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/

...and liberals applaud

The headlines this morning read that the reason for Hu’s visit to the U.S. was to proclaim to the world that China is now equal to the U.S. It has also been quite apparent for some time that China is on the rise (while America is in decline). Therefore, it can be now be said with some certainty that China will overtake the U.S. in the future. Such is the narrative of the (popular mechanics) press at any rate. …and liberals applaud.

There are, however, still some facts on the ground that put the lie to this view. The Chinese economy is clearly only a fraction of the U.S.’s. China’s military might, while growing, also lags behind. The difference as it stands now is in the willingness each country exhibits in using these to advantage. China has shown it is serious about overtaking the U.S., while America, under the current administration, could care less about maintaining its edge.

We have come to a critical point in world history. For the first time, we have an administration whose fundamental view is that America should not be preeminent on the world stage and is actively seeking to bring this about. It has happily abandoned the notion of American ‘exceptionalism’ and gone to foreign shores to apologize for America over and over again. At the same time, it has all but abandoned its traditional allies and sought to embrace its enemies.

The strategy, if there ever was one, was to ease points of friction by simply stopping the wheels. It has not worked. Unilaterally deciding to step aside and end our resistance to the thrusts of our traditional enemies will not automatically make them into friends. Instead, they will interpret this as a sign of weakness and double down on their efforts. Meanwhile, our friends are heading for the tall grass.

So far, our media has put down sundry omissions and missteps in diplomatic protocol to our president’s inexperience. In the diplomatic world, however, no serious player would return symbolic gifts to allies, offer inappropriate gifts to heads of state, bow to lesser leaders, inadvertently fly foreign flags upside down, or misspell the names of foreign dignitaries on White House table settings. Just not done.

Lang Lang’s ‘prank’ was not a mistake. It was carefully and deliberately orchestrated with the full knowledge of Chinese leadership. It was meant primarily for home consumption, showing that China is running rings around a timid and uninformed America. (Chavez pulled a similar stunt.) It is the equivalent of Chinese proxy North Korea sinking the Cheonan or bombing a South Korean (populated) island with impunity.

As is his way, Obama, the President of the United States, leader of our nation, just sits there in seemingly ignorant bliss and allows the credibility of our once great nation get dragged through the mud. No doubt Hu Jintao (as well as bin Laden) has seen the pictures of American soldiers tied to the backs of Toyota pick-ups being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. It’s doubtful that Obama’s memory goes back that far.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Where's Waldo?

You already know how I feel about Hu Jintao's atate visit to Washington, so I won’t even go there; except to quote from a WSJ editorial this morning: “Of all the differences between dictatorship and democracy, probably none is so overlooked as the ability of the former to project strength, and the penchant of the latter to obsess about its own weakness.” This quote was written under the heading, “RED SCARE REPRISE”. Now, apply this bit of wisdom to our own Democrat and Republican parties today.
------------------------------------------------------------------
I must say, I've been missing Beck on the radio each morning. His replacement here in New York means well but is an utter lightweight. It's like going from putting cream in your tea to putting in water. WOR gave ‘low ratings’ as a reason for dropping Beck. I happened to run across a ratings book (on the net) since. There is no way that Beck had low ratings - even in New York!!! WOR is lying big time.

Also, when you google "Batchelor leaving WABC” (some time ago) or “Curtis Sliva leaving WABC” (more recently) you get no less than eight pages of material to choose from. Googling "Beck leaving WOR (in New York)" gives you just two stories (one is a re-cap of the other). Beck is much bigger than Batchelor (in terms of ratings), yet there is practically nothing reported about Beck being dropped anywhere. No talk show host has talked about it. To my knowledge, not even Beck has mentioned it.

I’m not a Beck junkie. I haven’t gone chasing after Beck, either on the radio dial or on the net. Yet, this says to me ‘news blackout’ - like what we experienced during the oil spill, and the sinking of the Cheonan.

If this can happen, anything can happen. People can just ‘disappear’, legislation can be passed without the knowledge of those affected, election results can be manipulated, or falsified outright, etc.

This, to my mind, is a big deal. It could be an indication of where we are headed. Up until now, we’ve all been painfully aware that the media slants the news. But what are we to say if there is no news to slant?

Sure, there are plenty of links out there where you can stream Beck’s radio program, jihad, porn or anything else you might want. But that isn’t really my point, is it? It’s not a matter of having accessibility to news. There are millions of people in North Korean work camps as well. Each and everyone of them knows exactly what’s going on there. But you never hear from them, do you? It’s as if they don’t exist.

The third-highest rated radio program is shut out of the biggest American media market. And nobody talks about it!? That’s what I find disturbing!

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Toy Room

The U.S.-led NATO forces are not going to prevail. Not because they can’t. but because we don’t want them to. There’s s something else afoot. Pakistan is a failed state. Obviously it’s not a failed state to China. Ditto, North Korea.

There are any number of failed states being gathered up in South America, Africa, and in the Middle East. Assange can work both sides of the fence depending on which side you talk to. There’s even someone out there who finds terrorism useful, otherwise it would stop.

We’re being played. India, Israel and a whole slew of other nations don’t know it yet. They still believes the deck isn’t stacked. And this might surprise you: The culprits are not necessarily the culprits we are made to hate. This is simply a diversion. The culprits are inside our own American house.

America is the strongest, most opulent house on the block. Could there be any doubt that America is not in charge of its own affairs?

We’re told that America is in decline. The biggest house on the block never falls on hard times. But, at the same time, it remains free to make additions or alterations if the owners should so decide. The biggest house on the block determines its own changes. The change is toward totalitarianism. Things can be done either by doing or not doing. You don’t roll your mother-in-law off the cliff and into a lake, and then jump into the water and rescue her (though, on second thought, this ploy too has been tried before).

Suffice it to say that change is at hand. Our people already have an inkling of it. They are finding themselves increasingly marginalized. They feel they are being herded through a maze. They are made to argue amongst themselves as to what it all means. They’re not getting the straight story. The (stealth) narrative belongs to Obama, Pelosi, Soros, and Reid. WikiLeaks is only a part of the deception - so is Pakistan, North Korea, China, et al. The toy room is America.

Happy new year!!!

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

China Laughing While U.S. Downgrades Military To Paintball

Why even bother to report it? (North Korea's continued provocations.) We no longer have a dog in the fight. We’ve shown quite unambiguously that we are no longer interested in fighting/winning. We seem to be intent on castrating our armed forces. We no longer see them as a blunt tool to support our now thoroughly compromised diplomacy; rather, we are in the process of re-shaping this once awesome tool to reflect some ‘less is more’ ideology with the vague expectation that the world will think this is great and follow our lead.

The damage this president has done to our military in his two years in office is astounding. First, he has ordered it to engage in a war without aiming to win. He has placed restrictions on our fighting men and women that make it difficult even to stay alive. Wikileaks enters into it at some level, as does the heroic repeal of ’don’t ask, don’t tell’.

I predict within less than a year, the military will be hard up for recruits and we may have to revert to something akin to the draft. The outlines of this are already apparent: amnesty for service. Until now, we have seen very few minorities among our fighting forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. This has to be pointed out because the Left has up until recently always falsely claimed that America only sends it minorities oversees and into harm’s way to fight it’s dirty wars. (They’ve since had to be content with complaining about the relatively high incarceration rate among certain minority communities.) All this will change.

Prisoners will now fight ‘clean’ wars. They will not be expected to win - only to stay alive while ordered to hand out food and bandages to the starving and wounded. Military missions oversees will likely evolve into setting up abortion and sex clinics, and (don’t forget) welfare offices, thus providing an ever escalating stream of entitlement clientele for liberals here at home to administer.

It is unlikely that China will go along with the program though, admittedly, they may laugh themselves silly and thus suffer some minor set-backs in their quest to take over the world.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

It Kills Me...

It kills me to see this: By reluctantly accepting the ‘deal’ with Republicans to extend the Bush tax cuts (sic), Obama positions himself as a moderate, hoping to profit by it in his 2012 reelection drive. Obama is not a moderate! He never was; and he will never be a moderate. He is a revolutionary. His aim, simply put, is to bring down the U.S. economy.

It remains to be seen how many people will be fooled by this ploy. I predict not many. I believe Obama knows the Bush tax cuts (sic) will not be extended, courtesy of his radical leftist friends in Congress. They know it too. It’s likely they worked the strategy out in advance between them. It’s no mystery how the major media will spin it.

The ’biggest tax hike in history’ will take place January 1st. It will hurt the economy. While pleased about it, Obama will appear to have washed his hands of whatever happens.

It reminds me of a few years back when the North Koreans destroyed some of their buildings, claiming to be climbing down from their nuclear ambitions. Almost immediately, the world showered its (evil) dwarf-like leader with high praise and sent gifts. Now look what we have today!

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Revolution # 9

It’s not about the Euro. It’s about revolution. The Left has seized the day. It will not allow cuts to the welfare state. It does not care about the Euro. It does not care about capitalism. All the Left cares about is bringing down the system which is now teetering on the edge.

As in the U.S., it was the Left that had been pushing for freebies that were essentially unaffordable. There was some semblance of affordability as long as economies kept growing. Now, that the slump cycle has set in, what had seemed affordable, is suddenly unaffordable. To the Left, this is a distinction without a difference. It is not that the ‘educated’ Left could not foresee this. They saw it alright. It was a set-up. It was planned. All they had to do was wait.

The waiting is now over. For the Left it is now time to act; to take to the streets; shout slogans; raise the red flag; do some damage; open some heads. For the Left the worst thing that could happen now is for the economies to recover; for people to go on as before. “Barack will not allow…”

Even recovery is now booby-trapped. All that pent-up demand. All that consumer spending would just show up the Euro (dollar) for what it’s really worth - nothing; or, at the very least, considerably less than what people expect.

Any way you look at it, the Euro is finished. The dollar is over; even though it may appear marginally better off than the Euro. People will not allow themselves to be taxed out of existence - in North Korea, maybe; but not in the West.

Still - taxation or inflation - it all comes out to the same: civil unrest, which will lead to political chaos. Left or Right, it won’t matter. The solutions are the same for both. There will be blood. The revolution is here. The Left has won.

In America, we think the revolution has already happened; that it happened at the ballot box - nice and neat - with the Republicans taking charge of the House. The verdict is already in: NO COMPROMISE; no solution. The old ‘evils’ are beginning to crumble one by one: the Bush tax cuts; the Bush wars; American exceptionalism; global alliances. Revolution is the end. It is here. After that, …who knows?

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/

Puppets

It seems that we keep talking about North Korea when we should be talking about China (which makes N. Korea relevant). Our reluctance to do so betrays a much deeper reality lurking beneath the murky waters of the Yellow Sea. That reality begs the question: What is China’s aim in all this?

The reason we do not publicly ponder this question is the same as why we do not admit that Islamic terrorism constitutes a declaration of war; why we coddle captured terrorists and attempt to equate them roughly with ourselves; why we choreograph complicated protocol at our airports and increasingly shove Israel under the rug.

China is a communist state. As such it is an enemy of capitalism - an enemy of America. Our leaders are desperately trying to shift us in their direction and away from capitalism. It is hoped that if we turn far enough - in effect, change our stripes - we will escape our fate. It must be kept in mind that we have already handed them the keys to our economy. They can pull the plug at any time.

When Nixon opened the door to China, the feeling was that we could turn them our way. Instead, it is we who have had to do the turning. We’re literally spinning like a top. Any pretence on our part that we are in charge of our destiny is illusory at this point. Make no mistake, China is the puppet master; Obama is the puppet.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Obama, The Destroyer

Let’s stipulate that a general collapse of the United States would plunge the entire world into unfathomable chaos; that no nation would be spared from the resulting fallout.

I have since read various assessments of Barack Hussein Obama’s recent high-profile globetrotting and it’s pretty much unanimous: It was an unmitigated disaster for the U. S. Obama failed to deliver in all he set out to accomplish, leaving the general impression that Obama is far from being a prime-time player on the world stage.

The only bright spot was India where he was warmly received and his rhetoric was much applauded and appreciated. But even in India, on reflection, it is now acknowledged that his words were empty. Still, the major media in the U.S. have seized on Obama’s India visit and proclaimed it as a huge success, even going so far as Newsweek depicting the president as a god, specifically Shiva, juggling the demands of his office competently and with an abundance of good cheer within a halo of fire. (It is likely that Newsweek failed to grasp the irony of choosing Shiva as representing the American president for, within the holy Hindu trinity, Shiva is known as The Destroyer.)

We’ve already witnessed the world tearing at its seams since Obama’s election - nations jockeying for position in the absence of traditional restraints. We’ve watched the divides within our own nation becoming more and more pronounced. We’ve watched our economy going down the drain and no one stepping forward to stop the hemorrhaging.

We’re not the only ones watching. China is watching as well. They see us as rogue and unpredictable – not North Korea, which is totally under its control.

China may be sending us a message. By repeatedly exposing Obama’s reticence to act globally, his child-like impetuousness at home (playing fast and loose with the economy), they are trying to tell us that we better get our act together before it all falls apart.

First Things

Again, we are ignoring first things. When the Cheoan was attacked by North Korea, our response was to delay, allow enough time for the people to forget about it and then issue a statement to the effect that we’ll really get mad if it happens again. Nobody doubts that both Beijing and Tehran are wise to the game. Apparently, it is totally acceptable for any axis of evil nation to keep poking a stick in our eye. But it doesn’t stop there.

The saying goes, that shit rolls downhill. So let’s take a look at who lives down hill. It’s we and our allies. Don’t feel sorry for Obama. He is not one of us. He’s made that abundantly clear. It’s no skin off his nose when shit happens. Look at what’s happening with these pat downs. Some malcontent puts explosives in his pants and a year later 300 million Americans run the risk of being sexually manhandled by the State. “It’s for our safety,” we’re being told. The American people are no longer buying it. There’s a rumor going ‘round that the enhanced pat-down procedures are deliberately aggressive to get people to opt for massive doses of x-rays instead. Let somebody follow the money: Who has bought stock recently in the company that is producing these machines? There’s the added benefit, of course, to get the American public used to rolling over as our police state gains momentum. (Update: George Soros recently sold his shares in OSI-Systems, owner of Rapiscan. So, I guess, the scheme has gone about as far as it will go.) What everyone is ignoring here is that Janet Napolitano was unable to answer the question of whether Muslim women in burkas would be required to submit to the new procedures. First things.

Our president feels it is quite alright to bully Israel into indefensible positions, demanding all manner of concessions, while ignoring the fact that the Arab world will never recognize Israel’s right to exist as a state. When Obama speaks of a two-state solution, he speaks of a two Arab state solution. First things.

Our health care system is in disarray. Doctors are fleeing the profession. Premiums are becoming prohibitively expensive. Companies can no longer cope with employees’ health care insurance needs. Everything we were told about the bill was a lie (as anyone with even an ounce of sense could have figured out for themselves). So, why did it pass?

We’re never told first things.

Rumors

Any truth to the rumor that all that was found in the packages were photographs of something that was labeled: ‘BOMB‘? (Said photographs were then published on the front pages of newspapers around the Western world.) Probably not.

But, it would quite suffice to scare the b’Jesus out of everyone and send us scrambling into the relative safety of POTUS’ embrace. Timing remains suspect. So close to elections. October surprise? POTUS looking manly behind his teleprompters. Rally in support of POTUS on the National Mall. POTUS traveling around the world right after. Dollar down.

U.S. midterm elections: hardly a speed bump; POTUS unfazed - continues to bow and scrape for the sins of the nation he has been elected to lead.

AQ has succeeded in reducing jihad down to the level where everyone can participate. Everyone is capable of mailing a postcard. Now, let’s kick it up a notch: Israel, Pakistan, North Korea (and soon Iran) are all said to have nukes. Do they also have Photoshop?

Watch the speech Obama will be giving in Indonesia. I wonder if he’ll be using PowerPoint.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Throwing In the Towel

I see JB is wisely avoiding the subject that’s surely on everybody’s mind. These people should not be receiving all this press attention. I understand the entire congregation could fit into a single bus with room to spare.

One can look at it in one of two ways: (1) Someone is finally taking a stand against those pointing guns to our heads. Make no mistake, these are terrorists. They want their will imposed on us. “You do this,” they say, “and we will do whatever …kill your wives and children.” They’re now getting away with making terrorist threats. The next step will be, “If you refuse to build our mosque near ‘Ground Zero‘, we will view it as an attack against Islam and do whatever …kill your wives and children.” Oh wait, it’s already been said.

And so it’ll go on. We’ve already demonstrated our willingness to capitulate - to throw in the towel. When one of our allies was attacked on the high seas by North Korea, we did nothing about it. When Israel is threatened we do not counter that threat. In fact, we join in and pile on.

Or, (2) we can continue to ignore the issue of our seemingly limitless cowardice. We can ignore what’s happening along our southern border; we can ignore clearly stated existential threats; we can ignore our own laws to accommodate certain privileged classes; we can ignore gross fiscal mismanagement; we can ignore corruption; we can ignore or even outlaw opposing views. We can simply pretend that all is well; that everything could be far worse.

What is the media’s obsession with this preacher? Is it to deliberately stir up trouble - to incite? Is it to prove to the world that America has fallen to its knees and can‘t get up? Is it to crucify the last man who will stand up publicly and defend his nation?

They say uncertainty is our enemy. It is because of uncertainty that our economy is failing. I have a solution: Let’s pass a law against Koran burning; let’s pass a law against smoking and drinking; let’s tear down our churches and banks and build mosques in their places; let’s legalize the stoning of women for any reason any man might come up with; let’s make women wear burkahs; let’s lash them if they dare show an ankle; let’s ban girls from schools; let’s approve of throwing acid in faces that are judged too pretty; let’s ban music, radio, and TV; instead, let’s hold public hangings, lashings, stonings on the Village Green on Sunday afternoons and let’s make attendance to such events mandatory.

In this way we can wipe out uncertainty. And we won’t have to worry about the markets because we will have banned money as well.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Bold Moves

Where in the world is Zhou Xiaochuan? The first three reports are always wrong. What we do know, however, is that an explanation will follow (after the dust has settled; after Monday's market close).

The continued perceived weakness of the Obama administration on virtually every front, is inviting bold moves. When the North Koreans attacked the South Korean war ship, Cheonan, and the Obama administration did essentially nothing, China knew it can do whatever it wants. America is no longer an impediment to whatever goals it might set for itself.

That much is true: America no longer has a foreign policy. As long as Obama remains in office, America will maintain the classic stance of the ‘see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ monkeys. The sole challenge Obama acknowledges is the one here at home where he has deemed the American people the enemy.

Abroad, countries are scrambling to get what they can before America regains its senses. China has been building infrastructure throughout Asia to accommodate its ever growing military might . Just this month, Chinese naval vessels made port call in Myanmar for the very first time. Major Chinese construction projects are ongoing in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. China has been busy making deals all over the world to secure exclusive rights to important natural resources. China is putting all its ducks in a row.

Clearly, China is readying for war. Why, you might ask, is China so intent on positioning its military favorably at a time when the U.S. is in clear decline? China does not view the U.S. as the enemy. It is not the U.S. it must be ready to fight. It’s the chaos that will ensue once it has become clear to everyone that the U.S. has exited the world stage.

China is already in a position to push the U.S. over that edge. Its holdings of U.S. debt give it that power. However, China feels, it is not yet ready. When she moves, she will move fast. Much of her U.S. holdings will go up in smoke. But it won’t matter. America will lie in ruins. Taiwan will assume the position of low hanging fruit.

The current act is simply a way for the gamers to squeeze some temporary cash out of the markets. Strictly small stuff compared to having to face the Russian bear …later.

Follow the Leader

It has become generally accepted lore that the northern part of a region is more prosperous than the southern part. This is because, we are told, the harsher climate in the north forces its people to be more resourceful than those of the lazy horse latitudes. There are exceptions of course.

North Korea has essentially become a prison in which weather and food are weapons. If one were to elect to serve one’s time in the custody of men, one might well choose a place like Cuba because in Cuba the weather is not one of the weapons that can be used against you. The jailers too can be counted on to be of a somewhat gentler disposition because of the climate thing as - again, we are told - gentler climates breed gentler people. Again, there are exceptions.

Still, prison is prison no matter how often you paint its lips. There are two kinds of people in this world: leaders and followers. (We’ll disregard loners and misfits for the time being.) Followers are far greater in number. They will happily cleave to any given leader as long as the leader does not make their subservient position too obvious. Leaders, once again, break up into two groups. There are leaders who are natural born, and leaders who are actually followers (with no leadership skills) who pretend to be leaders. These will lead by threat and deceit. Nations in which this happens are called ‘tyrannies‘. They are hollow and exceedingly fragile.

In our country false leaders have become so inept that their leadership has come to depend increasingly on threat. As we are still much better educated than the norm, the deceit of our so-called leaders no longer works. The feared uprising, therefore, must be curbed by threat. If you do not pay your share of confiscatory taxes; if you speak out against dear leader Obama, you’re automatically on the outs; blackballed; ostracized; ridiculed; excluded; marked ‘failed’. You will be expected to correct your ways or suffer impotence on the fringes of society.

You will make it your life’s work to support the regime. If you are a scientist, for instance, you will obediently go along with the theory of ‘global warming’ no matter what the data shows. If you are a doctor, you will support a woman’s right to abort and the standards set by the state for denying healthcare to the aged. If you are a landowner, you will submit to government regs that limit the use of your own land to favor the snail darter, and possibly even agree to give up your holdings by random declaration of eminent domain. If you are a driver, you will adhere to the posted speed limit even though your car and conditions permit twice that. If you are a smoker, you will try to quit - or lie about trying - while scurrying around in back doorways and alleys.

In North Korea, the game played is considerably more basic than that. Here, both the weather and food are weapons. I suspect that if Kim Jong-Il were to die and we were to go in to check it out, we would find nothing. It’d be like one of those scenes in countless prison escape movies where the warden enters a cell, throws back the blankets and finds only a dummy there.

Beatific But Improbable

You label Jeff Adachi a ‘progressive‘. ‘Progressive’ essentially means ‘communist’. Adachi was apparently not paying attention or absent from school when ‘progressivism’ was presented in a series of lectures at Berkeley. He appears to have missed at least one of its critical lessons - the one about the eventual fate of the proverbial ‘golden goose‘.

The concerns Adachi raises do not enter in any discussion relating to progressivism/communism. In fact, these can be regarded as inconsequential - ‘category error’ - and quite unrelated to the field. The roadmap to communism as laid down by Marx, Alinsky, Cloward, Piven and others, is in fact a recipe for slaughter. At that point the narrative ends and we are left to imagine the rest. The ritual sacrifice of the ‘goose’ effectively ends the earthly portion of one‘s obligation. What follows is some version of the ‘Last Supper’ after which we can presumably collectively cross over into the balm of salvation. Iran’s ayatollahs are promoting a similar scheme.

It never ends up being neat as all that. After all was said and done, Jim Jones’ tropical kindergarten compound still left the task of disposing of the bodies. In North Korea, it left an entire population languishing on the razor’s edge of starvation. Mao’s original vision had to be rolled back considerably when it became apparent that the apocalypse was still quite a ways off.

The latest to have come knocking at heaven’s door is Barack Hussein Obama. The plan is to keep boiling the milk and reducing it to that sublime essence that simply melts in one’s mouth. Obama missed none of the lessons. As such, he knows full well what he’s after: that final cleansing by fire after which blind and bloodless justice will reign unimpeded in the rarified air of Reverend Wright’s (Liberation Theology) church. It’s a world without metrics - without standards - in which every last one of us is cipher equal; in which there is no difference even in difference. The thief and the robbed are the same; as are the murderer and the murdered; the lewd and the chaste; rich and poor; stupid and smart; the worker and the one with his hand out. Sounds like somebody’s beatific but improbable vision of heaven to me.

Animal Farm

Not much is known about North Korea these days but it may in fact mirror George Orwell’s classic “Animal Farm” to a tee. I recommend this slim volume to anyone who may be tempted to believe that central planning is the answer to all the world’s ills. All the elements and personalities of Marxist lore are uncannily brought into sharp focus in this dystopian spoof that was originally meant to bring the brutal reality of Stalinism home to the general reading public: the pigs; the useful idiots; the need for an enemy; food and health rationing; weapons development (the windmill); the re-write of history; propaganda; corruption; oppression, and more.

Many of these very same trends are rapidly developing within our own nation today. The slide into Marxism seems easy at first. Later, the mix of delusion and raw power tends to turn lethal when issues of succession are at stake. We are now seeing this in North Korea.

The West (including much of America) has already capitulated to Orwell's pigs. Barack Hussein Obama represents the closest we have ever come to tyrannical rule. You might ask yourselves, Who is Obama’s designated enemy? Who is the one, we are constantly told, that is keeping the central planners from achieving their Utopian goals? The answer is YOU.

Kyrgyzstan

Is it just random, roving gangs of jihadis, would-be dictators and assorted miscreants who are raising Cain in Kyrgyzstan? Or is the whole show being directed by legitimate and recognizable political entities? For example:

There are so-called Maoists operating in parts of north-eastern India, attacking government installations, derailing trains, killing policemen and so on...

India views the Maoists as a bother and often as an embarrassment. Some claim they have their roots in poverty stemming from inadequate access to government cheese. Their answer would be to develop the areas where Maoists operate and provide opportunity and services for the villagers so that they might be less eager to embrace violence.

At the same time, there has been a festering border dispute between India and China to which no solution is in sight. Add to this China’s stated ambition to see India broken up into autonomous states.

Is it therefore so impossible to believe that the Maoists are in fact China ops, sent there specifically to cause trouble; that it has nothing to do with poverty and insufficient attention from the Feds; that Indian villagers participating (do in fact) do so under duress?

There are proxy skirmishes going on all over the world. They are ugly and draw our attention. At the same time, they obscure the real players in the haze of immediate human brutality and suffering.

Even Chicago gangs need money and supplies. They need direction. The money is filtered through middlemen who almost always have high political connections. The CIA has been accused of funding such gangs all over the world (not under Obama, of course). Iran has Israel surrounded by ops. Russia has its players in place and (we can assume) China has theirs as well. I find it laughable that we break our heads over what North Korea does, when (if we were serious) all we’d have to do is force China’s hand.

I haven’t had time yet to examine what’s going on in Kyrgyzstan and learn who the players are. But you can bet it’s not spontaneous or ‘accidental’. Two or more of the big boys in the region are engaged in a bout of arm-wrestling. They are being very careful not to get their Armani suits dirty.

Enlightened America

The job was to have been America’s – to hit back in case any one of our allies were attacked. The mere threat of robust America defending its interests kept our enemies from pushing too hard, too often.

Since Obama has been in office, we’ve made it clear that the old template has shattered; that we have become enlightened; that we no longer regard the world as warring camps; that we no longer feel obliged to protect ourselves – much less others.

Our enemies would like this to be true. But they’re not quite certain yet. America had fooled them before. Now they’re probing. No doubt, North Korea’s sinking of South Korea’s Cheonan was a probe. China approved and wrote the check. Now China knows that it has a free hand to do whatever it wants. Look out Taiwan!

Our former friends too are watching. They are troubled – now looking for new alliances. It doesn’t look good for them. South Korea, Israel, the former Iron Curtain countries, moderate Middle Eastern nations, South America, Africa – all are looking for a safe haven. It is slowly beginning to dawn on each and every one of these that they will have to go it alone.

Sucking up to regional tyrants and paying protection is the obvious answer for most. Some may want to take a stand. As much as Israel’s nuclear arsenal has been kept a well-guarded secret, her intentions are being kept close to the vest as well. Conventional wisdom has it that Israel has more than enough firepower to stun any aggressor. (Personally I would like to know if any of its trajectories have been re-calibrated to strike Washington as well.) Iran intends to change that equation. Already, several countries in the Middle East have privately expressed the unspoken wish that Israel will prevail.

Unfortunately, Israel too is shot through with the left fad philosophy that refuses to acknowledge existential danger. (Europe has already succumbed to it.) The question is not whether Israel can retaliate if attacked. The question is whether or not it will.

As America retreats from the world stage to concentrate on bringing about its own Marxist revolution, it leaves a huge vacuum in the world of geopolitical intrigue. Nations will now be forced to take sides. They will have to decide whether they are interested in principle or expediency. For those who choose principle, the danger is clear. They might do well to take moxie from a phrase that has echoed throughout the centuries ever since America’s founding: “Give me liberty or give me death!”

Why Is It...?

Curious! According to authorities, there where 126 people on board the Deepwater Horizon when disaster struck. 79 were Transocean employees; 6 were BP; 41 were contract workers. Let’s stipulate that the Obama administration’s assessment of the situation is correct, that BP was at fault – as Interior Secretary, Ken Salazar, so eloquently put it, "Our job is basically to keep the boot on the neck of British Petroleum, - the lesson we can draw from this is that it takes only a few (community organizers*) to upset the applecart.

In addition, 94 people were able to escape the wreck in lifeboats; 4 were taken to other (North Korean*) ships; 17 were evacuated to shore by helicopter; 11 are missing and presumed dead.

Strange! Following any disaster (mining, flooding, fire, train wreck, etc.) a phalanx of press is usually right there interviewing survivors and their families. Often, the president makes it a point to go and personally comfort the wounded and the grieving. To my knowledge, none of this has happened. Why? Wouldn’t at the very least each one of the 94 have a spectacular story to tell? Why is it that the missing and presumed dead are never mentioned even so much as in prayer? Something about this sounds very fishy (if you pardon my pun).
----------------------------------------
*my own speculation