Rubber Duckie Congress Down The Drain

Note that POTUS never seems to stick around when big things happen. This week saw Benjamin Netanyahu - our only reliable ally ‘east of Greece and West of India’ - come to Washington. Why? Because something is not right in Washington – and all Israel knows it.

We saw two leaders side by side – only one of which is actually a leader in the traditional sense. The other showed himself as a ‘leader’ in name only. The difference between the two men was obvious for all to see. Some stated publicly that our president stood out as an utter embarrassment. While Mr. Netanyahu was still in Washington, Obama fled to Europe - the latest hotbed of anti-Semitism – looking for LTC. Good for him! As the saying goes, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.’

What’s wrong in Washington is not that Obama is not an effective leader; or, as some have suggested, that ‘he leads from behind’. What’s wrong in Washington is that Obama sides with the Palestinians. Many in Congress – even Democrats – have already spoken out, saying they disagree with Obama’s approach. In Europe he will not likely encounter that particular sentiment. Note: While the Palestinians speak openly about what they intend for Israel, our president speaks merely in broad, platitudinous arcs that can be interpreted anyway you want; but his actions are unmistakable. Netanyahu has figured it out. That’s why he is in Washington. Israel is in trouble and Washington won’t help. It’s not even help the Israeli PM is pleading for. All he wants is for America to stop making it worse.

Unfortunately, foreign policy is something that falls totally under the purview of the president. Congress does not have much if anything to say about what the president does. Everyone now seems to accept the president’s contention that he is not subject to the war powers act as pertains to Libya, for example. And on a whole host of other issues, Congress has already been edged out of its traditional ‘checks and balances’ mandate as proscribed by the Constitution.

So, what Netanyahu says to Congress is just talk. Congress has stood idly by while this president has turned it into a rubber duckie stamp; and, along with it, the people have lost their franchise as well. What is never said or even whispered has now become true: The United States of America has become a dictatorship: one vote, one man, one time.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

At the movies: 'Straw Dogs' (1971)

In his column today, entitled “Israel Will Never Have Peace”, Bret Stephens (WSJ) makes the point by citing among other things UN resolution 194 which states that Palestinian “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date”. Clearly, this hasn’t happened. Why?

Has it not become clear that a majority of Palestinians that have been shut out would not live peaceably within a Jewish State? Let’s say that Switzerland had been created (for the Swiss) in some barren Alpine region. Would it have to build a fence to protect itself from its neighbors (Germany, Italy and France) who were intent on nothing less than genocide? Or would life go on peaceably, neighbor visiting neighbor and abiding by the relatively simple rules of good neighborly graces?

I’m reminded of Sam Peckinpah’s film, “Straw Dogs” (1971) I saw way back when it first came out. It was one of a handful of films I remember seeing with a pounding headache which progressed towards a crescendo throughout. A young couple had moved to what they both thought would be an idyllic place for them to live: a remote cabin near the village in Cornwall where she had grown up as a child. It turns out through a series of unfortunate incidents that the couple is targeted by townsfolk. Rotten Tomatoes says this: (The film) “expresses the belief that manhood requires rites of violence when a young couple's idyllic life is disrupted and forever changed when the violence and savagery they sought to escape suddenly engulfs them.” As all Peckinpah’s films, this one is violent alright. I sat tensed up from start to finish.

The reason for this (or any) violence was ignorance. Palestinians are fed hatred for Jews from birth. It’s there in their mothers’ milk. Reason plays no role in it. Israelis understand this. If they were to open their borders – as our border with Canada is essentially open – Palestinians would immediately stream in and wreck the place. At least, this is the assumption. And Palestinians have done nothing to show it to be otherwise.

The same way we don’t open the tiger cages in a zoo, Israel does not dare to open her borders. Unfortunately for Israel, the situation is reversed. It is Israel that lives in a cage. Of the estimated 7.6 million living in Israel, 20% are Arabs who also enjoy representation in the government. Their standard of living is markedly higher than that of most Arabs living outside of Israel.

The world has turned its back on Israel and decided to side with the tigers. Like David in “Straw Dogs”, it will be up to Israelis to protect themselves. Even if Israel should win – another myth those mildly sympathetic to Israel usually comfort themselves with – the resulting losses would be insurmountable all around.

The enmity between the Palestinians and Israel is a trigger. We have put our worst elements in charge of it. Once tripped, there is no turning back. Even if Netanyahu decides not to fight (or decides only to go through the motions of fighting) the world will never again be the same – no matter the outcome. Washington keeps mouthing off about its infantile ‘reset’ button. War in the ME would definitely qualify as ‘reset’.

At the end of the film, David (Dustin Hoffman) is driving the injured Niles (the village idiot) to town, when the latter turns and says, "I don't know my way home." David smiles and says, "That's okay. I don't either."

Trump Drops the F-Bomb in Vegas

OMG, Trump swore in Vegas! That’s it! The man’s finished; toast; done.

Show me anybody who’s never dropped trou in Vegas. Yes, but… Trump wants to be President.

Think about it! Who would actually want to be President at this point? Do you really think The Donald needs this to embellish his resume? It’s become an emergency call; a mission of mercy: Saving the country and all. Haven’t you been reading the papers?

Frankly, Americans are feeling they’re under siege. They’re watching their savings diminish; their dollar crashing. They’re being asked to contribute more and more hard-won treasure to bolster the fortunes of their own firing squad.

“We’ll just club you to death if you don’t pay us,” the executioner’s union shouts gaily in unison.

Governors are crying out in fiscal pain. Industry is crying out. Ditto, taxpayers. They say that change must come from the inside. In Massachusetts, they recently voted to curb the unions. That is to say, Democrats voted to curb the unions – in the dead of night, no less. They too were afraid.

In case you haven’t noticed, we’re a Democrat country. If change is to come, it must come from within. We voted Democrat in 2008 – not this. This is not Democrat. This is tyranny; socialism – by whatever un-American name you want to call it

Republicans still don’t get it. They are not the answer. The nation as a whole has already rejected them and their ideologies. The tea parties consist of Republicans and Democrats. They are alarmed. Nothing like this has ever happened before. The Democrats in Washington are not Democrats. Trump is a Democrat. We can accept that. And he’s a real Democrat – not a socialist masquerading.

So, let’s be clear: The political fight in 2012 is not going to be between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans have long since taken themselves out of the game. The fight will be between Democrats and Socialists. Socialists are the enemy of America – Democrats are not. Democrats do not support $6 gas. They do not support Hamas. They do not support a weak dollar; a weakened nation; inflation; wealth re-distribution; chaos; racism. They do not seek to take away our liberties and control every blessed aspect of our lives. It’s the Socialists who support all these un-American things. It is they who must be defeated.

Indeed, if we had true Democrats running the show, we’d be out of the woods by now.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Trump: Political Outsider

Predictably, the media is following Obama’s lead, now by attacking Trump. They’re doing it in a kind of back-handed way by painting him as a ridiculous cartoon-like character - in the same way they routinely report on the tea parties. They will not engage him on facts.

Anti-Trump elements are hard at work leaking Trump’s past sins. Curiously, they see their most potent card as the one that says Trump liked liberal Democrats – this, at the very same time they try to paint Obama as a centrist. It’s absurd, really, but it seems to have worked, at least with several prominent conservative commentators who have now come out full-bore against a possible Trump candidacy.

Callers to talk shows do not seem to be particularly impressed by the tactic. Trump still appears to score high among the unwashed despite what the media (right or left) say about him. Their argument is that the next election should not hinge on the issue of Democrat vs. Republicans; but rather on patriot vs. non-patriot (or anti-American). Trump scores high on being a patriot.

Additionally, Trump is helped by being a Washington outsider, i.e. he does not identify closely with either one of the parties. There is broad dissatisfaction among the voting public with the candidates both parties have put forth. Trump, so far, is the only candidate under consideration who transcends party affiliation. Hence, come election time, we may come to recognize that party loyalty or a sense of entitlement (for years spent in support of either party) is no longer an issue for voters.

Trump’s accomplishments are palpable. They lie outside the political realm. He is seen as a businessman whose success has hinged on his ability to roll with the rough-and-tumble of capitalism. Claims, that some of his ventures have failed, only serve to burnish his standing as an unabashed capitalist. Failure (right along with success), after all, is one of the hallmarks of capitalism.

Trump is everything Obama is not. Obama is an ideologue and, worse, a politician. As such, he is beholden to what is seen as a corrupt system. Obama has been repeatedly promoted by affirmative action within a system that has failed to deliver broadly. He is the graduate who is rumored to be incapable of reading the words on his ceremonial sheepskin. His thesis (if any) likely consisted of writing the word ‘Marxism’ on the back of a cocktail napkin. He was the one chosen for his overall appeal to would-be donors at a school for the clinically retarded to trumpet the (special) curriculum’s successes. He consistently blames opponents for any shortcomings.

Trump does not blame; he confronts. He speaks distinctly and openly. He appears to shy away from making empty promises. Yet, he makes it clear that he seeks to fashion our nation’s policies on the basis of America’s self-interest.

One measure of Trump’s political standing among voters is the media’s stance toward him. They hate him. He reminds me a little bit of Reagan, who routinely brushed off mainstream reporters’ inane questions as one would brush off a flake or two of dandruff on a dark suit.

In a significant sense, our next election cycle will revolve around the overwhelming desire of the public to defeat major media. Politics (as usual) is likely to drop way down on the list of voters' primary concerns.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Early Endorsement

I've said months ago that someone will come along to save us (from ourselves). Someone always does. That's why we've been blessed to live here in America. At the time it was not yet apparent (perhaps it still isn’t) who it would be. I counseled patience; saying that if and when he (or she) announces, it will not be someone from the political world - and that we would instantly recognize it as the real deal.

I’m going to go out on a limb. I believe The Donald may be our next president. It basically depends on him and him alone. I believe he’s serious about running. And if he runs, he will win. It should be easy to defeat Obama. Anyone running should be able to do it. If The Donald should run on a third party line, he’ll still win because both people he’ll be running against will most likely be insiders. We can never be sure that any given politician has not been tainted by Soros’ money. Trump has money of his own and he appears to be a patriot. Soros is not (and who knows where he came from).

The difficulty in 2012 will not be getting elected. What comes after will be key. Will our new president understand economics? Will he understand that we’re letting ourselves be screwed by practically everybody in the world? Will he embrace the concept of “American exceptionalism”? Will he restore our sovereignty? Will he move to protect our borders, our language, and our culture?

I don’t see a willingness by any Republican aspirant (so far) to do any of these things save for giving them lip service. Any pol has a closet full of skeletons. Any pol can be bought, bribed, and what have you. It is fair to say that Mr. Soros did not try any funny stuff with Trump.

Sure, you can drag out a lot of old bones out of Trump’s closet. So, he criticized Republicans in the past. So, he gave money to Democrats. So what? This just goes to prove that he does not play the Democrat/ Republican game. Are Republicans above criticism? Are Democrats? I would venture that there are more Republicans who have betrayed - and thus hurt - the nation than Democrats have.

The 2012 election will be a watershed. Obama must lose. The Washington establishment must lose. No more “it’s this one or that one’s turn now at the trough". We’ve been brought to the brink by political high jinks. We must turn it around.

At first we were looking at state governors - for someone who had successfully managed a state house, and was not yet tainted by Washington’s siren song. Sarah Palin fit the bill nicely. But she became too easy a target. The Soros-sponsored media tore her apart. The Donald would not let that happen. He’s a strong and vigorous man and, from the look of it, well capable of handling himself.

Trump fits the template of the ‘can do’ outsider. Washington is paralyzed, spewing toxic waste across our nation. It must be entombed in concrete.

I hope Trump runs.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Chinese Annoyance

“I asked James Glanz if it can be done in the US, with vastly more nodes and choke points. The answer is, ‘Yes,’ because the choke point are finite. I asked if anyone knows them. Unknown.” - I bet GOOGLE knows.
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I never thought I’d agree with Hillary Clinton on anything. What she said about the internet was mostly right. What she said about rascals using the internet was mostly right. What she said about freedom vs. security was right (and she did it all without use of a teleprompter). I would expect her to stand up for the internet, free speech, and freedom of assembly when these become issues here in the U.S.

This would put her at odds with the ideas of past and present Obama-appointed czars, each charged with overseeing (internet) broadband and broadcast development (and control). Most have been exposed as having ties to groups that seek to use the internet to promote leftist agendas.

Interesting that VOA has now ceased broadcasting into China. The reason given was cost-cutting. My wife tells me that VOA broadcasts along with the BBC were always a favorite when she was growing up in Trivandrum and Mysore (India), and during the darkest days of Indira Gandhi’s uncompromising reign. No reason to suspect that the Chinese were not equally enthralled by western voices telling of cultural trends.

Our government claims that the internet can now fulfill the same function that VOA once did - obviously a ruse explanation. Washington is quite obviously heeding some privately expressed Chinese annoyance.

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/

New Jersey

It’s been a long time since I’ve felt compelled to say something good about any U.S. politician. Gov. Chris Christie certainly has been saying all the right things, which shows that he understands the problems facing New Jersey. Our state has been the butt of unkind jokes ever since I can remember. The political corruption here has become legendary. And in our current anti-corporate, anti-industrial, no-growth pro- environmental climate, people have been taking liberties to trash the state for everything from our highway system (“Which exit do you live off of?”) to the industrial haze that on rare occasions clouds the sky as one approaches New York City from the Meadowlands.

In truth, it all amounts to a bad rap. While the corruption has been real – like the gusher in the Gulf - New Jersey is a beautiful state. Its beaches are for the most part pristine and I’ll always remember our camping trips to the wooded hills of Sussex County where lakes abound along with the activities these engender. Our quiet – admittedly artificial – suburban landscapes are teeming with wildlife. Barely 25 miles from Manhattan we are proud to host deer, wild turkey, bear, fox, raccoon, fisher cat, badger, opossum and many other species too numerous to mention.

But, best of all, the people of New Jersey are a kind and generous lot. They are self-effacing. They bear all the insults with a dignity unmatched. They have suffered mightily under the burdens of usurious taxation. It’s only lately that they’ve also noticed that the trains no longer run on time.

New Jersey is routinely mentioned among the states facing severe fiscal problems. Successive Democrat and pseudo-Republican governors - egged on by unions, environmentalists, liberal judges and illegal immigration advocates - have taken the state on a wildly reckless ride. Inflows to the treasury no longer match proposed and mandated spending. Property taxes alone have risen to the highest in the nation. This has resulted in the shrinking of the tax base as those who have been able to quit the state have done so.

From what Christie has been saying, we can gather that he understands the problem. He speaks plainly. The question remains: Will he be able to turn things around? As a Republican governor, openly critical of the administration, he cannot rely on Washington’s help. Neither can he depend on the on the unions to volunteer much by way of give-backs. Their knives are already out and sharpened. The state’s teachers unions have already issued death threats. The state’s liberal newspapers attack him daily as they make reference, among other things, to his weight.

Still, he seems to be determined to take New Jersey to a better place. As JB rightly suggest, his success or failure portends much for the nation as a whole. Unlike the federal government, states cannot print money; and neither can the Fed (and get away with it). Should Christie succeed, it means there is still hope for us to turn things around. Should he fail, it means we have already come too far, and the only thing we can hope for is that the airbags work.

White Elephants

Yesterday, Barack Hussein Obama went to Wall Street. It reminded me of a king surveying yet another of his now long list of conquests. Though there was some grumbling among the assembled, an overall willingness to play along was clearly evident as everyone there recognized that power had effectively shifted from New York to Washington.

Now the president’s plan for his own re-election bid is slowly beginning to emerge. No doubt November will sweep record numbers of new faces into our legislative branches. These will blush like new brides at having been afforded control over the various fiefdoms the president (along with his Democrat majority) has managed to carve out. In the euphoria of the moment, they will fail to recognize that these are merely “white elephants", designed to keep them busy and off the president’s back. They will fail to reverse the fortunes of the various enterprises that have fallen under government control.

Come 2012, the public will note that nothing has essentially changed; that the country as a whole continues to spiral into the abyss. Only this time, Obama will see to it that Republicans get the blame. …and he will be re-elected overwhelmingly.

Internationally, POTUS clearly has the last word. He is not now and has never been a friend of Israel. I would not be surprised if it were ever found that the Sunday bulletins at Rev. Wright’s church had on occasion featured maps of the Middle East with Israel missing. Aside from the Palestinians, there are many within our own country (and some within Israel itself) who want to see Israel gone. Even those with no strong opinions concerning the matter are being quietly led to accept the notion that if Israel were to disappear, all would be right with the world.

Obama is one of those who harbor an all-consuming hatred of Israel and all she stands for: capitalism, sovereignty, the ability to protect herself – and, above all, religion. These, in leftist and Islamic circles, are considered the four evils of the apocalypse that must be made to heel before peace and salvation can be unleashed upon the world. It is the point at which Islam and communism join forces and strive toward a common Utopia.

With regard to Israel: Rather than wielding the hammer himself, Obama is quite willing let others do it. He will not stand in the way.

First They Came...

"THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communists.

THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

THEN THEY CAME for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.

THEN THEY CAME for me
and by that time no one was left to speak up."

The above is a popular quote attributable to Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984) about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group. The present ‘health care’ drama is a classic modern-day example of just what the good German pastor was talking about. Legislators are being given a false choice to vote either yes or no on a deeply flawed bill. In effect, they’ve been given a loaded gun. Either way they vote, they fatally damage themselves and, with it, their institution.

Some of our representatives have already recognized the ploy. After a long and prolific career sucking at the public troth, they have recused themselves; jumped ship. It was the only way to avoid a virtual bloodbath of embarrassment. Their intimate and long association with Washington high jinx has taught them that the gig is now up; that the progressives now rule; and that there are no longer any rules.

They recognized that they’ve been playing along without it ever having occurred to them that some day they too might stand in the cross hairs. They’d stood by and watched as the courts have been polluted; as once mighty industrialists and financiers have been dragged in front of congressional kangaroo courts and publicly castrated; as the desperate cries of the American people have been deliberately ignored; as our country’s founders have been discredited; our Constitution shredded; our press hobbled; religion disparaged; etc.

There’s no one left to save them now. Even the occasional sane utterance is but spit in the wind. The progressives are on the march. What will stop them? The military? What, military? You mean the one that’s still arguing about ‘don’t ask; don’t tell’? The military that’s already been issued its own poisoned pill to swallow?

While Washington Sleeps

You make it sound like a bad thing that Washington sleeps, when actually it's the best we can hope for under the circumstances. Had Washington been asleep this past year, our economy would be humming right now; our businesses booming; our people working. We all knew that countries would be scrambling to re-define their alliances once Obama came to power. Well, you’re beginning to see it happen. The unknown in all this is whether or not America will continue on its present trajectory after Obama is gone. The smart money says no.

People around the world find the Obama administration an aberration. They do not see Obama and the American people as a match. The extent to which Obama can do damage to the country while in office is as of yet equally unknown – especially overseas. We ourselves are still at odds in this regard. We applaud small victories - like the delay of health care reform legislation - while we all but ignore the lit fuse: the trillions already spent in the form of future obligation to various sundry entitlements. We ignore the fact that our economy is not producing enough (tax-paying) jobs. We ignore the warning signals from China which continues to be an integral part of the three-legged stool that sustains our fiscal illusion. It could all come crashing down in the blink of an eye. ...and it will.

If there is an 'after Obama' (and, in my book, that's still a big IF), you can expect things to return back to normal. The Russia-German alliance is purely one of convenience; it will never be stable. Neither will Putin’s strong-arming of Eastern European countries lead to anything productive or lasting.

If America can return from its dalliance with socialism, things can be expected to go back to how it was. My own suspicion is that our recovery is booby-trapped; that precisely that which we all wish for and expect once Obama is gone will detonate and take us irrevocably down for the count. It reminds me of what both sides did during the Kosovo Conflict and in other modern wars as well. They’d find the body of an enemy combatant and place a landmine underneath it. When the body is then found by his mates, their natural instinct is to retrieve it in order to give it a decent burial. When they do, the mine explodes and kills them all. (See “No Man’s Land” (’01); Foreign. Dir.: Danis Tanović.)