Cucible

If any should doubt that we are deeply entrenched in a clash of cultures - a war, if you wish - I direct you to Caroline Glick’s opinion piece entitled “The West’s proxy war against the Jews” in yesterday’s Jerusalem Post. She lays it out clearly as few can and have. The crucible, in her view, is Israel. That is to say, the fate of Israel is the metric that will define the ultimate winner of the struggle.

To live side by side in relative peace (like sticks of furniture in an otherwise empty room) with the current Islamic/communist coalition assault now in full swing is out of the question. It is now fully in attack mode. One of its goals is to push Israel into the sea. (Envision anything I might mean by that.) It’ll mark the defeat of the West. The victorious coalition will at first gather ‘round to congratulate themselves; then, they will begin fighting each other, for they are only united on one issue: their hatred of Israel and western capitalism.

Whereas America will remain relatively unscathed by the fall of Jerusalem into Arab hands, Europe will likely not be so lucky. To be sure, America will have its own problems. For one thing, it will be difficult to convince the entire country to salute the red flag. This will have to play out over time.

In today’s WSJ, Mark Helprin tells of America’s retreat from the high seas in an article entitled “The Decline of U.S. Naval Power” We see it ourselves in the continuing saga of pirates successfully negotiating ransoms and killing civilians. It seems incredible that we cannot do much about it. Similarly, as pertains to Libya (or any other trouble spot on the globe), our hands appear to be tied by outside interests and internal concerns (and distractions).

The media has been gearing up to tell us just how bad Kaddafi is (and has been). This is the likely view of the Obama administration as well. It makes me suspicious, however. It’s been a long time since either the media or the government has told us the truth about anything. It may simply reflect Obama’s calculation as to what he believes Kaddafi’s staying power to be, and this administration’s scrambling to get out in front of the curve for once (of course hindered somewhat by - as JB points out - Tripoli’s long and well-established connections to radical elements in Chicago (Farrakhan).

Realistically, you’ve got to go all the way back to 1988 when Pan Am flight 103 crashed at Lockerbie following an in-flight explosion, killing all on board and scattering wreckage all over the area to pin anything of substance on Kaddafi. Since then, I’ve been under the impression that Kaddafi has undergone semi-successful rehabilitation and earned his way back into the fold of the human community. In light of what else is going on in the world today, the springing of bombing suspect Abdelbaset al-Megrahi from a Scottish hospital/jail seems more of a prank, designed to redden the faces of the pompous, than a full-blown crime against humanity.

There is no doubt in my mind that the relatively recent upheavals we are witnessing in the Middle East and elsewhere is due to America’s deliberate distancing itself from its traditional international obligations. This has, at the very least, left a vacuum for sinister forces to exploit. The end result continues to be the chaos of birth. We definitely appear to be on the cusp of some momentous change. This (chaos) is only the first step. What will eventually emerge is anybody’s guess.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

American Royalty

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Bang or Whimper?

To what purpose? As much as I respect Batchelor’s nightly analysis, it must be kept in mind that we have a president and a political fringe that is wholly committed to America's demise. They are not the least bit concerned about elections. They are deeply engaged in the end game - the revolution, if you wish.

All the chips are currently in place to bring this about - and they know it. As analysts point out, a good part of the legislation, that has already been passed (by the last Congress) under Obama’s watch, remains unwritten. It is only a framework to be fleshed out by strategically placed political operatives and bureaucrats. No matter what Republicans do, the Left's agenda can go ahead unimpeded.

The course for America's steady decline is already set. It will no doubt culminate in Obama's re-election in '012. The proof of such intent is that it was all done in secret. No one can argue that transparency has been sorely lacking. The first time Congress voted on a bill no member had had time to even read (much less understand) should have thrown up a huge red flag. From that moment on Congress became irrelevant - the people became marginalized. Even as the facts begin to emerge and the public feigns outrage, it is already too late. Their outrage has been skillfully confined to the narrowest of spaces - crazy talk radio, for instance. It has been isolated, discounted, devalued, ignored. As soon as public protests morph into civil disturbance, Obama will have the last piece of the puzzle he needs for the final take-over.

To this end he will prod and push. The sleeping giant (the people) will wake up. But he has been booby-trapped. As soon as he stirs - BANG! He is finished.

…and that is the only real puzzle left to solve: Will it end in a bang or a whimper?

What happens in Chicago or New York (or any metropolis) is no longer interesting or relevant. All power has shifted to DC. It is there where the fate of the cities and the country as a whole hangs in the balance. Chicago has shot its wad. Obama is in the White House. Chicago will not be rewarded for it. Nor will anything else that may have served as a stepping stone to facilitate Obama’s ascent to power. When all is said and done, Obama will rule over rubble, nothing more. That’s been the plan all along.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Count 'em Again, Barack!

Never before - with the possible exception of President Obama being prevented by a downpour from delivering remarks at a Chicago Memorial Day event - has a metaphor been so chillingly on point. I’m talking about the Gulf oil spill. It conveys everything, from the precipitous general decline of America (especially within the span of the past two years) to its flailing, ineffective measures to get a grip on itself. We must then ask ourselves: Was it inevitable?

Unlike the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center, by which a vile and cunning enemy declared war on us, the oil spill appears to have been self-inflicted - but may not be entirely unrelated. We have since done everything possible to obfuscate the reality of the war. There was of course one brief glimmer of recognition as to the enormity of what was at stake, and we did react - some say, stupidly.

The 9/11 bombers never knew just how successful they would turn out to be. Not only did they bring down the (physical) Mecca of American economic dominance, but they also managed to fracture America’s unity, confidence, and will. It’s reverberations would spread poison throughout the American political system, which was the beginning of cascading dominoes, affecting virtually every public and private sector institution.

It would be naïve to think that only a handful of crazed men (who commandeered aircraft and sent them crashing into the heart of America’s economic genius) could accomplish all this with half a dozen box cutters. (By the way, has anyone ever actually thought about what exactly they did with those box cutters?) The ground had already been well prepared. The very idea of America had become brittle as eggshells. It didn’t take much to crack it open.

It starts in the schools. We’ve gone over it dozens of times. Now comes the following insight: A recent study finds that knowledge is absorbed best when it’s imparted by native speakers. How many TA’s today are native speakers?

If the 9/11 attack had not been successful and the Gulf oil spill had happened as it did, we would now be also first stunned, then outraged. We would have plugged that gusher with dynamite and blown it to Kingdome come. As it is, we’re just numb, content to have dodged the bullet ourselves.

I, for one, am beginning to get tired of the story. It’s following exactly the same tired script as everything else these days: ‘We’re ahead of schedule; we’ll have it fixed in no time’ and then: ‘So sorry, it didn’t work; don’t know what could have gone wrong. But we have a much better idea which we’ll start testing tomorrow. It may take a little while to find out if it works…’

It’s the same with the economy. Every day they tell us we’ve turned the corner; that things are on the upswing; improving. And then, when the numbers come out, they tell us it could have been worse. We are in effect asked to praise Obama for the sun coming up in the morning.

Obama’s campaign slogan, ‘Yes, We Can’, now sounds hollow. It’s even gotten to the point where most people think he’s doing it on purpose; that nobody could be that incompetent. Who ever thought that competence was even needed? POTUS has always been largely a ceremonial post; hasn’t it? A laugh line on SNL? If that’s true, who (or what) is actually running things? And why are they running us into the ground? What was that spy thing with the Russians all about? They got 10 of theirs back; we only got 4 (but we got the better deal, we’re told). Sorry, Barack. Count them again!

Corruption Doubled, Tripled and Squared

I’m talking about corruption with all its bells and whistles – CORRUPTION on the highest order.

At first our currency/economy was based on gold. Then we got rid of gold and based our currency/economy on productivity (the talent, sweat and hard work of our population). Next, we based our currency/economy on credit (future productivity).

Note that each step expanded the universe of money significantly. Clearly, the gold supply is finite as there is only so much of it to go around. A calculation involving human productivity clearly increased the amount of what can be termed ‘distributable value’ or wealth. Adding to this a calculation involving future productivity (i.e. credit) had the effect of increasing it even more. Each step expanded the opportunity for individuals to generate untold riches, even as the basis for these (first gold, then productivity and, finally, credit) became more and more illusory and, at the same time, less and less stable.

The latest scam to increase the universe of money once again is ‘cap and trade’ which would essentially base our currency/economy on air. Step one was to declare CO2 a pollutant. Step two involves charging everyone emitting CO2 a fee for the unpardonable sin of breathing; and, thus, move vast amounts of money into the pockets of the people who were in on the hoax. Governments are in on it; academe is in on it; banks and investment firms (GS, Fannie and Freddie) are in on it; computer companies (Google) are in on it; media; education; unions – anyone who has been tireless in promoting the deal did so with the promise of a big pay-off to follow. Chicago was to be the center for trading in carbon credits. Already an exchange similar to the New York Stock Exchange is all set up there and ready to go.

When the University of East Anglia e-mails were released to the public the scam was exposed, it drove a stake in the heart of a world-wide fiction. The Left latched on to it big time for they rightly assumed it would put an end to capitalism. The one-worlders under the auspices of the UN latched on to it for they could now envision their dream - the dissolution of all borders - as being within reach. The religious wing, the environmentalists, viewed it as their ticket to a pristine world without man-made pollution.

Corruption equals the absence of principles. Any human endeavor lacking principles is bound to fail. The West has been in the process of shedding its principles for a long time. We have now reached the point from which there is no way forward. We have reached the wall. The attempt to tax air was the last straw. Still, those committed to what was obviously a hoax persist. They will now be tempted to apply force to get their way. We’re in for some rough sledding, folks.

We just don't believe...

Back in the day, just around the time when Audi had its troubles - which Audi could never adequately explain or defend - I was coming home from work one night and found the garage door closed. It was raining. I slammed the gearshift from ‘drive’ into ‘park’, jumped out of the car and went to open it. Suddenly I saw the car slowly rolling towards me. I was lucky it wasn’t an Audi and that I had parked it far enough back. The car was slow enough to give me a chance to raise the door, jump to the side, get back into the vehicle and slam on the brakes before hitting the back wall. It turns out that instead of ‘P’, I had shifted to ‘1’ with the engine running. After that experience I have always doubted the tales of the Audi bashers.

What intrigues me about the Toyota story is how so many view our own government’s involvement at the periphery with suspicion. They quite rightly point out that Toyota is one of the most significant competitors of G(overnment) M(otors); but then they take a further leap in claiming (also correctly) that anything bad that can be disseminated about Toyota would help give a leg up to U. S. government-owned GM. And that this was the real reason for U.S transportation chief, Ray LaHood, jumping on the bandwagon so quickly, telling people to “stop driving them (Toyotas)”.

Besides, we just don’t believe anything the government says anymore about anything: color-coded terror threats; unemployment numbers; pandemic alerts; etc. It’s all become a great big game with this administration to say anything, but do only that which nobody talks about.

It all takes me back to when Bush was said to have personally orchestrated the World Trade Center bombing (because Cheney wanted a war).

This is what scares me: Whereas I never saw the ‘truthers’ as anything but a bunch of cranks, I’m tempted to give credence to any Chicago-style bad-mouthing, death threatening, kneecapping, cement shoeing, land filling ploy originating from within this White House. Remember: “Never let a crisis go to waste.”

What 'Is' Is

What constitutes ‘mob’ these days? How do they teach it in college? Is it bribery, extortion, theft, protection, drug running, brass knuckles, cement shoes, severed horse heads, stuffing ballot boxes, vote buying, ‘kiss of death”? Excuse me, I no longer quite know what ‘is’ is. Isn’t this essentially how our government works these days?

Congress has been up to its neck in shady dealings. They’re not even embarrassed. It’s been all out in the open. Republicans shut out of negotiations, negotiations behind closed doors, bills passed in the dead of night, pay-offs, vote-buying – whatever it takes. The ends justify the means.

The American people are simply sick of it. They can see when something is wrong. They enjoyed watching ‘The Sopranos’ on TV. But they don’t want their government operating that way. Which is it that Americans distrust more: the Mob or third-world totalitarian dictators? If a vote were held today, it could well be a tie.

Will Obama stump for Giannoullias? He’ll be tempted to. There are those who would advise against it, thinking that a presidential endorsement would amount to ‘the kiss of death’ at this point. I’m sure they wouldn’t put it quite like that. Obama, tone-deaf as he is, would take it as a yes. He still believes that Massachusetts had nothing to do with him.

The Republican will win – even in Chicago. Unless, of course, Lazarus is able to raise enough dead. The people of Chicago have been held hostage for far too long. It took Oscar Tulio Lizcano eight years for the opportunity to escape his FARC captors. Chicagoans know that their time is at hand.

Say what you will about Republicans but, compared to the Dems, they’re clean as the driven snow. They may not be quite as smart, but they won’t need smart this time around. All they’ll have to do is show up. There’ll still be plenty of time to blow it after they’re in office.

'The Girl from Ipanema' an other postings...

Over the past few days I've found it easier to respond to other's comments than to formulate comments of my own. It's been a busy time. There's been a lot to digest. We seem to be moving mighty quickly in some direction. As not enough people are willing to acknowledge Obama's failures here at home, perhaps assessments from abroad will open our eyes and unlock our minds and break our grip on celebrity idolatry and (by now) thoroughly disgraced liberal dogma. I note that the 'Girl from Ipanema' already has managed to turn more heads than conservative blogs and talk radio ever has.
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Our academic elites have written the rules so that whatever happens, America loses. Any natural disaster anywhere in the world is due to ‘global warming’ – hence, it is America’s fault. Any war fought anywhere in the world is due to American imperialism and, hence, is America’s fault. Any crime that can be attributed to race anywhere in the world is due to American racism and, hence, is America’s fault.

Conversely, non-white racists by definition can never be ‘racist’. NGO criminal activity by definition can never be considered as ‘criminal’. Nations (other than America) that threaten, bully, invade, etc. by definition can never be the
‘aggressor’.

Those are the rules America’s ivory tower elites have fashioned for all the world to follow in an attempt at evening the playing field. Fair and square, America with it’s deep ( now empty) pockets always loses. I wonder what will happen to all these university ‘think’ tanks when America decides to take its ball and go home? What new game will the world find to play? Railroad ties, anyone?
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We used to fight to win. Then, we pretended to fight to win. Now, we fight to lose outright; to render ourselves impotent; to embarrass ourselves; to take ourselves down a peg; to hand victory to our enemies. We no longer believe in our Constitution; in Democracy; in Capitalism; our tradition, history; our innate goodness; in our future. A nation that no longer believes in itself does not fight – it begs.
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In a larger sense, all this hatred against America originates from within the borders of America itself. America is shot-through rotten with America haters. These are not foreign nationals who have come to live in America. These are liberals and progressives from the 60’s who have risen to power within key institutions.

Our local newspaper in Chennai (India), where I live six months out of the year, carries Paul Krugman’s columns twice a week. It is the only American voice that these people hear on a regular basis. For the past eight years they’ve read about Bush being evil, stupid and corrupt. Now they hear that everything that ever was American is broken and that Barrack Obama has come to save the world. Indians who read this tripe day in and day out will believe it. For them, no other information exists. Ask any Indian and he will tell you that Bush has destroyed America and Obama has come to save it.

So, now we’re training terrorists to kill our only allies in the Middle East. Seems not to make much sense. Yet, it follows the overall liberal narrative precisely.
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It's beginning to get even to me: all the cheering - not for Rio, but - for Chicago's comeuppance in the Olympic crap shoot. In the same way 'we' (yes, Spencer, we all have mice in our pockets) applaud poor employment numbers, rising foreclosures, bank failures; foreign policy disasters; etc.

It's a total repeat of the Bush presidency. Even the personal attacks aren't far off any longer. We're in a rut (literally. I remember rutted roads as a child. You could release the brake, put your foot on the gas, and never touch the steering wheel.) We don't need a goat in the guise of ‘leader’ to sacrifice on the dull monolith we’ve built to resemble an altar. We need smart; we need energy; we need inspiration; we need vitality to lead us out of the woods.

As long as the paradigm remains the same (the choking blood lust) no one claiming such qualifications will ever come forward to take on this particular job - only charlatans, cretins and suicide bombers. It's never been more true: We get the government we deserve. Let's take a moment and avert our eyes from the public hangings from crane hooks in the market square. Let's try and work to put two or more independent thoughts together and design a strategy to rescue our Republic.

“The Hanging Man’ just won’t do anymore. It’s quite a bit worse than merely ‘inaction and surrender’. We’re watching the clock running down at the very the moment before it stops. A nation that has no vision – indeed, a nation in which no vision is allowed to exist – ceases to function. I hate to say it, but at this point even 'socialism' would buy us time.
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I'm afraid Gene misses the mark. I'm a baby boomer and I know exactly why I'm not buying. It's my way of protesting a government that has become alien; unresponsive; non-caring; intrusive; thuggish; oppressive; stifling; arrogant and just plain silly. Not much I can do about it, but what I can do I will do. I've put the brakes on buying.

I need a new car, but I've put it off. For years now, I've been called a 'pig' for spending too much; for depleting the planet of its resources; for being the cause of 'global warming'; for killing polar bears and snail garters. Well, I'm sick of it. I'll do exactly as they say. I won't spend a dime I don't have to. And what's more, I'll gladly leave the country to escape the hangman's noose. In short, I think we're on the way of strangling ourselves. I’ll return, of course, after we’ve got it all sorted out. In the meantime, I'd just as soon be somewhere else and watch.