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/

Don't Tell Anybody

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

EWR - MAA

Flew Jet Airways to India. When going to Chennai in particular, Jet flies there directly from Brussels. This saves a five-hour stop-over in Bombay. Still, it’s a long time to be up in the air. When you come back down, you’re happy to be just about anywhere.

The uncontested champ of the multiple forms of in-flight entertainments offered is the GPS screen that shows the plane’s progress. I, personally, can’t get enough of it. I watch for minute changes in outside temperature, speed and altitude. The screens rotate between maps and statistics in a multitude of languages.

I noted this time (and every other time) that Israel and any of its cities were not on the map. Meanwhile, all the countries and towns of the rest of the Middle East, including Mecca, were prominently represented. Apparently, Arabs are thought to fly into a rage whenever they hear or see any mention of Israel. And we all can count ourselves as enablers of that rage. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen maps without Israel on them.

If Arabs should succeed in wiping Israel off the map - as many are said to want to do - I can promise, there won’t be enough water on planet earth for anyone to get their hands back to clean.