In Every Room

When you say ‘we’, I think you mean the media (elites). Their next step in this chaos of information, disinformation, self-aggrandizement and outright lying is quite obvious. Equally obvious is that we’re not buying it – you’re not buying it, and there’s no good reason to believe that anyone of any significance is either.

The job of the MSM is to turn this Osama killing (if it really was that) into a ‘prodigal son’ moment for POTUS – to have us forget whatever else he’s done. They’ll manufacture polls that say it is so; that the American people now approve of how Obama is handling his job.

The same was true of the health care debacle. Our marches on Washington; our phone calls that paralyzed Washington phone banks; our e-mails; our town hall confrontations; our special and midterm election votes – all should have been huge stories. They were not. And the impression remains that we, the people, are now on board with this, America’s first black and historic president. We are not.

The narrative between what the press would have us believe and what we know to be true is several miles wide. In a fair election contest, this chasm would be exposed. This is why I believe the next election (2012) will not be fair (if even held). The degree of fraud will depend on internal polling as we get closer; or, on the Left’s ability to put a Republican Progressive in place as to essentially effect a Hobson’s choice.

I believe that POTUS and his handlers know that this latest OBL narrative is full of holes. On one hand they are happy that it’s sucking all the oxygen out of the room. (Legislatively, Washington is once again stalled.) On the other, they are now scrambling to patch it by wagging fingers at Pakistan. There will be accusations and threats of congressional inquiry. Aid to Pakistan may or may not be withheld. Pakistan will end up so utterly smeared and discredited that nothing they can possibly say or do can absolve them. Again, that is the plan, tailored to American audiences. The world will see it differently.

POTUS does not seem to be concerned. He has likely been hoodwinked as well. He may actually see himself as the ‘bigger than life’ hero the press is making him out to be. At this point, I actually believe that we, the people, know more about virtually everything than Obama does. Should something not add up in his own mind and he is moved to raise questions, he will likely be told to relax and go out and play (a round or two on the WH putting green) – that everything will be taken care of; that his next speech has already been queued in on the teleprompter. All he has to do is read it with his customary make-believe gravitas; and, BTW, that make-up has suggested he tape his ears back a bit to make him seem less like Dumbo, the flying elephant in every room.

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/

Sorry Larry... (Liberalism Is Not Dead)

There’s a reason they did health care. And they didn’t do it to have it repealed by the first no-name senator to come along in a now thoroughly disgraced Senate. Yes, all that Barrasso says about it is true on one level. But there are other levels behind it that support Obamacare and all else that Obama has done in his brief two years in office. My clue was the word “replace” (as in ‘repeal and…’). Possession is nine-tenths of the law. The libs control the narrative and will continue to do so. We, as the saying goes, have become chopped liver.

There are 11 years’ difference between my brother and I. So, when it came time for him to drive, it fell to me to teach him. I backed out of the driveway and gave him the wheel. So far so good. We went down Springfield and made a right turn onto Oakley. At the Beekman, I told him to turn left. That’s where the trouble started. He didn’t turn the wheel hard enough and we ended up on somebody’s front lawn. I asked him to back up and try again. He did, and smashed into a telephone pole, leaving a permanent ‘V’ in my newly chromed rear bumper. I had sense enough to end the lesson right there and then and told him to get out of the car.

First, we poisoned world financial markets by ignoring the elementary rules of capitalism in an effort to satisfy some utopian fantasy in which everyone is entitled to own a home. Then we drove our own markets into an accelerating nose dive with health care legislation with similar implausible promises. Next, we continue to pump money into places like Pakistan and Gaza, knowing full well that we are hated even more, precisely for doing so. And finally, we continue to maintain ethanol subsidies which puts food and fuel into the sharp competition within the same basket, reducing the availability primarily of food (world-wide) and sending both food and fuel prices through the roof. In India, the issue of food prices is currently poised to topple the present government. (Each of these topics is discussed in detail under different headings in this weekend’s edition of the WSJ. The lead editorial refers to our ethanol policy as ‘immoral’ as it is already taking a toll on the poor all over the globe.)

Most of our efforts are centered on the reduction of fossil fuel emissions which are said to promote 'climate change’. Even in light of the University of East Anglia e-mail revelations that exposed the whole thing as a hoax, we push on with cap and trade, fuel standards, ever mounting regulations on domestic coal and oil production, mercury light bulbs and what not.

While most other countries struggle to throw off the choke collar of unbridled socialism, we continue to make it tighter. Sure, there’s been an outcry against present policies. But it goes unheard among Washington elites. Liberalism is not dead, as many pundits after the last election proclaimed. It is now busy pursuing a scorched-earth policy, marching on an on over the wreckage of our economy, our agriculture, foreign alliances, and anything else that may have helped us in the past to achieve world class status.

Today, I read about Obama’s plan to increase government spending even further. Haven’t we tried that already? I’m sorry Larry (Kudlow), I just don’t see the silver lining in this scenario. How many dents and scratches have we yet to suffer before we hit the bridge abutment head on?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Decoy

Obamacare, as it has come to be known, may be only the tip of the iceberg. It may simply serve as something of sufficient gravity to keep the opposition occupied and out of the way while a whole host of other unpleasantness quietly slips under the radar - FINREG, immigration, military budget cutting, START, Israel, Iran, China, Venezuela, terrorism, cap and trade, the dollar, net neutrality, just to name a few. Obamacare may have been envisioned simply as a decoy from the start.

I dare say, that if Obama had been right in his approach to all the other issues facing the nation, there would be little or no outcry over Obamacare now. The fact remains that everything, without notable exception, that the 111th Congress has passed in conjunction with this president has been wrong. Nearly everything he has said has revealed his own personal agenda which, in the final analysis, is not America’s agenda. Even the hope that this president would bring us together along racial lines has been dashed.

I personally cannot see how this president can recover. There is literally no way back for him. Any backtracking at this point (or at any point in the future) will at best be viewed with suspicion. For most Americans, Obama has already torn up his ‘parent card’.

Still, Obama seems confident going forward. Why? Could it be that he has even more in store for us than has already been revealed? I would be the last to ever count this president down and out. I believe that within the next two years the other shoe will yet drop. (It’s happened already once with the bogus financial crisis that anyone has yet to explain - the one that brought Obama to power. It happened even before that with the World Trade Center bombing that kept Bush in office a second term.)

In boxing you first ‘soften up’ your opponent, then you let him have it with the haymaker.

In other words, we haven’t seen nothing yet.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

First Things

Again, we are ignoring first things. When the Cheoan was attacked by North Korea, our response was to delay, allow enough time for the people to forget about it and then issue a statement to the effect that we’ll really get mad if it happens again. Nobody doubts that both Beijing and Tehran are wise to the game. Apparently, it is totally acceptable for any axis of evil nation to keep poking a stick in our eye. But it doesn’t stop there.

The saying goes, that shit rolls downhill. So let’s take a look at who lives down hill. It’s we and our allies. Don’t feel sorry for Obama. He is not one of us. He’s made that abundantly clear. It’s no skin off his nose when shit happens. Look at what’s happening with these pat downs. Some malcontent puts explosives in his pants and a year later 300 million Americans run the risk of being sexually manhandled by the State. “It’s for our safety,” we’re being told. The American people are no longer buying it. There’s a rumor going ‘round that the enhanced pat-down procedures are deliberately aggressive to get people to opt for massive doses of x-rays instead. Let somebody follow the money: Who has bought stock recently in the company that is producing these machines? There’s the added benefit, of course, to get the American public used to rolling over as our police state gains momentum. (Update: George Soros recently sold his shares in OSI-Systems, owner of Rapiscan. So, I guess, the scheme has gone about as far as it will go.) What everyone is ignoring here is that Janet Napolitano was unable to answer the question of whether Muslim women in burkas would be required to submit to the new procedures. First things.

Our president feels it is quite alright to bully Israel into indefensible positions, demanding all manner of concessions, while ignoring the fact that the Arab world will never recognize Israel’s right to exist as a state. When Obama speaks of a two-state solution, he speaks of a two Arab state solution. First things.

Our health care system is in disarray. Doctors are fleeing the profession. Premiums are becoming prohibitively expensive. Companies can no longer cope with employees’ health care insurance needs. Everything we were told about the bill was a lie (as anyone with even an ounce of sense could have figured out for themselves). So, why did it pass?

We’re never told first things.

Betting the Farm

I’ve been puzzling about something. President Obama is frequently branded a liar. Case and point: Obama and Democrats repeatedly claimed that passage of health care would not raise premiums. Yet, now we learn that people’s health insurance premiums are indeed rising dramatically. Companies have either had to increase deductibles or dig deeper into their bottom line. Was this not foreseen? Did the framers of this bill rely on faulty data? Or were their own calculations wrong? Any way you look at it, those who were in vocal support of this bill can be said to have lied now that the reality of the effects of Obamacare have come to light. I have never been one of those who believed that Obama is (or ever was) stupid. To accuse him of lying, however, seems to miss the mark as well.

Obama and Democrats may not have been lying at all when you consider whom they were talking to, and the overarching goal outlined by this administration early on: the redistribution of wealth.

A redistribution of wealth presupposes two factions: the rich and the poor. Rich and poor can be defined arbitrarily by drawing a line. The number most commonly heard is $250,000. Incomes above $250,000 a year is considered rich; below that number is considered poor. In truth, the number could be anything.

When Obama promised that premiums would not rise, he was not talking to the rich. He was talking to the poor. The poor don’t run companies; they do not hire people; they may never even have been insured. Thus they would remain unaffected. It’ the rich that were meant to feel the sting. This dovetails precisely with a program of wealth redistribution.

So, again, when Obama promised that premiums would not rise, he was not talking to the rich - though they thought he was. They conveniently ignored the rule that begins, “if it looks too good to be true…” Furthermore, they thought Obama was speaking to the country as a whole. Most presidents have taken pains to do so. Not Obama.

Now, a drive is underway to nationalize private retirement plans. Again, the pitch will be made that it’ll be the best thing to happen since sliced bread. Those apt to be taken in should remember what has already happened with health care reform. Additionally, before anyone rushes mindlessly out into the street with their slogans and pom-poms in support of Obama‘s policies, they should first determine whether or not they are in the group that will be said to benefit before betting the farm. For if they are not, they’ll be paying for it.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

SmackDown

No matter which side you take re Washington’s BP shakedown, there’s more than enough suspicion that the whole thing has been staged. Wrestling too was once a legitimate sport. It no longer is. This is not to say that WWE (formerly WWF) is not popular. It is.

Purists will point to modern high-profile wrestling as a sham. Those who patronize the sport agree that it’s 100% drama, theater and hype – but they are more than willing to suspend their disbelief for the duration of the show (as we all must when we go to the movies, watch television, read books, newspapers or just listen to friends either boast or complain). The slightly squeamish among us can take solace in knowing that the blood we see is fake – ketchup, which we all just adore.

Not so in the Gulf. The oil washing up on the coast is real. The birds and fish are actually dying. These are the actors who are facing a real existential threat. Suspended dividend payments to retired BP share holders who will now have to cut back on medicines and cold weather jaunts to tropical climes are real as well. They may yet be willing to forgo their loss and see it simply as the price of admission. As in professional wrestling, however, they will be asked to suspend their disbelief for the duration.

The news out of Washington does not get better. Last week we were told that, due to unforeseen circumstances, health care costs - far from declining - will actually increase; that, no, you will not be able to keep your insurance provider or doctor. What else haven’t we been told? Every week the estimated damage from the oil spill rises. Taxes rise; job creation continues to falter.

Yet, we are told, the green valley of plenty lies just ahead. Somewhere, over the hills, the drums of war are beating. Israel, Kyrgyzstan, the Koreas are on the brink. Fake blood? Fake oil? Lies? (Spoonfuls of sugar help the medicine go down.) …and, don’t forget, fake money to salve any wound that doesn’t kill outright.

Enjoy your SmackDown, America. You paid for it.

Driving the Point Home

Would it not be ironic (in a strictly literary sense) if the SEC were to lose its case against Goldman-Sachs? Its indictment of the financial giant helped to cement the government’s position that Wall Street is corrupt and in desperate need of draconian reform. When the president signs the new financial regulation act, the government will assume sweeping and open-ended powers over America’s financial industry.

This is as big a deal as health care reform was. But, unlike the health care bill, it did not arouse Tea Party ire except in a strictly peripheral sense. It fit neatly into the evil ‘fat cat’ narrative that is currently sweeping the country. The details of the SEC indictment fell well outside the understanding of most casual observers. Unlike universal health care that would affect every citizen on some level, Wall Street is still seen as being quite another planet where ‘obvious’ mischief is casually concocted. Only well-dressed Wall Street insiders ventured to express carefully worded reservations; along with Mayor Bloomberg, of course, who sees city coffers emptying by the hour.

If GS should be acquitted, the damage will already have been done: Our current incompetent and arguably corrupt Federal government will effectively control New York’s Wall Street top to bottom. … and chameleon Bloomberg will continue to wonder where the money went.

The saga of Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut brings us back down to earth. Overtly lying to constituents about one’s resume is disgraceful; getting caught at it is unpardonable. Whether these NYT revelations will hurt Blumenthal in November is still up for debate. My guess is yes (it will hurt). People are less likely to remember a health care grab or the torpedoing of Wall Street (both of which will have been seamlessly woven into the fabric of modern socialist America by then) than a Harvard swim team captain who wasn’t – especially if there is a privately propelled incentive (as there is certain to be) to drive the point home.

David Obey Retires

Conventional wisdom has it that David Obey ‘retired’ from politics because he feared being defeated in the next go-around by Republican Sean Duffy. The facts show otherwise. Though Duffy has been able to raise more money than any other challenger in 21 elections, Obey has remained the favorite to win in his heavily Democrat district.

Could it be that what sparked Obey’s sudden decision to retire was not the fear of losing, but the fear of winning? Obey gave all kinds of reasons for his decision not to seek reelection – none of which sounded very convincing. For one thing, he blamed the media which embarrassingly remains 110% in support of Democrats in general. He claimed that he had succeeded in helping to secure passage of health care legislation which had been his singular aim from the start. He said he was tired and had no immediate plans.

Besides being a liberal and a Democrat, David Obey was also a mechanic par excellence; a master in conducting a fair fight. He has much to be proud of. His position as chairman of the House Appropriations Committee made him a key player in Washington. One does not relinquish such power lightly.

I suspect that Obey, as so many other Democrats, has hung up his spurs because he has seen the structure of our entire political process disintegrating into chaos. He has likely noted that his unique specialized expertise would in the coming years cease to be relevant; that the old rules no longer apply; that, from now on, ideology would reign supreme, trumping both procedure and protocol.

Some years ago my father-in-law was killed in an auto accident. He died immediately and was said to have suffered no pain. At the time of his death he was in the best of health. Everyone says he was lucky.

We are watching the slow and painful death of our nation. It began to gather in significance when a majority of our citizens suddenly realized that the heart of it – the people – was slowly being cut out and shunted aside. It has been a slow and painful process to watch. No right-thinking Americans can take much comfort in saying that they have been a part of it.

Who's Embarrassed?

Who’s embarrassed? The Dems won. The press is ecstatic. The Republicans got a stick in the eye; their noses rubbed in the mud. Representative governance got a black eye. Our economy gets another nudge toward total collapse. Union’s got theirs. The American people got their asses handed to them - doesn’t look to me like there’s anything to be embarrassed about. Last I looked, Pelosi and allies were celebrating.

There were people celebrating after 9/11 as well. They weren’t embarrassed either. Nobody’s embarrassed after they’ve just scored a big win. Imagine the Yankees not celebrating after a World Series romp! It will never happen. Only Republicans, after winning, are constantly apologizing, appeasing, and reaching across the aisle, seeking the hand of the enemy. That, in a nutshell is our domestic political picture anyway.

Internationally, it’s just the opposite. We go to our enemies and apologize our heads off. Just to prove to them how profoundly sorry we are, we disparage our allies publicly before the world.

Celebration and regret: We’ve confused when and where celebration is appropriate. We also don’t know when to express regret. This is due to the loss of our sense of self. We no longer know who we are and what we want to be. We’ve become a cardboard cutout of what we once were - blown aimlessly about by the political winds; crawling in the gutter like the pages of yesterday’s news.

Limbaugh-Palin in '012

ABC News is reporting that the Dems have the votes to pass the health care bill later tonight. What I’m going to say next will likely be seen as controversial by some of you. I don’t care. I’m through ‘pussyfooting’ around. I think the reason we lost today is because we marched, because we jammed switchboards, because we wrote letters – in short, because we made our opposition known only by half measures. For the Left, what we have been (and are) engaged in is a war. For us it is just another in a long series of losing battles. We’re getting too used to losing. And with each loss, the Left grows stronger because we show our hand which continues to be wavering and weak.

The Left rejoices when it can showcase our weakness. For them, AQ and the Taliban deserve more respect than we do. How are we weak? Take our march on then Capitol yesterday. It never even made the news cycle. If mentioned at all, what was subsequently repeated (over and over again) was that some lawmaker had been spit on and another cursed out. Our ordinariness was pathetic; our helplessness, obvious; our demeanor sad-sack civil; impotent in the face of what they perceive to be their power: brand Obama at the helm.

We betray our weakness at every turn. We react. We don’t lead. At the same time we allow those who would lead us to be besmirched. We deny them. We belittle them. We compete amongst ourselves as to who can say the nastiest, most sarcastic things about them. This one’s just a talk show host; a burlesque queen. That one’s from Hicksville, somewhere up in hick Alaska. I never heard anyone on the left having a problem with Byrd, Franken, O’Donnell, Penn and the rest – or even with Obama himself who, truth be told, is just a two-bit, rabble-rousing hood out of Chicago. We never even got to see Obama’s papers because we were too busy digging through Sarah Palin’s underwear drawer.

I still hear quite frequently (from our side) Bush referred to as the worst there ever was – as if Obama is better. I hear from our side Palin labeled ‘stupid’ - as if Biden were a genius. We still deny that we listen to Rush, Beck, Savage, Levin, etc. when challenged. Though, honestly, has anything any one of these men ever said been untrue? You know yourselves that they’ve been right on target. Yet we constantly deny them and treat them as if they don’t really exist, other than in some attic crawl space in our uncommitted minds – like psycho’s mother. And the more we deny them, their views lose their impact. And all that’s left is a pitiful smattering of incoherent slogans on hand-painted signs on the National Mall.

We must come to realize that any leader who may be wanting to emerge to represent our side will become a target. We have shown time and time again that we will buckle and let them take him or her down. Hell, we’ll even assist! Numbers don’t help. We’ve got the numbers - and still we lose. Cull the herd. Get rid of the weak. Keep the strong. We’ve been killing off our strong. We cannot win without leaders. No army has ever won a war without a strong general. Limbaugh-Palin in 2012!

It Won't Work Here

No doubt, our health care system needs improvement. Health care in America is way too expensive. Over the years there have been many calls for reform. I too agree that reform is long overdue.

If I were to reform health care, I would talk with people in the industry. I would listen to their ideas. I would then ask them to put something together that makes sense. Some of it I already know first hand. I know that in India I can get first class medical care at one-tenth of what it would cost me here in America. I know that one reason for this is competition. If I think an Indian doctor is charging too much, I simply go to another. A second reason for the high cost of health care in America is the high premiums doctors (and medical staff in general) must pay for liability insurance. A fix in this part of the equation would involve the thorny issue of tort reform. I am convinced that this, coupled with some version of patient-controlled medical savings accounts, would solve the lion’s share of our medical insurance problems.

Karl Marx was once to have said, "First you socialize medicine and everything else follows like night follows day." Whether or not this quote is accurate, or even if it can be attributed to Marx is not the issue. Significant is that the quote exists and has likely found itself into various socialist catechisms. Additionally, it is also likely that Barack Hussein Obama (who has never been known to be a stickler for exactitude) is profoundly aware of it. At any rate, our star-crossed president is acting as if he believes it.

In a nutshell, I would suggest that health care can be fixed by taking the advice of professionals and proceeding reasonably and incrementally towards a solution. Obama, on the other hand is looking to ‘fix’ health care by taking an entirely ideological approach. As such, this would not necessarily require expertise. All he would need to do is to pass into law a loose framework that remains open to interpretation. It must be remembered that, in Obama’s mind, the goal is not to fix health care. The goal is control. The clue that this is indeed this administration’s plan is obvious by their relentless bashing of the industry and shunning its experts.

We have learned much about the Left in the past year. We have learned who they are and how they operate. The implementation of policy is a reasoned and linear process. It is like an equation whose variables cannot be assumed to be such intangibles as falsehoods and emotion. It may work in the Middle East where ignorance, cruelty and cult of personality still reign supreme; where self-destruction is part and parcel with articles of faith; where martyrdom, not progeny, is seen as the link to salvation.

But it won’t work here in these United States.

Obama Has Already Failed

There is no story here. The White Houses itself is in total sync – as is the opposition (the American people). Bottom line: Obama and his crew of clones have been unable to sell the agenda to the American public. They will continue to blame this one and that one – most notably anyone (excepting Obama) charged with getting the message out. They have yet to realize that the message itself is poison; that it’s not a matter of presentation or spin. It’s not even a matter of too little arm-twisting, knee-capping, pay-offs; insufficient bribes, hollow threats and the like. ‘Obama care’, along with a whole host of Obama proposals, is dead in the water because Americans simply do not want them. Period; end of story.

Americans have already decided they will only go so far. They will spend less and save more. They will buckle their seatbelts. They will demand that their children wear helmets when out riding bikes. They will try to stop smoking. They will make an effort to eat healthy. They will be less quick to judge others. They will clean up after their dogs. Etc. But they will not to consent to allow government – any government – to use them as patsies; to steal their freedoms, their inalienable rights, their liberties, their future – all, in the name of some hackneyed notion of ‘social justice’.

As far as the American people are concerned, Obama has already failed. They are resigned to wait this one out till the next act when they will make the make the change; without malice and in orderly fashion as set forth by Constitution. Until then, they will pay close attention to which of their representatives does what and how. They will know whom to vote for; who will represent their best interests. They will organize. And when the time comes they will choose decisively. They will never again fall for media hype; for good-looking, affirmative action types, for empty suits. This time they will look for such time-tested qualities as character, honesty and resume. Until then, they will sit on their hands and do what they can to bleed this administration of its ability to boast of accomplishment.

The underlying fear that Barack Hussein Obama’s vision for America engenders is that Americans will be subjected to a (albeit, benign) tyranny. They do not doubt that the tyranny that Obama’s clones envision is heartfelt; that their motive is the same as that of the Christian Crusaders (1200-1300 AD): to spread the saving grace of Christ throughout the heathen world. Obama and his minions too think that Communism will save America, the human race and ultimately the planet. They cannot understand why we would resist it.

We resist because it is un-American. And we are Americans, after all. We can think for ourselves. We know how to provide for our families. We can build and maintain a nation that towers head and shoulders above all others. We do not subscribe to a hell with only a single ring of ‘victims’. We do not need to be told how to spend every single moment of our lives. We do not need to be told what to think – even if it were someone’s notion of ‘our own good’.

A quote by C. S. Lewis comes to mind in this regard: "Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for own good… torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."

Flowers: Back Street Girl

Reflections on the Dalai Lama's visit to the White House (entering and leaving by the backdoor):

There are those who wonder whether or not there will be repercussions from this little courtesy call. China is losing face. China does not like losing face. In Asia, losing face is everything. China will retaliate.

It does not matter that the Dalai Lama was asked to enter and leave by the back door where the garbage is put out. China will retaliate. China can retaliate. With a mere whisper they can send our economy into a tailspin from which it can never recover.

That’s playing pretty fast and loose for this POTUS person; pretty bold move on his part. Why? We know, given his history and associations, that he cares nothing about ‘freedom of thought’ going anywhere. Just today it has become clear that Barack Hussein Obama does not give a tinker’s cuss about what Americans think. He plans on ramming his health care package down our throats anyway. We know that he never loses even a wink of sleep thinking about the long-suffering inmates of the gulag known as ‘Iran’. We can well imagine that one such as he cannot even find Tibet on a political map.

Why, then, this gesture, half-hearted as it is? Perhaps it is to provoke China into responding. Perhaps America’s economic collapse is his goal after all. Perhaps he envisions himself as the man who cleansed the world of its most despicable evil: the dollar, America’s single most powerful tool of oppression. Perhaps he wonders why it hasn’t happened already. God knows he’s tried harder than any man to send it over the edge. Maybe he thinks with a little spiritual help from the Dalai Lama he’ll be able to get it done.

It’s odd to think that the Dalai Lama is consenting to being used in this way; odd to think that he’s unaware of his potential role in a saga in which so many will be hurt.

While Washington Sleeps

You make it sound like a bad thing that Washington sleeps, when actually it's the best we can hope for under the circumstances. Had Washington been asleep this past year, our economy would be humming right now; our businesses booming; our people working. We all knew that countries would be scrambling to re-define their alliances once Obama came to power. Well, you’re beginning to see it happen. The unknown in all this is whether or not America will continue on its present trajectory after Obama is gone. The smart money says no.

People around the world find the Obama administration an aberration. They do not see Obama and the American people as a match. The extent to which Obama can do damage to the country while in office is as of yet equally unknown – especially overseas. We ourselves are still at odds in this regard. We applaud small victories - like the delay of health care reform legislation - while we all but ignore the lit fuse: the trillions already spent in the form of future obligation to various sundry entitlements. We ignore the fact that our economy is not producing enough (tax-paying) jobs. We ignore the warning signals from China which continues to be an integral part of the three-legged stool that sustains our fiscal illusion. It could all come crashing down in the blink of an eye. ...and it will.

If there is an 'after Obama' (and, in my book, that's still a big IF), you can expect things to return back to normal. The Russia-German alliance is purely one of convenience; it will never be stable. Neither will Putin’s strong-arming of Eastern European countries lead to anything productive or lasting.

If America can return from its dalliance with socialism, things can be expected to go back to how it was. My own suspicion is that our recovery is booby-trapped; that precisely that which we all wish for and expect once Obama is gone will detonate and take us irrevocably down for the count. It reminds me of what both sides did during the Kosovo Conflict and in other modern wars as well. They’d find the body of an enemy combatant and place a landmine underneath it. When the body is then found by his mates, their natural instinct is to retrieve it in order to give it a decent burial. When they do, the mine explodes and kills them all. (See “No Man’s Land” (’01); Foreign. Dir.: Danis Tanović.)

The Devil is in the Details

There are two glaring misfires in the clip above: First, the notion of the Obama administration needing a straw man to take to the woodshed and say what is what. This administration is the straw man and the lesson of Massachusetts that professional Democrats must take home is that voters have spoken and will continue to speak. “No confidence!” they shouted loud and clear, even from the most blue of blue bastions. The game plan can no longer be amended or tweaked. Even retreat is no longer an option. The troops have mutinied. There’s nothing left for the generals to do but resign in disgrace, for they no longer have an army.

The second is the notion that the banks are primarily at fault for what happened (and will continue to be at fault). Everybody knows by now that banking is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the country; that the banks essentially did what they were told by their government handlers (which was to by-pass normal banking procedures and give out loans to people who could not afford them; all, in the name of ‘social justice’). Banking is (as is every business in a free market) largely self-regulating; i.e. good business practices lead to just rewards, while bad business practices lead to failure. When an entity (such as the federal government or ACORN) steps in and subverts this organic process, the system fails. It then tries to compensate; but is hamstrung, unable to address the original problem - undue government intervention - and thereby sets itself up as the straw man for political party apologists (let’s face it, the entire ‘mortgage for free’ scheme was born and bred Democrat).

Stop any one on the street and ask them if they think there needs to be health care reform, they would tell you, ‘by all means’. Health care reform or no health care reform is not the issue. The devil is in the details. Do we use our mandate to do something about the too high cost of heath care to force a Marxist agenda, or do we just reform health care?

The same question could be asked with regard to banking. The people have spoken and they will continue to speak. They are saying that they would prefer this administration do nothing until adults can take over.

Health Care Albatross

A Brown win in Massachusetts on Tuesday would not stop Heath Care in and of itself. The Drudge headline this morning reads, "Dem Threat: Senate Can Pass Health Care with 51 Votes". I'm sure there are also other maneuvers they can use to get it done. Bottom line: There is nothing Republicans can do to derail the process. The only people who can derail it is Democrats themselves.

Now, it may well be that the Dems themselves are starting to feel a bit uneasy with the Health Care Albatross tied around their collective necks; that they're looking for an excuse to bail. I'm sure this is true for some if not most. But the vast majority of them are politburo lemmings. They'll do what the leadership tells them. And I don't see the leadership buckling. For them it's never been about health care. It's been about control and wealth re-distribution, revolution, revenge and punishment. It's a maniacal mindset that knows not compromise or compassion. It is determined to wreak havoc for havoc’s sake no matter who gets hurt.

I often hear what Democrats are doing described as 'suicidal'. - Exactly!

Things Turn Dicey

What was the money quote that seems to define this administration? - Something about never letting a crisis go to waste? Sounds like these guys are quite happy when things turn dicey. It gives the president another chance to get out there and blame Bush. Bush, after all, was the one who put the security apparatus that failed in place. Obama had nothing to do with it, it seems. This alone could easily give POTUS a month of talking points about 'hope and change' to distract from the poisoned pill health care bill (which will now sneak through under the radar). It will kill health care and the economy to boot, just as sure as the would-be bomber’s ex-Guantanamo denizen handlers fully expected to bring down that plane over Detroit. Only, the bomber was a kid with a serious attack of nerves. He probably peed in his pants which was likely the only thing that kept the explosives from going off.

Obama is no kid. He's not stupid. If he looks stupid to you, know that it's an act. Barack Hussein Obama is a committed ideologue. By now we should all know what his ideology is. He knows he must first break the back of this country in order to then build it up into what he has in mind. America is diminished, but survives yet. It survives despite the efforts of Obama and the Left. They can be expected to keep hammering away at it as long as they’re able: that Interpol thing, healthcare, cap and trade, immigration, spending, more spending - even the mishandling of the terrorist threat.

I attended a pre-New Year's Eve breakfast in my neighborhood yesterday. There were cucumber sandwiches, (German) Christmas Stollen, and English Breakfast Tea, quietly brewing in a pot wrapped in a cozy. I remember the liberal ladies asking me, "You don't mean Obama...?" eyes open wide, never finishing the question. It's too disturbing even to contemplate. I understood what was not being said, and did not object when they abruptly changed the subject.

Ignore Them

Unlike those who still cling to the slim-to-none hope that this so-called 'health care’ bill will yet be derailed, I do believe something approximating its nomenclature will reach the president's desk in due time. He will sign it, of course. It will represent, at the very least, the camel having gotten its considerable nose under the tent.

I also believe that this particular bill - along with everything else that is advanced by this administration – has been presented under false cover. In other words, 'health care’ is ultimately not about 'health' or 'care'. Instead, it is a cynical attempt by one political party to grow government and to secure for itself a permanent position of leadership within it. You might even say that such intent is laudable and can be expected from any political party worth its salt. The rub is when it's being done by misrepresentation, bribery, threat, and without the support of the voters the party is supposed to represent.

The '08 election has now turned into a coup. When the people called or sent letters to their elected representatives, they were ignored. When the people held 'tea parties' all around the country in hopes of catching Washington's attention, they were demeaned. When the people confronted their representatives at town hall events, they were shouted down. When people showed up in great numbers on the steps of the Capitol, they were turned back. Eventually, the people would get the message that they are no longer a part of the process.

The times for democracy in our country are dire indeed. But we are not helpless. We need not let our enemies paint us as victims with bull's eyes attached to our chests and backs. We can do to them exactly what they're doing to us: We can ignore them.

When the mailman brings us mountains of forms and paperwork (from the government) for us to fill out and send back, we can simply throw it in the trash - unopened; same thing applies any official government mailing bearing the words ‘important’ or 'open immediately' including letters from the IRS. Simply refuse to play; ignore them as they are ignoring us. It has to be done en mass though. If only some of us do it, they’ll pick us off one by one and no one will be any the wiser.

Then, after the weather turns nice again, put out the flag and set up a chair on the front lawn, on your stoop or your balcony. Go out there and sit with your dog (if you have one) and listen to the second hour of Rush on your portable radio. Don't create a disturbance; don't make a spectacle of yourself - just sit quietly on your front lawn in a simple, dignified act of defiance.

If enough people did that, day after day, along every street, in every town, it would scare the bjesus out of our blood-sucking bureaucrats and politicians. Each time they’d see or hear about one of us sitting quietly in front of our houses, it would prick their consciences. Eventually, it would invade their dreams. They need to be reminded every day of their betrayal; their breech of duty. They need to be shown up as rogue. They need to be aware that the possibility of criminal charges lurks just down the road.

The jails and ACORN armies they’re preparing to counter us will be no match for our silent public vigils; on our own properties (no less). No additional laws or infamous act - short of a Katyn-style massacre - would serve to silence our wordless protest - our bloodless resistence - IF we ever decided to stand together and take our country back.

The Prisons Stand Ready

This parliamentary maneuver by the Dems, if successful (and at this point it sure looks like it will be), will not only kill health care, but will bankrupt the country as well. Additionally, it spells the end of representative government and insures that Marxists (under guise of the banner of an ass) will be in charge of our impoverished landmass forever. No doubt, this has been a great victory for the Left

What the Dems are doing reminds me of any one of the latest Hollywood monster blockbusters in which bigger and bigger guns are brought out to kill the beast: stimulus; health care; cap and trade; immigration...

In this case, the beast is us; we, the American people. I'm not sure why the Left continues to be so unsure of itself. Wasn't the election of Obama enough to knock us out for the count? Apparently, they didn’t think so. We also needed stimulus and healthcare; suffocating taxes; dwindling services...

For some reason the town hall confrontations and the tea parties didn't spawn enough violence for an excuse to call out the troops and put the clamps on broadcasting. Has anybody ever wondered why we have empty prisons sitting out in the middle of nowhere? Is this possibly meant for people who might refuse to buy health insurance, pay their taxes, or send their kids to government schools?

The crackdown hasn't started yet. But when it does, it's good to know that the prisons stand ready. In the meantime, we can put the terrorist there until after their trials are over.