The Radical Hobson Twins

It’s been apparent for some time now that the only thing the Democrats and their mouthpiece media care about is getting Democrats elected. It became nauseatingly apparent during the Bush administration when they celebrated every fallen American soldier in Iraq with moments of silent laughter at the end of daily newscasts. Clearly, they wanted to show the war lost to make Bush (and Republicans) look bad. The economy too was reported to be worse than it was. Revisions upward never received due attention.

The strategy is now being continued. Clearly, every Republican idea for saving the economy, social security and Medicare is demonized by the Left - this, while these same people refuse to propose any remedies of their own. What seems obvious to most of us is that if nothing is done, these programs will default. By opposing every fix, Democrats are inviting bankruptcy on a national scale. Their answer is always ‘tax the rich’ which continues to have a certain popular appeal – never mind that, by raising taxes ever higher, talent and capital will flee off-shore, accelerating our march to fiscal Armageddon – never mind that our nation is already broke, and being kept afloat by smoke on mirrors and by every infinity we can find to define.

The thinking among Democrats continues to be that the end-all is simply to keep getting elected as to afford them a chance to continue feasting at the public troth. Most are unable to see beyond their elections. They don’t understand that, once in office, their job should just be beginning: to represent the people(’s will) and protect our nation.

Republicans - perennial losers - stand green with envy and awe of what the Dems are consistently able to do in their own behalf. Like hungry beggars, they slaver over the crumbs that the Dems leave out for the ones most likely to whore themselves out to traitorous causes.

Senators and Congressmen who get up and grandstand about cutting foreign aid and assistance to the poor are doing so simply to divert attention from their own excesses. The gravy train keeps rolling – certainly not for the genuine poor (who will always be exactly where they are, and who will always be poor; but) – to feather their own political nests.

Don’t look to fancy constructs of conspiracy. Don’t look to various ‘isms’ to explain it. Simply put, we are eating our own. NY-26 has introduced yet another arrow into the Democrat Party quiver. Democrats have discovered that the tea party now is their best friend. By injecting some fake, phony ‘tea party’ member into any election mix, their reservation at the beggar’s banquet is virtually guaranteed.

Reminds of all those so-called ‘democracy’ movements in the Middle East that are being hijacked by the MB. It looks like we’re down to choosing between identical Hobson twins.

Between radical ideology and radical greed, which one would you choose? For my money, I’d be content just to stay home and read about it in the paper the next morning.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The Pool Empties

(The following can be read in conjunction with 'On A Silver Platter'.)

It was remarkable to see: a foreign head of state giving our president a public schooling yesterday. Some were outraged that this could even happen. Others were jubilant. All felt somewhat uncomfortable.

For far too long Obama has been getting away with it, just saying things for the mere sake of talking without anything to back it up. And we were expected to become all wobbly and swoon at the mere strains of ‘Hail to the Chief' marking his entrance. We’d grown tired of waiting for the oft promised manna from heaven while most of the time it’s been raining stones.

Yesterday, someone finally took it upon himself to stand up to the charade. It’s not that Obama was fooling anybody anymore. All the other world leaders noticed the utter lack of substance in the man. But they just smiled and discretely turned away, pretending to blow their noses while laughing out loud. “Be careful, we’ve got a nut case here,” they said to each other.

Israel couldn’t take it so lightly. Its very existence depends upon a viable partnership between our two nations – now more than ever, as the Middle East is preparing to rise up against it. It cannot continue to play childish games that have no basis in reality.

In what was billed as a major foreign policy statement last week at the State Department, the president reiterated America’s long-standing position toward Israel. “Our commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable,” he said. Three paragraphs later, he went on, “…and Israel must be able to defend itself – by itself – against any threat.” What the hell does that mean? - that we now will or won’t support Israel if she were to be attacked?

It’s the same with our economy. On one hand, Obama says that private enterprise is expected to pull our nation back from the fiscal brink. On the other, he is singularly responsible for placing roadblocks in the path of every private enterprise and condemning the very notion of capitalism at every turn.

No wonder everyone is left scratching their heads by this American Shiva’s eternal skull dance. And we do know that confusion and uncertainty keeps everything from moving forward.

Desperate to land on some green twig, he’s got us grasping at straws. We pick and choose from his torrent of words to find those that would signal a positive turn, ignoring all others. It’s impossible for us to believe that our very own leader does not have a plan – easy to do as we hear him talking out of both sides of his mouth. He exhorts industry to hire. Industry is reluctant. They don’t just hire to pad payrolls. They expect to see results, even as planning has become impossible in this fog. Consequently, they’re not hiring. They’ll wait until the air clears at least enough to discern some direction.

Netanyahu did us a favor yesterday. He introduced some urgency into the mix. Will our president now feel compelled to sharpen his pencils? Or will he harden his stance toward an ally who has cared enough to expose this administration's treading water while the pool empties.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Something Rotten in Denmark

Some of you who’ve been reading my posts since this bin Laden thing happened are surely scratching your heads. Believe me; I’ve taken note of the many cold shoulders. A while back, I wrote a piece on assumptions; saying, that all our beliefs rest on assumptions, and that these assumptions rest on (other) assumptions as well, and so on…

The truth is, I don’t know what happened and how, and who was involved and who wasn’t. People, especially those who make it their business to comment on events, do not like to admit that they don’t know anything; for if they don’t know, why take the chance of being wrong and looking foolish? So, we base our evaluations and predictions on what we might call ‘core assumptions’. But even those, under certain circumstances, can come into question.

Hardly anybody (except maybe the Japanese) expects the earth to suddenly start moving underfoot. Nobody here expects America to end. And, until a relatively short time ago, everybody held science in high regard, especially with respect to scientific pronouncements about ‘global warming’. When things happen to challenge ‘core assumptions’, however, people become uncomfortable. They begin shifting around in their seats, contemplating a bathroom break.

Since Obama’s election, this has begun happening to more and more people. There have always been certain assumptions that have gone along with our concept of the American presidency. As time went by, it became increasingly difficult to square these with what we were seeing. Some came to wonder whether we were witnessing the greatest hoax ever perpetuated on the American people.

We tried, in our own small, measured way, to catch someone’s attention. Our telephone calls and e-mails, our marches on Washington, our confrontations at town hall meetings, our votes - all was summarily brushed off; ignored. Now we are being told that Obama could win again in 2012.

Meanwhile, the economy is not coming back; our jobs are not coming back; everything is getting more and more expensive. Some of us are finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. We’ve been told that we have found and killed Osama bin Laden. On the very same day the office of Homeland Security elevates the terror threat to Americans worldwide. What gives?

None of us wants to believe that our president is actually working against us. It’s easier for us to see him as a bumbler who can be removed with due diligence in 2012. This, again, is our assumption. We also assume that we can keep it together till that day arrives.

All this was yet true under Bush. I’ve made it no secret that I prefer Bush to Obama. Though, I will admit, that looking at the whole thing as a continuum, Bush made Obama possible.

It could be that Bush too was snookered. Then, why is he keeping quiet and not saying anything? If anybody knows something, it could only be Bush. Is he even free to speak? I have already said that his refusal to appear with Obama in New York City today speaks volumes – and it’s not what the media says it is.

Enough has happened to prompt me into digging deep down into my assumptions. All I can come up with is that I just don’t know - and you don't either. But something smells awfully rotten in Denmark.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Piggy's Broken Glasses

While it’s entertaining to indulge in clever segue; delicious irony; add to it a dash of cynicism, perhaps; and execute astounding word pirouettes - the time has come when we long for a voice, saying clearly and distinctly, “Look, the house is on fire; get hold of some buckets; and some of you go out and find these bastard pyros before the whole town burns down to the ground. And make sure you catch at least one of them alive so we can waterboard him and find out who the hell’s behind it.”

If every world leader friendly to America were brought down by some sin, what would it prove? That the wages of sin only work one way? That the sinners on the other side are automatically absolved forever? The point is that Berlusconi is about to be brought down – to be replaced by whom? Anarchists? Leftists? America haters?

Our instincts have been right all along: close the borders before starting to consider amnesty; plug the leak in the bottom of the boat before we start arguing about who does the bailing - and how.

We all admit that our economy is broken. Obviously, the track we’ve taken of appointing those who broke it in the first place to fix it hasn’t worked. It’s time to regroup and try something else.

In the same way that finding bin Laden would have meant eternal salvation for George W. Bush; in the same way as unmasking Obama would give Trump the American presidency; in the same way Obama envisions handing Israel over to the Islamists would secure for him a luxury apartment in downtown Mecca - the only plan right now must involve stopping the hemorrhaging.

We’re bleeding trust, confidence, talent, savings, jobs, respect… Take a look at the video that’s up on Drudge right now. Is this not an apt metaphor for where we now find ourselves? Union thugs. Tea parties. ACLU. ACORN. “Lord of the Flies”: “The chief led them, trotting steadily, exulting his achievement. He was a chief now in truth; and he made stabbing motions with his spear. From his left hand dangled (not the conch, but) Piggy’s broken glasses.”

Time for some adults to step into the ring. We’ve already - long back - agreed to put cops in our schools. Better start hiring more. People will soon be demanding protection in every fast food joint on the planet. And there are a lot more of them around than there are schools.

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/

Peter Koelliker replied to comment from John Batchelor

I take it you have watched Trump’s show. I have not. Therefore, your references to his show escape me. I base my assumptions on what I do see: Trump Towers in New York and Trump Casino in Atlantic City.

Given our current economic conditions, his claim that he still has enough money to manage a presidential campaign also speaks volumes. In addition, I hear what he says. I have heard nothing, since embarking on his quest for the presidency, with which I disagree. What he said previously, is of no importance to me since it was not said as one who would hoodwink the public in a political sense. From now on, I will pay attention.
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It is now generally accepted (mostly by conservatives) that raising taxes does not necessarily translate into more revenue for the government; that, in fact, what the government collects is likely to stay the same as a percentage of GDP no matter what the tax rate is. This is not fantasy. It can be documented by historical example. Therefore, the emphasis should be on growth.

If our problem is that government does not have enough money to pay its bills – as we are told – then lowering taxes across the board would seem to be a significant part of the solution. Yet current policy makers insist that we go in the opposite direction.

There should not even be an argument about this. The same percentage taken out of a smaller pie will result in reduced intake by the treasury and vice versa. The fact that we cannot agree means that something else is at stake: social engineering in the form of the redistribution of American’s wealth as to achieve total equality (both domestic and globally).

Our politicians are loath to tell us of their true intent; our universities fail to educate. So we are sent out into the street to protest the mere possibility that our neighbor makes a dollar more a week than we do. This is considered ‘unfair’. Everyone should have the same after all. The next step is for all of us to start wearing matching uniforms.

It bugs me no end when politicians use this canard to bat around. Why don’t they just tell us outright that they want to make us all the same, discard all pretense of actually balancing the budget and raise the debt limit to infinity? This way, all of us would be cured of the compulsion to compete and concentrate on simply staying alive.
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“How I wish, how I wish you were here
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl,
Year after year
Running over the same old ground
What have we found?
The same old fears
Wish you were here”

--Pink Floyd

Spitting In the Wind

As POTUS struggles politically, his biggest enemy is rewind. There is now plenty of video of POTUS’ previous speeches and pronouncements. Polls indicate that the ‘hope and change’ thing no longer connects. We’ve heard it all before and the past two and a half years have done nothing to bolster Obama’s credibility for the broad range of American voters.

We’ve also heard the loyal opposition. It too has been discredited to the point imparting a general sense of hopeless acceptance of its inability to make even so much as a dent in the now widespread notion that things will get worse (‘before they get better’ is at this point not even on the horizon).

The notion that gasoline prices will determine the fate of POTUS in 2012 is absurd. It is now apparent that the media will not make it an issue that can be tied to the president. If not an issue, it will have no effect except dragging down the economy still further - which too will not be an issue by virtue of the media basically ignoring the metrics. In fact, there is now the widespread perception that Obama actually wants $5 to $7 dollar gas - and that this would be a good thing - that it would suit his ideological objectives with regard to greenhouse emissions, depopulating the suburbs (and thereby revitalizing urban centers), achieving energy independence, and redistributing what‘s left of America‘s wealth. Add to this the overall perception that Obama is pursuing a course that is essentially anti-American.

This last point can be argued depending on where one stands. The 13% of committed socialists that now seem to have exclusive rights to the president’s ear would submit that things are going just swimmingly, while the rest of us are still hedging our bets.

Obama is playing to both camps. He is hoping to placate the majority with vague ‘hope and change’ rhetoric while reinforcing his credibility with his left-wing base. It’s a tricky maneuver to be sure, but made very much easier given the way major media slants things to favor the Left.

Does Obama have a chance in 2012? I think so. As I wrote in my brief entitled, “In Quest of the Prize Pig”, I feel he has a better than even chance of even winning the political battle.

Where does that leave us? For one thing, we’ll be left to battle the historical tide as random pieces of flotsam in an ocean as big as the world. And, as the use of mirrors will likely be banned, we’ll be unable to see the likely result of spitting in the wind.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Chucks

We basically see what we want to see. In the process we miss what is actually there. In 2008, we pinned our hopes and dreams on Barack Hussein Obama. It soon became apparent that we had grossly miscalculated.

In her column, entitled, “Turkey’s Cautionary Tale”, in today’s Jerusalem Post, Caroline Glick cites Turkey as just one example of ’Dreamland’ having been hyped by the western media as the modern face of Islam and portrayed as an example of an Islamic country that the West can actually work with. Not so fast. Glick skillfully ticks off the steps that Turkey has taken since Erdogan’s election in 2002 that puts the lie to any idea of Islamic rapprochement with the West that the western media incessantly claims. I urge you to read it.

Similarly, we’ve been steadily backsliding into the ‘Dreamland’ fantasy of ‘global warming‘, even after the whole thing has been exposed as a hoax.

We continually hear that our economy is improving. But is it? Is this even within the realm of possibility given our present leadership?

Which brings me to Trump. The Left has launched an all-out assault against Trump. This is because it fears him. Again today, on Glenn Beck’s program, Beck’s sidekicks were hammering him, replaying old sound bites in which Trump bashes Bush. Let me remind you, in those days everybody was bashing Bush. In fact, it became our national pastime (sans hot dogs and beer). You could instantly advance to your 15 minute celebrity status by bashing Bush. That’s how we got Obama.

Obama now pretends that all the criticism he’s receiving is just a part pf presidential scenery. Not so. Bush bashing was fun. Now things have turned serious and most of us have sobered up.

In those days, Trump did not speak as a politician. He spoke as himself in the current vernacular. Now he speaks as one of us, alarmed by what has happened. Sure, he knows Schumer and all the rest. He sat at their tables, and they at his. They did not speak politics per se; they spoke deals.

As I’ve said before, Trump seems a patriot; he does not seem ideological. He appears to love America. He understands what has gone wrong. He is confident inside his own skin. He feels he can make a difference.

There are those who say he would split the Republican party and hand a win to Obama. It may well happen that way. But then again it may not. Look at it as a ’hail Mary pass’ by our side; one last chance for us to throw chucks under the runaway chuck wagon. If the wrong Republican is elected, we lose anyway.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Traipsing Around In The Hallway

There have been other instances when we first sent in ‘advisors’; then we armed our preferred side; then we provided air support; and, finally, we put American boots on the ground. It did not end well. You’d think we would learn. But aren’t we starting the same cycle all over again in Libya?

There was a time when we went all out in support of the notion that we are killing our planet, based on ‘irrefutable’ scientific evidence, graphs and projections - which were then proven to have been manufactured for political advantage. Yet, we are still operating on the original premise and demanding wholesale changes in the way that we live.

There was a time when Keynesian economics was the talk of the town. It dictated hiking Federal spending in order to increase prosperity and jobs. We were told that that economic activity increases by $2 for every dollar spent on unemployment insurance, and the like. We were told, we had at last discovered the golden goose; we had invented a perpetual motion mechanism that would spew greenbacks forever. Two for one. The more unemployed, the better for our economy… It’s not working.

The result of all these things should have been foreseen by those who promoted such policies. They should have known that it wouldn’t end well. These are the brightest among us, after all. If they don’t know, how should we with our mere high school education and a couple of college credits in basket weaving?

I maintain they did know – maybe not the first time it was tried, but certainly the second and third. And here we’re repeating all the same mistakes over again. Why?

Isn’t it obvious? Redistribution of wealth. It’s a core belief among those now in power that this must absolutely be done. They know the people bought it the first time around. And they know the people will buy it again: all the same promises; all the same lies. And then, when they figure out it’s not working, we’ll simply say, “Oops!” And they’ll assume we noticed our mistake and will correct it. This will give us time to do it again. And, again, we'll say, “Oops!” And “Oops!” it is until they’re ready to revolt, but by then it’s too late. They will have been bled of all their power to seriously resist.

Why Libya? It’s the same principle that applies: “Oops!” and “Oops!” again, until our precious army has been discredited beyond redemption. With the economy in tatters; Congress in tatters; the military in tatters, America’s enemies will have won. That’s when we’ll get Israel!

Don Trump has been getting a lot of press attention for keeping Obama’s birth certificate controversy alive. He himself is not exactly strident about it, knowing it’s become the third rail of American politics …and he does want to be president. It does give an opening, however, to those who want to keep the issue going. Why is it an issue in the first place?

Carter made a lot of mistakes, both in foreign policy as well as domestic. These can be filed away as teachable moments for future American presidents. These were teachable moments too for America’s enemies.

The law draws a distinction between someone falling asleep while smoking a cigarette in bed and someone deliberately pouring gas into the stairwell of a building and setting it on fire. Granted, the end result is the same.

Obama has been in office long enough for us to question his motives. As such, it is logical for us to question which team he’s actually playing on. His birth certificate would provide a clue; as would his school records. The fact that these are unavailable to us just goes to intensify our suspicions. Obama’s reluctance to provide this evidence is an indication of something being seriously amiss: Someone has been, or is about to be, snookered.

At the very least, we would find out if our president is merely a guy with a cigarette, or the guy with the red 5 gallon can, traipsing around in the hallway.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Condo Shopping in Brazil

We’re all news junkies; that is, we try to keep up with the news on a daily basis. We read the headlines on various sites, as well as our favorite blogs to get some idea about what other people are thinking. We pretty much know that the mainstream media does not tell us the truth; that partisan consideration causes them to steer their intended conclusions toward some unholy end. The same is true of the conservative, or ‘alternative’, media.

I’ve been having some trouble with the internet, especially when trying to stream Glenn Beck’s morning radio show. It suddenly cuts out and I need to go down to the basement and reset the box. Honestly, it’s become a pain to listen, and I no longer listen very often. I also don’t watch much TV - especially in the afternoon. For our family, Glenn Beck has essentially ‘disappeared’.

While visiting my father, he explained to me the purpose of Brazil's new capital (now 50 years old), the building if which he had been intimately involved in. It was envisioned as a world capital housing the leaders of a single world government. Its planners predicted that there would be a war in which much of the world would suffer utter devastation. The site for the Brazilian capital was deliberately chosen as to be as far away from everything as possible and would therefore not be much affected.

The city has strict building codes as to limit its population. The expected overflow was to be housed in any number of satellite cities some distance away. Only the highest elite - the cream of the crop - were to have permission to live within city limits.

This came to mind when I first heard that Obama would be going to Brazil on vacation (or is it to shop for a condo?). Suppose now, that something were to happen here while he is away. It’s not unusual for the leader of a nation to leave his country and, while abroad, there is some kind of coup back home.

Suppose communications were cut. Suppose all we could get on the radio is old episodes of the Prairie Home Companion. Suppose there were no mention of what had happened. Suppose TV screens remained blank; the internet dormant.

Suppose Osama bin Laden were to order all his sleeper cells into action. Suppose some manufactured economic problem were to close the banks. Suppose union thugs and others took it upon themselves to target random ‘rich people’ and Republican legislators.

In very short order, America would find itself turned on its head. There would be utter chaos in the streets – not to mention, in every American heart.

Suppose that by some prearranged signal Israel and Taiwan were attacked, as well as Americans and American interests oversees.

All this would be digestible, except for radio silence. We could respond to most things, but not this. For years now, we’ve known that our media plays fast and loose with the facts. We’ve learned to be discerning and deal with it. But no news? How could we possibly deal with that?

Only those who had been tipped off beforehand would know what to do - only the best organized. The rest of us would miss the sleight of hand until long after the dust has settled and the now familiar faces of our talking heads have faded from memory.

http://peterkoelliker.blogspot.com/
http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Burning Down Through the Core

For the Left, recent and ongoing disasters as we are currently witnessing in Japan, America’s economic meltdown, ever increasing turmoil in the Middle East - all are proof positive (to paraphrase the now famous words of the Right Rev. Wright and others) that the chickens are coming home to roost.

The White House is caught up in a fever of partying; at the State Department, they are busy toasting each other while barely suppressing smiles; the greens are celebrating the death of the nuclear power industry; and in Ramallah, they’re handing out sweets.

As long as I can remember, I’ve had no facility with numbers. If you were to ask me to give you our town’s exit number (on Rt. 78) - even after having lived here more than 50 years - I would first have to consult a map. Only (the) names (of towns) make sense to me. Similarly, all the dates JB tries so hard to familiarize us with in his quest to imbue us with some level of historical perspective mean nothing to me. As such, I have only a rudimentary concept of time. I have to make do simply with past, present and future. As such, time’s metrics are of no use in my own calculations - and neither are Kudlow’s numbers.

I can close both eyes; I can close my right while keeping my left one open, but I can’t close my left eye alone. There’s simply nothing there to do it with. I do not consider myself ‘retarded’. It’s rather that I’ve had to accept the fact that I am missing a faculty that most others take for granted, much like sight or hearing, etc.; senses, that often are said not to enhance, but to limit our perception. We are doomed to see only a narrow band of light. With sound it’s pretty much the same. Anything outside the narrow frame that constitutes our reality, though it exists, we cannot perceive and often will not acknowledge.

Such blind spots and many others - such as a failure to recognize God - are common.

The Left’s failure to recognize the difference between good and evil is nonetheless astounding to me. They’ve managed to blur the line so much as to put both on equal footing. A crisis, such as the one currently unfolding in Japan (admittedly still in its early stages); the crashing of the dollar; rising food and fuel prices; etc. seem not to be regarded as tragedy but rather as an opportunity to advance ideological agendas. Any crisis can be used as an interlude in which to decide which way the dust will settle and then to side with the most likely outcome - and declare victory. Therefore, the end game is always the same: “revolution” (without principle or morality).

This, it seems to me, is where we are today. I think the word for it is ‘opportunism’. It is rank fecklessness and seems to guarantee success in reaching the lowest level (at which water collects and then stagnates). The lowest level is always easiest to ‘achieve', even if it were to involve the seldom perceived extreme of burning down through to the core.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Going Too Fast to Take the Exits

We have now reached the point I have been warning about. The state of our nation is anything the government says it is. “The economy has turned the corner” and, poof! the stock market goes through the roof; “eight million jobs saved”, and, shebang! it is so; “companies have resumed hiring” and, would you believe it? (Obama is a genius!) Unemployment goes from nearly 10% to barely 9 (the new norm), and, again, Obama is simply the best!!! “Oil prices will not spur inflation” and, miracles of miracles… “We are winning the war.” Really?

How can we possibly oppose the policies that have brought about such incomparable blessings? All throughout the Middle East and beyond, democratic movements have awakened and unseated long-entrenched tyrants and placed power into the people’s hands. And we did it all without firing a shot. Here at home, we’re standing up for workers’ rights; a chicken in every pot; a roof over every head; heath care for all; etc.

He (Obama) will go down in history as the greatest American president since Lincoln, or is it Roosevelt? Or Reagan? Or Washington? (Let me check my calendar.) Only bright days ahead. A nation powered by shiny new high speed (can we still say, ‘bullet') trains and batteries; wind and solar power. …clean, crystalline air to breathe. No one smokes. Everyone eats healthy - and not too much. Utopia is truly within our grasp.

This one is a keeper. This president. The best we’ve ever had. Why bother with any more elections? This is a good as it gets. Boy, are we ever lucky!
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"We should seek by all means in our power to avoid war, by analyzing possible causes, by trying to remove them, by discussion in a spirit of collaboration and good will. I cannot believe that such a program would be rejected by the people of this country (England), even if it does mean the establishment of personal contact with the dictators."

- Neville Chamberlain.
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Absolutely riveting broadcasting last night, John. I had dozed off with my radio on. Was literally frightened awake by the raw energy emanating from your segment with Malcolm Hoenlein alone. You turned into a pit bull and would not let go. You got Malcolm to say what he didn’t want to say. You got him to admit that Iran is winning.

I understood Malcom’s reticence. It was so obvious the man was struggling, stumbling. He fully grasped the import of the words that you so pitilessly coaxed from his convulsing throat. He understood what it means for Israel.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters

The only thing that the Left and the Right actually agree on is that growth alone will fix the economy. From there on, however, their approaches differ. Whereas the Left favors opening wide the back doors of the armored truck and heaving fistfuls of dollars out into the street, the Right says it’s time to keep the trucks locked up at the depot. This fundamental difference also colors our approach to foreign policy. As liberals are presently in charge of nearly everything, consider the following likely conversation between our State Department and the PA regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

U.S. State Department: “We want you to reach a peace agreement with Israel during this term of the Obama administration. What would it take for you to accomplish this?”

PA: “Impossible. We do not recognize the existence of the Jewish State.”

U.S.: “We will give you money - as much as you want. And we will give you more afterwards to help make you into the most prosperous nation on earth.”

PA: “We will take your money, but we will only buy guns and knives so we can slit the throats of the Israeli Jews.”

U.S.: “So you see, we’re making progress. You now recognize that there actually are Israeli Jews. We will give you an initial down payment and much more after you agree to come back to the table for further negotiations.”
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Or, imagine our conversation with the King of Saudi Arabia:

U.S.: “We will give you money so that you will keep the oil flowing to Europe and America.”

SA: “We have more than enough money. Money means nothing to us. Another Rolls Royce or two will not make a difference. We already have plenty. These only serve to remind us that we are nothing. We do not produce Rolls Royces. It does not improve our self-esteem to drive them. It is you who should feel proud for having produced what is arguably the finest land vehicle the world has ever known. We, on the other hand, simply use them as we would toilet paper.

“We produce nothing. We have no skills, no imagination - only resources. It is these resources - our resources - with which you spin your magic: building great industries and communication networks, creating timeless art and philosophies, etc. We simply allow you to pump oil out of our wells. Although you pay us handsomely, it’s only money, which is essentially worthless to us because we do nothing to earn it.”

U.S.: “But we’re prepared to pay you even more.”

SA: “Save it. It will help neither us nor you. You have done more than enough to inflict us with a fatal case of ‘Dutch disease’ (as defined by your own economists). The only way we will be helped is for us to destroy you. Because every day you continue to exist on this, our shared, planet reminds us of our humiliation before God.

“We have therefore decided to pronounce everything you do as evil. And thus we have discovered our power over you. We are now in the position to drain the very blood from your veins. And only this (by the grace of Allah) will restore our self-esteem and bring us back to some semblance of life. In other words, we must kill you.”

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Before They Gouge Out Our Eyes

Obviously it won’t be Obama who rides to our rescue. He’ll be the one seen as having run the country into the ground. No doubt, accusations will continue to fly from both sides. So who will it be? A Reagan-like figure? Or someone more centrist? Left? Anybody (again)? Will it even matter?

Hard to say at this point. I maintain we’re already ‘landing softly’. This is not enough for these people. The plan appears to be global. The action will center on the Middle East. That’s where the die will be cast. Everything will radiate out from there. Oil.

What struck me was how desperately Obama wanted to take credit for what happened in Egypt. It’s not yet over. If the worst should happen (and I don’t see how the worst can be avoided under our present leadership), will our president again seek to claim credit? Probably. But it won’t wash - not here, anyway.

A war in the Middle East, whether America is involved or not, will act as a ‘reset’ button for - not Russia, but - America. (How the Russians must have laughed!)

It’ll happen soon enough. While economic collapse could drag on for years, the Middle East - from Turkey to Pakistan and down into North Africa - has reached the boiling point. I have no clue if Israel is even prepared to defend itself. In any case, it’s probably out of Israel’s hands as well.

The era of cheap oil is be over. We hear it over and over again - like self-fulfilling prophecy. Oil has been the lifeblood of American ‘success‘. Our worthless dollars will no longer buy oil from the Middle East. And then there’s the matter of retribution. Venezuela will go along with it and cut us off.

Cloward-Piven has already achieved its aim. This can be illustrated in any number of ways. We’re now into our post-revolution. The point is, we no longer control the ropes. Who will come to our rescue (with some version of the Marshall Plan) should we stumble? (Again, we have already stumbled.) The sainted Brotherhood? The Chinese? The Russians? It’s likely that we’ll continue to wallow in our own stew for some time to come.

Doubtful too that Obama will be granted a villa in Shiraz (believe me, I tried to find some sort of beach resort for the family) to live out his miserable life. Though, it might be thrilling to catch a glimpse of Michelle’s ankle just before they gouge out our eyes.

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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?

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Playing Dead

The sainted revolution over, it’s difficult to understand why protesters are still in Tahrir Square (which is really a circle). Reminds of when Obamacare was passed and the next day people started showing up at clinics and hospitals, demanding medical services.

Today, Egyptians are protesting low wages and high food prices. Anyone to venture a guess when this will change?

Conditions are liable to get worse for Egyptians - not better. For one thing, the army is now in charge. They control streets, not markets. Nefarious elements will begin to disrupt things even more in hopes of positioning themselves just behind the tip of the spear.

After WWII , after Germany had been decisively defeated, there was the U.S. to step in to help. I’m not saying Europe couldn’t have pulled itself out of the muck. I’m just saying, it would have taken them a lot longer without the Marshall Plan and good old American know-how.

Nobody to turn to now if you happen to crash your economy, have a revolution, or lose a war. America has given up on that gig. We’ve become green, taking nothing from the earth and subsisting entirely like Kobo Abe’s fictional, self-contained bug (eupcaccia) which he describes in the opening lines of his novel, “The Ark Sakura”, as subsisting entirely by eating its own feces.

And there is Obama, trying to take credit for what happened. In six months, Egyptians may well take him up on that. Meanwhile, unrest is said to be spreading throughout the Middle East. In his message to the Egyptian people, Obama voiced once again his commitment to stand by them, perhaps not yet realizing that, to the average Egyptian, any interference by America is like the kiss of death. Maybe his message was really directed at us? Oh, I don’t mean the Tea Parties. He can do without them - much too civilized; much too informed; stable. No, he means all the rabble that supports him. He’s been spoiling for a good fight. Republicans, it seems, aren’t really up to it. Much too eager to roll over and play dead.

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The Nightingale And the Rose

Pardon me while I don’t quite bite. Anything can be spun, including facts and numbers - like ‘the economy is improving’ and ‘unemployment is decreasing‘ and ‘green‘ jobs are the future. It’s generally done by introducing a ‘new’ method of counting, using ‘new’ parameters and a different basket of assumptions. In education, overall results are generally improved by lowering the bar and dumbing down tests.

All this frantic fudging does not change a single thing of significance. Obama is still a socialist (whether we say it or not). And he may even be a card-carrying member of the Muslim Brotherhood for all we know (whether we even dare ask the question).

Partisanship has nothing to do with it. The proof is in the pudding. America is slipping, the dollar is slipping, our educational system is not producing and we are making mistakes in every area of endeavor relative to the rest of the world.

Whether we point it out or not, whether or not we’re turning off our radios because we’re sick of hearing about it, it’s happening at an alarming rate.

I note that the Batchelor show has one big advantage over everybody else in the business: he doesn’t take calls. Therefore he’s spared the tedious bleating of the inarticulate, the partisan poisoned, and the uninformed. Batchelor only talks to ‘experts’; meaning, that what has made them experts is in large part their familiarity and comfort level regarding language. This translates well to radio. It does not mean, however, that the ‘great unwashed’ - the rest of us - have nothing to say.

While everyone likes to claim the people’s support for whatever murderous scheme they might find themselves accessories to, they remain prepared to drop public opinion for expediency’s sake. In Beck’s case, I am not so sure his being dropped from major markets has so much to do with poor ratings as with his fingering of the great puppet master himself: Soros, who seems to have his fingers in every conceivable pie - just as I never believed that the re-elections of Reid and Pelosi were entirely free of electoral fraud.

I just finished reading ‘The Nightingale and the Rose’ by Oscar Wilde. It is one of the stories that came in a volume published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin. Like Grimm’s fairy tales, the themes in these stories are not necessarily all clover and honey. Some serious issues are explored here under guise of clear language and simple metaphor. ‘Nightingale’ for instance explores the notion of personal sacrifice for a lost cause. It can bring tears to a child’s eyes and continue to haunt into adulthood.

In America, there have been many more such sacrifices than those currently living here. In fact, it could even be said, that every grave in America holds the remains of a martyr who had some sense of the eternal. What would any of them say if they were to come back today and watch the rose tossed carelessly aside to be crushed by an unseeing wagon wheel? Would they be impressed by the gloss of manipulated polls and surveys? Or would they be moved to weep at the flag (they fought and died for in some cases) being dragged through the muddy streets of our relentless discontent?

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Too Big To Fail?

The prevailing sentiment in America today is that we are ‘too big to fail'. Failure, in fact, is no longer an option. It is off the table. So if there should be a failure, the task is not to find out why, reverse course, and try again; but rather to clothe failure in some semblance of success by introducing such terms as ‘new norm’, ‘outright lie’, and ‘unexpected’. Metrics, like ‘consumer confidence’ and ‘jobs saved’, come to the fore as being the lynchpins in maintaining the illusion of life in what is essentially dead.

As such, we overlook the fact that our government has failed, that our economy is failing, that our media and system of education are not doing the job despite the billions poured into them. We also overlook overwhelming public sentiment that we are fooling ourselves and projecting an image that is paper thin where substance is concerned.

We spend huge sums on Super Bowl half-time shows that are bereft of talent; and, as such, embarrassing. The person hired to sing our National Anthem never even bothered to learn the words properly.

Our economy has become so much paper-mâché, it would take a mere breeze to punch through it. All the signs of pathology are there in plain sight. A house bought in 1960 for $36,000 has not been improved or grown in size. Yet, on today’s market it would fetch 10 times as much. Same with cars, a gallon of gas, milk, cigarettes - you name it. Nothing has essentially changed. A house is still a house, a car is still a car, milk is still milk, etc. What has changed is the money it takes to buy these things. It has lost value. It has become wholly arbitrary, relative to the value of any given item.

Money is the only metric it is still possible for us to manipulate; to give the impression that we are doing well. The ‘fixes’ have become wildly irrational (the HuffPost-AOL deal, for example). People no longer have confidence in what we’re doing is right. They’ve decoupled. They’re sitting on their hands, hobbled by uncertainty, distrust, and a sense of revolution. This is something taking place within our own country right now - that no one wishes to acknowledge. It’s a bloodless revolution, but no less effective. And it will ultimately bring the house down.

It no longer matters what Bernanke does, or how much or little he does. It doesn’t even matter if he’s there or not. Ditto, Obama. What matters is that the people are no longer behind any of it. And, without popular support, the whole system winds down and descends into chaos.

There is now some question as to if it’s being done deliberately or not. It might just be that America’s enemies are riding a wave, claiming credit.

In a world turned upside-down, the relative vitality of a thing is now measured by how much enthusiasm can be drummed up to destroy it. This would put Hosni Mubarak right up there, along with Sara Palin and Michelle Bachmann.

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...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.

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Apple Scruffs (How I Love You)

While I too tend to drool at the stylistic innovations of Apple products, I have never quite been tempted to buy into it. Apple, it seems, operates on the same principle of the marketing model of American car companies during the late fifties to mid-sixties. Their thrust was two-fold. One, the cars wore out after two years. And, two, after two years, the styles had changed so dramatically, nobody would want to be seen in cars two (or more) years old. The latest models were unleashed on the public with such fanfare and ferocity, it kept the cycle of trading-in the old cars for new ones in high gear.

When I went to get my iPod fixed some years ago (the battery was bad), I was told that it would be cheaper for me to get a new one (which even had additional features to entice me). Innovations are deliberatively held back to be included in next year’s model. But nobody is willing to wait that long, so they buy what’s available now, and the following year they buy again.

It’s a brilliant, all-American sales strategy that applies to women’s fashions as well. Hat tip, Steve Jobs!

Ironically, Apple products have also assumed a political dimension. Self-proclaimed liberals in particular can not seem to do without. It’s become a symbol of progressive, left-wing politics to own Apple products; much like the Volvo brand. The irony is that the Apple sales strategy flies in the face of openly professed liberal lip service in support of conservation.

The flashy cars of the sixties eventually would come face to face with the reality of more durable foreign imports, and consumers flocked to the competition in droves. Apple reminds of what’s left of the ‘trendy’, "keeping up with the Jones's" mindset. It works because an investment in Apple is not as great as an investment in a car.

As our economy continues to erode and after Apple too has been dashed upon the shoals of necessity, some toothbrush company will be attempting what Apple is doing now.

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