Circling the Bases

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Not surprising that Joe Biden fell asleep. We’re in a holding pattern. Our plane has been circling the airport for two and a half years. With the air traffic controllers asleep, will the pilot figure out how to land this plane already? There is no indication of that. The passengers are divided. “Should we attempt this landing anyway, or should we go back and try again with a different (flight) crew?” It’s no wonder that some of the passengers have been dozing off.

There’s been round condemnation of the president’s speech this morning. And this too is not surprising. As soon as the president - of any party - utters a word, the sports fans arm themselves with tomatoes. Clinton, Bush, Obama - it’s been all the same: The incredible shrinking American presidency. Sure, there’s always the inevitable cheering from out in the bleachers, from those too drunk to know any better.

The rest of us are out for bear, thinking we matter; while all the action takes place in the club house - and not on the field.

“Dysfunctional?” you ask. Not dysfunctional at all. You do keep coming after all - to see the games - and paying through the nose for tickets, hot dogs, souvenirs, and beer.

Let’s think for a moment, what if the president actually were able to land this thing. Where would you think we’d be? Would we now be able to balance our budgets? Strengthen our dollar? Would we now love each other more? Would peace break out in the Middle East? Could we all go home now and get a good night’s sleep?

The answer, most would agree, is a resounding no. We now know enough of our president’s skills to not dare risk it. Every day we delay is a gift. Will we be able to last long enough till the weather clears? How much fuel do we have left anyway?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Soros' Collapsing Structures

It is astounding to me: Obama and leftist Democrats are now openly advocating bankruptcy. Just as they marched in lockstep to encourage military defeat in Iraq, they are now doing everything they can to steer our nation toward insolvency. To this purpose, they are willing to take and hold innumerable hostages. The military, old people, children – all are being used as pawns to insure that there is no agreement on the budget, thus forcing a government shutdown (to be summarily blamed on Republicans). The liberal media, instead of portraying this as a welcome respite from reckless government spending, proclaim this to be no less than Armageddon, continuing to do the best they can to let liberals get their way.

While some of us are falling for the ploy, there are indications that the majority of the American people are not. They expect to see at least some glimmer of fiscal reform, and they expect it to start today. They are fully vested in seeing that our nation continue along the path on which it had been (before Obama). To them insolvency is not an option. Yet, insolvency is precisely what Obama and his Democrats are striving to achieve. Stoking fears about the 800,000 (jobless) and Yellowstone closing are merely ancillary adjuncts to grab headlines in the short run. Down the road looms default when everything - including their sainted abortion clinics - shuts down; and that, they expect, will signal that the new (world) order has crawled out of Ahmedinejad’s well.

Nobody can be quite sure what happens next. We envision pure chaos on every front. In chaos there are no longer any rules. Existing contracts and bank accounts all turn to dust and are swept away by the random breeze. This is their goal. They are convinced they can survive even that. They believe that the old system can conveniently collapse into the new one, the structure for which already stands waiting. If you’ve ever been to a union or communist rally, that’s all you hear.

Unelected George Soros knows exactly what this new structure looks like as he is the architect of it. He sees a way forward, even if the rest of us don’t. We do not have any other options. Insolvency ends it. Hence, we feel that we must take steps to avoid it at all costs. Moderate Republicans in the House and Senate do not yet appreciate the danger. They are still willing to compromise. The Dems, on the other hand, are singularly committed. They can already smell the blood in the water. Total collapse is near... and they will have won. They, and their patron saint Soros, are confident that the new structure will be there to catch them – while sweeping away all the non-believers.

At first, there was chaos; and within it (by mere chance) there was an echo, which then opened up the possibility of reproducing something exactly like the first. Then came order and all the rest.

Tell me again that communism is not a religion.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Somebody's House I Burning...

The president’s budget proposal yesterday confirms every negative charge that has ever been leveled against his leadership: he’s not serious; he’s stupid; he doesn’t grasp the gravity of his office; he’s actively trying to run this country into the ground. It all amounts to the same thing for us.

We all know we have a problem, and we know that Obama himself is somehow at the center of it. The house is on fire. We don’t know how much of it can be saved, but we also know that the longer we wait, the less is our chance of saving anything. Luckily we were able to get the family out. Our three dogs and the cat are still inside. Now we wait…

The fire department has been contacted but, due to budget cuts, the trucks must come all the way from neighboring South Fulton. Then there’s the matter of having argued about the fire service subscription fee (on top of our regular property tax) that S. Fulton demanded. Not sure if my wife ever wrote the check.

The trucks do arrive, but remain parked down the block. The men disembark but do nothing but watch. They claim they don’t have the authority to intercede. So, why the hell did they come in the first place? (Ditto, Republicans.)

It would make for some juicy headlines around the country. People were angry. There were red faces all around and heads flew. But we lost our house and most everything in it nonetheless.

So too, we now argue about why Obama is not leading our nation. The people who think he’s doing it deliberately currently have the edge. The ones who think he’s only stupid, though, seem insistent on making it a matter of pride to prove their point. The two factions are fighting it out on the lawn outside while our house (with no cats in the yard) is burning to the ground.

Obama Thinking Out Loud

Bottom line: We’re flat broke. We don’t have the money. We’d like to carry on as before. We’d all like to stop at Starbucks for our morning coffee, but our wallet is empty. We’ve turned off the cell phone, because creditors are calling us every hour. They’re worried they won’t ever get paid back.

We’ve been broke for a long time. If I remember correctly, it started with Bush. The point is, it didn’t just happen overnight. For a while, friends would still spot us a couple of bucks for that cup of brew. If nobody happened to be around, the girl at the counter would let us have one simply for a promise and a smile.

Gotta cut back, but we also gotta keep up appearances. We’re the recognized leader of the Free World, after all. It simply won’t do to suddenly show up dressed in sack cloth.

Everybody agrees the economy is heading south. In fact, it’s so far down already, there’s really no longer any fix - nothing the public would go for anyway.

When things get this bad, the trick is not to give in to it. You do it with smoke and mirrors (Did I say ‘smoke‘? God, how I hate being married!); you try to give the impression that everything is still on the up and up. Sometimes, you’ve got to tell lies - like the one about ‘jobs saved’ (boy, was that one was a doozy!) The folks bought it all the same, at least I think they did - and now I’ll tell them we reduced the budget by a trillion while only increasing it seven times as much. (Damn! I’ve run out of space.) It’s technically true; we could have increased it by eight.

Checked in with ‘The Man’ this morning. He said, “Just keep going. You’re doing fine. Tell them about high-speed trains. They’ll like that.” Actually, I’m beginning to wonder just exactly what he’s up to.

Anyway, I still got the press drones out there, endlessly repeating that bit about ‘green’ jobs and how the economy is turning around; and how everything will work out as soon as Bush’s tax cuts expire - say what?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/