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/

Value vs. Money

Again, this assumes that government can create jobs. Government cannot create jobs. It can create a climate conducive to job creation or it can do the opposite. The jobs government creates are not ‘real’ jobs. They are jobs dependent on political patronage.

Government can insert itself and re-distribute the wealth created by real jobs in the private sector, but it cannot create or re-distribute ‘value‘. The honest money poured into unproductive sectors is money wasted. The tipping point is reached when too much wastage starves the private sector (where value is created) out of existence.

With the rise of autocratic dictatorial regimes at the expense of democracies, it is inevitable that job creation suffers. This political trend has now also taken root in Washington.

America was well known throughout the world as a place where it was still possible to come and make something of oneself. The business climate was considered to be ‘friendly‘. This is changing. High taxes and regulations have virtually ground business in America to a halt. In order to stay in business these days you have to first ingratiate yourself to the party in power and then wait for them to give you your arbitrary allotment of wavers and handouts. It’s called crony capitalism and it never works well.

There’s no mystery as to how capitalism functions and how ‘real’ value is generated. A man goes to work for a firm and receives a salary. His salary is predicated on how much he can be expected to contribute to the firm’s bottom line. If his skills are independent of the firm’s structure, he can eventually go out and start his own business. He will then begin to hire people keeping the same principle in mind: he will pay them a percentage of what they can be expected to contribute to the new firm’s success.

An athlete is paid according to how many people his presence can bring into the stadium. An actor is paid according to how many people his talent can attract to movie theaters. It is their talent that is valuable. The money generated by any such transactions can go up in smoke in an instant. The value of individual talent, skill and perseverance remains. A good actor will always eat.

Not many of us are blessed with outstanding attributes such as John Batchelor’s golden-throated voice and keen wit; or even with the ability to think effectively on our feet. Yet, we too can be a part of the system. We have other, perhaps less spectacular, attributes to deal. And we too, if we apply ourselves, can earn a modest, but secure, living.

Enter big government that blocks all normal processes and throws the whole system into confusion. Now nobody can be secure. The rules change with the political winds. It’s difficult to plan and even harder to trust - and the whole thing breaks down to be replaced by … what?

At this point, it could be anything - a new currency, gold, indentured servitude, work camps. With capitalism discredited, one’s work can no longer save one. Things are apt to become a whole lot more arbitrary and complicated. For one thing, America may soon not have to worry about its immigration problem as opportunity continues to fade; and there won’t be much left to bother blowing up anymore.
-------------------------------------------------------------
A note about education: Education no longer teaches discipline and skills. Education has become so devalued in America (and elsewhere) that it represents little more than a (hall) pass for entrance into the entrenched elite classes‘ washrooms. Additionally, education nowadays consists primarily of learning to spout political propaganda points.

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/

Is Democracy Dead?

Is democracy dead? That’s the point, isn’t it? If Washington should prove to be dysfunctional, the argument could be made that democracy is dead - rigor mortis; gridlock, anything you want to call it. When government no longer functions, what more can one say? There’s no use pretending it works when it doesn’t.

This ‘compromise’ that’s now under threat of unraveling would effectively saddle Americans with higher taxes they can’t afford. People forced to make decisions about when it’s best to die.

Maybe the death of democracy goes hand in hand with the death of capitalism. The crashing dollar; total reliance on monetized (future) debt. Consumer confidence. “Don’t worry, when things pick up…”

Capitalism relies on some degree of adherence to protocol: balancing budgets; honoring contracts; etc. - much of it thrown out the window to favor those who hate the system anyway; to get them aboard (the green-powered ark, only half built). To be replaced by what? No standards, no constraints; only bounced checks, compensation for services never rendered - relating only to the need for protection.

What would replace democracy/capitalism? Degrees of brutality; of corruption, theft, servitude, illusion. Enter the tyrant, the dictator to make the trains run on time. He then can make the rules any way he wants them - until he too is strung up. Et to, Brute?

No way to run a railroad.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man

The quote, “The more corrupt the State, the more numerous its laws,” is attributed to Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56 - 120 AD). From the sheer volume of legal documents, briefs and revisions that is being passed through the hands of Indian editors, it is apparent that we are moving in the wrong direction. Rather than streamlining our legal system, we are tying ourselves into knots.

I am currently reading “Samskara: A Rite for a Dead Man” by U. R. Anantha Murthy. The plot involves a Brahmin who dies under irregular circumstances. Since his station demands that his body be touched only by Brahmins, and the irregularity prohibits any Brahmin from performing the rites of cremation, the body is left to rot in the agarahara (Brahmin‘s quarters, district or village). The Vedic texts also prohibit Brahmins from eating until the body had been properly disposed of.

It is a quandary in which we now also find ourselves. Our nation is literally starving. Our economy is essentially dead. When Americans voted for Obama, they essentially voted for dictatorship. Dictatorship does not make the dictator infallible. Though the signs (even then) were obvious, Americans believed that there was something immutable that would mitigate any wayward impulse by a president: America. They did not foresee the possibility that America itself could actually be dismantled bit by bit.

America is the dead Brahmin in Murthy’s story. We are doomed to suffer its rotting corpse at least until our laws permit us to proceed with a proper burial. It is not until Obama is removed from office that we can move forward and re-make America into the entity we so desperately desire(d).

In Murthy’s story, the acharya (head of the Brahmin colony) consults the Vedic texts over and over again, yet he can find no solution. The strictures are difficult and numerous, but precise and unyielding. Expedience cannot be a factor - neither can common sense. Even when rats begin to overwhelm the agarahara, it is not enough to break the stalemate.

Our problem is simple to define. Obama is killing the country. Most people get it. Yet, our own laws - that we passed to serve us - proscribe his removal for at least two more years.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/