to behave.

Since Barack Hussein Obama has been in office, there has been no peace. It’s almost as if, while we were living our lives, draft notices began arriving in the mail. We’ve been forced to take sides - one side being America.

Obama is a warrior alright, even if Libya doesn’t quite speak to the issue. Warriors do not compromise. They dismiss the broad range of the painter’s palette and divide the world into black and white. Again, this is only appropriate to war.

“You’re either for us, or against us.” No shades of gray even.

Who is POTUS fighting? America, of course. This has been hard for Americans to swallow. They thought he was on their side.

Similarly, it’s been difficult to square POTUS’ color scheme. The white hats have traditionally been ‘good’; the black hats, ‘bad‘. We’ve been taught this from watching John Wayne westerns. POTUS is black and tells us he’s white - while he paints us black as sin.

Something does not add up here. We’ve known it from the start. Now we’re starting to feel uncomfortable with it. We read about the soldiers in Syria who are refusing to shoot protesters being shot by their own - the worst of all fates. We wonder about how the term ‘conscientious objector’ might fare in this climate.

Voting for a black president was supposed to solve all this. We thought it would bridge the eternal divide. Instead, we find the existing bridges blown up and not enough shovel-ready jobs to build new ones. Sources tell us that China is building bridges like crazy - while we are tearing ours down. Some of us are trapped behind enemy lines.

Carlos Castaneda tells us that each life represents a complete, self-contained universe; that two people standing side by side must be seen as two such universes; that these cannot be commingled, except by event affecting both. Ideology disregards the deeper meaning of this lesson. It seeks to bridge chasms (that cannot be bridged) by hostile rhetoric, fomenting non-existent threat and, finally, by outright aggression. Thereby, the individual is lost and replaced by ordinance.

Love lost in the ashes of ritual (s)laughter.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Freak Show

A close friend - who doesn’t live in America and, hence, doesn’t know America in the way I do - claims that the reason America involves itself endlessly in war is because it is a relatively young nation, eager to flex its young muscles. She theorizes thus, quite without malice, as if commenting on the antics of kittens tumbling about on the living room floor. Accepting her premise, I must say that I’ve watched America aging precipitously ever since Vietnam. In fact, the trend seems to have accelerated over the years to where our overall policy now appears to be all but in its death throes.

Domestically too, we seem to have adopted a model that is a throwback to the past. Communism and, in a sense, theocracy have been resurrected from a well deserved grave only to die again. America, as she had been only recently, was the future; the very model of modern success, to which the whole world flocked in droves even as this same world now retreats in utter disgust from this house of the dying, built on a jumble of acronyms.

War, by definition, is chaos. It makes no sense to impose rules on it. It makes even less sense to go in without any notion of victory. It is no accident that 60% of U.S. casualties in Afghanistan so far have died under Obama. It was Obama who changed the rules of engagement and struck the words ‘war’ and ‘victory’ from military manuals. It is Obama who doesn’t understand the difference between war and a police action.

The latter does not bode well for us here on the home front as well. Were we ourselves ever to contemplate rising up against the oppressive boot of our own government – after all constitutional measures have failed – who is now to say what Obama, or any leader of his ilk, would use his army for?

In past African wars, the European gentry used to gather on the surrounding hills with their sun shades and picnic baskets to watch. The distance made the dying anticeptic. Are we actually thinking of reviving this freak show?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Bleatings From The Leper Colony

Ever since George Washington, we have always had presidents with some overarching vision of where they want to take the nation. They might have gotten bogged down in the minutia of governance, or they might have made mistakes that would eventually require retreat. But the basic vision nevertheless remained and focused on bringing America to a better place.

We, the people, more or less accepted the fact that we were not policy wonks; that we were not necessarily privy to all the things that our presidents were privy to – nor would we want to be. We could more or less assume that our president was doing his best to move us forward while keeping our best interests in mind.

We always accepted a certain amount of change – even downturns in our personal and collective fortunes - as being an integral part of life. We even accepted small, incremental deviations from the principles on which our nation was founded. We accepted the slow creep of socialism to accommodate the needs of the poor, the sick and the otherwise unfortunate.

All this changed with the election of Barack Hussein Obama. As the continuing controversy about his birth certificate suggests, there is now a growing concern as to just who this man actually is. Are we better off now than we were just two years ago? The resounding answer is no.

The tea parties were the first to sound the alarm. They were summarily rebuffed and dismissed. As more and more people dared to raise questions, more and more people were labeled ‘extreme’ and, therefore, illegitimate. Everybody knows at least a part of the threat our nation faces. And yet, every citizen is treated as guilty – at airports, for example – while the obvious culprits are excused from our scrutiny in the interest of maintaining a veneer of tolerance – tolerance for whom? The only ones not tolerated are us! It almost seems like our world has been turned upside down where a declaration of obvious criminal intent somehow provides immediate immunity.

Meanwhile, the rest of us must carefully maintain our resumes, and closely monitor our words and actions lest we stand accused of racism, hate crimes and various sundry sins that might well result in our exclusion. A natural bent towards conservatism in some precincts would practically confine one to the modern equivalent of a leper colony.

Meanwhile, too, we watch our fortunes fading, even as the media celebrates great strides toward some unspecified unknown. Should we venture to connect the dots and project our path to some seemingly alien experience, we are slapped down by harsh voices laced with severe accusation and ridicule. Since when, in America, has anyone not been allowed to speak openly without having to fear intimidation; especially, when what we say, points out gross contradictions in policy objectives; and particularly as these might relate to the fundamental contract we have with our government?

It has not gone unnoticed that this contract is now in serious jeopardy; that our government has gone rogue; that our own leadership is now on the brink of labeling us as illegitimate. We, of course - now that the contract has been broken - can say the same.

We never thought it could come to this – not in America.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Shariah: What's The Problem?

I've had friends who came from broken homes who enlisted in the armed forces. They hoped the discipline there would help them to become men. I’ve had friends who became drug addicts – for the same reason. Drug addiction imposes a discipline on lives that are without.

Liberalism often seems attractive because liberals are good at imposing rules - rules that give structure to minds that lack the confidence to decide. The same applies to tea party followers.

The latter does not seem to be enough largely, because of the absence of consequences. Following the rules or breaking them is all the same. In fact, breaking them appears to assign some special status. The overall result is often confusing and arbitrary.

What about shariah? Is it really so bad as all of us are led to believe? I know, most of us recoil from it as we would from enlisting or succumbing to drug addiction. We hate the thought of early morning drills and dirty needles. We hate being labeled this or that. We have this image of ourselves as free men and women, unfettered by habit or convention.

Someone once said that “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.” It’s true in a way. Shariah gives you plenty of timelines and obligations. It kind of takes away all that pesky guilt that most of us are dragging around with us. It’s a legitimate response to doubt; a way of living within relatively safe confines where everything is written in stone. It’s also stifling. It kills curiosity and initiative. It minimizes risk. It makes it harder to fail and also impossible to succeed. In this, communism and shariah are one and the same.

Why do so many of us shy away from shariah while, at the same time, embracing socialism, the armed services, political parties – or even drug addiction? I understand that the pictures we’re shown of stonings, public hangings, slit throats, and severed limbs leave us gasping. This is all very frightening to us – flesh and blood consequences. Why, we don’t even remember where the meat we eat comes from anymore.

Shariah is not like that. The overwhelming majority of people who practice shariah are people just like us – like liberals, tea parties members, those who choose careers in the armed services or drug addiction. My grandmother used to say that the soup is never so hot when it’s eaten as when it was cooked.

So, what’s the problem? Why do we fear it? Why do we instinctively recoil from it? If others accept it, why can't we? Is our ego getting in the way of just letting go?

I’ll tell you outright why you should be concerned. All these movements that are sweeping the globe and are targeting America specifically have one thing in common. They seek to overthrow capitalism. Say, you have a skill or talent. Say, you can act, dance, sing, play football, lead a service-based organization; run a store; build a house... Perhaps you’re good with numbers or words. Maybe you’ve learned how to heal, teach, or offer advice - and that’s how you make your money. All that will mean nothing if those coordinating these left-wing and Islamic groups get their way. There will still be wealth and money. There will still be value. But value will be based on protection: You will pay for protection; or, people will pay you according to your ability to protect them. It’ll be a brutal world; a world without certainty that can change in a heart beat. It’ll be 'dog eat dog' – the way it always has been before America came along.

That in a nutshell is our challenge – a challenge made infinitely more daunting because roughly half our nation resides in the opposing camp while the other half remains ignorant of the threat. I can safely say that the next two years will determine the outcome. As it stands, either shariah or socialism has taken the lead. Both are pretty much the same. Pray that the nation wakes up in the meantime and freedom prevails.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Detroit: Downsizing America

Liberals as well as conservatives are dumbfounded, taken off guard, outraged by president Obama’s handling of the Libyan situation; committing American troops into a theater of ‘kinetic military action’ without clear goals defining ‘victory’; without formally addressing the U.S. Congress or the American people. This means that this president must be intending to go it alone, much like Syrian president Assad is apt to do - or Kaddafi, for that matter.

Obama keeps hinting that this operation will be short and sweet after which time we’ll be out of there and wash our hands of the killing. History shows, however, that this sort of thing has a habit of dragging on. I listened to Dan Henninger last night. He’s one of my favorites on the WSJ editorial staff, but even he had it wrong. He views the conflict as ‘something’ sweeping the Middle East; something so powerful, it cannot be stopped or its direction determined. I do not believe in some amorphous ‘something’. Unleashed? Yes, the way someone might unleash an attack dog. Directionless? No. We all know where it’s headed, but are afraid to say it out loud.

America is not America without also being a super power. Yet, we can plainly see that it is this administration’s intention to degrade us to some unspecified common denominator. I don’t remember the president campaigning on a platform to make America worse. We all fell for the ‘change’ routine while assuming that ‘change’ meant ‘better than Bush’.

This sentiment is not exactly new. Liberals have in the past often promoted the banning of SUV’s on the premise that SUV’s are dangerous to smaller cars. It would seem that, if SUV’s are indeed so dangerous (to smaller cars), it is the smaller cars that should be banned.

I didn’t make this up. I’ve heard the argument before. At the time, we all laughed about it and didn’t take it seriously. Now, it seems, we’re coming face to face with it. The new norms, as presented to us, clearly strive to downsize America.

My question is: How far down are we willing to go? What exactly does Obama have in mind? Perhaps the ‘greens’ can give us some clue: A country bereft of energy; its people taking up farming, herding, bartering, canning… Sounds like Pol Pot to some degree. (I don’t think that Obama would send his goons out to shoot me for lighting up a cigarette or reading a book; but who knows, all that might still be in the offing. Neither would Obama order the burning of medical journals as the Taliban are wont to do. But the effect of Obamacare would essentially amount to the same.)

There are many ways to skin a cat – or fox. I’m sure Obama knows them all. Yesterday, I noted from my stats that nobody read anything I posted on my blog that day. I was convinced that someone had blocked my feed. It seemed reasonable to assume, especially since it’s been going blazes. Today, it’s back to normal. I do wonder what happened.

As for the fox: There has been a fox that parked itself all morning in our backyard, enjoying the trickle of sun. He was a chubby, healthy looking thing; lazy as all get out; yawning, snoozing, stretching, and the like. There’s a specific spot by the old sugar maple where all the animals come when they’re hurt. Last year, a deer with a bum leg spent a couple of days there, its mate alert and watching from across the fence. After a couple of days, both wandered off as if nothing had happened. I remember, a long time ago, our various cats would hang out there as well.

I believe there are specific spots on this earth that are ‘power centers’. Usually great cities are built around such places. I’m wondering if it is possible to kill such spots – pave them over; seal them. Probably not. If so, what’s happened to Detroit? (The obvious answer is liberalism.) What else might be hatching there?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Holding the Bag

What we are witnessing on every front is quite remarkable. It’s tough to keep up with it all and even tougher to make sense of it. Whatever happens in Libya, we now own it. There’s one school of thought that thinks it’s already too late; that the civil war there is already over; that Kaddafi has won; that to interfere at this late date will only serve to forestall the inevitable.

So why did we do it? My guess is we were stung by the Saudi’s sending troops into Bahrain without telling us. To make up for it, we decided we must do something to show that we’re still relevant. (Democrats are always asking themselves if they’re relevant.) Never mind; when push comes to shove, our allies can be expected to excuse themselves to go to the bathroom. Many in our Congress know this; that we’ll be left holding the bag. They also know that we’ve had no time to prepare. It took Bush many months to launch an invasion into Iraq. I remember, even the weather became a factor. It pays to remember that initially Bush was hugely successful. Our troops hardly had to fire a shot. We could hardly believe our luck when our objective was met in record time.

But we just couldn’t leave it at that. We just had to embark on ‘nation building’, changing hearts and minds and all such rot. And even this would have succeeded if we hadn’t politicized it here at home. Democrats wanted Bush discredited at all costs. They were quite willing to gamble away all just to see it happen. As such, they happily undermined America’s effectiveness and prestige. They destroyed the levee known by its age old dictum that ‘politics stops at the water’s edge’, inviting a flood of recrimination and abuse from abroad. It worked and we lost our way.

What a price we’ve had to pay!!! Now we truly are irrelevant. Nobody takes us seriously anymore. Even the guy at the gas station on the corner can hardly stand to look at us. We have shamed ourselves in the eyes of the world, hastening our own demise to no purpose.

I say this in response to John Batchelor’s words last night when commenting on the self-immolation of a Tunisian fruit vendor and likening it to the recent self-immolation of a Tibetan monk. These were brave and honorable deeds that will go down in history as important turning points. When a rich and powerful country does the same, however, it is seen as utter folly.

What exactly is our goal in Libya? When will we know we have won? What exactly will we have won? And should we lose, and Kaddafi stays in power?

It has been my contention from the start that Obama is out to wreck every one of our key institutions. Already he’s done a fair job of it. The only thing remaining is the military.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Even the Trees Know

For people to the left of (and including) ‘liberal’ along the political spectrum, money has no meaning; work has no meaning; the individual has no meaning; words have no meaning; integrity has no meaning; history has no meaning; hope has no meaning; truth has no meaning; life has no meaning; nothing has meaning.

As such, the Left does not exist.

It happily (and cleverly) mimics the Right in word and sentiment in order to gain entrance. Once inside, it metastasizes and seeks to destroy the host.

It is up to the host to fight its disease. It must keep itself strong and resistant to the leaching void. Knowledge is key. The Left always attacks knowledge first. It uses words to turn truth on its head. It sweetens the pot with empty promises. It adds the salt of hatred. It borrows the tears of personal misfortune. It wallows in the blood of heroes. It pretends to be more alive than the living.

Witnessing the descent of America, I know I am right. “To be or not to be”; I am. “I think, therefore I am”; I am, and will be. I know the Left is fighting a losing battle. Life will always win out over death. And though death is always with us, it is just an illusion that serves to give meaning to life.

As we watch people fighting overseas, freely offering their bodies up for a cause, we are reminded that pain equals healing; that it is we who are in danger of forgetting the nature and purpose of pain - a comfortably numb generation, stumbling about in the dark, no longer knowing which is up, while even the trees know which way to turn.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/