Cornered Dogs Bite

Every human thought leaves an imprint. When I look across my front lawn in the morning after a freshly fallen snow, I see it crisscrossed with animal spoors. Each one is different. It is not the difference in the appearance of the tracks that is significant; rather, it is the fact that there was movement: each animal wanted to get from one place to another. It is doubtful that two or more animals ever met because each track was likely made in its own time. If there had been some threat, all the tracks would show the animals running in one direction – away from the danger. In the absence of a threat, the pattern is quite random.

Reading this morning’s headlines, we find that the stampede against the U.S. dollar continues, now with the IMF chiming in. We read that long-standing alliances are rupturing with nations fleeing U.S. entanglements and influence, seeking something more stable, more predictable. They do not make a value judgment as to what’s right, wrong or fair. They simply look to attach themselves to what they perceive as power that would serve to protect them.

The USS America is sinking – whether by benign neglect, sabotage or by deliberate design – and the whole world is running away from the disaster that has become rap America. The pattern in the snow is now discernible. Argentina is now embracing the Venezuelan model. Venezuela has adopted the Tehran model (as have Turkey, Syria, Egypt, etc.) Israel remains undecided. She finds herself cornered. What Israel is likely to do remains a mystery. India too is at a loss to know which way to turn. China faces internal problems. She is keeping her powder dry, knowing that chaos will arrive at her doorstep soon enough. She is doing her best to shore up her defenses (while the West views it as aggression). Japan has her own problems.

We can sit here and evaluate each turn of the screw within its own frame. Every happenstance is quite worthy of a tome or two – even an entire library of tomes. We can go back in history and learn what has happened before, how it developed and the ultimate result - all of it, simply to keep the blogs pumping out words like the ash from a volcano that obscures its source.

The source is America’s continuing disintegration. It’s not true, as some would proclaim that America’s sinking would leave nary a ripple. It has and will produce wave after wave and the result is all but certain: chaos, dislocation and bloodshed. Cornered dogs have been known to bite. We all will be tempted to bite in a last-ditch effort as we dig deeper and deeper down into our emptying pockets to appease those with tyrannical intent - the ones with the biggest clubs and the willingness to use them. Thoughts of freedom and liberty – even dignity - will become subservient to our will to survive.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

America Is No Longer A Player

Apparently it takes two years to get the measure of a man. Equally apparent is that it takes some Americans even longer.

Last night’s show is one to be bookmarked. It dealt primarily with the foreign policy failures of the Obama administration, especially as pertains to the Middle East. On the eve of the president’s trip to Brazil, we can now look forward to a fresh set of policy embarrassments looming in South America. This is one of the reasons Hillary Clinton continues to distance herself from this administration.

Everything about the discussions last night was pretty much on target. And it is not something that will ever be reported in the NYT and in other liberal mainstream media outlets. Obama is their baby, after all. A mother will always stand up for her child.

But neither Batchelor or Hoenlein (or any of their guests) ever got down to actually pulling the trigger. Triangulation no longer works. Only facts are relevant. By parting ways with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Israel among others, the U.S. has planted itself firmly in Iran’s twelver camp. This did not just happen because of inattention, ignorance, or character flaws. It is deliberate. Anyone might be relieved to see our president as dupe and bumbler-in chief. It might even be so. In any case, Obama has been the public face of events that have occurred since he has been in office. It is he who must be held to account. No doubt, others much smarter than Obama are pulling his strings.

On the home front it’s the same story. Obama’s presidency has been a disaster anywhere you look.

One hopeful sign (if you can call it that): I see China inching closer to the breach. As I have predicted previously, Israel will survive. Iran will not. Half ‘evil’ will always win out over 100% ‘evil’. America is no longer a player.

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Sheep

I can envision several scenarios by which our current president could secure for himself a second term.

1. From our recent experience in Egypt, we have learned that the most organized party usually wins. The Left (or Democrats) are organized to the hilt. The in-fighting among Republicans has already begun.

2. A third-party candidate (like Trump) could enter the race and split the Republican Party. Result: Obama is president for another four years.

3. Things between then and now could become so chaotic, we might decide to postpone elections indefinitely.

4. Or, the media could re-cast Obama as the prodigal son, now embracing all the ‘right’ policies while, at the same time, demonizing Republicans and painting them as dangerously cruel and ‘extreme‘. Obama himself could help his cause by tracking to the right in public pronouncements, and promises which he obviously never intends to keep. You and I know that, but the drones will go for it in droves. Besides, we’re constantly hearing what a super guy Obama is; that it’s only his policies that are misguided.

There are probably several other ways Obama could get himself ‘re-elected’, ways that I haven’t even yet thought of. Outright election fraud comes immediately to mind. It could even be a combination of some or all of the above. I wouldn’t be surprised if the strategy has been already scripted (like the last election was) and is sitting in some lib bureaucrat’s bottom drawer somewhere. What we can be sure of that it’s there, just waiting to be implemented (if it hasn’t been already).

Remind, there were people in our country who applauded after the World Trade Center was hit. Those same people have exponentially increased in numbers. They see themselves as having momentum (they won’t let go), while the rest of us are becoming more and more marginalized.

Obama’s election wasn’t a fluke. Everything that brought it about is still in play. There has been no epiphany among the great unwashed (sheep).

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Organized Water

Zuidplaspolder marks the lowest point (-7 m) in The Netherlands (Holland) which is famous for its dykes. In fact, much of the landmass of this country lies below sea level. Were there no dykes, even Amsterdam could not have been built.

Similarly, about 50% of New Orleans lies below sea level. Levees have been built to protect the city. As we have so painfully learned during Katrina: when the levies are breached, the city floods.

Much money is required to maintain dykes and levees. When this money is diverted to corruption and other uses and the levees are allowed to deteriorate, it puts protected areas at severe risk.

Hosni Mubarak represented a political dyke in the Middle East. He stood between the radical Islamization of the country and what we see today - a semi-modern society exhibiting western friendly values. There is some question as to just how successful Mubarak actually was. Just last week I happened to see a picture (it might have been in the WSJ) showing an Egyptian beach some 20 years ago with an insert showing that same beach today. The first showed a typical middle class family picnicking on a beach blanket dressed in western swimwear; the second showed that same beach haunted by the dark shadows of women in burkahs.

Water is 'organized' as to always pool in the lowest places. The Muslim Brotherhood, is said to be the most 'organized' faction in Egypt. Many predict that with Mubarak gone - the dam is broken, and - the Brotherhood will come to dominate the country, turning it into a harsh, restrictive, anti-western, anti-Israel theocracy.

We have seen this before in the Middle East: Iran.

The people, so enthusiastic and hopeful in anticipation of a loosening of shackles, will have little to say about how the worm ultimately turns. They are not (nuts and bolts) 'organized'. They will fall victim to the demands of 'organized' water that always seeks the lowest point in which to pool. Tyranny is always the lowest point.

It’s the same here in America. The Left is organized beyond belief while the Tea Parties are not. The Tea Parties are merely united by a vague sense of tradition and fear. They are being swept away as we speak by 'organized' political water. Like the Facebook warriors of Egypt, they do not stand a chance.

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America: Not For Profit

There have been calls for revolution right here in America. Most prominently such calls have recently been heard at the protests in Wisconsin‘s state capital. Neither did the oft stated comparison to Egypt’s revolution escape public notice.

As in a series of strokes, first symptoms are seldom recognized as dangerous. Our first rattling of the cage came with the election of Barack Hussein Obama. We’ve been in revolution mode ever since. It’s reached a point where a counter-revolution is now building: the Tea Parties.

When Americans speak of revolution as pertains to their own country, it is difficult to determine what exactly they are talking about. ‘Revolution’ has become a sort of shorthand for ‘change’ popularized in 2008 during Obama’s election bid. Back then, it essentially meant nothing. Change would happen no matter which candidate were to be chosen. Bush was no longer on the ballot after all.

Perhaps, revolution can be identified as ‘accelerated change'. No doubt, this is what we got with Obama. Few would have envisioned how much this administration would be able to accomplish in just two short years. In the process, it has managed to bludgeon any number of sacred cows. (We’ve already gone through the list dozens of times.) These are now screaming to high heaven.

What we are seeing now can perhaps more properly be termed ‘civil war’. Revolution always comes first. With Obama’s election in the history books, the revolution is effectively behind us. Conventional wisdom has it that those best organized tend to come out on top (in a revolution). The American Left was far better organized than the Right, evidenced by the Left winning hands down.

Conservatives may be late to the dance, but they are organizing. There are other factors, of course, that will determine the ultimate result. Of these, enthusiasm may be the most potent. It can gather itself into real momentum. Momentum can only be temporarily halted by ‘organized’ force.

And this is where we find ourselves today. With the media being on the lam, it’s hard to tell at the moment which side will ultimately prevail. Libya is far easier to predict. Kaddafi will use all he has to quell the uprising. Unlike other Middle Eastern tyrants, he must have been planning for this eventuality all along. It won’t be pretty.

Any outside help offered to his regime will be handsomely rewarded. No doubt Russia and others are considering it. We have already stated publicly that we will not make any move that could be construed as an attempt to profit. This makes us unique among nations; and is yet another indication of the direction in which our own revolution is headed.

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Dignity

Last night, the wind blew some tiles off the roof. I always wake up when one of them crashes and shatters. And I realized why the gambling house always wins; why Obama will ultimately be regarded as America’s savior. Why? Because he, perhaps more than any other man, has brought us face to face with our own mortality.

Saw “Import/Export” last night - a German film by Ulrich Seidl. It’s the kind of film best seen locked on fast-forward. As far as films go, there was something fundamentally wrong with it. It traced the lives of two young people from different parts of Europe - a man and a woman - struggling to survive. It was winter and the prospects for both looked pretty bleak. So much of what most of us take for granted, they didn’t have, like running water for instance.

The girl ends up in Germany which is only marginally better for her since she bears the legacy of communism and all its implications. The boy, Austrian, ends up working for his father in what was once referred to as 'die Ost-Zone'. Their lives never intersect.

Wisdom, knowledge, religion, grace, talent, skill - all are like mental jewelry. Any one of these takes years to nurture and develop. If conditions are right, they can mature into something far more precious than material wealth. We, here in America, have a better than even chance at all of it. There are people in other countries who don’t. In the past, they’ve looked west for a chance to earn what passes for human dignity. Some fall short, of course. They bring too much baggage along with them.

I look at my own children. They are adults now. Having made no serious mistakes to weigh them down, they are thriving as much as can be expected under current circumstances. But more than any of that, it is dignity that props them up. Dignity is the foundation of any successful endeavor. Without it, we remain stunted.

In the past few days, I’ve heard Wisconsin compared to Egypt. The people who say this have no clue. Our revolution (if you want to call it that) has nothing in common with what Egyptians are fighting for. Our grievance is a mere temper tantrum compared to theirs. Whereas we can go back to our homes and eat a good dinner after a day of marching and waving banners with pictures of Hitler and Che; they have nothing to come home to but begging, hoping that their bloodlust (which often masquerades as salvation) will sustain them another day.

Our tradition of individual dignity is at peril. It’s the only thing that’s held our noses above water for so many years. Obama has shown us that dignity’s fabric has frayed; that it may tear under stress if not properly repaired and maintained; that we may find ourselves chilled to the bone and huddling together like farm animals in a draughty barn; that the path downward is infinite, and that we have only just begun our descent.

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We've Dug Deep Enough

Interesting architecture to the spin coming out of the Middle East (as the region burns). At first, it was Tunisia. Then Tunisia was faulted for what happened in Egypt; then, Tunisia was all but forgotten and Egypt became the fault for what’s happening in Bahrain; and so it goes on and on: the incident previous to the last one is conveniently forgotten with the aim of burying the source of the agitation. It’s very much like our housing collapse was explained to us.

Also, Israel is hardly ever mentioned; neither is Islam. POTUS is said to be unaware and unprepared. There’s no indication that he even knows that the 5th Fleet is anchored in Bahrain - or cares.

How can he not care? How can he not know? Ask such questions and you soon stumble upon the source of it all. He knows full well. He cares a lot - but not in the way we care. Despite all those exotic names that Americans can no longer pronounce or locate on a map, the real target in all this is the U.S. and, of course, Israel.

The script was hatched in the White House and it’s global in nature. It involves everything from Pakistan to Arizona and now Wisconsin. The plan is still unfolding, perfectly coordinated. There are no surprises for those in the know.

Look all that’s happened in the past two years since Barack Hussein Obama has been in office: the economy tanking; our foreign policy in disarray; people out in the streets protesting; our states insolvent; immigration out of control; our system of governance unresponsive to the public’s demands; jobs vanishing; oil and food prices spiking; etc. I suppose we can always blame it on Bush - or George Washington.

The ride to hell is infinite. We’ve already blown by any number of major milestones. (The passage of Obamacare was one. So was the sinking of the Cheonan.) We’ve been told to ignore all that. Who among us, looking at all this wreckage, can say we’ve turned the corner? Who can honestly say things are improving; that America is scoring points? Every day we’re treated to a new and ominous reality. Every day we dig ourselves deeper. Enough with the shovel-ready jobs already! We’ve dug deep enough.

It is an accident of destiny? I maintain it’s not. And we’d better start calling a spade a spade.

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Before They Gouge Out Our Eyes

Obviously it won’t be Obama who rides to our rescue. He’ll be the one seen as having run the country into the ground. No doubt, accusations will continue to fly from both sides. So who will it be? A Reagan-like figure? Or someone more centrist? Left? Anybody (again)? Will it even matter?

Hard to say at this point. I maintain we’re already ‘landing softly’. This is not enough for these people. The plan appears to be global. The action will center on the Middle East. That’s where the die will be cast. Everything will radiate out from there. Oil.

What struck me was how desperately Obama wanted to take credit for what happened in Egypt. It’s not yet over. If the worst should happen (and I don’t see how the worst can be avoided under our present leadership), will our president again seek to claim credit? Probably. But it won’t wash - not here, anyway.

A war in the Middle East, whether America is involved or not, will act as a ‘reset’ button for - not Russia, but - America. (How the Russians must have laughed!)

It’ll happen soon enough. While economic collapse could drag on for years, the Middle East - from Turkey to Pakistan and down into North Africa - has reached the boiling point. I have no clue if Israel is even prepared to defend itself. In any case, it’s probably out of Israel’s hands as well.

The era of cheap oil is be over. We hear it over and over again - like self-fulfilling prophecy. Oil has been the lifeblood of American ‘success‘. Our worthless dollars will no longer buy oil from the Middle East. And then there’s the matter of retribution. Venezuela will go along with it and cut us off.

Cloward-Piven has already achieved its aim. This can be illustrated in any number of ways. We’re now into our post-revolution. The point is, we no longer control the ropes. Who will come to our rescue (with some version of the Marshall Plan) should we stumble? (Again, we have already stumbled.) The sainted Brotherhood? The Chinese? The Russians? It’s likely that we’ll continue to wallow in our own stew for some time to come.

Doubtful too that Obama will be granted a villa in Shiraz (believe me, I tried to find some sort of beach resort for the family) to live out his miserable life. Though, it might be thrilling to catch a glimpse of Michelle’s ankle just before they gouge out our eyes.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Playing Dead

The sainted revolution over, it’s difficult to understand why protesters are still in Tahrir Square (which is really a circle). Reminds of when Obamacare was passed and the next day people started showing up at clinics and hospitals, demanding medical services.

Today, Egyptians are protesting low wages and high food prices. Anyone to venture a guess when this will change?

Conditions are liable to get worse for Egyptians - not better. For one thing, the army is now in charge. They control streets, not markets. Nefarious elements will begin to disrupt things even more in hopes of positioning themselves just behind the tip of the spear.

After WWII , after Germany had been decisively defeated, there was the U.S. to step in to help. I’m not saying Europe couldn’t have pulled itself out of the muck. I’m just saying, it would have taken them a lot longer without the Marshall Plan and good old American know-how.

Nobody to turn to now if you happen to crash your economy, have a revolution, or lose a war. America has given up on that gig. We’ve become green, taking nothing from the earth and subsisting entirely like Kobo Abe’s fictional, self-contained bug (eupcaccia) which he describes in the opening lines of his novel, “The Ark Sakura”, as subsisting entirely by eating its own feces.

And there is Obama, trying to take credit for what happened. In six months, Egyptians may well take him up on that. Meanwhile, unrest is said to be spreading throughout the Middle East. In his message to the Egyptian people, Obama voiced once again his commitment to stand by them, perhaps not yet realizing that, to the average Egyptian, any interference by America is like the kiss of death. Maybe his message was really directed at us? Oh, I don’t mean the Tea Parties. He can do without them - much too civilized; much too informed; stable. No, he means all the rabble that supports him. He’s been spoiling for a good fight. Republicans, it seems, aren’t really up to it. Much too eager to roll over and play dead.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The Invention Of the Wheel

It’s nice watching the young people enjoying themselves; celebrating the invention of the wheel. We, of course, having been around long enough to have made a few turns ourselves, know that it doesn’t necessarily last. Still, it’s good seeing the joy, the enthusiasm; and the young'uns' capacity for hope and (dare I say it?) change.

I still believe that undue credit has been given the internet. They’re saying now that social networks were largely responsible for Egypt’s revolution. I tend to doubt it for reasons I have given previously. I think that the overriding factor that has apparently sent the whole world for a toss is America turning its back on whatever everyone assumed were its global responsibilities. Obama has made it clear that he no longer intends to play by the old rules (which in and of itself has arguably amounted to no more than containment).

Anyone, in a position of power, has known for years that we were about to run out of canning jars; that the putrid brews we’ve allowed to fester have long since turned toxic and the tops were about to blow; that that day was never far off. All the more important to have a leader who has our best interests in mind to help steer, inform and inspire us as we stumble across the rocky parts.

Unfortunately, here in America, just the opposite has happened. I hope to God someone has been plotting all along to emerge soon with something even a trifle more compelling than shariah and/or communism.

Reply to MD Eastern Shore: Four And Twenty Blackbirds

MD - You make a great point! Look, either there is coincidence or there’s not. If not, then nothing could possibly exist. So, obviously there must be a guiding hand behind everything. As far as people who just love to claim credit for nearly everything are concerned, their credit generally extends to no more than simply being there.

Same with people who do things that they may wish to distance themselves from. Therefore, the most plausible excuse is to say, “I wasn’t there.”

But we were all there! We elected Obama. We never bothered to find out who he was and what he was trying to do. All that has happened to date since Obama took office is to a large extent - not only his, but - our fault. There are no coincidences.

While we may heap either praise or blame on any specific individual (or individuals) for ‘being there’ we cannot remove ourselves from the equation. As far as all that’s happened since Obama’s been in office - none of it good for America - I, at this point, would not put anything past our leadership. There have been oil spills, rising unemployment, rising fuel and food prices, rolling blackouts, constitutional crisis, stolen elections, housing slumps, terrorist threats, Wikileaks, revolutions, and the head honcho of China even flipped us the bird to boot; and Obama was there the whole time, and so were we. And I don’t see things getting any better. If you ask me, the whole bunch of them should be thrown in jail for one thing or another.

Wikileaks was said to be a factor in the Egyptian revolution and in various other diplomatic unpleasantness (mostly involving us), yet I never heard the president say much about it. An executive of Google was said to have played a role in getting the people of Egypt all riled up. And I see Google itself closely tied in with this administration. And it smacks very much of incest. Wall Street is said to be thriving; and, there too, I see a connection - while my 401K remains on life support. Now they’re thinking of moving Wall Street lock, stock, and barrel over to Germany.

In other words, I’m growing extremely suspicious of the way the president is handling things. Even though we’re out here too, asking questions; we seem to have been shunted aside and denied a fair hearing.

To me it’s criminal what has happened to our nation. Assange is not the only one at fault here. To focus on him alone is missing the point. There are lot of hands involved in the making of this pie. And we, as it turns out, happen to be the blackbirds.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

How We Came To Be A Day Late And A Dollar Short

The following is taken from a transcript of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s address last Friday to mark the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic revolution as reported by AFP:

"We will soon see a new Middle East materializing without America and the Zionist regime and there will be no room for world arrogance in it."

Addressing the people of Egypt directly, he said, "They (the United States) have adopted a friendly face and saying 'we are friends of people of North Africa and Arab countries', but be watchful and united. You will be victorious.

“(The) Iranian nation is your friend and it is your right to freely choose your path. (The) Iranian nation backs this right of yours.

“(The United States is an) accomplice to the oppression by the Zionist regime.

"Come and take away the Zionist regime which is the source of all crimes... take it away and liberate the region. Free the region and give it to the people and take this regime, which is the child of Satan, out."

This is the second time Ahmadinejad has made such statements since the Egyptian protests began. The first time he proclaimed that every government in the region that has aligned itself in any way with the United States will fall.

This got me to thinking (again) that these people are serious. Their hatred for Israel is the cause they are willing to die for. Israel knows this. It has been in its interest to promote the notion that the destruction of Israel will not be the end of it; that Islamic appetites will also aim to devour Europe and even America.

Nobody has been listening. And I myself predict that once Israel has been destroyed, the West will remain quite safe for a time. Islamic hatred of the West is solely focused on the West’s recognition and support of Israel.

Today Mubarak resigned. The Muslim Brotherhood will assume power. The rest of the Middle East will fall into Islamic extremists’ hands. Ultimately, Israel will be attacked. This time, the Islamists will win.

At this point, the West will mobilize to defend itself. (It has always been in its power to do so. All it would ever have required is tapping its heels together.) There will ensue a great purge of everything Islam. At the same time, the Left - which has aligned itself with Islamic extremism - will be sent packing. The world will return to some semblance of normalcy; now, of course, burdened by the stain of momentous, insufferable guilt.

Already today, the leaders of Europe have come out with a statement proclaiming that multiculturalism is not working. It can only get worse from here.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The Philadelphia Route

Besides showing that Obama has no credible plan (that he can publicly articulate) for the Middle East, the current crisis in Egypt points to America’s waning influence in the region. Yesterday, our president was absurdly trying to position himself to take credit for what he thought was about to happen from reading headlines in the papers. It is clear that his name had been struck from the list of those who need to know. As such, he knew as much as we do. So much for the billions our government spends on intelligence.

It might be useful to remember why Mubarak has been in power for 30 plus years: Egypt is the only country in the Middle East to sign a peace treaty with Israel. This means that Egypt has been the only country in the region to acknowledge the fact of Israel’s existence. Previous American administrations understood that this was the only requirement for Mubarak to stay in power.

As our current president has continued to make it clear that Israel no longer matters to him, Mubarak’s role also diminished in importance. Other aspects of Mubarak’s rule were now subject to full exposure.

Mubarak was basically America’s cop in the Middle East. He was properly rewarded by the U.S. to keep the peace within his limited jurisdiction. He has done an admiral job of it, suppressing the murderous attitudes among his own people, sometimes by force. He essentially put those who were crying out for Israel’s destruction in jail. We do the same with people who repeatedly voice threats of bodily harm towards others.

In recent years, it has come to be widely accepted that it is Israel that is actually at fault here; that Israel no longer deserves our protection. Therefore, the cop, Mubarak, was no longer needed. The Muslim Brotherhood - long committed to Israel’s destruction - had now served its sentence (and had hopefully learned its lesson) and was now to be released from confinement.

As the Brotherhood enjoys great influence and popularity throughout the Middle East (where Israel is universally despised), Obama initially thought that freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal (sic) would earn him some accolades. There have already been prison breaks in Egypt. Mumia (sic) will be freed (if he hasn‘t been already). Accolades for Obama? No (neither here nor there).

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There Is No Middle Ground

‘Common ground’, ‘working together for the good of the American people’, ‘getting the job done’ - all wonderful sentiments, designed to say nothing and, at the same time, placate the masses.

There remain huge differences in the underlying understanding of just what ‘the job’ actually entails. Oh, we can talk about getting unemployment down to 8%, especially if it involves fudging the numbers. We can cut the federal budget the same way. We can improve our education results by giving every graduate a test showing three objects and asking which two are alike. We can offer the people healthcare, houses, and rice (cakes on the fourth of July). We can even fly the flag at sporting events and ‘cut and paste’ the words of the National Anthem onto a teleprompter. We can open our borders and invite everybody who wants to come in. We can export our industries, our secrets and our livelihoods to the hungry abroad. We can take a hands-off approach to brutality and genocide. We can do all these things, but there is one thing we can never do: regain trust in our government.

The way things are today, you’re either for something or against it. It all depends on what you ultimately wish to accomplish. It’s like we’re surrounded by trees in the forest and we can’t find our way out. Each tree demands our undivided attention - each one, a life and death decision - sapping our strength and resolve. Every step involves us in banal argument. What we lack is the long view.

The long view is out there. It’s being consummated right now as we speak - while we argue about this and that.

Egypt is a perfect example. Listening to today’s developments, you’d get the idea that it’s complete and utter chaos over there and that our government doesn’t have the slightest clue about what to make of it. I don’t happen to buy that. I think they know exactly what they’re doing and that it’s playing out exactly the way it was envisioned. No surprises there.

I had to laugh when I heard that Mubarak wants to go to Germany after he steps down. He was our dictator, after all! You mean to say we don’t have a place for him right here in the good ol’ USA? Or maybe, he doesn’t really want to come here, knowing what we did to him.

I still remember how we kept saying that Bush single-handedly made us into the most hated nation on earth. From what I can see, this hasn’t much changed under Obama. In fact, we’ve managed to lose quite a few friends along the way. We certainly haven’t made any new ones. We’re about to lose Israel, and the Suez Canal to boot. What’s that supposed to get us? In case nobody has noticed, the Latin American dominos are falling one by one. What does anyone want to bet we won’t have a communist government on our border with Mexico after their next election?

John Batchelor cites ratings, civility and a depth of understanding the issues; when he should be shouting from the rooftops. Ditto, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy. Either you want to kick over the sand castle or you don’t. There is no middle ground.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The Happy Prince

How vain we are to think that we are capable of destroying things - either by our actions or inactions - what has taken millennia to build. Egypt, for one; our own country for another; the world. How self-important! Mere ants on an anthill.

Dresden was bombed to smithereens, and today it is the thriving metropolis it was always destined to be. Hiroshima was laid waste by the atom bomb and today it glitters like a rare jewel at night.

Egypt too has existed forever it seems. Recent upheavals will be but a footnote in texts tracing Egypt’s eternal history a hundred years from now. In all that time, swallows will continue to escape the unforgiving winters in the north and migrate to the land of the Pharaohs, alighting on the pyramids, ‘flying up and down the Nile, and talking to the large lotus-flowers… they will go to sleep in the tomb of the great King. The King is there himself in his painted coffin. He is wrapped in yellow linen, and embalmed with spices. Round his neck is a chain of pale green jade, and his hands are like withered leaves.”

The peasants will continue to scratch some semblance of livelihood from the dry desert sands. And all will be as it ever was after the sirocco of news print has passed and the dust has settled.
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Italics from Oscar Wilde’s ‘The Happy Prince’.

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Blame America First

Frank Wisner speaks the obvious. But, it goes counter to what POTUS and Hillary are saying. It goes against reported public sentiment on the streets in Cairo. It goes against what most pundits in our media are saying - that Mubarak must go, YESTERDAY!

The ‘blame America first’ crowd has staged a significant comeback. There’s fresh wind in their sails. Throughout major media reporting, the narrative developing is that we are singularly responsible for maintaining Mubarak - a tyrannical dictator - for so many years; that we (America) have been in support of nasty tyrants all over the world who make their populations suffer; blah, blah, blah… It even cropped up on this mornings ‘Religion On The Line’ radio program and remained basically unchallenged.

We seem to feel totally comfortable with the notion of blaming ourselves for all that’s wrong everywhere. How narcissistic we are, believing that the whole world turns only around us! If we can take credit for every evil, it’s still about us - isn‘t it? And that’s the point: I, me, mine - us - America. We may be the ‘Great Satan’, but we’re still ‘great’ and that’s all that counts.

Besides, Barack Hussein Obama has promised to single-handedly turn us away from the dark side and into the light. That’s why we elected him.

Before the 2008 election VP Biden said at a fundraiser: “Mark my words, it will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama… Watch, we’re gonna have an international crisis - a generated crisis - to test the mettle of this guy (Obama)… And he’s gonna need you… to stand with him. Because it’s not gonna be apparent initially… that we’re right.”

Well, it took longer than six months (unless you want to count the post-election protests in Iran), but let's not quibble. And ever since, in my own humble estimation, we’ve been holding back or doing the wrong thing entirely. Biden warned us of that back when. He essentially said, “Trust us. We know what we’re doing.”

Well, the jury is still out on that. Not sure if the White House is as confused as we are about what’s happening in Egypt. At the end of the day, confusion is only a temporary smoke screen. It might well be that all will be revealed in due time. As one left-wing clairvoyant so aptly put it, "We have to pass our bill so that you can find out what is in it". Nice string of alliterations, but otherwise quite perplexing. Looks like, as in everything else Obama has tried, chaos is the goal.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Being There

It has been duly noted that once again we seem to be on the wrong side of things. We’re supporting a rag-tag army of assorted leftists and Islamic radicals, and throwing Mubarak - a U.S. ally - under the bus (so to speak); that, for all our efforts to help lift the Egyptian people out of the tyranny of what essentially amounts to (we are told) U.S.-sponsored poverty, we are inadvertently abandoning them to another kind of tyranny - one of Islamic fundamentalism which would likely put Israel - another so-called U.S. ally - at risk, as well as the Suez Canal, a major shipping lane (primarily for oil) which is likely to affect even Europe - more U.S. ‘allies’ - adversely.

Nobody asks why the people of the Middle East are in perpetual poverty, despite untold billions pumped in by the West (for oil). Nobody asks why conditions for Muslims in India continue to be markedly worse than they are for Hindus (and others), despite government efforts to give them every possible advantage.

Perhaps we haven’t exactly thought it through all that well; perhaps we haven’t considered all the implications of embracing shariah and treating it on par with what our own sacred texts espouse. Perhaps we thought that by siding with a seemingly ‘popular’ movement all else would fall into place; and we would be loved as we’ve never been loved before.

Such miscalculations are easy to make. Carter miscalculated Iran and we’re still paying the price. They still hate us. But he meant well. At least, we think he did.

We’re also giving Obama the benefit of the doubt in the current situation. We seem to have forgotten his stance on the Iranian popular uprising a year or two ago. We seem to have forgotten his stance when Honduras went through its constitutional travail, as well as so much else that has been plaguing us domestically since this man assumed power. We’ve refused to connect the dots.

I still remember as a child, the seemingly endless wait at restaurants for the waitress to bring our food was made tolerable by the table mats I was given. The ‘connect-the-dots’ game was always a part of it. The game was relatively easy. The dots were always numbered; and I knew my numbers. I knew what order they came in. Yet, I would always hesitate to start, trying to predict before-hand what figure would ultimately emerge.

Today, connecting-the-dots seems to have become a lost art. While it’s true that the dots are no longer numbered, they are self-explanatory nonetheless. We have been reading the newspapers, after all. We can remember what has happened previously and in what order it happened. We have seen enough of it to know what is likely to happen next - and afterwards…

Still, we act like every day is a new day. All events are random and unexpected. Obama has been in office two years - and unpleasant things have happened and are continuing to happen. Where is all this ‘hope and change’ thing taking us?

While all our problems have been attributed to Obama’s inexperience (including, of course, his constant hectoring of Israel to mind its ways), a pattern seems to be emerging.

Heads of state are beginning to notice and draw conclusions. While we gnash our teeth, seemingly finding ourselves at the mercy of unrelated events, our enemies are beginning to take liberties. Our friends are beginning to distance themselves. Our economy is going to the dogs. Our ‘fixes’ only seem to be making things worse. And throughout it all, our government media tells us that all is hunky-dory; that we are doing just fine; and that the light at the other end of the tunnel is straight ahead (under the inspired leadership of Imam Obama).

Things are falling apart. Despite removing ‘mother’ and ‘father’ terminology from U.S. passport applications and replacing it with gender neutral verbiage (‘parent one’ and ‘parent two‘), junior Obama is finding that it still takes either Mom or Dad to drive the fambly (sic) sedan.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

What If...

What if Mubarak were to ride this one out? The thought came to mind when pro-Mubarak supporters stormed into Tahrir Square, attacking western news crews and shouting anti-American slogans. Could Israel do the same?

It seems that a display of anti-Americanism is quite in vogue in the Middle East. Heck, it even works in America.

What if it turns out that Egyptians have had enough. It is my understanding that the grocery shelves stand empty. Not a cigarette to be had. Who is responsible? Who is in a position to do anything about it? ElBaradei? The rabble in the streets?

What about those whose houses and properties remain at risk from criminals and looters? Who will they turn to for relief? It looks like they’re prepared to look after themselves. Neighborhood posses have been formed to drive hooligans away.

This is similar to the 1967 Newark riots. While the city burned, residents of the Ironbound set up armed sentries to keep the lawless out and they succeeded in protecting their holdings. While Newark is still clawing its way out of the abyss, the Ironbound has been thriving.

How would Obama react if Mubarak holds on - by popular support, even. How would the American media spin it?

Maybe Israel should do the same: Send masses of people out into the streets with signs (in English) condemning America. Now they’d all be brothers. Who needs the West?

http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

We Are Building a Religion

As we go back and forth and speculate about what might yet happen (in Egypt), we should go straight to the horse’s mouth. Let’s ask our president directly what it is that he wants to happen. And while we’re at it, let’s ask him straight out what he has in mind for the U.S. Let’s ask him to explain why he is doing what, and what he is hoping to accomplish by doing so. And let’s pretend to believe what he says.

By the way, there’s a great opinion column in the WSJ this morning (Feb. 1) by Bret Stephens entitled “Being Mubarak”. It takes an interesting slant, speculating that the old fox (Mubarak) may yet have some tricks up his sleeve.

It is what it is (and has been for some 30 odd years). There was a reason for why we supported Egypt and, I might add, Israel. With the election of Obama, those reasons have eroded. We turn our backs to both - and things happen. Read Caroline Glick’s column in the JPOST today. What we (in the West) define as ‘success’ is not defined as ‘success’ among Islamists (or communists). Our metrics are not valid there. Any attempt at such comparison may be regarded as ‘category error‘.

What if the revolution succeeds? What if the dominos fall, one by one; and an Islamic Caliphate emerges - one that is hostile to the West? And there is a genocide? Would it end with the destruction of Israel? Maybe so. Or would it gather steam and push into Europe? By the way, would Europe be capable of defending itself?

What if it were found that the American president actively participated in engineering the revolution in the Middle East by withdrawing key supports; manipulating food prices world-wide; deliberately crashing economies by way of monetary policy; supporting radical elements in the name of ‘social justice’? Would we be spared the indignity of shariah? Would he? Not likely. Traitors are universally despised, even under the minimal discipline of chaos.

The twelfth imam is likely to credit his own and pay scant attention to the welfare of foreign accomplices.

In any case, it’ll be the Atlantic that will shield us from the worst of it. Having allowed ourselves to come to this point, however, will haunt us into eternity. We will spend the rest of our lives apologizing, wearing sack cloth, wailing, and tearing our hair. No more arrogance; no more illusions of ‘American exceptionalism‘. We’ll have to rebuild slowly and painfully; our civilization will re-emerge, (this time) stripped of excess and bravado. We’ll have to harden ourselves to the hurled scorn of the betrayed, and forever suffer the weight of insurmountable guilt.

Only the Germans currently have a sense of it. They have been blessed with every attribute that would facilitate achieving unparalleled success; but, at the same time, they know they have forever forfeited their chance at enduring greatness.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

No More Sequels

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/