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.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Mitch Daniels Misspeaks

‘Error code’ for what? I must have missed this. But I’m sure he must have said something to offend either the Right or the Left. If it’s the Right, redemption is still possible. If it’s the Left, he’s cooked. The very gates of hell will open up out of that shoe box (with the pot in it) of his.

It troubles me that Mitch Daniels felt compelled to walk anything back. It shows that his primary aim is to appeal to voters. Haven’t we had enough of that: politicians speaking out of both sides of their mouths, saying one thing to one audience and another thing to another; and walking it back both times. Who really knows what they intend?

I, for one, would have more respect for Obama if he were to come right out and say it; that his plan is to topple representative governance along with capitalism and impose shariah on the American people; and that, in addition, he wants to push Israel into the sea and murder every Jew on the face of the earth, instead of comparing himself to every past American president who happens to have - at one time or other - caught America’s imagination.

I would equally welcome any politician who would step forward (now) and declare his or her intention to stop Obama in his tracks. It’s not just about overturning Obamacare, reducing taxes, or soothing any other single-issue voters’ concern. It’s the whole ball of wax: energy, education, the economy, race relations, foreign policy, etc. - all of which feed into the mix of anti-Americanism in one way or another.

At least, this way we would know where we stand and we would not waste 99% of our time and energy debating each point separately to no conclusion.

Right now, I personally see no solution other than letting Obama have exactly what he wants - reduce our nation to the likes of Zimbabwe or North Korea - and watch if our population will not at some point rise up and hold the whole bunch of them responsible. Let them throw us in prisons; let them place an imam on every street corner, armed with a knife to slit our throats; let them take our children and keep them hostage in their madrassas; let them hold public hangings, floggings, stoning, and amputations; and make attendance mandatory. Let them demand our money and property and make them communal. Let them rape and defile our women. Let them do all these things and more and watch for the point at which the NYT and all the alphabet broadcasters decide to turn against them so that we can finally stand united against the onslaught that continues to rage against us. Change always comes from within.

Am hoping for the day when we will once again can see patriotic movies being made and hear patriotic songs sung. How much will it take to turn us around?

As long as we listen to guys the likes of Daniels and Gingrich with maple-flavored oatmeal dripping from their lips as they speak; I’d say, we still have a long way to go.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

When Did You Stop Beating Your Wife?

Linking Sarah Palin to the AZ shootings is a low blow, even for the NYT. Just goes to show how desperate they‘ve become. Unfortunately, it works for now - like Obamacare will continue to work in their favor; like cap and trade; immigration; etc.

People believe what they want to believe. They’ll believe it even if the facts speak against it. Some will believe in God simply because they see a church. Others see a church simply as a configuration of stone, and do not see God there.

The overwhelming public narrative that says Republicans are evil and that Sarah Palin is stupid wins out every time. It is deep-rooted. Even those who believe this narrative to be patently unfair support it every time they quote from the NYT; every time they try to engage by giving voice to their counterpoint.

The only effective way to fight it is to ignore it. I know many of you have long since cancelled your subscriptions to the NYT. This is not enough. You cannot quiet the noise from the left. It is there and it always will be. Do what the Left does to us. Don’t pay any attention to it. Don’t react; don’t engage. Pretend it isn’t there. Roll your eyes; raise your eyebrows; shake your heads. Marginalize it; ignore it and walk away.

This is what they’re doing to us. Though we claim greater numbers, we still fall for the old trick of being goaded into defending ourselves (when did you stop beating your wife?) - against what? False claims? If the shoe doesn’t fit, don’t wear it.

Not sure how this will play out. The visuals are misleading but powerful: Arizona; Dem. Congress woman shot; first black president; opposition to his policies; racism; etc. The palette of colors has been defined. The shape of the argument proceeds as planned. The painting emerges just as envisioned. We react, taking a defensive stance - or we just remain silent, stunned by the picture that continues to emerge.

Know who you are. Know what you believe. Believe in yourself. Don’t let them confuse you. Don’t stammer. Rather, stay quiet. They are professionals. You don’t stand a chance playing their game. There will come an opening. That’s when we act.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Dead-Center Left

Candy has it wrong. The biggest story now, and for the past several years, has been the press itself. It has been it’s creation of the Franconian figure that is Barack Hussein Obama. The tea parties have been treated pretty much as one would an afterbirth . No one celebrates it. It figures much more prominently in the process of cleaning up.

Crowley may have misspoken because, when all was said and done, the afterbirth showed more promise, more life than the fetus ever did. Here we are two years later, and the tea parties exhibit a far greater vitality than the awkward mongoloid child. All those having celebrated the birth with such unconstrained enthusiasm, are now faced with having to climb down from their original high expectations. Naturally, they have been reluctant to do so.

In the process they have poisoned their own well of credibility. It seems the child was unable to open the heavens and has had to follow in the footsteps of his elders. The accommodation to ‘tax cuts for the rich’ was just the latest in a series of broken campaign promises. This one in particular represents the crowning achievement of the outspoken tea parties in that the name ‘Bush’ was actually attached to it. There can be no way of flushing it or sweeping it under the rug.

All during the rise of the tea parties, the press has done its best to ignore them. When the final salvo against them failed - pegging them to the threat of violence and making them a target of Homeland Security - it became clear to many that they would have to begin taking the tea parties seriously. There is now an increasing number who are in the process of doing so. Only the likes of the NYT still push the predictable narrative of Obama’s omnipotence, hardly ever mentioning the tea parties by name. They continue to pursue this course at considerable personal risk. From what I hear, the finances of the old ‘gray lady’ are in dire shape. This as opposed to the WSJ who has manage to pick up subscribers just as fast as the NYT is dropping theirs.

Still, the NYT is said to be the paper of record. Any number of U.S. publications - and the international press in particular - take their cues from The New York Times. These are beginnig to suffer equally and we can soon expect a bill introduced in Congress geared to bailing out failing news organizations. In addition, there’s been some serious talk afoot of ‘regulating’ the industry. Long entrenched politicians are becoming concerned. They would like nothing better than to be able to limit the scope of what has come to be known as ‘alternative media‘. The John Batchelor Show radio and blog also fall into this category.

There are of course others far more critical of the ruling classes on both sides of the political aisle. In a head-fake to fairness, both FOX and MSNBC are now in the crosshairs. It’ll be interesting to see how this issue will fare in the next Congress. Lawmakers will feel compelled to deal with it and the tea parties will be watching closely how this heretofore dead-center left narrative develops. America has spoken after all. It will no longer tolerate rank distortions.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Schattenspiele

If Obama were to back off his ‘class warfare assumption’ he would lose what’s left of his base - 20%. The president knows he is sunk politically. America is not a place where class warfare works. Ask anyone who has ever visited here from abroad.

In order to maintain the appearance of relevance, he must give the impression that his support is bigger than it is. That much can be done with three people in a paisley curtained room with a fax machine.

When trust is broken, especially in infancy, the scar never heals properly. Our experiment in socialism will not go well. It has been peddled under false pretenses. Instead of things getting better, they are getting worse. People will remember the promises that are now clashing with reality.

When a young girl is raped, she will grow up distrusting men. It may lead her to choose either the life of a whore or that of a spinster. This is why we place a premium on crimes committed against the very young.

Communism assumes values that are contrary to our tradition. As reality sinks in, even those who feel intimidated by the often veiled intricacies of capitalism will come to recognize the folly of abandoning it. The blunt edge of authoritarianism is never attractive.

There are now more of us than there are of them. Our president knows this. The exodus back to familiar climes is gathering steam. Only the NYT and its echo wannabes persist in pursuing the human lampshade Schattenspiel, primarily because the smell of blood in the water is just too irresistible for those who no longer seek redemption.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Wikileaks: Promoting Shame

Of course the Chinese knew what N. Korea was up to. N. Korea is a Chinese proxy. N. Korea could not exist without China. The idea that N. Korea would do anything behind China’s back is ludicrous.

Iran too has its proxies that are hyperactive in the Middle East. JB has spent many hours detailing how it works. Our State Department, for public consumption, points fingers at N. Korea, Syria, Hezbollah, etc. to keep from pointing fingers at Beijing and Tehran. What exactly is gained by this strategy remains unclear.

The Wikileaks matter is quite fascinating in this regard. Washington too has its proxies many of whom have dried up (or are in the process of drying up) particularly since our current president has been in office. He is now claiming that the Wikileak document dumps represent a security risk. This is pure lip service on his part. His actions speak otherwise. Obama has done nothing to reign in Wikileaks. The military is screaming that it has put our soldiers at risk. True enough, but Obama has done more to put them at risk than Wikileaks ever could. No need on this website to go into details. Everyone is pretty much up to speed on how our own rules of engagement - threat of court martial right here at home - have undermined our military effort.

Now, that the leaks are beginning to put the lie to the public face of our diplomatic goals, Washington is starting to make noise (in protest). “It’s embarrassing,” goes the refrain from the State Department. Embarrassing? Quite.

The global consensus, fueled in large part by Washington itself, has been that anything Washington does is in many ways self-serving, duplicitous, and essentially evil. That is why U.S. aid to the starving or sick in Africa is routinely re-packaged as to erase any sign of its origin. Embarrassed too is anyone who may be exposed as having collaborated with Americans on any level.

Obama does nothing. We can assume Wikileaks serves his purposes. The next leaks are said to pertain to our banks. More nails to hammer the coffin lid on capitalism shut.

Finally, the common denominator in all this frantic leaking is America. There are no leaks with regard to Beijing, Moscow or Tehran. Oh, there are leaks alright, but they're not splashed all over the NYT which is only interested in America’s sins and in promoting its shame.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

A Little Left; A Little Right

Every human heart has within it a little left and a little right. Cutting out either one will kill the heart. Where we have gone wrong is by cutting off debate between the two. It has literally ignited a war.

There are those who benefit from conflict. These are the people who will tell you not to talk to this one or that. They will tell you never to mention certain subjects. They will redefine language to be confrontational.

We see it in our colleges and universities; we see it in our media; now we are seeing it in our politics. Never forget that Republicans were not allowed access to the decision-making concerning any bill that was passed during the past two years. Never forget that the NYT does not allow for opposing views to appear on its pages; ditto: CBS; PBS; NBC, and ABC. Never forget that Islam does not allow intellectual commerce with the outside world.

Within our own nation, Left and Right have retreated into armed camps.

I remember reading a story of an Israeli boy and a Palestinian boy clandestinely meeting in some no-man’s land abutting their properties. They were friends; they played as friends do. They knew each other on a human level. The story did not end well.

The evil resides within those who forcibly block people from basic human interaction. They do so with malice. They intend to gain by it. All their words are calculated to fuel discontent and erect barriers. They invariably threaten consequences.

Words like “Barack will never allow…” and “(Republicans) gotta sit in the back.” and, “…we’re gonna punish our enemies and…reward our friends…” should never be uttered by Americans who happen to hold positions of leadership. This kind of talk should throw up warning signals to indicate that we have already gone too far. For America to save itself, Americans must unite under the nation’s banner and keep all the lines of communications open. The threat comes from those who would happily shut it down.

In India, there actually is a communist party. It interacts freely with all other parties. Often, it aligns itself with others. It does not seek to destroy them.

I just read a novel by Khushwant Singh entitled “Train to Pakistan”. The time is just after partition. It details the bloodletting between Hindus and Muslims precisely. And it tells how it started. It’s not the Hindus and Muslims who were at fault. It was the badmashes on both sides who took advantage of a chaotic situation to sate their own appetites.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Why Bother?

It’s getting down to the wire. There are indications that nothing you hear from now on can be trusted; that things will be said solely for the purpose of manipulating the vote. It sometimes works. Exit results in the East have been known to suppress voter turnout in the West. Exit polls are not official. These can be, and often are, wrong.

Similarly, talk of a Republican landslide can work either way. It can keep both Republicans and Democrats from going to the polls. Talk of races tightening can have the opposite effect. Like it or not, turnout is key.

In short, do not believe anything you might hear. Go to the polls knowing nothing. Simply vote your conscience - but do vote.

There are some things we do know. We know that this is an important election for both parties. We know that our economy is not doing so well, no matter who may be at fault. We also do not see signs of things getting better. We’ve lost much of our 401 nest egg. Inflation is set to take the rest. And jobs are getting ever harder to find.

Internationally too - for those who follow world affairs - we’re in dismal straits. Our friends are distancing themselves and our enemies have taken to laughing out loud. We can accept Obama’s excuses and pretend he hasn’t been in office for two years, or we can make up our minds to do our share to change direction.

We also know that the media won’t tell us the truth. Make no mistake, the president is on the ballot. “D” = Obama; “R” = against. I myself have questioned just how much Republicans are willing or able to do after the election. None of that matters now. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we must first get to the bridge.

One last point: Expect close results to be fought over. We don’t have a friend in the White House, nor at Justice. A close result means we lose.

It is my belief that there will be beaucoup surprises. When it’s over, the word ‘unexpected’ will likely be heard everywhere. The Tea Parties will know better. They know the 'force' is with them. The morning after, we’ll likely have the unmitigated pleasure of taking our foot off the gas, pulling into a 7/11 to purchase a NYT - just for a long and healing laugh.

On second thought - why bother? We already know what they're going to say.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Winner Takes Nothing

Like it or not, whatever strides the U.S. has made since WWII has had a tremendous impact on the rest of the world. In every way, America has defined the standard of modernity. Every success, every setback, receives huge coverage in the foreign press. Often our political travails influence the policies set by governments around the globe.

It is normal for us - even regarded as inconsequential - when our political parties bad-mouth each other. Republican administrations are regularly attacked by Democrats who have been known to say anything they think they can get away with. We pretty much expect as much: Bush accused of favoring the rich; Bush labeled as war-monger; Bush blamed for Katrina; Bush blamed for the World Trade Center bombing. We take it all in stride, even if The New York Times, standard bearer for the Democrat Party, presents it as truth and then retracts it on page 47 a month later. Then there is ‘global warming’, a clever send-up to label America as excessively wasteful, even to the detriment of the planet. There’s the perennial issue of the poor, the homeless, the hungry (never mentioned during Democrat administrations) and, now, the overtly greedy that are said to deny the rest of the planet its daily bread.

Every bit of such claptrap originates from within our own borders. We can identify it as an effort to score points against the opposing party. Much of it is eventually discredited as pure rhetoric. But once its out there in print or on the net, others pick it up and build their case against America.

A prevalent notion abroad, for instance, is that America is a racist country. In fact, any opposition to Obama’s policies, for whatever reason, is liberally portrayed as racist sentiment against a black president. The fact that we elected a black president in the first place is conveniently forgotten.

You hear it everywhere - in India, in South America, in Africa - that America is a racist nation. They get it from reading the likes of Paul Krugman and Frank Rich, whose opinion columns are read widely throughout the world. It is only those who have actually traveled and lived here who know that race is not an issue for ordinary Americans; that England and Russia are far worse when it comes to that.

We’ve been accused often enough to understand it’s just a political ploy. We no longer take it seriously and tend to ignore it completely. It’s simply our own political operatives attempting to score points, points that are then picked up overseas to serve more sinister purposes.

It might have been good if we had nipped our tendency for engaging in some of our more extreme rhetoric in the bud sooner. Democrats, now turned Fabian socialists, in particular have succeeded in turning the domestic propaganda wars into a worldwide crusade. What started as domestic political rhetoric has grown hotter and is now threatening to topple the very foundations of our way of life. They have recruited allies among the ranks of our enemies; and, now, we are finding our nation in peril.

To a large extent, what we are experiencing today has been self-inflicted. The poison wells up from within our own institutions which have been infiltrated (by ourselves) and corrupted. Our present troubles are a consequence of our two-party system being at war rather than cooperating. It’s a repeat of Sherman’s (march to the sea) scorched earth policy. Winner takes nothing.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Running Out The Clock

I don’t believe this president is ‘running out the clock’. Only someone who feels he’s on the ropes will try to run out the clock - the boxer who has lost all confidence that he can defeat his opponent with a single decisive blow. POTUS is not there yet. He still has two more years. He’s done a lot already, perhaps more (legislatively) than any other president in history.

He’s also put in place a mechanism that will make America bleed for years yet to come. He has had to give in a little from time to time - at least verbally - to throw the hounds off his trail. But he will continue to do just what he has set out to do.

Ahmadinejad works the same way, mouthing petty lies now and then as to give the Russians and others cover for continuing to honor their agreements with him - financial, technical and otherwise. We all know he’s lying through his teeth, but it’s enough to placate those who are desperate to believe in the essential goodness of evil men.

In the meantime, the clock is running unimpeded, allowing the Hitler of Iran to have his nuclear arsenal and Obama his re-making of America into a Marxist Utopia.

The reason Obama has lost his magic is because he knows that a growing number of people have become dead certain of what it is he is doing. With each apparent capitulation, his argument grows weaker in the face of what’s continues to happen.

Summers and others are gone because they too have figured it out. There’s no chance of Obama’s policies working. There’s no chance of better times returning without changing course - ...unless, of course, the president intends exactly what is happening.

The media focuses on Velma Hart as someone capable of articulating exactly what it is that has America‘s panties in a knot. She is a rabid supporter of the Obama fiction and even she has doubts.

No doubt, the media want’s Obama to change course. They can see that what this administration has put in place has not worked. Their distaste of Republicans trumps all, however. They will never support Republicans. They need Obama to change course; adopt Republican policies if need be. Even this they can handle, like counting Iraq as one of Obama’s foreign policy successes, or counting ‘jobs saved’ as his domestic triumph.

Unlike Obama, The New York Times is not necessarily unpatriotic. It is simply pro-Democrat. It defines their hopelessly entrenched tradition. They would rather go out of print than portray Obama for what he truly is. Like Obama, they will double down when push comes to shove, even while precariously perched on a knife’s edge.

I realize that, like any man of a single physical body, Obama's personality oscillates between infinite poles. I realize it is simplistic - moronic even - to ascribe a single motive to any living man. I draw my conclusions (wrongly perhaps) from what I see. America is waning under this president, whatever the reason. To deny this is no reflection on Obama, perhaps; but it is a fact. Neither will Obama’s eventual electoral defeat solve the problem. This hydra has many heads, many of which combine to define very an essence within every living American soul. Even the most virtuous among us is afflicted. And it is there that we must ultimately find the cure.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

An American Quilt

Most pundits still treat the November midterms as any other similar election cycle; when, in fact, previous metrics are no longer relevant. The November midterms will not hinge on anything as flimsy as accusations of scandal. In normal times, scandal, smear, and innuendo even, could turn elections - as could race, looks and/or a glamorous trophy wife, cute kids and a dog. November will bring on recycling day in America, when we put all our stuff considered crap out to the curb. Inventory will have been very carefully taken.

To appreciate the difference this time around you only need look at the media. Nobody is paying much attention to the media anymore. In fact, major media endorsements - like POTUS himself - have become a liability. People will read fawning puff pieces in the NYT about the vaunted Cuomo legacy, for instance; and that will be enough for people to vote against square-jawed Andrew (formerly of HUD). Similarly, they will read scathing attacks on Tea Party candidates in the same elitist, left-leaning, partisan rags; and that will be enough to make up their minds.

Scandals are no longer to be believed. These are seen as petty smear contrivances that are usually effective only against Republicans. We are now in a post-partisan phase. The ‘anybody but Bush’ crowd has been swept aside and replaced with ‘anybody but Obama’ types. The media will do its best to paint both as one and the same.

Strangely enough, the country is now as unified as it ever was. It has become accepted that Obama occupies the extreme fringe of our American quilt. The people will not rest until this fringe is severed from power. The anti-Bush mania was only a warm-up; a dry-run based on late night frivolity. This time it’s serious, however. The question remains: Will normal methods suffice in abnormal times?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Man the Water Stations

While the debate rages about how to fix the economy (read today’s opinion pieces in the NYT), things continue to get worse out there, particularly on the jobs front. People are re-entering the job market because they have become desperate. It’s no longer a choice - to work or not to work - it’s become a matter of survival.

Unfortunately, the jobs are no longer out there. They’re over in India, China, the Philippines and elsewhere. Value-based work is fleeing the country, leaving only enforcement-related and administrative (basically government) mandated tasks which themselves face the cleaver as tax revenues continue to fall short of expectations. It’s the classic definition of a downward spiral.

Incredibly, there is a way out. It is to make America business-friendly once again. Europe is trying it - although tepidly - and thus far has had limited success at least in terms of improving the psychological climate that businesses face. The reason that this hasn’t yet happened in America is because at the moment they are freer than we are. Our taxes and regulations are literally choking the life out of us. Add to this, the people’s distrust of government policy overall, and you have the entire country in unison fuelling the tailspin.

Washington has become so toxic, even if the president were to come out tomorrow with a workable plan to solve all the nation’s problems, nobody would pay much attention. For the majority of Americans, Barack Hussein Obama has already torn up his leadership card and thrown it to the wind. We have reached a point where Obama’s government no longer represents us.

How to explain this to people in a foreign country? People tend to assume that countries speak with one voice. If the government, for instance, insists on basing its foreign and domestic policies on the now largely discredited threat of ‘global warming’ while the people themselves have become aware of the hoax, that government can be said to rule against the will of the electorate. The U.S. is not the only nation that has chosen to follow the forked path leading to civil strife. The first fault line to appear, as always, is the one between the classes. The elites have chosen one path, leaving the masses to wander another.

Time to man the water stations in this desert. Many are about to get themselves lost out in the wilds. Great swatches of land have already been ceded to cartel control. It is clear, the American government does not care about Americans. One of the two will fall and there will be blood. In the meantime, maps and survival tips must be distributed.

I open the paper today and read that the Taliban have offered to burn all medical books.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Something Doesn't Add Up

Look where we were just two years ago. Bush was playing the role of the ruddy, good-natured fireman in the dunking seat at the local county fair. We all cued up to give it our best shot, hurling projectiles at the big, colorful target that was hard to miss. Over and over, he went down into the tank only to emerge wet and dripping. We gleefully continued to play the game even after the sun had gone down and he was shivering. Some of us took cheap shots, aiming our shoes at his face. How we laughed! It was all in good fun. What else are county fairs for?

Little did we know that it all was to boomerang. Now we are the target. Reading today’s opinion columns in the NYT, we are told we are stupid, small-minded, xenophobes for not embracing - among much else - the mosque at Ground Zero.

The game has artfully turned deadly. We suspect something is very wrong - something is happening which we never expected could happen in our country. Elections still seem an eternity away. Midterms. Shrug. It’s bigger than that. As we learn more and more about Alinsky, Cloward, Piven among others too numerous to mention, it gets downright scary. We’re no longer living a James Bond novel in which Sean Connery can be expected to fight for our side - and win. We are the only side remaining, it seems - all the others are against us.

How did Bush do it? We never suspected we were in this deep s**t. “D’ya miss me yet?” Yes we do, Mr. President. We know you’d have just the right words to say concerning the mosque and all. We know you’d get dunked again for opening your mouth. We now know that your erstwhile enemies are now our enemies. We just wish we’d have a man in The White House who’d feel comfortable inviting someone like Rush to dinner, letting him and his wife sleep in the Lincoln Bedroom for a couple of nights and chew the fat over breakfast. He’d then come back to us and tell us it’s all alright, that there’s a plan - a plan for saving our country.

We’d be quite prepared to sacrifice; to do whatever it takes. We’d rally around the flag until the whole lot of these bastards are defeated. (This includes you, Hillary!) We’d even buy government bonds with what money we’ve got left, and work our fingers to the bone in some rivet factory for the slightest glimmer of light.

What I still can’t understand is the women nowadays. Would they really want to go back to a totally male-dominated society without any rights? Why aren’t they up in arms and at the point of the spear? Can’t they see where it’s going? The military is banned from recruiting on campuses because of ’don’t ask, don’t tell’. Why aren’t Muslim organizations banned from those same campuses for their even greater affronts to human dignity?

No. Something doesn’t add up - doesn’t add up at all.

The Takeover of America

At this point there is nothing the president can do to save himself or his party. Even embracing conservative policies, personally rolling back health care, building a 20 ft. razor wire fence along our entire southern border with Mexico, slashing tax rates across the board, disbanding the unions, plugging the hole, etc. would not return to him a single vote he has lost. Obama has revealed himself as far too left, too radical, too Muslim for the bulk of those who are seriously concerned and likely to vote. The same metric applies to all Democrats who have supported Obama all along.

November will serve as a big eye-opener for Democrats. It is now still possible that Obama and the Dems do not yet know how far their initial support has fallen. If they read The New York Times and watch MSNBC; or talk to pointy-head academics, they may well get the idea that they still have a chance. But, I hear, even the Jewish vote is seriously compromised.

I predict that Democrats will lose both the House and the Senate. Moderate Republicans also will be shown their walking papers. Republicans, as we speak, are planning to hire dozens of investigators to target Obama with an eye toward impeachment. Again, I predict, Obama will weather the storm, but he will find himself so tied up fighting to defend himself, that he will be unable to advance his agenda. Meanwhile the public will be mesmerized. Their bloodlust will be stoked.

Again, actual governing will come to a standstill. Obama is the third president in a row who will have reached this point. His hardcore support will at some point abandon him and call for his resignation. Hillary Clinton will assume de facto power.

The public will be dazzled and dazed by the dramatic action. Once again, they will take their eye off the ball. Note: Our nation’s lunge to the left will not in any way abate. Democratic governance will continue to erode. Strategically timed disasters here and there will facilitate the Left’s continued power grab. By the time 2012 rolls around, there will be so much chaos; there won’t even be a prayer of holding elections.

The takeover of America will be complete.

Something Has Happened

The world’s economies are imploding. Not that it makes much difference now, but I ask myself, “Did it start with the housing bubble in the U.S.?” Did the insane policy by our government forcing the banks to lend to people who never had a prayer of paying it back result in generating of so much publicly traded toxic paper that it ended up compromising currencies world-wide?

If so, how long will it take for nations around the world to start pointing fingers stateside? Has their reluctance to do so been due to their own disregard of economic principles? Clearly, the integrity of the dollar has been hurt. So far, the banks have absorbed all the blame. At what point will banks drop the pretense and tell what really happened? That what they ended up doing was in response to existential threats from our political class who urged them: First, to continue lending; and, second, to deal with the fallout creatively in anyway they could - short of naming names, of course. As long as the current crop of political elites remained in power, banks were assured, they would be protected. And the banks played the game.

Market signals are oracles. Oracles have no reason to lie. Their integrity is impeccable. Only men can twist the veracity of said signals to suit their own designs – or to ignore them entirely. The rising price of gold, the instability of equity markets, and chronically high unemployment all expose the slight of human hands and the effort to achieve something outside the realm of possibility. Oracles are blunt. They scream the truth amidst the blizzard of whispered lies.

Incompetence? I hardly think so. The oracles are screaming louder. “Name the culprits!” they scream. “Understand their motives!” As the Obama administration (through its mouthpiece, The New York Times) continues to advocate a doubling down on failed policy, we can almost envision the pillow being lowered over the gasping head on the sickbed. Death panels. Rather than taking the screams as proof of potency; rather than taking the oracle’s screams as a warning; the screams must be stifled at all cost.

Last night there was an earthquake off the coast of India. At one thirty in the morning the birds awoke and went nuts. In Chennai, it was a pleasantly balmy night and air conditioners were for the most part turned off - windows open. It took most people till sun up to find out that something had happened.

iPad vs. Bedpost

No doubt Steve Jobs is brilliant on the technical side of things. In some ways he may even rival Johannes Gutenberg. It is when he talks about ‘content’ that he has me mystified. He talks about the importance of ‘content’ and then he goes on to mention The New York Times (a money loser) and The Wall Street Journal (a money maker) in the same breath. In my view it is precisely ‘content’ that accounts for the difference.

Jobs’ toys, like the Gutenberg Press, are devoid of content. They remain so until someone other than Apple runs the applications. The New York Times will not be saved by the iPad whereas The Wall Street Journal can only stand to gain. People will not pay for anything that they consistently disagree with or find offensive. On the other hand, people will go out of their way to patronize those outlets that they perceive to be fair, instructive and balanced.

Jobs draws the additional nebulous distinction between ‘editorializing’ and ‘blogging’. What on earth is the difference? Both express opinions, except that one is bought and paid for and the other one isn’t. Does prostitution come to mind?

Finally, the majority of the world’s population consists of people who don’t even have a pot to piss in. They speak in languages that cannot be understood by people living barely 50 miles away. They rise in protest when the price of beans rises. They are grateful for the rice cookers distributed freely from the back of a government truck (even though they don’t have a working socket to plug it into). They are light-years away from understanding Kierkegaard or Krugman. Often, where they live has no cell signal.

What I’m saying is that Steve Jobs speaks largely for an elite audience – people who can afford the gadgets he promotes. For all his posturing, those whose grasp of technology extends just far enough to allow them to hang a mass-produced image of Che, Donald Duck or Dolly Parton from the sagging bedpost conveniently escape his attention.

Driving the Point Home

Would it not be ironic (in a strictly literary sense) if the SEC were to lose its case against Goldman-Sachs? Its indictment of the financial giant helped to cement the government’s position that Wall Street is corrupt and in desperate need of draconian reform. When the president signs the new financial regulation act, the government will assume sweeping and open-ended powers over America’s financial industry.

This is as big a deal as health care reform was. But, unlike the health care bill, it did not arouse Tea Party ire except in a strictly peripheral sense. It fit neatly into the evil ‘fat cat’ narrative that is currently sweeping the country. The details of the SEC indictment fell well outside the understanding of most casual observers. Unlike universal health care that would affect every citizen on some level, Wall Street is still seen as being quite another planet where ‘obvious’ mischief is casually concocted. Only well-dressed Wall Street insiders ventured to express carefully worded reservations; along with Mayor Bloomberg, of course, who sees city coffers emptying by the hour.

If GS should be acquitted, the damage will already have been done: Our current incompetent and arguably corrupt Federal government will effectively control New York’s Wall Street top to bottom. … and chameleon Bloomberg will continue to wonder where the money went.

The saga of Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut brings us back down to earth. Overtly lying to constituents about one’s resume is disgraceful; getting caught at it is unpardonable. Whether these NYT revelations will hurt Blumenthal in November is still up for debate. My guess is yes (it will hurt). People are less likely to remember a health care grab or the torpedoing of Wall Street (both of which will have been seamlessly woven into the fabric of modern socialist America by then) than a Harvard swim team captain who wasn’t – especially if there is a privately propelled incentive (as there is certain to be) to drive the point home.

Moscow Subway Bombing

Looks like a classic example of the dog turning on its master. (Note: I make no qualitative distinction between dog and master.) From these (cyber) pages we have learned that Russia encourages Tehran; that Tehran encourages terrorists. Will Russia now cooperate with America to defeat terrorism?

Answer: No. Putin does not see America as a credible partner in any serious area of endeavor. Putin has looked into Obama's eyes and saw nothing useful there - only immense pride and unearned arrogance. Putin will handle this on his own. He will be utterly ruthless. He can be expected to take full advantage of the crisis. He will make heads roll publicly to distract from his own failings.

Americans watching from the sidelines will not feel encouraged. They will despair at what they see as their own president's efforts to counter terrorism. FBI raids of Christian militia groups will fail to allay fears.

Since passage of the health care bill, there has been much talk in the media about right-wing violence. The NYT – party organ of our current administration - has suggested that the tsunami of public disapproval of the bill has nothing to do with the bill itself; that instead, it has become an excuse by white males to attack a sitting black president. We are now to believe that any criticism of Obama’s policies is the result of racism. This is a dangerous tact this administration is taking.

Obama was elected primarily to vanquish white guilt. It appears to have backfired. Obama’s election is about to give race baiters a field day. I propose we shut down all conservative websites, and silence conservative talk radio. Why, when disagreement alone is deemed sedition, hand them more nails with which to crucify us?

Traitors In Our Midst

What does all this tell us? It doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know: We’ll swing Republican in the next election cycle. The Dems have overreached and frightened the people. So, while we catch our breath and wait (and make fun of the Dems) – just like we waited and made fun of Republicans the last time around - it might do well to take a few moments to consider what happens next.

We’ve already seen this movie before. The next scene should not come as a great surprise. Republicans too will be shown as dangerously inept and cruel-hearted. Every unfortunate child in the country will be afforded a page in The New York Times to shout its contempt the GOP; for capitalism. Obama will have been forgotten, as it is not the habit of Republicans to blame predecessors by name or party affiliation.

In fact, Republicans will be sorely tempted to outdo the Democrats in hopes of stemming the barrage of mainstream editorial and academic criticism. By doing so, they will earn the contempt of their base to no particular advantage. Two (or four) years later, it’s Democrats again; and so on and so on…

Luckily, there is a God. Clio will not allow people to go rushing from side to side on Titanic’s deck in perpetuity. At some point (with all due respect to Al Gore) she will put an iceberg in its path. This will come in the form of an outside event. The most likely (at this point) could be a coordinated attack on the dollar. It could also be war breaking out in the Middle or Far East, choking off our energy supply. Such events (and a host of others like it) could of course also conspire to happen all at the same time.

In any case, it would take on the function of a kind of Zen slap in the face, telling us that we have to pull ourselves together to survive to haggle about racial quotas and gay marriage another day. No doubt, it will signify our acid test to determine whether or not we even deserve to be called a nation anymore. Leaders will emerge. Will they be up to the task? When the chips were down, they always have been in the past. No reason to doubt their resolve and competence.

One thing they will have to face is the disposition of the traitors in our midst. In recent times unbelievable suggestions have been openly floated; history re-written, deleted or changed; constitutional principles ignored; heroes besmirched. This cannot be allowed to continue. For the very reason that our survival will be at stake, I can guarantee it won’t.

Content, content, content...

The way I see it, this whole argument Amazon and Apple are having is moot. The iPad will flop (as Spindle has done). I heard a popular radio host here recently advise to hold up on buying the iPad because of its various deficiencies. For one thing, it was said, you cannot perform two or more tasks at the same time on iPad; another, it doesn’t have a camera.

All the jokes about the name itself, point to a bigger problem with the device. The trend is toward combining all things in one reasonably portable device. People do not want to have to go to different devices for different functions. Neither do I believe (and many, including JB, will disagree with me on this) that an electronic alternative to a book constitutes a lasting alternative. The recent shift to the internet for information at the expense of books, newspapers and magazines is not a function of the written word (on paper) having become obsolete. The reason for the shift is content and content alone.

The public is not stupid. Yes, price is a factor. Yet, it is well known that content trumps delivery; that simply putting ideology and spin out there in any form no longer cuts it, especially when it goes against the grain of common sense. That is why Newsweek got only 35 paid subscribers when they made their internet offering. That is why The New York Times and others are drowning in a sea of red ink. That is why neither the iPad nor the internet will save them.