Massacre At Mazar-i-Sharif: It’s A U.S. Pastor’s Fault

In order to bring back any semblance of sanity to our public and private affairs, our people have to be re-educated, all the way from basic math to an understanding of right and wrong. In the absence of any standard - which is where we are now - who is to pass judgment? For far too long we’ve been drifting. Every issue has become existential; a tug of war, pulling our nation apart. We have yet to learn that our near paralysis in responding to events stems from being so utterly disorganized; that the most organized – not the most powerful, not the most tolerant, not the kindest – invariably win the day. The storming of the UN (do-gooder) compound in the Afghan town of Mazar-i-Sharif earlier today drives this thought.

It’s hard to imagine any outrage building in the West over the burning of a Bible or an American flag. In fact, this would likely be applauded by untold numbers of our own. We even tolerate the daily shredding of our own Constitution. We tolerate gross incompetence in leadership. We tolerate insult. We tolerate the erosion of our living standards. We tolerate decline. We even tolerate the intolerant.

At this point we lose. We declare ourselves ‘good people’. Why? Because we are tolerant, of course. At the same time, we have no idea that ‘good’ actually means standing for something. Without any discernable standards to go by, who is to say? We are fruit, ripe for the picking. We will not defend ourselves because we have nothing to defend. A man robs us on the street and we say, “He probably needs it more than us.” And, once again, we fall for the ruse of equating tolerance with virtue.

Our enemies have noticed. They are advancing without feeling the need even to disguise themselves. The drama of vultures feasting on a corpse is unfolding right before our eyes. Despite our considerable arsenal of bombs - which is larger than all the bombs in the world combined - no one respects us.

It’s open season. Libya is not the arena to demonstrate our roar – like Iraq was, and (to a lesser extent) Afghanistan. In Libya we lose no matter who wins. Our immediate focus should be on Iran. Instead we ignore it.

The world wonders and waits, vying for position for the privilege of driving the final stake through America’s heart. At this point, it’s no contest. Anyone can do it. Buried up to our necks in our own justifications for our limitless tolerance, anyone can throw the stone that will put out the lights.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Looking Beyond Corpses

Broadly speaking, there are four groups that are currently trying to overthrow the United States: anarchists, communists, Islamists and opportunists. Anarchists are in it just to wreak havoc; communists harbor an ideology that borders on religious fanaticism; ditto, Islamists; and, finally, opportunists, those who seek maximum profit for themselves in the wake of upheaval. The latter can be compared to those who during past wars haunted battlefields, looking for corpses from which to extract dental work.

All four have united and are waging war against the rest of us. While anarchists and Islamists still hide their faces, the other two have revealed themselves fully. They no longer feel the need to hide their intent. It’s just that we do not believe them. We do not believe that anything could possibly pose an existential threat to the country we hold dear. And, for the time being, they are right to exploit our willful – almost child-like - ignorance to their advantage.

All the important thresholds have already been crossed. We’ve crossed the threshold of ‘how bad can it get’ and accepted ‘new norms’. We’ve accepted the public media lynching of upstanding citizens. We’ve accepted turning our backs on faithful allies. We have discounted the importance family, religion and work. We’ve stood by while our system of education teeters on the brink of total failure. We’ve watched as our investments as well as our currency continue to operate on life support.

The next step, most would now agree, is collapse. And we are compelled to ask the question: “How do we protect ourselves?”

This question is key. It points the way to what we can expect afterwards. The word “protect” is telling. Already, ads responding to this very concept abound: buy gold; buy food (food storage); protect your computer; protect your identity; your health; etc. The protection rackets (opportunists) are already out in force. They signal collapse. What they don’t tell us is what will come after, when none will be left standing, when the rules totally change and revert back to basics: faith, family and the overwhelming desire to rebuild.

Rebuilding is embedded in our DNA - like language. Strength of character and goodness cannot be erased. Neither will talent, and a willingness to overcome adversity. Together we will build ourselves up and even surpass heights previously achieved - because that’s who we are.

Some say I’m a pessimist. I am not. I believe that goodness will triumph over evil every time. I believe the pendulum will continue to swing. Take heart, we’re about to reverse course.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Off The Record (in Brazil)

O – “Like you, I am a Marxist/Socialist. In addition, I am a Muslim – born and bred. I see my job essentially as an opportunity to erase the hegemony of the West in general and America in particular. To this end, we are working to choke off America’s energy supplies. As you may know, America actually does have the world’s most abundant resources of carbon-based fuels within its own borders. We have succeeded in halting oil exploration, drilling, refining, etc. In addition, we have been able to severely restrict coal mining operations by encumbering companies thus engaged with so many government mandated regulations and restrictions; it’s become impossible for operators to maintain profitable margins.

“Additionally, we’ve managed to create instability in the Middle East. It should soon become impossible to procure oil from any of these sources. Also, under our green energy initiative, we have succeeded in creating the perception that the use of carbon-based energy is damaging to the planet. We are now also in the process of banning nuclear energy outright (thank you, Japan).

“We have expanded baseline government spending to unprecedented levels, all but insuring the collapse of our currency. In relatively short order you will see severe inflation, shortages and, with it, a rise in civil disturbances. By maintaining a high degree of fiscal uncertainty, we can assure that the powerhouse American economy cannot recover.

“None of this happened overnight, of course. Many brave comrades have worked diligently for many years to break down our network of primary and secondary education as to destroy the people’s ability to engage in critical inquiry. As such, we’ve been able to accomplish much under cover of darkness. My own popularity is still relatively high, even as our systems and institutions are grinding to a halt one by one.

“It must be kept in mind that our efforts are targeted primarily at the West. The East should remain largely unaffected for now. It will be up to my successors to more or less finish the job. In any case, Brazil – and South America in general – should remain relatively unaffected by the change.

“For now, in order to keep up appearances, we have set aside considerable sums for you to develop your oil industry – just to maintain the impression that we are still dealing with the fear Americans have of running out of gas(oline).

D – “I can see some pitfalls in your plan, especially as it pertains to us. Many here see it as yet another attempt by your arrogant nation to reduce us to just another of your Middle Eastern gas stations. It’s a perception of distrust that has built up over many years."

O – “Never mind. Accept the money and do with it what you want. As I said, it’s mainly just to give the impression that we are doing something about energy – to placate the masses, so to speak – while we are turning off the spigots one by one.

“BTW, put in a good word to Hugo, Fidel and the others for me. Do let them know that we’re all on the same page.”

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Dilma's Dilemma

Another teachable moment. Another glimpse into the mind of our president, Barack Hussein Obama. How he is handling Libya could have been foreseen long ago. Other commanders-in-chief have done as much at the mere drop of a hat. It’s not what happens there that should be of concern to us. Of far greater concern should be what we ourselves have become.

We have become a nation of lawless and corrupt governance. Our Constitution specifies that Congress must be consulted, and be made to approve any deployment of American troops overseas. Barack Hussein Obama is the first president to bypass this convention. Instead, he claims to derive his power from what he refers to as the ‘international community’ (UN). As such, he has further shredded the Constitution of the United States. At the same time, he is continuing to marginalize the role of Congress. So much for representative governance.

Again, all this could have been foreseen. Months back, I wrote that the deliberate chaos in the 111th Congress would serve to discredit the institution irreparably. Here we have it in black and white. What does this say about the sanctity of our vote? In a short two years we have devolved from a constitutional republic to a tyranny.

Our media does not appear to grasp the enormity of what has happened to us. Small wonder. The success or failure of any quasi-democratic setup depends on an educated public. Our schools have become mere cookie cutters. The level of understanding among recent graduates is astoundingly below par. It cuts across the board from math through English. “When NEWSWEEK recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.”

I understand that polls are often skewed to elicit certain answers; to show specific results, most likely ones that grab headlines and spur magazine sales; and, don’t forget, of course, to promote the urgency for more money for favored institutions (such as teachers unions) and in NEWSWEEK’s case, Democrats. In this particular survey, published this week, I suspect, the numbers are probably even worse. The teaching of civics and history has perhaps suffered most in recent years. It’s natural that these would be edged out by an ever greater emphasis on ideologically based solutions. Let’s face it, Marxism is now in vogue.

As our president travels splendidly throughout Brazil, burnishing his Marxist credentials, his unconstitutional behavior with regard to Libya goes almost unnoticed. Obviously, most Brazilians have not yet gotten the message that he is one of them as evidenced by the feisty street demonstrations against him. But Dilma knows why he’s come. She’ll let him grovel and beg for her validation. Still, she must weigh her ultimate approach to him against her own need for a demon. The U.S. has always served admirably in this regard.

Even if the new Brazilian president should withhold her favors, the trip should still be regarded as a success. When things go wrong in Libya, Obama can always say, “It wasn’t me. It’s all Hillary’s fault. I wasn’t even there.”

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Kaddafi Blames bin Laden

Three days ago, JANA (Libya’s official news agency), blamed Israel for the unrest. It didn’t convince anyone (or at least not enough) to unite the country. Now, the blame shifts to bin Laden, self-declared - raised to the status of mythical arch - enemy of the West. Kaddafi is grasping at straws. In some part of what's left of his mind he remembers how the West is in the process of destroying itself with the notion that ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’.

Not everything Kaddafi says is mad. In fact, when viewed objectively, he makes several good points - and all, seemingly without the help of a teleprompter. No one can doubt that at least some of what he says about AQ is true. No one can doubt that, to some extent, children have been deliberately wrested from their parents’ beliefs and control. Hell, it’s happening in our own country; schools teaching kids a lot of BS that their parents would never openly approve of! Parents, in both subtle and overt ways, are routinely accused by their kids of committing crimes against the planet; against humanity. It’s well documented that parents often find themselves on the defensive. As such, many have taken a back seat in hopes of avoiding arguments with their eco-fascistic offspring whom they are condemned to love.

With Kaddafi it’s not so complicated. I don’t know to what extent bin Laden is involved in the Libyan turmoil (if at all). He mentions bin Laden merely for the effect it might have in the West. Will the West mobilize to save him under the notion that ‘the enemy of my enemy…”? Probably not. Still, it was worth a try; and it does prove that he’s still out there punching, and not folding like a cheap camera - like Mubarak did.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Governor Scott Walker: Not Intimidated

Wisconsin is the clearest indication yet of a game that has been unfolding for some time. The object of the game is to win. Thank God, in Scott Walker we have a governor who is intent on winning this battle! He seems not to be about kicking the can down the road; he is not easily intimidated; and he appears to remain focused on the job at hand despite threats and ungainly public displays (by vocal minorities).

This drama is bound to repeat itself in other state capitols as well. It’s good that this happened first in Wisconsin where, I predict, Walker will win in the end.

The game pits public service unions against taxpayers. Any reasonable observer must know that, in our system, the taxpayer cannot simply be shunted aside. States, unlike the federal government, cannot print money to gloss over fiscal carelessness. The good health of the private sector taxpayer remains essential to the good fiscal health of the state. Inequities must be addressed.

Democrats, their union supporters and welfare clients, continue to be ill informed about basic economic principles. They seem equally ill informed about the job they were hired to do. Teachers, for instance, are supposed to teach our children. I suspect that most are trying to make an honest go of it, but are constantly undermined by a bureaucracy whose only aim in life is to fleece the public, protect its turf, and promote agendas. In essence, you have the tail wagging the dog. Despite all the money spent, Wisconsin’s record of achievement in public education remains far from exemplary.

Democrats, too, seem uninformed about the basics of the democratic process. As such, elections mean nothing to them. They are quite willing to block any legitimate legislative process by outlandish tricks. We’ve seen the same on the federal level.

It struck me today that I’m not in the habit of counting my change before sticking it in my pocket. I realized that’s because it never made much difference to me. Now I wonder how many times I’ve been cheated; how much money I might have thrown away in this fashion over the course of a lifetime? Had I ever had to budget carefully (as most do), I might not have been so flippant.

Our governments have been doing the same. They’ve played fast and loose with our money for years. Now, suddenly, the wolf is at the door. A million here, a million there - it all adds up when you no longer have a million.

Wisconsin represents an important milestone in the fight to return to some semblance of fiscal sanity. There’s a minority among us who do not agree that this has now become important. They may be ignorant; or, they might well believe themselves to be operating under a system that has not yet been adequately explained. A third possibility is that they are deliberately trying to collapse our existing system and create chaos.

No matter who ultimately wins in Wisconsin, at least one thing will be clear: the players on both sides have had to show their faces. POTUS has demonstrated a definite preference. Might this not also explain our current approach to foreign policy?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

There Is No Middle Ground

‘Common ground’, ‘working together for the good of the American people’, ‘getting the job done’ - all wonderful sentiments, designed to say nothing and, at the same time, placate the masses.

There remain huge differences in the underlying understanding of just what ‘the job’ actually entails. Oh, we can talk about getting unemployment down to 8%, especially if it involves fudging the numbers. We can cut the federal budget the same way. We can improve our education results by giving every graduate a test showing three objects and asking which two are alike. We can offer the people healthcare, houses, and rice (cakes on the fourth of July). We can even fly the flag at sporting events and ‘cut and paste’ the words of the National Anthem onto a teleprompter. We can open our borders and invite everybody who wants to come in. We can export our industries, our secrets and our livelihoods to the hungry abroad. We can take a hands-off approach to brutality and genocide. We can do all these things, but there is one thing we can never do: regain trust in our government.

The way things are today, you’re either for something or against it. It all depends on what you ultimately wish to accomplish. It’s like we’re surrounded by trees in the forest and we can’t find our way out. Each tree demands our undivided attention - each one, a life and death decision - sapping our strength and resolve. Every step involves us in banal argument. What we lack is the long view.

The long view is out there. It’s being consummated right now as we speak - while we argue about this and that.

Egypt is a perfect example. Listening to today’s developments, you’d get the idea that it’s complete and utter chaos over there and that our government doesn’t have the slightest clue about what to make of it. I don’t happen to buy that. I think they know exactly what they’re doing and that it’s playing out exactly the way it was envisioned. No surprises there.

I had to laugh when I heard that Mubarak wants to go to Germany after he steps down. He was our dictator, after all! You mean to say we don’t have a place for him right here in the good ol’ USA? Or maybe, he doesn’t really want to come here, knowing what we did to him.

I still remember how we kept saying that Bush single-handedly made us into the most hated nation on earth. From what I can see, this hasn’t much changed under Obama. In fact, we’ve managed to lose quite a few friends along the way. We certainly haven’t made any new ones. We’re about to lose Israel, and the Suez Canal to boot. What’s that supposed to get us? In case nobody has noticed, the Latin American dominos are falling one by one. What does anyone want to bet we won’t have a communist government on our border with Mexico after their next election?

John Batchelor cites ratings, civility and a depth of understanding the issues; when he should be shouting from the rooftops. Ditto, John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Kevin McCarthy. Either you want to kick over the sand castle or you don’t. There is no middle ground.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

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?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

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.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Reply to Corlyss: 'Democracy'

You don’t have to travel anywhere to get what people feel about “democracy” - or “socialism”, for that matter. Pick random people on the streets of New York and ask them what they think and they will tell you the most curious things.

There’s still some brand equity in the word “democracy”. Most people on our side of the pond will say they support it - as they might support a new movie theater, a mosque or Walmart opening up around the corner. Ask them what they think of “socialism” and they’ll tell you that’s just fine as well. A recent high school graduate defined ’socialism’ as ‘being sociable’; people ‘connecting with each other as on Facebook‘.

The confusion about basic terms abounds here and everywhere. The schools just don’t teach anything anymore. In New York State 32 billion is spent annually on primary school education (this does not include property taxes paid), yet two-thirds of students are judged ‘not ready’ for college or careers at graduation. In the cities (like Rochester, Elmira, and Syracuse), it can be as high as 95%.

This, in essence, produces a population that can be made to believe anything you want to tell them - and even impose brutal dictatorships under guise of nice-sounding terms and definitions. It’s called ‘hijacking a popular movement’ and it’s the latest rage to sweep the world, including our country. “One man, one vote” sounds great to most people. It’s what comes next, that’s the kicker: “one time”.

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.
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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/

Too Civilized

It seems we have become too ‘civilized’ to fight wars with guns. In fact, guns are now classified as being pretty much in the same category as Chinese toxic toys. So, what do we do now? How do we fight?

We now use food, currencies, unemployment, propaganda and promises as weapons. And even so, there must be blood. We haven’t yet given up entirely on the puritanical idea of requiring the blood of a sacrificial lamb - a price paid - to give substance to any effort. Israel.

America is losing. America will survive, but in greatly diminished state. Our anachronistic weapons will no longer save us. Our money is worthless. We are dispirited. We are forever reacting. We have no plan. Go with the flow; jump aboard. Better late than never. The flow is toward chaos. Hang on! We are going down.

It is now our official policy, to draw back; to hide in the reeds, watching as our house of cards collapses. We have no strategy, no will - only ideology; ideology which says that whatever anybody else does is good. We have been wrong all along. Bush. The terrorists are right. They, at least, are fighting for a cause. We have no cause. We have no religion. The almighty dollar crashes and burns like the twin towers in Lower Manhattan.

We hate ourselves. We promote the chief haters to important positions. We teach our kids to hate themselves - their country, their parents, their heritage.

Change. It’s coming. It’s been coming for a long time. We hope for the best: collective salvation; deus ex machina in the form of Islam, perhaps?

It no longer matters how we got here. The dominos are falling. I’m currently reading a delightful book, a novel by R. K. Narayan, “A Tiger for Malgudi”. The headmaster of the school is hiding in the rafters, watching the the sage lead the beast to safety. The town’s folk, skeptical at first, marvel at the ease with which their humble ‘savior’ handles the animal which turns out to be smarter than all the bureaucratic heads, paralyzed by fear, put together.

So we fight; for fight we must. To get what we want; or to keep what we believe to be ours. We use all our modern tools to our best advantage, even while we now openly question which side our general is on.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Inappropriate

I, for one, am getting pretty sick of this story. We just keep going round and round like perpetual motion machines. The Left thinks it has something here when it doesn’t. It keeps trying to punch the square peg into the round hole. It’s really quite pathetic to watch.

What strikes me about Jared’s video is how nice the campus looks. It must have cost taxpayers quite a bundle to build. A virtual palace of learning.

Reminds of American colleges and universities building campuses in India for whatever reason - exporting liberalism, I suppose.

Reminds also of India’s project to re-build Nalanda University, a Buddhist center of learning from 427 to 1197 CE and one of the first great universities in recorded history. Nalanda was sacked by Turkic Muslims invaders in 1193, a milestone in the decline of Buddhism in India. The great library of Nalanda was so vast, it is reported to have burned three months after the Moguls set fire to it. The restoration of Nalanda was approved by the Indian government in 2010. It was meant to be a project in which all Asia was to participate. China balked at the proposed involvement of the Dalai Lama in the planning. Singapore supported China’s stance. India capitulated and thus another noble experiment in education fell victim to politics and was thereby diminished.

It’s not difficult to imagine what was being taught at his community college. It’s the same liberal claptrap that’s being taught throughout America. Witness the raucous - and some say, ‘inappropriate’ - reaction to Obama’s ’memorial’ appearance at the McKale Memorial Center on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Swishing Swords

We don’t have a political problem. Politicians are what they are and will do what they must. What we do have is a problem with is political oversight. The press in particular has become so utterly corrupt, it’s literally mind-blowing. It all starts in the journalism schools of course - and in schools in general. It is there that the national narrative is being forged.

Islam has its madrassas in which they teach that Islam must rule the world. They prepare the young to be martyrs and practice jihad. We are on the receiving end.

So what do we do? Instead of confronting them, we counter with a parallel approach. We too, inexplicably, want to bring down our system. We recruit science. We recruit culture. We recruit (what’s left of our) religion. We recruit the impressionable; those who represent the least among us, the most vulnerable, the young, the afflicted, the perverted, the sick to join the cause. We change the language to make it seem that we have no enemies. We disarm unilaterally. We destroy our currency, our influence. We blur the line between good and evil. We ignore our own self-interest. We allow the clock to run down and, at the same time, fail to prepare for when it does.

We give comfort to our enemies. We abandon our friends. What other result can we possibly expect from such utter neglect other than to hear our enemies laughing as they draw their swords?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Who's the Drone?

The little grocery around the corner in Chennai where we shop is a busy place. Often there’s not even enough room to enter. You have to make known what you want with hand signals above the heads of other customers like they do on the floor of the NYSE.

We generally get deliveries once a month. At that time we give the boy a list of the provisions we will need for the following month. In between we go there to pick up various sundry or forgotten items.

Chandamama handles thousands of items from eggs to fountain pens. They do not have a cash register and nothing is computerized. The man behind the counter knows where everything is. His partner makes his calculations in pencil amidst plenty of interruptions. At the end of the month, the boy brings over a hand-written bill. We check the arithmetic. It is always correct. Naturally, we think the two Tamil brothers at the grocery are very smart.

Me thinks that the robots are made to accommodate a workforce that is no longer educated to think. Picking up items that may have fallen off the shelf is not thinking. The thinking part is confined to the building, programming and maintenance of the bots. And who knows where on earth all this is done.

Your clip indicates that workers no longer have to remember where things are; neither do they have to go and get them. They simply reach and pack. Who exactly in this scheme of things is the drone?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

A Sputnik Moment

I understand that the title ("George W. Obama") of JB’s post above is meant as a dig at Democrats. It is they who shrink from any comparison with Bush like Dracula shrinks from daylight. There’s no way that Obama and Bush can in any way be seen as the same. Though both are despised equally, it must be noted who is doing the despising, calling to mind the adage, "You can always judge a man by the quality of his enemies." (Wilde)

In this morning’s WSJ, there is an opinion piece by Chester E. Finn, Jr. entitled, “A Sputnik Moment for U.S. Education”. The pull quote reads, “China delivers another wake-up call to those who think American schools are globally competitive.” Mr. Finn is referring to the results of the 2009 PISA test in math, reading and science which shows Shanghai’s 15-year-olds topped every other jurisdiction in which the test was given. Hong Kong was also in the top five, while the U.S. was somewhere in the middle of the pack of sixty-five. The article closes with the question, “Will (this news) get us beyond the excuse-making, bickering over who should do what, and prioritizing adults over children?”

It remains unclear what the former assistant secretary at the DOE wants us to do. Finn points out that Beijing has made education a high priority, especially in key cities like Shanghai (population, 20 million); that this success will likely be duplicated in 10 cities by 2019 and 50 by 2029; or even faster. I know, for example, that qualified, native English teachers willing to work in China can command considerable perks. At the same time, they are exporting teachers to teach Mandarin all over the world.

It would be interesting to know just how much the PLA is paying (per student) to be able to exhibit such success. I expect it’s much less than we pay to keep the doors of our own failing schools open. For too long now we’ve been under the impression that money can buy anything - literacy, peace, love, respect, politicians, immortality, solvency and the like - without the effort and discipline involved in actually maintaining such things hands-on. With the dollar buying ever less these days, we’ve run out of money. Scraping the bottom of the barrel for the dregs, we’ve managed to choke off opportunity for generations to come.

Time to reassess the root of what defines 'value'. IOU’s just don’t cut it anymore.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Reply to Corlyss D

Not quite (insane). It’s always been there. In fact it’s hard-wired into the human condition. I’m talking about religion. Progressivism is a religion. High priests comprise the State. It comes complete with sins (littering), sacraments (abortion), rituals (protest marches), denominations (splinter groups), proselytizing (propaganda), ash cloth and salvation. God, of course, is Gaia, the Earth Mother. Today, it is as virulent as Islam.

Before it came ‘the divine right of kings’ and feudalism. Democracy is its exact opposite. Democracy confers rights to the individual. Power extends from the grass roots. It was a rare but bold experiment. And it led to unparalleled success for the people who dared to take this leap of faith. It required an educated public and a free press. It is no accident that exactly these fundamental prerequisites have been precisely targeted all along.

Democracy, if you wish, is also a religion. It requires a personal faith in the goodness of one’s neighbor. It requires a belief in the soundness of ones own judgment. It requires daring and self-reliance; and an understanding that all people possess such qualities individually.

As I said, the experiment yielded great success. We became the shining city on the hill and nothing we could envision was impossible.

Lucifer couldn’t stand it. He planned and plotted ways to tear our city down brick by brick. He used our own success against us. He imbued us with guilt, doubt and self-loathing. …and then he took power.

The only one totally in the clear in this sordid drama is the agnostic. He couldn't care less either way.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The Meaning of 'Destroy'

This backyard exercise by the president reminds me of French film, “Joyeux Noël” (‘05) about the WWI Christmas truce of December 1914, depicted through the eyes of French, Scottish and German soldiers. One minute the adversaries are cowering in trenches, shelling the b’Jesus out of each other; the next, they are singing Christmas songs, drinking and eating together; and, later, burying their dead. It was based on a true story and had a tear-jerker of a plot, showing the futility of war. Naturally, liberals liked it and wondered why the whole world could not be (re)painted in sad and pretty colors.

POTUS is waging a PR blitz throughout the country. People say they like him personally; they just don’t like his policies. This is a cop-out and a win for a president who wants to destroy our nation. It will gain him more time to do it.

Let me just take a moment to define the word ’destroy’. ’Destroy’ in war means killing and breaking things; in politics it means rendering the opposition impotent. It does not mean change, improve, or compromise. It does not mean win-win. It does not mean working together as a unit to make things better for all.

To destroy means tearing down a house for the purpose of building a mosque in its place. Destroyers have no regard for the destroyed. If the destroyed happen to still be alive, their utility is exploited; they are enslaved. My grandfather was a medical doctor in his time. When the Russians killed all others, they spared his life only because they needed his services. He became a slave. Not only black people have had the singular experience of having been slaves.

I have seen enough to know that Obama does not like any part of this country that elected him to the highest office in the land. Perhaps the ultimate fault for this situation - and it is a situation - lies with the people who could not think far enough out of the box to anticipate 9/11. And with those who elected him as a remedy for some unspecified ailment; and he turned out to be poison. We’re like babes in the woods. We haven’t learned yet which mushrooms to pick and which berries; and which ones to leave be. Someone along the way should have taught us what to look out for.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Midterms: Pyrrhic Victory For Republicans

All this about the "Impossible Kick" by Brazilian Roberto Carlos in a 1997 match of Brazil vs France applies if you have two teams out on the field. In America you have only one team playing. Whatever split can be discerned is only between good players and bad players. There is no goalie guarding the opposition’s net. Even the bad players can make a goal (if the others will let them).

We still pretend we have a two-party system with checks and balances. We pretend we have something akin to a democracy - much as the Left pretends there is still ‘global warming’. The Left’s pretense succeeds precisely because there is no credible opposition.

Republicans winning overwhelmingly in the November congressional elections will not change this one-sided game. The Left will continue to win where it counts. Obama is the Left. He has already succeeded in reducing the legislative branches to ashes. Nothing either one can propose that differs from the official line can amount to more than spit in the wind.

These past two years, congress has broken all the rules of acceptable behavior. It is no longer viable as an institution. Obama has succeeded in essentially carving the guts out of it.

This leaves only Obama and the courts. Therein lies the last remaining friction. But even there Obama is rapidly gaining the edge. Must I remind that the Justice Department also is no longer independent? They don’t even try to hide it anymore.

The media, education, science - they’ve all aligned themselves with the hard Left. The Left is the only team playing. All the rest is BS.

Yesterday evening on returning from dinner in central Chennai, we passed a street along which every single shop sold furniture. Each one was brightly lit. The stop-and-go traffic gave me time to peer inside. The proprietors and their clerks seemed bored and were glued to the windows, idly staring at the steady stream of mechanized humanity streaming past their premises. From what I could see all of them were Muslim.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Peter Koelliker replied to comment from Kenneth Stevens

Kenneth - Grammatical point well taken. In fact, it proves my point. The Indians I know are highly educated in the sciences, mathematics, finance, medicine, and the arts. It literally makes my head spin. I’ll give them a pass, for the moment, on politics. But even there, they’re making progress. Our own current crop of graduates can’t hold a candle to them. True, there’s Apu and the 7/11 pump jockeys. But even they flaunt a work ethic that’s hard to beat.

Hispanics most closely support your argument. They also are hard-working to be sure. But they work with their hands. This is the work that Americans could do but no longer want to. There is a difference between immigrant groups. There is a difference between immigrant groups and us. I continue to maintain that immigration is not our most pressing problem. Our problem is having turned the issue into a political football at the very time when we seem to be breaking apart in so many ways. It provides our political leadership with a scapegoat; an excuse to point fingers elsewhere.

You cannot deny that our educational system is broken. When we continually question tests instead of the tested, we have turned things seriously upside down. As such, our children do not learn. The latest pc racial bias can be made to explain everything. How dare we expect a kid to answer 4 when asked, “What does two to plus two equal?”! We rather view it as innovative, original. It can be argued that in some numerical systems 2 + 2 could indeed equal 5 (or any number). Little Johnny is a genius after all. We are indeed blessed!

While in India last, I happened to pick up a paper and noted the headline, “Crisis In Public Education”. I began to read, expecting to see the same template as ours. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The author made the point that schools were too strict. It was right after year-end examinations. There had been several suicides.