Less Time To Flatten

Emotion – not reason - drives policy. Reason only serves in support. If we are to understand policy, we must first understand emotion. We use a variety of terms to describe emotion. Often such terms are misapplied. It happens quite innocently in the course of common occurrences: The wife asks, “Do you want okra or green beans for dinner?” I say, “Green beans.” She responds by saying, “I know, you hate okra.”“So why did you ask?” I say, and we’re off to the races.

In truth, I’m indifferent to both. Just because I have voiced a preference does not mean I have strong feelings either way. Yet, the word “hate” has been introduced into the conversation.

It’s no secret that Obama does not have a firm grip on the details that define the Middle East. He sees all Muslims as Muslims and all infidels as infidels - black and white. Simple. It is the same view “The Nation of Islam” here in the U.S. holds. Given such scant knowledge would be enough for any average American president to conduct foreign affairs. Unfortunately, Obama is on the wrong side.

Hatred is often mislabeled as ‘fear’. Islamists in the ME fear the West. They see their culture in danger of being diluted by western ways. That’s why they fight. Islam in the West hates the West as an expression of its own self-loathing. There is a difference.

Islam takes fear and envy and wraps them all in the same cloth and sets it on fire. For simplicity’s sake we call it ‘hatred’. They constantly misrepresent the enemy; to make him out worse than he appears. It is for this reason that Islamic nations do not welcome guests – and if they do, these are treated separately – all to maintain the ridiculous notion that all guests are pollutants.

Israel is seen as a pollutant on what Islam perceives as its land. They do not fear Israel (as Israel poses no existential threat); they fear the influence of a modern, successful, western nation in their midst. They fear not being able to maintain close theocratic control over their own, whom they view as chattel – easily distracted from the straight and narrow and apt to chase anything that glitters. They feel their hold slipping. As such, they will go to increasing lengths to see to it that their sheep, goats, camels and women stay in line.

The frustration that mounts within their populations is building to explode. Even that - by careful, systematic manipulation - can be directed to serve the theocratic regime. All the rage is channeled against Israel and the West (for protecting Israel). In this way the Islamic theocracy shields itself from having to answer for its own failures.

On Aaron Klein’s radio show today, not much was made of NABKA Day. It’s a day like any other for a nation under constant siege. What was interesting, however, was Aaron’s exchange in his last segment with Hussein. Hussein finds it inconceivable that anyone would question Obama’s legitimacy. He asks, how it could be possible for every one of America’s official high legal authorities (plus the media) to give Obama a pass without an adequate background check and takes umbrage at Aaron’s suggestions? He went on to accuse Aaron of fueling hate for hate’s sake.

We have seen other hoaxes before. Some have exploded (‘global warming’), some have not and are ongoing. Maybe freedom and liberty; rule of law; capitalism; a nod to representative governance all are hoaxes. But these are our hoaxes - hoaxes that Americans have chosen to live by. Obama’s hoaxes are entirely different. These are unwelcome. These were introduced into the body politic by stealth. They seek to tear down and destroy everything we’ve ever held dear. All we have to do is just look around: economy is in tatters, foreign policy in tatters; education in tatters; Constitution in tatters; government in tatters; etc.

The long knives are out for talk radio as well. Avlon’s article is one of these. Smerconish’s show is another. Both seek to pour oil on troubled waters. Unfortunately, I have heard, there’s not enough oil. (Can’t you just picture us throwing windmills and batteries into the drink?)

Emotion drives policy. If you hate that sandcastle on the beach with the penis shaped towers, you go over and you level it. It’s that elementary (my dear Watson). Chances are that it will take you a lot less time to flatten it than it took to build.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Bad Liar Black Hats

Don’t expect Boehner and Republicans to turn things around. For one thing, they don’t have the power. All the power has been consolidated by the White House. For another, they may not be riding the white horses either. They may just be losers in a race consisting entirely of black horses.

I’m wondering how many of you feel that you’re just hanging by a thread; that you’re just one paycheck away from ruin - or one illness; one car accident; one death in the family; one natural disaster? The feeling has become palpable for more than a few people. You are not alone.

We are a proud people and not given to complain. We tend to believe that the neighbor across the street is doing alright. As we watch neighbors increasingly packing up and moving away, we realize that the hooded man with the scythe is on the loose. He just hasn’t gotten to our house yet.

Fear sells. You know that yourself. Don’t tell me you’ve never been tempted to buy gold (and not just because it’s pretty); store food and water in the basement; subscribe to Lifelock; First Alert; and to whatever the name of that company is that claims to save your files when your computer crashes.

Now there are those who will not readily submit to fear-mongering of any kind. Good for them. But even the most confident and self-reliant among us now know that something’s wrong. Look at Trump. I’m sure he’s taken care of for life. Yet, he too thinks that something should be done to hobble the political class (left and right) that’s running away with our country.

We now build government policy around fear. We allow ourselves to be in effect strip-searched at airports; now there’s talk about doing the same thing for people using trains. All the while, we know very well who bad apples are. (I’ve raised this point before, but still haven’t got an answer: Why are Muslim women exempt?) No, it is we, our wives and mothers, and our children who have to prove we are innocent at these unconstitutional checkpoints! What gives?! It doesn’t add up. The guy who tried to blow up Times Square was granted U.S. citizenship barely a year before, while my own wife is denied the same courtesy. People who cross our southern border illegally will now be granted blanket amnesty, while all those who submit to the ‘process’ are told to wait - seemingly forever.

They’ve got our own phones keeping track of us. They can listen in any time they want. They’ll be reading the odometers in our cars. They’ll tell us where we can build factories and where we can’t build our houses. They worship snail darters before letting us sow our seeds. They won’t let us drill holes in our own ground. It just goes on and on. We’re increasingly kept on a very short leash.

Let me suggest that those who denounce Barack Hussein Obama may very well be racist after all. He’s a black man, to be sure; but he isn’t all that different from previous presidents we’ve had; this new miracle Congress isn’t all that different from previous congresses; the candidates the Republican Party appears to be fielding for the 2012 election cycle aren’t that much different from Obama.

They’ll all do as Tim Geithner tells them: raise the debt ceiling (which, btw, has been raised over a hundred times before since its inception). So what’s the big deal this time around? Despite all the posturing, they’ll raise our taxes and find another name for it.

I now understand why the people were so desperate to get rid of Bush. They wanted someone different; someone who would change our direction; to make it better – not worse. What we got was worse - at a lightning speed, no less. Obama’s only crime is that he’s a bad liar. We can see right through his schemes. And it doesn’t end well.

How much are you personally prepared to give up when the hammer finally falls? What are you willing to do for that sandwich, that gallon of gas? Are you ready to sell out your neighbor to save your own skin? These are questions you must be prepared to answer when it becomes apparent that the white hats have been ambushed and delayed; or, when you realize that we’ve just plumb run out of white hat material.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Cowering In Egypt

Egypt is in the grip of a classic revolution. It begins with chaos and ends in tyranny. This is not to say that Mubarak represented anything other than tyranny. He knew that it was the only way he could keep his country together - that is, to keep it from descending into the even deeper hell of Tehran’s sadistic hordes. In his particular neighborhood, Mubarak knew, he was essentially spitting into the wind. Not much use in pretending that he would not eventually succumb either to death by natural causes or to go down swinging. He held up his end as long as he could.

When the Left decided to join up with the Muslim Brotherhood, he knew it was over. When the West - and, especially, the United States - turned its back on Israel, he knew it was twice finished. He sent his successor son and his family to safety. He himself would stay and fight and, if need be, go down with the ship.

Not much help from Obama who would pepper his stammering response to the chaos with “the people” to the point where it became embarrassing to listen.

In the past, the U.S. could always be counted on to intervene. It was Mubarak’s reward for making peace with Israel. With Obama’s rise to power, the contract became null and void. Mubarak would have to go it alone.

The plague haunting the world remains anti-Semitism. It’s what unites all the players in the Middle East. Once it became apparent that no one would be spared, the faint-hearted veered to the dark side. Israel was declared a pariah nation and even the West would follow suit.

Israel reminds of an Islamic woman who has sinned. Her fate is determined by shariah. They will want to dig a pit for her. And the bloodlust of their god will be satisfied (now that the secularists have also joined in the clamor).

Besides the Israelis, the secularists will also be losers. They confuse secularism with a total ban of religion. They think that this would help them escape the twin burdens of guilt and duty, not realizing that these, in the hands of men, would become even more oppressive and arbitrary. They further delude themselves in that their 'secular humanism' is much different from religion. It is as crude and intolerant as Islam itself. And its high priests are every bit as extreme as the most radical jihadist.

If you want true 'secular humanism', you need only look to India where it is not unusual for an extremely competent high-tech worker to stop at a temple on his way home to circumambulate the idol of his choosing (always keeping it to the right of him) three times before receiving the priest’s blessing and be sent on his way; or, a humble rickshaw driver inviting his priest to bless his brand new vehicle; or the bus driver stopping at a temple to have his upcoming journey blessed… Religion is woven into daily life. No one mocks it. No one feels slighted. No one is cursed, even if they choose to shun ritual.

The Muslim Brotherhood is not like that. They insist on shariah (for everyone). Atheists are not like that. They insist on religious ritual being hid under a bushel. Communists are not like that. They ban any religion, not understanding the concept of ‘giving unto Caesar…’

Islam is not celebrated for being enlightened or tolerant. It is fear that spreads it. It gives off the illusion of power. Who can resist cowering before madmen after the doors of the asylum are thrown wide open and it becomes no longer possible to avoid them?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Fear Is A Cage

Monday night, Labor Day, my brother went to get some Chinese take-out near where he lives not far from Princeton. He was brutally attacked by a group of (non-English speaking) under-age marauders. Fortunately, someone must have called the cops who arrived within minutes. Nevertheless, he suffered a black eye as well as a broken nose.

I am reminded of the beating death of the unsuspecting Dabbawalla dishwasher in Summit a couple of months back. And also of the numerous attacks on Hispanic men over in Staten Island (11 by last count) where the Mexican authorities have since become involved. And also the attack on the Indian professor (I forget where) in South Jersey. The MO is always the same: the victim’s head is targeted for punishment. Often one of the gang video tapes the assault.

My brother is the gentlest, most unassuming person you’d ever want to meet. He’s the last one to pick a fight in any situation. This was a random thrill attack if there ever was one. Our social fabric is tearing apart.

Why are these things this happening…? I ask myself. What is there to be gained? Plenty! Random attacks on citizens destabilize society. Random attacks give targeted attacks cover. Chaos is also something that is desired by some. The legal system is fully primed to lean over backwards to accommodate criminal activity. Our Justice Department has made it clear that certain minorities are exempt from prosecution for certain crimes. At the same time, our southern border remains wide open.

So, what would anyone expect? Islam and Black Liberation Theology are the religions of the poor. Therefore, whatever anyone does in their name is protected. The double standard has been duly noted and legitimized at the highest levels of our hierarchical social structure.

It is not against current law to burn a Koran or piss on a cross. It is still against our law, however, to assault or murder innocents. Fear is a cage. The law is a carefully braided rope. Why do we use it to hang ourselves, when we could be using it to set ourselves free.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Tanning Salons Be Damned

Logic tells us that Ahmadinejad has lots to fear. The same is true of Barack Hussein Obama. Obama is losing his base; alienating his opposition even further, and causing such a stir that has even the disinterested now scratching their heads. Will he moderate his stance; adjust course? No. He will press ahead with his agenda; he will double-down with the full force of his office in support. He will scatter the corrupt seed - his empty words - here and there, and those starving for truth and hope will momentarily be held off only to find that those seeds will not sprout. Yet, it will give him a precious moment to re-group in his stony desert garden, pass another (empty shell) bill with a promising name that his cabal of insurgents can define later and spin into a noose.

Is he frightened? Perhaps a little. But he is a man possessed. He sees himself as historic; a man with a mission. He would readily sacrifice himself, his family, his nation for the improbable vision he holds so dear. His fear is but a speed bump, a mere annoyance, a paper cut. There are enough urging him on; telling him he is right, that he must do more, faster.

Obama, like Ahmadinejad, represents just a sliver of the population that continues to assure him that their cause is just. As such, he lives in an impenetrable bubble of assent. All others - no matter how great their numbers - are infidels who must be brought to heel or be killed. Truth absent, there is no argument, no compromise. The time is at hand to act.

Remaking a nation is no small task. Obama cannot lose faith. The time may never come again for the possibility of a mosque at Ground Zero to even be worthy of contemplation. He is cutting against the grain. The pain he may feel, to him is ecstasy; it is the pain of birth. He is not immune to doubt or suffering. He views these as the price of justice. He cannot conceive of suffering in any other context than wrenching his own into the sun, even if by his own actions that self-same sun should turn blood red in defiance of folly. Tanning salons and democracy be damned.