Kabuki Theater: The Birth Certificate

Peter Koelliker | April 27, 2011 11:23 AM | Reply
Judging from last night’s show, Larry Kudlow has finally jettisoned his phony optimism and declared Obama’s policies to be all wrong. He, like everybody else, is basing any residual optimism on the assumption that Obama will not be reelected in 2012. All the talking heads agree that this is now inevitable.

The picture that immediately comes to my mind is one of a thief having broken into the jewelry store and set off the alarm. He knows that the cops will arrive in just a matter of minutes and is desperately trying to grab all he can before he hears the sirens. Then he plans to make his escape out through the back door and jump into a waiting get-away car.

What if the cops never arrive? What if there has been some sort of diversion that sent the cops to some different place where they get all tied up? What if the thief has all the time in the world to clean out the place and saunter away? What if the thief gets away with all of it?

Obama does not act like he’s concerned about his reelection. What if he knows that something of such magnitude will happen that it would be impossible to hold elections? Or, what if he knows that the elections are rigged? Who is to question the result?

To say that Obama has been the most unorthodox commander-in-chief we’ve ever had would be an understatement. I’ve never fallen in with the crowd that says he’s stupid. If he’s not stupid, he is smart. Does anyone really think that he, as a smart man, hasn’t thought of everything?

Does anyone really think that what he’s done so far is due to stupidity? He has declared from the start that he means to transform America. We should by now know what he meant. He’s been entirely consistent. Every move he has made has had the effect of diminishing the power and influence of America and pushing her towards chaos. At the same time, he has increased his own standing (the opposition is hopelessly fractured).

I maintain that none of this is accident. We’re all sitting through the slow-moving initial part of a kabuki play, wishing desperately for it to be over. Then, just before the end – before the election – we are suddenly jolted awake. The music grows louder. Trap doors slam open and shut. Actors appear and disappear. How acrobatic and agile they all are! …and then it’s over. We see Obama taking a bow. Time to gather our coats and go home. But there’s no longer a home to go back to. Obama is still president.

Whom can we turn to? Dazed and confused, we walk the streets. All the signs have been changed. America is transformed.

All the while, we’ve watched as the fuses were being lit. Economic collapse. Fuel and food shortages. Civil unrest. War. All the while we’ve sloughed it off. All the while we thought it can’t happen here. All the while we’ve watched the right hand while ignoring what the left was doing.

Obama knows exactly what he’s doing. Unless it rains, his pyrotechnics will catch us off guard. It’s timed to happen before election night 2012. (2008 was just a dry run.) This promises to be the big deal.

I’m telling you, the man won’t just simply go away. He’s following the playbook to the letter. It’s the playbook of revolution. The rest of the world knows it. That’s why they’re all heading for the tall grass. Only we, dullards, sit here. Bored beyond endurance, we still hope to be entertained, even while the furniture is slowly being moved around to accommodate the fancies of our dear leader.
-------------------------------------
Today, Obama released his long-form birth certificate. He merely did something that he people have long been entitled to. Good for him. Fake or not, this should put the issue to rest. Still not resolved is just who exactly our president is. Given his track record, we cannot be sure. In his statement after releasing his birth certificate, the president couldn’t help but take a swipe at all those who raised the question. “Birther” is once again a dirty word, used to smear and discredit (Trump), when it is he (Obama) who instigated the whole controversy in the first place.

Of note perhaps is the timing. What else is happening today that the president does not necessarily want us to examine too closely? “Watch the flourishes of my right hand and miss what my left is doing.”

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

The House Always Wins

The fever of revolution is sweeping the world. Syria, UK, U.S. (tea parties), China – you name it. Nobody is immune. There’s a restlessness loose on the globe. It’s born out of a growing intransigence on all sides; a failure to cooperate. Walid Phares is right: Every uprising has its own stamp; its own individual character.

It might always have been so. It’s in embedded in our DNA: sons rebelling against fathers; fathers rebelling against the State. What is different now is that the chucks have been jettisoned – America has turned coat - and the festooned chariot, carrying the idol, is hurtling madly through the madas (streets around a Hindu temple), mowing down worshippers and rogue priests alike in its pitiless path. There’s no telling where it all ends.

With no chucks to stop it, the chariot will tip over or crash into a building, tallying more victims. The ghee and curd soaked idol will lie shattered in the dusty street for all to see. Like it or not, the chucks were important – as is the law and leadership. With the idol lying broken in the dirt, the time will have come to begin again - from scratch. It’s not that we’re not capable of it, but it’s a long hard road.

It’s foolish to say that leadership has always to be a certain way. Bush was wrong to insist on ‘democracy' everywhere. It works for Switzerland, but you can’t say it’ll work for Zimbabwe.

Even Switzerland is restless now. For the first time in Swiss history, the celebration of its Independence Day on historic Ruetli Meadow was threatened with cancellation. Switzerland - as most nations - is struggling with the issue of immigration. They fear disturbances by neo-Nazi groups and were unwilling to pay for additional security. In the end, private enterprise promised to donate the money needed to keep order and reassure folks.

What struck me about the video in John's post (Daraa, Syria uprising) is that people spoke English. They were clearly distressed. Why did they speak English? Answer: for American TV, of course; to let Obama know that they are in trouble. The news obviously hasn’t reached them yet. They may also have been preparing themselves for jobs in America – where the streets are paved with ...debt. And, again, the news hasn’t reached them yet – that America has become a ward of the same system that Syria has.

The rich, the powerful, and the bored use the world’s grievances like dice at a crap table, hoping to best their friends and walk off with the prize. But time and time again we learn what every Las Vegas pauper already knows: that the house always wins.
-----------------------------------------------
Watch episode# 2; parts 1 and 2 (Temple Cart) of Louis Malle’s “Phantom India” on You Tube to see what I’m talking about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIGodDxlnVo ('cut and paste' into your browser.)

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Burning Down Through the Core

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Mt. Kailash: Shiva's Holy Abode

Mt. Kailash in Tibet is said to be a holy place. It is not very high, but no one has ever climbed it. Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Bon come to walk around it instead. As single circuit of 32 miles is said to cleanse one of all one’s sins of this life; 108 circuits guarantees nirvana; and a frigid bath in nearby Mansarovar Lake is said to take away the sins of one’s previous lives as well.

Kailash is located near the source of some of the longest rivers in Asia. Hindus believe it to be the abode of Lord Shiva. It is a forbidding place where the air is thin and hard on the lungs. Pilgrims - especially the old - sometimes die in the course of their Pradakshina (or circumambulation).

Such deaths never make the news because they are primarily solitary events - attempts by individuals to strike a peace with their Maker. When people rise up in significant numbers in revolt, however, the mighty take notice and begin to shake in their boots. They either flee or meet the challenge head-on with threats and bullets.

The odds right now are in favor of Kaddafi winning over the rebels. These will continue to fight on with whatever means they have available. They have put their young lives on the line. Years of selective oppression have brought them to this point of desperate decision. Inspired by the various uprisings in neighboring states, they know it’s now or never.

Contrast this with the protesters at Wisconsin’s state capitol. Many were bussed in from elsewhere (like Zimbabwean mercenaries) to shout slogans and carry signs. They’ve trashed the premises to the tune of sums. They’ve managed to disrupt the orderly flow of representative governance for weeks on end on the slender basis of some ideological throw-back currently promoted by the president of these United States. It’s no more than a Hollywood casting call for the idle, framed by the marble walls of a grand old capitol, unsupported by what ever drops off the relatively narrow journalistic frame. Their signs tell the story of feigned outrage and unlikely connections. They are there simply because a free nation allows it without consequence.

I note that the signs in the video above are all handmade and not designed to play to movie audiences. The blood that is bound to stain them is real - not Taco Bell sauce or Nathan’s mustard. Wisconsin’s demonstrators represent nothing but rent-a-mob thrills.

All the worlds major religions define sin within the context of something that was actually done. Inattention and ignorance therefore do not qualify as sin. While Libya’s rebels still stand a chance of salvation, not even Kailash could cleanse Wisconsin’s rabble of their stain.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

America: Not For Profit

There have been calls for revolution right here in America. Most prominently such calls have recently been heard at the protests in Wisconsin‘s state capital. Neither did the oft stated comparison to Egypt’s revolution escape public notice.

As in a series of strokes, first symptoms are seldom recognized as dangerous. Our first rattling of the cage came with the election of Barack Hussein Obama. We’ve been in revolution mode ever since. It’s reached a point where a counter-revolution is now building: the Tea Parties.

When Americans speak of revolution as pertains to their own country, it is difficult to determine what exactly they are talking about. ‘Revolution’ has become a sort of shorthand for ‘change’ popularized in 2008 during Obama’s election bid. Back then, it essentially meant nothing. Change would happen no matter which candidate were to be chosen. Bush was no longer on the ballot after all.

Perhaps, revolution can be identified as ‘accelerated change'. No doubt, this is what we got with Obama. Few would have envisioned how much this administration would be able to accomplish in just two short years. In the process, it has managed to bludgeon any number of sacred cows. (We’ve already gone through the list dozens of times.) These are now screaming to high heaven.

What we are seeing now can perhaps more properly be termed ‘civil war’. Revolution always comes first. With Obama’s election in the history books, the revolution is effectively behind us. Conventional wisdom has it that those best organized tend to come out on top (in a revolution). The American Left was far better organized than the Right, evidenced by the Left winning hands down.

Conservatives may be late to the dance, but they are organizing. There are other factors, of course, that will determine the ultimate result. Of these, enthusiasm may be the most potent. It can gather itself into real momentum. Momentum can only be temporarily halted by ‘organized’ force.

And this is where we find ourselves today. With the media being on the lam, it’s hard to tell at the moment which side will ultimately prevail. Libya is far easier to predict. Kaddafi will use all he has to quell the uprising. Unlike other Middle Eastern tyrants, he must have been planning for this eventuality all along. It won’t be pretty.

Any outside help offered to his regime will be handsomely rewarded. No doubt Russia and others are considering it. We have already stated publicly that we will not make any move that could be construed as an attempt to profit. This makes us unique among nations; and is yet another indication of the direction in which our own revolution is headed.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

On The Verge of America's Third Revolution

Listening to Aaron Klein’s radio show today, I learned that Muslim student associations routinely recite the Muslim pledge of allegiance at their meetings on school grounds. This seems odd to me. While other religious organizations are often barred from holding meetings (on school grounds), the Muslim students seem to be getting away with it. It is not unusual for any organization to have a motto, pledge or mission statement. While most are relatively benign in content, the Muslim pledge sounds overtly seditious (to me). They are openly calling for the overthrow of the United States (and capitalism), pledging to give their very lives to their quest for global domination.

Why is Homeland Security not investigating these groups? Why is it that every other group (Tea Parties, veterans groups, the Boy Scouts, Catholics, etc.) is quick to raise suspicions within our Homeland Security apparatus while Muslim groups are given a free pass? (And I still don’t have an answer as to why Muslim women are not subject to mandatory airport pat-downs.) Can anyone still say ‘double standard‘? ‘Inexperience‘? ‘Incompetence on the part of our leadership‘? Or is it treason?

While every other religion is shunned, ridiculed and shamed into pulling in its horns under a policy of ‘separation of church and state’, only Islam faces no legal or societal roadblocks. In fact, as a nation we seem to roll over and play dead to any Islamic demand.

The answer is so obvious, it almost seems superfluous to articulate it. America has become a Muslim nation. It happened when we elected Barack Hussein Obama to be our supreme leader. The rest of the world knows this. If we could accept the fact that this has happened, we would begin understand a whole lot of things that have escaped our reason since the day our current president was sworn in without a Bible: from his refusal to show his birth certificate, to what is going on in the Middle East, to Wisconsin.

All the money we have poured into the Middle East for oil appears to have bought them our media, our major institutions, and even our government. Does anyone seriously think that they will ever let go of it? The second American revolution is already in the rearview mirror. It happened while we were sleeping. The sooner we wake up, the sooner can America’s third revolution begin.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Living By The Sword

Good if it were true; that ‘those who live by the sword, die by the sword‘. POTUS’ reaction to the Iranian protesters (if any) should be indicative. Obama also faces revolt - both from the right and from the left. There is no middle. His budget is widely seen as a joke. Money for increasingly heavy-handed IRS enforcement can only serve to annoy. It reflects the mindset of one who continues to believe that taxpayers are not paying enough; that wealth re-distribution, as he envisions it, has not yet reached its full potential.

For the first time, I concede, that this whole revolution thing could be tracking the other way. People appear to have figured out that tactics usually attributed to the Left could also work for the Right. Will the opposition in our Congress be enough to stop Obama’s and the Leftist’s merry-making? Will our state-run media finally come to recognize the damage that is being done to our nation?

When the media flips, the Obama regime is done. The roll-backs can begin unimpeded. …and the prosecutions.

Historians will note that the American Left actually had a chance during the first two years of the Obama administration; that what they failed to do was criminalize Bush policy. It might have worked: send Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al for trial in The Hague and, afterwards, sequester the lot in Guantanamo. Now, that the tide appears to be turning, the Right must not shrink from doing exactly this. There is now more than enough evidence that Obama and Democrats’ handling of affairs went far beyond incompetence. If the Right is to succeed, the Left must be held criminally liable. It would amount to ‘the shot heard ‘round the world’ and the revolution against real oppression could finally begin.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Playing Dead

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

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

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

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

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

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

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/

We Are Building a Religion

As we go back and forth and speculate about what might yet happen (in Egypt), we should go straight to the horse’s mouth. Let’s ask our president directly what it is that he wants to happen. And while we’re at it, let’s ask him straight out what he has in mind for the U.S. Let’s ask him to explain why he is doing what, and what he is hoping to accomplish by doing so. And let’s pretend to believe what he says.

By the way, there’s a great opinion column in the WSJ this morning (Feb. 1) by Bret Stephens entitled “Being Mubarak”. It takes an interesting slant, speculating that the old fox (Mubarak) may yet have some tricks up his sleeve.

It is what it is (and has been for some 30 odd years). There was a reason for why we supported Egypt and, I might add, Israel. With the election of Obama, those reasons have eroded. We turn our backs to both - and things happen. Read Caroline Glick’s column in the JPOST today. What we (in the West) define as ‘success’ is not defined as ‘success’ among Islamists (or communists). Our metrics are not valid there. Any attempt at such comparison may be regarded as ‘category error‘.

What if the revolution succeeds? What if the dominos fall, one by one; and an Islamic Caliphate emerges - one that is hostile to the West? And there is a genocide? Would it end with the destruction of Israel? Maybe so. Or would it gather steam and push into Europe? By the way, would Europe be capable of defending itself?

What if it were found that the American president actively participated in engineering the revolution in the Middle East by withdrawing key supports; manipulating food prices world-wide; deliberately crashing economies by way of monetary policy; supporting radical elements in the name of ‘social justice’? Would we be spared the indignity of shariah? Would he? Not likely. Traitors are universally despised, even under the minimal discipline of chaos.

The twelfth imam is likely to credit his own and pay scant attention to the welfare of foreign accomplices.

In any case, it’ll be the Atlantic that will shield us from the worst of it. Having allowed ourselves to come to this point, however, will haunt us into eternity. We will spend the rest of our lives apologizing, wearing sack cloth, wailing, and tearing our hair. No more arrogance; no more illusions of ‘American exceptionalism‘. We’ll have to rebuild slowly and painfully; our civilization will re-emerge, (this time) stripped of excess and bravado. We’ll have to harden ourselves to the hurled scorn of the betrayed, and forever suffer the weight of insurmountable guilt.

Only the Germans currently have a sense of it. They have been blessed with every attribute that would facilitate achieving unparalleled success; but, at the same time, they know they have forever forfeited their chance at enduring greatness.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Staring Us In The Face

As Egypt’s travail progresses, I increasingly hear glowing reports in the media about the demonstrators and their ‘legitimate’ grievances. This may all be well and good. There hasn’t been a legitimate election in Egypt since Mubarak assumed office in 1981 (following the assassination of Anwar Sadat). In all that time it would not be an overstatement to say that the Egyptian people have gotten the short end of the stick.

However, Egypt is not America or any other nation where elections have paved the way for a smooth transfer of power. (We let it happen it in Gaza and it didn’t work out so well.) It might even be said that Egypt has been held together by ten-cents worth of salt water taffy and glue, courtesy of (who else?) Uncle Sam.

There are those who now joyfully opine that this may not have been our best policy - especially now that the jewel in our Middle East crown (Israel) stands somewhat tarnished by events. This view contends that Israel should be left alone to see to itself, allowing for serious reform to develop among its neighbors.

There is every indication that the current American administration is now prepared to do just that. This would release a lot of water currently dammed up. Not sure if Israel could survive the flood.

Leaving the issue of Israel’s survival aside for the moment, there’s now a different, more ominous narrative emerging. Increasingly one hears about this initially noble revolution (throughout the Middle East) being hijacked by extremist elements. No doubt Iran and its proxies, as we, have a stake in its eventual outcome. We hear that we shouldn’t worry; that Iran will never get a foothold (in Egypt) because their population differs from Egypt’s in significant ways. We can only hope.

When Obama was elected, we also had hope. Now, we might say that, first, our Democrat party was hijacked; and, then, our government. We look around and might say that our universities and our media were hijacked by a radical fringe. We might even say that our financial institutions, our churches and our unions were infiltrated and hijacked while we weren’t paying attention. Now, even though we still think of ourselves uniquely as Americans, we find it difficult find a solid hold to steady ourselves. We’re just ‘the people’ who sense that something has gone terribly wrong. We speak out, but our voices trail off into the ether. We gather to show our solidarity with what? - Some guy on the radio? Ourselves?

Meanwhile, the government grinds on along its merry way with seemingly no regard for us. In fact, it is ruling against our will. We find ourselves working for it, even as we thought it was working for us. This is tyranny.

Not exactly sure how long it’s been this way. It’s just that we woke up one morning and saw it staring us in the face.

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/

Hall Of Mirrors

The world is like a room of mirrors. You look at an old person and you are reminded that you too will be old some day. You look at a baby and you know that you too were once young.

So it is with nations. They look at themselves in these mirrors which essentially reflect the times of a single observer; or, as Jorge Luis Borges would put it, a “garden of forking paths”.

The history of nations is always the same. All are birthed in blood. It’s just that each one, at any given moment, exists in its own time. This gives the illusion that each one is different.

Egypt is in the grip of revolution. There are good people on both sides - people with vision. It’s the chaos that kills - and even more so: indifference. It’s a time when nihilism prospers, when opportunists make their move, when things can go either way. It’s the reason NFL games are so popular with American viewers, that sense of not knowing; that sense of wishing, praying, wanting so desperately to see what happens and to be on the right side after the dust has settled. It’s been declared a crime to affect the outcome from outside betting parlors. Unless, of course, the outcome you're hoping for is chaos itself - chaos without end; containment - as it now appears to be.

Obama has nothing to add after having set the wheels (of fire) in motion. He is presenting us with a poignant historical spectacle. And yet, we are not amused. Chaos simply isn’t our cup of tea. We reject it in ourselves as we reject it in others. If chaos is Obama’s objective, he must go there alone.
---------------------------------------------------
Perhaps historians were wrong. Perhaps Clinton wasn't the first black president after all. Perhaps it was Jimmy Carter who presided over the first Middle Eastern domino to fall. How long before Obama appears on our TV screens wearing a sweater?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Reply to Corlyss: Trouble in Egypt

Corlyss - You knew this was coming. Always looking ahead. Here, in America, it’s already happened. Both in Egypt and in America the people were made to so despise the status quo, they would stampede for ‘change‘. Both in Egypt and in America, there are (and have been) good people in support of ‘revolution’. Mubarak was a dictator, Bush was an incompetent who insisted on playing by the Queensberry rules. But both were more or less benign.

In Egypt, the mullahs painted Mubarak black. In America, the press painted Bush black. The people were riled up. They were told it couldn’t get any worse. In Egypt, they are now taking to the streets. In America, they went to the ballot box (2008).

Ours was a bloodless revolution. We had money as a buffer to absorb the shock (of revolution). When the money runs out, we too will take to the streets. We’re apt to suffer our own Tehran moment. Egypt, on the other hand, is a relatively poor nation. The only option for them is (go directly to… Do not pass GO) civil unrest. In both countries, the revolution was carefully orchestrated. As I said, a lot of good people were enticed to join in. They will be the first to be crushed in what follows.

The revolution is not over - neither in Egypt nor in America. In Egypt, Iran’s “Moslem Brothers are hanging back“. In America, the Marxists radicals are hanging back. Both revolutions are made to appear as a grassroots movement attracting only the pious. In America, we ended up with a dictator. The same will result in Egypt. In America, things will get worse; in Egypt things will get worse as well. Both freedom and any hint of optimism will suffer - along with tolerance, civility, and fair play. Israel should be worried.

Israel has been painted a pariah. Israel is the ultimate target - the jewel in the crown of dictators. America will not help. America’s conscience has been severed from its body politic in the interest of (short-term) expedience. America is going down the same road as Israel (and Egypt). The difference is that America has already had its revolution and the bad guys won. “The Marxists (sic) are patient and relentless.”

By the time the dust has settled, America will be already be preparing for its next ‘revolution’. The military will take the side of the people. The next one should be relatively brief as all of America’s enemies will be residing at close quarters - in Washington/DC.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Bang or Whimper?

To what purpose? As much as I respect Batchelor’s nightly analysis, it must be kept in mind that we have a president and a political fringe that is wholly committed to America's demise. They are not the least bit concerned about elections. They are deeply engaged in the end game - the revolution, if you wish.

All the chips are currently in place to bring this about - and they know it. As analysts point out, a good part of the legislation, that has already been passed (by the last Congress) under Obama’s watch, remains unwritten. It is only a framework to be fleshed out by strategically placed political operatives and bureaucrats. No matter what Republicans do, the Left's agenda can go ahead unimpeded.

The course for America's steady decline is already set. It will no doubt culminate in Obama's re-election in '012. The proof of such intent is that it was all done in secret. No one can argue that transparency has been sorely lacking. The first time Congress voted on a bill no member had had time to even read (much less understand) should have thrown up a huge red flag. From that moment on Congress became irrelevant - the people became marginalized. Even as the facts begin to emerge and the public feigns outrage, it is already too late. Their outrage has been skillfully confined to the narrowest of spaces - crazy talk radio, for instance. It has been isolated, discounted, devalued, ignored. As soon as public protests morph into civil disturbance, Obama will have the last piece of the puzzle he needs for the final take-over.

To this end he will prod and push. The sleeping giant (the people) will wake up. But he has been booby-trapped. As soon as he stirs - BANG! He is finished.

…and that is the only real puzzle left to solve: Will it end in a bang or a whimper?

What happens in Chicago or New York (or any metropolis) is no longer interesting or relevant. All power has shifted to DC. It is there where the fate of the cities and the country as a whole hangs in the balance. Chicago has shot its wad. Obama is in the White House. Chicago will not be rewarded for it. Nor will anything else that may have served as a stepping stone to facilitate Obama’s ascent to power. When all is said and done, Obama will rule over rubble, nothing more. That’s been the plan all along.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Snow Job

POTUS is not independent. FLOTUS thinks she is.

I worked for a service-based company for many years. Time and time again I refused promotion. Promotion meant a desk, uncompensated overtime, scheduling and personnel issues. It meant taking irate telephone calls from customers. It meant being the man in the middle, squeezed from both ends - like toothpaste.

POTUS thought he’d be in charge. Instead, he finds himself squeezed. FLOTUS cannot understand why her articulate husband is s such a wimp. “Do it,” she says. “Bleed them dry. Make them give it back.” POTUS knows it’s not that easy. He hesitates, postpones. Among all the twists and turns, he’s lost sight of the revolution.

FLOTUS has no qualms, only resentment. She resents America, its institutions, its predominance. She resents her husband for not getting it done.

POTUS doesn’t like his job. He doesn’t like to face his wife empty-handed. Cigarettes are easier. They burn down and you light another one. One way or another, eventually the job gets done. But it’s not pretty or spectacular. Difficult to script a martyr’s video on the basis of lung cancer.
------------------------------------------------------
I usually look on the prospect of snow in horror. But I always manage to get it done - one shovel full at a time. This time there were three of us: my son, my brother and me. It was a glorious morning's exercise. We actually had fun.

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

Revolution # 9

It’s not about the Euro. It’s about revolution. The Left has seized the day. It will not allow cuts to the welfare state. It does not care about the Euro. It does not care about capitalism. All the Left cares about is bringing down the system which is now teetering on the edge.

As in the U.S., it was the Left that had been pushing for freebies that were essentially unaffordable. There was some semblance of affordability as long as economies kept growing. Now, that the slump cycle has set in, what had seemed affordable, is suddenly unaffordable. To the Left, this is a distinction without a difference. It is not that the ‘educated’ Left could not foresee this. They saw it alright. It was a set-up. It was planned. All they had to do was wait.

The waiting is now over. For the Left it is now time to act; to take to the streets; shout slogans; raise the red flag; do some damage; open some heads. For the Left the worst thing that could happen now is for the economies to recover; for people to go on as before. “Barack will not allow…”

Even recovery is now booby-trapped. All that pent-up demand. All that consumer spending would just show up the Euro (dollar) for what it’s really worth - nothing; or, at the very least, considerably less than what people expect.

Any way you look at it, the Euro is finished. The dollar is over; even though it may appear marginally better off than the Euro. People will not allow themselves to be taxed out of existence - in North Korea, maybe; but not in the West.

Still - taxation or inflation - it all comes out to the same: civil unrest, which will lead to political chaos. Left or Right, it won’t matter. The solutions are the same for both. There will be blood. The revolution is here. The Left has won.

In America, we think the revolution has already happened; that it happened at the ballot box - nice and neat - with the Republicans taking charge of the House. The verdict is already in: NO COMPROMISE; no solution. The old ‘evils’ are beginning to crumble one by one: the Bush tax cuts; the Bush wars; American exceptionalism; global alliances. Revolution is the end. It is here. After that, …who knows?

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

Street Fighting Man

I too marched on Washington in my day, ostensibly to protest against the Vietnam war. We fell into one of three groups: professional agitators, self-righteous moralists, and those who just came out to raise a little hell. Though I would never have admitted it at the time, I was part of the latter, the biggest, group. Despite the civic display of tightly choreographed, helmeted phalanx; water cannon and tear gas, I felt perfectly safe for I knew that the government - unlike those of then communist nations - would take utmost care to see to it that nothing would happen to us. If we really had been asked to risk life and limb, I’m sure that 99% of us would have stayed away.

As it was, for most of us, it amounted to no more than a day trip - an afternoon of staged, pot-enhanced high drama - participatory theater under bright skies.

In Britain, the operative word is 'hooliganism'. Behavior after sports events had become so bad, young Britains have been barred from attending similar events in other countries. In Europe, we’ve seen self-respect eroding for a long time. This is fertile soil for agitprop. It is to demonstrate that the government is essentially powerless. The issue of university fees is just pretext. In France, the raising of the retirement age from 60 to 62 is just pretext - a reason to come out into the streets in feigned (Street Fighting Man) anger and protest and smash things and poke a stick in the eye of authority for the sake of ritual rebellion alone - to vent, to explode into violence primarily because of some sense of individual dislocation or inadequacy that often accompanies the transition from infantilism.

Don’t tell me these people have any higher purpose in mind; don’t tell me they have any profound agenda - most of them - in their frenzied, out of control, pointless, pathetic pantomime. People with legitimate grievances do not behave like that.

…and it’s coming to America. It’s orchestrated by the Left. It is to undermine the nation, to overwhelm it, score propaganda points and render it utterly impotent. It’s revolution for revolution’s sake; to topple the elite; erase standards; nullify morality - to be replaced by the finality of tyranny. It’s AQ; it’s Al Sharpton; it’s community organizing; it’s the UN; unions; Bill Ayers; Rev. Wright. It’s George Soros. It’s Barack Hussein Obama.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/

At Bottom

The following is my reply to a friend in India who has made a detailed analysis of the communiques issued by the two countries during and after Obama's visit:

It might not be so productive to quibble about Obama’s words. You - India - might be better served to look at what Obama has actually done. It was his words alone that got him elected President of the United States. Eleven days into his term he won the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, two years later, he has lost the trust of the American people. Promises broken.

Ask Americans what they think of him now. Everything is worse since he took office. Ask the Israelis if they are feeling safe. Ask the defeated members of his own party which continues to exist by appearances only.

Obama is a narcissist with a singular mission. He aims to pursue that mission no matter the dislocation and destruction that will come in its wake.

I direct your attention to the endgame as it is being played out in the Middle East with Israel at the center. And you will see that Israel stands alone. Despite innumerable treaties and promises, the U.S. has turned against it. (I must note that American people have not abandoned their overwhelming support for Israel; that this is strictly Obama’s doing. He, as in so man other things, has turned rogue.)

His visit to India was all show, to sustain an air of legitimacy which he himself has shattered - on purpose. For Obama at his core is a revolutionary. He will spare nothing to achieve his ends which consist primarily of clearing the table for a new world order to emerge - just as he envisions it - with America (and India and Israel and all of America’s traditional allies) at the bottom.

We're Cooked

One does a disservice to Obama to call him a rock star. The proper identifier should actually be ‘revolutionary’. As such, Obama represents far more than a rock n’ roll opera - entertainment for fiberglass-filled talking heads. He represents a clear and present danger to the Republic.

JB has already noted that Obama is likely to turn hard left after Tuesday’s midterm trouncing. He will do so, not only for ideological reasons, but to throw this nation into such chaos the likes of which it hasn’t seen since the Civil War. By the time 2012 rolls around, we will no longer have a functioning representative government, and elections will likely be a thing of the past.

We look at the man and ask, How could a nice young man be doing all that within the span of a single term in office? It is indeed tempting to focus on the lanky figure with the Dumbo ears and draw one’s conclusions. In truth, he has a whole cadre of powerful allies, both foreign and domestic.

We’ve heard - but don’t yet believe - that Islamists want us either dead or shariah-bound. We’ve heard what they say about us, and witnessed first-hand their determination to bleed us dry. We’ve seen our own official reaction to their challenge as tepid. We console ourselves by saying that these are the hateful words and actions of a handful of crazies, not realizing that this is precisely the same thing they say about us.

We taunt them at every turn. On a stop-over in Brussels last month, I once again had to go through extensive security. After gathering my things together, we were herded to an incline that took us to the departure lounge one flight up. At the end of the incline - directly in front of us - was a huge poster of a pretty lingerie model. I noted that a good portion of my fellow ascendants were Arabs, whose sensibilities were no doubt offended.

They offend us equally, by stoning women, blowing up worshippers, severing heads and hands; paralyzing spinal columns, etc. We have excuses to overlook such things. It’s their culture. It’s thousands of years old. Who is to say that, barring our addiction to Twinkies, we would not be doing the same?

As far as the upcoming elections are concerned - forget about Democrats vs. Republicans - right now, we have three groups in this country: (1) those committed to overthrowing our nation; (2) those consisting of what Stalin once referred to as ‘useful idiots’; and (3) those (and this now comprises an ever expanding majority) that are just beginning to sense an existential danger.

Nobody can yet be certain to which of the first two groups our president belongs to. In view of the complete lack of transparency with regard to Obama’s background, I have long suspected that Obama belongs to the first. I have previously stated my belief that Obama represents the third attack on our nation (the first and second being the attacks on the World Trade Center They used our own planes...; they used our own election system to plant a Trojan horse among us.) It’s difficult to come to any other conclusion given all he has managed to do thus far. Our system of governance remains at high risk; as does our economy. If any one of these should fall, we are cooked.

We already have so much on our table domestically, it’s difficult to focus on international affairs. Suffice it to say, it doesn’t look good for Israel, historically speaking, our most loyal and trusted ally.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/